Author Archives: Lila

Rewriting of History Underway

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Taibbi on the tea-parties, being sloppy with his facts again, all in the name of rhetoric:

“It’s amazing, literally amazing to me, that it wasn’t until Obama pushed through a package containing a massive public works package and significant homeowner aid that conservatives took to the streets. In other words, it wasn’t until taxes turned into construction jobs and mortgage relief that working and middle-class Americans decided to protest. I didn’t see anyone on the street when we forked over billions of dollars to help JP Morgan Chase buy Bear Stearns. And I didn’t see anyone on the street when Hank Paulson forked over $45 more billion to help Bank of America buy Merrill Lynch, a company run at the time by one of the world’s biggest assholes, John Thain. Moreover I didn’t see any street protests when the government agreed to soak up hundreds of billions in “troubled assets” from Citigroup, a company that just months later would lend out a jet furnished with pillows upholstered with Hermes scarves to former chief Sandy Weill so that he could vacation in Mexico over Christmas.”

My Comment:

Er, Matt. It was the Dems who rolled over for the bail-outs. It was the Republicans, the Southern Republicans, who stymied it first time round…until they had their arms twisted.

Before you got your consciousness  raised on the subject several years late, it was right libertarians who were objecting most strongly to the financializing of the economy…..

The Penson video post wasn’t as big a deal as it was made out to be, to my mind. But this post and his debate on 9-11 with David Griffin (at Alternet) do betray some ignorance…

Update:

Louis Proyect has a review of “Dime’s Worth of Difference” (Cockburn and St. Clair) that has a precis that will disabuse anyone inclined to believe the Democrats are more people-friendly than the Republicans…

Billionaire Nabbed In Largest Hedge Insider Scheme

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In the news (:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asliefsvW5Zc)

“Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of Galleon Group, and ex-directors at a Bear Stearns Cos. hedge fund were among six people charged in a $20 million insider trading scheme federal prosecutors called the biggest ever involving hedge funds.

Also accused were Rajiv Goel, who worked at Intel Capital as a director in strategic investments, Anil Kumar, who worked as a director at McKinsey & Co., and IBM Corp. executive Robert Moffat. The former officials at Bear Stearns Asset Management are Danielle Chiesi and Mark Kurland, who were affiliated with the firm’s New Castle Partners, which managed about $1 billion.

“The defendants operated in a world of, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said at a press conference today. “Greed, sometimes, is not good.”

My Comment

The biggest hedge scam – there you go. Anything Westerners can do, Easterners can do better. We’re not going to settle for any penny-ante crime anymore.  Now you know how at least one South Asian billionaire got rich so fast. Nothing like having an edge…

What’s interesting is that this is the first time that the Fed’s used wire-tapping to target insider trading on Wall Street. Until now that tool has been the reserve of organized crime and drug cases.

Fraud On the Run: Goldman Cop On SEC Beat (ROTFLOL)

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In the news, to be filed under – What parallel universe does New York live in?:

“Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission named Adam Storch, a 29-year-old from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s business intelligence unit, as the enforcement division’s first chief operating officer.

Storch, who joined the SEC Oct. 13, was named to the newly created post of managing executive in the enforcement unit, charged with making the division more efficient, the SEC said today in a statement. At New York-based Goldman Sachs, he had worked since 2004 in a unit at that reviewed contracts and transactions for signs of fraud.”

My Comment:

Personally, I’ve come to nurse a kind of contemptuous respect for, an appalled amusement at Goldman Sachs. It’s the contrarian in me.

In-your-face-corrupt, shameless, self-promoting, out-of-touch, sanctimonious, and bottomlessly greedy –  It’s a firm made for our times…

If Goldman Sachs didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it.

Mid-East, Europe, Africa Securitizations Will Deteriorate More, Says Moody’s

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From the Global Arab Network:

“The performance of many asset classes in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) securitisation sector will continue to deteriorate throughout the rest of the year and into 2011, says Moody’s Investors Service in a new Special Report. The report examines the prospects of recovery for international securitisation in several asset classes and geographies: EMEA Auto ABS, UK Credit Card ABS, UK Non-Conforming RMBS, Spanish ABS and RMBS, Asia Pacific ABS and Global Derivatives. The rating agency expects performance volatility and uncertainty to decline in the coming months, although it cautions that a drop is predicated on achieving some level of economic moderation if not slight improvement, combined with the seasoning of securitised loan portfolios.

Moody’s says that although GDP growth is expected to turn positive in many countries in EMEA later this year or in early 2010, employment and home prices will continue to deteriorate well into 2010, which will lead to securitised loan losses remaining at elevated levels throughout 2011 and 2012.”

Taibbi’s Penson Video..(Correction)

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Correction:
(10/12/09, Monday)

I should have said “allegedly faked” video. I stand corrected. No weasel words, Mr. Byrne (see Byrne’s comment below).

I often post stories on which I have no comment or opinion one way or other, because I haven’t followed them, but think readers might like to. In my last several posts, in fact, I defended Deepcapture’s, Taibbi’s, and Zerohedge’s work, in spite of occasional alleged or real errors.

But the reason I linked to Wenzel’s blog is because Wenzel’s post is pretty funnily written, and I don’t follow Taibbi, except occasionally. I didn’t like his attacks on David Griffin, where he exposed himself as somewhat ignorant. Taibbi also doesn’t attribute people (apparently others have that complaint too). But arrogance and ignorance in one area don’t equate to being incorrect in another.

I’ll add a separate post with the rather long back and forth between Taibbi and his various critics and defenders. I went by Penson’s dismissal of the video, but I’ve since noted that Penson has some history that is troubling and tends to makes its dismissal less credible.

So what else might be construed as “weasel-worded” in my recent blogging?

Perhaps my rather neutral approach to the Byrne vs. Weiss feud, still going strong. Well, I’m neutral about it – who stalked whom, etc. etc. – because I don’t know the ins and outs of it. I had my own experience of being harassed, and can barely keep up with the details of that, let alone someone else’s stalking experience.

I also don’t know which of the two abuses of the market – “stock pumping and money laundering” (criticized by the Wall Street “captured” media) or “naked-shorting” (criticized by Byrne, Davidson “ “Bob O’Brien,” and many others, including Taibbi) – is the more momentous.

As a libertarian, I think naked-shorting is, but that’s only my opinion. Which is why I’ve been neutral. My sense is both abuses are real and extensive.

Likewise, I really don’t know enough about what the SEC’s investigation of Overstock is about. Could it be punitive?

Quite likely, given all we know about the SEC. But does that mean everything else the SEC does is incorrect? Unlikely.

Does that mean what Byrne wrote about “naked short selling” is incorrect? No.

Final point. I tend not to like shrill personal attacks.

That’s a deferral to civility and complexity, not weasel-wordedness.

ORIGINAL POST:

On Matt Taibbi getting suckered by a “faked” (quotes added for now) naked shorting video:

“Carney is a sharp guy, and he has Taibbi nailed on this one, but, I repeat, naked short selling, like a lot of Wall Street, is a very complex game. Carney in some of his other posts suggests there is nothing wrong with naked short-selling, he is off on that one. Some of it can be justified as simple market maker operations, but some of it is major league abuse by very clever insiders, which is the point Taibbi is taking, but doesn’t have the knowledge to back up properly.

Anyway, once you sit down an analyze the entire naked short selling thing, you realize that the bad naked short selling would go away if the SEC would stop issuing regulations that protect the bad guys. Basic common sense and commercial law would put an end to the bad naked short selling, real fast.

Bad naked short selling exists because there is a power source to manipulate, in this case the SEC, and the bad guys are running circles around the SEC.

What you want to understand naked short sales for yourself? Well pull up a chair, give yourself five hours and read this. It’s a great first step.

But, I tell you, it will be much more fun watching Taibbi attempt to pull the bayonet out of his brain.”

More by Robert Wenzel, at Economic Policy Journal.

Obama Wins Nobel for Bankster Bail-Outs and Af-Pak Bombing

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In the news:

“President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.”

My Comment:

Considering that Henry Kissinger has a Nobel prize, this is quite in tradition for the misnamed Nobel prize – a highly political award. Maybe some of the Swedish banks that got into trouble in Latvia are greatful for the Obama team’s globalization of QE (Quantitative Easing), after their lending spree in Latvia.

And nuclear disarmament? After two weeks in office?

Even the report displays skepticism:

“Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.”

In short, it’s an astute, if blatant, piece of public relations.

Some questions for the Nobel Laureate:

Question: Is the US Govt. going to lay down most of its nuclear weapons? Or is it going to make nominal reductions, while using that to prevent any other country gaining even a single weapon?

Question: Is the US Govt. going to reduce surveillance, quit bombing in South Asia, and threatening Iran?

Question: Is the US Govt. going to modulate its own life-style of excessive consumption (subsidized by US tax-payers and artificially cheap interest rates that effectively rob savers all over the globe) or is it going to be lecturing other countries on how to live frugally after a half century of reckless living?

(more later)

No Check Points in Heaven

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Palestinian activist Ramzy Baroud writes about his father’s struggles, and eventual death, in Gaza:

“My father’s reputation as an intellectual, his obsession with Russian literature, and his endless support of fellow refugees brought him untold trouble with the Israeli authorities, who retaliated by denying him the right to leave Gaza.

His severe asthma, which he developed as a teenager was compounded by lack of adequate medical facilities. Yet, despite daily coughing streaks and constantly gasping for breath, he relentlessly negotiated his way through life for the sake of his family. On one hand, he refused to work as a cheap labourer in Israel. “Life itself is not worth a shred of one’s dignity,” he insisted. On the other, with all borders sealed except that with Israel, he still needed a way to bring in an income. He would buy cheap clothes, shoes, used TVs, and other miscellaneous goods, and find a way to transport and sell them in the camp. He invested everything he made to ensure that his sons and daughter could receive a good education, an arduous mission in a place like Gaza.

But when the Palestinian uprising of 1987 exploded, and our camp became a battleground between stone-throwers and the Israeli army, mere survival became Dad’s new obsession. Our house was the closest to the Red Square, arbitrarily named for the blood spilled there, and also bordered the ‘Martyrs’ Graveyard’. How can a father adequately protect his family in such surroundings? Israeli soldiers stormed our house hundreds of times; it was always him who somehow held them back, begging for his children’s safety, as we huddled in a dark room awaiting our fate. “You will understand when you have your own children,” he told my older brothers as they protested his allowing the soldiers to slap his face. Our ‘freedom-fighting’ dad struggled to explain how love for his children could surpass his own pride. He grew in my eyes that day.

It’s been fourteen years since I last saw my father. As none of his children had access to isolated Gaza, he was left alone to fend for himself. We tried to help as much as we could, but what use is money without access to medicine? In our last talk he said he feared he would die before seeing my children, but I promised that I would find a way. I failed.”

Berlusconi Immunity Thrown Out by Constitutional Court

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Italy’s top court, the Constitutional Court, has thrown out a law granting immunity from prosecution to the president, Silvio Berlusconi:

“The law overturned Wednesday was pushed through by Berlusconi’s conservative coalition in 2008 when he faced separate trials in Milan for corruption and tax fraud tied to his Mediaset broadcasting empire. It granted immunity from prosecution while in office to the country’s four top office holders — the premier, the president of the republic and the two parliament speakers.

The proceedings against Berlusconi were suspended as a result of the law, drawing accusations that it was tailor-made for the premier.

The corruption trial is particularly threatening because, in the meantime, the premier’s co-defendant has been convicted of accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Berlusconi in another case.

Still, even if convicted, the premier would not be obliged to resign and could simply appeal, as sentences in Italy are usually not served until all avenues of appeal are exhausted.”