The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Bank of England bailed out Lazard in the early 1930s...

Because of a rogue FX trader who lost more than $30m punting on a fall in the franc, which was more than twice Lazard's capital at the time. The BoE did not want to see a major institution fail concurrently with the rising tide of bank failures in the US, Austria and Germany.
at 7:38 PM