>>> James Straub
For the econ people-
would it be reasonable to assume that the people who will have a hard
time under these conditions, will be people who, for one reason or
another, need to borrow money? This occurs to me to ask because,
well, I've never had a bank loan and don't have plans to in the near
future. So will I be relatively un-impacted? Or, on the other hand,
will the unavailability of credit and recession push unemployment up
thus still impacting us fringe lumpen types who still don't even have
a credit card?
^^^^^ CB: Here's a Chicken Little scenario
Willem Buiter's FT comment,
Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad <http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2008/09/those-whom-the-gods-would-destroy-the y-first-make-mad/> :
What is likely to happen next? With a bit of luck, the House will be frightened by its own audacity and will reverse itself. If a substantively similar bill (or a better bill that addresses not just the problem of valuing toxic assets and getting them off the banksâ books, but also the problem of recapitalising the US banking sector) is passed in the next day or so, the damage can remain limited. If the markets fear that the nays have thrown their toys out of the pram for the long term, the following scenario is quite likely:
The US stock market tanks. Bank shares collapse, as do the valuations of all highly leveraged financial institutions. Weaker versions of this occur in Europe, in Japan and in the emerging markets.
CDS spreads for banks explode, as will those of all highly leveraged financial institutions. Credits spreads generally take on loan-shark proportions, even for reputable borrowers. Again the rest of the world will experience a slightly milder version of this.
No US bank will lend to any other US bank or any other highly leveraged institution. The same will happen elsewhere. Remaining sources of external finance for banks, other than the facilities created by the central banks and the Treasuries, will dry up.
Banks and other highly leveraged institutions will try to unload assets at fire-sale prices in illiquid markets. Even assets not viewed as toxic before will become unsaleable at any price.
The interaction of a growing lack of funding liquidity and increasing market illiquidity will destroy the banksâ business models.
Banks will stop providing credit to households and to non-financial enterprises.
Banks will collapse, both through balance sheet insolvency and through liquidity insolvency. No bank will be safe, not even the household names for whom the crisis has thus far brought more opportunities than disasters.
Other highly leveraged financial institutions collapse on a large scale.
Households and non-financial businesses revert to financial autarky, among wide-spread defaults and insolvencies.
Consumer demand and investment demand collapse. Unemployment shoots up.
The government suspends all trading in financial stocks until further notice.
The government nationalises all US banks and other highly leveraged financial institutions. The shareholders get nothing up front and have to wait for an eventual re-privatisation or liquididation to find out whether they are left with anything at all. Holders of bank debt get a sizeable haircut âup frontâ on the face value of the debt and have part of the remainder converted into equity that shares the fate of the old equity.
We have the Great Depression of the 2010s.
None of this is unavoidable, provided the US Congress grows up and adopts forthwith something close to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act as a first, modest but necessary step towards re-establishing functioning securitisation markets and restoring financial health to the banking sector. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is not a sensible alternative.
In response to today's vote, central banks around the world are pumping billions of dollars <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d25f9756-8e54-11dd-9b46-0000779fd18c,Authorised=fal se.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fd25f9756-8e54-11 dd-9b46-0000779fd18c%2Cs01%3D1.html&_i_referer=> into the financial system to ease credit markets as banks continue to stop lending to each other:
The Federal Reserve on Monday [Sept. 29] prepared to pour an extra $630bn (â437bn, Â350bn) into the global financial system in coordination with other central banks around the world, in a massive effort to curb extreme stress in international money markets. The move is designed to reinforce the impact of the $700bn bail-out bill proceeding through the US Congress and directly relieve market stress in the near term, before the new government fund can start operating.
I am getting this sick feeling in my stomach that they are pushing on a string. The freeze in credit markets is more troubling than any plunge in stock prices. If payrolls aren't met, you will see true panic and fear grip Main Street and Wall Street.
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