The world all about money and whats around it.

Is the credit crisis over? Not so fast

2008-10-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

The bailouts have effectively tamed the financial crisis for now. But that a greater crisis for the economy still lay ahead. There is no doubt about that in mine thinking. But after speaking to a friend I now realize my view over the financial crisis and what’s going on.

In Europe the crisis is also tamed but economics problems you don’t let them disappear in a blink of a eye. There are much more problems going on effecting the credit crisis.

What would be needed. Is a bailout off 1 trillion. Then we could even start forgetting the word credit crisis. But for now it will by a big happening in history of course everyone hopes its over fast. Its not as simple as it looks. But what you can do is prepare for it and work around it as company. But the banks that are having the biggest problems. But remember other company’s will also fall in the future or will get big problems. Of course I can’t guarantee that me theory is true. Maybe the crisis is already over tomorrow or in years but it’s a real problem and that’s for real.

Even if the current financial crisis has been arrested for now, the severity of a recession here and around the world is a serious concern. And if I’m correct, that would compound the crisis.

That is what makes the stock market so tricky right now. Many folks would like to think that given the size of the wipeout we've seen, stocks must have discounted a lot of economic damage. I don't believe that, because for the longest time the stock market basically discounted nothing and especially went off a cliff here in the past couple of months. That said, I have closed out almost all of my shorts.

I don't believe the amount of damage that lies ahead has been fully discounted. However, when the stock market is stretched as far to the downside as it is now, and given all the firepower that central banks and governments keep throwing at the credit crisis. So we all have to wait and see the only tips I can give watch your stocks and your bank and take actions so you won’t by 1 off those victims off the credit crisis.

International Offers

2008-10-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Been busy lately but today I come with a interesting post. I have been using international offers for a while and been payout by them a few times so I found it time to share this good website. Ok well how it works.

When you registered at the website you go to PTS (Pay To Sign) In this matter it means signup for a offer. When you compleet the signup you copy the email most times activation email. Then paste it in and click submit then if everything is ok you will get credited in a few hours to a few days.

Well thats not all to hard. Well about getting paid in the top off you interface. When you login you will see how much money you got. With paypal you can request payout at 1$ and with e-gold already at 0.10$

Most times you will get your money within 1 hour so its a very good service when you want a quick $ and by sure to check the website from time to time for new offers so you can request payout again always handy.

Further there are upgrade membership things avaiable but its not a must you can earn a few $ for free by just compleeting those offers.

Here some payment proof.

Further I like to say if you like this offer website I prefer to the banner below to register and try it.

Credit crisis the storm is just beginning?

2008-10-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

As global markets fall sharply, We look at some of the countries affected by financial problems and what their governments are doing to alleviate the crisis.

GERMANY

State-owned savings banks in Germany reported a flood of new deposits as people look for safer accounts which are insured for 100% of their value.

The country's second-biggest commercial property lender, Hypo Real Estate, was threatened with collapse last week after incurring large amounts of bad debt.

The government attempted a bail-out, only for it to collapse on Sunday after a banking consortium withdrew support for the deal. A new bail-out was arranged with guarantees of 50bn euros ($68bn; £38.7bn), 15bn euros more than the first rescue attempt.

The German government has also announced what appear to be unlimited guarantees for private savings. However, it said there would be no legislation to give extra protection to savers.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said those financiers who did "irresponsible business" would be made accountable.

Germany clinches bank rescue deal

ICELAND

The Prime Minister of Iceland, Geir Haarde, has confirmed that negotiations have been going on with Russia for a big loan to support Iceland's banking system.

Mr Haarde said a delegation from Iceland would go to Moscow in the next couple of days to finalise the deal. He thanked Moscow for its offer of more than $5bn in emergency loans.

Iceland's government has taken control of Landsbanki, the second largest bank by value, and has dismissed the board of directors.

The bank, which also trades as the internet bank Icesave, is being taken over by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority (IFSA).

Customers of the Icesave have been warned they will probably have to claim compensation for money held in their savings accounts.

Iceland's parliament has passed emergency legislation giving the government wide-ranging powers to dictate banks' operations.

Mr Haarde said the legislation would help the island avoid national bankruptcy.

Iceland will also offer an unlimited guarantee for all savings accounts.

The Icelandic krona plummeted against the dollar after the government nationalised the country's third-largest bank, Glitnir, last week. By Friday it had lost one-fifth of its value.

The government has agreed measures allowing the banks to sell off some foreign assets to help shore up the financial system.

Trading on Iceland's stock exchange remains suspended for the second day running.

Icesave savers warned on accounts

BELGIUM

The Belgian government has agreed to guarantee bank deposits of up to 100,000 euros ($136,000) - an increase of 80,000 euros.

The country's largest banking group, Fortis, has been in difficulty since it joined two other banks to purchase the Dutch bank ABN Amro, just before the global financial crisis began.

After several failed bail-out attempts, French giant BNP Paribas agreed to buy 75% of Fortis's operations in Belgium and Luxembourg. The two governments will take a minority share of the company, while its Netherlands operation has been nationalised.

IRELAND

Ireland was the first government to come to the rescue of its citizens' savings, promising on 30 September to guarantee all deposits, bonds and debts in its six main banks for two years.

The move initially prompted consternation among some European partners, but several countries have since followed suit.

Cowen defending Irish banks move

UK

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is holding talks with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King on proposals to stabilise the banking system.

UK banking shares have plunged and there are fears that more financial institutions may need government assistance.

HBOS dropped 42%, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) fell 39%, Barclays shed 9% and Lloyds TSB was down 13%.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that Britain is already in a recession, which is worsening and could see unemployment rise by 350,000 by next year.

The UK government increased its guarantee to savers from £35,000 ($62,000) to £50,000 from Tuesday.

The Treasury is said to be considering buying large stakes in Britain's banks to encourage lending. The Northern Rock bank and the mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley have already been nationalised, and two other large groups, HBOS and Lloyds TSB, are to merge.

Banks' share prices fall sharply

SPAIN

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Tuesday increased bank deposit guarantees to 100,000 euros ($136,000) from the current 20,000 euros.

Mr Zapatero told leading banks that the government would take immediate steps to increase deposit guarantees to boost confidence in the financial system.

Spain has been calling for a joint European initiative to tackle the world financial crisis.

NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands trebled the amount of savers' deposits it will protect to 100,000 euros (£77,700; $136,776).

GREECE

The Greek government said on Friday it would fully guarantee all bank deposits of citizens, but an official added that this was a "political commitment" and the banking system was not at risk.

DENMARK

The Danish government and banks on Sunday agreed a crisis plan which removes the ceiling on savings deposit guarantees, to be funded partly by banks and partly by the taxpayer.

RUSSIA

President Dmitry Medvedev announced 950 billion roubles ($36.4 bn) of long term help for banks at an emergency Kremlin meeting on Tuesday.

Russia's two leading stock exchanges were forced to close for several hours, one day after suffering massive falls in value.

Trading on the RTS and Micex bourses was postponed by the country's financial regulator after stocks lost nearly 20% of their value on Monday.

Soon after reopening, the RTS index rose by 0.58% while Micex gained 2.16%. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for urgent international measures to combat the global financial crisis in a statement.

"The crisis of the international financial system demands urgent joint action. It's absolutely obvious the time has come for new decisions," said Mr Medvedev.

Falls halt Russian market trading
AUSTRALIA

Australia's central bank has cut its key interest rate from 7% to 6% - a much bigger-than-expected reduction.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said that the sharp cut was justified given the prospects for growth, even though inflation is currently above target.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the move would maintain financial stability and help Australia in "tough times ahead".

The cut, the bank's largest since May 1992, was well received by investors and the stock market rallied.

Observers had only expected the rate to be cut to 6.5%.

Australia slashes interest rates

JAPAN

Japanese shares dropped to their lowest level in almost five years amid growing fears over the widening financial crisis.
SAUDI ARABIA

Shares in Saudi Arabia lost about 8% of their value for the second consecutive day.

Analysts said there was panic in the markets, with investors concerned about the future for banks, and companies exposed to a faltering property market.

The Saudi stock market, the Arab world's largest, has now lost more than 40% of its value this year.

EGYPT

Egypt's main index dropped by more than 16% to its lowest level in two years.

Egypt's stock market has halved in value since May 2008.

US finance saving plan got accepted after 2nd try

2008-10-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

House of Representatives voted 263-171 to pass an historic $700 billion measure to rescue the financial sector, few days after initially defeating the plan. President Bush immediately signed the bill into law after it was accepted.

More than 29 lawmakers who opposed the bill when it was defeated Monday by a 228-205 vote reversed their position and voted "yea."

"By coming together on this legislation we have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," Bush said at the White House after the bill was approved.

But he warned that "it will take some time for this legislation to have full impact on our economy...it will require a careful analysis and deliberation...it cannot be accomplished overnight."

"Our eye now is to the future, to shine the bright light of accountability on the financial markets so it doesn't happen again," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Fortunately we had a strong bipartisan vote, but we knew we'd be strong enough to pass the bill today."

She promised to hold hearings into why the financial crisis happened.

The legislation will allow the Treasury Secretary to buy troubled mortgage-backed securities and other assets to help unlock credit markets.

The plan is designed to free up capital so financial firms can increase lending and improve confidence into the economics and help place a floor under asset prices, including home prices.
Congressional leaders in the past several days paved the way for the successful vote by adding a provision to the measure to temporarily increase to $250,000 from $100,000 the amount of personal savings accounts, certificates of deposit and other bank deposits covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Senate also added a $107 billion package of tax breaks, including an effort to shield nearly 25 million Americans from the Alternative Minimum Tax —- a parallel tax system that eliminates many popular deductions and credits.

The AMT was initially aimed at wealthy taxpayers, but is hitting more and more middle class workers.

But the overriding factor turning the debate around appeared to be the increasing turmoil in international credit markets just since Monday — and rising evidence the U.S. economy is falling into a big fall.

A downturn likely won't be avoided if the measure passes, but policymakers hope the plan will help to keep the economy from getting far worse.

The Labor Department Friday reported a larger-than-expected rise in joblessness, with firms shedding 159,000 workers in September. California lawmakers said state officials had called them to warn that the state is having trouble obtaining needed short-term credit to fill a $7 billion budget gap.
While other think saving this was not needed at all even stronger that this all could become more worse after.

"Sometimes in life if we're responsible we have to clean up not just the messes that we've created, but the messes that others have created as well."

Lawmakers during debate Friday implored the Treasury Department to go well beyond buying mortgage-backed securities and use its new authroity to aid firms making auto loans, student loans and other business assistance.

His statement caused Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., shepherding the plan through the House, to quip that he would be "ever mindful of the danger that President Bush will lead us down the road to socialism."

Supporters of the bill noted they had forced the Treasury Department, which initially sent a three-page document to Congress, to accept a number of significant changes.
As passed the bill will:

— Require the Treasury Department to work to restructure many of the mortgages it purchases to aid homeowners facing foreclosures. Negotiators dropped a provision sought by Democrats to allow judges to reduce mortgage debt in bankruptcy court.

— Curtail so-called "golden parachutes," huge compensation packages, to departing executives at firms that sell assets to the government.

— Allow the government to take an ownership share in companies that sell assets to the Treasury Department, to ensure that taxpayers share in any possible profits from the program.

— Set up a series of oversight boards to keep tabs on the Treasury Department's management of the program, and requiring electronic filing of asset sales and purchases.

For now the economics got a financial injection and the economic system is saved? That is something we will see in the coming weeks a lot off things happened in those weeks.

Dutch government takes over Fortis and ABN Amro

2008-10-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

The government of the Netherlands is to take over all Dutch operations of financial services company Fortis. The Netherlands Central Bank bought Fortis Nederland and Fortis insurances as well as the ABN Amro operations that Fortis acquired a year ago, for 16.8 billion euros.

The move was announced on Friday evening by prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, finance minister Wouter Bos and central bank president Nout Welling. The nationalisation came after last weekend's bail-out plan. Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments pledged to inject 11.2 billion euros in the multinational company on Sunday. Secret negotiations for the new agreement started on Tuesday and were finalized on Friday.

Fortis had come into "severe solvency problems", Bos said, because consumers had withdrawn their savings and other banks wouldn't loan money to the company.

Wellink said that two banks which are "part of the capillary system of the Dutch economy have been rescued". Fortis and ABN Amro have a 40 percent market share in the small business sector. The three parts of Fortis employ 45,000 people in the Netherlands.

Finance minister Bos said that it is important to stabilize the Dutch banking sector, "but above all for Dutch savers and customers to know their money is safe." Not that all the dutch people will lose their trust into the dutch banks.

Wellink said the integration of ABN Amro into Fortis will proceed. The merger will offer "substantial benefits", according to the central bank president.

According to the ministry of finance the nationalization is "a temporary move". Fortis is to be sold once the crisis on the global financial markets has quieted down to ABN Amro.

As you can see Fortis just came out off trouble as it looked like. But the real thing was there was more mess then they expected. So that’s why they decided to take the Dutch banks over to hold the trust and not that everyone put their money off their banks.

EU leaders discussing the bank crisis in Paris

2008-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

A European financial summit to discuss the current global crisis is set to take place in Paris on Saturday.

Leaders from Netherlands, Britain, Germany and Italy, together with the president of the European Commission and European Central Bank chief, will be attending.

Rumors of a 300bn euro’s (£237bn, $417bn) EU-wide rescue similar to the plan being discussed by the US Congress have been denied by Sarkozy's office.

President Sarkozy wants a coordinated European response to the crisis. He see it going the wrong way so he decided that it was time for a meeting.

Calls for European action follow the bail-out of both Bradford and Bingley, which cost the UK government around £14bn, and Fortis Bank, which cost the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands around £9bn. So it is time for some action or else the future will not by good.

Meanwhile, the Irish government's unilateral move to safeguard all deposits, bonds and debts in the Republic of Ireland's biggest banks and building societies for the next two years has raised concerns about competitive disadvantage among UK banks.

However, according to Karel Lannoo from Brussels think tank the Centre for European Policy Studies, it is a mistake to allow individual European countries to deal with their own banks.

"Most of these banks, certainly the 50 largest European banks have outgrown their national boundaries," he said.

Germany has made its opposition to any coordinated European bail-out plan known ahead of the meeting, while the chairman of eurozone finance ministers has also rejected any need for a European rescue fund for distressed banks.

Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said Europe did not need a similar escapes like the US's $700bn (£396bn) plan to take so-called toxic assets off banks' balance sheets.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also skeptical of the need for any Europe-wide plan to cover the credit crisis.

However, a French civil servant is reported to have proposed a 300bn euro bail-out fund, and the Netherlands has proposed the creation of a European reserve fund to come to the aid of ailing banks before they fail.

Despite the differing views, Gordon Brown's spokesman said he did not expect discussion of an EU-wide bank fund at the meeting.

The propose off the meeting is to get some clear agreements how to handle against the credit crisis if the situation become more worse.

UK house prices continue to fall

2008-10-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

UK house prices dropping by 1.7% in September, according to the Nationwide.

The lender recorded a 12.4% annual drop in prices, pushing the cost of the average UK home down to £161,797, more than £20,000 less than a year ago.

House prices were down year-on-year across the UK, with southern England suffering worse than the north.

The rate of fall, which was the same as in August, has remained relatively unchanged in the past three months.

But the annual fall was one very big 1 for 17 years.

A homeowner on being told to drop her original asking price

Ms Earley said that a distinctive feature of the July to September period was the accelerating fall in house prices in the south of England compared with the north.

Four of the six regions registering double-digit price declines were in the South, with East Anglia and the South West showing the biggest annual drops - both 11.4%.

Northern Ireland showed the steepest decline in house prices across the UK, which are now 29.8% lower than a year ago.

But the price rises had been so rapid in recent years, that prices are now only back to the same level as the third quarter of 2006.

In Scotland, where house prices had risen in the second three months of the year, recorded a 5% drop between July and September compared with the previous three months. That was a bigger drop than the UK average of 4.6%.

Wales has the smallest price fall compared with other areas of the UK, with a three-month on three-month fall of 1.9% in July to September.

The recent price falls made a lot off attention experts believe the price lowering trend will hold on for a while.

House sellers should focus more on the local trend

2008-10-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

Estate marketing is very slow and stable in the last mouths. Those days Estate marketing catched a lot off attention on the media. While the national markets are making big news, sellers should focus more on local trends.

The nationwide estate marketing doesn't have any major significant role in the estate industry's. It is a discussion by the communities around that is usually based on averages. In unique circumstances, the averages are entirely different.

For example, the real estate market in Stockton, California is a complete nightmare. Most of the houses are either in foreclosure or distressed. This has been the worst scenario ever. That being said, does it represent a national trend?

There is nothing in the national trends in the real estate market. This is perhaps the worst real estate market since a long time. The market in Jacksonville is perhaps strong. Sales are happening. Hence they might agree to the national trends.

Every estate marketing is a self contained local phenomenon. There is a small market inside every big market. For example, homes in San Diego are worth $500,000 range. There are more expensive homes in the range of $800,000 that are also getting sold and still carrying their value. Basically, homes above that price range are actually making good profits. In other words, we are discussing about two markets in the same geographical area but divided by price.

If you are a homeowner, these examples will teach you a lot of things. National and state trends do not make too much difference. You need to focus more on the market in your neighborhood. See how fast homes near your area are selling. Is the home value rising or dropping down? These are numbers that will help you in understanding the market value in real estate, not what is happening in just one area like Stockton!

Want to make some money with a trustable PTC?

2008-09-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

Today I will talk about the PTC (Pay to Click) Neobux. Since people think those days doesn't trust any ptc's and say they are scam this and that. Well this 1 isn't and is holding.

Well there are ptc's that are good and trustable. But that are only a few and then still the question is will they remain trusted? Well with neobux I have some personal experiences I like to share.

Well at around mid July. I joined neobux clicked for a few days and then they supported paypal. Then I decided to go invested 25 $ into the program and it went well. But then the holiday's came that lowered me clicks and finnaly at 25$ again I decided to quit investing in it and I got me money back instant.

Here is a image with the proof its not directly 25$ this is me 2nd payout. They payout at already 2$ instant then it goes up 3$, 4$ to 10$ finally.

But my mistake with the program was I invested to less if you invest around 100 or 150$ you sitting good and recycle you refs when they don't click. And if you invest lesser then you just need to wait longer when you get it back thats the simple thing behind it.

I will also talk about more money making things soon when I got proof.

If you think this is the PTC program for you then don't wait longer and register.

US finance saving plan got rejected

2008-09-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Fear has swept across the financial markets, sending the Dow Jones industrials down as much as 705 points, after the government's financial bail out package failed.

As the voting was shown on television, stocks plunged and investors fled to the safety of the credit markets, worrying that the financial system would keep sinking under the weight of failed mortgage debt.

"Clearly something needs to be done, and the market dropping 400 points in 10 minutes is telling you that," said Chris Johnson president of Johnson Research Group. "This isn't a market for the timid."

While investors had some worries that the vote would be close, many investors appeared to believe it would ultimately pass.

The markets were highly volatile, with the Dow regaining ground then falling backing again, trading down 557.30, or 5 per cent, to 10,585.83. At its low, it was down 705.06, not far from its previous record for an intraday drop, 721.56, set during the first trading day after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Broader stock indicators also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 77.16, or 6.36 per cent, to 1,136.11, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 146.66, or 6.72 per cent, to 2,036.68.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the market's decline.

With Wall Street in turmoil, the yield on the three-month Treasury bill fell to 0.32 per cent from 0.87 per cent on Friday. That showed that investors were prepared to get meagre returns on an investment as long as it was secure.

Marc Pado, US market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, said investors are worried about the spread of troubles beyond banks in the US to Europe and other markets.

"Things are dying and breaking apart while they sit there and vote on this thing," he said.

The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell $US11.39 to $US95.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange as investors feared that a worsening economy would slice into energy demand. If the decline held, it would be oil's largest ever one-day drop.

Marc Pado, US market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, said investors were worried about the spread of troubles beyond banks in the US to Europe and other markets.

"Things are dying and breaking apart while they sit there and vote on this thing," he said.

Lawmakers' voted down a plan that was different than what the Bush administration had proposed. There were restrictions allowing Congress to limit how much of the money went out the door at once.

It also included caps on pay packages of top executives as well as assurances that the government also would ultimately be reimbursed by the companies for any losses. The Treasury would have been permitted to spend $US250 billion to buy banks' risky assets, giving them a much-needed necessary cash infusion. There also would be another $US100 billion for use at president's discretion and a final $US350 billion if Congress signs off on it.

Wall Street found further reason for worry overseas. Three European governments agreed to inject Fortis NV with a $US16.4 billion bail out. Fortis, with has headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and Utrecht, Netherlands, is Belgium's largest retail bank.

The British government, meanwhile, said it is nationalizing mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley, which has a $US91 billion mortgage and loan portfolio. It was the latest sign that the credit crisis has spread beyond the US.

Also the Europe markets are getting hit everyday more badly by the crisis. Experts are expecting tomorrow will by a other hard day for the stock markets because the finance saving plan got rejected.

Fortis saved from going bankrupt?

2008-09-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Banking giant Fortis, which was on the verge of a collapse, was rescued late over the weekend with the governments of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux) agreeing to a partial nationalization and pumping €11.2 billion ($16.37 billion) into the bank.

Attempts to get France's BNP Paribas and Dutch financial firm ING Groep NV to acquire Fortis failed as the two banks refused to buy it wholly or partially, forcing the three governments to move in to save it from collapse. The partial nationalisation makes Fortis the bank largest European financial institution to be bailed out in the ongoing global financial credit crisis.

Prime Minister Yves Leterme of Belgium and Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, announced the deal after the emergency talks with BNP Paribas and ING Groep NV collapsed. The talks collapsed because BNP Paribas exited out of the bidding.

Fortis had come under intense pressure because of market speculation that the bank would find it extremely difficult to raise €8.3 billion it required to bolster its capital, with fears even that amount may not be sufficient as financial markets worsen everyday.

Its stock plunged nearly 23 per cent at one point and closed on Friday with 20 per cent of its stock market capitalisation wiped out at €5.20. Its stock has fallen 71 per cent this year having fallen for the past five working days in a row and counting.

Fortis had admitted that it had a significant exposure to sub-prime loans totaling €2.9 billion creating fears of a run on the bank.

The three governments released a joint press statement stating that they would pump in money to buy 49-per cent of Fortis's banking subsidiaries operating in each of their countries.

Belgium and Netherlands will acquire 49 per cent stake with Belgium paying € 4.7 billion and Netherlands €4 billion while Luxembourg will give €2.5 billion as a mandatory convertible loan for 49-per cent stake in the Luxembourg operations of Fortis.

Fortis will also sell its part of the stake in the recently acquired ABN Amro bank and chairman Maurice Lippens will be asked to resign and will be replaced by an outsider. Maurice Lippens have assured investors last week. That the bank would not go bankrupt.

With its headquarters in both Belgium and Holland, the government of both countries was forced to rescue Fortis as majority of people in both countries bank with it, apart from it being the largest employer in the private sector.

The government in a television broadcast has said to the public that their savings were safe at Fortis in a television broadcast today.

As you can see the credit crisis is slowly spreading further and further into Europe. which bank will by next?

Movie says enough.

Credit crisis is effecting Europe banks

2008-09-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Stock holders are losing the trust into Fortis. They lost 20% off their stock last friday.

Asked about the talks, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme told reporters we are being informed about it.

It is very crucial for people in this country who entrust their savings to a bank that we safeguard the credibility of these banks and, in particular, ensure that every person who has entrusted a bank with a euro can be sure of getting it back.

The risks are high in Belgium. Where Fortis is the biggest private sector employer and where over 1.5 million households. Thats almost the half off the country that has a bank account with fortis.

The banking and insurance group sought on Friday to reassure investors it was solvent and in no danger of collapse after market talk that it could become another credit crisis casualty.

As its shares plummeted more than 20 percent to 15 year-lows on Friday, Fortis called an emergency news conference to say its position was strong at the market and that it would expand asset sales to as much as 10 billion euros ($14.6 billion) to raise cash.

Belgian newspaper De Tijd said the heads of Belgium's big banks and financial supervisors would hold talks over Fortis in a bid to restore confidence among savers and investors.

Several Belgian and Dutch media outlets cited France's BNP Paribas as a potential buyer.

At the core of market concerns is Fortis' liquidity, but the financial group reminded investors that it was sitting on a funding base of 300 billion euros. The European Central Bank has also made clear that it is ready to fund any liquidity shortfalls as European money markets remain effectively frozen.

They are feeling strong but developments could go very fast. Look at what happened with Lehman Brothers. Of course, we cannot compare Fortis to Lehman, they're different banks, but things can change quickly," said Rob Koenders of Dutch asset manager Harmony Vermogensbeheer, which holds Fortis shares.

Two weeks ago, U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch agreed to be taken over by Bank of America . Since then, U.S. insurer American International Group was rescued by U.S. authorities, and Washington Mutual was closed by the government and sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Verwilst told at conference call on Friday there was no way possible that Fortis would go bankrupt.

The biggest vulnerability for Fortis right now would be that everyone wants to withdrawing funds and forcing the bank to shore up more capital than it is capable of.

Fortis shares, which closed down 20 percent at 5.2 euros on Friday, have lost more than two-thirds of their value since buying the Dutch operations and asset management arm of ABN AMRO as part of a three-bank, 70 billion euros buyout consortium.

So for the people it will by holding tight and hoping it will not become a other victim off the credit crisis. Also the other banks.

Lazy workers still get everything done

2008-09-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

At some companies, employees setting their own schedules to work with or they skipping meetings and take unlimited vacation time when they like. The big surprise about this is they get everything done at time or even more done.

The idea seems radical. But unlimited paid vacation time, no schedules at all, no special meetings, and no judgments from the co-workers and most importantly the bosses about how time is spent. Both the press and business man's seems to by landed to reinventing its culture. But is it a idea that others also should must follow? Is is really more effective then the approaches we been used to?

This way off working is called ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment). The idea of decoupling time is the rule of the future. We need to stop using the method work in hours and start thinking it in terms of task or production. If you look at the history of using time to measure work, For example the concept starting around the 1930s, when assembly-line production became too complex to understand what you did or what you didn't. People gone paying according to how many shoes they made for example or by task. In the overall history off working people. The whole thing off hourly working has just served its purpose. It just doesn’t make sense to pay by the hour to write a piece of software for a company.

This could may become the future for more jobs you will get paid per task or per shoe and not per hour.

Gas prices gone crazy

2008-09-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

in the '70s During the gas shortages. Some states came up with a plan to cut the long gas lines. Drivers whose license plates ended in an even number could buy the gas only on even-numbered days of the month; drivers whose plates ended in an odd number only on odd-numbered days.

Those days it is becoming big problems again. Like The Associated Press reports that the number of accidents involving golf carts is rising very fast because people are using them to drive around town as an alternative to their gas drinking cars all because off the highering gas prices. Means that the sells off the golf carts increased very rapidly and expected to increase in the next 5 years.

So slowly the gas cars are disappearing from the street view more people will choose the electronic car or other alternatives to by as cheap as possible.

Also people think up ideas to by smart and go around the fat gas prices. Like A man decided to solve his gas problems in a special but on a crime way. The Police discovered a hidden 800-gallon tank in his pickup. He had a device that disabled the meter on the gas pump and he was caught because people were finding it weird what he was doing.

Lets see what happens in the future. Who knows maybe we by flying in cars over 5 years.