Meta
Categories
- accounting
- Announcements
- architecture
- art
- auctions
- bailouts
- banking
- bankruptcy
- ben stein watch
- blogonomics
- bonds and loans
- charts
- china
- cities
- climate change
- commercial property
- commodities
- consumers
- consumption
- corporatespeak
- credit ratings
- crime
- Culture
- Davos 2008
- Davos 2009
- defenestrations
- demographics
- derivatives
- design
- development
- drugs
- Econoblog
- economics
- education
- emerging markets
- employment
- energy
- entitlements
- eschatology
- euro
- facial hair
- fashion
- Film
- Finance
- fiscal and monetary policy
- food
- foreign exchange
- fraud
- gambling
- geopolitics
- governance
- healthcare
- hedge funds
- holidays
- housing
- humor
- Humour
- iceland
- IMF
- immigration
- infrastructure
- insurance
- intellectual property
- investing
- journalism
- labor
- language
- law
- leadership
- leaks
- M&A
- Media
- milken 2008
- Not economics
- pay
- personal finance
- philanthropy
- pirates
- Politics
- Portfolio
- prediction markets
- private banking
- private equity
- privatization
- productivity
- publishing
- race
- rants
- regulation
- remainders
- research
- Restaurants
- Rhian in Antarctica
- risk
- satire
- science
- shareholder activism
- sovereign debt
- sports
- statistics
- stocks
- taxes
- technocrats
- technology
- trade
- travel
- Uncategorized
- water
- wealth
- world bank
Archives
- March 2023
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- December 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- March 2012
- April 2011
- August 2010
- June 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- June 2002
- May 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
- April 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- January 2001
- December 2000
- September 2000
- July 2000
- March 2000
- July 1999
Monthly Archives: August 2008
Ben Stein Watch: August 31, 2008
Of the two candidates for president of the United States, one has an intelligent, coherent, and sophisticated economic policy. The other is quite open about the fact that he has almost no grasp of economics and that he is utterly … Continue reading
Posted in ben stein watch
Comments Off on Ben Stein Watch: August 31, 2008
Extra Credit, Friday Edition
Why Do We Use Core Inflation? A clear essay from Mark Thoma. Citigroup Settles Charges of Widespread Theft of Customer Funds: Mostly from the "poor or recently deceased". Are Louis Vuitton’s Artist Collaborations Nearing Their End? Probably not, but they … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Friday Edition
Joe Nocera, Blogger
This is why newspapers should want all their columnists to blog. Joe Nocera: Although Lehman has been the number one rated equity research shop (again, according to Institutional Investor), that just shows how flawed such ratings are. Everybody on Wall … Continue reading
How to Stop Stocks from Falling
Last month the Pakistani Small Investors Association made a "demand that all stock prices be frozen at current levels". Ask, it seems, and you shall receive: The Board of Directors of the Karachi Stock Exchange has decreed that although stock … Continue reading
Posted in regulation, stocks
Comments Off on How to Stop Stocks from Falling
Chart of the Day: Palin on InTrade
Here’s today’s intraday chart of Sarah Palin’s contract at InTrade: this is meant to show the crowd’s wisdom on the question of whether she will be John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee. (The times are Irish, so they’re 5 hours ahead of … Continue reading
Posted in prediction markets
Comments Off on Chart of the Day: Palin on InTrade
$250,000 per Year Counts as Rich
Slate’s Moneybox column is mostly home to Dan Gross, but occasionally other people write for it too. Back in May, it was fine for Sam Grobart and Tara Siegel Bernard to write that "for a family of four living in … Continue reading
Posted in fiscal and monetary policy, pay, Politics, wealth
Comments Off on $250,000 per Year Counts as Rich
0% is Not a Useful Stock Fund Benchmark
Barry Ritholtz says it’s "amazing" that out of 2,100 diversified retail U.S. stock mutual funds open to new investors, just 17 have positive returns for both the past 12 months and year-to-date. The factoid comes, depressingly enough, from a very … Continue reading
Posted in investing, personal finance
1 Comment
Peter Niculescu, Teflon Executive
How did Peter Niculescu manage to get promoted to the important new position of Chief Business Officer at Fannie Mae? This is how Fannie Mae describes his history at the company after he joined in 1999: In his previous position … Continue reading
Posted in accounting, derivatives, housing
Comments Off on Peter Niculescu, Teflon Executive
Another Anonymous Wall Street Blogger is Fired
Another day, another Wall Street analyst gets fired for his anonymous blog, despite taking precautions after the same thing happened to former Citigroup trader Michael McCarthy. The blogger known as "1-2" was never all that anonymous: for starters, he happily … Continue reading
Posted in employment
1 Comment
GDP and the Decline of National Statistics
Zubin has a good roundup of reactions to the latest GDP numbers, which basically amount to a lot of economists caught wrong-footed and desperately trying to explain why a 3.3% growth rate isn’t anything like as healthy as one might … Continue reading
Posted in statistics
Comments Off on GDP and the Decline of National Statistics
The FBI and Mortgages
The LAT’s Richard Schmitt knows how to write a startling lede: WASHINGTON — Long before the mortgage crisis began rocking Main Street and Wall Street, a top FBI official made a chilling, if little-noticed, prediction: The booming mortgage business, fueled … Continue reading
Why Infrastructure Privatization is Moving Slowly
Jenny Anderson has an evenhanded overview of US infrastructure privatization today. In a nutshell: it’s necessary, but it’s going to happen very slowly. The good news is that the media is moving away from "OMG the government is selling off … Continue reading
Posted in infrastructure
Comments Off on Why Infrastructure Privatization is Moving Slowly
Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Trade of The Day: Buy Freddie Paper With Fed Leverage Their loss is your gain, Part II – or – WaMu Deathwatch Student Loan ABS: Do or do not! More bonds with high spreads and no credit risk. Revealed: the … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Why Citi Needs Rubin
What is it with all these Citi memos which are coming out? There was the Asia reshuffle, the Markets reshuffle, the axing of the executive committee, and now the investment bank expenses memo. The weird thing is that all of … Continue reading
Posted in banking, leadership
Comments Off on Why Citi Needs Rubin
What’s an Easy Way to Buy Cheap Assets?
It’s much, much bigger than regional banks buying GSE preferreds. You can buy Fannie and Freddie senior debt at significant spreads over the government which is guaranteeing it; hell, you can write credit protection on the US government and make … Continue reading
Posted in investing, personal finance
Comments Off on What’s an Easy Way to Buy Cheap Assets?
Why do Regional Banks Hold Fannie and Freddie Preferreds?
I just saw this, from the FT: Regional banks, together with US insurers, hold the majority of Fannie and Freddie’s $36bn of outstanding preferred stock, which could be wiped out in the event of a government rescue. This is creating … Continue reading
Posted in bonds and loans
Comments Off on Why do Regional Banks Hold Fannie and Freddie Preferreds?
How Big are Subprime Losses?
According to Bloomberg we truly are all subprime now: Losses and writedowns on securities related to home loans to people with poor credit now exceed $504 billion at financial institutions. This may have started as a subprime crisis, but it’s … Continue reading
Posted in banking, bonds and loans
Comments Off on How Big are Subprime Losses?
How Many Architects Does it Take to Build a Bank?
DealBook asked a pointed question yesterday, riffing off a WSJ article: How many investment banks does it take to run an initial public offering? Apparently it’s not only the mega-IPOs, like Visa, which are suffering from too-many-cooks syndrome: even tiny … Continue reading
Posted in architecture
Comments Off on How Many Architects Does it Take to Build a Bank?
Extra Credit, Monday Edition
Risk aversion – Berkshire style: "when most people do stress tests the process is “well what happens if property prices drop 30%?” and someone says “what if they drop 40%?” and the response is – they can’t go that far. … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Monday Edition
When Vikram met Jim
The scene: Vikram Pandit’s office at 399 Park Avenue. Pandit is pacing uncomfortably in front of Sandy Weill’s old fireplace. Through the door enters Jim Forese, head of Citi’s capital markets group. Pandit: Jim. Have a seat. Forese: Mr Pandit. … Continue reading
Posted in humor, leadership
Comments Off on When Vikram met Jim
Wise Investing: No Substitute for Saving
Here’s a depressing statistic. In a recent Harris survey, 3,866 Americans were asked which things were "extremely important to achieving financial security in your retirement". 39% said that "investing wisely" was extremely important, while just 34% said that saving money … Continue reading
Posted in investing
Comments Off on Wise Investing: No Substitute for Saving
Ignore Stock Market Volatility
Jim Surowiecki has a great line this week, in his column on stock-market volatility: For now we’re stuck in a Yeatsian market: the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. The sentiment here is spot-on. … Continue reading
Posted in investing, stocks
5 Comments
Ben Stein Watch: August 24, 2008
Would you rather sit on an airplane than talk on a cellphone? Do you stare openly and voraciously at New Yorkers when you walk down Sixth Avenue? If your answers to both these questions are yes, then I highly recommend … Continue reading
Posted in ben stein watch
Comments Off on Ben Stein Watch: August 24, 2008
CO2 Emission Datapoint of the Day
Barbara Kiviat reports: Over a 24-hour period, a single cargo ship sitting at Long Beach with its engines running throws off more emissions than all the passenger car traffic in the Los Angeles metro area. I’m sure that most cargo … Continue reading
Posted in climate change
Comments Off on CO2 Emission Datapoint of the Day
Extra Credit, Thursday Edition
U.S. Sees Biggest GDP Gain out of Major Seven OECD Countries: Which probably says more about the usefulness (or otherwise) of GDP as an indicator than it does about the relative health of the OECD nations. Quiz Question: Financial Services … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Thursday Edition