My Newfound Respect for Hank Paulson
I cannot go into the details, as the entire conversation was off the record. However, I can tell you that, despite disagreeing with the bailouts & TARP that was put into place under his regime at Treasury, Hank Paulson may actually be a decent guy. When you look at the rest of the parade of...
Tinkerbell Economics – The Confidence Fairy, Pixie Dust and a Sleeping Dragon
Dan Alpert is a founding Managing Partner of Westwood Capital. He has more than 30 years of international merchant banking and investment banking experience, including a wide variety of work-out and bankruptcy related restructuring experience. In addition to his structured finance expertise, Dan has extensive experience advising on mergers, acquisitions and private equity financings, he...
Spain & Greece
SPAIN: A bit old and the Spanish banking regulator has started to force banks to BEGIN to address the issue. However, the situation remains extremely serioussssss, guys. Once again, WATCH OUT FOR SPAIN. The new administration has inherited a can of worms from the previous Government. It will be forced to reduce GDP growth forecasts,...
The History and Rationale for a Separate Bank Resolution Process
The History and Rationale for a Separate Bank Resolution Process Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV, Moira Kearney-Marks, and James B. Thomson 02.02.12 > Everyone recognizes the need to have a credible resolution regime in place for financial companies whose failure could harm the entire financial system, but people disagree about which regime is best. The emergence...
Germany’s policy prescription re the Euro Zone is (quite rightly) being questioned
A number of you think I have been transformed into a raging bull. I certainly have not. It is just that I remember the lessons of 2009, when the FED and other Central Banks flooded the system with liquidity. Markets rose, irrespective of the fundamental data. The same is happening in Europe at present, following...
Greek Bond Default Decision Tree
From Barclays, by way of Zero Hedge, we get this lovely decision tree showing possible outcomes for bondholders as Greece negotiates haircuts. Sigh. I miss the good old days when the insolvent said Fuck it!, declared bankruptcy, and left sorting it out to the BK judge or appointed special master. > Hat tip ZH
Moyers: How Big Banks are Rewriting the Rules of our Economy
Bill Moyers talks with former Citigroup chairman John Reed and former Senator Byron Dorgan to explore how our political and financial class shift economic benefits to the very top.
Moyers & Company Show 103: How power and influence helped big ban...
The Transparency Trap
The Transparency Trap John Mauldin January 28, 2012 The Transparency Trap Tell Us What You Think We Want to Hear A Very Soft GDP Number Central Banks: A High-Wire Balancing Act What Does It All Mean? A Few Thoughts on LTRO Greek Exhaustion Syndrome Cape Town, Stockholm, Geneva, Paris, and London > This week we...
Living In A QE World
All Central Bank Balance Sheets Are Exploding Higher, Or Engaged In QE The degree to which central banks around the world are printing money is unprecedented. The first eight charts below show the balance sheets of the largest central banks in the world. They are the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve (Fed), the...
Jamie Dimon: impact on U.S. banks of a Greek default is “almost zero”
Thu 26 Jan 12 | 06:00 AM ET
Pecora Commission Report
Pecora Commission Report – Stock Exchange Practices Report 1934(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js...
Word of the Day: “Zombie Debtor”
zombie debtor: n. An indebted consumer who is only able to pay the debt interest each month. Example Citations: “There’s a new term being coined for payday borrowers who are able only to pay the interest on their loans — zombie debtors — so that the principal debt just rolls on, and while there’s talk...
