Fannie Seeks $15 Billion in U.S. Aid After Ninth Straight Loss
Posted: 11/06/2009 04:07:39
Fannie Mae, which posted $101.6 billion in losses over the previous eight quarters, has already taken $44.9 billion in federal aid since April. Its shares, which peaked at $87.81 in December 2000, closed at $1.12 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
It appears that the ECB is set to hold an emergency meeting on the sovereign debt crisis that threatens to tear apart the EU. According to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet is leaving a Sydney summit of Central Bankers early in order to fly back to Europe for the emergency talks. He had been scheduled to stay in Sydney until Wednesday.
One of the less-reported events this weekend was the not so secret central banker meeting that is taking place in Sidney Australia. Now that factual details are finally emerging it is appropriate to collect some information tidbits about this shindig which has some claiming is reminiscent of a modern day version of the Jekyll Island meeting.
NEW YORK—Precious metals gained modestly Monday, recouping some of last week's sharp losses as investors saw the dip as an opportunity to buy the metals at bargain prices.
Allowing inflation to soar would reduce the real burden of the huge nominal debts that have been run up by Greece and other European countries. Of course, diluting the euro might be seen as a desperate remedy to these countries’ problems, but, as Straubhaar points out, there are no good options in this predicament.
We are in unchartered seas of international financial turmoil. The mega rich have no loyalty to anyone or anything. I know some of them, made one of them from scratch, and I assure you would put their mothers in a microwave for the right price. This is a financial world war taking place behind top secret meetings that are deciding our fate while not even knowing they are out of control.
Need proof the Chinese are piling into Gold? Here it is…only $2 Trillion more to diversify out out of fiat money…(Roubini Global Economics) CIC is heavily exposed to resources, especially metals and mining, consistent with the sector’s weight within China’s foreign assets. The share of gold alone is particularly noticeable.
(guardian.co.uk) Sir Richard Branson and fellow leading businessmen will warn ministers this week that the world is running out of oil and faces an oil crunch within five years. The founder of the Virgin group, whose rail, airline and travel companies are sensitive to energy prices, will say that the coming crisis could be even more serious than the credit crunch.
In this interview John discusses looming hyperinflation, staggering unemployment, the reality of the US economy, bottom bouncing and a weakening economy, the coming collapse of the US Dollar, ongoing downturn which is structural in nature, the Fed’s debasement of the Dollar, an intensifying great depression, insolvency in the banking system, the fact that so many states are in financial trouble and more.
“We should retaliate with an eye for an eye and sell arms to Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela,” declared Liu Menxiong, a member of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference. War pulled America out of the First Great Depression. It is only fitting that war will be the result of the Second one. The only problem is this one won't be won by America.
Did I miss much while staring at the Bali sea? Oh, the usual shop of horrors. The ghost of Osama bin Laden released a new audio hit blasting the US for global warming and inciting everyone to dump the US dollar (the ghost is right on both counts). Pakistani Taliban supremo Hakeemullah Mehsud may or may not have been blasted to bits by a US drone (who cares? His replacement is already in business). US President Barack Obama's surge duly proceeds as a Kill Bill-style killing spree on both sides of the AfPak border. TheCentral Intelligence Agency swears al-Qaeda will try another hit inside the US within the next six months. There was a corporate takeover of American democracy (so why not "elect" US politicians by auction, once and for all?) and neo-cons are now rehashing the mantra "Bomb, Bomb Iran" as the only way for Obama to save his presidency.
Remember the proverbial run on the bank? Well, that was the norm (or rather the outlier) before governments decided to backstop entire financial industries residing within their territory. As a result, the post-Lehman version of "the bank run" will henceforth be referred to as "the country run" and for an example of one in practice, look no further than Greece. TheGuardian reports that investors have pulled a stunning €8-10 billion since the Greek crisis commenced in earnest last November. If true, this is the beginning of the end for the troubled EMU-member country.
1. Bretton Woods was folded. 2. The floating exchange rate system is about to be folded. 3. By default or design we are going to a one-world currency and a one-world central bank of central banks. 4. For Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece or Spain to break off from the euro would be an expansion of the floating exchange rate system under present conditions. 5. There are presently 3 major currencies. That is the US dollar, the euro and gold. 6. The SDR was an attempt to form a single reserve currency that never took flight. 7. The SDR is an accounting unit made up of an index of currencies much like the USDX
Bretton Woods is taking place in the Arctic up towards the top of the world, and now down under. Markets fell on their respective asses, not for the reasons listed below, but for the MOPE about when the Fed will drain liquidity, Great Britain will cease QE, and maybe because of the experiments on whether the system can be drained. Consider the repeated Fed statements on draining, repo tactics and the halt of down under rate increases. The answer is international liquidity injected cannot in any practical way be drained. The operative word is PRACTICAL. Here comes the IMF as the one world central bank of central banks. It is sort of the fund of funds liquidity wise. Where is the next meeting, on the space station?
THE world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.
The credit rating of the United States is at risk, according to ratings agency Moody's. It's threatened to downgrade the countrys triple 'A' status, if the economy grows at a slower pace than expected.
very once in a great while, the market offers a unique opportunity to buy precious metals ‘on the cheap’. I believe today is one of those moments. There is ‘panic in the air’ and ‘blood in the streets’, which are conditions that open up unique opportunities. People who have used leverage to carry trading positions have been forced to sell their precious metals – throwing out the ‘baby with the bathwater’ – much like the panic that occurred after the Lehman Brothers collapse. The trigger this time though is not an over-leveraged investment bank, but rather, the sovereign debt of Greece and Spain.
Charlie Gasparino over at the Daily Beast points out a new development in the neverending Ken Lewis saga, which if true, may mark the beginning of the end of the pristine image of Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson:
1) Short the S&P vs Long Gold, in a 5 to 1 ratio. By gold Taleb means a basket of precious metals including gold.
2) Hyperinflation bet that could very well not work but if it does “you will never fly in a public jet again” He prefers to play this bet with way out of the money call options on both gold and silver.
3) His “no-brainer” trade is short US treasury bonds , Taleb cites current policy and Larry Summers in Davos
