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Ironic Corzine Quote


bmichaud

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There is a great quote cited in a WSJ op-ed this morning of John Corzine brushing off a subordinate's concern with MF's European debt exposure:

 

There are also lessons in Mr. Corzine's particular trading strategy. The Journal reports that he brushed aside at least one warning from a subordinate and bet big on European sovereign debt, particularly bonds issued by Italy and Spain.

 

"Europe wouldn't let these countries go down," Mr. Corzine told an MF executive, according to the Journal.

 

(link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204528204577010020694373322.html)

 

This goes to show how utterly dangerous hubris is, especially when battling something as powerful as the markets. Here is Corzine, wealthy beyond all imagination, Goldman Sachs alum, etcetera, etcetera, and could not even drum up enough humility to admit he was DEAD wrong.

 

This example also demonstrates the folly of relying upon governments (central banks and treasuries combined) to come running to the rescue. IMHO, governments are not in fact bigger than the markets, and as Bernanke's failed QE programs have demonstrated, markets will ultimately revert to their long-run means.

 

 

Not trying to drum up a heated debate whatsoever, simply passing along what I found to be a valuable lesson from today's paper.

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I'm no fan of Corzine, but had a brief encounter with him once that always left me impressed.  It was at the Delta Shuttle at LaGuardia in NYC.  For anyone who has ever been there during peak rush hour, they know how crazy it gets there. 

 

This was when he was a senator and running for governor.  It was one of those crazy days and I saw him sitting alone at the little food counter they have there.  He was eating a sandwich, drinking a beer and reading the newspaper.  He was all alone, no entourage.  In all my times being on the shuttle, I have seen many people of lesser fame than him with entourages.  Most of them also get special treatment and get to board and deplane first (for example, I saw Charles Rangel several times and he always had 3-4 people with him and there would be a commotion as he moved to the front of the line).  But when the call came to board, he simply got in line with everyone else.  They then moved the huge line so it was pointing in another direction.  That caused mass hysteria as everyone was pushing for a better position.  I ended up standing next to him in line and we kind of looked at each other and shrugged about all the chaos.  I said something about the line and the chaos and he smiled and just said something to the effect that everyone should slow down a little as they will all get seats. 

 

I was impressed at his laid back attitude and the fact that he wasn't looking for special treatment.  Of course this has nothing to do with this situation, but just something I always remembered about him.

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I'm no fan of Corzine, but had a brief encounter with him once that always left me impressed.  It was at the Delta Shuttle at LaGuardia in NYC.  For anyone who has ever been there during peak rush hour, they know how crazy it gets there. 

 

This was when he was a senator and running for governor.  It was one of those crazy days and I saw him sitting alone at the little food counter they have there.  He was eating a sandwich, drinking a beer and reading the newspaper.  He was all alone, no entourage.  In all my times being on the shuttle, I have seen many people of lesser fame than him with entourages.  Most of them also get special treatment and get to board and deplane first (for example, I saw Charles Rangel several times and he always had 3-4 people with him and there would be a commotion as he moved to the front of the line).  But when the call came to board, he simply got in line with everyone else.  They then moved the huge line so it was pointing in another direction.  That caused mass hysteria as everyone was pushing for a better position.  I ended up standing next to him in line and we kind of looked at each other and shrugged about all the chaos.  I said something about the line and the chaos and he smiled and just said something to the effect that everyone should slow down a little as they will all get seats. 

 

I was impressed at his laid back attitude and the fact that he wasn't looking for special treatment.  Of course this has nothing to do with this situation, but just something I always remembered about him.

 

That's pretty cool actually - I like hearing that type of stuff. Certainly doesn't give the impression of extreme arrogance as the WSJ quote does.

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MF also did not follow protocols to segregate client assets from company assets.  Could be fines or worse for them and some executives.  Cheers!

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45113687

 

Yah, this is baaaaad.

 

If a primary dealer is able to comingle funds and not get caught (only caught b/c of the bankruptcy), how many other places are doing the same thing?  The system needs trust to work, and this is NOT something that helps with that.

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MF also did not follow protocols to segregate client assets from company assets.  Could be fines or worse for them and some executives.  Cheers!

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45113687

 

Yah, this is baaaaad.

 

If a primary dealer is able to comingle funds and not get caught (only caught b/c of the bankruptcy), how many other places are doing the same thing?  The system needs trust to work, and this is NOT something that helps with that.

 

Yup!  Exactly what were the auditors doing as well.  Cheers!

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MF MF Global attorney says funds accounted for in broker-dealer accounts - CNBC -Update-

 

 

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/Platinum/InDepth/InPlay.htm#ixzz1cU3zU92B

 

Conflicting reports:

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Official-MF-Global-admitted-apf-602167470.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

 

Attorney says funds accounted for...executive says client money was used during problems.  I say jail time!  Cheers!

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