Archive for the 'Economy' Category
FBI Investigates Sub-Prime Crisis
January 30th, 2008Things started to get interesting when They sent a memo to all employees on what to say to anyone who presented themselves as auditors or investigators. We were to refer them to some flunkie. I thought, “Oh goodie, we’re going to get raided by a three-letter agency and guys wearing guns and blue wind-breakers are […]
The Global Battle for Food, Oil and Water
January 29th, 2008Via: Financial Times: The costs of food and energy are rising fast. The availability of water is also becoming an issue, from Australia to Africa. The struggle for these three basic commodities – food, energy and water – came up repeatedly in Davos. Globalisation – in particular the rise of China and India – is […]
New Home Sales Fall by Record Amount
January 28th, 2008Come on, Ben. You can do it, buddy. Via: AP: Sales of new homes plunged by a record amount in 2007 while prices posted the weakest showing in 16 years, demonstrating the troubles builders are facing with a huge backlog of unsold homes. The Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes dropped by 26.4 […]
Anyone Thinking of Buying Properties at Auction: Hold Your Fire
January 28th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. I saw a post about a large auction of foreclosed properties coming up in California over on Global Economic Analysis. I agree with the opinion over there: hold off. We haven’t seen anything yet. If you’re considering one of those properties, […]
French Bank Says Trader Hacked Computers
January 28th, 2008Well, well, well… I’m glad I included the BS option in my initial post on this incident. Please see, Unloading Toxic Waste Mortgage Backed Securities: “We Americans Were Very Clever,” and pay close attention to the part about the timing: We’ll see how clever they are when the Good Fellas show up to collect. At […]
Disgraced and Vilified, Indonesia’s Ex-Dictator Suharto Dies Aged 86
January 28th, 2008I’m surprised Suharto’s likeness hasn’t already been added to Mt. Rushmore. Via: The Canadian Free Press: Former Indonesian president Suharto, a Cold War ally of the United States whose brutal military regime killed hundreds of thousands of left-wing political opponents, died Sunday. He was 86. Although he oversaw some of the worst bloodshed of the […]
Wall Street Journal Agrees to Print Full-Page Ad from GATA
January 27th, 2008Via: GATA: This month GATA will place a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal calling attention to the international central bank scheme to suppress the price of gold and to GATA’s conference in Washington in April. The ad was devised with great care by GATA’s Board of Directors over the last several weeks and […]
Technical Analysis: Books and Tools
January 27th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. In the wake of a pretty good live call on gold, several emails came in that were related to technical analysis. How did I learn technical analysis? What tools do I use? What books do I recommend? Before continuing, I want […]
Stop Paying Mortgage, Live in House for Free While Bank Forecloses: Company Offers Screwed Home Buyers “Walk Away Kit”
January 26th, 2008“Uncontrolled words are consistently more dangerous to established authority than armed forces.” —John Ralston Saul, Voltaire’s Bastards Via: You Walk Away: If you are facing or considering foreclosure, you’re not alone. —Are you stressed out about your mortgage payments? —Do you have little or no equity in your home? —Have you had trouble trying to […]
U.S. Slides Into Dangerous 1930s ‘Liquidity Trap’
January 26th, 2008Via: Telegraph: The United States is sliding towards a dangerous 1930s-style “liquidity trap” that cannot easily be stopped by drastic cuts in interest rates, Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned. “The biggest fear is that long-term bond rates won’t come down in line with short-term rates. We’ll have the reverse of what we’ve seen in […]
