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 November 30, 2008
Barry Eichengreen
30th November, 2008
The global financial crisis has breathed new life into hoary arguments about the euro’s imminent demise.
Such arguments often invoke Milton Friedman, who warned in 1998 that Europe’s commitment to the euro would be tested by the first serious economic downturn. That downturn is now upon us, but the results have been precisely the opposite of what Friedman predicted.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: join the euro! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 30, 2008
Ambrose evans-Pritchard
25th November, 2008
The CDS spreads on British debt jumped even higher on Tuesday, touching 100 at one stage. This is a little frightening.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, CDS spreads, financial collapse | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on November 28, 2008
November 22, 2008
Britain is in no position to laugh at Iceland’s problems
Patrick Hosking Business commentary
Is Britain simply a bigger version of Iceland? Certainly the City of London is starting to look a bit too much like Reykjavik, but with taller buildings and fewer cod. It is an exaggeration, but not that much of an exaggeration, to liken the UK to the broken, bankrupt North Atlantic island. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, failing banks | 2 Comments »
Posted by smeddum on November 28, 2008
Merkel criticises US over crisis
By Bertrand Benoit in Berlin and Nikki Tait in Brussels
November 26 2008
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, turned the tables on her international critics on Wednesday by accusing the US and other governments of making “cheap money” a central tool of their economic management, thus planting the seeds of a similar crisis in five years.
“Excessively cheap money in the US was a driver of today’s crisis,” she told the German parliament. “I am deeply concerned about whether we are now reinforcing this trend through measures being adopted in the US and elsewhere and whether we could find ourselves in five years facing the exact same crisis.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: Merkel | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on November 28, 2008
Britain should join euro says Hong Kong’s Tsang
Britain’s efforts to hold on to sterling are doomed to failure in a global economy dominated by powerful currency blocs, said Hong Kong’s leader Donald Tsang.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
International Business Editor Telegraph
27 Nov 2008
Britain should join euro says Hong Kong’s Tsang
Mr Tsang, an elder statesman of Asian finance, said open trading states must adapt to the realities of modern finance.
“I do not believe in the sustainability of a small floating currency. Look at the pound, it’s being attacked,” he said in interview with the Daily Telegraph. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: join the euro! | 2 Comments »
Posted by seumasach on November 27, 2008
Michael Hudson
26th November, 2008
Reality had to raise its ugly head. Barack Obama was elected with overwhelming approval to inaugurate an era of change. And at his November 25 press conference, he said that his decisive victory gave him a mandate to change the direction in which America is moving. But his recent economic and foreign policy appointments make it clear that when he chose “change” as his campaign slogan, he was NOT referring to the financial, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sectors, nor to foreign policy. These are where the vested interests concentrate their wealth and power. And change already has been accelerating here. Unfortunately, its direction has been for the top 1% of America’s population to raise their share of in the returns to wealth from 37% ten years ago to 57% five years ago and an estimated nearly 70% today.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: financial collapse | 1 Comment »
Posted by smeddum on November 27, 2008
Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High
By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 26, 2008; Page A01
Fueled by rising unemployment and food prices, the number of Americans on food stamps is poised to exceed 30 million for the first time this month, surpassing the historic high set in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: economic collapse, food stamps | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on November 26, 2008
Failed CB Franchise & Gold Explosion
By: Jim Willie CB, GoldenJackass.com
— Posted Wednesday, 26 November 2008 Source: GoldSeek.com
The OMEN for a powerful shift in the gold market in my playful mind was the very real earthquake on November 18 here in Costa Rica, a clear signal from the financial gods, no minor tremor, measured at 6.0 on the Richter scale. The tremor confirmed the tectonic shifts to come to the gold market without question. This was the biggest earthquake in my life, no damage at all though, roof and toys intact. Numerous stories testify in aggregate to a severe tightening of the physical market, certain to put pressure on the corrupt paper market managed by the COMEX and its parent NYMEX. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: comex, December gold delivery, dollar collapse, hyperinflation, Jim Willie, Max Keiser | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 25, 2008
23rd November, 2008
Want one more palpable sign of a desperate economy?
An estimated 40,000 people came to a Weld County farm Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks.
Posted in Financial crisis | Tagged: economic slump, financial collapse | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on November 25, 2008
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) – A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis, Multipolar world | Tagged: financial collapse | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 