Dean
1st May 2010, 05:20
The most efficient market practices today - that is those practices which empower capitalists to acquire more market shares, financial products, "dead peasant policies," derivatives and the like - appears to have culminated in a hyper-centralized form of finance:
CFO.com (CFO insider magazine) reported the following: (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14113089/?f=rsspage)
Members of Congress probing threats to the global financial system — especially the threat of concentration of risk — will have a lot to ponder in newly mandated disclosures highlighted by a Fitch Ratings report issued last week. While derivatives use among U.S. companies is widespread, an "overwhelming majority of the exposure is concentrated among financial institutions," according to the rating agency's review of first-quarter financials. Concentrated, in fact, among a mere handful of financial-services giants. About 80% of the derivative assets and liabilities carried on the balance sheets of 100 companies reviewed by Fitch were held by five banks: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Those five banks also account for more than 96% of the companies' exposure to credit derivatives.
About 52% of the companies reviewed disclosed there were credit-risk-related contingent features in their derivative positions. Such features require a company to post collateral or settle outstanding derivative liabilities if there's a downgrade of the company's credit rating. The Fitch analysts also found that just 22 companies disclosed the use of equity derivatives. Just six nonfinancial firms — IBM, General Motors, Verizon, Comcast, Textron, and PG&E — reported exposure to share-based derivatives.
Read More (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14113089/?f=rsspage)
Washington Blog post (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/07/96-of-credit-derivative-risk-held-by-5.html)
Are advanced methods of calculated financial posturing an example of
A) a "government" representing the interests of capitalist hegemony,
B) the actions of a capitalist class or
A) a "government" representing "no one's interests" (or some other deflection from the capitalist system and its results):
http://gawker.com/5406775/how-the-credit-rating-agencies-engineered-the-goldman-sachs-bailout - How did they do it? Let's see:
Here's a 2007 IM exchange, uncovered by congressional investigators (http://www.propublica.org/article/the-real-subprime-crisis-culprit-cows-1022), between two S&P employees regarding one of the phantom collateralized debt obligations that killed the economy:
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): btw-that deal is ridiculous
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): I know right.. model def does not capture half of the risk
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): we should not be rating it
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): we rate every deal
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): it could be structured by cows and we would rate it
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): but there's a lot of risk associated with it – I personally don't feel comfy signing off as a committee member.
But when it came time to rate AIG's creditworthiness, that ratings agencies suddenly became exacting arbiters of fact, and their cascading downgrades and threats of further downgrades drove Geithner's decision-making as he bailed out AIG and negotiated with the banks AIG owed money to:
On the afternoon of September 15, 2008, the three largest credit rating agencies-Standard and Poor's Financial Services, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., and Fitch Ratings Ltd.-downgraded AIG. On September 16, 2008, because of concerns that an AIG bankruptcy could cause systemic risk to the entire financial system and the American retirement system, the Federal Reserve Board, with the support of Treasury, authorized [the Federal Reserve Bank of New York] to lend up to $85 billion to the firm....What should we note about the above? Probably that rubber-stamping crap deals benefited Goldman Sachs, which indicates the less regulation is precisely the standard which corporate systems want to be managed by. Anything further?
http://exiledonline.com/did-goldman-sachs-manipulate-journalists-and-stock-price-on-same-day-as-senate-testimony/
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had the only gain among 79 financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index as executives testified to a Senate subcommittee about mortgage securities.
Goldman Sachs advanced 0.7 percent to $153.04, while the S&P 500 Financials Index retreated 3.4 percent.Capitalist media control? Impossible - that would mean that the market everywhere ultimately works for the highest bidder - more money means you define the market conditions, (offer only valid in situations where available command products can be accessed)! :laugh:
No they didn't, you say! Oh wait, fuck: AP - Goldman wages PR fight to clear its name 4 days ago! (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j1sUfbbR7497198u1DVpjblUMSmwD9FB07I80)
Highest bidder?
Since 1989, the company's employees have contributed $31.6 million to federal political candidates, more than any financial firm, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said. About two-thirds of that money has gone to Democrats, including nearly $1 million to Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, the company's top recipient during that election cycle.
Democrats and Republicans have tapped former Goldman executives for key financial positions. Robert Rubin, a former Goldman co-chairman, served as Treasury secretary under President Clinton. Former Goldman Chief Executive Henry M. Paulson held the Treasury post under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-goldman-politics17-2010apr17,0,4264607.story
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aLaGJBuy9qSs
Yep, highest bidder.
Oh well, right? Nope. The whole system is engineered to smoothly enable capitalist business:
“You don’t get it, Ames. Even Khuzami, the SEC guy in charge of the Goldman case, is a fraud (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388304575202562283283500.html); the fucker was Deutsche’s general counsel (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388304575202562283283500.html) when they pulled the same CDO scam as Goldman. You have no idea how deep this goes.”
Of course the government works for established capital - everything in our market does! (http://exiledonline.com/confessions-of-a-wall-st-nihilist-forget-about-goldman-sachs-our-entire-economy-is-built-on-fraud/)
CFO.com (CFO insider magazine) reported the following: (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14113089/?f=rsspage)
Members of Congress probing threats to the global financial system — especially the threat of concentration of risk — will have a lot to ponder in newly mandated disclosures highlighted by a Fitch Ratings report issued last week. While derivatives use among U.S. companies is widespread, an "overwhelming majority of the exposure is concentrated among financial institutions," according to the rating agency's review of first-quarter financials. Concentrated, in fact, among a mere handful of financial-services giants. About 80% of the derivative assets and liabilities carried on the balance sheets of 100 companies reviewed by Fitch were held by five banks: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Those five banks also account for more than 96% of the companies' exposure to credit derivatives.
About 52% of the companies reviewed disclosed there were credit-risk-related contingent features in their derivative positions. Such features require a company to post collateral or settle outstanding derivative liabilities if there's a downgrade of the company's credit rating. The Fitch analysts also found that just 22 companies disclosed the use of equity derivatives. Just six nonfinancial firms — IBM, General Motors, Verizon, Comcast, Textron, and PG&E — reported exposure to share-based derivatives.
Read More (http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14113089/?f=rsspage)
Washington Blog post (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/07/96-of-credit-derivative-risk-held-by-5.html)
Are advanced methods of calculated financial posturing an example of
A) a "government" representing the interests of capitalist hegemony,
B) the actions of a capitalist class or
A) a "government" representing "no one's interests" (or some other deflection from the capitalist system and its results):
http://gawker.com/5406775/how-the-credit-rating-agencies-engineered-the-goldman-sachs-bailout - How did they do it? Let's see:
Here's a 2007 IM exchange, uncovered by congressional investigators (http://www.propublica.org/article/the-real-subprime-crisis-culprit-cows-1022), between two S&P employees regarding one of the phantom collateralized debt obligations that killed the economy:
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): btw-that deal is ridiculous
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): I know right.. model def does not capture half of the risk
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): we should not be rating it
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): we rate every deal
S&P Employee #2 (http://gawker.com/tag/2/): it could be structured by cows and we would rate it
S&P Employee #1 (http://gawker.com/tag/1/): but there's a lot of risk associated with it – I personally don't feel comfy signing off as a committee member.
But when it came time to rate AIG's creditworthiness, that ratings agencies suddenly became exacting arbiters of fact, and their cascading downgrades and threats of further downgrades drove Geithner's decision-making as he bailed out AIG and negotiated with the banks AIG owed money to:
On the afternoon of September 15, 2008, the three largest credit rating agencies-Standard and Poor's Financial Services, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., and Fitch Ratings Ltd.-downgraded AIG. On September 16, 2008, because of concerns that an AIG bankruptcy could cause systemic risk to the entire financial system and the American retirement system, the Federal Reserve Board, with the support of Treasury, authorized [the Federal Reserve Bank of New York] to lend up to $85 billion to the firm....What should we note about the above? Probably that rubber-stamping crap deals benefited Goldman Sachs, which indicates the less regulation is precisely the standard which corporate systems want to be managed by. Anything further?
http://exiledonline.com/did-goldman-sachs-manipulate-journalists-and-stock-price-on-same-day-as-senate-testimony/
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had the only gain among 79 financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index as executives testified to a Senate subcommittee about mortgage securities.
Goldman Sachs advanced 0.7 percent to $153.04, while the S&P 500 Financials Index retreated 3.4 percent.Capitalist media control? Impossible - that would mean that the market everywhere ultimately works for the highest bidder - more money means you define the market conditions, (offer only valid in situations where available command products can be accessed)! :laugh:
No they didn't, you say! Oh wait, fuck: AP - Goldman wages PR fight to clear its name 4 days ago! (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j1sUfbbR7497198u1DVpjblUMSmwD9FB07I80)
Highest bidder?
Since 1989, the company's employees have contributed $31.6 million to federal political candidates, more than any financial firm, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said. About two-thirds of that money has gone to Democrats, including nearly $1 million to Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, the company's top recipient during that election cycle.
Democrats and Republicans have tapped former Goldman executives for key financial positions. Robert Rubin, a former Goldman co-chairman, served as Treasury secretary under President Clinton. Former Goldman Chief Executive Henry M. Paulson held the Treasury post under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-goldman-politics17-2010apr17,0,4264607.story
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aLaGJBuy9qSs
Yep, highest bidder.
Oh well, right? Nope. The whole system is engineered to smoothly enable capitalist business:
“You don’t get it, Ames. Even Khuzami, the SEC guy in charge of the Goldman case, is a fraud (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388304575202562283283500.html); the fucker was Deutsche’s general counsel (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388304575202562283283500.html) when they pulled the same CDO scam as Goldman. You have no idea how deep this goes.”
Of course the government works for established capital - everything in our market does! (http://exiledonline.com/confessions-of-a-wall-st-nihilist-forget-about-goldman-sachs-our-entire-economy-is-built-on-fraud/)