Detached gecko tails dance to their own tune PhysOrg
Germany’s payroll bailout pays political dividends Globe and Mail
China Wants Our Real Estate! Clusterstock
When Wall Street nearly collapsed Fortune. Funny, I told my mother to make sure she had enough cash on hand to cover a month of expenses, but did not do the same myself.
More mortgage servicers will be sued: Ohio attorney general Reuters
Retail Hiring Shift May Show Growing Confidence in Recovery versus Temporary Hiring Shows Job Rebound Isn’t Imminent: Chart of Day, both Bloomberg. DoctoRx points out the Pangloss watch elements of the nominally upbeat first article.
Dick Fuld of collapsed bank Lehman Brothers says ‘his mother loves him’Telegraph
Bank Firing of Counsel Is Examined New York Times
Antidote du jour:
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The Danish “Flexicurity” system is more in my taste than the German system that may lock in workers that – for sound economic reasons – should move on.
Under the Danish system, it is relativly easy and inexpensive to fire workers, which is unusual in Europe. On the other hand, the Government steps in and provides re-training and coaching for unemployed while paying them the equivalent of their full (I think) salary. The fear and stigma of losing your job has been reduced this way (I read an article the other day that 2/3 of unemployed Americans say that they suffer from depression)-
On “China wants our real estate”
Would it not be reasonable to assume that this is one of several ways in which the Chinese are trying to retreat out of paper dollars? If they can not just dump the currency as is and as recent reports suggest they would prefer, at least they can try to hedge somewhat by buying property.
If so, the headline should have been: “China stuck with too much USD & diversifying into prime US real estate that will be providing good yields even if the currency tanks”.
Not my area of expertise but I have the impression that the Chinese are considering all options on what to do with their mountain of USD.
The Chinese’s have a pile of coke supplied by the Treasury dealers, but no one to party with *snap*…well looks like time to blow the pile in an orgy of irresponsible behaver…until the mental doldrums of yesterdays reckless actions ensue needs for a place to crash…will it be our CRE couch they bum out on and for how long…till it smells so bad it must be burned?
Skippy…what a marriage made in hell…the Chinese propping up the CRE market, dude your supposed to inhale/snort not blow the gear.
Ps. Get your Ivory straws now traders.
I see that Fuld has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He’s typical of his cadre.
Asked about his feelings on Federal chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson – who failed to save Lehman – Mr Fuld’s said, firmly: “I’m sorry. I’m not going to do it. I’m just not going to do it.”
It’s similar to what Arendt wrote about in Origins of Totalitarianism, how doomed cadres within these systems will accept any humiliation, disgrace, slander, or actual physical liquidation, if they can only remain members in good standing.
(And they say he wants to be a “consultant”? On what? On how to be ostracized from the fraternity? The Goldman establishment – Paulson and Blankfein – made it clear they have no use for this guy. So if I wanted to be part of that system, why would I pay for his advice? To do the opposite of what he advises? What an ultramaroon.)
Ironically, if Fuld really wanted to try to reinvent himself, the means might be at hand right there. He could probably tell quite a story about Goldman, and about the Wall Street/government crime nexus in general. He could get personal revenge and a political second chance.
But nope, totalitarian cadres just don’t think that way.
Mr Fuld, speaking to a reporter who tracked him down to his riverside country house outside the small town of Ketchum, Idaho, he said that he is not a defeatist and that “good guys do win” in the end.
He’d better pray that’s not true.
Taxpayers face heavy losses on auto bailout
Those taxpayers sure are dumb, making all kinds of bad investments. If they don’t stop that, someday they will need a “bailout” too.
This article explains in plain $$$-speak why Wall Street has to be concerned with what comes out of Brussels. Some/most of the investment banks have a steep learning curve, no doubt.
“Crackdown threat to bank profits”: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/90ec20d4-9ca7-11de-ab58-00144feabdc0.html
skippy, thanks for the serious chuckle.
All over the MSM “news” today are claims that the economy has turned around….interspersed with stories that just happen to note that the sky is falling. I understand the oligarchy’s desire to promote consumerism again but I am afraid the magic ponies just aren’t going to show up this time.
So what are they going to do when the echo chamber of their lies grows deafening? I am already against the next war as well as the two we got going.
America is morally and ethically bankrupt. Look at the circus on TV. If it wasn’t so sick it would be sad. The following is part of a comment that I saw on a Mr Fish cartoon that points to a key issue:
“I wonder if Americans are ignorant because they are religious, or religious because they are ignorant.”
Are we ever as a society going to get past the Enlightenment? Not looking good is it?
Wow, that Globe and Mail article is has some details pretty tangled up.
“While other countries were bailing out major companies […], the German government took a different tack this year, bailing out payrolls instead […]”
German ‘Kurzarbeit’ existed for decades before. I know Switzerland is doing the same.
“[…] unemployment levels forced then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a Social Democrat, to call an election.”
That’s the biggest oversimplification I ever heard on that.
But the general direction of the article is correct: it is questionable if Germany can/will pay for Kurzarbeit until the economy really recovers.
Just a random interjection here…
I’m really missing the daily dose of Brad Setser. If you’ve found someone who’s covering similar territory with similar determination, please post a link.