The Cheat Sheet, November 2: MF Global's 'Obama Clause'

Flashback to August and what was then called the Obama clause at MF Global:

Corzine’s Obama Clause in MF Global Offering Stuns Wall Street

MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) took the cult of the Wall Street chief executive officer to a new level with its sale of bonds that pay a higher rate if Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine quits to take a job from the U.S. president.

Come on down and open your present, Democrats. But be warned, Obama-clause seems to be delivering coal for your stockings.

Meanwhile, MF Global CEO Jon Corzine reportedly had a handshake deal Sunday evening for Interactive Brokers to buy the company.

But as the potential acquirer sifted through MF’s books, officials became concerned about the amount of customer funds held on deposit by MF Global. The difference was roughly $900 million at one point, although the amount remained fluid and never was resolved, according to WSJ sources.

Federal regulators have now started investigating the situation. According to the New York Times, authorities believe that the amount of unaccounted money could be close to $700 million. The report said that investigators are concerned that rather than just sloppy accounting, MF Global in its rush to remain afloat diverted some customer funds to support its own trades.

Flashback. Obama: Corzine is ‘our Wall Street guy‘

I wonder what Obama would have done were his hands not tied by existing law?

NEW YORK — UNESCO voted Monday to admit Palestine into the organization as its newest member, and the United States promptly responded by cutting off funding for the agency.

Acting under a legal requirement to cut U.S. funds to any U.N. agency that recognizes a Palestinian state, the State Department on Monday announced that the United States has stopped funding the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization because of the vote. Department spokesman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the Obama administration would not make a planned $60 million payment to the agency due this month.

Mayor Bloomberg (!) makes a point that needs to be sung from every mountain top:

It was not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp.

Right on, Mike. Right on.

DOOM: My melancholy baby

A couple days ago, we noted that the shelf-life of the latest ‘fix’ for the Eurozone crisis was about two weeks. Turns out we were overly optimistic by a week and a half. The Greeks have announced they will put the ‘fix’ to a voter referendum, creating such a tidal wave of uncertainty the deal is effectively dead.

Rap Sheet: #OccupyDallas protester arrested for sexually assaulting a teen at the protest.

Attention members of the #SuperCommittee: Colorado voters yesterday rejected statewide tax increases by a big margin.

Nothing to see here: FBI arrests 8 in Florida for absentee-ballot fraud.

Obama has been declared tobacco-free by his physician. Now, if only we could all settle on a Republican to make the White House Obama-free after the net election. One has to wonder, what would Steve Jobs say?

The account of Jobs’ relationship with Obama, which comes toward the end of Isaacson’s book, takes up little more than four of its 571 pages. But it sheds light on both men – not always flattering – and on the relationship between U.S. business and the U.S. government; again, not always flattering.