October 11, 2008
Interesting new research paper in one of my favorite journals (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise). Two things caught my eye. First, that the likelihood of developing acute mountain sickness -- an altitude-related disorder that can be life-threatening --...
I missed this 9/17 NY Times column by quant finance svengali Paul Wilmott. Nicely timed and delivered market call: I’ve taken to comparing the current situation to “Hamlet.†We’ve had the deaths of Polonius, Claudius and Laertes — that is,...
Apropos of nothing in particular, this movie snippet has been running through my head all week. It just felt right, like it explained something or another that had been troubling me. General Jack D. Ripper: Were you ever a...
"We do what we understand, and no one understood those [subprime loans]," [Burke & Herbert Bank president] Burke explained. "We look dull and plodding." "Because we are dull and plodding," said his brother, C.S. Taylor Burke III, senior executive...
My friend Keith at Research Edge has been on a roll of late, and he is irked at Goldman. The reason? Its shelf registration of "indeterminate amount" that GS dropped on the market after the close on Friday. Goldman conveniently...
Given all the pain in markets last week, I thought it would be a good time to check in again on The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot. Yes, Pakistan. If you recall, the wise folks running the Karachi...
There is a truly numbing piece up on BusinessWeek's site about the mess that Lehman made via taking counterparty collateral obtained in one swap and using it as collateral in a myriad more. Post-bankruptcy, that has led to a...
La crédibilité de Paulson se rapproche de zéro. -- éconoclaste Give the French this: Even the most obvious things sometimes sound so much better when they say them. [via Felix]...
Good column from Steve Pearlstein in the weekend Washington Post. He argues that stop-gaps are now making things worse in the financial crisis, and we need to focus on the things that matter, as opposed to bailing out the bank...
Jeremy Grantham of GMO long-ago nailed the current crisis, and has long been a warning voice of lucidity here. The weekend Barron's contains a lengthy interview with Grantham, and it is worth reading in its entirety. The closing comments about...
