Archive for February, 2008
subprime primer
This humorous slide-show on the credit mess is fantastic.
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income inequality
It seems like income inequality is every-body’s favorite subject these days.
I don’t buy it.
Here is a quote from a NY Times Op-Ed piece that re-frames the whole notion of income inequality by suggesting that purchasing power is a better metric for tracking economic well-being.
At the average wage, a VCR fell from 365 hours in 1972 [...]
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yahoo + microsoft (again)
Well, all indications are that Yahoo is going to reject Microsoft’s $44 billion offer after all.
As a Microsoft shareholder, I relish the thought of Microsoft being able to offer half as much next year.
Source: Yahoo! News (of course)
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go away already
What are the people of Kansas thinking when they vote for Huckabee at this point now that McCain is almost certainly the Republican nominee?
My (hopeful) take on the issue is that the Republican party is shaking itself free from the clutches of the social conservatives and that this kind of meaningless victory is an indication [...]
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psychology
This is an absolutely fascinating talk given by Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner in crime) on human psychology and the propensity of the mind to lead itself astray.
http://vinvesting.com/docs/munger/human_misjudgement.html
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gift cards for food
From a blog post from The Money Sage:
One of the factors contributing to this disturbingly poor showing [for Wal-Mart sales] was the redemption of gift cards. Wal Mart noted a slower than expected exercise of gift cards. The company also noted that a large percentage of the gift cards which were exercised were used for [...]
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jingle mail
I got a kick out of this new term: jingle mail.
This is when a homeowner walks away from his/her mortgage and mails the keys to the lender.
More shocking is the fact that, apparently, defaulting on credit card debt is more injurious to your credit score than defaulting on your mortgage.
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yahoo + microsoft
How these Yahoos could consider rejecting the Microsoft bid is beyond me.
This is a company whose stock is trading at the same level it was 10 years ago. Anybody unlucky enough to have purchased Yahoo! stock in that 10 year period has a pretty good chance of being in the hole to this day.
Any company [...]
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schiller on the housing crisis
Schiller on the housing-induced market crisis…
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Here is an article about Australia having to raise interest rates just after the Fed’s 125 basis point cuts in the federal funds rate.
We’ll see what happens in Europe in the coming months. Likely the same story.
It will probably be a whole lot worse for small countries with dollar-pegged currencies and limited monetary discretion.
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