You take it where you can get it. Illustration: Michael Mucci Goldman Sachs is mourning the death of a valued client today … Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi. In 2008, the bank roped the dictator into investing $US1.3 billion from Libya's sovereign wealth fund in some structured products. Somehow it managed to blow up 98 per cent of Gaddafi's money in a year. So keen were Goldmans boss Lloyd Blankfein and his soldiers of fortune to keep the Colonel as a client though - the Libyan Investment Authority still had $US53 billion in funds, after all - that they offered Gaddafi a stake in their firm. No, there was no seat on the board with that.
Thankfully for Goldmans, Warren Buffett bobbed along during the heat of the financial crisis and saved the day because Muammar declined the offer. Advertisement It's not only the financial products which are finely structured on Wall Street, but compliance materials too. But it's not just the "giant vampire squid" whose tentacles seem to protrude beyond the law. Occupied Wall Street Journal. A Newspaper to Accompany a Protest: The Occupied Wall Street Journal Readies Next Issue.
From the Wall Street protests has emerged the irregularly published Occupied Wall Street Journal, a four-page broadsheet that editors claim has a circulation equivalent to a small town publication. The protests in Zuccotti Park have spread their message across the country in part because of a robust web presence. But a small group, not considered the official mouthpiece of the movement, has also relied on old-school methods of spreading the word about the protest. “We’re doing our own thing,” said Ryan Wood, 26, one of the paper’s editors.
“We’re occupying media space.” Four editors who volunteer their time produce the broadsheet at a ramshackle office at an undisclosed location in the West Village, with overhead pipes exposed, where various mementos from leftist movements of the past hang. The editors of the Occupied Wall Street Journal say they receive a large volume of submissions, but prefer to work with more experienced journalists and writers. “It’s an easy read,” Griffiths said. #OccupyWallStreet George Carlin - Spreading The Truth! I AM NOT MOVING - short film for Occupy Wall Street. Chris Hedges speaking at Occupy Wall Street: Radical movements keep this country honest! Kanye West At Occupy Wall Street. Kanye West was just spotted with Russell Simmons at the Occupy Wall Street protests down in Zucotti Park. Cue Wall Street protesters wishing for a Kanye re-mix of one of their catchy chants, which you can learn here > UPDATE: He left.
Everyone started freaking out about him showing up. When asked about the protests Simmons told us: "I'm here everyday. We need to take the money out of politics. It's as simple as that. " When we asked Kanye what he thought of the Occupy Wall Street movement, he didn't respond. He's definitely the biggest celebrity to appear so far. Our Julia LaRoche took this picture: Julia La Roche for Business Insider.
Protesters Left A Present For John Paulson At His House. Hey Jamie Dimon, The Protesters Are Outside Your House Right Now! Things Are About To Get Real At Occupy Wall Street, As NYPD Prepares To End The Party Tomorrow. Bruce Krasting Last night, Mayor Bloomberg told the protesters that Zuccotti Park would be cleaned tomorrow morning at 7 AM. Naturally, this would require Occupy Wall Street to temporarily clear out of the space. Something the protesters are definitely not willing to do. They're skeptical of the motivation behind this clean-up. Here's what they think in their own words: ...last night Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD notified Occupy Wall Street participants about plans to “clean the park”—the site of the Wall Street protests—tomorrow starting at 7am.
Bloomberg says that the park will be open for public usage following the cleaning, but with a notable caveat: Occupy Wall Street participants must follow the “rules”. So Occupy Wall Street has decided to fight it, in their own way. Just now, the group ended an emergency meeting of their General Assembly to discuss how they would address this threat to their occupation. "Let's make the park beautiful," said one protester. But that's just today. GOLDMAN: These Are The Highest Quality Stocks In The World. How JP Morgan Just Made $1.9 Billion By Everyone Betting Against Them. Earlier this morning, JP Morgan reported Q3 earnings of $1.02 per share, which compares to analysts' expectation for $0.92 per share.
However, no one can seem to agree on whether or not JP Morgan actually beat the analysts' estimates. In fact, CEO Jamie Dimon was the first to say that there were "several significant items" that were unusual during the quarter. The one item everyone is raising red flags about is the $1.9 billion pretax DVA gain. DVA is short for debt valuation adjustment. Bloomberg explains the DVA: [R]esults may include gains taken under a U.S. accounting rule known as Statement 159, adopted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2007, which allows banks to book profits when the value of their bonds falls from par. In other words, when investors and traders bet against a banks' bonds, causing credit default swap spreads to soar, the bank is allowed to book a mark-to-market gain. But Dimon doesn't act like the DVA is anything worth applauding. Raj Rajaratnam. Mayor Bloomberg Is Going To Hate This. IT'S ON: Jamie Dimon Has A New Bone To Pick With Regulators. Guess What It Is.
DSK Is Now Being Investigated In Relation To An Underage Prostitution Case. Guess What The CEO's Name Is In The New Movie About The Financial Crisis. The Hong Kong Market Got Destroyed Last Night. We mentioned that Hong Hong was looking very weak in the early hous of the trading session, and the final tally was pretty bloody. The Hang Seng was down 4.7%, with a good chunk of the losses coming after the 9.1% Chinese GDP report from last night.
For what it's worth, Shanghai itself was only down 2.3%. We've been really into watching the Macau gaming stocks lately, and those got crushed. Wynn Macau was off 7.7%. MGM lost 8.7%. SEE ALSO: CITI: We checked out Hong Kong women, and this is what we saw > The Pressure Is On These 4 Goldman Traders To Boost Trading Revenue Next Quarter. Panache Privee David Heller (right) Goldman Sachs posted its second quarterly loss in twelve years today. In the bank's post-IPO history, it had only reported a loss one other time: during the crisis. Everyone's pointing to Goldman's lower trading revenue for the third-quarter at Goldman, which disappointed (as expected) by coming in at $4.06 billion, down 13% from $4.67 billion in the third-quarter a year earlier. Today Bloomberg named and shamed those responsible.
First, some background. Fixed-income, currencies and commodities, typically the firm’s biggest source of revenue, dropped 36% to $1.73 billion from $2.69 billion a year earlier and increased from $1.6 billion in the second quarter. Second, here are the people responsible for those drops in the bank's trading - Edward K. Richard Gnodde Investment banking revenue was down too. But there's some good news, as Bloomberg reports: Here's who runs Goldman's I-banking division.
Richard J. Want to meet more people at Goldman Sachs? RICHARD RUSSELL: This Is What A Modern Day Depression Looks Like. GOLDMAN REPORTS HUGE LOSS, FAR WORSE THAN EXPECTED. GOLDMAN earnings are out, and the company has lost $.84 per share, and it has missed revenue big time. Analysts had expected losses of just $.11/share. Revenue has fallen well short of expectations. Lloyd Blankfein says he is "disappointed. " In other words, the pressure is on these 4 traders to boost trading revenue next quarter.
The full announcement is here and highlights are below. Pretty much all the numbers look pretty bad. Also it's pretty rough from a compensation perspective: The accrual for compensation and benefits expenses (including salaries, estimated year-end discretionary compensation, amortization of equity awards and other items such as benefits) was $1.58 billion for the third quarter of 2011, a 59% decline compared with the third quarter of 2010. This table shows the big declines in trading and banking revenue. Investment Banking Net revenues in Investment Banking were $781 million, 33% lower than the third quarter of 2010 and 46% lower than the second quarter of 2011.
RICHARD KOO: There's Only One Solution That Can Save Europe Now. Politicians will hate this, but according to Nomura economist Richard Koo it's too late to save Europe unless they're willing to go nuclear. By that he means: Big time guarantees across the entire financial system to ensure that everyone survives. Lots of taxpayer money with few strings attached. Any half measure, such as asking banks to try raising money fr6m the private sector could be a disaster.
Government needs to ease atmosphere of mutual mistrust by guaranteeing banks’ liabilities There is little time left in the eurozone: policy missteps thus far have already created an atmosphere of mutual mistrust among banks. Mr. Volcker prevented this from happening in the Latin American crisis by quickly making it clear that all banks shared a common fate. Similarly, the US government’s announcement soon after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 that it would guarantee liabilities of financial institutions went a long way towards calming frayed nerves.
This is the part politicians will hate: UPDATED: Confusion Escalates Around A Rumor That Germany And France Have Reached Agreement On A €2 Trillion Plan To Rescue The Eurozone. According to a report in the Guardian, France and Germany are in agreement on a "comprehensive plan" that would boost the EFSF rescue fund to €2 trillion. This report suggests that a eurozone endgame may really be forthcoming at a summit of EU leaders this Sunday. The Guardian cites EU diplomats close to the negotiations as sources. The plan consists of two parts: leveraging the EFSF fivefold and bank recapitalization. "Additional levers" will allow the EFSF to offer "first-loss guarantees" to bondholders, according to the report. The bank recapitalization plan would take banks up to the 9% capital requirement that will be the threshold of the forthcoming European Banking Authority Stress tests.
Eurozone leaders would need to endorse this plan on Sunday at their summit in order to put the deal in action. Bank recapitalizations and EFSF leveraging have been seen as the two major components of a crisis endgame, but the devil with addressing the crisis has always been in the details. Occupy Wall Street Protesters and Police Clash.
Occupy Wall Street, the social media-spawned movement that has gone viral across the U.S., turned violent Friday morning after the New York City mayor's office announced cleanup of Zuccotti Park would begin at 7 a.m. Protesters have held their ground in lower Manhattan since Sept. 17, and though this morning's arrests are not the first, many across the web say the movement is heating up. Word of the cleanup came Thursday afternoon, when Zuccotti Park owner Brookfield Properties stated they would spend Friday cleaning the location, which had become unsanitary. Following protester outrage that the cleanup would ultimately lead to eviction, Brookfield agreed to delay the park's cleanup until a mutual agreement could be reached.
The empowered protesters, confidences boosted for postponing the cleanup, rallied behind the cry, "The people will never be defeated," as they headed toward the stock exchange. Clashes ensued as police tried to keep protesters from marching down Wall Street. ‘Occupy’ protester brutally attacked by cop. By Stephen C. WebsterFriday, October 14, 2011 16:54 EDT Felix Rivera-Pitre, a demonstrator with “Occupy Wall Street,” withstood a dramatic assault by a New York police officer on Friday morning during a march with thousands of others.
Captured on video, the attack appears to have been unprovoked, and Pitre claims the blow he received ripped one of his earrings out, drawing blood. He’s also HIV positive, and he told Gothamist that the officer who hit him should get tested following the incident. In an interview later that day with The Street, Pitre said he did nothing to provoke the attack aside from walking in the street with other demonstrators. “I hit the ground,” he said. “It was confusing at the moment. Police said 14 people were arrested Friday morning. This video is from The Street, published Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Stephen C. Stephen C. Japan urges Europe to reveal information on suffering banks. McCain says GOP will counter jobs plan votes with own proposals - The Hill's Video.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is co-sponsoring the bill with McCain, said later Thursday on Fox that he believes the tax cuts in the Republican plan will also be a political winner. “What we’re trying to do is to actually try to give back to the tax payer more of their money," Paul said. "The only time we have had sustained economic growth in recent history where we had 6 percent and 7 percent economic growth in a year was when Reagan lowered tax rates. Instead of raising tax rates you need to lower tax rates.” McCain said that he didn't believe that President Obama was ever serious about getting the entirety of his jobs plan passed.
"He showed with the defection of Democrats - and it would have been more of them if it hadn't have been a procedural movement - that he wasn't going to get anywhere near the kind of votes that he needs for the entire package," McCain said. "But he never intended to - this is all about campaigning. "
David Banner Occupies Wall Street, Calls Movement ‘Eye Opening’ Show|null|video|701118 David Banner joined the now growing list of Hip-Hop artists to make an appearance at “Occupy Wall Street” earlier today in New York City. Other notable rappers including Kanye West and Talbi Kweli visited “Liberty Park” in the past week to show their support of the movement. Banner, who is no stranger to activism, has been heavily involved in social issues dating back years most importantly his work with the Hurricane Katrina victims where he opened up his home to evacuees. RapFix had the unique opportunity of following Banner down to lower Manhattan to get his first reaction of the protest and its effects on the hip-hop community.
During his experience Banner spoke candidly about his frustration with the changes he’s noticed about hip-hop artists. “One of my only criticisms of hip-hop right now is that we all … have become so corporate that people don’t even feel like we’re a part of the people especially rappers and punk rockers,” he said. Occupy Wall Street: Poster smackdown - Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street may lack a figurehead and a single, concrete set of demands. It is not, however, impoverished in the art department. Over the past several weeks, numerous protest posters — with slogans as diverse as the grievances of the protesters themselves — have proliferated on the streets of lower Manhattan (and online). We chose 15 of the most intriguing images and asked Dan Bischoff — art critic for the Newark Star-Ledger, the former national political editor for the Village Voice and a blogger for the Nation — to rank them for us.
In his eyes, the best posters engaged directly with the forces that make this movement different from its predecessors (for instance, the particular impact of female protesters and the power of computers as organizational tools). Click through the slide show that follows to see which posters Bischoff thought were most effective — and which he called “clunkers.”
How Wall Street Is Responding, Or Not, To Protests. America's 25 Highest-Paid CEOs. Wall Street protesters target homes of top executives. Banking's loneliest defender. Delaware judge dismisses Goldman Sachs pay claims | Delaware Inc. ISPs exaggerate the cost of data. Blaming the system or ‘greedy bastards’ The Rest of Saturday's Show... Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now. Tar Sands. Tar Sands Action. Friends of the Earth U.S. Friends of the Earth U.S. Stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline PLEASE ACT NOW. UBS Equities Bosses Resign Over Trader Scandal. Occupy Wall Street gaining huge momentum with Middle America. Senator Bernie Sanders: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ has touched a nerve. Ben Bernanke on 'Occupy Wall Street' protest: I can't blame them. European Banks Face Huge Losses From Greek Bonds.
The Death of Bin Laden - Watch Free Documentary Online - BBC, Panorama, Mike Rudin, Jane Corbin (reporter) Occupy Wall Street: A Manifesto. Unfocused "Occupy Wall Street" Protesters Make List of Demands. Nurses Join Occupy Wall Street Actions Today in Boston, New York, Other Cities, Support Protest Movement. Anonymous Vows to Attack NYSE in Support of Wall Street Protests.
US New Rules With Limited Protection For Net Neutrality Soon To Take Effect. U.S. to build new massive prison in Bagram - Afghanistan. Glenn Greenwald - What's Behind The Scorn For The Wall Street Protests? Nationalist Fervor Deludes Dimon - Outrage. Bloomberg Markets Most Influential 50: Lloyd Blankfein. Occupy Wall Street called "a bunch of spoiled brats" today. Report from the Wall Street Occupation. Jamie Dimon Still in the Doghouse Over Temper Tantrum. 'Goldman Sachs rules the world' - Features. Anonymous starts activism via corporate securities research | InSecurity Complex. Aggressive style of JP Morgan boss may hurt bank cause.
Meltdown – The men who crashed the world. 15 Stocks That Everyone's Shorting As The Market Gets Hammered. Olive: Dimon a banker who is his own worst enemy. 5 Stocks With Monster Yields Of 10% Or More. GOP Mega-Donor Koch Brothers' Company Tied To Global Criminal Misdeeds In Bombshell Article. Max Keiser - Frontline financial war reports. Dylan Ratigan | Free America. Bernie Sanders on Occupy Wall Street Protests - Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann 9/29/11. Bernie Sanders "It's Not Just Wall Street! It's The Military Industrial Complex!" MSNBC: Dylan Ratigan Interviews Bernie Sanders About Occupy Wall Street | ForwardSeeking. The Highest-Yielders of the Dow. Hackers grab Goldman CEO's personal data. Hackers target Jamie Dimon. Occupy Wall Street | Hackers Homeland Security | Anonymous Wall Street.
Barroso calls for eurobonds and transaction tax - EUROZONE.
Obama to Congress: Get your act together and pass jobs bill - The Hill's Video. Help Warren Buffett raise taxes on the super rich ACTION. Bernie Sanders on Occupy Wall Street. US net neutrality rules finalized, in effect November 20. Fed. Government Pays IT Contractors Nearly Twice As Much As Its Own IT Workers CIO. Media collusion with Bilderberg Group confirms hidden agenda - Gerard Batten MEP. Suffering Portuguese Seek Work In Switzerland. ART. Chinese Netizen Watches Officials’ Watches | China News. Yemenis aren’t just angry – they’re hungry and thirsty, too. In China, even solar power pollutes. Here's Why The White House Is Freaking Out About 'Confidence Men' States Losing the Most Jobs to China. Message to Banks: Pay US Back.