The great interest rate rip off part 1

[interestrateripoff]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6AC1K120101121

 

Ireland will seek a bailout from international lenders, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Sunday, ending weeks of speculation that it would need aid to prop up its banks and help it secure cheaper state funding.

 

The bailout -- which would be the second rescue package for a euro zone country this year -- would be less than 100 billion euros (85.6 billion pounds), he said, but did not give details of the likely cost.

 

"I will be recommending to the government that we should apply for a programme and open formal negotiations," Lenihan told public broadcaster RTE. He said a plan to restructure Ireland's banks was likely to be a main feature.

 

However, he dismissed pressure on Dublin from other euro zone countries to raise low business taxes that have attracted many multinational companies to Ireland, saying changes to corporation tax were off the agenda and would hamper growth.

 

Sources have told Reuters Ireland may need 45-90 billion euros ($63-$126 billion), depending on whether it needs help only for its banks or to cover general government spending too.

 

I really can't see how Ireland can increase corporation tax, if they do the companies will leave and they will have no real hope of paying anything back.

 

They really are screwed.

 

It will be interesting to see what the final bailout figure is.

 

At least finally it will be all contained.

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http://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-swingers-sex-parties-are-feeling-the-pinch-of-the-tough-economy-2010-11#ixzz15sRcdKer

 

The sex industry has long been called recession-proof, but swingers say that is completely untrue, according to the

Daily News. Apparently swinger parties have definitely been impacted by the recession; attendance is down and membership has dwindled.

There are two types of swingers parties. The roaming kind and the stationary kind. Apparently neither is holding up well in the downturn.

One reason why: swinging is expensive. Admission to stationary parties is usually between $110 to $150 for couples, and $50 for a single woman. But sometimes, like in East Hampton, you might pay much more, up to $300.

Party organizers haven't changed admission prices in the downturn, largely because their patrons include people who work in "more stressful professions such as lawyers, bankers, entrepreneurs, and teachers." Read: they're people who are supposed to be able to afford it.

But many people have stopped paying to swing.

A few examples of companies that have seen attendance drop:

 

• DDeviousDelights, which hosts roaming swingers parties, says their attendance has plummeted by between 30-40%.
  
• One Leg Up, a roaming, high-end swingers event, said their attendance has been dropping 20% a year since '07. Member numbers slumped so badly the founder cut annual fees from $900 to $550.
  
• Carousel Couples Club in Manhattan has seen their attendee numbers nosedive by 60%.
  

The only club that has weathered the financial storm is Behind Closed Doors, a less expensive club with free membership.

 

 

More at the link.

 

It's the swingless recovery.

[interestrateripoff]

Ireland Asks for Aid From Europe, Minister Says

 

By LANDON THOMAS Jr. 11 minutes ago

 

 

After months of trying to persuade outsiders that it could survive its financial crisis without aid, Ireland formally applied for a multibillion-euro rescue package.

 

• The Hunt for Jobs Sends the Irish Abroad, Again
  

 

 

 

Julien Behal/Press Association, via Associated Press

 

Brian Lenihan, the country’s finance minister, said Ireland has formally applied for a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pushing 40, Southwest Is Still Playing the Rebel

 

By JAD MOUAWAD

 

Southwest has become one of the biggest airlines and is turning 40 next year, but it is clinging to a corporate culture of Halloween parties and rapping flight attendants.

 

• Video: The Southwest Way
  

 

Your Brain on Computers

 

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction

 

By MATT RICHTEL

 

The constant stream of stimuli offered by new technology poses a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

 

• Video: Fast Times at Woodside High
  
• Interactive: Students and Technology, Constant Companions
  
• Interactive: Teachers' Views on Technology in the Classroom
  
• Post a Comment or Ask the Reporter a Question
  

 

Luxury Brands Tailoring Approach to the Web

 

By ERIC PFANNER

 

Luxury goods companies, which once saw the Internet mainly as a repository for downmarket items and fakes, are rushing to open online shops as new features assuage their concerns.

 

Prisa Looks for Return to Financial Health

 

By RAPHAEL MINDER 6:55 AM ET

 

Shareholders of the largest Spanish media company are expected to vote Wednesday to turn over control to a group of financiers in exchange for an injection of €900 million.

 

T.S.A. Grants Airline Pilots an Exception to Screenings

 

By RON NIXON

 

The Transportation Security Administration will let uniformed airline pilots skip body scans and pat-downs.

 

U.S. Is Said to Pursue Broad Insider Trading Inquiry

 

By PETER LATTMAN

 

Authorities are at an advanced stage of an insider-trading investigation that could result in criminal charges against Wall Street traders, a government official said.

 

Can QVC Translate Its Pitch Online?

 

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

 

QVC, the leading TV shopping channel, has discovered that its strong points apply online, too. The task is now to maximize them.

 

Study Suggests a Cholesterol Pill Benefits Patients With Kidney Disease

 

By NATASHA SINGER

 

Patients with chronic kidney disease who took Vytorin, a cholesterol-lowering pill, had one-sixth fewer heart attacks, strokes or operations to unblock their arteries than patients taking a placebo.

 

Air Force Slip Complicates Tanker Bids

 

By CHRISTOPHER DREW 10:58 AM ET

 

The Air Force accidentally sent each bidder for an aerial tanker contract sensitive data about the other’s proposal, Pentagon officials said.

 

Mortgages

 

New Lending Guidelines From Fannie Mae

 

By LYNNLEY BROWNING

 

Rules that take effect next month will provide relief for cash-poor buyers but make it harder for others to get a mortgage.

 

• More Mortgages Columns
  

 

Ping

 

For an Online Marketplace, It’s Better Late Than Never

 

By ASHLEE VANCE

 

A decade after the dot-com bust, Ariba’s business-to-business trading network has gained much traction.

 

 

 

• Small Cheesemaker Defies F.D.A. Over Recall
  
• Novelties: Notepads That Keep You on the Same Page
  
• Unions Yield on Wage Scales to Preserve Jobs
  
• A New Look in Detroit for the Newly Public G.M.
  
• India Stocks Sink on Telecommunications Scandal
  
• China Move Could Counter Fed’s Efforts
  

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

 

Ireland will request EU and IMF bailout package

 

The debt laden country will request a rescue package of up to £80bn on Monday as it prepares to unveil a four-year programme of steep tax rises and deep spending cuts.

US firms warn Irish over tax move

 

 

Can anyone save the Celtic Tiger?

 

 

Ireland's long painful slog must begin with slow, steady steps

 

 

 

 

Gas price rise? Just say no thanks

 

Customers can reject their supplier's price rises while switching to another energy provider.

 

Building construction 'lowest for 20 years'

 

Construction activity in Central London has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, highlighting the impact of the recession on property companies and the continuing malaise in the private sector.

 

Malvern Water - more good news for the Queen

 

The man behind Tyrrells Crisps wants to restart production of the Queen's favourite mineral water.

 

US poised for more insider trading charges

 

 

 

 

Foreign bankers in City exodus

 

 

 

 

Cinven and Apax talk to Reed over buy-out

 

 

 

 

Cameron's immigration cap is 'pointless'

 

 

 

 

Apple's iPhone SIM card plan thwarted

 

 

Majority 'failing to address money concerns'

 

Nearly two-thirds of people are worried about their finances but the majority are failing to take simple steps to improve their position, a survey has suggested.

When it pays to live in Birmingham

 

 

 

 

Millions of Britons still paying for last Christmas

 

 

 

 

Taxman targets buy-to-let

 

 

New policy 'toolkit' to tame booms

 

Monetary policy can not tame the wild credit booms that tip economies into recession, warns Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England's executive director of financial stability.

Hague raises doubts about future of the euro

 

 

 

 

ICB could call for Lloyds break-up

 

 

 

 

Ben Bernanke points finger at China

 

 

Lessons from history in China's inflation crisis

 

History makes clear why the Chinese are so twitchy about their rapidly rising consumer price inflation. The governments of poor countries (even ones that are getting rich as rapidly as China) know that hungry people are quick to take to the streets.

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Another Lie Exposed: Ireland

 

 

Gee, you think someone would eventually tell the truth.....

 

“I will be proposing to my colleagues that they should formally apply for a program,” Lenihan said in an interview with state broadcaster RTE in Dublin. “The banks were too big a problem for the country. The key issue all the time for the government is to ensure that we do not have a collapse of the banking sector.”

 

Why not just blow 'em up? Tell the banks to stuff it and let them collapse.

 

Then set up new banks with sovereign credit. New banks with clean balance sheets.

 

Oh yeah, and while you're at it, arrest the heads of said banks and put them on trial for corruption and looting, and upon conviction, give them this:

 

That's what should happen. And it's what the Irish People should demand happen - by whatever means are necessary.

 

The cost of saving Ireland’s banks threatens a rerun of the Greek debt crisis that destabilized the euro region earlier this year. Lenders are reeling from the collapse of the property market in 2008, which resulted in the biggest contraction of any EU nation. An unprecedented budget deficit -- equaling one-third of economic output this year -- sent bond yields to all-time highs.

 

Looting becomes impossible to sustain eventually. Now the Irish Government thinks that the Irish people should pay for being robbed!

 

It's not enough to get ripped off - now the government wants to tax the people to pay for the stealing that they allowed to happen in the first place.

 

This is no different than what happened in Greece or the United States for that matter, and it will continue to happen until the people stand up and refuse to accept it.

 

Further, and far more importantly, shifting the bad debt around doesn't get rid of it. It simply tries to impose the cost on the nation as a tax - a tax that cannot be paid, and won't be paid.

To the Irish people: You must choose between putting a stop to this - no matter what it takes to enforce that demand - and literal debt peonage and servitude imposed upon you for the sins of a handful of rich bar stewards that robbed all of you.

 

The Greeks failed to rise and stop it.

 

Now it's your turn.

The problem with refusing to rise is that doing so will not in fact provide a fix. You will simply sink further into the mud and ultimately will detonate the European Union.

 

Down the road of "accepting" these acts by your government lies an inevitable armed conflict of some sort.

 

Denniger's take on the situation.

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Countrywide NEVER Transferred Notes

I've been on this specific point for more than a year. Why? Because I have had multiple people assert to me who were in a position to factually know that this took place.

It also was the only way for certain "problems" (like writing crap paper) to remain undisclosed to auditors and investors.

Now we have it on the record, in a lawsuit.

Linda DeMartini,

a supervisor and operational team leader in B of A's litigation management department, testified that "the original note never left the possession of Countrywide"

...

DeMartini "testified further that it was customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of the original note and related loan documents"...

There's no cure for this at this point in time. The following problems are insurmountable:

 

• Most if not all of the MBS trusts are organized under NY Trust Law. NY Trust Law requires that delivery be made "in as perfect a form as possible." Intentionally not delivering anything is so far removed from this requirement that it is a near-certainty that the Trusts are in fact legally void.
  
• IRS REMIC rules require that the trusts contain a static pool of loans, and that they all be in the trust as of the certification date. This is typically 90 days post-closing of the trust (the 90 days is to allow a few late deliveries.) If REMIC rules are not followed the entire trust loses its tax passthrough preference and back taxes are due on the operations of the trust back to the point of violation - in this case, back to the founding. The holders of the certificates could become held financially responsible for these taxes - at the corporate rate.
  
• The Pooling and Servicing Agreements all contain certifications that the formalities of transfer were complied with, including all intervening assignments and delivery to the Trust. These are not certifications of something to be done prospectively, they are certifications of fact that have allegedly occurred. If in fact no transfers took place then the entire MBS chain is arguably void as there are no mortgages in the securities. This would constitute the largest fraud ever perpetrated upon investors in the history of the world.
  
• And now, to top it off, we have in formal testimony an admission by Bank of America's litigation management department, that they have concealed this fact from the public markets. Where is the notification required of a "material adverse event" in the firm's 8Ks, 10K or 10Qs on this matter? This sort of knowledge certainly has the potential to be "material" (in that the liability would exceed the Bank's capitalization several times over) and yet we first learn of this in a conclusive fashion in a lawsuit?
  

 

Mr. President and Sheila Bair: TAKE THESE BANKS, PARTICULARLY BANK OF AMERICA, INTO RECEIVERSHIP NOW.

This outcome cannot be avoided. We must do this in a form and fashion that is controlled, which means you must do it now, before the vultures get their teeth into these issues. There is no way to retroactively fix this - we're talking about trillions of dollars here, more than you can print and play with, and there are international concerns that own these MBS as well.

The rule of law must be upheld.

 

It's hard to see how they can keep this contained for much longer.

[interestrateripoff]

Timmy Lies Again

You knew he couldn't keep his mouth shut, right?

U.S. Treasury Secretary

Timothy F. Geithner

said the Obama administration would oppose any effort to strip the Federal Reserve of its mandate to pursue full employment and warned Republicans against politicizing the central bank.

“It is very important to keep politics out of monetary policy,” Geithner said in an interview airing on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with

Al Hunt

” this weekend. “You want to be very careful not to take steps that hurt our credibility.”

You have to have something in order to lose it.

The Fed politicized itself when it decided to bail out banks and further, to monetize federal spending.

That wasn't the Republican's decision, it was the so-called "independent" Central Bank that did that - on their own initiative.

That same so-called "independent" central bank also decided to intentionally look the other way (as did you Timmy, when running the NY Fed) despite it now being documented that Citibank KNEW it was writing crap loans in 2006 and 2007.

Politicized? You did that. Bernanke did that. Now you complain that by your own hand you blew it.

Sorry, no $ale.

“It is not responsible, and I could not recommend to the president in good conscience, that we go out and borrow $700 billion to make those high-end tax cuts permanent,” Geithner said.

But you do recommend in good conscience that The Fed debase the currency by the same $600 billion so you can keep spending, thereby larding that cost across everyone in the economy and having it fall disproportionately on the poorest members of our society.

That's nice Timmy - make sure you remember your position later; it will become important.

“It is very important that we respect and honor what the Congress did when it set up our independent central bank with a mandate to keep prices low and stable over time and to make sure” it promotes “sustainable economic growth,” said Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before taking over as Treasury secretary last year.

Uh huh.

How "low" have prices been kept Timmy?

If you manage to keep your mandate of "2% inflation" over 50 years, how much of your original money's purchasing power do you have left?

Answer: About 40%.

This is "price stability"?

The hell it is. It is a brazen attempt to force people to "invest" in risky things like the stock of companies, rather than keeping their earned surplus safe and privately held under their own control.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/vigilantes-home-portuguese-beacon-opposition-claims-government-understated-debt-and-deficit-

 

'With Ireland now a lost cause, the next country which will see its bond yields surge to new records is Portugal. And just so vigilantes don't miss the hint, the Portuguese opposition party has stated that the country's budget deficit and public debt are "higher than those reported by the government." The claim is that Portuguese debt is about 30% higher than claimed by official statistics: instead of 82% of GDP, it is actually 112%. With bankrupt Greece having lied about virtually every aspect of its comatose economy, it is not as easy to dismiss the announcement as merely political bickering, and is sure to leads to at least a modest double digit basis point jump in Portuguese spreads. And once Portugal is rescued, just after New Year's, then it will be time for those last two countries of the peripheral block: Italy and Spain. And after them, it's the core's turn.

 

'Pedro Passos Coelho told a meeting of his Social Democratic Party items like state-run companies' debts were not included in the overall public debt, which the government puts at 82 percent of gross domestic product this year.

 

He said that the "true" total public debt stood as high as 112 percent of GDP, while the budget deficit should be at 9.5 percent of GDP, far above the minority Socialist government's target of 7.3 percent for the end of the year.

 

Government officials were not immediately available for comment. They have previously denied similar allegations by smaller opposition parties, saying that the statistical and budget data were regularly monitored by Brussels' '

 

So the next bailout country will be......

 

It's the Eurobillions draw.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/21/european-debt-crisis-bonds

 

• $3bn withdrawn from US municipal-bond market in a week

 

Cities and regions are finding it difficult to raise money on the financial markets as the anxiety about Ireland's plight deters investors from buying bonds from other would-be borrowers. The debt-laden state of California had been forced to raise rates to 1.5% and 1.75% to attract investors to a $10bn (£6.25bn) sale of securities. Spain's finance minister, Elena Salgado, refused to allow Madrid's municipal authority to refinance some of the city's staggering €7bn of debt.

 

Philip Brown, managing director of capital markets origination at Citigroup, said: "For everybody in Europe, the discussions going on in Ireland are extremely important and the outcome of those will determine interest rates in Ireland and other countries. These discussions will set the tone for investors' appetite for peripheral countries."

 

Credit markets shut after the collapse of Lehman Brothers two years ago have opened again but only to the most solvent and highly rated companies or countries.

 

The impact can been seen in the US market where cities raise funds through what is known as the municipal bond market. As much as $3bn of withdrawals of investor funds took place in the US municipal bond market in the week to 17 November, making it the worst week for "munis" in 19 years, according to Bloomberg.

 

Guy Benstead, a partner at Cedar Ridge Partners in San Francisco, said: "Public issuers are challenged; it's tough, tax receipts are down, revenues are down, local authorities are struggling, that makes the market very sensitive."

 

In Europe, cities and regions are also struggling, except in Germany, whose decentralised and disciplined self-financing Länder model is not being punished by investors. German states such as North Rhine-Westphalia can still charge only about 0.3% above the rock-solid German bond rate, at about 3%.

 

The Spanish region of Catalonia has been forced to pay as much as 4.75%.

 

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics, said: "Spanish cities' and regions' debt is too big, unjustified by their capacity to generate income. Many cities won't be able to meet payments. There's no solution; the situation will break down, borrowers won't pay or the national government will have to assume that debt."

 

For a Prof he's not very bright is he default is the solution, bankruptcy is the only option. It's looking more and more like the debt has reached the tipping point it's been allowed to increase to such a large level it's no longer serviceable and now it's becoming completely obvious to everyone no one can pay.

 

Tax revenues down and still we don't see people moving towards spending what they can afford, however the big problem is debt servicing costs cannot be reduced unless you default.

 

Extend and pretend.

 

I love how they think if they sweep Ireland under the carpet all of these problems will somehow disappear.

 

The problem is debt. The debt mountain has not gone away, the problem has not been tackled with either default or repayment, just the creation of ever more debt. This path is not sustainable.

[interestrateripoff]

Will Irish bailout spark contagion?

 

David McKittrick and Sean O'Grady: The Irish government finally asks for rescue package amid fears that Portugal and Spain will be next.

 

• Mary Ann Sieghart: How we avoided Ireland's nightmare
  
• Sean O'Grady: If Portugal is small enough to rescue, Spain may be "too big to save"
  

[interestrateripoff]

Breaking news

 

• 
  
• FBI raids 3 hedge funds in insider case - WSJ - Reuters
  
• Pivotal Oracle-SAP software lawsuit nears end - Reuters
  
• Bain's interest in Seagate deal waning-sources - Reuters
  
• FUND VIEW-Aberdeen likes South Africa as EM risks rise - Reuters
  
• THQ shares rise on buzz around drawing product - Reuters
  
• UPDATE 1-US business borrowing improving-ELFA - Reuters
  
• Intel launches configurable chips with Altera - Reuters
  
• MONEY MARKETS-U.S. rates futures rise on European worries - Reuters
  

 

 

 

• Ireland's PM Brian Cowen under pressure to quit
   
  Coalition partner demands general election as backbenchers in Brian Cowen's own party move against him
   
  
  • Latest “7.51pm: Some more from Cowen's press conference: I'm saying that it is imperative for this country that the Budget is passed. I'm also saying that it…”
    Ireland bailout - live coverage
     
    
  • Interactive: Ireland bailout - who is paying?
    
  • Ireland bailout: UK lends £7bn
    
  • Ireland asks for €90bn EU bailout
    
  • Larry Elliott: Ireland is having a Lehmans moment
    
  • Lisa O'Carroll: Diary of an Irish businessman
    
  • Poll: Is Portugal next for a bailout?
    
  • Video: Larry Elliott
    
  • Ireland bailout: 'They've sold everybody out'
    
  • Could the bill exceed €200bn?
    

  [*] Bankers' pay: coalition split over reform

   

  A rift has appeared over disclosure of high earners at banks, with George Osborne backing away from proposals still supported by Vince Cable

  22 comments

  [*] United Utilities chief to quit with potential £4m payout

   

  Philip Green, brought in to focus water company by selling off non-core assets, set to take windfall in shares and options

 

 

• Datablog guide to the Ireland bailout
   
  Who will fund it and who might be next?
   
  Where's the money coming from - and which countries have the most claims by foreign banks?
  
  
• Dubai readies for first IPO in two years
   
  Flotation of Axiom Telecom will deliver state-owned conglomerate Dubai Holding up to $110m in cash
  
• Capita boss highlights problems with government spending cuts plan
   
  Paul Pindar says small start-up mutuals will not be big enough to deliver savings, and the onus will fall on larger outsourcing groups
  
• Rolls Royce wins $1.8bn engine order from another Chinese Airline
   
  Rolls Royce's Air China contract will deliver Trent XWB engines for 10 A350 planes and Trent 700 engines for 10 A330s
   
  
  • Britain 'lacks large manufacturers'
    

  [*] More business news

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  83 comments

  [*] BHP and Rio Tinto face rebellion over failed mergers

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[interestrateripoff]

Irish general election looms amid economic crisis new

 

Ireland is to hold a general election within two months after the Green Party today stunned its Government partners by issuing a new year deadline for the vote.

 

• Bail-out fears send shares sliding
  
• Mary Ann Sieghart: How we avoided Ireland's nightmare
  
• Sean O'Grady: If Portugal is small enough to rescue, Spain may be "too big to save"
  

 

Stephen King: Who needs who? America and China must avoid making past mistakes again

 

 

Western nations look at the recent success of the emerging world with a mixture of admiration, envy and anger

McLaren cuts losses and tilts new supercar at US

 

 

Revenue at supercar manufacturer McLaren Automotive fell by 10 per cent to £82.2m in the year ending 31 December 2009 according to its latest accounts.

 

• Irish bailout request boosts euro
  
• Manufacturing can compensate for public-sector cuts, says EEF
  
• Bail-out fears send shares sliding
  
• John Lewis says online sales will top £500m
  
• Banks call on Government to rethink radical reforms
  
• Foreign firms prepare to swoop on British targets
  
• Business diary: Terra Firma's friends rally round
  

 

Sean O'Grady: If Portugal is small enough to rescue, Spain may be "too big to save"

 

Spain's small regional banks, the cajas, are virtually bust as a result of reckless lending into the now-collapsed property market

 

 

• Stephen Foley: Let's call a halt to this Fed-bashing. In the longer view its record is strong
  
• David Prosser: GM may be back but the Chinese auto industry is now hogging the fast lane
  
• David Prosser: Don't bet on austerity being good for Capita
  
• David Prosser: Adviser to Bank gets even more contrary
  
• David Prosser: Ireland's defiant stand against a bailout shames the bullies in the eurozone
  

 

Yeo! Yeo! Rappers send dairy farm to the top of the charts

 

As the new television advert for Somerset organic yoghurt producer Yeo Valley goes viral and threatens to take the Christmas No 1 spot, Joy Persaud talks to its chief executive, Tim Mead

 

 

• First Athens, now Dublin. Will Lisbon and Madrid follow?
  
• Late Rooms chief checks into global hotel surge
  
• How General motors came back from the brink
  
• Webcast: How to turn a market stall into a business
  
• Stephen Foley: Republicans take aim in battle to sink the Fed's QE2
  

[interestrateripoff]

Irish coalition teeters on brink after bailout deal

 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's unpopular coalition government began to crumble on Monday, a day after agreeing on an EU/IMF bailout, casting doubt on its ability to push through an austerity budget crucial to receiving assistance. | Video

Continue Reading

 

 

 

Stocks drop and dollar up on European uncertainty

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell while the dollar rose against the euro on Monday as initial optimism over Ireland's debt bailout gave way to concerns about the government's future and problems elsewhere in the euro zone.

6:05pm GMT

 

Q3 GDP seen confirmed at 0.8 percent

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy expanded by 0.8 percent between July and September, official data is likely to confirm on Wednesday, although new figures on expenditure may show household spending weakened slightly.

2:29pm GMT

 

Orange, T-Mobile to subsidise Apple iPad in Europe

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Orange and T-Mobile plan to subsidise Apple's iPad in Britain and France, hoping to tie more customers into service contracts by making the expensive gadgets seem more affordable.

5:47pm GMT

 

ECB says no hurdles for UK to join shares platform

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Central Bank said on Monday it has removed all hurdles for Britain to join its new pan-European settlement system for shares and slash the cost of trading for investors even further.

6:10pm GMT

 

BSkyB says Sky News is no reason to block merger

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Pay-TV company BSkyB said its 24-hour channel Sky News is editorially independent and should not complicate News Corp's proposed 7.8 billion pound takeover bid.

5:23pm GMT

 

Portugal PM Socrates says no need for bailout

 

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said on Monday his country needs no bailout and hopes that emergency funding for Ireland will end uncertainty and contagion in financial markets.

5:42pm GMT

 

Osborne eyes international bank bonus rules

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne said on Monday that he favoured an international approach to regulating disclosure of bank bonus payments, a move that could stoke tensions within the coalition government.

10:37am GMT

 

TNK-BP investing billions to lift gas output

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's third largest oil firm, TNK-BP , said it would invest $3.8 billion (2.4 billion pounds) in its gas business over the next three years as it aims to more than double production to 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) by 2020.

4:13pm GMT

 

Anglo Irish Bank gets key bond deal support

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Nationalised lender Anglo Irish Bank cleared the first major hurdle in its closely watched debt restructuring when a group of subordinated creditors agreed to take an 80 percent write-down on the value of their holdings.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.zerohedge...uld-go-bankrupt

 

'In this interview with the RT, Jim Rogers says what everyone except a few bankers and corrupt (soon to be unemployed) politicians grasp: namely, that Ireland should go bankrupt. Instead, the government is forcing the country into a tough spot, where social tensions are flaring, and could erupt into an all out social conflict, confirming that the interests of its people is the last thing the Irish government cares about, and is only concerned about preserving what is now virtually proven to be a failed model (with even JPM saying so tongue in cheekly), and prevent losses at all major German and English banks. Quote Rogers: "It would teach everybody a good lesson, and in the end Europe would be stronger for it, and the EUR would be stronger... You can not spend staggering amounts of money that you don't have of other people's money that you don't have because somebody has to pay the piper. This is ludicrous. This will cripple the Irish economy for years to come. In the future Ireland will be crippled because everything they earn will go to pay off old debt. There is no reason why taxpayers around Europe or in Ireland should pay for other people's mistakes. The bondholders and the stockholders of banks should lose money"... So simple, yet so irrelevant when dealing with a dying economic model.'

 

[interestrateripoff]

22 November 2010 Last updated at 17:59

 

Irish uncertainty dents markets

 

The euro and shares fall, led by bank stocks, amid calls for early elections, including from the Irish government's coalition partners.

 

• Calls mount for Ireland election
  
• UK offers loan to Irish Republic
  
• Flanders: Lessons for eurozone
  
• Peston: An extreme version of UK?
  
• Hewitt: The Irish fall-out
  
• Irish crisis: Are my savings safe?
  

 

Homes at risk 'due to £600 debts'

 

Some people are being forced to put their homes at risk because of debts of as little as £600, the Office of Fair Trading finds.

 

• Bankruptcies are falling for now
  
• How to deal with debt
  

 

 

 

• $2bn Nasa deal for UK's Qinetiq
   
  UK defence technology firm Qinetiq wins a deal to provide engineering services for Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  
• Church opposes BSkyB's takeover
   
  The Church of England calls for News Corporation's proposal to take full control of BSkyB to be blocked on competition grounds.
  
• Facing up to debt for Christmas
   
  More than 7% of adults will go into the red to pay for Christmas, with credit cards proving popular, a survey says.
  
• Festive online shopping 'at peak'
  
• China bids to calm inflation fear
  
• Mortgage recovery 'not in sight'
  
• Rolls-Royce wins $1.8bn contract
  
• Unite chooses McCluskey as leader
  
• Migrant cap 'to support business'
  
• Scottish Power increases prices
  
• 'Bidding war' for homes to rent
  
• Bernanke hits back at Fed critics
  
• Energy bills hide online savings
  

 

Don't gloat

 

Irish problems are an extreme version of the British disease

Lessons for eurozone

 

It is further than ever from a pragmatic approach to its debts

The stages of Ireland's grief

[interestrateripoff]

[/url]

 

 

Ireland bail-out: Irish PM refuses to bow to election calls

 

Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight refused to bow to public and political pressure for a general election saying serving the country's interests came above party politics.

Ireland bail-out: Osborne defends support for 'friend in need'

 

 

Markets rise after bail-out accepted

 

 

Ireland government prepares for backlash

 

 

BBC's Newsnight accused of 'racism' over Irish bail-out bulletin

 

 

Ireland bail-out: Q & A

 

 

 

 

Markets brand Ireland bail-out a failure

 

Markets react badly to lack of detail on multi-billion euro loan, while the cost of insuring Spanish and Portuguese government debt rose, and the euro closes down against the dollar and sterling.

Rescue heralds Irish bank shake-up

 

 

Cowen refuses to bow to election calls

 

 

 

 

Double digit rise in company car running costs

 

Company car users have experienced a double digit rise in costs this year, driven higher by an increase in car prices, insurance premiums, parts and fuel bills, figures from the RAC show.

10 most popular company cars

 

 

Will a company car save you money?

 

 

Why diesel prices are rising

 

 

 

US Air Force sends data to rival bidder

 

Wrong documents mistakenly sent to arch-rivals EADS and Boeing during tender contest for new aerial refuelling tankers, giving away sensitive information about each other.

 

Rolls-Royce wins £1.1bn contract to supply Air China with engines

 

Deal increases Rolls' grip on the Chinese market, coming just a fortnight after a $1.2bn deal with China Eastern Airlines was unveiled.

China to set up factories in Kazakhstan

 

 

 

Tax, regulation hurdles loom for manufacturers

 

 

 

 

BA appoints Go-Ahead's Nick Swift as chief financial officer

 

 

 

 

Consumer jitters point to a tough Christmas

 

 

 

 

United Utilities' Philip Green to be succeeded by Selex chief

 

 

 

 

London's status as top financial centre 'secure'

 

 

 

 

Increase my taxes, says Warren Buffett

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top women awards open

 

Veuve Clicquot opens the Business Woman of the Year Award to entries.

 

Market report today

 

FTSE 100 pares gains as markets await detail of Irish bail-out.

 

Business Bullet: PM

 

 

Latest news on: US Fed, Euro, Gold, Rolls Royce

 

How to boost your income

 

Savers will have to a risk if they want their cash to best inflation.

 

 

 

 

Grandmothers could cost families child benefit, Government admits

 

 

 

'Crazy markets will turn on Portugal and Spain next'

 

 

 

 

Ireland government prepares for backlash

 

Business insolvencies fall in October

 

Experian says the number of insolvencies fell 17pc in October, compared with the same period a year ago although there was little difference in the financial health of business over the period

Bank lending to small business stabilises

 

 

 

 

Business mentoring scheme stalls at launch

 

 

 

 

Half of British businesses hit by profit squeeze

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/business/global/23default.html?_r=1&hp

 

But even as Europe moved to avert this latest debt crisis, economists and policy experts are increasingly debating whether it would be better, and fairer, for the Continent’s weakest economies to default on payments to lenders.

 

Many experts now say that bailouts only delay the inevitable. Instead of further wounding their economies with drastic budget slashing, the specialists assert, governments should immediately start talks with bondholders and force them to accept a loss on their investments.

 

The risk, of course, is an investor panic that would seize financial markets at a time when the global economy remains on tenterhooks.

 

But an organized restructuring of debt that would reduce the amount of money troubled countries owed, especially in conjunction with a financial aid package, might provide a quicker path to recovery and avoid the trauma of a forced default down the road, some economists argue.

 

“Policy makers face the same dilemma as in any crisis with respect to haircutting bonds, and the real-life decisions are always extremely difficult,” said Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, who faced just such a quandary in 1994, when he helped arrange a $47 billion rescue package for the Mexican government as it teetered on the verge of default.

 

“Holding bondholders harmless contributes to moral hazard and increases risks elsewhere,” Mr. Rubin added. “But imposing bond haircuts can make future market access expensive or impossible for an extended time and can create serious contagion effects elsewhere.”

 

The term “haircuts” refers to the loss an investor takes when a borrower fails to pay back its loans.

 

How about the radical idea of balanced budgets and govts not spending more than they earn and then borrowing money isn't an issue?

[interestrateripoff]

• In Ireland, Call for Election and a Moody’s Warning 12:47 PM ET
  

Agents Raid 3 Hedge Funds’ Offices

 

By THOMAS KAPLAN and EVELYN M. RUSLI 41 minutes ago

 

Two of the funds under investigation, Level Global Investors and Diamondback Capital, are both run by alumni of the giant hedge fund SAC Capital.

 

Itineraries

 

Instead of Company Cars, Rentals by the Hour

 

By ELIZABETH OLSON 1:57 PM ET

 

For employers, car sharing is a way to reduce automobile rental costs and the expense of a large vehicle fleet.

 

Wall Street Slips as Worries About European Debt Return

 

By DAVID JOLLY and CHRISTINE HAUSER 55 minutes ago

 

U.S. exchanges followed European indexes lower as enthusiasm over a plan to help Ireland started to wane and traders began to worry about the problem spreading.

 

DealBook

 

Novell Being Acquired for $2.2 Billion

 

By EVELYN M. RUSLI

 

The software maker Novell said on Monday that it had agreed to be acquired by the Attachmate Corporation for $2.2 billion in cash, or $6.10 a share.

 

Bits Blog

 

Netflix Introduces New Pricing

 

By NICK BILTON

 

Netflix announced a streaming-only pricing option on Monday that will make it simple for customers to bypass renting DVDs.

 

Green Blog

 

Report on BP Spill Finds Lack of Preparation

 

By JOHN M. BRODER 1:38 PM ET

 

Government and the oil industry were both thoroughly unprepared for a deepwater blowout, a presidential panel found.

 

Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening

 

By SCOTT SHANE

 

Facing criticism for new airport screenings, the Obama administration said that the program is “evolving” but that the measures in place are justified by the risk.

 

• The Caucus: For White House, Pat-Downs Are New Distraction
  

 

Beyond Fossil Fuels

 

Nations That Debate Coal Use Export It to Feed China’s Need

 

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

 

As developed countries limit the construction of coal-fired power plants, coal has found a rapidly growing market in China.

 

• Post a Comment
  

 

• Previous Articles in the Series »
  

 

Even Before Friday, Retail Deals Will Go Online

 

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

 

This Thanksgiving Day, retailers are driving customers to the Web with more specials than ever.

 

2 Treatments for Retinas Make Gains

 

By ANDREW POLLACK

 

In trials, an experimental drug for macular degeneration succeeded in requiring fewer injections. And a therapy from embryonic stem cells won approval for testing to treat retina disease.

 

 

 

• With Kinect Controller, Hackers Take Liberties
  
• ‘Harry Potter’ Has $330 Million Debut Weekend
  

[interestrateripoff]

Random Murder Or An Organized Hit?

 

A valid question, I believe....

The shooting was not random, police have concluded. Investigators have spent the day interviewing friends, family and business associates hoping to develop a motive for the killing. So far, they have none.

....

Davidson, who lives in Los Angeles, said the Sneidermans relocated to Atlanta about a decade ago.

Rusty Sneiderman served as chief operating officer for Innovia Group and then as a financial consultant for the Atlanta division of JP Morgan Chase & Co. Private Bank, where, according to Davidson, he advised "high-end" clients with large estates.

What happened here?

If the police do not believe this was a random shooting, then the gunman had a reason to attack this individual. What was the reason?

Let's step back a moment.

Recall that virtually every day in America there are shootings by gang members over drug sale boundaries and other similar incidents. Someone gets "screwed" in a drug deal, and pulls out a gun. There's a dispute over who "owns" the street corner a pair of pimps want to use to parade their "wares", and someone pulls out a gun.

Why do they pull out guns?

Because they can't call the cops or file a lawsuit.

Now let's look at what's happening in society today. Americans were put into supposedly-safe "auction rate securities" and lost millions of dollars when they could not sell them. Americans were sold various MBS that were allegedly "AAA", lost money, and have no recourse. Americans were sold homes based on inflated appraisals and knowingly-bogus loans given to them where the banksters involved knew they couldn't pay, and lost everything.

None of the people responsible for the collapse in 2007-2009 have been indicted.

NOT ONE INDICTMENT.

This, despite the fact that Citibank's former Chief Underwriter has testified under oath that the Bank knew it was writing crap paper in 2006 and 2007. 60% of the loans were bogus in 2006, and 80% in 2007. Yet they kept doing it, and nobody, including Rubin, who received a memo on the matter, has been indicted and the bank was bailed out rather than being shut down.

Likewise there are myriad complaints about foreclosure fraud - the filing of false affidavits which are in fact crimes - over 170,000 of them in aggregate that have been admitted to.

Again: Not one indictment has issued and not one firm has been shut down.

Gunfire is prevalent among gang members because they do not have any other means of settling disputes. That is, having had their right to recourse under the law removed due to the nature of the activity in question, these gang members instead turn to violence to settle complaints with one another.

Are we seeing the beginning of the same thing in the financial realm?

I don't know.

But if we are, there is only one way for the government to stop it - and that's to start indicting people and closing institutions that have engaged in deception.

"We have to move on" will not do.

The common man, who is not engaged in some sort of illegal enterprise, has to be pushed a long way, and very hard, before he resorts to the sort of justice that is found on the street among gangs.

But the premise that many in government have - that such a man will never resort to street justice, is dangerously naive and in fact delusional.

He both can and might if he comes to the conclusion that there is no justice to be had before the law, and the worse he gets screwed the more likely such an act becomes.

Note that one of the problems with "street justice" is that it tends to be rather imprecise. That is, the person who gets hurt is not always the person who did the evil act because there is no due process, there is no courtroom procedure and no cross-examination. Rather, there are broken kneecaps, gun shots and knifings.

If this killing is in fact an assassination over some sort of alleged financial misdeed, it's a warning - but not really to the banksters, who obviously don't seem to care if they rip people off.

Rather it's a warning to the government: At least some part of the public has concluded that they have no recourse before the law, and thus decided to take recourse on the street.

This is a path that, if it has begun, can only be stopped with prosecutions and the breakup of the institutions that have robbed the people.

Continued bailouts, "Quantitative Easing" and more foreclosures will only increase the risk of these decisions spreading to more and more people.

One way or another, eventually, the people will have justice.

A just society wants to see that justice meted out in courtrooms rather than on the street.

But when the government refuses to prosecute blatant and in fact admitted improper activity, and instead bails out the firms that engage in this conduct with government money, forcing the robbed to pay for the robbers' sins instead of arresting him or her, the odds go up that the people will decide, individually (or worse, collectively) to get their pound of flesh not in a courtroom through lawsuits and prosecutions but through violence where they deem themselves judge, jury, and in this case, executioner.

[interestrateripoff]

Ireland: Bailout Down The Drain?

Questions remain.....

The government is under siege, with protesters attempting to storm Parliament. More-ominously, however, is that The Green Party appears to have pulled out from their government coalition, which would mean that any budgetary reforms that are as a condition of the bailout could fail.

That, in turn, would trash the entire process.

The EU in turn has said that Ireland is willing to consider "softening" their position on the corporate tax rate. This has trouble written all over it, as much of the "Irish Miracle" has been due to the very low corporate tax rate that dragged a number of corporate headquarters there - including some from the United States. Should changes in tax rates promote corporate flight further serious pressure would be placed on government budgets due to the loss of jobs and thus tax revenue.

The ultimate problem with bailouts is that everyone seems to think there's a free lunch. There isn't. You can rob someone to pay someone else, but you can't conjure up money from nowhere. But bailouts inherently wind up taxing the people who got robbed in the first place to pay off the people who made the bad bets and lost money. When it comes to bailing out banks it gets even worse due to the leverage involved - the banksters keep the money, including their salary and bonuses, while the people get robbed not only in the form of losses on their so-called "safe" investments but then again when they are taxed to fund the bailout!

There's nothing like getting stuck up at gunpoint and not only losing the hold-up money but then being taxed a second time to pay for the robbery in which you were victimized!

This nonsense has to stop and the banks involved must be taken into receivership, reorganized, and the executives involved removed from their positions, tried and jailed.

 

We are simply playing pass the parcel there is no easy option, there is no pain free exit. Tackling the debt is the only option, repayment seems impossible as the money simply doesn't exist, there is no credible plan apart from borrowing more money which is a bit of a problem considering the problem is DEBT leaving only default and the financial collapse that will trigger.

 

Painful but the global economy will recover, but in the short term it could be very painful.

[interestrateripoff]

Large Companies Hiring, Small Companies Not; Federal Hiring Strong, States Cutting Back; Proposed Solutions; Bright Side of Fed Policies

 

 

A recent Gallup survey suggests Larger U.S. Companies Are Hiring; Smallest Are Not

Gallup finds that larger companies are hiring more workers while the smallest businesses are shedding jobs. More than 4 in 10 employees (42%) at workplaces with at least 1,000 employees reported during the week ending Nov. 14 that their company was hiring, while 22% said their employer was letting people go. At the other extreme, 9% of workers in businesses with fewer than 10 employees said their employer was hiring, and 16% said their employer was letting people go.

 

More at the link.

[interestrateripoff]

Geithner Politicizes the Fed, Warns Congress to Not do the Same; Idiocies and Ironies; Economist James Galbraith Unfit to Teach

 

 

 

The hypocrisy of treasury secretary Tim Geithner would be stunning except for the fact hypocrisy from Geithner is pretty much an every day occurrence.

 

Geithner is blasting Congress for politicizing the Fed, while doing the same thing himself. To top it off, the Fed itself is politicizing the Fed by interfering and commenting on Fiscal policy while bitching about Congress commenting on monetary policy.

 

Please consider Geithner Warns Republicans Against Politicizing Fed.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned Republicans against politicizing the Federal Reserve and said the Obama administration would oppose any effort to strip the central bank of its mandate to pursue full employment.

 

“It is very important to keep politics out of monetary policy,” Geithner said in an interview airing on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” this weekend. “You want to be very careful not to take steps that hurt our credibility.”

 

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the monetary stimulus in a speech in Frankfurt today and in a meeting with U.S. senators earlier this week.

 

The best way to underpin the dollar and support the global recovery “is through policies that lead to a resumption of robust growth in a context of price stability in the United States,” Bernanke said in his speech.

 

The asset purchases will be used in a way that’s “measured and responsive to economic conditions,” Bernanke said. Fed officials are “unwaveringly committed to price stability” and don’t seek inflation higher than the level of “2 percent or a bit less” that most policy makers see as consistent with the Fed’s legislative mandate, he said.

Bernanke Comments on Fiscal Policy

 

Flashback, October 4, 2010: MarketWatch reports Bernanke calls for tougher budget rules

In a speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council and devoid of comments on monetary policy

, Bernanke said that fiscal rules might be a way to impose discipline, particularly if those rules are transparent, ambitious, focused on what the legislature can control directly, and are embraced by the public.

 

“A fiscal rule does not guarantee improved budget outcomes; after all, any rule imposed by a legislature can be revoked or circumvented by the same legislature,” Bernanke said, according to a copy of prepared remarks made available in Washington.

 

The current pay-as-you-go rule “at its best” prevents new tax cuts and mandatory spending increases from making budget deficits worse but doesn’t force Congress to reduce the deficits that are already built into current law.

 

Bernanke said current spending plans are “unsustainable” and pointed out the ratio of federal debt-to-national income has climbed to a level not seen since the aftermath of World War II.

 

Though the budget deficit should narrow over the next few years so long as the economy and financial markets continue to recover, it will swell over the medium and long term if current policy settings are maintained.

 

“Expectations of large and increasing deficits in the future could inhibit current household and business spending -- for example, by reducing confidence in the longer-term prospects for the economy or by increasing uncertainty about future tax burdens and government spending -- and thus restrain the recovery,” Bernanke said.

Hypocrisy In Action

 

1. It's OK for Bernanke to comment on Fiscal Policy

2. It is not OK for Congress to comment on Monetary Policy

 

My Position

 

The Fed should welcome discussion of monetary policy and Congress should welcome discussion of fiscal policy.

 

I happen to believe it is high time EVERYONE question the beliefs of Ben Bernanke AND the fiscal irresponsibility of Congress as well.

 

It is appropriate for everyone to be concerned. We need more debate, not less. Then we need action to do something about the deficit.

 

More at the link.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/IMF_WB/IMF_Crash_Argentina.html

 

Another IMF Crash - Argentina

 

by Mark Weisbrot

 

The Nation magazine, December 3, 2001

 

 

 

 

Franklin Serrano, an economist at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, recently lamented the large proportion of graduate students in economics who leave for the United States. "But there is something worse than them leaving. It's when they come back."

 

"Brain damage," he says, "is worse than brain drain."

 

Argentina is the latest Latin American economy to be mismanaged into a crisis by US-trained economists. Unemployment is above 17 percent, the economy is in its fourth year of recession and the country is now in the process of defaulting on its unpayable foreign debt. It's not easy being the poster child of neoliberalism. Argentina's currency has been pegged to the US dollar since 1991. This worked for a while, but in the past few years the peso has become highly overvalued. Rather than devalue the currency, the country piled up mountains of debt to prop it up and watched its interest rates soar as investors demanded ever higher risk premiums. For comparison, imagine the United States borrowing $1.4 trillion (70 percent of our federal budget) in order to keep our own overvalued currency from falling.

 

This is not the first time in recent years that the IMF has burdened a country with billions of dollars of debt in order to prop up an overvalued currency. In 1998 it did the same thing in Brazil and Russia, with predictable results. In both cases the currency collapsed rather quickly in spite of the loans. And in both cases the economy responded positively to the devaluation, with Russia in 2000 registering its highest growth in two decades. The fund's argument in the case of Brazil and Russia was that if the currency was devalued, the result would be runaway inflation. But that never happened.

 

The IMF has also insisted on budget austerity for Argentina- which makes about as much sense during a recession as high interest rates. First in line for cuts have been state pensions, salaries, unemployment benefits and other social spending, insuring that the burden of "adjustment" will continue to fall, as it usually does, on those who can least afford it. And even the debt "restructuring"-i.e., default-now under way may not lead to economic recovery: If the currency remains fixed at a rate that investors still see as overvalued, the crisis will continue until it collapses.

 

Why does the IMF seem incapable of learning from repeated failures? The interest of foreign bond-holders cannot be overlooked: The longer the fixed exchange rate holds, the smaller will be the losses of US lenders even if the peso eventually collapses. But there has been a broader political concern as well: Argentina has done everything that Washington has told it to do, and the economy is a wreck. As a result the Bush Administration, despite its distaste for IMF "bailouts," was reluctant to be seen as abandoning the Argentine government. It kept pouring money in until it became clear that Argentina's debt could never be repaid.

 

The sacrifice of Argentina's economy for the sake of Washington's imperial interests and the interests of "emerging market" bond-holders fits a pattern at the IMF, including some of the most high-profile interventions of recent years. In Russia and the transition economies, the first priority has been to execute a rapid, irreversible change to a market-driven society, regardless of the economic consequences. Russia lost half its national income in about five years of IMF-led transition, an economic decline never before seen in the absence of war or natural disaster. In Asia, the fund's desire to open these economies to US capital flows-in countries that because of their high savings rates had little need for foreign borrowing caused a severe financial crisis in 1997-98. The fund then exploited the crisis to further open these economies, worsened it with exorbitantly high interest rates and fiscal austerity and convinced the governments of the region to guarantee the debt owed to foreign lenders.

 

The IMF is able to decide these major economic policies for dozens of countries because it sits atop a creditors' cartel, much like the OPEC oil cartel. Those who refuse to take the fund's "advice" find themselves ineligible for credit from the World Bank and other multilateral lenders-like the Inter-American Development Bank or G-7 governments-or even for private credit.

 

The fund's aid packages are generally reported approvingly in the press as "bailouts." But it is the bankers and bond-holders, particularly foreign, who are being bailed out; the people, especially the poor, are tossed overboard. Over the longer term, the neoliberal program of the IMF and the World Bank-and their ability to enforce it-has contributed to a substantial decline in economic growth over the past twenty years throughout the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries. In Latin America, per capita GDP has grown a mere 6 percent over the past two decades, as compared with 75 percent in 1960-80.

 

As Latin America's economies grind to a halt, dragged down by the recession in the United States, the dismal reality of this long, failed economic experiment is sinking in. The reign of US-trained economists and their sponsors in Washington may be coming to an end.

 

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington

 

But I'm sure the IMF wouldn't want to impose this again.....

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Cash-Crisis-Sheffield-33-million.6634579.jp

 

A BUILDING bought and refurbished by Burngreave New Deal for Communities at a cost of £4.5 million may have to be closed and sold - for as little as a quarter of its value.

 

Experts say Sorby House may only fetch a little over £1 million - and a March 31 deadline imposed when New Deal was created means the cash meant to help regenerate the area is instead likely to be clawed back by the Government.

 

The shocking £3.3m loss is equivalent to more than £6 for every one of Sheffield's 500,000 residents.

 

Sorby House, on Spital Hill, formerly drab DSS offices, was revamped to a high spec rivalling city centre offices as part of the regeneration agency's £52m programme.

 

The building was intended to become self-sufficient, run by a trust, with some of its floorspace used by community groups whose rents would be subsidised by letting to commercial tenants and public bodies.

 

Now, more than two years after opening, only 48 per cent of the building is occupied and the rental income is insufficient to fund running costs.

 

New Deal, to be wound up at the end of its 10-year lifespan in March, has subsidised Sorby House's bills from the £80,000 a year still received from the Government to cover administration.

 

The building would need to attract sufficient tenants to cover running costs by the end of March, and establish a trust to run it, otherwise it would have to be transferred to the council or close and be sold, with proceeds going to the Government.

 

New Deal can only keep proceeds from selling Sorby House if they are reinvested in 'capital projects' - buildings, parks or community facilities - but every penny must be spent by the end of March, which would force the agency to put the building on the market as soon as possible and abandon efforts to make it viable.

 

Sheffield chartered surveyor Nick Riddle told The Star: "I wouldn't expect the building will sell for more than a quarter of its £4.5 million cost."

 

Mr Riddle added a sale within four months would be "impossible" in current market conditions.

 

He said: "Relying on attracting private business to make the building viable was flawed. Most occupants are community groups. Companies would not want to move in next to tenants such as the Somali Special Needs group.

 

"Firms would also be put off from moving in by the high crime rate - plus, because of the mess the council has made of roads round the Wicker, it's difficult to reach by car."

 

Spital Hill

 

Total genius.

 

So that's a nice loss for the taxpayer.

 

Not quite sure what this group has blown £52m on but I bet it's not generating much of an economic return. Plenty of meetings will have been organised I bet.

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.zerohedge...-states-america

 

'Well, folks, it's official - mark November 22, 2010 in your calendars - today is the day the Ponzi starts in earnest. With today's $8.3 billion POMO monetization, the Fed's official holdings of US Treasury securities now amount to $891.3 billion, which is higher than the second largest holder of US debt: China, which as of September 30 held $884 billion, and Japan, with $864 billion. The purists will claim that the TIC data is as of September 30, and that as the weekly custodial account shows UST buying continues the data is likely not correct. They will be wrong: with the Fed now buying about $30 billion per week, or about $120 billion per month, for the foreseeable future and beyond, it would mean that China would need to buy a comparable amount to be in the standing. It won't. In other words, the Ponzi operation is now complete, and the Fed's monetization of US debt has made it not only the largest holder of such debt, but made external funding checks and balances in the guise of indirect auction bidding, irrelevant. For what tends to happen next in comparable case studies, please read the Dying of Money. And congratulations to China for finally not being the one having the most to lose on a DV01 basis on that day when the inevitable surge in interest rates finally happens. That honor is now strictly reserved for America's taxpayers. '

 

Hmm contained or not?