Category Archives: Curiousities

Has Much Changed on Wall Street Since the Roaring (and Ripoffsky) Twenties?

I must confess that I am only now reading John Brook’s classic Once in Golconda, which is a history of Wall Street from the 1920 to 1938. It’s a heady mix of lush and leisurely narrative with keen attention to financial tradecraft. Of course, any tale that involves market manipulation, no matter how far in […]

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Wray: The Great Depression and the Revolution of 2017

By L. Randall Wray, a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who writes at New Economic Perspectives WASHINGTON, 7 NOVEMBER 2017*. Yesterday Speaker of the House Dennis Kucinich was sworn in as President, replacing President Jeb Bush, who had fled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aboard Air Force One seeking asylum in his […]

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“Treasury Harnesses the Power of Wind”

No joke, that is the headline of a bona fide e-mail from the Treasury. Whoever wrote this press release seems to have an insufficient appreciation of irony. The first paragraph: To mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that beginning July 31, 2010 the main Treasury building […]

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JPMorgan gets paid to borrow $271 billion

We know that JPMorgan is not substantially increasing lending anytime soon. And we also know that banks are recapitalizing courtesy of a steep yield curve and near zero rates, what I would call free money.  What I didn’t know is how free these funds truly were. An investor friend pointed out something curious buried deep […]

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Is the Bundesbank against an IMF-enabled bailout of Greece?

It seems the wheels are coming off the European experiment. Yesterday, we had a huge meltdown in Greek bonds. Media reports suggest that a recent article in German daily Frankfurter Rundschau are what triggered the latest selloffs in Greek sovereign debt (See the Telegraph’s account here; hat tip Swedish Lex). This article leaked portions of […]

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Throwing in the towel on policy makers

A post by Edward Harrison. Earlier today, I had a brief e-mail exchange with Marshall Auerback in which I said that I had basically thrown in the towel on US (and global) policy makers. Early on in this crisis, I had advocated a number of policy paths which I think would have been infinitely superior […]

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An Open Letter to Dr. Laura Schlesinger

Time for a change of pace. This came via e-mail from Marshall Auerback: In her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger (a popular conservative radio talk show host in the USA) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the Bible Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open […]

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How to Stay Awake During Obama Speeches: Play Bullshit Bingo

Via e-mail: 1. Before Barrack Obama’s next televised speech, prepare your “Bullshit Bingo” card by drawing a square.  I find that 5″ x 5″ is a good size — and dividing it into columns –five across and five down. That will give you 25 1-inch blocks.   2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:  Restored our […]

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Imaging Imperial Washington

From Marshall Auerback. One thing that amused me about this rendition is that Obama is most visible as a statue, a mere bit of decoration, albeit the one meant to set the tone (he also appears as a less consequential figure behind MIchelle): Reader Keenan pointed to the source, which includes quotes for all of […]

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Brilliant Marketing Meets Dark Humor

Maybe because I was always better at the quant-y courses in B-school than touchy-feelie ones (not that B-school has the most demanding academic standards, mind you), I’ve always been a bit leery of marketing, as opposed to selling. Selling I understand, the hocus-pocus with marketing has often seemed a bit dubious to me. Yes, there […]

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