January 2009

Recently, I was discussing the economy with a lawyer expert in both commercial real estate and taxation, workouts, and bankruptcy. He made a few statements that I felt relevant enough to pass on here.

Here is the inaugural address of the new President, Barack Obama, from earlier today.

Today's links are dedicated to the banking crisis in the U.S. and Western Europe and to posts from my econblogging brethren. Below are my links for the day divided into three sections. Enjoy.

I am skeptical as to the economic benefits of the Eurozone. In my view, the Euro has always been more of a political construct than an economic one. Nevertheless, the Euro has functioned quite well as a leading international currency in the…

Recently, I posted a video of Peter Schiff making the argument for small government and resisting stimulus. As I see much to like in Peter Schiff's views, I sympathisize with the broad themes of his message. However, I do not feel he is…

Crunch 'cost Arabs $2.5 trillion' - BBC News Ireland's financial sector is 'no Iceland', says minister - Telegraph Illinois-based National Bank fails: FDIC - Reuters Pimco’s Gross Buys U.S. Debt for First Time in Year - Bloomberg.com…

This just in from the German daily Der Spiegel: German banks are still loaded with risky U.S. assets, only a fraction of which has been written down. If this report is true, it suggests that the entire German banking sector is extremely…

I read about ConocoPhillips taking a massive $34 billion writedown and my first reaction was glee. Why? This type of draconian response demonstrates that the glut of oil we now see will soon be a deficit. The oil patch is notoriously…

The new $100,000,000,000,000 note is now out in Zimbabwe. It is worth 23 Euros ($30)

The riots on the streets of Vilnius and Riga in the Baltics are not being covered in the least in the U.S. media (Hat tip Ken). I believe they should because, as with Greece, the social unrest we are witnessing in those countries is the…