I have my modest portfolio of stocks and mutual funds on the stocks app that came with my iPhone, which I check compulsively during the day. Those up for the day show up in green; those down are red. Most of you have the same app, but you are probably more rational about the way [...]
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 [...]
On Tues. I appeared on The Kudlow Report to discuss the prospect of long term inflation. I made the remark that monetary policy is not that easy, and the Fed's main concern should be preventing deflation. I also noted that a weak dollar in the short term could help with economic recovery. On the May 20 Kudlow [...]
I've had quite a few blog postings recently on various aspects of the financial crisis and the state of the economy. Scrolling through them to find something of interest is not the easiest thing to do. Since I'm out of pocket briefly, I thought it might be useful to present a list of recent postings [...]
"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 [...]
If it weren't tacky to say I told you so, I'd refer you to my previous posts and interviews pointing out the dangers and pitfalls of the bank stress tests. They weren't just a mistake; they were a mistake anyone without sleep deprivation should have seen coming a mile away. It's not the biggest mistake [...]
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.
Good question. Many have received injections of capital (purchases of preferred stock) through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), yet many large banks announced large profits this week. If this week's announcements were all I knew about it, I'd be very confused. But, my answer is…
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]