Sick and tired of the Beard, Mary Schapiro, and SheBair unwilling to adopt a shoot-fire-aim methodology for regulatory reform, Timmy G legitimized the administration’s position through a profanity-riddled hour long bitch and moan session on Friday. Drawing on his ongoing home selling frustrations, TG told those lucky enough to be in attendance last Friday that “enough is enough” and now is not the time to think through comprehensive financial regulatory overhaul. Apparently at this critical moment what is really needed is unwarranted blind faith in the administration.

In light of recent intern stories, we were hoping some financial institution would eventually claim the guy passed out on the bull last week. Sadly, it turns out it was an actor, Peter Killy, shooting a promotional poster for an indie movie called The Robber Barons of Wall Street. But the now far more famous actor did get a lesson in Wall St. compassion through the experience.

“I am slightly disturbed that this opportunistic photographer never bothered to see if I was dead or alive. I had my photographer and director there, they said a police car drove by and didn’t even stop. That was the funniest part of all … It was just like another day in the financial district.”

On the topic of what he would have done if he had been an intern, Killy responded with a rhetorical, “I’d be wondering how long you have to stay there for somebody to actually stop and see if you are okay.”
Dude in Underpants Passed Out on Wall Street Bull Not Actually an Intern [NY Magazine]

$$$ Huron Consulting shows lying at the C-suite level is alive and well [Going Concern]
$$$ Now the FSA wants a look at high frequency trades [Bloomberg]
$$$ Barclays and HSBC go to bat in defense of the bonus culture [Guardian.co.uk]
$$$ Iceland Will Lift Capital Controls Later This Year [WSJ]
$$$ Nicolas Cage starts the new path to Treasury Secretary by not paying his taxes [Houston Chronicle]

As global regulators continue to prove their impotence when it comes to dealing with the rating agencies, Moody’s and S&P are trying to threaten their way back to legitimacy. With no alternatives and an inexplicable continued reliance on ratings from the dynamic duo, a second round of RA-based damage is creeping closer. Having convinced many investors currently holding AAA-rated structured products valued at less than 50 cents on the dollar that their holdings were safe to sleep on at night, the agencies are seeking to redeem themselves by threatening sovereign downgrades.
Following up on the warning shot fired across the UK’s bow several months ago by S&P, Moody’s put Ireland, Kuwait Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on notice that should their interest rates (adjusted for inflation) start taking off, the sad trombones will start playing. Showing just how far they’ve come in the past year, Moody’s also took the opportunity to bring the hammer down and knock two of AIG’s lending units down to a still investment-grade Baa3.

Calm, cool and always collected D-Rat was tranquil as ever today when discussing too-big-to-fail and other hot button topics the Fast Money alumnus has a slight opinion on. After speaking for close to 6 minutes without taking a breath, Ratigan came up for air just long enough for some Donny Deutsch giggling and the question that host Joe Scarborough had been waiting to ask from the start: how many lines did you do before coming on today?

States and other municipalities are making sure their desperate financial situation is heard in the most cost-effective way they know how- hiring more lobbyists. A total of $21.4 million was spent by municipalities during Q2, up close to 3% compared to Q1, on their collective begging efforts for the government’s $300 billion cash grab allocated to state and local governments. After being told by the Big O that it’s fruitless to send lobbyists to campaign for stimulus funds, municipal officials have advanced to the desperation phase and are trying to scare the government into sending more stimulus money by demonstrating that the lunatics are willing to bankrupt their various asylums even more. Had the administration simply agreed to dump all stimulus seekers into a cash cube/money blowing machine with $300 billion and let them settle this the rational way, millions in wasted lobbying spending could have been avoided.