Even though it is risky to be skeptical when at a remove, we had trouble buying into the bullish talk on China. First, in the Great Depression, it was the creditor/exporter America that had a far more difficult adjustment than the wastrel debtors, who simply defaulted. Second, the stimulus package, which has been widely touted, […]
Read more...You have to give former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan credit for having no shame. Well, he did once look a bit rattled before Congress for about five minutes and ‘fessed up it never occurred to him that people would be so greedy as to pull so much cash out of companies so as to leave […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The WSJ reports that shortfall triples at U.S. pension guaranty agency: The federal agency that backstops corporate pension plans reported that its deficit tripled in the last six months, to $33.5 billion. Despite the shortfall, the agency said it has enough assets to pay benefits for many […]
Read more...Submitted by Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge White & Case, made famous by its irreverent lawyer Tom Lauria, who led a valiant fight for the non-TARP lender committee until its disbandment after holdout after holdout decided fighting against the US government was not reasonable, has been retained again, this time by Indiana Pension Funds, holders […]
Read more...Man saves ducklings from ledge BBC Twitter is our id, Facebook is our Ego Roger Ehrenberg. Further confirmation of why I want neither on display. Hamptons Homes Drop Most Since Realtors Kept Records Bloomberg Effect of Household Deleveraging on Housing, Consumption and the Stock Market Michael Shedlock (hat tip reader Steve L) U.S. Considers Stripping […]
Read more...Clusterstock has reported that the Telegraph is to restore the article that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote about one Mark Patterson, a distressed investor who used TARP funding to acquire a bank in Michigan, then said not-so-nice things about the program at a conference in Qatar. He apparently then complained to the Telegraph which yanked the piece […]
Read more...Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP, has been a vocal advocate for the need for a financial product safety commission. The notion, which seemed quixotic a few weeks ago, is getting consideration by the Obama Administration. Given how industry friendly Team Obama’s financial services industry measures have been, it runs […]
Read more...The only bit of cheer coming out of Japan’s dreadful economic report is that the first quarter decline in GDP of 15.2% annualized, the worst every recorded, was slightly less awful than expected. The forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg expected a fall of 16.1%. However, the fourth quarter contraction was revised upwards from 13.2% to 14.1%. […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Reuters reports that pension fund urges more credit rater accountability: Credit rating agencies should not be exempt from liability in their forward looking statements, the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement pension fund said on Monday. At a hearing on Tuesday, Congress will examine whether rating agencies like Moody’s […]
Read more...Joseph Cassano: the man with the trillion-dollar price on his head Times Online (hat tip reader Michael T) Will The Dollar Standard Collapse? Clusterstock Companies face higher hedging costs Financial Times. It is unknowable how much corporate activity is bona fide hedging and how much falls under the rubric of “treasury as a profit center” […]
Read more...Elizabeth Warren is facing the peculiar experience of being Mr. Smith in Washington. I am a big fan of her position and message, and have come to notice that (not surprisingly) the posture of her interviewer makes a great difference in how well she comes off. Bill Maher pitched a bunch of softballs, and Warren […]
Read more...For those of you who know the Myers-Briggs personality diagnostic, it defines 16 types by establishing four attributes, of which an individual can be either A or B. Some are pretty obvious: extroverted versus introverted, thinking versus feeling. One is called “sensing versus intuitive.” Sensing people are literal-minded, while intuitives are imaginative. The last type […]
Read more...An article by Anne Siebert at VoxEU seeks to identify why bankers made such a mess of their companies. As the summary tells us: Greedy bankers are getting most of the blame for the current financial crisis. This column explains bankers did behave badly for mainly three reasons. They committed cognitive errors involving biases towards […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. A few weeks ago, Susan Eng, Vice President Advocacy at the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), asked me to write an article on investing. At first I hesitated. I simply do not believe a “once size fits all” approach to investing. Moreover, I am a risk-taker […]
Read more...Submitted by Rolfe Winkler of OptionARMageddon Reader Note: Last fall, I published a detailed (recent) history of BankUnited in the pages of Housing Wire Magazine. With the bank’s future likely to be settled over the next week, I thought NC readers might appreciate a look at the piece. Thanks to HW’s Paul Jackson for allowing […]
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