Stories tagged with "bankruptcy"

Financial Forecast for 2009, Considering Resource Limitations

Posted by Gail the Actuary on January 6, 2009 - 11:10am
Topic: Economics/Finance
Tags: 2009 forecast, bankruptcy, debt unwind, hyperinflation, oil demand, peak oil [list all tags]

In this post, I consider some major issues contributing to our current financial problems, before making a financial forecast for 2009. These are

1. Why so many asset classes are so highly correlated in times of distress. This chart gives my interpretation of part of the problem.


Figure 1

2. Why growth is essential for keeping the current debt-based financial system operating.

3. Where we are now, and the role reduced resources (including peak oil) are likely to play as we go forward.

4. My forecast for 2009.

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Resurgence of Risk - A Primer on the Develop(ed) Credit Crunch

Posted by Nate Hagens on October 10, 2008 - 10:10am
Topic: Economics/Finance
Tags: bankruptcy, credit crisis, deflation, primer, stoneleigh [list all tags]

This is a post run just over a year ago, by emeritus TOD contributor Stoneleigh. It was instructive as much as it was prescient so I wanted to give its author a public hat tip. Both Stoneleigh and her writing partner Ilargi at The Automatic Earth have had a consistently, and unabashedly phenomenal call with respects to the financial and debt crisis. It is certainly not over, but we now begin to see the impacts that a financial crisis may have on future energy supplies - it's like losing the battle as well as the war. Still, the quickness of the deterioration in the economy may be a blessing in disguise - more resources left in ground for some better planned use.

Below the fold, a reprint of Stoneleigh's excellent primer on the credit crisis. Right about now is when it starts to impact the energy world.

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How Much Nationalization Is Appropriate?

Posted by Gail the Actuary on October 9, 2008 - 8:13am
Topic: Economics/Finance
Tags: bankruptcy, financial crisis, nationalization, original, private ownership [list all tags]

We in the United States live in a country with a strong tradition of private ownership of companies. In recent days, we have seen changes that border on nationalization:

• The support given to JP Morgan Chase in its purchase of Bear Stearns

• The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

• The take-over of AIG, providing a $85 billion loan in exchange for 80% of the company

• Extension of FDIC guarantees to money market accounts

• The Fed's purchase of commercial paper, to support that market

• Most recently--the Fed's decision to start lending directly to corporations

How much more of this can we expect to see in the days ahead? What indirect impacts will this have on American businesses? Where does all of this end?

The purpose of this post is to offer readers a chance to talk about where they see this issue going. Below the fold, I offer a few thoughts on what areas arguably need federal support, and a few implications if the country moves toward more nationalization of companies.

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