Morning schadenfreude....
Well, put this in the “Wah, wah wah, it’s not faiiiiiiir!” hubris column. It seems that the very same banksters who were perfectly okay last year with being among the “favored”, and not being forced to take any losses at all on their bad debts, while everyone from bondholders to taxpayers to mortgagees got royally screwed……..
Well, the shoe is now on the other foot re: Dubai World and other crumbling investments, and boy are the Wall Streeters suddenly ALL concerned about TEH RULZ! “But, but, it’s not FAIR that the Arab states are giving preference to certain (their own) banks, and telling to rest of us to get bent! Waaaaah!” Denninger lays into them this morning:
This is rather humorous, really….
“Bankers are furious that two defaulting Saudi conglomerates that owe $20 billion (£12.2 billion) appear to be favouring local banks over foreign creditors. State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Standard Chartered are all understood to have exposure to Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros (Ahab). Dozens of other Western banks are also owed money, including Citigroup and BHP Paribas.”
So what?
You banksters were perfectly happy when you got preference you weren’t entitled to last year!
Remember that? You got paid at par on things that were worth much less and in many cases zero. AIG Credit Default Swaps anyone? GM bonds? Chrysler bonds? Various bank deals that “protected” bondholders that should have taken losses, while screwing non-bank debtholders and others?
I have raised hell about the refusal to honor the sanctity of the capital structure in these pages since, well, The Market Ticker began publication.
But I haven’t seen any of you banksters complain when the favoritism and violation of the capital structure favored you!
Now, suddenly, Saudi Arabia is joining the ranks of defaulting Arab nation-state-projects, and they’re doing the same sort of thing to foreign holders that those very same banks did to other people last year, in many cases bankrupting them outright.
Angela Knight, head of the British Bankers’ Association, said yesterday: “This is an important issue for our members and one we would like to see resolved as calmly and quietly as possible.”
Funny how secrecy always is a primary concern when you’re the one looking for something different…. and especially when you just got done screwing everyone else in the world a short time ago.
I hope The House of Saud tells you where to stick your mendacity.
http://market-ticker.org/archives/1705-Priority-Whats-That.html
If it weren’t so sad, I’d be laughing my ass off. They are shocked, SHOCKED and appalled I tell you, that there is (*gasp!!*) favoritism going on,and that teh rulz would be bent to favor some creditors over others! How DARE anyone do that!