Algorithm and Blues New York Times
Rep. Alan Grayson May Just Fuck Your Shit Up Rude Pundit. Well done despite or perhaps due to the liberal use of profanity.
TARP Anniversary: By The Numbers Shahien Nasiripour Huffington Post
Housing Derivatives Rortybomb
US storms troops into the Philippines Asia Times
Patent Law Independent Accountant
U.S. Unemployment Now Lasts Longer Than Benefits: Chart of Day Bloomberg
1,000 Companies Attacked -> 1,200,000 Jobs Destroyed Daily Kos
House prices back at pre-Lehman levels, but agents remain cautious Times Online
America as Argentina? Dead Cats Bouncing (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck)
From Black Scholes to Black Holes Dharma Joint. Today’s must read.
Antidote du jour:
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On black holes. In line with Martin Wolf’s thinking.
Michael Lewis writing for Vanity Fair on AIG, how the machine worked & Joe Cassano: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/aig200908?printable=true
On Argentina: surely much of their problem was that Peron adopted policies that any Briton would recognise as being the old Labour Party line:-
(1) Talk sentimental tripe about The Workers, while (2) Giving power to the apparatchiks in the Trade Unions, and (3) Nationalising lots of industries.
Come to think of it, how far down this line is the sainted O?
Grayson and the author Rude Pundit “Rep. Alan Grayson May Just Fuck Your Shit Up” are a breath of pure fresh air.
Hopefully its a trend. Next, someone please take on the blue dogs and use Max Baucus, Senator from Montana for the poster boy. His expression is enough to make anyone puke.
At your suggestion I read the piece about Grayson. I’m surprised you linked to it, it’s just a partisan rant. Didn’t think you went in for that sort of thing.
dearieme, what are the “lots of industries” Obama has nationalized?
Grayson asked some very penetrating and necessary questions of Fed officials, and he’s to be commended for that. It is unfortunate that in other contexts the man expresses himself like left-wing radio clown Al Franken. I don’t know what to make of the man. He’s clearly for more taxing and spending, somehow believing that government can micromanage and cure all the problems of poverty and illness.
If he’s against the Fed, it must be that he thinks the government should be making all the calls the Fed makes, i.e. politicizing all central banking decisions, instead of keeping the money supply stable and letting the market work.
In short, he only seems to be on the side of freedom. In reality he probably just wants to replace Fed tyranny with Congressional tyranny.
Yeah…that Rude Pundit article was fucking awesome!
Check out some of these zingers straight from the motherfucking article:
“Grayson will end up fucking your shit up.”
“Too rich to be bought off, Grayson’s been fucking with the powerful for a few years now.”
“He may as well have said, ‘Suck my balls.'”
“Grayson walked into Wolf Blitzer’s house, drank his whiskey, and took a giant shit on CNN’s floor”
“Grayson has become this week’s punching bag for conservative wads of fuck”
“Grayson just pointed out that motherfuckers fuck their mothers.”
Dude, that article was so fucking dope! Not fucking cliche…nor was the use of “fuck” “shit” and “suck balls” gratuitous. And his use of “fart-tard”…so fucking clever!
Goddamn, what a motherfucking fartalicious, ball sucking, shit-faced breath of fresh fucking air!
Fuck. Oh yeah…and shit too.
With all due respect, attack on style is the last refuge of the person who can’t mount an attack on substance.
Also, given that the article was written in a style of which seems to me to be relatively rare (at least among the sites I peruse), I find your use of the word “cliche” rather spurious (or at least inaccurate), but of course, that’s just an opinion!
And ironically enough, the subtlety of your sarcasm was so sublime that I’m going to save the comment in my personal files and try to duplicate your skill sometime. (goose-gander?)
To Anonymous Jones who writes about me:
“I’m going to save the comment in my personal files…”
You’re saving my comments in your personal files? There’s a “Dan Duncan” file on your computer?
Do you actually have personal files on people who comment at Naked Cap or are these files just set up for me, personally?
Have you lost your mind?
PS: In connection with my comment on the Rude Pundit’s article…when you write: “With all due respect, attack on style is the last refuge of the person who can’t mount an attack on substance.”
No, AJ, an attack on style isn’t the last refuge—it’s the only refuge— when there is no substance. [Unless, of course, you consider “sucking balls” to be substantive….]
From Black Scholes to Black Holes “Why has interest rate derivative exposure grown so much over the past few years? The search for profits in an ultra low interest rate environment seems, in part, a good answer as the graph below depicts.”
Not as smart as the author, and can’t follow all the points, but I certainly agree that low interest rates cause a lot of imbalances that sooner or later have to be, um, balanced. As I noted before, how many insurance companies, pensions, and endowments will be in trouble due to very low interest rates?
On Black Holes:
I am not a finance expert, just a lowly engineer. However, it is clear to me that the credit default market needs major restructuring at a scale that the financial firm won’t like. Other than just banning them outright (which would be fine with me), here are some thoughts from the simpleton’s perspective:
1. Treat them largely like insurance which is why everybody tells us they are so important;
2. Require collateral to be posted in a simple interest bearing account at an exchange;
3. Require all CDS instruments to be registered with the exchange which continuously sums up the total value of the insured amounts;
4. At a low percentage of the insured amount (say under 50%), the collateral could be low, say 5% of the insured amount;
5. In the 50% to 100% range, the collateral goes up to say 10% – the 5% to 10% range is in the range of prudent banking leverage ratios.
6. Over 100% of the insured amount, the collateral percentage escalates rapidly so thet it is 100% by the time 200% or so is reached.
Somebody would really want to own a CDS under rules like this and it would typically only be folks with an insured interest. People early to the game would get low cost CDS’s both on the buyers and issuers end. However, people late to the game would find it exorbitantly expensive and we wouldn’t see the piling on that happened in 2008 when they simply became a form of quasi-money that the US government had to backstop.
Any thoughts?
Per the *US storms troops into the Philippines Asia Times* story.
OOh yeah, its intimidation time. Whilst in the 1st 75th Rangers some one got Bar beat, many against one thing. Well the CO decided to arrange a bit of group R&R early the next Friday night, sooo he requisitioned a bunch of trucks and took the company down early too the scene of the crime.
Well by the time the regulars started coming in they were face by a full house of guys with high and tights, nary a hard word was spoken or punch thrown, but an about face at the door ensued.
Skippy…yep…their not there on a tanning mission…push come to shove.
The Grayson piece really was a breath of fresh air. It did describe him as a drama queen, but was forthright about his willingness to fight outrages. I also read the linked Vanity Fair piece and I found his whistleblower work in Iraq, fighting what appear to be egregious abuses by well-contected contractors, very heartening too. It also turns out he was a very successful executive, a graduate of Harvard Law, and, most shocking of all, a former employee of Antonin Scalia! ZING!
Looks as if Daily Kos is the latest venue for the Weiss/Byrne slugging match.
Represenative Grayson represents me; I guess I’m a progressive populist. But at age 67 I am truly deeply offended at the profanity and I was in the army for 9 years so I’ve heard it all. I am suprised to find it recommended by Naked Capitalism.
Grayson is a fraud on H.R. 1207! On the day the Federal Reserve sought and received approval from Obama’s Solicitor General, to appeal a decision by a District court to reveal the identities of banks receiving taxpayer bailouts, I received a form letter from Firedoglake.com on behalf of Representative Grayson asking for campaign contributions. The head of his party nuked his position on Representative Paul’s legislation and I get a form letter asking for contributions? I’ll wait for him to launch a screed at Obama, Rahm and David on the floor of the House. Like Obama, Alan is a progressive F****er because he F***s progressives.
Update on Antidote du jour: little Hodgie above, doing well and soon to be free range. Only if we took such compassion in regards to our fellow citizen’s, take them home and fix them up to re-enter the big world. Thanks Yves forgot how little hodgie was.
Skippy…sad to think that we afford more compassion to critters than our own species (except if we can buy our salvation with a donation), save the ones that can devour us.