Which side of the trade was God on Mr. B?

Since the break of the Goldman news, CNBC has turned itself into all-Goldman-all-thetime. So, I preface this by saying there isn’t too much left to say, given what we do know now, but it’s just too darn fresh not to say something…

The lessons of hubris are learned over and over again by each “great” generation. At one time in our lives most of us have fallen victim to its powerful clutch. I have a very close and wise friend. I met him during my stock brokerage years which were a long time ago. He said to me one day: “You know, what we all need to do is stamp the word hubris on our wrists and look at it every day.” Though not into tattoos, I think of his wise counsel often.

A new twist on The China Syndrome

First, "Do not let the yuan's exchange rate issue become the scapegoat of U.S. domestic economic problems, including their unemployment," said a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson.

Sounds like a common political strategy to me: if you can’t defend your reasons for doing something (specifically the consequences of such actions), then just go on the offensive and deflect.

Does this thing come with an escape hatch?

Emerging-market stocks fell the most in a month after China acted to cool real-estate speculation. (Bloomberg)

Not sure if I got this correct, but one of those a-b-c-d-e triangles would be just about perfect now. Why? Buy the rumor of China growth, and sell the news…

I want to know only one thing: Are Bush, Paulson, and Snow long or short?

We noticed the comment from Jim Chanos, he of hedge fund fame and loudest bear on China. He told Bloomberg that China was on a “treadmill to hell.” I would add, if China becomes the hegemony power we are all on a treadmill to hell, but I digress. Mr. Chanos point was that China had to keep feeding the real estate monster large chunks of credit to keep the music of growth playing; otherwise there could be a major GDP disappointment. Mr. Market sure wouldn’t want that now, would he!