Puffery with occasional numbers? Or numbers occasionally puffed?
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The last, and biggest, piece of the global rescue plan is now almost in place. In the past few days, we have seen all the major Western economies adopt the “Gordon Brown” plan for bailing out banks. One element involves ramping up capital ratios so that banks have a much fatter cushion to absorb both the past losses on distressed loans and the new losses they will suffer as the economy slows. A second vital element is guaranteeing medium-term borrowing, as that will allow banks to get off the treadmill of relying on overnight money which has to be repaid the next day. In all, over $3 trillion has been pledged globally for these two purposes – with the bigger chunk deployed for medium-term borrowing.
Unwashed point of view here.