Warren Excited About Wall Street Regulations Bill

Elizabeth Warren likes the financial reform progress, which is BIG. She also says she's surprised by Warren Buffett's defense of Goldman Sachs, an illustration of how financial interests can distort perceptions.

Berkshire loaned $5 billion to Goldman in September of 2008 and receives a dividend of 10 percent a year. Berkshire also got warrants to buy Goldman shares at $115 each. Their value fluctuates with Goldman's common stock price. The loan dividends are not affected by the stock price. CNBC

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Levin Asks Goldman About Sh--ty Deal

These guys clearly live in a different world than we do. Goldman Sachs officials' wacked out answers:

How the Economy Tanked and It's Not Whether Goldman Was Short or Long

Carl Levin testified this morning on Goldman and how the economy tanked.
This is a translation of how the economy went down in lay terms: Banks such as Wamu bundled junk subprime mortgage loans--loans without proof of income, essentially loans to people who couldn't afford a house-- and then dumped them on Wall Street.
Wall street prettied up those subprime mortgages, dressed them up fancy.
Credit rating firms gave them good ratings.
Goldman profited from the unrecognizable junk subprime loans because it knew they were junk.
The economy crashed because Wall Street created nothing but worthless junk, which always leads me back to my contention that Americans were responsible for the crash as well.
Many people inadvertently participated in the crash by not understanding that they couldn't afford a house and by being duped by mortgage brokers. Others took advantage of easy loans.
Planet Money has a great post today. It doesn't matter if Goldman was short or long. Goldman was obviously immoral. The question is: did Goldman disclose the fact that it bet both ways to its clients? Did it disclose its immorality?

So the key question isn't whether Goldman was net short or net long the housing market. It's whether the company told its clients everything it should have told them.

The issue of disclosure is at the center of the SEC's fraud lawsuit against Goldman. The SEC says Goldman wrongly failed to tell its clients about the role of a hedge fund that took a short position on a mortgage-related security. Goldman denies the charges. PM

Obama's Interview With John Harwood April 21 Video

Obama said he didn't know SEC was going to file charges against Goldman Sachs. There were no winks or nods. No discussions at all. "We found out about it on CNBC," he said.  Full interview:

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Goldman Sachs Charged With Fraud

Update: Goldman Sachs says they're not frauds. Just like Massey Energy says they're not to blame in the mining accident, where 29 people died in their mine, that has a long list of safety violations. Nobody ever wants to accept blame for anything. Why should they when they can get an attorney to bail them out.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday civil fraud charges against the Wall Street powerhouse and one of its vice presidents. The agency alleges Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create -- and then bet against -- subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to investors. AP

Health Insurance Executive Pay Targeted in Health Reform

Health insurance executives are lobbying for their pay. Aetna's Ron Williams has met with Obama five times.
Health reform could limit the amount of executive pay that could be written off. Goldman Sachs says that Humana's stocks could take a hit if the public option is part of reform. If stocks take a hit, that affects executive compensation. This to me is the BEST reason to include the public option in health reform. Watch here.

Obama To Meet With Bank Execs March 27

Timothy Geithner will meet with them on Thursday and Obama will meet with banking execs on Friday.

WSJ: President Barack Obama plans to meet Friday with about a dozen of the U.S.'s top banking chiefs in an unusual gathering designed to discuss the administration's plans to shore up the financial sector.

Attendees are expected to include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. The meeting comes as relations between Washington and Wall Street are frayed following last week's furor over bonuses paid to American International Group Inc. employees.

At the same time, the administration is relying heavily on private investors and Wall Street banks to implement its various rescue programs and needs to repair its relationship.

Several bank chief executives have openly criticized the White House's handling of the financial crisis, especially its public announcement of "stress tests" designed to measure banks' financial health that led to a sharp selloff in financial stocks.

Top bank executives often come to Washington but rarely meet privately en masse with top government officials. It is also unusual for the White House to hold such meetings, which are usually handled by the Treasury or Federal Reserve.

Obama the Better Executive

which candidate has done a better job running their campaign, including raising money and getting more people involved? sen. barack obama.

more than 450,000 people have donated to the obama campaign since the beginning of the year and he's gotten more results for the money. why is this important? because it says what kind of leader he will be.

here is recent financing information for obama and clinton. new financing reports are due feb. 20.
time

obama's donor breakdown by %, actual number and dollar amount

how obama is spending the money

top contributors google, goldman sachs, university of california and harvard university are some of obama's top contributors

clinton's top contributors goldman sachs, morgan stanley, microsoft, and emily's list (a group that elects pro-female candidates)

how clinton is spending the money

obama's contributions by geography

clinton's contributions by geography

look up by donor, zip code, state and candidate.

what does this tell you?

clinton gets $764,000 from lobbyists. casinos, banks, healthcare and HMOs, hedge funds, insurance, lawyers, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, real estate, securities and investments, telephone, tv/nusic/movies, tobacco, computers sectors like clinton better than obama in terms of donations

obama gets $87,000 from lobbyists.

obama leads in two categories: education, retired donors.