Archive for the ‘Polticial Decisions Affecting Banking’ Category

Are Freddie and Fanny Too Big to Fail? Here’s a Better Question – Is the United States Too Big to Fail?

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

I am so sick of having it explained to me that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are too big to fail. There are two aspects of this little tale that make me nauseous. First, the reason Fannie and Freddie got this big is itself criminal (before you sue, Federal Reserve, I ...

Fighting Our Way Out of the Banking Crisis: Paulson Takes the Ball.

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

The Credit Crisis seems to be approaching its nadir, although it is clear that we will lose several more banks, perhaps many of the smaller “me too” banks, before this experience is over. We seem to be moving into a phase that happens in every crisis from war to basketball. ...

The Coming Regulations For Financial Institutions: Don’t Worry. Be Happy.

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

It has been clear since the outset of the Credit Crisis (see “Mortgage Debt Crisis,” September 10, 2007 post, this blog.) that the investment banks were going to be regulated by the Federal Reserve. Secretary of the Treasury Paulson set a four year deadline to implement his then unspecified “update” ...

The Puget Sound Energy Bid: “Macquarie Group, Let Me Introduce You to The Public Council Section of the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Washington.”

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Macquarie Group is trying to do a thing that it has done with notable success over the past few decades. Buy a corporation that provides a service essential to the Commonweal through thick and thin, leverage it, and then sell it off to investors. Macquarie has been successful doing this ...