accounting

As financial shares take a beating, it is a good opportunity to highlight the differential treatment of accounting for loans and for debentures and securities because this bodes ill for regional banks. FAS 157 The crux of the difference…

According to the Irish Independent, the recent fall in Irish bank shares is due to a loss of faith in their bad debt provisions. On Tuesday, Bank of Ireland fell 14%, the largest amount in 20 years.After last week's dive in their share…

For those of us who remember the Japanese rise and subsequent meltdown in the 1980s and 1990s, what is going on now is like deja-vu all over again. Except this time it is on a bigger scale. Remember Yamaichi, Nikko, Nomura and Daiwa? These…

The Times of London is reporting that Treasury Secretary Paulson is looking to infuse Fannie and Freddie with $15 billion to help alleviate market turmoil. However they cite no sources in doing so.Moreover, the $75 billion offered by…

For a complete list of prior news on writedowns see my Credit Crisis Timeline. Also look at the new list of Bankrupt Global Financial Institutions for information on large global financial institutions that have gone to the wall.2008 06 30…

As I said in an earlier post, taking over Fannie and Freddie has been the plan all along for the Bush Administration. They have been planning this since at least March. Coincidentally, I have confirming evidence now. The New York Times…

Everyone should recall that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were forced to massively increase their already bloated balance sheet in the aftermath of the Bear Stearns collapse. It seems reasonable to me to assume that the two organizations did…

The old adage goes that on a Parents Day, a class of children brought their parents in to school. A few parents got up in front of the class to explain what they did for a living. One woman was a firefighter. One man was a baseball player.…

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Treasury is concerned enough about the viability of Fannie and Freddie that they have discussed contingency plans in the case of potential bankruptcy.Given the level of risk these two are…

$75 billion is the capital shortfall that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing, according to a report by Lehman Brothers. This type of worry is the reason for their sudden fall in the markets yesterday.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac triggered…