Economists have traditionally drawn a sharp distinction between monetary and fiscal policy. Monetary policy should try to promote growth and limit inflation by setting short-term interest rates, managing the money supply, and providing liquidity during times of financial stress. Fiscal policy should also encourage growth and, more broadly, promote the general welfare through careful choices [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Citigroup’
How Blurry is the Line between Monetary and Fiscal Policy?
Posted in Budget, Macroeconomics, tagged AIG, Bank of, Budget, Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac on June 2, 2010 | 7 Comments »
How Did Treasury Vote Its Citigroup Shares?
Posted in Finance, Politics, tagged Citigroup, Finance, TARP on April 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The United States Treasury is Citigroup’s largest common shareholder, owning 7.7 billion shares, or about 27% of the company. Which raised an interesting issue at today’s annual meeting: how should the Treasury vote its shares? Treasury answered as follows: As we have previously stated, Treasury is a reluctant shareholder in private companies and intends to dispose [...]
Lessons from the Fall of Lehman
Posted in Economy, Finance, Macroeconomics, tagged Banks, Citigroup, Economics, Fannie Mae, Finance, Freddie Mac, Lehman on September 16, 2009 | 4 Comments »
As you have undoubtedly noticed, this week marks the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers–the moment at which the financial crisis became a severe economic crisis. I did an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday to discuss some of the lessons learned. (My wife’s comment on the interview: “You need to straighten your collar [...]
Citigroup & Efficient Markets
Posted in Finance, tagged Arbitrage, Banks, Citigroup, Finance, Stock Market, TARP on July 21, 2009 | 8 Comments »
The Citigroup pricing anomaly may be in its final days (earlier posts here and here). Investors must submit their offers to exchange preferred shares for common shares by this Friday (which may require contacting your broker several days earlier). The common shares will then be delivered to investors on July 30. The pricing gap between the [...]
Beyond the $23.7 Trillion Headline
Posted in Budget, Economy, Finance, Macroeconomics, Politics, tagged AIG, Bank of America, Banks, Budget, Chrysler, Citigroup, Finance, GM, GSE, Housing, Macroeconomics, Politics, TARP, Warrants on July 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (affectionately known as SIGTARP), is making headlines with his estimate that the government has provided “potential support totaling more than $23.7 trillion” in fighting the financial crisis. That estimate will be officially released on Tuesday morning in the SIGTARP’s latest quarterly report (you [...]
The Citigroup Repo
Posted in Finance, tagged Arbitrage, Banks, Citigroup, Finance, Stock Market, TARP on July 10, 2009 | 6 Comments »
As I’ve noted in a series of posts (here’s the most recent), there’s an anomaly in the pricing of Citigroup securities. Several issues of Citi’s preferred stock are scheduled to convert into common by the end of the month. Yet the common stock has been trading at a significant premium to the preferred in recent [...]
Citigroup & Berkshire Anomalies
Posted in Finance, tagged Arbitrage, Banks, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Finance, Stock Market, TARP on July 6, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Summary: Both Citigroup and Berkshire Hathaway continue to violate the law of one price. Citigroup In previous posts (this is the most recent), I’ve pointed out that there are three ways you can purchase common shares of Citigroup: Simple: Buy shares of common stock. Preferred: Buy shares of preferred stock that will convert into common. [...]
Progress on Auctioning TARP Warrants
Posted in Auctions, Finance, tagged Bank of America, Banks, Budget, Chrysler, Citigroup, GM, TARP, Warrants on June 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Ten major banks repaid almost $70 billion to TARP in recent weeks. But they aren’t free from TARP just yet: Treasury still owns warrants to purchase their common stock. I’ve previously argued that Treasury ought to auction these warrants to the highest bidder. Auctions would (a) be transparent, (b) provide full, fair value to taxpayers, [...]
The Subsidies in TARP
Posted in Budget, Finance, tagged Auto, Bank of America, Budget, CBO, Chrysler, Citigroup, Finance, GM, Housing, TARP, Warrants on June 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
How much is TARP costing American taxpayers? We know that Congress originally authorized up to $700 billion in TARP investments. And we know that $439 billion has been committed to various programs. But how much of that money are taxpayers likely to see again? And to what extent will they be compensated for making those [...]
The TARP Peace Sign
Posted in Budget, Finance, tagged Bank of America, Banks, Budget, Citigroup, Finance, Stock Market, TARP, Warrants on June 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Wednesday was a rare day in Washington: the Federal government was actually cash-flow positive. The reason, of course, is that ten major banks repaid $68 billion in TARP money. Smaller banks had previously repaid about $2 billion, so Wednesday’s action lifted total repayments to $70 billion, almost 30% of TARP support to individual banks. (For [...]
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