| | Register
Who is Bob O'Brien?
Sanity Check Archive
Click Here to see Bob's Old Sanity Check articles.
About our Blogs

Blogs found on this website represent the opinion of the author. For more information please visit our terms of use.
Funny Bunny
Looking for something a little lighter?
Catch Bob's more irreverent and amusing pieces in his Funny Bunny Blog.

Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 6/7/2006 2:55 AM

The NY Post had a truly classic piece today, discussing the Milberg Weiss indictment.

Perhaps the single brightest moment of my day.

Here's my favorite quote - and I am not making this up:

"One class-action lawyer who worked with Milberg on three suits over the past decade told The Post he had repeatedly asked the firm's lawyers how they always seemed to have a plaintiff who had held the correct amount of stock for the requisite time.

"One [Milberg] lawyer told me that they tracked companies with a history of heavy debt loads, bad management and the like. He said that they had a network of 'pigeons' owning these shares."

The class-action lawyer said potential targets could be identified easily using general market sources and forensic accounting services that scoured balance sheets and corporate filing for red flags about a company's health.

How he wound up owning stocks that always seemed to collapse in scandal had been a subject of debate among securities lawyers.

One way Milberg apparently did not get their information was by working with short-sellers - investors who hope to profit when the stock price of a company falls. Traders at seven of the leading short-selling hedge funds told The Post they never helped Milberg identify likely targets. " 

Emphasis mine, lest you fail to appreciate the irony.

Can you imagine? Perps claiming they are innocent? Wow. How completely unexpected.

I wonder if any of the hedge funds were high on drugs or alcohol or seeing shrinks when they said that?

I wonder if the reporter was?

How did that conversation go, do you think?

"Hey, Marc, did you ever knowingly participate in a criminal racketeering scheme with the attorneys who have been indicted by the DOJ?"

"Uh...er....why, of course not! That is outlandish! I would never do anything illegal or bad. We make our outsized returns by, well, uh, you know, being really smart and stuff! Er....why...did you hear something?"

I mean, imagine how unexpected that is - 7 out of 7 short selling hedge fund managers - a breed well known for their honesty and ethical makeup - say they aren't felons engaging in racketeering.

Huh.

Just like the Gradient spokesperson said that journalists never had access to their reports in advance or real-time - until she had to admit that they in fact did.

Was Gradient one of Milberg's "forensic accounting services?" Can this get any more blatant as propaganda? Would this article be written differently if it was appearing in a Communist Chinese publication, and the goal was to assure the masses that the powers that be weren't involved in the larceny? It is so clumsy as to be embarrassing.

I wonder how many of the hedge funds are currently being investigated by the SEC?

Can you imagine that the hedge funds didn't tell the reporter that it was a fair cop, that they had in fact knowingly participated in numerous felonies, and used Milberg as part of a stock manipulation scheme? I mean, who needs cops or detectives - all we have to do is ask those suspected of wrongdoing, and they will tell us the truth!

"The way we knew, day in and day out, that complete surprises like NFI's out of nowhere WSJ article were going to take the stock down 50%, was because Mama Juju would intuit that somehow the companies were bad....which we would then act on by illegally paying plaintiffs to take positions and act as damaged shareholders. I mean, is that so wrong? Because we wouldn't have engaged in fraud, racketeering, money laundering, etc. if we had known it was wrong..."

Is it more sad that this is what passes for journalism on the East Coast, or that we are expected to be stupid enough to believe it? I mean, not we, specifically, because I don't read it except when someone sends me an article like this, or when I am reading about how the Page 6 editor's extortion scheme was unknown by everyone else, and how the rest of the paper isn't dirty, or anything.

Again, this is the sort of hard hitting journalism that is right up with "who's the Easter Bunny" and other gems. No surprise at its source.

"Mr. President, were you involved with breaking into Democratic headquarters at the Watergate hotel?"

"Uh....er...of course not! That is outrageous!  I am not a crook!"

And so on.

-----------

Carol also had a moment of hard-hitting journalistic bravado this week, when she covered the CFA conference on NSS' cancellation - which was easy, as she didn't have to be anywhere near the building there, either, as she wasn't at the NASAA conference she also "reported" on.

Apparently the organizer of the event had the temerity to have a position in OSTK - which is likely what drove his interest in the entire crisis in the first place.

This was treated as though some sort of scandalous development - why, is unknown.

The guy invited the SEC, the NYSE, the NASD, and the DTCC to appear at the conference, but nobody wanted to send anyone - which Carol twists into, "Here's why the panel is so one-sided; the organizer is an OSTK shareholder!"

Carol, sweetie, he did try to get all the folks from the "other side" to attend, so that there would be two sides represented - but nobody wanted to show their faces!

Is that so hard to understand, from your perspective? The reason that the panel was so "one-sided" (which I suppose means folks who are examining the evidence presented by OSTK and available from the market, and going, "Hey, this is completely out of whack - WTF?") is because none of the folks from the establishment side of the fence wanted any part of having their actions exposed or discussed with them in attendance.

Simple.

Here's an example of Carol's unbiased journalism:

"Whatever the outcome of the CFA LA panel, the stakes are high as powerful law firms and their clients try to weigh in on the topic and influence ongoing litigations."

Huh? Where is there any evidence that is the case? Oh, there is none. Just more spin from Carol.

Sort of like where she reported that the NASAA conference decided there was no NSS problem, or where she completely invented Cam Funhouser's statements to make them appear to claim something they did not.

At least she's consistent.

So this week was another new low for the NY press corps - and it's only Wednesday.

Golly, I wonder why so many Americans don't trust the mainstream media or their government anymore, and are getting most of their info from blogs and international news sources?

Hmmm.

That's a tough one.

 
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
Permalink  |  Trackback
Comments (27)
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By Retieff on 6/7/2006 7:03 AM
A good description of a NY financial journalist:

Welcome to the only thing sleazier than overbilling lawyers, overprescribing doctors shilling for pharamaceutical companies, greedy coporate executives, and used car salesmen: the American Journalist. Flawed and crooked and self-centered as the rest of us, but riding around on a high horse, pointing out everyone else's sins, but ignoring their own. This is the last great industry-wide scandal left uncovered in America. Because of course, they'd have to cover it themselves. And none of them have the bravery to take their own inventory, to list their own pathologically self-centered faults. They'd rather just go after yours. mine and those who disagree with them politically.

from http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2006/06/hows-that.html
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By bobo on 6/7/2006 7:04 AM
Didn't Milberg also claim that they are innocent of wrongdoing? That this was all a big misunderstanding? Wow. Remember Milken with his PR campaign to claim he was a national treasure, and innocent as the day is long?

Wall Street is filled with innocent men who don't know anything about any of that.

Isn't Elgindy still protesting his innocence even after being picked up jumping bail and trying to flee the country, and being convicted of numerous felonies?
Apparently the standard MO for Wall Street crooks (crooks everywhere, for that matter) is to deny everything, demand proof, and then blame everyone else, claiming they are vicims.

Makes one kind of sick. And that the press expects us to believe this happy horseshit is wild.

Fellas. Ever hear of Watergate? Iran Contra? The S&L crisis? Milken? The analyst scandal? The specialist scandal? The Mutual Fund frontrunning scandal?

Was there any one of these where the guilty parties DIDN'T claim innocence?
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By PhantomCertificates on 6/8/2006 4:44 AM
Hey everyone, if you can find the time today buy a copy of Investor's Business Daily and look on page A5. Patrick Byrne was interviewed by the financial newspaper. This just might bring the issue up to a whole new group of investors. The only downside I see in the article is that this site wasn't mentioned.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By browntrout on 6/7/2006 7:19 AM
Bobo- Amazing how these articles that keep saying the shorts have nothing to do with all of this criminal activity keep appearing. Painting a picture for their readers that all is well in Shortland, that everyone who lives there(Shorty, SEC, DTCC, NASD, DOJ, FBI, Wall Street, Hedge Funds, CONgress, Financial Press) is perfectly honest and that the sky is green. It is so plain in Shortland that the real guilty parties are none other than Mom and Pop Investor and they are getting what they deserve!
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By Don't buy it for one minute on 6/7/2006 7:28 AM
Fish wrapper smell... perhaps flop sweat.

There is a mandate to assume innocence until proven guilty. So far the evidence, annoymous testimony delivered in the press by the defense, is all that is before the community except the Eckerd's plaintiff who got put on the case without her knowledge by a certain hedge fund employee. Did Roddy interview this plaintiff and ferret out the connection? Also, Judge Patel didn't think it kosher for a short to bring suit when the price dropped. Roddy, did you interview the short-seller that got a reprimand from Judge Patel? Would you believe what these honorable people had to say?

The smell might be coming from the ink. "Ink stink".... laugh of the day.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By bobo on 6/7/2006 7:31 AM
I have it on impeccable authority that Gradient and Milberg worked together. Gradient is being sued for colluding with Rocker and SAC - two short selling hedge funds.

Connect the dots.

Apparently everyone but some NY "journalists" can.

How's this for a question for Milberg: "Did Gradient do work on your behalf, and bill you for it? Were you aware that they are being sued for colluding with two large hedge funds for publishing research that was nothing more than planted slams against those funds' short targets?"

But who would expect hard hitting NY journalists to ask tough questions like that, when they can paint those find folks at the hedge funds as innocent as the day is long?

I mean, it isn't like any of these folks have relatives who run hedge funds or anything...
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By cynabear on 6/7/2006 7:45 AM
Ok this may be a bit off topic but i am not sure where to post this...so i was reading this am and lo and behold this little racket by the iMF described below sounded alot like naked short selling except it was being done to gold to....... gasp........keep prices low........gasp........and if they had to actually account for all the gold they have loaned out/sold it would gasp..........bring the price of gold up to unheard of prices !....it appears to me that those in charge have figured out how to sell nothing to the rest of us and become filthy rich at it.....I am close to taking all money out of all markets and buying an out of the country ranch with a safe hidden in the floor ....


Double counting of gold by central banks may have aided the price suppression

SANGITA SHAH
Posted online: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 at 0019 hours IST



MUMBAI, JUNE 6: International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems to have had apparently directed member central banks to double-count their gold when it had been leased or swapped or otherwise had left a central bank’s vault or possession. Such a provision allowance for the central banks may have led to the gold price suppression which lasted between 1989-2001, after which price started moving upwards.
Gold hit a 26-year high of $732 an ounce on May 12. Gold has dropped 11% since then. Gold has not yet been able to cross the high of $ 830 mark it hit in 1988.

Central bank of US in particular has been seen as the primary mover in suppressing the gold price by lending the gold for trading without accounting for it. However, there have been no concrete proofs in this regard.

The paper, “Treatment of Gold Swaps and Gold Deposits (Loans),” written by Hidetoshi Takeda of the IMF’s Statistics Department and published in April acknowledges at length the potential for double-counting central bank gold under current IMF rules and suggests rules to prevent it.

The research paper commissioned by the IMF appears to confirm the US based Gold Anti-Trust Action (GATA) Committee’s longstanding complaint that the IMF has had been active on this front.

Responding to the research paper, GATA consultant Andrew Hepburn, who discovered the double-counting of leased and swapped gold at several IMF-member central banks, remarked that even in arranging to correct the gold deposit books of its members, the IMF still would allow them to be less than forthright.

Mr Hepburn noted IMF guidelines maintaining that “to qualify as reserve assets, gold deposits must be available upon demand to the monetary authorities.” But, Mr Hepburn added, central banks have lent so much gold to suppress its price and make it less competitive as a currency that their gold loans now far exceed annual gold mine production, and so the loaned gold cannot practically be repaid “upon demand.” Recovering the central banks’ loaned gold without exploding the gold market would take years.

In any case, the IMF’s acknowledgement of the double counting of loaned or swapped central bank gold is more evidence of central bank intervention in the gold market, Chris Powell, secretary/treasurer, GATA said in his dispatch.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By Jeremiah 9:24 on 6/7/2006 7:46 AM
The good news is, there clearly is something to the "speculation" that MW was in bed with criminal short sellers and compromised journalists and their media outlets. If there were not a trail that the criminals were trying to cover up, these pathetic Wall Street prostitutes would not be doing so.

In this arena, any allegation that Remond and her ilk deny is pretty much guaranteed to be true. Are the SEC and DoJ as gullible as these financial 'journalists' are acting? Well, hopefully at least the DoJ is not....
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By familiar tithes on 6/7/2006 7:47 AM
Containment, containment, containment! Where is the DNA? Could be uglier than a paternity suit in the monastery. Like the MW plaintiffs who were related, are you suggesting that others protect and defend the family first? That's not my baby!

The sins of the father? Apples don't fall far from the tree. Where is the disclosure?
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By TheresASpyInTheHouse on 6/7/2006 8:03 AM
Millberg Weiss claiming innocence? It set up a Web site just to make that argument-- http://www.milbergweissjustice.com/index.php
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By Patchie on 6/7/2006 9:12 AM
Now I have a question. If MW was so smart that they could run analysis that would predict the downfall of all these companies, why would they break the law to manufacture lawsuits that take years to complete and heavy expenses up front when all they had to do was take out short positions in the securities in the first place. Seems to me that they could have reaped nearly as much reward by trading off the analysis as they did running these scam lawsuits. The firm itself could have cut their O/H by reducing the number of lawyers if they did not have the 150 bogus class action suits to deal with.

Even a jaded hack like Boyd should have picked up on that one.

A question By Joseph Avenius on 6/7/2006 9:13 AM
Perhaps this is not the place for it, but I have been writing letters for over a year now, with only pap for replies. I am not giving up, but wanted to ask you a question- In terms of months, what would be your guess on when (if ever) the naked shorting of NFI will be cleared up?
Warm regards,
josephavenius@yahoo.com
A question By mhatmccane on 6/7/2006 9:40 AM
I too have been writing letters and getting pap in return- but
i still keep writing. I suspect the SEC will have to get cleaned up by Congress
before the naked shorting of NFI and other targets is cleaned up. If the Utah
action were to spread to a few more States, that may help.

Keep the faith
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By rtway1 on 6/7/2006 9:55 AM
Patchie, the word is greed. They thought more lines in the water the greater the catch instead of just using one net. Fishing is risky business.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By interested on 6/7/2006 10:52 AM
It is interesting how the prime brokers trading desk operations are able to be profitable quarter in and quarter out - regardless of the market being up or down. However the mutual funds run by the same brokers are not as profitable, and neither are their analyists or economisits on their projections on a sector or the entire market.

I wonder how they do that? Must be magic!
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By FreddoCazzo on 6/7/2006 11:58 AM
I hope people like Carol all end up either behind bars, or better yet, dead. This gene pool could use a lil chlorine!


You! OUTTA THE GENE POOL C&^%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


still Freddo...........even more Cazzo!
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By golfwalt on 6/7/2006 1:19 PM
It seems pretty lawyerly to set up plausible deniability. While MW obviously had advance notice of targeted companies from the shorties, they had to source their "forensic research" to Gradient to establish legitimacy. They just didn't plan on Gradient being outed as flunkies.

As to the suggestion that they could have made more trading because of their superior forensic skills than they could on lawsuits: the lawsuits had to be filed as part of the manipulation scheme.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By stormchaser on 6/7/2006 2:20 PM
UTAH...OH UTAH...DID YOU EVER OPEN A CAN OF WORMS...ME THINKS THE GENIE IS OUTTA THE BOTTLE
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By bobo on 6/7/2006 2:33 PM
This is very funny.

http://www.businessjive.com/nss/marketshuffle2.wmv

From the fine folks at Businessjive. It's a must watch.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By CRABBY BOB on 6/7/2006 4:17 PM
$1 Billion Legal Fee Eyed in Enron Suit

BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 31, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/33580

A class-action lawsuit over the collapse of Enron could produce the first billion-dollar award of attorneys' fees in the history of American securities litigation.

The renowned plaintiff's attorney pursuing the case, William Lerach of San Diego, has already won settlements of $7.2 billion from banks and investment firms accused of contributing to fraud carried out by Enron executives, two of whom were convicted on criminal charges last week by a Houston jury.

Settlements or trial verdicts against other brokerages and banks caught up in the case, such as Merrill Lynch & Co. and Barclays PLC, could push the recovery into the $10 billion range. Under a contingency-fee agreement with the lead plaintiff in the case, the University of California, a fund of that size would entitle Mr. Lerach's law firm, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, to roughly $1 billion.

"You get talking about legal fees of $1 billion, you get people's attention," a law professor at St. John's University, Michael Perino, said. "In terms of securities class actions, I think that's the largest fee I've ever heard of."

The deal reached with the university in 2002 entitles Mr. Lerach's firm to 8% of the first billion dollars recovered, 9% of the second billion, and 10% of all amounts above $2 billion. That works out to $690 million, so far, with more defendants likely to settle in advance of a trial set for Houston in October.

Under federal law, a judge would have to approve any fee award in the case. However, legal experts said courts generally defer to fee deals worked out between large institutional plaintiffs and their attorneys. "It is quite possible that the court could award fees consistent with the fee arrangement," Mr. Perino said. "Even if it means nigh on a billion dollars."

An award of that magnitude would be a remarkable personal coup for Mr. Lerach, who split two years ago with a longtime law partner, Melvyn Weiss of New York. In the divorce-like breakup of the Milberg Weiss firm, Mr. Lerach took the Enron case, filed in 2001, and dozens of lawyers. Mr. Weiss kept the firm's name and, along with it, an unusual legal problem, an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged illegal payments to plaintiffs in Milberg Weiss lawsuits.

Earlier this month, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman was indicted on federal conspiracy charges, along with two of the name partners at the firm, David Bershad and Steven Schulman. Neither Mr. Weiss nor Mr. Lerach were indicted, but attorneys for witnesses in the case said prosecutors were eager to make a case against both men. All have denied wrongdoing.

Prosecutors have hinted at further indictments, but for the moment Mr. Lerach appears to have gotten the better of the Milberg divorce, taking the lucrative Enron case while Mr. Weiss struggles to hold his firm together in the wake of the indictment. It is not known whether any portion of the Enron fee might flow back to Milberg Weiss.

Mr. Lerach did not return a call seeking comment for this article.

An attorney for the University of California, Christopher Patti, defended the deal with Milberg Weiss as fair based on what was known at the time about the likely value of the case. "We negotiated a fee we thought was quite reasonable and that would create incentives to get the class the best recovery," he said. "I don't think people can really argue with the outcome that it's produced."

A law passed in 1996 over President Clinton's veto, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, gave large institutional investors like pension funds more influence over the selection of attorneys in securities cases. In the Enron case, the university teamed with Milberg Weiss to seek the lead plaintiff's role. The school claimed that its endowment and pension funds lost $144 million on Enron securities. While the university tallied the largest single loss, other pension funds, including those of New York City, teamed up with rival law firms to try to take control of the Enron litigation.

"We were kind of throwing dirt at each other," a Texas attorney who battled Milberg Weiss in the case, Thomas Cunningham, recalled yesterday. He expressed some displeasure at losing out, but said Mr. Lerach has done an impressive job at recouping the estimated $40 billion in value wiped out by Enron's demise. "It's a fraction, unfortunately, of what people were owed, but he is getting people to pay big bucks," he said.

Judge Melinda Harmon awarded the lead status to the university because it was the individual plaintiff with the largest losses. In so doing, she saw the then-secret fee agreement with Milberg Weiss, though she did not formally approve it.

Mr. Perino said the escalating percentage for the fee is consistent with economists' suggestions that attorneys should be given a strong incentive to seek a maximum recovery for the class. "The increasing percentage theory says basically that the last dollars are the hardest dollars to get," he said.

However, the professor said the method may not be appropriate for sums as large as those in the Enron case. "Even at 8% of $2 billion, you're talking about a large amount. It's unclear to me on the margin that 1% or 2% would make much difference," he said.

A professor at Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University, Lester Brickman, said he was troubled that the university did not formally solicit proposals from a variety of law firms before making a selection. "It would be expected of them to engage in some competitive bidding, though in the final analysis the firm's reputation is one of the most significant factors in the competition," he said.

The connection with Mr. Lerach was made through a former university treasurer, David Russ, who saw a presentation the trial lawyer gave about Enron at an investors' conference, Mr. Patti said. Mr. Patti said his office gave "some thought to the alternative firms," but did not consider putting the case out to bid. "We don't usually go through that sort of process," he said. He noted that the university did not want to front any money for the case and few firms other than Milberg Weiss had the deep financial pockets to take it on. "The resources they have put in have been unmatched as far as I know in any securities case," Mr. Patti said.

A critic of class action litigation, Lawrence Schonbrun, said he is suspicious of the university's claims that it has vigilantly overseen the Enron case. A retired judge the university hired as a consultant on the case, J. Lawrence Irving, was paid more than $1.4 million by the state school, before being hired this month as a consultant by Lerach Coughlin. "This was not the ideal choice to monitor plaintiffs' counsel," Mr. Schonbrun said.

At $1 billion, if the Lerach firm dedicated 20 lawyers to work 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year for four years, the fee would work out to an hourly billing rate of $6,250 an hour. Fees for non-plaintiff's lawyers generally max out at close to $1,000 an hour.

http://www.nysun.com/article/33580
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By Niel Storts on 6/7/2006 4:45 PM
Well "Bob", the show goes on. herbie will spout his lies until he is taken down. That's his job. Our job is to hold our regulaters feet to the fire untill they do their job, and put this scum down on "D" block under the gentle care of Rastus the mad sodomite. If our paid clowns don't stand up and do something, send their wothless asses packing too. That is the solution. Hold the sec accountable. If the method of recourse is blocked for demanding accountablity from our paid whores. Off with their heads too.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By oldfeller on 6/7/2006 5:08 PM
Hope you guys step away and get your minds off this issue now and then. Sometimes I have to skip a few days reading this blog because I don`t need to get pissed off every day. I make an honest effort to not hate anybody, even assholes who desperately need it. There is more than enough hate in the world. Next time anybody feels like posting that murder is a solution just count to 10 and then try to use that energy to write passionately and eloquently to someone who is in a position to actually do something about it.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By SteveM on 6/7/2006 7:23 PM
7...8...9...10

Yep, off with their heads! It's called TREASON.

What is the proper punishment for a treasonous act?
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By mig on 6/7/2006 9:53 PM
I just watched NBC''s Dateline. They had a sting for sexual predators on the internet. When caught red handed many said I wasn't really going to do anything.

uh huh.
The ones that did admit they were going to try to have sex with a teen (even the one who stripped naked right when he came in the door) plead not guilty in court.

hhhhmmmmmmmm.
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By InTheKnow on 6/7/2006 11:42 PM
Hey... Roddy Boyd works for the NY Post. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Carol Remond is a French Canadian... need I say more?
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By FreddoCazzo on 6/8/2006 1:01 AM
I agree oldfeller....but there comes a time when eloquence and patience gives way. Its not about being filled with hate, as much as it is love for your fellow brothers and sisters who have been mercilessly raped, sodomized and choked.....such nefarious behaviors call for extreme measures sometimes......so please add a little bleach to the gene pool.....and wishing these people die is basically just wishing for the inevitable.....whats wrong with that?


justice is best served cold................still Freddo.......even more Cazzo..........but....with all due respect oldfeller. Even a young spry genious as myself knows how to respect my peers, unless of course nefarious things are going on.........



have a wonderfully blessed day




FC


IMFH Thieves!
Re: Fish Wrapped In NY Post Protest Low Quality Of Writing; Budgie Claims AP Bird Liner Cruel And Unusual By old duffer on 6/8/2006 3:01 AM
Markets messed with everywhere you look!

Folks pointing out the markets being messed with and trying to fight it evreywhere you look!

Regulators begged to stop markets being messed with everywhere you look! Everywhere you look the regulators seem to go out of there way to protect the markets and the good people they are paid to protect!

Stocks, gold and now silver. Is there a market anywhere you can find that is honest?

Look at this.



Proving The Silver Manipulation Again

By: Ted Butler



-- Posted 6 June, 2006



June 5, 2006 - Over the past ten years, I have argued that silver has been manipulated in price. One of my goals for writing publicly about silver was to terminate this manipulation. While I know that many people can’t understand my obsession with the manipulation, I make no apologies for my convictions. There is nothing more basic or important than keeping a market free of manipulation. This is the cornerstone of our market economy.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to convince the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), that large commercial interests manipulate the silver market. Long-term readers know how many different avenues I have taken to expose and terminate the manipulation. Many of you have participated in a number of the campaigns. For that, I am grateful.

Even though prices have increased significantly from the low levels of years past, it is still obvious to me that silver remains a manipulated market. I have recently discovered what I feel is compelling new proof of that manipulation. The intent of this essay is to convince the CFTC and get them to act against the manipulator. The short position of the four or less traders (possibly just one trader) has become so lopsided and out of balance that it cries out to be addressed by the regulators.

The CFTC’s most important responsibility is to prevent market manipulation. In order for the CFTC to satisfy this mandate, they are given a large taxpayer-funded budget and employ a large staff. In order to prevent manipulation, the CFTC relies on many different tools. These include speculative position limits, large trader reporting requirements, and various market oversight and surveillance techniques.

For there to be a manipulation of any kind, it must involve only a few participants, or even a single entity. By definition, great numbers of participants can’t possibly bring about a manipulation. There must be a concentrated, large position in order to have manipulation. Because of this, the CFTC monitors the concentrated positions of the largest traders in every market that it oversees. It publishes the concentration ratios of the largest 4 and 8 or less traders in every commodity futures contract, every week, when it reports these concentration ratios in the long form Commitment of Traders Report (COT).

This is the source data, which I claim proves that silver is manipulated. The very data that is maintained and published by the CFTC to monitor and prevent manipulation is what proves the manipulation. It also proves that the CFTC doesn’t even bother to analyze the data it monitors and publishes. According to the COT, for positions as of May 30, 2006, the 4 or less large traders in COMEX silver have a net short position that is more concentrated than at any time in history. It is far more lopsided in concentrated shorts compared to concentrated longs than any other major market. This short position is not only 3.5 times greater than the concentrated net position of the 4 or less largest long traders, it is also more concentrated and larger than any position held by the Hunt Brothers in the great silver manipulation of 1980.

The actual numbers state that the 4 or less largest traders are net short the equivalent of 181,584,000 ounces, while the 4 or less largest traders are net long 52,506,000 ounces, To put this short amount into perspective, it is more than is produced annually on the largest silver producing continent, North America (Mexico, US and Canada). It’s larger than the combined total holdings in the COMEX warehouses and the silver ETF (SLV). The concentrated net short position is staggering in size.

Does an extremely large and concentrated position automatically mean a market is manipulated? Not necessarily, even though you can’t have a manipulation without a concentrated position. But once you establish that a large, concentrated position exists, allegations of manipulation cannot be summarily dismissed. The situation must be examined with a higher level of regulatory scrutiny than as if there were no concentrated position. If there are other clues that suggest manipulation, then the regulators should be on red alert. I think those clues exist for anyone who takes an objective look. Start with the fact that COMEX silver has always had the largest short position relative to real world production and inventory. Then ask, why did the price remain comatose for decades while the market was in a clear documented deficit? In other words, what overrode the law of supply and demand?

Another big clue is the silver price action itself. Because the shorts are more concentrated (and the longs less concentrated) in COMEX silver than in any other market, the price declines are always more dramatic than the price advances. Contrary to all the talk one hears about silver being in a bubble and run up in price by speculators and hedge funds, the undeniable evidence proves that it is the shorts with the largest concentrated position. It is easy for the shorts to collude and pull bids because there are so few of them. The longs are spread out and operate independently of each other, just as it should be. The shorts are cohesive and all read from the same playbook, in defiance of commodity law.

Generally, the concentrated net long and net short positions of the largest traders are comparable. In the majority of markets, the position of the longs is equal to or larger than that of the shorts. These markets include wheat, corn, and soybeans, 3-month Euros, 2-year, 5-year and 10-year notes, 30-year bonds, some stock indices, hogs, cattle, cotton, and coffee, heating oil, crude oil, natural gas and gasoline. This appears normal, as legitimate and opposing economic requirements lead to rough balance between the largest traders in every market. But that’s not the case with silver.

In the silver market, the concentrated short position towers over the concentrated long position to an extent not found anywhere. What can we say about this extreme condition in silver? Well, for starters, since you have to have concentration to have a manipulation, no one can dare suggest that silver is manipulated to the upside. However, on the short side, the unusual and extreme concentration makes a downward manipulation, not just possible, but probable.

Turn this situation around and imagine that the extreme concentration in silver was on the long side. The regulators would be all over a concentrated futures long position of 180 million ounces, just like they were with the Hunts in 1980. The regulators at the CFTC and the NYMEX know that commodity law does not favor the shorts over the longs. So why do the regulators allow this?

Furthermore, this concentrated short position appears to be naked. If so, it can result in delivery default problems. Just last week, Commissioner Hatfield was warning the Silver Users Association about the supply of silver, due to the silver ETF, and nationalization fears in Latin America. Is the Commissioner aware of this concentrated short position? Will he or the CFTC or the COMEX guarantee there will be no problems in delivery or pricing because of it?

To make matters potentially much worse, the term "4 or less" is intentionally vague enough to hide the fact that one trader may hold the lion’s share of the 180 million ounces. In my opinion, the largest single trader holds more than 100 million ounces. This is equal to what the Hunts held in 1980. Because it is short position, it is potentially more disruptive than a concentrated long.

The remarkable thing about the concentrated short position in COMEX silver is that it has emerged even as the total dealer short position has been reduced. This phenomenon is what directed me towards the extreme level of concentration. In other words, while all the dealers are closing out short positions, the very biggest trader(s) is becoming more isolated and makes up the highest percentage of total dealer net shorts ever, around 75% of the total commercial net short position. What percentage does it have to reach before the CFTC reacts?

This is what makes the manipulation so obvious. Against a widely dispersed long position, the short position is more concentrated than ever. The CFTC maintains and publishes the concentration ratios for a reason. That reason is not to give me something to write about. The reason is to prevent manipulation. I think it is time for the CFTC to analyze and act on their own data.

I am sending this article to the new chairmen of the CFTC and the NYMEX/COMEX, with a cover letter asking that they look into and respond to this issue. Generally speaking, there is a better chance of a timely response if many people contact them. If you do decide to contact them, please feel free to send my article.


The Honorable Reuben Jeffery III

Chairman

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW
Washington DC 20581

RJeffery@cftc.gov

Richard Schaeffer

Chairman

NYMEX/COMEX

World Financial Center
One North End Avenue
New York, NY 10282-1101

RSchaeffer@nymex.com


-- Posted 6 June, 2006

Your name:
Title:
Comment:
Please limit your comments to 500 characters. For longer comments, use our forums.
Subscribe via Email
Get This Blog via Email:


Powered by Squeet.com
Sanity Check Archive