Monthly Archives: November 2008

HUGHES—STRANGE STATES OF BEING.

Posted on November 17, 2008 by Philip

HUGHES–STRANGE STATES OF BEING. Cadie Robertson urged me to read the translation by Ted Hughes of Ovid’s METAMORPHOSES. It’s a great book, the product of two geniuses. Hughes and Ovid are both fascinated with nonhuman states—Actaeon being changed into a … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

MONEYBALL AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS.

Posted on November 16, 2008 by Philip

MONEYBALL AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. What does MONEYBALL have to do with the financial crisis? The connection is that Michael Lewis, the author of MONEYBALL (which describes how sabermatricians brought statistical analysis to baseball) has written a long, amusing, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Economics, Shakespeare, Sports | 3 Comments

A RATING AGENCY FOR LIQUIDITY.

Posted on November 16, 2008 by Philip

A RATING AGENCY FOR LIQUIDITY. Financial institutions have relied on rating agencies to evaluate the credit-worthiness of financial instruments. Now that it has been dramatically shown that credit-worthiness is different from being liquid, perhaps there should be a rating agency … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

DOCUMENTATION: 1,700,000 PAGES.

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Philip

DOCUMENTATION: 1,700.000 PAGES. How complicated are some of these securities? A friend sent me a link to a seminar report where James Grant, of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, described the legal documentation for a collateral debt obligation company as having … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

WHERE THERE ARE COINS, THERE MUST BE MARKETS.

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Philip

WHERE THERE ARE COINS, THERE MUST BE MARKETS. This article tells of the discovery in the Netherlands of Celtic gold coins which were minted by the Eburones (a tribe that Julius Caesar claimed to have wiped out in 53 B.C) … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History | Leave a comment

BASEL II—WHAT REGULATORS DIDN’T FORESEE.

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Philip

BASEL II–WHAT REGULATORS DIDN’T FORESEE. I have posted on the remarkably small percentage of liquid reserves that financial institutions were maintaining before the current crisis. But those institutions were not the only ones that did not foresee the risks. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 2 Comments

HEANEY—BOG PEOPLE.

Posted on November 14, 2008 by Philip

HEANEY—BOG PEOPLE. Seamus Heaney has special meaning for me because of his poems about bog and peat. (The Sidestep essay I linked to yesterday refers to Heaney’s “obsession with peat bogs.”) I have long thought of my ancestors on both … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

TED HUGHES AND SEAMUS HEANEY (COMMENT).

Posted on November 13, 2008 by Philip

TED HUGHES AND SEAMUS HEANEY (COMMENT). I received a comment here from the proprietor of the Sidestep blog with kind words for Paterfamilias and a suggestion that I might find his blog interesting. I do. Sidestep is a much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 2 Comments

NEBRASKA SPLITS ITS ELECTORAL VOTES.

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Philip

NEBRASKA SPLITS ITS ELECTORAL VOTES. I have always skipped reading articles which argue for electing the president by popular vote or for electoral college reform. I can’t imagine it happening. I can’t imagine the smaller states voting to approve a … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | 4 Comments

“BEAT-SWEETENER PIECES.”

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Philip

“BEAT-SWEETENER PIECES.” Almost two years ago, I posted on Mickey Kaus’s use of the term “source-greaser” for an article that is slanted toward an anonymous source. In the November 10 Washington Post, Howard Kurtz quotes a former managing editor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment