Thursday, November 24, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/can-the-bulldog-be-saved.html?src=me&ref=general

A pit-bull possibly.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/damianreece/8911134/Investors-turning-their-backs-on-Germany-is-bad-news-for-rest-of-eurozone.html

"The eurozone's anchor was left holding 35pc of the 10 year government bonds, known as bunds, which it tried to auction. Its failure immediately sent borrowing costs for other countries even higher, notably France and Italy. But Germany itself saw yields jump and since November 9 they have risen from 1.7pc towards 2.1pc.
The market is sending a very negative message to Germany. If it's not a complete vote of no confidence then it's certainly a partial one. And if investors are getting queasy about buying German debt, then you can bet your bottom euro they're sick to the back teeth of other eurozone debt.
So the chances of other countries succeeding in refinancing their borrowing needs in the next few weeks and months receded significantly after yesterday. If it's bad for Germany, it's a disaster for her eurozone partners. If investors are unwilling to buy German debt it's hard to see what they will buy.
Markets are now turning sour on Germany because of the increasingly fast-paced dumping of eurozone exposure in general by financial investors. Contagion has made all aspects of the system toxic.
That's exacerbated emerging fears over Germany's role as the ultimate lender of last resort to the eurozone. It has always been assumed that Germany would get its cheque book out. But that in turn assumed it would be able to generate support in the bond markets itself."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/a-gigantic-scam/

"November 23, 2011, 11:26 am

A Gigantic Scam

That’s pretty much what Andrew Haldane, the executive director for financial stability at the Bank of England, is calling a large part of modern finance:
In fact, high pre-crisis returns to banking had a much more mundane explanation. They reflected simply increased risk-taking across the sector. This was not an outward shift in the portfolio possibility set of finance. Instead, it was a traverse up the high-wire of risk and return. This hire-wire act involved, on the asset side, rapid credit expansion, often through the development of poorly understood financial instruments. On the liability side, this ballooning balance sheet was financed using risky leverage, often at short maturities.
In what sense is increased risk-taking by banks a value-added service for the economy at large? In short, it is not.
Basically, Haldane argues that finance fooled investors into believing that it had found a way to earn higher returns, whereas all it was really doing was piling on hidden risk. And he suggests that much if not all of the rise in the share of finance in GDP reflected this deception; in effect, Wall Street and the City were con artists extracting huge rents from an unwary public (and eventually dumping much of the cost, when things went bad, on taxpayers).
A lot more to say about this — but I’m needed in the kitchen to chop vegetables."
 We will learn all about it Friday.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/mini-flash-crash-es-plunges-2-standard-deviations-5-minutes

Markets »

1,161.79
–26.25
–2.21%
11,257.55
–236.17
–2.05%
2,460.08
–61.20
–2.43%




  • TimesPeople recommended a user:
    Nov 22, 2011
    Pragmatist 1954

    • Pragmatist 1954 recommended an article:
      Aug 15, 2010

      Angels in America
      Courage and a sense of fundamental fairness sometimes flower in our country in the most unexpected quarters, even as the angrier voices dominate the debate.

    • Pragmatist 1954 recommended an article:
      Apr 12, 2010
      Georgia on My Mind
      As we look for ways to prevent future financial crises, many questions should be asked. Here’s one you may not have heard: What’s the matter with Georgia?
      If you look back toward town along the Tuscarora Pike (I am looking at the satellite picture on Google Maps.) you will see several areas that look to be developments in progress.  The problem is that they are too green and I see no roofs.  These look like failed developments.  The loans have been called in or defaulted.  The local economy will be hurting and the hurt will only intensify.  The town does not look to have much of an excuse this year.  The open pit mine a few miles south looks to be long closed.  The boosters did not have a lot to say.  The parkland to the north west is undeveloped and Poor House Road is just too perfect an address.  
     

  • TimesPeople recommended a user:
    Nov 22, 2011
    dperrings

    • Pragmatist 1954 recommended an article:
      Aug 15, 2010

      Angels in America
      Courage and a sense of fundamental fairness sometimes flower in our country in the most unexpected quarters, even as the angrier voices dominate the debate.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8
      " The state court set an expedited schedule [170] and heard oral arguments on September 6, 2011. On November 17, they issued an advisory opinion that the proponents did have standing.[171][172]"
      1. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/prop-8-california-supreme-court-rules-sponsors-can-continue-case/
      2. ^ Perry v Brown (California Supreme Court 11/17/11). Text
      3. ^ Scan of Initiative from California Attorney General website.
      The delay goes on.
      “The California Supreme Court’s decision punts the ball right back to the Ninth Circuit, which will now have to decide whether Prop. 8′s proponents may go forward as a matter of federal law, and, if so, whether the district court was right to strike down California’s ban on gay marriage,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, Professor of law at American University.” “The Ninth Circuit may have been looking for a way out of deciding this case, but the California Supreme Court refused to give them one”
      This will land with the supreme court.  The present court would rule for 8.  

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