_w_

Oh? So we have a comic among us haven't we? Would you care to explain, if you can, what those erratic mood changes mean?

That is what the piece explains. It creates it, doesn't have to come from anywhere.

The printer's broken.

Had it already been posted? I've seen so many questions about how money is created I hadn't thought so. Sorry if it's a repost.

There must be a very strong rumour, I thinik all banks and the pound are falling. Actually the whole market is falling.

Required viewing for those who wonder how money is created and a pretty good piece for those who already know. http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.c...ey-as-debt.html

Still the go as far as I heard but haven't done any proper research to verify it. I'm in NR for STG cash at the mo, they offer good enough rates for me not to worry about Icelandic banks. With hindsight, yesterday was a big carry trade unwind day hence the AUD fall IMO. With the interest rates and strength of the Australian economy I would expect this to be a very attractive currency in the long run. The only thing that could kill it would be an Asian and commodity meltdown which is unlikely IMO (I do think more deleveraging could very well trigger a big short term correction though).

Don't think me ungrateful but it looks pretty poor and I'm keen to find a way to invest in AUDs or RMBs: 1% cut on currency exchange and 2.25 on AUD for deposits over $98,000 doesn't look too good. You've probably researched this much more than I have, is this the kind of deals one should expect for these 'exotic' currencies? I can say it is way poorer that what you can get from Fidelity for the Euro.

Agreed. One more point to add to this. If their property bubbles burst too I'd say we can kiss goodbye to the commodity price boom and the inflation scenario.

And I wonder what this is going to do to all the over indebted - overinflated property markets in these same countries. It is as if they were blind to what is happening to their own backyards. Just read something in the FT about an 'Indian subrime' problem beginning to shake the local market...

Damned if I know. It does give banks a chance to pretend those worthless assets are productive on their balance sheets though. That would point to the crisis taking many many years to be resolved IMO.

From the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/business...amp;oref=slogin

They probably took communications lessons at Bear Sterns! As an aside, FT Alphaville mentions new potential downside for banks with a special focus on 'goodwill' on their balance sheets. I had no idea the banks had such 'goodwill' assets on the BS; I wonder how much they are worth

Having worked with these guys you probably saw their human sides. I'd venture this explains you're mild attitude towards that industry? And I'd probably do the same had I benefited from your experience. I still believe the short term profit motive is correct, you know the expression 'too busy making money to worry about asking questions'. And I absolutely believe that bailout is the wrong solution unless it is at the expense of shareholders. I've yet to comprehend what's happened with Bear Stern and it's consequences, and so a bit short of arguments on this. It looks like the taxpayers are footing a large bill and the Fed is getting ready for more.

There's word of 20 ABCP Trusts seeking bankruptcy protection and Canadian banks generally being in trouble over this subprime mess.# http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=34581

I propose a theory. UK is so dependent on the Banksters the pound is being hammered due to a confidence factor. I haven't done the homework but last week it looked like there was a corrrelation between every bad financial news coming out in the US and a hammering of the pound. [Edit: the point being there is no other specific reason]

USD JPY @ 96.60 Falling off a cliff

You are right, I was completly wrong (should have gone to bed earlier:-). With LTCM it is UBS that was the fish at the poker table, not Citi. Citi's biggest ones are Enron and Worldcomm , their expulsion from Japan in 2005, and guess what, they've got the among biggest subprime writedowns.

What do you expect, as you write, it's probably only a 400k house! By today's standards, she's probably a single mother with 2 kids and works as a cleaner on a 12k salary for those management consultants.

Did you see the headline on the HPC homepage, HBOS borrowing 750m at 9.5%? Something IS up.

1998 LTCM?

In case this isn't a wind up you need to read this and get it in your head. You need to feel bad about this. Look at yourself in the mirror and say "I've just spent £20,000 on a good piece of tuition." - You never invest in a single company. Anything can happen, someone might want to make an example of them, you just don't know. - You manage your risk. If you feel sick with this loss it is because you couldn't afford to lose it. Before you 'invest', think of what you are prepared to lose. Nothing wrong with a cheeky punt if you think you've seen a bargain but manage your risk. - The truth is greed got the better of you and you've made a bet with £60,000. You must learn to control those instincts. So now, you've just spent £20,000 for this little life lesson and you have £40,000 to invest. What are you going to do? Put it all in Citi shares? Note: For what it's worth but it is not meant to be my answer to your question I think Citi are a bunch of losers. Their size gives them an edge but they tend to be at the losing end of every scam that goes on in the street.

Not true and there has been an instance of this in the past. In the context of economic slowdown and asset price deflation M3 increases as people sell assets and seek the security of more liquid investments (that appear in M3). This one had Reagan, Thatcher and the monetarist nomenclatura of 1990 truly baffled. The more they engineered a slowdown the more M2 and M3 increased. It is probably what is happening now.

Real smart on the part of the Brazilians I'd say. And nice to see the hot money taking a beating for once. Thanks for the link.

Well you can't have too much of a good thing... I pity the people who fall for this. And damn the swines who set these traps.