Ally Financial is "absolutely not" intending to offload its core U.S auto lending business following the bankruptcy filing by its ResCap mortgage unit and despite a plan to sell its international ops, CEO Michael Carpenter tells analysts. [View news story]
This is the real cost of the GM bailout. Years and years of pushing bad cars onto the public by offering unsustainable financial incentives, then leveraging that by entering the mortgage market with even worse loans...
The campaign begins: Greeks must choose between Merkel and a free Greece, says Independent Greeks Party leader Kammenos. The party was formed this winter after Kammenos was expelled from New Democracy for rejecting the bailout agreement. (earlier) [View news story]
"Freedom" defined by the Greeks is the unbridled ability to spend other people's money whilst creating little wealth of your own.
"Wall Street is capitalism in its purest form, and capitalism is predicated on bad behavior," rants William Deresiewicz in the NYT. "Shafting your workers, hurting your customers...Leaving the public to pick up the tab. These aren’t anomalies; this is how the system works," Deresiewicz writes, adding that capitalist values are antithetical to democratic one. [View news story]
But we are are not a pure democracy, the founding fathers envisioned a democratic Republic, where the vote was only granted to men who owned land (skin in the game). Those trusted people voted for representatives who, in turn, lead the democracy and made the tough decisions. Now we've given the vote to every "citizen", whatever that turns out to be. And we have perverted our republic into a direct democracy, where elections have become populist polls and referendums, where propositions unload the tough decisions onto the public, where governments can spend all they want by floating bonds. "Democracy" is now in a dangerous place, it is threatened by the populism movement led by people like Obama.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
Facebook (FB) co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounces his U.S. citizenship ahead of the IPO, a move likely aimed at reducing his tax bill. He currently resides and is enjoying the good life in Singapore. [View news story]
Why did JPM hold an emergency call to discuss a trading loss equivalent to just 1% of shareholder equity, asks Jonathan Weil. "It could get worse," said Jamie Dimon last night - "worse," writes Weil, "could mean disastrous." Reading between Dimon's lines tells Weil the trades weren't hedges, but speculative wagers. "Dimon must know he has a lot more explaining to do." [View news story]
Fairly obvious that Dimon knew about this all along, but was hiding it from regulators in order to help JPM pass the latest government stress test. With that accomplished, Dimon needed a ploy to introduce the losses to the world. What better way than to call it an emergency, lol?
The big splash you hear is the sound of California sliding into the Pacific Ocean under the weight of its pension obligations, as the number of retired government workers receiving annual pensions in excess of $100K hits 12,199 - a 25% Y/Y increase. [View news story]
Ballot initiatives are cop outs. Where's the leadership here? We are supposed to be a representative, not a populist, form of government.
The big splash you hear is the sound of California sliding into the Pacific Ocean under the weight of its pension obligations, as the number of retired government workers receiving annual pensions in excess of $100K hits 12,199 - a 25% Y/Y increase. [View news story]
The government has made lots of people multimillionaires. Where is the outrage over this?
Goldman's Jan Hatzius is out with a note sticking with his call for additional easing at the June FOMC meeting, but worries about a re-run of 2010 and 2011 when - the horror - the Fed let previous QE programs expire without having another set to go. Bill Gross earlier. Sigh. [View news story]
Amazing in that it's become the Fed responsibility to save the economy. Total failure of Obama... this community organizer is one clueless homeboy.
Ally Financial receives conditional approval to puts its ResCap mortgage finance unit into bankruptcy, according to an administration official. Formerly known as GMAC, Ally is majority-owned by the taxpayers and the administration has concluded addressing ResCap's mortgage losses is the best way of recouping the investment. [View news story]
Funny how none of this is considered as part of the cost of bailing out GM. All those years of cheap financing, all in the interest of propping up a failing car company. How convenient for the government and the "new" GM.
Apr. Nonfarm Payrolls:+115K vs. consensus of +165K, prior 120K. Unemployment 8.1% vs 8.2% expected. Average workweek 34.5 in-line with expectations [View news story]
After three and half years of Obama attacking the energy, healthcare, and financial sectors, is it any surprise the recovery is so tepid?
In what could be a precedent-setting case, a public pension fund - the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund - has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The fund is just 38.8% funded due to benefits that kept going up while funding and returns didn't. A dismissal motion has been filed by lawyers representing beneficiaries. [View news story]
What? No taxpayer bailout? Accountability for mismanagement, waste, and fraud? Can this be possible?
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
The politically correct companies, mainly in technology, get a pass by the WH and the media. But if you are big energy, big healthcare, or big financial, look out below...
North Korea's much ballyhooed long-range rocket launch ended in apparent failure today, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state that's continually defied international pressure to push ahead with the plan. The Unha-3 rocket broke up and crashed into the South China Sea just moments after it launched. [View news story]
You don't need a missile to deliver a nuke onto our shores, just a plain 'ol cargo container. And you don't need multiple strikes to bring down our way of life, just destroy one major US city. So keep laughing at these totalitarian 3rd world countries. They have nothing to lose, and everything to gain...
The world's largest solar power project, the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project in southern California, could be in jeopardy after Solar Trust of America filed for bankruptcy protection. Solar Trust holds the development rights for the project, which has a $2.1B government loan guarantee. [View news story]
Unfortunately, "clean" energy is not so good for the environment:
until people realize there is no politically correct solution, we won't get rational thought and rational execution when it comes to our energy policy. Or lack of.
The SEC is likely to soon bring charges against Goldman Sachs (GS) over a MBS deal and it may a classic pile of crud called the Fremont Home Loan Trust. What makes it fraudulent is Goldman may have known the loans were even worse than advertised. One example: Goldman claimed 0.01% of the mortgages were underwater, but an audit found 23.5% were at the time the deal was pitched. [View news story]
Actually, it could have been both 23.5% (by count) but only .01% (by market value). Actually, the brokers buying into these so called "fraudulent" MBS deals, not those selling them, are the ones that should be investigated. We're not talking mom and pop investors here. Where is the outrage of lack of DD? Bet these MBS deals were rated AAA. Where is the outrage over that? It's easier to kick a dead horse, I suppose...
Ally Financial is "absolutely not" intending to offload its core U.S auto lending business following the bankruptcy filing by its ResCap mortgage unit and despite a plan to sell its international ops, CEO Michael Carpenter tells analysts. [View news story]
The campaign begins: Greeks must choose between Merkel and a free Greece, says Independent Greeks Party leader Kammenos. The party was formed this winter after Kammenos was expelled from New Democracy for rejecting the bailout agreement. (earlier) [View news story]
"Wall Street is capitalism in its purest form, and capitalism is predicated on bad behavior," rants William Deresiewicz in the NYT. "Shafting your workers, hurting your customers...Leaving the public to pick up the tab. These aren’t anomalies; this is how the system works," Deresiewicz writes, adding that capitalist values are antithetical to democratic one. [View news story]
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville, circa 1830s
Facebook (FB) co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounces his U.S. citizenship ahead of the IPO, a move likely aimed at reducing his tax bill. He currently resides and is enjoying the good life in Singapore. [View news story]
Why did JPM hold an emergency call to discuss a trading loss equivalent to just 1% of shareholder equity, asks Jonathan Weil. "It could get worse," said Jamie Dimon last night - "worse," writes Weil, "could mean disastrous." Reading between Dimon's lines tells Weil the trades weren't hedges, but speculative wagers. "Dimon must know he has a lot more explaining to do." [View news story]
The big splash you hear is the sound of California sliding into the Pacific Ocean under the weight of its pension obligations, as the number of retired government workers receiving annual pensions in excess of $100K hits 12,199 - a 25% Y/Y increase. [View news story]
The big splash you hear is the sound of California sliding into the Pacific Ocean under the weight of its pension obligations, as the number of retired government workers receiving annual pensions in excess of $100K hits 12,199 - a 25% Y/Y increase. [View news story]
Goldman's Jan Hatzius is out with a note sticking with his call for additional easing at the June FOMC meeting, but worries about a re-run of 2010 and 2011 when - the horror - the Fed let previous QE programs expire without having another set to go. Bill Gross earlier. Sigh. [View news story]
Ally Financial receives conditional approval to puts its ResCap mortgage finance unit into bankruptcy, according to an administration official. Formerly known as GMAC, Ally is majority-owned by the taxpayers and the administration has concluded addressing ResCap's mortgage losses is the best way of recouping the investment. [View news story]
Apr. Nonfarm Payrolls: +115K vs. consensus of +165K, prior 120K. Unemployment 8.1% vs 8.2% expected. Average workweek 34.5 in-line with expectations [View news story]
In what could be a precedent-setting case, a public pension fund - the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund - has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The fund is just 38.8% funded due to benefits that kept going up while funding and returns didn't. A dismissal motion has been filed by lawyers representing beneficiaries. [View news story]
Apple (AAPL) is proving to be as good at avoiding taxes (here and internationally) as it is at designing smartphones, taking advantage of tax laws designed for the industrial, not the digital economy. The company had an overall tax rate of less than 10% in 2011, vs. about a 24% average for non-tech companies, reports the NYT, seemingly laying out a blueprint for politicians to shift attacks from big oil to big tech. Ugh. [View news story]
North Korea's much ballyhooed long-range rocket launch ended in apparent failure today, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state that's continually defied international pressure to push ahead with the plan. The Unha-3 rocket broke up and crashed into the South China Sea just moments after it launched. [View news story]
The world's largest solar power project, the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project in southern California, could be in jeopardy after Solar Trust of America filed for bankruptcy protection. Solar Trust holds the development rights for the project, which has a $2.1B government loan guarantee. [View news story]
http://nyti.ms/HUPn6V
until people realize there is no politically correct solution, we won't get rational thought and rational execution when it comes to our energy policy. Or lack of.
The SEC is likely to soon bring charges against Goldman Sachs (GS) over a MBS deal and it may a classic pile of crud called the Fremont Home Loan Trust. What makes it fraudulent is Goldman may have known the loans were even worse than advertised. One example: Goldman claimed 0.01% of the mortgages were underwater, but an audit found 23.5% were at the time the deal was pitched. [View news story]