From Crash of the Titans, pp. 33-34: The largest chunks of these [created by Merrill in the winter of 2006-2007] CDOs still carried triple-A ratings, at least in name, because the credit rating agencies hadn’t bothered to recalibrate their antiquated ratings models. But almost no one was willing to buy the triple-A portion of these […]
by Mike Kimel Assume a world similar to ours, but with a major difference. At some point in the 1920s, an inventor came up with a product called Fleem. Fleem has interesting properties, and when applied liberally in a house, gives even the meanest hovel a more homey feel. A healthy market for Fleem develops […]
Via Ellie Lang, the NYT (no link, unless this works) lists thirteen (13) countries that have a AAA credit rating from S&P: Switzerland Hong Kong Sweden Germany Canada Denmark Britain Netherlands Finland Norway Austria France Australia The thing all thirteen have in common? All provide National Health Care.
References are here (Cowen) and here (Salmon).* Just because Charlie Sheen got drunk, did some other drugs, and committed adultery doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. Just because someone who calls himself Jack the Ripper has killed two women in London doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. Just because the U.S. dropped a hydrogen bomb […]
Brad DeLong asked a few days ago who he should be reading on a daily basis. Following is a cross-post from my nominee, The Hunting of the Snark: Kudlow’s Komedy Kapers Larry Kudlow is worried that Obama is ruining the economy. Larry KudlowAugust 5, 2011 4:30 P.M. More Obama Spending Won’t Do ItAnd stocks know […]
Find a set of Mortgage-Backed Securities that are (1) still rated AAA by S&P, (2) have a WAL the same as (close to) an on-the-rin US Treasury, and (3) still have a Factor within 5% of the expectation of a generic MBS of that maturity (that is, are not clearly impaired). Post the CUSIP(s) in […]
It’s that they are so bad at it. At least they made clear that Glenn Greenwald was correct when he said the deal is exactly what Obama wanted: Fact: President Obama laid out key priorities that had to be part of any deal. Those priorities are reflected in this compromise.…the initial down payment on deficit […]
Economists for Obama suddenly showed up in my RSS reader again. It’s not a pretty sight: I suppose I might change my mind, but after watching the President give in to the Boehner-McConnell blackmail axis, I don’t imagine I’ll be spending much of my time advocating his re-election. Assuming he’s the Democratic nominee, which I […]
I won’t post it here—the full text would be so NSFW that Lee Papa might hesitate—but here’s the outline: UPDATE: I was correct about Mr. Papa’s likely reaction being more moderate, but he’s more lucid that Ezra (or Greg Sargent) has been so far today. Of course, “more lucid than people employed by the Washington […]
Mark Thoma, who supported (and probably voted for) the man during the primaries, is dumuch more gracious than I am: A vague promise from Democrats about the future is all but worthless right now, we’ve had too many promises broken already. Obama’s promises in particular mean nothing. The nicest thing I can do is describe […]