Archive for January, 2009
Dubai: Another Ponzi Scheme Collapses
January 4th, 2009Via: CBS News: Over the years, booming oil prices helped turn Dubai into a land of opportunity and playground for the ultra rich. But that was then and this is now. And as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports, even Dubai is feeling the pinch of the worldwide economic crisis. The gulf city state’s property […]
MADOFF’S ASSETS TO BE KEPT SECRET
January 4th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: THE US Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Bernard Madoff last month for allegedly directing a $US50 billion ($71 billion) fraud, is to withhold public access to a list of his assets filed on Wednesday. A federal judge ordered Madoff to provide the commission with an account of all investments, loans, lines of […]
Oil
January 4th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. I was going to buy the United States Oil ETF on Friday, but it was sharply higher. I refuse to chase, though, so I’m going to wait for a pullback (that may or may not come). I’ve never touched oil before, […]
Israeli Troops Launch Attack on Gaza
January 3rd, 2009Via: New York Times: Israeli tanks and troops swept across the border into Gaza on Saturday night, opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas after a week of intense airstrikes.
U.S. MANUFACTURING DECLINES TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1948
January 3rd, 2009Via: Bloomberg: The decline in U.S. manufacturing deepened in December as demand for such products as cars, appliances and furniture reached the lowest level since at least 1948, signaling further cutbacks in factory jobs and production this year. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 32.4, below economists’ forecasts and the lowest level […]
UK: Thefts of Food, Metal, and Petrol Increasing
January 3rd, 2009Via: Independent: Supermarkets have been forced to tag cuts of meat because shoplifters have turned to stealing food during the credit crunch. Retailers warn that the recession has changed the pattern of crime in high street stores, with thieves switching from luxury items to basic foodstuffs. Shops have been forced to step up security around […]
UK: Flawed Accounting Method Hides True Scale of Pension Fund Losses
January 2nd, 2009Via: Guardian: Many of Britain’s biggest companies are preparing year-end accounts that show their pension schemes moved into surplus last year despite the collapse in world markets, which wiped hundreds of billions from their assets. The latest figures from the pensions advisers Aon Consulting show that a steep decline in the FTSE 100 over last […]
Is a Generalized Crackup Occurring in Britain? The Average Person Spends 2-1/4 Hours of Every Day Worrying
January 2nd, 2009Could this possibly be true? Via: Reuters: Britain is becoming a nation of worriers, according to a new survey, with the financial crisis giving people ever more reason to fret about their lives. The average person now spends 2-1/4 hours of every day worrying — six and half years of the average life span — […]
Welcome to Your New Job: One that Pays 30%, 50%, 70% Less than Your Old One
January 2nd, 2009According to CNN, phone service is an, “extravagance”? The bankers and politicians who created this mess must really think that this is hilarious. As people are getting financially screwed to within an inch of their lives, the Wall Street pricks buy new homes with taxpayer bailout money and the crooked Congress gets an automatic pay […]
Mexican Federal Agents Arrested in Covina
January 2nd, 2009Via: Los Angeles Times: The residents of North Monte Verde Drive, a stretch of oak-shaded suburban calm in the Covina area, normally would feel safe knowing that two off-duty police officers were visiting the neighborhood. Not this time. These officers were far from home — agents of the Mexican federal police — and they ended […]
