Wall
Street Moves To Put Taxpayers On The Hook For Derivatives Trades - (www.zerohedge.com) Wall
Street has for some time attempted to put taxpayers on the hook for
its derivatives trades. I highlighted this a year ago in the post: Citigroup Written Legislation Moves Through the House of
Representatives.
Here’s an excerpt: Five years after the Wall Street coup of 2008, it appears
the U.S. House of Representatives is as bought and paid for as ever. We heard
about the Citigroup crafted legislation currently being pushed through Congress
back in May when Mother Jones reported on it. Fortunately, they
included the following image in their article: Unsurprisingly, the main backer
of the bill is notorious Wall Street lackey Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a former
Goldman Sachs employee who has discovered lobbyist payoffs can be just as
lucrative as a career in financial services. The last time Mr. Himes made
an appearance on these pages was in March 2013 in my piece: Congress Moves to DEREGULATE Wall Street. Fortunately, that bill never made it to a vote
on the Senate floor, but now Wall Street is trying to sneak it into a
bill needed to keep the government running. You can’t make this stuff up. From the Huffington Post: WASHINGTON — Wall Street lobbyists are
trying to secure taxpayer backing for many derivatives trades as part of budget
talks to avert a government shutdown. According to multiple Democratic sources,
banks are pushing hard to include the controversial provision in funding
legislation that would keep the government operating after Dec. 11. Top
negotiators in the House are taking the derivatives provision seriously, and
may include it in the final bill, the sources said.
Buyout
Shops Caught in Crude Exposure - (online.wsj.com) For
years, private-equity firms gushed into oil investments. Now, some of their
profits are slipping away. With oil prices down more than a third since June,
private-equity investors have seen at least $12.3 billion of value erased from
their holdings, based on share moves in nine exploration and production companies
representing many of buyout firms’ biggest publicly traded energy positions. Among
the investors hard hit: Warburg Pincus LLC, whose Antero Resources Corp. andLaredo Petroleum Corp. investments are down roughly 33% and 70%,
respectively, since June, and Apollo Global Management LLC, the largest shareholder in EP Energy Inc.,
which has declined about 60% in the same period. SandRidge Energy Inc. shares owned by Riverstone Holdings LLC
and Carlyle Group LP are off about 67% since June. Private energy
investments also are generating pain for buyout firms, as those assets’ values
are often judged based on similar publicly traded companies and assets.
Will
low oil prices push Venezuela toward default? – (www.cnbc.com) Falling oil prices have side-swiped Venezuela's
government finances, spurring concerns of a sovereign default, but it isn't
clear whether contagion effects will emerge. "Both the government's
willingness and ability to service its foreign currency debt is in serious
question," Capital Economics said in a note last week, citing declining
oil prices. Venezuela's future? 'Barbarity
and people looting'
"Given that the government has nothing in the way of savings from the oil
price boom of the past decade, the loss of oil revenues will wipe out whatever
foreign currency that the government has," it said. "With the bolivar collapsing
in the black market, capital flight is only likely to increase putting even
more pressure on the supply of hard currency." It expects a default is "more likely than
not" within two years, although there may not be a "flashpoint"
until September or October of next year, when $5 billion of debt payments come
due.
Greek
police clash with protesters in Athens - (www.reuters.com) Rampaging
protesters threw petrol bombs at police and set bank ATMs, cars and shops on
fire in central Athens on Saturday, the anniversary of the police killing of a
teenager six years ago. Riot police used teargas and water cannon to beat back
protesters in the bohemian Exarchia neighborhood, where about 200 black-clad
youths hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at them. A cloud of smoke billowed
into the sky from the clashes. At least two shops were set on fire, and dozens
of others damaged. Police said they detained nearly 100 demonstrators.
Pope
Finds 100s Of Millions Of Euros "Tucked Away"; Freezes Ex-Vatican
Bank Heads Assets - (www.zerohedge.com) It's
a miracle... The Vatican's economy minister has said hundreds of millions of
euros were found "tucked away" in accounts of various Holy See
departments that were previously not counted on the city-state's balance sheet.
"In fact, we have discovered that the situation is much healthier
than it seemed," noted Australian Cardinal George Pell, adding that
"it isimportant to point out that the Vatican is not broke." Indeed a
miracle - like hookers-and-blow in GDP data? However, the Vatican finances
remain in darkness as Reuters reports, the state's top prosecutor has frozen 16
million euros in bank accounts owned by two former Vatican bank managers and
a lawyer as part of an embezzlement investigation into the sale of 29
Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s.
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