Global financial system implosion begins

[Barking_Mad]

I notice Obama's first trip abroad is to Canada.

*strokes chin*

Nothing to do with the single north american currency theory......?

 

[spring-peeper]

I notice Obama's first trip abroad is to Canada.

*strokes chin*

Nothing to do with the single north american currency theory......?

nope

 

[elbows]

Fuck me it's like an avalanche of bad economic news... every day...

Bank bail-out 'could send national debt soaring by £1.5trillion'

Yeah. A lot of it isnt quite news though, most of what we've seen has been expected for some time. There have been some shocks along the way, but most of it has felt like an inevitable slide. I certainly woudnt claim to have heard much good news, although I think maybe the job losses and company closures are happening a little more slowly than anticipated. Likewise the fever about sterling collapsing at the turn of the year has somewhat stalled, although that seems to be due to perception of Europe & the USAs situation getting worse, rather than the prospects of the UK looking any better.

 

[Barking_Mad]

New applications for unemployment benefits totaled 627,000 last week, the same as the previous week, according to the department. But that was still more than the 620,000 claims economists expected.

It also remained near the 631,000 claims filed three weeks ago, which was the highest tally since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a steep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then. A year ago, initial claims stood at 342,000.

The four-week average for claims rose to 619,000 last week, up from 608,500 the previous week which was the first time the figure had topped 600,000 during the economic downturn.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090219/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

 

[Barking_Mad]

LOL

 

[Barking_Mad]

2 mins in to this C-Span piece.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Recession reduces total tax paid (UK)

The recession has led to a £7bn fall in the amount of tax paid in January by individuals and businesses, official figures show

 

[Barking_Mad]

Brown - "The world has been laid low by an economics hurricane nobody could have predicted".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Channel 4 news reporting severity of economic problems but stressing, "It could not have been foreseen", by a Deutsche Bank knob and Digby Jones.......

 

[Barking_Mad]

Gold over last month

 

[Barking_Mad]

German bond sale’s fate signals trouble ahead

By David Oakley in London

Published: January 7 2009 13:30 | Last updated: January 7 2009 20:45

A German sovereign bond auction failed on Wednesday as investors shunned one of the most liquid and safe assets in the world in a warning for governments seeking to raise record amounts of debt to stimulate slowing economies.

The fate of the first eurozone bond auction of 2009 signals trouble ahead as governments around the world hope to issue an estimated $3,000bn in debt this year, three times more than in 2008.

 

[yield]

German bond sale’s fate signals trouble ahead

A more recent FT article.

German 10-year Bund auction fails for second successive time.
FT.com February 12 2009

It was the second successive failure this year of a 10-year Bund auction - usually one of the most sought-after - as demand fell 20 per cent short of the €6bn (£5.4bn) the German government wanted.

 

[joe_infinity]

is anyone else cheering this on?

 

[Crispy]

is anyone else cheering this on?

No, I like having a job.

 

[joe_infinity]

No, I like having a job.

really? You enjoy contributing to a system that is entirely based around a denial of reality? do you wake up on Mondays, jump out of bed and start singing "oh what a wonderful morning"?

what is the point earning money when the entire financial system is built on quicksand? this was BOUND to happen sooner or later, we have been living on borrowed time for almost a century

 

[peacepete]

i think the worry a lot of people have is that the unreality of the system is the denial that this would happen, and that /this/ is the removal of the means of survival for the working classes (a group of people i feel we are about to find out is much bigger than many people thought)

the means of survival for the working classes is of course money, the means by which we access everything we need: food, housing, transport, power (heating/electricity).

our access to money, and subsequently to everything else, is being taken away from us at breakneck speed.

expect carnage - and no, it won't be televised!

 

[Dr Jon]

See also:

Is Economic Recovery Even Possible on a Planet Headed for Environmental Collapse?

 

[Crispy]

really? You enjoy contributing to a system that is entirely based around a denial of reality? do you wake up on Mondays, jump out of bed and start singing "oh what a wonderful morning"?

what is the point earning money when the entire financial system is built on quicksand? this was BOUND to happen sooner or later, we have been living on borrowed time for almost a century

Yes I understand, but my emotions are: anger, fear and frustration, not joy.

 

[Jasef]

really? You enjoy contributing to a system that is entirely based around a denial of reality? do you wake up on Mondays, jump out of bed and start singing "oh what a wonderful morning"?

what is the point earning money when the entire financial system is built on quicksand? this was BOUND to happen sooner or later, we have been living on borrowed time for almost a century

Please point out a better financial system which scales better than capitalism. Ta. For extra points: Please provide examples where possible, rather than just visions of star-trek utopia...

Gotta love the "this was BOUND to happen sooner or later". So why didnt tyou tell us this 5 years ago ? And if so, why didnt you say it louder !?

 

[Barking_Mad]

Please point out a better financial system which scales better than capitalism. Ta. For extra points: Please provide examples where possible, rather than just visions of star-trek utopia...

Gotta love the "this was BOUND to happen sooner or later". So why didnt tyou tell us this 5 years ago ? And if so, why didnt you say it louder !?

Lots of people were saying this - they were just being ignored.

 

[joe_infinity]

Please point out a better financial system which scales better than capitalism. Ta. For extra points: Please provide examples where possible, rather than just visions of star-trek utopia...

there is nothing better than capitalism, it is going to starve everybody, and that is why i am cheering this whole thing on

Gotta love the "this was BOUND to happen sooner or later". So why didnt tyou tell us this 5 years ago ? And if so, why didnt you say it louder !?

because there would have been no point whatsoever, many theorists have been pointing out the fact that the western world was completely unsustainable, and they were all completely ignored, no matter how loud they said it. And now everybody is slowly beginning to realise what they were saying all along, that this emperor is stark naked but it's FAR too late now of course, we're all fucked

 

[Divisive Cotton]

LOL

 

[Dr Jon]

Lots of people were saying this - they were just being ignored.

Yes, in fact lots of people have been saying this since at least the early 1970's. They were slagged off as commies, hippies or mad for daring to challenge consumer capitalism and the ever-accelerating race to turn the Earth's natural resources into garbage.

Now we've reached the end of the line and the pillars of capitalism are crumbling under a wave of realisation that our whole way of life is fundamentally unsustainable. People are complaining that they weren't warned: maybe they should have paid a bit more attention, instead of preoccupying themselves with "reality" TV and soap operas?

Politicians and bankers are pleading that this was totally unforeseen: they're fucking liars. As I've said, this situation has been predicted for at least the past 30 years, but none of the lying, greedy, useless fuckers took any notice.

It's enough to make you take drugs...

 

[SpookyFrank]

Is Economic Recovery Even Possible on a Planet Headed for Environmental Collapse?

Short answer: probably not. And if things do recover they'll only go even more wrong in a decade or so.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Politicians and bankers are pleading that this was totally unforeseen: they're fucking liars. As I've said, this situation has been predicted for at least the past 30 years, but none of the lying, greedy, useless fuckers took any notice.

Gordon Brown was on the news just yesterday saying those very words; "no-one could have forseen...". Given how much Brown knows about economics he's either lying or he's really, really stupid. Infinite growth, finite resources. You don't need to be prime minister to figure out that that particular equation doesn't have a good result. What we have seen up to now is a classic emperor's new clothes scenario, and all those politicians with a position of influence and a public voice who chose to pretend that all was rosy and always would be should be fucking well ashamed.

 

[frogwoman]

the communist manifesto now seems more relevant than ever.

 

[Dr Jon]

... What we have seen up to now is a classic emperor's new clothes scenario, and all those politicians with a position of influence and a public voice who chose to pretend that all was rosy and always would be should be fucking well ashamed.

Not just ashamed, but publicly beaten and eviscerated...

 

[goebfwai]

Bloomberg: Roubini Says Europe's Banking System Faces Growing Risks
http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?clipSRC=mms://media2.bloomberg.com/cache/vcQ6.Dc03xzM.asf

A discussion about the economy
with Mark Zandi, Nouriel Roubini, Fred Mishkin and Nina Easton
in Business
on Wednesday, February 18, 2009
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10090

 

[Idris2002]

the communist manifesto now seems more relevant than ever.

Uncle Charlie . . . he was with us in the good times, and the bad.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Malaysia's exports fallen by 35%.