AIG and Christmas On Wall Street

gnat

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Wednesday December 16, 2009 · 9:32 PM PST

2009/12/16 · 21:32

Will the regulation we're getting be the right regulation?

Will it be compromised beyond recognition, thanks to paid-for Dems, and watered down like healthcare?

Among other things, as of today, it looks like AIG and Citibank are still feeding from the Federal trough.

From an article in the New York Times, one learns that:

A.I.G., the insurance conglomerate, recently drew $2 billion from a special $30 billion government facility, which was created in the spring after a $40 billion infusion proved inadequate.

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Will Wall Street Ever Be Meaningfully Regulated?

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Will Wall Street Ever Be Meaningfully Regulated?

yes

3 votes

14 votes

pie

1 vote

KBR pleads guilty in Nigerian bribery scheme

gnat

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Wednesday February 11, 2009 · 9:02 PM PST

2009/02/11 · 21:02

Check this out:

KBR pleads guilty in Nigerian bribery scheme

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 11, 8:10 pm ET

HOUSTON – A former Halliburton Co. subsidiary pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribing Nigerian officials to obtain contracts valued at more than $6 billion.
Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by authorizing and paying bribes from 1995 to 2004 for contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria.

More here as well.

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday January 29, 2009 · 3:19 PM PST

2009/01/29 · 15:19

This diary is regarding this story...

Obama calls $18B in Wall St. bonuses 'shameful'

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer – 44 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from taxpayers. "It is shameful," Obama said from the Oval Office. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility."

gnat

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Tuesday May 06, 2008 · 6:50 PM PDT

2008/05/06 · 18:50

In this article from today's news about McCain's speech at Wake Forest University (located in Winston-Salem, NC), one comes across this little tidbit (thrown off by the reporter as an incidental but telling aside):

For a moment Tuesday, McCain appeared confused about where he was, saying, "I appreciate the hospitality of the students and faculty of West Virginia," then correcting himself to say Wake Forest as the audience laughed.

as the audience...nervously laughed?

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gnat's diary is

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gnat's diary is

age-ist claptrap, not diary-worthy, and beneath him

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on to something: McCain really is too old for the job

42 votes

Commodity Speculation and the Food Crisis

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday April 29, 2008 · 10:01 AM PDT

2008/04/29 · 10:01

Just a brief diary about a very interesting article from today's financial news:

Wall Street Grain Hoarding Brings Farmers, Consumers Near Ruin

By Jeff Wilson
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- As farmers confront mounting costs and riots erupt from Haiti to Egypt over food, Garry Niemeyer is paying the price for Wall Street's speculation in grain markets.

Commodity-index funds control a record 4.51 billion bushels of corn, wheat and soybeans through Chicago Board of Trade futures, equal to half the amount held in U.S. silos on March 1. The holdings jumped 29 percent in the past year as investors bought grain contracts seeking better returns than stocks or bonds. The buying sent crop prices and volatility to records and boosted the cost for growers and processors to manage risk.

(jump below the fold for more...)

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 24, 2008 · 3:41 PM PDT

2008/04/24 · 15:41

Lately, not a day goes by where one does not stumble upon some truly troubling economic statistic or terrifying economic news story. Today was no exception:

Wall Street May Lose 36,000 Jobs
By Joan Gralla Thu Apr 24, 1:00 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street, the lifeblood of New York City's economy, could lose over 36,000 jobs because the financial credit crisis has rocked markets and stunned the U.S. economy, estimated James Brown, a labor market analyst with New York state's labor department.

New home sales plunge to lowest level in 16 1/2 years
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON Apr 24, 2008 (AP)
Sales of new homes plunged in March to the slowest pace in 16 1/2 years as a two-year housing downturn extended into the start of another spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell at the fastest clip in 38 years.

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 20, 2008 · 11:14 AM PDT

2008/04/20 · 11:14

Today's London Times is reporting that

[Chancellor of the Exchequer] Alistair Darling is preparing to announce an unprecedented £50bn bailout [about $100 billion USD] of Britain's banking system in an effort to save the housing market from collapse.

The Chancellor will tomorrow tell the Commons that the Bank of England is to allow lenders to swap their assets for Government backed bonds in a move intended to restore confidence.

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 18, 2008 · 9:36 AM PDT

2008/04/18 · 09:36

It was reported earlier today that:

Citigroup reports $5.1 billion loss on hefty write-downs

By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
1 hour, 38 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Citigroup Inc. lost $5.1 billion during the first quarter and will eliminate about 9,000 more jobs, as poor bets on mortgages and leveraged loans lopped billions of dollars from its investment portfolio.

And a NYT article on the same announcement tells us that:

...The layoffs are in addition to the 4,200 cuts announced in January, the bank said during its conference call.

The bank’s first-quarter results reflected more than $16.9 billion in write-offs...

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 02, 2008 · 9:12 PM PDT

2008/04/02 · 21:12

I find this very hard to believe:

Male Rock Fans Likely to Vote Republican: Survey
By Sue Zeidler Wed Apr 2, 8:51 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you are male and a Led Zeppelin fan, chances are you may be leaning toward voting Republican in the U.S. presidential election, according to a survey of rock radio fans released on Wednesday.

The Jacobs Media's Media/Technology Web Poll IV of more than 27,000 respondents cited stronger than expected interest in the November 2008 election among fans of rock, classic rock, and alternative radio stations.

It also found that John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, was the top pick for the Oval Office for men and classic rock partisans -- those people who tune in to stations playing music from the "original classic rock era" of 1964 to 1975, comprised of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd

I know we have a tendency to create too many microdemographics in the USA, but really WTF?

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday April 01, 2008 · 11:37 PM PDT

2008/04/01 · 23:37

Regarding Wall Street's seemingly improbable bounce today, the NYT said it best:

Only on Wall Street can billion-dollar bank losses be a good thing

This diary will explore the unintended irony of this comment, but first:

The Times was referring to the latest bad news regarding the UBS "write-down" (such a euphamism that) of another $19 billion (totaling almost $40 billion for the last nine months, according to the article just linked), which forced their CEO to resign, and also to the news that Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest bank, wrote down $4 billion.

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday March 31, 2008 · 9:43 AM PDT

2008/03/31 · 09:43

This morning's news regarding the Bush administration's proposed regulatory overhaul of the financial market has received some commentary so far here at dkos, and is being described elsewhere as a non-starter, but I thought it might make sense to address whether or not this new proposal--especially in light of Obama's excellent speech last week on the economy--makes the current situation better or worse.

Like most people here, I am highly dubious about a plan from an administration that tends to favor Wall Street elites and corporations over Main Street and middle class individuals. So, is this new plan a case of the fox guarding the henhouse, or is it a case of too little too late, and what should the Democratic response (particularly Obama's) to this plan be?

gnat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 27, 2008 · 8:18 AM PDT

2008/03/27 · 08:18

Remember that phrase?

Well, it still applies: perhaps more so now than ever.

Consider the latest GDP report:

Economy Sputters With 0.6 Percent Growth
Thursday March 27, 9:18 am ET

By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer

Economy Nearly Sputtered Out at End of 2007, Probably Faring Worse Now

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year and is probably faring even worse now amid continuing housing, credit and financial crises.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product increased at a feeble 0.6 percent annual rate in the October-to-December quarter. The reading -- unchanged from a previous estimate a month ago -- provided stark evidence of just how much the economy has weakened.

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AIG and Christmas On Wall Street

KBR pleads guilty in Nigerian bribery scheme

What is he going to DO?

McCain Unfit to Be President

Commodity Speculation and the Food Crisis

More Economic Red Flags

$100 Billion to Bail Out Britain's Banks

Citigroup and the "Write-Offs"

Classic Rock Reactionaries?

The Slow Motion Meltdown

On the Paulson Plan

It's Still the Economy, Stupid