• "What we know about the global financial crisis is that we don't know very much."
  - Paul A. Samuelson
  
  "Capitalism without financial failure is not capitalism at all, but a kind of socialism for the rich."
  - James Grant, Grant's Interest Rate Observer
  
  "Economists are pessimists: they've predicted 8 of the last 3 depressions"
  - Barry Asmus

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Keeping up the good credit during economic recession is essential for your financial future. The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles you to challenge the meticulousness and entirety of information in your credit file. After fetching a dispute from somewhere, a credit-reporting agency needs to find out about the present status of challenged item within a moderate duration of time. This is of course if the credit-reporting agency does not believe the dispute to be based on shoddy grounds. If a credit reporting agency fails to verify a challenge, it is best advised to omit its details from its enquiry list as expeditiously as possible. It is the onus of the credit-reporting agency to rectify or complete a misinformation or a missing link in your credit file. This can help repair bad credit.

For instance, if your credit file emphasizes on your delinquency in the past but does not shed light on your present “current status” then the credit-reporting agency must convey that you have been making payments on time and that you are running “current” in the present day. In the event of your file showing an account of someone else, the onus solely lies on the credit-reporting agency to delete the account. This can help you in fixing bad credit. If you beseech so, the credit reporting agency has to send a rectification notice to a report recipient who has gone through your file in the last half-year or so.

If you feel that any of the credit file particulars need explanation, you can immediately send a statement to the agency. For instance, such a statement might pertain to late payment owing to job-loss, unanticipated medical bill or something along similar lines. Such information will be aligned to your credit profile and exhibited each time your file is opened. This will aid you in getting on the path of credit repair.

Presently, the stock market in New York is not showing positive signs for the US economy. Interest rates (for both banks, credit institutions and other financial institutions) are still down, and the economic recession is still continuing. It seems that the coming year, 2009, would not be bringing in more cheer than the present month. In fact, there are signs that things might be going for the worse.

The current stability of the US dollar in relation to foreign currencies may prove to be a transitory condition- continuing drops in the US market dynamics may prove too much for state aid to handle. The “artificial” stability, which has pushed the American currency against six other foreign currencies, might lose its steam once the world economies stabilize themselves in the coming year.

According to Bob Sinche, economic planner and strategist at the Bank of America, “Foundations for the dollar’s recent rally have not been solid. The result of repatriation, deleveraging, quantitative easing and a major scarcity of dollars. But now we are bound for a correction.” Read more

Whoever thought that Fortress Europe would not be touched by the growing recession in the national circles of the world could not have been more wrong. Urban Backstrom, a well-respected economic planner and director general of the C.F.E. in Sweden noted that if the banking system in Europe is not safeguarded, then the EU is not far from imitating the deepening recession being felt right now in the United States.

The role of the European in the larger and more complex transnational economics of the global financial system was explained by Mr. Blackstrom: “The European Union should be part of the solution, not part of the problem. What is needed is a general guarantee for the entire banking system – not the fragmented approach currently in place. This is not working.”

Brussels under pressure

The EU or European Union has a majestic membership- France, Germany and Sweden is included in the ranks of EU states. All the larger countries in the European Union are now putting scrutinizing eyes on Brussels regarding the utilization of state-funded capital to help banks that have experienced the most damage in the on-going global financial crisis. Read more

Crude oil so far has been exhibiting its lowest streak in the last decade, due to the countrywide recession that the United States has been experiencing. More than 500,000 jobs have been lost already, and the deadly trend of economic recession seems to be showing no signs of letting up. This is the worst economic downturn that the United States of America has experienced in the last 34 years.

Crude oil is now being sold at $42 dollars per barrel, bringing joy to poorer countries while worrying the United States. Lower crude oil prices means the dollar is losing to other foreign currencies, and the demand for the dollar per crude oil is dropping as well. The price of crude oil in the world market has decreased to as much as 22% this week alone.

Since the number one crude oil consumer in the world is in recession, large oil companies are worried about the general drop in the demand for oil. If we are to remember, only a year ago there was a general panic regarding the crisis and the inevitable rise for the demand for oil. But now, with the largest consumer exhibiting the ill effects of recession, things seem to be going into reverse for the oil supply and demand on a global scale.
Read more

With thousands of workers in the United States losing their jobs, China is now asking the United States to do something about the recession and the weakening US economy. The prod of China came about due to concerns of Chinese investments in the United States economy. Simply put, if US goes down, so will all the other investments tied to it.

Beijing has called the US for significant moves to counteract the US economic backslide during the economic talks that took place on Thursday. Because of the transition that is taking place in the United States government, immediate plans to action won’t be possible. It is also unclear whether Barack Obama would continue with the long-running S.E.D. or Strategic Economic Dialogue, which was the brainchild of Henry Paulson of the US Treasury.

One of the main concerns for the S.E.D. is the currency reform, which would be doubly significant for Mainland China because a reverse trend is now being seen with the Chinese Yuan. This trend also hints that by next week the Yuan would remain weak, if it will not become weaker.
Read more

With the global financial crisis beckoning from the horizon, one of the three largest automakers in the United States is literally on its knees, begging to be bailed out from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In an ideal world, multinationals like General Motors would never have to do this, nor would ever have to deal with even the possibility of having to file for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, with the increasing recession in the United States and even in oil-rich Middle East, things are looking quite grim for General Motors.

Chrysler and General Motors are both having trouble getting the large financial bail-out they need to keep from collapsing this coming year. The Senate handlers for the large billion-dollar US aid package for ailing companies is not too willing to lend a helping hand if General Motors does not show that it is doing something to keep from going bankrupt. Read more

From the G20 meet in Washington, D.C., the world turns its attention now to APEC, a 21-country ensemble of leaders from the Asia Pacific region. Surprisingly, the leaders that attended the summit in Peru were optimistic regarding the current situation of the world economies. All forms of difficulties and possible recessions, they say, will be gone in two years.

Loong, Prime Minister of the Lion City of Singapore stated that this kind of optimism was the direct product of the strong bond and cooperation that has been fostered by the leaders of the 21 nations of the APEC organization for the past decades. Unlike other global counterparts, many APEC leaders are more willing to work with other leaders to solve economic meltdowns.

Prime Minister Lee, on the other hand states that: “Now the Americans want to join, the Australians want to join, the Peruvians want to join, and we know of one or two others who are also interested in joining… Just having these 3 plus the original 4 makes it a significant grouping.”

To address the problem of possibly adding to the already bourgeoning global financial problem, the 21 leaders in the APEC summit declared and vowed to be judicious when it came to decisions that will have domino effects in this region of the world. The leaders stated that measures will be quickly undertaken to make sure that things do not spin out of hand. Read more

The leaders of the G20 group of countries, composed of the most powerful and wealthiest nations in the globe, met in Washington D.C. to systematically plan for the rough road ahead. The global financial crisis is serious- and a repeat of the credit crunch just last year, 2007, will pave the way for more trouble if the correct measures are not undertaken.

The G20 group wanted increased alliances and work that is geared toward an efficient international cooperation that would mediate the reparation of the damaged global economies.

One of the first steps that would be undertaken to slow down the current pace of the global financial fiasco is the regulation of banks throughout the world, which are all contributing to the widespread meltdown of national economies. Debts, increased interest rates on mortgages and general credit forms, all of these are feeding gasoline to the already raging fire.

Progress is slow, as the leaders and diplomats of the powerful nations are still disagreeing as to how to go about things. For instance, the formational of a supranational regulating body that would take care of the regulation of national financial institutions is a key problem. Who regulates which country, and who watches the watchdog, in any case? Read more

In a perfect world, energy supply is kept constant, along with other important “public” utilities whose instability would spell doom for the public and the government involved. Constancy is demanded because energy is used constantly, not only by residential zones but more importantly, industrial regions where twenty-four hour operations are normal and are necessary for optimum production.

The problem is not debt per se - but with the kind of intensive capitalization that is required to keep the whole power infrastructure functioning in the next 25 years. To add pressure to the already tenuous situation, European countries still have to follow international treatise that demand reduction of harmful emissions that increase the global greenhouse effect and deplete the already thin ozone layer.

According to Colette Lewiner of Global Leader of Energy, Utilities & Chemicals: “Security of supply and CO2 emissions curbing issues will be exacerbated after the crisis…”To avoid this, utilities and governments should keep their investment plans in zero carbon generation investments” Read more

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  • Video Alert
  • Keeping up the good credit
  • 2009 May Prove to be more challenging to the US Dollar than Predicted
  • Banking System in European Union Also in Danger
  • Oil Prices Fall in Tandem with Worsening Recession in US
  • Worried Over Global Financial Crunch, China Asks US to Make its Moves
  • General Motors Willing to Accept Strict Bail-out Conditions
  • APEC Optimistic Over Credit Crunch
  • G20 Unite to Plan Ahead: “Credit Crisis Should Not Be Repeated”
  • Looming Energy Crisis in Europe Due to Global Financial Backslide