I’ve been surprised by Mitt Romney’s forays into foreign affairs. Thus far, he’s done little but parrot tired GOP talking points, that have been used by candidates and pundits for ages. What’s missing is Romney’s personal touch. What’s missing is a foreign policy that draws on his strengths and builds on his own experiences of the world. Imagine the foreign policy approach that the founder of Bain Capital would bring to a situation like Greece…

Banks make money by cheating people. Jamie Dimon runs a bank. Complete the syllogism.

David and Fatster combine to round up the news you might have missed from July 22, including items about Syria, Pentagon, LIbor, Jamie Dimon, Countrywide fraud, Romney’s Bain, offshoring trillions, bankruptcies, Pa’s Governor Corbett, Paul audits the Fed, Chris Christie, and much more

Goldman Sachs released its income and expense data for the second quarter of 2012. Revenues are up 4% from the first quarter, but down 17% over the same period last year, and for the first six months of 2012, they are down 13% over the same period last year. Compensation is a different story. For the first six months, compensation is 44% of revenues (p.4), compared with 42.4% for all of 2011.So shareholders get 3.5% of the revenues and insiders get 44%? Really? Whose money is at risk, again?

One of the 16 banks sure to be implicated in the Libor rate-rigging scandal is JPMorgan Chase. Their submissions to Libor consistently fell on the low end of the scale, presumably fitting for what was thought to be a first tier bank, but we don’t know yet what those responsible at the bank for submitting the Libor did in response to requests from traders. But we do know with a fair degree of certainty that JPM won’t be particularly forthcoming about it. Is there a larger pattern?

Let’s not let this little tidbit go unremembered today. Remember when Jamie Dimon came out and said that his firm’s little escapade in London cost them $2 billion? Try $9 billion.

Sometime in July, when they announce their earnings, we’ll find out just how much JP Morgan Chase lost on the whale trade deal – the speculation has been anywhere from $2 billion to $7 billion. But neither JPMorgan Chase nor any major US bank is insulated from a risk that is gradually growing. Simon Johnson notes today at Bloomberg that US banks have no real buffer to protect themselves from a crisis in the Eurozone

Fatster’s rounds up the news from the weeked including stories about Turkey, Syria, Iceland, Bernanke, Greek coalition, China’s economy, Jamie Dimon, Congression insider trading, Michigan emergency law, Bobby Jindal, welfare cuts, and more.

Dimon is right to believe that derivatives are safe for JPMorgan Chase. He has the Fed and the FDIC to backstop him. And it’s really great that you get to backstop the Fed and the FDIC for him and his gambling habit.

The House of Representatives, in some cases on a bipartisan basis, is generally getting at the issue of JPMorgan Chase’s multi-billion dollar losses in today’s Financial Services Committee hearing with CEO Jamie Dimon. But the two stars of the show thus far were Democratic Reps. Gary Ackerman and Brad Sherman. Ackerman asked point-blank if there’s any difference between gambling and investing.