Raccoons
Not So Cuddly
In the ET mythology, we've created some of our own terms. Or changed the commonly understood meaning of one. A term you might see a lot is Raccoon, and we're almost never referring to the actual animal. When we call someone a raccoon, it's not a compliment. In Epsilon Theory raccoons are the scammers, con artists, hucksters, thieves and criminals who infest financial services.
Raccoon Spotting 101
A Tiger Can't Change Its Stripes
By Ben Hunt
|March 30, 2021
What do you get when you give a raccoon billions of dollars AND invisibility from regulators? Collusion and insider trading.
Facebook Delenda Est
By Ben Hunt
|August 20, 2020
More than any other company, Facebook is undermining our democracy and our most integral political rights.
More than any other company, Facebook has bought and paid for political cover at the highest levels of American, Indian and European government, political cover that prevents any of the actions we might take as a society to rid ourselves of this cancer.
Facebook delenda est.
When Was I Radicalized? (Boeing edition)
By Ben Hunt
|November 5, 2019
I think it's impossible to separate management self-enrichment through stock-based comp from the practice of stock buybacks.
They're Not Even Pretending Anymore
By Ben Hunt
|February 28, 2019
Now that Jay Powell's semi-annual Congressional testimony has finished up, it's time for a brief walk down Memory Lane.
As with everything else in our Washington clown show, nothing really changes. This has all happened before.
Things Fall Apart (Part 4)
By Ben Hunt
|November 19, 2018
Take back your vote. Take back your distance. Take back your data.
How to make our way as citizens in a fallen world, with Clear Eyes and Full Hearts to make it better.
But Our Interests Are Aligned!
By Ben Hunt
|September 18, 2018
The modern use of stock-based compensation is a confidence game, in the true sense of the word, that would be very familiar to the Music Man (but he doesn’t know the territory!).
Too Clever By Half
By Ben Hunt
|February 5, 2018
The inevitable result of financial innovation gone awry, which it ALWAYS does, is that it ALWAYS ends up empowering the State. When too clever by half people misplay the meta-game, that’s all the excuse the State needs to come swooping in and crush them, just as they are with Bitcoin today they did with Bear and Lehman in 2008. Installment #10 from Notes from the Field.