US household saving rate – source Federal Reserve bank of Saint-Louis
The fall off in American's saving began when The Baby Boomers attempted to rescue their retirements by assessing the stock market, quite frankly. The popularity of 401Ks replaced savings and the average American didn't feel alienated from Wall Street. However, the Bush Administration has brought a devalued dollar, corruption to lending, a bankrupt mortgage market and with that reality a gross depletion in whatever did exist in the way of savings by Americans.
Goldman Sachs' total assets versus Federal Reserve bank credit (source Financial Sense University)
US economy: Perfusion by Fed and Wall Street conceals recession - Decoded news (June 5, 2007) - (click here)
Paulson has done nothing to improve the fiscal accountability between the USA and China. The reason is primarily due to the aggressive nature of the Neocon Bush administration, it's willingness 'to go to guns' outside the propriety of the International Standards of engagement, it's aggression at the Russian borders; that also would eventually compromise China if Russia were to be invaded and fall to border issues of instability. And who needs over 1 billion people in a country with an unstable government?
While high hopes were first expected of Paulson, its' obvious he became involved as US Secretary of the Treasury to benefit Goldman-Sachs with insight from inside the anarchic Bush administration. Goldman-Sach's stock values have skyrocketed and placed them 'at advantage' over their competitors, a place they have never been before. THAT reality, in the face of bolstering a company through corruption, in a financial instutition all too willing to thwart it's competition is startlingly concerning and potentially catastrophic. It will cause a shift in the concerns of Goldman-Sachs from the greater community of financial institutions seeking to limit poor management practices impact on a greater market.
AFX News LimitedChina yuan central parity rate set at record 7.4718 to dollar vs 7.4810 (click here)
10.28.07, 9:38 PM ET
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The central bank has set the yuan central parity rate at record 7.4718 to the dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.
The rate, published on the official Chinamoney website (www.chinamoney.com.cn), compares with the midpoint of 7.4810 set the previous trading day.
The People's Bank (nasdaq: PBCT - news - people ) of China (PBoC) started setting a daily central parity rate on Jan 4, 2006.
On July 21, 2005, China freed the yuan from its long-standing peg to the dollar in favor of a trade-weighted basket of currencies, and allowed the local unit to appreciate by 2.1 pct. The PBoC allows a trading band of 0.5 pct on either side of the central parity rate...
The recession is on track! With a US growth down to 0.6 percent in the first quarter (1) (even lower than the 0.8 percent anticipated by LEAP/E2020 in our estimation of the US GDP multicurrency evolution), it is a fact that the US economy is at a stop and about to contract (what it has in fact started doing for two quarters already when calculated in euros, British pounds or Yuans; see. GEAB N°15). The housing market keeps falling down (sales went down by -3.2 percent in April), household revenues are negative (-0.1 percent) and their saving rate continues to plunge down to historic levels (-1.3 percent in April) (2),... the list is long of all the indicators currently falling into negative territory. However the « dream merchants » (most of the economic and financial media and experts) prefer to focus on confidence indicators (i.e. subjective indicators, more reactive to the general “atmosphere”, one precisely created by those media and institutional operators) (3).
The "NO BID" contracts placed Halliburton stockholders at bay from suing Richard Cheney, former CEO. It was allowed to keep all it's overcharges to the USA people through the USA Treasury now manned by Hank Paulson even after jettsoning KBR. Now, in wonderful revelation Halliburton may be leaving North American soil forever. Oh, Happy Day ! The USA will no longer have the company that caused the Iraq invasion within it's rhelm of possible aggressor companies. When it leaves the USA it cannot wheeled political influence as it no longer can be a huge contributor to the Republican Party. Halliburton will no longer have the potential to influence wars again. THAT needs to be a lesson to the intelligence communities of the USA government. They need to track potentials in political fiscal realities that provide corruption elected officials with reasons to exploit the American conscience and Treasury.
Halliburton says North American pricing a concern, bullish on other regions (click here)
6 days ago
HOUSTON - Halliburton Co. is gearing up for increased oilfield services work in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America in the coming quarters, though pricing declines for some services in North America remain a concern, the company's chief executive said Monday.
A day after Halliburton reported a 19 per cent rise in third-quarter income, chairman and CEO Dave Lesar said the company was intent on maintaining its growth in the Eastern Hemisphere, where revenue jumped 29 per cent in the July-September period.
In particular, Halliburton opened a manufacturing facility in Malaysia in the most-recent quarter, and plans to open another plant for manufacturing and technology in Singapore by year's end - both to make sure the company has the tools to help customers in the region produce oil and natural gas.
To that end, Halliburton announced in March it would split its corporate headquarters between Houston and Dubai, where Lesar now works, placing him closer to important markets in the Middle East and Asia.
"Our outlook for the Eastern Hemisphere continues to remain very positive," Lesar said in a conference call Monday with investors and analysts.
Halliburton shares, which fell five per cent Friday, rose 22 cents to US$39.07 in afternoon trading Monday. They've traded in a range of $27.65 to $41.95 in the past year....
