Well, how large an oil futures stake do they control?
Wolfowitz: "Lehman Brothers floats on an ocean of oil!"
Cheney: "Lehman has to understand that our way of life is non-negotiable."
Nero Jr: "Evil-doers! Lehman is either with us or with the terra-rists!"
McRube: "Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Leh-man, heh-heh...."
Lady Moosebreath: "Say it ain't so, Leh-mo! You betcha!"
What a party.
Posted by euzoius at April 15, 2009 06:18 PMwhile MSNBC touts "tens of thousands" of Tea Baggers across the USA...lets see if any real news organizations actually document the real totals... I'm guessing they'll be dancing all around a number, but what they've reported so far are a 1000 here and there, a hundred here and there. MSNBC cannot, at this hour, give one number at any rally that is in the neighborhood of, say, a 10k person rally in any city. This Tea Bag joke was a bust, but if the Cable News has their way, it will, tomorrow, be "a major rebuke of Obama's policies". Please, let me be proved wrong. not holding my breath.
Posted by T2 at April 15, 2009 06:59 PMTurkana: What this article fails to mention is the price of U3O8 (yellowcake) traded between $10 & $20/lb from 1995 until 2005 and then quickly rose to $130/lb in Feb-Mar 2007 before dropping to the present $40.50 (up $0.50 this week, first uptick in 6 months) and no doubt Lehman Brothers got caught at much higher prices speculating.
As well, the spot price of U3O8 has little bearing on the real price as spot trading accounts for only 20% of active trading which is usually 3-7 year contracts (contract price is stable in the $70 range)
The point is "this is a fill newspaper space type of article". In perspective: In Australia, the Olympic Dam Uranium mine has "proven, probable, measured, indicated and inferred reserves" in excess of OVER 5 BILLION POUNDS U3O8, making a half million pounds insignificant in the big perpective.
My guess is these morons were writing some sort of way "out of the money" naked puts on uranium and when the price fell out of bed, the holder of the put exercised and forced these brainiacs to buy the lot.
Interesting article for what it doesn't say rather than what it does!! IMO
Posted by Goyo at April 15, 2009 07:02 PMRemember the uber rich, right wing fruitcake who was shot by his wife in Maine? Wasn't he making a dirty bomb or something?
Posted by Seven of Six at April 15, 2009 09:15 PMMeanwhile, President Obama's NSA's "Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress"
"Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic" NYTimes
Nice to see he's getting comfortable there. Where's the Greenwald story?
Posted by peter at April 15, 2009 09:15 PM
I know how you guys hate discussing facts about how your side is just as corrupt as anyone else. But here is a quote from your rag of record. The NYT. Lehmans has been ruled by Democrats for years and they have used it to their advantage. Get your head out of your ass and look at how these politicians are screwing everyone and letting you idiots defend them. Grow up and get a pair of gonades and start fighting back the idiots in your own part.
The article is at here. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/opinion/15cohan.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
The question many Wall Streeters are asking is just how Goldman once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Many point to Goldman's expert manipulation of the levers of power in Washington. Since Robert Rubin, its former chairman, joined the Clinton administration in 1993, first as the director of the National Economic Council and then as Treasury secretary, the firm has come to be known, as a headline in this newspaper last October put it, as "Government Sachs."
How can one ignore, the conspiracy-minded say, the crucial role that Henry Paulson, who followed Mr. Rubin to the top at both Goldman and Treasury, played in the decisions to shutter Bear Stearns, to force Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy and to insist that Bank of America buy Merrill Lynch at an inflated price? David Viniar, Goldman's chief financial officer, acknowledged in a conference call yesterday the important role the changed competitive landscape had on Goldman's unexpected first-quarter profit of $1.8 billion: "Many of our traditional competitors have retreated from the marketplace, either due to financial distress, mergers or shift in strategic priorities."
Posted by richnj at April 15, 2009 11:14 PMrichnj,
If you haven't heard the many complaints about the enabling Democrats from the contributors around here you haven't been visiting enough.
Posted by snark at April 16, 2009 05:39 AMsnark, I get the impression this guy doesn't care whether he's wrong or not. It's the baseless accusation that counts. In other words, facts don't matter if you're a republican.
Posted by Twinky P* at April 16, 2009 06:03 AMFron the MSNBC article that peter couldn't be bothered to link to;
The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court, said the intelligence officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because N.S.A. activities are classified. Classified government briefings have been held in recent weeks in response to a brewing controversy that some officials worry could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts.
So once again the Obama administration is cleaning up a Bush administration mess.
And very convenient how peter truncated the end of the sentence he quoted to leave off the part where it says the over collection was believed to be "unintentional". See, this is how "checks and balances" work.
Posted by at April 16, 2009 06:11 AMheck twinky forget facts..look at how many problems our trolls have with reality, let alone "advanced" concepts like facts...
Posted by at April 16, 2009 06:46 AMrichnj's love of "facts" doesn't seem to extend to the years 2001-08 when the executive was Bushco or from 1994-2006 when the House was Repub or even 2002-2006 when the entire "Government" was Repub. It was the Dems that really enabled the Goldmans, riiight. Dimwit.
It was Bush's SEC that allowed the NY investment banks lobbied and led by (Repub) Paulson (later Bushco Treasury Sec) to drop the capital/debt rules and and overleverage to 40 to 1 in 2005. That was a crucial deregulation catastrophe. No investment banks exist any longer. More Dems!
But it does make sense that Lehman was "ruled by Democrats" as that was the only investment bank to have to declare bankruptcy. So I guess richnj got one thing right!
Posted by euzoius at April 16, 2009 07:06 AMThey should have used these 16 words instead:
“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Lehman Brothers.”
Lehman would have backed them up, no problemo.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 16, 2009 11:34 AMBrilliant TIKI, it just goes to show where Saddam should have gone if he REALLY had a "nuclear program"---Wall Street!
Hope all has been well with you.
Posted by euzoius at April 16, 2009 11:48 AMThanks, oozo, I finally regained consciousness this morning from an intentional overdose of 75% off chocolate bunnies.
I read every word of everything you write. Great stuff.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 16, 2009 12:09 PMOne thing that a lot of people have missed in this recent economic down turn is the fact that in-game money for all of the massive mutliplayer online role playing games has not been effected. I guess it just shows how strong and stable the computer game industry really is.
Posted by Virtual Currency at April 17, 2009 02:35 AM