Financial News Links on Munis, Banking, and Sovereign Crisis

By Edward Harrison On Dec 20, 2010

Credit Writedowns

How the US Congress is Sowing the Seeds of the Next Crisis: Bill Black argues that the recent anti-regulatory remarks by Congressmen illustrate the false dichotomies that underlie an ideological assault on regulation which will lead to another crisis.
Chart of the Day: Tax revenue as a percent of GDP by country: Interesting chart. According to the OECD, no developed economy collected as little in tax revenue as did the United States.
SNL Spoof of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks: A funny look at Time’s selection of Mark Zuckerberg for Person of the Year over Julian Assange
S&P Upgrades China’s Sovereign Ratings: Tan Kim Eng of S&P believes China’s sovereign ratings deserve an upgrade because of low public sector indebtedness and high savings levels in China
A Vote for Gold: Fred Sheehan takes on Mark Carney, the head of the Bank of Canada, this time regarding remarks he made about the ‘barbarous relic’. Fred says a gold bar is no more intelligent than Ben Bernanke, but it tells no lies.
Are munis the next shoe to drop?: This post was first published in April but is very relevant given the one just below published today. Piggy-backing on a risk assessment by Rick Bookstaber, the post argues that relative value plays will become important in the muni market as some states and municipalities buckle under financial stress. Some munis are going to feel a lot less pain than others. If you can’t do the research to know which, avoid the sector.
The Looming State Budget Crisis: Meredith Whitney and Chris Christie highlight the state and local government fiscal crisis on 60 minutes. We add brief comments as well. The long and short is that states (and municipalities) are going experience problems. Will 2011 be the year for these problems to reach the critical state?
Euro Softness Continues: BBH reports that this morning the Euro was trading softer due to on-going concerns regarding the crisis, with EUR/CHF making new lows near 1.27 and EUR/USD nearing support at the 200-day average today around 1.31. The Dollar was mixed, largely weaker against the majors and firmer against EM currencies.
Tax Law Stimulus: John Lounsbury says the new U.S. tax law has significant stimulus potential, but the cost is increased national debt.

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