Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
LQD: Why God made Economists | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 4)
I always enjoy reading McWilliams.

The joke is that a debt/equity swap is precisely what's needed - just not the conventional sort of equity the smart boys have in mind.

If NAMA were incorporated and used as a framework, rather than an organisation, then a solution is achievable that the pass maths boys could - and would - implement tomorrow...

...how does one get to the pass maths boys, Frank?

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Sat Nov 14th, 2009 at 07:42:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 3)
Dunno - they're all living it up on the Costa Del Sol -  ask Mig - after they flipped their properties they flipped their climate and decided it was time for some sunshine and golf.  The rest are on the dole in Ireland now.

notes from no w here
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sat Nov 14th, 2009 at 02:00:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 3)
Doesn't sound so "mock" to me, except in the mocking of pretensions.  Perhaps the real problem is that the honors boys are too embarrassed to admit they have been had and thus prefer to be bailed out at the expense of everyone's future rather than admitting the truth, prosecuting and extraditing, if required, the guilty, and cleaning up the system.  Just as long as they can keep up appearances.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Nov 20th, 2009 at 07:04:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 2)
As much fun as armchair psychiatry is, I think it's much simpler: They bet a lot of (in large part borrowed) money. They lost their bets. They are in a position to get the state to cover their bad bets, so they use it.

What's not to like about it from their perspective?

After all, stealing from the taxpayers is a lot easier than proving in a court of law that the guy who sold you a gamy promotion did something that is considered legally blameworthy.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Fri Nov 20th, 2009 at 09:39:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 2)
Both and.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Nov 21st, 2009 at 02:11:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Pass maths boys (4.00 / 2)
Exactly. It's not always cold black and white commercial calculation.

Just ask the Chinese and Japanese how important 'face' is.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Sat Nov 21st, 2009 at 06:02:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

LQD: Why God made Economists | 13 comments (13 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Display: