Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Shoppers Warned Bigger Bills On Way
February 25th, 2008Full text follows. Via: Financial Times: When William Lapp, of US-based consultancy Advanced Economic Solutions, took the podium at the annual US Department of Agriculture conference, the sentiment was already bullish for agricultural commodities boosted by demand from the biofuels industry and emerging countries. He added a twist – that rising agricultural raw material prices […]
Bank of America Secretly Asking Congress for a Banking Industry Bailout; $739 Billion Worth of Toxic Waste Subprime Loans Threaten Entire System
February 24th, 2008Via: New York Times: Over the last two decades, few industries have lobbied more ferociously or effectively than banks to get the government out of its business and to obtain freer rein for “financial innovation.” But as losses from bad mortgages and mortgage-backed securities climb past $200 billion, talk among banking executives for an epic […]
B-2 Stealth Bomber Crashes: $1.2 Billion Goes Up in Smoke
February 23rd, 2008Via: AFP: The US military was investigating on Saturday after a B-2 stealth bomber crashed on take-off from the Pacific island of Guam, the first such incident involving the futuristic craft. Both pilots on board ejected safely as the 1.2-billion-dollar radar-evading plane, with its distinctive triangular shape, went down at Andersen airbase on the remote […]
Most Upside Down Home Owners Since Great Depression
February 23rd, 2008Via: ABC News: It’s a real estate reality facing millions of Americans. Their homes are now worth less than what they owe on them. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, said, “The last time we saw so many homeowners with so many home values that were worth less than the amount of mortgage they […]
Wall Street Bank Run
February 23rd, 2008Via: Washington Post: It doesn’t look like an old-fashioned bank run because it involves the biggest financial institutions trading paper assets so complicated that even top executives don’t fully understand the transactions. But that’s what it is — a spreading fear among financial institutions that their brethren can’t be trusted to honor their obligations. Frightened […]
Cartoon: The Subprime Primer
February 22nd, 2008The firm externalized the financial risks of being in this business by selling all of the paper they generated into the secondary mortgage market at the end of every month. This is an institutional marketplace that trades in commoditized mortgages, “debt paper.” In other words, at the end of each month, the firm had none […]
German State-Owned Banks on Verge of Collapse
February 22nd, 2008Via: Spiegel: The German government has had to bail out state-owned banks with taxpayers’ money after their managements recklessly gambled away billions on subprime investments. But if a state-owned bank were to go under, the consequences could be disastrous for the whole economy. … The situation for Germany’s public banks has become so dramatic that […]
More People Are Tapping Their 401(k) for Cash
February 21st, 2008What? They can’t do an instant re-fi to buy that grande mocha from Starbucks anymore? Via: MSNBC: Trent Charlton knew the risks when he borrowed $10,000 from his 401(k) and cut his retirement savings in half. But Charlton, a 40-year-old account executive at an Irvine, Calif., trucking company, said he had little choice because he […]
Foreclosed Homes Occupied by Homeless
February 21st, 2008Via: Houston Chronicle: The nation’s foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses, and some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters. Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded-up and dilapidated houses abandoned because […]
Gold: New Record, Up and Out of Previous Range
February 21st, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Gold has broken out higher from the previous range, setting a new all time high. It has decisively breached both daily and intraday overhead resistance levels. Oil is trying to stay over $100, but can’t manage for the moment. With regard […]
