– Bank chief warns economy could shrink by 6%… just three months after Alistair Darling predicted a fall of 1.25% (Daily Mail)
– Meet Labour’s City cronies: The roll call of bankers rewarded by rewarded by Brown and Blair (Daily Mail):
An analysis by the Daily Mail reveals that while ministers are now railing against the role of bankers in causing the economic crisis, they have spent the last decade cosying up to the industry. Labour has given 23 bankers honours, brought three into the Government as ministers and involved 37 in commissions and advisory bodies.
– Bank will print money as UK sees ‘deep recession’ (Independent)
– Millions face ‘stealth tax’ on heating bills to subsidise green energy (Daily Mail)
– Australia’s Senate blocks A$42bn stimulus plan (Financial Times)
– EU faces ‘toxic’ debt spiral (Telegraph):
It is not surprising that European Union finance ministers looked ashen faced in Brussels on Tuesday.
– Jim Rogers: Treasury Bonds Last Bubble Left (Money News)
– Treasury 30-Year Bonds Fall After Record Sale; U.S. Notes Rise (Bloomberg)
– Economic And Financial Systems Deliberately Destabilized (Financial Forecaster)
– ‘Here’s the problem… people really hate you,’ US bankers told (Independent):
Announcing the hearings last week, Barney Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said that public patience with Wall Street bailouts had worn thin. “As I’ve said to a couple of the bankers, ‘Here’s this problem: People really hate you, and they’re starting to hate us because we’re hanging out with you,'” Mr Frank said.
– Wall Street Men Find World According to TARP Worth Fleeing (Bloomberg):
– Bush-era offshore drilling plan is set aside (MSNBC):
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Tuesday overturned another Bush-era energy policy, setting aside a draft plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
– Home prices in record plunge (CNN Money):
The National Association of Realtors reports that home prices dropped a record 12.4% in the final quarter of 2008 – the biggest decline in 30 years.
– Meltdown 101: Highlights of economic stimulus plan (AP):
Many leading economists have concluded that the stimulus alone may be insufficient to bring a quick turnaround for the economy. (No government can turn around an entire economy and is also not supposed to do so.)
– Schwarzenegger and California legislators reach tentative budget deal (Guardian):
Schwarzenegger threatened this week to send 20,000 layoff notices to state employees, on top of the other cuts, if lawmakers do not commit to a budget deal by then.
– I Could Have Made a Fortune Wrecking a Bank: Margaret Carlson (Bloomberg)
– Oil industry needs tax breaks to avert slump (Times Online)
– Rio Tinto Drops After Chinalco Agrees to Invest $19.5 Billion (Bloomberg):
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Aluminum Corp. of China agreed to invest $19.5 billion in debt-laden Rio Tinto Group, gaining access to copper and iron ore resources in the nation’s largest overseas acquisition.
– France imposes limits on bank bonuses (Financial Times)
– Take low-skilled jobs, class of 2009 told (Guardian)
– US bankers yield to foreclosure demands (Financial Times)
– The CIA and NSA Want You to Be Their Friend on Facebook (U.S. News & World Report):
The spy agencies are using the popular social-networking site as part of their recruiting efforts
– Okla. town in ‘shock’ after tornado kills 9 (USA Today):
“The last February tornado to occur in Oklahoma was in 2000,” Carbin said. “They’re not common.”
– Big satellites collide 500 miles over Siberia (AP):
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station.
– Powerful earthquake hits Indonesia, 42 injured (AP)
– Chavez reports attempted coup (AFP):
CARACAS, (AFP) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reported an attempted coup against his palace by army troops in contact with “a soldier on the run in the United States,” but said the government had everything under control.