More fallout from the global liquidity crisis: GE Plunges as Profit Misses Estimates, Forecast Cut [1], and Airlines Face New Cash Challenge [2], and G7 Economic Powers Endorse Plan to Try to Avert Financial Crises [3]. 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 [4]. 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 [5]. 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 [6] 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 [7]. 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 [8].
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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 [9]. 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.