Black Friday Links (Not Related to Shopping)

• Elizabeth Warren makes Obama a better President and makes America a more equitable country. Shahien Nasiripour's terrific journalism from the Huffington Post
• Paul Volcker on Fair Value and clueless people in the FASB.  From Bloomberg
• When bond experts are ignoring bonds and purchasing stocks---you should take notice.  From Charles Stein of Bloomberg
• Video of Alice Rivlin discussing a proposed solution to America's deficit problems. (20 second advertisement at start).
• Patti Smith's book "Just Kids" wins National Book Award.  I just got this book.  Obviously it doesn't need my review but I may give my thoughts on it in the future.
• Kathy Kristof warns on the dangers of buying and selling gold from dealers. From the Los Angeles Times
• SEC probes into Citigroup debt funds. From Randall Smith of WSJ
• AIG comeback??? Be scared. Be very very scared.....
• There have been recent reports that the average holding period for stocks (the time from buy to sell) is 11 seconds long.  Barry Ritholtz begs to differ.
• An outstanding and highly insightful graph and related bullet points from David Moss of Harvard Business School showing the relationships between Bank failures, regulation and inequality in America.  I grateful hat tip to ParetoCommons blog for this.
• Charles Schwab puts the royal screw and painfully dry shaft job to its customers.  I think this is a memo to all Americans not to give a penny to the Charles Schwab brokerage company.  From Nathaniel Popper of the LA Times
• I think this sea craft, the "Thunderbird", is an extremely beautiful yacht.  I think it would be sad if it died.  Of course many wealthy individuals want to buy it, but it is currently held in public trust so that children can enjoy it.  Story from Jay Jones of the LA Times
• Izabella Kaminska of FTAlphaville with some very informative and insightful information on ETFs.  ETFs are oftentimes very dangerous to the individual investor (including retirees), although they are often pimped as safe.  Even discount brokerages sometimes pimp ETFs in cold calls to investors with excess cash in their accounts, so they can use their money.  This is highly highly recommended reading.
• More ETF related news from Izabella Kaminska of FTAlphaville, again highly recommended reading.
• Warning: This ranks high on the gross-out/disgusting scale.  Another sign of the degeneracy of America and impending apocalypse (hahaha). Read at your own peril.  From Andrew Sullivan and "The Dish" blog
• Chinese trying to screw Chinese.  This particular story gives me a warm fuzzy in my heart.  From Los Angeles Times
• A large group of academics (Professors and Scholars) speaks out against the weaknesses of Basel III (Basel 3) and the high leverage/high debt of banks.  It was printed in the Financial Times.
• ZeroHedge blog and Nanex give a terrific and stupendously insightful breakdown on the flash crashes of 2010.
• While Christians are being killed in Iraq,  I hope we don't bother Muslims too much at the airports in America, eh??? I mean these people have RIGHTS!!!!
• Writer Howard Jacobson talks with Tablet Magazine.  This guy (like most Jews) is super super intelligent.  Always worth the read.
• Goldman Sachs, junk CDOs, and an interesting e-mail.  From Tracy Alloway of FTAlphaville
• Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica on the dangers of Quantitative Easing (otherwise known as QE).
• Recent news on Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) from Tracy Alloway of FTAlphaville. Recommended reading
• A funny but all too accurate picture of President Obama. 
• Interesting article on Pension shortfalls in Canada.  Hat tip to Leo Kolivakis of Pension Pulse blog.  And an actually more updated look at Canadian Pensions here.
• Some interesting stuff on CDOs from ZeroHedge blog.  A little bit high-level and complex reading here, so unless you're really into CDOs and derivatives stuff you can skip this one.  But recommended for those who are into that.
• For those people into military news and modern warfare this article is for you. From W.J. Hennigan of LA Times
• Very short, but gives some perspective on the current vagaries of the stock market, a 3 minute read worth about 10 years of wisdom.  From Barry Ritholtz
• News on "shadow banking".  This is an important issue and tougher regulations are desparately needed.  But we aren't making any wagers on real action ever being taken.  They'll delay until the issue fades from the spotlight. From Bloomberg
• I think this man made a mistake.  But I don't think his life should be ruined for something many people might have done when feeling angry and exasperated.  Very scary story and Orwellian. Hat tip to Yves Smith
• Recent CFTC and derivatives/swaps news.  From Matthew Leising of Bloomberg
• I wonder if Steve Wozniak got an angry phone call from Steve Jobs and then Jobs sent him a script for his prepared recant???  One never knows.  From Nilay Patel of engadget.com
• You mean Chinese companies lie on their balance sheet?!?!?!?!?! Next you'll be saying lying and abortions are the national pastime of China.... crazy.... From ZeroHedge blog
• This is an old story, but a good read, from Nina Mehta.
• Two stories on China censoring information and censoring opinions of its people here and here. From LA Times
• David Lazaruz of LA Times warns on the "emergency scam".
• Another warning on buying Gold and Silver. Monex is trouble. From Michael HIltzik of LA Times
• Weinstein Brothers making a comeback in the movie business.  From LA Times
• Mary Schapiro conveniently busy, picking her nose and scratching her "hiney" at the SEC again.
• Remembering Tolstoy.  From "Prospero" blogger at The Economist.  Short but sweet reading
• Our Female Vision of The Day: Yes, her again.  Damn I hate her husband. From LA Times.

Wishing everybody a happy and joyous Thanksgiving weekend, however you choose to spend it!!!