Ran Jak Diary

US fixes the books for its bankers

March 30 (Bloomberg) — Four days after U.S. lawmakers berated Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Robert Herz and threatened to take rulemaking out of his hands, FASB proposed an overhaul of fair-value accounting that may improve profits at banks such as Citigroup Inc. by more than 20 percent.

The cabal of government leaders and banking officials does not dish out the truth.

Nations going broke

The global crisis is becoming a noose in one country after the other. Europe is getting beaten up badly; Ukraine and Latvia are not even expected to survive, according to some big time analysts. 

   Worth reading: commentary from BBC News Europe editor Mark Mardell.

The Return

Deprivation encourages flexibility. It has been so cold here for so many months that I nearly cheered as the temperature rose to 8.5C / 47F at noon today.  By the end of this week, a top temperature of 20 / 72 is in the forecast.

It's good to see you again.  To mark our return, here is Rainer Fetting's spectacular Iris, from the collection. It is a large oil painting, 86.6 x 78.7 in. / 220 x 200 cm.

Screen gem

A gigantic electronic wall arrived and overtook the bedroom here late today, effectively separating the sleeping alcove from the main part of the room. Suddenly, Sean Penn appeared on the electronic wall. His head is enormous during close-ups of Milk.

Wrecking Switzerland?

There has been too little reported on Germany's brazen campaign against Switzerland's bank secrecy laws. The Swiss see it as an all-out German effort to destroy preeminent economic importance of the country's banking system. One strange element is the missionary zeal with which German finance minister Steinbrück is leading the drive. Since the Middle Ages Switzerland has place high value on giving foreigners banking secrecy. Current laws date from 1934.

$1.2 trillion shocker

The Federal Reserve's shock decision to pump $1.2 trillion into the US economy is the most significant act since the financial crisis began. The money will be created "out of thin air," The New York Times reported. This is because the US government does not have that much money available, and so it is printing it. As a result, the dollar is dropping in value and gold increased in price. In effect, the government has decided to buy America's way out of the financial crisis.

China 'worries' on US debt

China's premier Wen Jiabao told his annual press conference he has worries about the huge amount of debt held by his country. "We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S., so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. I do in fact have some worries," Wen said in response to a question. He called on the U.S. to "maintain its credibility, honor its commitments and guarantee the safety of Chinese assets."

Arrests in A'dam threat

Seven arrests have been made following threats to blow up; shops in Amsterdam. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen said the anonymous call to police on Wednesday night had warned of "an action with the aim of claiming casualties in busy places".

Split

Expect a major split to divide Europe's bigger countries and the US. Germany and France stated clearly Thursday that they will not support the Obama proposal for a global stimulus package. Meeting with Merkel, Sarkozy said, "the problem is not about spending more, but putting in place a system of regulation so that the economic and financial catastrophe that the world is seeing does not reproduce itself."

Merck

Today's announcement from Merck threw analysts for a loop. Merck (pronouncer: it rhymes with 'jerk') was a giant pharmaceutical company until today; from now on now it is a humongous pharmaceutical company. The firm said it is acquiring Schering-Plough, which has been one of its larger competitors, for about $41 billion. 

Fear of the dollar

Many of us have speculated about how much more debt the US can issue before the world refuses to buy any more of it.  Yet the world crises have moved so aggressively that the US dollar is now becoming earth's favored currency, debt and all. But the this phenomenon is causing catastrophic situations in other nations.

Read this article from The New York Times to understand what's happening.

Jon Stewart on CNBC

Watch this. It is important. And it is brilliant.