1) Dawn Loggins, Student, Heading To Harvard After Being Homeless, Abandoned By Parents (Huffington Post) - Thought I'd kick this week off with an inspirational story about a girl who had a crap childhood and managed to overcome the odds and be admitted to Harvard. Her miserable upbringing put her way behind the 8-ball, and she had to bust her ass to catch up, even working as a janitor while she went to high school. Not only did Harvard accept her, they've offered her a full ride and help finding a job on campus. Way to overcome the odds.

2) Who's who in the Goldman Sachs power struggle (CNN Money) - Here's a little Goldman porn for you, Game of Thrones style. Who's the next CEO of the Vampire Squid? More important, what's his email address?

3) Facebook Amends IPO S-1 To Admit Advertising Biz Hurt By Increasing Shift To Mobile (TechCrunch) - Get ready for Facebook overload next week, as the IPO is set to bow next Friday. Prior to that, though, Facebook has had to file six (count 'em: 6) amendments to their S-1. The latest amendment basically admits that they're getting their asses kicked by mobile, which goes a long way to explaining the thinking behind spending $1 billion on Instagram. Zuck's no dummy and he's clearly cashing out at the top.

4) Analyst Slams Mark Zuckerberg For Wearing His Hoodie To IPO Meeting (Business Insider) - In yet another example of the growing power shift from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, Wedbush MD Michael Pachter was positively skewered when he made a snarky comment about Zuckerberg showing up to the road show in a hoodie. I just have to quote this epic response by angel investor Dave McClure which just about sums it up:

"what a complete douchebag. like a goddamn hoodie matters as much as the product, the market, or their business. Zuck could wear his tighty-fucking-whities to work and as long as he keeps delivering i'll take him over some lying sack of shit trying to pull a fast one on me by wearing a nice-looking suit."

**EDIT** I just happened to see Henry Blodget's thoughts on the matter, and I couldn't agree more.

5) Avoiding the Next Big Bailout (Wall Street Journal) - I'm cautiously optimistic that somebody over at the FDIC might actually be thinking these days. They're already planning for the next (inevitable) collapse, and next time it's not going to be the picnic for CEOs and bondholders that this last one was. The new plan includes seizing the parent company while allowing subsidiaries to continue operating, wiping out shareholders, and delivering serious haircuts to bond holders by forcing conversions to equity. Now if they'd just stick to their guns...

6) No "get out of jail free" card for Wall Street bankers. (Credo Action) - I was having a drink yesterday with an auditor buddy of mine who has been around forever. He got fired from Peat Marwick (not a typo) in 1984 because he refused to certify an S&L's financials. We were talking about how many C-level execs went to jail behind the S&L crisis, and the current crisis is 30 times worse (and counting - not adjusted for inflation) and there hasn't been a single prosecution. In the S&L crisis there were 1,100 prosecutions, 839 convictions, and the FBI had over 5,000 criminal investigations. This time around? Crickets.

7) U.S. Millionaires Told Go Away as Tax Evasion Rule Looms (Bloomberg) - Well, it looks like Big Brother has succeeded in making American citizens into banking pariahs the world over. The new regulations are so intrusive and the cost of compliance is so high that foreign banks no longer want to do business with Americans. Guess they'll be coming after our guns next.

8) New American Dream is Renting; Reflections on Renting Houses, Cars, Books, Clothes; Will Rentership Fuel the Next Boom? What About Home Prices? (Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis) - There's an old saying among the affluent regarding boats, planes, and women: if it flies, floats, or fucks you're better off renting it. It seems the rest of the population is now hip to this truism as renting is the new killing it. Be sure to check out the Journal article Mish links to in this post as well.

9) Is Wall Street Meeting God's Expectations? (Wall Street Journal) - I don't know why I threw this one in there. Some will enjoy it, some will no doubt get pissed off. I never tried to justify my line of work in biblical terms, but I suppose it can be problematic for those who do. Here's another verse to ponder: It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. How do you square that straightforward admonition with your drive for ballerism?

10) Hacking the iPod: How I Earned $65K in High School Off Busted Apple Products (Gizmodo) - This is just too fuckin' cool. Nothing like getting a threatening phone call from an Apple corporate lawyer when you're only 16. Awesome that this kid made $65,000 before he was even old enough for a PayPal account.

The Video of the Week this week is the trailer for the new movie Argo. Most of you are too young to remember this stuff (even I was only 10 when it happened), but when Iranian revolutionaries seized the American embassy in 1979, six diplomats managed to sneak out a back door and take refuge in the Canadian ambassador's residence. Tony Mendez, a CIA exfiltration expert, was called in to rescue them and came up with the idea to film a fake movie on location in Iran and get them out by saying they were part of the film crew. It sounds crazy, and it was, but it worked and was known at the time as the Canadian Caper. The movie looks solid. Suck it, Iran:

That's it for this week, guys. Let me know what you think in the comments and have a fantastic weekend!