Should Argentina Now Pay the Ransom to Its Hostage-Takers?
Argentina’s vultures keep pressing for higher and higher settlement terms, while giving the impression that at some point they would settle. What is the end game?
Read more...Category Archives: Derivatives
CalPERS Takes on Risk Where Federal Government Fears to Tread: Provides Liquidity to a Derivatives Central Counterparty on the Cheap
CalPERS has engaged in one of the most bone-headed moves ever, the financial equivalent of picking up pennies before a steamroller.
Read more...Central Counterparties: The New Locus of Systemic Risk?
Central counterparties, also known as central clearinghouses, were supposed to reduce systemic risk. That story is not playing out according to its script.
Read more...Bill Black: Announcing the Bank Whistleblowers’ Group’s Initial Proposals
Bill Black is spearheading an important initiative by bank whistleblowers to combat fraud and other abuses by banks.
Read more...Why Larry Summers is Wrong and Bernie Sanders is Right on Glass Steagall
Larry Summers, acting as a proxy for Team Clinton, attacked Sanders’ reform proposals, particularly the an updated Glass Steagall. Her’s why Summers is wrong.
Read more...Debunking “The Big Short”: How Michael Lewis Turned the Real Villains of the Crisis into Heroes
How Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, whether for profit or by accident, has denied the public the truth about what really causes the crisis.
Read more...Even Bank Supporters Arguing for Restoration of Glass Steagall
John Dizard, who perhaps by virtue of being one of the Financial Times’ most original and insightful columnists, is relegated to its weekend “Wealth” section, has written a particularly important pair of articles. Note that Dizard’s ambit is not policy wonkery but apt and often cynical observations about behavior and trading patterns in less visible […]
Read more...Vulture Capitalists Are the Real Winners of Argentina’s Elections
How Argentina’s former president Kirchner’s loss is vulture fund chief Paul Singer’s big win.
Read more...Foreign Banks Such as Deutsche Using Variant of Lehman “Repo 105” Balance-Sheet Tarting Up Strategy
Foreign Banks Such as Deutsche Using Variant of Lehman “Repo 105” Balance-Sheet Tarting Up Strategy
Read more...Negative Real Rates Signify a Broken Financial System
How the debate on negative real rates has missed role of demand for “safe” collateral for derivative positions, and why that is central.
Read more...Bernanke’s Cockroaches
Every time I read a new, improved set of excuses from people like Bernanke, I feel like I’ve walked into my kitchen and turned on the lights after the exterminator paid a visit, only to find cockroaches all over my counter yet again.
Read more...Michael Hudson on Parasitic Financial Capitalism
An interview with Michael Hudson on his latest book, Killing the Host, which focuses on the destruction wrought by financial capitalism.
Read more...Glencore, Commodities Traders, and Systemic Risk
Mega commodities trader Glencore and its big peers are looking wobbly. How worried should you be?
Read more...Wolf Richter: Bankers Threaten Fed with Layoffs if it Doesn’t Raise Rates
Yes, banks really do want the Fed to raise interest rates.
Read more...Libor Trader Sentenced to 14 Years for Market Manipulation. So What About His Bosses?
While it’s gratifying to see former UBS trader Tom Hayes go to jail for large-scale Libor bid rigging, his bosses had to have known what he was up to. So when will we see their indictments?
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