Tag Archives: Treasury

Wrong time, wrong place for floating rate debt

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Testifying before Congress back in 1993, when interest rates were 7.5%, I advocated shifting some of the Federal debt to floating rate debt. If the Treasury had shifted half of the debt to floating rate at that time, they would … Continue reading


The Public-Private Investment Voodoo

Image courtesy of AllPosters.com/J. Thompson

Each of the three programs announced by the Secretary of the Treasury today has the same theme: the private investor has a limited downside and a huge upside – the American taxpayer bears almost all the downside and gets shafted … Continue reading


The Ghost of Paulson-Past

What we saw yesterday was more of the same. I was flabbergasted that the plan was so light on details. They have had 3 months to put something together and the best they could deliver is a 7-page fact sheet. … Continue reading


Brother, Can You Spare a Trillion?

The (in)famous Credit Default Swap (CDS) market provides the market’s best guess that an issuer will default on its debt. A low spread is good. A high spread is bad. Check this out. Campbell Soups’ (no relation!) CDS is less … Continue reading


The Shroud of Citigroup

Image courtesy of Bill Barfield

Image courtesy of flickr/Bill Barfield It wasn’t that long ago that Citigroup was considered a “good” bank.  Remember October 1, 2008? Citigroup announced it was acquiring Wachovia with the help of the FDIC. You had to be strong to do … Continue reading