First we had the arguments over global warming. China asserts that it has the right to produce as much carbon per person as we do. In theory that’s fine, in practice that means a rather unpleasant planet in a hundred years or less. But those who created the mess won’t be around to suffer the […]
Read more...Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens PhysOrg Survey: 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses Chicago Tribune (hat tip Michael Panzner) Republican Senators Question Fannie Mae’s Capital Position Paul Jackson Stop Filling U.S. Oil Reserves? Energy Wire, Washington Post (hat tip Dave Johnson) Fearing Red Herring in the Data David Leonhardt, New York […]
Read more...I am clearly not wired like a large cohort of investors who clearly have some sway in the markets. As the popularity of CNBC and thestreet.com attests, for some, the stock market is a form of sport. Actually, better than sports, since in every contest someone wins and someone loses, but over long periods of […]
Read more...A disheartening post from the Economic Policy Institute on the employment outlook for the class of 2008. This weak market, which appears unlikely to improve much for the 2009 cohort, raises troubling issues. Much of the sense of disillusionment in America is coming from the fact that elements of our collective social beliefs are being […]
Read more...Moody’s issued the weakest warning it could about the two big monolines. Most observers did not expect the bond insurers’ last round of fundraising to carry them very far, and that view appears to be playing out on schedule. We may be moving towards a repeat the January-February drama, with the rating agencies saber rattling […]
Read more...Before readers start throwing brickbats, let me set forth some general views: 1. I have never thought the financial supermarket was a good idea and have said so for at least 15 years 2. I was opposed to the sale of Salomon to Travelers 3. I was opposed to the merger of Citibank and Travelers […]
Read more...It’s one thing when journalists and analysts offer worrisome forecasts about the markets, quite another when someone with good inside knowledge sounds an alarm. Satyajit Das, an expert in derivatives and risk management, best known as the author of Traders, Guns & Money, looks over the financial landscape and does not like what he sees. […]
Read more...The fulminating over what to do about our miscreant socialized unrepentant and as yet unreconstituted financial services sector continues. Since massive subsidies have been extended in the form of help to the mortgage business and an alphabet soup of Federal Reserve facilities, with nary a demand made of the beneficiaries of this largess, it seems […]
Read more...Scientists probe recent coyote attacks in California PhysOrg The First Genetically Modified Human Embryo: Advance or Abomination? Wired Why Did the EPA Fire a Respected Toxicologist? Mark Thoma Car and Driver: Plummeting auto sales teach a lesson in the value of putting a price on carbon Washington Post Bernanke Lunched With Dimon, Rubin Before Bear […]
Read more...The Times of London reports that activist investor Knight Vinke accused HSBC of failing to mark down its subprime assets (due to its ill-fated 2003 acquisition of Household Financial) adequately, leading to its greatly understating its first quarter losses. Vinke isn’t alone in being skeptical of HSBC’s latest earnings release. Amazingly, HSBC’s denial was weak, […]
Read more...A very good (as usual) post by Jeff Frankel takes issue with Council of Economic Advisers chair Ed Lazear’s assertion that the economy is not in recession: It is true that the Commerce Department BEA’s advanced estimate of first-quarter GDP growth was still above zero (+0.6%). But there are three reasons not to take this […]
Read more...David Rubenstein of Carlyle Group doesn’t have anything to gain by saying bad things about banks, and he is well connected, so odds are good he is on to something (hat tip reader Abdul). He also repeated a theme that we’ve heard earlier: don’t count on sovereign fund rescues. While they were active buyers in […]
Read more...The news on MBIA reveals a bit of revisionist reporting. The Armonk based bond insurer posted a first quarter loss of $2.4 billion. The Financial Times says that that red ink was twice what analysts expected; the initial story at Bloomberg (hat tip Andrew Clavell) apparently made similar comments. But the stock is up, and […]
Read more...Reader Richard Kline, who provides regular, sophisticated comments, was keen to continue the discussion provoked by a post last week, “Hoisted From Comments: Greater Liquidity Produces Instability.” An anonymous reader offered a complex systems theory view of our modern financial system. The opening paragraphs: Perhaps a lesson to be learned here is that liquidity acts […]
Read more...Uber-bear Ambrose Evans-Pritchard waxes apocalyptic this week, after finding that Standard & Poors issued a report that was even more pessimistic than he is. From the Telegraph: The avalanche of bankruptcies has begun. Six US companies of substance have defaulted on bonds over the past fortnight, against 17 for the whole of last year. As […]
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