More fallout from the global liquidity crisis: GE Plunges as Profit Misses Estimates, Forecast Cut, and Airlines Face New Cash Challenge, and G7 Economic Powers Endorse Plan to Try to Avert Financial Crises. There will be far, far more fallout in the months to come, as the numerous industries and even national governments are starved for cash.
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Rick M. suggested an excellent article by attorney Ellen Brown: Credit Default Swaps: Derivative Disaster Du Jour. Her article keys in nicely with the background piece that I wrote more than two years ago: Derivatives–The Mystery Man Who’ll Break the Global Bank at Monte Carlo. I stand by what I wrote back then. Here is a snippet from my article: “The risks, in absolute terms, are incalculable. Don’t forget that directly or indirectly, central (“state”) banks and national governments themselves are now inextricably tied to the derivatives trading universe. They are not just “dabbling in derivatives”. Rather, they are in derivatives up to their necks. If and when the global derivatives bubble ever pops, it may topple not just trading companies like Goldman Sachs, or corporations like GM, Daimler-Chrysler, or RCA, but entire nations. I’m not kidding.”
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From The Jerusalem Post: UK Paper: Iran Building 6,000 Kilometer Range Missile.
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A reader sent me some photos of an automated parking garage used by a car factory in Germany. I was curious about the photos, so I confirmed their authenticity at Snopes. I just hope that this design never gets used for public parking garages. They’d strand a lot of motorists in the event of a power failure.