What is up with the so-called DC Madam – aka Deborah Jeane Palfrey – case? Is the stunning contrast between the lid being kept on the names of male clients in this matter and the interest of the media compared to the speed with which Eliot Spitzer name became notorious in a similar DC case […]

What are some predicted consequences if Bear Stearns failed? They do not have depositors like a bank. They invested for people, but for whom? Why would the credit market take the hit so severly if J P Morgan can get it for a penny on the dollar? Surely there are some good assets.

Reuters reported this from CNBC. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Alan Schwartz on Wednesday dismissed recurring speculation that the investment bank faces a cash crunch, saying it has hefty cash reserves that have remained little changed this year. Schwartz, in a televised interview on CNBC, also said […]

This news might be significant or not, and the action is timed around an oil deal with China in the area, but provides a glimpse perhaps of how Sadr forces have used the time of reduced violence. The militias in Anbar have done the same. Violence erupted once again in central and southern Iraq as […]

Brad Stetser at rge monitor has a great write up on the question of central bank interventions that MG suggested was relevent in comments. The explanation is a narrative and has many links. However, it needs to be read over there, as I do not know how to break it into parts. The size and […]

Washington Mutual files amended executive 2008 bonus package with the SEC. For the 2008 Bonus Plan the Committee selected the following performance measures and relative weights: · The Company’s 2008 net operating profit, weighted at 30%, calculated as operating profit before income taxes and excluding the effects of (i) loan loss provisions other than related […]

Salon notes the WSJ article on smart customer planning for borrowing. Wall Street Journal’s Robin Sidel explains that home equity credit lenders are stuck in a tough place when homeowners start defaulting.While banks can foreclose on a first-lien mortgage, lenders often have little recourse when trying to collect a delinquent home-equity loan, especially if another […]

William Polley wonders out loud as well: The WSJ Real Time Economics Blog opens a post with this: “Back in 2003, when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to 1%, the world worried that the Fed was running out of ammunition and would soon have to turn to unconventional tools. Now, in 2008, it’s worth […]

The Office of Currency Control has a website to explore. National bank subsidiaries monitored by OCC tend to be mortgage companies. The link is to the long list of matching trade names to the correct national bank, and in which state the subsidiary operates. The Securities Exchange Commission has a listing of proposed rule changes […]

This site dedicated to OCC watching offers a little background for us in the changes being made with banking rules. In January, 2004 the OCC issued two related and sweeping rules, one preempting nearly all state and local consumer laws (the “preemption rule”) [69 Fed. Reg. 1904 (2004)] and the other restricting nearly all enforcement […]