Fabien Hug

What Stories Aren't Being Told?

One last thing I read pretty often about in the unofficial medias; insider sales on a steep rise since May 2009.

5 Perverse Bailout Consequences

And it all starts again; GS is the hero, big, strong, the pricks are back.
Before they show off can they pay back AIG? What if C or UBS would have gone down three months ago? Would they still be here?
They can only show off because they and this industry was heavily supported by the government. One should not forget this.

The Bonus Calculus

I agreed with your comment (particularly the one about the CEO) but this creates a huge management dilemma. If your company loses money overall and you don't reward the departments that make money, you can lose them and increase your loses. The bonus problem arises more from the fact that shareholders have basically only the right to vote with their feet (I mean sell). Big institutions can't vote at all; where would they put their money?


On Apr 06 04:53 PM Husker Mark wrote:

> Yes and no. I am of the firm belief that nobody in a firm should
> get a bonus unless the firm, as a whole, makes a profit. Bonuses
> should be in the form of profit sharing, IMHO. I don't think anyone,
> especially a CEO, should receive "incentives" for losing money.
> That contradicts the fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders.
>
>
> I too worked for an organization that figured out a formula that
> provided bonuses when we lost money. I just couldn't understand
> how senior management could justify such audacity.
>
> What happened to the America that rewarded success rather than mediocity?

Main St. vs. Wall St.: It's Not Easy Being Nice to Bad Neighbors

I feel OK with Mr. Bernanke analogy, provided the house is not a crack house. My concern lies in the fact that it's not the first time a house is burning but no preventive measures are ever taken. Bernanke should say lets fight this fire but this is going to be the last one. It may not be realistic but he still should say it.

Left Leaning Economists Weigh in on Punitive Taxation

Collectively (I don't like the word) these employees put themselves in this situation. You can't simply say; OK enjoy your taxpayers' money. Given the situation, I'm afraid will see more bad decisions aimed to cover bad decisions that were taken to cover bad decisions.

Will Government Funds Prevent a Market Heart Attack?

We usually can find a lot of comments about the negative effects of government actions. It was very interesting and instructive to finally read about the potential effects of its inaction.

What, If Anything, Are CDS Spreads Telling Us?

Dear Sir
Since the market is up 6% and GE 18%, I will take time to answer to your answer. Obviously, you don't like my remarks and I am happy to read that you also have great competences as an English teacher. By the way, sorry for my English skills, I obviously don't have your US education (since I spent the better part of my career with one of these Geneva's Private Banker, en francais s'il vous plait). Anyway, even if I like your beautiful language, I car more for my money.
Here is a verbatim of one of your sentences, amongst other; "many on Wall Street are now selling the notion that, since the CDS marketplace is “effectively controlled” by a few professional market-makers, default probabilities derived from such spreads are almost irrelevant. That is a dangerous stance to adopt; those asset managers who thought that they had found the most prudent (and profitable) answer to declining equity prices (by switching to supposedly lucrative yields in the corporate and sovereign debt sector) will have to confront their investors with the facts, sooner or later."
You don't want to call this a strategic call, fine with me. My opinion will remain (as long as there is no data available) that this is a big trading game as many on Wall Street seem to thing.
Good luck.

What, If Anything, Are CDS Spreads Telling Us?

Sorry Sir but this is a load of crap. No volumes, no counter party, no disclosing of participants, no nothing and we should base our investment strategy on that! Great.
Now, some of these non-disclosed geniuses are willing to pay money to protect themselves against a default of the US gvmt or even a default of GE! Did you ever thought about who is going to fork the bill when such default occurs? AIG or UBS or Merrill-Bofa?
To me it sounds like oil $ 200 before Xmas, nothing more.

The AIG Scandal

Sir, you are so right but I think we can only dream.

The Gloom Talk from the Top Needs to Stop

Sir, I read the first two paragraphs of your article;
-let them doom and gloom, they didn't provoque this situation
-you can be optimistic about capitalism, these days, thanks to gvmt. intervention only. Let AIG, BoA and C fail capitalistic style and you'll see.

Bank Execs' Proposed Salary Limits: No Sympathy Here

Very simple; if you can't live in NY with $ 500K/year, get rid of New York.

Financial Crisis: This Is the Real Deal

Presidential options are effectively not that good. One thing is certain though, Republicans are experienced trouble makers.