{"id":5435,"date":"2008-11-05T14:26:15","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T21:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=5435"},"modified":"2008-11-05T14:33:51","modified_gmt":"2008-11-05T21:33:51","slug":"tin-foil-hats-optional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5435\/tin-foil-hats-optional\/","title":{"rendered":"Tin Foil Hats Optional"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an earlier post<\/a> I laid out how my distrust of conspiracy theories is being severely challenged by our government and what appears to be a naked power grab.\u00a0 I am loath to continue in this vein for fear of being labeled the nut job who writes about Area 51<\/a> and Men in Black<\/a>.\u00a0 But my tin foil hat<\/a> fits well and the strange shenanigans continue unabated at the government level.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 The former chief risk officer at investment bank Bear Stearns Cos., which nearly collapsed in March, is now a senior official of the Federal Reserve division that supervises U.S. banks.<\/p>\n

Michael Alix, who worked at Bear Stearns for 12 years and was its senior risk manager<\/strong> since 2006, was named a senior vice president in the bank supervision group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Fed announced. (emphasis mine)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, just to make sure I am getting this straight: the senior man in charge of assessing risk for a company that… failed miserably in its risk assessments (costing billions<\/em>) will now “help oversee the financial safety and soundness of banks.”<\/p>\n

What?<\/p>\n

We (the taxpayers) pledged $29 billion<\/em> to backstop the sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan and the government hires the individual originally tasked with preventing such meltdowns and puts him in charge of evaluating bank risks?<\/p>\n

Each time I find myself with tin foil hat in hand, I think it only prudent to end the post the same way I did that first one: I am no longer confused\u2026\u00a0 I am scared.\u00a0 Are you?\u00a0 Are you paying attention?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an earlier post I laid out how my distrust of conspiracy theories is being severely challenged by our government and what appears to be a naked power grab.\u00a0 I am loath to continue in this vein for fear of being labeled the nut job who writes about Area 51 and Men in Black.\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2792,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2792\/stealing-bear-stearns-joe-lewis-aint-pulling-punches\/","url_meta":{"origin":5435,"position":0},"title":"Stealing Bear Stearns: Joe Lewis Ain’t Pulling Punches","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Joe Lewis taught us all what the word \"derisory\" meant today when he described the Bear Stearns sale to JP Morgan Chase. Lewis doubts the shareholders will approve the sale to Jamie Dimon's financial services powerhouse. Joe Lewis invested some 9 figures in the cash-strapped investment bank, last year. Bear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2787,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2787\/bear-stearns-employees-wake-up-to-tenuous-employment-prospects\/","url_meta":{"origin":5435,"position":1},"title":"Bear Stearns Employees Wake Up To Tenuous Employment Prospects","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Bear Stearns employees will wake up on St. Patrick's Day and wonder about their future. JP Morgan Chase bought Bear Stearns, a venerable Wall Street institution, for about 2.5% of the firm's stated book value. The sales price was just 20% of the value of the Manhattan headquarters alone. How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2824,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2824\/jp-morgan-ups-bid-for-bear-stearns\/","url_meta":{"origin":5435,"position":2},"title":"JP Morgan Ups Bid For Bear Stearns","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Have we reached the bottom of the credit crisis? Not likely but we are definitely going through, what Barry Johnson calls, price discovery. From The New York Times via Yahoo News: JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is in talks to increase its offer for Bear Stearns CosBear Stearns, (BSC.N) to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1141,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1141\/countrywide-lendingtree-bear-stearns\/","url_meta":{"origin":5435,"position":3},"title":"Countrywide, LendingTree and Bear Stearns Mortgage","author":"Doug Quance","date":"March 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The lending roller coaster is just starting to roll Most real estate professionals have to deal with an occasional unexpected consequence involving lenders... but not a string of them like this revelation. A client of mine decided to be a generous friend. He's not a wealthy man in the strictest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1555,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1555\/subprime-lending-fallout-goes-upstream-to-take-down-two-major-hedge-funds-what-does-this-mean-to-real-estate-investors\/","url_meta":{"origin":5435,"position":4},"title":"Subprime Lending Fallout Goes Upstream to Take Down Two Major Hedge Funds: What does this Mean To Real Estate Investors?","author":"Cooksquared","date":"June 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Two major Bear Stearns Hedge Funds face foreclosure due to their significant exposure to the subprime lending market. While this does not fall under the category of real estate investor, I spent last summer working for Bear Stearns and interacting with many of their hedge funds. 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