Let's see - markets freaking over Greece when they should logically be freaking over Ireland. (Note: markets are NEVER rational - Univ. of Chicago morons not withstanding.)
Executive Summary:
Ireland
Population: 6.1 million (source.)
Debt: $1.8 trillion (source.)
That's trillion with a T. And the population is half of that of Mumbai.
Quick long division later, that's $448K for each man, woman and child.
That's a fuckload of Riverdance tickets they are going to have to sell. Or they could just institute a penny-tax per pint, and they'll pay it back in a year.
Either way they are fucked, and the lenders are equally fucked.
If Greece is Bear Stearns then Ireland is Lehman Brothers. Good luck! You'll need it.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
In Which the EE Teaches Remedial Math
Obama: Premiums Will Decrease 3000%
Yo, poindexter! The most that prices can fall is by 100%.
They can rise by any percentage whatsoever but the most they can fall by is 100%. That's called free, son!
Did youse or did youse not take remedial math at Columbia?
Yo, poindexter! The most that prices can fall is by 100%.
They can rise by any percentage whatsoever but the most they can fall by is 100%. That's called free, son!
Did youse or did youse not take remedial math at Columbia?
Monday, March 08, 2010
Hooray for Iceland!
Bloomberg reports: Iceland Rejects Icesave Depositors Bill in Referendum (Update2).
Icelanders rejected by a massive majority a bill that would saddle each citizen with $16,400 of debt in protest at U.K. and Dutch demands that they cover losses triggered by the failure of a private bank.
Ninety-three percent voted against the so-called Icesave bill, according to preliminary results on national broadcaster RUV.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Icelanders should insist on whatever it is that is in their own self-interest.
They won't starve. They got excess energy - more than they need - so they won't freeze either. They got tourist dollars coming in. What more do they need?
The British and Dutch taxpayers are fucked! They should be.
Hooray for Iceland!
And it's been a fuckload of time since someone said that!
Icelanders rejected by a massive majority a bill that would saddle each citizen with $16,400 of debt in protest at U.K. and Dutch demands that they cover losses triggered by the failure of a private bank.
Ninety-three percent voted against the so-called Icesave bill, according to preliminary results on national broadcaster RUV.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Icelanders should insist on whatever it is that is in their own self-interest.
They won't starve. They got excess energy - more than they need - so they won't freeze either. They got tourist dollars coming in. What more do they need?
The British and Dutch taxpayers are fucked! They should be.
Hooray for Iceland!
And it's been a fuckload of time since someone said that!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Nostalgia
It's a glorious Satuday morning and it can only be improved by a blast from the past.
In Miami, Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, predicted that a limited supply of land coupled with demand from baby boomers and foreigners would prolong the boom indefinitely.
"South Florida," he said, "is working off of a totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past."
Giggle!!!!!!
In Miami, Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, predicted that a limited supply of land coupled with demand from baby boomers and foreigners would prolong the boom indefinitely.
"South Florida," he said, "is working off of a totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past."
Giggle!!!!!!
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Food, Glorious Food!
The New York Times reports: Living on Nothing but Food Stamps.
After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.
Now, as she papers the county with résumés and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps.
With food-stamp use at a record high and surging by the day, Ms. Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income.
About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.
Ms. Bermudez, by contrast, tells what until the recession seemed a storybook tale. Raised in the Bronx by a drug-addicted mother, she landed a clerical job at a Manhattan real estate firm and heard that Fort Myers was booming. On a quick scouting trip in 2002, she got a mortgage on easy terms for a $120,000 home with three bedrooms and a two-car garage. The developer called the floor plan Camelot.
“I screamed, I cried,” she said. “I took so much pride in that house.”
Jobs were as plentiful as credit. Working for two large builders, she quickly moved from clerical jobs to sales and bought an investment home. Her income soared to $180,000, and she kept the pay stubs to prove it. By the time the glut set in and she lost her job, the teaser rates on her mortgages had expired and her monthly payments soared.
She landed a few short-lived jobs as the industry imploded, exhausted her unemployment insurance and spent all her savings. But without steady work in nearly three years, she could not stay afloat. In January, the bank foreclosed on Camelot.
One morning as the eviction deadline approached, Ms. Bermudez woke up without enough food to get through the day. She got emergency supplies at a food pantry for her daughters, Tiffany, now 17, and Ashley, 4, and signed up for food stamps. “My mother lived off the government,” she said. “It wasn’t something as a proud working woman I wanted to do.”
“I went from making $180,000 to relying on food stamps,” she said. “Without that government program, I wouldn’t be able to feed my children.”
So why exactly didn't she use some of that $180K salary to pay off a $120K house?
Oh wait, that kinda questioning requires journalists to have brains!
Brains, glorious brains, how could we expect that?
After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.
Now, as she papers the county with résumés and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps.
With food-stamp use at a record high and surging by the day, Ms. Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income.
About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.
Ms. Bermudez, by contrast, tells what until the recession seemed a storybook tale. Raised in the Bronx by a drug-addicted mother, she landed a clerical job at a Manhattan real estate firm and heard that Fort Myers was booming. On a quick scouting trip in 2002, she got a mortgage on easy terms for a $120,000 home with three bedrooms and a two-car garage. The developer called the floor plan Camelot.
“I screamed, I cried,” she said. “I took so much pride in that house.”
Jobs were as plentiful as credit. Working for two large builders, she quickly moved from clerical jobs to sales and bought an investment home. Her income soared to $180,000, and she kept the pay stubs to prove it. By the time the glut set in and she lost her job, the teaser rates on her mortgages had expired and her monthly payments soared.
She landed a few short-lived jobs as the industry imploded, exhausted her unemployment insurance and spent all her savings. But without steady work in nearly three years, she could not stay afloat. In January, the bank foreclosed on Camelot.
One morning as the eviction deadline approached, Ms. Bermudez woke up without enough food to get through the day. She got emergency supplies at a food pantry for her daughters, Tiffany, now 17, and Ashley, 4, and signed up for food stamps. “My mother lived off the government,” she said. “It wasn’t something as a proud working woman I wanted to do.”
“I went from making $180,000 to relying on food stamps,” she said. “Without that government program, I wouldn’t be able to feed my children.”
So why exactly didn't she use some of that $180K salary to pay off a $120K house?
Oh wait, that kinda questioning requires journalists to have brains!
Brains, glorious brains, how could we expect that?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
What is Deflation?
USPS (post office) used to charge $1 if you wanted your mail held (if you did it online.)
Why? Because they could. Credit boom years $1 meant little to most people.
Today, they do it for free online.
Why? Because they should. Face time is very expensive for most businesses. (Always was, just was hidden during the boom.)
Logical? Don't be absurd!
Why? Because they could. Credit boom years $1 meant little to most people.
Today, they do it for free online.
Why? Because they should. Face time is very expensive for most businesses. (Always was, just was hidden during the boom.)
Logical? Don't be absurd!
Monday, November 30, 2009
O Mark Twain, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
Peak unemployment during GD1 = 22%
Unemployment in Detroit today = 29% (and rising!)
Need one say more?
Unemployment in Detroit today = 29% (and rising!)
Need one say more?
Friday, November 27, 2009
Dubai
This blog has already bored the livin' crap out of you on Dubai: read here.
Let's focus on the important lessons. The noise of them going bankrupt is irrelevant. That was expected, what, three years ago?
Dubai does not have oil.
Ponder that statement for a while. Ponder it, fuckers, ponder it. Don't just sit there. Think about it!
So what do they produce that the world considers "useful" or "valuable"?
The answer, as all such answers tend to be, is rather subtle.
They provided tax-arbitrage and wealth-arbitrage strategies for clueless nations. Just like Singapore.
In the 80's or early-90's, rich Indians could mosey their way to Dubai to buy the crap that their governments didn't allow them to buy internally. Ditto for Singapore.
Free ports? CHECK.
Duty free? CHECK.
Liberal-ish? CHECK.
But the governments wised up sooner or later. Why send the cream to Dubai when you can have it yourself?
Liberalize they did - India, China, Brazil, Russia, Israel, etc., etc., etc.
So remind me again what Dubai's business model is?
Isn't the bankruptcy bloody-fuckin' obvious?!?
Let's focus on the important lessons. The noise of them going bankrupt is irrelevant. That was expected, what, three years ago?
Dubai does not have oil.
Ponder that statement for a while. Ponder it, fuckers, ponder it. Don't just sit there. Think about it!
So what do they produce that the world considers "useful" or "valuable"?
The answer, as all such answers tend to be, is rather subtle.
They provided tax-arbitrage and wealth-arbitrage strategies for clueless nations. Just like Singapore.
In the 80's or early-90's, rich Indians could mosey their way to Dubai to buy the crap that their governments didn't allow them to buy internally. Ditto for Singapore.
Free ports? CHECK.
Duty free? CHECK.
Liberal-ish? CHECK.
But the governments wised up sooner or later. Why send the cream to Dubai when you can have it yourself?
Liberalize they did - India, China, Brazil, Russia, Israel, etc., etc., etc.
So remind me again what Dubai's business model is?
Isn't the bankruptcy bloody-fuckin' obvious?!?
Fools, fools, fools!
The Sydney Herald reports: Reserve Bank unfazed as housing prices keep rising.
Worried that $500,000 is too much to pay for a Melbourne house? The Reserve Bank isn't worried and it expects prices to climb higher still.
In a speech that amounted to a defence of Australia's historically high house prices, Reserve Bank deputy governor Ric Battellino told a Melbourne housing conference yesterday to expect worse and to recognise that buyers were getting value for money.
Prices would climb further because the global economy was growing again and because Australia had entered ''a new upswing'' that would extend its record 18 years of continuous economic expansion.
This man is a complete and utter fool!
To see this, first read this article yet more time again.
Yeah, they are "inflating" but the price momentum has shifted to commodities. Anybody who can't eat will dump the house to get food in the craw! Heck, they will take just about anything in the craw just to break even.
In all fairness, the EE is willing to buy the fact that Australia and Canada will be a non-proportionate beneficiary of a commodities boom. Assuming there is one. Which there won't be because we're in a deflationary collapse.
Lawd, what fools these mortals be!
Worried that $500,000 is too much to pay for a Melbourne house? The Reserve Bank isn't worried and it expects prices to climb higher still.
In a speech that amounted to a defence of Australia's historically high house prices, Reserve Bank deputy governor Ric Battellino told a Melbourne housing conference yesterday to expect worse and to recognise that buyers were getting value for money.
Prices would climb further because the global economy was growing again and because Australia had entered ''a new upswing'' that would extend its record 18 years of continuous economic expansion.
This man is a complete and utter fool!
To see this, first read this article yet more time again.
Yeah, they are "inflating" but the price momentum has shifted to commodities. Anybody who can't eat will dump the house to get food in the craw! Heck, they will take just about anything in the craw just to break even.
In all fairness, the EE is willing to buy the fact that Australia and Canada will be a non-proportionate beneficiary of a commodities boom. Assuming there is one. Which there won't be because we're in a deflationary collapse.
Lawd, what fools these mortals be!
Monday, October 05, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
O God, Please Help Me Sheer the Sheeple!
The venereal New York Times reports: Believers Invest in the Gospel of Getting Rich.
Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of “prosperity gospel” preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.
“God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you,” preached Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a crisp pants ensemble like those worn by C.E.O.’s.
Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the “prosperity gospel” movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times.
The preachers barely acknowledged the recession, though they did say it was no excuse to curtail giving. “Fear will make you stingy,” Mr. Copeland said.
But the offering buckets came up emptier than in some previous years, said those who have attended before.
Many in this flock do not trust banks, the news media or Washington, where the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether the Copelands and other prosperity evangelists used donations to enrich themselves and abused their tax-exempt status. But they trust the Copelands, the movement’s current patriarch and matriarch, who seem to embody prosperity with their robust health and abundance of children and grandchildren who have followed them into the ministry.
At the convention, the preachers — who also included Jesse Duplantis and Jerry Savelle — sprinkled their sermons with put-downs of the government, an overhaul of health care, public schools, the news media and other churches, many of which condemn prosperity preaching.
But mostly the preachers were working mightily to remind the crowd that they are God’s elect. “While everybody else is having a famine,” said Mr. Savelle, a Texas televangelist, “his covenant people will be having the best of times.”
“Any time a worried thought about money pops up in your mind,” Mr. Savelle continued, “the next thing you do is sow”: drop money, like seeds, in “good ground” like the preachers’ ministries. “Stop worrying, start sowing,” he added, his voice rising. “That’s God’s stimulus package for you.”
At that, hundreds streamed down the aisles to the stage, laying envelopes, cash and coins on the carpeted steps.
This is fucking awesome! It's like a scene out of Brazil or India or Italy.
BWAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and their all-star lineup of “prosperity gospel” preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.
“God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you,” preached Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a crisp pants ensemble like those worn by C.E.O.’s.
Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the “prosperity gospel” movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times.
The preachers barely acknowledged the recession, though they did say it was no excuse to curtail giving. “Fear will make you stingy,” Mr. Copeland said.
But the offering buckets came up emptier than in some previous years, said those who have attended before.
Many in this flock do not trust banks, the news media or Washington, where the Senate Finance Committee is investigating whether the Copelands and other prosperity evangelists used donations to enrich themselves and abused their tax-exempt status. But they trust the Copelands, the movement’s current patriarch and matriarch, who seem to embody prosperity with their robust health and abundance of children and grandchildren who have followed them into the ministry.
At the convention, the preachers — who also included Jesse Duplantis and Jerry Savelle — sprinkled their sermons with put-downs of the government, an overhaul of health care, public schools, the news media and other churches, many of which condemn prosperity preaching.
But mostly the preachers were working mightily to remind the crowd that they are God’s elect. “While everybody else is having a famine,” said Mr. Savelle, a Texas televangelist, “his covenant people will be having the best of times.”
“Any time a worried thought about money pops up in your mind,” Mr. Savelle continued, “the next thing you do is sow”: drop money, like seeds, in “good ground” like the preachers’ ministries. “Stop worrying, start sowing,” he added, his voice rising. “That’s God’s stimulus package for you.”
At that, hundreds streamed down the aisles to the stage, laying envelopes, cash and coins on the carpeted steps.
This is fucking awesome! It's like a scene out of Brazil or India or Italy.
BWAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Shoot the Greens
Some totally ding-dong journal from Ohio reports: Double-digit unemployment hits 41 markets.
Forty-one of the nation’s 100 major labor markets, including Dayton at 12.1 percent, are now saddled with double-digit unemployment rates, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Forty-one of the nation’s 100 major labor markets, including Dayton at 12.1 percent, are now saddled with double-digit unemployment rates, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Delusional, Retarded or Both?
Yahoo! reports: A superstar real estate agent plots his comeback.
It's the perfect Miami morning at Carlos Justo's penthouse -- warm and bright, with luxury yachts powering through the sparkling blue Atlantic Ocean some 30 stories below.
Justo, a 53-year-old real estate agent, has been awake since 3:30 a.m. but he shows no sign of fatigue. His eyes scan back and forth, from the high rise condos, to the water, and back to the condos.
An assistant, sitting at a glass table with her back to the stunning view, is talking business. She wants to know whether he will receive any commissions or checks anytime soon.
"Right now, we don't have any money," Justo says. He continues talking. Fast. Pacing back and forth, he gazes out the window.
In fact, Justo is $20 million in debt. He is five months into a massive bankruptcy filing. The IRS is after him for $6 million.
And yet, he dreams.
Like so many of our modern titans -- think Donald Trump -- he inspires both admiration and contempt. Greed, he acknowledges, fueled his rise. Hubris ensured his fall.
Next time, he says, it will all be different.
In 2005, Justo was worth $20 million. He and the agents who worked for him sold $200 million in real estate in a single year. He was also the owner of 12 multimillion dollar estates in the county's most exclusive enclaves; he intended to eventually flip them and make a profit. Justo and his business partner, Irving Padron, were awarded a prestigious Sotheby's franchise and opened its offices in one of the few historic mansions in downtown Miami.
Justo spent $1,000 on sushi lunches, $3,000 a month on life coaching. He didn't accumulate many things -- he enjoyed sparsely decorated, all-white furniture and rooms -- and freely let his friends stay in the various homes he owned.
For three years, Justo had tried to avoid filing Chapter 7, even borrowing $15,000 from his 85-year-old mother and $75,000 from his 83-year-old aunt to pay his monthly debts. But he was underwater on too many mortgages. There were other creditors, too, including the IRS, which claimed that he should have filed his taxes in the United States, not in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which Justo says is his principal residence.
Justo had no savings, no stocks, no bonds.
His checking account hit bottom at $49.73. His financial picture was summed up in one dry sentence in the bankruptcy filing: "At the current time, the debtor has no income due to the state of the real estate market."
"In the past, I created my own hell. I needed to be brought to my knees," he says. "Whatever you believe, you create. Today, I live in a world with all possibilities."
But for Justo, those possibilities still include luxury. "I've been rich and I've been poor, and I like being rich a lot better," he says.
He says that after he pays his family back, he wants a yacht. And maybe a personal chef.
Which begs the question: Has he really learned from his mistakes?
Next up: Justo gives handjobs by the Marina for $1. Cash only!
It's the perfect Miami morning at Carlos Justo's penthouse -- warm and bright, with luxury yachts powering through the sparkling blue Atlantic Ocean some 30 stories below.
Justo, a 53-year-old real estate agent, has been awake since 3:30 a.m. but he shows no sign of fatigue. His eyes scan back and forth, from the high rise condos, to the water, and back to the condos.
An assistant, sitting at a glass table with her back to the stunning view, is talking business. She wants to know whether he will receive any commissions or checks anytime soon.
"Right now, we don't have any money," Justo says. He continues talking. Fast. Pacing back and forth, he gazes out the window.
In fact, Justo is $20 million in debt. He is five months into a massive bankruptcy filing. The IRS is after him for $6 million.
And yet, he dreams.
Like so many of our modern titans -- think Donald Trump -- he inspires both admiration and contempt. Greed, he acknowledges, fueled his rise. Hubris ensured his fall.
Next time, he says, it will all be different.
In 2005, Justo was worth $20 million. He and the agents who worked for him sold $200 million in real estate in a single year. He was also the owner of 12 multimillion dollar estates in the county's most exclusive enclaves; he intended to eventually flip them and make a profit. Justo and his business partner, Irving Padron, were awarded a prestigious Sotheby's franchise and opened its offices in one of the few historic mansions in downtown Miami.
Justo spent $1,000 on sushi lunches, $3,000 a month on life coaching. He didn't accumulate many things -- he enjoyed sparsely decorated, all-white furniture and rooms -- and freely let his friends stay in the various homes he owned.
For three years, Justo had tried to avoid filing Chapter 7, even borrowing $15,000 from his 85-year-old mother and $75,000 from his 83-year-old aunt to pay his monthly debts. But he was underwater on too many mortgages. There were other creditors, too, including the IRS, which claimed that he should have filed his taxes in the United States, not in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which Justo says is his principal residence.
Justo had no savings, no stocks, no bonds.
His checking account hit bottom at $49.73. His financial picture was summed up in one dry sentence in the bankruptcy filing: "At the current time, the debtor has no income due to the state of the real estate market."
"In the past, I created my own hell. I needed to be brought to my knees," he says. "Whatever you believe, you create. Today, I live in a world with all possibilities."
But for Justo, those possibilities still include luxury. "I've been rich and I've been poor, and I like being rich a lot better," he says.
He says that after he pays his family back, he wants a yacht. And maybe a personal chef.
Which begs the question: Has he really learned from his mistakes?
Next up: Justo gives handjobs by the Marina for $1. Cash only!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Various D-words All in Tandem
The New York Times reports: When Debtors Decide to Default.
Melissa Birks is being stalked. Her cellphone keeps ringing, always from a caller marked “unknown.” She says she knows it is her credit card company wondering why she stopped making payments. Ms. Birks, who owes $28,830, has nothing to say.
Those on the front lines of the debt industry say there is a small but increasingly noticeable group of strapped consumers who, like Ms. Birks, are deciding they will simply stop paying. After loading up on debt eagerly provided by the card companies during the boom times, these people now find themselves trapped in an endless cycle where they are charged interest on interest and fees upon fees while the lenders get government bailouts.
The lending industry term for these people is “ruthless defaulters.” In a miserable economy where paychecks, savings and expectations are all diminished, their numbers will surely grow.
DUHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
They should default. It's the only rational solution for them and their personal finances. Creative default is the name of the game in the US bubble economy and they should do their bit.
Oh, and surely all of y'all realize that default = deflation, right?
Melissa Birks is being stalked. Her cellphone keeps ringing, always from a caller marked “unknown.” She says she knows it is her credit card company wondering why she stopped making payments. Ms. Birks, who owes $28,830, has nothing to say.
Those on the front lines of the debt industry say there is a small but increasingly noticeable group of strapped consumers who, like Ms. Birks, are deciding they will simply stop paying. After loading up on debt eagerly provided by the card companies during the boom times, these people now find themselves trapped in an endless cycle where they are charged interest on interest and fees upon fees while the lenders get government bailouts.
The lending industry term for these people is “ruthless defaulters.” In a miserable economy where paychecks, savings and expectations are all diminished, their numbers will surely grow.
DUHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
They should default. It's the only rational solution for them and their personal finances. Creative default is the name of the game in the US bubble economy and they should do their bit.
Oh, and surely all of y'all realize that default = deflation, right?
We Haven't Had a Flashy Suicide in a While ...
Reuters reports: Kuwait Financier Facing U.S. Fraud Suit Found Dead.
A brash Kuwaiti financier facing a fraud suit by U.S. authorities was found dead Sunday in an apparent suicide that sent shockwaves through the Gulf Arab financial sector.
A security source told Reuters that Hazem Al-Braikan appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound to the side of the head, while a policeman standing outside Braikan's house said the well-connected financier, 37, had shot himself.
Braikan was the chief executive of Al Raya Investment, which is 10 percent owned by Citigroup Inc, and had been at the center of a financial scandal that erupted last week.
BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
A brash Kuwaiti financier facing a fraud suit by U.S. authorities was found dead Sunday in an apparent suicide that sent shockwaves through the Gulf Arab financial sector.
A security source told Reuters that Hazem Al-Braikan appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound to the side of the head, while a policeman standing outside Braikan's house said the well-connected financier, 37, had shot himself.
Braikan was the chief executive of Al Raya Investment, which is 10 percent owned by Citigroup Inc, and had been at the center of a financial scandal that erupted last week.
BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
More Californication (Are We Bored Yet?)
The venereal New York Times reports: California Pension Fund Hopes Riskier Bets Will Restore Its Health.
Big as California’s budget woes are today, so are the problems lurking in its biggest pension fund.
The fund, known as Calpers, lost nearly $60 billion in the financial markets last year. Though it has more than enough money to make its payments to retirees for many years, it has a serious long-term shortfall. Meanwhile, local governments in the state are pleading poverty and saying they cannot make the contributions that would be needed to shore it up.
Mr. Dear wants to embrace some potentially high-risk investments in hopes of higher returns.
Calpers has a lot riding on Mr. Dear’s effort to achieve above-market performance. The fund just posted a loss of 23 percent, the worst in its history. That leaves it 66 percent funded, the lowest level in two decades, meaning it has only $66 on hand for every $100 in benefits promised to 1.6 million California public employees and their families.
They were so astute that they lost 23% in a year. Now, they are so astute that they want to "embrace" riskier strategies.
The EE will provide a simple translation:
Dear California-Taxpayer, you are fucked!
Big as California’s budget woes are today, so are the problems lurking in its biggest pension fund.
The fund, known as Calpers, lost nearly $60 billion in the financial markets last year. Though it has more than enough money to make its payments to retirees for many years, it has a serious long-term shortfall. Meanwhile, local governments in the state are pleading poverty and saying they cannot make the contributions that would be needed to shore it up.
Mr. Dear wants to embrace some potentially high-risk investments in hopes of higher returns.
Calpers has a lot riding on Mr. Dear’s effort to achieve above-market performance. The fund just posted a loss of 23 percent, the worst in its history. That leaves it 66 percent funded, the lowest level in two decades, meaning it has only $66 on hand for every $100 in benefits promised to 1.6 million California public employees and their families.
They were so astute that they lost 23% in a year. Now, they are so astute that they want to "embrace" riskier strategies.
The EE will provide a simple translation:
Dear California-Taxpayer, you are fucked!
Monday, July 06, 2009
We're Still Californicating, Baby!
Reuters reports: As California struggles, Fitch cuts debt rating.
California suffered a new setback in its financial crisis on Monday when Fitch Ratings cut its rating on the state's general obligation debt to just two notches above junk status.
Fitch cut its rating on California's long-term bonds to "BBB," two notches above speculative grade, citing the state's budget and cash crisis. The state last week started issuing "IOU" promissory notes to pay for some bills in order to conserve cash.
AAA to BBB. That was just grade inflation!
How long before it's CCC?
California suffered a new setback in its financial crisis on Monday when Fitch Ratings cut its rating on the state's general obligation debt to just two notches above junk status.
Fitch cut its rating on California's long-term bonds to "BBB," two notches above speculative grade, citing the state's budget and cash crisis. The state last week started issuing "IOU" promissory notes to pay for some bills in order to conserve cash.
AAA to BBB. That was just grade inflation!
How long before it's CCC?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Bair Bitch Project
The WSJ reports: FDIC's Bair Cancels Listing After Cutting Home Price.
The property slump is hitting home for Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. -- one of the few regulators who saw trouble in the housing market before the bust.
Last week, Ms. Bair removed her 14-room colonial in Amherst, Mass., from the market after cutting its sale price by $100,000 from an initial $795,000 in April, according to the listing sheet.
Ms. Bair, and her husband, Scott P. Cooper, paid $355,000 for the house in 2002. In "02 and "03 they received building permits valued at $89,500 to renovate the 1860s house., including new roofing and a counter-current basement pool.
After listing the five-bedroom property in April, the couple cut the price to $745,000 less than three weeks later, then reduced it again before withdrawing the listing. Ms. Bair's real-estate agent, Stephen Feldman, of Prudential Sawicki Real Estate, declined comment. An FDIC spokesman said Ms. Bair decided to remove the listing and wait for the market to improve on the advice of her real-estate agent.
We've met this bitch before, of course (here and here.) She is stupider than a rock for which one must actually apologize to the rock.
Needless to say, these are the people regulating the financial industry which tells you something about their "acute" financial acumen.
The EE will bet even money that the house sells for less than $355K before 2013. The cow in question is literally that dumb!
The property slump is hitting home for Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. -- one of the few regulators who saw trouble in the housing market before the bust.
Last week, Ms. Bair removed her 14-room colonial in Amherst, Mass., from the market after cutting its sale price by $100,000 from an initial $795,000 in April, according to the listing sheet.
Ms. Bair, and her husband, Scott P. Cooper, paid $355,000 for the house in 2002. In "02 and "03 they received building permits valued at $89,500 to renovate the 1860s house., including new roofing and a counter-current basement pool.
After listing the five-bedroom property in April, the couple cut the price to $745,000 less than three weeks later, then reduced it again before withdrawing the listing. Ms. Bair's real-estate agent, Stephen Feldman, of Prudential Sawicki Real Estate, declined comment. An FDIC spokesman said Ms. Bair decided to remove the listing and wait for the market to improve on the advice of her real-estate agent.
We've met this bitch before, of course (here and here.) She is stupider than a rock for which one must actually apologize to the rock.
Needless to say, these are the people regulating the financial industry which tells you something about their "acute" financial acumen.
The EE will bet even money that the house sells for less than $355K before 2013. The cow in question is literally that dumb!
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