Archive for July, 2008
Toy Company Developing Weapon that Fires Variable Speed Bullets for U.S. Military
July 23rd, 2008Via: New Scientist: A gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise is being built by a US toy manufacturer. The weapon is based on technology used to propel toy rockets. Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy […]
Record Decline in U.S. Home Prices in May From a Year Ago
July 22nd, 2008Via: IHT: A government report says U.S. home prices fell a record 4.8 percent in May from the same month last year. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight also says prices, on a seasonally adjusted basis, fell 0.3 percent from April to May. The index is down almost 5 percent from its peak in […]
UK: Plan Would Allow Banks to Seek Emergency Funding in Secret
July 22nd, 2008Via: Telegraph: The City watchdog has laid out plans to allow banks to tap the Bank of England for emergency funding without informing the market, in a move which might avoid a repeat of the run on the bank which led to the collapse of Northern Rock. Under the European Union’s market abuse directive, regulated […]
Karadzic Arrested in Serbia
July 22nd, 2008Hmm. Will Bush have to wear a disguise to avoid arrest after he leaves office? Via: Reuters: Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic, indicted for genocide in the Bosnia war, was captured in disguise near Belgrade after 11 years on the run and had been working as a doctor, Serbian officials said on Tuesday. The […]
Wachovia Has Record $8.9 Billion Loss
July 22nd, 2008WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. If Wachovia goes down, it would wipe out FDIC liquidity about 16 times over. That calculation is based on the following numbers: Wachovia’s assets, $808 billion, divided by $49 billion, which is roughly what the FDIC may or may not have […]
Is America Too Big to Fail?
July 22nd, 2008Via: IHT: In the narrative that has governed American commercial life for the last quarter-century, saving companies from their own mistakes was not supposed to be part of the government’s job description. Economic policymakers in the United States took swaggering pride in the cutthroat but lucrative form of capitalism that was supposedly indigenous to their […]
Economist: “America May Default On Its Debt”
July 22nd, 2008Via: Economist: Only six months ago, politicians were counting on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country’s mortgage giants, to bolster the housing market by buying more mortgages. Now the rescuers themselves have needed rescuing. After a headlong plunge in the two firms’ share prices (see chart 1), Hank Paulson, the treasury secretary, felt obliged […]
The Global Economy Is at The Point of Maximum Danger
July 22nd, 2008Via: Telegraph: It feels like the summer of 1931. The world’s two biggest financial institutions have had a heart attack. The global currency system is breaking down. The policy doctrines that got us into this mess are bankrupt. No world leader seems able to discern the problem, let alone forge a solution. The International Monetary […]
Thieves Stealing Brass Nuts from Fire Hydrants
July 22nd, 2008Via: AP: Dogs aren’t the only ones casting a longing eye at fire hydrants these days. Fire departments across the country report that thieves are twisting the brass nuts off the tops and selling them for scrap, raising concerns that the hydrants won’t work when needed most. Firefighters responding to an April house fire in […]
Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt
July 21st, 2008Via: New York Times: Years of spending more than they earn have left a record number of Americans like Ms. McLeod standing at the financial precipice. They have amassed a mountain of debt that grows ever bigger because of high interest rates and fees. While the circumstances surrounding these downfalls vary, one element is identical: […]
