The Goldman Sachs Hearings: 7 Cantankerous Hours Securitized Into A 5 Minute Super Clip (Comedy)

Video - Goldman Hearings - The Video CDO

Sliced, Diced, Tranched and Securitized.  This is highly entertaining.

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Video: Part 2

We lied.  There are actually two 5-minute clips.

Comments

[James H]

That was funny. But nearly as funny as this.
http://kaufman.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SAFE%20Banking%20Act%2020101.pdf

Now we're getting serious about TBTF.

[Zarathustra]

THE REST OF THE ARTICLE IS JUST AS GOOD AS WHAT I HAVE POSTED, GREAT WORK LYNN AND RESISTNET.COM

THE HYPOCRISY OF THE OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE

By Lynn Stuter
April 20, 2010

http://www.resistnet.com/forum/topics/the-hypocrisy-of-the-obama

More than one mother has quipped to the effect that to enroll a child in school, one must produce the child's birth certificate.

More than one military person has lamented that they, too, must produce their birth certificate to enlist and on demand.

The latest being LTC Lakin who was ordered to report for a second tour of duty in the Middle East; ordered to show up for duty with his birth certificate in hand.

He refused to report, stating unequivocally that he has serious reservations that the individual, claiming to be his Commander-in-Chief, is legitimate to the office he holds.

[James H]

Here's Kaufman's press release on the Chop the Banks Act of 2010.
http://kaufman.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=A6612F3D-1736-4393-A93B-F299924002E6

Worth a read (it's almost as long as the bill) but I like this little gem:

“In the 1930s Congress passed laws that gave our nation a foundation for financial stability for almost 50 years. Why gamble this time around by trusting the regulators to do what they failed to do in the first place?”

Obviously, he had Geithner and Bernanke in mind, along with John Dugan. Nice dig Mr. Kaufman.

[Zarathustra]

James H...There is a reason why protestors use signs.

[mark mchugh]

Who the fuck preps these Senators? By mid 2007 the mortgage market was seized - you can't short a seized market because nobody knows what prices are. I couldn't have bet against the mortgage market, and niether could anybody else.

Goldman had to invent a way to do it, and they did. An "index" was created and Goldman shorted that index, which was comprised primarily of the garbage they sold to clients as "good stuff"

They profited once by selling the shit in the first place - then again in the secondary market by shorting it via that index.

Forget the sports analogies....They sold "lemonade" to thirsty clients, then collected on their life insurance policies.

It's not hard to understand.

[mark mchugh]

That "lemonade" is still in the belly of pension funds everywhere, but thanks to "mark to whatever the fuck you want it to be worth" accounting - Teachers, cops and anyone else expecting a pension has no idea that it's gone.......yet.

Who's gonna make good on those promises?

[mark mchugh]

Another thing I gotta add here.....

When they asked the dweebs if they were ever instructed about what they could and couldn't put in an email....they all said "no".

Of course not. Ask anybody who has ever worked at a big financial firm. Without telling you outright - they make it cyrstal clear that the compliance officers monitor everyone's email....internal and external, so unless you want to get kicked to curb, you don't write, "Hey Fab, I just thought of a way to rape our clients twice......"

[mark mchugh]

P.S. the mash-ups were funny (I haven't lost my sense of humor), but the circumstances aren't.

How in God's name are these bungling idiots going to write a financial reform bill? With the evidence they had at hand, they should have been able to present a case so convincing that those crooks would have gladly hung themselves by the end of the day.

[Zarathustra]

Who's gonna make good on those promises?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449Qm9YSOLU

Remember...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_jh2dO78U

[DailyBail]

That "lemonade" is still in the belly of pension funds everywhere, but thanks to "mark to whatever the fuck you want it to be worth" accounting - Teachers, cops and anyone else expecting a pension has no idea that it's gone.......yet.

Who's gonna make good on those promises?

-------------

Taxpayers will pay for the unfunded pensions...it's not going to be pretty...as you know the numbers on a nationwide basis are staggering...it's the pension time bomb...

[DailyBail]

How in God's name are these bungling idiots going to write a financial reform bill?

------------

the kaufmann bill james linked above is pretty decent...caps leverage at 6%...that works out to a limit of 16X on leverage...

james...nice work on the kaufmann links...

[Zarathustra]

That is why Bernanke and Barry S. reinflated to equity market.

[DailyBail]

zara...the jimmy z song was extremely weak but obama jedi mind trick was funny...thx...

one caveat, i don't have problem with obama having smoked marijuana....i think that is a stupid thing to care about...it's like criticizing a candidate if they've ever had a drink...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_jh2dO78U

[DailyBail]

That is why Bernanke and Barry S. reinflated to equity market.

------------

you need to reference this...i have no idea what you're commenting on...

[Zarathustra]

Sorry, here is the version you like...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtfizIbBDI&feature=related

[DailyBail]

i liked the other version better...

[Zarathustra]

Before you went to Tahoe, you had almost started to critique Barry Soetoro. Did you get a memo that I am not aware of? Maybe from Huffington or Jake Tapper?

[Zarathustra]

Please don't say that you critique him 23.7% of the time with 92 posts.

[Zarathustra]

ABC News / Nightline held their Marco Rubio story until today. All I heard Terry Moron say is Tea Party, Tea Party, Tea Party, what a complete joke. Rahm must have called ABC News and said, let's get behind Charlie Christ. Nighline sucks!!!!

[DailyBail]

you misunderstood me...this is the one i liked better...i simply said the marijuana criticism was useless...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_jh2dO78U

[mark mchugh]

DB,

Leverage was limited to 12 to 1 until 2004, and herein lies the problem. We HAD rules to prevent the meltdown. These idiots llet them get changed and ignored them. Now they want the world to cheer them for re-inventing the wheel? Not me.

I see absolutely no evidence that they understand what just happened (otherwise Rob Rubin would be in jail). Apparently they think it's OK that people at the SEC look at porn 8hrs a day (because no one's getting fired). So what difference does it make what the rules are?

Do they need to write specific legislation stating that regulators shouldn't be watching porn all day?

[DailyBail]

tiger admitted to 120 but it was the 121st that's going to cost him...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/04/29/tiger-woods-confessed-121-affairs-during-marriage-to-wife-115875-22219848/

[James H]

Yeah, 6% Tier 1 is surprisingly generous considering the Old-Testament crackdown on size. As libertarian as I am, I like this bill, because pragmatically speaking (in a world of second best), we KNOW that the bureaucrats will ALWAYS bail out the TBTF -- and this bill pretty much removes the TBTF scenario. You can make an argument about the efficiency of megabanks, but if you don't include the inefficiencies of a likely bailout, you're only looking at half the picture.

Regardless, politically speaking, I want the Jamie Dimons of the world to be political nobodies. And I want the Tim Geithners of the world to go back to being self-important little nerds that I don't have to think about or see on TV. If this bill gets enacted, then we hardly need the 150B bailout/insurance fund.

[DailyBail]

i have an update to the reform tracker coming up...it has several stories on teh various amendments...

the house version (already passed) has a leverage limit of 15X...so some number around 15 will be put in place...that will help a lot...and if the euro banks stay above 40X, then fuck them...let them all die next time the markets crash...

[mark mchugh]

Few things are as dangerous as a false sense of security.

This administration desperately wants to say "the financial system is fixed" before mid-terms. Worse yet, they've allowed the stock market bubble to reform (it keeps the natives calm). Here's the thing - nobody can explain where the money that's propelled stocks over 75% in the last 14 months came from (if you've got an explanation, I'm all ears). Whoever that money came from, they better find greater fools, and fast.

In my opinion, "Financial Reform" is a last ditch effort to get Main St to trust Wall St again, because if Main St money doesn't start flowing back into Wall St. - they're done. There will definitely be more money moving out of stocks as the boomers retire and Ponzi's tend to collapse when people cash out....

I'm gonna see if I can find a vote on Graham-Leach-Biley

[Debra]

Does anyone know who was on the other side of the Paulson trade? Goldman, as market maker, is being accused of ripping off it's clients but who, specifically, did they sell this sh**tty deal to?

[mark mchugh]

That's a very good question, Deb. My guess would be pension fund managers who would prefer not to be identified for obvious reasons.

[James H]

The "shitty deal" was a CDO called Timberwolf. I think Bear (Cioffi and whats-his-face) bought some of it.

The "other side" of the Paulson trade on Abacus, at least some of it anyways, was none other than AIG.

BTW, Goldman wasn't being a market maker in these transactions. I think Blankfein tried to suggest that the other day, but market making is when you trade securities already in the market. In these CDO deals they're MARKETING a product that they created. Totally different. (I think this difference escaped poor Sen. Levin the other day.)

[mark mchugh]

Graham-Leach-Bliley vote (repeal of Glass-Steagall) vote:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-354

Chris Dodd (and 89 others) thought it was a good idea.....

Nays (8):
Shelby
Boxer (didn't see that comin')
Harkin
Mikulski
Wellstone
Bryan
Dorgan
Feingold

[James H]

The Abacus crap went to IKB (a German bank) and ABN Amro (a Dutch bank). ABN Amro got bought by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2007 (LOL) -- but I don't know how much that contributed to their demise. Come to think of it, wouldn't that be a peachy find -- that Goldman screwed both AIG and RBS nine ways from Sunday, leading to their ultimate demise.

I'm not sure whether little old ladies ended up with this crap in their retirement funds or not -- at leas these particular CDO's, but certainly lots of little old ladies are earning JACK SQUAT on their savings right now thanks to Bernanke's zero-interest rate policy which is making billions for banks. So i totally blame Goldman, et al. for that. And I f***ing hate them for it.

[James H]

Shelby said no? Wow. I'm honestly shocked. (Boxer probably just pulled an Obama and hit the wrong button. Maybe.)

[mark mchugh]

Sorry it's: GRAMM LEACH BLILEY

[mark mchugh]

Hold the phone.....

I think that's was the wrong link, I think this is the right one:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s1999-105

And Dodd was a Nay. In fact it looks like this vote was pretty much right along party lines.

[DailyBail]

@ Deb...ACA was the firm that bought Abacus...also IKB...

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/04/16/goldmans-abacus-lies/

[mark mchugh]

Here's some more on IKB's operation:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/29/business/la-fi-goldman-impact-20100429

King County in Washington State was an unwitting investor.

"In 2007, the county bought $100 million of commercial paper, a type of short-term debt, from Rhineland, a special fund created by IKB that in turn snapped up nearly $150 million of the securities created by the Goldman vehicle known as Abacus 2007-AC1."

(IKB made good one that deal, but not similiar ones...)

"The county lost $19 million when Rhinebridge collapsed -- and an additional $54 million when other similar funds defaulted. About 100 county agencies in the Seattle area, including some that deal with libraries and schools, saw their budgets cut as a result. The county has sued IKB and the rating firms that put their stamps of approval on Rhinebridge.

"They invested in commercial paper that they thought was as safe as Treasury bonds," said James Cox, a professor of securities law at Duke University. "They undoubtedly thought they were investing in something much more secure.""

Quite frankly, I had no idea that these banks were using CP money to buy this crap.

[mark mchugh]

That's what a triple-A rating will do for you.

James H,

Will operation pitchfork advise school boards not to buy books from McGraw-Hill (S & P parent)?

[S. Gompers]

"Leverage was limited to 12 to 1 until 2004, and herein lies the problem. We HAD rules to prevent the meltdown. These idiots llet them get changed and ignored them. Now they want the world to cheer them for re-inventing the wheel? Not me."

I wonder who changed that... Both are guilty.

"Do they need to write specific legislation stating that regulators shouldn't be watching porn all day? "

Yes they do, it is just one of the glories of deregulation that we are paying for.

[DailyBail]

great link mark...

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/29/business/la-fi-goldman-impact-20100429