I liked it better when he had the fat singing. I will tell you something and you can take it to the bank - fat doesn't sing. After I gave birth to my third child I had 20 pounds of baby fat to lose and that baby fat didn't sing!!! It took almost a year to for me to get rid of it.
CW ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zebnick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PoliticalForum" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 5:00 PM Subject: Re: Iceland Takes Over Kaupthing as Biggest Banks Fail..........the fat lady sings I don't think you understand this whole "fat lady sings" analogy. On Oct 9, 4:24 pm, "\"Lone Wolf\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Iceland Takes Over Kaupthing as Biggest Banks Fail (Update5) > > By Tasneem Brogger > > Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Iceland's government seized control of > Kaupthing Bank hf, the nation's biggest bank, completing the takeover > of a financial industry that collapsed under the weight of foreign > debt. > > Iceland is guaranteeing Kaupthing's domestic deposits and helping > manage the banks to provide a ``functioning domestic banking system,'' > the country's Financial Supervisory Authority said in a statement on > its Web site today. > > Glitnir Bank hf, Landsbanki Island hf and Kaupthing are unable to > finance about $61 billion of debt, 12 times the size of the economy, > according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Their collapse has affected > 420,000 British and Dutch customers, and frozen assets held by > universities, hospitals, councils and even London's police force. The > government is seeking a loan from Russia and may ask for aid from the > International Monetary Fund to help guarantee deposits. > > ``This looks like a total collapse,'' said Thomas Haugaard Jensen, an > economist at Svenska Handelsbanken AB in Copenhagen. ``It'll take > several years before the economy can start to return to growth.'' > > All trading in Iceland's equity markets is suspended until Oct. 13 due > to ``unusual market conditions,'' the country's exchange said today. > The FSA said it planned to form a new bank with Landsbanki's domestic > operations, keeping open branches, call centers and cash machines. > > Currency Peg > > Trading in the krona ground to a halt today after the central bank > yesterday ditched an attempt to fix the exchange rate at 131 krona to > the euro. Nordea Bank AB, the biggest Scandinavian lender, said the > krona hadn't been traded on the spot market today, while the last > quoted price was 340 per euro, compared with 122 a month ago. > > Assets at Iceland's three biggest banks had grown five-fold since 2004 > as the companies looked to expand beyond the confines of an island > with a population of 320,000, half that of Las Vegas. Much of that > growth was debt financed, helping send gross external debt to 9.55 > trillion kronur at the end of the second quarter, equivalent to > $276,622 for every person on the island. > > The cost of borrowing in dollars for three months in London soared to > the highest level this year today as coordinated interest-rate > reductions worldwide failed to revive lending among banks for any > longer than a day, partly on concern over who holds Icelandic debt. > > U.K. taxpayers will probably face a bill of at least 2.4 billion > pounds ($4.1 billion) to compensate about 300,000 U.K. holders of > accounts at Icesave, a unit of Landsbanki, the Financial Times > reported, citing unidentified U.K. officials. > > `Severe Recession' > > ``The economy may well contract more than 10 percent between now and > the end of this crisis,'' said Lars Christensen, chief analyst at > Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. ``Inflation will jump to at least 50 > percent to 75 percent in the coming months.'' > > To avert the collapse, Iceland will start talks with Russia on Tuesday > to secure a loan of as much as 4 billion euros ($5.48 billion), Prime > Minister Geir Haarde said late yesterday. He added that loans from the > IMF and Russia ``are not mutually exclusive,'' though the government > hadn't, ``at this point at least,'' asked the IMF for a standby loan > or an economic program. > > Fitch Ratings Ltd. cut Iceland's long-term foreign currency issuer > default rating to BBB- from A-. The rating remains on negative watch, > Fitch said. > > ``Iceland faces a very severe recession which will result in a further > deterioration in banks' domestic assets,'' Fitch said in a statement. > ``It remains uncertain as to the extent that the sovereign can > distance itself from the foreign liabilities of failing Icelandic > banks.'' > > Kaupthing's entire board of directors has resigned and the FSA has > appointed a committee to wind up the lender's business, the bank said > in a statement today. > > No Parallel > > ``It's difficult to find any parallels to what's happening in Iceland > in the industrialized world,'' Jensen said. ``You'd have to look to > emerging markets, and after the Asian crisis, for example, those > economies contracted about 10 percent.'' > > The debts of the Icelandic banking system are too big for the > government to repay. > > ``There is no way that the Icelandic population can assume > responsibility for the private debt'' that the banks have built up, > Haarde said yesterday. > > Other countries are in a better situation. The U.K.'s banks will get a > 50 billion-pound ($87 billion) government lifeline and emergency loans > from the central bank after the freeze in credit markets threatened to > bring down the financial system. > > The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and four other central > banks lowered interest rates yesterday in a coordinated effort to ease > the economic effects of the worst financial crisis since the Great > Depression. > > This year and next, Kaupthing has 5 billion euros of debt obligations > maturing, according to Bloomberg data. Glitnir's debt obligations over > the same period are about 4 billion euros and Landsbanki has about 2 > billion euros to finance. > > To contact the reporters on this story: Tasneem Brogger in Copenhagen > at [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > > Last Updated: October 9, 2008 14:26 EDT > > Email this article Printer friendly format --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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