Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Repo Lots Overflow with Cars
February 15th, 2008Via: USA Today: Car and truck repossessions this year are headed for the highest level in at least a decade, thanks to easy credit and a faltering economy, says an economist for one of the largest wholesale auto auction services. So many vehicles are being snatched from owners who stop making payments that some repo […]
GM Wants to Replace Much of U.S. Workforce with Lower-Paid New Hires; Offers Buyouts to 74,000 Current Employees
February 13th, 2008The fact that GM is viable at all is the real news. Via: CNN: In an effort to shave ongoing losses, General Motors offered lucrative buyouts Tuesday to 74,000 employees – its entire U.S. hourly workforce. The nation’s largest automaker announced the latest round of buyouts as it reported another loss on its core auto […]
Buffett Offers to Back Municipal Bonds
February 12th, 2008One crisis after another, They keep saving Their bacon, somehow. The show is definitely not over. Via: AP: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Tuesday that he has offered to help out troubled bond insurers by offering a second level of insurance on up to $800 billion in municipal bonds. In an interview on CNBC, Buffett […]
Rand Sinks as South African Electricity Grid Fails
February 12th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Gold is above $900 an ounce and platinum has never been higher, yet traders are selling the South African rand faster than any other major currency because President Thabo Mbeki can’t keep the lights on. The rand is down 12 percent this year against the dollar, six times more than the next-worst performer […]
G7 Approves IMF Gold Sales
February 10th, 2008Via: Reuters: The Group of Seven rich nations on Saturday approved the sale of gold by the International Monetary Fund from April as part of a broad reform of its budget, Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said. “There was an acceptance among the G7 that resources should be raised by selling gold,” Padoa-Schioppa, who is […]
Bank Reserves Go Negative
February 7th, 2008Reader Brad tipped me off to this situation. Via: Minyanville: Here’s an interesting excerpt from the book Investing Public Funds by Girard Miller about borrowed reserves: “Another useful indicator of the Federal Reserve’s relative monetary policies can be found weekly in the Federal Reserve data. A key statistic is the net free reserves or net […]
“Euros Accepted” Signs Pop Up in New York City
February 7th, 2008HAHA Shop keepers are taking a page from the Irish Pub Owner’s in America playbook. Via: Reuters: In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain’t what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise. “We had decided that money […]
Troubled Homeowners: Can’t Pay? Just Walk Away
February 7th, 2008Can’t pay? Just walk away. It has a nice, simple ring to it. Kinda catchy. Jingle mail is another term that’s making its way around suburban ghettos and corporate boardrooms. Jingle mail is what happens when the zombie slobs leave their house keys in the mail box and “just walk away” from their upside down […]
Gulf States May Have to Drop Dollar Pegs
February 6th, 2008Interesting development, with so many of the Intertubes getting damaged in the region… Via: Bloomberg: Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will have to revalue their currency pegs this year following the dollar’s decline and U.S. interest- rate cuts, said Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Five nations lowered […]
Gold Selling Off
February 5th, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Goldbugs may want to review, Weekly Gold Chart Has Formed a Shooting Star… or Something, especially the second part about the multilane highway. I really didn’t want to get that one right.
