Lucas Van Praag probably has one of the toughest (albeit well-compensated) jobs on the planet these days. As the Global Head of Corporate Communications for Goldman Sachs, he is literally the man with his finger in the dike, just barely containing the deluge of criticism and disgust that is on the verge of becoming a…
Goldman Sachs
Breakfast Links: Ben Stein, Rock Radio & Intern Eating Contests
Stuff I’m Reading This Morning… Felix Salmon calls Ben Stein a predator, or a shill for a predator…tomato, tomaato. (Reuters) Goldman announces it’s acquisition of the Treasury Dep’t…LOL! (Andy Borowitz) Jamie Dimon on a CIT Bankruptcy: “Whatever, dog.” (DealBook) It’s Summertime! So let the intern eating contests begin on The Street! (Dealbreaker) Is the “Equity-Merchant…
Breakfast Links: Cody Willard, CIT, Sun Valley & Jay-Z
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2945931&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] OMG, everything is wrong with this video, Batman, Robin & assorted villains sing “At The Hop” in Spanish for some reason, and then at around the 1:18 mark, a mini Spider-Man appears for no reason whatsoever (Spidey is a Marvel character, Batman is DC). This thing is nine types of bizarre. OK, on…
The Man Who Crashed the World in Vanity Fair
As we’ve discussed before, AIG‘s little hidden hedge fund, Financial Products Group, not only took down the world’s largest insurance company, it had a huge hand in the global meltdown last fall. While some of AIG’s counter-parties came out pretty unscathed (Goldman Sachs), the rest of the financial complex surely did not. While there were…
Taibbi v Goldman Redux
“Goldman Sachs…is like a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money” Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone Magazine Matt Taibbi is the reporter who has just exploded into the public consciousness with his brutal Goldman Sachs Controls the Universe piece in, of all places, Rolling Stone…
Hot Links: Ratings Agencies, Europeans and the Power of "No"
Hot Links for Weekend Reading… OMG you guys, I love it when you hear that famous people are friends, I like to come up with my own combinations and pretend they hang out…like Kevin James and Phillip Seymour Hoffman…ok, sorry…so Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and Oprah and Ted Turner and Mike Bloomberg and all…
Repaying TARP for a Return to Gluttony
I challenge you to find an article about the major banks wishing to repay TARP that doesn’t blatantly cite compensation as the banks primary motivation. Here’s a taste from Dealbook (NYT): Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase have said for weeks that they want to repay their share of the $700 billion government bailout…
Where are we in the Banking Cycle?
The cross-currents that exist right now in the financials are astounding, both in their extremes and in the potential for multiple interpretations of risks/opportunities. Writing for RealMoney Silver this morning, Chris Atayan sums up where we are in the banking cycle perfectly: We are now solidly in the early stages of another financial services cycle. Financial markets…
TGIF Market Recap: Salute Your Dilution
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kov83AXN1Xs] The Reformed Broker, AKA Professor Plum, here with today’s Market Recap… Today’s won’t be a legit recap as I am out of the office early today on a secret Golfing assignment. The big news today was the post-stress test avalanche of secondary offerings from the banks. Shareholders can Salute their Dilution while jamming…
Market Recap: Cars and Bikes
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o] The Reformed Broker, AKA The Mongoose Californian, here with today’s Market Recap… Does anyone or anything suck as much as General Motors (GM)? Even Ford (F), up 10% plus today, seems to be picking itself up off the mat these days, although the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List kudos probably didn’t hurt. On a…
