abu yahya's definitions
(FINANCE) largest private equity fund manager in the world, by assets under management ($90.5 billion-2010). The Carlyle Group is actually a group of 67 funds which are, in turn, managed by a wholly private (i.e., non-listed, non-traded) limited liability company (LLC). In order to be a partner in the Carlyle Group, one needs to (a) have an enormous amount of money to invest for a very long time, and (b) have some peculiar connection of value to the existing partners.
About 69% of fund commitments by TC Group, LLC, are for buyouts; the profits--which are immense--come when it resells its portfolio. For example, it bought and restructured United Defense Industries in 1997, cashed out by '04, and made profits of about a billion on that particular deal. It has bought many defense firms and restructured them, while using its special connections to open doors for new categories of defense contracts.
One major investor is Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, who is also the owner of the largest block of shares in News Corp outside of the Murdoch family.
About 69% of fund commitments by TC Group, LLC, are for buyouts; the profits--which are immense--come when it resells its portfolio. For example, it bought and restructured United Defense Industries in 1997, cashed out by '04, and made profits of about a billion on that particular deal. It has bought many defense firms and restructured them, while using its special connections to open doors for new categories of defense contracts.
One major investor is Prince Al-Walid bin Talal, who is also the owner of the largest block of shares in News Corp outside of the Murdoch family.
The collection of influential characters who now work, have worked, or have invested in the Carlyle Group {include}... John Major, former British Prime Minister; Fidel Ramos, former Philippines President; Park Tae Joon, former South Korean Prime Minister; Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal; Colin Powell; James Baker III; Caspar Weinberger; Richard Darman, former White House Budget Director; the billionaire George Soros, and even some bin Laden family members; Karl Otto Poehl, former Bundesbank president; the late Henri Martre, who was president of Aerospatiale; and Etienne Davignon, former president of the Belgian Generale Holding Company.
{"Carlyle Empire" by Eric Leser, Le Monde, April 29, 2004}
{"Carlyle Empire" by Eric Leser, Le Monde, April 29, 2004}
by Abu Yahya September 1, 2010
Get the Carlyle Group mug.(FINANCE) the situation in which a derivatives trader with a short position is wrong about the behavior of the market. Having sold shares of stock he doesn't own, he is now compelled to buy them at a higher price than he sold them for (in order to reimburse whomever he borrowed the shares from).
If the short position was taken by writing naked options (i.e., issuing call options of stock the trader doesn't happen to have), then the trader has to buy shares of underlying stock in order to honor the options.
It's extremely expensive for traders to have to cover their shorts.
If the short position was taken by writing naked options (i.e., issuing call options of stock the trader doesn't happen to have), then the trader has to buy shares of underlying stock in order to honor the options.
It's extremely expensive for traders to have to cover their shorts.
The surprising stock rally came as a shock. Nicholas Leeson had been riding high, but now he was furiously covering shorts, and driving the share prices higher still. By closing bell, he was ruined.
by Abu Yahya May 5, 2010
Get the covering shorts mug.(IRANIAN HISTORY) Secret police of Iran during the reign of Shah Muhammad Reza (r.1941-1979); began operations in 1957, four years after Operation Ajax. Gen. Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf (father of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was a US Army liaison who trained SAVAK in intelligence tactics; additional training was provided by the Israeli military.
General Teymur Bakhtia, the main Iranian military officer involved in Operation Ajax, was rewarded with command of SAVAK; he was dismissed in 1961 because he was believed to be organizing a coup. Subsequently, the Shah had his own secret service to spy on the secret service.
SAVAK's activities to include gathering intelligence and neutralizing the regime's opponents. An elaborate system was created to monitor all facets of political life. For example, a censorship office was established to monitor journalists, literary figures, and academics throughout the country; it took appropriate measures against those who fell out of line. Universities, labor unions, and peasant organizations, among others, were all subjected to intense surveillance by SAVAK agents and paid informants. The agency was also active abroad, especially in monitoring Iranian students who publicly opposed Pahlavi rule.
General Teymur Bakhtia, the main Iranian military officer involved in Operation Ajax, was rewarded with command of SAVAK; he was dismissed in 1961 because he was believed to be organizing a coup. Subsequently, the Shah had his own secret service to spy on the secret service.
SAVAK's activities to include gathering intelligence and neutralizing the regime's opponents. An elaborate system was created to monitor all facets of political life. For example, a censorship office was established to monitor journalists, literary figures, and academics throughout the country; it took appropriate measures against those who fell out of line. Universities, labor unions, and peasant organizations, among others, were all subjected to intense surveillance by SAVAK agents and paid informants. The agency was also active abroad, especially in monitoring Iranian students who publicly opposed Pahlavi rule.
SAVAK mostly concentrated on Tudeh and populist organizations until the late 1960's, since the clergy was mostly aligned with the monarchy until 1964, when the regime started to redistribute endowments of land held by the religious orders.
by Abu Yahya July 19, 2010
Get the SAVAK mug.(FINANCE) a company that exists for the sole purpose of owning a controlling interest in the several branches of a bank.
Owing to the interplay of US federal and state banking laws, it is often necessary for a bank to incorporate itself as a separate and distinct company in different states, or for different business functions (e.g., capital management, underwriting/investment banking, savings banking, etc.).
One of the exasperating benefits that bank holding companies get is a further limitation of liability. Often, the structure of the bank holding company is such that one of the firms owned (like Washington Mutual Bank, Inc.) can be insolvent, without resulting in the liquidation of the holding company.
Owing to the interplay of US federal and state banking laws, it is often necessary for a bank to incorporate itself as a separate and distinct company in different states, or for different business functions (e.g., capital management, underwriting/investment banking, savings banking, etc.).
One of the exasperating benefits that bank holding companies get is a further limitation of liability. Often, the structure of the bank holding company is such that one of the firms owned (like Washington Mutual Bank, Inc.) can be insolvent, without resulting in the liquidation of the holding company.
Practically every financial intermediary in the USA is now owned by a bank holding company. They're totally insidious!
by Abu Yahya May 5, 2010
Get the bank holding company mug.a{n alleged} miracle that serves no purpose or is actively evil. For example, in the Apocryphal New Testament, in the book *Protevangelion*, XI. Mary's immaculate conception has caused immense turmoil for Joseph and Mary, not merely because Joseph assumes Mary has conceived with another mortal, but also because she does so far too soon. This is therefore resolved by more miracles, that fail to convince anyone (xi.19). In XIII., Joseph has to get a midwife, and finds that time has stopped (so he can find her quickly?). But in the following chapter, the midwife is useless and Mary delivers miraculously too. So there was no point at all to the miracle.
Other examples: a story in the Talmud of a slain holy man's blood, which bubbled miraculously on the spot where he was killed. Nebuchadnezzar is said to arrive there after his conquest of Jerusalem and demand to know why the blood bubbles. When he finds out, he believes he has to appease the spirit of the holy man and so he "sacrifices" 80,000 people on the spot where the blood bubbles. Wouldn't God stop the bubbling just to get Nebuchadnezzar to stop murdering people there?
Other examples: a story in the Talmud of a slain holy man's blood, which bubbled miraculously on the spot where he was killed. Nebuchadnezzar is said to arrive there after his conquest of Jerusalem and demand to know why the blood bubbles. When he finds out, he believes he has to appease the spirit of the holy man and so he "sacrifices" 80,000 people on the spot where the blood bubbles. Wouldn't God stop the bubbling just to get Nebuchadnezzar to stop murdering people there?
If Bush was a perverse miracle sent from God to punish our nation for its wickedness, then would it not have been more godlike to make us less wicked--instead?
by Abu Yahya February 15, 2009
Get the perverse miracle mug.phenomenon in which greater input of effort, money, etc. yields smaller results. Crucial part of the idea is that if you're using x to get y results (where y is the thing you want). then additional input a will yield additional results b, but not in the same proportion as before.
On average, before, you put in x to get y, so your yield was y/x. But if you increase x by amount a, then your results will be y + b, where
(y + b)/(x + a) < y/x
and this will only get worse.
Diminishing marginal returns (DMR) is used to explain why the supply curve in economics slopes upward, i.e., increasing the quantity supplied requires an increased price of most things.
Sometimes DMR is more than offset by "economies of scale," which allows more of a thing to be supplied more cheaply than a small amount.
On average, before, you put in x to get y, so your yield was y/x. But if you increase x by amount a, then your results will be y + b, where
(y + b)/(x + a) < y/x
and this will only get worse.
Diminishing marginal returns (DMR) is used to explain why the supply curve in economics slopes upward, i.e., increasing the quantity supplied requires an increased price of most things.
Sometimes DMR is more than offset by "economies of scale," which allows more of a thing to be supplied more cheaply than a small amount.
At first his flowers and treats swept her off her feet, but then he had to do more and more lavish things to please her. It was a classic case of diminishing marginal returns.
by Abu Yahya June 3, 2009
Get the diminishing marginal returns mug.*noun*, term used in economics to refer to the New Classical economics. The fresh water school was lead by Robert E. Lucas, Thomas J. Sargent, and Robert Barro; its position was that fiscal policy and monetary policy are doomed to be ineffective, since they rely on "fooling the public."
Instead, they argued that even tax cuts had no stimulus effect (in contrast to "supply side economics"), and of course they were resolutely opposed to government spending. Instead, the fresh water school maintained that a recession was caused by markets adjusting to a technology shock to create a structurally different economic system. The best thing to do was to allow the markets to restructure industry on their own.
The fresh water school was known for their support of the "rational expectations hypothesis" (REH) and "real business cycle" (RBC) theory.
Instead, they argued that even tax cuts had no stimulus effect (in contrast to "supply side economics"), and of course they were resolutely opposed to government spending. Instead, the fresh water school maintained that a recession was caused by markets adjusting to a technology shock to create a structurally different economic system. The best thing to do was to allow the markets to restructure industry on their own.
The fresh water school was known for their support of the "rational expectations hypothesis" (REH) and "real business cycle" (RBC) theory.
But lately, a ...school of skeptics who think the Government usually just gums things up is gaining attention and influence. The skeptics are known as the "fresh water school," less for the purity of their thought than for their origins at universities along the shores of the Great Lakes.
"'Fresh Water' Economists Gain," *New York Times*, 23 July 1988
"'Fresh Water' Economists Gain," *New York Times*, 23 July 1988
by Abu Yahya March 5, 2009
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