Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Cool Toys
Omega Speedmaster - Design hasn't changed since '57 I believe
Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean
Rolex SeaDweller DEEPSEA - Only rolex without the cyclops magnifier
Monday, July 21, 2008
Rhymefest Mixtape - Man in the Mirror
Rhymefest, a Chicago based rapper who is childhood friends with Kanye West and signed to Mark Ronson's Allido records released a mixtape that allegedly pays homage to his idol Michael Jackson.
Download it here
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The US government makes my blood boil
The latest bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was necessary. Not desirable but necessary. In the event of a failure of two mortgage giants, we surely would bigger issues to worry about than if the United States can be considered a capitalist society anymore. The financial system would literally be defuct and locked up. ATMs might not dispense cash anymore because the banks are so intertwined that a failure of the morgage giants could bring everybody down.
The problem with this mess is not that the US government is bailing out these quasi-public/private entities, it is that there is no restriction during the good times of investment. When times were good, investment banks large leveraged bets that were of a high risk nature. Their bets were so big and so leveraged that when the trade goes wrong, they bring down the counterparty of the trade because they cannot make payment, and thus a chain reaction ensues.
What is interesting about the situation is that only the big boys get the federal golden parachute. The 19 biggest investment banks received access to the federal reserve's discount window. In essense they are allowed to borrow at the discount rate and use their piece of shit subprime mortgages as collateral.
The mass selloff of these mortgages brought down the value of mortgages of all qualities. This left smaller mortgage lenders, some of which only dealt with "superprime" AAA mortgages scrabling to cover their margin with no access to capital. Can they borrow from the Fed? No. Thornburg Mortgage (TMA), a mortgage lender that only deals in superprime lending owns $31 billion in assets yet their shares now trade for $0.33 and have a market cap of $127 million due to margin calls. They have no access to cash from the Fed because they aren't the big 19 who have lobbyists. Just unfair and uncapitalistic.
http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11751139
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Pakistanis stone the stock exchange
Today investors angry that the pakistani indices have dropped 35% since their April high stoned the exchange and lit the streets on fire. People are extremely angry that they lose money when stocks go down. Unbelievable.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
T. Boone Pickens goes ballistic
Pickens is the 91st richest person in the world. He made his money through oil exploration businesses and now manages his hedge fund BP Capital. Recently he has been running ads on CNBC and possibly other more mainstream networks promoting alternative energies as a response to the outflow of capital to foreign nations. Though it seems like everybody on television is saying that, Pickens seems to actually be promoting some sort of semi-viable plan. Don't think I'm fooled; I am well aware that Pickens is heavily invested in the technologies that he is promoting. It's not a crime to promote ideas that you will profit off of if in the grand scheme of things it helps more than it hurts.
Pickens advocates expanding wind power generation in the midwest where apparently the region is one of the best developed places in the world to harvest wind energy. 
http://www.pickensplan.com
Tyga - He'll be hot in 1-2 years
Tyga is jointly signed to Pete Wentz's (Fall Out Boy) label and Lil Wayne
's label Young Money.
His first single "Coconut Juice" was the jam of the week in March on MTV Jams. The debut album "No Introductions" was released on June 10th. I haven't paid up for it yet but he offers his second mixtape for free on his website Tygaworld
Obama 2004 DNC Speech
I'm undecided as to which candidate I am going to vote for, but nevertheless, this speech that made Obama an international superstar is just amazing.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Free companion flights? Seems pretty sweet
Citi Platinum American Express
With no annual fee the first year and $125 each year thereafter, the cardholder is entitled to free companion flights (unlimited) so long as the flight of the cardholder is booked through Amex's travel services. Basically, all you can eat buy one get one free flights! Sounds good on paper but who knows how much the flights cost through their travel services.
You also get access to airport lounges at most airports.
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