Eight US banks fully repay their government loans
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Fazle Rashid
US banks, which took bailout money from the government, silenced critics who feared that money has been lost forever, by repaying the loans with a profit of $4.0 billion for the treasury.
The eight banks that took bailout money have fully repaid their loans The government still faces potentially huge long term-losses from its bailouts of the insurance giant American International Group ( AIG ), the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the automakers GM, Chrysler, the New York Times (NYT) in a front page report said last Monday. Among the failed institutions, AIG and Lehman Brothers are contemplating various options to come out of the rut. AIG is planning to start an aircraft leasing unit " that could help the troubled insurer shed assets from an existing aviation business laden with $30 billion in debt".
European segment of the Lehman Brothers which was among the first to apply for bankruptcy in the US will lodge " claims for as much as $100 billion against the former holding company in the coming weeks as the winding up of the collapsed US bank gather pace".
Lehman Brothers applied for bankruptcy with debts of more than $613 billion. The European segment has in its possession more than $30 billion of client assets when the bank collapsed.
The General Motors of US is going for joint collaboration on 50-50 basis with Chinese company FAW. The unit will manufacture light trucks in China. The cost of the project will be $293 billion.
Meanwhile, in South America, the government of Venezuela and oil companies stand poles apart over terms to develop a huge oil field. The bid has been thrice postponed causing concerns among the prospective investors. The investors are worried about political risk, cost of the project and the profitability.
Lower oil price and downturn in the economy add to investors' woes. The competition to win the contract will be hard and fierce. The countries and companies joining the fray will be state oil companies from China, Brazil and Russia and oil giants like Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Chevron, Total and Statoil. The access to Venezuela's Orinoco Belt and investment there could require collective investment of $30 billion.
And in the world of politics in Asia, the victory of opposition Democratic party over ruling Liberal Democrats in Japan has been stunning. The winning Democratic party campaigned on a promise to reverse a generation-long economic decline and redefine Tokyo's relationship with Washington.
The Democratic Party of Japan will end bureaucratic stranglehold and stop civil servants on retirement from joining jobs at government agencies or private companies. Consumption tax will be eliminated for four years and a subsidy of $280 a month to each child up to 15 years of age will be paid. Taxes will be cut on small and medium size businesses and, most important of all, Japan's emission of greenhouse gases will be reduced by 25 per cent from 1990 level by 2020.
Furthermore in Asia, an attempt by Myanmar to bring to the heel the ethnic militants that have challenged the army rule has driven more than 30,000 refugees into China and drawn a rebuke from regime's closest ally.
US banks, which took bailout money from the government, silenced critics who feared that money has been lost forever, by repaying the loans with a profit of $4.0 billion for the treasury.
The eight banks that took bailout money have fully repaid their loans The government still faces potentially huge long term-losses from its bailouts of the insurance giant American International Group ( AIG ), the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the automakers GM, Chrysler, the New York Times (NYT) in a front page report said last Monday. Among the failed institutions, AIG and Lehman Brothers are contemplating various options to come out of the rut. AIG is planning to start an aircraft leasing unit " that could help the troubled insurer shed assets from an existing aviation business laden with $30 billion in debt".
European segment of the Lehman Brothers which was among the first to apply for bankruptcy in the US will lodge " claims for as much as $100 billion against the former holding company in the coming weeks as the winding up of the collapsed US bank gather pace".
Lehman Brothers applied for bankruptcy with debts of more than $613 billion. The European segment has in its possession more than $30 billion of client assets when the bank collapsed.
The General Motors of US is going for joint collaboration on 50-50 basis with Chinese company FAW. The unit will manufacture light trucks in China. The cost of the project will be $293 billion.
Meanwhile, in South America, the government of Venezuela and oil companies stand poles apart over terms to develop a huge oil field. The bid has been thrice postponed causing concerns among the prospective investors. The investors are worried about political risk, cost of the project and the profitability.
Lower oil price and downturn in the economy add to investors' woes. The competition to win the contract will be hard and fierce. The countries and companies joining the fray will be state oil companies from China, Brazil and Russia and oil giants like Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Chevron, Total and Statoil. The access to Venezuela's Orinoco Belt and investment there could require collective investment of $30 billion.
And in the world of politics in Asia, the victory of opposition Democratic party over ruling Liberal Democrats in Japan has been stunning. The winning Democratic party campaigned on a promise to reverse a generation-long economic decline and redefine Tokyo's relationship with Washington.
The Democratic Party of Japan will end bureaucratic stranglehold and stop civil servants on retirement from joining jobs at government agencies or private companies. Consumption tax will be eliminated for four years and a subsidy of $280 a month to each child up to 15 years of age will be paid. Taxes will be cut on small and medium size businesses and, most important of all, Japan's emission of greenhouse gases will be reduced by 25 per cent from 1990 level by 2020.
Furthermore in Asia, an attempt by Myanmar to bring to the heel the ethnic militants that have challenged the army rule has driven more than 30,000 refugees into China and drawn a rebuke from regime's closest ally.