Word: banking
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...rehiring workers and restarting assembly lines anytime soon. Despite aggressive downsizing by industries like auto manufacturing over the past 18 months, there are fears that the world remains stuck with so much excess production capacity that any recovery will be anemic, plagued by deflationary pressures, high unemployment and ailing bank-loan portfolios. "Unless we deal with the excess capacity situation, we will have a protracted crisis that will continue to wreak havoc on all countries," warned World Bank chief economist Justin Lin in a July speech. (See 10 things to buy during the recession...
...generated through a fundamentally strengthening economy or through artificial means like "Cash for Clunkers" measures. Turn off the tap too quickly before normal demand recovers, and the downturn could persist. "The best way of reducing excess capacity is by not prematurely unwinding stimulus spending," Lin of the World Bank told TIME...
...important whistle-blower in years, sends the worst possible message to other financial-industry insiders who might be considering coming forward. The Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington watchdog organization that has extensive whistle-blower experience, says a chilling effect is already apparent: a senior executive at a European bank that offers similar U.S. tax shelters is having second thoughts about going public because of the Birkenfeld case...
...Birkenfeld voluntarily approached U.S. authorities in May 2007 offering details on the illegal tax shelters run by UBS, where he had worked since 2001. When he realized that actual practices were violating stated bank policy, he raised his concerns internally; after being rebuffed and later finding himself in a dispute over a bonus payment, he decided to expose the wrongdoing. After talking with the IRS, Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and appearing before the Senate - and being told on at least one occasion by DOJ officials that they were not looking to prosecute him - Birkenfeld was arrested...
...Birkenfeld's lawyers deny this, saying he was merely trying to avoid any suspicion that he was cooperating with the government. Also, to reveal more about his clients, they say, Birkenfeld needed some legal cover - like a subpoena, which Justice did not offer - because he would be violating strict bank-secrecy laws in Switzerland, where he was living...