Our love-affair with sub-optimal outcomes continues.  Who needs a big juicy stag, when you can get something much worse?  Rousseau knew what he was talking about, and the Chrysler bondholders are a great case study.
When they first asserted themselves (anonymously), the arguments were strong.  Negotations were only being conducted with TARP-money-holders, so their cooperation was [...]

The New York Times is reporting that the “The administration seems prepared to argue that, while a few banks may need additional money, the broad financial system is healthier than many investors fear.” Where’s the stress in the test then?

Chrysler is finally going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  See the NYTimes guide to understand the basics.
The major backstory is what the secured creditors will get for their bonds.  We are led to believe that the protagonists are led by the the large creditors who received TARP funds because they are agreeing to the government’s [...]

DeltaHedged never sleeps. Currently, I’m enjoying the sights and sounds of the UK. What an interesting place.

Rahm Emanuel was on CNBC this afternoon touting the administration’s hopes and dreams that, one day, all of those government funds will be paid back and Government will return to being in the business of governing, and not in the business of…ahem…business.
I’m not as hopeful about the ease with which GSEs (government sponsored enterprises) can [...]

There’s no news here - the evil “banker” has been the world’s whipping boy for some time now.  But you know you’re in trouble when Tim “may as well have been banker” Geithner is taking shots at you too.
Even though some sources are reporting that Wall Street pay is ” bouncing back” (Goldman Sachs did [...]

You know the rest of the line.
While the song was originally written to reflect the problems caused by excessive wealth within the hip-hop community, Puffy may as well have been throwing down rhymes about the U.S. Government.
While it is not clear from the lyrics what mo’ specifically means, it’s just a catchy way of saying [...]

We, as a society, need to answer the following: is extending credit to those with dubious credit worthiness worth it?

The BAC-MER merger is turning into a right ol’ debocle.  What we first thought was just a monumental Ken Lewis misjudgment, turns out to be a monumental misjudgment cheered on by the government.  Replace “cheered on” with
“insisted upon” and you might get somewhere.  At least that’s what some folks are saying.
Even even Lewis did want [...]

Unemployment at 4.3%…GDP growth at 6.3%…Market up 37% YTD…sounds nice.
Lets try again:
Government-supplied urban unemployment rate at 4.3%…GDP growth at 6.3% down from 10-11%…Index up 37% YTD mostly on speculation.
Sounds less nice.
It’s just China, where we just can’t seem to decide on whether their economic situation is spectacular or spectacularly awful.  I mean, it doesn’t get [...]