Saving Banks, Punishing Rewarding Bankers “In Sweden, if you ask a union leader, “Are you afraid of new technology?’ they will answer, “No, I’m afraid of old technology.” The jobs disappear, and then we train people for new jobs. We won’t protect jobs. But we will protect workers.” –Swedish minister for employment and integration, Ylva...Read More
Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting For an Apology [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.] Your company’s breathtaking recklessness, greed, and — above all — stupidity(!) blow a $200 billion hole in its balance sheet, threatening the global...Read More
That’s the question I fielded the other week from a client on behalf of their friend, who was leaving town imminently, and was (deeply) underwater on their North Minneapolis home. The short answer: ‘no.’ The more detailed answer: “no, for about 18 different reasons,” starting with the fact that what the underwater homeowner is essentially “donating” is a...Read More
If the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury were coordinating the response to the cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy, here’s what they would be doing: –the Captain and senior officers would all be given multi-million dollar bonuses (actually, their regular, annual multi-million dollar bonuses). –Carnival Cruises, the ship’s owner, would transfer title to the...Read More
Adding Fuel to the Fire — Then Buying Fire Insurance According to Margin Call — the most recent movie to tackle the Wall Street-authored financial bust — the honchos running the nation’s biggest investment banks realized too late that the market for mortgage-backed securities was going to collapse. So, literally overnight, they did a 180, dumping their...Read More
The “RoboCop Solution” to the Financial Crisis When it comes to holding the citizenry hostage, owners of pro baseball and football franchises have nothing on Wall Street. The former, of course, have refined to an art form the practice of extorting tax dollars from cities and counties to build ever more expensive (and grandiose) sports palaces. The pitch?...Read More
