Losing Books (& Deals) For each child you have . . . you lose a book.” –Anonymous writer, “Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces” by Michael Chabon. That’s if you’re a novelist. Ahh, but if instead you’re a Realtor . . . the equivalent isn’t losing books, but deals, and the ratio isn’t 1:1, it’s more like...Read More
Multi-Billon Dollar “Bug Bounty” “You know what a “bug bounty’ is? Someone says, “If you hack my system, I’ll give you a million dollars.’ So Bitcoin is now a nine-year-old multibillion-dollar bug bounty, and no one’s hacked it. It feels like pretty good proof.” –Chris Dixon, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz; “Beyond...Read More
Weighing the Relative Risks of Action, Inaction Oddly, one of the best arguments I’ve ever heard for The Precautionary Principle — in Tom Friedman’s NYT column yesterday, titled “Trump’s Folly” — never once mentions the term. No matter. Here’s the idea: when considering a response to a looming threat, ask which way the risk(s) cut: ...Read More
Lehman’s “Not So Big” $600,000,000,000(!) Balance Sheet “The 2008 financial crisis itself was centered not on big banks but on “shadow banks” like Lehman Brothers that weren’t necessarily that big.” –Paul Krugman, “Sanders Over the Edge”; The NYT (4/8/2016) No matter what you think of big banks or who caused The 2008 Crash, I think...Read More
“If a property is worth $250k and you ask $350k and reduce it to $325k, it’s not an indication of a problem in the market. It’s a problem with overpricing.” -Hall F. Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens; “Prices Drop for Luxury New York Real Estate”; The NYT (1/15/16). OK, I have a confession: I...Read More
Shiller: Why Smart Money Can’t Stop a Housing Bubble At least according to economist (and Nobel Prize winner) Robert Shiller, housing is more prone to bubbles than stocks for two reasons: 1) housing supply eventually responds to higher prices, satisfying demand (and then some); and 2) unlike stocks, it’s not possible to short housing —...Read More
