Idyllic Islands

Don't let one of these land on your head - they hurt!
I am not very fond of coconut milk but I really enjoy the fresh meat.

Tighten the Reins 'til You See Blood

Dateline April 25, 2010- Auction Rate Preferred Wreckage YET!  http://www.auctionratepreferreds.org/

To date, almost 60% of the outstanding auction-rate securities have been redeemed.

With more than $25 billion still outstanding, some closed-end-fund sponsors have been refinancing the outstanding auction-rate securities aggressively to provide liquidity to the holders.

I was sold ARPS over two years ago that were represented to be a 'liquid investment' equivalent to a money market. It took my broker EIGHT MONTHS to offload this crap - just another case of Wall Street deceit.
 
Don't let ANY Senator off the hook for full Wall Street transparency and disclosure!

Blatant Hypocrasy Across the Board

So today Senator Levin has put Goldman-Sachs in the Congressional hotseat. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Let's look at the litany of miscreants that ALL contributed to our economic collapse:

• Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act - Clinton/Rubin 1998
• SEC employees surfing porn sites instead of digging out the truth of CDO's
• Wishful would-be homebuyers signing for liars loans and on and on...

Now we can see where all of this leads...

There Were "Progressives" for the Last Centrury

Even in 1957 Atlas Shrugged references the blight of "progressives" on society -

"By that time it was too late. ...the freight cars were in California, where the soybeans had been sent to a progressive concern made up of sociologists preaching the cult of Oriental austerity, and of businessmen formerly in the numbers racket.  In Minnesota, farmers were setting fire to their own farms, they were demolishing grain elevators,and the homes of county officials because their wheat could not move...

Lack of Enforcement by The Chief Executive

President Obama: "That is why I feel so strongly that we need to enact a set of updated, commonsense rules to ensure accountability on Wall Street and to protect consumers in our financial system."

You are not enforcing existing laws and have allowed others to be recinded, Mr. President!
Why is not the Attorney General prosecuting bankers, mortgage lenders, appraisers and Real Estate agents where felonious conduct has taken place? Investment houses, auto manufacturers, and a whole host of hangers-on received 1.5 trillion taxpayer dollars because exisitng laws have not been enforced. The repeal of Glass-Steagall undermined a fifty year old safe system and Hank Paulson expedited the removal of the 14:1 leverage rule when he moved from Goldman-Sachs to Treasury. Those of you who elected the last three Presidents and their henchmen, Rubin, Paulson, Holder, and their entourages are just getting what you deserve. You are no different than AIG with your oversized house, oversized SUV, and oversized credit cards.

De'ja Vu All Over Again

There was a curious juxtaposition yesterday evening when CNN aired a program showing Detroit's deterioration followed by India's economic woes of inflation. All of this while I was re-reading Atlas Shrugged where the mother of Hank Rearden of Rearden Steel is begging for a job for her other son and Hank turned her down because he was worthless...and the People's Republic of Mexico had just nationalized a worthless copper mine.

She said "If you loved your brother, you'd give him a job he didn't deserve, precisely because he didn't deserve it - that would be true love and kindness and brotherhood. Else what is love for? If a man deserves a job, there is no virtue in giving it to him. Virtue is the giving of the undeserved."

This is true moral bankruptcy!

Finally A ChanceTo Update

I feel like Howard Hughes in Nassau - just without the bankroll or entourage. The rainy season started a month early but at least the wind is back and there are no Virgin Airlines 'heavies' (747) taking off for Europe - ash clouds...Because of my damaged laptop display and poor internet service, I've finished Ludlum's "Parsifal Mosaic". Now I'm starting a re-read of "Atlas Shrugged". With a 20 year space it is patently obvious that a 35 year old story did not enlighten anyone! Ayn Rand even used the term 'progressives' then for the looters.