elections

  • 11 Oct 2011 at 3:21 PM

Obama Reelection Campaign Looking To Hire A Few Good Quants

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If you know anyone who’s interested. Read more »

  • 25 Aug 2011 at 2:25 PM

Think John Paulson And Mitt Romney Are Scared Of A Little Mist?

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Think again. Read more »

How Does Bank Of America Plan To ‘Help Out’ Rick Perry?

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This is BofA Director of Public Policy James Mahoney making the offer:

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  • 16 Aug 2011 at 12:03 PM

Leon Cooperman’s Investors Had To Beg Him Not To Take A Massive Pay Cut For A Thankless Job

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Last week, Leon Cooperman held a conference call with Omega Advisors’ investors, in which he expressed frustration at a lack of palatable presidential candidates who have what it takes to make this country great. So dire is the situation that Cooperman told them that he’d just have to run for president himself. Was he kidding? No, he was not.

Cooperman insists that he was not kidding.

Why then, if he was so dead serious, has he not announced his candidacy? He was planning on hanging up the phone and having his secretary send out an email to his entire address book, importance marked ‘high as fuck,’ to do just that, but his investors held him back.

Cooperman…was talked out of it by his spooked investors, who urged him to continue managing their money.

While he sadly won’t be making a play for the Oval Office, Cooperman did take the time to jot down a couple of his ideas that any candidates are free to crib, entitled “Presidential Plan.” Read more »

  • 16 Aug 2011 at 8:53 AM

This Is A Thing Rick Perry Said About Ben Bernanke

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“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.” Read more »

  • 28 Jun 2011 at 10:55 AM

Obama, Wall Street And The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

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Last Thursday evening, President Obama held a fundraiser at Daniel as part of his reelection campaign. There was Vodka Beet-Cured Hamachi with Horseradish Cream. There was Zucchini Pomponette with Fontina and Tomato Confit. There was Vanilla-Raspberry Gelée. But there was no Lloyd Blankfein and there was no Jamie Dimon, and there was no Dick Parsons. Some people interpreted the lack of JD and LB and other banking chiefs as indication that Wall Street is done with Barack Obama. Sure, he still has some big names backing him (like Daniel attendees Marc Lasry, Robert Wolf and Mark Gallogly) but the absence of Lloyd and Jamie, who, ironically, Obama was once so close with that his pet name for was “zucchini pompette,” seemed to suggest a broader trend and evidence that the rumors Wall Street had “abandoned” Mr. President were true. And while some big names, like Dan Loeb and Steve Cohen, who previously backed Obama in ’08 have made no secret about dropping him (and over the weekend likely inspired others to join them), others apparently continue to support BO. They just don’t want anyone to know about it.

Behind the scenes, it seems that many bankers are not running away from the president as quickly as some might suspect. While many of the biggest name financiers feel that they can’t publicly support Mr. Obama through campaign contributions the way they did in 2008 — “it would be bad for business,” one brand-name chief executive of a major bank acknowledged — some still plan to vote for him.

Which normally would’ve stung but this time around is all well and good with the President and his team, ’cause it goes the same way. They don’t want anyone to know about Obama’s relationship with Lloyd, Jamie, et al either. They don’t even want to risk Obama being tagged in a picture with LB, for fear of the message it might send. Read more »

  • 24 Jun 2011 at 10:43 AM

Obama Enlists Zucchini Pomponettes In Courting Of Wall Street

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As previously mentioned, now that he’s officially running for office again, President Obama is hoping to have the same support from Wall Street he did in 2008. Some financial service employees have remained loyal, others have vowed to never trust him with their hearts again, and others still seem like they could potentially be won back, should Obama play his cards right. Several weeks ago he invited them over to his house to have an intimate talk about where their relationship stands and last night he took them to dinner at Daniel. True, he made them pay ($35,800 each) but perhaps the fact that he took time out to get personal and fed them braised short ribs and citrus marinated strawberries did the trick? Here’s the full dinner menu from last night- is there a particular item that would get you to give him another chance or will he have to try a lot harder than that (perhaps by making you dinner himself and feeding it to you doing the airplane sound) if he wants you to even think about letting your guard down again? Read more »

  • 08 Jun 2011 at 6:37 PM

Republican Presidential Candidate Tim Pawlenty Would Tell Wall Street “Get Your Snout Out Of The Trough Just Like Everyone Else,” Thinks Ben Bernanke Not Only Came Up With The Nickname Helicopter Ben But Refers To Himself As That

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Two comments from TP on Bloomberg earlier today:

1) “[The message] would be, ‘Get your snout out of the trough just like everybody else.’ If I am president, we will not have any more bailouts, carveouts, handouts or special deals. We will reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. We will get rid of all the deductions, credits, or exemptions, and you will compete not based on your connections to a congressman, but connections whether you can convince consumers if you have a good product. If you cannot do that, you should not be in business. Do not look for government to bail you out. You either compete and succeed in the market or you do not.”

2) “I think a good chunk of [America's economic problems] are a result of Fed policies…I didn’t support Bernanke’s appointment last time for these very reasons. He called himself ‘Helicopter Ben’ for a reason.” Read more »

  • 16 May 2011 at 1:07 PM

Donald Trump Will Not Run For President

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The Don has announced the lure of the White House is not great enough to make him give up his biggest passion just yet (but watch out 2016). Read more »

  • 29 Apr 2011 at 1:53 PM

Donald Trump Would Speak To The “Motherf*ckers” In China In A Way That Would Get Them To Either Quake In Their Boots Or Piss Their Pants In Laughter

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As you may have heard, because he’s said it a bunch of times, were Donald Trump to be elected President of the United States, his first order of business would be to “deal” with this China situation. Specifically, Trump has said he’d tell the Chinese that “If you don’t stop manipulating your currency, we’re going to put a 25 percent tax on your products that come into the US.” The Don has made the case that he’s uniquely qualified to run this country because unlike our pussy diplomats (who “went to school to learn how to be nice”), he’d “deliver to the message” to to China in away that would get them to take the threat seriously. Today during a town hall, Trump workshopped some lines and so far here’s what he’s got: “Listen you motherfuckers, we’re going to tax you 25 percent.” Read more »

  • 27 Apr 2011 at 11:23 AM

Now That He Singlehandedly Got Obama To Release His Birth Certificate, Donald Trump Wants To Get Back To The Real Issues

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“I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of this issue,” Trump told reporters, his helicopter sitting behind him. He said he still wants to see the birth certificate, released while he was en route to New Hampshire, but now wants to talk about weightier issues such as oil prices. [ABC]