The Financial Crisis--a personal take

Lehman Brothers' website as of January 8, 2009.

NYTimes: A Professor and a Banker Bury Old Dogma on Markets (9-20-08)

The Fed chairman and the Treasury secretary have cast aside long-held views about regulation and government intervention.

The plan to buy $700 billion in troubled assets with taxpayer money was shaped by two men who did not know each other until two years ago and did not travel in the same circles, but now find themselves brought together by history. If Mr. Bernanke is the intellectual force and Mr. Paulson the action man of this unlikely tandem, they have managed to create a nearly seamless partnership as they rush to stop the financial upheaval and keep the economy afloat.

“There are no atheists in foxholes and no ideologues in financial crises,” Mr. Bernanke told colleagues last week, according to one meeting participant.

经济观察报：用浪漫逃避现实 (9-26-08)

所谓“裙摆理论” (Skirt Length Theory)，通俗点说就是经济繁荣时代，女性的裙摆会越来越短；一旦经济开始衰退，短裙则会随之变成更让人有安全感的长裙。这听起来有些无厘头的理论却在二十世纪被反复的印证着。1929年美国股市崩盘、大萧条到来的时候，女人们的裙子还能盖住小腿的一半，到了道琼斯指数直上万点的60年代的黄金时期，迷你裙便成了女装中的当红，到了70年代阿拉伯国家石油的禁运导致美国经济萎靡，在纽约大街上走过的大部分女人都换上了长可及踝的裙子。今年3月份 Prada、Dolce&Gabbana等一线时装品牌齐齐推出的长裙设计更是成为了裙摆理论支持者最新的例证

Warren Buffett: Buy American. I am. (10-16-08)

I’ve been buying American stocks. Why? A simple rule: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

David Brooks: The Behavioral Revolution (10-27-08)

The financial crisis may be a coming-out party for behavioral economists to the realm of public policy.

WSJ: Rich Cut Back on Payments to Mistresses (11-18-08)

You know times are tough when the rich start cutting costs on their mistresses. According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. ...

Women were far more generous to their paramours in the face of financial crises. Less than 20% planned to lower allowances, gifts and perks, while more than half planned to raise them.

Thomas Friedman: China to the Rescue? Not! (12-20-08)

The partnership between Chinese and American enterprises is about to undergo a radical restructuring as a result of the current economic crisis.

The Atlantic: Why Wall Street Always Blows It (December 2008)

The NYTimes: The Reckoning (ongoing series) aka The Blame Game

WSJ: The Weekend That Wall Street Died (12-29-08)