The following are links to several articles I found interesting over the past week or so.

First, a comment on the market. 

I am still substantially net long but have not bought or sold anything over the past while. However, I am more of a seller than a buyer at these levels.

When the yield curve is this steep, it is usually a good time to invest in stocks.

From Donald Marron via Greg Mankiw.

Interesting historical parallels between America and Argentina at The Financial Times.  Not entirely comprehensive but good nonetheless. 

From The Atlantic

I'm sitting at home this evening reading work documents (yes, I'm a boring man) when I thought of a good topic for the thesis of an aspiring Ph.D. candidate. 

My idea is what are the post-IPO (initial public offering) returns of companies that were taken private by private equity partnerships and then floated back onto the public markets, particularly over a longer period of time such as two or three years after the companies were re-floated on the market.

Kottke.org has an interesting cost comparison of the costs of attending a Yankees-Mariners game.  It is cheaper to fly from Seattle to New York and spend a weekend in the Big Apple than it is to buy the best seats in the house and watch the actual game.

Surely, this was a top in the insane money culture.

A theme we have hammered on recently is that most banks are not in trouble, most banks made money last year, and most banks will survive just fine thankyouverymuch.  The collapse of the banking index, with the BKX falling 85% top to bottom, has offered some enormous, once-in-a-generation bargains to those willing to do the dirty work and dig for opportunities.

Financial innovation has been less beneficial than advertised.

From the Peterson Institute for International Economics

I would very much like to extend my appreciation to all the kind words yesterday.  One of the reasons why I started this blog was to provide unbiased (though, in retrospect, not always correct) observations about what is happening in the market.  If I have helped you understand things a little clearer, then I have accomplished one of the missions of this blog.