I'd actually planned to write about how surprised I was to see Bernanke re-appointed yesterday (I truly was - anyone who has read my TARP Guide knows I expected Larry Summers to be the next Fed chief), but then a buddy sent me this gem and I just couldn't pass it up.
Republican pin-up girl Ann Coulter fired a hilarious broadside at the Democrats and the Obama administration in her screed against Wall Street entitled, "Can We At Least Get a Toaster?" In the interest of full disclosure, I have to go on record as saying that I find Coulter to be an utterly distasteful harpy with the suspicious remnants of an Adam's apple, but that's just me. She is certainly not without her fans.
She reserves a special brand of vitriol (predictably) for Goldman Sachs, now that the firm's name has become synonymous with evil in the American psyche. Unfortunately, she has a point when she illustrates four lesser-known instances of government bailouts of the banks on questionable foreign bonds over the past 15 years. And I have to admit that I got a kick out of her dig at Corzine:
As Schweizer demonstrates, whenever the Democrats "regulate" Wall Street, the innocent pay through the nose, while Wall Street swine lower than drug dealers and pornographers end up with multimillion-dollar bonuses so they can run for governor of New Jersey and fund lavish Democratic fundraisers in the Hamptons.
Wall Street swine lower than drug dealers and pornographers...that's kinda got a nice ring to it, too. She's nothing if not entertaining. And a lot of banks make this too easy for talking heads like Coulter. Washington Mutual threw this meatball into her wheelhouse:
Before you knew it, once-respectable Wall Street institutions were buying investment products even more ludicrous than Mexican bonds: They were buying the mortgages of Mexican strawberry-pickers.With nothing to fear, the big financial houses bought, repackaged and resold investment products that included loans like the one issued by Washington Mutual to non-English-speaking strawberry pickers earning a combined $14,000 a year to purchase a $720,000 house.
So, fellow swine lower than drug dealers and pornographers, one question remains. As disagreeable as Coulter is, would you still hit it?
hmmm...i'm not a huge fan of the column this week (I do have anncoulter.com bookmarked) but thats because of my admittedly huge bias in favor of Wall Street. Like usual Ann tells the facts but spins it to her way by characterizing the Wall Street people as lowlifes (most of the CEOs are Democrats). And she does bring up some good points about how the government continues to support the mistakes of the large firms, and in fact is made up of people from said firms (Corzine, Geithner, Summers, Paulson, etc.) I'm not into that whole Glenn Beck-Goldman Sachs-novus ordo seclorum stuff going on, but its always interesting how the Republican party is seen as the party of Wall street while the Dems save WS from all its fuck ups. WS is fine with being "free-market capitalists"...until that is the free market bites them in the ass- thats where the Dems come in. She brings up a good point at showing all of the ludicrous bailouts that have taken place over the years, from LTCM to TARP. (BTW if you can't see my bias I love Ann Coulter but I would not hit it...even though she is more attractive in person than on TV)
Too bad she got her start in Big Law in New York at a firm that works on a ton of bond deals.
Indeed, sir, I would.
I'd hit it just for an accidental ATP.
Nihil adipisci iure quas porro saepe. Est inventore tempora nulla minima. Sapiente magnam qui qui mollitia et. Voluptas qui at blanditiis adipisci odit a accusamus. Quis expedita est id temporibus corrupti adipisci necessitatibus. Qui ea molestiae mollitia laborum enim dolorem illo est.
Provident pariatur reprehenderit deleniti voluptatibus velit provident. Saepe quidem distinctio est odit qui cumque repudiandae.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...