Category Archives: Media watch

WSJ Runs Dubious Argument for Keeping Citi Intact

Normally, I would not have paid much attention to the Wall Street Journal article today on Citigroup’s GTS, or Global Transactions Services, unit. But what was disturbing was that the normally-astute Columbia Journalism Review’s blog was taken in by a pretty questionable argument that was presented as fact in the piece. GTS is a big […]

Hank Greenberg’s Self-Serving, Largely Off-Base Salvo at Goldman

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 […]

Fed Used Lawyer that Advised Goldman on AIG (Non) Disclosures

Dear readers, as much as the fact set in the headline sounds bad, we need to parse things a bit to calibrate properly. IMHO, the fact that the Fed used an attorney that also served Goldman is symptomatic of how concentrated the high end of finance has become and how incestuous all the relationships are […]

“Robert Rubin’s absurd economic recommendations”

I should not be surprised to see that Robert Rubin, having been one of the single most destructive forces over the last two decades (Greenspan gets more heat because he was more visible, but Rubin has long had enormous sway) continues to have influence, not simply through his large network of well placed proteges (Larry […]

Tainted Burgers Show That Corporate Profits Trump Public Safety (Cargill and McDonalds Edition)

Reader Crocodile Chuck pointed out a set of articles at the New York Times that illustrates how skewed priorities in America have become. They also reveal how little public ire there is in the face of large-scale abuses that affect the average Joe. If corporate prerogatives cannot be reined in when personal safety is at […]

Sandy Weill’s Je Ne Regrette Rien at the NYT Falls Very Flat

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 […]

New York Times Takes Aim at Treasury Mortgage Mod Program

Are we going to finally start seeing some pointed mainstream media coverage of the Administration’s limp wristed, industry-favoring financial “reform” plans? While it has been woefully slow in coming, the answer appears to be yes. One has to wonder whether the more skeptical coverage follows the increasing evidence that things may not be working out […]

More on Goldman Shorts: McClatchy Weighs In

McClatchy has a breathless piece up on CDOs and other “exotic” transactions that Goldman did in the Caymans (hat tip reader John D). The problem is that the author got his hands on some very solid information (prospectuses of 40 deals) but the story itself is a bit of muddle. While it has some helpful […]

“Is Blaming AAA Investors Wall-Street Serving PR?”

By Thomas Adams, at Paykin Krieg and Adams, LLP, and a former managing director at Ambac and FGIC. In my view, Goldman, and a host of other clever bankers, are deliberately obscuring one of the most important points about modeling, CDOs and sophisticated investors. One of their defenses against the tremendous losses these products delivered […]

Treasury Gives Misleading Account of TARP Results

Both Obama and the Treasury Department keep talking up the TARP as if it is a money maker for taxpayers, when nothing could be further from the truth. Obama tried this stunt in his anniversary of Lehman speech, and the Treasury continues with the theme, of implying that results for the firms that paid back […]

Guest Post: The Real Reason Newspapers Are Losing Money, And Why Bailing Out Failing Newspapers Would Create Moral Hazard in the Media

By Washington’s Blog. Conventional wisdom is that the Internet is responsible for destroying the profits of traditional print media like newspapers. But Michael Moore and Sean Paul Kelley are blaming the demise of newspapers on simple greed. Michael Moore said in September: It’s not the Internet that has killed newspapers … Instead, he said, it’s […]

Quelle Surprise! Banks See Meeting With Obama as a “PR Stunt” for Administration

We weren’t impressed by Obama’s supposedly tough rhetoric on bankers on 60 Minutes (it pales next to what FDR dished out in his 1933 inaugural address, and discourse was more elevated then than now). It was namby pamby at best. That limp-wristed effort to look more determined to Do Something to mask the fact that […]

Yes, Obama is Getting Serious About Banks. He is Now Calling Them Bad Names!

Are we supposed to take this posturing seriously? The media is now peddling more and more banker-favoring narratives with a straight face. The Columbia Journalism Review described one last week, how a little Goldman Kabuki theater to appease the peasants was incorrectly depicted as a serious move: …the press way overplays what is essentially a […]

Non-Reform of Rating Agencies

The New York Times has a generally solid piece. “Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis,” by David Segal, on how pretty much nothing meaningful is being done to reform the rating agencies. That of course is particularly disturbing since there are only three agencies that count, and they do not posses anything remotely resembling the […]