You may have already read Matt Taibbi's article on Big Banks rigging Libor and ISDAFix:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425

but now there are so many investigations of illegal activities its getting hard to keep track of. Post and discuss market investigations ITT:


First there is the good news that JP Morgan will be paying penalties for manipulating energy markets Enron-style:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/jpmorgan-chase-manipulate-electricity-price-settlement-ferc

another that I've been following closely is the inquiry into BP, Shell, and Statoil colluding to manipulate oil prices in Europe (still under investigation though):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/business/global/europe-raids-oil-companies-in-price-manipulation-inquiry.html?_r=1&

7/30/2013 5:54:44 PM

oh look, a link to rolling stone. Then mother jones...

7/30/2013 6:03:31 PM

EVERYTHING IS RIGGED

RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED

RIGGED-RIGGED RIGGED-RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED

EVERYTHING IS RIGGED

(pause)

And so this is the end of our story,
And everything is fucking rigged.
It took me from my best friend,
My only real shot,
My one investment (that shit was rigged).

Well I'm gonna march on Washington,
Lead the fight and charge to the brig.
There's a hero inside all of us.
I'll make them see everything is rigged.

The churches (RIGGED),
The prisons (RIGGED),
The schools and corporations and the jackpot (RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED),
The government pigs
And the banking bigwigs...

EVERYTHING IS RIGGED
My Internet and cell phone too (RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED)
The Prez is on it and so are you (RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED)
C'mon everybody we got quilting to do (RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED RIGGED)
We gotta gather up all the figs, everything is
RIGGED x20



-what I expected this thread to be about
(also lol@mrfrog belittling outlets that dare to speak truth to power, I expected him to be a garden-variety Rethug but his post history is more complicated)

7/30/2013 6:21:41 PM

You know, it kind of pisses me off sometimes that these things are broken records. Sometimes outlets like Motherjones and Democracy has stories that I would find really insightful and helpful. but...

Then they have stories that basically discredit the outlet.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/07/hurricane-sandy-global-warming-flooding

No body should believe these people. Their own filter for good vs. bad reporting just isn't very good.

I don't like the financial industry, but I can suspend my dislike long enough to be open to new evidence. For them, it's just a one-way valve.

7/30/2013 6:29:24 PM

A)Matt Taibbi really is one of the better investigation reporters in the game. Mother Jones is one of the wonkiest blogs available, it contains more deep numerical analysis than even most economics blogs (which tend to just play with terminology). Both of these are decent resources IMO. Really though I just borrowed the title of the thread from Taibbi and MJ was one of the first posts I saw about JP Morgan (since that news just dropped today)

B) What exactly is wrong with that MJ piece on Sandy and the costs of natural disasters in the US continuing to climb?

C)What facts are you disputing in either of the articles? JP is settling out of court with a record fines and the entire Libor scandal has long been known and examined.

7/30/2013 7:03:41 PM

Almost forgot about this one, its one of my favorites:

S&P was sued for misrepresenting the ratings on financial products or allowing their manipulation. Specifically their claim that

Quote :

"its ratings were independent, objective and free of conflicts of interest "

Their defense? Claims of objectivity were just corporate "puffery" that no reasonable investor would rely on, admitting that all of their ratings are bunk. (Note: this defense was not allowed)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-08/s-p-to-argue-puffery-defense-in-first-courtroom-test.html

Australia has found them guilty of similar charges last year:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204349404578100023554543736.html

7/31/2013 7:55:09 AM

lewisje,
It's time we had an intervention about you saying "rethug".

You're the only person on this board who ever says it. It was darling at first, but you've ridden it just a little too hard. I know that you think it's very clever, but at this point it's just as cliche as the shitty comics that you post.

Regards,
Mr. Joshua

7/31/2013 8:05:58 AM

Quote :

"Then they have stories that basically discredit the outlet. http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/07/hurricane-sandy-global-warming-flooding"

I fail to see what you find so discreditable about this story.

[Edited on July 31, 2013 at 8:49 AM. Reason : ]

7/31/2013 8:49:39 AM

It doesn't take much reading to see it stretching. I picked that article, however, because it was on their front page at the moment I checked.

Quote :

"And truly catastrophic storms will do damage unimaginable today. "With the exact same Sandy 100 years from now," Deodatis says, "if you have, say, five feet of sea level rise, it's going to be much more devastating.""

But wait, the article headline was that we'll have a superstorm every other year. Confused? You should be. There's nothing in climate science that supports their assertions. The body of authority they rely on was a NYC special panel on climate change. When they get into the details, it comes out that they have to credit 100-year scale sea level rise, and use no actual predictions of storm pattern changes from climate science.

That doesn't suggest that "we" should prepare for a superstorm every other year in any way, unless you think we'll all live to be 120 years old. It's science based in the sense that you have to run an obstacle course of journalistic obstructions to our knowledge of climate, and it's clearly misleading.

It's a headline that's often repeated, but shouldn't be.

7/31/2013 9:44:47 AM

Strange, I somehow didn't find it confusing at all.

7/31/2013 9:52:33 AM

Anyways . . . . . . . .


Commodities trading by big banks has been under a lot of scrutiny recently. Commodity markets allegedly being some of the most manipulated. The FED will ultimately decide if it is going to continue to allow investment banks to participate in those markets soon:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-20/fed-reviews-rule-on-big-banks-commodity-trades-after-complaints.html

Suddenly, in the first half of this year, revenues from commodities trading are down 25% for big banks:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/banks-commodities-idUSL6N0G616S20130805

JP Morgan likely to quit commodity trading, blames extra scrutiny:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/jpmorgan-commoditybusiness-idUSL4N0FW4G720130726


So what do you people think? Is the extra scrutiny and the lower revenues closely related? Are big banks only able to turn huge profits in commodity markets when regulators or the media aren't paying very close attention? Or is it mostly just a coincidence with other factors able to explain the lower returns?

I'll add this as well, these may just be growing pains as the banks figure out new ways to avoid the new added scrutiny:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/us-commodities-banks-insight-idUSBRE96L0BY20130722

Quote :

"Wall Street's most powerful banks have accelerated efforts to transform the structure and focus of their commodity trading desks to preserve their multibillion-dollar empires from tightening regulation."

_______________________

In other news:


Another indictment, this time for insider trading:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/25/sac-fund-charges-idUSL1N0FV0VT20130725

[Edited on August 9, 2013 at 1:21 PM. Reason : guess I'll have to stick to reuters and Bloomberg for the VSPs]

8/9/2013 1:11:22 PM

Bloomberg on "Banging the close"

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/currency-spikes-at-4-p-m-in-london-provide-rigging-clues.html

8/28/2013 8:13:58 AM

JP Morgan ordered to return 300 million dollars to 2 million Americans. They were charging fees for services that customers never signed up for, jeebus.

9/19/2013 6:05:18 PM

Slavery and colonialism have been replaced by the big banks.

Here is a good 3 minute video about how big Wall Street banks screw the common man

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/too_big_has_failed_3_ways_wall_street_hurts_you/


More info

http://www.toobighasfailed.org

9/19/2013 9:51:37 PM

The Conflation Trap: How the Left & the Right Are Fooled Into Supporting the Same Elite Interests
http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/the_conflation_trap/





Here is a more accurate and detailed graphic... posting a link, because it is large:

http://brainshavings.com/images/Occupy-Wall-Street-vs-The-Tea-Party.jpg

9/22/2013 7:51:55 PM

Hedge Funder Stan Druckenmiller Wants Every Young Person In America To See These Charts About How They're Getting Screwed

http://www.businessinsider.com/stan-druckenmiller-on-generational-theft-2013-9?op=1

9/22/2013 9:06:09 PM

^ I scrolled through his presentation. I found a typo on one of the slides and said fuck it.

9/23/2013 1:08:20 PM

^^^ I very much understand the theory behind this.

But the people who think they've figured out some "occupy/tea party" overlap want a constitutional convention, and I don't think even Ron Paul supporters would endorse that. Anything remotely conservative is against the idea.

There is no political breakthrough coming from this idea, however logical it sounds.

9/23/2013 1:21:21 PM

the Tea Party not liking corporations?

9/23/2013 6:08:08 PM

Remember Banjoman you arent exactly a master of that German keyboard.

Although admittedly there are plenty of reasons not to take you seriously (besides typos).

9/23/2013 7:45:22 PM

I think that the unbiased rational person scares you because you don't understand that the truth is sought only through proper scientific analysis.



[Edited on September 24, 2013 at 5:50 AM. Reason : No offence to the Imitatio Christi]

9/24/2013 5:48:23 AM

I think you're trying too hard.

9/24/2013 10:26:50 AM

nope. it's because you're stupid.

9/24/2013 10:36:11 AM

I think you should stick with the fatty thread.

You're a pro there.

9/24/2013 10:37:29 AM

false dilemma, i'm a pro everywhere

[Edited on September 24, 2013 at 10:39 AM. Reason : idiot]

9/24/2013 10:39:31 AM

Calmer than you are.

9/24/2013 10:48:49 AM

try harder, bro

9/24/2013 11:01:29 AM

Calmer than you are.

9/24/2013 11:03:58 AM

you must be pissed dude

9/24/2013 11:06:15 AM

I'm not the one sending cat dick to peoples' inboxes.

Don't worry though; these little exchanges this morning are greatly satisfying to me.

Your idiotic tantrums only make people ignore you. The longer I can keep you going the better.

9/24/2013 11:10:51 AM

uh, go look at your post history today and the posts that preceded them

cat dick, lol

9/24/2013 11:26:37 AM

Keep them coming, 3rd grader.

9/24/2013 12:04:25 PM

Anyways . . . . . . . . . .


back to the topic at hand:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101056168

Quote :

"On Sept. 18, the Federal Reserve shocked the financial world with its decision not to scale back its level of support to the economy as most market participants expected. Financial markets reacted at the speed of light, pushing stocks dramatically higher in just moments. But it looks like the speed of light just wasn't fast enough for some traders. Some traders in Chicago appear to have had access to the Fed's decision before anyone else in the Windy City. According to trading data reviewed by CNBC, they began buying in Chicago-traded assets just before others in that city could possibly have been aware of the Fed's decision. By one estimate, as much as $600 million in assets changed hands in the milliseconds before most other traders in Chicago could learn of the Fed's September surprise—a sharp contrast to the very low volume of trading ahead of the Fed's decision. "

The difference between 7 milliseconds and 2-3 milliseconds in getting information could mean being on the wrong side of $600 million. Jeebus.

9/24/2013 3:52:58 PM

^

A system like that is not wholesome, not moral, not sustainable, not natural, and not fair.

One day, the system will crash and will be replaced by something a lot more wholesome, natural, sustainable, and fair, or will be replaced before it crashes. I hope that day is within our life times. This goes for all countries, not just the US.

9/24/2013 4:28:32 PM

Disgusting

http://www.policymic.com/articles/64993/aig-ceo-thinks-criticizing-his-bonus-is-just-as-bad-as-lynching-black-people

9/24/2013 5:28:53 PM

^ yea I just want to sit these people down and psychoanalyze. Complete inability to self-reflect? Victimization complex? Or just wholly consumed by greed? Some are try to deflect from their responsibility, others truly believe that shit. Mind-boggling

9/24/2013 6:38:33 PM

related, didn't want to make a separate thread

watch the video
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/exposed_the_privatizers_and_profiteers_taking_over_public_services/

Help Us Expose the Privatizers and Profiteers Selling out Our Democracy
http://www.OutsourcingAmericaEXPOSED.org

9/25/2013 5:22:06 PM

http://www.gallup.com/poll/159881/americans-call-term-limits-end-electoral-college.aspx

Maybe not the best place for this? Oh well.

/lazy

9/28/2013 8:58:50 PM

Wealth Distribution in America... will blow your mind

http://utrend.tv/v/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact/

10/28/2013 4:57:09 PM

The American Dream is dead.

10/28/2013 5:31:33 PM

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/how_we_the_people_became_we_the_corporations_in_under_4_minutes/

10/31/2013 5:37:35 PM

Another week, another lawsuit against white collared criminals

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-11-06/brent-crude-traders-claim-proof-bfoe-boys-manipulated-oil-market#p1

Quote :

"Four longtime traders in the global oil market claim in a lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed -- and that they can prove it. Some of the world’s biggest oil companies including BP Plc (BP/), Statoil ASA (STL), and Royal Dutch Shell Plc conspired with Morgan Stanley and energy traders including Vitol Group to manipulate the closely watched spot prices for Brent crude oil for more than a decade, they allege. The North Sea benchmark is used to price more than half the world’s crude and helps determine where costs are headed for fuels including gasoline and heating oil. "

This is oil companies, banks, and traders colluding to manipulate (raise and lower) oil prices for their benefit. Even if they are moving the price by pennies a barrel, that's likely millions stolen from consumers.

Still waiting for the EU to actually indict someone, or even release any information related to their investigation.

11/6/2013 9:08:23 AM

This has relevance here as well

Fuck Monsanto and others

This video is really eye opening.

http://www.upworthy.com/3-lies-about-food-youre-used-to-hearing-and-might-even-believe

11/12/2013 7:26:42 PM

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2013-12-09/upstaris-trading-draws-more-big-investors?ea9c8a2de0ee111045601ab04d673622

Increasingly big investors are having to make trades using "dark pools" or other non-public deals to keep high frequency traders from jumping in front of them and driving up stock prices. Added bonus for brokers: Charging more fees

Translation (for me): lower performance for index and mutual funds

12/9/2013 2:51:37 PM

Piece by a GWU professor

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/big-money-behind-war-military-industrial-complex-20141473026736533.html

1/11/2014 9:31:14 PM

^ For all the criticisms and debates around Gates' new book, I think this key statement was tragically missed. A well armed military is important for the defense of the Republic, but an overly armed military makes the application of force too easy; the modified cliche of when you own an exquisite hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Quote :

"But in recent decades, presidents confronted with tough problems abroad have too often been too quick to reach for a gun. Our foreign and national security policy has become too militarized, the use of force too easy for presidents. Today, too many ideologues call for U.S. force as the first option rather than a last resort. On the left, we hear about the "responsibility to protect" civilians to justify military intervention in Libya, Syria, Sudan and elsewhere. On the right, the failure to strike Syria or Iran is deemed an abdication of U.S. leadership. And so the rest of the world sees the U.S. as a militaristic country quick to launch planes, cruise missiles and drones deep into sovereign countries or ungoverned spaces. There are limits to what even the strongest and greatest nation on Earth can do—and not every outrage, act of aggression, oppression or crisis should elicit a U.S. military response."

As Gates himself once said regarding the defense budget when generals were whining about cuts, "If I can't defend the United States on a budget of $500B, then there's something seriously wrong with the Pentagon."

My only other nit is that people love tacking on things like "war" to the infamous military-industrial complex title, but they always forget the key, enabling third leg of the tripod, Congress. Again, since Gates is in the news, he also comments on how the Pentagon tries to make prudent cuts in response to Congress' complaining about the Pentagon budget, but those same Congressmen sing a different tune when you talk about shutting down bases or offices in their districts, let alone the fat contracts.

1/13/2014 10:04:01 AM

This reminds me of a book on my reading list:

War Is a Racket (1935)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket



actual text:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html#c1

It's actually amazingly readable. It comes at you with clarity that we don't often get in modern writing, and I've really warmed up to it. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this book is just how unsurprising all of its content is. It's like we're just running around in circles.

1/13/2014 11:31:45 AM

More evidence of collusion among big companies, this time in the labor market. Apparently all the big names in Silicon valley (Apple, Google, Adobe, etc) colluded to suppress wages among tech engineers by not recruiting between companies and agreeing not to compete for people already working at one of the companies. Class action law suit is being allowed to go forward. Allegedly 9 billion dollars was skimmed from wages.

Lots of emails and other evidence here:
http://pando.com/2014/01/23/the-techtopus-how-silicon-valleys-most-celebrated-ceos-conspired-to-drive-down-100000-tech-engineers-wages/

1/27/2014 9:18:02 AM

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6cdf6a90-9a7f-11e3-8232-00144feab7de.html#axzz2tyFuKC2u

Warren Buffett's Businesswire (supplies news releases to investors) voluntarily steps forward to stop selling direct feeds to high frequency traders for the overall good of the market.


Probably not the most lucrative corner of his business, but I'm still impressed.

2/21/2014 4:44:17 PM

set em up ----------->

2/22/2014 11:14:42 PM