Everything's coming up snake eyes today and yet Mr. Market barely lost a nanoparticle of worth.
Berkshire Hathaway's net income is down by almost half in Q2, mainly because of bullish options bets on indices that have soured. Warren Buffett hasn't lost his touch just yet but sometimes it's better to bet all-in on what you know and avoid hedging what Mr. Market might do.
Permanent private sector hiring is still anemic. The trend towards temp work and a permanent freelance class among white collar professionals will soon be the expected norm. Salaried jobs will be reserved for members of elite families that will not quietly surrender control of career tracks in prominent corporations.
AIG is still a bottomless sinkhole. Really? No kidding. It's funny how Treasury and its media mouthpieces continue to shill for TARP recipeints' availability to pay back their rescue money. It's darkly funny how selling assets to repay loans puts AIG even further into an untenable position that the taxpayer must backfill.
The consumer credit engine is shutting down. Perhaps Joe Six Pack is finally realizing that skipping mortgage payments doesn't keep enough cash in his pocket to maintain a middle class lifestyle. Look for stories like this to intensify the economy's downward plunge as ARM resets keep hitting. So long, recovery, we hardly knew ye.
Full disclosure: No positions in BRK-A or AIG's remnant.
Berkshire Hathaway's net income is down by almost half in Q2, mainly because of bullish options bets on indices that have soured. Warren Buffett hasn't lost his touch just yet but sometimes it's better to bet all-in on what you know and avoid hedging what Mr. Market might do.
Permanent private sector hiring is still anemic. The trend towards temp work and a permanent freelance class among white collar professionals will soon be the expected norm. Salaried jobs will be reserved for members of elite families that will not quietly surrender control of career tracks in prominent corporations.
AIG is still a bottomless sinkhole. Really? No kidding. It's funny how Treasury and its media mouthpieces continue to shill for TARP recipeints' availability to pay back their rescue money. It's darkly funny how selling assets to repay loans puts AIG even further into an untenable position that the taxpayer must backfill.
The consumer credit engine is shutting down. Perhaps Joe Six Pack is finally realizing that skipping mortgage payments doesn't keep enough cash in his pocket to maintain a middle class lifestyle. Look for stories like this to intensify the economy's downward plunge as ARM resets keep hitting. So long, recovery, we hardly knew ye.
Full disclosure: No positions in BRK-A or AIG's remnant.
