Economy

In addition to the European economic recession exerting a drag on the rest of the world, the real threat of bankruptcy of a major financial institution can rapidly spread throughout the globe as a result of a run on the banks or the opaque…

Welcome to Credit Writedowns Pro. This is the first post in a series here. Let me start this Byron Wien-style and make a predictions list. Wien defines his surprises as events to which investors assign 1-in-3 odds of happening but which he…

It is my view that the ECB is now the only thing between the economy and widespread bank failures, but I also concur that the consequence of this is a permanent outsourcing of the interbank market in Europe to the ECB's balance sheet and,…

When I worked in banking not so long ago, it was actually cool to be “old school”. It was just another way of saying that one would try to balance the bank’s interests with that of the corporate client’s. To make neither too little money…

William Cohan told Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle that he believes 'psychopaths" at the helm of major financial institutions were responsible for the credit crisis.

Great piece from our friends at Al Jazeera. Looks like the military is no longer going to be the “employer of last resort.” Future veterans are going to highly trained in the cutting edge technology that will shape the next hundred years.…

The bottom line is that Italy is both too big to fail and too big to be bailed out, which is why it is still hanging dangerously in limbo-land. Since, as I argue in this article, some sort of restructuring or other is well nigh inevitable…

North Korea’s dear leader, Kim II, died a few days ago. His 3rd son is now in charge, as Kim III, Kim Jong Un (pictured). There is no better time to talk about North Korea than now, as evidenced by some timely expert opinions. So it’s time…

Great data from the BLS comparing hourly compensation for manufacturing. The second chart looks at the benefits component of the hourly cost.

Only three positive months in the last year. Lots of pain out there. Be charitable this holiday season, our friends. The return is tremendous.