Meltdown

[Coopmv]

Fannie Mae seeks $15.3B in gov't aid after 4Q loss
Fannie Mae asks for $15.3B in federal aid after posting $16.3 billion loss in fourth quarter

[Coopmv]

DM,  Come 2012, the Obama Administration would blame Bush for this record deficits leading up to the election ...   

Report shows government's liabilities surging
Annual report shows government's financial position hit $11.46 trillion deficit in 2009

[Coopmv]

DM,  I am surprised EU has not let IMF take over, which will no doubt enforce some serious austerity measures on the G country in the PIIGS.  Is Spain gonna to be next?

EU Demands Greece Act on Deficit as Bloc Crafts Aid Plan

[Coopmv]

DM,  Time for this turkey to face some music.  How could this guy collect $100MM over ten years while serving as chairman and senior adviser to Citigroup, which ended up receiving $45B of taxpayer money to stay afloat?

Citigroup Adviser Rubin Said to Face Queries From Crisis Panel

[BachQ]

DM,  Come 2012, the Obama Administration would blame Bush for this record deficits leading up to the election ...   

Report shows government's liabilities surging
Annual report shows government's financial position hit $11.46 trillion deficit in 2009

Coop, it appears that China is heading for a fiscal crisis by 2012:

China's Hidden Debt Risks 2012 Crisis, Northwestern's Shih Says

By Bloomberg News

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- China's hidden borrowing may push government debt to 96 percent of gross domestic product next year, increasing the risk of a financial crisis in the world's third-biggest economy, Professor Victor Shih said.

"The worst case is a pretty large-scale financial crisis around 2012," said Shih, a political economist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who spent months researching borrowing transactions by about 8,000 local-government entities. "The slowdown would last at least two years and maybe longer," the author of the book "Factions and Finance in China" said in a phone interview March 1.

Surging borrowing by local-government entities, uncounted in official estimates of China's debt-to-GDP ratio, is the key reason for Shih's concern.

Asset Bubbles

Now, amid the risks of asset bubbles, soured loans and resurgent inflation, officials are reining in credit growth.

One focus of concern is lending to the investment companies set up by local governments to circumvent regulations that prevent them borrowing directly. Shih estimates that, already, borrowing by such entities may result in bad loans of up to 3 trillion yuan ($439 billion).  ...

'Wave' of Bad Loans

Local-government entities may have had a total of 11.429 trillion yuan in outstanding debt by the end of last year, according to Shih. They have agreed credit lines with banks for an additional 12.767 trillion yuan, said Shih.

A crackdown on local-government borrowing could trigger a "gigantic wave" of bad loans as projects are left without funding, while a failure to rein in lending could lead to inflation of over 15 percent by 2012, Shih said. Either situation could trigger bank runs and a crisis as people lose confidence in the financial system, he said.

[BachQ]

50% of counterfeit goods come from China.

[Coopmv]

Coop, it appears that China is heading for a fiscal crisis by 2012:

China's Hidden Debt Risks 2012 Crisis, Northwestern's Shih Says

DM,   That will be a very pretty financial picture.  We should meet at Tiananmen Square in 2012 to celebrate ...

[Coopmv]

DM,  Many Americans are clueless that their politicians are the real culprits for the current economic debacle.  Most US states are broke and people are still in denial. 

Rowdy protests target funding cuts at US campuses

[Coopmv]

DM,  The financial Armageddon is awaiting the US of A.  These Democrats have to go ...

Congressional estimates show grim deficit picture
Congressional estimates see grimmer deficit picture than Obama administration

[Coopmv]

DM,   We have both heard this story too many times already.  Bottomline, the Chinese will never float their currency since it will appreciate against the currencies of most countries it exports to.  It will then lose billions of dollars in exports and tens of millions of its factory workers will be out on the street.

China says it will move cautiously on currency
China says it will move cautiously on currency, exports need 2-3 years to recover

 

[Coopmv]

DM,  Greece is toast.  It has nothing to export it out of its debt problems.  Maybe it can sell off a number of islands in the Adriatic Sea?     

Papandreou seeks French backing for debt crisis
Greek PM Papandreou heads to Paris seeking more EU support for harsh austerity measures

[Coopmv]

DM,  Time to plan for an Icelandic vacation!  I have been seeing huge discounts on Icelandic vacation sponsored by the Iceland Tourism Board on NYC subway billboards.  Perhaps the largely bankrupt American tourists can help bail out Iceland ...   

Iceland votes 'no' to debt deal for collapsed bankIcelanders reject deal to pay back bank failure debts, but talks to continue on new agreement

[Coopmv]

DM,  If the unemployment situation does not improve, we both know what will happen in November mid-term election ...

Latest Round-Up of Obama Poll Ratings by State

[Coopmv]

DM,  We can't wait to see this crash landing happen ...   

Beijing fails to rein in property

[Coopmv]

DM,  These commies showed their true color while the government looked the other way ...

70-year-old woman "buried alive by property developers after refusing to move"

[BachQ]

DM,  These commies showed their true color while the government looked the other way ...

70-year-old woman "buried alive by property developers after refusing to move"

Coop, that's very sad ...




China's ghost towns

Built in a breakneck five years, Kangbashi is a state-of-the-art city full of architectural marvels and sculpture gardens. There's just one thing missing: people. The city, built by the government and funded with coal money, its chief industries energy and carmaking, has been mostly vacant for as long as it has been complete, except for the massive municipal headquarters. It's a grand canyon of empty monoliths. In a paradox only possible in today's economic system, Kangbashi manages to be both a boom town and a ghost town at the same time.

Kangbashi represents a particularly destructive economic force at work in China today: an obsession with GDP that ignores all other metrics of progress or human capital. GDP as calculated in China -- or the rest of the world, for that matter -- doesn't make any distinction between quantity and quality, or between creative and destructive expenditures.Due to the industrial pollution billowing out of the country's GDP-enhancing factories and mines, cancer is the leading cause of death in China.

[BachQ]

Europe's banks brace for UK debt crisis
UniCredit has alerted investors in a client note that Britain is at serious risk of a bond market and sterling debacle and faces even more intractable budget woes than Greece.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Published: 8:20PM GMT 11 Mar 2010

The Italian-German group, Europe's second largest bank, said Britain's tax structure will make it hard to raise fresh revenue quickly enough to restore confidence in UK public finances.  "I am becoming convinced that Great Britain is the next country that is going to be pummelled by investors," said Kornelius Purps, Unicredit 's fixed income director and a leading analyst in Germany.

Mr Purps said the UK had been cushioned at first by low debt levels but the pace of deterioration has been so extreme that the country can no longer count on market tolerance.

"Britain's AAA-rating is highly at risk. The budget deficit is huge at 13pc of GDP and investors are not happy. The outgoing government is inactive due to the election. There will have to be absolute cuts in public salaries or pay, but nobody is talking about that," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"Sterling is going to fall further over coming months. I am not expecting a crash of the gilts market but we may see a further rise in spreads of 30 to 50 basis points."

--snip--

[Coopmv]

Coop, that's very sad ...




China's ghost towns

As over 60% of all the rivers and lakes are heavily polluted, China also has the highest cancer rate in the world.  But then life is cheap in a country that has absolutely no respect for human rights anyway ...

[Coopmv]

Europe's banks brace for UK debt crisis
UniCredit has alerted investors in a client note that Britain is at serious risk of a bond market and sterling debacle and faces even more intractable budget woes than Greece.

The Brits made the mistake of the century by following the American way of capitalism - relentless outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to China and a singular focus on financial alchemy.  IIRC, credit default swap was dreamed up at the JP Morgan office in London ...

[Coopmv]

DM,  is this a major typo?     

China to bid on US high-speed rail projects
Minister: China to bid for US high-speed rail projects; building lines in Venezuela, Turkey