Monday Reads
By Barry Ritholtz - April 5th, 2010, 5:00PM
Lots of interesting reading to start the week:
• Goldman Sachs: Don’t Blame Us (Business Week)
• Bulls Increase With Buybacks Signaled by Profit Surge (Bloomberg)
• A fine Matt Taibbi rant: Looting Main Street (Rolling Stone)
• What If Women Ran Wall Street? (NY Mag)
• A Deeper Look at the Fed’s Inflation Debate (Real Time Economics)
• The Next Crisis: Municipal Market (Rick Bookstaber)
• 52-Week Highs Rolling Over: Volatility Ahead? (MarketBeat)
• The Collapse of Complex Business Models (Clay Shirky)
• Can CNN Be Saved? (NYT)
• You Don’t Need an iPad, but once you try one, you won’t be able to resist (Slate).
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April 5th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
i found this to be off topic but very interesting
Drones Batter Qaeda and Allies Within Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/world/asia/05drones.html
April 5th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
The fundamental difference between many of the people who used to be at TSCM (Eavis, Simons, Merkel, BR) and the most prolific people there now (Dion, Cramer, Rothbort) is that the former spoke like Wall Street outsiders, i.e. “Executive pay is atrocious, Wall Street should be ashamed of itself, predatory lending is to blame, We should heed Volcker, etc.” while the latter group speaks very, very, very much in defense of all things Wall Street — they are almost Phil Gramm-like in their rhetoric. They would read the Taibbi article above and say, “Boo hoo. The world is a rough place. Stop your whining. Go to Europe if you don’t like it you Obama loving Commie.” And that is not an exaggeration.
By the way….BR, do you know what happened to Howard Simons on TSCM? He was pretty much one of the last people there worth reading. I know he called Cramer out a few times, so I personally figured it was just a matter of time before he was gone.
~~~
BR: He works with Jim Bianco at Bianco Research
April 5th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
“What if women ran Wall Street?” => well we have seen what happened when women ran Lehman or Ireland finances. (someone had to do this comment ahah)
April 5th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
“…Emotions led otherwise intelligent men—because, let’s face it, all of them were men—to make terrible decisions.
According to a new breed of researchers from the field of behavioral finance, Wall Street’s volatility is really driven by our body chemistry. It’s the chemicals pulsing through traders’ veins that propel them to place insane bets and enable bank executives to make risky decisions—and those same chemicals tend to have the same effect on everyone, turning them into a herd of overheated animals. And because the vast majority of these traders and finance executives are men, the most important chemical in question is testosterone…”
–from the NY Mag link, above..
This kind of G*rbage has been in steady spew for the better part of two decades..
funny, tho.., they never mention AG Janet Reno, or Sec. State Condoleeza Rice (as, but, two prime examples of true failures, of that Thesis, from the distaff side) to say nothing of the likes of Sallie ‘Paycheck’, and/or Diane Swonk (from the FINC-fields)
April 5th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
for the, soon to be, iFreaks..
“Following up on Friday night’s FCC-supplied post, my partners at iFixit flew to Richmond, Virginia that same evening and, bright and early the next morning (after waiting in line all night), secured a full-production iPad and promptly disassembled and photographed it. You can find all of the sordid details and pictures here; remember that this is a Wi-Fi-only device, so the interior corner intended for the 3G cellular data sub-assembly is empty, and GPS capabilities are also absent. I’m going to focus in on the semiconductor-heavy main logic board and wireless sub-assembly in the analysis that follows.
Here’s the main logic board top side:..”
http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/post/1230053723.html?nid=3351&rid=14948664
page thru for more coverage..
April 5th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
CNN should look to Morning Joe and Fast Money and Fareed Zacharia and Richard Engel and Michael Ware and Rachael Maddow and David Shuster…
CNN should dump whoever is writing the newscasts and turning the channel and their anchors into jello.There’s no such thing as a slow news day.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
@ Hoffer. “Sallie Paycheck” — Too funny. Good example of BR’s prior post about executive pay. Wall Street is truly the only place in the entire world where people have taken home tens of billions in pay because they possess tons of nerve —- not nerve and talent — just nerve.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
@BR: Great list of reads.
GS: arrogant. Their new $1B building? Why not 40? Unapologetic? Why no jail time?
Taibbi kicks. He does it again.
Well, the SEC did step in. Only because they had no choice. A pittance of a fine. JPMorgan: those pillars of virtue actually paid GS $3M to stay away???? WTF is wrong with this picture??? And no jail time for any of the WS elites????
The local bagmen do hard time. WS walks. Perfect. And BSO supports this by his benign neglect. Period. Taibbi is dead on in his final prediction. Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet. You want rot and ugly and corrupt. Stay tuned. Cause the munis are doomed. As the other good read points out.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
The Greens are against nuclear, but Environmentalist are for it and ask:
“If Nuclear Is As Superior As Its Supporters Claim, Why Won’t “Wall Street” Provide All The Necessary Capital?”
http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/2010/04/if-nuclear-is-as-superior-as-its.html
Thats because as Matt Taibbi outlined it is a lot easier to make money by financially date raping the Fed & Treasury and taking candy from a baby (State and local governments), especially when your (ex) employees are the cop on the beat.
http://www.businessinsider.com/californias-war-on-swaps-2010-3
http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/2010/04/pension-funds-still-waiting-for-big.html
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/aig-gets-away-it
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/04/reich-levels-broadside-at-greenspan.html
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/04/guest-post-what-do-we-have-to-show-after-a-year-of-extend-and-pretend.html
Someone has an idea of what to do for starters:
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/growing_movement.php
April 5th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
TBTF? one voice in the wilderness?
http://baselinescenario.com/2010/04/05/larry-summers-%E2%80%9Csenator-kaufman-is-exactly-right%E2%80%9D/#more-7066
April 5th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
what happens if the TBTF were broken up?
http://thefourteenthbanker.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/what-would-happen-if/
April 5th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
“Or, to put it another way, there is no better machine to use on in the bathroom. ”
I have certainly been looking for the $500 solution to make my visit to the john more enjoyable :)
April 5th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
TBTF?
http://thefourteenthbanker.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/hate-to-pick-on-jpm-but-the-stories-keep-coming/
http://thefourteenthbanker.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/bad-behavior-and-weeds/
April 5th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
productivity growth? leads to misery?
http://thefourteenthbanker.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/productivity-growth-jobs-report-and-misery/
April 5th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Simon Johnson: Big Banks Are Blackmailing the Country
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/simon-johnson-big-banks-are-blackmailing-the-country-459767.html?tickers=xlf,^dji,^gspc,dia,spy,gs,c
April 5th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
and the best thing…wages in finance are going up again!
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2010/04/mortimer-were-back.html
April 5th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
So Shirky’s point is that the winners are those who design for ah fuckit
April 5th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Study: Calif. pensions underfunded by $500 billion
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/05/financial/f180113D14.DTL&tsp=1
$500. Billion.
April 5th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Right-wing media complain that Pelosi incited tea partiers with her “big gavel”
http://mediamatters.org/research/201004020065?newsref=www.eschatonblog.com
April 5th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
with respect to buybacks, David Rosenberg makes a great point in today’s Breakfast with Dave:
“Stock buybacks are widely (and erroneously) viewed as being a major fund-flow driver of the equity market, and many a pundit points to the 37% QoQ jump (+98% from the 2009 lows) in buybacks as source of comfort. But here’s the rub: The vast majority of companies are buying back their stock to avoid the dilutive effects of expiring stock options — of the 214 companies that did a buyback in Q4, only 50 resulted in share count reductions (see page B2 of the weekend WSJ). Moreover, it really says something about the widespread excess capacity in the economy and poor perceived rates of return on new investments that companies would opt to deploy cash for buyback strategies at this presumed early stage of the business expansion. If there is one trend that is indeed constructive — certainly for our income theme — it is that companies are beginning to pay out more of their retained earnings in the form of dividends — $5.1 billion in net dividend increases in Q1, the most since 2007Q4 (but still down 21% from two years ago).”
April 5th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
HP shows off a slate with the stuff Steve left out that make the iPad less than compelling, e.g. cameras for taking photos and video conferencing, Flash, USB ports and memory slots.
http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/Voodoo-Blog/HP-s-Slate-Device-Delivers-a-Holistic-Mobile-Experience/ba-p/54735
April 5th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
@Mike: You really are an Apple-hater, aren’t you? ;-)
Even bigger than I used to be. I can’t say that anymore now that I own an I-phone. I won’t be buying an I-Pad or any other “cool” I-thingy any time soon though. I’m pretty conservative when it comes to these gadgets and have never had the best of luck with electronic devices. All hype, IMO. Call me when a real “game-changer” is unveiled.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:07 am
@jeg3: Great choice of words.
WS date rapes America. I love it. True.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:29 am
RE: Don’t blame Us
Ok, so GS is not a bunch of evil genius, nor are they squid. They’re just high end rent boys (and girls) paid to satisfy their clients in a legal cathouse. That’s as good a defense as any, I suppose. At least it’s honest.
I guess we should shift the focus of the debate to whether a market place for their services, which require them to perform such unsavory acts, should be left unregulated. Maybe they shouldn’t have to submit to all of their clients whims. It sounds like they need some protections, poor things. Ruben as pimp, I can picture, but Timmy, not so much.
I’d been thinking Wall St is a casino, not a brothel. Where’s the vice squad when you need ‘em?
April 6th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Can toads detect earthquakes?
British researchers find mass exodus of toads from breeding site ahead of major tremor in Italy
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/can-toads-detect-earthquakes/article1518224/?cid=art-rail-science
April 6th, 2010 at 6:50 am
Hate Motivates!!!
Taibi and Birmingham, like alfred e says, birmingham on brink of destruction, it’s people discern why and hate the why, folks go too jail, that will have a long and lasting impact for local politicians, jp morgan a pittance of a fine…………and the beat goes on.
how could a bank do that too a fellow american?
it is so sickening, more so that you know the beat goes on
April 6th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Taibbi puts the state of Conn in the same bucket as Greece — can anyone please suggest where I can research more on my state’s exposure to these financial WMDs? I’m still renting and don’t want to become a RE owner without understanding future taxpayer liabilities. Thanks.
April 6th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Re-reading why geithner,orszag, bernanke,summers,paulson,greenspan,rubin,friedman,fuld,
frank,thain,dodd,mozillo,o’neal,gensler, cassano, blankfein, shapiro,yellin, fink,kashkari,dudley, dugan,
should all be indicted, tried, c0nvicted, and their money, all of it, clawed back and why they won’t be:
Google:
cnn mortgage fraud fbi 2oo4
then read:
http://politifi.com/news/Jail-unlikely-for-the-man-who-crashed-the-world-693313.html
April 6th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Top Ten Reasons the US will no longer use for using nuclear devices.
10. If that guy from Cheney’s high School shows up at the undisclosed location again.
9. Fourth of July nuclear works display
8. Any school that screws up the POTUS’s March Madness bracket
7. Mexico’s music is too loud.
6. Stadium Removal
5. Never on Hometown in Kenya
4. Light up the sky so you can see during Earth Hour.
3. Out-of-hand Spring Breakers
2. Anyone over their alloted time in UN speech
1. Just because someone else does