Crunch Time: Bank Downgrade, Credit Squeeze Signal Possible Return To 2008

Thursday, December 15, 2011 Crunch Time: Bank Downgrade, Credit Squeeze Signal Possible Return To 2008 The situation in Europe is hitting global credit markets, making it harder for companies and banks to secure loans. Investors are buying fewer corporate bonds, and banks are finding it more difficult to borrow from each other. On Thursday, as the European Central Bank again resisted pleas for it to rescue the eurozone, worries about a severe credit crunch along the lines of the 2008 crisis grew. "In some ways this is part two of the U.S. financial crisis," said Srinivas Thiruvadanthai, an economist at the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center. LOOK WHO'S BACK: Wall Street A Bigger Share Of Economy Now Than Before Crisis Standard & Poor's Cuts Credit Ratings Of Ten Spanish Banks Corzine Disputes Notion He Knew About Misused Customer Funds Multinationals Holding Nearly Half Of Untaxed Profits In The U.S. Foreclosure Fraud Costing These Five States The Most BLOG POSTS Bruce W. Jentleson: Policy and Markets: How, Not If The nature of 21st century international economic competition writ large is not about who can become the most laissez faire capitalist but who can forge optimal bi-sectoralist policy-market synergies. Robert Creamer: New Ryan Proposal Still Aims to Eliminate Medicare, Replace With Voucher Plan The real goal of Paul Ryan's plan is the same goal of his original plan: to allow Wall Street and huge private insurance companies to get their hands on the Medicare Trust Fund. Rep. Mike Honda: The Fight for the 99 Percent Republicans' refusal to act on anything other than tax cuts for the rich is an economic and moral failure of leadership -- it flies in the face of the fact that countless American families, a great cross-section of the 99 percent, are in utter crisis. Eli Pariser: Best of TEDTalks 2011, #9: Beware Online 'Filter Bubbles' There's a shift in how information is flowing online -- and it's invisible. But if we don't pay attention to it, it could become a real problem. Robert Teitelman: Credit Raters and the Conventional Wisdom There is no way to "fix" the credit raters, just as there is no way anyone in his right mind believes that the price of a stock today will last more than a few minutes.

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