Hope all goes well. Busy wk here. Went through the portfolio with a stiff rake. Cleaned up. Of course, we’d cut out the real rot over the past 6wks. But what few twigs remained, we gathered and burned. Then as hopes rose (and shorts squeezed) in anticipation of Europe’s latest grand plan we added a Global Contraction theme to the portfolio. You see, despite the excitement about a European Spring, and even some green

Hope all goes well. Virgin redeye. LA-Heathrow. Arrived unshaven, disheveled, dressed down. Zipped through Fastrack. Immigration officer sized me up, guessed, “Banker.”  So I tried it on, “No sir, I help old people, pensioners.” He raised a brow. And I smiled, couldn’t help it, it just snuck out. Yeah, blew my own cover, so came clean, “Sorry, yes sir, Finance.” Gotta work on that delivery, someday it could save my l

BearBucks. It’s a fiat currency. Issued by 4th grade teachers at Roosevelt. Ain’t called Elementary School for nothing; they teach the basics. And face it, these days, any child unschooled in the ABC’s of money gets left behind. So I asked my oldest son, Jackson, and his buddy Liam, how school’s going. Liam’s real earnest, “My teacher’s having a tough time, it’s his first year – our class is a little out of con

Harvard scored. Again. Nobel Prize. Economics. Lemme save you some time. In the old days, econometric models had 2 inputs: supply/demand (boring, but easy to chart). The Cambridge boys discovered if you add a few more inputs, you get different output (complex, but easy to compute). And guess what? They discovered humans respond to policy actions in ways that distort how those policies oughta work. Yeah, that’s right,

This should be easy. Honestly. We’ve seen it all before. Even us traders can remember. Bank of America revisited Mar ’09 levels. Of course, it’s still too leveraged, mismanaged, long housing – hell – it probably got greased too. Buffett’s getting buried, acting unconcerned. Morgan Stanley 1yr CDS hit 800bps, clients rush for exits. High-yield credit’s tanked. Yeah, same story, different yr. Of course, Geithner

Hope all goes well. Yeah, it happened. Snuck up on me. Always does. Autumn. Just seemed oddly darker one morning. The air changed too. Tasted different. Of course, next come pumpkins, followed by turkeys. Dradles. Then Santa. Good little boys get coal this year, naughty ones get orphaned. Yeah the Street’ll be snowing pink slips, it’s Occupied too. So what’s a scared little market-maker to do? Boo! Oooh. Yeah, they’r

“Three days of your life,” said Perry, thanking me for leaving Mara and our four kids to join his Mississippi clan. Opening the memorial was Minister Hong – a North Korean political refugee – so happy to escape communist repression he doesn’t realize no one understands a damn word he says. But no matter. Carl Parker had five kids, and his only daughter married a minister, who took the pulpit, led the beau

Hope all goes well. Jetted off to Mississippi. A proud farming town. Entered a home. One of my partners stood tall, surrounded by his clan. Their patriarch lay flat, at peace. Walked down the line, paying respect. Got to Perry. Hugged. Lost my words, he did too. And our eyes couldn’t quite meet, or things woulda gotten real wet. Been a rainy mth. Glad to flip the calendar. I turn 45 Tues. Yeah, thanks bro. Gettin’ ol

Leaders from rich countries flew private. Corrupt ones from impoverished nations did too. The rest stumbled outta 1st Class. Commodity exporters swaggered through customs, high on coking coal, copper, crops, cash. A couple Greeks did the perp walk, shamed, invisibly shackled. No doubt, each annual IMF meeting’s different. Last year’s hero is often today’s zero, and vice versa – as national fortunes (ego’s too)

“Ben wake up, c’mon honey, it’s me, Anna, you’re having another nightmare.” Poor little fella, they’re real scary. Recurring too. You see, despite his countless bailouts, blanket guarantees, swap line funding, QE programs, and operation twist – the economy still sucks. And it ain’t just here. Look around. Chinese manufacturing shrank 3mths running, and mighty Germany’s retail sales fell – so just imagine