debt

CNBC and other media sources are reporting that a number of hedge funds are collapsing under the weight of poor performance and massive fund redemption. Given the market volatility in credit, sick, bond and currency markets, it was only a…

In 1999, Edward Chancellor wrote a wonderful book called "Devil Take The Hindmost," which I recommend to anyone who is interested in the history of bubbles, financial speculation, and market panics. In it, Chancellor traces the origins of…

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…

The serial bailouts by the U.S. government and Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout proposal have had very negative repercussions for the U.S. Dollar. The dollar is down against all major currencies, as well as gold, silver and oil. It…

Back in May, I showed you a chart of Total U.S. Debt which demonstrated that the United States was an increasingly indebted country. This chart was for all domestic debt minus financials and it topped out at about 225% of GDP. Below is…

I wish it were not so, but it is increasingly obvious that every part of the financial sector in the United States is infected by this menacing plague of credit losses and writedowns. Now it comes to light that the five biggest U.S. credit…

I'm getting a lot of mail about the Rosenberg post and my mea culpa on inflation. To be blunt, a lot of you think I'm out to lunch and Rosenberg is too -- after all inflation is over 5% and that's just the bogus CPI measure our governments…

Lloyds TSB announced first half results, a 70% fall in pre-tax profits. Yet, Lloyds' management was confident enough to raise the dividend 2p a share to 11. 4p. This strikes me as completely out of touch with market conditions. In the…

Last week, we heard that Australia's NAB had to take a massive writedown due to American CDO exposure (apparently triggered by Merrill Lynch). Yesterday, we heard about Australia's ANZ Bank taking it on the chin to the tune of $1.2 million…

I fully anticipate this will happen, so the question becomes: what will the Fed do?The FDIC stepped in at two banks over the weekend, 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank. These banks failed as a result of construction loans…