Accidentally Released Documents Show How Goldman et al Engaged in ‘Naked Short Selling’
May 16th, 2012Via: Rolling Stone:
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes God smiles on us. Last week, he smiled on investigative reporters everywhere, when the lawyers for Goldman, Sachs slipped on one whopper of a legal banana peel, inadvertently delivering some of the bank’s darker secrets into the hands of the public.
The lawyers for Goldman and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch have been involved in a legal battle for some time – primarily with the retail giant Overstock.com, but also with Rolling Stone, the Economist, Bloomberg, and the New York Times. The banks have been fighting us to keep sealed certain documents that surfaced in the discovery process of an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit filed by Overstock against the banks.
Last week, in response to an Overstock.com motion to unseal certain documents, the banks’ lawyers, apparently accidentally, filed an unredacted version of Overstock’s motion as an exhibit in their declaration of opposition to that motion. In doing so, they inadvertently entered into the public record a sort of greatest-hits selection of the very material they’ve been fighting for years to keep sealed.
Greece: Concern About Bank Runs
May 16th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
Greek President Karolos Papoulias was told by the central bank chief this week that financial institutions are becoming anxious about their prospects as Greeks pull out cash after the inconclusive May 6 elections.
Central bank head George Provopoulos told Papoulias that Greeks have withdrawn as much as 700 million euros ($891 million) and the situation could worsen, according to the transcript of the president’s meeting with party leaders on May 14 that was published yesterday.
“Provopoulos told me that of course there’s no panic but there’s great fear which can evolve into panic,” he said.
…
The risk of a run on Greek banks is “a very serious problem,” Yannis Ioannides, professor of economics at Tufts University in Massachusetts, told Bloomberg Television. He said the European Central Bank needs to guarantee deposits held by the region’s lenders to guard against contagion. “That’s the only way to kill a bank run: not words but deeds.”
Greece to Hold New Elections After Talks to Form Government Fail
May 15th, 2012Via: National Post / Reuters:
Greece will hold a new election after politicians failed to form a government on Tuesday, nine days following an inconclusive vote, prolonging a political crisis that pushes it closer to bankruptcy and exit from the euro.
After a third day of failed talks with political leaders, a spokesman for President Karolos Papoulias said the process of seeking a compromise had been declared a failure and a new vote must be held.
Moody’s Downgrades Italian Banks, Outlook Negative
May 15th, 2012Via: Reuters:
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 26 Italian banks on Monday, citing the country’s recession and rising bad debt levels.
The banks were all downgraded by at least one notch, and for some, by as many as four notches, Moody’s said, adding all of the banks affected have a negative outlook.
NBC: Revolution
May 15th, 2012Via: YouTube:
Semi-Related: The E-bomb: Defence Secretary Warns Of EMP Weapons Threat
Beyond the Black Rainbow: ‘A Reagan-Era Fever Dream’
May 15th, 2012Via: YouTube:
DataKiller Instantly Obliterates Data on Magnetic Media
May 15th, 2012It makes a satisfying pop sound.
Via: Engadget:
Platform of Japan demonstrated the information obliterating devices at the Information Security Expo. A large powerful magnet realigns the bits on the surface of the drive’s platters eliminating all trace of the data that existed before, without physically damaging the hardware. With just the push of a button a Data Killer can wipe practically any magnetic media, including tapes or an aging floppy disk. The data disposals even come in different sizes, allowing you to kill just a single 3.5-inch disk or up to 14 at a time. The larger models can even accept an intact laptop.
Canon: Fully Automated Digital Camera Manufacturing by 2015
May 15th, 2012Via: AP:
Canon Inc. is moving toward fully automating digital camera production in an effort to cut costs — a key change being played out across Japan, a world leader in robotics.
If successful, counting on machines can help preserve this nation’s technological power — not the stereotype of machines snatching assembly line jobs from workers, Jun Misumi — company spokesman, said Monday.
The move toward machine-only production will likely be completed in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2015, said Misumi, although he declined to give specific dates.
Japanese manufacturers have been moving production abroad recently to offset the earnings damage from the soaring yen.
And fears are growing about a hollowing-out of Japan Inc. as jobs move to China, India and the rest of Asia, where labor costs are cheaper.
Misumi was adamant that jobs won’t be cut at Canon.
“When machines become more sophisticated, human beings can be transferred to do new kinds of work,” he said.
Kodak Park Had a Nuclear Reactor
May 14th, 2012Via: Democrat and Chronicle:
For more than 30 years, Kodak Park was home to a little-known underground labyrinth containing a small nuclear research reactor, one of the few of its kind in the world.
It wasn’t a power plant, and carried no risk of explosion. Nothing ever leaked. Eastman Kodak Co. officials say the research device was perfectly safe.
Still, the reactor was locked down, remotely surveilled and tightly regulated — mainly because it contained 3½ pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Profits: Louisiana is the World’s Prison Capital
May 14th, 2012Via: Times Picayune:
Louisiana is the world’s prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana’s incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran’s, seven times China’s and 10 times Germany’s.
The hidden engine behind the state’s well-oiled prison machine is cold, hard cash. A majority of Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit facilities, which must be supplied with a constant influx of human beings or a $182 million industry will go bankrupt.
