Scotland Office minister David Cairns is to resign from the government, the BBC understands.

Rumours of another 2 considering their position

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

One of my favorite quotes from a history text began, "In 400 BC the world was old, and knew it ..."  Unfortunately, I've spent years trying to find that quote again, and even though I could swear it was in one particular book on my shelf, I can never find it.  Accept however, as a starting point ... in 400 BCE, the educated elites of  Western Civilization were poignantly aware of the history and peoples who preceded them.  Egypt's pyramids were as ancient, then, as the last ruins of the Colliseum are today; and the ziggurats of Babylon, then standing, were nearly twice that age.  The sun-drowned temples of Thebes and Memphis were still the active sites of ongoing worship. And the histories of these peoples, their rulers and kingdoms, were known to legend if not scholarship, which would come a hundred years later when the staff of Alexander sat down to translate the Babylonian archives into Greek.

A thoughtful diary on the passing of greatness.  Recommended.

Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?

Dow Jones newswires via CNN Money: BofA, Merrill Could Cut Banking, Trading Overlap

Though Bank of America is the acquirer of a company that some on Wall Street feared could fail on its own, Merrill Lynch remains a powerhouse in several businesses that overlap with its new parent - primarily investment banking, trading, and retail brokerage. At the same time, Bank of America is certainly the stronger of the two in commercial banking, even though Merrill is has what is considered the largest commercial bank among standalone brokerage firms. The end result will likely lead to overhauls and layoffs at both companies, not just Merrill, as Bank of America strives to realize cost savings of $7 billion by 2012.

(Presumably he means the device and not the fruit, but you know....)

Doesn't know how to use a computer but invented the BlackBerry.

I ever tell you guys how I invented the cotton gin?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

More News U.S. »

• Bush lands in Texas; Residents urged to leave

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?

The Worst Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression

Nouriel Roubini | Sep 16, 2008

(prefaced by a long quote/summary of his August piece.)

 Since...August financial and economic conditions are severely deteriorated; we are now closer to the financial meltdown that I described in my February paper...Stock prices are sharply down and there is a risk of a market crack; interbank spreads and credit spreads are wider than ever since the beginning of this crisis; Lehman and Merrill are gone and soon enough Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs will also need to find a larger partner with deep pocket or risk getting in severe trouble; the biggest insurer in the world - AIG - is teetering near bankruptcy; the biggest US S&L - WaMu - is effectively insolvent and close to going bust; dozens of other banks are near bankruptcy; there is a beginning of a silent bank run as depositors are nervous about their assets; the panic is mounting in financial market; the CDS market is frozen because of the collapse of Lehman and the soon collapse of AIG, WaMu and other financial institutions; many hedge funds are now teetering as their losses are mounting; investors in fixed income - including preferred stocks - have experienced massive losses; overnight LIBOR spiked over 300bps to over 6% as panicky investors seek the safety of cash while the Fed lost control of the Fed Funds rate yesterday as the liquidity demand push such rate from the target of 2% to over 6%; the financial turmoil is becoming global with stock markets all over the world plunging.

      Worst of all policy authorities are now running out of bullet and going towards desperate measures that will end up being counterproductive.

    Now that the collapse of Lehman is leading to the risk of the generalized run on the shadow banking system...the policy reaction is to try to build a new set of levies while the financial perfect storm of the century has destroyed the first sets of levies. This reaction includes the following steps.

    First, the Fed is accepting even more toxic collateral for the TSLF and PDCF, including even equities; so now after having nationalized the mortgage market via the takeover of Fannie and Freddie the government is also starting to manipulate directly the stock market.... And the Fed takes massive credit and now market risks by its effective purchase of equities.

    Second, the Fed is waving Section 23A of the Federal Reserve Act that restricts how much commercial banks can relend liquidity to their investment banking affiliates;....so Citi, JPMorgan and Bank of America can happily use or raid their FDIC-insured deposit to support their bankrupt broker dealer operations. This is reckless as abuse of this new form of subsidization of near insolvent broker dealers with commercial banking deposits may eventually impair the viability and solvency of their commercial banking regulation.....This desperate policy action shows that even the broker dealers arms of non-independent broker dealers (Citi, JPM, BofA) are now at the risk of a run on their overnight liabilities.

    Third, an attempt to bail-in the private sector and provide a private lender of last resort support of the financial system is at work: ten major global banks will each fork $7 billion to create a $70 billion fund; each of these firms could borrow up to a third of such fund or $23 billion. But this private lender of last resort (LOLR) facility will not work since if any firm were to access this facility in case of a run on its liabilities panic will ensue - as the use of it will signal severe trouble - and the run will continue....
    Fourth, since Lehman is bust the new line of defense was the takeover of Merrill by BofA. After taking over the insolvent Countrywide now Ken Lewis is making another reckless gamble by taking over at a vastly inflated price another distressed broker dealer. This is dangerous behavior for BofA. The lesson for Mack of Morgan Stanley and Blankfein of Goldman is that they should find a buyer today.... As predicted here months ago no independent broker dealer will survive.

    Fifth, the Fed may cut the Fed Funds rate and discount rate today. But this policy rate cut will make no difference to the fundamental solvency and credit problems of the economy. The economy does not suffer only of illiquidity; more seriously it suffers of severe credit and solvency problems that the Fed cannot address in any way.

    Therefore any rally from Fed actions today will be short lived. When Bear was rescued the financial market rally lasted two months; when in July the Fannie and Freddie legislation was proposed the rally lasted a few weeks; when the actual nationalization of Fannie and Freddie occurred a week ago the rally lasted only one day. The ability of policy authorities to prop financial markets is rapidly eroding as market participants perceive that policy makers are desperate and running out of options. At this point the perfect financial storm of the century cannot be contained. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the one of the coming financial and economic train wreck.

As I replied late to Len's kind comment about my illness in the OT Monday (after he emailed me to let me know), I'd like to say again:

Thanks for all the good wishes - and especially to Len (who's been very supportive by email)- I'm almost in tears.

I'm so sad I can't attend the Paris meetup - I really enjoyed meeting people last time - and sad that I can't participate here, though I look in briefly, and wistfully, from time to time.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Following the fire in the Channel Tunnel last Thursday we were able to re-start limited operations on Saturday.  We are currently running a restricted timetable with fewer services, longer journey times and intervals of several hours between some trains.  

We advise that you consider rearranging travel planned for the next two weeks unless absolutely necessary.  This especially applies if you are travelling over the weekends of Friday 19th to Sunday 21st September 2008 and Friday 26th September to Sunday 28th September 2008.

If your journey is essential, then you should check in for the train time given on your ticket and we will endeavour to put you on one of the next available trains.  Please be aware that you could experience extended waiting times, particularly between Friday and Sunday when there may be a delay of up to several hours before boarding. Your journey time will also be significantly longer than normal.

As we are not operating the last trains of the day Eurostar check-in will close significantly earlier than usual:

• London check-in will close at 18.45 (BST) until further notice
  
• Paris check-in will close at 20.00 (CET) until further notice
  
• Brussels check-in will close at 20.30 (CET) until further notice

If your journey is non-essential you can exchange your tickets for travel at a later date, or get a full refund up to 60 days after your travel date.  Due to the high volume of calls at the contact centre we would be grateful if you could email us with your request if possible, quoting your booking reference, contact details and stating whether you require a refund or exchange.  If you wish to exchange your tickets please indicate your preferred dates and times of travel.  You can email us at mailto:contactus@eurostar.co.uk.  Alternatively you can call us anytime up to 60 days from your travel date.

When considering alternative travel dates we suggest that you consider travel from October onwards when we expect to offer a more consistent travel experience.  I will keep you updated as the situation improves.

On a positive note I would like to assure you that Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, is working hard to enable additional Eurostar services to be restored following the fire.

Ad astra per aspera

The number of people living in England has overtaken the population density of Holland, which has traditionally been the most densely-populated major nation on the continent.

The count, which has been attributed to higher levels of immigration, shows England now has 395 people per square kilometre.

The figures were obtained in a parliamentary answer from the Office of National Statistics.

In 2008 the average number of people per square kilometre in Britain was 253, rising to 395 in England.

Latest figures from Holland show that its population density was 395 a square kilometre in 2002 and 393 in 2005. It is estimated that English population density will rise to 464 people for every square kilometre by 2031.

(the stats are odd, too, we did not have a population decline between 2002 and 2005 AFAIK, and neither did we win that much new land)

FT's Alphaville cannot quite believe it.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Daily Kos: Meanwhile...Folks in Houston Living in Complete Mayhem

First, there is no water. None whatsover. Nothing comes out of the tap and they are told that if something does come out it is not drinkable. - No electricity, and they are told there won't be any for 2-4 weeks or more! (Again, having lived through several hurricanes I can tell you that this his unheard of.)  Normally we were out of power for 2-4 DAYS, NOT WEEKS. - No gas.  My brother waited in line for 5 hours! today to get some gas.  And that is with the 5 gallon limit that they allow you to get. While in line at one of the 2 gas stations open nearby, there were 3 fist-fights. The other one had to be patrolled by police to break up fights and stop people from cutting in line.

PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO LOSE IT. - No food.  There is only one grocery store open nearby (if you can get to it) and the lines stretches for blocks.  My dad says it is so jam-packed that there are hundreds of people waiting to check out.  And they are so full that they can only let someone in as someone else goes out- 2 people out, 2 people in (like they do in a nightclub if they are over capacity).  

Yikes.

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury is considering taking over American International Group Inc. under a conservatorship as one option to address the insurer's crisis, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Executives from AIG, bankers and Treasury and Federal Reserve officials are meeting today on the company's situation at the New York Fed. A number of options are under being discussed to fill a shortfall of $75 billion to $100 billion in funding, one of the people said. The talks are continuing, he said.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which have been leading efforts to find a private-sector solution, informed the Fed that such an effort would be difficult, the person said. Under another option, the Fed would extend a loan to New York-based AIG, according to a person informed of the matter.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson earlier this month seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and put them into conservatorships, where officials will oversee the firms and aim to protect their assets.

When did the Giant Talking Penis get the authority to do that?  Do we just not bother asking Congress for laws anymore?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.