* Note the difference between the True Arab-Like Uprisings and the Fake Arab-Like Uprisings.

 1-Central Banks:

They have embarked in plans called Quantitative Easing (QE) and Lending Schemes, aiming to provide low-interest rates money to large financial institutions, without checking… Read full post »

Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac’s charters were amended on July 30th, 2008, 38 days before Conservatorship began (September 7th,  2008) in order to approve a provision that will be very punitive to their shareholders during Conservatorship. The day of Conservatorship, the enterprises signed a/… Read full post »

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) considers the benefits of a lower funding of Fannie and Freddie as a subsidy to the enterprises and records a deficit in the Federal Budget because it considers it as a cost to the government. CBO calls it an opportunity cost: the cost as if they… Read full post »

This is the story of a nationalization of a private company to pursue a public mission, at the expense of the shareholders:

Freddie Mac’s 2Q SEC 10-Q report: Page 108.

http://www.freddiemac.com/investors/sec_filings/index.html

“The Acting Director of FHFA stated that minimizing our cred… Read full post »

"Dear Mr. President:

June 28th, 2004

We urge you to reconsider your Administration's criticisms of the housing-related government sponsored enterprises (the "GSEs'') and instead work with Congress to strengthen the mission and oversight of the GSEs.

We write as members of the House of Representatives… Read full post »

This is the same title of an article that I wrote one year ago related to an European ISP (Internet Service Provider).

That company had no cash, so the coupons of its bonds were paid in shares. The bondholders were short-selling the stock in order to lower the share price,… Read full post »

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the largest mortgage lenders and GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprises), which means that they will never file for bankruptcy because the US Government is providing all the liquidity needed, and also because they own half the amount of all the US mortgages, and account… Read full post »

Having heard today from a CNBC newsreader that Spain is Lehman Brothers, we ought to say that enough is enough when spreading rumors and alarming financial markets in order to increase the audience of the network.

I´ve seen how this ball was created from the beginning, as I use to… Read full post »

With more than 385 days, Lula already takes more of a year of his mandate outside Brazil. From his assumption, the Brazilian president already visited more than 200 countries (including repetitions) and  opened 36 new diplomatic representations outside.

The objective?  It is/… Read full post »

We already knew Argentina’s strong alignment with the Venezuela President Hugo Chávez,  a sworn rival of the US who says is intent in ushering in the 21st-century Socialism. Argentina is a strategic allied of Venezuela, and so is Iran.

But now the parallelism is huge so the Internat… Read full post »

For a young person, a 50% decline in the Stock Market is a gift. Now the S&P 500 Index is 36% off its all time high, so it is still a gift.

Can you imagine how many millions of dollars will be invested on the Stock Exchange from now until their… Read full post »

Nobel laureate,  professor of economics and NY Times columnist, Paul Krugman has spent the last three years warning the people that the long feared housing burst was arriving.

But prices didn´t come down sharply until the financial crisis appeared after Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11… Read full post »

The logic of buying a stake in a troubled financial institution rather than simply taking the bad securities is that a government couldn’t buy an illiquid asset (market prices for many those assets do not exist) and it is very difficult to decide which debt securities to buy and from whom… Read full post »

TRADUCCIÓN AL FINAL. TRANSLATION AT THE END.

The future for young people in Argentina is to choose between slavery and poverty:

Slavery:  One could think that it was abolished many years ago, but not in Argentina.  I always thought that low cost work force countries could buy goods/… Read full post »

How a government of a country can benefit so much, with its inaction and then with its action, to the Hedge Fund industry that is gaining huge amount of money since one year ago and will continue to do so during the next years. In the meantime, the damage to so many… Read full post »

I would like to be Jon Stewart (CNN comedian). I would like to know nothing about finance and how financial markets work.

Now, more than a year ago since the financial market crisis had begun it is very easy to play the blame game, and play videos to show that… Read full post »

What would have happened if the mark-to-market rule (that requires assets to be valued at current market prices, even if there is no organized market) had not existed?

Not all the subprime assets are going to default.

At this time, the damage to the global economy is already done, because banks… Read full post »

If you want to make good returns for your investment in Buenos Aires Capital Federal, just do what Argentinean businessmen do there. Just open a small business (restaurant, bar, shop, etc.). THE OPERATIONAL MARGIN IS HUGE !!!!!.

Argentinean businessmen, in order to not lose parity with the dollar (d… Read full post »