By Sean Farrell Financial Editor Thursday, 21 February 2008 Alliance & Leicester admitted regret about its investments in risky assets yesterday as it scrapped its profit target and said it would not compete strongly for new mortgage customers this year. The bank’s shares fell nearly 7 per cent to their lowest since 2000 after it […]
Monthly Archives: February 2008
The rogue trader scandal at Societe Generale led to a 3.35-billion-euro (4.9-billion-dollar) loss in the fourth quarter of 2007, the French bank revealed on Thursday after a damning internal inquiry into its risk controls. The total losses from unauthorised trades blamed on trader Jerome Kerviel, put at 4.911 billion euros, also led to a collapse […]
Republican Candidate Ron Paul on the World bank
Thursday, 21 February 2008, 3:53 pm Article: Syed Akbar Kamal 9/11 may have been an insiders’ job – Dr. Hans Koechler In a significant observation many time UN contributor & international observer Professor Hans Koechler said “9/11 may have been an insider’s job” in response to a question from one of the delegates attending his […]
“I would tell audiences that we were facing not a bubble but a froth – lots of small, local bubbles that never grew to a scale that could threaten the health of the overall economy.” Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence. That used to be Mr Greenspan’s view of the US housing bubble. He was […]
And big bucks for his corporate mates. JILL McKEE/Southland Times/Image ID 120070 UNDER HIS UMBRELLA: National Party leader John Key and Ardlussa farmer Rohan Horrell looking to the weather gods for some relief to the drought. Even though there was a smattering of rain on the parched Northern Southland plains yesterday it did little to […]
Lower wages for you; the workers. Key caught telling the truth about dropping wages 20 February 2008 Darien Fenton – General Debate We have seen an extraordinary event in the National Party. John Key has been caught telling the truth. He’s been caught out owning up to his real views on the wages of ordinary […]
Hundreds of Bunnings Warehouse employees around the country will stop work for two hours today over a $6 an hour pay gap with their Australian counterparts. Workers from several of the Auckland hardware stores will hold a rally at the company’s Mt Wellington head office while Wellington workers will meet Green MP Sue Bradford at […]
This is the Key’s wage gaffe in context. John Key would like to lower the wages, than have us work harder if we wanted to be able to afford more. It is clear he is talking about the NZ wages and not those of Australia. So saying he meant the Australian wages is a clear […]
WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton’s campaign famously defined the 1992 election with the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Today, “It’s the jobs, stupid.” The latest employment figures, released in late January, showed a 52-month streak of job creation ending with a loss of 17,000 jobs in January. The Bush administration acknowledged the contraction, but pointed to […]
BOSTON, Massachusetts, February 19, 2008 (ENS) – Once plentiful sharks are vanishing from the world’s oceans, and some species are even at risk of extinction a shark expert told fellow scientists at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which concluded on Monday.The global status of large sharks has been […]
February 19, 2008 Media Release Key caught lying on wages Revelations National Party leader John Key has told business he “would love to see wages drop” show the real face of the National Party’s wage agenda says the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union. The comment was made in late December last year to the Kerikeri […]
Never in human affairs have so few been allowed to make so much money by so many for so little wider benefit. Across the globe, societies and governments have been hoodwinked by a collection of self-confident chancers in the guise of investment bankers, hedge and private equity fund partners and bankers who, in the cause […]
Wall Street banks are bracing for another wave of multibillion-dollar losses as the crisis that began with subprime mortgages spreads through the credit markets. In recent weeks one part of the debt market after another has buckled. High-risk loans used to finance corporate buyouts have plummeted in value. Securities backed by commercial real estate mortgages […]
By Andrew Porter, Robert Winnett and Edmund Conway Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 20/02/2008 Page 1 of 2 The bankers take the risk and the tax payers pay when it goes wrong. The cost of the Northern Rock crisis has reached the equivalent of £3,500 for every taxpayer as experts warned that the nationalisation rescue of the […]
“So long as the music is playing, you’ve got to keep dancing. We’re still dancing.” Chuck Prince, former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, was interviewed by this paper only a month before the music stopped. A few weeks later he was out of a job. With these comments, he got to the heart of […]
Did John Key, our Smiling Assassin, know about this? Well considering he was working for the Bankers trust at the time and he earned some $ 40.000.000,- in his banking tenure, while moving on to Merrill Lynch to become the head of the department that sold Bonds and Derivatives, the exact same junk that is now causing the sub prime […]
Oh oops, you know what this means? It means get yourself a bag of seeds and start growing your own veggies, because it’s downhill from here, and it’s not just limited to the US Folks.(Travellerev) By Mike Whitney Even veteran Fed-watchers were caught off-guard by Chairman Bernanke’s performance before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. […]
By Jessica Hupp When you think of high oil prices, you’re probably reminded of huge bills at the pump and inflating costs on goods and services. However, the high cost of oil brings on so much more than that. Here we’ll take a look at some of the lesser-known ways high oil prices affect the […]
The government has been forced to publish the secret first draft of the Iraq WMD dossier written by a Foreign Office spin doctor, reports Chris Ames The secret first draft of the Iraq WMD dossier written by Foreign Office spin doctor John Williams has finally been published after a ruling back in January under the […]
When the NZ Herald tells you that this new investment vehicle is going to make is so much easier for private equity companies and venture capital investors, and that NZ is the one the freest countries to do business in and they want make it even freer than you could translate that into: We would like […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Home prices have plunged by 10 percent or more in some parts of the United States and interest rates on mortgages are at enticing levels, but many potential buyers are waiting for prices to fall further.This psychology is helping prevent the hard-hit home market — suffering one of its worst downturns […]
Hopes of cheaper house sales faded for many people yesterday when flat-fee real estate agency The Joneses went into liquidation. The company told sellers it had asked for liquidators to be appointed to the business, which has about 300 houses for sale. Hundreds of people who paid thousands of dollars in deposits to sell their […]
Finance Minister Michael Cullen says he is keeping a close eye on inflation and economic conditions, but there will be a tax cuts programme in the budget. The Government’s headline operating surplus came in $1.7 billion lower than forecast for the six months to December 2007. Dr Cullen last week predicted the hit, which he […]
Three more men have been arrested for firearms offences in the Bay of Plenty area targeted in last year’s anti-terrorism raids. Police said the arrests involved two men aged 44 and 46 from Maketu and a 24-year-old Ruatoki man. Officers had “arrested three people as part of the ongoing investigation into firearms offences in the […]
by James Randerson The consequences of contamination between GM crops and non-GM varieties will be much more serious with the next generation of GM crops, an influential group of US scientists has warned. Mixing between GM and non-GM varieties has already caused serious economic losses for producers in lost sales and exports. But the consequences […]
The ministry of Defence has graciously confirmed that they received my open letter with regards to the events of 9/11 14 February 2008 Dear Evelyn Gilbert, I am writing on behalf of Hon Phil Goff to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 13 February 2008, regarding the events of 9/11. I will ensure that your […]
Here was I thinking that we were there to help the Afghan people, build a democracy and escape the tyranny of the medieval Taliban, and set up a good food supply system. But it seems that while under the Taliban opium growing was non existent and food was grown, now we are back to a […]
By Elizabeth Williamson Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page A07 One of government’s chief internal watchdogs resigned yesterday, as Comptroller General David M. Walker, an outspoken gadfly and frequent witness on Capitol Hill, announced his plans to lead a new foundation focused on U.S. fiscal responsibility. Walker has led the Government […]
