Owl Times

Business and Financial News

Facts aren't the truth. They only indicate where the truth may lie.

 

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Last Updated: 10:20 PM

 

                          

 

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Metlife continues to hurt as losses from poor investments keep coming in, and the variable-annuity guarantees hurt it…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125686322982517529.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

Exxon is taking a hit as competition for oil fields is fierce and its current wells are losing production, suggesting peak oil may be around the corner…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704317704574503090823282978.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Free software may be the new trend as lean companies and entrepreneurs challenge the big dogs with good-enough offerings…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arPzMR.hhDq0

 

Hollywood needs a new revenue model as DVD sales plummets and movie studios face the same fate that the major music labels did…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/76f2d806-c198-11de-b86b-00144feab49a.html

 

Demand Media may be the largest web media company, with over $500mn in revenues and hence larger than Facebook

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/profile/2009-10-25-ehow-richard-rosenblatt_N.htm

 

Vitamin Shoppe was a fairly good IPO recently, as it operates stores selling supplements in bottles for fat margins…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125673819759713087.html

 

Corporate ventures fail because assumptions are taken as facts, and big projects tend not to iterate toward market and customer needs…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703787204574447002212169532.html#mod=todays_us_

 

Basketball is hurting as the NBA cuts coaches, parties, and salaries to meet expenses and over half the teams are operating at a loss…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704335904574497703172844312.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Steel profits are a good indicator of economic recovery, and Arcelor Mittal suggests that China is doing well but other parts of the world are not…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125674445385713317.html

 

AIG’s failure and bailout was bungled by the NY Fed and Treasury Secretary Geithner, according to those close to the matter…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a7T5HaOgYHpE

 

Luxury goods are still taking a beating, as LVMH and its competitors are still dealing with sales declines as the rich stop buying…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703816204574482870401187420.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Bank of America’s lawyers come under scrutiny, as the SEC looks into who violated the law in not disclosing material losses for the Merrill acquisition…

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/in-bank-of-america-mess-whither-wachtell/

 

New technology allows security agents and police to look through walls and understand what’s happening instead buildings…

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14637299

 

Employers are still skittish and holding off on hiring, as they prefer to squeeze productivity from workers who can’t go elsewhere…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125599093581195087.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

It looks like GE will sell NBC Universal, as its about $500mn away on price from Vivendi and it’s tough to assess the value of NBC…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703816204574481580907391804.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Vegas and the billionaire Adelson have gone through rough times but survived; like a cockroach, the casino-entertainment model still lives…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b08fe774-bccb-11de-a7ec-00144feab49a.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43e5e5fa-bcc7-11de-a7ec-00144feab49a.html

 

Southwest Airlines is showing a move toward increased revenue miles from passengers, suggested the airline industry in ready to recover …

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703790404574474913584659046.html

 

Buyers sue Trump as condos they bought in Miami fall by price from 60-80% amid a massive glut that brigns prices to 1980s levels…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a7s0rpuaOw50

 

Google Book Editions will be a new e-book platform Google is launching, where 45% of profits go to the author and almost 55% goes to the retailer…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574474822581549710.html

 

Wipro, the Indian outsourcing company, is creating jobs in the US as it realizes it needs local salesmen and account managers to generate and keep business…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a9Dal6jVrTBA

 

Auto insurer Progressive has stronger earnings as it tightens underwriting and invests more carefully, two things every insurer should do …

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axNVrwoDJjwY

 

Bloomberg buys Businessweek although Bloomberg has always developed units internally and Businessweek is a money pit, so why…

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-does-bloomberg-want-businessweek-2009-10-13

 

Redstone sells Viacom as the old man is strapped for cash and needs to sell assets to meet debt, ending the era of the giant media mogul …

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dd0a6e38-b8bf-11de-809b-00144feab49a.html

 

Punch Taverns’ shares are trading at 60% below the net asset value of its considerable UK real estate holdings, with its largest investor calling for liquidation…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/824fb452-b89d-11de-809b-00144feab49a.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d371bef6-b88f-11de-809b-00144feab49a.html

 

Homebuilders with less land on the books are looking to quite well, as they can now buy land on the cheap…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125547548013683585.html

 

Google’s Wave will change communication forever, merging attributes of e-mail, instant messaging, file sharing, and social networking…

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/google-wave-and-the-dawn-of-passive-aggressive-communication/

 

Versace is leaving Japan, possibly a bellwether sign that the Japanese consumer is overextended and luxury goods makers are moving to China…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703298004574458960225155796.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Finally a Wendy’s ad campaign that focuses on the best feature of their product, its freshness.  The burger wars are in full swing, and beyond price…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704252004574457611553266206.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Newspapers will suffer more, analysts say, and its possible that the demise of the print newspaper industry will bring winners and losers…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/business/media/21papers.html?fta=y&pagewanted=print

 

Uniqlo is a Japanese clothes retailer that is invading Europe – with moderate prices, classic clothing, and high quality goods, its model is thriving in the recession…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aww8pI3yv3x8

 

Office rents are diving everywhere, but mostly in NYC as the vacancy rate hits 16.5%, a five-year high…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125488352504069971.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Law firms are hiring less and deferring hires more, suggesting the credit bubble was fueling a legal services bubble that has now popped…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125478012114565787.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Ratings agencies are in bad times, but Moodys is having a particularly difficult time when former executives testify about its sleaze…

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE58T42320090930?sp=true

 

Vegas’ casinos have finally realized that their debt binge can no longer go on, and they need to attract customers to older facilities…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470120316763089.html

 

Indian tech outsourcing companies want to move up the value chain and actually partner with Western firms and take over tech departments…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470127172663095.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r3:c0.0699961:b28108044

 

In secret meetings the Fed is worrying about commercial real estate loans – banks like Capmark have 11 cents in reserves for every $1 of bad loans…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125487629495569591.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

Newegg is an online retailer selling IT products – it has been profitable every year since 2001 and had a stunning 13% sales increase in 2008…

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/28/neweggs-ipo-filing-reveals-the-financials-behind-a-2-billion-electronics-retailer/

 

SkyTerra’s satellite service allows cell phone users who lose tower service to keep their call, but Phil Falcone’s Harbinger Capital just bought out the company…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092303936_pf.html

 

Forget gold – platinum is hot with palladium as the two have surged 38% and 56% this year due to global industrial demand, a play on emerging market growth…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409349355844887.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r5:c0.101661:b27985690

 

Building tangible things over pushing paper is what private equity manager Luke Johnson secretly admires and wishes he did…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e76c1c3e-ad28-11de-9caf-00144feabdc0.html

 

There is no ultimate safe haven but gold; one blogger summarizes all the arguments for investing in it, from Fed Chairman Greenspan to Taleb and others…

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/09/guest-post.html

 

In this recovery climate, start-ups are suffering, which is worrying for jobs because businesses in their first 90 days of life account for 14% of US hiring from 1992 to 2008…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409527512844979.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Blackstone’s debt binge is evident in Hilton Worldwide, which is negotiating with bondholders and is the tip of the private equity default wave…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125668616971811715.html

 

An asset price bubble and capital moving away from the US is what the President of Blackstone and the Chairman of CIC see…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/47ac3d54-c39a-11de-a290-00144feab49a.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59R5CC20091028

 

Commercial real estate defaults will be massive, says Wilber Ross, and we are going to see a “huge crash” coming…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afjAIKWhvFeQ

 

Poison puts are what the dumb bondholder community are asking for now, just when it’s unlikely they will ever need them…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a0B7W52MerDs

 

 

Gramercy Capital trades at such a discount to its book value, with hard real estate assets and a limited downside that this looks like a gem in the wreckage…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125650914296406799.html

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1287701/000104746909002739/a2191546z10-k.htm

 

Gold versus shares battle each other for investor interest, as people just can’t decide what will rule in 2010…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125649623986906719.html

 

Dumb retail investors are slowly piling back into stocks just as the pros are cutting back exposures…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/04ee286c-c212-11de-be3a-00144feab49a.html

 

Local governments are the biggest financial suckers, as they buy swaps they don’t need and don’t make disclosures they should make…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aBarSkIcch2k

 

Sovereign bond yields are a ticking time bomb as governments borrow to bail out rich creditors and economies keep weakening…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/27e90dea-c23b-11de-be3a-00144feab49a.html

 

Online education is the big bet that McGraw Hill is making, as it pushes content to digital readers and away from textbooks …

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703574604574499271685864010.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

VCs in syndicates take group-think and risk reduction to a new level, as deal flow is low and the bare-chested bears of Silicon Valley take heed…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703574604574499380354867214.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Defaults are good for the economy as they reduce household debt and allow people to start spending again, instead of paying the rent bill…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125651175580806989.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r5:c0.0762729:b28518615

 

Greenlight’s David Einhorn says that macro matters even for bottoms-up stock pickers, and you have to have a view on industries and the economy…

http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/files/2009/10/einhorn-vic-2009-speech.pdf

 

Bonds are better than stocks depending on the initial price, says Warren Buffett, though stocks over the long run will return something…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125513033586977149.html

 

Vornado Realty Trust is one of the US’s best, but it’s leaders acknowledge they poorly timed the recent bust by not selling out sooner…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704500604574483351236059252.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Derivatives are like porn in that neither can be clearly defined but you “know it when you see it” – the question is whether it’s harmful or safe…

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSTRE5764MB20090807?sp=true

 

A report on TARP slams the US government and former Treasury Secretary Paulson on oversight, execution, and accountability issues…

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2009-10-20-treasury-bailout-banks_N.htm

 

Too big to fail means a bank should be broken up, says the lone dissenting central banker from England, the Hon. Mervyn King, as the Obama administration fiddles…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125607015746097133.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97e0f540-bda9-11de-9f6a-00144feab49a.html

 

Montgomery County Alabama is going bust and is a bellwether for many county and municipal governments over the next decade…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6QpSf.s4NaA

 

Stocks as an asset class are being reevaluated, as investors learn not to buy and hold forever, but to watch for prices and cycles…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125513033586977149.html

 

CALPERS’ funds are down and the taxpayers of California will have to make up the difference to pay the bloated public sector salaries their municipalities have promised…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125556625187286301.html

 

The FOMC considers slack to be one of the key reasons inflation will stay low, but the debate is heated according to the Fed’s latest minutes…

http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomcminutes20090923.htm

 

Fraudulent conveyance occurs when a borrower, like Tousa, goes bust and makes payments to some creditors over others…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125555159224285641.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

Stuy Town is one of the largest apartment real estate complexes in the world, and this NYC landmark is ready to default soon…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125547827547583747.html

 

The US dollar’s demise is overrated in the short run, but it’s in the US’s own interest for other countries to diversify in the long run, says the FT’s Martin Wolf…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9165b8b0-b82a-11de-8ca9-00144feab49a.html

 

A Chinese housing boom continues due to easy credit, as the largest developer shows a 26% increase in sales and prices are rising…

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-10/14/content_8790201.htm

 

Currency depreciation and trade disputes will continue, as everyone agrees rebalancing must occur but surplus countries want it to come from others…

http://mpettis.com/

 

Hedgie John Paulson is doubling down on financials after two years of shorting them aggressively…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3Dk67f9sxGo

 

Goldman Sachs will earn $1 billion if its banking client CIT fails and files for Chapter 11.  Why would a bank client strike a deal where its advisors would profit at its loss

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9170b5f2-b10f-11de-b06b-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5dcac30-b10f-11de-b06b-00144feabdc0.html

 

Predicting merger and event outcomes is one thing Professor de Mesquita of NYU thinks his math model can do, along with many other things…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125538997994481405.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

TIPS with longer duration are what some smart bond investors are betting on, while others think TIPS are suckers bets and that real assets will do better…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=agCcWr9sbO58

 

Easy credit for the poor is over and many are just struggling to pay off previous loans and interest without declaring bankruptcy…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125511860883676713.html

 

Hotel investors seem to betting on a rebound and are investing when vacancy signs and revenue per available room numbers down by 19% yoy

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125495341507271799.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

The US public debt is still at an all-time high, and the US dollar won’t be able to keep its reserve position or keep its value…

http://suddendebt.blogspot.com/2009/10/sic-transit-gloria-dollarii-mundi.html

 

The fiscally failed state of California is increasing the yields it offers to bond investors to get them to sucker up and buy its bonds…

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/california-hikes-yield-in-bond-sale-to-stir-demand-2009-10-08

 

Does the recent rate hike in Australia suggest central banks are more concerned with asset inflation than with low growth

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/10/08/76671/the-interesting-lesson-from-the-rba-rate-hike/

 

TARP deadbeats have stopped making payments on government loaned moneys; CIT Group and First BanCorp top the list…

http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/2009/10/08/tarp-deadbeats/

 

Euro CDS markets are watching the settlement of the Thomson case, where bondholders may want to see a restructuring fail to collect on CDS…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=apbPY9mDmI5c

 

Investment bank poofery or fraud, you decide.  The government is arguing that Bear Stearn’s Ralph Cioffi crossed the line…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125530291552979141.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

Not only do derivatives increase risk, but they seem to be legally privileged in numerous ways, such as in the bankruptcy process…

http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/2009/10/06/why-privilege-derivatives/

 

In the first insider trading case for CDS, the SEC has charged an i-bank salesman with tipping a portfolio manager at a large hedge fund…

http://www.bingham.com/Media.aspx?MediaId=9556

 

Currency debasement is the only logical outcome of current government actions, writes hedge fund manager Kyle Bass of Hayman Advisors…

http://www.scribd.com/doc/20643004/Hay-Man

 

Australia has raised rates by a quarter point to 3.25%, signaling that healthier countries don’t need to flood markets with cheap credit…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/business/global/07rates.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=print

 

 

Stocks for the long run, Jeremy Siegel keeps arguing.  It’s difficult to compare asset classes aggregated because few can agree on earnings…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b788547c-b1bc-11de-a271-00144feab49a.html

 

Bond ETFs are great in theory but are quite inefficient in practice.  They don’t track their benchmarks and the redemption process doesn’t work…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125478769535366203.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

 

800 years of financial crises, yet countries and bankers continue to make the same mistakes, say the authors of a new book…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b41626be-ab83-11de-9be4-00144feabdc0.html

 

Deflation will continue, bets Pimco’s Bill Gross, as he buys billions of dollars of 5-10 year duration US Treasuries…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5qkMIPH67tQ

 

Buy Chinese bonds.  China’s Ministry of Finance is selling $880mn of yuan-denominated bonds in an attempt to challenge the US dollar… http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125416714851947121.html#printMode

 

$28 trillion lost in world wealth, according to McKinsey’s latest report on global capital markets, as all major developed countries took on too much debt…

http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/gcm_sixth_annual_report/executive_summary.asp

 

The emerging markets label is obsolete, says Everest Capital’s Marko Dimitrijevic.  For a Miami-based fund, this isn’t a radical view…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82edf7c0-ac3b-11de-950b-00144feabdc0.html

 

 

The best banking fix would separate out banking into three buckets:  utility retail, investing banking, and the asset management business...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a11e34ac-c3fc-11de-8de6-00144feab49a,s01=1.html

 

A rising yuan is the only sustainable way to address global imbalances, says Harvard’s Marty Feldstein, and Chinese alternatives are rubbish...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fd4b4852-c4db-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.html

 

Eurozone unemployment edges higher, as Martin Sorrell of WPP says a LUV recovery means Europe will be the V-flatliner.…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5c76987e-c543-11de-8193-00144feab49a.html

 

New regulation for asset securitization is just one thing the new SEC Chairman is asking for, and it is crucial for reform even as the Fed asks for systemic powers.…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125665531530310503.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ad532a4-c352-11de-8eca-00144feab49a.html

 

Deflation fears are a drag on a Japanese recovery as the central bank expects declines to continue for years.…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125675711133513901.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Clinton gets an earful in a straight-talk town hall meeting in Pakistan as locals quiz her about deadly drones and American imperialism...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125683715169816447.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Japan’s major changes will include a greater focus on local consumption, regional cooperation, and growth, rather than debt, exports, and financial bailouts.…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125653489819907659.html

 

South Korea is one of the world’s few healthy economies, with trade and budget surpluses, and a businessman President committed to responsible growth...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125651482563207031.html

 

 

India’s central bank, the RBI, kept rates steady but increased reserve requirements to combat inflation and prick a small bubble in banks and other shares…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125662331956909743.html

 

Myths about China such as the monolithic nature of the Communist Party or the success of capitalism are worth debunking.…

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218290/output/print

 

S&P forward earnings estimates are silly stupid and imply a return to 2007 earnings, when growth was 3% and unemployment was 4%...

http://www.hussmanfunds.com/rsi/forwardearningsmargins.htm

 

Education in the Arab world is much worse than many dirt-poor African countries, as countries with high per capita incomes keep their people’s stupid…

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14660446

 

China cuts deals with dictators and could care less what the world thinks, as the Dragon looks for mineral resources in Africa.

http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14664647

 

Global imbalances are bad, acknowledges Ben Bernanke, but he barely squeaks about the difficult American solution of more saving and less deficits …

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20091019a.htm

 

State coffers and tax receipts are a great micro level indicator of the fiscal and macro situation in the US, and they still point to bad times…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125590603918293129.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Too big to fail results from a failure of antitrust authorities to do their job, says Alan Greenspan, and we need to break these institutions up to let markets work…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJ8HPmNUfchg

 

Health care reform hit upon two issues in the US Senate:  first, should a single payer system exist, and second, should health insurers keep their antitrust exemption…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125554568163185445.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Falling household income, as measured by total weekly pay for production workers, has fallen the most since the Great Depression (much more than 1981-82)…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125554568163185445.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

End the Fed says Congressman Ron Paul, as it is accountable to no one by printing money, entering into foreign treaties, and propping up banks with trillions…

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/the-fed-fighter-dealbooks-ron-paul-interview/

 

The future of Europe came down to the Lisbon treaty vote in Ireland this month, and a shadow Constitution for the EU is now ratified…

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14585996

 

While the drop in output is ending, says the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, deleveraging continues, jobs will stay dismal, and mild deflation is likely…  http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/02/index.htm

 

The super secret National Security Agency (NSA) is recording every call you make and e-mail you send in a giant $2 billion data center in Utah

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23231

 

Wealth and not financial claims is what policy should be based on – so stop looking at markets and start looking at output and the distribution of it…

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14587262

 

Indonesia has the most successful anti-corruption agency in Asia, the KPK, but it is under attack from its many enemies…

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14587280

 

India’s BJP party needs to modernize and drop its fringe elements if it is to be a credible opposition to the ruling Congress party…

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14586982

 

Integration of immigrants is a hot issue in Germany, and how blunt can people and policies be to stop extremists within is a hot question…

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,654921,00.html

 

Germany’s new antitrust law will be so strong that Chancellor Merkel will be able to actually break up companies…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125538264403681127.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Global economic barometer Cargill is the world’s largest agricultural firm and trader, and it still expects economic weakness into 2010…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1ba0024-b800-11de-8ca9-00144feab49a.html

 

A 3% growth recovery is what Larry Summers and many NABE economists expect, but the biggest risk is “weak demand”…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125535786715480387.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Deficits don’t matter in the short run, says Goldman Sach’s chief economist O’Neill, and it’s more hurtful to talk about cutting back in a recession…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afVxdR_ZTlN4

 

A bad growth outlook is what one of the best economic forecasting firms predicts, unlike Obama’s Larry Summers who is poofing up growth…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKf0E1HUDo.E

 

A recent study about the economics of prostitution suggests that policemen are more likely to sleep with prostitutes than arrest them…

http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/apr09/4.aspx

 

Naxalite rebels attacked and killed 17 policemen in the Indian state of Maharashtra, leading to questions about the stability of certain Indian states…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125502405241773805.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

US retail sales are at 2005 levels, as the US consumer keeps spending down and retailers kept hurting in the September spending season…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/business/09shop.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

 

A smart policy solution for health care, writes Harvard’s Marty Feldstein, would be one that actually tackles the core incentive problems at the current system’s core…  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100703048.html

 

A fix for youth unemployment would put apprenticeships at the core and look at the successful German model…

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,druck-653946,00.html

 

The Fed’s exit strategy is discussed in two recent speeches by FOMC members, and no timeframe or small list of variables will determine the Fed’s action…

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/warsh20090925a.htm

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20090930a.htm

 

Demographics show not all emerging markets are equal, so Brazil and India will prosper whereas Russia and Central Europe have already peaked…

http://stock-markets-india.com/uploads/2009/08/Demographics-Investment-and-Growth-Where-are-the-opportunities-14-08-09.PDF

 

Oil states ditch the dollar – many Arab states have moved from dollar baskets to mixed currency baskets for oil trading…

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798175.html

 

Forget growth rates.  What matters are absolute levels of debt, spending, unemployment, public spending and so on that matter, says Pimco’s El-Erian

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1551b95e-ac59-11de-a754-00144feabdc0.html

 

Employment will stay in the dumps if you just look at the numbers, says the newsletter writer John Mauldin.  Job growth creation statistically just can’t keep up with the destruction of the last 2 years…

http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/printarticle.asp?id=mwo092509

 

The DDRs – delevering, deglobalization, and reregulation – will dominate over the next few years predicts Pimco’s Bill Gross, as America returns to making things instead of paper…

http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2009/Gross+Sept+On+the+Course+to+a+New+Normal.htm

 

French political revenge –President Sarkozy sues an unelected former prime minister on corruption charges in a trial mixing politics, business, and spies…

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14512551

 

Giant bronze statutes are what the dalit/untouchable Chief Minister Mayawati of the Indian state of UP, and a potential future Prime Minister, is building for herself…

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14506564

 

China’s hot air stimulus will rut out soon as local authorities have overspent stimulus funds on massive investment projects, says HSBC analyst Qu Hongbin

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ar8O5ctqZ4lc

 

 

John Elkann is the 35-year old leader of the Fiat business empire, as his famed grandfather Gianni Agnelli appointed him head when he was 29…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVqPIpdyMJGQ

 

An ex-Prime Minister flies to the Middle East and gets money for two charities and his personal consulting firm…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/68949294-c4d7-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.html

 

The EU’s new President may be Britain’s Tony Blair, but odds are the Continental politicians are plotting to obstruct his rise...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6f33c6e-c2eb-11de-8eca-00144feab49a.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2259ccee-c262-11de-be3a-00144feab49a.html

 

Get the money was Peter Frampton’s rule as he represented some of the biggest rock stars of his generation…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/arts/music/27anthony.html?ref=obituaries

 

One of the world’s best jet designers was Peter Whitcomb, who came up with a design for jets to fly faster and cheaper, and to break the sound barrier…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/us/26whitcomb.html?ref=obituaries

 

A diary of a depression is what the lawyer Benjamin Roth wrote and his son published recently, where it was a long double-dip “w”…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/business/17nocera.html?pagewanted=print

 

David Shapiro was a class action lawyer who decided that it was just about the money, and that mediation was a better way to solve social conflict…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125600252175595651.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

 

David Hockney is the greatest living British painter; from Hollywood he has moved back to rural Britain to paint the countryside…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/arts/design/18kino.html?em=&pagewanted=print

 

Justice Stevens has been on the court for over 35 years and has moved from being a centrist moderate to the leader of the liberals and a wily coalition leader…

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-10-18-stevens-supreme-court-justice_N.htm

 

Husbands helping at home get more sex according to a new study in the Journal of Family Issues, which is no surprise…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704500604574485351638147312.html#mod=todays_us_personal_journal

 

Raj Rajaratnam has been charged in the biggest insider trading case the SEC has bought since the days of Ivan Boesky…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125570373292090093.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection

 

Howard Marks of Oaktree is one of the best investors around, and in a recent letter he urges people to think about value and cycles, the latter being what investors forgot…

http://www.oaktreecapital.com/MemoTree/2009_01_09_The%20Long%20View.pdf

 

Ted Turner feels like a dummy for buying the hype and selling his good CNN cable assets for the junk Time Warner stock and the worse AOL stock…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=afyLWnoS2WlA

 

Bruce Wasserstein, the best M&A banker in a generation, died this week after a surprise hospital visit…

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/bruce-wasserstein-lazard-chief-dies/?hp

 

Captain Sully Sullenberger prepared meticulously over his career to avoid accidents, and he did as he landed a US Airways flight in the Hudson

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703790404574469160016077646.html#mod=todays_us_personal_journal

 

Jamie Dimon’s poor people skills are cited as one of the few flaws of a brilliant banker and operator who emerged stronger from the financial crisis…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b502d36a-b763-11de-9812-00144feab49a.html

 

Lionel Pincus started a private equity firm to invest in any company, from startups to larger industrial concerns, and attracted good people with his discreet manner…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/business/12pincus.html?ref=obituaries

 

The world’s best camera repairman was Marty Forscher, who catered to stars and civil rights advocates alike when their beloved devices broke…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/nyregion/11forscher.html?ref=obituaries

 

Calm assertive energy is what makes Cesar Milan, once a poor undocumented immigrant, into a business success and a tamer of dogs and CEOs alike…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/business/11dog.html?em

 

Two Nobel prize winners who wrote about sensible institutional arrangements, neither governments nor markets, that can work…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/economy/13nobel.html

 

Citi’s $100 million man is going to Occidental, where the CEO makes a mere $50 million, in a bad deal for Citi

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125509326073375979.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r4:c0.0820663:b28258668

 

Wu Jinglian was one of the few and brave Chinese economists who encouraged market reforms – now Maoist leaders and crony capitalists are trying to destroy him…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/global/27spy.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1255024833-S0LfmXiD4rkVqWx5FfJf3Q

 

Treasury Secretary Geithner’s numerous calls to the heads of Goldman Sach, JP Morgan, and Citi raise questions about the undue influence big banks have on the Obama administration…

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Wall-Street-speed-dial-gets-apf-3283001415.html?x=0

 

Kevork Hovnanian was an entrepreneur and homebuilder who had a simple model: build bare bones homes and keep prices low…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/business/26hovnanian.html?ref=obituaries&pagewanted=print

 

One of the dueling Ambani billionaire brothers gets religious and appeals to his brother after visiting a holy Indian shrine…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703790404574467271618272280.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace

 

Craig Johnson was one of the best lawyers Silicon Valley had, and he helped build the entrepreneur friendly culture that exists today…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125486675503468885.html

 

Hotel King Sam Chang has built more hotels in NYC than any developer ever, and he used a new model of micro hotels for the budget consumer…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/nyregion/04chang.html

 

Starwood’s Barry Sternlicht is the proud owner of dozens of half-built condo projects, as his group has won the bidding for the failed Corus Bank…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125487177939169189.html

 

Sam Zell was taken to the cleaners by a tenant, Black and Veatch, who bought their leased building from him for a song…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125366697550532599.html

 

Stephen Jen, former Morgan Stanley currency strategist, thinks investors consistently under-appreciate the US economy and the US dollar…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aAd8Yfd2ZVXM

 

Larry Summers deserves credit for coming back into government with a lesser title, but has the White House really been doing the right things to jumpstart the economy…

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/12/091012fa_fact_lizza?printable=true

 

Gap founder Don Fisher died last weekend, after taking a single Levis jeans outlet into a global chain with $16 billion sales and creating three great brands…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125408495328144473.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

 

Peter Thiel’s Clarium Capital is among a small group of hedge funds who don’t at all believe in the economic upturn and are betting against America…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409165677744755.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

 

Marc Dreier tells all – how expectations of early success in Harvard and Yale led to mediocrity and a desire to buy his first beach house through fraud…

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2009/11/marc-dreier200911?printable=true

 

Justice Louis Brandeis was one of the greatest Supreme Court judges, as he balanced the needs of businesses and workers, government and individuals…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/books/review/Dershowitz-t.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/books/excerpt-louis-d-brandeis.html?ref=books&pagewanted=print

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

 

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