Monthly Archives: May 2008

May 31, 2008

• Links 6/1/08
  by Yves Smith 11:18 pm

• High Euro Leading to Fall in Long-Term Investment
  by Yves Smith 7:08 am

• On the Burgeoning Military/Industrial Complex
  by Yves Smith 6:56 am

• Links 5/31/08
  by Yves Smith 1:10 am

May 30, 2008

• Consumer Inflation Expectations Rising (Duh)
  by Yves Smith 11:08 pm

• CFTC Investigation of Oil Trading Focuses on Tankers, Storage
  by Yves Smith 3:57 pm

• Doubts About Oil Demand
  by Yves Smith 5:11 am

• From Imperialists to Third World?
  by Yves Smith 3:50 am

• Warning: Credit Default Swaps May Not Work As Advertised (And That’s Even When They Do Work)
  by Yves Smith 3:22 am

• Fed Considering Adding Foreign Currency Instruments to Facilities
  by Yves Smith 12:21 am

May 29, 2008

• Links 5/30/08
  by Yves Smith 11:35 pm

• Is the Dollar Rally a Head Fake?
  by Yves Smith 11:00 am

• Signs of Worsening Credit Conditions
  by Yves Smith 2:40 am

• U.K. Housing Prices Fall the Most Since 1991
  by Yves Smith 1:46 am

• "Voldemort Mortgage" and Its "Magical Mystery Mortgage"
  by Yves Smith 1:01 am

• Links 5/29/08
  by Yves Smith 12:33 am

May 28, 2008

• Credit Derivatives Clearing House Planned For September
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• Fed Governor Mishkin Resigns
  by Yves Smith 3:17 pm

• Former Fed Economist: Central Bank Using Wrong Playbook
  by Yves Smith 5:14 am

• More Theories on Oil Prices and (Declining) Prospects
  by Yves Smith 4:12 am

• Links 5/28/08
  by Yves Smith 12:02 am

May 27, 2008

• Monoline Death Watch: CDO Unwind Disputes
  by Yves Smith 11:30 pm

• More Broker Woes: National Realtors Association Opens Multiple Listings to Internet Brokers
  by Yves Smith 9:56 pm

• Scary Bad Increase in Chinese Foreign Currency Reserves
  by Yves Smith 5:14 am

• Soros: Skyrocketing Oil Prices a Bubble
  by Yves Smith 4:26 am

• Weird Wall Street Journal Story on Bear’s Demise
  by Yves Smith 1:44 am

• Links 5/27/08
  by Yves Smith 12:32 am

May 26, 2008

• NYC RGE Monitor Panel Discussion (Not for the Fainthearted)
  by Yves Smith 11:08 pm

• "Economics: Which Way for Obama?" (Behavioral Economics Edition)
  by Yves Smith 1:31 am

• "Restraining asset and credit booms"
  by Yves Smith 12:16 am

• Links 5/26/08
  by Yves Smith 12:09 am

May 25, 2008

• "The Economist Has No Clothes"
  by Yves Smith 2:59 am

• Links 5/25/08
  by Yves Smith 12:53 am

May 24, 2008

• Hamilton: "Understanding Crude Oil Prices"
  by Yves Smith 11:42 pm

• Globalization and Network Power
  by Yves Smith 2:33 am

• Senior Bear Departures: Signs of Valuation Headaches for JP Morgan?
  by Yves Smith 1:25 am

• Links and Quick Takes 5/24/08
  by Yves Smith 12:15 am

May 23, 2008

• Monoline Death Watch: FASB Imposes Strict Rules On Loss Reserves
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• "Power Failure on Wall Street"
  by Yves Smith 4:43 am

• Commodities Spike: Vote of No Confidence in Central Bankers?
  by Yves Smith 4:23 am

• So We Now Hear Renters Are Bad People (Own to Rent Edition)
  by Yves Smith 12:35 am

• Links 5/23/08
  by Yves Smith 12:20 am

May 22, 2008

• "Oil Declines More Than $2 a Barrel on Signs Rally Unjustified "
  by Yves Smith 6:03 pm

• Short Covering Helps Fuel Oil Price Rise to $135 a Barrel
  by Yves Smith 5:22 am

• LInks 5/22/08
  by Yves Smith 5:06 am

• Sale of Bank Hapoalim MBS Portfolio Says Prevailing Valuations Too High
  by Yves Smith 4:19 am

• International Energy Agency to Try to Gather Supply Data It Won’t Get (And Other Oil Information Gaps)
  by Yves Smith 3:29 am

• Guest Post: Nonlinear Economic Propagations III
  by Yves Smith 1:28 am

• Lagarde Calls for ECB Rate Cuts to Stem Protectionism
  by Yves Smith 12:00 am

May 21, 2008

• Ohio (Effectively) Halts Payday Lending
  by Yves Smith 4:14 am

• Should We Be Worried About Rising M3?
  by Yves Smith 3:23 am

• Defective Moody’s Program Issues Billions of Erroneous Aaas
  by Yves Smith 2:37 am

• Links 5/21/08
  by Yves Smith 2:08 am

• 2016 Oil Futures Rise 14% to $140 in Three Days
  by Yves Smith 1:25 am

May 20, 2008

• Credit Default Swaps Losses Estimated at $150 Billion
  by Yves Smith 2:33 pm

• Diverging Views on Inflation
  by Yves Smith 2:31 am

• Is the Dollar Bounce Over?
  by Yves Smith 1:25 am

• Links and Quick Takes 5/20/08
  by Yves Smith 12:32 am

May 19, 2008

• Trichet Says Worst of Credit Crisis May Lie Ahead
  by Yves Smith 11:43 pm

• Credit Cards (and Boat Repossessions) Signal Continuing Consumer Stress
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• Buffett: US Probably Less Than Halfway Through Effects of Credit Crisis
  by Yves Smith 2:21 pm

• Voters Around the World Unhappy With Income Disparity
  by Yves Smith 4:31 am

• "Money Ruins Everything" (Innovation/Intellectual Property Edition)
  by Yves Smith 4:10 am

• Dimon Helps With Sacked Bear Employee Outplacement
  by Yves Smith 1:35 am

• Links 5/19/08
  by Yves Smith 12:30 am

May 18, 2008

• TIPS Prices Dispute Commodities Market, Consumer Inflation Views
  by Yves Smith 11:35 pm

• Guest Post: Did The Black Swan Fly Over Bubbleville?
  by Yves Smith 3:11 am

• Bail Out Housing to Salve Damaged Psyches
  by Yves Smith 2:15 am

• Tim Duy With A Housing Bubble Case Study
  by Yves Smith 1:53 am

May 17, 2008

• Links 5/18/08
  by Yves Smith 11:22 pm

• Noland: Don’t Get Hopeful About Fed Interest in Asset Bubbles
  by Yves Smith 3:30 am

• Media Rorschach Test: Divergent Readings on the Saudis’ Wee Production Increase
  by Yves Smith 2:56 am

• Another Environment Worry: Nitrogen, a Worse Greenhouse Gas Than Carbon
  by Yves Smith 1:23 am

May 16, 2008

• Links 5/17/08
  by Yves Smith 11:32 pm

• Do We Want to Foster Customer Neurosis?
  by Yves Smith 2:09 am

• What Has Happened to Gillian Tett?
  by Yves Smith 1:02 am

• Quelle Surprise! Banks May Be Gaming ECB Liquidity Facility
  by Yves Smith 12:05 am

May 15, 2008

• Floyd Norris: Candidate for Worst Mortgage Securitization, Ever
  by Yves Smith 11:03 pm

• Links 5/16/08
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• Blackstone Chief Calls Credit Recovery "Eye of the Hurricane"
  by Yves Smith 2:39 pm

• "Inflation here, there and everywhere"
  by Yves Smith 3:04 am

• Is the Noose Tightening Around Countrywide?
  by Yves Smith 2:32 am

• US Production Probably Down in April
  by Yves Smith 1:35 am

May 14, 2008

• Doubts About Credit Market Recovery
  by Yves Smith 11:32 pm

• Links 5/15/08
  by Yves Smith 10:47 pm

• Volcker Calls for Regulation, Questions Loyalties of GSEs
  by Yves Smith 2:14 pm

• Wolf, Becker, and Posner on Oil (With a Shocker From Posner)
  by Yves Smith 4:22 am

• Some Informative Credit, Housing, and Mortgage Charts
  by Yves Smith 3:29 am

• "China’s Long-Term Prospects Look Grim" and the Rest of the World Doesn’t Look So Hot Either
  by Yves Smith 2:24 am

• Jim Hamilton Scolds Bernanke for Regulatory Neglect
  by Yves Smith 12:55 am

May 13, 2008

• Indians Say Americans Eat Too Much
  by Yves Smith 11:56 pm

• Links 5/14/08
  by Yves Smith 10:16 pm

• An E-Mail From the Bull Camp
  by Yves Smith 10:00 pm

• Job Market for New College Grads Worse Than 2001
  by Yves Smith 5:37 pm

• Moody’s: "Elevated" Concern About MBIA, Ambac Aaas
  by Yves Smith 2:51 pm

• The Case Against a Citi Breakup
  by Yves Smith 4:41 am

• Satyajit Das on Nuclear De-Leveraging
  by Yves Smith 2:54 am

• How to Leash and Collar the Financiers? (Continued)
  by Yves Smith 2:13 am

• Links 5/13/08
  by Yves Smith 12:30 am

May 12, 2008

• "Investor says HSBC undervalued loss by $30bn"
  by Yves Smith 11:16 pm

• Frankel, Dimon Say Recession Has Arrived
  by Yves Smith 4:23 pm

• Carlyle’s Rubenstein: Banks Still Have "Enormous" Unrecognized Losses
  by Yves Smith 3:14 pm

• MBIA Reports $2.4 Billion 1Q Loss, Downstreams Cash to Sub
  by Yves Smith 12:28 pm

• Guest Post: "Is the Securitization Crisis Driven by Nonlinear Systemic Processes?"
  by Yves Smith 7:00 am

• "The global slump of 2008-09 has begun as poison spreads"
  by Yves Smith 2:58 am

• Bottom Testing in Mortgage Land
  by Yves Smith 2:34 am

• Links 5/12/08
  by Yves Smith 1:58 am

• Waldman: Halt the Fed’s Mission Creep
  by Yves Smith 12:26 am

May 11, 2008

• Downtown LA Package for Sale at 35 Cent on the Dollar
  by Yves Smith 5:28 pm

• Why So Little Interest in Danish "Flexicurity"? (Income Inequality/Labor Inefficiency Edition)
  by Yves Smith 4:12 am

• Are People Happier Under Inflation or Deflation?
  by Yves Smith 4:05 am

• Links 5/11/08
  by Yves Smith 12:23 am

May 10, 2008

• Another Face of Housing Stress: Storage Auctions
  by Yves Smith 11:20 pm

• Setser: Real Export Growth Stalls
  by Yves Smith 2:33 am

• Do You Love Your Investments Too Much?
  by Yves Smith 1:12 am

• Links 5/10/08
  by Yves Smith 12:45 am

May 9, 2008

• Whopper Du Jour
  by Yves Smith 11:46 pm

• Microsoft Still Trying Evade the Rule of Law (EU Antitrust Edtion)
  by Yves Smith 10:19 pm

• Is the Commodities Boom Driven by Speculation?
  by Yves Smith 4:29 am

• Joseph Stiglitz Lambasts Inflation Targeting
  by Yves Smith 2:07 am

• Citi Mulls Sale of $400 Billion of Assets
  by Yves Smith 12:12 am

May 8, 2008

• Links 5/9/08
  by Yves Smith 11:14 pm

• The New Imperialist: China to Buy Agricultural Land Abroad
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• WSJ Survey: Economists Say Energy, Food Price Rises Driven By Fundamentals
  by Yves Smith 3:52 pm

• "Blame the Models"
  by Yves Smith 3:01 pm

• Desperate Measures: India Closes Soyabean Oil, Potatoes Exchanges to Fight Inflation
  by Yves Smith 7:49 am

• Blogging, the Cathedral and the Bazaar
  by Yves Smith 5:13 am

• Martin Feldstein Calls a Downturn, Takes Issue With Government Statistics
  by Yves Smith 3:31 am

• Brady Bonds Redux as Credit Crisis Remedy?
  by Yves Smith 2:27 am

• So Why Did MBIA Raise $1.1 Billion? To Pay Executives, Apparently
  by Yves Smith 1:46 am

• Links 5/8/08
  by Yves Smith 12:07 am

May 7, 2008

• Soros: "Acute Phase" of Financial Crisis Past, Real Economy Consequences Just Beginning
  by Yves Smith 3:09 pm

• Buying Robust at Start of New York Art Auctions
  by Yves Smith 1:45 pm

• Thomas Palley Questions Housing Subsidies
  by Yves Smith 3:41 am

• Hoisted From Comments: Greater Liquidity Produces Instability
  by Yves Smith 2:51 am

• "Seven habits finance regulators must acquire"
  by Yves Smith 2:33 am

• Links 5/7/08
  by Yves Smith 1:20 am

May 6, 2008

• Productivity Increases As Workers Are Fired
  by Yves Smith 11:34 pm

• It’s Tough Being a Vulture. Really.
  by Yves Smith 11:18 pm

• Business Bankruptcies Up by Nearly 50% in April
  by Yves Smith 11:09 am

• Will BofA-Countrywide Deal Get Done?
  by Yves Smith 10:52 am

• Goldman Forecasts Oil to Reach $150-$200 a Barrel
  by Yves Smith 3:45 am

• Is Liquidity All That It’s Cracked Up to Be?
  by Yves Smith 3:30 am

• Is "The Credit Crunch is Over" Talk Premature?
  by Yves Smith 1:34 am

• Media, Congress Waking Up to Freddie and Fannie Default Risk
  by Yves Smith 12:34 am

May 5, 2008

• Links 5/6/08
  by Yves Smith 11:28 pm

• Quelle Surprise! Tax Rebates Looking Increasingly Ineffective
  by Yves Smith 11:20 pm

• "Credit crisis shows that banks need wise men not wide boys"
  by Yves Smith 2:05 am

• Milken Institute Takes Issue With My Post
  by Yves Smith 1:53 am

• Mirable Dictu! The Journal Says a Few Discouraging Words About the Markets and Economy
  by Yves Smith 12:33 am

May 4, 2008

• Links 5/5/08
  by Yves Smith 11:42 pm

• Larry Summers’ Inadequate Solutions for Trade-Induced Woes
  by Yves Smith 11:03 pm

• Is the Credit Crisis Really Over? Minsky Would Say No
  by Yves Smith 3:21 am

• They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (Triple Crown Edition)
  by Yves Smith 1:50 am

• Why Such Timid Financial Reform Proposals? (Alan Blinder Edition)
  by Yves Smith 12:54 am

May 3, 2008

• Links 5/4/08
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• Links 5/3/08
  by Yves Smith 2:12 am

• More Experts Disapprove of the Fed’s Salvage Operations
  by Yves Smith 1:01 am

• More on What Bank of America Might Do With Countrywide Debt
  by Yves Smith 12:50 am

May 2, 2008

• A Wee Notice to Readers
  by Yves Smith 11:56 pm

• Hubris, Denial, and the Financial Services Culture
  by Yves Smith 1:11 am

• "The inappropriateness of financial regulation"
  by Yves Smith 12:59 am

• Links 5/2/08
  by Yves Smith 12:40 am

• Bank of America May Not Guarantee Countrywide Debt
  by Yves Smith 12:24 am

May 1, 2008

• "Four mega-dangers international financial markets face"
  by Yves Smith 3:07 am

• Will Credit-Default-Swaps-Induced Distortions Continue?
  by Yves Smith 2:47 am

• Unrepentant, Intransigent Lenders: Overplaying Their Hand?
  by Yves Smith 1:56 am