THE FINTAG NEWSLETTER
@ Fri 06 February 2009 : GMT

FINTAG COMMENT

Randomness.

Traders love to think they have that edge where they can predict the future and control their emotions. After a long day screaming at Bloomberg and spreadsheets, a work out in the gym is a way to relieve the stress and boredom, for it is extremely tedious looking at numbers all day long. So always wanting to buy the best I took a trip to see Matt Roberts, PT to the stars. His rates were extremely aggressive and despite telling me he would not reduce his rates I pushed hard for a discount.

Fitman Fintag: "Look at these abs? I am already fit? It will be less work for you."
Very fitman Bobby: "But you are a nobody. If you were a celeb I could buy your name for a discount"
Fitman Fintag: "Haven't you seen the markets? There are unemployed people everywhere."
Very fitman Bobby: "Yes, and they all want six packs."

So perhaps the gymnasium industry has legs after all. Talking of legs, most CEO's have legs and those of old Incompetent Banks are revelling in paying bonuses despite politicians telling them to politely stop it.

Of course the winner in all this is your good ol' hedge fund. As we have seen, the banks have outsourced their prop desks to very friendly hedge funds. No need for onerous tier 1 capital or appraising monkey like traders, fights over bonuses or putting in after shave in the air con to keep the smell down. Traders get bored easily and an a fat size carrot keeps them at their desk. Take this away and they will not trade. So thankfully, they can be caged in Mayfair and kept at arms length, happy to reap the rewards of their skill and the banks can avoid the embarrassment of being seen paying bonuses.

So when Obama and Mandelson bang on about bonuses, it is all political. The people earning the bonuses are those who should only ever get bonuses anyway - those who make money for their shareholders. I mean why should a PA, a middle office valuer, a product accountant, a head of HR get a bonus? For what? Turning up to work?

So the ECB say maybe and the useless Bank of England drop their rates to a historic low. Does that mean we can close the Bank of England down now? Also good to see that big German bank's creative accounting coming awry too. So perhaps Matt Roberts can expect to see some more DB bankers coming his way soon so its not all bad news.

AMERICANS WANT TAX CUTS, NOT OBAMANOMICS

usnewsFintag says
So let us step back. Rates have been dropped to nothing. Governments are printing money by paying over the odds for crap assets. Taxes have been kept steady. Keynesian stimulus programs have been kicked start. Japan did all this and it failed.

Let the market collapse. All these sticky plaster solutions are useless. Of course try, but in a couple of months there will be nothing else that can be done. What next? Ban savings? Force people to spend? Give people in the streets thousands of dollars?

Interfering with a delicately balanced market and this is what you get. I am with Rogers and Soros on this. Capitalism is brutal but it does work. My idea? Ban anyone who is a socialist. Hunt them down and send them to Iceland.

politico says " Obama losing stimulus message war "

U.S. INITIAL UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS JUMP TO 26-YEAR HIGH

bloombergFintag says
Starsky and Hutch. Death Wish. Not nice.

HOW OFFSHORE CAPITALISM ATE OUR ECONOMIES - AND ITSELF

guardianFintag says
I have a better idea. Abolish tax. Tax was first used to fund wars. As Ronald Reagan used to say the problem is always government. If we cut this back - dictatorships are always better - and had a flat tax, these offshore havens would die.

big barry says " Buffett's Buy Metric "

BANK HINTS MORE RATE CUTS TO FOLLOW

financial timesFintag says
So why didn't they just put rates to 0%. Sounds to me like they want to do a Japan and have silly meaningless rates like 0.35%. The Bank of England should shut shop and come back when we have roaring inflation. They were crap at being lender of last resort and Mervyn should use the opportunity to go fishing. Or perhaps revive his pop career:

BROWN WARNS BANKS ON BOSSES' PAY

bbcFintag says
A socialist dream being able to control the banks ...

MURDOCH: WE WILL SURVIVE AS WEAKER RIVALS DIE

independentFintag says
I have prepared my coffin.

MORE NAMES OF NOTE APPEAR ON MADOFF LIST

new york timesFintag says
What a tedious job it was trawling through the madoff list. There are a lot of losers, no doubt about that. But there are a number of feeder fund investors missing. Where are the Russians, the Arabs and where is XXXXX ....

RAB SELLS ASIAN BUSINESS FOR £1M TO SLASH COSTS

telegraphFintag says
Poor ol' Couttie and co. If there was a death spiral it would be RAB. But like UBS, it will hang in there.