Fed Eyes Nordic-style nationalisation of US banks!

The US Federal Reserve is examining the Nordic bank nationalisations of the 1990s as a possible interim solution to the US financial crisis.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/31/cnfed131.xml

A useful link for understanding how Chaucer influenced the English language

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/changlang/activities/lang/chaucer/chaucerpage1.html

US Losing Confidence Vote As Investors Flee

As ever, Ambrose's latest sums up the situation succinctly.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/17/ccview117.xml

Non-Borrowed Reserves of Depository Institutions from the FED

Sinbad posted this link over on Goldtent and said that it was "scary". If, it's not a blip and a true reading - it's the stuff of nightmares!
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BOGNONBR

Wall Street fears for next Great Depression

From London's broadsheet, The Independent

By Margareta Pagano, Business Editor
Sunday, 16 March 2008

Wall Street is bracing itself for another week of roller-coaster trading after more than $300bn (£150bn) was wiped off the US equity markets on Friday following the emergency funding package put together by the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase to rescue Bear Stearns.

One UK economist warned that the world is now close to a 1930s-like Great Depression, while New York traders said they had never experienced such fear. The Fed's emergency funding procedure was first used in the Depression and has rarely been used since.

A Goldman Sachs trader in New York said: "Everyone is in a total state of shock, aghast at what is happening. No one wants to talk, let alone deal; we're just standing by waiting. Everyone is nervous about what is going to emerge when trading starts tomorrow."

In the UK, Michael Taylor, a senior market strategist at Lombard, the economics consultancy, said on Friday night: "We have all been talking about a 1970s-style crisis but as each day goes by this looks more like the 1930s. No one has any clue as to where this is going to end; it's a self-feeding disaster." Mr Taylor, who had been relatively optimistic, has turned bearish: "It really does look as though the UK is now heading for a recession. The credit-crunch means that even if the Bank of England cuts rates again, the banks are in such a bad way they are unlikely to pass cuts on."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/wall-street-fears-for-next-great-depression-796428.html

Gold is now way over $1000!

KITCO
SPOT MARKET IS OPENcloses in 5 hrs. 54 mins.
Mar 14, 2008 11:21 NY Time
Bid/Ask
1002.80- 1003.60
Low/High
989.90- 1008.00
Change
+7.70 +0.77%
30daychg
+79.60 +8.62%
1yearchg
+352.60 +54.23%

After flirting with the big number yesterday gold passed through today. And it looks to be on its way to $1016. I don't take any pleasure in the problems faced by the banks. It looks as if Bear Stearns is in serious trouble. You can be sure it is not the only bank looking into the abyss. Solvency is the issue and the banks are now paying for the lack of control and greed that was unleashed since the late 90s.

Gold is rising but the financial world is now facing its greatest danger since the 1930s. The dollar figures are immense. Come to think of it nothing like this was even faced in the 30s!

"Emma" study guide

This looks like a great guide to "Emma"

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/austen/pv.html#discussion

Pride and Prejudice - leading questions

Wanna foster your independent learning skills while studying Pride and Prejudice?

Try this study guide:
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/19th_c/austen/pride.htm

Jane Austen and the nature of women by Dr. Marguerite Conner

Here's an interesting page on women and how they were seen and expected to behave in the early 19th century. There's also a useful piece about Austen's "good" and "bad" female characters.

http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/19th_c/austen/woman.htm#tradition

The Canterbury Tales - the RSC version

Around a year ago the Royal Shakespeare Company completed a tour of their two part version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The link below has brief, filmed interviews of the director and assistant directors. The download below is a useful learning pack produced by the RSC on Chaucer and the Tales. The learning pack is a colourfully presented mixture of the accessible and the academic in which the RSC seem to excel. It includes some excellent contextual information on Chaucer and it's a good read for anyone studying this author and his texts.

http://www.rsc.org.uk/content/3370.aspx

For the learning pack
> Download pdf...

The Federal Reserve's rescue has failed

This is Ambrose's first article for two months and it looks like a good one, too.

The verdict is in. The Fed's emergency rate cuts in January have failed to halt the downward spiral towards a full-blown debt deflation. Much more drastic action will be needed.

	The Federal Reserve building in Washington

Yields on two-year US Treasuries plummeted to 1.63pc on Friday in a flight to safety, foretelling financial winter.

Looks like Ambrose is scared!

"For the first time since this Greek tragedy began, I am now really frightened."
For more:
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/03/ccview103.xml

Chaucer's "The Merchant's Tale" - Key Words and Ideas 2

Chaucer 's "The Merchant's Tale" - Key Words and Ideas

James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia

James Kunstler sometimes uses shock analogies to make his points but that does not invalidate his humorous discussion on public space and a future with hardly any oil. It's a great video on urban design.

Shayne McGuire: The Early Innings of a Gold Boom

Shayne McGuire: The Early Innings of a Gold Boom

by John Rubino

http://www.dollarcollapse.com/iNP/view.asp?ID=64