There have been rumors that Germany is coming to aid of Greece, but there are some formidable obstacles in such a ploy.

First EU law bars the European Central Bank or national central banks from bailing out EU members through buying their debt or offering loans, according to a German parliament research unit."There are no identifiable grounds for an alternative interpretation."

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Emilio Botin, Chairman of Banco Santander (STD) of Madrid, exchanged emails on how best to collaborate in the event of forthcoming bank failures. But the key here is that the exchange happened in June of 2008.

Afterward, Dimon and Botin met to discuss bidding on failing U.S. banks. Keep in mind that this was before the financial crisis gathered steam in fall of 2009. And keep in mind that this was before the TARP monies were provided to the big banks. This was before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual (which JPMorgan bought), Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and so on.

Can you imagine this! Anastasia Kelly, chairman for legal, human resources, corporate affairs and corporate communications resigned effective December 30. She claims to be eligible for severance pay under the company's executive severance plan of $2.8 million dollars.

The employees at American International Group, Inc. (AIG) have so far been able to mix arrogance with incompetence to a new level. First off, it was their incompetence that took AIG to its knees. AIG had to be bailed out to the tune of $180 billion dollars by the U.S. government. The government owns 80% of AIG.

In an unusual move, Russia's Finance Ministry sold 30 metric tons of gold to the Russian Central Bank for $1 billion dollars.

A Finance Minister who declined to be identified said the proceeds would be used to ease the crisis in Russia's budget. By way of contradiction, bank representatives said they were unaware of the deal.

Washington Mutual (WaMu) was the largest savings and loan company in the country. It was seized by the government in September 2008 and sold to JPMorgan Chase (JPM) for a piddling $1.9 billion dollars.

Now the company wants to investigate discussions between JPMorgan Chase, regulators,competitors and rating agencies it said led to the seizure of Washington Mutual according to a filing in bankruptcy court.

It alleges misconduct on the part of Morgan by "disclosing confidential information" in violation of the confidentially agreement to government regulators, rating agencies, media and investors in an effort to harm WAMU by driving down WAMU's credit rating and stock price.

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) announced Tuesday that it had adopted a so-called shareholder rights plan to ward off "efforts to obtain control of the Company that are inconsistent with the best interests of the Company and its stockholders."

The company didn't go into specifics, but it is likely a response to billionaire Ronald Burkle's recent disclosure that he had boosted his stake in the company to 17.8%. In a press release, Barnes & Noble disclosed how the rights work:

Barnes & Noble (BKS - option chain) shares have been moving sharply higher for the past few days and are continuing that trend today. Company insider and billionaire investor Ronald Burkle reported purchasing more than 4.4 million shares of BKS in the past week alone, valued at $90.2M. When a major holder makes a big purchase like that, it is often a sign of good things to come for that stock, if only because other investors may follow his lead. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BKS.

BKS opened this morning at $21.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.86 and a high of $21.55. As of 12:30, BKS is trading at $21.43 up 93 cents (4.5%). The chart for BKS looks bearish and S&P gives BKS a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported some recent insider selling. According to SEC filings, NFLX Director Gregory Strangre sold over 19,000 shares of NFLX on Wednesday for $54.48 per share. He and other insiders have combined to sell more than $2.2M of NFLX stock in the past week, which could be interpreted as a bearish sign for the company. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on NFLX.

This morning, NFLX opened at $54.96. So far today the stock has hit a high of $55.84 and a low of $54.00. As of 11:50, NFLX is trading at $55.26, down $1.13 (-2.0%). The chart for NFLX looks bullish and S&P does not currently have a STARS rating for NFLX.

Another player in the Bernie Madoff saga has fallen. His longtime auditor, David Friehling, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to charges of securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, making false filings with the SEC, and obstructing or impeding the administration of the Internal Revenue laws (among others).

Despite the plea, Friehling still told U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, "At no time was I ever aware Bernard Madoff was engaged in a Ponzi scheme."

Raj Rajaratnam's life has just changed profoundly. The 52-year-old founder, fund manager, and partner at the Galleon Group has been accused of insider trading, conspiring with others (now named as defendants with him) to trade shares of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Hilton (OTC: HLNQ), and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), among others. Rajaratnam generated $25 million in profits on these trades, but that's moot now.

Rajaratnam, who is #559 on the list of the world's richest people, with a net worth of $1.3 billion, now faces fines of up to $250,000 and from 5 to 20 years in prison. I doubt he'll be in the same slot on next year's list of billionaires.

The Finger Family, based in Houston, owns more than 1 million shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and has risen to express its opinion about who should be the company's new CEO: someone from outside the company.

In a letter to the company's shareholders filed with the SEC, the Finger family raised a number of fantastic points about why promoting from within is a horrible, horrible idea. In a way, it's so obviously not the way to go that it's a tribute to the board's incompetence that this discussion even has to be had. But here are a few of the Finger family's points:

We can just about shelve any hopes of banking reform from Congress. Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said: "I don't think you're going to see that happen" (referring to mandates for financial companies to process their swaps through a clearinghouse).

Frank went on to say that there would be a presumption that standardized contracts would be sent to a clearinghouse but that it would not be an iron clad rule. With the bankers ignoring established rules and doing pretty much what they want, forget about that idea.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) will be making corporate governance changes soon as a result of a lawsuit settlement.

Dell did not admit any wrongdoing (naturally) after a recent lawsuit accused certain Dell directors and employees of engaging in insider trading practices, as well as making false statements about the state of the company's business.

The market has made a nice rebound in recent months, instilling confidence in investors that the worst is over.

But there's at least one negative indicator: Insiders are dumping stock. Charles Biderman of market research firm Trim Tabs tells Fortune that there were $31 worth of insider stock sales for every $1 in buying during the month of August. Worse, this comes at a time when public companies are raising money through stock offerings while putting the brakes on the share buybacks that were giving a boost to the stock market until the recent bear market.

How do they do it? How is the price of oil manipulated?

The New York Times offers a look inside a company that allegedly manipulated oil prices and the methods they used to do it. The company is based in Amsterdam. It is little known and maintains a low profile, yet has become a force to reckoned with in the oil markets. What is the name of this company? It's called Optiver, and it employs about 600 people.