Posts Tagged ‘imf’

Now Russia’s Promoting A New World Currency

The smackdowns of the U.S. dollar continue. This time Russian President Medvedev is pounding on the table.  Medvedev is basically echoing the rants that have come out of China about the supremacy of the dollar and proposes the same fantasy of some supra-national currency oriented around the IMF and its special drawing rights units. Until […]

Ranting About Apologizing Politicians And The IMF

I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little tired of my elected leaders going around the world apologizing to anyone who will listen and conceding that yes indeed, if something’s not going well it is probably America’s fault. The latest bit of self-flagelation came from Treasury Secretary Geithner today when in a speech […]

Dire Predictions From The IMF About Bank Losses

Via Calculated Risk, the Times has a story that predicts incredible numbers for bank losses. Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4 trillion (£2.7 trillion), new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to suggest. The IMF said in January that it expected the deterioration in US-originated assets […]

Guess Who Miscalled The Icelandic Economic Implosion

This is probably unfair, but I’m going to put it up anyway. In June 2007 the U.K.’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (sort of like our FDIC) issued a report on Icelandic economy. They quoted an “expert body” which said that, “The medium-term prospects for the Icelandic economy remain enviable.” Of course, a couple of months later […]

Russia Won’t Pay For IMF Lending Expansion

I missed this earlier today. From the Telegraph.co.uk: Alexei Kudrin, the Finance Minister, said the country “Russia is not taking part” because it already is giving $10bn in emergency funding to neighbouring countries of the former Soviet Union. “We believe we play a role of big brother in our region,” he told a Russian banking […]

How Much Power Did The G-20 Give The IMF?

The recently completed G-20 summit is being heralded as something of if not a triumph, a solid success. Some see increased global financial regulation as one of its achievements and most are touting the large increase in funding for the IMF as the singular achievement. Honestly, I’ve read the report and analysis by some observers […]

Eastern Europe: The Next Lehman Brothers?

And you thought that the financial crisis was contained. I’ve been harping on this for some time and now it appears to be closer to reality than many thought. The European banking system is dangerously close to being taken down by their version of subprime loans. As the ultra-bear Ambrose Evans-Pritchard explains in the Telegraph.co.uk, […]