Extraordinary Popular Delusionshttp://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:44:42 +0000en-USSquarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.159 (http://www.squarespace.com)EPD Acquires WWW.THEBUBBLIST.COM!!!!!!Stickman EDMon, 03 Dec 2012 19:20:26 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/12/3/epd-acquires-wwwthebubblistcom.html294276:3013010:31616914In what many one of the most significant TLD tarnsaction of 2013,  EPD has acquired the URL for The Bubblist!  (www.thebubblist.com)  The definitive resource for bubblology, theBubblist.com  is ready tp prick all silliness and human idiocy out of existence 

]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-31616914.xmlCaveat Emperor!Stickman EDMon, 22 Oct 2012 15:44:10 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/10/22/caveat-emperor.html294276:3013010:30009934"This is the Biggest Bubble in the History of Bubbledom"

 

]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-30009934.xmlHigh Marx 2.0Stickman EDSun, 21 Oct 2012 04:15:50 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/10/21/high-marx-20.html294276:3013010:29968984

 

"The cheapnessof capital gives facilities to speculation , just the same way as the cheapness of beef and of beer gives facilities to gluttony and drunkeness."  

-Karl Marx 

Capital Vol. 3: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole

 


]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-29968984.xmlWhat Does Private Equity Actually Do?Stickman EDFri, 19 Oct 2012 04:43:44 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/10/19/what-does-private-equity-actually-do.html294276:3013010:29937508Here is an excellent summary from Peter Joseph of how private equity works and how Mitt got so damn rich.

 

The New York Times

The Opinion Pages

 

CAMPAIGN STOPS October 18, 2012, 9:13 PMComment

A Financier in Chief

By PETER JOSEPH
Mitt Romney with William Bain Jr. at Bain's office in Boston on Oct. 29, 1990.Justine Schiavo/The Boston GlobMitt Romney with William Bain Jr. at Bain’s office in Boston on Oct. 29, 1990.

 

 

 

 

]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-29937508.xmlTHE VENN DIALOGUES HAVE ARRIVED!Stickman EDSat, 01 Sep 2012 20:37:41 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/9/1/the-venn-dialogues-have-arrived.html294276:3013010:27047596Welcome to the VENN DIALOGUES


 

 



]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-27047596.xmlWTF? NEWS ADDS PAPER.LI TO GLOBAL PLATFORMStickman EDThu, 09 Aug 2012 06:59:37 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/8/9/wtf-news-adds-paperli-to-global-platform.html294276:3013010:22247431 ]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-22247431.xmlWTF? NEWSStickman EDWed, 01 Aug 2012 16:51:01 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/8/1/wtf-news.html294276:3013010:21014069LIBOR LIEBOR on the WALL

 

 

AP's Protection of Geithner in 'Lie-bor' Scandal Continues

 

My, it was awfully nice of Marcy Gordon at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, to give Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner such excellent protection in her report on the New York Federal Reserve Bank's release of documents relating to its knowledge of the manipulation of the "Libor" (London interbank offered rate) used as the basis for the pricing of trillions of dollars of loans.

Her report's second paragraph only tells readers that Geithner, "who was then president of the New York Fed, urged the Bank of England to make the rate-setting process more transparent." What a helpful guy. Readers needed to go to Paragraph 12 to see more about Geithner, and even that information was given kid-glove treatment:


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2012/07/13/aps-protection-geithner-lie-bor-scandal-continues#ixzz22JY4YnJg

 

]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-21014069.xmlWTF? NEWSEPD's WTF? NewsStickman EDWed, 01 Aug 2012 02:02:53 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/7/31/wtf-news.html294276:3013010:20962574EDVARD MUNCH: I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

 


]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-20962574.xmlWTF? NEWSStickman EDFri, 20 Jul 2012 15:39:22 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/7/20/wtf-news.html294276:3013010:19531638LIBOR LIEBOR on the WALL 

The Mosaic Continues Piece by Piece

 

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/libor-scandal-shows-many-flaws-in-rate-setting/?ref=global-home

JULY 19, 2012, 7:34 PM

Libor Scandal Shows Many Flaws in Rate-Setting

By PETER EAVIS and NATHANIEL POPPER

It is an open secret in the banking world: the interest rates for many mortgages and loans are based on a benchmark that is largely guesswork.

The flaws in the rate-setting process, which is used to determine the pricing for trillions of dollars of financial products, have been exposed by the latest banking scandal. Regulators around the world are investigating whether big banks gamed the rates for their own benefit before and after the financial crisis.

But even if banks do not deliberately manipulate the rates, the benchmark remains vulnerable.

Banks derive the rates from estimates rather than real market data. So the benchmark, a measure of how much banks charge each other for loans, does not necessarily represent actual borrowing costs. This weakness has only been exacerbated in recent years, as banks have mostly stopped lending to each other.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, told Congress this week that he did not have "full confidence" in the process, calling it "structurally flawed."  (continue at NYT Deal Book)

]]>http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/rss-comments-entry-19531638.xmlLIBOR:Once Again History Repeats ItselfStickman EDFri, 13 Jul 2012 00:43:06 +0000http://extraordinarypopulardelusions.net/blog/2012/7/12/liboronce-again-history-repeats-itself.html294276:3013010:18165344LIEBOR Scandal Widens

 

Evokes mid 80s Prime Rate Lawsuits

 

Jackie Kleiner sure knew how to scare the shit out of bankers back in the mid 80s.  Seems banks had forgotten to change their definition of the Prime Rate in the loan docs.  They called it the rate they lend at to their best customers. That was true until it wasn't.  To keep up  with the  Joneses (European banks)  US banks  started moving away from Prime as the base rate.  They started lending to large corporate credits using LIBOR as the base rate which just happened to be hundreds of basis points below prime.   Hence they were lending  to their best customers like Coca Cola at LIBOR plus 50bp say 7.5% when Prime was 13% to the 99%:  the bankers held Prime artificially high just because they could milk the average cow dry.  This definitely came back to bite them in the ass when a small time attroney figured it all out and sued the sons-a-bitches.

 

Maybe the LIBOR police should take a look at history repeating.  Attorney Generals, time rev up your engines.  


http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/03/business/suit-tests-prime-s-definition.html

 

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