AH, MAAAANN!

I feel like my 4 year old granddaughter. China raises interest rates today pretty much out of the blue and the dollar goes through the roof. That was not supposed to be the result according to the way the book is written. On top of that, the stock market went right into the tank which seems to be also out of joint when placed next to the big rise in the currency. Finally, The Suit got up on his hind legs this morning and once again supported a strong dollar which nobody in the world believes for one minute and yet the talking heads immediately pointed to that pronouncement as the reason for the currency's strength. I don't think they know what the hell is going on either but I wish someone would admit it. Then again, these guys get paid for supposedly knowing what IS going on so I guess they have to say something. Ah, man, why did I retire so soon. This business is getting easier by the day.

If you don't believe that last outburset of mine you ought to take a look at what Citigroup has set aside for bonus money for the top five guys this year. Slightly north of $30 million if you're feeling a bit lazy. Now I am willing to conceed that they have done a better job of running things than The Leader the past year but hey, gang, it's not as though they have floated through Scylla and Chiribdis (sp???-- what the hell it's all Greek to me) unscathed by way of shareholder value. And to go one better, B of A is, I am told, paying top buck in no-cut contracts in an attempt to rebuild the capital markets/investment banking business they sho just two years ago. I though Merrill was supposed to fix that, then again the retention bonuses were only for two years in most cases and when you're sitting on a gazillion dollars in Mozillo loans from CountryWide (I wonder if The Crook's is in that) that may be...ah...difficult to service, the grass may be greener ANYWHERE else.

Which brings me to our latest fiasco. Residential real estate for a guy like me is the gift that keeps giving. There has to be a 100 pieces to be written in the latest Book of Revelations about the smartest guys on the block but to be honest, I don't know enough about it yet to write anything. But I'm going to find out! If there is a better example of what I meant when I proclaimed The Average Intelligent Man Concept of Risk Management I sure would like to find it. These guys were just too smart to dot i's and cross t's. Then again, they made millions. Ah, maaaanN!