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
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New Deal

*noun*; series of programs enacted by the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) in response to the Great Depression. This definition refers to the New Deal in US history (as opposed to the current "New Deal" in Great Britain).

The main architects of the New Deal were Harry Hopkins, Henry A. Wallace, and Harold L. Ickes. The chief prigrams were:
--- The Works Progress Administration (WPA);
--- the Public Works Administration (PWA);
--- the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).
These were set up to address industrial and farming failures.

Other programs addressed a long-standing need:
--- the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC);
--- the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which introduced electrical power infrastructure to much of the impoverished rural South;
--- the Civil Works Administration (CWA), which supplied electrical power generation;
--- the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provides insurance for bank accounts;
--- the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC);
--- the Social Security Administration (SSA);

Legislation included:
--- the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), or Wagner Act, which gave most workers the right to organize;
--- the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which was struck down in 1935 by the US Supreme Court;
--- the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which set basic working standards.

The New Deal's main impact was to establish basic protections for workers, consumers, and farmers. While some of these protections could have been better designed, they perform an indispensable function. In terms of actual fiscal policy, the New Deal was far too small to hasten the end of the Great Depression itself.
A lot of the public buildings in this country were built by New Deal programs.
by Abu Yahya March 06, 2009
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liquidity preference

*noun*; the tendency for the public to want to hold income in cash relative to its willingness to hold it as interest-bearing savings (bonds).

The liquidity preference is analogous to a supply curve for lendable funds. If the price for lendable funds--that is to say, the interest rate--is high, then the amount be be large. If the interest rate is low, then the public will be more inclined to hoard income as cash.

Income held as cash is not spent on goods and services, so if the amount increases abruptly then there will be a recession. If it is held in some interest-bearing form, then it can be spent on fixed capital, thereby increasing output and employment.

During a recession, if the liquidity preference is high, a lot of money is going to be held as cash. One could free up some cash for job-creating investment by raising interest rates, but that would eradicate a lot of business opportunities. So monetary authorities monetize debt instead, creating a new supply of credit to replace the savings lost by falling interest rates.
...An individual’s liquidity preference is given by a schedule of the amounts of his resources, valued in terms of money or of wage-units, which he will wish to retain in the form of money....

John M. Keynes, *General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936), Ch.13
by Abu Yahya March 04, 2009
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Aérospatiale

(AEROSPACE) French company created in 1970 from a massive consolidation of the French aerospace industry. Inherited and completed the French component of the Concorde SST, a supersonic jet transport. Aérospatiale was a partner in Airbus from the beginning.

Later, all of the partners in Airbus (except British Aerospace, which sold its stake in the consortium to the others) merged into a new, super-sized company called EADS. EADS is the parent company of Airbus, Eurocopter, and Arianespace.
Aérospatiale was one of the most technically brilliant companies of the late 20th century. It's all part of EADS now.
by Abu Yahya September 01, 2010
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trimmer

A person who refines political views to accommodate the prevailing winds; particularly, one who contrives self-serving excuses for political views now generally recognized to have been stupid.
In journalism, the current handwringer-in-chief is the New Yorker writer George Packer, whose book *The Assassins' Gate* has met with high praise from ... a subset of pundits I call trimmers... trimmers criticize ... the foolish president, but avoid unequivocal denunciations of this foolish war.

--John R, MacArthur, "Pro-War Liberals Frozen in the Headlights"
by Abu Yahya January 23, 2009
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in the money

(FINANCE) when a financial derivative has intrinsic value to the person who holds it. There are two examples:

* when the strike price of a call option is less than the spot price of the underlying stock, it is worthwhile to exercise it;

* when the strike price of a put option is more than the spot price of the underlying stock, it is worthwhile to exercise it.

Please remember that an option being "in the money" does not mean it was a good investment. You might have bought the option when the difference between the strike price and the spot price was MORE than it is now. If it's expiring, you might as well exercise it because to not do so is just throwing money away. But it still could have been a loss for the investor.
PHIL: Sweet! My call options are back in the money. Now I'd better exercise them.

MIGUEL: You must be rolling in the cash, Holmes!

PHIL: Not even close. The forex rate for the UK pound nosedived and I got hosed pretty bad. It's not where it was when I bought these rat droppings, but I need to get out before they expire.

MIGUEL: You know, when you first told me about options they sounded like a sweet deal, but...

PHIL: Yeah... the guy who wrote the option always seems to know what's going down better than us dilettantes.
by Abu Yahya April 15, 2010
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LLP

(US BUSINESS LAW) limited liability partnership; a type of business organization which is a cross between a partnership and a corporation. In a private partnership, all of the partners own all the assets in common and have unlimited liability; in a corporation, the firm assets are owned by a legal "person," and shareholders are liable only for the value of their stake (equity) in the firm.

Partnerships have higher risk for members, but their management can disclose a lot less and the taxes are lower. Limited/limited liability partnerships represent a compromise.

In a limited partnership, one or more of the partners has unlimited liability ("general partners") and the others have liability limited to their equity stake in the firm ("limited partners"). A limited partnership is indicated by the initials "LP" after the name, e.g. Apollo Management, LP.

In a limited liability partnership, all members have limited liability; specifically, the other partners of the LLP are shielded from torts for malpractice against the other partners, BUT they are legally responsible for financial claims against the whole organization. LLP liability varies somewhat by state law (several US states do not permit LLP's at all), and somewhat by the terms of the LLP agreement for that particular partnership.

Apologies to Urban Dictionary for an error in the definition of private equity fund and hedge fund: both types of fund are almost never LLP's; they are often limited partnerships (LP's).
At the first meeting of the law partners, it was decided to adopt an LLP form of business.
by Abu Yahya September 02, 2010
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