Capitalist Banter » Headlines

Seduction and insider trading

Jon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:59:33 +0000

US authorities recently filed 20 people with securities fraud in what is probably the largest inside trading case since the 1980s.

This news may be considered par for the course for greedy stockmarket brokers but what has made this case more titillating is inclusion of a 44-year-old former teenage beauty queen who used more than her business acumen to get a leg up on other traders.

Danielle Chesi, an analyst for New Castle Funds LLC, reportedly used her feminine charms to get insider information on various technology companies. Her tactics were so effective that she amassed an impressive list of contacts that included the former Chairman of AMD and other top executives in IBM and Akamai Technologies.

What’s surprising here is how such well-established and successful businessmen fell for the oldest trick in the book. I guess deep down inside these powerful men are still nerds who are hungry for the attention of the prom queen.

Facebook could earn loads with its games

Jon — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:45:24 +0000

Hi. I’m a Facebook user and I’m a Mafia Wars addict.

I’ve never been big Facebook user until after I actually discovered Mafia Wars. That game really hooked me on Facebook, and in the process I discovered how cool this social network is in finding long lost friends. And Facebook seems to have realized that Mafia Wars and the other games in the site is the ticket to profitability.

Facebook is currently testing a new payment scheme where it will get a cut each time a player buys an in-game item on the site. This will potentially earn Facebook a yummy piece of the financial pie that is already in the hundreds of millions being taken by Zynga, Inc., the creator of the some of the most popular games in Facebook, like Mafia Wars, and Farmville. Another company, Playfish, Inc., which makes Pet Society, is also a part of the pay system being tried out. With the social games market predicted to grow three-fold to $2 billion by 2012, this is the perfect time for Facebook to get in on the action.

The company is testing a payment system to gain a cut each time an online-game player buys a digital tractor, weapon or hat on the site. That would give Facebook a piece of the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being pulled in by Zynga Inc., creator of “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars,” and Playfish Inc., maker of “Pet Society.” The social-games market will almost triple to $2 billion by 2012, estimates ThinkEquity LLC.

Both Zynga and Playfish allow Facebok users to play its games for free but rely on selling virtual goods as part of its revenue. These items are sold through microtransactions. The companies’ success has made Facebook the largest game portal with over 100 million users.

The system being used by the site is Facebook Credits. The payment service will allow users to buy credits that they can use to buy items in different games. This is different from the present system where a player can only buy credits through the game he’s playing and only be able to use it in that game and nowhere else.

With new games coming (Civilization is particularly exciting), it will be awesome if Facebook finally earns some money from the social-network addicts that have made Facebook their virtual home.

Disney acquires Marvel, which leaves fanboys cold

Jon — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:55:15 +0000

The announcement that Disney has acquired Marvel for $4 billion came as a shock to many people.

The family-oriented company successfully made its buyout offer for Marvel Comics, which currently has over 5,000 characters in its stable. This includes, of course, such popular characters as Spider-man, The X-Men, The Hulk and Iron Man.

The thought of the Magic Kingdom coopting some of the most bad-ass characters existing today leaves me cold. Disney’s been known to “kid-ify” its properties. I don’t want to see my beloved comic book characters starting to pull punches just because of Walt’s evil influence. Yup, you read it right Disney’s the devil. Looks like the Marvel super heroes have one tough fight to deal with and it’s going to be from Mickey and friends. As far as I’m concerned I’m all for Wolverine goring Mickey’s ass.

People cashing in on Jacko’s death

Jon — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:43:37 +0000

The King of Pop is dead.

Michael Jackson died almost a month ago but the circus that has surrounded his life still hounds him to his death. It’s funny how people are trying to cash in on his death — something that people have already been doing when he was alive.

Just look at eBay and any of the other online auction and online buy and sell sites and you’ll see a huge increase in the sale and auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia. From CDs to t-shirts to buttons to magazines, anything with Jackson’s mug on it is getting sold at exorbitant prices — and people are actually buying it! It’s really amazing. I’m pretty sure that if someone actually kept Jackson’s original nose we’d see it on eBay, too.

Bailout and Chrysler – Capitalism at its Best

Jon — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:12:06 +0000

Chrysler tries to beat total collapse by getting aid from the government in the form of $4 Billion dollars last January is again getting protection with the blessing of the White House by filing for bankruptcy. The globally charismatic President Obama whom people simply cannot get enough of carries a sense of something everywhere he goes, call it charisma or call it the change he is promoting in the government but many favor his style, well not all. There will always be detractors for as the eternal battle between the Democrats and Republicans, there’s always two sided to a coin. The world of politics is again getting shaken up by the moves of the President to bolster and support the deal Chrysler and its foreign partners which sadly failed to meet the government’s standards is still getting support, too much support according to some political analysts that the president may be over-extending his powers over corporate matters.
In another bizarre yet annoying fact, most Americans are getting clean cold cash, $400 for singles and $800 for couples this year as part of the economic stimulus, that’s the good news. Now here’s the annoying part, you better be paying the IRS enough taxes of they’d be wanting a huge chunk of this cold cash next time you pay your taxes. Yep, there is a certain need for information dissemination that may have to be rolled out for this one for not much (if anybody at all) know of the said problem that may arise should you fail to know what you have to do. Even we were amazed at the news and if it weren’t for the breaking news we wouldn’t have known about it. Now That’s the capitalist mind at work, better check your tax records, you maight just end up paying the IRS more than you think you have to!

Capitalist Blunders from the UK and US

Jon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:25:02 +0000

Talk about the lack of control and forward thinking, in the UK, health officials released a drug-dependent schizophrenic on the grounds that his out-patient treatment would be monitored by health servicemen that just didn’t happen. The outcome, the drug-laden man goes on a rampage eventually killing a police officer in the process before being stopped by other police officers. The man was released to care for himself, expected to take all his necessary medication with NHS people supposedly to go check in on him regularly for progress and evaluation of his case. He misses his scheduled check-ups, eludes health officials who by the way fail to inform the police that a dangerous man is at large which could have gotten him back into custody for his and the general public’s safety. He goes missing, eventually killing Police Constable John Henry. Talk about a failure in the highest regard, these people should have known better and kept constant tabs on him. PC Henry leaves a wife and daughter behind who still calls out daddy when she sees his dad’s pictures on TV.
In the US, the capitalists in Capitol Hill are seeking to and end to the many secretive bailout agreements that are struck out of the eyes of the general public who are fuming with anger at rumors that they’ve been happening all over all through out the US’s long history. Information that has leaked shows that bailouts have always been a norm for executive action where the President is given the right to decide whether a company should live or die, falling ill due to it’s many debts and ill-policy making management. As we’ve been saying all along, why the hell should bailout’s be allowed when these people are responsible for their own demise. Take a look at these rich and famous a top executives, who amidst all the economic turmoil still have the guts to take bonuses from bailout funds, talk about a failure!

When the Going Gets Tough, The Capitalists Band Together

Jon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:46:13 +0000

The housing market crash that is currently bringing chaos to the many homeowners who stand to lose their homes even with the ton’s of bailout money the government is shelling out is far from over. From the idiots at wall street and the banking sector who conjured out home packages that required no collateral to the very top levels of the housing market giants, Freddie and Fannie who are two of the biggest players in the housing industry they all benefited from the billions of dollars that the market earned. To make matter worse, all the watchdogs watching the watchdogs all knew this was happening and they simply looked the other way, till the market crashed and everybody started pointing fingers at everybody else.
Fannie and Freddie are reporting losses in the billions of dollars (as if they didn’t earn many times that amount) as the housing market crashed taking along the effervescent status symbol that is owning a home of millions of Americans who stand to lose their homes due to the events that transpired against them. Now the government is issuing bailouts as if they were pancakes and who wouldn’t love free handouts but what about the saying, “rather than giving out fish, why not teach people how to fish”. Now the government has a budget deficit in the trillions of dollars and yet people are still losing homes. Now you be the judge and say that that is good governance! Just hope the Federal Government has trillions more for the crisis is still on a rampage!

Underdog Wins Giant Flunks

Jon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:44:13 +0000

The economic crisis has many a companies fighting for survival and yet out of the blue an underdog in the It industry made it big and even managed to post earnings. Apple has managed to post good profits in spite of the economic downturn which may be reason for a former CFO ratting out on the company’s CEO Steve Jobs. They’ve been at it for a while and it seems that the capitalist mind is hard at work trying to get the better of both of them. The stocks issues and many other financial information that was leaked to the SEC has Jobs in hot water for seemingly unfair stock options in terms of ownership of the company. The truth is out there somewhere yet many questions still have to be addressed regarding their true form (maybe the SEC can finally do their job, properly?!?).
Microsoft the ever looming giant of the software market that has been forcing people to use their many corporate products for many years is accepting defeat as result of the economic downturn as it releases profit projections that is showing losses (well, you win some you lose some as they say) in their many products which failed forecasts. The software giant has established it’s place in the IT industry by first bullying it’s way to the top, pissing everybody else who then came up with many products to rival theirs. Now that the era of the free-ware and open-sourced software has come, they stand to lose a lot of the market they formerly held (on their own) and failure to adapt may spell the end for the software giant. Being the sole representative of capitalism in the IT industry, it is subject to attack after attack by people who make viruses and many other forms of malware as the most used software on earth. Hackers from the dark side hate their ways and seek revenge by plaguing the rest of us as they exact revenge on the giant.

Young Bandits, Shot Tea Makers and Bad Teachers

Jon — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:15:29 +0000

The effects of the recession may be bad, bad enough to get a 13-year old boy to get the bright idea of robbing a bank for some extra cash. The boy was caught red-handed, literally when dye packs blew and stained him red. According to police records, he is the youngest ever bank robber who has ever been documented making parents shiver at the thought of the way these kids are dealing with the hardships of life in today’s challenging times. They truly are getting younger, may be all those violent video games that are as good as the real thing.
From Alabama in the US, a man shot his wife in the head with intent to kill and then turns his gun onto himself effectively ending his life. But the wife, survives, makes tea and offers deputies the beverage as she suffers a through and through shot from her forehead through the back of her skull. May be another sign that the recession is taking it’s toll on the general public who have been getting it harder and harder as cash gets harder to come by. The woman serves tea to deputies who stood, mesmerized at her ability to do so, but maybe also due to the fact her head has a hole from the front to back as they respond to calls for help, now that’s lucky, in the real sense.
Sense is also fading in the hearts and minds of people, as in this case, common sense eludes a teacher in Southwest Ohio who takes her students to a strip club for which she says she got permission from the kids parents for. The only problem, the kids were 8th grade cheerleaders, ages 17 to 18 which makes the act illegal, thus resulting in her having to resign. Bad teacher, to think you were employed to tech kids the better facts of life. What were they Thinking!!!!

Of Flying Shoe Protection, Kidnapped Bankers and the dangers of Obesity

Jon — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:14:59 +0000

As if the world isn’t getting too crazy, politicians in India are seeking protection from show throwing that was made famous by that infamous journalist that got a shot at President Bush as he was heading out of office, diligently doing his farewells. Seems the act has become a significant sign of defiance that has been taken in by the world as a means of defiance or disdain. May protection come in the form of metal mesh screens and others that would protect politicians from the disgruntled citizenry who may seek to lob a shoe or two at them.
In other news, seems life is indeed getting hard for everybody for a Spanish contractor who has become so indebted with his bank resorts to taking his own banker hostage, holding him for ransom and demanding some other stuff, a luxury car one of them. The authorities have managed to get the erring man in custody, ending his quest for financial freedom and he of course losses his car. He is in custody and will be answering to kidnapping and many other charges.
The recession is going to hit hard on people who are obese in the state of Alabama which has become the first state to approve additional payments for health care. The approved $25.00 additional payments these obese people have to pay is to cover for their higher risks to disease and other health costs. This is hailed as the first law that would force people to become a bit healthier when they do decide to work as a state employee where many have been found to be on the rather large side of the scales.