Credit Writedowns

Hank Paulson seems to be everywhere these days. However, it does seem that U.S. President George W. Bush has vanished since the credit crisis began.The result? The lowest approval rating of the Bush Presidency, with a full 78%…

The serial bailouts by the U.S. government and Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout proposal have had very negative repercussions for the U.S. Dollar. The dollar is down against all major currencies, as well as gold, silver and oil. It…

FT Alphaville has two posts today that mirror my view on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. They basically say it was a huge mistake to let Lehman fail. Lehman was, in fact, too big to fail and the blow up in the markets since its failure…

Just in case you thought the crisis was over, I have to remind you that there are still firms out there that are very concerned about their futures. Principal among them is the UK buy-to-let specialist Bradford & Bingley.The word on the…

The Federal Reserve is pulling out all the stops to stop the spread of the financial meltdown contagion that claimed Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG. The latest move is to allow both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank…

It seems incredible - this rollback of the free markets. But, six countries have now banned short sellers of financial shares as if they are solely responsible for the market meltdown we suffered in the wake of the Lehman bankruptcy. The…

Everyone and his brother is talking about the bailout plan from U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. I am not going to add my voice to the cacophony just yet, except to remind readers that the executive branch and the Federal Reserve are…

Recently I wrote a post on the safety of investment assets in the wake of the Lehman and AIG meltdowns. Even still, retail and individual investors are noticeably nervous about the safety of their funds.Last night on the radio, I heard a…

Marshall Auerback here.Equity investors, perhaps unlike credit investors, don't get the fundamental insolvency of the financial sector, an artifact of mega-leverage.This is a culture that responds to visual clues and marketing jingles.…

Today, after the markets closed, in another Friday Night Special, the FDIC announced the failure of Ameribank. This represents the 12th bank failure this year and the 14th since the credit crisis began last August.See my list of Bankrupt…