Bailout News Congressional Video: Senator Jim Bunning Issues A Stern Warning To Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn About AIG

Updated on Mar 10, 2009 at 3:36 PM by DailyBail

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Youtube Video: Senator Bunning And Fed Chairman B-52 Bernanke On AIG -- March 2009

Editor's Note: As often happens, the original youtube video has been pulled.  I searched extensively and could not find the same clip anywhere else.  I have replaced it with another clip.  The text below refers to the original clip and is worth the read on its own.

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I will have more commentary on this post later, but for now enjoy this 5 minute clip of former major league pitcher and member of the baseball Hall of Fame, Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky.

Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn was squarely in the crosshairs last week as Bunning was throwing high and tight. (Bunning led the majors in hit-batters during the era that included Bob Gibson, so he's not likely afraid of knocking The Fed off the plate.)

Point of fact, here is the short description given of the Senator by the Wall Street Journal in one of the links below:

"Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), the Hall of Famer that he is, may hold an undisputed claim as the best pitcher in the United States Senate.  He’d also win any competition as the leading agitator against the Federal Reserve and Treasury.  You can always count on Mr. Bunning to lob grenades at a hearing with a central bank official, even if his fellow lawmakers (on both sides of the aisle) use decidedly different tones."

The golden moment occurs about 30 seconds into the clip as Bunning says:

“We have put in approximately $170 billion to $180 billion into one corporation. And you are telling us that the counterparties that got par for their bonds, or for whatever — the American taxpayer shouldn’t know who they are” Mr. Bunning said, growing more agitated. “And then you may come back to us and and ask for more money for more banks and more corporations. You will get the biggest ‘no’ you ever got. I will hold the bill. I will do anything possible to stop you from wasting the taxpayers’ money on a lost cause. And that’s what AIG is, it’s a lost cause.”

The look on Kohn's face is hilarious as he's being flailed.

Call it symbolic, I don't give a rat's ass.  Bunning just threw some 98 mph heat straight at Bernanke's head.  We celebrate the good moments here because they come not often, and this is one hell of a good moment. 

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Can You Say 'Fiduciary'?: GE Has No PE: Mark McHugh From Across The Street

Glance at this interesting post on the lies at GE. 

Mark McHugh is the author and his blog is called Across The Street.

Anyone else have something to say?

Click the 'contact' tab just like Mark did.

We will put you in front of our 24,000 weekly readers.

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Bailout News Video CNBC: Puff Daddies Jimmy Cayne And Charlie Gasparino: Laaaaaid Back

Can I be blunt.

Is everyone going green?

Cayne and Gasparino are chronic problems.

Gasparino reports Bear Stearns now trading at $420 per share.

There are links after the jump including Gasparino's article from The Daily Beast and Jimmy Cayne's very negative opinion of Tim Geithner.

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Bailout News CNBC Video: TARP's Powerless Oversight Czar, Elizabeth Warren Criticizes Geithner, Obama, Bush And Paulson

Updated on Mar 10, 2009 at 4:52 PM by DailyBail

For newcomers, Harvard's Elizabeth Warren is the top COP (Congressional Oversight Panel) of TARP.  The problem is she has no real authority to do anything but make noise, write letters and issue updated reports.

Congress deserves our unrelenting disgust for having trusted criminal Hank Paulson so implicitly that they felt no need to attach powerful oversight to the greatest heist in our nation's history.  The superficial variety suited everyone swimmingly, and so it should be no surprise that we're now drowning.

Nice work, Pelosi, Frank and Reid as well as plenty of scared Republicans.  Paulson rolled onto the Hill last September and played you for the anxious lemmings that he knew you to be.  He left with $700 billion, no oversight and a devilish smile on his crooked visage.  Thanks for protecting taxpayers.

Warren issued her 3rd report last Friday and it was mostly un-noticed by the media. The link is to the 198 page PDF document in its entirely. For those looking for a great synopsis see this piece by Michael Crittenden of Dow Jones Newswires.

The most satisfying part of the report came in the appendix in an open letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner in which she again criticized TG and Obama for not answering even the most basic of questions related to the banking crisis. We have text of the letter plus more related links after the jump.

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Bailout News: CBS 60 Minutes Video: Sheila Bair & The FDIC: Your Bank Has Failed. What Happens Next?

What would happen if your local bank failed?  Scott Pelley and "60 Minutes" were given extraordinary access, as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation moves in to take over a failed bank in Chicago.

Video runs 13 minutes and was broadcast Sunday March 8th.

A thought on Sheila Bair.  I appreciate that she has been an aggressive banking regulator since early last year.  I appreciate that she tells the truth and doesn't mince words.  I don't appreciate that she did little to stop the housing bubble along the way.  She didn't open her mouth until 2006.  She should have been screaming from the rooftops starting in 2003.

Banks should have been told by the FDIC to stop writing mortgages on any home that had more than doubled in value in the previous 5 years.  If a house sold for $200k in 1998 then why the hell is some bank writing a $500k mortgage on the same property in 2003 and an $800k note on it in 2006.

Banking suicide by proxy.  And Sheila watched it all happen, quietly in the corner, saying nothing.

For those who can't watch the video, I have the entire transcript inside.

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Chrysler 1979: Bailout News From Back In The Day With Music By Bob Seger

For whatever reasons those old enough to remember (I was 12 and remember Lee Iacocca coming in from Ford to lead the way. Yeah, back then failout CEOs got fired and sangre nueva was brought in.) the government bailout of Chrysler corp. in 1979 generally think it was a massive rescue.

It was $1.5 billion.  Triple that number to adjust for inflation and we're talking about $5 billion in today's dollars.  Miniscule.  Wouldn't even make the front page. 

This above video is a report from AP Radio about bailout old school.

And inside we have an ancient favorite from Detroit legend Bob Seger, hat tip to reader Old Man.

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Bailout Truth: Video: Hey Tim, Do Us All A Favor And Step Down Now

As I mentioned in the previous post, it has not been a good week for our tax-cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

He was hammered all week in front of Congress and could only respond with jazz hands.  His nominated deputies at Treasury have changed their minds and now want no part of Tim's Treasury.  And SNL kicked off their show last night with a sketch subtly lambasting our failed keeper.

The Daily Bail friend and bank genius, Chris Whalen dropped a truth bomb on Geithner Friday afternoon and said TG is much better suited for the State Department than Treasury.  He further charged that Tim knows nothing about financials and that his only purpose is to protect Goldman Sachs.  And best of all he predicts TG will be gone by June.  Whalen, a frequent guest host of CNBC's Squawk Box,  is very measured and not inflammatory, so these are serious accuasations and should be examined as such.  Let us be the first to start the countdown: 82 days until June 1st.

And now damningly, his seemingly positive work in the Asian Crisis of '97 has been exposed for the PR Shamwow that it was.  Paul Keating, the former Prime Minister of Australia says Geithner screwed things up in Indonesia so gravely, that his IMF solution actually helped to create our current financial crisis.

Quoting from the Sydney Morning Herald: "Keating went on to argue that, by frightening the Chinese into building their vast $US2 trillion foreign reserves, Geithner was responsible for the build-up of tremendous imbalance in the world financial system. This imbalance, in turn, according to Keating, contributed to the global financial crisis which has since devastated the world economy."

A little background on TG: he has an Asian studies degree from Dartmouth (tough major Tim considering you grew up in Asia) and a Masters in Political Science and International Economics from Johns Hopkins.

He is the Treasury Secretary of the United Sates at the most critical time in our history, and he has no viable background in Economics.  Nice call Obama. 

Lastly, while he was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he allowed the leverage factory of Wall Street to blossom on his watch.  Jimmy Rogers has a few, beautiful words about the complete failure that is Tim Geithner.

Could there possibly have been a worse choice for Treasury Secretary. Surely.  But not many.

After the jump we have the clip from Chris Whalen courtesy of thestreet.com TV.

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Bailout Comedy Saturday Night Live Videos: Tim Geithner Is Clueless And Open To Suggestions On Fixing The Banks & Please Do Not Upset 'The Rock' Obama. Broadcast March 7th

Everyone else including the writers for SNL have finally figured out that tax-cheat Tim Geithner is neither qualified nor even intelligent enough to be Treasury Secretary.  Think I'm being harsh?  Read this immediately.  It's a painful kick to the nutz from former PM of Australia Paul Keating that calls into question Timmaaay's intelligence.  I will have more on this soon including some lovely video of Chris Whalen ripping into T.G.  He's getting his deserved comeuppance this weekend from DC all the way to Sydney.

In this clip from SNL last night entitiled 'Tim Geithner Is Open To Suggestions', TG admits he has no idea what to do to solve the banking crisis, and so he is offering a $420 billion reward to the first person with a good idea over the phone.

In the second video, after the jump, an angered President Barack Obama turns into The Rock Obama and handles things slightly differently.  Dwayne Johnson 'The Rock' was the host last night and handled the comedy exceptionally well. 

The best part of the sketch is when The Rock Obama receives a call saying that AIG needs more money.  The audience goes wild.  Now explain why the real Barack doesn't do the same. 

It's game over for AIG cash injections, by the way.  Mark my word.  Something changed in DC this week.  Those pigs will not get another dime.

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Relax, It's Been A Long Week--Friday Comedy Celebration: The Best Financial Comedy On The Planet. 27 Videos All Gathered Into 1 Link.

You guys can hate me later for all the bad news I bring.  Remember, don't forget what's important in life and now enjoy some comedy.

These videos are available 24/7 anytime you're on the site.  There is a 'Bailout Comedy Video' tab at the top of every page on the site.

Share the link with a friend or 2 with a quick email.  It's a safe and painless way to spread the word and educate your friends and family at the same time.  It is much appreciated.

Inside you will find stuff from SNL, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Leno, Craig Ferguson, Wanda Sykes, Niall Ferguson, Paulson, Bernanke, WalstreetPro2, Bill Maher, Ron Paul, and more.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

27 Financial Comedy Videos Inside Just 1 LINK 

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Bailout CNBC Video: Will Suspending Mark To Market Suspend Reality? With Former Fed Governor Robert McTeer And Jon Najarian. Kudos to Michelle Caruso Cabrera

Updated on Mar 6, 2009 at 1:18 PM by DailyBail

To lie or not to lie.  That is the question.

This is a very difficult issue.  I've been reading and thinking about it for almost 12 months and I admit that it's not a slam dunk 'no' as I wish it were.  But it actually becomes less complicated for me when a Keynesian like McTeer advocates its removal.

Side note: On the 2nd video inside McTeer admits to buying Citigroup last fall at $15 per share.  How could the former President of the Dallas Federal Reserve be so blind as to not realize the end game for Citi., you wonder?  Firstly, because he's a failed Keynesian who believes in miracles.  And secondly, it's a perfect demonstration that even former Fed Presidents don't do their homework, and, more damningly, don't understand the extent of the problems at some of our banks.  I say it all the time, but I can show you tens of thousands of people who have known since at least last Spring that Citi would eventually find a home in the land of nada, home of the zeros.  Why were we so smart?  Because we read every single piece of research out there both positive and negative, and we don't subscribe to the investment philosophy of hopes, dreams and sugar-coated rainbows.

Back to the point.  By nature, I am vehemently opposed to any suspension of reality.  That's pretty much how we got into this mess in the first place.  All the players packed on the leverage year after year, all of them convinced they could safely unload assets worth 35 times their capital base at or near par as soon as the music stopped.  Trillions in assets.

Did no one stop to consider that every investment bank was dancing the same death waltz?

Just who the hell did they think they were going sell to, when all the natural buyers for securitized assets would also be looking to sell?

The answer is that no one was thinking.  Reality had been suspended back in 2001 by reprobate Alan Greenspan when he dropped rates to 1% in an attempt to re-inflate the punctured technology bubble.  The same irrational exuberance that he feared back in 1996, he was now stoking mightily to keep the embers hot.  It worked for about 5 years, and then one day it didn't.

The winners were the bankers with in excess of $100 billion in bonuses paid on ficticious profits in a very short span.   And the losers are now you, the American taxpayers who are being asked to clean up the banker party at a cost of trillions.  There's $1.2 trillion of Citigroup vomit in that corner.  Over on your left, please ignore the $500 billion in Fannie and Freddie trash left lying around.  And to your right, see that drunk, disgusting passed-out fucker, Cassano from AIG.  He was doing shots of tequila until 4 am with the bankers from Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Goldman.  Ken Griffith and his Citadel punks left early this morning and took all the remaining booze with them, so you can't even have a drink while you clean up.

How did all this happen.  Suspension Of Reality.

And now the players want to do it again, only officially this time.  I don't see how it will help except to gut one of the most important principles in valuing assets.  Truth about price.

Do we really want to change the rules so that these characters can start dancing again?  It would be much simpler to simply allow certain banks forbearance on their current regulatory capital requirements.  It could be done most effectively on a case-by-case basis.

I admit it's a very nuanced issue.  Convince me in comments that I'm wrong but I'm sticking with guns Cabrera on this one.  Might as well give her the shout-out she deserves.  Excellent work the last 12 months on behalf of taxpayers, Michelle.  It has not gone un-noticed.

Chanos had some great insight into mark to market yesterday.  Take a look.

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Must See CNBC Bailout Videos: Jim Chanos Says We Will See Orange Jumpsuits Soon. Warning To Richard Fuld And Joe Cassano

Updated on Mar 6, 2009 at 12:23 AM by DailyBail

Hedge fund manager James Chanos from Kynikos Associates was the guest host on Squawk Box on CNBC yestereday morning.  Both videos are excellent viewing for those interested in the truth about the banks, mark-to market accounting, and financial executives going to federal prison. 

In the second clip, Chanos touches upon a point I've been making regarding MTM accounting.  Simply, that no one uses MTM accounting for the majority of their assets, and so a suspension of regulatory capital requirements would accomplish the same goal of forbearance, but in a much cleaner way.

Chanos has been right about this crisis from day one.  Apparently he has been involved in official discussions of late pertaining to the criminality of certain executives.  Without naming individuals, he mentions Lehman Brothers and the $150 billion discrepancy that appeared on their books after declaring bankruptcy.  He seems quite certain there was fraud and that executives will be wearing orange jumpsuits soon.  That's his phrase, not mine.  He also mentions AIG and says that we will see executives sent to prison for their role in that collapse.

How ya doing, Dick Fuld and Joe Cassano.  We hope that investigators have already seized the passports of both of these individuals.

The 2nd video from Chanos is after the jump.

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Bailout The Daily Show Video: Jon Stewart Tells The Truth (sort of) About CNBC And Rick Santelli. Maria Bartiromo Gets Appropriately Skewered. Broadcast March 4th

This is the video clip that has people laughing this morning.  It's Jon Stewart from The Daily Show last night tagging Rick Santelli and CNBC.

I think it's very funny if not slightly misleading in parts.  Jon seemed upset and the crowd was genuinely disappointed that Santelli cancelled or bailed out on his apperance on last night's show.  He asks if they would have liked to have seen Santelli, and they go nuts with applause.  He attempts to zing Santelli a few times, but likely hopeful to have him as a guest in the future, he backs off and launches the majority of his comic attack upon CNBC the network.  And those 6 minutes of the clip are incredibly well put together.  It's a video collage of CNBC idiocy and save for not understanding that Fast Money is a trader's show, it gets everything right.  I love to ridicule CNBC but I will also always stand up for the truth tellers.  And Dylan Ratigan is one.

On the other hand, the breathless, orgasmic clip of Maria Bartiromo fondling John Thain is priceless.  I'm going to say something we all believe.  Maria Bartiromo is a

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Bailout Erin Burnett CNBC Video: 'Hairdo Bill' Gross Has A New Firm PIMP-CO And We Are All Employees

This is a 9 minute video of Bill Gross of PIMP-CO Investment Advisors.  He tells the Fed and Treasury what to buy so by extension we taxpayers are his street bitches.  (I'm not a misogynist in real life. I just play one on the web.  If my language makes you enraged, call Geithner right now at 202-622-2960.  Tell him to stop listening to Bill Gross and to start listening to you.)

I haven't watched it because I can't.  I tried.  I gave him about 8 seconds and I stopped it.  I could feel his book opening and he was about to tell somebody at the Treasury who they needed to bailout next.

I think he was going to say GE.  Which only means 1 thing.  He's finished building his position in GE paper.

Somebody shoot me.  I'm so sick of writing this blog.

When I was just a trader I could bypass this shit easy.  Mute button, turn the chair.  Now I have to present it and it's killing me slowly, yet assuredly.

He probably talks about the bank bailouts and says we need to keep injecting capital and crossing our fingers.  And he likely tells Bernanke to start buying more GSE paper.  Oh and he's not done building his position in the securitized asset-backed stuff yet so he won't mention that.

Those are my guesses.  Somebody watch it and tell me in comments.  You could be saving a life by not making me watch Bill Gross.  And if it works out, we'll just make it a regular policy for all Hairdo Bill videos.

CNBC's Bullshit Propaganda Article on GE

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Bailout Comedy Video The Daily Show: Jon Stewart And Brian Williams Discuss Congress, Failed Banks, The FDIC And Twitter

Give your brain a break and watch some comedy.  This 7 minute video from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart features Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News.  They discuss politics, Congress, failed banks, the FDIC and even Twitter.

Though I maintain a Twitter account to broadcast our stories occasionally, I agree with Williams that few of our lives are interesting enough for personal Twitter updates.  Further, a certain unattractive self-importance is built into every message.  And for the update narcissists who tweet hourly as many do, the rest of just don't care to know that much about your life.

Put me in the category that believes Twitter will eventually collapse from the weight of too much useless information.

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