Continue reading »]]> “The suit, filed by the state’s Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, charges that the creation and use of a privately national electronic registration system, MERS, “has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings in New York state and federal courts, harming homeowners and undermining the integrity of the judicial foreclosure process.”  Further, the lawsuit charges that the employees and agents of the three banks, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, acting as “MERS certifying officers,” have repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have. ”

Continue reading »]]> Good article. Love the quote at the end from the economics professor who thinks that gold atoms in one state are different from gold atoms in another state!

Continue reading »]]> To put today’s release in perspective, the actual survey data says that 111.9 million people had full time jobs in January. That compares with a peak level of 119.3 million in January 2008. They call that a “recovery?” … Given the confusion inherent in these numbers, the proof of whether there’s any real improvement in the employment trend may not come until this summer when peak employment levels are normally reached.

Continue reading »]]> Contributed by Janet Tavakoli of Tavakoli Structured Finance — February 3, 2012

My favorite football introductory book is an out-of-print book by Joe Namath, FOOTBALL for Young Players and Parents. You may enjoy my favorite lines as you get in the mood for the Super Bowl (below after the side note):

Side note on David Einhorn: Of course I’m talking about American-style football, not soccer aka football. You may recall Harvard educated David Einhorn’s Alfred E Newman worthy quip in defense of his U.K. insider trading–”This resembles insider dealing as much as soccer resembles football.” It’s an insult to the global financial community’s intelligence on many levels, unless he meant to say that his actions were exactly insider trading.

That wasn’t his only silly remark. After he received material non-public insider information, he claimed that his prior request not to be wall-crossed should have covered him, and others should have protected him from material information. If only saying the magic word like abracadabra in advance could make future unpleasant developments go away. According to Einhorn’s nonsense, all you would ever have to do is say you don’t want to be wall-crossed to be absolved of trading on material non-public information gleaned in a subsequent conversation. As if.

Then there was Einhorn’s assertion that his trading on this information wouldn’t have been a problem in the U.S. It would likely have been an even bigger problem in the U.S. Greenlight owned more than 10% of the shares of Punch, and if this had happened in the U.S. with shares of a U.S. company, Einhorn would have been an insider by definition. He received material non-public information. I’m surprised his shareholders didn’t challenge his perception on this point, since it likely would have been a much bigger problem in the U.S.

As for governance at Greenlight, Einhorn admitted he didn’t consult lawyers or compliance before he commenced trading. This is one of the weaknesses of the hedge fund model. “It’s okay ‘cause I said so and I run the joint,” just doesn’t cut it.

Finally, the financial press talks about David Einhorn’s many good qualities, and I have no quibble with that. But the press seems to have amnesia when it comes to the fact that he served on the Board of Directors of infamous New Century–smaller than but just as corrupt as Countrywide–from early 2006 until its bankruptcy in March 2007. I cheered when the Ohio Attorney General kicked the corrupt mortgage lending carpetbaggers from New Century out of Ohio in March of 2007 and barred New Century from doing business in the state. New Century could no longer originate new mortgages, could no longer collect fees, could no longer foreclose, and could no longer evict consumers. New Century was sued in several states for alleged fraud on borrowers.

Excerpts from Joe Namath’s FOOTBALL for Young Players and Parents

“The thing is, a team game is so much fun. You’re working together. You’re really sharing an adventure.”

“You learn you can do your best even when it’s hard, even when you’re tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage.”

“Maybe you’re falling down, some guy is trying to block you–and here comes the runner. TACKLE him! I don’t care how. GET him. Desire is vital for a tackler.” [Not the best advice for Strauss-Kahn...]

“The first thing I tell every young quarterback is this: have a mental checklist when you come out of the huddle. You want to know EXACTLY what you are going to do.”

“Turn your head quickly to where you have to go. The rest of you will follow.”

“The best way, in O.J.’s words, is to ‘fake them tight.’ Fake the tackler just a bit, then cut close to him, even if he gets an arm on you.” [It worked for O.J. later in his criminal trial.]

“You don’t have to knock the guy flat. All you have to do is hit him in the right spot at the right time.” [Great advice for girls in martial arts / self-defense. The goal is to get away, not get fancy.]

“Every now and then we see a young runner who has a big head. He’ll think he’s so good carrying the ball that he doesn’t have to block. All that means is he won’t play very long. [Long only funds that never hedge.]

“If you’re the first guy o the ball carrier, you TACKLE him. If two or three of your buddies arrive, maybe one of them can strip the ball and cause a fumble.”

“Make him REALLY worried. Get him backing up. Get him running back toward the goal line.”

“Really you catch a football with your EYES. And your MIND. You watch it so hard, you just concentrate on it so much, that there is no way you can drop it.”

“A good pass receiver doesn’t want to catch MOST passes. He wants to catch EVERY SINGLE PASS. There really isn’t any excuse for dropping a pass.”

“A linebacker can’t afford to have tunnel vision. You have to see many things at the same time.”

“The key to this–for a linebacker–is to get a good jam on your man. Maybe you’ll be covering a tight end, maybe a back. But the first thing you do is JAM the guy.”

“Get it I your mind that nobody is going to stop you. Throw guys, run over guys, JUMP over guys. Whatever you have to do to get the quarterback.”

“You will learn that the guy who stays cool and calm, the guy who can keep thinking when everything is crazy around him, that’s the guy who comes out on top.”

Best,

Janet

Continue reading »]]> “As it was in 1980, could it be again in 2012? The 1980 presidential election was fought by a Democratic incumbent weakened by a poor economy amid worries that the United States had lost its ability to compete in the world. Gold prices had risen to unprecedented levels as the election approached, and the Republican nominee hinted he might propose a return to a gold standard. That Republican, Ronald Reagan, won the election and soon appointed a commission to study the role of gold in monetary systems.” — The latter of course was shut down, because bankers don’t like having their “magic money machine” turned off.