peHUB Second Opinion 5.19.10

The finance sector: Where is it losing jobs?

Trust preferred securities: They may no longer count toward tier-1 capital for banks.

The Federal Reserve: It has a plan for selling assets. Just as soon as it raises interest rates. So settle in; this could take a while.

Greece: A country with thousands of years of history and an advanced transportation system shouldn’t have to resort to making donkey-seller jokes about Goldman Sachs, but there you are.

Flash Crash: Deal Journal revisits the nuttiest trades.
Related: The official SEC-CFTC report came out. Read it with a bottle of wine or a bottle of whiskey.

Ireland: How bankers brought the country to its knees. Thank God that didn’t happen anywhere else…. Oh. Wait.
Related: “Why did no bankers stand up in ’06 and ’07 and say ‘I am not going to participate in this insanity'” asks Justin Fox. Our theory: Because life is like one big ABC after-school special, and it is uncool not to do what everyone else is doing. If you do your own thing, you have to give it a super-secretive name like “proprietary” and act super-dismissive of questions so that no one thinks you’re a freak. Didn’t anyone go to high school?
Related: In the German naked-shorting ban, some banks are more equal than others.
Related: The euro saw its shadow, so we have another year of mortgage problems.

Junk bonds: Overvalued for both the institutional and retail investor. That’s democracy right there.

11 Signs that the U.S. government is an out-of-control monstrosity: A group of second-year associates could think of more signs than that during the average deal dinner.

Handicapping GM’s IPO: The preferred term is “financially challenged,” thank you very much.

Short sellers: Four hundred years of oppression.