Global Markets

Banks and credit unions have long pitched debit cards as a convenient and prudent way to buy. But a growing number are now allowing consumers to exceed their balances — for a hefty, some say, abusive, fee. Banks market it as overdraft protection, and the fees it generates have become an important stream of revenue fees for the banking industry. This year alone, banks are expected to bring in $27 billion by covering overdrafts on checking accounts, typically on debit card purchases or checks that exceed a customer’s balance.

In a NY Times Op-Ed, Sheila Bair, Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) outlines a compelling litany of reasons why the Obama administration’s proposed regulatory changes, while good in many respects, does not sufficiently address the issues that caused the current – or will prevent future – financial sector crises.

According to reports in both the Financial Times of London, as well as the New York Times, the Federal Reserve has made a $14Bn profit on TARP loan programs to struggling banks using tax-payer funds.

Interesting segment by 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft, in which he walks viewers through the fundamentals of these financial WMDs called Credit Default Swaps which were the derivative products underlying the near collapse of the global financial markets.

Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy in the context of the nation’s changing demographic landscape, and a discussion of ‘Why Africa Matters’ by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson.

  ‘For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.’

The world’s central bankers meeting for an annual Federal Reserve summer symposiun retreat say tougher regulatory reforms and oversight necessary for a full recovery, and agree to keep coordinated interest rates low to help boost global economic recovery.

Switzerland’s government said Thursday that it was in the process of selling its stake in the giant bank U.B.S., a transaction that it expects will generate about one billion Swiss francs, or $938 million, in profit for taxpayers.

Everyday there is fresh evidence that government spending to stimulate demand was critically necessary to pull the country out of the economic tail spin caused by the reckless risk-taking of essentially unregulated financial markets, easy money policies often championed by Right-wing economists such as CNBC’s Larry Kudlow.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, outlined the administration’s purpose and goal in the speech that was delivered later in the day at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, and has been termed by the Administration a ‘New Era of Engagement’ with the world.

The New York Times featured an interesting article in today’s paper spotting a trend that more college graduates and corporate professionals are flocking to China in search of greener pasteurs for their careers.

Though you haven’t started hearing much about it yet in the MSM, there really are ‘gilmmers of hope’ on the economic horizon as President Obama’s aggressive stimulus and economic recovery agenda kicks into gear. Recent economic data is beginning to paint a bright pciture for recovery end of 09, into 2010.

In the face of what appears as Wall Street returning to status quo business as usual, a brief discussion of two recent developments in public attitudes about the precipitators of the current global financial crisis indicating that voters want more aggressive government action in regulating the Titans of Wall Street.

Morgan Stanley re-pays Federal government +20% annualized return TARP bail-out funds.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting, based on unnamed sources, that the Obama administration’s top regulators are resisting the ‘New Financial Foundations’ regulatory reform plan written and proposed by U.S. Treasury Timothy A. Geithner, and the President’s White House Economic Advisor, Lawrence Summers. In attendance were Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. […]