Monday, September 17, 2007

Walk, Don't Run


Northern Rock, Britain's eighth-largest bank, is experiencing some technical difficulties. It seems that everyone is lining up to get their money out. That means the bank will be insolvent before half of their customers get anything more than a complementary ballpoint pen. On Friday, the bank's computer system collapsed under the weight of all the online customers hurriedly making withdrawals. Somewhere, an empty bottle hit the floor.

The majority of Northern Wreck's investments were in mortgages, so it's trouble in paradise for those folks. It's now being said that the beleaguered bank will be bought out by the other bigs, and the grapes of wrath are looking pretty ripe. Today, we see that Alliance & Leicester, another mortgage bank, is similarly on the skids. They plunged 47% in the last twenty minutes of trading. A box of hammers couldn't fall any faster than that. Maybe there's a reason why Jesus overturned the money-lending tables after all.

What's it all mean? Alan Greenspan said today that the euro could replace the dollar as the reserve currency of choice. I guess that would spell the end for the pound as well. Those who laughed years ago at the suggestion of a New World Order are no longer laughing. The smoke and fire is there for all to see, and a new era is upon us. When the Pharaoh comes, try to look busy.

2 Comments:

Blogger Big Daddy Malcontent said...

Thank the god I don't believe in that this is finally happening. At last, everyone will know what it's like to make $149 last indefinitely and be two months behind in rent. Welcome to Hell, suckers.

7:04 AM  
Blogger Pissedoffcabbie said...

ALAN GREENSPAN: Well, the real problem began because a very significant proportion of those loans were on terms which shouldn't have been made. In many cases, I think it was fraud and that, I say in the book, as you know, the only area where I think more regulation is required in this country is addressing fraud, because fraud is destructive of markets, but more importantly it's destructive of families."

1:42 AM  

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