Years of Poems and Spirits

The word on the street is that Microsoft may name its next generation, “Google-killer” search engine “Bing”. I am not amused. I’d rather GM name its last Pontiac “Bing”–at least I found the Solstice very sexy.

I probably shouldn’t take this too seriously. But on the other hand, it is my goddamn name! Can’t they give it another name, say “Sanjaya”? Why me?!

Oh please God, have them change their mind … I promise I will delete this entry if this doesn’t come to pass.

Just come across the concept of TED Spread: the spread b/w noncollateralized short term (3-month) loan and the rate of 3m T-Bill.

Related concepts: Eurodollar (see class notes from Fin576/Debra Glassman), LIBOR (see site FAQ), interbank loan wholesale market, LIBOR-OSI spread (collateralized loan rate)

Significance:

• Measurement of credit risk, particularly banking and financial system.
• Recent spike (see chart above).
• May be used against GDP per capita change and/or market charts to validate low correlation (see also delta in SP500).
• Further proof of no direct connection of financial market health with boarder economy: counter argument of Greenspan Put’s rationale

Other resources: Paul Krugman’s articles, Matt Ferris’s blog entry (Amazing kid. Where was I when I got out of college? Totally put me to shame, sigh …)

A friend of mine recommended an good article about sourcing issues (c) in China today. In summary:
1. Both buyers (clients) and the suppliers (manufacturers) share the blame for some of the quality issues.
2. A main driver behind the quality problems is the pressure on lowering prices.
3. Chinese are improving their QA at their own pace.
4. Competitive pressure, trade policy shift and now quality concerns may undermine China’s price advantage

It appears that the article was penned by a Chinese. It is well-written but just the POV is naturally defensive and sympathetic. I am surprised Wharton editors would let it out in verbatim.