Oct 21, 2008
Italy is waking up to Facebook and I hate it
Well yes, that's my picture, no I don't look like that in normal life, but there is no point of putting an ugly picture of me on my profile. yes it's me, yes I live in London, I have a job I'm about to lose and I'm as unhappy as I was then and to add to it, I even complicated my life adding a couple of twists here and there to unsettle my mind even more.
Investment banking in a nutshell.. The more Starbucks the more your country is fuked
Charming...
Very interesting article... or at least it proves that people can find analogies and correlations for almost anything
Remember Thomas Friedman's McDonald's theory of international relations? The thinking was that if two countries had evolved into prosperous, mass-consumer societies, with middle classes able to afford Big Macs, they would generally find peaceful means of adjudicating disputes. They'd sit down over a Happy Meal to resolve issues rather than use mortars. The recent unpleasantries between Israel and Lebanon, which both have McDonald's operations (here and here, respectively) put an end to that reasoning. But the Golden Arches theory of realpolitick was good while it lasted.
In the same spirit, I propose the Starbucks Theory of International Economics. The higher the concentration of expensive, nautical-themed faux-Italian branded frappuccino joints in a country's financial capital, the more likely the country is to have suffered catastrophic financial losses.
It may sound doppio, but work with me. This recent crisis has its roots in the unhappy coupling of a frenzied nationwide real-estate market, centered in California, Las Vegas and Florida, and a nationwide credit mania, centered in New York. If you could pick one brand name that personified these twin bubbles, it was Starbucks. The Seattle-based coffee chain followed new housing developments into the suburbs and exurbs, where its outlets became pitstops for real-estate brokers and their clients. It also carpet-bombed the business districts of large cities, especially the financial centers, with nearly 200 in Manhattan alone. Starbucks's frothy treats provided the fuel for the boom, the caffeine that enabled deal jockeys to stay up all hours putting together offering papers for CDOs, and helped mortgage brokers work overtime processing dubious loan documents. Starbucks strategically located many of its outlets on the ground floors of big investment banks. (The one around the corner from the former Bear Stearns headquarters has already closed).Like American financial capitalism, Starbucks, fueled by the capital markets, took a great idea too far (quality coffee for Starbucks, securitization for Wall Street) and diluted the experience unnecessarily (subprime food such as egg-and-sausage sandwiches for Starbucks, subprime loans for Wall Street). Like so many sadder-but-wiser Miami condo developers, Starbucks operated on a "build it and they will come" philosophy. Like many of the humiliated Wall Street firms, the coffee company let algorithms and number-crunching get the better of sound judgment: if the waiting time at one Starbucks was over a certain number of minutes, Starbucks reasoned that an opposite corner could sustain a new outlet. Like the housing market, Starbucks peaked in the spring of 2006 and has since fallen precipitously.
America's financial crisis has gone global in the past month. European and Asian governments, which until recently were rejoicing over America's financial downfall, have had to nationalize banks and expand depositors' insurance. Why? Many of their banks feasted on American subprime debt and took shoddy risk-management cues from their American cousins. Indeed, the countries whose financial sectors were most connected to the U.S.-dominated global financial system, the ones whose financial institutions plunged into CDOs, credit default swaps, and the whole catalog of horribles, have suffered the most.
What does this have to do with the price of coffee? Well, when you start poking around Starbucks's international store locator, some interesting patterns emerge. At first blush, there's a pretty close correlation between a country having a significant Starbucks presence, especially in its financial capital, and major financial cock-ups, from Australia (big blow ups in finance, hedge funds and asset-management companies; 23 stores) to the United Kingdom (nationalization of the nation's largest banks). In many ways, London in recent years has been a more concentrated version of New York—the wellspring of many toxic innovations, a hedge-fund haven. It sports 256 Starbucks. In Spain, which is now grappling with the bursting of a speculative coastal real-estate bubble (sound familiar?), the financial capital, Madrid, has 48 outlets. In crazy Dubai, 48 Starbucks outlets serve a population of 1.4 million. And so on: South Korea, which is bailing outs its banks big time, has 253; Paris, the locus of several embarrassing debacles, has 35.
Oct 16, 2008
Propose career change ideas
Oct 14, 2008
Back at work: my rage is in full swing
Oct 13, 2008
Generation X
managed to pack in quite a bit of activities since I last wrote.
Wednesday saw A, his first visit since his move to Milan ( about a week earlier)
Met the community at this new( to me) place in the hood, where the chef apparently cooks food only produced within the M25 ( my taste buds were disappointed and my stomach upset)
Anyhow Thursday wake up at 4 to live from Milan the market crash. Highlights were
theatrical show imitating me the Sicilian ( starred by 10 of my clients)
me falling asleep dressed in my hotel room
lunch cut short by Bank of Italy asking funds for liquidity
me arriving 1 hour earlier at client appointment ( due to abuse of alcohol the night before)
Friday- surprise arrival at Gina's. She was so delighted, she cried.
Lasagne from Pina were awaiting.
Morning after, shirts were already washed dried ironed and folded and stored in plastic sleeves.
A cake was immediately baked in my honour by neighbour, dinner invitations proposed already 7. Consider I arrived at 10.30 pm and this was only 10 am.
Only had 1 hour for shopping in my favourite shop, still managed to grab few things. Also discovered that the nice lady from the shop dumped the husband to " rumour in the street say" engage in a lesbian relationship with one of her shop assistants... Thrilling...
so...
Anyway it's now Monday, the world is a safer place and I'm back in London and once again need to unpack and tidy up.. this seems to be a neverending job. Why do I spend half of my life tidying up and my flat looks always like a bomb exploded, it's always beyond me.
On the flight back I was reading an interesting article about Generation X, basically me.. well.. and the majority of people I know.
We are basically defined as a generation that loves organic, has divorced parents, it's sad and doesn't have sex.
Let's start with the study about sex, because you know, this is a subject I have particularly at heart.
For the baby-boomer generation, sexual opportunity was opened up by the pill. Those born after 1985 are rediscovering sex as sport largely because of the internet. But, according to Edward Laumann, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, the emergence of Aids and the divorce boom gave Generation X insecure emotions and more restricted sex lives.“There was a backlash against their parents’ attitudes, a crisis of confidence,” said Laumann, author of The Social Organisation of Sexuality, a college text-book in America. His study, based on thousands of interviews, is expected to be released next year. “It’s clear that, while Generation X has sex, obviously, it’s probably not as much or as varied in styles as their parents or today’s teenagers and students,” he said. ( can somebody please find me the varied styles previous generation used to entertain with??) . According to Laumann’s preliminary findings, about 30% of Generation X-ers have distinctly different sexual habits from their parents or today’s Generation Y; they have “substantially” fewer partners and reject adultery.
I know feel a saint.
Cruisers here are those fun-loving free spirits who relish in living outside of the mainstream, like their '90s-era TV heroes. They revere Nelson Mandela, abhor McDonald's and the Pope, and have a predilection for urban, independent and specialist brands. And it looks as if Cruisers are still trying to relive the glory days. They like partying and casual relationships and, the study found, only 34% of respondents who fit into this category are happier now than they were at 18.
Nesters are those who delight in a cozy life filled with a smaller group of friends than the Cruisers, and are focused on chic home furnishings, design and fashion. They like aspirational brands and lionize Madonna, Audrey Hepburn and ET.
Super-breeders are the ones who honestly believe that their children will change the world, and for such reasons, go to extreme odds to protect their loveables from perceived threats (such as sugar and TV). They're also the ones always talking about all things "green," "organic" and "sustainable." They want brands that live up to their ideals of a perfect world. ( I know a couple of these... but they have not bred yet! )
I must say, no idea which one I fit into, maybe the cruisers... ( more in another meaning) because you see despite I'm not happier than I was at 18 ( or for that matter at 4) and I like Spiderman and don't really live outside of the mainstream ( I'm actually drawn in it).
oh well I'm back.. and you must be happy I have only mentioned briefly the financial crisis ( even if this weekend will remain in history.. but you get bored of it).
Oct 6, 2008
A couple of days have passed
well.. it's late.. but I thought I update you on the latest couple of days. In maybe sort of chronological order since Friday:
Broke my front tooth.. again.. while at work... they say that banking is not dangerous.. And no.. don't worry didn't end up in a work fight, was eating a chip while typing ( maybe was the punishment for me getting more and more similar to an arancino) and answering phone and all the rest, and half tooth just broke...
Panic, dentist, £45 later, superattack applied and 10 minutes later I'm back at the desk. I clearly chose the wrong career
Game night where I got absolutely drank playing some advanced model of pictionary with etch a sketch or itchy sketchy as I refer to, and trivial pursuit.. and blablabla... you know that apparently scrabble is back in fashion and the latest frenzy after sudoku it's online scrabble.. mind you still a better game than using numbers like chickens and making feel people as if they are learning math.
oh well...
Saturday was moving day, M found a flat.. it's sad, not the flat, but that it means going back to the sporadic time together.
60 boxes later, from storage to van from van to 2nd floor, Wish was awaiting. superhero night.
Very cool people like usual. Wow 10£ can buy jumping of toilet queue and 2 people in the cubicle.... credit crunch... well
Sunday didn't leave the sofa really. H came by with IM and we watched the X factor, playing a bit with the arieal, as thunderstorm had really eliminated digital images, on guess exactly which channel..
Monday... back at work.. another massive fall in stock, new record since 1987, soon will exchange COD for Euros instead ISK and there you go...
Hamleys ,the floral shops ( i.e Monsoon, Oasis et similar) Iceland ( the frozen peas shop) Harvey Nick, West Ham football club, House of Fraser and 250k savers...just in the UK.. Yes, because Iceland, was a great country model, small, ticking along, a success, well till ....
this week... This week proved globalisation wrong, because makes the world more prone to systemic risk, it's like promiscuity really but at market level.
or all started way before when the greedy decided.. oh well Iceland is small, let's destroy it, a bit like Risk.. but takes time and you start with the small ones.. I mean notice that choosing S. Marino or Lietchestein ( or that is the artist... nevermind, you got it) it would have been a bit ridiculous, the Vatican, would have been unfair, after the Pope today said the only solution is praying, also he's runnyin a bible reading marathon, people in turn read a page of the bible... apparently it takes 2 weeks.. It was unclear to me if they stayed awake for 2 weeks or what? F must know the answer, I wouldn't be surprised if she was joining in for a page or two with a thermos of broth.
I also received a message on facebook from my desk mate in secondary school.
Married with kid. I pressed delete. Couldn't cope with the hi how are you what are you doing now. .......and bla....
Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllll can you reply to my texts. It's two weekends that I try to invite you to cool places and you never answer.
Roll the dice.. Let's see whose round is next in the world demolition.
Yes it was boring I know... try to do better next time, not in the mood today... but found a cool cheery picture for your amusement.
Oct 3, 2008
Sep 30, 2008
Sep 27, 2008
Sep 25, 2008
Save the world? Hank just didn't have a clue
The staggering incompetence of the US Treasury Secretary is now acknowledged - and is a disaster for George Bush
Anatole Kaletsky- The Times
The Emperor has no clothes. If you want to know why American capitalism is on the brink of disaster, but also want to understand what will save it, then log on to the C-Span congressional website and watch the interrogations of Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, by the Senate and House banking committees.
Until last week, I was in a minority of one in arguing that Mr Paulson was personally responsible for suddenly turning the painful but manageable credit crunch that had been grinding away 18 months in the background of the US economy into a global catastrophe. Mr Paulson's appearances on Capitol Hill, marked by the characteristic Bush-era combination of arrogance and incompetence, are turning my once-outlandish view into conventional wisdom: Henry Paulson is to finance what Donald Rumsfeld was to military strategy, Dick Cheney to geopolitics and Michael Chertoff to flood defence.
Mr Paulson may be a former chairman of Goldman Sachs, but as US Treasury Secretary he does not know what he is doing. His recent blunders, starting with the “rescue” of Fannie Mae, have triggered unintended consequences around the world, resulting in the death-spiral of financial values. But last Friday Mr Paulson outdid even these Rumsfeldian achievements, when he demanded $700 billion from Congress for a “comprehensive and fundamental” solution to the global financial crisis, without apparently having any idea of what he would actually do.
The good news - before I return to the perils of Mr Paulson - is that his blunders no longer matter very much. There will still be a huge US government bank bailout, which will probably avert a disastrous slump in the US and global economies. But because Mr Paulson has lost the political initiative, this bailout will now be led by the Democratic leadership in Congress and will be structured around its priorities - relief from mortgage foreclosures, restrictions on bankers' pay and big government shareholdings in US banks. For President Bush it is a disaster, dashing his last faint hope of having a tangible achievement to his name before he leaves office.
How did things come to such a pass? When Mr Paulson announced his $700 billion “plan” last Friday, everybody in the financial world (myself included) heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, it seemed, the US Government was going to do whatever it takes to stabilise the world financial system. The universal assumption was that Mr Paulson would present a detailed plan of action over the weekend, putting a safety net under the value of homes, mortgages and related assets. Yet all that appeared by Saturday evening was a three-page legislative outline, with no hint of the mechanisms to be used. The only substantive clause in the draft was a swaggering demand for untrammelled power: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to this Act are non-reviewable and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
When further details of the Paulson plan failed to appear on Sunday it was assumed that the details were being untangled in late-night political negotiations. When there was still no plan on Monday, the view was that Mr Paulson must be holding back the details for his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee the following day. But then, to everyone's astonishment, Mr Paulson turned up to the committee on Tuesday morning with only the briefest opening statement, which simply repeated what he had already said the week before: the sky was falling and the only way to stop it was to give him authority over $700 billion in public money, to be spent in unspecified ways.
And suddenly the sky did fall down - not on the world economy, but on Mr Paulson. Consider the reactions from American politicians, including Republicans: “Stunning and unprecedented in its lack of detail”... “a $700 billion blank cheque to Wall Street”... “neither workable nor comprehensive”... “foolish waste of massive taxpayer funds”... “eerily similar to the rush to war in Iraq”. Best of all was John McCain's comment: “When we're talking about a trillion dollars of taxpayer money, ‘trust me' just isn't good enough.”
At first, nobody could quite believe Mr Paulson was incompetent. Was it really possible that the Treasury Secretary had no idea of what to do with this unprecedented financial firepower? Perhaps his silence on crucial issues such as what he would pay for the banks' “troubled assets” was just a tactical ruse.
But as the cross-examination rolled on, and Mr Paulson just waffled - “we will ask experts to advise us”, “we will get the best and brightest financiers to suggest ideas” - the terrible truth dawned. There was no such thing as a Paulson plan. Not only did Mr Paulson not know what he was doing. He did not know what he was talking about. When pressed to offer at least some basic principles for his rescue, Mr Paulson had no answers. When challenged about limits to executive remuneration and taxpayer stakes in future profits of participating banks, he brusquely rejected all such proposals - on the amazing ground that they might discourage some of the stronger banks from taking advantage of government support!
Could he really be so clueless? Surely not. Why, then, has Mr Paulson failed? His inability to think seriously about solutions to the present financial crisis probably has deep ideological roots. Just as Mr Rumsfeld could simply not believe that US foreign policy might be misguided, Mr Paulson simply cannot believe that markets can be fundamentally wrong. He therefore cannot imagine, for example, that government judgments about the value of bank securities may, in some circumstances, reflect economic realities more accurately than market prices. Since some such recognition of market failure is fundamental to any understanding of banking crises, it is not surprising that Mr Paulson finds it difficult to come up with a credible solution.
The ideological pendulum is now swinging but what is needed to avoid future crises is not necessarily more regulation. It is better-quality regulation, managed by people who understand and respect markets but do not worship them. Markets are usually right, but sometimes they are dangerously wrong - and they need to be managed with decisive and competent government intervention.
The people who do not understand the role of government should not be regulating markets any more than they should be fighting wars or managing flood defences. P.J.O'Rourke, the conservative writer, once remarked: “The Republicans are a party that says government doesn't work - and then get elected and prove it.” This should be the epitaph for the Bush Administration - and Mr Paulson.
Sep 24, 2008
Auntie Bettie forever
Between the marvellous people of Vermont many remained in my heart for different reasons,
but a special place must go to her. The unique.. Auntie Bettie.. there is no picture of her on this post, because she was the atmosphere, the peace, the place, the house in which she lives, you'll see video evidence later on... yes yes.. I'll be banging on about this trip for a while.
Anyhow, like anything in this holiday, I didn't know what to expect...
So we leave the hippy/happy farm to go to the aunt ( well the auntie bettie name, was my creation)
Hop we cross the river
I want to live there.. and travel to the apple factory!
Then we all left the porch and the lovely museum house to go and welcome the first male in the house.. ( well after the groom) and auntie bettie gave us a couple of old wistles to do it in style. Even the train station was cute.
Sep 23, 2008
Sep 22, 2008
this number 17 is starting to piss me off
sorry they chose to hire a trader not you, give me a call if you would like to discuss further
I won't need any help to write a resignation letter
Went to see a Gerhard Richter opening, 4900 colours. Yes mesmerizing, also Frank Gehry's pavillion at night time and at a second look, looks a masterpiece.
Killed my sorrows in the beauty of art and cycling through London on my new bike ( yes I'm learning to love it, still haven't learnt my way around, but that will come).
M bought me flowers and tidied up all the house for me. That I didn't deserve, but it was an amazing gesture.
No dreams of my new job, stuck in that shit. Tomorrow another day, still no time or money to repair the heating or hot water, duvet is back on the bed.
I'll think of Vermont and dream.
Sep 19, 2008
Armageddon? No mum Goldman complained
Woke up this morning,
he real secret to Goldman's Success, has just been demonstrated. If you don't like the rule, ignore it until inconvenient then change it intermittently so nobody every quite knows what the fuck is going. The quietly big a hole out back, and dump all your shitty assets in it.
the government-owned KfW bank sent funds to Lehman on the same day it filed for bankruptcy
“Germany’s Dumbest Bank,” were the headlines on the newspapers..
Sep 16, 2008
and the financial meltdown continues
Oh well..
Don't say I didn't tell you!
I thought all this all along, but hey, didn't make me rich ( actually I lost 90% on the shit shares they gave me and more to be accrued on the ones I that didn't even vest yet!)
actually it made me more frustrated, many people lost a job, some didn't deserve it, the ones that did, clearly found a new one just because they know somebody
and the saga continues.. the irony is , now I do actually work 14 hours a day for achieving no money and maybe keeping my job
if my company wasn't a joke already, it just got bought ( we don't know yet ) by some company which is even more shit with a ceo which will regret more than his sins having a dream of being a hero..
anyhow.. while typing another ( the biggest insurance company in the world might have been left to go bankrupt)
apple factory here I come!
Restore the breeding barn.... have a little cell for us.. where babies can stroke us and they can even guess ( which poo are you?)
Sep 13, 2008
let's get down to business.. TATIANA
Saturday night... Brighton Beach... I think the best word to describe the ride there, the place, the atmosphere and all the rest.. is SURREAL
yes I know what happens in brighton beach stays in brighton beach, but still... some pictys are totally needed..
the place was a posh restaurant for russians ( which I think are totally nuts) - the food was amazing, the vodka was flowing.. but the show was definetely the cherry!
Just had this memory of somebody singing a song in Russian or something with an old guy playing...

