Soda Popinski

8/18/08

Well I only have one more week left here at Brilliont, and the summer has just flown by.  I live in an interesting part of Brooklyn, where quasi-hipsters have inhabited the previously dangerous areas of Williamsburg (an area of Brooklyn).  On Saturday there was an organized event known as Pandamonium, where people dressed up in panda outfits and partied in the streets from Union Square in Manhattan to Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.  I only witnessed the events at Bedford Avenue, and that was Pandamonium and the NYPD started to clash, and you can see videos on the website.  The apparent goal of the organizers was to “take back” Williamsburg, in a show of disapproval for the new high rise condos and other wealth in the area.  From what I could tell, the people in the demonstration were rioting against what they had created, and it was all very confusing.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the title of an article on Bloomberg entitled “Bernanke Tries To Define What Institutions Fed Could Let Fail”.  Is our financial future so delicate and the Fed so powerful that they can decide the path that our economy is headed?   One passage in particular caught my eye:

Under Bernanke’s predecessor Alan Greenspan, the Fed drew a clear line against using its portfolio to influence specific markets. An internal study published in 2002 warned that “the favoring of specific entities” might “invite pressure from special-interest groups.”

I could not agree more.  With the credit markets tightening up big time in the past year, shouldn’t distressed institutions who did not accurately prepare (or have a diversified enough portfolio) be allowed to suffer?  Why is it that Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae are allowed to continue on or be saved?

Finally, according to Popular Science, over 1/3 of the amphibian population is dying out.  This sounds similar to the story of the honeybee population starting to dwindle.  I am not going to make any unfounded claims here about the reasons, but I’m sure the overwhelming claim is that global warming and destruction of habitats has something do with these phenomenons.

- Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

8/6/08

I’m just going to assume this sign was posted by a cuil.com employee.

There is a fascinating story in the New York Times online today about a tragedy on the mountain K2.  I’m unsure of how big of news this will make in the United States, though there were a few U.S. climbers in the group.  I still remember when there were eight climbers who perished on Mount Everest in the mid 1990s with the book Into Thin Air written about the event.  That might have made bigger news here because of the flamboyant Dallas doctor who was in the group.

Finally, in shocking news, Freddie Mac has apparently posted a fourth straight quarterly loss.  Let’s see how long investors hang on for this one.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com