Northern Rock proved that “irresponsible” lending is dangerous game for banks to play. If a bank has too many debtors who are over-extended, then it leaves itself wide open to punishment if suddenly the economic climate cools. In America, where mortgages are traded between banks and investors like coffee beans, bad debts have created a […]
John Band has an interesting post here.
He claims that, despite the almost-constant media doom-mongering, the sky is not falling in on the UK’s economy. He makes a few valid points about like-for-like sales against the actual takings on the high street: -
It’s partly due to misleading reporting, of course. Hands up who read this morning’s […]
Those Parisians have extinguished the Olympic flame.
Twice.
Apparently is was so that the torch could escape protesters and be hidden on a bus. Things are getting nasty, as we saw in London, where the pocket-sized Konnie Huq was mugged by pro-Tibet protesters.
No doubt these campaigners will watch themselves on the news tonight. On their Chinese-made […]
From the IHT: -
Global shares fell Wednesday as burgeoning U.S. mortgage loan problems and soft economic data provoked fears that the world’s largest economy may enter a recession and drag down smaller economies with it.
[…]
Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $9.83 billion. The biggest loss on record for […]
Robert Toomey, an analyst at E K Riley Investments in Seattle: -
“They’re going to have to slow the rate of new store openings - definitely in the US and perhaps overseas as well. It goes back to the issues of a diluted experience and a saturated market.”
Finally, the Starbuckization of the high street may slow. […]
The GOP has campaigned for the last decade on a platform of faith. Strategist Karl Rove famously mobilised millions of Evangelicals in the 2000 and 2004 elections, a faithful who were happy to put their X next to the born-again W.
Now it seems the Republicans have played the faith card a little too often. The […]
There is an article by Naomi Klein in today’s Guardian about the private industry start-ups that deal with disaster aid in the United States. In theory, there is no justifiable reason why people shouldn’t have access to “country-club†style if things go pear-shaped, but when you see the thousands who were abandoned by the federal […]
In a pre-budget statement, the Chancellor Alistair Darling has hijacked Tory plans to slash inheritance tax.
Naturally, the Tories are apoplectic. Iain Dale has even dug up a load of Labour quotes from yesteryear. Te hehe.
Sphere: Related Content
From today’s Independent: -
The Government and the Bank of England have been under increasing pressure over the crisis at Northern Rock. Bankers and economists have criticised the Bank of England’s hardline stance on not providing support for financial institutions, and opposition MPs have tried to pin the blame on the Prime Minister for his stewardship […]
Mike Power responds to Tim Worstall: -
…for many people out there work means long hours on piss-poor wages (the sort of workers who look after 103 year-old Esme, for instance) and the idea that they are in a position during their working lives to save for their old age and should only receive welfare support […]
Are the wheels coming off the iTunes bandwagon?
Apple of course has committed itself to ridding its music of DRM, and of course the music corps don’t like it. Pony-tailed, music execs types (AKA wankers) have been fleecing us for decades, so now they hate the fact that their precious slush-fund has been crocked. Don’t get […]
Reports that China has overtaken the US as the world’s biggest CO2 polluter should give us pause for thought.
China has become the largest manufacturer in the world, but they don’t produce primarily for their home market, they sell their wares globally. So when you buy cheap products from your local supermarket (i.e. that £25 […]
I don’t unequivocally support Gordon Brown for the leadership of The Labour Party. Of course critics could claim that this is predictable. After all, it’s easy to sit outside the tent throwing shit at it, than it is to pin your loyalties to the leader, and defend his policies against the inevitable groundswell […]
