Is It Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis?

Aus der Harvard Business Review November 2009: HBR11_09 Is It Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis

Investors and corporate executives don’t agree on how to value distressed assets. But maybe they don’t have to.

An Ambitious Look at Wall Street’s Convulsions

Business Week, Books October 29, 2009,

A New York Times reporter brings the drama alive with unusual inside access and compelling detail

By Adrienne Carter

Too Big to Fail:
The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington
Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves
By Andrew Ross Sorkin
Viking; 600 pp.; $32.95

There’s no paucity of books about the financial crisis. Journalists, academics, economists, and pundits seem to have chronicled every event surrounding the drama on Wall Street. Some bite off just a piece, as did Wall Street Journal reporter Kate Kelly in Street Fighters, which looks at the last three days of failed investment bank Bear Stearns. Others, such as journalist Duff McDonald’s biography of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, Last Man Standing, consider a single player’s role. And a raft of works chronicle the roots of the meltdown, including the forthcoming How Markets Fail by New Yorker writer John Cassidy.

Die Angst vor der nächsten Finanzkrise

Von Peter Schwarz, 25. November 2009

In den führenden politischen Kreisen Deutschlands wächst die Angst vor einer zweiten internationalen Finanzkrise, die jene vom Herbst 2007 (???) an Intensität und Wirkung noch übertrifft.

Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und Bundesfinanzminister Wolfgang Schäuble (beide CDU) warnten am Wochenende, dass die Wirtschaftskrise noch lange nicht vorbei sei. „Es ist uns zunächst zwar gelungen, die Auswirkungen der Krise auf die Menschen zu begrenzen, aber das Schwierigste steht noch bevor„, sagte Merkel auf einer CDU-Veranstaltung.

Schäuble verglich die gegenwärtige Finanzkrise mit dem Mauerfall vor zwanzig Jahren. „Die Finanzkrise wird die Welt so stark verändern wie der Fall der Mauer. Die Gewichte zwischen Amerika, Asien und Europa verschieben sich dramatisch“, sagte er der Bild am Sonntag. Er appellierte an die Banker, bei Bonus-Zahlungen Zurückhaltung zu üben, und warnte: „Das Gefühl, dass es in der Welt gerecht zugeht, darf nicht immer schwächer werden.“

Die Billionenbombe

Von Michael Mross MM News

Monday, 23. November 2009

Das Geld, die Bombe und DER SPIEGEL: „Warum nach der Jahrhundertkrise schon die nächste droht“. – Eine fehlerhafte Problemanalyse, verursacht durch fatale Unkenntnis des Geldsystems.  In seiner jüngsten Ausgabe analysiert das Massenblatt Ursachen und Auswirkungen der Finanzkrise, die in Wirklichkeit eine Geldsystemkrise ist. Billionenbombe Spiegel Dass nach der „Jahrhundertkrise schon die nächste droht“ ist keineswegs – wie das Magazin berichtet – Gier und Wahn in der Bankenlandschaft geschuldet, sondern einzig den dem Geldsystem innewohnenden Mechanismen.

Credit Crunch Intensifies in the Eurozone: Loans to Non-Financial Corporations Decrease Further

According to the ECB, the annual rate of growth of M3 decreased to 0.3% in October 2009, from 1.8% in September 2009. The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 during August 2009-October 2009 decreased to 1.6%, from 2.5% during July 2009-September 2009. M1 growth slowed for the second month from 12.8% to 11.8% in October 2009. The annual growth rate of loans to the private sector declined further from -0.3% in September to -0.8% in October. The annual rate of change of loans to non-financial corporations decreased to -1.2% in October (also in monthly terms), from -0.2% in September. The annual rate of change of loans to households stood at -0.1% in October, after -0.3% in the previous month (positive monthly flow).

Will a Partial Bailout From Abu Dhabi Avoid a Dubai Default?

• On November 30, 2009, reports of a capital injection from Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s richer neighbor, raised hopes that an outright default would be avoided, facilitating a restructuring of Dubai World, particularly its cash-strapped property development vehicles. The Times of London and other news sources reported on November 28 that a rescue package was being pieced together in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi banks and the central bank of the UAE had previously bought Dubai bonds in November 2009 and February 2009 respectively to avoid defaults. Any funds though will have significant conditions including the implementation of the restructuring of Dubai World. Supporting Dubai helps strengthen the UAE federation, ensure stability, limit exposure to Abu Dhabi investors and avoid a surge in borrowing costs.

Across U.S., Food Stamp Use Soars and Stigma Fades

November 29, 2009, NYT

The Safety Net

By JASON DePARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF

MARTINSVILLE, Ohio — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

Why I am an Optimist

Das ist aber ganz neu für John Mauldin. Aber vieles ist „Thanksgiving Schmalz“. Aus seinem weekly newsletter:

I admit that of late my writings have had a rather dark tone. There are certainly a number of severe long-term problems that we must deal with, and they’re going to serve up a lot of economic pain. But the Thanksgiving weekend with the kids has me in a reflective mood, and one that has only served to underscore my long-term optimism. This week we look at why 2007 will not be the good old days we will yearn for in 20 years, after we briefly visit Dubai and the latest unemployment numbers.

Subprime Dubai

While we in the US spent our Thursday eating turkey and watching football, the rest of the world’s markets went into a downward spiral as Dubai announced it wanted its lenders to give the country a six-month moratorium on some $80-90 billion in debt. This has the potential to be the largest sovereign debt default since Argentina. Somehow this was a shocking development. (How can too much debt and real estate be a problem?) And by markets I mean gold, commodities, oil, stocks, and risk assets everywhere. They all went down. Today the US markets experienced their own sell-off, though not as deeply as the rest of the world.

How Big is Too Big?

As legislation on restructuring the banking industry moves forward, attention on Capitol Hill is increasingly drawn to the issue of bank size. Should our biggest banks be made smaller?

Aus der New York Times: NYT-20091126_HowBigIsTooBig

Weekly Macroanalysis

 Chinese Holdings of U.S. Treasuries Drop $5 Billion in Past Four Months

We See No Sign of Increasing Private Sector Demand in U.S. Economy

Wages and Salaries Tumble 5.2% Y-o-Y in Past Four Weeks

Mit Dank an Dr. Christian Richter aus München, der uns diese Info zur Verfügung gestellt hat.  Weekly Macro Analysis