Afternoon Readings
By Barry Ritholtz - September 21st, 2009, 3:03PM
Some quick links for your afternoon pleasure:
• $30 billion home loan time bomb set for 2010 (SF Chronicle)
• Ready…Aim…Chase!?!? (Lindzon)
• Fed not acting like there’s a recovery (CNN/Money)
• Interview: Five Questions for William K. Black (Bearish News)
• The Fed’s phony war on bonuses (Reuters)
• Kedrosky’s NYT OpEd on Tennis Challenge, Anyone? (I know, wtf, right?)
• 30 Minutes A Day (jack cheng)
Anything else worth perusing?
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
How to Stay Goth past 50…
http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/Goth.jpg
September 21st, 2009 at 3:09 pm
U.S. Government Finds $20 Trillion Buried By Absentminded Reagan In 1987
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_government_finds_20_trillion?ref=patrick.net
WASHINGTON—In what government officials are calling a stirring testament to the leadership and foresight of late U.S. president Ronald Reagan, nearly $20 trillion in low denomination bills were discovered this week buried in the White House Rose Garden.
—————————————————————————————————————–
One form the Gipper….
Ciao
Econolicious
September 21st, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Opening the bearishnews site was opening a treasure chest! Thanks…
September 21st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
President Obama said yesterday:
“I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding.”
But as Dan Rather pointed out in July, the quality of journalism in the mainstream media has eroded considerably, and news has been corporatized, politicized, and trivialized.
Rather also pointed out that “roughly 80 percent” of the media is controlled by no more than six, and possibly as few as four, corporations. As I wrote in July:
**This is only newsworthy because Rather said it. This fact has been documented for years, as shown by the following must-see charts prepared by:
…
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/09/dear-president-obama-blogs-fact-check.html
~~
Submit to Your Government Superiors (through “mutual understanding”)
Posted by Karen De Coster on September 21, 2009 10:31 AM
In the past, I’ve blogged some comments about the Newspaper Revitalization Act being floated by Senator Cardin of Maryland, a guy who will surely line his pockets with dough for pulling this off for the bedridden newspaper industry. On numerous occasions, Obama has publicly expressed interest in a newspaper bailout bill, as well as his “concerns” for independent reporting from around the blogosphere (in other words, the opinions and passions of those who owe no allegiance to the establishment in return for position, power, and money). Read carefully between the lines on this comment from (….) Obama:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/36684.html
simply, if we’re into -isms, we should forget Soci@lism, or C@mmunism, and remember, or learn, for the first time, what F@scism is..
thx WP!~
September 21st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
this link to Credit Writedowns was pretty good- a video of Steve Keens talking about a debt jubilee – interesting- and quite aggressive in how to deal w/ the glut of debt- without it Keen thinks it will be an ongoing depression for the duration-
the red meat is about at the 6 minute mark- but whole video worth watching-
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2009/09/steve-keen-on-the-edge-with-max-keiser.html
September 21st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I see that CNN couldn’t use the phrase “quantitative easing” in the release. Too farkin complicated for J6P.
Love the way the cliches and catch phrases become entrenched: green shoots, punch bowl….
September 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
btw, karen, like this: The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult by Murray N. Rothbard
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard23.html
from: http://www.bearishnews.com/post/2042 in the Twitter feed..
something tells me that you’d like Rothbard..
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=Murray+Rothbard
September 21st, 2009 at 3:42 pm
“But as Dan Rather pointed out in July, the quality of journalism in the mainstream media has eroded considerably, and news has been corporatized, politicized, and trivialized.”
Nothing to add.
Steve Keen has a lot of good ideas. The longer this goes on, the more we will hear about debt-for-equity swaps in banks and other distressed areas. Without reintroducing bondholder risk at some stage, we are going nowhere.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
FCC and ability of ISPs to block certain services/content:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090921/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_rules
September 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
@ BR:
Couldnt get the last link to work.
~~~
BR: We must have crashed his server
September 21st, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Mathematicians are over-rated:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNeuXTIsWmSg
September 21st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Unemployed not acting like there’s a recovery.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
why is it that whenever that guy from blackrock is on tv, robert dole, i think his name is, he is always positive on the market, NEVER says anything to the contrary- like he works for the admin.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
the optimistic view
http://baselinescenario.com/2009/09/21/financial-regulation-a-slightly-optimistic-view/
the pessimistic view
http://baselinescenario.com/2009/09/21/financial-regulation-the-pessimistic-view/
jail time cometh maybe?
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economy/story/75720.html
September 21st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Some tool was long gamma for too long this year, and his results were Suck-o:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aG0s0wa_2z1o
Bob didn’t get too much when they were Doll-ing out the brains. He got pounded last Fall, long only is a hard life.
Black Rock is connected, so one hand scratches the other. Probably reduced to rotating into safe sectors now.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:09 pm
@I-Man jackcheng.com seems to be down (maybe he’s updating his WordPress too).
You can find the article anyway by Googling, “Jack Cheng 30 minutes a day” and displaying the CACHED copy.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:18 pm
willid3:
McClatchy asks a good question. We can’t be out of the woods, because the kleptocracy is still in charge, and there’s still meat on our bones.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:24 pm
strike 2…here comes derivatives again
http://www.cnbc.com//id/32952664
September 21st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Did Obama really mean to say that they are going to bail out the newspaper industry? Before his term is over he will realize that those people are only his friends because it is expedient, and he will be reading blogs for truth as well.
September 21st, 2009 at 5:28 pm
“Geithner was selected because he was a perennial failure and moral cripple” — William Black. Well, at least he’s not a Christian Scientist.
September 21st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
i think you should peruse my takedown of your rant on Flash Trading:
http://fridayinvegas.blogspot.com/2009/09/you-really-shouldnt-care-so-much-about.html
September 21st, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“Vermont, too? Secession movement expands beyond Texas”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1242484.html
as I have said before- when i am up in Vermont to go snowboarding- there are stickers all over that say “Vermont out of USA”-
hard to imagine little Vermont making it on its own though
September 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
20T found in WH Rose Garden (-: had a picture even .. it must be true
ism’s and secessions .. who do ya believe .. I see it in print .. it must have cred
believe in markets .. they can’t be manipulated
I don’t know .. unUSA .. your getting unassembled for who’s benefit?
September 21st, 2009 at 7:00 pm
on other fronts..
* RIAA Asks Schoolkids to Assist with Propaganda
Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
announced an update to Music Rules!, its flagship “curriculum” for
teaching copyright law to schoolkids. We wrote about Music Rules! and
similar industry propaganda efforts in May, outlining some of their
falsehoods and biases. For instance, the RIAA tells kids, “Never
copy someone else’s creative work without permission from the
copyright holder” — omitting the important right to make
creative fair use of existing content. It also coins a misleading
term, “songlifting,” which the curriculum says is “just as bad as
shoplifting”. The updated curriculum goes even further and asks kids
to contact their local media and act as the RIAA’s own unpaid public
relations staff.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/riaa-asks-schoolkids-assist-propaganda
* EFF Supports JUSTICE Bill to Reform the USA PATRIOT Act and Repeal
Telecom Immunity
On December 31, three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that broadly
expanded government surveillance authority in the wake of 9/11 are set
to expire. The Obama Administration made clear in a letter this week
to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy that although the
Justice Department supports reauthorization of those provisions, it is
also open to discussing modifications to the law “to provide
additional protection for the privacy of law abiding
Americans.”
Last week, Senators Russ Feingold and Dick Durbin — along with
eight other Senators — took the Administration up on its offer
by introducing the JUSTICE Act, which would rein in the worst excesses
of PATRIOT and last year’s FISA Amendments Act (FAA).
For the full deeplink:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/eff-supports-justice
September 21st, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Data Center Gets flooded
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/09/14/video-data-center-floods-in-istanbul/
…check out 3:20, the guy emptying out the bottom draw of the desk…
September 21st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
incomes for the bottom 99% not keeping up
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2009/09/income-for-masses-not-keeping-up-for-40.html
September 21st, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Re: 30 minutes a day
I can definitely attest to the Pimsleur method, having used some of their products in the past. It’s a shame that the US educational system isn’t using science like this to better itself. Imagine lectures/lesson plans that actually reinforce long-term acquisition!
September 21st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
On the blogspot called Inflection Points, the blogger (Warren Pollock) put links to FT’s video interview of Michael Pettis- an economist working at Beijing University. Very interesting and worthwhile (IMHO).
http://inpoints.blogspot.com/
September 21st, 2009 at 8:59 pm
@karen and @mark e hoffer – Thanks!
@BR – thanks for the link, you can send some serious traffic. No wonder the sites you link to get exploded. One of the better tests my (shared) server has had, and looks like it held up OK.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
“The Fed normally anticipates the recovery by raising rates, taking away the punch bowl just as the party gets interesting,” said Peter Morici, professor of economics at the University of Maryland. “But this is not a normal recovery. It’s tepid and weak.”
Unemployment is still rising, retail sales are far from robust, manufacturers’ capacity utilization remains at ultra-low levels and wages are still depressed. Home sales and new home construction are making a comeback, but they’re coming off of historic lows.”
It’s a jobless recovery, We print , you sink.
But I’m sure things are hunky dory in Seattle :)
September 21st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
David Fry’s EFT Digest has some interesting stats about the S&P exceeding its 200 dma by 20% and a short list of the times that this has occurred in the past. Also makes reference to a piece in zero hedge regarding the bullish mania.
http://www.etfdigest.com/davesDaily.php
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/stock-market-mania-continues-unabated
I can see the rally continuing, to at least a 40% excess over the 200 dma, based on the unprecedented amount of liquidity that has been pumped into the system.
This won’t help the economy, but then the stock market is not the economy — it can float ahead on wishes and moonbeams so long as there is a flood of liquidity. And that seems unlikely to end, regardless of the claims of impending “unwinding”, or empty threats to remove the punch bowl. I suspect that the thing that will end the excess liquidity will be when the USD implodes.
September 21st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Another couple of interesting posts regarding Steve Keen’s economic theories are over at nakedcapitalism.com:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/09/guest-post-if-credit-is-not-created-out-of-excess-reserves-what-are-the-results.html
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/09/steve-keen-we-need-a-debt-jubilee.html
September 21st, 2009 at 11:28 pm
@MRegan:
Pettis is insightful as always. Thanks for the link.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 am
You’re welcome. His comments on USD as reserve and his skepticism WRT SDRs were compelling. I would also recommend some of the videos posted by W. Pollock.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:20 pm
B arry/all,
On the lighter side, this website and particular page should bring a sardonic smile……
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
http://bankruptcybill.us/2009/09/19/bapcpa-man-9-bapcpa-man-vs-mortgantua-part-2/