Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Obama Forecasts $1.75 Trillion Deficit This Year
February 26th, 2009I hope the Chinese take a deep hit of Hopenosis or the bond auctions are going to fail. Via: Reuters: President Barack Obama will forecast the biggest U.S. deficit since World War Two in a budget on Thursday that urges a costly overhaul of the healthcare system and would spend billions to arrest the economy’s […]
Mexico Is in Free Fall
February 26th, 2009Via: Guardian: Shortly before the US elections last November, then vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was widely criticised for predicting that an Obama administration would almost certainly be tested by what he called a “generated” international crisis, in much the way that the Soviet Union “tested” John F Kennedy shortly after he assumed office. Biden did […]
U.S. Military Might Be Sent to U.S.-Mexico Border as Drug Cartel Chaos Spirals
February 26th, 2009Via: Los Angeles Times: The Justice Department announced Wednesday that authorities had arrested more than 730 people across the country in a 21-month investigation targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel and its infiltration into U.S. cities. The arrests, including 50 on Wednesday in California, Minnesota, Maryland and the nation’s capital, come amid growing concern in Washington […]
JAPAN: EXPORTS DOWN 45.7 PERCENT FROM A YEAR EARLIER
February 25th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Japan’s exports plunged 45.7 percent in January from a year earlier, resulting in a record trade deficit, as recessions in the U.S. and Europe smothered demand for the country’s cars and electronics. The shortfall widened to 952.6 billion yen ($9.9 billion), the biggest since 1980, the earliest year for which there is comparable […]
Fears for IMF’s Ability to Raise Rescue Funds
February 24th, 2009Let me guess: Sovereign gold sales? Via: Times: Fears are growing that the International Monetary Fund will struggle to raise enough cash to help all the countries that need emergency aid as the global financial crisis unfolds. The leaders of Europe’s wealthiest countries pledged on Sunday to help the IMF to raise at least a […]
‘Black Swan’ Author Sees Trouble Exceeding 1930s
February 24th, 2009Via: New York Times: The author of “The Black Swan,” Nassim Nicholas Taleb, predicts that the global financial crisis will be harder to end than the Great Depression and it may force the United States government to nationalize some banks. The world has a much more complex financial system than in the 1930s, Mr. Taleb […]
Defaults by Franchisees Soar as the Recession Deepens
February 24th, 2009Via: Wall Street Journal: The recession is bruising businesses across the franchising industry. From ice-cream parlors to tanning salons, franchisees’ defaults on loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration are piling up in amounts unseen in years. A list of loans at 500 franchises shows the number of defaults by franchisees increased 52% in […]
U.S. Home Price Drops at Record Pace in December
February 24th, 2009Via: Reuters: Prices of U.S. single-family homes plunged 18.5 percent in December from a year earlier as the monthly pace accelerated, according to a Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 2.5 percent in December from November, compared with a 2.3 percent decline in […]
China to Heed Clinton’s Call on Buying U.S. Bonds
February 23rd, 2009The Mexican standoff continues. Or, put another way… Keep the Ponzi scheme going, or you’ll lose what you put in already. Via: AFP: China has little choice but to follow Hillary Clinton’s call and continue buying US Treasuries, as reversing course would lead to the value of its investments plunging, economists said Monday. While in […]
When Consumers Cut Back: A Lesson from Japan
February 23rd, 2009See what I mean about frugality as a mode of warfare? Via: IHT: As recession-wary Americans adapt to a new frugality, Japan offers a peek at how thrift can take lasting hold of a consumer society, to disastrous effect. The economic malaise that plagued Japan from the 1990s until the early 2000s brought stunted wages […]
