The ‘we are f*cked’ weekend thread
So… how bad can the financial crisis get? I thought the collapse of General Motors, at one point the world’s largest car company, was as bad as it could get. I mean jeezus, about 2 million people will be affected almost directly if that goes under. But now the talk is of Citibank also going under.
Citibank? At one point the world’s biggest financial company, the damn company’s stock is in meltdown. There is now talk that the US govt might buy a chunk of the company, based on what is already happening to the Swiss giant UBS. Jesus! Via Crooked Timber, I also learn that one hedge fund manager thinks most big US financial companies will be nationalised within a year – that is how bad the crisis is going to get. It’s like a socialist wet dream. Oh and Michael Jackson has apparently converted to Islam. WTF?
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Well GM hasnt collapsed yet, they might just bail them out and Citibank has been weak pretty much for most of this year, i’m surpised they’ve held out for so long.
The IMF are introducing more privatisation in Iceland and as part of the deal interest rates are up to 18%.
When the UK borrowing becomes unsustainable, will we see interest rates rise to 18% as part of a structural adjustment programme from the IMF…or will the IMF have collapsed.
No one knows but the IMF are still going for the old free market austerity programmes…
Very scary. The trader in me keeps thinking that an unprecedented share buying opportunity is upon us, but every time I think about pulling the trigger, I ask myself, ‘Do you feel lucky punk? Well do you?’ and I bottle it. Foolish to call the bottom in this equity market.
The policy response so far has been impressive but a deflationary tsunami lurks over the horizon. And if policy makers succeed in mollyfying that, there is the challenge of bringing fiscal deficits back down or risk a run on the pound and higher inerest rates.
Stay cautious over the long-term.
heard that one about micheal jackson when i was 5.
“we are f***ed”…well, yes, and, no.
“socialist wet dream”. No, no. You’re getting carried away here. As Derek Wall points out.
I remember a friend talking about Citibank months ago.
I wish people could be persuaded to engage in ethical ventures.
Maybe the Stock Market is tanking, and pirates are back on the high seas, but hopefully, this is behind us:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/21/191657/65/267/627232
I think it is worth remembering that the recent past was no bed of roses, either….
No, you are right. we are doomed.
oh dear is this a good choice for a weekend open thread?
let’s look at the bright side – an unprecedented opportunity for change!
You’re right Dougie, a bit of perspective please! Nice link.
sonia @ 8,
Yup. I was beginning to think this site had shut up shop for the weekend. Did you look at my link to the the Ozymandious post? I thought it was very powerful, and hopefully behind us all.
Anyway.
“What’s green and sings?”
“Frank Snottra.”
You are right, as usual
. We really need a proper weekend thread again.
Have they taken our smileys away? This is just too po faced.
El Cid,
It’s a Kos post.
Frankly I am gobsmacked at the combination of old words and new images.
Ozymandious is one of the very few poems I know all the way through.
I never, ever, thought it could speak to us so directly.
More fool me.
Whoever did that mash up is a genius.
Hope it goes viral.
“let’s look at the bright side – an unprecedented opportunity for change!”
Really? Woah! What’s happened?
Ben
In 2001 a journalist called Bethany McLean published an article in Fortune Magazine called, simply, ‘Is Enron Overpriced?’
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/13/news/companies/enronoriginal_fortune/index.htm
It is well worth a read as it bottoms out an awful lot if issues that we see seven years hence.
The wider question is how has the collective mindset been convinced that a faux market can be created for everything – but that is a question that needs to be taken up with the voters as much as anything else.
Derek Wall – Sorry, are you suggesting that Iceland was a socialist nirvana prior to this year and that the big bad IMF has brought down the socialist land of milk and honey? That country has been a rogue state for three decades.
Fear not – families will be up to a massive £10 better off per week with Brown’s VAT cut to 15%.
Watch out for the Conservatives’ tax bombshell campaign on a bill board near you
Iceland a rogue state? Isn’t that rather over-egging the pudding?
Rogue state is a term applied by some international theorists to states considered threatening to the world’s peace. This means meeting certain criteria, such as being ruled by authoritarian regimes that severely restrict human rights, sponsor terrorism, and seek to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_state
I love how the ‘Michael Jackson converts to Islam’ story pops up on average about once-a-year and then dissappears into the annals of news history.
The words ‘news’ ’slow’ and ‘day’ come to mind..
re economy: Soros predicted so much of this, and still claims it will get worse. I don’t know if it’s a socialist’s wet dream through. If ever they had an opportunity to present an alternative argument, now is the time, and yet they have appear to have nothing of substance to say at all.
Don – Iceland is the country that sent gun boats to attack fishing vessels in the name of international law it made up itslef. In the process it devastated places like Hull and Grimsby.
Iceland grew fat on the back of a wildly inflated currency it steadfastly refused to reign in, in the process distorting the global fincance market. Essentially, Iceland allowed a cowboy financial sector to grow unchecked. Later of course this is the country whose central bank more or less said that it would not offer to foreign investors the guarantees it offered to Icelanders.
Iceland is also the country that would not put its shoulder to the European wheel.
OK, maybe it does not meet the current day defintion around sponsoring terror. But Iceland has has a devil may care attitude and for them to moan about Britain not helping them was a level of gall that I would not have believed had I not heard it. I gather that the level of investments in Icelandic banks amounted to each UK citizen giving each Icelandic citizen £16,000. Exactly how much help do these people want?
Essentially, Iceland allowed a cowboy financial sector to grow unchecked.
No argument there, but I think we’re over the cod wars. It was a long time ago and, AFAIK, no-one died.
…would not put its shoulder to the European wheel. Their call, as a democracy. They doubtless have their reasons to value independance very highly.
Irresponsible maybe, but not rogue by any definition.
if there is any light in the gloom it is that the decreased consumer spending is probably good for the environment
Investment and bad investors. Not “help” and “rogue state”.
let’s invade Iceland in our free time! its not like they’ll put up any resistance. Who’s with me dammit??
Lucky Iceland.
Heh Sunny.
Yes – well, fair enough. I suppose it is Iceland’s choice to go cap-in-hand to Russia too. Still, I suppose that Medvedev and his boss won’t be too nice about them falling into arrears. Sunny (21) – that sounds like somehing that Medvedev and his boss would think to me, looking at Georgia!
Incidentally, my comment about the European wheel very deliberately avoided European Union. Iceland’s pitiful exceptionalism led directly to cowboy regulations and may well drag Europe further down. If the Icelanders want to go down the toilet with their independence, that’s fair enough. I just want my money back first.
Unless you are suggesting it is ok for states to take money in good faith and not give it back.
Send Furio.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TfHE2-ezilU&feature=related
I say we invade Iceland and then do Belgium. All these piddly little countries just add to the confusion of geography. And on top of that they add nothing to the world. INVADE!!!
I had a friend from Belgium once. I mean, she’s still a friend… I used to love teasing her by saying I’d invade Belgium if I had some free time. Hehe. They still can’t form a bloody govt! shame.
one guy on zakarias GPS today was warning things were gonna get worse for england..going as far as calling britain greater iceland when the s**t hits the fan..
On a happier note, my Conspiracy Theory Generator has provided some good news, namely that America is changing for the better already.
Now, it’s no secret (well it is, we’re talking about the secret service here) that the CIA always tell the new president things that involve being an enemy to Islam while treating the hub of Islam, Saudi Arabia, as allies because they have money and, like Mr Krabbs from Spongebob Squarepants says, the only thing lovelier than money is more money.
Anyhoo, so they go up to Obama with lots of ideas to hurt Islam without offending Arabs, but Obama rejects them all.
‘But,’ protests the CIA, ‘If we don’t do something for the Arabs while being seen to damage the USA in some small way, they’re not going to give us money.’
Obama thinks long and hard and says: ‘I know. Force them to get Michael back into the studio…’
Wheee!!! Anti-Icelandic racism! My Observers Book of Bigots will soon have a tick on every page. Anybody here hate the Andorrans?
Oh and Michael Jackson has apparently converted to Islam. WTF?
If true, the Moslems of the world have my profound sympathy.
chris I was going to accept your sympathy ..but luckily he has denied it..thank Allah we have enough of an image problem!
Anyone else think those adverts on the right are a getting more and more pornographic??
It’s got that I can’t view PP at work now because scrolling past that will mean a lot of explaining (we have 20 inch wide screen monitors at work so you can imagine how big the image is!)…!
Then maybe you should stop staring at them. Um, I mean her. Er, I mean that sofa, which does look very comfortable.