[Spanktron9]

With AIG dominating the headlines (rightfully so!), and WM crawling into a corner to die and bearly garnering any attention. What regional, local collapses are we missing because we are all staring at the huge bonfire on Wall St.?

I'm talking about large local employers or state funds that are running into serious trouble.

[Arsenal]

Not much in Upstate NY but the state as a whole is farked up and in debt.

I heard NPR in Boston say that the state (Mass) has not lost very much because they got out of all the LEH holdings. No amount was mentioned. The MBTA in Boston is running so far in the red that they are asking for a bailout from the state since revenue from tolls is not what they budgeted for even with the price hike.

Arsenal.

[Spanktron9]

Thanks Arsenal. Is that it? Nothing else going on? Anyone? Bueller?

[Eppo]

Socal is life as usual, nothing major happening here.

[Dreamtwister]

Couple more small businesses than usual have closed their doors in Toronto, nothing major though.

[Eli]

This is not your standard collapse, it is a top down collapse.

Really it started in the highest echelon of the financial world with complex trades and debt instruments. It is just now filtering into the lower levels of the economy, it only gets really bad when the consumer proves once and for all he is tapped out.

The tripping of the consumer has held up pretty damn well up to this point but now there are clear signs that he is giving up the ghost.


Then 75% of the economy craps out and we get another round of lay offs bks and further home price destruction.

[burtonridr]

HP announced they are going to make big layoffs... thats all I know

[RdSnt]

So that's what they me by Trickle-down effect

This is not your standard collapse, it is a top down collapse.

Really it started in the highest echelon of the financial world with complex trades and debt instruments. It is just now filtering into the lower levels of the economy, it only gets really bad when the consumer proves once and for all he is tapped out.

The tripping of the consumer has held up pretty damn well up to this point but now there are clear signs that he is giving up the ghost.


Then 75% of the economy craps out and we get another round of lay offs bks and further home price destruction.

[AirlinePilot]

How about the almost eery silence surrounding a significant gasoline price rise and pending large scale regional shortage of product in a bunch of southern and eastern US states?

I'd call that significant. MM is almost completely silent about the shortages and lines which are already developing across the Gulf coast and Southern states.

[Dreamtwister]

How about the almost eery silence surrounding a significant gasoline price rise and pending large scale regional shortage of product in a bunch of southern and eastern US states?

I'd call that significant. MM is almost completely silent about the shortages and lines which are already developing across the Gulf coast and Southern states.

Which is why threads like this every so often are so important. Thanks for the update.

I personally have not noticed any shortages per se, but I have noticed the prices at the pumps have been mostly stationary, despite the huge dropoff in oil prices.

[SchroedingersCat]

I just finished reading the Lehman bankruptcy filing. Citibank is by far the largest creditor. The bulk of the remaining big creditors are Japanese. Keep an eye on the Asian desk.

Interestingly, Lehman was a major investor in Ronco. Slice and dice, baby!

[DantesPeak]

How about the almost eery silence surrounding a significant gasoline price rise and pending large scale regional shortage of product in a bunch of southern and eastern US states?

I'd call that significant. MM is almost completely silent about the shortages and lines which are already developing across the Gulf coast and Southern states.

The silence from the IEA is deafening. The bailed us out in 2005, but there is hardly a whisper about emergency gasoline supplies from Europe this time - but we are in worse shape now.