asset-backed securities

University of Chicago Professor Raghuram Rajan, one of the few mainstream economists to predict the financial crisis, has written a very good article at Project Syndicate questioning central bank monetary policy. His main point is that…

Here are some quick thoughts on QE3. Central banks around the world are taking the lead on reflation where fiscal agents refuse to do so. And the policy stances have become increasingly aggressive. Right now, every major central bank is…

By Sober Look With the GSEs (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) forced to shrink their balance sheets (see discussion), the private sector will need to step in. As demand for mortgages increases with the growth of the US population (see…

Here's a good video from the Tech Ticker guys showing us that the opaque nature of asset-backed securities is catching up with Wall Street again. This is now becoming a problem in the credit card industry.

In the video below, Bill Black argues that the Obama Administration, following in its tradition of not bringing forward criminal prosecutions, decided not to prosecute Goldman Sachs. Bethany McLean argues the other side. The host, Maria…

Our brains are not calibrated to deal with the unexpected. Most of us believe we are good risk managers but in reality we are not. Most of us trust that risk can always be quantified and expressed through some fancy modelling whereas,…

This one's short today as I am running out of time. I posted earlier regarding Bill Gross' comments about the Fed doing a mortgage-backed QE3. There's nothing fundamentally off about this call. But we really aren't there yet as it is wholly…

The following transcript and video is courtesy of Bloomberg TV where Bill Gross spoke to Margaret Brennan today, telling her that he thinks the Fed will go Qe3, but that it will shift to mortgage backed securities when Operation Twist ends…

This daily commentary is a bronze-level post for Pro subscribers. Two articles worth reading on the 2004 change in net capital rules for investment banks are highlighted in today's links.

I love Chris Whalen's bank industry analysis. I featured his CNBC commentary yesterday. Today is his commentary from last night's Capital Account.