ProPublica, the non-profit investigative reporting group run by a gaggle of impeccably credentialed refugees from print journalism, has a fascinating, jargon-free piece [Download Here] on the Magnetar hedge fund. Seems that Magnetar pulled off a legal version of the scam in The Producers during the housing boom, facilitating the creation of collateralized debt obligations by purchasing the ultra-risky “equity” tranches and then quietly taking massive short positions on the remaining tranches. Hard to say, though, whether a requirement to disclose the short positions in this largely unregulated market would have saved the sucker-investors who viewed Magnetar’s equity stakes as the seal of good housekeeping.
|
|||||
Max Bialystock, Eat Your Heart Out |
Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
   |
||||
|
Copyright © 2013 regulation2point0 - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
