Those that want to ban CDS don't understand how the world works. They certainly don't get the fact that the US mortgage market is one gigantic CDS mess.
What do you do to follow up a massive $75 billion dollar loss? Work hard and see if you can break a $100b this year. Should be a piece of cake for our boys at Fannie.
Some big governors on TV. What do they propose? Spend an additional $350b a year, that we don't happen to have. When will the bond market say no to all of this? Sooner than Ed and Arnie know.
A statistics problem. One I would love to solve. Me and a few thousand other people. A big payoff if you do solve it. The question is, has some already figured this out?
Greg Mankiw is talking debt again. He tries to say that the Obama budget is over the top. But he defends a "just right" policy of perpetual deficits. The markets are not going to let that fly. Not in 2010. Greg also blows smoke in our direction about how "good" things were when he was running the show.
What's a difference of a Trillion dollars in Spain's reported External Debt mean? It changes the debate from solvency to liquidity. An important difference.
I take issue with some of Hank Paulson's tell all book "On The Brink". I don't think he told all the story. Parts of the story he told do not jibe with the facts. It was still an interesting book.
