Wall Street 1 - Obama Zero

nutmeg · Jul 25, 2010

Many of the elements leading up to our crisis are g-o-n-e.

Greenspan, clinton, bush.

community reinvestment act - Dead in water.

Mozilo and shadow banks.

Fannie and Freddie - 4 flat tires on that vehicle.

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woo, underwriting standards are back in fashion.

Anyone other than a few intellectuals like Ritzhold mention bringing Glass Steagal back from the dead?

Naww, Obama reform is change, something fresh and new (more diversity for wall street jobs, ya think we can dumb that down?) and like you said "unintended consequences".

I've forgotten other issues but there is some tax point where endowments etc need a return of %5 to maintain their status. They need yield, where is that going to come from? Perhaps they should re visit the tax code.

This is a great country if you can figure out where you fit in.

Gabfly1 · Jul 25, 2010

Quote from Arnie:

It looks like they made a decision based on risk. I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you, that a co would make a decision to not provide a service because it wasn't worth the risk. I thought that was the whole idea behind "reform".

And then there is this. File under "Unintended Consequences"

Just days after President Obama signed the new health care law, insurance companies are already arguing that, at least for now, they do not have to provide one of the benefits that the president calls a centerpiece of the law: coverage for certain children with pre-existing conditions.

Insurers agree that if they provide insurance for a child, they must cover pre-existing conditions. But, they say, the law does not require them to write insurance for the child and it does not guarantee the âavailability of coverageâ for all until 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/health/policy/29health.html

So the "unintended consequence" is the scum-sucking insurance thugs who will seek out a loophole at the expense of children. Shocking indeed. (Public option, anyone?)

By raising this point, at whom, exactly, are you pointing a judgmental finger?

As for the rating agencies, are you implicitly defending companies that don't stand behind their work? Invisible hand, and all that? Reminds me of the story in Reminiscences where the two guys didn't want to upset the market tipster whose tips had cost them a lot of money, in case they offended him and he wouldn't give them any more tips.

MarketMasher · Jul 25, 2010

Quote from nutmeg:

I've forgotten other issues but there is some tax point where endowments etc need a return of %5 to maintain their status. They need yield, where is that going to come from? Perhaps they should re visit the tax code.

This is a great country if you can figure out where you fit in.

They must spend or give away 5% of assets. They may have to tap the trust corpus. Guess that is an unintended consequence of the securitizers blowing up the financial system.

It's pretty obvious the ratings agencies took payola to overrate the subprime securities. To say "It could be structured by cows and we would still rate it." is easy enough if you don't have to stand behind it legally.

In fact, there really should be a LOT more ratings agencies if you don't have to stand behind the rating you produce. That makes it a riskless business to be in!!

Maybe that is how we will get unemployment down - everybody can open a ratings agency in their garage!!

RiceRocket · Jul 25, 2010

The whole financial reform bill will achieve either 1 of 2 things:
1. Freeze the credit system in the US completely, and cause the whole financial paradigm that is in place to collapse.
Or
2. Will cause the current US govt regime to be overthrown, because the authors who created it live in a fantasy world, and reality will reveal the smoke and mirrors rather quickly.

Either way, this thing is a huge turd, and a joke. You can't have a capitalist system without CAPITAL. So, Obama's communist agenda is being unveiled as we speak.

Gabfly1 · Jul 25, 2010

Quote from RiceRocket:

The whole financial reform bill will achieve either 1 of 2 things:
1. Freeze the credit system in the US completely, and cause the whole financial paradigm that is in place to collapse.
Or
2. Will cause the current US govt regime to be overthrown, because the authors who created it live in a fantasy world, and reality will reveal the smoke and mirrors rather quickly.

Either way, this thing is a huge turd, and a joke. You can't have a capitalist system without CAPITAL. So, Obama's communist agenda is being unveiled as we speak.

Reading from a script, are you? Try not to choke on your rice.

omegapoint · Jul 25, 2010

The monkey wrench has been thrown into the cabal of corporatate boards and their ratings agency demimondes.
Without suckers at the end of their rainbows of rubber stamped
paper I guess they'd have to relie on, hark, accurate ratings.
They must have seen themselves when they looked into the abyss and responded like the scoundrels they've proven they are.

cstfx · Jul 25, 2010

Quote from MarketMasher:

Everybody misses the Ford Pinto!!! (Otherwise known as "The Death-mobile")

MarketMasher · Jul 25, 2010

Quote from cstfx:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dT0J0rcJTLo&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dT0J0rcJTLo&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

That's what I'm talking about!!

By not making Ford responsible for the quality of their product they helped us defeat those Nazi bastards!!

jem · Jul 26, 2010

Surprising a socialist like buffett would own a 10% of moodys, that riskless bullshit ratings company.

Oddly I agree with gadfly the socialist on this one.
Those agency ratings were bullshit.
Our government workers pension funds need to be better protected.

Ironically this would be the perfect time for AIG to step in an insure the risk...