Britannia Radio

Tuesday, 31 March 2009   Tuesday, 31 March 2009 MPs To Censor Their Own Expenses 'Members will this week be shown copies of thousands of receipts and other documents due to be published under the Freedom of Information Act. They will be invited to redact the documents, blacking out information they do not want to disclose.' Read more...    Tuesday, 31 March 2009 Businesses Turn to MPs for Help After Banks Demand Homes as Security 'Britain's biggest banks are demanding that directors of small businesses put up their own homes as security to obtain basic credit facilities, The Times has learnt. MPs have been inundated with pleas from entrepreneurs to step in and demand to know why the cost of securing ordinary borrowing facilities has soared and why lenders are insisting that directors offer their homes as security for renewing a corporate overdraft. Evidence of new punitive lending terms comes amid a row over whether Britain's banks, which have been bailed out by or have received significant assistance from the taxpayer, are hoarding capital to shore up their balance sheets instead of passing on funds to help small businesses.' Read more...

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 Why the End of America is Closer Than You Think 'I recently moved to Ecuador. Not for a vacation. Not for a month or two. I moved to Ecuador for good, as a permanent resident. Upon hearing my plans for living in South America, many people who knew me in the States asked things like, "Well what about the stability of Ecuador as a nation?" To which I would respond, "Oh, you mean the stability of banks that don't make loans and don't invest in derivatives? You mean the stability of a nation where the population still has the courage to march in the streets and throw corrupt officials out of its capitol?" ' Read more...

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 Geithner's Plan Will Tax Main Street to Make Wall Street Richer 'The new consensus among the experts who missed the housing bubble (EMHB) is that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's plan to subsidize the purchase of junk mortgages and their derivatives will help alleviate the stress on the banking system. That's good news. Oh, by the way, some people will get very rich off the Geithner plan. Some hedge and equity fund managers could make hundreds of millions or even billions off the Geithner plan. And, under current law, they will pay a lower tax rate on this money than a schoolteacher or firefighter. Are you sold yet?     One other outcome of the Geithner plan is that the folks who bankrupted their banks and wrecked the economy will be able to continue to earn multi-million dollar salaries. Of course this is necessary, because who else has the skills to run these banks, other than the people who drove them into bankruptcy?' Read more...