Author Archives: Felix

Bloomberg Buying Bloomberg?

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Felix

Blind trusts are popular with politicians: the idea is that the politician in question can’t have any conflicts of interest with respect to his investments if he doesn’t know what his investments are. As a result, you’re not going to … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, Media, Politics | 1 Comment

Saving Fannie and Freddie

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Felix

The WSJ’s front page this morning features an important-sounding 1,500-word article on contingency plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, recapitulating Katie Benner’s article in Fortune yesterday. What would the government do if the companies ran into trouble? What could … Continue reading →

Posted in fiscal and monetary policy, housing | Comments Off on Saving Fannie and Freddie

Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

Obama proposes bankruptcy changes; Elizabeth Warren comments favorably. Old Ice and the Northwest Passage: It might be a while until the passage is safe for shipping. Food Price Inflation: Explanation and Policy Implications: By the CFR’s Karen Johnson. A GM … Continue reading →

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Managing Your Online Reputation

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

Kate Murphy has found a chap called Kent Campbell who, for between $500 and $10,000 per month, will try to make sure that the first page of search results, when someone Googles your name, will include lots of nice positive … Continue reading →

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Valuing Investment Banks

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

Heidi Moore has found a June report breaking down Lehman Brothers on a sum-of-the-parts basis: Lehman Brothers asset management alone is worth $8 billion if it is valued the same as its peers using a multiple of 20.1 times the … Continue reading →

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The Curious Case of Hernan Arbizu, Part 3

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

Just a quick note to point out that on Independence Day the NYT finally picked up the Hernan Arbizu story. But not from the Argentine media, and not from me: Tax Analysts, a trade publication, said Thursday that the Argentine … Continue reading →

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When Energy Speculators Move the Market

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

Bethany McLean’s interview with Brian Hunter talks a lot about speculators like Hunter driving prices in the natural gas market. Everybody seems convinced that can happen, although there’s disagreement about whether it’s illegal. It’s predictable enough that US politicians would … Continue reading →

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The Disastrous Future of the US

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Felix

The insurance industry is fighting back against the kind of articles which accuse it of price-gouging, especially when it comes to natural disasters in general and hurricanes in particular. Yesterday Munich Re held a webinar for journalists, and wheeled out … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, insurance | Comments Off on The Disastrous Future of the US

Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Annals of Demand Response: "In North Carolina, Triangle Transit carried almost 100,000 bus passengers in June, up 30 percent from the previous year. " Streetread: A new one-stop shop for reading financial news. Very Ajaxy. Moonves and Zucker–Goofus and Gallant … Continue reading →

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Don’t Go To Brazil, Young Man

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Paul Kedrosky asks: Say you were 22-years-old, unattached, and recently graduated and looking for your first job. You want to be part of something big and dynamic, a truly dynamic economy where you’re going to be able to rise up … Continue reading →

Posted in emerging markets | Comments Off on Don’t Go To Brazil, Young Man

What is a Covered Bond?

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

What is it about covered bonds which makes them so impervious to English? Hank Paulson had nice things to say about them today, but if you didn’t know what they were already, the WSJ explanation would hardly shed much light … Continue reading →

Posted in banking, bonds and loans | Comments Off on What is a Covered Bond?

A Look at Long-Term Stock Valuations

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Rob Bennett emails to tell me about a handy little tool he’s constructed, which looks at stock valuations and calculates what kind of real return you can expect to get from investing in US equities over the next decade or … Continue reading →

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Market Rumors: Inevitable

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Andrew Ross Sorkin today tackles the issue of market rumors. He’s with Jamie Dimon, and doesn’t like them: As Schulte Roth said in its note to clients, which include SAC Capital Management and Jana Partners, two big hedge funds, “spreading … Continue reading →

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Bad Ideas at the WSJ, Customization Edition

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Jon Fine had a long chat with WSJ editor Robert Thomson, and got some interesting statements out of him: Also coming: extensive customizing tools for readers to find, through search, much more Dow Jones content. (In Thomson’s groan-worthy formulation, "In … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, publishing | Comments Off on Bad Ideas at the WSJ, Customization Edition

American Obesity

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

It’s been a long time since I could really be thought of as skinny. I’ve recently put a fair amount of effort into losing about 15 pounds (the end of beer-drinking season, a/k/a Euro 2008, helped a lot), and I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in food | Comments Off on American Obesity

The Economic Policy of John McCain

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

There’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere about John McCain’s pledge to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term in office. The NYT has two articles, by Michael Cooper and Robert Pear, about whether such … Continue reading →

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Why GM Should Embrace Bankruptcy

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Felix

Tom Krisher has a good overview of the travails at General Motors, where the stock is trading at a 50-year low, battered by speculation that the company might end up declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy actually seems like a very good idea … Continue reading →

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Transparency: Sometimes Even Investment Banks Like It

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

Gari has a question about the new disclosure rules surrounding credit default swaps. Basically, up until now they’ve been treated, for disclosure purposes, like derivatives, under FAS 133; as of November 15, they’ll be treated like guarantees, which come with … Continue reading →

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Extra Credit, Monday Edition

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

A Tour Through the Cemetery of 2007’s Busted LBOs Credit Crisis Timeline: Going back to February 2007. Parental education and parental time with children: "More educated parents also spend more time with their kids – a result ripe with implications … Continue reading →

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The Worst Beneficiaries of a Billion-Dollar Will

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

Christopher Caldwell is appalled by the fact that Leona Helmsley left her entire $5bn+ estate to dogs: A vast amount of the productive energy of future generations has been pre-allocated to dogs on the say-so of one of the most … Continue reading →

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Carl Icahn’s Communication Problem: Solved!

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

May 20: So far, Mr. Icahn hasn’t been in touch with Microsoft — though he tried to call the company’s chief executive, Steven Ballmer, through the main switchboard at Microsoft’s headquarters and was turned away, according to a person briefed … Continue reading →

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Manhattan Housing Datapoint of the Day

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

My latest column at Spectator Business is up online: New York, one would think, is being hit by a double whammy: monster job losses on Wall Street, combined with the deepest nationwide housing recession since the Great Depression. Given that … Continue reading →

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How Risk is Like Religion

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

Religion is, generally, inherited: the chances are overwhelming that a person of any given religion will have parents of that religion. On the other hand, if your parents are complete religious nutcases, there’s a higher-than-normal chance that you’ll reject their … Continue reading →

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The WSJ’s Last-Man-Standing Play

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

Nat Ives talks to WSJ publisher Les Hinton, who explains the paper’s move into general news. Is it driven by Rupert Murdoch’s desire to compete head-on with the the NYT? Quite possibly, yes. But Hinton’s on-the-record justification also makes sense: … Continue reading →

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InBev Goes Hostile

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Felix

InBev has gone hostile, to no one’s great surprise, seeking to replace Anheuser-Busch’s current board with a new slate of nominees including Adolphus A. Busch IV, who is not to be confused with the current CEO, August A. Busch IV. … Continue reading →

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