spanish moss

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

Lengthy but excellent article. I'm a free trader at heart, and I grew up in a farming family. Over a long period of considering the commodities markets, I have arrived at the conclusion that commodities markets should be restricted to producers and users. Yeah, yeah, I 've heard the bull from those who talk about the liquidity speculators bring to commodities markets... but, what value is that liquidity v. a stable market for cotton, grain, food, energy and other imputs. Goldman's days are numbered in my opinion. They've moved from financial svingale's to politically connected to rapist bullies. PS: Did you notice that GS gave back its TARP money, just about the same amount of $$'s as its AIG liability of $12.9B. And then Blofield [sic] ballyhoos their conservatism and financial accumen in being able to pay it back... give me a break!

New York AG Report: Wall Street Stole Bonuses from Taxpayers

Clawbacks are appropriate in these cases. I have railed against the huberous of GS over their ability repay their TARP funds when they simply sat on the money and even hid their losses in the "orphan" month of 12/08. Wells used its money to bail-out Sheila Bair and her ill advised FDIC backed Citi takeover of WB... C was broker than WB it seems to me. Now Wells doesn't have the cash to repay like JPM or GS, but GS didn't repay its $12.9B AIG welfare and JPM didn't put anything into its takeover of WAMU.

What Obama Needs to Know about Tim Geithner, the AIG Fiasco and Citigroup

Excellent presentation...

Subprime mortgages were not the problem they were simply the weakest assets in the chain and were the first to be stressed when the party got long in the tooth.

Now the real issue, the AltA mortgages, generally big principal balances to people with good credit buying on speculation that the property value would rise rapidly, or that if it did not they could simply sell and get out from under the big mortgage before the option arm (PIK a Pay) went up to the fully amortized amount. The number and balance of the Alt A vs. sub prime is staggering.

It was all good... now it's all bad... and the idiots who perpetuated the mess, the bond daddys and rating agencies... well, they have been stocking those million dollar bonuses away for years... wonder what they invested in? Hedge funds I'll bet... and a house in the Hamptons or Santa Fe, or Montana...

At the end of the day, CDSs did not protect anything, they simply moved the risk down the road... now we are at the end of that road.


would risehave shown stress... now the stress has moved into the larger