Charts in the Babson Style for the Week Ending 24 October 2008

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2008/10/charts-in-babson-style-for-week-ending_24.html

Also see there: Nice updates on …. global agenda to take over The World (without America’s wall street in charge)???

Europe and Asia Seek a Consensus Ahead of Washington Meeting

Now that we have some more Friday FDIC bank takeovers, I'd love it if you would re-examine the cause for the huge cost, relative to deposit base, that these takeovers are costing the feds.

Alpha Bank & Trust, on $354 million in assets, will cost the FDIC $154 million. Amazing and depressing.

http://dealbreaker.com/2008/10/live-blogging-the-citadel-call.php

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Calculated Risk has some talk of Citadel getting some Fed lovin’ to shore up their financials and talk of Citadel going *pop* as early as next Tuesday.

Fun weekend for all!

Spring On the Right side of Wall Street (Fall and Blood on the other).

Do not confuse seasons, and what to do in each.

http://www.marketwarnings.com/2008/10/spring-on-right-side-of-wall-street.html

You make some damn good points. I have to admit when I’m wrong, and I am wrong.

I read your inital post as though it was mainly concerned with Europe—and that it was somehow an innocent victim.

Victimization is essentially irrelevant. I see your point that the emerging market will look at the hand it’s been dealt and see it’s a bad one…hence the resulting instability.

Fair enough. My apologies and appreciation for standing me correctly.

This reminds me of something … like maybe The Boston Tea Party or something… hmmm?

http://tinyurl.com/5fcfo6

http://tinyurl.com/68p8m8

if we connect the dots here, your last paragraph warrants serious consideration.

macroeconomics & geopolitics have always played together.

The point was not to belabor the leverage in the system or the euro financial institution leverage. yes i have looked 40x blah blah blah. Isn’t that the point? Where exatly is the money going to come from when the reflation fails dismally (as it seems to be) or results in the global hyperinflationary kick off that if memeory serves was a proximate cause of WWII. Must be a reason why weeks after the settlement of the georgia settlement the Russian and US generals are meeting in Finland. The Middle East is about to explode with israel and Leb and Hez trading recriminations and Iran threatening a pre-emptive strike? The Chinese are building nuclear subs, atack satellites and carriers. Oh then there is Pakistan. The world stop caring about France after Dien Bein Phu. the Britich marines did themselves no favor being paraded around by the iranians either.

The only thing laughable really is your inability to anwser the question. here is the paradigm: the emerging world’s capital has been rolling uphill to subsidize the leverage across the developed world. Now the entire world as you correctly point out is saddled with suffocating bad debt while the remaining capital is either burried in the ground or in the reserve coffers of the developing world. And nobody seems to be willing to give away their capital (OPEC cut, production cuts etc.).

How does the US printing treasuries and reflating the US (dollar strength as a result perversly) help the emerging world? Do you think they regret and or harbor some resentment to the bretton woods II arrangement?

Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. I’ll say again war / conflict is clear and present danger.

What are you talking about? Big Bully US looting Europe, putting those poor hard working souls back to the brink….the clear and present danger of war?

Gimme a break.

Britain’s entire economy is predicated on the financial engineering which paved the way for this mess.

Ireland, Spain and Italy—are these paragons of fiscal restraint? Their real estate markets are just as out of whack as the US market.

Eastern Europe—how about a healthy dose of “carry trade mortgages” brought to you by the princes of virtue from UBS and Deutsche Bank. Hell, 1/3 of Poland’s mortgages are financed on borrowed yen and/or Swiss francs and 1/2 in Hungary. Talk about real estate insanity.

And how about those poor innocent victims at Societe Generale…getting snookered by one of it’s own low-level traders. No doubt, the guy wached CNBC, so it’s the US’ fault.

Have you looked at the books of the Euro-Major Banks? The IFRS allows for at least as much opacity as GAAP. These banks are leveraged at least as much, if not more than C, JPM, etc. But somehow, this is irrelevant in a narrative where the US rapes pillages and plunders.

And finally, war? Even if your US-Looting Thesis was correct (which, again—is laughable), do you really think the E.U. would muster the constitution to actually do something about it? What’s next—”Oh no! Europe is unleashing those Demons of Terror…the Soldiers of Righteousness…the feared United Nations!”