Money Category
Money in the news and how you are going to pay and pay and pay
Britain Funds Icelandic Terrorism
ICELANDERS are not terrorists.
Are they freedom fighters? Is so, Gordon Brown might see fit to give them some money.
Says the enemy:
Gordon Brown unjustifiably used the anti-terrorism act against the people of Iceland, for his own short-term political gain. This has turned a grave situation into a national disaster, affecting families in both Iceland and the United Kingdom. Help us avert greater damage by signing this petition now.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 24th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Why It Pays To Leave The Lights, Gadgets And TV On
DID you know that “Britons Waste $1.5 Billion Leaving Appliances on”.
Bloomberg has the figures, it has down the maths.
Britons waste 900 million pounds ($1.5 billion) a year by leaving lights, televisions and other electrical appliances switched on when they’re not needed, a study for the U.K. Energy Saving Trust found.
Such are the facts.
“It’s hard to believe that in the current economic climate we’re effectively dreaming away this kind of cash,” the trust’s chief executive, Philip Sellwood, said in the statement.
Hard to believe. It’s lot of cash, and here’s the breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (8)
CDO Is Not An Operating System: The Next Financial Diasaster
AS it slowly dawns on the world that the financial markets were simply a global version of the village that made a luxurious living taking in each other’s laundry, I thought you might like a hint as to the next disaster to unfold.
We know about sub-prime mortgages, and we know about credit default swaps. Admittedly we don’t know very much about them, but that’s because the people who created these little gems really don’t want us to know much about them. And, in fairness, many of the people who got enmeshed in them knew bugger all about it anyway, so let’s not beat up on ourselves about it.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (26)
Turning Japanese: How Japan Could Save The World’s Economy
IT’S someone pretending to be Japanese in the hope of getting their hands on the huge pile of dosh the Japanese are sitting on; according to the Japanese politician, Kotaro Tamura, Japan has $950 billion in government foreign reserves, $1.5 trillion in public pension funds and $15 trillion in personal financial assets.
Half of that is on deposit at extremely low interest rates in Japanese banks.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (16)
Gnomes And Moans: The Swiss Are Sulking
THE Swiss are sulking, and who can blame them?
Standard & Poor, the ratings firm which happily labelled some of the biggest turkeys in the history of the solar system as perfectly safe investments, is thinking of downgrading the credit rating on the Union Bank of Switzerland, despite the massive support poured into it on Thursday by the Swiss government and the US Federal Reserve.
And just what did UBS do to endanger its reputation?
Read the rest of this entry »
The Great AIG Partridge Hunt
I’M sure that we are all relieved to discover that the little matter of AIG having to be rescued by the US taxpayer didn’t stand in the way of the top brass continuing to take the occasional break from the stresses and strains of corporate life.
Sadly, however, the New York Attorney General, Andrew M. Cuomo, seems to think that dispatching a handful of A.I.G. officials to England on a private jet for a partridge hunt that reportedly cost about $90,000, after AIG had received $85 billion of the taxpayers money was ‘unwarranted and outrageous expenditure’.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 18th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (11)
Why We’re Still Doomed: The Baltic Dry Index Is Down
THE FTSE. Nah! LIBOR. Eh? The only index that matters is the Baltic Dry Index:
An economic indicator few have heard of (I hadn’t heard of it until two weeks ago, when the madness started) is the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). Wikipedia describes the BDI as:
The Baltic Dry Index is an index covering dry bulk shipping rates and managed by the Baltic Exchange in London.(…)
More East Europeans in London…
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 18th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (2)
Snake Oil And International Accounting Standards Board
I WONDER what Thomas Jefferson would make of lobbyists, and the lunacy at present working its way inexorably down the drain of voodoo accountancy.
You may recall that the Mother of All Bailouts was initially directed at buying up ‘Troubled Assets’ from the Troubled Banks which had acquired them; that plan foundered rather rapidly on the fact that no-one had a clue what the damn things are worth.
The money markets ground to a juddering halt, and only began to inch forward very slowly when the British plan, which focused instead on putting capital into the Troubled Banks was adopted here, in the EU and subsequently in the US.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jefferson’s Warning Rings True
‘I BELIEVE that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered” – Thomas Jefferson 1802 – Chivers
Posted: 16th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (4)
Five Ways To Beat The Credit Crunch
FIVE Ways To Beat The Credit Crunch:
1. Turn the volume down on your transister whenever BBC business man Robert Peston comes on air.
2. Forgo mortgage payments and end up living in a small hotel near a train station, room paid for by the DSS.
3. Wean yourself off expensive crack cocaine and smack by visiting the doctor and telling him your feel depressed, are possibly bi-polar and spend all day crying. Free upper and downers for life.
4. Own-brand supermarket beer might only be thrupence a bottle but it still is expensive when compared with muddy water laced with urine samples imported from Beijing.
5. Sell the TV and save money on your licence fee by create your own BBC by calling everyone a plonker and ranting about why the football is on f***** cable.
More to follow…
Posted: 16th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (6)
Help A Banker: Suit And Yacht To Support
HELP a banker…
Posted: 16th, October 2008 | In: Money, Photojournalism | Comments (13)
Yet More Voodoo, And The Banks Tank
THE SEC, in the shape of the Cox who recently discovered that self-regulation doesn’t work, seems determined to put the US into the death spiral; having tried some voodoo accountancy changes some days back which did nothing to help matters, they’ve done it again.
As Bloomberg reported today:
‘The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to back an effort by banks that may let them delay writedowns on a type of security that has declined in value during the collapse of the credit markets.’
That was, as Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent of The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, noted today, completely contrary to the view of the accountancy profession:
Read the rest of this entry »
Shoplifters For Bad Credit
CREDIT Crunch news of the day: fill your boots…
“Shoplifting is at record levels and is set to soar even further thanks to the credit crunch” – Daily Express
Can you shoplift from your own bank?
Read the rest of this entry »
1983 And All That: Let’s Bomb Switzerland
IT’S not quite that bad yet. It’s more 1983 than 1984.
As Michael Foot predicted, we now have higher personal taxation, abolished the House of Lords, nationalised banks and achieved unilateral nuclear disarmament.
OK, we still have the bomb, but as soon as we’ve bombed everyone else bomb, we won’t need it any more. Or we could keep it and erect a statue to Foot in every major city in Europe..?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 13th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (5)
Anorak Beats Old Media, Again
The thieving plonkers!
We’re back to those default swaps again, and the reason why they have nothing to do with insurance and everything to do with speculating on other people’s property; Simon Evans in the Independent reports today, the 12th October:
‘It is like Joe Public buying an insurance policy on someone else’s house and pocketing the full value if it burns down.’
Ring any bells?
On the 25th September I wrote:
‘Anorak could take out a vast insurance policy on Anorak Towers, and if it burned down Anorak would get lots of dosh but no Anorak Towers.
Insurers won’t let me take out a vast insurance policy on Anorak Towers, because I would have a clear interest in setting fire to Anorak Towers and collecting lots of dosh.
Of course, I wouldn’t have Anorak Towers, but then I didn’t have Anorak Towers in the first place.’
My highly reputable lawyers, Messrs Sue, Sue and Suesomemore, will no doubt be in touch with the Indie’s briefs…
– Chenier
Posted: 12th, October 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Money | Comments (4)
Credit Crunch: Too Poor To Die
CREDIT Crunch news of the day: eat the dead…
“BODIES OF THE DEAD NOT BEING BURIED” – Daily Mail
Some are being burnt. Other are being buried at sea. Leglstive bodies walk zombie-like into the night…
It’s Those Damn Atheists Again
JEFFREY Frankel announced a few months back:
“They say there are no atheists in foxholes. Then there are also no libertarians in financial crises.”
Much as it pains me to have to agree with an economist, he does seem to have got that bit right.
Although there is a notable exception to the Frankel’s Rule.
Read the rest of this entry »
Goldman Sachs: Not The Sultans Of Spin
WELL, Goldman managed to survive this week, just about, but we have to question whether Lucas van Praag, Goldman’s global head of media relations and a partner at the firm, is doing very well.
Ok, he is firing off letters to all and sundry, and particularly the sundry at Forbes whose article by ‘Dr Doom’, otherwise known as Nouriel Roubini, was less than wholly supportive of the view that Goldman Sach’s is the best of all possible banks in the best of all possible worlds, but that’s office boy stuff.
The New York Times reported last night that Jon Winkelried, Goldman Sachs’s co-president and co-chief operating officer, is trying to sell two lots on Nantucket for $55 million.
Read the rest of this entry »
IMF Orders The Markets Down By 20%
REUTERS is reporting that the IMF’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard has said:
“In a worst-case scenario, governments will need a few more weeks to take the correct measures and the markets could fall another 20 percent. Then, we’ll turn around,”
(Image: Beau Bo D’Or Website)
Just when you think that the IMF couldn’t get worse, they come up with an act of such utter imbecility that I am almost at a loss for words.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (18)
Guardian Follows Daily Express And Tips IceSave
ICESAVE is dead. Britain is at war with Iceland. And the Guardain is scoring points on the Express, its pet target:
“If you are lucky enough to have some spare money, now could be the time to cash in,” said the ever-informative Daily Express, addressing the credit crunch yesterday. “Icelandic bank Icesave pays 7.06% on £1,000 or more on its one-year bond.” Yeah, right – October 8, 2008
Ten of the best … savings accounts
An unexpected bonus from the financial crisis is banks raising their savings rates to attract customer cash. Harvey Jones picks a selection of the best buys on offer
Hear ye, hear ye… Any idea what’s No.1?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, October 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Money, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Gabby Logan Applauds The Credit Crunch
CREDIT Crunch news of the day: Gabby Logan on the joys of poverty
“But I believe that the credit squeeze is going to be good for grassroots sport and therefore good for all of us in the long run – as long as we do not end up homeless” – Gabby Logan, The Times
So Gabby…:
Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?
Paintings – the most I’ve spent on one was £7,000.
More credit crunch insight as it comes in…
Posted: 10th, October 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Money | Comments (5)
Armageddon On Hold As Blue Collars Take Over
ARMAGEDDON is on hold.
The four horsemen of the apocalypse (Short Sellers; Bradford, Bingley, Daryl Lehman) are staved off with the promise of cash. It’s a bribe, and – who knew? – but the forces of man’s destruction are open to cash offers.
Still, the Times asks its readers: “Is this the safest place to put your money?” There picture is of a man pushing a large box cardboard out of book shop. The box is on trolley. The man is in shirt and Comfi-Slax.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 9th, October 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Money, Tabloids | Comments (5)
Liverpool Teaches Rest Of UK How To Dodge Paying Rent
TO Liverpool, where signs advertising “rent dodger lives here” are going up outside homes.
Neil Heffey, of estate agent Sutton Estates, based in Anfield, tells the Liverpool Daily Post:
“They can avoid us, but not their neighbours. Now, every time they walk in and out of their door, the neighbours will be laughing at them.”
Has Mr Heffey not read the tabloid press? This is Liverpool, and the neighbours will indeed be laughing as they pop over the road and while perusing catalogues for shell suits and eating baked bean sarnies bone up on rent dodging.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 8th, October 2008 | In: Money, Tabloids | Comments (2)
Not The Group Of Seven Dwarves
THE guys from the Group of Seven are due to have a little chat and a nice lunch in Washington on Friday, for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, but it looks as if Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, isn’t happy with them; he says they need to expand to include places like Brazil and China.
Unfortunately for Zoellick, the chances of anyone listening to a word he says are close to zero, since the World Bank and the IMF have lost that most valuable of assets, credibility.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 8th, October 2008 | In: Money | Comments (3)
