“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.”
Huge Regional Thrift Set to Collapse
Guaranty Bank, the second largest in Texas has been ordered to turn itself over to the FDIC.
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.
Quote of the Day – Mark Ancona
I stumbled upon this while reading the comments section of James Howard Kunstler’s weekly blog entry. By a click, I found this gentleman, Mark Ancona, also has a blog on silver, which I am fond of, usually describing myself as a “Free Silver Democrat” to people who don’t get the reference.
I see the inevitable, and it is approaching us with increasing speed. The potential for disaster is extreme and my neighbors just do not get it. I have stopped speaking to most folks about the need to grow our food locally and accumulate some real money in the form of silver and gold because they think I am insane.
It will come to pass that America descends into the abyss of lawless violence, when the entitlement checks stop coming in the mail, and fewer and fewer people can afford to buy gasoline. Our crumbling and antiquated electrical infrastructure is one lightning bolt away from meltdown, so rather than repair it we give fifty billion dollars to a car company with a 900 million dollar market cap.
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?
The Economic Downfall and the Rise of Tent Cities
The Camp of the Bonus Army, 1932.
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:
Daily Gloom – 04/15/09 – Teabagging Day Edition
- Run on the Bank
- Teabaggers are apparently outraged, simply infuriated, by the marginal tax rate rising 3% for millionaires!
- Depression will worsen unless more stimulus is pumped into the economy.
- Airlines, automakers, retail chains all on list of 10 companies that could go belly-up this year. Here’s why.
The Coming Commercial Real Estate Bust
Office and commercial space as cheap as stinking mackerel
While all eyes are on Wall Street (undeservedly, in my view) and some are on unemployment figures (not enough if you ask me) one of the looming disasters of the New Depression is the coming crash in commercial real estate.
With tenants becoming like hen’s teeth and developers and owners sweating their mortgage payments on overbuilt strip malls and office space, something is bound to break soon.
