Fitch cuts Ambac rating to AA
Look out below. The downgrades of bond insurers have begun. This downgrade means the start of more write-downs for banks. Just how much, no one knows. It also means that bonds that were AAA rated are no longer.
Politics in the Zeros
"A republic, if you can keep it." Vegas, taxes.
Politics in the Zeros
"A republic, if you can keep it." Vegas, taxes.
Category Credit crisis
Five simple steps to becoming a billionaire: The Greenspan Method
From LongorShortCapital, the de-saintifying of Alan Greenspan continues, as well it should. Become Fed Chairman Lower interest rates until you create an asset bubble. Hold them low until stagflation is in the air and a real estate bubble is floating…
Mortgage defaults
Even among upper-income buyers, 54.4 percent of blacks and 48.9 percent of Hispanics used high-cost loans. By contrast, just 16.4 percent of higher-income white buyers received such loans. Were the mortgage agents overtly racist? No, probably not. But this does…
Credit default swaps. Icebergs for financial markets.
(How a CDS works. From PIMCO.) The financial rot has spread from subprime to other areas like credit card and auto loan debt and to Credit Default Swaps too. CDS are where the issuer of a financial instrument pays an…
Recession watch
“The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be,” said David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. “Even if the Fed’s moves are going to work, it will…