Monthly Archives: May 2008

Annals of Port Authority Incompetence, Goldman Sachs Edition

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Felix

Is there one single aspect of the World Trade Center rebuilding project that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hasn’t managed to utterly bollocks up? The latest news: New York State, 50% shareholder in PANYNJ, looks like … Continue reading →

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The Brazilian Economic Miracle

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Felix

There’s really nothing new in Matt Moffett’s front-pager on Brazil in today’s WSJ, but it’s worth a read anyway, especially if you haven’t been following the Brazil story very closely. My favorite phrase in the piece comes from the president … Continue reading →

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Moving Towards Exchange-Traded Credit Default Swaps

Posted on May 13, 2008 by Felix

Ken Griffin wants to move to a system of exchange-traded credit default swaps: Mr. Griffin wants the government to require the use of exchanges and clearing houses for credit default swaps and derivatives. That way, instead of investment banks playing … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

Calling oil wrong: Futures prices bear no relation to future prices. Let’s not write the Fed a blank check: Why not? Isn’t that precisely what a central bank should have? So much for the efficient markets hypothesis: Bad results, rising … Continue reading →

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Why do Universities Have Tax-Exempt Endowments?

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

The debate over the proposed tax on Harvard’s endowment continues, with my favorite contribution coming from one of Brad DeLong’s commenters: Harvard is an investment bank with a mom-and-pop non-profit enterprise attached to it for tax purposes. It’s a good … Continue reading →

Posted in education | 6 Comments

Disclosures: The Long/Short Dual Standard

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

In Jesse Eisinger’s column this month, he makes an interesting observation about David Einhorn in particular, and short-sellers in general: Whenever a short-seller criticizes a company, the firm and the media go out of their way to disclose that the … Continue reading →

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ExpressJet’s Cashflows, Part 2

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

I spoke to ExpressJet’s investor-relations chief Kristy Nicholas today, in the wake of my blog entry last week about the company. She helped clarify a couple of issues: Firstly, the 100% holdback on credit-card income isn’t nearly as damaging to … Continue reading →

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Has Tim Geithner Been Captured by Wall Street?

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

Gary Weiss has a long profile of Tim Geithner in the June issue of Portfolio, and although he does give Geithner’s side of the story, he gives a lot of space to some very harsh criticisms of the New York … Continue reading →

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Barry Diller: Not Dead Yet

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

Duff McDonald has a piece on Barry Diller in the June issue of Portfolio. I asked him what he thought of the mogul, after following him through a long and painful trial with John Malone. It seems there might yet … Continue reading →

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Beware Skidmarks

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

A pair of sentences I’m sure Dan Ariely never thought he’d write (they appear in a blog entry about the uses of branding): I can’t just try to make myself feel better by imagining that I’m wearing Ferrari underwear. I … Continue reading →

Posted in intellectual property | 1 Comment

False Positives at Blogger

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

What’s going on with Blogger? Both Yves Smith and Brad DeLong have run into problems of late, and I have a nasty feeling that it’s an unloved orphan stepchild within Google, and that it’s likely to continue to deteriorate further … Continue reading →

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Why Citi Can’t Be a Global Universal Bank

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Felix

Vikram Pandit still needs to do some work on the Vision Thing, I think. His big idea, as unveiled on Friday? Citigroup is – wait for it – a "global universal bank". At this point, he’s perilously close to a … Continue reading →

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Blogonomics: FT Alphaville

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Felix

FT Alphaville is hiring, and I took the opportunity to ask its fearless leader, Paul Murphy, a few questions about the FT’s flagship blog operation and the way that bloggers are treated at the pink ‘un. Here are his answers: … Continue reading →

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Ben Stein Watch: May 11, 2008

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Felix

Ben Stein admits this week to having a "febrile brain". Does that mean he has meningitis? I’m not sure that would necessarily explain much, but maybe it helps us a little way along the road to understanding why the NYT … Continue reading →

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Taxing the Harvard Endowment

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Felix

John Hechinger reports that lawmakers in Massachussetts are considering a 2.5% tax on the portion of college endowments that exceed $1 billion. Such a tax would raise $1.4 billion a year, with 60% of it coming from Harvard. Greg Mankiw … Continue reading →

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Spectator Business

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Felix

A quick plug for Specator Business, a brand-new magazine that’s just launched in the UK. Its blog, Trading Floor, features the very smart Tim Worstall, and the magazine proper is full of smart columns from the like of my old … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup’s Chess Master: Has shunted Alberto Verme all the way off to Dubai. Repo home tours: Should you jump in? Auto Erotic: Dan Neil on the Bugatti Veyron.

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The Healthiest Part of the Financial-Services World

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Bloomberg has a big article up on the slightly sleazy world of inter-dealer brokers. It’s a world I know a little about, since I used to have an inter-dealer broker as my roommate. This chap was eminently qualified for the … Continue reading →

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Blogonomics: Why Media Companies Will Buy Blogs

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Jerry Abejo has revisited the idea of blog aquisitions, and doesn’t really seem to get it. He’s not only way off the mark factually (Gawker Media gets over 200 million pageviews a month, not 30 million), but he also seems … Continue reading →

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Citibank Germany: For the Chop?

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Apparently Citigroup is considering selling off as much as $400 billion in "non-core assets", including its retail banking operations in Germany. Is Citibank Germany really non-core? It would seem so. I bank with Citi in the US, and on Wednesday … Continue reading →

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Why is Insider Trading Illegal?

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

The meme of the day, as admirably summed up by Paul Murphy, is the question of why exactly insider trading is illegal, and whether it should be. I seem to recall a trenchant column by Holman Jenkins in the WSJ … Continue reading →

Posted in law, stocks | 1 Comment

Why Shutter When You Can Sell?

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Warner Brothers is closing down its two art-house production companies, Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures, with the loss of about 70 jobs. The idea, according to Warner’s Alan Horn, is that "between both New Line and main Warner’s, we had … Continue reading →

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How the Credit Crunch Hits NYC Renters

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

You thought New York City landlords were notoriously greedy and aggressive? Wait till you see what private-equity companies get up to when they enter the space. Gretchen Morgenson reports: In the last four years, developers backed by private equity firms … Continue reading →

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When Artists Go Corporate

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Time Out New York declared last year that the Kalahari, in Harlem, was the ugliest condo in the city (no mean feat that). "This is reminiscent of the Kalahari Desert," they said. "Municipal buildings in the Kalahari Desert, that is." … Continue reading →

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Neeleman Realizes He Is a Day-to-Day Operator After All

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Felix

Do you remember David Neeleman’s ouster from JetBlue last year? He seemed happy to put a positive spin on it then: Neeleman, JetBlue’s largest individual investor, will be non-executive chairman. "I’m not a day-to-day operator," Neeleman, 47, said today in … Continue reading →

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