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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Links 2/4/09

Surgeons Use Microwaves to Destroy Tumors PhysOrg

Alzheimer’s ‘is brain diabetes’ BBC

Trial Begins for HIV Gene Therapy Wired

Chinese earthquake may have been man-made, say scientists Telegraph

Bad Bank/Worse Bank Accrued Interest

Private equity ‘next bubble to burst’, unions warn Guardian

TPG ends talks over stake sale Financial Times. Vanity and delusion knows no bounds. They wanted a 2007 valuation.

US car sales fall below China’s for first time Financial Times

On Madison Avenue, Shops Pack Their Hand-Tooled Bags New York Times

Happy Boycott CNBC Day! FT Alphaville. You missed it, but the post is still fun.

Broken Pension Model? Pension Pulse

Why don’t we hear a lot more about SDRs? Dani Rodrik

Antidote du jour: From Der Spiegel:

As it turns out, rolling snowballs is not just a human pursuit. Heavy snowfall throughout Western Europe on Monday, Feb. 2 provided this White Bengal Tiger from the grounds of England’s West Midlands West Safari Park with plenty of material to work with.

And the Times Online “Readers’ Snow Images“:

A couple of pelicans in St. James’s Park after having taken a refreshing swim

Topics: Links

Email This Post Email This Post Posted by Yves Smith at 4:42 am

9 Comments » Links to this post

9 Comments:

  • donebenson says:
    February 4, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Yves,

    Another series of great posts today! Thanks VERY much.

    It’s difficult not to get discouraged by the reality that you point out is facing us. But that’s still much better than being naively unprepared for what is going to happen [or not happen].

  • Anonymous says:
    February 4, 2009 at 8:20 am

    i really enjoy your posts.

    “Private equity ‘next bubble to burst’, unions warn” – should be interesting, whether it happens or not.

  • Keenan says:
    February 4, 2009 at 9:33 am

    I wonder if the tiger started rolling the snowball on a form of some kind. Seems like the sort thing Hobbes would do to Calvin in Bill Waterson’s cartoon strip.

  • francois-guillaume says:
    February 4, 2009 at 9:54 am

    JGB Market Insight: Is Debate on Government Money Leading to “Commemorative
    Bills”?

    The idea has arisen that the government might issue money separate from BoJ
    banknotes to promote economic recovery without incurring more debt (i.e.,
    issuing more JGBs). Some experts and political commentators advocate this
    idea. Page 1 of the January 13 Sankei Shimbun carries an article titled
    “High Time for Once-in-a-Century Countermeasures,” which endorses
    government money on the grounds that “it would cost no more than paper and
    printing fees, so the government could obtain a large profit from issuance
    without increasing the national debt.” LDP Election Strategy Headquarters
    Deputy Chairman Yoshihide Suga then showed his positive stance on a weekend
    TV program, saying: “This financial crisis is said to be a
    once-in-a-century event. It’s reasonable to consider all of our options. We
    ’re very interested [in government money issuance].” As a result,
    policymakers have also been asked about this matter in their regular press
    conferences.

    Japan following the path of Zimbabwe ???

  • lineup32 says:
    February 4, 2009 at 10:48 am

    “The private equity industry poses a “looming disaster” to the economy as firms struggle to refinance billions of dollars of loans taken out during a buyout boom earlier in the decade, a transatlantic coalition of unions warned today.”

    Of course, what else would you expect from an industry that depends on leverage to exist!!!
    The number of zoombie companies operating on volume since margin has all but disappeared years ago but through various bond offering’s and market slight of hand such as consoldation they have survived but with credit rationing now the order of the day most will finally show the impact of productivity gains the last 20 years and go out of business.

  • Anonymous says:
    February 4, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    From CNBC site:

    BofA [BAC 4.70 -0.60 (-11.32%) ] has had one of the biggest fleets of corporate aircraft on Wall Street and had been reluctant to talk about it in the past. The fleet includes 8 corporate jets, 2 falcon corporate jets and 5 gulfstreams, including something they call the Merrill Lynch global express. Each is valued between $45 and $50 million.

    Oliver Quallia

    In addition to the jet sales, BofA will sell a helicopter from Merrill Lynch that it aquired in the merger between the two companies. BofA says it never used the aircraft

    The same sources say BofA will also divest itself from one of two corporate apartments in New York City. One of those is located at the Time Warner Center.

  • Jojo says:
    February 4, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Yves – I love that tiger and snowball photo!

    Would it be possible for you to include the the link to the original photo on all the photo’s you feature?

  • Anonymous says:
    February 4, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland bankers set for millions in bonuses
    RBS to reward staff in spite of losses

    See:

    http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5663873.ece

  • Richard Kline says:
    February 5, 2009 at 8:26 am

    Aww, that’s just so friggin’ cute I could pat its furry head. . . . Let me rephrase that . . . .

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