Audit Notes: Schedule AIG, Leveraging Pensions, Bank Labor v. Capital
The mysterious AIG Schedule A, which the Federal Reserve concealed from the public (read our account here of how reporter Matthew Goldstein's FOIA request for the document spurred further secrecy by the government), is out there now. Here's th...
Outside the Forties
We've often complained that the press, much less politicians and the regulators, are still playing three-yards-and-a-cloud-of dust ball between the forty yard lines in the response to this crisis. But check out this paragraph deep in today's N...
Advancing the AIG Story
Today is AIG day and there's lots of interesting stuff out there in the press (not to mention Geithner live on C-SPAN). First, there's quite a bit of focus on a November 5 presentation BlackRock made to Tim Geithner's New York Fed concerning t...
Advertising for Apple
AdAge points out that Apple's new tablet may not exactly part the sea for the press, but it will probably at least help a bit by increasing the company's advertising budget. But that's only if the press quits giving Apple so much free advertis...
Audit Notes: The Newsday 35, WSJ Sun, Davos
The New York Observer's John Koblin has had a busy day. First he broke a story on Newsday's paywall, which went up in October and has since lured just thirty-five subscribers. It's unsurprising that the number is low, but that low? Dang! It's ...
Revisiting the SIGTARP AIG Investigation
The AIG backdoor-bailout story continues to build, with the TARP special inspector general now re-opening an investigation into the matter. Emphasis on "re-opening." The SIGTARP, Neil Barofsky, released a report in November on this very thing....
Audit Notes: Counterparties Relevant, Goldman/AIG, Beck on Stocks
We've been asking this question for a few months now: Why did Tim Geithner tell the TARP special inspector general that the "the financial condition of the counterparties was not a relevant factor" in the $180 billion bailout of AIG? Today, B...
Steve Jobs, Holy Moses
Moses has been in the news a lot lately thanks to that more-modern oracle over at 1 Infinite Loop: Steve Jobs. Apple's impending tablet has been a favorite of lede and headline writers for a good month or more. The New York Times liked the Mos...
The Press Angle of the Fed’s Backdoor-Bailout Cover-up
Geithner's New York Fed responded to a FOIA by withholding more information
Blowing Up at the Murdoch Journal
Barry Ritholtz rips The Wall Street Journal a new one today, saying that "Under Murdoch, the paper has become politicized to the point of losing a significant portion of its value." What set him off? The headline on the paper's A1 Obama bank-t...
What Does Tim Geithner Really Think About the Volcker Rule?
The New York Times, in a story about the sudden, somewhat shocking ascendance in the Obama orbit of the long-ignored Paul Volcker, gives voice to speculation that Tim Geithner's power is on the wane and that he may not "be long for the Obama w...
Obama (Finally) Gets Tough on Wall Street
In stunning news this morning, President Obama has reversed course and will propose a kind of Glass-Steagall II, as well as some kind of provision to rein in too-big-to-fail banks. Make no mistake about, this is a massive story. You'd think Th...
