zero hedge Thu 2009-09-03 09:59 EDT

Deep Thoughts From Leucadia

With Leucadia coming boldly from behind the shadows, where Ian Cumming and Joe Steinberg have always enjoyed operating, and joining Buffett in a deal over Capmark's loan-servicing and mortgage business, it makes sense to introduce readers with some of the very original thinking of the Leucadia founders (and very close friends of the mellifluously named Dick Handler). We present their most recent annual investor letter, which frequently is cited as among the best hedge fund (even though they don't like to be seen as one) strategy reading material. downloaded pdf.

Deep Thought; Leucadia; Zero Hedge.

zero hedge Thu 2009-09-03 09:59 EDT

Deep Thoughts From Leucadia

With Leucadia coming boldly from behind the shadows, where Ian Cumming and Joe Steinberg have always enjoyed operating, and joining Buffett in a deal over Capmark's loan-servicing and mortgage business, it makes sense to introduce readers with some of the very original thinking of the Leucadia founders (and very close friends of the mellifluously named Dick Handler). We present their most recent annual investor letter, which frequently is cited as among the best hedge fund (even though they don't like to be seen as one) strategy reading material. downloaded pdf.

Deep Thought; Leucadia; Zero Hedge.

The Guardian World News Sun 2009-08-30 14:43 EDT

Iceland votes to repay UK savings

Iceland's parliament today approved a plan to repay Britain and the Netherlands £3.4bn they used to compensate depositors after the collapse of an Icelandic bank. Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister, said the "Icesave" bill was an important step in her country's economic recovery, paving the way for it to receive financial help from the International Monetary Fund and other countries and keeping open the option to join the EU. "It's obviously best for all three nations to reach an amicable agreement on this for it is in no one's interest to see Iceland economically unable to meet its obligations," Sigurdardottir told Reuters after the vote, which followed an acrimonious national debate. Critics objected to paying for mistakes made by private banks under the watch of other governments and for...

Guardian World News; Iceland votes; repay UK savings.

Steve Keen's Debtwatch Sun 2009-08-30 14:33 EDT

It's Hard Being a Bear (Part Two)

Cassander

One of the reasons I'm still a bear on the economy is because the economists in the optimists camp are relying upon very bad economic theory. If that theory is telling them good times are ahead, that's one of the best predictors of bad times you could have. Capital Assets Pricing Model (CAPM) preached that stock market price shares accurately, that the amount of debt finance a company has doesn't affect its value, and many other notions that have gone up in smoke during the GFC. CAPM developer William Sharpe ``assumed a miracle'': all investors agree about the future and their expectations about the future are correct. Macroeconomic theory has been dominated by IS-LM model erroneously attributed to Keynes but actually due to convervative neoclassical John Hicks, which ``emasculated what was original in Keynes's General Theory, and this bowdlerised version of Keynes was then demolished by Friedman in the 1970s to usher in the Monetarist phase''

Bear; hard; part; Steve Keen's Debtwatch.

Satyajit Das's Blog - Fear & Loathing in Financial Products Sun 2009-08-30 12:20 EDT

El-dollardo Economics

In the 1980s, the Japanese were taking over the world. In the 1990s, it was going to be an ?Asian? century. These days the pundits are betting on the ?Chinese Age?. Like all such glib predictions, despite their superficial appeal, they mask complex undercurrents and issues that require careful study. Business journalist Michael Schuman's The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia's Quest for Wealth. Paul Midler's Poorly Made in China; quality fade. Underlying both `The Miracle' and `Poorly Made in China' is a view of the emerging world best captured by the term `Orientalism', associated with Edward Said...the West's view of the East was shaped by political power and unequal commercial exchange. Said's work built on George Orwell's criticism of colonialism. Former Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang's secret journal `Prisoner of the State' provides antidote to a Western view of East Asia.

El-dollardo Economics; fears; financial products; loath; Satyajit Das's Blog.

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Sun 2009-08-30 12:03 EDT

Greater Than One in Four FDIC Insured Institutions are Unprofitable; Bank Problem List at 15 Year High

Michael Shedlock

The second quarter 2009 Quarterly Banking Profile has some interesting charts and facts that inquiring minds will be interested in.Insured Institution Performance Higher Loss Provisions Lead to a $3.7 Billion Net LossMore Than One in Four Institutions Are UnprofitableCharge-Offs and Noncurrent Loans Continue to RiseNet Interest Margins Show Modest ImprovementIndustry Assets Decline by $238 BillionThe Industry Posts a Net Loss for the Quarter The Industry Posts a Net Loss for the Quarter Burdened by costs associated with rising levels of troubled loans and falling asset values, FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported an aggregate net loss of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2009. Increased expenses for bad loans were chiefly responsible for the industry's loss. Insured institutions added $66.9 billion in loan-loss provisions to their reserves... ``Conventional wisdom regarding money supply suggests there is massive pent up inflation in the works as a result of the buildup of excess reserves...The reality is excessive debt and falling asset prices have rendered the best efforts of the Fed impotent. Banks are not well capitalized, they are insolvent, unwilling and unable to lend.''

15-year high; Bank problem listings; FDIC insured institutions; greater; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; unprofitable.

Thu 2009-07-30 00:00 EDT

Michael Hudson: The Toll Booth Economy

Michael Hudson: The Toll Booth Economy -- by Michael Hudson ``The Latest in Junk Economics'' What is missing is a critique of the big picture how Wall Street has financialized the public domain to inaugurate a neo-feudal tollbooth economy while privatizing the government itself, headed by the Treasury and Federal Reserve. Left untouched is the story how industrial capitalism has succumbed to an insatiable and unsustainable finance capitalism, whose newest final stage seems to be a zero-sum game of casino capitalism based on derivative swaps and kindred hedge fund gambling innovations...What have been lost are the Progressive Eras two great reforms. First, minimizing the economys free lunch of unearned income (e.g., monopolistic privilege and privatization of the public domain in contrast to ones own labor and enterprise) by taxing absentee property rent and asset-price (capital) gains, by keeping natural monopolies in the public domain, and by anti-trust regulation...A second Progressive Era aim was to steer the financial sector so as to fund capital formation. Industrial credit was best achieved in Germany and Central Europe in the decades prior to World War I. But the Allied victory led to the dominance of Anglo-American banking practice, based on loans against property or income streams already in place. Todays bank credit has become decoupled from capital formation, taking the form mainly of mortgage credit (80 per cent), and loans secured by corporate stock (for mergers, acquisitions and corporate raids) as well as for speculation. The effect is to spur asset-price inflation on credit, in ways that benefit the few at the expense of the economy at large.''

Michael Hudson; Toll Booth Economy.

Fri 2009-05-08 00:00 EDT

Terms of Service

Global Crisis `Vastly Worse' Than 1930s, Taleb Says (Update1) - Bloomberg.com; ``Gold, copper and other assets that China will like are the best investment bets as currencies including the dollar and euro face pressures''

services; term.

Tue 2009-04-21 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: US Deviating Considerably From Swedish Banking Crisis Best Practices

Deviating Considerably; naked capitalism; Swedish Banking Crisis Best Practices.

Thu 2009-01-15 00:00 EST

AlterNet: The Best and the Brightest Have Led America Off a Cliff

by Chris Hedges; William Deresiewicz quoted

AlterNet; best; brightest; cliff; Led America.

Thu 2008-07-10 00:00 EDT

Money Matters: Fed Reserve Wants Free Trade 'Inflation Fixer-upper'

"free trade is a poison and best served to stupid foreign devils"

Fed Reserve Wants Free Trade; Inflation Fixer-upper; money matters.

Fri 2007-12-14 00:00 EST

naked capitalism: Mr. Minsky Moment Calls for Rate Cuts

"he best we have is palliatives. We can either take the losses, as the US has repeatedly told third world countries in similar fixes to ours, or we can go the Japan route of socializing the cost of propping up bad businesses and deals, or we can expand the money supply considerably and let inflation eat away at the value of the debt overhang." bearish UBS economist George Magnus calls for rate cuts

Mr. Minsky Moment Calls; naked capitalism; rate CUTS.

Wed 2007-11-28 00:00 EST

Money Matters: The Banks And CDO Insurers Suffer Losses

by Elaine Meinel Supkis; Chinese forcing rising yen caused July dislocations; carry trade debunked; "money, like sex, is best done in the dark"; "England pretended to be moral and upright while looting the world, enslaving Africans, stealing gold,..., patting themselves on the back when they finally stopped committing one crime or another."

bank; CDO Insurers Suffer Losses; money matters.

Thu 2007-11-01 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Inflation: What the heck is it?

2006-02-02; Frank Shostak; inflation best defined as net expansion of money supply and credit

heck; Inflation; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Tue 2007-08-28 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Extreme Measures II: Gillian Tett at the Financial Times

"parties who are in the best position to facilitate price discovery have every reason to impede that process"

Extreme Measures II; Financial Times; Gillian Tett; naked capitalism.

Mon 2006-09-11 00:00 EDT

The Best War Ever

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton; why America is losing in Iraq; Bush reliance on PR prevents realistic planning

Best War.