Getting any form of credit backing was a dicey proposition in late 2008, but Centre had strong enough relationships with its lenders, and the firm leading the deal, Wells Fargo, was in better shape than many of its large banking rivals.

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Rolls believes the decision to appoint Brabin has been fully vindicated, but says the U's board also deserve credit for backing their manager in the transfer market.

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Ms. Quinn also proposed a middle-class child care tax credit, another initiative that would need Albany's backing.

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"The days when a major insurance company could bet the house on credit default swaps with no one watching and no credible backing to protect the company or taxpayers from losses must end, " Mr Geithner told Congress.

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While the current ratings of bond insurers lend nothing to the credit standing of the bond issuer, most insured issues should still be viewed as having viable insurance backing in case of distress.

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Just as now is the time for the U.S. to come to grips with its looming fiscal wreck, it is also time to consider how a global banking system has grown up in a world of fiat money, with no anchor or backing (as in the past, to gold) but instead just the full faith and credit of nations and their agents, the central banks.

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After all, the transaction has the backing of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS).

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"A lot of lenders and banks either don't fully understand the skilled nursing business, are in an environment where state budgets have been strained and fear threatened curtailments to Medicare, " said Nick Gesue, chief credit officer for Lancaster Pollard, a Columbus, Ohio, firm that makes loans to nursing homes with FHA backing.

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