10.28.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:47 pm by optionplayer
Yes the BBC mamnagement shoudl act and sack Ross and Brand as there is no place for this type of lurid conversation and especially as SKY would not tollerate this and Murdoch would have acted instantly
so wake up BBC management
There are two issues here – should it have been done, and should it have been broadcast.
No, it shouldn’t have been broadcast, and the person responsible for that is probably their producer or editor, and they should go.
But this isn’t just a matter of broadcast, which is why all those people saying ‘if you don’t like it, don’t listen’ are simply wrong. This isn’t like broadcasting swearing, or nudity, or simulated violence, or even Jeremy Kyle – which are basically consensual. To even make those phone calls was wrong, broadcasting it only compounded the wrong. And responsibility for making the calls lies with Brand and Ross.
How much they’re paid IS relevant. They’re experienced broadcasters, and Ross at least owns his own production company. They should have known. More junior people have been sacked for far less.
Unfortunately, they succumbed to exactly the same problem that lay behind the phone scams, the faked documentaries, the faked abuse photos in the Mirror, the Gilligan report onDavid Kelly, etc: the tendency in the media to consider that the real world is secondary – and a long way secondary – to the product. Who cares if you’re defrauding people, as long as it looks like your phone lines worked? Who cares if you stage something because you didn’t get the pictures first time around – surely how it looks is more important than the truth. Who cares if you misreport what a distinguished civil servant told you? At least you get a sexed-up story.
So you might have to agree with the Daily Mail on this one occasion. You might have to agree with a bunch of licence-fee hating rightwingers.
You might have to agree, if you’re honest, that they’re right.
But if you work in TV or radio, you probably don’t have to worry about being honest.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 6:29 pm by optionplayer
Citic Pacific Shares Fall 55% Amid Forex Losses
– Citic Pacific Ltd. lost 55% of its market value Tuesday after disclosing huge forex losses, then scrambled to repair the damage by punishing employees, including the chairman’s daughter, over their alleged roles in the debacle.
Managing Director Henry Fan told Dow Jones Newswires that Chairman Larry Yung’s daughter, Frances Yung, had been removed from the company’s finance department and would be reassigned to a new post to be determined later.
Citic Pacific had said Monday a board-level executive, Group Finance Director Leslie Chang, had made unauthorized trades that are expected to cost Citic Pacific around 15.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$2 billion) and give it a net loss for full-year 2008.
Mr. Fan said by telephone that Frances Yung “was involved in this case” and aware of the trading, but he didn’t elaborate. Frances Yung, whose title had been director, finance group, didn’t return several phone messages from Dow Jones Newswires seeking comment.
Mr. Chang and another board-level executive lost their jobs in the scandal.
Analysts pounded Citic Pacific on Tuesday with downgrades and sharp criticisms, saying it would be difficult for the blue-chip conglomerate to restore its once excellent reputation.
Citic Pacific shares ended at HK$6.52, after falling as much as 55.4% to a low of HK$6.47. Its market capitalization fell to HK$14.3 billion from HK$31.84 billion Friday.
Citigroup analyst Anil Daswani attacked Citic Pacific’s “cowboy hedging policy” and downgraded his rating to sell from buy. Mr. Daswani cut his target price to HK$6.66 from HK$28.
“This episode has revealed deeply defective internal controls at a member of Hong Kong’s blue-chip index,” said David Webb, a prominent shareholder activist who used to be an independent director at the local stock exchange.
Mr. Webb said Citic Pacific, with interests in steel, iron ore, property and infrastructure, had waited too long to disclose the problem.
Citic Pacific said Monday its board had learned of the problem on Sept. 7, and it began investigating while arranging for its top shareholder, China’s state-owned Citic Group, to step in with a US$1.5 billion standing loan.
Fan said Tuesday that Citic Pacific had gotten legal advice “for every step we took, including when to disclose the event.”
Fan said more employees from the company’s finance department had been demoted and had their salaries cut, but he didn’t name them or say how many were punished.
Citic Pacific said Monday the currency trades would give it a loss for full-year 2008, with no impact expected on 2009 results. Mr. Fan told Dow Jones Tuesday the company has HK$9 billion on hand in cash and loan facilities.
“There should not be any short-term liquidity concern,” J.P. Morgan analyst Billy Ng said in a research note, but he cut his rating on Citic Pacific to underweight from overweight.
“However, we believe the damage to the company’s reputation is significant and it will take a long time to restore investors’ confidence,” Mr. Ng said.
Citic Pacific said Mr. Chang made the currency trades as the company was working on an iron ore mining project in Australia that required purchases in Australian dollars and euro. Fan said the trades began in July.
The trades were made under an arrangement known as an “accumulator” that gave Citic Pacific limited upside but unlimited downside, and they ran into deep trouble when the U.S. dollar unexpectedly rallied.
Mr. Fan named three banks as counterparties to Citic Pacific’s trades: HSBC Holdings PLC, BNP Paribas S.A. and Citigroup Inc.
The Citic Pacific chairman, Larry Yung, said Monday the company had realized losses of HK$807.7 million on the forex contracts as of Friday.
He said the company would face a loss of about HK$14.7 billion based on current forex levels; however, as it intends to mark the contracts to market on Dec. 31, the actual loss could be higher or lower.
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10.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:50 pm by optionplayer
and with our friends in the USA and this Bush administration- they too have been accomplicies creating this economic mess where taxpayers money is paying for the bankers excesses!! wow capitalism pays for some !
This person needs a job. This individual seeks an executive position.
He will be available in January 2009, and is willing to relocate.
(Please don’t skip the last section!)
RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver’s license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been ‘lost’ and is not available.
Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.
College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland Texas , in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida , and my father’s appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.
I’m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My ‘poorest millionaire,’ Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.
I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron.
My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.
I’ve broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. ‘prisoners of war’ detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US election).
I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.
I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.
I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.
In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I am supporting development of a nuclear ‘Tactical Bunker Buster,’ a WMD.
I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
All records of my tenure as Governor of Texas are now in my father’s library, sealed and unavailable for public view.
All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 years.
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