Job opportunities for UHCL grads: FDIC getting BIGGER

Just read on Bloomberg that FDIC is getting a lot bigger for FY 2010. Maybe some of our undergrads can spin their FINC 4331 grades into a job!

I've had several students take FDIC positions over the years, and it's a great place to work. Lots of travel for some positions, though, or at least that's how it used to be (same with OCC).

Here's the link.

Maybe We'll Finally Get to use CDSs in Monopoly!!!!!

SEC has announced a new head of investor education, Kathleen M. Floyd, former exec director of the Stock Market Game. More here.

The Stock Market Game helps student math scores!! No kidding. See their info sheet here.

It should be interesting to see what kind of ideas she brings to the task. Investor ed, after all, is one of the most important areas right now. FDIC recently announced that financial literacy and underserved markets are back on the table too. Should be interesting times for educators.

This is the game that pre-college kids play. An interesting note from the article: a little knowledge can be dangerous, because research has found that those who have a little more experience with investments are MORE LIKELY to get scammed.

Who'da thunkit?

Farewell to a dedicated journalist.

Journalism has had its share of troubles lately. Heck, I'd be willing to say that journalism is dead. Over the last couple of decades it seems that fewer and fewer of those who are supposed to "report" are willing to put their names at risk.

Mark Pittman was an activist of sorts at Bloomberg. My blog posts here and here talk about how he confronted the Fed. I didn't agree with the reasons, but I'm glad he had the cojones to ask for the info.

Mr. Pittman was instrumental in blowing the cover off of the subprime crisis and also (ex post) the ratings fiasco of 2001-2003 that doomed the reputations of Moody's and S&P. It is thanks to him that we even know about some of this stuff. He was a reporter, a real journalist in the traditional sense, and we owe him a lot.

Mark Pittman passed away a few days ago, and some of his exploits are detailed here. I hope you'll give it a look when you can.

I think "he was a great man" is used too much these days. We should save it for people like Mark Pittman.

My condolences go out to his wife, family and colleagues. I hope you can see that Mark's work made a difference in this world, and that's all anyone can ask for.

PS Mr. Pittman refers to a Mother Jones piece in his interview that might be of interest to readers. The print version is here.