Tag archive for ‘Wall Street’

• Does Orrin Hatch Want to Bail Out the Hamptons?

  18 May 10 • 3 comments

  In today’s New York Times, Andrew Sorkin describes the sweetheart taxes for hedge-fund and private-equity partners as follows:

  General partners at private equity funds, who take a cut of the investment gains they earn for their investors in the form of “carried interest,” have been paying federal taxes worth only 15 percent of that cut.

  This means the “gods of Greenwich” receive about a 24.6 percent tax break. That’s because the highest bracket on ordinary income—currently 35 percent—is expected to return to 39.6 percent. And the gods don’t pay taxes on their carried interests until they liquidate and pull out the cash.

• Why Jim Cramer is Completely, Totally Wrong

  13 May 10 • Comments Off

  I admire Jim Cramer – I think he’s a very talented macroeconomist. However, I think Jim’s been drinking too much Kool-Aide. Either that or he’s stressed out from all of the recent market volatility. Last week, he predicted that by 2011 there would be a housing shortage.

  That’s right, a shortage.

• Morgan Stanley and Dead Presidents

  12 May 10 • Comments Off

  The news is out. US prosecutors are investigating several Morgan Stanley CDOs. Like the Abacus inquiry at Goldman Sachs, the issue is what representations Morgan Stanley made to clients. How did the bank market those Weapons of Money Destruction? Here’s what The Wall Street Journal reports:

  Among the deals that have been scrutinized are two named after U.S. Presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson, a person familiar with the matter said. Morgan Stanley helped design the deals and bet against them but didn’t market them to clients. Traders called them the “Dead Presidents” deals.

  So without further ado, I’d like to play a little song for my friends from Morgan Stanley. I give you Little Walter and Dead Presidents:

• Financial Reform: What Crawls Out of the Petri Dish?

  10 May 10 • 10 comments

  The pending financial reform reminds me of a high-school science experiment where there are no constants. Where the scores of inputs are variable. Where no one knows what will crawl out of the regulatory petri dish. Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on one core issue—like getting our exchanges right—before taking massive action across multiple fronts?

• Do You Want This Guy Managing Your Money?

  10 May 10 • Comments Off

  The Huffington Post posted this video of a trader freaking out last Thursday. If you haven’t seen this video yet, spend a few minutes on this one.

• How’s It Feel To Trade 1,000 Points Down?

  9 May 10 • Comments Off

  Last Thursday the Dow lost almost 1,000 points in less than ten minutes. Then, the markets rebounded something fierce. Here’s a guy calling action in the pits. Watch the right corner of the screen as the market slumps:

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