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Browsing Category
Monetary System
Law firm confirms the disaster at Lehman
Many will suffer at the hands of Lehman Brothers. That is the verdict by white-shoe law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz - a firm I had the pleasure of working with during my previous life in finance. They are very good.…
Financial sector losses near $1 trillion
The financial sector bailout continues on track. Meanwhile, financial services sector losses have hit $919 billion. This summer, I had been of the view that we would see $1.5 trillion in losses before this was over. However, this is…
Doubling down at AIG
The U.S. government is throwing money at the financial sector like nobody's business. The latest salvo in this ridiculous affair comes in the form of more money for AIG. Rather than prattle on about how shambolic the U.S. bailout has…
The unkindest cut: the BoE got it wrong
Below is a link to an article I wrote about the Bank of England's aggressive 1.5% interest rate cut that appeared in yesterday's Guardian newspaper.The unkindest cut, GuardianThe long and short of it is that I am very skeptical about the…
Two more FDIC Friday Night Specials: Franklin and Security Pacific
It is now a ritual. Every Friday night the FDIC announces which banks have been playing fast and loose with our money and need to be shut down. This week, there are two banks, Security Pacific of Los Angeles and Franklin of Houston.…
Why should central banks cut interest rates?
Central banks around the world are whacking interest rates at a breakneck clip. The Fed, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Japan and now the ECB and the BoE. The BoE made the most dramatic move with an outsized 150 basis point…
Writedown News: 5 Nov 2008
This past week I have been particularly distracted by the political headlines in the run-up to the U.S. Presidential election, so I apologize if I have missed a few stories in the financial press.The writedowns do continue unabated and we…
Should the Fed have a dual mandate?
The U.S. Federal Reserve is tasked with watching inflation while keeping the economy growing. This dual mandate is a juggling act no mortal could manage successfully for long. The result has been a Fed which has largely erred on the side…
Forstmann on Charlie Rose: easy money caused crisis
Teddy Forstmann, one of the co-Founders of LBO giant Forstmann Little & Company, sounded the alarm earlier this year on the credit crisis. In an article from the Wall Street Journal that I chronicled here, Forstmann warned of impended…
Fifth Third takes on assets of Freedom Bank
This past weekend, the FDIC closed yet another bank, Freedom Bank of Bradenton, Florida. The bank had total assets of $287 million and total deposits of $254 million. Super regional Fifth Third, based in Cincinnati, Ohio will take over…