tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36723629757768543362011-11-27T16:51:01.181-08:00“In a mad world only the mad are sane.” - Akira KurosawaA Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.comBlogger531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-47130037798949124272009-02-12T09:31:00.000-08:002009-02-12T09:47:49.684-08:00

It'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-73736278384602087232009-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:002009-02-08T09:32:07.139-08:00

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-72055922574977143682009-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:24:53.556-08:00

I 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-2413549991310344262009-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:002009-01-21T14:50:20.845-08:00

What 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-52651622550779568012009-01-21T11:46:00.000-08:002009-01-21T11:56:42.821-08:00

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-34172383016799041942009-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:002009-01-17T19:38:17.498-08:00

I 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-9207020733511705102009-01-16T09:48:00.000-08:002009-01-16T09:58:33.303-08:00

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-75664715583453371922009-01-16T08:01:00.001-08:002009-01-16T08:03:16.594-08:00

Finally, 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 topics

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-79424557666616232262009-01-15T15:15:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:33:15.370-08:00

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-57425280396342078432009-01-14T16:44:00.000-08:002009-01-14T16:48:01.697-08:00

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-78467445607142375102009-01-09T16:34:00.001-08:002009-01-09T16:39:44.158-08:00

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-68731610038834106902009-01-09T15:54:00.001-08:002009-01-09T16:01:30.929-08:00

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-7961167201548560282009-01-07T21:43:00.001-08:002009-01-07T21:51:07.543-08:00

So, 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-88129703052389075662009-01-06T20:30:00.001-08:002009-01-06T20:59:39.877-08:00

You 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-58008778725555268302009-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:002009-01-04T22:48:41.710-08:00

Unbelievably 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-4071198061488597212009-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:002009-01-02T10:54:03.628-08:00

Two 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-800561745292740442008-12-23T13:05:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:14:28.348-08:00

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 agree

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-11566872990885021962008-12-22T11:30:00.000-08:002008-12-23T09:05:08.234-08:00

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-39571531226216365132008-12-22T10:31:00.000-08:002008-12-22T10:41:05.525-08:00

I 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-83028602012125817922008-12-19T23:32:00.000-08:002008-12-19T23:37:21.535-08:00

So, 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

CalculatedRisk 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-33186646181660528212008-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:002008-12-17T17:10:05.536-08:00

Gladwell 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 he

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-87556228478523551372008-12-05T17:35:00.000-08:002008-12-05T17:47:15.104-08:00

Eliot 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-60346447364815455732008-12-01T08:06:00.000-08:002008-12-01T08:09:04.735-08:00

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-4116386086500631562008-11-29T16:50:00.000-08:002008-11-29T16:56:18.088-08:00

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.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-24199651236029402472008-11-25T10:36:00.000-08:002008-11-25T10:38:28.324-08:00

The NYT blog has published an email from an anonymous banker regarding the lax standards in consumer credit card practices.  A nugget:As a banker, let me describe what we do wrong when we accept and review an application for a credit card. First, we don’t verify income. The first ‘C’ of credit: Capacity to repay, is completely ignored by the banks, just as it was in when they approved subprime

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-5474289803850384332008-11-17T16:06:00.000-08:002008-11-17T16:25:20.883-08:00

Not because of this article at the WashPost that clearly lays out the parameters to see our way through this crisis, but for the fact that he was weak enough to make himself vulnerable to attack because of his previous extra-marital activities. He would make a great contributor to the Obama administration in designing a new financial regulatory system.In fact, I think this article is going to be

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-12998020599697509332008-11-11T11:33:00.000-08:002008-11-11T11:35:08.134-08:00

Goldman Sachs is out telling investors to short California state bonds. The same bonds it underwrote into the market. This should be illegal and prosecuted as such. The stench emanating from the financial markets is overwhelming.

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-29220461203211159172008-11-08T13:55:00.000-08:002008-11-08T13:57:11.496-08:00

From a great NYT article: "“Investors said, ‘I don’t want to be in equities anymore and I’m not getting any return in my bond positions,’ ” said William T. Winters, co-chief executive of JPMorgan’s investment bank and a colleague of Ms. Masters on the team that invented the first synthetic. “Two things happened. They took more and more leverage, and they reached for riskier asset classes. Give

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-71932022895637424002008-10-28T10:59:00.001-07:002008-10-28T11:03:27.009-07:00

Looks like the administration has woken up to the fact that just because you give banks more money, doesn't mean they'll lend. AP has an article where the White House is admonishing (admonishing!) banks to lend now that they've taken the money. Why isn't anyone talking about the fact that banks don't have anyone to lend to? What part of: "tightening credit standards" are people not

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-72248099571177972822008-10-14T22:09:00.000-07:002008-10-14T22:13:35.503-07:00

This article on Bloomberg article argues that Paulson's capital cram may not work because the treasury doesn't have the capability to force banks to lend. Why am I the only person here who thinks this is missing the much larger and much more important point: The banks need sound businesses they can lend to! Most of the problem of the financial crisis has to do with the fact that lending

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-2211925882924978362008-10-09T11:25:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:28:57.440-07:00

This is the best explanation of why the risk modeling on Wall Street is inadequate for the job and is a great way to understand why this crisis is escalating. I am still waiting for a cogent article that outlines that even if the regulators and internal risk management teams had adequate models, they probably still would've been thwarted from managing the risk because of typical corporate

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-9515649267382666882008-10-06T12:47:00.000-07:002008-10-06T12:49:37.974-07:00

It's actions like this which will motivate the public to demand rationality in executive compensation. NYTimes has an article stating that Lehman Brothers approved almost $10 Billion in compensation for its employees in the year before bankruptcy.$10 Billion.This is pathetic and it's time to start putting people into jail.

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-36358452081804992172008-09-29T17:30:00.000-07:002008-09-29T17:34:16.397-07:00

Mike Masnick the prolifically talented founder and contributor over at Tech Dirt, nails it. He has a long post that reviews many of the moving parts involved with the subprime crisis up to today's market blow out.Read it and understand why we are living in a complex world that requires complex analysis to achieve correct answers. And then thank Mike for taking the time to help unwind the

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-56673534436962456532008-09-25T09:02:00.001-07:002008-09-25T09:11:57.711-07:00

This article on Bloomberg.com is amazing in its lack of understanding of simple ethics and economics and its desire to exploit banking failure fears currently inflamed due to IndyMac and other recent failures. The article describes a bank that is run by former FDIC officials that allows wealthy people to distribute their deposits among many different banks and therefore take advantage of the

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-83352547890241515332008-09-15T21:13:00.001-07:002008-09-15T21:15:57.024-07:00

Amazingly sad article in the Washington Post that demonstrates just how ineffectual our government has become. I fear that our society has deteriorated to the point of no return. Has the U.S. become Italy?

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-83923891119881760832008-09-05T21:44:00.000-07:002008-09-05T21:57:30.654-07:00

"Home prices are quite sticky." This is a story you won't hear much about in the media because, well, they can't think independently. A report from the National Bureau of Economic Research indicates that foreclosures won't impact home prices as much as the hysterical national media (and Nouriel Roubini) thinks they will. This is massive news, but it only made the WSJ's blog section...Imagine

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-38808384072221655442008-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:002008-09-03T10:44:28.183-07:00

So yes, he did make the call on the current financial malaise. And he did call it for the right reasons. However, I've had him on my feed reader for some time now and I can't say that I agree with much of what he has written since. The guy is a certified hysteric when it comes to the economy (and it doesn't matter whose). I think he was bullied as a child, because he's certainly trying to

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-74274031780459495422008-08-12T07:47:00.000-07:002008-08-12T07:54:07.498-07:00

Journalists and Economists are cute. I love it when they try and tie down the vagaries of a market with simple, little rules and declare that they know the answer. For someone who believes in free markets (to an extent), I actually like the misinformation they spread. The more people believe the content they distribute, the more inefficiencies are built into the market!In this article, the NY

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-85093545432483564582008-08-11T14:50:00.000-07:002008-08-11T14:54:37.581-07:00

Finally, it appears the regulators are starting to use common sense and going after the low-hanging fruit. The issue concerns certain options trading that was done in Bear Stearns puts days before their ultimate collapse. Bloomberg has a great story that outlines the details. Basically, the regulators have figured out that by examining options trading right before the event and identifying

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-86310639976753511182008-07-31T13:15:00.000-07:002008-07-31T13:17:08.570-07:00

Interesting article from Bloomberg today talking about how the bottom-feeders are...uh...feeding now. The prices are horrible, but people are starting to talk about how they can buy a house that will repay itself in 10 years.

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-67900678828133497422008-07-28T14:18:00.000-07:002008-07-28T14:21:51.990-07:00

There were more than a few Texans that delighted in the pain that Enron delivered to California during the electricity crisis a few years ago. Interestingly, the state that exploits energy the most is now getting a taste of it's own medicine. Texas apparently deregulated their energy markets a few years ago and now is feeling the effects. Of course, having seen what happened to California,

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-51451196526552484372008-07-23T16:57:00.000-07:002008-07-23T17:00:59.492-07:00

Portfolio.com does an excellent job showing the hypocrisy in Bush's current stern school-master approach to the subprime markets. He was right in there along with the others in pushing the market over the brink. Excellent work.Bush the Bartender

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-41728948810051247362008-07-20T09:02:00.001-07:002008-07-20T09:11:00.504-07:00

There are very few Mainstream Media journalists that I believe are delivering real insights today. Gretchen Morgenstern is one of them. She has a series of articles at NYTimes.com that examine how the credit industry has basically put our public underwater and made out like bandits while doing it. Her latest article examines the irony that now the same companies that are largely responsible

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-88708083600189763942008-07-13T07:54:00.000-07:002008-07-13T08:03:20.633-07:00

There is a good reason that newspapers are, and will continue to lose out to blogs in terms of viewership. Generally the quality of blogs is low, but I just read a post that may be the single most important piece of reading to truly understand why the subprime mess has exploded into a national crisis. The post comes from Bill Burnham's blog "Burnham's Beat", a source I usually read to get the

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-75017293325700264932008-07-02T10:36:00.000-07:002008-07-02T10:43:15.929-07:00

Calculated Risk once again breathlessly presents data regarding an increase in delinquent HELOC and credit card payments. They are (get this) an entire 13 basis points higher!!! What's funny is that now people are throwing around terms like basis points when most of the public has no idea what a basis point is. Do you know? You might know that a basis point is one hundredth of a

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-26823953232679224972008-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:002008-07-02T10:44:18.306-07:00

Michelle Leder at Footnoted.org has raised a very interesting discussion about a leading investment website, SeekingAlpha.com. She highlights a controversy surrounding the stock of the company Microvision, a microcap company that makes compact display solutions, that occurred when a hedge fund published a negative piece on SeekingAlpha. According to Michelle, Microvision's stock price fell from

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-53736172503049731832008-06-16T15:19:00.000-07:002008-06-16T15:31:32.581-07:00

Not many people may realize that BusinessWeek and S&P are owned by the same company: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. This fact is disclosed in small, discolored font at the bottom of a story in BusinessWeek quoting...wait for it...S&P! In fact, ever since they became one company, BusinessWeek relies heavily on S&P for much of its perspective about the stock market and investing. There is not

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-72507528296567281312008-06-16T14:26:00.000-07:002008-06-16T14:36:26.411-07:00

I came across an interesting passage in an article discussing John Paulson (and George Soros) today. (John Paulson is the hedge fund guy that predicted the subprime collapse and made a TON of money betting against the bull real estate market early.) The passage reads as follows:"John did not make a strong immediate impact, but one comes to realise that great investors do not need to be good at

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-26767579791439868792008-06-13T15:08:00.000-07:002008-06-13T15:11:37.478-07:00

As a defender of good data makes good conclusions, I find myself in the uncomfortable spot of agreeing with an opinion piece put out by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This opinion piece starts to get at the real problem with Case-Shiller's data. I would argue that the Case-Shiller indexes have far too high of a bias towards subprime loans which heavily skews the data.They link to a

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-87206591099336766902008-06-13T13:49:00.000-07:002008-06-13T13:57:37.822-07:00

CalculatedRisk, a blog that riles me up with their usual one-sided view of the market, points out the fact that the government is dealing with bad data. Granted: this post highlights that data manipulation can go both ways. As bad as Case and RealtyTrac are to the downside -- NAR, MBA and Hope Now tend to skew to the upside. Should we just average their results to get to the real data?Which

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-54913473403008200672008-06-13T13:32:00.000-07:002008-06-13T13:37:38.115-07:00

I just launched this blog railing against bias and misinformation in the news. Unfortunately, one of the straightest shooters when it comes to politics, Tim Russert, just died today of a heart attack. I'm not much of a politics guy, but when I tuned in, I turned on Mr. Russert. His skillful questioning of both sides of the aisle was an asset to the American public that will be sorely missed...

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3672362975776854336.post-67194152362117784112008-06-13T11:16:00.000-07:002008-06-13T11:51:42.887-07:00

Hello world! If you've come to this blog it's likely because of a link I've made to various other news items or blogposts discussing various economic, business or financial related topics. I'm sick and tired of seeing so much mis-information being passed to the public without any informed critical thinking applied to it. The news continues to pass along data and information from sources that

A Concerned Taxpayerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09235208381392475752noreply@blogger.com0