Sunday, December 5, 2010

Debt destruction American style!

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/adam-levitin-shreds-the-american-securitization-forum-defense-of.html

Yves is a smart lady, even if she was misnamed at birth. Eve is feminine, Yves is masculine.

She has been pushing the issue for months. The issue is technical, but in law, technicalities are there for a reason, particularly when there are disparities in size as with a lender and a borrower.

The sub-prime and other lending that were meant to, and did, revive the credit boom in America went on to fuel a smaller one in Europe. That was because a lot of those who bought up the securitized mortgages were German etc banks. Thus, the idea that the securities are worthless may cause problems?!

The banks that sold them are liable for all of the loss unless the investor can be held somehow, to be negligent. The American taxpayer may refuse to pay the massive amounts, making the European banks as bust as the American ones! This is actually a good thing! Except for those who owned bank shares, of course. Pension funds will also suffer.

The old banks would have to bev recapitalized. If plainly bust, they cannot be recapitalized. Their depositors will be paid off, but probably no one else. All that debt destroyed means that the depressiopn will be much shorter in time.

The Irish of course, have to waste massive amounts of capital before it will be clear that it is wasted money.

I have posted to this effect on irisheconomy.ie but to no avail. No reply was ever received. If the persons to whom we owe money are bankrupt, they will not be in a position to sue for the full amount of the debt. The weak never prosper.

No comments: