No Parachute!!! You bounce back stronger with higher impact speed....

World War 2 was the glory days for surviving falls from airplanes without a parachute, as combatants on both sides got so very many chances to prove their skills.

Something like 20 airmen lived to tell the tale.

Breaking: Fund Manager Pleads Guilty in New York Pension Probe

From Bloomberg:

Barrett Wissman, a Dallas hedge fund manager, pleaded guilty to securities fraud as part of an investigation of corruption at New York's $122 billion pension fund, state officials said. Wissman, 46, an executive of HFV Asset Management LP, also agreed to a $12 million settlement as part of the probe of illegal kickbacks to arrange pension-fund investments for hedge funds and private-equity firms, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Today, Cuomo announced charges against former New York State Liberal Party Chairman Ray Harding as part of the two-year-old investigation.

Wissman and Hardng are new names in the investigation. The original charges were made against former New York Deputy Comptroller David Loglisci and political adviser Hank Morris.

"Wissman is a witness on this case," Cuomo said, who added that "There are further charges coming out of this scheme." Wissman, a former board member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, will now get a chance to sing.

As for Cuomo, I think he is going after Carlyle. Get your popcorn ready.

According to the original report out of Cuomo's office:

Over twenty investment deals were allegedly tainted by the defendants' kickback schemes and fraudulent self-dealing, including the following:

...Five investments involving The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity funds, totaling approximately $730 million in capital commitments from the State pension fund.

The latest report has almost doubled that number. According to Bloomberg, Carlyle won $1.3 billion of business from the pension fund and it is cooperating with the investigation, which means that Carlyle is trying to figure out who would be a good fall guy--Someone that doesn't know enough about the rest of Carlyle's operations to hurt Carlyle. These things will get very tricky if Carlyle can't get to Cuomo.

Other firms reportedly under scrutiny include Access/NY European Fund, Aldus New York Emerging Fund, GKM/NY Venture Capital Fund, Paladin Homeland Security Fund and Pequot Private Equity Partners Fund.

Way o/t

The Germans are always good for a little wordplay, and a parachute there is called a:Fallschirm, meaning "falling umbrella".

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http://wcbstv.com/local/ground.zero.wtc.2.986303.html

The owners of ground zero, locked in a new round of heated talks with a private developer about how and when to build office towers at the World Trade Center site, have proposed indefinitely putting off two of three planned skyscrapers until the real estate market recovers, officials familiar with the negotiations say.

One analysis prepared for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey predicts World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein wouldn't be able to finish building all three towers he plans for decades, with the last tower finished by 2030.

Silverstein and the Port Authority have been talking on and off for months about rewriting a 3-year-old agreement that gives the developer rights to build three out of five towers planned at the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack site.

In a failing economy where developers have found it impossible to obtain financing for new projects, Silverstein last fall asked the Port to back financing for two of his towers, three officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.

The Port Authority about a week ago agreed to back about $800 million in financing for one tower already under construction, where the Port Authority has agreed to lease space once it's completed.

The other two towers shouldn't be built until there is enough demand for commercial office space downtown, the Port has said.

An analysis of Silverstein's plan by the Cushman & Wakefield real estate brokerage projected that while two of Silverstein's towers could be built by 2013, a third would not be built until 2030 and fully leased until 2036. A second tower that hasn't been built yet wouldn't be fully leased until 2025, the brokerage says.

More American manufacturing may go this direction to avoid the shackles of unions.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090416/BUSINESS01/904160419/1014/BUSINESS...

AMF: No Need for that, i heard rumours he will show up soon

Erin go rah, Erin got big bra, men all ga ga.

what a luck i grow and smoke Dope!! otherwise it wouldnt be funny anymore...

Abreast her officer, she made an arresting statement!

Just how far into the depths of black comedy can this farce go?

It looks to have legs...

For those who can read Russian:

http://newsru.com/russia/16apr2009/vybil.html

read a good quote:

"the only thing that people get from getting there hands at bottom is stinky fingers"

sorry if it is old

I was just in the Phoenix area and took some time to check out the residential markets.

The housing stupidity over the past several years is front and center. Everyone knows about the losses on the low end as they are hitting the banks. But a lot of wealthy people are sitting on enormous unrealized losses. I foresee increasing jingle mail at the high end, even amongst those that can actually afford the mortgages on their properties. Seriously. It makes eCONomic sense to dump the losses on the banks and the government and buy the house down the street for 1/3 the price.

Consider. Many of the "higher" end communities have houses on the market for ~ $3 million bucks. However, banks are trying to unload similar properties in the same neighborhod for < $1 million. No joke. And within a mile or so are several "lower" end neighborhoods with beautiful houses listed at ~ $400K. Something has to give.

No way are "free" markets that inefficient. F.U. Greenspan.

I see Green Shoots everywhere. Too bad they're synthetic.

"Erinocchio"

legs like you like them....

nothing to see here folk, recession over, move along now, that's a good boy, Paddy.

Angry Saver, you are exactly right, and, in fact, I'm considering doing what you say myself. The foreclosed house across the street is similar to our model and is going for 35% less than what we owe on ours. And....they still can't sell it. I'm tempted to make an offer for 50% less than what we owe on ours and dump my current mortgage rather than let it go to the Indians/Pakistanis who seem to be the only ones able to cash in on these great deals.

""Byz--awesome smackdown of the insect on last thread. Thanks! "

You're an idiot."

Chirp chirp.

Someone hit a nerve.

Well i would imagine the markets will rally on this. But, wallstreet should consider that it already as servere image problem with the public. It going up while people are still losing their jobs and homes is not going to improve it.

If this keeps happening, one of these days people coming out of the NYSE are going to face an angry mob of thousands of unemployed,homeless people, who see them as the problem.

Wall*Street's down 17-2, going into the bottom of the 9th, but it looks good because the entire trading floor has rally hats on, which has got to portend that it's not over until it's over.

(the fat lady is warming up)

I remember when a billion was an ungodly high number, the high priest of Arabic Numerals, seldom uttered.

(flashback from the 90's)

I so love hope. Franks's a Wiener. I knew the outcome of this the day they passed it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103148855

Last summer, Congress passed the Hope for Homeowners Act, setting aside $300 billion to help people refinance into more affordable mortgages. But the program has been a total flop.

But more than six months after the program was launched, the Federal Housing Administration says only one homeowner has made it all the way through the government program and received the FHA guarantee.

How many, no matter the extreme printing or empty credit creation, would use stimulated new money to purchase another house or mortgage, acquire a new vehicle, buy more highly complex debt instruments, invest in further commercial real estate, expand capacity in their industry, or increase their debt/income ratio?

Because if not, there is no way, NO WAY, that this contraction can be arrested; let alone new expansion begun.

The only growth industry now is in economic statistic manipulations, spurious accountancy, MSM doublespeak, lying by power players as if they really believe it.

Lying, hiding, and using counterfeit means to purchase time at the expense of deeper debt. Deliberate confidence plays to entice the unwary into bloodletting is the play of the day.

We have stripped the long future by pulling forward for present consumption. 30:1 leverage means either (a) 30 years of presumptive future earnings have been exchanged at discount for immediate gratification or (b) 30 individuals have been stripped of a year's gain to nourish 1 of their fellows.

Having consumed all present production and suckered our creditors to devour our futures as well, we are left with nothing but cannibalizing our moral and ethical base in order to spin fairy tale images of what we are and are to become.

Reality is being imposed. Society is going insane trying to believe they are something which they are not i.e. wealthy and good.

Borocco Mama

"the Federal Housing Administration says only one homeowner has made it all the way through the government program and received the FHA guarantee"

does he get the full 300 billion?? and if yes is he a senior employee at GS?? just asking...

There's a great play for those of you that are credit card deadbeats that have your wealth in non-$ denominated assets...

Firstly, as perverse as it sounds, your days as a credit card customer might be numbered. Because you pay your bills promptly every month, they can't make any money off of you, aside from the 2-3% vig from the retailer. As their default rate is closer to 7-8%, it's academic Sherlock.

Here's what you do, what I did.

Run up your balance, and only pay the minimum each month. I'm getting dinged for a few hundred bucks in interest rate charges, which shows I have potential, as far as the credit card companies are concerned, a worthy customer. I could pay off my balance if I so desired, but I know the $ is gonna get whacked, so i'm just waiting it out.

I expect to pay about 1/3rd of what my bill is currently, in the not too distant future, when we dance the hyperinflation tango vis a vis buggering the buck.