The Annual Review of Wall Street Pay (NYT)
Compensation numbers of the top 25 are due in by Thursday, after which, Feinberg will be doing his annual review of who-makes-too-much-loot. Once everything is reviewed and the big F decides who to chastise and who to let be, I don't see the media getting nearly the response they did on this topic in recent years/quarters/months; the wholehearted flogging of salaries as a subject reached its high water mark and I think it's safe to say people are fairly sick of hearing about this shit.
JP Morgan To Buy Back Warrants In Public Auction (NYPost)
"Unlike the other major banks, which gave warrants to the federal government in exchange for billions in capital under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, JPMorgan is expected to have its warrants sold in a public auction that would be run by the US Treasury. Warrants grant their owners the right to purchase shares at a discount sometime in the future."
U.S. Economy May Be On The Brink Of Recovery (Bloomberg)
""We may have hit stability, we may be in the beginning of an upturn" based on the latest economic data, Tyson, a member of the White House's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said yesterday during an interview in Kuala Lumpur. Nobel Prize- winning economist Paul Krugman said the deepest slump since the Great Depression may be ending."
The Business Of Pleasure (CNBC)
CNBC will be continuing its in depth porn coverage tonight at 10.
Banks Make $38B From Overdraft Fees (FT)
Banks are likely to take a PR hit for charging the average American consumer too much to withdraw money they don't have; I can see that there's an argument here to be had from both sides. While anything above $30 seems ludicrous, there has to be sufficient incentive for people not to overextend themselves. Lack of that incentive is what got many of those people in the positions they're currently in.
Rio Spying Cost China $102B (Bloomberg)
"Rio Tinto Group, the third-largest mining company, spied on China's steel mills for six years, creating 700 billion yuan ($102 billion) in excess charges for iron ore, a report on a Chinese government-run Web site said."
A Few Notes On AIG's New Fearless Leader (WSJ)
Aside for the MetLife IPO and the 7-10MM he'll be getting for the AIG gig, what's important here is he has such soft hands, and the most beautiful tramp stamp.
Krugman Thinks Bernanke Should Keep His Job (Bloomberg)
You really have to wonder what the criteria for keeping your job as chairman of the Fed are during a depression, but it would seem chief among them is public perception (not that I agree with this methodology, but we live in a media age). Just so we're up to date, Krugman and Roubini are for him staying in the seat, and Anna Schwartz appears to be leaning against.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 7:36AM
Beards support Beards
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 7:51AM
Coooool! Hopefully the Chinese will "acquire" other members of the RIO management team and execute them.
The Chinese do not mess around.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 7:51AM
Insiders support Insiders
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ateHbcBlMHp4
Pequot Trading in Google, Cox, Premcor Sparked Warnings to SEC
By David Scheer and Jesse Westbrook
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Pequot Capital Management Inc., once the world’s biggest hedge-fund manager, was cited in at least 44 private reports from exchange watchdogs in the past four years alerting U.S. regulators to potential insider trading, market manipulation or other misconduct, government documents show.
Posted by Seaman Bodine II , Aug 10, 2009 8:06AM
Hmmm
Pequot was never the world's biggest hedge fund
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 8:13AM
Where is Bess? I want her to force-feed EP a bottle of rat poison.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 8:13AM
Where is Bess? I want her to force-feed EP a bottle of rat poison.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 8:30AM
@5&6 yeah, don't have Greg do it, he'd probably screw it up
Posted by wcburrs87 , Aug 10, 2009 8:45AM
This is so exciting, like Jordan coming out of retirement, but less people floating down rivers.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 8:51AM
damn that robin meade bitch on headline news is hot
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 9:06AM
"I hope its some wild ass shit Arab who knows the whole agreements getting ready to fall apart."
Posted by Anal_yst , Aug 10, 2009 9:44AM
Why are overdraft fees legal? If a client attempts to make a purchase that is > available buying power, simply reject the purchase.
This is all part of the insanity that is the antiquated current banking system, with availability of modern technology it is absolutely ridiculous (most) transactions don't settle instantaneously, alas most banking system is still running on tape-based mainframe's from the early 80's
Posted by NakedShort , Aug 10, 2009 9:51AM
@11 They exist b/c Joe Six Pack would rather take a $35 ding to make his mortgage payment go through than have the ACH rejected and his creidt report hit. Also, he would again rather take the $35 ding to save the embarssement of having his purchase of "Honk If You're Horny" mudflaps turned down at Pep Boys.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 9:52AM
Krugman is a Communist planted by a consortium of evil foreign governments determined to destroy the United States.
Posted by Tax Chick , Aug 10, 2009 10:02AM
@Anal - the overdaft system also prevents the snowballing effect that can result from one person bouncing a check on another. At least with overdraft fees you get something (a debit transaction honored). The insufficient funds fee (or bounced check fee) is often more than the overdraft fee and is for nothing other than getting a nasty notice from your bank and fined by the party you bounced a check on.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 10:20AM
@14 I bet you know all about snowballing.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 10:22AM
@13 News Flash: The United States has already been destroyed. You're late to the party.
Posted by Tax Chick , Aug 10, 2009 10:26AM
@15 - Your mom is calling. She needs you to clean your room and your gerbil's cage, and wants to know why you have a case of k-y jelly.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 10:45AM
Anyone that pays an overdraft fee is dumb.
Banks offer overdraft protection plans for free. If you withdraw too much cash, the difference is charged to your CC.
However, this does create another set of problems...
Posted by Tax Chick , Aug 10, 2009 10:57AM
@18 - furhter, the banks also will give you a line of credit tied to your checking account that acts as overdraft protection. There is no charge to have the line, but if you draw on it you are charged interest (much like a credit card). You have to be majorly overdrawn to attract $35 in interst on the line of credit.
People are idiots. The American schooling system has horribly let the general population down by not teaching basic finance. As a result of this failure, people have no idea how to balance their checking accounts, read mortgage applications, or understand interest/ repayment terms on their credit cards, mortgages, student loans, etc. It is appaulling.
Posted by NakedShort , Aug 10, 2009 10:59AM
@Tax the free t shirts you get for signing up are so worth it though.
Posted by Tax Chick , Aug 10, 2009 11:18AM
@Naked Damn! You got a t-shirt. I got tackled by security when I pulled out my pocket wirecutters and tried to take the pen bolted to the counter.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 11:22AM
@Tax Chick
True or False:
Once you go black, you never go back?
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 12:07PM
On the $38 Billion of overdraft fees, the solution is going to be people like me, who never overdraft an account, will end up paying for the deadbeats. Banks need to make money, if for no other reason than to pay back the taxpayers and to attract capital. Protecting the deadbeats by eliminating or capping overdraft fees means, like it did in the credit card "solution," that everyone else pays more, through higher account fees, higher finance charges, and higher transaction fees.
Posted by guest , Aug 10, 2009 7:50PM
# 13
The fact is Krugman is late to the party.US has already been destroyed by US.There's nothing left to destroy and to fix.