2012

It looks like someone at Fannie woke up and realized that any case of a guarantor voiding a policy was prima facie evidence that BofA had breached a rep and warranty about loan quality. Look at the examples: inflated appraisals and incomes.

The G20 will meet in Mexico this weekend. There seems to be three key issues: IMF funding, replacement for Zoellick, who will step down as head of the World Bank, and the oil shock. It is unlikely that any of these issues are resolved at…

The US dollar is broadly lower against most major and emerging markets currencies with the notable exception of the yen. The two main features of the week’s activity are the euro strength and the yen weakness.

Europe's banks bleed from Greek debt crisis | Reuters Greece's debt problems drove a slew of heavy losses across the European banking sector on Thursday, and bosses warned the euro zone crisis would…

Here’s a cool graphic from the EIA on what drives the price of a gallon of gasoline in January 2012. We paid $4.20 last night in California!

This is an interesting one from Bill Gross on financial repression. It goes back to the policies I have called rate easing and permanent zero, where the Fed is practically guaranteeing yields out to three years. Bill Gross sees this and…

The US dollar is broadly weaker on the day but with most major currencies still trading within a relatively narrow range. The euro rose to an intraday high of 1.3343 following strong German IFO data, a level not seen since December, before…

More on Savings and Investment | Modern Monetary Realism Steve is pretty sharp. Godley’s theorem tells us we need some sector to run a deficit, but it doesn’t really have to be the government sector.…

Great chart from the recently released Economic Report of the President. We suspect the Great Depression housing bust didn’t have the government props to soften the blow as we do today, which, therefore, on a relative basis, makes the…