The Obama team here seems so happy with delivering only what the Republicans and the Financial Lobby would allow. And that is unfortunately playing to the weaknesses in the Executive Branch that have continued through the last two presidencies – a)a grossly poor financial management and regulatory record with a tough choice among Alan Greenspan […]
The Obama Flaw in Financial Reform Read More »
The other shoe has fallen –China announced today that its currency would be priced based on a basket of currencies rather than exclusively on the US dollar. The net result is that Chinese goods should become more expensive. But this broader pegging announcement has been heard before and the Chinese manage to wriggle free of
Made in China: Rising Costs Read More »
One can hardly expect MarketWatch, being in the Dow Jones stable of financial news powerhouses like the Wall Street Journal and Barrons to be the most impressive. But Marketwatch is making a superb case for itself with a)its independence of point of view and b)its willingness to take on major issues and not tow the
MarketWatch: Going Beyond the Instant Financial News? Read More »
BAM Investor has rattled Wall Street cages by releasing a prediction of a $45 Apple stock price as of 3rd quarter 2010, latest 1st quarter 2011. Ha! Poppycock and nonsense. Apple as of June 23 end of day is at $270 and the cash and equivalents alone is north of $27/share. Who do these BAM
BAM: Apple at $45… Read More »
There is no doubt that there is an emerging contest open now for becoming the next and new World Financial Center. The opportunity broke with the breakdown of financial responsibility on Wall Street and European financial centers plus the caving of fiscal discipline [consistently running increasing budget deficits over the past 5-10 years]by many developed
Singapore Ups the Ante Read More »
There is a a fascinating post on Goldman Sach’s committment to Ethics at the Financial News: Goldman Sachs, which publishes an ethics code on its website that emphasizes its “integrity and honesty”, adds a rider that reads: “From time to time, the firm may waive certain provisions of this Code.” Yes indeed, the sound of
Goldman Sachs on Ethics Read More »
The number 1,2,3 problems in the US Economy are as of September 14,2008: 1)All the banks are not working and not willing to lend at all. 2)Both consumers and governments are not paying for what they consume. 3)Jobs are in rapid decline. The number 1,2,3, problems in the US Economy are as of October 2009:
Note to Wall Street Investors and President Obama Read More »
I think Dow Jones MarketWatch indulges columnist Paul Farrell as the titular Cassandra – proof that Dow Jones takes in all perspectives just in case if markets and the world’s economies go terribly wrong, Dow Jones can point to their Cassandra and say “we told you so”. Here is a Whitman Sampler of Farrell’s forebodings
Paul Farrell: Crash Cassandra Read More »
Willliam Cohan in the NYTimes chronicles How Wall Street Has Gone Free on nearly every incident leading to and during the Financial Meltdown. There is evidence of great fiduciary, civil and regulatory wrongdoing and nothing is being done by Justice or any of the other 17 financial regulatory agencies. Now only one stone remains –
Wall Street Nearly Home, Scott Free Read More »
This is the weekend when the Financial Reforms, just passed by the Senate, but now subject to reconciliation of the House and Senate versions, gets analyzed in the major business and news media. And its open hunting season among the Financial lobbyists. Read this story about the lobbying forces and money being marshaled for the
Arrayed Against Financial Reform Read More »
If there is any doubt about the the challenging and thankless task of Economic and Financial Regulation just take a gander at the recent ruling by the FTC to approve Google’s acquisition of AdMob. The NYTimes catches much of the flavor of the decision in its reporting here. The basic problems in regulation are threefold.
Behind Why Google Gets AdMob Read More »
MarketWatch has just reported that the Senate has made it safe to bet big and naked on Wall Street. An amendment to the Finance Reform Bill that would have outlawed Naked CDS – Credit Default Swaps that are pure bets on what will happen on default positions taken by others; this prudish amendment has thankfully
Saints Preserve US – US Senate Rescues Wall Street Gambling Dens! Read More »
Felix Salmon showed the following graphic: Felix goes on to argue in effect that its because financial markets are so efficient that the Financial Industry has been able to dodge a big jobs decline. Need I say more ?
What Industry Has Escaped the Recession? Read More »
MarketWatch has just reported that the Senate has made it safe to bet big and naked on Wall Street. An amendment to the Finance Reform Bill that would have outlawed Naked CDS – Credit Default Swaps that are pure bets on what will happen on default positions taken by others. Now naked CDS are are
Breaking News: Still Good to Gamble on Wall Street Read More »
There is strong evidence that what has been suspected is true – the Big Banking Game is Fixed. And you thought the top US Banks had to fight to survive in one of the toughest and most coldly efficient banking markets. But diverse financial media players like China Post, Bloomberg, Iranian Financial Times, NYTimes, and
Is the Wall Street Banking Game Fixed ? Read More »
The NewYork Times in an editorial today has published its bottom-line financial reforms. This past week Takethe5th also listed the financial reforms and prosecutions that had to be implemented to dispel the notion that Congress had been bought out by Wall Street. After all, Financial Industry lobbying and campaign contributions have exceeded $110 million for
Financial Reforms List: Comparison NYTimes vs Takethe5th Read More »
The pillory or public whipping post went out of fashion in England and Europe by the 1830’s but non-public whippings, usually in prisons, occurred until the 1960’s in various jurisdictions including the US[see wikipedia for back-ground reference here]. However, the US has not abandoned Verbal Whippings in Congress. Congress has used its Congressional Hearings mechanisms
The Public Whippings of Goldman Sachs Read More »
Here is something I did not expect to print here – Republican Senator Corker from Tennessee is offering a Financial Reform idea that has real bite: Corker said on “This Week” that he plans to introduce a “claw-back” provision which would take away the personal earnings for the past five years of the corporate officers
GOP Financial Reform Idea That Works! Read More »
What is becoming increasingly apparent and broadcasted ever more widely across all media is that the culture at the top tier US banks, hedge funds, and financial firms is an anything goes, casino gambling culture. $50B fraudster Bernie Madoff was not an isolated aberration but symptomatic of Wall Street’s greedy gambling addiction. Just one example,
Wall Street’s Made-off with the Money Culture Read More »
The above pricing model for Google represents a new Technical Analysis – no not moving averages and Bollingers boundaries based on past patterns of pricing with no reference to products, marketing, or sales trends. Rather what Trefis does is provide a stock price modeling framework based on what markets a stock is in rather than
The New “Technical Analysis” of Stocks Read More »
Whats a waste! Apple’s Steve Job is getting awfully close to libelous scamming of Adobe Flash Player.Adobe has made the critical mistake of not putting enough resources into developing for Linux and Mac. And so Steve throws out HTML5 as a solution – and walks right into 3 big punches. First, HTML5 is far from
Apple versus Adobe Feud Read More »
Tea Party members are riled to the point of rabid protest by one simple fact – Wall Street still trumps Main Street. Wall Street bankers are a) bigger than ever and more likely to fail catastrophically than before; b)are bonusing and compensating themselves bigger than ever before while still being on the dole for Fed
Wall Street Still Trumps Main Street Read More »
Given the huge cost to taxpayers for the Financial Bailout[and not just in TARP funds but the much bigger recession costs to governments at all levels due to loss of tax revenues while having to make increased safety net expenditures], Tea Party Members should have meaningful Financial Reform at the top of their agenda. But
The Tea Party and Meaningful Financial Reform Read More »
Apple’s Steve Jobs appears to have a)granted Adobe’s Lee Brimelow’s wish and scr#wed himself and b)has Amazon, Dell, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm and a bevy of other mobile players wishing for many more happy returns by the Cupertino Czar to such faux pas plays in an unforgivably fast evolving Mobile Lite Device market. Lets handle
How Steve Jobs Has Scr#wed Himself Read More »
Microsoft Kin is a throw-away – that is the jist of the conclusion one derives from the Engadget Opinion piece by Ross Rubin: Kin Dread Spirit. In the article, Ross describes how Microsoft top brass including Steve Ballmer and Peter Bache found fault with Google last December for entering the mobile market at the expense
Microsoft Kin: A Throw Away Read More »
One of the problems of the Financial Reforms before Congress is that simple things are not being done. It harkens back to the days of the Antitrust case against Microsoft. All sorts of breakup scenarios were tried-ballooned and then time ran out as Bush was declared President. Simple things like saying the IE browser and
Simple Financial Reforms Read More »
Barry Blitt and Frank Rich have a great commentary today on what is next on the Obama agenda – Financial Reforms. And Frank implies in his editorial that given the public mood Obama has a decided advantage in making these reforms – the almost unanimously opposing Republicans will be sealing their status as the Party
Next on Obama’s Agenda: Financial Reforms Read More »
Today is the day when Senator Chris Dodd reveals his final package for Financial Reforms – it should be as interesting as the Microsoft reveal is also today on Web Standards. Redmond decrees what, how much and how quickly it will embrace both old[promised but never delivered] and new Web Standards its going to embrace
Today: Financial Reform Reveal Date Read More »
Good and True History is important so that past mistakes are not repeated – or false excuses for what was done are exposed for frauds and appropriate parties discredited if not prosecuted. Nowhere is good history more important than in the case of the just past financial meltdown of 2007-2009. Hopefully it does not linger
Meltdown Financial History Read More »
Who pays what in taxes is about wealth and whether it pays its fair share of taxes – leave aside the question of whether the distribution of income and wealth is equitable. Here is the distribution of wealth in America as of 2007: Here is the distribution tax payers in the US as of 2009:
Who Pays the Taxes ? Read More »
I have an MBA friend, Mike, who is also a CFA-Chartered Financial Analyst whose Financial Counseling business must legally adhere to Fiduciary Trust obligations which does not allow the conflict of interest and high financial risk taking that was so prominent in the recent financial debacle. CFA-based Financial Counselors did not succumb to in-house blandishments
Towing the Financial Party Line Read More »
CFA-Chartered Financial Analyst members have taken it on the chin for the past 3-4 years as the markets have tumbled and now gyrate with great volatility.CFA advisors and counsellors, subject to legally binding Fiduciary Trust Limits may well have been some of the babies tossed out with the bad financial waters in the latest down
Financial Reform: CFAs Strike Back Read More »
