Bits Bucket for March 15, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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CAESAR : Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear.
SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March
CAESAR: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
…………………
Note: The more things change the more things remain the same. Thank you Mr Berman, my High School English teacher.
Be serious. Those stupid backward Romans didn’t have iPads. This time its different.
I didn’t know they spoke English back then
I wonder how the American Empire will be remembered 2000 years from now. If there is still anyone left to remember anything.
Will famous authors in the future write plays about Clinton’s indiscretions? JFK’s assasination? The Kochtopus?
2000 years from now, no. But 500 years from now expect it to look a lot like “Idiocracy”.
From civilization to dark ages to rennaissance. Rinse and repeat.
English is but one of many present day Latin offshoots.
Huh?
Beware the Ides of March!
Darn. You beat me to it. OK, a belated happy Pi Day (3/14).
“Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!”
You guys were next on my notification list. What an obscure bunch we have here.
Everybody just beware, okay?
-cassie.
“Everybody just beware, okay?”
Sounds like Cassandra as translated by Siri (though as one of our TV-less people, you might not be aware of the odd vocal rhythms of Apple’s personal assistant). Very funny.
My wife just texted me without prompting:
“Beware the Ides of March”
M2 Money Velocity Plunges Most Since 1959.
http://www.financialsense.com/node/7830
Is that good, bad, or of no consequence?
Oh…
Gulp.
poof?
If the Fed is worried about money velocity, they could mail a check to every household in the US. You know most of it will be spent.
That is not how it works. The Fed buys Treasury bonds so the Treasury can mail out checks.
hey they can still pay down my credit card by $3000….I promise to spend it wisely
My remark was tongue-in-cheek. The FedRes won’t give free money to the masses. Never. As for the Fed Gov doing that, it’s been done and probably won’t happen again,
“The FedRes won’t give free money to the masses. Never.”
Written on June 30, 2011 by V2A
Greenspan: Fed’s Massive Stimulus Had Little Impact On US Economy Besides Weakening the Dollar
The Federal Reserve’s massive stimulus program had little impact on the US economy besides weakening the dollar and helping US exports, Federal Reserve Governor Alan Greenspan told CNBC Thursday.
In a blunt critique of his successor, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Greenspan said that the $2 trillion in quantitative easing over the past two years had done little to loosen credit and boost the economy.
“There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked,” Greenspan said in a live interview. “It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion,” he said. “Aside from that, I am ill-aware of anything that really worked. Not only QE2 but QE1.”
…
I don’t get what they expect QE3 to do.
With a 3% reserve requirement, $1T on the Fed balance sheet, and $28T in existence, were may have been bumping into max leverage issues.
However, with $3T on the Fed balance sheet, $28T total debt, and 33x max leverage, we’re NO WHERE NEAR max leverage. Heck, we’re below 10x.
So, the Fed buys some more mortgage bonds or treasuries. Big whoop. That is not going to magically increase incomes, shrink the international trade deficit, increase corporate profits, force people to buy stocks….
People are sitting with their money in the bank or government debt, losing money to inflation.
I just don’t see how further lowering long-term interest rates is going to make people suddenly start selling bonds and buying stocks, or even drive pay raises.
“There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked,” Greenspan said in a live interview.
Then why isn’t the DJIA around 6700, Magoo?
People are sitting with their money in the bank or government debt, losing money to inflation.
QE3 will accomplish one thing: it will allow them to punish such people. Perhaps that is the true intent.
QE3 will accomplish one thing: it will allow them to punish such people. Perhaps that is the true intent.
That is exactly what the Fed wants: to wit, the velocity of M2 shows that money isn’t changing hands, not that money supply is shrinking or going “poof” (it’s not). Why isn’t money changing hands? Because on a macroeconomic scale, our economy isn’t spending money, it is hoarding it. Specifically, those with money aren’t spending it. What can the Fed do to force us out of “safety” and into purchasing assets, whether they be stocks, real estate, goods and services, etc?
Create more inflation. Nothing spurs people to spend their cash more than knowing prices are rising/about to rise.
Or let the prices fall. But yeah, lots of inflation sounds better.
Or let the prices fall. But yeah, lots of inflation sounds better
I’m not saying what’s good for you or me as individuals (falling prices). What I am saying is what I think the Fed wants to see happen in aggregate, and thus, what they will do in the (near) future.
Yes, I think more inflation is in store…
“What can the Fed do to force us out of “safety” and into purchasing assets, whether they be stocks, real estate, goods and services, etc?
Create more inflation. ”
But QE is not going to cause incomes to increase. People are still tapped out on debt. This means any move up in commodities will simply result in less spending on everything else, putting downward pressure on the economy and prices.
Any inflation will be short-term at best.
But QE is not going to cause incomes to increase. People are still tapped out on debt.
That’s why monetarism doesn’t work. It puts the money in the hands of the rich, who may or may not spend it, or they may invest in commodities, or invest overseas, or loan it to already underwater people.
But the PTB likes monetarism more then Keynesian economics, because monetarism puts the money in the hands of the rich. Keynes puts it in the hands of the common folk, and that’s evil, of course- even though it’s the only thing that works, and has worked before.
Inflation in the price of consumer goods, without an increase in wages, leads to less demand and a glut of goods which leads to falling prices due to the weak demand. The Fed can’t win.
The Fed can’t win.
The fed can’t loose, its return is guaranteed.
Who cares? Apple is $600 and climbing fast. Its all good.
joblesss cliams dropped by 14K!
party on wayne!
Party on Garth!
They have been revising up previous weeks for a while now.
M2 Money Velocity Plunges Most Since 1959.
My husband has me brooding the last few days. He said we missed the boat. We should have bought two years ago instead of waiting for prices to drop more. I have to say, this time, he caught me up in his depression as houses (as I declared would happen the end of last season as we witnessed SOLD signs popping up everywhere) would come on the market this season priced even higher than the ones we said we wouldn’t pay last year.
Combo, you just put the biggest ray of sunshine back into my days. It’s not that I thought anyone here was wrong as much as I thought the government was going to continue this levitation for so long, that we, in our 50s now, would end up having to fall into a completely different path. You have to remember we’re paying much more in this rental than we did for our last mortgage. So we’re not exactly saving anything as we pay out our $20k a year in rent except some maintenance costs.
Perhaps this report is only laying the groundwork for QEIII but it’s also a reminder of how devestatingly strong the downward pressure is. Thank you.
Goldman Sachs’ ‘Muppets’ & Mitt Romney
Politico’s Ken Vogel and Professor James Peterson discuss an incendiary New York Times op-ed by an ex-Goldman executive who writes that Goldman views clients like “muppets” – and how the opinion piece could hurt Mitt Romney.
>> let’s get right to our esteemed panel. james patterson is director of africana studies and professor of english at lehigh university and ken vogel is chief investigative reporter for politi politico. welcome to both of you. i want to start with the opinion piece in the “new york times” everyone’s talking about. the top executive at goldman sachs resigning with a bit of jerry mcguire statement about the culture there. at one point he writes over the last 12 months i have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients at muppets, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about muppets, ripping eyeballs out and getting paid doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen. dr. peterson , these model citizens at goldman sachs are some of mitt romney ’s largest benefactors. in this election, he’s raised something like half a million dollars already for mitt himself. isn’t it perhaps time mitt romney write an op-ed why he’s leaving goldman sachs ?
…
Wow - no mention of the #2 individual money contributor to obama in 2008, Memories sure are short here…
Barack Obama (2008)
University of California $1,648,685
Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contriball.php?cycle=2008
FYI - total money given for the 2012 election so far. Obama has raised nearly triple the amount of money of the leading republican
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/index.php
‘Memories sure are short here’
Here? You just brought it up. Are we supposed to continually counter-balance every politically related notion?
Here’s an open secret; both candidates are bought.
In his partisan ferver, Two-ti-Fruiti must have missed my next post:
“Goldman Sachs Whistleblower Will Hurt Obama Administration”
Ben
Well stated. My husband will go as far as to say the ptb already know who will win. It’s all a game. We live in an illusion.
Just to show how messed up this process is; Arizona had their ‘presidential preference’ vote on super Tuesday, right? I just got an email telling me that the republican delegate selection process is about to begin. There will be precinct committee positions chosen (I guess they are picked by the local party boss, I’m not sure), then they have legislative district elections and on to the state meeting.
I’m sure the process is similar with the democrats.
In other words, the public doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it. They “voted” on Super Tuesday and think they live in a democracy.
I’m sure the process is similar with the democrats.
My impression is republican have more corrupt primary system. Democrats are more fair in their primary. When it comes to general election, both parties play dirty, Dems little more because Dems don’t like voter id and don’t forget the dead voters.
ptb already know who will win. It’s all a game. We live in an illusion.
They are not pretending this election cycle. Romney vs Obama….Head I win, Tail you lose.
“It’s all a game. We live in an illusion.”
And given the choice, most people will happily take the blue pill, wake up in their beds, and continue to believe.
We’re offered this choice everyday. This blog is but one example of a red pill.
People choose to avoid the cognitive dissonance that results from paying close attention. And I don’t/can’t really blame them. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t paying attention.
What’s the old saying? “If you’re not worried you’re not paying attention.”
‘Democrats are more fair in their primary’
Oh really? Are Democrats so happy with the President that not one single candidate opposes him in the primary? Or does the party smother any opposition?
“Are Democrats so happy with the President that not one single candidate opposes him in the primary?”
Happy may be the wrong word. I suspect it is more that they don’t see another Democrat that could beat Obama in this election cycle. And they prefer Obama to any of the Republicans.
Obama largest contribution total came from…. private donors. An effect credited with effective use of, and donation from, the Internet.
The Force is strong in you.
More like, you drink the stronger koolaid.
More like those are the facts.
Maybe you’ve heard of this nifty space-age tool, called “google”?
…or maybe not…
One of my friends had a “magic 8 ball” when we were kids.
My “magic 8 ball” is my favorite Windows 7 gadget.
“University of California $1,648,685″
I’ve wondered about this. Where is the money really coming from if a public university makes the bundled donation???
Individual people. The University didn’t make a bundled donation. Since the official campaign money has to be less than $2000 a person, they collect information beyond name of the doners - there are a lot of people called John Smith out there. One piece of information they collect is employer. They figure out the total from an employer by adding up the totals from everyone who specified that employer. Somebody probably has to regularize the employer names. There doesn’t have to be any collective action that covers all the people who give an employer’s name, though there might be.
is anyone surprised?
check out “FIASCO” by Frank Partnoy
Looks like Goldman Sachs is anticipating a shift West after a Romney victory:
09 Mar 2012 at 2:38 PM
Looking To Land A Gig At Goldman Sachs? Pack Up Your Wives And Head West
By Bess Levin
The bank’s Salt Lake office is on a hiring spree.
Goldman Sachs now employs 1,300 people in Salt Lake City — putting Utah’s capital city on a path to become Goldman’s fourth-largest global operation, behind only New York, New Jersey and London. At a time when the Wall Street firm has cut thousands of jobs elsewhere, Goldman plans to grow in Salt Lake City. Already, Salt Lake City accounts for just under 4 percent of the global investment bank’s total headcount, double the staff it had in Salt Lake City only two years ago, and that figure continues to climb. During a Feb. 28 visit to Goldman’s office on Main Street, just a few blocks from the headquarters of the Mormon Church, Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein told employees of plans to hire an additional 300 workers by year’s end.
…
It seems like it is only a matter of time before an ex-Goldman Sachs executive lands a position on the Quorum of the Twelve.
Ready to attach onto the Mormon Armaggedon stash no doubt. Heh! Heh!
Apparently they are drawn to SLC for the low wages. The article also mentioned that east coast GS’ers are being nudged to transfer to SLC, with HUGE pay cuts.
It’s also because returned Mormon missionaries typically have language skills and international experience, two very useful attributes in a global corporation’s workforce.
I’ve worked for a few “global corporations” and speaking more than one language has never been “useful”.
Besides, the SLC operation is a cubicle farm. They’re just drones.
Cubicle drones who will be paid 80K instead of 400K (according to the article).
There is this mystique that all LDS’ers are multilingual and have college degrees. The ones in the cubicle farm might, but many do not.
Just curious. Who pays for Morman missions? Does the church pay or is the family responsible or does the missionary solicit donations?
I have a friend who went on a Christian (non-Morman) mission to Africa a few years ago and she had to get donations to cover her expenses. I know another Christian (non-Morman) man who did a mission to Russia who also solicited donations. Just wondering if the Mormans do the same thing.
The family is responsible…
American Nightmare: Government Sachs
Goldman Sachs Whistleblower Will Hurt Obama Administration
by Senior Editor Noah
about 19 hours ago
In a stunning indictment of the executive culture that is the nexus between Washington D.C. and Wall Street, former executive director of the investment firm Goldman Sachs, Greg Smith, resigned from the firm with an op-ed in the New York Times on Wednesday which can be best described as scathing.
In “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs,” Smith described the firm as “toxic” and “destructive.”
“The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for,” Smith writes.
“Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence,” writes Smith. “When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.”
On its face, Smith’s indictment of his former colleagues and the firm he worked at for 10 years based in its London office would appear to indict Wall Street and only Wall Street. Democrats in Washington D.C. have spent the better part of a year attempting to tar Republicans with being linked inexorably to the culture of mismanagement which has become synonymous with finance.
Until recently, the Democratic party was doing its best to cozy up to the anti-capitalist protesters that compose the Occupy Wall Street movement (before it became abundantly clear that this violent, leaderless and incoherent movement was composed primarily of agitators that would tarnish the image of the Democratic party if they got too close). But these revelations about Goldman Sachs should terrify the Obama White House – it is they that have the closest ties to the firm and its culture of corruption.
It was former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine, also the former governor of New Jersey and a former U.S. Senator from the Garden State, who was floated as a possible replacement to Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner. That is, before he was implicated in the loss of billions following the collapse of the firm MF Global, which he led. Geithner, too, was a Goldman Sachs alum before he took a position with the Fed.
…
the Occupy Wall Street movement (before it became abundantly clear that this violent, leaderless and incoherent movement was composed primarily of agitators that would tarnish the image of the Democratic party if they got too close
Is this another Kochtopus ‘news’ outlet?
Can’t handle the tooth, can you?
The thing that none of these people seem to understand is the moral hazard of paying people millions/year in bonuses/etc if they “hit the numbers”. The simple fact of the matter is, if you’re willing to pay me 5-10M dollars in one year to do something, I honestly don’t care if I violate some “moral code” or break ethics laws (as long as I don’t go to jail or lose the money). That’s so much money that, as long as I make it once, I’ll never need to work again. And therein lies the moral hazard, all the people at these big financial houses know that, as long as they can produce “one good year” they’ll never need to work again. Even if they do so at the expense of the firm, the local economy or even (as we found out in 2005-6) the global economy. It just doesn’t matter, they are so rich they’ll never need to worry about it ever again.
The hazard associated with pay like this is exactly why we’re seeing behavior like is detailed in this article. The people who work at GS are smart, and are behaving rationally. Abuse the Muppets, shoot, lose every dollar you have with them and run the firm into the ground; just make sure that you’re going to max your bonus this year and that’s all you need to worry about.
This guys bonus must have been less than what he was expecting.
…and passed over for promotion.
Passed over for promotion? Possibly.
Bonus less than expected? Nope. If that happens, you stay for another year until you hit your “number.” I met a guy who was at Goldman who said that everyone was staying around until they hit their personal number and his was 3, the lowest one of all his friends. The number was millions of dollars in liquid assets. A million bucks went a bit further back then.
The thing that none of these people seem to understand is the moral hazard of paying people millions/year in bonuses/etc if they “hit the numbers”.
You nailed it, Overtaxed. Good post.
Goldman Roiled by Op-Ed Loses $2.2 Billion for Shareholders
By Christine Harper - Mar 15, 2012 3:25 AM PT
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) saw $2.15 billion of its market value wiped out after an employee assailed Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein’s management and the firm’s treatment of clients, sparking debate across Wall Street.
The shares dropped 3.4 percent in New York trading yesterday, the third-biggest decline in the 81-company Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index, after London-based Greg Smith made the accusations in a New York Times op-ed piece.
Smith, who also wrote that he was quitting after 12 years at the company, blamed Blankfein, 57, and President Gary D. Cohn, 51, for a “decline in the firm’s moral fiber.” They responded in a memo to current and former employees, saying that Smith’s assertions don’t reflect the firm’s values, culture or “how the vast majority of people at Goldman Sachs think about the firm and the work it does on behalf of our clients.”
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, 84, whose “Volcker rule” would limit banks like New York-based Goldman Sachs from making bets with their own money, called Smith’s article “a radical, strong” piece. “I’m afraid it’s a business that leads to a lot of conflicts of interest,” Volcker said at a conference in Washington sponsored by the Atlantic.
…
They responded in a memo to current and former employees, saying that Smith’s assertions don’t reflect the firm’s TOTAL LACK OF values
I think I just hurt myself laughing!
Got THAT right!
Boy is this ‘Muppet Manifesto’ reminiscent of revelations from Enron in its dying days. One can only hope a similar fate awaits Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs execs rip ‘Muppet Manifesto’ (0:50)
Mar. 15, 2012 - Goldman Sachs executives responded to a blistering essay, written by a former executive who announced his resignation in the New York Times. Greg Smith claimed bank employees trampled on client interests in their pursuit of profits. (The Associated Press)
Never trust a vampire with tentacles.
I’m reminded of a scene from Better Off Dead.
I was at Enron and that’s when I learned that all large corporations have the same culture: steal as much as you can, any way you can, and throw the person next to you under the bus if you get caught.
ESPECIALLY when it comes to your vendors.
“I was at Enron”
Whoa! Please do tell…
P.S. Fair disclosure: I used to work for a large NYC-headquartered firm which seemed to have periodic difficulties keeping its nose clean…
Everything, and I mean everything, you heard was true.
How can I say this? Let’s just I had reason to interact with the BOD more than once a week and was privy to confidential info.. More than that I can’t say here.
And no, I was never in any danger of being prosecuted.
You may all well now understand my… attitude.
Sounds like we need to have a future HBB meetup and make sure you are on the invite list.
That would be fun, but my finances aren’t what they used to be.
Don’t be offended if I have to decline.
“Don’t be offended if I have to decline.”
There is no reason those of us with lotsa frequent flier miles saved up can’t consider alternate locations…
hopefully lloyd will have some balls like cliff baxter.
Boy is this ‘Muppet Manifesto’ reminiscent of revelations from Enron in its dying days. One can only hope a similar fate awaits Goldman Sachs.
No chance—Too Connected To Fail.
March 14, 2012, 8:00 pm
Investment Banking
Public Rebuke of Culture at Goldman Opens Debate
By SUSANNE CRAIG and LANDON THOMAS JR.
Lloyd C. Blankfein, front, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, and Gary D. Cohn, its president.Daniel Acker/Bloomberg NewsLloyd C. Blankfein, front, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, and Gary D. Cohn, its president.
Until early Wednesday morning, Greg Smith was a largely anonymous 33-year-old midlevel executive at Goldman Sachs in London.
Now everyone at the firm — and on Wall Street — knows his name.
Mr. Smith resigned in an e-mail message to his bosses at 6:40 a.m. London time, laying out concerns that Goldman’s culture had gone haywire, putting its own interests ahead of its clients.
What the e-mail didn’t say was that about 15 minutes later, an Op-Ed article he had written detailing his criticisms was to be published in The New York Times. “It makes me ill how callously people still talk about ripping off clients,” he wrote in the Op-Ed article.
The Op-Ed landed “like a bomb,” inside Goldman, said one executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
…
Similar bombs could be dropped on virtually all of our institutions. Which is why we are heading for an institutional collapse.
“institutional collapse”
Or a much needed cleansing.
IMO all this is good news. We used to be on the road to doom, now we are in the process of changing roads.
You my brother from another mother, Combo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v/RjJFT8TL1cI
“The URL contained a malformed video ID.
Sorry about that.”
Whazzup with that?
Just guessing that combo might have been referencing this Cain clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWxBPaGF9GQ
“…now we are in the process of changing roads.”
I’ll believe it when I see it. 30 years of “screw everyone in sight” isn’t going to turn around on a dime.
In fact, in the entire 20th century, the Teens, 50s and 60s were the only real decades of significant prosperity (of both money and civil rights) for the middle class.
Agree. I don’t see any politician talking about anything other than “more of the same”. I see no “changing of roads”. I see us stepping on the accelerator as the cliff looms ever closer.
It’s OK, Apple will make us an iParachute. Or maybe even an iPlane.
Last time I checked, Ron Paul was a politician.
Or maybe even an iPlane.
iGlide.
Is that Apple’s version of astroglide?
It’ll take another 15-20 years, combo.
But yeah, it’s a welcome sight to see ethics beginning to get talked about.
Ethics, schmethics. I know. I’m a fool for believing in decency and integrity. It’s only laws and regulations that matter. Public shaming is a waste of time and will accomplish nothing.
It’s here where OWS and Tea Party minded people need to come together. People from both seemingly opposed mindsets ought to take Goldman out, as GS has infected both Wall Street and the U.S. Cabinet.
See my post above, but, IMHO, ethics (and sustainability) all go out the window when you’d dealing with numbers that mean “I’ll never work again a day in my life and be rich forever” on one good deal.
Business ethics (and, IMHO, ethics in general) always kind of have been a joke. You should deal with every business as if they are trying to rip you off (because they are). And, frankly, you should deal with most people that way too.
Ethics is great. Just don’t expect the government to enforce them.
But of course this talk didn’t start until AFTER the compensation was trimmed down to obscene instead of un-be-f@cking-leivable. When the money was rolling in so fast that it threatened to drown people they shut up and cashed their checks.
Institutional collapse will happen one day but not because one of the 12,000 vps, a disgruntled employee nonetheless, wrote an op-ed. This is nothing. Cut the head, the fed!
Thank God there are at least a few principled bankers still out there on the planet.
South African Goldman banker always stuck to principles
By David Dolan and Pascal Fletcher
JOHANNESBURG | Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:31am EDT
(Reuters) - Greg Smith was a principled and competitive student, the kind of person whose strong sense of right and wrong probably pushed him to resign from Goldman Sachs in a scathing letter to an international newspaper, his former teacher and coach said.
A quiet, unassuming child, the South African first attended the private Jewish King David’s High School in suburban Johannesburg before winning a scholarship to Stanford University in the United States.
Smith then joined Goldman Sachs, a workplace he once loved but described in his resignation letter in the New York Times on Wednesday as having developed an environment “as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it”.
“He was a remarkable young man, exceptionally intelligent with an integrity that is probably unequalled,” Elliot Wolf, the school’s retired headmaster, told Reuters in an interview.
“An absolutely remarkable man with high principles. He was an asset to the school in every possible way.”
…
This guy would make a terrible Realtor.
Or lawyer…
Will he return his ill-gotten wealth?
“Will he return his ill-gotten wealth?”
I have never responded to one of your statements but, this post most clearly represents you as a corporate/greed/apologist.
Not sure about corporate, but I am an apologist for greed: mine, yours and everybody’s.
Funny how the ancients universally understood that greed was not a good thing. Except maybe on Ferenginar.
Funny how the ancients universally understood that greed was not a good thing.
But all the ancient philosophers were proven wrong when a cool guy said ‘Greed is good’ in a movie. Now we know the tooth.
Lol! Has any Goldman Alumn EVER given back bonus money?
If Goldman Sachs is as rotten to the core as yesterday’s NY Times Op-ed piece suggests, I don’t see how a CEO resignation could fix things.
Frederick E. Allen, Forbes Staff
Leadership
3/14/2012 @ 8:44AM |24,600 views
To Save Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein Must Go
Greg Smith, an executive director at Goldman Sachs and one of the heads of its equity derivatives business, has written a devastating blast at the company in today’s New York Times, charging that it has lost all integrity and doesn’t serve its customers, with a note at the bottom saying that he is quitting the investment bank today. And as the Times writes in a news article about the op-ed piece, he “is saying publicly what others whisper privately, which is why his cri de coeur may be so provocative.”
Smith writes that “culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. . . . The current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. . . . I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all. It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.”
…
just buy some aapl shares and your problems will go away. the company is still cheap according to experts.
Trading stocks and homes have essentially become the economy. When one bubble pops you move over and inflate the next one with printed fiat notes.
Was talking to a buddy and to me it seems they are trying to destroy the dollar on purpose. Maybe to introduce a new currency?
At the rates we are adding debt it is not possible to pay this debt off. I guess all they can do is try and keep the interest rates low on it.
We have been in this low rate environment for the past decade. when they raised rates for a brief period all hell broke loose.
Dont forget AZdude…OHBahhmas evil plan……he made the credit card law take effect in 18 months so banks can switch tens of millions of CC customers from fixed rate cards to variable interest rate ones….
Brilliant.
IF?!
Have you not read Matt Taibbi’s article?
Was it this one? Oops…wrong crooked bank.
Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail
The bank has defrauded everyone from investors and insurers to homeowners and the unemployed. So why does the government keep bailing it out?
By Matt Taibbi
March 14, 2012 10:55 AM ET
At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we’ll all be paying for until the end of time. Did you hear about the plot to rig global interest rates? The $137 million fine for bilking needy schools and cities? The ingenious plan to suck multiple fees out of the unemployment checks of jobless workers? Take your eyes off them for 10 seconds and guaranteed, they’ll be into some shit again: This bank is like the world’s worst-behaved teenager, taking your car and running over kittens and fire hydrants on the way to Vegas for the weekend, maxing out your credit cards in the three days you spend at your aunt’s funeral. They’re out of control, yet they’ll never do time or go out of business, because the government remains creepily committed to their survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their 40-year-old live-at-home son could possibly be responsible for those dead hookers in the backyard.
…
Or was it this one?
Oops, I did it again: Wrong bank…
J.P. Morgan Chase’s Ugly Family Secrets Revealed
POSTED: March 13, 9:18 AM ET
In a story that should be getting lots of attention, American Banker has released an excellent and disturbing exposé of J.P. Morgan Chase’s credit card services division, relying on multiple current and former Chase employees. One of them, Linda Almonte, is a whistleblower whom I’ve known since last September; I’m working on a recount of her story for my next book.
One of the things we were promised by the lawmakers who passed the Dodd-Frank reform bill a few years back is that this would be a new era for whistleblowers who come forward to tell the world about problems in our financial infrastructure. This story now looms as a test case for that proposition. American Banker reporter Jeff Horwitz did an outstanding job in this story detailing the sweeping irregularities in-house at Chase, but his very thoroughness means the news may have ramifications for Linda, which is why I’m urging people to pay attention to this story in the upcoming weeks.
The Cliff’s Notes version of the story goes something like this: Late in 2009, Chase’s credit card services division sold a parcel of nearly $200 million worth of credit card judgments to a debt collector at a discount. This common practice in the credit-card industry is a little like a bookie selling the outstanding debts of his delinquent gamblers to a leg-breaker for 25 cents on the dollar. If the leg-breaker gets half the delinquents to pay, the deal works out for both sides — the bookie gets 25 percent of money he wasn’t going to collect, and the leg-breaker makes a 100 percent profit.
…
This story was really interesting. This is a link in the Rolling Stone article to the fully story in the American Banker.
Interesting reading. And it’s the first part in a series. I can’t wait for the rest of the story!
Good finds.
Smith “comes out” about the evil corporate culture at GS after he is probably set for life, or damn near close. He gets some credit, but he’s no saint in my eyes.
Have a heart! It’s going to be tough to live off the paltry remaining millions he has!
Smith’s op ed could be the kind of thing that starts a chain reaction. Might it go viral? Other execs might come clean at other companies?
Maybe I’ll win the lottery, too.
Helpful advice for Goldman Sachs: Beware the ides of March.
March 15, 2012, 6:44 a.m. EDT
Beware the Treasury-banking complex
By Kurt Brouwer
The New York Times just published an opinion piece by Greg Smith, formerly of Goldman Sachs (GS +0.33%). In it, he stated that Goldman Sachs used to be a firm that cared about its clients, but not anymore.
He wrote:
While I sympathize with Smith’s heartfelt piece, I think the problem goes much further than just how Goldman Sachs treats its clients. I believe the problem is the relationship Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms have with the U.S. Treasury and other government agencies.
…
The U.S. Treasury-banking complex
When he left office, the late President Dwight Eisenhower gave an extraordinary speech that included a warning about the military-industrial complex, which represented a combination (military contractors and the Defense Department) that had attained too much influence over policy.
Here is an excerpt from his 1961 speech that I have altered by exchanging his term military industrial complex for my term Treasury-banking complex:
Unfortunately, I think we have already let the Treasury-banking complex get embedded in our system. The big banking institutions are so well-connected in Washington that they can manipulate the rules and regulations to fit their needs. By the way, I’m not talking about local and regional banks, but rather the very big banks such as Citi (C +0.65%), Goldman Sachs and Bank of America (BAC +1.36%).
These banks and their executives donate millions of dollars to politicians in Congress and elsewhere. In addition, there is a revolving door between executives of top banks such as Goldman Sachs, Citi or Bank of America and the U.S. Treasury, along with other government agencies. Think Hank Paulson or Robert Rubin, both of whom headed the U.S. Treasury after careers on Wall Street. Some pundits have even speculated that being the Secretary of the Treasury is a demotion from being chief executive of Goldman Sachs.
Fair weather capitalists
Essentially, the big banks are ‘fair weather’ capitalists. Banks get the profits when things are going well. But that all changes when they get in trouble. At those times, we hear the plaintive cry that they are ‘too big to fail’ and that taxpayers should absorb the ill effects of the leverage and risk banks took.
Instead of relying on an overworked regulatory system, I believe we need to mandate transparency. If a firm employs high amounts of leverage (borrowed money), then it should be required to spell that out. If it cannot do so, then maybe it has become too complex to manage. Assuming banks release transparent financial reports, from that point on, let the buyer beware.
No government guarantees for high risk banks
Further, if a banking institution wants the benefit of FDIC guarantees for bank deposits or ‘too big to fail’ designation, then it should have to operate in a very low leverage, low risk manner.
Instead, if a Citi or Goldman or a Bank of America wants to be a high flying, free wheeling firm, then it can do that too. But, its investors need to know that their capital is at risk, not ours. Greg Smith closed out his opinion piece by writing this:
Suggesting we need to weed out morally bankrupt people sounds good, but that would be difficult, whether we are talking about Wall Street or Washington.
At a minimum, we need to reduce the influence of Wall Street on Washington. Maybe Greg Smith will spearhead a movement to do so. That would be great, but I won’t be holding my breath.
At a minimum, we need to reduce the influence of Wall Street on Washington
What it all comes down to is campaign finance and lobbying reform. Until we get such reform, we will continue to be the United States of the Rich.
But of course the party of the rich opposes any such reform with every fiber of their being.
What it all comes down to is campaign finance and lobbying reform. Until we get such reform, we will continue to be the United States of the Rich.
It all comes down to the scope and power of the US Government.
The bigger and more powerful it becomes, the more rich/powerful will want to control it.
The rich will want to control it, whether it’s large or small. And most calls for smaller gov also call for reducing its powers, which the rich love, as it increases their own power.
Exactly, because we all know how successful financial deregulation was in the last ten years.
If not the government, the rich would be buying the power that they crave in some other fashion. Private security, media, simply owning everything outright. Oh wait, they’ve already done all that.
Now that religion is on the wane, the government is the only institution that can stand up to rich, although it rarely does. It did for a brief shining moment in mid-20th century, thanks to FDR, the GD, and a bunch of WW2 veterans who didn’t save the world so some CEO could make $200 mil by sending his and his buddies’ jobs to Chindia.
But you’re right, the rich buy good propaganda. They’ve convinced many a sap since then to side with them, thanks to guns, god, and gays- and deadbeats!
“If a firm employs high amounts of leverage (borrowed money), then it should be required to spell that out.”
I think you missed the whole problem. Goldman became a commercial bank, as opposed to an investment bank to get money from the FED directly. It was all “fixed” for them.
LEVERAGE is not borrowed money. LEVERAGE is buying 20 times more than you have funds available to pay. That is FRAUD. Our entire banking system is a fraud wherein there is not enough “capital” to cover the loans that are made.
The “financial crises” was the unfolding of bets gone bad at 20 to 1 LEVERAGE. At those levels, a 5% drop in the market price leads to total bankruptcy. They have NO MONEY.
LEVERAGE should be ILLEGAL. The same thing happened when the GREAT DEPRESSION started as the market collapsed. Everyone was on Leverage. When the market reversed, the selling exceeded buyers because everyone was trying to GET OUT (cover).
All the financial “geniuses” think they can come up with “quants” and “functions” about just how much “leverage” and exposure they can tolerate and still get the best return on money they don’t have.
When the whole system gets over-extended the collapse is inevitable. This is all FRAUD.
Goldman should ONLY be able to use Client’s money or their own money. NO leverage on bets they make, unless it’s with their clients consent to cover the loses and put their money up as collateral.
THINK MF Global. Yes, that’s right. Wager your client’s money and let them take the loses when the trade goes against them.
The whole Wallstreet trading game with “investment banks/broker-dealers is a scam set up to make a few people (less than 1%) rich by “leverage”. It is like having a license to run a casino. You and I can’t get one and don’t get to play. A casino is a GUARANTEED skim.
Any chance one of the current presidential candidates might pick up Greg Smith as a future Treasury Secretary? At a glance, he seems highly qualified.
Really? Running equity derivatives at GS for a little while is enough experience to be Treasury Secretary? Are you nuts?
I just noticed that he seems more honest than the typical GS employee; not sure about his other qualifications, though.
“Are you nuts?”
I notice ad hominem attacks are a standard technique used by GS employees to counter their critics.
That is not an ad hominem attack. That was an honest question.
These are the responsibilities of the Treasury Department:
Organization
The Department of the Treasury is organized into two major components the Departmental offices and the operating bureaus. The Departmental Offices are primarily responsible for the formulation of policy and management of the Department as a whole, while the operating bureaus carry out the specific operations assigned to the Department. Our bureaus make up 98% of the Treasury work force. The basic functions of the Department of the Treasury include:
•Managing Federal finances;
•Collecting taxes, duties and monies paid to and due to the U.S. and paying all bills of the U.S.;
•Currency and coinage;
•Managing Government accounts and the public debt;
•Supervising national banks and thrift institutions;
•Advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade and tax policy;
•Enforcing Federal finance and tax laws;
•Investigating and prosecuting tax evaders, counterfeiters, and forgers.
How does being a mid-level manager at Goldman with a concentration in equities derivatives (financial instruments related to shares of stock) relate to any of those responsibilities? He isn’t even a bond specialist. He isn’t even an enforcement specialist within Goldman.
“How does being a mid-level manager at Goldman with a concentration in equities derivatives (financial instruments related to shares of stock) relate to any of those responsibilities?”
How does this information relate to those responsibilities?
January 21, 2009, 4:39 PM
TurboTax Responds to Treasury Nominee’s Disclosure
By Mary Lu Carnevale
Sudeep Reddy reports on economics and politics.
The Senate Finance Committee has taken special interest in recent years in tax-preparation software, trying to encourage taxpayers to file electronically. So perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising that tax software came up at the confirmation hearing for Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama‘s nominee for Treasury secretary.
Geithner has been mired in controversy over his failure to pay certain taxes earlier this decade during his time as an International Monetary Fund official.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Finance Committee’s top Republican, ran through a long list of questions about Geithner’s tax decisions. Geithner said he filed his own taxes in 2001 and 2002.
“Did you use software to prepare your 2001 and 2002 tax returns?” Grassley asked
“I did,” Geithner said.
“Which brand did you use?” Grassley asked.
Geithner, chuckling, appeared resistant at first. “I’ll answer that question, sir, but I want to say these are my responsibility, not the tax software’s responsibility.”
Then he got to the point: “But I used TurboTax to prepare my returns.”
Asked whether the software prompted him to report income and pay self-employment taxes on his IMF income, Geithner said, “Not to my recollection.”
It would’ve been highly unlikely for off-the-shelf tax software to include provisions for IMF workers’ highly unusual tax arrangements. And if Geithner failed to feed the proper information into his software, of course, it wouldn’t provide any warnings.
But the word was out. And TurboTax maker Intuit Inc. was forced to respond.
“Each year, millions of Americans use TurboTax to accurately prepare and file their federal and state tax returns,” Dan Maurer, senior vice president and general manager of TurboTax, said in a statement late this afternoon. “The software helps taxpayers report their income and find the deductions and credits they’re entitled to claim. TurboTax, and all software and in-person tax preparation services, base their calculations on the information users provide when completing their returns. TurboTax also has built-in error-checking tools that routinely catch common taxpayer mistakes. Federal law and our own privacy policy prohibit us from discussing specifics of any customer’s return.”
…
This is the bit that really caught my eye:
I thought he was South African. Don’t you need to be a US citizen for the job?
Good point. Perhaps Uncle Sam could seek an honest former Goldman Sachs employee who is also a US citizen….
No citizenship requirement.
WTF!? You can be a cabinet member and not be a US citizen?
Sure. President has to be a natural born citizen. Senators have to be citizens for at least 9 years and Representatives for 7. The rest are not specified, at least not in the Constitution.
Polly, there are certainly no constitutional limitations. But appointees or not, aren’t they still subject to many of the Civil Service limitations on executive branch employees? And those regulations generally bar non-citizens except for foreign nationals employed overseas. Or are they exempt?
Holy conflict of interest, Batman!
I am not aware that political appointees have to comply with any civil service requirements. No application process. No getting on the best qualified list. No points for being a veteran. None of that. I expect they have to get through a background investigation, but that is probably it. I can’t see any president picking a non-citizen for a Cabinet level post, but doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.
Has there ever been a non-citizen cabinet member?
Now the Wall Street-funded MSM is referring to Greg Smith as “Judas.” Does that make Lloyd Blankfein “Jesus”?
MEDIA WEB
Judas blazes media path
Goldman Sachs receives another reputational black eye, this time via a scathing New York Times op-ed. Jon Friedman weighs in on the media splash made by former Goldman employee Greg Smith.
Of course, we knew there would be a taking out of the heretic at the knees, didn’t we?
Excellent observation
In the world of Wall Street, probably so, however
“The op-ed heard ‘round the world”
The fact that his op ed has received so much attention so quickly does make ya wonder. The right time right place kind of thing.
Will be interesting to see if others are inspired to do the same. If they know they will be branded as heroes (and they still have all that loot), then bankers and traders everywhere who can’t sleep at night might be calling up the NYTimes.
One can only hope.
March 15, 2012 3:35 am
Whatever its merits, quantitative easing is no free lunch
From Mr Torgeir Høien.
Sir, Jo Owen (“The Bank of England should make the QE debts disappear”, March 12) is correct when he asserts that retiring the Bank of England’s Treasury debt would not have any impact on the consolidated UK public sector. The Bank’s loss would be the Treasury’s gain. However, he is mistaken when he claims, if I understand him correctly, that it would be a mere technicality for the Bank to cancel the money that was created when it bought the Treasury debt.
Base money, ie the Bank’s monetary liabilities, now accounts for a significant part of the consolidated government debt to the private sector, and annihilating central bank deposits is equivalent to defaulting on Treasury debt held by the private sector. Quantitative easing has not reduced the consolidated government debt to the private sector; it has just altered its composition. The private sector holds fewer assets issued by the Treasury and more assets issued by the Bank of England. Note that the Bank currently pays 0.5 per cent interest on central bank deposits per year. Quantitative easing, whatever its merits, is no governmental free lunch.
…
Source: FT dot com Op-ed
A local colorful man ran a ponzi silver buying scheme called ”Atlantic Buillion & Coin” , here in Greenville SC. It’s all gone , there never was any silver bought , and or stored ,for folks.
Jamie Dimon says you can trust him completely. He would never take advantage of anybody, ever. Never ever. Pinky swear.
Jamie says he hardly even knows that Lloyd guy.
Don’t forget that Peter denied Jesus — three times, in fact!
I’d like to see a painting of Jamie with a saintly halo around his head. Kind of like this image of Bill Murray, but with Jamie:
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp9klxt9Fk1qccaaso1_500.png
How does it make Goldman Sachs clients feel to know they are internally referred to as “muppets”? Like a dumb mark for a hosing, I would guess. Luckily, I don’t know about this first hand.
JPMorgan’s Dimon Responds to Goldman Column
Published: Thursday, 15 Mar 2012 | 3:18 AM ET
By: Reuters
J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon told employees to resist taking advantage of competitors and to focus instead on strengthening the bank’s own standards, in an internal memo sent in response to the firestorm engulfing Goldman Sachs after a former banker published his resignation letter in the New York Times.
According to sources at J.P. Morgan [JPM 43.04 -0.54 (-1.24%)] who have seen the memo, Dimon did not identify Goldman [GS 120.32 -0.05 (-0.04%)], but it is clear from the brief message that it is a reply to the resignation ordeal.
The Dimon message, sent to the bank’s global operating committee, was later forwarded to wider parts of J.P. Morgan, said the sources.
J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the memo.
Goldman faced an unprecedented assault from one of its own on Wednesday when London banker Greg Smith published a withering resignation letter in the opinion section of the New York Times, calling the Wall Street bank a “toxic” place where managing directors referred to their own clients as “muppets.”
…
It’s a rare business in this country that doesn’t think of its customers and inconvenient impediments to the living they are owed.
“…AS inconvenient impediments…”
dang it
..and of course the corollary is also true: it’s a rare customer who doesn’t think everything should be free or least half price.
Time to assume the crash position?
Dow looks to log win No. 7
Stocks to start appear in a mood to consolidate, pondering the latest clutch of U.S. economic data as tech bellwethers Apple and Cisco come in for scrutiny.
Churn, baby churn!
March 5, 2012, 4:23 PM
Morgan Stanley Still Expects QE3 This Year
By Michael S. Derby
Morgan Stanley continues to think the Federal Reserve will provide more stimulus via bond buying this year, even as improving economic data have led many in the market to think the sun may be setting on that particular strategy.
“For some time, our call has been that the Federal Reserve will undertake additional balance-sheet action in the first half of 2012,” writes Vincent Reinhart, an economist with the bank and a former top-level Fed staffer.
…
An election year. Stock market must go up. Fed is full of democrats, it will happen.
“Fed is full…”
Like Bernanke?
Bernanke is just one vote. Go take a closer look at who’s on the Fed.
Bring back Clinton!!
Natural Gas for Commercial Transportation is a Hoax
Nat gas would actually work for the passenger car fleet, but nobody seems to be pushing for that. Soccer moms evidently would be reluctant to drive potential car-bombs or some other politically incorrect dealbreaker with the concept. So the proposed issue is being foisted off on the commercial (diesel-burning) fleet of trucks, trains, buses, etc. There is just a small, tiny, minute problem with converting diesel vehicles to run on natural gas: It doesn’t fvcking work.
The diesel engines would have to go through an extensive re-fiting process involving lowering compression ratios (different pistons), adding an ingintion system (new cylinder head), as well as larger-capacity cooling system. Essentially the diesel engines would have to be made into gasoline engines. Gas engines are far less efficient and lack the necessary torque to drive heavy commercial vehicles efficiently. The move would be a huge step backward in the evolution of efficiency and would end up costing far more than any fuel cost savings. The environmental impact would be neglibible as well because the amount of fuel (natural gas) required to perform the same task would be increase three-fold.
Like the current tangible hoax that is the Chevy Volt, watch for the Nat Gas commercial transportation hoax to be sold aggressively to the American voter/taxpayer in the near future. Keep in mind how little politicians and elected officials seem to know about the laws of physics (pretty much anything in physical nature) and common sense. This Hoax is coming to a “Solyndra” near you.
As far as I know, there was never a plan to retrofit the millions of trucks already on the road. As I understood it, the plan was to make all newly purchased trucks be natural gas powered. The biggest hurdle in the way right now is the lack of infrastructure.
No one will build the natural gas pumps into the truck stops until there are hundreds of thousands of natural gas trucks on the road. No one will buy a natural gas powered truck until there is a fully operational network of natural gas supplying truck stops.
The Pickens plan is to 1) subsidize the cost of installing the natural gas infrastructure in truck stops and 2) require all new trucks sold to be natural gas powered after a certain date.
The “filling up the tank” problem is easily solved.
Don’t let Soccer Mom do it. Bring back the “Full Service” fuel station.
Pickens Plan = Plan to bail out T. Boone Pickens from his bets in natural gas.
As someone who doesn’t need to drive, who ride a bike most places, I like the idea of the vehicles I need to keep moving — trucks, ambulances, police cars, etc. — using fuel that is abundant in the U.S.
Sounds like the Enron PR person did find a new job!
Diesel fumes are just plain nasty.
Dallas bus system runs on CNG and the Fort Worth school district is in the process of converting to CNG.
CNG is priced much cheaper than diesel in Texas. Being able to fill up the gas tank at home would just be über cool.
The move would be a huge step backward in the evolution of efficiency and would end up costing far more than any fuel cost savings. The environmental impact would be neglibible as well because the amount of fuel (natural gas) required to perform the same task would be increase three-fold.
You have to look at complex issues in multiple dimensions. Switching to Natural Gas for transportation infrastructure isn’t just about price per unit or environmental impact. It is also about national security, predicted global demand growth of petroleum, “peak oil”, and the domestic supply of Natural Gas with a direct impact on balance of trade for the US (less imports of foreign oil, more exports of domestic NG). Also, don’t forget the economic impact of creating new infrastructure to support NG, as well as jobs provided by the exploration and drilling.
To take an issue like this and break it down into one or two sound bites is a disservice. Let’s discuss all the relevant points and then see what makes sense on balance.
Ok. Lets. How about we start with the fact that a CNG -powered engine won’t pull a 100k pound rig up a hill?
That a good place to begin our relevant point discussion?
A city bus weighs nothing in comparison and doesn’t need to go over 40 mph.
If the Pols really wanted to save fuel/dependence on foreign oil they would suggest a 55mph speed limit. The impact could happen overnight with an instant 20% fuel savings, lower fatalities, insurance, gas prices, etc. Does anybody ever even mention this? No. Why not.
Now there is something we can discuss.
“Does anybody ever even mention this?”
The one thing no one is willing to do on energy is repeat anything Jimmy Carter did.
“Ok. Lets. How about we start with the fact that a CNG -powered engine won’t pull a 100k pound rig up a hill? ”
I am not arguing for CNG but a CNG powered engine could most certainly pull the load; it just needs to be big enough. BTW, the Federal weight limit for the interstate system is 80k gross weight.
The average 18-wheeler diesel engine makes about 1800 lb/ft of torque. There is no CNG-fueled engine in existence that makes much more than half of this amount. Do the research. I did. Ever wonder why there are no gasoline-powered heavy trucks or pieces of heavy equipment?
Trucks routinely travel our highways (gasp) with much heavier than 80k lb GVWR. Heavy machines (excavators/dozers, etc) often weigh 100k lbs themselves, and they get trucked all over God’s creation.
Tandem Wal-Mart trailer rigs also come to mind…
Yes, a big enough CNG engine could do it.
Why don’t we bring back the 55mph speed limit? Because it sucked. Companies can slow down their commercial vehicles if it makes financial sense for them, I should be able to choose whether it makes sense for me. Speed limits should be set to the 85th percentile speed, period. To do otherwise is less safe.
19% of our energy goes for lighting. GOT LED’s??
A 16 cylinder CNG engine with four turbos and a 6000 RPM power band combined with massive under-gearing might make a loaded semi go down the road. But it better be pulling a tanker trailer topped off with CNG to keep up with the massive fuel consumption. Doesn’t really leave much room for all the Chinese stuff that needs a ride to your local WalMart.
I remember everyone bitching about 55mph, but was it really that bad? A car that was designed to go no faster than 55 could easily get over 100mpg. What’s the big hurry, anyway?
The 55mph limit would work better this time because everyone is texting and talking on their phones while driving anyway. There could even be an iPhone app that shut down your handset if you went faster than 55.
I remember everyone bitching about 55mph, but was it really that bad?
It definitely adds a lot to your drive-time when you are doing a long cross-country trip!
I live hundreds of miles from anywhere
I can’t drive 55
55mph is painfully slow.
Sure, it only adds 2-3 hours to a 300-400 mile road trip (give or take a little bit), but you feel EVERY SINGLE SECOND of that trip time.
I don’t know why or what exactly it is, but 55mph feels like standing still when you’re talking about a long open stretch of highway. It’s unbearable slowness. It’s not bad in traffic but once you’re on an open stretch of dead-straight highway in Arizona, forget about it. 65mph is a bit better, so much so that I might actually be able to get behind a 65mph speed limit (although, I’ll admit it, I’d be doing 70-72 just like I do 80-82 now - I’d see some gas savings but it wouldn’t be the massive change people are hoping for).
At any rate, I gladly pay my extra $$$ in gas to travel at a speed a little more suitable for a long journey by car.
I remember everyone bitching about 55mph, but was it really that bad?
Yes. Try crossing Wyoming at 55mph. With a bored police force being blackmailed with Federal highway funds to make sure nobody speeds, and there isn’t enough traffic to hide in a pack. Every time you accidentally screw up you get a ticket.
“Diesel fumes are just plain nasty”
Diesel engines don’t make fumes.
People run the diesels and that makes the fumes.
You know… Guns don’t kill people…
How about we truck less disposable Chinese $hit all over the country?
…and, Body odor is just plain nasty.
‘everyone bitching about 55mph, but was it really that bad?’
Don’t forget the other great laws of that time; mandatory retirement at 55 YO and the metric system. That all went away.
mandatory retirement at 55 YO
I don’t even remember that…
‘G. Joseph Minetti, Member, Civil Aeronautics Board, became subject to mandatory retirement for age on July 31, 1977, under the provisions of Section 8335 of Title 5 of the United States Code unless exempted by Executive Order. Mr. Minetti was exempted from mandatory retirement until September 30, 1977, by Executive Order No. 12006 of July 29, 1977.’
‘In my judgment, the public interest requires that G. Joseph Minetti continue to be exempted from such mandatory retirement.’
‘Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by subsection (c) of Section 8335 of Title 5 of the United States Code, I hereby exempt G. Joseph Minetti from mandatory retirement until October 31, 1977.
JIMMY CARTER
The White House,
September 30, 1977.’
Read more at the American Presidency Project: Jimmy Carter: Executive Order 12011 - Exemption From Mandatory Retirement http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6729#ixzz1pFsee4Tu
It seems no one took HAL up on their offer to send someone to India or China for a year to teach them how to do our jobs. So, HAL has decided to rotate developers over 2-3 weeks at a time to provide training.
On a lighter side, seeing the writing on the wall, 2 more of our top programmers found other jobs. Yeah, we’ll get headcount for 4 more in either India or China to replace the two in the USA that quit.
I don’t think we’ve hired a single person in the USA into our group since HAL bought us 2 years ago.
McCain’s plan of “The manufacturing jobs are gone and not coming back, but we’ll hold onto the bran jobs” was so naive. With 7x as many people in Chindia as the USA, they have 7x as many really high IQ individuals. And we expect those high IQ people to be content making $1.67 an hour assembling iPads?
India and China both have systems in place that stifle the creativity of their high IQ people. It’s a crying shame, and such a waste of innate talent, but, from my business experience, getting otherwise wildly intelligent people who grew up in these cultures to “think outside the box” is like asking a high IQ American to work counting jellybeans at a factory. They can both “do it”, but they are terribly unsuited for the role. American workers, for all the things they are bad at, still seem to have an edge in the “creativity” department (by a very wide margin).
Can anyone verify if this is real or shopped or pranked.
Supposedly in DC.
http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Gas-Prices-Outside-White-House-March-2012.jpg
Related article
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/inconvenient-photo-taken-at-exxon-gas-station-just-outside-white-house/gas-prices-outside-white-house-march-2012/
http://www.washingtondcgasprices.com/
$5.39 confirmed
A quick looksie at gasbuddy dot come shows that gasoline can be purchased in DC in the $3.80 range.
That’s a liter of water.
Thanks Charlie.
See polly’s post below.
It’s real but an exception.
Thanks everyone.
You seem worried…..
There was someone here yesterday or the day before who said that $5 gal in DC was a rumor.
Just trying to confirm it as I like to deal in something you are not familiar with… facts.
Most everyone else here is reporting sub $4 gal they live. It ~$3.55 where I live.
$3.80-ish in Phoenix
“$3.80-ish in Phoenix”
Same here in SE Fl.
So Calif- Just filled yesterday- $4.67 premium
High taxes and special blend, don’t forget.
$70-$80 a week.
Gassed up for a road trip a few days ago, 3.87$ a gallon in AZ. Drove to Seaworld and had fun, headed home as I type this - gassed up in CA at 4.70$ a gallon. It wouldn’t terribly surprise me if they had 5.00$ a gallon gas in DC, even if it was only a few republican-owners jacking their prices for the sake of a good news story. Seems to me we’re already hitting it here and there.
At any rate, 4.00$ per gallon and higher is pretty rough. I’ve already accepted that it’s almost certainly the future, but that doesn’t make it feel any better when I pump the gas.
I laugh at the republican focus on gas prices though - how do they honesty intend to back up promises that they will drop the gas prices? I seem to remember the last time I paid 4.00$ a gallon was under a particularly republican president. As I recall, he managed to drop gas prices - and all it took was a near total global economic collapse.
Actually, I think I just figured out how the next republican presidential hopefuls plan on lowering gas prices…..
Not that we’re better off now. Feels like two sides of the same coin to me. One side wants to shaft the average American, attack Iran, repeatedly cut into civil rights, and enrich out most important corporate citizens. The other side wants to do the same things, but they are crazy enough to openly admit it on live tv and 1-up themselves with ever more insane steps backwards (lets unmarry the gays, roll back separation of church and state, kill the homeless, etc, etc, etc).
I’m only in my 30’s. Was it always this way? Am I just getting cynical in my advancing age?
Anyone resembling “leadership” can’t get nominated by their party anymore.
The Democrats started it by inviting their lunatic fringe to the “Adult table”. The Republicans let their lunatic fringe become the mainstream, and what few adults remain are forced to sit at the kiddie table out in the living room.
I’d take Nixon over this bunch of fook ups we’ve got now. But Eisenhower (or God-forbid) Truman would be even better.
Truman would be even better
People of Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have a different view on that one. Just saying.
There is a gas station not too far from the White House that always has absurdly high gas prices. There is another one very close to it that has much lower prices. Something about a particular route that is driven by people who don’t care about prices and that even getting to a place across the street is somewhat incovient because of some very nasty traffic patterns.
Nothing new.
Is that where they fill up “The Beast”?
It’s the same in every city.
Thanks polly.
The picture is out of context as I suspected.
Here is the context:
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/21/135610168/why-prices-are-so-high-at-a-d-c-gas-station
My Dad owned a gas station in Old Greenwich Ct. and I can remember getting my @ss chewed by an older lady in 1977 because gas was 78 cents a gallon. It jumped 25-30 cents a gallon up to 75-80 cents a gallon that year. I was making about $4.25 an hour after school and weekends, but I think it made her feel better about the price jump after she chewed me out.
I remember how people thought the world was ending, when gas jumped from 19 cents to 40 cents in late 1973.
As long as OPEC is allowed to exist, there will never be a “free market”.
Jeff- Good story. Thanks.
X-GSfixr- You reminded me of the odd -even (license plate) fill up days back in the late 1970’s. Talk about a fiasco in California. A lot of hype and panic over nothing.
You reminded me of the odd -even (license plate) fill up days back in the late 1970’s.
I remember sitting in long lines waiting for gas in the 70’s. My parents would make my older sister go fill up the tank in exchange for using the VW Bug. I was pretty young but she would take me along for company.
by sfrenter
I remember those lines as well. My boyfriend (now husband) would tell me not to go until I needed a fill up. A lot of people would fill multiple times a week, that didn’t need to. That was part of the line creation nightmare.
Reminds me of when a host on The Tonight Show jokingly said there was a shortage of toilet paper, and the panic created one. LOL Idiots.
by Kim Miller
Lynn Szymoniak
Palm Beach Gardens homeowner and foreclosure fighter Lynn Szymoniak is slated to get $18 million from the nationwide settlement with the country’s five largest banks that was filed in federal court Monday.
Szymoniak, who was featured on the CBS news show 60 Minutes last year for the work she did uncovering the robo-signing scandal, said this morning that her gain from the settlement seems “surreal.”
Consideration: $270,269.69
Party 1: SZYMONIAK LYNN E
Consideration: $415,000.00
Party 1: SZYMONIAK LYNN E
Consideration: $780,000.00
Party 1: SZYMONIAK LYNN E
Consideration: $376,000.00
Party 1: SZYMONIAK LYNN
You Give Love A Bad Name
Performer: Bon Jovi;
I`m upside down,
And you’re to blame
Hey now, you can`t sign
The wrong name name.
A Liar Loan is what you sell
You promise me profit and then house prices fell.
Refi loans got a hold on me
Four-Hundred percent is my new LTV.
OH! You’re a loaded gun … yeah
OH! There’s nowhere to run
I need 18 million the damage is done!
I`m upside down,
And you’re to blame
Hey now, you can`t sign
The wrong name name.
I play my part, of the victim game
You can`t sign the wrong name.
You can`t sign the wrong name.
I took cash out, back in 05
A new granite kitchen and two new cars to drive.
Two condos, that I could rent
I refied them twice but that money is spent.
WHOA! You’re a loaded gun
WHOA! There’s nowhere to run
I need 18 million the damage is done.
I`m upside down,
And you’re to blame
Hey now, you can`t sign
The wrong name name.
I play my part, of the victim game
You can`t sign the wrong name.
You can`t sign the wrong name.
You can`t sign…
You can`t sign… the wrong name
You can`t sign…
You can`t sign… the wrong name
You can`t sign…
You can`t sign… the wrong name
It`s “surreal” alright.
Works for me :-).
Living on a prayer (hope).
South Florida sees nearly 53 percent spike in foreclosure filings
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 12:06 a.m. Thursday, March 15, 2012
South Florida laid claim to the second-highest increase nationwide in foreclosure activity for a metropolitan area last month as banks got a “green light” to pursue cases from the $25 billion settlement with the state attorneys general, experts said.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties saw a 52.7 percent spike in total foreclosure filings in February compared with the same time in 2011, according to a report to be released today by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac.
The Tampa area saw the highest increase nationwide with a jump of 64 percent.
“The velocity of new foreclosures has doubled if not tripled since the settlement,” said foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim. “It’s like they’ve been given a green light to go ahead and prosecute.”
RealtyTrac estimates that 2.2 million homes will have foreclosure filings against them in 2012, up from 1.9 million last year, but lower than the 2.8 million in 2010.
“I think we’ll see a steady set of waves of foreclosures coming through this year, but not one big massive swell,” Blomquist said.
comments
“RealtyTrac reported lower new foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County than what was released by the clerk of courts last week.” What a shock! Realtors downplaying the pending foreclosure crisis? I thought Realtors were professionals bound by ethics to tell the truth? I have been following the offical statistics and we have a backlog of nearly 400,000 foreclosure cases in Florida right now…not including new filings that are coming this year…prices will drop steadily for next 1-3 years…
PBC 111
9:12 AM, 3/15/2012
“The velocity of new foreclosures has doubled if not tripled since the settlement,”
“It’s like they’ve been given a green light to go ahead and prosecute.”
Meat Loaf Paradise By The Dashboard Light lyrics
Okay, here we go, we got a real pressure cooker going here
Seven down, nobody out, no score, bottom of the ninth
There’s the windup, and there it is, a line shot up the middle
Look at him go, this boy can really cry, he’s rounding his first year and really
Turning it on now, he’s not letting up at all, he’s gonna try for a Second year, the ball is bobbled out in center, and here comes the Throw, and what a throw! He’s gonna slide in head first, here he Comes, he’s out! No, wait, safe, safe for the second year , this kid
Really makes things happen out there, beater steps up to the
Plate, here’s the pitch, he’s going, and what a jump he’s got!
He’s trying for a third year, here’s the throw, it’s in the dirt-safe for the Third year! Holy cow, stolen year! He’s taken a pretty big loan out there
He`s almost daring him to try and foreclose, the banker
Glances over, winds up, and it’s bunted, bunted down the third
Base line, the suicide squeeze is on, here he comes, squeeze
Play, it’s gonna be close, holy cow, I think he’s gonna make it
Stop right there! You gotta go right now!
I don’t get this. How does forgiveness for past fraud’s allow new fraud?
Is this a trick question? (because it obviously shouldn’t)
“I don’t get this. How does forgiveness for past fraud’s allow new fraud?”
To err is human; to forgive, cost 18 million dollars.
Because everything is always easier the second time you do it.
Even burying a parent? (Just a hypothetical…)
Nominating for favorite quote of late, this snippet from yesterday’s BB:
Some of us make money on this housing market. What phase of the Keebler Cookie is that?
I especially liked that one myself.
I was fairly amused by it, even with the comment being directed at me.
From the “Drowning people will pull the innocent under” File…….
Oldest daughter’s FIL passed away (not unexpectedly) a month or so ago. Left behind a mid 50’s wife (on disability), 19 year old, 17 year old, and 12 year old. Found out yesterday that his claim on his life insurance was denied.
Won’t get into the details of the gross financial mismanagement (including the purchase of a house the couldn’t afford), but the MIL is two months behind on the house payment, and disability/Social Security won’t cover the house payment, much less anything else.
MIL is estranged from the rest of the family, who live in Tennessee. So now, the hints have started about how their problems would be “solved” by moving in with my daughter and SIL.
Daughter is pissed, because:
- The in-laws are a bunch of fook-ups, and
- If they move in, they will never be rid of them. And will probably put them in the poor house as well.
This has caused marital turmoil….SIL says that my daughter “doesn’t understand”, because our family isn’t as “close” as they are.
Daughter tells him they are getting “close” and “Co-Dependent” confused.
I just wonder how many times this scenario is playing out Nationwide. Like drowning people pulling others down with them.
Interesting that the life insurance was denied.
Behind on payments perhaps?
Oh, and to answer the question, it’s played out every day with thousands.
The question is, will younger generations suffer from what was done by older generations individually or just collectively.
Individually they may truly and morally owe their elders in many cases.
Collectively, they owe them nothing. Just last night, the same New York State legislators who retroactively jacked up pension benefits for their generation voted to slash them for future hires. Just cementing their view that younger generations deserve to be worse off than they are.
It is happening the other way too. I have a son that is turning 18 in a month. I will not be surprised if he’s still living with me, eating my food, driving my car insured by my car insurance, with me paying his health insurance, for quite a few years to come.
He’s hoping to get a job in transport at the hospital across the street where he’s been volunteering for 4 years. That will pay a solid $8-10 an hour, and they average about 30 hours a week. I’m sorry, but that $1300 a month, pre-tax, call it $1200 take home, is not a living wage. $500 rent, $200 utilities, $400 food and gas.
We do plan on charging him rent once he’s out of high school, as a nominal payment for use of car, car insurance, etc. but everything he gives us will go into an escrow to help him GTFO once he’s ready. (probably won’t tell him that, just spring it on him as a surprise when he starts talking about moving out… Oh, and by the way, here’s the $10K rent you’ve paid us over the last 3 years, now GTFO).
Darrell
What are his plans?
If he isn’t college material, maybe a trade or technical school would be a good path. Maybe the hospital would help with his tuition. Even inexpensive adult schools have programs.
My niece went the college route, and changed into X-Ray Technology at a private tech school. Her soft demand degree got her zip offers. Now she’ll have some real skills to market.
Prices Are People: A Short History of
Working and Spending Money
http://tinyurl.com/8257gyb (the-atlantic)
“In the mid-twentieth-century vernacular, the word “bread” means money. But in most years before the twentieth century, people spent so much of their figurative dough on literal dough that bread was functionally synonymous with cash. As late as the 1850s, the typical British family spent 80% of its income on food, Bill Bryson wrote in his entertaining domestic history At Home. The majority of that 80%? It went to bread.”
Their chart on the number of people employed in each sector of the economy is in raw people. Well, the labor force has almost doubled since 1975 thanks to 35% increase in the population and increased workforce participation rate.
Their changes would be much less dramatic (for all but the falling manufacturing sector which would be even more dramatic) if they showed it as % of workforce rather than raw number of people.
Yes, we’re seeing a dramatic shift from manufacturing into services, but the growth in services is not as extreme as depicted in this chart. 4x as many people in health care and education, sure. But, there are also 2x as many 65+ as there were in 1975.
We have gone from 8 million people in college in 1975 to more than 20 million today.
Of course there are more people in education and health care than in 1975. Duh.
Realtors Are Liars®
Obamacare critic leaves us holding her hospital bills
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/obamacare-critic-leaves-us-holding-her-hospital-bills/1220050
Nice. The poster child for “I should not be forced to buy insurance” dumps $4K in unpaid medical bills on everyone else by going bankrupt.
I already pay over $5k every year in co-pays and out-of-plan lab work, x-rays, etc., for our family of four. A real incident could easily cost me $15k, maybe more.
March 15, 2012, 12:53 pm
Investment Banking
Interactive Feature: A Chorus of Criticism for Goldman
By DEALBOOK
Since the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs has faced a wave of criticism from politicians, regulators, protesters and writers. Now, a Goldman executive who resigned publicly on Wednesday is joining the chorus of detractors.
Stephen Colbert on Goldman Sachs and Its ‘Banker-dict Arnold’
POSTED: March 15, 11:30 AM ET | By Julian Brookes
On last night’s Report, Stephen Colbert went after Greg Smith, the quitting Goldman Sachs exec whose scalding New York Times’ Op-Ed yesterday accused the firm of screwing its clients in the quest for ever-greater profits. This “Banker-dict Arnold,” broke a sacred trust by going public with his complaints, which weren’t even that big of a deal. “Time is money,” Colbert points out. “And you don’t want to waste your clients’ money by wasting time thinking about them.” Further shame on Smith for bringing up Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s notorious comment about how Goldman was doing “God’s work.” In fairness to Lloyd, says Colbert, “he didn’t say which God. Maybe it was Shiva, Lord of Destruction.” Watch the clip:
…