TODAY’S raid by Federal agents on the Nahmad Gallery should be viewed as a small part of the puzzle leading to heavy regulatory controls on the entirety of the art industry. Art and art-related transactions have remained relatively untouched by either Federal or local governments. The raid on Nahmad Gallery is the first significant step in what [...]
Happy New Year to all. A lot of fanfare and hoopla about a non-existent debt ceiling has captured the imagination of the press, the Tea Party, and even the President. The United States of America is more than three trillion dollars from the so called “Debt Ceiling.” Why? A sidebar of the Fed’s massive giveaway [...]
The banking and mortgage placement community is earning more than ten times the norm on new mortgages entered into today! It works like this… The institution grants a mortgage at a 3%-4% spread from their cost of money. Their cost of money is, more or less, zero, thanks to Fed policy. The mortgage is then [...]
April 8, 2008: “A Real Rescue Plan” by Asher Edelman August 13, 2012: “The One Housing Solution Left: Mass Mortgage Refinancing” by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Mark Zandi In April of 2008 we put forth a plan to improve the economy through profitable government assistance to homeowners. Today, August 13, 2012, the plan was put forward under [...]
Asher Edelman can be described as standing, prominently, between 2 worlds. His Wall Street career, beginning in the 1960′s, in investment banking, money management and derivatives trading not only brought renown but enabled him to build significant collections of contemporary and Modern art as well as antiquities. In the same year, 1988, that he famously taught [...]
Of the €400 billion plus in rescue funds loaned to Greece all but €15 billion went to assist the banks. Almost all of what was received by the banks was recirculated to the sovereign coffers. The emergency loan pledged to Spain of up to €120 billion is earmarked to aid the banks who, in turn, will re-lend most [...]
There is no Edelman Shock Market Index, only a bit of intuition and experience. My intuition and experience say, “never predict markets,” but the Emperor’s Clothing, or lack thereof, are about to be noticed. French 5 Year CAC 40 Index Spanish 5 Year IBEX 40 Index Japanese 5 Year Nikkei Index In different ways, but [...]
I read with interest in the Financial Times today about “Morgan Stanley’s plan to shift a large chunk of its $57 trillion derivatives portfolio into the part of the group backed by customer deposits…” In the same article, a “looming Moody’s cut could cost Morgan Stanley $9.6 billion…” J.P. Morgan must be restive in his [...]
I read today in the New York Times that between 2008 and 2012 government (taxpayer) subsidies to the banks equaled $1.3 trillion. As those of you who read my missives know, my estimate was considerably lower. At the same time, we are informed that the Fed has expanded its balance sheet by $4 trillion in [...]
All the talk about Jamie and J.P. Morgan’s strength. One wonders about the relative strength of JP CHASE in the last crises and since. Has Jamie used the flexible accounting regulations to avoid mark-to-market and, perhaps, look better than the other banks? One wonders, what does tomorrow bring for Jamie’s bank? Will the losses become so large that [...]
