Ford Reports 4th Quarter 2008 Net Loss of $5.9 Billion (PRNewswire)
“Net loss of $5.9 billion, or $2.46 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2008 amid a sharp global decline in vehicle demand; pre-tax loss of $3.7 billion from continuing operations, excluding special items.”
JPMorgan Exited Madoff-Linked Funds Last Fall (NYT)
The House of Dimon began pulling the millions of its own money it’d invested in the Ponz. Master in 2006 this fall, after “a wide-ranging review of our hedge fund exposure,” when JPM “became concerned about the lack of transparency to some questions we posed as part of our review.” Good call! Except now some investors who’d been advised to put money with Madoff are pissed they weren’t told to get out too, before, you know, losing everything. So that’s kind of awk.
Merrill Bonus Case Widens as Deal Struggles (WSJ)
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is expanding the scope of his investigation into bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch, with the inquiry now likely to include whether directors and shareholders were misled about giant losses at the Wall Street firm, a person familiar with the situation said.
Mr. Cuomo plans to press John Thain, the former Merrill chairman and chief executive who was forced to resign last week from Bank of America Corp., on what he told Merrill directors about ballooning losses in mid-December, this person said.
In addition, Mr. Cuomo wants to know why the Charlotte, N.C., bank didn’t publicly disclose that Merrill’s condition was deteriorating. BofA Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis is likely to face questions from Mr. Cuomo about bonus payouts by Merrill, including what he told directors about them, according to this person.
[...]
The investigation is at an early stage, but Mr. Cuomo’s office is examining potential remedies such as trying to recover bonuses already paid, fines or alleging securities-law violations, the person familiar with the investigation said.
Weill Pitches In (NYP)
Citi is shouting from the rooftops/cockpit of the Dassault Falcon 7X that former CEO Sandy Weill has agreed to give up the perks of his retirement package, which include, among other things, a car and driver, plus use of the company’s jets, and an office in the General Motors building, which Citi was paying for.
wideclops has a name, and she goes by andrea smith ———>
b1tches!
the house of Dimon’s withdrawls are subject to clawback like every other person that recieved money
@2- wtf are you talking about? the voluntarily took their money out, that’s not a clawback
@3 you are obviously have no clue what you are talking about. period.
@3 kill yourself (i’m not 2)
Thought Citi and ML were pushing it in terms of new spending?
http://deltahedged.com/?p=230
I am neither 2 nor 5.
Poster 2 is referring to the concept of fraudulent conveyance.
JPMorgan’s withdrawal is well within the window of time such that they will have to return all or some of it to be reattributed to everyone in the Ponzi scheme.
Poster 3, suicide would be… well, overkill.
Just do a little more due diligence before you post.
We have already had one known suicide as a result of Madoff.
I am both 2, 5, and 7. I just pissed on my shoe.
Soon to be laid off corp. attorney here. Barney Frank & Co. want to bail out the economy and homeowners by providing foreclosure aid/prevention; in essence giving homeowners who have made poor/negligent financial decisions government money (i.e., my tax dollars) so they can afford to stay in their homes.
How is this fair? I made sound financial decisions by not purchasing a home and paid more in taxes last year than many of those being bailed out earned. This despite the fact that I have a wife and two children to support, in New York no less. Yet, I will suffer – through the implosion of the economy – because of reckless borrowers, pay their tab, and receive nothing in return, while these “main streeters” are told not to worry, the check is in the mail.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for the government to send me a check to purchase a home? Wouldn’t that be fair, given I’ve been paying taxes. I have a better track record than most of the people who are losing their homes, and, believe me, I won’t be contributing to the growth of the economy for a long time once my severance is consumed.
The problem is clear: The message this sends to people is don’t work; it’s not worth it – the government will pay your way if necessary.
@7 I thought the clawback on fraud was 3 years at least; I heard it might be as high as 5
@ 9. You are right. I am in your shoes. This is frightening.
@9 who cares its just money…Since you are smart enough to be an attorney I figure you are somewhat like me….Late 20s early 30s make a decent income pays out the ass in taxes…the bottom line is that all of these “stimulus” and “bailout” numbers are a pimple on the asshole that is the future unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare…if you think THIS is bad give it ohhhh 10 or so years when we are at our peak earning years and have a HUGE income tax rate on top of a national sales tax…get ready its coming!
Re Sandy Weil, fucking final. The craven bastard has been sucking on the Citi teat for long enough. Not to mention merging with every shitpot finance company to create a Frankenstein monster. And giving the firm Chuckie as his successor.
Hi,
I am poster 7, not poster 8.
I have a newly minted username.
Poster 9, I think you have oversimplified things a bit.
Main Street is hurting very much.
Government takes care of the uber-rich and the uber-poor.
I have a mortgage I have never missed a payment on.
No bailout for me.
Poster 10, we seem to be in violent agreement?
@9
I hear and sympathise with you. I’ve paid for my home and paid my taxes just like you.
I am no longer paying taxes towards supporting the negligent because I got laid off a few months back and I’m now being supported – in a tiny way – by the taxes I’ve paid.
I don’t have a mortgage to pay but it does sting some that the people responsible for driving up home prices and the eventual collapse are getting ‘bailed out’ by the taxes we’ve paid.
I guess this country has forgotten why it desired independence and went to war with Britain.
If there was a way I could cut my losses I would, unfortunately, other countries bought into the US bullshit and are suffering the same fate.
It’s all one gigantic shit sandwich and each and everyone of us has to take a bite.
@14, 9 here, you seem to be having some trouble conveying your thoughts this morning. I understand, it’s early in the day, but hold off on the comment traffic direction from now on.
#9 – too logical, didn’t read
All of the withdraws are definately going to be clawed back by Lycans
9 here, I should add that this is not just a “I paid taxes, so let me bitch” argument. If the government believes in repairing the economy by artificially supporting home prices, wouldn’t it be wiser to provide subsidies for home purchases to people like me rather than people who have made bad financial decisions (and not paid taxes). I need not cite the stats for homeowners who are back in foreclosure after their mortgages were modfified.
Granted, I may be simplifying things a bit, but I wonder how much thought Frank & Co. have given to this.
According to the article, JPM was not invested directly with Madoff, they were invested with Fairfield Greenwhich – which did not file for bankruptcy nor did it commit the Ponzi scheme itself. To say that JPM is obligated to Fairfield to give back money when Fairfield failed to detect fraud is not a clear-cut case, I would imagine.
@9
Since you are about to be out of the work force, I invite you to stay out of the work force forever. That’s the way to test your absurd conclusion.
Call me an Art Bell conspiracy theorist, but the government does not give a damn about the economy as whole.
If someone can make a compelling argument that taking care of the middle and lower-upper classes will result in an immediate and meaningful injection of cash to lawmakers, then lawmakers will start to become concerned about those constituencies.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Geitner did not pay his taxes until it became politically expedient. So yes, I think that the rest may bitch about our taxes.
Geitner and those that supported him expect us to believe two mutually exclusive things: 1) he is a financial genius capable of rescuing the economy and 2) he knows close to nothing about the U.S. federal tax system.
Regarding the bailout, it is not about the economy as whole. The purpose is to make sure that money is available to compensate very senior executives that work in the financial industry. That has been the result so far, and that will continue to be the result. Those that argue that the bailout is for the benefit of the economy as whole would to concede that the bailout was handled very badly if that were the actual intent.
Poster 20: good point.
Though, if JPM has to give back some money, I would not imagine that it would go to Fairfield, but rather to some legal entity overseeing the entire Madoff mess.
While vitriol may make for fun reading, we should try to be nice to each other.
Even the most of affluent poster on this forum is still human garbage in the eyes of Tim Geitner or Ken Lewis.
In their eyes, we are all just idiots to be duped and lied to.