Felix Salmon

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The Counterparties team is spread across the western hemisphere today, with Ben in Oregon, Felix in Dorset, and Ryan in an overpriced and overcrowded retail outlet doing some last-minute shopping. Wherever you are, we wish the very best to you and yours, and thank you for all the support and tips since we launched this newsletter in March.

There won’t be an email tomorrow, and it’ll be links only on Thursday and Friday. After that — assuming we all survive the drop off the Fiscal Cliff — we look forward to joining you in a happily eventful 2013. May your holidays be happy, your right tails fat, and your billionaires whimsical! — Felix, Ryan, and Ben

And on to today’s links:

Alpha
Meet the Jim Cramer of China – Businessweek
The time Steve Cohen got an ATM for Christmas and other reported anecdotes – NYT
Bill Ackman’s full presentation on his Herbalife short – Pershing Square
Herbalife won’t let Bill Ackman’s lies disrupt their vacation plans – WSJ
Why Bill Ackman is wrong about Herbalife – Kid Dynamite
The age of macro may be coming to an end — until the next crisis – Joe Weisenthal

Taxmageddon
Why taxes may need to go up (briefly, at least) for a fiscal cliff deal to happen – Calculated Risk

The Fed
The Federal Reserve is running out of ways to make credit cheaper – WSJ

Awesome
The Reformed Broker’s comprehensive guide to the financial blogosphere – Josh Brown

New Normal
The slow death of the American mall (or why the e-commerce revolution isn’t over yet) – Jeff Jordan

Great Expectations
The sad story of high-achieving, low-income students struggling to stay in college – NYT

We Can’t Have Nice Things
Two reasons to doubt the potential of 3-D printing – Tyler Cowen

Ugh
Charitable donations continue to fall – FT

Says Science
“We appear to be on the frontier of procrastination” – International Journal of Psychological Studies

Wonks
Unpuzzling those puzzled by interest rates and the fiscal cliff – Mark Thoma

Happy Holidays
Santa’s privacy policy – McSweeney’s
“America’s pop cultural-industrial complex seems to have nearly abandoned the Christmas business” – TNR

Be Afraid
ConEd drones. Seriously. – Bloomberg

Ouch
It takes an average of 58 work days to earn enough to pay for your health care spending – Sarah Kliff

Simulacra
Fake ideas and fake beauty have taken over our culture – Aeon

Oxpeckers
An oral history of Newsweek – Daily Beast