"Pay For" Questions Don't Make Sense on Fed Policy. Do Any?

The Fed announced further measures today designed to stave off the continued plummeting of prices in financial markets. Overall, the Fed has announced over $1.5 trillion in market operations so far. In response, numerous commentators who support robust free public services questioned the apparent hypocrisy of the lack of scrutiny over how such spending is to be financed when it comes to the financial sector. The question doesn't make a whole lot of sense, however, when you consider the difference between when the Fed spends money and when the federal government does it.

Who Will Disrupt the Disruptors? A Review of Live Work Work Work Die

The final words of Corey Pein's Live Work Work Work Die are, "Off with their heads." In an engaging, hilarious, and gutwrenching first person account of the netherworld of Silicon Valley startup culture, Pein implores the reader to consider seriously the titans of tech are leading us into. By his account, it is a highly stratified society in which the toiling masses take turns pretending that they are among the tech elite.

When Commodities are Contracts

On Monday, I brutalized my muscles in my first Krav Maga class. Afterwards, I got drinks with one of the people from the class who turned out to have a really interesting finance job. He is a lawyer who writes contracts for derivatives.

In my naivete, I said something to the effect of, "That must be exhausting writing and reviewing all those contracts so quickly." His response made me think about something in derivatives markets I had never thought of before. As he explained it, his job was to draft template contracts in advance of trading. He said that a minor oversight in the wording could mean thousands of trades that have nothing to do with fundamentals.

So in addition to "animal spirits" affecting the financial markets seemingly at random, the legal frameworks under-girding the financial market itself pushes traders in various directions. So much for fundamentals.