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A massive $124.5 billion worth of bonds are now in default in the entire $175 billion China property dollar bond sector ... Counting October, there is a total of $60.5 billion worth of Chinese property bonds due in the next 6 months, with offshore bonds taking up at least one third of it .... Country Garden's international bondholders are now seeking urgent talks with the company. Strains have also shown in other companies. State-backed Sino-Ocean Group ... Another major developer Gemdale .. seen its bonds slide after the resignation of its chairman sparked fears that it too may be in...

As President Joe Biden leaves town for the long Memorial Day weekend despite no deal being reached to raise the debt limit, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has again issued a letter with updated math to predict the date on which the United States will officially hit the debt ceiling and default on its obligations. The Friday afternoon letter from Yellen to congressional leaders explained that "[b]ased on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5."Previous estimates...

Despite objections from the mayors of California's ten largest cities, the Assembly last week approved Assembly Bill 1692 by Fremont Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski. The bill will make it harder for cities to seek bankruptcy protection. It reneges on a carefully crafted compromise measure approved just six months ago that requires financially beleaguered cities to enter into good-faith negotiations with their creditors—including most significantly, public employee unions—before filing for bankruptcy protection. Stockton was in the midst of that mediation when the bill to undo it began moving in the Legislature. Just how bad are things in Stockton? Well how's this for...

In recent weeks, there has been some discussion over how to handle the soaring public debt of the United States; how that debt--its extent & the method by which it is managed--affects the credit worthiness of the United States & the likelihood of default on that debt; finally, the effect of such phenomena on the future economic well being of the people of the United States. There was also a hue & cry, when a popular financial rating agency issued a minor downgrade of the quality of that debt. In this essay, we will focus on the question of debt...

Recently the US Congress voted, seemingly without regard to easily foreseen consequences, to increase the amount of debt it may issue by trillions of dollars. The amount of the increase in debt this vote permits is almost equal to the total US debt from just a few years ago. The vote did not go unnoticed. Here in Tennessee, the same voters who just months ago sent Republican Diane Black to the US House, were protesting in front of her office. Abroad, it was not unnoticed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), currently the largest holder of US debt. As...

...On Sunday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he had six words of warning for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): “If you break it, you own it.”...

That giant whooshing, and humming, sound you hear are all the printers at the basement of Marriner Eccles getting refills and start the warm up process. Because according to the Fed Charles Plosser the Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default. Which can only mean one thing: an immediate paradrop of millions of $100 bricks to every man woman and child in the US since as we all know by know Tim Geithner has repeatedly confirmed the Treasury has absolutely no default plans. None.

The American people are broke. When 25% of the people have no income coming in and prices for basic goods continue to rise, there will be no upward movement in the economy. Consumers cannot spend, because they have nothing left – their incomes have been eliminated and so too has their credit. The only hope for growth is more easing by the Fed and more stimulus from Congress, but even that is masking the problem. We may see positive GDP growth as a result, as we have “officially” seen in recent quarters, but this is strictly a mathematical result of...

It Has Started: Wall Street Is Preparing For A Doomsday Scenario Katya Wachtel Jul. 21, 2011, 9:15 AM If you're simply looking at their public statements, Wall Streeters seem to be alarmed about the debt crisis, but don't appear to be sliding into panic mode. In fact, they're just really good actors. Across the financial sector, many are preparing for a debt doomsday scenario, in which the U.S does in fact default, the New York Times reports. Firms are "taking steps to reduce the risk of holding Treasury bonds or angling for ways to make profits from any possible upheaval."...

If you're simply looking at their public statements, Wall Streeters seem to be alarmed about the debt crisis, but don't appear to be sliding into panic mode. In fact, they're just really good actors. Across the financial sector, many are preparing for a debt doomsday scenario, in which the U.S does in fact default, the New York Times reports. Firms are "taking steps to reduce the risk of holding Treasury bonds or angling for ways to make profits from any possible upheaval." It's clear hedge funds have changed gears and many are in heavy de-risking mode, with billion dollar firms...

Optimists say that emerging-market defaults are a thing of the past. Emerging markets today, the argument goes, are relying more on domestically issued local currency debt, both inflation-indexed and non-indexed. This means their debts are far more stable and reliable than in the recent past, when a much larger share of government debt was issued externally and denominated in hard currency. This argument is wrong. In the past, the combination of high levels of domestic debt and inflation surges has often proven deadly for both foreign and domestic investors. Just look at Argentina today, a country not nearly as prosperous...

Argentine alert as inflation spectre stalks half the world Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 1:12am BST 03/06/2008 Argentina is defaulting on its sovereign debt yet again, this time by stealth. Wealthier Portensos with a nose for trouble are pulling their savings out of Buenos Aires banks. Most are buying dollars, or slipping across the Rio de la Plata to deposit their stash in Uruguay. European and US pension funds that snapped up Argentina's peso bonds at the height of the credit bubble are discovering that it pays to probe the politics of Latin America - and indeed, Eastern Europe, and emerging...