Schmeditations...
Somebody needs to order a larger plate because ours is already full

Is it not the tribes, or am I stupid?

Bulletin Board
Looking to get up to speed quickly on the financial collapse - everything covering the swelling of asset bubbles to the proliferation of flawed pricing models and financial instruments, to the deliberate fraud, lack of oversight, and the eventual government intervention (or lack thereof) with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and all related nonsense. Suggestions? I considered buying Barth's summary. Any suggestions? I wouldn't mind hitting up one book each on CDOs, MBSs, credit-default swaps, subprime mortgages, uptick rule, naked short selling, Fannie/Freddie, and other subtopics. Hit me up with suggestions via the Contact Page.
Currently reading...
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
Thus far...
I am almost done with chapter 3 (around page 165 of the softcover). Chapter 1 was a very broad, fast, 30,0000-foot-view-from-a-supersonic-jet-summary of the history of money up to the Rennaissance. Chapter 2 was also a very broad history of the development of bonds and a discussion of sovereign debt. Interesting, though brief, cases discussed included England issuing debt to fund Wellington's Army against Napoleon and Germany's hyperinflation after WWI. Chapter 3 discusses asset bubbles and the role of monetary policy. If you don't want to read the book, you can watch a four-hour PBS documentary on it.
"Follow Me!" - Repeated at the end of several stanzas of the Infantry Creed. It also happens to be good advice for you, when browsing Twitter or Facebook.

Development Updates
Recently added...
- Added Contact page to send anonymous emails to me (we'll see how this goes)
- Print-friendly format for blog posts (with or without comments)
- Pop-up reply windows to respond to original posts or to comments
- Added drop-down list with similar reply to function in the comment form at the bottom of each post
- Updated "recent comments" to reflect who is commenting to whom or if comment responds to the thread
- Added bookmark anchors to for permalinking to comments
- Added social media bookmark options to posts
- Edited layout of posts, so that link to go to comments is at the top of the page

On the 'to do' list...
- Finish revamping the home page
- Add in a "most commented" list and possibly a "most read" and "related" list to the blog
- Make a more elaborate "Currently Reading" section
- Get around to actually finishing the only item in the R&D section
- Create an RSS feed
- Update the "Truths" page (yes, some new ones have been revealed)