Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. According to Watson Wyatt, U.S. pension plan funding plunged by more than$300 billion in 2008: As news of the economic crisis continues to unfold, the first look at actual 2008 disclosures reveals substantial investment losses for the largest U.S. corporate pension plan sponsors, according to a new […]
Read more...I must confess I skipped past the headlines on New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo latest salvo at Bank of America and Merrill over the Merrill bonus payments in December. Recall that those bonuses were paid earlier than usual so as to occur before the closing of the Merrill sale. Merrill contends it informed the […]
Read more...Readers may recall that during Lehman’s demise, a pitched battle was underway between some short sellers, epitomized by David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital. Einhorn raised questions about Lehman’s financial statements, specifically, inconsistencies and rosy looking valuations. The struggle became weirdly peronalized, as Lehman sought to burnish the image of charmismatic CFO Erin Callen, as contrasted […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns Edward Harrison here. I wanted to begin my series of posts here on naked capitalism with my thoughts regarding the policy response to the banking crisis in the United States. I believe Yves would agree that the response to date has lacked the necessary urgency to […]
Read more...Threats from ocean acidification BBC. We first wrote about this in 2007. China Readies Military Space Station for 2010 Launch Spaceflight Now Come on, Buffett! Donald Ruffkin, The Big Picture. A takedown plus some forward looking comments. 45 percent of world’s wealth destroyed: Blackstone CEO Reuters. I suppose that’s to make investors feel better about […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Wall Street had its best day of the year, storming higher after some good news from Citigroup: Citigroup Inc. says it operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. That energized financial stocks and in turn, the entire stock market. Surprised investors drove […]
Read more...No details up yet on my cheapie version of Bloomberg, will update when more is in. Recall, however, that many analysts foresaw a fall in China’s surplus. It had stayed at near record levels despite falling volumes of trade overall because imports fell faster than exports. Well, many imports are used to produce exports. As […]
Read more...Submitted by Lune On March 5th, the Bank of England announced that for the first time in its >300 year history, it will begin quantitative easing to lower interest rates and increase the UK’s money supply. Details from The Telegraph: The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to cut interest rates by half a percentage point […]
Read more...Got this via e-mail from a reader who has no axe to grind. Since it comes from a single source, it qualifies as a rumor, but knowing the ways of the big end of finance, I would be loath to dismiss it. Do any readers have any direct knowledge here? Thanks! Also, to be clear, […]
Read more...Submitted by Lune This blog and many other authors have pointed to the large moral hazards that the federal government’s actions have created so far. It was typically expected that these moral hazards would play out in the next cycle of boom/bust, with financial players taking bigger risks for their own gain while expecting public […]
Read more...Readers may have noticed that Team Obama has put on a pre-G-20 session push to have participants spend more to pull the global economy out of its nosedive. The New York Times gave a short summary: In recent days, the White House has begun signaling that when leaders of the Group of 20 nations meet […]
Read more...From ‘Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen’ (Yeats) Mendicus Moldbug Coral reefs may start dissolving when atmospheric CO2 doubles PhysOrg Robot Love Gone Awry Oign Public Transit Ridership Highest In 52 Years Consumerist New Fears as Credit Markets Tighten Up Wall Street Journal and Fresh pessimism sweeps over credit sector Financial Times. For once, the Journal beat […]
Read more...In case readers haven’t figured it out, I am a big Willem Buiter fan. Even when he is wrong, he is at least forthright and colorful. He does have an appetite for showing off his formidable intellect. Nevertheless, his best qualities are his willingness to take on orthodoxies and authorities, and his vivid, trenchant style. […]
Read more...The double-speak in this Wall Street Journal piece, “U.S. Weighs Further Steps for Citi.” is so thick that parsing it is like wading through mud. And I do mean to stress the attempts to obfuscate what is going on. Recall that the last retrade of Citi’s arrangement with the officialdom was initiated by the big […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. On March 1st, the Financial Times’ Donald MacDonald reported that pension funds’ long term view demands active role: The reported 20 per cent decline in the value of pension fund assets in OECD countries in the first 10 months of last year has meant the current round […]
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