Both Obama and the Treasury Department keep talking up the TARP as if it is a money maker for taxpayers, when nothing could be further from the truth. Obama tried this stunt in his anniversary of Lehman speech, and the Treasury continues with the theme, of implying that results for the firms that paid back […]
Read more...By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Yesterday, I indicated I would write a few thematic posts as a look back at some of the more important economic topics that this credit crisis has uncovered. Tying posts together in a theme definitely gives a better holistic view of a the themes than the posts do in […]
Read more...By Thomas Adams, at Paykin Krieg and Adams, LLP, and a former managing director at Ambac and FGIC. Readers may have noticed Janet Tavakoli’s recent article at Huffington Post on Goldman Sachs and AIG. While much of it covers territory that Yves and I already wrote about previously, Ms. Tavakoli stops short of telling the […]
Read more...Dear patient readers, still behind the eight ball! Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power New York Times (hat tip reader John D) Top hedge funds bet on big yields rise Financial Times Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Rasmussen. DoctoRx points out that the poll finds a strong link between Obama’s tanking popularity and widespread opposition to the […]
Read more...By Washington’s Blog. Conventional wisdom is that the Internet is responsible for destroying the profits of traditional print media like newspapers. But Michael Moore and Sean Paul Kelley are blaming the demise of newspapers on simple greed. Michael Moore said in September: It’s not the Internet that has killed newspapers … Instead, he said, it’s […]
Read more...By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. As Yves is in light posting mode, I wanted to run these thoughts by you here at Naked Capitalism regarding stimulus and the role of government in a debt-deflationary environment. As we approach the new year, I have decided to write a few thematic posts as a look back […]
Read more...By Richard Smith, who works for the London consultancy Cubematch, which specialises in risk, collateral and change management The OK The BIS analysis of the 2007-09 banking crisis floats my boat. Here is their headline list of causes: excessive on- and off-balance sheet leverage, diminutive and low quality capital bases, insufficient liquidity buffers at banks. […]
Read more...Dear patient readers, I wish I were on a holiday schedule, and hope many of you are by now, but I am making changes on the index and having my final go at page proofs! So apologies for the thin posts. I hope to provide a tad more Tuesday evening, but no guarantees, but should […]
Read more...Kipper Williams at the Guardian, hat tip reader Steve L:
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. As I have repeatedly noted, mainstream economists and financial advisors have been using faulty and unrealistic models for years. See this, this, this, this, this and this. And I have pointed out numerous times that economists and advisors have a financial incentive to use faulty models. For example, I […]
Read more...By Richard Smith, a capital markets and IT consultant There was some really strange stuff going on last week. First, Citi got in a right old tangle. Monday: Citi announce share sale. Pretext: TARP escape. Wednesday: the share sale falls through. Wednesday: it also emerges that the IRS has been quite kind (or at least […]
Read more...By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic by David Wessel Too Big To Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and […]
Read more...Dear patient readers, posting will be thin through Wednesday evening, I get page proofs back again tomorrow and this is my very last chance to correct the manuscript. Has dark matter finally been detected? Guardian (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck) Obama-Constitutional Scholar Independent Accountant. McCain corrects Obama. Eeek. Mobile Phone Cancellation Fees Help the Poor, […]
Read more...An intriguing piece is up at the Washington Post, “Fed’s approach to regulation left banks exposed to crisis,” not simply because it does a good job of finding and analyzing some case studies of the Federal Reserve’s failures at a bank regulator, but also because in the critical opening paragraphs, it launches a full bore […]
Read more...With Obama’s popularity ratings plunging, one would think an obvious step would be for the Administration to move forward with measures that have good PR value and carry little political and budget risk. Yet, as Marshall Auerback noted, the Obama Administration is increasingly all hat, no cattle, making lofty popular sounding promises and not following […]
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