bubble

The yield on he three-month U.S. treasury bill went below zero for the first time ever. This seems to be an unprecedented move where investors are actually paying the U.S. Government to borrow money. In my estimation, this is not just a…

FT Alphaville is reporting that Martinsa Fadesa, the bankrupt Spanish property developer, has seen the value of its drop 30% this year alone. Spain has largely slipped from view as the credit crisis has reached global dimensions. However,…

It's about 7:45 AM ET as I write this and the overseas stock markets are getting hammered. I can't say I don't fear what is going to happen today because I do. We are witnessing a meltdown of unimaginable proportions that is not just…

Gillian Tett makes a good point in today's FT about the clear benefits of a systemic solution to crisis. Where the UK policy makers were bumbling along until today, they have taken the problem firmly in hand, finally recognizing the…

Whenever I wade into a new topic like digital photography, gardening or what have you, I visit the local bookstore and get a "For Dummies" book to guide me. I figure that it's the best way to get up-to-speed quickly without…

I named my blog "Credit Writedowns" because I anticipated an historic wave of credit writedowns in the global banking system which would lead to a wave of deleveraging, systemic risk, and bank failures -- in short, a massive financial and…

George Soros recently released an interesting book called "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means." The book critiques the new 'efficient markets' paradigm that has come to both control the…

When the housing mania was in full bloom, many first-time home buyers were understandably panicked about being locked out of home ownership and missing the boat to get onto the property ladder. This was the case in both the UK and in the…

The past few weeks I have been chronicling how Europe is fast catching up to the United States in terms of the magnitude of the housing bust and its effects on its economies. I'd like to turn back to the United States and Northern…

What has the housing bubble told us about market efficiency, social psychology and economics? Quite a lot, I believe.In the aftermath of the housing bubble, one thing is for certain: we can throw out the inane "Efficient Market…