I found this to be quite the interesting (and somewhat surprising) choice for 2009’s Person of the Year. What are your thoughts and opinions on TIME’s choice?
Tag Archive | "Money"
TIME: Names Ben Bernanke 2009 Person of the Year
Posted on 16 December 2009.
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Debate: Fox News Suggests Lowering Minimum Wage
Posted on 15 December 2009.
What are your thoughts on this one? Fox News aired a segment suggesting the federal government lower the minimum wage to help workers and the economy. I’m not too sure this is something that would be called for during the economic times we are currently in.
Credit f0r the video to RawStory.com
Posted in Archive, Politics, R.T., Television, US Government, VideoComments (0)
UN Official: Cash from Organized Crime ‘Rescued’ Banks During Crisis
Posted on 13 December 2009.
Cash from organized crime ‘rescued’ banks during crisis: UN official
The vast majority of an estimated $352 billion in proceeds of organized crime, mostly from the drug trade, was funneled through the global banking system during the financial crisis of the past two years, and in some cases, the money rescued banks from collapse, says the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Antonio Maria Costa told the UK Observer that intelligence agencies and prosecutors alerted him 18 months ago to evidence that drug money was being “absorbed into the financial system.”
“In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital,” Costa said. “In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor.”
The Observer reports:
Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, [Costa] said.
“Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities… There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.” Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.
Gangs are now believed to make most of their profits from the drugs trade and are estimated to be worth £352bn, the UN says. They have traditionally kept proceeds in cash or moved it offshore to hide it from the authorities. It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the US.
Read the complete Observer article here.
Costa has been head of the UN’s drug and crime office since 2002, and is known for his tough stance on illicit drugs, including marijuana. He recently warned that Africa is becoming a major drug hub, following an investigation into the crash of a Boeing 727 in Mali that had flown in from Venezuela carrying 10 tons of cocaine.
Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor
Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations‘ drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
This will raise questions about crime’s influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. “In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he said.
Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.
“Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities… There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.” Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.
“That was the moment [last year] when the system was basically paralysed because of the unwillingness of banks to lend money to one another. The progressive liquidisation to the system and the progressive improvement by some banks of their share values [has meant that] the problem [of illegal money] has become much less serious than it was,” he said.
The IMF estimated that large US and European banks lost more than $1tn on toxic assets and from bad loans from January 2007 to September 2009 and more than 200 mortgage lenders went bankrupt. Many major institutions either failed, were acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover.
Gangs are now believed to make most of their profits from the drugs trade and are estimated to be worth £352bn, the UN says. They have traditionally kept proceeds in cash or moved it offshore to hide it from the authorities. It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the US.
British bankers would want to see any evidence that Costa has to back his claims. A British Bankers’ Association spokesman said: “We have not been party to any regulatory dialogue that would support a theory of this kind. There was clearly a lack of liquidity in the system and to a large degree this was filled by the intervention of central banks.”
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Cyber Warfare: 60 Minutes ‘Sabotaging The System’ (Video)
Posted on 09 November 2009.
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FDIC Board of Directors Memo: “Pursuant to these requirements, staff estimates that both the Fund balance and the reserve ratio as of September 30, 2009, will be negative”
Posted on 01 October 2009.
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Local News Updated 10/5/09: Bank of America (Westheimer Pkwy and Mason Rd) Robbed
Posted on 28 September 2009.
Cinco Ranch bank robbery caught on camera
KATY, TX (KTRK) — The FBI and Ft. Bend County Sheriff’s Office hope you can help them find a man they say robbed a Cinco Ranch Bank of America branch on Monday. The man is also suspected in two Houston-area holdups last month. Read the full story
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Intriguing: U.S. Authorities Probing $100 Billion of Bonds Seized in Italy
Posted on 21 September 2009.
This is the second time that U.S. bonds have been seized in Italy this year.
U.S. Authorities Probing $100 Billion of Bonds Seized in Italy
By Sonia Sirletti and Elisa Martinuzzi
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Secret Service is examining more than $100 billion of U.S. government bonds confiscated in northern Italy in August, just two months after $134 billion of allegedly fake securities were seized in a nearby town. Read the full story
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Economy: Car showrooms quiet after clunkers clamor ends
Posted on 21 September 2009.
Car showrooms quiet after clunkers clamor ends
Dealers add other incentives in bid to entice buyers
It has been nearly a month since the car-buying frenzy of the Cash for Clunkers program ended, and many area auto dealers are longing for the good old days of July and August. Read the full story
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Read: Seven New Rules for the First-Time Home Buyer
Posted on 21 September 2009.
Seven New Rules for the First-Time Home Buyer
Too many people bought too much house for too many years. Read the full story
Posted in Business, Education, R.T.Comments (0)
Thought of the Day 09/10/2009 – Obama’s Health Care Costs
Posted on 10 September 2009.
Data taken from NationalPriorities.org
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Current cost of war on terror (including Iran and Afghanistan) – $915.1 billion through 2009
- $130 billion requested for 2010
- Greater than $1 trillion spent by 2011
- The war on terror has been funded by taxpayers for 8 years now (2001-2009).
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Cost Obama proposed for his health care plan during 9/10/09 speech – $900 billion over 10 years
- He also claimed the savings would reduce our deficit by $4 trillion, and would not be funded by taxpayers. Read the full story
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Bankers: Watch as Swedish Interest Rates goes Subzero
Posted on 30 August 2009.
For a world first, the announcement came with remarkably little fanfare.
Sweden is entering subzero interest rates, the first country to do so.
But last month, the Swedish Riksbank entered uncharted territory when it became the world’s first central bank to introduce negative interest rates on bank deposits. Read the full story
Posted in Archive, Authors, Business, Featured, History, J.K., Politics, World WideComments (0)
Education: The History Behind Insurance
Posted on 26 August 2009.
by Hazelnut
Crawling around in the back of my mind is a question I’ve often wondered about. How did the insurance industry begin, when and why. Are we not seeing the impact of an insurance mega-industry which has taken control of our freedom to be self-sustaining in every aspect of our lives? Do we not consciously consider our responsibilities and repercussions thereof in a mature way because we must purchase an insurance “policy” to protect us from poor choices, accidents, and ignorance?
If in the beginning, insurance policies were in fact, to spread the risk, then how did that practice become commonly accepted Law around the globe? These days, it is illegal to perform certain activities without purchasing insurance policies. The concept of “insurance” is to spread the risk.
What if I don’t want to buy insurance, what if I want to maintain my own responsibility in everything I do? Too bad for me. The only choice I have is to buy the insurance or pay the penalty for not having it. Risk is a part of life. Is it not an illusion to believe that purchasing insurance policies keeps risk low for the policy holders? IMO, the law demanding insurance be maintained for certain activities prevents freedom of choice. Or at the very least, inhibits those freedoms.
The History of Insurance
If risk is like a smoldering coal that may spark a fire at any moment, then insurance is our fire extinguisher.
Countries and their citizens need something to spread risk among large numbers of people and to move risk to entities that can handle it. This is how insurance emerged. Read on to learn about how insurance evolved and how it can work to protect you from being burned by risk.
King Hammurabi’s Code
The main concept of insurance – that of spreading risk – has been around as long as human existence. Whether it was hunting giant elk in a group to spread the risk of being the one gored to death or shipping cargo in several different caravans to avoid losing the whole shipment to a marauding tribe, people have always been wary of risk.
The main concept of insurance – that of spreading risk – has been around as long as human existence. Whether it was hunting giant elk in a group to spread the risk of being the one gored to death or shipping cargo in several different caravans to avoid losing the whole shipment to a marauding tribe, people have always been wary of risk.
The first written insurance policy appeared in ancient times on a Babylonian obelisk monument with the code of King Hammurabi carved into it. The “Hammurabi Code” was one of the first forms of written laws. These ancient laws were extreme in most respects, but it offered basic insurance in that a debtor didn’t have to pay back his loans if some personal catastrophe made it impossible (disability, death, flooding, etc.).
Does anyone remember when apprenticeships were commonplace and why the practice has become a relic of the past?
Guild Coverage
In the dark and middle ages, most craftsmen were trained through the guild system. Apprentices spent their childhoods working for masters for little or no pay. Once they became masters themselves, they paid dues to the guild and trained their own apprentices. The wealthier guilds had large coffers that acted as a type of insurance fund. If a master’s practice burned down, a common occurrence in the wooden hovels of medieval Europe, the guild would rebuild it using money from its coffers. If a master were robbed, the guild would cover his obligations until money started to flow in again. If a master were suddenly disabled or killed, the guild would support him or his widow and family. This safety net encouraged more and more people to leave farming and take up trades. As a result, the amount of goods available for trade increased, as did the range of goods and services available. The style of insurance used by guilds is still around today in the form of “group coverage”.
Insurance replaced apprenticeships. Nowadays, we are expected to go to college to learn our trades. The practice of paying a guild fee has become the practice of paying college fees.
Insurance and the Stock Exchange
The practice of underwriting emerged in the same London coffeehouses that operated as the unofficial stock exchange for the British Empire. In the late 1600s, shipping was just beginning between the New World and the old as colonies were being established and exotic goods were ferried back. A coffeehouse owned by Edward Lloyd, later of Lloyd’s of London, was the primary meeting place for merchants, ship owners and others seeking insurance.
Having recognized the extreme profitability and power of issuing maritime insurance, fire and plague became the next lucrative reason for requiring insurance. This practice began here:
In 1666, the great fire of London destroyed around 14,000 buildings. London was still recovering from the plague had that ravaged it a year earlier, and many survivors found themselves without homes. As a response to the chaos and outrage that followed the burning of London, groups of underwriters who had dealt exclusively in marine insurance formed insurance companies that offered fire insurance. Armed with Pascal’s triangle, these companies quickly expanded their range of business . By 1693, the first mortality table was created using Pascal’s triangle and life insurance soon followed.
America takes a little longer to play the insurance game and with great reluctance. Insurers were not prepared to “protect” against the “risks” inherent in establishing a new world. Until a profit could be realized, insuring against the inherent risks were taken by pioneers and colonists. For over a hundred years, the colonists managed their risk without mandatory (or even optional) insurance coverage
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Insurance companies thrived in Europe, especially after the industrial revolution. In America, the story was very different. Colonists’ lives were fraught with dangers that no insurance company would touch. As a result of lack food, wars with indigenous people and disease, almost three out of every four colonists died in the first 40 years of settlement. It took more than 100 years for insurance to establish itself in America. When it finally did, it brought the maturity in both practice and policies that developed during that same period of time in Europe.
Insurance should be optional, not mandatory. Insurance companies are the giants of the monetary world. Its no wonder why.
So, now I know when, why and how the insurance industry began.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/
History of insurance refers to the development of a modern laws and market in insurance against risks. In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one’s neighbor, the other neighbors must help. Otherwise, neighbors will not receive help in the future.
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Key Fundraiser: For Clinton Campaigns Charged With $74 Million Bank Fraud
Posted on 25 August 2009.
Not a good look for the Clintons, President Obama, and other key democrats he has helped…
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200908251258DOWJONESDJONLINE000315_FORTUNE5.htm
NY Businessman Charged With $74 Million Bank Fraud Against Citigroup
A New York man was charged with allegedly defrauding Citigroup Inc. (C) out of $74 million in loans. Read the full story
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Federal Reserve: Loses Suit Over Transparency
Posted on 25 August 2009.
A step in the right direction, if I do say so myself. I’ve never been able to understand why the Federal Reserve is allowed to control our economy through shadowy operations hidden from the public. This is one small step, and hopefully Ron Paul’s push to audit the Fed can gain some steam with this news…
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE57O03P20090825
Federal Reserve loses suit demanding transparency
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday ruled against an effort by the U.S. Federal Reserve to block disclosure of companies that participated in and securities covered by a series of emergency funding programs as the global credit crisis began to intensify Read the full story
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AIG’s New Boss Gets Salary Over $3 Million With Bonuses
Posted on 18 August 2009.
Well…something tells me this will be part of the $182 billion from their federal bailout. On the brighter side, at least he won’t be making LeBron James type money….
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/17/news/companies/aig_ceo_salary/index.htm
AIG’s new boss: $3 million salary … plus
Robert Benmosche will receive $7 million in salary and stock and is eligible for $3.5 million in annual bonuses. Obama’s pay czar was consulted.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — AIG’s new boss will make an annual salary of $3 million and receive bonuses and stock options worth millions more, according to a company filing on Monday.
Chief Executive Robert Benmosche, who took over the bailed out insurer’s reins on Aug. 10, will take home $3 million in cash and $4 million in stock options.
According to an AIG spokeswoman, Benmosche will receive his “stock salary” in equally divisible, bimonthly payments of common shares. Under the terms of his pay deal, he can’t sell those shares until August 2014.
The new AIG CEO will also be eligible for $3.5 million annual performance bonuses. The bonus will be prorated for 2009. He is not eligible for any kind of severance package.
In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, AIG also said that Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s pay czar, “expressed approval in principle” for Benmosche’s compensation package. Feinberg still must formally approve the new CEO’s compensation.
Feinberg was not available for immediate comment.
AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) was one of seven TARP bailout recipients required to submit proposed employment contracts for their 25 highest-paid employees. The others were Chrysler, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Chrysler Financial, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), General Motors and GMAC.
AIG has received a larger federal bailout — $182 billion — than any other company. Executive pay has caused a series of political firestorms.
The insurer is required to get its 2009 compensation plan approved by Feinberg. In addition, it still has nearly $240 million in 2008 bonuses to pay out. A $2.4 million payment scheduled for July was held up by Feinberg’s office, pending further review.
Controversy over the bonuses erupted in March after it was revealed that employees of the company’s crippled Financial Products division received $165 million in retention bonuses. That unit wrote the complex derivatives that nearly brought the whole company down.
After the controversy, then-CEO Edward Liddy opted to receive a nominal $1 a year salary and gave up a bonus. Liddy retired on Aug. 7.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who has been outspoken about his criticism of AIG’s bonus payments, has said AIG should be led by an executive paid a competitive salary who can help ensure the company pays back its sizeable debt to taxpayers.
When Benmosche’s hiring was announced earlier in the month, Cummings said the new CEO will be held to a high standard.
“I caution him that my colleagues and I will be closely watching his progress,” said Cummings in a statement on Aug. 3.
Prior to joining AIG, Benmosche was the CEO of MetLife (MET, Fortune 500) until he retired in 2006. He oversaw MetLife’s transition from a private to a public company, which experts say gave him the experience necessary to lead AIG’s transition from the world’s biggest insurer to a much smaller domestic life insurance company.
Posted in Business, R.T.Comments (0)
WashingtonPost.com: “Drop in Unemployment Claims Indicate Market Stabilization”
Posted on 06 August 2009.
Drop in Unemployment Claims Indicate Market Stabilization
After a terrible nine months, the pace of job losses finally appears to be slowing down, according to mounting evidence.
Analysts are expecting confirmation on Friday that the labor market is warming up this summer, as the Labor Department releases July employment data. Economists anticipate the report will show that the jobless rate continued to rise– to 9.6 percent, from 9.5 percent, and that employers will turn out to have shed 328,000 jobs. Those results, while horrible by normal standards, would be an improvement over the 467,000 jobs lost in June and would support the idea that the recession is ending. Read the full story
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Packers: Partner with Wisconsin Lottery
Posted on 05 August 2009.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are partnering with the Wisconsin Lottery, taking advantage of an NFL decision allowing teams to associate with state-run lotteries.
Packers logos will be featured on a $10 scratch-off game with a top instant prize of $50,000. Fans also can win Packers-themed prizes, including four club seats to all home games for the 2010-12 seasons. Read the full story
Posted in Business, Green Bay Packers, J.K., SportsComments (0)
Flying in Style During a Recession?
Posted on 05 August 2009.
Wait…I thought we were in a recession…?
Shared via AddThis
“But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel: At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress.”
Posted in Cogent Nirvana, Cogent Nirvana, PoliticsComments (0)
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