"“Bankruptcy courts have the power to authorize sales of assets at a time when there still is value to preserve — to prevent the death of the patient on the operating table,” Judge Gerber wrote."
Did someone try to steal Goldman Sachs’ secret sauce?
While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs.
The allegations, if true, are big news because the codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, tried to steal is the secret code to unlocking Goldman’s automated stocks and commodities trading businesses. Federal authorities allege the computer codes and related-trading files that Aleynikov uploaded to a German-based website help this major “financial institution” generate millions of dollars in profits each year.
The platform is one of the things that apparently gives Goldman a leg-up over the competition when it comes to rapid-fire trading of stocks and commodities. Federal authorities say the platform quickly processes rapid developments in the markets and uses top secret mathematical formulas to allow the firm to make highly-profitable automated trades.
The criminal case has the potential to shed a light on the inner workings of an important profit center for Goldman and other Wall Street firms. The federal charges also raise serious questions about the safeguards Wall Street firms deploy to protect their proprietary trading systems.
The government buying GM and Chrysler is throwing money down a rathole to save a small number of UAW jobs. I'd rather that we pay each UAW worker $500,000, rather than spend $100B propping up inefficient corporations.
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.
Buying up replacement parts for the most common automobiles could turn out to be the best investment of the decade (2010's that is)
If so, then junk yards may become a booming business. I bought a replacement window for my car instead of paying $750 for one new, by shopping at the local auto salvage yard. At the time I thought they should sell gift certificates.
First line of the San Diego story linked to above...
"Eventually, an economic boom will restore prosperity to this nation, this state, this region..."
HAHAHAHAHA! Sounds awfully familiar. They've been saying that in the Rust Belt for decades. I'm sure they will be saying it in the Stucco Belt for decades as well.
I read a tale of an enterprising Canadian circa 1940, who realized the USA would be going to war eventually and the automakers would be making military gear-not cars, and he bought up tons of spare parts on the cheap, and warehoused them up north. I seem to remember he made like 10x profit, on average, when American cars started crapping out in 1943, with no spares available @ any price.
The same situation is going to happen again, but not in the same circumstances of the automakers going into another line of work, they are all going to go BK...
Iceman, you raise a good point. How much would we have had to spend to give a decent lump sum to all the current workers and retirees, and just, as they say, "call the whole thing off". I mean, if there are assets to sell, sell them, use the funds to shut down these pathetic companies, pay off creditors (with a serious haircut) and then move on.
At least if they had done this with Chrysler, it would have been a good wake up call that business as usual isnt going to cut it. And think of how beneficial it would have been to have GM and Ford pick up a bit of market share through the disappearance of one of the big 3 turds.
Might have forced some more painful but realistic concessions from all involved if they had thought there was a realistic chance they could vanish. I havent really seen any good analysis on this.
India's Sensex sank nearly 6% as reports that the country's deficit could be stretched to an even greater percentage of the country's GDP exasperated selling pressure. Market Overview - Yahoo
Union-Tribune isn't even worth the time IMO. Almost every "story" in the business section begins with some sort of "buy stocks, long-term, recovery....etc".. No wonder they folded the business section into the back portion of the front section.
BTW anyone having trouble with zerohedge this morning? Broke a story on GS last nihgt and it's new site is unavailable at present.
Yeah that automatic hope in "recovery" always gets me. The chances are high there will be a recovery, but it's not a given that the recovery will bloom in San Diego, in California, or even in America.
And then there is always a (slim) chance that there will be no recovery at all for the global economy. We always muse about how Mother Nature could give up on Homo sapiens and start again with another species. Well... if Mother Nature was going to give up on Homo sapiens, I think we'd first notice her work in the form of a dying global economy...
$45 oil, Chrysler going away, industrial capacity selling for pennies. When the time comes my money will be on Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) for the win. My motorhead buddies this weekend were genuinely enthused to see a "real" carmaker back in the business. This GM business looks like trying to refuel a crippled airplane in flight so it can crash with a full tank. This is a company that spent 80 years vertically integrating. What's the opposite of vertical integration? Horizontal disintegration.
Times: Early Monday, Chinese officials said the latest riots were started by Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur human rights advocate who had been imprisoned in China and now lives in Washington, Xinhua reported. As with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, Chinese officials often blame Ms. Kadeer for ethnic unrest; she denies the charges.
whew... close call, thought for a minute there they were going to blame the duke!
". When the time comes my money will be on Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) for the win. My motorhead buddies this weekend were genuinely enthused to see a "real" carmaker back in the business."
Count me in for Roger also Real sharp guy with world wide connections and no UAW shackles.
First line of the San Diego story linked to above...
"Eventually, an economic boom will restore prosperity to this nation, this state, this region..."
I suppose they figure one out of three ain't bad.
Unless and until science comes up with a desalination process that can be scaled up at virtually zero marginal cost, however, I'm pretty confident we've already seen Peak San Diego. And California? Excuse me while I guffaw.
San Diego has the military, a few military-industrial complex concerns, and the zoo.
On Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG): I'm the happy owner of a 98 Saturn (less than 20K miles, since I'm a urban freak that only drives when necessary), and last week a very nice letter arrived from Saturn saying they were standing by the warrantees, service/parts would be available from their dealers, and they hoped for a long relationship.
I couldn't figure out how they found me. Car was purchased and registered in CA from 98 to 2003, and I haven't been to the Portland dealer once. It is like being pursued by the alumni office of your college. They never give up looking for you for contributions.
The key to desalination is nuclear power, because it uses a gawdawful amount of electricity.
The Saudis have 27 desal plants hooked up to nuclear plants so the technology is no big deal, and our lone nuclear plant in the San Diego area is in San Ononfre, and a "Surfrider" group blocked the desal plant from coming on line for a few years, until most recently.
It's almost as silly as the scene in Apocalypse Now, where a beach is taken, because of it's good surfing potential.
You must have a good (enterprising) garage. Sometimes the garage will look by your VIN to see if you need any warranty repairs. You must have put your address down at the garage.
Tim waiting for 2012: good guess, but no so. only oil changes and filters since in portland (Jiffy Lube). I AM overdue for the 15,000 mile checkup from dealer (11 yr old car) however (lol)
Some DMV's sell owners name and address list. I got a service offer on a MBZ after moving to a different state on a car that had not been registered for 5 years,
My motorhead buddies all agreed using the SKY platform a retro roadster like a 356c would sell out in mild form and an AWD with Acura engine would own the club circuit hearts and minds for a decade.
Life never changes... never will.
Take it out of people who have liability claims, let houses foreclose, let unemployment rise... but keep the bankers in their yachts or on the golf courses. Barnanke the redistributionist... to me, that is his legacy.
Best explanation why they wouldn't do it...makes too much sense.
Track days in Portland have seen about 60% participation of last year. All the clubs are taking a bath on the track day's. There were two other clubs handing out invitations to join there day's as the number's suck for all of them this year. Doing one next monday at PIR...will let you know what that hit rate is when I return.
Other groups, including those representing product liability claims and asbestos litigants, ... fought against G.M.’s plan.
Wait, what? No...that can't be! This bankruptcy is the handiwork of the evil socialist-marxist-communist-Obamanaut axis aimed at stripping away the property rights of senior debt holders and in so doing upending the rule of law...just so they can give it all to their Trial-Lawyer and union buddies! This can't be right...how can we cut out the Trial Lawyers!!!!
I know the writing hand has moved on, but I just can't resist making the observation...hmmm...snarkalicious...
With consumer deleveraging and credit crunch - we cannot have any quick recovery - L is best case scenario. Speculative stock buying and PPT euphoria is no substitute for anything.
Credit is falling so much - private credit decreased by $1.8 Trillion is the first quarter, consumer credit by $90.7 billion (annualized). Household net worth down by $13.87 trillion.
There is no trigger for recovery - new technology, new markets, demographics, new ideas. Green is just a boondoggle and BRICs can only do so much. JPM and GS etc are just trying to create another bubble - it suits their ends not yours.
@MS: Have you ever done a 24Hoursof LeMons? That's about the cheapest track time available. And stupidly fun, now that it's graduated to a not-demo derby style racing series.
Jay Lamm the organizer is getting more and better dates at tracks all over the country because of the loss of race circuit revenue from the clubs, it's exactly as you describe with trackdays under-attended and everyone losing money.
On the bright side (if there is one), the collapse of the real estate industrial complex means less likelihood of race tracks getting bought for development. Of course, we may not have the oil to go play with, but that's a while off I think...
good for america....
But how long will the appeal take?
But how long will the appeal take?
About twenty seconds.
"“Bankruptcy courts have the power to authorize sales of assets at a time when there still is value to preserve — to prevent the death of the patient on the operating table,” Judge Gerber wrote."
GM = Weekend @ Bernies
Did someone try to steal Goldman Sachs’ secret sauce?
While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs.
The allegations, if true, are big news because the codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, tried to steal is the secret code to unlocking Goldman’s automated stocks and commodities trading businesses. Federal authorities allege the computer codes and related-trading files that Aleynikov uploaded to a German-based website help this major “financial institution” generate millions of dollars in profits each year.
The platform is one of the things that apparently gives Goldman a leg-up over the competition when it comes to rapid-fire trading of stocks and commodities. Federal authorities say the platform quickly processes rapid developments in the markets and uses top secret mathematical formulas to allow the firm to make highly-profitable automated trades.
The criminal case has the potential to shed a light on the inner workings of an important profit center for Goldman and other Wall Street firms. The federal charges also raise serious questions about the safeguards Wall Street firms deploy to protect their proprietary trading systems.
Reuters.com
Watched "Being There" last night...
Hadn't seen it since it came out 30 years ago. It ages remarkably well.
Lawyers knew to go forum shopping?
Hoocoodanode!?
Capitalism is dead... long live capitalism...
I mentioned this last night, but it bears repeating...
Buying up replacement parts for the most common automobiles could turn out to be the best investment of the decade (2010's that is)
The supply chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.
Capitalism is dead... long live capitalism...
"A generation will bear scars of this recession
Economy reshaping a host of attitudes and behaviors"
A generation will bear scars of this recession - Business - SignOnSanDiego.com
The government buying GM and Chrysler is throwing money down a rathole to save a small number of UAW jobs. I'd rather that we pay each UAW worker $500,000, rather than spend $100B propping up inefficient corporations.
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.
Richard Feynman
Buying up replacement parts for the most common automobiles could turn out to be the best investment of the decade (2010's that is)
If so, then junk yards may become a booming business. I bought a replacement window for my car instead of paying $750 for one new, by shopping at the local auto salvage yard. At the time I thought they should sell gift certificates.
First line of the San Diego story linked to above...
"Eventually, an economic boom will restore prosperity to this nation, this state, this region..."
HAHAHAHAHA! Sounds awfully familiar. They've been saying that in the Rust Belt for decades. I'm sure they will be saying it in the Stucco Belt for decades as well.
I read a tale of an enterprising Canadian circa 1940, who realized the USA would be going to war eventually and the automakers would be making military gear-not cars, and he bought up tons of spare parts on the cheap, and warehoused them up north. I seem to remember he made like 10x profit, on average, when American cars started crapping out in 1943, with no spares available @ any price.
The same situation is going to happen again, but not in the same circumstances of the automakers going into another line of work, they are all going to go BK...
Is this any different from the previous thread--loan mod fraud?
WOOHOOOOOO! We're livin' the 2nd 1/2 recovery
RIGHT HERE- RIGHT NOW!
[I'd rather that we pay each UAW worker $500,000, rather than spend $100B propping up inefficient corporations]
Reminds me of one of my my favorite proverbs:
Teach a man to fish in a stocked pond, keep the stocking operation in business forever!
Since the intent is to leave the bad assets and major liabilities behind does this mean none of the GM management is going over to the new company?
There's no use removing the symptoms when the disease is being transmitted. Never, ever trust a judge who works weekends.
When playing Russian roulette the fact that the first shot got off safely is little comfort for the next.
Richard Feynman
Iceman, you raise a good point. How much would we have had to spend to give a decent lump sum to all the current workers and retirees, and just, as they say, "call the whole thing off". I mean, if there are assets to sell, sell them, use the funds to shut down these pathetic companies, pay off creditors (with a serious haircut) and then move on.
At least if they had done this with Chrysler, it would have been a good wake up call that business as usual isnt going to cut it. And think of how beneficial it would have been to have GM and Ford pick up a bit of market share through the disappearance of one of the big 3 turds.
Might have forced some more painful but realistic concessions from all involved if they had thought there was a realistic chance they could vanish. I havent really seen any good analysis on this.
Bob 'that's Robert to you' McNamara just bit the dust! You think they will bury him in a Falcon? Hope his soul rots in hell!
energyecon...
had a chance to look over your birth/death graph, very good work! the graph was visually balanced quite well.
In the 9:15 am market update on Yahoo Finance:
India's Sensex sank nearly 6% as reports that the country's deficit could be stretched to an even greater percentage of the country's GDP exasperated selling pressure.
Market Overview - Yahoo
gah
mal-
Union-Tribune isn't even worth the time IMO. Almost every "story" in the business section begins with some sort of "buy stocks, long-term, recovery....etc".. No wonder they folded the business section into the back portion of the front section.
BTW anyone having trouble with zerohedge this morning? Broke a story on GS last nihgt and it's new site is unavailable at present.
Ciao
MS
MS
zerohedge blogspot still works.
If Detroit vendors fail to supply parts, it would not take long for china and other countries to supply parts.
Yeah that automatic hope in "recovery" always gets me. The chances are high there will be a recovery, but it's not a given that the recovery will bloom in San Diego, in California, or even in America.
And then there is always a (slim) chance that there will be no recovery at all for the global economy. We always muse about how Mother Nature could give up on Homo sapiens and start again with another species. Well... if Mother Nature was going to give up on Homo sapiens, I think we'd first notice her work in the form of a dying global economy...
$45 oil, Chrysler going away, industrial capacity selling for pennies. When the time comes my money will be on Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) for the win. My motorhead buddies this weekend were genuinely enthused to see a "real" carmaker back in the business. This GM business looks like trying to refuel a crippled airplane in flight so it can crash with a full tank. This is a company that spent 80 years vertically integrating. What's the opposite of vertical integration? Horizontal disintegration.
McNamara just bit the dust
Giap wins another one... outlived him despite being four years older...
Chinese-made parts sounds almost as appealing as Chinese-made cars...
Do the chinese made cars smell like poisonous mold when you drive them in the rain?
Times: Early Monday, Chinese officials said the latest riots were started by Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur human rights advocate who had been imprisoned in China and now lives in Washington, Xinhua reported. As with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, Chinese officials often blame Ms. Kadeer for ethnic unrest; she denies the charges.
whew... close call, thought for a minute there they were going to blame the duke!
not getting zerohedge.com either. when they moved off blogspot, they moved the new site offshore. maybe GS has got the NSA to block the site (lol)
San Diego has the military, a few military-industrial complex concerns, and the zoo.
It's fairly obvious we can't keep spending like drunken sailors on sailors and the like, can we?
ot-
ticker headlines....Cheap oil doesn't make me fly more often...capacity down for a while...gotta love the action....
9:13aAmerican Airlines June traffic down 8.1%
9:46aAirline stocks jump on lower crude prices
Rob-I agree with Penske statement...I'm sure he has some secrets developed via racing on engines that will come forth soon...
". When the time comes my money will be on Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) for the win. My motorhead buddies this weekend were genuinely enthused to see a "real" carmaker back in the business."
Count me in for Roger also Real sharp guy with world wide connections and no UAW shackles.
Hey quit giving the sailors a bad rap - they only blow their own money!
Zero Hedge
First line of the San Diego story linked to above...
"Eventually, an economic boom will restore prosperity to this nation, this state, this region..."
I suppose they figure one out of three ain't bad.
Unless and until science comes up with a desalination process that can be scaled up at virtually zero marginal cost, however, I'm pretty confident we've already seen Peak San Diego. And California? Excuse me while I guffaw.
San Diego has the military, a few military-industrial complex concerns, and the zoo.
And cheap drunken Tijuana excursions.
On the plus side, it's a really nice zoo.
San Diego has the military, a few military-industrial complex concerns, and the zoo.
and TONS of retired military too.
(many of them double dippiing on their retirement by being 'consultants')
GM will dies a slow agonizing and expensive death. RIP
Anyhoo How about shorting some AMZN here seems wildly overvalued to other retail even for a tech. Of course they do have that 400 dollar book...
On Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG): I'm the happy owner of a 98 Saturn (less than 20K miles, since I'm a urban freak that only drives when necessary), and last week a very nice letter arrived from Saturn saying they were standing by the warrantees, service/parts would be available from their dealers, and they hoped for a long relationship.
I couldn't figure out how they found me. Car was purchased and registered in CA from 98 to 2003, and I haven't been to the Portland dealer once. It is like being pursued by the alumni office of your college. They never give up looking for you for contributions.
Went to see the living buddha several years ago in Bellingham. He spoke at WWU. He lived in Lynnwood,WA a northern burb in Seattle's MSA.
Odd looking man, very tall, dressed in western attire. Had a translator whom I had some business dealings with previously, slimy liar.
Came away with a sense that he was a stooge. Of course, I could be wrong.
Is the alleged perpetrator of the recent riots in China also in Washington state?
Duke?
The key to desalination is nuclear power, because it uses a gawdawful amount of electricity.
The Saudis have 27 desal plants hooked up to nuclear plants so the technology is no big deal, and our lone nuclear plant in the San Diego area is in San Ononfre, and a "Surfrider" group blocked the desal plant from coming on line for a few years, until most recently.
It's almost as silly as the scene in Apocalypse Now, where a beach is taken, because of it's good surfing potential.
It's now official. The death of GM is stricted tied to the death of US economy.
Jim in Portland Oregon.
You must have a good (enterprising) garage. Sometimes the garage will look by your VIN to see if you need any warranty repairs. You must have put your address down at the garage.
So June ISM came in at 47 - where is the equity jubilation at yet another green chute 'beat' of street expectations?
Tim waiting for 2012: good guess, but no so. only oil changes and filters since in portland (Jiffy Lube). I AM overdue for the 15,000 mile checkup from dealer (11 yr old car) however (lol)
Some DMV's sell owners name and address list. I got a service offer on a MBZ after moving to a different state on a car that had not been registered for 5 years,
My motorhead buddies all agreed using the SKY platform a retro roadster like a 356c would sell out in mild form and an AWD with Acura engine would own the club circuit hearts and minds for a decade.
Life never changes... never will.
Take it out of people who have liability claims, let houses foreclose, let unemployment rise... but keep the bankers in their yachts or on the golf courses. Barnanke the redistributionist... to me, that is his legacy.
dawg-
Best explanation why they wouldn't do it...makes too much sense.
Track days in Portland have seen about 60% participation of last year. All the clubs are taking a bath on the track day's. There were two other clubs handing out invitations to join there day's as the number's suck for all of them this year. Doing one next monday at PIR...will let you know what that hit rate is when I return.
Ciao
MS
Other groups, including those representing product liability claims and asbestos litigants, ... fought against G.M.’s plan.
Wait, what? No...that can't be! This bankruptcy is the handiwork of the evil socialist-marxist-communist-Obamanaut axis aimed at stripping away the property rights of senior debt holders and in so doing upending the rule of law...just so they can give it all to their Trial-Lawyer and union buddies! This can't be right...how can we cut out the Trial Lawyers!!!!
I know the writing hand has moved on, but I just can't resist making the observation...hmmm...snarkalicious...
With consumer deleveraging and credit crunch - we cannot have any quick recovery - L is best case scenario. Speculative stock buying and PPT euphoria is no substitute for anything.
Credit is falling so much - private credit decreased by $1.8 Trillion is the first quarter, consumer credit by $90.7 billion (annualized). Household net worth down by $13.87 trillion.
There is no trigger for recovery - new technology, new markets, demographics, new ideas. Green is just a boondoggle and BRICs can only do so much. JPM and GS etc are just trying to create another bubble - it suits their ends not yours.
hat tip to Blogger: Blog not found
@MS: Have you ever done a 24Hoursof LeMons? That's about the cheapest track time available. And stupidly fun, now that it's graduated to a not-demo derby style racing series.
Jay Lamm the organizer is getting more and better dates at tracks all over the country because of the loss of race circuit revenue from the clubs, it's exactly as you describe with trackdays under-attended and everyone losing money.
On the bright side (if there is one), the collapse of the real estate industrial complex means less likelihood of race tracks getting bought for development. Of course, we may not have the oil to go play with, but that's a while off I think...