CNBC Spikes Story on Goldman Sachs
by JohnPeebles
July 26, 2009 at 08:38:38

“For example, the New York Times held back on the NSA surveillance story for an entire year. There’s not being in a hurry, then there’s just plain sitting on a story ’til it dies. In the meantime I’d heard all kinds of explanations for the size of Goldman’s profits, not a one of course explaining the company’s use of High Frequency Trading software nor its fugitive executive, Sergei Aleynikov.

“The New York Times did provide a nibble on the quant flushing game in an Op-Ed by Michael Osinki last week, on Friday, titled “Steal This Code.” The article largely downplays Aleynikov’s theft of the proprietary trading software. Osinki does express his surprise at the scale of the FBI’s reaction.

“Presented not as a news item but simple opinion, the op-ed doesn’t mention the possibility that a large portion of GS’ huge profit may have come from quantitative trading, software programs that conduct high-frequency automated transactions a millisecond before they’re executed on the exchange. Nor is any mention made of the threat that exposing HFT trading on such a vast scale posed to Goldman, or the credibility of US-based exchanges.”

Link.

NYT “Blows Cover Off Trading Scam.” Schumer Flips On Wall St.
by bobswern
Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 12:18:57 PM PDT

“Finally!

“It’s been just over three weeks since the July 3rd arrest of former Goldman Sachs IT executive Sergey Aleynikov inadvertently blew the lid off the intricacies of exactly how those great vampire squids on Wall Street manage (no past tense here) to suck Main Street dry.

(Actually, come to think of it, that didn’t take long at all.)”

Link.

The war being waged on the TARP watchdog’s independence
Glenn Greenwald
SUNDAY JULY 26, 2009 08:27 EDT

“Neil Barofsky, the chief watchdog over the $700 billion TARP bank bailout program, is one of those rare creatures in Washington:  he takes very seriously his responsibilities of independent oversight and accountability.  A career prosecutor, Barofsky is a life-long Democrat who donated money to Obama’s presidential campaign.  But ever since he was appointed to head the oversight office created by Congress when it enacted TARP – an office designed to ensure transparency and accountability at the Treasury Department and in the banking industry — he has repeatedly clashed with Obama’s Treasury officials over their lack of transparency in how the trillions of dollars in TARP-related funds are being sent to and used by the banking industry.  So seriously does Barofsky take his oversight duties that, as a Washington Post profile noted in March, “he refuses to eat with senior administration officials in the [Treasury] building’s executive dining room to maintain his independence.”

“Barofksy’s clashes with administration officials have intensified of late.  Last week, he issued a report documenting that the actual amount of taxpayer money theoretically put at risk in the bank bailout — once Federal Reserve, FDIC and other programs are counted — is $23.7 trillion, not the widely cited figure of $700 billion, a report that prompted attacks from the White House
and Treasury on his credibility.”

Link.

Main Street Health care reform before recess=fuggedaaboutit!