David Sirota Nails It

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/25/sirota/

To review: With 22,000 Americans dying each year because they lack health insurance, Congress is considering universal healthcare legislation financed by a surcharge on income above $280,000 -- that is, a levy almost exclusively on 1-percenters. This surtax would graze just 5 percent of small businesses and would recoup only part of the $700 billion the 1-percenters received from the Bush tax cuts. In fact, it is so minuscule, those making $1 million annually would pay just $9,000 more in taxes every year -- or nine-tenths of 1 percent of their 12-month haul.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

From the NY Times:

Goldman Executive Named as Obama Adviser

President Obama said Friday he would nominate Robert Hormats, a vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, to a top economic position at the State Department. Mr. Hormats, 66, will be under secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. He was deputy trade representative from 1979 through 1981 and held other posts at the State Department throughout his career. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, said in a speech on Wednesday that she hoped to make economic policy and trade a larger part of United States diplomacy.



I don't think it's physically possible for my eyes to roll back any further in my head than they do when I read about how much sex so many of our elected officials, namely the Big Guy: El Presidente, are having with Goldman Sachs.

Guess it's important to know on which side your bread is buttered.

Goldman Sachs: Theeeeyyy'rrree Grrreat!

From The Financial Times:

Goldman executives sold $700m of stock

By Greg Farrell in New York

Published: July 13 2009 23:33 | Last updated: July 13 2009 23:33

Executives at Goldman Sachs sold almost $700m worth of stock following the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most of the sales occurred during the period in which the investment bank enjoyed the support of $10bn from the troubled asset relief programme.

The surge in selling among Goldman partners, at a time when the US government had thrown a lifeline to Wall Street, is likely to draw criticism from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

(Eh. Pomp and circumstance, yes. Legitimate outrage? Not so long as their pockets are lined)

Having survived the crisis, the bank is expected to report strong second-quarter earnings on Tuesday on rebounding trading profits.

For the eight-month period for which figures are available, Goldman partners sold more than $691m in company stock, even as the firm expanded its public float from 395m to 503m shares in several capital raises.

For the comparable period between September 2007 and April 2008, when the average share price was substantially higher, Goldman partners sold about $438m in stock.


(These guys really are talented!)

A spokesman declined to comment on the sales, other than to note that Goldman partners receive a big share of annual bonuses in stock, and that for many, stock sales are an effort to diversify their holdings.

Some of the sales could have been motivated by margin calls, which are said to have afflicted a number of Goldman executives who used company stock as collateral for loans.

Stock sales by partners have been a sensitive topic at Goldman Sachs, but never more so than since last September after the collapse of Lehman’s. According to a disclosure in Goldman’s most recent proxy statement in March, the bank took the unusual step of buying back investments in illiquid employee funds made by Jon Winkelried, former co-chief operating officer, and Gregory Palm, general counsel, for $19.7m and $38.3m respectively.

Goldman agreed to the unusual buy-backs last September to obviate the need for the two officers to sell stock on the open market, the company said in March. “Stock sales would easily have covered their requirements but, given the turbulent market conditions, we and they were concerned that such sales would be misconstrued by the market as indicating a lack of confidence in Goldman Sachs.”

(Heaven forbid!)

Employee ownership has been an important component of Goldman’s “partnership” culture, a vestige of the investment bank’s history as a privately held firm. It went public in 1999.

But Goldman’s culture was severely tested last year. For the period during which executive sales were allowed, from September 17 to October 24, Goldman partners sold some $250m worth of stock.

A bigger wave of selling occurred during the window between December 2008, after Goldman reported its first quarterly loss as a public company, and mid-February. In that two-month period, when Goldman’s share price sunk to near-historic lows, partners sold more than $280m worth of company stock.

Sigh.

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
'Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

One is the loneliest number, worse than two
It's just no good anymore since you went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

Golden Parachutes for Goldman Sachs, Golden Showers for the Rest of Us

Please do yourself a favor and read this Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi that illustrates just how much power those assholes on Wall Street actually have.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine


When you're done with that, please do yourself another favor and watch this Bill Moyers video in which a former Cigna executive comes clean about the healthcare industry. Stuff we all already know, but still extremely (albeit depressingly) enlightening.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html

God Hates Figs

Assault With a Cutely Weapon

Maybe This Time It'll Stick or When Will I Learn?

PROS:

TV
Car w/ AC
Half the Bills
Someone to go to the movies with
Someone to go out to eat with
Foot rubs
Walking buddy
Someone to hug

CONS:
Crazy
Moody
Negative
Mean
Unhappy
Hurtful
Non-Committal
Never satisfied
Grouchy
Hothead
Poor music taste
Poor movie taste
Know-it-all
Cruel


Hmmmmm. What to do? What to do?