Entries in debt (2)

Tuesday
Nov052024

State Debt Meltdown Race

Today is election day and I needed to take a break and decided to watch CNBC videos on government debt. Found a fantastic run down on an argument for U.S. state debt defaults (Why 27 States Are Going Broke). The fact that the huge Covid stimulus has run out and most states didn't need it that much and spent the money or lowered taxes. They are now addicted to Federal stimulus that is now gone.

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Thursday
May262011

Adjusting My Portfolio for a Forced Renegotiation of Greek Debt

I’ve been following Greece’s economic woes pretty closely since the bottom fell out this year (or something along these lines) and in my opinion, the debt-plagued nation is about to go through a restructuring.  There is loads of precedent for it in emerging markets.  I went to part of high school in Argentina, my graduate school focus was developing country finance and my first Wall Street job at Chemical Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) was trading emerging market defaulted government debt.  Over the course of my adult life I’ve seen the following countries stick it to their lenders.


Argentina (2 negotiated, 1 unilateral),
- Brazil (negotiated),
- Poland (negotiated),
- Venezuela (unilateral sort of),
- Mexico (unilateral internal debt, negotiated external),
- Russia (unilateral then cured). 

Seeing a renegotiation of timing or payments by Greece and some sort of guarantee by the EU is not without lots of precedent.   It seems all but inevitable. And that said, bond prices have had plenty of time to price in a partial default.

READ ON TO SEE HOW I AM ADJUSTING MY PORTFOLIO

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