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10 Oct 2011 19:18

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Politics: Wallace Shawn joins Occupy Wall Street

  • Getting in the act: That Wallace Shawn (he of “The Princess Bride” and a notable dinner with a guy named Andre) chose to align himself with Occupy Wall Street shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody familiar with the man’s politics — he lent a hand to Michael Moore for a few scenes of “Capitalism: A Love Story,” for example. That said, the ever-expanding sphere of Occupy Wall Street’s influence continues to draw in bigger organizations (support from major unions) and famed personalities (hey look, it’s Mark Ruffalo) — as we mentioned, even a GOP presidential candidate, albeit the hopelessly unknown Buddy Roemer, plans to stop by. We’ll take this guy over Kanye any day of the week. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Sep 2011 23:37

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U.S.: Occupy Wall Street: How often does the NYPD pull out the pepper spray?

  • Not very often at all, according to the New York Times. In the weekend’s most unbelievable video, a number of young women were pepper sprayed after reacting towards another man’s arrest, seemingly arbitrarily. “A cop in a white shirt — I think he’s a superior officer — just comes along and does these quick little spritzes of pepper spray in my and these three other girls’ eyes,” said Chelsea Elliott, one of the four women sprayed. It’s not a common occurrence for the NYPD to use it. While it got used during a 2003 antiwar protest, it didn’t get used in a much-larger 2004 protest that accompanied the Republican National Convention. “We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” notes former deputy chief Thomas Graham. So why was it needed for this protest? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 21:52

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Biz: Did Mubarak’s insane speech help Wall Street today?

  • YES the speech helped stocks make a late-day rally source
  • » Why did that happen? Simply put, the stock market liked the fact that Mubarak said he was giving up much of his authority in Egypt to Omar Suleiman – not enough for protesters, but apparently enough for money managers. “The moment Mubarak said he would be giving up duties to his vice president, the market said it was a good thing and rose,” said Michael Holland, whose company manages billions in funds on the market.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Oct 2010 10:32

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Biz: Banking profits: Citigroup has another moneymaking quarter

  • $2.2 billion in profits for the banking giant source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Oct 2010 20:57

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Biz, Tech: Based on its profits, Google’s freewheeling spending warranted

  • $2.17 the size of Google’s profits this quarter
  • 25% boost in Google’s overall revenues last quarter – not bad, considering all that extracurricular spending
  • 9% jump in stock price on the news; put that in your self-driving car’s tailpipe and smoke it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2010 21:57

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Culture: Greed good for Oliver Stone: “Wall Street” his best opener ever

  • $19 million for anticipated sequel “Money Never Sleeps” source
  • » A surprising fact: Despite his long film career, filled with iconic zeitgeisty films, he’s only broken the $100 million barrier once – with his second film, “Platoon,” which scored $138 million at the box office. Many of his films – not counting for inflation – tend to plateau around the $70 million mark, including 2004’s similarly ripped-from-the-headlines “World Trade Center.” At 3,500 theaters, it’s his largest opening ever, and is well along to topping the $43 million the original “Wall Street” made way back in 1987.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2010 14:29

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Biz: Kenneth Feinberg: Wall Street gave out a lot of ill-timed bonuses

  • 17 number of firms that made “ill-advised” executive payments during a bailout period
  • $1.6B the amount these firms reportedly paid in the late 2008 and early 2009 periods
  • no pay czar Kenneth Feinberg won’t ask for it back; it’ll open up a can of worms source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Jul 2010 10:53

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Biz: Goldman Sachs’ post-SEC profits fall precipitously, laughably

  • 86% decline in Goldman Sachs’ profits during the second quarter of 2010 – in other words, from a huge number to a very large one
  • $613M the size of their profits in the first quarter after paying a massive SEC fine and getting nicked by British taxes source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2010 22:25

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Biz: Goldman Sachs’ SEC settlement a drop in the investing bucket

  • $550
    million     the size of the settlement the company had to pay to the SEC
  • $13
    billion     the size of the company’s massive annual profits last year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2010 22:17

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U.S.: Financial reform bill? Many people didn’t know there was one

  • 38% of Americans didn’t even know that the landmark legislation even existed
  • 33% of Americans have heard about it, but don’t know what it is
  • 29% know at least a little bit about it; only 3 percent know the bill well source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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