financial crisis

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How Iceland Went From Codfish to Meltdown
How Iceland Went From Codfish to Meltdown
ANALYSIS
Dec 27, 2008 11:18 AM CST

How Iceland Went From Codfish to Meltdown

Country built a huge financial bubble based on a vulnerable currency

(Newser) - How did a chilly nation of cod fishermen play a key role in the world's crumbling financial markets? Seeking to avoid the boom-and-bust of fish catch, Iceland started by privatizing banks in the mid-1990s. It built a colossal banking system on a puny currency and attracted international deposits with high...

Spending Beyond Our Means? It's All China's Fault
Spending Beyond Our Means? It's All China's Fault
analysis
Dec 26, 2008 12:13 PM CST

Spending Beyond Our Means? It's All China's Fault

The time of the reckoning is here, NYT says

(Newser) - The financial crisis is, in part, a result of the uncomfortably tight economic embrace between the US and China, New York Times reports. China has long fostered an unsustainable credit cycle by keeping its currency artificially cheap and lending massive sums to the US. “Nobody wanted to get off...

At-Risk Owners Pay Big Bucks to Mortgage Modifiers

Some take advantage of patchwork laws, charge for services non-profits offer for free

(Newser) - A growing mortgage-modification industry has cropped up amid the housing bust, the Washington Post reports, charging homeowners thousands to help them negotiate better loans. The problem? Non-profit groups already offer those services gratis. “It is very frustrating to find a homeowner who has paid a for-profit company $3,000...

Cash-Squeezed Bereaved Hold Funerals at Home

Home funerals can save thousands in tough times

(Newser) - Amid the recession, many who’ve lost loved ones are turning to less expensive in-home funerals, the Los Angeles Times reports, and it's creating a booming business for “death midwives,” consultants versed in preparing bodies and completing paperwork for such services. Once, such midwives were in demand for...

Battle Over Regulation Looms in '09
Battle Over Regulation Looms in '09
ANALYSIS
Dec 25, 2008 9:24 AM CST

Battle Over Regulation Looms in '09

Some worry Obama won't do enough to rein in derivatives market

(Newser) - After the economic meltdown of 2008, the coming year will see a battle over one of the most politically contentious issues in finance: the regulation of derivatives markets. Some who opposed government oversight before now acknowledge the need for tighter controls. But they face an uphill battle, reports Newsweek, against...

GM Finance Arm Converts, Will Tap Bailout

Fed approves GMAC's request to become bank-holding company

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve today approved a request by General Motors’ financial arm to become a bank-holding company so it can petition for money from the $700 billion bailout pot, the Wall Street Journal reports. GMAC would also have access to direct Fed loans, helping loosen credit and complement the $17....

Strapped? Sell Your Gold—at the Mall

(Newser) - Up and down the East coast, cash-strapped shoppers are trading in gold and silver, not at pawn shops, but at the mall, the Boston Globe reports. Merchants at kiosks buy the precious metals for less than half of market value, but customers are still pouring in. “It's certainly something...

Obama, Bush Agree: Remember the Delaware

Bush invokes same historical image as both issue Christmas messages

(Newser) - In a strange presidential mind-meld, George Bush and Barack Obama each invoked George Washington’s surprise Christmas attack of 1776—you’ll remember this as the one after he crossed the Delaware—to inspire Americans in facing their current troubles, the Hill reports. In his Christmas address, President Bush called...

Panhandling MIT Grad Gets Job
 Panhandling MIT Grad Gets Job 
Dec 24, 2008 10:09 AM CST

Panhandling MIT Grad Gets Job

After a year on dole, and months into publicity stunt, banker rejoins workforce

(Newser) - Out-of-work investment banker Joshua Persky gained a lot of publicity when he hung a sign around his neck reading “EXPERIENCED MIT GRAD FOR HIRE,” and passed out resumes on the streets of Manhattan—but no job offers. His wife and kids left New York to live with family,...

SEC Chair: At Least I Didn't Panic
SEC Chair:
At Least
I Didn't Panic
Interview
Dec 24, 2008 8:56 AM CST

SEC Chair: At Least I Didn't Panic

Cox defends record; failure to nab Madoff an 'inexplicable asterisk'

(Newser) - Christopher Cox is proud that he’s done next to nothing in the face of the financial meltdown. “What we have done is stay calm, which has been our greatest contribution,” he told the Washington Post, contrasting that with the Fed and Treasury’s frantic machinations. Yes, the...

Hey, Gen-Xers, Housing Mess Is Your Fault

They borrowed too much to avoid fractured family of their youth

(Newser) - Stung by the divorces and TV dinners of their youth, Gen-Xers spent whatever it took to make a happy home for themselves and their kids—even when they couldn't afford it, writes Susan Gregory Thomas in Babble. OK, that may be "harsh and exaggerated," she notes. But from...

Shoplifting Grows as Economy Doesn't

Desperation, holiday shopping drive thieves

(Newser) - The tough economic climate is driving up shoplifting arrests, and the holiday season is making the situation worse, the New York Times reports. The timing is poor for stores that have had to shrink security staff amid financial woes. “More people are desperate economically, retailers are operating with leaner...

Spiritually Sound, But Many Churches Literally Bankrupt

Donation lifeline dries up as recession bites, forcing many into Chapter 11

(Newser) - In trying times, many turn to the church to ease anxieties, but even houses of God haven’t been spared the wrath of recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. A church building boom begun in the 1990s has left many congregations overextended, and with the economic slowdown taking a sizable...

Home Sales, Prices Plunge
 Home Sales, Prices Plunge 
Dec 23, 2008 10:52 AM CST

Home Sales, Prices Plunge

Everyone was really surprised

(Newser) - The housing market had another staggering setback in November, with sales of new and existing homes tumbling while prices took their biggest hit on record, the Wall Street Journal reports. Existing-home sales fell a worse-than-expected 8.6%, while the national median price fell 13.2% to $181,300, the steepest...

Gift-Givers Get Crafty In Tight Holiday Times

Sales of craft supplies and handmade items shine

(Newser) - Although the economic downturn has nearly everyone pinching pennies, craft stores are watching theirs stack up as holiday gift-givers are saving money by making their own gifts or buying handmade items from others, the New York Times reports. While overall retail revenues in November were off 7.4% from last...

California Workers Sue Governator
California Workers Sue Governator
Dec 23, 2008 9:54 AM CST

California Workers Sue Governator

Unions challenge furloughs as state runs out of cash

(Newser) - Unions representing California state employees are suing Arnold Schwarzenegger over his attempt to force them to take unpaid time off, the Los Angeles Times reports. Schwarzenegger issued an executive order last week ordering all employees to take two unpaid days off each month, in an effort to corral the state...

Plunging Exports Roil Asia
 Plunging Exports Roil Asia 
Dec 23, 2008 9:12 AM CST

Plunging Exports Roil Asia

Declining global demand sends shock across the continent.

(Newser) - Asia, the manufacturing powerhouse of the last few decades, is experiencing a plunge in exports unprecedented in modern history, the Washington Post reports. Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, reported yesterday that exports dipped 27% in November, while Thailand’s exports shed 19%, the most in 17 years. Taiwan’s...

Poll: 72% of World Cutting Spending

Economic malaise spreads to emerging markets, hits hard

(Newser) - Nearly three-quarters of households worldwide are cutting spending, with emerging markets particularly fretful about global economic woes, a 22-country survey found. Those countries are facing “precipitous decline," putting “in check any notion of 'decoupling’”—the idea that emerging markets are working independently of those of...

Cash-Squeezed States Warn of Collapsing Infrastructure

Fed stimulus eyed as municipal bonds wither

(Newser) - Thousands of infrastructure projects across the country are on hold as states wrestle with budget crises, the New York Times reports. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned yesterday that California was “on a track toward disaster" as school, bridge, and road construction projects ceased, the victims of the credit squeeze and...

Krugman: Obama Can't Take Crutches Away Too Soon
Krugman: Obama Can't Take Crutches Away Too Soon
OPINION
Dec 22, 2008 12:54 PM CST

Krugman: Obama Can't Take Crutches Away Too Soon

Government must remain involved for economy to gain new footing

(Newser) - The Obama administration must resist the temptation to leave the economy to its own devices too soon, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. “Getting to the point where our economy can thrive without fiscal support may be a difficult, drawn-out process,” he writes, with no bubble...

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