$$$ Madoff’s mother tangled with the feds [Fortune]
$$$ Risk-Free Profit Idea Of The Day [Zero Hedge]
$$$ Citi Crumbles, Sandy Watches From the 46th Floor [Cityfile]
Archive for January 2009
California’s controller says he will begin a 30-day delay on tax refunds and other payments starting Feb. 1 because the state is running out of money.
Controller John Chiang said Friday he must delay $3.7 billion in payments next month because lawmakers have failed to address California’s growing deficit.
With a $41.6 billion shortfall over the next year-and-a-half, the state is on the brink of issuing IOUs.
Chiang says his office must continue education and debt payments but will defer money for tax refunds, student aid, social services and mental health programs.
A severe drop in revenue has left the state’s main bank account depleted. The state had been relying on borrowing from special funds and Wall Street investors; those options are no longer available.
Calif. tax refunds to be delayed starting Feb. 1 [Associated Press]
You know. I have to say that sometimes we worry that our venerable Wall Street institutions have no sense of humor. Turns out there’s nothing to fear, per this handy guide Citi put together for its Smith Barney employees who may be faced with “tough questions” from clients, such as “Your CEO said only six weeks ago that ‘I love that business’ and that it’s not for sale. What happened?” and :
9. Is the Federal government directing you to liquidate businesses to raise
additional capital?
As you know, we do not comment on our discussions with the U.S. Government
or regulators.
[If pressed: Negotiations were not driven by regulators. But regulators are being
updated.]
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is considering a liver transplant as a result of complications after treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004, according to people who are monitoring his illness.
Patients with Jobs’s condition can survive for 20 years or more from the time of their original cancer diagnosis, and the surgery often gives good results, said Steven Brower, professor and chairman of surgery at Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Georgia. Brower hasn’t treated Jobs and doesn’t know details of his condition.
The Adviser’s core beliefs are that (1) equity markets are neither completely efficient nor completely inefficient and (2) a disciplined quantitative approach can be used effectively in seeking to outperform market benchmarks. In implementing its investment philosophy, the Adviser uses quantitative tools to analyze and understand the vast amount of data available regarding the markets and securities in which the Adviser is investing. In contrast to the stereotypical “black box” concept of quantitative investing (i.e., obscure mathematical models generating unintuitive trades with no transparency), the Adviser’s investment process is “quantitative” in the sense that the Adviser employs quantitative tools to implement a fundamental investment process. The Adviser also believes that a large set of small trades, coupled with systematic risk controls, can offer a more attractive risk-adjusted return than a small set of large trades.
AQR FUNDS [sec.gov]
Use of gold by the state and local government. Requires the treasurer of state to designate one or more electronic gold currency payment providers to be a payment provider for the state and political subdivisions. Requires the treasurer of state and fiscal officers of political subdivisions to: (1) maintain one or more electronic gold currency accounts with a designated electronic gold currency payment provider; and (2) conduct all monetary transactions of the state or political subdivisions through electronic gold currency accounts. Provides that an electronic gold currency payment provider must use an electronic gold currency unit that constitutes a monetary unit of account and represents a claim of title to and ownership of a specifically defined, fixed weight of gold held by an independent specie vault. Specifies that a specie exchange with which an electronic gold currency payment provider associates must conduct the business of exchanging gold and silver coin, legal tender of the United States, and the electronic gold currency of the electronic gold currency payment provider. Provides that after December 31, 2009, the state and political subdivisions may not compel or require any person to recognize, receive, pay out, deliver, promise to pay, or otherwise use or employ anything but gold and silver coin (in that form or in the form of a designated electronic gold currency) as media of exchange with respect to certain payments. Provides that after December 31, 2009, a person receiving certain payments from the state or a political subdivision has the option of accepting payment in either legal tender of the United States or in electronic gold currency.
Senate Bill #453 [in.gov]
“No, You’re More Embarassing” “No, You’re More Embarassing” “No, You,” No, You,” “YOU,” “You”
By Equity Private
When we last checked in with Dennis Kneale and Charlie Gasparino, C was asking D if he used hookers and D was going circus freak crazy over the inquiry. Now, via mediabistro, here is the clip from earlier today in which Dennis Kneale and Charlie Gasparino’s on-air debate regarding whether or not Vikram Pandit’s gotta go devolves into a shouting match only dogs can hear/understand.
CNBC guest on Citi: “Short sellers I’m talking to feel like it’s a one dollar stock.”
Vikram Pandit held one of his famously inspiring town hall meetings earlier and apparently repeated at several points that the split is “strictly managerial” and will not, he repeated, will not “create separate entities.”
If today is all about news we’d rather not hear consider this the icing on the asbestos cupcake I’m about to shove down your throat. Take a good look at the credit card above, ’cause it’s the last time you’re gonna to see it. Capital One, you see, was a-okay with David Mackie and his photo of choice, approving the image, sending him the card, and allowing him to feel the sweet taste of Nick Nolte in his lungs for several days before cruelly taking it all away. The Smoking Gun reports that a representative from the bank offered Mackie a “$50 customer goodwill statement credit,” which I don’t think I have to tell you was little consolation. There’s only one word for what this world is coming to when you can’t slap the likeness of a junkie actor bearing an uncanny resemblance to Gary Busey on your plastic: apocalypse.
Now that I’ve regained my composure, and had some time to work through this, I think it’s actually going to be okay. We have it on good authority that Bank of America and Citi have plans to compete to keep lowering standards of acceptability for what they’ll let customers put on their cards. I’ll get my Angelo Mozilo-on-goat card yet.
