Years of Poems and Spirits

Just read an article (”Markets Crisis tests Resolve of Fed, Officials”) on yesterday’s WSJ by Greg Ip, Deborah Solomon and David Wessel on recent market volatility.

I remember Karma recommended Ip during our econ class and I have been following him closely ever since. I really enjoyed reading this article: well balanced view on the possible causes/variables of short-term market behavior and non-sensational comments on Fed’s possible moves. Together with a side article “How Does the Fed Inject Money into The Economy? A Primer” this is really a very informative piece of work.

Some of the points these two articles touched upon:
1. Ben Bernanke’s academic interests in the relationship between financial markets and the rest of the economy
2. The difference between a rate cut and a “repo” intervention
3. The prospect of a Sept. 18 rate cut: largely depends on whether the credit crunch will be contained before then
4. The comparison between now and 1998 (after Russia defaulted). The spread between Treasury securities with different (perceived) liquidity as an indicator of risk.
5. The Fed encourages dealers using MBS as repo collaterals in order to save Treasury
6. The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets: their high level of alertness vs. the publicly nonchalant officials
7. For Douglas McArthur, it is “duty, honor, country”. For mandarins in the Fed, it is “growth, inflation and financial stability”.

On a related but separate note: Dow tumbled again today (8/15), down below 13,000. It is just so interesting to see WSJ reports are full of hints of an expected rate cut: “Many market watchers now believe a Fed cut will come later this year, and some – mostly those most closely tied to equities – think there will be an “emergency” cut before the Fed’s September meeting. ” or “Inflation is not the beast”. But NYT is equally adamant about NOT cutting rates: “Though the latest economic readings indicate that growth is steady, they also make a rate cut by the Federal Reserve less likely. ”

Remember Ip in his article mentioned something called “Greenspan put“, referring to Greenspan’s willingness to cover losses from risky investments. Apparently, NYT bought a different type of option.

I have been looking for a good place to scan my old photos. Here are some outfits I tried:
1. DigMyPics, http://www.digmypics.com
Price: 600dpi@$0.59, TIFF, 1 free CD
Good: Has physical address, prominently displaying 1-800 number, simple ordering page.
Poor: Very high shipping ($11 using USPS Priority), inbound shipping NOT included, too many options, no order confirmation, the final instruction is long and confusing: when is the credit card charged? Too much “done locally” chanting–why does it matter?
Shipped out 4 pics on 7/5, received confirmation on 7/8. Order comes back on 7/18.
Includes: invoice w/ price, two CDs (TIFF and JPEG), original photos in orginal package.
Total $7.

2. http://www.photoscanclub.com/
Price: up to 150 @ 59, 300 @ 99, duplicate CD: $9
Good: send shipping package to you, good “How It Works”
Poor: No 600 dpi, 10-15 day turnaround, stair pricing, high CD price, needs to create account/
3. http://www.scandigital.com/index.php
Price: 0.48 @ 300 dpi or 0.68 @ 600 dpi
Good: has referral program and physical location. Good website.

I guess I am late on arrival again … There is a company that does exactly what I envisioned for JSIS: Affinity Circles.

A very interesting company and here is its founding story:
“Affinity Circles was founded by a couple of students at Stanford. They created a social networking platform called “Club Nexus” for undergrads at Stanford. They got funding, secured the Stanford Alumni Association as their first customer and then hired a CEO to stabilize the company.” (found at a blog site)

I am glad there is something out there. But at the same time, now that UWAA’s already built a website for all UW alum, I am wondering what space there is left for JSIS. Particularlly, how do we get data from UWAA?

But then again, if we can get easy access to JSIS alum, that will be a very good thing indeed.