Birmingham on the brink of bankruptcy

With $3.2 billion in debt, the county that is home to Alabama’s largest city is about to go bust. How the credit crisis went South.(Fortune Magazine) — Bob Riley wanted to help. It was Sunday, Oct. 5, and the Alabama governor was on the phone with Neel Kashkari, a Treasury Department official who the next [...] continue reading the breaking news

Big Brother database: the revolt grows

Labour MPs join opposition parties in attack on Home Secretary’s ‘Orwellian’ plansJacqui Smith faces a parliamentary backlash over “Orwellian” plans to intercept details of email, internet, telephone and other data records of every person in Britain. Labour MPs joined opposition parties in expressing doubts about plans announced by the Home Secretary which could lead to [...] continue reading the breaking news

Crisis spreads to Eastern Europe as Ukraine, Hungary and Serbia call IMF

Ukraine, Hungary, and Serbia are all in emergency talks with the International Monetary Fund, raising fears that an exodus of foreign investors will set off a systemic crisis across Eastern Europe.A team of IMF trouble-shooters rushed to Kiev on Wednesay to draw up a possible standby loan to help Ukraine stabilize its bank after a [...] continue reading the breaking news

Financial crisis: Moscow supermarket shelves increasingly empty in Soviet era reminder

Russian shoppers have been served an uncomfortable reminder of the Soviet era after finding shelves in some Moscow supermarkets empty, a further sign that the woes of the financial markets have begun to affect the mainstream economy. For a generation of Russians who queued daily in the snow for the most basic of staples, the [...] continue reading the breaking news

Banks Hoard Cash as Credit Card Defaults Rise

Consumers are increasingly unable to pay off their credit cards, forcing banks to hoard cash to protect against future losses and lend to fewer people, according to reports yesterday from several of the nation’s largest banks.These financial disclosures showed a spike in credit card loans going bad, putting further pressure on already-stressed balance sheets. J.P. [...] continue reading the breaking news

Run on Russian bank heightens fears

Globex on Wednesday banned depositors from withdrawing their money as confidence in the Russian banking system began to show signs of evaporating.Globex, a mid-sized retail bank with assets of $4bn (€2.95bn, £2.32bn), is the first Russian bank to experience a run on deposits during the crisis. It lost 13 per cent of its deposits last [...] continue reading the breaking news

Banks borrow record $437.5 billion per day from Fed

A trader counts his money on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange October 7, 2008. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidNEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial institutions ran to their lender of last resort for record amounts of cash in the latest week, under extreme pressure from the worst global financial crisis in a generation, Federal Reserve data [...] continue reading the breaking news

Financial crisis: Christine Lagarde warned Hank Paulson to bail out Lehman Brothers

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, warned her US counterpart Hank Paulson that he had to bail out US investment bank Lehman Brothers or face global financial collapse, but her advice went unheeded.Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, warned her US counterpart Hank Paulson that he must bail out US investment bank Lehman Brothers or [...] continue reading the breaking news

Police clash with police in Brazil violence

Striking police officers were embroiled in a mass-melee with hundreds of their own colleagues in riot gear who policed their protest, amid bizarre scenes in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.The clashes between state police and plainclothes investigators last night came after the demonstrators tried to break through a barrier protecting the state [...] continue reading the breaking news

Lahde quits hedge funds, thanking “stupid” traders for making him rich.

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Andrew Lahde, the hedge fund founder who shot to fame with his small fund that soared 870 percent last year on bets against U.S. subprime home loans, has called it quits, thanking “stupid” traders for making him rich.In a biting, but humorous letter to investors posted on the website [...] continue reading the breaking news

Hedge Fund Manager: Goodbye and F—- You

From the Scorched Earth Files:Andrew Lahde, manager of a small California hedge fund, Lahde Capital, burst into the spotlight last year after his one-year-old fund returned 866 percent betting against the subprime collapse.Last month, he did the unthinkable — he shut things down, claiming dealing with his bank counterparties had become too risky. Today, Lahde [...] continue reading the breaking news