All 2 entries tagged Banks

Obama copying Brown's economic plan?

Writing about web page http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012700457.html

This article in the Washington Post (signup required) might provide some rare good news for Gordon Brown.

The U.S. Treasury is planning to help America’s banks in much the same way as Gordon Brown has in the UK.

On the table are several approaches, which officials have begun to experiment with on a smaller scale. One would give the firms a federal guarantee protecting them against losses on assets that are backed by failing mortgages and other troubled loans. Another would set up new government institutions to buy these toxic assets. A third would inject more money into financial firms in exchange for ownership stakes, perhaps ending with nationalization in all but name.

Pretty much entirely the British plan then, and the piece also goes on to say how the whole project will rely on ‘trial and error’ and ‘a combination of initiatives’.

For the ‘Saviour of the World’ ^{(© All Media Outlets)} to be considering exactly what Gordon Brown has been often criticised for will surely give the PM something to smile about.

He might be under fire for having caused the problem, but if Obama’s economic team is in complete agreement about how to fix it, Gordon Brown might just come out of this with his head held high.

Either that or the UK and US are both doomed.

: 28 Jan 2009 18:09 |  Tags: Banks Economy Gordon Brown Politics President Obama United States |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Things that are stupid #196

You have to give your bank a 34-digit password before they’ll let you take out any of your money.

When they phone you wanting money, they don’t offer any form of proof that they are indeed your bank, and not from Fonejacker.

Free pigeon, anyone?.

P.S. They also wanted an e-mail address off me. Huh? Aren’t you told never to expect an e-mail from your bank? So that’d just be for spam then!?

: 08 Jan 2009 22:27 |  Tags: Banks Hsbc Stupid |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem