hello again!

i know i know, i'm way behind. LOTS has happened since i've been away...and i STILL haven't written a post about the beijing trip with jon and my mom. a list to get me in the mood:

BEIJING
HK beach hat
New Zealand
How the world went to hell in a handbasket while I was reading about bees in the New Zealand news (holy crap!)
Saikung hike and last day of beach ulty
London
Obama?

and can i just say, again, HOLY CRAP! who would've thunk that the failure of lehman would've triggered all this? i mean, HOLY CRAP!

today, circuit city filed for bankruptcy and a Swedish bank got taken over by the Swedish gov for insolvency. the scary thing is that neither of these incidents are abnormal in this environment. i mean, i think circuit city may be the first large commercial company to go under from this, but ppl didn't even bat an eye. the unexpected 1.5% rate cut by the uk gov last week got a couple of cheers from ppl paying floating rate mortgages, but it hasn't changed much else...(except for killing a couple of our structured products that are now too expensive).

the media coverage of it is a bit infuriating too. one day, they'll interview a bunch of small business owners who will all cry and say, "boohoo, the banks won't lend us money, how will we buy the flour to bake our bread? boohoo...the banks are kicking us out of our houses and i've just had these two babies too". and then the next day, it'll be, "the evil banks have caused this financial crisis by lending out a gazillion times the amount that they actually have in their coffers, leaving them vulnerable to overnight financing costs, etc etc." so, do you want us to lend or not to lend? make up your minds bbc.

and you know, i tend to think this mess is caused more by the buy now pay later mindset than by banks and their large fees/bonuses. both americans and brits tend to be oddly comfortable with spending money that they haven't yet earned. after the rate cut last week, my colleague (roughly the same level as me) said straight away, "woohoo, now i can buy a ps3 by refinancing my loans!"...um...this is the guy who still has college debt, has a loan on a bmw z4, has an apartment to himself (i'm guessing that would cost around 300-400lbs a week), and covers his day to day costs with credit card debt...what's wrong with ppl?!

and this thing about the evil banks repossessing ppl's homes...fyi, banks hate having houses on their balance sheets. they're illiquid, they don't move, it's naked risk most of the time. in fact, they hate it so much, they're willing to sell them at like 50% of face value, which i guess may even be an improvement on what they were selling some of their other mortgage-backed assets at, but still.

OHHH, and the thing that really really pissed me off: the anti-capitalism protest in canary wharf. i guess the uk doesn't really celebrate halloween, so instead, a bunch of bored ppl organized the protest in the city's financial center and screamed "capitalism doesn't work" all night. ok, what do you suggest as an alternative, smarty pants? have you ever lived in a non-capitalist system? ok then. it's kinda disturbing how many mccarthyist feelings that protest stirred in me. after being teased for being communist most of my primary school life, i thought i would be pinker. instead, i find myself thinking things like, "we should've fed you to the soviets".

but come on, those ppl aren't protesting capitalism b/c they have some higher belief in utilitarianism or socialism, they're protesting capitalism b/c they're on the wrong end of it, which, if they were starving or homeless or beaten down, fine. but they were dressed up in fairy wings and monster masks. grrrr. i'm not sure why i'm so angry, i just am. if you have free time, protest a real injustice. why doesn't capitalism work--b/c you're poor? and why are you poor? were you a crack baby? no? ok then. oh, you're poor b/c some evil salesman tricked you into spending too much on your credit card, and now no one will give you a loan to cover your other loans? too bad mr mcgee, no sympathy from me. take some responsibility, ppl!

and i kinda feel bad for dick fuld. he built something all his life, he cared about it, and despite trying really really hard, it died. and not only is it dead, everyone blames him, and they're right (at least partially). how bad must that feel? without the benefit of hindsight, i'm not sure what else he could've done. it's like a greek tragedy in 2 acts. and sure, he has 300 million in compensation over 8 years, but i bet a TON of that was in lehman stock, and i doubt he sold much of it either (how bad would that look--a CEO selling his own stock).

ok, this turned into a lot about things that aren't really related to me, but i promise a more personal post soon. i miss you all.

lily