By Robert Reich 30/01/08 “FT” — – 28/01/08 — It is an election year and the US economy is in peril of falling into recession or worse. Not surprisingly, Washington is abuzz with plans to prevent it. President George W. Bush has proposed a $150bn stimulus package and all the main presidential candidates are offering […]
Category Archives: USA
The FBI is investigating 14 corporations for possible accounting fraud and other crimes related to the sub-prime lending crisis. Neil Power, chief of the bureau’s economic crimes unit, would not identify the companies, though he said the cases involved “valuation-type stuff”. The probes included reviews of sub-prime lenders, housing developers and Wall St banks that […]
The Federal Reserve, contrary to its name a private corporate entity, that has been allowed to make money out of thin air and loan it to us against interest is causing this massive depression. They are the perpetrators not the victims. Watch the video “the Money masters” or if you don’t have three hours to […]
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday. If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would […]
By STEPHEN LENDMANAfter retiring as the Federal Reserve’s second longest ever serving chairman, Alan Greenspan is now cashing in big late in life at age 81. He chaired the Fed’s Board of Governors from the time he was appointed in August, 1987 to when he stepped down January 31, 2006 amidst a hail of ill-deserved […]
JPMorgan Chase Bank has been registered as a bank in New Zealand, the Reserve Bank said. JPMorgan Chase Bank is incorporated in New York and will operate a branch in New Zealand. It intends to only operate in the wholesale market and will not have a retail business. There are now 17 registered banks in […]
New Zealand exporters face payment delays as fallout from the US sub-prime mortgage market crisis hits our trading partners, according to research from Dun & Bradstreet. The credit services company says businesses across Asia-Pacific – a vital export region for New Zealand – face a credit squeeze as demand for products decreases with the US […]
by Charles E. Carlson Global Research, September 29, 2007 Eight years of Biofuels (ethanol) policy and legislation has cemented in place the first world wide food cabal, which promises a humanitarian disaster, a famine more serious than those caused by any tsunami, earthquake or drought. This crisis is not in the dim future, it is […]
Lots of promises, lower tax for the rich, privatazation of healthcare (like in America) yep John Key and nats are finally showing their true colors Public health groups are angry at National Party plans to remove caps on doctors’ fees if it wins next year’s election. National announced yesterday it would scrap the Government’s controls […]
The debt crisis is more significant than most people think, and is causing panic in high places. Tools Institutions and human psychology lead financial markets to bounce back and forth between exuberant greed and catatonic fear. Times of fear generate high unemployment. Times of greed are likely to be times of destabilizing inflation. – Economist […]
The Listener quotes Key promoting ‘compassionate conservatism’. It fails to point out that this term was borrowed form George Bush, who in many ways Key is a down-under clone- from his faux environmentalism to his dodging questions of foreign policy. Read more
By Bob Ivry Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — As many as half of the 450,000 subprime borrowers whose mortgage payments increase in the next three months may lose their homes because they can’t sell, refinance or qualify for help from the U.S. government. “Short of the cavalry riding in over the hill, a lot of these […]
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows. The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants […]
From The Times September 18, 2007 Suzy Jagger and Gabriel Rozenberg Investors should brace themselves for a prolonged period of market turmoil, Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said yesterday as he held emergency meetings with the Chancellor and the French Finance Minister. Mr Paulson flew to London to discuss the financial crisis with Alistair […]
By Mike Whitney 09/17/07 “ICH” — – Alan Greenspan’s appearance on 60 Minutes was preceded with all the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding. The public relations blitz dragged out for a whole week. What profound truisms would the elusive former-fed master divulge to the News Magazine’s withered-coquette, Leslie Stahl? Would he produce his […]
Graeme Wearden and Ashley Seager Monday September 17, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Photograph: AP Britain faces the prospect of falling house prices and rising inflation within a few years, according to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.In a series of interviews to promote his memoirs, the respected US economist warned that the […]
The Federal Reserve is preparing to meet to decide whether US interest rates should be reduced from 5.25%. Most analysts believe the Fed will cut rates to try and prevent a housing market downturn and the credit crunch from severely denting the economy. By making money cheaper to borrow, people would spend and invest more, […]
In the past 100 years, the rollercoaster ride that is the world of high finance has seen some spectacular lows. Sean O’Grady looks back at four episodes that not only came to define their times but also served as lessons for the future Published: 15 September 2007 1907: The Bankers’ Panic Sometimes, all that is necessary […]
By Jamie Smith Hopkins | Sun reporter September 15, 2007 Checks sent out by the troubled American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. to pay the property taxes of more than 70 homeowners in the Baltimore metropolitan area have bounced, local officials said yesterday. Baltimore City received bad checks for 53 properties – a total of about […]
September 16, 2007 David Smith, Grant Ringshaw and Holly Watt NORTHERN ROCK, the mortgage bank rescued by the Bank of England last week, could see as much as £12 billion – nearly half of its deposits – withdrawn by worried savers, experts say. The run on the bank continued yesterday as police were called in […]
The cost of buying a home has blown out to a record high. In August it took 81.6 per cent of a median weekly income to pay the mortgage on a median-priced house. That is more than twice the amount considered affordable, according to the latest Fairfax Media home loan affordability report. That makes the […]
Northern Rock forced to seek emergency funding · Savers are assured that their money is secure Ashley Seager Friday September 14, 2007 The Guardian The Bank of England was last night forced to hand emergency funding to one of Britain’s biggest mortgage providers – Northern Rock – as it became the first major financial institution […]
Posted by Dr. Kurt Richebacher on Sep 14th, 2007 “America’s income-short, consumer-led recovery is the aberration – not the norm – in this Brave New World. It is all about ever-declining saving rates, ever-widening current account deficits, mounting debt burdens and increasingly wealth-dependent consumers. It personifies what I believe is one of the most precarious […]
Posted by Bill Bonner on Sep 13th, 2007 The Dow bounced right back – up 180 points Tuesday. Gold soared over US$721. What do you think, dear reader? Both went up…but which is the surer bet? We have our opinion. What bothers us is that it is too obvious. Central banks and financial intermediaries have […]
The World Bank has not taken corruption seriously enough and has resisted the efforts of anti-graft investigators, an official inquiry has found. Paul Volcker, former head of the US Federal Reserve Bank, said his inquiry into the bank had revealed a “siege mentality” at the troubled institution. Read more
By Dean Baker t r u t h o u t | Perspective Tuesday 11 September 2007 The downturn in jobs reported last month by the Labor Department provided evidence of an economic downturn that even the economy’s greatest cheerleaders could not ignore. Healthy economies do not shed jobs. During the core periods of the upturns […]
Published: 13 September 2007 Have we reached the moment when the contagion in the rarefied world of the credit markets finally begins to infect the real economy? This week two well-known fashion retailers, French Connection and Next, warned that trading conditions are likely to become a lot more difficult in the coming months. And yesterday, […]
Even if the central bank starts to cut rates aggressively, many of the risks for the U.S. economy are beyond its reach. By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer September 13 2007: 1:35 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Problems in housing, the financial markets and the first job decline in four years have made a […]
By Debi Barker and Jerry Mander, AlterNet. Posted September 12, 2007.Having made ethanol into this magic elixir, politicians, financial investors, and the occasional environmental organization are masking the need for far deeper investigation and solutions. AdvertisementThe burgeoning reality of global climate change, rooted in a century of over-consumption of fossil fuels, is merging with another […]
by Richard C. Cook Global Research, September 12, 2007 As the 2007 economic collapse picks up speed, it’s time to take a hard look at the performance of the U.S. national political leadership in meeting some of their most fundamental responsibilities. It’s time to face the fact of serious failure over the last quarter century. […]
