Something about Karl Rove, a dull butter knife, and a burning building.

...to be followed by hookers scandal the following week.

Sonic Seuss writes:
Another test of 12,000 before the day is done? Only have 8 minutes.

Would be surprised if it doesn't hold.

OK, so the perps are finally walking. Let the rally in financials commence!

You can just hear CNBC in a few months: "Perp walks, fake suicides, real suicides... the bottom is in!"

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol - Times Online

Yippee?

OT - There's so much complacency and bullish sentiment out there it's just making me smile ear to ear.

To awgee:

The money isn't created out of thin air; at some point the bank gave money to the borrower to buy something (who gave it to the seller). It's net zero while the loan is on the books at full value, because it (the loan) is an asset to the bank to offset the money they gave out (the liability). At the point they write down the principle, they are realizing a loss on the investment (like when people sell stock for below what they bought it for).

It doesn't necessarily impact the bank's business immediately (because it is on paper, as you said), but it will impact them when they go to borrow more money to lend to people, and/or disclose their financial situation to the relevant oversight authorities. If you have less assets on paper than deposits as a bank, that's bad (which is why it's vitally important for banks to keep their MBS's as level 3 assets, where they don't have to acknowledge the decrease in value).

Hope that helps (and is accurate).

"The managers talked up the fund to the customer while they expressed doubts among themselves. They said they had plenty cash while they actually didn't."

Unlike the buy-and-bail strategy discussed previously, this representation to investors is textbook fraud. Textbook.

Suddenly, the Chicago song "Only the Beginning" has appeared in my head.

"Well, he already commuted Scooter's sentence for outing a CIA agent..."

Richard Armitage outed a CIA agent. Scooter committed perjury when asked about it. Just like someone else who committed perjury a few years ago...

One committed perjury about a private matter.

The other committed perjury over TREASON!

Minor difference, of course.

And btw, not only a CIA agent was outed, but the front company she ostensibly worked for and for which it's other employees worked and her network and the network of every other agent that worked there! The only reason there haven't been treason trials is that the traitors are running the country - and no damage assessment has been made public.

They are the spiritual brothers, of course, of the traitors who screamed "Wag the Dog" when Clinton went after Bin Ladin - claiming that he was merely trying to distract attention from the oh-so-important bj.

The only "perp walk" I want to see is into the cell. SLAM!

Bear Stearns clearly wanted an amicable departure. Often when firms are under investigation they look to scapegoat others. In this instance, Bear Stearns has a strong interest in keeping Cioffi "on-the-reservation" given the firm's exposure to allegations of fraud in criminal and civil proceedings. The firm stands to benefit so long as their interest and Cioffi's are aligned. Therefore Bear Stearns doesn't have any incentive to include "negative" disclosures which could shed light into how the hedge funds collapsed.