Archive for June, 2009:
Wall Street Logs Best Quarter Since Credit Crisis Erupted
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
The securities firms still standing on Wall Street are about to close the most lucrative quarter since the credit crisis erupted.
And instead of relying on risk and leverage to drive profits, companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. are getting back to basics, with a strong performance from trading and underwriting.
For US To Recover Its Investment, GM Stock Would Have To Hit Record Levels
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
If a new General Motors emerges from bankruptcy as planned, U.S. financial aid for the company will expand to nearly $50 billion, but neither the government nor the company is forecasting how much of the public money will be repaid.
Housing Recovery In Peril As Obama Aid Program Has Little Effect
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
June 29 (Bloomberg) — Driving through Riverside, California, Bruce Norris pointed to a half-dozen empty houses with “For Sale” signs stuck in untended lawns that he said investors might buy if banks would just extend some credit.
At Will States
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
A union was created so workers would have a voice. And that’s probably the best thing to exist. Sure you have your non believers. But these AT WILL STATES, who can terminate you in a moment flat. Needs to be turned into a union state. A petty District Managers or Supervisor, who trying to cover their butts can you this at a moment notice. And there’s a good chance you can’t do a thing.
But try to move on. And regroup and remember all the dedication you gave them was for nothing. But those in power, who do wrong. Must face their punishment in the end. Cause bad always come back at the person in charge.
Impending Bonanza For Honest Businesses
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of Top-Web-Entrepeneurs-Plan-It.com:
There may just be a surge of interest to become a small business owner operating online, as well as for what they have to offer.
The US The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly preparing to pass a law enabling them to “seek and destroy” Get-Rich-Quick (GRQ) schemes!
Read this article published by the Washington Post on June 21, 2009 about the latest FTC plan. Here is the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062101107.html
With unfair, confidence-mining competition hopefully about to dwindle, now is the time to start building your business.
Be ready to reap the rewards of increased consumer confidence.
Start building with the SBI! proven business building process.
Robert Kuttner: Pecora Whirling
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
Reuters is out with an authoritative story on finalists being considered for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the investigative body created by Congress to launch a full-scale investigation of the financial crisis in the spirit of the famous early 1930s hearings led by Ferdinand Pecora.
Those famous investigative hearings produced the facts and momentum for the major New Deal financial reforms. If the Reuters story is accurate, progressives have a lot of work to do in a few short days while nominees are being finalized, before the moment is lost.
Under the law creating the commission, which <a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/ www.coherentbabble.com/Bills/111th-S386-enr.pdf”>was signed by President Obama in late May, it is to have ten members, six Democrats and four Republicans. They are to be appointed by the House and Senate majority and minority leadership, respectively.
Among the names leaked is just one person with the stature, expertise, and resolve to run a tough investigation (if she were chair)–Brooksley Born. As chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the late 1990s, Born proposed regulating over-the-counter derivatives, of the sort that helped crash the economy. For this attempt to spoil the party, she was excoriated and isolated by an old-boys’ mob that included Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers and Gary Gensler. Incredibly enough, Gensler, an Obama appointee, now holds Born’s old job as chair of the CFTC. More than a decade and several meltdowns later, the Obama administration’s 88-page white paper is ambiguous on the subject of whether and how to regulate customized derivatives. Born is just the sort of person the commission needs.
On the Republican side, with one exception, the leaked names could be an alumni society of the people whose policies helped cause the collapse. The absolute howler in the list is former senator Jake Garn of Utah, a tireless proponent of financial deregulation. Among other travesties, Garn sponsored the Garn-St. Germain Act of 1982, the law that allowed savings and loan associations to become speculators’ playgrounds, and led directly to the S&L collapse.
Another proposed Republican is Bill Thomas, former chair of the House Ways and Means, a legislator who never met a financial special interest he didn’t like; and former Republican Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson.
The one commendable Republican on the list–and I hope my support doesn’t spoil it for him–is Alex Pollock of the American Enterprise Institute. Pollock has been an honest critic of the financial bailout program and the weak measures undertaken by both the Bush and Obama administrations to stem the epidemic of mortgage foreclosures. In his testimony and speeches, Pollock regularly calls for New Deal-style remedies, such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or Roosevelt’s Home Owners Loan Corporation, which refinanced one mortgage in five, and spared a million families foreclosure.
The only other Democrat on Reuters’ leaked list is former Florida senator and governor Bob Graham, a self-identified New Democrat who served on both the Senate Banking and Finance Committees. Missing, except for Born, are people with deep knowledge and informed criticism of the abuses that led to the crisis.
Some good nominees would be former SEC Commissioner Harvey Goldschmid, now a law professor at Columbia; Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel; Damon Silvers, the AFL-CIO’s top expert on financial markets and Deputy Chair of the oversight panel; economists Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia or Nouriel Roubini of NYU or James Galbraith of the University of Texas or Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research; one-time Wall Streeters and now astute financial critics Nomi Prins, Rob Johnson, Ron Bloom or Richard Bookstaber; former financial regulators Bill Black or Ellen Seidman; or law professors and deregulation critics Frank Partnoy of the University of San Diego or James D. Cox of Duke.
Perhaps it was too much to hope that this commission would be a chance to investigate root causes and mobilize public sentiment behind the sweeping reforms that are needed and not yet forthcoming. Obviously, Republican House Leader John Boehner and his Senate counterpart, Mitch McConnell, are not about to put serious critics of deregulation on this panel. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, were astute enough to put Elizabeth Warren and Damon Silvers in charge of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) that was created as a condition for giving the Treasury $700 billion in bailout funds last fall. Ever since then, the COP has been the best source of independent thinking and investigation in town.
For the new Pecora Commission, Pelosi and Reid need to do better than finding a predictable list of retired and safe Democratic politicians. This is a rare chance to light a real fire on behalf of deep reform.
Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect, and a senior fellow at Demos. His recent book is Obama’s Challenge.
Krugman Debates Stimulus, Health Care With Conservative Economist John Taylor (VIDEO)
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
Today on CNN’s “GPS with Fareed Zakaria,” economists Paul Krugman and John B. Taylor debated the origins of the financial crisis and President Obama’s proposed health care plan. It was a lengthy, substantive debate, and well worth viewing:
Embedded video from CNN Video
America’s Most Expensive Homes
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
There’s been a lot of denial among luxury homeowners. In 2006, it was thought that the luxury market wouldn’t suffer the same fate as the broader market. A year later, high-end home buyers were thought to have endless, deep pockets, further insulating the top-tier from the cratering economy. As the nation’s markets in 2008 went from bad to worse, some in the industry claimed that the dearth of trophy properties outstripped supply.
Porsche Accuses Volkswagen Of Extortion
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Porsche accused Volkswagen and its key shareholder Lower Saxony of extortion following a magazine report that VW and the regional state had demanded Porsche accept a tie-up of the two carmakers with VW in charge.
Schwarzenegger Threatens To Impose Third Unpaid Furlough Day
Here are some business news, courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would force state workers to take a third unpaid furlough day every month if lawmakers do not pass a balanced budget by Tuesday.
