Write-Offs: 08.16.11

$$$'Threatening the Fed Chairman Is Not a Good Idea': White House (CNBC)

$$$Judge Upholds Galleon Founder's Conviction (WSJ)

$$$Stocks Fall as Europe Floats Financial Tax (Bloomberg)

$$$Court Sides With Trustee Over Madoff Payouts (NYT)

$$$Slow German growth hits stocks, euro (Reuters)

$$$Cocaine Addicts Prefer Present Cash Over Future Coke (Freakonomics)

$$$Man Pretends To Be Hank Paulson To Make Fake $353,000 Mortgage Payment To Citi, Succeeds (ZH)

$$$Shadow banking – from Giffen goods to Triffin troubles (FT Alphaville)

$$$What’s Behind the Hefty Motorola Breakup Fee (Dealbook)

$$$Fitch maintains US’s triple A rating (FT)

$$$ George had been pushing Lean Six Sigma on legislators long before the 2012 primaries started. He can point to the government organizations that have received the gospel: Fort Wayne, Ind., Erie County, N.Y., the U.S. Army. "But I couldn't get anywhere with congressmen!" George says. "Most of them have no experience working in the private sector. Explaining this stuff to them is like explaining astronomy to a cat." (Slate)