Tuesday Links Yearn for Liquidity

Sometimes a blogger finds himself with a vast number of tabs open in his web browser, some of which are getting decidedly stale. So I apologize for anything here which is old news.

Greg Mankiw is shocked that Nantucket property is selling for 30 times gross annual rental income. But I think that's largely a function of the fact that the houses only really rent out for three months per year.

Ultrashort bond funds are meant to be safe as houses. Safe as subprime mortgages, more like. One such fund is down 6.26% in the past four weeks.

Mike Mandel thinks that liquidity will rotate out of the housing industry and into technology and telecoms. A falling tide doesn't have to sink everyone!

Jeff Matthews doesn't seem to understand that Barclays is one of the world's largest investors, and, as a big index investor specifically, has huge shareholdings in just about every company in the US.
(Update: A normally well-informed source tells me that Matthews is actually on to something here. Given how smart both Matthews and my informant are, and how little I know about the specifics, I'll defer to them on this one. Sorry for doubting you, Jeff.)

Alan Greenspan loves working for Germans: first he signed an advisory contract with Pimco (owned by Germany's Allianz); now he's signed another with Deutsche Bank. Maybe it has something to do with the strength of the euro.

Tanta looks at stated-income "liar" loans where proof of income was provided, but the actual income blacked out. Astonishing.

James Hamilton gives a very good overview of the mechanics of a Federal Reserve liquidity injection.

Are the rouble and the Brazilian real the safest currencies of all?

Nassim Taleb is walking down the street with $10 burning a hole in his pocket. Opposite a hot dog vendor, he espies Robert Merton, drunk, dishevelled, and begging for cash. What does he do?

Ford CEO Alan Mulally admits that if it wasn't for fuel-economy standards, Ford would make even fewer small cars than it does at present.

New York might not be losing out as a financial center after all.

A crucial business insight: if you're selling food to the really rich, you're not actually selling to them directly, you're selling to their servants.

We're often told that 75% of portfolio managers underperform the market. But where does that number come from?

The Economist on Nouriel Roubini: his "commentary seems carefully calibrated to avoid any hint that economic disaster may be avoidable".