As I wrote at the time, it wasn't just Lehman Brothers. Eventually, I'm sure we will learn that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan were doing the same. The good news is that there's a new FASB Rule just now being implemented that makes these practices explicitly forbidden. So the loophole should be closed.
It's but one of many Wall Street practices federal prosecutors should be examining. And it wouldn't hurt if Robert Khuzami at the SEC started to make some noise about this blatantly corrupt accounting. And while we're at it, why did the auditors sign off on these techniques? Where are the investigations of KPMG and others?
Nothing as thrilling as asking my questions into an echo chamber of enforcement. Now on to the story.
Video: Author Matthew Simmons with Spitzer & Dylan Ratigan -- May 26, 2010
Watch the entire clip if your time allows. Otherwise start at 6:30 or so, when Simmons begins. He estimates that if BP's top kill fails, and no other alternative is found, that the ruptured well could leak for 9,000 days (24 years).
At the start of my career I was an oil & gas analyst for Alex Brown (now part of Deutsche Bank). I still follow the industry and have been emailing a few old drillers about solutions. I've been advocating, and shown in a second clip (inside), the solution is to drop a bomb down into the pipe that is big enough to collapse the sea floor and smother the leak. The Russians have done it at least 6 and possibly as many as 9 times, and they did it with nuclear weapons. Simmons advocates for the same.
It might sound radical, but so does 9,000 days of gushing oil. After top kill, the next option is firing golf balls and debris into the leak. After golf balls and tire shreads fail, there is no other option besides collasping the sea bed. And that will require that a nuclear bomb be detonated beneath the ocean floor.
And Obama must be aware of it as an option, as he sent an advance team of nuclear scientists to the Gulf a few days ago.
Simmons also mentions a Purdue analysis showing possibly as much as 120,000 barrells leaking daily, just a tad higher than BP's marketing lie of 5,000.
UPDATE: Though I believed I had made myself clear in the original story, I am not making fun of Dale Peterson. I like the AD and the candidate. I have received several emails from readers who thought I was criticizing Peterson.
This post has turned into a round-up with 7 important clips and several links. I spent a few hours on this one, so check it out. Make sure you see the BP revenge photo.
Video: Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- May 25, 2010
While it's difficult to criticize funding for educators, this would be the 2nd bailout for state teachers' unions who already received $40 billion as part of last January's stimulus package.