Sui Generis

In memoriam ...



Nice picture, sourced here.

Seven Fat Years Continue ... Now At Lattelecom

Bubble blower, the former prime minister of Latvia, Aigars Kalvitis ends up at Lattelecom. This should be a miracle assuming the dire straits of Latvian economy. Obviously, Lattelecom should be destined ...

Picture courtesy of krabjiem.lv!

Bull Lost Orientation?

Interesting picture at Bild.de today ...

Danske: Mission Impossible for Repse in Latvia

Danske Bank out with its regular overview of "New Europe Weekly". This week Latvia is the key story, and the message is as follows:

While the global economy is showing tentative signs of improvement and some risk appetite has returned, Latvia’s economic woes have simply got worse. Hence, over the last couple of weeks speculation has increased that Latvia will not receive its June instalment on its IMF loan, as the IMF doesn’t believe that the Latvian government has fulfilled its obligations in the Standby agreement. In our view, if the IMF does not pay the June instalment, then Latvia would be pushed very close to a default.
According to Reuters, Latvian officials said this week that the 2009 budget gap will be 7% of GDP, even if it cuts spending by 40%! Furthermore, they suggested that social spending – for example pensions – would need to be cut. This looks like ‘Mission Impossible’ to us – bearing in mind that Latvia will have local and European Parliamentary elections on 6 June.
We cannot forecast whether or not the IMF will pay the instalment, but we are worried that if the funds are not forthcoming, then the Latvian government would have to cut public spending very dramatically in order to avoid a default.
We therefore conclude that this is ‘Mission Impossible’ for Latvian Finance Minister Einars Repse, and it appears that the credit agencies agree – earlier this week Moody’s cut Latvia’s credit rating two notches to Baa3 from Baa1.

Charts courtesy of Danske Bank, click to enlarge.Another tragedy looming?

Quote Of The Day by The Fly

Fascinating poetry by The Fly today, my emphasis:

I think it’s possible to see 500 points down, but 1,500 points up, within the next 3-6 months. I know the employment issue persists. However, I have faith in government criminality to lead the way. ...

The Failed Sate Latvia lacks faith of any sort ... except their own pockets.

Nasing Spesal: Failed State Latvia

Interesting story by Ivars Ijābs at Tvnet.lv today. In Latvian only. This one excerpt is excellent:

Taču Latvijas ekonomikā nav krīzes, jo nav nekāda modeļa, kurš varētu piedzīvot funkcionālas grūtības vai pārvarēt tās. Pēdējo gadu laikā Latvijā ir norisinājies anarhisks ekonomiskas caurejas process, kuru uzskatīt par kaut kādu daudz maz skaidru organizācijas modeli ir pilnīgi nepamatoti. Tādēļ nomierinošā runāšana par “krīzi” un tās pārvarēšanu šodien vienīgi uz laiku atbrīvo no nepieciešamības atbildēt uz sāpīgo jautājumu — no kurienes lai nāktu šīs valsts izaugsme tagad, kad īpašumu burbulis ir pārsprādzis? Citiem vārdiem sakot, ar kādu jomu vajadzētu saistīt savu nākotni vienkāršam, strādājošam cilvēkam bez īpašas izglītības un īpašumiem, kurš šodien ir atlaists no darba celtniecībā? Ar rūpniecību? Ar lauksaimniecību? Ar pakalpojumiem? Visas šīs atbildes izklausās vienlīdz naivi un aplami. Vienīgais, ko šādam cilvēkam varētu ieteikt neliekuļojot, ir — pagaidīt aptuveni gadu, kamēr civilizētajā pasaulē sākas ekonomikas augšupeja, un tad iemainīt mirušās vecmāmiņas laulības gredzenu pret vienvirziena biļeti līdz Dublinai (Londonai, Varšavai, Tallinai) sev un savai ģimenei.

Tragic ...

Fun @ FT Alphaville: Cramer vs Roubini

Funny stuff at FT Alphaville ...

Really Nasing Spesal...

ZERO value ...

April Fool's Day: Buy Or Sell

Came into my email-box, unknown source ...

Nasing Spesal: Watch New Orders For Bulldozers

Latvian politicians are looking at bulldozers. Watch the new orders at DE, CAT, KUB, CNH and others... Click to enlarge (in Latvian only)!

Nasing Spesal: Net Worth

I got it sent in my email box and I do not know where it comes from originally... but the cartoon has wrongwaycomics.com by Chris Eaton on it. May be quite true? Click to enlarge!

For serious folks - Martin Wolf at FT.com offers some thoughts "Why a successful US bank rescue is still so far away".

Nasing Spesal: But Where's Nouriel?

Paul Krugman has a funny picture at his NYT (The New York Times) blog ...

Nasing Spesal: 100 Fat Lats

Nasing Spesal: DnB NORD Said Its Operations In The Baltics Remained Profitable ...

These should be interesting folks... Alienated? Come!

Reuters reports today:

OSLO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Bank group DnB NORD, owned by DnB NOR and Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank, said its operations in the Baltics remained profitable but that bad real estate loans in Denmark would affect 2008 results.

The three Baltic states have been hit hard by the global economic crisis, and concerns have mounted over the bank's operations in the region.

"We have profitable banks in the Baltics in spite of the difficult situation there," Chief Executive Thomas Burkle -- who stepped into his new role this week -- said in an interview.

"Our operations (there) are actually doing quite O.K."

Look, there are people doing quite OK! Why these doom-sayers?

Nasing Spesal: Quote Of The Day

This, actually, has nothing to do with the Latvian domestic vortex of debility...

It looks like Yves Smith is finally done!

Dear God, let's just kiss the US economy goodbye. It may take a few years before the loyalists and perma-bulls throw in the towel, but the handwriting is on the wall.

UPDATE 21:30 (19:30 GMT): Paul Krugman sums up "Obama' s Kiss" ...

Nasing Spesal*: Drunk Rioters In Riga ...

Rioters in Riga were also demanding "free spirits"... Here are the first vandals leaving the spirits shop. Do you recognize any of them? Pictures seen at www.draugiem.lv ...





*"Nasing Spesal" is a "famous" quote by Latvian Minister of Finance regarding the economy of Latvia ...

Nasing Spesal*: Deutsche Bank & Dr. Ackermann

Really funny!
What is so big, according to Dr. Ackermann? Equity of Deutsche Bank?
Big Swinging Dicks ... This is related to the post yesterday.

Picture courtesy of Bild.de

"BarcLehs" is not my favorite too, but "Big Swinging Dicks" may learn a lot from Barclays' CEO John Varley: " ... it was right for banks to apologise for the role they played in causing the credit crunch."

Societe Generale writes this morning re UK, US and German banks:

What has become clear, particularly in the UK, US and Germany, is that the actions taken to date have not been enough to stabilise the respective banking sectors. Bailout plans continue to evolve and we believe that the UK government will likely need to present a more comprehensive plan sooner rather than later over the coming months. The UK operating environment continues to deteriorate rapidly and banks are being pressured to prop up the wider economy while suffering larger-than-expected losses on asset exposures which are driving down profits and depleting capital bases. ... Furthermore, in our view, one of the key outstanding flaws of the original bailout plan was that it did not address asset quality on UK bank balance sheets and we would expect this to be a key feature of any holistic future response to the banking crisis.

*"Nasing Spesal" is a "famous" quote by Latvian Minister of Finance regarding the economy of Latvia ...

Nasing Spesal*: Sifting The Hole ...

by Gatis Šļūka, piblished at " Latvijas Avīze" (http://www2.la.lv/lat/latvijas_avize/), and Delfi: http://www.delfi.lv/jokes/pictures.php?id=1829258&pos=1137.

HT my brother.


*"Nasing Spesal" is a "famous" quote by Latvian Minister of Finance regarding the economy of Latvia ...