Week-in-Review: Mon: 4th of July, Aussie May retail sales -.6%, Turkey CPI 6.24%, S&P – closed; Tue: Moody’s dngrades Portugal 4 notches to Junk, RBA kept rates unch, C. Anthony acquitted, global serv PMIs soft, EU May Retail Sales -1.1%, S&P +.1%; Wed: PBOC hike rates (5th since oct; 3rd this yr), ISDA’s Gen counsel says Greek rollover won’t trigger CDS, US non-mfg ISM 53.3, solid German factory orders

I was rocket-sledding down Annapurna the other day. Sunglasses on, tie flapping in the wind, stereo blasting Richard Wagner‘s Flight of the Valkyries on a Maxell XLII90 noise-reducing cassette tape. Got my heart racing and reminded me of earlier days when I would jet-pack through shark tanks. Suddenly a Himalayan mountain coyote jumped directly into my path. It’s hard to tell how you will react to a situation until i

What a relief. 155 Greek lawmakers approved the E78bln Trojan Horse (a mere 136 voted against, 9 took the day off). Of course not one of Greece’s 300 leaders believes they’ll ever repay debts, but this vote wasn’t about that. It was about giving German politicians what they need so they can pretend the 2nd bailout won’t disappear as fast as the 1st. The few Greeks with jobs left work, took to the streets in celebrati

Summertime. Sun. Surf. Friends. Family. Bonfires and books. Glorious books. Got an email Sunday morning. Asked for my list. He wasn’t looking for comics (I love those too), “Which books influenced how effective you are in mkts, business, human psychology, fund mgmt, life generally?” There are lots of ways to answer a question. And ya know, if you want to get to know someone, you gotta first give something of yourself

Hope all goes well. Summertime. Off to Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Chamonix. Bringing Mara, Jackson, Olivia. The Karamazov brothers are tagging along too, we go way back. In Mont Blanc’s shadow my old climbing partner and I will watch our kiddies hop from boulder to boulder. We’ll recall our adventures, near misses – hoping they’ll someday share that kind of bond, explore the edge, survive, Live. You won’t hear from me ag

Overall: A Mon rally on China’s FX flexibility failed miserably, setting a “sell-rallies” tone for wk. Ozzy presented an austere looking budget — said the right things. Japan’s Kan pledged to cap spending for 3yrs, the German cuts thru ’14 look to be 80bln Euros. Austrians in; Keynes out. Soros warns Germany leading EU down deflationary funnel (The Economist, Krugman and his ilk agree). US housing data collapse

Hope all goes well. I zipped off to NY. Swung by CNBC, my boys there always got interesting off-air info. Hung with old friends, new ones too. Heard lots of scary stories. One fella got his 1st colonoscopy. He ain’t alone, it’s been that kinda mth for most guys. Overall: Japan unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer, 8.2 quadrillion calculations/second (8.2 Petaflops). Of course, with that much power, they’ll desi

Japan unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer, 8.2 quadrillion calculations/second (8.2 Petaflops). Of course, with that much power, they’ll design reactors to withstand Tsunami’s instead of just building ’em on higher ground. Nikkei rallied 3.5%, hoping the new computer can solve the problems of 200% debt/GDP, deflation and swarms of ageing baby boomers soon to need diapers. The Reds suffer from Petaflop envy, th

We got nominated for an award. That stuff’s not really our thing. We’re superstitious – call it a trading injury. But I pulled the short straw amongst my partners and jetted to NY on the off chance we won. Caxton’s Bruce Kovner accepted the lifetime achievement award. He’s a legend. One losing year in 30, fantastic returns, made investors (and his boys) very wealthy. Bruce admitted there’s no secret to making m

Rarely does a brilliant inventor perfect his own idea. Greeks invented democracy, but of course we perfected it (just ask any American). Genghis Kahn invented Eurasian repression, Russians transformed into an industrial-sized work of art. Case in point, Khodorkovsky, once the richest oligarch, snuck a note from jail, warned Russia needs $200/barrel oil to make ends meet. Putin’s not the only corrupt dictator to need