Have nothing to do with the [evil] things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light... [For] when all things are brought out into the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed...

-Ephesians 5:11-13

Tag Archives: credit risk

S&P Downgrades China’s Credit Rating

Friday, 22 September 2017 05:21
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, September 21, 2017:  

Thanks to “diminished financial stability,” S&P Global Ratings downgraded China’s credit rating for the first time since 1999, adding, “China’s prolonged period of strong credit [debt] growth has increased its economic and financial risks. Although this credit [debt] growth had contributed to strong real gross domestic product growth and higher asset prices, we believe it has also diminished financial stability.”

The downgrade by S&P is the second one this year for China — Moody’s Investors Service dropped China’s rating in May — and was preceded by a warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August that China’s growing debt binge was putting its economy into jeopardy.

The response by Chinese officials was as predictable as it was silly.

Keep Reading…

Moody’s Revelation: “Managed” Economies fail

Saturday, 27 May 2017 05:49
0 Comments

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, May 26, 2017:  

Perhaps without knowing it, Moody’s downgrade of China one full notch on Wednesday exposed the fallacy of managed economies: that government bureaucrats with fancy degrees from the University of Chicago, Harvard, or Yale know what they’re doing. One of those fallacies that have been promoted for years came from Yale grad Arthur Laffer as far back as the Reagan administration. On the surface it sounds eminently logical: cut taxes and the economy will grow. The fallacy is knowing just how much to cut, whose to cut, when to cut, and how long to cut.

The Laffer Curve undergirds the whole idea of “supply side economics” –

Keep Reading…

Moody’s Credit Downgrade of China First in Almost 30 Years

Friday, 26 May 2017 05:43
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, May 25, 2017:

China GDP

China GDP

Moody’s Investors Service, one of the big three credit-rating services in the country, downgraded China’s creditworthiness one full notch on Wednesday. It moved the world’s second-largest economy from Aa3 (“high quality [with] very low risk”) to A1 (Upper-medium grade [with] low credit risk”). It explained why:

The downgrade reflects Moody’s expectations that China’s financial strength will erode somewhat over the coming years, with economy-wide debt continuing to grow as potential growth slows.

That “potential growth” has been slowing since at least 2010. In that year Chinese government agencies reported growth in excess of 10 percent. By 2014, it had slowed to 7.3 percent, to 6.9 percent in 2015, and is now at a reported 6.7 percent.

Moody’s is late to the game.

Keep Reading…

Stock Market’s Complacency Index Highest in 24 Years

Tuesday, 09 May 2017 05:37
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, May 8, 2017:  

Wall Street’s “complacency index” — a measure of confidence that stock prices will continue to rise — hit the highest level since 1993 on Monday. Alternatively called the VIX (for volatility index), it is often referred to as Wall Street’s “investor fear gauge.”

Translation: Investors presently appear to have no fear. The index compares investors betting, through their purchases of options, that the market will go up, to those betting to the contrary. When investor fear is high, the VIX will move above 30 or even higher. When fear declines, the VIX trades below 20. During the day on Monday the VIX touched 9.72, a level not seen in 24 years.

So complacent have investors become that the VIX has dropped by 45 percent just since April 13. By comparison,

Keep Reading…

Like a Zombie, the Export-Import Bank is Threatening to Come Back to Life

Thursday, 10 September 2015 04:34
0 Comments

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, September 9, 2015:  

The movie White Zombie, a horror film in 1932 starring Bela Lugosi, featured zombies as mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician. The Export-Import Bank doesn’t quite fit the definition, but it’s close.

Crafted by socialists surrounding FDR in 1934 and given life by an executive order, Ex-Im was granted permanent status as an agency in 1945. It has been repeatedly, endlessly, mindlessly resurrected almost 20 times since then, until the end of June.

Since then pressure has been building among its crony beneficiaries

Keep Reading…

Push to Restart Ex-Im Bank Begins

Wednesday, 09 September 2015 05:05
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, September 8, 2015:  

Seal of the Export-Import Bank of the United S...

With the reconvening of Congress this week, pressure on politicians to restart the Export-Import Bank is predictably coming from the usual suspects: large corporations who have enjoyed the U.S. taxpayer guarantees that have reduced their own costs and risks of doing business overseas. Without those taxpayer subsidies, they’ve been forced to adjust to the realities of the marketplace, and they don’t like it.

Boeing officials are lamenting that the Ex-Im Bank is no longer insuring loans to its customers who can’t find regular financing on their own:

Keep Reading…

Export-Import Bank’s Charter Expires, for the Moment

Thursday, 02 July 2015 04:41
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, July 1, 2015: 

English: Export-Import Bank of the United Stat...

Visitors to the Export-Import Bank’s website on Wednesday would have found a terse notice that its charter had “lapsed” effective midnight, June 30, meaning that “the Bank and any of its delegated authority lenders cannot authorize any new transactions.” However, the bank is likely to have a very long life even after its death:

Keep Reading…

Is NewSat the next Solyndra?

Tuesday, 31 March 2015 04:58
0 Comments

This article first appeared at The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 27, 2015:

English: Export-Import Bank of the United Stat...

In 2012 and 2013, the Export-Import Bank unanimously agreed to guarantee loans by Lockheed Martin to a small private Australian satellite company called NewSat, whose president was ecstatic at the news. NewSat’s CEO Adrian Ballintine celebrated:

It is fantastic to receive the support of the U.S. Ex-Im Bank. They are backing our … satellite with a direct loan, with a favorable low-fixed interest rate and long tenure.

 

The deal is an Australian first for Ex-Im Bank and a major milestone towards the launch of Australia’s first commercial satellite.

His was a company worth $50 million before Ex-Im guaranteed $304 million in loans by Lockheed Martin to provide it with a satellite designed to reach all across the South Pacific and rake in millions. Ex-Im was simply following its charter: make loans no one with any sense would consider making.

Of course, that isn’t exactly what the bank’s charter really says;

Keep Reading…

Whistleblowers Share Over $170M in Bank of America Settlement

Tuesday, 23 December 2014 06:20
0 Comments

This article first appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, December 22, 2014: 

Whistleblower (TV series)

Whistleblower (TV series)

Under the Whistleblower Act — also known as the False Claims Act, or FCA — the details behind 16 lawsuits involving the Bank of America, and that bank’s settlement for nearly $17 billion in August of this year, were kept secret, until Thursday, December 18, when they were “unsealed.” Whistleblowers involved in exposing the frauds by the bank and its Countrywide Financial subsidiary will share more than $170 million, dwarfing other whistleblowers’ payouts, and setting a record for the largest one against a single defendant.

Three individuals and a small New Jersey mortgage company (Mortgage Now) will share the spoils. Mortgage Now will receive $8.5 million for its part in exposing the fraud of issuing high-risk mortgages and calling them safe. Robert Madsen, a former employee with a property appraisal company owned by Bank of America, will get

Keep Reading…

Whistleblowers Get Paid, Countrywide Chairman Gets Off

Tuesday, 23 December 2014 05:54
0 Comments

This article first appeared at The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, December 22, 2014: 

Last August, Bank of America agreed to pay out nearly $17 billion to settle sixteen lawsuits over making and marketing fraudulent mortgages leading up to the start of the Great Recession, setting a record in the process. But the details, under the False Claims Act, remained sealed until last week. The big news, according to the Wall Street Journal, was just how much four whistleblowers were getting: $170 million plus.

Even after the IRS and lawyers get their share, those four will enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle for a long time. Three individuals and a small New Jersey mortgage company, Mortgage Now, will share the spoils. Mortgage Now will receive

Keep Reading…

Congress to Grill Ex-Im Bank Chairman Over Corruption Charges

Wednesday, 25 June 2014 12:29
0 Comments

This article was first published at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, June 25, 2014: 

English: , President of the

Fred Hochberg, President of the Export-Import Bank

On Thursday Fred Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank, will be grilled by members of the House Financial Services Committee over charges of corruption and mismanagement at the 80-year old agency. His task to defend the agency appears formidable, especially with its charter being up for renewal at the end of September.

On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that four Ex-Im employees have either been suspended or fired over the last few months as a result of “investigations into allegations of gifts and kickbacks.” But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Heritage Foundation reported on the same day that

Keep Reading…

Detroit: the First Domino to Fall

Monday, 22 July 2013 15:14
0 Comments

This article was first published at The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, July 22nd, 2013:

 

The city of Detroit is living proof that Herb Stein is right: if something cannot go on forever, it will stop. For Detroit, it stopped last week when

Keep Reading…

3 percent down payment mortgages are back

Wednesday, 03 April 2013 15:00
0 Comments

You probably saw it on the news last night: Fannie Mae turned a profit last quarter, the first profit since the real estate bubble burst in 2007. Yahoo explains why:

Lenders are increasingly approving

Keep Reading…

Many of the articles on Light from the Right first appeared on either The New American or the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor.
Copyright © 2018 Bob Adelmann