Posts Tagged ‘Goldman Sachs’

A.I.G. = Amazing Insider Gall

Monday, July 6th, 2009

INSIDER TRADING IS A CRIME.

There are some Players who need to be put in federal penitentiaries and whose assets we need to seize.  Otherwise, ASIDE FROM THE MORAL HAZARD OF CRIME PAYING REALLY WELL IN AMERICA, confidence will not be restored to the market.  Or to the dollar.  ”We” — very royal, that we — are exposed before the world as liars, thieves, scam artists and charlatans.  Also bullies, it bears mention.

And yet We The People, the OTHER dilettantes, are afraid to prosecute and punish our own Bad Guys.

Goldman SACKS Executives — and Harvard and Yale Universities, it ALSO bears mention — feature in a percent and notoriety of our scandals that is entirely outta whack with Laws of Probability.

Did I read rightly that an aide to Barney Frank has been successfully recruited to lobby for Goldman Sachs?  May I remind my gullible countrymen that Barney Frank is not incidental but CENTRAL to the Subprime Slash Derivative disaster-slash-conflict-of-interest that fueled the Mortgage Meltdown which fueled the Housing Crisis which is fueling busts in commercial real estate and corporate paper.

Allow me to suggest that lobbying should be unlawful.  Failing that — ‘cuz we all know that MONEY TALKS AND BULLSHIT WALKS IN AMERICA — allow me to suggest that former Public Servants should be prohibited from entering the oh-so-lucrative lobbying industry and that Mercenaries from the oh-so-lucrative lobbying industry should be prohibited from holding public office.

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Global Shortage of Turnable Cheeks

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

I would say ‘I can hardly believe my ears’ but my hearing is not yet among the several Minor Mutinies that characterize Middle Age.  I am listening to Secretary Goldman Sachs Paulson say on C-SPAN, “There is no reason for people not to be confident, in my judgment.”

Who in their right mind would be reassured by this?  Who but the most inside track of the Inner Circle that is the conglomeration of wealth and power in America would be rendered confident by Secretary Paulson’s assurance that, in his judgment, there is no reason not to be confident?  Secretary Paulson’s judgment is specifically at issue.

You can’t have this both ways…either the man is brilliant, or he’s a dope.  Someone from “The Street” recently remarked to me on Henry Paulson’s Smarts, “He’s REALLY smart…he’s from Goldman Sachs.”  I cannot be the only one noticing how often Goldman Sachs features in America’s New & Improved New Deal.  It puts me in mind of how often Harvard and Yale feature in our ongoing political saga.   

Either Henry Paulson didn’t see It coming, in which case he is incompetent and just about the last person whose stewardship we want now.  Not seeing economic imbalance of this magnitude, with all the financial measurement tools and analysis skill available for determination of financial conditions, seems about as plausible as not knowing that a hurricane is coming with all the measurement tools and analysis skill available for determination of atmospheric conditions.  

Or Henry Paulson is a wizard, in which case he DID see it coming…as many did…and he is, again, just about the last person whose stewardship we want now.

I also listened to Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment.  VERY impressive, she is…intelligent, articulate, logical, likable.  But I disagree with her on this.  She pointedly declined a question about the U.S. role in the International Crisis, saying that it serves no purpose now to play the Blame Game.

She is right in a sense, of course…survival first.  I only just yesterday came across this quote attributed to Henry Kissinger, “While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.”

But we are a high-speed, multi-tasking people…we can walk and chew gum at the same time.  We can prosecute capital letter Wrongdoers concurrent with bailing out lower case wrongdoers and upper case Dummies.   It would be a pretty ironic time for us to get all focused and first-things-first-y but, if we WERE inclined to sensible orderliness…which would have averted a Mortgage Meltdown…we would whisk the Bad Guys off the board BEFORE introducing a Rescue Package to the game.  

Ms. Lagarde anticipates the burgeoning of Ethics in university curriculum…again…as there was pursuant to an earlier episode of As The World Turns On Its Axis Of Evil.  If the bit of history about Organized White Collar Crime has repeated itself, and the bit about absence of ethics has repeated itself, we have every reason to suppose that they will both repeat themselves again.  

IN PARTICULAR can we expect Organized White Collar Crime (a.k.a. Racketeering) and Absence of Ethics to reassert themselves if they have been profitable in the past.  Again.  If we will not aggressively pursue the several crimes that UNMISTAKABLY “underpin” this man-made disaster, but instead will effectively and substantially REWARD the crimes, then all the Ethics classes in the world won’t mean a thing.  The theory is blah, blah, blah.  The reality is that criminal behavior is lucrative.  People gravitate to that which is lucrative, they are quite reliable that way.

Ms. Lagarde points out practically that there would be so MANY fingers to point, as support for the argument against playing the Blame Game.  I see it oppositely.  Because there are so many fingers to point is EXACTLY why some heads must roll.  No economy, no country, no civilization and therefore no individual can afford to throw in the towel by lamenting that there is SO much wrong, there is no point in correcting ANY wrong.  

It would not be feasible to prosecute every shifty real estate agent and indiscreet loan officer even if it were necessary, which it is not.  The buck stops somewhere in every chain of command.  For what reason would people in those positions be paid big bucks if not to make sure companies and economies don’t fall into preventable crisis?  Who ELSE would be culpable for a wide-ranging, far-reaching, ongoing lapse of sound business practice?

I would have to watch the segment again to know whether Christine Lagarde reported this as her own experience, or whether she was relaying an experience reported by another.  Indeed, the remark directly preceded her welcoming “Senior” minds into the discussion…people who have lived through previous crises, people with experience…and her thanking one distinguished gentleman in particular.  It is possible that she was relaying his experience, also thanking him for his insight.

Whether it was Ms. Lagarde or the distinguished gentleman she personally thanked, the story was that “these young guys” came from America to explain the whole derivative market thing.  This goes here like that, that goes there like this, yada yada yada about “scattered risk” until, voila, “I was buying something without any risk at all…and I thought, ‘well, this is bollocks.’”  The room erupted in an appreciative laugh…THANK YOU, an official who is not lying…but the Truth is, it’s not funny.

It is the Bollocks, the Corrupt Executives and Corrupt Officials, who should be thrown behind the same bars that they are so free and easy about slamming other people behind.  OUT, in disgrace, the “merely” inept…sans parachutes.  Let that be a lesson to Middle Management and tangential providers.  Hanging horse thieves is part of our Wild West heritage.  Public stockades are part of our Pilgrim past. 

This is a fine time to quit worrying about what the neighbors think.  Have we not been sold on a War On Terror these many years?  Implicit in that War On Terror is an abiding threat that Terrorists mean to harm us if they can, is it not?  We are meant to be constantly vigilant for sign of infiltration or attack, are we not?  If we will not fearlessly round up our OWN Bad Guys, if we will not compel our OWN People unto observance of Law by smiting our OWN Bad Guys, how else can our enemies construe it but that we are a bunch of weenies?

We are talking about Executive Compensation when we should be acting on Executive Consequences.

And we are NOT talking about Economic Terrorism…why is that?  Usually Homeland Security is everywhere you don’t want to be.  For sure, I haven’t seen this many people terrified people since the run-up to War in Iraq…the last time Administration, Congress and Media worked in concert to scare the bejeezus out of the citizenry.

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Begging For Billions

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

We are as free to hold tight to our beliefs as Big Shots are to hold tight to their Midas-like fortunes.  I believe I speak for millions when I say I am astonished afresh by the stinginess and mean-spiritedness of America’s Top One Percenters.  Back in the day…you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth…they used to say, “You oughtta be ashamed of yourself.”

But the Conscienceless Uber Rich are shameless.  It is disgusting that the tippy-top of the Top One Percent sits silently in their counting houses waiting for the Deals that will come into stark relief once all the crap has been bought up by a tax-ravaged citizenry.  AND they don’t care that it is disgusting.  I believe the expression is that they, “laugh their way to the bank.”

It IS disgusting, they ARE disgusting…what’re they gonna do about it?  Sue me?

 Not bloody likely.  They may not be traitors but, almost without exception, they are the most extraordinary cheapskates.  I will argue that some of them ARE Traitors.  

 I will propose a word problem, such as one might (and I contend ought) to learn how to solve in our excellent public school system.  I know many object to public education, both that it is compulsory and that it is expensive, but I implore them to re-visit their positions.  The only thing more dangerous and more unruly than Bad Guys is Ignorant Masses.

 Secretary Paulson, who we have every reason to suspect of malfeasance, deems that the markets MUST have an infusion of at least $700 billion.  We’re not sure whether that’s the $700 billion that was funneled on schedule, while millions of people were distractedly making urgent and heartfelt appeals to their elected representatives NOT to do exactly that.  I will assume that $700 billion is still the skeletal price of admission.

 Inspiring wider positive impact on the Market, Warren Buffet invested $5 billion dollars last week in floundering Goldman Sachs.  It being so strikingly coincidental, it seems worth noting that Secretary Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs before he became “secretary” of the Treasury of the United States of America.  Also that, until yesterday anyway, he was estimated to be worth more than SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.

 

Wall Street higher on Buffet’s Goldman investment

  www.chinaview.cn  2008-09-24 22:06:59

 NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) — Wall Street climbed in early trading Wednesday, after Goldman Sachs won 5 billion U.S. dollars investment from Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

 Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said Tuesday it would invest at least 5 billion dollars in preferred stock of Goldman Sachs. In addition, Berkshire also got warrants to buy another 5 billion dollars in Goldman’s common stock. Meanwhile, Goldman also said late Tuesday it would raise another 2.5 billion dollars in its equity offering.

 The news bolstered confidence in the nation’s banking system and sent shares of Goldman Sachs and major indexes higher.

  Moreover, the market also awaited progress in the U.S. government’s financial rescue package. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are scheduled to appear before Congress for a second day Wednesday on a 700-billion-dollar bailout plan to rescue financial services firms.

 Oil prices perked up Wednesday. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 2.49 dollars to 109.10 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Editor: Yao

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/24/content_10104824.htm

 

 In 2007, America topped the charts with 449 American billionaires.  I spy new a new Olympic event…Money Changing.  What could be of fiercer competition or greater worldwide interest than no-holds-barred money manufacture and manipulation.  Whoever ends up with the most, wins.  THAT’S the stuff of ‘Root, root, root for the home team.’  

I’m trying to think how “there’s no ‘I’ in team” squares with mounting evidence that there is also no ‘home’ in home team.

 Russia came in a distant second, with 87 billionaires, though I have heard that Russia is now gaining billionaires at a faster rate than the U.S., or maybe it was faster than anyone.  That’s whatcha call hearsay. The wikipedia entry to which I refer contains a list of the number of billionaires by country, and a separate list of the number of billionaire bona fide Ruling Elite.  Parenthetically, there is no entry for China on either list…which speaks trillions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_the_number_of_billionaires 

 It is reasonable to suppose that several more billionaires were “made” in 2008.  It is equally reasonable to suppose, particularly after yesterday, that several have been knocked off their pedestals…which is NOT to say out of their Ivory Towers.

 If you were worth $50 million last month and you’re worth $25 million this week…and make no mistake, there ARE such people…I’m not gonna lie, that’s a hit.  Not a heartbreaker, except for the Loser.  It surely doesn’t warrant government intervention but, equally surely, that’s a hit that will command a few life changes.

 One of the tricks to word problems is sorting through what’s relevant and what’s not.  That last paragraph…while provocative on its face and key, I think, to some bigger picture issues…has no bearing on the word problem.  Nor, I happen to already know, does the next paragraph.

 In what used to be called Generally Accepted Accounting Practices, it is customary to round down…to be conservative.

 It is not conservative to assume a basic monthly nut of, say, $3179 against a salary of $36,000 per year by deluding yourself that they both constitute “basically,” “roughly,” “right about,” “pretty much exactly,”  $3000 per month.

 It is conservative to suppose that there are 400 American billionaires.

 X = $5 billion, the value of Warren Buffet’s investment in Goldman Sachs.

 Y = 400, the number of American billionaires.

 Z = number of American billionaires who would have to make same investment as Warren Buffet in order to produce aggregate infusion of capital of $700 billion

(EXTRA CREDIT, 10/6/08: Solve also for Q = $850,000,000,000)

 Part I: 

Does America have enough billionaires that, if they each invested the same amount that Warren Buffet invested, it would collectively constitute a cash infusion of $700 billion and, if so, how many American billionaires who largely made their billions off of America would have to step up the plate of Service To Country?

 PART II:

The original not-a-bailout bailout was deemed to be necessary “by” last Friday or hellfire and damnation upon us.  Others hold that the first of the month/payroll i.e. tomorrow is the date by which, without cash infusion, hellfire and damnation upon us.  The original bill was not passed by last Friday, nor did hellfire and damnation rain down.  Do you have enough information to determine whether claims about the first of the month are true?

 PART III:

Setting the language of the Constitution aside but bearing in mind only highest principles, write a paragraph on whether those who are  established upon an incomprehensibly high socioeconomic plane might reasonably be expected under the implied Social Contract to exercise largesse at times of particular societal distress.  Send it to the people who are well paid, by you, to claim they represent you.

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