Market Share

A complete & thorough explanation of how many (if not most) levered college diplomas are overvalued assets with fictitious values - that's including you too HBS and the ivy league! No wonder the education bubble in the US is about to collapse.

Things change fast in the technology world. 

Peer-to-Peer Lending and Crowd-Funding Have the Power to Change Finance

You may not have agreed with everything that I said, nor may you have particularly liked it (many hated it) but for the most part the more controversial stuff proved to be rather prescient. 

Watch as it is clearly demonstrated how a Galaxy Note 2 (Android) serves as a complete replacement for a desktop PC... and to think that many believe this is a race with Apple, a vendor of trendy mobile trinkets! Investment is more than just spreadsheets and numbers!

Just when you thought the seemingly endless rabbit hole of Wall Street-Washington corruption, cronyism, co-option, crime and kickbacks may have finally come to an end, here comes the House Ethic Committee to pronounce that no ethics breaches were found among House members in its investigation involving the scandal surrounding Countrywide "VIP loans" and the "Friends of Angelo." And in just doing so, the House effectively cleared itself of any wrongdoing and that's it, case closed - move along... Move along.

When the magic of Christmas, boiled down to just one number, got ugly.

So easy and so profitable

Investors in the TBTF banks need to understand that the business model for this industry has changed.  Thank Liz Warren

Isn't it amazing that you can get more notoriety for showing your ass and a pretty smile than you can get for outing the scam of the decade through intellectual analysis? More money was lost through the Facebook scam IPO at $38 than Bernie Madoff could ever have pulled off.

• Here come the low margin products: Apple Tests Designs for TV (WSJ)
• Obama and Republicans Trade Offers to Avert Fiscal Crisis (BBG)
• Carney broaches dumping inflation target (FT)
• Bernanke Critics Can’t Fight Bonds Showing No Inflation (BBG)
• Corporate Taxes on Table in Cliff Talks (WSJ)
• US business chiefs back tax rise (FT)
• Greece Confident Bond Buyback Needed for Aid Succeeded (BBG)
• New Faith in Europe's Banks (WSJ)
• European Bank Sees Little Room for Rate Cuts (WSJ)
• North Korea Claims Success in Rocket Launch (WSJ)

So, do we BTFD or do we realize that the dip hasn't even arrived yet? What a dilemma? Let's turn to the facts & the fundamentals for the answer... I know, blashpemy!!!

The news Deutsche Bank apparently sat on potential super-senior losses of $12 bln through the banking crisis is bound to anger the many bankers who saw their careers crumble or subsumed into bureaucracy. Other banks up the ying-yang with unhedgable risk went bust or were forced into the ignominy of public bailouts. From a proper accounting or risk-management perspective DB should have been bust - but to the unknowing world it wasn't. And that sums up the complexity of the bank world - if management can hide or not recognise risks (and even sack whistleblowers who disagree with them), what's the answer? It's the No-See-Ums that kill institutions. On the basis if you can't see it, then it can't see you... should DB have survived? If Lehman had kept schtumm about its leverage and unquantifiable risk, would it still be with us? Not getting caught is an objective all management have quietly inscribed into their heads. And as far as the UK's fiscal projections... on the basis QE has historically proved to be little less effective than pushing uphill on a length of wet wool, then we might just be staring down the Japanese abyss - no growth as CAPEX will stay subdued on the weak outlook. Lastly, we've been told (forceably) our concerns the Greek buyback could be difficult are completely overstated. We are idiots for even thinking it... apparently.

• MSM discovers window dressing: Fund Managers Lift Results With Timely Trading Sprees (WSJ)
• White House Unyielding on Debt Limit (WSJ)
• Obama, Boehner talk; Geithner prepared to go off "cliff" (Reuters)
• Republicans urged to resist tax rises (FT)
• China looms large over Japanese poll (FT)
• As predicted here two months ago, Greek Bond Buyback Leads S&P to Cut to Selective Default (BBG)
• Japan opposition LDP set to win solid election majority – polls (BBG), but...
• Japan Opposition LDP’s Main Ally Cautions Abe on BOJ Pressure (BBG)
• U.S. and Europe Tackle Russia Trade (WSJ)
• King Seen Maintaining QE as Osborne Extends Fiscal Squeeze (BBG)
• Syria pound fall suggests currency crisis (FT)
• Irish budget seeks extra €3.5bn (FT)
• U.K. Extends Cuts Due to Poor Outlook (WSJ)
• ECB Seen Refraining From Rate Cuts as Yields Sink on Bond Plan (BBG)