Bend Over, Tim
I made the point earlier in the month that much of the populist outrage against health care reform is really misdirected anger about the federal bailout of the Banks and AIG. This morning comes proof at how Geithner and Paulson were rolled by Goldman Sachs in the AIG bailout.
Just two days before the New York Fed paid A.I.G.’s partners 100 cents on the dollar to tear up their contracts with the insurance giant, one bank volunteered to take a modest haircut — but it never got the chance.
UBS, of Switzerland, alone offered to give a break to the New York Fed in the negotiations last November over how to keep A.I.G. from toppling and taking other banks down with it. It would have accepted 98 cents on the dollar.
But UBS’s good-faith gesture was quickly drowned out by Goldman Sachs and the top French bank regulator. They argued, with others, that it would be improper and perhaps even criminal to force A.I.G.’s trading partners to bear losses outside of bankruptcy court.
Heads on Pikes.
It’s Vlad Tepes justice, but nothing else is going to get the attention of their class.
It’s Vlad Tepes justice, but nothing else is going to get the attention of their class.
O’ better start swinging and stop winking…before it’s too late.
Watch how the press, Street and WH frame the upcoming Wall St. Christmas bonus season. If it’s business as usual (yachts and Benz), the mid-term elections will be very messy for the incumbent party.
Too many “non-traditionals” (dispalced white collars) are suffering, and the “health care reform” placebo won’t replace the loss of dignity afforded by a home and employment.
O’ better start swinging and stop winking…before it’s too late.
Watch how the press, Street and WH frame the upcoming Wall St. Christmas bonus season. If it’s business as usual (yachts and Benz), the mid-term elections will be very messy for the incumbent party.
Too many “non-traditionals” (dispalced white collars) are suffering, and the “health care reform” placebo won’t replace the loss of dignity afforded by a home and employment.
I hear that more than a few groups on New York’s charity circuit are still selling seats at dinner tables, but that many of those tables are then given back to the organizers.
In other words, many people who have money simply don’t want to be seen spending, even (or perhaps especially) on high-profile charitable causes.
So yes, expect a few idiots in the bonus brigade to order new Ferraris (the new 458 is, after all, a thing of marvelous beauty). And expect plenty of angry J-School types to sensationalize this in overly-generalized headlines. In truth, ‘optics’ still seem to factor heavily into compensation and consumption issues, so take any truly garish displays with a grain of salt.
That said, the larger issue remains that, in banking, there appears to be a strong correlation between doing harm and doing well.
I hear that more than a few groups on New York’s charity circuit are still selling seats at dinner tables, but that many of those tables are then given back to the organizers.
In other words, many people who have money simply don’t want to be seen spending, even (or perhaps especially) on high-profile charitable causes.
So yes, expect a few idiots in the bonus brigade to order new Ferraris (the new 458 is, after all, a thing of marvelous beauty). And expect plenty of angry J-School types to sensationalize this in overly-generalized headlines. In truth, ‘optics’ still seem to factor heavily into compensation and consumption issues, so take any truly garish displays with a grain of salt.
That said, the larger issue remains that, in banking, there appears to be a strong correlation between doing harm and doing well.
In general, I’m anti-violence/pro-peace, but I’m sick of this crap. Heads on pikes.
In general, I’m anti-violence/pro-peace, but I’m sick of this crap. Heads on pikes.
@Amber,
I get that way too sometimes, and often–but not always–hate myself for it.
Jon,
I’ve had only one dealing with UBS, similarly on a matter of public policy. In the mid-’90s, when CA dithered about underwriting high-speed–or at least “fast”–rail between its Southern and Northern cities, UBS swept in with extravagant offers to fund such a project. The Swiss were sure that they could make it profitable longrun, not least because they knew that they were a more experienced and efficient financier than could be found in California or New York.
The politicos in Sacramento were happy to take the unpredented windfall of Swiss lobbying money and then to send UBS packing. (From the standpoint of an American political whore, at that time there was no advantage in flacking for foreign banks. Then the Chinese came along, and California, having bankrupted itself, changed its tune.)
@Amber,
I get that way too sometimes, and often–but not always–hate myself for it.
Jon,
I’ve had only one dealing with UBS, similarly on a matter of public policy. In the mid-’90s, when CA dithered about underwriting high-speed–or at least “fast”–rail between its Southern and Northern cities, UBS swept in with extravagant offers to fund such a project. The Swiss were sure that they could make it profitable longrun, not least because they knew that they were a more experienced and efficient financier than could be found in California or New York.
The politicos in Sacramento were happy to take the unpredented windfall of Swiss lobbying money and then to send UBS packing. (From the standpoint of an American political whore, at that time there was no advantage in flacking for foreign banks. Then the Chinese came along, and California, having bankrupted itself, changed its tune.)
Maybe they are simply bored with each other’s company. I’m not sure many of them are capable of embarassment much less shame. Decency can easily be stripped by the process of accumulating great wealth. It isn’t true of all but the exceptions do seem to be increasingly exceptional.
A disturbing aspect of community theatre when I was young was how willing parents were to feed their children to processes where the professionals had the tools and the power to hide the open perversity of the culture in plain sight. It was like watching sacrifices to Baal where for the price of a child, the lifestyle and social position of the family was assured.
Idols never deliver. They devour. The miracle of God is growth, a victory over entropy, a first cause that even if unprovable because unobservable must exist or love would never emerge from light.
Stone yields to stone and hand. Thus, civilization comes from tools and desire. If we make it lovingly, it thrives. If not, it vanishes. Observe how great personalities and works disappear from view within a generation of their death unless heirs or the hammer of money on the stone of culture does not make a monument for them.
Ever hear Richard Dyer-Bennet?
Maybe they are simply bored with each other’s company. I’m not sure many of them are capable of embarassment much less shame. Decency can easily be stripped by the process of accumulating great wealth. It isn’t true of all but the exceptions do seem to be increasingly exceptional.
A disturbing aspect of community theatre when I was young was how willing parents were to feed their children to processes where the professionals had the tools and the power to hide the open perversity of the culture in plain sight. It was like watching sacrifices to Baal where for the price of a child, the lifestyle and social position of the family was assured.
Idols never deliver. They devour. The miracle of God is growth, a victory over entropy, a first cause that even if unprovable because unobservable must exist or love would never emerge from light.
Stone yields to stone and hand. Thus, civilization comes from tools and desire. If we make it lovingly, it thrives. If not, it vanishes. Observe how great personalities and works disappear from view within a generation of their death unless heirs or the hammer of money on the stone of culture does not make a monument for them.
Ever hear Richard Dyer-Bennet?
I agree with Jon.
Heads on pikes!!!
I agree with Jon.
Heads on pikes!!!
“We’re Number 18!”
“We’re Number 18!”
From your reference: “”Until we achieve that sort of national awakening that business as usual is not in the interest of a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, you will not be able to achieve success in your anti-corruption campaign,” Ahmadi said.
Robin Hodess, Transparency’s director of policy and research, said Tuesday that for a country to improve on the corruption perceptions index, it is imperative that “citizens believe that they have a government that works for them.”
The governments have to show “that there is the political will to respond to the needs of the people,” Hodess said.”
Really? They’re talking about Afghanistan? I thought they were talking about the U.S. The only political will in D.C. is to fill one’s pockets and run.
Heads on Pikes.
From your reference: “”Until we achieve that sort of national awakening that business as usual is not in the interest of a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, you will not be able to achieve success in your anti-corruption campaign,” Ahmadi said.
Robin Hodess, Transparency’s director of policy and research, said Tuesday that for a country to improve on the corruption perceptions index, it is imperative that “citizens believe that they have a government that works for them.”
The governments have to show “that there is the political will to respond to the needs of the people,” Hodess said.”
Really? They’re talking about Afghanistan? I thought they were talking about the U.S. The only political will in D.C. is to fill one’s pockets and run.
Heads on Pikes.
What is it Warstler used to say? “See? You see? I WAS RIGHT!!!!” Only he used to add that he was to be considered a GOD.
So are we now on the glissado down into that possible chaos that might bring either an end to the Interregnum or (my bet) Ragnarok? Maybe at the point where there are a few people who make the few decisions that at the tipping point, determine which way the tree falls, hopefully not ON the house — maybe those folks have enough of the good part of humanity in them not to just wall up and secure their own little haven, but do the risky thing that might promote the general welfare?
Just asking.
What is it Warstler used to say? “See? You see? I WAS RIGHT!!!!” Only he used to add that he was to be considered a GOD.
So are we now on the glissado down into that possible chaos that might bring either an end to the Interregnum or (my bet) Ragnarok? Maybe at the point where there are a few people who make the few decisions that at the tipping point, determine which way the tree falls, hopefully not ON the house — maybe those folks have enough of the good part of humanity in them not to just wall up and secure their own little haven, but do the risky thing that might promote the general welfare?
Just asking.
What is it Warstler used to say? “See? You see? I WAS RIGHT!!!!” Only he used to add that he was to be considered a GOD.
So are we now on the glissado down into that possible chaos that might bring either an end to the Interregnum or (my bet) Ragnarok? Maybe at the point where there are a few people who make the few decisions that at the tipping point, determine which way the tree falls, hopefully not ON the house — maybe those folks have enough of the good part of humanity in them not to just wall up and secure their own little haven, but do the risky thing that might promote the general welfare?
Just asking.
And the usual gait of the folks in D.C. and that part of Manhattan ain’t a run (yet) — more of a swaggering strut…
Tipping points: How much is enough, where’s the fulcrum?
Anybody seen a recently beheaded chicken do its terminal dance? Fun-ny…
And the usual gait of the folks in D.C. and that part of Manhattan ain’t a run (yet) — more of a swaggering strut…
Tipping points: How much is enough, where’s the fulcrum?
Anybody seen a recently beheaded chicken do its terminal dance? Fun-ny…
And the usual gait of the folks in D.C. and that part of Manhattan ain’t a run (yet) — more of a swaggering strut…
Tipping points: How much is enough, where’s the fulcrum?
Anybody seen a recently beheaded chicken do its terminal dance? Fun-ny…
Well, I thought “The Big O” was going to be one of those people (who make the big decisions in favor of the general welfare and despite his own interests)…so far I’m sorely disappointed. Crud.
Well, I thought “The Big O” was going to be one of those people (who make the big decisions in favor of the general welfare and despite his own interests)…so far I’m sorely disappointed. Crud.
Well, I thought “The Big O” was going to be one of those people (who make the big decisions in favor of the general welfare and despite his own interests)…so far I’m sorely disappointed. Crud.
Plus the fact that UBS is the holder of most of the shadow money (secret accounts) it may well be that the money used for the bail out is the same …
Plus the fact that UBS is the holder of most of the shadow money (secret accounts) it may well be that the money used for the bail out is the same …
Plus the fact that UBS is the holder of most of the shadow money (secret accounts) it may well be that the money used for the bail out is the same …
A banker with a computer is more dangerous then a monkey with a pistol.
A banker with a computer is more dangerous then a monkey with a pistol.
A banker with a computer is more dangerous then a monkey with a pistol.
I caught this interview this morning while tooling down check out break. Seems we can’t really avoid the real results of all this, we can only delay it. Sorta like running from a sunami.
I caught this interview this morning while tooling down check out break. Seems we can’t really avoid the real results of all this, we can only delay it. Sorta like running from a sunami.
“Check out break”, the ride down from the Crest on my banana bike to Moonlight the beach.
“Check out break”, the ride down from the Crest on my banana bike to Moonlight the beach.
Yesterday I read an interesting story on a friends blog, that seems connected to this entitlement attitude of some businesses.
A few decades ago when New Zealand became enthralled with market solutions to every problem cities privatised their bus services.
Instead of owning and operating buses city councils contracted all the work out to competing companiesi n the hope that it would drive efficincies through competition.
Over twenty years the efficiences found were the typically easy to acheive suppression of wages and bus drivers real income feel by 35% (so my friends blog reports, the accuracy of that number isn’t my point).
The drivers in Auckland came to the end of their tether and threatened strike action if they did not receive a substantive pay increase.
Management, unsurprisingly, begged poverty and refused.
The company in question boasts that it hopes to return 20% profits per annum to it’s shareholders. Last year it returned some $32 million which was 18%.
So from managements point of view, seeing their duty as returning as much profit as possible to shareholders and expecting that to be %20 the facts support their argument. they couldn’t afford it.
The drivers, who I imagine don’t see it as their duty to return maximum profit to shareholders off their own backs, disagree and think the company can afford it because %20 is an unreasonable profit to expect from an industry that is well proven, theoretically very competitive, involves no risk (the public of Auckland aren’t going anywhere) and is well proven (so involves no investment in expensive innovation). Their demand amounts to $4 million per annum, reducing shareholder profits to ~%16.
And the facts support their argument (investors in such a business should be happy with something between %5 and %10, and delighted at more than %10 – aiming for %20 assumes some pretty good times that just aren’t in evidence).
So it came down to a battle of strengths and strong negotiation. There was a strike, and the company found itself with a P.R disaster because the public agrees with the drivers – and was none too happy their buses weren’t running. The public knew who to blame.
The politicians saw the wind and made it known that companies not delivering the agreed service risked losing their contract.
So it all sounds like the contractual environment functioning as it;s suppossed to – everyones negotiating in their own interests and it’ll undoubatlby sort itself out. That their4 were strikes and arguments isn’t my point.
My point is that businesses think 20% per annum return for shareholders in such a market is reasonable. It isn’t, it’s untenable entitlement, and people who’s interests conflict with them have to stand up and make the point.
Just aimlessly musing, I wonder if a strong banking employees union could do the U.S a favour and have all tellers strike for a share of the profits? Making it an issue that gets into stark relief.
Yesterday I read an interesting story on a friends blog, that seems connected to this entitlement attitude of some businesses.
A few decades ago when New Zealand became enthralled with market solutions to every problem cities privatised their bus services.
Instead of owning and operating buses city councils contracted all the work out to competing companiesi n the hope that it would drive efficincies through competition.
Over twenty years the efficiences found were the typically easy to acheive suppression of wages and bus drivers real income feel by 35% (so my friends blog reports, the accuracy of that number isn’t my point).
The drivers in Auckland came to the end of their tether and threatened strike action if they did not receive a substantive pay increase.
Management, unsurprisingly, begged poverty and refused.
The company in question boasts that it hopes to return 20% profits per annum to it’s shareholders. Last year it returned some $32 million which was 18%.
So from managements point of view, seeing their duty as returning as much profit as possible to shareholders and expecting that to be %20 the facts support their argument. they couldn’t afford it.
The drivers, who I imagine don’t see it as their duty to return maximum profit to shareholders off their own backs, disagree and think the company can afford it because %20 is an unreasonable profit to expect from an industry that is well proven, theoretically very competitive, involves no risk (the public of Auckland aren’t going anywhere) and is well proven (so involves no investment in expensive innovation). Their demand amounts to $4 million per annum, reducing shareholder profits to ~%16.
And the facts support their argument (investors in such a business should be happy with something between %5 and %10, and delighted at more than %10 – aiming for %20 assumes some pretty good times that just aren’t in evidence).
So it came down to a battle of strengths and strong negotiation. There was a strike, and the company found itself with a P.R disaster because the public agrees with the drivers – and was none too happy their buses weren’t running. The public knew who to blame.
The politicians saw the wind and made it known that companies not delivering the agreed service risked losing their contract.
So it all sounds like the contractual environment functioning as it;s suppossed to – everyones negotiating in their own interests and it’ll undoubatlby sort itself out. That their4 were strikes and arguments isn’t my point.
My point is that businesses think 20% per annum return for shareholders in such a market is reasonable. It isn’t, it’s untenable entitlement, and people who’s interests conflict with them have to stand up and make the point.
Just aimlessly musing, I wonder if a strong banking employees union could do the U.S a favour and have all tellers strike for a share of the profits? Making it an issue that gets into stark relief.
Usually cars have problems with ugly rear ends – that thing has it round the wrong way.
It’s derrier is more attaractive than it’s decolage.
Usually cars have problems with ugly rear ends – that thing has it round the wrong way.
It’s derrier is more attaractive than it’s decolage.
Usually cars have problems with ugly rear ends – that thing has it round the wrong way.
It’s derrier is more attaractive than it’s decolage.
Did Geithner and Paulson get rolled or were they just spokes on the wheel? I vote for spokes. They should be in prison.
Did Geithner and Paulson get rolled or were they just spokes on the wheel? I vote for spokes. They should be in prison.
Did Geithner and Paulson get rolled or were they just spokes on the wheel? I vote for spokes. They should be in prison.
I’m sure everyone here knows the Auckland bus system is the same as the U.S. prison system (run by contractors for the benefit of shareholders rather than for the benefit of the customer…in this case the taxpayers). Oh joy.
I’m sure everyone here knows the Auckland bus system is the same as the U.S. prison system (run by contractors for the benefit of shareholders rather than for the benefit of the customer…in this case the taxpayers). Oh joy.
I’m sure everyone here knows the Auckland bus system is the same as the U.S. prison system (run by contractors for the benefit of shareholders rather than for the benefit of the customer…in this case the taxpayers). Oh joy.
Unfortunately due to my fellow citizens electing offensive anti-social fools to government NZ faces efforts to privatise prisons.
Fortunately strong constitutional protections (for prisoners and citizens alike) appear to blocking efforts to move that idea forward.
Of course it means our government is likely to try and undermine the protections rather than recognize delivering state power to coerce people into the hands of private profit seekers is a bad idea.
Along those line our government is tlaking about a free trade deal wioth the U.S.
Bother. Exiling U.S warships from our ports in the 1980′s had the delightful effect of annoying Washington and keeping NZ at diplomatic arms length. So hopes by our investing classes to open ‘free’ trade wiht U.S was stymied.
But now Obama has invited our Prime Minister to an official meeting it seems the U.S is getting past that little tiff, and talk of ‘free’ trade – which in practcie would mean the adoption of draconian U.S conditions offensive to current NZ law so as to better enable a few to profit more – is being bandied about.
Transparency International released this years corruption index which, again, scored NZ as (one of) the least corrupt nations.
I worry that we’ve elected fools who will create pressures to undermine that proud – and immensely valuable – tradition.
Unfortunately due to my fellow citizens electing offensive anti-social fools to government NZ faces efforts to privatise prisons.
Fortunately strong constitutional protections (for prisoners and citizens alike) appear to blocking efforts to move that idea forward.
Of course it means our government is likely to try and undermine the protections rather than recognize delivering state power to coerce people into the hands of private profit seekers is a bad idea.
Along those line our government is tlaking about a free trade deal wioth the U.S.
Bother. Exiling U.S warships from our ports in the 1980′s had the delightful effect of annoying Washington and keeping NZ at diplomatic arms length. So hopes by our investing classes to open ‘free’ trade wiht U.S was stymied.
But now Obama has invited our Prime Minister to an official meeting it seems the U.S is getting past that little tiff, and talk of ‘free’ trade – which in practcie would mean the adoption of draconian U.S conditions offensive to current NZ law so as to better enable a few to profit more – is being bandied about.
Transparency International released this years corruption index which, again, scored NZ as (one of) the least corrupt nations.
I worry that we’ve elected fools who will create pressures to undermine that proud – and immensely valuable – tradition.
Did Fentex write this, or Mr. Papola? What a wonderful fable of constitutionalruleoflawconsensualtransactionfreemarket purity. Is the conclusion that the city councils were wise stewards of public resources by turning the public transit function over to players in the Great Beer Game? What happened to fares during that time, and ridership, and routes, and equipment and all that? And gee, did any members of the city councils maybe, you know, get a little on-the-side benefit from the lucky bidders on the bus service contracts? Here in Florida, one of America’s many “right-to-work” states where business clout has beaten labor (which has its own diseases borne of greed and lust and all that) right off the field, there’s no right-to-strike, so where is there any restorative check or balance tending to even some kind of pseudo-meta-stability?
Sounds like even the Solons of New Zealand have dropped a clanger, just another failure-to-thrive problem of defective governance and perverse “fiduciary” roles to this grouch.
Did Fentex write this, or Mr. Papola? What a wonderful fable of constitutionalruleoflawconsensualtransactionfreemarket purity. Is the conclusion that the city councils were wise stewards of public resources by turning the public transit function over to players in the Great Beer Game? What happened to fares during that time, and ridership, and routes, and equipment and all that? And gee, did any members of the city councils maybe, you know, get a little on-the-side benefit from the lucky bidders on the bus service contracts? Here in Florida, one of America’s many “right-to-work” states where business clout has beaten labor (which has its own diseases borne of greed and lust and all that) right off the field, there’s no right-to-strike, so where is there any restorative check or balance tending to even some kind of pseudo-meta-stability?
Sounds like even the Solons of New Zealand have dropped a clanger, just another failure-to-thrive problem of defective governance and perverse “fiduciary” roles to this grouch.
Alex- The link to the NPR story is great. The Private Equity crash is the next shoe to drop.
Alex- The link to the NPR story is great. The Private Equity crash is the next shoe to drop.
Alex- The link to the NPR story is great. The Private Equity crash is the next shoe to drop.
Bernard- Is that a saying of the Venezuelan Indians?
Bernard- Is that a saying of the Venezuelan Indians?
Bernard- Is that a saying of the Venezuelan Indians?
Yeah, the worst part is that it’s not even really “for the benefit of the shareholders,” a phrase that conjures up images of Ward and June Cleaver and Dr. Kildare, just trying to Invest In A Better America.
The pirates and terrorists who run the businesses like Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut are the actual winners, if you follow the money. And how about the wonderful hook and story, if you trust the news-reporting functions of the Wall Street Journal, that a recession or depression is a Good Thing, now isn’t it, depending on your investment strategies and options and stock bonuses?
“for the benefit of shareholders” is just a fig leaf, covering the black hole in the heart of the cancer that seems to be the inevitable product of whatever you choose to name the economic system we suffer under here. It’s even more meaningless than “It’s for your own good,” or “This is going to hurt me more than it is you.” “Shareholders” are not “citizens” and they are not “neighbors,” and fuck the myth that buying a 10-block share of Microsoft or, if you can afford it, one share of Berkshire Hathaway, makes you a capitalist on a par with Buffett or Pickens or any of the other “corporate raiders” of the Go-Go ’80s whose PR spin doctors have now re-branded them as “activist shareholders.” Thereby simply stealing the virtue of people like the Gilbert brothers and Wilma Soss, , actual “activist shareholders” pushing honest corporate governance, who seemed to have remembered some of the stuff their mommas and civics teachers taught them. And who are now dead, along with most of what they sought to impart.
Just curious, I really don’t know — how many “progressives” pushed for “privatizing government functions” (is that a non sequitur or an oxymoron? you pick), as compared to the people who captured the flag of “conservatism” and turned that into a black field with a Jolly Roger and crossed sabers?
Yeah, the worst part is that it’s not even really “for the benefit of the shareholders,” a phrase that conjures up images of Ward and June Cleaver and Dr. Kildare, just trying to Invest In A Better America.
The pirates and terrorists who run the businesses like Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut are the actual winners, if you follow the money. And how about the wonderful hook and story, if you trust the news-reporting functions of the Wall Street Journal, that a recession or depression is a Good Thing, now isn’t it, depending on your investment strategies and options and stock bonuses?
“for the benefit of shareholders” is just a fig leaf, covering the black hole in the heart of the cancer that seems to be the inevitable product of whatever you choose to name the economic system we suffer under here. It’s even more meaningless than “It’s for your own good,” or “This is going to hurt me more than it is you.” “Shareholders” are not “citizens” and they are not “neighbors,” and fuck the myth that buying a 10-block share of Microsoft or, if you can afford it, one share of Berkshire Hathaway, makes you a capitalist on a par with Buffett or Pickens or any of the other “corporate raiders” of the Go-Go ’80s whose PR spin doctors have now re-branded them as “activist shareholders.” Thereby simply stealing the virtue of people like the Gilbert brothers and Wilma Soss, , actual “activist shareholders” pushing honest corporate governance, who seemed to have remembered some of the stuff their mommas and civics teachers taught them. And who are now dead, along with most of what they sought to impart.
Just curious, I really don’t know — how many “progressives” pushed for “privatizing government functions” (is that a non sequitur or an oxymoron? you pick), as compared to the people who captured the flag of “conservatism” and turned that into a black field with a Jolly Roger and crossed sabers?
And don’t forget that in pursuit of “the benefit of shareholders,” these same fucking terrorists in custom-tailored suits have lobbied (and flat bribed) our legislators to add many additional entries to the criminal codes, newly-minted felony offenses, and worked the vice cops and MADD and that bloc to bolster Zero Tolerance and “forfeitures” and all the rest of that set of scams, and jiggered the penalty provisions of the criminal law to increase both the length and number of mandatory incarcerations, and fucked with (I use the term in the sexual sense) the various departments of corrections and court commissions and bar association committees to warp the “sentencing guidelines” that judges have to apply, after getting their own fig leaf of a “presentence report and recommendation” from the department of corrections.
Whew! Time to take a few deep breaths, pet my adoring little rescue mutts, kiss my wife and go out and look for the meteor shower.
And don’t forget that in pursuit of “the benefit of shareholders,” these same fucking terrorists in custom-tailored suits have lobbied (and flat bribed) our legislators to add many additional entries to the criminal codes, newly-minted felony offenses, and worked the vice cops and MADD and that bloc to bolster Zero Tolerance and “forfeitures” and all the rest of that set of scams, and jiggered the penalty provisions of the criminal law to increase both the length and number of mandatory incarcerations, and fucked with (I use the term in the sexual sense) the various departments of corrections and court commissions and bar association committees to warp the “sentencing guidelines” that judges have to apply, after getting their own fig leaf of a “presentence report and recommendation” from the department of corrections.
Whew! Time to take a few deep breaths, pet my adoring little rescue mutts, kiss my wife and go out and look for the meteor shower.
This won’t end well, but it won’t end right away. No heads on pikes in the short term, but rather a “corn-pone Mussolini” (as Jim Kuntsler puts it) or more accurately a Huey Long populist in 2016 or so. The rich will remember Clinton-era taxation fondly, to say the least.
The inability of the ruling class to see that their own long-term interests are served by making sure the peasants have jobs and homes is astounding to the point that it would make even Louis XVI arch an eyebrow.
Oh well, couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
This won’t end well, but it won’t end right away. No heads on pikes in the short term, but rather a “corn-pone Mussolini” (as Jim Kuntsler puts it) or more accurately a Huey Long populist in 2016 or so. The rich will remember Clinton-era taxation fondly, to say the least.
The inability of the ruling class to see that their own long-term interests are served by making sure the peasants have jobs and homes is astounding to the point that it would make even Louis XVI arch an eyebrow.
Oh well, couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
This won’t end well, but it won’t end right away. No heads on pikes in the short term, but rather a “corn-pone Mussolini” (as Jim Kuntsler puts it) or more accurately a Huey Long populist in 2016 or so. The rich will remember Clinton-era taxation fondly, to say the least.
The inability of the ruling class to see that their own long-term interests are served by making sure the peasants have jobs and homes is astounding to the point that it would make even Louis XVI arch an eyebrow.
Oh well, couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
Its not all that bad considering that the US will have to take care of its growing domestique problems before thinking of policing the rest of the world. Banking regulations are unavoidable,Universal health care , the end of the Monroe doctrine, The industrial change at all level and the like, will bring to surface a vigorous national esprit de corp. You dont conquer the will of your fellow countrymen with shallow words and a lack of vision or a vision of misery. There is so much to be done. The end of our resources and the climate change is a technological challenge that should be taken as an opportunity.
Its not all that bad considering that the US will have to take care of its growing domestique problems before thinking of policing the rest of the world. Banking regulations are unavoidable,Universal health care , the end of the Monroe doctrine, The industrial change at all level and the like, will bring to surface a vigorous national esprit de corp. You dont conquer the will of your fellow countrymen with shallow words and a lack of vision or a vision of misery. There is so much to be done. The end of our resources and the climate change is a technological challenge that should be taken as an opportunity.
Its not all that bad considering that the US will have to take care of its growing domestique problems before thinking of policing the rest of the world. Banking regulations are unavoidable,Universal health care , the end of the Monroe doctrine, The industrial change at all level and the like, will bring to surface a vigorous national esprit de corp. You dont conquer the will of your fellow countrymen with shallow words and a lack of vision or a vision of misery. There is so much to be done. The end of our resources and the climate change is a technological challenge that should be taken as an opportunity.
Take a hard look at the rest of the world and count your blessings. ( JT the banker/monkey comparison is a local joke on the Stanford scam).
Take a hard look at the rest of the world and count your blessings. ( JT the banker/monkey comparison is a local joke on the Stanford scam).
Take a hard look at the rest of the world and count your blessings. ( JT the banker/monkey comparison is a local joke on the Stanford scam).
Speaking of nice bunches,, let’s not forget this bunch, either.
Some old-style liberals whine about “class warfare” and how “the rich are good for society.” Now gee, the publicists for WHOM spread that meme far and wide, again?
Not all people with huge wealth lack any kind of social conscience — how about Al Gore? (I was gonna say “Bill Gates,” then the old curmudgeonly memory replayed what I recall of the commercial history and current reality of Microsoft — Maybe Melissa?) But But old F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that pretty generally, the rich are very different from the rest of us. Something happens to whatever decency people learn along the way. And for those of you who blather about the “natural aristocracy of wealth,” see the above, and this little reminder that people who by luck or placement or guile manage to take more than their share of the economic oxygen everybody has to breathe are not by definition, ipso facto, Q.E.D. “smarter and better” that the average high school teacher or bus driver — they just learn a particular set of extraction skills.
Meanwhile, at one pole of the other extreme, <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/24301693"< you got THIS.
Yep, just because the malignant tumor learns to conceal itself from the body’s moderating processes and immune system and trick the rest of the still healthy cells into growing new blood vessels to feed the growth of those tumor cells, that doesn’t mean the tumor is “superior” to the body it used to belong to before it morphed, or that it won’t kill itself by killing the patient. But not until after a long run of exhausting all the physical and emotional and spiritual resources of the patient.
Our bodies have a certain tolerance for what you might call “slack,” just like a culture and polity and economic entity does. Has to be room for healthy change and aberrations. But it seems to me that the relatively tiny number of tumor cells have eaten all the slack out of the planet, let alone the mass of humanity.
And the big joke on our species is that “we,” as a collective, are congenitally too concupiscient, too tolerant and too stupid to do any different. See one of my favorite proofs, “the Beer Game.”
Speaking of nice bunches,, let’s not forget this bunch, either.
Some old-style liberals whine about “class warfare” and how “the rich are good for society.” Now gee, the publicists for WHOM spread that meme far and wide, again?
Not all people with huge wealth lack any kind of social conscience — how about Al Gore? (I was gonna say “Bill Gates,” then the old curmudgeonly memory replayed what I recall of the commercial history and current reality of Microsoft — Maybe Melissa?) But But old F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that pretty generally, the rich are very different from the rest of us. Something happens to whatever decency people learn along the way. And for those of you who blather about the “natural aristocracy of wealth,” see the above, and this little reminder that people who by luck or placement or guile manage to take more than their share of the economic oxygen everybody has to breathe are not by definition, ipso facto, Q.E.D. “smarter and better” that the average high school teacher or bus driver — they just learn a particular set of extraction skills.
Meanwhile, at one pole of the other extreme, <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/24301693"< you got THIS.
Yep, just because the malignant tumor learns to conceal itself from the body’s moderating processes and immune system and trick the rest of the still healthy cells into growing new blood vessels to feed the growth of those tumor cells, that doesn’t mean the tumor is “superior” to the body it used to belong to before it morphed, or that it won’t kill itself by killing the patient. But not until after a long run of exhausting all the physical and emotional and spiritual resources of the patient.
Our bodies have a certain tolerance for what you might call “slack,” just like a culture and polity and economic entity does. Has to be room for healthy change and aberrations. But it seems to me that the relatively tiny number of tumor cells have eaten all the slack out of the planet, let alone the mass of humanity.
And the big joke on our species is that “we,” as a collective, are congenitally too concupiscient, too tolerant and too stupid to do any different. See one of my favorite proofs, “the Beer Game.”
Speaking of nice bunches,, let’s not forget this bunch, either.
Some old-style liberals whine about “class warfare” and how “the rich are good for society.” Now gee, the publicists for WHOM spread that meme far and wide, again?
Not all people with huge wealth lack any kind of social conscience — how about Al Gore? (I was gonna say “Bill Gates,” then the old curmudgeonly memory replayed what I recall of the commercial history and current reality of Microsoft — Maybe Melissa?) But But old F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that pretty generally, the rich are very different from the rest of us. Something happens to whatever decency people learn along the way. And for those of you who blather about the “natural aristocracy of wealth,” see the above, and this little reminder that people who by luck or placement or guile manage to take more than their share of the economic oxygen everybody has to breathe are not by definition, ipso facto, Q.E.D. “smarter and better” that the average high school teacher or bus driver — they just learn a particular set of extraction skills.
Meanwhile, at one pole of the other extreme, <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/24301693"< you got THIS.
Yep, just because the malignant tumor learns to conceal itself from the body’s moderating processes and immune system and trick the rest of the still healthy cells into growing new blood vessels to feed the growth of those tumor cells, that doesn’t mean the tumor is “superior” to the body it used to belong to before it morphed, or that it won’t kill itself by killing the patient. But not until after a long run of exhausting all the physical and emotional and spiritual resources of the patient.
Our bodies have a certain tolerance for what you might call “slack,” just like a culture and polity and economic entity does. Has to be room for healthy change and aberrations. But it seems to me that the relatively tiny number of tumor cells have eaten all the slack out of the planet, let alone the mass of humanity.
And the big joke on our species is that “we,” as a collective, are congenitally too concupiscient, too tolerant and too stupid to do any different. See one of my favorite proofs, “the Beer Game.”
And of course do justice at home before pontificating words of justice to the rest of the world. Europe and France want strong banking regulations and the banking secrets unveiled, the Swiss signed an agreement with the French IRS, so I guess we will all be pealing the 7 veils of Isis and find out what the accountants have been doing. Some heads will fall. Its like having a Bank Internal affair police. Trust to fear me . Like the pirates used to say “See you in Tortola or Antigua or is it Barbuda or Macanao”.
And of course do justice at home before pontificating words of justice to the rest of the world. Europe and France want strong banking regulations and the banking secrets unveiled, the Swiss signed an agreement with the French IRS, so I guess we will all be pealing the 7 veils of Isis and find out what the accountants have been doing. Some heads will fall. Its like having a Bank Internal affair police. Trust to fear me . Like the pirates used to say “See you in Tortola or Antigua or is it Barbuda or Macanao”.
And of course do justice at home before pontificating words of justice to the rest of the world. Europe and France want strong banking regulations and the banking secrets unveiled, the Swiss signed an agreement with the French IRS, so I guess we will all be pealing the 7 veils of Isis and find out what the accountants have been doing. Some heads will fall. Its like having a Bank Internal affair police. Trust to fear me . Like the pirates used to say “See you in Tortola or Antigua or is it Barbuda or Macanao”.
I wonder how charitable they would be if a resolution taxing war profits were passed. It can be. Arlo quotes Woody as saying, “if they take the profit out of war, there would be a lot fewer of them.”
I wonder how charitable they would be if a resolution taxing war profits were passed. It can be. Arlo quotes Woody as saying, “if they take the profit out of war, there would be a lot fewer of them.”
I wonder how charitable they would be if a resolution taxing war profits were passed. It can be. Arlo quotes Woody as saying, “if they take the profit out of war, there would be a lot fewer of them.”
I don’t know if the rich people are very different from us ( boring maybe) the fact is that they are not above the law and if there is no justice then you may very well have heads on pikes with the help of the guillotine. Nobody believes that shit can happen until it actually does. You cannot hide the truth.
I don’t know if the rich people are very different from us ( boring maybe) the fact is that they are not above the law and if there is no justice then you may very well have heads on pikes with the help of the guillotine. Nobody believes that shit can happen until it actually does. You cannot hide the truth.
I don’t know if the rich people are very different from us ( boring maybe) the fact is that they are not above the law and if there is no justice then you may very well have heads on pikes with the help of the guillotine. Nobody believes that shit can happen until it actually does. You cannot hide the truth.
They don’t hide the truth these days. They wrap it up in other information. Given sufficient plausible alternatives, exhaustion trumps outrage. That’s why the label that disturbs me these days is to call people “truthers”. How hard was it to make “liberal” a dirty word?
As to heads on pikes, style matters. That’s why they are trying the 9/11 “suspects” in New York. And that is also why it’s a bold but dicey thing to do. Democracy is an all-in roll of the dice. Republics restrict the hands that can roll and turns the rest of us into side bettors.
They don’t hide the truth these days. They wrap it up in other information. Given sufficient plausible alternatives, exhaustion trumps outrage. That’s why the label that disturbs me these days is to call people “truthers”. How hard was it to make “liberal” a dirty word?
As to heads on pikes, style matters. That’s why they are trying the 9/11 “suspects” in New York. And that is also why it’s a bold but dicey thing to do. Democracy is an all-in roll of the dice. Republics restrict the hands that can roll and turns the rest of us into side bettors.
They don’t hide the truth these days. They wrap it up in other information. Given sufficient plausible alternatives, exhaustion trumps outrage. That’s why the label that disturbs me these days is to call people “truthers”. How hard was it to make “liberal” a dirty word?
As to heads on pikes, style matters. That’s why they are trying the 9/11 “suspects” in New York. And that is also why it’s a bold but dicey thing to do. Democracy is an all-in roll of the dice. Republics restrict the hands that can roll and turns the rest of us into side bettors.
Well said but this wrapping the truth works for a while until it doesn’t. As a former advertiser I can tell you that lies don’t age well, sure you may pack it nice and sassy but on the long run it doesn’t work, more so with the kind of open information we all have. Things have to change, examples have to be created or we all will meet in lala land over a cup of fake coffee with fake sugar watching fake news eating fake food. I am
sure that reality will slap us back on track.
Well said but this wrapping the truth works for a while until it doesn’t. As a former advertiser I can tell you that lies don’t age well, sure you may pack it nice and sassy but on the long run it doesn’t work, more so with the kind of open information we all have. Things have to change, examples have to be created or we all will meet in lala land over a cup of fake coffee with fake sugar watching fake news eating fake food. I am
sure that reality will slap us back on track.
Well said but this wrapping the truth works for a while until it doesn’t. As a former advertiser I can tell you that lies don’t age well, sure you may pack it nice and sassy but on the long run it doesn’t work, more so with the kind of open information we all have. Things have to change, examples have to be created or we all will meet in lala land over a cup of fake coffee with fake sugar watching fake news eating fake food. I am
sure that reality will slap us back on track.
It can but they can invent new lies and recycle old ideas ready for renewal. That is why I watch emergence ads: placing the ideas in different channels at just the right time to create self-sustaining feedback cycling. The so-called ‘open information’ systems we have are making that easier to do and harder to undo. As a former advertiser you know that you don’t want to create awareness but desire. That takes careful and forward looking cycle control.
There is a line from the new version of The Prisoner that sticks with me:
Number Two: “The greatest lies we tell are to ourselves.”
Clarity with a vengence impresses the villagers.
It can but they can invent new lies and recycle old ideas ready for renewal. That is why I watch emergence ads: placing the ideas in different channels at just the right time to create self-sustaining feedback cycling. The so-called ‘open information’ systems we have are making that easier to do and harder to undo. As a former advertiser you know that you don’t want to create awareness but desire. That takes careful and forward looking cycle control.
There is a line from the new version of The Prisoner that sticks with me:
Number Two: “The greatest lies we tell are to ourselves.”
Clarity with a vengence impresses the villagers.
It can but they can invent new lies and recycle old ideas ready for renewal. That is why I watch emergence ads: placing the ideas in different channels at just the right time to create self-sustaining feedback cycling. The so-called ‘open information’ systems we have are making that easier to do and harder to undo. As a former advertiser you know that you don’t want to create awareness but desire. That takes careful and forward looking cycle control.
There is a line from the new version of The Prisoner that sticks with me:
Number Two: “The greatest lies we tell are to ourselves.”
Clarity with a vengence impresses the villagers.
Also true, Ien. Lets see how the circus evolves. It is hard for me to perceive the US reality just by reading the news or chatting with old friends.
Exhaustion does take a toll that is why I get my solace in the solitude of nature ( while it last ).
Maybe Obama will see the light, he has all the tools to bring forth the changes and should start in is own backyard. Use the TARP money to finance small”green” businesses, new infrastructures, transportation… The malaise is general, people are afraid because they may not have a future.
Also true, Ien. Lets see how the circus evolves. It is hard for me to perceive the US reality just by reading the news or chatting with old friends.
Exhaustion does take a toll that is why I get my solace in the solitude of nature ( while it last ).
Maybe Obama will see the light, he has all the tools to bring forth the changes and should start in is own backyard. Use the TARP money to finance small”green” businesses, new infrastructures, transportation… The malaise is general, people are afraid because they may not have a future.
Also true, Ien. Lets see how the circus evolves. It is hard for me to perceive the US reality just by reading the news or chatting with old friends.
Exhaustion does take a toll that is why I get my solace in the solitude of nature ( while it last ).
Maybe Obama will see the light, he has all the tools to bring forth the changes and should start in is own backyard. Use the TARP money to finance small”green” businesses, new infrastructures, transportation… The malaise is general, people are afraid because they may not have a future.
He is making the right noises about ending the war. It worked for Nixon. We’ve been fed a steady diet of paranoid loathing throughout the last election. One wants to avoid more of that. It’s Hallmark time.
He is making the right noises about ending the war. It worked for Nixon. We’ve been fed a steady diet of paranoid loathing throughout the last election. One wants to avoid more of that. It’s Hallmark time.
I have no idea what happened to fares, I live in a different city and don’t use the busses here anyway.
The last time I used a bus was a short trip on the free one that runs around the central business district (paid for by an agreed increase in rates/property taxes of inner city properties).
Before that I made the mistake of walking down to a bus stop to catch a bus into town having recently returned from London and expecting it to work as it did there – pretty much a bus every ten minutes at every stop.
But in my much smaller city one needs to plan more carefully and know the schedule. I had a long wait.
There is no question of bribery being invoved (there’s a reason NZ is regularly the top of lists of least corrupt places). It just became very fashionable in NZ to believe private industry is better than public operation in the 1980 – 1990′s.
In reality what was really happening was public services were being put into corporate hands so wages could be depressed, which would have been politically untenable had public bodies tried it themselves.
It’s the same thinknig behind privatising prisons – corporations don’t have to honour Official Information Requests so they hide their scheming and when they bunk prisoners four to a cell (with inevitable violent consequences) public officials get to wring their hands and say ‘how awful, we’d never do that, we ought have an inquiry’.
When of course they will have done it, but through corporate proxies.
With regard to busses, I have no idea how it’s woprked out for those who use them. They seem just as prevalent as ever on the streets of my city.
I have no idea what happened to fares, I live in a different city and don’t use the busses here anyway.
The last time I used a bus was a short trip on the free one that runs around the central business district (paid for by an agreed increase in rates/property taxes of inner city properties).
Before that I made the mistake of walking down to a bus stop to catch a bus into town having recently returned from London and expecting it to work as it did there – pretty much a bus every ten minutes at every stop.
But in my much smaller city one needs to plan more carefully and know the schedule. I had a long wait.
There is no question of bribery being invoved (there’s a reason NZ is regularly the top of lists of least corrupt places). It just became very fashionable in NZ to believe private industry is better than public operation in the 1980 – 1990′s.
In reality what was really happening was public services were being put into corporate hands so wages could be depressed, which would have been politically untenable had public bodies tried it themselves.
It’s the same thinknig behind privatising prisons – corporations don’t have to honour Official Information Requests so they hide their scheming and when they bunk prisoners four to a cell (with inevitable violent consequences) public officials get to wring their hands and say ‘how awful, we’d never do that, we ought have an inquiry’.
When of course they will have done it, but through corporate proxies.
With regard to busses, I have no idea how it’s woprked out for those who use them. They seem just as prevalent as ever on the streets of my city.
I have no idea what happened to fares, I live in a different city and don’t use the busses here anyway.
The last time I used a bus was a short trip on the free one that runs around the central business district (paid for by an agreed increase in rates/property taxes of inner city properties).
Before that I made the mistake of walking down to a bus stop to catch a bus into town having recently returned from London and expecting it to work as it did there – pretty much a bus every ten minutes at every stop.
But in my much smaller city one needs to plan more carefully and know the schedule. I had a long wait.
There is no question of bribery being invoved (there’s a reason NZ is regularly the top of lists of least corrupt places). It just became very fashionable in NZ to believe private industry is better than public operation in the 1980 – 1990′s.
In reality what was really happening was public services were being put into corporate hands so wages could be depressed, which would have been politically untenable had public bodies tried it themselves.
It’s the same thinknig behind privatising prisons – corporations don’t have to honour Official Information Requests so they hide their scheming and when they bunk prisoners four to a cell (with inevitable violent consequences) public officials get to wring their hands and say ‘how awful, we’d never do that, we ought have an inquiry’.
When of course they will have done it, but through corporate proxies.
With regard to busses, I have no idea how it’s woprked out for those who use them. They seem just as prevalent as ever on the streets of my city.
And yet the very next post on this here blog is talking about an election that is three years away…so by all means, let’s squander the next 2.5 working years in Congress and the Exec. Office worrying about who the Repubs are going to run in 2012. That way we don’t have to talk about all of the crap we’re NOT doing for the American people. Besides Sarah Palin is just so pretty and so much more drama worthy than actual policy.
And yet the very next post on this here blog is talking about an election that is three years away…so by all means, let’s squander the next 2.5 working years in Congress and the Exec. Office worrying about who the Repubs are going to run in 2012. That way we don’t have to talk about all of the crap we’re NOT doing for the American people. Besides Sarah Palin is just so pretty and so much more drama worthy than actual policy.
And yet the very next post on this here blog is talking about an election that is three years away…so by all means, let’s squander the next 2.5 working years in Congress and the Exec. Office worrying about who the Repubs are going to run in 2012. That way we don’t have to talk about all of the crap we’re NOT doing for the American people. Besides Sarah Palin is just so pretty and so much more drama worthy than actual policy.
Well… yeah!
What was that thing about hats?
Well… yeah!
What was that thing about hats?
Well… yeah!
What was that thing about hats?
For the next trick … nothing up my sleeve … TaDa!
Can you spell “Schadenfreude?” Remember your Capital-ization rules, kiddies…
For the next trick … nothing up my sleeve … TaDa!
Can you spell “Schadenfreude?” Remember your Capital-ization rules, kiddies…
For the next trick … nothing up my sleeve … TaDa!
Can you spell “Schadenfreude?” Remember your Capital-ization rules, kiddies…
So frikkin’ what? If all we do is obsess over the money we never see where the real problems are. coming from next.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/15/un-goons-destroy-aca.html
How about that kind of behavior from our bankers? How long will we accept it?
Let the loans default. At least in a third world nation we may get it through our heads we have to help each other instead of locking ourselves up in ever more isolated upscale walled gardents.
This is one the Goobers may have right: it’s time to question the value of the UN and our memberships in the so-called Internet Governance organizations.
So frikkin’ what? If all we do is obsess over the money we never see where the real problems are. coming from next.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/15/un-goons-destroy-aca.html
How about that kind of behavior from our bankers? How long will we accept it?
Let the loans default. At least in a third world nation we may get it through our heads we have to help each other instead of locking ourselves up in ever more isolated upscale walled gardents.
This is one the Goobers may have right: it’s time to question the value of the UN and our memberships in the so-called Internet Governance organizations.
Though he’s talking about the fiasco with health care “reform”, and not the debacle with Wall Street ‘regulation’ that proceeded it, Bill Moyers nails it when describing the corruption of Congress as “a leveraged buyout of democracy”.
Though he’s talking about the fiasco with health care “reform”, and not the debacle with Wall Street ‘regulation’ that proceeded it, Bill Moyers nails it when describing the corruption of Congress as “a leveraged buyout of democracy”.
Though he’s talking about the fiasco with health care “reform”, and not the debacle with Wall Street ‘regulation’ that proceeded it, Bill Moyers nails it when describing the corruption of Congress as “a leveraged buyout of democracy”.
And then there’s this, which only adds to the damnation of Geithner & Co.
You all remember GS saying they had “no material risk” in the event of default by AIG, since they were “properly hedged”.
Neil M. Barofsky has just asserted that this was categorically untrue, and has done so in a report asserting that any negotiations away from the 100 cents on the dollar paid by the Fed would have most certainly produced a loss.
In other words, the Fed was the hedge that GS indicated was both non-governmental, and in place well before the Fed intervened.
Geithner, was then asked if he’d ever actually inspected any of these famous hedges (i.e. the private ones GS said it had, as opposed to the public one it was actually counting on) he was forced to concede that no, he had not.
Nevertheless, he felt confident saying that the deal with GS was “sickening” it was also “the very best one that the taxpayers could have gotten” which is all so ferociously damning I don’t even know where to begin.
Apparently, it never occurred to him that giving GS the benefit of the doubt about their vital importance to the world’s banking system (and 100 cents on the dollar) could be used as leverage to insist that no profits could be taken before TARP funds were repaid in full, and – more importantly – GS had refunded 40-60 cents on those counterparty claims once the crisis had passed (i.e. now – at bonus season).
And so what if ‘talent’ leaves? It transpires that, had the Fed not intervened, they’d all be gone – Bear Stearns style.
Okay, you say, but that’s not how bankers think. Screw them on their bonuses (even if they screwed you to get them) and they’ll walk. They have no honor, and in the wake of their departure, the firm will go down.
But again, this is simply not a credible threat compared with what Geithner had in his whip hand. Had he actually performed the most cursory check of those highly improbable hedges, he’d have seen that a proper deal would have given GS a choice between instant death or the possibility of a fatal blow a year or so down the line.
Which – by the way – sounds like a very elegant solution to the “too big to fail” problem – though not half as elegant as paying those bonuses using the toxic assets that the US Taxpayers are now holding.
Sadly, Obama is displaying Bush-grade loyalty to people who’ve demonstrated little loyalty of their own towards the country they ‘serve’.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how much more credibility Obama manages to squander as those payouts start hitting bank accounts scattered throughout tax havens in Europe and the Caribbean.
And then there’s this, which only adds to the damnation of Geithner & Co.
You all remember GS saying they had “no material risk” in the event of default by AIG, since they were “properly hedged”.
Neil M. Barofsky has just asserted that this was categorically untrue, and has done so in a report asserting that any negotiations away from the 100 cents on the dollar paid by the Fed would have most certainly produced a loss.
In other words, the Fed was the hedge that GS indicated was both non-governmental, and in place well before the Fed intervened.
Geithner, was then asked if he’d ever actually inspected any of these famous hedges (i.e. the private ones GS said it had, as opposed to the public one it was actually counting on) he was forced to concede that no, he had not.
Nevertheless, he felt confident saying that the deal with GS was “sickening” it was also “the very best one that the taxpayers could have gotten” which is all so ferociously damning I don’t even know where to begin.
Apparently, it never occurred to him that giving GS the benefit of the doubt about their vital importance to the world’s banking system (and 100 cents on the dollar) could be used as leverage to insist that no profits could be taken before TARP funds were repaid in full, and – more importantly – GS had refunded 40-60 cents on those counterparty claims once the crisis had passed (i.e. now – at bonus season).
And so what if ‘talent’ leaves? It transpires that, had the Fed not intervened, they’d all be gone – Bear Stearns style.
Okay, you say, but that’s not how bankers think. Screw them on their bonuses (even if they screwed you to get them) and they’ll walk. They have no honor, and in the wake of their departure, the firm will go down.
But again, this is simply not a credible threat compared with what Geithner had in his whip hand. Had he actually performed the most cursory check of those highly improbable hedges, he’d have seen that a proper deal would have given GS a choice between instant death or the possibility of a fatal blow a year or so down the line.
Which – by the way – sounds like a very elegant solution to the “too big to fail” problem – though not half as elegant as paying those bonuses using the toxic assets that the US Taxpayers are now holding.
Sadly, Obama is displaying Bush-grade loyalty to people who’ve demonstrated little loyalty of their own towards the country they ‘serve’.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how much more credibility Obama manages to squander as those payouts start hitting bank accounts scattered throughout tax havens in Europe and the Caribbean.
And then there’s this, which only adds to the damnation of Geithner & Co.
You all remember GS saying they had “no material risk” in the event of default by AIG, since they were “properly hedged”.
Neil M. Barofsky has just asserted that this was categorically untrue, and has done so in a report asserting that any negotiations away from the 100 cents on the dollar paid by the Fed would have most certainly produced a loss.
In other words, the Fed was the hedge that GS indicated was both non-governmental, and in place well before the Fed intervened.
Geithner, was then asked if he’d ever actually inspected any of these famous hedges (i.e. the private ones GS said it had, as opposed to the public one it was actually counting on) he was forced to concede that no, he had not.
Nevertheless, he felt confident saying that the deal with GS was “sickening” it was also “the very best one that the taxpayers could have gotten” which is all so ferociously damning I don’t even know where to begin.
Apparently, it never occurred to him that giving GS the benefit of the doubt about their vital importance to the world’s banking system (and 100 cents on the dollar) could be used as leverage to insist that no profits could be taken before TARP funds were repaid in full, and – more importantly – GS had refunded 40-60 cents on those counterparty claims once the crisis had passed (i.e. now – at bonus season).
And so what if ‘talent’ leaves? It transpires that, had the Fed not intervened, they’d all be gone – Bear Stearns style.
Okay, you say, but that’s not how bankers think. Screw them on their bonuses (even if they screwed you to get them) and they’ll walk. They have no honor, and in the wake of their departure, the firm will go down.
But again, this is simply not a credible threat compared with what Geithner had in his whip hand. Had he actually performed the most cursory check of those highly improbable hedges, he’d have seen that a proper deal would have given GS a choice between instant death or the possibility of a fatal blow a year or so down the line.
Which – by the way – sounds like a very elegant solution to the “too big to fail” problem – though not half as elegant as paying those bonuses using the toxic assets that the US Taxpayers are now holding.
Sadly, Obama is displaying Bush-grade loyalty to people who’ve demonstrated little loyalty of their own towards the country they ‘serve’.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how much more credibility Obama manages to squander as those payouts start hitting bank accounts scattered throughout tax havens in Europe and the Caribbean.