Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Does New Zealand Face the Fate of Iceland?
March 5th, 2009Privately, with friends and family, I’ve been referring to New Zealand as Iceland 2. The financial situation here is not quite as absurd as Iceland’s, but the comparison is legitimate because of New Zealand’s extremely high debt load. —NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN DEBT SITUATION CRITICAL: “ADJUSTMENT” IMMINENT, WILL BE FORCED ON THE COUNTRY IF NECESSARY I […]
One in 8 U.S. Households Late Paying or in Foreclosure
March 5th, 2009Via: Reuters: About one in every eight U.S. households, a record share, ended 2008 behind on their mortgage payments or in the foreclosure process as job losses intensified a housing crisis spawned by lax lending practices, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday. With unemployment at a 16-1/2-year high and rising, more borrowers will be […]
Chavez Orders Expropriation of Cargill Rice Plant
March 5th, 2009Via: AP: President Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of a rice-processing plant in Venezuela owned by American food giant Cargill Inc. on Wednesday because the company allegedly was not distributing rice at prices imposed by the government. The socialist leader also threatened to nationalize Venezuela’s largest food producer, Empresas Polar, amid rising tension between his […]
GM Auditors Raise the Specter of Chapter 11
March 5th, 2009Via: AP: General Motors Corp.’s auditors have raised “substantial doubt” about the troubled automaker’s ability to continue operations, and the company said it may have to seek bankruptcy protection if it can’t execute a huge restructuring plan. The automaker revealed the concerns Thursday in an annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. […]
Fed Refuses to Release Bank Lending Data, Insists on Secrecy, Says it Isn’t Subject to FOIA Law
March 5th, 2009HA. Bloomberg is trying to apply FOIA to the Federal Reserve. Well, to those of you who still believe that the Fed is part of the U.S. Government, pay close attention: The Board of Governors contends that it’s separate from its member banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York which runs the lending […]
Unopened Claims Letters Hidden at VA Offices
March 5th, 2009Via: Army Times: A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money. VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident […]
Pimco Says Closed-End Funds Delay Dividend Payments
March 5th, 2009Bond rumblings… Via: Bloomberg: Pacific Investment Management Co. said three of its closed-end funds had postponed dividend payments declared Feb. 2 because they failed to meet the ratio of assets to borrowing set by regulators. Pimco Corporate Income Fund, Corporate Opportunity Fund and High Income Fund won’t make payments scheduled for today or for April […]
UK: Job Vacancies and Pay Fall at Record Pace
March 4th, 2009Can they eat CCTV cameras? Via: Reuters: Demand for staff at companies fell at its fastest rate in more than 10 years in February and pay also fell at a record rate as firms slashed costs, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation/KPMG report on jobs said the poor economic climate had […]
Russian Scholar Says U.S. Will Be Under Martial Law in 2009
March 4th, 2009I was going to ignore this, like I did the last time it came up, but the emails are already rolling in… I just don’t think that it’s going to go down this way. Why? Because Americans are like mushrooms. In general, they like being kept in the dark and fed bullshit. They’re absolutely content […]
FDIC: Depositor Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year
March 4th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the deposit insurance fund could dry up amid a surge in bank failures, as she responded to an industry outcry against new fees approved by the agency. “Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year,” Bair wrote in a March 2 […]
