Market Stimulus Gone Bad

PAUL KRUGMAN

Market Stimulus Gone Bad

If the money the government lays out doesn't get spent, the stimulus plan in the US will have failed.

AFP

A giant interactive screen displays a $10 bill at the Museum of American Finance in New York.

Global Recession...(lagi??)

Tahun ini (2008) diperkirakan menjadi tahun yang cukup sulit bagi seluruh perekonomian dunia (tentu saja kecuali China, India dan Rusia). Betapa tidak, ancaman resesi global, yang dimulai dari Amerika Serikat nampaknya memang benar-benar sudah di depan mata. Kita pun patut memberikan salut kepada George Soros dan Alan Grenspan yang dulu (kalau tidak salah) pada tahun 2005 - 2006 telah mengatakan bahwa US sangat berpotensi untuk terjadi resesi.

Société Générale's Fraud: $7.1 billion just by ONE guy!

Société Générale's Fraud: What Now?

After a rogue trader cost the French bank $7.1 billion, many are left to wonder about the lucrative but risky equity-derivatives business

Societe Generale CEO Daniel Bouton at a press conference in La Defense on Jan. 24, 2008 Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images

by Carol Matlack

How could this possibly have happened? That was the question being asked in financial circles worldwide Jan. 24, after France's Société Générale (SOGN.PA), one of Europe's biggest banks and a global superstar in the booming derivatives-trading business, disclosed a staggering $7.1 billion loss from rogue trading by a single employee.

EU scientists query bloc’s biofuel strategy

EU scientists query bloc’s biofuel strategy

By Andrew Bounds in London
Published: January 17 2008 21:59 | Last updated: January 17 2008 21:59

A plan to increase the use of biofuels in Europe, to be outlined next week, may do nothing to help fight climate change and incur costs that outweigh the benefits, says an internal European Union report.
The unpublished study by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house scientific institute, was prepared ahead of the commission’s meeting next Wednesday when it is set to endorse plans for biofuels to account for 10 per cent of transport fuels in the 27-member EU by 2020.
“The costs [of the target] will almost certainly outweigh the benefits,” says the report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times. Taxpayers would face a bill of €33bn-€65bn between now and 2020, the study says.

Fed Rate Cut Halts Market Free Fall, But Recession Fears Are Mounting - WSJ.com

	January 23, 2008

PAGE ONE

DOW JONES REPRINTS This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit: www.djreprints.com. • See a sample reprint in PDF format. • Order a reprint of this article now. Fed Rate Cut Halts Market Free Fall, But Recession Fears Are Mounting Foreign Shares' Tumble Prompts Bernanke Call; Biggest Trim in 20 Years By GREG IP January 23, 2008; Page A1 Ben Bernanke blinked. The Federal Reserve chairman, who normally tries to avoid reacting directly to financial markets, saw global markets in free fall, and yesterday abruptly orchestrated the single deepest cut in the Fed's main interest-rate target in more than two decades.