So, he is going to trial.
I’m surprised.
In my earlier examinations of this matter, it appeared that Goldman Sachs was considering letting it slide, because Mr. Aleynikov was requesting something that they did not want to provide.
The basics are fairly simple: High Frequency Trading (HFT) is basically a way to front run the entire market, and this guy was their head software guy in the process, so the trial should be interesting.
I really cannot do justice to it.
He pens another gem, titled, “Wall Street’s Bailout Hustle,” where he juxtaposes Wall Street and street bunco games, and finds startling similarities:
The only reason such apathy exists, however, is because there’s still a widespread misunderstanding of how exactly Wall Street “earns” its money, with emphasis on the quotation marks around “earns.” The question everyone should be asking, as one bailout recipient after another posts massive profits — Goldman reported $13.4 billion in profits last year, after paying out that $16.2 billion in bonuses and compensation — is this: In an economy as horrible as ours, with every factory town between New York and Los Angeles looking like those hollowed-out ghost ships we see on History Channel documentaries like Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, where in the hell did Wall Street’s eye-popping profits come from, exactly? Did Goldman go from bailout city to $13.4 billion in the black because, as Blankfein suggests, its “performance” was just that awesome? A year and a half after they were minutes away from bankruptcy, how are these assholes not only back on their feet again, but hauling in bonuses at the same rate they were during the bubble?
The answer to that question is basically twofold: They raped the taxpayer, and they raped their clients.
Just go read it.
Kind of a sad end of a sad story.
He was mobbed up, and Giuliani’s right hand man.
I will leave what this says about Rudy as an exercise to the reader.
I already blogged about the big news of the day, the increase in the rate for the discount window, so the lede here, as it is every jobless Thursday, is initial unemployment claims, which rose by 31,000 to 473,000, though the 4 week moving average fell slightly, and continuing claims were unchanged.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released its index of regional manufacturing activity, and the index is positive, indicating continued growth, for the 6th straight month.
In Wally World, Wal-Mart’s same store sales fell in the 4th quarter.
I’m not sure if this is just generally bad news, or if it implies that shoppers are moving upscale and spending more.
The rest of the news is driven by today’s Fed announcement, which drove treasuries down, and thus yields up, as well as pushing the dollar, and crude oil higher.
The National Enquirer has had its coverage of of the John Edwards sex scandal accepted by the Pulitzer committee:
The Pulitzer Prize Board has officially accepted The National Enquirer’s submissions for breaking the John Edwards scandal, according to sources close to the Board. In a historic move, the Pulitzer Board conceded that the self-proclaimed tabloid is qualified to compete with mainstream news outlets for journalism’s most prestigious prize. The Enquirer is in the running for the Pulitzer in two categories: “Investigative Reporting” and “National News Reporting” for The National Enquirer staff.
I agree that they should be considered for the prize, but it’s still weird.
I wouldn’t bet on them winning though.
There has been a military coup in Niger:
Niger’s military said it suspended the constitution and dissolved government institutions after overthrowing the regime of President Mamadou Tandja.
The coup was carried out in the name of the Supreme Council for the Restoration for Democracy, military spokesman Abdul Karim Goukoye told reporters at a late-night briefing in an army camp in the capital, Niamey. He didn’t say who had led the coup.
…………
Tandja dissolved parliament in May and assumed emergency powers after the Constitutional Court rejected his call for a referendum to change the constitution to eliminate term limits. In July, he disbanded the court after it ruled a third time against his plans to serve a third term.
Not clear as to who the good guys are in this whole thing, or even if there are any good guys in this whole thing.
I think that it’s a bad idea in the first place, and that it’s a way to create political cover for weakening Social Security and Medicare, and what’s more, as former Clinton Treasury official Brad Delong notes, putting Simpson in charge of deficit reduction is like naming an, “Arsonist to Co-Run the Fire Department,” with history of supporting every half-assed tax cut for the rich plan out there, supporting Reagan’s disastrous 1981 cuts, and opposing Clinton’s tax increases, which produced the first surpluses in a generation.
What really worries me is that we have a whole bunch of Beltway Boyz who are thinking that the huge problem is Social Security and Medicare, and are looking for a way to gut them.
The Federal Reserve has just raised the interest rate on its discount window, an emergency lending facility used by banks, by 25 basis points, from ½% to ¾%, and shortened the term of the loans from 28 days to 24 hours. (The 28 days bit was an emergency measure, so the overnight duration is the pre-meltdown status quo)
This facility is used for short term lending, but it’s not frequently used, as generally, for overnight liquidity, etc., banks use the Federal Funds Rate, which dictates what rate banks use when they lend to each other.
The increase is on the difference between the discount window and the Federal Funds Rate. The discount window is more expensive, because its use is discouraged, the Fed prefers banks to deal in commercial money, not government money.
The Fed is saying that this does not represent a change in policy, and this is a small part of of the monetary picture, to be sure, but it is a tightening, and actions, as the saying goes, speak louder than words.
My guess, and my Federal Reserve Kremlinology is by no means authoritative, is that now that Bernanke has been safely confirmed by the Senate, he is looking toward creating an environment in which monetary policy can work.
Monetary policy, at least on the expansionary side of the equation, work now, because interest rates are below 1% and you can’t cut interest rates below 0%, at least not under the current regulatory environment.*
It’s called the “Zero Bound” problem, and I’m sure that Bernanke, as well as the whole Fed, wants to be back in a world where inflation and employment can be managed in both directions though monetary tools.
Krugman actually wants this too, he’s been clear on this.
I just think that this move is somewhat premature.
The full statement is after the break.
*Actually, you can, with inflation devaluing currency, as I have said many times, but raising inflation targets gives central bankers the hives.
Press Release
Federal Reserve Press ReleaseRelease Date: February 18, 2010
For release at 4:30 p.m. EDTThe Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced that in light of continued improvement in financial market conditions it had unanimously approved several modifications to the terms of its discount window lending programs.
Like the closure of a number of extraordinary credit programs earlier this month, these changes are intended as a further normalization of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities. The modifications are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses and do not signal any change in the outlook for the economy or for monetary policy, which remains about as it was at the January meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). At that meeting, the Committee left its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and said it anticipates that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.
The changes to the discount window facilities include Board approval of requests by the boards of directors of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks to increase the primary credit rate (generally referred to as the discount rate) from 1/2 percent to 3/4 percent. This action is effective on February 19.
In addition, the Board announced that, effective on March 18, the typical maximum maturity for primary credit loans will be shortened to overnight. Primary credit is provided by Reserve Banks on a fully secured basis to depository institutions that are in generally sound condition as a backup source of funds. Finally, the Board announced that it had raised the minimum bid rate for the Term Auction Facility (TAF) by 1/4 percentage point to 1/2 percent. The final TAF auction will be on March 8, 2010.
Easing the terms of primary credit was one of the Federal Reserve’s first responses to the financial crisis. On August 17, 2007, the Federal Reserve reduced the spread of the primary credit rate over the FOMC’s target for the federal funds rate to 1/2 percentage point, from 1 percentage point, and lengthened the typical maximum maturity from overnight to 30 days. On December 12, 2007, the Federal Reserve created the TAF to further improve the access of depository institutions to term funding. On March 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve lowered the spread of the primary credit rate over the target federal funds rate to 1/4 percentage point and extended the maximum maturity of primary credit loans to 90 days.
Subsequently, in response to improving conditions in wholesale funding markets, on June 25, 2009, the Federal Reserve initiated a gradual reduction in TAF auction sizes. As announced on November 17, 2009, and implemented on January 14, 2010, the Federal Reserve began the process of normalizing the terms on primary credit by reducing the typical maximum maturity to 28 days.
The increase in the discount rate announced Thursday widens the spread between the primary credit rate and the top of the FOMC’s 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate to 1/2 percentage point. The increase in the spread and reduction in maximum maturity will encourage depository institutions to rely on private funding markets for short-term credit and to use the Federal Reserve’s primary credit facility only as a backup source of funds. The Federal Reserve will assess over time whether further increases in the spread are appropriate in view of experience with the 1/2 percentage point spread.
2010 Monetary Policy ReleasesLast update: February 18, 2010
Some whack job set his house on fire and flew his airplane into federal offices in Austin, TX.
So, here’s another one that Barack Obama and His Clueless Minions™ are allowing to slip through their fingers.
This time, it’s student loan reform, which would have taken the private loan companies out of the game, saved the tax payer money, saved the students money, and eliminated a lot of fraud and waste:
Four months ago, it appeared all but certain that the White House and Democrats in Congress would succeed in overhauling the student loan business and ending government subsidies to private lenders.
President Obama called the idea a “no-brainer” last fall, predicting it would take billions of dollars from the profits of private lenders and give it directly to students, and many colleges were already moving to get loans directly from the federal government in anticipation of the next move by Congress.
But an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest student lenders has now put one of the White House’s signature plans in peril, with lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall-style meetings and petition drives to plead their case and stay in business.
Yes, we have reports that the administration has, “recognized the threat and was beginning to push back in an effort to get the plan approved,” as evidenced by the recent criticism of the lobbying and the progress of the bill by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, but it is indeed weak tea.
It appears that they dropped the ball on this because they were working on healthcare reform, which might be marginally excusable, only, of course, the administration pretty much screwed the pooch on that one too, handing it off to Congress and allow ratf^%$s like Nelson and Lieberman to screw that up.
Seriously, the problem here is that the FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) sector has captured our government to an astonishing degree, and eventually the parasitic rent taking that they extract from society needs to be reined in.
The German tax authorities have decided to pay €2.5 million to a whistle blower who stole information on 1500 accounts, with the payments being dependent on the data being real. (See also here, and here) in order to catch tax evaders.
They did this before, with Lichtenstein in 2008, where payment netted tax revenues in excess of €200 million.
The Swiss have a problem, because I bought a 4 Gig memory stick a year ago for $12, and it’s smaller than a pack of gum.
Even if you assume 100K per account, this stick can hold about 40,000 accounts on each memory stick, and with the going rate from German tax authorities of about €1,666 per account, that memory stick could net an insider well over €50 million, with a bulk discount.
Their style of bank secrecy is likely to go away, because it is unsupportable.
Now, Germany needs to learn about the “Perp walk”.
Turns out that it was Roman, this example dates from around 200 CE:
It appears that even the Roman Legions needed a toothpick.
2 snaps up for the Star Wars reference.
Chris Dodd, the senior Senator from Connecticut, is not running for reelection because he cannot win. He is too unpopular.
In fact, about the only person in the state that he might beat is Joe Lieberman, the junior Senator from Connecticut, who is currently polling behind a case of the clap.
Well, now that Dodd is not running, the new front runner in the state is Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Unfortunately, he has decided to take his cue from Joe Lieberman:
Barack Obama shouldn’t expect an invitation from fellow Democrat Dick Blumenthal anytime soon: Blumenthal said in a New Haven stop that the president “may not want to come here” to stump for his U.S. Senate campaign, given how independent he claimed he’ll be if elected.
That turnabout in partisan loyalty emerged Monday night as Blumenthal continued tacking away from his liberal roots —including through newly expanded support for military tribunals for domestic terror suspects.
(emphasis mine)
The explanation is that Massachusetts changes everything.
No, it doesn’t. The election of a Republican in Massachusetts was all about voters disgusted with Democrats not getting stuff done when they had near historic majorities.
And who prevented anything from getting done?
Well, that would be Senators like Joe Lieberman.
I will leave Mr. Blumenthal with the words of Harry S Truman, “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, , people will vote for the real Republican all the time”
Yes, now that Bob McDonnell is now Virginia governor, he repealed the protections instituted by his predecessor for gay and lesbian state workers:
McDonnell (R) on Feb. 5 signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities,” as well as veterans.
It rescinds the order that Gov. Tim Kaine signed Jan. 14, 2006 as one of his first actions. After promising a “fair and inclusive” administration in his inaugural address, Kaine (D) added veterans to the non-discrimination policy – and sexual orientation.
It’s because they need someone to hate, or they would have nothing to campaign on.
And I don’t mean politically correct. I mean companies involved in the personal computer business, most notably Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Dell, who are aggressively lobbying against a proposal to prevent tax evasion through transfer pricing:
Software and computer companies such as Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. are gearing up to fight an Obama administration plan to curb offshore tax avoidance.
The $15.5 billion proposal in President Barack Obama’s 2011 budget targets what the Internal Revenue Service calls the growing problem of so-called transfer pricing. The technique allows companies to reduce their tax bills by transferring intangible property such as patents, trademarks and licenses to offshore subsidiaries.
They use our courts and our law enforcement and our regulators to enforce their IP licenses, and they want to assign that IP to dummy corporations
Additionally, Microsoft has evaded Washington state taxes over the past 13 years, to the tune of $1.27 billion, with a similar shift by opening up a store front in Nevada. (see vid)
But don’t you worry about Microsoft, they are lobbying to have the tax gutted, as well as getting an amnesty in the lege, so they won’t owe anything, and the state will find some way to deal with their $2.8 billion deficit over the next few years.
Silly voter, taxes is for plebes.
The two apparent ring leaders remain in custody, and as a condition of their release, they must return later to Haiti to answer investigator questions:
While Judge Saint-Vil’s ruling allows eight of the Americans to leave Haiti on the condition that they return to the country to answer further questions in the case, it requires that Laura Silsby, the Idaho businesswoman who led the group, and her live-in nanny, Charisa Coulter, remain in jail to answer questions about traveling to Haiti before the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Some of the freed Americans had already contended this month that they were misled by Ms. Silsby, who had faced more than a dozen legal complaints connected to her online shopping business before she persuaded fellow Baptists from Idaho to assist her in setting up an orphanage for Haitian children.
“We are disappointed that all in the group are not being released,” said Terry Michaelson, a lawyer for Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, where five of the detainees, including Ms. Silsby and Ms. Coulter, attended church.
The church mission’s lawyer had put forward about $7,000 to help pay for the first month’s rent for the orphanage that Ms. Silsby planned to establish in the Dominican Republic.
…………
Some of the freed Americans had already contended this month that they were misled by Ms. Silsby, who had faced more than a dozen legal complaints connected to her online shopping business before she persuaded fellow Baptists from Idaho to assist her in setting up an orphanage for Haitian children.”
(emphasis mine)
This is beginning to sound like something written by Dashiell Hammett.
The IMF has had significant gold holdings, and it does not do them much good.
When you provide and loans, shoveling out gold does not work that well, you want to use currency of some sort, preferably something that can be transferred electronically, so they have been selling it off for some time.
Well, the, “central banks of India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka,” have been buying up gold, for reasons that appear to be tied to batsh%$ insane medieval monetary ideas, so the IMF gold has not effected the commercial markets for gold.
Well, it appears that, “India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka,” have finally had enough, and the IMF plans to sell 191.3 tons of gold, in order to be able to make low cost loans to poor nations that have been hurt from the financial crisis.
Basically, when everyone goes over crazy about an investment, it’s time to get out.
If you own gold for speculative purposes, it’s a good time to get out ………… Now.
If you are buying a gold wedding band, that’s still cool, but take my advice: Elope, and use the money saved for a party.
New York Times reporter Zachery Kouwe has been fired* for repeated plagiarism.
*Technically, it’s a resignation, but it’s a termination.
At the core of General Stanley McChrystal’s tactics in winning meaningful and lasting control of the Marja province is the rapid and aggressive delivery of benefits to the civilian population.
This means things like roads, schools, doctors, farm aid, and jobs.
It’s a good idea, the problem is that the UN has just said that it will take no part in the provision of such aid in Marja province, and we can be relatively sure that the NGO’s will follow their lead:
Senior United Nations officials in Afghanistan on Wednesday criticized NATO forces for what one referred to as “the militarization of humanitarian aid,” and said United Nations agencies would not participate in the military’s reconstruction strategy in Marja as part of its current offensive there.
“We are not part of that process, we do not want to be part of it,” said Robert Watkins, the deputy special representative of the secretary general, at a news conference attended by other officials to announce the United Nations’ Humanitarian Action Plan for 2010. “We will not be part of that military strategy.”
The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has made the rapid delivery of governmental services, including education, health care and job programs, a central part of his strategy in Marja, referring to plans to rapidly deploy what he has referred to as “a government in a box” once Marja is pacified.
………
“The distribution of aid by the military gives a very difficult impression to the communities and puts the lives of humanitarian workers at risk,” Mr. Watkins said.
While it’s standard at this point to make jokes about the impotence of the UN, this is a very real problem, particularly when the many of military reconstruction teams, “See their role as providing services in exchange for intelligence-gathering and political activity directed against the insurgents.”
If the UN and the NGOs do what McChrystal wants, they are painting big targets on the back of every aid worker in the country, and those aid workers don’t have flak jackets and weapons, and they are not trained in combat, nor should they be.
So, I guess it’s back to Halliburton and Blackwater Xe to deliver those services.