For the record: 2008 Was a Settlement Crisis, Not a Mood Every time a basis point twitches, the usual suspects start dusting off their “Lehman redux” headlines. It’s getting absurd. The Global Financial Crisis was a settlement and counterparty event, a seizure in the plumbing of the system. When near-term cash instruments went no bid in September 2008, when the money market funds broke the buck, that was the crisis. The architecture of trust, repo collateral, tri-party settlement, overnight funding, broke down. Today’s credit hiccups are nothing of the sort. They’re mark-to-market bruises in a system that still clears, still settles, and still prices risk transparently. To equate every widening spread or distressed sale with 2008 is to misunderstand how that crisis actually unfolded, or perhaps never to have understood it at all. The perpetual invocation of “the next 2008” isn’t analysis; it’s a crutch. It flatters ignorance, sells clicks, and trivializes what was actually a failure of the financial immune system. Not every sneeze is the plague.

This has been the most quiet firing of all time (not technically fired because his contract expired and wasn't renewed but the vibe is the same).

Wow is right 😮

Packers writing checks they couldn't cash against the Bears from this week: Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley: "We are not going to be done, so I will see you guys next week." *His defense gives up 25 points in the fourth quarter Cornerback Keisean Nixson: “I didn't want nobody else. I wanted the Bears. … I'd rather play the Bears first. I need a get back. This is what it is.” Wide receiver Christian Watson: “ I definitely wanted to play the Bears. If I had my pick for any team, it would have definitely been the Bears. I want my get-back for sure. … We get a chance to put the Bears’ season to bed, that means a lot to us for sure." Running back Josh Jacobs: "I know a lot of guys took that hit that he took a little personal. So I'm not saying we gon' go out there and play dirty or nothing like that, but we definitely gonna defend our brother."

Matt LaFleur blowing a 21-3 lead in the playoffs is even more hilarious when you realize he was on the Falcons sideline for 28-3

My Venezuela experience as head of trading in the region for Cargill. Cargill was/is the leading producer of critical staple ingredients such as flour, pasta, vegetable oil, and rice in VZ. I am not saying I agree with grabbing the dictator, but I did have a front row seat to the damage a kleptocracy did to innocent people. 1. The government took over our "minute rice" facility at gunpoint because we were "gouging" the nation's poor. The government was never able to run the plant. It never ran again. It was returned years later with no equipment inside 2. There are 1000's of generals in the army. They are each given a slice of the economy to loot. The large number of generals made it difficult to organize a coup against the regime. 3. The government opened grocery stores and sold staples below the cost we sold them to the government. In theory they used petro oil money to lower grocery prices. Our regular grocery outlets were forced out of business. When the government demanded we sell them products below cost we simply had to shut down. The populous became ever more dependent on the government handouts. (PS this is the mayor of New York City's proposal. 4. Dollars- We needed dollars to go buy raw materials like wheat from places like the US and Canada. The government would periodically allocate us some dollars that could only be spent for raw materials and freight. Eventually only the local companies that can and would pay bribes got dollar allocations. We had several facilities closed for lack of raw material 5. My employees liked working for Cargill. The office was an armed compound with access to a gym, high speed internet, global communications, and a weekly box of basic staples. Cargill provided a safe and secure environment if only for the working hours. 6. Employees became very close to others inside the apartment building. Going out on the street with a desperate population was not advisable. 7. I needed wood pallets for feed. We tried to export wood pallets to swap for grain. We refused to pay the bribes it would take to export the pallets 8. I once tried to set up a closed loop wheat planting to flour mill supply chain. A. They came and stole all the seed wheat for food. When we tried to ship in seed wheat in containers via US donors there was no way to get it out of the port without it being stolen 9. Livestock- Our feed business completely collapsed. Even if you could raise a pig, you couldn't defend it from being stolen. People with guns were hungry. 10. Employees- In the end my highly skilled team alone with other highly educated people chose to leave. Cargill often found jobs for them in other Latin countries. The regime was more than happy to see the well-educated leave the country. Setting these employees up with high quality stable jobs after fleeing remains one of the best things I ever did in my career. No one remembers millions in trading earnings. This is a short list. In my opinion the first money spent needs to happen now and it needs to be food. The US is already on the clock. The current regime does not care if it starves the population. The orgy of theft will actually accelerate if they believe their days are numbered. VZ should be an outstanding customer of US grown ag products. Rice, bread wheat, veg oil ect. Feed the people first. Jeff Kazin Former head trading Cargill

Whoops

Never forget #bears fans

Zohran's fight against billionaire oligarchs is off to a fantastic start.

WE LOONEY TUNEZ

While the average Illinoisan retires on modest Social Security, retired government employees are pulling six-figure pensions—paid for by those earning far less. The average American retires with about $609,000 in savings and collects just $22,344 a year in Social Security. But in Illinois, nearly 32,000 retired government workers pulled in $100,000 pensions in 2024—some taking home over $700,000 annually. Fully taxpayer-funded—no savings required. No wonder Illinois is staring down a pension debt of over $140 billion—the worst in the nation. These unsustainable payouts are legally untouchable, politically protected, and financially crushing Illinoisans who’ll never likely see payouts remotely close. The state takes from working Illinoisans who saved—just to guarantee lifetime payouts for those who didn’t have to. No state can survive on a system this backwards. Reform isn’t optional—it’s overdue.

One of my all-time favorite type of videos is pre-fame bands playing their extremely famous songs to a tiny room of people, because they're not yet known. A thread of some examples: Bastille playing Pompeii in what looks like someone's living room:

Angel Reese did all this before the game just to drop 4 points and lose by 30 to a Fever team with no Caitlin Clark 😭

Great replies for this beaut.

Wife calls BS

🚨 To Elon Musk and the DOGE team looking at Medicare: Pharmacist says - Cancer Medicine Imatinib costs them $7 to buy. They add $10, so you're out the door for $17 - When Medicare pays for this drug, IT COSTS THEM $2,400 - This drug was filled 250,000 times in 1 year costing Medicare $600 million “If every one of those scripts was filled at our pharmacy instead of through Medicare, it would've cost $4 million. That means that we are $596 million cheaper than the insurance. That's crazy.” “So why are they paying this much for that medication? Well, insurance companies pay a middleman, the pharmacy benefits manager, and that person decides how much that medication's gonna cost” - 3 Pharmacy Benefits Managers control over 90% of all prescription pricing in America - Pharmaceutical companies bought all 3 Pharmacy Benefits Managers They set their own pricing, Medicare pays ASTRONOMICAL prices and taxpayers pick up the bill. This is a racket.

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