Sunday, November 1, 2020

Counterparty Risk

From the comments:

Another problem which will become more evident is that the mortgage debt on these rentals was sold in tranches to investors world wide. And a significant portion was sold to retirement funds in the US to fund retirement payments. And it's easy to see where that is heading when the defaults and foreclosures begin   -CoyoteKen

Definition of Counterparty Risk

Counterparty risk is the likelihood or probability that one of those involved in a transaction might default on its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk can exist in credit, investment, and trading transactions.    -Source
I had forgotten about counterparty risk.

If the Marxists are in power, expect them to nationalize pension plans to "protect" older people.

I wonder if that is part of their game plan. I have a couple of brothers-in-law who worked for Delphi, an automotive supplier. Delphi pre-emptively went bankrupt which triggered a clause forcing General Motors to absorb all of their hourly-worker's pension and retiree healthcare obligations.

It was a dirty piece of work. The CEO pulled the trigger on the bankruptcy filing based on the fiction that IF all obligations were called in at the same time and no bridge credit was available and if Delphi was unable to sell bonds, then they would be unable to pay all of the obligations.

The hourly-workers were "made whole" in the bankruptcy (in part because they were backstopped by pro-forma language General Motors had included in the spin-off) while salary workers had their promises of pensions vaporized. One of my B-I-Ls had worked for GM/Delphi for forty years and has ZERO for his pension.

People who have been crapped-on tend to be fertile ground for Marxists promises.

Is it possible the Marxist True-Believers are engineering a pension train-wreck to eliminate the inherent resistance mature citizens feel toward Communism?

Clearly, a pension train-wreck is in the tea-leaves. Certainly on the public pension side and quite likely on much of the private side as well. But like the azz-hat who choreographed the Delphi bankruptcy to serve his own ends, are the Marxists crafting it to be spectacularly cataclysmic and excruciatingly painful to punish their enemies and to persuade the naive.

4 comments:

  1. I have no doubt that you are correct. The defaults will create instant dependence on government handouts with all of the requisites of obedience being followed. And the subsequent inflation will bring those with savings to heel right along with the others. ---ken

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  2. They'll also raid the 401k accounts of people who have "too much" money.

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  3. The polls are lying. Trump will be re-elected in a freaking LANDSLIDE- if we all get out and vote. I believe that we will. I further predict that we (actually the republicans) will retain the Senate, and will even take the House away from Nasty Pelosi. It will be a RED WAVE which will help our country fundamentally. We have recently been released from the 60 year grip of the communist activist judges. And just as importantly,Trump has appointed hundreds of lower court judges and will continue to do so for four more years. What specifics will change ? I don't know but I believe it will be a turning point for America. A turn for the better.

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  4. Pensions are BS and have always been. They were created during the times of wage and price controls as a means of getting around pay increases. As a matter of moral hazard, institutionalized pensions encourage profligate consumer spending during one's working years because the retirement is "covered" by the pension. It takes some sophistication and some skepticism to look into the future and assess the counterparty risk. But rational people would rather save and invest their own money as they earn it.

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