Senator calls for ban on High Frequency Trading

Do I care that Goldman Sachs is my enemy now?

Pseudonymous blogger Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge lit the fuse here. (His name comes from Brad Pitt’s role in Fight Club.) Now a senator has joined in.

It was only a few months ago that a blogger calling himself Tyler Durden and writing for [...]

Texas grants largest offshore wind concessions in US

The three leases will account for 3 GW of energy and each will also have a Tier 4 co-located data center powered by wind and other low carbon energy, specifically for search engines and other such massive users of power.

The Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office said,

Developing wind energy for Texas [...]

The first Blago Award nominee is

The Master, against whom all others must be compared

Mayor Cammarano not looking perky doing his perp walk. Photo Robert Scrianno/The Star-Ledger

Zen Pundit has just instituted the prestigious Blago award – named after the indicted ex-governor of Illinois – “for politicians or other public figures who get caught making damning statements [...]

Biodiesel from chicken glop

Chicken feather meal is the leftover glop from processing. It’s used for fertilizer and animal feed and is 12% fat. That fat can be used to make biodiesel.

The process is touted as being environmentally friendly and would extract the fat from chicken feather meal using boiling water. Researchers say that removal of the fat [...]

A teachable moment. Obama defuses the Gates controversy

This is quite amazing. He acknowledges he did pump up the volume, says both Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley are good people and maybe both overreacted. But given the history of the country, African-Americans are understandably sensitive to this.

And they all may end up having a beer on the White House lawn. Plus [...]

The Manhattan Airport Foundation

Because it makes good sense to turn Central Park into an airport.

Seven banks seized today by FDIC

Six related banks in Georgia, One in New York. 58 so far this year. The number of closings seems to be accelerating too.

FASB discovers own cojones

The too often overly compliant Financial Accounting Standards Board could actually be growing a spine and may recommend that financial instruments be recorded at fair market value and not marked-to-fantasy.

This is a serious big deal. Banks will fight to the death against this being implemented. Let’s hope FASB wins and some measure of [...]

McCain lawyers did investigate Obama citizenship

“There was a birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, which would be very difficult to invent or plant 47 years in advance.”

Well, to a Birther, this will just prove the Vast Hideousness of the conspiracy. Like the 9/11 Truthers, they are highly resistant to pesky facts and logic.

Why am I not surprised? Madoff had early ties to organized crime

One of Madoff’s early Wall Street mentors, who supplied him with over-the-counter business, reputedly had close ties to the Chicago mob — “the genesis of Bernie’s career,” adds a source.