Other Financial Crises
As the U.S. bails out the financial districts and those that engage in futures trading can breathe a sigh of relief, Europe is facing it’s own financial crisis.
The global credit crunch deepened in Europe as government leaders pledged to bail out troubled banks and protect depositors.
BNP Paribas SA will take control of Fortis’s units in Belgium and Luxembourg after government efforts to ensure the company’s stability failed, while Germany’s government and financial institutions agreed on a 50 billion euro ($68 billion) rescue package for Hypo Real Estate Holding AG. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Britain is “ready to do whatever it takes” to help its banks.
The developments yesterday came a day after a summit in Paris where leaders of Europe’s four biggest economies stopped short of a plan mirroring the $700 billion rescue in the U.S. to counter the worst financial crisis since World War II. Instead, they agreed to work together to limit the economic fallout, ease accounting rules, and seek tougher financial regulations.
The European Union is obviously taking another approach to their own crisis, not wanting to mirror the U.S. They have agreed to allow each country to deal with their own crises in their own way, but is it going to be enough to help the financial stability become more buoyant. It will be interesting to watch the two different approaches at work. As it is now, Wall Street is already asking for more money (which is personally infuriating because they are basically blackmailing the government and the American people).
While Europe is working to fix their economic woes, Japanese officials are afraid that their economic troubles will cause a rise in suicides.
Now that Japan’s government has reported one quarter of negative growth, and signalled it is likely there are more to follow, there are fears of further increases in the number of people taking their own lives.
Many of those who choose to kill themselves go to Tojimbo Cliffs whose stone columns rise 25 metres (82ft) above the Sea of Japan.
I saw a pundit on CNN say that we didn’t have to worry about people jumping out of buildings (as they did in 1929), but what about cliffs? Perhaps world leaders can come together and find a solution that will help all of the markets.
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I wouldnt be so sure about people not jumping out of windows - there have already been numerous reports of people shooting themselves and/or their families over foreclosures, lost jobs, etc. This will get way worse before it gets better.
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