naked capitalism Tue 2009-09-22 13:02 EDT

Bank of America: 40% of Junk Bonds to Default by 2013

With more than half the corporate bonds rated junk, thanks to highly-levered takeovers, it wasn't hard to imagine that a protracted economic bad spell could lead to a lot of defaults...the novel feature of the binge of late-cycle merger loans, ``cov lite'' deals, will make the damage worse...the odds of a successful [re]structuring are lower, and more companies will wind up liquidating. Thus not only will defaults reach new post-war highs, but recoveries are likely to be lower.

2013; 40; America; bank; default; junk bonds; naked capitalism.

Thu 2009-09-17 10:36 EDT

Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire

Greg Grandin

Excerpt from Greg Grandin's Empire's Workshop. (Milton Friedman, Chile, Arnold Harberger, General Augusto Pinochet's military government, shock treatment) Not only had Nixon, the CIA, and ITT, along with other companies, plotted to destabilize Allende's "democratic road to socialism," but now a renowned University of Chicago economist, whose promotion of the wonders of the free market was heavily subsidized by corporations such as Bechtel, Pepsico, Getty, Pfizer, General Motors, W.R. Grace, and Firestone, was advising the dictator who overthrew him on how to complete the counterrevolution -- at the cost of skyrocketing unemployment among Chile's poor. The New York Times identified Friedman as the "guiding light of the junta's economic policy," while columnist Anthony Lewis asked: if "pure Chicago economic theory can be carried out in Chile only at the price of repression, should its authors feel some responsibility?"

economic; Empire; Milton Friedman.

Calculated Risk Fri 2009-09-04 19:01 EDT

Junk Bond Default Rate Passes 10 Percent

CalculatedRisk

From Rolfe Winkler at Reuters: U.S. junk bond default rate rises to 10.2 pct -SP The U.S. junk bond default rate rose to 10.2 percent in August from 9.4 percent in July ... Standard & Poor's data showed on Thursday. The default rate is expected to rise to 13.9 percent by July 2010 and could reach as high as 18 percent if economic conditions are worse than expected, SP said in a statement. ... In another sign of corporate distress, the rating agency has downgraded $2.9 trillion of company debt year to date, up from $1.9 trillion in the same period last year. Bad loans everywhere ...

Calculated Risk; Junk Bond Default Rate Passes 10 Percent.

Jesse's Café Américain Sun 2009-08-30 11:59 EDT

US Equity Markets Look Dangerously Wobbly As Insiders Sell In Record Numbers

Jesse

"Investors Intelligence's latest survey of advisory services showed an impressive 51% bullish and a meager 19% bearish...the spread hasn't been that wide since November 2007." Alan Abelson, Barrons, Aug. 29, 2009Next week we move into September, the riskiest month of the year for financial markets, with the federals escalating preparations for a flu pandemic, while Congress considers legislation... ``selling by corporate insiders in August has surged to $6.1 billion, the highest amount since May 2008. The ratio of insider selling to insider buying hit 30.6, the highest level since TrimTabs began tracking the data in 2004.''

Equity Markets Look Dangerously Wobbly; Insider sell; Jesse's Café Américain; record number.

Credit Writedowns Wed 2009-08-26 16:38 EDT

The FDIC and the socialization of banking losses

With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) about to release its latest figures for banks it regulates and its own financial condition, now is a good time to review its role in this crisis. This post is about the FDIC's role in the credit crisis, how it seizes banks and why I believe this matters. [...] ``the way assets are seized and sold represents a redistribution of income from taxpayers to the acquiring entities''

banks losses; credit writedowns; FDIC; social.

Thu 2009-07-30 00:00 EDT

Michael Hudson: The Toll Booth Economy

Michael Hudson: The Toll Booth Economy -- by Michael Hudson ``The Latest in Junk Economics'' What is missing is a critique of the big picture how Wall Street has financialized the public domain to inaugurate a neo-feudal tollbooth economy while privatizing the government itself, headed by the Treasury and Federal Reserve. Left untouched is the story how industrial capitalism has succumbed to an insatiable and unsustainable finance capitalism, whose newest final stage seems to be a zero-sum game of casino capitalism based on derivative swaps and kindred hedge fund gambling innovations...What have been lost are the Progressive Eras two great reforms. First, minimizing the economys free lunch of unearned income (e.g., monopolistic privilege and privatization of the public domain in contrast to ones own labor and enterprise) by taxing absentee property rent and asset-price (capital) gains, by keeping natural monopolies in the public domain, and by anti-trust regulation...A second Progressive Era aim was to steer the financial sector so as to fund capital formation. Industrial credit was best achieved in Germany and Central Europe in the decades prior to World War I. But the Allied victory led to the dominance of Anglo-American banking practice, based on loans against property or income streams already in place. Todays bank credit has become decoupled from capital formation, taking the form mainly of mortgage credit (80 per cent), and loans secured by corporate stock (for mergers, acquisitions and corporate raids) as well as for speculation. The effect is to spur asset-price inflation on credit, in ways that benefit the few at the expense of the economy at large.''

Michael Hudson; Toll Booth Economy.

Thu 2009-07-30 00:00 EDT

Second Vermont Republic

a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government, and committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union. Thomas H. Naylor

Vermont Republic.

Fri 2009-07-24 00:00 EDT

Salon.com | "I would shut down the hedge fund industry"

Salon.com | "I would shut down the hedge fund industry" -- Simon Johnson and John Talbott on downsizing banks, reducing corporate pull in D.C. and getting pissed!

com; hedge fund industry; Salon; shut.

Fri 2009-07-24 00:00 EDT

Salon.com | Fix the economy? Curb corporate America

Salon.com | Fix the economy? Curb corporate America -- Part 3: Johnson and John Talbott wrap up their talk on the real causes of the economic meltdown

com; Curb corporate America; economy; Fix; Salon.

Thu 2009-07-23 00:00 EDT

Interfluidity :: Continuous bankruptcy

alternative to the customary form of corporate debt

Continuous bankruptcy; Interfluidity.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Guest Post: The Imminent Disinformation Schism

``naive, easily-manipulated, small-time mom and pop investors, who only care about looking at their daily yahoo finance screens and 401(k) statements...and the forward looking taxpayers, who see the upcoming budget deficit fiasco, the social security ponzi scheme, the Medicare/Medicaid debacle, the ridiculous underfunding in public and corporate pension funds, the rising city and state taxes, the shuttering factories, the rising unemployment, the plummeting American production base, the "seasonally" upward-adjusted economic data coupled with consistently downward revised prior economic releases, the increasing savings rate and the multi trillion discrepancy in consumer purchasing power.'' Time contributing author Douglas McIntyre declares end to 2008 banking crisis

Guest Post; Imminent Disinformation Schism; naked capitalism.

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''

Calculated Risk; Economic Predictor; Using Corporate Bonds.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

CPAs MIA

CPAs MIA, by Ralph Nader; ``accountants collapsed their own skill, integrity and self-respect faster and earlier than the collapse of Wall Street and the corporate barons''

CPAs MIA.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Corporate Bond Default Rate Highest Since Great Depression

Corporate Bond Default Rate Highest; Great Depression; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

Barron's Online

Shareholders Be Damned! by Alan Abelson; ``How the Washington gang brought Ken Lewis to heel and forced Bank of America to go through with its acquisition of loss-ridden Merrill Lynch. If everything's coming up roses, why are corporate insiders selling?''

Barron s online.

Tue 2009-04-21 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Black Hole Alert: The Last Sucker into the Stock Market Was the Pension Guaranty Corporation

Black Hole Alert; naked capitalism; Pension Guaranty Corporation; stock market; suckers.