Usually I’d chalk this up as another one for the annoying Times lifestyle file, but it’s just too damn weird!!!
THIS summer the unvarying male uniform in the precincts of Brooklyn cool has been a pair of shorts cut at knickers length, a V-neck Hanes T-shirt, a pair of generic slip-on sneakers and a straw fedora. [...]
This is a great idea – abolish cash entirely – I hope it comes to the U.S. too. Heck, I’d be happy if they just got rid of the penny and the dollar bill!
With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the [...]
Extraordinary. Long-ish story short is:
Some big banks pay 90% of this face value for credit-default-swaps (insurance) on a mortgage-backed-security they think is going to default (but they don’t own). Their counterparty (insurer) pays off the loans in the MBS and doesn’t have to pay the swap. Pockets the premiums (which were big) minus the cost [...]
Paul Krugman comments on reports that banking pay has returned to 2007 levels – noting (1) that what they did in 2007 (that earned them their huge payouts) is exactly what got us into this economic crisis, and (2) that now they’re playing with our (public) money and shouldn’t go overboard. He concludes:
In 2008, overpaid [...]
This Modern World | Salon Comics
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In Homeowners’ Latest Woe, Banks Are Skipping Foreclosures – NYTimes.com
Money quote for me:
In Ms. James’s case, the company that was most recently servicing her loan is now defunct. Its parent company filed for bankruptcy and dissolved. And the original bank that sold her the loan said it could not find a record of it.
And so [...]