On the right we see a pallet of 100 dollar bills, and a man – let’s call him Timothy. This stack of cash is worth 100 million dollar. You’ll need a lot of pallets to stock one trillion dollar. See here to get a grasp how many pallets you need for a trillion dollar. NoticeRead more
Editors in the financial press need a lot of imagination to describe the distressed world around us. Cutting jobs, slashing dividends and reducing estimates are the most common lines on the front page and hardly leave any room for poetic creativity. Enter the zombie banks. The term financial “Zombies” has been coined by economist EdwardRead more
Sometimes there’s a news story in the financial markets, which requires a lot of homework and flow charts to understand. It’s seductive to skip the whole issue and spend your time on other things. The mess around Fortis is a perfect example of a running news story I’ve decided to stop following. The shares areRead more
Hedge fund manager Paulson did it again. As a present day Gordon Gekko pocketing 270 million pound on short selling Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). While this is excellent news for mister Paulson and his family – consequences for the hedge fund industry will follow shortly. “Save our banks” Politicians will point their fingers atRead more
“There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies, and statistics”, a famous quote attributed to the British politician Benjamin Disraeli. As of today we can add the bubble charts. Researchers from JP Morgan messed up their data on the capitalization of banking stocks terribly. The lay offs apparently have reached the researchers inRead more
