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Alan comes up now since he was holding the rein for so long, and he appears to be unapologetic. Except, he did admit that his worldview was shaken (in particular, his belief in banks doing their own self-policing); that was earlier this year. Now, he's back with his message (see Tech Ticker).
So, before any discussion, let's start by reviewing the references that we have made to Alan. We thought of him early on as this mess unfolded.
- Time goes on (Jan 08) -- At this time, the analysts were trying to describe all the types of financial instruments that had been spawned in the Greenspan era. It was quite a bucket of acronyms, many of which turned out to be toxic, and still are of concern. Oh yes, Alan was consulting with the quants.
- What can we know (Jan 08) -- Gosh, Ben renewed our suspicions that the Greenspan put was still alive and kicking. Sheesh. Yes, finance as fiction through gaming (later known as casino capitalism).
- Economic groundwork (Aug 08) -- Going back to the foundations would allow us to tell Alan and Ben that it's crap that we cannot see bubbles when they are there. Much of the opaqueness comes from efforts to keep the playing field unlevel.
- Savers sacked (Oct 08) -- Yes, Ben did us in by going even lower than Alan.
- Fairy dust (Oct 08) -- One affect of the gab standard is that the FED's aerating words cause market reactions. One thing to analyze, did Alan's dust impact his own view?
- Who's to blame for the economy (Dec 08) -- Alan is on the list.
- More on culprits (Mar 09) -- Alan said, don't blame me.
- Minsky anew (Apr 09) -- Can this gaming be controlled? Essentially, yes. We need to get a better handle on the computational issues. They have run a muck, essentially.
Note: That finance could be run by those who do not salivate when money is passed beneath their noses is still to be considered. Of course, with the devaluation of the dollar, thanks Ben, we might get to the stage where our beloved buck is only play money in the US. All sorts of things to consider here, with Alan's reign as one factor.
Remarks:
10/21/2013 -- Alan has a book coming out. Ben still slaps savers silly; a new day is coming.
01/27/2012 -- Ben will continue to sack the savers; he must love the ca-pital-sino.
02/01/2011 -- The chimera shines.
11/26/2010 -- On the Greenspan Put (Rolling Stone).
11/02/2010 -- Over a year later, the message is the same, except some changes have occurred. But Big Ben continues in his ways. Of real note is that the jobless rate is high; out-housing really set up for that. Also, we need to re-look at that learned from the 'vons' guys, Ludwig and Friedrich. See Near Zero.
01/06/2010 -- Poor Ben, getting grief and criticism.
01/03/2010 -- More news on Goldman Sachs as the uber example of 'not on the behalf' comes to fore regularly. It'll need to be a separate subject at some point. Thanks to McClatchy: Nov 1, 2009 & Jan 3, 2010 (update). Goldman has to respond, of course.
12/29/2009 -- Time calls Ben an uber-Nerd.
12/28/2009 -- Ben was named the Time Person of the Year. Nice. We can't call him 'King' as we saw with Alan's 'cult of personality' reign.
12/15/2009 -- Requiem for the dollar (WSJ) and responses.
12/09/2009 -- The Street loves Ben who loves 'em back: The Street utterly loves the Fed's largess, earning massive profits from trading unstable currencies, the carry trade (borrow short-term dollars near zero, buy longer-term assets abroad), and the high-margin process of transferring America's capital abroad.
11/20/2009 -- To quote: Abjuration and Recantation. Yet, Alan and Ben, at best, can just spit in the wind, as long as the standard is gab. Our trust? We want to put those inclined to malefaction in a sandbox.
10/06/2009 -- Ah, yes, on the behalf of. It is clear that Alan and Ben act on our behalf, though one has to wonder what 'our' means as it sure is not the little guy. Finance, people, can be (probably ought to be) run as a non-profit affair. AND, the CEO (or whatever the titles at the top) would not make $1M! That is absurd. We have people who put their lives on the line for this country and its ideals for pittance. As said before, we really need a national service (Remarks 09/03/09) experience for the young'uns, especially for those of the privileged classes.
09/15/2009 -- Lessons, one year after Lehman. Also, Time on culprits. Ben is happy-talking, again.
09/10/2009 -- We'll tell this tale further. The trader guy on firstbusinessx says that it's hard for a trader to make money in this market. Yes, indeed. There is a whole industry that rakes off the fat from the labors of others. It's like this, folks, a gallon of milk (the cow did the labor) has only so much fat that is easy to skim off (cream - ah, that's the role of golden sacks). Then, with a little more labor (secondary), fat can be extracted through modern technology. Eventually, the residue is colored water which may even need some boost by added nutrients to be considered food. Well, the economy is a lot like that. We've had a generation or two of the best and brightest go apply their brains to gaming, essentially. Some of this was encouraged by Alan and the FED. That will be part of the analysis. What's left is the watchword; not much of value, under the current scheme of things, is the answer.
Modified: 10/21/2013
01/03/2010 -- More news on Goldman Sachs as the uber example of 'not on the behalf' comes to fore regularly. It'll need to be a separate subject at some point. Thanks to McClatchy: Nov 1, 2009 & Jan 3, 2010 (update). Goldman has to respond, of course.
12/29/2009 -- Time calls Ben an uber-Nerd.
12/28/2009 -- Ben was named the Time Person of the Year. Nice. We can't call him 'King' as we saw with Alan's 'cult of personality' reign.
12/15/2009 -- Requiem for the dollar (WSJ) and responses.
12/09/2009 -- The Street loves Ben who loves 'em back: The Street utterly loves the Fed's largess, earning massive profits from trading unstable currencies, the carry trade (borrow short-term dollars near zero, buy longer-term assets abroad), and the high-margin process of transferring America's capital abroad.
11/20/2009 -- To quote: Abjuration and Recantation. Yet, Alan and Ben, at best, can just spit in the wind, as long as the standard is gab. Our trust? We want to put those inclined to malefaction in a sandbox.
10/06/2009 -- Ah, yes, on the behalf of. It is clear that Alan and Ben act on our behalf, though one has to wonder what 'our' means as it sure is not the little guy. Finance, people, can be (probably ought to be) run as a non-profit affair. AND, the CEO (or whatever the titles at the top) would not make $1M! That is absurd. We have people who put their lives on the line for this country and its ideals for pittance. As said before, we really need a national service (Remarks 09/03/09) experience for the young'uns, especially for those of the privileged classes.
09/15/2009 -- Lessons, one year after Lehman. Also, Time on culprits. Ben is happy-talking, again.
09/10/2009 -- We'll tell this tale further. The trader guy on firstbusinessx says that it's hard for a trader to make money in this market. Yes, indeed. There is a whole industry that rakes off the fat from the labors of others. It's like this, folks, a gallon of milk (the cow did the labor) has only so much fat that is easy to skim off (cream - ah, that's the role of golden sacks). Then, with a little more labor (secondary), fat can be extracted through modern technology. Eventually, the residue is colored water which may even need some boost by added nutrients to be considered food. Well, the economy is a lot like that. We've had a generation or two of the best and brightest go apply their brains to gaming, essentially. Some of this was encouraged by Alan and the FED. That will be part of the analysis. What's left is the watchword; not much of value, under the current scheme of things, is the answer.
Modified: 10/21/2013
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