Playing, and even watching, sports improves brain function PhysOrg Hook it to my Veins: Can Videogaming be an Addiction? 1Up Reset loans add to US home woes Financial Times. For anyone who saw the famous mortgage reset chart, this isn’t news. WaMu Pool WMALT 2007-0C1 August Update Michael Shedlock Unintended Consequences of “Market-Based” Health Reforms […]
Read more...We’ve remarked from time to time this year that a lot of hedge funds aren’t having a particularly good time these days. The volatility that has punished mere mortals has also taken a toll on many Masters of the Universe. The Wall Street gives an update, showing that even some of the biggest names have […]
Read more...Korea Development Bank CEO and former Lehman Seoul branch manager Min Euoo Sung confirmed that talks with Lehman about a possible investment are still continuing. Note that Min has been the driving force behind the deal; the stumbling block appears to have been getting official approval. With talks apparently fairly serious, it would seem some […]
Read more...It’s hard to discern what took place in a closed-door session at a remove, but some of the tidbits coming from last weekend’s Federal Reserve conference at Jackson Hole were worrisome. Note I didn’t have this sense about last year’s meetings, based on a reading of Jim Hamilton’s commentary (which may simply mean Hamilton was […]
Read more...‘Big Dry’ turns farms into deserts BBC Investor interest in algae grows Financial Times Palinfest! Wily Obama beats McCain on strategy Andrew Sullivan, Times Online McCain’s gamble on Palin is shrewd Clive Crook, Financial Times Palin Republican pushback Diane Francis, Financial Post “The Ferraro Factor” Mark Thoma There is no need to fight Russia – […]
Read more...Steve Waldman has a great little post on how the end of the consumer credit bubble is going to expose rifts papered over by the illusion of rising living standards for all. In fact, average real wages have been stagnant since the mid-1970s; the gains in income have accrued entirely to those at the top […]
Read more...Reader Paul e-mailed about the special, early opening of the NYMEX to permit pre-Gustav trading. As he correctly noted: I have NEVER heard of a US market opening early due to macro events; the usual move is to CLOSE during exceptional circumstances. Neither have I. This looks pretty suspicious. Did some influential parties need to […]
Read more...Bargain Wine and the Big Mac Index Wine Economist Most Verizon FIOS Installations Violate National Electric Standards [Fire Hazards] Consumerist. You should also know that Verizon will cut your copper connection unless you insist. My Verizon DSL has been very sluggish lately and I have no doubt that it is deliberate. Huge rally against Taiwan […]
Read more...Princeton economics professor Alan Blinder’s article in today’s New York Times provides a useful summary of a new book by a Princeton colleague, Larry Bartels, which finds consistent differences in economic performance and income inequality trends between Democratic and Republican administrations. From the New York Times: Many Americans know that there are characteristic policy differences […]
Read more...When the Korea Development Bank had signaled that buying a stake in an investment bank might be premature at this juncture, it had appeared the bureaucrats had beaten back KDB’s chairman and former head of Lehman’s Seoul branch, Min-Euoo-song, who was pushing the deal. But the Telegraph tells us not only that negotiations are back […]
Read more...HuffPollstrology: Candidates’ Horoscopes, Polls And More For August 30 Huffington Post. Probably can’t be any less accurate than prediction markets…. “Big Misconceptions about Small Business and Taxes” Mark Thoma Oil Goes Limp Bespoke Investment Group Chancellor Alistair Darling warns slump could be the worst for 60 years Times Online. Admittedly, the UK economy is more […]
Read more...Today’s Financial Times describes a new sign of how bad things are in the real estate market in London. People are so desperate to keep their deals alive that they are buying houses they do not want (yes, that sounds completely barmy, but the piece explains how it works). The net effect is that not […]
Read more...Some of the usual suspects have dutifully noted the closure of $1.1 billion in assets Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia (weirdly, the links at the Wall Street Journal to two stories lead only to “Page Not Available”). The plot is already familiar: the Friday night, FDIC prepack, in this case, with Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions bank […]
Read more...The question in the headline may seem odd, but consider. Many of the things we want are desires adeptly created by marketing and/or peer influence. It’s easy to recognize in teen agers. Cassandra brings us a more vivid example of how ideas and desires can be influenced: I was simply wondering whether all this is […]
Read more...We wrote yesterday about Japanese retail and institutional investors exiting Freddie and Fannie holdings, and didn’t consider it as worrisome as it might seem on the surface, since at this juncture, the funding of our current account deficit is coming almost from central banks and to a lesser degree, sovereign wealth funds. Tonight, the Financial […]
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