obsessive housing disorder n.— «As Washington grapples with the current mortgage crisis, advocates from both parties are already warning the feds not to relax their commitment to expanding homeownership—even if that means reviving the...
malus n.—Gloss: A penalty for poor performance, the opposite of a bonus. «A report by Frankfurt-based Center for Financial Studies has coined a new word—malus. Malus is Latin for “bad” while bonus means “good.” It...
financial incest n.—Gloss: Telling one’s children about family financial affairs in such a way or to such a degree that they learn too much and become overly concerned. «While experts say the current financial crisis is a good way...
black swan event n.— «On Black Monday, October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones index, for reasons still being debated, fell 508 points, almost a quarter of its total. (The current equivalent, for comparison’s sake, would be a 3,200-point loss on...
carry someone out v. phr.— «And all these things you would argue should lead a currency to trade weaker, and he got very very long the dollar, short the Yen, and a lot of people did alongside him, and basically there was a two- or three...
flight to cash n.— «But there were persistent rumors in 1974 that the banking system was in danger, Mr. Richardson said. Without the boost of confidence from the Lifeboat, those rumors might have become self-fulfilling, and if one major...