Comments for "Autos: Cerberus Loses Equity, New GM CEO Says Bankruptcy"

John Hancock has argued that a decision calling into question the

enforceability of its credit default swap with Ambac would be contrary to the

public interest because such transactions have become so common and because

so many businesses rely upon their validity. The point is a serious one, and it is
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certainly true that the public interest generally favors the enforcement of
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lawful contracts. In the context of this transaction, however, this argument has little

force. As explained above, the record now before the court tends to show that the

Merom SILO transaction was a blatantly abusive tax shelter from the beginning.

The more general points about the sanctity of contracts do not apply to this
elaborate effort to defraud other taxpayers.



I think blatantly abusive tax shelter, i.e., an illegal contract, sort of trumps an off-the-wall inclusion of a CDS based on Ambac losing its AAA rating.

No precedential value and no persuasive value either so far as I can see.


sportsfan Mon Mar 30 18:29:54 2009 CDT #

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