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Freddie and Fannie: Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey-ey, Goodbye
- February 11, 2011
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Financial Services, Government, Mortagages, News
No CommentsThe White House has issued a proposal recommending the gradual elimination of government-sponsored mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were brought under government conservatorship in 2008 in a costly taxpayer bailout. We wrote about this in June of 2010, supporting the gradual winding down of these companies with solutions
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GM IPO is Equivalent to a Government Bake Sale
- September 7, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Automotive, Government, News
You may have experienced, as a child, when your school or Boy Scout troop wanted to raise money, it held a “Bake Sale.” A “Bake Sale” basically meant that your Mom baked a cake or cup cakes, donated them to the bake sale, and then bought them back. The school or troop received the proceeds
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Hindenburg Omen – Strike Two and One to Go
- August 27, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Econometrics, Economy, Government, News, Stock Market
The Hindenburg Omen is an econometrics-based model that has been successful in predicting stock market crashes. The Omen has been behind every market crash since 1987, but significant stock-market declines have followed only 25% of the time. The Hindenburg, of course, was the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg which caught fire, and was destroyed,
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Wall Street Reform And Consumer Protection – The Foxes are Eating the Chickens
- July 9, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Economy, Financial Services, News
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, named for Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank – the two foxes who watched over the henhouses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, helping to kick off the current U.S. financial crisis – was severely criticized by Deutsche Bank this week. Deutsche is a very
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Honest Services Too Intangible to Abolish Corruption
- June 24, 2010
- Posted by: Ted Bullen
- Category: Government, Legal, News
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court substantially limited the “Honest Services” law which purports to make it a federal crime to employ a scheme or artifice to defraud another of the intangible right of “honest services.” This 1988 law has been applied by federal prosecutors in public fraud cases to strengthen the case against corrupt business
