31/01/2012
“ Inappropriate levels of executive reward have destroyed public trust and led to a situation where all directors are perceived to be overpaid. The simple truth is that remuneration schemes have become too complex and, in some cases, too generous and out of line with the interests of investors. „
Dominic Rossi of Fidelity Worldwide Investment, quoted by Julia Werdigier In Britain, a Rising Outcry Over Lavish Executive Pay - NYTimes.com
ethical-crisis financial-crisis | 1 note | posted at 13:24
“ So, here we are, four years after the great financial collapse, three years after the recovery began and in the last year of Obama’s term — and the president has finally decided to investigate the role of fraud in the great global financial crisis. Hence, this new task force — the unit of Mortgage Origination and Securitization Abuses — begins behind the curve. The statute of limitations is, in many cases, close to elapsing. „
Barry Ritholtz in A modern Pecora Commission to right Wall Street’s wrongs - The Washington Post
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financial-crisis ethical-crisis | 1 note | posted at 11:12
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copyright-crisis | posted at 10:01
30/01/2012
“ The (Internet) giant has stopped this craziness—here and now. But the challenge is for the giant to recognize the need to stop this craziness generally. We need a system that is not so easily captured by crony capitalists. We need a government that is not so easily bought. And if only the giant could be brought to demand this too, in the few moments we have before it falls back to sleep, then this war—this “copyright war,” this war that Jack Valenti used to call his own “terrorist war,” where apparently the “terrorists” are our children—will have been worth every bit of the battle. I admit, today this hope seems like a pretty far-fetched dream. But I can assure you that a decade ago, the idea that millions would have rallied to stop Hollywood from pushing an “anti-piracy” bill through Congress was also little more than a dream. A dream that hundreds of activists have now made real. „
Lawrence Lessig (via azspot)
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copyright-crisis | 65 notes | posted at 09:52
26/01/2012
“ Although Euro area member states “will explore the options” to keep the [European Financial Stability Facility]’s triple-A, we expect S&P will ultimately align the EFSF’s rating with that of France and Austria at AA . Indeed, in order to maintain the AAA rating of the EFSF, euro area policy makers would have to accept a reduction in the lending capacity of the EFSF by Eur169bn. Alternatively they would need to increase their guarantees significantly, something we believe unlikely at a time that the focus is shifting on the ESM [European Stability Mechanism]. „
Jacques Caillou, chief economist at RBS, quoted by Paul Murphy in FT Alphaville » RBS on those S&P downgrades
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financial-crisis | 2 notes | posted at 17:48
“ There are additional technical arguments that would favour more cautious IMF involvement. Mario Blejer, the former governor of the central bank of Argentina, argued recently that the IMF’s preferred creditor status could become a problem, as an IMF loan would automatically subordinate every other bondholder. The probability of a default on those defaultable bonds is thus significantly higher. Furthermore, the situation could become so acute that the IMF’s seniority might fail, which in turn would endanger its capacity to lend at low interest rates. „
Wolfgang Münchau in IMF should stay out of the eurozone crisis - FT.com
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financial-crisis | 2 notes | posted at 15:36
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financial-crisis | 1 note | posted at 13:24
“ Specifically, the Oliver Wyman study assumes that every dollar disallowed in pure proprietary trading by banks will necessarily disappear from the market. But if money can still be made (without subsidies), the same trading should continue in another form. For example, the bank could spin off the trading activity and associated capital at a fair market price. Alternatively, the relevant trader – with valuable skills and experience – can raise outside capital and continue doing an equivalent version of his or her job. Now, however, these traders will bear more of their own downside risks.
If it turns out that the previous form or extent of trading only existed because of the implicit government subsidies, then we should not mourn its end.
„
Simon Johnson in Should We Trust Paid Experts On The Volcker Rule? « The Baseline Scenario
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financial-crisis | 2 notes | posted at 11:12
25/01/2012
“ Implementation of the Basel III capital rules with regard to banks with insurance companies is a particular point of friction, as tweaks backed by France and Brussels will boost the capital of Société Générale and Crédit Agricole by billions of euros – both owners of insurance companies.
In December global regulators rebuffed France and overwhelmingly sided with the UK’s stricter interpretation. Yet the Franco-German statement will restate support to amend the rule, which prevents capital being double-counted towards the requirements of both the insurer and parent bank.
„
Alex Barker and Brooke Masters in Paris and Berlin seek to dilute bank rules - FT.com
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financial-crisis | 1 note | posted at 17:48
“ Considering that the eurozone is economically unconstrained, and among the richest regions in the world, the request to involve the IMF in hypothetical future rescue operations is morally reprehensible. What is happening here is that eurozone member states find it hard to commit additional funds to the rescue operations, and find it politically more expedient to channel resources through the IMF as a way to bypass national parliaments. „
Wolfgang Münchau in IMF should stay out of the eurozone crisis - FT.com
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financial-crisis | 3 notes | posted at 15:36
“ The upcoming [European Stability Mechanism] will however also face a difficult trade-off between higher lending volume and achieving a AAA rating. With no further increase to the current callable capital levels, the lending capacity of the ESM would decline by Eur200bn. To maintain the current lending capacity and its AAA, then member countries would need to double their level of callable capital into the ESM compared to current commitment. Should euro area policy makers want to double the lending capacity of the ESM from pre downgrade times (while maintaining its AAA), then the ESM would need a callable capital of almost 30% of euro area GDP! Discussions surrounding the potential increase in the size of the ESM in March will be more difficult post downgrade. „
Jacques Caillou, chief economist at RBS, quoted by Paul Murphy in FT Alphaville » RBS on those S&P downgrades
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financial-crisis | 1 note | posted at 13:24
24/01/2012
“ What’s most infuriating to me about all this is that Apple had an opportunity to play fairly and still win. If the interactive capabilities in the new, enhanced iBooks format are so compelling, the resulting books should be able to compete on their own in the marketplace.
Apple, which uses the EPUB standard as the core for iBooks, could easily have produced their free authoring tool so that it continues to support what they acknowledge is the “industry-leading standard.” The program could offer users a choice of output formats: a standard EPUB file or a fully interactive iBooks file.
„
Ed Bott in How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books | ZDNet
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ethical-crisis copyright-crisis | 1 note | posted at 15:36
“ Apple, in this EULA, is claiming a right not just to its software, but to its software’s output. It’s akin to Microsoft trying to restrict what people can do with Word documents, or Adobe declaring that if you use Photoshop to export a JPEG, you can’t freely sell it to Getty. As far as I know, in the consumer software industry, this practice is unprecedented. I’m sure it’s commonplace with enterprise software, but the difference is that those contracts are negotiated by corporate legal departments and signed the old-fashioned way, with pen and ink and penalties and termination clauses. A by-using-you-agree-to license that oh by the way asserts rights over a file format? Unheard of, in my experience. „
Dan Wineman in The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA
copyright-crisis ethical-crisis | 4 notes | posted at 13:24
“ There’s a paradox to economic policy. The more it succeeds at prolonging short-term prosperity, the more it inspires long-run destabilizing behavior by businesses, banks, consumers, investors and government. If they think basic stability is assured, they will assume greater risks — loosen credit standards, borrow more, engage in more speculation, relax wage and price behavior — that ultimately make the economy less stable. Long booms threaten deep busts. „
Robert J. Samuelson in Why the Federal Reserve slept before the housing crisis - The Washington Post
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financial-crisis | 8 notes | posted at 11:13
23/01/2012
The MPAA studios hate us. They hate us with region locks and unskippable screens and encryption and criminalization of fair use. They see us as stupid eyeballs with wallets, and they are entitled to a constant stream of our money. They despise us, and they certainly don’t respect us.
Yet when we watch their movies, we support them.
Even if we don’t watch their movies in a theater or buy their plastic discs of hostility, we’re still supporting them. If we watch their movies on Netflix or other flat-rate streaming or rental services, the service effectively pays them on our behalf next time they negotiate the rights or buy another disc. And if we pirate their movies, we’re contributing to the statistics that help them convince Congress that these destructive laws are necessary.
They use our support to buy these laws.
So maybe, instead of waiting for the MPAA’s next law and changing our Twitter avatars for a few days in protest, it would be more productive to significantly reduce or eliminate our support of the MPAA member companies starting today, and start supporting campaign finance reform.
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copyright-crisis | 126 notes | posted at 17:48
Quoting the Crisis
