News from around the web: 2009-07-21

  • No Longer Alone, Ron Paul Fights the Fed – Real Time Economics – WSJ

    Paul’s bill to audit Fed has 274 co-sponsors.

  • Some bailout firms up lobbying spending in 2Q – Yahoo! Finance

    Increased lobbying plus climb in shares equals no reform.

  • Notes on a real estate trip in China – Michael Pettis

    Bubble in Chinese real estate – and with an urban sprawl to make America proud. Thoughts on the unwind are more longer-term sub-par growth than collapse.

  • Getting real: A new era of frugality – Canada.com

    Good quotes from Rosenberg and Ariely.

  • The Case Against Larry Summers – Elizabeth MacDonald

    interesting reading on the politics of finance. Hat tip Barry Ritholtz

  • America is for now still blowing bubbles – Richard Bernstein, FT

    Obama’s people must see this as the easiest route. Japan, anyone?

  • Sharing on Facebook Now More Popular than Sharing by Email

    Nice chart breaking down how users share articles on the web.

  • Who clicks on spam? We do – MSN Money

    Even the most sophisticated click on spam and they get more viruses too.

  • Moody’s cuts rating on $33bn of risky loan products – Telegraph

    Huge CLO downgrades. Another dam breaks.

  • Older societies will have to retire later – George Magnus, FT

    UBS author of Age of Aging makes good points

  • Bernard Madoff working in prison engraving department to pay for food and luxuries – Telegraph

    Working 7Am to 230pm and then kicking it at the cushy prison for white collar criminals.

  • What Is the Efficient Market Hypothesis? – James Kwak

    "…even if you can tell, you can’t tell how long it will last so you can lose a lot of money betting against it, and even if you have a very long time horizon, who’s to say you won’t be in another bubble when you finally want to sell? Put another way, you may be “right” about an asset price, but if the market is composed of lots and lots of people who are “wrong,” and those people are never going away, what does that get you?"

  • Citi’s Latest Snag: Froman’s Funds – WSJ.com

    Froman is another member of the Chicago-Obama-Rubin-Citi nexus

  • The Oil Drum | Is Peak Oil Real? A List of Countries Past Peak

    Only 14 countries still are growing oil production. What does that tell you?

  • Banks Fail to Make Adequate Loan-Loss Provisions, Moody’s Says – Bloomberg.com

    We’re talking $470 billion in losses to reserve.

  • Commercial Loans Failing at Rapid Pace – WSJ.com

    Regional banks’ CRE exposure will be watched.

  • As Boom Times Sour in Vegas, Upward Mobility Goes Bust – WSJ.com

    Corollary to the ‘Lost Vegas’ theme. Hat tip Paul Kedrosky

  • A tale of multiple CDOs – Tracy Alloway

    Ratings agencies penalize corporate for buying back debt.

  • EU-IMF breakdown over Latvia? – Izabella Kaminska

    The EU looks to support Latvia while the IMF balks.

  • No Wonder GE Changed The Reporting Pattern….. – immobilienblasen

    GE buries former highlights that are down 40%

  • The Real Story of Trading Software Espionage by Advanced Trading

    My friend Scott calls this "The Revenge of the Machines"

  • Kazakh Bank Confirms $7.9 Billion in Losses – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

    This bank was nationalized in February.

  • Eugene Robinson – President Obama and Black America’s New Reality – washingtonpost.com

    "Obama embodies two trends that have made the African American community increasingly diverse. He is the son of a Kenyan immigrant — at a time when highly educated people from Africa and the Caribbean are coming to this country in record numbers. And he is biracial — the product of a kind of relationship that long was illegal in many states."

  • Baltic exposure hits Swedish bank – BBC News

    "SEB saw credit losses of 3.6bn kronor, 74% of which was in the Baltics, and made a 2.4bn kronor write-down in asset values in the Baltics and Russia."

  • New Magna offer for Opel to demand IP rights: report | Reuters

    This means an export of IP to Russia

  • Swine flu pandemic could cause severe economic slump – Guardian

    Check out the associated picture. Scary

  • Space station toilet breaks down – BBC News

    No stopping at the next exit either.

  • Distraction of the Day: Jim The Realtor – Foreclosures in San Diego

    financial newsfunnyJim The Realtorpeak oilRichard Bernsteinvideo