Summer Update

Dont you find it funny that only after much of the summer has slipped away do you start thinking about things - the things you did, the things you could do but did not do, and the things you wanted to do but could not do. In any case, I had a good time, and look forward to the fall and winter. Winter however cold, wind swept and bleak you might be - I am not scared.

Interestingly, I did vigorously cram as much as I could into the summer because the winter is boring. If summer extended all year long (as it does in Madras), I am sure I would have planned out far less.

In other developments, the past few weeks have been quite the learning experience. As many of you may know, and may not know, there has been much tension in the markets. Spurious NINJA (No INcome Job or Assets) housing loans over the last few years are coming back to haunt many a lender. There has been many a default, leading to many a loss of money to those wise people who lent the money. Summing up, hedge funds who bought these loans have been blowing up left right and center. It doesn't help if you borrow 10 bucks for every buck that you have and buy stuff that then goes on to lose 50% of its value over 4 weeks. When a fund loses big money, it gets margin calls, and to meet these margin calls it has to generate cash, and to generate cash it has to sell other parts of its holdings that are doing just fine. So, the whole market crashes down because there is a mad rush to sell and get out of positions before they fall in value. It is like a game of musical chairs; when the music stops the last one standing is out. At times like these one is thankful that one is an Analyst, the lowest kind of life in the Financial pecking order. As an Analyst, you aren't really responsible for anything, and consequently get paid nothing. However, you do get a birdseye view of the proceedings, and observe all hell breaking loose without actually being tarred and feathered.