French trader loses $7 billion

Last week a French trader for one of France's primary banks, Societe Generale lost over $7 billion dollars. He had hacked into the system and was illegally trading huge amounts of money and reportedly was doing well at first but then began losing.

Here are two of many articles about what this guy did: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22839323 and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22867180/

The trader claims there is no way the bank could not have known about what he was doing, and that they never said anything so long as he was gaining money. However, once he started losing...he lost big.

Personally, it seems the timing between his losses (or at least their discovery of the losses) and the crash of the American economy and the resulting global economic instability must be in some way related. It is however questionable that just days before the bank announced this trader's "blunder" a member of the board of directors sold off $45 million and then another $85 million of his shares. Supposedly, to help compensate for the banks losses and their ensuing attempt to regain the money lost, the bank's director has generously offered to forgo his salary for 6 months. (a salary rumored to be 5 million euros per year).

There are also rumors of an OPA in the works by some of France's other banks. The French government however has promised this wont happen and that they will support Societe Generale to prevent a hostile takeover. However, some speculate how the government will be able to do this when already facing a multi-billion dollar financial deficit.

Needless to say, this will be something closely followed by those in both the financial and the legal world, and by students. Our professor for our class in white collar crime has asked us to follow this case as this trader is a classic example of the kind of people you would encounter in the world of "sophisticated" business crime. Classic example in every way except that he didn't make any money himself.

Will keep you all posted on how this case develops.

I wonder if this man, if he can avoid a prison sentence, or even after he serves time, will ever be able to find another job. Who would want to hire the man who is behind the one of the largest bank fraud in history?

Christmas in Puteaux

So every year the town I live in puts out Christmas decorations. I don't know if its always the same theme or not, but this year was a circus. They also set up a huge advent calendar in the center of town right outside one of the schools (left). Every day they would open a new door with a new image on either side of the Christmas scene in the middle. The large circus decorations were set up all over "downtown" Puteaux, and each side street had circus decorations on the lamp post (lions, seals, elephants, giraffes) and hanging over the road. Our street had two elephants standing up and facing each other with a circus tent in the middle. The street decorations were accompanied by larger versions around town. The two standing elephants face eachother in front of the Mairie (see the building all lit up). There is also a giraffe standing near the entrance to the Mairie around the right side of the building. The Mairie is lit up at night year round, in different colors, but it is really beautiful to see it at night during the Christmas season.

Further down, on a little island in the street was a tent of lights complete with snow on the ground with an elephant, a cople seals, and a polar bear. There is a doorway into this tent of lights so that the children can go in and look at the animals and take pictures with them. Puteaux also sets up a series of winter activities including ice skating and sledding at the town's recreational park on the island of Puteaux at the bottom of the hill. There they have an entire "winter wonderland" for children where families can go and safely enjoy some skating or sledding without taking a trip out to the mountains.

The museum next to the Mairie had a waterfall of lights with two seals playing with balls out front. I swear, every time I got a chance to get out after dark I found some new light statue of a circus animal! We will have to see what shows up next year. Because of exams, I didn't get a chance to get down and see the winter wonderland, so I don't have any pictures of that part of town yet. There is always next year!

Versailles

Early in December Ryan and I went out to Versaille to see the sights and visit the famous castle before going home for the holidays. Now, the tour book says that from the train station the way to the castle is clearly marked, but for the record it isn't clearly marked. However, there are two streets that run directly to the castle and it's so huge, that it's kind of hard to miss! When we went to go get our admission tickets, the lady thought Ryan's student ID picture was so great and that he was so cute she gave him a reduction on the ticket price! His picture was passed around to the other people working and it provoked a "RAAAR" or two in the process. All in all a pretty good way to start the tour. My student train pass got me in for free but didn't allow for the audio guide through the castle. Luckily Ryan's ticket did so we managed to hear more about the castle anyway.

Now, photos aren't allowed in the castle, even without a flash, so we did what we could by being sneaky and getting pictures when the people weren't looking. This rule really only seemed to apply in the rooms not exposed to sunlight since everyone was taking pictures in the famous Hall of Mirrors. The castle was immense, and the gardens beautiful. It was pretty cold out so we didn't stay in the gardens long, especially since there isn't much there in the winter. I can't wait to go back in the spring when everything is in bloom! It must be just incredible!

I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in such a monstrous "house". The rooms are all interconnected down a hallway, there are "secret" doors connecting adjacent rooms, and the ceilings are all exquisitely painted. If it weren't for the fact that it would have been really strange, I think I would have just laid down on the floor and stared at the ceilings for hours! The rooms without windows were dimly lit, and must have been amazing during dinner parties since everything in there was silver and the light from the candles would have reflected off the silver, lighting the place up and making it sparkle! The king turned much of his treasury (silver) into furniture, so that his desk, bureau, "file cabinet", etc were literally part of the treasury. The king of England did the same thing, and when fighting they essentially just melted down their furniture to pay for the war! It was all pretty incredible. The statues are amazing, as is the gigantic globe the king commissioned for his son to help him learn geography. The globe splits in half, and inside is a smaller globe with a relief map so the dauphin could "see" the mountains, rivers, valleys, etc. Apparently, the globe is remarkable accurate for the time.

Needless to say, this is absolutely a place I would return to see again.

Turkey Day

Again, a blog long overdue but about the adventures of celebrating Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't.

Being that there were only a few of us and we were all a long way from home on a holiday typically spent with friends and family, we thought we would get together to celebrate Turkey Day the way we normally would if we were home. The invitation was extended to the French students who were with us at VLS last year and their friends. We celebrated on a Saturday though instead of Thursday since we still had class.

Recipes were found, certain ingredients brought back from the states (pumpkin pie puree being essential to any Thanksgiving meal), and the meal prepared, with each person bringing something of their own.

First thing on the list after we all agreed to celebrate Turkey Day was finding a turkey. I had seen turkey thighs and breasts at the grocery store but no whole turkey. Also per Eliza's request (one of the other Americans) we were searching for an organic turkey. Now, turkeys in France (and all their meat) tends to be more organic that what you would normally find in the states since they have laws against injecting hormones, etc. into their animals. Now the problem with finding the turkey wasn't so much that it needed to be organic, but that we were looking "early in the season" by French standards. Still, I managed to get a turkey from the butcher down the street.

Question number two: knowing how much turkey we eat at Thanksgiving, what is the biggest turkey that will fit in my little oven? Well, a not quite 6 kilo (under 13 pounds) bird barely fits in my oven. But, we got it in there, stuffed it with apples and onions, and kept that puppy juicy till the end. I don't think I have ever seen a turkey suck up that much broth/water over 4 hours!
Every time we went in to rotate the bird and baste it we had to add more liquid! The effort was well worth it though because that bird sure was juicy!

Dinner was awesome, everyone brought something with them, and we had tons and tons of food! We had yams and mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, good wine, pies, chocolate mousse...I think we ate till we were stuffed! Lots and lots of leftovers to boot! Those leftovers became turkey quesadillas a few nights later, then turkey and veggie thai not to long after that.

Thanksgiving alwasy takes a long time to prepare, but it's always fun to have friend together for a nice meal, some good wine, good conversation and some fun games at the end of the week.

"La Greve" (aka the strikes)

This was a long post, but long over-due...

As you may or may not know, France has a long history of strikes. Since my arrival in September, the transit system has gone on strike (several times), the utilities (electricity and gas) people went on strike, students went on strike, teachers always seem to be going on strike, the judges went on strike, lawyers went on strike, and now recently its the telecasters. No more 5 o'clock news for you!!! Careers that I would never think would ever go on strike (namely judges, lawyers and the news people) have been going on strike over recent reforms to the French system.

The strikes that made world news were the transportation strikes, first in October, then again in November. These strikes were prompted by President Sarkozy's social security reforms. It seems it isn't only Americans who are concerned over social security as they approach retirement. In an effort to stave off a lack of funds for the baby boomers, Sarkozy is enforcing a higher retirement age, first in the public sector, then later in the private sector as well. Those who work in the transit system benefitted from an agreement which allowed those who held labor intensive jobs to retire earlier. This agreement dates back to a time when trains were powerd by coal and required seriously labor intensive work. Today no such intensity exists yet the agreement still stands, and Sarkozy's attempts to change it prompted several weeks of strikes. For a better description of the reasons behind the strikes, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2007_strikes_in_France

The transportation strikes affected people in different ways. For those who live and work inside Paris the strikes made getting to work inconvenient but not impossible thanks to Paris' Velib system -- a "rent-a-bike" system that allows people to pick up a bike from one station and drop it off at another. The impact within the city also depended on which metro line people relied on. One is completely automatic, has no conductor and continued running without a problem. Many lines stopped running at all or had very few connections. The metropolitain trains were even worse, and those who relied on them had even greater difficulty getting to work (or school for that matter). In a city whose population is near 10 million (Paris-metropolitain) taking your car to work wasn't really the best option either. Traffic was terrible and people were lucky to find parking.

For those of us here who don't live at school, I have a 30 minute train ride, getting to school became an ordeal and was sometimes not worth it. My direct route stopped running, forcing me to take a train into the city to Saint Lazare and then take another train back out to Cergy, tripling my commute. So, for days when I barely had 3 hours of class, and the train schedule would force me to arrive an hour early and leave an hour after and it took 3 hours round trip, the effort hardly seemed to be worth the result. Sometimes classes were canceled, but not always, and students had to rely on those who were in class for notes.

The train stations were a mess, people crowded everywhere during typical peak hours, and an otherwise busy station like La Defense (right next to where I live) was at times deserted. Entrances to the train or metro were taped off, or if they were running, an employee was present to prevent overcrowding. Life was exciting.

As for the other groups who went on strike, utilities joined in on the transportation strike, students were protesting a law that was passed which would raise their tuition from something like 400 euros a year to 1500 euros per year in the universities. Judges went on strike to protest a reorganisation of their districts, and lawyers protested Sarkozy's decision to allow a mutual agreement divorce to be done by a notary rather than through an attorney. Most recently it's been the newscasters who went on strike, but i'm not entirely sure of the reasoning behind it all. Will keep you posted.