Friday Listing

Thought I was gone for good? Nope. I'm back today for a brief pop-in.
The SEC just announced charges against Goldman-Sachs and I couldn't stay away.
The allegations, in a nut shell:
"Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party,"so says Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
The unnamed "client" is John Paulson, FYI.
Talk about an "I'm Glad It's Not Me" day. I'm glad I'm not:
* a lawyer in the SEC enforcement division.
* a baby lawyer at the firm Goldman hired to defend it. Lord, I'm glad I'm not that.
* Fabrice Tourre, the loose-lipped Goldman golden boy who gloated in an email to his friend,
"More and more leverage in the system. The whole building is about to collapse anytime now.�Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab . . . standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstruosities!!!!"[sic]
* John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund manager who worked in concert with Goldman to pick super crappy mortgages for Goldman's ABACUS CDO (Paulson shorted it, of course), even if he wasn't charged by the SEC.
* David Kotz, the author of the SEC report, also released today, which says the SEC knew about Allen Stanford's ponzi scheme as early as 1997. But the SEC failed to act because of "institutional influence." Now that's a euphemism worthy of award.
* this school photographer. For heaven's sake! How do these people stay in business?
On a somewhat, but not very, related note, Mr. M just got home from school and reported his playground altercation. One of the kids refused to get off of Mr. M's bike and after a protracted exchange, Mr. M pushed the perp. A mother standing nearby told him to "use your words."
Sorry to offend, but I can't stand that ridiculous talk. "Use your words," "use your inside voice," and "that's a sad choice," are just plain silly and I told Mr. M so.
To which he replied, "You know, I was thinking this morning on my way to school that you are a good mom. Because you don't talk in a squeaky voice like all the other moms do."
Score one for the blunt mom. Yes, on this day I'm especially glad to be me.
My hope is to post next week on the commerce clause. Although always a sexy and scintillating topic, now it's a timely one, too, in light of our new health care law and the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court. (Oh, that unemployment post I was working on? Meh. Too boring and depressing).
In the meantime, here's letting you in on some big news. If you've been the internet slug that I've been lately, you may not know that our beloved Dental Maven has a new website. She's moved from the "know your teeth" spot and into her own.
This Maven is witty, wizardly . . . and chock-full of stories, like her post on cheaters. Is your husband brushing his teeth every day? This could be a bad omen, girls.
Thinking about saving money by using an unlicensed dentist? Bwahahaha. The Dental Maven will set you straight.
Happy Friday. Happy Glad-to-be-Me Day.

Labels: Bad School Pictures, Dental Maven, Goldman Sachs, Paulson, Stanford, Tourre