Archive for March 2nd, 2009

Ponzi Schemes: They Just Keep Coming

Another day another Ponzi scheme. Now it involves a nursing home operator. Sunwest Management has been charged by the SEC with operating a Ponzi scheme that potentially defrauded investors out of $300 million. The company was involved in the acquisition and operation of over 200 retirement homes. It told investors that they were investing in […]

Can Fannie And Freddie Ever Break Free?

The NY Times has an excellent article tonight about the passing of Fannie and Freddie into what increasingly appears to be permanent government ownership. The article points out two essential facts. One that so much money has been passed from the government to the two that they could never possibly pay it back and two […]

More Concern About The Fed’s Independence

Another Fed President has expressed reservations about the Fed’s role in attempting to right the economic ship. Last week (link), I noted that Philadelphia Fed President, Charles Plosser, was uncomfortable with the status quo and today Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said he had similar concerns. “Using the Fed’s balance sheet is at times the […]

Details On Your Reworked AIG Investment

Well here are the details of the changes to our investment in AIG. It’s pretty much what we talked about yesterday. Preferred Equity The U.S. Treasury will exchange its existing $40 billion cumulative perpetual preferred shares for new preferred shares with revised terms that more closely resemble common equity and thus improve the quality of […]

We’re Saving More And That Ticks Off Krugman

Here’s some good news for a change. Americans’ personal savings increased from 3.9% in December to 5% in January. From the BEA: Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — was $545.5 billion in January, compared with $416.8 billion in December.  Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 5.0 percent in January, […]