It's All About Greed

We're still reeling with shock from the fall of Wall Street then here comes another blow. It seems like fate has chosen western capitalism as its target. And fate isn't missing. Fate knows what the culprit is.

The fall of Wall Street was inevitable. The government giving incentives to banks to lend to those who don't deserve (who knows why), banks grabbing the opportunity to lend to those who have little chance to pay, and borrowers wanting more money so they can buy the latest and up their lifestyle, their future was set. Greed is the name of the game — the desire for luxury and more money and utter disregard and concern for others. It's the Me generation.

Now Madoff. He made off with investors' money. And to think he was able to scam $1 billion off of HSBC! What happens to the savings of HSBC's customers? How about the retirements of investors of investment companies? (And OPEC wants to raise oil prices and pull out their investments from western banks. The same is true for South American countries.)

Western nations cannot serve both the Christian God and greed. They will surely love one and hate the other.

Madoff under curfew on $10m bail

Mr Madoff did not respond to reporters' questions

Bernard Madoff, the hedge fund boss accused of a $50bn (£32bn) fraud, has put up $10m bail and in effect been placed under house arrest.

Mr Madoff turned up at New York's federal court to sign some papers but did not answer reporters' questions.

He signed over his New York flat and his homes in Long Island and Palm Beach, Florida to make up the bail.

He will also be fitted with an electronic tag and will have to seek permission to leave his flat.

In addition to surrendering his own passport, Mr Madoff has also agreed to hand in that of his wife Ruth.

The bail conditions were tightened after Mr Madoff failed to find the required four people to co-sign his bail agreement.

If the correct documents are supplied, Mr Madoff will not have to make another court appearance until 12 January.

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Unemployment - Bleak Future

With unemployment reaching a 26-year high, what's America's future going to be like? As one American longshoreman interviewed on Aljazeera TV said, "The American dream is turning out to be a nightmare."

It looks like the fall of the Twin Towers on September 11 was the prophetic signal for the fall of the American dream. Could it be "Babylon is fallen, is fallen"? Babylon was the world's mightiest military and economic power in its time. But like all empires, Babylon rose and fell.

We cannot help but wonder...

The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more... (Rev. 18:11, NIV)

US jobless claims surge to new high

The numbers of US workers filing new claims for unemployment benefit has reached a 26-year high, according to a government report.

New claims for state benefits reached 573,000 for the week ending December 6, the highest since November 1982, said the Labor Department report released on Thursday.

There were 58,000 more new claims than in the previous week - the biggest increase since 2005, the report said.

The figures were higher than many economists expected and are another sign of troubles within the US economy which George Bush, the US president, has said is already in a recession.

"When combined with the decline in import prices, these are more signs of an economy that is decelerating on the downside with price deflation ... it will create additional concerns about weakening in the economy and corporate profits," said Jim Awad, chairman at WP Stewart and Co, a US investment firm.

Markets down

The number of workers applying for state unemployment benefits had briefly declined in the previous two weeks, but have now surged again as companies sack workers following the economic downturn and the global financial crisis.

Data released last week showed employers cut just over half-a-million jobs in November, the largest number in 34 years, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.7 per cent - the highest since 1993.

US stock markets fell after the report was released.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 10.99 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 8,750.43.

"We keep thinking the financial crisis is over and one by one we find a new industry that is in dire straights," said Carl Birkelbach, head of Birkelbach Management, a Chicago investment firm.

"It appears to me that the credit crunch is going to continue and the ramifications will be negative."

From Aljazeera