Go Hawks

Atlanta Hawks won Portland Blazers and moved to #1 in the conference for the first time in years~~

Hilarious!!

Long standing readers of TBP know I like to try to slip in a lesson or two. The humor and money making market commentary is used as a device to keep you coming back and learning, despite yourself.

Today, I require no pretense for the edumacation. Instead, I will demonstrate one of my favorite peeves, the folly of Confusing Correlation with Causation, and I wll use but a single chart.

Courtesy of Overthinking It, those of you unfamiliar with the Correlation/Causation distinction will learn one of 2 things: Either the lack of really good modern rock songs recently is causing oil production to falter, or conversely, why peak oil has given us Boy Bands, Madonna, and Clearchannel Radio.

Those of you who understand causation can merely smile . . .

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Why We’re All Out of Good Songs

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You can see Crude Oil Production really took a dive after Dark Side of the Moon . . .

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Source:
The Hubbert Peak Theory of Rock, or, Why We’re All Out of Good Songs
Overthinking It, September 23rd, 2008
http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/09/23/the-hubbert-peak-theory-of-rock-or-why-were-all-out-of-good-songs/

Why TARP lose money?

“We need to temper or be realistic about our expectations, a dollar-for-dollar return is just highly unrealistic. It’s almost certainly going to be a loss.”

-Neil Barofsky, TARP Watchdog

Anyone surprised at all about this?

“Neil Barofsky, the federal watchdog for the $700 billion financial industry bailout, said the program will “almost certainly” result in a loss to U.S. taxpayers.

Barofsky, the special inspector general charged by Congress with policing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also said he’s conducting 65 investigations of possible fraud. The former federal prosecutor has pressed the Treasury Department to be more open about the rescue of companies including insurer American International Group Inc. and automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC.

“Tens of billions of dollars are likely to be lost on the automotive bailout,” Barofsky said. In addition, some banks that received TARP money are failing, so the aid they received will be wiped out.

Barofsky also said he is working on a review of how the government exercises its rights as a shareholder in the auto companies, Citigroup Inc. and other firms in which it holds large stakes.

Your mileage losses may vary . . .

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Source:
Barofsky Says TARP ‘Almost Certainly’ Will Bring Loss
Robert Schmidt
Bloomberg, Nov. 12 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a44MGDYGcZHk

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog

How asset or wealth managers make money?

Banking has become very competitive and clients with money, especially in the area of asset management, are very important. Clients tend to be more loyal to a representative than to a bank or corporation. So, banks need good RMs to bring in clients with money so that the bank can make money on that money. A bank makes money by investing money. If they invest your money for you, they can earn fees of about 1% of the total invested. For example, a private wealth manager who has clients with total wealth of about $60 million that is invested in the guys firm/bank. The company earns about 1% on this (about $600,000) and he is paid an annual salary of about 40% of this amount (i.e., about $240,000). His main job is to keep his clients happy so that they don't take their accounts elsewhere. And if he wants to make even more money, he needs to find new clients (even if that means, which it often does, stealing them from other banks).

Let's start with a joke

Friend of mine tried to cancel something on her web, here comes a pop-up.

Pop-up: Do you want to cancel? [ok] [cancel]

Friend of mine: [cancel]

Pop-up: Do you want to cancel? [ok] [cancel]

Friend of mine: [cancel]

it keeps popping up....

Me: why don't you click [ok]!!??!@##$@#$