Archive for March, 2008
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown
March 31st, 2008Via: Bloomberg: Be it ever so devalued, $1 trillion is a lot of dough. That’s roughly on a par with the Russian economy. More than double the market value of Exxon Mobil Corp. About nine times the combined wealth of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Yet $1 trillion is the amount of defaults and writedowns […]
Google Supplying Search and Collaboration Systems to U.S. Intelligence Agencies
March 31st, 2008Via: Telegraph: Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects. Agencies such as the National Security Agency have bought servers on which Google-supplied search technology is used to process information gathered by networks of spies around the world. Google is also providing the […]
USA and UK Joined at the Hip for Financial Crisis Management
March 31st, 2008Via: Financial Times: George W. Bush, US president, and Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, have agreed to step up co-operation over the crisis in financial markets. They are setting up a joint working group which will develop plans to monitor and regulate the banking system. At the heart of the proposals, agreed on Wednesday by […]
Air Force Leads Push to Convert Coal Into Aviation Fuel
March 31st, 2008The Standard Oil group of companies, in which the Rockefeller family owned a one-quarter (and controlling) interest, was of critical assistance in helping Nazi Germany prepare for World War II. This assistance in military preparation came about because Germany’s relatively insignificant supplies of crude petroleum were quite insufficient for modern mechanized warfare; in 1934 for […]
As Jobs Vanish, Food Stamp Use Is at Record Pace
March 31st, 2008Via: New York Times: Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s. The number of recipients, who must have near-poverty incomes to […]
Empty Bowls, Stomachs and Pockets
March 31st, 2008Via: Economist: THE soaring price of rice and dwindling stockpiles of Asia’s staple food are causing anxiety across the continent. In particular the Philippines, a big, hungry country which cannot grow enough to feed itself, could be in trouble. The front pages of Manila’s newspapers scream about a “rice crisis”, as politicians float drastic solutions, […]
FEDERAL RESERVE CONSIDERING NATIONALIZING BANKS
March 31st, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Hmm. I wonder what the U.S. dollar will be worth in various foreign currencies after this? Or… Maybe it won’t be dinero, but more like… Amero? If you have plans for using your already crashed U.S. dollars outside of the U.S. […]
EMERGENCY: PHILADELPHIA SUSPENDS SALES OF FORECLOSED HOMES
March 31st, 2008As governments take emergency actions—which amount to economic martial law—the consequences will explode through the wider financial house of cards. The banks, already running in crisis mode, will be under even greater pressure to raise money as governments cut off their ability to liquidate seized properties. If this can happen in Philadelphia, the big money […]
“Cash for Keys”: Banks Attempt to Bribe Squatters to Prevent Destruction of Properties Before Eviction
March 30th, 2008Via: Wall Street Journal: The stucco subdivisions of Las Vegas are caught up in the nation’s foreclosure crisis. These days, bankers and mortgage companies often find that by the time they get the keys back, embittered homeowners have stripped out appliances, punched holes in walls, dumped paint on carpets and, as a parting gift, locked […]
Mobile Phones ‘More Dangerous than Smoking’
March 30th, 2008Via: Independent: Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation. The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, […]
