My bill will bring 100 percent transparency to our financial markets, prevent future bailouts and, most importantly, protect Main Street.

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&#8220-Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is expected to introduce derivatives legislation on Friday that is far stricter for banks than Wall Street had anticipated.&#8220-

Michael Lewis on CBS 60 Minutes: How the capitalism was almost destroyed by the capitalists in the Fall of 2008 – [VIDEO]

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Watch CBS News Videos Online

Part 2:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Felix Salmon review of Michael Lewis&#8217-s book, &#8220-The Big Short&#8221-.

How Paul Volcker will save the world

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Paul Volcker:

The specific points at issue are ownership or sponsorship of hedge funds and private equity funds, and proprietary trading — that is, placing bank capital at risk in the search of speculative profit rather than in response to customer needs. Those activities are actively engaged in by only a handful of American mega-commercial banks, perhaps four or five. Only 25 or 30 may be significant internationally.

Auditing the Federal Reserve – Ron Paul style

Peter Schiff on Max Keisers The Oracle

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With this 6th episode, The Oracle is finally out of beta. The show is now well structured.

It is both informative and entertaining &#8212-and it has rhythm and style.

  • The TV show has 3 parts, as you all know, and each of these 3 parts focuses on one single issue. Excellent.
  • The interview of the main guest (this time, Peter Schiff) is well conducted and long enough so we can capture many insights &#8212-not just snippets.
  • The main guest is now a person of global stature &#8212-as opposed to the French, German and Arab guests (with strong foreign accents) we had to endure in the previous episodes.
  • Stacy Herbert (&#8221-The Queen Of Facts&#8221-) has finally been tamed. It was about time. (Women.) She now focuses on one single issue, introducing the issue of each of the 3 parts of the show.
  • Her &#8220-headlines&#8221- are now usable &#8212-they are now well readable on the TV screen. (She puts black headlines on a white screen, whereas The McLaughlin Group would rather put white headlines on a black screen. Both techniques are usable. It is a question of taste.)
  • She gave us a very good chart in part one. I want her to show one chart in each of the 3 segments of the show. I WANT CHARTS, STACY.
  • I never met Max Keiser in person. He was described to me as a friendly, low-key fella. But as soon as the red light flashes on the camera, he becomes another man &#8212-a funny, sometimes hilarious, financial animal, who immediately becomes the center of the attention. There is that expression in English that sums it up: &#8216-he is stealing the show&#8217-, literally. He expresses his contrarian arguments in a Daffy Duck-like voice, with some kind of exuberant body language rarely seen on TV &#8212-the fella is a spectacle by himself.
  • I hope that The Oracle (the disco machine that beams out the predictions) will be re-introduced in the show. It was a good gimmick.
  • I also hope they will feature prediction market charts, later on. :-D
  • Overall, the show is a very good piece of infotainment. I never quite saw this on TV before. There is the hilarity, but there is also the seriousness of dealing with the global banking, financial and economic crisis &#8212-quite not a laughing matter in the first place. Quite a mix.

Enough blogging.

Now, watch the show. :-D

InTrades bank is in trouble.

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New York Times:

Revelation Rocks Bank in Ireland

By MATTHEW SALTMARSH
Published: December 19, 2008

A major Irish bank was shaken Friday by the revelation of 87 million euros, or $125 million, in undisclosed personal loans to the bank’s chairman — prompting his resignation as well as that of the bank’s chief executive. Sean FitzPatrick, chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, announced his resignation late Thursday after regulators discovered that he had hidden the personal loans from shareholders. The bank’s chief executive, David Drumm, also resigned. The scandal sent the shares in the bank plummeting […]

A statement Friday from the regulator, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, said it became aware this year of “matters surrounding loans from Anglo Irish Bank to Sean FitzPatrick.”

“While it does not appear that anything illegal took place in relation to these loans, the financial regulator was of the view that the practices surrounding these loans were not appropriate,” the statement said.

Analysts said the scandal could affect the pace of the government’s support for the banking sector. […]

InTrade:

Where is my money held?

Your funds are held in segregated accounts with Irelands largest banks including National Irish Bank, and Anglo Irish Bank which. Your funds are completely separate and distinct from the Exchanges own reserves.

To provide additional transparency we have introduced a unique service where an individual member can have a specific account established at our bankers within the suite of segregated accounts. Contact us for more details.

Washington Mutual is seized by the US government.

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– New York Times

– Another one bites the dust:

(Sorry for those who have a narrow screen and don&#8217-t see the right part of this big chart.)

According to InTrade, here are the banks that could fail next:

– Bank United Financial

– Downey Financial

External Links About The Big Bailout:

– Reason magazine have collected opinions from the leading free-market economists on the Bailout issue.

There is no reason to expect the correct solution from the same people who created the crisis in the first place and who until very recently thought the economy was strong and that there was little or no chance of recession. [Mark Thornton]

This is a financial coup d&#8217-etat, with the only limitation the $700 billion balance sheet figure. [Yves Smith]

– Mike Linksvayer has some additional good links&#8230- and some strong words, too. :-D

– Arnold Kling:

– NYT:

UPDATE: Paul Krugman

UPDATE: The Manhattan Institute on financial crisis and the Bailout

UPDATE: