Search LBO-Talk Archives

12076 [lbo-talk] hedge funds -- rank: 1000

On Dec 18, 2007, at 5:20 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > Doug Henwood wrote: >> >> This will no doubt be >> dismissed as rank subjectivism by partisans of High Objectivity and >> Impersonal Law, but folks who are drawn to the profit-making business > > There he goes again. Who are you talking about? You, sweetie! Doug

Document Size:	4809
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 21:07:20 PST 2007

12077 [lbo-talk] Krugman -- rank: 1000

On Dec 18, 2007, at 4:11 PM, Rakesh Bhandari wrote: > In Twilight of the Nation State: Globalisation, War and Chaos Prem > Shankar Jha talks today of a scissors movement of liquid capital > accumulation and investment opportunities. "As a gale of creative > destruction sets in, opportunities for the investment of liquid > capital in new fixed capital equipment rises rapidly As the new > equipment replaces the old, the rate of profit rises and increases > the rate of cap ...

Document Size:	5851
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 14:15:49 PST 2007

12078 [lbo-talk] hedge funds -- rank: 1000

On Dec 18, 2007, at 4:56 PM, Rakesh Bhandari wrote: > But Doug wasn't the reason for hedge funds to make headway when stock > markets aren't? What about the promise of making a profit even when > the market is moving in a narrow range? Seems illusory now. Yup. Just goes to show you, for the thousandth time, that unless your name is Soros, Buffett, or Schwarzman, you can't beat the market. > But if hedge funds are a false promise, it does seem that the stock > of idle liquid money ...

Document Size:	5693
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 14:14:06 PST 2007

12079 [lbo-talk] hedge funds -- rank: 1000

A friend (actually an lbo-talk alum too) just ran some numbers on hedge fund performance, going back to 1992. Their performance is indistinguishable from the S&P 500. And since that's based on a hedge fund index, it overlooks the facts that: 1) hedge funds are often riskier than the S&P, 2) failed funds drop out of the index (known in the trade as a survivorship bias), and 3) the funds can play games to fudge their end-of-month numbers. So all those fees buy you less than nothing. ...

Document Size:	4969
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 13:37:29 PST 2007

12080 [lbo-talk] crisis etc -- rank: 1000

Thanks to Lou Proyect for pointing this out. There's a multipart video of a recent discussion on capitalist crisis or not between Robert Brenner (yes) and Sam Gindin (no) at: <http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3009679617206113047> You won't be surprised to learn that I'm with Sam on this one. Doug

Document Size:	4745
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 13:27:28 PST 2007

12081 [lbo-talk] Blackwater goes too far! -- rank: 1000

<http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1819755220071218?> New York Times in Iraq: "Blackwater shot our dog" Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:05pm EST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Iraq is investigating another deadly shooting incident involving its Blackwater bodyguards -- this time of the New York Times's dog. Staff at the newspaper's Baghdad bureau said Blackwater bodyguards shot Hentish dead last week before a visit by a U.S. diplomat to the Times compound. Blackwater sp ...

Document Size:	6294
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 12:48:38 PST 2007

12082 [lbo-talk] Group of Five: origins of the subprime bubble -- rank: 1000

On Dec 17, 2007, at 8:34 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote: > I went looking for stuff about this, and here's one thing I found: > > http://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/media/ > rose_sf_future_110107.pdf > > ... and I must say: I'm even less impressed than I was. "And it's important to remember that the "issuer pays" business model does not compromise our analytic judgments. We do say no to issuers regularly." Ha. Doug

Document Size:	5255
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 10:24:22 PST 2007

12083 [lbo-talk] Mitt the Neo-Man -- rank: 1000

[from Mike Allen's Politico daily playbook] Mitt Romney, who until now has not exactly worn his heart on his sleeve, cries for the third time in two weeks.

Document Size:	4713
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 07:18:59 PST 2007

12084 [lbo-talk] poop gold for just $275! -- rank: 1000

<http://www.newmuseumstore.org/viewItem.asp?ItemID=10013350&UnitCde=1> Gold Pills By Just another Rich Kid and Tobias Wong Pure gold passes straight through the body and ends up in your stool resulting in sparkly shit! Gold Leaf and capsules; each approximately 1 inch long; set of three $275.00 $247.50 Members

Document Size:	4905
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 07:08:36 PST 2007

12085 [lbo-talk] Principled Criticism was Krugman -- rank: 1000

On Dec 18, 2007, at 12:45 AM, Carrol Cox wrote: > No practicing political collective, incidentally, can tolerate motive > mongering on the part of its members in political debate. Cde Cox, about six hours earlier: > You can't be posting this just to propound a tautolgy so it > seems that once more your only motive in posting is to sneer at the > alleged opinions and motives thereof of people you don't know.

Document Size:	5019
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Tue Dec 18 03:38:40 PST 2007

12086 [lbo-talk] Krugman -- rank: 1000

On Dec 17, 2007, at 6:06 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > I doubt it. I would assume that all available funds go to "real > investment" AS LONG AS real investment is available. and the shift of > funds into "bubbles" is evidence that real investment has reached its > maximum under the given conditions so that there are surplus funds > with > no place to go except speculative activity. The evidence for this is > precisely the evidence Seth gives: that the bubble di ...

Document Size:	6017
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 17 19:01:21 PST 2007

12087 [lbo-talk] Krugman -- rank: 1000

On Dec 17, 2007, at 7:03 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > I do not have and do not > intend to develop a "sense of humor." That's beautiful. That and your counsel to dress plainly. Do you have New England Calvinists in your past? Doug

Document Size:	4697
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 17 18:47:09 PST 2007

12088 [lbo-talk] Group of Five: origins of the subprime bubble -- rank: 1000

On Dec 17, 2007, at 6:26 PM, Carrol Cox wrote: > Well, how-de-do capitalists actually want to make money. Who would > have > guessed it. You can't be posting this just to propound a tautolgy > so it > seems that once more your only motive in posting is to sneer at the > alleged opinions and motives thereof of people you don't know. Yeah that's it. Weren't you opposed to bringing up motive in evaluating an argument? Just asking. Doug

Document Size:	5222
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 17 18:43:31 PST 2007

12089 [lbo-talk] Krugman -- rank: 1000

On Dec 17, 2007, at 3:47 PM, Seth Ackerman wrote: > In the context of this thread, it's important to point out that "the > housing boom" means two distinct things. One was the bubble in house > prices, which certainly falls into the category of speculative frenzy > generating fictitious profits. The other was the boom in house > *construction*, which doesn't really fall squarely into that category. > > The first category is exemplified by the investor who bought an ...

Document Size:	7242
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 17 13:31:55 PST 2007

12090 [lbo-talk] Group of Five: origins of the subprime bubble -- rank: 1000

[This is the sort of thing I meant when I said some people thought they could make money on housing. No word on whether they discussed FROP at the founding meeting of the G5.] <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aA6YC1xKUoek> Subprime Securities Market Began as `Group of 5' Over Chinese By Mark Pittman Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Representatives of five of Wall Street's dominant investment banks gathered around a blonde wood conference table on a February night almos ...

Document Size:	19094
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Mon Dec 17 13:11:42 PST 2007