The eXile

Vanity Fair profiles Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames and their paper "The eXile."

I've been reading the eXile for a while. I'm not really sure how long. I've always been shocked at what they've been able to get away with, but that's not what's kept me coming back. They're so damned accurate. They'll nail things way before anyone else. Mark Ames has "the best best bullshit detector on Earth," finely honed after many years in Russia.

They pull no punches, Democrat or Republican: 20 Reasons Why We're Ashamed to be an American.

Their most offensive series ever was "Whore-R-Stories" where Mark Ames would purchase a prostitute and write up the entire night's event.

They got all this published in Putin's Russia. Eventually they got shut down and The Wall Street Journal (who they constantly lampooned) wrote their obituary.

Go read the Vanity Fair article! Cajun Boy agrees: "Matt Taibbi is a thrower of Coffee and Horse Semen Pies to the Face"

UPDATE- While browsing, I found some Russian footage about the infamous Hungry Duck bar in Moscow:


You can also read the rump of what's left of the eXile at Exiled Online.

Bad week for Goldman Sachs

If you haven't read The Great Bubble Machine by Matt Taibbi, take the time to do so. It's a very broad article, so it doesn't nail Goldman down as well as a more specific article and it's by no means a complete catalog of their sins, but it captures the scope of Goldman's transgressions and reach.

Goldman Sachs has called even more attention to Taibbi's piece by howling about the article. Here's Taibbi vs. Van Praag (Goldman Vice President/PR-guy nicknamed "Von Doom").

Even the NY Times noted the Goldman's PR shitstorm: The dense revolving-door conflicts of interest are appalling. Goldman is howling about Taibbi’s article, but the bottom line was articulated last week by the economic blogger Felix Salmon of Reuters. He wrote that he couldn’t “think of a single government regulation over the past couple of decades which has remotely harmed Goldman Sachs” as opposed to the many that “have done it a world of good.”

And just to cap it off, a hacker stole some of their secret trading code and shipped it to Eastern Europe.

I think the most devastating indictment of Goldman Sachs came from analyzing their trading for major clients (universities, pension funds, etc.). Zero Hedge has been tracking their trades for major clients and developed a compelling case of Goldman front running major trades. Goldman will buy up some shares, then process the (large volume) purchases for their client, then sell their front-run shares. The institutional purchase will be so large, it moves the market. Goldman is shafting their client and putting trust in the whole system at risk for a fairly small pot of money. How did Goldman respond to Zero Hedge? They pressured the NYSE to stop releasing data that caught their hand in the cookie jar.

There is one bright spot out there: among the requirements being considered in new banking regulations: extremely large reserve requirements for mega-corporations (Citi/Goldman/etc.). Now there's a regulation that would put a crimp on Goldman. If you pose a lot of risk to the system, you have to carry around extra reserves to go along with your risk. We'll see what happens with the regulation.

UPDATE: Goldman will be laughing all the way to the bank. Massive profits for the last remaining investment bank.

"At a time when the supposedly progressive party controls all the political branches of the federal government, our economy is being run like a glorified banana republic." -LGM

Meanwhile, Krugman says more signs pointing to a jobless recovery.

UPDATE 2- Goldman Sachs employee caught doing what they do best (fuck us). Unfortunately, this 15-year-old girl was actually an undercover cop.

UPDATE 3- Bashing Goldman Sachs is a Game for Fools. By Michael Lewis. Bitingly satirical take on Goldman's recent woes. Well worth your time. Lewis has been on a roll with his last few articles.

Odds and Ends - 9 Oct 2007

Sorry about not posting for a while, but I've been a bit busy recently. Here are some internet finds:

Matt Taibbi pens the eulogy for McCain's campaign. Excellent, if a bit sad. I always had a soft spot for McCain. Oh yeah, and if you haven't read Taibbi's obit for Yeltsin, look through his archives and read it. It's the funniest obituary ever.

Louisiana: the #1 most corrupt state. We're #1! We're #1! In a few more years, we'll have an insurmountable lead, thanks to Jim Letten and all the Katrina money.

Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts. Corruption in higher education. This story has some juicy details! The female university president was Sugar Momma to a lot of college boys...

Buckets of money being poured into deepwater oil exploration. This is good news for Louisiana, because these will be the blocks whose royalties pay for coastal restoration in a little under 10 years.

War Without End, Amen. All about the geopolitical nightmare unfolding between Saudi Arabia and Iran. One scenario is a nuclear arms race between the Saudis and the Persians. And that's the GOOD scenario... Also, Spot On seems to be a decent rag (along the lines of Alter-NET.

Photovoltaics: from waste to viability. PV panels are slowly, but steadily becoming more than a marginal power source for out of the way areas. I'm impressed. This should be one area where technology comes through in the clutch.

China Evacuates 1 Million Ahead of Storm. Wonder what would happen if the Chinese Government let 1 million people drown in a tropical cyclone? The pitchforks and torches would get some use...

When it comes to energy efficiency, Britain is EVEN WORSE than the US.

Is it just me or does the elephant have a wide stance? - ZING!!! Also, that star makes the elephant look like he has X's for eyes...

Women used to earn 68 cents for every dollar a man earned. Well, now Giuliani is only making 40 cents for every Hillary dollar.

US experiencing engineer shortage. According to the article, the US oil industry will experience a net shrinkage of 1-4% per year of its talent base.

Very long, detailed article about Saudi Arabia's future as an oil producing nation. A bit technical at times, but I like technical.

I get a bunch of industry magazines at work and the last issue of Oil and Gas Engineer caught my eye. It's cover story is 'the search for the next trillion barrels of oil.' In order to meet growing demand, the oil industry will have to find another billion barrels of oil. For perspective, that's another 3 Saudi Arabia's and some change. If this article is to be believed, petroleum geologists believe we'll only find 25% of what we need. What does that mean? The price will go up and we'll have to make do with less. A 70's-style energy shortage within the next 5-10 years is highly probable, even if the Middle East stays relatively stable (and that's a big if).

And, last, but not least: Ron Paul: the Howard Dean of '08? Hopefully, this will be a "narrative" that allows the media to finally give Dr. Paul the coverage he's proven he deserves. As an aside, this country needs 2 functioning political parties. That's been the problem during the W years. Here's the way I see things shaking down: Ron Paul gathers a dedicated base, he surprises everyone in the primaries. Someone else wins the nomination (and then is slaughtered by Hillary), but Ron Paul gets into a leadership position and rejuvenates the Republican Party the way Howard Dean did for the Dems. Remember, Dean's 50 State strategy was CRUCIAL to the Dems taking over both houses of Congress in '06. Lots of people thought Dean was nuts and he was ridiculed for his strategy. One of the jokes was the Dems were sending people to Mississippi (or insert another staunch Red State here) to pick their nose for a year. Without Dean making a strong, but not too strong, appearance in '03/'04, you don't have the victories in '06.