Isn't It Enough?

Immediately after my last post about Paulson's 92nd Street Y appearance on the 18Th of February.

http://tradersutra.blogspot.com/2010/02/paulson-at-92y.html

I had this thought.
While I was in the shower it dawned on me why should Paulson even write a book?

http://www.amazon.com/Brink-Inside-Collapse-Global-Financial/dp/0446561932/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265561476&sr=8-1

I mean why cant he just go hide in his log cabin in the woods like his other Goldman Soldier Neel Kashkari?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/04/AR2009120402016.html

I actually had some respect for Kashkari when he suddenly disappeared from public life. Until he used his treasury connections to land a 7 figure job at PIMCO.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/business/economy/01kashkari.html?hp

Why does Paulson insult us with his book?

Isn't it enough while he was the head of Goldman Sachs he pushed Congress to increase the leverage Wall Street can and could use?

http://banking.senate.gov/00_02hrg/022900/paulson.htm

"...we and other global firms have, for many years, urged the SEC to reform its net capital rule to allow for more efficient use of capital. This is the single most important factor in driving significant parts of our business offshore, so that our firms can remain competitive with our foreign competitors risk-based capital standards must become the norm. The SEC has made it clear that risk-based capital rules can be implemented only when the Commission is confident that firms employing value-at-risk models have robust credit and risk management policies in place."

Let me just explain what Paulson means here:

Translated into English so us frogs can understand. His testimony basically makes the claim that investment banks be permitted to increase leverage subject to oversight from their great mathematical risk models. You know the same ones that masked risk. The same ones that alerted AIG that it was OK to guarantee the US Housing Market against defaults. The same models like VAR that really worked well for Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. This request was magically agreed to 2004, and it directly helped lead to the economic disaster.

Wasn't it enough that he then was given the Treasury job by that dolt Bush?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article669773.ece

He must have known that Goldman Sachs was packaging garbage loans into CDO's then pressuring ratings agencies to put AAA on them? Blankfien's assertion that these investments were meant for "sophisticated" investors is bottom line inflammatory. Goldman alerted these "sophisticated" investors that these securities were AAA when they were in fact garbage. This is fraud, and Paulson was head of Goldman when it was happening. We also can't forget that Goldman was simultaneously buying CDS insurance against these dodgy securities from primarily AIG.

Isn't enough that once Paulson took the Treasury job, he wouldn't have to pay taxes when he sells his Goldman Assets?

http://volokh.com/posts/1222444533.shtml

http://www.forbes.com/2006/06/01/paulson-tax-loophole-cx_jh_0602paultax.html

Isn't it enough that even though Paulson didn't have a ethics waiver, he promised he would never talk to GS after he joined Treasury. He spoke to the GS Board in Moscow of all places? Then he gets the a secret ethics waiver in September. WTF?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21221595/Too-Big-to-Fail-Paulson-s-Secret-Ethics-Waiver

A meeting in Moscow?

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/20/the-secret-paulson-goldman-meeting/

Also, why is this meeting not in his book?

Isn't it also enough that Paulson is the one who really caused credit markets to freeze up when he threatened Congress that not approving TARP would lead to a global meltdown? When Lehman filed for bankruptcy LIBOR-OIS gapped up frighteningly higher but not as much as when Paulson along with Bernanke opened their fat mouths.



Also after suckering the frogs into hastily approving TARP with zero oversight and zero rules, he suddenly changes the game.

http://www.investmentadvisor.com/News/2008/11/Pages/Paulson-Changes-Course-on-TARP.aspx

http://www.todaysfinancialnews.com/news-that-matters/paulsons-tarp-revision-spooks-the-market-5376.html

Paulson must have known that the toxic assets the banks owned were badly miss priced by the market and that the banks would never sell these at those depressed levels to the government. It was never a case where the government didn't want the assets. The banks were not willing to sell them at 30-40 cents on the dollar where the market was pricing them. So much for rational markets? If the banks were going to sell them at the prices that the market was pricing them at, the banks and institutions would be insolvent. So Paulson just writes a blank check to Wall Street. This caused markets to collapse further. Of course it didn't stop Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Glenn Beck to blame President Elect Obama and his Socialist ways for the markets ills.

Isn't it then enough the utter circus side show that happened with BOFA-Merrill Lynch? Paulson threatened then BOFA head Ken Lewis to in fact close this awful deal. From this Ken Lewis was able to squeeze another $2OB from the tax payer while paying billions to Merrill idiots who caused that firm to crash.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1640967120090716

There are hundreds of events that Paulson was involved in where his fiduciary responsibility wasn't with the tax payer. At every turn he bent over backwards to make sure Wall Street would not be hurt. I don't have the depressing time to list all of them.

At least Bruce Ismay had the decency to stay out of the public spotlight after the Titanic sank. Like Ismay, Paulson made sure his rich friends survived the original iceberg strike, while the rest went down with the ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Ismay

Paulson not only has the elephant testicles to pen a book, but he then has the utter gall to be interviewed by GE Head Immelt? What! Blankfien, Dimon, and Mack were not available?

Changing the subject.
While I am at it. Can Miller Lite stop with these adds?



And this:



Its insulting to suggest that hot girls are in love with douche bags. Not unless they trade Swaps At Goldman Sachs of course.

Football Hall Of Fame inductees announced yesterday. The notables inducted were Emmitt Smith, The Great Jerry Rice,and John Randall.

I love Emmitt Smith, I really do but its insulting and disingenuous for #22 to say in his speech today that he would have played for free when in fact he held out for more money twice in his career as a Cowboy.

Can Dwight Freeney just shut up and play? We all know that he is going to play today. Why do I need to see his injured ankle? He is just trying to squeeze all of the attention to himself so he can look like superman today. Hey Dwight! There are no more Supermen, hero's and even real Cowboys left anymore. How many more times must these over exposed athletes channel Willis Reed?

I am just saying.

PS. Every one is picking The Colts today in the Super Bowl. The Saints were 13-3 in the regular season and scored quite frequently in the post season. The key here for the game is turnovers. The Saints need to create at least a few turnovers for them to win the game and Manning is known to throw a few here and there. This game will be played in the 20's not the 30's. I would love to see Peyton win it as I believe he deserves the right to be called one of the greatest players in the history of the game. I would also love to see the Saints win as well. Its going to be a ball possession game. The team that controls the clock will win. Its going to be a very exiting game. The key player? Marcus Colston.

The Saints win it 27-24