Sizing Up Financial Reform To Date*
No, I haven't been commenting on the Lehman Bros. bankruptcy expose, which has been a big deal in the financial blogosphere the last week or so.
Having declined to read the entire 2,000-plus page study, my quick take is that everything people suspected that Lehman did, it actually did -- only worse.
(Make, that people away from Wall Street, where people knew for fact what Lehman was doing, i.e., quarter-end financial engineering, hiding debt, and pervasive Enron-like accounting generally).
Beyond the particulars of Lehman, though, what's my take on financial reform generally, up to and including the (lame) legislation just introduced by lameduck Christopher Dodd?
The newly diagnosed emphysema patient has resumed (chain)smoking.
Except that: a) the patient never really stopped smoking; and b) given all the hacking the last few years, the diagnosis wasn't exactly a surprise.
No, the recovery won't be easy, but an obvious first start would seem to be to switch doctors!!
*That's actually a trick headline; 18 months after the crash, there hasn't been any perceptible financial reform.
Showing posts with label Lehman Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lehman Brothers. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
WSJ headline: 'Americans Pare Down Debt'
So THAT's What *Lehman Bros. Did
If all you did was skim The Wall Street Journal's headlines today, you could be mistaken for thinking that the average American's financial health was improving -- sort of like a dieter finally losing those pesky, excess pounds.
The reality is a bit different.
As the Journal article makes clear a couple paragraphs in, the reason household debt is falling dramatically at the moment isn't because consumers are taking out less debt, or repaying what they owe. Rather, it's because they're filing bankruptcy and defaulting, in record numbers, on their mortgages.
If that's nuance (spin?), so is the difference between successfully completing Weight Watchers and having your stomach stapled.
Or having no food to eat (the "ultimate diet," or what used to be called "starving").
*If you didn't know (or already forgot), Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy -- the largest in U.S. history -- in September, 2008.
If all you did was skim The Wall Street Journal's headlines today, you could be mistaken for thinking that the average American's financial health was improving -- sort of like a dieter finally losing those pesky, excess pounds.
The reality is a bit different.
As the Journal article makes clear a couple paragraphs in, the reason household debt is falling dramatically at the moment isn't because consumers are taking out less debt, or repaying what they owe. Rather, it's because they're filing bankruptcy and defaulting, in record numbers, on their mortgages.
If that's nuance (spin?), so is the difference between successfully completing Weight Watchers and having your stomach stapled.
Or having no food to eat (the "ultimate diet," or what used to be called "starving").
*If you didn't know (or already forgot), Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy -- the largest in U.S. history -- in September, 2008.
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