A Little Gift Suggestion For Ex-Congressman Chris Lee

Sometimes, a man needs to buy an important gift for his wife on Valentine's Day
Especially, if the man has been caught texting photos of himself to a chick he met on craig's list

Like Congressman Chris Lee
who sent this shirtless photo of himself
and claimed to be a lobbyist yet used his actual name!!!
So instead of doing the work that he was elected to do
he's been busy trolling the interwebs for women.

Your wife not only deserves the biggest apology ever
She deserved a little something special
like these

Diamond Dangle Earrings with Tanzanite Briolettes in Platinum $58,000

Mr. Lee, feel free to call me if you need some other gift suggestions
I'm here to help

Politics As Usual - 18th Century Style

After months of watching political attack ads I thought that I would share this with you.


Ah...history.
Happy Voting!

P.J. O'Rourke and Politics As Ususal

Now with the elections California elections coming up next month we are getting our fill of October surprises.
We've got perpetual candidate Jerry Brown, or possibly his assistant, caught on an audio tape calling Meg Whitman a whore. Then we've got, Gloria Allred, promoting herself as usual, while creating a Nannygate scandal for Whitman.
In other words here in California it's all politics as usual.
So, I was happy to accept an invitation to an event a block away from my office at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to hear P.J. O'Rourke speak about politics and his new book.

 

I've been a fan of O'Rourke since the 1980's when I read his "Holidays in Hell" and I've been reading his books ever since.

"Don't Vote it Just Encourages The Bastards" is a very amusing book that manages to mix the serious political theory of Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, John Locke and Thomas Jefferson and their ideas of power, freedom and responsibility with the verbal game Screw, Marry, Kill.  O'Rourke, now the H.L. Menckin Research Fellow of the Cato Institute,  is above all a humorist and a clever chronicler of the political evolution of the baby boom generation.

Needless to say I laughed a lot and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

So what did I wear...yes the all important question.

The usual 100 plus carats of diamonds of course

No not really, it was a bit much for lunch

Instead in theme with the Cato Institute, I chose the Saint-Gaudens 1924 Liberty Gold Coin set in a Modernist Pendant

here's the detail

Saint-Gaudens 1924 Double Eagle Coin and Diamond Pendant from Beladora.com $2450

Commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early years of the 20th Century to beautify American coinage, renowned sculptor Auguste Saint-Gaudens set about creating the now famed Double Eagle series. The face of the coin features a beautifully crafted Lady Liberty stepping out of the sun and bearing a staff and olive branch. The word "Liberty" stretches above her head framed by 48 stars which represent the states in the union. The reverse is inscribed the words "United States of America" and "Twenty Dollars" which arch over the finely detailed figure of a bald eagle in flight. Radiating lines, representing the sun, seem to emanate from the words "In God We Trust" inscribed at the bottom of the coin.

(nice description isn't it...that's the kind of fine work we do at Beladora)

and a bunch of gold bracelets 

The first week of October started off with an unseasonal rainstorm.  I was so perplexed by this phenomenon of nature that I was muttering to myself "what does this mean?" like the double rainbow guy. 

Now, thank god, the sky is clear and we are going to have hot sunny weather again. 

Happy Friday everyone.

Jewelry Biz- Bahia Emerald In Play

There is plenty of news out there in jewelry land this week.

The conflict gold provision in the new Wall Street bill,

The Dodd-Frank gold provision would require that companies using gold as well as the minerals coltan, cassiterite and solframite file annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the source of those materials. According to JA, compliance with the gold provision would likely require that companies hire a third-party firm to audit and validate their gold-sourcing reports.

If a company's gold or minerals did originate from one of the 10 African countries included in the bill, then that company would have to show what steps they took to trace their materials back to their source. The provision also dictates that materials information be placed on a company's Web site for public review.
Jeweler to the Stars, Neil Lane is partnering with Kay Jewelers for a collection of bridal jewelry
The US Federal Court rejected an anti-trust deal for De Beers
In a drive to end antitrust and monopoly claims brought against it, De Beers reached a $250 million settlement over price fixing of gem quality diamonds and in 2005 established a $272.5 million fund for indirect purchasers of its diamonds.
and the story that I'm all over right now is

Tussel over 840 pound emerald back in court
Los Angeles--The long-running dispute over who owns the 840-pound Bahia Emerald rough that was unearthed back in 2001 could be resolved by the end of the month.
Multiple people claim ownership of the gemstone. According to an Associated Press report, it was discovered in Brazil and valued at $400 million and then traveled through New Orleans, Idaho and Las Vegas before being seized by authorities.
Thomas, a gem trader, claimed he is the rightful owner of the emerald because he purchased it for $60,000 from the Brazilians after it was first discovered back in 2001, media reports said.
Can someone please tell me how an object that sold for $60,000 can be valued at $400,000,000 a mere nine years later?
And finally,
Gold Coin Sellers Angry By New Tax Law
Amendment slipped into Health Care Legislation would track, tax coin and bullion transactions
So every time a member of the public sells more than $600 worth of gold to a dealer, Piret said, the transaction will have to be reported to the government by the buyer.

Pat Heller, who owns Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., deals with around 1,000 customers every week. Many are individuals looking to protect wealth in an uncertain economy, he said, while others are dealers like him.
With spot market prices for gold at nearly $1,200 an ounce, Heller estimates that he'll be filling out between 10,000 and 20,000 tax forms per year after the new law takes effect.
Well it's certainly good to know that the Federal Government is getting their hands on yet another thing to tax!

Apparently Always Golden - Goldman Sachs

There's lots of good Goldman Sachs stuff on the net right now including Blankfein's statement and Senator Levin's questions. The Daily Beast has a nice aggregation of all things Goldman.
But I would like to share this eternal email from a young Goldman Sachs employee that made it's way to the net.
Goldman's 'Fabulous' Fab's Conflicted Love Letters

Fabrice Tourre and his girlfriend talked like a couple very much in love.
They emailed back and forth about how they wanted to curl up in each other's arms and how they looked forward to tender moments together. Tourre, a Goldman Sachs bond trader, also wrote in the emails of the impending collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how he was masterminding ways at Goldman to make money from it.
Little did they know that three years later these very personal emails written through Tourre's Goldman Sachs e-mail account would become part of one of the biggest investigations into the subsequent financial crisis.

"Just made it to the country of your favorite clients!!! I'm managed (sic) to sell a few abacus bonds to widow and orphans that I ran into at the airport, apparently these Belgians adore synthetic abs cdo2," Tourre wrote in June 2007.

Earlier in 2007, in an e-mail to a friend, Tourre shares his fears that the product he helped create is crumbling -- and he has a sense of humor about it.

"It's bizarre I have the sensation of coming each day to work and re-living the same agony - a little like a bad dream that repeats itself," Tourre writes. "In sum, I'm trading a product which a month ago was worth $100 and which today is only worth $93 and which on average is losing 25 cents a day ...That doesn't seem like a lot but when you take into account that we buy and sell these things that have nominal amounts that are worth billions, well it adds up to a lot of money."

The collection of e-mails also show that Tourre was not the only person at Goldman with confidence the subprime market was doomed.

Daniel Sparks, a former head of the mortgages department at Goldman, is also expected to testify on Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
"According to Sparks, that business is totally dead, and the poor little subprime borrowers will not last so long!!!" Tourre wrote in a March 7, 2007, email to his girlfriend.

Goldman is going to coast out of this situation quickly and, as usual, everyone at the top is going to get huge bonu$e$....but it amuses me the laxity with which the banker boys trashed their own deals in their business email. In a world where all electronic communication is monitorable, you would have thought that they would have been a little more careful...oh, but I forgot...why would they bother with a corporate culture of hubris.

But what I like best so far of the Goldman saga is John Hinderaker's Demonizing Goldman Sachs, an analysis of the testimony where the bankers outshone the Senators on every level, leading him to make this conclusion

I'm not a particular fan of either Goldman Sachs or Congress, but today's hearing confirms that, given a choice, I'd rather have Goldman Sachs regulating Congress than Congress regulating Goldman Sachs. Goldman's employees are much smarter, considerably more honest, and far more likely to have my interests at heart.

Oh Snap!