Sat 2010-10-09 10:56 EDT

And Then There Were None | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion

Edward Hugh

...rather than being over, what the debt crisis now may be entering is a new stage, where one sovereign bond after another is being chisled out and sent off to join their Greek counterpart in the isolation ward...the Irish economy has never really left recession...Irish GDP has now contracted on a quarterly basis for 9 out of the past 10 quarters, and there is no evident end in sight....the riskiest lenders to nationalized Anglo Irish Bank may not get all their money back...In the Portuguese case it is the budget deficit issue which is unsettling the markets, with the spread widening sharply following the revelation that far from the deficit being reduced is was actually increasing...Neither the European sovereign debt crisis nor the banking sector crisis has been resolved and both continue to mutually reinforce each other...the EU's stress tests for banks had manifestly failed to restore the necessary confidence.

afo; euro; European opinion; fisted.

Tue 2010-04-20 10:05 EDT

The Search for a Reserve Currency

Gregory R. Copley

...good governance as an essential component of currency value and the trust in that currency can transform overnight, just as we witnessed the post-World War II collapse of sterling, and, now, the shakiness of trust in the US dollar (despite the reality that, at $14.2-trillion in value in 2008, is the world's largest). The age of the US dollar as the global reserve currency isn't yet over, but it's threatened, and the trend toward a flight from the dollar (despite occasional returns to it) is evident. At present, however, the dollar is shored up because in many respects there's nothing of its stature ready to replace it...major trade will gradually become more bilateral in nature, based on very real mutual trust in each other's currencies or goods. This will be a significant limiting factor in trade, and will make bilateral balances of greater interest than in the past when trade balances of a bilateral nature ``washed out'' in the great mixing bowl of the global banking system...

reserve currency; search.

Thu 2009-11-19 10:14 EST

Business & Technology | Part two | WaMu: Hometown bank turned predatory | Seattle Times Newspaper

David Heath

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

The downfall of Washington Mutual - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Kirsten Grind

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.

Sun 2008-11-23 00:00 EST

Jesse's Café Américain: The Dollar Trap Part II: Mutually Assured Financial Destruction

Jesse's Café Américain: The Dollar Trap Part II: Mutually Assured Financial Destruction

Dollar Trap Part II; Jesse's Café Américain; Mutually Assured Financial Destruction.

Wed 2008-08-06 00:00 EDT

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> An Examination of WaMu

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> An Examination of WaMu; Washington Mutual

economic; examiner; Market; WaMu; watch; winter.