Monetary System

Dunfermline, the largest uilding society in Scotland was forced into the hands of the Nationwide.  This happened only after the U.K. government was forced to pony up 1.6 billion pounds - not the best of news for Gordon Brown before a major…

Two weeks ago, the Fed roiled bond markets by signalling it would start to purchase Treasury bonds with printed money - the very definition of inflation.   Now, its the ECB's turn to show it can inflate with the best of them.  They have…

This comes via Edward Hugh at "A Fistful of Euros": The governing council of the Bank of Spain has taken the decision to intervene in the operation of the Caja after carrying out an analysis of its financial position, thus taking as read…

This weekend has seen two major European financial institutions forced into the hands of government and a third on the verge of major new asset writedowns and job cuts. The events highlight the fragility of European banking and the need…

This just in from the FDIC. Another Friday night special: Omni National Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which then appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as…

Recently, I posted a Wall Street Journal article that suggested smaller banks and new banking enterprise can supply the lion's share of additional credit needed for the U.S. banking system. While President Obama is off meeting the heads of…

Here we are just days out from the announcement by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that the Obama Administration will be buying up so-called toxic assets as originally planned by Henry Paulson during the Bush Administration. The initial…

This post is a contribution from Rob Parteneau of MacroStrategy Edge about fiscal expansion, printing money, avoiding debt deflation, and U.S. treasuries. He has some great insights on deflationary spirals, the paradox of thrift and the…

James Montier has a very good piece out via John Mauldin ([email protected]) on the need for real economy stimulus over financial sector stimulus. The quote I find most memorable goes to the heart of our debate about the…

Yesterday, I posted an item on Naked Capitalism about the bankruptcy of Yamaichi Securities in 1996 as testament to lingering weakness in a country's financial sector if sick financial institutions are not dealt with swiftly. In essence,…