Credit Writedowns

The chart below tracks the economy of the United States and selected European economies, demonstrating the varying impact of the financial crisis there. March 2007 is the reference point where Real GDP is re-based at 100.

The troubling paradox is that the strongest proponents of “broken windows” theory and policies in the blue collar crime context are the strongest opponents of applying analogous policies in the elite white collar crime context.

In an entirely fraudulent paper chase, the banks that borrowed LTRO money put some of it to work in sovereign carry trades. The banks have borrowed at 0.25% from the ECB and are buying sovereign bonds with much higher yields. Intesa…

This will be a bronze level post. Everyone is talking about the Dutch Freedom Party these days. Geert Wilders, the head of the Freedom Party, is a bit like Marine Le Pen in terms of his appeal: anti-immigrant, nationalist and right wing. He…

Spanish 10-years yields continue to rise above those of Italy, and suggest that Spain may be the next country in the hot seat. Data released today confirms that the contraction in Spanish industrial production is still ongoing, with…

The people at NECSI sent me the following interesting blurb on the relationship between rise food prices and social unrest

This is a gold level post. I want to flag this as an issue since no one seems to be talking about it. Brazil's economy has slowed very sharply of late and along with slowdowns in India and China, it says that the global economy will get…

That Weidmann now wishes to publicly claim he is concerned about risk associated with the Bundesbank's Target2 credit does not simply mean that this is a truth that has now been "acknowledged". I would guess that the sober Bundesbank…

Developments in the Netherlands may steal the limelight as the French election is still more than a month away. The key issue in the Netherlands is that last week, the Dutch Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis warned that next year's deficit…

Spain is on a bad course, with recognised debt about to surge rapidly, while investor confidence in the current administration is slipping. Time for another “game changer” I think, since otherwise this car is about to crash.