By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Over the past few days, a number of major European banks have announced earnings results. Two of the most dismal results were registered at the British company Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and at Germany’s Commerzbank. However, the similarity ends there because, while Commerzbank investment bankers received no bonus, […]
Read more...A very good article in The Nation by Sebastian Jones, “The Media-Lobbying Complex,” (hat tip Tom F) has gone peculiarly unnoticed in the blogosphere, which is a real shame. It does some good, old-fashioned reporting to identify 75 individuals who were regularly presented on TV as experts, and by implication independent, when in fact they […]
Read more...Why is AIG being permitted to continue to give the finger to the government, and ultimately, the US public that saved its bacon? The sort answer, is that the US government’s need to resort to accounting fictions is being used skillfully against it. The latest AIG stunt is that it is refusing to sell its […]
Read more...Readers may recall that I solicited their comments on an FDIC Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on its proposal to link deposit premiums to executive compensation programs (the high concept is to charge higher premiums to banks that reward executives for undue risk-taking. Now admittedly, a program like this would take some thought to make […]
Read more...Upon occasion, I’ve asked readers to contact their Senators or Representatives about pending legislation. Many of you have taken action, even though that takes a bit of effort (actually composing and making the call or e-mail). Some readers have also commented, cynically, “Why bother, Congress will do what it corporate constituents want to happen.” Today’s […]
Read more...Bloomberg has a useful but oddly-framed article up tonight: “Bank of America E-Mails Show Lehman Was Buy Target.” The story comes out of investigation by New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo in Bank of America’s failure to disclose the deterioration in Merrill’s condition prior to the shareholder vote on the deal, but the bits […]
Read more...More and more revealing pieces of the AIG bailout puzzle keep emerging as various subpoenas and FOIA requests extract more and more details. One odd bit is why the Fed decided to take out the AIG credit default swap counterparties at par, rather than simply guarantee the contracts? The Fed keeps protesting that the rescue […]
Read more...Oh, this is starting to get VERY interesting. L’affaire Fed/AIG is beginning to smell a little like Watergate, where an imperial organization that thinks it writes its own rules (then the Nixon administration, here the Fed) fights tooth and nail to keep certain activities hidden well away (recall, for instance, the Saturday night massacre). Now […]
Read more...While I am not normally on the UN beat, I guess I sorta am on the corruption beat (actually, truth be told, my real mission is to revive critical thinking, a skill that has atrophied badly in America). I received an e-mail from a former UN staffer highlighting that, as typically is the case, when […]
Read more...Bankers ’round the world howled when the UK imposed a one-time 50% bonus supertax. The levy was meant as a shot across the bow, to warn the firms that were posting generous earnings in large measure thanks to government assistance (particularly super low interest rates) to act sensibly. The officialdom’s message was that financial firms […]
Read more...Although I read it two months ago, I haven’t made much in the way of comments on Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Too Big Too Fail, figuring the ground was well plowed by others. However, the bit that I found the most shocking has not gotten the notice it deserves, so I am writing it up now. […]
Read more...Wow, has someone declared “Forced Out CEO Tries to Salvage His Reputation Month” when I wasn’t paying attention? Or was I just not on the distribution list? Last week, we had Sandy Weill telling us how the Frankenstein of the Citigroup he created was really a fine business; the only mistake he made was pushing […]
Read more...Sandy Weill, former chief poohbah of Citigroup, tells us that he had nothing to do with the implosion of the sprawling behemoth. Everything he did was right, it was his successor, Chuck Prince, who screwed up (well maybe he was an itty bitty bit responsible by virtue of recommending Prince). Oh, and it’s Jamie Dimon […]
Read more...Well, because he is a man of probity and is writing in the UK, where the standards for libel are much lower than in the US, former Barclays CEO Martin Taylor does not use the F (fraud) word, but that is precisely the behavior he describes. I know it is fashionable to depict the investment […]
Read more...If this Wall Street Journal account is true, AIG’s general counsel should be fired for cause: Ms. Kelly, AIG’s general counsel, has been at the insurer since 2006 and was appointed vice chairman in January under former CEO Edward Liddy. Several people familiar with the matter say Ms. Kelly asked other employees to join her […]
Read more...