MonkeyBusinessBlog

"Oh I Get it. Y'all Are a Couple of Bookies!"

From Bloomberg News Delaware Limited to Offering Parlay Bets on NFL Games.

Now we're talking baby! 

Delaware’s new sports-wagering plan is limited to offering parlay bets on National Football League games, a federal appeals court concluded.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled last week that Delaware’s original plan, which featured single-game bets on a variety of sports, violated federal law. The judges explained that finding in a 23-page ruling released today.

The state can “institute multigame (parlay) betting on at least three NFL games” without violating federal statutes aimed at restricting the expansion of gambling, a three-judge panel said in the decision.

The NFL, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, theNational Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Associationsued Delaware Governor Jack Markell earlier this year, alleging the sports-betting plan approved by legislators violates Delaware’s constitution and federal law.

Markell pushed the wagering plan to help close an almost $800 million budget gap in the wake of the U.S. recession.

While the decision “does not provide the flexibility we had hoped for, Delaware is still the only state east of the Rocky Mountains that can offer a legal sports lottery on NFL football,” Markell said in a statement today.

Vice will lead the way out of this mess!  Screw stimulus packages.  If they let the states legalize sports gambling, marijuana and prostitution, state budgets will be balanced in a year and society as a whole will be a lot less stressed out. Poof, just like that.  I love how the major sports leagues are against this.  They'll tell you that promoting gambling endangers the integrity of their sports.  You legalize gambling and the next thing you know referees will be fixing games.....oh wait.  The only reason these pigs probably sued is because they aren't getting a cut of the action.  

I know that this goes against our puritanical roots but it's all bullsh*t anyway right?  Lets face it, in this country a 21 year old man or woman can place a bet, smoke a joint and visit a hooker all at the same time, probably in the same place.  It's just not "legal".  Instead, we have police "vice" squads that pretty much only bust the major operations if somebody forgot to pay somebody off.  Other than that, sports gambling, marijuana and prostitution are the working capital lines for organized crime.  We might as well balance the budget and give the mob a good swift kick in the bejooobees at the same time!

"You Don't Get to Tell Me What to Do EVER Again!"

Tell me this little movie clip from "American Beauty" isn't perfect to describe the delicious irony that is going on between the farce of President Obama's nominees and his lecturing of Wall Street!  Not that we (Wall Street) don't deserve a good whipping, but who the hell is the Obama Administration to give a morality speech to ANYONE?? 

Think of Kevin Spacey as "Wall Street" and Annette Bening as "The White House".

Bill Richardson Withdraws As Candidate For Commerce Secretary

Governor Bill Richardson, former presidential candidate and  Secretary of Commerce nominee has withdrawn himself from consideration today.  It turns out there is a investigation going on in New Mexico surrounding the relationship between the Governor's office, the New Mexico Finance Authority and a financial consulting company named CDR Financial Products.  Apparently, in 2004 CDR donated $100,000 to Governor Richardson's efforts to register Native American and Hispanic voters.  Shortly after, CDR performed advisory work for the New Mexico Finance Authority (the folks who raise financing for the state) and received $1.5 million in fees.

Bloomberg News is reporting that CDR also performed similar "advisory" work for Jefferson County Alabama.  Remember Jefferson County?  They almost became the largest municipal bankruptcy in our nation's history after advisers and Wall Street municipal and derivative desks turned their humble water and sewer works into the most expensive one in the country.  It didn't become the most expensive water and sewer works in the country because everyone in Jefferson County got a gold plated toilet.  No, it became the most expensive because the county was "advised" that rather than issue plain old fixed rate debt, they should issue floating "Auction Rate" debt (remember that little fiasco earlier in 2008 when the $300 billion Auction Rate market froze up and municipalities ended up having to pay penalty rates of 20%?), then convert that debt to fixed rate by paying on interest rate swaps and selling options on swaps.  Wall Street and advisers like CDR made millions in fees while the municipalities like Jefferson County not only had their clocks cleaned with regard to pricing of all these derivatives, but also cocked up their finances so badly that they faced bankruptcy.

Governor Richardson's office denies that anything improper took place and CDR says there definitely was no, "Pay for Play" scheme going on here.  Rather CDR, based in California, had a very strong desire to make sure Native Americans and Hispanics got out to vote and by sheer coincidence, they got to jump into bed with the New Mexico Finance Authority and got themselves paid $1.5 million in fees.  I really want to see all the transactions they advised New Mexico on.  I bet the amount of money that New Mexico was separated from was a lot more than $1.5 million.  Just ask Jefferson County.

When is this going to end?  How many people do we have in this country, 250 million?  Why is it that most of the people you meet are honest, decent people who wouldn't sell themselves out for a dollar or a position of power and yet it seems 90% of the folks we have running things would sell themselves out at the drop of a hat?   Anyway, I guess thats how things are.  It kind of reminds me of this great Al Pacino performance in "Scent of a Woman".  The whole scene is great, but pay particular attention to the 1:30 to 3:00 segment, "Conscience is dead".