What We Read Today 23 August 2013

Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today’s list.

The top of today’s reading list is a discussion of hedge fund mogul Steven Cohen’s possiblly criminal enterprise …….. and the end of today’s list has the latest strange twist in the saga of Edward Snowden.

• Jasmine and Complicity in Wall Street’s Criminal Enterprise (L. Randall Wray, Great Leap Forward) Hat tip to Roger Erickson. L. Randall Wray has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. Discussion centers on Steven Cohen’s possibly criminal enterprise.

• On “bullshit jobs” (R.A., The Economist) R.A. shortchanges the central point: income distribution. He mentions that only once and then rather dismissively, as if it actually would not be desirable..

• ‘A new UK housing bubble? No, it’s just the old one being pumped up again’ (Andy Bruce, Reuters) Hat tip to Ann Pettifor via Twitter. Since 1999 UK house prices have compounded by an average 7% a year. If the appreciation had been lower, say an average of 3% per annum, the Halifax price index would be around 103 today (Econintersect calculation).

• “Saving Private Fiat” (Roger Erickson, Mike Norman Economics) Roger Erickson is a contributor to Global Economic Intersection.

• We Just Got a Glimpse Inside Wall Street’s Con Game (Shah Gilani, Wall Street Insights & Indictments) Shah Gilani has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. High Frequency Trading market manipulation was mishandled by Goldman Sachs Tuesday morning and cost the firm $100 million. How sad!

• Banks Work Around China’s Lending Limits (Cynthia Koons and Dinny McMahon, The Wall Street Journal) Hat tip to FT AlphaVille.

• The dithering state is at the heart of India’s problems (David Pilling, Financial Times) “Rather than soothing investors’ nerves, the central bank’s stop-start measures have the whiff of panic.” See also Sanjeev Kulkarni GEI Opinion article.

• Year-to-date performance across fixed income (Sober Look) Bond investors are not used to losses like these.

• Bitcoin Spawns China Virtual IPOs as U.S. Scrutiny Grows (Lulu Yilun Chen, Bloomberg)

• Exclusive: UK’s secret Mid-East internet surveillance base is revealed in Edward Snowden leaks (Duncan Campbell, Oliver Wright, James Cusick and KimSengupta, The Independent) See also the two articles below:
  • — Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald Challenge Independent Story (Jack Mirkinson, The Huffington Post)
    — Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)