Archive for the ‘Financial crisis’ Category
The financial system established in England after 1688, based on usurious lending to the state by private bankers, is reaching its final blowout in the form of a series of devastating bubbles and a massive bailout of the financiers with public money. But the issuance of money doesn’t have to be in the hands of a private consortium: another credit system is possible.
Posted by seumasach on September 1, 2008
Aug 31, 2008
Mike Whitney
Market Oracle
Michael Hudson: “Greenspan saw his job as a cheerleader for people who were able to get rich fast; sort of like a pilot fish for sharks”
Mike Whitney Interviews Michael Hudson
1 Mike Whitney: The United States current account deficit is roughly $700 billion. That is enough “borrowed” capital to pay the yearly $120 billion cost of the war in Iraq, the entire $450 billion Pentagon budget, and Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. Why does the rest of the world keep financing America’s militarism via the current account deficit or is it just the unavoidable consequence of currency deregulation, “dollar hegemony” and globalization?
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: financial feudalism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on September 1, 2008
“We are reminded once again that when the pound falls, it falls hard.”
We have been stressing the vulnerability of the pound for some time. Some analogy from a strictly economic point of view could be made with Iceland which is being forced to contemplate joining the Euro as its own currency plummets. Iceland has some similarities as an offshore, largely parasitic, financier economy. but at least its not the hub of a lunatic imperial project which has already failed but which we persist with, fueling the flames that engulf us. The collapse of the pound will be a historic event symbolising the end of the post-1688 imperial project. On a more practical level we have no choice but to abandon it and join the Euro if we are to avoid a terrifying inflationary crisis.
Julia Kollewe
The Guardian
1st September
The pound hit a record low against the euro and a two-year low against the dollar this morning after a stark warning from Alistair Darling, the chancellor, that the economic downturn would be worse and longer than expected.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: Abolish the pound!, financial collapse | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on September 1, 2008
DIC chief is facing exceptional challenges
By Eric Dash
and Geraldine Fabrikant
The New York Times Salt Lake City Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/31/2008 12:25:23 AM MDT
WASHINGTON – Sheila Bair anticipated the mortgage crisis long before most other regulators. But she never dreamed it would wreak so much havoc on so many banks.
More than a year after the credit crisis first flared, Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., warned last week that the outlook for the ailing banking industry was bad – and getting worse.
The swelling tide of toxic home loans is proving to be even more worrisome than initially feared, Bair said. She is struggling to clean up the mess and forestall home foreclosures with a plan to ease loan terms for hard-pressed homeowners.
”It is going to be a slog to work though this, but there is no easy way to do it,” Bair said about her plan during an interview in her office here. ”We haven’t seen the trough of the credit cycle yet.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks, FDIC | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 31, 2008
The above headline needs qualification: Bank of England to show no mercy as firms go under- unless they are banks
By John Lawless and Simon Evans
Independent
Sunday, 31 August 200
The Bank of England is expected to ignore pleas for a cut in rates this week, despite warnings that the number of companies set to go under in Britain this year could reach 17,000.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on August 29, 2008
Market Scan
FDIC Under Pressure Forbes
Carl Gutierrez, 08.27.08, 5:55 PM ET
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, the government’s designated spotter, is starting to sweat under the pressure of so many firms sitting in hot water.
The number of troubled U.S. banks rose to 117 in the second quarter, and it’ll get worse if the housing slump and credit crisis continue, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, commonly know as the FDIC. Specifically, the number of “problem” lenders increased in the second quarter to 117, with $78.3 billion of assets, from 90 lenders with $26.3 billion of assets three months earlier. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks, FDIC | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 28, 2008
Global Europe
On the occasion of this 26th – Summer 2008 Special – edition of the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin, the LEAP/E2020 team has decided to launch an alert on the July-December 2008 period. Indeed, our team is now convinced that this period will consist for the whole world in a major plunge into the heart of the phase of impact of the global systemic crisis. The upcoming six months are in fact the core of the unfolding crisis. The troubles met in the past six months were mere harbingers.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: financial collapse | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on August 28, 2008
Who Really “Insures” the FDIC?
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 – Vol. 10, No. 204
Today’s comment is by David Newman, Market Analyst for The Sovereign Society.
Insurance is one of those things that’s supposed to help you sleep at night. It’s right up there with putting locks on your doors and installing airbags in your teenager’s new car. It should mean that you’ve got one less thing to worry about.
So when you find out that the insurance policy itself may be at risk, it’s basically like hearing all those precautions were just a huge waste of time.
All chances of a good night’s sleep are gone forever. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks, FDIC | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on August 24, 2008
By Seasn O’Grady
Sunday, 24 August 2008 Independent
All agree we’re close to recession. The revised GDP figures released last Friday pretty much confirmed that two successive quarters of negative growth – where the economy shrinks, which is the conventional definition of “recession” – cannot be far away. In case you hadn’t noticed, the economy ground to a halt in the second quarter of the year, and almost every leading indicator suggests that activity will slow further over the next year. But how bad will things get? And what will be the consequences? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: bankruptcy, UK recession, unemployment | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on August 24, 2008
US bank closures done quietly; eye to a sale
Reuters
John Poirier
video link to latest bank closure
WASHINGTON, Aug 22 (Reuters) – When a U.S. bank fails it doesn’t die alone. Months earlier, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp experts have usually slipped into town to see if they can save the institution or at least find an eager buyer. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: failing banks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 23, 2008
Having , no doubt, consulted with their colleagues at Korean Investment Corporation, the Korean Development Bank will be in a good position to make a bid for Lehman commensurate with its actual value, which can’t be very much.
The Irish Sun
23rd August, 2008
See also:
Lehman Brothers in talks over sale of $40 real estate assets
A Korean bank has expressed interest in buying struggling US brokerage firm Lehman Brothers.
The Korea Development Bank in Seoul has said it is looking at options for a buyout of the US bank which has lost three-quarters of its value this year as investors worried about potential losses on the firm’s big mortgage portfolio.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: Lehman | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 23, 2008
What would possess anyone to underwrite a B&B share issue. Underwriting private losses has become the Treasury’s job: are they behind the scenes giving guarantees?
Philip Inman
The Guardian
23rd August, 2008
Bradford & Bingley’s shambolic rights issue, twice restructured, has left its high street rivals as major shareholders after underwriters for the offering failed to offload shares rejected by investors.
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Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: B&B shares issue | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 