• The Bailout Plan
    Posted by on September 22nd, 2008 at 11:15 am

    I’m going to be the first to call it, this bailout plan is going down. I don’t know how or when, but I don’t see this thing lasting. At best, it’s going to be dramatically revised.
    The plan has all the hallmarks of something the American public hates. It’s too expensive. It’s secretive…we just woke up one day and were told we needed it. We don’t know if it will work. It seems un-American.

  • More Stocks You Can’t Short
    Posted by on September 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 am

    The SEC allowed the exchanges to add stocks to the No-Short List. Here’s what the NYSE has added:
    1. GLG GLG Partners, Inc.
    2. GE General Electric Co.
    3. OCN Ocwen Financial Corporation
    4. KBW KBW, Inc.
    5. GFG Guaranty Financial Group Inc.
    6. MFG Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.
    7. FMR First Mercury Financial Corporation
    8. STC Stewart Information Services Corporation
    9. FCF First Commonwealth Financial Corporation
    10. MTB M&T Bank Corporation
    11. DFS Discover Financial Services
    12. BMO Bank of Montreal
    13. TD Toronto Dominion Bank
    14. CM Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
    15. FMD The First Marblehead Corporation
    16. BBV Banco Bilbao Vizcaya SA
    17. CIB BanColombia SA
    18. LM Legg Mason, Inc.
    19. NFP National Financial Partners Corp.
    20. AXP American Express Company
    21. CIT CIT Group Inc.
    22. GM General Motors Corporation
    23. HIG The Hartford Financial Services Group
    24. ADS Alliance Data Systems Corporation
    25. ALD Allied Capital Corporation
    26. RAS RAIT Financial Trust
    27. DRL Doral Financial Corporation
    28. FSR Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings
    29. MCO Moody’s Corporation
    30. COF Capital One Financial Corporation
    31. CS Credit Suisse Group AG

  • More Fallout from the Credit Crisis
    Posted by on September 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 am

    Well it never end?
    Crain’s:

    New Yorkers hitting the bottle

    The Sun:

    Credit crunch means couples stay at home making babies

    NY Mag:

    Eager Ecdysiasts Dance Through Downturn (“Those girls specialize in taking care of their clients’ emotional needs and ‘wellness’—listening to their problems, conversing,” he says. “Forty percent of the time, they’re not even consummating.”)

  • NYC Strippers Screwed by Sucky Stocks
    Posted by on September 21st, 2008 at 2:10 am

    Is stripping too big to fail?

    So the NYC economy is headed for the crapper, sure — but who’s really suffering? Weep for the strippers.
    We’re told first-hand by the pole-gymnasts at joints like the Penthouse Executive Club in NYC that biz has come to a grinding halt — and to add insult to injury, strippers say one-dollar bills have replaced tens and twenties. Oh, the humanity!
    Sources tell us traffic at some super-exclusive Manhattan nightspots is down 40-50% since the wheels came off.

  • Howard on the New Financial Frontier
    Posted by on September 20th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Great post from Howard Lindzon:

    The best strategy to come out of this mess will be Global Macro Funds, funds with deep pools making concentrated bets in sectors and countries. They will be funds focused on a longer term horizon with bigger pools of capital. They embrace the volatility because of their connections, patience and deep knowledge of their sectors. The displaced talent from the industry will gravitate to these funds first. It is their best opportunity to be paid for their experience. I am digging through some of the worst performing funds of the last few years in the Global Macro sector and with the help of some of my friends in the industry plan to find a few and make some investments.
    At the other end will be the nimble, the creative and the opportunistic. Those willing to change the industry through hard work and the profiting from niche markets afforded to them in the new financial landscape. This is where I will focus my energies and am already writing a few business plans. I now my strengths and weaknesses. I am not a ‘Shark’, but a ‘Pilot Fish’ and very in tune with the limits, and opportunities that affords me.
    Thousands of great traders were thrown out into the wild the last few months. They are disoriented, pissed, nervous, but for the most part, they will end up on their feet and contribute back into the financial system in new ways – small hedge funds, start-up economy and other leadership roles. Some will write books and some will leave the financial world for good.
    The financial media world on the other hand will continue to talk about ‘BOTTOMS’ – Was this one? If not when?
    I am licking my chops because this bottom talk and regulation talk and babble will go on for 6-12 months. It’s noise and it will drag you in if not careful. In the meantime, I will be working towards one end of what I know is going to be a hugely profitable niche and start cranking.

    Read the whole thing.

  • Jimmy Stewart Singing Easy to Love
    Posted by on September 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am

    Since it’s Saturday, I figure we all need a break from the financial mayhem, so here’s Jimmy Stewart singing “Easy to Love” to Eleanor Powell in the 1936 movie Born To Dance.

    Jimmy Stewart used to make fun of his singing, but I think he does a really nice job. He has an innocent charm that’s just so perfect. BTW, this is the original version with the lyric “so sweet to waken with/so nice to sit down to eggs and bacon with.”
    I think we all know what THAT means! Bowmp chicka bowmp bowmp….
    Since the Hays Code was still fairly new, Cole Porter changed the offending lyric to “so worth the yearning for/so swell to keep ev’ry homefire burning for….”

  • Swedish Prostitutes Want to Pay Taxes
    Posted by on September 20th, 2008 at 12:32 am

    Who knew?

    More and more Swedish prostitutes want to pay taxes in order to receive the social welfare benefits that come with doing so.
    “So far this year I’ve spoken with several women who want to make things right,” said Pia Blank Thörnroos, a legal expert with Sweden’s Tax Authority, to the Göteborgs-Posten (GP) newspaper.
    While it remains against the law to purchase sex in Sweden, selling sex is perfectly legal according to Sweden’s unique prostitution law, which came into force in 1999.
    Moreover, prostitution has been considered a business activity in Sweden since 1982 and as a result proceeds from the sale of sex subject to taxation just like any other form of income.
    “You have to keep track of all your income and expenses; all compensation should be accounted for,” explained Blank Thörnroos.
    “One should really have accounting records. And in actuality [customers] should write out a receipt, because the transaction is considered a private operation which is subject to value added tax. But customers’ names need not be on the receipt.”
    Income recorded on prostitutes’ tax returns gives them the right to sick-leave pay, parental leave benefits, and a pension.
    “It’s important to pay taxes if you want to live a normal life,” said ‘Lisa’, a prostitute who spoke with the newspaper.

    I’m not sure “Lisa” understands the irony of her statement.

  • Warren Buffett Made $7 Billion on Friday
    Posted by on September 19th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    Shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) gapped up $18,990 on Friday which is an increase of 14.8%. Given that Warren Buffett owns 350,000 shares, that increased his wealth by about $6.7 billion. (Buffett also owns two million shares of Class B stock which increased by $345 yesterday, but that only added $700 million to his fortune.)
    The Class A shares jumped up about $10,000 starting at 3:57, which means Buffett made over $3.5 billion in about three minutes.
    brka91808.png
    And I thought I did well on my MS buy!

  • The Decline and Fall of the Roman Economy
    Posted by on September 19th, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Historians have long debated what caused the downfall of the Roman Empire. What about its tax policies?

    As early as the rule of Nero (54-68 A.D.) there is evidence that the demand for revenue led to debasement of the coinage. Revenue was needed to pay the increasing costs of defense and a growing bureaucracy. However, rather than raise taxes, Nero and subsequent emperors preferred to debase the currency by reducing the precious metal content of coins. This was, of course, a form of taxation; in this case, a tax on cash balances (Bailey 1956).
    Throughout most of the Empire, the basic units of Roman coinage were the gold aureus, the silver denarius, and the copper or bronze sesterce. [8] The aureus was minted at 40-42 to the pound, the denarius at 84 to the pound, and a sesterce was equivalent to one-quarter of a denarius. Twenty-five denarii equaled one aureus and the denarius was considered the basic coin and unit of account.
    The aureus did not circulate widely. Consequently, debasement was mainly limited to the denarius. Nero reduced the silver content of the denarius to 90 percent and slightly reduced the size of the aureus in order to maintain the 25 to 1 ratio. Trajan (98-117 A.D.) reduced the silver content to 85 percent, but was able to maintain the ratio because of a large influx of gold. In fact, some historians suggest that he deliberately devalued the denarius precisely in order to maintain the historic ratio. Debasement continued under the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.), who reduced the silver content of the denarius to 75 percent, further reduced by Septimius Severus to 50 percent. By the middle of the third century A.D., the denarius had a silver content of just 5 percent.
    Interestingly, the continual debasements did not improve the Empire’s fiscal position. This is because of Gresham’s Law (“bad money drives out good”). People would hoard older, high silver content coins and pay their taxes in those with the least silver. Thus the government’s “real” revenues may have actually fallen. As Aurelio Bernardi explains:
    At the beginning the debasement proved undoubtedly profitable for the state. Nevertheless, in the course of years, this expedient was abused and the [fn2]century of inflation which had been thus brought about was greatly to the disadvantage of the State’s finances. Prices were rising too rapidly and it became impossible to count on an immediate proportional increase in the fiscal revenue, because of the rigidity of the apparatus of tax collection. [9]
    At first, the government could raise additional revenue from the sale of state property. Later, more unscrupulous emperors like Domitian (81-96 A.D.) would use trumped-up charges to confiscate the assets of the wealthy. They would also invent excuses to demand tribute from the provinces and the wealthy. Such tribute, called the aurum corinarium, was nominally voluntary and paid in gold to commemorate special occasions, such as the accession of a new emperor or a great military victory. Caracalla (198-217 A.D.) often reported such dubious “victories” as a way of raising revenue. Rostovtzeff (1957: 417) calls these levies “pure robbery.”

  • This Isn’t a New Game
    Posted by on September 19th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    From 2006:

    Lay blames Enron failure on attack of short-sellers


    Enron’s fault was not having its former CEO as Treasury Secretary.