Chavez Wins Vote To Scrap Term Limits (FT)
Venezuelans have given Hugo Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution” fresh impetus after voting in favour of a referendum that will allow the socialist leader to continue running for president indefinitely.
“The gates to the future have been opened wide,” said an emotional Mr Chavez from the balcony of the presidential palace, as a throng of ecstatic followers chanted in unison, “Hey, ho, Chavez won’t go.”
G7 Tries To Light A Flame Under Geithner’s Ass (Bloomberg)
It’s pretty much the world consensus at this point that the US is responsible for the economic downturn; the German Finance Minister called us the “departure and focal point”. They’re (not the emphatic “they’re”, but rather something approaching the entire world) calling for speed, clarity, and magic:
“A concrete U.S. plan would have positive spillover effects on markets and economies elsewhere,” said Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit MIB in London. “They are also probably hoping Geithner unveils the magic formula, which they could then also adopt.”
In related news (Reuters), President Obama’s administration warns not to expect magic (miracles), though “there will be signs very quickly, but it’s going to take time for that to show up in the statistics” says David Axelrod.
Car Czar Replaced By Panel (NYT)
The idea of the car czar didn’t last long; what we’re seeing instead is a panel of three people: Geithner of Treasury fame, Summers, Chairman of the Economic Council, and Ron Bloom.
“Mr. Bloom is known for bringing his Wall Street experience as an investment banker to an advisory role as the “in-house” banker for the steel workers’ union. With the auto union locking horns with bondholders in the G.M. revamping deliberations, Mr. Bloom appears to bring credibility with both the union and the debtors. Mr. Bloom could not be reached for comment Sunday night.
Another senior administration official said that Mr. Obama had considered appointing a car czar, and among those considered for the job was the private equity executive Steven Rattner. It was not clear why the administration changed course or whether Mr. Rattner would have a role on the task force.”
From Prisoners To Chief Executives (BBC)
“Four years ago Catherine Rohr was a venture capitalist on Wall Street. Then she left her job with its six-figure salary and decided to create the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, or PEP.
[...]
“They don’t all understand risk management as well as they should because they all got busted when they came to prison, but when it comes to execution and marketing – they get it.”"
BofA workers can keep Flight 1549 refunds (Charlotte Observer)
It turns out Bank of America really did ask its employees on the flight that landed in the Hudson to turn the money the airline refunded them over to the bank. But, according to BAC, it was an accident.
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Hyper inflation in 4… 3… 2…
[Apparently we are waiting on Senator Brown (D-OH) to get back into D.C. and vote].
..and PASSED.
$$$ Celebrating Steve Schwarzman’s Big Day [Cityfile]
$$$ Valentine’s Day Burgers on Wall Street [AHT]
$$$ Irish Life CEO, Other Executives Quit Amid Scandal [WSJ]
That’s it for us today. Off for Prez Day, back full time Tuesday, with sporadic updates if we feel the news worthy of them. Have a great weekend and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Paulson & Co., the hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson, may have made as much as $67 million in 25 minutes today as Lloyds Banking Group Plc lost about 5.9 billion pounds ($8.5 billion) in market value.
Lloyds fell the most in 20 years after saying HBOS Plc, the U.K. lender it took over last month, would report a 10 billion- pound ($14.5 billion) pretax loss. The shares plunged as much as 43 percent in less than 25 minutes of London trading.
But seriously: adopt me.
Paulson May Have Made $67 Million in 25-Minute Lloyds Plunge [Bloomberg]
The [situation/money supply] is fluid.
The wife’s coming back from behind herself! After finishing 2008 down 16 percent, Anne Dias-Griffin’s Aragon Global Management, a Tiger Cub, turned in a relatively stellar -0.04 percent for January. And (presumably) no frozen redemptions to speak of!
Because you’ve been so well-behaved, and because 5% is slightly better than -50%, Ken Griffin has decided to give you a quarterly allowance. Can’t say how much it’ll be, because the situation is fluid, and subject to change based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: hormonal fluctuations in Chicago; the weather; and the success of the Tim Geithner Voodoo Doll. You think this kind of money grows on trees?
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The recent Washington Post article and related commentary notwithstanding, Senator Robert Menendez just sidestepped and dodged a rather pointed question about the stronger restrictions on executive compensation that appear in the February 10th draft text of the Senate Bill we highlighted yesterday. CNBC being spineless, there was no real follow-up to Menendez’ “bonuses sap the confidence of the American people” dodge.
Hmmm.
Update: The House markup has, indeed, zapped the literal salary cap in favor of this language:
STANDARDS REQUIRED.–The Secretary
shall require each TARP recipient to meet appropriate standards for executive compensation.
[Read: You are Geithner's bitch.]
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.–The standards established under paragraph (2) shall include the following:
Limits on compensation that exclude incentives for senior executive officers of the TARP recipient to take unnecessary and excessive risks that threaten the value of such recipient during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided under the TARP remains outstanding.
[...]
A prohibition on such TARP recipient paying or accruing any bonus, retention award, or incentive compensation during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided under the TARP remains outstanding, except that any prohibition developed under this paragraph shall not apply to the payment of long-term restricted stock by such TARP recipient, provided that such long-term restricted stock–
(I) does not fully vest during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided to that TARP recipient remains outstanding;
(II) has a value in an amount that is not greater than 1/3 of the total amount of annual compensation of the employee receiving the stock; and
(III) is subject to such other terms and conditions as the Secretary may determine is in the public interest.
What follows is a sliding scale that applies the restriction to the “Senior executive officers and at least the top [x] most-highly compensated employees, or such higher number as the Secretary may determine is in the public interest….” where “x” is a number from 1 to 20.
Alarming here is the power the Secretary has to impose whatever restrictions he feels is “in the public interest.” Ouch.
Yes, we know it’s just “former disgruntled employees” (shouldn’t that be disgruntled former employees?) but doesn’t it look a bit… suspicious to have such a strong Colombian and Venezuelan presence? Yes yes, it’s only a “representative office,” I know, I know. Just sayin’ is all.
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–Charlie Gasparino, Power Lunch, 02/13/09, on what Goldman Sachs, which, despite protests, Chaz says held a secret meeting god damn it, should change its name to. He’s cracking. We’ll get him yet, my poppets.
