NY Fed in Bed with Goldman - Fed chair holds Goldman stock

[autorank]

What a surprise. When he chaired the NY Federal Reserve, Tim Geithner held a critical Fed meeting to decide which investment banks will survive, which will die. Goldman was the only investment bank present. Their biggest debtor, AIG, got a big fat bailout check, much to Goldman's benefit.

Now this...


New York Fed Chairman's Ties to Goldman Raise Questions
WSJ May 4, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124139546243981801.html#mod%3DtestMod%26articleTabs%3Darticle
By KATE KELLY and JON HILSENRATH

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shaped Washington's response to the financial crisis late last year, which buoyed Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other Wall Street firms. Goldman received speedy approval to become a bank holding company in September and a $10 billion capital injection soon after.

During that time, the New York Fed's chairman, Stephen Friedman, sat on Goldman's board and had a large holding in Goldman stock, which because of Goldman's new status as a bank holding company was a violation of Federal Reserve policy.

Digg

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[autorank]

11. Full article - if it doesn't show up on the WSJ link above

It seems that the WSJ is making this article subscribers only.

Here's a link to a Google Group with the article:

http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.663137/msg/ecdf9f9071ee946f?

Here's a few more paragraphs where the above left off.

The New York Fed asked for a waiver, which, after about 2½ months, the
Fed granted. While it was weighing the request, Mr. Friedman bought
37,300 more Goldman shares in December. They've since risen $1.7
million in value.

Mr. Friedman also was overseeing the search for a new president of the
New York Fed, an officer who has a critical role in setting monetary
policy at the Federal Reserve. The choice was a former Goldman
executive.

The case illustrates what a tangle of overlapping interests can arise
at a hybrid institution like the New York Federal Reserve Bank,
especially as the U.S. government, in addressing the financial and
economic turmoil, grows ever more deeply enmeshed in American business
and banking.

Mr. Friedman, who once ran Goldman, says none of these events involved
any conflicts. He says his job as chairman of the New York Fed isn't a
policy-making one, that he didn't consider his purchases of more
Goldman shares to conflict with Fed policy, and bought shares because
they were very cheap.

More: http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.663137/msg/ecdf9f9071ee946f?

[Fireweed247]

20. "Mr. Friedman bought 37,300 more Goldman shares in December"

These people are unbelievable! For some reason they think they can loot our country and get away with it.

And it's working- what the hell is wrong with US? Where are the torches and pitchforks?? :grr:

[WestSeattle2]

52. This kind of thing will be the catalyst for a

feasible third party. It's becoming all too clear to most reasonable people that both major parties are under the control of those whose own self-interest does not include our best interests and they are all too willing to sacrifice the good of the many for their own good.

Capitalism will eventually implode due to unbridled and unchecked greed, is it now?

[MannyGoldstein]

2. No Shit?

You're not insinuating that the Paulson/Summers/Geithner plan is a fix for Goldman, are you?

:eyes:

[autorank]

12. "Just the facts ma'am" as Jack Friday used to say

But it's not hard to connect the dots.

Buffett invests after AIG gets a load from Treasury:

"Warren Buffett to the rescue: His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed today to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group via a purchase of preferred stock.

"Berkshire also will get warrants to buy up to $5 billion of Goldman common shares.

"The deal, announced after markets closed, amounts to a huge vote of confidence by Buffett in the investment banking titan, at a time when investors remain spooked about the future of Wall Street.

"Goldman Sachs is an exceptional institution," Buffett said in a statement. "It has an unrivaled global franchise, a proven and deep management team and the intellectual and financial capital to continue its track record of outperformance."

Then his investment pays off while the NY Fed Chair is buying Goldman as well:

"Shares of Goldman have more than doubled since hitting a record low of $47.44 last November 21, with about two-thirds of the gain coming since March 9, according to Reuters data."

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE52N6EA20090324

What a genius this guy is! How could he have known just what an "exceptional institution" Goldman was?

[Dinger]

3. So, Is Our President Really Cool With Geithner?

I'm not, and I know I'm not the only one.

[progressoid]

4. Sadly, he appears to be,

[aquart]

7. Well, no man can know everything and Obama has the capacity to learn.

Pity he's going to learn the hard way.

[Old Hob]

9. Exactly, you can't expect the man to be right on day one every day.

;-)

[tomp]

13. when trillions are on the line and criminals are escaping...

...he damn well better be right on day one. some people saw this coming. or maybe obama's not as good at chess as people think. or maybe yet, he might not be playing for us but for the banks, in which case he would be an excellent player.

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. He's an excellent player, just not for us, but for the banks.

I think you are right about that.

[INdemo]

51. The appointments of Geithner and Summers was not just choosing the best.

I think Wall St, in a round about way,made sure those two names were on the short list and eventual appointments because they were Wall St, groomed.Somehow there was a Wall St.connection that was able to lobby for these two appointments.. So yes Obama has done more for the banks than he has for the average citizen..They hold companies like GM to very strict guidelines while they give the banks a blank check with no strings attached...So that leaves liitle room for argument.

[autorank]

16. Tim's in like Flint

No success like failure.

William K Black: "Mopping up the savings-and-loan crisis cost $150 billion; this current crisis will probably cost a multiple of that. The scale of fraud is immense. This whole bank scandal makes Teapot Dome look like some kid's doll set. Unless the current administration changes course pretty drastically, the scandal will destroy Barack Obama's presidency. The Bush administration was even worse. But they are out of town. This will destroy Obama's administration, both economically and in terms of integrity." April 13, 2009
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/william-k-black.html

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. I think he is.

x(

[autorank]

27. Wonder what his special charm is?

Did he promise to get this all cleared up? What was his record at the NY Fed?


As head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Geithner gave an interview to Jenny Anderson of the New York Times in Feb. 2007. When asked about the high risk credit derivatives market, a risk he claimed that he'd addressed, Geithner said: "The fact that the banks are stronger and risk is spread more broadly should make the system more stable. We can’t know that with certainty though. We’ll have a test of that when things next threaten to fall apart."

Will anybody mention that we've had Mr. Geithner's anticipated "test" and things did "fall apart" because the banks were weaker not "stronger."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. "The Money Party"

is pretty damned pervasive, no?

Good to see you posting here, Michael. It seems like it's been awhile.

:kick:

[autorank]

8. Ahoy HCE SuiGeneris

The Money Party is rockin' They're coming out of their backrooms to loot main street and they won't stop until it's picked clean.

It's nice to be here, never left, just spending a little extra time on the back 40 to pay the rent.

:hi:

[robinlynne]

6. oooh. The whole thing is disgusting, glad some laws were broken so we can say it was illegal, not

just absolutely IMMORAL.

[autorank]

10. It's at least nughty;)

At this meeting at the NY Fed (Geithner was Chairman at the tiime), Treasury Secretary Paulson, former Goldman CEO, and the the then CEO of Goldman, were both present. Lehman Bros was allowed to go down, AIG was sieved, Goldman's biggest investor survived, and Goldman thrived (with a big fat investment by Schwarzenegger booster Warren Buffett. AIG's initial cash donation from the Treasury grew substantially over time and ended up paying off foreign bank investments.

"Two weeks ago, the nation’s most powerful regulators and bankers huddled in the Lower Manhattan fortress that is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, desperately trying to stave off disaster.

"As the group, led by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., pondered the collapse of one of America’s oldest investment banks, Lehman Brothers, a more dangerous threat emerged: American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, was teetering. A.I.G. needed billions of dollars to right itself and had suddenly begged for help.

"The only Wall Street chief executive participating in the meeting was Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson’s former firm. Mr. Blankfein had particular reason for concern.

"Although it was not widely known, Goldman, a Wall Street stalwart that had seemed immune to its rivals’ woes, was A.I.G.’s largest trading partner, according to six people close to the insurer who requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. A collapse of the insurer threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman’s side, several of these people said.

"Days later, federal officials, who had let Lehman die and initially balked at tossing a lifeline to A.I.G., ended up bailing out the insurer for $85 billion." NY Times Sep 27, 2008

Just like Connies back room payout.

*Correction to OP. Goldman had the only CEO in the room at the Set 2008 meeting. There were some lower level types from other investment banks present. But they had the fomer CEO who counted, Paulson.

[blindpig]

14. K&R

Ya got to wonder, where does all of the audacity come from? They're not even trying to hide it. Why are they so fearless, is it because they know that they have nothing to fear from this administration and that the now ruling party is in a compromised position? The Republicans are always reliably on their side, there is no opposition in this matter.

[autorank]

15. The Social Security move shows where priorities lie

What a bold move? Why? It makes no sense at all.

This business with the NY Fed chairman is really outrageous. And the Federal Reserve told the
guy that it was OK. How did they arrive at that conclusion since it's against their rules in
the first place. He's supposed to regulate banks, Goldman included, and he owns their stock
and buys more. The rules say no but Ben Bernake and the Federal Reserve say, sure, why not?

There are only a few truth tellers left and they're not covrered.

[Fireweed247]

19. K&R

Just how much more of this bullshit looting are we going to take?

[autorank]

21. Great graph -- recommended!!!

Thanks for posting that. You know, I'd wondered why Liddy took the AIG job for a $1 a year;)

I just thought it was for public service;)

[DemReadingDU]

40. Ohhh, that is awesome!

Thanks!

[autorank]

60. It's a festival of truth!

[Muttocracy]

45. Wow, that's an eye-opener! nt

[nichomachus]

22. Knock me over with a feather

[bvar22]

23. !

NOW we have Your Children’s Money too !!!
And there is not a fucking thing you can do about it!
Now THIS is “Post-Partisanship” !
Better get used to it!!
Hahahahahahahahaha!

[autorank]

25. Bingo! It's all about ...

"The Money Party is a small group of enterprises and individuals who have most of the money in this country. They use that money to make more money. Controlling who gets elected to public office is the key to more money for them and less for us. As 2008 approaches, The Money Party is working hard to maintain its perfect record.

It is not about Republicans versus Democrats. Right now, the Republicans do a better job taking money than the Democrats. But The Money Party is an equal opportunity employer. They have no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. Democrats are as welcome as Republicans to this party. It’s all good when you’re on the take
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0709/S00549.htm

[mod mom]

24. shocking. rec'd

:hi:

[autorank]

26. Ironically so ...

:hi:

Wouldn't you think that this guy would say to himself, "I really want that Goldman stock because I KNOW it's going to bounce back. I've helped it do that. But as much as I can make, I'm sure to get busted and look like a big crook."

But he was busted, when he asked Bernake's big Fed if he could do it. What do they say: 'Hey, sure, no problem.'

It's all about them and their prosperity. They don't even give us that lame "trickle down" line anymore. We no longer pose enough of a threat, in their minds, to even be worth lying to.

[DemReadingDU]

42. It's all about them and their prosperity

That's it! It's only them that matter. And they are taking whatever is there, now, while they can, however they can. That's why there is so much happy talk in the news... to distract the herd. Once the herd figures it out, there will be nothing left, and the system will collapse, whereby the herd become paupers.
:(

[riderinthestorm]

28. I've said it before but I'm deeply, deeply troubled by Obama's economic team

and Obama's acquiesence to the financial policies they have devised. He's had feedback from Krugman and Stiglitz yet he persists in allowing the greatest theft of the US treasury to proceed with the merry band of TPTB insiders' facilitation. Has Obama been promised a future stake, is he already sold out? He just can't claim ignorance anymore when all of it is exposed. So much of this is already out there and more incredibly unethical relationships are just gonna keep getting exposed, he's got to know.

[bertman]

29. I'm sorry to be the one who has to inform you of this, riderinthestorm, but they are

NOT Obama's economic team. They are his handlers. He actually admitted it in his press conference last week.

Wall Street controls this government, lock, stock and barrel. They used to make an attempt to hide it back when there were still enough Congressmen and Senators who still had some scruples. Nowadays, they just take what they want and let the corporate media explain how it is "necessary" for the good of America.

Any day now I'm expecting them to reinstitute prima nocte.

[riderinthestorm]

30. It's just an inescapable conclusion isn't it.

:cry:

You know, I almost changed my name during the amnesty to riderONthestorm be more in line with the correct Doors song title "Riders On The Storm" (of which my name is an obvious riff) but frankly, Obama's economic team (handlers - dammit) was the reason I was fearful, am truly fearful, that the storm hasn't really abated.

Alas.

[bertman]

41. If it's any consolation, that is a classic rock anthem. The Doors are one of the few great

rock bands I missed back in the day.

[DemReadingDU]

43. There are some of us who also are fearful of Obama's "handlers"

Check out the daily Stock Market Watch posted in the Late Breaking News forum by Ozymandius

It seems like the postings are becoming less about market watching and more about Obama's "handlers"
Monday 5/4/09
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3860332
Tuesday 5/5/09
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3861680

[MasonJar]

31. Someone in the finance sector breaking the law? WOW! Now what is going

to be done about it? Why is Geithner still the Treasury Secretary?

[autorank]

33. Dunno why but look at this ...

"We need some chairmen or chairwomen … in Congress, to hold the necessary hearings (on banking fraud) and we can blast this out. But if you leave the failed CEOs in place, it isn't just that they're terrible business people, though they are. It isn't just that they lack integrity, though they do. Because they were engaged in these frauds … they're not going to disclose the truth about the assets." (Bill Moyers Journal, Apr 3, 2009) http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html

[truedelphi]

57. Thanks, Autorank, for the citation

Good to know the law that needs to be cited.

[autorank]

73. Well, according to William K Black

if you have someone in there who will do the right thing - throw out the incompetent heads of failed banks, then you have replacements at those banks who go in and find all the short cuts, mistakes, and potential illegalities. As the new boss, anyone would do that. But that means that the "in crowd" replaced at these banks will face heavy duty scrutiny. That wouldn't do since they're all pals of a sort. Hence, keep the goof balls in place at all costs or the whole "long con" of an economy is paraded in front of the citizens as "naked capitalism." I agree. What a powerful argument

[autorank]

32. Kick

:kick:

[JenGatherer]

34. This has had me disgusted for a few months now

This man has been yelling about it for at least two years:

http://market-ticker.org/archives/1006-Senator-Tells-Truth-Whos-Listening.html

Some of the protesters at the tea party demos were protesting this issue, but it got lost in the bullsh**.
We're back in the 16th century, slaves paying our masters.

Also see, Adam Kokesh in a google search.

[Speciesamused]

35. We need to repeal the FED of 1913.

[ihavenobias]

36. K & R n/t

[Joanne98]

37. Here's Friedman's muckety map

[autorank]

39. Value added information

Thanks. He's "connected" as they say. What's that "Bush Administration" all about.

Let's see?

whorunsgov.com
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Stephen_Friedman

Stephen Friedman

Table of contents

1. 1. Why He Matters
2. 2. At a Glance
3. 3. Path to Power
4. 4. The Issues
5. 5. The Network
6. 6. Campaign Contributions
1. 6.1. Footnotes

Current Position: Chair, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (since January 2008)
Why He Matters

The veteran of Goldman Sachs who was President Bush’s director of the National Economic Council now serves as the chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Timothy Geithner, Obama's pick for Treasury secretary, served as President. Friedman governs the Fed branch with the closest ties to Wall Street, and had a hand in guiding the government’s response to the credit crisis, including shaping the $700 billion bailout plan.

Friedman spent thirty years at Goldman and has close ties to the core group of Goldman alumnae who now hold sway in the Treasury Department, including former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

At a glance

Current Position: Chair, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (since 2008); Chairman, Stone Point Capital, LLC (since 2005)

Career History: Economic Adviser to President George W. Bush and Director of National Economic Council (2002 to 2004); Senior Principal, MMC Capital (1998 to 2002); Senior Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co. (1994 to 1998)

etc.

[Joanne98]

46. Wow. Thanks autorank. I never seen this site before.

:yourock:

[DemReadingDU]

47. New site for me too. Thanks!

Bookmarking!


Hey, here is the profile for Obama
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Barack_Obama


List of Obama's advisers (handlers)
http://www.whorunsgov.com/barack_obama_advisers

[leftstreet]

49. Key Associates: Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke, Schumer

:puke:

Excellent link!

[Romulox]

38. k/r. nt

[KoKo]

44. Can we get more "Clueless" than Geithner and Summers?

How could we? :shrug:

[DemReadingDU]

48. Are they really clueless?

Isn't their mission to transfer the monies from the common folk's pensions, 401(k)s, IRAs and Treasury to the elite's pockets?

:eyes:

[KoKo]

50. Good Point...when one thinks about it all futher..

:shrug:

[autorank]

59. That is the clue

:sarcasm: (but maybe not;)
The elite can't be elite without most of the money. Too much change is a bad thing, well too
much too quickly. Besides if this transfer doesn't take place, we'll have an economic Tsunami,
the entire world ecomomy will collapse, and we'll all lose our jobs forever.

[Tyrfing]

53. Can't recommend

so I will just kick this :)

[slipslidingaway]

55. Welcome to DU :)) n/t

[slipslidingaway]

54. knr nt

[protect our future]

56. Scary.

This quote is from today's Wall Street Source News.

http://www.wssource.com/free/morning_call.php?&tabkey=morningcall

"GOLD settled +$14.00 to $902.00/oz. All the talk of creating a new global currency and ultimately a global, centralized government is supporting gold. So many of the wealthy appear to be on board, so it's worse than Ayn Rand's scenario. Also, China buying so steadily reminds folks of the Hunt brothers and their silver corner. Nobody as tried a corner in quite a while, so why not? Gold should be getting creamed at this point in an economic cycle."

[autorank]

61. So China ends up like the Hunts

Who buys our bonds? That's some scary stuff indeed. This is like that Carpenter movie, "The Live."

[protect our future]

63. The story of the Hunts and the "silver corner"

Here's part of the story about the Hunt brothers and the effort to corner the market in silver, although I have not done any research to make sure everything in the story is true. You'll note similarities in what the Hunt brothers did to today's grim economic situation, and you'll realize how thoroughly they understood our economy.

Lamar Hunt, one of the brothers, became owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. He and Dick Cheney were very close, and if you google you'll read of how the two friends watched a Chiefs game together in 2004, when Cheney came to Kansas City for a most profitable fundraiser prior to the Kerry/Bush Presidential election.

Now just because Lamar Hunt and his kin failed in their attempt to corner the silver market, don't think he stopped there and never tried anything nefarious again. No, I imagine he and his kin and cronies learned many new ways to manipulate the markets and ... pedal their influence. That's just my own opinion, ya understand, based on lots of facts, some knowledge of stock markets and how easily they can be manipulated, followed by connecting lots of dots.

Then there's a supposed Lamar Hunt connection to the Kennedy Assassination, and I've read he's mentioned in the Warren report. Lamar Hunt died in December 2006.

The plot sickens and thickens, doesn't it. And there's nothing that can or will be done about it. I also imagine, if certain people tried to bring everything out into the light, they would meet with an accident. Or their family would.

Here's the Lamar Hunt story, part 1.


http://articles.wallstraits.net/articles/1298

HUNT BROS CORNER SILVER MARKET

The story of what would become known as Silver Thursday began in the early 1970s. The principal players would be Bunker, Herbert, and Lamar Hunt, sons of the legendary oil wildcatter H. L. Hunt.

The senior Hunt was a fervent apostle of extreme right-wing views, believing that Calvin Coolidge had been the last good President and that succeeding administrations had left the country "susceptible to Communism." For a time, H. L. Hunt was possibly the richest man in America. Like many wildcatters, H. L. was an inveterate gambler, a trait his sons seemed to inherit. They also inherited his political opinions, viewing modern democratic governments as "welfare states" that would ineluctably debase the currency (that is, create inflation).

Believing that only "hard" assets provided protection against government-induced inflation, the Hunt brothers took an interest in silver, which they were convinced was cheap relative to the other traditional metallic standard of value, gold. By the mid-1970s they were confirmed "silver bugs." Believing in an almost messianic vision of an inflationary Armageddon, they were not interested in playing the silver market merely to capture moderate profits from small swings in the price, like most silver traders. They had far bigger objectives in mind. Backed by an inherited fortune variously estimated to have been between US$6 billion and $14 billion, the Hunts entered the silver market like rampaging bulls in the proverbial china shop.

While the Hunts to this day deny it, most observers believe that the brothers' objective was to "corner" the market in silver. The effect of such a corner would be to squeeze the many commercial interests and other speculators who would in the normal course of business have sold silver short. Once the Hunts controlled the available supply of the metal, they could then force the "shorts" to come to them to buy back the metal they were short, at prices set by the Hunts.

The commodities futures markets provided an excellent vehicle for the Hunts' mechinations. A "futures contract" is simply a transaction entered into by a buyer and a seller that will be consummated ("settled") at a specified date in the future. On that date, the seller is obligated to deliver to the buyer a stipulated amount of the commodity in question, unless the seller has reversed his position in the futures market by buying back a like contract for delivery on the same date.

--snip --

The Hunts poured their billions into silver. By January 1980, the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation (the regulatory body supervising the commodities markets) became alarmed, estimating that the Hunts and their allies controlled contracts for 77% of all the privately held silver in the world. The regulators increased margin requirements, but this only made matters worse; the shorts were forced to come up with tens of millions of dollars to meet their obligations under the new rules. Silver prices spurted higher, incredibly breaking through $50 per ounce on January 21, 1980, up from about $9 per ounce only six months earlier.

Finally the regulators and the commodities exchanges took draconian action to forestall disaster. Rules were imposed arbitrarily to prevent further buying of silver by the Hunts or anyone other than legitimate industrial users and shorts who were buying back silver they had previously sold. The Hunts were trapped; they could not buy, and there was no one to sell to.

By March 1980, silver had declined to the point where the Hunts, despite having inherited a multibillion-dollar fortune, actually began to run short of money. In addition to their huge hoard of silver, they had accumulated large stockholdings in such companies as Columbia Pictures, Global Marine, First National Bank of Chicago, and the brokerage firm through which they directed much of their business, Bache, Halsey, Stuart, Shields. As the price of silver fell (along with the prices of many of their stockholdings), they were continually required to put up more margin. They had exhausted much of their available credit, and the very high interest rates prevailing in early 1980 made their existing credit lines extremely expensive.

On March 14 they were hit with a body blow from an unexpected source. The Federal Reserve took another step in its efforts to squeeze out the inflationary forces the Hunts feared. A policy of "special credit restraint" was announced, under which member banks were advised in no uncertain terms to cease providing loans to finance speculative activity.

Technially this program was voluntary, but few banks were prepared to openly resist it. It was generally assumed that the Fed was specifically targeting the Hunts; whatever the case, the effect of the new policy on the brothers was devastating. They could expect to borrow no more money from U.S. banks to meet future margin requirements.

The price of silver continued to slide, and the Hunts, for the first time, found themselves unable to meet their margin calls. Bache, Halsey, Stuart, Shields put up some of the money for them, but even this additional margin was quickly consumed by falling prices. Worse still, Bache itself was now placed in a precarious finanical position. Even though the Hunt brothers still possessed substantial assets that were not encumbered by loans, those assets were illiquid and could not be sold easily to raise cash. Because of Federal Reserve policy, banks would not lend to them. The day of reckoning had finally arrived. Herbert Hunt offered a sobering assessment of what would occur if silver continued to plummet. He said simply, "All the Hunt family will be washed out. We will go broke."

The panic spread to the stock market, where rumors flew that Bache and several other firms connected with the Hunts' commodity speculation, including Merrill Lynch, might fail. Unable to raise enough money by selling silver, Bache dumped blocks of stock the Hunts had also posted as collateral for their loans, exacerbating the stock market drop. On March 27, dubbed Silver Thursday (reminiscent of Black Tuesday in 1929), the stock market decline degenerated into a rout.

Then suddenly the market reversed itself. Much as had occurred in 1962 at the bottom of the May "crash," a stunning rally in stock prices erased most of the day's losses. There was no news or action by any government or private entity that could explain the abrupt reversal. In coming years, critics of the "efficient market" hypothesis would cite examples of unexplained volatility such as this as proof that the stock market was not truly efficient.

The silver market also stabilized, enabling Bache to unload some of the metal it had taken from the Hunts as collateral for loans. In the short term, disaster was averted, but it had been a very near thing. Bache and several smaller dealers had barely survived.

To be continued...

Posted on 24 Oct 2005.

[Vidar]

58. Better give the fucker a cabinet post. Too late: already did.

[autorank]

71. The "in crowd" knows best. We should just move on;)

[Truth2Tell]

62. Auto Rank It Baby. nt

[autorank]

68. It's a good in the php world

autorank at work;)

[Hubert Flottz]

64. Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization (such as a policeman, lawyer, insurance adjuster, politician, engineer, executive, director of a corporation, medical research scientist, physician, writer, editor, or an individual or organization cited as a source) has an interest that might compromise their reliability. A conflict of interest exists even if no improper act results from it, and can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the conflicted individual or organization. A conflict can be mitigated by third party verification or third party evaluation noted below – but it still exists.

Conflicts of interest are not limited to professionals. For example, a purchasing manager of an organization has a duty to perform their work with loyalty to that employer, thus choosing sellers who offer the best products at the lowest prices, but might be tempted to have the organization buy, from the manager's sibling, products that are not as good or as cheap.
MORE...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest

Conflict of interest, 1. When the fox is put in charge of the hen house 2. Dick Cheney and Halliburton KB&R. 3. Wall Street Lobbyists and bankers own and operate congress and the SEC.

[autorank]

67. The hens are easy pickings

Thank you for that clarity. This is truly a conflict of interest but these guys just define words
to mean whatever they want...it's the "Queen of Hearts" logic in play. Not cool, at all!

[leftofthedial]

65. 2008 officially began the hostile takeover of the USA

by Goldman Sachs.

Apparently Obama is in on it; otherwise, he'd never have chosen Summers and Geithner or he would long since have rid his administration of these two thieves. It seems to me Obama's job is to make us feel good and to seem like we might get the things we thought we voted for (be patient; it's only 100 days; he never *really* promised that...) so that we don't notice the wholesale looting.

Of course, I woke up on the cynical side of the bed today.

[autorank]

66. kick

:kick:

[Octafish]

69. What a coincidence!

It's not like, intentional, right?.

[autorank]

70. There is no grand scheme. We're all in the bleechers.

Yeah, the guy just had a hunch, somehow, that Goldman would go up. Go figure?

[Leopolds Ghost]

72. Not surprising. It's all rigged anyway... Wall St bought Obama campaign from day one (sadly)

Clinton was funded by industry, Obama by Wall Street, the Republicans lost their corporate electors who defected to the Dems, which is why the Democratic Primary was so hard fought. Choosing a new President is like choosing the Pope. Corporations are the electors, just like the holders of large fiefs chose the pope in the middle ages while the peasants believed that the person chosen would somehow be the best and godliest man. Right!

As the saying goes, Wall Street uses the Republicans to deregulate and destroy the safety net, Wall Street uses the Democrats to maintain what's left and tamp down discontent.

[autorank]

74. Thanks for showing up Leopolds Ghost

and for you comments.

We've got all this on Wall Street and now Richard Holbrooke is saying that we've got to get involved
in Pakistan to prevent another 9/11. I kid you not, that's his rationale. What a total load!

:hi:

[autorank]

75. Kick

:kick: