Joe Nocera's New York Times Column Saturday reviled a real S.E.C. horror show. Seems like they like to go after the small fish and ignore the more obvious fraud and violations. The S.E.C. is an independent agency, so one must wonder if policies of going after the vulnerable and ignoring the guilty have changed.
The Boston office of the Securities and Exchange Commission began the investigation around 2001. Three years later, formal charges were brought against Mr. Kwak and seven others. By the time the case went to trial, in 2007, only three defendants were left; the others had settled with the S.E.C.
In June 2008, U.S. Virgin Islands Governor John deJongh Jr. agreed to give London-based Diageo Plc billions of dollars in tax incentives to move its production of Captain Morgan rum from one U.S. island -- Puerto Rico -- to another, namely St. Croix.
DeJongh says he had no idea his deal would help make the world’s largest liquor distiller the most unlikely beneficiary of the emergency Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress just four months later.
Your tax dollars at work might just drive a person to drink!
American International Group announced yesterday that it has reached a deal to reduce its debt to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by $25 billion.
Under the agreement, AIG will split off AIA and Alico into separate company-owned entities called "special purpose vehicles," or SPVs. The New York Fed will receive preferred shares now valued at $25 billion -- $16 billion in AIA and $9 billion in Alico -- and in exchange will forgive an equal amount of AIG debt.
This proposal is not my idea but one I read about in the Financial Times. I believe it is a good one.
Right now the biggest challenge for Treasury Securities is supply/demand. Supply, because of the mountain of debt that Treasury will have to issue to fund government spending. Demand, because of increased appetite for risk and China's potential diversification away from U.S. Treasuries.
The headline is misleading for a charge off means the credit card company has determined they ain't ever seeing the money. So the number of Americans unable to actually make their payments is probably higher. This news is two days old but significant considering unemployment is skyrocketing past estimates. Credit card charge-off rate nears 10% -Moody's:
The Moody's Credit Card Index's charge-off rate -- debts that card issuers believe they will never collect -- rose to nearly 10 percent in April, the highest level in the index's more than 20-year history, the report said.
This pace of rising charge-offs is unprecedented as year-over-year changes continue to surpass the magnitude of either increases or decreases experienced during any previous period
Where have we since this song before? Here is an AP video highlight of Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke's testimony before the House Oversight committee, addressing whether or not the Federal Reserve pressured Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch. (See this post for background and details).
I guess thou holy elected officials are getting a bit testy. They aren't accustomed to not getting their monuments on Mt Olympus. Apparently Maxine wants a new building named after her but they just won't give up the money.
How the heck are these people ever elected and even worse, re-elected.
We are so screwed! They don't care because it isn't their money and when more is needed they either print it or tax us.
" A plan by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) to ban “monuments to me” in this year’s appropriations bills has been sharply criticized behind closed doors by a senior Democrat who wants to direct $1 million to an employment center in her district bearing her name.
In an unusual move, banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have come to the rescue of the off-balance-sheet vehicles that help them to fund credit card loans.
Issuers typically sell their credit card loans to trusts which in turn sell bonds to investors. The banks retain a small interest and manage the trust.
There limits to the amount of liquidity and leverage an economy can absorb but "Too Big" conglomerates don't care because the need the fees and returns to survive. I digress.
The problem for the financial conglomerates is that these off-balance sheet trusts are starting to lose money fast. Any cushion or reserves are being eaten up by mounting credit card defaults.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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