1) Ben Bernanke In A Humvee: Why The Fed Bailed Out Europe (Marketplace) - The big news this week was the concerted effort on the part of the Fed and other central banks to provide liquidity to Europe in the midst of their current crisis. This rocketed the Dow 500 points in a day. But what really happened, in plain English? Heidi Moore explains and it's well worth the read.
2) I'm Tired Of All The Exaggerated Lies About Goldman Sachs (Forbes) - I know I publish a lot of stuff that might not cast Goldman in the most favorable light, so I thought I'd include this piece today. I can't disagree with any of it other than the myth that Goldman would have survived 2008 without bailout help. That's simply not the case.
3) How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word of Fannie Mae Rescue (Bloomberg) - Speaking of Goldman circa 2008, it was revealed this week that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave inside information about the Fannie Mae rescue to Goldman Sachs and other hedge funds, informing them that shareholders would be wiped out in the conservatorship. According to legal experts, he didn't break any laws, but that doesn't mean it wasn't skeevy as hell.
4) Money Found in Britain May Belong to MF Global (DealBook) - Evidently $200 million of the missing MF Global money is sitting in JP Morgan Chase accounts in Britain. It looks like MF Global may have used the customer funds to cover an overdraft of their account at JPM in their final days and, if that ends up being the case, somebody needs to fry for it. Preferably somebody with a beard, who used to be governor of New Jersey.
5) What would happen if an asteroid hit U.S. banks? (Yahoo! News) - The Fed's new stress tests have some folks nervous about the negative impact they might have on lending and liquidity. According to Dick Bove, "This is a really stupid stress test." He then reiterated his buy rating on BAC (just kidding!).
6) Wall St. banks wonder if they are shrinking for good (MSNBC) - This seems to be the question on all of our minds right now (well, I'm actually more concerned at the moment about whether I'll be able to find a sitter for my kids so I can go get tossed tonight, but...). Are we in the midst of a cyclical contraction, or is this the new face of banking in America? And if so, can falling compensation be far behind?
7) S&P Reveals Why It Downgraded All The Big Banks (Business Insider) - The other big news this week was the raft of ratings downgrades in the banking sector. None of the major banks were immune. S&P called it a "recalibration" of their rating methodologies. Nothing to see here. Remain calm, all is well.
8) Sarkozy calls for new European treaty as euro enters make-or-break week (The Guardian) - It's crunch time for the Euro. If something doesn't get hammered out on December 9, it might be all over but the crying. Still, France and Germany are having a hard time finding common ground. Germany is insisting on a more unified central European government, but France is unwilling to give up that much sovereignty. Meanwhile Italy pays more to finance its government bonds than I do on my credit cards.
9) Wall of text: I work in Wall Street and work in hedge fund analysis. I'm the only person in my office who supports OWS. (Reddit) - Yeah, that's right - Reddit. This was posted by a first-year hedge fund analyst, and it lays out how screwed the average investor is. He goes into how hedge funds are killing the 99%, and I challenge you to refute him. As usual, there's some pure gold in the comments as well.
10) Kan. Man Sues Couple He Took Hostage (KMBC) - Okay, this one made me laugh. This clayhead busts into this couple's home and holds them hostage while the police are looking for him, and now he's suing the couple for breach of contract because they snuck out of the house and went to police when he fell asleep on their couch (apparently they promised to hide him from the cops).
The Video of the Week this week is just awesome. At first I felt like I had to show you guys
(seriously, go check it out. He's good, and it's kinda disturbing). But then I saw the following video and it was no contest. It's not even a video, really. It's just a screenshot of Adam Carolla's ugly mug, but in the background is one of the most EPIC rants about Occupy Wall Street and this generation of entitled shitheels that I've ever heard. He goes OFF, and it's hysterical. Even better: he's right. You really do need to listen to this. Enjoy:As always, let me know what you think of this week's bananas, and have a great weekend!
Very good links.
11) My birthday is today
Does the Bernanke bailed out Europe at marketplace.org link not work for anyone else? I'd really like to check that one out. Also, didn't we just finish watching a video of Steve Schwarzmann chuckling and saying "probably not gonna happen"?
bortz,
It's working fine for me (I'm using Chrome). It's not really a bailout, Heidi uses the analogy of a motorist giving another motorist gasoline so he doesn't run out and cause an accident.
Eddie thanks for that video rant. It was fucking awesome.
4 - Can I come to the torch burning and pitchfork riot? I looked up to this guy for years until I learned what a jerkoff he was...and then he went and did this.
6 - no, they'll find new places to do business, but it's going to be a rough bunch of years ahead
#7 - is a big CYA move.
9 - HF's are doing better than the others, but the average person is still coming out ahead by saving some money in a 401K. This brings us to:
Adam Corolla: he's right about some of the people in OWS / Al Quaeda / whatever, but there's a very broad spectrum of motivations...some of which I and many other productive people agree with. Lumping everyone into one category and making blanket statements is about as useless as OWS itself, and attention from people like him in the media is what fueled OWS and gave them any importance in the first place. Corolla is an ok comedian sometimes, but I think he's overshooting on the rhetoric a bit.
Shouting "shut the fuck up and get back to work" is easy to do and applies in some cases, but coming from a guy who never did so doesn't get much respect. With all due respect to Corolla, he's a comedian and when he's not funny...that's his fault. He is typically a fountain of degenerate ignorance, and if he's not going to lead by example maybe he can follow his own advice and shut the fuck up.
Make me laugh funny man, or go home.
Corzine just subpoenaed by Congress. Here's a preview of his expected testimony, courtesy of ZeroHedge:
F, I, F..FIF!!!! I like the links.
I forget where Eddie posted it, but I agree with where he mentioned the mandatory draft with zero deferments. It would put an immediate stop to unnecessary foreign wars/crusades.
haha Yeah I guess you're right. Just look at G.W. Bush, he was patrolling the mean skies of Texas while most of the other pilots were shitting themselves about the possibility of a stay at the Hanoi Hilton.
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