Nassim Taleb CNBC Interview

04-24-2009 • CNBC.com

“Complexity causes fragility,” he said. “You’re no longer riding a horse—you’re flying a Concorde. A horse doesn’t explode but a Concorde can have a problem. We now have a Concorde in our hands.”

Are banks really improving?

04-24-2009 • dailyfinance.com/

Meredith Whitney is quite worried about regional banks, saying they may struggle to pass government stress tests because of their commercial real estate investment. But it's not just regional banks she's concerned about. "I am staying aw

Ford shares rise on smaller-than-expected loss

04-24-2009 • Reuters

Ford Motor Co posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it was on track to at least break even in 2011 and did not expect to seek U.S. government loans, sending its shares up more than 22 percent.

Chrysler's Looming Red Tag Sale: Bye-Bye Jeep

04-23-2009 • businessweek.com/

The most likely buyers of Jeep would be Chinese automakers or Indian SUV/pickup maker Mahindra & Mahindra, which is planning to enter the U.S. next year with its own brand in more than 200 dealerships.

Stress-Tested Banks May Struggle for Funds as Bad Assets Triple

04-23-2009 • Bloomberg.com

At 13 of the largest U.S. banks, bad assets increased 169 percent on average from a year ago, according to a Bloomberg analysis of first-quarter results.

Unemployment Claims: Continued Claims at Record of 6.14 Million

04-23-2009 • CalculatedRiskblog.com

In the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 640,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 613,000.

Simon Johnson Sees Speculative Attack on U.S. Banks

04-23-2009 • optionarmageddon.ml-implode.com/

”Basically these people are betting the big banks will be forced into some sort of default. Now, if enough people bet that, and if the banks can’t draw on enough external support, which in their case would be from the U.S. government, then these runs

GM plans 9-week summer shutdown

04-22-2009 • blogs.usatoday.com/

General Motors is preparing to close most U.S. factories for up to nine weeks this summer because of slumping sales and growing inventories

Meredith Whitney: Regional Banks Struggle on Commercial Real Estate

04-22-2009 • Bloomberg.com

Commercial real estate will decline “hard and fast,” Whitney said in a interview yesterday on Bloomberg Television. “For a lot of the regional banks that have so much commercial real estate exposure as a percentage of their core capital levels...

US advertising famine ravages New York Times and Yahoo profits

04-22-2009 • guardian.co.uk/

The publisher of the New York Times and the internet portal Yahoo both revealed plunging profits yesterday as the worst slump for decades in advertising spend by recession-hit US companies hit old and new media alike.

Phoenix: Wigwam Resort, 2 Biltmore golf courses face foreclosure

04-22-2009 • AzCentral.com

An 80-year-old West Valley resort and two Biltmore golf courses face foreclosure with an auction scheduled in July, according to a filing with the Maricopa County Recorders Office.

South Florida County Declares Emergency Over Economy

04/21/2009 • By Travis Reed, Associated Press, Newsvine.com

FORT PIERCE- A South Florida county that rode high through the housing boom earlier this decade, then crashed hard when the foreclosure crisis struck, declared a state of economic emergency on Tuesday.

Commercial Real Estate Time Bomb Goes Off But No One Notices

04-21-2009 • Michael Shedlock / Mish

America's love affair with the mall is not coming back. Boomers headed into retirement dependent on the real estate bubble have now taken a massive hit on both their houses and their stock portfolios. Neither is coming back soon.

Financial Overlords: The Debt Class and those that provide the Debt in Serfdom

04-21-2009 • DoctorHousingBubble.com

Even with all the moratoriums, incentives to banks, and other smoke and mirrors foreclosures keep on moving up meaning more and more Americans are losing their homes. So what have all those bailouts accomplished?

Housing Bubble Smackdown: Bigger Crash Ahead "shadow inventory"

04-21-2009 • GlobalResearch.ca

"Lenders nationwide are sitting on hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes that they have not resold or listed for sale, according to numerous data sources. And foreclosures, which banks unload at fire-sale prices, are a major factor driving h

Meredith Whitney: The big banks' "Great White Wash"

04-21-2009 • themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/

Uber-bank analyst Meredith Whitney talks about the one-time and technical factors that contributed to the recent stellar earnings by big banks during the first quarter. Meredith now expects $2.7 trillion to be removed from credit card lines...

Barry Ritholtz: Magic Bank Profits

04-21-2009 • Ritholtz.com/blog/

“Although perfectly legal, this move is also perfectly delusional, because some day soon these assets will be written down to their fair value, and it won’t be pretty.” Steven Roth, professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Roubini: 'Suckers Rally' to Fade Amid Economy Woes

04-21-2009 • CNBC.com

Well-known economist Nouriel Roubini, one of the few experts to foresee the current global crisis, said Tuesday a recent "suckers rally" in stock markets would fade as the U.S. economy continues to wither and the financial system suffers un

Meltdown losses of '$4 trillion'

04-21-2009 • news.BBC.co.uk

But it warns that there may be "a real risk that governments will be reluctant to allocate enough resources to solve the problem" because the public has become "disillusioned by what it perceives as abuse of taxpayer funds".

U.S. to buy more Chrysler, GM stock with your money

04-20-2009 • Reuters

The Obama administration will make about $500 million available to Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat, and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy,

Obama Proposes $100 Billion Loan for I.M.F.

04-20-2009 • NY Times

President Barack Obama Monday proposed a $100 billion U.S. loan to the International Monetary Fund to boost the IMF's war chest and urged a bigger stake in the IMF for emerging powers like China and India.

Mish: $400 Billion More In Bank Losses On The Way

04-20-2009 • Michael Shedlock / Mish

Accounting gains shenanigans magically turned another Citigroup loss into a $1.6 billion gain and Wells Fargo's earnings report was so full of holes the CEO ought to be under investigation for signing it.

Corporate Earnings Through Recessions

04-20-2009 • Ritholtz.com/blog/

Do you see glimmers of hope?

Tower of Basel

04-20-2009 • arclein

This article reveals that need is forcing the creation of a fresh fiat currency system, and ultimately a fresh fiat credit system. That established institutions are stepping into the breach is more an indication of the need to fill the vacuum and mus

Economic Crisis Debate - Parts 1 - 8

04-20-2009 • YouTube

Economic Crisis Debate held at Phoenix College, Phoenix, Arizona, March 10, 2009 / Debate Question: Can Government Spending Stabilize Our Economy?

Worst Year in Fortune 500 History, 84.7% Profit Decline

04-20-2009 • Ritholtz.com/blog/

Profits fell from $645 billion in profits in 2007, to just $98.9 billion - an 84.7% decline;