Archive for the 'Economy' Category
“Foreclose Me… I’ll Save Money”
January 25th, 2008I love it. The f@*&%! buyers and the banks are now in a Mexican standoff. The banks have a hell of a lot more to lose than the slobs who are upside down on their stucco boxes. Via: Los Angeles Times: A homeowner who can’t sell his house tells the L.A.Times, “Foreclose me. … I’ll […]
Gold Above $900 Again
January 24th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. UPDATE 08:25 GMT: GOLD $920 WEEEEE! Congratulations to everyone who caught the falling chainsaw in Cryptogon’s Reckless Speculation and Pachinko Lounge the other day! Wee! For anyone keeping track, the trade was based on several factors: 1) $850 was the previous […]
Second Largest Bank in France Hit by €5 Billion Fraud
January 24th, 2008Should we laugh? Should we call bullshit? Should we recoil in horror? I’ve got it: “With traders like this, who needs CDOs?” Hee Hee Haar Haaaar Via: Telegraph: The French bank Société Générale stunned financial markets today by revealing that it had been the victim of one of the largest frauds by a rogue trader […]
California: Stunning Jump in Foreclosures
January 23rd, 2008Via: San Francisco Chronicle: Foreclosures and default notices skyrocketed to record peaks in California and the Bay Area in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a report released Tuesday. The information was a fresh reminder that the slumping real estate market is continuing to have a serious impact on homeowners, particularly those with risky […]
“What Else Lurks Out There That Hasn’t Been Uncovered by Investigators?”
January 22nd, 2008Via: Forbes: Regulators call it fraud for profit. Real estate insiders refer to it as scamming for cash. Lehman Brothers isn’t calling it anything at all–or saying anything about being swindled out of upward of $50 million. The U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles says the scam was masterminded by developers Charles Elliot Fitzgerald and Mark […]
EMERGENCY: GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS COLLAPSING
January 22nd, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy sell or hold any financial instrument. I’m going to call emergency here. I was waiting to see if Asia would get a foot hold today, but the slide is extending. I hope Cryptogon readers have diversified well and are ready to face this situation. We all knew […]
Black Monday as Biggest FTSE Crash Since 9/11 Wipes Off Nearly £60 Billion in Share Value
January 21st, 2008Via: This is London: The stock market was in meltdown today as nearly £60billion was wiped off London shares. A combination of poor economic figures and the worsening global credit crunch sent the FTSE 100 plunging. At one stage the drop was the biggest since 9/11 in 2001, although the index of Britain’s biggest companies […]
GERMANY: DAX DOWN 7%
January 21st, 2008It’s a global sell off, but Germany is down over 7% at the moment, according to the blinking numbers on my screen… You might recall that I focussed specifically on Germany in my New Year’s piece about 2008: Think of the longer term effects on European economies of the dollar collapse and Americans becoming unable […]
Is This the End of Cheap Food?
January 21st, 2008Via: Guardian: ‘It’s going to be interesting,’ says James Walton, chief economist with the food retail industry’s education body, IDG. ‘UK shoppers aged under 50 have so far never experienced food-price inflation.’ Essentially, throughout most Britons’ lifetimes, food has become cheaper. But, in December, the inflation rate (by the government’s preferred consumer price index, the […]
Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
January 21st, 2008Mainstream media playing catch up… Via: New York Times: Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing residents of Asia’s largest slum, in Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their […]
