Taxpayers

The Taxpayer Rally…Nuff Respect

Let’s keep it real. This is The Taxpayer Rally. We can point to any durable goods or new home starts data we want, but it’s all nonsense. The American Taxpayer saved the day and stepped in, willingly or coerced, and put the bottom in. Fundamentals would have told you to run as far as you…

Hot Links: Godspeed Patrick Swayze

Stuff I’m Reading this Morning… A roundup of various currency ETFs and how they’ve done as the dollar dropped (and dropped).  (Bespoke) Sorkin: Obama‘s big reform speech fell on deaf ears on Wall Street yesterday.  (DealBook) Fast-Forwarding Gordon Gekko.  (NYT) They fired the Wells Fargo foreclosed mansion squatter.  I kinda liked the gal.  (Dealbreaker) A…

UBS: "Selling Tax Evasion as a Service"

From Bloomberg: Under threat of prosecution, UBS in February agreed to turn over about 250 names of Americans suspected of tax fraud. We’ve discussed this matter on TRB before, but frankly the longer this thing festers, the more it’s gonna piss me off. UBS has this enormous “Wealth Management” business here in the US and…

The Big Con

There’s a scene in the movie Die Hard with a Vengeance where John McClane (Bruce Willis) finally catches on to the fact that the bomb-scare scavenger hunt he and the NYPD have been sent on is only a distraction, a ruse to cover up the real crime – a heist of the Federal Reserve‘s gold bullion…

GM Super-Psyched for Reinvention

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2687464&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] It’s only June 7th and already, I have my Atrocity of the Month post prepared. Someone tell me who in Crom’s name paid for this whitewash?  “We need to reinvent ourselves“?  Really?  Just a few months ago, the Rick Wagoner regime didn’t even consider bankruptcy an option, “it’s not even on the table,”…

The Reformed Broker Saves California

So the state of California has until the end of July to stave off bankruptcy.  They have a projected budget deficit of $24 billion! Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who ran for office with the intention of fixing the state’s fiscal woes, has presided over a 40% expansion of government spending.  Oopsies! At this juncture, Cali needs…

Dimon, Lewis and Mack Save the Rec Center

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pspmBbbOHh8] Watching the big banks’ money-raising efforts come to fruition over the last several weeks, one cannot help but think of the happy endings of several 80’s movies that made a deep impression on me in my formative years. Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo comes to mind.  Never mind that the film was robbed of an…

This Just In: Over 100 Applicants for PPIP

Treasury Announces Receipt of Applications to Become Fund Managers under Public Private Investment Program Washington, DC — The Treasury Department today announced the receipt of more than 100 unique applications from potential fund managers interested in participating in the Legacy Securities portion of the Public Private Investment Program (PPIP).  A variety of institutions applied, including…

The Goldman Sachs Backlash is Picking Up Steam

  Goldman Sachs (GS) has been able to stay above the fray more than most of its (former) competitors over the last 6 months.  Its share price has stayed above single digit-ville and Buffett‘s investment in the company was seen by many as the Omaha Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.  Now that AIG has been incinerated…