naked capitalism Tue 2009-09-08 15:19 EDT
Links 9/8/09
DownSouth tellingly quotes Hannah Arendt and paraphrases Reinhold Niebuhr on economic growth and progress.
8 Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog
Bruce Krasting Thu 2009-09-03 18:21 EDT
US Treasury on Agency MBS -- Don't Buy It!
The office of Inspector General, Department of Treasury released a report on 8/6/09 on the failure of the National Bank of Commerce. NBC went toast on 1/16/2009. The principal source of its collapse was its investments in Fannie Mae Preferred Stock. They owned $98mm of that swill. When they wrote it off they had no tier-one equity left and had to be shuttered... This report is a kick in the head for everyone involved. Fannie and Freddie look bad. Who would want to own the GSE paper with this warning from Treasury? It makes Treasury look silly. They hold the Government Pref. issued by the Agencies. If they guy down the hall is saying don't buy the debt he is certainly saying don't buy the equity. The Fed looks the worst of the lot in light of this. They are in the process of buying $1.25 Trillion of Agency MBS. I wonder what the Treasury IG would have to say about that level of concentration.
Thu 2009-07-30 00:00 EDT
Zero Hedge: Guest Post: Tax Revenues Tanking
-- ``the lions share of the planned sales of Treasuries in 2009 cannot be met by demand from the market..Auctions will fail and the Fed will step in...the 2009 budget deficit is more likely to widen to levels between $2.5 and $3 trillion rather than the CBOs $1.8 trillion forecast. We also believe that inflation could start setting in as early as Q3 of 2009 and will accelerate sharply by 2010.''
Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT
Calculated Risk: Using Corporate Bonds as an Economic Predictor
``model predicts industrial production will fall another 17% by the end of the year, and the economy will lose another 7.8 million jobs on top of the 5.1 million it has shed since the recession began''
Mon 2009-05-04 00:00 EDT
Terms of Service
Flawed Credit Ratings Reap Profits as Regulators Fail, by David Evans and Caroline Salas, Bloomberg.com; ``As the U.S. has spent, lent or pledged about $12.8 trillion in efforts to revive the slumping economy...no one has taken steps that would substantially fix a broken ratings system.''
Thu 2009-02-26 00:00 EST
Calculated Risk: Ponzi: SEC Charges Stanford with $8 billion securities fraud
8; Calculated Risk; Ponzi; SEC Charges Stanford; securities fraud.
Wed 2009-02-11 00:00 EST
naked capitalism: China Claims 6.8% Economic Growth for 4Q 2008
4Q 2008; 8; China Claims 6; economic growth; naked capitalism.
Fri 2008-11-07 00:00 EST
naked capitalism: Citi Posts $2.8 Billion Loss; Merrill, $5.1 Billion
Sun 2008-08-24 00:00 EDT
Safe Haven | The Elusive Bottom
Safehaven | The Elusive Bottom, by Merrill-Lynch economist David A. Rosenberg; predicting lengthy recession, secular bear market dating from 2000, eventual bullish indicators include savings rate above 8%, housing supply below 8 months, household interest coverage below 10.5%; frugality is in; bullish on bonds
Thu 2008-07-03 00:00 EDT
Calculated Risk: Oppenheimer's Whitney: Merrill to Write Down $5.8 Billion
Calculated Risk: Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney: Merrill to Write Down $5.8 Billion
5; 8; Calculated Risk; Merrill; Oppenheimer's Whitney; writes.
Mon 2008-06-30 00:00 EDT
Angry Bear: Broken Clock Day
Thomas Friedman accidentally tells truth: "Since President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt has climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion."
Wed 2008-04-16 00:00 EDT
Foreign Policy: 8 Steps to a Trillion-Dollar Meltdown
by Charles R. Morris; how the U.S. financial crisis happened
Sun 2008-03-23 00:00 EDT
Bear Stearns to axe 8,000 staff | Business | The Observer
Bear Stearns to axe 8,000 staff, by Richard Wachman | Business | The Observer