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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 3rd, 2008 To understand our problem with this posting - please look also at our posting of today: “Eye on the UN” … ============== The Columbia University Earth Institute, the UNFCCC. and the otherwise honorable IISD present on Yom Kippur: “The Kyoto Mechanisms: Key to combating climate change?” Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will discuss whether a carbon market or carbon taxes are the best way to cut greenhouse gas emissions—a critical question for governments working to establish a framework to address climate change amid a global financial crisis and market uncertainty. IISD Climate Change and Energy Director John Drexhage is the moderator of the event, designed to focus attention on a critical core element of the global climate change negotiations in the lead up to Copenhagen in December 2009. Other discussants are Geneva-based International Emissions Trading Association President and CEO Henry Derwent and Columbia University Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics Klaus S. Lackner. Date: Thursday, October 9, 2008 Seating is limited. Register online at www.earth.columbia.edu This event will be webcast at http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/v…. Links to the webcast will also be available at www.iisd.org and www.unfccc.int Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 25th, 2008 From: global.ft.com@ftmail.ft.com
In depth: Global financial crisis ……………………………………..
…………………………………….. Special interactive features Regulating short selling Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 24th, 2008 In The Light Of The Bush / Paulsen Demand For Full Reins To The Secretary of the Treasury In The Matter of Over 1.5 Trillion Dollars - What will be the role of Next US President? If Obama and McCain Accept the Proposed Set Of Rules They Might Just As Well Go Hunting Moose In Alaska Instead of Fighting for the Right To Become The White House Christmas Tree. We hope That Sarah Palin Was Able To Negotiate With Mr. Karzai to Get Some Afghan Hounds To Accompany Them.
We got the following e-mail from the Obama people: Pincas – The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression. Congress and the President are debating a bailout of our financial institutions with a price tag of $700 billion or more in taxpayer dollars. We cannot underestimate our responsibility in taking such an enormous step. Whatever shape our recovery plan takes, it must be guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another. They Suggest - Please show your support for an economic recovery plan based on the following:
Show your support and encourage your friends and family to join you. The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government — and the broken politics — that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place. And we have to understand that a recovery package is just the beginning. We have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity — including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American. It won’t be easy. The kind of change we’re looking for never is. But if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation. Thank you, Barack ————— Our difficulty with the above is that the moment Obama accepts the proposed recovery plan - he loses the Presidency even if he wins the election. This because of the simple fact that it takes all the air out of his lungs - that is all the money that he could have used to change the system. What the Bushites do now is to perpetuate the present situation and make sure that nothing will change for many years to come - or ever. Ah! and you must buy this in a rush, right this week - because Congress must go home to campaign for their reelection - so they will buckle first. Will the Senate buckle also? Will they just be pushed around further by tales that the FBI will study next 15 years the wrong-doers and their institutions, and take this for their fig-leave and jump to the commands they were just given? Blah! Mc Cain / Palin can do what they want - but from Obama we expect now real show of backbone. He must stand up like Samson and say - with me the Philistines. He must dare Washington by saying that US Democracy requires that taxation of $1,5 Billion is a matter for Congress. The Giants in Cartoon #136 must be asked to raise from their graves - “Capitalism” and “Private Enterprise.” If things get worse and other companies fold - he will be accused of not playing the game set for him by the establishment in Washington - and it will be clear and evident for all to see who is the reformer and who is the dog musher. WE HOPE THAT THE OBAMA STAFF WILL STUDY THIS POSTING OF OURS, WITH ITS BORROWED CARTOON - AND OBAMA WILL CONSIDER IT WHEN HAVING THE UNENVIABLE TASK TO DECIDE HOW TO RUN HIS CAMPAIGN IN THE LIGHT OF THE BLOW THAT WAS Already PREDICTED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO BY FINANCIAL MAGICIAN GEORGE SOROS, BUT WAS LOWERED ON THE CAMPAIGNS ONLY NOW. OBAMA MUST ALSO DECIDE IN TWO DAYS HOW TO BUILD HIS POSITION AHEAD OF THE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008, FIRST DEBATE WITH MCCAIN IN MISSISSIPPI. THAT DEBATE COULD NOW GIVE THE REAL START OF THE ELECTION FINALS A COMPLETE NEW TURN. DO THE US CITIZENS WANT TO ALLOW THEMSELVES FLEECED FOR EVER, OR THEY ARE READY TO BE COUNTED SAYING: “DON’T TREAD ON ME.” ——————— Please Obama People - read also our other posting on this subject and see what a bright Journalist thinks of this. The bottom line is that whatever Obama decides to do - he will be blamed by the American people anyway - that is what the world thinks of the American electorate, so why not going out all the way and do the right thing? The hope here is that the better part of solid Republicans will vote Obama. Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 24th, 2008 Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 24th, 2008 Capitalism must be more regulated, says Sarkozy. French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, on Tuesday (23 September) {in his speech before the UN General Assembly in New York City} called for an international summit to tackle the global finance crisis and its consequences, saying that capitalism should be more “regulated.”
Mr Sarkozy hopes to see an international meeting to discuss the crisis, the worst the world has seen, he said, since the Great Depression.
Mr Sarkozy did not specify where the summit should take place, saying that it could be anywhere from Washington or New York, to London, Brussels and Paris. ***
Additionally, the French president suggested a general overhaul of the financial system should be considered, where capitalism would be more “regulated.” His comments come just a day after MEPs also called on the European Commission to come up with legislation plans to regulate the activities of hedge funds and private equity funds. *** However, EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy told MEPs he did not believe it was “necessary at this stage to tar hedge funds and private equity with the same brush as we use for the regulated sector. The issues relating to the current turmoil are different.” One should “analyse the impact of the existing EU provisions and of additional member states’ rules in this field before one embarks on introducing any new legislation,” said the commissioner. *** EU-Russia economic space: Separately, the EU president-in-office also suggested establishing “a common economic space that would unite Russia and Europe.” “What Europe is telling Russia is that we want links with Russia, that we want to build a shared future with Russia, we want to be Russia’s partner,” Mr Sarkozy said. According to him, the initiative for a common economic space would go “beyond the strategic partnership as thought of until now,” but would not aim to establish “a common market” either. However, the French president also referred to Russia’s war with Georgia this summer and underlined that the EU “cannot compromise on the principal of sovereignty and independence of states.” Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 24th, 2008 The Methane Time Bomb.
*** The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists. The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats. Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia’s northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane - sometimes at up to 100 times background levels - over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf. In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through “methane chimneys” rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a “lid” to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age. They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years. *** Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane. The amount of methane stored beneath the Arctic is calculated to be greater than the total amount of carbon locked up in global coal reserves so there is intense interest in the stability of these deposits as the region warms at a faster rate than other places on earth. Orjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University in Sweden, one of the leaders of the expedition, described the scale of the methane emissions in an email exchange sent from the Russian research ship Jacob Smirnitskyi. “We had a hectic finishing of the sampling programme yesterday and this past night,” said Dr Gustafsson. “An extensive area of intense methane release was found. At earlier sites we had found elevated levels of dissolved methane. Yesterday, for the first time, we documented a field where the release was so intense that the methane did not have time to dissolve into the seawater but was rising as methane bubbles to the sea surface. These ‘methane chimneys’ were documented on echo sounder and with seismic [instruments].” At some locations, methane concentrations reached 100 times background levels. These anomalies have been seen in the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea, covering several tens of thousands of square kilometres, amounting to millions of tons of methane, said Dr Gustafsson. “This may be of the same magnitude as presently estimated from the global ocean,” he said. “Nobody knows how many more such areas exist on the extensive East Siberian continental shelves. “The conventional thought has been that the permafrost ‘lid’ on the sub-sea sediments on the Siberian shelf should cap and hold the massive reservoirs of shallow methane deposits in place. The growing evidence for release of methane in this inaccessible region may suggest that the permafrost lid is starting to get perforated and thus leak methane… The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed.” *** Dr Semiletov has suggested several possible reasons why methane is now being released from the Arctic, including the rising volume of relatively warmer water being discharged from Siberia’s rivers due to the melting of the permafrost on the land. Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 22nd, 2008 US-Style “Financial Socialism” Not An Option for Europe Says EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. http://euobserver.com/9/26775/?rk=1
*** “No one can say that there won’t be anyone in Europe who will have to face a solvency problem that poses a systematic risk to the financial system,” he said, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Despite his veiled criticism of how the Bush administration has responded to the crisis, he said Europe was prepared to step into markets if the situation ever deteriorated to such a level. *** “The economic authorities, financial authorities and central banks are prepared if that case were to occur in Europe,” he said. “I hope it won’t happen in Europe, but no one can rule it out either.” ***
In separate news on Thursday, central banks worldwide pumped €126 billion into markets in an attempt to boost liquidity. _______________________ In DC, Bailout Bill Pushed Beyond US, to HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, RBS - & Sovereign Wealth Funds? Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in DC: News Analysis WASHINGTON DC, September 21 — As the fast track proceeds toward rubber-stamp approval of the bail-out proposal by Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, changes are being made, and they are not pro-consumer. Rather, non-U.S. institutions involved in subprime lending, such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, Nomura and even Sovereign Wealth Funds have gotten themselves included in the bailout. Their access can be documented. Paulson’s initial proposal as issued on September 20 was: “The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the This phrase, headquarters in the U.S., caused agitation. Lobbying was done and concession were made.
Later on September, Paulson’s Treasury Department issued a clarifying fact sheet: “To qualify for the program, assets must have been originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008. Participating financial institutions must have significant operations in the U.S., unless the Secretary makes a determination, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, that broader eligibility is necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets.” The switch no longer requires a U.S. headquarters, only “significant operations” in the country. Surely HSBC, based in London and Hong Kong, considers its Chicago-based subprime lender significant. So too Deutsche Bank’s two subprime lenders. Also significant, in terms of supposed concern about moral hazard, is the cut-off date of September 17. Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 21st, 2008 First an anecdote that could throw some light on the problem: The New York Times of today, in its listing of “The Shareholders at the Top” - that is the formerly extremely rich that became just rich in the unfolding events - the likes of Richard S. Fuld, who as C.E.O. of Lehman Brothers has dropped since January 2007 in his wealth from $827.1 million to a mere $2.3 million, includes also the current US Secretary of the Treasury, and Former C.E.O. of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Henry M. Paulson Jr. whose loses brought him down from $809.5 million to 523.5 million. We hope he was insured by a company other then AIG - so his loses may yet be covered in part. It is not easy to decide if these loses in Mr. Paulson’s portfolio mean that he is indeed a very honest man, and thus the rescue program that he and Mr. Bernanke designed is an honest, impartial program, or - does this mean that Mr. Paulson did not realize what was coming - so we better worry that his just announced program is not safe enough for the rest of the Nation and the World - or it is now even a self-serving program to save those on the New York Times list? ————— The Bush administration yesterday proposed a historic $700 billion bailout of financial firms that would let the government rather than the cold judgment of the marketplace decide the winners and losers from the crisis that has shaken the U.S. economy for the past year. The plan, which would be the most sweeping government intervention in the markets since the Great Depression, calls for the Treasury to buy the troubled mortgage securities that have been toppling major financial firms and are at the heart of Wall Street’s turmoil. The Washington Post printed the Administration’s take that “Millions of Americans could also benefit from other dramatic stopgap measures. Regulators announced efforts to stabilize the mortgage market; curb stock speculation; and insure money-market mutual funds with government money, seeking to protect ordinary investors and preserve a vital source of corporate finance.” But we point to the end of the sentence that gives the reason for the beginning of that sentence. SO IT IS THE BAILOUT OF THE CORPORATIONS FOR WHICH MILLIONS OF AMERICANS ARE BEING CALLED TO CONTRIBUTE - THE CLASSIC EXPLANATION BEING GIVEN - IT IS GOOD FOR YOU! President Bush, who had remained largely silent as the crisis broadened this week, said it is a “pivotal moment for America’s economy.” In a Rose Garden speech remarkable for its grim language and ominous tone, Bush said: “This action does entail risk. But we expect that this money will eventually be paid back. . . . The risk of not acting would be far higher.” Some lawmakers, including Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, have expressed concerns about the plan’s cost, chance of success and possible unintended consequences. Such opposition could delay passage. “We are being asked to go ‘all in’ with taxpayer dollars, and once our government and the taxpayer is on the hook, there is no fallback option,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), a leading conservative. “At the moment I remain skeptical, fearful and unconvinced that this is the proper remedy for our nation.” The Treasury Department also announced that it would offer an insurance program for money market funds that is similar to the long-standing government guarantee of bank deposits. Funds would pay a fee in exchange; if they collapse, the government repays investors. But the Treasury intervention threatens to drain deposits from already troubled banks because money-market funds offer higher interest rates and now will feature the same federal protection. People familiar with the matter said banking regulators were not consulted on the plan and were considering how best to limit the impact on banks.
Paulson and Bernanke held a morning conference call with more than 100 House Republicans, making the case for their plan and describing in “strong and serious” terms the dire situation facing the financial system, according to a participant on the call. Hours later, the House Republican leadership met with members and lobbyists to warn against cluttering the legislation with amendments or trying to delay its passage. The message, according to a person at the meeting: We want a clean bill. The Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped between massive losses and gains this week, rose 3.3 percent yesterday to close at 11,388.44. Combined with a 410-point gain Thursday, the index ended near break-even for the week — sweeping away Monday’s 504-point loss. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, a broader measure, rose 4 percent yesterday and actually posted a gain for the week. “It’s a massive relief rally on the back of the comprehensive plan,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for Merk Investment. “If you have hundreds of millions of mortgage-backed securities on your books that you cannot value, much less sell, you can now unload them to the U.S. government.” Investors also moved out of the safety of Treasuries and back into the broader market. On the expectation that the economy will now recover, the price of light, sweet crude oil jumped $6.67, to $104.55 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. —————- Bush Requests $700 Billion for Bailout WASHINGTON (Sept. 20, 2008) (AP) - The Bush administration asked Congress on Saturday for the power to buy $700 billion in toxic assets clogging the financial system and threatening the economy as negotiations began on the largest bailout since the Great Depression. The rescue plan would give Washington broad authority to purchase bad mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions for the next two years. It does not specify which institutions qualify or what, if anything, the government would get in return for the unprecedented infusion. —————– US Pledges Rescue Plan, but Will It Work? http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bb… {Photo - Traders share a laugh in front of the New York Stock Exchange Friday as an expected plan to rescue the nation’s financial system boosted investor confidence, sending the Dow up 370 points. The surge added to a 400-point gain Thursday.} The broad outlines of the plan call for the federal government to buy hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of mortgage assets held by banks, Wall Street firms and other financial institutions. Those securities were backed by home loans, many made to buyers with bad credit or without proof of income. As housing values fell and foreclosures shot to record levels in the past two years, the value of those securities plunged. That in turn caused massive losses in the financial sector. This week it reached a crisis situation. Banks and investment firms stopped making the loans to each other as they hoarded cash to protect against any sudden liquidity crunch as well from unknown problems on their partners’ balance sheets. Friday morning, Paulson said he’ll be working through the weekend with those on Capitol Hill to hammer out legislation that could go for a vote as soon as next week. “I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative — a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion,” Paulson said Friday. “I believe many members of Congress share my conviction.” |