Mitsubishi Bubble

In the early noughties brain power at Misubishi North America came up with the world's worst strategy. Zero,Zero,Zero Zero down, Zero % interest, Zero payments for one year.
 Target new college grads. Everyone signed up for free cars. At end of year quite a few were reluctant to start paying on a year old car that had depreciated and as more were repoed and hit auctions down went book value.
This caused Mitsu North America to ask their friends at Daimler Benz for more money, a request that eventually led to the divorce of Mitsu. and Daimler Benz.
Some how this adventure into selling things on the never never should have lit a bulb or two in the real estate/mortgage biz, but it didn't.

Funny

Subject: Origin of a Christmas

A Christmas Story . . . for people having a bad day



When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass
pieces  all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Financial Reform: Post Crisis?

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Thomas M. Hoenig
President
Some believe that that the industry is over-regulated, which may be true, but we should not confuse over-regulated with well-regulated..."

http://www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/speeches/hoenig-DC-Women-Housing-Finance-2-23-11.pdf

Continental Illinois to big to fail

Continental Illinois and “Too Big to Fail”. History of the Eighties—Lessons for the Future. 237.
From conclusion:"By the

early 1990s, many of the issues surrounding TBTF had been addressed under FDICIA, but

the problem of systemic risk remains, as does the question of how regulators would respond

today to a dilemma similar to the one they confronted in May 1984."
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/history/235_258.pdf

Stopping Shipping Pirates

Build ships to deal with pirates. Original thought was to have the ability for the ship to channel super heated steam to outlets on side of ship. Open the outlets up when pirates scaling side of ship,scald pirates they fall into sea and drown toodles pirate.
Another person modified this idea to channeling exhaust rather than steam. Same effect toodles pirate.
At present there is no real risk to pirates this would add a whole new dimension of risk to their outings.

ICCO sees balanced cocoa market in 2010/11

Commodities Now
The global cocoa market is forecast to be closely balanced in 2010/11, with a surplus of some 70,000 tonnes, despite political tension in top producer Ivory Coast, the head of the International Cocoa Organization said. "For the past five years we've experienced a deficit but now we are moving into a balance," ICCO Executive Director Jean-Marc Anga said.
By Camila Reed and David Brough, Reuters – for Commodities Now
http://bit.ly/dXrTZL

Corporate bond spreads and real activity in Euro area

CORPORATE BOND SPREADS AND

REAL ACTIVITY IN THE EURO AREA –

LEAST ANGLE REGRESSION

FORECASTING AND THE PROBABILITY

OF THE RECESSION
ECB
Marco Buchmann

This paper aims at providing a detailed analysis of the leading indicator

properties of corporate bond spreads for real economic activity in

the euro area.
http://bit.ly/eY3tf1

Zero Lower Bound Events

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO

WORKING PAPER SERIES

Hess Chung

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Jean-Philippe Laforte

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

David Reifschneider

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

John C. Williams

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

January 2011
http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/papers/2011/wp11-01bk.pdf