Loren C. Steffy's Blog, page 64
November 1, 2011
MF Global liquidation pours more salt in Stanford victims' wounds
SIPC moved quickly to protect investors of MF Global, the
October 31, 2011
One more wallow at the trough for Nabors' Isenberg
You wouldn't expect Houston's most over-compensated chief executive to go cheaply into retirement, and Nabors Industries' Eugene Isenberg didn't disappoint. As the Chronicle's Tom Fowler pointed out, Isenberg will get a $100 million cash send off as he relinquishes the CEO title to his hand-picked successor, Anthony Petrello. Isenberg will remain the company's chairman. Nabors [...]
The investment call that almost everyone got wrong
Thanks to low inflation, slower economic growth, a rise in savings during the past several years and the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates low through mid-2013, returns on Treasuries have beaten stocks during the past 30 years.
October 28, 2011
For Stanford's victims, SIPC's silence is deafening
It's been more than a month since the board of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. met to discuss extending its insurance coverage to investors who lost money from certificates of deposit sold by Stanford Financial's brokerage operation.
Dynegy goes begging for bonds
Houston-based Dynegy is hoping the third time will be the charm. It's extended, yet again, the deadline for bondholders to exchange about $1.25 billion in debt for new notes. So far, bondholder interest has remained tepid. As I wrote last week, bondholders could be taking a haircut of as much as 60 percent on the [...]
Has `clean tech' been eclipsed by fossil fuel innovation?
The greatest advance in energy technology has actually been hydraulic fracturing, which has completely changed the domestic energy picture in the past five years. By making fossil fuels more affordable, fracking has made clean tech riskier than ever.
October 27, 2011
Why Fannie and Freddie are still with us
The bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cost taxpayers more than $150 billion so far, and while reformers like Elizabeth Warren and Paul Volcker have called for them to be shut down, and President Obama has vowed to do just that, the mortgage giants remain the biggest financial albatross from the mortgage crisis. That [...]
October 26, 2011
BP will drill the safest well in the Gulf
It's official. Today, government regulators approved BP's plan to drill its first deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico's since last year's Macondo disaster, which killed 11 crew members aboard the Deepwater Horizon. The plan allows BP to immediately begin drilling at its Kaskida site, about 190 miles off the Louisiana coast. BP not only [...]
Video: why Perry's tax plan falls flat
Last night, I was one KRIV Fox 26 discussing Gov. Rick Perry's economic plan, which he hopes will recharge his struggling presidential campaign. A big part of his plan is a 20 percent optional flat tax, and as I discussed in Sunday's column, the flat tax simply doesn't live up to its promise. Another big [...]
October 25, 2011
The plan to continue ignoring the mortgage crisis (Updated)
(Updates with comments from George Craft in the third and fourth paragraphs.) The Obama administration yesterday unveiled an overhaul of its failed mortgage rescue plan, and it's a little like throwing struggling homeowners a life preserver filled with small rocks or perhaps lead. The initiative expands the existing Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, and [...]
