Below is a partial list of December FDIC enforcement decisions and orders. I have only included cease-and-desist orders, prompt corrective action notices and termination of insurance orders as these are the signs of banking system distress.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today released a list of orders of administrative enforcement actions taken against banks and [...]

Exactly three months ago, I told you to expect bankruptcy in the record Stuyvesant Town real estate deal. Today, this is exactly what we got:
A group led by Tishman Speyer Properties has decided to give up the sprawling Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan to its creditors in the collapse of [...]

CNBC’s Diana Olick has the breaking story on alleged fraud in the mortgage industry. She has been writing about this for a few days now.  See Big Banks Accused of Short Sale Fraud – Realty Check with Diana Olick at CNBC’s website.
Basically, second liens on properties like home equity loans have a blocking interest that [...]

This is a post which I originally published at New Deal 2.0.
Ed mentioned yesterday in his post Credit crises, market equilibrium, economic policy and fiat currencies that both the neoclassicals and the Obama Administration believe the financial crisis has been some sort of temporary liquidity crisis; fix the financial plumbing and it’s business as usual [...]

Sheila Bair is a straight shooter. And as such, she laid it on the line today in her prepared remarks before Congress.  Her remarks were on the money on several counts. I will highlight just a few with commentary followed by the relevant quotes. A link to the testimony is provided at the end. Notice [...]

On a number of occasions, I have pointed to the sectoral balances model of finance to help demonstrate what happens when the government sector runs a deficit or a surplus. A recent article in the Financial Times by Martin Wolf on Japan’s woes highlights this subject and demonstrates how government deficits balance private sector saving. [...]

I had originally looked to add this video to the last post on Black about the federal reserve. But the video here showing Black speaking to Bloomberg News about the recent AIG scandal and financial regulation deserves a post of its own.
The question Black asks is why haven’t we seen a more thorough investigation [...]

The latest piece of big news in the sovereign debt crisis comes, remarkably, from Iceland. The country collapsed into depression after its experiment as an open economy with a large banking sector went pear shaped.
After a debt-fuelled boom and a huge influx of hot money due to high interest rates, its currency and banks collapsed [...]

I have been largely silent about the recent populist call to arms by Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson. The duo advise Americans to withdraw their money from bank accounts at too-big-to-fail financial institutions and deposit them in a community bank. And they present a comprehensive list of community banks vetted by star bank analyst Chris [...]

The dust has settled a bit on the Treasury’s recent decision to give Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a green light to nationalize our mortgage problem. Calculated Risk says the move was not necessarily done on Christmas Eve to escape notice. And it was not done to socialize future losses via Fannie and Freddie. It [...]