$$$ Fiscal Cliff Talks to Get Fast Track [WSJ] $$$ William Dudley: Solving the Too Big to Fail Problem [FRBNY] $$$ EU Should Reach Deal on Greek Aid Next Week, Grilli Says [Bloomberg] $$$ Work Still Needed to Reduce Repo Market Risks: Fed Official [MarketBeat] $$$ Taliban Reveal Identities of Their Mailing List Members [ABC] $$$ Do Not Expect a Hug From Mayor Bloomberg [DI] $$$ Prudential is looking for a senior financial writer to do product marketing in Newark [DBCC] $$$ How Hostess Failed: Hedge Funds vs Unions [NetNet / John Carney] $$$ Don't worry, Twinkies will survive [Term Sheet] $$$ Man Group to Sell Lehman Legal Claims for $456 Million [DealBook] $$$ Lee Buchheit on Greek debt reprofiling with Felix Salmon [Reuters] $$$ Judge Tells Drug Trafficking Defendant He Can’t Have Another Joint ‘For Old Time’s Sake’ [ATL] $$$ Britain has invaded all but 22 countries [kottke]

Forex Tumult good for banks; "How 300 Emails Led to a Summer Job on Wall Street"; Snow Kone Joe vs. Mr. Ding-A-Ling Ice Cream Truck; and more.

$$$ Citigroup Said to Cut Investment Bankers’ Bonuses by 20% [Bloomberg] $$$ HSBC to Pay $249 Million in Foreclosure Settlement [WSJ] $$$ "For most of its history, Dell appears to have followed advice from investment banks — advice that ill-served long-term shareholders to the benefit of corporate executives. The company paid out billions of dollars to buy back stock, and only last year began to distribute some of the money to shareholders who chose to stick with it rather than bail out. It has spent more money on share repurchases than it earned throughout its life as a public company. Most of those repurchases were at prices well above current levels." [NYT] $$$ Matt Yglesias on the Fed: "There's no solving for the desired result. There's just a presentation of a scenario and then a bunch of chit chat and discussion of operational details." [Slate] $$$ Vibrator With 3 Balls Can’t Win EU Trademark, Court Says [Bloomberg] $$$ Levin Report on JPMorgan Whale Said to Fault Regulator [Bloomberg] $$$ Assured Guaranty Cut by Moody’s on Muni Insurance Outlook [Bloomberg] $$$ All Dutch securities have been dematerialized [FTAV] $$$ Chinese labour pool begins to drain [FT] $$$ A sonnet version of the Diff'rent Strokes theme song [VC]

$$$ Citigroup could be surprise winner in stress tests [Reuters] $$$ Goldman Buoyed by Credit Rally Seen Leading Bank Trading Gains [Bloomberg] $$$ Will Portugal Follow Greece Into Debt Relief? [NetNet] $$$ Highland Capital is looking for a distressed investments senior analyst-- you? [DBCC] $$$ Wily, Elusive Foragers Invade Upstate New York [NYT] $$$ Bradley H. Jack a former investment banking chief at Lehman and an owner the most expensive residential property in Fairfield, has been charged for the second time in less than a year with forging a prescription for a controlled substance. [CTP] $$$ Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit Says Anger With Wall Street Is ‘Understandable’ [NYO] $$$ Peter Thiel, university-hater, heads to campus [Reuters] $$$ Groupon of a lifetime: "$12,500 for a signed Titanic DVD and 13-day ocean voyage with tour of the Titanic (a $59,680 value); departs from St. John’s, Newfoundland, on July 26 and returns August 8" [G]