Archive for the ‘When Regulation Goes Wrong’ Category

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 ...

Is FASB Finally Standing Up to the Fed?

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

FASB (The Financial Accounting Standards Board - rule-makers for the accounting profession) announced possible rule changes for banks today (May 1st). This event got little attention in the financial press. It rated a sidebar in the Money and Investing section of the Wall Street Journal. As far as I could ...

Should Gordon Brown Lead World Financial Reform?

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Following the US general election in November, Gordon Brown will become the only leader of a G7 country who can read a bank balance sheet. That and his reputation as a dour Scotsman may make him the person most qualified to carry Britain's standard to the front rank in the ...

The G7 Plans a Financial Reform – The Market Plans Another One.

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

On March 8, the G7 announced that it is forming a plan – a plan that would put an end to the crises that seem to plague the post-OPEC world financial system. They’ll plan. The plan won’t work. The G7 – the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy ...