Forget the Case Shiller Index. Baltic Dry Index? Old news. Hemline analysis? Forget it. For real, serious metrics you have to think out of the box (so to speak). You have to consider the plight, for instance, of Latvian hookers. Yes we are serious. So is Bloomberg.
When the economy starts to lift itself out of this recession, what will be the leading indicator that tells us we have turned the corner?Some people track the price of shipping to gauge the health of global trade. Others look at the supply of freshly minted money pouring out of central banks. A few will say that signs of life in the housing markets are evidence of a recovery.
Forget them all. The one lesson we can draw from the global credit crisis is that all the traditional ways of measuring the state of the economy are about as useful as a bottle of suntan lotion in a snowstorm.
So here are two benchmarks we should all be monitoring more closely: extramarital affairs and the price of Latvian hookers. Both are telling us that there is still plenty of trouble ahead.
Now that we think about it, Spitzer's "great matter" did sort of coincide with the beginning of the end. Really, for the details you should probably go to the original article:
Latvian Hookers Signal No Recovery for Economy: Matthew Lynn [Bloomberg]
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:07PM
Does anyone know if Bronte Capital provides an expense account for research?
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:15PM
Is that Ruth out on the corner?
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:18PM
Now that's a leading indicator I can get behind.
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:20PM
Nice Tudors reference
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:25PM
How come there is no breakdown of services for the Latvian hookers?
Maybe the data is skewed like the typical accounting data.
How do we know the alley quickie market isn't flourishing while the all nighter pink and stink market collapsed?
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:34PM
I wonder if LVL hooker price is also down 18% like their economy
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/05/11/ap6403921.html
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:35PM
God bless people who can think in and outside of "the box".
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 12:35PM
who owns the TM on Skankometer and iSuxx?
Posted by american bandersnatch , May 27, 2009 12:56PM
Nice title EP. Keep up the good work.
Posted by SgtJack , May 27, 2009 12:58PM
Ah yes, the Plunderer for Down Under(er?). Hempton's days consist of raging on Bondi and Latvian prosties? Win.
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:04PM
I have been proposing a salary cap for hookers for years. Otherwise, prices will get out of control much like baseball
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:06PM
Too Hunts: Didn't Point
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:08PM
Give new meaning to the stimulus bill.
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:11PM
Father-priest (name?): Why do you want to accept the Latvian Orthodox faith?
George: *ahem* In this age of uncertainty and confusion, a man begins to ask himself certain questions. How can one even begin to put into words something so um… (trying to think of a word)
Father-priest: Enigmatic?
George: No.
Father-priest: Vast? (he pronounces it as "vost")
George: No not vast (he pronounces it as "vost")
Father-priest: Well whatever it is, basically you like the religion.
George: Yes.
Father-priest 2: Is there one aspect of the faith that you find particularly
attractive?
George: (he thinks) I think the hats. The hats convey that solemn religious
look you want in a faith. Very pious.
Father-priest: Are you familiar with Orthodox theology?
George: Well perhaps, not to the extent that you are. But I know the basic plot. Yeah.
Father-priest: Plot?
George: Yeah, yeah. You know the uh flood, and the uh lepers, and the
commandments and all that.
Father-priest 2: Well it’s obvious that you are sincere in your desire.
George: Oh yes I am Father. Incredibly sincere. So, uh, pffft, am I in?
Posted by NAS Keflavik boi , May 27, 2009 1:11PM
Latvian working girl usage data could be used to build the "Baltic Wet Index"
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:11PM
Spitzer definitely top ticked. He paid top dollar despite being ninth in line.
Posted by Anal_yst , May 27, 2009 1:26PM
www.ashleymadison.com
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 1:46PM
17
That site is so bogus. I don't know anyone that's hooked up from there. The committed use CL.
Posted by american bandersnatch , May 27, 2009 1:57PM
@ NAS - 1st place.
@ 14 - Honorable mention
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 2:12PM
Eastern euro women are hot
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 2:50PM
Six years, Michael! Six years
I’ve absorbed this poison! Six years --
four hundred depositions -- a hundred
motions -- five changes of venue --
eighty-four thousand documents in
discovery!
...Six years I’ve steered this beast,
Michael -- six years of stalling and
screaming and scheming and...
Look at me, Michael. Twelve percent
of my life has been spent protecting
the reputation of a deadly weedkiller!
-- one night, right? -- I look up
and Marty’s standing in my office
with a bottle of champagne --
-- he tells me we’ve just hit thirty thousand billable hours on U/North
and he wants to celebrate. An hour
later, I’m in a whorehouse in Chelsea
and two Lithuanian redheads are taking
turns sucking my dick. I’m laying
there, I’m trying not to come, I’m
trying to make it last, right? So I
start doing the math -- thirty thousand
hours -- what is that? -- twenty-four
times thirty -- seven-hundred twenty
hours in a month -- eight-thousandseven-
hundred and sixty hours per
year...
Because it’s years -- it’s lives --
and the numbers are making me dizzy,
and now, now I’m not just trying not
to come, I’m trying not to think!
But I can’t stop! Is that me? Am I
just some freak organism that’s been
put here to eat and sleep and spend
my days defending this one horrific
chain of carcinogenic molecules?
Is that my destiny? Is this is my
place?
Is that it, Michael?
Is that my grail? Two Lithuanian
mouths on my cock? Is that the correct
answer to the multiple choice of me?
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 3:09PM
in grad school, we had a name for this real exchange measure: pppp
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 3:20PM
@22, yep, sure beats using a Big Mac for those comparisons.
Posted by EvilBuzzard , May 27, 2009 4:00PM
@21 - "Is that my grail? Two Lithuanian
mouths on my cock? Is that the correct
answer to the multiple choice of me?"
If not, I'll sure make allowances and slip you some partial credit.
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 4:39PM
@23 Prostitute Purchasing Power Parity? What grad school is that?
Posted by guest , May 27, 2009 5:50PM
@18 Yes, AM is for the rookie, better sites out there.
Posted by queen_of_the_VIX , May 27, 2009 6:25PM
this isn't really funny at all. most of these girls are sex slaves.
Girls are approached online or in clubs with big promises of a new life abroad. Those that accept arrive only to find out they've been sold and are forced into prostitution for no pay. They are threatened with death if they don't comply. And they are stuck in a country where they don't speak the language and have no realistic means of escape
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22865/
a film everyone on this board should see that dramatizes this is called "Lilia 4-ever" though it's about Sweden
Posted by guest , May 28, 2009 1:49PM
Comment removed by moderator.
Posted by queen_of_the_VIX , May 28, 2009 9:47PM
@28
please watch the film and report back
Posted by InfiniteGuest , Jun 09, 2009 10:16AM
DB moves markets:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZRwR340AeBs