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politics: Mark To Market Eased: Making A Silk Purse From A Sow's Ear? Example Included Below - 04/02/09 08:15 PM
From The Political and Financial Markets Commentator
Taking From Peter To Pay Paul
The FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board)relaxed the rules that require a bank to mark the value of an asset on its books to a"market" price, <strong>IF</strong> a transaction that takes place is distressed and/or if the market that security trades in is inactive. This would probably describe pretty much every asset that is considered toxic, and that if marked to market would most likely cause a bank to become effectively insolvent.
These are complicated products that even the banks themselves, save for a few of the quants … (0 comments)
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politics: The Political and Financial Markets Commentator: Where Have You Been? - 01/08/09 06:57 PM
The Political and Financial Markets Commentator
If you don't get your daily free feed or email delivery of The Political and Financial Markets Commentator at http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com, these are some of the stories that you have already missed in 2009:
Maureen Dowd Likes Caroline Kennedy: Really? Just When You Thought Your Opinion Of Congress Cou... Roland Burris Denied His Rightful Seat In The Sena... I Want To Be A Senator Too! Where Do I Sign? World Crisis Management Once Again Falls To The Un... Israel: In A No Win Situation In The Court Of Publ... A Financial Look Back At The Year … (2 comments)
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politics: 10 Outrageous Claims For 2009 - 12/19/08 05:58 AM
From The Political and Financial Markets Commentator. Go to http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com to sign-up for free email or feed delivery of new blogs
Friday, December 19, 2008
"10 Outrageous Claims For 2009"
Friday SnippetsA New SEC Chief Named- Barack Obama names Mary Schapiro as new SEC head. She has strong experience at a time when the SEC has shown itself to be an ineffectual and anemic institution. Is she a good choice? Change and tough new leadership is what is needed, and maybe someone that has no axe to grind in the bureaucracy is a good choice.Pawn Shop Bernie - Anecdotal … (0 comments)
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politics: Crude Prices, House Arrest and SEC Ineptitude - 12/18/08 06:18 AM
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Crude Prices, House Arrest and SEC Ineptitude Quick question: Why is Bernie Madoff, apparently one of the biggest crooks of all time, doing house arrest with an ankle bracelet in his $7 million house when he couldn't make bail?In a related story SEC Chairman Cox had this to say: the agency has found "no evidence of wrongdoing by any SEC personnel" in connection with Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and that the SEC intends to get to the bottom of where it may have gone wrong. Is this guy kidding me? While he is at it … (2 comments)
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politics: Global Blast Of Liquidity: What Does It All Mean? - 12/05/08 05:36 AM
Reprinted from The Political and Financial Markets Commentator at http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com
Friday, December 5, 2008
Global Blast Of Liquidity: What Does It All Mean? The Rate Cut Merry-Go-Round Just Keeps On SpinningIn a throwback to an earlier time, the Bank of England cut its key lending rate 100bp. to 2.0%, the lowest level since 1939. If they were to cut it to below 2.0%, it would be the first and only time since the Bank of England came into existence in 1694. In a similar move, the EU cut its key lending rate 75 bp. to 2.50%.These cuts are just more of … (4 comments)
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politics: The Political and Financial Markets Commentator - 12/04/08 02:28 PM
If you haen't been getting your feed or email updates of the stories that have been written the last week, here are some of the titles:
Torture: What Is The Correct Definition? The Big Three: This Time They Drove The Selling Of America: The List Goes On And On The War On Terror: Still In The First Round Black Friday: How High A Price Is Acceptable? Commodity Deflation: Why Is My Bagel Still So Damn... Bizzaro World: Obama Speaks and Markets Rally Visit today at http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com to subscribe (free of course) and read some of these stories.
In addition, click on … (0 comments)
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politics: Neel Kashkari Hammered On The Hill - 11/17/08 05:56 AM
Neel Kashkari Hammered On The Hill
Neel Kashkari, www.unhostels.orgOriginally uploaded by neelkashkari Neel Kashkari Pays Paulson's Price
Serving as a proxy for Henry Paulson, Treasury Secretary, Neel Kashkari, whose title is interim assistant secretary of Treasury for financial stability faced the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's domestic policy subcommittee on Friday.
He was there to explain the shift in policy away from purchasing toxic assets from financial institutions, to actually injecting money into those institutions while the assets remain. Further, there is some vague talk from Paulson about direct help to consumers, aka the people on Main Street.
Many … (0 comments)
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politics: The TARP Vs. Other Government Spending Programs In History - 11/17/08 05:37 AM
The TARP Vs. Other Government Spending Programs
How Does The Current Size Of The TARP Compare With Other Government Projects Over Time?Through out the history of our Republic, the government has undertaken many large projects, programs and actions for the good of the people. In today's dollars, how do they compare in size with the TARP? In adjusted dollars, only two are more costly. The Hoover Dam: 1930-1935 Cost: $45 MM Todays Dollars : $782 MM The Panama Canal: 1904-1914 Cost: $375 MM Todays Dollars: $7.9 B Gulf War 1: 1990-1991 Cost: $ 61 B Todays Dollars: $ 98 B … (2 comments)
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politics: This Is What You Missed This Week - 11/15/08 06:14 AM
The Political and Financial Markets Commentator
If you don't get it delivered to your inbox or feed, these are the stories you missed this week:
Is Your Stock Analyst Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?
Change Will Make Them Women And Men
Would You Buy A Used Car From This Man
Is A GM Bankruptcy Good For Anyone?
AIG Needs Just A Little Bit More
Bias Confirmation From An Unlikely Source
Visit and sign-up so you don't miss next weeks stories. Click on the link above, or go to http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com.
Mike Haltman
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politics: Is It The Democrat or Democratic Party - 11/05/08 05:44 AM
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Democrat or Democratic?
Early Election Night ThoughtsIt's about 4 PM EST and I just finished voting. I am listening to some commentary on the radio and the speaker is referring to the party that is not Republican, as the the Democratic party, and those running for office within it as democratic candidates. I have heard all of this before, and the point is that words need to be used more carefully.Is It Democrat or Democratic Party?I am not usually a stickler for words, but this is an interesting question. I went to dictionary.com, and the definition for … (0 comments)
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politics: Why The Results In The Senate May Be The Most Critical - 11/04/08 06:58 AM
Why The Senate Result On Tuesday May Be Most Critical
Originally uploaded by tgbusill Electoral Map
Where should your state be?
Election Day Is Here!!
It's the day we've been waiting for o' these many months. Who is going to win the presidency? Will it be Obama or McCain? The truth is, if Obama does win the more critical votes are going to be in the Senate, as that is where we may have the situation where Democrats control both the White House and Senate.
If there is a groundswell for the Democrats as some anticipate, and they get … (2 comments)
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politics: If You Don't Subscribe, This Is What You Missed This Week! - 10/25/08 08:18 AM
What You Missed This Week
If you don't subscribe to The Political and Financial Markets Commentator blog by either feed or by email, these are the stories that you missed this week.
The Commentator is written by me for the purpose of addressing key topics in the financial markets, mortgage and housing markets and in the political arena that affect or potentially affect us all.
There is no cost, and if I must say so myself it is concise and to the point. Check it out, and if you like what you see sign-up. The address is http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com.
Mortgage Modifications: What … (2 comments)
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politics: And The Scapegoats Are? - 10/21/08 07:49 PM
And The Scapegoats Are? Today's Market ActionBefore we get into the discussion of who is going to be the fall guy(s) and gal(s) for the debacle that we now refer to as the Financial Crisis of 2008, let's take a quick look at the continued improvement in the indicators of credit market liquidity.The Ted SpreadThe LIBOR rate continues to show improvement by dropping to the lowest level we have seen in weeks at 3.8%. The 3-month bill is at a level of approximately 1.06%, bringing the spread to the neighborhood of 2.7%, still extremely wide but well below the close to … (4 comments)
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politics: What's In A Name? Turns Out A Lot - 10/11/08 04:14 PM
Saturday, October 11, 2008
What's In A Name? Turns Out A Lot The Commercial Mortgage and Political Hotline: The Name Is ObsoleteWhen I first decided to write a blog, I initially wanted to provide a forum to discuss the commercial mortgage and real estate markets, and provide insights to training and market trends.As I am sure that you have noticed, the nature of the blog has taken a detour, and has become more of a discussion of politics, the world and the financial marketplace. Part of this has been a function of the incredible amount of flux in the world, … (0 comments)
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politics: Good Thing I Work On The First Floor? - 10/10/08 03:51 AM
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Good Thing I Work On The First Floor?
Anyone can take a look at the action today, yesterday, the day before...well you get the idea, and say that there is no end in sight and that gloom and pessimism will rule the day. Very logical, and I will get to that after I begin with the fact that I believe the global governments will get this right. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day.First, Is There A Light At The End Of The Tunnel?On the bright side, the solution to loosening up the … (1 comments)
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politics: The Financial Crisis Welcomes The World! - 10/09/08 05:41 AM
Another Day, Another Move To Save The Financial SystemToday we got the news that many in the markets have been waiting for. They have been waiting for what seems to be a very long time. That was the coordinated global rate cut by the central banks of the US, Canada, EU, England as well as a few other countries. EU rates have been to high and still remain that way even post cut.As I discussed yesterday morning, we had an immediate strong move up in the stock futures, a quick and severe fade and several other moves all before the market … (8 comments)
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politics: Hallelujah: Coordinated Global Rate Cut - 10/08/08 06:36 AM
Hallelujah: Coordinated Global Rate Cut Coordinated Rate Cut Move By The Central BankersAs I said as my closing line to my blog yesterday, if only we could get the EU to cooperate with the global financial crisis that we are going through. This morning as I write this (7:00 AM EST), the U.S., Canada, Britain and the EU cut rates 50 bp in a coordinated move to loosen the flow of credit around the world.This came on the heels of close to double digit drops in the stock markets in Asia (10%+ in some and close to 20% in some of … (2 comments)
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politics: Vote For Your Favorite Political Cliche - 09/30/08 07:17 AM
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Vote For Your Favorite Political Cliche'
Congress Is On Vacation For A Couple Of Days: Let's Take A VoteSince the Congress is taking a couple of days off, it is the opinion of this blog that we will take this opportunity to take a look at some of our favorite cliches that come out of the mouths of our politicians, and take a poll of which are your favorites.
http://commercialmortgagehotline.blogspot.com
… (4 comments)
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politics: Not Going To Be A Three Legged Stool - 09/26/08 05:57 AM
From The Commercial Mortgage, Real Estate and Political Hotline at http://commercialmortgagehotline.blogspot.com . Sign-up for notification of new posts.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Not Going To Be A Three Legged Stool
Business As UsualThe calvary coming to the rescue as stated by a congressman yesterday must have been riding lame horses.I woke up to a picture of Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd saying to the TV cameras that there is no deal because the Democrats will not move forward without bipartisan support. His point is that they will not move forward with this bailout proposal as "a three legged stool." That … (5 comments)
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politics: Market Events: Pick Your Poison! - 09/15/08 05:50 AM
Reprinted from yesterday's blog at The Commercial Mortgage/Real Estate Hotline at http://commercialmortgagehotline.blogspot.com .
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Market Events: Pick Your Poison!
I am not happy todayThe tone of my blog today is not one of happiness and joy unfortunately. I have spent the weekend watching and listening to the events that are unfolding somewhere down in lower New York City. Another investment bank teeters on the edge of going out of business after being in business since the 1800's. The Fed, the Treasury and the heads of all the other major financial institutions are involved in the … (0 comments)
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Michael Haltman
Jericho,
NY
More about me…
Hallmark Abstract Service LLC
Address: 131 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 205, Jericho, NY, 11753
Office Phone: (516) 741-4723
Email Me
The Hallmark Abstract Sentinel is written for the purpose of keeping our clients and subscribers current on any issues that may have the potential to impact the real estate, mortgage or title insurance markets.
Examples of these issues include the current foreclosure crisis and the potential that foreclosures already completed could be overturned due to a variety of legal issues.
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