Why's that Wall Street guy have his pants down? And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Why's that Wall Street guy have his pants down?
Beats me. He was falling past my window so fast I couldn't get a good look. "Ideas or the lack of them can cause disease." - Kurt Vonnegut
Invisible hand at work again, strokin' off the bosses. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Bloomberg.com: Corporate Default Risk Soars to Record on Ambac Ratings Cut (21 January 2008)
Ambac was stripped of its top AAA grade by Fitch Ratings on Jan. 18 after the New York-based company abandoned plans to raise new equity. Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's are reviewing Ambac and MBIA, throwing doubt on the ratings of the $2.4 trillion of debt guaranteed by bond insurers and threatening forced sales by investors that are restricted to holding the highest-grade bonds.
Global stock markets plunged Monday as fears spread that the contagion in U.S. mortgage markets was spreading. Indexes in Europe fell as much as 7 percent after a massive sell-off in Asia. ... Investors in Asia have been in a state of denial about the possibility of a U.S. recession, said Adrian Mowat, chief strategist for JPMorgan in Asia. But now, he said, "there's no debate about it."
...
Investors in Asia have been in a state of denial about the possibility of a U.S. recession, said Adrian Mowat, chief strategist for JPMorgan in Asia. But now, he said, "there's no debate about it."
There may be more downturns in store for Asia, particularly as banks report the impact from their investments in the U.S. mortgage market. Companies "have not announced their year-end numbers yet," said Schuller, the Moody's credit officer, and if they are holding subprime assets, they may need to write-off their value. "They are going to be taking these 25 to 30 percent haircuts we're seeing on Wall Street," she said. "I think it is going to shock people."
The "Send lawyers, guns and money" one. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
It's fucked.
We are looking at Japan 2.0 - in Spades.
Anyone? Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
So that the government covers deposits to a certain point, and insures individuals and pension funds to a reasonable point (say $1 million US as of 1/01/08) including mutual funds and all pensions save those that are fixed benefit.
The rest is either written off, or held by the insuring goverment in order to create long term income to cover the cost of the intervention.
In one fell swoop, banks, power plants, all sorts of public infrastructure returned into the hands of the people. And subject to democratic control based upon the principle of one person, one vote, not one dollar, one vote.
The income ineqaulity of the past 30 years could be corrected in one action, and the productive assets taken by the government could be used to insure continuity of government services.
Paul Krugman has been fretting about how we get that Great Compresssion that occurred during the 1937-1945 period in the US, that was brought on by massive spending on the Second World War and the demands for a greater portion of the surplus value of production.
When Krugman spoke at the launch of an populist economic policy inititative by a union backed group he has this look of "oh, shit" when he was talking about how it took a world war to get a great compression the first time around. If there is prompt government action, that need not occur this time around. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
In one fell swoop, banks, power plants, all sorts of public infrastructure returned into the hands of the people.
"Bears and Bears and Bears, Oh My!" "C'est bien vrai, n'est-ce pas, que les moutons mangent les arbustes?" — Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupéry
