Reading matters

Politics and Poverty in cash-rich Hong Kong, by Leo Goodstadt: Hong Kong Journal

Reading matters

I.O.U. Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay, by John Lanchester: NYT

Reading matters

One of last year's most memorable images was conjured up by Matt Taibbi in describing Goldman Sachs:

The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

That was in the 13 July 2009 issue of Rolling Stone: The Great American Bubble Machine

Now, Taibbi, in similar vein, further explores Wall Street's smooth talking scammers. grifters and con artists: Wall Street's Bailout Hustle

CITIC Pacific: Money's Too Tight to Mention

CITIC Pacific was established in Hong Kong in 1987 as the investment arm of the Chinese state. With its corporate backing and oodles of guanxi, CITIC Pacific was/is China’s overseas corporate crown

Locally, the red capitalist company currently owns, among other things, 17.5% of the airline Cathay Pacific and 10% of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (HACTL).

It also has an interest in two of the three cross-harbour tunnels: Eastern Harbour Crossing (70.8%) and the Western Harbour Tunnel (35%).

And it wholly owns Dah Chong Hong Holdings, a major distributor of motor vehicles, food and consumer products in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore and Canada.

Other interests include power plants, steel plants and iron ore mining in China and Australia.

CITIC Pacific came unstuck because of a bad bet on the Australian dollar.

Now, CITIC Pacific shares have mega crashed: twelve months ago a share cost HK$49.90, in the last two days the price has tanked, now HK$4.91 willl do.

Oh, and the company is in the hole for at least US$2 billion.

According to David Webb, CITIC Pacific bet on the future direction of the Ozzie dollar with "dual currency target redemption forward contracts" and "AUD target redemption forward contracts". See David Webb: time bomb

According to Bloomberg Wall Street Journal, the companies which sold the so-called "accumulator" currency contracts to CITIC Pacific are believed to include HSBC, Citigroup and BNP Paribas: Wall Street Journal

Oh, well, behind every proverbial cloud . . . Hong Kong Should Buy CITIC Pacific Tunnel Stakes: bloomberg

John Bird and John Fortune: Subprime Banking Mess

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Crisis, what crisis? This is a few months old, but British satirists explain all . . .



Since when fears have now spread to . . . Credit Default Swaps: financial times

Short of cash and/or fearful about the dire straights of the credit and money markets as well as the looming recession, market investors have now been fleeing stock markets worldwide: bloomberg

Hence the intervention of the State. By the way, contrary to what many popular commentators have said, this is not socialism for the rich, merely another example of protecting the powerful and rich, state capitalism: wikipedia

Reading matters

Numbers racket: Why the economy is worse than we know, by Kevin P Phillips: Harper's

Hong Kong: Legislative Council Questions + Budget

Some of the questions (and answers) from the LegCo meeting of Wednesday, 27 February 2008:

Actually, no questions as such, this time around. Why so, you might ask? Because the Financial Secretary today presented his budget proposals for 2008/9.

Since there is a massive financial surplus, it's a big giveaway budget: budget highlights

Reading matters

The US Market’s Pyramid of Lies, by Philip Bowring: asia sentinel