Gloria Steinem on the new Wonder Woman

Gloria Steinem sent me an email yesterday containing her comments to the Associated Press regarding the new Wonder Woman. Gloria, as previously mentioned, has a very long history with the WW character that you can read about in "Wonder Woman: The Complete History." She is one of the world's experts and has worked hard for decades to keep her character authentic. Here are her comments...

"There are at least two things about the Wonder Woman change that are in the Olympics of blunders.

First, the guys doing this -- and they seem to be all guys -- cite no research from the generations of girls and women who've loved Wonder Woman ever since she was invented during World War II; an alternative to the sadism and gore in boys' comic books that were so extreme, they inspired a Congressional hearing. Instead, Wonder Woman converted her adversaries, compelled them to tell the truth with her magic lasso, and otherwise made the world safe for girls, women and democracy.

I don't have a big issue with jeans versus skirt -- though jeans give us the idea that only pants can be powerful -- tell that to Greek warriors and sumo wrestlers -- and though in fact, they're so tight that they've just painted her legs blue; hardly a cover-up. I have an issue with changing her clothes and destroying home and family on what seems to be the brainstorming of a very limited group pf brains.

Second, the new Wonder Woman birth myth has her arriving as a baby after her Amazon home of Paradise Island is destroyed; an exact copy of Superman who came as a baby from the exploding planet Crypton. This destroys her home, her Amazon mother and sisters, and gives her no place to go to gain strength and create an inspiring story line; something the original Wonder Woman often did.

As in the late '60s when Wonder Woman creators took away all her magical powers -- and would have perished along with them, had not Ms. magazine come to the rescue with a lobbying campaign to restore them -- I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again.

The original Wonder Woman was changing the world to fit women. This one seems changed to fit the world."

Gloria Steinem

If you want to read a little about the history of WW online check out the entry in Wikipedia. She was created in 1944 by"Marston as a distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men."

The campaign has started - Reclaim Wonder Woman!!!!!!!

A message to you Gloria - I cannot imagine anything more spectacular then YOU getting involved in creating the screenplay for the new WW movie. The screenplay that has been in the works for over a decade. They can't seem to find a good story line despite repeated tries by a variety of writers. Perhaps it is meant to be? I so believe in fate, in destiny, in all that. You are the expert. You love the character of Wonder Woman. You will keep the character honest and authentic and and..... I just got chills. Gloria. You must do this and if you need an assistant, I am right there with ya!

(Pictured right - Gloria and me and my recent going away party in NYC - the cuffs I am wearing were a gift from Gloria - gold cuffs to add to my WW collection ... read yesterday's post for more.)

Jan 2009 post on WW - link at the bottom to some other WW posts. This has been a theme!

Goldman and the SEC Case....

This from a friend of mine about the Goldman case....

"I have been studying this area for months now. The SEC case against Goldman is a very technical one on the issue of fair disclosure. The Wall Street Journal says the allegations were that Paulson initiated the idea of that deal and had been in discussions with respect to bond selection with the credit manager for the deal ACA. And the SEC feels that that fact should have been disclosed to investors. As stated, that is really a stretch.

The newspapers are putting on a different spin. That these deals were sucker plays in which investors were sold securities with the knowledge that another party was short the securities. What the papers fail to understand is that unlike with other securities, a credit default swap always has mirroring long and short positions from the get go. So for every synthetic CDO deal done, the investment bank knew (and investors should have known) there was someone buying protection out of the insurance created in the deal, hence short.

The much more troubling aspect of all this comes out of a much earlier NY Times article on December 24, 2009 by Gretchen Morgenson

That article says that Goldman created synthetic CDOs for the purpose of creating capacity in credit default swaps to cover its own long positions in real estate. And that it is the reason Goldman kept the policies on their books rather than sellling them off to likes of Paulson.

If that is the case, then Goldman could be criticized on its ethics and perhaps sued.

As an addendum, I used to wonder why insitutions were willing to invest in synthetic CDOs and thereby become the issuer of a credit default swap giving protection on pools of subprime mortgages. The answer is that writing a credit default swap and receving the quarterly "insurance premiums" plus owning a Treasury is equivalent to owning a high-yield bond, and a bond having a credit rating. "

This OPED in the Wall Street Journal today is certainly worth a read. They come to the defense of Goldman with respect to this case which has knocked off some $1o billion in market value, to be felt not just by Goldman people, but everyone who owns a share of stock. They say the "real impact of this case is political. The SEC charges conveniently arrive on the brink of the Senate debate over financial reform, and its supporters are already using the case to grease the bill's passage." The WSJ has critisized the firm in the past over many issues, but this is not one of them.

Here is the challenge - To bring appropriate reform to the financial system while maintaing sufficient confidence and trust in those implementing the reform, and those on the receiving end. They have to work together. I do not see this as a war where one side wins and the other loses, but rather working in partnership for a better long term outcome for all. I know... dream on.

Beautiful ( Afghanistan) - Guest Post.

On January 13, 2009 the New York Times reported on an incident occurring in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on November 12, 2008 in which men sprayed the faces of several young girls attending a school with acid, disfiguring at least one girl seriously. Some of the men were arrested, but no tie to any organization was established. The article speculated that the Taliban was behind it. All the girls have since returned to school.

Not one of the girls
Eyed by the boys
Sitting by the wall
Fingering my veil
Trying to follow
Where is Brazil? . . .
Why was I there
At that instant
A moment earlier
A moment later
Grabbing and twisting
Then flash of pain
Purple-etched in my face
Forever . . .
Not a leaflet dropped
In the dead of night
Nor a placard waved
By an angry crowd
Just a girl walking
Down a rutted road
On the way to school

Preston Tsao

Thank you Preston for these words that awaken us to the injustices of the world. I remember when we had coffee and you told me about this article and how it affected you. You honor that girl with this poem and we honor you for writing and sharing it.....

"Findings from the Layoff Lab" - guest link

My dear friend Deborah Siegel just wrote an insightful piece - a fathers day assessment of recession era dads for"The Big Money" on SLATE. Check it out by clicking here. Bottom like is that while tragic for many the gender shake-up on the domestic front can also have some positive effects. Great insights Deb!

For more great writing from Deb and her posse check out GIRLWPEN.COM .

A Gift for PAWS - Guest Post ( Allie Zehner)

For my birthday party I asked my friends to spend 1/2 the money (or no more than $10) on a gift for me and the rest I asked them to donate to a charity called PAWS. I chose PAWS because I care alot about animals and I want them to have nice homes. Today we went there to deliver the money - $150. They were excited to have the gift. Inside the building there was a big bulletin board that had the names of some of the dogs that were up for adoption. Through a window we could also see some cats that were just relaxing in the room. The lady that worked there showed us around. They take care of up to 30 dogs at a time and up to 100 cats at a time that are all up for adoption. There is a waiting list for animals to get in to PAWS. We really liked a puppy named Ernie who is a pit bull terrier. ( pictured here) I felt very happy that I did this because it felt really good to give. I encourage every child to raise some money for charities. You can donate online to PAWS and/or you can give stuff like dog and cat food. Allie Zehner ( age 9)

"The More Things Change' - A Guest Blog

For many years while managing the mortgage backed bond trading desk for Goldman Sachs I had the pleasure of working with today's guest blogger - Frank Pallotta. Frank covered some of the countries largest mortgage bankers as well as Fannie Mae. Few people know more about the mortgage origination business than Frank. Frank has recently founded his own firm, Steel Curtain Capital Group, which advises clients on the sales and purchases of distressed assets. Thanks to Frank for his insightful commentary on the crisis in the credit markets.

"Few things in life are as certain as death and taxes; except maybe the occasional catastrophic dislocation in the financial markets. But one thing is certain - financial markets are cyclical. What goes up will eventually come down. And as recent events have shown, if they go up too far or too fast, they will come down faster and harder than you can possibly imagine. Since the early eighties, we’ve heard about turmoil in the capital markets with names like: The S&L scandal, the RTC crisis, the stock market crash (both of them), the “dot.com bubble”, the real estate crisis, Enron, the Russian Debt Crisis, LTCB, “Orange County” and the list goes on (and on). Most, of these “dislocations” were a direct result of, or exacerbated by Wall Street’s desire to trade through, around, or in front of these anomalies.

The latest crisis to reach the top of the charts (as the equivalent of rock and roll’s “Stairway to Heaven”), is what’s come to be known as “The Subprime Crisis”. The reality is that labeling this a subprime issue is about as absurd as calling baseball’s steroid scandal the “Barry Bonds scandal”. Don’t confuse the symptom, for the disease. This crisis goes way beyond subprime. For starters, the finger of blame can point to the borrower who took out a mortgage he knew he could not afford, to the mortgage company who looked the other way during the application process, to the Investment Bank who packaged this “stuff” to the rating agency who provided a stop-loss level of 4% to AAA, to the CMO buyer who said “55 to swaps sounds cheap”.

The good and the bad news is that no one is doing anything stupid – for now. It’s probably a good thing that virtually all non-standard mortgage origination has come to a halt while the markets attempt to readjust. The reality however, is that this asset class (residential housing) will not go away. The economy will eventually stagger to its feet, and blood will start to flow again through the Global Residential cadaver again. Another certainty is that Subprime and Alt-A loans will return to their rightful place in the financial system. Subprime and Alt-A loans existed long before this current crisis began. Subprime loans will return again, and will carry a rate commensurate with the borrower’s ability to repay that loan. Alt-A borrowers will again come to understand that “Alternative A” truly means alternative documentation, and not an alternative “borrower”. And that both of these loan types will return to their past risk/reward profile. Lower documentation and credit scores must be offset by more equity. Less equity will be offset with substantial, verified reserves, and any mortgage application with the word “stated” in it will be relegated to bird cage liner, kindling and toilet paper. Investors will also have to do a bit more homework (on their own this time) and not rely solely on Wall Street stress analysis, legal opinions and rating agency models.

The bursting of the “Technology Bubble” didn’t destroy the technology sector. As such, the “US Housing Bubble” will not destroy the US housing market ebay, Google, and Yahoo proved that technology wasn’t dead, just the irrational exuberance surrounding that sector. The Global residential markets will go through the same transformation. Most loans types (NINA, and SIVA, POA), and their originators will go the way of World.com, theGlobe.com, and Pets.com. While others will emerge as sound safe and sane."

The First Guest Post on Purse Pundit - More on the Credit Markets

I have been emailing friends asking their thoughts on the markets and below is a very thoughtful response. The writer is a great guy, a smart and experienced guy, who has worked in the bond business for over 20 years. More then a few people I have spoken to are pointing the finger at Greenspan. He talked early on about "Irrational exuberance" but did little about it! .................... enjoy the read.

"I remain in the camp that on a valuation basis many stocks are probably cheap. That said, I do think, and have since early summer, that there remains at least some chance of financial Armageddon. The press and most experts really missed the subprime/real estate debacle. The fact that CNBC, or anyone for that matter, would care what some chief economist from the national association of realtors thinks of real estate values or trends in silly. Almost everyone missed the problems on MBIA and AMBAC and these guys have analysts from everywhere following them. In the Greenspan era, when he was flooding the markets with money, banking examiners and regulators turned a blind eye to the raping and pillaging going on in anything mortgage related. When the final book is written on Greenspan, his image will be torn to shreds and we will all come to understand how disastrous his bubble causing policies were. Unfortunately Bernanke gets the short term heat. He is way over his head and if he was smart he might open up his private phone lines to people who know something about capital markets. Might I suggest he dial 1-800-GOLDMAN for some smart advice?Clearly the capital markets are frozen. The leveraged loan market remains a huge problem. Not for just bank's balance sheets, but for any new deals. Without a functioning secondary market, the new issue machine will remain dormant. The bond insurers’ situation remains our biggest short term threat. How they solve that I have no idea. Buffett taking over the muni side will help the muni market, but in-turn deprives the insurers of their best business. The business they should have never ventured from.Like I said, I think a complete meltdown is way less than likely. But it remains the threat, that should it occur will change all of our lives. Not very comforting to me is the fact that I place my hope in this event not happening largely because; well, "they" can't let it happen. We deserve it to happen for sure. Living way beyond our means, pursuing a weak dollar policy while telling the world we have a strong dollar policy, fighting a very unpopular war while creating enemies in all corners, under-educating our children in the sciences and math, etc will ultimately hasten our decline as the world's greatest nation. But in my heart of hearts I do believe that the sovereign wealth funds and all the trading partners with huge dollar reserves will somehow not let us completely fail.My hope is that we can solve some of these problems with good fiscal and monetary policies. The fact that we are in an election year should be a positive. Given the dollar and the easing, gold is probably worth owning as we inflate our problems away. Given the slowing of our economy and therefore the world's, oil should probably move lower eventually (not withstanding that bum Chavez). Your protection on private equity holdings was choosing good managers and companies in the first place. The leveraged loan market problems should push any exit strategy out on the time line for sure. But the deal guys are hugely incentivized to create profits for you. Over time the good deals will succeed."


… and that is all he has to say about that. Thanks Buddy.