Author Archives: Felix

Gesture Politics Done Right

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Felix

Bryan Caplan famously defended the economically-illiterate McCain-Clinton plan to suspend federal gas taxes on the grounds that it was the least bad way for Congress "to show the voters that it feels their pain". At a cost of just $9 … Continue reading →

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Hot Ladies and Bald Dudes, Erin Callan Edition

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Felix

I can’t remember a profile of a banker which ever quoted his tailor. But Susanne Craig is perfectly happy ending her profile of Lehman’s Erin Callan with a quote from her personal shopper: Tina Sussman, her personal shopper at New … Continue reading →

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The New Realities of Personal Finance

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Felix

Ron Lieber, Cubs fan and new personal-finance columnist for the NYT, has hit a home run with his first at-bat: "Five Basics for Building a Solid Financial Future" is top of nytimes.com’s Most Emailed list, not just for the Business … Continue reading →

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Pandit Skewered

Posted on May 17, 2008 by Felix

Remember the stupid email with which Vikram Pandit spammed all his customers? Antony Currie has now published a pitch-perfect parody over at BreakingViews, while even getting some serious analysis in at the same time: I have also created some new … Continue reading →

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Why GE’s Selling its Appliances Division

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

GE looks as though it’ll sell off its appliances business, and John Gapper wonders why GE is not prepared to invest enough in the business to turn it into a global powerhouse when it clearly expects someone else to buy … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Friday Edition

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

Lender’s goof slams credit scores: And the fix didn’t work well, either: Sallie Mae’s latest foul-up Phillips: Tighter Sale, Fewer Fireworks Philly’s $100 Cheesesteak: "On average, five or six customers order it per night." I am a jelly donut: Krugman’s … Continue reading →

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Pricing Panmure House

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

The Adam Smith Institute reports that Edinburgh councillors have sold the great economist’s house to Heriot-Watt University: They chose the £800,000 bid over a higher offer, on the grounds that the University would make the building more accessible to the … Continue reading →

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Zimbabwe Datapoint of the Day, Banknote Edition

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

How does one pay for a $340 million beer? With a half-a-billion-dollar banknote, of course. This is the fourth set of high denomination notes to be issued this year, the first being in January when a 10 million dollar note … Continue reading →

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Great Ad Slogans Of Our Time: “Jump, Rabbit, Jump!”

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

I kinda love the new advertising campaign from UniCredit. Here’s the copy from the ad above: Success stories have always started with someone doing things differently and not saying “Maybe”, but “Definitely”. So jump, rabbit, jump! This is the spirit … Continue reading →

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How to Default on Your Mortgage and Stay in Your House

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

Floyd Norris today finds one of the worst bonds ever underwritten: a securitization, by Merrill Lynch, of second-lien mortgages mostly originated by Ownit. The kicker? When the bond was sold, Ownit had already gone bust, a victim of the fact … Continue reading →

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Berkshire Hathaway Should Buy CBS

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

Evan Newmark has a very smart take on CBS’s acquisition of CNet. The main problem with CBS, he says, is that it’s a profitable but slow-growth company saddled with a public listing. Since no public company CEO is happy mapping … Continue reading →

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Why the Fed Won’t Raise Rates to Prick Bubbles

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Felix

Justin Lahart has a front-page article today on a group of economists studying bubbles at Princeton. It’s a perfectly interesting piece, marred only by relative weakness on the monetary-policy front. Given that the piece is illustrated with a dot portrait … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Thursday Edition

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

Why H-P’s Stock Is Stuck: "Itßøßøs a well-run, slow growing giant of a company" The New Peak Oil: Peak Demand Chicago Overturns Foie Gras Ban Is "the X-word" Dead? First it was XFRML. Then it was XBRL. Now it’s ID, … Continue reading →

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How Often Would You Like to be Paid?

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

If you’re poor, you’re generally acutely aware of exactly how much money you have at any given time, and that amount is generally very low. Andrew Goodman-Bacon and Leslie McGranahan have a paper out now on the Earned Income Tax … Continue reading →

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NYC Bike Datapoint of the Day

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

Joshua Benson, the bicycle program coordinator for the New York City Department of Transportation, mentions a startling statistic without even seeming to realise how startling it is: As the number of cyclists in New York City has grown (75 percent … Continue reading →

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Pandit Spams his Customers

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

Logging on to my Citibank account this morning, I found this, which recapitulates an email I received a few days ago: The link takes you here, to a letter which simply begs for parsing. But before we get to the … Continue reading →

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Zimbabwe Datapoint of the Day

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

Ian Brakspear: During the meal, one of my mates was drinking beer – 750ml bottles of Castle Lager (fondly called bombers) he ordered a 5th one, was advised that the price, which when he ordered his 1st, 2nd 3rd and … Continue reading →

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Leverage Datapoint of the Day

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

I’ve somehow managed to avoid so much as mentioning the Clear Channel saga on this blog until now; for some reason I just couldn’t get excited about it. But Heidi Moore gets a good quote in her summing up today … Continue reading →

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How Unleaded Gasoline Slashed the Violent Crime Rate

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

The paper, from the NBER, is 70 pages long, but the conclusion, from Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, is simple, and stunning: The main result of the paper is that changes in childhood lead exposure are responsible for a 56% drop in … Continue reading →

Posted in crime | 1 Comment

Art: The Last Unburst Bubble

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Felix

Christie’s sale on Tuesday night was a stunning success, ratifying the ridiculous levels to which contemporary art has soared in recent years. The Sotheby’s sale on Wednesday night, by contrast, took the market to a whole new level. Not only … Continue reading →

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The Beginning of the End of the Credit Crisis?

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Felix

David Gaffen is watching the VIX decline to levels well off its March highs, and back towards its lowest point of the year to date. Meanwhile, Alea is watching financial-instution credit default swap spreads decline to levels well off their … Continue reading →

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Why Agricultural Subsidies Don’t Mean Lower Food Prices

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Felix

Do agricultural subsidies lower food prices? When I looked at this question last month, I dismissed it as a second-order effect: they might, they might not, either way it’s not going to be a big deal when compared to the … Continue reading →

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Why Bank Debt Looks Attractive

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Felix

Pimco’s investment professionals spent three days this month with the likes of Alan Greenspan, Nassim Taleb, and Mike Spence in something the bond manager calls its "Secular Forum". It fell to Mohamed El-Erian to sum it all up, and to … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Felix

The Discord in Similarity: John Thain is doing a better job than Vikram Pandit. Of Hedges, Hot Dish, and Hogwash: The Ben Stein Watch to end all Ben Stein Watches. Australian Bank Acquires Rival for $17.5 Billion: Apparently there’s a … Continue reading →

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Martin Sullivan Deathwatch

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Felix

In terms of Jack Flack’s five levels of CEO media hell, AIG’s Martin Sullivan has now graduated from "on the ropes" to "dead man walking". The WSJ’s headline says it all: "AIG’s Chief Faces Worries Of Investors and Directors" – … Continue reading →

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