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Banks Recruit Investors To Oppose Honest Valuation Of Assets — Just How Unprepared Are Banks For Losses?
Reader “Henry” has a question on the loan loss provision chart I posted in Former Fed Vice Chairman vs. Mish: Is the Fed Out of Ammo?
Henry writes …
Hello Mish,
Thanks for writing and sharing your wonderful column. It has been very informative and educational.
Could you please help us mere mortals decipher the ALLL/LLRNPT chart in a follow up post?
I have difficulty reconciling the units, and I suspect I’m not the only one.
Accepting the Kindness of Strangers
I’m often puzzled when, in an effort to help someone else save money, I’m looked at like some sort of criminal or crazy person.
Here’s an example. This week I had a coupon for $5 off at TGI Friday’s. The coupon explicitly stated that it could be used multiple times or given away to friends. So I printed one off and went for dinner. After we had eaten and paid, the waitress gave the coupon back to me and said, “You get to keep this. Come back tomorrow or give it to a friend.” Well, the coupon expired the next day and I knew I wouldn’t be back.
Rather than throw it away, I decided to be nice. On our way ou
You Can Learn from Spendthrifts. Really.
Poor spendthrifts don’t get a lot of love on personal finance blogs and websites. We tsk-tsk at their irresponsibility and try to show them the joys of being prudent and frugal but maybe there are lessons that we can learn from our more free spending cousins.
Of course, it’s all about balance and if the scales are too tilted towards wild abandon it can end in disaster but I’m a firm believer that there are positive ways to express almost any personality trait. And in the interest of complete disclosure, I have a spendthrift streak in me a mile wide and have found that it gives me a few advantages over my friends that come by their frugality naturally.
Fire Prevention Saves Money
A fire is not only emotionally devastating and life threatening, it can be financially devastating, as well.
Even with great insurance you may find yourself having to pay out of pocket for things you didn’t have covered or for unexpected expenses. If you don’t have insurance, or not enough enough insurance, you could be out hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, in the worst case, if a fire you cause injures someone else or damages their property you could be liable for millions of dollars. The best way to prevent these losses is with simple fire prevention. Mos
Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Prescription drugs are one of those items that we know are necessary, but the cost can make them a real budget buster. Some medications cost in excess of $100 each month, and for those people who take several drugs at once, the price tag quickly exceeds their ability to pay.
Before you opt out of taking medications you need, let’s look at some ways you can reduce your expense.
Check to See What Prescription Drugs are Covered
A formulary is a book that lists what medications your insurance company covers.
Make sure to ask your insurance company for a copy. Find out if your insurers have a limit for how much medication they will cover each year. K
Political Correctness Has Killed Obama’s Deficit Commission
So Alan Simpson, the co-chair of Obama’s deficit commission, called Social Security a cow with 310 million tits. Then he had to apologize and grovel to the AARP, and now Paul Krugman is calling on him to be fired.
If there were any doubt that the commission were going to be pointless, that doubt has been removed.
If there is a deficit crisis, then it has to be addressed by talking about entitlements, and if you can’t talk about entitlements (in a colorful manner) without having to apologize to seniors, then the whole exercise is pointless.
It’s political correctness, except that that normally applies to someone going off-script regarding minorities or women, this time it’s about elders.