Credit Writedowns

A number of new films have been produced chronicling the misadventures in America’s residential property markets and financial system.  One such story is American Casino.  I have yet to see the film.  However, below is a…

The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that for yet another week average jobless claims remain in the 560-580K range where they have been for two months. Initial claims for the week ended Sep. 5 were down to 550,000, a decline of 26,000…

Faber Says ‘High’ U.S. Deficit Will Spur Inflation - Bloomberg.com He is making the asset price inflation argument I have often made. On the other hand, I am seeing some initial signs that liquidity is being drained. So, it remains to…

Tonight we saw a brilliant performance from Barack Obama. It was Obama at his best, using his command of the English language to inspire and connect on a grand stage as only few politicians can. For sceptics like myself, he surprised. For…

Bloomberg News is writing a very worthy series of retrospective articles on the financial panic of September 2008.  I profiled the first one on Monday.  The next in the series came out yesterday and it makes for riveting and…

I have been arguing for some time that Barack Obama made a crucial tactical error in bailing out the big banks early in his presidency. His actions have left him vulnerable to populist resentment.  In my view, this weakens his…

I just received notice that the FDIC Board has approved the phase out of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) in a first clear sign that the U.S. Federal Government has started policy normalisation. The FDIC Board today adopted…

Below are the links for today, but I wanted to highlight the distraction of the day, which is Curtis Jackson III aka 50 Cent, who was interviewed on CNBC yesterday. Enjoy. This Keen professor overlooked by MSM Steve keen deserves…

In a BBC Two interview, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan waxed fatalistic, saying that another financial crisis is inevitable due to animal spirits.  In his view, booms and busts are endogenous to the capitalist system, crises being the…

Wall Street Plans On Securitizing Life Insurance Policies | But Then What Those lovable Wall Street ghouls have cooked up a new asset class to securitize — life insurance policies. I am not kidding you, they’re going into the business…