Credit Writedowns

Today, I came across two attempts to clarify allegedly misleading articles in the press. Both clarifications were made in regard to how the banking system clean-up in the U.S. is proceeding. I will present them to you in as neutral a tone…

If you were operating under the illusion that the financial services industry was going to receive less in political favors from the Obama Administration, then you should take a look at this Tech Ticker video. Yesterday, the insurance…

Marc Faber participated in a roundtable discussion on CNBC this morning about the dreadful figures coming out of Europe (see articles here and here). At one point, the German CNBC correspondent made a very good comment about Eastern Europe…

FT.com / Lex - The eurozone’s terrible recession "This has to be the worst of it. If it is not, then the eurozone’s prospects are grim indeed. The German economy shrank by 4 per cent in the first quarter compared to the last three…

Swine flu vaccine won't be ready for next wave - health - New Scientist "A VACCINE against the Mexican swine flu sweeping the world is likely to arrive too late for most people, vaccine officials told New Scientist between a flurry of…

For the time being, I am more worried abut the potential inflationary effects of quantitative easing than about the deflationary impact of deleveraging.  But, the latest news from Ireland shows us that deflation is alive and well. This…

This is a very good explanatory piece from CNBC on how counterparty credit risk makes the credit default swap market a financial weapon of mass destruction.  Note they are not talking about eliminating the CDS market, but merely…

We needed regulators like this when the bubble was being formed.  Elizabeth Warren is truly a breath of fresh air.

Since I was off yesterday, I have a lot of links.  Here is the first batch.  I will try and post some more tonight.  Enjoy. Geithner enriches speculators in "sham" bank bail-outs - Telegraph The US Treasury’s effort to stabilise the…

The Bear here is Meredith Whitney, who says that bank stocks will return to negative earnings in the second quarter.  That’s a big and very specific call that is very much out of line with the consensus.  In an interview with…