Search

Our Other Web Sites

Link to Spero Web Design Link to BWAM Shop

Translator

English flagItalian flagKorean flagChinese (Simplified) flagChinese (Traditional) flagPortuguese flagGerman flagFrench flagSpanish flagJapanese flagArabic flagRussian flagGreek flag
Dutch flagBulgarian flagCzech flagCroatian flagDanish flagFinnish flagHindi flagPolish flagRomanian flagSwedish flagNorwegian flagCatalan flagFilipino flag
Hebrew flagIndonesian flagLatvian flagLithuanian flagSerbian flagSlovak flagSlovenian flagUkrainian flagVietnamese flagAlbanian flagEstonian flagGalician flagMaltese flag
Thai flagTurkish flagHungarian flagBelarus flagIrish flagIcelandic flagMacedonian flagMalay flagPersian flag    

Page Navigation

Categories

Previous Posts

September 2010
S M T W T F S
« Aug «-»  
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  

Switch site

Sign-up for Our RSS Feed

Click the icon to subscribe to the feed.

Worse than Katrina?*

Andy Spero | January 14, 2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

The Government’s Response to the Financial Crisis of 2008

A confluence of events during the past few days reminded us of how the  federal government failed the nation during the financial crisis of 2008. At the time, we mentioned that our public servants panicked, but now we think that we can offer a better explanation of why that occurred. Bank regulators, including the Fed, the lender of last resort, were utterly unprepared for it.

The news the past two days shows how utterly unprepared the nation of Haiti was to face… Read the rest

SCAP, The Government's Naive Stress Testing Exercise

Andy Spero | May 5, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

Or, Is It the Naive Government’s Stress Testing Exercise?

More Lack of Planning and Insight from Our Regulators and Government Officials

About one month ago–on April 7, to be precise–we asked, Where Will the Bank Stress Testing Exercise Lead?

In that post, we wrote that the tests could be designed one of three ways: (1) with a positive bias to ensure that all or almost all of the banks could pass the tests, (2) with no bias to get… Read the rest

Volatility and Losses: No End in Sight

Andy Spero | December 1, 2008 | 0 Comment(s) |

If you haven’t read it, For the Vix, 40 Looks Like It’s the New 20 in today’s The Wall Street Journal please know that is a decent column.

We particularly like the paragraph:

“Volatility may not return to its highs, but it isn’t clear when it will get back to normal, either. Volatility breeds fear, which breeds more volatility. There is still too much uncertainty about the losses lurking on bank balance sheets and about the depth and breadth of the current recession to inspire much calm.”

Now,… Read the rest

More Evidence of the Lack of Forethought that is TARP

Andy Spero | November 28, 2008 | 0 Comment(s) |

The Wall Street Journal today, November 28, reports Rescue Plan Strained by Lack of Staff.

We’ve criticized the government’s response to both the domestic mortgage crisis and the larger global confidence crisis since it–that which became TARP–was first proposed.  (We use the singular “it” because we’ve not heard any government official decouple the problems either in their initial panic or in the intervening months.)

Since mid-September, other than times when we were too busy to write, our criticism as been consistent, harsh, and steady: (1) initially the government officials, led… Read the rest

OMG, Mr. Paulson Agreed with Us Twice in One Week!

Andy Spero | November 19, 2008 | 0 Comment(s) |

Update (01-20-09): now that Mr. Paulson’s term as Treasury Secretary has ended, we must admit that the small bit of optimism we exhibited in this post was sadly and unfortunately misplaced.  It was out-of-character for us, but we’re a hopeful pesimist.  He quickly reverted to his behavior of September and October, and for that, the markets, the nation, and the world have and will continue to suffer.

We hope that his earlier actions haven’t caused irreparable damage, but we’re doubtful.

This is a longish post that covers several aspects of the… Read the rest

Global Warming and the Mortgage Crisis

Andy Spero | November 12, 2008 | 0 Comment(s) |

Regular readers will know that we often criticize the stupid application of mathematical models, especially ones related to finance and economics; ergo, our firm’s motto, “Thought Before Calculation.”

In that light, we note that in last Friday’s The Wall Street Journal (November 7) the editors excerpted a speech that Michael Crichton gave at Cal Tech in 2003, entitled ‘Aliens Cause Global Warming.’  (For those who don’t know, Mr. Crichton passed away early last week.)

In the speech, Mr. Crichton discussed the Drake equation which attempts to illustrate the winnowing-down process of all the planets in… Read the rest

TARP? Garp? Is There a Difference?

Andy Spero | October 14, 2008 | 0 Comment(s) |

We must admit, this is our first post that is truly in bad taste, but it seems so appropriate that we just could not help ourselves.  TARP. TARP.

We’re trying to write seriously about the government’s–the Treasury Department’s–latest expediencies and tactics to … well, we’re not sure of the objective… presumably, to make it all go away so that Mr. Bush and his appointees can enjoy their last Autumn and Christmas in D.C.  (Why would anyone want to ruin Mr. Bush’s last Christmas in the White House by causing the possible financial ruin of much… Read the rest