Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Morgan Stanley Conjured Doomed CDO Product, Shorted It
May 14th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: In June 2006, a year before the subprime mortgage market collapsed, Morgan Stanley created a cluster of investments doomed to fail even if default rates stayed low — then bet against its concoction. Known as the Baldwin deals, the $167 million of synthetic collateralized debt obligations had an unusual feature, according to sales […]
Volcker Sees Euro ‘Disintegration’ Risk From Greece
May 14th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said he’s concerned that the euro area may break up after the Greek fiscal crisis that sparked an unprecedented bailout by the region’s members. “You have the great problem of a potential disintegration of the euro,” Volcker, 82, said in a speech in London yesterday. “The essential […]
Images of Alleged “New” Deutsche Marks Are Photoshopped
May 14th, 2010Since yesterday, a rumor has been circulating that Germany is about to drop the euro and re-issue the Deutsche Mark. Today, images purporting to show pallets of “new” Deutsche Marks are making the rounds. These images have been Photoshopped. The dates on the bundles of currency have been digitally manipulated. The original source of the […]
Bank of England: U.S. Faces Same Problems as Greece
May 14th, 2010Via: Telegraph: Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, fears that America shares many of the same fiscal problems currently haunting Europe. He also believes that European Union must become a federalised fiscal union (in other words with central power to tax and spend) if it is to survive. Just two of the nuggets […]
EUR/USD Intraday Downside Breaches of 1.2520
May 14th, 2010Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. UPDATE: NEW LOW 1.2385 —End Update— UPDATE: Splat New low: 1.2422 —End Update— 1.2520 was the near term low that was set just before the ECB rolled out the confetti shredder. New low 1.2516. There’s a four hour not-really hammer and […]
EU Bids for Power Over National Budgets
May 13th, 2010Via: CBC: Senior administrators of the European Union proposed on Wednesday that they be given unprecedented power to scrutinize the spending plans of countries before national parliaments vote on those budgets. The EU’s executive commission’s bid was a move to crack down on widespread government overspending and to begin to deal with the debt crisis […]
U.S. Probes Morgan Stanley
May 13th, 2010Via: Wall Street Journal: U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivatives deals it helped design and sometimes bet against, people familiar with the matter said, in a step that intensifies Washington’s scrutiny of Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis. Morgan Stanley arranged and marketed to investors pools of […]
Freddie Mac Has a Message for Strategic Defaulters?
May 13th, 2010This is posted mainly its comedic value. It might also serve as a study in apoplexy as applied to economic commentary. Via: ML Implode: This guy may just win my Dick-of-the-Year Award hands down. Did he just say: “simply continuing to pay the bills might be best?” I can’t be sure because there’s no way […]
Home Depot Must Actually Pay Inventor For Invention
May 13th, 2010Via: Consumerist: Home Depot had a problem: their employees kept sawing off their own extremities with the saws they used to cut lumber for customers. Michael Powell invented a gadget which fixed the problem, and offered to sell the device to the chain for $2,000 each. Then, the inventor’s lawsuit alleged, Home Depot simply stole […]
Outsourcing Unit To Be Set Up In Indian Jail
May 13th, 2010Via: BBC: Authorities in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh are planning to set up an outsourcing unit in a jail. The unit will employ 200 educated convicts who will handle back office operations like data entry, and process and transmit information. The project will begin at Charlapally Central Jail, near the state capital […]
