Every time the IMF issues an estimate for the cost of the losses from toxic assets at the world’s financial institutions, the numbers get worse. According to the Times, “Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4 trillion (£2.7 trillion), new forecasts from ... Read more

The long awaited details of Geithner's "plan" for dealing with bad bank assets is finally out. Githener's plan is disingenuous at best. If people want to be outraged at something, it should be over Geithner's plan. The Wall Street Journal has the story in Timothy Geithner: My Plan for Bad ... Read more

From Neil Irwin and Binyamin Appelbaum at the WaPo: Late Change in Course Hobbled Rollout of Geithner's Bank Plan Just days before Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was scheduled to lay out his much-anticipated plan to deal with the toxic assets imperiling the financial system, he and his team ... Read more

Austrian banks appear to be the worst hit from the economic fallout in the young EU members east of here. Sobering up from a financial recolonization of regions that were last part of the Austrian empire that disintegrated in 1918, all major Austrian banks now have to come to terms with the new real ... Read more

“To date, the banks have stuck their heads in the sand and demanded that they be paid the price of good apples for bad apples.” Lynn E. Turner, a former SEC chief accountant Vikas Bajaj and Stephen Labaton provide us with an example of the different values for a toxic assets in the NY Times: ... Read more