Monoline datapoint of the day

I said earlier I rarely do this and here I go again posting another blogger's entire article. This is because he knows things most of us don't. K?

Bloomberg reports:

Ambac, MBIA Inc. and Assured Guaranty, the three largest bond insurers, have set aside 0.04 percent of the total public finance debt they insure, or $520 million, to pay claims on municipal securities, according to regulatory filings by the companies.

No, that’s not a misprint: the claims-paying reserves are 4 basis points of the total quantity of municipal bonds insured. What’s more, the market capitalization of all three monolines combined is less than $5 billion; the amount of municipal bonds insured, by contrast, is well over $1 trillion.

What could possibly go wrong?

Even I can see that's equivalent to taking off to Europe for a week with $10 in your pocket and a couple hundred in the ol' ATM with the idea you'll not need any more than that.

Here come 3 more bailouts?

...
Note: Headline links to source.