“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary event,” so sayeth Milton Friedman. Following this intellectual tradition, recently Mish and other analysts define inflation as an increase in the money and credit supply. They then point to a myriad of the examples of the deflation they claim that we must be in: the crashing of the [...]

First American Credit Union, Beloit, Michigan, is the 15th credit union to be shut down nationwide this year. First American Credit Union of Beloit has been taken over by a Michigan credit union. First American was founded in 1933 by employees at Beloit Iron Works and expanded over the years to serve people in Rock, Green and [...]

Sonoma Valley Bank, Sonoma, California, becomes the 118th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation in 2010. The agency estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $10.1 million. Sonoma Valley Bank, Sonoma, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) [...]

Los Padres Bank, Solvang, California, was closed today, making it the 117th on the year. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $8.7 million. Los Padres Bank, Solvang, California, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To [...]

Pacific State Bank, Stockton, California, becomes one of two FDIC casulties bringing the carnage for 2010 to 116. The agency estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for Pacific State Bank, will be $32.6 million. Butte Community Bank, Chico, California, and Pacific State Bank, Stockton, California, were closed today by the California Department [...]

Butte Community Bank, Chico, California, becomes one of two FDIC casulties bringing the carnage for 2010 to 116. The agency estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for Butte Community Bank, Chico, California, will be $17.4 million. Butte Community Bank, Chico, California, and Pacific State Bank, Stockton, California, were closed today by the California Department [...]

The long awaited closure of ShoreBank, Chicago, Illinois, took place tonight making the ailing bank the 114th FDIC casualty of 2010, at an estimated cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) of $367.7 million. ShoreBank, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [...]

Imperial Savings and Loan Association, Martinsville, Virginia, bit the dust tonight, bringing the FDIC hit list for 2010 up to 113. The agency estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $3.5 million. Imperial Savings and Loan Association, Martinsville, Virginia, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the [...]

Independent National Bank, Ocala, Florida, was one of two shuttered banks to bring the FDIC misery count to 112 on the year. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for Independent National Bank, will be $23.2 million. Community National Bank At Bartow, Bartow, Florida, and Independent National Bank, Ocala, Florida, [...]

Community National Bank At Bartow, Bartow, Florida, was one of two shuttered banks to bring the FDIC misery count to 112 on the year.  The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for Community National Bank At Bartow will be $10.3 million. Community National Bank At Bartow, Bartow, Florida, and Independent National [...]

Sometimes the market makes it too easy. Check this out: Desire for income drives high-yield bond ETFs’ popularity BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Investors fed up with U.S. stocks’ negative returns over the past decade and paltry rates in today’s fixed-income markets are piling into exchange-traded funds that invest in high-yield corporate bonds. “Where else can you [...]

Everyone with any sense wants to keep some physical gold and silver at home, but no one with any sense wants to keep too much of it there. So as your holdings grow, so does your need for safe storage. Solari’s Catherine Austin Fitts and Carolyn Betts have published a guide to precious metals storage [...]

Pretend for a second that you recently retired with a decent amount of money in the bank, and all you have to do is generate a paltry 5% to live in comfort for the rest of your days. But lately that’s been easier said than done. Your money market fund yields less than 1%. Your [...]

Remember the euro-zone crisis? Front page news for weeks, and then…nothing. Could they have found the secret formula for eliminating an overwhelming debt load without hyperinflation or depression? Nah. They were just taking a break, and now they’re back. Greece’s economy is contracting and Spain’s regional governments are being shut out of the debt markets. [...]

This isn’t how it normally goes. For the past couple of decades — that is, during the parabolic phase of the global credit bubble — the financial markets have responded to US Fed announcements of easier money like kids whose daddy has promised them a trip to Disneyland. The euphoria doesn’t always last, but the [...]

For short sellers, the pickings aren’t quite as obvious as they were in 2006. But they’re still pretty good. Muni bonds, for instance, are a disaster waiting to happen. But the juiciest short — akin to the subprime lenders during the housing boom — are for-profit colleges. They came to my attention a while back [...]

Here’s another take on the inflation/deflation debate from Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and Financial Times columnist Sebastian Mallaby: Forget Jesus and ask the hedge funds The US stimulus debate features two warring camps. The Obama administration insists that a failure to stimulate will open the door to a double-dip recession. Its foes retort [...]

In this week’s Credit Bubble Bulletin Prudent Bear’s Doug Noland makes a crucial point: It’s not inflation that the U.S. risks by issuing trillions of dollars of new debt, but “a crisis of confidence at the very heart of our monetary system.” Exactly. If we keep this up the financial markets might abandon dollar-denominated assets, [...]

Normally, the consumer sentiment number that comes out each month seems like a piece of media fluff, far less substantial than, say, housing starts or the gold price. But today’s report is unusual enough to deserve a longer look. From MarketWatch: Nothing happened, but the news was bad anyway Commentary: Historic decline in sentiment comes [...]

For the first time in 250 years, politics has become irrelevant. Not uninteresting or unimportant; obviously the way a society organizes itself matters to its citizens and its place in the world. But today there are no policies left on the “possible” menu that will save us from what’s coming. So a rational person’s time [...]

Moody's said that it would review ratings on about $300bn of debt backed by US commercial mortgages, which will likely lead to steep ratings cuts

Four of the 10 biggest building societies that survived the financial crisis are in Yorkshire and north-east England and Northern Rock, the first near-casualty, is on its way to a return to profit

Global banking regulators have agreed the broad outlines of what governments should do to head off more taxpayer-funded rescues of financial institutions considered 'too big to fail'

Never again will bankers be able to argue that what is good for Citigroup is good for America, or what is good for RBS is good for the UK. Not with a straight face anyway, writes John Cassidy

We are all subject to confirmation bias, failing to acknowledge our mistakes because we have genuinely persuaded ourselves we did not make them, writes.John Kay

If the repeated asymmetric use of macro policies has rendered them ineffective, what other policies might help deal with the debt problem? asks William White

Valencia's mix of 'old economy' industries – orange growing, manufacturing and property development – means it is suffering disproportionately from the economic crisis

The Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the UK Treasury lay out plans for their respective exits from loose monetary, fiscal and financial policies

Western central banks mull the same questions that faced the Japanese four years ago: namely, is it possible to remove emergency policies smoothly, after a banking crisis?

Intensifying fears about sovereign defaults provided the main catalyst for a dramatic deterioration in global risk appetite

Freddie Mac said it would probably have to take more taxpayer cash this year to offset continued losses in a fragile housing market

The importer of fish from Asia enters into administration after banks discontinue trade credit, dealing a blow to 3i, whose 28.5% stake in the group is wiped out

Opens up to new investors for the first time raising a new $500m fund that will specialise in investing in distressed European companies

The design of a new regulatory structure requires much longer consideration and international agreement. Action should for now focus on capital and liquidity requirements, writes Sir Martin Jacomb

It would be a grave mistake to assume that the sovereign debt crisis that is unfolding will remain confined to the weaker eurozone economies. This is more than just a Mediterranean problem; it is a fiscal crisis of the western world, writes Niall Ferguson

Guaranteed bonuses accounted for about 5% of the bonuses paid out for 2009 at 37 leading financial companies surveyed by the Institute of International Finance

Swiss watchmaker files for SFr30m compensation from the country's biggest bank over an unspecified investment in a UBS absolute return fund made in 2009

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, expressed regret for not being 'more straightforward' with Congress in 2008 when he avoided saying that the central bank had no means to save Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers, the bankrupt investment bank, said it intends to use some of its cash to recapitalise two subsidiary banks to prepare them for sale

JPMorgan Chase is to close the commodity unit that trades with the bank's own money as Wall Street moves to comply with new US financial services rules banning proprietary trading

MF Global Holdings is to make a push into money management and investment banking, in an effort to capitalise on the derivatives brokerage's strength in commodities markets

Goldman Sachs is embroiled in a lawsuit over whether Natixis is able to terminate protection purchased by the US investment bank in relation to three credit derivative transactions

Sadeq Sayeed, one of the architects of Nomura's acquisition of Lehman Brothers' European and Asian operations, receives the 'golden handshake' after leaving the bank

The group says the losses, which come as investment banks adjust to more testing trading conditions, would cover both back office administrative functions and front office activities

The government has taken a further step towards potential privatisation of the Royal Mail by hiring UBS to advise it about the group's future

News of the cuts is likely to alarm the City as well as Wall Street, where BarCap has a sizeable presence following its acquisition of the US operations of Lehman Brothers at the height of the financial crisis

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley each suffered at least 10 days of trading losses in the second quarter, underlining how turbulent markets have cast a pall on Wall Street since April

BarCap contributed 80% of pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, a reminder of how dependent Barclays remains on investment banking

John Varley, chief executive, said Barclays' so-called universal model had proved its resilience and profitability through the financial crisis

Move, expected after last month's passage of US financial reform legislation, underlines Goldman's need to refocus its strategy away from investments with its own funds as the post-crisis regulatory regime emerges