WIMP

Wimp. I was called a wimp. Never mind by who. I have never in my life been called a wimp. The appellayion was directed at me as a result of what was referred to as my "gentle treatment" of the Euro banks. Well, if you guys think that was gentle, get this: I hereby apologize for calling them stupid. Turns out they weren't as stupid as I thought. Misleading, yes. Basically dishonest, yes. Double-dealing rotters, yes. Self-serving slugs, yes. But stupid, no. Turns out that they didn't hold on to their Greek obligations as they said they would, for apparently, as one of them said to me yesterday, "There was nothing in writing." OoooooooooK. And in support of this sort of action, all of Europe is turning handsprings to figure out a was to bail the buggers out on the backs of the Euro-taxpayers.

What ever deal is put forward now becomes immeasurably harder to do for the first thing one has to figure out is what is known in the trade as "the stock of debt" and who holds it. Now that it appears the banks have been selling the stuff as fast as they could, trying to identify and control the buyers could be a real chore. Governments and central banks can lean on public institutions such as banks and insurance companies. Private hedge funds and vulture funds are an entirely different matter: they have never been know for taking direction very well.

I must confess I was particularly dumb for assuming that these guys would stick by their word but that's the way we do things out here in the fly-over zone and to digress for a moment that's one of the reasons I got out of the game. In a business in which your word was your bond, it's pretty difficult to handle stuff like this but that's just me. Anyway, the other reaction I received was that a bunch of folks out there got their computers going and came up with the solution that it would take around a 5.75% imputed yield for 30 years to make the deal described the other day work...that's the number my really smart friend, Larry, came up with. I'm a bit higher but all I have these days is an HP 80 which is good enough for government work but not for this. Now there isn't a lot of Triple-A paper out there that would pass the accounting smell test for a novation and none yielding 5.75%. Agencies, for example are around 4.3% after a big run-up. Oh, I suppose the Euros could conjure up something like the EIB and for a one-time shot get it to isuue somthing around the required yield on the theory that it would never see the light of day but if I were running that place I would squeel like a stuck pig. It's a crap idea.

Frankly, I don't know why I'm worring about this because whatever gets done (if it gets done) has a half life of about a month before reality sets in and the Greeks go toes up. It's wonderful theater, however, as a re-run of the Golden Odies...even the same people who were around 30 years ago are beginning to reappear with the same ideas and "solutions" to the now current problems. Unfortunately, coupled with all of this thespian interaction there has to be some form of a reality show put into place that finally recognizes that the star player is...well...dead. Fantasy Island, anyone?

It's the triplets' fourth birthday. I'm off for the weekend but will be keeping a close eye on the other blockbuster taking place in D.C. today. Emmeys all around.