tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post9000790954863885391..comments2023-10-23T22:07:07.535+01:00Comments on London Banker: Insider Dealing or Insiders Scheming?London Bankerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13358082683340132378noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-39875476978032339022008-08-26T20:30:00.000+01:002008-08-26T20:30:00.000+01:00Speaking of the need for banking regulation, Citi ...Speaking of the need for banking regulation, Citi just settled charges of widespread theft of customer funds.<BR/><BR/>http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2008/08/citigroup-settles-charges-of-theft-of.htmlJessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10098169118867085623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-51777322240151265352008-08-24T15:49:00.000+01:002008-08-24T15:49:00.000+01:00Wonderful post -- as are all of your previous post...Wonderful post -- as are all of your previous posts/comments on other blogs. <BR/><BR/>It would be heartening to see a way to stop the concerted destruction of civil liberties in the US by the present administration...I know there are several courageous individuals/groups who are trying, but I fear that this will not be possible...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-9197532996070989072008-08-19T08:44:00.000+01:002008-08-19T08:44:00.000+01:00London Banker,Today 'moral hazard' has evolved to ...London Banker,<BR/><BR/>Today 'moral hazard' has evolved to the 'socialization of loses' and the placing of these loses onto the public purse.<BR/><BR/>The situation in the U.K., the Eurozone, and the U.S. are not much different.<BR/><BR/>We all allowed debt to increase to unsustainable levels and now the bill is comming due.<BR/><BR/>Saving the shareholders in the banks is not the answer. But, that is what our central banks try to do as they are the shareholders in the central banks.<BR/><BR/>I think we will eventually reach the point where the banks will be nationalized as they currently are all insolvent.<BR/><BR/>Northern Rock was the tip of the iceberge.<BR/><BR/>Indy Mac, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, etc., etc. will follow.<BR/><BR/>Insiders know where the biggest risks are and can profit from it.<BR/><BR/>Politically, the game is all about pushing these problems out into the future.<BR/><BR/>The sh*t h*ts the fan after the U.S. Presidential election.<BR/><BR/>{* = i}<BR/><BR/>Volitility will rise!<BR/><BR/>Equities will fall!<BR/><BR/>But not all.<BR/><BR/>fedwatcherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-19060052475320090092008-08-19T01:34:00.000+01:002008-08-19T01:34:00.000+01:00LB- Thanks for the wonderful posting again.Dink- S...LB- Thanks for the wonderful posting again.<BR/><BR/>Dink- Sometimes it 'seems' we think so much alike! Alas Okie just reminded me why this is an illusion. <BR/>:-)<BR/><BR/>Armchair, please forgive me, I have trouble making a conclusion from your comment. Are you saying the new centralized structure is a good idea but that an additional 'watcher of watchers' program needs implementation? Or are you saying centralization is already too great, and we need to prevent such a superstructure from forming?<BR/><BR/>Jesse- I 'think' I am begining to see your point of view (you have a wonderful blog by the way). Your point has merit (and you are more 'Platonic' than I thought!)Thaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00700253024420397221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-80309889595556385352008-08-18T21:01:00.000+01:002008-08-18T21:01:00.000+01:00What a great post. It makes a great point. In th...What a great post. It makes a great point. In the U.S., all of this surveillance and centralization of power in a unitary excecutive isn't just about the ACLU and civil rights, 'it is about the economy stupid'. Inevitably, the executive branch will weasel its way into lucrative deals, and certain information will be dispensed to cronies, and investigations will be geared up solely to affect the outcome of deals. The business executive class in the U.S. is extraordinarily influential, and could probably do more than anyone to put the clamps on the unitary executive power grabs, but they have never thought for a second that they were being disadvantaged by the loss of due process and increased surveillance powers. They thought this loss of rights was for hippies and dark-skinned people, not anything that would touch the executive suites. Think again, there is so much money to be made by enterprising politicos, and greed is good, so if you're trying to negotiate a merger, close a deal, or get an air tanker deal please remember that the executive branch is listening to your every word.<BR/><BR/>Now, I wish these CEO-bozo-types would read London Banker, wise-up and realize that a government with checks and balances is good for them too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-33524511780562186342008-08-18T19:18:00.000+01:002008-08-18T19:18:00.000+01:00"Why not have an open database of anonymised trans..."Why not have an open database of anonymised transaction data that is reviewable and searchable by all market intermediaries and investors? That would allow anyone to investigage suspect patterns of transactions for reporting. But then that might catch the wrong people in the net and expose too many to scrutiny."<BR/><BR/>As an amateur conspiracy buff, this would please me to no end ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-45718008258165349622008-08-18T16:14:00.000+01:002008-08-18T16:14:00.000+01:00"London was then widely regarded as being the clea..."London was then widely regarded as being the cleanest securities market in the world....abnormal conduct was easily detected and brutally sanctioned."<BR/><BR/>Significantly I would not use those words to characterize the US financial markets at this time.Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10098169118867085623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-38213745444649765682008-08-18T13:30:00.000+01:002008-08-18T13:30:00.000+01:00LB:I think I am right in my observation that a maj...LB:<BR/><BR/>I think I am right in my observation that a majority of the most visible bears in the U.S. are also on the political left. Notice the recent cries of "market manipulation" was tied to "those shorting the markets."<BR/><BR/>I think these two paragraphs need to be emphasized:<BR/><BR/><I>Think of just one scenario: a target firm becomes the subject of a very public investigation and charges. Its share price collapses, and investors flee. Enter a well-funded vulture fund who takes out the very best assets and a very well-connected competitor who sweeps up the choicest clients.<BR/><BR/>I hope you are not about to see in the United States a darker variation on the much milder reshaping of the markets I observed in Britain in the early 1990s. It is perhaps as well to be aware, however, that the new insider dealing powers in a single authority can be applied selectively to erode markets and undermine market participants who threaten those who wield the real power.</I><BR/><BR/>I am not familiar with what happened in Britain in the 1990s. Perhaps you could expound on that? Was the same scenario played out in Britain in the 1990s?OkieLawyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17071917464425173379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-57403119442844172322008-08-18T12:20:00.000+01:002008-08-18T12:20:00.000+01:00A terrific post. I agree, it's taking me many yea...A terrific post. I agree, it's taking me many years to understand *why* i'm uncomfortable with certain things. Thank you for continuing to work on it.<BR/><BR/>mAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-912107698547747613.post-81573122283756062352008-08-18T12:12:00.000+01:002008-08-18T12:12:00.000+01:00Ok, admitting... slightly OT......more bad news 2 ...Ok, admitting... slightly OT...<BR/><BR/><BR/>...more bad news 2 come?<BR/><BR/>From the FT today:<BR/><BR/>"Working for nothing an the h.... for free?" i.e.: "Hard-pressed consumers refuse to read from the script"<BR/><BR/>"...and it scares the hell out of us"<BR/><BR/>"The concern is that the losses on risky subprime mortgages could soon swell further as people with good credit histories decide it is not worth continuing to make payments on houses now worth less than the loan. Houses prices in the US are already 20 per cent from 2006 highs, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, and are forecast to keep falling.<BR/>"Lenders were saying to me: 'We can see this behaviour ant it scares the hell out of us'..."<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>From The Economist:<BR/><BR/><BR/>"Brother in ARMs" i.e. "Ticking time bomb"<BR/><BR/>"A nasty mortgage product promises yet more misery<BR/><BR/>Optimists, look away now. Prices in America's housing market may have slumped, but the pain for a significant subset of homeowners has barely begun. Even at Barclay's Capital, which spotted some of the improvements mentioned in the previous story (Home Economics), there is still concern. The bank's Nicholas Strand says that roughly 1.4m households, most of them in California, hold a particularly nasty type of adjustable-rate mortgage called the "option ARM". Although the overall value of option ARMS is slower than that of subprime loans, - some 500 billion, according to Mr Strand, compared with about $1 trillion in subprime loans - their sting is more venomous.<BR/>The option ARM allows borrowers to pay less than the formal rate for a limited period (the vast majority of customers choose this option). In return, the unpaid interest is added to the original loan, a process soothingly called "negative amortisation". While house prices are rising, the product just about makes sense. If borrowers do get into trouble when they start paying off the loan in full, higher property values offer some wiggle-room. But when house prices are falling and refinancing is difficult, as is now the case, the option ARM is the financial equivalent of a "bikini?" in winter. Homeowners end up owing more on a property that is worth less."<BR/><BR/><BR/>Hasta luego<BR/><BR/>Pancho "El Villan"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com