This is in Japanese, but I don’t need to know the exact words.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
About Damn Time
The FBI has raided at least 3 hedge funds on suspicion of insider trading:
The FBI has begun what is expected to be a far-reaching probe into insider trading with raids on hedge funds linked to some of Wall Street’s most high-profile and wealthiest players.
The sweep – which began with armed agents raiding the Connecticut offices of Level Global Investors and Diamondback Capital Management, both multibillion dollar hedge funds set up by former managers at Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors – is already affecting stocks: a collective $15bn was wiped off the valuations of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.
According to reports published in the Wall Street Journal, investigators from several law enforcement and regulatory agencies are looking into multiple insider-trading rings that reaped millions in illegal profits. An FBI spokesman confirmed last night that the agency was executing “court-ordered search warrants”, but declined to elaborate.
One focus is whether proprietary information is being passed from companies to hedge funds by network of independent analysts and consultants.
Well, this is refreshing: It appears that someone is beginning to look at “business as usual” on Wall Street, and they have noticed that it’s corrupt.
I also have to note that the coverage on the Marketplace radio program was repulsive.
They had an apologist fow wall street on, and he wrung his hands about how fuzzy the lines were, and how no one was really hurt.
This is bovine scatology. Just because they are robbing millions of.investors a few bucks at a time does not diminish the crime.
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James Carville is Wrong
You see, he said, “If Hillary gave up one of her balls and gave it to Obama, he’d have two.”
This is wrong to say.
He’d just have 1.
Vaticanology
So, Pope Benedict XVI has now issued a tepid statement saying that gay male prostitutes might be able to use condoms, under certain special circumstances, because there is no possibility of procreation:
The Vatican today rushed out a “clarification” of the pope’s remarks on the use of condoms, reported in a book to be published this week, insisting he had “not reformed or changed the [Roman Catholic] church’s teaching”.
But the statement made clear that Pope Benedict XVI was prepared to consider the use of condoms in certain, limited circumstances.
And now we are seeing the walk-back from this, so I am uncertain if this is a real initiative, or one of those cases a game of academic what-if-ing is taken as something more.
So, it’s either significant, or it isn’t.
Apparrently, I Am Not the Only One Who Thought This………
Click for full size
Blah, blah, blah!
I saw this at the Wholefoods Market™, and I saw this.
It’s called the “Buddha’s Hand Citron”, but I immediately dubbed it the “Cthulhu Fruit.”
I did not catch the name, but when I got home, I searched for “Cthulhu” and “Citron” on Google™ images, and this Flicker Stream was, not kidding here, the first image up, which shows that something are universal, at least for aficionados of the work of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
There are a lot of people who call this “Cthulhu Fruit”.
Our Annoying World
My old Palm OS™ phone is wearing out, the keyboard is no longer working, so I got an upgraded phone, a Samsung Epic.
Now I have to teach myself a completely new OS, android, for my phone, and figure out how to sync it with Outlook.
It’s an impressive phone though.
It happens every time I upgrade my phone.
About Damn Time!
The Commercial, but the music is better than average
When I was working at BAE Systems on the FCS-RMV, one of the systems that we needed to place on our vehicle was the so-called “Active Protection System” (APS), Raytheon’s “Quick Kill, a hit-to-kill interceptor intended to neutralize RPGs, ATGWs, and long rod KE penetrators.
One of the problems with this system, at least as if fed down to us doing the design, was that it never worked properly, which was surprising, considering that the Israelis had a system, Trophy, which worked, and was far less expensive than the APS.
Of course, because of the need for generals to find lucrative consulting gigs in retirement, Trophy was fought tooth and nail by the army, with their refusing to test the system on Strykers in Iraq.
Well, what goes around comes around, and with Raytheon basically dead, the US army will finally try out the system on a Stryker:
Next month a Stryker combat vehicle will arrive in the US equipped for testing the Israeli’s Trophy active protection system. The Army has pursued active protection for years, most recently abandoning the Future Combat System’s active protection system developed by Raytheon. We understand at least one M-ATV will also get the radar– directed system. The M-ATV integration is more challenging, given the vehicle’s design.
Seriously, it’s been something like 6 years that the Pentagon has refused to test the system, instead holding out for a system that was never near ready because our defense procurement system is that broken.
This is Cool
You know, I’m generally not a fan of rap, and I generally find the genre of “weird Japanese videos” to be disturbing (see Pr0n, Tentacle), but this is very engaging, and completely work safe.
It is both universally engaging and truly Japanese at the same time.
H/t JR at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS.
A New Magazine for the Married Man
Heh!You know, based on personal experience, I think that this might be a very lucrative market, but I need to ask Sharon* if it’s prudent for me to offer a more thorough analysis of the potential dynamics of such a publication.
*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!
And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
- Gulf State Community Bank, Carrabelle, FL
- Allegiance Bank of North America, Bala Cynwyd, PA
- First Banking Center, Burlington, WI
So, we haven’t hit 150 failures yet this year, but it’s pretty clear that we will, even though it seems to be trending down a bit over the past few months.
So, here is the graph pr0n with trendline (FDIC only):
I would note that are now at the point where the utility of the least squares trendline is diminishing, but I’m keeping it here for historical purposes.
What My Daughter Listens To
My Chemical Romance’s song Welcome to the Black Parade:
I Am So Glad That I Do Not Live 15 Miles Further East
Because if I did, the biggest wanker in Congress would be my Congresscritter:
A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in.
Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.
“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange. The benefits session, held behind closed doors, drew about 250 freshman members, staffers and family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium late Monday morning,”.
“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide, who was struck by the similarity to Harris’s request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine.
Andy Harris campaigned non-stop against government run healthcare, but that’s only for people who aren’t him, I guess.
Do Not Frack With Them………Ever!!
Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow take on John Sidney McCain III’s flip flopping, Rachel generally, and Jon just on DADT.
Damn, this is brutal.
100% true, but brutal.
Trials Work
Ahmed Ghailani, accused of being complicit in the embassy bombings in Africa 19 1998, was acquitted of all but one of the almost 300 charges against him:
White House officials said Thursday that the acquittal of Ahmed Ghailani on all but one of more than 280 criminal charges in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa would not undermine their effort to try former Guantanamo detainees in civilian court, even as the mixed verdict reignited debate over that policy.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Ghailani – the first former detainee to be tried in federal court – will receive a lengthy prison sentence for his conviction on one count of conspiracy.
Of course, it lazy investigators had not tortured him at Guantanamo in the first place, and instead used their brains and skills, they probably would have gotten dozens of convictions, but even with the sloppy work, the get a conviction.
There is no need for torture of military kangaroo courts. We can use our judges and our laws, right here in the United States.
Of course, we won’t because Barack Obama and Eric “Place” Holder are to wimpy to stand up for our values.
Signs of the Apocalypse, Steny Hoyer Showing Guts Edition
You got that right, Steny fracking Hoyer is finding a damn backbone:
Steny Hoyer, the number two in the House Dem leadership, told Democrats at a caucus meeting this morning that they would get to vote this year on just extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, a senior Dem aide tells me, signaling support for a confrontational move towards the GOP that liberals have been pushing.
Asked if Democrats would definitely get a chance to hold this vote, the senior aide responded: “Definitely.”
Hoyer’s declaration comes as Democrats have been debating the way forward on the Bush tax cuts, and another aide tells me that “more than half” of the Dem caucus supports this course of action.
I approve, but I wonder just who the hell had Steny’s testicles, and why they decided to give it back to him.
Raising taxes on people making more than a ¼ of a million dollars a year is excellent policy, and excellent politics, so it surprises me that Democrats are even thinking about doing this.
Doubtless, they will find a way to screw this up, and I’m sure that Heath Shuler will be leading the way, but I’m still getting a heavy duty umbrella, just in case it starts to rain frogs.
Economics Update
It’s jobless Thursday, and initial claims rose slightly last week, up by 2000 to 439K, beating expectations, and remaining below the 450-485K range where the number has meandered much of this year, so this is good news.
Additionally, the 4-week moving average dropped to a 2 year low of 443,000 and continuing claims fell fell by 43K to 4.3 million, though extended emergency claims rose by 12K to 4.93 million.
Good news though, the extended claims number drops to 0 on November 30, thanks to the ineptitude of Congressional Democrats.
We also have Philadelphia Bank of the Federal Reserve, where its general economic index exceeded forecasts by a factor of 4, jumping to 22.5.
On the down side, as always, is real estate, where foreclosures are ramping up again, as banks tweak their fraud and corruption fine tune their foreclosure programs and documentation.
Speaking of Mind Blowing Stupidity
The hed says it all, “The White House, Chamber Of Commerce Attempt Rapprochement.”
What the f%$# are they thinking?
I know that Barack Obama thinks that he is so awesome that people can’t help liking him, and that they like him so much that they will work together for the good of the country, but that is stupid and delusional:
On Wednesday, the intricacies and oddities of the relationship were on full display. For the second time in as many weeks, a member of the Obama cabinet met with Chamber officials. It was not to discuss the sharp elbows thrown during the campaign, when the White House, in no uncertain terms, accused the Chamber of subverting the democratic process by refusing to reveal its donors. Rather, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with the group’s board of directors to “discuss the state of the economy, jobs, and administration priorities ‘for supporting the competitiveness of American businesses’.”
The Chamber of Commerce has always been a very conservative organization, but it is no longer that: It is now an explicitly partisan player whose goal is the defeat of Obama in 2012 by any means necessary.
They are not the opposition they are the enemy.
And little Timmy Geithner is playing footsie, no doubt with Barack’s approval.
<Facepalm>
And the Award for Lame Losers Goes to ……You know that recovery that we seem to be having, well expect it to stop, suddenly, in just a few weeks.
Why, because somehow or other the House Democrats managed to lose a vote on extending unemployment benefits extension, meaning that roughly 5 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits on November 30.
That’s 5 million Americans who will be unable to make car or house payments of buy much of anything at all.
Figure about $1.5 billion pulled out of the economy a week, or a little bit over ½% of GDP that would just go away.
Not only did they not manage to pass the bill, but it was only a 3 month extension that they managed not to pass, so they failed on a lame half measure.
For some reason known only to God, they tried to pass it under a “suspension of the rules” requiring a ⅔ vote, which it failed, by 258 to 154.
OK, I do know the reason why the Democrats tried to pass this under a procedure requiring a 2/3 vote: If it passes by a simple majority, then people can make a “motion to recommit”, which could kill the bill, and would not pass, or a “motion to recommit with instructions”, where it is sent back to committee with instructions to make amendments, which doesn’t kill the bill.
The problem is that the Democratic Caucus discipline is so lax that if the Republicans try to attach something that Democrats fear might be used in a campaign, like, for example, banning felons from getting UI benefits, then many of the Democrats, fearful for being cast as soft on crime in the next election, will vote for the measure and against the party, and the country, because they have no damn guts.
Of course, the reason that the Dems lost on November 2 was because they have no damn guts, so their solution is even more gutlessness.
Cthulhu on a cruller, it’s lame.
Economics Update
Well, if you think that the run up to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (printing money) might lead to inflation, you thought wrong, with inflation at 0.2% in October, and the core rate at 0% for the 3rd straight month, and the year over year change was an anemic 0.6%.
The problem is that there isn’t enough inflation.
We also have real estate news, all bad, with housing starts falling, house prices in the US falling 2.8% in September (down 0.8% in the UK), mortgage applications falling, and the AIA’s: Architecture Billings Index, an indicator of future commercial construction, falling in October.
Buh Bye Bean
Melissa Bean has conceded the election to her Republican opponent Joe Walsh, and honestly, it makes me happy.
I’d feel different if she were the margin for control of the house, but she isn’t, and she is arguably the worst Democrat in Congress, because she sold her soul for campaign donations to the financial industry, and she was the most effective force on Congress for gutting financial regulations.
While she is (until January) was a member of both the Blue Dog and New Democrat Caucus, she was always about raking in the campaign dough from banks, pharma, etc. so that they can stay in office, which shades her more toward the New Dem side, as opposed to the Blue Dogs, who tend to be motivated more by their own misguided philosophy or a desire to appease constituents.
Give me an honest reactionary over a pseudo-moderate careerist any day.
In related news. Lisa Murkowski beat Joe Miller in her write-in bid.
In your face, Sarah Palin.