derivatives

In another blow to a quick resolution of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, reports are surfacing that multiple banks may have arranged swap contracts with Greece to hide their fiscal shortfalls. Bloomberg is now reporting that up to fifteen…

Yves Smith and I received a tip at the weekend from a friend who reads the German press regularly about credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt. Read Yves’ piece based on that article here. Below is mine. Previously, I had…

This post originally appeared at Global Economy Matters. The Eurozone's current problems are not mainly a result a of profligate and reckless spending of government resources in the Eurozone periphery . Even Nobel laureate Paul Krugman…

Marshall Auerback warns that unchecked speculation and fraud are threatening the European Monetary Union. Marshall Auerback here with a post which I originally published at New Deal 2.0 Surprise, surprise: Wall Street tactics akin to the…

One of the larger problems in the unfolding meltdown in Greece is the fraud apparently perpetrated by past Greek governments to conceal their true levels of debt. This is having a very adverse effect on Greek credit spreads to (German)…

In the lead-up to the credit crisis, I really didn’t write a considerable amount about second mortgages despite my focus on credit writedowns. At that time, I was more focused on writedowns from securitized mortgage paper (and later…

This is a great graphic showing the money and asset flows in the AIG bailout that makes it far easier to understand why people are calling the AIG bailout a backdoor bailout of AIG’s counterparties.  Take a look. Source CHART OF…

The video is pretty all-encompassing and runs just under 30 minutes. Buffett is down on Kraft-Cadbury, raising rates and the bank tax. He is up on Wells Fargo. That sums it up pretty well.     Quotes On Wells:…

This has been making the rounds. Colbert at his best.

The White House Stands Behind Geithner, Says Tim Was Not Involved In AIG Email Fiasco is the headline of a recent post at Zero Hedge. Barack Obama is standing behind Tim Geithner. I remain unconvinced. This is the second time Secretary…