CreditSlips

It's not just the economy stupid!

02/17/12

“Greeks are protesting new austerity measures” is a common headline these days. It definitely captures some of what protesting Greeks are doing, but certainly leaves a whole lot out of the picture. Many Greeks are protesting not only the deterioration of their standard of living, but equally importantly, what they experience as a political disenfranchisement that has been orchestrated by the government, with the collaboration of the European heads of state.

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Conferring

02/17/12

Today I'm off to the Wharton Restructuring and Turnaround Conference, which looks to be a great, high level discussion of all things chapter 11ish. But it is surely a sign of the times that the keynote speaker is a banking lawyer.

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Kodak Dumps the Oscar Theater, Proving that Contract Rejection is like No Fault Divorce: There is No Defense

02/16/12

Just under a month ago, Eastman Kodak filed for chapter 11 and now it is doing what many chapter 11 debtors do, trying to decide which of its contractual obligations it’ll honor and which it won’t. Back in 2000, Kodak signed a $74 million deal to get its name displayed atop the fancy Los Angeles theater that hosts the Oscars.

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Why No Investigation?

02/16/12

Here's a bombshell: the San Francisco City Assessor commissioned a serious audit of foreclosure documentation filed in the past few years. The audit examined 400 foreclosures.  It found problems with 85% of them, often multiple problems.

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Greek family and welfare provision

02/14/12

I have argued previously (here) that the EU/IMF/ECB insistence on “flexibilizing” labor law in Greece overlooked the basic structure of the Greek private market, which consists overwhelmingly of small, family owned and operated businesses, with ultra –flexible wage arrangements (a wife’s labor, especially, is often unremunerated).

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Revisiting Lehman

02/14/12

For reasons that I don't quite understand, Krugman has gone all upside Taylor based on a two year old post from Economics of Contempt, and

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Austerity Hits Greece

02/13/12

The latest EU bailout installment for Greece requires tough austerity measures. Among the most devastating is the prohibition on the use of Corinthian and Ionic columns. Henceforth, only Doric columns may be utilized. This measure was a compromise among creditor consitiuencies, as Germany had previously demanded that the Greeks be limited to Bauhaus design.

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Dividing the Mortgage Settlement Dollars

02/13/12

Details are still forthcoming about the settlement between the federal government and attorneys general and the five largest servicing banks but one interesting twist that is already emerging is how the dollars are being divvied up and distributed. The total number touted, $25 billion, includes both dollars paid in cold cash to the states,  dollars paid in cold cash to wronged consumers, and "credit" for reducing principal or refinancing.

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Recommended Reading

02/13/12

For those following financial reform:  Paul Volcker dismantles the only respectable (i.e., not obviously self interested) argument against the Volcker rule.

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Greek Endgame in Sight

02/11/12

We have been hearing about the oncoming endgame to the Greek saga for almost two years now. Several developments have occurred in the past few months that may make the prediction come true sooner rather than later. 

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