tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36723629757768543362024-03-13T04:21:55.721-07:00Debunkr“In a mad world only the mad are sane.” - Akira KurosawaA Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-47130037798949124272009-02-12T09:31:00.000-08:002009-02-12T09:47:49.684-08:00The Tragedy of Consensus EconomicsIt's pretty clear that Obama's current economic approach is "all hands on deck". Exhibit 1 is the financial stability plan passed by Congress that splits the economic stimulus baby down the middle: 1/2 spend, 1/2 tax relief. There isn't really anything wrong with that per se, but I think that a strong view one way or the other would actually be more helpful. While Obama seeks to build A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-73736278384602087232009-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:002009-02-08T09:32:07.139-08:00Stimulus Package: ANY spending is good spending...Consider the truth of this quote:Even if the entire sum were to be stolen by federal employees and spent entirely on fast cars, fancy homes, gambling junkets and fancy clothes, it would still be an $800 billion increase in the demand for goods and services -- a pretty good working definition for economic stimulus.It comes from an opinion piece in the Washington Post by Steven Pearlstein that A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-72055922574977143682009-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:24:53.556-08:00Jeremy Grantham's January Letter To InvestorsI love the Internet. Direct access to real people and their real thoughts is such a great thing. Here is Jeremy Grantham's January Letter Investors. It's a fantastic read. In fact, he references a piece that I highlighted awhile ago in the NY Times by Einhorn and Lewis as "a great job of summarizing where we are and how we got here, as well as offering some helpful advice for the future". A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-2413549991310344262009-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:002009-01-21T14:50:20.845-08:00Richard Parson's to become Chairman of CitigroupWhat part of "He drove TimeWarner straight into the ground without passing Go or collecting $200 do people not understand?" Seriously, yet another "up is down" development in regards to the governance of our financial institutions. Story here.A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-52651622550779568012009-01-21T11:46:00.000-08:002009-01-21T11:56:42.821-08:00Obama: Why Geithner?So, I'm in the camp of wanting Obama to succeed. We simply can't afford for him to fail. However, I am not in the camp of Whatever-Obama-Wants-Is-A-Great-Idea-To-Me. First I had a problem with Bill Richardson, his nominee for Treasury Secretary. It was a purely political move and I thought we were about Change We Can Believe In. Now I have a real problem with Timothy Geithner, Obama's A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-34172383016799041942009-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:002009-01-17T19:38:17.498-08:00Paulson's Capital Cram has no MultiplierI have to change my anti-media rants because there are some outlets and some writers who refuse to submit to the errors of their business overlords and the mediocrity of their colleagues. NYT and Newsweek, I'm looking at you. Great article in the NYT discussing how smaller, healthier banks are hoarding the money they received through the TPILF...I mean TARP. The author, Mike McIntire, did a A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-9207020733511705102009-01-16T09:48:00.000-08:002009-01-16T09:58:33.303-08:00Finally, someone in the media calls it like it is!There's a great article by Daniel Lyons of NewsWeek illustrating how the media gets played by corporate P.R. departments. He does a great job taking apart one of my least favorite business media types -- Jim Goldman. I've seen him in action, up close and personal, and he epitomizes the typical empty-suit media type that is eating mainstream media from within.Great quotes:"That's what happened A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-75664715583453371922009-01-16T08:01:00.001-08:002009-01-16T08:03:16.594-08:00A financial modeler's manifesto - hard to model human behaviorFinally, someone says it correctly.Our experience in the financial arena has taught us to be very humble in applying mathematics to markets, and to be extremely wary of ambitious theories, which are in the end trying to model human behavior. We like simplicity, but we like to remember that it is our models that are simple, not the world.Bingo! Unfortunately, this is one of those "esoteric topicsA Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-79424557666616232262009-01-15T15:15:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:33:15.370-08:00Ever notice that WSJ Opinion Pieces don't allow comments?It's probably because they're all pretty lame. Latest piece which is tops on the most read list on WSJ is one titled: "'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years".Really?I always wonder about the delusional capacity of people who believe that Atlas Shrugged should be used as a template for real-world action. It's a piece of fiction. It's like it has become the greedy capitalist's A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-57425280396342078432009-01-14T16:44:00.000-08:002009-01-14T16:48:01.697-08:00Can we put a bullet in Economists yet?Heard on Bloomberg radio this morning as stated by Chris Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics: "The Fed is full of economists. They know nothing. They need our help. Let's help them understand that putting more money into the banks will not do anything to help our economy." (Or words to that effect.)Yes, brother, yes!A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-78467445607142375102009-01-09T16:34:00.001-08:002009-01-09T16:39:44.158-08:00If this gets ugly...It could get...er...real ugly.Check this out.A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-68731610038834106902009-01-09T15:54:00.001-08:002009-01-09T16:01:30.929-08:00Surprise! Hedge Funds trade with inside information. Whocoudanowd?!Arthur Samberg, the CEO and Chairman of Pequot, a giant hedge fund is coming close to being the guy who rips the band-aid off the fact that hedge funds use inside information to generate their returns. A complex Portfolio.com article outlines how he uses inside information gained from a contractor to trade Microsoft's earnings to great success (+$12MM). This could be the match that lights the A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-7961167201548560282009-01-07T21:43:00.001-08:002009-01-07T21:51:07.543-08:00Satyam's Fraud Just the Latest Cockroach To EmergeSo, apparently the exportation of America's culture is alive and well. It just has a bit of a lag. Satyam's founder disclosed that he had been falsifying accounts in a yarn that starts to smell a lot like Enron. (Eww, smelly yarn.) And why not? So many people got so rich doing it in the U.S., why not try it in countries that have weaker regulatory and legal structures?We'll be seeing much A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-88129703052389075662009-01-06T20:30:00.001-08:002009-01-06T20:59:39.877-08:00Michael Hirschorn at the Atlantic Does Not Have A ClueYou know, I just get done praising an excellent article in the New York Times and then something comes along which strengthens my belief that the Mainstream Media is out of their mind.I just don't get how journalists don't get why they're being disrupted in a wholesale way. The Atlantic just published an article by Michael Hirschorn that demonstrates he clearly doesn't have a clue. Not only A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-58008778725555268302009-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:002009-01-04T22:48:41.710-08:00Lewis and Einhorn Nail ItUnbelievably correct article from the NYT. If you're wondering how our financial markets got so fucked up, then read this. Even if you're just ignoring financial news because you can't handle how crappy it is, read it. There is very, very little accurate commentary or analysis out there about how we got here that you owe it to yourself to read the pieces that nail it like a roofing gun.It's A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-4071198061488597212009-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:002009-01-02T10:54:03.628-08:00New theme alert: U.S. as a restart/rebootTwo great articles/blog posts that highlight that the U.S. needs a fundamental restructuring. It's not that we're going through a 'bad time', it's that our systems are broken. This is more than a simple fix and taking a page from the classic business playbook (I differentiate from the isanity that has lately been called business) the U.S. needs to restructure by improving its systems and A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-800561745292740442008-12-23T13:05:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:14:28.348-08:00Joel Spolsky Takes on Gladwell and "Pseudoscience"Joel Spolsky, a programmer who is emerging as one of the more sane voices on how to not only program, but more importantly, organize a bunch of programmers to create good software took a shot at Gladwell. Joel's thesis is that Gladwell epitomizes "pseudoscience", a trend where good writers define new scientific laws through witty turns of the pen and not through traditional research.I half agreeA Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-11566872990885021962008-12-22T11:30:00.000-08:002008-12-23T09:05:08.234-08:00Daily Links: Inaugural Pre-Christmas Edition!Reading that will scare the crap out of you about our economy:How India avoided the financial crisis.$1.6 billion of TARP money went to pay bonuses to the people who are raping the economy.Mary Schapiro, Obama's new SEC Cheif gave Madoff's son a job......oh, and his niece too. (Can we replace Schapiro already? It's clear this was a whiff by Obama.)An oil company, Flying J, files for bankruptcy.A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-39571531226216365132008-12-22T10:31:00.000-08:002008-12-22T10:41:05.525-08:00It had to happen: Green Biz vs. Save Your Ass BizI was wondering when the natives would begin to turn on each other. There has been a lot of repositioning of companies behind "green" initiatives lately. Most of the efforts are little more than cosmetic (i.e. Bank of America's statement that their reduced paperwork is "green". It's smart business and green is a side-effect.) But some companies have changed fundamental pieces of their A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-83028602012125817922008-12-19T23:32:00.000-08:002008-12-19T23:37:21.535-08:00Smoking Gun: FannieMae Knew Exactly What it Was DoingSo, it's one thing to think that our country's major financial institutions pursued flawed lending strategies because they did not understand the risks. It's another if they pursued those strategies knowing that they were increasing the risk profiles to unacceptable levels. That would be criminal, right?Wait until you read this PowerPoint presentation. I've seen something like this for a long A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-11101281512794758462008-12-17T17:10:00.000-08:002008-12-17T17:15:04.600-08:00"Fog a mirror, get a loan..." CalculatedRisk Nails ItCalculatedRisk nails the issue of why the current Treasury programs and proposals are designed to fail when it comes to the real estate market. TARP, TALF, 4.5%, etc... they won't have the impact on the RE market that everyone is hoping for (Hope is not a strategy!). Why? Credit is not the issue. Lending standards are. Deleveraging is not occuring because of the rate levels. It is occuring A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-33186646181660528212008-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:002008-12-17T17:10:05.536-08:00Intellectual side-road: Brooks on Gladwell on Nature v. NutureGladwell does a great job questioning existing paradigms and through inventive illustrations showing that a different, counter-intuitive scheme may actually be at work. He did it with Blink, a book that discusses the source of intuitive understanding and decision-making and Tipping Point, another book discussing the idea of social networks and finding those ideas which reach critical mass.Now heA Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-87556228478523551372008-12-05T17:35:00.000-08:002008-12-05T17:47:15.104-08:00Spitzer Takes Second Step to SalvationEliot Spitzer is now blogging at Slate.com. As I noted earlier, this is part of a campaign to rejuvenate his image and try and restore him to a position in government (IMHO). And I think it's a great idea that will work. Spitzer has a very good understanding of how Wall Street manipulated its way into defrauding everyday consumers. I'm not sure that his remedies were all that great, but I A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-60346447364815455732008-12-01T08:06:00.000-08:002008-12-01T08:09:04.735-08:00I have to give Meridith Whitney her due...Apparently no one on Wall Street is willing to state the obvious because Meridith is making a big splash today talking about how credit to consumers will contract significantly as they start to enforce credit standards and restore sanity to the consumer lending situation. (The horror!)Why this is a surprise to anyone is beyond me.Relevant quote:"In other words, we expect available consumer A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-4116386086500631562008-11-29T16:50:00.000-08:002008-11-29T16:56:18.088-08:00The Jones have to be a joke.NYT article about two engineers in Silicon Valley that have a hard time living within their means of...wait for it...$250K a year. Usually I'm a fan of the New York Times, but this time, they've engaged in what I like to call Sorority Journalism. It goes something like this:There are these two totally, like, middle-class people who were totally like trying to live on, like $250K a year, right?A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0