Not AF1 Joe went "back to Camp David" according to schedule and has nuffin planned today....and like yesterday not even a time to receive the daily briefing.
Not AF1 Joe receives the President’s Daily Brief [Note: Time not specified]
And it appears that beaker (psaki) not taking some vaykay.
1:30pm EST Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
https://factba.se/biden/calendar
Bill Ackman SPAC sued, plaintiffs say sponsors got ‘staggering compensation’
Bill Ackman’s troubled SPAC was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday that alleged the blank-check company awarded “staggering compensation” to its sponsors, and asked that the entity’s special status be revoked.
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs — former Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Robert Jackson and law professor at Yale John Morley — claimed that Pershing Square Tontine Holdings isn’t an operating company at all, but that Ackman’s SPAC instead is an investment firm, just like his hedge funds. They said the SPAC should adhere to the Investment Company Act of 1940.
The suit said that “by telling the world that PSTH is not an ‘Investment Company’ as that term is defined in the ICA, Defendants have structured PSTH so as to charge its public investors what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.” “Under the ICA and [Investment Advisers Act of 1940], the form and amount of this compensation are illegal,” it said. Both the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act are the primary laws governing investment companies and investment advisers, and they give the SEC the power to regulate these entities. SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, are a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company and taking the company public.
The lawsuit took issue with the alleged $880 million that the SPAC’s sponsors received from repurchasing warrants, which is 13 times what they originally paid for. Warrants are a deal sweetener that gives investors the right to buy a share of stock at a certain price before a certain time. “This staggering compensation was promised at a time when the returns to the Company’s public investors have starkly underperformed the rest of the stock market. That is hardly the arms’-length bargain the ICA and IAA demand,” the case filing said. Last month, Ackman’s SPAC dropped its deal to buy 10% of Vivendi’s flagship Universal Music Group, citing concerns from the SEC. The deal would leave $1.5 billion in residual cash in Ackman’s SPAC, which would be rolled into a first-of-its-kind SPARC, or special purpose acquisition rights company, for another acquisition down the road. Ackman previously told CNBC that regulators expressed concern that the new entity being created as part of the deal would become an investment company.
A spokesperson at Pershing Square said the complaint bases its allegations, among other things, on the fact that PSTH owns or has owned U.S. Treasurys and money market funds that own U.S. Treasurys, as do all other SPACs while they are in the process of seeking an initial business combination. “PSTH has never held investment securities that would require it to be registered under the Act, and does not intend to do so in the future. We believe this litigation is totally without merit,” the spokesperson said. The plaintiffs did not immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment. The New York Times first reported the lawsuit Tuesday morning. SPACs are also getting hit by a wave of class-action lawsuits as more hyped-up deals turn out to be flops and shares dropped.
Following a record first quarter, the SPAC market came to a screeching halt with issuance dropping nearly 90% in the second quarter as regulatory pressure mounted.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/17/bill-ackman-spac-sued-plaintiffs-say-sponsors-got-staggering-compensation.html
"Panic" As Afghani Crashes After Central Bank Chief Flees, Says No More Dollars Left
For all the focus on the humanitarian crisis unfolding at an unprecedented pace in Afghanistan, many are forgetting that an even worse economic disaster awaits the "Islamic Emirate" of Afghanistan now that the Taliban are in charge.
One person who saw it coming - in addition to the president of course who promptly fled as soon as the first Taliban batallion entered Kabul - was the now former head of the country's central bank, Ajmal Ahmady, who on Monday tweeted that he had departed Afghanistan (having seen a military jet at the airport before the Taliban took over and "somehow, my close colleagues pushed me on board") although he didn’t say where to. Ahmady said he tried to calm banks and traders (he failed) and in typical fashion slammed the former president, saying Ghani “had great ideas but poor execution,” adding “If I contributed to that, I take my share of the blame.” Said "blame taking" will take place somewhere far away, however.
13/It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership. Saw at airport them leave without informing others. I asked the palace if there was an evacuation plan/charter flights. After 7 years of service, I was met with silence https://t.co/lBu3YksfWO— Ajmal Ahmady (@aahmady) August 16, 2021
In a thread, he also said the central bank was able to stabilize volatility in the currency and other indicators until last Thursday. However, on Friday the bank was told there would be no dollar shipments and that by Saturday it had to supply less currency to markets which led to more panic.
“Currency spiked from a stable 81 to almost 100 then back to 86,” the central banker wrote. “I held meetings on Saturday to reassure banks and money exchangers to calm them down.” Alas, Ahmady's reassurances ended abruptly on Sunday, when the governor left the central bank and rushed to the airport where he saw other government leaders. More than 300 passengers were packed into his flight, though it had no fuel or pilot, he wrote. Eventually a pilot emerged and the central banker hightailed it out of the country, pulling a page out of Biden's playbook, writing that “It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership."
Few noticed his dire warnings about the state of the financial system, but fast forward to this week when all hell has broken loose, as what was left of local commerce realized that the monetary system was basically frozen, with the local currency - the Afghani - falling as much as 4.6% on Tuesday to 86.0625 per dollar, a fourth day of decline, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Eventually, the local residents woke up to the dire new reality and scrambled to pull their money from of local banks, but many would leave empty-handed. So with markets in Afghanistan now non-existent, the chaos quickly spilled over into markets in Pakistan, where sovereign dollar bonds due 2031 for Pakistan dropped 1.8 cents on Monday, the biggest decline since the government priced the notes in March. Pakistani dollar bonds were the biggest losers in Asia on Monday, according to a Bloomberg Barclays index. The notes rose 0.4 cents on the dollar on Tuesday to 100.9 cents.
Investors are concerned over any impact on law and order in Pakistan, and whether “global forces will try to isolate Pakistan” due to its alleged support of the Taliban, said Abdul Kadir Hussain, the head of fixed-income asset management at Dubai-based Arqaam Capital.
Sooner or later, however, attention will shift back to the crater left of Afghanistan's financial system - one which China will be happy to restore while laying claim to the trillions in mineral riches located within the country: “Major regional powers in the region like China, Iran and Pakistan have all showed a willingness to work with the new setup in Afghanistan and help maintain peace,” AKD Securities Ltd analysts said.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/panic-afghani-crashes-after-central-bank-chief-flees-says-no-more-dollars-left
RCH849 USAF C-17 Globemaster departed Spangdahlem AB se wif RCH876 842 and 861 departing Ramstein AFB heading se to the Gulf
morning frb
>>83162, >>83173 pb JOE BIDEN’S SAIGON: Afghans Fall from Plane Fleeing Kabul Airport — Crowds at Airport Worse than Withdrawal from Vietnam
On dat C-17 Globey tail 02-0119 with the "Sound of Music" auditions going on upon a purported take-off.
You can hear the AC's engines spooling down in the vid.
This is it >>82947 pb heading to Kabul on Sunday so it was there (or heading in that direction at the very least)...whether the video is current and a representation of wut was going on at that time remains to be seen.
Muh guess is that it is from another incident and not current
JPMorgan launches $20 mln fund for South African black-owned firms
JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Tuesday it has launched a $20 million fund for black-owned enterprises in South Africa, a sign that global investment banks are still betting on the country despite its anemic economic growth in recent years.
The fund was launched in partnership with South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), the bank said.
Although the coronavirus pandemic has shrunk the economy of Africa’s most industrialized nation to its level from a decade ago, local banks, retailers and realty firms see a brighter future because of the country’s young population, rising entrepreneurship and strong middle class. “The South African private sector has great capacity to multiply impact through partnerships, as we are aiming to do with the DTIC,” Kevin Latter, JPMorgan’s senior country officer in South Africa, said during a virtual conference. The 300 million rand fund, which is accompanied by a grant of 40 million rand, will be disbursed as short-term loans with a duration of about three to four months and long-term loans with a duration of two to five years, Latter said. He did not say at what interest rate the bank would offer the loans but said they would be “heavily subsidised and below commercial rate.”
The fund could potentially unlock 2 billion rand in capital over an eight-year period and would create hundreds of jobs, said Ebrahim Patel, the country’s minister of trade and industry.
https://www.reuters.com/article/jp-morgan-safrica-funds/jpmorgan-launches-20-mln-fund-for-south-african-black-owned-firms-idUSL4N2PO393
>so do we get to see Joe watching TV again (prolly from last winter) while China invades Taiwan??
from August 5th
Japan plans to deploy missiles in Taiwan in 2022 to counter China
Japan is planning to deploy missile units on an island 300 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan to counter China's growing naval presence in the area and defend against a potential Chinese attack.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Citing the Japanese media, Taiwan News reported that Tokyo intends to deploy Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) missile units on the island of Ishigaki, which is only 306 km from Taoyuan Taiwan International Airport. The new units will be installed next year and be manned by 500 to 600 Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops.
The installation of new units will make Ishigaki the fourth island in the Nansei island chain to be armed with missiles. This island chain runs southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan and is situated on the strategic first island chain that stretches from the Kuril Islands in the north to Borneo in the south.
One of the new units will reportedly include surface-to-ship and ground-to-air missiles, while another unit will handle the initial reaction to a military attack. The missile batteries on Ishigaki will join existing units on Amami-Oshima, Okinawa, and Miyako islands, reported Taiwan News.
The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has increasingly been patrolling the Miyako Strait between Okinawa and Miyako islands, including warships such as the Liaoning aircraft carrier.
Japan's missile installations are meant to serve as a deterrent and are within range of disputed territories such as the Diaoyutai Islands (Senkaku Islands).
In addition, the Japanese defense ministry is reportedly planning on installing an electronic warfare unit on Yonaguni island by the end of 2023 and building a new SDF base on the island of Mageshima, reported Taiwan News.
Meanwhile, China continues to claim that the Senkaku Islands are the country's 'inherent territory'.
https://www.malaysiasun.com/news/270580760/japan-plans-to-deploy-missiles-in-taiwan-in-2022
prolly since it was announced.
Can't imagine them saying it before they do it.
Suga/JSDF gotta get shit done cause he not gonna last long..politically speaking.