FDIC will run out of money, says Roubini

(RTTNews) - The FDIC is looking for ways to shore up its depleted deposit fund, including charging higher premiums on riskier brokered deposits, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said Friday.However, that fund is “a myth,” according to longtime banking consultant Bert Ely, and consumers may end up paying the price of what is expected to [...] continue reading world news

Commercial bankruptcies soar

WASHINGTON - Driven by a sour economy and skittish consumers, U.S. business bankruptcies saw their sharpest quarterly rise in two years, jumping 17 percent in the second quarter of 2008, according to an analysis by McClatchy.Commercial filings for the first half of 2008 are up 45 percent from last year, as the national climate for [...] continue reading world news

8,500 U.S. banks; many will die soon

I called the death of Indymac Bancorp on Monday, July 7th. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized Indymac on Friday, July 11th.I called the implosion of the two Government Sponsored Entities in the mortgage business, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday, July 9th. Sunday, July 13th the White House announced a bailout for them.Related [...] continue reading world news

Bernanke, Paulson Pressed to Seek Big-Government Bank Bailout

July 21 (Bloomberg) – Ben S. Bernanke and Henry Paulson are under pressure to embrace the big-government policies of America in the 1930s, or Sweden in the 1990s, to contain the conflagration engulfing the U.S. housing and financial markets.Among the ideas: Using taxpayer money to shore up the capital of loss-ridden Fannie Mae and Freddie [...] continue reading world news

Top 25 Things Vanishing From America: No.1 The Family Farm

Here you will find all Top 25 Things Vanishing From America.This series explores aspects of America that may soon be just a memory — some to be missed, some gladly left behind. From the least impactful to the most, here are 25 bits of vanishing America.1. The Family FarmMy mother grew up on her family’s [...] continue reading world news

Is America too big to fail?

NEW YORK: In the narrative that has governed American commercial life for the last quarter-century, saving companies from their own mistakes was not supposed to be part of the government’s job description. Economic policymakers in the United States took swaggering pride in the cutthroat but lucrative form of capitalism that was supposedly indigenous to their [...] continue reading world news

Wachovia Has Record $8.9 Billion Loss, Cuts Dividend

If Wachovia fails, then you can probably forget about the FDIC.And remember that there are no more bailouts left:- Fed: No more bailouts, except Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac._______________________________________________________________________________________July 22 (Bloomberg) — Wachovia Corp., the U.S. bank that hired Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel as chief executive officer two weeks ago, reported a record quarterly loss [...] continue reading world news

Banks: Plans to Seek Secret Emergency Funding

So in a free market it is justifiable to keep some “potentially situations” secret!?!? Hmmhh.Secret from whom? “The main case for an exception would be if disclosure could panic investors and lead to fears for a bank’s solvency, the regulator said.” Investors in the U.K. have all the right to panic.“Under certain circumstances, immediate disclosure [...] continue reading world news

Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”

Google’s on and off negotiations with Digg have been back on in a big way for the last six weeks, we’ve heard from multiple sources inside of Google, and the two companies are close to a deal that will bring Digg under the Google News property. The acquisition price is in the $200 million range, [...] continue reading world news

Government index shows record 4.8 percent decline in US home prices in May from a year ago

WASHINGTON: A government report says U.S. home prices fell a record 4.8 percent in May from the same month last year.The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight also says prices, on a seasonally adjusted basis, fell 0.3 percent from April to May. The index is down almost 5 percent from its peak in April of [...] continue reading world news

Merrill Cuts 2009 U.S. GDP Forecast: Chart of the Day

July 22 (Bloomberg) — Merrill Lynch & Co. economists clipped their forecasts for U.S. growth, making revisions that they described as “adjusting to the new reality.”“Just like consumers, who are insulating their windows and making fewer trips to the malls, we are adjusting our economic forecasts to the new high-oil-price reality, not to mention the [...] continue reading world news

FDIC Faces Mortgage Mess After Running Failed Bank

Subprime Lender Made Problem Loans On Regulators’ Watch Federal officials heap much of the blame for the subprime mortgage mess on lenders, claiming they recklessly made too many high-cost home loans to borrowers who couldn’t afford them.It turns out that the U.S. government itself was one of the lenders giving out high-interest, subprime mortgages, some [...] continue reading world news

Governor plans to slash state workers’ pay to the federal minimum

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to help ease the state’s budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Chronicle on Wednesday.The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but [...] continue reading world news

Ron Paul on the Housing Bill 7/23/08

“The Mother of All Bailouts” Ron Paul talks about the bailout out of the housing industry and how it really just destroys the dollar and adds enormously to the debt.Also, slipped into the bill, was the stipulation that ALL credit card transactions must now be reported to the IRS.Added: July 23, 2008Source: YouTube continue reading world news

Housing bailout bill - another $800 billion gift from the taxpayer to Wall Street

This bill will probably pass in Senate tomorrow. You, your children and generations to come will pay for this. All taxes will be spent servicing this debt.Cost of 5 years of Iraq war: $560 billion Cost of this bill: $800 billionIt will be spent bailing out the same fraudsters who got us into this mess. [...] continue reading world news

Ford Posts Loss of $8.7 Billion on Asset Woes

DETROIT - The Ford Motor Company, stunned by abysmal sales of its most profitable vehicles and a sudden shift in consumers’ tastes, said Thursday that it lost $8.7 billion in the quarter, its worst ever, and would overhaul its North American plants to focus on small cars.The loss, equal to $3.88 a share, was mostly [...] continue reading world news

Quotes from the Great Depression

September 1929“There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue.” — Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury.October 14, 1929“Secretary Lamont and officials of the Commerce Department today denied rumors that a severe depression in business and industrial activity was impending, which had been based on a mistaken interpretation of a [...] continue reading world news

The U.S. Enters into an Ever-Worsening Cycle

We are a year into the financial pain and virtually no systemic problem has been solved. Markets have entered into a new unsustainable cycle. The new dance is a two-step. Home prices slide, delinquencies rise, defaults rise. This puts additional pressure on housing going forward. Financial firms announce greater write-offs. Retailers slump and contagion goes [...] continue reading world news

Investors are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in stock prices

July 21 (Bloomberg) — Investors worldwide are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in stock prices.Never Have So Many Short Sellers Made So Much MoneyManagers from William Ackman to Jim Rogers made a total of at least $1.4 billion in July with wagers against U.S. mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, [...] continue reading world news

Food stamp use soars in Mass

Fastest-Growing Program in NationMassachusetts, which earlier this decade had the lowest percentage of eligible residents using food stamps, now has the fastest-growing food-stamp program in the country, a dramatic turnaround that state officials attribute to soaring food prices and a simplified application process.As food and fuel costs continue to rise, the officials say, people who [...] continue reading world news

U.S. Foreclosures Double as House Prices Decline

July 25 (Bloomberg) — U.S. foreclosure filings more than doubled in the second quarter from a year earlier as falling home prices left borrowers owing more on mortgages than their properties were worth.One in every 171 households was foreclosed on, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction. That was an increase [...] continue reading world news

WaMu has $3.33 bln loss, may be cut to “junk”

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, posted a $3.33 billion second-quarter loss on Tuesday as souring mortgages forced it to set aside more money for loan losses.The thrift’s deteriorating health prompted Moody’s Investors Service to say it may downgrade Washington Mutual to “junk” status. Shares of Washington Mutual [...] continue reading world news

FDIC takes over 2 more banks, closing 28 branches

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit [...] continue reading world news

National Australia Bank will shock Wall Street

The National Australia Bank’s decision to write off 90 per cent of its US conduit loans will have dramatic repercussions around the world. Wall Street will be deeply shocked when they understand the repercussions of what NAB has done. It is clear global banks have nowhere near provided for their exposures to US housing loans [...] continue reading world news

This project is sponsored by George Orwell and his Big Brother

Anyone who has lived without a television will know how hard it is to convince TV Licensing staff that is possible to exist without constant video entertainment. It is one more freedom that is to be taken from us. Like the telescreens in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four that citizens could turn down but not off, [...] continue reading world news

Bush administration projects record ‘09 deficit

Deficit for next year to hit $482 billion amid sagging economyWASHINGTON - The next president will inherit a record budget deficit of $482 billion, according to a new Bush administration estimate released Monday.The administration said the deficit was being driven to an all-time high by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to [...] continue reading world news

Worried Banks Sharply Reduce Business Loans

Drew Greenblatt of Marlin Steel Wire Products is having trouble getting a $300,000 loan to buy a robot for his Baltimore factory. “This is what a bank is supposed to do,” he said.Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for [...] continue reading world news

Russia’s new Great Game

Vladimir Putin (left), then the president of Russia, met with Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, in April to discuss arms, energy and debt. AFPEmploying strategies redolent of a new Great Game, Russia has stepped up its diplomatic and trade activities in the Middle East and North Africa in a bid to enhance its geopolitical clout [...] continue reading world news

IMF predicts no end in sight to credit crisis

The International Monetary Fund says there’s no end in sight to the credit crisis gripping world financial markets.As Australia’s NAB and ANZ have already discovered, the IMF believes banks are in for more pain as mortgage defaults soar and economies slow. The IMF has a particularly gloomy assessment of the US economy, and it came [...] continue reading world news