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POPSGreat New Hedge Fund Saw this humor site in WSJ's Heard on the Street this morning. Here's one of Strategery's top competitive advantages: "We are not limited to looking for opportunities with positive expected returns and so can cast a broader net across the investment universe, thus extending our efficient frontier beyond what other hedge funds can offer."
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POPSSo what happens if Paulson is a genius? This article elegantly lays out the best-case scenario for the Paulson Plan. Funny how things could backfire. Right now at least some politicians are opposing this thing because of election concerns. They're going to have different election concerns if they voted against a plan that, in a couple years time, stopped a financial meltdown and earned a trillion dollars for the taxpayer.
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POPSBartiromo v. Burnett (I suspect like most men who have CNBC on in the background of the office most of the day) I spend a good portion of the day pondering the Maria Bartiromo v. Erin Burnett question. I think I come down in the Bartiromo fan club. I just think Bartiromo knows her stuff better. I can't point to anything specific. But every now and then you're watching Erin and Jim Cramer, and Cramer goes off on one of his rants, and then Erin asks some odd question that doesn't have much to do with the rant. Maybe she's just trying to bring him back under control, but sometimes I think she doesn't really know what he's talking about.
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POPSLet Hank Get Some Sleep! Whatever your feelings about the bailout you gotta acknowledge this: Paulson is a machine. I have no idea when he's possibly gotten any sleep since the Fannie and Freddie takeover. And he had to have been laying the groundwork for that for at least a week. I'm guessing he's barely slept since August. I hope he's okay.
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POPSAdam Smith Meets Climate Change I don't follow the debate on how to create carbon markets as closely as I'd like. But this is an interesting idea about dividing emissions permits into two classes--for people helping and people really helping. Another thing worth pointing out is that even if Brazil, India and China didn't sign on, they'd still end up adapting many of the technologies that carbon markets would force. Carbon caps, for example, would accelerate progress toward more efficient solar power. But once that technology is there, and the price is lower than hydrocarbons (which most people in the solar industry, at least, believe will happen) then it will make sense for India to slap solar panels on all their roofs too.
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POPSFew Options for Next President Am I alone in thinking that the *best* vice-presidential candidate pick for either candidate would have been somebody who genuinely understands, can talk reassuringly, confidently, and clearly, about economics? Am I alone in thinking the campaigns need to start talking *now* about who their Treasury Secretary would be, and start having him or her clued in on these meetings?
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POPSCategory 4 Financial Storm From JP Morgan's congressional testimony a few years after a major bank panic in 1907. An exchange between Morgan and his inquisitor for the government, attorney Samuel Untermyer. Untermyer: "Is not commercial credit based primarily upon money or property?" Morgan: "No sir. The first thing is character." Untermyer: "Before money or property?" Morgan: "Before money or property or anything else. Money cannot buy it...because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom."
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POPSHenry Paulson Double-Dog Dares You Vince Reinhart is one of the best commentators on the issues. I've been trying to get an interview with him for a couple of days, but he's a busy guy right now it seems. I guess reading his story will have to be the next best thing.
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POPSPalin E-mail May Have Been Hacked For a backgrounder on these anonymous internet groups, check out the NY Times profile from August: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?bl&ex=1217736000&en=729a61d7e004a7dd&ei=5087%0A
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POPSFor renewables: scientists vs. lobbyists From The Economist's profile of a businessperson. A solar executive who thinks the renewable subsidies (also known as the Investment and Production Tax Credits, depending on your perspective, I guess). Hertzberg says, “companies hire lobbyists to chase subsidies rather than hiring scientists to create a better product.” Well, maybe. But if economies of scale mean that solar power keeps getting cheaper (and if long-term trends continue of hydrocarbons getting more expensive), the solar companies are going to be hiring scientists and lobbyists and masseuses and circus entertainers and whoever else they want, because they'll be booming.
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POPSIs wind the new ethanol? I think the differences between wind and ethanol are pretty substantial, to put it mildly. But they do both enjoy subsidies (with the occasionally stated idea that eventually the subsidies will be withdrawn once these infant industries have matured.) There was a similar argument in Friday's Economist from a solar company executive who said that one problem with subsidies is that companies spend their time paying lobbyists to keep the subsidy rather than paying scientists to improve the technology. I'll clipmark that next.
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POPSThe most powerful octogenarians A list we can only wish we'd thought of. Thoughts: * Who knew James Lipton, host of "Inside the Actors Studio" (and Warden Gentiles) is 81?! * Who knew James Lipton is more powerful than President George H.W. Bush?!
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POPSUS News Participation Drop This is interesting, because obviously you have to wonder how US News will keep this up without people filling in the survey? Forbes put out its own ranking: http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/08/13/best-colleges-ratings-oped-college08-cx_ha_mn_de_0813best_land.html This Georgetown alum, that's US News #23, Forbes #76 (?!), is skeptical of all of it, because I know the truth. Georgetown = #1.
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POPSDecline of the Decathlete I would add an additional factor to the decline, actually. Giving everyone the same gold medal. The person who wins the trampoline -- and look, I'm not saying trampoline is easy or that I could do it -- gets the exact same gold medal as the winner of the decathlon. The best events should get better medals. The winner of the decathlon, the gymnastics all-around, the 100-meter, the marathon, etc.
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POPSWindy NIMBY An intriguing story about the wind energy industry in upstate New York. Now, corruption, if it's happening, is a legitimate concern. And I can see how a constant humming would be annoying. Vertigo, etc. But I'm not sure I understand the "destroys scenic views" complaint. I mean, windmills look really cool.
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POPSConvention Overkill Jack Shafer of Slate, whose Press Box column I never miss, argues that the conventions are covered way too much. As we wrote last week (and Shafer mentioned us, so he gets bonus points), some news organizations go all out, even as they're budgets are breaking: http://www.forbes.com/media/2008/08/12/newspapers-media-conventions-biz-media-bw_jz_0812newsbiz.html
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POPSTermites to the Rescue? Today they're destroying your house, tomorrow they're fueling your car. Possibly so. The same process that termites use to digest the frame of a house--if we could somehow harness it--could be the way we convert grasses to fuel in the future.
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