| Bank's billions burnt in 10 days
The aim was to get bad news out of the way so that Soc Gen, whose shares had halved in value in six months, could begin a recovery. Kerviel’s rogue trades threatened to capsize the carefully crafted plans. If news leaked out that Soc Gen was facing other huge hidden losses, it could destroy the bank’s most precious asset: the confidence of its customers. The directors faced a stark choice. They could let Kerviel’s trades - essentially bets that the market would rise - run in the hope of markets recovering. But that risked even greater losses if shares continued to fall. Or they could close the positions and take the hit. It was no choice really. The potential losses if shares continued downwards could destroy the bank. "I did my duty and decided to unwind these positions," said Daniel Bouton, the chairman.
Ernest Partridge: Great American Election Charade
That effort just might bankrupt the super-affluent Chamber of Commerce, for the fact of the matter is the American public is now as mad as hell and not going to take it any more. More significant, perhaps, than the candidates' totals in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary are the numbers of citizens participating in these contests: approximately twice as many Democrats as Republicans, and an extraordinarily large proportion of them are young people. At long last, more and more ordinary Americans are getting the message that they have been lied to, that they can no longer trust the mainstream media, that their public treasury has been looted, that their children's and grandchildren's future has been mortgaged, and that they are living under the darkening shadow of despotism.
Undoing rogue trader's deals may have rattled German markets
I hope he understands that although he feels like the most unpopular guy in the World. yes, his life as a banker is over. But why suffer with people who would treat him this way. There are hundreds of ways to enjoy life, and there are hundreds of millions of friends and family out there who don't care what happened, and just appreciate friendship. Perhaps, Nature really had to send a strong message to Kerveil to do something else with his life, something he was meant for. It is hard to be a human being if continuously struggle to justify your own existence and your role as Bouton, Noyer, and likely, Kerveil do. It is hard because you are pushed in ten moral directions and you are punished no matter what you do. Therefore, you can decide not to justify everything. It is more fun to be human when you decide to simply appreciate everthing.
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