In the crunch

As the economic meltdown continues, some things would be humorous, were their not so much human suffering attached.

UBS and Lehman Brothers
Don't know how long that link will be good, so here is a short snippet:

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, faces dozens of claims in the U.S. from clients who bought ``100 percent principal protected notes'' issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that are now almost worthless.

Trouble is, the market collapsed from the weight of too many people and organizations in too much debt, and much of it created by those now selling us a bill of goods that it was a republican venture.

Meanwhile, things have gotten so bad that gold coins are getting scarce, even as the price of gold drops. The article shows that so many people are now investing in gold for the first time that the supply of gold coins has been temporarily depleted. This has caused such an upheaval that many conspiracy theories are beginning to spring up.

After Notes:
Banks used "off balance sheet" to hide their insecurities. I wonder if anyone has realised, the reason banks are not loaning yet might be that they still have so much "off balance sheet" debt that they risk becoming insolvent when the rules change next summer? (If they don't get another reprieve from Barny Franks)