Tuesday, 24 March 2009


Obama Envoy Richard Holbrooke Served On AIG's Board: Obama administration special envoy Richard Holbooke was on the American International Group Inc. board of directors in early 2008 when the insurance company locked in the bonuses now stoking national outrage.

Gregg: 'This country will go bankrupt': Even though he was almost a member of the new Obama administration, New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg Sunday slammed President Obama’s approach to handling the country’s fiscal outlook.

China backs talks on dollar as reserve -Russian source: China and other emerging nations back Russia's call for a discussion on how to replace the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency, a senior Russian government source said on Thursday. Russia has proposed the creation of a new reserve currency, to be issued by international financial institutions, among other measures in the text of its proposals to the April G20 summit

How big a deal is the loss of the dollar's reserve status?: To answer this question, lets first calculate just how large are the dollar holdings of foreign governments. From the CIA’s world Factbook, below is a ranking of countries by reserves of foreign exchange.

Rescue Plan, With Some Fine Print, Dazzles Wall Street: This time President Obama directed some of the stagecraft. This time Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner fleshed out the substance of their long-anticipated program to remove banks’ toxic assets and revive the financial system. And this time the reaction was widely positive, giving the embattled Mr. Geithner a critically needed boost.

Geithner, Obama Kowtowing to "Massively Corrupted" Banks, Galbraith Says: Like it or not, many people seem to be resigned to the idea there's no alternative to the public-private investment fund scheme Treasury Secretary Geithner detailed this morning. That's hogwash, says University of Texas professor James Galbraith, author of The Predator State. Of course there's an alternative: FDIC receivership of insolvent banks.

Existing Home Sales Fall 4.6%: Home prices dropped 15% from the same period one year ago; Despite the price drop, sales fell 4.6%. How anyone can try to spin this as a positive is beyond my mathematical comprehension.

Real estate investors: ‘Tsunami’ still ahead: Unemployment will peak between 10 percent and 12 percent, according to professional real estate investors informally polled this week.