He's already taken some heat for a vacation to Croatia days after accepting the CEO position at AIG. He ran life insurer MetLife for 8 years ending in 2006. According to Bloomberg, he turned down the AIG CEO offer 3 times before finally accepting it at the chiding of friends. Nothing inspires confidence like knowing the guy has no interest in the job.
Short clips from Reuters and Bloomberg are inside.
Partial to truth, we're always happy to present Janet's articles. She's got a wicked sense of humor and a unique outlook with a strong bullshite filter. She's been warning about the dangers of credit derivatives at least since the publication of her Buffett book, and probably long before.
Mary Schapiro, if your minions are listening, get Tavakoli hired as a consultant to the SEC immediately. You have been talking publicly of late about the need for seasoned voices who understand derviatives. The answer is Janet Tavakoli and she can be reached here. Use our dollars wisely and get someone in there who understands systemic credit risk.
It's been a bittersweet week for Uncle Ben. First he's egregiously re-appointed to a new term by President Bush Obama. Then Judge Loretta Preska hits him with a Mike Tyson overhand right, and while still concussed and shaky, Bailout Barney brings out the 2 x 4.
At long last we have public comments from Congressman Frank on Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve. And somewhat shockingly, at least based on his response in this town hall clip, Frank heartily supports HR 1207 and is working with Congressman Paul to steer its passage.
As we have surmised and have written several times, the component of the bill giving Congress power to oversee monetary policy (Fed interest rates), is being scaled back or perhaps tossed from the language of the bill entirely (it's not clear from his response). It appears that it was a mere device of negotiation, and has functioned as intended.
This is huge news and a big win for truth, justice and taxpayer sanity.
Transcript and video are inside. Halle-freaking-lujah.
In the early days of the sub-prime collapse, in April of 2007 to be exact, hedge fund managers James Chanos and Paul Singer were asked by Bob Steel, then the Under-Secretary of the Treasury, to make a secret and private presentation to the G7 Finance Ministers in Washington.
Singer and Chanos gave very specific warnings about the massive over-leverage and securitization time bombs that permeated the balance sheets of the world's largest and most well-known financial institutions, going to great lengths in an attempt to get the world's top central bankers to take notice.
They were completely and unabashedly ignored. We have the transcript and audio inside.
I wish we had known about this ahead of time. It's our mistake for missing it and not alerting readers. The questions submitted and voted by Digg users were outstanding. Tougher and more intelligent questioning than I've seen in any interview of Timmaaay, including Fareed Zakaria's commendable effort. Steve Liesman and Erin Burnett should seek solace under a rock considering their feeble attempts with the Treasury Secretary.
The disadvantage for us is that because of the public nature of voting (Digging) the submitted questions, Turbo knew ahead of time what would be asked and was fully prepared with rehearsed answers. Still the questions were so aggressive and critical in nature that TG couldn't help but squirm through many of them.
I've had a draft post half-written for 8 weeks entitled Ten Questions For Geithner And Summers. One of these days I'll get around to completing it, but the first question on my list is the most glaring omission from the Digg final 10 and is the same that I posed to Simon Johnson and Brad Delong:
Court Orders The Fed To Disclose Emergency Bank Loans (A Taste Of Victory)
The Goldman Connection (Summers, Rubin, Geithner, et al)
The Man Who Sells America's IOUs
Former St. Louis Fed President William Poole Says Bernanke Should Not Have Been Reappointed
Matt Taibbi: AIG's New Chief Is A Raging Dickhead
Matt Taibbi: Goldman Busted Again
The Real Reason Americans Are Angry
Monday's Links (National Strike Edition, 23 Articles)
20 More Articles Inside
Hitler is upset with his inner circle for selling stocks at the bottom of the market in March. The Allies are advancing towards Berlin and the fuhrer has no funds left to thwart the onslaught. He laments that even Citigroup, which is 'basically bankrupt', has rallied almost 500% from the lows, yet his money is stuck in cash earning 3%.
I have no idea who directed this piece of comic financial genius, but it's the best stock market satire I've ever seen. I hate to oversell clips, but this one deserves it.
Follow-up interview from Hannity with the Marine Vet, David Hedrick who asserted his Rights of Man at a town hall recently. It's another clip presented to show the growing sense of frustration with government. The natives are paying attention and getting restless. First thought was that Hedrick should be drafted to run against Congressman Baird. This ex-Marine is articulate, intelligent and presentable. He ought to use his new fame to make a run at Washington.
Former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich is completely honest about the recovery, with no sugarcoat, and George Will has some new data points on the stimulus. Three short clips inside.
Larry Flynt Calls For A Day Of Protest: A National Strike
The Real Reason Americans Are Angry: Big Government Bailouts
Kenneth Rogoff: Why We Need To Regulate Banks Sooner Than Later
New Evidence: China Has Stopped Buying U.S. Treasurys
Central Bankers Breathing Easier
James Grant's Interest Rate Observer (No Subscription Required)
Fareed Zakaria: Is Another Crisis The Only Way To Get Reform?
Roubini: The Risk Of A Double Dip Is Rising
Word From Jackson Hole: Central Bankers Say Rebound May Have Begun
15 more articles inside
This is no huge surprise. CBO still says it will be $9.3 trillion. And all these numbers are without health care, and include very rosy assumptions for economic growth. We believe the numbers will be a few trillion higher than CBO assumes. Will be fun to watch how much the bond market responds this week with heavy supply in the offing.
Aug 31, 2009 at 2:20 AM
