$$$ Derivatives traders turned cabbie sells TV pilot [NYP]
$$$ Citigroup’s Asset Guarantees to Be Audited by TARP [Bloomberg]
$$$ 12 Things You Absolutely Must Know Before Investing Again [clusterstock]
$$$ Paul Singer’s 2nd-Quarter Letter [Dealbook]
$$$ An Artist’s Impression Of A Goldman Sachs Bonus Securitization Offering [zh]
Archive for August 2009
On a relative basis, this is progress.
General Motors Co. said it canceled plans for a new Buick sport-utility vehicle announced Aug. 6 after potential customers said the model lacked the “premium characteristics” they expect from the brand.
GM Cancels Buick SUV One Week After Announcing It [Bloomberg]
Okay, people, we weren’t going to discuss the made for TV movie coming out on BBC this fall, since 1) it’s already been cast and 2) we had our hands full with more pressing issues but it’s been brought to our attention that there are at least three very important roles that need filling. First off, Erin Callan and David Einhorn. Who do you think could pull off the parts of the players that comprised 2008′s love that dare not speak its name? And much more importantly, that of our number one bitch?
When they’re not praying for hurricanes, some insurance companies are apparently living in mortal fear of additional paperwork. The insurance lobby in the IOU state scored a major victory when they talked down state lawmakers from proceeding with legislation designed to combat insurance fraud in workers’ comp cases. While the idea of sending out notices to injured workers to verify that they actually received the services billed may have looked good on paper to some, the massive impediment from the postage involved was too much for insurance companies to take.
Sending out notices is “prohibitively expensive” and would confuse injured workers, said Steven Suchil, an attorney with the American Insurance Assn.
It would be a real shame if insurance companies took the risk that injured workers might understand whether or not they had their arm reattached and lose some of their ability to cite fraud as a primary reason for raising rates.
Crackdown on workers’ comp billing fraud is dealt a setback [LA Times]
I don’t know how I missed this (actually I know exactly how, it’s that I was trying to close the tab as quickly as possible) but after informing us this morning that Bernie Madoff’s penis is not just tiny in length but in “circumference” as well, Sheryl Weinstein went on to note the silver lining of getting down with a small D. According to the classiest woman on earth who, by the by, is still married to the husband she cheated on with Berns, sticking it in her mouth was nothing:
“On the bright side,” she concluded, because of its size, “oral sex would be a breeze.”
Maybe the administration was actually up to something clever with the cash for clunkers program. Figuring US auto companies wouldn’t thin the dealer herd enough, could it be the program was really a test to see who reads the fine print and who doesn’t? Some overexcited dealers who thought being reimbursed by the federal government in a “timely manner” meant getting their cash in a matter of days are currently going bank-to-bank trying to find loans to complete transactions. With the overabundance of banks looking to throw money at auto dealers, there may be hope yet for capitalism in this country.
Fonts for the name are still being considered (everyone is in agreement that using one of the following is the way to go, with AQR and SAC proving particularly popular) but what are your thoughts on the above? I think it’s subtle enough that you could wear around town, and it highlights the fact that the firm is Handbridge and not Gigantic Rack Capital. Naked has also rightfully pointed out that we have a few types of customers on our hands. The ones who “don’t give a fuck and want full tits,” the ones who want just the fund name and tagline sans picture, and everyone in between. So we may offer three positions, to accommodate your various comfort levels.
Update: Greg and I have figured out what’s off about the image. The hands are kind of just laying there, instead of pushing up and together. I think, personally, I’ll be going with the name/tagline only tee (plus the fleece, obviously).
In related news, I’m working on getting her to model our company tee. Plan B is Gasparino.
After all of the attention (and collective bitching) about hard-to-value, illiquid assets, FASB’s revived interest in bank lawsuits is nothing short of dark comedy. One year after starting a probe into investor complaints that banks were a little light on providing “the likelihood, timing and amount of future cash flows associated with loss contingencies”, FASB is back at it.
Companies would need to disclose the amount or an estimate of a claim, the maximum potential loss and likely insurance coverage along with details on a dispute’s origin, its status, expected timing of a resolution and most likely outcome. A table would be required to display potential losses from litigation.
With any success, FASB may wind up establishing an impressive perpetual litigation feedback loop. The last thing banks need now is to be sued for providing inaccurate expected loss/gain estimates for the things they’re being sued for.
FASB Weighs Disclosures Fought by Citigroup, JPMorgan [Bloomberg]
Naked is still working with his designer to tweak the T’s but would like to know what you think of this font. Too much? Just enough? Let’s get into this. Also, it goes without saying but we’ll do so anyway that after the shirts we’ll be doing mugs, mousepads and, if you play your cards right, fleeces.
Earlier: Handbridge Capital Swag, Comin’ At Ya
