Finance Rant - stop here if you only want food reviews

Okay, this is going to cover some thoughts I've had on a few subjects. You may be bored. I'm not going to lie. I'm in finance and I think you should understand a few of the factors that are contributing to current events.

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http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12573630&source=features_box2

“Problems in the financial system”, explains Douglas Elmendorf, an economist at the Brookings Institution, “evolve in a matter of hours, days and weeks.” - duh. The interblags have made doing business impossibly smooth, communications incredibly efficient, and therefore, any and all historical situations incomparable to the present. There is. No. Precedent. For. What. Is. Happening. Today. We didn't have the information infrastructure to move economic events in this way years and years ago. If the world is going to peg itself against a currency (i.e. USD) then they should be aware that anything that happens in that locale's economy will dick your local economy too. Sucks that you're reliant on good ol' Uncle Sam, doesn't it? Too f'in' bad. Hope that Obama can hire competent people other than the Bald and the Bearded (Paulson and Bernanke) to head Treasury.

Paulson and Bernanke (haha the "Dream Team" .. seriously Paulson being from Goldman -- the ever-untarnished company name spoken in reverent tones in bars full of junior traders/bankers in NYC -- and Bernanke -- the textbook intelligencia representative who has written countless college editions for economics majors across the U.S.) has obviously created enough framework for there to be additional provisions to the Emergency Economy Stabilization Act of 2008. Gotta say, it's been drafted to allow for more legislation to be passed to help our economy and boost consumer confidence, revive the credit markets, et al. -- and the power that Treasury holds now amounts to having the global economy by... the... balls. So... this is not a happy job right now to be selected for. Very few would want it. And even if the Bald Ones were asked again... would they want it for the glory? The unmitigated and unadulterated fame of being responsible for fixing this international crisis? Or face the music if they plans fail?

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OH. YES. The i-banks collapsing. The U.S. gov't is totally depending on Wall St. at this point to fix their own mess. Or they were, until everyone stopped trusting each other. This is my favorite passage over the past few months:

...from 1834, it has a message written just for today's crisis: it's titled "Credit: Man's Confidence in Man". Under a picture of two men shaking hands, you can read this quotation from Daniel Webster, from a speech he gave in the U.S. Senate, on March 18, 1834:
"Commercial credit is the creation of modern times and belongs in its highest perfection only to the most enlightened and best governed nations. Credit is the vital air of the system of modern commerce. It has done more -- a thousand times more -- to enrich nations than all the mines of the world."
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-r-keith-sawyer/credit-mans-confidence-in_b_132582.html)

When there is no more trust between the banks or the bankers, or from one man to the next -- that is where we are right now. And you know what? The gubment was betting on someone taking over. There's no freakin' way that they would've just stood there wringing their hands. Barclay's was at least smart enough to buyout part of Lehman, but just letting the rest of it fail, and domino effect the rest of the market, ruining confidence internationally... this was a chance to say "Wake up" to the world, and make them understand that this wasn't just Wall Street.

I suspect that Paulson and crew wanted to wear down the competition for his beloved Goldman Sachs too. Less banks = more clients.

But confidence in man? Confidence in the market? Who's going to trust each other in an environment where the littlest man not making his mortgage payments has impacted the i-banking financier who now has even more reason to drink, and less money to do it with? Yes my friends, we are in troubled times.

BTW you did know that Washington Mutual is under the water too, right? And with the mergers going on overseas (Brazil's banks are merging as well), we are seeing some interesting situations arise from this ... shift in market dynamic.

I might take it upon myself to draw some pictures of what's been going on recently in the markets for everyone's amusement.

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I'm glad that Obama won this election, we don't have as many issues to deal with (intelligence, competence, overall stupidity of Palin; or the geriatric senility that will soon follow McCain within the next few months/years). Glad enough to drink myself silly at a bar on Tuesday, sitting at the edge of my seat. YES WE CAN! WOOOOOO~

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Mark to Market Accounting: has caused leverage ratios to dip into all kinds of disproportionate numbers (and in turn, blasting investor confidence in what is now the backbone of our economy -- did you know that 6 banks make up about $14 trillion dollars worth of assets in the U.S. ?). Valuation at Purchase Price has saved Barclay's Capital and Deutsche Bank from reporting even larger losses (see: http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12564031). What is the future of accounting, if they have changed international accounting practices in order to hastily allow banks to prevent writedowns in this manner? This is going to be a huge issue, and whoever takes this on will change how business is done... or maybe nothing needs to be changed, and the gubment just has to fix our economy...

Oh ho ho ho the questions continue...

Should Wall Street Get a Bonus for X-Mas?

From: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVann0.cv9Tw

``There should be a moratorium on bonuses,'' Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters last week. ``If nobody gave them, there wouldn't be a competitive aspect.''

Really? And what would getting rid of the competitive aspect of finance render do to the economy? Finance as we know it is built on the "Greed of Man," the desire to better oneself and to in turn, better society. I'm not saying that paying ridiculous bonus amounts (5x of one's base salary) is fair (heck, I only got 5% of my salary last year), but it bears noting that without these thirsty, hungry appetites out there looking for more dough, that model trophy wife and enough money to buy a 3rd world country, the world's best minds would all do more self-effacing things.

This is perhaps where I would like to explain the different kinds of greed there are out there... a thirst for knowledge and understanding that will make one pursue a career in academia... vs. the thirst for money, or for power, or for prestige... are all different forms of greed. It doesn't matter how much you think you are above that level of "capitalistic consumerism."

Don't underestimate the power of greed, or what form it will come in. The only dangerous thing about it, is when you lose sight of your morals, and your greed gets away from you (please see recent financial crisis as example).

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Onwards to more food: My last foray was to Aurora in SoHo. May I please just note how delicious it was? We missed on the wine choice, but our food selections were absolutely divine.

The only thing still left on the menu as of today from that trip (that we ordered, there are a few more) ....
i Carciofi - Baked Roman-style artichokes with mint and shaved pecorino - I thought the pecorino would have made this dish a lot stronger than it was, given how naturally salty tasting artichokes tend to be, but it served more as a modifier because of the mint that was baked into it.

The other appetizer was a buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto dish, which was divine, simply because I love cheese, and there is nothing like fresh hand-made mozzarella, it was stringy and gooey, and I'll never look at Polly-O string cheese ever again.

As for the main courses...

A squid ink lasagna made with crab and seafood.... strange, to see layers of black ink pasta interspersed with deliciously fresh seafood. A friend of ours didn't like crab generally and still liked the dish, it was that fresh and well prepared.

Fresh diver sea scallops, tender and melting at the mouth, with a tomato-mango salsa base that complemented it with just the right amount of sweet-tangyness. The scallops were large, and cooked medium rare (for those in the know, this is the optimum level of cooked you want in scallops, lamb, and most cuts of steak, unless its a really thick cut, in which case medium is best). If you like your meat burned to a crisp, I generally won't like eating with you. Also vegetarians, because I can pick off their plates, and they can't share mine. Actually. Scratch that, I like eating with vegetarians.

Another dish of risotto and mushrooms.... with this ricotta cheese sauce and gooey texture, simply amazing, since the ricotta was cool and added flavor to an otherwise fairly bland tasting risotto. It was one of the specials, but I didn't think it was that great.

I preferred my dish of rabbit ragu tagliotelli ... simply phenomenal, it was very strong and flavorful, with bits of rabbit (I had to pick out some bones, but I don't care, means its the real thing IMO), and a bit on the salty side. I like salty things, so this might not be a good dish for those who are watching their sodium intake...

... they changed the rest of the menu!!! My taste buds yearn to return and try the new dishes!!

I'm so broke...

Response to the Bailout

For lack of time, since I have been busy

1. getting drunk
2. watching my industry fail
3. horrified at political jumbo about the economy, leading to more of (1.)

I will now explain where the $700bn number came from.

In September 2008, 10 investment banks got together and decided to create their own "credit line" in case any one of them would fail (BofA, Barclay's, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche, Goldman, JPM, Merrill, Morgan Stanley, and UBS). This silly endeavor resulted in a $70bn credit line pooled together, with each bank putting up a cool $7bn: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/n14815043-lehman-banks-facility/

Good ol' Uncle Sam thought "well.. if all ten of these things go down the chute..."



$70bn x 10 i-banks = $700bn

There it is. That's your money at work. Don't make any assumptions about how the bill is supposed to help anybody other than Wall Street cover the mess we're in. There's better ways, like creating stricter lending guidelines, educating people about their personal finances.. but those are just too long term, and means teaching too many people the truth.

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On a more food-related note, anybody with money left in their wallets during this time in our economy should check out Novecento down by Tribeca/Soho. Pricey as all heck, but food was pretty good.

Novecento cooks their steak on the rare side, so if you like medium rare at most restaurants, I would recommend ordering it medium to get that pink center. I ordered the 'Ojo de Bife con Fritas,' a 13 oz grilled ribeye steak with fries. It wasn't pink, it was more red, and kind of cool in the middle. But still delicious:





My friend ordered the 'Linguine con Fruto de Mar,' which is linguini with shrimp, calamari, mussels, and clams -- delicious, but not as flavorful as my steak was. Novecento is after all still an Argentine bistro.. so meat is the main theme here, folks.



Good rating on the food, but it is CRAMPED. The place tries to recreate a "coziness" and only succeeds in being cramped as hell. I'm not the biggest person I know by any means, but any of my six-foot carnivore counterparts would not feel comfortable rubbing elbows with the next chap chowing down next to him... unless it wasn't a chap but a lady.



There's a decent wine list, but the best really is showing up and eating with two fresh-out of college marketing/advertising girls with 10 layers of makeup and too much energy for an old lady like myself at the end of a workday. It was trying to listen to 2 girls who had just split an 8-ball. No offense or anything, but I am glad I'm not in their category of "high energy."

*glaring omission update*

i clearly forgot the ceviche. that was delicious too. get that as appetizer. its small though.. that's why i forgot it. :P

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Would greatly appreciate not being publicly berated for being busy building a career path in this kind of market, thanks Solo.

Sorry folks

Hello to my 5 (maybe less) readers. Sorry about the lack of posts after the summer ended. I've recently moved and I still do not have any internet at home as a result of Verizon's complete incompetence. Hopefully, it will be up by Friday, and I can review Katz's Deli in the city and other places I can think of.

Additionally, my absence should not have kept mooriffic or Kent from contributing... tsktsk, im very disappointed.

The Dark Knight

i wasnt fortunate enough to see the new batman movie as soon as it came out, so my expectations grew along with my anticipation as i listened to the general public rant and rave about the new batman movie. two nites before i went to watch, i was at a bar near my place here in SF, and i overheard a guy and gal talk about the movie. the woman hadnt seen the movie but was complaining about how she's was so disappointed in how the production company was using heath ledger's death to promote its own movie, with his Joker face plastered everywhere. she felt that the movie was only doing well because of that publicity. what about the fact that MAYBE heath ledger's Joker was the best performance of his career, and probably the best Joker ever? (this was before i saw the movie) the previews i had seen all gave the notion that this was going to be a great movie in every way. the next night, the bartender at the bar said she saw it and she loved it. i was skeptical, but she assured me about her love of comic books and Frank Miller's Batman. i was sold.

the plot of The Dark Knight starts with batman, lt. gordon, and new D.A. harvey dent (aaron eckhart) all working to put the mafias out of business in gotham city. the joker shows up, new on the scene, and proceeds to wreak havoc upon gotham without any particular reason but to fuck shit up. he's dark, creepy, and completely sadistic, the way batman readers love him. this movie was so good, i really dont want to ruin it for any readers that havent watched it yet (what are you waiting for??? GO SEE THIS MOVIE, DUMMY). all i have to say is that its pretty good throughout because it mainly progresses through such a wonderful joker. but beware, the movie is 2.5 hours long. ull think its over, but it wont be. at least everytime that happens... something or someone is about to have a bad day.

the acting in this movie is superb and makes the decent plot so much better. all the hubbub about heath ledger's joker? its true and so much more. non-comic readers are especially creeped out by this joker because theyre so used to the dancing, smiling, mirthful nicholson joker. ledger does the joker some real justice. the way he looks, the way he speaks, the way he licks his lips nervously... all sum up to one of the best performances i have ever seen by any actor in any movie. he definitely deserves the oscar for best actor in a movie, but he will most likely not win it because superhero movies probably aren't on oscar voters' minds. but maybe its time that people take summer blockbusters more seriously, not just for the excitement but for actual compelling stories and performances. there's really no need to go further into the other actors in the movie, but they are all very good. ledger simply just steals the movie, and its really a shame that he's no longer with us. one thing, christian bale needs to stop making that stupid fake gruff batman voice. oh, and i think maggie gyllenhaal is so very hot in a not very hot way... she's definitely a better choice than katie holmes was, looks and acting ability. aaron eckhart gets a thumbs up.

visually, the movie is great. its not neon, thank god. its not bright, just the way it should be. gotham city is a dark city in need of a dark knight, and nolan's gotham amazingly depicts that with its chicago-style buildings that block out the sun in the daytime and its cold and grimy streets during the night. i read somewhere that the scenes where batman overlooks the city and glides through it were filmed using IMAX cameras, they looked like it.

aurally... lets not talk about music, its really not that important in the scheme of things. one note tho, some people really found certain sound(s) annoying, such as this ear aching one whenever the joker would do something suspenseful. it was annoying, but if one steps back and thinks about it, its really sort of the joker's theme. there's no melody or tune when dealing with this complete psycho, its just... a painful noise anticipating more pain.

the dark knight is especially good for fans of frank miller's batman stories, The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: First Year. miller brought batman out of the silver age of comics, he was no longer the adam west sort of batman, but a whole different animal... tougher, grittier, cruel-er. miller not only created the best batman stories to date, but influenced the majority of batman stories to come. gotham city's villains became some of the most demented figures in comics and their depraved lunacy festered and grew within arkham, occasionally escaping and destroying a life in batman's world. nolan's movie captures this realism and is what makes it so incredible to see on the big screen. i really would have never thought that people who made superhero movies would stay true to their source material, and i am glad we are at a point where a movie does not need to pander to the general public in order to attract moviegoers. WARNING: its a superhero movie, but don't bring your kids. the movie is pg-13, so please don't bring a child under that age. unless you think your child should be allowed to watch scenes of torture, the psychological carnage caused by the joker could be far worse than any blood and gore.

in conclusion... this is the BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR, thus far. its not only the best superhero movie ever made, but also a movie filled with several solid performances. go for all that, but if its not enough, go because you will never see an actor more perfect in his role as heath ledger was.


great: heath ledger
good: everyone else in the movie
bad: bale's batman voice