Sometimes, you just need tequila.  It’s not really a matter of wanting it. Perhaps it’s due to an inner self loathing, or perhaps it has something to do with the naughty fun involved with grabbing a slice of lime off the navel of a perfect stranger at a bar with your teeth.  Whatever your reason...Read More

Part of me really missed the guy.  There was something naturally endearing about Silvio Berlusconi. Perhaps it was his ability to charm women 50 years his junior or his complete disregard for the conflicts of interest involved with being your country’s national leader and one of its richest men and the owner of its most...Read More

Another week goes by without a resolution to the fiscal cliff crisis, but to adapt a line from Dr. Strangelove, investors have learned to stop worrying and love the cliff. Statements from the White House and the House of Representatives have stopped moving the market, and investors have gotten back to their usual routine of...Read More

I like the occasional cigar after a hard week at the office, though I can hardly call myself a connoisseur.  And I’ve always been impressed by experienced smokers who can smoke their cigars down to a perfect ash without it crumbling off and landing in their laps.  I’ve seen ash still perfectly intact at 2-3...Read More

All subcultures have their rites of passage.  Marine recruits have basic training.  Fraternity boys have hazing.   And macro traders have the Japan short. It seems that you’re not part of the club until you’ve lost money shorting Japan bonds or, more recently, the yen. You’ll do it for all the right reasons, of course.   We...Read More