Peter Schweizer
Here’s a very interesting book. It’s another reason why I haven’t been a fan of either party for the past 10 years.
In the Spring of 2010, a bespectacled, middle-aged policy wonk named Peter Schweizer fired up his laptop and began a months-long odyssey into a forbidding maze of public databases, hunting for the financial secrets of Washington’s most powerful politicians. Schweizer had been struck by the fact that members of Congress are free to buy and sell stocks in companies whose fate can be profoundly influenced, or even determined, by Washington policy, and he wondered, do these ultimate insiders act on what they know? Yes, Schweizer found, they certainly seem to. Schweizer’s research revealed that some of Congress’s most prominent members are in a position to routinely engage in what amounts to a legal form of insider trading, profiting from investment activity that, he says, “would send the rest of us to prison.”
Great Debt Dashboard
I love this dashboard, but the data is scary! US total debt is 56 trillion! I’m looking for ways to short California, but I haven’t figured it out yet. I need to call Kyle Bass.
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Kyle Bass
· If you don’t know about Bass, he manages Hayman Capital, and made a ton of money predicting the subprime mortgage crises. Now he’s betting all of his money that sovereign debt will be the next big thing to take down the world.
Quick Summary
· 15 Brilliant Insights From Hedge Fund Superstar Kyle Bass – http://www.businessinsider.com/americatalyst-kyle-bass-2011-12
Two interesting Kyle Bass interviews
1 Video – Recent semi-hostel interview from UK Journalist on European crisis – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044363/Kyle-Bass-Meet-Texan-investor-millions-credit-crunch.html
2 Video – 20 minute interview from 2010 – Lots of interesting charts. Talks about Japan “write-down” – http://vimeo.com/18920437
Two Great Books from Michael Lewis
I thought the Big Short was fascinating. I read it cover to cover one Saturday. Lewis is a great writer! I read Boomerang on the flight to Maui over the holidays. It’s a great read about how government corruption and massive government pensions are contributing to the sovereign dept. crisis in the US and Europe. over the weekend.
· Big Short – “about the bursting of the housing/subprime bubble, focused on a little-known but ultimately highly influential Wall Street analyst named Meredith Whitney who saw the collapse coming in 2007.”
· Boomerang – “The book could not be more timely given the worries about Europe’s deepening debt crisis and the recent warning issued by Christine Lagarde, managing director of the I.M.F, that “the current economic situation is entering a dangerous phase.”
Microsoft Excel for Stock and Option Traders: Build Your Own Analytical Tools for Higher Returns
Here’s another book I started reading over the weekend. In the first 50 pages it highlights a number of examples of insider trading.
Trade More Profitably by Exploiting Excel’s Powerful New Statistical and Data Mining Tools!
· Uncover subtle anomalies and distortions that signal profit opportunities
· Create powerful new custom indicators, alerts, and trading models
· Visualize and analyze huge amounts of trading data with just a few clicks
· Powerful techniques for every active investor who can use Excel
· Now that high-speed traders dominate the market, yesterday’s slower-paced analysis strategies are virtually worthless. To outperform, individual traders must discover fleeting market trends and inefficiencies and act on them before they disappear.
