Sunday, June 28, 2009

Santimonious Pantheon

This one is too good to pass over, by the beautiful Mo, (and the NYT) about all the great affairs of the world. Sorry, Marco.

Oh, and I almost forgot; thank God the War (remember, the Iraq War?) is finally over! We only lost 95 (and counting) troops this year, quite an improvement. It didn't turn out to be quite as good for the economy as some might have thought it would. Then, for some, it has turned out quite nicely, thank you.

At least not as many Jewish and eastern (Polish) people (or Russians) died this time. Just kidding. Bad Joke, very, very bad.

All aboard the troop express home in 48 hours! Alright.

Productivity, Global (Office) Warming and Japan

The Hilary Clinton of Japan business productivity and cutting energy are all featured in this Newsweek eyecandy, "Want to Save Energy, Think Japanese" -- always interesting for one who was born in Otaru (that's Japan, up North, where the air is/was could not be cleaner, the mountain waters fresher, the veggies and fish more fresh and nutritious). Wonder what it's like there now?

BECAUSE, I have been reading history in my spare time, by Regius Prof. of Modern History, Richard Evans of Cambridge, The Third Reich at War, my posting has been sparse, sorry.

Here is a HABEAS piece that promises to be of interest, re Tarbles case from UVA profs, Woolhandler and Collins, via bepress (thanks Doc as always).

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

The Big Bankers and the Bigger Fools Who let them Bank Your Money

Once again, after a few weeks of noting nothing newsworthy, in itself newsworthy an occasion, (besides the bankruptcies of our largest automakers of course, but who didn't see that coming?) I see the New Yorker is on the ball again with a review of a promising new look at the CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP, called FOOL'S GOLD (link here). The "new" financial product is taking much of the blame for the recent implosion of the banking industry, deservedly so, except that the blame should be placed on the person and persons who made them happen without adequate regulation to. The so called "off sight" meetings of the big bankers during this period also looks to be VERY interesting reading.

A morsel of this review:

In June, 1994, when a team from J. P. Morgan went on an off-site weekend to Boca Raton, they conformed to normative behavior in certain respects. Binge drinking occurred; a senior colleague’s nose was broken; somebody charged a trashed Jet Ski and many cheeseburgers to somebody else’s account. Where the J. P. Morgan team broke with tradition was in coming up with a real idea—an idea that changed the entire nature of modern banking, with consequences that are currently rocking the planet.