Author Archives: Cassandra

Shortly after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn-in to the Chief Executive’s office, plans will be announced for the swift closing of Gitmo’s sordid chapter in the so-called war on terror. But in a shocking about-face of opinion (to those and readers who think they know me), I will beg to differ with Obama about the […]

Slow on the draw, I missed the Aug 1 release of FSA’s Investigation into accusations that HBOS was torpedoed by hedge funds spreading malicious rumours. If you missed it too, FT-Alphaville has the detail here, but I’ll save you the trouble and summarize it for you below. 10. Something went seriously wrong in the market […]

There is an interesting tug-o-war between the value of capital and the value of management evident in hedge funds, but even more strikingly highlighted perhaps in reinsurance. This is worthy of examination if only for the fact that they sit at opposite ends of the proverbial rope, producing (at present) an unimaginably large gulf between […]

IF one is the chief a monoline, bank or other financial holding company with large, dubious, asset-backed exposures, it is understandable that during the denial phase of coming to terms with one’s fate, that one would like to blame someone else, anyone else, but in particular, blame the nefarious Short Sellers. We’ll ignore the asymmetry […]

If anyone needs any any evidence that the Wall Street Journal is a mere prenteder in comparison to Pearson’s Financial Times, they need look no farther than Dancing The Freakout – Was Jim Cramer Right?. Of course one piece doesn’t make a newspaper, but attributing early call of The Arrival of The Big One to […]

For those who missed it, University of Illinois law prof Robert Lawless at Credit Slips posted a nice colourful update to YoY changes in US (personal – I presume) Bankruptcy Filings, state-by-state, along with a table rank-ordering the data. As one might expect, a year into crunchy credit coincidental to @$125 oil, vaulting coal prices, […]

Following a whirlwind global tour, US media coverage would have one believe that Mr Obama had wowed Europe’s most important nation. However, a close look by Der Spielgel at German reactions to Obama suggests they are rather cautious and less then-than-enthusiastic across the German political spectrum, though for far different reasons than American skeptics. Why? […]