The underlying problem with financial advice—besides the fact that most of it is wrong, conflicted (in the conflict of interest sense), or covert marketing—is that, even in the best case, it rarely works.
Tag Archive for Books
James Kwak
A Book That Needed To Be Written
by James Kwak • • 0 Comments
I have previously written about (here, for example) what I call economism, or excessive belief in the little bit that you remember from Economics 101. The problem is twofold. First, Economics 101 usually paints a highly stylized, … Continue reading →
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Blackstone Double Dip – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
The Wall Street machinery was back in business thanks to the Fed’s policies, David Stockman writes. When Extended Stay America exited bankruptcy, its new owner was, well, Blackstone – which had done the LBO. To underscore that speculators h…
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Extended Stay And The Wall Street Meth Labs – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Contributor • • 0 Comments
Wachovia and other banks funded the $7.4 billion debt portion of the Extended Stay LBO, knowing the company was worth only $4.8 billion at the most. The loan was then rolled into structured finance securities – “designed to turn a sow’s ear…
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Monetary Central Planners And Financial Manias – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
“One of the hallmarks of financial manias is that propositions which are perfectly absurd nevertheless get widely embraced by those caught up in the excitement,” writes David Stockman – in this case, Blackstone’s LBO of Extended Stay Hotels…
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman – Bernanke’s (Untough) Love Child: The $27 Billion Affair At The Hilton – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
Budget Director under President Reagan, then partner at private-equity firm Blackstone Group, and author of bestseller THE GREAT DEFORMATION: THE CORRUPTION OF CAPITALISM IN AMERICA, David Stockman makes mincemeat of the Hilton Hotels LBO by Blackstone (yup, the very firm where he used to be a partner) during the Fed-induced LBO craze. For the prior installment,…
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: How The Fed Helped Bushwhack TXU – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
David Stockman, Budget Director under President Reagan and then a partner at private-equity firm Blackstone Group, has graciously permitted me to post excerpts from his bestseller, THE GREAT DEFORMATION: THE CORRUPTION OF CAPITALISM IN AMERICA. This is the second installment from Chapter 25, “DEALS GONE WILD: Rise of the Debt Zombies.” In this chapter, he vivisects…
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Hedge Funds And The Rule Of Rips And Wrecks – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
“At junctures of extreme financial stress, the high level of carry trade funding” that hedge funds use during bubbles “results in violent market reversals,” David Stockman writes. “Wholesale funding evaporates and involuntary asset sales cascade into a bidless abyss.” Hence the collapse of 2000–2003 (45%) and 2008–2009 (55%). Now they’re doing it again.
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Hedge Funds And The Regime Of Insider Trading – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
“As the Fed transformed Wall Street into a casino,” wrote David Stockman, “arrangements for insider speculation took on massive size,” with “hedge fund footings” soaring from $150 billion in 1990 to $3 trillion by the 2007–2008 peak. Trading books of Wall Street banks grew even more explosively. Together, they formed “the fast money complex.”
Contributors- Economic and Financial, Must Read, Wolf Richter
David Stockman: Financial Engineering As The ATM Of The Prosperous Classes – Wolf Richter- Testosterone Pit
by Wolf Richter • • 0 Comments
Unlike mortgage equity withdrawal by households, where the cash windfall was distributed across the middle class, corporate equity withdrawal through buybacks, buyouts, and takeovers resulted in cash distributions to the very top of the economic ladder…
