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 […]

by Rebecca(cross posted at Newsneconomics) Prof. Jim Hamilton at Econbrowser (thanks Mark Thoma for the link) addresses one of the Fed’s standard methods of draining liquidity from the banking system: reverse repurchase agreements. Basically, the Fed will transfer some of its assets to the banking system via short-term loans taken out with its Primary Dealers, […]

Dr. Black (you know the site) links to AIG Strike Three. And unlike the Citi debacle previously discussed (relatively) positively and rather negatively here, this one makes some form of sense. The difference comes down to the meaning of an accounting concept: ongoing concern. More below the break (yes, this might get wonkish. It’s me, […]

Paul Krugman at Economist’s View appears to be saying the TAF is a sterilized intervention by the Fed. He uses an analogy of twenty people (the financial markets) and one bad apple being saved in order to help the other 19. Our own save the rustbelt (missing now, sadly, due to work. So much for […]