BTW, Doesn't HBOS own Bank West?
Is that the very same bank that was recently trying to expand into the Eastern states with high deposit rates & 'accommodative' lending criteria. And here I was thinking the local banking system would have it's first casualty, but it turns out the damage might be inflicted from above???
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March 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators may reduce capital requirements imposed on
Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the world's largest mortgage companies, to help them expand their combined $1.5 trillion in investments and revive the market for home loan securities, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.
Mmm.....something frenetic happening behind the scenes here?
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Chrysler is trying to cut its way back to significance. It's going to hurt.
The automaker's 71,000 employees will be on "mandatory vacation" for two weeks in July when all operations across the country are shut down, the company said Thursday.
A forced break is drastic, though for Chrysler perhaps not surprising considering its financial straits.
After losing $1.6 billion last year, it announced plans to shutter offices, reduce its workforce, eliminate dealerships and do away with redundant models. But with one of the least fuel-efficient fleets on the road, inventory piling up on dealer lots and the popularity of its top seller -- the Dodge Ram pickup -- slumping along with the housing market, there's reason to suspect that cutting alone won't be the solution.
Unless Chrysler figures out how to increase sales and build cars and trucks that people want, the 83-year-old company's prospects will be dim.
But will it be Chrysler? Will Ford or GM be the first to go under, or will the Fed bail them out too?
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