Tag Archives: Financial Crisis ’08

What’s Good for General Motors is Good for the Country

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

How ironic. Congress is entertaining a $25 billion bailout of the autos. The President and Secretary of the Treasury are OK with this as long as it doesn’t come out of the $700 billion TARP money. To the average person, … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments
Posted on November 17, 2008 by camharvey

Children in the Candy Store

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia

The bad news keeps piling in: $150 billion commitment to a non-bank, AIG GE Capital (which is not a bank) gets FDIC Insurance backup for $139 billion American Express and CIT Group are now banks – I guess everyone is … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments
Posted on November 12, 2008 by camharvey

The Hurdles the New President Faces

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

President-elect Obama wants to avoid the Herbert Hoover scenario. In this scenario, many economic initiatives are tried but fail to bring the U.S. out of recession. The high expectations are not met. The result: a single term. Of course, there … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , | 5 Comments
Posted on November 6, 2008 by camharvey

Who deserves to be bailed out?

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I appeared on Business News Network to discuss: the missteps in implementing TARP, who should be bailed out, alternative plans to regenerate credit and the implications for the real economy. View the clip here.

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
Posted on October 30, 2008 by camharvey

Bank Earnings Are Impossible to Interpret

It is earnings season and many banks will be reporting their earnings. What are we to make of these earnings? In usual circumstances, it is hard to decode earnings. Today, it is next to impossible. By the way, why did … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment
Posted on October 20, 2008 by camharvey

Deconstructing Vol

The VIX is hovering around 70%. This is an annualized volatility. Bringing it to a daily level, volatility would be about 4.5%. Hence, the VIX is telling us that market moves of up to +/- 9% should not be unexpected. … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
Posted on October 17, 2008 by camharvey

The D-word

The credit crisis is 13-months old. Unfortunately, policy makers have been late to the game. In addition, the game plan has changed so many times that it is not surprising that there is a general lack of confidence that we … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , | 1 Comment
Posted on October 16, 2008 by camharvey

Equity injection is not enough to get us out of this mess

The government doled out $125b of equity injection to 9 banks yesterday. It is a dramatic change from the original TARP proposal (to pay a premium price for toxic assets). I have advocated for weeks an equity injection (along with … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , | 2 Comments
Posted on October 15, 2008 by camharvey

The Fall of the House of TARP: Time for Plan B

I am not surprised that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) failed. The paper that I put out on Friday detailed the numerous problems with the TARP.  My paper argued that the TARP had at least three major flaws.

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
Posted on September 29, 2008 by camharvey

My Proposal to End the Credit Crisis and Minimize Damage to the Real Economy

We have been trying to put out one fire after another and it is time to get ahead of the problem.  One day it is money market funds, the next is Washington Mutual, and TARP over the weekend. We need … Continue reading →

Read More
Posted in Finance | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
Posted on September 26, 2008 by camharvey