LONDON, March 14 – Film rental chain Blockbuster has put its European arm up for sale, the Sunday Times newspaper said. The paper said the indebted U.S. company wanted to sell its European division, which it values at about 50 million pounds , to Blockbuster puts European arm up for sale – paper

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Blockbuster puts European arm up for sale – paper

Gold Prices Gold prices would have been really down this week if it hadn’t been for the last couple of days, where it helped prop it up some after a devastating week. After the rebound of the euro, gold dropped about 2 percent for the week as safety hedges against currencies declined as concerns over the sovereign debt of Greece fell some. This should only be a temporary lull, even though

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Gold In Worst Decline in 7 Weeks

Are deficit hawks right about the dangers of mounting government debt? Or, is pursuing fiscal sustainability a recipe for continuing the economy’s downward spiral? BNN speaks to Marshall Auerback, fund manager, RAB Capital.

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Marshall Auerback: Fighting deficit hysteria

NEW YORK, March 12 – Sirius XM Radio Inc expanded and priced an offering of senior notes on Friday, raising $800 million to pay off debt that comes due earlier. It said on Friday it sold $800 million of senior notes due in 2015 via private placeme Sirius XM sells $800 mln in notes to repay debt

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Sirius XM sells $800 mln in notes to repay debt

The European Union (EU) on Thursday defended its sweeping hedge-fund reform proposals against criticism from the United States and Britain. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday in hopes of compromising on the proposed regulation. Many EU countries are determined to change the hedge fund industry, which is often murky. The use of derivatives, such as credit-default swaps have been linked to the downfall of Lehman Bros. and exacerbating Greece’s sovereign debt difficulties .

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U.S., Britain Say EU Proposals Will Damage Hedge Fund Industry

CNN Money | It’s dawning on people that getting a handle on burgeoning U.S. debt will be a long and hard process.

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Why the U.S. can’t inflate its way out of debt

“This is a new trend in the tax board. There was a notable change at the end of last year,” Rattur says, adding that tax board is keen to freeze bank accounts even for smaller tax debts

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Baltic Tax Authorities Increase Money Hunt

By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO, March 10 – General Motors Co will pay back roughly $8 billion in debt to the United States and Canada before June and could go public in a way that would allow taxpayers to make a profit on the bailout, Chief Executive GM CEO says U.S. govt will make money on bailout

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GM CEO says U.S. govt will make money on bailout

The concept of entropy is one of the most useful terms for understanding just about everything. While it has its origins in natural law — thermodynamics, specifically — the concept holds true pretty much across all closed systems. In the simplest of terms, every closed system will ultimately degrade toward a state of maximum entropy. I’ll use the current political system of the U.S. as a convenient example. When American democracy was first shoved out of the nest by the founding fathers, it was new, fresh, and energetic. It took the world’s breath away at its boldness and unlimited promise, and set the wheels turning on tangible change across much of the world. Before the ink dried on the Constitution, however, the degradation began. From the beginning, the country’s political operations fell into the hands of a strictly limited number of parties, which quickly coalesced into just two. Since then, they have essentially shared power, with only minor differences in policies between the two. Simply, absent a disruptive external force, the closed political system quickly matured into an institutionalized “sameness” that all but assures no serious challenges — leading, ultimately, to the certainty it will degrade to only a shell of its former self. It was, perhaps, because of his own understanding of natural law that Thomas Jefferson was heard to remark, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” That doesn’t mean I am advocating revolution — just pointing out the fact that any closed system, no matter how well constructed, will degrade. To expect the United States of America to avoid this fate is to expect the impossible. Switching to a corporate example, I used to be a regular buyer of Toyota cars. They were well made, innovative, and suited my changing needs over the years. And I wasn’t alone — in 2007 they became the world’s largest automobile maker, with a global manufacturing and distribution system that made them appear dominant. Behind the scenes, though, entropy was at work. In 2008, when the time had come to lease a new car, I reflexively headed over to the local dealer fully expecting to drive off with yet another Toyota, just as I had done several times over the previous decade or more. But as I walked around the showroom, it was impossible not to notice that the company had lost its edge. The cars on offer were not only more expensive than the competition, but even the newest models had that “so yesterday” look about them. Surprising even myself…

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Entropy, or Why the World as We Know It is Dying

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren't paying off their financial obligations as much you might think. Instead, they're walking away from the debt, forcing credit-card issuers to write off as much as 90% of that reported drop, according to a new report by CardHub.com. U.S. banks charged off a record $83.3 billion in credit-card losses last year. That makes up the bulk of the $93.2 billion drop in outstanding credit-card debt that was reported by the Federal Reserve for 2009. Original Article: Forum: News/Activism

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What credit-card payoff? Consumers are dumping debt

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Credit-card debt has been falling for 16 straight months but consumers aren't paying off their financial obligations as much you might think. Instead, they're walking away from the debt, forcing credit-card issuers to write off as much as 90% of that reported drop, according to a new report by CardHub.com. U.S. banks charged off a record $83.3 billion in credit-card losses last year. That makes up the bulk of the $93.2 billion drop in outstanding credit-card debt that was reported by the Federal Reserve for 2009. Original Article: Forum: News/Activism

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What credit-card payoff? Consumers are dumping debt

Debt Concerns And Downbeat Data Are Clouding Economic Recovery In Europe Still the economic conditions in Europe are shaky amid the turbulences resulting from the global downturn that affected small as well as major economies.After th Debt Concerns And Downbeat Data Are Clouding Economic Recovery In Europe 9-3-2010

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Debt Concerns And Downbeat Data Are Clouding Economic Recovery In Europe 9-3-2010