Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

This browser screenshot show how WSJ is getting away from the whole “News” thing.

Ironic magazine ad from newly bust MF Global

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via WSJ

Smart Roger Lowenstein take on liquidity’s submerged risks:

Time and again, otherwise canny investors fall for the salve that in a liquid market, they can always get out, therefore what’s the problem? At Lehman, in the mid 2000s, executives took comfort in the notion that that the bank was in the “moving business” not the “storage business.” Then, the mortgage market froze, and everyone was in the storage business.

Liquidity is a backward-looking yardstick. If anything, it’s an indicator of potential risk, because in “liquid” markets traders forego trying to determine an asset’s underlying worth – - they trust, instead, on their supposed ability to exit. Investors now in low-yielding U.S. Treasury bonds may, one day, discover this lesson for themselves.

It’s hard to overestimate the extent to which the siren of liquidity has seduced even ordinary Americans. During the housing bubble, anyone who took out a mortgage they couldn’t afford, upon advice they could always refinance, was tacitly assuming they could trade their old loan for a new one. They were counting on continued liquidity in the mortgage market–and so were the banks that lent them the money.

via Corzine Forgot Lessons of Long-Term Capital: Roger Lowenstein – Bloomberg.

Pete Townshend riffs, verbally

Let me introduce you briefly to my inner artist, then I will put him back in his box.

 

I dont give a shit about making money. I think rock music is junk. I am a genius. The Who were OK but without me they would have all ended up working in the flower market, or worse – in Led Zeppelin. John Peel played some records that were so bad that I thought he was taking the piss sometimes. The BBC only gave us Pop Radio 1 in the 60s five years after the pirates had proved there was an audience for it. Sadly, unlike the pirates, they didnt accept payola.

I really should put this inner artist guy back in his box yes? Have we got our newspaper headlines yet?

via Pete Townshend Accuses iTunes of Not Doing Enough For Musicians, Says Illegal Downloaders Might As Well Steal His Sons Bike While Theyre At It | The Measure.

Good piece tonight by Martin Wolf in the FT:

The country with the credit sets the rules. Debtors have to beg, particularly in a fixed currency arrangement, whenever finance is needed to cushion an adjustment imposed via deflation. Creditors can also insist on their interpretation of the causes of a crisis. Germany states that it is all the fault of bad fiscal policies: correct those and bind fiscal policy for all time; the virtuous will then inherit the earth.

This view of the world suffers from three drawbacks: it is wrong; it is self-defeating; and it is destabilising. It is wrong because far from all crisis-hit countries suffered from irresponsible fiscal policies. In important cases, they suffered far more from irresponsible private lending and borrowing. It is self-defeating, because attempts by every member country to tighten fiscal policy at once will impoverish all, including creditors. The view is also destabilising, because the way out of this trap would be via a shift of the eurozone into external surplus. Resolving the internal imbalances by worsening global ones is a bad idea.

via InfoViewer: Creditors can huff but they need debtors.

Check the bund move in lthe ast twenty-four hours. Another day, another 100-year event.

From a new study sponsored by Ford:

The survey shows fuel economy has jumped in importance in nearly all vehicle segments since 2001:

• Fuel economy as a purchase reason for small B-sized cars like the Ford Fiesta became the top consideration in 2011, up from fourth place in 2001
• Fuel economy as a purchase reason for small C-size cars like the Ford Focus nearly tripled in importance from 2001, going from fifth to first place this year
• Fuel economy now ranks fifth for mid-size cars like the Ford Fusion, up from 12th place
• Fuel economy is now among the top five most important purchase reasons for small utility vehicles like the Ford Escape, up from 16th in 2011
• Fuel economy is now among the top 10 drivers for sports car buyers like the Ford Mustang for the first time ever

via MPG Matters: Study Confirms Growing Desire for Fuel Efficiency; Ford Products Give Customers… — MIAMI, Oct. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –.

• Checked out @batch photo-sharing app that the cool kids are raving about. Happily, it requires Facebook, thus eliminating me immediately. #
• Joe Nocera on what now law firm's Halloween costumes reveal about foreclose attitudes – http://t.co/V1MQNAmt #
• "Science as organized skepticism", from new Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A on uncertainty in science – http://t.co/HFoZUSNQ #
• Looking at Q3 venture investing data, software vs Internet brackets seem meaningless, no? http://t.co/kRnIySdf #
• QotD: "Excessive risk is to be avoided primarily because we cannot go back in time." http://t.co/bBXTmZP1 #
• I'm not seeing this "too many good startups, too little cash" thing. Apex predator thing? http://t.co/KOK3PbgH /via @infoarbitrage #
• Assuming you're not Steve Jobs-ed out, surgical oncologist Dave Gorski has one last excellent take on his illness. http://t.co/BtufZFrM #
• Given the cute stories, always wonder how widespread this is: Professor faked data in 30 publications – http://t.co/FFrdusBa /via @mathewi #
• NBER: The Trouble with Boys — Social Influences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior – http://t.co/wF50rolo #
• The Mobile Phone Landscape http://t.co/OxebLrt5 /via @asymco #
• Daunting: iPhone share of all phone units, revenues and profits http://t.co/czPBvMm8 /via @asymco #
• What is fueling Rick Perry at 2m40s in this video? http://t.co/xap4yZ4h #
• How music travels. Sort of terrifying, really. http://t.co/axynzoi7 /via @sether #
• Groupon sells share on SecondMarket. SecondMarket wants piece of Groupon IPO. These two should get a room. http://t.co/EwdZisrp #
• Everyone, all at once: What's the most interesting thing you learned today? I'll start. Nothing, so far. #
• Okay, there is that. RT @alexismadrigal: @pkedrosky Herman Cain has a nice singing voice. #
• Today in learnings. RT @harmongreg: @pkedrosky Sudafed expired 3 years ago still works #
• More learnings! RT @sawickipedia: @pkedrosky i learned what makes the ultimate chick flick http://t.co/kmnjqcnQ #
• Accurate short-term weather prediction http://t.co/zrYNBDwZ /via @kottke & arbesman #
• Productivity tips! RT @om: @pkedrosky you can save a lot of money by not leaving your house, starting with not shaving #
• Okay, I did learn that if you listen to Mountain Men's "Animal Tracks" too often you get irresistible urge to buy 1942 Ford 9N tractor. #
• Speaking at Defrag in Denver next week, as well as hosting a movie night in Palm Desert. Going for max orthogonality points. #
• Lucy Kellaway argues that best time & place ever to be alive was America, circa 15,000 BC – http://t.co/Ml7l1DcV #
• Ghost Wave: The Discovery of Cortes Bank and the Biggest Wave on Earth – http://t.co/JYkW8v65 /cc @briannorgard #
• Groupon QotD from WSJ: "Most of the negative comments from analysts focus on the company's financials." #AtLeastItsNotAboutDecor #
• Just did longer than usual Bloomberg TV spot. Producer told me it was, and I quote, Kedroskapoloza. #
• Red flag warning in good chunk of SoCal next 36-48 hours. Should be exciting. http://t.co/e7peHMEo #
• Such a great book title… Hung Like an Argentine Duck: A Journey Back in Time to the Origins of Sexual Intimacy #
• Drives me absolutely mad how difficult it is to bring live stock quotes into Excel 2011 spreadsheets on Mac. Feels punitive. #
• "Killing a person is the most you can do to him" – Source: The Great Big Book of Horrible Things #
• "Wars kill more civilians than soldiers. In fact, the army is usually the safest place to be during a war." Source: The Great Big Book #

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Amusing:

Yes, you read that right…the Bank of Spain blamed missing deficit reduction targets on fiscal austerity and then suggests additional fiscal austerity as the solution. And as all nations in the Eurozone increasingly pursue fiscal austerity, we can only expect the nascent European recession to deepen. Eventually, the European public will have had enough of the downward spiral.

via Economist’s View: “Did The European Deal Just Collapse?”.