Thursday, March 17, 2011

Robber barons?

Moral: After looking at M & M and other things, we can start to get back on track.

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Yesterday, there were some stories that rang a bell and prompted the need for comment. Why? They are apropos to the theme here.
  • First, Warren talked about derivatives. You know, those things with no basis beyond mere chicanery. Yes, this is given an aura of appropriateness by business. Warren called them WMDs. He was right; he may have backtracked, yet that does not change the reality of the situation. In his talk, Warren used an extreme leveraging example. Think of a bank which has on its books 4 trillion (yes) of this type of activity and only 0.2 trillion collateralized. Sound silly? Warren says that noone could get a grip on this mess; true enough, what accounting principles apply to this type of thing that is purely gaming in scope? Well, much to discuss here.
  • Then, Prof Sachs (Columbia) talked a couple of issues. Several times, I've referenced politocos as those who salivate when a buck is placed beneath their noses (many times). The good Prof says that the new 'robber baron' is the politico who cowtows to the monied. We probably have to admit that some of these types are necessary. What percentage of the whole group have mercenary ambitions?
  • As well, the Prof reminds us of the disparity and its widening gap.
...

Remarks:

03/23/2012 -- Ben is doing a series of four lectures on his, and the FED's, role.

01/27/2012 -- Ben will continue to sack the savers; he must love the ca-pital-sino.


05/09/2011 -- Savers are suckers? [but, they have their money]

05/02/2011 -- Warren, on Black-Scholes.

04/30/2011 -- Warren, I guess that if one is in the taking mode, the perception/judgment gets warped. Sort of like getting carried away in the heat of the game.


04/04/2011 -- Need to look at some backgroundGross seems to know the bankers well. Note that Big Ben (from our pockets) gave them (while sacking the savers) oodles of free money.


03/22/2011 -- It's spring, and the garble uses gambling metaphors.

Modified: 03/23/2012

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