July 2009
16 posts
“Well, I know all of us are supposed to get into the spirit of levity and good...”
– Charles Krauthammer on Beer, Obama and Condescention (Krauthammer’s Take, via The Corner on NRO)
Why Does Anybody Go to Miami?
Liz Lemon: Why are you going to Miami?
Jack Donaghy: Why does anybody go to Miami? ASS...and the burgeoning arts scene.
Niall Ferguson on the "Global Foreclosure"
Heather Scoffield: Abu Dhabi has just bought Nova Chemical because the company couldn't get credit. Is this the way of the future?
Niall Ferguson: “There are some fantastic investment opportunities that pretty soon are going to start attracting buyers. The returns on the super-safe, highly-liquid U.S. Treasury portfolios are next to nothing. The potential returns from buying distressed assets or from buying companies that can't roll over their debt, are double digit. So any individual institution liquid enough and not leveraged can start playing this game, and will play this game. This is going to be the beginning of a whole new investment strategy in which companies that can't roll their debt over end up being sold at bargain basement prices, or broken up and their assets sold at bargain-basement prices, in very, very large numbers. And it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see that the buyers will be sovereign wealth funds or other entities in surplus countries. The world divides in two, the debtors and the creditors. The debtors … (U.S., Europe) ... are going to have to sell of their assets. Call it the global foreclosure. They're going to be selling their assets cheaply to those who have the surpluses. This is not going to be like the Chinese buying Blackstone at the top of the market. “It's revenge of the sovereign wealth funds. They got burned. And this time, no more Mr. Nice Guy.”
“He said he had been a highly regarded member of the force, and had so...”
– Interview With a Basiji Militia Member Regarding His Role in Raping and Executing Young Iranian Girls (“I married Iranian girls before their execution” by Sabina Amidi, 07/19/2009, via the Jerusalem Post)
“In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results...”
– From The Mayo Clinic’s Official Comment on Current ObamaCare Proposals (What’s Up, Docs?, WSJ.com)
Dirty Harry & San Francisco
Frank J. Flemming: "I don't know how Dirty Harry could stand living in San Franisco."
His Dad: "Easy. He shot people."
“Cliff’s Additional Disclosure
This is Cliff speaking now. AQR’s legal...”
– Clifford S. Asness, Managing Principal of AQR Capital Management, with a rather interesting disclaimer at the end of his Health Care position paper (“Health Care Mythology”, stumblingontruth)
WatchNassim Taleb (of Black Swan fame) on why things won’t get better soon.
He’s absolutely correct, and people had better start paying attention.
