T P O

T   P   O
The Patient Ox (aka Hénock Gugsa)

G r e e t i n g s !

** TPO **
A personal blog with diverse topicality and multiple interests!


On the menu ... politics, music, poetry, and other good stuff.
There is humor, but there is blunt seriousness here as well!


Parfois, on parle français ici aussi. Je suis un francophile .... Bienvenue à tous!

* Your comments and evaluations are appreciated ! *

Monday, June 25, 2012

Demain dès l'aube - de Victor Hugo


 

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

 "Demain dès l'aube" 

de 

Victor Hugo

Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends.
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

  "Tomorrow at Dawn" (Translation)

Tomorrow, at dawn, in the hour when the countryside becomes white,
I will leave. You see, I know that you are waiting for me.
I will go by the forest, I will go by the mountain.
I cannot stay far from you any longer.

I will walk the eyes fixed on my thoughts,
Without seeing anything outside, nor hearing any noise,
Alone, unknown, the back curved, the hands crossed,
Sad, and the day for me will be like the night.

I will not look at the gold of the evening which falls,
Nor the faraway sails descending towards Harfleur.
And when I arrive, I will put on your tomb
A green bouquet of holly and flowering heather.




Saturday, June 23, 2012

Gambling vs Investing - by Andrew Rosenthal





Jamie Dimon

 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                
Jamie Dimon on Gambling
By Andrew Rosenthal
NY Times Opinion Pages,
 June 19, 2012

Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan Chase, testified before the House Committee on Financial Services today. This was my favorite exchange:

    Rep. Gary Ackerman: What is the difference between gambling and investing?


    Dimon: I think when you gamble you usually lose to the house.

    Ackerman: That’s been my general experience with investing.

    Dimon: I’d be happy to get you a better financial advisor.

There are many obvious differences between gambling and investing, but let’s just stick to the one that Mr. Dimon offered – there is no fix for the house (the bank) when you invest.

Mr. Ackerman’s question reminded me of a Louise Story article from last year, on JPMorgan and Sigma, a troubled pre-crash investment vehicle. “In the summer of 2007, as the first tremors of the coming financial crisis were being felt on Wall Street, top executives of JPMorgan Chase were raising red flags about … Sigma,” Ms. Story wrote. “But the bank chose not to move out $500 million in client assets that it had put into Sigma two months earlier.”

The result? Sigma collapsed. The clients lost nearly all their money, and JP Morgan collected nearly $1.9 billion, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. That’s just one particularly costly example of the gamblers losing to the house.