While I harbor considerable doubts about whether the idea of having a modern version of the so-called Pecora Hearings, the 1930 Senate Banking Committee sponsored probe of the financial services industry, will be as serious and as thorough as it needs to be. The fact that the Pecora initiative got as far as it did […]
Read more...We hate to keep harping, but more details of the stress test farce are coming to light. It was bad enough that the Treasury came up with an adverse case that is hardly a worse case scenario. As we pointed out, it is considerably more optimistic, both in duration and intensity of the downturn, than […]
Read more...Was today’s unemployment release another Orwell sighting? Reader (and economist) Gonzalo Lira thinks the numbers were more than a tad tweaked to produce a more palatable result “We’re leveling off! We’re leveling off!”—so is the hope of Turbo Tim, Helicopter Ben, Larry the Wall Street Lackey and the rest of Team Obama. “This recession is […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse.The New York Times reports that more states start pension inquiries: The sprawling investigation into New York’s pension investments hints at a much bigger problem than the handful of indictments so far would suggest. What started as an investigation by the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, […]
Read more...Giant spiders invade Australian Outback town Times Online Meet the brains of the animal world BBC Fuel for deep space exploration running low Associated Press The SEC is unsalvageable Felix Salmon (hat tip reader Andrew) Friedman quits New York Fed Financial Times. His resignation letter was a tad defensive. How Useful Were Recent Financial Innovations? […]
Read more...As readers may know, secured lenders make loans against which specific assets are pledged. For consumers, mortgages and car loans are examples. If you default, the lender can seize the asset and sell it to try to recoup. In bankruptcy, secured lenders are normally the top of the food chain, but in the Chrysler bankruptcy, […]
Read more...Frank Veneroso is skeptical that a downturn of this magnitude could be nearing an end as soon as the markets seem to believe. He parses the data and investor psychology. Another useful take comes at the Financial Times, where John Authers interviews bear market expert Russell Napier. Opt Publish at Scribd or explore others:
Read more...The unduly charitable coverage of the stress tests continues. Even though the New York Times does raise a few questions, it still features industry preening and misses some of the important lapses: Industry executives reacted with jubilation, as if they had proved their critics wrong and passed the tests with flying colors. “The results off […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns Now that everyone is talking about green shoots and the potential for economic recovery, I thought I would run through the statistics of U.S. GDP with you. The reason I am bringing this up is that there is a lot of confusion about what recovery means […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw asks: Is the White house Bullying Hedge Funds? Professor Mankiw cites prominent hedge fund manager Clifford Asness who struck back at the Obama administration, saying hedge funds had the right and responsibility to hold out on last week’s Chrysler LLC restructuring deal: […]
Read more...Generating Giant Sandstone Walls to Fight Desertification Inhabitat Studies from head to toe show Indonesian ‘hobbit’ is a new type of human ABC (the Australian ABC, hat tip reader Skippy) UN ‘stunned’ by scale of bail-out BBC DNA profiles of innocent to be kept for 12 years despite European ruling Telegraph Surprise increase in Australian […]
Read more...I continue to be amazed at the bank cheerleading in the press. Admittedly, article writers are not responsible for headlines, so I do not know who to hold responsible for this New York Times item, “As Stress Tests Are Revealed, Markets Sense a Turning Point.”. How much have bank stocks rallied since March 9? Declaring […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns On Monday, I mentioned that the Asian Development Bank Fund was a clear sign that Asia was cutting loose from the west and looking to take care of things domestically. WIlliam Pesek of Bloomberg News put out a piece this morning echoing those sentiments, but also […]
Read more...The drip drip drip of stress test rumors is disconcerting, and I am perplexed at the logic. I could have seen leaks early on, to box the banks in, particularly since the markets are insisting on rallying on what ought to be bad news (and if you think the bank capital raises are over, I […]
Read more...As readers may know, power use is considered a good gauge of economic activity. And while many have pointed to loan growth as an indicator that China is making a recovery, energy consumption has yet to confirm it. From ChinaStakes (hat tip reader Michael): Power generation in China dropped again in April, indicating that the […]
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