Econbrowser: Federal Reserve balance sheet The bottom line is that Bernanke has made a gamble with something approaching 2 trillion. If the gamble wins, taxpayers owe nothing. If the gamble loses, taxpayers are committed to borrow a sum equal to any losses and start making interest payments on it.
Credit Crunch: the board game | Credit Crunch | The Economist The aim is to be the last solvent player. In order to achieve this, players try to eliminate the competition. Risk cards encourage players to pick on each other.
Players who cannot pay their fines may borrow from each other at any rate they care to settle on—for instance, 100% interest within three turns. They should negotiate with the other players to get the best rate possible. Players who cannot borrow must either go into Chapter 11 or be taken over.
Manhattan office vacancy rate hits two-year high The overall vacancy rate rose to 10.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest level in two years and more than three percentage points greater than a year ago, according to the report released by FirstService Williams.
Four really, really bad scenarios - Politico.com Print View A pessimist by nature, Rickards believes that many economic forecasters are wrong, and the recession will get far worse than predicted.
He sees an epic disaster scenario in which the U.S. gross domestic product declines by a staggering 35 percent over the next six to seven years. Crippling deflation could take hold. Unemployment, he says, could approach 15 percent.