yanhast01

My friend Leo showed me a shirt he had purchased in London, that I thought was pretty amusing.  It was the classic “I <3 NY” white t-shirt, only in small font the characters “Mo” and “e” were added so the shirt read “I <3 Money.”  About a year ago, I made the shirt myself on zazzle to give as a gift to a friend who had gotten into graduate school at Columbia.  I left the shirt publicly searchable, and would receive a small commission ($1.60) for every shirt purchased... Read Full Story

Bald White Guy in Track Suit, trying to impress Asian Woman in what seems to be a first/blind date: Oh, I’ve traded stocks for 9 years. Asian Woman: Oh really? How are you doing now? BG: It’s the first time in 9 years I’ve lost money. AW: Well it seems everyone is… BG: Yeah, but the thing is I should be making a killing right now. I mean, my strategy was still good. AW: What do you mean? BG: You see, I’m a short-seller, meaning I make money when the market goes down. My best day ever... Read Full Story

There is a birthday party for a 1 year old going on next door, complete with blaring Latino ballads alternated with reggaton; a Muslim service going on across the street celebrating the birthday of the prophet Muhammad; and an ice-cream truck parked out front, blasting “the Farmer in the Dell” while the driver sells drugs to five dealers who front as clothing store operators (as they themselves are straining the sub-woofer of their SUV blasting crappy hip-hop). The cogitative dissonance... Read Full Story

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Somewhat dropping knowledge: The news media is very good at shaping a collective narrative of what’s going on in our economy.  Times are tough, Americans are hurting, etc., etc.  And while this is true for many, it certainly is not true for all.  We need to stay diligent of how we provide assistance, and to whom. My international capital markets professor, in a lecture about mortgage-backed securities, shared a VERY interesting study done by Fitch ratings agency.  The study randomly... Read Full Story

I remember in college, I used to watch a show called “House-Flippers” or something like that.  The premise was: some realator would go around buying up houses, do minimal renovations, and “flip” the house for profits of $30-100k. Last week I watched a similar show, only the premise was different.  Instead of speculators “flipping” houses, it focused on homeowners trying to increase the appraised value of their home so that they could either refinance their mortgage and keep the house, or... Read Full Story

I have a lot to say about how convoluted the procedure was but suffice it to say that there are efficiencies to be had in the process.  I also didn’t get an “I voted” sticker and I’m pretty heated about that. Read Full Story

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This past week, the New Yorker ran a profile on Ariana Huffington that I was quite excited to read. Some of you may remember that last year, I briefly considered dropping out of (or at least post-poning) grad school to take a job offer as an associate blog editor at the Huffington Post.  I wasn’t ready to give more than a year’s committment, so nothing came of it, but I did get a chance to speak with Ariana and the site’s chief editor. I don’t really have anything to say about the... Read Full Story

on my fellowship for next semester.  For it to roll-over, I need a B+ GPA for this year.  Since I’m taking 6 classes and TA’ing another, I’ve been really crunched on time, and my GPA isn’t looking so hot right now.  If I were to take a stab at my current post-midterm grades (equally weighted in terms of credits), they would look like this (you can think of “projected grades” as “credit ratings,” with anything above B+ or > 3.33 as “investment grade”): Urban Economics:  B- (2.67) Public... Read Full Story