London calling
So, I like to go on about how we don’t have a financial system, how the system we have is inadequate and structurally broken, how we need to invent new institutions. I think we need to experiment, in a startup-y, techy kind of way, with more flexible, fine-grained, and transparent exchanges that could augment and perhaps replace traditional capital markets. Really, that’s what I want to do someday.
Unfortunately, I’m slow and lazy. But occasional commenter Thomas Barker is not. He writes to say he’s helping to organize an informal meeting in London of people interested in pursuing just these kinds of projects. I desperately want to go, though I’m afraid the odds are slim. The event will take place on February 14th. (Yes, how romantic.) For more information, try here.
There will be a similar event, BarCampMoneyNYC, later this spring in New York. The date is still being finalized, but keep an eye on http://barcamp.org/BarCampMoneyNYC2009 for details!
January 31st, 2009 at 5:33 am PST
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Thanks for the heads up, I just registered for BarCampBankSF2.
January 31st, 2009 at 6:52 am PST
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There are BarCampBanks here :-
BarCampBankLondon2 is set for 14 Feb, 2009
BarCampBankMadrid is set for 16 Feb, 2009.
BarCampBankSF2 is set for 25-26 April, 2009
BarCampBankVegas is set for May 2, 2009.
BarCampBankCharlotte is currently being planned
BarCampBankMadison is currently being planned
BarCampBankBarcelona is currently being planned
BarCampMoneyNYC2009 is currently rescheduled from 6-7 March, 2009 to a later date
Visit the global BarCampBank site for all the details.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:27 pm PST
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If you’re in London, there’s also WeBank for p2p finance, which is spun out of MiniBar run by Christian Ahler.
Also in London, I run a very irregularly organised meetup group and email list.
http://www.meetup.com/openfinanceclub/
which is nominally (no co-events yet) tied to The Thalesians run by Paul Bilokon who are running a series of quant lectures on financial modelling.
— End of events diary export —
January 31st, 2009 at 1:42 pm PST
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The problem is we don’t let it break. There is nothing magical or rocket science about starting a bank, or printing money for that matter. Those financial institutions that leveraged up on bets that went the wrong way need to be broken, wiped out– and those that charted a path wisely can assume management and we can get on with things. Massive changes of who owns the banking industry is not a broken system, except by the existing owners.
Economics is simply a game with real-world consequences, and those with the upper hand have –to continue the analogy– been caught cheating. In short, they refuse to lose, and through crony collusion with government, ensure that they don’t have to by rewriting the rules of the game as they go.
That is why this whole thing goes beyond formulas and methodology and no amount of propeller-headery is going to fix. Answer the question: what do you do if you are in a game full cheaters, that don’t even want you to play to better your position? Argue the rules? No can do: the deck is stacked against you because to change the rules you need the issue of the “winning” players, namely, lots of money.
The solution is completely outside the game: at best you get up and try to start a new game with the honest players. Or worse, the guy with the 5th ace up his sleeve gets shot.
January 31st, 2009 at 4:46 pm PST
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I think it’s hard to compete with the established model b/c the FDIC gives away insurance.
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm PST
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