Credit Writedowns

This morning, I left just in time to see the U.S. Department of Labor’s jobless claims numbers for the preceding week.  They were not good.  Initial claims hit 480,000 for the week ending 30 Jan 2010, pushing the 4-week average up…

“We shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” --John Winthrop Joe Biden is buying none of this America-as-an-empire-in-terminal-decline meme.  The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne caught up with the Vice…

This map comes via Gallup. The jobs picture is worst in the west and best in the south. See Gallup’s analysis of the data at the link below: Source In January, Most Job Creation in U.S. South and East - Gallup

Finance and Economy FT.com - Portuguese bonds hit as Greek fears ease FT.com - Lazard breaks ranks and speeds up pay-outs Obama: US Must Address Dollar-Yuan Exchange Rates – CNBC More Borrowers Pay Credit Cards Before…

For your amusement as well as your understanding of critical banking and finance reform issues. The funny thing about Colbert and Jon Stewart, his partner in crime at Comedy Central, is that they have a certain bread and circus appeal to…

In his latest post, Edward Hugh marvels at the Spanish population’s optimism that the economy will soon turn. While they correctly judge the current situation as abysmal, for whatever reason, the Spanish believe things will turn up…

This post was originally published at A Fistful of Euros. According to Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) the ICC-ICO (consumer confidence index) went up in January by 6.1 points from its December value and is now at its highest…

If you have been watching the news flow in the last month, you would certainly have the impression that there are an increasing number of large layoffs – Sam’s Club being a notable one.  Before January, the jobless claims numbers…

Finance and Economics FT Alphaville - Tracy Alloway - BBVA, an exercise in Spanish banking losses El-Erian Says Retreat in Stocks Will Worsen as Economy Slumps - Bloomberg.com FT Alphaville » Next to the trough… Harold…

Below is a Jim Chanos video on China now making the rounds in the financial blogosphere.  Chanos says that most financial bubbles are the result of excess credit creation and believes that is exactly what we are witnessing in…