FedUpUSA

Archive for the ‘Buffett’ Category

• Son of Nigerian banker apparently tries to blow up Delta’s EHAM -> KDTW.  (419 BLAM?) [reuters]
• Supposed Delta bomber apparently has al Qaeda ties.  (Explains why he was going to Detroit) [reuters]
• …and has been known by U.S. officials as a terrorist associate for two years.  (Explains why he was going to Detroit) [AP]
• As they hit 5%, and when they think no one is listening, Freddie whispers that 30-year rates could climb to 6% in 2010. (Rahm: “No big thing.  Just sayin’ is all.”) [reuters]
• Vice President of Finance for Koss apparently embezzled $20 million.  (Multi-million dollar clothes and jewelery shopping spree may explain WI retail numbers) [reuters]
• Obama tells Americans to count their blessings.  (Actually, we saw that movie already, back when it was called Jimmy Carter) [marketwatch] 
• Whole Foods Chairman/CEO to become Whole Foods CEO.  (Impartiality partially restored?) [ap/nyt]
• Berkshire employee count 8.6% lighter since last year.  (Read: “Buffett downgrades United States”) [bloomberg]

Ratigan cuts to the chase, bypassing the hollow rhetoric by Administration propaganda queen Christina Romer, who can’t beat enough drums on today’s pathologically ludicrous BLS numbers, yet is completely unwilling to discuss how the White House will proceed to recoup any of the taxpayer-subsidized windfalls at Wall Street firms. Any considerations of windfall tax, be they in the form of a Tobin tax, now openly supported by such people as Warren Buffett and John Bogle, or directly imposed, seems to not be on the White House’s agenda currently or any time in the future. How is it so difficult for Obama to understand that Main Street is demanding some quid-pro-quo of firms like Goldman, whose employees are covertly purchasing Ferraris even as excess bank reserves hit another all time record yesterday, and instead of lending money out the banks continue to collect a risk-free 0.25% on these excess reserves, thereby once again picking taxpayers’ pockets.

Yes, we all know they need the cash as they are well aware their balance sheets are in much more deplorable conditions than loose FASB regulations force them to disclose. However, the animosity is growing, and more and more the anger directed at Wall Street is becoming anchored at Obama and his Robert Rubin (i.e., Goldman Sachs) cronies, who despite their assumed ideological adherence, are seeminly much more pro-Wall Street than even previous Republican administrations. This will be a heated issue for the President, especially once details of individual Wall Street record bonuses become all too public.

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