Green Banks...

Back in this post, Missmarketcrash suggested banks ought to hop on the eco-marketing wagon to cleanse their toxic image.

Well, they have.  BNP Paribas has announced a new GPU-based architecture aimed toward "promoting green computing".  See the green press release here....

Fashionomics

Missmarketcrash had a glimpse of the future turning when she was invited to an 80's revival party last spring. Today, as the spring fashion is laid before us, the 80's look is everywhere and bad fashion is in vogue. No. This moment is missed. The clothes were designed and ordered, and, the world fast-forwarded past the 80's moment, leaving these collections behind. The 80's revival look is already over before it has begun. Economics will do that.

Stone-washed and distressed jeans remain a no-no even though I do like a bit of irony. The "bad fashion" movement of curiously mis-matched better suits missmc who has been "shopping in the archives" of her own closet as of late. Accidental dressing, like mixing metaphors, is a breeze for missmc.

But, what else is on offer? A curious trend of nude colored things and sheer things. Perhaps the "emperor's new clothes" style is more appropriate for the moment. This trend is already established and firmly in place with Lady ga-ga who goes wandering about in her knickers. And hey, a bit of nudity or faux nudity could cheer us all up.

I for one will be sporting some rather large pink sunglasses. And yes, they will have rose-colored lenses. I've already been painting my fingernails nude, which makes them disappear in an elegantly perverse way. Yes. The "Emperor's New Clothes" trend is more aligned ideologically with the banking thing and is clearly the way to go this season. But with debate on government actions in the air, maybe I ought to get that Margaret Thatcher t-shirt out again to stir things up...

Propaganda about Propaganda

repeat three times, "Nationalization" is hereafter to be known as "Government Stake"....

I love the circularity of Propaganda about Propaganda.

St. David's Day

Missmarketcrash ignored her good name this morning whilst the markets were crashing about and went off to a tennis lesson.  Highly recommended.  Instead of the static buzz of gloom and doom, the boyish D. worked on Missmc's serve and entertained her with conversation.  About what?  St. David's Day of course.  St. David's Day was yesterday and, at the tennis club, Dylan Thomas was read over lamb, leeks and cabbage.  And something called syllabub.

From what I can gather, it is a Welsh thing about independence, cheerfulness, and remembering to do the important little things in life. The syllabub part of it sounds optional, as should anything be that involves cream and madeira.  And Dylan Thomas?  He is probably remembered more for his drinking than for his poetry.  Less known about Dylan Thomas is that he produced propaganda films for the Ministry of Information.  

Propaganda films.  There is a tangent I shall save for another post as it is a jolly topic.  Missmarketcrash wasted a bit of the morning looking for a clip of "Our Country" by Dylan Thomas for you this morning and was told she had to be a university to access such a thing.  Pity.  I could use a bit of feel-good cheerleading about things this morning.

Bank Report Cards Are Out

Missmarketcrash is blind.  Try reading this, courtesy of Clusterstock providing data from Institutional Risk Analytics.

Bottom line?  Amazing reading.  Get out your magnifying glasses and place an analytical drink in your hand...or two.

America's Best Days Lie Ahead....

Warren Buffett says "America's best days lie ahead". That is the most-likely-to-be-accurate forecast issued this year.

At the end of his interesting letter released this morning, he discusses his annual shareholder's meeting, aka "Woodstock for Capitalists". Promised entertainment will feature a blindfolded chess player, and a magician. After that, word of the week, one can have a steak. And shop too. Jets, knives, and insurance will be on offer. P.T. Barnum would be proud. Psychologists would be worried.

A Good Bank

Go stand in the corner Missmarketcrash

What a complete non-ending.  Missmarketcrash, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.  Yes.  They certainly have been thinking.  But, what about you, dear girl?  You have left nothing of note behind on that last post.

Why?  Because you were busy.  Off you went, bored with the machinations of world rescue, onward on your own tangent.  You read about steak.  and stake.  You learned a steak is a steak because it used to be a stake.  A hunk of meat, on a stake, roasted.  You learned about steak fillers, specifically alginates (seaweed), and streptomyces mobarensis (protein and yes it is from skin and hair).  You resolved never to eat a "restructured steak" again.

Next, you went wandering off, into tangents too tangled.  Then you came back emptyhanded, and wrote the dry goods.  And all that you left behind, especially the restructured part, would have come in very handy with regard to the Citigroup thing.  Nobody would willingly eat that stuff.  Now go write your name on the blackboard 100 times and think about what you have done.

missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash,

missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash, missmarketcrash.....

Citigroup Day...

It is Citigroup Day.  Missmarketcrash has not read anything remotely cheerleader-y about what is expected to be announced.  It has been anticipated all week, and, what better day than a Friday?  Word has it that bailout number 3 has been structured in a way so that it is "not nationalization" and will depend on an equal contribution from private investors to justify the phrase "Government Stake" rather than the N-word.  On the news-for-the-people side, the criticism is massive by those that have deconstructed the rather complex plan down to its naked self.  From the murmurs of the investment world, it is "unclear" whether private investors would convert preferred stock, but, word has it both the Singapore Government Investing Fund and that Saudi Prince will be converting.  From the gambling side of individual investors, there seems to be some momentum to short the stock which will not particularly help matters.  With that, a Missoni-knit up and down chart is on the deck for the time being.

I shall await the announcement and get back to you, but, I must say, it does seem an awful lot of thought and discussion has gone into rescue number 3.  And no matter what, anything the banks or the U.S. government does will be met with criticism.  Perhaps a star or two can be given out to the Government for at least thinking about this one a bit more.

Potatoes...

There are two news stories that have been stuck in my head and I've just realized what they have in common.  Forever in my brain, a potato is a communist as well as an entertaining children's toy.

A few weeks ago, India announced that no further Chinese toys would be imported into the country.  Toy Wars.  Of course, there are always potatoes...Potatoes were a favorite toy of my first son - endless armies of potatoes have been arranged on my kitchen floor, rolled into battle, poked, decorated and transformed into various creatures. 

Potatoes were also recommended to me by my first political science professor, who was unabashedly Marxist.  He thought it would be more fruitful for me to devote more time to my studies, rather than work the small part-time job I had.  I explained I needed the income for food.  He said "You should just eat more potatoes".

Last night I saw photographs of 750 elderly communists staging an economic protest in Russia. The last photograph here is most fantastic.  Thanks to one of my old professors, looking at it made me think of potatoes.

Ah. Next I shall have to write on "Government Stake" and Potatoes.

The Waste Land

T.S. Elliot used to work at Lloyds Bank.  It is said that he suffered a nervous breakdown whilst working there and took a leave of absence to write The Waste Land.  The impact of the first world war was imbedded in society and the shift in the forms of poetry and painting are reflective of a change of psyche.  Much has been made of the fragmentation and incoherence of The Waste Land, but, to a modern reader used to a bit of a mash-up, it seems perfectly formed.

And perfect for a new read, through the lense of the financial crisis.  I do wonder myself if April will be the cruellest month....

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out or the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.

Then off he went, out of the breeding and death metaphors to escape and skip happily into nostalgia, avoidance and escapism for the rest of the paragraph. Continuing on (here if you'd like) he goes on, off and onward with various tangents of universal despair, myth and bad sex.

Any aspiring ex-banker poets out there?

More Steak...

Missmarketcrash herself will now be able to personally guarantee to you that Bank of America and Citigroup will not be nationalized.  Why?  

From the Marketwatch website comes the following:

"Bernanke refuted notions that the conversion program would lead to nationalization. He said that as long as there were some private shareholders in the biggest banks, any government investments in the banks would not constitute nationalization".

I knew there was a reason I still had those shares...I can now save you all from the N word.

Globalization according to Crustaceans

A jolly little book entitled "Economics 2.0" landed on Missmarketcrash's desk today.  With a rather academic looking white cover in a serious font and grassy green banding, the subtitle had a practical air and a promise:

what the best

minds

in economics can

teach

you about business and

life

The co-authors, Norbert Haring and Olaf Storbeck traipse through various topics backed by economic research in an engaging and witty fashion.  The sub-headings are one good reason to get your hands on a copy.  "Globalization according to Crustaceans" is a personal favorite.   My imagination drifted off to a beach, with a few cartoon crustaceans discussing globalization in depth and what it means for my life.  I was rather hoping the crustaceans themselves would have some witty guidance to offer.  But, maybe I am expecting too much.  Or, too little. Yes.  This is a studious book with a humanist lean.  The studies cited throughout the book are well-researched, dry, and academic; this clarity is infused with an easy and entertaining relevance. In other words, it goes down like a good martini.  

Sharing Vices

What we need to create is an addiction to banking stocks.  Right now.  Let's pair up Bank of America and Citigroup with Philip Morris and sell those stocks.  To the people. 

Inside every pack of Marlboro Lights could be a share of one of the banks.  Or two, in the case of Citigroup.  Take the tax off the cigarettes and use it to pay for the share.  

You could also pair up with brewers and bottlers like Jack Daniels.  All those toxic assets would be owned once again, by fans of vice.

And to be safe, let's say the shares are not sellable for a laddered number of years so they don't all fly back in the market at the same time...

Yes it is a flawed and twisted idea.

Nostalgia and simple pleasures...

Children, school, drawing, cricket, apples, gardening, marbles, tea, father, holiday, seaside, grey skies, countryside, trains, dog, harbor, hardy fishermen, grandmother's cottage, fireplace chat.

It is all here...a bit dull, but in a very pleasant way.  I'm really trying to be a believer, but, somehow, it just does not seem as enticing as Courchevel....

The Power of Positive Thinking

Not to be outdone by the Financialstability.gov website in the U.S., Gordon Brown has launched

Realhelpnow.gov.uk

"Action is being taken all around the country to help the economy come through the recession sooner, stronger and fairer."

Fairness is an a very British choice of adjective.  In the above quote, it makes me think of the economy on a sunny beach, hair going fairer, blond perhaps.  In the section entitled "What does the future look like" fairness gets another run relational to the concept of trust: values of "hard work, integrity, enterprise, fairness and responsibility" are spelled out in a winning combination to assure us.

It is a really lovely purple website, and, whenever I am in need of good news, I shall click on the London button to see what nice things are being done. 

Rare or Medium Rare?

Pass the sauce.  It is not going to be called nationalization.  It is going to be called

Government Stake.

Yes this is my third post today.  The markets have just bled down to 1997 levels.  Citigroup has appears to have failed its stress test in a big way.  Worrisome bloody week even though it all seems so obvious.

And, no.  You can't have it well-done.

Chiconomics...

Missmarketcrash wants to rename herself.  A brochure from Heals (the furniture shop) arrived in the post today with a most fantastic name emblazoned across it.

Chiconomics.

Wow.  I want to be that.  When and if this moment of economics and market madness progresses to a more favorable level, I shall have a new nom de plume.  And Chiconomics is an utterly delicious phrase.  

Effortlessly stylish here we come.  And I'll still be allowed to read the FT as Miss Chiconomics...it is pink after all....

Green Banks

We are back to a state of Zugzwang in the banking crisis.  Whether it is a bad bank, a good bank, a zombie bank, a split bank or a nationalized bank has become secondary.  

The word nationalization seems to be the problem this week.  From a metasemantic perspective, there are overarching determinants for the word "nationalization" that are in conflict with America's system of "free enterprise".  

A quick journey into a dark room....(a reduced sauce)...

If one were lost in the dark, and, had a perception of which way the exit was, how "real" that mental map is is not predicated by whether the door is actually found.  The "realness" cannot be determined but, the picture inside ones head used to navigate can still be valid.  If the exit is found, it could be "luck".  On the other hand, perhaps there is a correlation between one's internal map and the external world that is not only linked, but also correct.  If one exits correctly, is it because the internal representation is an accurate map of the the dark room, or, is it due to some kind of natural instinct such as "always walk to the right"?  Lastly, it may be a reference to a past experience: perhaps it is a memory of a room one knew well as a darkened space (such as one's bedroom).

The word "nationalize" may be looked at in relation to the dark room problem.  It is a word we picture and project meaning on.  It is a word without context standing in a dark room.  We may have a valid picture of what nationalization means.  Or we might not.  If we do have an idea of what it means, the correlation of our idea of nationalization to the reality of it might be a match.  This could be down to luck, it could be down to instinct, or, it could be something resting on prior knowledge.  On the other hand, perhaps our understanding or the concept does not match up to the reality.  That only leaves us stumbling around in the dark if we do not shift the inside of our head to correlate it with the room itself.

Nationalization does seem a word that is burdened with conflict.  The handling of the banking crisis is becoming a minefield of semantics - choosing the correct word seems to be harder than choosing the right actions.  The naming of actions must be accurate and understood from a wide range of understanding.  How does one go forward into such complexity with simplicity?

The eco-labeling movement has had much success with marketing a slew of items -- why not twist the concept into action?  Green has a nice ring to it and the cleaning up of toxic sludge has a nice eco foundation to place it upon.  The Green Bank sounds like a marvelous place to relax.

Of course, I am talking nonsense.  But sturdy names are needed for sturdy concepts.  And, with diminished faith in governments these days, the term nationalization lacks credibility irrespective of the effectiveness of the concept.

Instead, I was stuck with the spiders

"It wasn't me, it was my brain that did it" said the four year old.  Ok then.  Not you, but, your brain started shouting at 530am to wake up the entire house.  With things going the way they are in the world, I'm surprised my brain did not clasp hands with yours and shriek in unison.

My brain was quietly dreaming. I  watched thousands of spiders crawl through black text, scurrying this way and that, in jerky motion.  Acting lost, reacting in panicky little bursts which carried them to and fro, meeting each other and repelling.  The surface was a steep vertical, almost two-dimensional.  It was obviously the bank investigation thing.  

If I had only filled my brain with something different and delicious before sleep.  Instead, I was stuck with the spiders.