MGI on Debt and Deleveraging

McKinsey Global Institute has a new report out on debt and deleveraging. Key takeaways from the executive summary are:
- Over leverage is widespread, affecting many different countries and sectors (household, states, financial insititutions, commercial real estate and to a lesser extent corporates)
- Deleveraging has barely begun
- If past episodes are any guide growth will be slow to negative for a few years as
- Past deleveraging episodes lasted 6 to 7 years on average.

The long report (not read) is a goldmine of data with a detailed look at seven past deleveraging episodes.

BRIC's Contributions...

to growth and income via Paul Kedrosky who highlights a FT chart. FT's in depth BRIC section is worth a browse.
In 2000 the average G7 inhabitant was 11x richer than his BRIC peer, by 2014 he'll "only" be 5x richer.

A Nice Little Conversation

Ineichen has a nice three parts conversation on the crisis, finance, asset management, hedge funds, regulation, bananas. Full of re-usable quotes such as "Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think" or "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so."

Here is part 1
Here is part 2
Here is part 3

Blue Sky for Bluecrest

Here is a nice profile of Michael Platt, co-founder of hedge fund firm BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd. Lucky guy he won the Fiat Cinquecento painted by Hirst at a charity buying 20 5000GBP tickets. Most likely an other good trade.

Economists are Optimists

Judging from James Montier's chart they at least don't like bumps in the road: