(Fortune Magazine) — “When Enron blows up, will it be worse than Long-Term Capital?” So wrote one Citigroup banker to another in April 2001, some seven months before Enron’s bankruptcy. That e-mail is, of course, a vivid reminder of two big blowups that rocked the capital markets. But — surprise! — it’s not just a […]
Monthly Archives: November 2007
In a series of announcements over the past several weeks, representatives of the Canadian auto industry have served notice that they are preparing a massive assault on the jobs, wages and benefits of autoworkers in Ontario and throughout the country. With the strength of the US greenback falling to sub-par levels against the Canadian dollar […]
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Home foreclosure filings in October edged up 2 percent from September but at 224,451 were a whopping 94 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday. The figure, a sum of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, was down from a 32-month peak […]
Capital + Merchant Finance, which owes 7000 investors about $190 million, yesterday became the 12th finance company to go bust in the past 18 months. Like Rod Petricevic’s Bridgecorp, whose failure this year triggered a rash of further receiverships, Capital + Merchant was a specialist property lender and was particularly active in the Auckland market. […]
One of the world’s leading financial experts has warned that a “perfect storm” could be about to hit Western economies. There is rising concern that the U.S. economy will slip into recession next year dragging many Western economies – including Britain – down with it as the global credit crisis worsens. The Washington-based International Monetary […]
Ok, so the police spends $ 8.000.000,- of tax payers money to investigate alledged “terror activities”in the Uruweras. They have been investiging for over a year. One of the “targets” was; National leader John Key. And than two months before they decide to invade and arrest the alledged perpetrators, John Key visits an isolated Marae […]
Steve Biddulph: The Liberal Party is in trauma. The corporate sector is attempting to calm its nerves, and even the victors in the Labor Party cannot quite believe the seismic change in the landscape of power. But the ramifications of last Saturday may be much greater than just one election won or lost. In a […]
As I discussed previously, the Chinese currency wild-card may become relevant far sooner than expected. An effort by China to convert its $1.4 trillion U.S. Treasury holdings into euros is not viable for many reasons — not the least of which is the European Central Bank’s inability to absorb such an event. As China continues […]
Auckland based Capital + Merchant Finance has collapsed and been placed in receivership with debts of around $190m, leaving the deposits of at least 7000 investors under threat. It is the 13th such failure in the industry here in the past 18 months. Capital + Merchant Finance Ltd and Capital + Merchant Investments, had breached […]
just returned from a trip to California, where I attended a conference called the Geothermal Finance and Investment Summit. The conference was in San Jose, at the south end of San Francisco Bay. Why San Jose? San Jose is in the heart of Silicon Valley. And Silicon Valley is, as you know, ground-zero of modern […]
The Hauraki-Waikato Maori Electorate announce the successful selection of Angeline Greensill as the candidate for this electorate. In a closely fought contest between four candidates, Angeline was selected and confirmed by the Maori Party National Council to stand in the 2008 elections. Angeline GREENSILL, 59, Hamilton, Waikato University Lecturer, is an environmental and land rights […]
By Stephen Foley in New York Published: 27 November 2007 Central bankers are becoming nervous that a renewed credit crunch could destabilise financial markets around the end of next month, and the US Federal Reserve has pumped an initial $8bn (£3.9bn) into the market to help ease the mounting pressure. Wall Street banks have been […]
CHINA is running out of fuel. Police are guarding petrol stations in several inland provinces to prevent fights, as shortages of petrol and diesel are causing huge queues of trucks, buses and cars. In Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, 1000 trucks are stranded. A truck driver named Li told the Chuncheng Evening […]
By William Fisher 11/28/07 “IPS” — — NEW YORK, 27 Nov (IPS) – Civil libertarians are worried that a little-known anti-terrorism bill now making its way through the U.S. Congress with virtually no debate could be planting the seeds of another USA Patriot Act, which was hurriedly enacted into law after the al Qaeda attacks […]
A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time. Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office (NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) […]
By Paul Craig Roberts 11/28/07 “ICH” — — Hubris and arrogance are too ensconced in Washington for policymakers to be aware of the economic policy trap in which they have placed the US economy. If the subprime mortgage meltdown is half as bad as predicted, low US interest rates will be required in order to […]
JPMorgan Chase plans to cut about 100 subprime mortgage jobs in California amid falling U.S. housing prices and tighter lending standards. JPMorgan [JPM 43.96 1.61 (+3.8%) ] cnbc_quoteComponent_init_getData(“JPM”,”WSODQ_COMPONENT_JPM_ID0EQH15839609″,”WSODQ”,”true”); disclosed the cuts in a recent filing with the California Employment Development Department. The cuts, effective Dec. 15, will take place at JPMorgan’s subprime retail […]
Citigroup Plans New Round Of ‘Massive’ Job Cuts Topics:Banking Sectors:Financial Services | Banks Companies:Citigroup Inc By Charles Gasparino, CNBC On-Air Editor | 26 Nov 2007 | 10:31 AM ET function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) { var n = document.getElementById(“udtD”); if(pdt != ” && n && window.DateTime) { var dt = new DateTime(); pdt = dt.T2D(pdt); if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = […]
Lately it seems as though everyone wants to take a poke at the dollar. Last week, it was the Brazilian supermodel who demanded euros for her jaunts on the catwalk instead of USD. The week before that, hip-hop impresario, Jay-Z, released a video dissin’ the dollar and praising the euro as the ‘baddest Dude in […]
Rod Petricevic’s attempt to stave off the liquidation of Bridgecorp’s Australian group today rests on the hope of extracting yet more cash from his failed New Zealand business, already owed more than $70 million by the Australian operation. Creditors of Bridgecorp’s Australian companies are to vote on a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) in a […]
GE Plants Spread Genes into Wild Relatives: Brassica Risk A recent study by Warrick (1) has confirmed that genetically modified Ready Roundup (RR) Brassica can escape and outcross with wild relatives. The study conducted in Canada with GE RR Canola (Brassica napus) and the weedy relative Wild Mustard (Brassica rapa). Scientists reported that the RR Canola transgene outcrossed […]
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What We Must Do Today “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are, or should be, the fruits of democracy. […]
Clear felling in Canterbury and the central North Island has created a massive backlog at pulp mills as forestry and farm owners try to avoid carbon charges which come into effect on January 1. Brian Trott, finance manager for local government authority Environment Bay of Plenty, said there is a year’s backlog of timber at […]
RHINEBECK, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) — A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said. “We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen,” Trends Research Institute […]
Bloomberg reports that, “China urged local governments to set up an early warning system to ensure sufficient oil supplies at filling stations, which face shortages across the nation.” China faces chronic energy shortages and the social and political instability those shortages foster with the population. Do you get the feeling the communists in Beijing are […]
This next year will be interesting for many reasons. First, it’s the next year, and that is always interesting. Second, China plays host to the world at the summer Olympics. Though this date doesn’t have any official importance in China’s rise, it is kind of a “coming out” party for China. But why is the […]
The arrest of a man for playing loud, expletive-laden rap will be music to most ears, but has rung alarm bells for civil liberties lawyers. Police charged a 39-year-old man with offensive behaviour because he was playing rap music with swear words on his car stereo outside Rotorua’s visitor information centre. Inspector Bruce Horne, in the […]
One of the biggest Taser representatives outside the US base has declared the company’s intention to produce and sell internationally a small airborne drone version of the weapon that can administer electrical jolts of 50,000 volts. Antoine di Zazzo has told the AFP that his French company is “developing a mini-flying saucer like drone which […]
Heather Brooke Two weekends ago at the V Festival, revellers were surprised to see a remote-controlled surveillance drone flying and filming overhead. Little to nothing was known beforehand about the drone’s use, and news reports after the fact shed little light on why or how its use was approved. I put in a Freedom of […]
For the first time in more than two years, the economy is going backward, by 0.3 per cent in the past three months, according to a National Bank report – but the bank still expects a “soft landing”. Parts of the economy appear to be hit by rising mortgage interest rates, with falling house sales […]
Aotearoa: A Wider Perspective 