$$$ What a government shutdown means for Wall Street [Dealbook]

$$$ Treasury Could Furlough 92,000 [WSJ]

$$$ Platinum Equity Founder Gores to Purchase NBA’s Detroit Pistons [Bloomberg]

$$$ Lawyer Reveals Galleon Defense Strategy [WSJ]

$$$ Toxic Dollar: Why Nobody Seems to Want US Currency [CNBC]

$$$ Drinking Even a Little Bit Can Maybe Give You Cancer [Daily Intel]

$$$ If you’re looking for Saturday night plans and are hoping to run into a certain befleeced investor, this is apparently happening:

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee:

* The banks (“Like Icarus, they never feared flying ever closer to the sun”)

* Alan Greenspan

* Ben Bernanke

* The Bush administration

* Hank Paulson

* The 2000 decision to shield over-the-counter derivatives from regulation

* Tim Geithner

* The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,

* The Office of Thrift Supervision

* The Fed

* The SEC

* “human action and inaction, not Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire”

* Credit-rating agencies (“cogs in the wheel of financial destruction”)

Who’s a little to blame but not a lot?

* Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “contributed to the crisis but were not a primary cause”

* “Aggressive homeownership goals” were not major culprits

Financial Meltdown Was ‘Avoidable,’ Study Concludes [NYT]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

While Global Head of Interest Rate, Credit and Currency Trading, Jack DiMaio, has chosen to “leave the Firm and return to the buy side.” [Dealbook]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

FINALLY.

Wall Street takes competition so seriously that business is considered a blood sport. Citi’s investment bank has upped the ante by staging a series of wacky challenges that have raise more than $180,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that helps injured members of the armed forces. On one Friday afternoon in late October, Citi traders took a break from the flurry of numbers whizzing across their computer screens to watch their bosses compete in a series of “feats of strength.” Senior executives from the stock, bond, and currency trading units squared off, with personal pride and the loyalty of their deskmates on the line. It was all PG-rated, of course, in a nod to the post-bailout, post Boom-Boom room era. Traders racked up points by keeping their hula hoops going the longest or by tossing bocci balls and rings. A noontime putting contest, situated between the currency and fixed income desks on the fourth floor, drew hundreds of onlookers…But the featured event was a round-robin tug-of-war — an intense battle that some say was as bruising as the push-and-pull politics of financial regulatory overhaul in Washington. Even though they were outmuscled in the event by top executives from the currency and credit desks, a team made up of Citi’s top stock traders — Rick Bartlett, head of North American equities; Armando Diaz, head of United States equities trading; and Kevin J. McCaffrey, the United States head of equity sales — emerged as the winners.

The Flurry At Citigroup Was For A Good Cause [Dealbook]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Back in February, the Wall Street Journal printed an article about a hedge fund “idea dinner,” more than insinuating that a bunch of representatives from Soros, SAC, Greenlight and Paulson and Co got together to enjoy a meal of food while scheming re: how they were going to take down the Euro. This was uncool for a few reasons, included by not limited to the fact that it’s unlikely the handful of managers assembled would even be capable of taking down the currency and the shoddy reporting that said they ate fish when in fact it was chicken (a tad undercooked, if you must know). Also, as a result of the story, the Justice Department’s antitrust division opened an investigation into possible violations of the Sherman Act.

This was fucked up because a) despite the suggestion nefariousness doing, no one did anything wrong and b) it scared much of the industry’s participants into not taking part in these gatherings, which they really looking forward to. They wouldn’t even be seen talking a little shop over fro-yo! But, short of releasing some “Oh no you di’int” letters directed at the Journal. Today, though, comes relief: the Justice Department has closed the investigation and no action will be taken against anyone there that night. Everyone is safe to nosh on whatever they want while discussing going about cornering the OTC Bulletin Board Market for Pet Life Insurance Companies.

Exclusive: U.S. ends probe of hedge fund “idea dinner” [Reuters]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

If she has to, she has to.

So give it up for them says the bank’s chief economist.

Gangsters, drug dealers and money launderers appear to be playing their part in helping shore up the financial stability of the euro zone. That’s thanks to their demand, according to European authorities, for high-denomination euro bank notes, in particular the €200 and €500 bills. The European Central Bank issues these notes for a hefty profit that is welcome at a time when its response to the financial crisis has called its financial strength into question. The high-value bills are increasingly “making the euro the currency of choice for underground and black economies, and for all those who value anonymity in their financial transactions and investments,” wrote Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, in a recent research report. The business of issuing euro notes, produced at almost zero cost, is “wildly profitable” for the ECB, Mr. Buiter wrote. [WSJ]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker