NHACA Financial Investing

Credit Event Credit Default Swap

President Obama – Your Ego Is Writing Checks Your Body Cant Cash

This is a classic line, from the movie Top Gun, which holds true even today. Whether its a quest for financial gain or political glory, the results are the same. The Wall Street big wigs and President Obama are writing checks they just cant cash.

Wall Streets non-existent view of a healthy economy and a lust for quick profits led the United States into one of the worst economic downturns in history. Wall Street dreamed up all sorts of investment schemes in order to make large profits. To Wall Street, it didnt matter the losers would be the American people and their retirement funds.

We Americans have not seen the end of Wall Streets destruction. Credit Default Swaps (CDS) are a contract in which an individual pays for protection in case of a default of an event. Unlike insurance, CDS are derivatives and therefore priced based on financial models. The CDS market around the world has grown exponentially over the last decade. To put it into perspective, the housing market is roughly $7 trillion in size and the CDS market is estimated to be near $50 trillion. Should the CDS market collapse, our economy will reach lows never seen in its 234 year history.

President Obama came onto the World stage with an agenda and the President has not veered from it once. To admit that his wishes are to help others, there is no doubt. To his timing, it couldnt be worse. Were coming off one of the worst economic down turns in our countrys history. Were experiencing unemployment rates near ten percent. Mr. President, this is not the time to be focused on an agenda that was put together a decade ago.

Now is the time to put all those charity plans aside and create a new plan. A plan no-one would have imagined necessary even five years ago. Today, we need to focus on getting capital to our small businesses. Small business is the engine that drives employment in the United States. Our Congress has invested way too much time on National Health Care Reform instead of focusing on the economy.

Banking, in the United States, is broken. Bankers have discovered there are more lucrative options to put our money into such as hedge funds and CDS. We need to find a way to make lending to small business more appealing to bankers. We need to distinguish between acts of gambling and good business practices. Placing our bank deposits into hedge funds and CDS is gambling with other peoples money. Its time to get the American engine turned on and begin to grow employment.

Mr. President, now that the Health Care bill has passed, why cant we push back the implementation until a constructive mile marker is reached? Maybe we can set unemployment below seven percent as the mile marker to begin spending on Health Care? Maybe we should try and reach a certain amount of lending to small business as the mile marker? Now is not the time to be asking businesses to take a charge for health care. Heath Care Reform will require AT&T to take a $1 billion charge; Caterpillar – $100 million; 3M – $350 million, etc. This will have the opposite effect of a true economic stimulus plan. Weve reached a point where were finally getting some footing, why are you pulling the rug out from under us now?

About the Author

Frank Denver – Small business owner who has chosen to get involved in politics in order to assure a bright future for my three children. Website: http://www.politicsandfreedom.com

Credit Default Swaps…?

I know what a CDS is, but my question is this,

In theory , you need an “insurable interest” in order to buy the swap. That would mean that you need to own the GM debt in order to hedge your bet.
In the real world, i don’t think that anyone paid attention to who owned what during the period from 200-2007.

Phil Gramm at AEI: Credit Default Swaps