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Abu Yahya's definitions

open triangle

a sexual relationship involving three persons, two of whom never have sex with EACH OTHER. For example, in a heterosexual triangle M-F-M, the two men have sex with the woman but never with the other.

See closed triangle.
A famous example of an open triangle was that involving Manuel de Godoy, Queen Maria Louisa, and King Carlos IV . In exchange for servicing two of the most repulsive people in Europe, Godoy made an enormous fortune and became the effective ruler of Spain.

The relationship was an open triangle because the king and queen found each other unbearable.
by Abu Yahya March 21, 2010
mugGet the open trianglemug.

swap

(FINANCE) a type of financial derivative which two parties "swap," or exchange, the streams of income (or payments) from two different sources. The actual instrument is created by a third party, such as an investment bank.

The most familiar version of the swap is the interest rate swap, in which the holder of a fixed rate loan and the holder of an adjustable rate loan agree to exchange revenue streams.

The variety of swaps available is massively greater than with options or futures; essentially, swaps exist for every arbitrage opportunity that any combination of markets provides; the market for swaps is huge.
BILL: Why do firms buy swaps? Why don't they just sell the loans they have to other banks, or whatever?

ANNA: One is that swaps are a method of hedging risk; you hold the bond in case the price goes up, but you buy interest rate swaps to protect against having average rates in your portfolio that are two high or two low.
by Abu Yahya April 5, 2010
mugGet the swapmug.

capital accounts

Capital (in economics) refers to either equipment used to produce goods (tools, factory buildings, infrastructure) or money that is currently used to pay for business ventures. Capital accounts refers to the balance of investment that a country receives from, or supplies to, other countries over the course of a business period. So, for example, in the course of a year the people in country A may buy $1.5 million in shares and bonds from overseas, and sell $900,000 of the same (for net capital exports of $600K); meanwhile, foreigners might buy $1.2 million in shares, etc., while selling $800K of the same (capital imports of $400K). The country therefore exports $600K, imports $400K, and runs a net capital account balance of -$200K.

Over the short run, a capital account surplus can offset a current account deficit.
For the last 30 years the USA has run a surplus in its capital accounts, partly offsetting a gigantic deficit in current accounts.
by abu yahya September 28, 2008
mugGet the capital accountsmug.

quis est beneficium

Latin, "where is the benefit?" A type of logical fallacy in which one claims one didn't do something bad because it was not in one's interests to do so. An example would be, "Why would I steal from the cash register? It's going to hurt the business if I do, and then I might lose my job."

The argument is usually used on behalf of someone else: for example, Ludo Martens (1995) argues that Stalin could not possibly have massacred millions of Russians because he needed them to fight WW2; Fogel & Engermann claimed* that American slavery was not very bad because it was in the best interests of slaveowners to have content slaves.

The argument is a fallacy because it assumes that all relevant motives of the actor are well-established, and lead away from the act. It does not account for motives like personal hatred, shame, fear, spite, ideology, and so on.
________________________
* In *Time on the Cross* (1971); the book was conclusively debunked by David & Stampp, *Reckoning with Slavery* (1976).
One frequently encounters *quis est beneficium?* arguments among Holocaust deniers of all stripes. Among such worthies it is claimed that Hitler/Stalin/Enver Pasha could not possibly have wanted to massacre all those millions because it was a nuisance to try.
by Abu Yahya February 14, 2009
mugGet the quis est beneficiummug.

NYSE

New York Stock Exchange. The US-half of NYSE Euronext.

NYSE has been a publicly traded company since 2005; at the time of its initial public offering, it merged with Euronext and ArcaEX.

While average daily trading volume on the NYSE is typically between 3 million and 7 million shares, only about 40% of this actually trades in the iconic Wall Street building. The rest trades remotely in regional exchanges.
In a good year, about 250 billion in new capital is raised from equity issues on the NYSE.
by Abu Yahya September 28, 2010
mugGet the NYSEmug.

bill of exchange

(ECONOMICS) method of transferring wealth from a buyer to a seller, usually over long distances and under different currency systems. Requires the buyer to have an account with a banker in the other city; the buyer sends a note ordering his banker to credit the seller's account by the amount being paid.

Bills of exchange were adopted in 13th century Italy; almost as soon as they became common, traders began to use them as a speculative instrument (discounting bad ones and reselling them) or else as a sleazy method of borrowing money (by "drawing and redrawing," i.e., where two merchants in different towns agree to exchange bills of exchange with each other). "Drawing and redrawing" is analogous to the method used by college students on the 1980's of writing checks to each other every couple of days and depositing them in ATM's so their checking accounts wouldn't bounce.
A bill of exchange is a type of "negotiable instrument" (contractual form of money).

A modern form of bill would be a check.
by Abu Yahya September 7, 2010
mugGet the bill of exchangemug.

short selling

(FINANCE) borrowing securities for immediate sale, in anticipation of a sharp decline. Short selling requires strong nerves and excellent market timing; it also requires the ability to locate tranches of securities to borrow. If the short seller is correct, then she can buy back the securities at a much lower price, and lock in very high profits with very little initial investment.

Closely related to the concept of a short position. However, a short position includes buying put options (for example), while a long position could include short selling put options. So they are not exactly the same.

If a short sellers are wrong about the market, they are left hastily covering shorts, or buying the item they borrowed at a HIGHER price than they sold it for.
Jim Fisk was a master of the short squeeze; he appeared to cooperate with short selling until he was able to call in loans, forcing his counterparties to cover their shorts.
by Abu Yahya September 2, 2010
mugGet the short sellingmug.

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