Zzzzzzzzzzzz ...

I overslept - more later.

Some News - Des Nouvelles

** The Bloviator wants a date with Iran. With her in a burka, I suspect he won't get far.

** Leon Black of Apollo "warns" about commercial property losses for banks. I suppose he wants more victims. Interesting past - do a search on him with now defunct Credit Lyonnaise.

From the Internet: "The defendants' motion to dismiss the Attorney General's case comes almost a month after the insurance commission entered into a key immunity deal with Leon Black and two of his partners at Apollo Advisors L.P., who served as financial advisors on the Executive Life sale. Black and his partners, Craig Cogut and John Hannan, agreed to testify against Credit Lyonnais and the other defendants in exchange for the insurance commission agreeing not to sue Apollo. "

A lot more is available online.

** Chavez nationalizes another bank in Venezuela. He's leading that bation back to the 19th century.

** Beefers barging into commodities. And Blabberg says the financial group is the only group up for the year so far. Interesting.

** Bigtime bonus tax coming on persons working for companies getting aid. This is just the beginnning. And something really is needed here. The guys at the top are taking far more than they have proven themselves to be worth.

I expect JPM, GS, etc to raise capital to repay the TARP, or just cut lending and send it back.

Word of the Day

"Retradition" - noun [$1000] rare
Retradition means the action of handing back.
Sentence: Retradition of a few excess AIG bonuses has been announced, but for most, I suspect some stick will be necessary.

Le Mot Du Jour

Clôture - noun, feminine
Clôture means 1. fence, hedge, wall; 2. closing, closure; 3. closing date (de for).
La Phrase: Hier en clôture, Wall Street a été en baisse.
Sentence: Yesterday at closing, Wall Street was lower.