Desiderata

We Loaned Money to WHOM?!? – It came to light recently that the Fed loaned money, not just a little, but tens of billions, to foreign banks in 2008 during the “bleakest” days of the financial meltdown. Barclays (England) and USB (Switzerland) both got billions of dollars from the Fed. In the meantime, why don’t you go down to the local bank and try to get a line of credit for a well capitalized small business. Yeah, right.

More Lies From Goldman – During those same dark nights of financial crisis there was one bright shining light of security: Goldman Sachs. They told us repeatedly that they were fine, didn’t need the money and were well capitalized. And, if you looked at their quarterly filings in 2008 and 2009 you may have been misled into believing just that. Turns out they too got a couple ($30+) billion from the Fed. Please, please, please; the next time Goldman comes up won’t someone laugh or cough or blow their nose? All they can do is lie.

End of the World…or Best of Times – I can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a politician (in both parties) who says our economy is going to disappear SOON if we don’t stop borrowing so damn much money from China, and running up all these crazy debts. The private sector is being pushed out of the way by the government and the government is as reckless as a drunken sailor on shore leave. Or so the story goes…and goes…and goes. So why does the dollar continue to hold its value relative to foreign currencies? Why did consumer spending increase over the prior year? And most importantly, why hasn’t China stopped buying US Treasuries? Hell, we’ve all but told them we’re a dangerous investment. There are a lot of reasons for these phenomena. But the point is that every single politician is completely full of shit when it comes to these matters.

I Had to Laugh – Some guy named Frank Aquila writes a column for Business Week. Those poor souls are so desperate for content they’re getting it from lawyers. But Frank is no ordinary lawyer, he’s a mergers and acquisitions partner for Sullivan & Cromwell; possibly the world’s most expensive law firm. Frank’s worried that America won’t be competitive enough to hang with the big boys in the world economy. Meanwhile, just about every serious study has shown that mergers rarely if ever achieve their stated goals or benefit shareholders. So we’ve got some clown who’s laboring at the very heart and soul of inefficiency writing a column warning us of the dangers of not being competitive.

Insider Trading Probe – This has gone quiet for the moment. The most recent development is that it has extended to some large mutual funds, most prominently Janus. Let’s wait and see just how rigged the system may be against small investors.