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| Monday, February 8th, 2010 | | 11:09 am |
| | Friday, February 5th, 2010 | | 9:58 pm |
Let me translate:
who will give me money, and how much?Facing intense and mounting pressure to step aside, embattled Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor Scott Lee Cohen is seeking an “honorable way” out, a Cohen campaign source said Friday night.
Cohen, who mostly kept out of the public eye Friday, said as recently as Thursday that he had no plans to quit. But with Democrats across the state urging him to re-think that decision, Cohen appears to be concerned how revelations about his private life might hurt the Democratic party. | | Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | | 8:23 pm |
I will punish the shorts.... that is my goal
(uttered by Dick Fuld of Lehman).... as a backstory, one of the loudest whiners in the stock shorting game is Overstock.com. They have complained for years (mostly without proof) that their company is the victim of the evil short-sellers, and if only the SEC would do its job, their stock price would rise. Or, it turns out, maybe the short-sellers were right, and your company is fucking toastI wish I'd had the balls to short them, but I didn't. Blaming short-sellers is like blaming the refs for making a bad call. It usually means your company (or team) has serious fundamental problems. | | 5:22 pm |
Dear Congress and SEC:
This is what having a spine looks likeIn an extraordinary ultimatum that has shocked some of the City's biggest companies, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) told bank bosses that 60pc of all pay must be deferred, with no exceptions, even for those whose contracts conflicting with the edict.
Many of the global players have in recent weeks made representations to the City watchdog, in particular about pre-existing employment contracts that guarantee bonuses over a year or more. But their appeals have been met with the FSA's toughest yet response.
One pay executive in a major bank told The Daily Telegraph: "The message came back that while the FSA agreed that it does not have jurisdiction over contractual law, it does have jurisdiction over issuing bank licences in London, and that we should go away and unwind the contracts."
And if you think this can't happen in the U.S., it's exactly how the Feds got the drinking age raised to 21.
| | 7:58 am |
Maybe we need to get some new forecasters....
Jobless Claims Still Gaining; Productivity Up 6.2 PercentThe number of U.S. workers filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, according to a government report on Thursday that pointed to a labor market still under stress even as the economy grows.
Maybe, just maybe, throwing 700,000,000,000 dollars in porkulus at a problem, and not actually changing anything about the financial system, nor actually doing anything to create jobs wasn't a great idea.
Why is it still "unexpected" that the economy is in the shitter??? The economy isn't really growing, if you subtract out the porkulus and the inventory correction.
Not that I am short and bitter.
| | Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 | | 7:04 pm |
| | 9:43 am |
For Schmengie (Illinois election porn... SFW)...
from the WSJ (subscription possibly required), emphasis mine: The scandal also left many voters in a foul mood. "Almost anybody who is office now, I don't want them in. They're part of the problem," said Renee Castelluzzo, who owns an advertising agency in Chicago and said she cast a vote for Mr. Hynes as a protest against Gov. Quinn. "We desperately need new blood." Ms. Castelluzzo, a Republican, said she took a Democratic ballot so she could vote for Mr. Giannoulias because she thinks Mr. Kirk will roll over him in the general election. Illinois voters aren't required to declare their party affiliation until they reach the ballot box. "I want to balance the Senate," she said. "The less they do the better." | | 8:37 am |
| | Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 | | 5:01 pm |
| | Monday, February 1st, 2010 | | 8:49 am |
Behold, I am become death, the destroyer of worlds...
At least for the Democrats in Illinois / Chicago. Tomorrow we have primary elections. The governor is up, the Cook County board president is up, and a few others. I'm going to print out a Democratic ballot, find all the incumbents, and vote against every single one of them. As polls sit now, the sitting governor (well, Blago's replacement) as well as the Cook County board president, are both looking dicey. There's almost no chance the Cook County board will go Republican in Novemeber, but I'm going to enjoy giving Todd a kick out the door tomorrow. | | 7:10 am |
I-Bankers want you to hate them, 2010 edition....
So, they changed the rules to pay bankers in stock instead of cash. Supposedly, it means risk taking should go down (if I give you stock, but you can't sell it for five years, you don't want to blow up the company until then....). Ignoring for a minute that there are better and safer ways to incent people, when you see articles like this from the WSJ, you just want to bang your head against the wall.... Investment bankers in the U.S. have begun using equity derivatives to convert restricted shares paid as bonuses into cash, side-stepping new guidelines on remuneration which were designed to prevent bankers cashing out for at least three years, according to a headhunter. The bankers are using over-the-counter equity derivatives strategies such as call options, put options and collars to monetise their shares now, albeit at a discount to what they would receive if they waited for the restrictions to lift. The revelation comes as global regulators seek to put an end to large cash bonuses in favour of deferred awards which tie bankers' compensation to long-term performance.
....
"Rather than wait three or five years for the restrictions to pass, bankers would rather take a discount of up to 50% now just to get out and do something else."
So, Goldman goes and gives Joe Bankster $10,000,000 in stock as a bonus. But he can't sell until 2015. Rather than hold onto that stock for five years, he'd rather enter into an arcane, over-the-counter (read "No Paper Trail") transaction, and get $5,000,000 today.
What does that tell *you* about Joe's feelings about the future stock price?
| | Friday, January 29th, 2010 | | 8:21 am |
Administration Optics: TOTAL FAIL.
From The Hill, via Naked Capitalism: After Obama rips lobbyists, K St. insiders get private briefingsA day after bashing lobbyists, President Barack Obama’s administration has invited K Street insiders to join private briefings on a range of topics addressed in Wednesday’s State of the Union.
The Treasury Department on Thursday morning invited selected individuals to “a series of conference calls with senior Obama administration officials to discuss key aspects of the State of the Union address.”
The invitation, which went to a variety of stakeholders, was sent by Fred Baldassaro, a senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Business Affairs and Public Liaison.
The invitation stated, “The White House is encouraging you to participate in these calls and will have a question and answer session at the end of each call. As a reminder, these calls are not intended for press purposes.”
The calls are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, with the first topic being job creation and economic growth.
In case you've forgotten, here's what The Chosen One said Wednesday night:
We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.
Yeah, I can't think of any better way to end lobbyist influence than INVITING THEM TO PRIVATE "NOT FOR PRESS" BRIEFINGS.
It's almost like Obama wants to fail, at this point.
| | Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | | 6:54 am |
Consider the source, but still...
Prez's power lunch: Schmoozes biz bigsHe may be taking a fighting stance against Wall Street in speeches, but President Obama is now making nice to big businesses in private.
Obama tried to smooth ruffled corporate feathers at an intimate White House lunch with the heads of six major companies Tuesday, sources told The Post.
The tone of the meal suggested that the president felt he'd taken his attacks too far, said one person familiar with the private meeting.
Obama wanted to make clear to attendees that he was not out to destroy business and asked them to offer advice on the economy and encouraged them to voice problems or issues they might be harboring about the government's approach, sources said.
"I'm gonna go out and sound tough..... but don't worry, it's business as usual guys." | | Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | | 10:03 am |
More "Best of Calculated Risk Comments Section"
Luke: How did the economy die? Obi-Wan: A young debti named Tax eVader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the debti knights. He betrayed and murdered the economy. Now the debti are all but extinct. eVader was seduced by the dark side of the Farce. | | Sunday, January 24th, 2010 | | 9:29 pm |
Vikings / Saints
1) I just love that Brett Favre completely vapor-locked and tossed that INT at the end of regulation. Work hard all year, drag your team to the brink of the Super Bowl, and then fuck them. I don't know who cheered louder, New Orleans or the state of Wisconsin. 2) What is it with defensive players trying to pick up fumbles? FALL ON THE FUCKING BALL. (I'm thinking mostly of the idiot who allowed Minn to keep the ball leading to their third touchdown). | | 7:31 pm |
I thought I was reading The Onion.
But no...... SEC Mulled National Security Status for AIG Bailout DetailsU.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.
The request to keep the details secret were made by the New York Federal Reserve—a regulator that helped orchestrate the bailout—and by the giant insurer itself, according to the emails.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME.
And in case anyone forgot.... the guy who was president of the New York Fed during all this? That would be Tim Geithner.
| | 9:53 am |
Continuing in their self-destruction...
Axelrod: No White House shake-up in the worksGeithner should *definitely* go. But since they're too spineless to do that (OOO NO, 5% DROP IN MR. MARKET), they should at least be making Napolitano walk the plank. How can we have change we can believe in, when it's the same ineffectual dorks who have been there since Day 1? Show me you're serious about change. Put some heads on pikes on the Front Lawn. | | Friday, January 22nd, 2010 | | 8:19 am |
| | Thursday, January 21st, 2010 | | 4:19 pm |
| | 11:01 am |
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