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Derivatives tripped up regulators: Geithner

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pushing the Obama administration's plans to regulate the exotic and opaque derivatives market, something that's long overdue. Let's face it, the US Government wasn't even aware of how serious a problem it's been. Associated Press rep...

Neverland's future: up for grabs

So what's going to happen now with Neverland? It would have to be flogged. Here's why. The only thing that kept Michael Jackson from bankruptcy was his half ownership of the copyrights to The Beatles catalogue. He owned them in a joint venture with record company Sony. But with his liab...

It's getting tougher to get a mortgage-broker license

It's harder to become a mortgage broker these days. Of course, it seems like an ever dwindling people want to be mortgage brokers today. Maybe, then, it's an example of everything working out the way it's supposed to. It's fairly obvious why there are fewer mortgage brokers out ther...

Will California drag down the United States?

California has entered the new financial year in crisis with a budget deficit of $26.3 billion, up from $24.3 billion, because of the ineptitude of the legislature in missing a deadline and political incompetence of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The state has an unemployment rate of 11.5%, hig...

Beware the China bubble

Worrying signs are emerging from China with reports that we are seeing the creation of an asset price bubble in that market. There was 4.57 trillion yuan (or about $US670 billion) of new lending pouring into the market but most of that was on speculative assets, not the real economy. Fitch Ra...

Dragging out the foreclosure mess

It's difficult to imagine the stress that homeowners feel when their home falls into foreclosure. Losing your home is a sign that you failed. You couldn't cut it. And now you and your family have been booted out of your home. It's humiliating. It's painful. And these days, fore...

Bankers' pay soars despite crisis

It's hard to believe but bankers are now raking in enormous bonuses despite the global financial crisis. The Financial Times reports that Merrill Lynch, UBS and Citigroup are actually cranking up pay for investment bankers to stop them leaving. Market rates for bankers have been running c...

Mafia cashes in on crisis

Fascinating story in the Financial Times about how the Mafia has been cashing in on the financial crisis with two apparently "Japanese" men bringing $134 billion worth of fake Treasury bills into Switzerland. The men were questioned by Italian police who subsequently let them go. Sur...

Do you trust the government to protect you from mortgage lenders?

Do you have faith that the government can protect you and other borrowers from bad mortgage loans pushed by shady mortgage lenders? If you answered "yes" to this question, you'll be happy to know that the Obama administration is pushing for the creation of a new consumer agency d...

Does Obama's patchwork overhaul go far enough?

President Obama has announced the most sweeping reforms of the financial services in 70 years. The reforms are to be applauded and are long overdue. But are they enough? Can they be undone or jettisoned? Will they stick? I have two problems with the changes. First, they do nothing to stop the...

How MySpace fell behind

When Rupert Murdoch acquired MySpace four years ago for $580 million, there were questions whether the septuagenarian media baron would kill the Internet site's phenomenal popularity. Now, the latest figures suggest that might have happened. The latest figures, reported here , showing ComS...

By Boe Jewelry

Designer Fashion Jewelry Cult jewelry and accessories brand by boe is the product of partners in life and work - Annika Salame (Designer/Creative Director) and Philippe Salame (CEO). A favorite of the fashion and style media, by boe jewelry has been worn by celebrities such as Cameron Diaz , O...

Rental Rates for that House at the Beach this Summer are Down

If you're thinking of renting a place this summer as part of your vacation, the NY Times says you should be very happy with the price you get in the current market - and it might pay you to shop around. And up and down the East Coast, those who rent out vacation properties are wondering about ...

Banks to face more stress tests

Last month, I did a blog entry questioning the bank stress tests, pointing out that the bar had been set too low. At the time, I raised the question of whether the tests had been put in place to stop the panic, not to fix the banks. More a political ploy than anything else. Now, the Congressi...

Subprime and racism

One of the things that has disturbed me the most about the subprime crisis is the impact it's had on the African American and Hispanic communities, and the way banks had targeted these people for predatory and toxic loans. As Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro wrote in The American Prospect ...

Jewelry Sale at Shopbop.com

Designer Jewelry Sale Since its launch in 2000, shopbop.com has become one of the leading web-based women's apparel and accessories retailers. Originally conceived as the online offshoot of the Madison, Wisconsin-based boutique Bop, shopbop.com is considered a one-stop shopping destinatio...

Banks fight to keep accounting tricks

US accounting standard setters might be tightening the rules for banks, forcing them to take off balance sheet toxic vehicles on to their books but don't expect the banks to take that lying down. Up until now, the banks had kept assets and liabilities including mortgages and credit-card re...

In Search of a Cool Summer: Baguio, Philippines

Asia is hot in the summer. At least most of it is. But there are a few spots where the summer traveler can enjoy moderate, perhaps even cool, weather. Chief among those locations is Baguio City, Philippines. Baguio is referred to affectionately as the summer capital of the Philippines. The title...

Loan modifications not always helping homeowners

It's clear that the Obama administration wants to see fewer housing foreclosures. That makes sense: Housing foreclosures help no one. The banks certainly don't want these homes back. Foreclosures devastate families. And they weaken neighborhoods. Problem is, a key tenant of the administrati...

Linpus GM: Linux Netbooks to Hit 50 Percent Market Share This Year

Earlier this month, The Taipei Times' Elizabeth Tchii reported that Linpus Technologies general manager Stephen Lim "expects Linux-based netbooks to reach 50 percent market share by next year, on a par with Microsoft Inc.'s Windows platform." "As competition in the...

Cashing in on the disgust with banks

Last week, I did a blog entry looking at how banks were going to face more intense competition in the wash-up from this financial crisis. To put it bluntly, banks will be losing market share to such forces as peer-to-peer lending, Islamic finance, boutique advisory firms and retailers setting ...

Amali Jewelry

Handcrafted Fine Jewelry Amali designer Sara Freedenfeld discovered her passion for making jewelry while backpacking through South America. Sara launched her company, Amali, in the spring of 2006, and has quickly become a favorite among celebrities . Most recently, Amali Jewelry adorned Tyra B...

Financial crisis winners to hurt banks

Who are the big winners coming out of this financial crisis? And how will they threaten to destroy banks? The Economist identifies four big winners that will decimate the banking sector. These include the advisory boutiques which are cashing in on the banks destroying their reputations and da...

Why stricter laws won't work

The problem with bringing in stricter laws to fix the banking system is that it turns good behavior into a matter of compliance. As economist John Kay writes, that stricter rules can never replace integrity and that they only result in people finding ways to circumvent them. "Regulation b...

Downturn easing without recovery

On one hand, we have billionaire financier George Soros saying that all the stimulus packages are starting work and that the financial crisis is easing. He predicts that Asia will be the first to emerge out of the crisis, and that China will overtake the United States as the world's growth...

Credit card losses to hit banks

Obama's battle to overhaul the credit card industry and rein in their exploitative practices is likely to turn into a sideshow when you take a look at the impact that credit card losses will have on the US economy and US banks. Credit card debt is the ticking time bomb for banks, says the...

Lasche US-Bankenaufsicht: Sexy Banks in transparent Pants

  © markhillary Da hilft nur noch Humor! Und den liefert Tobias Bayer scharf wie Tabasco-Sauce in seinem Kommentar am 7. Mai 2009 in der financial times deutschland: "Was fehlt in der gesamten Kreditkrise, ist eine Regierung, die mit eitlen, aktionsarmen Lustspielchen aufhört. Das b...

No recovery yet

Is the US economy on its way to recovery or not? Some would point to the results of the bank stress tests as a green shoot with 10 of the 19 largest banks needed to boost their capital by a combined total just shy of $75 billion. Not as much as many expected, prompting officials and industry ex...

Bankroll blues

Two alarming reports, both from the Centre for Public Integrity , show how entrenched the banks are in the political system and how close they are to politicians. Is it any wonder the US Government won't crack down on them? First comes its report showing that that the top 25 originators ...

Testing stress tests

And so The Wall Street Journal reports that 10 of the 19 banks undergoing stress tests will have to boost their capital and that list might include Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup. The fundamental question is not just whether those banks are solvent. It's whether the stress test...

The next accounting battle

If you thought fair value was an almighty bun fight, you ain't seen nothing yet. The International Accounting Standards Board is tackling off balance sheet vehicles that have destroyed so much wealth and the Financial Accounting Standards Board plans to put out new rules for the United S...

Folic Acid May Help Against Asthma and Allergies

© Mrs. W. A new study reviewing the medical records of more than 8,000 people ages 2 to 85 revealed that blood levels of folate, the naturally occurring form of folic acid, appears to be negatively correlated with asthma and allergies . People with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE ...

Top Sights in Dublin

Bernd Biege has an excellent piece online about Dublin's top attractions. Even if you have just one day in Dublin, make sure not to miss any of the Top Ten Sights! Most are within easy reach of the city center or will be part of a bus tour. Top of the list? Trinity College, founded in 1592 by ...

Nouriel Roubini: we're not even at the bottom yet

Anyone who thinks we have seen the worst of the recession should think again. Dr Doom, Nouriel Roubini says we haven't even hit the bottom yet. In this interview with Newsweek , Roubini says the economists who are talking about "green shoots" have it wrong. The market, he says, i...

Big bonuses at imploding banks

The banks are imploding but that hasn't stopped the bankers raking in massive bonuses. Just what they're being rewarded for is anyone's guess. The New York Times reports that six of the biggest banks set aside over $36 billion in the first quarter to pay their employees. This is s...

One more step to bank nationalization

While the Federal Reserve says most US banks are well capitalized and will be okay in these stress tests, chances are the public and investors will still have to confront the n-word. Nationalization is on its way. Read carefully between the lines of this otherwise bland New York Time piece ...

Dangerous economic optimism

While some say the global economy is going to pick up and the signs are looking good, the train is a long way down the track. In fact, the optimism might even be dangerous. Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff has told Reuters that the US, Britain, Spain and Ireland won't recover all their gr...

Another sucker's rally

Should we read anything into the gyrations of the Dow Jones industrial average? Should we take heart when the market starts trading higher? If the experts are right, it's just a sucker's rally. As Dr Doom, Nouriel Roubini told Steve Forbes in this interview , the extent of the contract...

TARP fraud investigations

Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at how the TARP cop Neil Barofsky bemoaning the lack of accountability for the bailout funds being put up by US taxpayers. Clearly, the system is open to fraud and now we have the Los Angeles Times telling us of criminal probes into possibl...

How a nut case blogger fooled the market

I really don't know what drives US markets sometimes. Today we had a Bloomberg report where US Treasury was called in to deny a blog report that 16 of the 19 banks being stress tested are insolvent. That report contributed to falls in the US market, although some poor company results d...

Back door bank nationalisation

Earlier this year, I did a blog entry looking at how the Obama administration was opening the door to nationalizing banks where the US government is repaid with common stock giving it a stake in the business. Now the New York Times reports that the US Government is now moving in this directio...

Is the US becoming like Russia?

Is the United States becoming like Russia? Yes, that's the case says MIT management professor Simon Johnson. His piece in the Atlantic Monthly argues that the finance industry has effectively captured the US government. "Wall Street is a very seductive place, imbued with an air of po...

Recession: neither the beginning of the end or end of the beginning

Last week, we saw President Obama expressing some guarded optimism with the US economy and declaring that there were "glimmers of hope". that coincides with economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal saying they expect the recession to end in September although unemployment wi...

The great economic cover up

First, we had Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke talking about "green shoots" and how the recession will come to an end this year. Now we have Lawrence Summers, director of the White House's National Economic Council saying that the economic disaster will come to an end in t...

The Panic of 2008-09

The financial crisis is more than just a global recession. It's a Panic, according to Kevin Warsh , a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In a speech to the Council of Institutional Investors, Warsh compares the conditions to the Panics of 1837, 1857, 1873, 18...

Bailout funds sink without a trace

Last week, I did a blog entry bemoaning the lack of oversight into the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailouts. Some of the banks have not been able to say where the money has gone. Now, the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has come out with a neat item tallying up the TARP ...

Fake Accounting Standards Board strikes again

As if last week's ruling the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which I have renamed the Fake Accounting Standards Board, wasn't bad enough. The FASB has ruled that companies can use their own judgement in assessing what an asset's worth under fair value, which in effect me...

Giving banks permission to lie

More fallout from the Financial Accounting Standard Board's latest attempt to make the banks happy. From now on, it should be called the Fake Accounting Standards Board. As Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital writes , the FASB's decision allowing companies to use their own j...

G20 and FASB: the banks win again

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown might proclaim the G20 summit as the beginning of a "new world order" but the reality is the financial crisis will be around for some time yet. Don't get too worked up about markets' celebrating the trillion dollar G20 deal. It's a suck...

Revisiting FAS 157, Again

Back in January we reported on how changes to FAS 157 were putting a hurt on financial institutions and many businesses. Now those rules are being softened, according to BusinessWeek . After intense pressure from lawmakers and some factions of the financial industry, the Financial Accounting Stan...

Bailouts total $3 trillion with no oversight

In testimony to the US Senate Finance Committee, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky there were $3 trillion worth of bailout programs, the equivalent of an entire agency or three just to stop the US financial system from going up in smoke, and ...

A good crisis for George Soros

George Soros is having a very good crisis. When the wheels started coming off in 2007, Soros came out of semi-retirement and took back control of his Quantum investment fund. By year's end, Quantum was up almost 32%, delivering Soros profits of $US2.9 billion. His fortune of $11 billion is n...

US dollar under fire

Economist and forecaster Harry S Dent has predicted that over the next twenty years, the US dollar will lose its power as the world's reserve currency . He reckons the the premier currency in Asia will have a leading reserve function to sit along side the US dollar and Euro by 2030. With...

Why Geithner's plan won't work

So Timothy Geithner outlines his plan to save the US financial system this morning in The Wall Street Journal . in that piece, he unveils the Public Private Investment Program which will use US Treasury Capital and financing from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a...

Executive pay and shareholder greed

The International Herald Tribune reports that Barack Obama is about to give itself increased oversight of executive pay at banks and Wall Street firms. The new rules, it's said, are likely to tie pay more closely to performance and one would expect shareholders will get more say. Companies...

AIG witch hunts: the new McCarthyism

Some of the most disturbing reports now coming out of the US tell us that AIG employees are now living in fear. Now we're told employees have been told to avoid sporting the company logo and to travel in pairs at night. Bomb sniffer dogs and body guards are in demand. As the Hartford Cou...

Global recession: no co-ordination, no end.

There will be no turnaround this year, or next if the latest International Monetary Fund report is anything to go by. The IMF says global GDP has fallen by an unprecedented 5% in the fourth quarter and that we are headed for a global recession with activity now projected to contract by ½ to 1%...

Accounting reshuffle

What happens when you are not happy with the accounting rule-makers? Bring in a new one. That seems to be the proposal from Edward L. Yingling from the American Bankers' Assocation. He has recommended replacing the Financial Accounting Standards Board with a "systemic regulator"...

Squeezing accounting independence

The rule maker for accounting standards is coming under pressure again. Once more the Europeans are putting the heat on the International Accounting Standards Board to change the rules and let the banks hide their losses. The trouble is the IASB has already compromised its independence and cou...

The bear is bouncing

Forget the irresponsible headline in Forbes, Tide Turns For Wall Street following this week's solid trading figures. Maybe they should have a cold shower, or at least check the fundamentals. This is a bounce, not a rally. We still have the problem of the credit crisis and zombie banks, no...

Interview with Warren McGregor, IASB board member

I recently had a chat with Warren McGregor who is a member of the International Accounting Standards Board . Here is the interview. SOX FIRST: Last year, the IASB got rolled by the Europeans and was forced to change the rules to help banks avoid taking a hit. Are you still coming under press...

Bank nationalisation on its way

Whether you call it restructuring or nationalization, it's a play on words. The banks will have to be taken over to restore them back to health. As Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf says, "nationalisation" is just a synonym for restructuring. And when people say nationalisat...

Don't count on China

Stocks around the world have risen in the hope that China will build on its efforts to restore growth. That's in response to Chinese premier Wen Jiabao pledging that China will hit its 8% growth target. But let's just get real here. China is not going to get us out of this mess ...

Supply chain video: Managing Supply Chain in a Tough Economy (Part 2)

This is the second part of the video from Rob Handfield, Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University. In this part he talks about the results of the survey the recently did among supply chain managers. The statistics from their survey shows 60% of companies plan to keep t...

James Galbraith: Obama not solving the financial crisis

Barack Obama's rescue package won't fix the problem, says economist James K Galbraith . In his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, reported here , Galbraith says the problem is worse than what's portrayed and that all the Treasury plan would do would be to preserv...

Auto catastrophe

When are they going to take this company off life support? General Motors has lost billions more than we expected with its latest result . The question is whether the funds from the US Government keeping the company going is throwing good money after bad. There is a structural shift going on i...

Blind over-optimistic analysts

Why do the analysts and forecasters keep getting it so wrong? Going from the predictions, you can see they haven't yet twigged that things are a lot worse than they're making out. The situation is even worse when you consider that regulators are coming from the same direction. That'...

The vagueness of Obama

Obama's first speech to the joint session of Congress failed to ease the market's concerns about the recession and the outlook of the banking sector. The problem with the speech was that it was just too short on detail. As CFO.com reports , it was just too vague on important issues li...

The Bernanke-Obama dance

Write it down, store it away and let's take a look at it next year. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says the US recession could end in 2009 and recover in 2010. That, of course, is assuming that the White House's latest bail-out will unblock lending to households and businesses. ...

Another step to nationalization?

Is Obama clearing the way for the nationalization of US banks? Look carefully at the joint statement put out this week by Treasury, FDIC, OCC, OTS and the Federal Reserve. "Any government capital will be in the form of mandatory convertible preferred shares, which would be converted int...