Review: Money Power & Wallstreet

The PBS series frontline has always released exciting, interesting and most importantly well researched documentaries. They have kept up this uncanny series with the most recent installment correctly named “Money, Power and Wallstreet”. The documentary is a no holds barred tale of all of the events that led up to the Great Recession of 2008-09,how it was temporarily solved, and how Capitol Hill is dealing with the  repercussions of the bailout, an initial solution that is now an even bigger problem.

As one of the millions of Americans that watched the economy fall into shambles just a few short years ago, it is captivating to step back and watch unbiased, topnotch reporting on an event bigger than the people who are suppose to control it. A story of greed, confusion, and unwarranted forgiveness ensues on an event that will influence the country will live in, forever.

The 4-part series begins with an in-depth explanation of how the banks got themselves backed into a corner in the first place. It all started with JP Morgan having a company retreat weekend at a swanky Boca Raton resort during the early 1990s, in which young ambitious employees’ pondered ways to leave their mark on such a lucrative business.

In-between gulping down martinis and meetings in cramped conference rooms, the bright, new faces of the company came up with a solution to a problem that had been around since forever, Risk Management. “I went into the pool fully clothed,” says former JP Morgan Co-Chief Exec Bill Winters. “So did my boss.”

Their quick fix you ask? Credit default swap.

Credit default swap allowed banks to sell risk, so that in the event that a loan could not be payed back in full, the loan dealer will still recoup their investment. It is basically insurance against default because buyer of a CDS might be speculating on the possibility that the third party will indeed default.

I found this section of Part 1 the most interesting because it changed the way banks did business, and helped ignite more human greed than ever. The development if this new found system and its effect on the existing banking system is truly captivating. Financial consultant Satyajit Das stated “We were just moving the risk from one party to another party.”Before this, banks were required to have a certain amount of cash on hand, so that just in case loans defaulted the bank could cover their losses. But even more important to banks, it allowed them to loan more capital instead of keeping it in reserve.

Banks, almost immediately went from having to have capital stashed away, to being able to loan money until their hearts were content. What made it even more lucrative, is that anyone can purchase a Credit Default Swap. The most eager of the JP Morgan employees was Blythe Masters, she also brokered the world first CDS with the worlds largest oil company,Exxon.JP Morgan’s profits immensely increased, and other banks began to take note, and therefore followed suit.

The amount of available credit skyrocketed, and with such a crazy amount of credit being thrown around, predatory lending increased. Banks preyed on people who they knew wouldn’t be able to keep up with mortgage payments, still giving them loans. Banks often convinced homeowners to-be, to sign off on unfair terms and agreements “You could just about drive by a bank and they’d throw a loan paper in your car as you passed by,” says Roy Barnes, Georgia governor. Images of boarded up neighborhoods in Atlanta ended the first hour of the series, on a sour and sad note nonetheless. Scenes and quotes like this are strategically placed for impact even after some hard hitting facts are revealed.

In the second hour, Michael Kirk examines the 2008 bail- out, beginning with the implosion of Bear Stearns & Co. Bear Stearns invested heavily in subprime, ran out of cash and was the first to dig themselves into to deep a hole to recover with no help. There situation was so bad that the company had a Federal Reserve team in their office inspecting the books at the early hour of 1am.

Tim Geithner, the current Secretary of the Treasury was in awe at the situation, and fell to the conclusion that Bear Stearns was “to big to fail”. Geithner quickly got this message to then Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson. The solution was for the Fed to shell out $30 billion to JP Morgan. The dominoes began to fall, and next was Lehman Brothers who were burning a whopping $250 billion a day to just stay afloat. Unlike JP Morgan, Paulson let Lehman brothers fail, a fallout ensued as the stock market plummeted.

 Due to this crisis occurring in an election year (2008), Senator John McCain used it as a chance to gain some votes, albeit by randomly suspending his campaign, volunteering his help in Washington. This proved to be one of the most interesting parts of the documentary, as McCain suggested to President Bush that both candidates be summoned to Washington for their input.

McCain was unaware that Obama had close ties with people about the current economic situation. This is one of the few instances in politics where connections, resourcefulness, preparedness and raw knowledge can be seen in such quick instance. Obama presented a well researched argument, and more importantly, a plan to help the economy get back on its feet. Obama asked McCain what he thought about the situation, who wasn’t nearly as well versed as Obama. McCain could barely keep his hand steady enough to read from his cue cards, which held no real substance anyway. Bush left the meeting, but not before comically whispering to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “You guys are going to miss me.”Tidbits like this add oomph to the entire situation, and was inserted in  the documentary at the perfect time

A bailout amount of $700 billion was passed, and it was time for Obama to put his words into action. After a landslide victory, Obama needed to hit the ground running, as Citigroup was the next to go under. He was faced with choosing his Secretary of Treasure, Larry Summers who called for radical reform or Tim Geithner would didn’t believe in something so dramatic. After choosing Giethner, he decided to do a stress test  to determine the stability of  the economy.

The journalistic integrity can be found here, questioning Obama’s original intentions of bad mouthing the banks, but privately wanted their help. McCain’s wrong doings were initially mentioned due to his unpreparedness, showing a fair and even portrayal of both parties.

Geithner announced this plan to the nation, and it was his first major press conference. Though his public speaking has much improved since then, he came off as nervous and a novice, subsequently the stock market dropped 200 points. However, after the stress test was implemented and plenty of checks and balances occurred, the banks were then authorized to pay back their loans. Geithner was now the hero.

Part 4 of the documentary was a more in-depth look at the Credit Default Swaps, including how they were packaged and who their biggest borrowers were. As expected, one of the biggest victims was Greece. The documentary did a great job explaining all of the intricate details in an easy to understand way, and it was evident that many CDS’s were deceptive. An explanation of CDO’s or Collateralized debt obligations were put in laymen’s terms, and even once you delve  into the details about their value, investor demand, and statistical methods, it became extremely complex, yet somewhat understandable..One of the interesting pieces from this section include that even after the major bailout, nothing seemed to change on Wallstreet. It was also shocking to find out that an entire country (Europe) was cooking its books. Overall the documentary has been able to accurately replicate the chronological events of the Recession and bailout, and even the origins of both.

Occupy Wallstreet was developed by the self proclaimed 99% of America in response the those events, those who believed that banks shouldn’t have been bailed out. The protest was formed around the idea that normal American citizens were treated economically unequal, and that greed and corruption were being overlooked. These issues still exist today, as the government must overcome another looming economical hurdle, the fiscal cliff.

What Goes Up...

The saying “what goes up, must come down” must also apply to one of the most successful companies in the world.

Apple, the Cupertino based tech company has seen mostly a decline in their stock since September, falling from $700 to  just $595.

On the bright side Apple has seen a huge 50% increase in the stock in the last 10 months, a lot higher than the 11%  reported by the S&P 500.

The stock price this past January was $395 a huge difference from the current price of $595.

Though the 10 month difference can be seen as a huge success, others may wonder if the recent downturn may just be a glimpse into the future of Apple.

Major releases like the iPad 4,iPhone 5 and the introduction of the iPad mini had adverse effects on apple stock, as it opened up around $634,yet closed right below $616.

Many suspect it could be the price of the iPad mini in relation to competitors’ similar devices, which offers yet another dose of reality to Apple.

CNBC reporter Henry Blodget states that the gap between Apple and other companies’ technology advancements have become strikingly similar. “Longer-term, increasing competition, maturing markets, and pressure on Apple’s extraordinary profit margin may become bigger concerns. Apple’s competitors have now arguably caught up with the iPhone, or at least gotten close enough that the differences between brands are only important to tech snoots.”

Aside from the obvious technological standpoint its also possible that investors could be emotionally invested in Apple as a company, or at least used to. Even though Apple’s new products are selling immensely, they aren’t selling as immense as anyone had hoped.

A recently released mixed earning report which featured strong iPhone sales and almost-decent iPad sales have also made investors edgy.

The loss of Steve Jobs’ leadership and craftsmanship allows many to believe that many of the products released since his death just don’t have his special touch.

 There has also been a recent shake-up within the high ranks of the company which came as a surprise to all,Scott Forstall and John Browett are leaving Apple. Browett has only been with Apple for nine months. While Forstall was one of Steve Jobs’ favorite employees and has been with Apple since 1997,this is yet another wrench thrown into the technology empire that is Apple.

Though these times may seem testing, for Apple the current price of $525 is nowhere near the 5 year low of just $80 back in November of 2008.

Apple also looks to release an updated version of their highly successful music managing program iTunes, which doesn’t comes without its own woes as it has faced several delays.

Even Giants Fall Below Expectation

Technology tycoon Apple had low expectations for the third quarter which they met, on July 25^th.

The SEC filings released stated that Apples’ profits increased 21% to $8.8 billion or $9.32 a share in the third quarter of 2012, with revenue of $35 billion. An increase from the $28.57 billion revenue and net profit of $7.3 billion recorded for the same time period, last year.

 Even with this 22% increase in revenue, it’s still less than analysts’ expectations.

The net income increased by 20% from the previous years’ 3^rd quarter income of  $7.3billion to $8.8 billion,according to the SEC.

When falling short in other aspects Apple was able to sell a record amount of iPads, an astonishing 17 million units sold, shattering the previous record of 15.43 billion. Revenue jumped from $6 billion in 2011’s third quarter to 9.1 billion this year.

"We're thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO in the press release. "We've also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we've got in the pipeline."

On the bright side, the company sold 26.0 million iPhones in the quarter, which was the biggest revenue contributor and represented a 28% unit growth over the year-ago quarter. With this increase, the numbers still fell short of Wall streets’ projected 29 million.

Apple reasoned that this was due to struggling economies in places like Europe, Australia and even North America. This trend was also seen in China, which the CEO attributes to a seasonal lag after the launch of the company’s latest phone, the iPhone 4S.

Mac computers also fell victim to this, as the sale of desktops fell 18%,in revenue, and laptops increased just 3%, with both product lines falling below the conjunctive estimate of $4.1billion in sales.

The world’s most popular music player, otherwise known as the iPod, also saw a decrease in sales by nearly 10%,falling from $1.3 billion to just $1 billion

After this supposed forgettable quarter, the company looks ahead to a bright future in the 4^th quarter and beyond, hoping to improve revenue and profit.

"We're continuing to invest in the growth of our business and are pleased to be declaring a dividend of $2.65 per share today," stated Peter Oppenheimer, the CFO of Apple. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $7.65."

Review: Bully

Prior to seeing the movie “Bully”, I’d read countless reviews about just how impactful it was, yet I was still skeptic. However, after finally seeing the movie I am able to understand what everyone was talking about. I still feel as if the credit should not be giving to the movie maker but to Alex Ja’maya and especially Kelby.

The movies tag line “Be a hero. Take a stand” doesn’t really seem to apply much, if at all. But perhaps that is the point of the movie. The movie focuses mainly on a young kid named Alex who is constantly seen being punched and pushed throughout the school day. The worst of the torture isn’t even seen until the bus ride home. The other kids yell the f-bomb more times than I could even count and its truly disheartening. I, myself couldn’t even fathom the kids I hung around with at that age, acting like that. Seeing Alex stabbed with pencils and shoved into the bus seats made me almost mad at the fact that I was unable to help him. At one point it even seems as if the bus driver sees what’s going on, but cracks a minor smirk and keeps driving. Other adults besides the bus driver, like the teachers or administrators didn’t seem to care much ether. The scary part is the fact that they knew, but had attitude like “boys will be boys” or didn’t mind that the kid was getting beaten up because he was the teacher’s pet. To an extent these notions make perfect sense, but not when you know the kid already has low self esteem, and is nowhere near able to defend himself. The scene where they made the kids shake hands seemed almost staged, to get the kids’ problems out of their hair.

I also kind of found it odd how the film maker focused on Alex nearly the whole time. What I found the most heart breaking was seeing Ja’maya in jail, for pulling out a gun while aboard a school bus. Sure, what she did is wrong, but cant adults see that it was purely a cry for help? All she needed was someone to talk to, and be left alone by the kids on the bus. These kids aren’t being heard, and often resort to outlandish things, all in hopes of just getting some attention

Kelby was the most inspiring story due to her attitude and supportive parents. Kelby should be somewhat of a poster child, for kids who are being bullied. Her strong personality is key if you are constantly being put down day after day in school .Her outlook on life was more defined than people older than me. But is also bothers me that hers sexualities influence on how people treated her may have been the reason she is so tough. If this is the case, than I most certainly feel bad for her because she was unable to live the life of a kid, which is above all else, care free.

The footage that the film maker was able to capture was great, but in no way speaks to his talent. The film being raw did help, but it could have been a bit more polished. For instance, the film’s title should have played a part. I would have found in interesting of the film maker was able to interview the bullies behind all of this sadness, and what makes them treat their peers so badly. But I understand with all these new laws about confidentiality, there are a lot of stipulations. This also holds true for the teacher, we are in the age of lawsuits, and God forbid a teacher try to break up a fight, s/he will be sued for sexually harassment.

Overall the film was very raw and showed just how much kids have to go through these days, just because they are different from everyone else, a real shame. The film did what it was suppose to, in that it brought awareness to widespread and detrimental bullying is. Hopefully the next step is that appropriate actions will be taken in educating everyone on bully prevention.

Lacrosse: St.John's V Syracuse

Back and forth, back and forth, that’s what the lacrosse game St. John’s played against Syracuse was like.

The red storm went on to play a great game against the No.6 ranked Syracuse Lacrosse who has 13 consecutive Big East victories, but came up short, losing 9-8 this Saturday.

The game started off slow, but the tone was set early by Colin Keegan, who scored the first goal head on with several Orange men in his way, a repeat of the previous weeks Siena game.

“It was a tough shot”, Keegan admitted, “but it went in, not sure if it set the tone of the game though”

This was his 5th goal of the season, which he made with only 3 seconds left in the man-up,due to a key turnover which he took advantage of.

Syracuse wouldn’t take this in stride, as Kevin Drew and Derek Maltz answered back, with 1 goal for the former, and 2 by the latter, all scored with less than 4 minutes remaining in the 1st period. Even after a key save and stellar defense by senior Red Stormer Harrison Freid,  the Orange got into a groove.

“Our defense was okay, coulda been better though, a lot of moments were up in the air “said Harrison Freid ,who played the best game of his St.John’s career so far with 4 ground balls.

The mixed crowd of fans erupted in both anger and pride in reaction to Maltz,scoring his 8th and 9th goal of the season.

This wasn’t before Terrence Leach made his first goal less than a minute into the 2nd period. Harry Kutner took a wild shot as Syracuse played tough defense, Leach was able to skillfully recover it,and  chuck it in for the easy point as the Orange goalie dove for the save.

Leach shared a hat trick with team mate Cernuto, who scored his first goal with around 8 minutes left in the 2nd period.

After a fast break down field, Kieran Mcardle jetted to the right of the field before he quickly tossed the ball to Cernuto, coming straight down the middle. The ball didn’t stay in his possession for more than a second before he threw it so hard he lost his balance.

“That was a crazy moment, I was going so fast, it was kind of like an automatic reaction,just shoot” Cernuto said, who was a catalyst in the 2nd half and only missed 1 shot.

Cernuto scored his 7th goal of the season seconds later due to another great assist, by Jordan Rothman who won the  face-off. The 1st half ended with momentum being in the Red Storms’ favor with a 1 point lead, but the 2nd half was an all out battle.

“The second half  was really intense, but I think we did okay under pressure”,said Leach who made 3 of his 7 attempted shots.

Leach would soon get another great assist, before Syracuse exploded.

It began with Tim Desko and DerekMaltz of the Orange burying in several goals within a few minutes, putting them up 8-6,but the Red storm tried their hardest to fight back.

“A lot was going through my mind. It was a really tough game man, really high energy , a lot of  work in the back half”, said Henry Kutner,who was only 20% from the field.

Harry Kutner would answer back with a man up goal, and impressive shot by Cernuto would follow, as he flew from behind the net ,and shot the ball without a clear look in sight right through the goalies legs, to tie the game at 8.

The Orange responded by scoring their winning goal with less than 2 minutes left, after Red storm goalie Jeff Lowman would fumble an easy recovery.

“ I knew coming in that this would be a tough one,’cuse is good, Said Jeff Lowman, who tied his season high of 15 saves, ”but we lost no matter how you bill it”

The  Red Storm is now (0-1) in the big east, and go on to face Stony Brook this Tuesday.

From One Journalist to Another

“Keep writing, stay resilient and stay sharp”, said Michael Pantelidis of the Queens Courier, when asked what advice he would give an aspiring sports reporter. He believed that one should always be writing, and to never be stagnant, you can always improve your craft.

When asked what he enjoyed most, he replied “being able to pass on my passion to whoever is out there reading my sports articles, I really get a kick out of that”. He continued “I hope the readers are enjoying specific sentences or phrases that I use, and I hope they come away from it impassioned and a greater love of sports”.

A passion that he believes he always had, he’d always had a passion for sports, and loved writing, combining the two made what he called a natural fit. When deciding what career path to choose, it seemed like a no brainer to simply combine the two activities he loves most. This natural fit ultimately led to him attending NYU, where he participated in the Washington Square News, the school news paper.

The number one mistake Pantelidis believes aspiring sports journalists in general make, is limiting themselves.”Don’t narrow your choices down to only sports writing”, he adds. Pantelidis recalls when he first started working at the Queens Courier, things were different. He remembered that for the first 3 months he was given general assignments, no specificity.”When I first got here, I did whatever story I was assigned, until I was finally able to do what I wanted”, he remembers.

He soon got some “wiggle room” and talked the paper into letting him do a Mets column which he runs, and was eventually given enough leeway began what he deems  “Soccer Roundup”. A Mets column for the Queens Courier to him seemed logical, as they are the only professional team located in Queens. This is proof that you can go from being a general assignment reporter to having your own column, which Pantelidis proudly calls “The Mets Clubhouse”.

 “Just because a job isn’t what you ultimately want to do, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it, you know there is more than one way to get where you are going.” And even if you don’t have a job, Pantelidis thinks you should just blog, whether it be about your opinions or just sports, submitting it somewhere could get you a job.

“No matter what you do, never stop writing, you should always express yourself and be ready to share all those ideas with people, someone is bound to hear your voice eventually, you know.”In the end, in choosing a profession that you love, it won’t seem like much of job. When asked if there are any dislikes that come with being a sports writer, he hesitated for awhile, before replying, “I cant say that there are any!”, as he laughed.