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Author REFORM
rffrydr
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:15 am    Post subject: REFORM Reply with quote

We all knew it was coming:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-treasury29mar29,0,5300410.story

Remains to be seen if this is for "the general good."
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nodoodahs
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

rffrydr wrote:
Quote:
"It's a natural drive of capitalism to escape control and escape regulation and to keep growing to any size."


Is this true Question


NO.

To the extent that one is a true believer in capitalism – and make NO mistake, there are NONE of these in the halls of “Big Business” – then one would be loath to be controlled or regulated by the State.

Being a true believer in capitalism doesn’t entail driving for “growth” per se. I’ve long maintained that “X thousand customers forever” is a viable business plan, and the only “growth” that’s absolutely necessary is ultimately the nominal kind, you know, that keeps you ahead of the pace of collapse in fiat currency. Even in those business models where “growth” of a non-nominal basis is needed, there is a “sweet spot” for every business model, past that point is where growth becomes counterproductive.

Keep in mind that the discussion of what “true believers in capitalism” want has ZERO to do with what big business wants.

Big business is an ENEMY of capitalism.

(1) it only exists because of the State, i.e. without corporate law, maximal company size would be much smaller.
(2) it uses the power of the State to suppress competition.
(3) no monopoly ever existed without State approval.

Pretty much every corporation that rails against some act of regulation has, at one point or another, been “on the bandwagon” for some other act of regulation. All, of course, on the basis of what favors them specifically and not on any moral grounds (although they will cite moral grounds as ideological cover when it suits them).
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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
"It's a natural drive of capitalism to escape control and escape regulation and to keep growing to any size."


Is this true Question
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HenryTo
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Talk of curbing the size of financial firms continues to get louder:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125781175800739933.html
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HenryTo
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

John Reed - former co-Chairman and co-CEO of Citigroup - kicks in with his two cents:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=albMYVE7D578&pos=12

Quote:
Congress’ overhaul of U.S. financial regulations should include ordering banks to hold more capital, ensuring executives’ compensation is aligned with long-term profitability and banning firms that take deposits from also engaging in equities and fixed-income trading, Reed said.

“I would compartmentalize the industry for the same reason you compartmentalize ships,” Reed said in the interview in his office on Park Avenue in New York. “If you have a leak, the leak doesn’t spread and sink the whole vessel. So generally speaking you’d have consumer banking separate from trading bonds and equity.”

Citizen’s View

Lawmakers were wrong to repeal the Depression-era Glass- Steagall Act in 1999, Reed said. At the time, he supported overturn of the law, which required the separation of institutions that engaged in traditional customer banking services from those involved in capital markets.
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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apparently it's already in effect at a meeting of the great and the good last week. Banks are being instructed to pay like it's 2010.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Look for "compensation reform" to be on the Fed's radar screens by early next year. The ongoing rise in the unemployment rate - along with stubbornly high structural unemployment - is going to heighten the calls for stricter pay practices, especially since the middle class has had no real income increase (and wealth increase) since 2000:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/05/news/bonus.pool.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009110513
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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Those damned details:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/11/02/80701/goldman-eyes-fannie-tax-credits/
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The "CoCo" bond from Lloyds--Tier 1 equity that converts in times of stress--that's the way:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/11/02/80686/lloyds-tries-to-tempt-bondholders/
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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Goldline defense:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/10/27/79861/in-defence-of-goldman-sachs/

Naked shorting (comes late) and options backdating a few not making the list. CDS is where it gets interesting.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Markets apolitical?

Hedge funds

Published: October 23 2009 09:42 | Last updated: October 23 2009 12:58



The European Central Bank is only the latest body to criticise proposed European regulation of alternative assets, such as hedge funds and private equity. But compared to other voices, such as the UK’s financial regulator or current EU president Sweden, the ECB is an impartial arbiter amid the squabbles.

The UK, worried about the rules’ impact on its position as King of European finance, opposes them. France, which seeks the crown, supports them. The ECB looks further afield. It knows that rules need to be globally harmonised to avoid regulatory arbitrage. It also recognises that “shadow banks” are a key source of credit when normal banks cannot or will not lend. The European Commission itself now admits the proposal need to be redrafted. Hedge funds have Frankfurt to thank for that.

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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At St. Paul's nonetheless. Is nothing sacred anymore!?

Quote:
The event was organized by the St Paul’s Institute, a group that “seeks to recapture the cathedral’s ancient role as a center of education or public debate.”


Looks like the church is finding its calling again.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Goldman's quote taken out of context but it doesn't matter at this point. Momentum is still strong for significant "reforms" in the financial sector and especially in compensation structure:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amGn6lOXMlNQ
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rffrydr
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Right on cue:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEWxyVfGsZiY

Creditors should be okay with this capital aspect as it would only apply if the institution is teetering on dissolution anyway (and a bank is not going to recover well from BK 100% or no)--unless they were loaded up with CDS in the first place.

It's not like anything about these pillars of finance is the same anymore anyway.
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It wasn't only Wachovia that failed with cap ratios over 10%. More capital and less footprint are just part of the answer and should not be overemphasized--especially at the expense of government reforming itself as part of the process. The SEC's somnambulism was inexcusable; the Office of Thrift Supervision a joke and the Finance Committee kickbacks coupled with plain old Countrywide idealism give ample space to share the pain on the government side. Fed Policy looms in the background.

I like the convertiblity of debt to equity; the living will and european assest adjusted cap. ratios. Executive pay has got to be part of it and the, radical, abolishment of "floor" ratings requirements. This can be covered in the cap. ratio rules. Shocked

http://tinyurl.com/y92tdm4
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Resistance is futile":

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/04/business/business-uk-g7-banks-reforms.html
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