Legacy Losses — or Fresh Red Ink? If a sweater was 96.5% navy, do you think it would look navy-colored? And if a chocolate bar was 96.5% dark chocolate, could the manufacturer bill it as dark chocolate? And if the chance of precipitation was 96.5% . . . would you carry an umbrella? What’s with...Read More
“Hands Off My Mortga . . . Oops! Never Mind!” As best I can tell, the tea party movement is angry about out-of-control government intrusion into people’s lives. Apparently, they’re not aware of the following factoid: There were $390 billion in new mortgage origination’s in the last quarter of 2009. Excluding home equity lines, Fannie...Read More
Fed Rate Bump Today’s leading financial stories are: a) the Federal Reserve’s apparently surprise decision to raise interest rates on short-term bank borrowing; and b) the market’s reaction to same (playing out now). My take? The action itself is relatively trivial: hiking rates on some arcane, overnight interest rate from .5% to .75% (yes, that’s...Read More
Volcker’s Clarion Call Imagine being able to consult Albert Einstein about a physics conundrum, or FDR or Lincoln about an existential national emergency (like the one we’re facing now, perhaps). Having Paul Volcker, the 82 year-old former Fed Chairman, still on the scene and available to advise and guide is truly a stroke of good...Read More
Revisiting “Capped Upside, Unlimited Downside” [Note to Readers: this post originally ran Christmas Week, when it was read by . . . no one. In the wake of Barney Frank’s announced plan to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I’m “popping” it to the top of the list.] If you lend someone 97 cents to...Read More
Dear Barney: Read This! Imagine Ted Kennedy, before he died, admitting that the health care reform bill was a mess and that everyone should start over. Or John McCain saying that campaign finance laws were unworkable, and should be scrapped (actually, the Supreme Court just said that). So it’s big news when Congressman Barney Frank,...Read More
