crisis

After Iceland collapsed and went into Depression, there were a number of reports in the press regarding countries with outsized financial sectors. The worry was that the collapse of Iceland was not an isolated incident, but rather a…

Just a few hours ago, I posted an article about European toxic asset exposure based on a Telegraph article.  The crux of the Telegraph piece was that European banks have a shed load of bad debt on their books.  A secret European Commission…

The title of this post is fairly provocative and categorical. This is by design. For I see Obama's banking plan as more of the same -- not 'change we can believe in.' And we all need to be clear about the need for Obama and his team to…

Below is a good video clip from the recent World Economic Forum in Davos. The speakers are addressing the issue of how they see the global economic outlook going forward. The moderator who begins the discussion is Martin Wolf of the…

Politico asked a bunch of pundits from across the political spectrum to size up U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's performance in explaining his plan for rescuing the U.S. banking system. They were asked, "Did Tim Geithner blow it? What…

A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's duty as regulator and one's actions

I will dispense with the commentary and let you judge for yourself.

Update: 18 Mar 2008. I am reposting this entry from Feb 10th because it is relevant to the need to liquidate insolvent institutions like AIG that are now getting bailouts.

Depression is a taboo word in the English language. Its mention conjures up images of bread lines, shanty towns an general misery from the 1930's. Yet, the D-word is making a comeback amidst the backdrop of a weak global economy. In fact, a…

You may have picked up on my change in terminology recently. I have gone from calling this rough patch in the global economy a rough patch, downturn, recession or some other euphemism to labeling it a Depression. Now, I am doing that for…