The Facebook IPO had problems, but they are not especially unique. The problem, really, is that it has been so long that we’ve had a lot of IPOs that everyone has forgotten how they work. Way back in my investing banking days, I worked for a firm that was a dot-com bubble IPO factory. (Alas,… [Read More]
Blog
What Happened at JP Morgan Chase, Anyway?
One of my friends suggested that I write a post explaining what happened at JP Morgan Chase, in plain English. The bottom line is that they bought a lousy insurance policy. The company has a big debt portfolio, which is no surprise given that it is a major corporate lender. If some horrible economic event… [Read More]
On Learning Chinese, or Any Language
Because I’m going to China this summer, I’m trying to learn Chinese. I expect to fail miserably, of course; there’s just no way I can master a language like that in years, let alone weeks. Still, I like the idea of trying, and I think it would be wonderful to be fluent in many languages…. [Read More]
Paying for College: On Athletic Scholarships
For a long time, I believed that college athletes were entitled brats who were not capable of getting a degree on their own, and that it was really stupid of them to go pro before graduation. Hey, I was wrong, okay? And, as I realized this, I’ve come to a few observations that may be… [Read More]
Middle East North Africa Update
Several months ago, I had the bright idea of writing a series of blog posts about all of the changes resulting from the Arab Spring and how they affected investors. I didn’t get very far. There’s simply too much going on to make for me to write any sort of useful blog post. And so,… [Read More]
