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Jon Corzine

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Jon Corzine: The Face of American Crony Capitalism

By , Economist, Money Morning -

This week, House Republicans called for a criminal probe of Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and former CEO of MF Global. Republicans allege that Corzine may have committed perjury when testifying in front of Congress after his firm's collapse.

Actually, Corzine personally ran MF Global into the ground.

In October 2011, MF Global declared bankruptcy after Corzine made a bad bet on $6.4 billion in European sovereign debt. After the collapse, more than $1.2 billion in client funds went missing.

Corzine has denied any wrongdoing, even though recorded conversations suggest that Corzine was directly responsible for illicitly redirecting customer funds.

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How the CFPB is Targeting Americans for Personal Financial Data

By , Economist, Money Morning -

Three cheers for privacy rights under the Obama Administration…

And if the sarcasm doesn’t leak from those words, it’s time for me to start designing coloring books.

Last week, the newest Washington agency designed to protect us from ourselves, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was caught collecting data on more than 10 million ordinary Americans without their knowledge or permission.

Not only does the law that created the CFPB, the Dodd-Frank Act, prohibit this sort of data collection, but it is just another example of how government is using poorly designed laws to intervene in the lives of everyone.

The government is once again targeting ordinary Americans while letting the real financial criminals preying on Americans walk away Scott free.

Another “Data Project” Means More Spying on Americans

According to reports, the CFPB has allocated more than $20 million in its budget to collect and track the spending habits of more than 10 million Americans. Despite this new government initiative, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Ida.) has suggested that the data collection project could become much more widespread than expected.

The agency is in the process of building a database of personal customer information, including monthly credit card, mortgage, car and other financial payments. Private contractors (crony friends of Washington) will store the data and share it with other federal agencies and Congressional staffs whenever it is ever needed – without really explaining why it is needed.

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Here It Is, The Jon Corzine Quote of the Week

By , Capital Wave Strategist, Money Morning • @WallStreet_II -

Here it is, the quote of the week!

"Choices made by Jon Corzine during his tenure as chairman and CEO sealed MF Global's fate."

No, sorry, that's not it. Here it is, the quote of the week!

"All of the firm's significant business decisions were subject to review, debate and approval by MF Global's board. At all times, Mr. Corzine acted in good faith and did what he believed was necessary to turn around MF Global."

The first quote is from written remarks penned by Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican from Texas and the chairman of the oversight panel of the investigative subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, which just last week issued its 100-page "report" on what happened at MF Global over a year ago.

The latter quote is from some PR (that's public relations) hack representing Jon Corzine.

Now, look, I'm not going to waste time talking about what's really important here. Sure, you guys seem to care a lot about the facts, but I'm not going to muck up this opinion space with any.

Facts clearly aren't that important.

Because if they were, I would be talking about how the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the charred carcass of MF Global already said - back in his June report - that it was Mr. Corzine's aggressive trading strategy and a lack of internal oversight that led to MF Global's downfall.



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It Looks Like the Market Is Saying "OMG"

By , Capital Wave Strategist, Money Morning • @WallStreet_II -

Today I want to talk about a few things I've been scratching my head over lately.

First, about those polls leading up to the presidential contest.

How come they were so wrong? How come the candidates were inches apart right up to the finish line, and then it's like a "tortoise and the hare" kind of ending?

Did Romney even finish? Is he finished? Is the Republican Party finished?

Maybe the problem is the questions they ask, the pollsters, that is, or the way they ask them. Maybe they ask questions like a lawyer leading a witness would.

You have to wonder who pays for those polls, too. Survey says: the Super PACs - or is that the stupid hacks? Don't you wish they'd post the questions they asked along with the "Survey Says" results?

And, how stupid are the markets, make that investors, you know who you are. The day of the election, the market was anticipating a Romney victory, after all the polls said it was more than possible, so we got a smart little rally.

Then reality set in. Four more years. And you think it's going to get better?

Here's something else to chew on. If you think the Republicans are going to roll over and play dead, now that they are dead, think again.

The only way to fight back when you're dead is to kill the other guy, so you're both dead. Then, of course, you say, I was dead first, I couldn't have killed the economy, I couldn't have driven us over the fiscal cliff, they did it!

It looks like the market is saying, OMG (that's Oh My God, for you non-texters), we're going over the cliff and there's no stopping us.

Trust me on this one, that cliff everyone's been talking about - it ain't the only cliff.

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