The value of the $US in circulation as currency has been increasing at an almost exponential rate. While the Euro has only been in existence since 2002, it’s short history has shown a more linear growth rate.
Current $US and Euro Notes Outstanding
Published in March 25th, 2008
Ranked One Year Investment Bank Performance
Published in March 13th, 2008
The CDO, MBS, SIV write-downs have taken their toll on the investment banking sector over the last year. As a proud Canadian, I am please to see our banks are fairing very well during the subprime storm. If I wasn’t so sure that the US government would rescue Citigroup, I would short it right down to its true value (zero).
Top 5 Corporate Mocking Videos
Published in March 2nd, 2008
Bird & Fortune on Subprime
This is THE BEST description of the subprime meltdown that I have seen. British humor at its best.
Career Builder - Corporate Monkeys
This ad is a funny take on how mangers are often so oblivious & unconcerned with the important, and how the rest of us are forced to play along or find a new job.
Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer - Developers Montage
Steve Balmer has been known to flip out at employee town hall meetings and other gatherings. This video montage is a compilation of his antics. It’s pretty funny to see him worked into a sweaty mess of a man.
Bill Hicks Corporate Schills Video Montage (strong language)
Bill Hicks was a legendary anti-establishment, anti-corporate comic before his untimely early passing in 1994. He was banned from David Letterman’s show for jokes that touch too close “establishment” interests. This video montage shows how so-called artists have sold out their reputations to corporate interests.
We’re all living in Amerika - Rammstein Video
This music video mocks America’s cultural & corporate takeover of the world. The moon landing set also mocks the 1969 moon landings as a fake Hollywood stunt (common belief in Europe and rest of world). Here is a translation of the lyrics.
Top 5 Scariest Financial Charts
Published in February 13th, 2008
This list is my choice of the top 5 charts I have happened across lately that are cause for great concern.
#1: The US Debt
Why is it a concern? Well, it’s rather obvious that the U.S. National Debt is growing by leaps and bounds and a large part of it is financed by foreigners. At some point repayment will become a concern. Of course, the inflation adjusted chart shows how the problem can also be inflated away, which appears to be the current strategy.
#2 Savings Rate
The chart clearly shows that there is now a negative savings rate. This is not sustainable long term. The only other time this happened was after the stock market crash of 1929. Are we also on the verge of a prolonged depression?
#3 Ajdustible Rate Mortgage (ARM) Resets
The chart shows that we are in for another major mortgage headache as the second wave of “Option ARMs” resets hits. For those that haven’t already heard, much of the current debt crisis is being caused by defaults on low rate mortgages resetting to higher interest rates. Option ARMs are often at such low initial rates that the principle balance grows until reset. Long story short, the subprime crisis is far from over.
#4 Oil Discoveries vs. Production Gap
I chose this chart rather than the usual “peak oil” chart because I think it gets the same message across without trying to pick a peak year for oil production. At some point production will follow the historical discovery curve, and start to fall. Without a clear energy successor waiting in the wings, the world will be dramatically changed by this event.
#5 Real S&P 500 Performance
This chart shows that the S&P 500 lost ground against many other assets since 1999. Putting your money in gold bars and sitting on it for the last 9 years would have been the best investment you could have made. But that’s not what the talking heads on CNBC tell you, is it?
Top 10 Philanthropists of All Time
Published in February 6th, 2008
Worlds Largest Banks - 2008 Update
Published in February 5th, 2008
The following is a table of the world’s biggest banks by market capitalization in current U.S. dollar terms, showing their rank at the end of January 2008, 2007 and 2003.
1/31/08 Mkt cap ($bln) 1/31/07 1/31/03
1 ICBC 277.514 4 NA 2 Bank of America 195.933 2 2 3 HSBC Holdings 176.788 3 3 4 China Construction 165.234 7 NA 5 Bank of China 165.087 6 NA 6 JPMorgan Chase 159.615 5 9 7 Citigroup 140.698 1 1 8 Wells Fargo 112.365 11 4 9 Banco Santander 109.862 12 23 10 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 105.412 9 22 11 ABN Amro+ 103.643 34 29 12 UniCredit 97.591 15 32 13 Intesa SanPaolo 89.954 16 46 14 BNP Paribas 88.487 14 15 15 Goldman Sachs 87.602 18 18 16 UBS 84.878 8 7 17 BBVA 78.302 19 25 18 Sberbank 77.713 31 109 19 Royal Bank of Scotland 76.023 10 6 20 Wachovia 75.401 13 8 + RBS, Santander and Fortis agreed to buy ABN Amro in 2007.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Top 10 States With Highest Foreclosure Rate In 2007
Published in February 1st, 2008
