Best tweets of past week

Some of the best tweets (or at least my favorites) I have seen this week (not all are finance related)

Wayne Marr is simply amazing. Has so many interesting tweets he may personally be the cause of my total lack of productivity some days. But in a good way :) A few of his tweets:

1. Was there Really a #Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne #Plant? An Analysis of the Original Experiments http://tinyurl.com/oznr2u
   
2. New York Fed: Dudley: A Preliminary Assessment of the TALF http://tinyurl.com/qpy8xg
3. #SSRN #HedgeFunds, #SystemicRisk, and the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008: Written Testimony, Andy Lo, MIT http://bit.ly/SiltW
4. #SSRN Miraculous #FinancialEngineering or #Toxic #Finance? The Genesis of the U.S. #Subprime #MortgageCrisis .. http://bit.ly/cNzEN
5. #SSRN - What Drives #Channel Choice in #Grocery #Shopping? http://bit.ly/Dr93A
6. #NBER - Why do #Institutions of #HigherEducation Reward #Research While Selling #Education? http://tinyurl.com/pnczbj
7. #CorporateGovernance and Market #Liquidity http://bit.ly/iL5FQ

Tweets from SimoleoneSense

1. Video: NYU Professor On Understanding The GM Bankruptcy: Its about time I posted a Charlie Rose interview. Video.. http://tinyurl.com/pot2cg
2. Attention! Listen to Miguel Barbosa Interviewed By Real Great Stories.Com: I was recently interviewed on the Rea.. http://tinyurl.com/q2f92m
3. Bank Failures & The Deposit Insurance Fund: Article on FDIC, reserve ratios, & bank failures. Click Here To .. http://tinyurl.com/lztdut
4. Weekly Wisdom Roundup #30 (Links You Don’t Want To Miss): If you like these weekly roundups Irecommend sig.. http://tinyurl.com/noar5r

Tweets that are definitely worth reading from @Mises:

1. Cars and Government: Bad Mix: The former Car Czar of Romania, writing in the WSJ, talks about his experience in .. http://tinyurl.com/neq4mj
2. Bad News for Our Money: Suppressing market interest rates to the lowest level possible seems to have become a ke.. http://tinyurl.com/qvf45r
3. Defining the Extent of the Market: the Whole Foods Case: Anyone is a monopolist if the market is defined narrowl.. http://tinyurl.com/nga79b
4. Fed Cannot Withdraw the Money: The Fed has purchased assets at above-market prices, temporarily expanding the mo.. http://tinyurl.com/loxomp

Tweets from @HarvardBiz

1. Why GM Failed http://bit.ly/19GYvu
2. Management Tip: How to Combine Creativity and Results http://bit.ly/FzjGI
3. Could GM Factories Reinvent Themselves Now as They Did in 1942? http://bit.ly/305BNc
4. The Daily Stat: An Expanded Role for Finance http://bit.ly/BlLQN
5. Do You Get Paid for Your Time? http://bit.ly/UrPJ5
6. Our Approach to Finance http://bit.ly/sxI87
7. Never Let Your Ego Stop You from Learning http://u.mavrev.com/66wm
8. How to Write a Resumé That Doesn't Annoy People http://bit.ly/qwPeD

Some Tweets from @Mashable

1. Mint Takes its Personal Finance Tools to My Yahoo http://bit.ly/Hapx9
2. Time Magazine Explains Twitter - http://bit.ly/1TquF
3. Congressman Uses Wisdom of Crowds to Redesign Website - http://bit.ly/kFbDo
4. Google Squared: Your Search Results in Spreadsheet Form - http://bit.ly/17t4gE
5. TwitDoc: Drag and Drop File Sharing for Twitter - http://bit.ly/1BOaa
6. If you're new to Twitter, our Twitter how-tos & resources section is the place to start: http://bit.ly/163Pmp

Two news items from @CanWire

1. Microsoft considers moving jobs offshore under Obama tax plan - http://tweeting.ca/0b7 (Bloomberg.com)
2. Steve Jobs returns from sick leave - http://tweeting.ca/0b8 (Telegraph Newspaper)

Assorted other tweets

• @researchpuzzler a look at $GDX versus $GLD over the last year http://tinyurl.com/m5k4w9

• @robthetechguy Tech Crunch: Google Finance Sheds Its Beta Label Three Years After Launch; Still Can’t Touch Yahoo http://bit.ly/lA72T

• @MilkenInstutute: Milken Institute proposal to fix the U.S. housing market - homeowner principal forgiveness vesting plan - FT.com http://tinyurl.com/kw9uq7

Less Finance Related

• From @economicwoman: Reading minutes, I have to wonder if UN agencies would benefit from some artificial scarcity of meetings. Maybe a system of tokens?

Wow. Great idea! I wonder if SBU (where I teach) can do the same!

• From @climateproject: climate crisis: share your solutions http://bit.ly/N5PkmBTW you can also see what others submitted here.

• From SimoleonSense: Breathtaking Videos Of Human Impact On The Planet - The Earth From Above:: Interesting video from one of the bes.. http://tinyurl.com/plslqj

• From @Lura_ForcumA great article on applying MBA skills to development work in Africa -- featuring Kelley alum Khary Dickerson: http://is.gd/PgLg

• From @velostreamPhilanthropic Cycling... catch the bug. http://bycride.org
  

and then one from me (via BonaResponds)

• @BonaResponds One of the things I like about Olean, just waited in short line of traffic. The hold up? two dogs walking down middle of the street :)

So many interesting reads, so little time

In the spirit of the old FinanceProfessor Newsletter, here is how I am going to try and catch up:

Over at ClusterStock/BusinessInsider Joesph Weisenthal was really on a roll this week. The first article is an excellent fast look at why the Federal Government should not be active bank shareholders:

"The real question should be: Does the US having an active stake in Citigroup make it more likely that the bank will be run better for shareholders? If it does then okay, we can debate. But this seems highly unlikely, given how politicized lending can become. This is the same problem as having labor union representation on a board. The board's duty is not too look out for their sponsoring shareholders, their duty is to look out for all shareholders. But any government rep -- armed with mandates, such as "green" lending, lending to labor union-dominated companies and providing more affordable housing loans -- would have a totally separate agenda."

Weisenthal also reminds us that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are losing e money ($400 B to date) faster than AIG and GM combined but we hardly hear anything. He opines:

"But the news of the quarterly loss is getting hardly any attention....The problem is that the Fannie and Freddie disasters don't fit into any conventional media narrative....Fannie Mae? They help nice families get into homes. Their motto is something about helping the people who help house America. Who could be against that? Plus, the Fannie and Freddy story doesn't help explain the idea that laissez-faire deregulation is what allowed Wall Street to go crazy. Fannie and Freddy had their own freakin' regulator...."

And one more from ClusterStock. John Carney points out that a staggering 60% of subprime mortgage defaults, STARTED out as prime mortgages.

"...Mike Rotny takes a look at a recent study by the Boston Fed that devastates the subprime villain mythology. It turns out that roughly 28 percent of all mortgages defaults, and 60 percent of all subprime defaults, were mortgages that started with a prime mortgage.

"...28% of all mortgage foreclosures, and 60% of subprime foreclosures, are from people who started with a prime mortgage. Those are the Us — good credit scores, 20% down, pay the bills on time. . . .

In one we alluded to in class this week Henry Rearden probably turned in his fictional grave as 1.5 million Verizon subscribers will have to switch to AT&T as their regions (mainly rural) were sold to alleviate monopoly concerns.

"Yesterday AT&T announced that it has reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless that will see AT&T acquiring a large number of former Alltel Wireless assets and 1.5 million subscribers from Verizon for US$2.35 billion in cash. Verizon Wireless was required to divest of most of these particular markets in order to get federal approval for its acquisition of Alltel. The government required Verizon to release these Alltel markets in order to maintain competition."

Some of my favorite books ever are alternative histories. You know, the what would have happened if Day 2 of Gettysburg hadn't happened etc. In that spirit, "Big Jake" writing for Seeking Alpha has a great piece. It is just possible enough to be believeable, but just far fetched enough to be still be fiction. Definitely worth the time of reading the whole thing! The Worst Case Scenario (Someone has to say it) : (one look in at #4)

"As the government sends out additional “rebate” checks and takes ever-more drastic measures to force banks to lend, hyperinflation could take hold. However, comprehensive debt relief via a devaluation of the dollar is even more likely. This would entail the government issuing one “new” dollar for some greater number of “old” dollars—thus reducing both debts and savings simultaneously....

As there are many more debtors than savers in the U.S., the vast majority would support devaluation. The Chinese and other foreign holders of our bonds would be screaming mad, but unable to do anything"

A look around

Almost in the spirit of the old FP newsletter, here is a quick look at some news stories etc that I think you might be interested. No time to go into great detail..sorry!


CNN/Fortune have a good interview with Lee Iacocca. In it he talks about why the Chrysler-Daimler merger failed, on his fear of private equity, and even on the workout habits of the 90 year old Kirk Kerkorian. "

While subprime lending has been under attack on all fronts of late, USA Today shows that it does have a good side as well: it gets more people into their own homes. Surprisingly to me, about 50% of home loans to minorities are so classified. However, the article also shows the problem with these loans (not everyone having access to the information) and cites an instance of a borrower expecting $1200 payments and getting $3000 payments.

In what will likely end up being the second largest takeover ever, ABN shareholders are demanding that managers take the highest bid (currently from Royal Bank) and not the slightly lower bid from Barclays. (I definitely see this one being used in classes!)

Want to run a hedge fund? You are not alone. Why? One big reason is the amount of money you can make. How does $240 million sound? For the record, DealBook also examines how much a second year IB can expect to make this year.

The NY Times governance story continues. Super short version: the Ochs-Sulzberger family owns a controlling interest and minority shareholders are upset but can't do much but complain, withhold their votes, or sell their shares.

MSNBC gives us an example of Porter's Buyer power and how it can negatively impact stock prices with an example of a small manufacturer who sells to Wal-Mart.

Backdating at Apple was back in the news as it now seems that the CFO had warned Steven Jobs that the firm might have to restate earnings if the options were backdated.

The Middle East Times reports that the money supply in Iran is growing at over 40% leading to high inflation.

Tyler at the Marginal Revolution reports that all is not as hoped at Jeffrey Sach's Millenium Villages.

And then a whole lot less seriously: The UnknownProfessor and the NY Times' Dealbook both point to the Columbia Business School's hilarious spoof of Sir Mix A Lot's "Baby Got Back" (which interesting is still played almost every night on Open House Party--yeah sort of scary that I know that!)


What they don't point you to however are some of the other hilarious videos that the Columbia Business School have done: a spoof of Brokeback Mountain, Harry Potter, last year's Every Breath You take Video, and my favorite a look at KKR's Henry Kravis as a fake South Park Episode. (Typical language appropriateness warnings are probably warranted).