bailout

Just like in the Quantitative Easing Explained video, this one on the bank bailouts gets down to brass tacks. It strips away all the government propaganda that taxpayers profited from the bailouts by revealing some of the many backdoor…

Here is a good video from Bill Black on the origins of the Savings & Loan crisis in the U.S. The roots of the crisis go back to the stagflation of the 1970s when interest rates spiked under Paul Volcker. As S&L's borrowed short and…

By Claus Vistesen Despite the efforts of yours truly to create as strong a profile as possible in the world of econ-blogging, I regret to inform my readers that the organizers of the World Economic Forum in Davos have not found it within…

By Marc Chandler The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) is planning its first issue this week. Talk was of a 3-5 bln euros of a 5-year issue priced 8-10 bp on top of swap rates. This would imply a yield of about 2.85% compared to…

The Bank of Spain is to force the cajas, Spanish savings banks to reveal the extent of their property losses. The thinking behind this move is the same as the thinking that prompted the stress tests in both the US and Europe; officials…

On Monday I first learned that Spain was to partially nationalise its banking system via the Financial Times Deutschland. The title of this article is the most appropriate I have seen discussing the issue, "Madrid riskiert für Cajas…

By Claus Vistesen It would have been hard to believe only a few weeks ago that the euro zone could be the source of any good news, let alone news to help push the market forward. Yet, with last week’s successful bond auctions and the…

By Win Thin In its Fiscal Monitor published in November, the IMF makes a crucial point about growth rates and debt dynamics. It points out that the larger the differential for any country between real interest rates (borrowing costs) and…

by Edward Harrison The US post-bubble experience is often compared to the Japanese post-bubble experience. I have written a number of posts on the Japanese experience myself. Here are a number from 2008: A cautionary tale: story from…

The European Commission announced plans to sell bonds to fund the Irish bailout through the EFSF and EFSM. Each entity will issue EUR3-5 bln in 2011, and will mainly have maturities of 5, 7, and 10 years. More debt will be issued in 2012.…