Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Wells Fargo Executive Squats in Home of Madoff-Duped Couple
September 14th, 2009UPDATE: Fired: Moving to contain a public relations mess, Wells Fargo & Co. fired a top executive accused of using a bank-owned Malibu beach house to entertain her family and friends. Cheronda Guyton, a senior vice president responsible for commercial foreclosed properties, broke company rules barring personal use of bank property, Wells Fargo said in […]
Philadelphia’s Libraries Scheduled to Close Starting October 2 Due to Budget Deadlock
September 14th, 2009I honestly thought that this story wasn’t real at first, but it’s real. All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009 Via: Los Angeles Times: In a dramatic move, the Philadelphia Free Library System announced today that it will close all branch, regional and central […]
Phoenix Budget Situation: “Much Worse Than the Worst-Case Scenario”
September 14th, 2009Via: Arizona Republic: Seven months after Phoenix made its largest budget cuts in history, City Manager Frank Fairbanks has informed City Council members that the cutting may not be over. The city could face a budget shortfall of $65 million to $95 million in the middle of the current fiscal year, Fairbanks said, as Phoenix […]
Captain Obvious: Banking Crisis Bigger Than Before
September 14th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger,” Stiglitz said in an interview today […]
FDIC Friday: Corus Goes Down, Two Others
September 12th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Corus Bankshares Inc.’s Corus Bank, the Chicago lender crippled by construction loans for condominiums, was seized by regulators and its $7 billion in deposits were acquired by MB Financial Inc. MB Financial Bank, which has more than 80 branches in the Chicago area, agreed to pay a premium of 0.2 percent for the […]
Brazil’s Armored Car Culture
September 11th, 2009This is absurd on many levels, but I couldn’t look away. Interestingly, the Brazilian government doesn’t allow vehicles to be outfitted with Level 3 and Level 4 armor. In other words, any assault rifle would cut through the armor on these vehicles like a hot knife through butter. Via: Wall Street Journal: Everywhere 19-year-old Kareen […]
Millions More Thrust Into Poverty: Decade of Headway in Household Income Erased
September 11th, 2009Via: Washington Post: A new comprehensive economic survey shows that the recession has plunged 2.6 million more Americans into poverty, wiped out the household income gains of an entire decade and pushed the number of people without health insurance up to 46.3 million. The grim economic statistics unveiled Thursday in the Census Bureau’s annual report […]
Dr Pepper’s Wet Dream: Water, Government Subsidies and Transfer of Wealth in the Middle of the Desert
September 10th, 2009Via: Alternet: On a sun-baked afternoon in October 2008, a group of soft-drink executives and city officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at an old Air Force base on the outskirts of the city, 100 miles east of Los Angeles. They were standing on the edge of the Mojave Desert, one of the driest, most […]
Green Shoots: Employers’ Hiring Plans at Lowest Level in the History of Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey
September 8th, 2009Via: Market Watch: Employers’ hiring plans for the upcoming fourth quarter dropped to their lowest level in the history of Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey, which started in 1962. A net -3% of employers said they’ll hire in the fourth quarter, down from -2% in the third quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the […]
UN Wants New Global Currency to Replace Dollar
September 8th, 2009Around 70.79, two doors emerge: Behind Door #1: The dollar will stage a massive rally/dead cat bounce/short squeeze from Hell. (Don’t ask me how this would happen.) Behind Door #2: A wildcard event; a system transformation. System transformation is lingo from International Relations. It means paradigm change; a break from past normative assumptions about the […]
