Category Archives: Bidness

Federal Bailout…

By Frank Paynter | Published: November 1, 2008

…I have a box full of losing lottery tickets I would like to redeem. Should I send them to the Fed or Congress? [tags]raving lunacy[/tags]

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Values and the Financial Crisis

By Frank Paynter | Published: September 27, 2008

Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, offered these suggestions and observations regarding the so called “bailout” in a letter she sent this week. Our nation is in trouble: Economic inequality is at its highest level since the Great Depression. The U.S. economy has shed 600,000 jobs this year. Food banks [...]

Also posted in Friends, Peace and Politics | Comments closed

Entrepreneurial ideas for these parlous times…

By Frank Paynter | Published: September 26, 2008

Wheelbarrow business. As the hyper-inflation bears down on us we will soon have to trundle wheelbarrow loads of money in order to buy a loaf of bread. Molotov cocktail business. With troops soon to be garrisoned in our communities the time will come when we want to express our displeasure with tank treads tearing up [...]

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Warren Buffet on Derivatives

By Frank Paynter | Published: September 20, 2008

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report 12/31/2002 Derivatives Charlie and I are of one mind in how we feel about derivatives and the trading activities that go with them: We view them as time bombs, both for the parties that deal in them and the economic system. Having delivered that thought, which I’ll get back to, let [...]

Also posted in Class Warfare, Disparities, Global Concern, Government, Truth and Falsehood | Comments closed

New Rules… house of cards division

By Frank Paynter | Published: September 20, 2008

Some notes… Bear Stearns: You remember the pump and dump, right? That’s where a certain someone buys stock in a company, then goes to message boards, chat rooms, and spam e-mail lists to talk other people into buying it. Their sudden surge in buy orders sends the stock price up, allowing the certain someone to [...]

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In your shorts

By Frank Paynter | Published: September 20, 2008

Here’s a pretty good article on asymmetric risk. It provides an entering wedge into understanding the delusional nature of hedge funds. Consider… Almost, all financial derivatives display asymmetric payoffs. All sold (short) option positions and sold (short) derivatives positions – something that banks, financial institutions, hedge funds and even corporations engage in regularly these days [...]

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Market Forces

By Frank Paynter | Published: August 22, 2008

It’s a free market system. So take your best shot… The following essay was lifted in its entirety from Rand Review, Summer 2008. Corporate Counterinsurgency By William Rosenau, Peter Chalk, and Angel Rabasa Historically, the American approach to counterinsurgency has concentrated almost exclusively on building up a threatened state’s ability to develop and marshal the [...]

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Lessig on McCain’s Internet Technology Position

By Frank Paynter | Published: August 20, 2008

McCain says he supports Michael Powell’s “four freedoms,” but what is the truth? How does McCain’s business-as-usual approach to technology help the US achieve global parity in broadband penetration? How does his policy direction differ from what we expect from Obama? [tags]lessig, mccain, obama, network neutrality, broadband penetration[/tags]

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