theobannion

Bank of America / SEC: Rakoff Throws Down the Gauntlet

"Throws down the gauntlet"?

Clearly, the SEC was in collusion w/ BAC to begin with, or this phoney settlement would never have come to pass. And who now gets to prosecute BAC, should the case go to trial? The SEC!

I would say the judge threw down the gauntlet had he demanded a special prosecutor to prosecute both BAC and the SEC. But I doubt that this could happen under our present constitution. Reconstitute the SEC? THAT would be nice. But Obama's a go-along-to-get-along kinda guy. And he and the SEC all know whom they belong to. Who's going to reconstitute Obama?

SOB.

U.S. Judiciary Emerging as Investors' New Best Friend

No incumbent and no challenger. Sounds reasonable.

SOB.

On Sep 09 11:17 AM Pat C wrote:

> It's a downright shame that the judiciary is having to deal with
> what should have never been allowed to take place in the first place.
> I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, vote NO INCUMBENT for
> Congress if we want to fix this.

U.S. Judiciary Emerging as Investors' New Best Friend

Do you honestly believe these recent decisions will make a difference? First, they should be front page news - check the front pages of your newspaper. Then check the major channels - CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, etc. See anythng? Hear anything? I'm not hearing any more now than when Nixon sent troops into Cambodia. What did we hear then?

At this juncture in our history as a nation, these stockholders are literally suing the government if they take on GS, BAC, C, MS, and the rest.

Thank Reagan for letting any company in any industry get as big as it pleased.

Rather than fritter our time in courtrooms, pass out the muskets. Or the Kalishnikovs. And re-read Jefferson & Payne.

SOB.

Obama's Financial Reforms: Who Stands to Lose

All of that is at least interesting, if not great; but there's a long distance between a proposal & a final result. Let's not forget that the tens of thousands of industry lobbyists haven't spent all their bribe money yet.

SOB.

GM's Tough Treatment Should Be a Model for Other Bailouts

Sorry to keep busting in, but I just read an interesting article from Reuters, part of which follows: "Bartmann, who is 60, said his fund would purchase consumer loans from struggling banks through the public-private investment partnership. With a matching co-investment from Treasury and as much as six-to-one leverage through FDIC-backed bonds, Bartmann could purchase up to $14 billion in loans." (uk.reuters.com/articl...

Six to one leverage? Wasn't excessive leverage in the system part of the problem?

If there's anyone out there who passed accounting, let me know what I'm missing.

SOB.

GM's Tough Treatment Should Be a Model for Other Bailouts

Good article. But the banks have had special clout in American politics since Alexander Hamilton's day. And not to push ancient history, Ed Kock presented himself as a wild-eyed liberal, a working man's man, as did a former young senator from New Jersey whose lifelong interest was politics (he remains nameless only because I can't remember his name - keep forgetting to eat more fish because I keep forgetting to take my gingko biloba. Where was I...?) Right - so whose pockets did they fall into as soon as they were elected? The manufacturers'? What does America manufacture anymore besides endless & insatiable consumer demand for toys & other widgets? No, they fell to the very bottoms of the pockets of the bankers, & in Kock's case, the big developers as well.

Without serious and unrelenting pressure from the people of this country, nothing will change.

Write your congresspeople & senators. Call & talk to their staffs. Make an unrelenting & unabashed pain-in-the-ass of yourself. Join a demonstration, even if it's for the first time in your life.

Sit home and do nothing, and you remain part of the problem.

Bankers should be sweating - but betcha they're smiling and playing golf - when they're not entertaining on their yachts with Dom Perignon. Or watching their thoroughbreds go around the track against a stop-watch in their Maryland or Connecticut backyard.

SOB.

Stocks on the Verge of... Something

On the money. I love the amount of energy (& time) we waste listening to politicians, from their speeches to their debates. Haven't we agreed long ago that they're all liars?

SOB.


On Mar 11 04:18 AM mrbill wrote:

> "Wasn’t it the CEO of Bank of America (seekingalpha.com/symbo...)
> who said they had plenty of capital, but took billions in TARP —
> who then said the dividend was safe, but then cut it in half — who
> subsequently said the dividend is now safe, but cut it again to one
> penny?"
>
> Good point. Sadly most people, especially in the US have short term
> memories. In the US, not only can you fool us once, but several more
> times, and then some.

ETF Update: Absolutely Nothing to Love

Dear Bibicu,

Only because I sense that you're playing Democrat/Republican with us, I would submit the following, thanks to the on-line Wackypedia, written by people who obviously went to grade school but skipped grammar entirely and forever:

"Following diplomatic negotiations dating back to 1990 between the three nations, the leaders gathered together in San Antonio Texas on December 17, 1992 to officially sign NAFTA. U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexico's President Carlos Salinas, each responsible for spearheading and promoting the agreement, made history that day when they ceremoniously signed the agreement. The agreement needed to be ratified by each nation's legislative or parliamentary branch before it could actually become law. In the U.S., Bush, who had worked to "fast track" the official signing prior to the end of his last term, ran out of time and had to pass the required ratification and "signing into law" to incoming president Bill Clinton. Prior to sending it to the House of Representatives, Clinton introduced clauses which would hopefully provide protections for American workers while placating concerns held by many of the House representatives. It also required U.S. partners to adhere to environmental practices and regulations similar to its own. Being able to enforce these clauses, especially with Mexico, was considered questionable, and with much consternation and emotional discussion The House of Representatives approved NAFTA on November 17, 1993, by a vote of 234 to 200. Remarkably the agreement's supporters included 132 Republicans and only 102 Democrats. That unusual combination reflected the challenges President Clinton faced in convincing Congress that the controversial piece of legislation would truly benefit all Americans. The agreement was signed into law in the U.S. on December 8, 1993 by President Bill Clinton and went into effect on January 1, 1994."

Why do you continue to believe that there's a difference between the parties? Without Big Money, neither elephants nor donkeys could 1) get elected, or 2) get rich. Do you really believe that both parties would be so adamantly against eliminating campaign contributions (when they benefit neither party) if they were unable to siphon a bunch of bucks off the top for themselves? And think about why someone would give money to BOTH parties/BOTH candidates. Does charity run so deep in the veins of the rich?

I doubt it.

As for 99% of Americans knowing what mortgages cost, you seem to believe that 99% of Americans own (or their friendly mtg company owns) their house or apartment. This is seriously quaint. Charming. We, as a group of people, are richer than I ever dreamed!

At least, unlike many of our countrymen, you're thinking.

Best,
SOB.

On Mar 02 05:54 AM Bibicu Florian wrote:

> My humble comment, why this entire crisis is happening:
>
> 1. Late'80, in USA, the democrats created NAFTA. This allowed US
> greedy companies to move jobs out of country to low cost regions,
> mainly Mexico and Asia.
>
> 2. The plants started to close in US and move overseas, people started
> to loose their jobs...
>
> 3. In parallel to this, Hillary Clinton started to "volunteer" and
> "fix" the Health care system...Nothing happened...worsened......
> see under president Obama...Universal Healthcare coverage...what
> a nice dream for American people...anything happening, BTW?
>
> 4. Cheap Asian goods started to flood American market, the demand
> for more expensive American product dropped dramatically, again American
> plants reduced their production, started to close one by one, more
> lay-offs…
>
> 5. Cheap foreign labour (very much illegal) started to invade the
> US, driving down the local salaries. Life in became US harder and
> harder…
>
> 6. By loosing their jobs, more and more people could not afford to
> make anymore their mortgage payments and started loosing their houses.
>
>
> 7. American peoples are not idiot! They (99% of them) know how much
> mortgage can afford, but they cannot control for how long they will
> have a job, so they can pay the family house mortgage. As soon as
> they started to loose their jobs, again I repeat, they could not
> afford to pay anymore for the house…the financial crisis started
> to develop…but nicely covert under the name of “subprime”…
>
> 8. All the big American companies, including the auto manufacturers,
> moved the majority of their plants overseas, there are not very many
> plants left in US, so jobs are hard to be reopened on US soil, for
> American workers, because there are no more US plants left on US.
>
> No jobs, no salaries, no money for the majority of working class
> to be spent, circulate, keep the economy in motion, dynamic…
>
> 9. How Obama administration is planning to create jobs it wrong:
> they want to create jobs by fixing holes in highways, painting bridges
> and repairing schools, because these “items” can not be shipped overseas
> to be done there, at a cheaper rate, but profit for the project administrating
> company…Profit, who cares about workers…But one can not transform
> a healthy multiskilled working class (once upon a time) in a bunch
> of low level bridges painters…there are 2.5 million people out of
> jobs…bring back the jobs you moved overseas, industry, steel, electronics,
> auto, machining equipment, and so much more…
>
> 10. American people became depressed; they are not used to live in
> conditions like these. They are turning more and more toward right
> wing deep conservative-fundament... Southern-style religion, become
> violent, started to hate foreigners, immigrants, the rate of killing
> among them is increasing, same with the suicide rate…Very bad, it
> looks like there is not hope…
>
> But there are some solutions…what I said above was just the root
> cause…
>
> I will tell you more, as soon as I realise I’m not talking to the
> walls…
>
>
>
> Please find bellow my humble comment, why this entire crisis is happening:
>
>
> 1. Late'80, in USA democrats created NAFTA. This allowed US companies
> to move jobs out of country to low cost regions, mainly Mexico and
> Asia.
>
> 2. The plants started to close in US and move overseas, people started
> to loose their jobs...
>
> 3. In parallel to this, Hillary Clinton started to "volunteer" and
> "fix" the Health care system...Nothing happened...worsened......
> see under president Obama...Universal Healthcare coverage...what
> a nice dream for American people...
>
> 4. Cheap Asian goods started to flood American market, the demand
> for more expensive American product dropped dramatically, again American
> plants reduced their production, more lay-offs…
>
> 5. Cheap foreign labour (very much illegal) started to invade the
> US, driving down the local salaries. Life in became US harder and
> harder…
>
> 6. By loosing their jobs, more and more people could not afford to
> make anymore their mortgage payments and started loosing their houses.
>
>
> 7. American people are not idiot! They (99% of them) know how much
> mortgage can afford, but they cannot control for how long they will
> have a job so they can the family mortgage.
> As soon as they started to loose their jobs, again I repeat, they
> could not afford to pay anymore for the house…the crisis started
> to develop…
>
> 8. All the big companies including the auto manufacturers moved the
> majority of their plants overseas, there are not very many plants
> left in US, so jobs are hard to be reopened on US soil, for American
> workers.
>
> 9. How Obama administration is planning to create jobs it wrong:
> they want to create jobs by fixing holes in highways, painting bridges
> and repairing schools, because these “items” can not be shipped overseas…But
> one can not transform a healthy multiskilled working class in a bunch
> of low level bridge painters…there are 2.5 million people out of
> jobs…
>
> 10. American people became depressed; they are not used to live in
> conditions like these. They are turning toward right deep conservative-fundament...
> Southern-style religion, become violent, started to hate foreigners,
> immigrants, the rate of killing among them is increasing, same with
> the suicide rate…Very bad, it looks like there is not hope…
>
> 11. The same key people that created this mess by starting NAFTA
> are now back, same strategy (hope not!)
>
> But there are some solutions…what I said above was just the root
> cause…
>
> How to fix it...I will tell you more, as soon as I realise I’m not
> talking to the walls…
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Florian Bibicu
>
>
>