Crime and No Punishment
by ilene - March 2nd, 2011 3:29 am
Dylan Ratigan talks with Phil Angelides (currently serving as Chair of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission).
We did our jobs, it is now the job of the prosecutors to do their jobs. – Phil Angelides
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DiggEdward Harrison, Dylan Ratigan & Bill Fleckenstein: Thoughts on FOOD
by ilene - February 26th, 2011 4:55 pm
Courtesy of EDWARD HARRISON, Credit Writedowns
Bill Fleckenstein was back talking to Dylan Ratigan about the source of rising oil prices. (See the last Fleckenstein video here). Clearly, supply constraints and increased demand in emerging markets play the central role in creating a supply demand imbalance for a commodity where demand is price inelastic. I am not just talking about natural disasters and riots, I am also talking about peak oil, of course. That means prices for oil soar until we hit a recession and the resulting demand destruction.
However, at the margin there are other factors at play, one of which is pro-inflationary central bank policy. I have mentioned this a couple of times in the past. For example, regarding food price inflation, I wrote in November:
[Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Richard] Berner sees four forces at play, pushing up food prices: strong global demand, weather, energy costs, low food stock inventories. You can read the full note at the link below.
My take is a bit different. The rise in food and energy prices should be taken into consideration by government officials conducting pro-inflationary policies. What should be of concern regarding commodity price inflation is how it represents a regressive tax on lower income workers and consumers in emerging markets and developing countries. Lower income consumers spend a much greater percentage of income on food and energy. So when commodity prices increase, it has a disproportionate effect on them. One reason we saw food riots in emerging markets in 2008 has much to do with this.
Read Edward’s full article here >
Bill Fleckenstein gives his take in the video below.
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Dylan Ratigan On Property Rights Gone Wrong And America’s Descent Into Central Planning Hell
by ilene - October 12th, 2010 2:58 pm
Dylan Ratigan On Property Rights Gone Wrong And America’s Descent Into Central Planning Hell
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Now that the Fed is officially targeting a path for the level of nominal gross domestic product, which is essentially the politburo’s chief central planning task, and is just one step away removed what China does constantly by starting with a GDP assumption and trickling it down through the economy, it is only fitting that America, now on the verge of being a fully-blown communist country, is also abrogating property rights, courtesy of the much discussed foreclosure scandal. Dylan Ratigan provides a concise explanation of just how our bankers have managed to bring us to this last descent into central planning hell.
From Dylan Ratigan
Property Rights Gone Wrong
Most mortgages in America are now backed by our government. And in order for a bank to get that backing from our government it must fill two criteria:
1. The borrowers must be verified by the banks and their agents as qualified.
2. Lenders must fill out paperwork accurately and make sure that when the home’s title changes hands, so does the documentation.
But in the past two decades, a whole lot of the time, that never happened.
Why?
For banks and servicers, the motive was money. Banks profited by packaging and selling those toxic home loans. Then they profited again by betting against those same securities. A bet, in essence, that a fraudulent loan wouldn’t be paid back.
But why would politicians allow this?
The simple answer is to stay in office.
Giving people huge government incentives to buy houses made them happier and thus made their politicians more likely to keep their jobs. And at the same time, the financial services sector — the banks making all the money — were donating to their political campaigns.
In 2008, the financial sector was the top donor to both the Democratic and Republican candidates.
So where are all these toxic loans now? We own them! At the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
And the banks and politicians will do whatever it takes to prevent a legitimate foreclosure proceeding…one which would easily reveal the lack of qualifications and bad documentation in the loans sold to the government.
Finally, the last…
Mark Ames on the Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC
by ilene - September 28th, 2010 2:00 am
Mark Ames on the Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC
Exiled editor Mark Ames appeared on the Dylan Ratigan Show this week to talk about the 2nd anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the Tea Party electoral victories, and the decline of the American empire.
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Mark Ames is the author of Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion from Reagan’s Workplaces to Clinton’s Columbine.
via exiledonline.com
Eliot Spitzer: “The Federal Reserve Is A Ponzi Scheme” (Inside The Fed’s Secret Pile Of Trash With Ratigan, Spitzer & Toure)
by ilene - August 17th, 2010 8:08 pm
Eliot Spitzer: "The Federal Reserve Is A Ponzi Scheme" (Inside The Fed’s Secret Pile Of Trash With Ratigan, Spitzer & Toure)
Courtesy of The Daily Bail
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An outstanding discussion, primer and visual lesson on toxic assets, failed banks, the Federal Reserve, HR 1207, auditing the Fed, and you, the f*cked taxpayer. Don’t miss this clip and then send it to someone else. Pay it forward until we have millions of f*cked taxpayers who will at least be informed. Awareness is our only chance.
More green shoots from Dylan Ratigan’s awesome new show. Dylan puts on his Banker hat and swaps a (literal) bag of trash, on-air, for $13.9 Trillion worth of Monopoly money from a guy wearing a "Fed" hat. Dylan then explains why we should support Ron Paul’s Audit of the Fed (HR 1207) and explains in plain and simple terms how we have been screwed by the Fed’s bailout of the banks. This is really good stuff. I can’t help but admire Ratigan for what he’s doing with the new show. From our perspective, it just gets better and better. Here are just two of several choice morsels from this clip:
- "The Federal Reserve just extended $14 Trillion of our money, our children’s money, America’s future…and now they don’t want to talk about what’s in the bag. And they did it because the banks created a garbage bag full of bad debts." (4:45)
- "I feel as if America has suffered the greatest theft and cover-up — ever, … where banks created a pile of garbage, that they paid themselves billions of dollars in personal compensation, and then stuck the trillions of dollars worth of garbage with the American taxpayer. That, to me, is stealing." (7:05)
Ratigan On Geithner: A Corrupt, Captured Wall Street Scoundrel
by ilene - August 15th, 2010 11:42 pm
Ratigan On Geithner: A Corrupt, Captured Wall Street Scoundrel (Video Beatdown)
Courtesy of The Daily Bail
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Video: Dylan Ratigan torches Treasury Secretary Tim — Aired Aug. 3, 2010
Watch at least the first 2:45.
Previously:
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Video: One man battles Bank of America and wins — Dylan Ratigan Show
BP CEO Considering Cutting Q2 Dividend As Oil Spill And Liability Estimates Double, Goldman Not Exuberant
by ilene - June 11th, 2010 10:57 am
BP CEO Considering Cutting Q2 Dividend As Oil Spill And Liability Estimates Double, Goldman Not Exuberant
Courtesy of Tyler Durden, at Zero Hedge
Those recently popular trades to hedge BP dividends using options to create synthetic BP stock may prove prescient. The WSJ is reporting that the firm is now "considering cutting or deferring its second quarter dividend." The dividend is due to be announced on July 27, and BP’s board may cut it altogether, defer it, or pay all or part in scrip, effectively an IOU to investors, Hayward was quoted as saying." The news comes as Reuters announces that the daily flow rate from the spill is actually double previous estimates: "News that the flow rate may be as high 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) per day — twice as much as previously thought — came after the U.S. market closed on Thursday." This is very bad news as it effectively doubles any accrued fines that the firm will ultimately have to pay: the new liability estimate now may be as high as $80 billion! And true to form, an administration official is there to pour some more fuel in the fire: "White House adviser David Axelrod dismissed complaints from BP about the U.S. government’s pressure, saying in an interview Hayward should “spend less time on hyperbole, and a lot more time on trying to solve the problem,” according to the Journal." In other news, in a research note released yesterday, Goldman’s analyst della Vigna expressed a muted enthusiasm for the stock, nothing compared to JPM rabid support for BP stock at these levels.
From Goldman:
BP shares have fallen 12% this week, due to increased pressure on management from the US administration, however no material negative news came through in terms of the size or potential cost of the GoM spill. Additionally the riser cap is in place and appears to be capturing a significant amount of oil. BP shares have now fallen 42% since the accident, underperforming European integrated oils by 23%. This implies that the market is discounting c.US$33 bn of post-tax damages from the spill, equivalent to US$40-50 bn on a pre-tax basis, which is in the upper end of our estimated liability range. Given uncertainties remain, we still see superior risk/reward in Shell and Statoil, both
…
Dylan Ratigan’s Explanation For The Crash
by ilene - May 8th, 2010 6:39 pm
Dylan Ratigan’s Explanation For The Crash
Courtesy of Zero Hedge
…the former Fast Money lead man is actually pretty spot on. And for all you retail investors who think this market is anything but a two-tiered playground built now exclusively for Wall Street to fleece you every single day, our advice is to get the hell out. Everyone else already is… Except of course for the banks and the various 3-3,000 man quant operations, which are the only market participants left. We hope they cannibalize whatever is left of each other and blow themselves all up in the process. Whatever is left will have infinitely more credibility than the busted mockery of capital markets we have now.
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Ratigan Deconstructs Goldman, Connecticut AG Blumental Wants Criminal Charges Filed
by ilene - April 16th, 2010 8:02 pm
Ratigan Deconstructs Goldman, Connecticut AG Blumental Wants Criminal Charges Filed
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
We expected Dylan to explode during today’s show. We were disappointed as he somehow managed to contain it, and did a pretty good recap of the Goldman affair (if a little too many matchbox cars on the show for our taste). The notable take home for us was that CT AG Blumenthal said that "criminal charges have to be pursued against Goldman." We are sure Cuomo is not too far from this line of thinking. And we would be remiss if we did not point out that credit has to be given where it is due: Gretchen Morgenson (whom half the blogosphere was bashing a month ago over semantics) and Louise Story broke the entire story 4 months ago, and the SEC complaint reads verbatim from the authors’ December 24 article.
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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