Wall Street Folly

• Greenspan Concedes That the Fed Failed to Gauge the Bubble
• Rival warned regulators over Lehman
• JPMorgan also used accounting gimmick
• SEC welcomes Lehman report as ‘helpful’
• Lehman estate fight with Barclays escalates
• Speculators seen increasing Greek borrowing costs
• CFTC Gensler: Determined To Reform OTC Market
• Trichet backs tougher CDS regulation
• Palm Narrows Loss, but Phone Sales Drop Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Accounting games, Alan Greenspan, Bankruptcy, CDS, Fed, Greece, Hedge funds, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Palm, SEC, Sovereign debt

• Geithner to Testify Jan. 27 About AIG E-Mail Exchange
• U.S. financial crisis panel to call Greenspan, Cox
• Citigroup plans to cap cash bonuses
• JPMorgan fourth-quarter profits soar
• FDIC blames Federal Reserve for severity of financial crisis
• Bankers’ fury at levy on US subsidiaries
• Dodd Said to Weigh Dropping Consumer Agency From Overhaul Plan Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AIG, Alan Greenspan, Barack Obama, Bonuses, Chris Cox, Compensation, FDIC, Intel, JP Morgan, Politics, retailers, SEC, Sheila Bair, Taxes, Tim Geithner, U.S.. Treasury

• Lehman Claims Barclays ‘Windfall’
• Lehman Says Barclays Got $5 Billion Discount, Wants Assets Back
• BofA Fights Ex-Merrill Brokerage Chief’s Move to UBS
• ‘Black Swan’ Author Taleb Wants His Vote for Barack Obama Back
• Greenspan Sees Threat U.S. Congress Will Hamper Fed
• Citi’s Parsons Said to Join Equity Firm
• What Kind of Judge Stands Up For Truth and Justice?
• BofA Ruling Questions an SEC Weapon
• Law Firms Put in Unfamiliar Spot
• SocGen bankers quit to launch hedge fund Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Allen Stanford, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, SEC, TARP, Warren Buffett

• Greenspan Says 2.5% Growth Possible in Third Quarter
• Housing could take another turn downward: Greenspan
• Transcript: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Alan Greenspan
• Roubini Says Commodity Prices May Rise in 2010
• Wall Street profits from trades with Fed
• Goldman Sachs’ reputation tarnished Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Barclays, Bob Diamond, Citadel, Citigroup, Economy, Fed, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, Nouriel Roubini, Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury, UBS, Yahoo

One of the more fascinating tidbits from Fortune Magazine’s tome on former Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne is just how hot Alan "Ace" Greenberg was for serial man eater Barbara Walters, who we all know now from her kiss-and-tell-all was also seeing Alan Greenspan around the same time.  But she wound up marrying Merv Adelson.  According to Cayne, Ace himself wanted to marry Walters —

One day Greenberg told Cayne a story
about his personal life that Cayne never forgot. At that time Greenberg was
between marriages and had been dating regularly, but was growing increasingly
concerned about the risk of contracting AIDS. "He decides he’s going to get
married," Cayne says. "And he’s one of the guys that’s dating Barbara
Walters…. He says to me, ‘I’ve decided I’m going to marry Barbara Walters.’
The very next day in the papers she’s engaged to Merv Adelson. I never said a
word. Now normally – you know, if it was one of my buddies – I’d say, you know,
‘Pretty good call there, pal. You’re marrying her, except that she’s marrying
somebody else…. That’s called bigamy.’"

The rise and fall of Jimmy Cayne
- Fortune

Tags: Alan "Ace" Greenberg, Alan Greenspan, Bear Stearns, Jim Cayne

According to Page Six, Barbara Walters, who recently published her kiss and tell memoirs, may be stinging from some of the criticisms over her affair with then-married Senator Edward Brooke.  But more interestingly is what a playa she was, also carrying on simultaneously with Bear Stearns CEO Alan "Ace" Greenberg, and then-future Fed chief Alan Greenpan. And her housekeeper couldn’t tell the two Alans apart:

"Audition" also reveals that
after breaking up with Brooke, Walters continued seeing Greenberg while also
dating Alan Greenspan, the future Federal Reserve chairman.

Her Latina housekeeper couldn’t keep the
two Alans straight. "When they gave me the message, I could only ask, which
one talked louder?" Walters wrote. "Alan Greenberg . . . talked in a
normal tone of voice. Alan Greenspan was very soft-spoken. He almost whispered.
And that’s how I would know whether it was Greenspan or Greenberg."

Barbara Starts To Feel Heat – Page Six NY Post

Tags: Alan "Ace" Greenberg, Alan Greenspan, Bear Stearns, Books, Fed

Bloomberg columnist Carolyn Baum is another journalist whos pissing on Alan Greenspan’s legacy; this morning she contrasts him to his predecessor, Paul Volcker: 

Volcker is tall; Greenspan isn’t. Volcker is a man of few words; Greenspan won’t shut up. Volcker retired as Fed chair and avoided the limelight; Greenspan is doing everything possible to make sure the light shines on him.

The problem for Greenspan is that the spotlight on him is also illuminating detritus on the economy’s shoreline now that the tide of easy money has gone out. (Wait, easy money is back!) Greenspan’s curriculum vitae includes two asset bubbles (one in Internet and technology stocks in the late 1990s, another in residential real estate), a pair of banking crises, a boatload of fraudulent lending he chose to ignore, and a household savings rate of zero.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Fed, Paul Volcker

With so many now talking smack about how former Fed chief Alan Greenspan managed the economy before he left office in 2006, he’s coming out swinging and splashing water on his critics. Per a big Page One WSJ story:

Hailed three years ago as "the
greatest central banker who ever lived," the retired chairman of the
Federal Reserve now is being criticized for his management of the U.S. economy
before he retired in 2006. The Fed’s low rates and laissez-faire regulatory
oversight during his final years are widely blamed for sowing the seeds of
today’s financial crisis — one that began in the U.S. housing market and is now
battering banks, stock markets, borrowers and consumers around the world.

For much of his 18 years atop the world’s most-influential economic institution,
Mr. Greenspan was lionized for the economy’s performance. Now, he notes, he’s
being second-guessed for it.

"I was praised for things I didn’t
do," Mr. Greenspan said during one of three interviews at his sun-drenched
office in downtown Washington, D.C. "I am now being blamed for things that
I didn’t do."

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Economy, Fed

According to Page Six, Former Fed chier Alan Greenspan and Paulson & Co’s sub-prime investment king John Paulson were spotted ordering halibut at lunch at Visconti on East 58th, no doubt celebrating their new partnership.

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Fed, Paulson & Co

Greenspan in bed with Paulson: The former Fed chief’s services have been snapped up by Paulson & Co and they’re the only hedge fund that will get him according to the terms of his agreement.  We wonder if that will crush the hopes of China Investment Corp — they reportedly wanted to hire him.

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the
US Federal Reserve, is to become an adviser to Paulson & Co, the $28bn New
York-based hedge fund company that achieved spectacular investment returns at
the height of last year’s credit crunch.

Mr Greenspan will join the advisory board
of the credit specialist investment house. Paulson will be the only hedge fund
that Mr Greenspan will work with under the terms of the agreement.

Mr Greenspan already holds separate
advisory roles with Deutsche Bank and Pimco, the asset management firm. The
financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Greenspan joins NY hedge fund - Financial Times

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Fed, Hedge funds, Paulson & Co

Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan weighed in on the mortgage crisis — he favors a U.S. government bailout.

Greenspan, speaking on ABC’s “This Week”
program aired today, said cash bailouts, while creating a larger budget deficit,
have the advantage of helping homeowners without distorting property prices or
interest rates on mortgages….         
 

 

      

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Credit Crunch, Economy, Fed

All of those hours spent shriveling up like a prune in the bathtub where he’s said to have penned most of his new tome seem to have paid off: Alan Greenspan’s  "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.", is flying off of bookshelves. 

The book sold 129,000 copies in its first
week on bookstore shelves, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks an
estimated 75% of retail book sales in the U.S. While that is far short of
first-week sales of the memoir of another high-profile Washington figure, former
President Bill Clinton — whose "My Life" sold 606,000 copies in its
first week in June 2004, according to BookScan — it is still strong enough to
put the book on top of best-seller lists for both Amazon.com and Barnes &
Noble’s hardcover nonfiction.

Greenspan’s Memoir Racks Up Sales – Wall Street Journal

Tags: Alan Greenspan, Books, Fed

He’ll be working with former Fed buddies at Deutsche Bank:

Deutsche Bank AG plans to announce today
that it has retained Mr. Greenspan as a senior adviser to its corporate and
investment-bank unit.

The arrangement was initiated by Peter
Hooper, who served on the Fed staff during Mr. Greenspan’s tenure and is now
chief U.S. economist for Deutsche Bank Securities.

Details of the contract weren’t disclosed.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Deutsche Bank

Did Greenspan Add to Subprime Woes? Hedge-Fund Manager’s Bet Against the Odds Pays Off Big

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Blogs, Hedge funds

He’s talking the "R" word again:

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan
  Greenspan said he still sees a one-third chance of a recession in the U.S.
  economy this year, as consumption eases and the housing market slows.
 
  A “mild recovery” in the second quarter is not very strong, according to a
  recording of Greenspan’s comments today to a conference hosted by Merrill
  Lynch & Co. in Singapore obtained by Bloomberg News.
 
  “There is no doubt there is a slowdown going on the U.S.,” Greenspan said
  via satellite from Washington. “We are clearly having troubles in the capital
  investment area, as well as potentially in the consumption area and obviously
  housing being a significant drag.”

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Tags: Alan Greenspan, Economy

On the speaking circuit: Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan spoke in Boston last night to an audience of 800 members of the Mass. Technology Leadership Council.  He was openly critical of Sarbanes-Oxley, which he said has become a "nightmare", and should be given the heave-ho ASAP…..

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan has chosen Peter Petre, a senior Fortune Magazine editor, to help him with his new book to be published by Penguin Press.  According to a spokesman for the publisher, Petre will only assist in the writing, and Greeenspan will put out the first and final drafts.  Petre’s prior assists include working with  Norman Schwarzkopf and former IBM Chairman Thomas Watson.  Greenspan sold the rights to his memoirs last March for a guesstimated $8.5 – $9 million.

CNN/Money

Tags: Alan Greenspan

According to the NY Post, sources say that Penguin Inc has won the bidding war for Alan Greenspan’s memoirs with the final price in the $8.5-9 million range, and if so, will have topped Pope John Paul II’s heavenly $8.5 million advance.

Hey Alan, don’t spend it all in one place!

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan must be pretty pumped right about now.  Bidding for his memoirs has reached the $8 million range 2 days into the bidding….

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Just how irrationally exuberant will the bidding for Alan Greenspan’s memoirs go?  First round bids are due today, with the auction beginning in earnest tomorrow, and the price tag is expected to reach at least $7 million….

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Sure to be a page turner and destined to reach stratospheric heights, bidding has begun on Alan Greenspan’s memoirs.  The bids are already up to $5 million.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

How often do you see Alan Greenspan smiling so broadly?  He’ll probably be doing a whole lot more of that with what he was reportedly paid by Lehman Brothers for a night’s work.  Greenspan spoke at a dinner for 15 of the firms biggest clients, and  news of his appearance was widely publicized in the press the next day with everyone wondering what Greenspan’s tab might have been.  The answer: a cool $250,000.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Erin Crowe, the painter who has made now former fed chief Alan Greenspan her muse for the past 3 years having painted him in nearly 50 different portraits, was on CNBC yesterday where she produced her last portrait of the man live in their studio.  It’s now up for auction on Ebay where proceeds will be donated to Autism Speaks.  The 3 day auction ends on February 3 at 6PM EST.  At the time of our post there were already 65 bidders with the price so far up to $23,200.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Painter Erin Crowe, who recently made a splash by painting a series of portraits of Alan Greenspan, is celebrating his retirement with a "Goodbye Greenspan" show at the Broome Street Gallery in New York City where she’s showing 35 of her Greenspan works.  The cost of the paintings?  $800-$12,500.  The show runs until February 5.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan has apparently decided what to do now that his Fed days are over.  He’s starting up a consulting firm that will be called "Greenspan Associates" appropriately enough.

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Tags: Alan Greenspan