Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Bank of America On the Brink Again
January 15th, 2009Via: Reuters / IHT: Banking giants in Europe and the United States faced fresh questions about their ability to ride out a global financial crisis which is set to prompt a European Central Bank interest rate cut later on Thursday. Shares in Bank of America and Citigroup, two of America’s biggest banks, tumbled as they […]
U.S. Military Report Warns “Sudden Collapse” of Mexico Is Possible
January 15th, 2009Cryptogon subreddit participants are discussing this in relation to the North American Union. Via: El Paso Times: Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse,” according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats. The command’s “Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)” report, which […]
UK Economy Downturn: “Frightening”
January 14th, 2009Via: BBC: Business leaders have painted a bleak picture of the UK economy, with a survey suggesting the end of 2008 saw a “frightening deterioration”. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said its survey results were “awful” and the worst since it began in 1989. Elsewhere, a separate report suggested it had been the worst […]
NORTEL FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
January 14th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Nortel Networks Corp., North America’s biggest maker of telephone equipment, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S., a victim of the global credit crunch and declining sales. Nortel, based in Toronto, had more than $1 billion in assets and debt, according to a Chapter 11 filing of its U.S. subsidiary today in Wilmington, […]
SALES AT U.S. RETAILERS FELL MORE THAN TWICE AS MUCH AS FORECAST IN DECEMBER
January 14th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Sales at U.S. retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December as job losses and the lack of credit led Americans to cut back on everything from car purchases to eating out. The 2.7 percent slump marked the sixth straight month of declines, the longest string since comparable records began […]
Freight Rates for Containers Shipped from Asia to Europe Have Fallen to Zero for the First Time Since Records Began
January 14th, 2009Via: Telegraph: Freight rates for containers shipped from Asia to Europe have fallen to zero for the first time since records began, underscoring the dramatic collapse in trade since the world economy buckled in October. “They have already hit zero,” said Charles de Trenck, a broker at Transport Trackers in Hong Kong. “We have seen […]
NEW ZEALAND’S CREDIT RATING MAY BE CUT
January 13th, 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 If […]
GERMAN BOND AUCTION FAILS
January 13th, 2009I haven’t gotten around to writing my 2009-year-ahead post. In the interim, here’s what I wrote to a core Cryptogon supporter a few days ago: The phase we’re into now is akin to a car on an icy road that’s gone into a turn too fast. We’re in the “Oh shit” stage of the wreck. […]
Zimbabwe Introduces $50 Billion Note
January 12th, 2009The old (from July 2008) $100 billion notes used to buy three eggs. The government has since slashed off the zeros and started again. But the zeros came back with a vengeance. How about using scientific notation? Via: CNN: Zimbabwe’s central bank will introduce a $50 billion note — enough to buy just two loaves […]
ACTUAL TIMES ONLINE HEADLINE: “PUNISH SAVERS AND MAKE THEM SPEND MONEY”
January 10th, 2009I’ve collected a few quotes to go along with this. Rather than attempting to bring down The Machine suddenly, in a manner that would, almost certainly, result in the use of strategic nuclear weapons, we should gradually destroy The Machine (and let it destroy itself), while learning the skills necessary to make living in a […]
