Archive for the ‘When Regulation Goes Wrong’ Category
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
Evan Newmark points out (WSJ, Aug 15, 2008) the fundamental facts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s (henceforth F&F) existence. None of them are news but his conclusion, that F&F should be closed, is news of a sort. I have not seen this conclusion before in the popular press, although ...
Posted in The Banking Crisis, Federal Housing Agencies, Polticial Decisions Affecting Banking, When Regulation Goes Wrong | No Comments »
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. ...
Posted in leadership, Markets and Regulation, Federal Housing Agencies, When Regulation Goes Wrong | No Comments »
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
I’ve been waiting for thirty years. That’s when I first heard Milton Friedman predict that the real United States Deficit problem was not the one we all talk about. It is the one that will hit the fan when the Treasury assumes the Obligations of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, ...
Posted in Rating Agencies, Creative Accounting, When Regulation Goes Wrong | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
In the June 24th WSJ (“Maybe It’s Time to Put the Banks and the Investment Banks Back Together.”) Dennis Berman forecasts the demise of investment banks. I could not disagree more with his thesis, that transaction-based institutions have become obsolete, since their ratios of risk to anticipated return have ...
Posted in Creative Accounting, Bank Management, When Regulation Goes Wrong | No Comments »