Saturday, May 19, 2012

Tyler Durden's picture

Nassim Taleb Is Angry That Not Even John Gotti Got Paid As Much As JPM's Ina Drew

Until this point virtually every pundit and financial journalist and blogger has opined on JPM, its prop trading operation (as first exposed by Zero Hedge), and its massive loss which due to its pair trade nature has potentially unlimited upside, but likely will top out at $5 billion (as also first explained by Zero Hedge over a week ago and subsequently by the WSJ). The one person who has kept silent so far was the man whose entire philosophy predicted just this epic flare out, by revolving around the assumption that humans operate under the illusion that they understand rare events: they don't (for more details read his books The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness which by now have been read by all traders in the world, but apparently not those formerly in charge of JPM's CIO unit). Courtesy of this BBC Newsnight interview, he breaks his silence and shares his opinion, which as one may expect are far from laudatory: "JPM has 10-15 times the risk of a regular hedge fund... They should not be using my to play in something that is way too dangerous and too complicated for them... What I want [for JPM] is the following - skin in the game. People when they make money should get the upside, should get the upside; and people should be harmed when they have the downside. Hedge funds have that."... Finally Taleb loses it by comparing Wall Street to the mafia: "I am not an idealist. I am someone who doesn't want to be paying the $14 million dollars for this lady Ina Drew, which is more than John Gotti the mafioso got." Well, neither does anyone else. But, sadly, even Nassim now realizes that it is the financial mafia who owns this country and calls all the shots.






The Rise of Nationalism Will End the Euro Before Year's End
Phoenix Capital...
05/19/2012 - 09:41
  When it came time to vote in round one, more French youth voted for a party whose leader wants to break up the Euro, who wants to deal with immigration by ending dual citizenship, affirmative...




The Biggest Risk Is China

Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 1 minute ago
I think the biggest risk is actually China because if you look at Greece, it's an insignificant economy. - *in CNBC* *Related: iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (ETF) * *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.* 

Trader Dan on King World News Markets and Metals Wrap

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 8 minutes ago
Please click on the following link to listen in to my regular weekly radio interview with Eric King on the KWN Markets and Metals Wrap. *http://tinyurl.com/csgbtnv* 

There Will Be More Debt And Currency Turmoil

Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 17 minutes ago
The world's got serious problems facing it, I don't particularly like saying it, but it's true. Unfortunately there will be more debt and currency turmoil to come. - in CNBC *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.* 

Spain bombshell Friday night as they adjust budgetary deficit to 8.9% from 8.5%/ LCH raises European bank margin requirements/Ireland in need of another bailout/

Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 31 minutes ago
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen: Before commencing, we had another bank failure last night: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES U.S. regulators closed a bank in Alabama on Friday, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures to 24 for the year. Sylacauga-based Alabama Trust Bank ... Gold closed higher today by $1.10 to finish the comex session at $1595.10.  Silver finished the session

The Pursuit of Balance Finds Few Masters

Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 13 hours ago
How many investors motivated largely by fear and highly motivated misinformation campaign dumped their gold and silver positions last week? Jim is absolutely right - Please make an effort to stay balanced. Greed is a condition of lack of balance similar to fear. Human behavior driven largely by evolution ensures that Jim's pleas for balance of mind, body, and spirit will go... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] 

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton On the Irony of JP Morgan's Trading Loss

 

 

The Facebook IPO: The Last Great Wall Street Party

from The Economic Collapse Blog:
The Facebook IPO is kind of like a graduation party – everybody comes together for one huge blowout to celebrate the end of an era before going their separate ways. Unfortunately, most people on Wall Street do not understand how bittersweet this moment really is. A tremendous amount of pain is ahead for Wall Street in the next few years, and we will probably never see anything like the Facebook IPO ever again. But the Facebook IPO sure has been fun to watch. Facebook is one of the largest companies to ever go public in the United States. According to CNN, 247 million shares of Facebook exchanged hands in the first 45 minutes of trading. The Facebook IPO was nearly ten times larger than any other Internet IPO in history, and the amount of money being made by some people on this deal is absolutely amazing. For example, it is being reported that Bono will make more money on the Facebook IPO than he has from being part of the band U2 for the past 30 years. Sadly, this euphoria is not going to last for long. The next wave of the global financial collapse is rapidly approaching, and once it strikes there will not be much for anyone on Wall Street to be smiling about at all.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com




The Case for Austerity: Keynesianism, Pharaoh and the Frogs

 The Keynesians and declared anti-Keynesians have joined hands in order to promote an intensely Keynesian error: European fiscal austerity as a negative factor. One contributor in Forbes refers to austerity as a death spiral.The word “austerity,” beginning with the Greek government’s debt crisis two years ago, has been used by the financial media in one sense, and only one sense: reductions in spending by national governments. The word is not used with respect to the economy as a whole.
More than this: the word has been used to explain the contracting economies of Europe. The reductions in government spending are said to have caused the contracting economies. This explanation is based on textbook Keynesianism.
Read More @ DailyReckoning.com.au

 

Rep. Kucinich Speaks Out: H.R. 568 and NDAA Pave the Way for War with Iran

from Inforwars:


Following comments made by the U.S. ambassador to Israel earlier in the week, the House has introduced H.R. 568, legislation designed to scuttle any significant talks with Iran.
According to Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, “Congress is considering two pieces of legislation relating to Iran. The first undermines a diplomatic solution with Iran and lowers the bar for war. The second authorizes a war of choice against Iran and begins military preparations for it.”
Section 6 of the bill “rejects any United States policy that would rely on efforts to contain a nuclear weapons-capable Iran. Section (7) urges the President to reaffirm the unacceptability of an Iran with nuclear-weapons capability and opposition to any policy that would rely on containment as an option in response to Iranian enrichment.”
In other words, the legislation would sabotage talks with Iran that are scheduled for May 23 and all but ensure an attack on the country.
The new legislation draws a “red line” for military action at Iran obtaining “nuclear capability” as opposed to developing nuclear weapons, a new demarcation that would include Iran’s development of nuclear medicine and energy. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is permitted to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Read More @ Inforwars




Lindsey Williams on Radio Liberty – Total Collapse Coming in 2012, All By Design

from EconomyMeltdown:

Lindsey suggests: Get out of paper assets, close your bank account, buy tangible assets; gold & silver, farmland, food. Banks runs now happening all over Europe, the sign to look for is the crack that will happen in the derivatives market which started with JP Morgan’s $2 (now $5) billion dollars loss, the Dollar will be dead by the end of this year no matter how good things look like right now. Derivatives Market Collapse Coming Soon!




What the HECK is HAPPENING with The Metals?

from silverguru:





The Next Money: As the Big Economies Falter, Micro-Currencies Rise

More consumers are walking away from fiat currencies to drive commerce — and society — with new ways of buying.
by Eric Garland, The Atlantic:

People everywhere are fed up with the status quo of the economy. With the passion our official institutions show for this tepid “recovery,” many are concluding that progress will come not from the current system, which is after all what got us here in the first place, but from their own ingenuity and inventiveness. In pockets around the world, folks are declaring economic independence by starting small, local, but potentially revolutionary alternative currencies that could change not only how we buy goods and services — but how we relate to one other in society. If these micro-currencies catch on, we could be witnessing the replacement of our monocultural monetary system, which emphasizes a certain sort of free market capitalism above all else, with a variety of currencies that will represent more diverse sets of values belonging to the groups that hold them.
Local Currencies, Local Economies
The next time you’re in the southside of London, you might find yourself standing next to a man purchasing his chicken tikka with pounds sterling that feature, rather than the Queen of England, David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust era. The man isn’t a counterfeiter with a love of 70s glam rock, but a resident of Brixton proudly using the Brixton Pound, a “complementary currency” meant to revitalize the famously tough London borough by encouraging people to spend their money as close to home as possible.
Read More @ theatlantic.com




South Dakota for Liberty operation is up and running!

from The Daily Paul:
The Campaign may have given up on Primaries, but we haven’t.
On June 5th, 2012, registered Republicans in South Dakota will vote in the Republican presidential primary. Recently, the official Ron Paul campaign announced it will fully channel its financial resources and staff to delegate and convention operations instead of upcoming primary states, like South Dakota. Consequently, it’s up to grassroots supporters of Dr. Paul and his message, to carry the torch and deliver a strong showing on June 5th.
Read More @ DailyPaul.com




The European Union is Doomed — Economically and Politically

by Nickolai Hubble, DailyReckoning.com.au:
Despite our gloomy headline, today’s Daily Reckoning begins with some excellent news. The European Union won’t be in recession for another six months. Whoopeee!
Buy everything! Stocks, bonds, real estate and yes, even sovereign debt. [Editor’s note: please don’t do this.]
If you’re sceptical about this new-found optimism, here is our impeccable reasoning. First of all, a recession is defined as two consecutive negative quarterly GDP growth figures. Europe had its first in the last quarter of 2011. But the first quarter of 2012 has saved the entire region from economic chaos for sure, because the GDP growth figure wasn’t negative. So there’s no recession. And there can’t be for another six months, because it takes two negative quarters in a row before a recession is declared.
Read More @ DailyReckoning.com.au




Those who cannot remember the past: Celebrating 100 years of fraud.

from RedditSilverBugs:
It was George Santayana who famously said “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” There are millions and millions of people who are blissfully unaware of the financial fraud that they partake in daily. These people will be left holding worthless fiat paper when the official monopolized money machine collapses, taking everyone’s digital, paper & monetized debt instruments with it. Avoid financial catastrophe & buy physical silver & gold now while you still can. Visit us at www.reddit.com/r/silverbugs.


Ben Davies – The Gold & Silver Liquidation is Over

from KingWorldNews:
With continued uncertainty in markets around the world, today Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital wrote the following piece exclusively for King World News. Davies believes the gold and silver liquidation is over: “I humbly believe the seller is done. For one week there has been several but mainly one entity selling Comex gold futures, as well as some physical to liquidate on the open and closes. This suggest to us it was a CTA commodity type fund. They use volume areas of the day to transact.
Ben Davies continues @ KingWorldNews.com




Why Greece Can’t Afford to Stay in the Euro

by Dan Denning, Whiskey and Gunpowder:
Sometime in the next few weeks we’re going to find out if Greece can afford to stay in the euro. We’re also going to find out if Spain and Italy can afford to leave the euro. Access to credit markets is the key issue. The stigma of default will lock a country out of capital markets. If you don’t have a plan to replace your currency and then devalue it, you’re doomed.
But first, the crisis in Greece didn’t come to a head over night but it can’t be far away. Rival political parties have been unable to form a government. New elections are scheduled for the second week in June. The financial has definitely become political. The people have run out of patience with unsound money and the world built on it.
All that said, the Greeks managed to make a €430 million payment to hold-out creditors last night. Nearly 97% of Greek creditors agreed to the restructuring of the country’s debt in March. That wiped off over €100 billion in Greek debt and resulted in 70% losses for some of the bondholders who accepted the deal. Not all of them did.
Read More @ WhiskeyAndGunpowder.com




The Greatest Wealth Transfer In History

from Wealth Cycles:
When I began studying monetary history and wealth cycles, I was electrified by the realization that the same patterns have repeated over and over again, from ancient Greece and Rome to our own modern global society.
What really thrilled me was the realization that understanding those cycles gave me a roadmap for where today’s markets and the economy were headed. For example, I could see that every time in history that a government intervened in free markets, the markets would eventually undergo a correction. I could see that every time a government began devaluing its currency by creating more and more of it, certain events, like inflation or hyperinflation, would follow, every time.
My understanding of cycles has allowed to me to build a successful business and secure my family’s wealth. My strategy is to invest in accordance with the natural economic cycles that have occurred repeatedly throughout history.  Time and again, I have made successful investments not because I’m some financial wizard, but because my understanding of those cycles gave me just a little bit of an informational edge over the next guy.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com




TFMR Podcast #20 – A Second Visit With Mike Krieger

Back on Wednesday, I had the chance to visit again with Mike Krieger. He’s one helluva smart guy and great analyst and writer but his new project (http://www.libertyblitzkrieg.com) is something you have got to check out.
On the LibertyBlitzkrieg site, Mike’s “welcome” message pretty much sums it up:
“While these are dangerous times, these are also times of great opportunity.   It is only in times like these that we can change the world…for better or worse.  Our enemies want increased global centralization of political and economic power.  We want the opposite.  We want freedom.  Freedom of speech.  Freedom to use whatever money we want to use not have some digital garbage they create shoved down our throats.  Freedom to pick whatever job we want and the freedom to live how we want to live.  Please join me in the Liberty Blitzkrieg!”
To that end, in this podcast Mike and I discuss our losses of freedom. Whether the topic is the loss of “free” markets or the increasing government encroachment upon civil liberties, Mike is on it and his insights provide the basis for this interesting and informative interview.
TF
Listen NOW @ TF Metals Report




Greece is Huge Deal & it’s Coming to the Forefront Right Now-Andy Hoffman

from FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com:
If you’re a person that doesn’t really understand what’s going on, but what you see of the current global financial world, like the first ever Japanese pension fund investing in gold, makes you fearful of your own financial survival, listen up! Andy and I touch base again this week and break down the implosion occurring in Greece. We suggest you keep your eyes on that Greece thing! Although the powers that be, aka the Elites, have done everything to make you believe what’s going on with Greece is not a big deal, it is undoubtedly a foreshadowing to global calamity.
Greece is huge deal & it’s coming to the forefront right now. This week it was announced the ECB is starting to cut off some of the Greek banks. This is a precursor to the inevitable, which is Greece succeeding from the Euro currency. This will not be a simple event, and it will result in reneging on hundreds of billions of debt; it will cause hyperinflation and bank runs across Europe then it will move up the totem pole to Great Britain, Japan and the US. This will cause people across the world to really question what debt means and if you can renege on it.
Click here to listen 




Weekly News Wrap-Up

by Greg Hunter, USAWatchdog:
The big news is what is coming up over the next four days.  There are two sets of meetings:  one in Camp David with the G8 and one in Chicago with NATO.  Forget the protests in Chicago; that is just noise and distraction.  There are three big problems that will be talked about at these meetings.  Syria is in the middle of a revolution, and Russia has warned the West to stay out.  Nothing is settled there, and the cease fire was short lived.   Any NATO action, such as what happened in Libya, could spark World War III.

Read More @ USAWatchdog.com




Are Americans Catching On, Waking Up, Unplugging?

by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, PaulCraigRoberts.org:

In response to the question in the title I can report that most of my readers are. Almost everyone got the point of the last column. They see the absurdity of the government’s claim that the identity of the tough, macho Navy Seals, who allegedly murdered Osama bin Laden, has to be kept secret in order to protect our fierce warriors from reprisals from Muslim terrorists, while those government officials responsible for the torture and deaths of large numbers of Muslims can walk around, identity known, unprotected and safe.
A few members of Congress are also awake, but not very many. Indeed, we are losing two of the most aware–Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. Kucinich was redistricted in order to get rid of his independent voice. He carried 75% of the votes from that part of his old district that was included in his new one, but the new voters lacked the intelligence to vote for him. Ron Paul, in our time of tribulation, tried for the Republican presidential nomination on a platform of saving the US Constitution, but those who voted in Republican primaries weren’t interested in saving the US Constitution.
Read More @ PaulCraigRoberts.org




Facebook’s IPO bombs & “hot” tech Co.’s cook the books

from CapitalAccount:


All eyes seemed to be on Facebook’s IPO today. But we look at some of these hyped up social media and gaming companies that have gone public and ask if they can get away with some choose-your-own-adventure accounting methods to boost profits. And back in March, our futures veteran Mark Melin told us MF Global was worth more to some entities dead than alive. Well now we know how much its carcass is worth to the legal team winding down the estate — the team led by the trustee and former FBI director Louis Freeh. They’ve reportedly racked up $25 million in fees! Customers are reportedly upset, as their money is still missing. We’ll talk about some possible MF Global enablers that seem to be getting a free pass from regulators and investigators: the auditors. Plus, the Financial Times reports JP Morgan’s chief investment office has built up positions totaling more than $100 billion in complex risky bonds – the types at the center of the 2008 crisis. This is in addition to the positions in credit derivatives that led to the $2 billion dollar trading loss we learned about last week. Has the bank’s reputation until now as an “excellent risk manager” allowed it to escape scrutiny when taking these risks? We discuss all of this with Francine McKenna on this episode of Capital Account. McKenna is author of the blog re: The Auditors, and a columnist for Forbes and American Banker.


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