Repo 105: Creative accounting at Lehman Brothers | 55 comments (55 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Creative accounting at Lehman Brothers (4.00 / 2)

In fact, you presentation is much more nuanced than any other single coverage or analysis I have read. The FT or someone should be paying you to do this for them! (Not that I want to loose you from ET!)

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:18:39 PM EST

Re: Creative accounting at Lehman Brothers (none / 1)

Or lose you. :-)

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:19:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 1)

on European Tribune.

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:40:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 0)

I agree with Geezer, though I am not qualified to comment...

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:46:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 0)

If I am so smart, why am I not rich?

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:47:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 1)

I don't think one necessarily leads, or should lead, to the other. Rich people are rich because they have been fortunate, greedy and selfish: it is very rarely a question of logical skills. Though obfuscation skills can come in handy.

Being not rich is your power in commentary. You really should use it.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 12:54:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (4.00 / 3)

We also rarely describe emotional skills, manipulation skills, and general modeling of other minds as intelligence. "Playing the game" requires these skills and the will to use them to your own ends. Without them you draw a salary at best - which means you are shut out of the big money.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 02:31:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (4.00 / 2)

If I am so smart, why am I not rich?

I was having this discussion with a fellow engineer back in the late 70s and suggested that, in this society, J. Paul Getty or John D. Rockefeller would have to rank as the some of the smartest people who ever lived. He said: "NO! That can't be true!" Then I responded: "If we are so smart, why aren't we rich?" I suspect that personal and intellectual integrity has something to do with it. Among other problems integrity raises are observations that, in polite society, are considered tactless. If you are going to "Go along to get along" as Carl Albert and Sam Rayburn used to say, it helps not to raise ugly truths that disturb the tranquility obtained by soothing lies.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 01:24:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 0)

Integrity has everything to do with it ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 01:54:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (none / 1)

I believe it was in Al Capp's "Ll'l Abner" cartoon where Li'l Abner says: "We're poor, but honest" Someone else suggests: "No. You're poor because you're honest."

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 02:01:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (4.00 / 2)

See Chris Cook's diary: The poor are honest.

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 at 02:13:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Get your forensic derivatives analysis early (4.00 / 2)

There is a war going on, why are you not profiteering?

I do not even demand that you profiteer by selling defective guns like J.P. Morgan did.

J. P. Morgan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

During the American Civil War, Morgan was approached to finance the purchase of antiquated rifles being sold by the army for $3.50 each. Morgan's partner re-machined them and sold the rifles back to the army for $33 each. These guns were defective and were known to blow the thumbs off of those who used them. The sale became a scandal and the government refused to pay for their own defective weapons resold to them at an exorbitant markup. Morgan sued the government twice to collect on his contract.^[2] Morgan himself, like many wealthy persons, avoided military service by paying $300 for a substitute.^[3]

As long as you are ready to treat every scam not explicitly forbidden and effectively prosecuted as a great business opportunity, you should be able to get rich if you are smart. But well, there is the issue of empathy and morals.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Thu Mar 18th, 2010 at 05:24:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Repo 105: Creative accounting at Lehman Brothers | 55 comments (55 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Top Diaries

Ukraine: Allies Waving the White Flag

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - December 2023

Recent Diaries

VDL Hard Lessons Human Rights Law

Boris Johnson 'Bamboozled' by Scientific Data

Ukraine: Allies Waving the White Flag

Stoltenberg: A Big Win for Ukraine

Mark Rutte: Using the Nation to Become Secretary General

December 2023

Netanyahu Tells Biden Fu*k Off

Keeping Up with COP28

A Sort-a Truce Extended 24 Hours

Energy (and Other) Events Monthly - December 2023

NeXiT the Trump Era of Dutch PM Wilders

Erasure of Palestinians the Zionist Dream

21st Century Pax Americana and Violence

Dublin Far Right Riots After Knife Attack

Clean Break From Peace to War

Woodrow Wilson's Collapse and the Peace Movement

A Children's Sing-Along Annihilate Everyone In Gaza

Xi - Joe Launch a New Communication Probe

The Israeli War Hoax of 40 Beheaded Babies

If Palestinians Are 'Animals'? What Are the Israelis?

Occasional Series