Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.
Is the story here an example of a thief whose exposure may improve the system? The benefit of exposure of how it was done and made possible greater than the damage done by the thief?
Only if the lesson is learned.
When risk of loss is wrongly manipulated for gain what is more elegant than leveraging the loss to make it hurt far beyond the gain. It only works if the pain of loss bet on risk is administered. Who does the administering?
Isn't RICO leveraged punishment?
http://www.renebol.com/?p=13 extracted quote:
"Given Fairfax’s cds portfolio, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where Fairfax did not understand and try to profit from the corruption in the system. By taking cds positions against MBIA, Ambac, Radian, AIG, etc., Fairfax knew that eventually the evidence against the bond insurers would be so overwhelming that the credit agencies would have to make the downgrades and in turn trigger Fairfax’s windfall. The real exposure in the system was not reflected in the institutions that were suppose to protect investors. Fairfax didn’t so much make a strategic trade that paid off when their vision of the future became reality, as they made a trade against the corruption in the system that paid off when the obsfucation could no longer be tolerated. Smart business or profiting from the corruption of others?"
more quote:
"Fairfax might yet turn out to be a force for good. If its lawsuit against the hedge funds can expose the prevalence of corruption on Wall Street, then the court findings might lead to improved SEC regulations and enforcement. However, what is really needed is a paradigm shift that demands government take on a larger role in our lives. From finance to energy, the environment, climate change, and the Millienium Development Goals, our challenges have to be met by forward thinking governments and people willing to sacrifice profits for ethics."
Give Fairfax the "Economic Equivalent" Of the Bush "Freedom Medal". Tell them "heck of a job Fairfax" Then confiscate everything.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Theft Should be Rewarded
The title defies the moral of honesty. Theft is an elegant way to test the system. A friend recently told me her feelings about travel in strange places. She said her belief was that if she lost her wallet anywhere in the world 9 out of ten people would return it to her if they found it. She has traveled extensively because she was not afraid to travel. Once her camera was stolen but it was stolen in such an ingenious manner that her recognition of the skill of the person that took it was greater than the feeling of personal loss.
Testing the system for personal gain not permitted by the rules of the system benefits the system by exposing its weakness. Any system always has a weakness. The dangerous thief is the one that kills the goose to get the golden eggs.
The thieves of our economic system test it to expose failures. Correcting failures improves the system. The economic system thieves have collapsed the system. They not only killed the goose but will choke on the last golden egg they got from it. A catastrophic event for them, maybe good for us. An opportunity but 9/11 was also. To do what is another matter.
The wise thieves that always stole golden eggs from the system are desperate to keep that system going. They did not have enough control of the crooks that worked for them. All the crooks and thieves have served their purpose to expose the failure of the economic system. If we do not change the system we are fools to be preyed upon again.
A system that makes money on money without adding value, creates money out of nothing to make more money on money without adding value is a thief skinning the cat in the most elegant manner. It is however a system that cannot grow exponentially forever and therefore will not. We all take a haircut in the end but the thieves and their opportunity to continue to steal must come to an end as a function of the system correcting itself.
The system is to big to fail. We should not confuse the system with an institution that only seems to represent it and claims to be to big to fail by claiming to be the system. It is not. We are the system. The system that makes money on money bets has to be made to go away in an elegant manner that puts the sting on them.
When all the money in the world is debt money have we got to the point where everything in the world has been gained at the cost of going into debt for losing it all?
That is the same situation that faces us in the natural world.
Will we in the end skin ourselves in the most elegant manner by gleefully jumping out of our own skin much to the amusement of the only Thing left after we are gone? The big joke would be that there is no Thing left to enjoy this ultimate elegance and It was never there in the first place. The most elegant skinning in all time and eternity and Nobody to enjoy its beauty?
Testing the system for personal gain not permitted by the rules of the system benefits the system by exposing its weakness. Any system always has a weakness. The dangerous thief is the one that kills the goose to get the golden eggs.
The thieves of our economic system test it to expose failures. Correcting failures improves the system. The economic system thieves have collapsed the system. They not only killed the goose but will choke on the last golden egg they got from it. A catastrophic event for them, maybe good for us. An opportunity but 9/11 was also. To do what is another matter.
The wise thieves that always stole golden eggs from the system are desperate to keep that system going. They did not have enough control of the crooks that worked for them. All the crooks and thieves have served their purpose to expose the failure of the economic system. If we do not change the system we are fools to be preyed upon again.
A system that makes money on money without adding value, creates money out of nothing to make more money on money without adding value is a thief skinning the cat in the most elegant manner. It is however a system that cannot grow exponentially forever and therefore will not. We all take a haircut in the end but the thieves and their opportunity to continue to steal must come to an end as a function of the system correcting itself.
The system is to big to fail. We should not confuse the system with an institution that only seems to represent it and claims to be to big to fail by claiming to be the system. It is not. We are the system. The system that makes money on money bets has to be made to go away in an elegant manner that puts the sting on them.
When all the money in the world is debt money have we got to the point where everything in the world has been gained at the cost of going into debt for losing it all?
That is the same situation that faces us in the natural world.
Will we in the end skin ourselves in the most elegant manner by gleefully jumping out of our own skin much to the amusement of the only Thing left after we are gone? The big joke would be that there is no Thing left to enjoy this ultimate elegance and It was never there in the first place. The most elegant skinning in all time and eternity and Nobody to enjoy its beauty?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Executive Skinning
The elegance of a thing is the effectiveness that lies hidden behind the obvious surface.
Limiting executive pay for firms receiving the bail out. For those that like punishment as a tool it sounds great. They would like skinning cats with knives while still alive. If they view it as punishment then they are happy. These kind of people like teeth in the bailout to bite.
What pay limit does is create incentive on the part of the executives not to receive bailout money. To keep the company from the position in which a bailout would be required. It also induces an executive to quit and go where the money might be better. That may open the job to someone that is not entirely interested in what the job will pay in money but in recognition, accomplishment, the value contribution to solutions. Non Monetary status. The cover of Rolling Stone. American Idol.
The ones that like the screams of the live cats being skinned will like enforcement of pay caps. The ones that would be capped in the future, which is probably far greater, will avoid the situation at all costs and do their job well to avoid it. That is elegant. Perhaps they will evade being capped by hiring lawyers to avoid getting caught.
Suggestion: Extend the pay caps to corporate lawyers.
Limiting executive pay for firms receiving the bail out. For those that like punishment as a tool it sounds great. They would like skinning cats with knives while still alive. If they view it as punishment then they are happy. These kind of people like teeth in the bailout to bite.
What pay limit does is create incentive on the part of the executives not to receive bailout money. To keep the company from the position in which a bailout would be required. It also induces an executive to quit and go where the money might be better. That may open the job to someone that is not entirely interested in what the job will pay in money but in recognition, accomplishment, the value contribution to solutions. Non Monetary status. The cover of Rolling Stone. American Idol.
The ones that like the screams of the live cats being skinned will like enforcement of pay caps. The ones that would be capped in the future, which is probably far greater, will avoid the situation at all costs and do their job well to avoid it. That is elegant. Perhaps they will evade being capped by hiring lawyers to avoid getting caught.
Suggestion: Extend the pay caps to corporate lawyers.
The Other Edge
Recent attention has been given to the exceptions to the rule for hiring lobbyists. This is just one example.
If and when it is necessary for the administration to fire anyone that serves at the pleasure of the president, restrictions on their ability to lobby, out of the office they occupied, matters related to that office becomes a very powerful incentive not to incur the displeasure of the president.
"Your fired" is a powerful statement that gains increasing power with application. Previously it might have drawn the response "Throw me in that brier patch" or "Hurt me, hurt me, I will make more as a lobbyist". If there are restrictions on post government employment use of connections with government then it can and should hurt. What use is anyone without influence in Washington? Their value becomes only what they know not who they know. Which is more important?
If and when it is necessary for the administration to fire anyone that serves at the pleasure of the president, restrictions on their ability to lobby, out of the office they occupied, matters related to that office becomes a very powerful incentive not to incur the displeasure of the president.
"Your fired" is a powerful statement that gains increasing power with application. Previously it might have drawn the response "Throw me in that brier patch" or "Hurt me, hurt me, I will make more as a lobbyist". If there are restrictions on post government employment use of connections with government then it can and should hurt. What use is anyone without influence in Washington? Their value becomes only what they know not who they know. Which is more important?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Skin 'em With Flowers
Let a hundred flowers blossom. (This is a link. One of my sisters does not know that) What an elegant way to skin a cat with flowers.
In an atmosphere of open invitation to thoughts for change perhaps senior military officers are making the greatest all time mistake in judgment. Good judgment is what an officer is paid for. Bad judgment is what he dies for.
Having forgotten their role and perhaps misjudging President Obama's open invitation for people to take their seat at the table of government and governance, maybe these guys think they have an equally open invitation to the party.
This looks like they are eager to make their own thoughts publicly known and only slightly veiled as presented through their retired surrogates.
Bad judgment will be reflected on their fitness report. Along with a comment that they are unfit to serve. Go ahead, make a third party to inflate your retirement income.
Ever heard of a general named MacArthur?
Some senior officers displayed their lack of judgment in the last administration. Are they so arrogant to think they will not be evaluated in the current one?
Admiral Rickover had a policy that an officer stayed in their position long enough for their mistakes to catch up with them. Then they were required to stay and fix them if they honestly could. To determine which ones could and would they were simply asked: Is that the best you could do? That is the hardest question to ask a truly dedicated person. Those that are not skin themselves with the arrogant answer.
Has President Obama stuck a flower in their gun barrel? One that will cause a backfire when they pull the trigger.
Shooting someone with their own rifle when it is pointed at you is the flip side of disposing of them by inducing them to fall upon their own sword. Neither is nice nor is any weapon that we live by when used for other than defense.
That is as elegant as it gets with the military.
In an atmosphere of open invitation to thoughts for change perhaps senior military officers are making the greatest all time mistake in judgment. Good judgment is what an officer is paid for. Bad judgment is what he dies for.
Having forgotten their role and perhaps misjudging President Obama's open invitation for people to take their seat at the table of government and governance, maybe these guys think they have an equally open invitation to the party.
This looks like they are eager to make their own thoughts publicly known and only slightly veiled as presented through their retired surrogates.
Bad judgment will be reflected on their fitness report. Along with a comment that they are unfit to serve. Go ahead, make a third party to inflate your retirement income.
Ever heard of a general named MacArthur?
Some senior officers displayed their lack of judgment in the last administration. Are they so arrogant to think they will not be evaluated in the current one?
Admiral Rickover had a policy that an officer stayed in their position long enough for their mistakes to catch up with them. Then they were required to stay and fix them if they honestly could. To determine which ones could and would they were simply asked: Is that the best you could do? That is the hardest question to ask a truly dedicated person. Those that are not skin themselves with the arrogant answer.
Has President Obama stuck a flower in their gun barrel? One that will cause a backfire when they pull the trigger.
Shooting someone with their own rifle when it is pointed at you is the flip side of disposing of them by inducing them to fall upon their own sword. Neither is nice nor is any weapon that we live by when used for other than defense.
That is as elegant as it gets with the military.
Can Ya Skin Griz?
How will President Obama skin cats?
Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Can you skin Griz?
Jeremiah Johnson: I can skin' em as fast as you can catch' em.
[Bear Claw runs through the cabin with a huge grizzly bear close behind and jumps out the back window]
Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Skin that one, pilgrim, and I'll get you another! ---Jeremiah Johnson
Mountain man elegance! Skin griz by leading it to the skinner for the skinning because it is chasing the one that wants it skinned. (And who jumps out the rear window) There was true beauty in that scene. Mike the Marine and I laughed so hard about it walking on a mountain trail in Tucson. Then he quoted a long passage from the same movie and did it better than Bear Claw. Mike was Leadership Officer at the Academy.
Bush put idiots and bumblers in positions of power. His pathetic stupidity was that he did not do it by intent. Perhaps President Obama's genius is that he does the same thing with intent.
I question some of the president's choices. Looking beyond the tactic to the strategy there might be some skinning skill that I sincerely hope to see. Some people need to be selected to fill some positions because they have a constituency that needs to be satisfied by immediate expediency. Their constituency however is the cat to be skinned. It is a set up maneuver if you know exactly what a selectee will do.
Ray McGovern points out the rather poor selection made by President Obama here:
One of our senators with fascist tendencies, Kit Bond of Missouri, currently vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken out with special venom against whistleblowers.
At last week's confirmation hearings for Dennis Blair, nominated by President Barack Obama to the most senior intelligence post (director of national intelligence), Bond pressed the nominee on whether he would try to prosecute leakers of classified information.
Falling in nicely with Bond's proclivities, Blair did not disguise his repugnance toward whistleblowers: "If I could ever catch one of those [leakers], it would be very good to prosecute them. We need to make sure that people who leak are held accountable."
Ray also points out that:
On Jan. 29, the House of Representatives voted to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees, including those working in national security agencies. The bill's sponsors believe that, if the Senate also approves, President Obama will sign it into law.
Fair warning: the likes of Dennis Blair can be counted on to lobby the Senate strongly against approving this legislation.
A scorpion is gonna do what a scorpion is gonna do. (This is a link)
In this case the scorpion is riding on the back of a constituency.
The whistle blower legislation gets strengthened. People come forward telling truth. Dennis Blair can be counted on to do what Dennis Blair does. Do stupid people ever get the beauty of the movie "The Sting"? Clue: The movie takes place in Chicago.
Ready and waiting for Dennis Blair is a rope that he really wants to grab. The rope has a loop on the end. The execution is swift, extremely public and he twists in the wind. President Obama says:
"I just had to do what I had to do. The law protects whistle blowers. Dennis Blair did not break the law in terms that he can be prosecuted for but neither did he support the law and its intent by his actions. That cannot be tolerated. I therefore announce his immediate replacement: (the person I really intended to fill the position but had to skin two cats with the same stroke to do it)."
Lesson to all scorpions! Scorpions don't learn lessons. They gotta do what they gotta do. In my opinion he appointed a few for a purpose. It does not matter which one grabs the rope first. There are a few at the top that will see the lesson. It is unlikely that one at the top will grab the rope first unless they are incredibly stupid or arrogant.
Can ya skin griz Mr. President?
How did you manipulate the selection of Steele?
Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Can you skin Griz?
Jeremiah Johnson: I can skin' em as fast as you can catch' em.
[Bear Claw runs through the cabin with a huge grizzly bear close behind and jumps out the back window]
Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Skin that one, pilgrim, and I'll get you another! ---Jeremiah Johnson
Mountain man elegance! Skin griz by leading it to the skinner for the skinning because it is chasing the one that wants it skinned. (And who jumps out the rear window) There was true beauty in that scene. Mike the Marine and I laughed so hard about it walking on a mountain trail in Tucson. Then he quoted a long passage from the same movie and did it better than Bear Claw. Mike was Leadership Officer at the Academy.
Bush put idiots and bumblers in positions of power. His pathetic stupidity was that he did not do it by intent. Perhaps President Obama's genius is that he does the same thing with intent.
I question some of the president's choices. Looking beyond the tactic to the strategy there might be some skinning skill that I sincerely hope to see. Some people need to be selected to fill some positions because they have a constituency that needs to be satisfied by immediate expediency. Their constituency however is the cat to be skinned. It is a set up maneuver if you know exactly what a selectee will do.
Ray McGovern points out the rather poor selection made by President Obama here:
One of our senators with fascist tendencies, Kit Bond of Missouri, currently vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken out with special venom against whistleblowers.
At last week's confirmation hearings for Dennis Blair, nominated by President Barack Obama to the most senior intelligence post (director of national intelligence), Bond pressed the nominee on whether he would try to prosecute leakers of classified information.
Falling in nicely with Bond's proclivities, Blair did not disguise his repugnance toward whistleblowers: "If I could ever catch one of those [leakers], it would be very good to prosecute them. We need to make sure that people who leak are held accountable."
Ray also points out that:
On Jan. 29, the House of Representatives voted to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees, including those working in national security agencies. The bill's sponsors believe that, if the Senate also approves, President Obama will sign it into law.
Fair warning: the likes of Dennis Blair can be counted on to lobby the Senate strongly against approving this legislation.
A scorpion is gonna do what a scorpion is gonna do. (This is a link)
In this case the scorpion is riding on the back of a constituency.
The whistle blower legislation gets strengthened. People come forward telling truth. Dennis Blair can be counted on to do what Dennis Blair does. Do stupid people ever get the beauty of the movie "The Sting"? Clue: The movie takes place in Chicago.
Ready and waiting for Dennis Blair is a rope that he really wants to grab. The rope has a loop on the end. The execution is swift, extremely public and he twists in the wind. President Obama says:
"I just had to do what I had to do. The law protects whistle blowers. Dennis Blair did not break the law in terms that he can be prosecuted for but neither did he support the law and its intent by his actions. That cannot be tolerated. I therefore announce his immediate replacement: (the person I really intended to fill the position but had to skin two cats with the same stroke to do it)."
Lesson to all scorpions! Scorpions don't learn lessons. They gotta do what they gotta do. In my opinion he appointed a few for a purpose. It does not matter which one grabs the rope first. There are a few at the top that will see the lesson. It is unlikely that one at the top will grab the rope first unless they are incredibly stupid or arrogant.
Can ya skin griz Mr. President?
How did you manipulate the selection of Steele?
Skinning the King
Skinning the cat, elegantly, is a point of view or point of entry to the problem. Once taken, elegant ways are more apparent. Like the old story about the king and the invisible clothes. Old but good. That is why it got so old. Ray McGovern tells it again here
Maybe a good story is so good because each time it is told there is new meaning or depth in the message. Therefore it never gets old? Or gets old only to those that can't see it with new eyes? I look forward to seeing the greater depth of this old story. Perhaps president Obama will be the one to show me by how he skins cats.
It was a truly elegant way to skin the king. It skinned him by inducing him to believe that he had something over his skin when he in fact did not. He knew that he did not, but had to agree that he did because only a fool would say he did not.
He jumped out of something that he did not even have on.
Elegant.
Why are people butchered to accomplish intent? Using a rusty dull knife or a laser guided missile lacks imagination. Even the Federal Reserve Bank is a better example of how it should be done. Why is the butcher or torturer always the cliche of a hulking brute? The image of ignorance. All muscle, no mind.
Ray McGovern is what intelligence is all about. Frank Grevil is what intelligence is all about. I salute Frank and the prior recipient, Katherine Gun and all their associates that recognized them with the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) Award. They also honored Ray McGovern who presented the award so eloquently.
Eloquence is skinning the cat with words.
Maybe a good story is so good because each time it is told there is new meaning or depth in the message. Therefore it never gets old? Or gets old only to those that can't see it with new eyes? I look forward to seeing the greater depth of this old story. Perhaps president Obama will be the one to show me by how he skins cats.
It was a truly elegant way to skin the king. It skinned him by inducing him to believe that he had something over his skin when he in fact did not. He knew that he did not, but had to agree that he did because only a fool would say he did not.
He jumped out of something that he did not even have on.
Elegant.
Why are people butchered to accomplish intent? Using a rusty dull knife or a laser guided missile lacks imagination. Even the Federal Reserve Bank is a better example of how it should be done. Why is the butcher or torturer always the cliche of a hulking brute? The image of ignorance. All muscle, no mind.
Ray McGovern is what intelligence is all about. Frank Grevil is what intelligence is all about. I salute Frank and the prior recipient, Katherine Gun and all their associates that recognized them with the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) Award. They also honored Ray McGovern who presented the award so eloquently.
Eloquence is skinning the cat with words.
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