Second MF Global Unveiled As Canadian Regulator Accuses Barret Capital Of Commingling Client Funds
When we learned of the MF Global client theft scandal, in the aftermath of its sudden bankruptcy filing, the one thing we predicted would happen (in addition to Jon Corzine never going to prison) was that many more brokers, banks and broadly financial intermediaries would be discovered having dipped in client accounts, or otherwise "commingled" capital in direct violation of the first rule of banking. Sure enough, a little over two months since, the second notable company to have been alleged to have abused client capital for own purposes has emerged. And it comes to us courtesy of sleep Canada whose "banks are all fine." As the Winnipeg Free Press reports, "One of Canada's investment regulators has accused Barret Capital Management, a firm specialized in futures and options on metals and other exchange-traded commodities, of using client money for its own purposes. The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada warned Monday that Barret clients are at risk due to the firm's "ongoing misappropriation of their money to fund losing trades and ongoing misinformation about the value and holdings in their accounts." IIROC has set a hearing for Tuesday morning to suspend Barret's membership in the organization and stop Barret from dealing with the public. In requesting the expedited hearing, the regulator alleged Barret made "significant misrepresentations to clients including through manipulating account values, misrepresenting account values and holdings by way of false account statements or otherwise providing false information to clients and by manipulating on and off book payments to clients." Where the story gets even more interesting is when one takes a look at just what it is that the company engages in, and how it fits into the scenario analysis conducted in the MF Global aftermath.
If you go to Wikipedia right now, this is the notice you see:
by Sue Gardner, wikimediafoundation.org:
Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate—that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion. From the public statement, signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst:
It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.
Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.
On careful review of this discussion, the closing administrators note the broad-based support for action from Wikipedians around the world, not just from within the United States. The primary objection to a global blackout came from those who preferred that the blackout be limited to readers from the United States, with the rest of the world seeing a simple banner notice instead. We also noted that roughly 55% of those supporting a blackout preferred that it be a global one, with many pointing to concerns about similar legislation in other nations.
Read More @ wikimediafoundation.org
by Sue Gardner, wikimediafoundation.org:
Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate—that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion. From the public statement, signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst:
It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.
Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.
On careful review of this discussion, the closing administrators note the broad-based support for action from Wikipedians around the world, not just from within the United States. The primary objection to a global blackout came from those who preferred that the blackout be limited to readers from the United States, with the rest of the world seeing a simple banner notice instead. We also noted that roughly 55% of those supporting a blackout preferred that it be a global one, with many pointing to concerns about similar legislation in other nations.
Read More @ wikimediafoundation.org
How Has TV & Education in America Changed? Drastically: The Andy Griffith Show “Andy Discovers America”, 1963
Ack! They Are Actually Going To Let Greece Default!
from The Economic Collapse Blog:
I wish that I had an “aha moment” to share with you today, but instead all I have is an “ack moment” to share. As I was analyzing all of the info coming out of Europe in recent days, I came to the following realization: “Ack! They are actually going to let Greece default!” The only question is whether it is going to be an orderly default or a disorderly default. Of course the EU (led by Germany) could save Greece financially if it wanted to. But Germany has decided against that course of action. Many in the German government are sick and tired of pouring bailouts into Greece and then watching Greek politicians fail to fully implement the austerity measures that were agreed upon. At this point a lot of German politicians are talking as if a Greek default is a foregone conclusion. For example, Michael Fuchs, the deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s political party, recently made the following statement: “I don’t think that Greece, in its current condition, can be saved.” But that is not entirely accurate. Greece could be saved, but the Germans don’t want to make the deep financial sacrifices necessary to save Greece. So instead they are going to let Greece default.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
I wish that I had an “aha moment” to share with you today, but instead all I have is an “ack moment” to share. As I was analyzing all of the info coming out of Europe in recent days, I came to the following realization: “Ack! They are actually going to let Greece default!” The only question is whether it is going to be an orderly default or a disorderly default. Of course the EU (led by Germany) could save Greece financially if it wanted to. But Germany has decided against that course of action. Many in the German government are sick and tired of pouring bailouts into Greece and then watching Greek politicians fail to fully implement the austerity measures that were agreed upon. At this point a lot of German politicians are talking as if a Greek default is a foregone conclusion. For example, Michael Fuchs, the deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s political party, recently made the following statement: “I don’t think that Greece, in its current condition, can be saved.” But that is not entirely accurate. Greece could be saved, but the Germans don’t want to make the deep financial sacrifices necessary to save Greece. So instead they are going to let Greece default.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Ron Paul Highlights – South Carolina Debate 01/16/12
Poll: Obama 48%, Ron Paul 46%, CNN Baffled, Asks College Students Why Ron Paul?
The Myth of U.S. De-Leveraging
Following the Crash of ’08, when the mainstream propaganda machine was desperately trying to “put a happy face” on the collapse of the U.S. economy, a ridiculous two-part economic myth was first spawned, and then regurgitated millions of times by media talking-heads: ordinary Americans were “saving money” and “de-leveraging” (or voluntarily paying down debt). Neither half of this myth has the slightest foundation in reality.
I’ve already dealt with the first half of this myth in greater detail previously – especially in a recent commentary. Simply, the only “saving” that is being done by Americans in any significant amount is by the fat-cats at the top, who have been handing themselves the fattest pay-raises in the history of humanity over the past decade – faster than the fat-cats can possibly spend it.
This is extremely unfortunate. Given that millions of Americans had/have permanently lost their jobs, while everyone else in the bottom-80% have seen their wages plummeting lower; the massive pay-raises the fat-cats have been handing themselves represent the only new (potential) consumer dollars being generated in this economy. Thus news that the fat-cats were hoarding their money at an increased rate was 100% negative for the U.S. economy.
Read More @ BullionBullsCanada.com
by Louise Armitstead, Telegraph.co.uk:
The
EFSF, which is tasked with supporting indebted countries, was itself
hobbled as S&P gave it a AA+ rating, reflecting the downgrade of
France and eight other eurozone countries on Friday.As the standoff with Greece’s creditors continued, Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, pleaded for Germany and other creditor countries to help lower his country’s borrowing costs. He warned there would be a “powerful backlash” among voters in smaller EU countries if they did not.
S&P said the EFSF’s rating would be cut again if member states’ creditworthiness eroded further.
Leaders appeared to abandon hopes for the EFSF and turned their focus on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) instead. Herman van Rompuy, co-president of the European Union, said he would assess the size of the ESM “without delay” and ensure it is operational by July.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk
Currency Devaluation No Pocket Change
Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 2 hours ago
Kevin reminds us all that changing composition and shrinking circulations of smaller denomination coins more often than not unrecognized symptoms of rampant currency devaluation across the globe. Awesome blog, Composition of loonies and toonies will be switched to a steel core from nickel Thought you might find this interesting... montrealgazette.com Kevin Headline: Canada to mint cheaper... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Guess The Politician... And Follow The Money
A few days ago we presented a roster of the top contributors to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign as reported by OpenSecrets. Today we have done the same for two other candidates, representing two previous election cycles: 2008 and 2004. The first table shows Romney's key contributors to date. The other two are the blacklined candidates. We are confident everyone can guess who they are, but just in case they are presented unredacted below the chart. It is ironic that nothing really changes at the end of the day in terms of whose bidding is ultimately performed by the president, whoever it may be. We have highlighted those Romney donors who are identical to previous campaign cycles.
Morgan Stanley To Cap Cash Bonus At $125,000 (With Footnotes)
That after last year's abysmal performance on Wall Street, best summarized by the following quarterly JPMorgan Investment Banking revenue and earnings chart, bonuses season would be painful should not surprise anyone. But hardly anyone expected it to be quite this bad. The WSJ reports that Morgan Stanley, likely first of many, will cap cash bonuses at $125,000 and "will defer the portion of any bonus past $125,000 until December 2012 and December 2013" with bigger 'sacrifices' to be suffered by the executive committee which, being held accountable for the collapse in its stock price, will defer their entire bonuses for 2011. Morgan Stanley is likely just the beginning: "As banks report fourth-quarter results this month and make bonus decisions for 2011, total compensation is likely to be the lowest since 2008." This means that once Goldmanites get their numbers later this week, we will likely see a mass exodus for hedge funds which remain the only oasis of cash payouts on Wall Street. Alas, unlike the Bank Holding Companies, a series of bad decisions will result in hedge fund closure, as the TBTF culture will never penetrate the stratified air of Greenwich, CT. And with bonuses capped at about $80K after taxes, or barely enough to cover the running tab at the local Genlteman's venue, the biggest loser will be the state and city of New York, both of which are about to see their tax revenues plummet. And since banker pay is responsible for a substantial portion of Federal tax revenue, look for Federal tax withholding data in the first few months of 2012 to get very ugly, making America even more responsible on debt issuance, and likely implying the yet to be re-expanded by $1.2 trillion debt ceiling will be breached just before the Obama election making it into the biggest talking point of the election cycle.
from WealthCycles:
While many in the U.S. are enjoying a three-day holiday, Europeans across the pond are experiencing the fear associated with a word that hit the United States back in early August—downgrade.
Just as terminated employees are escorted out of their employers’ office buildings on Friday afternoons, Standard & Poors has been releasing its list of downgraded sovereign bonds on Fridays—the latest list included France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria. At this point, an S&P downgrade is more a statement of the obvious than anything more, but it might put things in perspective for European leaders, who have taken to viewing their situation through rose-colored glasses.
It’s not like anyone hasn’t seen this train coming—the U.S. downgrade was just a taste of it, but economies around the world have been overly-indebted for decades. The latest storm of expansionary monetary policy and exploding debt levels are nothing more than the final nail in the coffin.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com
While many in the U.S. are enjoying a three-day holiday, Europeans across the pond are experiencing the fear associated with a word that hit the United States back in early August—downgrade.
Just as terminated employees are escorted out of their employers’ office buildings on Friday afternoons, Standard & Poors has been releasing its list of downgraded sovereign bonds on Fridays—the latest list included France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria. At this point, an S&P downgrade is more a statement of the obvious than anything more, but it might put things in perspective for European leaders, who have taken to viewing their situation through rose-colored glasses.
It’s not like anyone hasn’t seen this train coming—the U.S. downgrade was just a taste of it, but economies around the world have been overly-indebted for decades. The latest storm of expansionary monetary policy and exploding debt levels are nothing more than the final nail in the coffin.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com
[Ed. Note:
This is a departure for us given that it's not precious metals,
financial or Ron Paul related news. But since it's 2012 and since
everyone enjoys a good mystery - and given what we know about 'Project Bluebeam',
this is curious and worth keeping an eye, and ear on. And if you think
people couldn't easily be deceived, check out the technology we already
know exists here and here.]
from dutchsinse:
Something strange is afoot — unknown sounds heard globally over the past few days.. basically starting up in rapid pace on January 11, 2012 — up until today (jan 16 2012). I don’t know how long this will continue, or what it is.
from dutchsinse:
Something strange is afoot — unknown sounds heard globally over the past few days.. basically starting up in rapid pace on January 11, 2012 — up until today (jan 16 2012). I don’t know how long this will continue, or what it is.
Why Is U.S. Media NOT Covering Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) In Congress?
[Ed. Note: Commandment 9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.]
from postpanic2:
America’s mainstream media is being accused of playing with fire for playing-up the prospect of war, between Iran and the West. It’s a sensitive time with the military stand-off in the Strait of Hormuz, and looming sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. But, as Gayane Chichakyan reports, viewers in the States are repeatedly hearing how war is virtually inescapable.
from postpanic2:
America’s mainstream media is being accused of playing with fire for playing-up the prospect of war, between Iran and the West. It’s a sensitive time with the military stand-off in the Strait of Hormuz, and looming sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. But, as Gayane Chichakyan reports, viewers in the States are repeatedly hearing how war is virtually inescapable.
Robert Ian has done a lot in his life. Magician, motivational speaker and consultant to large corporations. He has helped them navigate organizational change and he can help you do the same. Robert has been all over the financial collapse and in fact was ahead of the curve, recognizing it far earlier than most of the network pundits. He’s got a strategy for dealing with it too. It involves investing in yourself to obtain the skills that will enable you to support your family and yourself when we enter the next phase.
While there may be many things that you cannot do to avoid the economic tsunami, no one is helpless in preparing for it. The key is to act now, don’t wait for the inevitable to occur. These disruptions have occurred in the past and they will happen again, no matter how enlightened mankind may believe itself to be. The key to conquering and managing change is to anticipate and figure out how you can profit from it. It’s really that simple.
Click Here to Listen to the Interview
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