Andy Fastow singing like a canary was a classic.
Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling will see and hear and feel the inside of prison.
Too bad all the employees and injured shareholders won't collect a dime in any civil action. Hats off to the whistleblower, Sherron Watkins. Sentencing on September 11, 2006 can't come soon enough.
Ken Lay's God brought justice today.
Parisian Family Office, Founder & CEO. Started Wall Street, '82. Drexel Burnham alum in LaJolla, CA. Founded Native American Advisors, Chippewa Partners. '95. Chippewa. Conservative. Raised on reservations. Was NYSE/FINRA arbitrator. Trading O'Neil/CANSLIM methodology at PAMELOT, TN farm, GHOST RANCH, MT, on the Yellowstone River, or CASA TULE', their winter camp in Los Cabos, Mexico. Will always be, a relentless optimist with radical gratitude.
Parisian Family Office, Founder & CEO. Started Wall Street, '82. Drexel Burnham alum in LaJolla, CA. Founded Native American Advisors, Chippewa Partners. '95. Chippewa. Conservative. Raised on reservations. Was NYSE/FINRA arbitrator. Trading O'Neil/CANSLIM methodology at PAMELOT, TN farm, GHOST RANCH, MT, on the Yellowstone River, or CASA TULE', their winter camp in Los Cabos, Mexico. Will always be, a relentless optimist with radical gratitude.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Franklin Raines
If this guy walks free the SEC should be abolished.
Do they want real justice or just the $400 million they paid to them?
Do they want real justice or just the $400 million they paid to them?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Out on bail???
This goofy judge is a disaster to the bench, to justice and to investors.
U.S. Magistrate Stephen Brown in Miami, Florida.
This clown granted bond to Kirk Wright. Wright was a supposed hedge fund manager here in Atlanta who was on the run from the law. He was arrested last week in Miami, wearing a swimsuit and sipping a cocktail poolside in a ritzy hotel. One of his luxury Mercedes and $28,000 was found with him.
This goon was on the run for about 3 months after running off with millions and millions and millions and millions of investors money. Most of the investors in his hedge fund were retired or active professional football players.
Setting bond for this guy would be like setting Saddam free.
Probably never see him again.
U.S. Magistrate Stephen Brown in Miami, Florida.
This clown granted bond to Kirk Wright. Wright was a supposed hedge fund manager here in Atlanta who was on the run from the law. He was arrested last week in Miami, wearing a swimsuit and sipping a cocktail poolside in a ritzy hotel. One of his luxury Mercedes and $28,000 was found with him.
This goon was on the run for about 3 months after running off with millions and millions and millions and millions of investors money. Most of the investors in his hedge fund were retired or active professional football players.
Setting bond for this guy would be like setting Saddam free.
Probably never see him again.
A definition of "cold hard cash"..........
The $90,000 cash found in the Louisiana Congressmans freezer gives new meaning.
Just another day at work for a politician in America dealing with the BILLION dollars every day that lobbyists spend in Washington DC.
Just another day at work for a politician in America dealing with the BILLION dollars every day that lobbyists spend in Washington DC.
Oxymoronic behavior.........
The citizens of New Orleans ask for help and then re-elect Ray Nagin as Mayor?
What is wrong with that picture?
What is wrong with that picture?
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
This cat has it right...........
When asked what his beef was with Wall Street, a registered representative by the name of Frank Congemi said in the monthly edition of Registered Rep magazine, "That with all of the investors Wall Street has damaged, it is permitted to continually steal from the public."
From the Fed Chairman..................
Financial markets remain unsettled by the outlook for inflation and Bernanke said this was among the factors that had hurt stock prices in recent weeks.
"There are a lot of factors that are entering into the stock market, among them some reduction in the desire to bear risk, some change in the evaluation in the global economy and also some concerns about inflation," Bernanke told the hearing.
The Fed has raised interest rates in 16 consecutive quarter-percentage point steps to 5 percent and Bernanke, reiterating the bank's last policy statement, said that rates may still have to rise further.
"In our policy statement on May 10 we noted there are some upside inflation risks in the economy. Among other things, higher inflation would raise mortgage rates by raising long-term interest rates," he said. "And we indicated at that time some additional firming of policy might yet be needed in order to address those risks."
But he also said there was some time to go before the Fed's next meeting, on June 28-29, and it would be sift though all the evidence closely before making its next decision.
"We have about a month to go before the next FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting and a lot of data between now and then. We will be watching that data very carefully," Bernanke said
"There are a lot of factors that are entering into the stock market, among them some reduction in the desire to bear risk, some change in the evaluation in the global economy and also some concerns about inflation," Bernanke told the hearing.
The Fed has raised interest rates in 16 consecutive quarter-percentage point steps to 5 percent and Bernanke, reiterating the bank's last policy statement, said that rates may still have to rise further.
"In our policy statement on May 10 we noted there are some upside inflation risks in the economy. Among other things, higher inflation would raise mortgage rates by raising long-term interest rates," he said. "And we indicated at that time some additional firming of policy might yet be needed in order to address those risks."
But he also said there was some time to go before the Fed's next meeting, on June 28-29, and it would be sift though all the evidence closely before making its next decision.
"We have about a month to go before the next FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting and a lot of data between now and then. We will be watching that data very carefully," Bernanke said
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The U.S. trade deficit.........
out of control. Free trade is hilarity. We are printing money and giving it away.
Both parties are to blame.
Both parties are to blame.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Do your homework............
Choosing a financial advisor for you and your family? It may be the biggest decision you will ever make. How can you find a qualified, trustworthy financial advisor who will provide world class advice? For starters you can call Chippewa Partners, all kidding aside. Chippewa Partners is a fiduciary. A Registered Investment Advisor. We sell nothing. We pimp no product. We are not employees of some brokerage firm that pushes huge commissions and fees and slack investment products on unsuspecting clients.
You can also log onto www.nasd.com and use the free NASD BrokerCheck service if you want a salesman or an employee of a brokerage firm to give you advice on your retirement money or serious wealth. Why people use salesmen instead of fiduciaries is way beyond me but lots do, just check out the number of securites arbitrations filed every year by investors against brokerage firms.
Last week I got a call from an old friend. He asked me how I could check out a broker. I went to work on his behalf, pro bono, au gratis. It is virtually impossible to get any relevant information on a salesman/stockbroker over the NASD web site. The NASD wants it that way. They are the fox guarding the hen house.
If there is any "MAYBE" on your inquiry, stop right there. The problem lies when you attempt to look up a broker who may have had many black marks on their record and they don't show up in your search. As an arbitrator I put black marks on many brokers records. They deserved them. They hurt investors. I know of brokers that have U-5's that look like Swiss cheese they have so many holes in them. Nothing shows up on their records either. The system needs change but it won't come from within. Use your head and your heart. Good luck.
You can also log onto www.nasd.com and use the free NASD BrokerCheck service if you want a salesman or an employee of a brokerage firm to give you advice on your retirement money or serious wealth. Why people use salesmen instead of fiduciaries is way beyond me but lots do, just check out the number of securites arbitrations filed every year by investors against brokerage firms.
Last week I got a call from an old friend. He asked me how I could check out a broker. I went to work on his behalf, pro bono, au gratis. It is virtually impossible to get any relevant information on a salesman/stockbroker over the NASD web site. The NASD wants it that way. They are the fox guarding the hen house.
If there is any "MAYBE" on your inquiry, stop right there. The problem lies when you attempt to look up a broker who may have had many black marks on their record and they don't show up in your search. As an arbitrator I put black marks on many brokers records. They deserved them. They hurt investors. I know of brokers that have U-5's that look like Swiss cheese they have so many holes in them. Nothing shows up on their records either. The system needs change but it won't come from within. Use your head and your heart. Good luck.
The War on Terror.........
is not going away. We (America) are not going to "win" the war. We will curtail those terroristic activities to a degree but those terrorists can thrive in a country of freedoms such as ours. President Bush uses language that gives the impression that the war will be won, someday. How do you "win" when you can't see the enemy?
Terror comes with the territory we live in, a free nation. Controlling our borders would be a great start.
The real terror will come from within, just wait and see.
Terror comes with the territory we live in, a free nation. Controlling our borders would be a great start.
The real terror will come from within, just wait and see.
Milberg Weiss Bershad Schulman LLP.............
I would bet this securities class-action law firm making news today is toast.
The Jail House Blues will be the new tune.
It's about time.
The Jail House Blues will be the new tune.
It's about time.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Burger King IPO
Just more CRAP put out for America to digest.......I wouldn't go near this offering even if I hadn't eaten for a month.
The Wall Street hype machine is cranking up to devour another round of IPO investors.
The Wall Street hype machine is cranking up to devour another round of IPO investors.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Government Spending........
has increased 45% in the last 5 years........spending cuts are needed.
Why not now?
Why not now?
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
The tax cuts announced today per the media.........
are a farce. America needs TAX REFORM.
Boortz is on to something. FAIRTAX.ORG
If not now, when? If not Boortz, who else?
The politicians are simply being held captive to the elections.
Boortz is on to something. FAIRTAX.ORG
If not now, when? If not Boortz, who else?
The politicians are simply being held captive to the elections.
Where's the SEC in short-selling shenanigans?
The following was written by Arne Alsin for RealMoney.com
When brokers allow twice as many shares of a company to be sold short as are lendable, it is evidence of a structural problem. Undergirding the market is an implicit triangle of trust between brokers, companies and investors. For the market to function properly, investors must have confidence in the system. They must be confident that their property is protected, that rules are uniformly enforced and that rule violators are punished.
Stocks are accounted for as a so-called "fungible mass" in a book-entry system, in the same way as currency. It requires confidence for the system to work. Depositors don't demand actual currency for their cash assets because they have confidence in the book-entry system of banks.
As one money manager explained after struggling for weeks to get delivery of their Overstock shares he lost faith in the system. He didn't trust that his brokers would not lend out his shares. So he demanded actual certificates, which took another several weeks, and they are now in a bank vault.
When shareholders resort to demanding actual certificates for their shares, as has occurred en masse at Overstock, it is akin to a depositor going to his bank and demanding actual currency -- a so-called "run on the bank."
In the days before federal insurance, a run on the bank used to be a banker's worst nightmare. It's fair to call the growing demand for certificates in Overstock a "run on the brokers." And it may turn out to be the Wall Street broker's worst nightmare.
When brokers allow twice as many shares of a company to be sold short as are lendable, it is evidence of a structural problem. Undergirding the market is an implicit triangle of trust between brokers, companies and investors. For the market to function properly, investors must have confidence in the system. They must be confident that their property is protected, that rules are uniformly enforced and that rule violators are punished.
Stocks are accounted for as a so-called "fungible mass" in a book-entry system, in the same way as currency. It requires confidence for the system to work. Depositors don't demand actual currency for their cash assets because they have confidence in the book-entry system of banks.
As one money manager explained after struggling for weeks to get delivery of their Overstock shares he lost faith in the system. He didn't trust that his brokers would not lend out his shares. So he demanded actual certificates, which took another several weeks, and they are now in a bank vault.
When shareholders resort to demanding actual certificates for their shares, as has occurred en masse at Overstock, it is akin to a depositor going to his bank and demanding actual currency -- a so-called "run on the bank."
In the days before federal insurance, a run on the bank used to be a banker's worst nightmare. It's fair to call the growing demand for certificates in Overstock a "run on the brokers." And it may turn out to be the Wall Street broker's worst nightmare.
Never forget.........
The major reason these Wall Street strategists are groomed to perfection for media outings is simple. As they sit in the ivory towers above Wall Street (or New Jersey or St. Louis or fill-in-the-blank) and figure out the how and why to command the troops to move the customers money around they need to justify all of their strategizing.
The reason they get paid so much is that they continually embarass themselves.
In public.
The reason they get paid so much is that they continually embarass themselves.
In public.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Dr. Andrew Viterbi...............
This guy was one of the two genius's who started Qualcomm in San Diego. He and Mr. Jacobs hit it big with Link-a-Bit, then sold out to M/A Comm and after having enough of that, went out to make the big bucks with their new technology. Smart guys.
The Viterbi algorithm was conceived by Andrew Viterbi as an error-correction scheme for noisy digital communication links, finding universal application in decoding the convolutional codes used in both CDMA and GSM digital cellular, dial-up modems, satellite, deep-space communications, and 802.11 wireless LANs. It is now also commonly used in speech recognition, keyword spotting, computational linguistics, and bioinformatics. For example, in speech-to-text (speech recognition), the acoustic signal is treated as the observed sequence of events, and a string of text is considered to be the "hidden cause" of the acoustic signal. The Viterbi algorithm finds the most likely string of text given the acoustic signal.
Dr. Viterbi chewed me out royally one day in the offices of Drexel Burnham Lambert when I asked him about one of his competitors. Can't blame him, the company was a fierce competitor for years. Viterbi won. Big.
The Viterbi algorithm was conceived by Andrew Viterbi as an error-correction scheme for noisy digital communication links, finding universal application in decoding the convolutional codes used in both CDMA and GSM digital cellular, dial-up modems, satellite, deep-space communications, and 802.11 wireless LANs. It is now also commonly used in speech recognition, keyword spotting, computational linguistics, and bioinformatics. For example, in speech-to-text (speech recognition), the acoustic signal is treated as the observed sequence of events, and a string of text is considered to be the "hidden cause" of the acoustic signal. The Viterbi algorithm finds the most likely string of text given the acoustic signal.
Dr. Viterbi chewed me out royally one day in the offices of Drexel Burnham Lambert when I asked him about one of his competitors. Can't blame him, the company was a fierce competitor for years. Viterbi won. Big.
For all who enrich Native American gaming tribes......and casino's everywhere
If you like to gamble (lose money) and go to casinos for entertainment, (all gamblers die broke) you should only play blackjack or poker. Why? They are the only games that casinos offer where the results are conditional on previous events.
Most games in casino's are random with no memory beyond the present. In blackjack and poker, your current hand clearly depends on the cards that have already been dealt. That’s your only edge.
Like the odds in real life, deal with the cards you've been dealt. And play smart.
Most games in casino's are random with no memory beyond the present. In blackjack and poker, your current hand clearly depends on the cards that have already been dealt. That’s your only edge.
Like the odds in real life, deal with the cards you've been dealt. And play smart.
Thank you, Reverend..........
Always nice to have the Rev, Reverend Shark, aka James De Porre join Chippewa Partners in owning the same company. Thank you Rev! On a rather dull Monday, WEBM is up and and running. Anyone dare knock it down?
Friday, May 05, 2006
Not a day goes by........
that as I work in the world of supply and demand, core and satellite methodology, relative strength, ETF's, ECN's that I also never, ever forget the world I was raised in.
The world of dry, semi-arrid buffalo grass, red scorio, alkali water, cracked gumbo soil, pine covered ridges, chokecherries, western diamondbacks and horseflesh.
The world of dry, semi-arrid buffalo grass, red scorio, alkali water, cracked gumbo soil, pine covered ridges, chokecherries, western diamondbacks and horseflesh.
Definition of Indigenous........
"AN OLD INDIAN CHIEF WAS ONCE ASKED DURING A INTERVIEW WHAT HAD THE NATIVE AMERICANS CALLED AMERICA BEFORE THE WHITE MAN CAME... HE SIMPLY REPLIED WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES...."OURS""
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Managed currency funds...........
Todays Wall Street Journal laid out a real beauty.
They were letting readers know that individual investors (actually the brokers are telling them what the little guy needs) are clamoring for managed currency funds.
There aren't many managed funds of any asset type that generage more hidden fees and trading commissions than managed currency funds.
Good luck small investors. You are getting more structured product to separate you from your hard-earned assets.
They were letting readers know that individual investors (actually the brokers are telling them what the little guy needs) are clamoring for managed currency funds.
There aren't many managed funds of any asset type that generage more hidden fees and trading commissions than managed currency funds.
Good luck small investors. You are getting more structured product to separate you from your hard-earned assets.
Sheer lunacy......
I love these Wall Street strategists. Lunatics.
Take for instance the venerable salesmen at Merrill Lynch. Today, with the Dow Jones averages at 6-year highs and the S & P 500 index at a 5-year high they tell their clients to increase their exposure to the stock market by 20% from 40% to 50%.
I thought smart intelligent investors were to buy low and sell high.
You see, Wall Street feeds on these asset allocation models. It gives the sales force a reason to call up the customer and tell them that their top "guru" (more sophisticated salesman) has recommended some "commission velocity" in their brokerage account. It is not an asset allocation change, it is an increase in the customers "YTB", aka Yield-To-Broker.
As a NYSE and NASD arbitrator for over a decade one of the scariest things I can imagine being heaped on the investing public is the last day of a brokerage firms "production" month. That is the last day of the cut-off for the brokers paycheck the following month. Walking around a brokerage office on the last day of the production month listening to the brokers weave their tales and stories as to why cusotmers should sell this and buy that is truly a treat.
But only if you love horror shows.
Take for instance the venerable salesmen at Merrill Lynch. Today, with the Dow Jones averages at 6-year highs and the S & P 500 index at a 5-year high they tell their clients to increase their exposure to the stock market by 20% from 40% to 50%.
I thought smart intelligent investors were to buy low and sell high.
You see, Wall Street feeds on these asset allocation models. It gives the sales force a reason to call up the customer and tell them that their top "guru" (more sophisticated salesman) has recommended some "commission velocity" in their brokerage account. It is not an asset allocation change, it is an increase in the customers "YTB", aka Yield-To-Broker.
As a NYSE and NASD arbitrator for over a decade one of the scariest things I can imagine being heaped on the investing public is the last day of a brokerage firms "production" month. That is the last day of the cut-off for the brokers paycheck the following month. Walking around a brokerage office on the last day of the production month listening to the brokers weave their tales and stories as to why cusotmers should sell this and buy that is truly a treat.
But only if you love horror shows.
Monday, May 01, 2006
May Day..........
We bought a couple of new PC monitors last week. The price was right and it was time. In honor of May Day around the world it seems appropriate to honor capitalism as it drives the economic engine around the world.
The PC's we use were conceived in Texas, the frame of which was built in China, a screen made in Taiwan, a micro-processor designed in Oregon, memory chips produced in China with assebly done in Malaysia and the software system from a Seattle suburb. They were then shipped back to the United States on a jumbo jet built in Washington State and operated by an outfit out of Tennessee.
Land of the free and home to more freedoms than the world has ever known.
What massive opportunies for success. Just do it.
The PC's we use were conceived in Texas, the frame of which was built in China, a screen made in Taiwan, a micro-processor designed in Oregon, memory chips produced in China with assebly done in Malaysia and the software system from a Seattle suburb. They were then shipped back to the United States on a jumbo jet built in Washington State and operated by an outfit out of Tennessee.
Land of the free and home to more freedoms than the world has ever known.
What massive opportunies for success. Just do it.
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