Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

07 Sep 2011 10:22

tags

World: Angela Merkel sticks to her fiscal guns amidst hostile political environment

  • We must make it very clear to people that the current problem, namely of excessive debt built up over decades, cannot be solved in one blow, with things like euro bonds or debt restructurings that will suddenly make everything okay. No, this will be a long, hard path, but one that is right for the future of Europe.
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel • Arguing, amidst much jeering from leftist opposition parties, that Europe needs to change the way it approaches its growing debt crisis. Merkel argues for long-term fundamental change. “I’m convinced that this crisis, if a great crisis of the western world is to be avoided,” she said, “cannot be fought with a ‘carry on’ attitude. We need a fundamental rethink.” Merkel is facing a parliamentary vote later this month that could prove a great threat to her power, and her party is sinking in the polls right now. She suffered a setback earlier in the day after a court put strict limitations requiring her to get approval from lawmakers to grant future bailout aid to other European countries. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2011 11:22

tags

Biz: S&P facing Justice Department scrutiny over mortgage securities ratings

  • what The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether S&P kept the credit ratings on certain bonds backed by mortgage debt higher in an effort to protect the company’s business concerns.
  • why See: The financial crisis, which happened in part due to toxic mortgage securities that had inflated credit ratings. S&P’s ratings played a huge role in this whole mess, BTW. source
  • » And in case you were wondering: This investigation began before S&P lowered the U.S. credit rating, though there’s a good chance it will now be informed by it. Anyway, if you don’t understand the credit ratings issue, here’s a good way to put it: Companies pay the agencies for high ratings.  Kinda like if Warner Bros. paid Roger Ebert to recommend the latest Harry Potter movie. Now imagine if Ebert recommended “Birdemic” based on his financial interests. This would be extremely unethical behavior for journalists. But did S&P do something like that?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2011 23:20

tags

U.S.: Federal Reserve slaps Wells Fargo with puny $85 million penalty

  • $85 millionpaid by Wells Fargo for its role in the subprime mortgage fiasco; the penalty was issued by the Federal Reserve
  • $25 billion received by Wells Fargo from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, colloquially known as the bailout source
  • » This is both the largest consumer protection fine ever levied by the Fed and the first time the institution has punished a bank for nudging customers into subprime loans. There’s more to come, too; in addition to the fine, the order also “requires that Wells Fargo compensate affected borrowers,” although it’s unclear how this will work. It’s better than nothing, but $85 million just seems a bit low; as a point of comparison, the bank made $2.5 billion in the first three months of 2010 alone.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 16:38

tags

Biz, World: Standard and Poor’s downgrades Greece’s credit rating again

  • Greece’s S&P credit rating now world’s lowest: Standard and Poor’s, the international credit rating agency, has slashed Greece’s rating by three levels, from B down to CCC — their lowest rated nation. They also warned that a potential debt restructuring would likely be viewed as a default, which would cause them to cut Greece further down to SD (selective default) for their credit rating, and D for the nation’s debt instruments. So, on top of this bad news, it seems almost assured to get worse before it gets any better. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2011 10:26

tags

Politics: Carl Levin rips “financial snake pit” Goldman Sachs into shreds

  • Our investigation found a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing.
  • Sen. Carl Levin • Offering an assessment of a report that his subcommittee, which is searching for the causes of the financial crisis, released about the crisis. The report singles out Goldman Sachs, calling it a “case study” for the conflicts of interest that abound around Wall Street — specifically for betting against the very subprime mortgage packages it was selling. Levin also wants to bring perjury charges against Goldman’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, for his testimony in Congress last year. In other words, someone has watched “Inside Job.” The stock market is down on the news of the 600-page report. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Feb 2011 10:57

tags

Biz: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac getting kicked onto the curb?

  • This is a plan for fundamental reform — to wind down the GSEs, strengthen consumer protection and preserve access to affordable housing for people who need it.
  • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner • Explaining how he wants to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-owned mortgage-securities organizations which helped fuel the housing bubble and were ultimately felled by the subprime mortgage crisis. Geithner laid out three different ways to solve the Fannie and Freddie problem, all of which involve getting them off the taxpayer’s dime. The solutions rank in varying degrees – one is completely privatized with government guidance, one plays middle ground, and the third is a more-regulated version of Fannie and Freddie. The current organizations would pay off their massive debts, though. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Feb 2011 10:37

tags

Biz: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac: When does “bailout” become “sinkhole”?

  • $153
    billion     the amount that taxpayers have lost already on bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
  • $68
    billion     the amount expected to fall into that money pit by 2013 – a $211 billion grand total source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Jan 2011 23:52

tags

U.S.: Financial meltdown: Completely avoidable & we’re all to blame

  • The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies not in the stars, but in us.
  • Democrats on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission • Reporting the findings of an investigation into what caused everything to go to hell back in September of ’08. The majority statement was issued by the commission’s six Democrats, and opined that the crisis was avoidable: “The public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings,” it read. The four Republicans on the committee didn’t agree; three said that it was the unavoidable result of global economic forces, while the fourth blamed the crisis on (wait for it) over-regulation of the housing markets. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 14:30

tags

Politics: FCIC report to blame human action, inaction for financial crisis

  • We conclude this financial crisis was avoidable.
  • Report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission • The panel’s report, charged with investigation and review of America’s cataclysmic economic crisis, was obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. It cites human error, action, and inaction as being to blame for the collapse. The report will be widely released on Thursday. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 1 Comment • Permalink

19 Jan 2011 11:11

tags

Biz: Goldman Sachs has crappy quarter; sucks to be them

  • 53% the dip in Goldman Sachs’ fourth-quarter profits (after many hugely profitable quarters last year)
  • 39% the decline in Goldman’s bond-trading revenue; Goldman blamed “generally low client activity levels”
  • 2.5% the decline in their stock this morning, which has generally been strong during the financial crisis source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>