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...past few decades, banks have been piling up risk, making more and more loans based on less and less capital. Years of economic growth, shallow recessions and record-low default rates lulled bankers into thinking that the future would resemble the immediate past, at least as far as risk went. Turns out it didn't. All it was going to take was a worse-than-average recession - and it looks as though we've got one - and many banks, including a number of the biggest ones, were bound to fail. The shockingly poor lending standards - housekeepers being approved for million...
...inevitable, you have to get a handle on the true source of the banks' problems. The banking business - at least the way George Bailey practiced it in It's a Wonderful Life - was all about deposits and loans. You take in deposits, on which you pay a relatively low interest rate, say 2%. Then you lend that money to other people at a higher interest rate, say 7%. Pocket the difference. Repeat. But starting in the early 1970s, banks began funding less of their lending with old-fashioned deposits. Bank deposits backed 90% of all loans four decades ago; today...
...June, an Air Methods helicopter crashed into another chopper in mid-air on a sunny day over Flagstaff, Arizona, killing seven. Even though the second crash did not fit the pattern, pilots experiencing emergencies when they hit low visibility - which is called "unplanned transition to Instrument Flight Rules" in industry parlance - "is a common theme," says Brian Foster, Air Methods' director of operations...
...record and personal history have clearly garnered the nation's attention, her sexual orientation has raised relatively few eyebrows. Although Icelandic social policy is among the most progressive in the world - with provisions for marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples - Siguršardóttir maintains a decidedly low public profile with her civil partner of six years Jónína Leósdóttir, a noted journalist and playwright. "Being gay is not an issue in Iceland," explains Frosti Jónsson, chairman of Iceland's gay-and-lesbian association. "There are so many openly...
...which forcibly herded them onto leaking boats without enough food or water and set them to sea. The survivors also claimed they were beaten by Thai forces - and that several of their fellow passengers were shot to death by the Thais. Although plenty of Rohingya have found illegal and low-paid work on Thai fishing fleets, the Thai government outwardly maintains a strict stance toward these would-be immigrants: On January 28th, Thailand convicted more than 60 Rohingya of illegal entry and announced they would be deported. (See pictures of Burma's discontent...