Sen. Elizabeth Warren Knocks Eric Cantor's Multi-Million Dollar Wall Street Gig

Image from source, Huffington Post

I love Elizabeth Warren. I can't stand Eric Cantor's bitch face. So, obviously, I had to post this story.

[Excerpt]

Elizabeth Warren Slams Eric Cantor's Move To Investment Bank

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) for taking a job with investment bank Moelis & Co. "How wrong can this be that basically what's happening here is that people work in Washington, and man, they hit that revolving door with a speed that would blind you," Warren said in a Wednesday interview with Katie Couric of Yahoo! News. . .

Read more (with video) at: Huffington Post

Highest Dow Ever on Tuesday: 14253.77

I'm typing this on Tuesday night, approximately 7½ hours before the opening of Wednesday's stock market. So, the streamers and confetti of yesterday's stock rally could be the leftovers of a sad hangover by now. Or, stocks could be up even more today! Or flat. And all of those things could be explained by the same exact news story with very slight revisions to copy: "Stocks up on reports of. . ." or "Stocks down despite. . ." or "Stocks flat amid. . ."  It's always amusing to read the vagueness of the reasons behind what is happening at any given moment, at least according to CNBC and the rest of the financial press.  More amusing is the fact that it sometimes changes multiple times in the same day, with one report live online while the opposite reality is occurring. It's almost as vague as a horoscope.

But one thing is for sure, and it's the first line of this video. . .

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Dow Hits Highest Close Ever

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its highest closing level ever, finally overcoming the losses tied to the financial crisis on the back of a tenacious stock rally that began in March 2009. And the blue chips did it with an exclamation point—a 125.95-point blast that left the old record in the dust. . .

Read more at: Wall Street Journal

After Spending $9 Million To Defeat Her, Wall Street Watches Sen-Elect Warren Join Banking Committee

I pulled the entire quote from the article excerpted below, because it made me laugh out loud. A hearty Nelson Muntz Ha-ha! to Wall Street! And a heartier you go girl! to the wonderful Elizabeth Warren!

Image from ZD-Net

[Excerpt]

After Spending $9 Million To Defeat Her, Wall Street Watches Sen-Elect Warren Join Banking Committee

Get 'em, Liz! Image from source.

The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim reported Tuesday that Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren, a dogged consumer advocate whose critique of Wall Street excess was a centerpiece of her campaign, will join the Senate Banking Committee. Wall Street spent boatloads of money to prevent Warren’s election, but now, as the Center for Responsive Politics noted, she will have oversight of the rules and regulations under which banks operate. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

The Very Skittish DOW and the Vagueness of the Business Press

This is just a quick post to point out the futility of trying to understand the stock market. Yesterday, the DOW Jones Industrial Average was up over 140 points, after being down a bit on Wednesday, and closed on Monday and Tuesday due to Hurricane Sandy. On balance, the scales--as I write this--have barely changed since last Friday. As mercurial as the stock market is, that could change of course, but here is the quote that leads CNBC's reporting of the market at the moment:

"Stocks added to losses across the board Friday, as weakness in energy and materials trumped a better-than-expected monthly government jobs report and amid nervousness ahead of next week's presidential election."

Let's parse: "Stocks added to losses. . ." What? Stocks were up yesterday, so adding to what losses? ". . .as weakness in energy and materials trumped a better-than-expected monthly government jobs report. . ." This is really a bit of tea leaf reading here, isn't it? One was goodish and one was baddish, so the baddish one is why the market is down? ". . .and amid nervousness ahead of next week's presidential election." Hunh? Nervous about President Obama winning? Or losing? After all, the DOW has doubled since Obama's election, Mitt Romney's lauded business experience, notwithstanding. How in the world do they know that traders are nervous about the election?

Anyway, I just kind of find this sort of soothsaying kind of hilarious. This is a fairly mild example of the vagueness usually present in these blurbs. But, if stocks were to pare losses or even unexpectedly surge by the end of the day, they'll just revise all of the above to reflect what happened. No one will hold against them what they sussed out incorrectly, nobody will remember. Usually--on any given day when the market has fluctuated back and forth across the line--you can read these revised blurbs while the opposite reality is happening before your eyes. And tomorrow, they're still writing these "best guess" stories.

Writing for the business press must be the second most secure job after writing on the weather. You never have to guess correctly to keep your job!

Source: CNBC

Elizabeth Warren Responds to Karl Rove Attack Ad

Atta girl! I. Love. This. Woman!

Glenn Beck is Insane

In other news, Glenn Beck is still around. This is about the Occupy Wall Street protestors, but honestly, it could be about anything.

Michael Moore's Call to Action after Wisconsin Vote

Michael Moore was scheduled to be on The Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday, before the surprise vote by the Wisconsin GOP had even happened. But it was good timing. In the clips below, you'll find the initial video footage of protesters in Madison, now re-energized. And right after, Michael Moore gives an impassioned plea for America to rise up and say, no more. It's good stuff. Now, will we do it?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

General Motors Bounces Back, Bounces Wall Street as Well

I've never understood the conservative aversion to the automotive bailout by the government. Letting GM fail would have probably turned our Great Recession into the Great Depression II. Instead, GM went from hemorrhaging money to getting back in the black. On top of that, over a million people got to keep their jobs, and the United States still has a automobile industry.  So, it seems to have worked out for just about everybody, and barring something as yet unseen, America will get its money back and have a whole new fleet of suddenly very attractive Chevrolets, GMCs, Buicks and Cadillacs.

Seriously, a few years ago, there wasn't a car in the whole GM fleet (which used to include the deceased Pontiac and Saturn) that got me remotely excited. Now, there isn't a Chevy that doesn't look great. Even the teeny-tiny new Aveo looks kinda cute.  I'm less excited about their other lines, but plenty of people seem to like them. Years ago, the Carter administration bailed out Chrysler, and put them on a whole new path. It looks like it's happening again.  So why are conservatives such sourpusses about it?

[Excerpt]

GM gains in return to New York Stock Exchange



General Motors Co., which went bankrupt last year after almost a century on the New York Stock Exchange, advanced in its return Thursday to public trading after an initial public offering that raised more than $20 billion. . .


Read more at: SFGate

Cast of Jersey Shore Rings Opening Bell on Wall Street

Image from source, TVNewser

I've never watched an episode of The Real Housewives of. . . anywhere.  I don't give a damn about Rock of. . . anything or anybody. I've caught a lot of Survivor and the odd episode of Big Brother (with only 1/4 attention out of one eye), mostly for the eye candy.  But even the promise of eye candy couldn't make me watch Jersey Shore. Who are all of these orange people with hot bodies but weird faces, and what is the premise of this thing anyway?  So far, none of the "cast members" has said or done anything that justifies this kind of attention. And I'll tell you what, anyone asked to ring the opening bell in the future should pause, and wonder what they must think of you if they let these dolts do it.

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Snooki, The Situation, J-Woww and the rest Ring Opening Bell

Quite a scene on the business channels this morning as the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore" rang the opening bell. CNBC's Erin Burnett mentioned that the NYSE had run out of guest passes for access to the floor -- nieces and daughters of some of Jersey's finest traders, no doubt. Burnett's co-anchor Mark Haines mentioned the cast was not allowed to talk to anyone on the floor. And Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney was proud not to know the cast members by name. "Which one is Snooki?"


Source: TV Newser

More on the Skittish Stock Market

Happy Friday! Did you become an instant-then-revoked millionaire yesterday? Sheesh, glad I've got mostly little dinky, crappy stocks.  Anyway, Friday is going to be busyish for me. I have my first maintenance check-up on the new car. I found out that my "free" oil change that I fought for when buying the car expired after 30 days! NICE!  Let's see if my "bumper-to-bumper" warranty really only includes the bumpers!

After that, I'm off to see A Nightmare on Elm Street with my friend, Stupid Monkey Planet. I'll be back later with a review. In the meantime, here's a little more on yesterday's stock market free-fall.

pp

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Moment of EEK! Rachel Maddow Explains What Happened on Wall Street

In what must be lesson #507 of "why I love The Rachel Maddow Show", here is a unique perspective on the scary, nearly 1000-point drop on Wall Street yesterday. I didn't see anyone else put it quite like this. Sotheby's stock at $100,000 per share? Sam Adams beer company at $0? It's stuff like this that keeps me tuning in.

But, man, wouldn't you be ticked if you bought 10,000 shares of P&G at the bottom, and had your stock buy get rescinded?

Stock Market Drops Nearly 1000 Points, Rebounds (But Not All the Way)

I'm a small-time dabbler in the stock market, so while at work, I have a small stock ticker running on my screen. I glance at it from time to time, and don't get very alarmed at 150+ point sways. . .the market has been way crazy for a long time now.  On Thursday afternoon, they went full-bore insane, and it happened so quickly I missed it. And I'm glad I did, because if I'd seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge almost 1000 points in just a few short minutes, I doubt I'd have been able to eat lunch.

Whatever happened--a fumble-fingered stock broker typing billion instead of million?--it raises a huge flag. How the hell are we that close to the edge?  Obviously, some kind of mistake occurred, whether it was that broker or something else. But that mistake rocked the financial world, and will probably have lasting effects. I mean how would you like it if you bought a few thousand shares when they hit rock-bottom, made out like a bandit, and then they took it away from you?

[Excerpt]

US stock plunge raises alarm on algo trading

A spine-chilling slide of nearly 1,000 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, its biggest intraday points drop ever, led to heightened calls for a crackdown on computer-driven high-frequency trading.

The slide, which in one 10-minute stretch knocked the index down nearly 700 points, may have been triggered by a trading error. Major stock indexes eventually recovered from their 9 percent drops to close down a little more than 3 percent. . .

Read more at: Reuters

Republicans (and One Democrat) Block Financial Reform Debate

Image from source, Huffington Post

No! No! No! A bajillion times no! We won't even discuss it!  And you know what? If the Democrats manage to break the filibuster (or for once make them actually stand there and DO it), they should shut them completely out of the discussion, and vote the damned thing in. If they've voted that it need not be discussed, why should they have a seat at the table? Just sayin'. . .

[Excerpt]

GOP, Ben Nelson Block Debate On Financial Reform Bill

Undaunted by a Senate setback, Democrats appeared increasingly confident Monday they will be able to take advantage of Americans' anger at Wall Street and push through the most sweeping new controls on financial institutions since the Great Depression. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

SNL: "Really?!? With Seth & Amy" on Wall Street

Amy Poehler made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, joining Seth Meyers for Really?!? With Seth & Amy. The subject was Wall Street getting H1N1 swine flu shots before others. Great stuff.

Jon Stewart's Takedown of CNBC's Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart single-handedly took down CNN's Crossfire, and now he may do the same for CNBC, or at least its star, Jim Cramer. This is great stuff.

Jon Stewart & David Letterman on the Economy

Good stuff, with more of Jon Stewart's take on CNBC and the financial "experts."

Financial Collapse Sparks Suicide

Image from Mace27

We're all familiar with tales of Wall Street brokers jumping to their deaths after the 1929 stock market crash. I don't know how numerous they really were, but there must've been enough to put that story into all of our heads. Now, the coming second Republican Great Depression (as radio talker Thom Hartmann puts it) has taken a casualty of the same sort.

It's possibly not the first, but it is the first I've seen reported. And it certainly sounds messy.

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Fund Chief With Madoff Ties Said to Commit Suicide

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead early Tuesday in his office in Manhattan, the French business daily La Tribune reported on its Web site, after losing as much as $1.4 billion that had been invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Mr. de la Villehuchet, 65, committed suicide, La Tribune said, citing a someone close to Mr. de la Villehuchet. . .

Read more at: CNBC

House Passes Bailout Bill. What Now?

Image from source, MSNBC

I have no idea what it means, to you? I will say, that I have no understanding of Wall Street. And Main Street--at least in Las Vegas--is kind of a crappy street, so I don't go there very often. I wanna know what will happen on my street. Maybe I'll have a garage sale. . .

[Excerpt]

House passes bailout bill

Bush promises quick enactment of massive Wall Street rescue plan

The House passed a $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry Friday, reversing itself after members who voted to kill the measure earlier in the week came around to a Senate version that offered more protection for individual investors and small businesses. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

Senate Passes Wall Street Bailout Plan

Photo from source, AOL News

I don't know what to think about it yet, but who does? What I won't call it is a "rescue plan" since that's what FOX "News" wants to call it, and I know that can't be good.

[Excerpt]

Senate Passes Wall Street Rescue Plan

After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened. . .

Read more at: AOL News

John McCain: Economic Disaster

Uh oh. . .