billy blog Thu 2010-07-15 16:28 EDT

Trichet interview -- the cult master speaks!

The centre-left Parisian daily newspaper Libération recently published (July 8, 2010) an -- Interview with Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB. The questions...probed some of the key issues facing the EMU... ...the likely response in the EMU will be to further constrain fiscal policy. The glaring design flaw in the monetary system is the lack of a supranational fiscal authority that can spend like a sovereign government and address asymmetric demand shocks. Trichet's solution is to worsen this design flaw by penalising nations that encounter deficits outside of the fiscal rules. The reality is that the automatic stabilisers have driven the budgets in many countries beyond the SGP rules given how severe the collapse in economic activity has been following the sharp decline in aggregate demand. Further constraining the fiscal capacity to respond to these negative spending shocks will entrench higher levels of unemployment and poverty...

Billy Blog; cult master speaks; Trichet Interview.

Sat 2010-05-22 09:19 EDT

Bridgewater Associates: Be The Hyena. Attack The Wildebeest. <<; Dealbreaker: A Wall Street Tabloid -- Business News Headlines and Financial Gossip

Bess Levin

So, you're going to work for Bridgewater, are you? ...if you didn't know anything about the Bridgewater's Tao of Dalio, which requires all employees to ``probe'' their colleagues (boss's included), you might find yourself asking ``WTF is this shit?'' What this shit-- the Culture of the Probe-- is, is the secret to B-water's success, the tenets of which comprise ``Principles,'' the hedge fund's unofficial handbook, written by founder Ray Dalio...

attacked; Bridgewater Associates; business news headlines; Dealbreaker; Financial Gossip; hyena; Wall Street tabloid; wildebeest.

Tue 2010-05-11 09:02 EDT

Barofsky Says Criminal Charges Possible in Alleged AIG Coverup - Bloomberg.com

Richard Teitelbaum

...The TARP watchdog [Neil Barofsy] has also criticized Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner in reports and in congressional testimony for his handling of the process by which insurance giant American International Group Inc. was saved from insolvency in 2008, when Geithner was head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The secrecy that enveloped the deal was unwarranted, Barofsky says, adding that his probe of an alleged New York Fed coverup in the AIG case could result in criminal or civil charges. In Senate Finance Committee testimony on April 20, Barofsky said SIGTARP would investigate seven AIG-linked mortgage-related securities similar to Abacus 2007-AC1, the instrument underwritten by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that is at the center of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed against the investment bank on April 16...

Alleged AIG Coverup; Barofsky Says Criminal Charges Possible; Bloomberg; com.

Jesse's Café Américain Sun 2010-05-09 10:07 EDT

NY Fed Cited in Cover-Up By SIGTARP's Barofsky - Possible Criminal Charges

Jesse

It's never the crime, it's always the cover up.This is beyond a doubt the story of the week. Neil Barofsky has been a thorn in the side of the Treasury Department and the Fed since he first took office...his probe of an alleged New York Fed coverup in the AIG case could result in criminal or civil charges.

Cover; Jesse's Café Américain; NY Fed Cited; possible criminal charges; SIGTARP's Barofsky.

naked capitalism Tue 2010-02-16 16:38 EST

AIG Scandal: Fed as Chump or Fed as Crony?

No matter which way you look at it, the picture that is emerging of the Federal Reserve, as revealed by the ongoing probes into its AIG bailout, is singularly unflattering. The explanations for its actions can only support one of two interpretations: that the Fed was a chump, taken by the financiers, or a crony, and was fully aware that it was not just rescuing AIG, but doing so in an overly generous way so as to assist financial firms in a way it hoped would not be widely noticed or understood...

AIG Scandal; chump; crony; Fed; naked capitalism.

Jesse's Café Américain Wed 2010-02-03 20:13 EST

Italy Seizes Bank of America Assets In Derivatives Fraud Probe

Jesse

"more than 519 municipalities that face 990 million euros in derivatives losses"...Globalization is used as a rationale for stripping nations of their sovereign rights, and the people from their ability to rule and protect themselves in accord with their own beliefs and preferences...The US is a relative safe haven for multinational corporations that engage in various forms of fraud and market manipulation around the world, like modern day privateers. It appears unable to regulate them because of widespread political corruption and the self interest of its monied elite.

America assets; Derivatives Fraud Probe; Italy Seizes Bank; Jesse's Café Américain.

Fri 2009-07-24 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Some Encouraging News on Financial Crisis Probe

latter-day Pecora hearing successors

encouraging news; Financial Crisis Probe; naked capitalism.

Thu 2008-07-03 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil Probes Lehman-R3 Hedge Fund Relationship

Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil Probes Lehman-R3 Hedge Fund Relationship; naked capitalism.

Sun 2008-05-25 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Fraud Probe At Moody's

Fraud Probe; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; Moody's.