The Bank, whose job it is to support low-income countries, has had to hand out so much cash in the wake of the financial crisis that its resources could run dry within 12 months.

“By the middle of next year we will face serious constraints,” said its president Robert Zoellick, as he launched a major campaign to persuade rich nations to pour more money into the Washington-based institution
He conceded that such a task was likely to be extremely difficult, given the difficulties facing countries in the wake of the developed world’s biggest recession since the Second World War. However, Mr Zoellick, speaking at the opening of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul, said the Bank needed a capital increase of as much as $11.1bn (£6.9bn) to keep functioning. He said he hoped that its shareholders, including the UK and other leading nations, would decide on resources before its spring meeting next April.

The money would be shared between the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development – the key part of the bank, which lends to poor nations – and the International Financial Corporation (IFC), which lends to companies.

Mr Zoellick said: “We recognise that all countries are under budgetary strain and it is not an easy time to be asking for these things”.

He said that a shortfall of cash for the IFC was a cause for particular concern, Mr Zoellick added, “because one of the issues in this recovery is the hand-off from government stimulus programs to private-sector development.”

The Bank has had to lend significantly more cash than the three-year $100bn programme it committed to last year because of the virulence of the financial and economic crisis. The majority of the money has been spent ensuring the survival of the most vulnerable nations.

Johnson maintained, that the 2007 NIE was gravely in error. Therefore, Johnson demagogically continued, the unsettling question arises: did, may the heavens forfend, political calculations enter into that report? Then, in a moment that triumphantly rose to the heights of ridiculousness in the race toward ultimate absurdity in commentary on current events (which almost all political commentators, of all political persuasions, seem determined to win), Johnson proclaimed that "political considerations" must never, ever enter into intelligence reports. Johnson further expounded that political considerations must never, ever represent even the smallest part of intelligence work, which must always be focused exclusively on the facts and nothing but the facts.

Johnson made this argument in all apparent seriousness.

Johnson revealed himself to be one of the most stupendously stupid people who has ever lived on this planet, and/or he is lying through his teeth.

On those very rare occasions when intelligence is accurate, it is likely to be disregarded in any case. It will certainly be disregarded if it runs counter to a course to which policymakers are already committed.

Problems at the Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees mortgages with low down payments, are becoming so acute that some experts warn the agency might need a federal bailout.

Running questions about the F.H.A.’s future — underscored by interviews with policy makers, analysts and home buyers — came to the fore on Thursday on Capitol Hill. In testimony before a House subcommittee, the F.H.A. commissioner, David H. Stevens, assured lawmakers that his agency would not need a bailout and that it was managing its risks.

But he acknowledged that some 20 percent of F.H.A. loans insured last year — and as many as 24 percent of those from 2007 — faced serious problems including foreclosure, offering a preview of a forthcoming audit of the agency’s finances.

a five block drive in an industrial area in Dallas near the airport...

Pictures of the RECOVERY?



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TX: #1 in Food Stamps and Uninsured.

Interest rates at close to zero are driving the price of virtually everything else wild, so it should come as little surprise to see oil back above twelve month highs. OK, so it is still a long way from the crucifying $140 a barrel it reached in the summer of last year, but prices have nearly doubled so far this year and at more than $80 a barrel, they are again high enough to cause real economic damage.

By common agreement, it was the collapse of Lehman Brothers which plunged the world into deep recession, and no doubt the destruction of confidence in the banking system was a major cause. But what’s often over looked is the role played by high energy prices. These had reached crippling levels by the summer of 2008, and were causing real damage to industry and business. American consumers took one look at prices at the pumps and collectively decided to stop spending. This collapse in consumer and business confidence preceded the Lehman debacle.

The world economy is said to be a great deal less vulnerable to high oil prices than it was 30 or 40 years ago, but they still self evidently have the power to shock. Most post war recessions have been preceded by a spike in the oil price.

Capmark Financial Group Inc., one of the nation's largest commercial-real-estate lenders, plans to file for bankruptcy as soon as this weekend, a person familiar with the situation said.

In the midst of rapidly falling commercial real estate values, one of the country's largest real estate lenders, Capmark, will probably file for bankruptcy in the next few days according to The Wall Street Journal. The paper writes "In 2006, a group led by KKR & Co., Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners acquired the lender GMAC LLC's commercial-real estate business and renamed it Capmark."

The news of Capmark's demise could heighten fears that commercial real estate losses among banks will cause another significant wave of write-downs at major financial firms which have already had to take one round of government aid. GE (NYSE:GE) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) posted large commercial real estate losses in their third quarter earnings.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Capmark Financial Group Inc., the lender owned by firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and KKR & Co., filed for bankruptcy protection after posting a second- quarter loss of about $1.6 billion.

The company listed consolidated debt of $21 billion and consolidated assets of $20.1 billion as of June 30 in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Capmark is one of the largest U.S. commercial real estate finance companies, with more than $10 billion in originations, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The company services more than $360 billion of debt.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Caterpillar Inc. on Monday said it plans to bring back 550 laid-off employees, as the earth-moving machinery giant works to align production levels with what it called improving demand.

At the same time, the news wasn't as good for a separate batch of 2,500 idled workers. The Peoria, Ill.-based company said those employees will be receiving separation packages.

Earlier this year Caterpillar /quotes/comstock/13*!cat/quotes/nls/cat (CAT 56.98, -0.62, -1.08%) said it would dismiss about 22,000 workers ahead of what the company described as perhaps the weakest period of economic growth in the postwar period.

Caterpillar currently employs about 95,000 workers.