Weekend Reading

• "I'm doing God's work." Meet Mr. Goldman Sachs (TimesOnline) [Goldman getting trading tips from the big guy himself explains their Q3 P&L]
• Obama's failure in his core mission: curbing unemployment, which is now 50% higher than a year ago (NYT) Expect several dozen TV appearances on Monday to explain what really happened
• House passes $1 trillion U.S. healthcare overhaul legislation (Bloomberg)
• Why can't the Fed just buy Yuan? (Worthwhile Canadian Initiative)
• What rebalancing of Chinese and American consumption (China Financial Markets)
• Gordon Brown joins call for Tobin Tax, denied by Turbo Tim, Canada and IMF (FT, Telegraph)
• The first call before the first call (Cassandra Does Tokyo)
• India to wind down fiscal stimulus in 2010 (Bloomberg)
• Banks thwarting Feinberg pay model by changing bonus formulas (Bloomberg)
• Barclays to pay bonuses in stock despite record taxpayer handouts, sorry, earnings (Telegraph)
• Why do central banks have assets (Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, h/t DV02)
• John Reed apologizes for repealing Glass-Steagall, greenlighting worst bill in history in form of Gramm-Leach-Bliley (Bloomberg)
• Why gold is shining brighter (LA Timas)
• Barack Obama and Mikhail Gorbachev: Mystical resemblance (Pravda)

Comments

[TraderMark]

Rithotlz is doing some nice skewering of Grandpa Buffet this weekend - I have to agree 100%

http://www.fundmymutualfund.com/2009/11/barry-ritholtz-shreds-warren-buf...

[Anonymous]

Buffett is just another crony. The funny thing is his buddies at GS are probably running a death pool on him.

[Gordon_Gekko]

Warren Buffet is nothing but a hypocrite THUG - more like the "Asshole from Omaha".

[Racer]

Doing god's work?  Hmmm, a thorough read of Richard Dawkins work might prove how delusional Mr Godman really is!

[D.O.D.]

I was doing some reading and I came across a book befiting ZH,

The Nothing that Is : A Natural History of Zero

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-that-Natural-History-Zero/dp/0195142373/re...

Anyway, it just made me think of ya'll... holla back now...

[Unscarred]

TYLER,

The article and subsequent discussion on "Why can't the Fed just buy Yuan?" was PHENOMINAL!

Yet, no one really seemed to understand how China is able to maintain "local currency status" through capital controls with the PBOC.

As the self-anointed CONSPIRACY CZAR (and rightly so!), it seems to me that a full workup on how China is able to manipulate their currency should be a featured topic in the near future for ZH.

Thanks again.  Good stuff!

[tip e. canoe]

humble addition, soybean edition:

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/11/harvest-from-hell-vs-usdas-biggest...

[Harbourcity]

"# Why can't the Fed just buy Yuan? (Worthwhile Canadian Initiative)"

The discussion reflects on the purchase of Yuan by the Fed to increase the value of Yuan.  What is interesting is that the discussion reflects on the fact that the Yuan is not an international currency and therefore it is illegal to take the currency out of China without prior government approval. Therefore, you'd have to smuggle large bonds out of China in Yuan denominations to have any real effect on the value of Yuan.

This reminds me of those two occassions where people were arrested for having large denominations of US bonds hidden in their suitcases.... interesting.

[perfectlyGoodWh...]

The comments in that article might be the most worthwhile I have seen on the internet.  My favorite comment

"The thing is, that if you are looking to arbitrage the undervaluation of the currency, and the lack of PPP between the US & Chinese markets, there is an easier way to do it. It's perfectly legal and officially encouraged. All you have to do is order a boatload of Chinese sneakers/t-shirts/etc. and sell them on the US market. Taking undervalued currency out of the country = illegal, taking undervalued goods (non-input, finished consumer goods only) out of the country = legal. Why take the risk?"

[Anonymous]

"House passes $1 trillion U.S. healthcare overhaul legislation"

I'm looking forward to seeing how a government that has over $140 trillion in debt and unfunded obligations to Social Security and Medicare Parts A, B, and D; can't properly regulate the economic shenanigans on Wall Street; and can't rein in fraud, waste, and abuse in military spending, Medicare, and game-show schemes like C4C and the First-Time Home Debtor's Credit is going to pay for complete and total healthcare for an additional 10s to 100s of millions of people.

[Gordon_Gekko]

By printing money out of thin air - as it has been doing all along for everything else. Government "Debt"? - oh please...The treasuries are nothing but CERTIFICATES OF CONFISCATION.

[Artful_Dodger]

Goldman have Lord Fforestfach on their team. Seems he has done a few articles and speeches on the matter of doing 'God's work':

See below:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/a...

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

High praise. Griffiths combs through the encyclical, and identifies Benedict's six strategies for balancing capitalism and human dignity. Jason Farago of Newser has helpfully summarized them:

1. Reform of global institutions, including the UN, for "the management of globalization."
2. More widespread sources of wealth: not just banks but mutual societies, credit unions, and other new forms.
3. Strengthened trade unions to protect workers in the global market.
4. Greater aid to developing nations to combat the "scandal of inequality."
5. Action on climate change, for economic and religious reasons.
6. Much more attention to the moral consequences of finance. For Benedict, "development is impossible without upright men and women."

[tom a taxpayer]

Mammon is a false god.

[You Cant Handle...]

I think Goldman's CEOs comment is best understood as a tongue-in-cheek finger-point at the White House.  Ultimately I wouldn't be surprised if Goldman's primary defense in all of this is "The White House Made Us Do It!"

[Artful_Dodger]

I think they are taking cues from Elwood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzOHq5WbQ8k

[Anonymous]

This is maybe off topic, maybe not! For a look at uncle Ben's prop shop type this into your browser........ brian sack engineers big moves at the fed

[anynonmous]

thanks good story - here's the cache of WSJ article

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:66fef6KZAGMJ:online.wsj.com/article...

[Anonymous]

Amazing those d-bags allow themselves to be photographed. First against the wall and all that...

[FreddyInBangkok]

"directing any personal attention to the group of 400 people he now oversees"

why only 400?

[Sqworl]

Doing Goneff work!!  Name is dead giveaway..Gold and Sac...

[etrader]

$270Bn Secret loan to LLOYDS BANKING GROUP in the UK.

"LLOYDS BANKING GROUP is being kept afloat with £165 billion of loans and guarantees from the Bank of England and other central banks around the world, The Sunday Times can reveal

The scale of Lloyds’ dependency has surprised analysts, but they say it shows just how big a financial timebomb it has become."

Surprised who...?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_...

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to buy Yuan when you can print to depreciate dollar? It will be interesting to observe how long it will take before the total collapse of dollar as the government continue to finance everything with their printing machines. Undoubtedly, the collapse of the US dollar will temporarily bring down the entire world's output, but only temporarily. A new economy order will be built on the ruins within a decade, without US being the center any more.

[Harbourcity]

China isn't trying to become the new reserve currency directly, it will merely wait until the US economic collapse and take over.  The Fed will do China's work for it.

[Gordon_Gekko]

China already knows what the reserve currency of the future is - GOLD. It belongs to no one and yet everyone at the same time. No other currency even comes close.

BUY GOLD NOW.

[Anonymous]

Gold suppression is public policy and public record, not 'conspiracy theory'

Remarks by Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
International Precious Metals and Commodities Show
Olympia Park, Munich, Germany
Saturday, November 7, 2009

http://www.gata.org/node/8001

[digalert]

Looks like I'll have to avoid CNBS Monday, it will be the all Obama health care pep rally channel with a streaming ticker tape.

[anynonmous]

the Buffet article is a must read from Ritholtz the tide has gone out and Buffet is revealed to be a squid after the order of Goldman

For Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to team up with Goldman Sachs (which he now owns a healthy chunk of) is a bit of a revelation: We have been spun by his genteel manner, his aw shucks down-home-isms, his off Wall Street, less bloodthirsty approach to investing, into somehow believing he was different.

We have been duped.

We should not have been. Buffett has been the biggest shareholder in Moody’s — a collection of filthy whores and pederasts who were one of the main contributors to the economic collapse

Perhaps the Oracle of Omaha has been infected by a new flu variant, the H1N1 GS mutation.  It is usually non fatal to the host, but destroys its reputation . .

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/treasury-dks-goldmanfanniebrk-tax-c...

[lower98th]

"Perhaps the Oracle of Omaha has been infected by a new flu variant, the H1N1 GS mutation.  It is usually non fatal to the host, but destroys its reputation . ."

And Obama. 

[Gordon_Gekko]

Obama is even more pathetic than Buffet. He's a mere SERVANT of the bankers. He can't even take a pee without their permission. He's an INSECT as far as the bankers are concerned.

[FreddyInBangkok]

you're too generous. a germ living on cockroach shit

[Harbourcity]

I celebrate death - it's the only thing that GS can't buy it's way out of.

[Gordon_Gekko]

The system can't be reformed now - it has to die now for a new one to begin, much like the forest fire clears the dead wood and plants for new life to take hold. Parasites like GS and Warren Buffet will not die until the dollar does. The dollar MUST and WILL DIE.