Credit Writedowns

Real U.S. GDP declined at an annualized 6.1% in the first quarter (Jan-Mar) of 2009. This almost exactly matches the 6.3% decline in Q4 and is a MUCH larger decline than expected. While I have not crunched all the numbers yet, I am…

Holdouts Jeopardize Debt Plan for Chrysler - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com You sorta knew this was coming: "some smaller banks and hedge funds are still balking at the terms, setting the stage for a tense final two days in which the fate…

From the FT: The US reported the first death outside Mexico from the swine flu virus on Wednesday as governments around the world stepped up preparations for a possible pandemic. As Germany became the eighth country to report cases of…

This comes via Bloomberg: At least six of the 19 largest U.S. banks require additional capital, according to preliminary results of government stress tests, people briefed on the matter said. While some of the lenders may need extra…

Below is a very good video of John Bogle, the legendary investor, at Columbia Business School, hosted by CBS Professor David Beim. In his speech, Bogle places much of the blame for the present crisis with the increasingly hostile corporate…

Now on YouTube, an Outcry Against BofA’s Lewis - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com "Ahead of Bank of America’s annual meeting on Wednesday, the activist filmmaker Robert Greenwald is helping lead the charge to fire Kenneth D. Lewis, the…

CNBC's Trish Regan talks about banks and the economy with FDIC Chair Sheila Bair.

A friend passed me a URL now which led me to a few posts over at Bronte Capital and at Felix Salmon's blog at Reuters about a firm connected to the Biden family called Ponta Negra. T here may be a connection here to the alleged Stanford…

Over the past few days, I have written two posts regarding the increasingly acrimonious sparring surrounding Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The horrible self-dealing of Ken Lewis and the principal-agent problem BofA…

This is a bombshell from the political world. I believe that means Al Franken will make Obama filibuster-proof. Obviously, this is very bad news for Republicans. I suspect that the deal is that Rendell and Casey will pull out ALL the…