Monetary System

For a few months now, I have been wondering where all the hedge fund fallout from global market turmoil was hiding. Now it seems that the turmoil in the hedge fund world is becoming more apparent -- hedge funds are imploding left and right…

For me, the most important events of late have been the European banking sector meltdown. Just last week, German officials were lecturing the UK and the U.S. about their banking systems and now we see a number of European institutions…

The price tag was less than one would have liked, but these are desperate times for sellers of financial assets. Lehman Brothers secured a sale of its crown jewel investment management division for $2.15 billion in a sale to private equity…

The Financial Times caught up with two great economic pundits in Jim Grant and Stephen Roach. Below are links to six video interviews by the FT with these two gentlemen (three each). They should be enlightening regarding the global credit…

I have said before that a systemic response is necessary to deal with the present banking crisis in the United States. This crisis has nothing to do with subprime assets and little to do with things like predatory lending. Those are issues…

Wachovia Corporation has agreed to be bought out by Citigroup in a deal supported by the U.S. government. Exact terms of the deal are still forthcoming, but this could be seen as a best case scenario for a bank which was increasingly under…

Earlier today I highlighted a number of banks that were under severe selling pressure in their respective home markets. This list included Fortis, Macquarie, NCC, Wachovia and CIT. The UK's Bradford & Bingley is certainly on that list…

The Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis has come under pressure in the aftermath of the WaMu bankruptcy. With the credit markets seized up globally, weaker banks are being attacked regardless of nationality - Wachovia, NCC and CIT Group in the US,…

Faber thinks that the U.S. needs a lot more money than the Paulson Economic Patriot Act suggests. I agree 100%. His figure is $5 trillion! That's a lot of dosh.Here is how he is quoted on Bloomberg:"The $700 billion is really nothing,''…

Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed shows that some of the Fed Presidents get it. He is now on record for saying that interest rate cuts won't solve America's credit crisis problems. In fact, interest rate cuts will make them much worse. If…