Ruh. Roh.
Jon S. Corzine, MF Global Holding Ltd. (MFGLQ)’s chief executive officer, gave “direct instructions” to transfer $200 million from a customer fund account to meet an overdraft in a brokerage account with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), according to a memo written by congressional investigators.
Edith O’Brien, a treasurer for the firm, said in an e-mail quoted in the memo that the transfer was “Per JC’s direct instructions,” according to a copy of the memo obtained by Bloomberg News. The e-mail, dated Oct. 28, was sent three days before the company collapsed, the memo says. The memo does not indicate whether that phrase was the full text of the e-mail or an excerpt.
Corzine's earlier testimony before Congress was the Ricky Ricardo Defense: 'I don' know nuthin'! It disappeared itself! Ay Caramba, Loooocy what have you done now?'
Hmm....
Now, if any of OS's intrepid readers have any illusions whatsoever that Mr. Corzine will ever see a day in jail over this, they need to put them to rest right now. Not. Gunna. Happen.
Given his imbedded position in both the Democrat party and Wall Street, he will never be touched by this. Of course, 'normal' people with 'normal' 'pedestrian' ethical views will never trust the man, but that won't matter, given the character of the group that does embrace him.
But he does give insight into the particular cabal now in charge of our government, which knowledge will be helpful this fall.
Showing posts with label MF Global. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MF Global. Show all posts
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Where, Pray Tell, Are The Handcuffs? MF Global Trustee Report
It's an ugly, ugly tale, and OS hopes you take a moment to read it.
OS's premise, and soapbox, is that culture shapes economy. If we live in a culture where firms like MF Global can act with reckless abandon, drive over the cliff, carrying their customers and their customer's customers with them--because the board and management know they have a perpetual 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card from those in charge of the government--then inevitably all trust erodes, and sooner or later things grind....to.......a.......(halt).
Where are the handcuffs? Where's the Giuliani of our generation, who as prosecutor would have perp-walked the whole crew into court long ago?
OS's premise, and soapbox, is that culture shapes economy. If we live in a culture where firms like MF Global can act with reckless abandon, drive over the cliff, carrying their customers and their customer's customers with them--because the board and management know they have a perpetual 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card from those in charge of the government--then inevitably all trust erodes, and sooner or later things grind....to.......a.......(halt).
Where are the handcuffs? Where's the Giuliani of our generation, who as prosecutor would have perp-walked the whole crew into court long ago?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Ricky Ricardo Reports On The Latest News From MF Global
LOOOOCY! Dih' Munney! It vaporized itself!
Ai Caramaba, Looocy! Wha' happun?!?!
Or in more staid English, the opening paragraph of the Wall Street Journal coverage this morning:
Nearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe that much of it might never be recovered, according to people familiar with the investigation.
As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation.
Many officials now believe certain employees ...
Ai Caramaba, Looocy! Wha' happun?!?!
Or in more staid English, the opening paragraph of the Wall Street Journal coverage this morning:
Nearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe that much of it might never be recovered, according to people familiar with the investigation.
As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation.
Many officials now believe certain employees ...
He'd also not go unchallenged when he tells the world, 'Gollee-Gee, Beaver! I don't have any idea where all that money vaporized to!'
Every so often, OS flips through channels on the way to basketball games, and sees snippets of documentaries on street gangs. They are scary people, covered in tattoos, wielding guns, loyal only to their own tribe, completely disinterested in the fortunes and lives destroyed around them. Fearless. Ruthless. Nihilistic. Many have bought off or scared off any semblance of law enforcement. They rule the street, and aren't shy about letting the world know.
Please inform OS, someone, how these people differ from the upper tiers of our political and banking worlds? Except, perhaps, for the tattoos?
I asked Ricky. He just shrugged his shoulders and slunk back to the 1950's, grateful to be gone, and told me not to call him again. He's got his bridge game scheduled with Fred and Ethel, and doesn't wish to be disturbed.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The SEC Attempts To Paper Over Its 'Rakoff Problem': Rolling Out The Big Guns--Press Releases!!
OS spent Saturday late morning doing the weekly grocery-pharmacy-dry cleaner-liquor store shopping run with the sainted Mrs. OS. Jet lag began to catch up to him, rather delayed after attendance at a fabulous Westminster Choir College concert last night. More about that another time, if the spirit moves. However, if any of OS's readership are in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, eastern Tennessee, or West Virginia these next few days, it's worth the drive to hear these young people--a completely inspirational evening of music.
In the parking lot, the humorous moment of the morning: A car, owned by a Tea Party member, with the window display announcing 'You can't cure stupid, but you can vote it out of office.'
It did provide a grin, and food for thought as OS shopped for groceries.
At the next election, this country desperately needs to elect grown-ups, people who will demand (and make happen) certain basic truths take hold, such as Judge Rakoff is insisting upon: Banks who defraud investors, customers and the country at large, walking away with $700 million, cannot be asked to settle for pennies on the dollar with no admission of wrongdoing. The defrauded never are compensated, and the truth is never known. The government becomes complicit with the criminals, and essentially charges 'protection tax' to keep the whole corrupt game in play. It's a recipe for tragedy, sooner or later.
Mish, Heaven bless 'im, continues to track the Rakoff v. Citigroup and it ally, the SEC, who has decided to issue press releases to douse the fires of public disdain.
He points out that the last person prosecuted and jailed for securities fraud by the SEC was (drumroll please...) Martha Stewart.
Really.
OS continues to follow and harp on this and the MF Global scandal, because they strike at the heart of this country's ability to function. If the Martha Stewarts and those more humble go to jail, and firms like Citigroup and individuals like Corzine go free after surrendering their pocket change, we will one day reach a tipping point, where the citizenry decides to either simply sit on its hands and refuse to participate in a fixed game--which may already be occurring--or it (more ominously) blows up, or some combination of the two in sequence.
Neither option is desirable, each leads to poverty, despair, decline. It is not the kind of world we wish for our children and theirs. Unlike some more nihilistic souls, OS spends his energies begging that these things not happen.
One thing that struck OS on his vacation in England was that much of the peaceful and prosperous way of life he witnessed there, and enjoys here, is due to a robust system of banking. Currency gets exchanged, card transactions complete within seconds, goods get imported and exported and onto the shelves while fresh, and at reasonable cost. Cash and credit, borrowed and paid back, lubricates the intricate machine. If the banking system is crippled, everyone loses, the farmer, the merchant, the employer, the employee, the school, the church, the charity, on it goes. It's happening already, in ways great and small.
The Citigroups and the Corzines, the SEC, the Fed, and all the lawyers and politicians will end up blowing the system to bits. It will never operate perfectly, but it doesn't need to in order to work wonderfully well. It needs to operate in a culture that assumes honest dealing underpins the system.
You can't cure stupid, and you can't rid the world of all the Corzines--but you can vote for grown-ups, and insist they insist on governance where virtue is rewarded and crime punished.
It's not that much to ask of them. If they do that one thing, a lot of the other problems will sort themselves.
In the parking lot, the humorous moment of the morning: A car, owned by a Tea Party member, with the window display announcing 'You can't cure stupid, but you can vote it out of office.'
It did provide a grin, and food for thought as OS shopped for groceries.
At the next election, this country desperately needs to elect grown-ups, people who will demand (and make happen) certain basic truths take hold, such as Judge Rakoff is insisting upon: Banks who defraud investors, customers and the country at large, walking away with $700 million, cannot be asked to settle for pennies on the dollar with no admission of wrongdoing. The defrauded never are compensated, and the truth is never known. The government becomes complicit with the criminals, and essentially charges 'protection tax' to keep the whole corrupt game in play. It's a recipe for tragedy, sooner or later.
Mish, Heaven bless 'im, continues to track the Rakoff v. Citigroup and it ally, the SEC, who has decided to issue press releases to douse the fires of public disdain.
He points out that the last person prosecuted and jailed for securities fraud by the SEC was (drumroll please...) Martha Stewart.
Really.
While essentially ignoring billions of dollars in repeated fraud allegations against Citigroup, the SEC brought full weight down on Martha Stewart over (drum roll please) ... $45,673.
Martha Stewart went to prison and was fined $30,000. Since then, no one has gone to prison or even been criminally indicted in $trillions of dollars of fraud in the global financial crisis. And unless someone does admit criminal action, the SEC reserves the right to do more whitewashing without seeking admission of guilt.
OS continues to follow and harp on this and the MF Global scandal, because they strike at the heart of this country's ability to function. If the Martha Stewarts and those more humble go to jail, and firms like Citigroup and individuals like Corzine go free after surrendering their pocket change, we will one day reach a tipping point, where the citizenry decides to either simply sit on its hands and refuse to participate in a fixed game--which may already be occurring--or it (more ominously) blows up, or some combination of the two in sequence.
Neither option is desirable, each leads to poverty, despair, decline. It is not the kind of world we wish for our children and theirs. Unlike some more nihilistic souls, OS spends his energies begging that these things not happen.
One thing that struck OS on his vacation in England was that much of the peaceful and prosperous way of life he witnessed there, and enjoys here, is due to a robust system of banking. Currency gets exchanged, card transactions complete within seconds, goods get imported and exported and onto the shelves while fresh, and at reasonable cost. Cash and credit, borrowed and paid back, lubricates the intricate machine. If the banking system is crippled, everyone loses, the farmer, the merchant, the employer, the employee, the school, the church, the charity, on it goes. It's happening already, in ways great and small.
The Citigroups and the Corzines, the SEC, the Fed, and all the lawyers and politicians will end up blowing the system to bits. It will never operate perfectly, but it doesn't need to in order to work wonderfully well. It needs to operate in a culture that assumes honest dealing underpins the system.
You can't cure stupid, and you can't rid the world of all the Corzines--but you can vote for grown-ups, and insist they insist on governance where virtue is rewarded and crime punished.
It's not that much to ask of them. If they do that one thing, a lot of the other problems will sort themselves.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Crossing The Rubicon: A Must Read Post From Jesse--Pay Close Attention
The unwitting customers of MF Global, if they held gold and silver in their accounts, will now have their hard assets seized from them, liquidated, and thrown into the pool of settlement cash.
Not the stockholders of MF Global--the customers of MF Global.
Which eventually means, of course, that under the right circumstances of breathtaking fraud, no asset is safe unless it is stowed out of sight, location known only to the owner. Gold coins buried in the back forty, and the farmer armed at all times. Now that's how a nation builds a vital economy--destroy all trust between parties in a transaction!
We've always believed it could never happen here, that we live under the Rule of Law.
Dem daze iz gawn, brethrun. Today, it's MF Global. Next year, it may be the community bank down the street.
The final line of the article Jesse reprints is especially charming, recalling the Red Chinese tradition of summary execution, in which the authorities bill the deceased's family for the ammunition expended to murder their loved one.
Sweeeet....
Not the stockholders of MF Global--the customers of MF Global.
Which eventually means, of course, that under the right circumstances of breathtaking fraud, no asset is safe unless it is stowed out of sight, location known only to the owner. Gold coins buried in the back forty, and the farmer armed at all times. Now that's how a nation builds a vital economy--destroy all trust between parties in a transaction!
We've always believed it could never happen here, that we live under the Rule of Law.
Dem daze iz gawn, brethrun. Today, it's MF Global. Next year, it may be the community bank down the street.
The final line of the article Jesse reprints is especially charming, recalling the Red Chinese tradition of summary execution, in which the authorities bill the deceased's family for the ammunition expended to murder their loved one.
Sweeeet....
Friday, December 16, 2011
The Crooks And The Cops Lock Arms: The SEC Plans To Appeal Judge Krakoff's Ruling In The Citigroup Case
Time was, when the crooks, in this case Citigroup (who ripped off everyone in sight, including every taxpayer in the US for generations), got caught and lost their case in court, they appealed their conviction/loss, proclaiming that they were the real victims, etc. etc., and that theft isn't theft because it was done with computers by white people in suits, not black people holding up liquor stores with guns--you know, real criminals, the kind you put in jail, to keep white folk like us safe on the way to the country club...
Them daze iz over, ya'll. Merry Christmas!
OS's readers may remember a couple of earlier posts, here and here, in which he recounts how one federal Judge Rakoff had decided he had had enough, and that he would not rubber-stamp one more sweetheart deal between the SEC Enforcement Division and the banks they were supposed to be, well, enforcing the rules on. His intent, obviously, was for the SEC to go back, and extract real penalties from Citigroup for having blatantly ripped the world off for some 700 million dollars, and come back to him.
To quote John Belushi: 'But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo......'
The SE frigging C plan to lock arms with the crooks, and appeal the judge's ruling!!!
They have no intention of (a) ceasing to make sweetheart deals with crooks, and (b) exposing the inner workings of the machine that makes these sweetheart deals by actually litigating them, because that would open them up to adversarial process, which includes (drumroll please) Discovery!
So, instead of spending their energies enforcing the law, they'll spend their energies arguing that they shouldn't have to enforce the law, even though that's what they were instituted to do, and are paid to do, and (by innocent souls like OS) expected to do.
This is Alice Through The Looking Glass, pure and simple.
It is maddening, but no longer surprising to read of it. We're at the point where the cops don't even need to pretend to uphold the law.
By the way, if anyone thinks those MF Global clients, including all those farmers who didn't even know they were MR Global clients, have a prayer of getting their money back, this should disabuse them.
The cops now protect the crooks--it's the Chicago Way--the world of Al Capone, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner...
Them daze iz over, ya'll. Merry Christmas!
OS's readers may remember a couple of earlier posts, here and here, in which he recounts how one federal Judge Rakoff had decided he had had enough, and that he would not rubber-stamp one more sweetheart deal between the SEC Enforcement Division and the banks they were supposed to be, well, enforcing the rules on. His intent, obviously, was for the SEC to go back, and extract real penalties from Citigroup for having blatantly ripped the world off for some 700 million dollars, and come back to him.
To quote John Belushi: 'But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo......'
The SE frigging C plan to lock arms with the crooks, and appeal the judge's ruling!!!
They have no intention of (a) ceasing to make sweetheart deals with crooks, and (b) exposing the inner workings of the machine that makes these sweetheart deals by actually litigating them, because that would open them up to adversarial process, which includes (drumroll please) Discovery!
So, instead of spending their energies enforcing the law, they'll spend their energies arguing that they shouldn't have to enforce the law, even though that's what they were instituted to do, and are paid to do, and (by innocent souls like OS) expected to do.
This is Alice Through The Looking Glass, pure and simple.
It is maddening, but no longer surprising to read of it. We're at the point where the cops don't even need to pretend to uphold the law.
By the way, if anyone thinks those MF Global clients, including all those farmers who didn't even know they were MR Global clients, have a prayer of getting their money back, this should disabuse them.
The cops now protect the crooks--it's the Chicago Way--the world of Al Capone, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner...
Thursday, December 8, 2011
MF Global Quote Of The Day: Amy Klobuchar (D) Minnesota
The MF Global scandal will eventually take its place beside Lehman, Enron, Merrill-Lynch, GM, Goldman-Sachs and the rest. Its tentacles reach far beyond Wall Street and City of London. It is landing, like an enormous cow-pie, into the lives of farmers on the American prairie.
There are legitimate participants in the commodities markets, doing legitimate business for good reasons. One reason is to stabilize feed costs for livestock producers.
From the Minnesota Star-Tribune:
Dennis Magnuson is a farmer, not a gambler. He trades in the commodity futures markets hoping to stabilize the cost of feed for the pigs he sells. The Austin, Minn., resident said he would never put his money into bonds issued by European countries flirting with economic collapse.
But the now-collapsed MF Global Holdings Ltd. may have done that for him.
Magnuson is among more than 100 Minnesota farmers estimated to have assets frozen as a result of MF Global's bankruptcy filing and an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer funds. Most of the farmers didn't choose to do business with the huge brokerage house that has become one of the biggest financial failures in U.S. history. They invested through brokers or financial advisers who eventually used MF Global to clear trades.
On Thursday, members of the Senate agriculture committee, including Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, grilled the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over apparent loopholes in rules that allowed farmers' commodity trades to end up in risky European bonds.
What??!!!???
The article is horrifying to read, but OS hopes you read it. The final paragraph is out quote of the day:
"I don't have a scandal meter," she said. "I just think it's another example of why we just can't let these financial firms run roughshod over people on Main Street or people who are doing nothing but growing crops or raising pigs. They should not have to know every in and out of the regulatory system to protect their money."
Ya'll--if Corzine and company don't go to jail for the rest of their lives, then Bernie Madoff is owed an apology. This is just the front end of the woes to befall this country from MF Global.
Remember who Corzine is, and who his HomeBoy in the White House is. Less than a year to go until we get to register our opinions at the ballot. OS just hopes someone can staunch the financial blood loss sufficiently until then.
Before this is over, Corzine will have loaded up the Gulfstream and high-tailed it to somewhere like Paraguay. He still has his passport, and access to all sorts of cash and assets everywhere.
Heaven help us.
There are legitimate participants in the commodities markets, doing legitimate business for good reasons. One reason is to stabilize feed costs for livestock producers.
From the Minnesota Star-Tribune:
Dennis Magnuson is a farmer, not a gambler. He trades in the commodity futures markets hoping to stabilize the cost of feed for the pigs he sells. The Austin, Minn., resident said he would never put his money into bonds issued by European countries flirting with economic collapse.
But the now-collapsed MF Global Holdings Ltd. may have done that for him.
Magnuson is among more than 100 Minnesota farmers estimated to have assets frozen as a result of MF Global's bankruptcy filing and an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer funds. Most of the farmers didn't choose to do business with the huge brokerage house that has become one of the biggest financial failures in U.S. history. They invested through brokers or financial advisers who eventually used MF Global to clear trades.
On Thursday, members of the Senate agriculture committee, including Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, grilled the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over apparent loopholes in rules that allowed farmers' commodity trades to end up in risky European bonds.
What??!!!???
The article is horrifying to read, but OS hopes you read it. The final paragraph is out quote of the day:
"I don't have a scandal meter," she said. "I just think it's another example of why we just can't let these financial firms run roughshod over people on Main Street or people who are doing nothing but growing crops or raising pigs. They should not have to know every in and out of the regulatory system to protect their money."
Ya'll--if Corzine and company don't go to jail for the rest of their lives, then Bernie Madoff is owed an apology. This is just the front end of the woes to befall this country from MF Global.
Remember who Corzine is, and who his HomeBoy in the White House is. Less than a year to go until we get to register our opinions at the ballot. OS just hopes someone can staunch the financial blood loss sufficiently until then.
Before this is over, Corzine will have loaded up the Gulfstream and high-tailed it to somewhere like Paraguay. He still has his passport, and access to all sorts of cash and assets everywhere.
Heaven help us.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Quote Of The Day: James Koutoulas On MF Global
HT Jesse.
James Koutoulas is CEO of Typhon Capital Management and recently founded the Commodity Customer Coalition (CCC), comprised of over 7000 customers of MF Global. As an attorney and spokesperson for the CCC, Koutoulas has an inside persective on the legal maelstrom that has erupted in the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy scandal -- he's leading the charge for the commodities trading community.
OS perhaps dwells on this too much--but--this crime strikes at the heart of the culture. If Corzine and company skate on this, then eventually nothing will prevent TheBankerDownTheStreet from stealing customer assets, except that he knows many of those customers know who he is, where he lives, and own guns. Even that may not be enough to overcome temptation, if he knows he'll never even face a court appearance for his crimes.
James Koutoulas is CEO of Typhon Capital Management and recently founded the Commodity Customer Coalition (CCC), comprised of over 7000 customers of MF Global. As an attorney and spokesperson for the CCC, Koutoulas has an inside persective on the legal maelstrom that has erupted in the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy scandal -- he's leading the charge for the commodities trading community.
I want to show the American people that no matter how connected you are, no matter if you were the Governor of New Jersey, no matter if you were a senator, if you break the law you should go to jail. And quite frankly, I think it's a disgrace that no one went to jail over the crisis in 2008.
All the people who gave triple-A credit ratings to essentially junk securities, none of them went to jail, none of the people who sold those went to jail, none of the people who committed mortgage fraud went to jail - I think it's ridiculous. If [Corzine] did commit a crime, I want to see him behind bars."
OS perhaps dwells on this too much--but--this crime strikes at the heart of the culture. If Corzine and company skate on this, then eventually nothing will prevent TheBankerDownTheStreet from stealing customer assets, except that he knows many of those customers know who he is, where he lives, and own guns. Even that may not be enough to overcome temptation, if he knows he'll never even face a court appearance for his crimes.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Ann Barnhardt, Cattle And Grain Futures Broker, Keeps Her Soul And Walks Away From Her Business
It's gotta hurt, after years spent building a successful business, based on integrity and and ethic of service.
In the wake of the MF Global scandal, Ms. Barnhardt concluded that she could not look her clients in the eye and suggest they invest their funds into a rigged market. The market has risks enough, run on a fair and competent basis. But if the dice are loaded, the cards marked, if the fix is in--then it is time to go home.
Today, Ms. Barnhardt sent this message to her clients (OS quotes in part--and urges his readers to read it all.)
This isn't like shutting down a mom-and-pop retail store, when MomAndPop have decided they've had enough. People like Ms. Barnhardt love their line of work, know that only a handful of people are good at it, and know if conducted properly, customers benefit from her work. And, it's lucrative!
That is hard to walk away from, turn out the lights, close the door, close all positions and hand the money back to the clients. It's walking away from a life's work, a goal achieved, a dream come true. And, yet, she did, and informed her clients as to her reasoning.
The lady is unashamedly Christian, and decided to heed the words of the Master who admonished: What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and yet lose his soul?
Her entire blog page is fascinating to read...OS leaves it to his readers to explore.
OS understands, although does not compare himself to her. There was a time, though, when he had to walk away from a business he had always dreamed of building and owning, because it had turned evil. He knew it would fall of its own weight once he stepped away, and it did. It hurt--a lot. The memory is still tender to the touch.
But, upon turning away, the real adventure began.
Here's wishing Ms. Barnhardt well, and hoping her tribe increases.
In the wake of the MF Global scandal, Ms. Barnhardt concluded that she could not look her clients in the eye and suggest they invest their funds into a rigged market. The market has risks enough, run on a fair and competent basis. But if the dice are loaded, the cards marked, if the fix is in--then it is time to go home.
Today, Ms. Barnhardt sent this message to her clients (OS quotes in part--and urges his readers to read it all.)
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.
This isn't like shutting down a mom-and-pop retail store, when MomAndPop have decided they've had enough. People like Ms. Barnhardt love their line of work, know that only a handful of people are good at it, and know if conducted properly, customers benefit from her work. And, it's lucrative!
That is hard to walk away from, turn out the lights, close the door, close all positions and hand the money back to the clients. It's walking away from a life's work, a goal achieved, a dream come true. And, yet, she did, and informed her clients as to her reasoning.
Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.
The lady is unashamedly Christian, and decided to heed the words of the Master who admonished: What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and yet lose his soul?
Her entire blog page is fascinating to read...OS leaves it to his readers to explore.
OS understands, although does not compare himself to her. There was a time, though, when he had to walk away from a business he had always dreamed of building and owning, because it had turned evil. He knew it would fall of its own weight once he stepped away, and it did. It hurt--a lot. The memory is still tender to the touch.
But, upon turning away, the real adventure began.
Here's wishing Ms. Barnhardt well, and hoping her tribe increases.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Jon Corzine On Public Integrity: 'Hold Me Accountable'
Sometimes, life just just throws us a hanging curve ball. Jon Corzine, Obama's man on Wall Street, former governor of New Jersey, blows up a major commodities brokerage, and a whole-bunch-a-munney-hunney is missing from the customer accounts.
Let's listen in on Mr. Corzine's conference call...
Oooh, now where did that 700 million dollars go? I had it just here...silly me, after all that stress and strainscrewing over serving New Jersey, I seem to have lost it. Now, Barry, really; you're not going to get upset over mere 700 million in customers' funds are you? All you have to do is hand that sum over from the Treasury and all will be well. Besides your campaign could certainly use an infusion from those accounts in Costa Rica, right?
Then, let's contrast that with his inaugural speech in 2006...
Across this state, across our nation and around the world, New Jersey sets a high bar. We are proud that Supreme Court Justices, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Cabinet officers, Chief Executives, singers, rappers, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs all hail from New Jersey. Our children graduate from our schools at higher rates than anywhere else in the nation, and our income and education levels are among the very best. In their own lives and in their own hopes for their children, our people do not settle for less than excellence.
Today -- I pledge to you that as your governor, I will never settle for less than excellence.
****
(It gets better...)
Public integrity is not just about reputation or principles, as important as each of those is. What's at stake is social justice and fiscal responsibility. Every dollar squandered in violation of the public trust is a book not bought for a classroom, a prescription drug with a higher co-pay, meals-on-wheels not delivered, a road or science lab not built. With a multi-billion dollar structural deficit, mismanagement and misappropriation cannot and will not be tolerated.
To earn the public trust, we must act, but we also must trust the people with the truth. We cannot build a financial future on the crumbling, papered-over foundation of a recurring fiscal crisis. Too often, for too long, under both parties, fiscal gimmicks have been invented, recycled, and reapplied to mask fiscal realities. As Governor Codey said in November, thanks, his transition report can be summed up simply: "the state is pretty much broke."
The games are over. New Jersey must put its fiscal house in order. The time of one-shot budget fixes is past. It's time to balance the books.
(And, finally, he ended this classic speech by saying....drumroll please....)
And, in turn, I ask you -- the citizens of New Jersey, hold me accountable.
Thank you.
Is that the sound of a Gulfstream warming up on the tarmac?
OS has yet to hear of any judge demanding Mr. Corzine turn in his passport.
Let's listen in on Mr. Corzine's conference call...
Oooh, now where did that 700 million dollars go? I had it just here...silly me, after all that stress and strain
Then, let's contrast that with his inaugural speech in 2006...
Across this state, across our nation and around the world, New Jersey sets a high bar. We are proud that Supreme Court Justices, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Cabinet officers, Chief Executives, singers, rappers, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs all hail from New Jersey. Our children graduate from our schools at higher rates than anywhere else in the nation, and our income and education levels are among the very best. In their own lives and in their own hopes for their children, our people do not settle for less than excellence.
Today -- I pledge to you that as your governor, I will never settle for less than excellence.
****
(It gets better...)
Public integrity is not just about reputation or principles, as important as each of those is. What's at stake is social justice and fiscal responsibility. Every dollar squandered in violation of the public trust is a book not bought for a classroom, a prescription drug with a higher co-pay, meals-on-wheels not delivered, a road or science lab not built. With a multi-billion dollar structural deficit, mismanagement and misappropriation cannot and will not be tolerated.
To earn the public trust, we must act, but we also must trust the people with the truth. We cannot build a financial future on the crumbling, papered-over foundation of a recurring fiscal crisis. Too often, for too long, under both parties, fiscal gimmicks have been invented, recycled, and reapplied to mask fiscal realities. As Governor Codey said in November, thanks, his transition report can be summed up simply: "the state is pretty much broke."
The games are over. New Jersey must put its fiscal house in order. The time of one-shot budget fixes is past. It's time to balance the books.
(And, finally, he ended this classic speech by saying....drumroll please....)
And, in turn, I ask you -- the citizens of New Jersey, hold me accountable.
Thank you.
Is that the sound of a Gulfstream warming up on the tarmac?
OS has yet to hear of any judge demanding Mr. Corzine turn in his passport.
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