Activist Shareholder

• Facebook's selling shareholders can't wait to get out of company, increase offering by 25% (Bloomberg)
• Boehner Draws Line in Sand on Debt (WSJ)
• Romney Attacks Obama Over Recovery Citing U.S. Debt Load (Bloomberg)
• BHP chairman says commodity markets to cool further (Reuters)
• Merkel’s First Hollande Meeting Yields Growth Signal for Greece (Bloomberg)
• Greek President Told Banks Anxious as Deposits Pulled (Bloomberg)
• EU to push for binding investor pay votes (FT)
• Martin Wolf: Era of a diminished superpower (FT)
• China’s Hong Kong Home-Buying Influx Wanes, Midland Says (Bloomberg)
• U.N. and Iran agree to keep talking on nuclear  (Reuters)
• US nears deal to reopen Afghan supply route (FT)

• Default now or default later? (FT)
• Monti warns of tears in Italy's social fabric (Reuters)
• Fear Grows of Greece Leaving Euro (FT)
• Greek Elections Loom as Key Bailout Opponent Defies Unity (Bloomberg)
• Santander, BBVA to Set Aside 4.5 Billion Euros for New Cleanup (BBG) - Thank god they both passed the stress test
• Austerity Blow for Merkel in German State Election (Reuters)
• Apple Founder Wozniak to Buy Facebook Regardless of Price (Bloomberg) - so... another ponzi.
• Dimon Fortress Breached as Push From Hedging to Betting Blows Up (Bloomberg)
• Saudi and Bahrain Expected to Seek Union: Minister (Reuters)
• Obama Pitches Equal Pay to Win Women Even as Charges Drop (BBG)

Below, ZH friend LongShortTrader submits his letter to the Green Mountain (GMCR) board of directors. In it, he expresses concern over various statements that former Chairman Robert Stiller, current CEO Larry Blanford, current CFO Frances Rathke, and others have made recently. Hey: if the Dan Loebs of the world can have a daily activist pulpit, who not others who, unlike the broader lemming herd, actually do their homework?

There is little doubt, even amongst the most uninterested and apathetic of people, that America has reached the threshold of a dangerous new era in 2012.  Economically, the paper thin facade of recovery created by Federal Reserve fiat easing is beginning to fade, and the debt turmoil we currently see in the European Union is beginning to surface right here at home.  Socially, Americans are being subversively divided by the false left/right paradigm and the exploitation of artificially induced race tensions by the mainstream media.  Politically, Barack Obama’s presidential approval rating has hit all time lows, and the approval rating for Congress has hit a historic bottom.  The path our country has been set upon can only lead to disaster; that much is certain. 

• Japan has 54 nuclear reactors, but as of Saturday, not one of them will be in operation (Guardian)
• US Readies Proposal to Clamp Down on Fracking (Reuters)
• California pension fund (CALSTRS) sues Wal-Mart, alleges bribery (Reuters)
• New Ripples for Gupta Case: Goldman Share Price, Volume Began Climbing Even Before Rajaratnam Trades (WSJ)
• China says blind dissident can apply to study abroad (Reuters)
• China paper calls Chen a U.S. pawn; envoy is a "troublemaker" (Reuters)
• Samsung’s New Galaxy S Phone Raises Heat on Apple Iphone (Bloomberg)
• Draghi predicts 2012 eurozone recovery  (FT)
• Tumbling Home Ownership Marks a Return to Normal (Bloomberg)
• Zuckerberg Facebook IPO to Make Him Richer Than Ballmer (Bloomberg)
• SEC probes Chesapeake and its chief (FT)

• Chinese dissident seeks exile, strains U.S.-China ties (Reuters)
• Sarkozy and Hollande lock horns on TV (FT)
• UK in furious rejection of EU bank plan (FT)
• EU Fails to Reach Deal on Capital (WSJ)
• China energy use may be capped for 2015 (China Daily)
• Buffett Trails S&P 500 for Third Straight Year (Bloomberg)
• King admits failing to ‘shout’ about risk (FT)
• Obama promises 110,000 new summer jobs for youth (Reuters)
• China sturdy enough for reforms: Geithner (Reuters)
• Geithner repeats call for stronger yuan (Reuters)

• European Unemployment Rate Rises to Highest in Almost 15 Years (Bloomberg)
• Chinese Activist Leaves U.S. Embassy (WSJ)
• China April bank loans slide 30 pct from March-paper (Reuters)
• Moody's warns against lack of tax hike in Japan (Reuters)
• RIM CEO Bets on BlackBerry Without Keyboard to Challenge Apple (Bloomberg)
• European visits focus on boosting trade (China Daily)
• Martin Wolf- After the bonfire of the verities (FT)
• German Jobless Unexpectedly Up in April as Crisis Flared (Bloomberg)
• Romney Refuses to See China Progress on Yuan (Bloomberg)
• Bolivia Following Argentine Takeover Deepens Regional Divide (Bloomberg)
• Plosser Says Fed Must Guard Against Long-Term Inflation (Bloomberg)

In the shady underground world of banking, doing wrong means doing right, up is down, and left is right.

• China’s Biggest Banks Are Squeezed for Capital (NYT)
• Greeks detect hypocrisy as Dutch coalition stumbles (Reuters)
• Hollande Blames Europe’s Austerity Plan for Le Pen’s Rise (Bloomberg)
• In a Change, Mexico Reins In Its Oil Monopoly (NYT)
• China Tire Demand Slows as Economy Decelerates, Bridgestone Says (Bloomberg)
• Social Security’s financial forecast gets darker; Medicare’s outlook unchanged (WaPo)
• Fed’s 17 Rate Forecasts May Confuse More Than Clarify (Bloomberg)
• Senate to vote on array of Postal Service overhaul proposals (WaPo)
• Weidmann Says Bundesbank Is Preserving Euro Stability (Bloomberg)

Back in 2006, contrary to conventional wisdom, many financial professionals were well aware of the subprime bubble, and that the trajectory of home prices was unsustainable. However, because there was no way to know just when it would pop, few if any dared to bet against the herd (those who did, and did so early despite all odds, made greater than 100-1 returns). Fast forward to today, when the most comparable to subprime, cheap credit-induced bubble, is that of student loans (for extended literature on why the non-dischargeable student loan bubble will "create a generation of wage slavery" read this and much of the easily accessible literature on the topic elsewhere) which have now surpassed $1 trillion in notional. Yet oddly enough, just like in the case of the subprime bubble, so in the ongoing expansion of the credit bubble manifested in this case by student loans, we have an early warning that the party is almost over, coming from the most unexpected of sources: JPMorgan.

In the initial stages of nearly every recorded tyranny, the saucer eyed dumbstruck masses exhibit astonishing and masterful skill when denying reality.  The facts behind their dire circumstances and of their antagonistic government become a source of cynical psychological gameplay rather than a source of legitimate concern.  Their desperate need to maintain their normalcy bias creates a memory and observation vacuum in which all that runs counter to their false assumptions and preconceptions disappears forever.  It is as if they truly cannot see the color of the sky, or the boot on their face.  The concrete world of truth becomes a dream, an illusion that can be heeded or completely ignored depending on one’s mood.  For them, life is a constant struggle of dissociation, where the tangible is NOT welcome… This is the problem that we in the Liberty Movement deal with most often in our writings and films.  Our confrontation with willful ignorance has been epic, even by far reaching historical standards.  The gains in social awareness have been substantial, and yet the obstacles are incredible.  Unprecedented.  As an activist trend, we have an almost obsessive drive to draw back the curtain so that the public has at least the opportunity to see what is on the other side.  Unfortunately, there is another danger that must be taken into account…

All you need to read and more.

Sometimes, the biggest threat comes from within...

There was a time when Mr. Pink would send out witty activist letters full of zing and sarcasm, which would brighten many a trader's day. Then Mr. Pink started running a multi-billion fund and Mr. Pink matured into Dan Loeb. Today, Loeb returns with a vengeance having submitted a zinger letter to YHOO CEO Scott Thompson, in his capacity as a 5.8% shareholder of YHOO stock. Needless to say, Loeb is less than pleased with Yahoo's recent snub of his board of director candidates. The result are sentences such as the following: "Only in an illogical Alice-in-Wonderland world would a shareholder be deemed to be conflicted from representing the interests of other shareholders because he is, well, a shareholder too."..."this “long-term vs. short-term” excuse is a canard and particularly inapt in the case of Yahoo!. If there ever was a company in need of a sense of urgency, it is this one."..." Was it “short-term” thinking that led Third Point to push for the resignations of Jerry Yang, Roy Bostock, Arthur Kern and Vyomesh Joshi? If so, is there a Yahoo! shareholder on the planet who thinks this “short-term” thinking was bad for the Company? Was it “short-term” thinking that led Third Point to speak up for shareholders by questioning the fairness of the attempt by the Company to give away control to private equity funds – without receiving a premium – to entrench Roy Bostock and Jerry Yang? Or to suggest, as Third Point has, that the Company’s stake in Alibaba is more valuable than generally understood, and that the Company should hold on to it unless it can get fair value? Was it “short-term” thinking to point out the lack of media and advertising expertise on the Board and nominate extraordinarily qualified nominees to fill that gaping hole?" And so on. Loeb concludes amicably: "We remain willing to engage further with you but will not deviate from our demand for badly-needed shareholder representation." We are confident his next letter, which will be released in 1-2 months, will hardly be so pleasant.

Dylan Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer, Matt Taibbi, Van Jones: Superstar Lineup Tackles Financial Crisis and Congressional Collusion. An unprecedented live-streaming event March 27th 7pm EST brings together some of the hottest critics of our political and economic system.