weekender

It remarkable that you still insist im defending people. you are angry that no one is charged and im trying to explain to you why. thats it. WSJ reports today that BAC, MS and GS are all being investigated by the NY Attorney Gen. Perhaps, they will now. I'm sure if they can find evidence of a crime they will bring charges. My point all along has been that it might not have been a crime according to the laws and rules of the business. It not a crime to short a security against your firms buy rating. Never was and still isnt. you dont like it but its a fact. sorry. I'm done. tried to bring some industry experience into this discussion to help people understand its not so cut and dry. I though maybe i could shed some light as to why regulators have not charged anyone yet. People mention violence, guns and revenge. good bye. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

reply] Dude A lot of us heard the tapes of the enron employee calling the power plants and asking them how much trouble it would be to pull some of their generators off line. To give the appearence of a power shortage so they could jack up the prices. Audio tapes are only good after the fact. To try and prove who did what when. Was the person who made the telephone call ever sent to jail? Did they have to give back their bonus money? Was that call made in before or after the regs your talking about? Want to discuss the the independent auditors like arthur anderson thaat worked for enron? Or the store front auditor that was rubber stamping madoff books? Can you explain to us if the there's a possiabilty that the speculators and wall street are responsiable for the run up on gasoline prices? The SEC is a joke. Why would anyone would work for the feds as a watchdog over wall street for chump change that has half a brain. When they can work for wall street aand make more in a year than a SEC employee can make in a 10 yr's or a life time? Who said "No new tax's " Who said "It's unamerican to take away the oil company's tax exemptions" Who said "I never had sex with that women" SEC pays 225k to start in some positions. that is not a joke. Buts its not about the money. they employ people who dedicate their lives to protecting others. Its a noble profession. My entire point is that no one is being procecuted because they might not have broken any rules or laws. I tried to explain how some of the trading can seem illegal but is in fact, not. There are public servants who have dedicated their lives to catching cheaters on Wall St. If they could bring charges in this, they would. maybe the people at GS acting in a way that is offensive to many but did it within the confines of the rules and laws of the land. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

"If the banks had "belief that the mortgages were solid" why did they bet against them?" The trader might not have the same opinion as the bank he works for. for example...a bank has a rating of buy on xyz security. the trader feels its going lower. he can short the security and make money. no foul. you dont like it but thats how it works. im not making excuses for anything. i am explaining to you how it works and why it might not be a crime. you dont have to like what i say but it doesnt make me wrong. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Yes but you have to admit current regulations are a bit lax compared to what they once were. I’m sorry but I do not agree. There is far more regulation than in the past. Some of which I described above in an earlier post. All of those rules about communications came about in the 90’s. In the good old days, traders spoke to their competition about pricing. Give that a thought for a moment… a trader could call his competition and discuss what they were going to offer securities at without the market regulators supervising if they were colluding on price. Much safer for the public now that all communications are monitored. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Not just a matter of belief, they actively bet against the securities they were pushing on their investors, aided and abetted by AAA ratings from Moodys, S&P, etc., who then had the gall to say that their ratings were protected by their 1st Amendment rights. Their execs then took huge bonuses even after the taxpayers had bailed them out. Then GWB appointed G&S head crookCEO to be his Secretary of the Treasury, thereby enabling the bastard to avoid $50M in taxes. Marketing and selling are not the same thing. You can make a sale in a security without ever marketing it. for example… a customer calls and says they would like you to put together a security that contains mortgages you believe are solid. It must have a high rating from a recognized agency and they are willing to pay X. You do just that and offer it to him at X. They go to zero because the rating agency was wrong and so was the banks belief that the mortgages were solid. The customer loses his ass. You did “sell” the security but you did not “push” it. In other words you made a sale but did not market the security. No crime on your part because the institutional investor is held to a higher standard by the laws. He is expected to know what he is purchasing. Unless he can prove fraud, no crime. you might not like it but thats how it works. sorry "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

shah269 wrote"2) The system as it stands now is broken. No system can regulate itself. The checks and balances are always external. Be it in legal terms or biology. Those checks and balances were removed in the name of higher profits via greater efficiency and greater accessibility to lending power for the lower class." Just one point in reference to your #2. Self regulatory organization(SRO's) are in ADDITION to the gov't. they do not replace it. You must adhere to the laws of the state AND the NYSE and FINRA. Not one or the other. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

to be clear. My point is that while no one might like what GS did, it might not be a crime. I'm speaking specifically in reference to the mortgage-backed securities trading. Its not a crime to sell a security you believe is going lower. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Bernie Madoff was not an employee at GS. He was a thief, plain and simple and is in jail for it. He really doesn’t have anything to do with my point though. A compliance officer is employed by a broker dealer to insure the firm does not operate outside of industry rules and gov’t laws. They are held personally responsible for violations of the people they supervise. Similar to internal affairs on a police dept they can be hated. They work to protect the firm from rouge traders and such. They do not care if you need to make a living, only that you adhere to the rules. Crimes of fraud are very bad for business and compliance officers attempt to protect the firm from its own employee’s. GS has a very large compliance department. As does all investment banks. As mentioned above they are employed by the firm. Enron has nothing to do with GS but ill answer your question anyway. Enron didn’t get away with it. The firm went bankrupt. People went to jail. Employees who were innocent lost their livelihood, life savings and retirements. Don't understand what they got away with. it was a huge fail, all around. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

What would they be charged with? the author says they stole money from their clients. How? If a trader shorts a position to a client because he feels the security is going down, its not a crime. That is how market making in securities is done. It might sound criminal to a layperson but not to the parties involved. Traders do not market securities like your retail broker does. They don’t call people and say, “hey you should buy this basket of xyz”. An institutional customer says they would like to see a market in XYZ. The trader says I will buy it here and sell it here quoting the prices he choses. He reserves the option to take on a position or do the trade as an agent. Whether the security goes up or down is not his responsibility. The customer doesn’t care, they are only looking for liquidity. The customer made the decision to buy or sell and are only calling GS or another trader to broker the trade. GS doesn’t endorse the security. You may wish it works differently but it doesn’t. Traders make a fair and equitable market, that’s it. If the customer makes or loses money on the security is their responsibility. This is not the retail world. Rules are not the same for institutions because they are expected to understand the markets. By the way, securities traders are higher regulated contrary to what people think. For example, equity traders are finger printed and licensed at each new job. their phones are recorded and listened too. No cells are permitted on the desk. Their emails and Im’s are held for up to 7 years for review. As are the recorded phones. Anything written down on a trade blotter is also held for up to 7 years. No communication is permitted that is not monitored. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

responding to Billvon He was never put in jail because he did not commit a crime. Period. your entire comment is an insult to anyone who has a basic understanding of history. My father fought in the Pacific. I can hear him laughing at you from his grave. you should be ashamed of yourself. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

I don’t have kids but many nephews and nieces. I strongly stress to all of them, no matter what you study, it’s a must to take basic accounting and a marketing class. I have worked in finance most of my adult life. People who do not understand the basics of a balance sheet find life much more difficult than those that do. I see kids who spend a fortune on a fancy east coast education but don’t understand how to set up a simple budget or why a cup of coffee cost more in different towns. They see their finances as a matter of fair or unfair. Math is neutral. It is cold and has no emotion. Having a basic understanding of how accounting works makes your personal life easier. It makes your understanding of how the world works more clear. You stop seeing things as fair or unfair and seeing them for what they are, neutral. To me its similar to a basic philosophy class, its makes you think more clearly and be more at peace with the world. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Roman Catholic church's official stance on this is rather vague. This is from a recent document published by the Vatican's International Theological Commission "Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered ... give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision," "We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge," As a child i was taught of limbo but the RC Church no longer teaches this. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

I read the paper online everyday but would not pay 15 a month for it. I enjoy reading it but don not NEED it. I gladly pay for the WSJ because IMO its the standard. oddly, NYT gave me a year for free. i suppose its because i read it so much and they somehow figured i would leave. not sure how that fits into their business plan but glad. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

so did you still get married in Italy? They certainly weren't making it easy for you. I was and am happy. on a side note, i still use my Birth Registration Notice not my official Long Form Birth Cert when asked. the long form looks fake. its printed on a modern color printer plus, as i mentioned, has an issue date of 2007. the old form is so much more credible looking in my opinion "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

There is a huge advantage of letting this go on. He can paint all of his opponents as dolts and crazies. I personally believe he was born in Hawaii but might not HAVE a long form birth certificate. I know this because I never had one till I got married at 38. For years I used my PA Birth Registration Notice. At 38, I was applying for a marriage license in Italy and was told by the Italian Consulate that what I believed was a birth certificate was not. Turns out my parents were given this Birth Registration Notice and never applied to the state for a “birth certificate.” Who knew it wasn’t one? It worked for 38 years. So I applied to the state of PA for a birth certificate and got one. Went to the consulate and was rejected again because I did not have the “Long Form” birth certificate. I applied again to PA and finally got my long form. It states I was born in 1969 but was issued in 2007. Maybe something similar happened to him. Now he doesn’t really have a long form because he never applied for it. Just imagine if he got one issued with a date on it from 2008? "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Its all about how you were raised. If you have any class or breeding. I always stop to help someone in need. Car on the side of the road, person on the street with a map and confused look, boater run aground… to me it is just the proper thing to do. To me its not about being nice or paying it forward or anything. Its just the right thing to do. I cannot imagine if I have the time and skill, not stopping to help someone. I always laugh when people say I am generous or kind for offering to help. I don’t see myself that way at all. I just think I’m being a normal decent person. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Seems pretty simple to me. A for profit organization exist for profit. They would not purposely pay someone, with all things equal, more than another just because of his sex or race. As a rule, employers are always looking for a way to pay people less not more. Sure there will be some sexist, racist outliers but I am old enough to know that as a general rule, employers try to find the cheapest way to get things done. Not the most expensive. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

call me a cynic but people will soon be complaining of injuries. physical and emotional. give it some time.....wait for it. there is no way this will not become an opportunity to make some quick cash. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Because NYC is better than any city in Texas in every way. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

vrogov stated "i've made couple solo jumps in the past and not to happy about an idea to be tied to someone" Call the Ranch and speak to someone about your experience. I did not do tandems because i had some previous jumps. Similiar situation for a buddy of mine. I cannot speak for them but i know they accomadated us in our desire to skip the tandems. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

DSE stated"A gift certificate for a First Flight Course would be another option. I'm happy to provide names of qualified wingsuit coaches that have training suits around the US." I agree with DSE. this is my advice based on my experience. when my wife was my girlfriend she would ask my buddies what toys to buy me. they were good but it was never exactly what i wanted. sometimes, just what they wanted to borrow, hah. over the years she learned to buy gift certificates and then explain the intent. for example for you," i want you to have a wingsuit but wasn't sure what you would feel is best. now you can spend the money on training or a your favorite suit" he will love it more than a suit you did your best to buy. my 2cents "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

Only two choices if you find yourself there. Drive to Philly or kill yourself. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

I'm with JerseyShawn Jim's is underated by tourists. oh and please someone fix the thread title. its called a cheesesteak. the Philly thing is redundant. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

And most importantly, he got it on video! So the runt's (probably distorted) account of what happened won't hold water. Unless, it was one of the runt's buddies who took the video and the runt told him to erase it. Other than that, looks like the big kid has a good case. I smell... LAWSUIT! Chuck Lawsuit is pretty unlikely, That happened in Australia, they would have both been suspended from school though. Sad that so many find it amusing That's ridiculous. It's sad that defending oneself can be punished. But he took defending himself to a much higher level than needed. Damn near breaking some kid's skull is not necessary, I don't care if he is a bully. Usually a single punch is enough to make a bully (especially one that clearly has little man syndrome) stop. Yes, I understand these guys are probably in middle school, but still. C’mon, you lost your right to complain how I react to your violence the moment you brought it upon me. If you punch someone, you cant complain “how” they kick your ass. Well I suppose you can but certainly you will not to be taken seriously. You don’t want someone to escalate a violent situation, don’t be violent towards them. It’s a shame this kid had to learn it the hard way. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante

i think a reasonable person could misunderstand the no refund policy, in this case. Especially a first time visitor. most likely, assuming that they cannot back out of jump once the spot is purchased. its not a stretch to see that some might believe that at the end of the day, if they dont get to jump, they get their money back. In my opinion, the DZ could be more clear about the policy or more understanding of the mistake. If this mistake has happened repeatedly and they do neither, they aren't people i could be friends with. They arent acting illegally just not imo, decently. I’d still jump there because options are limited. I’m not outraged by it, just don’t respect the way they handle this policy. "The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird." John Frusciante