US bank Lehman Brothers bankruptcy: World KRACK?

[Christophe]

What a mess !! there are some who benefit

Hey don't cry too much: I hope your action sheet has benefited too (a little) ...

[martien007]

What a mess !! there are some who benefit

Hey don't cry too much: I hope your action sheet has benefited too (a little) ...

Well no "if they took advantage "it is not him but the others!

It's always like that in this game.

[Leo Maximus]

a US bank that would merge with a Chinese bank .... we will have seen everything !!!

Better and better ! The Chinese who buy part of the Rotschild Bank:

I do not see what is extraordinary or shocking in there. A Chinese bank like ICBC has a market capitalization of more than 150 billion dollars, twice that of Bank of America or JPMogan Chase, three times that of Citigroup.

A few months ago Lehman Brothers sought to sell itself to the Korean bank (of the south) KDB for 4 times the market value, Seoul put an end to the negotiations in August.

[martien007]

a US bank that would merge with a Chinese bank .... we will have seen everything !!!

Better and better ! The Chinese who buy part of the Rotschild Bank:

I do not see what is extraordinary or shocking in there. A Chinese bank like ICBC has a market capitalization of more than 150 billion dollars, twice that of Bank of America or JPMogan Chase, three times that of Citigroup.

A few months ago Lehman Brothers sought to sell itself to the Korean bank (of the south) KDB for 4 times the market value, Seoul put an end to the negotiations in August.

nothing shocking! simply confirmation that the Chinese will increasingly hold the reins of global financial power.

The USA and the Chinese stand by the goatee.

[Tagor]

here is a viable alternative: the WIR bank
http://w41k.info/?read=20510

AlterWorld 080920: 1403 antilibéral Une [18 min] horizons-et-debats
WIR Bank
Response to the financial crisis: cooperative principle and complementary currency

by W. Wüthrich, Zurich

hd. In the coming weeks, Horizons and Debates will publish a series of articles relating to the financial crisis. The global context must be examined. Without darkening the picture, we will outline responses and map out ways to overcome the crisis. The history of the Savings Bank! Zurich aid to peasants (see No. 35/36 of Horizons and debates) marked a start. The example of WIR Bank succeeds it today. A lot of space will be devoted to Raiffeisen's ideas.

On October 16, 1934, a cooperative society was founded, which today should be considered unique in its design and development. It was called WIR Economic Circle, a cooperative society, but changed its name a few years ago and is now called WIR Bank. It can be read in the statutes that the WIR Cooperative Society is a mutual aid organization for commercial, craft and service operations. Its aim is to stimulate its participants, to put their purchasing power at the service of each other through the WIR system and to keep it in their ranks in order to provide participants with additional turnover.1

Basic principle

The WIR Cooperative Society is! a community characterized by a co monetary system! additional. Like a central bank, it issues its own currency, which circulates among its partners as a means of payment and in which it grants credits. The value of the WIR is linked to the Swiss franc (1 WIR = 1 CHF). A main feature is the absence of interest rates. The assets in account are not remunerated. It is an incentive to quickly spend the money and thus increase the turnover between participants. Originally, the assets were not only unpaid: a retention right was collected. This was to provide an even greater incentive to get the money back into circulation quickly.

An example

The credit committee of the WIR Cooperative Society grants a mortgage loan of 100 WIR-CHF against payment of the usual collateral in banking matters. However, it does not lend money to its customers - as other banks do - but issues the money itself, today in cl! clicking on the computer. Unlike the issuing institute, money is created not by law, but by contract and by the willingness of a community to accept money from the cooperative society. The loan taker will use the money to build a house, for example. He will pay the craftsmen, whom he knows as associates of the cooperative society. They will thus settle invoices for materials drawn up by other partners who, in turn, will make payments, etc. As a general rule, invoices will be paid in WIR at a rate of 000 to 30% of the total amount. The balance will be paid in francs because the participating companies pay their salaries in francs and many other costs, such as taxes, cannot be paid in WIR. - Thus, the mortgage loan resulting from new currency creates a turnover in the cooperative society for many years, until the credit is repaid.

The interest rate p! erçu is currently only 1%. It corresponds to little p! come on! interest margin2 in banks and reaches, on average, in the long term, a third of normal bank rates. It suffices to cover the costs and to build up sufficient reserves. This possibility is offered because the cooperative society produces money like an issuing institution. A normal bank receives savings funds, thereby pays interest and in turn lends the money. It will also pay interest to receive the money from the issuing institute.

Since 1936, the WIR Cooperative Society has had the status of a bank and is subject to the strict prescriptions of the Federal Banking Commission. The banking law provides for a certain relationship between equity and assets. The volume of credit is therefore not unlimited. WIR currency is covered by goods. Behind every payment made with WIR currency, there is an exchange of goods and services.

The cooperative society gives a platform to its members to get! offer goods and services to each other. These include, in addition to the list of participants - now online - brochures, fairs, distribution services, etc. Over 90 visitors from all parts of the country visited the four major fairs in Zurich, Lucerne, Wettingen and Bern last year to get to know other co-operators and their offers. In addition, regional groups organize political and cultural meetings. In 000, 2007 demonstrations took place, which attracted 53 people.

The system requires participants to plan and budget for their WIR francs. The francs can be exchanged at any time for WIRs. On the other hand, WIR francs can only be spent on other cooperators against products or services. Or can be used to repay a loan. An exchange for francs is not possible.

Syst! th of additional currency

According to the theor! ie moneta! ire, WIR is a complementary currency. This is understood to mean the agreement concluded within a community and aimed at accepting a currency which is not the national currency as a means of exchange. The complementary currency does not replace the national currency. However, it exercises a social function for which the national currency was not created. In the WIR Cooperative Society, the partners support each other by buying from each other with their own currency and being able to receive credits from the central very advantageous. This is important during particularly difficult economic times or when interest rates rise. Well-being is generated and unemployment prevented.

WIR Cooperative Society founded

A self-help organization, the WIR Cooperative Society was founded in 1934 by Werner Zimmermann, Paul Enz and 14 others - all convinced by the theory of money! ranch by Silvio Gesell. The economic depression hit small and medium-sized businesses hard at the time. Turnover has collapsed and many employees could no longer be employed. There was no sign of improvement. From the point of view of the doctrine of free money, the cause of this disaster lay in the insufficiency of the money supply and in the disturbance of the monetary circulation by the hoarding of money. - How did it happen? Many banks have gone bankrupt. In Europe alone, there were more than a thousand. Large banks, such as the Kreditanstalt in Austria, were among them. Many people had lost confidence and preferred to keep their money at home. In Switzerland, it was estimated that some 20% of banknotes in circulation were hoarded outside the banking system. In other countries, the rate seems to have been still significantly higher. The banks! thus had less money to grant credits! , what ! paralyzed the economy. Since currencies are linked to gold, the issuing institutions could not put as much money into circulation as they wanted, contrary to what is happening today.

What to do?

A self-help organization should help each other. The WIR Cooperative Society started with 16 partners and an initial capital of 42 francs. The name of WIR (we) is not only the German abbreviation for "Economic Circle Cooperative Society"; Werner Zimmermann also defined it as the opposite of "ICH" (me). A community can better defend the interests of the individual. At the time, the founders of WIR were not alone. There were many similar organizations around the world. Associations and entire villages made up of the most diverse beings have tried, by exchange organizations and money created by themselves to oppose the paralyzing climate of the great economic depression! mique. The following process was common to them:

1. To compensate for the limitation of the national currency, they created a complementary currency in a limited, clearly discernible framework.

2. They have provided the new means of exchange with the attraction of not keeping or hoarding money, but of spending it quickly. Not only have the assets not been remunerated, but a retention right has been levied. Whoever does not spend the money pays a fee. This obligation should prevent money from being hoarded for fear of the future. The blockages of thought and action - which are also part of the image of psychiatric illness of depression - should thus be removed.

Similar organizations

Self-help organizations were widespread especially in the United States, where the unemployment rate sometimes reached 25% (10% in Switzerland). They were the response of civil society to the problems! oppressive daily themes. In addition, complementary currencies! res have d! already a long tradition in the United States.

In Germany, many municipalities created their own monetary system during the high inflation of the 20s. When the world economic crisis started in 1929, the Wära Exchange Company was founded in Erfurt. It saw itself as an association wishing to oppose the crisis and unemployment on a private level and by its own initiative.

Wörgl

Wörgl, a town of 5000 inhabitants near Innsbruck, Austria, attracted attention.3 In this small town and its immediate surroundings, there were 1500 unemployed. The mayor paid the urgent works of the municipality and partially also paid the employees' wages with "Arbeitswertscheine" (tickets equivalent to the value of the work). This municipal money was 100% covered by the national currency. It could be used within the commune for the purchase of goods and services. The new currency! however had a peculiarity: At the end of the month, everyone had to stamp the tickets that were in their possession and had to pay a tax of 1%. At the end of the year this represented 12%. This expense could be avoided by spending the new currency before the end of the month. Failure to spend the money was therefore "punished".

Exchange for national currency was possible, but only for a 2% fee.

For the population of Wörgl, participation in this monetary experiment was in principle optional. She allowed herself to be persuaded by her mayor and accepted the new currency. The money supply in circulation - which is understandable - has inevitably increased. Unemployment has dropped by a quarter in one year and the municipality's financial situation has improved significantly. The additional revenue (taxes) could be used for social spending.
The news of the success of Wörgl s monetary experience! is fast! widespread: An intelligible complementary payment system within a local or regional authority ensures monetary circulation, lowers unemployment and ensures cohesion. Other municipalities, above all in Austria but also in Liechtenstein (Triesen) followed the example. The well-documented experience has attracted the attention of politicians and scientists at home and abroad. The most famous economist of the time, John Maynard Keynes, spoke positively. French Prime Minister Daladier was one of the many politicians who visited Wörgl. Everything argued in favor of extending this successful experiment. But it was not so.

Choking on mutual aid

Wörgl's alternative currency was banned - on the grounds that only the issuing bank had the right to issue currency. The authorities were generally skeptical of self-help organizations and l! emergency currencies. In Germany and Austria, they were banned even before Hitler took power. In the political debate, Wörgl's experience was first denounced as "stupidity". Then it was called a communist idea and, after the Second World War, a fascist.

We have heard of similar events in the United States where complementary currencies have had a very wide circulation and where they have the longest tradition. In 1933, JD Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. Already in his inauguration speech, he announced a program that would go down in history as the new deal. The economic depression with its high unemployment rate had to be fought. He announced state support measures for banks and many large job creation programs. As the coffers were empty, the state had to go into debt. - At the same time, Roosevelt announced the ban on seco coins! urs of many self-help organizations.

Rooseve! lt has it! was successful with his new deal? Job creation programs were probably better than nothing. Many people have done useful work in these programs. Unemployment remained high, however. Most economic historians today agree that the specter of depression, in the US as in Germany, only disappeared with the transition to the war economy. Decentralized solutions from civil society could no doubt have improved government programs in a more sustainable manner.4

In Switzerland, the authorities have not taken as rigorous measures against self-help organizations as in Germany and the United States. We made the difference between public and private law organizations. The WIR Cooperative Society, a private organization, was tolerated. In 1936 it was subject to the banking law. However, requests from municipalities were rejected with the same justification q! u in Austria. Large municipalities like Bienne and Brienz had planned experiments similar to that of Wörgl.

WIR - the only complementary money system that survived the war

In the Scandinavian countries, many mutual aid organizations were able to maintain their complementary currencies until the Second World War. They then all dissolved. The reasons resided on the one hand in internal difficulties and on the other hand in the disorders of the war. - The WIR Cooperative Society also experienced difficulties. However, it gained new momentum after the Second World War and with the economic boom, the number of its members quickly increased. This shows that the complementary currency does not have advantages only during an economic crisis. The mechanism of imposing a tax on the WIR currency was completely abandoned after the war. In this, the cooperative p! reborn some distance with the theory of free currency! Silvio G! esell. - However, the idea of ​​interest-free loans has been maintained. WIR credits are always interest free.

There were very practical reasons for this fix: Wörgl's benefit was such a massive incentive to spend the money as quickly as possible. But it would have been inadequate in the midst of an economic boom. Unlike the depression of the 1930s, it was no longer necessary to animate the economy in the post-war years. It was full employment and the Swiss authorities were busy curbing the boom.

A changing story

The WIR Cooperative Society has had a long development. From the mid-1960s to the 1970s, she experienced a serious crisis. Several members saw the WIR system as a welcome opportunity to sell lower quality merchandise at excessive prices. Or WIR currency was offered in newspaper ads 20% more expensive! .. The cooperative society risked having its reputation compromised and failing. It was necessary to resolutely fight against abuse. The trade in WIR receivables has been prohibited by the cooperative society. Thus, until today, from year to year, members who violate the statutes are systematically excluded. The return to the idea of ​​mutual aid brought the cooperative society back on the road to success.

Around 62 members currently participate in the WIR system, only small and medium-sized enterprises. They settle between them payments amounting to approximately 000 billion WIR francs per year. Taking into account the fact that a payment is made on average at a rate of only 1,65 to 30% in WIR and that the rest is made in Swiss francs, the amount of goods and services exchanged within the cooperative society is more than double. Commercial and mortgage loans in WIR amount to around 40 million.

The society! WIR cooperative now has a c money system! completely! looks good. During the jubilee, in 1984, the director of the Swiss Bank Corporation of Basel declared: “From a self-help organization in times of crisis, WIR has become an institution for SMEs financially healthy, rigorously organized and perfectly directed. It complements the activity of banks and does not constitute competition. ”

But things have changed in recent years.

WIR Bank

In 1998, the cooperative was renamed Banque WIR. It offered its members investment accounts in Swiss francs with attractive interest, without however ceasing the WIR activity. In 2000, it opened to the public. Not only companies but also individuals can now use its services and become a member of the cooperative. Today, everyone can do their banking in Swiss francs at home. Those who enter the headquarters of Basel penetrate! trent in a modern building made of glass, steel and concrete that has nothing to envy to other banking buildings. Savings, management and investment accounts in Swiss francs are part of the offer, as well as mortgage and commercial loans in Swiss francs, WIR or mixed.

The bank, which is present throughout Switzerland, today has a balance sheet of more than three billion francs. It employs at its headquarters in Basel and in its 8 branches, spread across Switzerland, just over 200 employees and trains apprentices. Recently, it also introduced electronic banking.

The WIR Bank is anchored in the world of SMEs and has its place in a multiple network of mutual aid measures for these SMEs. It has established itself very well in recent years. Customer money in Swiss francs is increasing year by year and has long since passed the billion mark. The number of "normal" clients (who do not participate in the WIR system) is continuously increasing. The organizations of c! onsommate! urs often compare its terms with those of other banks. WIR Bank does most of the time excellently. This is not surprising, since it has light structures and, as a cooperative, it is not forced to obtain maximum returns.

It organizes its relationships with its new customers as before, in a "cooperative" manner. She sets up workshops. In these working meetings in small groups, it is not only a question of information and advice but also of an exchange of experiences and the joint development of global solutions.

Fit for the future

The WIR Bank cooperative assembly has now increased its capital to 17 million francs. The integration of a complementary currency system in a “normal” bank is thus completed. The mutual aid organization of 1935 became, after almost 75 years, a merchant bank, but repo! always on a cooperative basis. Its ambitious goal is to become an SME bank for all of Switzerland. However, it does not want to be a universal bank5 but to widen its offer "with caution". Wealth management and stock market transactions are still not part of it. However, since 2006, it has offered an ecological loan at 1% interest for investments in renewable energy heating systems. But its main area is still reduced interest loans in WIR, CHF or mixed.

In the world of finance, the WIR Bank is certainly the only one, worldwide, which, like an issuing bank, creates its own money and makes loans within the cooperative and makes payments. 62 SMEs appreciate it. Skepticism about the WIR complementary currency has long since dissipated. The currency of the cooperative received from the British Standards Institution in London, with the acco! World Bank rd, CHW code (according to ISO 000) and ai! nsi sa pl! ace in the electronic financial system.

WIR Bank will soon be able to celebrate its 75th anniversary. We wish a lot of success to this innovative institution which is not at all concerned with the financial crisis. •


1 This text is based on the management reports of the WIR Bank, the presentation published on the occasion of the Jubilee of the WIR Cooperative Society, in 1984, and other historical sources.

2 Interest margin = difference between the rates at which a bank remunerates the funds entrusted to it by its customers and those it charges for its credits.

3 Cf. Fritz Schwarz, Das Experiment von Wörgl, Bern 1983.

4 B. Lietaer, Das Geld der Zukunft, Riemann 2002, p. 274

5 A universal bank offers all banking services.

[martien007]

Europe is not out of the woods! there is always something hidden from us:

Lack 77 billion dol ... 15:38 22/09/08
It is too early to rejoice in Europe

Matthew curtin
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


The misfortune of some is more and more the happiness of others in Western Europe, the politicians like to invoke the troubles of the financial markets as the proof of the failure of the Anglo-Saxon economic model.

The muscular intervention of the American and British governments to prevent a financial disaster contrasts with the laissez-faire orthodoxy that prevailed before the credit crisis.

However, there are few solutions proposed in European capitals to resolve this crisis, apart from improving regulations, accounting standards, risk management and international cooperation. The United States and the United Kingdom will not contradict it.

The self-satisfaction that prevails in Europe could be short-lived. The eurozone is indeed heading for an economic slowdown, under the effect of the high indebtedness of many states in the region, notably France and Italy.

In addition, the euro area financial system could be put to the test even harder. While the credit crunch stems from mortgage-linked debt securities that many Americans could not afford, the European institutions also hold many of these securities, most of which have not yet is subject to impairment, according to data provided by the British research institute Independent Strategy.

Losses linked to mortgage premiums in Europe amount to $ 230 billion, but financial institutions have so far raised only $ 157 billion in fresh capital.



-Matthew Curtin, Dow Jones Newswires



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2008 09:29 ET (13:29 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.



Source: Dow Jones News 22/09/2008

[Woodcutter]

Illegible!

Article too long ...

[Christophe]

Illegible!

Article too long ...

Yeah, but not that: did you see the mouth of the site banner?

[Woodcutter]

Boaf ... that would be rather fun, that!