Category Archives: Moral hazard

Quelle Suprise! Banking Profits Might Be Due to Big Government Subisdies!

Actually, despite the somewhat churlish headline, the story “Bailout Helps Fuel a New Era of Wall Street Wealth,” by Graham Bowley at the New York Times, is a solid job of reporting and does not tiptoe around the issue of the big bennies that the financial services industry is enjoying and their role in creating outsized […]

Guest Post: The REAL Battle Over America’s Banking System

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. The battle to reform the American banking system needs to include reimposing the barrier between investment banking and depository banking (Glass-Steagall), pay incentives based on what is best for Americans and not just the top executives, the end of too big to fail, and other changes which are frequently […]

Securitization Drought Exposes Policy Bind, Threatens Recovery

The New York Times has a good update on the progress, or more accurately, lack thereof, in the efforts to return to normalcy in the credit markets. The story highlights the fact that the securitization markets, to the extent they are operating, are heavily dependent on government intervention and it does not appear likely that […]

Quelle Surprise! New York Times Fails to Call Private Equity Looting by Its Proper Name

The New York Times tonight features a generally very good piece, “Buyout Firms Profited as a Company’s Debt Soared,” by Julie Creswell that falls short in one important respect: it fails to call a prevalent and destructive practice of private equity firms by its proper name. PE firms in the risk-blind environment preceding the credit […]

Guest Post: The Real Reason the Giant, Insolvent Banks Aren’t Being Broken Up

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Why isn’t the government breaking up the giant, insolvent banks? We Need Them To Help the Economy Recover? Do we need the Too Big to Fails to help the economy recover? No. The following top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent […]

Guest Post: Credit Default Swaps – Love ‘Em, Ban ‘Em, or Tax ‘Em?

(Yves should be back – and so the site should return to normal – tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, you’ll be hearing a lot less from me for a week or so. Yves’ book – Econned – will be quite valuable, and so well worth the wait. ) By George Washington of Washington’s […]

Guest Post: Why Concentration in the Banking Industry Threatens Our Economy

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. As everyone knows, the big banks have gotten bigger and bigger. Noted economist Mark Zandi says we have an oligopoly of banks, and that “the oligopoly has tightened”. The TARP Inspector – Neil Barofsky – told Huffington Post yesterday that, because of the consolidation in the banking industry: I […]

Guest Post: William K. Black’s Proposal for “Systemically Dangerous Institutions”

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. William K. Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and the former head S&L regulator, has written the following fantastic new proposal concerning the giant, insolvent banks. Posted/reprinted with Professor Black’s permission. William K. Black Associate Professor of Economics and Law […]

Guest Post: Reflections on Blowups and Bailouts

By Thomas Adams, at Paykin Krieg and Adams, LLP Denial Was Rampant in the Buildup to the Financial Crisis. Arguments that Lehman Should Have Been Bailed Out Show that Denial Continues Today While this week marks the first anniversary of the shocking collapse of Lehman Brothers, it is also the second anniversary of the events […]

Guest Post: We Can’t Break Up the Giant Banks, Can We? Yes We Can!

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent banks are broken up in an orderly fashion. Even the Bank of International Settlements – the “Central Banks’ Central Bank” – has slammed too big to fail. As summarized by the Financial Times: The […]

Guest Post: Top Economists Say We Must Break Up the Insolvent Banks (Government Says Let’s Make Them Bigger)

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. The following top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent banks are broken up in an orderly fashion: Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz Nobel prize-winning economist, Ed Prescott Dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and chairman of […]

Party Time! Wall Street Back to Its Old Highly Levered Ways

Bloomberg reports that Wall Street is back to its free-wheeling, high-levered ways. This is a classic example of moral hazard in action. Why worry about blowing up the bank when you know the taxpayer will bail you out? From Bloomberg (hat tip DoctoRx): Banks are increasing lending to buyers of high-yield company loans and mortgage […]

Guest Post: A Plunge in Foreign Net Capital Inflows Preceded the Break in US Financial Markets

Served by Jesse of Le Café Américain The peak of foreign capital inflows into the US was clearly seen in the second quarter of 2007, just before the crisis in the US that has rocked its banking system and driven it deeply into recession. Are the two events connected? Had the US become a Ponzi […]

Rogoff Shreds "When in Doubt, Bail It Out" Policy

Grr. It was so obvious and it never occurred to me…:”When in doubt, bail it out.” I am jealous. Kenneth Rogoff, who among other things has (with Carmen Reinhart) has created a large dataset on financial crises through history, today takes on the exceedingly permissive posture the US has adopted to the banking industry, simply […]

New Stress Trial Balloon Floated

I am coming to realize there might be method in the seeming madness of changing dates and shifting sneak previews via favored members of the press as to what the stress tests might entail. Tire out the critics, numb the casual followers, and leave the boosters in firm control of share of mind. Let’s face […]