BLOOMBERG TV: Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., talks with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker about a report on the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which concluded the company used off balance sheet transactions to understate its leverage in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses. On whether Dick Fuld knew about the financial engineering going on: "Dick headed the risk committee of the firms and was very hands on on the trading side. It strikes me on this one, from reading between the lines, that Dick was a very forceful personality and could easily get into a situation where he's dominating the people around him and the information isn't coming to him." 
Share:  BLOOMBERG TV: Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., talks with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker about a report on the failure of <span class="company">Lehman Brothers</span> Holdings Inc., which concluded the company used off balance sheet transactions to understate its leverage in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses. On whether Dick Fuld knew about the financial engineering going on: "Dick headed the risk committee of the firms and was very hands on on the trading side. It strikes me on this one, from reading between the lines, that Dick was a very forceful personality and could easily get into a situation where he's dominating the people around him and the information isn't coming to him." Tweet this 

At the worst, the shorts just pile on to a dying corpse. In that sense, they weren't very different from other banks, like Citi and JPMorgan, which were calling for more collateral as Lehman was drowning. "What actually kills the patient," Barry Ritholtz asks at The Big Picture, "the disease that ravages the body, destroys its naturally ability to fight off invaders, and leaves it totally vulnerable? Or whichever random infection finally does them in?". 
Share:  At the worst, the shorts just pile on to a dying corpse. In that sense, they weren't very different from other banks, like Citi and JPMorgan, which were calling for more collateral as <span class="company">Lehman</span> was drowning.<span class="sent"> "What actually kills the patient," <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span> asks at The Big Picture, "the disease that ravages the body, destroys its naturally ability to fight off invaders, and leaves it totally vulnerable?</span> Or whichever random infection finally does them in?". Tweet this 

Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in Citi as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a Citigroup spokesman. "These things kind of feed on themselves," said Barry Ritholtz, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not. They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit." 
Share:  Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit."....Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit.". Tweet this 

Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in Citi as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a Citigroup spokesman. "These things kind of feed on themselves," said Barry Ritholtz, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not. They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit." 
Share:  Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit."....Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit.". Tweet this 

Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in Citi as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a Citigroup spokesman. "These things kind of feed on themselves," said Barry Ritholtz, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not. They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit." 
Share:  Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit."...Earlier in the day, Fox Business News said the government has met with investment bankers to discussing plans to sell its 27 percent stake in <span class="company">Citi</span> as early as this spring. The network did not cite its sources, and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment to The Associated Press, as did a <span class="company">Citi</span>group spokesman.<span class="sent"> "These things kind of feed on themselves," said <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span>, CEO of the financial research firm FusionIQ "The typical trader, they don't care if it's true or not.</span> They care about: Can I get in and out of this for a profit." Tweet this 

As noted some time ago, Verizon has been very obnoxiously spraying unwanted services and icons on my Blackberry desktop. I am sure somewhere in the unreadable fine print we gave permission for this garbage, but that doesn't make this any less obnoxious, and it doesn't make Verizon any less of a giant telecom douchebag for doing this. At the time we last mentioned this, the solution was to hide the icon. 
Share:  As noted some time ago, Verizon has been very obnoxiously spraying unwanted services and icons on my <span class="company">Blackberry</span> desktop. I am sure somewhere in the unreadable fine print we gave permission for this garbage, but that doesn't make this any less obnoxious, and it doesn't make Verizon any less of a giant telecom douchebag for doing this. At the time we last mentioned this, the solution was to hide the icon. Tweet this 

Yesterday, my buddy Paul showed this Vanguard interactive chart . Vanguard was trying to show the superiority of Buy & Hold versus "emotional investing." I have many issue with their argument. 
Share:  Yesterday, my buddy Paul showed this <span class="company">Vanguard</span> interactive chart . <span class="company">Vanguard</span> was trying to show the superiority of Buy & Hold versus "emotional investing." I have many issue with their argument. Tweet this 

But the equity dollar relationship typically isn't sustainable when it hits historical extremes, meaning investors may need to look beyond the currency markets for hints about the stock market's next move. "Amazon's MP3 store hasn't done much to weaken Apple's grip on the digital music business," MediaMemo blogger Peter Kafka reports . "But that doesn't mean Apple isn't paying attention.". , Since there are no assurances that new regulations will prevent a future financial crisis from occurring, regulators should take the next best step and break up the nation's biggest banks, James Kwak says . "Politically, breaking up TBTF banks is something that should on paper be able to attract a bipartisan majority.". , A consumer finance protection agency is a great idea, but it's a shame that a simple mandate in the original plan — compare all mortgages to plain vanilla 30 year fixed contracts — was rejected, FusionIQ CEO Barry Ritholtz says . Millions of homeowners haven't benefited from lowest mortgage rates in nearly a half century because they can't or won't refinance, WSJ reports . Auto veteran Bob Lutz plans to retire from GM after four decades in the business and a career that included executive positions with each of the big three Detroit automakers 
Share:  But the equity dollar relationship typically isn't sustainable when it hits historical extremes, meaning investors may need to look beyond the currency markets for hints about the stock market's next move. "Amazon's MP3 store hasn't done much to weaken <span class="company">Apple</span>'s grip on the digital music business," MediaMemo blogger Peter Kafka reports .<span class="sent"> "But that doesn't mean </span><span class="company">Apple</span> isn't paying attention.". , Since there are no assurances that new regulations will prevent a future financial crisis from occurring, regulators should take the next best step and break up the nation's biggest banks, James Kwak says . "Politically, breaking up TBTF banks is something that should on paper be able to attract a bipartisan majority.". , A consumer finance protection agency is a great idea, but it's a shame that a simple mandate in the original plan — compare all mortgages to plain vanilla 30 year fixed contracts — was rejected, FusionIQ CEO <span class="analyst">Barry Ritholtz</span> says . Millions of homeowners haven't benefited from lowest mortgage rates in nearly a half century because they can't or won't refinance, WSJ reports . Auto veteran Bob Lutz plans to retire from GM after four decades in the business and a career that included executive positions with each of the big three Detroit automakers....But the equity dollar relationship typically isn't sustainable when it hits historical extremes, meaning investors may need to look beyond the currency markets for hints about the stock market's next move. "Amazon's MP3 store hasn't done much Tweet this 

As a stark counterpoint to How Goldman Sachs Bagged Clients , I recall ever so fondly how Merrill Lynch bagged itself:  With a Sept. 2006, top of the market, $1.3 billion acquisition of sub prime originator First Franklin from National City: . First Franklin is one of the nation's leading originators of non prime residential mortgage loans through a wholesale network. [. "This transaction accelerates our vertical integration in mortgages, complementing the three other acquisitions we have made in this area and enhancing our ability to drive growth and returns. 
Share:  As a stark counterpoint to How Goldman Sachs Bagged Clients , I recall ever so fondly how <span class="company">Merrill Lynch</span> bagged itself:  With a Sept. 2006, top of the market, $1.3 billion acquisition of sub prime originator First Franklin from National City: . First Franklin is one of the nation's leading originators of non prime residential mortgage loans through a wholesale network. [. "This transaction accelerates our vertical integration in mortgages, complementing the three other acquisitions we have made in this area and enhancing our ability to drive growth and returns. Tweet this 

Here's another fascinating reads — its a nice takedown of Goldman Sachs via McClatchy. The article implies that GS and others knew they were selling paper that was going to create a giant loss to the buyer. McClatchy: "When financial titan Goldman Sachs joined some of its Wall Street rivals in late 2005 in secretly packaging a new breed of offshore securities, it gave prospective investors little hint that many of the deals were so risky that they could end up losing hundreds of millions of dollars on them. 
Share:  Here's another fascinating reads — its a nice takedown of <span class="company">Goldman Sachs</span> via McClatchy. The article implies that GS and others knew they were selling paper that was going to create a giant loss to the buyer. McClatchy: "When financial titan <span class="company">Goldman Sachs</span> joined some of its Wall Street rivals in late 2005 in secretly packaging a new breed of offshore securities, it gave prospective investors little hint that many of the deals were so risky that they could end up losing hundreds of millions of dollars on them. Tweet this