Archive - Oct 2009

The sad part in all of this is that pension contributions are funding this Casino Capitalism. Money is going to develop new ways to screw buyside clients that invest trillions in the markets. Pensioners don't stand a chance in a neo-Feudal world. I think it's time for a revolution, hopefully one without bloodshed, that will democratize the financial system by loosening the grip of the financial oligarchs.

The Iran-abandoning-the-dollar headline turned into an open thread yesterday---300 comments and counting. At this point it is getting to be difficult to navigate. There you go...

Even as efforts to recover from the current crisis go forward, the United States should launch new policies to avoid large external deficits, balance the budget, and adapt to a global currency system less centered on the dollar. - C. Fred Bergstein

Larry: So many of us really do appreciate your oft noted deep concern in regards to the unemployment situation in the USA as well as the big push to rein in the banks, but with thousands of comedians out of work, it just isn’t fair that you are delivering the best comedy and crowding out these comedians from their rightful work.

While it appears that Barclays will soon have to part with $5 billion (or more) to satisfy the increasingly loud chorus of people who claim the bank managed to literally steal Lehman's assets in those torrid days after the Lehman collapse, we use this opportunity to pore through a goldmine of just unsealed documentation to present some rare glimpses into the Federal Reserve's garbage laden balance sheet.

My version of link aggregation is slightly different from that of many other bloggers. I try to be highly selective in terms of what I link to and focus on themes that I think are really important for all investors. As such, I usually provide just a few links but include the most relevant excerpts and my own commentary. I hope enjoy the links I have selected for this week.

Next week, trading will begin on China’s new "little" stock market, catering to small companies. Think of it like the Dim Sum of stock exchanges. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. A "Buyers Beware" market "for Informed Investors..." Their words, not mine.

Lucky number 99 in ’09? Regulators shut down San Joaquin Bank yesterday, marking almost the hundredth of a federally insured bank. Relax, more to come!

We have forgotten what money is. Here is a fable for your weekend entertainment that explains what it is. You've had a hard week, enjoy some light reading. Lots of pictures, no big words. Have fun.

Developing story from BNO. Quotes state media reports.

After reading all about our "solid Canadian pension system" in the mainstream media, I decided to quit Pension Pulse. What's the point? If Mercer says we are among the best pension systems in the world, then there is nothing to worry about, right? Wrong.

Earlier Marla shared her views on peculiar option action and what the implication of this may be for the oil (and geopolitical) complex. We present some thoughts out of John Bougearel that takes a look at the argument from a more technical perspective.

A week ago the world was split into two camps: those who said Robert Fisk was an idiot and that anyone who believes him is a tinfoil hat wearing paranoid sociopath, and those who said Robert Fisk was brilliant and that anyone who does not believe him is an unimaginative, unintelligent, conservative boor. Yet nobody tried to confirm or deny his data. Today, Russia's Prime Minister and de facto viceroy Vladimir Putin finally made it clear that the presumably insane Fisk was not making stuff up.

Cantwell slams derivatives bill ...

The school that epitomizes the dangers of groupthink (especially by very intelligent people) and tends to get caught in both the virtues and vices of its own ingeniosity, saw just how expensive hubris can be in 2009. Harvard's endowment dropped 27.3% in 2009 to $27 after hitting roughly $10 billion higher the year before. And not only that, but the world's most famous university almost had a liquidity (and existential) crisis after it set out to prove all those who claim gross and net on an IR swap are never the same (45% is damn near close).