BÖRSEN VIDEO - uf Schwiizerdütsch ;) Angst - Hoffnung - Suchtverhalten :rolleyes

http://www.cash.ch/video/start.php?firstProjectID=8553

10:31 er liesse nach 1987 die Finger von der Börse :cool

Mon 8 Dec 2008

The No-Bonus-O-Meter

Posted by alyx under all ur bankz
1 Comment
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WSJ was kind enough to compile a list for us of the CEOs receiving naught but coal in their stockings this year, ranging from the amenable John “The last couple years have stunk and I don’t really need the cash” Mack to the presumably less thrilled Ten Million Dollar Man, John Thain:

• Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank
• Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs
• John Mack, Morgan Stanley
• Marcel Rohner, UBS
• John Thain, Merrill Lynch
• John Varley, Barclays
• Brady Dougan, Credit Suisse Group

So if you are expecting a Christmas present from any of these guys, don’t count on it being anything good. Don’t count on it next year either. Sob sob sob:

The moves by Merrill and Morgan Stanley essentially mark the end of an era for giant CEO bonuses on Wall Street, at least until the next bull market. From Credit Suisse to Goldman Sachs to UBS :gomad, the year-end payouts that enriched top executives and symbolized the record profits that investment banks raked in before the housing bubble burst suddenly are an endangered species. And with business expected to remain dismal, Wall Street chiefs face the prospect of foregoing another bonus in 2009.

In even worse news for these cash cows, we spoke with Anna Wintour to ask her what’s hot for 2009 on the catwalk, and she told us the clawback will be back in raging style, dahling:

[Morgan] is also launching a program in which the company could “claw back” bonus payments later if an employee causes big losses or other damage. UBS AG made a similar move on clawbacks last month, and some think the bonus feature will grow more popular as Wall Street firms focus on reining in risk.

This morning I was almost willing to let Thain have the ten mil without much grousing, as an award for least embarrassing performance. (The logic is something along the lines of how, if I ever get married, I will ensure my bridesmaids are horribly unattractive.) But he backed down, probably trying to save face, so I’ll give him a little bit of credit. He’ll need it, since he’s not getting any cash.




hmmmmm :gomad Trotz Milliardenhilfe: UBS darf weiter Boni zahlen



muss keine Obergrenze bei den Salären einführen und nicht auf Boni verzichten. 08.12.2008



UBS: Es droht Abbau von weiteren 4000 Stellen

Gemäss Informationen der Zeitung «Sonntag» plant die UBS für den Fall, dass sich die Lage an den Börsen nicht endlich bessert, 07.12.2008

Finanzkrise treibt Banker in die Psychiatrie

Von Claudio Habicht.
Aktualisiert vor 28 Minuten 5 Kommentare

Im Burghölzli stehen die Zeichen auf Rot: Die Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Zürich ist überbelegt. Nun erwartet Klinikdirektor Daniel Hell noch mehr Eintritte – wegen der Finanzkrise.


.......Schon vor der Finanzkrise kämpfte das Burghölzli mit einem Ansturm: 2007 traten 3655 Personen in die Psychiatrische Uniklinik Zürich ein, 2002 waren es erst 3191. Für das laufende Jahr rechnet Klinikdirektor Daniel Hell mit einem weiteren Anstieg: Bereits 3023 Eintritte verzeichnete er bis Ende Oktober.

«Dieses Jahr werden wir wieder das hohe Niveau des letzten Jahres erreichen.» Hell nennt folgende Ursachen für den Anstieg: «Die Globalisierung, der Leistungsdruck sowie die soziale Destabilisierung und Vereinsamung bringen immer mehr Menschen an die Grenzen ihrer Belastbarkeit.»

Finanzkrise fordert ihren Tribut......

ganzer Artikel: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wirtsch.../story/26525470

...kann ja nicht schaden ;)


Sind ETFs wirklich sicher? Dies sollten Sie unbedingt wissen!
von Michael Vaupel

*** Traders Daily-Leser W. K. fragt:

„Da ich Aktien und Optionsscheine zur Zeit scheue, aber vor dem 31.12.08 noch in einen Grundstock investieren will (Abgeltungsteuer), habe ich mir ein paar ETFs angeschaut, von denen ich die Info hatte, dass sie - wie normale Fonds - als Sondervermögen geführt werden müssen und damit auch bei einer Pleite der kontoführenden Bank nicht verloren sind. Ich habe mir die Bedingungen für ein Asien ETF von ABN Amro (WKN: A0MU3S) angeschaut. Da steht drin: `Anleger sollten jedoch beachten, dass die Insolvenz oder der Zahlungsverzug der ABN als Swap Kontrahent Auswirkungen auf das Vermögen des Teilfonds haben würden.
Frage: Doch nichts mit der Sicherheit vor einer Pleite? Wie ist das bei `normalen Fonds (die mir in den Gebühren zu teuer sind)?"

Meine Antwort:

Ja, interessante Sache!

Zunächst zur zweiten Frage des Lesers - den „normalen" Fonds. Die sind ein Sondervermögen, da ist die Sache einfach. Das bedeutet: Wenn die herausgebende oder die Depot führende Bank Pleite geht, spielt das keine Rolle. Ein Sondervermögen besteht „für sich" („Ding an sich", siehe Kant).

Nun zu den ETFs.

Normalsterbliche wie Ihr Traders Daily-Autor hatten bei Aufkommen der ETFs zunächst in der Illusion gelebt, dass diese vollständig durch den jeweiligen Basiswert abgedeckt sind. Wenn z.B. ein Gold ETF ein Volumen von 1 Mrd. Euro erreicht, ist er durch Gold im Gegenwert von 1 Mrd. Euro gedeckt.

Dies trifft aber nur auf einen Teil der ETFs zu. Insbesondere bei ETFs auf Aktien-Indizes sind diese ETFs keineswegs immer durch die im Index enthaltenen Aktien gedeckt.

Vielmehr gehen da einige Emittenten ganz anders vor!

*** Nehmen wir einmal ein Beispiel, und zwar einen Eurostoxx50 ETF.

Da ist es öfter so, dass der Emittent für den Gegenwert der verkauften ETF-Anteile dann keineswegs die im Index enthaltenen Aktien kauft. Er geht stattdessen ein Geschäft mit einer anderen Bank ein: Diese andere Bank garantiert für einen bestimmten Zeitpunkt die Auszahlung eines Betrags, der dem Gegenwert eines bestimmten Aktienkorbs entspricht.

Und dieser Aktienkorb entspricht dann genau der Zusammensetzung des Eurostoxx50.

Mit anderen Worten: Der Emittent des ETF verpflichtet eine andere Bank dazu, die Zahlung zu leisten. (Dies geschieht mittels einem sogenannten SWAP-Geschäft.)

Das bedeutet, dass der Emittent des ETF nicht das gesamte erhaltene Geld in die Abbildung des Index durch Kauf der enthaltenen Aktien stecken muss. Stattdessen kann er mit dem Geld ganz andere Dinge kaufen, welche den ETF ebenfalls absichern. In letzter Zeit waren offensichtlich japanische Aktien der Hit für solche Käufe.
Halten wir fest: Wenn Sie einen ETF auf den Eurostoxx50 kaufen, dann ist es keineswegs zwangsläufig so, dass der Emittent mit ihrem Geld dann die im Eurostoxx50 enthaltenen Aktien kaufen wird.

Vielmehr kann er mit diesem Geld eine andere Bank verpflichten, den Zahlungsstrom, den Sie erhalten können, zu leisten. Und er kann japanische Aktien kaufen.

Und jetzt wird auch klar, was dieser Satz bedeutet, welchen der Traders Daily-Leser zitiert hatte:

„Anleger sollten jedoch beachten, dass die Insolvenz oder der Zahlungsverzug der ABN als Swap Kontrahent Auswirkungen auf das Vermögen des Teilfonds haben würden."

Das bedeutet nichts anderes, als dass es für den ETF natürlich „schlecht" ist, wenn der SWAP-Partner, welcher den Zahlungsstrom leisten soll, Pleite geht.

Und hier kommt das Emittenten-Risiko dann doch wieder ins Spiel!!

*** Meiner Ansicht nach erschwerend kommt hinzu: Bei vielen Emittenten habe ich gesehen, dass der Swap-Partner zum selben Mutterkonzern gehört.

Wenn also z.B. die Commerzbank Tochter für ETFs als Swap-Partner das Mutterhaus, also die Commerzbank selber, nehmen würde - dann hängen Sie letztlich doch von der Bonität der Commerzbank ab und sind keineswegs vor dem Emittenten-Risiko sicher.

Wenn Sie diesbezüglich nachfragen, erhalten Sie möglicherweise eine Antwort dieser Art: „Diese Konstruktion hat doch für Sie den Vorteil, dass wir mit den japanischen Aktien eine Über-Rendite erzielen können, welche über der Performance eines reinen Eurostoxx50 Index liegen kann!"

Das mag schon stimmen. Doch wenn ich einen ETF auf den Eurostoxx 50 kaufe, dann wäre es mir am liebsten, wenn dieser einfach nur 1:1 den Eurostoxx 50 abbildet - und auch durch den physischen Kauf der in diesem Index enthaltenen Aktien abgesichert wäre.

Nichts mit Swap-Geschäft mit verbundenem Bankhaus und Kauf von japanischen Aktien.

Doch die Realität sieht anders aus, wie gerade geschildert.

Das sollten Sie wissen, finde ich!

Bleiben Sie wachsam.

Ihr - Michael Vaupel

Mortarly wounded

Dec 8th 2008
From Economist.com

House prices continue to fall in most countries

HOUSING markets look grim all over the world. In the third quarter of 2008, house prices fell in 11 of 16 countries measured by The Economist’s house-price indicators. The worst fall was in Britain, where prices tumbled a whopping 5.5% in the three months to September, following a 2.7% drop in the previous quarter. America's housing bubble was the first to burst in 2006, and it has been deflating rapidly since. Many places that recorded gains in the first quarter, such as Hong Kong and China, are now seeing declines. Only in Sweden and Switzerland did house prices grow by more than 1% in the third quarter. Germany, France and South Africa saw tiny rises. Global house prices are expected to fall by 15% in the next two years.
http://www.economist.com/daily/char...e=features_box4

...http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/20...SHOW_index.html

09 December 2008

Illinois Governor Arrested on Federal Corruption Charges


The Senate seat that the Democratic Governor was attempting to 'sell' is the one being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. There is no linkage to Senator Obama, and we are sure that if there was the slightest taint the Justice Department would be putting it forward vigorously.

If Blagojevich is found guilty he should be punished severely.

As the administration, and the Justice Department, turns from Republican to Democratic, looks for an increasing series of indictments for Republican corruption. There will be a pre-emptive series of pardons by the outgoing President Bush.

Such are the ways in times of general corruption. Anyone who thinks this is the domain of either party in particular is greatly mistaken. We are in a cultural crisis of integrity and honesty, overwhelmed by greed.

“I want to make money,” adding later that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 a year, the complaint alleges. (Joe the Governor? - Jesse)

US Department of Justice
ILLINOIS GOV. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH AND HIS CHIEF OF STAFF JOHN HARRIS ARRESTED ON FEDERAL CORRUPTION CHARGES
Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney
December 9, 2008

Blagojevich and aide allegedly conspired to sell U.S. Senate appointment, engaged in “pay-to-play” schemes and threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Company for Wrigley Field to induce purge of newspaper editorial writers

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.

Blagojevich, 51, and Harris, 46, both of Chicago, were each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They were charged in a two-count criminal complaint that was sworn out on Sunday and unsealed today following their arrests, which occurred without incident, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men were expected to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

- a substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;

- placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;

- promises of campaign funds – including cash up front; and

- a cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Just last week, on December 4, Blagojevich allegedly told an advisor that he might “get some (money) up front, maybe” from Senate Candidate 5, if he named Senate Candidate 5 to the Senate seat, to insure that Senate Candidate 5 kept a promise about raising money for Blagojevich if he ran for re-election. In a recorded conversation on October 31, Blagojevich claimed he was approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5 as follows: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

On November 7, while talking on the phone about the Senate seat with Harris and an advisor, Blagojevich said he needed to consider his family and that he is “financially” hurting, the affidavit states. Harris allegedly said that they were considering what would help the “financial security” of the Blagojevich family and what will keep Blagojevich “politically viable.” Blagojevich stated, “I want to make money,” adding later that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 a year, the complaint alleges.
On November 10, in a lengthy telephone call with numerous advisors that included discussion about Blagojevich obtaining a lucrative job with a union-affiliated organization in exchange for appointing a particular Senate Candidate whom he believed was favored by the President-elect and which is described in more detail below, Blagojevich and others discussed various ways Blagojevich could “monetize” the relationships he has made as governor to make money after leaving that office. “The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism. The citizens of Illinois deserve public officials who act solely in the public’s interest, without putting a price tag on government appointments, contracts and decisions,” he added.

Mr. Grant said: “Many, including myself, thought that the recent conviction of a former governor would usher in a new era of honesty and reform in Illinois politics. Clearly, the charges announced today reveal that the office of the Governor has become nothing more than a vehicle for self-enrichment, unrestricted by party affiliation and taking Illinois politics to a new low.”

Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Grant thanked the Chicago offices of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General for assisting in the ongoing investigation. The probe is part of Operation Board Games, a five-year-old public corruption investigation of pay-to-play schemes, including insider-dealing, influence-peddling and kickbacks involving private interests and public duties...



Posted by Jesse at 10:46 AM :verbeug

:rolleyes

Tue 9 Dec 2008

The Biggest Failure You Never Heard Of

Posted by Jason under fail
[9] Comments


Consider General Growth Properties, a company whose name may not ring any bells but whose real estate holdings have touched us all, sometimes in the no-no parts. Above is their stock chart, as of this morning, and please note the precipitous drop over the past six months. What traded for forty dollars a share in June was in November trading for forty cents. The failboat is too good for GGP; this warrants the dreaded failcarrier:



So who is this GGP that we all know but have never heard of? GGP owns malls. A lot of malls. If you’ve ever been in a mall that’s neither a dirt mall nor a high-end fancy mall with valet service, but rather a mall you might go to when you need to kill a couple of hours and which elicits only a reaction of “Hm” from you, you have been in a GGP mall. The kind of mall where the nicest store might be a Banana Republic, or that would house an Old Navy flagship store. And now they are facing a likely Chapter 11 filing by the end of this week.

Unless, that is, it can cough up $900m for a loan payment by Friday. No problem, right?

The company’s CEO, John Bucksbaum, was recently given the boot from that position (retaining the title of chairman) thanks in large part to his giving loans to two company officers without first informing the rest of the board, which I guess is a firin’ offense. The way things are going at GGP, he’ll be lucky to keep his family name on the letterhead at all.

When John was named CEO in 1999, he came on with visions of growth glittering in his beady eyes - and not so much the whole finance…thing…that his uncle (Martin, the other co-founder) was so heavily into and had marked much of the company’s success heretofar. He turned the financials over to Some Dude, CFO Bernie Freibaum, a man seemingly set on disproving the stereotype that Jews are handy with money.

When a company needs quick cash to fund expansion or whatnot, it has a few options. It can either take itself public, issue more stock if it is already public, actively seek investors in exchange for preferred stock, rent its genitals by the hour on a downtown street corner, or just get a loan from a bank. Taking out mortgages on its own properties, especially when that company is real-estate focused, is generally much further down the list. Paying back those mortgages with even larger mortgages, on other properties, tends to be near the bottom of the list, because it is a really stupid idea. Since you’re reading this on LOLFed, you might have already guessed which path GGP took.

Funny thing about mortgaging individual properties: when you have as many as GGP does, lenders don’t really place limits on just how many mortgages you can take out, either because you don’t tell them how many others you already hold, or because the lenders just assume that no company would be dumb enough to do what GGP did. Long story short, the company now has debt of well over $20b (yes, that’s billion) hovering over its head, and oh, they’re finding themselves unable to pay it back, what with the commercial mortgage market all but drying up with the rest of the mortgage market last year. The company’s debt now equals 83% of its total asset value.

For what nefarious purpose could all these mortgages be used? Why, acquiring other mall-owning companies, of course. Half of that debt was accumulated in the takeover of The Rouse Co., and with that came an odd requirement. The Rouse Co. had earlier taken over the Howard Hughes Corporation, including all of its land holdings. As part of the deal to buy Rouse, GGP had agreed to pay half the appraised value of that land to Hughes’ heirs. That land? Thousands and thousands of acres outside Las Vegas. So GGP is on the hook for close to $1b in those reimbursements alone.

As could be expected, when all of this began to unravel, GGP’s stock began to drop. CFO Freibaum, as well as COO Bob Michaels, had wisely purchased many, many millions of dollars’ worth of GGP stock on margin, which did not work out so well for them after all. This is where I get lost. Freibaum was in charge of the company’s money, and had been moving it around and borrowing it like it was being printed in ways that were quite frankly unsustainable, and then bought seven and a half million shares of stock in that same company, in a method that he had to have known was going to have him on the hook for millions of dollars to cover margin calls when his money mismanagement scheme blew up in his face.

Remember the loans to company officers? One was to Michaels, for $10m, and the other to Freibaum, for $90m, to cover their margin calls so they wouldn’t have to dump their stock, which would have spooked investors even more. Then the stock continued to plummet and they had to sell off over eight million shares anyway. Freibaum was canned by October, and once word of the loans leaked out, Bucksbaum was out as well.

The Bucksbaum family, which collectively holds 25% of the company, has seen its stake’s worth plunge from $3b in June (the left side of the above chart) to just over $100m. In the event of a Chapter 11 filing, the chances of the family’s stake being eliminated almost entirely are fairly even. But don’t worry, they won’t be reduced to shopping in Old Navy flagships anytime soon.




:schwitz ....wird wirklich von Tag zu Tag schlimmer :(

....sit down for the special stock market feeling :o

T-Bills Hit Zero


AP
Point of no return: Interest on T-bills hits zero
By MADLEN READ and MARTIN CRUTSINGER
December 9, 2008

NEW YORK – Investors are so nervous they're willing to accept the same return from government debt that they'd get from burying money in a coffee can — zero.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday it had sold $30 billion in four-week bills at an interest rate of zero percent, the first time that's happened since the government began issuing the notes in 2001.

And when investors traded their T-bills with each other, the yield sometimes went negative. That's how extreme the market anxiety is: Some are willing to give up a little of their money just to park it in a relatively safe place.
"No one wants to run the risk of any accidents," said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP, a research company that specializes in government finance.

At last week's government auction of the four-week bills, the interest rate was a slightly higher but still paltry 0.04 percent. Three-month T-bills auctioned by the government on Monday paid poorly, too — 0.005 percent.

While everyday people can keep their cash in an interest-earning CD or savings account at the bank, institutional investors with hundreds of millions of dollars on their hands often use government debt as part of their investment strategy.

In the Treasury market, the U.S. government, considered the most creditworthy of borrowers, issues IOUs of varying durations to raise money.

The zero percent interest rate is no reason to panic. As recently as Monday, investors were plowing cash into stocks, and averages like the Dow industrials are off their lows.

And long-term government bonds, while near record lows, are still paying decent money considering the tumultuous climate. The yield on a 30-year bond on Tuesday was a little higher than 3 percent.

There's good news in all this for taxpayers: Low interest rates on government debt mean the United States is financing its $700 billion bailout of the financial system very cheaply. The Treasury has sold mountains of debt to pay for it.

But the trend also underlines stubborn anxiety in the financial market that could keep the economy sluggish for years to come, and it translates into stagnant returns for people who have their money in places like money market funds.

"There's a price for safety," said Peter Crane, president of money market mutual fund information company Crane Data LLC. "Down slightly is the new up."

As the stock market has taken its alarming plunge, people have been moving money from riskier assets to safer ones. According to Crane Data, funds invested purely in Treasurys have surged more than 150 percent over the past year, to $726 billion.

Earning zero percent on an investment for a short while may not seem that dire for the average person. But a zero percent rate has serious consequences for the complex credit markets.

Those markets have been dysfunctional since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. went bankrupt in September, scaring away investors who normally buy bonds from seemingly creditworthy borrowers. Lending, the lifeblood of the economy, has frozen up.

One corner of the credit markets is the repurchase markets, known as "repo," where banks and securities firms make and receive short-term loans backed by collateral, usually Treasury bills.

When those T-bills are yielding nothing, there's little incentive to deliver them on time. If the holder loses the interest, it's no big deal.

"This is a particular problem in a time like this, because people are buying Treasury securities for their security, for their safety. It's important that they're delivered," Crandall said. (You can bet the shorts are piling on - Jesse)

And high demand for government debt rather than corporate debt could stifle economic growth.

Corporate bond rates have been surging to record levels compared with Treasurys, which makes it more expensive for companies to raise money. And when companies can't raise money, they often have to cut costs, sometimes through layoffs.

Only a few corporate bond deals have been going through lately, and most have been through the government, which has agreed to guarantee financial institutions' bond sales. American Express Co., for one, said Tuesday it has issued $5.5 billion through the government program.

Many worry that the government will become the most attractive lender and borrower in the market — crowding out others in the private sector....


Posted by Jesse at 9:19 PM :verbeug

09 December 2008

The Long Bond Is Holding a High Note









Posted by Jesse at 10:16 PM :verbeug

10 December 2008

Is the Fed Taking the First Steps to Selective Default and Devaluation?


We have been looking for an out-of-the-box move from the Fed, but this was not it.

The big kahuna move would be for the Treasury and the Fed to make an arrangement in which the Fed is able to purchase Treasury debt directly without subjecting it to an auction in the public market first. This is known as 'a money machine' and is prohibited by statute.


But as usual the Fed surprised us. They are asking Congress about permission to issue their own debt directly, not tied to Treasuries.

If the Fed were able to issue its own debt, which is currently limited to Federal Reserve Notes backed by Treasuries under the Federal Reserve Act, it would provide Bernanke the ability to present a different class of debt to the investing public and foreign central banks.

The question is whether it would be backed with the same force as Treasuries, or is subordinated, or superior.


There will not be any lack of new Treasury debt issuance upon which to base new Fed balance sheet expansion. The notion that there might be a debt generation lag out of Washington in comparison with what the Fed issues as currency is almost frightening in its hyperinflationary implications.

This makes little sense unless the Fed wishes to be able to set different rates for their debt, and make it a different class, and whore out the currency notes without impacting the sovereign debt itself to leave the door open for the issuance of a new Dollar.


What an image. The NY Fed as a GSE, the new Fannie and Freddie. Ben can simply print a new class of Federal Reserve Notes with no backing from Treasuries. BenBucks.

Perhaps we're missing something, but this looks like a step in anticipation of an eventual partial default or devaluation of US debt and the dollar.


You know what they say: When the going gets tough, the debt holders get screwed.


Wall Street Journal
Fed Weighs Debt Sales of Its Own
By JON HILSENRATH and DAMIAN PALETTA
DECEMBER 10, 2008

Move Presents Challenges: 'Very Close Cousins to Existing Treasury Bills'

The Federal Reserve is considering issuing its own debt for the first time, a move that would give the central bank additional flexibility as it tries to stabilize rocky financial markets.

Government debt issuance is largely the province of the Treasury Department, and the Fed already can print as much money as it wants. But as the credit crisis drags on and the economy suffers from recession, Fed officials are looking broadly for new financial tools.

The Federal Reserve drained $25 billion in temporary reserves from the banking system when it arranged overnight reverse repurchase agreements.

Fed officials have approached Congress about the concept, which could include issuing bills or some other form of debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

It isn't known whether these preliminary discussions will result in a formal proposal or Fed action. One hurdle: The Federal Reserve Act doesn't explicitly permit the Fed to issue notes beyond currency.

Just exploring the idea underscores many challenges the ongoing problems are creating for the Fed, as well as the lengths to which the central bank is going to come up with new ideas.

At the core of the deliberations is the Fed's balance sheet, which has grown from less than $900 billion to more than $2 trillion since August as it backstops new markets like commercial paper, money-market funds, mortgage-backed securities and ailing companies such as American International Group Inc.

The ballooning balance sheet is presenting complications for the Fed. In the early stages of the crisis, officials funded their programs by drawing down on holdings of Treasury bonds, using the proceeds to finance new programs. Officials don't want that stockpile to get too low. It now is about $476 billion, with some of that amount already tied up in other programs.

The Fed also has turned to the Treasury Department for cash. Treasury has issued debt, leaving the proceeds on deposit with the Fed for the central bank to use as it chose. But the Treasury said in November it was scaling back that effort. The Treasury is undertaking its own massive borrowing program and faces legal limits on how much it can borrow.

More recently, the Fed has funded programs by flooding the financial system with money it created itself -- known in central-banking circles as bank reserves -- and has used the money to make loans and purchase assets.

Some economists worry about the consequences of this approach. Fed officials could find it challenging to remove the cash from the system once markets stabilize and the economy improves. It's not a problem now, but if they're too slow to act later it can cause inflation.

Moreover, the flood of additional cash makes it harder for Fed officials to maintain interest rates at their desired level. The fed-funds rate, an overnight borrowing rate between banks, has fallen consistently below the Fed's 1% target. It is expected to reduce that target next week.

Louis Crandall, an economist with Wrightson ICAP LLC, a Wall Street money-market broker, says the Fed's interventions also have the potential to clog up the balance sheets of banks, its main intermediaries.

"Finding alternative funding vehicles that bypass the banking system would be a more effective way to support the U.S. credit system," he says.

Some private economists worry that Fed-issued bonds could create new problems. Marvin Goodfriend, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and a former senior staffer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said that issuing debt could put the Fed at odds with the Treasury at a time when it is already issuing mountains of debt itself.

"It creates problems in coordinating the issuance of government debt," Mr. Goodfriend said. "These would be very close cousins to existing Treasury bills. They would be competing in the same market to federal debt."

With Treasury-bill rates now near zero, it seems unlikely that Fed debt would push Treasury rates much higher, but it could some day become an issue.

There are also questions about the Fed's authority.

"I had always worked under the assumption that the Federal Reserve couldn't issue debt," said Vincent Reinhart, a former senior Fed staffer who is now an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. He says it is an action better suited to the Treasury Department, which has clear congressional authority to borrow on behalf of the government.

Posted by Jesse at 1:00 AM :verbeug

:rolleyes:nw:rolleyes

NÄCHTLICHE KRAWALLE IN ATHEN

Frust, Steine, Scherben


Aufruhr statt Entspannung: Nach der Beerdigung des 15-jährigen Alexandros in Athen ist es in der Nacht erneut zu schweren Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Autonomen und Polizei gekommen. Es scheint, als wollten oder könnten beide Seiten die Konfrontation nicht beenden. Aus Athen berichtet Jörg Diehl mehr... [ Video | Forum ]

:(

Eilmeldung: 10. Dezember 2008, 10:09 Punktlandung für Maurer

:bad
Offizieller SVP-Kandidat im dritten Wahlgang in den Bundesrat gewählt

Ueli Maurer ist neuer Bundesrat. Der offizielle Bundesratskandidat erreichte die Wahl im dritten Durchgang mit 122 Stimmen und traf damit das absolute Mehr genau. Der Favorit einer Mitte-Links-Koalition, SVP-Nationalrat Hansjörg Walter, kam auf 121 Stimmen. Maurer sagte bei der Annahme der Wahl, dass er grossen Respekt habe vor seinem neuen Amt. ...

....musste das sein :mad

Fem-bot's my love machine


Perfect couple ... Le Trung with Aiko


By STAFF REPORTER

Published: Today


A BOFFIN too busy to find real love has INVENTED his idea of the perfect woman – a female ROBOT.

Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features.

She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks......

.....Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology.......

......“Her software could be redesigned to simulate her having an orgasm and reacting to touch as if she is playing hard to get or being straight to the point,” he said.......

.....“Like a real female she will react to being touched in certain ways. If you grab or squeeze too hard she will try to slap you. She has all senses except for smell,” he said.....

"Fem-bot" Aiko, who has cost £14,000 to build so far, is a whizz at maths and even does Le’s accounts.


Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology.

He said he did not build Aiko as a sexual partner, but said she could be tweaked to become one....

full story mit Video: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...icle2023392.ece

.....jetzt noch die richtigen BörsenTipps und dann fehlt dem guten Herrn wirklich nichts mehr :bad na ja - vielleicht kann er sich selber so einstellen, dass er die :rolleyes Kinder - oder wären es Compis :confused - zur Welt bringt :dumm

Clueless: Bailed-Out AIG Offering Another 38 Executives Bonuses Topping $4 Million

• Quick Read |
• Comments (132)
• | Financial Crisis

Pack :gomad

Wed 10 Dec 2008

Down Is The New Up, Cats And Dogs Living Together, Etc

Posted by alyx under markets




Interest rates? Mark it zero! Even better, maybe mark it below zero, why not. T-bills now forecast fear, loathing and deflation:

The U.S. Treasury completed a remarkable auction of four-week Treasury bills today. No surprise that there was a ton of demand for the only investment still viewed as a safe haven — there were bids worth $120 billion for the $30 billion of bills being sold. But how low did bidders go on the yield they’d accept to own the bills? All the way down to zero. That’s right, the U.S. government just borrowed $30 billion at a cost of zero percent interest. That follows yesterday’s auction of 3-month T-bills at the microscopic rate of 0.005%, the lowest since the long-running 3-month maturity first hit the market in 1929.

According to a Bloomberg report on the bond market today, the 3-month bills are now trading at a negative yield, meaning buyers get a guaranteed loss, albeit a small one. One trader cited by Bloomberg noted that companies are eager, even desperate, to show they hold only ultra-safe T-bills on their balance sheets for fourth quarter earnings reports so they’re willing to accept the negative or zero yields. :rolleyes

CNBC says this morning that even the 10-year and 30-year is trading at basically zero. So you have, mutual (and hedge) funds liquidating all their noncash assets and buying these things up, in the hopes that when you get your Q4 statement, you’ll see that you lost, you know, 30 or 40 percent on the year, but you’re cozily nested in government securities for the time being (and thus guaranteed to miss a rebound if it happens). Honestly, at this rate you are better off investing in macaroni and cheese at Costco than T-bills - Kraft and Velveeta are guaranteed to have a better exchange rate than this in Bartertown.

...hierzu schreibt Jesse:

10 December 2008

Five Critical Decisions Leading to Our Current Financial Crisis: Joe Stiglitz Present His Analysis of the Financial Crisis


This is a benchmark document, a starting point, for finding our way out of the wilderness.

It validates many of the points that several bloggers have been making for some time, with great effect because of Joe Stiglitz' reputation and accomplishments in his field....

Wed 10 Dec 2008

Formaggio di Governo

Posted by alyx under bailout
[2] Comments



Italy announces a €50 million cheese bailout (h/t to Caroline B for the article):

The world is bailing out banks and car companies. Italy is coming to the rescue of parmigiano cheese.

In an effort to help producers of the cheese commonly grated over spaghetti, fettuccine and other pastas, the Italian government is buying 100,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and donating them to charity.

Though demand for parmigiano is strong in Italy and abroad, producers have been struggling for years to make money, putting the future of Italy’s favorite cheese at risk.

Italy appears to be nearing a cheese crisis. The problems detailed in the article are myriad:

• Parmigiano producers have seen increasing costs and are finding it difficult to make a profit
• Buffalo mozzarella producers have seen a drop in demand, as consumers associate its production with the garbage crisis in Naples
• Grana Padano cheese tastes much like Parmigiano and can be had on the cheap

We think the US auto industry and the Italian cheese industry should get together and make giant cars made out of cheese to alert the public to their plight. Oh, wait, it’s already been done.





Italy's Cheese Bailout


Dave Yoder for The Wall Street Journal


Marco Iemmi, owner of Caseificio la Madonnina near Parma, Italy, rotates wheels of parmigiano cheese.

mit Video: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122...googlenews_wsj#

....endlich mal etwas :supi

10 December 2008

Are Markets Naturally Efficient? Are All People Naturally Good?


There is a ideology that would like to believe that all people are naturally good and rational, and that markets are therefore naturally efficient and free if just left alone to themselves and allowed to function without regulation or management.

This line of argument is often pursued by certain faux conservatives when arguing that the police should be dismissed and the locks removed from the doors, in advance of a period of sustained looting of the common folk by the wealthy elite.

One thing almost all ideologues have in common is that their work exists largely on paper, and is rarely to be found in practical implementation over any sustained period.

That is why there are so few farmers and women in this camp of idealists because their daily struggle with disorder and decay teaches them that nothing goes the way of order and productive results without plenty of hard work and repeated effort.

It is the man in his easy chair reading his book that believes that the dishes clean themselves and the children organize their rooms willingly without supervision. ;)

This romantic belief in natural goodness is great fallacy underlying the Greenspan-Reagan doctrine of trickle down easy money and deregulation.

It is similar to the belief in the natural goodness of all men and the self-ordering of large societies towards justice and equality without effort. It sounds nice, but in practice it is just ridiculous and almost utterly without support except in the minds of its philosophical adherents.

What people forget is that it takes rules and referees and a great deal of hard work and repeated efforts to create and maintain a fair game and a level playing field for the many who may wish to play.

So too with the notion of a natural tendency to free markets. Its just not true. Markets tend to gravitate to oligopoly, insider dealing, fraud and utter inefficiency. Free market capitalists quickly come to hate competition with their succes, and are always seeking to avoid the zero profit outcome through unfair market advantages and the stifling of competition.

Markets can be over-regulated by central planners. But they can also be under-regulated and allowed to degenerate into the same awful excesses that governments and peoples fall into at various times in history.

Government is best that governs least indeed, but with the appropriate level of government to uphold the principles under which people come together to interact in a society and avoid despotism and anarachy.

It is no accident that Jefferson was one of the authors of the Constitution, which although remarkable in its simplicity is so enduring against the assaults against it by people who are by no means good. Each generation must recommit itself to uphold the rule of law in oder to refresh the well of freedom and the health of the Republic. To suggest that this 'just happens' is to overlook and dishonor those who have delivered that last full measure of devotion.





Posted by Jesse at 3:28 PM

Wed 10 Dec 2008

Is Your State On Goldman’s Naughty List?

Posted by alyx under fail , goldman sachs
[6] Comments


:bad :bad

Not all that long ago, we were talking about shorting New Jersey.

Now, Mish Shedlock reports that Goldman Sachs has an entire list of states it recommends credit default swaps against (for nontraders, that loosely translates to “states Goldman Sachs thinks are broke, and might well default on their bonds”):

Bets against public debt, once unheard of on bonds considered safe enough for retirees, have soared as the National Conference of State Legislatures projects recession-fueled budget crises will cause $97 billion of shortfalls nationwide over the next 18 to 24 months.

It’s “disturbing” to advise investors to bet against the financial health of a state whose bonds Goldman helps sell, Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer, a Democrat who chairs the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, said last week in a letter to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein.

As part of a September presentation to institutional investors on “Best Long and Short Risk Strategies,” Goldman recommended :gomad buying credit-default swaps on “a basket of liquid State General Obligation credits with current and worsening fiscal outlooks,” including California, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan.

The firm also recommended :gomad the derivatives on states with “significant unfunded pension” and other retiree obligations, including Illinois, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Nevada.

I mean, Goldman sold this debt, so we should listen to them, because they, if anyone, should know when it’s going in the shitter, no? And actually, it’s not just Goldman, it’s also Merrill and Morgan recommending these swaps. In other words, if you live in one of the following states:

• New Jersey
• California
• Florida
• Nevada
• Ohio
• Wisconsin
• Michigan
• Illinois
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Hawaii

…expect a tax hike, a decline in services, and a host of other fail in your future. Sing it with me: he’s makin’ a list, he’s checkin’ it twice… Santa :kotz Lloyd is shorting your state.

:bad immer dasselbe Dreckspack :gomad

...."Demokratie" auf schweizer Art :(

SVP setzte Walter unter Druck




Hansjörg Walter wollte Bundesrat werden. Auf einem Spaziergang durch das winterliche Bern hat ihm aber der SVP-Fraktionschef die Hölle heiss gemacht. Mehr...



:bad :bad
Bundesrat Ueli Maurer

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Hedge Fund Redemptions for November: $46 Billion


Given how dreadful September and October were for the vast majority of hedge funds, it isn't surprising that shell-shocked investors continue to pull money out. And the withdrawals may not be entirely performance related either. Investors are shedding risk, and are likely to have lost money in other strategies, and may need to tap into hedge fund holdings to restore their personal liquidity.

Consider some other issues. November was less awful, but still not a great month either, and experts expect to see more investor withdrawals. And many funds have restricted withdrawals, so as not to be forced to dump positions quickly to meet normal redemption timetables, Those funds do plan to sell at a more measured pace and pay their clients back. But that in turn means that there is an overhang of pending asset sales that may dampen upward movements in risky asset classes.....:rolleyes

......Hedge-fund industry assets peaked at $1.9 trillion in June, data compiled by Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. show. Investment losses and withdrawals may shrink that amount by 45 percent by the end of this month, according to estimates by analysts at Morgan Stanley......

"Finanzkrise" ist Wort des Jahres

vor 1 Std. 10 Min.

Das Wort des Jahres 2008 ist "Finanzkrise": Der Ausdruck sei seit Anfang des Jahres in der öffentlichen Diskussion präsent und kennzeichne zusammengefasst die dramatische Entwicklung im Banken-, Immobilien- und Finanzsektor, begründete die Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache ihre Entscheidung. Auf Rang zwei kam der Begriff "verzockt". Den dritten Platz nahm die Bezeichnung "Datenklau" ein, der die illegale Nutzung und Weitergabe elektronisch gespeicherter Personendaten beschreibt....

http://de.news.yahoo.com/2/20081211...es-a4484c6.html

...sehr originell :rolleyes wie wäre es mit Gierstreet :o oder Corruptstreet :o

POLITICAL CORRUPTION IS TOTALLY EPIDEMIC NOW

December 10, 2008 at 2:19 pm | In .diplomacy, Politics | 54 Comments
Tags: Blagojevich, Bush, Clinton, Free Trade, Paulson, trade deficit, Treasury
CLICK HERE LARGE PRINT EDITION: POLITICAL CORRUPTION IS TOTALLY EPIDEMIC NOW « Culture of Life News 2



Corruption is everywhere in our democratic system. It is epidemic. It is also part and parcel of how our system operates. It is sort of the ’shadow world’ of politics but this shadow world is allowed to flourish only because the nature of running for office and the temptations that lie there are so lucrative. Only when people go totally nuts and squeeze too many people or are in office too long, get nailed. But there are many ways of preventing this freebooter-style of corruption. Continue reading POLITICAL CORRUPTION IS TOTALLY EPIDEMIC NOW…

http://www.businesspundit.com/?s=logos :supi

Thu 11 Dec 2008

Running Tally Of The US Treasury Bailout Costs

Posted by alyx under all ur bankz , bailout



FTAlphaville has a nice list this morning tallying the institutions who have tapped the TARP * and for how much. Go there for the full list; there are 88 institutions that, combined, have taken in over $165 billion (keep in mind this is just Treasury, and doesn’t account for the Fed’s many programs). Is your bank on the list? Mine is, and I heard a rumor they were planning to go back.

As a suggestion for the incoming administration, perhaps Tim Geithner should make a tour of all these banks, just to get a better understanding of the condition of the institutions the government has taken direct investment in? I’d go make a deposit if Timmay was working the teller window. Just a thought.




*
TARPees

Posted by Sam Jones on Dec 11 11:56. From the US Treasury:

10/28/2008
Bank of America Corporation $15,000,000,000
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation $3,000,000,000
Citigroup Inc. New York $25,000,000,000
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. $10,000,000,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co. $25,000,000,000
Morgan Stanley $10,000,000,000
State Street Corporation $2,000,000,000
Wells Fargo & Company $25,000,000,000
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. $10,000,000,000

11/14/2008........TOTAL $165,306,798,000

And 88 institutions, by our count.

This entry was posted by Sam Jones on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 11:56 and is filed under Capital markets.

December 11, 2008, 5:58 am The economic consequences of Herr Steinbrueck

There’s an extraordinary — and extraordinarily depressing — interview in Newsweek with Peer Steinbrueck, the Germany finance minister. The world economy is in a terrifying nosedive, visible everywhere. Yet Mr. Steinbrueck is standing firm against any extraordinary fiscal measures, and denounces Gordon Brown for his “crass Keynesianism.”

You might ask why we should care. Germany’s economy is the biggest in Europe, but even so it only accounts for about a fifth of EU GDP, and it’s only about a quarter the size of the US economy. So how much does German intransigence matter?

The answer is that the nature of the crisis, combined with the high degree of European economic integration, gives Germany a special strategic role right now — and Mr. Steinbrueck is therefore doing a remarkable amount of damage.

Here’s the issue: we’re rapidly heading toward a world in which monetary policy has little or no traction: T-bill rates in the US are already zero, and near-zero rate will prevail in the euro zone quite soon. Fiscal policy is all that’s left. But in Europe it’s very hard to do a fiscal expansion unless it’s coordinated.

The reason is that the European economy is so integrated: European countries on average spend around a quarter of their GDP on imports from each other. Since imports tend to rise or fall faster than GDP during a business cycle, this probably means that something like 40 percent of any change in final demand “leaks” across borders within Europe. As a result, the multiplier on fiscal policy within any given European country is much less than the multiplier on a coordinated fiscal expansion. And that in turn means that the tradeoff between deficits and supporting the economy in a time of trouble is much less favorable for any one European country than for Europe as a whole.

It is, in short, a classic example of the kind of situation in which policy coordination is essential — but you won’t get coordination if policymakers in the biggest European economy refuse to go along.

And if Germany prevents an effective European response, this adds significantly to the severity of the global downturn.

In short, there’s a huge multiplier effect at work; unfortunately, what it’s doing is multiplying the impact of the current German government’s boneheadedness.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/20...rueck&st=Search

Steinbrück ist für Saubermänner :rolleyes


...hier ein Kommentar von Cherry dazu - wie immer, jede Münze hat zwei Seiten ;)

Auto bailout collapses in Senate

Negotiations to bring measure up for vote fall short, possibly dooming GM, Chrysler to bankruptcy.

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: December 12, 2008: 12:19 AM ET

Detroit's $14 billion lifeline

More Videos


DETROIT'S DOWNFALL

• Auto bailout collapses in Senate
• Bank bailout funds could be used for Detroit
• GM hires bankruptcy lawyers - report
• Auto bailout ABCs
• Senate edges closer to auto bailout deal

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Hopes for Congressional approval of a bailout of the U.S. auto industry appeared to fall apart late Thursday night as Senate leaders said Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach a deal that could get the bipartisan support needed to bring the measure for the vote.

The Senate voted 52-35 to bring the measure for a vote, but that was short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. The failure followed the collapse of negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans seeking a compromise that all sides could accept.....

full story: http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/11/new...sion=2008121123

Bank of America to shed up to 35,000 jobs
6:38pm: Job cuts, over 3 years, will hit all units as bank reviews operations in light of the weakening economy and merger with Merrill Lynch more

KB Toys files for Chapter 11
5:43pm: Toy retailer files for bankruptcy for the second time in four years as sales remain weak ahead of the holiday. more

Former Nasdaq chair arrested for securities fraud
10:45pm: Bernard Madoff was arrested Thursday and charged with allegedly operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme from his investment advisory business. more
.....But on Wednesday, the complaint said, Madoff told senior employees that the advisory business was a fraud, that he was "finished," had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie" and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme.".......:rolleyes

....eine Hiobsbotschaft nach der andern :(

...welcome :rolleyes:mad

Gordon Brown Saves the World at PMQs! ;):hihi

...überlegenswert :gruebel

Donnerstag, 11. Dezember 2008

Was in Griechenland abgeht ist von oben gewollt

Einer meiner Leserinnen aus Griechenland hat mir eine Mail geschrieben, um mich über die wahren Hintergründe, was in Griechenland mit den Demonstrationen abgeht, zu informieren. Es sieht aus, wie wenn die Gewalt bewusst vom Staat oder einer gewissen Gruppe im Machtapparat, geschürt und inszeniert wird. Nur so lässt sich erklären, dass die Gewalttäter fast ungehindert seit Tagen agieren können. Die Absicht damit ist, die Bevölkerung von anderen Problemen und Skandalen abzulenken und sie nach einer „Lösung“ rufen zu lassen. Dieser Trick wird sehr oft von der Politik verwendet, um entweder an der Macht zu bleiben oder um ein Ziel zu erreichen, nach der bekannten Formel: Problem – Aktion – Lösung.

Hier ihre Aussage:

In Griechenland hat es Tage lang nach einer richtigen Revolution ausgesehen. Der Auslöser war, dass ein 15-jähriger Schüler von einem Polizisten niedergeschossen und tödlich verletzt worden war, Zeugen (Erwachsene, nicht Jugendliche) sprachen von einem gezielten Schuss, während der Polizist und sein Kollege erst mal von Notwehr (der Jugendliche war nachweisbar nicht bewaffnet), dann von zwei Warnschüssen in die Luft gesprochen hat, wobei sich der dritte, tödliche Schuss aus der Waffe gelöst hätte, als er sie hatte ins Halfter stecken wollen. Der Querschläger habe dann leider den Jungen erwischt.
Der Polizist hat von seinen Kollegen den Beinamen "Rambo" bekommen, weil er bekannt war/ist für seine rigourose Vorgehensweise.
Nach dem Tod von Alexandros kam es zunächst zu friedlichen Protesten von Schülern und Studenten, die gegen die hier bekannte Willkür und Brutalität der Polizeieinsatzkräften demonstrierten. Zwar hatten sie Spruchbänder mit Aufschriften wie "Polizisten - Mörder - Schweine", es ist jedoch nicht zu Ausschreitungen gekommen.
Erst bei den Demos gegen Abend lösten sich junge Leute aus den Gruppen, alle ziemlich gleich mit dunklen Klamotten und den Kapuzen ihrer Sweat-Shirts über den Kopf gezogen, die zunächst die Polizeitruppen mit Steinen bewarfen. Die Polizeikräfte gingen mit Schlagstöcken dagegen an und nun mischten sich auch einige der Demonstranten ein. Der Großteil der vorher friedlich Demonstrierenden zerstreute sich jedoch, übrig blieben fast ausschließlich diejenigen mit den Kapuzen.
In der Nacht spitzte sich das Ganze erschreckend zu, es wurden Geschäfte und Autos in Brand gesteckt, ganze Straßenzüge nahezu zerstört - allerdings nicht nur in Athen, sondern auch in Saloniki, Patra, Volos, Larissa, ...
Die Regierung legte sich in dieser Nacht ruhig schlafen und äußerte sich ebenso wie bei den Bränden nur mit salbungsvollen Worten.
In den nächsten Tagen kam es tagsüber ständig zu friedlichen Demos, nachts zu Unruhen und Zerstörung.
Nach der Beerdigung von Alex, an der Tausende Menschen teilnahmen - wieder Unruhen und Krieg zwischen "Kapuzenleuten" und Polizeikräften.
Viele der Polizisten griffen zu ihren Waffen um in die Luft zu schießen, und das in den engen Straßen der Großstädte, wo hinter jedem Fenster Menschen wohnen.
Friedlich Demonstrierende wurden durchgeprügelt, z.B. ein paar Jugendliche, die sich demonstrativ halbnackt an die Stelle legten, an der Alex gestorben war. Von den "Kapuzenleuten" hat nachweisbar keiner eine auf die Mütze bekommen.

Nach den letzten Skandalen, in die sowohl die Kirche als auch ein paar hohe Politiker verwickelt sind, haben hier viele Leute den Eindruck, dass die "Kapuzenleute" von oberster Stelle bestellt worden waren, eben um für Unruhen und Chaos zu sorgen. Jetzt ist nämlich erst mal Ruhe um die Skandale, keiner fragt mehr danach. Und wir reden hier von Korruption, Geldwäsche, Grundstücksbetrug etc. auf höchster Regierungsebene.

Es ist zum Weinen, dass in vielen EU-Staaten die Meinung herrscht, die JUGENDLICHEN Griechenlands seien alle Faschisten und Anarchisten, nur weil eine definitiv kleine Gruppe von "Radikalen" Furore macht. Man ruft nach härterem Durchgreifen gegen "die Jugendlichen", nach Militäreinsätzen, nach mehr Kontrolle, nach nächtlichen Ausgangssperren (das wäre hier ohnehin kaum machbar, lieber würden sich die Griechen abschießen lassen) ..... und der Weg für die Durchsetzung des "Vertrags von Lissabon", dieses EU-Vertrages, der die ganze EU in eine diktaturähnliche Staatenvereinigung stürzen wird, scheint immer näher zu rücken.

Auch heute sind wieder Kundgebungen, denn laut der gerichtsmedizinischen Untersuchungen sei angeblich bestätigt, dass sich der Schuss von selbst aus der Waffe gelöst habe. Der Anwalt der Polizisten ist ein Athener Staranwalt, der bestellt worden ist, nachdem die zwei ersten Anwälte ihre Verteidigung auf eigenen Wunsch abgegeben hatten.
Dieser Anwalt versucht nun ein Bild von Alexandros zu zeichnen, das einen mittelmäßigen und gewaltbereiten Schüler zeigt, belastet mit psychischen Problemen und im Ansatz anarchistisch. Sowohl die Mitschüler, die Freunde und sogar die Lehrer des toten Jungen widersprechen dem, doch dieser RA ist ganz offensichtlich durch seine politischen Verbindungen sehr stark.

Tja, so viel zu der kleinen Französichen Revolution in Griechenland.
Ich persönlich habe die innere Überzeugung, das die gewalttätigen Ausschreitungen organisiert, insziniert und von höchsten Stellen abgesegnet waren/sind. Mit Sicherheit geht die Korruption weit über die Landesgrenzen hinaus, das hat man ja bereits bei dem Siemensskandal sehen dürfen. Und bei der Auftragsverteilung zum Bau der geplanten Straße durch Griechenland nach den Bränden 2007. Tja, auf einem der am schlimmsten betroffenen Gebieten ist in diesem Jahr ein Golfplatz errichtet worden - von britischen Investoren.
Den Rest kann man der jeweiligen Logik und Fantasie jedes Einzelnen überlassen.

In YouTube hat ein Grieche in seinem Profil die Grabesrede zur Beerdigung des 15-jährigen Alexandros veröffentlicht, die seine Freunde gehalten haben. Das ist ein Hilferuf an die Bevölkerung, sich nicht durch sozialen Rassismus der Marke "die Jugendlichen" beeinflussen zu lassen.
http://alles-schallundrauch.blogspot.com/

....ich habe gute griechische Bekannte - die Korruption soll wirklich unglaublich sen :rolleyes

....ein späterer Beitrag zum gleichen Thema und die miesen Praktiken bei Zulassungen :mad
Frontal21, 09.12.2008

F21-Dokumentation: Das Pharma-Kartell

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/cont...84?inPopup=true

Zugeparkt: In Bremerhaven sind zur Zeit rund 90 000 Neuwagen abgestellt

...bei uns kann man mit Losen usw. unendlich Autos gewinnen :o;)

...nix scary ;) oder doch :D

Pirelli-Kalender 2009 - Models und Elefanten

1. Foto - cherchez la femme ;)
© Pirelli Kalender 2009, Peter Beard

...und Jesse dazu:


11 December 2008

Former NASDAQ Chairman Charged in $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme


Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities is the 23rd largest market maker on the Nasdaq for hedge funds and banks handling about 50 million shares per day.

The firm specialized in handling orders from online brokers in some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.

Their Financial Advisory Business is separate from their market-making business with approximately 20 customers.

The $50 billion in confessed total losses does not quite square up with $17 billion under management at the advisory firm, even in these heady days of leverage.

Where and when is the unidentified loss of $33 billion going to hit?

Naked shorts which cannot be covered? Levered positions that are now vaporized?

Who are the twenty or so customers of the Financial Advisory business?

Who was his auditor? Who in the NASD knew about this? Who was handling his back office work?

Is the ghost of Richard Whitney walking the floor of the Exchange tonight?

cf. Richard Whitney, President of the NYSE 1930-35

Richard Whitney: Regulation Will Destroy Capitalism

JPMorgan's Q4 Outlook
Insight on JPMorgan's fourth-quarter outlook, with Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan chairman & CEO; Jeffrey Harte, Sandler O'Neill managing director in equity research; and CNBC's Erin Burnett.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=960023213&play=1

....die haben ja auch genug selber dazu beigetragen damit es worse than expected wird :mad und nicht nur bei ihnen :rolleyes

...und weiter mit Herrn Madoff :rolleyes

Thu 11 Dec 2008

Bernard Madoff Gets The LOLFed “Truth In Honesty” Award

Posted by alyx under fail



That’s Charles Ponzi pictured above, who evidently served as inspiration for Bernard Madoff, of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, and soon to be known in prison as “Madoff 20/20″.
Madoff was arrested today by the FBI for fraud and does the writing for us:

Charges against Madoff allege that he told senior employees on Wednesday that the firm was “a giant Ponzi scheme” after trying to distribute the “couple of hundred million dollars” he had left before turning himself in, according to the Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter. The alleged scheme involved tens of billions of dollars, the newspaper reported.

Looks like he “Madoff” with a lot of cash! (Rimshot.) I tagged this post “fail,” but if he actually said the above, he gets the win for sincerity.

However - why in the world would a 40-year veteran and established member of the financial community pull a move like this? That’s the $50 billion dollar question.

Bloomberg lets us know a bit more about the charges he faces and how much time in prison he could face:

Charged in a criminal complaint with a single count of securities fraud, he was released on $10 million bond guaranteed by his wife and secured by his apartment. Madoff, wearing a white-striped shirt, dark-colored pants and no tie, looked down as he left the courtroom with his wife, declining to comment.

Madoff faces as much as 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted. His New York-based firm was the 23rd largest market maker on Nasdaq in October, handling a daily average of about 50 million shares a day, exchange data show. It specialized in handling orders from online brokers in some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.

What put an end to his scam? A guess: it’s hard to keep a Ponzi scheme up unless you have a lot of incoming cash, and you guys know it’s Redemptions Season on Wall Street (and in Greenwich, and everywhere else, for that matter). What do you do when everyone shows up to collect the money you don’t have on hand? You fail, of course.



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...das scheint sich zu einem veritablen Skandal zu entwickeln - hab mal gegoogelt was das mit dem Ponzi scheme auf sich hat:

Charles Ponzi (* 3. März 1882 in Parma, Italien als Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; † 18. Januar 1949 in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien) war ein italienischer Immigrant in den USA und einer der größten Schwindler und Betrüger der amerikanischen Geschichte. Obwohl fast niemand vom Namen Charles Ponzi gehört hat, ist im englischen Sprachraum das Wort „Ponzi scheme“ (deutsch etwa: „Ponzi-Trick“) ein gebräuchlicher Begriff für Schneeballsysteme und Pyramidenspiele.

Charles Ponzis „Ruhm“ als Betrüger ist noch heute nicht verblasst – Kunden, die nach heutigem Geldwert 150 Millionen Dollar angelegt hatten[1], wurden um ihr Vermögen geprellt. Für eine Einzelperson, die ein Schneeballsystem organisierte, ist dies noch heute ein beträchtlicher Betrag.

Beginn in den USA und Kanada [Bearbeiten]

Ponzi wanderte im November 1903 mit 2,50 Dollar in die USA ein. Er arbeitete in einem Restaurant, nachdem er schnell Englisch zu sprechen gelernt hatte. Zunächst schlief er auf dem Boden des Restaurants und konnte sich schnell zum Kellner hocharbeiten. Nach Betrügereien – kreative Buchhaltung – wurde er entlassen.

1907 zog er nach Montréal in Kanada. Als Bankangestellter sah er, wie sein Patron, Luigi Zarossi, italienische Neuankömmlinge mit sechs Prozent Jahreszins lockte, das Doppelte des damals üblichen Zinssatzes. Zarossi geriet jedoch in Schwierigkeiten und beglich die fälligen Zinsen durch Plünderung der Konten von Neuanlegern. Mit dem Gewinn setzte sich Zarossi nach Mexiko ab.

Charles Ponzi lebte nun im Haushalt der von Zarossi verlassenen Familie. Ponzi plante seine Rückkehr in die Vereinigten Staaten. Zwecks Finanzierung suchte er das Büro eines ehemaligen Zarossi-Kunden auf und stellte sich dort unbeobachtet im Namen des Chefs einen Scheck in der Höhe von $ 423 aus. Dafür wurde er wegen Betrugs zu drei Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt. Seiner Familie schrieb er, er hätte eine Stelle als Assistent des Gefängniswärters gefunden.

Wegen Menschenschmuggels verbrachte Ponzi nach seiner Entlassung eine weitere Gefängnisstrafe, dieses Mal in Atlanta (USA), und wurde dort tatsächlich ein Assistent des Gefängniswärters. Er übersetzte Briefe, die ein italienischer Gangster erhielt und freundete sich mit diesem an. Ein anderer Gefangener in Atlanta schluckte Seifenspäne, erkrankte und konnte die Ärzte erfolgreich davon überzeugen, dass er stürbe – er wurde vorzeitig entlassen. Dieser Mitgefangene war für Ponzi ein Vorbild. Ponzi war der Überzeugung, dass die Reichen alles tun konnten, was sie wollten, und beschloss, reich zu werden.



Ponzi und sein Trick [Bearbeiten]

Ponzi begann nach der Entlassung zunächst damit, Branchenbücher zu verkaufen, die Firma ging jedoch bald bankrott.

Einmal hatte er Post von einer Firma aus Spanien erhalten, die sich für einen Katalog interessierte und dem Brief einen Internationalen Antwortschein beigefügt hatte, was Ponzi auf eine Geschäftsidee brachte. Anfangs war der Geldwert eines solchen Antwortscheins noch an die Währung gekoppelt; als die europäischen Währungen jedoch zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts dramatisch an Wert zu verlieren begannen, konnte man in Europa einen Schein für den Bruchteil des in USA üblichen Preises erwerben. Ponzi warb Mitarbeiter an, die in Europa eben diese Scheine kauften, um sie dann in den USA wieder zu veräußern. 1920 konnte man in Spanien für umgerechnet einen US-Cent einen Antwortschein kaufen, der in den USA selbst 6 Cent wert war. Die damals langen Postlaufzeiten und die Bürokratie im internationalen Postverkehr verhinderten aber ein profitables Geschäft.

Da das Geschäft auf diese Weise wenig profitabel war, warb er Kunden an, die Geld in diese Antwortscheine investierten. Zu diesem Zweck gründete er in Boston die Firma „Securities Exchange Company“. Ponzi versprach 50 % Rendite in 45 Tagen oder die Verdoppelung des angelegten Geldes in 90 Tagen. Weil das Geschäft so blendend lief – er zahlte, wenn jemand seinen Gewinn sehen wollte – forderten die vertrauensseligen Kunden ihre Einkünfte nicht ein und ließen ihre „Gewinne“ wieder reinvestieren. Viele Menschen verpfändeten ihr Haus und ihre Habseligkeiten, um nach der Ponzi-Methode reich zu werden.

In wenigen Monaten des Jahres 1920 vergrößerte Ponzi sein Vermögen von wenigen Tausend Dollar auf Millionen. Zu seinen Glanzzeiten nahm er täglich eine Million Dollar ein; das Geld wurde in Schubladen, in Papierkörben und auf dem Boden gelagert und gestapelt.

Doch als ein Möbelhändler Geld einforderte – was Ponzi nicht zahlte – wurden die Medien auf seinen Reichtum aufmerksam. Die Kunden verlangten ihr Geld zurück und Ponzi befriedigte Ihre Forderungen. Doch die Investoren waren beunruhigt. Als das Finanzamt schließlich sein Vermögen unter die Lupe nahm, fand man in seinem Besitz nur wenige Antwortscheine. Man errechnete, dass er für das eingenommene Geld 160 Millionen derartiger Scheine hätte kaufen müssen - doch im Umlauf waren zu dieser Zeit nur 27.000. Als die Presse von seinen Vorstrafen berichtete, wurden die Anleger definitiv misstrauisch und verlangten ihr Geld zurück. Insgesamt waren Ponzi 15 Millionen Dollar von rund 40.000 Kunden anvertraut worden; bei der Durchsuchung seiner Büros wurden nur 1,5 Millionen sichergestellt.

Ponzi wurde zu fünf und zusätzlich zu zwischen 7 und 9 Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt.



Ein betrügerischer Neubeginn [Bearbeiten]

Nach seiner Entlassung versuchte er sich in Florida nochmals mit einem Pyramidenspiel, dieses Mal im Grundstückshandel. Unter dem Namen Charles Borelli erstand er Land zu 16 Dollar pro acre, unterteilte das Grundstück in 23 Teile und verkaufte jedes für 10 Dollar. Er versprach den Kunden eine wundersame Geldvermehrung von 10 Dollar auf 5,3 Millionen Dollar innerhalb von zwei Jahren. Dass das Gelände sumpfig war und größtenteils unter Wasser stand, verschwieg er.

Nach dem Auffliegen dieses Skandals wurde er wiederum zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt. Nach Bezahlung einer Kaution wurde er wieder freigelassen, flüchtete aber 1926 in Richtung Texas. Im Hafen von New Orleans wurde er verhaftet und nach Boston zurückgeschickt. Ein Gesuch an Präsident Calvin Coolidge[2] um eine Zwangsdeportation ins Ausland zu verhindern wurde abgelehnt.



Italien und Brasilien [Bearbeiten]

Nach sieben Jahren Haft in Boston wurde er am 7. Oktober 1934 auf ein Schiff nach Italien gesetzt. Von der Öffentlichkeit wurde er immer noch als ein Held betrachtet, und gerade unter den Italienern – sei es in den USA oder in Italien – hatte seine Verehrung geradezu mythisches Ausmaß. In Rom arbeitete er als Übersetzer. Benito Mussolini vertraute ihm die Leitung der brasilianischen Filiale einer neu gegründeten Airline an; seine Beschäftigung in Rio de Janeiro dauerte von 1939 bis 1942. Als er entdeckte, dass Mitarbeiter in den Flugzeugen Devisen schmuggelten, verlangte Ponzi eine Gewinnbeteiligung. Als sie diese verweigerten, verriet er sie bei der brasilianischen Regierung.

Nach seiner Entlassung bei der Airline – der Weltkrieg hatte das Fluggeschäft ruiniert – versuchte er sich in verschiedenen Jobs. Er arbeitete als Hotelmanager und scheiterte. Danach lebte er von Arbeitslosenunterstützung und einem kleinen Zuverdienst durch Englischunterricht.

Ponzi starb 1949 in der Armenabteilung eines Spitals in Rio de Janeiro nach einem Hirnschlag – er war fast blind und seine linke Körperhälfte war gelähmt. Ein Mann übernahm Ponzis Leiche und bestattete ihn; die 75 Dollar aus der staatlichen Alterspension deckten gerade die Begräbniskosten.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ponzi