I’ve long maintained that Charlie Gasparino’s “I’m just a country reporter” image is a façade. In reality, he is a dangerous, dangerous man who, if you know anything, nearly brought Wall Street and the country to its knees. Look behind any monumental fuck-up of the past several years– nay decades– that contributed to the financial crisis and you’ll find Gasparino (convincing Bear Stearns to load up on subprime doesn’t even scratch the surface, nor does his encouraging Angelo Mozilo to “just go one shade darker”). So it’s nice to see at least one unnamed (take your best guess) Wall Street exec is agreeing with me, finally.
Charlie Gasparino’s résumé is jam-packed: on-air editor for CNBC and contributor to the Daily Beast, the New York Post and Forbes. But at least one Wall Street executive has a different description: “A monumental asshole, who added dramatically to the financial instability during ’08 and early ’09.”
Business Books [Time]
First
CNBC absolutely added fuel to the fire during that time. These people have zero credibility, shouldnt be on any trading floor on Wall St. Its sensationalistic journalism
Not just any asshole… He’s a bleeched asshole.
@1 i would’ve said “colossal asshole,” but that’s just me.
-dick f
at what stage of development is he in that pic? walking upright yet?
I wouldn’t call his asshole monumental, but it is loose.
- Anonymous Craigslist M4M “casual Encounters” user
and if you think I’m lying, ask him about the mole on the right cheek
Dangerous? So sayeth the boys at Equinox.
it was me!
-LB
Its a little known fact, dat I am da most powerful man on Wall Street. I’m a humble guy, dough, so da general public doesn’t know about dat. Hi levels friends-a-mine know my power, and dey respect my journalistic integrity.
-cg
Larry Fink, 100%
@1 they are sensational clowns but saying they contributed to the instability of the past few yrs gives them wayyyy too much credit.
@anal_yst what you talkin about? larry fink is a friend a mine.
-cg
OH MY FU*%ING GOD. WILL YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS CLOWN?
Ba fangool. I don’t deal well with slow news days. Dats just da way it is.
CG
@12 is right. Enough of him. Not entertaining, he’s just sad.
@10, remove your blinders and try again.
“Chollee, Chollee…they took my fuckin thumb”
-Eric Roberts best line in a movie, ever
@12/14 don’t like it don’t read it.
-cg
@4 – somewhere between larvae and pupae, I believe. You can tell by the tiny wing buds slightly protruding from his shredded traps.
-Dr. Mark Klein, MD & Financial Entomologist
I hear tings.
-cg
Don’t forget MEEEEP! It was also MEEP MEEP MEEEEEEEEEEP!
The neat tie and studious glasses say “DUH”, but the facial expression and posture say “Duh-UUH!!”
Erin’s Foray into cleavage wars not playing so well.
Does this website get paid by the word to write about Gasparino? I can’t think of a less interesting topic. Some otherwise good scoops, but this constant drivel about a munchkin that no one pays much attention to in the first place is like listening to a dripping faucet.
Sometimes, at night, I tawk to dead people.
-cg
Holy moly. I really now do fear that somebody will find Bess laying in a dark alley with a whole sopressata in her mouth and blood soaked SC playing cards scattered about on her body.
That said. You go Bess.
All you guys out there who want to date Bess, I’m thinking this is not the kind of woman you break up with, you let her break up with you. And if you do have the brass balls to break it off, do NOT think about doing it over the phone.
@23 = homophobic. examine your motives.
@25 what are you talking about?
Monumental is impressive for an asshole.
The average human anus is 1.2 – 3.5 cm in diameter.
The average human eye is 2.5 cm in diameter.
George Washington’s eye on Mount Rushmore is 11 feet.
The typical width of a car lane is between 10 and 12.5 feet.
If CG is a monumental asshole, I would hypothosize he is an asshole wide enough to accomodate an average car lane.
I didn’t know Tax Chick work for AIG’s quant department!
Yeah, right! It was all CG fault that Wall Street blew up. It hadn’t nothing to do with a bunch of ass clowns packaging up buckets of crap, wrapping them in foil and selling them as silver bars OR the ass clowns who took D grade paper, wrapped it in an insurance policy with “AAA” written on it, without bothering to keep some money around in case the paper blew up OR the ass clown so called “Master’s of the Universe” who had no clue what their risk profile was, what their outstanding obligations were or what the hell their staff was up to!
Why these people are not in prison is beyond me!!! If for no other charge but Criminal Stupidity!
This asshole puts Mr. Slave’s to shame
@Chick- I can attest to the depth and flaccidity of said orafice.
Will, I hiv to sye, his shridded minly pics dew fillout his shut, noicely.
-Len Goodman
Judge
Dancing With The Stars
@28/TC:
I just measured my anus, and its a little bit bigga den dat. It accomodates an above average sized cannoli, ya know.
-cg
@30/ guest – while you are spreading the manure around, what about the ass-munches that took out loans based on lies and inadequate income OR the real estate industry (agents, appraisers, etc.) that lied and stole their way into profitability?
Main street gets some of the blame. They are not a bunch of saintly innocents caught in the web of Wall Street evil doers. They were willing participants happily spending more than they were earning.
Don’t know if any of this is true or not, but I know that the Analysis of the actual data that CNBC does is not worth a damn.
To get a better analysis of today’s report showing the imports and exports, please take a look at the following article I just wrote
http://keepamericaatwork.com/?p=4897
Regards,
Virgil
http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com
Tax Chick: Thank you, thank you!
~J. Cassano
Tax Chick: Thank you, thank you!
~J. Cassano
@30:
You go girl. We had absolutely nothing to do with this, as you know. Your analysis is on the money.
- Christopher Dodd, Barney Frank
@33…thought you were Amada Drury at first.
Ligs end brists awl daey!
Notice said Wall Street executive does not have the babalones to man up and reveal his name. I wait for they day his name is revealed. CG will then mop the floor with the guy. CG is a floor mopper!
What’s the big deal? With all the bullshit he slings, perforce he is a monumental asshole.
@35 Yes, that’s right Moron. We should blame the blue collar slugs who were handed easy mortgages because they knew the ramifications of what they were doing, unlike the Wharton assholes with upteen years experience in finance who got totally blind sided by Joe Six Pack.
-30
Gasparino is equine excrement.
@30/43,
I’m with TC. I think there is an alarming lack of accountability on the blue collar side of things as I think the standard argument of ” we didn’t know how these products worked” falls a bit short. I think it’s become a rather sad state in America when the government has to create a whole bunch of regulation to essentially save people from their own stupidity.
The recent overdraft legislation is evidence of that in that the banks are seen as evil for charging huge overdraft fees when it’s the stupid f#cking schmucks fault for spending more money this is in his account. The bank should have to hold your hand and tell you when you’re out of money and a relish the thought of peoples preset payments being bounced rather then just getting hit with an overdraft fee.
F#$k you Joe six pack and suck on that.
-working for Canada’s 5th largest bank, jus’ sayin.
I’m a monumental asshole too but no one pays any attention to me. Sniff !
@Naked
Do you have Paris Hilton inside you?
@TC / 45-
Tax Chick, I agree 100%. 45 I definitely agree that if the average American can’t balance their checkbooks, then yes they should be socked with a fee.
That being said, there is a small problem that perhaps was contained to a relatively small number of banks, one namely the predecessor to BoA (NationsBank): rearranging transactions that would have not normally overdrawn the account and tipping it into OD status, then posting the deposit and sucking the fee from it.
I have not read the proposed bill yet, so I can’t fully offer a coherent opinion either way, but that was just one thing that came to mind.
-mrp
@45 Look, you dumb egotistical sh*t. The debate over overdraft fees is exactly that, FEES. No one gives two sh*ts that the guy spent more than he had. And yes, we would like you to hold our hand. Given that, you know, you are making several bpp over what you’re paying us, it only seems fair. And by hold our hand I mean have a f*cking computer take one millisecond to send an automated “no”.
I know, it’s a terrible imposition to ask of you, given that your god-given intelligence places such value on your time.
The best part about this is that you actually think you’re smart.
@43/guest:
I got a variable rate mortgage, ya know.
Here’s what dey showed me at da bank, and I had to sign it:
“. What is an ARM?
An adjustable-rate mortgage differs from a fixed-rate mortgage in many ways. Most importantly, with a fixed-rate mortgage, the interest rate stays the same during the life of the loan. With an ARM, the interest rate changes periodically, usually in relation to an index, and payments may go up or down accordingly.
To compare two ARMs, or to compare an ARM with a fixed-rate mortgage, you need to know about indexes, margins, discounts, caps on rates and payments, negative amortization, payment options, and recasting (recalculating) your loan. You need to consider the maximum amount your monthly payment could increase. Most importantly, you need to know what might happen to your monthly mortgage payment in relation to your future ability to afford higher payments. ”
I can help ya figure dis shit out, if ya want.
-cg
@48. I like the veil of “responsibility” you have draped over the act of dicking someone out of their cash.
Is it really that hard to simply deny the person cash they don’t have? I mean, really.
The fact is that the overdraft fees are specifically designed to turn you a profit no matter what, so don’t come in here yapping about responsibility when you’re just a greedy little sh it.
Cuts both ways, retard.
Proposed plain language disclosure of ARM terms, required to be acknowledged by all applicants:
The payments on this mortgage may increase if the Index Rate increases.
For example, if the 10 year treasury rises from 3.5% to 7.0%, your monthly payment will increase from $2000 to $2750.
If you can’t make the $2750 monthly payments, you are fucked and we will foreclose on your house. Got it, asshole? If so, sign here.
@51 – “dicking someone out of their cash”??? If you are overdrawn, it’s not your cash. You are now borrowing cash from your bank. Are you proposing that banks should lend you money for free?
@30/43,
Blame who you will, I still make more money, catch better trim and generally live better than you. Not even Obama and your ilk will stop that.
Now, go muck about with the rest of the plebes and let us continue our conversation on a close, personal friend of mine, Chaz G.
- Evil Banker
No, dear, keep your panties on. What I am proposing is exactly what the Fed is: either overdraft shouldn’t be possible or the customer should sign off on the fees associated with having overdraft capability.
There’s nothing keeping banks from not providing overdraft capability, they just figured to implement it as an excuse to charge fees that would be guaranteed to end up as a profit center at the expense of their customers. Hence, the “dicking.”
Got it?
@54: FTW.
As a colleague says, “Stupidity should be painful.”
@55 – I get the ordering issue. And I agree, that’s an asshole move.
When you sign up for a checking account, you are given a little pamphlet that spells out the fees. Now you can take the account as is, or you can, typically, also get overdraft protection (an extension of credit that your bank dips into if you become overdrawn). Overdraft protection keeps the overdraft fees at bay, but you are liable for interest on the borrowing.
If you are too dumb to a) manage the funds in your account or b) get an overdraft account, then perhaps you are not smart enough to have a bank account and should keep your money in a shoe box.
TC,
I generally agree but, given that such stupidity is endemic, and always will be, I find it a pretty dick move for anyone to be profiting off their own customers in such a manner.
Then again according the news not being a dick is apparently the same as being a socialist these days.
55
BTW I’m not referring to the ordering issue here.
55/58
@53/57/TC and others, not sure you really get the ordering & overdraft issue, so, here:
Say you only have $15,000 in your checking account but you’re getting paid, direct deposit, today. You write three checks, a check to your Nanny for $325, a check to the school for $17,750, and a rent check for $6,975.
BofA processes the tuition check first, then the rent check, then the check to your Nanny, charging you three overdraft fees of $35 each, and only _then_ do they process your deposit.
Kind of a dick move. No?
@55/58 – if it is not the ordering issue, then you need to explain to me where the dick move is.
As I see if, if you draw on your account for more than is available, you have two options: bounced check (which has a whole host of nasty consequences) or being overdrawn. Being overdrawn is asking the bank for an emergency loan. It is unanticipated and requires the bank to draw on funds it would otherwise be using to earn income. I see nothing wrong with the bank seeking reimbursement for the cost and lost income from having to extend someone an emergency loan.
Try asking Vinny the loan shark for an emergency loan and see what kind of rates you get.
@60 – yes, Einstein. We get the ordering issue. We all agree it is a dick move. Not be confused with “it moved.”
55/58 et al is unhappy with a bank charging for overdraft fees (for profiting off its customers), not the ordering issue. I am still unclear on where the problem is with a bank charging fees for services rendered.
@61/TC, thanks, I wasn’t sure we’d covered every possible iteration.
Any cost basis to justify fees for emergency loans, that’s completely theoretical, as I believe you know, because you fund your balances in real time and you credit depositors at the last legal possible second. You charge hefty overdraft fees in order to comply with usury laws.
-60/Einstein
@ 51:
Resorting to ad-hominem attacks to prove your point does not help your cause. If you read carefully, I did imply that it DOES go both ways, especially with the re-arranging of deposits/withdrawals. I agree that is WRONG. However, there are many more examples of banks who employ FIFO style processing (first in, first out) on accounts and then if the customer o/d’s it’s simply THEIR fault and they deserve the fee (if they cannot manage their finances in a way or opt-in to insurance).
Now, for a small lesson in Reading Comprehension: “That being said, there is a small problem”. It was in the 2nd paragraph. That’s where I implied that yes, there are banks who are bending the rules in an effort to “dick customers out of cash” and I actually did AGREE that it was a practice that should be stopped.
Have a nice Friday, remember to balance your checkbook.
-mrp
A bigger problem (or at least an additional one) you’ve all missed as far as I can tell is that some merchants don’t submit their charges ASAP; some wait a day+ until they’ve rang up enough for the card processing fee not to sting as much. This is one reason why you can pay for some drinks on Tuesday and not have it hit your account until Friday. In my experience, this is a pretty widespread practice, one which I’ve been f*cked on myself (there were alot of drinks that night).
With technology, and with laws/regulations that make sense, there is absolutely no reason why in 2 thousand and freaking 9, a credit/debit card charge shouldn’t reflect in real time, the amount charged and the actual amount spent/available.
@Anal – I hear you, but is that something that the banks are responsible for? Or even the blue collar slugs? I think not. That is a consequence, as you say, of the merchant not processing the charges the same day. Easy solution: cash. Cash is always real time.
TC,
It’s similar to that McDonalds coffee case. She won not because of the hot coffee but because McDonalds had determined that any lawsuits would be cheaper than any preventative measures.
In this case the banks undoubtedly determined that for every individual who balances their check book that there will some poor sucker who, for whatever reason (reasons being irrelevant), will, x times per year, overdraft 3 times in a row for $10 and gets hits with $100 in fees and that because of this its more profitable to allow this as the default setting rather than requiring individuals to explicitly sign off on it. Naturally there is also an internal calculus as how much to charge these people in order to ensure a decent profit (rendering the “charge for services rendered” argument rather moot, as its obviously above the cost of that), which completes the circle.
In other words, I would imagine that people get pissed off when they realize that the overdraft coverage is provided not for the customer but as a purposefully calculated way to skim off more money than would otherwise be available.
Legal or not, result of stupidity or not, doesn’t make it any less dickish.
55/58
@ Anal_yst/Tax Chick-
Been dinged a couple times that way with drinks too. Cash is, indeed king in those situations (where using a CC can be avoided).
“Only 5 drinks… ends up being 50″
-mrp
@55/58 I hear you. I get your annoyance. I guess I am the fool for thinking people ought to have some level of responsibility for their own financial state.
This whole I-am-just-a-leaf-upon-the-current approach to life irritates the hell out of me.
i love the way this thread suddenly stopped being about cg.
-vinny the loan shark
@TC
Likewise. Didn’t everyone have to read Man Without a Face (or similar) in Middle/Highschool? Remember the salient point: you and only you have to be responsible for the consequences of your actions (or something like that).
If you’d like to discuss further without the annoyance of the Leaves, I’m sure you can figure out how to contact me with spectacular ease.
@69/71/TC/Anal
I prefer to think of myself as a snowflake, but leaves are nice, too, even if they are the same decaying organic matter as everything else.
-60
The monumental asshole was at it again this afternoon blowing bad gas re Citi. He never heard a rumor about the impending collapse of a bank that he didn’t embellish and pass on.
@73 Damn, missed it. Did he name drop about all his hi-level friends and plug his ridiculous book?
@74/Charlie I know you were heavily liquored up but here’s basically what you said: Jamie Dimon is too big to fail he rathered Bear went bust instead of having to pay $2 for it and now he’s hoping Mayo is right Citi needs more dough and he’s lobbying Treas. to deny it so Citi goes bust and Jamie can get the pickins. Do you remember now?
CNBC and MSNBC’s yellow journalism makes Fox News look like PBS.
Consider the following about the above author, Mr. Self Promotion. While he appears to take some pride in initially appearing at #8 in the NY Times Best Seller List, this is merely an illusion for CNBC promoting his book. Reality is setting in as we speak. Can you imagine if Sorkin had such publicity (he is at #9, he has no such promotion, and his ranking is not the function of a debut). In the Amazon rankings, Gossiparino has now declined into the 90′s and will likely fall from the top 100 list this week – only a couple of weeks into his book “humping” exploits. All this while the skinny little author/reporter he hates most is still in the teens after months of success. Why, one must ask. Because, the Sellout sucks. It is filled with inuendo instead of fact. His sources play him like a fiddle. His knowledge of the underlying subject of finance is sophomoric, at best. And, did I mention that his conclusions are all wrong because he is fundamentally stupid? As one of the 14 reviews on his book concluded: “Gasbag has now written more books than he has read”.
Speaking of said reviews, he is doing everything he can to make this piece of crap book appear to smell like a rose. His limited number of positive reviews includes one from his wife and another from his attorney and still others from former business associates. Honest reviewers see his work as a waste of paper and a hazard to the environment.
Why CNBC keeps this guy around is beyond most of us. He is rude to guests and associates alike. He is argumentative simply for the sake of his own insecurity. He cuts everyone off. Worst of all – he is stupid.
So, once again, good article on Wall Street Walking. Unfortunately, he is no more correct here than he is with all the gossip he spreads on CNBC and labels “breaking news”. Just think about this guys batting average and how frequently he gets the story wrong. Negligent? Indeed. This guy breaks more wind than a fart machine and calls it news. Maybe the author needs to walk – right off the Chelsea Pier.