Non Olet

western-aristocracy: mfs: fatmanatee: reimer: dailyhuff: in...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:20:28 -0600

mfs:

fatmanatee:

reimer:

dailyhuff:

inothernews:

poisonthemonkey:

(via sixtyforty)

what the fuck!?

Meal for six at Nello’s: $47,000. Finding the receipt they left behind and posting it on the Internet as Exhibit A in Regular Folk v. Too-Rich Douchebags: priceless.

If there is a hell, there’s a comfy place in it for these folks.

Sometimes, Aaron, I suspect we come from parallel backgrounds, regardless of where we were born.

Mmm…parmesan chunks.

The person who paid for this bill is the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club and doer of other stuff. I don’t know why I’m making this sound apologetic, but I guess it’s normal for Russian billionaire sports team owners to have $50k lunches. I’m not questioning it, for sure.

Seems weird to me that the 35,000 USD in wine and champagne just generated something around 3,000 USD in taxes. Think there should be a differential tax for such luxury goods and the city should get a bit more from whoever can afford such astronomical bill.

If I had money and could afford this I would eat like this and I would buy all sorts of shit. In a flailing economy spending money is good it keeps people employed and raises consumer confidence. Why do you think they give tax cuts and stimulus checks andtax returns. Sure they’d like for you to pay down your debt, but what they’d loive is for you to buy a new TV, preferrably American made. So once again to reiterate: If I had the money I would spend it on all sorts of “luxuries”.

[It’s worth pointing out that 99.5% of the cost of this bill is booze. The meal itself cost $1641. For six people that means $273.50/person—quite reasonable for a gourmet meal, and a steal to be seen at Nello’s, if I understand correctly what kind of place it is.]

"Contacts throughout the District noted, however, that total available commercial and industrial..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:57:11 -0600

“Contacts throughout the District noted, however, that total available commercial and industrial space is considerably higher than vacancy rates suggest when factoring in sub-leases offered by companies that have reduced staff.”

- FRB: Beige Book—St. Louis—December 2, 2009

"One of the ongoing complexities of security analysis is that you can never satisfactorily determine..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:51:19 -0600

““One of the ongoing complexities of security analysis is that you can never satisfactorily determine where you are in a cycle. How long might a bull or bear market last? Had you avoided the upward frenzy of 1929 and miss the great crash only to jump into the market in early 1930, the pain you would have felt by 1933 would hardly have been different from the agony of those who invested at the 1929 peak. We will not be certain until much later whether the so-called bargains of January, 2008 were truly undervalued or merely dangerous temptations to value-starved investors.””

- Distressed Debt Investing: Wisdom from Seth Klarman - Part 6 (via nonolet)

Of course, it used to be easier to invest when you could simply make a value judgement instead of wondering when a massive, leveraged investor like GS or Paulson or Galleon was coming along to be a “contrarian” and crush sound investing with pure “I’m bigger than you” speculative power or insider shit. Nowadays it’s not enough to just price a security to risk, you have to price in the participation of leviathans.
(via unsolicitedanalysis)

"Precipitation continued to hamper the harvest, particularly for corn. [….] The corn crop was damaged..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:43:34 -0600

“Precipitation continued to hamper the harvest, particularly for corn. [….] The corn crop was damaged in some areas, and across the District there were other problems caused by wetness. Wet corn strained equipment, leading to an abnormally large number of repairs and shortages of some parts. Moreover, costs were much higher than normal to dry corn for storage and shipment, and there were also shortages of liquid propane for dryers. Elevators were forced to limit the amount of wet corn accepted some days.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Chicago—December 2, 2009

"Banks continued the process of deleveraging with contacts indicating that the pool of creditworthy..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:42:49 -0600

“Banks continued the process of deleveraging with contacts indicating that the pool of creditworthy borrowers was not expanding rapidly enough to justify credit expansion. The reluctance of banks to realize expected losses on commercial real estate loans was also cited as a factor holding back the flow of credit.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Chicago—December 2, 2009

"Demand also continued to be weak for nonresidential construction, with public construction..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:41:03 -0600

“Demand also continued to be weak for nonresidential construction, with public construction accounting for the vast majority of activity. Competition for stimulus-related projects scheduled to begin in the coming year was indicated to be fierce.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Chicago—December 2, 2009

"One automobile dealer described the change in his sales as “trickles of improvement,”..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:32:09 -0600

“One automobile dealer described the change in his sales as “trickles of improvement,” and most dealers indicated that their inventory was too low because factory production was down.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Richmond—December 2, 2009

"Business lending has flattened out or weakened further across most industry sectors. Bankers..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:30:40 -0600

“Business lending has flattened out or weakened further across most industry sectors. Bankers experiencing increased loan volume attributed it to refinancing existing debt from other institutions.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Cleveland—December 2, 2009

"Steel shipments were in line with expectations, though volume reports varied widely. Contacts..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:29:28 -0600

“Steel shipments were in line with expectations, though volume reports varied widely. Contacts reporting increased volume attributed it mainly to rebuilding auto inventories. Our steel contacts expect slow growth and are uncertain about which industries will drive demand.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Cleveland—December 2, 2009

"Increased demand for their products was noted by makers of food products, apparel, furniture,..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:24:34 -0600

“Increased demand for their products was noted by makers of food products, apparel, furniture, chemicals, and electrical equipment. Declining demand was noted by makers of lumber and wood products, metal and metals products, and industrial materials.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Philadelphia—December 2, 2009

"A major New York City employment agency, specializing in office jobs, reports that hiring remains..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:47:18 -0600

“A major New York City employment agency, specializing in office jobs, reports that hiring remains very sluggish, though recruitment activity has reportedly picked up marginally in the finance and legal sectors. In general, contacts in both manufacturing and other sectors report that employment at their firms has leveled off; whereas a large and growing proportion of manufacturers plans to ramp up employment in the months ahead, non-manufacturing contacts generally plan to hold their staffing levels steady. Retailers mostly plan on giving existing staff more work hours during the holiday season, as opposed to hiring temporary workers.”

- FRB: Beige Book—New York—December 2, 2009

"Consumer confidence measures declined modestly in October: residents of the Middle Atlantic states..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:41:25 -0600

“Consumer confidence measures declined modestly in October: residents of the Middle Atlantic states (NY, NJ, Pa), hold an increasingly negative view on current conditions, and have recently become a bit less optimistic in their near-term expectations.”

- FRB: Beige Book—New York—December 2, 2009

"Inventories are reported to be in good shape and well below comparable 2008 levels; one contact..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:40:48 -0600

“Inventories are reported to be in good shape and well below comparable 2008 levels; one contact notes that holding lean inventories carries the risk of losing out on sales for items in high demand, because manufacturers and distributors are also keeping inventories low. Prices are reported to be stable, though discounting is not expected to be nearly as steep as in last year’s dismal holiday season.”

- FRB: Beige Book—New York—December 2, 2009

"Several contacts mention the important influence of the first-time homebuyer tax credit on the rise..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:39:32 -0600

“Several contacts mention the important influence of the first-time homebuyer tax credit on the rise in sales. The tax credit has since been extended and expanded, but the extension had not yet occurred when these deals were being made, so homebuyers were trying to close their deals before the original deadline of December 1. As a result, much of the September sales activity involved entry-level homes.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Boston—December 2, 2009

"A few contacts express concern that recent FDIC guidance on commercial real estate will merely serve..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:38:58 -0600

“A few contacts express concern that recent FDIC guidance on commercial real estate will merely serve to delay, rather than prevent, commercial foreclosures and associated bank losses. In the worst case scenario that some describe, foreclosure events will be concentrated in time (at some point within the next two years), triggering greater financial fallout than if they were spread more evenly. Because they do not expect property values to recover before the coming wave of maturities come due (even taking into account loan extensions), these respondents argue that it is preferable for banks to recognize losses sooner rather than later, or at least to prepare for inevitable losses.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Boston—December 2, 2009

"Labor demand is strong from the health, biopharmaceutical, telesales, and technology industries...."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:37:53 -0600

“Labor demand is strong from the health, biopharmaceutical, telesales, and technology industries. Stimulus funds have led to increased demand from the government sector and improvement is noted in the financial and manufacturing industries as well. Demand remains better for temporary hires, with permanent placements seeing at most marginal increases. Several contacts note that overall labor supply is in abundance, while it remains a challenge to fill specialized positions. An elongation of the hiring cycle continues, with employers reviewing more resumes and requiring multiple interviews before making decisions. One contact also reports that more employers are choosing to search for applicants without the help of staffing firms.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Boston—December 2, 2009

"Expectations for the holiday season were mixed across Districts, with contacts in the New York and..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:34:30 -0600

“Expectations for the holiday season were mixed across Districts, with contacts in the New York and Dallas Districts reporting lighter-than-normal seasonal hiring and/or increases in the hours of existing employees, as opposed to hiring temporary workers, to meet the seasonal demand. On the other hand, most retailers in the Richmond District have hired the usual number of seasonal workers this year.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Summary—December 2, 2009

"Auto sales generally improved since the last report, in some cases rebounding from a brief dip after..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:15:45 -0600

“Auto sales generally improved since the last report, in some cases rebounding from a brief dip after the “cash-for-clunkers” program ended. Increased vehicle sales were reported from New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Chicago, St. Louis, and Dallas, while sales were described as flat or mixed in the Cleveland, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and San Francisco Districts. A number of Districts reported that used vehicles have been selling better than new ones.”

- FRB: Beige Book—Summary—December 2, 2009

"The best time to invest is when you have money"

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:38:53 -0600

“The best time to invest is when you have money”

- Mark Mobius (via chirinda)

[… you can afford to loose.]

"The best time to sell a stock is when everyone around you is rushing to get into the market. If a..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:38:20 -0600

“The best time to sell a stock is when everyone around you is rushing to get into the market. If a market is at the height of its popularity, prices are likely to be at their peak too.”

- Mark Mobius (via chirinda)