The question: How much was credit being funneled away from all other sectors in the economy? The answer: Very little if any. Neither the general consumer lending: nor the specific Real Estate lending: appears to run in a different direction that Business Loans, except possibly, in the latter case, in late 2003 and early 2004. […]
Ken Houghton, having realized there is still a Commercial Paper market, looks at one implication of it. One of the things that gets ignored in all the fussing about government debt is how small it is by comparison to corporate debt. The shortest-term debt, Commercial Paper, can be very interesting. With a maturity that is […]
Dr. Black starts digging into the question why so many Georgia-based banks fail. The picture painted isn’t pretty: The review also contains a photo of a planned 238 townhouse project that the bank financed for $5.6 million in 2007 even as the real estate market was softening. By September 2008 about three quarters of the […]
Dr. Black had a link to foreclosures in Irvine, California. This one especially caught my eye: 5031 Alcorn Lane, Turtle RockAmount owed: $298,876.14Last sale: July 2001, $485,000Auction date & time: Nov. 5 at 10 a.m.Location: In front of the flagpoles at Placentia Civic Center, 401-411 E. Chapman Ave.Trustee sale #: JPM-580Information: 714-573-1965 [emphasis mine] I […]
No original content here, just two posts that make even more sense together: Mark Thoma proves he’s an economist (not just an econometrician) by reminding everyone of the Opportunity Cost of the Oughts from a long-term perspective*:((Rdan…Attribution of the quote is in error due to a format error at Mark’s…the original is from Joseph Stiglitz […]
As a rule, the Shiller Index uses the CPI as reported for All Urban Consumers (CPIAUCNS on Fred(r)). But the Index is only updated Quarterly, so monthly data is estimated. Which produces a very interesting difference over August, not to mention September expectations: The annualised inflation rate between June and August is 0.39%, which just […]
From Constance Ash’s discussion of Capitalism: A Love Story: There are some scenes that that must have been shot around the period when enraged screwed-over people gathered at the New York Stock Exchange yelling, “Jump! Jump! Jump!” Moore has said in an interview, that while at the NYSE the NY cops came up to him […]
I was trying to avoid mentioning this, partially because I half-suspected it was deliberately over the top, and I’m not reading tone well these days. After all: Virtually every BHC has elected to become an FHC. Under 12 U.S.C. § 1843(k)(4)(H), FHCs are allowed to make “merchant banking investments” in nonfinancial companies, on a principal […]
Back in the old days of derivatives (the mid-1980s), there was an international commercial bank that was famous for declaring how much good derivatives had done for it. It was famous because it was common knowledge in the marketplace that the bank would have its swap counterparties “buy out” the positions where it was due […]
rdan Seeking Alpha’s Matthew Goldstein notes that the OCC is continuing the last decade of regulatory non-action. The OCC, in its quarterly derivatives report, routinely notes that the Big Four “have the resources needed to be able to operate this business in a safe and sound manner.” In other words, the biggest banks are best […]