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Rollerball 1975
Reminds me of today's financial markets, where "Inflation" vs. "Deflation" oriented teams roll around in a circle annihalating each other until all the players are dead. Meanwhile, Lloyd Blankfein sits in the executive box, relishing in the action.
Imagine all the players as hedge fund managers with billions under management, each of them attempting to game the market in order to "make their year". Some are long-only inflation macro funds, others employ short-only deflation trades.
Here are a couple of such players, gunning to a home run for the year end statement print:
All are prime brokerage clients of Goldman Sachs. And sitting in the executive box in the audience is Lloyd Blankfein, who suddenly removes all restrictions and rules and turns the game into a free for all so he can watch his biggest clients annihalate each other:
Nothing new today, other than the 10,000 sound barrier broken, led by various and assorted junker plays.
Office REITs, apparel companies, doughnut plays, all of course on the verge of bankruptcy:
The Cosmic Joke of it all is that Joe Sixpack is still piling his money into bond funds, and outflows from stock mutual funds continues unabated.
Proof that todays stock market is being gamed solely by hedge funds battling Goldman Sach's Prop Desk.
As reported by today's Los Angeles Times:
"Most categories of bond funds racked up another round of strong returns
in the three months that ended Sept. 30.
"There has been a complete sea change from the fourth quarter of 2008,"
said Robert Auwaerter, head of the fixed-income group at mutual fund
giant Vanguard.
That increased appetite for risk, coupled with near-zero yields on
money market funds and skepticism about how long the stock market's
recent boom will last, has opened the taps on a virtual Niagara of cash
flowing into bond mutual funds.
Investors pumped a net $270.5 billion into bond funds in the first nine
months of the year, TrimTabs Investment Research estimates. That intake
accelerated in recent months as $12 billion was pulled out of U.S.
stock funds in August and September.
American, the second-largest fund company by assets after No. 1 Vanguard Group,
saw a net $1.8 billion in cash flow out the door in September as
investor redemptions exceeded purchases for the sixth month in the last
nine, according to data compiled by Morningstar Inc.
Vanguard, Fidelity and particularly Pimco have benefited from record demand for bond funds this year,
as many individual investors have opted to play it safer with their
money rather than risk another huge loss if the stock market should
dive again."
Today's casualty from the stresses and travails of the Rollerball Stock Market:
Bruce Wasserstein
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it's absolutely the best analogy describing the market YTD!!! Short & brilliant, thanks ROBO!
That was absolutely terrible. The MOVIE, NOT the POST! Good stuff, Roboto.
The remake was beyond terrible. Original was decent. Seems that the real Wall Street is more into sequels years apart, instead of decades.
Wait to you get a load of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_2
Supposedly, the original script had Gordon (now banned a la Milken from the securities industry) jockeying with Russians for control of the largest oil field in the world. Sounds more interesting than playing wet nurse to that guy who DIDN'T nail Megan Fox on the set of Transformers.
This movie was great!! The James Caan version of course. The remake was special effects shit with no story line. When this movie first came out, some of us were already worried that corporate and government greed and corruption would surplant our democracy. The whole movie is about Caan's fight against a new world order that would do away with human rights and freedoms. After WWIII, we will know how this will all play out, but not before.
Climax from the '75 version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IguzgGx7y-8
note the vague resemblance to Timmay (in a parallel universe; the one where he didn't sell his soul)
I, as many others do, quickly scrolled down for some peakies only to find Bruce's mug. Bring back the hottie.
Robo is going mainstream and providing sharp analysis while giving up the girls just as all the other so-called business repeaters.... er..... reporters are giving up sharp analysis and going girls girls girls 24-7.
Say it ain't so, Robo, say it ain't so.
Are you blind old dudes on this site? I saw women up there.
Very well thought out parallels. Scary real.
OK, the movie was pretty sucky, but the analogy is near-perfect.
IMO it is a solid second place to the now-famous Jungle River Crossing posting.
I must admit, I suspected Robo was a one-trick pony, i.e. hot chicks and witty analysis (not that there's anything wrong with being a one-trick pony, especially coming from a zero-trick pony).
However, in his latest work he exhibits an analytical dexterity and literary agility that seldom possess, let alone can express in such an enjoyable manner. I am awed.
Robo: is there anything he can't do??
Yes, great analogy of bankers to investers.
Wonder if Lloyd Bankfiend ever saw the movie, and would he appreciate the wit?
In this day and age there should be no question quarter to quarter as to whether we are experiencing deflation or inflation. All you need is a Fed monetary + Bank issued credit expansion/contraction equation. The fact that professionals are this confused tells me the economists are really not earning those Nobel Prizes of theirs.
In addition, investors may want to take a look at the composition of their "safe" bond funds and money markets. One of the largest retirement fund companies is American Funds, and their money market fund has almost no corporate debt, and is sitting on a 60%+ allocation of mortgage-backed securities. Ditto for their bond funds. ZH needs to expose this. The money markets have been wrecked and bond funds are not necessarily bond funds any longer.
Let's see if logging on will get a post posted.
I wonder if Lloyd Bankfiend ever saw the movie?
Found it prescient (like Operation Northwoods). Maud Adams was Octopussy, so ya gotta love that calamari. I suspect BW (RIP) succumbed to "Andromeda Strain". Love your work, Robo.
I miss Seventies sci-fi. Rollerball was pretty badass. "Phantom of the Opera" blaring at the opening credits definitely gets your attention. Was just remembering how the light on the scoreboard would flicker off when there was an injury/casualty. Fascist/corporatist control of the world? The world's citizens distracted by the bread and circus of Rollerball entertainment? Maybe not so far off on the mark. Most Americans seem to want the cradle-to-grave benefits and hedonistic lifestyles of the domed inhabitants of Logan's Run. I kinda feel like Omega Man these days, surrounded by long-only zombies. Let's just hope we don't devolve into the world of Soylent Green.
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