Some people are such founts of generosity that on their birthday, they think not of themselves and what they will receive, but rather how they can brighten the days of others. On this special day, January 28, one selfless, gallant gentlemen, has gifted us all with an overflowing bounty of mirth.
Archive for January 2010
In the last few years “there’s been some discipline” but bankers “still need to be a lot more thoughtful and sensitive about how they pay themselves.”
Banks See Ways Past Pay Limits (WSJ)
Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are doling out shares that employees can sell within months–much sooner than normally allowed. Other giant banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, let certain employees borrow money to relieve personal cash crunches. And some U.K. banks have considered raising base, or cash salaries–funds that won’t be subject to the country’s new 50% tax on bonuses.
Obama: Don’t Run For The Hills (NYT)
Also, the bank bailout was “about as popular as root canal.” T/F?
BofA’s Moynihan Gets 19% Raise (WSJ)
Approved by the Charlotte, N.C., bank’s board, the salary ($950,000) represents a 19% rise from the 50-year-old Mr. Moynihan’s base pay in 2008. His predecessor typically received a base salary of $1.5 million.
Subprime: The Lung Cancer of Banking? (DealBook)
In Davos, one senior banker, sipping his cup of espresso, sighed deeply when asked about the trust deficit in the financial industry these days. “Tobacco companies have it so easy by comparison,” he said.
Goldman Sachs Seen as Favored by Regulators, New York Fed’s E-Mail Shows (Bloomberg)
Are you blown away by this revelation?
Soros Warns Gold Is Now The ‘Ultimate Bubble’ (Telegraph)
Jorge from Davos: “When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment. The ultimate asset bubble is gold.”
Enter Geithner, The Politician (WSJ)
As Rep. Michael Turner put it in a congressional hearing Wednesday about Mr. Geithner’s role in the bailout of American International Group Inc., “you are absolutely a politician.” “Is that a compliment?” Mr. Geithner responded.
Ok, we’re taking a break from the whole AIG and Davos insanity. Let’s move on to more joyous news- the iPad! It will change the world and rescue the economy! It will bailout banks! It will explain to Timmy G. what AIG is! While many people speculated on its name being the iTablet, the iSlate, Apple settled on a tampon-sounding moniker for whatever reason. The iPad has a 9.7-inch screen, is half an inch thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, maybe to appeal to female demographics? Reactions across the Web went from “this is the Second coming” to why on earth would I pay $500 for a bigger iPhone?
Thoughts? Also:
To answer the question posed by a commenter today re: when will Roubini start talking in the third person, here’s Dr. Doom’s latest Facebook update:
The undisputed ringer in Davos when it comes to the economy these days is Nouriel Roubini, the New York University Stern School of Business professor who these days is able to market his pessimistic prognostications as chairman of Roubini Global Economics. He predicted the global financial crisis and so enters the room wearing the equivalent of a heavyweight boxing belt. He is always clearly the man to beat at the table.
SIGTARP Neil Barofsky- who is testifying later today- is adding oil to the AIG fire, saying in prepared remarks that French regulators were actually willing to negotiate AIG’s obligations after all. The claim further undercuts the argument the Fed has been using all along, namely that they didn’t push domestic counterparties to take haircuts as foreign regulators were unwilling and/or legally barred from taking discounts.
12:40 Hank, whose rosacea is flaring up like nobody’s business, has arrived to put Geithner out of his misery.
12:41 He’s happy be to be here and answer your questions, but just so you know, he’s got limited knowledge of the topics and not a lot of time, so let’s move this shit along. Seriously, nature walk at 1:45. The birds wait for no one.
12:53 Paulson: “All money printed is green.” Also the lead track on his new album. Not a coincidence.
1:00 Hank is not going to second guess the opinions of people, for instance, Tim Geithner. So piss off.
1:15 I love you Elijiah Cummings but why????????? Why do we have to keep talking about those mo-fucking AIG bonuses??
1:20 Interrupted by the iPad. Oh, Mock-Turtleneck is gonna pay for this.
So I don’t normally feel the need to highlight the sections in my posts where I’m very clearly joking but since it seems that one in particular has been difficult for the naked eye to detect…
A couple weeks back, the Wall Street Journal printed a story naming trader David Slaine as a key cooperating source in the Galleon insider trading case, having allegedly ratted out several of his friends and co-workers, including nightclub bouncer-cum-hedge fund employee, Craig Drimal. The article also claimed that during his long career on Wall Street, Slaine smashed a keyboard to pieces, started a fistfight over a colleague who wouldn’t share his French fries, and punched his Galleon boss, Gary Rosenbach in the face, while the two were stark-naked in an Equinox steam room. We wrote about it, mostly out of empathy for the fries situation (that’s something to legitimately get upset about) and a commenter by the name of “Elyse” came along and said that basically everything in the Journal‘s story was untrue, but especially the bit with the fries (never happened, she said), and the steam room (where, according to E, David didn’t punch Rosenbach but rather slapped him, which is different). “Elyse” then emailed us (she hadn’t appreciated our tone) to say say that she was Elyse Slaine, the ex-wife of Big D (who she met in 1992, when he was working for Morgan Stanley and she was selling financial technology for Knight Ridder), and to reiterate that the Journal doesn’t know shit. Last Friday, the Observer sat down with ES to find out why.
First off, she didn’t do this for the fame, or the glory.
“I feel,” Elyse Slaine said over a nine-dollar cup of coffee at the Pierre Hotel last Friday, “like someone has to tell the truth.” The 46-year-old was wearing studded Louboutin boots, a ruby ring on her right hand and a Harry Winston diamond watch on the other.
Someone need to set the record straight! And event though her ex-husband told her not to, Elyse knew that someone was she.
[David Slaine] hasn’t endorsed [the crusade]. “I’m defending him because he’s a good guy,” she said. “He doesn’t want me to.” Mr. Slaine, who, The Journal said, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities-fraud charges, and cooperated with the government to gain favor, did not return calls.
In spite of the fact that he once ruined one of their date-nights.
His marriage began to end four years ago. “My interests became a little more diverse. I like to travel,” Ms. Slaine said. “I enjoy theater. David, the one time we went, fell asleep. It was Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk.”
Because Elyse, too, knows what it’s like to be standing in the middle of the crisis, to feel like you’re drowning, with no one to throw you a life saver.
Earlier this month, Ms. Slaine returned to her Park Avenue apartment, the co-op she used to share with Mr. Slaine, to find massive flooding. A bathroom pipe had burst. “My own personal tsunami,” she sighed.
Everybody’s pissed off at everybody at the World Economic Forum. It’s not the love fest it used to be. Not even humanity-lover Bono is showing up this year.
Here’s a roundup:
Barclays President Robert Diamond would like to point out that everyone at the bank is “immensely proud” that the bank didn’t take any direct money from any government anywhere in the world. A word of acknowledgment would be much appreciated, thank you.
“I think that what goes unnoticed is that the banks which stayed strong and were well managed through this are angry at the banks (that) had poor management (and) were allowed to have poor management and ineffective regulations,” Diamond said.
Also, Dr. Doom has a packed schedule in Davos, per his Facebook updates:
“I had already two long bloomberg interviews, a three hour private brainstorming session on how to redesign the world, a forbes interview, a French TV interview. Now headed to the opening reception to rub elbows and schmooze. Then two high profile private dinners discussing the world over fine food n finer wines followed by late night caps n piano bar at europe hotel…”
