The New Republic

My two favorite fraudulent shorts--MBIA and Ambac--fell again on Friday, MBIA to a disastrous new low.  Once during the last twelve months it was $76.02.  On Friday, it was actually $18.43 and closed at $18.74.  Triple A ratings, shmiple A ratings from the agencies (Moody's, S & P, Fitch) didn't and couldn't stop the slide.  MBIA has announced a billion dollar investment from Warburg Pincus, and there are two other money managers who have public confidence in the company.  Still, it goes from horrible to more horrible.  To...MBIA had let slip a few weeks ago that Warren Buffett had an i READ MORE >>

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In July, 1994, when Bill Clinton was touring Europe, the president's aides were, well, awestruck by the tenacity of Richard Holbrooke, then the United States Ambassador to Germany. What accounted for this reaction? During the president's visit to Germany, Holbrooke was, as one official put it, "a whirling dervish." He managed to wangle his way into top-level meetings and hounded White House staff to get airplane and helicopter seats close to Clinton. READ MORE >>