Monday morning catchup

The usual story; too many open Firefox tabs and too little time.

1) The LA Times reports that some investors in Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme will not get their money back as:

'This week, a federal appeals court ruled that much of the lost money is irretrievable because it never really existed to begin with. The ruling helps clarify the protection that federal law provides investors against unscrupulous brokers and dealers. In short, they're protected if their accounts are drained surreptitiously, but not necessarily if they're filled fictitiously. It's a tough message for many of Madoff's victims, who were in no position to see through his sophisticated deception. But given that investing in the stock market is by its nature speculative, it's the right one.'

2) John C. Goodman at Town Hall wonders 'Are the por really poor?' Here's an extract:

'To most Americans, the word "poverty" implies significant material deprivation, including inadequate food, clothing and shelter. The actual living conditions of America's poor are very different, however. According to the government's own survey data, in 2005:

• The average household defined as poor lived in a house or apartment equipped with air conditioning and cable TV.

• The family had a car (a third of the poor have two or more cars).

• For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, a DVD player and a VCR.

• If there were children in the home (especially boys), the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

• In the kitchen, the household had a microwave, refrigerator, and an oven and stove.

• Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone and a coffeemaker. '

I wonder if the problem is the use of 'relative poverty' as a measure, a measure that the poverty industry like for obvious reasons.


3) Ales Masterley wonders how good one set of traders are:

'2 years ago BarCap hired a team of gold traders from JP Morgan, offering them £30 million in cash and shares. Now we hear that Todd Edgar and his team of nearly a dozen commodities traders are to leave "as part of a stream of cuts designed to shed overheads and put the UK bank on target to hit profit targets".

Well it's hard to see how anybody lost money while trading in gold for the last 2 years. At JPM Edgar's team turned in a profit of $250 million in one year on a risk limit of $2 billion, an apparent return of 12.5%. Not bad.

But 2 years ago, I could have bought gold at $900/oz, which today would be worth $1800/oz, which would have been a return of 42% compounded for 2 years. Is there really more than $30 million of value addded in the team?'

He has a point!


4) USA Today have some questions about Barack Obama's patriotic photo.


5) World Net Daily have some questions regarding a Barack Obama land deal. They mention the phrase 'tax fraud'.


6) The Scotsman reports that:

'KAYE Adams, the BBC broadcaster, has been accused of being unfit to present a top current affairs programmes after she tweeted that Boris Johnson "should p*** off back to boarding school".

The former presenter of Loose Women, the ITV talk show, who presents a popular Radio Scotland show, was on holiday in Tuscany when she made a series of expletive-filled Tweets about London's mayor. She has now apologised and deleted the comments from her Twitter site'

Of course at the BBC insulting a 'Tory toff' for being 'posh' is probbaly a reason to get a bonus.


7) Great Lakes ForEx have a fascinating piece about the gold market, including a prediction of the gold price moving back to $850. I am not so sure!