Married to the Lehman Mob
Married to the Lehman mob
- From: The Times
- March 15, 2010
In the book, Dick Fuld is revealed to be a cheif executive less interested in Lehman Brothers’ daily business than dress codes at the company’s strictly attended parties and fund-raising events. Source: AFP
WHEN an explosive 2200-page legal report on the collapse of Lehman Brothers landed with a thud in New York last week exposing the grand deception the firm used for years to mask its perilous financial situation, many were left wondering how so many of its senior executives could have been so bloody stupid.
What made them think that they were so special that the normal rules of the market, of the law and of common sense did not apply to them?
The answers to these questions can be found in The Devil’s Casino, a forthcoming expose on Lehman by Vicky Ward, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair.
A British journalist who moved to New York in 1997, she lives in a smart town house in Greenwich Village. The idea for the book, her first, came to her after she had written a profile of Jean-Marie Messier, former chief of the French media company Vivendi, for which she approached many Vivendi insiders.
“Nobody would talk to me because they were all so terrified,” she says, “but the moment he fell from power, everybody wanted to talk.” Ward knew it would not be hard to find Lehman insiders, some of whom were acquaintances, to talk, but she had little idea that she would finally write a book that focused more on the saga of the firm’s behind-the-scenes life than the drama of its ending. The book lifts the lid on the extraordinary culture of a firm where an almost messianic belief in unity – motto: “one firm” – turned its New York offices into a sealed capsule that shut itself off from the rest of the world like a cult.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd losing support in Western Sydney
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd losing support in western Sydney EXCLUSIVE by Simon Benson From: The Daily Telegraph March 03, 2010 12:00AM That sinking feeling … Prime Minster Kevin Rudd. Source: The Daily Telegraph THE chance of Australia going to an early election has lessened, with internal Labor research exposing a negative shift in mood Continue Reading →
Fund money gone to dodgy dealer
Fund money gone to dodgy dealer
STUART WASHINGTON AND JOHN GARNAUT
March 2, 2010
THE bulk of $125 million in Australian money invested in five offshore hedge funds has been sent to a known spiv, in what could become the largest case about missing cash in Australian history.
Frank Richard Bell, a British broker with a history of dubious deals, has been named as the manager of an offshore fund that received $75 million invested in Astarra Strategic.
Money sent to Mr Bell’s Exploration Fund provides the latest twist in an international hunt for more than $120 million invested in Astarra Strategic. And those close to the investigation admit it is likely no funds will be recovered.
State of the economy (Barnaby Joyce)
Labor has partied hard but now we face the debt hangover
- From: The Australian
- February 25, 2010
AUSTRALIA’S gross foreign debt, taking into account both the public and private sectors, is more than $1.232 trillion.
The net foreign debt is about $638 billion. It is one of the highest net debt to gross domestic product ratios in the developed world.
As Treasury official David Gruen told a Senate estimates committee recently, it is higher than the US, Japan and Britain. The only country that could be confirmed as higher than ours, at the latest estimates hearing, was New Zealand.
Australia’s gross sovereign (government borrowing) debt during that estimates hearing was $123.11bn, but by last Friday it had climbed to $125.483bn.
If we keep borrowing at this rate Australia and all who rely on the government to provide a basic service of health, defence, subsidised medicine, childcare, unemployment benefits, pensions, are all going to arrive at a point of reckoning. Stresses will be placed on the government budget because we did not manage the debt at a point where it was manageable.
Let The Joyce Era Begin
satire
10 Feb 2010
Let The Joyce Era Begin!
Say what you like about Barnaby Joyce, it’s no easy job being shadow finance minister. It’s time to cut Australia’s greatest retail politician some slack, writes Ben Pobjie
What is “finance”? Does anybody really know? It’s a mysterious, nebulous concept, like “alternative music” and “feminism”. This is what makes it, without doubt, the most difficult portfolio in government.
After all, most ministers have some idea, in broad terms, of what their job involves: the Defence Minister is there to oversee the armed forces and to investigate naval sex parties; the Foreign Minister is there to deal with foreigners so the rest of us don’t have to; the Communications Minister is there to ruin the internet for everyone; the Environment Minister is there to provide something sturdy for Penny Wong to rest her feet on; and so on.
The Election Will Not Be Fought On Climate
federal politics (NEW MATILDA COM) 29 Jan 2010 The Election Will Not Be Fought On Climate By Ben Eltham Before Parliament resumes, Ben Eltham takes a closer look at the speeches made by Rudd and Abbott during the holiday break: what do they tell us about the year ahead? You have to hand it to our Continue Reading →