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Skeptical CPA

  • The SDNY Circus Continues

    "Armed with informants, wiretaps, and sophisticated software tools, the [SEC]--still smarting after missing Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme--is determined to raise its game. 'It would be wise for investment advisers and corporate executives to look closely at [the Galleon] case and consider what lessons can be learned and applied to their'" [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 10:37am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • LA Times on California

    Number of comments: 2
    WC Varones (WCV) has a 2 November 2009 post which refers to a 1 November 2009 Los Angeles Times opinion piece. Here's a link to WCV's post: [wcvarones.blogspot.com]. I was surprised "LA" Times printed it too. Even LA Times apparently recognizes that California's current tax and spending policies are' [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 7:22pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Jesse's Calculator Abuse

    Number of comments: 1
    Jesse at Jesse's Cafe Americain has a 6 November 2009 post about job loss statistics. Enjoy. Here's a link: [jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com]. [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 7:00pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Vampire Squid Obfuscation

    Number of comments: 3
    "But most Americans know all too well that only the intervention of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout money saved Goldman [GSG] from the dire fate of its less well-connected competitors. The growing ranks of under-and-unemployed Americans, meanwhile, are waiting with increasing desperation for a recovery of their own. Goldman" [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:45am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Madoff on the SEC

    Number of comments: 3
    "Bernard Madoff was dismissive of a compliance examiner involved in a [SEC] inspection into his firm, calling the man a 'blowhard' who talked tough, but didn't look at anything. ... [David Kotz's] report found that the SEC received six substantive tips over 16 years, but still failed to detect the" [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:07pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Economists Don't Learn

    Number of comments: 1
    "The pain of the financial crisis has economists striving to understand precisely why it happened and how to prevent a repeat. For that task, John Geanakopolos of Yale University takes inspiration from Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice.' ... For years, his effort to understand this process didn't draw much interest. Now'" [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:29am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Old South Smacks NYT

    Number of comments: 2
    Old South has a 1 November 2009 post smacking Frank Rich of the NYT. I thought about writing something similar, but decided not to. The NYT's arrogance is almost beyond belief. Here's a link: [mainstreetmattersmore.blogspot.com]. [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:23pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Feeding the Vampire Squid

    Number of comments: 1
    Calculated Risk has a 1 November 2009 post about Vampire Squid's (VS) bets on the US housing crash and how it sold clients mortgage-backed securities while expecting they would fall in value. Here's a link: [www.calculatedriskblog.com]. Is anyone surprised VS stuck its blood funnel into its own clients? Here [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:19pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • More Bad Bank Accounting

    Number of comments: 1
    "Federal bank regulators issued guidelines allowing banks to keep loans on their books as 'performing' even if the value of the underlying properties have fallen below the loan amount. ... Regulators said that the rules were designed to encourage banks to restructure mortgages with borrowers rather than foreclose on them." [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 10:47am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Fortune Exposes Zimbabwe Ben

    Number of comments: 1
    "This is a quiz. What do the record-high Wall Street bonuses have in common with the record-low yields for savers? Answer: They show yet another way that prudent people, especially those living on fixed incomes, are being screwed by the government's bailout of the imprudent. ... The government is spending" [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:27pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • NYT-Big Business Shill

    Number of comments: 1
    "The fight is over whether the bill should be amended to block the imposition of a post-Enron auditing requirement on small publicly traded companies--defined as those with a market capitalization of less than $75 million. Incredibly, nearly eight years after Enron imploded and more than a year after the failures" [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 10:24am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • I Remember

    Number of comments: 3
    "On Monday, June 5, 1967, we woke up and turned on the TV, and before our ears had disgested even the first word we knew there was war. We didn't see Barbara Walters on the 'Today' show; instead there was a stagehand pinning a map of the Middle East onto'" [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 7:02pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Where's the SEC?

    Number of comments: 1
    "One year after the government took over and bailed out Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage company, federal regulators are blocking former employees from revealing infomation to investors who are suing the company for fraud, lawyers for shareholders say. ... Federal prosecutors in Virginia and the [SEC] are already investigating whether" [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:13am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Oxford in Boulder

    Number of comments: 2
    "But this Halloween, one of its wackiest traditions is under siege: the Naked Pumpkin Run [NPR]. ... For nearly a decade, naked pumpkin runners did their thing unmolested, stampeding through the frigid dark past crowds of admirers who hooted, hollered and tossed cady. ... All [police] have orders to arrest" [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 7:16pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Citigroup's Death Rattle

    Number of comments: 1
    "Over the past 80 years, the [US] government has engineered not one, not two, not three, but at least four rescues of the institution now known as Citigroup. In previous instances, the bank came back from the crisis and prospered. ... Chris Whalen, editor of the Institutional Risk Analyst, calls" [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 10:28am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Vampire Squid Values

    Number of comments: 1
    "Sure, firm trumpet their values and missions. Goldman Sachs has 14 business principles, many of which could apply to a preschool. ('We stress creativity and imagination.')", Daniel Gross at Newsweek, 2 November 2009, link: [www.newsweek.com]
    I mentioned the Vampire Squid's (VS) values on 24 October 2008: [skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com]. Hahahahahahaha' [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 7:01pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • SEC-DOJ Dilemma

    Number of comments: 1
    "On Monday, US District Judge Jed. S. Rakoff told the [SEC] to be ready to begin the civil insider-trading trial in five months. ... Ordinarily, civil and criminal investigators coordinate their activities. In instances where both file charges, most judges allow the government to 'stay,' or postpone the SEC case" [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:44am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • BNY-Russia-DOJ

    Number of comments: 1
    "Russia withdrew a $22.7 billion lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Thursday, agreeing to a $14 million settlement and ending a case that critics said had theatened to further tarnish the already battered reputation of its judicial system. ... Russian officials, facing a deep recession and their first" [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 7:22pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Lenin Visits New York

    Number of comments: 1
    "An old saying goes that the time to live in New York is when you're young and poor, or old and rich--otherwise, you're better off somewhere else. ... Between 2000 and 2008, the Empire State had a net domestic outflow of more than 1.5 million, the biggest exodus of any" [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 10:46am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • No Tax Relief in Death

    Number of comments: 3
    "With the federal estate tax disappearing for most people, state death taxes have emerged as a new worry. ... At the current level, only 5,500 estates a year are federally taxable. ... The problem is that most states with estate or inheritance taxes haven't raised exemptions to meet federal limits.'" [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 7:35pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Jeremy Siegel on the EMH

    Number of comments: 2
    "Financial journalist and best-selling author Roger Lowenstein didn't mince any words in a piece for the Washington Post this summer, 'The upside of the current Great Recession is that is could drive a stake through the heart of the academic nostrum known as the efficient-market hypothesis.' ... But is the'" [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:06am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Not So Odd Couple

    Number of comments: 1
    "As the world begins recovering from the worst financial crisis in 70 years, an odd couple of winners have emerged: stocks and gold. So far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a bet on economic recovery, is up 14%. Gold futures, a bet on calamity, are up 19%. ..." [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 7:09pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Moody's Exonerated

    Number of comments: 2
    "Moody's Corp., the owner of credit-ratings firm Moody's Investors Service, boosted its profit forecast for the year as a boom in corporate-debt issuance helped it maintain operating margins of almost 40%. The New York-based company also said an external investigation into allegations of impropriety by a former analyst has been" [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:07am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Leave No Child Behind

    Number of comments: 4
    "More states lowered their standards for academic proficiency in recent years than raised them, and nearly all used exams that fell short of federal testing benchmarks, accorsding to a new study. ... It also cast doubt on claims of educational progress made by many states. ... The federal [NCLB] law" [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:38pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Citigroup's Fraudulent Loans

    Number of comments: 2
    "A judge ruled that loans made to Tousa Inc. ahead of the home builder's bankruptcy filing were 'fraudulent transfers,' ordering lenders to turn over more than $600 million. ... The 'disastrous business venture,' Judge [John] Olson wrote, spurred Tousa to borrow $500 million from Citigroup Inc. and others in July'" [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:13am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Yield Curve

    Number of comments: 3
    Hellacious at Sudden Debt has an interesting 29 October 2009 post on the yield curve's (YC) shape: [suddendebt.blogspot.com]. While agreeing with his conclusion, i.e., the YC will flatten, we disagree as to why the YC is so highly sloped and what its slope means. I say the YC will' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:20pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • I'm Available

    Number of comments: 4
    "On Tuesday, Senator Jeff Merkeley, Democrat of Oregon, and Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, intorduced legislation to allow the Government Accountability Office to audit some of the [Fed's] lending programs. Different bills calling for more comprehensive Fed audits already have widespread support in the House and Senate. Expanding this'" [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:11pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Incentives Still Count

    Number of comments: 7
    "In the annals of what used to be known as American capitalism, yesterday will go down as a sorry day: The Treasury and [Fed] announced wage controls on private American companies. So once again our politicians are blaming bankers, rather than addressing the incentives the politicians themselves created for bankers" [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:46am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Another Default Cycle

    Number of comments: 4
    "Argentina's government on Thursday took its first official steps to recognize past debts and pave the way to return to international capital markets since a massive default in 2001. ... The bill would suspend a law that forbids the renegotiation of defaulted debt, an issue recent administrations took as a'" [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:06pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Brazil's IET

    Number of comments: 1
    "Seeking to restrain a surging currency, Brazilian financial authorities announced a tax on foreign investment in local bonds and stocks just days after the nation's president knocked down rumors officials were preparing the measure. Brazil's real, among the world's fastest-climbing currencies, dipped against the dollar Monday on investor expectation that'" [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:29am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Escape From New York

    Number of comments: 1
    "Billionaire Julian Robertson won a $27 million tax case after he successfully argued that he wasn't a New York City [NYC] resident for the year 2000 and didn't owe city taxes. At issue was Mr. Robertson's whereabouts on four days during that leap year: April 15, July 23, Jukly 31'" [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 7:01pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Lifting Immunity

    Number of comments: 1
    "An Austin federal jury in Thursday found that two top state parole officials violated the constitutional rights of an ex-convict who was denied a required hearing for 576 days. Jurors also held the Board of Pardons and Paroles [BPP] Chairman Rissie Owens liable for $21,250 in damages and awarded Curtis" [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:52am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • They Never Learn

    Number of comments: 1
    "CIT Aerospace, a profitable division of stuggling CIT Group Inc., faces a problem plauging much of the $147 billion airplane-leasing industry: The business model that underpinned it and a handful of rival giants is broken. Their approach, built on short-term debt, was battered by the financial crisis. Turmoil in credit" [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 7:20pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Wait Listed by Jail-11

    Number of comments: 1
    "One of the newest residents on Arizona's death row, a convicted serial killer name Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against the sharp homemade objetcs that often are propelled from'" [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 10:31am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Turnabout

    Number of comments: 1
    "Prosecutors are worried that a planned television appearance by Rod R. Blagojevich [Blogo], the indicted former governor of Illinois, may prejudice the potential pool of jurors for his trial on corruption charges scheduled for June. Although [Blogo] has appeared on many television talk shows and recently published his memoir, his" [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 7:59pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • UK and Glass-Steagall

    Number of comments: 2
    "Bank of England governor Mervyn King, saying new regulations won't prevent failures of big banks, made a strong call for breaking up some of the world's biggest financial firms, a view that takes on increasing significance because he is likely to gain new regulatory powers in the next year. ..." [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:10am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • China Sells Dollars-6

    Number of comments: 1
    "A pickup in China's metal imports in September is stoking debate about how much of the nation's commodity intake this year is driven by demand and how much is stockpiling that will soon end. ... The trade figures issued Wednesday showed China's imports of copper rebounding from July and August'" [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 7:41pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Rozeff on Gold and the Dollar

    Number of comments: 4
    "A truly major change in the global monetary system is beginning to materialize. The dollar is starting to be dethroned. Foreign governments and central banks are going to do the dethroning. ... The major dethroners, the Chinese, are on record as favoring a slow process. ... The catalyst for reducing" [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:36am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Question Conventional Wisdom

    Number of comments: 2
    "Conventional question: Did the government's quick intervention on Wall Street last year save us from another Great Depression? Alternative question, one that I prefer: Did government intervention make matters worse? ... Next, consider the view that the crisis was prolonged by a misdiagnosis that led to more interventions. When the'" [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 7:34pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Speak Up Stanley

    Number of comments: 2
    "Coming from Robert Gates--the epitome of the soft-spoken, buttoned-down public servant--the rebuke was particularly striking. Military officers, Gates said last week, should give their advice to America's civilian leadership 'candidly but privately,' an allusion to Gen. Stanley McChrystal's remarks in London about the need for counterinsurgency, not counterterror. in Afghanistan." [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:58am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Asarco Followup-7

    Number of comments: 2
    "Grupo Mexico SAB [GMSA] hit a hurdle in its plans to regain control of US subsidiary Asarco LLC as US bankruptcy jduge Andrew S. Hanen indicated he will consider a broad array of issues before ruling in the case. ... The judge also has been asked to consider the Mexican" [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 7:42pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • US as Argentina, Mexico, Weimar Germany ...

    Number of comments: 2
    "The [US] is headed toward a new financial crisis. History gives many examples of countries with high actual and expected money growth, unsustainable budget deficits, and a currency expected to depreciate. Unless those countries made massive policy changes, they ended in crisis. We will escape only if we act forcefully" [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:08am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • All Clear For Banks

    Number of comments: 3
    "The worst is far from over. The FDIC says 416 banks are at risk of failure, up from 117 a year ago. ... Despite these numbers, the banking system is no longer at risk of collapse. Megabank JPMorgan Chase, for instance, announced on Oct. 14 it earned $3.6 billion in" [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 7:25pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • No Theory

    Number of comments: 5
    "In his Labor Day weekend address on the American worker, President Obama, with little fanfare, announced some initiatives to help Americans save more money. One such step will allow employees to receive their tax refunds in the form of US Savings Bonds instead of in cash. Another will promote automatic" [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:56am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Waiting Whistleblowers

    Number of comments: 2
    "A three-year-old [IRS] program that promises hefty bounties for information on big tax cheats has succeeded in drawing whistleblowers. It just hasn't paid out any rewards yet. ... In its second annual report to Congress last week, the office said it got 476 submissions on 1,246 taxpayers in fiscal 2008,'" [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 7:47pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Good Luck

    Number of comments: 1
    "Two investors are suing the US government, alleging the agency responsible for overseeing Bernard Madoff's business failed to protect investors. ... SEC spokesman John Heine said, 'Based on our intial understanding of the matter, we believe there is no merit to the complaint'," Kara Scannell at the WSJ, 15 October [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 7:02pm EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • Time Shills For Ghillarducci

    Number of comments: 3
    "Retiree Robert Shively spends his days on the golf course. For many, that would be a dream come true, but not quite in the way Shively does it. The 68-year-old is the cart mechanic at the Niagra Falls Country Club. ... If you have even peeked at your account statements" [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 10:14am EST
    by Independent Accountant

  • California's Gestapo-2

    Number of comments: 3
    On 19 October 2009 I received a letter from California's State Board of Equalization (SBE). What did the SBE, which collects California sales taxes want? I read the letter which described California's "qualified purchaser" concept and said I should register to pay California use tax on items I bought for [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 7:45pm EDT
    by Independent Accountant

  • Texas Bad Man

    Number of comments: 4
    "Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday defended his actions in the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham [CTW], calling him a 'monster' and a 'bad man' who murdered his children. Perry has been embroiled in a national firestorm over whether he has tried to block an investigation into the quality of the" [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 10:31am EDT
    by Independent Accountant

  • Sox 404(b), the Stinking Onion

    Number of comments: 3
    Tom Selling (TS) has a 5 October 2009 post at his Accounting Onion excoriating the SEC for its not telling Congress that applying ICFR to "non-accelerated filers", i.e., SEC registrants with under $75 million in market cap is likely a waste of money. TS notes "Even under that very conservative" [...]
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    Posted: October 30, 2009, 7:38pm EDT
    by Independent Accountant
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