The Guardian World News Thu 2009-10-22 14:20 EDT

Bear Stearns duo 'lied over and over'

A pair of maverick Bear Stearns hedge fund managers lied to clients "over and over again" to protect their multimillion dollar pay cheques, exchanging secret emails to orchestrate a $1.6bn fraud as their funds imploded in the global financial crisis, a US jury heard yesterday. At a federal court in the New York borough of Brooklyn, financiers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin became the first Wall Street bankers to stand trial in a criminal case arising from the credit crunch.

Bear Stearns duo; Guardian World News; lying.

naked capitalism Wed 2009-10-14 12:03 EDT

New York Times: Missing in Action on Health Insurance Lobby Duplicity

...the dubious reporting object lesson is the New York Times, on what is supposedly its most prized beat: Washington DC political reporting. The Times ran two articles that verged on sycophantic in its coverage of the health insurance industry as it moved its chess pieces on the health care reform game board. The Times acted as close to a PR outlet...The Financial Times reports tonight that the health insurance industry, after its great show of making nice to the Obama administration, backstabbed it on the eve of a key vote. Do we see any coverage of this duplicity in the US media, much less the New York Times? [excellent commentary by kevin de bruxelles ``Washington General'' and DownSouth ``political theater, perfect dictatorship, and junkyard dogs'']

action; Health Insurance Lobby Duplicity; missing; naked capitalism; New York time.

naked capitalism Tue 2009-10-13 20:47 EDT

Guest Post: The REAL Battle Over America's Banking System

George Washington of Washington's Blog

...the battle isn't between bankers versus outsiders. It is between the giant New York money-centered banks and the rest of the country...monetary reformers argue that letting banks create credit and money and then charge high interest rates creates massive levels of debt for states and taxpayers. They argue that the power to create money should be reclaimed by the government and taken away from the private banks...

America's banking system; Guest Post; naked capitalism; real battle.

Jesse's Café Américain Tue 2009-10-13 20:23 EDT

Central Banks More Aggressively Reducing US Dollar Exposure In Their Reserve Portfolios

Jesse

``Global central banks are getting more serious about diversification, whereas in the past they used to just talk about it,'' said Steven Englander, a former Federal Reserve researcher who is now the chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays in New York. ``It looks like they are really backing away from the dollar.''

aggressively reduced; central bank; Dollar exposure; Jesse's Café Américain; reserve portfolios.

The Baseline Scenario Thu 2009-10-08 16:52 EDT

The Problem with Securitization

James Kwak

The New York Times has a story on ``Paralysis in the Debt Markets'' which says, basically, that credit has dried up because of lack of demand for asset-backed securities. In English, that means that since no one wants to invest in securities that are made out of home mortgages, the people who originate mortgages have no place to sell the mortgages to, so they don't have any money to lend. And this is also true of commercial real estate, student loans, and so on. For example, ``A once-thriving private market in securities backed by home mortgages has collapsed, from $744 billion in 2005, at the peak of the housing boom, to $8 billion during the first half of this year.''...the private market may never recover. The boom in securitization was based on investors' willingness to believe what investment banks and credit rating agencies said about these securities.

Baseline Scenario; problem; securitizations.

naked capitalism Sun 2009-09-20 09:48 EDT

Guest Post: ``Assessing the Recent Performance of the Fed''

Richard Alford, former economist at the New York Fed

...the current Fed: 1) actively promoted the asset bubbles which precipitated the most costly business downturn since the Great depression; 2) passively sat by ignoring its regulatory and supervisory responsibilities allowing the growth of imbalances that led to the worst business downturn since the Great depression...the economic and financial imbalances that built up between 2000 and 2007 will generate the opportunity costs in terms of lost output and idle and misallocated resources that will exceed the costs inherent in the economic and financial imbalances reflected in the most expensive anti-inflation fight ever fought by the Fed (1980-1983). The US financial system remains on life support. Furthermore, the Fed has played a part in allocating credit and in engineering redistributions of wealth on a scale that is likely to on the same scale as the redistribution of wealth from the household sector to government during the inflation ridden 1970s. The independence of the Fed has been compromised. Many in the Congress want to audit the Fed and limit its ability to make loans in future emergencies. The Fed is seen by many as an agency of the Treasury.

assessment; Fed; Guest Post; naked capitalism; recent perform.

Thu 2009-09-17 10:36 EDT

Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire

Greg Grandin

Excerpt from Greg Grandin's Empire's Workshop. (Milton Friedman, Chile, Arnold Harberger, General Augusto Pinochet's military government, shock treatment) Not only had Nixon, the CIA, and ITT, along with other companies, plotted to destabilize Allende's "democratic road to socialism," but now a renowned University of Chicago economist, whose promotion of the wonders of the free market was heavily subsidized by corporations such as Bechtel, Pepsico, Getty, Pfizer, General Motors, W.R. Grace, and Firestone, was advising the dictator who overthrew him on how to complete the counterrevolution -- at the cost of skyrocketing unemployment among Chile's poor. The New York Times identified Friedman as the "guiding light of the junta's economic policy," while columnist Anthony Lewis asked: if "pure Chicago economic theory can be carried out in Chile only at the price of repression, should its authors feel some responsibility?"

economic; Empire; Milton Friedman.

Jesse's Café Américain Fri 2009-09-04 18:58 EDT

Stiglitz on the Financial Crisis

Jesse

Joe Stiglitz describes the current financial crisis and prospective recovery quite well, and the conclusions he draws are remarkably similar to our own which is gratifying. It's good to hear these things from a distinguished Nobel laureate, and not just from your humble Propriétaire, while puttering over his daily bread. Bloomberg Stiglitz Says U.S. Economic Recovery May Not Be `Sustainable' By Michael McKee Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy faces a ``significant chance'' of contracting again after emerging from its worst recession since the 1930s, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said. ``It's not clear that the U.S. is recovering in a sustainable way,'' Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor, told reporters yesterday in New York.

Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; Stiglitz.

naked capitalism Tue 2009-09-01 19:06 EDT

More Bogus Bailout Reporting: ``As Big Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit''

Clearly, the spin is in...The fact that we have such patent garbage running as a front page New York Times story says either the reporter and his editors lack the ability to think critically (or find sources who could do that for them) or that we have a controlled press. Bogus NYT reporting.

Big Banks Repay Bailout Money; Bogus Bailout Reporting; naked capitalism; profits; U.S. Sees.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

New York Fed Chief Tim Geithner - Executive Articles - Print - Portfolio.com

by Gary Weiss; ``The Man Who Saved (or Got Suckered by) Wall Street''

com; Executive Articles; New York Fed chief Tim Geithner; portfolio; print.

Wed 2009-04-01 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: New York Subpoenas Bank of America CEO on Merrill Bonuses (and Where is the SEC?)

NY attorney general Andrew Cuomo

America CEO; Merrill bonuses; naked capitalism; New York Subpoenas Bank; SEC.

Thu 2009-02-26 00:00 EST

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Bleeding Times

New York Times heirs feeling paper's pain

Bleeding Times; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Fri 2009-01-16 00:00 EST

naked capitalism: Disingenuous New York Times Story on Global Imbalances

Disingenuous New York Times Story; Global Imbalances; naked capitalism.

Fri 2009-01-16 00:00 EST

Calculated Risk: Office Rents off as much as 25% in New York

plunging NYC CRE

25; Calculated Risk; New York; office rent.

Fri 2009-01-16 00:00 EST

naked capitalism: New York Times Gives Pride of Place to Economists Who Badly Misread Downturn

Badly Misread Downturn; Economist; naked capitalism; New York Times Gives Pride; place.

Fri 2009-01-16 00:00 EST

naked capitalism: Woefully Misleading Piece on Value at Risk in New York Times

naked capitalism; New York time; Risk; valued; Woefully Misleading Piece.