Wall Street Folly

It's Official: We've moved! Our new home is www.wallstreetfolly.com

Please join us over at our new Wall Street Folly site.  We're still working out some kinks, but it's up and running! (Note, if for some reason you're not directed to that site, keep trying.  It gonna take a bit for the redirection of our wallstreetfolly.com url to be propogated through the system.)

Video: Kate Kelly talks about her new book on Bear Stearns' final 72 hours: "Street Fighters"

Joint Economic Committee Testimony by Ben Bernanke on the economic outlook

Did Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson urge Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to withhold the facts from his shareholders about Merrill Lynch's financial problems? ($BAC)

Ken Lewis' February testimony to Andrew Cuomo et al:  According to this morning's WSJ, based on statements that Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson were said to have been made to him, Ken Lewis believed that he was supposed to keep mum about Merrill Lynch's financial woes, even though he risked not publicly disclosing material financial information about the increasingly risky merger to his shareholders.  It was either that, or "impose a big risk to the financial system".  But according to statements from Bernanke and Paulson, it's not all that clear who said what and how Lewis' arm might have been twisted....

Bill Fleckenstein isn't so fond of The Fed; It's dangerous to be too long or too short the market; longer term he's bullish on gold

Kucinich to the Treasury and the Fed: About those Merrill bonuses -- what did you know and when did you know it? ($BAC)

Those $3.6 billion in Merrill Lynch bonuses that were paid out early seem to have disappeared from the front page thanks to the likes of AIG and the auto bailout.  But Dennis Kucinich, chairman of a subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is all over it now:

Gutsy AIG guy outs himself and says: 'Take this $1 buck a year job and shove it, and by the way, that retention bonus? I'm not paying it back and instead donating what's left after taxes to those suffering from the downturn'

Screw Charlie Rangel and the rest of the Congress.  Screw NY AG (and future gubernatorial candidate) Andrew Cuomo and  CT AG Richard Blumenthal who were strong arming the AIG retention payment recipients into returning the money or have their names revealed to the out-for-blood masses. And screw the rest of them:  President Obama, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Jake DeSantis beat those trying to strong arm / guilt trip him to the punch. He said 'I quit', and isn't returning the $742,006.40 after tax payment he received.  If you haven't read it yet, you must read his resignation letter on the Op-ed page of today's NY Times.   In his forceful letter he notes that he was not part of the small, mostly no longer at the firm group of traders responsible for dragging down AIG.  Instead, he worked for one of the profitable areas, and agreeing to a salary of $1 a year like CEO Ed Liddy, was working hard to wind assets down enduring 10-14 hour days with the promise of a retention payment after 12 months.    He notes that three separate times employees were reassured that they would be getting their retention payments.  And DeSantis expressed his disappointment at Ed Liddy's before Congress 'outrage' about the payments.  DeSantis said that Liddy let down the troops by not going to bat for them.....

Ben Bernanke's and Tim Geithner's prepared testimony before the House Financial Services Committee

Ben Bernanke's prepared testimony
Tim Geithner's prepared testimony
Bill Dudley's prepared testimony

Text of Ben Bernanke speech: The Financial Crisis and Community Banking

Must See: Jimmy Fallon and The Roots sing the AIG blues - Fallon turns the recent outrage headlines into a song ($AIG, $GS)

Slow Jam The News: We watched this on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" after the Leno interview with Barack Obama and thought it was really well done.  Fallon talked about the big bonuses paid out at AIG and how the government now wants the money back. "This story ignites a passion in me... and you knows what it means when a news story ignites my passion..." and then they launched into their Slow Jam of the News -- "Talkin' Bout AIG"..... Well placed mentions: Goldman Sachs, Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama and naturally, those demonized bonuses recently paid to AIG executives.  "GET ROUGH ON 'EM OBAMA!" "AIG Likes it ROUGH!"   A "Must See"!