The Big Bailout: America as a Full-Spectrum Kleptocracy

Its name somewhat anachronistically means “assembly of old men.” George Washington famously - and, it must now be [...] continue reading world news

Economy hitting the elderly especially hard

Matt Jackson of the Meals On Wheels program waits to deliver a meal to a home in Charleston, W.Va. The program is losing volunteer drivers nationwide because of rising gas prices.Bankruptcies soar as retirees, agencies struggle to keep up with rising costsBob Emily put in an honest day’s labor every day of his life.“I worked [...] continue reading world news

Russia cuts exposure to US mortgage lenders

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Russia has approximately halved to less than $50 billion its exposure to U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a senior central bank official told Reuters on Monday. “It’s now less than $50 billion,” central bank first [...] continue reading world news

Fed extends emergency loan program for Wall Street

And because of this Wall Street is celebrating today, but not for long.Before: Fed: No more bailouts, except Fannie Mae and Freddie MacAnd now the Fed wants to bailout Wall Street?The taxpayer will pay for it all.__________________________________________________________________________________WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it is extending its emergency borrowing program to Wall Street firms [...] continue reading world news

Queen’s stockbroker raided, biggest ever crackdown on insider trading

The Queen’s stockbroker Cazenove has been caught up in Britain’s biggest ever crackdown on insider trading.Eight people were arrested in dawn raids yesterday by the City watchdog the Financial Services Authority.Cazenove admitted that one of the arrested worked at its London offices as a sub-contractor.A 40-strong team from the FSA swooped on addresses in London [...] continue reading world news

Washington Mutual: Soon to fail

WaMu’s Bloated Asset Values Don’t Fool InvestorsJuly 30 (Bloomberg) — With goodwill like Washington Mutual Inc.’s, it’s no wonder investors are getting such bad feelings about the company’s finances. Shares of the Seattle-based savings and loan have fallen 89 percent the past year to $4.43, leaving the company with a $7.6 billion stock-market value. The [...] continue reading world news

The Last Hurrah for the Banking System

The Bush administration will be mailing out another batch of “stimulus” checks in the very near future. There’s no way around it. The Fed is in a pickle and can’t lower interest rates for fear that food and energy prices will shoot to stratosphere. At the same time, the economy is shrinking faster than anyone [...] continue reading world news

GM, Crysler and Ford: S&P cuts ratings lower into junk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor’s on Thursday cut ratings on all three major U.S. automakers deeper into junk status, citing expected losses due to higher gas prices and a weakening U.S. economy.S&P cut its ratings for General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock [...] continue reading world news

Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies — including Wal-Mart.In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory [...] continue reading world news

House rejects bill on limiting speculative trading

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A bill that would put new limits on speculative trading in energy commodities failed to get the required two-third majority of votes to pass the House on Wednesday.The vote was 276 to 151. The Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act would boost staffing at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and require the [...] continue reading world news

Jobless rate climbs as 51,000 jobs vanish

WASHINGTON - Stores, factories and other businesses large and small showed workers the door last month, sending unemployment to its highest rate in four years and adding to the evidence an economic recovery remains far off.Employers clamped down on hiring and cut 51,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy has shed [...] continue reading world news

FDIC warns four US banks over liquidity

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation revealed on Friday that it had issued warnings to four small US banks that lacked sufficient reserves to cover potential loan losses.The cease-and-desist orders issued in June said the four banks needed to raise more capital, expand their loss allowances and better oversee and diversify their loan portfolios. A fifth [...] continue reading world news

Small Florida bank is 8th U.S. failure this year

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank regulators closed a small Florida-based bank on Friday, the eighth U.S. bank to fail this year under pressure from a weak economy and a credit crisis precipitated by falling home prices.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said First Priority Bank had $259 million in assets and $227 million [...] continue reading world news

Stressed banks borrow record amount from Fed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Banks borrowed a record amount of funds from the Federal Reserve in the latest week as the year old credit crisis took a persistent toll, while the commercial paper market continued to contract, signaling tough conditions for short term borrowers.Banks’ primary credit borrowings averaged $17.45 billion [...] continue reading world news

Borrowings of Depository Institutions from the Federal Reserve

Ready for a little shock? LinkA reader has discovered this on Digg: “This is how fucked we are”That says it all.Related article: Stressed banks borrow record amount from FedWhat does it mean if you have such a huge “shortage of liquidity in your system”?Hmmmhhh?!? Oh! Run, run, run.According to the FDIC I am just another [...] continue reading world news

Report: Obama, Potential Iran Attack, Financial Collapse

Published for some of the information on the economy.Added: August 02, 2008Source: YouTube continue reading world news

Ron Paul on Glenn Beck 07/30/2008

Part 1Added: July 30, 2008Source: YouTubePart 2Added: July 30, 2008Source: YouTube continue reading world news

Royal Bank of Scotland poised for biggest loss in UK banking history

Britain’s second largest bank expected to reveal it has lost £1 billion in first halfTHE Royal Bank of Scotland is poised to unveil the biggest loss in UK banking history after taking a hit of almost £6 billion from the credit crisis.Britain’s second-largest bank is this week expected to reveal a pre-tax loss of at [...] continue reading world news

What is happening to America?

RonPaul: “We don’t even know if they have the Gold there anymore.”Source: YouTubePeople will not realize the main problem in America until they actually take the time to do some serious research for themselves, but hopefully this video may open that window for you.The primary cause of loss of liberty is our ever expanding government [...] continue reading world news

Star analyst: Credit crunch far from over

The star analyst tells Fortune magazine that housing woes will force banks to keep taking writedowns.NEW YORK (Fortune) — The credit crisis is far from over, star analyst Meredith Whitney tells Fortune magazine in its upcoming issue.Whitney, who audaciously - and correctly - predicted last October that Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) would have to cut [...] continue reading world news

Hundreds of banks will fail, Roubini tells Barron’s

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States is in the second inning of a recession that will last for at least 18 months and help kill off hundreds of banks, influential economist and New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini told Barron’s in Sunday’s edition.Taxpayers will pay a big price for helping bail [...] continue reading world news

HSBC warns that financial crisis will spread to Asia

Asia will be infected by the economic weakness spreading through the world’s leading economies, threatening the engine of global growth, HSBC has warned. Cashing in on Hong Kong gets harderSpeaking after reporting a “resilient” 28pc fall in pre-tax profits to $10.3bn (£5.2bn) for the six months to June, despite incurring a further $10bn of bad [...] continue reading world news

Morgan Stanley has issued a major alert on the health of Spanish banks

Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, has issued a major alert on the health of Spanish banks, warning that a replay of the ERM crisis in the early 1990s could wipe out the capital base of weak lenders exposed to the property crash.“A momentous economic slowdown is now under way. We believe the deterioration in Spain [...] continue reading world news

Morgan Stanley Said to Freeze Home-Equity Credit Withdrawals

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm, told thousands of clients this week that they won’t be allowed to withdraw money on their home-equity credit lines, said a person familiar with the situation.Most of the clients had properties that have lost value, according to the person, who declined to be identified [...] continue reading world news

Big CFTC data revision raises oil traders’ eyebrows

“There may have been multiple ‘positions’ which were reclassified … but they all appear to have been held by just one trader, and this was a very special trader, with an enormous concentration of positions in crude oil amounting to perhaps 460 million barrels, and not much interest in anything else,” noted John Kemp of [...] continue reading world news

Drug prices up 100% - or higher

Drug companies are quietly pushing through price hikes of 100% - or even more than 1,000% - for a very small but growing number of prescription drugs, helping to drive up costs for insurers, patients and government programs.The number of brand-name drugs with increases of 100% or more could double this year from four years [...] continue reading world news

One Nation Under Siege - Full Theatrical Release

From documentary filmmaker William Lewis comes a bone chilling documentary on the spying, tracking and control of the American public.Source: Google Video continue reading world news

Fannie Mae posts massive $2.3bln loss

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Struggling home finance giant Fannie Mae Friday reported a massive second-quarter loss of 2.3 billion dollars, more than three times analysts’ estimates.The loss per share was 2.54 dollars, compared with analyst projections of 0.69 dollars, and was mainly attributed to provisions for losses related to the US housing crisis.The government-sponsored, shareholder-owned company [...] continue reading world news

U.S. Dollar Intervention

On July 15th the US Dollar Index closed at 71.87, the lowest close since reaching its record low in April. This index was in the process of breaking down, and in fact it had actually fallen out of its uptrend channel on the following chart.However, rather than continue lower and fall off the edge of [...] continue reading world news

Fed: More banks are tightening lending standards

WASHINGTON - More banks are tightening lending standards on home mortgages and other consumer and business loans as a deepening credit crisis exerts a heavier toll on the economy.Federal Reserve said Monday the percentage of banks reporting tighter lending standards rose across various loan types in its July survey. In April, the central bank had [...] continue reading world news