Things that make you go HMMMMM...

[Paulie]

1st rule of politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY

Henry Paulson is given the postion of Treasury Secretary by Bush, but Obama Keeps him when he gets in.

Paulson was the Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs.

When the government bailouts came about, Lehman Brothers, a major competitor of Goldman Sachs, was not given any money, and went under.

AIG was one of the first to be bailed out...and they were allowed to pay back all their debts to one company...guess who? Tada...Goldman Sachs, which it did in FULL, with the taxpayer bailout money.

When the time for TARP came about, Paulson placed another member of the executive board of Goldman Sachs, Stephen Friedman, in charge of the money.

However, it is illegal for an exec to hold stocks in that company while he holds the government position. Paulson, a former exec of Golman Sachs, issues him a waiver which allows him to keep his stocks. Not only did this exec keep his stocks, but he bought 52,000 more shares of it while holding his goverment position in charge of TARP.

The FED, responsible for TRILLIONS of dollars in bailout money, is protected by "Bankers Privildge" which grants them privacy and allows them to remain silent as to where the TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars have been spent, or who received the money.

Goldman Sachs was the 2nd higest contributor to Obama coming in at near $1 million.

Goldman Sachs revenue increased 64% from 2008-2009.

Is this what Obama was talking about when he spoke of a transparent government???

Hmmmm....

 

[strollingbones]

i was listening to a discussion this morning on npr..where the lady with the gravel voice is the host...talking about how did they have these profits? and was it insider trading etc.

 

[Paulie]

i was listening to a discussion this morning on npr..where the lady with the gravel voice is the host...talking about how did they have these profits? and was it insider trading etc.

Without researching deeply to figure it out, I'd say the huge influx of investments while the market was bottoming in the beginning of the year, coupled with the bailout money being used to keep their cost of capital low, and other institutions paying their debt off to them with other bailout money, and Lehman Bros going under which probably gave a lot of business to Goldman, all helped to boost their profit margin.

Goldman runs this country if you ask me. They're untouchable.

 

[strollingbones]

sure that and more....seems that goldmans has been very user friendly to the obamas and others..they are trusted...so there is no need for transparency or what i would call accountablity....it is still a situation where taxpayers are being screwed and not getting a kiss....the banks which were failing in amazing record numbers are not making record profits....hell drug dealers have more accountablity

 

[Valerie]

1st rule of politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY

So true, Paulie!

 

[Paulie]

By the way Bones, as far as insider trading goes...I'd say that waiving Friedman to allow him to buy 52,000 more shares of Goldman was a prime example of it, considering they obviously knew Goldman was going to become quite profitable again in the near future. Why else issue the waiver, and CERTAINLY why else buy 52,000 more shares of a company that was otherwise in the questionable category of BANK at the time when just about all of them needed bailout money to stay afloat?

Obama keeping Paulson in the position long enough to make that all happen tells me that Obama was in on it too, and obviously Bush has no less guilt in the matter either.

We elect crooks into the highest office in the land. We're a fucking country of retards.

The sad part is that there's still tons of people holding out for hope and change

 

[strollingbones]

what is that saying...allow idiots to vote they will elect the biggest idiots....now its just a debate on how long we have been doing this

 

[strollingbones]

martha stewart went to jail for doing what everyone would do under the same circumstances....but this is just bold faced....you cant even refer to them as pick pockets anymore...they are more....looters at this point

 

[Paulie]

martha stewart went to jail for doing what everyone would do under the same circumstances....but this is just bold faced....you cant even refer to them as pick pockets anymore...they are more....looters at this point

I agree, when faced with information that could 100% positively make you big money, it would be quite hard not to act on it. However, if it happens to be illegal for you to do so, then I don't accept any excuses.

If it's against the law, it's against the law. Being a libertarian, I still advocate those kinds of laws. Someone involved in a particular company shouldn't be able to act on information that the common investor has zero access to. No one shareholder should be any more privvy to information than any other, no matter how many shares they own.

 

[dilloduck]

This thread is far to real to continue. Can we please get a moderator to lock it ?

 

[Paulie]

This thread is far to real to continue. Can we please get a moderator to lock it ?

Well I lean right, and I mentioned Obama, so it's probably just partisan douchebaggery.

Come to think of it, I mentioned Obama and other government officials possibly being in on some type of insider trading...Better just move it to conspiracy theories where it belongs.

 

[Paulie]

There's some new members here that are interested in Economics, and I'd like to bump this and revist it because it's got some relevance considering the correlation some have made between certain banks' losses compared to Goldman Sachs' gains.

 

[Valerie]

67 WALL STREET, New York - October 13, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Banks Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 121 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.




TWST: Mike, how have the banks that you cover fared versus the national banks?

Mr. Shafir: Well, just to clarify, I cover a lot of regional and community banks and thrifts - some in the Mid-Atlantic and also in the traditional Northeast area. I think as a whole, my institutions, as a function of their locations and because some have more capital than average, have fared significantly better than the average bank. I think some of the problems that arose in the Northeast - problems that contributed to capital erosion at some banks - have been more securities-based as opposed to the loan portfolio issues that have been seen elsewhere. So I would say on the whole, the institutions that I look at have fared significantly better than institutions in other regions of the country.

TWST: How has it been for the banks you cover, Kevin?

Mr. Reynolds: Probably the fundamental differences between the Mid-Atlantic North and Mid-Atlantic South region that I cover is that in the South, for the last five, 10, 15 years, we were the culprits in the residential situation that is weighing on the banking sector right now. You have places like Florida and Atlanta that were so speculative and so overbuilt in terms of having a lot of banks - there was substantial new bank formation down there, and all these banks were chasing loan demand, which was arguably fictitious loan demand. And so when you pull all that together, what ended up on balance sheets in the South that weighed things down for the whole region were loans that were originated for which the underlying assumptions were just fatally flawed. And I think that's different from the Mid-Atlantic North area where, as Mike says, we've got issues that are more securities-related. That's because you didn't have builders coming in and speculating that population inflows would continue and accelerate over time, and that home prices would do the same. So with that said, there are a lot of problem banks in the South and mostly in the markets that you would expect them to be in: Atlanta, most markets in Florida, and a few other spots here and there. Overall, among the banks that I cover, there are roughly 15 or so banks that range in asset size from $35 billion down to about $2.5 billion. They've generally performed better than the national average. They are generally better capitalized or more strongly capitalized than the industry averages, but they are experiencing the difficulties that you would expect to see in a severe recession. And I think maybe perhaps for both of us the one common thing here is that we are not hampered or fatally flawed - I don't think, anyway - by either of the two big issues going on. There was the global credit crisis, which was in the shadow banking system. The pipes were clogged and that largely impacted the largest financial institutions. And then there is a severe recession underneath that, which is being felt differently in different markets. That's real, that impacts everyone. You can't escape it. That's what our banks are going through right now. So better than the national average in my universe, but worse than average from a credit perspective.

Mr. Shafir: If I could just add something to that - I think Kevin definitely touched on something that's absolutely true in terms of my institutions. There was not the significant amount of overbuilding and over development here in the Northeast because of the lack of the kind of organic growth that you had in the Southeast and other more problematic areas. I think that's contributed to the lagging effect that we've had from a credit standpoint here in the Northeast. That being said, we are significantly affected by traditional recessionary environmental issues, mainly rising unemployment. Because no matter how well you underwrote the loan, if somebody doesn't have a job, it's going to be very difficult for them to stay current.

Who Will Be The 100th Bank To Fail? Expert Banking Analysts Review Prospects In The Current Community Bank Economy - Yahoo! Finance




Money Center Banks Overview: Industry Center - Yahoo! Finance

Topics covered: Residential Mortgage Situation -- Regional Banks Mergers and Acquisitions Timing Strategy -- Commercial Mortgage Portfolio Decay -- Timing Of Commercial Mortgage Portfolio Bad Debt Write Offs-- FDIC Hit List For Bank Closings -- Mutual Holding Company Structure -- Interest Rate Scenarios -- Banking Pricing Power -- Expensive Bank Valuations -- Tangible Book As Guide For Bank Stock Pricing -- Distressed Sales Of Community and Regional Banks -- TARP Program -- Attitude Of Institutional Investors Towards Resurgence in Community Banking -- Unique Business Models -- Regional Bank Boards Looking For Exit

Companies include: BB and T (BBT); Colonial (CNB); First Niagara (FNFG); PNC (PNC); National City (NCC-PA); Harleysville National (HNBC); Citizens First Bancorp (CTZN); Regions Financial (RF); Bank of America (BAC); SunTrust Banks (STI); Pinnacle Financial (PNFP); Northwest Bancorp Inc. (NWSB); Beneficial (BNCL); Investor Savings Bancorp (ISBC); Territorial Bancorp (TBNK); FNB Bancorp (FNBG.OB); National Penn (NPBC); Trustco Bank (TRST); KeyBank (KEY); M and T Bank (MTB); New York Community Bancorp (NYB); Bank of New York Mellon (BK); Wells Fargo and Company (WFC); JPMorgan Chase and Co. (JPM); Wachovia (WB); Harleysville Savings Bank (HARL); SVB Financial (SIVB); Signature Bank (SBNY); Provident Bank (PBKS); Valley National Bank (VLY); Community Bank System (CBU); NBT Bankcorp (NBTB); Fulton (FULT); Citibank ©; Allied Irish (AIB); Bank of Hawaii (BOH); First Horizon Bank (FHN); Comerica (CMA); Synovus (SNV); Zions (ZION); South Financial Group (TSFG); Bancorp (TBBK); Legg Mason (LM); IBERIABANK Corp. (IBKC); Wilmington Trust (WL); S and T Bancorp (STBA); PHH (PHH); Goldman Sachs (GS); Citigroup ©; U.S. Bancorp (USB); Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB); KeyCorp (KEY); Lehman Brothers; Colonial; Washington Mutual; TD Banknorth (TD), Lakeland (LBAI), Westfield Financial, Inc. (WFD), United Financial Bancorp, Inc. (UBNK), Chicopee Bancorp, Inc. (CBNK)

 

[The Rabbi]

1st rule of politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY

Henry Paulson is given the postion of Treasury Secretary by Bush, but Obama Keeps him when he gets in.

What universe do you inhabit again?

Since leaving his role as Treasury Secretary, Paulson has joined the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University as a distinguished visiting fellow, and a fellow at the university's Bernard Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism.[38]

 

[Zoom-boing]

The FED, responsible for TRILLIONS of dollars in bailout money, is protected by "Bankers Privildge" which grants them privacy and allows them to remain silent as to where the TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars have been spent, or who received the money.

If the FED got audited would this money be accounted for?

 

[RodISHI]

By the way Bones, as far as insider trading goes...I'd say that waiving Friedman to allow him to buy 52,000 more shares of Goldman was a prime example of it, considering they obviously knew Goldman was going to become quite profitable again in the near future. Why else issue the waiver, and CERTAINLY why else buy 52,000 more shares of a company that was otherwise in the questionable category of BANK at the time when just about all of them needed bailout money to stay afloat?

Obama keeping Paulson in the position long enough to make that all happen tells me that Obama was in on it too, and obviously Bush has no less guilt in the matter either.

We elect crooks into the highest office in the land. We're a fucking country of retards.

The sad part is that there's still tons of people holding out for hope and change

So what are you going to personally do about this?

 

[Paulie]

1st rule of politics: FOLLOW THE MONEY

Henry Paulson is given the postion of Treasury Secretary by Bush, but Obama Keeps him when he gets in.

What universe do you inhabit again?

Since leaving his role as Treasury Secretary, Paulson has joined the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University as a distinguished visiting fellow, and a fellow at the university's Bernard Schwartz Forum on Constructive Capitalism.[38]

FUCKING IDIOT!!

Why do you keep going on??

Paulson remained Treasury Sec. until Geithner was confirmed. Geithner was sworn in on 1/26, but Paulson remained acting Sec. until that point.

You actually LIKE looking like an idiot, don't you?

 

[Neubarth]

As long as the policies are so ineffective, does it matter who was/is Treasury Secretary?

 

[Paulie]

By the way Bones, as far as insider trading goes...I'd say that waiving Friedman to allow him to buy 52,000 more shares of Goldman was a prime example of it, considering they obviously knew Goldman was going to become quite profitable again in the near future. Why else issue the waiver, and CERTAINLY why else buy 52,000 more shares of a company that was otherwise in the questionable category of BANK at the time when just about all of them needed bailout money to stay afloat?

Obama keeping Paulson in the position long enough to make that all happen tells me that Obama was in on it too, and obviously Bush has no less guilt in the matter either.

We elect crooks into the highest office in the land. We're a fucking country of retards.

The sad part is that there's still tons of people holding out for hope and change

So what are you going to personally do about this?

The same damn thing that you or anyone else can do about it...

Utilize the four "boxes".

 

[Paulie]

As long as the policies are so ineffective, does it matter who was/is Treasury Secretary?

In this particular case, yes. There was already a huge conflict of interest in Paulson being a former CEO of Goldman, and in hindsight, Paulson's actions seem to have benefitted Goldman the most.

I guess we're supposed to close our eyes and forget all about that, because government is only here to HELP us, right?

Come on Neu, you're the one around here always blaming the gov for lying about statistics.