Ex-Solly Trader with Years!

A Street Longtimer Speaks - WSJ.com:

"Earlier this year, nervous investors were phoning advisers with 30 or 40 years' experience, looking for their perspectives on the financial crisis. Now, investors are looking for people with longer experience. Mr. Glickenhaus got his training as a municipal bond trader at Salomon Brothers & Hutzler (now part of Citigroup) after studying economics and graduating from Harvard in 1934.
...
Although Mr. Glickenhaus thinks stocks have fallen so far that a short-term rebound is likely, the economy is so weak and the financial system so damaged that a "recession or even possible depression will last for at least five years," he warned. "Eventually, we could get to 9500 easily on the Dow" Jones Industrial Average, a decline of about 8% from Friday's finish of 10325.38."

Crisis of Confidence?

Howard Lindzon: 

"You can’t magically fix confidence. Period. There is no shopping our way out of this mess. There will have to be great leadership, great decisions and some behavioral changes. The ‘brain’ that is the market is pretty pessimistic about that occurring any time soon."

Paranoia Writ Large?

"A slew of new data suggests the credit crisis is deepening as lenders grow increasingly distrustful of their own customers and each other.
...
The most worrying aspect of the crisis is a growing reluctance among financial institutions to offer basic loans that are the lifeblood of the economic system. The Federal Reserve said Thursday the situation had worsened over the past week. Its data showed lenders reduced short-term loans to companies by a record $94.9 billion, bringing the total decline to $208 billion over the past four weeks."

Lehman's Demise Triggered Cash Crunch Around Globe - WSJ.com

Lehman's Demise Triggered Cash Crunch Around Globe - WSJ.com:

"Lehman's bankruptcy filing in the early hours of Monday, Sept. 15, sparked a chain reaction that sent credit markets into disarray. It accelerated the downward spiral of giant U.S. insurer American International Group Inc. and precipitated losses for everyone from Norwegian pensioners to investors in the Reserve Primary Fund, a U.S. money-market mutual fund that was supposed to be as safe as cash. Within days, the chaos enveloped even Wall Street pillars Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley. Alarmed U.S. officials rushed to unveil a more systemic solution to the crisis, leading to Sunday's agreement with congressional leaders on a $700 billion financial-markets"

Road Warrior Gear

I have a 17" laptop which I've been carying around in a targus bag that's not much good for anything else except a few papers. It's been hard to find a useful case or backpack for a 17 incher, so I also sling an old "JavaOne" conference bag over my shoulder with all of my gadgets, accessories and notebooks. 

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Orlando for a conference and dreaded lugging both along with my Travelpro Rollerboard. So... on the off chance I would find something suitable, I stopped by the local staples today. Wouldn't you know it, after picking through all the piled luggage, I found the perfect backpack that would hold my HP Pavilion 17" Laptop. The backpack was a Pegasus from Wenger

. I love the Swiss Army stuff. This is the first time I've found one of their backpacks that was big enough. It holds the laptop nicely along with my LinkSys travel WiFi router, Kindle eBook, several notebooks, iPod Video, Pulse SmartPen, Sudoku Books, flashlight, along with assorted cables and accessories.  Perfect!

While I was at it I figured I pickup a travel mouse and noise canceling ear buds. The Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse

is nice and compact, with a compartment to slide the USB dongle inside when not in use. When you pop out the dongle, the VX automatically turns on. Nice! I also purchased the Sony Mdrnc22 Noise Canceling Headphones

. The sound quality was excellent, but I won't be able to tell how well the noise cancellation works till I get on the plane, but they did come with a special airline adapter so that I can plug them right into my seat if I plan to partake of the airline entertainment. I'll update this entry once I land.

Lovin the 15 Inch Digital Photo Frame

Just bought Julia the Pandigital 15" photo frame.  Awesome picture, great features.   This model can play video and mp3 files as well as digital photos.  You can also setup a schedule for when you would like the frame to turn on and off throughout the day.  I basically set it to automatically turn on at 6am in the morning and shut off at 10pm at night all week long.   The frame also comes with a remote control that allows you to stop and start the slide show, zoom in and rotate pictures on the fly.   Julia's having a blast going through our archives and filling up the memory card for the pandigital.   We've placed it in the front hall.  Love it

Andreeson's Prescient Reading from 2007

Flash back to September 2007...  I was preparing to travel to CSC's annual Connect Conference.  Mark Andreeson's Blog was on the long list of subscriptions I browsed through daily via google reader.  His entry on that day was a quote from The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm by Robert F. Bruner and Sean D. Carr.  The quote, from the introduction of the book, caught my eye and piqued my interest.   I picked up the book for the flight down to Orlando.... couldn't put it down and continued to read it every spare moment away from the conference.

The author's describe a "dramatic story of panic" but more eminently relevant to today is the description of a "perfect storm" in the financial markets and the seven elements that drive it.  Still more interesting was the fact that the crisis was keenly felt in European financial centers.  It was truly an international economy even then, but bound by the speed of existing international communication of the time.

Flash forward to today, I am again preparing to travel to the latest CSC Connect conference and now reminded, even more poignantly, of that incredibly interesting book.  Definitely a relevant read considering current events. Check out Andreeson's original blog entry , then pick up the book.   I Highly recommend it.

Working Overtime to Keep Money Moving

Debt Market Distress Spreads - WSJ.com: 
"There is so much mistrust in the markets that banks and funds aren't extending credit to customers even for a few hours during the day, as they usually do. Instead, lenders are waiting until the last possible moment to release funds, creating a logjam at day's end when they wire money to branches, subsidiaries or other accounts. The backup of cash transfers has led the Federal Reserve to keep its money-transmission system open late, said a Fed spokesman."