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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Gulf Deepwater Oil Spill - the Top Kill Attempt

Good graphics on the complex work of trying to control an oil spill. There was not adequate preparation for anything of this scale.

The Oil Drum | The Gulf Deepwater Oil Spill - the Top Kill Attempt

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The problem with Libertarianism

Rand Paul is No Barry Goldwater on Civil Rights | Capital Gains and Games: "n short, the libertarian philosophy of Rand Paul and the Supreme Court of the 1880s and 1890s gave us almost 100 years of segregation, white supremacy, lynchings, chain gangs, the KKK, and discrimination of African Americans for no other reason except their skin color. The gains made by the former slaves in the years after the Civil War were completely reversed once the Supreme Court effectively prevented the federal government from protecting them. Thus we have a perfect test of the libertarian philosophy and an indisputable conclusion: it didn't work. Freedom did not lead to a decline in racism; it only got worse."

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Garnett on loyaty

Garnett stands tall after sitting - The Boston Globe: "“Loyalty is something that hurts you at times, because you can’t get youth back. I can honestly say that if I could go back and do my situation ... over, and knowing what I know ..., I’d have done it sooner."

Friday, May 14, 2010

Tyler Cowen

One of my favorite bloggers.

Tyler Cowen's appetite for ethnic food -- and answers about his life: "all stories follow seven templates: 'monster, rags to riches, quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy and rebirth."

Monday, May 10, 2010

An Analysis of the Thursday Meltdown � naked capitalism

An Analysis of the Thursday Meltdown � naked capitalism: "It boils down to this: this episode exposed structural flaws in how a trade is implemented (think orphaned algo orders) and it exposed the danger of leaving market making up to a network of entities with no mandate to ensure the smooth and orderly functioning of the market (think of the electronic market makers and high freqs who can pull bids instantaneously as opposed to a specialist on the floor who has a clearly defined mandate to provide liquidity)."

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Glen Beck moment of Sanity

A Renewed Debate Over Suspect Rights - NYTimes.com: "“He’s a citizen of the United States, so I say we uphold the laws and the Constitution on citizens,” Mr. Beck said. “He has all the rights under the Constitution. We don’t shred the Constitution when it’s popular. We do the right thing.”"

Fix the Rating Agencies


The primary cause of the crash was poor underwriting.
How much of this can be fixed by tinkering with the rating agencies? It is really a business issue that must be addressed firm by firm.

Alford: Fix the Rating Agencies By Making Them Less Essential � naked capitalism

Monday, May 03, 2010

10 Ways the American Economy Is Built on Fraud | Economy | AlterNet

Depressing reading for a gloomy morning.

10 Ways the American Economy Is Built on Fraud | Economy | AlterNet

Incentives, Complexity, and the Blame Game

Use of illiquid assets increased risk while seemed to dampen it.


Incentives, Complexity, and the Blame Game � naked capitalism: "And too much risk is a no-no too, but the measurement of risk was volatility of returns. So what did we see in the crisis just past? A rise in popularity of strategies that used illiquid assets….which were therefore marked to model…which therefore did not show much (any) price volatility until their credit quality decayed."