Bloomberg.com: Opinion

Bloomberg.com: Opinion: "Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bargaining while buying some trinkets in the Maldivian capital, Male, recently, I heard most unexpected words: ``You can keep your dollars.''"

Money for Nothing - SilverSeek.com

Money for Nothing - SilverSeek.com: "I found it appalling that Morgan Stanley would claim to store silver that didn’t exist and even have the chutzpah to charge for the storage. That would appear to be a clear case of fraud. I am even more appalled that the judge in the case, or any government regulator, would look the other way. The important lesson here is not that Morgan Stanley got caught with its hand in the cookie jar, but what silver investors can learn from this episode."

Money for Nothing - SilverSeek.com

Money for Nothing - SilverSeek.com: "On September 24, a Federal Judge in New York heard final oral arguments in the class-action settlement between Morgan Stanley and 22,000 of their clients involving costs associated with the storage of precious metals. The parties have agreed to settlement terms. Morgan Stanley will pay several million dollars and promises to revise their precious metals storage processes."

Merrill Lynch reveals $7.9bn write-down - Independent Online Edition > Business News

Merrill Lynch reveals $7.9bn write-down - Independent Online Edition > Business News: "A $7.9bn write-down by the investment banking giant Merrill Lynch has reignited controversy over how big the losses from the mortgage market crisis might yet turn out to be."

Finance Trends Matter: Goodbye dollar, hello inflation

Finance Trends Matter: Goodbye dollar, hello inflation: "Rogers, delivering a presentation late yesterday at an investors' meeting organized by ABN Amro Markets in Amsterdam, said he expects the Chinese currency to quadruple in the next decade and that he is holding on to commodities such as platinum, gold, silver and palladium.' "

The Raw Story | Bank of America to lay off 3,000 from investment unit

The Raw Story | Bank of America to lay off 3,000 from investment unit: "Bank of America on Wednesday said it would lay off 3,000 people, nearly two percent of its entire work force, as part of a restructuring of its loss-hit investment banking unit."

Mexico, one of the world's biggest oil producers, is running out - International Herald Tribune

Mexico, one of the world's biggest oil producers, is running out - International Herald Tribune: "MEXICO CITY: President Felipe Calderon of Mexico is delivering a grim message: The largest oil producer in Latin America is running out of crude. 'Our oil reserves have been consistently falling,' and the decline is 'severely threatening' government finances, Calderon told a nationwide television audience in an address last month at the National Palace."

IMF chief warns dollar may suffer 'abrupt fall'

IMF chief warns dollar may suffer 'abrupt fall': " The head of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, warned Monday there are risks of an 'abrupt fall' in the dollar, linked to a loss of confidence in dollar assets."

Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

UK house market is ‘heading for crash’ - Times Online

UK house market is ‘heading for crash’ - Times Online: "The property boom of the past ten years has left the British housing market in danger of following the slump in American house prices, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. In a bleak warning, the IMF found that homes in Britain were overpriced by up to 40 per cent — far more than the overpricing in the US before the current property slump began there. The finding will fuel fears over housing market prospects after growing evidence recently that prices have already begun to fall in some parts of Britain."

Housing Slump ‘Unfolding,’ Treasury Chief Says - New York Times

Housing Slump ‘Unfolding,’ Treasury Chief Says - New York Times: "“Let me be clear: Despite strong economic fundamentals, the housing decline is still unfolding, and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy,” Mr. Paulson said in a speech at a Georgetown University law forum. “The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth.”"

Worst of U.S. subprime troubles are ahead, S&P chief economist says - International Herald Tribune

Worst of U.S. subprime troubles are ahead, S&P chief economist says - International Herald Tribune: "HONG KONG: The markets have not seen the worst of the credit losses from record defaults on U.S. subprime loans and falling house prices, David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, said Thursday at a conference here. 'We've seen the worst of the panic, but we haven't seen the worst of credit losses,' Wyss said. 'People are not sure what the levels of losses are going to be, and an even bigger part of the problem is, markets don't know who're holding these things, they don't where the bodies are buried, and they don't know how leveraged some holdings are.'"

Banks And U.S. Treasury Discuss $100 Billion Support Fund - Forbes.com

Banks And U.S. Treasury Discuss $100 Billion Support Fund - Forbes.com: "Leading U.S. banks have reportedly been meeting with U.S. Treasury officials about creating an up-to-$100-billion fund to stave off the danger that there could be a fire sale of shaky mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and other distressed assets following the recent global credit crunch. "

Credit card debt is ready to blow -- baltimoresun.com

Credit card debt is ready to blow -- baltimoresun.com: "After every financial crisis over the past 10 years, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates and pumped money into the economy. Each rescue solved the problem - and created a new one. The next bomb from this chain reaction of bailouts and blowups will be credit-card debt. Hardly anybody is talking about it yet, but banks and consumers are laying the ground for a wave of credit-card defaults, bankruptcies and asset write-offs for 2009 or so."

Vicente Fox admits that he and George W. Bush have ’agreed’ on common currency, North American Union

Vicente Fox admits that he and George W. Bush have ’agreed’ on common currency, North American Union: "Los Angeles, CA (Oct. 10, 2007) -- Speaking on the Larry King show, former Mexican President Vicente Fox confirmed every assertion made by Jerome Corsi in his new book, NY Times bestseller 'The Late Great U.S.A: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada' (WND Books, ISBNs 0-9790451-4-2, $25.95, July 2007). Not only did Fox admit that he and George W. Bush have 'agreed' to create a common currency, the Amero, he contended that a North American Union is 'inevitable' "

US mortgage crisis predicted to get worse as home loan defaults soar - Times Online

US mortgage crisis predicted to get worse as home loan defaults soar - Times Online: "America’s mortgage crisis is likely to get considerably worse because the level of fraudulent lending to unsuitable borrowers was much higher than previously estimated, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday."

Wired 6.11: What If Cold Fusion Is Real?

Wired 6.11: What If Cold Fusion Is Real?: "... in the basement of a fine new home in the hills overlooking Santa Fe, New Mexico, a retired scientist named Edmund Storms has built a different kind of fusion reactor. It consists of laboratory glassware, off-the-shelf chemical supplies, two aging Macintosh computers for data acquisition, and an insulated wooden box the size of a kitchen cabinet. While JET's 15 European sponsor-nations have paid about US$1 billion for their hardware, and the US government has spent $14.7 billion on fusion research since 1951 (all figures in 1997 dollars), Storms's apparatus and ancillary gear have cost less than $50,000. Moreover, he claims that his equipment works, generating surplus heat for days at a time. Storms is not an antiestablishment pseudoscientist pursuing a crackpot theory. For 34 years he was part of the establishment himself, employed at Los Alamos on projects such as a nuclear motor for space vehicles. Subsequently he testified before a congressional subcommittee considering the future of fusion. He believes you don't need millions of degrees or billions of dollars to fuse atomic nuclei and yield energy. 'You can stimulate nuclear reactions at room temperature,' he says, in his genial, matter-of-fact style. 'I am absolutely certain that the phenomenon is real. It is quite extraordinary, and if it can be developed, it will have profound effects on society.'"

Subprime crisis far from over: S&P | News | Bonds News | Reuters

Subprime crisis far from over: S&P | News | Bonds News | Reuters: "MUMBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. subprime housing crisis will not peak until 2009, rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Tuesday, adding it had underestimated the extent of fraud in the industry."

Bloomberg.com: Latin America

Bloomberg.com: Latin America: "Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of crude oil to the United States, said its proven oil reserves have risen to 100 billion barrels."

The Associated Press: Washington Mutual 3Q Earnings to Tumble

The Associated Press: Washington Mutual 3Q Earnings to Tumble: "SEATTLE (AP) — Washington Mutual Inc. said Friday that the weak housing market and the recent mortgage crunch will lead to a 75 percent drop in its third-quarter net income, making it the latest financial institution to warn investors it took a major hit over the summer."

Dollar crunch puts gold centre stage - Telegraph

Dollar crunch puts gold centre stage - Telegraph: "The report's authors, John Hill and Graham Wark, say the avalanche of central bank bullion sales earlier this year was 'clearly timed to cap the gold price'."

Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery

Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery: "Your next laptop could have a continuous power battery that lasts for 30 years without a single recharge thanks to work being funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The breakthrough betavoltaic power cells are constructed from semiconductors and use radioisotopes as the energy source. As the radioactive material decays it emits beta particles that transform into electric power capable of fueling an electrical device like a laptop for years"

AFP: China unleashes cautious giant onto world's financial markets

AFP: China unleashes cautious giant onto world's financial markets: "China Investment Corp. is tasked with diversifying and maximising returns on part of the country's huge forex reserves, topping 1.3 trillion dollars and growing by the second. It is estimated that about 70 percent of this enormous amount is placed in US dollar assets, including Treasury bonds that are as low-yield as they are safe."