“The World is in Trouble” sez German Bank Econ
Weimar Currency.
The top economist at Germany’s D-Bank says the green shoots are about to turn brown.
‘The World Is in Trouble’: Deutsche Bank Chief Economist
The global economy still faces turmoil as governments try to figure out how to move out of fiscal rescue packages, which could lead to another two downturns, Deutsche Bank Chief Economist Norbert Walter said Thursday. In addition, nervousness on the part of major dollar holders could pressure the greenback and lead to a very worrying 2010, Walter said. Norbert said recently in research notes “the world is in trouble.”
“I believe that the rescue packages brought on have been so costly for so many governments that the exit from this fiscal policy will be very painful, very painful indeed,” he said. “Some of us are already talking about a W-shaped recovery. I’d probably talk about a triple-U-shaped recovery because there are so many stumbling blocks here to get out of this.”
Bank Failure Friday – Thursday Edition
Back from a holiday hiatus to find 7 (seven) banks failed. Normally, they close them on a Friday, but I guess the holiday gave them the opportunity to put the key in the door on these guys a day early. Interestingly, 6 of the 7 are in my home state of Illinois. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Bank Failure Friday!!!
A whopping 4 5 (four – FIVE – they slipped another one in on me after I posted) banks bit the big one today! Read ‘em and weep, kids!
Metro Pacific Bank, Irvine, CA
Neighborhood Community Bank, Newnan, GA
Community Bank of West Georgia, Villa Rica, GA
AND
This makes a total of 45 (forty-five) banks closed this year by the FDIC.
The End of Empire – The BRIC is hitting the fan, folks!
Children playing with stacks of cash in Weimar Germany.
Stop reading right now unless you are prepared to be massively depressed. Our empire has fallen. We are now, officially, the Romans. In a stunning, devastating piece at TruthDig, Chris Hedges puts together the cataclysmic chain of events to come that many of us have struggled to round up and articulate since September of 2007. It took a year after that for the situation to get so bad, on September 21, 2008, that the Congressional leadership was called together by the Fed and Treasury and told without a massive cash infusion of tax dollars the whole rotten movie set that was our economy was going to fall on top of us. Riot, mayhem, violence and disintegration were sure to follow. Out of that meeting was born TARP, TALF, AIG, GM, the stimulus package, etc.
The whole piece is a must read, but some snippets after the jump will curl your hair.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends 06/08/09
- Can’t make the payment? Light a match!
- Palin kicked out of Republicanist fund raising dinner – again.
- Right wing on the upswing in meaningless EU elections.
- ChiComs put Ray Nagin on lockdown in Shanghai. Has the mayor been “Shanghaied”?
- Apparently we’re letting some of the big banks pay back their TARP money. Let them give it all back, dammit!
- Laura Bush thinks Sotomayor is OK.
- Can’t afford your car payment? Torch the damn thing!
- Right Wing Israeli government stands in the way of Mideast Peace, while simultaneously claiming to have a new plan in the works.
- Canadian nurses meet to discuss possible violence surrounding flu pandemics. Now, they’re talking.
- Government selectively tracks the pig flu.
- Officials said to be preparing for second wave of flu. 1918 here we come.
- Coming to a jailhouse near you – Rikers Island overrun with the pig flu.
- I am irritated with the President on DADT, but I understand his strategery.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends – 05/29/09
- Paul Krugman is not worried about inflation.
- My boy Berlusconi is in hot water again. L’affaire Noemi?
- GM Readies For Bankruptcy.
- While Confederate mushmouth Dick Shelby is ringing the socialism alarm bells - again, over the deal. His alternative? Let it fall.
- Gold on 3 month high. Silver closing in on $16.00 per ounce?
Day Old Bread – Odds & Ends – 05/27/09
- GM bankruptcy almost certain as bondholders tell company to stick their stock offer where the sun don’t shine.
- GM bankruptcy seen as a certain disaster for the economy.
- Survey of economists says Depression will end soon. Roubini doesn’t think so. My money’s on Dr. Doom.
- The contagion spreads while the WHO wonders if they jumped the gun on the pandemic alert number. These people will shilly-shally and fart around till we all drop like flies.
- The Dear Leader would like to re-start the Korean War.
Bank Failure Friday – May Day Edition
Two Three so far this week:
Bank Failure Friday
They’re out early this week with the 26th U.S. bank to fail this year. Drumroll, please….
American Southern Bank, Kennesaw, Georgia
UPDATE:
The sneaky bastards at the FDIC closed three other banks while I wasn’t looking. They are:
Daily Gloom – 04/24/09
- Shred them! Just say “NO”!
- Geithner says banks have sufficient capital.
- Then, why aren’t they lending it out?
- Do we even want them to lend it out, asks Robert Reich?
- “There are three ways to fix the banking system; liquidation, reorganization and subsidization. Geithner has rejected all three.” – a very interesting read – slowly, though – there’s a lot to digest.
- One Irish newspaper says a majority of Irish people expect “civil unrest” this summer.
Daily Gloom – 04/20/09
- IMF predicts massive, longterm global depression.
- “The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping.”
- General Growth’s demise sharpens concerns over commercial property collapse.
- GM to axe 1,600 more employees this week.
- With unemployment in California at 11+% some question just how high it can go.
Bank Failure Friday
Two this week, kids:
Bank Failure Friday – 04/10/09 – Good Friday Edition
Only one two this week. (They snuck one in on me after I first posted.):
It’s The Economy, Stupid! – 04/10/09
Treasury to Banks: Shut up about the freakin’ stress tests!- New Deal 2.0 – ARRA funds working their way into the system.
- Opinion divided on Recovery. Investors still worried. Some wiseguys are calling for a September rebound. I have my doubts. Aso, there is no TRUE recovery until there is full employment of the workers!
- Apparently, it sucks to be the head of that insurance company we own.
Daily Gloom – 04/09/09
- 1979
- Retail sales continue slump, not as bad as Christmas, though.
- Angst over Depression continues to grow.
- Oil prices up sharply. I know there are those who think this is a good thing. They can suck it. Until we completely change the transportation profile in this country, it is the working poor who are most adversely affected by high gas prices.
- WSJ Opinion: Recovery can’t be rushed.
- Even Wal-Mart is failing to cut the mustard.
Politics Bag – 04/03/09
- Carville: Obama’s best day as President.
He's EVERYBODY'S Pal!
- Madame Noonanham comes out of her gin and Seconal-induced haze to opine that she’s figured out this Obama guy – and she didn’t even have to talk to any of her rich friends to do it!
Daily Gloom – 04/01/09 – G-20 April Fool’s Edition
- Ontario Police sifting through homeless people.
- Ontario, CA officials trying to cull out non-residents from their tent city. “Officials believe the local homeless number about 140, less than half of those currently in residence. Schultz wants to reduce Tent City to 170 people in a regulated, fenced-off area rather than the sprawling open-air campsite it has become.” Can we say “concentration camp for homeless people”? Presumably those without pink bracelets will be shipped off in rail cars, gassed and then incinerated.
