Over the past few weeks of this summer of discontent, the search for sub-prime villains has grown ever more intense and sordid. Media-bound auto da fe has been set up to burn the most obviously flawed Wall Street personalities at the stake of incompetence, allegedly in order to renew the faith of the gullible populace […]
At this very moment, throughout this great land of ours, ordinary people dwelling far away from the chaotic nonsense known as Wall Street are probably wondering how so much money could be wasted by so few people — people who, in fact, live in another country. And when the very same people appear to be […]
Step 1: For God’s sake, relax! Everyone is so uptight right now that we can’t even think. We will only get out of this mess by thinking, not by reacting prematurely with adolescent measures and childish pronouncements. Step 2: Suspend all further Treasury loans to Wall Street until the situation can be clarified by valuing all subject […]
My recent post on the sorry state of financial engineering seems to have touched a raw nerve in the FE community.I will not attempt to respond to anonymous comments since the US Constitution gives every citizen the right to look his accusers in the eye. People who wish to remain in the dark usually have […]
We are the CDO makers,and we are the dreamers of dreams.Betting on lone loss triggers,and trading in eclectic teams. Spread losers and yield forsakers,for whom the pale bonus gleams.Yet we are the sole underwriters,of the deals, forever it seems! Fantasia on a Theme by William Blake All over the world, it has become fashionable for Universities and […]
It’s probably fair to say that, at this very moment, many of you are looking for an easy resolution, something that would enable you to move on, to accept the unacceptable. You are wondering how the devil we got here, how we could possibly “lose” so much so quickly. The obvious answer to this rhetorical […]
The last entry in this journal was rather pessimistic. In it, we recounted what was likely to happen from the Fed’s irresponsible attitude towards cutting interest rates without a workable plan in mind about what to do next. Our verdict was that nothing good was to come out of it. However, that still left open […]