Several of the federal bailout programs will make a profit, but the effort has also exposed taxpayers to enormous risk and created a moral hazard for investors, according to a new congressional report. The Congressional Oversight Panel said the Treasury Department's expanded efforts to guarantee loa ... Read more

From the British Bankers' Association reported that the three-month dollar Libor rates were fixed at 0.66%. The LIBOR peaked at 4.81875% on Oct 10, 2008. Click on graph for larger image in new window. There has been improvement in the A2P2 spread . This has declined to 0.48. This i ... Rea ... Read more

It's been awhile, and by popular demand ... Treasuries have rebounded somewhat since the beginning of the year, and there was tepid demand today for Five Year Treasuries, from Bloomberg: Treasuries Drop as Record Sale Draws Higher-Than-Forecast Yield Treasuries plunged as the government sold a ... Read more

Institutions that are not likely to pay their bills have to offer higher interest rates for capital. Old rule. Usually works. Credit agencies issue ratings which allow investors to decide how much risk they can stomach. That part of the system turned to dust during the credit crisis. Now th ... Read more

The Longish View tries to be sober, but you can be sober without always being deadly serious.  Scott Adams, the genius artist behind Dilbert, published a cartoon today that explains the credit crisis with deadly precision.  46 words (I counted), and he gets not only the cocktail of dis ... Read more

Every once in a while you come across an explanation that makes you realize that just really aren't all that good a teacher. Here's another one to add to the pile. In this video, Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch gives one of the best explanations of CDOs and how they contributed to the current ... Read more