Category: Banking

Anatomy of a coup: Part 3, Sunday

30 April, 2008 (10:38) | Banking, Markets, Subprime, US News | No comments

[Continued from yesterday's Part 2 and Part 1.]  
I know what Scott’s attitude on the restructuring is, what’s yours? I agree with Scott, sir.  I think we’re being played for suckers.  But I think it’s really your business. Yours and the Treasury’s.  You did it, and they agreed so, well, I don’t see how we can [...]

Anatomy of a coup: Part 2, Friday and Saturday

29 April, 2008 (08:33) | Banking, Markets, Subprime, US News | No comments

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]  
I think the invention of global securitization is at best an act of naivete, and at worst an unsupportable negligence. We’ve stayed financially solvent because we’ve built up an equity, and we’ve kept the liquidity and credit markets because we’ve dealt with counterparties who knew we would take that equity.  [...]

Anatomy of a coup: Part 1, Thursday

28 April, 2008 (10:38) | Banking, Markets, Subprime, US News | No comments

All right, Colonel. Let’s sum it up, shall we? You’re suggesting what? I’m not sure, Mr. President: just some possibilities, what we call, uh “capabilities” in military intelligence… You got something against the English language, Colonel? I’m suggesting, Mr. President, there’s a military plot to take over the government. This may occur some time this [...]

Banking on value: the explanation

22 April, 2008 (10:27) | Banking, Markets, Subprime, Theory, US News | No comments

Roughly a month ago, almost as it happened, I put out a post entitled Banking on Value, which opened: 
Ten days ago, the Federal Reserve made a bet that economic students will be studying for decades. 
 
What have you got in the hole, Ben Bernanke?
 
Under Ben Bernanke, the Fed pushed $200 billion – that’s your money [...]

Banking on value

24 March, 2008 (09:00) | Banking, Markets, Subprime, US News | 1 comment

Ten days ago, the Federal Reserve made a bet that economic students will be studying for decades.  Under Ben Bernanke, the Fed pushed $200 billion – that’s your money and my money – into the global capital markets pot, in effect making a bet that assets the market won’t buy have the value their originators [...]