Credit Writedowns

FT.com - German business confidence rebounds A surprisingly sharp rise in German business confidence has provided further evidence that Europe’s largest economy is over the worst of its recession and is closer to returning to growth…

I say no, he needs to get all of this out in the open and behind us.  But the Conservative Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib makes a compelling argument that he should, using Jerry Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon as a reason.  Take a look. …

This past week, I caught an article in Wirschaftswoche (WiWo), the German Business Week, which suggested that the South Koreans were very confident about their economy and had learned from the Asian Crisis. Just today, the South Koreans…

Former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and former U.S. Secretary of State, George Shultz, reflect on the events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I want to make clear the significance of the Treasury's Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan for Chrysler if Fiat pulls out.  It will mean massive job losses and and a huge down-tick in consumer demand.  There will be no second half recovery.…

Press reports coming out of Germany are suggesting that the Germans are looking to hook up Opel with Fiat in order to prevent a lot of job losses when General Motors goes under.  In my view, this means curtains for both Chrysler and GM and…

Raghuram Rajan Speaks at 2009 Homer Jones Lecture - St. Louis Fed Financial institutions considered "too big to fail" could be asked to develop a bankruptcy contingency plan that would lay out how they would resolve themselves quickly.…

Initial jobless claims came in above 600,000 for the 12th straight week at 640,000. Continuing claims came in at a record 6.1 million, up 3 million from this time last year. Both of these numbers suggest a very weak market and you can bet…

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is fighting to keep his job because earnings at his company have plummeted. BofA's acquisition of Merrill Lynch has been a large part of the problem.  Now, understanding that he is being made out to be the fall…

If you read my recent post on How big banks earned so much money this quarter you would see that much of the income at Wells, JPMorgan, US Bank and others came from refinancing old mortgages. While this may be a boon to present income, it…