Dispatches from NY

Barry Ritholtz Talk

I'm in NY the next few days, mainly to serve as a chaperone to a few kids (at least they're my own!).

However, I did manage to break away to hear Barry Ritholtz, of The Big Picture blog (see, my Blog Roll) at a midtown Barnes & Noble. Or, more accurately, see him sign his new book, Bailout Nation -- family responsibilities came first, and I got there at the tail end.

I still caught one good tidbit, though.

Ritholtz speculates that the reason why JP Morgan Chase has held up so much better than Citigroup is that its CEO, Jamie Dimon, was the one-time heir apparent at Citigroup, before being passed over.

Privy to all the excessive risk-taking at Citigroup, Dimon made sure that JP Morgan Chase steered clear (relatively speaking).

P.S.: Showing up late meant I didn't get to engage Ritholtz on a topic nearer and dearer to my heart: why he heaps so much scorn on Realtors (to be fair, his shots at NAR, the National Association of Realtors, are all too often on the mark -- unfortunately).