dimelab dimelab: shrinking the gap between talk and action.

fashion Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog

deflationary fashion (1); flattering fashion (1); old fashioned insider dealing (1); old-fashioned (2); old-fashioned way (1); orderly fashion (3).

Jesse's Café Américain Wed 2010-04-07 19:06 EDT

Banks Come Back For Another Bailout in Ireland While the US 'Manages Perceptions'

The whole notion of bank bailouts is a tremendous injustice when not accompanied by personal bankruptcy and civil and criminal prosecution for those banks managers who created them and are found guilty of fraud. In addition, the owners of the banks, whether through debt or shares, should be wiped out and the bank placed in a proper receivership while its books are sorted out. The US is an accounting mirage. The notion that it will make money from its stake in Citi is a sleight of hand. The enormous subsidies to the banks both in terms of direct payments, indirect payments through entities like AIG, and subsidies such as the erosion of the currency and the deterioration of the real economy, will never be repaid. ...the facts seem to indicate that the US is still pursuing a policy of managed perceptions, accounting deceptions, and old fashioned insider dealing and other forms of corruption that always accompany government, but reach a feverish pitch in times of crisis. It is the establishment's form of looting.

Bailout; banking comes; Ireland; Jesse's Café Américain; managing perception.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-12-17 10:11 EST

Is the Price of World Silver the Result of Legitimate Market Discovery?

Ted Butler: ...the concentrated short position in COMEX silver futures is so extreme, that it is hard to imagine how it can be resolved in an orderly manner. The most recent data from the CFTC indicate that one US bank, JPMorgan, now holds 200 million ounces net short in COMEX silver futures, fully 40% of the entire net short position on the COMEX (minus spreads). As I have previously written, JPMorgan accounted for 100% of all new short selling in COMEX silver futures for September and October, some 50 million additional ounces...So extreme is JPMorgan's silver short position that it cannot be closed out in an orderly fashion...As extreme as JPMorgan's position is, there is a total true net short position of 500 million ounces (100,000 contracts) in COMEX silver futures. Try to put that 500 million ounce short position in perspective. It equals 75% of world annual mine production, much higher than seen in any other commodity.

Jesse's Café Américain; Legitimate Market Discovery; Price; resulting; World Silver.

naked capitalism Thu 2009-09-17 09:46 EDT

``How China Cooks Its Books''

We've commented from time to time on dubious Chinese data releases. But this report from Foreign Policy reports on an interest aspect: that the statistics are not manipulated only in the normal bureaucratic manner (fudging them) but also by getting companies to change behavior so it can be tallied in a more flattering fashion....unemployment is likely 40 to 50 million, as opposed to the widely reported 20 to 30 million; the statistical manipulations are a surprisingly broad-based initiative.

books; China Cooks; naked capitalism.

naked capitalism Mon 2009-09-14 12:13 EDT

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

Top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent banks are broken up in an orderly fashion. Arguments by defenders of the too-big-to-fails are shown unpersuasive.

break; giant bank; Guest Post; naked capitalism.

naked capitalism Sun 2009-09-13 12:26 EDT

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

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: Joseph Stiglitz, Ed Prescott, R. Glenn Hubbard, Simon Johnson, Thomas Hoenig, Neal S. Wolin, Sheila Bair, Anna Schwartz, William K. Black, et al...And yet, the top economic policy makers (Summer, Geithner and Bernanke)...don't want to break up the insolvent giants or even keep them from growing, don't want to reinstate Glass-Steagall, and want to let the banks keep using their same inaccurate models, overseen by the same spineless regulators.

bigger; break; Government Says Let's Make; Guest Post; insolvent banks; naked capitalism; Top economist says.

Thu 2009-05-07 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Case Against the Fed and Fractional Reserve Lending

``Fractional Reserve Lending (FRL)...in conjunction with micro-mismanagement of interest rates by the Fed is the root cause of the financial crisis''; ``FRL is the enabler for credit bubbles. Given enough time, credit bubbles are guaranteed to implode in deflationary fashion.'' austrian economic libertarian critique

Case; Fed; fractional reserves lending; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Fri 2008-03-21 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: How To Beat The Street (the old fashioned way)

Goldman level 3 assets rise about 9 billion; net income 1.5 billion

beat; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; old-fashioned way; Street.