[shakespear1]

I read this on Der Spigel and was not sure what to make of it. Is this for real or just a smoke and mirrors ? Will the IMF do this and then give the blessing that all is fine please continue to do business as usual? I thought that the US calls the shots in this type of stuff

[Denny]

Perhaps Der Spiegel is really hitting on this as the German people were so batttered by inflation in the 1920's.

But, they are really lambasting Dan Bernanke, to the point of total disrespect. I don't think American critics of Bernanke would be so severe and so cruel as Der Spiegel in this article from April, see The Madness of Ben Bernanke

"The dollar is in a tailspin, the trade deficit is growing and a recession is on the horizon. The American way of life is in serious danger. But the head of the Federal Reserve keeps on pumping easy credit into the system -- a crazy policy that will worsen the crisis. "

[Cid_Yama]

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the world financial system stands on the "brink of systemic meltdown", despite international efforts to bring the crisis to an end. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, made the comments after talks with US President George W Bush and other leading finance minister in Washington as they tried to find a solution to the global financial turmoil, which has seen stock markets around the world plunge on fears of recession.

He said: "Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown." The IMF also warned global equities could plunge by a further 20 per cent in the coming days unless governments deliver concrete action to address the crisis. At the meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading world economies, including the UK and US, world leaders pledged to part-nationalise swathes of the global banking system as part of a drastic international plan to halt the panic gripping financial markets and prevent the crisis from descending into a global depression.
link

<b>Cramer warns of meltdown</b>

The Dow lost 2,000 points this week, making it the worst sell-off since 1933, Cramer said. He doesn’t think we’re done, though.

Today’s late-day rally brought us too far too fast, he said, and bottoms rarely happen on Fridays anyway. Main Street isn’t paying attention, they find out what happened over the weekend, and then Monday they start to sell.

Keep this in mind as next week starts. Cramer can’t decide if this market is closer to 1987 or 1929, but he’s pretty sure bad news from Morgan Stanley and lack of good news from the world’s industrialized nations could cause a sizable drop in the markets on Monday and Tuesday. The Dow could go as low as 5,886, he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27119724

<i>To be that specific, Cramer must be part Vulcan.</i>

<b>Europe scrambles to avert 'game over'</b>

European leaders raced against the clock on Sunday to clinch a rescue strategy for banks battered by the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, under intense pressure to throw them a lifeline before world markets reopen. At a summit in Paris, the focus fixed firmly on how much state money governments could mobilise to buy into banks if needed, and if they would also underwrite lending between banks, paralysed for now by fear and distrust.

"If market confidence is not restored this weekend, it's game over," said Marco Annunziata, chief economist for UniCredit, an Italian bank which is among many whose shares have been hurt in panic-stricken stock markets. The American Standard & Poor's 500 index tumbled more than 18 percent last week, its worst weekly fall on record. European stocks plunged 22 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei crashed 24 percent.

The Paris meeting was hastily arranged by Sarkozy on the heels of a G7 summit of rich nations in Washington that offered no concrete, collective action.
link

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Dutch Finance Minister criticizes US attitude</b>

The Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos has criticised the US government's attitude to the financial crisis at the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington.

Mr Bos was surprised that top officials, not ministers, represented the government at important moments during the conference. He says the British do realise there is a need to monitor the financial sector more closely, but the Americans do not.

link

<i>Why are we always on the wrong side of what needs to be done?</i>

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', '
')<b>Cramer warns of meltdown</b>

The Dow lost 2,000 points this week, making it the worst sell-off since 1933, Cramer said. He doesn’t think we’re done, though.

Today’s late-day rally brought us too far too fast, he said, and bottoms rarely happen on Fridays anyway. Main Street isn’t paying attention, they find out what happened over the weekend, and then Monday they start to sell.

Keep this in mind as next week starts. Cramer can’t decide if this market is closer to 1987 or 1929, but he’s pretty sure bad news from Morgan Stanley and lack of good news from the world’s industrialized nations could cause a sizable drop in the markets on Monday and Tuesday. The Dow could go as low as 5,886, he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27119724

<i>To be that specific, Cramer must be part Vulcan.</i>

[wisconsin_cur]

I hope your right... I put money back in on Friday after selling and putting it into cash 12-18 months ago.

It is free money from my employer but hey, its something...

I figure I need to be in before we hit that inflationary superspike that will send stocks to the moon.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'C')ramer may be right sometimes, but he is completely wrong for now. Yes, the market did bottom on Friday.

The fall in market last week was mostly to do with the Lehman loss settlement - the huge amount of money involved forcing liquidation, the fact the great loss took the PTB by surprise, and the aspect of fraud that companies can conceal such huge losses for so long.

See also my post on Friday:
http://www.peakoil.com/post790193.html#790193

[Cid_Yama]

Who would have thought this post would have sparked such exuberant optimism.

Frankly guys, it's the end of everything that you have ever known. The world is about to change in such a fundamental way, you will not recognize it a year from now.

You need a broader perspective. If you were in a barrel heading towards Niagra Falls with no window and only instruments showing speed and water temperature, you wouldn't have a clue.

The markets are just like that right now. They don't really have technicals that show when a meltdown is coming.

Just because the instruments weren't designed to measure it doesn't mean it isn't there.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'W')ho would have thought this post would have sparked such exuberant optimism.

Frankly guys, it's the end of everything that you have ever known. The world is about to change in such a fundamental way, you will not recognize it a year from now.

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'Y')es, the market did bottom on Friday.

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Brits get fleeced too</b>

Up to £50bn of taxpayers' cash is to be injected into four of Britain's biggest banks through the government's rescue package, the BBC has learned.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays is to sell off shares, the majority of which the government is expected to buy.

If the government ends up owning more than half of RBS and HBOS, it will be an effective nationalisation.

More details of the deals are expected to be announced later.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7665823.stm

<i>per capita it's got to be more than the US</i>

[Cid_Yama]

"Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown," said Mr Strauss-Kahn.

Analysts say another week of plunging stock markets has focused minds and the real test of this weekend's scramble by world leaders to shore up the international financial system will come once markets reopen again on Monday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7665515.stm

<i>If you can invest in this atmosphere you must have brass balls.(or a marshmallow mind)</i>

[alokin]

In simple words, you mean the EU rescue plan means employing the printing press and inflation/hyperinflation for the next month/years..?

(Isn't it nice. First you create a whole lot of fiat money. You tell that it's the best investment/retirement plan this to J6P . Meanwhile all rich and super rich buy all the real assets, with all the cheap money which is around. Then you pull the plug ynd those who have the real assets are even more rich)

[Cid_Yama]

<i>And those that have nothing starve to death.</i>

How long would you survive if you could never buy groceries again? Now consider how much worse that scenario would be if everyone you know was faced with the same question. It may have more relevance than you think. The food distribution system in industrialized nations has a complexity which baffles the mind. Thousands of suppliers coordinate with thousands of distributors to send food to millions of retailers for billions of consumers. But is there enough redundancy in the system to ensure the continued viability of commercially delivered food to your table? What if that incredibly complex system bottlenecked or crashed? Would you literally starve to death?
It has been estimated that the average grocery store has less than a one week supply of food. We have all seen shelves stripped bare following hurricanes or other natural disasters. There is rarely starvation in those settings because aide pours in from unaffected surrounding areas. But what if the shortages were on a regional or national level?
link

[IndigoMoon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', '&')lt;i>And those that have nothing starve to death.</i>

How long would you survive if you could never buy groceries again? Now consider how much worse that scenario would be if everyone you know was faced with the same question. It may have more relevance than you think. The food distribution system in industrialized nations has a complexity which baffles the mind. Thousands of suppliers coordinate with thousands of distributors to send food to millions of retailers for billions of consumers. But is there enough redundancy in the system to ensure the continued viability of commercially delivered food to your table? What if that incredibly complex system bottlenecked or crashed? Would you literally starve to death?
link

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowrunner', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'C')ramer may be right sometimes, but he is completely wrong for now. Yes, the market did bottom on Friday.

The fall in market last week was mostly to do with the Lehman loss settlement - the huge amount of money involved forcing liquidation, the fact the great loss took the PTB by surprise, and the aspect of fraud that companies can conceal such huge losses for so long.

See also my post on Friday:
http://www.peakoil.com/post790193.html#790193

[Micki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowrunner', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'C')ramer may be right sometimes, but he is completely wrong for now. Yes, the market did bottom on Friday.

The fall in market last week was mostly to do with the Lehman loss settlement - the huge amount of money involved forcing liquidation, the fact the great loss took the PTB by surprise, and the aspect of fraud that companies can conceal such huge losses for so long.

See also my post on Friday:
http://www.peakoil.com/post790193.html#790193

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', '&')lt;i>And those that have nothing starve to death.</i>

How long would you survive if you could never buy groceries again? Now consider how much worse that scenario would be if everyone you know was faced with the same question. It may have more relevance than you think. The food distribution system in industrialized nations has a complexity which baffles the mind. Thousands of suppliers coordinate with thousands of distributors to send food to millions of retailers for billions of consumers. But is there enough redundancy in the system to ensure the continued viability of commercially delivered food to your table? What if that incredibly complex system bottlenecked or crashed? Would you literally starve to death?
It has been estimated that the average grocery store has less than a one week supply of food. We have all seen shelves stripped bare following hurricanes or other natural disasters. There is rarely starvation in those settings because aide pours in from unaffected surrounding areas. But what if the shortages were on a regional or national level?
link

[drgoodword]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'C')ramer may be right sometimes, but he is completely wrong for now. Yes, the market did bottom on Friday.

The fall in market last week was mostly to do with the Lehman loss settlement - the huge amount of money involved forcing liquidation, the fact the great loss took the PTB by surprise, and the aspect of fraud that companies can conceal such huge losses for so long.

[eXpat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')Dominique Strauss-Kahn said recent data on the world economy pointed to downside risks to the IMF's latest forecasts, issued last month, which forecast global growth of 0.5 percent in 2009, the weakest since World War Two.
Strauss-Kahn told French Daily Les Echos on Wednesday that forecast could be cut close to zero.
"I'm expecting that 2009 really will be a bad year," he told a news conference on Thursday.