November 2008

Citigroup Throws a Bone to Homeowners

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Citigroup to stop some foreclosures and renegotiation some terms.

I guess they are jumping the gun in hopes the rules are not set down by the government.

It's $20 Billion, about 500,000 mortgages. Do these numbers not add up to you? Me either.

Will we see any transparency to prove they are really helping and renegotiating terms? Good question.

GM just lost an insurer

I saw this article, not good news at all for the auto maker.  Reminds me of how recently, before Circuit City went kaput, Sony ordered all of it's products en route to their stores to return back. 

 

Euler Hermes Cancels Insur For GM, Ford Suppliers -Sources

FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Credit insurer Euler Hermes (425403.FR) has canceled insurance protection for suppliers of General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Co. (F) , two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

According the sources, deliveries from the suppliers weren't covered by insurance in the last two weeks, as the risk of the car makers failing to pay them for deliveries is too high.

Instant Approval! You're Approved! American Express to Become Bank

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American express gets instant approval to become a bank and bypass the normal 30 day waiting period.

American Express Gets Fed Approval to Convert to Bank:

American Express Co. won Federal Reserve approval to convert to a commercial bank, gaining access to funds as credit losses build and sales of asset-backed bonds plummet.

The Fed waived a 30-day waiting period on the application ``in light of the unusual and exigent circumstances affecting the financial markets,'' according to a statement released today in Washington. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues unanimously voted for the action.

So American express is already to line up to the discount window and who wants to bet bail out money is sure to follow?

and indeed, buried within the article:

Manufacturing Monday: Week of 11.10.08

manmonday-logo

 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another installment of Manufacturing Monday. Today we are going to cover something that has been in the news lately, General Motors.  Well to be exact, the potential bankruptcy of GM, and what it could mean to you.  For many, this is a non-issue, who cares about another car company and a failing one at that?  But indeed, it may just be that a collapse of GM could be worse than that of Lehman Brothers and AIG.  Of course we'll cover, as always, the economic indicators for the past week and what they also mean.  So without further adieu, the Numbers!

 

 

The Numbers

How Enterprise Funds are Solutions to Infrasturcture and Bank Recap Issues

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Listen and read the commentary on the crisis and the themes of stimulus, bank crisis and the looming debt crisis of the U.S. budget and debt levels continually emerge. One side fears and frets the high U.S. debt level as it approaches 4 times Gross Domestic Product. The other side says we must continue to borrow and spend to stimulate GDP (see Lou Dobbs and Paul Krugman 11/7/2008). Some creative finance and sound accounting will go a long way to get us through the first part of the crisis.

AIG Wants Mo' Money

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Update: AIG Gets $40 Billion Stake:

In a record bailout of a private company, the government on Monday provided a new $150 billion financial-rescue package to troubled insurance giant American International Group, including $40 billion for partial ownership.

Who is starting to think the bail out is one big sink hole?

The Financial Times article, AIG in Talks for New Bail Out:

AIG is asking the US government for a new bail-out less than two months after the Federal Reserve came to the rescue of the stricken insurer with an $85bn loan, according to people close to the situation.

Fed Refuses to Tell Who They Gave $2 Trillion Dollars To

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Transparency? What transparency?

Bloomberg is now working on a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) just to find out who are the recipients of $2 trillion in taxypayer money.


Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose :

The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

Buddy can you spare a dime.

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They can stuff all the retraining they want into a 5 lb. sack; but until they create jobs, the unemployed are doomed.

For the first time in my entire life, I actually know people who are not only unemployed, but unemployed, in foreclosure, and filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. WTF!

Table D. States with statistically significant employment changes from September 2007 to September 2008, seasonally adjusted

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| September | September | Over-the-year
State | 2007 | 2008(p) | change(p)
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Arizona....| 2,670,700 | 2,611,500 | -59,200
Florida....| 8,014,500 | 7,899,000 | -115,500
Georgia....| 4,153,900 | 4,092,800 | -61,100
Michigan...| 4,249,500 | 4,171,600 | -77,900
Nebraska....| 965,800 | 978,600 | 12,800
Rhode Island....| 490,800 | 478,200 | -12,600
Texas....| 10,394,700 | 10,642,600 | 247,900
Wyoming.....| 290,100 | 298,300 | 8,200

"

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