May 2009

Yesterday, I posted a video in which two auto experts argued that the dissident creditors were getting a raw deal (See "A discussion about Chrysler’s bankruptcy plan on Charlie Rose"). The crux of the problem is their belief that they were…

Warren Buffet speaks with CNBC in the lead up to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.  He talks a bit about stress tests and Citigroup.  When asked about Wells Fargo, he says he administers his own stress tests and that Wells passes "with…

From the London School of Economics website: Below is an audio recording of approximately 78 minutes where Gillian Tett takes us inside the shadowy world of complex finance and derivatives and explains how the business of slicing and…

This is a pretty cool video from New Scientist.  This team of modelers has come up with a way to model human mobility using data from dollar bill tracking site Where’s George? The result is a model that tracks smaller human movements,…

Berkshire’s Munger Favors ‘100% Ban’ on Credit Swaps - Bloomberg.com Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Vice Chairman Charles Munger said he supports an outright ban of credit- default swaps to prevent speculators from profiting on the failure of…

A discussion about Chrysler's bankruptcy plan with author Paul Ingrassia, Micheline Maynard, Senior business correspondent for the "New York Times" and John Stoll of "The Wall Street Journal"

This is FDIC seizure number 32 (more details here): Cache Valley Bank, Logan, Utah, Assumes All of the Deposits of America West Bank, Layton, Utah America West Bank, Layton, Utah, was closed today by the Utah Department of Financial…

This is number 31 by the FDIC this year. "The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $18.1 million." (See link for further details): North Jersey Community Bank, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Assumes All of the…

Here is the press release from the FDIC for failure number 30 I believe (so many I lose count). Notice the eye-popping losses of $1.3 billion (link here): FDIC Creates Bridge Bank to Take Over Operations of Silverton Bank, National…

Last month I noted that the ISM Manufacturing index indicated that the manufacturing sector was still contracting, albeit at a slower pace.  The latest data from the month of April show the same phenomenon.  likely, the index has already…