This short clip courtesy of Aaron Task and TechTicker is an absolute must see. For more color on Chris Whalen's comments about TARP payback being a fraud amid the FDIC debt crutch, see this story.
Buy low-sell high becomes "buy high, walk away with nothing" for Sunstone Properties.
In the first clip Jon wonders: "As long as the American taxpayers are buying companies like GM, is there any way the government could grab a couple businesses that actually make money?"
Several more cartoons and photos plus a duo of videos from Jon Stewart are after the jump.
Lemon socialism is the pits.
As Hunter Thompson wrote once, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Life imitates art this afternoon as Bloomberg is reporting that B-52 and the Federal Reserve will soon be hiring a veteran lobbyist to fight the Ron Paul-Alan Grayson machine. Wait, it gets weirder. She is Linda Robertson, the former head of Washington lobbying for Enron. Pause for impact. Thompson would be proud.
On the very bright side, we now have exquisite proof that Bernanke is rattled. Nassim Taleb and Dean Baker have called for his head. Ron Paul is on a personal seek and destroy mission. Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve is still stuck in Barney Frank's committee. H.R. 1207, as its known, has more than 190 co-sponsors at last count. The Federal Reserve is frightened of transparency and truth. Congressman Alan Grayson put a bulls-eye on the Inspector General, Elizabeth Coleman, last month. The walls are tightening on the private banking cabal and their imbalance sheet of junk assets. Recent speeches by regional Presidents Thomas Hoenig and Richard Fisher demonstrate that agreement on policy is no longer uniform. These are the most perilous times for the Federal Reserve since the 30s.
After the jump we have the details from Bloomberg.
I am not taking sides in the debate, but long-time readers have probably deduced that my views on the growth and size of the federal government coincide nicely with those of Congressman Ron Paul. I am not a Republican, however, because they have proven to be equally reckless with deficit spending and I can't stomach their intolerance on so many social issues.
Though I have been extremely critical of Obama's handling of the bank bailouts, I firmly believe the bailout path chosen would have been exactly the same with a McCain administration. And I believe the nomination of Sarah Palin to the vice-presidency was the single greatest public insult in the history of politics in my lifetime. For him to place the dimwitted, 6-stop undergraduate, pneumatic Alaska Governor so close to the Presidency is an act I will never forgive. Sarah Palin makes George W. Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar.
For many reasons, not the least of which being their insane belief in the power of government to solve problems, I am also not a Democrat. I am like millions of other Americans who feel betrayed by our leaders and our system. Like so many of you, I am a fiscal conservative--social liberal. And there is no party (except for Libertarians who are, sadly, completely marginalized politically) that offers us a warm, comfy home.
Give me your thoughts in comments. Are taxes too high in this country? An interesting rant on taxes from radio duo Opie & Anthony is after the jump.
Michael Arrington is a genius. While running TechCrunch, the world's most successful blog on new technology and start-ups, he somehow found the time and focus to destroy HP, Dell, Sony and perhaps even Apple in the race to launch the first ever touch-tablet personal computer. We think it's so cool that we decided to veer off-topic briefly and show it here. Visit TechCrunch to see more photos and get the skinny on the CrunchPad.
The price will likely be $299 for the tablet which has a 12-inch screen and is 18 millimeters thick.
B-52 carries a heavy visage amidst the talk of an audit of the Federal Reserve.
Inside we have a short clip from TechTicker and Aaron Task who interviewed Congressman Alan Grayson yesterday about his very popular youtube video showing an extreme lack of oversight at the Federal Reserve. According to Grayson, that video has helped dramatically to convince certain Congressional members to demand more transparency from the Fed. He also discusses the status of H.R. 1207, Ron Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve.
Pale Man Walking...Finally the Beginning of Justice
It's been a decent week for the home team. First, tax-cheating turbo Timmaaay is mocked openly by Chinese students (and Siddhartha) during a Q&A session, and now former Countrywide CEO, Angelo Mozilo, has been formally charged with illegal insider trading and fraud in a civil case brought by the SEC.
SEC enforcement jefe Robert Khuzami said Mozilo earned more than $140 million in illegal profits. The core of the case according to the SEC is that Mozilo was selling stock heavily in 2006 and 2007 while telling investors that all was well. At a press conference today announcing the charges, Khuzami said Mozilo "deliberately misled" Countrywide shareholders about the financial health of the billions in mortgages Countrywide was carrying on its books.
Carney at Clusterstock has a partial transcript from David Faber's reporting on the charges, which we are reprinting after the jump.
It is undoubtedly great news but we remain cautious. According to Reuters, possible criminal charges against Mozilo are still months away as prosecutors and investigators are still in discussions. However, $140 million isn't chump change and is a decent clawback. And we feel it couldn't happen to a nicer or more honest individual.
Angelo deserves to wear orange for a few years, and we hear they no longer have tanning beds in prison. Perhaps one day Mozilo will be known as 'Pale Man Walking'.
Fellow financial blogger and all-around nice guy, Barry Ritholtz officially published 'Bailout Nation' a few weeks ago. When The Daily Bail (and others) were unfairly attacked by Playboy Magazine early in our first month, Barry went out on a limb for us and published our response to Playboy on his blog. It was an extremely kind gesture on his part that we won't soon forget. From an email he sent us at the time of publication, here are Barry's own words on 'Bailout Nation':
At long last, BAILOUT NATION is now available!
The book was a long time in the making, required two publishers (cause the first one chickened out). It is full of insights that you won't find anywhere else. I name names -- call out the bad players for their actions, and show you just how much the CEOs were paid for destroying their firms (about $1.5 billion to the top 20 firms!)
If you have been watching the bailouts with an increasing sense of frustration, and want to know 1) how this happened; 2) who is to blame and 3) what we can do about it, this is the book for you!
Thank you -- and enjoy the book!
-Barry Ritholtz
After the loop we have a short clip from Barry on the continued bank bailouts.
See also:
Barry Ritholtz On Banks: "You Can't Drink Yourself Sober"
Jun 10, 2009 at 8:42 AM
