Robert Waldmann A lot of the blogolandian debate on the Geithner plan is based on the assumption that there are only three options1) The Geithner plan2) Try to convince congress to nationalize banks now (real quick before they knew what hit them) and3) Do nothing. Now this is reasonable in the sense that no way […]

Following up on Robert’s post (he started later and finished earlier): Dr. Black: [T]he idea that all this came about simply because the banksters decided a bit of extra risk was good is an idea only a macro finance person could sanely entertain. All right, I represent that remark in more ways than one. So […]

Robert Waldmann Brad DeLong writes I think the private-sector players in financial markets right now are highly risk averse–hence assets are undervalued from the perspective of a society or a government that is less risk averse. Paul judges that assets have low values beceuse they are unlikely to pay out much cash. I have the […]

Robert Waldmann Shorter US Treasury “I usually shop there, but they are having a fire sale so we should go shop somewhere else” When did they hire Yogi “no one goes there anymore, its too crowded” Berra ? Direct quote of the US Treasury “a wide-scale deleveraging in these markets and led to fire sales. […]

by divorced one like Bush The OCC is: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The OCC is headed by the Comptroller , who is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a […]

rdan Daniel Kurtzman The posing and posturing hopefully will produce a partially reasonable plan for the overall benefit of US citizens. There will always be winners and losers, but let us hope the re-distribution of wealth does not continue to be mostly up the ladder. Update: Dean Baker has a take on this notion.

UPDATE: Dr. Black twists the knife. The Geithner Plan FAQ is worth reading; it’s a classic example of treating an incomplete market as if it were the entire market. And note that “skin in the game” is limited to a part of the local pool. Unfortunately, while Treasury plays in the wading pool, hedge funds […]

Robert Waldmann “the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting rules, proposed to give more leeway on mark-to-market accounting rules. “ In my (ignorant) view, this is an act of desperation allowing banks to make up asset values, because given current market prices they would be insolvent. The argument is that current prices are […]

rdan (Hat tip noni mausa) Credit to XKCD comics

Robert Waldmann I don’t know anything about finance. Taking my advice on how to invest would be like tacking Moody’s universe of rated corporate bonds to the wall, throwing darts at it and buying the bond immediately to the right and below the dart and repeating 100 times. I know this, because that is exactly […]