The WSJ demonstrates again the seemingly bottomless hypocrisy of Warren Buffett. It cannot be said enough…this man is a charlatan. – SC
Admin note: Above is from Scott. I was working on something to add to it but was having trouble with editing…….so this is it. (lms)
Filed under: Uncategorized | 144 Comments »
About 15 years ago I started trying to incorporate vegetarian meals into my week on a somewhat regular basis, partly for health reasons, partly for ecological reasons, and partly just to learn a new way to eat–when you’re a Midwestern farm girl any meal which isn’t built around a proteinaceous entree just isn’t a meal! One of the best things I did at that time was to buy a cookbook titled “The Occasional Vegetarian” by Karen Lee (it has since gone out of print, but copies are still available); in this particular cookbook not only does she have great recipes, but she lays out entire menus so that those of us without a clue can figure out how to put together a balanced meal without meat. Another thing that I like about this cookbook is that many of her recipes can be multi-purposed, in these instances, hors d’oeuvres turn into entrees a couple of days later.
So, for lms and her vegetarian dinner party I offer up these ideas from Karen Lee, with modifications by Michigoose:
Basic Toast Rounds
1 French baguette, cut into 1/4-inch slices
Olive oil
These can be used immediately or stored for up to about five days. . . although mine never last that long.
Chino Caponata
Chinese eggplant ratatouille with Italian overtones. . . use as an appetizer on the toast rounds, or make even more (double the recipe), save it for a couple of days for the flavors to meld, and use it to top pasta. Yummy!
2 lb eggplant (2 or 3 medium eggplants)
1 cup tomato sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar + 5 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons Chinese hot chili oil
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 cups chopped Spanish (or other mild) onion
4 tablespoons minced garlic
2 red bell peppers, roasted and chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano (or 1 1/2 dried)
3 tablespoons small capers, drained
Curried Roasted Garlic Spread
Not only is this spread fantastic on those toast rounds, but it can be used as a dip, or a great low-fat topping on potatoes.
1 head garlic
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon cumin powder (roasted, if possible)
1 tablespoon curry powder
Pasta Caponata
What to do with that leftover Chino Caponata. . .
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup Chino Caponata
1 tablespoon mascarpone or heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 pound short pasta (I like to use bowties for this)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Happy weekend, all!
Filed under: Bites and Pieces, cooking, food, recipes | 5 Comments »
Health Affairs published a retrospective on Massachusetts Health care.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2012/01/24/hlthaff.2011.0653.full
Some highlights: Coverage is broader than it was in 2006, outcomes are better, costs are still increasing. However, what I found most encouraging yet most problematical for ACA was that the use of ERs for non-emergency treatment has been reduced, but only in the last couple of years.
If ACA is to obtain a savings for the taxpayer, IMHO its best opportunity will be to remove non-emergency treatment from the ER. I will be the among first to suggest that could have been done, years ago, without federal intervention, and there are examples of this around the nation. For example, the @45 neighborhood clinics in SF, funded cooperatively by major employers, the City, UCSF, and the two large insurers in the state, have been successful at this. Now Massachusetts has proven successful at the state level.
However, the fact that there was no relief for the ERs for 3 years in Massachusetts indicates to me the lag time to spread the knowledge of “where to go” to those who need treatment. That lag time would seemingly be, under ACA, a dependent variable upon other functions. Is the state, responsible for the make-up of the “essential” package, disseminating information or remaining silent? Does the locality actually offer alternate choices? [There are huge areas of the Big Empty in TX that don’t offer any choice but a 90+ mi drive to an ER, or to an unknown alternate facility].
NoVAH, could you please address this aspect of ACA – how it is to be implemented re: moving non-emergency patient care out of the ERs?
Thanks, in advance,
Mark
Filed under: aca, health insurance, movies | 24 Comments »
Here are 5 People Who Succeeded Long After They Should’ve Quit.
Robert Hooke was the Steve Jobs of the 17th Century.
It doesn’t look like things are going to improve much in North Korea. North Korea makes it a war crime to use a cell phone during 100 day mourning period.
Everything Lee Stranahan’s learned about business, he learned from playing Monopoly.
Not that any of you need any more reasons to avoid swinging drug-fueled orgies with strange couples, but now you have one: bear mace.
Survivors of the Costa Concordia are being offered money to shut up and sign a liability waver. At least, that’s my assumption. Given that Carnival Cruises, who owns Costa Cruises, has a lot of money, I’m betting not everybody takes them up on that offer. I’d at least assume that’s a first offer, and return with: “Well, I’m talking to my lawyer, and he says the whole thing was a lot more traumatic than that.”
The Costa Concordia After Captain Ignored Both Maps and Procedures to "Wave at people"
That’s it for tonight. Hope you have a great Friday Night! — KW
Filed under: Bits and Pieces | Tagged: bear mace, costa concordia, lee stranahan, monopoly, North Korea, steve job | 39 Comments »
Vital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1308.3 | -7 | -0.53% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2435.3 | -25.060 | -1.02% |
| Oil (WTI) | 99.35 | -0.350 | -0.35% |
| LIBOR | 0.5511 | -0.002 | -0.36% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 79.356 | -0.041 | -0.05% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.92% | -0.01% |
Markets are weaker on a lower-than expected GDP report. 4Q GDP came in at 2.8% vs street expectations of 3%. Consumption and prices were lower than expected as well. No major news out of Europe. EURIBOR / OIS continues to fall – it is now at 77.5 basis points. Remember, 20 bps is more or less post-crisis “normalcy” Pre-crisis normalcy was closer to 7 bps. Note the flat line before mid-2007 and then the spike in 2008. People forget that the crisis began a year before Lehman. Looking back, I remember the crisis began when the banks were stuck with a hung bridge on the Boots LBO. Should have sold everything that day.
Chart: EURIBOR / OIS
The WSJ has an editorial today on the Fed, which I believe nails it. It notes the disconnect between obama’s view of the economy and the FOMC’s view. But, the quote that says it all is this:
“One problem with all of this was pointed out yesterday by Kevin Warsh, who as a Fed governor sat on the FOMC until early last year. Speaking at Stanford, Mr. Warsh said that “exceptionally accommodative monetary policy” has its uses in a crisis or recession. But the Fed’s “recent policy activism—measures that go beyond a central bank’s capacity or traditional remit—threatens to forestall recovery and harms long-term growth.”
That’s a useful warning for markets to hear. Consider that Mr. Bernanke’s transparent goal is to drive down long-term interest rates to reduce mortgage rates to reflate the housing bubble. But intervening so directly to keep rates artificially low has made the bond market useless as a price signal or indicator of risk across the larger economy.”
As others (John / Banned) have noted, low interest rates are not “free.” They are the equivalent of sticking a penny in the fuse box. They may make the immediate problem go away, but they mask the underlying issues, and set yourself up for a major fire later.
In earnings this am, Ford missed and DR Horton beat. D.R. Horton is cautiously optimistic about Spring.
Filed under: Earnings Announcements, Economic data, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis | 92 Comments »
I linked to this song before, but now the actual music video is available. “Man or Muppet”, from The Muppets, one of my favorite movies this year. Of course, I love the Muppets.
Love it.
Um. How about the Angry Video Game Nerd reviews Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker for Sega Genesis? Profanity abounds.
Yeah, I’m low on content tonight. Feel free to add.
Filed under: Bits and Pieces | Tagged: michael jackson, muppets | 67 Comments »
Vital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1326.3 | 6.1 | 0.46% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2455.9 | 34.730 | 1.43% |
| Oil (WTI) | 100.68 | 1.280 | 1.29% |
| LIBOR | 0.5531 | -0.004 | -0.63% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 79.148 | -0.328 | -0.41% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.96% | -0.03% |
Futures are higher this morning on strength in Europe and the Fed’s comments. To be honest, I found yesterday’s language in the FOMC statement to be equity-bearish. They committed to lower interest rates until late 2014, took down GDP estimates, and made scant mention of the recent signs of an accelerating economy. The Fed looks at economic indicators that are not made public, so we can’t know exactly what they are seeing. Perhaps their models are telling them that these recent strong data points have been spurious.
I like to listen to conference calls from companies reporting earnings. And while it is tough to quantify and model body language, it does give a view of the economy going forward. Apple’s report certainly speaks of a stronger consumer. The homebuilders have been increasing backlog and activity. United Rentals reported last night a 27% increase in revenues in Q4 and a utilization rate of 69% for FY11, a company record. While you can object that URI’s numbers are coming from a weak base, you can’t dispute the direction.
One thing is for sure, the Fed wants you out of Treasuries. They are giving you a good bid to exit the long end of the curve. They are telling you (through an explicit inflation target) that they intend for you to make a 0% real rate of return on the 10 year bond. They are paying you nothing to sit in short term paper. The Fed wants you buying real estate. They want you buying stocks. There is an old saw in the market – “don’t fight the fed.” And that may explain yesterday’s equity rally as much as anything. Heard on the Street this morning this morning interpreted the statement as “We won’t raise rates until the economy is really going.” And supposedly that gave equity investors a little comfort to put more money to work.
I guess it is time to figure out where the next bubble is going to be. 6 years of rock-bottom interest rates should be a good base for one. Farmland. Commodities. You could make the argument that long term govvies are in bubble territory already. If we start seeing levered Treasury strategy ETFs and structured notes, you’ll know we have crossed the rubicon.
In economic data this morning, durable goods orders were higher than expected at 3%. Initial Jobless Claims came in at 377k. EURIBOR / OIS continues to tighten, down to 78.5 basis points. 20 basis points could be considered “normalcy” in the European banking sector. Still, it has come in over 21 basis points in 6 weeks.
Filed under: Earnings Announcements, Economic data, Economy, Federal Reserve | 130 Comments »
iPad textbooks won’t replace textbooks soon. Heck, I can’t even get an iPad 2 so I can do demonstrations to our school support staff. At least, not yet. 😉
Did a webinar for the new Filemaker features. Had to agree to an NDA, but the demonstration of new features was extremely weak tea compared to what I saw at FileMaker DevCon this year. Alas, with the school merger pending, we may never do another FileMaker upgrade. Still, there’s not a better integrated DB and interface builder around. What, Access you say? Pthpht!
Does money really buy elections? Freakonomics says no.
A primer on 3D printing from TED:
Thomas Dolby talks about, and then performs, One of Our Submarines from his Sole Inhabitant Tour.
I’m a big Thomas Dolby fan. Golden Age of Wireless is a near-perfect album.
Speaking of which, I’ve posted this before but I’m going to post it again, because I love the song. Thomas Dolby’s “Oceanea”.
For anyone with a Spotify account, here’s the link for Thomas Dolby’s “Cruel”, one of my favorite songs from him.
That’s it for tonight. Please talk amongst yourselves. —KW
______________________________________________
And a bleg — please vote in my poll if you haven’t already. It looks to be very close between Newt and Mitt, though Mitt got a bit of a bounce from the debate Monday night.
— Mike
One more thing to spend time doing: Interactive map of Euro crisis
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: elections, iPads, ipads, textbooks | 249 Comments »
Longer Run Policy Considerations
Big Picture: The Fed is on hold until late 2014. Previously they anticipated low interest rates through mid-2013. Inflation target is 2%. The Fed will continue to re-roll its investments into mortgage backed debt. Operation Twist will continue.
In this new age of transparency, the Fed is giving investors more of a look at their thinking.
More granular stuff: The Fed has taken down its forecast for GDP growth in 2012 and 2013. In November, they projected 2.5% – 2.9% GDP growth for 2012 and 3.0% to 3.5% for 2013. They now expect 2.2% to 2.7% growth for 2012 and 2.8% to 3.2% for 2013. So, while the general tenor of most observers seems to be more optimistic, the Fed is going in the opposite direction.
However, they took down their unemployment estimates from November, so that is a positive. What is interesting is that they stated the “normal rate of unemployment” range was 5.2% to 6.0%. Which means that once unemployment gets in the mid 5-s, the Fed will start tightening. At least that is how I interpret it. Don’t expect to see long-term unemployment rates similar to the ones Clinton (5.19%) and Bush (5.27%) enjoyed. 6 is the new 5. The Fed is at least paying lip service to the idea of preventing future bubbles.
The Fed introduced an inflation target of 2%. Note the 10 year is yielding 2%. Get the message? Nope, the 10 year rallied hard on the announcement. Stocks also rallied.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Federal Reserve | 36 Comments »
Vital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1307.6 | -3.8 | -0.29% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2412.5 | -19.590 | -0.81% |
| Oil (WTI) | 98.35 | -0.600 | -0.61% |
| LIBOR | 0.5566 | -0.003 | -0.45% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 80.226 | 0.428 | 0.54% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 2.05% | -0.01% |
Markets are mixed this morning, with the broader indices lower following Europe, and the Nasdaq up on Apple’s earnings. AAPL is up about 8% pre-market. Conoco Philips also reported good earnings this morning. United Rentals reports after the close, which should provide another data point as to the state of the construction industry. Construction / Housing has been the achilles heel of this recovery, and if that sector is turning around, the economy could finally be on its way.
I didn’t watch the SOTU last night (I always just read speeches), but it doesn’t sound like there was anything market-moving in it. Natural Gas is up a little, presumably on the lack of a production target. The US dollar is stronger this morning and bonds are up 1/3 of a point, presumably on Europe, not necessarily the SOTU.
Perhaps the timing of the robo-signing settlement was not a co-incidence. In the speech last night, Obama laid out a plan for refinancing underwater mortgages. The fine print will not be available for some time, and it will require Congressional approval. I have noted in the past that you have to get the originators on board with this plan, and put-back risk is the big hurdle. Put back risk means the government can decide after the fact that a mortgage violated underwriting standards and can force the originator to buy it back. Re-financing underwater homes will by definition violate underwriting standards. The government can tell originators that it will allow underwriting violations for this program, but there is nothing preventing a future administration from changing the rules. An originator makes exactly the same profit on a 80% LTV loan as they do on a 120% LTV loan. So why would originators take the additional political risk when the returns are exactly the same? They won’t.
The FOMC rate decision will be released this afternoon. I don’t think anyone expects a change in policy, but people will be interested in seeing if the the Fed takes note of the early signs of a turnaround.
Filed under: Earnings Announcements, Economic data, Economy, housing, Morning Report, stock market | Tagged: robo-signing | 67 Comments »
Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojkt
All Things in Moderation 