Category Archives: Credit markets

Catalonia’s Defiance of Spanish Authority Turns into Rebellion

Catalonia and the Spanish government are in a power struggle, with Madrid moving to strip Catalonia of its autonomy. What are the stakes?

From Credit Risk to Pipeline Risk: Why Loan Syndication is a Risky Business

How pipeline risk poses a danger to banks even in an “originate to distribute” business like loan syndication.

How US Regulators Created the Equifax Mess

How regulators made credit bureaus like Equifax powerful, and why banks could live without them if they needed to.

NC Classic: The Tinkerbell Market

A classic from our market commentary in the runup to the financial crisis.

The Latest Red Flag For U.S. Shale

More bad news for the shale gas industry.

Ilargi: Negative Interest Rates – Rogoff Cribs from Orwell and Kafka

The war on cash, to enable central banks to implement negative interest rates on ordinary citizens, continues.

Crisis Revisionist History: Redating of Onset to Make Behind the Curve Central Bankers Look Better

It would be nice if people who made pronouncements about the financial crisis knew what they were talking about.

Let’s Face It: Monetary Policy Is Failing

Why one of the core precepts of monetary economics is all wet, yet central bankers rely on it even when it keeps failing in practice.

Wolf Richter: Markets, Regulators Ignore Ticking Time Bomb of Shadow Margin Loans

Shadow margin loans are a sign of speculative excess and complacency about risk.

More Criticism of Private Equity Leverage on Leverage Via Subscription Line Financing

In a refreshing development, a private equity con, subscription line financing, is so extreme that members of the industry are opposing it.

Trilemmas and Financial Instability

Examining national policy tradeoffs in a world of perhaps too much in the way of free and easy international money movements.

CalPERS Board Uncomfortable With Staff’s “Fire, Aim, Ready” Plan to Create Unaccountable Private Equity Vehicle

CalPERS’ staff is trying to railroad the board with a not-very-well-thought out idea of an “independent” private equity venture.

The Real Cause of the Italian Bank Bailouts and Euro Banking Troubles

How a banking union has created deep divisions that undermine the Eurozone’s stability.

Debts That Cannot Be Paid Will Not Be

Capitalism is probably already insolvent.

Monetary Sovereigns, Monetary Subjects: Modern Money & The Criminal Legal System

On the connection between money, and in particular monetary sovereignity, and the criminal justice system.