Today in the economy

[Kirkland Laing]

“The invisible hand of free markets has succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations."

George W Bush
October 18th, 2006





March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or committed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s.
New pledges from the Fed, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. include $1 trillion for the Public-Private Investment Program, designed to help investors buy distressed loans and other assets from U.S. banks. The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008.






http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...CA4&refer=home

[VictorCharlie]

I feel pretty positive that we are well on the way to a single payer system and it sounds great in theory. I'm just not sure it will work as perfect in practice as described. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[Kirkland Laing]

I feel pretty positive that we are well on the way to a single payer system and it sounds great in theory. I'm just not sure it will work as perfect in practice as described. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Whatever they come up with it'll be corrupt and not work nearly as well as it could do. Finland usually ranks as the least corrupt government on earth. Their healthcare, education, general state system works really well and they only have a small fraction of the wealth of the United States. I'd like to see what a bunch of Finnish advisors could do for the US government. And the British one too.

[VictorCharlie]

Ever the optimist Kirk...We can only hope that if Obama does it that he puts together a really good study of the nations who do it well and who dont

[Kirkland Laing]

Who'll read it? He promised to hold healthcare negotiations in public with the healthcare people and their lobbyists so that people see whose side the politicians are really on. I'd like to see that.

[VictorCharlie]

Damn't man give some strand of hope I can cling to

[El Kabong]

Who'll read it? He promised to hold healthcare negotiations in public with the healthcare people and their lobbyists so that people see whose side the politicians are really on. I'd like to see that.

He's a politician that's what they do....and then they count on people not to call them on it.

Bipartisanship, ending pork barrel spending, transparency in government...etc etc etc.

Nothing will come of them. Universal healthcare is coming to the US...it's going to suck big time, I'm the first guy to say the healthcare system isn't perfect but nationalizing it won't help ANYONE.

[killersheep]

4/2/09

EU - Interest rate announcement

Actual 1.25%|Forecast 1.0%|Previous Month 1.5%|Previous Year 4.25%

The European Central Bank (ECB) decision on short term interest rate. The decision on where to set interest rates depends mostly on growth outlook and inflation. The primary objective of the central bank is to achieve price stability

ECB: Key interest rates

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G-20

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders agreed on a regulatory blueprint for reining in the excesses that fed the worst financial crisis in six decades and pledged more than $1 trillion in emergency aid to cushion the economic fallout.

The Group of 20 policy makers, meeting in London, called for stricter limits on hedge funds, executive pay, credit-rating firms and risk-taking by banks. They tripled the firepower of the International Monetary Fund and offered cash to revive trade to help governments weather the turmoil resulting from the surge in unemployment. They avoided the divisive question of whether to deliver more fiscal stimulus to their own economies.

G-20 Backs Regulation Crackdown, $1.1 Trillion Aid (Update3) - Bloomberg.com

[VictorCharlie]

are they going to get rid of direvatives?

[Kirkland Laing]

are they going to get rid of direvatives?

No, but they claim they're going to regulate them. We'll see how much regulation they end up managing to legislate.

[BoomBoom]

The economy is so bad......
A hooker asked me to borrow $100 till she can get back on her back!

[killersheep]

4/6/09

Canada - Ivey PMI Index

Actual 43.2|Forecast 46.7|Previous Month 45.2|Previous Year 58.0

The Ivey Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) determines the activity level of purchasing managers in Canada.
Any reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction. It gives an indication about the health of the manufacturing section and production growth in Canada.

[VictorCharlie]

Kirk,

Can you describe the "Sweden Solution" in regards to banking in layman's terms? Specifically, what is a bank's level three and what is meant by writing down a loan?

[Kirkland Laing]

Kirk,

Can you describe the "Sweden Solution" in regards to banking in layman's terms? Specifically, what is a bank's level three and what is meant by writing down a loan?

Sweden had a bunch of insolvent banks so it took them over, wipred out the existing shareholders and bondholders, converted the debt owed by these banks after assets had been accounted for into equity (new shares) and sold the shares to new investors who then owned the new cleaned-up banks.

edit : This explains it well and briefly :

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/bu...s/23krona.html

Level three assets are stuff that is difficult to value and are generally valued by the bank's own financial models. A financial model is basically a computer simulation designed to represent the earning performance or value assets within certain economic parameters.

If you bought an asset for a hundred dollars but the market subsequently only values it at fifty, then you'd write down your asset to fifty to reflect market value. Or if your asset was dodgy mortgage securities you'd tweak your financial model to claim that property prices were going to rebound in a few months and then not write down your asset at all.

[Kirkland Laing]

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner expressed confidence that Europe will resolve the debt crisis buffeting the region and said the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand any fallout.

Geithner Sees Europe Managing Crisis Without Fallout for U.S. - Bloomberg.com

EDIT: This post for future reference.