BLOG.JMHAMILTONPUBLISHING.COM: Monthly Archives for August 2010

"The cases, according to lawyers involved in the matter, are built at least in part around an accusation that the lawmakers violated rules that prohibit them from creating an appearance of a conflict of interest."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/31/2010 8:25 PM | Add Comment

Bretton Woods Time?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/31/2010 6:25 PM | Add Comment

"Banks are exploring ways to comply with the new trading rules. Citigroup Inc. was looking at three options to meet the new rule, including moving a team of proprietary traders into its hedge-fund unit..." And if all else fails, regulatory arbitrage...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/31/2010 5:54 PM | Add Comment

Rating Agency Whitewash!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/31/2010 5:48 PM | Add Comment

Still, banking analysts and others suggest that heated debate over climate change, water quality and other environmental considerations is forcing lenders to take a much harder — and often uncomfortable — look at where they extend credit, and to whom.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/31/2010 5:35 PM | Add Comment

Fuld Will Testify

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 7:16 PM | Add Comment

"The vested interest lies on Wall Street, not Newport Beach or Main Street."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 7:09 PM | Add Comment

"Neither the state nor the oil company informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against BP."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 7:02 PM | Add Comment

“He epitomizes the new type of organized crime, in which the person is educated, has international ties and operates with the support of the state.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 6:48 PM | Add Comment

In China: “Guo jin, min tui !” What's the Difference Between a State Run Enterprise in China, and a State Authorized Monopoly in America or Europe?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 6:25 PM | Add Comment

Get your money for nothing get your laywers for free!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/30/2010 6:15 PM | Add Comment

"Awash in American and NATO money, Mr. Karzai’s government is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt in the world. American officials believe that the corruption drives Afghans into the arms of the Taliban."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/29/2010 7:27 AM | Add Comment

"To protect themselves from potential damage from near-term stock-market declines, investors are buying "put spreads" on the S&P and on the iShares Russell 2000 Index Trust (IWM)."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/29/2010 6:55 AM | Add Comment

If You Believe the Tea Party is a Grass Roots Movement - Think Again!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/29/2010 6:48 AM | Add Comment

"Unfortunately, high-frequency trader interaction with computerized algorithms of large-cap financial institutions is providing opportunities for virtually undetectable market manipulation."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/28/2010 9:49 AM | Add Comment

The Government's Report/Findings on the Flash Crash, Due Out in September, Should Prove Interesting, with So Many Investors Fleeing the Stock Market...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/28/2010 9:32 AM | Add Comment

"In the 2010 election cycle, financial industry donors, from brokers to real estate interests, have contributed $180 million to both Republican and Democratic Congressional candidates, the analysis showed."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/28/2010 9:07 AM | Add Comment

"Their fear is that the North will extract concessions, as it did during the Bush and Clinton administrations, only to test another nuclear bomb."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/28/2010 8:58 AM | Add Comment

“The Fed has run out of the strong tools, and is turning to the weak ones,” Mr. Blinder said . “When you’re fighting in a foxhole and you’ve used up the machine guns and hand grenades, then you pull out the swords and start throwing rocks."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/28/2010 8:53 AM | Add Comment

As Goes the Stock Market - So Goes the Treasurey Yield... For Now!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/27/2010 7:18 PM | Add Comment

Trichet said debt among consumers, businesses and governments “bears the ultimate responsibility for slowing down the economic recovery” and that delivering stability and growth in the coming years would require a “progressive reduction” of it.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/27/2010 7:09 PM | Add Comment

"Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for computer and software maker Apple, said the Cupertino, California-based company doesn’t discuss lawsuits."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/27/2010 6:43 PM | Add Comment

QE2 - On the Horizon, BUT will the Fed Purchase Toxic Assets or Treasuries or Both? Another Back Door Bank Bailout? And Does the Election Season Governs Fed Policy?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/27/2010 6:35 PM | Add Comment

“But current yields and break-even inflation rates provide very little protection against the credible threat of financial oppression in any form it might take.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 6:20 PM | Add Comment

"Various efforts at cyberdefense by the military have been drawn under a single organization, the U.S. Cyber Command, which began operations in late May at Fort Meade"

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 1:18 PM | Add Comment

The Human Cost of Prohibition and the 40 Year Old War on Drugs...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 12:21 PM | Add Comment

"An American official said the practice of paying government officials was sensible, even if they turn out to be corrupt or unsavory."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 7:58 AM | Add Comment

Mortgage Refinancing Credit Freeze!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 6:51 AM | Add Comment

"Blackstone, the world’s biggest private-equity company, has dropped 67 percent in New York trading since a 2007 offering, and Fortress Investment Group LLC lost 82 percent. KKR & Co. this month canceled a $500 million stock sale."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/26/2010 6:33 AM | Add Comment

“It’s a little early to tell that there’s been major reputational damage,” said Ricardo Kleinbaum, a credit analyst at BNP Paribas in New York.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/25/2010 6:46 AM | Add Comment

“It’s not the apocalypse.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/25/2010 6:44 AM | Add Comment

"He singled out Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Lawrence H. Summers, the head of the National Economic Council, as responsible for failing to turn the economy around...."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/25/2010 6:35 AM | Add Comment

“It can easily be shown that branded prices are higher here than they are in other countries..."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/25/2010 6:27 AM | Add Comment

"The moratorium is likely to have a modest immediate effect on domestic oil production."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/25/2010 6:24 AM | Add Comment

Until Mark to Market Accounting Is Imposed Upon the Banks, There will be No Floor Established on Home Prices, and The Alleged Recovery will Stall Or Growth Will be Anemic...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 7:12 AM | Add Comment

Lower Returns on Bonds, and Greater Pension Fund Liabilities, May Also Explain why Corporations are Hiring Fewer Employees...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:59 AM | Add Comment

“I like to think that it will contribute to greater justice.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:48 AM | Add Comment

“So if the anticorruption efforts are too vigorous, they will lead to undermining this ally.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:35 AM | Add Comment

“The crash was an inevitable consequence of creating multiple market centers.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:24 AM | Add Comment

“It’s a game,” said Sam. “You win some, you lose some. Some are sort of a tie.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:21 AM | Add Comment

"...Pakistan’s policy in Afghanistan: retaining decisive influence over the Taliban, thwarting archenemy India, and putting Pakistan in a position to shape Afghanistan’s postwar political order."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/24/2010 6:09 AM | Add Comment

"Bill Gross of Pimco, operator of giant bond funds that just happen to own massive amounts of mortgage-linked debt, told the brainstorming session that Feddie should go all in: Take over the mortgage market and refinance everybody at low rates..."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/22/2010 7:20 AM | Add Comment

“Once you lose credibility, that’s the kiss of death.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/22/2010 7:06 AM | Add Comment

“One thing that the banks can do a better job at is vetting merchants much more carefully.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/22/2010 7:05 AM | Add Comment

“We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks.’ Now we have the first one.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/22/2010 6:25 AM | Add Comment

"People are still staying with bonds."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/22/2010 5:28 AM | Add Comment

"... takes issue with the two Jeremies' assertion that the $559 billion influx into bond mutual funds and $233 billion exodus from equity funds from January 2008 to June 2010 signals a bubble."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 8:08 AM | Add Comment

"We have concerns about the degree of disclosure that state and local governments are making with regard to their pension fund liabilities, given the financial difficulties experienced by many local governments."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 8:07 AM | Add Comment

"Those numbers are leading some housing experts to call the program, which modestly rewards lenders for modifying mortgages, a failure."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 7:54 AM | Add Comment

"Further, Mr. Gold pointed out that Illinois’s official disclosures said that its pension calculations used an actuarial method known as “projected unit credit,” but that the pension reform report used another method, which had not been approved..."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 7:23 AM | Add Comment

“The concern is you’re going to have people essentially being taken advantage of because they have economic straits — they get quick, low settlements and out of economic necessity take them, but in the long run they are not better off."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 6:56 AM | Add Comment

"Mr. Feinberg will determine on a case-by-case basis what qualifies as beach-front property and how payments will be adjusted on a sliding scale based in part on geographic proximity to the spill."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 6:52 AM | Add Comment

"Last September, Iran acknowledged to inspectors that it had spent years building such a hidden facility near the city of Qum, buried in a mountain near a major military base."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 6:51 AM | Add Comment

"Don’t blame the Securities and Exchange Commission for this largely symbolic action. Blame Congress."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/21/2010 6:50 AM | Add Comment

Mr. Geithner interrupted: “I have never actually been in banking. I have only been in public service.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/19/2010 6:42 PM | Add Comment

“The oil is not gone and is not going away anytime soon.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/19/2010 6:31 PM | Add Comment

“There’s no fine, and no accountability on the part of any individuals.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/19/2010 6:28 PM | Add Comment

"HSBC and UBS AG, based in Zurich, are among banks being sued for billions of dollars by investors in so-called feeder funds who claim the banks failed in their duties as custodians."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/19/2010 6:26 PM | Add Comment

Wall Street's Big Win, By Matt Taibbi

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/18/2010 9:00 PM | Add Comment

Retro Blog: "The I.M.F. estimated that banks and other financial institutions faced aggregate losses of $4.05 trillion in the value of their holdings as a result of the crisis."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/18/2010 7:41 PM | Add Comment

The Stock Market Is Rigged.... Look No Further than Dark Pools.... And Yet, Despite the Fed Arbitrarily Holding Interest Rates Low to Bailout Banks, and Incent Savers Back Into the Stock Market, The Public is Not Buying!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:57 PM | Add Comment

This Chart Spells Out Why America Should Be Better Leveraging It's Market Share of World GDP to Its Own Advantage...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:40 PM | Add Comment

On a Somewhat Lighter Note: How You Might Get Injured At Burning Man!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:36 PM | Add Comment

"... if the euro area is simply a mechanism for transferring wealth from the industrious to the feckless, it is hard to see it surviving."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:32 PM | Add Comment

"The absence of such support, Mr. Geithner said, would make future recessions more severe because private lenders would not provide enough money for loans." Because? Because We are living in a Japanese Decade, Dedicated to Propping Up Banks!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:10 PM | Add Comment

Nation Building? Democracy?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 7:03 PM | Add Comment

"The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, recently renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, issued hundreds of these exemptions in recent years to reduce the paperwork burden for oil companies..."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/17/2010 6:53 PM | Add Comment

“There’s a profound lack of conviction in the direction of the economy.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/16/2010 7:30 PM | Add Comment

"Do No Evil" Versus Net Neutrality

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/16/2010 7:24 PM | Add Comment

"The drafting of those experts suggests that General Petraeus intends to take a harder line against corruption in the Karzai government, which ranks among the biggest factors driving Afghans to the Taliban."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/16/2010 7:21 PM | Add Comment

"I still don't think we will see a double-dip, but the risks have increased."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/16/2010 7:20 PM | Add Comment

Bubba Called

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 1:25 PM | Add Comment

Donlan Makes the Case for Labor Arbitrage, and Intel's Monopolistic Control & Unfair Trade Practices. Shame.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 8:35 AM | Add Comment

Apple Sitting on a Bed of Gold....

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 7:48 AM | Add Comment

"... it is true that fear of the future is back."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 7:39 AM | Add Comment

This Administration Understands The Importance of Fighting Guerilla Insurgencies with Covert Ops and by Proxy/Indigenous Forces.... A Lesson that Should Have Broader Application to Afghanistan/Pakistan.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 7:19 AM | Add Comment

Now If Apple Could Apply Its Ethics to Its Chinese Contractors and Vendors.....And Its Pricing Model....

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/15/2010 7:10 AM | Add Comment

"We don't think Armageddon is right around the corner (if we're wrong who'll be left to complain?)."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/14/2010 10:31 AM | Add Comment

So Much for the Alleged Computer Glitch.... Next Question: Was the Event Planned?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/14/2010 10:29 AM | Add Comment

Happy 13th!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:42 PM | Add Comment

"German GDP rose 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, its fastest quarterly rate since the country reunified in the early 1990s following the fall of the Berlin Wall."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:37 PM | Add Comment

"Wherever there is a concern on grounds of national security the government will want access and every country has a right to lawful interference," a senior interior security official.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:35 PM | Add Comment

“When you get down to 50 basis points on two-years, that’s giving you a signal that there’s not much left on the table.”

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:32 PM | Add Comment

"As usual, 'tis the season for market crises in September and October."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:30 PM | Add Comment

"We are really concerned about some of the pricing that's going on,'' Benmosche said.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/13/2010 6:05 PM | Add Comment

Retro Blog: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has signaled that no firms will "fail" the stress tests, but Hoenig said this would be a mistake."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 8:17 PM | Add Comment

"Congress has approved over $1 trillion in spending and tax measures to stimulate the economy." STILL WAITING FOR HELICOPTER - BEN!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 8:00 PM | Add Comment

"He pledged to work with Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who said in a statement the bank is closely watching “substantial” movements in foreign-exchange and stock markets."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:51 PM | Add Comment

Jumping from the Deep End and Into the Abyss!

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:44 PM | Add Comment

MAYHEM

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:30 PM | Add Comment

"That settlement with the safety agency followed an explosion in 2005 that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 people."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:26 PM | Add Comment

Theatre of the Absurd: U.S. Taxpayers Receive Billion Dollar Bailouts, While Wall Street Banks Receive Multi-Trillion Dollar Bailouts! What's Wrong with this Picture?

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:16 PM | Add Comment

"McChrystal has issued some of the strictest directives to avoid civilian casualties that the U.S. military has ever encountered in a war zone. It's 'insurgent math,' as he calls it – for every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies." - R.S.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 7:12 PM | Add Comment

Bailouts for Wall Street Banks, but Not the Average Citizen.... Interesting.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/12/2010 5:57 AM | Add Comment

Humpty Dumpty Chart.... Look Out for that Fall...

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 9:16 PM | Add Comment

"AIG's stock dropped 5.3 percent to trade at $38.08 on Wednesday."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 9:07 PM | Add Comment

Lessons from Rosty: Rostenkowski told Bloomberg News in 2005 that the great challenge, and ultimate success, of 1986 was matching tax cuts, dollar for dollar, with eliminations of loopholes and tax increases on corporations.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 9:00 PM | Add Comment

失われた10年 (Translation: Lost Decade)

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 8:53 PM | Add Comment

"This is what happens when you run a massive Ponzi scheme for six decades straight, taking ever larger resources from the young and giving them to the old while promising the young their eventual turn at passing the generational buck."

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 8:46 PM | Add Comment

While the FOMC essentially maintained the status quo, the panel pledged it will "employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability." In other words, whatever it takes.

Posted by J.M. Hamilton Blog at 8/11/2010 8:40 PM | Add Comment

Main Navigation

Quick Search

Calendar

Syndicate

Monthly Archives

Category Archives

Tag Cloud

Recent Posts

Twitter Link

JMHAMILTONPUBLISHINGBLOG