Get your mind off the financial meltdown … watch our dear leader at his best. Videos of the leader of the gang that got us here.
Category:3 The World of Money
Moral hazard, bailing out the rich and more trouble to come.
It is exasperating to hear that US regulators and policy makers have decided to bail out the principals responsible for the gross uncertainty and risk that prevails in financial markets. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent on buying bad debts in order to reliquify financial markets. It doesn’t sound like a smart investment …
Continue reading Moral hazard, bailing out the rich and more trouble to come.
“Take a number”, AIG …
US financials – a trillion dollars down, so far.
Pastel interactive graphic from the NYT showing the wall street meltdown. So far 29 firms have lost about a trillion dollars. (thats 12 zeros) from NYT.
It’s looking like a bad week for the world of money, or is it?
Stock markets have dropped severely over the past day after the announced bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers. Lehman was not bailed out because it is an investment bank and only has under $ 300 billion in assets. But its demise despite its long history and prime reputation has been a wake up call for those …
Continue reading It’s looking like a bad week for the world of money, or is it?
Get the right perspective.
So, the media leads with the headline that China’s economy slowed during the olympics because businesses were closed to help clear the atmosphere. But its important to get the detail. The rate of growth remains high. Far beyond what western economies are experiencing. industrial output growth of 12.8% in August retail sales up at an …
Continue reading Get the right perspective.
Is bailing out Fannie and Freddie a good thing?
Markets seem to like the idea of the two massive US mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, being bailed out by the US government. Markets will benefit, in the short term. $ 200 billion dollars to support borrowers is attractive. But the medium and long term consequences are unlikely to be benign. This will …
Continue reading Is bailing out Fannie and Freddie a good thing?
The crowd begins to pick up the refrain – “a recession is coming”
After the UK admitted last weekend that the economic outlook is unattractive, the OECD has chimed in with the observation that UK will have a recession this year. It’s healthy to adopt a realistic perspective. The UK can now begin the painful turnaround. Others should follow suit and make realistic assessments of the economic, social …
Continue reading The crowd begins to pick up the refrain – “a recession is coming”
The king has taken off his clothes in the UK
The UK administration has made a politically dangerous and unusual admission: the economy is in a bad situation. Making analogy with the children’s story of The King’s New Clothes, this is equivalent to a courtier saying that those fancy new clothes that we’ve all been admiring aren’t really there. The language of the UK Chancellor …
Continue reading The king has taken off his clothes in the UK
Auction rate securities scandal shows we’ve learned nothing from the sub-prime mess.
The recently breaking news story about leading financial institutions selling auction rate securities with misleading marketing shows that neither financial institutions, nor investors have changed their behaviour since the financial meltdown caused by excessive credit and the sub-prime implosion. Several leading financial institutions have been fined and forced to repay investors their investments in auction …
Continue reading Auction rate securities scandal shows we’ve learned nothing from the sub-prime mess.