In our current time of intermittent financial panics, the banking sector stands out in its unpopularity: major bank stocks are trading well below the book value of those banks. What has everyone so terrified?
For months now, the world has been zapped periodically by mini financial panics, a sign that money people everywhere are extremely skittish. This morning, we have all the makings of a very bad day.
Goldman Sachs is a Very Sophisticated Wall Street Firm which is paid a good deal of money for its expertise in reading the financial markets. How is that going this year?
Life at the world’s largest hedge fund: “In an iPad app called ‘Dot Collector,’ employees weigh in on the direction of conversations while they are happening. Employees also are quizzed about the outcome of meetings. Any meeting of at least three people is expected to hold at least one poll.”
“Hillary Clinton Is Again Put on the Defensive Over Perceived Ties to Wall Street,” the New York Times frets today. Whatever could be going on here?
Thankfully, when Anderson Cooper asked Hillary Clinton about her Wall Street ties at tonight’s Democratic town hall, she didn’t try to invoke 9/11 this time. She did, however, mar what would have otherwise been a notably personable performance with one of her worst Goldman Sachs justifications yet.
Goldman Sachs analysts are getting attention for speculating that if corporate profit margins stay at their abnormally high levels, it may raise fundamental questions about “the efficacy of capitalism.” But don’t fool yourself—Goldman Sachs is far too sophisticated to believe that capitalism “works.”
The latest numbers on presidential campaign donations for this election cycle show that even while all the candidates are vowing to take on Wall Street, the political power of Wall Street’s money is increasing.
The fees you pay to invest in mutual funds are “tumbling toward zero” thanks to the growing popularity of low-cost index fund investing and, more broadly, the growing realization among average investors that well-paid Wall Street guys can’t pick winning investments any better than you can.
“The 20 most profitable hedge funds for investors earned $15 billion last year while the rest of the industry collectively lost $99 billion.”
Stephen Schwarzman, a private equity billionaire who threw himself a zillion-dollar birthday party during the recession and compared raising taxes on the rich to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, has a question: why are people in America so mad these days?
The AFL-CIO, one of America’s most powerful labor groups, is trying to make it harder for Wall Streeters to jump directly into government jobs. This is one of those “ideological litmus test” things we hear so much about!
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down (another) 400 points so far today, as oil prices continue to fall with no end in sight and a major investment bank announces new layoffs. Like 2008, this will be a year of panic. Prepare.
It’s not even 1 p.m. yet, and the U.S. stock market has fallen more than 500 points today, capping a full week of sharp declines and general fear. Financial apocalypse TK??? We hope so—for the excitement! Assuming we don’t get laid off.
Last year was horrible in many ways, but it was not horrible in at least one way: for the first time since the Great Recession, we have all decided to stop handing billions of our dollars to Wall Street money managers for no good reason.
Vice President Joe Biden, a man for whom every day is a living nightmare in which he is not running for president, dissed Hillary Clinton on CNN last night. Clinton is “relatively new” to engaging with income inequality, he said, while rival Bernie Sanders “has credibility” on the issue. Oh damn.
You know that the ultrawealthy in America are getting nervous when they enlist Deepak Chopra in their showy, useless gestures about fixing income inequality.
It was a tough year for hedge funds: the third worst, according to the Absolute Return Composite Index, since 1998. (A bad ten years, actually.) But holiday parties are about togetherness and gratitude or whatever, so why not invite Katy Perry and Maroon 5 if you can still swing it?
“Private equity firms charged $20 billion of ‘hidden fees’ to almost 600 companies they owned in the last two decades,” according to a new study. Remember: it’s lazy welfare recipients who are robbing this country blind.
