Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Sabri Oncu
Michael: I did not even know anything about CDOs before I read the Partnoy book. Welcome to the real world of finance! For those of you who are interested in CDOs, that is, Collateralized Debt Obligations, here is a good article: http://www.stanford.edu/~duffie/ddng.pdf Parts of it are

Re: Uncle Sam Tries to Recruit Canada's Inuit

2003-12-25 Thread Max B. Sawicky
maybe they can find more Gurkhas. mbs

boom fizzles????

2003-12-25 Thread Michael Perelman
You should not predict on the basis of a couple of observations, but new home and durable goods sales are down. Right now anything the bothers President Rove gives me Christmas cheer. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail

Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Michael Perelman
Duffie shows the sophisticated math behind these derivatives. Partnoy shows that the purchasers don't have the foggiest notion of what they are buying; they only see a high rate of return --- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321

Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Sabri Oncu
Michael: Partnoy shows that the purchasers don't have the foggiest notion of what they are buying; they only see a high rate of return This is the main idea. If they knew what they were buying, would they buy them in the first place, at least, at the price they are buying? CMOs

Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Michael Perelman
Yes, but the victims are likely to be pension funds and public agencies. On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 12:12:58PM -0800, Sabri Oncu wrote: And we will see what will happen to CDOs. They seem to be bigger than CMOs though. CMOs were an American thing. CDOs are global. I bet there are many disasters

Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Sabri Oncu
Michael: Yes, but the victims are likely to be pension funds and public agencies. Quite likely. But nowadays I don't follow the financial markets as closely as I used to, so I am not certain who exactly will the victims be. Who are the main purchasers of these CDOs, does anyone know? If

Re: The entrails of finance

2003-12-25 Thread Michael Perelman
Portnoy wrote me to say that insurance companies were the purchasers of much of the Enron generation of CDOs. I assume that they have wised up. The WSJ article I referenced, suggested that Asians are now buying the junk. They might think that if it is all gussied up with math, it must be

Re: boom fizzles????

2003-12-25 Thread Sabri Oncu
Michael: You should not predict on the basis of a couple of observations, but new home and durable goods sales are down. I hijacked the article below from another list and am sending it without comment. My biggest prediction failure has been my prediction that the (un)real estate bubble would

the $

2003-12-25 Thread Eubulides
Concerns Rising With Dollar's Continued Fall Analysts Fear Rates Will Climb, Recovery Will Stall By Jonathan Weisman and John M. Berry Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, December 26, 2003; Page D08 With the economy expanding smartly, interest rates low and inflation in check, President Bush