Grand Theft Economics
Neha Singh and Amiteshwar Singh
Reuters
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:53 UTC
The U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted.
"In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."
Maria Sheahan, Jan Schwartz, Irene Preisinger
Reuters
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:30 UTC
* Porsche schedules 8 days of production stops at main plant
* Volkswagen may stop production in Wolfsburg for 3 weeks
* Audi says production halts are a precaution
* BMW says will cut further 400 temporary jobs in Leipzig
* Porsche shares down 8.8 pct, VW down 17.7 pct
(Adds Audi production stops, BMW temporary job cuts)
Frankfurt - German carmakers made another move to cut output levels towards the end of the year to offset slumping demand as the global economic crisis prompts consumers and companies to closely monitor their finances.
Sports car maker Porsche halted production at its headquarters in the southern German town of Zuffenhausen, for one day on Nov. 21, and planned to stop assembly for another seven days until end-January.
BBC News
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:33 UTC
Banking group HSBC has confirmed it is cutting 500 jobs across the UK. HSBC said the move followed "a review of the business and current economic conditions". None of the affected positions are customer facing. The announcement comes after HSBC said in September that it was cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide because of the continuing global financial turmoil.
Trade union Unite accused HSBC of "using the economic downturn as an excuse to make job losses". HSBC said the latest job cuts represented less than 1% of its 58,000 UK workforce.
Russia Today
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:12 UTC
It's a new way of doing business. Instead of paying somebody to do a job, you offer your skills in return. The idea has caught on in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, where locals have adopted a 'time banking' scheme, enabling them to preserve money.
In 'time banking' people trade skills for the services they require. It works by people doing jobs for other members of the scheme, and receiving services in return.
Time banking started in the U.S in the early 1980's and then spread all over the world. The unit of currency here is valued at an hour's worth of any person's labor and can be called different names - Time Dollar in the US and Time credit in the UK.
In Nizhny Novgorod the scheme has been successfully running for a couple of years.
PR manager of Time Bank in Nizhny Novgorod, Natalia Kim says the advantage of the scheme is that "You can offer services to other people, wait for something they can do. And you can get the services back without paying money."
Jonathan Tasini
OpEdNews
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:58 UTC
When you are a pro at a scam--the definition of "scam" also can be found under the term "insurance industry" -- you know how to try to pull a fast one. And AIG is trying to pull one -- under cover of the holidays. Check this out.
United Press International
Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:10 UTC
A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.
"We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."
"The bigger they are, the harder they'll fall," he said in an interview with New York's Hudson Valley Business Journal.
Celente -- who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the dollar's decline a year ago and gold's current rise in May -- told the newspaper the subprime mortgage meltdown was just the first "small, high-risk segment of the market" to collapse.
Matt Apuzzo
Associated Press
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:28 UTC
The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.
Robert Booth & Patrick Butler
The Guardian
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:01 UTC
Charities are facing a multi-billion pound black hole in their finances as companies withdraw sponsorship and individuals cancel standing orders as the economic downturn bites, according to an authoritative study published today.
A survey of 362 charities by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Institute of Fundraising and the Charity Finance Directors' Group reveals that charity incomes are expected to fall in real terms and costs to rise. PwC estimates that the shortfall could reach £2.3bn next year as the UK heads towards recession.
Chris Marsden
wsws.org
Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:05 UTC
Iceland is facing a social and economic catastrophe. Its 300,000 people have suffered the worst and most immediate impact of the worldwide financial crisis of any advanced country.
James Kilner
Reuters
Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:00 UTC
Pawnbrokers in the Russian capital are enjoying the global credit crunch.
The world's worst economic crisis for 80 years has hit Russia hard. Its stock market has dived by over 70 percent since May and the government has promised to spend $200 billion (135 billion pounds) propping up its main banks and businesses.
But for Vadim Karashuk, head of Moscow's 16 state-owned pawn shops, business is good.
"We're lending out more cash now than ever because the banks are giving less credit," he said, flicking a gold cigarette lighter between his fingers during an interview at his spacious central Moscow office. He estimated his shops now loan around $200,000 a day -- about 15 percent of the total for all Moscow's state and private pawn shops -- compared to about $130,000 two months ago.
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