KD, why all the honesty in MSM reporting now ?....Why today ? Do you think they've finally reached the point of damage with credibility loss and think a little "honest reporting" and analysis for a Friday before a holiday weekend will solve that little "credibility problem" ?

Gross found religion from somebody recently, I cant figure him out.He admits to having Greenie tipping him off for billions in profits and then turns right around and chastises the inflation reporting system, what gives ?

I expect the pump monkeys to be hard at work next week again....this aberration of honesty is probably just that....an aberration

Figure you have seen these guys before, but someone reading this might not have:

http://www.concordcoalition.org/about.ht....

Gross wrote some very early pieces on the credit and housing mess. The guy 'get's it' and was way infront of these issues we have seen unfold...he is one sly fox though and when he talks its accurrate but for a reason...

Gross's reason? SSI- self serving interest. As Karl made clear, when you are as tall as munchkin land on the short side of bonds, you want the public to know that bonds should tank. $$$.

Quote:

This morning we had an interesting change in tone on CNBC. I woke up to see a couple of "gurus" from the LBO/PE world (Peterson, one of the founders of Blackstone), plus David Walker (former Comptroller General of the US), talking about, of all things, the economic challenges facing America.

June 6, 2007
Tosin Sulaiman

Blackstone Group, the private equity firm, said that it would appoint Lord Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, a member of the banking dynasty, and Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian Prime Minister, to its board of directors ahead of its flotation.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu....

http://ir.blackstone.com/committees.cfm?....

Quote:

Ranieri is the latest investor to plunge back into a U.S. housing market wracked by record foreclosures. BlackRock Inc., which manages almost $1.4 trillion, is backing Private National Mortgage Acceptance Corp., or PennyMac, which will buy delinquent mortgages, while firms including Lone Star Funds and Blackstone Group LP raised more than $25 billion to invest in real estate-related assets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2....

Think Fool, Think!

Alex,

They're looking for a part of the coming bailouts -

what they may get is a flaming, falling knife right through the heart!

Quote:

They're looking for a part of the coming bailouts

These guys will be picking up mortgages and distressed assets for pennies on the dollar. That's why it's called PennyMac. They already made a substantial killing shorting subprime CDOs. And they know exactly what is coming down the pipe.

By the way, I hear they are now hiring at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation for anybody interested in helping to save the USA. And, gee whiz, they just got $1 billion in funding from good old Petey himself.

http://www.petergpetersonfoundation.org/

Quote:

Peter G. Peterson, Chairman of the Peterson Foundation, is Senior Chairman and Co-Founder of Blackstone and a member of the board of directors of its general partner, Blackstone Group Management L.L.C. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relation’s International Advisory Board, founding Chairman of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (Washington, D.C.) and founding President of The Concord Coalition. Mr. Peterson was the Co-Chair of The Conference Board Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise (Co-Chaired by John Snow, formerly Secretary of the Treasury). He was also Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2000 to 2004.

I guess Jamie Dimon has Petey's job now over at the FRBNY.

If you ever wondered who was holding the other end of the whip...there it is....PennyMac....Priceless.....ranieri you

"This morning we had an interesting change in tone on CNBC."

And then the hottie Becky said they were receiving many emails complaining about the doom and gloom of it.

I think it might kneal and cumblow handling emails?

The price of oil is not where it is because of speculative froth due to the actions of The Fed. There is a phenomenon called Peak Oil that is real and has far more to say about the rise of oil than any other factor.

Here's a brief snippet from Jim Willie's latest on the subject:

"Before the US Congress, the masterful Rick Masters testified that in the last three years, China was responsible for higher crude oil demand by 920 thousand barrels per day, more than the private speculative demand rise of 848 thousand bbl/day. "

Cash Rules Everything Around Me

Here's a news headline today on my homepage that stupid earthlink freezes up on if I click it cause they just can't get their homepage working right (and I'm feeling too lazy atm to find the article directly - but my eyes almost popped out of my head.

State pension buying into tech firms - Lakeland Ledger

That's Florida for those who don't know. WTF?

"Still a man hears what he wants to hear and he disregards the rest."

Simon and Garfunkel

Not all of this is pure fraud, a ton of this is simply ignorance, capped off with a heaping helping of fraud.

The MSM isn't a real news entity anymore it's got it's own agenda and has had that for decades, now it's off the charts in terms of history.

Even so grasping how bad this is going to be isn't something the media would ever be good at, in fact at the moment it finally wallows in despair we'll probably be bottoming.

This one is one for the ages, the size of this will be awe inspiring, you guys should spend hours a day talking to folks crying their eyes out in financial pain.

The people aren't quiet about it when they talk to me it comes gushing out about how strapped people are.

This is a one way ticket to financial hell, even people thinking they're safe aren't.

We're horribly vulnerable the whole economy is a house of cards and there's a hurricane comming.

Quote:

Here's a news headline today on my homepage ...State pension buying into tech firms - Lakeland Ledger

Fla. pension to invest in high-tech, space
By DAVID ROYSE 05.22.08, 2:56 PM ET
Forbes.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Up to 1.5 percent of the $137 billion state employee pension fund will be invested in Florida high-tech businesses like aerospace, renewable energy technology and biosciences under a measure signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist.

The bill, signed late Wednesday, also creates a $40 million prize to encourage the invention of a reusable space vehicle that could replace the space shuttle. It also allows the agency that invests state money to increase how much it puts into alternative options such as hedge funds and venture capital funds.

Crist attended a signing ceremony Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange to tout the new law. The measure is primarily aimed at investing retirees' money in businesses that will grow Florida's economy and could allow for nearly $2 billion to be invested in the state.

Such investments, in which the benefit to the community is considered instead of just the benefit to the investor, are know as "economically targeted investments."

The State Board of Administration, which invests the pension fund, can already put money in projects that benefit Florida if they meet other state requirements, but it is largely by coincidence that it does. The agency said this year that it currently holds about $650 million in investments that generally meet the definition because they are Florida companies or properties.

But the bill (SB 2310) directs the agency to put up to 1.5 percent of the net asset value of the retirement fund in such investments. The investments won't be allowed to conflict with other rules about what the pension fund can invest in, including those regarding the safety of the investment.

The new law will make Florida "really put our money where our mouth is, to invest in ourselves," Crist said in an interview Thursday on CNBC.

Florida should be investing retirees' money in companies that will do business in Florida, said Dr. Win Phillips, vice president of research at the University of Florida.

"It's a signal that the state is in business," said Phillips, noting that when the state invests in trying new businesses, it attracts private investors as well.

"If the state's not investing, the venture capital person says, 'My investment's not as safe in Florida as it is somewhere else,'" Phillips said.

The legislation also creates a contest to design a new vehicle that can go into orbit and return, because the space shuttle is scheduled to be retired in 2010.

NASA has already chosen a permanent replacement, the Constellation program, but it isn't expected to begin launching until 2015. Florida hopes to have an interim replacement to make sure there are launches from 2010 until the new program starts.

The program will use $20 million each from private and state sources to award a cash prize to a private sector firm or person who makes a significant contribution to designing a new renewable space vehicle by 2014.

Looks like the Concord Coalition gave up two years ago, Dakine.

http://www.concordcoalition.org/news/art....


Been receiving e-mails about them forever...maybe they don't advertise anymore...

hmm given gross' new position here, and that i agree (ssi aside), it may be worth looking into his fund in my 401k now.

BW, you are correct. The MSM has failed everyone, not just on this topic, but in general. J6P gets a lot of abuse on this forum, but he isn't stupid, just misinformed and uniformed by the willful misleading of the MSM. Hard to address a complicated issue such as this in a 20 second sound bite. Besides, gotta get to the next dick pill commercial, Britney Spears, or whatever drivel they deem news.

J6P is more than misinformed, they are nescient. For the past 30 years, they didn't know and they didn't care. They skim headlines and draw conclusions without taking the time to get into any depth. My Dad is a prime example. He 'knows' about certain events in the news, but doesn't understand the full context and because he doesn't take the time other than to absorb sound bites or 'fact lists', he comes to conclusions that are not well-formed and obviously directed by MSM agenda.

Well, I've been informing him - challenging him - and he's getting*****ed. *****ed that his retirement money that he worked his ass off to scrimp and save is getting skull-f&cked by the very party that he thought was 'pro-hard work'. He more*****ed, however, that as a hard-core Reagan Republican that he's actually considering voting for a Democrat. For a 66 year old guy, that's a major shift in perspective.

The conservative J6P immediately assume that all Republicans will 'help' the economy and will ensure that they'll keep America #1 - that's precisely why that moron Bush got re-elected. (Considering that this incumbent president narrowly got re-elected after defeating what one would call, at best, a marginal opponent, this isn't exactly a 'mandate from the people' no matter what he may think.) No matter what J6P is told, seen or even experience, they have this huge cognitive dissidence so ingrained that it just can't be shaken. It's more than blinders - they're downright conditioned.

But, now that they're starting to hurt - badly - I think that they're finally putting down the remotes and asking WHAT THE F***? They see the gas prices, they see the food prices, they see what's happening to housing, their 401(k) or pensions - and then to top it off, their taxes are going to skyrocket to pay for the mistakes of the people who already ripped them off!

The primary numbers showed a SURGE of new voters and a SURGE of participation of registered voters. TPTB have finally found that special 'line in the sand'.

Are the Democrats any better? Dunno... they're f***-ing useless that's for sure. Pelosi et al, couldn't lead their own hands to their asses

If anyone has any sense, then the 80% block should simply vote out any incumbent - Republican or Democrats - and get in a fresh batch of senators and reps. This will not only stir things up, but also tell those whose seats were not up for vote that they're number is up unless they get off their asses and do their job.

Unfortunately, though, I think this revving up by J6P will be easily quelled by some 'uptalking' and more 'promises' (for things that no one knows who exactly will pay for) and lulled back into their sense of mindless stupidity. (Stupidity such as 'suing' OPEC or 'speculators' or some other spectator sport that is supposed to demonstrate 'concern' or 'action' but nothing but hollow entertainment.)

EXCELLENT POST WEEZIE !



You hit the nail on the ****ing head there bro. Although, I did have to look up the term "Nescient"...but its all good, I needed a new term to describe my disdain for the sheeple

"...as a hard-core Reagan Republican that he's actually considering voting for a Democrat."

I voted for Bush twice, and this time around I'm going to vote for Obama. One of my brothers is so conservative that he wouldn't even vote for Bush, choosing instead some fringe party no-hoper, and he's going to vote for Obama too.

Dunno if we're representative of any large group, but...

It's been awhile, but Karl deserves some applause from Las Vegas for at least stepping up and saying something.

The sad part is that no one is going to do anything right now. Bernanke; Paulson; Dodd; Frank; they could care less.