Ritholtz On Clawbacks: "Think Of It As Bonus Foreclosure"

Barry Ritholtz on with Dylan Ratigan from August 18, discussing Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg's decision to seek compensation clawbacks from top executives of bailed-out banks and auto manufacturers.

• "I'm talking about the CEOs of the banks who directly decided to elevate the risk levels in order to elevate compensation, knowing that they didn't have the collateral to incur the liability at the time."

• "Money is supposed to represent the creation of value and not stealing. Selling insurance for something you can't pay the claims on is stealing, only it's better because you get the money up front."

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Personal Letter From Satan To Henry Paulson

FROM THE OFFICE OF SATAN:

"Prince of Lies and Proud of It"

Dear Hank:

You have outdone yourself once again, my loyal servant, with these fraudulent, deliciously deceptive proposals to reform the utterly corrupt financial system you exploited so profitably as head of Goldman Sachs.

My plans for the destruction of the United States of America have been going along rather swimmingly until we rushed things a bit with Bear Stearns--ah, the wondrous power of pure, unmitigated greed!

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Goodbye Fannie & Freddie: Hello MCGE (Diana Olick Report)

Diana Olick is one of my favorites at CNBC.  She has covered the mortgage and foreclosure crisis more ably than anyone on financial television the past 24 months, and she has built substantial credibility simply by telling the truth without hype.

If you haven't seen this story yet, the MBA, has been shopping a reform proposal around Washington that would fundamentally shift GSE mortgage risk from taxpayers to the private sector through the creation of MCGEs (mortgage credit guarantor entities).  The chief architect of the MBA's plan Michael Berman stepped up for an interview yesterday to explain the proposal.

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Sheila Bair & Larry Kudlow (Complete CNBC Interview)

Maybe the best interview with with FDIC head Sheila Bair I've seen. There's a lot in this clip from last night's Kudlow & Company.  Article link and quotes are inside.

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It's Not AIG, It's The Government (Bob The Heart Attack Ranter Pt. 2)

Stop what you're doing and watch this. It's clean and quick--98 seconds of intensity. No profanity. Just a myocardial infarction.  He's heart-attack Bob.

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The CNBC Money Dummy: Maria Bartiromo Asks 44 Year-Old Guest Why He's Not On Medicare

Not wanting to be out-done by the senior who famously told his representative to 'keep the government out of his medicare', yesterday Maria Bartiromo asked a mid-forties Congressman "if Medicare is so great, why aren't you on it?" 

Let that sink in. Remember, she is marketed as one of the smart ones by CNBC.  After the Congressman explains that he's not 65, the Money Dummy still doesn't get it. The clip runs less than a minute.

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NY Fed Prez William Dudley Admits That Debt Monetization Is Real

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Wednesday Links (30 Articles, September 2, 2009)

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Blind Man Reappointed Chairman Of The Federal Reserve

I've not posted this clip (nor had I seen the sickening detail of Obama's praise) and for good reason: I still value my sanity, even after 7 months of covering the greatest heist in the history of our nation, and 11 times having considered trips to the local psych ward.  Tell me why I started this site again.  Bernanke gets some Presidential love, blind-leading-the-blind style.

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Ratigan Suggests A Different Name For Michael Moore's Bailout Flick

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New York Fed President William Dudley On Bernanke's Reappointment, MBS Purchases, Inflation & Quantitative Easing

CNBC's Steve Liesman had a 2-part interview (lovefest) this morning with New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley.  Dudley came to the New York Fed from Goldman Sachs, and his appointment to Treasury Secretary Geithner's previous position was incestuous and controversial, as detailed recently in the WSJ.  Even the reigning king of corporate cronyism, GE's Jeff Immelt (a NY Fed board member), was said to be unnerved by the appointment.

Warning: watching this clip will likely cause unrelenting indigestion.

See it anyway.

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Astroturf Jerks (Steven Crowder Examines Political Activism)

We're new to this guy, and we're not enamored of defining problems in terms of liberal vs. conservative.  It's generally divisive and overly simplistic.  But this clip satisfies a desire to express an opinion I've held since the town hall protests began: with a few exceptions, these are legitimate expressions of anger and frustration not affiliated by party.  The natives are restless and angry.  And the outrage over the bailout of failed Wall Street banks, Fannie, Freddie, and AIG is an insidious river of percolating hate.  Career politicians beware the wrath of 2010.

Pundits like us to think that we all must fit neatly within one camp or the other.  It's all part of the grand masquerade while the private bash rages on. The corporate and special interest lobby are the only game in town, and taxpayers keep getting our asses kicked every time we show up to play.

Crowder goes inside a liberal California PAC for a job interview and brings along a hidden camera.  The hypocrisy becomes evident quickly.  The interviewer considers the activism organized, fake and astroturf unless of course she happens to agree with the cause.  In that case, it's distinctly a grassroots movement.  This is the kind of shite that really pisses me off.

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WalStreetPro2 On Obama's Revised Deficit Figures

The newest installment from WalStreetPro, uploaded to Kevin's youtube channel on Friday.  He breaks Chinese consumer products while he discusses the economy and markets.  From his first video over a year ago, he's been screaming about the national debt and our one-party sytem that never stops spending.  For us it's cathartic.  For the rest of you, we have no idea.

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Bill Fleckenstein On Greenspan, Bernanke, Bailouts & Bubbles

This is the long audio clip of the weekend.  Pretty much everything is in here: the SEC, Wall Street, regulation, Alan Greenspan, Bernanke, the Fed, Paulson and Goldman, Geithner, AIG, Government Sachs, the markets, commodities, gold and other precious metals, debt, deficits and the dollar.

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