...is getting a nice coat of Vaseline. There are no set of circumstances in which the answer was "no" that would have sufficed...but still, the language used is squishy to say the least. Full article here. I would have been fine with "when an American has planned and executed attempts on the lives of other Americans, we consider him an enemy combatant, with all the ramifications inherent in that appellation".
"Some have called such operations 'assassinations.' They are not, and the use of that loaded term is misplaced. Assassinations are unlawful killings," Holder continued in his prepared remarks. "The U.S. government's use of lethal force in self defense against a leader of al Qaeda or an associated force who presents an imminent threat of violent attack would not be unlawful -- and therefore would not violate the Executive Order banning assassination or criminal statutes."
Monday, March 05, 2012
The IVth Crusade
Well, I guess the carriers are right next door...and nobody likes idle assets...
Methuselah channels Urban the II.
Methuselah channels Urban the II.
Good luck with that...
...engineering a soft landing and increased domestic demand should be easy right? I mean, we basically implemented mercantilist policies on the way up and that went swimmingly, so how hard can it be to partially reverse all these flows?
(Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cut his nation's 2012 growth target to an eight-year low of 7.5 percent and made boosting consumer demand the year's first priority as Beijing looks to wean the economy off its reliance on external demand and foreign capital.
He lowered the target from a longstanding annual goal of 8 percent, a move investors anticipated so that Beijing has some economic leeway to rebalance the economy and defuse price pressures in the run up to a leadership change later this year.
Lower growth will allow Beijing to reform key price controls without causing an inflation spike, so monetary policy can stay broadly expansionary to ensure a steady flow of credit to the small and medium-sized firms the government wants to encourage.
(Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cut his nation's 2012 growth target to an eight-year low of 7.5 percent and made boosting consumer demand the year's first priority as Beijing looks to wean the economy off its reliance on external demand and foreign capital.
He lowered the target from a longstanding annual goal of 8 percent, a move investors anticipated so that Beijing has some economic leeway to rebalance the economy and defuse price pressures in the run up to a leadership change later this year.
Lower growth will allow Beijing to reform key price controls without causing an inflation spike, so monetary policy can stay broadly expansionary to ensure a steady flow of credit to the small and medium-sized firms the government wants to encourage.
Risk Transfer.
The "socialism of losses" continues on the other side of the Atlantic. The U.S. had its round of bail-outs (together with a litany of other rescues, assistance, guarantees, etc. all "provided" by the taxpayer by their benevolent and wise representatives and appointees) and now the Euro area is experiencing it looks like when the ugly process of "Bank Re-capitalization" churns on.
Crédit Agricole, one of France's biggest banks, has used ECB loans to whittle down its financial exposure to its troubled Greek subsidiary, Emporiki. After extending more than €10 billion of loans to Emporiki, Crédit Agricole last year decided essentially to cut its losses and is instead trying to get central banks to lend money to Emporiki. Due to its foreign ownership, though, the Greek central bank has barred Emporiki from borrowing from an emergency-lending facility that other Greek banks have been tapping, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But Emporiki borrowed from the ECB. At the end of December, after the ECB's first batch of three-year loans, Emporiki had borrowed €1.8 billion from the ECB, according to Crédit Agricole. Crédit Agricole, meanwhile, reduced its loan exposure to Emporiki to €5.5 billion. It is unclear how much Emporiki borrowed from the ECB last week.
Crédit Agricole, one of France's biggest banks, has used ECB loans to whittle down its financial exposure to its troubled Greek subsidiary, Emporiki. After extending more than €10 billion of loans to Emporiki, Crédit Agricole last year decided essentially to cut its losses and is instead trying to get central banks to lend money to Emporiki. Due to its foreign ownership, though, the Greek central bank has barred Emporiki from borrowing from an emergency-lending facility that other Greek banks have been tapping, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But Emporiki borrowed from the ECB. At the end of December, after the ECB's first batch of three-year loans, Emporiki had borrowed €1.8 billion from the ECB, according to Crédit Agricole. Crédit Agricole, meanwhile, reduced its loan exposure to Emporiki to €5.5 billion. It is unclear how much Emporiki borrowed from the ECB last week.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
In light of my last post...
...and further expounding on the simple truth of highly competitive systems creating massive incentives for, shall we say, the aggressive pursuit of comparative advantage, my new adopted city receives some "disturbing" news:
After a lengthy investigation conducted by the NFL's security department, the league announced Friday that 22 to 27 defensive players on the New Orleans Saints maintained a "pay for performance" program that included "bounty" payments administered by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.
This, or similar programs, are not an isolated incident. I would think they are endemic within the NFL. Just as highly competitive Fund Managers are incentivized (and encouraged, in may cases) to gain any advantage, so are NFL teams required to maintain the most competitive environments possible in order to win.
Football remains interesting to me only because of its convergence to "real" competitive systems such as military applications, and its no wonder many financial heavyweights have moved into professional sports ownership.
As for this:
The NFL said its findings were corroborated by multiple, independent sources. Asked about potential criminal charges, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said:
“We believe that any violation of league rules should and will be handled by the commissioner.”
A very interesting comment on accountability and the place and role of sport in society.
After a lengthy investigation conducted by the NFL's security department, the league announced Friday that 22 to 27 defensive players on the New Orleans Saints maintained a "pay for performance" program that included "bounty" payments administered by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.
This, or similar programs, are not an isolated incident. I would think they are endemic within the NFL. Just as highly competitive Fund Managers are incentivized (and encouraged, in may cases) to gain any advantage, so are NFL teams required to maintain the most competitive environments possible in order to win.
Football remains interesting to me only because of its convergence to "real" competitive systems such as military applications, and its no wonder many financial heavyweights have moved into professional sports ownership.
As for this:
The NFL said its findings were corroborated by multiple, independent sources. Asked about potential criminal charges, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said:
“We believe that any violation of league rules should and will be handled by the commissioner.”
A very interesting comment on accountability and the place and role of sport in society.
Friday, March 02, 2012
You Can't Handle the Truth
As an asset manager, you can perform all the "best practice" due diligence in the world with respect to your fund managers, but the irresistible lure of higher returns (and higher "alpha", whatever that means these days) will always attract folks who don't ask too many hard questions...precisely because they do not want to know the answers. Its a difficult game. The asset manager wants to know how and when a fund manager makes and loses money. The Fund manager wants to keep exactly how this happens a secret, as copying investment styles is the official sport of Investment Banks.
There are many successful Funds who claim to have some "edge" when investing. They usually cloak their styles in oppressively boring platitudes designed to mask what they actually do: engage in aggressive insider trading. There are also many successful asset managers who RELY on the returns provided by these Funds engaged in this activity in order to provide the maximum benefit to, say, pensioners with definable liabilities upon retirement. The minnow in this ocean are the people who get angry at massive Wall Street and Fund bonuses while happily cashing their pension or Life Insurance annuity check that has appreciated their savings to a considerable level.
The problem for an asset manager is maintaining a "of course we did not know our thoroughly vetted and investigated Fund Managers were engaged in such activity, Mr. FBI/SEC/FINRA/FED Enforcement Officer!" fascade of plausible deniability coupled with a steady hand on the switch to remove any and all assets from a Fund Manager in the event of a Indictment/Wells Notice/Formal Investigation/etc. by said authorities. Any such notice of formal investigation applies massive pressure on individuals to cooperate and indictments are imminent. These acts will be cited when said officers ask for a raise or run for Congress. Its how the world works.
This risk is massive at the moment, with all of the above in addition to States' AG offices scanning for any reason to bring scalps to a public demanding blood and "justice". But of course, the Asset Managers will be spared. Just as when Politicians receive large campaign contributions from "interesting" people. Plausible deniability is but another gear in the world's engine.
"There are two things that you don't want to see being made: Sausage and Legislation"
You can go ahead and throw persistent Alpha in with that.
Que Mr. Nicholson.
You're not thinking big enough...
...a humorous underestimation of ambition.
As polls universally predict victory for Vladimir Putin in Russian presidential elections Sunday, a prominent Washington Russia scholar likened the once and likely future Russian president to Italy's disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was ousted from power last year during the European financial crisis.
"Putin is now moving into his 'Berlusconi phase,'" Fiona Hill, a Russia scholar at the Brookings Institution, said in an analysis prepared by the think tank and sent to journalists in advance of Sunday's polls.
"Like Putin in Russia, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics," Hill wrote. "Berlusconi's brand had been tarnished for a long time, but he was still the most popular individual politician in a fractious Italian political scene." Like Putin, Berlusconi "stifled the opposition...manipulated the media, [and] had mass protests against him. But none of the political opposition seemed to be capable of dislodging him from his perch."
As polls universally predict victory for Vladimir Putin in Russian presidential elections Sunday, a prominent Washington Russia scholar likened the once and likely future Russian president to Italy's disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was ousted from power last year during the European financial crisis.
"Putin is now moving into his 'Berlusconi phase,'" Fiona Hill, a Russia scholar at the Brookings Institution, said in an analysis prepared by the think tank and sent to journalists in advance of Sunday's polls.
"Like Putin in Russia, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics," Hill wrote. "Berlusconi's brand had been tarnished for a long time, but he was still the most popular individual politician in a fractious Italian political scene." Like Putin, Berlusconi "stifled the opposition...manipulated the media, [and] had mass protests against him. But none of the political opposition seemed to be capable of dislodging him from his perch."
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