economic situation is dire

[danversp]

good for anyone with a tracker but the key is what to do when the interest rates are bound to go up, I would think in the next 6 months looking for a decent fixed rate could be a good idea.

[johnvillan]

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

[snowychap]

...the possibility that they will probably report very tidy profits for the first quarter which might well lead to everyone going, "Whoopy do, we're on the up again."

Whoopy do, we're on the up again:

UK banks buoyed by Goldman's better-than-expected profits

Shares in UK banks rallied today, after better-than-expected profits at Goldman Sachs and its plans to pay back emergency bailout money boosted hopes that the worst of the financial crisis could be over.

Barclays was the second-biggest riser on the FTSE 100 index, jumping 24.25p to 201.75p, an increase of nearly 14%. That took the shares to their highest level since last October.

Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were also among the biggest gainers. Lloyds shares climbed 7.1p to 86.5p, a rise of nearly 9%, while RBS was up 2p at 31p, a gain of almost 7%. HSBC rallied 23.7p to 497.75p, a rise of 5%. The gains, which came alongside increases in mining shares, helped the FTSE advance nearly 50 points to 4031.84.

Goldman took markets by surprise last night when it brought forward its financial results to reveal a 13% surge in quarterly profits to $1.66bn - a strong result at a time of frozen credit markets.

The Wall Street bank also launched a $5bn (£3.4bn) fundraising in an effort to generate sufficient cash to become the first major institution to pay back emergency bailout money provided by US taxpayers. Goldman hopes to replenish its coffers sufficiently to return $10bn of money from the US treasury's troubled asset relief programme (Tarp).

"It wasn't so much the profit that gave the market cheer, it was the fact that independence from Tarp was at the top of their list of priorities," said David Buik at BGC Partners. "Who could have been surprised that Barclays was the main beneficiary of this news this morning? With Barclays determined to stay out of Gordon Brown's lifeboat, its shares rose like the proverbial grilse."

Manus Cranny of MF Global Spreads concurred, saying: "A new world order is appearing in the bank arena - Goldman has laid down the gauntlet - 'get as far away from government and as quickly as you can' ethos, in suggesting they will repay Tarp with gusto. Thus euphoria surrounds the sector, Barclays, HSBC et al are on the up. A two tier banking industry will be become more evident - those who can repay government bailout funds quickly and those who wobble the stress test and still need time."

He added: "The bigger question is what kind of banking system will the world be left with - the reinvented New Market wizards who will continue to leverage, trade and invent the next ill-understood esoteric trading hybrid and those institutions who have neither the capital nor human capital to play properly with the new toys. A more dangerous new world order than even the one that existed pre-credit crunch."

Swiss bank UBS saw its shares advance by nearly 14% to 13.07 Swiss francs after announcing 240 job cuts in Asia. The losses, all in its in wealth-management division, amount to 3% of the bank's workforce in the Asia-Pacific region.

Goldman's better-than-expected earnings included a 39% rise in trading and investment revenues to $7.15bn.

Its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "Given the difficult market conditions, we are pleased with this quarter's performance."

Revenue from fixed-income trading doubled to $6.56bn. However, revenue from equities dropped by 20% to $2bn as global stockmarkets fell steeply and the bank's principal investments division suffered a loss of $1.41bn.

Several US banks are due to report financial results later this week and analysts will be watching closely for signs that the worst may be over after Wall Street's multibillion-dollar losses over the last 18 months.

Buik said: "This [Goldman Sachs] of course sets the bar higher for its peers, which perhaps are not in such good shape. We will probably see very satisfactory results from JP Morgan tomorrow, but one suspects that Citigroup has some way to go before it can say all write-offs had been made and that this once titanic financial institution is finally out of the sick bay."

Citigroup reports on Friday.

Goldman Sachs aims to be first Wall Street bank to repay US bailout cash

The Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs last night launched a $5bn (£3.4bn) fundraising in an effort to generate sufficient cash to become the first major institution to pay back emergency bailout money provided by US taxpayers.

In a move that caught the markets by surprise, Goldman brought forward a scheduled earnings announcement to reveal a 13% surge in quarterly profits to $1.66bn, proving itself to be in a healthier financial condition than many rivals.

Through a multibillion-dollar public offering of stock, Goldman hopes to replenish its coffers sufficiently to return $10bn of money from the US treasury's troubled asset relief programme (Tarp).

Along with JP Morgan and Bank of America, Goldman has made no secret of its desire to be rid of the strings attached to the government funds. These include restrictions on executive compensation, limits to dividend payouts and unprecedented scrutiny from politicians. Goldman executives have complained privately that business under such conditions is becoming "impossible".

Goldman's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, said the bank's financial results, which included a 39% rise in trading and investment revenue to $7.15bn, were strong in a climate of frozen credit markets. "Given the difficult market conditions, we are pleased with this quarter's performance," he said.

Returning the government's bailout money is contingent on Goldman passing a "stress test" levied on all major banks by the Obama administration to check their long-term viability.

...more on link

[danversp]

Goldman executives have complained privately that business under such conditions is becoming "impossible"

so impossible that

Goldman's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, said the bank's financial results, which included a 39% rise in trading and investment revenue to $7.15bn, were strong in a climate of frozen credit markets. "Given the difficult market conditions, we are pleased with this quarter's performance," he said

they have still made more than healthy profits and money if in fact this is 'real' profit and not just paper shuffling. Greed still rules on Wall Street and the City and the current rules in place should be kept and strengthened regardless if money is paid back, the politicans of all colours have to give a clear lead that the culture of greed is over

[leviramsey]

Greed still rules on Wall Street and the City and the current rules in place should be kept and strengthened regardless if money is paid back, the politicans of all colours have to give a clear lead that the culture of greed is over

[Awol]

the culture of greed is over

Unless there is a way to legislate away human nature I'd say the best we can hope for is the moderation of greed.

[danversp]

the culture of greed is over

Unless there is a way to legislate away human nature I'd say the best we can hope for is the moderation of greed.

correct it is and yet in the report quoted before Goldman Sachs wants to get out of the moderation by paying off the government to carry on as they were. Until we see any possible new regulation then this will happen again the test of todays polticans and in particular Obama will be how he has you say moderates the greed.

[johnvillan]

www.ukcolumn.org/

Bank of England, Sterling and Government Treason

Mike Robinson

Apr 14th 2009

Many people believe that the Bank of England is a privately owned corporation. Many people believe that its owned by the Rothchilds.

Neither of these belief’s is true.

The truth is much worse.

The story of the Bank of England is the story of the British Empire. The British Empire was never a political empire. It was always a monetary financial empire, as much a parasite on the people of Great Britain as the rest of the world. The idea of the Victorian’s British Empire bringing civilisation to the darkest parts of the world is one that needs real reconsideration by many Britons.

The Bank of England was originally set up as a core part of the British Empire - making huge profits from loans to the British East India Company and other tendrils of the Great British parasite. The mainstays of the trading activities of these companies were drugs, warfare and the looting of raw materials from poverty stricken nations.

As the banker to the Government, the Bank also did quite nicely from lending to the Treasury, thank you very much. In those days, the profits of the Bank went into the hands of the shareholders.

In 1844, the Rothschild inspired desire to take complete control of Britain came true with the Bank Charter Act. This gave the Bank of England the monopoly on the production of Sterling, and control of Britain’s money supply. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, where to this day commercial banks are allowed to print their own money, they must have one Bank of England note in reserve for every note of their own that they issue.

1946 brought the “nationalisation” of the Bank. At the end of WWII, Britain was more or less bankrupt, so it was agreed that instead of paying cash for the shares of the Bank, shareholders would receive 3% Treasury stock instead. With the 1946 Bank of England Act, all the Bank shares were transferred into the possession of the Treasury solicitor, and there they are to this day. It remains a corporation, not a government department.

In 1977, the Bank set up a wholly owned subsidiary called BANK OF ENGLAND NOMINEES LIMITED, (BOEN), a private limited company, no. 1307478, with 2 of its 100 £1 shares issued. According to its Memorandum & Articles of Association, its objectives are;-

“To act as Nominee or agent or attorney either solely or jointly with others, for any person or persons, partnership, company, corporation, government, state, organisation, sovereign, province, authority, or public body, or any group or association of them….”

Bank of England Nominees Limited was granted an exemption by Edmund Dell, Secretary of State for Trade, from the disclosure requirements under Section 27(9) of the Companies Act 1976 , because, “it was considered undesirable that the disclosure requirements should apply to certain categories of shareholders.”

Add that to the fact that the Bank of England is protected from prying eyes by its “Royal Charter” status and the Official Secrets Act. What have we got here?

In 1998, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. In return for fixing the 1997 elections and getting New Labour into power, the Government enacted the 1998 Bank of England Act, which gave the Bank’s Court of Directors complete independence with regard to monetary policy.

So if we add this all together, we have a nationally owned institution which has the monopoly in the production of the national currency, and has independent control of the country’s monetary policy in the hands of a Court of Directors who serve the private banking system as they have since the Bank was established.

Think about it - private banking control of our currency and monetary policy, fully independent of government. When Gordon Brown signed away government oversight of the Bank, he committed Treason on a scale not seen in Britain since the Heath government took us into what would become the EU.

Since 1998 we have seen the Bank rapidly inflate the money supply, while at the same time relaxing regulation on how banks could lend. No longer were banks required to have cash in reserve for loans they made. Instead the vast majority of currency entering the economy did so as a result of commercial banks entering some numbers into a ledger - money out of thin air, literally.

Working for the private bankers, the Bank of England set things up to maximise the returns for their banking colleagues’ speculative activities, in the full knowledge that as a nationalised institution, it would be the UK taxpayer who was carrying all the risk, and not, as would have been the case before 1946, the shareholders.

The Court of Directors is working for the Anglo/Dutch/Saudi empire - the still-alive-and-kicking hidden hand behind the British Empire of the Victorian age. So it’s no surprise that the solution they provide to today’s manufactured monetary financial collapse is to print more money. Their aim is to destroy the last vestiges of British sovereignty; for a hyper-inflated and hyper-devalued Sterling to be replaced by a single, global, currency, under a single world fascist government.

Gordon Brown announced the new financial infrastructure at the G20. He announced the new global currency - to be issued and managed by the newly reinvigorated IMF.

This has to be stopped. It has to be stopped now. We want our country back, before there’s no country left. We want our country back from the parasites that use one square mile of London as their base of operations. Back in a way it hasn’t been for about 250 years. Join is in this fight - come to the next British Constitution Group conference in London on the 13th June, and find out what you can do.

link

[Gringo]

the culture of greed is over

Unless there is a way to legislate away human nature I'd say the best we can hope for is the moderation of greed.

correct it is and yet in the report quoted before Goldman Sachs wants to get out of the moderation by paying off the government to carry on as they were. Until we see any possible new regulation then this will happen again the test of todays polticans and in particular Obama will be how he has you say moderates the greed.

Goldman were forced to take the govt money so as a show of universal need, ie not just a few banks in trouble, but all - so the market couldn't target the weak members of the group - a silly idea really. So there is no reason why they shouldn't redeem their unwnated loan and fund the bonuses their profits have provided.

[WHERES_MY_NOBBY_GONE]

I bet this fella's feeling smug at the moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw&feature=PlayList&p=F23B3BE507AAE96E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

[drat01]

www.ukcolumn.org/

Bank of England, Sterling and Government Treason

Mike Robinson

Apr 14th 2009

...............

:-)

That must be the biggest crock of shit article ever to be posted on any web site.

Not surprising that the British Constitution Group want to lend their name to it

:-)

[tonyh29]

I bet this fella's feeling smug at the moment:

some interesting stuff he came out with saying back then a recession is inevitable .... according to him the cure is to stop consuming and start saving ...

so the opposite of what is currently being proposed by Governments around the globe ??

I wonder if the smug clearing in the woods that laughed at him has apologised ......

[snowychap]

I bet this fella's feeling smug at the moment:

link

Good find.

I wonder what he's saying at the moment?

I also wonder what the guy who reckoned the Dow was going to hit 16000 is doing now.

I wonder if the smug clearing in the woods that laughed at him has apologised ......

I think they're all probably still crying over their mammoth losses.

[villal]

www.ukcolumn.org/

Bank of England, Sterling and Government Treason

Mike Robinson

Apr 14th 2009

...............

:-)

That must be the biggest crock of shit article ever to be posted on any web site.

Not surprising that the British Constitution Group want to lend their name to it

:-)

Saying it's a crock of shit article is to be honest a crock of shit response - you normally give a point by point rebuttal - I'd be interested to know whats wrong with each part (preferably with sources) :winkold:

[drat01]

I'd be interested to know whats wrong with each part (preferably with sources)

:-)

I'm sorry but have you read it? Conspiracy theorists must be breaking out the Kleenex on that "article" - it's a crock and to use it as some point making is frankly funny

[ender4]

that article must have been written by Jasper Carrott or Lenny Henry.

it must obviously be used as part of a comedy sketch, cos its just not serious.

[tonyh29]

you normally give a point by point rebuttal - I'd be interested to know whats wrong with each part

ordinary I'd agree with your first point ..but seriously that article is pretty fruit loops even by Internet standards

but to use my own words if i may :winkold:

it started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better — but apart from that it was excellent

[drat01]

WTF is going on?

Pound rises to three-month high

The pound has risen above $1.50, its highest level against the dollar since mid-January, as a UK housing market survey raised hopes of a recovery.

It also rose against the euro, hitting a six-week high of 1.1370 euros.

Sterling got a boost after a survey of chartered surveyors suggested increased optimism that home sales would pick up.

Sterling touched its lowest levels in 24 years in mid-January, nearing $1.35 as the depth of the UK's recession became clear.

The pound rose as high as $1.5037, but later fell back below the $1.50 mark to trade at $1.4987.

A survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found that new inquiries in the housing market had increased for the fifth consecutive month in March.

However, the study also found that surveyors had sold on average fewer than 10 homes each over the past three months.

"The strong Rics survey overnight has boosted sterling," Lee Ferridge, a currency strategist at State Street, told the Reuters news agency.

"It is higher than it was 12 months ago and people are seeing tentative signs of green shoots in the UK housing market," he added.

Was there an element of an artificial low so that certain people could make money on shares?

It's now all becoming gobble-de-gook

[tonyh29]

Was there an element of an artificial low so that certain people could make money on shares?

well they have to pay back the taxpayer somehow :-)

isn't a strong $ for the Uk bad news for the US ??

Euro I'm pleased about as the more daylight we have between parity the less chance someone will say "oh they are the same now we may as well adopt the Euro"

[tonyh29]

I wonder what he's saying at the moment?

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"The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets."

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