IMF warns over parallels to Great Depression. This recession is likely to be "unusually long and severe, and the recovery sluggish". Nebezpeci deprese

Wild capitalism collapses. Eastern Europe has already suffered the effects, with a 17.6% fall in industrial production in February 2009.
The region is highly vulnerable to the credit crunch since it owes more than 50% of its GDP to Western banks.

Millions of people all over the world risk being pushed back into poverty as the economic storm ravages the most vulnerable countries. "The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping,

The IMF said the US is at the epicentre of this crisis just as it was in the Depression, however, the risks are greater this time.

"While the credit boom in the 1920s was largely specific to the US, the boom during 2004-2007 was global, with increased leverage and risk-taking in advanced economies and many emerging economies.
Levels of integration are now much higher than during the inter-war period, so US financial shocks have a larger impact"

Mr Strauss-Kahn called for a urgent action to "cleanse banks" of toxic assets and for further fiscal stimulus beyond the 2% of global GDP already agreed.

The impact becomes negative for debt levels that exceed 60% of GDP.

While no countries were named, this would raise questions about Japan, Germany, France, Italy and ultimately Britain and the US after their bank rescues.

Hospodarska zavislost.
Vychodni Evropa dluzi vice nez 50% HDP zapadnim majitelum bank.

Cely svet v riziku velke krize. Je mozna zachrana, a jaka?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/5166956/IMF-warns-over-parallels-to-Great-Depression.html

Citigroup was created in 1998 by the combination of Citicorp and Travelers Group

Former Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill believed offering a mix of financial products - such as investment banking at Salomon Brothers, brokerage services through Smith Barney, and Citibank's retail and consumer banking - would protect the company.

UBS AG was created through the combination of Swiss Bank Corp. and Union Bank of Switzerland in 1997 .

Extreme concentration of capital services just dones't work, conglomerates are facing steep losses in the current great financial crisis started 2007 by subprime mortgage US market collapse.

http://cbs2.com/national/banks.credit.crisis.2.796863.html

$700 billion government TARP giveaway bank bailout program

"There are serious concerns about transparency and accountability...confusion about the goals of the program, and a deep skepticism about whether we are using the taxpayers' money wisely."
Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, testifying Wednesday at his Senate confirmation hearing, acknowledged.

Bankers, regulators and politicians complain of a secretive and opaque process for deciding which banks get cash and which don't.

Part of the problem is that some powerful politicians have used their leverage to try to direct federal millions toward banks in their home states.

"It's totally arbitrary," says South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

"If you've got the right lobbyist and the right representative connected to Washington or the right ties to Washington, you get the golden tap --the government bailout money handout-- on the shoulder," says Gov. Sanford, a Republican.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258284337504295.html

Ohio banks are now faring better.
Twelve Ohio banks have subsequently received a total of $7.7 billion in taxpayer funds.

In neighboring Michigan -- like Ohio, hurt by the auto-industry slump -- only two banks have had federal infusions and a third has preliminary approval, for infusions totaling $638 million.

Two banks in Green Bay, Wis., have received federal investments. But in Arizona, a state hit hard by the housing slump, officials say they are perplexed that a dozen or so state-chartered banks haven't heard back from Treasury about the status of their applications.

Real estate loans
Five Alabama banks, including Colonial, are slated to collect a total of about $4.2 billion.
In addition to Rep. Bachus, Alabama, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, "has been a big proponent for Alabama state-chartered banks.