Wednesday Links

Some of these links are a little dated, but obviously I still think they are worth the read if you didn't catch them before.

• Something related to Seth Klarman, the famous value investor, from Businessinsider blog in early November
• Shankar Vedantam writing at Slate Magazine on how states led by Republicans get more federal spending than Democrat led states (think Sarah Palin and Alaska and you get a small idea).
• Tom Petruno of the Los Angeles Times asks the question: Why don't bondholders ever get asked to share the pain on national deficits???
• Found this over at ZeroHedge blog via a Mr. Bruce Krasting.  A little silly, but recommended if you need a laugh.
• On the large oligopolistic banks failure to pay back their bailouts and subsidies from the U.S. taxpayer.  Hat tip Zero Hedge blog and Washington's Blog
• "Ilene" over at ZeroHedge with an update on FINRA's "look the other way" policy.  A sham of an institution if there ever was one.  Larry Doyle who has done excellent work covering FINRA also comments.
• An update on the Repo 105 shenanigans over at Lehman.  Taken from ZeroHedge blog.  If you don't understand Repo 105s you can educate yourself here at this ZeroHedge link.
• Menzie Chinn with another of his many excellent posts on inflation (and the chances thereof).  From Econbrowser blog
• American students ranking below par in mathematics, reading, and science.  China improving. From Bloomberg
• Our Female Vision of the Day:  After the jump click on the number 9 above the photo to get Barbara Hershey.  Sorry I don't know how to get the direct link. She's getting older now, but still quite attractive for her age.  Photo by Kirk McCoy at the Los Angeles Times.

If I have any Jewish readers I hope you are having a Happy Hanukkah and everyone in general is enjoying the holiday season!!!!