11.07.2011

If The Law Was Enforced, Every Doctor In Greece Would Be In Jail

"The scale of Greek tax cheating was at least as incredible as its scope: an estimated two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes under 12,000 euros a year — which meant, because incomes below that amount weren't taxable, that even plastic surgeons making millions a year paid no tax at all….'If the law was enforced," the tax collector said, "every doctor in Greece would be in jail.'" - in CNBC

11.06.2011

Video Interview: Michael Lewis On Charlie Rose


Michael Lewis, author of 'Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World' in Charlie Rose, Bloomberg TV.

11.05.2011

A Good Quote: Dumb Decisions On Wall Street

“What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don't need to make smart decisions - if they can get rich making dumb decisions? The incentives on Wall Street were all wrong; they're still all wrong.” ― Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

11.04.2011

European Crisis: I Wouldn't Put My Money On All Of This Working Out Nicely

I doesn't know what is going to happen, but wouldn't put my money on all of this working out nicely. - in Motley Fool UK

11.03.2011

Life Lessons From Baseball


"Moneyball" author Michael Lewis discusses the story and its real-world parallels. - CNN Video

The Irish Have a Greater Talent For Suffering

"The Irish just have a greater talent for suffering. If you imposed on the Greeks what the Irish have imposed on the Irish population, people would be getting shot." - in Irish Times

11.02.2011

The Greek: Of Control Public Sector

In just the past twelve years the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms — and that number doesn't take into account the bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays almost three time the average private-sector job. - in Trader Talk Blog

Greece: Who Sank Who?

'In Greece the banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks' - in Allen Lane Twitter

11.01.2011

Fishing Is Hard, Investment Banking Is Not

They weren't prepared for this idea that you could make money out of money, without any effort. If you fished, and someone offered you the chance to be an investment banker, you'd take it. Fishing's hard. Investment banking is not. - speaking about Iceland, a tiny country where fishermen were transformed into day traders virtually overnight

10.31.2011

Greek`s Tragedy

In addition to its roughly 400 billion dollars (and growing) of outstanding government debt, the Greek number cruncher had just figured out that their government owed another $800 billion or more in pensions. Add it all up and you got about 1.2 trillion dollars, or more than a 250,000 dollars for every working Greek...And those were just the official numbers; the truth is surely worse. - in CNBC