Vanity Fair – Michael Lewis: The King of Human Error Billy Beane’s sports-management revolution, chronicled by the author in Moneyball, was made possible by Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. At 77, with his own new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, the Nobel Prize-winning Kahneman reveals the built-in kinks in human reasoning—and he’s Exhibit… Continue reading Kahneman
60 Minutes – Congress: Trading stock on inside information? Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information – but should our elected officials be able to use that information to pad their own pockets? As Steve Kroft reports, members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many… Continue reading Congress Gets To Trade On Inside Information, You Do Not
None Today
Comment Bernanke warns in the video above that the U.S. is not insulated from Europe. We discussed this in our conference call yesterday (Audio, Handout, Webcast ). <Click on chart for larger image>
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Italy senate swings behind reform Italy’s senate on Friday approved reforms to cut the budget deficit and liberalise the economy, setting the stage for the expected resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister over the weekend and his replacement by an interim government led by… Continue reading Italy
Zero Hedge (blog) – Jim Grant: “The ECB Is Now Implementing The MF Global Trade” To print or not to print: the choice of whether to open the European Pandora’s box, which as we suggested two months ago is an interesting but ultimately moot thought experiment, has suddenly become the only talking point for TV… Continue reading Will The ECB Print Money?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – France furious over S&P ‘downgrade’ error France demanded an inquiry after a leading rating agency mistakenly suggested on its website that it had downgraded the country’s prized triple A credit rating, sparking a sell-off in Paris’ government bonds. French markets regulator AMF said it had… Continue reading France
<Click on chart for larger image> The Economist – America’s deficit: Large it up America’s politicians look like missing a golden opportunity to restore the country’s finances Few outsiders know what is going on inside the supercommittee, but even a minimum deal is by no means assured (see article). And in fact $1.5 trillion is… Continue reading The Supercommittee
The Financial Times – Market volatility limits EFSF firepower This week’s market upheaval in Europe has made it difficult to increase the firepower of the eurozone’s €440bn rescue fund to the €1,000bn that the bloc’s leaders had hoped for, the fund’s chief executive said on Thursday. Investors have fled from bonds issued by highly indebted… Continue reading EFSF
The Wall Street Journal – Keystone Cop-Out Obama punts on more than 20,000 shovel-ready jobs President Obama used to be fond of “shovel-ready projects.” He’s also demanding that Congress pass his jobs bill immediately because 9% unemployment is a crisis, and, by the way, he’s for making the U.S. less reliant on energy from tyrants.… Continue reading Keystone Pipeline
The Economist – Buttonwood: The road to self-deception A new EU plan to shoot the messenger BEWARE Italian government debt. Rising yields increase the country’s financing costs and make it harder for the administration to balance its—We interrupt this column for a message from the European Commission. With Italy being advised by the International Monetary… Continue reading Government Censorship Of Rating Agencies?
The New York Times – Rick Perry’s Intrade Flash Crash During last night’s Republican presidential debate, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas made an “oops” when he forgot the third of three federal departments he wanted to eliminate. As Nate Silver’s blog post noted, Mr. Perry’s odds of winning the Republican nomination halved within seconds on… Continue reading Rick Perry’s Flash Crash