Tuesday Links

WSJ: "Pimco Takes Bath on Lehman: Losses From Wrong-Way Bet on Investment Bank's Bonds Exceed $3.4 Billion." I think this is a small part of his assets under management, but still. I can't believe people buy bonds in banks and financial companies. They are so highly levered that you get bondlike returns with equitylike risk.

Bloomberg: Frontline Billionaire Bets Tankers Collapsing. Chairman John Fredriksen says the biggest crash in the cost of ships has yet to happen. It will be within “a year or two” that the market “collapses.”

Great Pawlenty speech. "When you deposit a dollar in your bank account, every penny should be forevermore yours and your children’s. Not the federal government’s."

NYT: "The Wal-Mart founder’s descendants are poised to see their stake in the $190 billion company creep above 50 percent, without much fanfare, thanks to the latest $15 billion share buyback program."