Ogden Nash said that progress is good if it isn’t overdone. I’ve long felt the same about transparency as my following verse indicates. Transparency is a current central banker cause But it reminds me too much of sausages and laws I think translucence, like my shower door, is a good compromise It lets in the [...]
During former Treasury Secretary Paulson’s interview with Larry Kudlow last night, Larry asked him about the role of mark to market accounting in the financial crisis. Secretary Paulson defended mark to market accounting. However, his context and his examples came from his many years of investment banking at Goldman Sachs where assets are traded daily [...]
My title is taken from the following quote from Monday’s (10-12-09) Dallas Morning News: “The financial services sector has enjoyed a fine summer rally, but I just can’t get too excited about a bunch of financial stocks leading the market higher. I mean, we are talking about banks, for heaven’s sake. These are the same [...]
"Accounting Arcana" "It's fascinating that the not-so-tiny matter of a $30 billion loss comes down to accounting arcana, but it does." I copied that quote down last night when half asleep and this morning I can't recall where I got it. Now I can't find it. My best guess is the WSJ.com. My apologies [...]
Yesterday I did an interview on the Jim Blasingame show called Which Direction is the Economy Moving? We spent a significant amount of time discussing Mark to Market and the banking crisis.
Former FDIC Chairman, William Isaac, gave me permission to post his letter to the House Financial Services Committee on the FASB proposals. Click here: [Isaac on FASB Mark to Market]
(Running Out the Clock) When a subcommittee of the House Banking Committee held hearings on mark to mark accounting, Congressional intent was very clear. Either the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) make some common- sense changes or Congress would do it through legislation. Those hearings were held on Thursday, March, 12. FASB met the following [...]
Here's an interview I did with Vinny Catalano (President and Global Investment Strategist with Blue Marble Research) on mark to market, the Geithner plan, Keynes' paradox of thrift and the Fed's balance sheet. [Bob McTeer Financial Crisis Interview]
Yesterday I was on CNBC's Closing Bell with Brian Wesbury to discuss the Treasury's new plan to form public-private partnerships to buy toxic assets from financial institutions. We agreed that reforming mark to market would be just as effective. See the video clip here: [Bob Mcteer on Mark to Market]
Here is the text of a speech I gave recently to a group of investors in Hong Kong… It's good to be back in Hong Kong, the poster child for free enterprise and a stable currency. My first visit was to speak at a conference on currency boards, at the Hong Kong Baptist University. How [...]