became known beforehand (1); gold became purely private property (1); Hotels cash flow became insufficient (1); loan terms became (1); loans became insolvent (1); Matthew Tannin became (1); People became accustomed (1); promptly became (1); Servant Became (1); shadow banking system became severely strained (1); Southeast Asia became higher (1); Unemployment became (1); WaMu became (1); world became (1); world's Central Banks became steady net sellers (1).
Mon 2010-09-20 18:49 EDT
Many commentators have argued that interbank lending froze following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. This column presents evidence from the fed funds market that, while rates spiked and loan terms became more sensitive to borrower risk, mean borrowing amounts remained stable on aggregate. It seems likely that the market did not expand to meet additional demand for funds.
Thu 2010-08-26 09:23 EDT
If you're in Princeton, New Jersey, anytime soon, swing by the Hyatt Regency Princeton. With the Hyatt Hotels (H) quarterly report filed yesterday, it has become a symbol of the financial crisis... Like households across the country, one of Hyatt's subsidiaries ``did not have sufficient cash flow to meet interest payment requirements under its mortgage loan'' on the property, in this case a 347-room hotel with a restaurant, bar and comedy club, just a mile from [Princeton University]....``When hotel cash flow became insufficient to service the loan,'' the company said in the filing, ``HHC notified the lender that it would not provide assistance.'' In other words, Hyatt decided to walk away -- the equivalent of ``jingle mail''...
Sat 2010-07-24 16:13 EDT
What we saw from mid-2007 through early-2009 was a run on the shadow banking system. There were two primary channels by which the shadow banking system operated: the Money Market/Commercial Paper Channel and the Repo Channel...we have largely unregulated [money market funds (MMMFs)] taking deposits (largely withdrawable on demand and usually checkable) and making the equivalent of loans, in other words, acting as banks. Except that the MMMFs were not subject to much in the way of prudential regulation beyond some broad parameters that dictated what investments they could buy, did not have access to FDIC deposit insurance, and did not have lender of last resort access to the Fed's discount window. They were a disaster waiting to happen...Repos also became a very popular mechanism for raising funds in the pre-crisis days, with MMMFs becoming large buyers of repos (lenders) and the broker dealers becoming both buyers and sellers (borrowers and lenders)...during the crisis...the classic maturity mismatch situation...concerns about the quality of commercial paper...triggered by the collapse of Lehman...Without the traditional protection of deposit insurance and lender of last resort financing by the Fed, it turned into a full blown panic...Any meaningful financial reform must bring the shadow banking system out of the shadows. It must be treated as banking, and its institutions regulated as banks...
constant state; Disequilibria; instability; Shadow banks Systems.
naked capitalism Thu 2010-07-22 16:19 EDT
NY Fed: We document that the shadow banking system became severely strained during the financial crisis because, like traditional banks, shadow banks conduct credit, maturity, and liquidity transformation, but unlike traditional financial intermediaries, they lack access to public sources of liquidity, such as the Federal Reserve's discount window, or public sources of insurance, such as federal deposit insurance.
Wed 2010-06-09 18:39 EDT
Today I have been writing about the resurgence of the conservative ideology...Ever hear the term Ruthanasia? You should have because she is still at it berating us about the wrongs of fiscal policy and the need for radical reform. Ruth Richardson was New Zealand's minister of finance from 1990-93...As an historical episode ``Ruthanasia'' followed ``Rogernomics'' as increasingly radical reform programs that were inflicted on the New Zealand population from 1984 onwards -- for the next few decades...Unemployment became a policy tool (for disciplining inflation) rather than a primary policy target. The inflation-first monetary stance (and undemocratic reforms of the central bank) combined with a harsh fiscal policy contraction to drive up unemployment and significantly reduce per capita income...Successive right-wing governments (which not only included the conservatives but also the Lange Labour Party government which started it all) used the concept of a "strategic deficit". David Stockman, the budget director under President Reagan, was the person to coin this term which is taken to mean using a budget deficit as a "political weapon". The strategy was to hand out huge tax cuts to allegedly "incentivise" (the word that was used at the time) private entrepreneurs even though there has never been any convincing research evidence to suggest that there are major losses of activity arising from taxation. The resulting deficits were then paraded as evidence of the need for dramatic public spending cut backs...The experience of New Zealand during those years of being ruthanased by the free market zealots should serve as a warning to all of us...
The Wall Street Examiner Sun 2010-05-09 09:55 EDT
...Banks (who are, of course, owned by people, equity liabilities are not included in that data set) have always had a big lien on the country, but that lien has doubled (relative to GDP) since 1980. Households used to be a major source of finance in the country but as their distaste for debt faded along with memories of the depression they started to borrow more than they leant. Then, as restrictions to foreign capital inflows fell (how else to maintain a trade deficit without settling in specie) the Rest of the World became a significant source of funds. In 2001, The RoW overtook US Households as a source of funding and this trend has accelerated. Warren Buffett was wrong, we weren't going to become a sharecropper society, we already were one...
flowing; Funds Datastream; Minsky Cruise; Part 1; take; Wall Street Examiner.
Tue 2010-04-27 08:27 EDT
While the SEC is busy investigating Goldman Sachs, it might want to look into another Goldman-dominated fraud: computerized front running using high-frequency trading programs...Wall Street commentator Max Keiser...claims to have invented one of the most widely used programs for doing the rigging. Not that that's what he meant to invent. His patented program was designed to take the manipulation out of markets. It would do this by matching buyers with sellers automatically, eliminating ``front running'' -- brokers buying or selling ahead of large orders coming in from their clients. The computer program was intended to remove the conflict of interest that exists when brokers who match buyers with sellers are also selling from their own accounts. But the program fell into the wrong hands and became the prototype for automated trading programs that actually facilitate front running...Keiser and HSX co-founder Michael Burns applied for a patent for a ``computer-implemented securities trading system with a virtual specialist function'' in 1996, and U.S. patent no. 5960176 was awarded in 1999...The listing for Keiser's patent shows that it has been referenced by 132 others involving automated program trading or HFT...
Computerized Front Running; debt; Goldman-dominated fraud; Web.
THE PRAGMATIC CAPITALIST Sat 2010-02-27 23:06 EST
Warren Buffett is the most glorified and respected investor of all time. And rightfully so. After all, he became the world's wealthiest man by essentially picking stocks. But Warren Buffett...formed one of the original hedge funds (The Buffett Partnership Ltd) and used his gains to one day purchase Berkshire Hathaway. His evolution into the value investor we now think of today has been long in the making. Make no mistake, Buffett is a hedge fund manager. Yes, he comes from the ilk of the oft vilified and awful hedge fund clan. Today, he hides behind the curtain of incorporation, but in many ways Buffett hasn't changed one bit since his Partnership days...
Fri 2010-02-05 11:29 EST
...Obama's most dangerous belief is in the myth that the economy needs the financial sector to lead its recovery by providing credit. Every economy needs a means of payment, which is why Wall Street has been able to threaten to wreck the economy if the government does not give in to its demands. But the monetary function should not be confused with predatory lending and casino gambling, not to mention Wall Street's use of bailout funds on lobbying efforts to spread its gospel...The pro-financial mass media reiterate that deficits are inflationary and bankrupt economies. The reality is that Keynesian-style deficits raise wage levels relative to the price of property (the cost of obtaining housing, and of buying stocks and bonds to yield a retirement income). The aim of running a ``Wall Street deficit'' is just the reverse: It is to re-inflate property prices relative to wages. A generation of financial ``ideological engineering'' has told people to welcome asset-price inflation (the Bubble Economy). People became accustomed to imagine that they were getting richer when the price of their homes rose. The problem is that real estate is worth what banks will lend -- and mortgage loans are a form of debt, which needs to be repaid.
Thu 2009-11-19 10:14 EST
What few people knew was that bank executives crafted a radical new business strategy in 2003 that was intended to boost profits. The new WaMu used huge sales commissions and misleading marketing to hawk risky and overpriced loans to borrowers. In short, WaMu became one of the nation's biggest predatory lenders. The strategy eventually failed, not only bringing down Washington Mutual but deceiving borrowers, costing thousands their homes. In particular, the bank promoted as its "signature loan" a complex product known as the option ARM. This adjustable-rate mortgage, much like a credit card, gave borrowers the choice of making low minimum payments. But that option didn't cover the interest and only dug them deeper into debt.
business; Hometown bank turned predatory; part; Seattle Times Newspaper; Technology; WaMu.
Thu 2009-11-19 10:09 EST
WaMu suffered through not one but two bank runs in its final months. The first run was many times larger than the run that felled California lender IndyMac in July 2008, though neither shareholders nor the public knew about it. WaMu survived that run, and the second run was tapering off when regulators moved in and shut the bank, citing the run as the reason. In addition, WaMu's top executives, led by CEO Alan Fishman, were trying to sell the bank after federal regulators imposed a deadline, only to discover that they were being undermined by those same regulators, executives say. The government's plan to seize the bank, if it became known beforehand, would cause potential buyers to immediately cool their heels, because buying after a government takeover would be a lot cheaper than even the desperate private purchase deal that Fishman was seeking.
downfall; Puget Sound Business Journal; Seattle; Washington Mutual.
Tue 2009-10-27 12:58 EDT
During the 1980s, a number of unusual financial crises occurred. In Chile, for example, the financial sector collapsed, leaving the government with responsibility for extensive foreign debts. In the United States, large numbers of government-insured savings and loans became insolvent - and the government picked up the tab. In Dallas, Texas, real estate prices and construction continued to boom even after vacancies had skyrocketed, and the suffered a dramatic collapse. Also in the United States, the junk bond market, which fueled the takeover wave, had a similar boom and bust. In this paper, we use simple theory and direct evidence to highlight a common thread that runs through these four episodes. The theory suggests that this common thread may be relevant to other cases in which countries took on excessive foreign debt, governments had to bail out insolvent financial institutions, real estate prices increased dramatically and then fell, or new financial markets experienced a boom and bust. We describe the evidence, however, only for the cases of financial crisis in Chile, the thrift crisis in the United States, Dallas real estate and thrifts, and junk bonds. Our theoretical analysis shows that an economic underground can come to life if firms have an incentive to go broke for profit at society's expense (to loot) instead of to go for broke (to gamble on success). Bankruptcy for profit will occur if poor accounting, lax regulation, or low penalties for abuse give owners an incentive to pay themselves more than their firms are worth and then default on their debt obligations.
bankruptcy; Economic Underworld; George Akerlof; Looting; Paul Romer; profits.
Jesse's Café Américain Mon 2009-10-26 09:51 EDT
Starting in 1989, the world's Central Banks became steady net sellers of their gold reserves which had been accumulated over the years...And now for something completely different, it appears that the world's central banks may once again become net buyers of gold, after a twenty year campaign of selling gold from their vaults into the public markets, creating a steady downward pressure on the price of gold, that contributed to its long bear market.
Central Banks Supporting Gold Price; Jesse's Café Américain; officially Purchase; trend change.
Credit Writedowns Mon 2009-10-26 09:20 EDT
Below is a YouTube clip featuring Elizabeth Warren, the chair of Congress' oversight panel of TARP (the Troubled Asset relief Program), the bailout started by Hank Paulson and passed by Congress. In it she talks about her fears regarding the lack of real regulatory reform in the world of finance and how this is setting [...]
became; credit writedowns; middle class; Thanksgiving dinner; Turkey; Warren.
The Guardian World News Thu 2009-10-22 14:20 EDT
A pair of maverick Bear Stearns hedge fund managers lied to clients "over and over again" to protect their multimillion dollar pay cheques, exchanging secret emails to orchestrate a $1.6bn fraud as their funds imploded in the global financial crisis, a US jury heard yesterday. At a federal court in the New York borough of Brooklyn, financiers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin became the first Wall Street bankers to stand trial in a criminal case arising from the credit crunch.
Wed 2009-10-14 12:18 EDT
The bloated, un-regulated finance economy, which should serve the real economy, has instead become a predator.
0; fatal flaw; finance s; new dealing 2; Predator; Servant Became.
The Big Picture Wed 2009-10-14 11:36 EDT
Former Morgan Stanley Analyst Andy Xie explains why China is a potential bubble: [Consider] the US Savings and Loans crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The US Federal Reserve kept monetary policy loose to help the banking system. The dollar went into a prolonged bear market. During the descent, Asian economies that pegged their currencies to the dollar could increase money supply and lending without worrying about devaluation, but the money couldn't leave home due to the dollar's poor outlook, so it went into asset markets. When the dollar began to rebound in 1996, Asian economies came under tightening pressure that burst their asset bubbles. The collapsing asset prices triggered capital outflows that reinforced asset deflation. Asset deflation destroyed their banking systems. In short, the US banking crisis created the environment for a credit boom in Asia. When US banks recovered, Asian banks collapsed. Is China heading down the same path? There are many anecdotes to support the comparison. Property prices in Southeast Asia became higher than those in the US, but ``experts'' and government officials had stories to explain it, even though their per capita income was one-tenth that of the US. Their banks also commanded huge market capitalizations, as financial markets extended their growth ad infinitum. The same thing is happening in China today. When something seems too good to be true, it is. World trade -- the engine of global growth -- has collapsed. Employment is still contracting throughout the world. There are no realistic scenarios for the global economy to regain high and sustainable growth. China is an export-driven economy. Bank lending can support the economy for a short time, however, stocks are as expensive as during the heydays of the last bubble. Like all previous bubbles, this one, too, will burst.
Jesse's Café Américain Sat 2009-10-10 13:07 EDT
...The Feds acted on gold because at the time it WAS the currency of the country, and the government had some proper claims on it. When the US left the gold standard it relinquished all such claims, as gold became purely private property. Except perhaps if you are holding gold American eagles, which bear the patina of 'currency.' It should also be noted that the sole action of the government was to ask for the gold, to withdraw convertibility of gold notes from the domestic public, and to monitor the activity of safe deposit boxes taking certain categories of gold, and essentially nothing else. There were no investigations, searches, or even active prosecutions for non-compliance. The purpose of the confiscation was to prepare the way for a formal devaluation of the dollar while it was still on the gold standard.
zero hedge Sun 2009-08-30 15:00 EDT
One of the key headlines these days has been the unmasking of what has been dubbed the biggest identity theft and credit card fraud case in history, allegedly spearheaded by one Albert Gonzalez, who in 2003 was involved in a comparable scheme however upon being caught, promptly became an informant for the Secret Service and turned over 30 of his hacking buddies. Six years later it is he this time who is in the hot seat, together with most of his associates, including one 25 year old Stephen Watt, who supposedly was the creator of the credit card sniffer software used to hack into over 130 million of various credit cards for merchants such as TJX, Dave And Busters and 7-Eleven, which numbers were subsequently sold for hefty sums...
