World, International

Austal: A Filipino Story in This

kauaibrad — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:22:46 -0800

Friday, November 14, 2008

Just as Austal (parent company maker of the Hawaii Superferry) prepares for a major top-dollar government contract in the U.S. for which it will need 500 more workers, the following article appears on a Filipino news website:

Mass termination of OFWS in Australia brings tears before Christmas ABS CBN News - Philippines
By Gigi Grande, ABS-CBN News 11/13/2008 2:05 PM Seventy five Filipino workers in Western Australia have lost their jobs at Austal...[see below]

For Filipino's abroad, a Pinoy Story in all of this:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/11/13/08/mass-termination-ofw...
"Mass layoff of OFWs in Australia brings tears before X'mas"
By Gigi Grande, ABS-CBN News 11/13/2008

"Seventy-five Filipino workers in Western Australia have lost their jobs at Austal, one of the biggest ship builders in the world.

Thirty Australians and two Croatians also got the chop.

Austal chief executive officer Bob Browning told ABS-CBN the global recession and the credit crunch are to blame. He says it caused “commercial customers to slow down” on the acquisition of new vessels. As a result, employees engaged in the early stages of vessel production, such as fabricators and welders, were left without assignments. “Majority of our Filipino workers are employed in this area,” Browning explained.

Sorry, mate

Another one 'Bites the Dust'

kauaibrad — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:36:31 -0800

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2467447.0.Blow_as_ferry...

"Blow as ferry link with Scandinavia faces the axe"
by DAVID ROSS November 12 2008

"Scotland is about to lose its only ferry service to Scandinavia and the UK's only ferry connection to the Faroes and Iceland..."

Reminds me of the song from the British group, 'Queen':

"...Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust hey
Hey gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

...Bite the dustta
Hey Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust ow
Another one bites the dust he he
Another one bites the dust hay yay ya ya ya..."

Aloha, Brad

The Real Scoop on Obama's First Picks

kauaibrad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:54:08 -0800

I watched at the time the newcomer, Rahm Emanuel, as the NAFTA Czar push it through Congress. To me that said everything one needs to know, but the following from a retired British banker further validates it.

http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/2008/11/change-i-cant-quite-believe-in....

Friday, 7 November 2008

"Change I Can't Quite Believe In" by London Banker

"I wanted Obama to win. I really, really, really wanted Obama to win. McCain/Palin gave me nightmares. Just about the whole world held it’s collective breath willing Obama to win on Tuesday.

Obama’s election is powerful confirmation that America remains a land of opportunity, a democracy where power is allocated at the ballot box. It reassured the world that despite the lawlessness and arrogance of the past eight years, Americans are capable of enlightened, rational self-determination. It restores hope in much of the world that America can reorient itself toward tolerance and dialogue.

For all of that, I haven’t been happy since watching Obama’s acceptance speech live Wednesday morning on the BBC.

I have a bad feeling that America has just elected its Tony Blair. The package of Change the voters ordered isn’t what is being delivered to the White House.

The Fed doubles its balance sheet - above $2 trillion in just 5 weeks

kauaibrad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:39:44 -0800

Friday, November 7, 2008

http://www.rgemonitor.com/financemarkets-monitor/author_name/lbanker3/Lo...

"The Fed doubles its balance sheet - above $2 trillion in just 5 weeks" by London Banker Nov 7, 2008

"Think about that. If any commercial or investment bank had been seen to do that, it would become an instant leper in the credit markets. It is a truism that banks go bust by writing business that wiser banks rejected, and so grow their balance sheets faster. As a young bank supervisor I was told that the surest way to spot a potential bank failure was to look for outliers in asset growth.

Had anyone at the Fed or FSA been brought up in the old school, they would have seen Countrywide and Northern Rock coming a mile off. Perhaps they did, but in the new Friedmanite culture of forbearance and free markets, and Basle II risk models, they decided to let capitalism run its disastrous course rather than take unpopular decisions about constraining the prerogatives of over-compensated executives and shareholders.

And now we have the Fed doubling its balance sheet in just five weeks. It is exactly by taking on the assets of the banking sector that are otherwise unmarketable that the Fed has grown its balance sheet. And it is by doing this while indulging the banks in continued oversized dividends and executive bonuses that leads me to believe the policy must ultimately fail to either correct the problems in the US banking sector or sustain the credibility of the Federal Reseve as a prudential supervisor and lender of last resort.

Great Quote from Obama's Acceptance Speech of 11/04/08

kauaibrad — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:51:57 -0800

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

The following quote from President-elect Barack Obama on the night of Nov. 4th, 2008, will go down in history as a great quote:

"...In this country we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House. A Party founded on the values of self-reliance, and individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, 'We are not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.'

To those American's whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all of those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from Parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Around the World

andrea — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:23:21 -0800

Published on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 by The New York Times
Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Around the World

by Alan Cowell

PARIS - From the front lines of Iraq to more genteel spots like Harry's Bar in Paris, the election of Barack Obama unlocked a floodgate of hope that a new American leader will redeem promises of change, rewrite the political script and, perhaps as important as anything else, provide a kind of leadership that will erase the bitterness of the Bush years.

Whether it was because of Mr. Obama's youth, his race, his message or his manner, some European leaders abandoned diplomatic niceties to compete for extravagance in their praise, while others outside the United States - fascinated by an election that had been scrutinized around the globe - reached for their most telling comparisons.

"There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader," said Alejandro Saks, an Argentine script writer in Buenos Aires. Or, as Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science in Istanbul, put it, "The U.S. needs a facelift and he's the one who can give it."

There were some glaring departures from the feel-good mood. One in particular illustrated the challenges that will test the president-elect: President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia chose the day to lambast the United States and threaten new missile deployments.

Fed $15 Billion 'Swap' Arrangement with New Zealand

kauaibrad — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:10:24 -0700

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Good data and graph comparisons at: http://money.cnn.com/data/currencies/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/28/news/economy/new_zealand_swap.ap/index.h...
"Fed to supply $15B to New Zealand's central bank"

Under a swap deal, the Fed will send U.S. dollars to New Zealand in return for that country's currency. October 28, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- "The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will supply New Zealand's central bank with up to $15 billion, part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to break through a global credit clog.

Under the new "swap" arrangement, the Fed will provide dollars to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in exchange for that country's currency.

"This facility, like those already established with other central banks, is designed to help improve liquidity conditions in global financial markets," the Fed explained in a brief statement.

The goal is to spur banks and other financial institutions to lend more freely, something that will help the U.S. and global economies.

The Fed has set up similar arrangements with the European Central Bank and with central banks in other countries, including Australia, Canada, and Japan."

http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN29580093200810...
"UPDATE 2-U.S. Fed launches four new currency swap lines"
By David Lawder Oct 29, 2008

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - "The Federal Reserve on Wednesday extended U.S. dollar liquidity aid beyond traditional markets, opening four new $30 billion currency swap lines with Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore.

Great Article on the Center of the Crisis -- CDS's

kauaibrad — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:59:33 -0700

Monday, October 27, 2008

This lady, Ellen Brown, JD, does some great writing:

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/derivative-disaster.php
"CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS: DERIVATIVE DISASTER DU JOUR"
Ellen Brown, April 10th, 2008

"When the smartest guys in the room designed their credit default swaps, they forgot to ask one thing – what if the parties on the other side of the bet don't have the money to pay up? Credit default swaps (CDS) are insurance-like contracts that are sold as protection against default on loans, but CDS are not ordinary insurance. Insurance companies are regulated by the government, with reserve requirements, statutory limits, and examiners routinely showing up to check the books to make sure the money is there to cover potential claims. CDS are private bets, and the Federal Reserve from the time of Alan Greenspan has insisted that regulators keep hands off. The sacrosanct free market would supposedly regulate itself. The problem with that approach is that regulations are just rules. If there are no rules, the players can cheat; and cheat they have, with a gambler's addiction. In December 2007, the Bank for International Settlements reported derivative trades tallying in at $681 trillion – ten times the gross domestic product of all the countries in the world combined. Somebody is obviously bluffing about the money being brought to the game, and that realization has made for some very jittery markets.

Report from 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on the Economy

kauaibrad — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:02:37 -0700

Monday, October 27, 2008

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/26/content_10252340.htm
"7th Asia-Europe meeting concluded with consensus on global financial crisis" 2008-10-26

Special Report (couple of interesting videos here): The 7th Asia-Europe Meeting

Full text of statement of the Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting on the Int'l Financial Situation

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- "The two-day 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was concluded here Saturday with participants reaching consensus on global financial crisis and other issues.
The meeting, attended by leaders and representatives from 45 Asian and European nations and organizations, realized its expected goal and was a great success, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in a closing speech.
As one of the most fruitful achievements, a statement of the 7th ASEM on the international financial situation was adopted at the meeting.
"Leaders believed that authorities of all countries should demonstrate vision and resolution and take firm, decisive and effective measures in a responsible and timely manner to rise to the challenge of the financial crisis," said the statement.
The international community should continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation and take effective and available economic and financial measures in a comprehensive way to restore market confidence, stabilize global financial markets and promote global economic growth, it said.

Climate Deal May Be Too Late To Save Coral Reefs, Scientists Warn

andrea — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:50:33 -0700

Published on Monday, October 27, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
Climate Deal May Be Too Late To Save Coral Reefs, Scientists Warn

by David Adam

A new global deal on climate change will come too late to save most of the world's coral reefs, according to a US study that suggests major ecological damage to the oceans is now inevitable.

[reefs including the Great Barrier Reef off Australia could begin to break up within a few decades, research suggests. (Photograph: Cathie Page)]reefs including the Great Barrier Reef off Australia could begin to break up within a few decades, research suggests. (Photograph: Cathie Page)
Emissions of carbon dioxide are making seawater so acidic that reefs including the Great Barrier Reef off Australia could begin to break up within a few decades, research by the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University in California suggests. Even ambitious targets to stabilise greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, as championed by Britain and Europe to stave off dangerous climate change, still place more than 90% of coral reefs in jeopardy.

Oceanographers Long Cao and Ken Caldeira looked at how carbon dioxide dissolves in the sea as human emissions increase. About a third of carbon pollution is soaked up in this way, where it reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid. Experts say human activity over the last two centuries has produced enough acid to lower the average pH of global ocean surface waters by about 0.1 units.