The end is coming for Anglo Irish bank and, by extension, for Ireland’s pretense at a recovery. The cost of insuring debt in Anglo Irish jumped today to new record levels. The reason is that back in June the Bank of Ireland Governor, Mr Patrick Honohan said he didn’t know if Junior Bond holders (those …
The recession as a financial reality is nasty enough. But now it is beginning to leak its poison into the already fetid political pond. The US now has political troubles in domestic and international finance. Domestically the Bush era tax breaks are due to come to an end. The Democrats want to end the tax …
“Central banks have tough time finding the exit…” Headline on Bloomberg. I am sorry but the central banks would have a ‘tough time’ finding their own backside even if you drew them a map and left a trail of breadcrumbs. This is a great article. A veritable festival of the stating the blindingly obvious. “The …
American house prices are at the lowest they have been for six years. That’s where the recovery which started in June of last year has raised them to. Having trouble with that logic? Don’t worry, just remember down is the new up, and Unemployed is an incentivized opportunity for a whole new you! So don’t …
The mainstream story you are supposed to believe is that first we save the banks, who then help the companies in the broader economy to recover, who in their turn bring relief to you and me as they finally start to re-hire the unemployed. We just have to be patient and wait in line. What …
Another day another step closer to full on QE on a global scale. In America observers have been calling it QE light. When in fact is has been anything but. The POMO operations (where the Fed buys ‘assets’ for cash, thus putting new Cash into the system) have been pumping billions into the markets each …
Yesterday I wrote about the collapse of construction output in Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece and Ireland. Today I want to talk about whose banks this collapse will impact. But first I only just realized I forgot (it was late) to actually get to Ireland. Sorry about that. So before I get to …
Some facts after all these dark thoughts. Eurostat released these figures on the 17th. Read them and weep. Under the modest headline of “Construction output down by 3.1% in euro area” lies an altogether darker set of facts. The devil, as always is in the details that I didn’t see reported in our Ministry of …
We are going to cut government spending and grow our way out of recession. “Stay the course! Keep the faith with our leaders who share our pain when they make the necessary cuts, because from your pain and sacrifice will come your salvation.” Is that the essence of what I just heard from Nick Clegg …
The headline on offer in the American financial press is that according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the Recession ended in June ’09. That was the bottom and since then things have been getting better. Of course unemployment is a ‘lagging indicator’ in this analysis as is house building, house buying, foreclosure …
