Posted on 12/13/2010 2:52:26 PM PST by Chunga85
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.
The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.
Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk.
In theory, this group exists to safeguard the integrity of the multitrillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the dominance of the big banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Unemployment remains stubbornly high and millions of American families are struggling as winter approaches. But on Wall Street, the good times keep on rolling.
The five largest financial firms - J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - are on track to produce strong fourth-quarter results and the second-highest year ever for revenues, according to Bloomberg. "Even if this quarter only matches the third, the banks' revenue will top that of any year except 2009," when the top five banks hauled in $127.8 billion. (Through the first 9 months of 2010, the five firms generated $93.7 billion in revenue, Bloomberg reports.)
Given those tallies, it's no surprise Wall Street bonuses are also expected to be robust this year. Overall pay per employee is expected to be down from the peak years, and more is coming in the form of restricted stock. But the overall bonus pool is projected to hit $144 billion this year, which would be a record, The WSJ reports.
Given the ongoing struggles in the "real" economy, it's no surprise most Americans most definitely do begrudge Wall Street's outsized compensation structure, more especially since these firms only survived 2008 thanks to tax-payer funded bailouts.
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Bash it, smash it, hate it, berate it PING!
Tell your Attorney General to hold the big banks accountable for mortgage fraud
When I hear libs bashing some big business industry, I always ask them. Would you prefer that the big banks, big pharm, big agri .... whatever, FAIL? And lose thousands of MORE jobs, making Obama look even MORE incompetent?
All most always I get the flabergasted ah aha ahh ... I dont know look.
It sure is fun to pop their little ballons
They're essentially harvesting $500 from every man, woman and child in this country.
Sounds like the “Clearing Houses” need more competition.
” But the overall bonus pool is projected to hit $144 billion this year, which would be a record, The WSJ reports.”
Your source seems to have misquoted the WSJ article.
They're essentially harvesting $500 from every man, woman and child in this country.
His source misquoted the WSJ article.
I propose a 80% tax rate on income derived from harvesting men, women and children.
Got a reference to the original WSJ article?
It's linked in the above.
The source was Yahoo-Finance. Link below.
Wall Street Pay: A Record $144 Billion
Looking for the misquote now...
Here we go again they are trying to re-inflate the bubble! So many people are clueless as to how the banks invented those risky products, i.e., liars loans in the first place, they knew full well people would not be able to make those payments when those loans reset yet they sold them to the public out of greed.
Now they want to do it again and of course they want the public to be responsible when it goes horribly wrong, witness the bailouts.
Government, Fannie Mae Considering Help for Housing Investors
http://www.cnbc.com/id/40590863
What’s hot for 2011: Mortgage-backed securities?
Remember those toxic assets that nearly wrecked the U.S. financial system back in 2008? They’re back, even though housing isn’t.
More http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/09/what%E2%80%99s-hot-for-2011-mortgage-backed-securities/
Little wonder Pimco projects a rosy outlook...
Pimco Raises U.S. Economic Growth Forecast on Stimulus
It’s going to be great because of the Massive Stimulus!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/12/09/VI2010120905698.html
“The Fed effectively telegraphed its intentions to the Street before buying the bonds. Legendary money manager Bill Gross, who oversees more than $1.2 trillion at Pacific Investment Management Co. said last month during a television interview that part of his success over the last 18 months was due to buying securities in front of the Fed, and selling them to the Fed at a premium, allowing him to profit handsomely. Gross runs PIMCO’s $252.2 billion Total Return Fund.”
Cozy or Corrupt while he was making money off of it he was borrowing from the Fed.!
Pimco, the world’s largest bond fund, tapped the TALF 96 times between April 2009 and March 2010 for a total of $7.25 billion, making the Newport Beach, California-based firm one of the largest borrowers under the program, which was different from most of the others in that the Fed had to entice firms to participate. Dell’s MSD Capital LP was among investors that included hedge funds and pension plans, according to the data.
BofA Scrambling To Dump $1 Billion In Mortgage Paper
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bofa-scrambling-dump-1-billion-mortgage-paper
CoreLogic: 10.8 Million U.S. Properties with Negative Equity in Q3
Note that the slight decline in homeowners with negative equity was mostly due to foreclosures.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/12/corelogic-108-million-us-properties.html
Are The Banks Insolvent? Fair Question, Given This....
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=173721
Crooks they profit you pay!
Wall Street Sees Record Revenue in ‘09-10 Recovery From Government Bailout
In a nutshell . . . .
There are some business that need to reduce the risk of price swings. In the NYT example, it’s a fuel supplier. A small time fuel supplier can’t buy heating oil at $3.00 and sell it two months later for $2.50. Well he could but it’s inefficient for all those small time fuel suppliers to keep enough money to hedge against deflation.
Banks have a lot more cash on hand and can reduce the variability of their cash flow by insuring fuel suppliers, farmers, home builders, mortgage originators, etc. etc.
They will push their risk to the limit though, calculating exactly how much cash they need and not one cent more.
At some point, in 5, 10 or 20 years, they are wrong, they don’t have enough cash.
Here is where the cartel comes in. All banks know they are in the same boat. To maximize profits, they need a minimum of cash reserves. The banker of last resort is the Federal Reserve. The bankers then go to congress, singing one tune and eliminating dissenting voices. No one who knows the real numbers, the real risk, provides congress an alternative view.
Congress (and by proxy the tax payer) then has two choices. A) Write an uniformed law of B) do what the banks ask. They do not know how much cash the banks need on hand.
Here is where the Fed steps in. If they banks don’t have enough cash, the Fed steps in GUARANTEEING the inflation that the small time business needs to hedge against price deflation.
Simple.
Sorry. Double down on the link. WSJ link is in linked story.
We were warned long ago about these corrupt greedy AH's, by the people that founded this country.
A FReeper posted a compelling thread about U.S. Presidents and what happened to them for supposedly acting against the interest of these big "banks". Oddly enough they were all assassinated by lone gunmen. I started reading it and got caught up in another Freeper's post "Best Non-Religious Christmas songs".
Way more fun!
lol....Never saw that thread...
Banksters control the credit card companies too...Look at the interest rates they’re charging Americans...it’s nothing short of criminal....
My favorite below. Warning: Rated [R]
“Tell your Attorney General to hold the big banks accountable for mortgage fraud”
It’s safe to assume we have too much government involvement already. We have 150 years of laws on the books we don’t need more and any more will be written in their favor.
When your a big banker then you are not only above the law, but you are protected from it by government.
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