players

Hope all goes well. Spring’s arrived. Migration’s in full swing. The S&P headed north, the USD south. Animal spirits are rising, it’s the season furry fellas get frisky. Of course, if you got no job, underwater mortgage, sleep on glowing tatami mats, drink Guinness, Sangria, etc, it’s still chilly. But those are worries for another season. Overall: Sadly, one-way bets are a rare find, usually got a short shelf li

Jeremy and I were 23yrs old in ’89, when rebellious youngsters tore down the Berlin Wall. By ’92 we’d snuck our way onto Lehman’s proprietary trading desk, in time for the next revolution. The European Exchange Rate Mechanism, a rigid/outdated structure invented by old men, was on its last legs. What fun we had ripping it apart – young men intoxicated by inexperience, ambition and fearlessness. We were just 2 r

Hope all goes well. Raised in NYC, live in CA, I’m a libertarian swimming in a deep sea of electoral Blue. Toured Texas this wk, met lots of fine folks in that Red state. Figured the Cowboys woulda been game for blasting Gaddafi from a Dark Age to the Stone Age. Wrong. No one’s got a clue why we’re there, or what the endgame is. All want out fast. Overall: Just took a little pinprick, and now we’re Comfortably Numb.

Just took a little pinprick, and now we’re Comfortably Numb. Injected near-zero rates, printed Dollars, Yen, Sterling, and Euro’s (worldwide reserves hit record $9.38trln). And there’ll be no more pain, but we may feel a little sick. Analysts tallied the cost of Japan’s trifecta: $309bln (4 Katrina’s) – Nikkei surged 3.6%. Portugal’s gov’t fell (Canada’s too), stumbling into the arms of a forecast $99bln bailout. Fin

I grew up in a modern American family; 2 dad’s, 2 mom’s, 7 younger siblings. One dad spins money for a living, another spins propellers. And both did real well but ended up broke. You see, if you make too much too early, you tend to piss it away. And if you’re an engineer, well, you never make much anyhow. Plus, college costs a fortune and they sent us all to great schools. Of course, being broke is the mother of inv

Hope all goes well. Spent some time focused on my kiddies this wk. Wasn’t alone. Prime Minister Kan led his children through an almost comically crowded pool of angry black swans. The G7 punished childish currency traders for front-running the flow of money back to Japan. The Libyan madman showered his errant children with tough love, then sent a touching note to his son in the White House. The Germans (and French),

Spent some time focused on my kiddies this wk. Wasn’t alone. Prime Minister Kan led his children through an almost comically crowded pool of angry black swans. The G7 punished childish currency traders for front-running the flow of money back to Japan. The Libyan madman showered his errant children with tough love, then sent a touching note to his son in the White House. The Germans (and French), angry with their red

A man under siege grabs a weapon, shoots. And while all politicians are Man, very few are men – power is nature’s most corrosive agent. Of course, Autocrats turn weapons on their subjects. Democrats point weapons at Autocrats (when it suits). Central Bankers fire on inflation and unemployment in equal measure (well, not quite equal). And investors shoot losers. So it was this wk. Libya’s madman spent decades ex

Hope all goes well. Watched the sad footage, the hopeless flight of tiny creatures, chased by a monstrous wave, summoned by a capricious planet. Moments later I pierced the Zurich clouds, marveled at the heavenly Alps. Pictured the tiny creatures ascending those famous peaks, tempting fate, striving for higher ground. Said a quiet prayer for the low, the high, and everyone in between. ’Cause in life’s fleeting flight