13 Dec ’07:
According to the FT article [“Bank co-ops keep US afloat”], the top 10 FHLB loans as of 30 Sep 07 are:
“Member” Advances % of tot
Citibank [...]
Next up: Switzerland.
AFP (“Swiss Fear More Pressure on Bank Secrecy after Obama Victory,” 10 Nov ’08):
Switzerland is likely to come under further pressure from the United States over its prized system of banking secrecy after the election last week of Barack Obama, key sector players predicted. The newly-elected US president, who formally takes office in [...]
DPA, “Queen Baffled at Delay in Spotting Credit Crunch,” Sydney Morning Herald (6 Nov ’08):
Prof Garicano said afterwards: “The Queen asked me: ‘If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them? Why did nobody notice it’?”
Her Royal Hghness must’ve been awfully upset to ask “How come”; but, then, losing lots of money does [...]
Bailoutsleuth notes creeping secrecy in the bailout:
The Treasury Department has hired two big accounting firms to help keep tabs on the government’s financial-industry rescue program, and once again certain basic elements of the deals are shrouded in secrecy. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will provide internal controls for the government’s $700 billion bailout fund. Ernst & Young will [...]
Said to be a Sequoia Capital’s “recent…presentation to its portfolio companies about how to try to survive an economic downturn”:
The how-to bit (slide 53) is a bit thin.
(26econ)
except a stoner who made 866% off it:
October 17, 2008
Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would beentirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts inprevious letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing [...]
Here:
To: Nettime-l <nettime-l {AT} kein.org>
Subject: <nettime> how to fix a liquidity crisis
From: t byfield <tbyfield {AT} panix.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007
Until just a few months ago, received wisdom held that the “modern” global financial system had become so complex and intertwingled that it had developed a de facto ability to absorb and dissipate almost any [...]
Waxman to former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld:
In conversations with Committee staff, your counsel stated that he and his team are working on collecting your e-mails from this time period, but they expect to produce relatively few to the Committee because you were an infrequent user of e-mail.
Your counsel and his team have also informed Committee [...]
“It might turn out that, without anyone really noticing, the global financial system has gradually turned into something that is mostly a MMORPG.”
—Daniel P. B. Smith, “Risks of financial systems too complex to understand,” RISKS 25.34
Robert Wolf (CEO, UBS Americas), Steven Black (co-CEO, JPMorgan Chase), and Vikram Pandit of (CEO, Citigroup) try out this season’s casual style as they head into Sunday meetings held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York:
Nouriel Roubini, who appears to be always right these days, says: “If Lehman collapses expect a run on all [...]
1968: Discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay
1974: construction begins on Trans-Alaska Pipeline
1976: Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) established
1977: Trans-Alaska Pipeline completed
1982: APF pays first dividend
1984: AIP recognized as political party “per emergency regulation”
1984: APF pays $331.29 dividend
1985: APF pays $404.00 dividend
1986: AIP Vogler/Rowe ticket receives 5.5% of votes cast**
1986: APF pays $556.26 dividend
1987: APF pays $708.19 [...]
Wald, “Drop in Miles Driven Is Depleting Highway Fund,” NYT (29 July ’08):
Gasoline tax revenue is falling so fast that the federal government may not be able to meet its commitments to states for road projects already under way, the secretary of transportation said Monday. The secretary, Mary E. Peters, said the short-term solution would [...]
The headline for Ron Lieber’s “Danger Lurks When Shopping for Student Loans” (NYT, 26 July, ’08) is neutered in a typical way: it should read “Predatory Student Loansters *#@% Your Children for Shopping Around.” This isn’t a diffuse, inevitable danger, and it definitely isn’t “lurking”: it’s a morass of meticulously developed analyses and techniques implemented [...]
FT (Adam Thomson, “Drugs cartels targeting Mexico’s democracy, says intelligence chief,” 14 July ’08; BBC pickup here):
The head of Mexico’s intelligence service has warned that the country’s democratic institutions, including the national Congress, are under threat from powerful drugs cartels.
At some point, subverted governmental entities would make an announcement like this in order to undermine [...]
Mall owners pay tenants to “improve” spaces then don’t audit how the money’s spent. WSJ (McCracken, Lattman, Hudson, “Retailer’s Collapse Hits Mall Owners,” 14 July ’08):
For mall owners, large anchor spaces, which were once occupied almost exclusively by department stores, are especially important. Their role is to draw lots of shoppers into malls, enabling owners [...]
But Mr. Kunstler, it’s an estate sale.
The problem is pretty simple: like most Americans, politicians get their “news” from TV. When TV news fails to present an overview of the problems the US and its citizens face, the politicians don’t know what the problems are.
WSJ, “School Districts Get Tough as Home Foreclosures Rise“:
Districts from Florida to California are hiring private investigators, creating anonymous tip lines and imposing penalties when they believe people have registered at false addresses. [...] One reason for the crackdown is the rise in home foreclosures, which may prod parents into faking addresses to keep their [...]