Forbes (March 30)
Derivatives contributed to the last financial crisis and “may still endanger the financial system.” Based on FDIC records, U.S. banks hold derivative instruments with “a nominal value of $250 trillion – or about 150 times the aggregate balance sheet equity of these same banks.”
Tags: Banks, Derivatives, FDIC, Financial Crisis, U.S.
New York Times (March 11, 2012)
The proposed JOBS Act (an acronym for Jumpstart our Business Startups) is “a terrible package of bills that would undo essential investor protections, reduce market transparency and distort the efficient allocation of capital.” Amazed by the utter lack of memory, the New York Times stands opposed. “We know memories are short in Washington. But Enron was just 10 years ago. And the entire system almost imploded in 2008. There is no excuse.”
Tags: Congress, Enron, Financial Crisis, Investors, JOBS Act, Start-ups, Transparency
Los Angeles Times (February 26, 2012)
The Parthenon, Delphi and other heritage sites will generate revenue as sets for ads, films and other promotions. Some modern Greeks find this unsavory. Yet, 2,500 years ago similar measures were taken by Greeks confronting an earlier financial crisis. “Pericles would no doubt admire modern Greeks for using cherished relics to bootstrap themselves out of crisis. So would Thucydides, Pericles’ great fan and chronicler. Both men were modernists and pragmatists, willing to regard even a sacred shrine as a revenue stream. In tough times, they understood, a brave nation does what must be done.”
The Parthenon, Delphi and other heritage sites will generate revenue as sets for ads, films and other promotions. Some modern Greeks find this unsavory. Yet, 2,500 years ago similar measures were taken by Greeks confronting an earlier financial crisis. “Pericles would no doubt admire modern Greeks for using cherished relics to bootstrap themselves out of crisis. So would Thucydides, Pericles’ great fan and chronicler. Both men were modernists and pragmatists, willing to regard even a sacred shrine as a revenue stream. In tough times, they understood, a brave nation does what must be done.”
Tags: Delphi, Financial Crisis, Greece, Parthenon, Pericles, Revenue, Thucydides
The Economist (February 25, 2012)
Advanced economies have gone backwards by a decade as a result of the crisis.” Looking at seven indicators of economic health, The Economist concludes Greece’s economic clock was turned back 12 years, America’s by ten years, and Britain’s by eight years as a result of the 2007 financial crisis.
Tags: Financial Crisis, Greece, U.S., UK, UK Financial Crisis
IFA Online (November 23)
“Fears of a financial crisis hitting the UK are at their highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.” The risk of “a high impact event” occurring has risen to the highest level since the 2008 collapse according to the Bank of England’s Systemic Risk Survey. 76% of respondents identified “sovereign risk and the threat of an economic downturn” as “the biggest danger to the financial system.”
Tags: Bank of England, Financial Crisis, Lehman, Systemic risk, UK
