Obama and Medvedev Do Lunch

Or.. as Thomas DiLorenzo at LRC Blog at Lewrockwell.com puts it:

Communist and Ex-Communist Do Lunch . . .

Posted by Thomas DiLorenzo on June 26, 2010 12:13 PM

. . . at a quintessentially capitalistic establishment. (FYI — The communist in the picture is the one who recently nationalized several industries, was lavishly praised by communistic Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez for doing it, said during his election campaign, ”We want to redistribute the wealth,” and was warned by Vladimir Putin, “Don’t go down the Marxist road; we tried it and it was a disaster.”)

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Gerald Celente on FinReg: Mickey Mouse Congress

Celente on financial "reform":

As Barney Frank said, "Get ready for the double feature." It's nothing but a political theater, to keep the status quo in place.

On Obama's economic policy:

Insanity for President Obama to keep telling nations and people to take on more debt, as if the new debt wipes away the old debt.

Before the clock strikes 2011, the whole world will know the Crash of 2010 has occured. These measures will do nothing to stop it.

On "jobs bill":

Just window dressing.

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Federal Reserve Contemplating Doubling the Size of Its Balance Sheet

to a whopping $5 trillion.

UK Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports:

"Fed watchers say Mr Bernanke and his close allies at the Board in Washington are worried by signs that the US recovery is running out of steam. The ECRI leading indicator published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute has collapsed to a 45-week low of -5.7 in the most precipitous slide for half a century. Such a reading typically portends contraction within three months or so.

"Key members of the five-man Board are quietly mulling a fresh burst of asset purchases, if necessary by pushing the Fed's balance sheet from $2.4 trillion (£1.6 trillion) to uncharted levels of $5 trillion. But they are certain to face intense scepticism from regional hardliners. The dispute has echoes of the early 1930s when the Chicago Fed stymied rescue efforts.

""We're heading towards a double-dip recession," said Chris Whalen, a former Fed official and now head of Institutional Risk Analystics. "The party is over from fiscal support. These hard-money men are fighting the last war: they don't recognise that money velocity has slowed and we are going into deflation. The only default option left is to crank up the printing presses again."

"Mr Bernanke is so worried about the chemistry of the Fed's voting body – the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – that he has persuaded vice-chairman Don Kohn to delay retirement until Janet Yellen has been confirmed by the Senate to take over his post. Mr Kohn has been a key architect of the Fed's emergency policies. He was due to step down this week after 40 years at the institution, depriving Mr Bernanke of a formidable ally in policy circles." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

In other words, the Fed chairman is scared sh-tless.

5 Members of the Federal Reserve Board are:

• Ben Bernanke
• Donald Kohn
• Kevin Warsh
• Elizabeth Duke
• Daniel Tarullo

Of them, Kevin Warsh, former Morgan Stanley banker and former member of the Plunge Protection team (aka Working Group on Financial Markets), has expressed views almost identical to the critics in the Fed against Bernanke's policies. (For more on Mr. Warsh's views, read my posts.)

Bernanke's critics in the Fed are:

• Kansas Fed chief Thomas Hoenig
• Philadelphia chief Charles Plosser says
• Richmond chief Jeffrey Lacker

The most vocal critic, Thomas Hoenig, is the only member among these critics in the FOMC. (Plosser is an alternate member for 2010.) Hoenig was strongly in favor of the regulation on financial derivatives, the position diametrically opposed to that of the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department. He also wants to bring back Glass-Steagall-like law.

Bernanke's idea of more than doubling the balance sheet is not his original, by the way. He must have surely channeled from the Vampire Squid's economist, who said, back in August last year, the Fed could easily double the balance sheet to $4 trillion with no adverse effect. At that time, the Fed's balance sheet was closer to $2 trillion than to $2.5 trillion.

Unlike the last time, this time he would probably have to forgo the sterilization if he really wants to avoid recession (so-called 'double-dip', although many 'small people' didn't even feel the uptick). He would have to flood Main Street with money.

GOT GOLD?

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'FinReg' Is 'Ready' for Vote

by our hard-working Congressmen and Senators who stayed all night to finalize this piece of you know what. Didn't even wait for Sunday night, like when they passed the health insurance "reform" bill. (They would go extra miles for their true constituents.)

Financial stocks are UP. That alone should tell you who will benefit from this so-called "reform".

More later.

Here's the screenshot of Drudge Report top page. Just like any other 1000-plus bills, no one in Congress don't really know what's in it. (Barney, get your hands off your pants.)


Consumers - the 'small people' - will be so "protected" by the crooked institution who prints money for the world (Federal Reserve) that everything will be alright from now. Consumer CONfidence in June rose to the highest level since January 2008, we are told.

Hope you are feeling it.

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Taliban's Verdict on General Petraeus

"The new boss is the same as the old boss. And Petraeus is a wimp."

Ouch.

Taliban endorses General Petraeus, say new US Afghanistan war chief 'not smarter' than McChrystal (James Gordon Meek, 6/24/2010 NY Daily News)

"It seems the evildoers were just biding their time to see how the Rolling Stone flap would play out. Now that President Obama has sacked his top war boss in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and replaced him with Iraq surge hero Gen. David Petraeus, the Taliban has finally weighed in.

"Their verdict? The new boss is the same as the old boss. And Petraeus is a wimp, they claimed Thursday.

""(Petraeus) is not smarter than McChrystal," Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Ahmed Yusuf said in a statement. "Also, his losing consciousness last week in an investigative hearing before the members of the U.S. Congress brought his physical competence and his courage into question."" [The article continues.]

Never skip your breakfast ever again, General...

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OT: World Cup Soccer Japan 3, Denmark 1

Japan is through to the Round of 16. Congratulations!

The World Cup Soccer has been more entertaining than the stock market these days.

There have been some big upsets. Italy and France not only did not make it to the final rounds, but couldn't win a single match. Germany lost a match to Serbia, Switzerland beat Spain. Though it couldn't make it to the finals, New Zealand (3 draws) played an excellent defensive soccer against strong teams (Paraguay, Slovakia, Italy).

Spain's fate will be decided by tomorrow's match against Chile. It looks like Spain's fate will also depend on how Switzerland play against Honduras. If Spain wins and Switzerland wins, top three of the group will have the same points (6). It will all come down to goal difference and goals scored. It will be exciting matches...

Highlights from Japan-Denmark match. Japan's three goals are just superb, particularly the third one!

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OT: World Cup Soccer Japan 2, Denmark 0, 1st Half

Too bad I don't have TV. It seems like a very active and exciting game. Japan's two goals were from free kicks. (FIFA's play by play commentary says Japan is the first country in 40 years to score goals from free kicks in World Cup.

For those like me without TV, here's FIFA's live update.

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More on George Soros

from LRC Blog at Lewrockwell.com, by David Kramer (entire post), who can probably say things that others, like Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (see my previous post) would not or could not dare say:

Billionaire George “Göring”* Soros, Part Zwei

Posted by David Kramer on June 24, 2010 06:23 AM

Billionaire Socialist George “Göring” Soros is back in the news again with his big Bolshevik mouth. Now Soros declares that it is bad that Germany is trying to get its economic house in order by cutting its budget.

“Right now the Germans are dragging their neighbours into deflation, which threatens a long phase of stagnation. And that leads to nationalism, social unrest and xenophobia. Democracy itself could be at risk.” [Right, George "Göring" Soros—it was "deflation" in Germany in the 1920s that set the stage for the rise of your economic predecessors, the National Socialists.]

Here’s another economically-ignorant gem from George “Göring” Soros:

“Germany is globally isolated … Why don’t they let their salaries rise? That would help other EU states to pick up.” [Uh, Hermann George, for an economy to grow and for people to improve their standard of living it is necessary for more goods to be produced against the "low" salaries already in place—not artificially raising one of the costs of production, i.e., salaries.]

Socialist Soros also thinks that it is bad that a fraudulent fiat currency, the Euro, might collapse. (Hmmm, I wonder how much Soros has invested in this currency?)

“German’s budget savings policy risks destroying the European project and a collapse of the euro cannot be ruled out, billionaire investor George Soros said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday.” [What "European" project, George? The "European" euro project is just a precursor to bringing on a One World fiat currency controlled by the One World Government which you and your Bankster friends have been planning for decades.]

Of course, perhaps this is why George Göring Soros is so upset:

“Ms. Merkel on Monday defended her budget cut plans after U.S. President Barack Obama preached patience in clamping down on public spending.” [Merkel is obviously at odds with Banksters/Soros Puppet-in-Chief Obama's atrocious economic policies which are only prolonging the economic recession/phony recovery that the United States is currently experiencing.]

By the way, for those of you who think I’m being insensitive in referring to my landsman Soros as a Nazi, here’s an interesting transcript from a 1998 60 Minutes interview in which this Jewish man admits to being a Nazi collaborator to save his own life during World War II.

____________________________
*I’ve decided to change from referring to George Soros as George “Goebbels” Soros to George “Göring” Soros because I feel that some readers may inadvertently think that I am comparing Soros to the late, great comic George Gobel rather than a premier National Socialist, Joseph Goebbels—whom Soros seems to emulate more and more each passing day. Hermann Göring is an excellent National Socialist replacement for Joseph Goebbels.

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Evans-Pritchard: Soros tells Germany to step up to its responsibilities, or leave EMU

According to Soros, those responsibilities include increased debt issuance and debt purchase by the German government (which he calls as "growth strategy"), and they are vital to "democracy".

Soros tells Germany to step up to its responsibilities, or leave EMU
(Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 6/23/2010 Telegraph UK)

"Legendary investor George Soros has called on Germany to leave the euro unless it is willing to embrace a growth strategy, describing Berlin’s austerity doctrine as a threat to democracy and political stability in Europe.

""German policy is becoming a danger that could destroy the European Project. A collapse of the euro cannot be excluded," he told the German weekly Die Zeit.

""Unless Germany changes policy, its withdrawal from the currency union would be helpful for the rest of Europe. At the moment Germany is pushing its neighbours into deflation: this threatens a long phase of stagnation, leading to nationalism, social unrest, and zenophobia. It endangers democracy," he said.

"Mr Soros saw the political effects of wage cuts first-hand during the Great Depression, and narrowly survived the Holocaust as a Jewish boy in Nazi-controlled Budapest. He has since dedicated much of his wealth to philanthropic works promoting freedom and pluralism across the globe, mostly through Open Society institutes.

"His comments reflect growing alarm in influential circles on both sides of the Atlantic over the 1930s-style policies of wage cuts and debt-deflation being imposed up the Club Med bloc, Ireland, and parts of Eastern Europe by the EU authorities, at the behest of Berlin." [The article continues.]

Cutting the government spending and lowering wages ARE a "growth strategy" for a country like Germany, which has many things to export to other countries that people actually want and even want to pay premium to get them. Cutting the government spending frees up capital which otherwise goes to the government coffer to be squandered in bureaucracy (look no further than the US's TARP, so-called stimulus packages) to be directed to wealth-creating private enterprises. Lowering wages means input cost will be lower for their export products.

No way, says George Soros. He says that would destroy other eurozone economies like the Club Med. According to Evans-Pritchard,

"Mr Soros said Germany was treating the deeply-flawed Maastricht Treaty as it were a "sacred text", warning that monetary union cannot endure for long as a narrow construct based on debt and deficit ceilings. He said wage rises in Germany are imperative to help lift the whole eurozone, allowing peripheral economies to claw their way out of trouble without fighting the extra headwinds of deflation."

In other words, Mr. Soros is calling for self-immolation by Germany in order to save Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, and possibly France. I guess he wasn't expecting resistance.

The article also mentions the US economist an Nobel Prize winner (as well as a candidate for Obama's new budget director) Paul Krugman, who basically said the same thing to Germans recently and pissed off the entire nation. (Some sweet snippet from Zero Hedge: "Germany daily Handeslbatt, which ran an interview with the "economist" in which Krugman stick not a foot, but an entire SS-20 nuclear warhead armed ICBM, in his mouth". To read the article, click here.)

Germans are more than happy, I suspect, to leave the EMU and get their Deutsche Mark back. One of the large financial portals in Germany, BoersenNews.de, has started to quote in Deutsche Mark alongside euro.

Great Britain, which is outside the EMU, may be embarking on the unthinkable - drastically cutting the government spending and raising taxes to achieve fiscal solvency.

Evans-Pritchard ends the article by recalling the famous George Soros maneuver on British Pound in the 1992 when George Soros' fund shorted pound sterling against Bank of England intervention to prop up the currency:

"Investors are likely to pay close attention to the views of Mr Soros, whose Quantum fund played a key role in the crisis of the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. He famously pounced on sterling and the Italian lira after a top Bundesbank official described both currencies as over-valued, an invitation for a speculative attack.

"The crisis proved a blessing in disguise for Britain, which was liberated early from a destructive policy of job wastage. Mr Soros yet to receive a a knighthood for his services."

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Good for Ron Paul

The good doctor said NO to giving subpoena power to the presidential oil spill commission, created by Obama's executive order and devoid of experts who actually know something about petroleum engineering, exploration, or drilling to figure out what caused the rig explosion and destruction, and resulting oil spill. (For more on this strange commission, read "Obama's Gulf Oil Spill Commission and the Missing Experts" at American Thinker.)

Like old times, Ron Paul was the only one who voted no. No to further expanding the executive power of the government, particularly when that power is created by the presidential fiat without Congressional oversight.

Rep. Paul Casts Sole ‘No’ Vote on Oil Spill Subpoena Power
(Tennille Tracy and Siobhan Hughes, 6/23/2010 Wall Street Journal)

It is an ultra-short article, and 2/3 of the article is about his son (Rand Paul, who won the GOP primary for Senate seat in Kentucky)'s alleged remark on BP and oil spill. Wall Street Journal is simply doing what all the major news outlets have been doing ever since the Kentucky primary - trying to smear Ron Paul via his son.

And it took two people to write it.

The comment section of the article is more interesting, written by people much more informed than the Wall Street Journal writers.

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McChrystal Out, Petraeus In, as Rumored

Obama insists his Afghan strategy is still the same - counterinsurgency, which hasn't worked.

David Petraeus has been the commander of the US CENTCOM. It is not known, according to the article below, whether his assignment as Afghan commander is permanent.

So, out goes the general who sleeps only 4 hours and eats only 1 meal a day (have you read the Rolling Stone article yet?), and in comes the general who passes out during the Congressional hearing because he skipped his breakfast.

Perfect for Obama's national fitness initiative (why can't he mind his own business and stop lecturing?).... Oh wait, General Petraeus is supposed to lead the increasingly demoralized US force (again, read the Rolling Stone article) in Afghanistan to the biggest offensive in Kandahar.

Maybe the Kandahar offensive will be further delayed, until the new commander gets in better shape.

Obama relieves McChrystal of his duties; names Petraeus as replacement (6/23/2010 Washington Post)

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Uh Oh... Bot Collided with Containment Cap...

From AFP via Breitbart:

"The containment system capturing oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill had to be removed Wednesday, leaving the gusher unchecked after a collision involving a robotic submarine, US officials said."

(UPDATE)

Two people died today in the cleanup operation. One is a boat captain who died of a gunshot wound.

(2nd Update)

Two people who died were part of the program called "Vessels of Opportunity", which is "designed and implemented to provide local boat operators an opportunity to assist with response activities, including transporting supplies, assisting wildlife rescue and deploying containment and sorbent boom" and is part of BP's effort to clean up the oil spill.

For more, visit the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command website.

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Paul Krugman for Office of Management and Budget

I really thought this was either a spoof or a belated April Fool's joke.

Paul Krugman for OMB (Simon Johnson, 6/22/2010 Huffington Post)

"This post originally appeared on The Baseline Scenario.

"The president should nominate Paul Krugman to replace Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (Orszag resignation details are here.)

"We have previously reviewed Krugman's outstanding qualifications for this (or any other top level) job (link to details). The main reason Krugman himself has been reluctant in the past relates to a potentially difficult Senate confirmation hearing -- for example, if Krugman had been put forward to replace Ben Bernanke.

"But for the OMB position, the dynamic of a hearing would be terrific for the president's specific agenda and broader messages. Krugman, of course, is the leading advocate for continued (or increased) fiscal stimulus. This is exactly President Obama's message to the G20 this weekend.

"Plus, when Republicans push back against Krugman on this issue, he will let them have it full blast on fiscal policy during the Bush administration. Krugman has, again and again, been an outspoken critic of the Bush era fiscal policy. He has precise chapter and verse on where the Bush team went off the deep fiscal edge.

"Krugman also stands for responsible medium-term fiscal policy -- he wrote the original definitive work, after all, on balance of payments crises. But the point is not to engage in precipitate and panicky fiscal austerity (as announced in the UK today), but rather to put the overall debt onto a sustainable path. It is very hard to do that when the people claiming the represent "fiscal prudence" are actually the ones who created this massive mess in the first place. Krugman can set the public record straight on this -- it would be great television and very good economics.

"This is exactly what the debate on our current deficit and future debt path needs. The Obama administration lost the narrative on this point also (as well as on banking and much more). Paul Krugman can get them back on track. "

Great television?? (Krugman is in perpetual need for a good haircut and shave.)

Get them (Obama's narrative - oh I hate that word) back on track? To where?

Yes, just what the stimulus-weary American taxpayers and even politicians need: another Keynesian who wants to keep repeating what hasn't worked.

I'm sure Obama would love to stuff his cabinet with Nobel Prize winners. He himself won the Prize by campaigning for the presidency, remember?

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BP's $20 Billion "Escrow Fund" May Not Be What We've Been Told

If this was a "shakedown" by Obama, it was more like BP begging "Oh please shake me down, I'll give you all the money you want. It will make you look good, too. A strong leader. But in exchange..."

The Wall Street Journal article yesterday ("Feinberg Ramps Up $20 Billion Compensation Fund" by Neil King Jr., 6/21/2010) says the following about the $20 billion escrow account that Obama demanded and has been established, to be managed by Obama's Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg:

- As soon as the Deepwater Horizon rig sank in April, Feinberg started to plan for administering the claims.

- It was BP who asked Feinberg to work for them in administering the claims two weeks ago.

- Last week Obama and BP announced the establishment of the escrow fund, without Congressional approval, without even the presidential executive order.

- Feinberg will have the sole and complete latitude to decide who will get how much.

As with other Czars surrounding Obama, Pay Czar is not accountable to Congress or the general public. He's only answerable to Obama, who has told him to "get the payment out quickly."

The article ends with indications on how Mr. Feinberg intends to proceed:

"In the end, one aim of the fund—and a prime reason BP agreed to it—will be to minimize lawsuits against the company. To do that, Mr. Feinberg will offer big lump-sum payments to workers and businesses as an enticement to stay out of court.

""At some point, I will have to make an offer—'You take this amount in full satisfaction of your claim, but only if you waive your right to future litigation,'" Mr. Feinberg said. "And if I package it right, people will see that it makes no sense to fight it out in court."" [Emphasis is mine.]

So the administration (not even the federal government) unilaterally decided to take the responsibility of compensating the oil spill victims from BP and assign it to a presidential appointee who is not accountable to Congress and who will have the sole power to decide who gets what, and the whole point of the exercise is to shield BP from lawsuits from the 'small people'.

That explains why investors have been buying BP's shares and bonds. They think the downside is covered by the administration.

Some 'small people' on a stock message board had an excellent idea the other day: Let's all move to the Gulf states immediately, and start filing claims!

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Third US Fleet Is Now in Persian Gulf

according to DEBKAfile.

DEBKA also claims that the USS Harry Truman carrier Strike Group drilled bombing Iranian targets with Israeli forces before passing the Suez Canal.

US-led armada secretly drilled bombing Iranian targets, missile defense with Israel (6/21/2010 DEBKAfile)

"The armada of 10 US warships plus an Israeli and German battle vessel each, which transited the Suez Canal Friday, June 18, has reached the Persian Gulf, debkafile's military sources report.

"But first, from June 6 through June 10, the USS Harry S. Truman carrier Strike Group was deployed 50 miles of the shore of southwestern Israel, secretly drilling the interception of incoming Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah missiles and rockets against US and Israeli targets in the Middle East.

"...For five days and night, the Truman's sixty F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter bombers took off on simulated bombing missions against targets set up by the Israeli Air Force at its firing range on the Nevatim Base-28, in the Negev desert southeast of Be'er Sheva - one of its three big air bases." [The article continues.]

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Will BP Trigger a 'Black Swan' Event?

in the world of structured finance?

Citing Moody's analysis, Zero Hedge reports that BP's bankruptcy would impair more than just the BP's debt holders and equity holders. The loss in CSOs (collateralized synthetic obligations, often using credit default swaps, or CDS) that reference BP and the companies that are involved in the Gulf oil spill - i.e. Transocean, Halliburton, Anadarko, and Cameron could be billions of dollars. If you include other oil and oil service companies that would be negatively affected by the spill, the amount could be hundreds of billions, as it would also involve companies totally unrelated to BP or oil industry but unfortunate enough to have their CDS packaged with BP's.

BP's Bankruptcy Would Impair 117 (18% Of Total) Collateralized Synthetic Obligations, Lead To Pervasive Losses (Tyler Durden, 6/21/2010 Zero Hedge)

"Even as increasingly desperate falling knife catchers try to convince someone, anyone to buy up some or all of their shares of BP stock, which is certainly on its way to a guaranteed doubling, tripling or more, the real investing community is ever more carefully looking at the worst case, and its implications. Said implications would be vast, and in addition to wiping out billions in capital from BPs direct counterparties which are already limiting their BP exposure, a topic we touched upon briefly previously, would also impair indirect holders of pre-packaged securitized BP exposure. Today Moody's provides an analysis of which CSOs (just like CDOs but packed purely with synthetic products - think Goldman's Abacus) would be impaired should BP go bankrupt. The rating agency does not stop there, and also analyzes what a bankruptcy of BP peers Halliburton, Anadarko Petroleum, Transocean Inc., and Cameron International would look like, and who would be wiped out. Below are the results, which upon further analysis will likely indicate total loss potential well beyond BP's total outstanding debt exposure.

"As the recent civil case involving Goldman and the Abacus (and soon potentially others) CDO showed, collateralized products have a special place in the heart of the regulators, due to their avalanche quality of blowing up seemingly completely unrelated entities, which share merely the stupidity of having invested in the same entity. BP, as a company with over $20 billion in debt outstanding, has over the years, seen many of its CDS packaged and repackaged in the form of many and increasingly more complex CSOs. Last week's blow out in BP spreads, in which the 1 Year CDS surged beyond 1,000 bps, has got many people concerned: the least of which are counterparties that are on the other side of the short risk trade. Others include investors in just such CSOs, and other companies whose CDS comprises various tranches in these synthetic obligations, as forced liquidations in any given CSO would result in the blow out spreads in even perfectly solvent companies who just have the displeasure of being packaged in one and the same CSO." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

The whole point of structured finance is to transfer risk by securitization, tranching, credit enhancement and rating. But as we have seen in the past two years, instead of reducing the risk these CDOs seem to do the opposite and amplify the risk in times of acute financial stress. Zero Hedge article concludes:

"Should BP go down it will, on a diluted basis, wipe out many more pro rata billions in value once protection sellers scramble to cover margin and collateral calls. Add the other drilling usual suspects, and the losses could amount well into the hundreds of billions." [Emphasis is mine.]

I would love to know who wrote those protections. And the names of the unfortunate companies whose CDSs were packaged with those of BP.

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Obama's Golfing Necessary to 'Clear His Mind'

necessary also to have two vacations, two gala events, and light daily schedule. And golf every week, if not twice a week. To clear his mind. On taxpayers' expense.

(But no way Tony Hayward should relax and clear his mind on a yacht that he bought with his own money, not even once in 60 days or so.)

Someone in the article's comment section asked, "Clear his mind? From what?"

White House dismisses critics, defends Obama's golf outings (6/21/2010 The Hill)

The White House is dismissing criticism that President Barack Obama shouldn’t play golf during the Gulf oil spill.

White House spokesman Bill Burton on Monday said the president deserves some time to relax, and he doesn't “think that there's a person in this country that doesn't think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind.”

During the weekend, Obama played the 39th round of golf of his presidency, according to reports.

White House reporters joke among themselves about who might get stuck with weekend pool duty, which seems more likely than not to include a few hours sitting at the food court near either Andrews Air Force Base or Fort Belvoir while Obama hits the links." [The article continues.]

The article also reminds us at the end that Obama's predecessor was also fond of golf, but gave up while in office:

"Former President George W. Bush publicly gave up the game of golf while in office, saying he didn’t think it was appropriate that he keep playing while troops were fighting in Iraq."

He plays the super-fast golf though, not the 4 plus-hour affair while the White House press pool languish in the food court...

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Sen. Shelby: BP CEO's "Height of Arrogance" for Yachting

or seeing his yacht take part in a race for few hours.

Oh please.

The Hill reports:

Top GOP senator slams BP CEO for 'height of arrogance' for yachting
(6/29/2010 The Hill)

"...Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a senior GOP senator who serves as ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, sharply criticized Hayward for reportedly participating in a yacht race off the southern coast of England.

"“That’s the height of arrogance," Shelby said during an appearance on Fox News. "He is the CEO OF B.P. and he testified in Washington before the Congressional Committee the other day.”

"The Associated Press reported that Hayward, who stepped aside from his role on Friday of supervising of day-to-day cleanup efforts of the Gulf oil spill, took a break from his official duties to compete in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

"“Now he’s gone over to be on his yacht over in England," Shelby said. "I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil.”

"Hayward's move drew quick rebuke on social networking sites and Twitter, where ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper also relayed criticism from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as well.

""I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting," Emanuel said in an interview to air Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

""This has just been part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes," Emanuel added.

"Shelby slammed Hayward for living in a "cocoon."

"“He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on, no in a cocoon somewhere," the Alabama Republican said."

I am just appalled by the hypocrisy of these politicians. What have they done in the past two months, other than declining the offers for help from foreign firms and countries and making speeches and photo-op visits, banning the means of earning decent living for the residents on the Gulf (oil drilling, fishing)?

The comment section of the article shows we the "small people" are not fooled:

"If Obama can go off and play golf so often during this, why can't Hayward go sailing once?"

"Who gives a flip what Hayward does? He is no longer overseeing the spill. Focus on our fearless leader's choice to attend galas, golf and play basketball at our expense. Meanwhile…tar balls are washing up in Florida. No thanks foreign nations, I will handle this as soon as I sink this putt."

"Where was Shelby blasting Obama's 'height of arrogance' while hitting the links 8 times during this crisis. Or his two vacations! Shelby is a former Dem. Don't forget it."

"I will say the same thing to the GOP as I say to the president…pot meet kettle. Why can't he have a day away when our own president has taken numerous days away? At least Hayward was working on from day one…you can't say that about Obama - in fact, he went hobnobbing with famous people in California during the 1st or 2nd week of the crisis to fund raise! Not much difference in my opinion."

"Note to Mr Shelby… most likely Tony Hayward's boat is unable to help with the oil cleanup for the same reason a lot of more suitable help has been refused. The Jones Act should have been waived within the first 24 hours after the rig blew up. Where is the Congress, and where is our President? Too busy posturing to do anything that might actually clean up some oil!"

The best comment so far:

"Our President is doing the best he can…If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what would"

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Got Gold?

This cartoon was posted in the comment section of an article at Zero Hedge today..

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