They really don't. Why can't you be for smaller government and fiscal restraint and also for the governor being allowed to use a helicopter to transport him to a personal event? Isn't it possible that a reasonable person could hold both positions? I do.

1) a governor using a helicopter to get to any event is one thing, but to get to a game seems wasteful to me. dad's miss their kids games all the time b/c of work.
2) getting a state policeman to drive you from said helicopter to the game seems even more wasteful... considering that its a game and dad's miss their kids games all the time b/c of work.
3) if he's going to use the state police helicopter 35 times in a year (which bills his citizens for every trip), maybe he should try and introduce some policies to reduce the congestion of the state's highways.

Seems absurd to compare the governor to a typical dad or employee. If it was the president, would you say the same thing? Clearly at some level of government it's not odd taking a helicopter to a kids ballgame. But in the end, he paid for the trip anyway so who cares? They are incredibly rich, he could care less about the helicopter perk - I can assure you.

its not absurd to me. for somebody to promote the idea of "shared sacrifice" to his citizens i'd say missing your son's baseball game is an easy enough sacrifice.


i would.


its not odd that he has access and need of the helicopter (which i noted already), but to then get the police escort to the field (100 yards away) is even more excessive.


he paid for it b/c people complained... and if he's so rich and wants to support the local small business selling private helicopters why not buy his own helicopter and free up the staties and the tax payers of the initial costs.

Jesus Christ.

The point is, don't let a smaller, less significant truth obscure a larger and more meaningful one. Whether Christie is guilty of this penny-ante helicopter distraction is irrelevant; whatever his sins might be - or are - in this circumstance, they are absolutely trivial compared to Corzine's sins, and, more relevantly, what Corzine's sins represent in the larger context of American institutional rot. There couldn't be a better microcosm of the conflicts that plague America's institutions than what Corzine - former Goldman Sachs CEO, New Jersey Governor, New Jersey Senator, and CEO of a primary dealer charged with making the market in US Treasuries - pulled.

The last few posts put it in pretty sharp relief that voters get the government they deserve.

As usual, I couldn't agree more. Being pissed about Christie's fucking helicopter ride is like being pissed about some $25 Million bridge to nowhere. It's irrelevant to the bigger problems. Christie did nothing illegal and if it was fucking Bill Clinton taking the helicopter ride Democrats would be saying "oh how great of a family man that Bill Clinton is".

And I've never voted for Republican in my life!

Is this a joke?

So... were any depositor's assets lost, or what? According to the Washington Post Op-ed today, the answer is no. Zero hedge says the world is ending. Which is it?

Verdict isn't out yet but the FBI is now investigating and numerous regulatory agencies have said funds are missing. However, the head attorney at MF told CNBC today that all client funds have been accounted for.


NOVEMBER 1, 2011, 9:48 PM
Federal Inquiry of MF Global Escalates

By BEN PROTESS and MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
Stephen Yang/Bloomberg NewsTaking a photo of a sign for MF Global, the bankrupt firm, at a Manhattan building.
Federal officials are escalating an investigation into MF Global, the bankrupt brokerage firm run by Jon S. Corzine, as the search continues for roughly $600 million in missing customer money.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which first detected the missing money last week, decided to issue subpoenas to MF Global and demanded that the firm retain any documents that may be related to the investigation, according to people briefed on the situation.

The trading commission along with the Securities and Exchange Commission and exchanges like the CME Group are examining whether MF Global diverted customer money in recent days to support its own trades in a last-ditch effort to save itself — a serious violation of federal rules.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also joined the inquiry, according to a person with knowledge of the case.
The F.B.I. has only started its review of the matter, and there is still no indication that criminal laws were violated. An F.B.I. spokesman declined to comment.

Neither MF Global nor Mr. Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey and once a top executive at Goldman Sachs, has been accused of any wrongdoing.

In Federal Bankruptcy Court in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday, MF Global’s lawyers played down the missing money. Ken Ziman, one of the lawyers, said in the firm’s first hearing that banks or clearinghouses had been slow to produce the money.

“To the best knowledge of management, there is no shortfall,” Mr. Ziman said.

But regulators on Tuesday still could not locate the customer money, and the firm had not accounted for it.
The downfall of MF Global, and the growing federal investigation into the missing money, threaten to bruise Mr. Corzine’s reputation. After losing his bid for re-election as New Jersey’s governor in 2009, ending a decade-long run in politics, Mr. Corzine returned to Wall Street, landing at MF Global in March 2010.

In his new role, Mr. Corzine sought to transform MF Global from a sleepy brokerage firm into a high-flying Wall Street presence reminiscent of his former employer, Goldman Sachs. He started buying debt from Italy, Ireland and other troubled European nations at a discount.

Amid the continuing sovereign debt crisis, the holdings alarmed investors and led to widespread concerns about the health of MF Global. By the last week of October, the stock was in free fall and Mr. Corzine moved to strike a deal to sell off all or part of the firm.

Early Monday, MF Global disclosed to regulators that it had failed to segregate clients’ accounts, breaking fundamental Wall Street rules. The revelation of missing money dashed a potential deal and propelled the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

While it is unclear where the money went, some of the money is expected to turn up as MF Global sorts through the bankruptcy process.Little, if any, money trickled in on Tuesday, however, according to two people briefed on the matter, and roughly $600 million in unaccounted assets remained.

As of Tuesday night, regulators were still at MF Global’s headquarters poring over the firm’s books, according to people briefed on the matter. They are, in part, examining whether MF Global used customer money to satisfy demands from trading partners that the firm produce more cash to meet its financial obligations.

Exchanges, too, are increasing the pressure on MF Global to come up with the assets.

CME, the giant exchange where MF Global conducted business until Monday, said it was investigating the missing money. With special permission from regulators, CME was planning to take the unusual step of transferring MF Global’s customer accounts to other brokerages, potentially without all of the money, according to a person briefed on the matter.

“While we are unable to determine the precise scope of the firm’s violation at this time, we are investigating the circumstances of the firm’s failure,” Craig Donohue, CME’s chief executive, said during the exchange’s earnings call on Tuesday.

“We recognize that yesterday was a very difficult day for all concerned,” Mr. Donohue added. “As is nearly always the case in matters like this, this is a very fluid situation involving complex legal, regulatory and bankruptcy related issues.”

To keep the firm running during the Chapter 11 proceedings, lawyers for MF Global sought approval for several initial motions in bankruptcy court on Tuesday. The presiding judge, Martin Glenn, agreed to let MF Global use $8 million of its remaining $26 million in cash for essential operations, like salary for a skeleton staff. MF Global can use the funds until Nov. 14, at which point the firm would need additional approval.

MF Global said it would try to find extra cash in its operations and raise money by liquidating assets. Mr. Ziman said that the firm was also searching for a lender to provide bankruptcy financing.

As part of the hearing, MF Global also reached an agreement with JPMorgan Chase, the firm’s chief unsecured creditor, which had laid claim to most of the firm’s $26 million in cash. By letting MF Global use some of the money, JPMorgan argued, it was being pressed into providing an involuntary bankruptcy loan.

To assuage those fears, MF Global agreed to cover some of JPMorgan’s legal fees.

“This is a lifeline for the enterprise,” Mr. Ziman said at the hearing.

no.

you posted this in christie's thread - for whatever reason, i still don't understand - and made the connection to christie's helicopter ride - again, for whatever reason.

i think corzine being a shithead (and having a clear history of it) has zero to do w/ christie and his double standards. not to mention, i don't see corrupt bankers using the spinning door from politics to ceo offices as a political (re: partisan) problem, i see it as a legal problem.

has somebody come out to defend corzine (and his record of being corrupt) by saying christie used his office for personal gain?

I thought the CFTC was supposed to prevent this from happening with MF Global in the first place.

that's cute... but i still fail to see the reason for this corzine b.s. being in this thread at all.

I reckon I'll have to hold your hand.


Do laws write themselves, EllisEamos?

you still haven't answered why this corzine story needed to go in this thread.

oh, and that's my point, neither side of the aisle wants to do anything about the laws so neither side should be pointing fingers on this type of thing... but, again, are sides pointing fingers defending corzine?