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These people never learnA longer-term worry is the inevitable urge to regulate modern finance into submission. Though understandable, that desire is wrong and dangerous............I need a foot massageComment
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The financial crisis
What next?
Ten short days saw the nationalisation, failure or rescue of what was once the world’s biggest insurer, with assets of $1 trillion, two of the world’s biggest investment banks, with combined assets of another $1.5 trillion, and two giants of America’s mortgage markets, with assets of $1.8 trillion. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch’s rapid sale to Bank of America were shocking enough. AIG is mostly a safe, well-run insurer. If investors flee the money markets for Treasuries, banks will lose funding and the contagion will suck in hedge funds and companies. Even if some gain from falling asset prices, lenders and insurers have to book losses, which leaves them needing money. Finance also needs to shrink. The credit boom not only inflated asset prices, it also inflated finance itself. The bigger the bank, the harder that is. Finance is the brain of the economy."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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Another unexpected fallout from the housing bust:
Arsenal on back foot over flat sales windfall
By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent
Published: September 19 2008 18:46 | Last updated: September 19 2008 18:46
The property slump has hit Arsenal’s hopes of a windfall from the redevelopment of their old Highbury stadium, prompting the Premier League club to say that any profit from the sale of flats would now be regarded as “a bonus”.
Arsenal had earlier this year confidently predicted it would generate turnover of more than £350m from its development projects, which would have provided a surplus of up to £100m.
But a more sombre view emerged in Friday’s results, in which Peter Hill-Wood, chairman, said the sale of 680 apartments “may be affected” by the property market.
“The final profits and cash to be released . . . have not been budgeted by the club and will be treated as a ‘bonus’ when received,” he said.
Arsenal’s earlier confidence was built upon pre-sales of 95 per cent of the Highbury Square development and advanced negotiations for the sale of another development site.
But the club is braced for a wave of cancellations from investors who put down deposits but are now unable or unwilling to raise a mortgage. Property sales are intended to repay the club’s loans and reduce net debt of £318.1m. It has so far banked sales of £18.7m from the initial 65 completed units.
Pre-tax profits rose 36.4 per cent in the year to May 31 to £36.7m, including a £5.2m surplus in player transfers. Revenue rose 11 per cent to £223m, 45 per cent from match-day sales. But the wage bill broke £100m for the first time.
Arsenal also confirmed that Stan Kroenke, the US sports franchise owner, was joining the board. However, he is declining to sign his fellow directors’ lockdown agreement that prevents them from selling shares other than to each other.
The Colorado-based billionaire, who holds a 12.4 per cent stake in the club, has in effect signed up to a parallel agreement under which he undertakes not to raise his stake beyond 29.9 per cent without the board’s consent.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.Comment
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I think it's pretty clear now that more regulation was needed. There was too much risk taken with the derivatives.Originally posted by Barnabas
These people never learnI drank beer. I like beer. I still like beer. ... Do you like beer Senator?
- Justice Brett KavanaughComment
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I think he's referring to the writers at the Economist.(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.Comment
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That makes much more sense.I drank beer. I like beer. I still like beer. ... Do you like beer Senator?
- Justice Brett KavanaughComment
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The plan has been announced, but the details have not been made public as of this evening.Originally posted by MarkG
someone please explain me, is this new plan by the us goverment supposed to be a bailout for all banks, or something?
Hopefully, the government charges the banks punitive rates for use of the taxpayers' balance sheet, as it did with AIG last week. For example, the US government could be issued preferred stock with restrictive covenants in the companies that unload these instruments onto the US taxpayer.
Insofar as Wall Street squeals loudly on hearing the details, we will know that it is a good plan.
Last edited by DanS; September 20, 2008, 23:18.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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The irony of the short sale rules is that they are merely driving the shorts to the ultra-short ETF funds, where they could bring down a whole swath of companies indiscriminately. The WSJ states that these funds use credit default swaps to simulate short sales.
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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He was referring to the money markets, which contain about $3.5 trillion in investments and are supposed to be extremely safe. On Wednesday, the money market seized up -- you could see it happen in real time as the 3-month treasury bills only paid 0.02% interest.Originally posted by Barnabas
Did Bush really say something like: "For every dollar you invested you will get a dollar back"
I have heard presidents say that in the past, but I never thought I would see the USA president saying that.
I'm guessing that the Fed and Treasury freaked the **** out at that point, because the money market is how corporate America funds its short term needs. If that situation persisted, corporate America could have taken a fall, immediately leading to all sorts of problems on Main Street America.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Personally I think that there is way too much hyperbole in nearly every single financial article of the past week or so. I don't think this crisis is nearly as bad as the news says. I do think that many people will experience losses, but in the end it will be ok. However, if it is as bad as the news is portraying it to be, then we're all doomed. The idiots who created, nurtured, and did nothing to prevent the past week's happenings cannot save us. If things are as cataclysmic as the media thinks it is, then prepare for the worst. It took a long time for the situation to fully develop. Spur of the moment actions, even if it involves giving away 1 trillion dollars, won't fix the cause of the problem.
No matter how many times you repackage a loan if somebody is spending more than they make, and has borrowed more than they can pay back, then they are a risk. All of this intervention just proves that either America isn't a very capitalistic society, or that capitalism doesn't work very well. So can all of the cry baby pseudo-capitalists on wall street please shut up. Either you can get government bailouts or you be completely deregulated, but it shouldn't be both.
The US government should learn a lesson from all of the companies and balance its budget, and pay off its debts.Comment
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Tell me about it. The bubble and resulting crash happened because no one was properly regulating the market to keep everything above board and sane. Yet here they are saying "we don't want any new regulations but could you please give us a couple of hundred billion dollars?"Originally posted by Barnabas
These people never learn
Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.Comment
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What does capitalism or not have to do with governments stepping in to prevent catastrophes?Originally posted by korn469
Personally I think that there is way too much hyperbole in nearly every single financial article of the past week or so. I don't think this crisis is nearly as bad as the news says. I do think that many people will experience losses, but in the end it will be ok. However, if it is as bad as the news is portraying it to be, then we're all doomed. The idiots who created, nurtured, and did nothing to prevent the past week's happenings cannot save us. If things are as cataclysmic as the media thinks it is, then prepare for the worst. It took a long time for the situation to fully develop. Spur of the moment actions, even if it involves giving away 1 trillion dollars, won't fix the cause of the problem.
No matter how many times you repackage a loan if somebody is spending more than they make, and has borrowed more than they can pay back, then they are a risk. All of this intervention just proves that either America isn't a very capitalistic society, or that capitalism doesn't work very well. So can all of the cry baby pseudo-capitalists on wall street please shut up. Either you can get government bailouts or you be completely deregulated, but it shouldn't be both.
The US government should learn a lesson from all of the companies and balance its budget, and pay off its debts.
It's like if you're capitalist, and you recognise the wall coming and great speed of approach, you're supposed to relax and enjoy the short ride?(\__/)
(='.'=)
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This post has much to agree with. However, I would say it's not a matter of Wall Street accepting regulation in order to receive a bailout.Originally posted by korn469
Personally I think that there is way too much hyperbole in nearly every single financial article of the past week or so. I don't think this crisis is nearly as bad as the news says. I do think that many people will experience losses, but in the end it will be ok. However, if it is as bad as the news is portraying it to be, then we're all doomed. The idiots who created, nurtured, and did nothing to prevent the past week's happenings cannot save us. If things are as cataclysmic as the media thinks it is, then prepare for the worst. It took a long time for the situation to fully develop. Spur of the moment actions, even if it involves giving away 1 trillion dollars, won't fix the cause of the problem.
No matter how many times you repackage a loan if somebody is spending more than they make, and has borrowed more than they can pay back, then they are a risk. All of this intervention just proves that either America isn't a very capitalistic society, or that capitalism doesn't work very well. So can all of the cry baby pseudo-capitalists on wall street please shut up. Either you can get government bailouts or you be completely deregulated, but it shouldn't be both.
The US government should learn a lesson from all of the companies and balance its budget, and pay off its debts.
The terms of the bailout can be sufficiently punitive that regulation is beside the point. AIG was stripped bare last week by the Treasury, such that I'm sure nobody on Wall Street wants the AIG treatment.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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If you are a multibillion dollar company that invested properly its money properly, then you should have a portfolio that's diversified enough to suffer through this. If not then don't you deserve to hit the wall at great speed?Originally posted by notyoueither
What does capitalism or not have to do with governments stepping in to prevent catastrophes?
It's like if you're capitalist, and you recognise the wall coming and great speed of approach, you're supposed to relax and enjoy the short ride?Comment
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