Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Let me begin by wishing all Quebecers “une bonne Fête nationale”. I hope you enjoyed St-Jean Baptiste celebrations on this glorious sunny day in Quebec. In my last post, I discussed the global pension crisis and how it might lead to a long social crisis. Today I […]
Read more...America as banana republic is alive and well. Tonight’s version is that anything that helps banks is permitted, official rules to the contrary. Banks enjoyed lots of fun and profit from setting up various off balance sheet vehicles that are now coming a cropper. We saw the preview of this movie with structured investment vehicles, […]
Read more...For information junkies and those wanting one-stop shopping on who did what to whom during the crisis, the New York Fed has just put up a crisis timeline, with domestic and international versions, at its website, which it intends to update monthly. Below is a sample (click to enlarge). It downloads as a pdf:
Read more...Wow, the credit loss numbers keep getting worse and worse. And although a lot of observers like to attribute banks slashing credit lines and jacking up rates to pending pro-consumer rule changes, the more obvious culprit is their hemorrhaging portfolios. Banks tend to close the credit gate after the horse is in the next county, […]
Read more...Just as one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, so to is a return to prudent lending practices now leading to “unintended consequences”, namely fewer loans being extended. The post-bubble spin-mongering continues. New lending standards now mandated by Freddie and Fannie as a result of a settlement between New York State and the mortgage giants […]
Read more...‘Synthetic tree’ claims to catch carbon in the air CNN Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number Guardian. Reader Michael T remembers when Great Britian’s police were the envy of the world. Insurers face $6bn bill for board protection Financial Times Citigroup Is Said to Be Raising Pay Eric Dash, New York Times […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The FT reports that the OECD warns on pension crisis: Strains in pensions systems, in both private and public provision, threaten to turn the financial crisis of the past two years into a social crisis lasting for decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on […]
Read more...Japan once had robust exports and a de facto two-tier economy. Yet the image of the dreadful domestic economy dominated as Japan has been characterized as having a lost nearly two decades. I’ve long harbored the suspicion that Japan played up the stagnant domestic economy so no one would bust its chops over its booming […]
Read more...Readers may recall that we’ve been of the view that the expedited bankruptcy planned for GM would run into more snags than its advocates assume. We have not felt as strongly on that point as far as Chrysler is concerned, since that deal has vastly fewer moving parts. Nevertheless, a hold-up on Chrysler illustrates the […]
Read more...Dear patient readers, More jet lagged than I thought I’d be, plus a lot of odd and ends to attend to today. Apologies for the brevity. Megafauna demise blamed on humans BBC Mortgage Bankers Assocation expects mortgage activity to slow Business Week (hat tip Bubble Meter) On the coming neo-feudalism Bemign Brodwicz Angelo’s Ashes Connie […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. A surprisingly bleak forecast for the world economy pushed stocks to their biggest loss in two months. Major stock indexes tumbled by more than 2 percent Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 201 points, after the World Bank estimated the global economy will shrink 2.9 […]
Read more...Nothin’ like having Uncle Sam cut an overly friendly deal. Plenty of folks, including yours truly, were skeptical of Treasury’s claim, made often with a straight face. that the government was exercising care on who got TARP funding (as in it was not just handing out dough willy-nilly, but did have an eye to getting […]
Read more...Michael Pettis put up a long and useful post on the options open to China given a decline in US consumption and therefore its trade deficit, both of which he deems to be inevitable. Pettis argues that all things being equal, growth in China would probably be lower than most assume, 5%-6%. Note that while […]
Read more...What is going on? We noted on June 12 that the World Bank has lowered its growth forecast for 2009 from a negative 1.7% to close to negative 3%. World Bank Group President announced this prior to the G8 meeting and stressed the global contraction would have particularly grim consequences for poor countries. Today we […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I was going to write about the markets, but it’s Father’s Day so I want to share something with you my dad gave me, a Newsweek article by Peter Peterson, Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion: In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a […]
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