dimelab dimelab: shrinking the gap between talk and action.

AAA Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog

AAA mortgage portfolio valued (1); AAA-Rated CDO Tranche (2); Erroneous Aaas (1); Marked Dodgy Debt Aaa (2); super duper AAA credits (1).

naked capitalism Mon 2010-07-19 17:00 EDT

Satyajit Das Examines Eurozone Stability Fund Three Card Monte

...Central banks and governments have developed an alarming fondness for the very sort of fancy financial structures that investment banks used to camouflage and transfer risk and engage in regulatory arbitrage prior to the crisis...The Eurozone has taken this affinity for financial structuring legerdemain even further, drawing on the most abused structure of the crisis, collateralized debt obligations, to create (as before) super duper AAA credits from less promising material...Das has exposed one major source of vulnerability, that of the impact of ratings downgrades. Auerback points out another: a revolt by workers in the Austerian nations, who will recognized, intuitively, perhaps explicitly, that the sacrifices demanded of them are a transfer to bankers in other countries...

card monte; naked capitalism; Satyajit Das Examines Eurozone Stability Fund.

naked capitalism Sun 2010-02-28 13:13 EST

Das: Mark to Make Believe -- Still Toxic After All These Years!

n 2007, as the credit crisis commenced, paradoxically, nobody actually defaulted. Outside of sub-prime delinquencies, corporate defaults were at a record low. Instead, investors in high quality (AAA or AA) rated securities, that are unlikely to suffer real losses if held to maturity, faced paper -- mark-to-market (``MtM'') -- losses. In modern financial markets, market values drive asset values, profits and losses, risk calculations and the value of collateral supporting loans. Accounting standards, both in the U.S.A. and internationally, are now based on theoretically sound market values that are problematic in practice. The standards emerged from the past financial crisis where the use of ``historic cost'' accounting meant that losses on loans remained undisclosed because they continued to be carried at face value. The standards also reflect the fact that many modern financial instruments (such as derivatives) can only be accounted for in MtM framework. MtM accounting itself is flawed. There are difficulties in establishing real values of many instruments. It creates volatility in earnings attributable to inefficiencies in markets rather than real changes in financial position...

Das; Make-Believe; marked; naked capitalism; toxic; years.

Tue 2009-04-21 00:00 EDT

Jesse's Café Américain: GE Loses Its 'AAA' Credit Rating as S&P Downgrades

Jesse's Café Américain: GE Loses Its 'AAA' Credit Rating as S&P Downgrades

AAA; credit ratings; GE Losing; Jesse's Café Américain; P downgraded; s.

Sat 2008-07-12 00:00 EDT

The Yellow Brick Road > Bond watch

The Yellow Brick Road > Bond watch: "Today the market started to price Treasuries below AAA"

Bond watch; Yellow-brick road.

Thu 2008-05-22 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Sale of Bank Hapoalim MBS Portfolio Says Prevailing Valuations Too High

AAA mortgage portfolio valued about .73 on the dollar

Bank Hapoalim MBS Portfolio Says Prevailing Valuations; high; naked capitalism; sales.

Thu 2008-05-22 00:00 EDT

Jesse's Café Américain: Moody's Stock Craters on Revelations it Marked Dodgy Debt Aaa for Sale to Europe - Blames a Computer

Jesse's Café Américain: Moody's Stock Craters on Revelations it Marked Dodgy Debt Aaa for Sale to Europe - Blames a Computer; "appearance of a collusion to defraud European investors"

blames; computers; Europe; Jesse's Café Américain; Marked Dodgy Debt Aaa; Moody's Stock Craters; revelations; sales.

Wed 2008-05-21 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Defective Moody's Program Issues Billions of Erroneous Aaas

"banks have rogue traders,...rating agencies have rogue computer models"

Defective Moody's Program Issues Billions; Erroneous Aaas; naked capitalism.

Wed 2008-05-21 00:00 EDT

Calculated Risk: Cliff Diving: CIFG Guaranty's Bond Insurer Ratings

"From AAA to Junk in two months!"

Calculated Risk; CIFG Guaranty's Bond Insurer Ratings; cliff diving.

Tue 2008-04-01 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: WaMu Alt-A Pool Deteriorates Further

May 2007 liar-loan pool originally rated 93% AAA, now 25% 60-day delinquent or worse

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; Pool Deteriorates Further; WaMu Alt.

Fri 2007-12-07 00:00 EST

Calculated Risk: From AAA to Worthless in Less than a Year

Adams Square Funding CDO liquidation

AAA; Calculated Risk; worthlessness; years.

Thu 2007-08-16 00:00 EDT

Eugene Linden: Collapse of a Fiat Currency: The AAA-Rated CDO Tranche -- What to Do - Business on The Huffington Post

Eugene Linden: Collapse of a Fiat Currency: The AAA-Rated CDO Tranche -- What to Do, by Eugene Linden

AAA-Rated CDO Tranche; business; Collapse; Eugene Linden; fiat currency; Huffington Post.