News from around the web: 2009-12-01
- Morgan Stanley fears UK sovereign debt crisis in 2010 – Telegraph
- Goldman Staff Packing Pistols to Defend Against Peasants – Yves Smith
- FT.com | Willem Buiter’s Maverecon | Πάντα ῥεῖ (Mavercon is dead.)
- interfluidity – Good financial innovation: small business equity investing
- Felix Salmon – Buiter comments
- Will Consumption Growth Return to Its Pre-Recession Level? – CBS MoneyWatch.com
This points to a balance sheet recession which I fully expect but to date I have not seen enoughdata showing it in action. The savings rate in the household sector is still abysmally low. The chart here indicates that consumption growth is indeed faltering but so is nominal GDP.
- Economist’s View: Paul Krugman: The Jobs Imperative
- Default Swap Reforms Roiled as Aiful Tests Settlement – Bloomberg.com (hat tip reader Scott)
- The Party of No, Arnold Kling | EconLog
- When real is nominal and nominal real: the world of falling prices | The Japan Times Online
- Angela Merkel alarmed by worsening credit crisis – Telegraph
- HSBC warns over dip in commercial property sector – Telegraph
- British households repay record amount of debt in October – Telegraph
- China’s Wen Jiabao hits out at ‘brazen protectionism’ in yuan row with Europe – Telegraph
- The new Iceland? Greece fights to rein in debt
- BBC News – Greece acknowledges debt concerns
- BBC News – US Treasury in foreclosure fines
- Dubai authorities may be forced to put up Emirates airline as debt collateral
Distraction of the Day: Tiger Woods and the inexplicable late night accident
(video embedded above)
Swedbank won’t crash and burn in November so my prediction was a bit off. But here is some inside news for folks in the know. Swedbank just took out a rather large insurance policy on the real estate and other holdings in Latvia that are about to fall into their hands. The gent that brokered the deal is hoping and sweating he can pocket the commission within 30 days. That is the date when the Latvian holdings fall onto Swedbank’s balance sheet.They’ll be booking a massive loss. But I’ll wager it’ll be a fraction of the final number.My bet is they are hedging a pre-negotiated devaluation of the Lat currency. The whisper numbers are 15%. My best guess is the Latvian politicos will do an even 20%.And 20% is optimistic. Once they fall, the rest of Eastern Europe are so many dominoes…(Edward – your links don’t allow one to login. You may want to fix ’em).