My Newfound Respect for Hank Paulson
I cannot go into the details, as the entire conversation was off the record. However, I can tell you that, despite disagreeing with the bailouts & TARP that was put into place under his regime at Treasury, Hank Paulson may actually be a decent guy. When you look at the rest of the parade of...
10 Monday PM Reads
My afternoon train reading: • Stocks Least Loved Since ’80s (Bloomberg) • Ahhhnold & Michael Lewis: California and Bust (VF) • The Unintended Consequences of Tech Stock Repurchases (NYT) • Debit-Card Pitchwoman Orman Flirts With Conflict (Bloomberg) • Old mortgages rise from the dead, haunt homeowners (Reuters) • If I Were a Broker, Here’s How...
Magazine Cover Indicator: New York “End of Wall Street”
> This week’s New York magazine — a non Business publication — has a rather bearish cover discussing “The Emasculation of Wall Street. Last week, I mentioned the Barron’s cover was somewhat bullish, with the caveat that Barron’s is a business weekly. New York magazine is more general interest — its not Time or Newsweek,...
A Few Thoughts on the Employment Situation
Last week, I went into the details of the NFP report (See Tearing Apart January 2012 NFP data). There were 10 positive bullet points versus 5 negatives — and even those negatives were the same old sore spots (high teen and minority unemployment, persistent long term joblessness, etc.) that have been plaguing the labor market...
Most Mentioned NFL Players on “SportsCenter”
click for full graphic > Hat tip Flowing Data
Norris: US, Global Growth Outlook “Well below trend”
Floyd Norris explains why the picture for Global Growth has been disappointing: “United States economy has been growing at its slowest rate since the Great Depression. Most other major developed countries have also experienced unusually slow growth over the last 10 years. The American economy’s reported 2.8 percent growth in the fourth quarter, at an...
Richard Feynman: The Pleasure of Fnding Things Out
THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT, Richard Feynman Interview (1981) BBC Horizon/PBS Nova THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT, Richard Feynman Interview (1981) Fifty minutes of PURE Feynman! This is the original Horizon Nova interview – essential for any Feynman fan… and for everyone else too! “I’m an explorer, OK I like to find out!”...
Housing Tornado Warnings Were an Exercise in Futility
> There is a absurd yet fascinating article in the Sunday Times by Gretchen Morgenson, titled A Mortgage Tornado Warning, Unheeded. It is is stirring and emotional. What makes it fascinating is yet another story told about prescient warnings in advance not heeded about the coming mortgage crisis. What makes it absurd is its complete...
A modern Pecora Commission could right Wall Street wrongs
A modern Pecora Commission could right Wall Street wrongs Barry Ritholtz January 28 2012 ~~~ What shall we make of this surprise pronouncement in President Obama’s State of the Union address? A belated investigation has been launched into the role of fraud in the financial crisis. This much is clear: Despite rampant illegalities, bank fraud...
MFG Account Vaporization Playbook
Just in time for the big game, via Colonel Flick: > click for larger graphic
NFP & Facebook
A little tongue-in-cheek wonkery on NFP from Barron’s: “The Labor Department reported that 243,000 folks were added to nonfarm payrolls in January, a cool hundred grand more than economists had estimated, while the politically sensitive unemployment rate dropped an unexpected 0.2 percentage point, to 8.3%, the lowest in three years and down from over 9%...
