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Fannie’s and Freddie’s free lunch - By Joseph Stiglitz - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"But the proposed bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac makes that of Bear Stearns look like a model of good governance. It sets an example for other countries of what not to do. The same administration that failed to regulate, then seemed enthusiastic about the Bear Stearns bail-out, is now asking the American people to write a blank cheque. They say: “Trust us.” Yes, weby ProjectC - Project C
Shocking CDO Loss Estimate Precedent - 90% Loss! - By Mister Mortgage - 16 years ago
By Mister Mortgage July 25th, 2008 Source I am not suggesting all CDO’s are worth 10 cents on the dollar, but this is sounding like the most realistic loss estimate to date. It’s no wonder why the banks have done everything possible to hide these losses and keep the bond insurers afloat. To be specific, the securities in question consist of 10 CDOs of which two are ’super senior’ strips aby ProjectC - Project C
Failure of Central Banking leads to Debt Capitalism Self Destruction Part II/II - By Henry C.K. Liu - 16 years ago
( Part I ) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ranked Aaa by the world’s leading credit-rating companies, are now being treated by derivatives traders as if they were rated five levels lower because the issuers are pitifully undercapitalized for the size of the debt they issue. Credit-default swaps tied to $1.45 trillion of debt sold by these two biggest allegedly US-backed mortgage finance companiesby ProjectC - Project C
Failure of Central Banking leads to Debt Capitalism Self Destruction Part I/II - By Henry C.K. Liu - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"In the face of a broad systemic collapse of debt capitalism where capital has become dangerously inadequate and new capital hazardously and prohibitively scarce, having been crowded out by massive debt collateralized by overblown assets of declining value, with a credit crisis that clearly requires systemic restructuring and comprehensive intensive care, those in the US reby ProjectC - Project C
The Man Who Lived Through 1929 (Reprinted) - By Jim in San Marcos - 16 years ago
By Jim in San Marcos July 19, 2008 Source Here is a post from last year that you may enjoy. This one gives you a feeling for what may lay ahead. It offers some perspective as to what we may expect, this time around. prev. printed 8/31/07 Let's go back and picture a man from the 1929 era. He would have been born about 1890 and been about 40 at the time. His world had gone from horse aby ProjectC - Project C
Old timers doing good - By Nicholas D. Kristof - 16 years ago
By Nicholas D. Kristof Monday, July 21, 2008 Source Old timers doing good This month Bill Gates starts his new full-time career as a humanitarian, leaving behind the software bugs to swat the kind that cause malaria. We often think of those trying to save the world as bright-eyed young people, but Gates is part of a booming trend: the "encore career" as a substitute for retirby ProjectC - Project C
Why the oil crunch may grow worse - By Elizabeth Douglass - 16 years ago
<blockquote>'Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer group, doesn't care when the peak will come. "We should be planning as though we're there," he said, "because from a national interest standpoint, from an economic standpoint and from an environmental standpoint, our dependence on oil, whether it comesby ProjectC - Project C
A Search for Europe's Future - by Jürgen Habermas - 16 years ago
A SEARCH FOR EUROPE'S FUTURE And the Wheels Stopped Turning By Jürgen Habermas 06/18/2008 Source European governments are at their wits' end. It is time for them to admit it -- and let the public decide about the future of the European Union. …and everything comes to a grinding halt. The farmers are upset about falling global prices and the new regulations constantly coby ProjectC - Project C
Benchmark MBS and the SEC - By Doug Noland - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"In JPMorgan Chase’s and Citigroup’s earnings conference calls, both major lenders this week noted deterioration in prime mortgages. This provides additional confirmation that the mortgage crisis is now reaching the bedrock of our nation’s mortgage Credit system. ...a tightening in “conventional” mortgages will now significantly exacerbate the mortgage/housing/financial/eby ProjectC - Project C
(USA) Borrowers and Bankers: A Great Divide - By Gretchen Morgenson - 16 years ago
<blockquote>“We the people are enjoined to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, and to promote the general welfare and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. So it’s up to each of us to summon our unique genius, our own power and our own personal magic to restore these values in today’s imbalanced society.” -- John C. Boby ProjectC - Project C
In 2020 it will be easier for Ukraine to enter the EU, says Rar - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"Also, Alexander Rahr supported the idea of Central Asian States representatives, namely Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, to take part in the work of Yalta European Strategy summits in future. "These countries shall have a great importance for Ukraine", he stressed."</blockquote> In 2020 it will be easier for Ukraine to enter the EU YESby ProjectC - Project C
Why No Outrage? - By James Grant - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"If by "we," Mr. Poole meant his employer, he was off the mark, for the Fed has burnished Wall Street's hide more than skinned it. The shareholders of Bear Stearns were ruined, it's true, but Wall Street called the loss a bargain in view of the risks that an insolvent Bear would have presented to the derivatives-laced financial system. To facilitate theby ProjectC - Project C
If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow - By Janet Rae-Dupree - 16 years ago
By JANET RAE-DUPREE July 6, 2008 Source WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t? After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’rby ProjectC - Project C
Common Wealth - By Jeffrey D. Sachs - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity ofby ProjectC - Project C
It Takes a School, Not Missiles - By Nicholas D. Kristof - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"Since 9/11, Westerners have tried two approaches to fight terrorism in Pakistan, President Bush’s and Greg Mortenson’s. Mr. Bush has focused on military force... Mr. Mortenson, a frumpy, genial man from Montana, takes a diametrically opposite approach, and he has spent less than one-ten-thousandth as much as the Bush administration. He builds schools in isolated paby ProjectC - Project C
Country, the city version: Farms in the sky gain new interest - By Bina Venkataraman - 16 years ago
By Bina Venkataraman Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Source What if "eating local" in Shanghai or New York meant getting your fresh produce from five blocks away? And what if skyscrapers grew off the grid, as verdant, self-sustaining towers where city slickers cultivated their own food? Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to make these zuccby ProjectC - Project C
My Plan for Iraq - By Barack Obama - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. But for far too lby ProjectC - Project C
Bold Mediterranean summit opens diplomatic doors - By Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"The European and the Mediterranean dreams are inseparable. Everyone is going to have to make an effort, as the Europeans did, to put an end to the deadly spiral of war and violence, that, century after century, periodically brought barbarity to the heart of civilization." -- Sarkozy</blockquote> Bold Mediterranean summit opens diplomatic doors By Stevenby ProjectC - Project C
Mediterranean region needs love: Sarkozy - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"...learn to love each other." -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy</blockquote> Mediterranean region needs love: Sarkozy The Sydney Morning Herald July 13, 2008 Source The new union between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbours will help countries in the region "learn to love each other", French President Nicolas Sarkozy said. Sarkozyby ProjectC - Project C
Roubini: Restructure Fannie, Freddie Debt, Skip "Mother of All Bailouts" - By Yves Smith - 16 years ago
By Yves Smith July 12, 2008 Source Nouriel Roubini has consistently been accurate in predicting the course of our snowballing credit crisis, and has also made some important intellectual contributions to the discussion. such as how the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system has lessons for the future of our Bretton Woods 2 currency program. But in my view, Roubini's post today is hisby ProjectC - Project C
Monetarists warn of crunch across Atlantic economies - By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"The Federal Reserve stopped paying much attention to the data a long time ago. It has abolished M3 altogether. The US economic consensus is New-Keynesian (dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model). Delving into the money entrails is derided as little better than soothsaying. That attitude, retort monetarists, is the root cause of the credit bubble. The money supplby ProjectC - Project C
‘The Absence of Grand Strategy’ - By Steve A. Yetiv - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"At the end of the day, however, my sneaking suspicion is that randomness all too often parades as design and serendipity belies control. The behavior of states, even great powers, seems to be a messy affair. It is shaped not only by a mesmerizing mix of complex factors within the “black box” of decision-making, but also by behavior that often reflects a lack of careful preby ProjectC - Project C
Bank losses from credit crisis may run to $1,600bn, warns Bridgewater - By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - 16 years ago
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 08/07/2008 Source Bridgewater Associates has issued an apocalyptic warning to clients that bank losses from the worldwide credit crisis may reach $1,600bn (£800bn), four times official estimates and enough to pose a grave risk to the financial system. The giant US hedge fund said that it doubted whether lenders would be able to shoulder the full losses, disguiseby ProjectC - Project C
Recession is not the worst possible outcome - By Wolfgang Münchau - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"It is the great merit of the proponents of Austrian theory to have uncovered and shown that the borrowing and spending excesses driving a boom may, with or without inflation, exert harmful economic and financial effects other than just a rising inflation rate - actually, more harmful effects." -- Dr Kurt Richebächer, The Great Depression of today, Wed 01 Mar, 2006 &lby ProjectC - Project C
Starbucks, the "Core," and Conventional Mortgages - By Doug Noland - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"I find it rather incredible that U.S. and European policymakers are increasingly pointing blame and calling upon their emerging economy cohorts to aggressively combat inflation. With the U.S. today stuck with intractable $700bn Current Account Deficits and European Credit systems still churning out double-digit Credit growth, the Periphery is not the root cause of today’sby ProjectC - Project C
A way of life is feeling the heat - By Masego Madzwamuse - 16 years ago
By Masego Madzwamuse 17 June 2008 Source International development policies are undermining the long term survival of some of the globe's poorest communities, argues Masego Madzwamuse. In this week's Green Room, she says the skills and knowledge needed to survive in the world's harsh drylands are being sacrificed in the name of progress. The world's poorest of the poorby ProjectC - Project C
Is Something Out of Nothing Possible? - By Frank Shostak - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"In the real world, an artificial boost in demand that is not supported by production leads to the dilution of the pool of real savings and, contrary to the Keynesian view, to a shrinking in the flow of real wealth. The result is economic impoverishment."</blockquote> Is Something Out of Nothing Possible? By Frank Shostak 2/22/2008 Source In his tesby ProjectC - Project C
(USA) Not Your Grandma's Depression - By Jim Kunstler - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"Our debt problems today are of a magnitude so extreme that astronomers would be hard pressed to calculate them. By any rational measure our society is comprehensively bankrupt. From the federal treasury down to the suburban cul-de-sacs so much loaned money is either not being paid back, or is at risk of never being paid back, that the suckage of presumed wealth has passedby ProjectC - Project C
It Was Oil, All Along - By Bill Moyers & Michael Winship - 16 years ago
By Bill Moyers & Michael Winship June 27, 2008 Source Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bby ProjectC - Project C
Time to go down to the cellar - By Oksana Zabuzhko - 16 years ago
<blockquote>"The experience of the 20th century should have taught us that, regardless of where the Berlin Wall once stood and where the borders of the Schengen Zone run today, there is just one single European history, bound together deep in its heart by a funeral courtege of which we are often quite unaware (and which takes us by surprise when parts of it suddenly surface). Just as tby ProjectC - Project C