This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

The Truth Goes Viral, Part 2: Italian Towns Damaged by Derivatives, Downtown Brooklyn Real Estate, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Europe’s Overbanked Status, Reggie Middleton, Matt Taibbi, and Simon Johnson – All in One Video

Submitted by Reggie Middleton on 10/05/2010 13:51 -0400

I present to you a very well made 45 minute documentary on big banks, derivatives, US real estate and the root causes of the Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis! Yes, it covers a lot, and it also has a list of colorful and insightful characters sharing their insights (see The Truth Goes Viral, Pt 1: Housing Prices, Economic Sales and the State of Depression here).

This is a viral video that hasn’t made a lot of leeway in the states
yet (it was just released yesterday), but is going viral in (of all
places) Amsterdam and the Netherlands – the birth place of veggie-based irrational
exuberance with $30,000 Dutch Tulips selling at a bargain… Because it
was different that time! Click here for the video: The
Attack on Europe: Debt and Redemption, produced by VPRO Backlight and
aired on BBC2. For those who aren’t fluent in Italian and Dutch, I have
provided breakpoints that are in English for you to skip to:

7:22 Matt Taibbi on IR swaps, big banks and small Italian towns (for
those of you who don’t know, Matt Taibbi wrote that scathing piece in
Rolling Stone on Goldman Sachs – The Great American Bubble Machine | Rolling Stone Politics
10:32 More Matt Taibbi on derivative products
27:10 to hear Matt Taibbi, Goldmans Sachs’ biggest fan (what would
you guys think of a Matt Taibbi/Reggie Middleton collaboration?)
28:40 Simon Johnson, former Economic Counsellor and Director of the
Research Department at the IMF, called for European boycott of Goldman
Sachs (Simon Johnson — Biographical Information – IMF
30:30 Matt Taibbi
31:29 Simon and Matt
31:46 to 37:43 Yours truly, Reggie Middleton in Downtown
Brooklyn on the banks and the truly distressed sovereigns. It resumes at
38:15, but you should watch it through to get the feel for the subject
matter at hand. By the, the discussion on derivatives here gets quite
interesting, be sure to view the whole piece.
46:35 resumes in English with some basic, common sense advice

Here is a lot of background info on Goldmans Sachs, JP Morgan, and
the sovereigns in question. I will do a walk through of a European
soverign nation’s practically guaranteed default in a few days, publicly
on the blog, in full detail – complete with facts and numbers, the
stuff you don’t see very often in the mainstream media. I will also
attempt to update my big bank research and findings with data from the
ground and independent sources in time for earnings. The banks have no
more than one quarter left before the truth catches up with them… Then,
we are back to 2008.

Here is one of the web’s most complete discussions on the sovereign
debt crisis – predicting it, analyzing it, and showing explicitly who
may default, when and why. We also have a contagion model thrown in the
mix to show how and where said defaults may spread their melee: Reggie Middleton on the Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis!

Below are a sampling of articles on the big US banks covered in the video documentary above.

- advertisements -

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 18:21 | 627507 carbonmutant

Somebody is trying to drive one of your EU sovereigns to default by selling dollars and buying Euros. They're cutting off the revenue the EU needs to recapitalize and restructure their banks

Bank Risks Grow as Funding Pressures Loom

More than $4 trillion of bank debt will need to be rolled over in the next two years, making it “a priority” to take care of weaker financial institutions to help funding markets return to normal, the IMF said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-05/banking-risks-increase-as-more-...

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 18:46 | 627569 chopper read

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:56 | 627437 kathy.chamberli...

great job reggie. i am on an old old powerbook that's on time delay and couldn't even open up link. but will watch when i get back my macbook. your the man plus you and me have something in common we use our real names. i don't have anything to say but compliment your outstanding work. wish i could of seen you on bloomberg. bye have a nice afternoon.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:53 | 627433 blindman

http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/afleveringen/2010-2011/aanval-op-europa/schuld-en-aflossing.html

NRBQ - Ain't No Free

i would love to hear you mix it up with mr. hugh hamilton of

talk back fame, wbai or mr gary null. yous two could set more than a few things

straight. imo.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:35 | 627385 Zerro

Reggie,

Good to see you on our local PBS here in Holland. Forwarded the request for English subtitles to the VPRO, maybe you could pull a string as well ? After all...this is my tax-euro at work. A number of their doumentaries are already available in English through their English site, http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/backlight.html . Enjoy all...

The squeeky wheel always gets the grease....

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:46 | 627420 Reggie Middleton

BTW, the European response has been overwhelmingly positive. Not only did it shut down my rather hefty server, but a couple of big banks reached out to me as well.

Wed, 10/06/2010 - 17:38 | 630531 piceridu

Hey Reggie, great work. I happen to speak fluent Italian so I got to enjoy this piece. It's amazing that these immoral motherf..ers from Goldman and JPM went into these small towns f..ked them so good. In Italian, the words for what they are: disgraziati cornuti!

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:45 | 627415 Reggie Middleton

I spoke to the producer. I'm sure if the demand is great enough it will get done.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:53 | 627228 chopper read

also, Reggie, great job pointing out the difference between liquid and transparent exchange-traded-derivatives (futures and options) where there are capital requirements to back up leverage versus 'naked' OTC derivatives that exceed, for example, Swiss GDP and that country's ability to bailout a bank like UBS.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:35 | 627183 gwar5

Thanks Reggie. This is good stuff and required reading. I'm shorting the entire developed world.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:43 | 627029 surfsup

"Objective and Offensively honest, if need be..." R.M.

Bring on the English Subtitled Version!

You'd think by now at least some of the people are waking up to notional versus tangible value and looking into the nature of human "intervention" of those values? It used to be in the 70's that the local drug dealer was the most frowned upon character on the board game -- for bringing down neighborhoods and defiling an area. So Reggie walking on the street NOT to illustrate a crack house but a piece of stagnant real estate on a street that is likely actually held that way BECAUSE of the "intervention" financial ruse -- is a stark new reminder that these days, its international bankers who have overtaken the crack dealers as detriments to a neighborhood! That property is not going to move! If its on the shadow books of a bank it will purposely be left to remain as a footnote entry on a balance sheet until such time as the debt is unwound one way or another...

So, great stuff Reggie... Thanks for showing us your hood!

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:11 | 626901 lynnybee

& again I say, ROBERT RUBIN & LARRY SUMMERS !!! Why aren't these people in jail or run out of the country !! where are the pitchforks ? oh, I forgot, BILL CLINTON, PHIL & WENDY GRAHAM (spell) !! When will we emmulate ICELAND & STRING THESE PEOPLE UP BY THEIR THUMBS FOR ECONOMIC MALFEASANCE & CORRUPTION ?

I won't be able to sleep at night until I know that ROBERT RUBIN is out of the country..... probably in some foreign country with non-extradition treaty ......

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:53 | 626824 Chemba

I always suspected "Reggie Middleton"s analysis was lightweight. Now that I see he is "collaborating" with Matt "what's a balance sheet?" Taibi, the jury is in. Lightweight

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:05 | 627271 chopper read

the jury is in, Chemba; you're a twat.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:01 | 626855 Reggie Middleton

Actually, my friend, if you knew YOUR way around a balance sheet you wouldn't have to speculate about my analysis. I put a LOT of info into the public domain. Either you know your stuff or you don't and you would recognize real if you saw it.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:31 | 626984 Chemba

Reggie,

I made tens-of-millions of USD navigating my way around balance sheets, and I didn't do it flipping apartments in Brooklyn.

I also know with intimate detail the inner workings of GS. And for you to collaborate with a sensationalist, ignorant, populist buffoon like Matt Taibi shreds whatever analytical cred you may have developed

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 18:38 | 627553 Zerro

Dear disrespecting Chemba, though tempting, I didn't junk you...However, you reading this article, and for that matter obviously more of Reggie's stuff, shows a certain interest in his work that indeed deserves some cred. Did you consider the fact that Matt's appearance in the video could possibly not have been Reggie's choice, but one taken by the director of the documentary ? You being the million-dollar analyst should certainly have recognized these unrelated facts. And as far GS goes, since you have been intimately detailing their inner workings, bottom-up and top-down I presume, could you please explain to the world how their risk modelling has ever helped any of their clients reduce risk ?

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 18:47 | 627573 chopper read

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:37 | 627394 eatthebanksters

Speed racer as your profile pic, bragging about the tens of millions you made, dropping names like Goldman Sachs (intimtating you worked there)...well if you did you a fucking asshole and if you didn't your a liar and still a fucking asshole. I've never had a problem with people making an honest buck or billion, but when you fuck people to make money, you're a whore, bought and paid for. The laws means nothing and they change for the highest bidder, the real law is the one we abide by inside ourselves when we ask the question are we hurting people with our actions. I can say honestly that I believe the big banks and Goldman are corrupt as hell and some day there will be a reckoning...the masses will come with pitchforks in hand for cocksuckers like you.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 17:37 | 627393 eatthebanksters

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:42 | 627207 chopper read

what does Matt Taibi have to do with Reggie (other than appearing in the same video). anybody can see the difference by reading 'boombustblog' versus Rolling Stone Magazine.

Quit pouting, Chema, and do your homework before lashing out at a great contributor. asshole.

"tens-of-millions". with whose capital? doubtful it was all of your own, you fucking turd. besides, there are plenty around here who have done the same, so get over yourself. "tens-of-millions" he says. is that supposed to be a lot?

...what a wanker.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:42 | 627204 chopper read

what does Matt Taibi have to do with Reggie (other than appearing in the same video). anybody can see the difference by reading 'boombustblog' versus Rolling Stone Magazine.

Quit pouting, Chema, and do your homework before lashing out at a great contributor. asshole.

...what a wanker.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:41 | 627203 chopper read

what does Matt Taibi have to do with Reggie (other than appearing in the same video). anybody can see the difference by reading 'boombustblog' versus Rolling Stone Magazine.

Quit pouting, Chema, and do your homework before lashing out at a great contributor. asshole.

...what a wanker.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:05 | 627106 surfsup

Yeah Reg, its not "what" you say but "who" you say it around and how big a "line" you swing that defines your credentials! Gosh forbid a swarthy mere "populist" in your midst!

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:15 | 627130 Bob

Oh, the ugly truth of the matter!

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:52 | 626820 Popo

"Click here to get Microsoft Silverlight"

Fail.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:41 | 627023 alpha60

+1, it might be a bit more viral if it was in english and in a decent format.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:47 | 626790 JackAz

Reggie, the only thing better than Middleton and Taibbi separately would be Middleton and Taibbi together. I've been a FoR (Fan of Reggie) since April 08 and a FoM (fan of Matt) since he started publishing his GS articles last year. Do it!

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:02 | 626860 Reggie Middleton

I don't know the guy and never met him, but that GS piece in Rolling Stone did leave an impression.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:35 | 627185 chopper read

you've got a lot of fans, Reggie. thank you and, please, keep up the incredible work.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:26 | 626967 doomandbloom

Do it..

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:42 | 626765 woolybear1

the link video is in Dutch, is there one in English?

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:59 | 626844 Reggie Middleton

I have provided breakpoints that are in English for you to skip to - just fast forward the video to the following minute and second markers. Those of you familiar with lower Manhattan and Downtwon Brooklyn will instantly recognize the GS headquarters and the empty condo towers that I featured in this blog post “Who are ya gonna believe, the pundits or your lying eyes?”:

7:22 Matt Taibbi on IR swaps, big banks and small Italian towns (for those of you who don’t know, Matt Taibbi wrote that scathing piece in Rolling Stone on Goldman Sachs – The Great American Bubble Machine | Rolling Stone Politics
10:32 More Matt Taibbi on derivative products
27:10 to hear Matt Taibbi, Goldmans Sachs’ biggest fan (what would you guys think of a Matt Taibbi/Reggie Middleton collaboration?)
28:40 Simon Johnson, former Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the IMF, called for European boycott of Goldman Sachs (Simon Johnson — Biographical Information – IMF
30:30 Matt Taibbi
31:29 Simon and Matt
31:46 to 37:43 Yours truly, Reggie Middleton in Downtown Brooklyn on the banks and the truly distressed sovereigns. It resumes at 38:15, but you should watch it through to get the feel for the subject matter at hand. By the, the discussion on derivatives here gets quite interesting, be sure to view the whole piece.
46:35 resumes in English with some basic, common sense advice

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 16:36 | 627123 Bob

C'mon, part with a couple bucks and pay for subtitles, Reg . . . hell you can expense a trip to Amsterdam and get it done while you kick back in a cafe.

Think about it--it's a worthy investment!

Without subtitles, on the other hand . . . well, after seeing your guide to watching the foreign video, I didn't even bother trying to watch it. And I love watching foreign films.

Don't waste resources, my friend.

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:37 | 626742 pigpen

Reggie, is there another link or a youtube as I can't open the link you presented.

Cheers,
Pigpen

Tue, 10/05/2010 - 14:52 | 626816 Reggie Middleton

This one works: http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl/afleveringen/2010-2011/aanval-op-europa/schuld-en-aflossing.html

The Truth Goes Viral, Part 2: Italian Towns Damaged by Derivatives, Downtown Brooklyn Real Estate, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Europe’s Overbanked Status, Reggie Middleton, Matt Taibbi, and Simon Johnson – All in One Video

Comment viewing options