| Subprime & Contagion |
|
'Death in Kovalam' by John Francis Kinsella
The
story is set in an Indian beach resort, popular
amongst British tourists, over the Christmas
vacation period. Tom Barton, a City mortgage broker, arrives
in Kovalam after abandoning his business in
the wake of the subprime crisis. In his luxury hotel he meets Emma, the wife
of Stephen Parkly, the CEO of a London bank,
West Mercian Finance. Stephen Parkly falls gravely ill with a
mysterious infection and is hospitalized in
a local clinic.
|
 |
|
|
His situation rapidly
declines and he is put into intensive care. At
the very same time his bank is caught in a
Northern Rock style run. Dr. Ryan
Kavanagh, a specialist in internal medicine, on
holiday with his mother and sister Sarah,
discovers an attempted cover-up by the Indian
authorities. The disease is diagnosed as cholera, panic sets
in when tourists start to fall ill with the
deadly infection, just as the tourist season is
getting into full swing. Thousands of British
tourists enjoying the sun on the beaches are
unaware of the pending epidemic. Many of the
same tourists, ignorant of the crisis facing
West Mercian Finance, are about to see their
life savings wiped out in the collapse. For all
details please contact:
sumpinein@gmail.com or check it out on
|
|
| Inflation fears |
|
Inflation is back with the rising cost of fuel
and food and services, visible to any driver or
shopper in spite of what we are told by our
governments. It is the inevitable result of a
decade of easy money and rising commodity prices
as investors rush to put their money into
something more tangible such as oil, wheat,
sugar and of course gold. At the same time wage
demands, which have not risen at the same rate,
will increase pressure on businesses. |
|
Our only adds are
for charitable organizations. So why not donate
a dollar or two directly to one of these
charities! |
|
UK real estate companies in
trouble |
|
Countrywide the UK's largest
real estate company is in difficulty with the
rapid slow down of the country's housing market.
Other companies such as Foxtons are also
affected by the growing crises as sales
fall increasing pressures for layoffs.
Certain specialists expect house prices
to fall up to 20% others even more. In
any case it's bad news for all. |
| BOOKS |
| The Legacy of
Solomon is the latest novel from John
Francis Kinsella. The story takes place in
Israel where a writer investigates the
archaeological story behind the work to
discover the site of the Jewish Temple, the
biblical legend, against
a background of conflicting evidence and the
conflict between Israel and Palestine. Visit
http://herod.tk |
|
|
Can you
really believe that the
financial crisis has reached the
bottom of the trough? We think
the world's bankers and central
banks don't really know what
they are doing. They are
chucking money at the crisis in
the hope that it will go away.
As for Wall Street it's no
longer about investing but
simply gambling. In addition to
that the vested interests are
such that the small man and his
savings as usual will be
abandoned as usual in such
crises. A little like canon
fodder. The small investor and
of course the common man's
pension funds will all be hit by
the fall in value of assets,
that is bricks and mortar. Now
it even seems that oil and gold
will be worth less. |
|
|
Bear
Stearns Bust! |
| Is this the moment when
America finally discovers the
meaning of the Faustian pact it
signed so blithely with Asian
creditors? As the Wall Street
Journal wrote this weekend, the
entire country is facing a
"margin call". The US has come
to depend on an $800 billion inflow of
cheap foreign capital each year
to cover its shopping bills. They
may have to pay a much stiffer
rent.
|
|
|
|
The Independent New
York Times will be pleased to receive your
articles and comments. Please contact our
editorial desk at the following address
sumpinein@gmail.com
and we shall endeavour to answer you promptly. |
 |
|
Bear Stearns Collapses |
|
America's
fifth largest bank last night became the
biggest casualty so far of the global
credit crunch - sold off to a rival at a
knockdown $2 a share, a discount of 94%
on last week when it was valued at
$140bn. The board of Bear Stearns bank
approved the buyout by JP Morgan Chase
for $236m after a weekend of frantic
negotiations. Had the deal not been
done, the bank would almost certainly
have gone bankrupt. |
|
|
See our on the spot report
for Tunisia |
|
May 7 with news of events and developments |
|
|
| Bank subprime losses |
Citigroup: $18bn
Merrill Lynch:
$14.1bn
UBS: $13.5bn
Morgan Stanley
$9.4bn
HSBC: $3.4bn
Bear Stearns:
$3.2bn
Deutsche Bank:
$3.2bn
Bank of America:
$3bn
Barclays: $2.6bn
Royal Bank of
Scotland: $2.6bn
Freddie Mac: $2bn
JP Morgan Chase:
$3.2bn
Credit Suisse:
$1bn
Wachovia: $1.1bn
IKB: $2.6bn
Paribas: $197m
| The different
wars go on for what reason nobody seems
to know. Iraq is as chaotic as ever as
the reign of George Bush slowly draws to
an end. Afghanistan even more, the
resistance...sorry the terrorists fight
the invaders ...another mistake, we
meant the liberators. As for Gaza it's a
bit like Afghanistan, but it's been
going on for longer, no one dares point
a finger at Israel for fear of being
accused by all and sundry of some kind
of racist slur. And the Chechens, who?
yes the Chechens! Oh yeah we forgot
about them. Burma? No it's Tibet now. |
|
| Olympics |
| Whatever you do don't
upset the Olympics. It's sport, you know, fair
play and all that kind of thing. Oh! I thought
it was about money. No! Its fair play,
sportsmanship and all that. An example for our
children. What about nationalism? What about it!
Never mind, forget it. Which reminds us football
(soccer), tennis, motor racing, sailing, isn't
that a business? Of course it's a business
they need money to build stadiums, for training,
for the associations and all the rest of it. And
drugs. They're forbidden! Oh yeah. What about
the Tour de France. What about it! |
|
