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Billboard charts and data charts come together as one. Check out the last one - gotta love those 70's epics!
Well, in some ways, a lot of this "money" they talk of - it never existed. That's what happens when you have a money tree in your federal reserve and greed in the boardroom. I keep calling it greed, because I have to hope and pray that they knew what they were doing. If they didn't - if none of them had a clue - that just goes to show you that we are bound to repeat our mistakes over and over again, never once learning from them (see, any derivatives market's early history - with no clearhouse, no proper exchange, things get messy every time, e.g. commodities). Apropos, some of the money that did get realized (and that's a key word right there, realized). About $1 billion's worth went straight to those greed mongers (and that's just the top ten): As banks broke down, CEOs cashed in.
You can go ahead and make your own guesses as to why I post this now. It should be painfully obvious after the first sentence.. "It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly apposed to the people's money being used to pay the fiddler... all this to settle a question in which the people have no interest, and about which they care nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."
20080926
Among the many tidbits found in the NYTimes Government Seizes WaMu and Sells Some Assets we find this juicy morsel: But the seizure and the deal with JPMorgan came as a shock to Washington Mutual’s board, which was kept completely in the dark: the company’s new chief executive, Alan H. Fishman, was in midair, flying from New York to Seattle at the time the deal was finally brokered, according to people briefed on the situation. Mr. Fishman, who has been on the job for less than three weeks, is eligible for $11.6 million in cash severance and will get to keep his $7.5 million signing bonus, according to an analysis by James F. Reda and Associates. Not too shabby. That's far better than A.Rod, Manny, Manning, or Brady can even claim.
20080925
Waxy tells us that the Pirate Bay hit a new record of 15 million unique simultaneous peers and then asks "has any other illegal behavior been this mainstream in history?" Readers respond with alcohol (during Prohibition), speeding, marijuana, and sodomy.
Reason magazine has a very informative flow chart describing the various avenues available for acquiring one's U.S. citizenship. Shocking surprise: it takes no less than six years, and sometimes as many as twenty-eight, to get one's citizenship.. if one even has the option in the first place.
20080924
If you're American, Indian, Canadian, or English, you can find a plethora of quotes from your candidates on various issues at Google's new 'in quotes'..
20080919
Pelosi, Kerry May Share Investor Pain as AIG Stakes Evaporate, but: John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, avoided potential losses. Because of the Arizona senator's run for the White House, his wife, Cindy, last year liquidated a blind trust that had contained stock in AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman. The amounts of stock she had owned weren't disclosed. However, Did We Say $500 Billion? Sorry, Bailout Will Cost $1 Trillion: ..."We're talking hundreds of billions," Paulson told reporters. "This needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem."
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” said lawmakers were told last night “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications, here at home and globally.”
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, told “Good Morning America”: “I figure it will be at least half a trillion. But if you look at what the Fed has already done [by rescuing insurance giant AIG], and the extension of power to Treasury to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I believe we're talking about a trillion dollars.”
So, roughly, that's $3,333 for every person in the U.S. The bill comes to $7,246 if you only count actual taxpayers.
So is all this enough? Mutant says: The fundamental problem, of which industry was long aware of before this event is that CDS' are over the counter (OTC) instruments, traded counterparty to counterparty.
In other words, there is NOT - unlike, for example, the equity markets - a centralised exchange. This presents a startlingly wide array of problems. Just to touch upon three from a very, very high level (I could probably write 10,000 words on the topic).
First of all, nobody is really certain about the overall size of this market. Trades are conducted largely in private, and may even reside in off balance sheet vehicles or in subsidiaries not domiciled in the home regime of the corporate parent. And, in fact: In the range of almost $600 Trillion in notional value (perhaps $15 Trillion in market value) in OTC derivatives were in the global market as of December 2007 (that is not a typo - and $600 or $15, that is a lotta money)!
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the guys: philogynist jaime tony - the gals:raymi raspil
