dagblog - Comments for "Lost Amidst All Of These Wars..."

You have made me curious.

EmmaZahn — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:47:52 +0000

You have made me curious. What is source of your numbers?

It's also possible that, as

Michael Maiello — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:36:55 +0000

In reply to Could be. I'd be inclined to

It's also possible that, as you say, what they did was immoral and pushed the envelope of aggressive accounting but wasn't illegal. Enron was dealing in fictions but there's a lot of ambiguity surrounding debt when it comes to bank holding companies and financial services firms.

I think you're right to look to sources like Barron's, by the way. My old employer, Forbes, is also excellent when it comes to sticking up for investor interest.

Could be. I'd be inclined to

Flavius — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:28:18 +0000

In reply to I think a good case has been

Could be. I'd be inclined to see what Barrons said about it.While Barrons is an uncritical enthusiast for the market economy it primarily defends the interests of the investor. I assume the legality of Lehman accounting depends on whether they actually got rid of certain items at quarter's end without any tangible commitment-to unwind the deal two days later.

With Enron's having so recently gotten this same thing wrong , if I were Lehman's comptroller I'd have made sure that there was no such arrangement. In writing.

I think a good case has been

Michael Maiello — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:25:00 +0000

In reply to Fraud is hard to prove if

I think a good case has been made that the accounting at Lehman was totally fraudulent as it was meant to understate the firm's debt at quarter end. But so far, no prosecutor has been willing to take me up on that.

Fraud is hard to prove if

Flavius — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:22:26 +0000

In reply to Sound like Gillian Tett is

Fraud is hard to prove if there isn't any.

The S&L fraudsters had committed it so they were convicted.

Gillian Tett wrote what I quoted Since if she were caught lying it would ruin her career I'll take her remarks at face value .

Thanks for the reality check,

Michael Maiello — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:16:03 +0000

In reply to 13 Bankers argue the TBTF

Thanks for the reality check, Beetle.

And this is the crux of my complaint... the banks have given up nothing, including the largesse of future bailouts when they screw up again. I'm 36 years old and I've already lived through two major banking crises and both involved massive bailouts.

Sound like Gillian Tett is

we are stardust — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:03:51 +0000

In reply to some bankers have behaved in

Sound like Gillian Tett is just running some interference; it's not that fraud is hard to prove; it's that they are almost never investigating it! How do you think over a thousand frausters were put in jail after the S & L debacle? At least Bush Sr.'s agencies did the freaking investigations!

I'll look for that post.

Flavius — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:25:26 +0000

In reply to Excellent points. Though

I'll look for that post.

13 Bankers argue the TBTF

Beetlejuice — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:21:38 +0000

In reply to Lost Amidst All Of These Wars...

13 Bankers argue the TBTF banks should be held to size limits not to exceed 4% of GNP...roughly $570 billion in assets

Here's where they stood in 2009:

Bank of America 16%
JP Morgan Chase 14%
Citigroup 13%
Wells Fargo 9%
Goldman Sachs 6%
Morgan Stanley 5%

That's 6 banks whose assets are 63% of GNP. And since Obama and the FED didn't resolve the 2008 meltdown with their faux-Pecora Commission, there's rumor the flood gates are still wide open and there's nothing to stop another meltdown a few years from now. I wonder how much more assets those 6 TBTF banks will accumulate by then that we taxpayers will have to cough up?

Excellent points. Though

Michael Maiello — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:32:00 +0000

In reply to some bankers have behaved in

Excellent points. Though this is something I want to take up in a separate post... is the goal of work to make enough money so that you can stop working? If so, what should the tax code look like? If not, then what is the goal?