February Economic Armageddon: Recap

March 1, 2009

February Economic Armageddon: Recap

The meltdown of the economy is becoming so common and widespread it has been hard to keep track of everything that is going on. Briefly:

• In Canada, media empires including
  CTV, Torstar, Quebecor and Canwest continue to flounder along with a whole host of other media outlets across the continent.
• At the same time, Canadian pension funds, most of the big banks, Nortel, Walmart Canada, GM and a number of agricultural and mining industries are being hit with massive losses.

South of the border, thing are looking a little rough for the folks in the halls of power.

• Barack Obama is strutting out the biggest budget in US history which looks to (supposedly) raise taxes on the upper classes, cut Medicare to give more people health care and rip into Pentagon spending, military contractors and agri-business. The US economy meanwhile contracted 6.2% in the last 3 months of 2008.
• The "Sage of Omaha", Warren Buffet is sage-no-more having admitted to $11.5 billion in losses.
• With almost all of the US banking giants having already failed, Citibank and Bank of America have been partially nationalized.

The carnage is spreading around the globe.

• Japan and Eastern Europe are facing major crises.
• Iceland has collapsed. Ireland could be next.
• Once touted as the "next world capital", Dubai has just recieved a $10bn bailout from the UAE.
• Over 500 folks are losing their jobs in Botswana as the demand for diamonds shrinks.
• Hugo Chavez, fresh off a victory in a referendum, is threatening to nationalize the rice industry. This after many of the Venezuelan upper-class have lost millions from a “massive and ongoing” fraud operation by Texas billionaire, Sir Allen Stanford.