Bankruptcy

Do Not Miss

By Anna Gelpern

William White has a rocking op-ed in the FT arguing that debt overhang, notably in the U.S. household sector, makes fiscal and monetary policy ineffective.  White is one of the early pre-pre-pre-crisis proponents of macroprudential regulation, and always worth tuning in for.  Amen and testify.  (I am biased, as have been sympathetic to across-the board debt reduction in crisis.)

Gary Gensler uses the Greek controversy (and AIG) to argue the CFTC regulation brief, notably clearing houses.  He is a smart and complicated guy, and his argument is more nuanced than the demonization din.  He says that Greece might not have done the "Euroliar loan" swaps had the proposed reforms been in effect, because it would have had to post collateral, which would have made the transactions either useless or prohibitively expensive.  I leave the unpacking to the experts, but I suspect that it depends on some key factors in both the law and the swaps.  Nevertheless, a more productive framing for the conversation.

Full post as published by Credit Slips on March 03, 2010 (boomark / email).