Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Over a Quarter of Large Retailers Are at Significant Risk of Filing for Bankruptcy or Facing Financial Distress in 2009 or 2010
December 29th, 2008Via: Wall Street Journal: The good news for retailers reeling from the holiday sales season is that 2008 is almost over. The bad news: The fallout in 2009 could be worse. This year’s retailing slide — when stores were forced to cut prices to convince wary consumers to spend — promises to have a lasting […]
Madoff Probe Focuses on Tax Havens
December 28th, 2008Via: Guardian: The hunt for funds allegedly cheated out of investors by Bernard Madoff, who faces fraud charges in New York, has turned to offshore tax havens where investigators believe he may have salted away hundreds of millions of dollars. Stephen Harbeck, chief executive of America’s Securities Investor Protection Corporation (Sipc) and official receiver of […]
Israel Attacks Gaza, Hundreds Dead: Who Made a Killing?
December 27th, 2008What did the Benazir Bhutto assassination and the latest Israeli attacks in Gaza have in common? There was a strong move higher on gold immediately preceding both incidents, which were spaced one year apart, to the day. Remember how gold moved before Bhutto was killed? Check out this Bloomberg piece from yesterday (a day before […]
Japan Factory Output Has Biggest Fall On Record
December 26th, 2008Via: AP: Japan’s contracting economy got a slew of bad news Friday when government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the jobless rate jumped and household spending fell. Output at the nation’s manufacturers tumbled 8.1 percent from October, the largest drop since Tokyo began measuring such data […]
Hiring Window Is Open at the Foreign Service
December 25th, 2008Besides the rhetorical reasons for this, it might also indicate A) that the U.S. is increasingly going to be relying on the kindness of others to survive, which will require diplomatic personnel at multiple levels, and B) that some very major changes are afoot with regard to the North American Union, the Amero and other […]
Fed Grants GMAC Ability to Seek Bailout Funds
December 25th, 2008I’m not as convinced as these guys in the piece below. This is already a make-it-up-as-you-go kind of show. Why couldn’t Hank and Ben just wave their magic wands and declare that GMAC qualifies as a bank, or whatever other damn thing they want to call it? —‘Already Bankrupt’ GM Won’t Be Rescued by U.S. […]
Will the North American Union Happen Under Obama?
December 24th, 2008Bailiffs Get Power to Use Force on Debtors
December 24th, 2008Via: Times Online: The government has been accused of trampling on individual liberties by proposing wide-ranging new powers for bailiffs to break into homes and to use “reasonable force” against householders who try to protect their valuables. Under the regulations, bailiffs for private firms would for the first time be given permission to restrain or […]
Fund Manager Tied to Madoff Case Found Dead
December 24th, 2008For the first time, I’m preemptively adding a story, this story, to the Assassination category. —The Desperate Final Hours of the World’s Biggest Ever Financial Fraud Via: AP: A fund manager who lost more than $1 billion of his clients’ money to Bernard Madoff was discovered dead Tuesday after committing suicide at his Manhattan office, […]
NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN DEBT SITUATION CRITICAL: “ADJUSTMENT” IMMINENT, WILL BE FORCED ON THE COUNTRY IF NECESSARY
December 23rd, 2008If you’re holding NZD, know that the scheme relies heavily on two factors: 1) The price of milk. Milk solids, actually. That’s right. If milk solids tank, watch out. 2) Japanese carry trade investors. High dairy prices are part of the reason why the New Zealand Dollar is an attractive carry trade destination for Japanese […]
