JohnPaulson

JohnPaulson https://www.dailykos.com/news/JohnPaulson News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Sun, 26 Jan 2020 19:20:27 +0000 Sun, 26 Jan 2020 19:20:27 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Trump's economic team: cigarette peddler, Nixon’s lawyer, mortgage fraudsters and a fracking lunatic https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/5/1557080/-Trump-s-economic-team-cigarette-peddler-Nixon-s-lawyer-mortgage-fraudsters-and-a-fracking-lunatic Donald Trump has announced his <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-economic-advisory-team-226709" target="_blank" title="">all-male, all-wealthy</a> team of economic advisers. Ready to meet the team? Well, there are a couple of Wall Street hedge fund billionaires, at least two mortgage fraudsters, America’s discount cigarette CEO, the king of crumbling strip malls, Nixon’s former lawyer who moved to Neverland, a fracking crazy oilman who attributes rising stock prices to Trump, a second generation Goldman-Sachs investment banker, and a corporate raider who profited from both the 2008 crash and 9/11. If you were expecting to find an economist among Trump’s economic advisers … have you been paying attention? This is Trump. Despite his complaints about Wall Street and hedge funds, Trump put investment bankers and hedge-fund managers front and center on his team. But one thing he didn’t disguise—his love for disaster financing. Not only does Trump himself love a good foreclosure, he selected plenty of people with similar vulture-based policies for his team. Because there’s nothing Trump loves more than people who completely agree with him. So … who are these guys? And why might one of them know what happened to Bubbles and the Elephant Man? rss@dailykos.com (Mark Sumner) DonaldTrump economicadvisers HaroldHamm JohnPaulson _1557080 Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:20:57 +0000 “Insiders Tell All: Both the Stock Market and the SEC Are Rigged,” by Pam Martens https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/4/14/1291952/--Insiders-Tell-All-Both-the-Stock-Market-and-the-SEC-Are-Rigged-by-Pam-Martens (Publishing Note: Pam Martens has provided written authorization to the diarist to reproduce this post in its entirety for the benefit of the Daily Kos community.) <blockquote> <center> <big><a href="http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/04/insiders-tell-all-both-the-stock-market-and-the-sec-are-rigged/">Insiders Tell All: Both the Stock Market and the SEC Are Rigged</a></big> By Pam Martens <a href="http://www.wallstreetonparade.com">Wall Street On Parade</a> A Citizen Guide To Wall Street April 14, 2014 </center> <div class="dkimg-c"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/77958/large/President-Obama-Nominates-Mary-Jo-White-for-Chair-of-the-Securities-and-Exchange-Commission.jpg?1397492983" alt="" width="300" height="265" /></div> <center>President Obama Nominates Mary Jo White for Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (January 24, 2013) </center> Since bestselling author Michael Lewis appeared on 60 Minutes on March 30 to promote his new book, “Flash Boys,” and explained how the U.S. stock market is rigged; and Brad Katsuyama, the head of IEX, an electronic trading platform who plays a central role in the Lewis book, did the same on CNBC a few days later, the debate has gone viral. But Lewis and Katsuyama were not the first to blow the whistle on rigged U.S. stock markets. Sal Arnuk and Joseph Saluzzi, Wall Street insiders and co-founders of Themis Trading LLC literally wrote the book on “Broken Markets” in 2012 and have been exposing details of the rigging <a href="http://blog.themistrading.com/cutting-the-line-and-order-types/">on their blog</a> ever since. Wall Street Journal reporter, Scott Patterson, mapped out the exotic and corrupt order types permitted by the stock exchanges to fleece the little guy in his 2012 book, “Dark Pools,” which follows the trading career of Haim Bodek, who has set up his <a href="http://haimbodek.com/">own web site</a> to blow the whistle on just how badly the stock market is rigged. Following all the media hoopla, the FBI has recently announced that it has opened an investigation into the allegations. But under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the FBI is not in charge of rigged stock exchanges — the Securities and Exchange Commission is. But according to insiders, the SEC has stood down in much the same fashion that it ignored warnings about Bernard Madoff from whistleblower Harry Markopolos for years. The explanation for the SEC’s inaction, many traders feel, is that the SEC itself is rigged against Main Street in favor of big Wall Street firms. That view has found support among the SEC’s own insiders. </blockquote> (continued below) rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) AndrewCeresny Barack Obama BarackObama BradKatsuyama CapturedGovernment colocation DarcyFlynn FIXProtocol GaryAquirre HFT high-frequencytrading institutionalizedfraud JamesKidney JohnPaulson Latency Main Street MainStreet MaryJoWhite Message MichaelLewis NinetyNinePercent One Percent OnePercent PamMartens pillagingofMainStreet Recommended RegulatoryCapture RevolvingDoor riggedcomputers riggedsecuritiesmarkets RobertKhuzami Session StatusQuo Wall Street WallStreet WallStreetOnParade _1291952 Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:41:55 +0000 Big Whoopee! One Goldman Sachs Exec Found Guilty of Fraud - in Civil Suit (yep, no prison time) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/8/1/1228266/-Big-Whoopee-One-Goldman-Sachs-Exec-Found-Guilty-of-Fraud-in-Civil-Suit-yep-no-prison-time Be happy now, because this may be the one and only big time Wall Street Criminal to <s>see the inside of a prison cell</s> be made to pay for his <s>criminal</s> naughty behavior - maybe.  A New York jury <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23543441">has <s>convicted</s> found Fabrice Tourre</a>, former Goldman Sach's trader, liable for fraud involving One BILLION DOLLARS in losses from the sale of <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/syntheticcdo.asp">synthetic collateralized debt obligations</a> that made Goldman Sachs billions in profits as they shorted the deals even while promoting them to their clients.  The jury in the civil suit brought by the SEC agreed with the SEC lawyer Matthew Martens, that "Fabulous Fab" was guilty as hell: <blockquote>Jurors found that the trader, who nicknamed himself "Fabulous Fab", had defrauded investors in the run up to the global financial crisis in 2008. A complex mortgage deal he was involved in cost investors $1bn (£661m) when it failed. </blockquote> So what is his potential punishment?  Glad you asked: <blockquote>Because the case is civil rather than criminal, he faces possible fines and a ban from the financial services industry.</blockquote> Big whoop-di-do!  By the way, for those who don't remember Mr. Fabrice Tourre, her's a <a href="http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/08/fabrice-tourre-guilty-fraud-abacus-goldman-sachs/">little review lesson</a> on what exactly he did, which in any legitimate justice system would result in the loss of all his assets and imprisonment for twenty years, along with the conviction of hundreds of other of his Wall Street cronies.  Alas, we don't have that kind of justice system in this country: <blockquote>Paulson & Co. hired Goldman Sachs to create a mortgage product that they could bet against the housing market in 2007. Martens and the SEC alleged in court that Tourre committed fraud by not telling some investors about Paulson's strategy. He also did not inform them that Paulson picked securities that were included in the mortgage portfolio. These half-truths earned Goldman Sachs $1 billion off this scheme.</blockquote> And here's more detail about this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/business/24trading.html?pagewanted=all">"Fabulous"</a> bad boy and his partners in crime at Goldman, specifically Jonathan M. Egol, at that time a managing director at Goldman Sachs: <blockquote>Mr. Egol, a Princeton graduate, had risen to prominence inside the bank by creating mortgage-related securities, named Abacus, that were at first intended to protect Goldman from investment losses if the housing market collapsed. As the market soured, Goldman created even more of these securities, enabling it to pocket huge profits. [...]  Mr. Egol was a prime mover behind these securities. Beginning in 2004, with housing prices soaring and the mortgage mania in full swing, Mr. Egol began creating the deals known as Abacus. From 2004 to 2008, Goldman issued 25 Abacus deals, according to Bloomberg, with a total value of $10.9 billion. Abacus allowed investors to bet for or against the mortgage securities that were linked to the deal. The C.D.O.’s didn’t contain actual mortgages. Instead, they consisted of credit-default swaps, a type of insurance that pays out when a borrower defaults. These swaps made it much easier to place large bets on mortgage failures. [...]  “Egol and Fabrice were way ahead of their time,” said one of the former Goldman workers. “They saw the writing on the wall in this market as early as 2005.” By creating the Abacus C.D.O.’s, they helped protect Goldman against losses that others would suffer. As early as the summer of 2006, Goldman’s sales desk began marketing short bets using the ABX index to hedge funds like Paulson & Company, Magnetar and Soros Fund Management, which invests for the billionaire George Soros. John Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, also would later take some of the shorts from the Abacus deals, helping him profit when mortgage bonds collapsed. </blockquote> Too bad for Fabrice that his buddy, Mr. Ebol escaped liability, mostly because Goldman sold Patrice out by releasing damaging emails he sent regarding the Abacus deals, like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23543441">this one</a>: <blockquote>"Just made it to the country of your favorite clients [Belgians]!!! I'm managed to sell a few abacus bonds to widows and orphans that I ran into at the airport..."</blockquote> Yes, widows and orphans.  Hahahahaha.  Very funny.  Tourre made <a href="http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/65634/">a $2 million fee</a> on the sale of the fraudulent Paulson Abacus deal, alone.  Not a bad day's work for a thief who bragged about stealing money from pension funds on which, yes, widows and other retirees rely upon to make ends meet.  Hell, most armed robbers would be thrilled to come away with such a haul and face no threat of arrest or imprisonment.  Guess they should have studied harder in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/apr/19/fabrice-tourre-goldman-sachs">math class</a> in school.  That's what the real criminal masterminds do these days. And now the SEC has Patrice Tourre's pelt on it's wall (figuratively speaking), the proverbial scapegoat has been sacrificed and business can return to normal.  Oh wait, <a href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/16/goldman-sachs-profits-double/">it already has for Goldman Sachs</a>: <blockquote>FORTUNE -- Goldman Sachs's profits in the second quarter more than doubled from a year earlier to $1.9 billion, propelled by a surge in stock and bond offerings. Trading revenues were up as well from a year ago, but down from the first quarter ... Goldman itself appeared to be able to capitalize on the improving U.S. economy and the rising stock market. Fees from stock market underwriting and trading rose 55% and 25% from the same period a year ago. Bond market underwriting fees were also up 40%. And Goldman's own equity investments, some of which are in private companies, generated an additional $500 million in gains in the quarter. </blockquote> Are you happy now?  Yeah, me neither. rss@dailykos.com (Steven D) abacus CrimeandNoPunishment Derivatives FabriceTourre Fraud Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs Greed JohnPaulson Justice Law ninety-nine percent One Percent OnePercent Recommended SEC TBTF Wall Street WallStreet WidowsandOrphans _1228266 Thu, 01 Aug 2013 21:30:43 +0000 TBTF, Too Crafty to Notice, Too Rich to Get Caught https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/3/9/1192788/-TBTF-Too-Crafty-to-Notice-Too-Rich-to-Get-Caught Here is a recap of one Financial Manager from Goldman Sachs who broke his trust with his investors, and made Billions in the process. Who <s>walks the streets</s> navigates the streets in limos unscathed -- because to pursue such bilking of investors is no longer, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/08/1192652/-OR-Sen-Jeff-Merkley-D-The-idea-that-some-banks-are-too-big-to-jail-is-outrageous">worth the time and effort</a> of the current DOJ, led by Eric Holder. <blockquote>Why cause a ruckus? Can't we just let sleeping dogs lie? Otherwise it might come back and bite the Economy in the ass, don't you know. Who wants that?</blockquote> <img src="http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t106/OnlyObvious/Get_Out_Jail_Free_1Percent_400_zpsa602e180.jpg" /> Well here's why it's worth "the trouble" -- from someone who went to great lengths to actually put Criminal CEO Managers IN JAIL, not so very long ago. Different time, but still the same country, still the same Economy back then. In theory. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04232010/profile.html">William K. Black on Fraud</a> Bill Moyers Journal --April 23, 2010 <blockquote>[...] Black tells Bill Moyers on THE JOURNAL that, despite evidence of fraud at the top banks, prosecutions seem far away. "If you go back to the savings and loan debacle, we got more than a thousand felony convictions of the elite. These are not, you know, tellers or something. We today have zero convictions, zero indictments, zero arrests of any of the elite, non-prime lenders that, through their fraud, drove this crisis." The Case Against Goldman Sachs On Friday April 16, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seemed to agree, charging Goldman Sachs with fraud in its representation of collatoralized debt obligations (CDOs) to its investors. At the heart of the case is whether Goldman Sachs was completely honest with potential investors about how the portfolio of CDOs was chosen. The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs didn't acknowledge that the portfolio was assembled with the help of hedge fund manager John Paulson, who was planning on betting against the portfolio. Black explained why it could be a criminal matter: <blockquote>   It has nothing to do with the buyer being dumb. Any buyer would have wanted to know that this portfolio was set up to fail. That would have been material information within the language of the securities laws. And they were not only not told that, they were told the opposite, that it was picked so that it would succeed. That, if it's true, is a misrepresentation, or in English, a lie. And <ins>that would establish securities fraud</ins>. And that, by the way, is a felony, not just a civil wrong.</blockquote> </blockquote> It is a Fraud. It is a Felony. It is Wrong.   It was wrong in the 80's and 90's -- it should still be wrong NOW. Wrong enough to at least want to set an example, for other wantabee billionaires, like John Paulson ... who are just now getting their Harvard MBA's, with a minor in Banking ... rss@dailykos.com (jamess) Accountability BillMoyers CDOs CorrosiveCapitalism Deregulation DerivedWealth DOJ doublestandards Economy EricHolder Framing Fraud GreedGoneWild Hedge Funds HedgeFunds ItsYourMoney JobDestroyers JohnPaulson Mortgage Crisis MortgageCrisis SavingsandLoanscrisis shadowbankers TBTF top1percent TrustBusters Two Americas Two-TieredJustice TwoAmericas WallStreetCasino WallStreetWeasels WealthExtractors William K. Black WilliamKBlack _1192788 Sat, 09 Mar 2013 16:28:06 +0000 The Real SOTU: The White House Subverting the Rule of Law https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/2/13/1186483/-The-Real-SOTU-The-White-House-Subverting-the-Rule-of-Law Subverting the rule of law? How dare I? Well the 4th amendment, due process, kill lists, and the NDAA also speak to my title. <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/11-5">Yes, they speak to it despite those that decided politicians were more important than the principles they pretended to have in 2004</a> now outed as hypocrites mostly. However, that being said, I'm talking about subverting the rule of law in a different way but equally as damaging on the economic front. After all, it was at the SOTU merely just a year ago that President Obama assured us that something was going to be done about the Wall St. perpetrators of our mortgage and foreclosure crisis. This was a crisis in which they defrauded consumers with sub-prime NINJA loans pumping up the housing bubble and then dumping the private debt overhang onto the economy destroying over 10 trillion in housing wealth. This left consumers with massive loads of private debt and everyone else jobless like this recovery. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i9zlsbpVod4" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe> This White House's DOJ has made a complete mockery of the concept of Justice in and of itself. That illusion of Justice is perpetuated to this day and normal people are devastated because of it. <a href="http://other98.com/pres-obama-you-said-you-were-investigating-the-banks-what-happened/">Let President Obama know you are not amused.</a> I have. rss@dailykos.com (priceman) AccountingControlFraud BearStearns Civil Rights CivilRights Congress criminalreferrals Economy ForeclosureCrisis foreclosurefraudsettlement Fraud GeorgeAkerlof Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs informationasymmetry International JohnPaulson JosephStiglitz Labor LannyBruer Law MERS MortgageFraud PBS Recommended SubprimeMortgageCrisis TheUntouchables White House WhiteHouse _1186483 Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:50:47 +0000 Journalist attends Rove's SuperPAC Fund-raiser and Files Report https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/3/1127409/-Journalist-attends-Rove-s-SuperPAC-Fund-raiser-and-Files-Report Remember the recent Republican Fund-raiser for corporate high-rollers -- the one where Karl Rove "joked" about "murdering Todd Akin" -- with next to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/02/1126990/-What-passes-for-Civility-in-the-Party-of-These-Guys">no followup</a> commentary. Well that was Karl Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads -- soliciting funds from the likes of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/18/1075611/-Wall-Street-has-changed-and-Not-in-a-good-way">John Paulson</a>, <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2012/08/14/palm-beach-billionaire-ross-acquires.html">Wilbur Ross</a>, and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/18/903147/-The-Koch-Brothers-Million(s)-Dollar-effort-to-Halt-Progress">The Kochs</a>. These guys like tough talk apparently -- so no harm done. (except to Akin's peace of mind, of course.) Only one little problem for this Rove "strategy session" however -- there was an unnoticed guest in attendance.  Who happened to be a Reporter.  And who also happened NOT to be sworn to secrecy. Oooops!   Exclusive: <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-31/exclusive-inside-karl-roves-billionaire-fundraiser#p1">Inside Karl Rove's Billionaire Fundraiser</a> (Video) by Sheelah Kolhatkar, Bloomberg - businessweek.com -- August 31, 2012 <a href="http://bloom.bg/TDYfCE#ooid=Q5c2pyNTqHKQPdn3EI42NB537mF498oP">link to video</a> <blockquote>[...] This rare look at the mechanics of super-PAC fundraising and electoral strategy was likely not intended for reporters. I was invited as the guest of a financier who is a significant Republican donor. The financier knew that I was a journalist. At no point was I presented with, nor did I agree to, restrictions regarding the information I heard. [...]</blockquote> Ever wonder what happens at one of Karl's "money-changers" confabs?  If so, well you know what to do ... rss@dailykos.com (jamess) American Crossroads AmericanCrossroads Barack Obama BarackObama Citizens United CitizensUnited CorporatePersons FocusGroups GOP JohnPaulson Karl Rove KarlRove Koch Money Speech MoneySpeech PACs Reality Recommended Rightwing Rhetoric SheelahKolhatkar Super Pac SuperPac Tea Party TeaParty TheseGuys TippingPoints ToddAkin Undecideds WilburRoss _1127409 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:03:30 +0000 We are the 1%: Mitt's Megadonors https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/6/1/1096713/-We-are-the-1-Mitt-s-Megadonors Billionaire business owners are rich (duh). Billionaire business owners didn’t get to be rich by throwing millions of dollars away.  They invest; they do not donate. When they throw a million dollars to a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, they are not doing it solely from the kindness of their own heart.  They are making a purchase.  They seek to buy power, to buy access to the people who make the laws, and they want to make sure that the person signing all the laws in 2013 is the type of person who will only sign laws favorable to them. This is why it is so revealing when a billionaire business owner heavily bankrolls a political action committee.  By figuring out who the donors are and what their motivations are, we can deduce what kind of policies Mitt Romney will be an advocate for. rss@dailykos.com (quibblingpotatoes) Billionaires BillMarriott EdwardConard Election 2012 Election2012 Elections FrankVanderSloot JohnPaulson Mitt Romney MittRomney SuperPacs WilliamKoch _1096713 Sat, 02 Jun 2012 04:42:39 +0000 OMG! Romney Embraces Bush Economic Policy https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/3/21/1076568/-OMG-Romney-Embraces-Bush-Economic-Policy Willard, keep saying this over and over again. Making foolish statements like this example, below the fold, is guaranteed to give an unprecedented victory to President Obama, keep the Senate in Democratic hands and turn the House back over to Democrats, as well. Honestly, Willard Romney is the WORST candidate for president that I have ever seen. What a helluva price to pay for Jeb's endorsement rss@dailykos.com (StuHunter) EconomicDepression2008 George W. Bush GeorgeWBush JohnPaulson Mitt Romney MittRomney _1076568 Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:35:17 +0000 Wall Street has changed -- and Not in a good way https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/3/18/1075611/-Wall-Street-has-changed-and-Not-in-a-good-way Yet another Wall Street insider spills the beans ... on their ill-gotten gains ... <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-greg-smith-dead-goldman-140913996.html">Why Greg Smith Is 'Dead Right' About Goldman Sachs</a> by Michael Hirsh, contributor, The Atlantic – Mar 16, 2012 <blockquote>[...] Now comes Greg Smith, an apparently conscience-stricken renegade from Goldman Sachs, who tells us that not only has nothing changed in the firm's culture, but he "can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it." [...] Back in 2010, Blankfein admitted, in effect, precisely what <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=3&hp">Greg Smith</a> is alleging now. In the now-famous hearings held by Sen. Carl Levin's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Levin tried to get Blankfein to concede that Goldman was morally wrong to bet on the sly against securities that it had touted as solid investments to its clients. No, no, the Goldman CEO demurred, that's not how the financial system works any more. "There's been a change in the sociology of the business in the last 10 to 15 years," Blankfein explained patiently. "Somewhere along the line," he said, big clients stopped asking investment banks for good advice and started to seek them out only to set up deals for them -- merely to underwrite the transactions and be on the other side of them. [...] It also apparently gave Goldman carte blanche to shaft any helpless investor on the other side of those transactions. Liquidity was all. Nothing else mattered. [...] Indeed, it's no surprise that the bank lobby threw most of its energy during the Dodd-Frank legislative process into watering down rules requiring over-the-counter derivatives to trade on an open and supervised exchange. The reason is that derivatives and structured finance products traded off exchange were still a major source of Wall Street's profitability because they were not exposed to market and risk valuation. And the more complex they are, the easier it is for the banks to charge their customers huge spreads. In other words, the market is still rigged and full of scams, just as Frank Partnoy warned back in the 1990s. Who to believe? I think I'll go with Greg Smith over Gabriel Sherman. You can take that to the bank. </blockquote> If I'm not mistaken the Goldman CEO just admitted to not having their customers' best interests in mind. Isn't that the same thing as becoming "Predatory"? rss@dailykos.com (jamess) Bailout CarlLevin CDO CitiGroup Consumerprotection Dodd-Frank EconomicPatriotism Economy EzraKlein Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs GregSmith Hedge Funds HedgeFunds JohnPaulson LloydBlankfein MBS MortgageBackedSecurities predatorycapitalism Reform Regulation SEC TopTenthPercent ToxicAssets Transparency Wall Street WallStreet Whistleblower _1075611 Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:51:50 +0000 Mitt Romney stands with his Base https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/1/6/1052184/-Mitt-Romney-stands-with-his-Base If you were wondering what the Candidacy of 1/4-billionaire, Mitt Romney, was all about ... Let there be no doubt: Study: <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/01/05/Study-Romney-tax-plan-helps-wealthiest/UPI-90851325823303/?spt=hs%E2%88%A8=tn">Romney tax plan helps wealthiest</a> upi.com  Jan. 5, 2012 U.S. News: <blockquote>WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A tax plan proposed by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney would cut federal revenue and give large tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, a study found. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center in Washington said Thursday Romney's plan would cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from the current rate of 35 percent and abolish taxation of long-term capital gains, dividends and interest income for household reporting incomes of less than $200,000, the Los Angeles Times reported. The former Massachusetts governor would make permanent the federal tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush. The cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. [...] </blockquote> No doubt, that will be good news for Mitt Romney's Base -- The Billionaire Club, that he one day hopes to join .... aka ...  that pinnacle of the Economic Pyramid -- that Top 1 Percent ... those Corporate-Persons, 'bainly' exporting all those Jobs to all corners of the world ... wherever they'll work for peanuts ... rss@dailykos.com (jamess) Billionaires BuffetTax Bush Tax Cuts BushTaxCuts CapitalGains Class Warfare ClassWarfare CorporatePersons corporatetaxes Forbes400 Framing Hedge Funds HedgeFunds jobcreators JobExporters JohnPaulson KochIndustries Millionaires MittRomey Reagonomics Tax Cuts TaxCuts TaxPolicyCenter top1percent _1052184 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:32:30 +0000 Billionaire:“If I hear -‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit” https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/26/1049033/-Billionaire-If-I-hear-paying-your-fair-share-one-more-time-I-m-going-to-vomit The Oligarchy is striking back. First we have John Paulson who made his billions by actively helping the housing market to collapse, bringing the larger economy crashing down around it in a massive wave of job losses, tell us what an upstanding citizen he is because he pays a preferential low tax rate on his ill gotten hoard. Paulson made about $5 billion last year. <blockquote><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-26/bankers-join-billionaires-to-debunk-imbecile-attack-on-top-1-.html">Bankers Join Billionaires to Debunk ‘Imbecile’ Attack on Top 1%</a> December 26, 2011 By Max Abelson Paulson, the New York hedge-fund manager who became a billionaire by betting against the U.S. housing market, has also said the rich benefit society. “The top 1 percent of New Yorkers pay over 40 percent of all income taxes,” Paulson & Co. said in an e-mailed statement on Oct. 11, the day Occupy Wall Street protesters left a mock tax-refund check at its president’s Upper East Side townhouse. ‘Going to Vomit’ Tom Golisano, billionaire founder of payroll processer Paychex Inc. and a former New York gubernatorial candidate, said in an interview this month that while there are examples of excess, it’s “ridiculous” to blame everyone who is rich. “If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit,” said Golisano, who turned 70 last month, celebrating the birthday with girlfriend Monica Seles, the former tennis star who won nine Grand Slam singles titles. </blockquote> Then another billionaire Tom Golisano chimes in with his comment belittling anyone who thinks the pampered oligarchs should provide a little more toward their nation's well being. Its Tom Golisano's limitless sense of entitlement should make the 99% gag in disgust. <img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /><img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /><img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /><img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /><img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /><img src="http://th147.photobucket.com/albums/r293/fellixe/moty/th_moty_violin.gif" width="46" height="30" /> rss@dailykos.com (Lefty Coaster) JohnPaulson Occupy Wall Street OccupyWallStreet Oligarchy Recommended TomGolisano _1049033 Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:10:04 +0000 Citigroup cuts a Deal, that conveniently Avoids any Real Consequences https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/22/1029023/-Citigroup-cuts-a-Deal-that-conveniently-Avoids-any-Real-Consequences First to understand the true implications of the Citigroup Settlement Deal -- it helps to understand CDO's -- which are just basically a 'fancy Bond Investment' -- to understand how they work -- or how CDO's are supposed to work. <a href="http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/CDOs.htm">CDO's</a> (Collateralized Debt Obligations) by Kimberly Amadeo, About.com Guide <blockquote>Definition:  CDO's, or Collateralized Debt Obligations, are sophisticated financial tools that repackage individual loans into a product that can be sold on the secondary market. These packages consist of auto loans, credit card debt, or corporate debt. They are called collateralized because they have some type of collateral behind them. [...] CDO's were created to provide more liquidity in the economy. It allows banks and corporations to sell off debt, which frees up more capital to invest or loan. [...] However, the downside of CDO's is that it allows the originators of the loans to avoid having to collect on them when they become due, since the loans are now owned by other investors. This may make them less disciplined in adhering to strict lending standards. </blockquote> Say hello, to Sub-Prime Loans.  No Job, No prospects -- No Problem!  Just as long as you can sign on the dotted line. Clever investors, generally like clever investments.  They rely on the fact that complete and open information on the free market, will eventually force an investment to "seek its true price".  Just like water seeks its "true level". That's the theory anyways. That is how it is suppose to work.  Smart investors however, shy away opaque Companies, and overly-complex schemes, as Warren Buffet has famously done, most of his investing career. Schemes, where the "complete and open information" is usually buried in the fine print somewhere.  Just like a mirage, off on the desert basin horizon. The Smart Money usually avoids such scams ... or at least they used to ... <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/04/cdo-market-%E2%80%93-rife-with-collusion-and-manipulation.html">CDO Market – Rife With Collusion and Manipulation?</a> nakedcapitalism.com by Tom Adams, an attorney and former monoline executive, and Yves Smith -- April 23, 2010 <blockquote>[...] If traditional cash investors and insurers were avoiding the mortgage securities market, who was driving the yields and spreads lower? Many industry participants agreed that the “CDO bid” was distorting the market. The mechanism was the CDO managers, who assembled the assets for cash or hybrid deals [...]. They were effectively extensions of investment banks, dependent on substantial credit lines from them. Perhaps more important, it appears that many of the larger CDO managers bought much, perhaps all, of the AA to BBB tranches of entire subprime mortgage bond issues to be placed into CDOs. Having a single affiliated party take down the riskiest layers of subprime deals means that normal arm’s length pricing was not operating, and the profit potential of CDO issuance, rather than investor demand, was driving the market. </blockquote> That last line is important. It is the essence of <a href="http://www.investorwords.com/3117/moral_hazard.html">Moral Hazard</a>, a financial concept that used to put the brakes on "Junk Bonds" deals -- before they could ever get out of the gate.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Milken">Michael Milken</a>, back in the eighties, kind of made this Junk Bonds concept a household word. Investments must be above board. Investments must be transparent, for Markets to work.  Profits must not trump, free information.  But in CDO bond packages, it was much too easy to mix in the BBB- Junk with the AAA+ Gold -- and who would be the wiser? When the way a Contract is constructed, such that the Contract terms "motivates one of the parties" to cheat, to lie, to distort, in order to make a fast buck, at the expense of the other party -- then the instigator is said to have engaged in Moral Hazard.  (ie. they are Stealing.) (ie. they should be punished.) This Hazard used to be avoided like a Milken Triple-0 Junk Bond, by most of the Financial Markets ... but not anymore. Not since we moved in an era, where the concept of Financial Risk, has become just another "outsourable" commodity.  Just another <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/08/1024313/-What-Are-Derivatives-And-what-makes-some-of-them-Toxic">derivative</a> cost of business to be discounted away, to virtually nothing. Just ask Citigroup ... rss@dailykos.com (jamess) Bailout BigBanks CDO CitiGroup Class Warfare ClassWarfare Collateralized Debt Obligations CollateralizedDebtObligations CreditDefaultSwaps Deregulation Derivatives DocumentMills Econ401 EconomicLiteracy Economy Ethics Foreclosure Framing GreatRecession Hedge Funds HedgeFunds JohnPaulson junkbonds LiarLoans MBS MERS MichaelMilken MoralHazard Mortgage Crisis MortgageBackedSecurities MortgageCrisis MortgageSettlement nojustice RiskManagement robo-signing shorting subprimeloans TARP top1percent Wall Street WallStreet _1029023 Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:53:39 +0000 ACTION: Smoking Out The Billionaires Hiding in NYC https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/10/1024924/-ACTION-Smoking-Out-The-Billionaires-Hiding-in-NYC   Occupy Wall Street has been a phenomenal awakening--and I have been proud to be a part of the non-sleepover (wimp...) outer ring of regular marchers. Tomorrow, c'mon out for another important phase in holding the economic Thieves Guild accountable--with a tour of the lairs of a few billionaires who hole up in Manhattan and wreak havoc on the country and the world. rss@dailykos.com (Tasini) BeyondMay12th Billionaires DavidKoch Financial Crisis financialcrisis Greed HowardMillstein JamieDimon jobparty JohnPaulson New York NewYork Occupy Wall Street OccupyWallStreet RupertMurdoch WorkingLife _1024924 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:32:56 +0000 Taxes and Billionaires and the rest of us https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/7/7/992048/-Taxes-and-Billionaires-and-the-rest-of-us <blockquote>The larger question is this: Do we try to balance budget deficits just by cutting antipoverty initiatives, college scholarships and other investments in young people and our future? Or do we also seek tax increases from those best able to afford them? And when Congressional Republicans claim that the reason for their recalcitrance in budget negotiations is concern for the welfare of ordinary Americans, look more closely. Do we really want to close down the American government and risk another global financial crisis to protect the tax bills of billionaires? </blockquote> Those are the final two paragraphs of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212">Taxes and Billionaires</a>, Nicholas Kirstof's New York Times column this morning.  Kirstof is not an economist, and tax policy is not his usual subject, but he provides a column that puts things in clear and understandable English.  I urge you to read and pass on his column. Carried Interest is currently taxed at the Capital Gains rate of 15%.  John Paulson is a hedge fund manager who made almost $5 billion last year.  Hedge fund managers receive bonuses of 20% or more of the profits they make, and it is treated as carried interest.  Were it ordinary income Paulson would pay 35% on it.   I am a teacher who makes well under 6 figures.  Each additional dollar I make is taxed at 35.65%:  28% income tax and 7.65% payroll taxes -  unless the payroll tax cut gets extended (which will then be argued by Republicans as Social Security increasing the deficit).  I would argue that in teaching young people I contribute more value to the economy and the nation than does John Paulson.  Hedge funds create no jobs for ordinary people, add no skills to the workforce, but they surely manage to transfer a great deal of wealth to those who are already wealthy.  And, as Kristof points out, Paulson makes as much as 184,000 average Americans. rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) democraticrepublic Hedge Funds HedgeFunds JohnPaulson Morality NicholasKristof Recommended Republicans Taxes _992048 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:44:40 +0000 Deflating Conservative Arguments: The Flat Tax https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/5/15/976284/-Deflating-Conservative-Arguments-The-Flat-Tax My neighbor in the apartment across the way is a good-natured centerist who is very interested in issues of taxation.  He and I often get into discussions related to our tax system and he's brought up the idea of a Flat Tax.  It sure sounds like a good idea: everyone pays the same percentage of their income.  After all, he argues, why should someone making a lot of money pay a higher percentage? The problem with this idea, of course, is that it's ultimately regressive, taking a more meaningful chunk of money from the least fortunate in our society.  The counter question being, why should someone making only a little money pay the same percentage of their income as someone making much more and is it fair to tax them at the same rate? Follow me below the fold where I level the Flat Tax in my continuing series <a href="http://rosslampert.com">Deflating Conservative Arguments</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Ross Lampert) DeflatingConservativeArguments Economy Fairness Flat Tax FlatTax JohnPaulson Justice Lamar Alexander LamarAlexander MythofIndividualism Taxation _976284 Sun, 15 May 2011 20:31:00 +0000 "The Pirates of Capitol Hill" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/16/967481/--The-Pirates-of-Capitol-Hill Charles Blow has another outstanding op-ed column in Saturday's NY Times, entitled: "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/opinion/16blow.html">The Pirates of Capitol Hill</a>." I'll get to it in a moment, but I wanted to review his commentary under the light of some of the most current economic news I've read about all things financial over the past 48 hours; and, I'll attempt to provide some contextual history which dovetails with this new information, since it brings us full circle, back to a few of my most recents posts, as well. Let's start with the most recent economic story, first... rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) abacus Banking CDO CDs Collateralized Debt Obligations CollateralizedDebtObligations Corporatocracy CreditDefaultSwaps Derivatives Fraud GDP Goldman-Sachs GoldmanSachs grossdomesticproducthousing HenryPaulson investorfraud Joblessness JohnPaulson Kleptocracy Magnetar Main Street MainStreet MohamedEl-Erian Mortgages Oligarchy PhilAngelides Plutocracy PPI producerpriceindex Recommended RegulatoryCapture TimGeithner Unemployment Wall Street WallStreet _967481 Sat, 16 Apr 2011 09:07:23 +0000 Could Jesus make it on $1.9m… per day? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/3/6/953278/-Could-Jesus-make-it-on-1-9m-per-day If you agree with the direction of People's Lobby's Fair Tax Bracket Reinstitution Act, please go to <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/view/reinstitute_tax_brackets_that_grew_a_middle_class">http://www.change.org/...</a> and cast a vote.  That vote will send a letter, which you can edit, to about 20 congressional reps.  Get involved with citizen-initiated legislation. And look at People's Lobby's other proposal (American World Service Corps Congressional Proposal) and cast the same vote that involves citizens rather than moneyied lobbyists in making sane laws that build an alert, knowledgeable, and healthy middle class.. www.change.org/petitions/view/field_21_million_american_world_service_corps_volunteers_over_the_next_27_years?te=npf rss@dailykos.com (Peoples Lobby) AmericanWorldServiceCorpsFairTaxBracketReinstitutionAct Congress Economy Egypt Eisenhower EveryTownNeedsaCastle Fair Tax FairTax Ike Jesus JohnPaulson Kennedy Libya nader Nixon ordinaryPeopleDoingtheExtraordinary PeoplesLobb RichardNixon Tax _953278 Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:32:15 +0000 Hedge Funds Rake In More Than Banks https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/3/2/951998/-Hedge-Funds-Rake-In-More-Than-Banks    This may not seem like an earth-shaking moment but it is a telling truth about where money flows, who controls it and how little ability we have to oversee the shadow banking done at the margins of our economy. rss@dailykos.com (Tasini) Banks barclays CitiGroup financialinstitutions GeorgeSoros Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs Hedge Funds HedgeFunds JohnPaulson MorganStanley QuantumFund _951998 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:58:43 +0000 A Tax Loophole -- Big Enough to Drive an Economy into the Ditch https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/2/20/947552/-A-Tax-Loophole-Big-Enough-to-Drive-an-Economy-into-the-Ditch Increase the Captial Gain Tax Rate -- that's a battle cry that can send the Right Wing World View go spinning off its axis ... <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2011/01/29/abc-pushes-tax-hike-capital-gains-ignores-likelihood-tax-revenue-loss">ABC Pushes for Tax Hike on Capital Gains, Ignores Likelihood of Tax Revenue Loss</a> by Brad Wilmouth, newsbusters.org -- January 29, 2011 <blockquote>On Friday’s World News, anchor Diane Sawyer set up that show’s piece: <blockquote>And, moving on to this question of Wall Street versus outrage on main street in the United States, there was a jaw-dropping payday that caught our eye today: $5 billion made by one hedge fund manager last year. The Wall Street Journal first reported the phenomenal amount netted by John Paulson, which works out at $159 every second - every second of every day. And, as ABC's David Muir reports, this is just one of the many Wall Street paydays benefitting from a giant tax loophole.</blockquote> After informing viewers of Paulson’s hefty income, correspondent David Muir injected class envy, noting that "some lawmakers" are "angry" about hedge fund managers getting "tax breaks." </blockquote> Well actually David Muir was expressing more journalistic shock, than anger and envy, I thought if you actually listen to the ABC Clip ... And Yes Brad, our historically low Capital Gain rates of 15%, amount to a Tax Loophole when you dig into the details. rss@dailykos.com (jamess) 99ers ABC News ABCNews Austerity AusterityRhetoric automatedtrading Bank Bailout BankBailout Banksters Barack Obama BarackObama CapitalGains CasinoCapitalism CEOs ChurnRate Class Warfare ClassWarfare Corporations DavidMuir Deficit DianeSawyer EconomicInequality EconomicPatriotism EconomicProductivity Economy FinancialTransactionTax FlashTrades FTT GaryLocke GreatRecession Hedge Funds HedgeFunds HFT highfrequencytrading IncomeDisparity JohnPaulson kitchentable Labor Main Street MainStreet NationalDebt PhantomWealth Revenues SanderLevin SharedSacrifice Solidarity Speculation Tax Cuts TaxCuts Taxes taxloopholes TBTF Wall Street Wall Street Bailout Wall Street Journal WallStreet WallStreetBailout WallStreetJournal Wealth Workers _947552 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 17:56:29 +0000 Issues Under Fire: Who is Worse Blankfein or Escobar? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/27/861152/-Issues-Under-Fire-Who-is-Worse-Blankfein-or-Escobar Be it the czar of a Columbian drug cartel like Pablo Escobar or a respected Wall Street investment banker like Lloyd Blankfein, the average American citizen is just as likely to have their life destroyed should they consume either of these monster’s poisonous products. rss@dailykos.com (lbines) Bailout bankcartel Barack Obama BarackObama Cocaine DickFuld Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs IssuesUnderFire JohnPaulson LeeBines LloydBlankfein New Media New York NewMedia NewYork pabloescobar retrovisionmedia TARPFunds ToxicAssets Wall Street WallStreet _861152 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:59:23 +0000 No More Deceit -- Strictly Regulate Wall Street https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/23/859967/-No-More-Deceit-Strictly-Regulate-Wall-Street The SEC accuses Goldman Sachs of fraud in a civil suit. An audit of Lehman Brothers reveals it used a shady accounting practice to conceal $50 billion in debts. An investigation of Wa-Mu shows it was rife with fraud, including fabricated loan documents. Clearly, these bankers can’t stop themselves from engaging in deceit to make money. And the "free market" has failed to moderate their reckless gambling. Strict regulation is crucial to prevent them from crashing the world economy again. rss@dailykos.com (Leo W Gerard) Bank Bailout Bank of America BankBailout BankofAmerica Barack Obama BarackObama CitiGroup EzraKlein FinancialReform FinancialRegulation Glass-Steagall Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs Hedge Fund HedgeFund JohnPaulson JPMorgan Katrina vanden Heuvel KatrinavandenHeuvel LehmanBrothers MorganStanley President Obama Repo105 RichardSJuldJr RobertKhuzami SecuritiesandExchangeCommission Sen. Chris Dodd SenateMinorityLeader SenChrisDodd SenMitchMcConnell subprime mortgage subprimemortgage TooBigToFail Wa-Mu Wall Street WallStreet washingtonmutual _859967 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:20:25 +0000 Paulson and the SEC https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/22/859782/-Paulson-and-the-SEC I am no finance guy.  But I understand a con when I see one.  Ok so let me see if I understand this SEC lawsuit.  The Abacus product was something akin to a legal sports betting deal.  Some are betting for the product; some are betting against.  Perfectly legal.  Goldman Sachs is like the bookie—gets paid regardless.  But the problem is that one of the guys (John Paulson) pushing the “bet against” side is also responsible for determining what goes in that fund.  So he is basically like Pete Rose betting against a team he manages and is controlling who is in the game and who is not.  And if I understand correctly, Goldman’s defense is that the bettors are savvy and know that Pete Rose is gambling and managing at the same time.   McConnell has some nerve trying to sell us on the idea that we don't need tough derivatives reform.  And how about Hatch trying to suggest that it would "stifle innovation."  I always thought that kind of innovation was called fraud. rss@dailykos.com (chap) Fraud JohnPaulson regulationreform SEC _859782 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:51:23 +0000 Issues Under Fire: Teflon Dons of Wall Street Finally Takes Some Heat https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/19/858693/-Issues-Under-Fire-Teflon-Dons-of-Wall-Street-Finally-Takes-Some-Heat Today we get to touch upon the previously untouchables of Wall Street; Goldman Sacs and their soon to be labeled coconspirators, The Republican Party. If ever there was an issue  that would enjoy rare bipartisan support, one would thing it would be financial reform. But despite raging headlines of alleged wide spread investment fraud and corporate accounting gimmicks, the Republicans are determined to  play their current role of obstructionist. rss@dailykos.com (lbines) Barack Obama BarackObama Citi Bank CitiBank FinancialReform goldmansacs hedgefundmanagers investmentfraud IssuesUnderFire JohnPaulson LeeBines lehmanbros newyorkmedia pensionfunds retrovisionmedia SEC Wall Street WallStreet _858693 Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:58:55 +0000 GOP raises big $$ at John Paulson's house 6 days ago, benefits from fraud https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/19/858648/-GOP-raises-big-at-John-Paulson-s-house-6-days-ago-benefits-from-fraud Is anyone still surprised that GOP is shilling for Wall Street? First, GOP top brass huddles with Wall Street brass before opposing Wall Street reform bill. Now, Ben Smith reports that just six (6) days ago, Steele & Mittens had a huge fundraiser at the home of John Paulson, a man who ran Goldman Sachs hedge fund and made billions by defrauding his customers. rss@dailykos.com (karpaty lviv) GOP JohnPaulson Wall Street WallStreet _858648 Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:44:28 +0000 WSJ: SEC Wall St. Fraud Probes Intensify, U.S. Towns Pillaged (updated) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/18/858603/-WSJ-SEC-Wall-St-Fraud-Probes-Intensify-U-S-Towns-Pillaged-updated Tomorrow's Wall Street Journal expands upon ProPublica's breaking follow-up story on the Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) filing of civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs on Friday. (UPDATE: Monday's NY Times has a related lede, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/business/19goldman.html?hp">Top Goldman Leaders Said to Have Overseen Mortgage Unit</a>," by Louise Story, which tells us that these fraudulent practices were managed from the very top of Goldman's hierarchy. [h/t to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/bink">bink</a> for reminding me in the comments of a story that was running on Zero Hedge, earlier today, which the NYT has since picked-up as tomorrow's lede.] Also, Paul Krugman weighs in, referring to Goldman exec's as, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/opinion/19krugman.html?hp">Looters in Loafers.</a>") The WSJ is now coming right out and saying it: "The SEC's case against Goldman Friday has exposed an open secret on Wall Street..." Many, including the SEC, are calling it pervasive fraud. From ProPublica, also on Friday: "<a href="http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/other-major-banks-did-deals-similar-to-goldmans">Other Major Banks Did Deals Similar to Goldman</a>." From Monday's WSJ: rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) abacus Bank of America BankofAmerica CDO's CDOs CDS's CDSs Collateralized Debt Obligations CollateralizedDebtObligations CreditDefaultSwaps Derivatives DeutscheBank Goldman-Sachs GoldmanSachs JohnPaulson JPMorgan Chase JPMorganChase LehmanBrothers Magnetar MerrillLynch MorganStanley Racketeering Recommended RICO RobertKhuzami SEC SecuritiesandExchangeCommission Tricadia UBS Wall Street Wall Street Journal WallStreet WallStreetJournal WallStreetregulatoryreform _858603 Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:44:32 +0000 Naked Capitalism: "...things are starting to get interesting." https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/16/857929/-Naked-Capitalism-things-are-starting-to-get-interesting (NOTE: Diarist has been granted blanket permission by Naked Capitalism Publisher Yves Smith to reprint her blog's diaries in their entirety.) <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/04/sec-sues-goldman-for-fraud.html">SEC Sues Goldman for Fraud</a> Yves Smith Naked Capitalism Friday, April 16, 2010 Oooh, things are starting to get interesting. A number of journalists and commentators (yours truly included) have taken issue with the fact that some dealers (most notably Goldman and DeutscheBank) had programs of heavily subprime synthetic collateralized debt obligations which they used to take short positions. Needless to say, the firms have been presumed to have designed these CDOs so that their short would pay off, meaning that they designed the CDOs to fail. The reason this is problematic is that most investors would assume that a dealer selling a product it had underwritten was acting as a middleman, intermediating between the views of short and long investors. Having the firm act to design the deal to serve its own interests doesn't pass the smell test (one benchmark: Bear Stearns refused to sell synthetic CDOs on behalf of John Paulson, who similarly wanted to use them to establish a short position. How often does trading oriented firm turn down a potentially profitable trade because they don't like the ethics?) rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) abacus AIG AmericanInternationalGroup Fraud Goldman Sachs GoldmanSachs JohnPaulson maidenlane MaidenLaneIII Naked Capitalism NakedCapitalism Recommended SEC SecuritiesandExchangeCommission Wall Street WallStreet YvesSmith _857929 Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:57:14 +0000 Paulson's Naked Swaps Trump Bankruptcy Laws https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/22/828666/-Paulson-s-Naked-Swaps-Trump-Bankruptcy-Laws The 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act included new rules that allowed Credit Default Swaps to be given super priority over all other debts and contracts in Bankruptcy. So, that when the likes of hedge funder John Paulson bet $22 million that Lehman Bros would fail, by buying swaps or insurance on bonds he didn't own, and made $1 billion (45:1) he was first in line to get paid. Ahead of bond holders, shareholders, etc. Paulson, essentially went to the horse track and , <ol><li value="1"> knee capped a horse</li></ol> <ol><li value="2"> bet 2.2 cents on the dollar that the horse would lose</li></ol> <ol><li value="3"> Made the track owner run the horse even when it was obviously lame</li></ol> <ol><li value="4"> Didn't disclose the information to the track's creditors, shareholders, etc</li></ol> <ol><li value="5"> Drained the bank and left the vendors, the employees, and the community holding the bag as he demanded to be paid at 45:1 for a catastrophe <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9LOhnBS.L5c&refer=home">he helped rig</a>.</li></ol> rss@dailykos.com (WoolStreet) Bankruptcy defaultswaps JohnPaulson secretliens _828666 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:43:35 +0000 AIG 2% - Not 100% For Payouts https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/13/824644/-AIG-2-Not-100-For-Payouts to make them whole. And by AIG, that would be us. And by banks that would be Wall Street houses that were making cheap and rigged bets like and for hedge funds. The banks served as pass throughs for hedge funds siphoning from AIG. One particular hedge fund, Paulson & Co. made a killing that year and brought its CEO a paycheck around $4 billion. Hedge fund, Paulson & Co., made out ridiculously <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2009/01/07/John-Paulson-Profits-in-Downturn/index1.html">well on one bet</a> <blockquote> according to one person briefed on the trade, invested $22 million in a credit default swap that eventually paid $1 billion when the federal government opted not to rescue Lehman Brothers. That amounts to a staggering $45.45 for each dollar invested. </blockquote> $22M for $1B.  2.2% That is what these default swaps were worth to their bearer's bottom line. Pennies on the dollar. rss@dailykos.com (WoolStreet) AIG Bailout BearStearns defaultswaps JohnPaulson payout _824644 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:55:05 +0000 John Paulson - The Destroyer. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/11/823954/-John-Paulson-The-Destroyer In the period before their collapse, Bear Stearns attempted to right the ship by purchasing and modifying loans underlying mortgage backed securities before mortgage rates reset and the securities went toxic. This would have allowed people to possibly stay in their homes. These actions could have prevented Bear's demise as well. If adopted by others such as Lehman Bros., the crash may have been dampened and not as severe. John Paulson had other plans. John Paulson owned credit default insurance on mortgage backed securities and he was damned well going to cash in. rss@dailykos.com (WoolStreet) JohnPaulson _823954 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:58:27 +0000 The Other Paulson; .......Geithner's Sieve https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/9/823256/-The-Other-Paulson-Geithner-s-Sieve The bulk of this diary is from a month old NYT book review. It seems pertinent considering recent events. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/business/economy/06shelf.html?_r=1">JOHN PAULSON</a> <blockquote> as the Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman writes in "The Greatest Trade Ever," (Broadway Books, 295 pages) the financial crisis was a goldmine for a small group of investors. One of them, John Paulson, founder of Paulson & Company, a New York hedge fund, made $15 billion in 2007 by shorting the housing bubble. </blockquote> How did he do it? Credit Default Swaps on Mortgage Backed CDOs. John Paulson personally pocketed $4 billion. In one year. He squirreled another billion in 2008 when the banks suffered. rss@dailykos.com (WoolStreet) JohnPaulson _823256 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:28:24 +0000 Wall St. Bailout: Is A Massive Scandal About To Unfold? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/8/705961/-Wall-St-Bailout-Is-A-Massive-Scandal-About-To-Unfold Are facts concerning details of the current Wall Street bailout--past, present and future--about to unfold in a manner which may very well undermine President Obama's first term unless he acts immediately to staunch the damage created, and the damage about to be created, by the missteps of both (former) Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, as well as (current) Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner? This is the indication being gauged by this diarist given deeper dives into press coverage concerning two bailout-related matters of note swirling around the media over the past 72 hours, namely:           1.) AIG counterparty overpayments during the last 16 weeks of the Bush Administration, which are far more extensive and generous than the already-massive $50 billion being reported over the past 24 hours, and           2.) an effort--apparently well underway--to absurdly contort the FDIC's mission statement, to the point where the feds are going to provide a stealthy cash bonanza (up to $2 trillion in loans and guarantees/backstops), at taxpayer expense, to the grossly underregulated hedge fund industry--which if you read the Prudent Bear, below, looks at this as something of a free-for-all--as well as to some sovereign funds, under the guise of a federal program that had (up until now) absolutely nothing to do with the hedge fund industry, whatsover. rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) AIG AmericanInternationalGroup Bailout banknationalization Barack Obama BarackObama Depression Economy FDIC FederalDepositInsuranceCorporation George W. Bush GeorgeWBush HenryPaulson JohnPaulson Recession Recommended StanfordKurland TARP TemporaryLiquidityGuaranteeProgram TLGP _705961 Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:45:01 +0000 Fool us once, Mr. Greenspan, shame on you... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/19/699205/-Fool-us-once-Mr-Greenspan-shame-on-you The headlines around the blogosphere were everywhere yesterday: Daily Kos: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/18/8435/08700/866/698824">Alan Greenspan Backs Bank Nationalization!</a> Politico: <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18968.html">Greenspan: Fix system before stimulus.</a> HuffPo: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com">Alan Greenspan: Economy Worst Since 1930s, Tarp Insufficient, Supports Bank Nationalization.</a> After reading the stories, above, I actually thought that Alan Greenspan had a change of heart. Could it be, at the end of his storied life of economic misdirection of historical proportions, that he was finally coming around to voice his support for the little people? rss@dailykos.com (bobswern) AlanGreenspan Britishbanks BritishEconomy GreatBritain Hedge Funds HedgeFunds JohnPaulson theeconomy _699205 Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:11:35 +0000