Meta
Categories
- accounting
- Announcements
- architecture
- art
- auctions
- bailouts
- banking
- bankruptcy
- ben stein watch
- blogonomics
- bonds and loans
- charts
- china
- cities
- climate change
- commercial property
- commodities
- consumers
- consumption
- corporatespeak
- credit ratings
- crime
- Culture
- Davos 2008
- Davos 2009
- defenestrations
- demographics
- derivatives
- design
- development
- drugs
- Econoblog
- economics
- education
- emerging markets
- employment
- energy
- entitlements
- eschatology
- euro
- facial hair
- fashion
- Film
- Finance
- fiscal and monetary policy
- food
- foreign exchange
- fraud
- gambling
- geopolitics
- governance
- healthcare
- hedge funds
- holidays
- housing
- humor
- Humour
- iceland
- IMF
- immigration
- infrastructure
- insurance
- intellectual property
- investing
- journalism
- labor
- language
- law
- leadership
- leaks
- M&A
- Media
- milken 2008
- Not economics
- pay
- personal finance
- philanthropy
- pirates
- Politics
- Portfolio
- prediction markets
- private banking
- private equity
- privatization
- productivity
- publishing
- race
- rants
- regulation
- remainders
- research
- Restaurants
- Rhian in Antarctica
- risk
- satire
- science
- shareholder activism
- sovereign debt
- sports
- statistics
- stocks
- taxes
- technocrats
- technology
- trade
- travel
- Uncategorized
- water
- wealth
- world bank
Archives
- March 2023
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- December 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- March 2012
- April 2011
- August 2010
- June 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- June 2002
- May 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
- April 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- January 2001
- December 2000
- September 2000
- July 2000
- March 2000
- July 1999
Monthly Archives: June 2008
FiLife: A Disaster
In case you were wondering why Ron Lieber left the managing editorship of IAC-WSJ joint venture FiLife to become a columnist at the NYT, now you know. FiLife has launched, and it’s a disaster. It looks like a parody of … Continue reading
Posted in technology
Comments Off on FiLife: A Disaster
Why is InBev’s Letter Public Already?
Yesterday, June 11, InBev CEO Carlos Brito sent a letter to his counterpart at Anheuser-Busch, August Busch IV. It explained why a merger of the two companies was a great idea, and concluded: It is our current intention to keep … Continue reading
Posted in M&A
Comments Off on Why is InBev’s Letter Public Already?
Why We Need Experts, Executive Pay Edition
Headline from a press release which arrived in my inbox Wednesday evening: “Golden Coffin Pay” is Not Pay-for-Performance Says Executive Compensation Expert Glad that’s cleared up, then. No mention is made of the front-page WSJ article which appeared on Tuesday … Continue reading
Posted in pay
Comments Off on Why We Need Experts, Executive Pay Edition
Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition
China’s Safe to invest $2.5bn in TPG fund: It probably counts as an SWF at this point. New Owner for Silverjet: "We expect to take on all of the existing staff, to honor Silverjet’s existing customers’ tickets and see Silverjet … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition
A Reader-Owned NYT
Alfonso Serrano might think that he’s joking: The Times itself could give out shares of its stock with long-term subscriptions. It may not increase reader loyalty (the stock price is down 37 percent from a year ago), but it may … Continue reading
Is Chris Hohn a Threat to US National Security?
Andrew Ross Sorkin and John Gapper have done an excellent job of fisking the idiotic rantings of Lou Dobbs, who seems to think that because 1% of the investors in Chris Hohn’s TCI are sovereign wealth funds, it should never … Continue reading
Posted in hedge funds, Politics
Comments Off on Is Chris Hohn a Threat to US National Security?
Where are the Chinese Stock-Market Riots?
Back in January, in the opening session at Davos, Yu Yongding sounded a warning. Yu also noted political risks in China: there are 150 million small Chinese stock-market investors who are going to be very angry if and when the … Continue reading
Libor Gets a Makeover
It seems that the BBA will be fiddling with Libor after all. But it’s not at all clear exactly what the changes will be, or even when they will be implemented: Carrick Mollenkamp is simply saying that the number of … Continue reading
Posted in banking
Comments Off on Libor Gets a Makeover
Chart of the Day: US Capitalization
From Bespoke Investment Group: That’s quite an astonishing decline: As recently as 2004, the USA had 45% of the world’s market capitalization. Today, it’s less than 30%. Remember that, the next time someone tells you that the S&P 500 "is" … Continue reading
Posted in stocks
Comments Off on Chart of the Day: US Capitalization
Silly Counterfeiting Statistics, Bloomberg Edition
Oh, look! Another article filled with counterfeiting statistics! This one’s from Bloomberg, it’s 1,300 words long, and is the work of four journalists (Allan Dodds Frank, Jaime Hellman, Elizabeth Lopatto, and Wendy Soong) as well as four editors (Michael Waldholz, … Continue reading
Posted in intellectual property
Comments Off on Silly Counterfeiting Statistics, Bloomberg Edition
Debt Datapoints of the Day
David Brooks did a good job yesterday of focusing the econoblogosphere’s attention on a report entitled "For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture". Or at least he would have done, if it weren’t for the fact that the report … Continue reading
Posted in economics
Comments Off on Debt Datapoints of the Day
The Fed’s Coming Rate Hikes
A lot of people seem to be watching the Fed Funds futures contract these days. I’m no expert in how to read it, but the consensus seems to be that if the market is right, the Fed will hold steady … Continue reading
Posted in fiscal and monetary policy
Comments Off on The Fed’s Coming Rate Hikes
Poder Column
I’ve started writing a monthly column on art collecting for Poder, a magazine in Miami. Here are the first four. I love the art direction on them, it makes a refreshing change from the blog format. The Lion’s Share: A … Continue reading
Posted in Not economics
1 Comment
City Rankings: The Datapoints
Now that MasterCard’s ranking of the "75 Worldwide Centers of Commerce" has been released, it’s fun to pick out some datapoints. The scores rank from 79.17 (London) down to 26.11 (Caracas). Only two cities (London and New York) manage a … Continue reading
Posted in cities
6 Comments
Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Citi CEO Calls For Debate On Financial Services Regulation: Pandit, who sold his hedge fund for $800 million, now thinks hedge funds should be regulated. When Markets Collide: Mohamed El-Erian’s optimal asset allocation. Just 15% is US stocks. Earth to … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Blogonomics: Citizen Journalists
I’m puzzled by my colleague Jeff Bercovici’s take on the concept of citizen journalism. Yesterday, he pronounced, in a blog entry headlined "‘Citizen Journalists’ Don’t Get a Pass on Ethics", this: Being a "citizen journalist" doesn’t mean you get to … Continue reading
Posted in blogonomics, Media
Comments Off on Blogonomics: Citizen Journalists
Brokers Should Unlock Their ARSs
Bloomberg’s Darrell Preston has found three investors in auction-rate securities who have found buyers for their holdings. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these investors’ brokers are refusing to let the owners sell. Franklin Biddar bought $100,000 … Continue reading
Posted in banking, bonds and loans
Comments Off on Brokers Should Unlock Their ARSs
Is a Windfall Tax a Populist Pander?
Barack Obama’s economic policy, says Justin Fox, is "a hard-to-summarize mix of moderate Democratic standbys, populist silliness and the occasional truly visionary proposal". His example of an Obama "populist pander"? He favors a windfall profits tax on oil companies (which … Continue reading
Posted in fiscal and monetary policy, Politics, taxes
Comments Off on Is a Windfall Tax a Populist Pander?
Why Isn’t Sam Zell Selling the LA Times?
Here’s what I don’t understand about the crazy-desperate moves that Sam Zell is making at the LA Times, like judging journalists by the number of column-inches they generate, or removing all the editorial employees at the the magazine and moving … Continue reading
Posted in Media
Comments Off on Why Isn’t Sam Zell Selling the LA Times?
The Economics of the iPhone
I’ll leave the likes of Dan Frommer to do the big-picture corporate economics of the costs and benefits of changing Apple’s business model. I’m more interested in the user end: if the price of an iPhone drops by $200, but … Continue reading
Posted in technology
Comments Off on The Economics of the iPhone
Cities vs Skyscrapers
Many thanks to Matthew for pointing me to an extremely peculiar 3,000-word Business Week feature on global architecture. If you want proof that the teachings of Jane Jacobs have yet to sink in around much of the rest of the … Continue reading
Posted in cities
Comments Off on Cities vs Skyscrapers
The PR Industry’s Webophobia
MasterCard’s Centers of Commerce Index has been getting a lot of press today (it’s London 1, New York 2, just like last year). So I wanted to check it out, and to see just what MasterCard’s Michael Goldberg meant, in … Continue reading
Posted in Media
Comments Off on The PR Industry’s Webophobia
When is a Hedge Fund Not a Hedge Fund?
Dane Hamilton is a stickler when it comes to what is and what isn’t a hedge fund: Some funds that call themselves hedge funds really aren’t, because they don’t sell short, use leverage or buy derivatives, but are basically long-only … Continue reading
Posted in hedge funds
Comments Off on When is a Hedge Fund Not a Hedge Fund?
Extra Credit, Monday Bonus Edition
Goldman Says Buzz Off to Groveling Banking Lobby: That’s the IIF, in case you didn’t know. If there’s any justice in the world, Goldman’s departure from the group will help precipitate the defenestration of its ridiculous managing director, Charles Dallara. … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Monday Bonus Edition
Extra Credit, Monday Edition
US-listed ETF Master List, sorted by Market Cap Thoma vs. Mankiw on Opt-Out Financial Regulation Dodd Bill Places A “Hit” On Good Appraisers, With Bondage CNBC Publicizes This Blog: Charlie Gasparino vs Yves Smith.
Posted in remainders
Comments Off on Extra Credit, Monday Edition