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Review Comments | 07.15.09

US to unveil hedge fund legislation – “The Obama administration will on Wednesday unveil draft legislation that will require all US hedge funds with more than $30m in assets under management to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” You knew it was coming. [FT.com]
Private Equity Industry Says It Poses No Systemic Risk – “The private equity industry’s main lobbying group said Wednesday it supported legislation that would require all firms of a certain size to register as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but urged lawmakers to avoid onerous regulations.” [DealBook]
Fed Upgrades Economic Projections, but Expect Worse Unemployment – Minutes did not show the over/under of minutes it takes for Hank Paulson’s dismembering of all the members of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing tomorrow. [WSJ]

Review Comments | 07.14.09

HSBC Sued Over $578 Million ‘Fake’ Profit From Madoff – Simply stated, clawbacks are a bitch. [Bloomberg]
House Health Bill Slaps 5.4% Tax on Top Earners – “House Democrats Tuesday proposed new taxes on the wealthy to help fund an expansion of government health benefits. But the bill also includes a mechanism to peel back the tax increases if the revenue isn’t needed to fund the bill.” [WSJ]
IASB promotes ‘fair value’ rule change – “A radical shake-up of how banks and insurers report the value of financial instruments has been proposed by international accounting rule-setters in a bold attempt to resolve an intense dispute at the heart of efforts to prevent a repeat of credit crisis.” Don’t hold your breath on this. Banks won’t be down for it. [FT.com]

Review Comments | 07.09.09

Economists Oppose More Stimulus – Your rebuttal, Professor Krugman [WSJ]
Fed’s Bullard Says He Doesn’t See Economic Recovery Faltering – “We are going to have just the right policy to get the right inflation rate,” Bullard said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. “I do not buy into the stories about the Fed making a mistake one way or the other going forward.” You got a like a guy with confidence I guess [Bloomberg]
Madoff Trustee Says 15,400 Claims Were Filed – “The final tally of claims from victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme comes to more than 15,400, up from 8,800 claims filed at the end of June, according to an update provided on Thursday to the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.” Who’s putting this off? Did some just hear about this story? Not at the top of the do list to call Irv Picard and say “yeah, we had some cash in there”? [DealBook/NYT]

Review Comments | 07.08.09

Six charged in shares fraud case – “Six employees of the Wall Street firm Sky Capital Holdings have been charged with carrying out a $140m (£87m) investment fraud in the US and Britain.” [BBC]
AIG in talks with MetLife over Alico – In case you didn’t hear, AIG owes some money [FT.com]
Hedge Fund Buys Buffett Lunch A Year After Losing 66% – Guess they really need some pointers from the Oracle. [Clusterstock]

Review Comments | 07.07.09

Oil Price to Match Record $147 in Three Years, Pickens Says – And he says in ten years it will be $300 a barrel. Anyone listening? We didn’t think so [Bloomberg]
Pope Calls for New Economic Structure – Shit your holiness, you want the job? [Washington Post]
Greenberg’s Starr Prevails in AIG Court Fight – “A jury on Tuesday rejected claims that a sister company to American International Group Inc., at the direction of Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, AIG’s former chief executive, improperly seized control of millions of shares of the insurer’s stock.” [WSJ]

Review Comments | 07.06.09

New GM to Be ‘Fully Launched’ This Month, Rattner Says – “A new company containing General Motors Corp.’s top assets is expected to be ‘fully launched’ by month’s end under a new board and majority ownership of the U.S. and Canadian governments, President Barack Obama’s top auto adviser said Monday.” [WSJ]
California Downgraded By Fitch – This could be the beginning of something bad…Moody’s, your move. [Clusterstock]
Tribune Said to Finalize Deal to Sell Cubs – The new era of losing begins. [DealBook/NYT]

Review Comments | 07.02.09

•In New York City, Fewer Murders on Rainy Days – It’s got to have something to do with those ubiquitous black $3 umbrellas. They’re like security blankets. [New York Times]
•U.S. marshals begin seizure of Madoff property in NY – Quaint penthouse, UES for those cool with living with the ghosts of charities and elderly Jews [Reuters]
•Arnie’s IOUs will pay 3.75 per cent – Ken Lewis will be making his counter-offer shortly [FT Alphaville]

Review Comments | 07.01.09

No Evidence Found to Charge Ruth Madoff – The aggression will obviously continue. [WSJ]
Consumer Interest ‘Huge’ in Clunker Plan, LaHood Says – Call us party poopers but it seems like manufactured consumption. [Bloomberg]
Pimco: Consumer “greed” hibernating, fear rules – Greed will be good again. Don’t you worry. [Reuters]