A Growing Problem

In times troglodytic, folks had to barter to get what they wanted. This form of economy was more efficient than doing it all yourself, but it was still considerably constrained by the coincidence of wants. That problem was solved by using money as a medium of exchange, which made transactions far more efficient by freeing [...]

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Walker, Texas Banker

Today Felix Salmon highlighted some Chuck Norris facts pertaining to his experience in banking:
# Little-known Chuck Norris Fact: Chuck Norris does not mark to market. The market marks to Chuck.
# More: Chuck Norris does not go bankrupt. Chuck Norris ruptures banks.
# Source of hedge fund survivorship bias?: Funds that pay Chuck Norris 2 and 20 [...]

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Mental Exercises

After running about 25 miles a week for my last few months in Germany with only minor physical problems, my left knee gave up the ghost on just my second American jog in late July. Since then, and much to my consternation, I’ve only been jogging a few times and even then just for two [...]

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Denied by the Woodwork

The UEFA President wants all to know that sport is special:
Sport is not an economic activity like any other. Sport is about sharing, surpassing oneself, exchange, respect. Sport is about emotions. Football is a game rather than just a product or a market. It is a spectacle rather than just a business.
Replace “sport” and “football” [...]

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Balancing Act

Sometimes all it takes to swing from loss to profit is the stroke of a pen:
Changes in accounting rules allowed Deutsche Bank to avoid a loss for the third quarter.
The new rules enabled the bank to reduce its write-downs by nearly $1 billion, giving it a net profit of 435 million euros, or $573 million. [...]

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