. . .
K “The Red Sea rather than the Strait of Hormuz. Big difference. Who’s counting.”
J “A Swiss bank rather than a German bank. Big difference. Who’s counting.”
. . .
J “You were right. Different bottleneck; same strategy. A motley group of characters are putting a few dents in a few ships and fundamentally transforming international shipping and commercial transactions.”
K “You were right. The Swiss banking regulators forced UBS to acquire Credit Suisse by taking money away from the bondholders and giving it to the stockholders. That breaches one of the Fundamental Rules of Business and Commerce. They cannot even strong arm a shotgun wedding legally.”
. . .
J “And on this continent, the banking system collapsed last year but was artificially and illegally propped up by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, at least for a while.”
K “Seems that everything involving banking is always done illegally. When the Swiss and the Germans . . . and the Americans . . . are unable to run banks profitable, we are all in trouble.”
. . .
K “When does the derivatives market explode?”
J “You can say that again. When does the derivatives market explode?”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at Strait of Hormuz or Deutsche Bank? Deriving Derivatives (July 8, 2019), Special Edition. Deciphering Derivatives. Oh, And Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! (March 17, 2023), Too Much Dirt; Too Few Rugs. Repurchase Agreements (September 23, 2019) and The Economic Equinox: Half Light; Half Dark? (September 25, 2023).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Coming to a planet near you
There are two kinds of vessels in the Navy: submarines and targets.
You have to be accurate every time. Your adversary only has to be accurate once.
e-commentary 