Even before the [US] government announced its latest efforts to fix the troubled banking industry on Tuesday, executives at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley said they wanted to repay the money quickly. Both banks received $10 billion under the first rescue plan last fall. Paying back all those funds would […]
Read MorePost Tagged with: "Finance"
Gordon Brown: We are ‘sweeping away’ bonus culture of City banks – Telegraph
In a classic case of state intervention begetting state intervention: Executives at RBS, which is 70 per cent owned by the state, are pushing to pay their staff nearly £1 billion in bonuses, even though the bank needed a £20 billion capital injection from the Government to prevent its collapse […]
Read MoreBank bail out roundup
The Chancellor announces his bank bailout plan, but has no idea how much money will be needed to stave off collapse of the sector and the economy: more. The Telegraph commentator Liam Halligan argues that the rescue has failed, that banks must fully disclose their liabilities and that losses must […]
Read MoreMoney, the free market, circulating credit, deflation and sound money
Via A Golden Way Out of the Monetary Fiasco – Thorsten Polleit – Mises Institute, essential reading for anyone interested in the financial crisis, its causes and a route out (despite its use of the G-word!): The government-controlled monetary regime — the most destructive force set into motion by state interventionism […]
Read MoreOn money and borrowing
In checking the news this morning, I bookmarked a number of pages related to money and borrowing. Their titles tell the story: The next bubble – government borrowing — John Redwood MP Money for Nothing — mises.org Can Friedman’s Money Rule Stabilize the Economy? — mises.org The Fed’s Prescription for […]
Read MoreFT.com – What to do with Britain’s banks
An excellent article from the FT: The starting point for any analysis must be with some harsh realities. The first is that banks enjoy a state-supported licence to create money. … Second, the regulators failed to represent [the interests of taxpayers]. … Third, the views of the bankers on what […]
Read MoreA pall of smoke over the City
London warehouse fire, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker. This picture taken a year ago from Lehman Brothers’ building in Canary Wharf seems appropriate again today.
Read MoreFT.com / Brussels – Berlin hits out at ‘crass’ UK strategy
At the FT: Germany’s finance minister has launched a stinging attack on the “crass Keynesianism” pursued by Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, fuelling tensions on the eve of European economic crisis talks in Brussels. Peer Steinbrück accuses Mr Brown in a magazine interview of “tossing around billions” and saddling […]
Read MoreDominic Lawson: It all went wrong when we left the gold standard
Thanks to Graham for pointing out this article by Dominic Lawson promoting Austrian-school economics: As the chief economic advisor to the Austrian government in the 1920s, Mises put his theories into practice and slowed down inflation in his native country (which, as a Jew, he later fled). He used his […]
Read MoreFT.com – Tories warn on spending plans
A Conservative government would find it “politically extremely difficult” to cut the overall level of public spending, rather than simply restrict its growth, Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said on Monday. And yet “Quangos spend £10m seeking more money” (Times Online): The Conservatives, who compiled the dossier, […]
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