|
Only 2 banks were closed this week according to the FDIC’s Friday announcements: Rainier Pacific Bank Carson River Community Bank In the Q4 FDIC report: For the full year, the number of reporting institutions fell from 8,305 to 8,012. Only 31 new charters were added in 2009, the smallest annual total since 1942. Mergers absorbed 179 institutions during the year, and 140 [...] UPDATE: GDP rises to 5.9% in Q4 from 5.7%! That makes me an economist. Today there was a lot of unexpected news. Unemployment claims increased by 22,000 last week and the culprit is … global warming. This was unexpected. Orders for durable goods fell 0.6%, the biggest drop since August. This was unexpected. Here is the report [...] Somehow Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan didn’t get the message from Team Obama about encouraging consumers to spend. As you know the Administration’s economic advisers see vigorous consumer spending as the solution for overcoming our recession. Consumer spending formerly represented 70% of the economy. Apparently the consumers are getting the message without Mr. Dugan’s help since personal savings [...] This was a big day for economic reports and the Case Shiller Q4 report, the Consumer Confidence Index, and the FDIC Q4 report came out with not-so-surprising results. Since I am occasionally accused of cherry-picking negative data, I wish to point out that the following is a report and analysis of the data as it [...] The core Consumer Price Index fell for the first time since 1982–0.1%–in January. Economists are lauding this deflation as a good thing on the theory that it gives the Fed more flexibility: in keeping interest rates low, as they have been doing, they don’t have to worry about inflation. I’m not sure what they mean [...] Here are the latest bank closings since my last post on this (January 15). There have been 20 closings in 2010. From FDIC: La Jolla Bank, FSB, La Jolla, CA From The OCC: The First National Bank of [...] Today the Fed announced that they are raising the discount rate, the rate at which banks can borrow emergency funds from the Fed, by 25 basis points, from 0.50% to 0.75%. They also raised the bid for the Term Auction Facility (TAF) loans, another emergency measure, from 0.25% to 0.50%. Also the term of primary [...] The word is out that the Fed will rely on money market funds to help sop up the “excess” liquidity created by the Fed’s record shattering explosion of credit. The Fed has been discussing it’s “exit strategy” ever since they pumped huge amounts of credit into the markets since mid-2008. The dilemma, in Ben Bernanke’s mind, [...]
Don’t panic, this hilarious piece is from The Onion: U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy ceased to function this week after unexpected existential remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shocked Americans into realizing that money is, in fact, just a meaningless and [...]
I read where the government claims that because Washington D.C. was practically shut down by Snowmageddon we taxpayers were losing $100 million per day from lost productivity of federal employees. Then in an unrelated matter I see where Evan Bayh announced he will not run for re-election as senator from Indiana because the [...] Several readers sent me this video on the IndyMac Bank blowup and how some Goldman Sachs alumni made a killing by buying assets of IndyMac from the FDIC. It alleged that the buyers had a floor guarantee from the FDIC that would cover the difference between the amount received on any foreclosure and [...] If you don’t watch John Stossel’s program on Fox Business Network, you should. It airs on Thursdays at 8:00 P.M. They re-broadcast several times through Sunday. Fox Business Network isn’t the same as the Fox News Network channel so you have to look for it. Check your local TV listing for the channel. Each week he [...] Apologies to Monty Python and all the lumberjacks out there, but when I read about protesters at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver I was wondering why anyone would violently protest the Olympics? Surely there are more important things to protest: the Rise of the Leviathan State, the Loss of Individual Liberties, the Useless Bailouts, and [...] Here is a link where you can view and download my complete “State of the Economy 2010” report as a PDF file. I loved this article from the New York Times on how the Old School real estate investors in New York are still standing, head and shoulders above most of their competitors after the blowout. They understand when to not chase a deal just to do a deal. Good advice right now. In NYC Real Estate Old Clans [...]
Here is the complete conversation I, the not-famous Econophile, had with the famous Martin Wolf, much lauded and awarded dean of economics writers and chief economics correspondent for the Financial Times. This is our second exchange and I have to admit I enjoy them. He drives me nuts, but I very much respect [...] This is Part III of my three part series on the state of the economy going into 2010. Part II appeared yesterday, and Part I appeared on Tuesday. This weekend I will combine the three parts into one downloadable PDF. The Consequences The Impact of Deleveraging The economy is still a mess [...] It didn’t take long for the Wall Street Journal and the government to catch up with The Daily Capitalist, which surprises me since they usually take much longer. But here’s yesterday’s headline, which came out after I published Part II of my “State of the Economy Part II” article on real estate, banking, and credit liquidity: “TARP Panel: [...] This is Part II of my three part series on the state of the economy going into 2010. Part I appeared yesterday, and Part III will appear tomorrow. This weekend I will combine the three parts into one downloadable PDF. The Importance of Debt The Fed, the Obama Administration, and a [...] |
||
|
Copyright © 2010 The Daily Capitalist - All Rights Reserved |
||