By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Yesterday, I indicated I would write a few thematic posts as a look back at some of the more important economic topics that this credit crisis has uncovered. Tying posts together in a theme definitely gives a better holistic view of a the themes than the posts do in […]
Read more...Well, because he is a man of probity and is writing in the UK, where the standards for libel are much lower than in the US, former Barclays CEO Martin Taylor does not use the F (fraud) word, but that is precisely the behavior he describes. I know it is fashionable to depict the investment […]
Read more...George Orwell gave a powerful warning of the dangers of ceding control of the language, and therefore the range of possible thoughts, to authorities who understood how to shape it so to render the population incapable of independent action. I am a sensitive to the ways in which we allow manipulators of various sorts, from […]
Read more...A provocative report by the New Economics Foundation has made an effort to put a price tag on the broader costs and benefits of various types of work. As quoted in the Financial Times (hat tip Swedish Lex), the leader of this effort put it: Pay levels often don’t reflect the true value that is […]
Read more...We noted that all the talk of pitchforks and heads on pikes, the folks at Goldman have taken to arming themselves. But until recently, the talk was aggressive, but bodily harm was non-existent, save for an isolated (but very nasty) beating over phony mortgage mod advice. But that may be changing, per this update from […]
Read more...Readers may recall a 2008 study that found a link between testosterone levels and same-day trading performance. A typical summary: John Coates and Joe Herbert from the University of Cambridge shadowed 17 male traders over 8 working days as they went about their business in a mid-sized City of London trading floor (the City is […]
Read more...The Telegraph today has a story that reveals much about what is wrong with childrearing and the investment banking industry today. A teacher at a Houston private school allegedly made some remarks about the financial crisis which were overly broad and in bad taste. Specifically, the claim is that an 11th grade teacher said: that […]
Read more...As Jim Chanos, who pointed out this Bloomberg piece “Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public,” remarked, “Well, it appears that Goldman’s Best and Brightest may be hedging their goodwill built up by doing ‘God’s work’.” I’ve heard the expression, “Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel,” but I can’t recall an exhortation that links […]
Read more...These reminders courtesy Josh Rosner (be sure to watch in full):
Read more...John Hempton illustrates the operation of an underdiscussed cognitive bias, social validation, which social psychologist Robert Cialdini described as one of the six primary influence techniques in his classic Influence: The Art of Persuasion. And it can be deadly, as Hempton warns: Saturday afternoon and I had volunteer lifesaving duty. My (broken) collarbone is knitted […]
Read more...Paul Krugman has a good op-ed tonight on how Germany has fared versus the US in the global financial crisis. Recall that there was much hectoring of Germany early on, for its failure to enact stimulus programs. German readers were puzzled, since Germany has a lot of social safety nets that serve as automatic counter-cyclical […]
Read more...By Marshall Auerback, a fund manager and investment strategist who writes for New Deal 2.0. It seems odd that days after we were told by Goldman Sachs’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, that bankers are doing “God’s work”, we are still having active debates about how to regulate these selfless apostles of capitalism. The latest foray into […]
Read more...In America, it isn’t hard to answer the question in the headline “yes.” The oft recited, “Our employees are our greatest asset” is pure Orwellian prattle; most companies treat employees as liabilities, doing everything they can to minimize labor costs, getting rid of workers whenever possible. And this now extends well up into the management […]
Read more...What amazes me is how a vague and intellectually bankrupt (because it is so nebulous as to be used in ways that often wind up being contradictory) term like “free markets” nevertheless gets accorded respect it does not deserve in popular discourse in the US, particularly in the media. Well it turns out that the […]
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Preface: If you are a Christian or Jew, the importance of the Bible is probably obvious. If you are not, please consider passing this essay on to people of those faiths who you know. If you are an atheist and believe that religion is crazy, please remember that some […]
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