Thread: Matt Taibbi with another Wall St Stunner!!!

I can not begin to believe this bullshit

Matt Taibbi has resurfaced with another stunner of Wall Street impropriety which will lead to merely more silence, even more unanswered questions and be quickly buried by the kleptocratic oligarchy.

The Real Housewives of Wall Street: Look Who's Cashing In On the Bailout

Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?

From Rolling Stone Magazine

In August 2009, John Mack, at the time still the CEO of Morgan Stanley, made an interesting life decision. Despite the fact that he was earning the comparatively low salary of just $800,000, and had refused to give himself a bonus in the midst of the financial crisis, Mack decided to buy himself a gorgeous piece of property — a 107-year-old limestone carriage house on the Upper BeerEast Side of New York, complete with an indoor 12-car garage, that had just been sold by the prestigious Mellon family for $13.5 million. Either Mack had plenty of cash on hand to close the deal, or he got some help from his wife, Christy, who apparently bought the house with him.

The Macks make for an interesting couple. John, a Lebanese-American nicknamed "Mack the Knife" for his legendary passion for firing people, has one of the most recognizable faces on Wall Street, physically resembling a crumpled, half-burned baked potato with a pair of overturned furry horseshoes for eyebrows. Christy is thin, blond and rich — a sort of still-awake Sunny von Bulow with hobbies. Her major philanthropic passion is endowments for alternative medicine, and she has attained the level of master at Reiki, the Japanese practice of "palm healing." The only other notable fact on her public résumé is that her sister was married to Charlie Rose.

It's hard to imagine a pair of people you would less want to hand a giant welfare check to — yet that's exactly what the Fed did. Just two months before the Macks bought their fancy carriage house in Manhattan, Christy and her pal Susan launched their investment initiative called Waterfall TALF. Neither seems to have any experience whatsoever in finance, beyond Susan's penchant for dabbling in thoroughbred racehorses. But with an upfront investment of $15 million, they quickly received $220 million in cash from the Fed, most of which they used to purchase student loans and commercial mortgages. The loans were set up so that Christy and Susan would keep 100 percent of any gains on the deals, while the Fed and the Treasury (read: the taxpayer) would eat 90 percent of the losses. Given out as part of a bailout program ostensibly designed to help ordinary people by kick-starting consumer lending, the deals were a classic heads-I-win, tails-you-lose investment.

So how did the government come to address a financial crisis caused by the collapse of a residential-mortgage bubble by giving the wives of a couple of Morgan Stanley bigwigs free money to make essentially risk-free investments in student loans and commercial real estate? The answer is: by degrees. The history of the bailout era reads like one of those awful stories about what happens when a long-dormant criminal compulsion goes unchecked. The Peeping Tom next door stares through a few bathroom windows, doesn't get caught, and decides to break in and steal a pair of panties. Next thing you know, he's upgraded to homemade dungeons, tri-state serial rampages and throwing cheerleaders into a panel truck.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/mat...tanley-bigwigs

Yeah, I saw that this morning and was frustrated, to say the least.

Here's the money quote:

Originally Posted by Taibbi

A key aspect of TALF is that the Fed doles out the money through what are known as non-recourse loans. Essentially, this means that if you don't pay the Fed back, it's no big deal. The mechanism works like this: Hedge Fund Goon borrows, say, $100 million from the Fed to buy crappy loans, which are then transferred to the Fed as collateral. If Hedge Fund Goon decides not to repay that $100 million, the Fed simply keeps its pile of crappy securities and calls everything even.

This is the deal of a lifetime. Think about it: You borrow millions, buy a bunch of crap securities and stash them on the Fed's books. If the securities lose money, you leave them on the Fed's lap and the public eats the loss. But if they make money, you take them back, cash them in and repay the funds you borrowed from the Fed.

DBT, tea partiers, etc: THIS is the kind of thing you should be raging against and marching about.

Originally Posted by Adamantium

Yeah, I saw that this morning and was frustrated, to say the least.

Here's the money quote:


DBT, tea partiers, etc: THIS is the kind of thing you should be raging against and marching about.

Why are singling me out. I don't think there should even be a Fed. If I had my way, this would be impossible. You be talkin' to the wrong guy.
I suppose you blame the greedy people who took the money. I blame the system created by government. The Party makes no difference. Government is corrupt. Always is, always will be. That's why it needs to be 1/4 the size.

Most Americans are afraid of Wall Street, they don't understand how it works and they don't want to, all they know is that when the market goes down their pension plans and retirement accounts suffer. That scares them, the illusion of wealth that Wall Street creates is like a warm blanket. The Fed, please, if you tried to sit down and explain what Berblanky has done to the average American their head would explode.

I'm all for people making money, but to inflate markets artificially with free US dollars is not a sound practice. This all makes my head hurt, can anyone make it go away.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

Why are singling me out. I don't think there should even be a Fed. If I had my way, this would be impossible. You be talkin' to the wrong guy.
I suppose you blame the greedy people who took the money. I blame the system created by government. The Party makes no difference. Government is corrupt. Always is, always will be. That's why it needs to be 1/4 the size.

DBT, nothing personal, but as the official Tea Bagger on the site, people are going to ask you WTF aren't you guys on this if your party is the only alternative to the Dumbocunt / Republicunt parties. I mean who else can we turn to to fix this shit, Ralph Nader??? We are soooooooo fucked.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

Why are singling me out.

Because you are the most vocal poster when it comes to decrying the actions of the United States government, to the point that you seem eager to find fault with environmental regulations and energy efficiency standards. Yet despite that, you seem to spend a lot more time complaining about light-bulb efficiency standards than the literal trillions of dollars the government gives away to the most wealthy people.

All in all, I think the abuses perpetrated by Wall Street and central bankers absolutely dwarf anything else the rest of the government does. These people own the politicians of both parties. They own the regulators who are ostensibly to control their attempts at fraud. Additionally, you have supported reducing the tax burden on these very people, which of course would only serve to further enrich and empower them.

If you don't like the idea of someone else having power over you and your government, then your beef should be with the finance industry, not any one political party or politician, nor with the institution of government itself.

Originally Posted by Adamantium

Because you are the most vocal poster when it comes to decrying the actions of the United States government, to the point that you seem eager to find fault with environmental regulations and energy efficiency standards. Yet despite that, you seem to spend a lot more time complaining about light-bulb efficiency standards than the literal trillions of dollars the government gives away to the most wealthy people.

All in all, I think the abuses perpetrated by Wall Street and central bankers absolutely dwarf anything else the rest of the government does. These people own the politicians of both parties. They own the regulators who are ostensibly to control their attempts at fraud. Additionally, you have supported reducing the tax burden on these very people, which of course would only serve to further enrich and empower them.

If you don't like the idea of someone else having power over you and your government, then your beef should be with the wealthiest 1% of the country in their entirety, not any one political party or politician.

You don't fucking get it. The abuses perpetrated by Wall Street ARE created by the government. The tax payer should have never been at risk in the first place. The government set up the system of privitized profit and socialized loss that allows Wall Street to take insane risks that will bring down our economy. Government created the scam the Taibbi wrote about.

It's not the fault of the 1% that they take advantage of the system built by government. Just like you take every tax deduction you can, rich people use every angle supplied by government to benefit themselves. You expect people to voluntarily turn down money? That's like asking someone to voluntarily pay extra taxes. It's never going to happen. NEVER! Nor should it. Government enabled everything you can point to that the evil 1% has done. It takes two to tango.

The problem is with the government. The government is involved in things it should not be. It goes back to the original intent of the Founders. They knew what would happen and tried to warn us.

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
T. Jefferson

If you KNOW the 1% will be able to buy the power the government can provide, WHY THE FUCK DO YOU WANT MORE GOVERNMENT??

Originally Posted by liv2ski

DBT, nothing personal, but as the official Tea Bagger on the site, people are going to ask you WTF aren't you guys on this if your party is the only alternative to the Dumbocunt / Republicunt parties. I mean who else can we turn to to fix this shit, Ralph Nader??? We are soooooooo fucked.

You think Tea people think this kind of stuff is ok? People like me just know where to place the blame, so we probably aren't as shocked as you. You still think the housing crisis was caused by Wall Street. When you know it was the government, this Tabbi shit seems like peanuts.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

You don't fucking get it. The abuses perpetrated by Wall Street ARE created by the government. The tax payer should have never been at risk in the first place. The government set up the system of privitized profit and socialized loss that allows Wall Street to take insane risks that will bring down our economy. Government created the scam the Taibbi wrote about.

Government (the people: see government for of and by the people) made the situation possible but that is not the same thing as perpetrating the act. Furthermore the only reason the peoples representatives and senators enabled said system's existence was because they were paid well to do so by the Wall St. bankers.

- "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing
armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -
Thomas Jefferson

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

It's not the fault of the 1% that they take advantage of the system built by government. Just like you take every tax deduction you can, rich people use every angle supplied by government to benefit themselves. You expect people to voluntarily turn down money? That's like asking someone to voluntarily pay extra taxes. It's never going to happen. NEVER! Nor should it. Government enabled everything you can point to that the evil 1% has done. It takes two to tango.

People voluntarily pay more taxes all the time. That's what happens when a municipality has a bond issue on the ballot. Occasionally those pass, ergo people voluntarily pay extra taxes.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

People like me just know where to place the blame, so we probably aren't as shocked as you. You still think the housing crisis was caused by Wall Street. When you know it was the government, this Tabbi shit seems like peanuts.

Have you been listening to Alex Jones again? You are a fucking nimrod.

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

It's not the fault of the 1% that they take advantage of the system built by government.

Pretty easy to "take advantage of it" when your wealth built it.

All of those fine responses deny the obvious. Government creates every law and regulation that makes it all possible. Without government participation, it could NOT happen.

Of course government is corrupted by money. YOU CAN'T change human nature.

There is ZERO chance that the government won't be corrupted by money. ZERO - NONE.

So the ONLY solution is to listen to Jefferson...

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson - TJ

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. -TJ

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

People voluntarily pay more taxes all the time. That's what happens when a municipality has a bond issue on the ballot. Occasionally those pass, ergo people voluntarily pay extra taxes.

Nice try. That's voting for tax increases for everyone. That's not the same as voluntarily paying extra, beyond the existing requirements of the tax code. That extra money ALWAYS goes to private charity doesn't it? Because even the most liberal asshole knows that giving money to the government is the least efficent, stupidest thing you can do with your money.

Ron Paul....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux96f...mbedded#at=137

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

Government (the people: see government for of and by the people) made the situation possible but that is not the same thing as perpetrating the act. Furthermore the only reason the peoples representatives and senators enabled said system's existence was because they were paid well to do so by the Wall St. bankers.

- "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing
armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -
Thomas Jefferson

People voluntarily pay more taxes all the time. That's what happens when a municipality has a bond issue on the ballot. Occasionally those pass, ergo people voluntarily pay extra taxes.

DBT, the above is spot on. You can blame government, but really given a choice, who you going to lock up, the pusher selling your little Johnny Heroin or Little Johnny? It is my believe the the Financial Industry in this Country is the biggest Pusher of what is killing us. Until laws are passed to disallow corporate campaign contributions, and a banning of business lobbyist from government, we the people will never have our voices heard again as our representatives know where their $$ comes from.
So how do we make our voices heard? For a start, how about a general strike? Would it not be so cool if everyone stayed home for two weeks? No going out, no buying gas, groceries or anything for that matter. Just stay at home and hang out with your family. Do you think that would get their attention? Will it ever happen? Fuck no.

I remember this deal. Every fund i knew of took advantage of it and if i were still in the industry you bet i would too.

I think most politicians are terrified of Wall Street, banking, and finance in general. Most of these guys we've sent to DC are failed lawyers and businessmen, they aren't there for their IQ. Anyone with a Brooks Brothers suit and and a few big words can talk these idiots into anything. Politicians want the Dow high because that's what their constituents want, and that's what the lobbyists want, together they'll do anything to avoid another crash, I just hope the governement doesn't cause another meltdown with all this reckless financing of junk.

But, you have to give it to them, we have had a recovery, it may implode, but for now we're chugging along and the sky hasn't fallen, yet.

Originally Posted by huckbucket

Pretty easy to "take advantage of it" when your wealth built it.

lulz....

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

Government creates every law and regulation that makes it all possible. Without government participation, it could NOT happen.

Of course government is corrupted by money. YOU CAN'T change human nature.

There is ZERO chance that the government won't be corrupted by money. ZERO - NONE.

In reality, government had a small part in creating these laws and regulations. They were mostly crafted by the industry insiders who benefit from however they are manipulated. What's been going on in Wall Street is a collective devolution of morals and ethics. There needs to be some kind of arbritrator of fairness and it's laughable to think that these folks are going to police themselves or "the market" will just take care of it all. You are naive in your desire for a free for all society with no organized structure.

You are naive in your desire for a free for all society with no organized structure.

Naive may be a tad bit mild.

I prefer, DBT, your head is so far up your ass that your nose is in your Adams apple.

Originally Posted by huckbucket

Pretty easy to "take advantage of it" when your wealth built it.

No dude - YOUR wealth built it. This is just a nice easy way to transfer dollars to millionaires and billionaires.

Originally Posted by Yonder_River

In reality, government had a small part in creating these laws and regulations. They were mostly crafted by the industry insiders who benefit from however they are manipulated. What's been going on in Wall Street is a collective devolution of morals and ethics. There needs to be some kind of arbritrator of fairness and it's laughable to think that these folks are going to police themselves or "the market" will just take care of it all. You are naive in your desire for a free for all society with no organized structure.

He is not naive, those are the talking points he is paid to post.

Originally Posted by liv2ski

DBT, the above is spot on. You can blame government, but really given a choice, who you going to lock up, the pusher selling your little Johnny Heroin or Little Johnny? It is my believe the the Financial Industry in this Country is the biggest Pusher of what is killing us. Until laws are passed to disallow corporate campaign contributions, and a banning of business lobbyist from government, we the people will never have our voices heard again as our representatives know where their $$ comes from.
So how do we make our voices heard? For a start, how about a general strike? Would it not be so cool if everyone stayed home for two weeks? No going out, no buying gas, groceries or anything for that matter. Just stay at home and hang out with your family. Do you think that would get their attention? Will it ever happen? Fuck no.

- "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing
armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -
Thomas Jefferson

Spot on. Jefferson arguing against the Federal Reserve.

Your answer to corrupt politicians is to take away the constitutional freedom of political donors? Every corporation in America will just up and leave. then you'll have your perfect and fair social utopia where there is no one left to bribe a politician.

The answer is for voters to quit voting for government and start voting for people who want to un-do government and return feedom to people.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. -TJ

Originally Posted by Downbound Train

The answer is for voters to quit voting for government and start voting for people who want to un-do government and return feedom to people.

That would work if the people weren't mewling stupid sheep.

Originally Posted by LeeLau

That would work if the people weren't mewling stupid sheep.

Would it? Most people here don't agree.