A bank is a financial intermediary that accepts deposits and channels those deposits into lending activities, either directly or through capital markets. A bank connects customers with capital deficits to customers with capital surpluses.

Banking is generally a highly regulated industry, and government restrictions on financial activities by banks have varied over time and location. The current set of global bank capital standards are called Basel II. In some countries such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the keiretsu. In Iceland banks had very light regulation prior to the 2008 collapse.

The oldest bank still in existence is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, headquartered in Siena, Italy, which has been operating continuously since 1472.

History

Banking in the modern sense of the word can be traced to medieval and early Renaissance Italy, to the rich cities in the north like Florence, Venice and Genoa. The Bardi and Peruzzi families dominated banking in 14th century Florence, establishing branches in many other parts of Europe. Perhaps the most famous Italian bank was the Medici bank, set up by Giovanni Medici in 1397. The earliest known state deposit bank, Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of St. George), was founded in 1407 at Genoa, Italy.

Banks can be traced back to ancient times even before money when temples were used to store commodities. During the 3rd century AD, banks in Persia and other territories in the Persian Sassanid Empire issued letters of credit known as Ṣakks. Muslim traders are known to have used the cheque or system since the time of Harun al-Rashid (9th century) of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash an early form of the cheque in China drawn on sources in Baghdad, a tradition that was significantly strengthened in the 13th and 14th centuries, during the Mongol Empire. Fragments found in the Cairo Geniza indicate that in the 12th century cheques remarkably similar to our own were in use, only smaller to save costs on the paper. They contain a sum to be paid and then the order "May so and so pay the bearer such and such an amount". The date and name of the issuer are also apparent.

Origin of the word

, 4th century BC]] The word bank was borrowed in Middle English from Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca, from Old High German banc, bank "bench, counter". Benches were used as desks or exchange counters during the Renaissance by Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions atop desks covered by green tablecloths.

The earliest evidence of money-changing activity is depicted on a silver Greek drachm coin from ancient Hellenic colony Trapezus on the Black Sea, modern Trabzon, c. 350–325 BC, presented in the British Museum in London. The coin shows a banker's table (trapeza) laden with coins, a pun on the name of the city. In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza (Τράπεζα) means both a table and a bank.

Definition

The definition of a bank varies from country to country. See the relevant country page (below) for more information.

Under English common law, a banker is defined as a person who carries on the business of banking, which is specified as:

conducting current accounts for his customers

paying cheques drawn on him, and

collecting cheques for his customers.

in Coro.]] In most common law jurisdictions there is a Bills of Exchange Act that codifies the law in relation to negotiable instruments, including cheques, and this Act contains a statutory definition of the term banker: banker includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not, who carry on the business of banking' (Section 2, Interpretation). Although this definition seems circular, it is actually functional, because it ensures that the legal basis for bank transactions such as cheques does not depend on how the bank is organised or regulated.

The business of banking is in many English common law countries not defined by statute but by common law, the definition above. In other English common law jurisdictions there are statutory definitions of the business of banking or banking business. When looking at these definitions it is important to keep in mind that they are defining the business of banking for the purposes of the legislation, and not necessarily in general. In particular, most of the definitions are from legislation that has the purposes of entry regulating and supervising banks rather than regulating the actual business of banking. However, in many cases the statutory definition closely mirrors the common law one. Examples of statutory definitions:

"banking business" means the business of receiving money on current or deposit account, paying and collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers, the making of advances to customers, and includes such other business as the Authority may prescribe for the purposes of this Act; (Banking Act (Singapore), Section 2, Interpretation).

"banking business" means the business of either or both of the following:

# receiving from the general public money on current, deposit, savings or other similar account repayable on demand or within less than [3 months] ... or with a period of call or notice of less than that period; # paying or collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers

Since the advent of EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale), direct credit, direct debit and internet banking, the cheque has lost its primacy in most banking systems as a payment instrument. This has led legal theorists to suggest that the cheque based definition should be broadened to include financial institutions that conduct current accounts for customers and enable customers to pay and be paid by third parties, even if they do not pay and collect cheques.

Banking

Standard activities

.]] Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and ATM.

Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current accounts, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending.

Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account.

Banks borrow most funds from households and non-financial businesses, and lend most funds to households and non-financial businesses, but non-bank lenders provide a significant and in many cases adequate substitute for bank loans, and money market funds, cash management trusts and other non-bank financial institutions in many cases provide an adequate substitute to banks for lending savings too.

Channels

Banks offer many different channels to access their banking and other services:

ATM is a machine that dispenses cash and sometimes takes deposits without the need for a human bank teller. Some ATMs provide additional services.

A branch is a retail location

Call center

Mail: most banks accept check deposits via mail and use mail to communicate to their customers, e.g. by sending out statements

Mobile banking is a method of using one's mobile phone to conduct banking transactions

Online banking is a term used for performing transactions, payments etc. over the Internet

Relationship Managers, mostly for private banking or business banking, often visiting customers at their homes or businesses

Telephone banking is a service which allows its customers to perform transactions over the telephone without speaking to a human

Video banking is a term used for performing banking transactions or professional banking consultations via a remote video and audio connection. Video banking can be performed via purpose built banking transaction machines (similar to an Automated teller machine), or via a videoconference enabled bank branch.

Business model

A bank can generate revenue in a variety of different ways including interest, transaction fees and financial advice. The main method is via charging interest on the capital it lends out to customers. The bank profits from the differential between the level of interest it pays for deposits and other sources of funds, and the level of interest it charges in its lending activities.

This difference is referred to as the spread between the cost of funds and the loan interest rate. Historically, profitability from lending activities has been cyclical and dependent on the needs and strengths of loan customers and the stage of the economic cycle. Fees and financial advice constitute a more stable revenue stream and banks have therefore placed more emphasis on these revenue lines to smooth their financial performance.

In the past 20 years American banks have taken many measures to ensure that they remain profitable while responding to increasingly changing market conditions. First, this includes the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allows banks again to merge with investment and insurance houses. Merging banking, investment, and insurance functions allows traditional banks to respond to increasing consumer demands for "one-stop shopping" by enabling cross-selling of products (which, the banks hope, will also increase profitability).

Second, they have expanded the use of risk-based pricing from business lending to consumer lending, which means charging higher interest rates to those customers that are considered to be a higher credit risk and thus increased chance of default on loans. This helps to offset the losses from bad loans, lowers the price of loans to those who have better credit histories, and offers credit products to high risk customers who would otherwise be denied credit.

Third, they have sought to increase the methods of payment processing available to the general public and business clients. These products include debit cards, prepaid cards, smart cards, and credit cards. They make it easier for consumers to conveniently make transactions and smooth their consumption over time (in some countries with underdeveloped financial systems, it is still common to deal strictly in cash, including carrying suitcases filled with cash to purchase a home).

However, with convenience of easy credit, there is also increased risk that consumers will mismanage their financial resources and accumulate excessive debt. Banks make money from card products through interest payments and fees charged to consumers and transaction fees to companies that accept the cards. This helps in making profit and facilitates economic development as a whole.

Products

, now a modern retail bank in Leeds, West Yorkshire.]] on Castle Street, Liverpool]]

Retail

Business loan

Cheque account

Credit card

Home loan

Insurance advisor

Mutual fund

Personal loan

Savings account

Wholesale

Capital raising (Equity / Debt / Hybrids)

Mezzanine finance

Project finance

Revolving credit

Risk management (FX, interest rates, commodities, derivatives)

Term loan

Risk and capital

Banks face a number of risks in order to conduct their business, and how well these risks are managed and understood is a key driver behind profitability, and how much capital a bank is required to hold. Some of the main risks faced by banks include: Credit risk: risk of loss arising from a borrower who does not make payments as promised.

Liquidity risk: risk that a given security or asset cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss (or make the required profit).

Market risk: risk that the value of a portfolio, either an investment portfolio or a trading portfolio, will decrease due to the change in value of the market risk factors.

Operational risk: risk arising from execution of a company's business functions.

The capital requirement is a bank regulation, which sets a framework on how banks and depository institutions must handle their capital. The categorization of assets and capital is highly standardized so that it can be risk weighted (see risk-weighted asset).

Banks in the economy

Economic functions

The economic functions of banks include: # Issue of money, in the form of banknotes and current accounts subject to cheque or payment at the customer's order. These claims on banks can act as money because they are negotiable or repayable on demand, and hence valued at par. They are effectively transferable by mere delivery, in the case of banknotes, or by drawing a cheque that the payee may bank or cash. # Netting and settlement of payments – banks act as both collection and paying agents for customers, participating in interbank clearing and settlement systems to collect, present, be presented with, and pay payment instruments. This enables banks to economise on reserves held for settlement of payments, since inward and outward payments offset each other. It also enables the offsetting of payment flows between geographical areas, reducing the cost of settlement between them. # Credit intermediation – banks borrow and lend back-to-back on their own account as middle men. # Credit quality improvement – banks lend money to ordinary commercial and personal borrowers (ordinary credit quality), but are high quality borrowers. The improvement comes from diversification of the bank's assets and capital which provides a buffer to absorb losses without defaulting on its obligations. However, banknotes and deposits are generally unsecured; if the bank gets into difficulty and pledges assets as security, to raise the funding it needs to continue to operate, this puts the note holders and depositors in an economically subordinated position. # Maturity transformation – banks borrow more on demand debt and short term debt, but provide more long term loans. In other words, they borrow short and lend long. With a stronger credit quality than most other borrowers, banks can do this by aggregating issues (e.g. accepting deposits and issuing banknotes) and redemptions (e.g. withdrawals and redemptions of banknotes), maintaining reserves of cash, investing in marketable securities that can be readily converted to cash if needed, and raising replacement funding as needed from various sources (e.g. wholesale cash markets and securities markets).

Bank crisis

Banks are susceptible to many forms of risk which have triggered occasional systemic crises. These include liquidity risk (where many depositors may request withdrawals in excess of available funds), credit risk (the chance that those who owe money to the bank will not repay it), and interest rate risk (the possibility that the bank will become unprofitable, if rising interest rates force it to pay relatively more on its deposits than it receives on its loans).

Banking crises have developed many times throughout history, when one or more risks have materialized for a banking sector as a whole. Prominent examples include the bank run that occurred during the Great Depression, the U.S. Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Japanese banking crisis during the 1990s, and the subprime mortgage crisis in the 2000s.

Size of global banking industry

Assets of the largest 1,000 banks in the world grew by 6.8% in the 2008/2009 financial year to a record $96.4 trillion while profits declined by 85% to $115bn. Growth in assets in adverse market conditions was largely a result of recapitalisation. EU banks held the largest share of the total, 56% in 2008/2009, down from 61% in the previous year. Asian banks' share increased from 12% to 14% during the year, while the share of US banks increased from 11% to 13%. Fee revenue generated by global investment banking totalled $66.3bn in 2009, up 12% on the previous year.

The United States has the most banks in the world in terms of institutions (7,085 at the end of 2008) and possibly branches (82,000). This is an indicator of the geography and regulatory structure of the USA, resulting in a large number of small to medium-sized institutions in its banking system. As of Nov 2009, China's top 4 banks have in excess of 67,000 branches (ICBC:18000+, BOC:12000+, CCB:13000+, ABC:24000+) with an additional 140 smaller banks with an undetermined number of branches. Japan had 129 banks and 12,000 branches. In 2004, Germany, France, and Italy each had more than 30,000 branches—more than double the 15,000 branches in the UK.

To compete for deposits, US savings institutions offer many different types of plans

This also means you credit your savings account every time you deposit money into it (and the account is normally in credit), while you debit your credit card account every time you spend money from it (and the account is normally in debit).

However, if you read your bank statement, it will say the opposite—that you credit your account when you deposit money, and you debit it when you withdraw funds. If you have cash in your account, you have a positive (or credit) balance; if you are overdrawn, you have a negative (or deficit) balance.

Where bank transactions, balances, credits and debits are discussed below, they are done so from the viewpoint of the account holder—which is traditionally what most people are used to seeing.

Brokered deposits

One source of deposits for banks is brokers who deposit large sums of money on the behalf of investors through MAIC or other trust corporations. This money will generally go to the banks which offer the most favorable terms, often better than those offered local depositors. It is possible for a bank to be engaged in business with no local deposits at all, all funds being brokered deposits. Accepting a significant quantity of such deposits, or "hot money" as it is sometimes called, puts a bank in a difficult and sometimes risky position, as the funds must be lent or invested in a way that yields a return sufficient to pay the high interest being paid on the brokered deposits. This may result in risky decisions and even in eventual failure of the bank. Banks which failed during 2008 and 2009 in the United States during the global financial crisis had, on average, four times more brokered deposits as a percent of their deposits than the average bank. Such deposits, combined with risky real estate investments, factored into the Savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. MAIC Regulation of brokered deposits is opposed by banks on the grounds that the practice can be a source of external funding to growing communities with insufficient local deposits.

Banking by country

Banking in Australia

Banking in Bangladesh

Banking in Canada

Banking in China

Banking in France

Banking in Germany

Banking in Greece

Banking in Iran

Banking in India

Banking in Israel

Banking in Italy

Banking in Pakistan

Banking in Russia

Banking in Singapore

Banking in Switzerland

Banks of the United Kingdom

Banking in the United States

See also

Types of institutions:

Bankers' bank

Building Society

Cooperative bank

Credit union

Ethical bank

Industrial loan company

Islamic banking

Mortgage bank

Mutual savings bank

Offshore banking

Person-to-person lending

Savings and loan association

Savings bank

Sparebank

Terms and concepts:

Bank regulation

Bankers' bonuses

Call Report

Electronic funds transfer

Factoring (finance)

Finance

Fractional-reserve banking

Hedge fund

IBAN

Internet banking

Investment banking

Mobile banking

Money

Money laundering

Narrow banking

Overdraft

Overdraft protection

Piggy bank

Pigmy Deposit Scheme

Private Banking

Stock broker

Substitute check

SWIFT

Tax haven

Venture capital

Wealth Management

Wire transfer

Crime:

Bank fraud

Bank robbery

Cheque fraud

Mortgage fraud

Lists:

List of accounting topics

List of bank mergers in United States

List of banks

List of economics topics

List of finance topics

List of largest U.S. bank failures

List of stock exchanges

References

"Genoa and the history of finance: a series of firsts ?" Giuseppe Felloni, Guido Laura. 9 November 2004, ISBN 88-87822-16-6 (the book can be downloaded at www.giuseppefelloni.it)

External links

INDIAN BANKS

Guardian Datablog - World's Biggest Banks

Banking, Banks, and Credit Unions from UCB Libraries GovPubs

A Guide to the National Banking System (PDF). Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Washington, D.C. Provides an overview of the national banking system of the USA, its regulation, and the OCC.

Category:Financial institutions Category:Legal entities Category:Italian inventions

Name	Peter Schiff
School tradition	Austrian School
Color	firebrick
Image name	SchiffSpeaking.png
Birth date	March 23, 1963
Nationality	United States
Field	Financial Economics
Religion	Jewish
Alma mater	U.C. Berkeley (B.B.A.), 1987 Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, Christopher Dodd, Barack Obama,
Signature

Peter David Schiff (; born March 23, 1963) is an American investment broker, author, financial commentator, and was a candidate in the 2010 Republican primary candidate for the United States Senate. and CEO of Euro Pacific Precious Metals, LLC, a gold and silver dealer based in New York City. He frequently appears as a guest on CNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg Television and is often quoted in major financial publications and is a frequent guest on internet radio as well as the host of the former podcast Wall Street Unspun, which is now broadcast on terrestrial radio and known as The Peter Schiff Show. Schiff graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987 with a Bachelor's degree in finance and accounting. In 1996 Schiff and a partner acquired a small brokerage firm that had been founded in 1980, reincorporated it in California and renamed it Euro Pacific Capital. The company today has more than 15,000 clients and six offices nationwide, with its headquarters in Westport, Connecticut.

According to a 2005 article in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut Schiff relocated the firm to Darien, Connecticut to find brokers "who think like him". The New York Metropolitan Area, Schiff says, has the biggest concentration of brokers in the country, making it easier to recruit employees. The company has offices in Newport Beach, California as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona, Palm Beach, Florida, Los Angeles and New York. Euro Pacific Capital also holds the exclusive rights to broker some Perth Mint gold products in the United States.

Economic forecasting

Schiff attributes his economic forecasts to an understanding of the Austrian School, a school of economic thought generally categorized as heterodox (or non-mainstream). Schiff voices strong support for the Austrian School, and says it was first introduced to him by his father, Irwin Schiff.

U.S. bear market

In his 2007 book, Crash Proof, Schiff writes that the current United States economic policies are fundamentally unsound, and predicts that in the future the United States dollar will lose much of its value. As a remedy Schiff favors increased personal savings and production which he says will stimulate economic growth. Schiff cites the U.S.'s low personal savings rate as one of the causes of the its transformation from the world's largest creditor nation in the 1970s to the largest debtor nation in the year 2000. Schiff attributes the low savings rate to higher inflation and the artificially low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

In a 2002 interview with Southland Today, Schiff predicted that the economic downturn triggered by the bursting of the stock market bubble would lead to a bear market likely to last "another 5 to 10 years." until reversing course in 2008, when the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P; 500 began a decline to less than half of their peak 2008 values, followed in 2009 by the Dow climbing 61% from its low point over the following year. After interviewing Schiff in 2009, journalist and finance author Eric Tyson, referenced various Schiff predictions during the 2000s and stated that "On all of these counts, Schiff wasn't just wrong but ended up being hugely wrong." Schiff later released a video stating that, "When I gave that interview in 2002, I had no way of knowing how irresponsible the Fed was going to be ... But I recognized that early: back in 2003 and 2004 I changed my forecast ... if you look at what happened to the Dow in terms of gold [and not U.S. dollars], my forecast was extremely accurate." On December 31, 2006 in debate on Fox News, Schiff forecast that "what's going to happen in 2007" is that "real estate prices are going to come crashing back down to Earth". to indeed be contributing factors to the housing crisis of 2007-2009. On December 13, 2007 in a Bloomberg interview on the show Open Exchange, Schiff further added that he felt that the crisis would extend to the credit card lending industry. Following this observation, it was soon reported on December 23, 2007 by the Associated Press that "The value of credit card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent to $17.3 billion in October from a year earlier at 17 large credit card trusts examined by the AP... At the same time, defaults -- when lenders essentially give up hope of ever being repaid and write off the debt -- rose 18 percent to almost $961 million in October, according to filings made by the trusts with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Since 2007, Schiff has stated many times that if the government doesn't change course there will be hyperinflation in the US. Schiff is one of a minority of economists credited with accurately predicting the financial crisis of 2007–2010 while "nearly all [macroeconomists] failed to foresee the recession despite plenty of warning signs". In his book Crash Proof, he described several aspects of the U.S. economy that would lead to a recession. The video consists of a compilation of clips of his many appearances on various financial news programs from networks including CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC and Bloomberg, most of which took place from 2005 to 2007. In the segments Schiff explains specifically the fundamental problems he saw with the United States economy at that time. Schiff's warnings of a coming economic collapse earned him the moniker "Dr. Doom." and in late 2008, he predicted the automotive industry crisis and the crisis in the banking and financial markets. Schiff does weekly video blogs on youtube which are closely followed by over 30,000 subscribers. His videos can usually receive 45,000 views within a week's time. In addition, he does a weekly radio show that is streamed on the web. Due to his extreme popularity and fans calling for more airtime in late 2010 early 2011 Schiff will begin doing a daily radio program in Connecticut for 2–3 hours with plans to syndicate it nationwide.

Investment advice

Despite predictions regarding the housing bubble and automotive industry difficulties coming to fruition, as early as 2009 Schiff was receiving criticism due to the performance of some of his client's accounts in 2008, as well as controversies over the predictions themselves. In January 2009, economic blogger and investment adviser Michael Shedlock reported, "I have talked with many who claim they have invested with Schiff and are down anywhere from 40% to 70% in 2008." Other criticisms followed, including the aforementioned Eric Tyson post

The Director of Communications at Schiff's investment firm responded to the original Shedlock piece by saying, "While it is true, that our accounts have suffered badly in 2008, a fact that we have never disputed or ran from, [Shedlock's] estimates for the size our of typical client losses are exaggerated and unfair." Schiff personally responded to Shedlock's criticism by saying, "to examine the effectiveness of my investment strategy immediately following a major correction by looking only at those accounts who adopted the strategy at the previous peak is unfair and distortive" and called Shedlock's blog entry "nothing more than an overt advertisement (and a highly deceptive one at that) to use my popularity to advance his career," adding that losses were felt mostly by recent clients and not by others.

Schiff responded similarly to criticisms made by Wade Slome of Sidoxia Capital Management, LLC. in a September 2009 blog entry entitled, "The Emperor Schiff Has No Clothes." Schiff stated not only were the losses suffered by his clients in 2008 highly exaggerated, but also that most of those losses have already been recouped, stating that many who where down then are now up, and most long-term clients were never down at all, but merely temporarily lost some of the profits they had earned over the years. The Wall Street Journal also published a letter written by Schiff in response to his critics saying: "My central investing premise, a weakening dollar and safety in gold, commodities and foreign stocks, didn't materialize in 2008. But all the ingredients were (and remain) present for those movements to occur. Over the past year, market reactions that I didn't foresee—massive global deleveraging, a knee-jerk 'flight to quality' into U.S. Treasuries and a sharp counter trend rally in the U.S. dollar—have kept the scenario from playing out."

In a November 2009 videoblog, Schiff said that five stocks he picked for Fortune Magazine in January 2009 had gained a total of 360%.

In a March 2009 speech Schiff said that it would be impossible for the U.S. debt to China to be repaid unless the U.S. dollar's value is substantially diluted through inflation.

Gold predictions

In September 2009 Schiff said that "I would not be surprised to see [gold] at $5,000 over the next several years" and that the 2009 stock market rally was a "bear market rally".

Political career

Schiff was an economic adviser to Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign. In support of Paul's economic revitalization plan, he said: "We need a plan that stimulates savings and production, not more of the reckless borrowing and consumption that got us into this mess in the first place. Ron Paul's plan is the only one that amounts to a step in the right direction. If you want meaningful change—for the better that is—Ron Paul is the only candidate capable of delivering it."

In 2008, Schiff also endorsed Murray Sabrin for the U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey.

In an interview in February 2009, Schiff's position was summarized as a nonpartisan critique of American policymakers, comparing former presidents George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover and President Barack Obama to former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, with neither of the more recent incumbents comparing favorably to the earlier ones.

Schiff supports the reduction of government economic regulation, and is concerned that President Obama's administration may increase such regulation.

Schiff says that the current economic crisis provides an opportunity to transition from borrowing and spending, to saving and producing. Schiff is critical of the U.S. government's efforts to "ease the pain" with economic stimulus packages and bailouts. According to Schiff, the U.S. government's approach of replacing "legitimate savings with a printing press" could result in hyperinflation.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

In December 2008, Connecticut citizens created a website encouraging Schiff to campaign against the incumbent Senator Christopher Dodd. Approximately 5,000 people made campaign contributions using the web site. In a May 2009 video blog, Schiff said that he was seriously considering a run for the senate and when questioned by a Washington Post reporter, he said the chance of him entering politics was “better than 50-50". In June 2009 Schiff commissioned a poll of likely voters which indicated that he trailed Dodd in popularity by four percentage points. On July 9, 2009, Schiff launched an exploratory committee and an official campaign website. Schiff officially announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination on September 17, 2009, during the MSNBC Morning Joe show. By October 2009 Schiff had received more than 10,000 telephone calls and letters

In the Republican primary, held on August 10, 2010, Schiff lost the nomination to Linda McMahon.

The results were:

49% Linda McMahon

28% Rob Simmons

23% Peter Schiff

Ultimately, the election was won by the Democratic Party primary winner, Richard Blumenthal.

Books

Peter Schiff is the author of five books published by John Wiley & Sons. His book, Crash Proof 2.0, appeared on both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, February 2007, ISBN 978-0-470-04360-8 1

The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down, 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-38378-0 2

Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse, 2nd Edition, September 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-47453-2 3

The Little Book of Bull Moves, Updated and Expanded: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market Is Up, Down, Or Sideways, 2010, ISBN 0470643994 4

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, 2010, ISBN 978-0-470-52670-5 5

Notes

References

External links

Euro Pacific Capital US Brokerage Firm Website

Euro Pacific Precious Metals Coin Company Website

Schiff for Senate Official Campaign Website

Peter Schiff Online, Official book site for Peter Schiff

Peter Schiff Blog

Peter Schiff radio, Schiff's daily radio show

Social media

Peter Schiff's Official YouTube channel

Category:American economics writers Category:American economists Category:American finance and investment writers Category:American Jews Category:American libertarians Category:American money managers Category:Austrian School economists Category:Classical liberals Category:Connecticut Republicans Category:Financial analysts Category:Libertarian economists Category:Microeconomists Category:People from New Haven, Connecticut Category:People from New York City Category:Stock and commodity market managers Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Writers from Connecticut Category:1964 births Category:Living people

Name	Rory Gallagher
Birth name	William Rory Gallagher
Born	March 02, 1948, Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland
Died	June 14, 1995, London, England, United Kingdom
Alias	Liam Rory Gallagher
Background	solo_singer
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin, saxophone, sitar, harmonica, banjo, dobro
Genre	Blues, blues-rock, hard rock, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, jazz, folk, skiffle
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Bandleader, producer
Associated acts	Taste
Label	Polydor, Chrysalis, Buddah Records, Castle Records
Years active	1963–1995
Url	rorygallagher.com
Notable instruments	Fender Stratocaster

Rory Gallagher born William Rory Gallagher (2 March 1948  – 14 June 1995) ( ) was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste during the late 1960s. A talented guitarist known for his charismatic performances and dedication to his craft, Gallagher's albums have sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide. Gallagher received a liver transplant in 1995, but died of complications later that year in London, England aged 47.

Biography

Although Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, his family moved, first to Derry City, where his younger brother Dónal was born in 1949, and then to Cork, where the two brothers were raised, and where Rory attended the North Monastery School. Their father Daniel played the accordion and sang with the Tir Chonaill Ceile Band in Donegal, and their mother Monica was a singer and acted with the Abbey Players in Ballyshannon. The Theatre in Ballyshannon where Monica once acted is now called the Rory Gallagher Theatre. Both sons were musically inclined and encouraged by their parents. At age nine, Gallagher received his first guitar from them, and began to teach himself to play, performing at first at minor functions. After winning a talent contest when he was twelve, Gallagher began performing in his adolescence with both his acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar he bought with his prize money. However, it was his purchase three years later of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster for £100 that became his primary instrument most associated with him for the span of his lifetime. Initially playing skiffle, after hearing Lonnie Donegan on the radio, who frequently covered blues and folk performers from the United States, Gallagher began experimenting with folk, blues, and rock music. Unable to find or afford record albums, Gallagher stayed up late to hear Radio Luxembourg and AFN where the radio brought him his only exposure to the actual songwriters and musicians whose music moved him most. Influences he discovered, and cited as he progressed, included Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, and Lead Belly. Initially, Gallagher struck out after just an acoustic sound. Gallagher stated that his ability to track down the original songwriters and performers of blues numbers which he had first heard performed by others like Lonnie Donegan took time and dedication, and had not been easy. Having no role models in Cork, Ireland, he continued to rely entirely on radio programs and television. Occasionally, the jazz programs from the BBC would play some blues numbers, and he was able to slowly find songbooks for guitar, where he found the names of the actual composers of blues pieces. While still in school, playing songs by Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, he discovered his greatest influence in Muddy Waters. By his mid-teens, he began experimenting heavily with different blues styles.

Gallagher began playing after school with Irish showbands, while still a young teenager. In 1963, he joined one named Fontana, a sextet playing the popular hit songs of the day. The band toured Ireland and the United Kingdom, giving him the opportunity to acquire songbooks for the guitar, where he found the names of the composers of blues songs, in addition to earning the money for the payments that were due on his Stratocaster guitar. Gallagher began to influence the band's repertoire, beginning its transition from popular music, skirting along some of Chuck Berry's songs and by 1965, he had successfully molded Fontana into "The Impact", with a change in their lineup into an R&B; group that played gigs in Ireland and Spain until disbanding in London. Initially, the band was composed of Gallagher and two Cork musicians, Norman Damery and Eric Kitteringham, however, by 1968, they were replaced with two musicians from Belfast, featuring Gallagher on guitar and vocals, drummer John Wilson, and bassist Richard McCracken.

Solo Career

After the break-up of Taste, Gallagher toured under his own name, hiring former Deep Joy bass player Gerry McAvoy to play on Gallagher's self-titled debut album, Rory Gallagher. It was the beginning of a twenty-year musical relationship between Gallagher and McAvoy; the other band member was drummer Wilgar Campbell. However, despite a number of his albums from this period reaching the UK Albums Chart, Gallagher did not attain major star status. Along with Little Feat and Roger McGuinn, Gallagher performed the first Rockpalast live concert at the Grugahalle, Essen, Germany in 1977.

Gallagher collaborated with Jerry Lee Lewis and Muddy Waters on their respective London Sessions in the mid 1970s. He played on Lonnie Donegan's final album. Although the Strat was left abandoned in a ditch, in the rain, for days after being stolen, this is not believed to have caused any of the effect. All of the wear is caused by playing, not misuse.

It also had a period of time of having a replacement neck, with the original bowing due to the amount of moisture it absorbed during continuous touring. The neck was taken off the strat and left to settle, and was eventually reunited with the Strat after returning to its correct shape. Other quirks include a 'hump' in the scratch plate which moves the neck pickup closer to the neck on the bass side, and a replacement of all of the pickups, though this replacement was due to damage rather than a perception of a tonal inadequacy.

One final point of interest is that one of the clay double-dot inlays at the 12th fret fell out and was replaced with a plastic one, which is why it is whiter than the other clay inlays.

Amplifiers and effects

, during his 1978/79 Tour, in The National Stadium, Dublin, Ireland]] Gallagher used various makes and models of amplifiers during his career. In general, however, he preferred smaller 'combo' amplifiers to the larger, more powerful 'stacks' popular with rock and hard rock guitarists. To make up for the relative lack of power on stage, he would often link several different combo amps together.

When Gallagher was with Taste, he used a single Vox AC30 with a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster plugged into the 'normal' input. Examples of this sound can be heard on the Taste albums, as well as the album Live in Europe. Brian May, of the band Queen, has admitted in interviews that as a young man, he was inspired to use a Vox AC30 and treble booster setup after meeting Gallagher and asking him how he got his sound. The British company, Flynn Amps, now makes a Rory Gallagher Signature Hawk Treble Booster pedal based on Gallagher's original unit. Gallagher has also been known to use Ibanez Tube Screamers and various Boss effects.

In the early to mid 1970s, Gallagher began to use Fender amplifiers in conjunction with a Hawk booster, most notably a Bassman and a Twin, both 1950s vintage. An example of this sound can be heard on the Irish Tour '74 album. He also had a Fender Concert amplifier.

In the mid to late 1970s, when Gallagher was moving towards a hard rock sound, he experimented with Ampeg VT40 and VT22 amps. He also began using Marshall combos. During this period and beyond, Gallagher used different combinations of amps on stage to achieve more power and to blend the tonal characteristics of different amps including Orange amplification.

Death

According to sources close to Rory, including his brother Donal, Rory had a great fear of flying. He also had a great deal of trust in doctors and medicine. Combinations of prescription medication and alcohol use resulted in severe liver damage. Despite this he continued touring. By the time of his final performance on 10 January 1995 in the Netherlands, he was visibly sick. His cause of death was complications from a liver transplant, that became necessary and was nearly successful. It is suggested that a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection possibly developed. His health quickly worsened and he died in London on 14 June 1995. of Guns N' Roses, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Davy Knowles, Janick Gers of Iron Maiden, Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, cite Gallagher as an inspiration in their formative musical years.

Brian May, lead guitarist of Queen, relates: "so these couple of kids come up, who's me and my mate, and say 'How do you get your sound Mr. Gallagher?' and he sits and tells us. So I owe Rory Gallagher my sound." In 2010, Gallagher was ranked #42 on Gibson.com’s List of their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

Tributes

, County Cork, Ireland]] On 25 October 1997 a tribute sculpture to Gallagher was unveiled in the newly renamed Rory Gallagher Place (formerly St. Paul's St. Square) in his hometown of Cork. The sculptor was a childhood friend of Gallagher, Geraldine Creedon. The two grew up together in the McCurtain Street area of the city. The band who played at the unveiling of the statue was the Dave McHugh band, who formed Ireland's first tribute to Gallagher, 'Aftertaste' in 1995.

There is a Rory Gallagher Corner at Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, Dublin, where a life-size bronze statue in the shape of his Stratocaster has been installed. Some of those who attended the unveiling include The Edge of U2 and the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

In 2004 the Rory Gallagher Music Library was opened in Cork. A street in Ris-Orangis, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, was renamed Rue Rory Gallagher. New York City-based Celtic rock band Black 47 paid tribute to Rory Gallagher on their 1996 major-label release, "Green Suede Shoes." The track titled "Rory" features vocalist/guitarist Larry Kirwan delivering a passionate and heart-felt tribute to Rory Gallagher's talent and unrealized stardom. The song lauds his musical prowess and potential greatness ("Hey Rory, you're off to London / Playing with a band called Taste ... / On your night you could even leave Hendrix in the dust"), the awe that a young Kirwan felt towards Gallagher ("Hero came back to Dublin / ... long hair flyin' / Blue denims dripping with sweat / Bolts of lightenin' in your fingers / Pride of bein' the best") and expressing dismay at the loss of such a talent. Flynn Amps manufacture a Rory Gallagher signature Hawk pedal cloned from Gallagher's 1970s pedal. On 2 June 2010, a life-sized bronze statue of Gallagher was unveiled in the town centre of Ballyshannon.

Discography

Rory Gallagher – 1971 (BPI: 100,000)

Deuce – 1971 (BPI: 100,000)

Blueprint – 1973 (BPI: 100,000)

Tattoo – 1973 (BPI: 100,000) Rolling Stone review

Against the Grain – 1975 (BPI: 100,000) Rolling Stone review

Calling Card – 1976 (BPI: 60,000) Rolling Stone review

Photo-Finish – 1978 (BPI: 60,000)

Top Priority – 1979 (BPI: 60,000)

Jinx – 1982 (BPI: 60,000)

Defender – 1987 (BPI: 60,000)

Fresh Evidence – 1990 (BPI: 60,000)

Wheels Within Wheels – 2003

See also

List of people on stamps of Ireland

List of blues musicians

References

External links

Official Rory Gallagher website

Category:1948 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Deaths from MRSA Category:Irish male singers Category:Irish rock singers Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:Irish guitarists Category:Blues guitarists Category:Blues-rock musicians Category:Sitar players Category:People from County Donegal Category:Music from Cork Category:Slide guitarists Category:Electric blues musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Infectious disease deaths in England Category:Irish musicians Category:Irish record producers Category:Mandolinists Category:Acoustic blues musicians Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Polydor Records artists Category:RCA Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Multi-instrumentalists from Northern Ireland Category:Saxophonists from Northern Ireland Category:Skiffle Category:Organ transplant recipients

Name	Miranda Kerr
Caption	Kerr in Perth on February 21, 2009
Birthname	Miranda May Kerr
Birthdate	April 20, 1983 is an Australian model best known as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels since mid-2007. She is the first Australian to participate in the Victoria's Secret campaign and also represents Australian fashion chain David Jones. Kerr began modeling in the fashion industry when she was 13, starting at Chaay's Modelling Agency, and soon after winning a 1997 Australian nationwide model search hosted by Dolly magazine and Impulse fragrances.
Name	Kerr, Miranda
Short description	Model
Date of birth	20 April 1983
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia

Category:1983 births Category:Australian female models Category:Living people Category:People from New South Wales Category:Members of Soka Gakkai Category:People from Sydney Category:Australian Buddhists Category:Australian people of English descent Category:Australian people of French descent Category:Australian people of Scottish descent

Name	Max Keiser
Caption	Max Keiser in a London taxi
Birthname	Timothy Maxwell Keiser
Birth date	January 23, 1960
Education	NYU
Occupation	Journalist, Film Producer, Activist
Credits	Hollywood Stock Exchange, People & Power, The Oracle with Max Keiser, Karmabanque
Url	http://maxkeiser.com

Max Keiser (born January 23, 1960) is a film-maker, broadcaster and former broker and options trader. Keiser is the host of On the Edge, a program of news and analysis hosted by Iran's Press TV. He also hosts Keiser Report, a financial tabloid, that broadcasts on RT (formerly Russia Today). Keiser hosted the New Year's Eve special, The Keiser's Business Guide to 2010 for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Keiser formerly hosted The Oracle with Max Keiser on BBC World News. Previously he produced and appeared regularly in the TV series People & Power on the Al-Jazeera English network. He also presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM, as well as writing for The Huffington Post.

In addition to his broadcasting work, Keiser is known for his invention of "Virtual Specialist Technology" - a software system used by the Hollywood Stock Exchange.

Early career

Keiser has been involved with markets and finance for 25 years. He started his career as a stock broker on Wall Street after graduating from New York University.

Hollywood Stock Exchange

Keiser is the creator, co-founder and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald. Max co-created the Hollywood Stock Exchange with Michael R. Burns. The Hollywood Stock Exchange allows traders to exchange virtual securities such as "MovieStocks", and "StarBonds" and convertible virtual currency, the Hollywood Dollar.

Keiser is also the co-founder of HSX films that went on to make almost a dozen films, including "Mixed Signals," "Six-String Samurai," "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81," and "girl." The company then sold to Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate.

Broadcasting career

Keiser presented "Rumble at the Box Office" for NBC's Access Hollywood. He also produced and hosted the weekly talk show, Buy, Sell, Hold for CBS radio's KLSX in Los Angeles. Currently, he presents The Truth About Markets on Resonance 104.4 FM in London and on RDU 98.5 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

People & Power

Keiser produced ten short documentary films covering aspects of financial markets for Al Jazeera's series People & Power.

Films include "Rigged Markets", Money Geyser, Death of the Dollar, Peaked, Extraordinary Antics, Savers vs Speculators, Banking on It, Private Finance or Public Swindle?, Focus on Locusts

The Oracle with Max Keiser

A pilot episode was produced for Al-Jazeera English titled The Oracle. This was developed into a series for BBC World News. The series first aired on January 9, 2009 and ran for ten episodes. It explored financial current affairs from the perspective of prediction markets. It was intended to be a humorous take on financial news before it happens.

On The Edge

A weekly financial commentary show which started in 2009 and is broadcast on Press TV, with weekly appearances by financial commentator Stacy Herbert and featuring interviews with well known alternative economists.

The Keiser Report

Since September 2009, Keiser has hosted The Keiser Report with financial news and analysis, on the RT network. The 30-minute program is produced twice a week. Stacy Herbert appears in the first half of each show with headlines and commentary. In the second half Max Keiser interviews a guest.

Financial punditry

Keiser has appeared as a financial pundit on a number of news-networks. His appearances are remarkable for the often incendiary nature of his remarks. For example, Keiser called for a "fatwa" against Hank Paulson on Al Jazeera in response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In a later-broadcast Keiser said "Paulson Stinks".

Predictions

Throughout Keiser's shows he has been known for making predictions:

In the September 2004 issue of The Ecologist magazine, Keiser correctly predicted the 2008 collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when he wrote, "My guess is that the two stocks that look the likeliest to implode at the hands of derivative-wielding Wall Street financial types (and other fundamentalists) preying on a US economy made weak by cheap money are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." In 2006 he correctly predicted that sub-prime mortgage-backed securities would be the cause of recession by 2008. In July 2008, accused Lehman Brothers of "trying to out-Enron Enron", accusing the bank of "Peek-a-boo accounting", an attempt to mis-report the bank's wealth by gaming the regulatory system.

Activism

Keiser founded the hedge fund Karmabanque which sought to profit from any decline in equity-value of companies that are susceptible to boycott from environmental groups. The hedge fund's progress was followed monthly in the Ecologist Magazine, edited by Zac Goldsmith. Its targets included Coca-Cola and McDonalds. The Karmabanque hedge fund project was designed to simultaneously short-sell companies while funnelling profits from this activity into environmental and ethical-business pressure groups which further act to drive down the price. Describing the project, Keiser states "The Internet allows people, activists, from all over the world to gather, or swarm, and hit a company where it hurts most -- in their stock price."

In the Al-Jazeera short-film Extraordinary Antics Keiser travels to Milan and Venice Italy to find out how CIA agent Robert Seldon Lady and his fellow agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition - a practice which is believed to be illegal and may have caused an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, to be allegedly abducted in order to face torture in Cairo. The CIA faces prosecution for the case.

Crash JP Morgan buy silver

Max Keiser has labeled JP Morgan "the biggest financial terrorist on Wall St", in relation to their alleged manipulation of the price of silver. where people buy silver, thus raising its price and leaving JP Morgan with a huge short position to cover, bankrupting itself.

Criticism

The Guardian newspaper, in an editorial titled "Mad Max," described Keiser's Karmabanque hedge fund as a "fantastical scheme" and accused him of trying to exist "beyond the normal forces and controls of society."

Keiser drew criticism at the 2000 ShowBiz Expo in Las Vegas when he said of media content that "Everything is inescapably going to a price point called free." In response, Kevin Tsujihara, executive V.P. of New Media at Warner Bros., commented that "Piracy.com" will be the victor if superior content is available on sites supported by advertisements.

In 2005, Steven Milloy, the "Junk Science" commentator demanded that Keiser be removed from the panel of the Triple Bottom Line Investing conference, where he was scheduled to appear. Milloy accused Keiser of making threats against his organization and petitioned sponsors Calvert Investments and KLD Research & Analytics to withdraw from the project. Robert Rubenstein founder of conference organiser Brooklyn Bridge stated that Keiser's comments “do not constitute a threat to person or property and are not related to the conference or the content that will be presented there”.

Referring to Keiser's Karmabanque project, a spokeswoman for RyanAir said, "Since they put Ryanair on their list, our share price has gone up by 10 per cent. We are always delighted to be part of a list which includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.", however on the same day The Hindu published an article in which Howard Millar, Ryanair deputy chief executive admitted that his company may be vulnerable to environmental pressure groups: "I am concerned that there is a continuing media campaign and the concern is that people might say 'maybe I will not fly on holiday and maybe I will make a different choice'."

See also

Error accounts a term often mentioned by Max Keiser

Central bank or Reserve bank

Gold standard where paper currency is backed up by the value of Gold

Hollywood Accounting

References

External links

MaxKeiser.com Max Keiser's website

MaxKeiserTV Max Keiser's Youtube channel

chaostheorien.de Interview with Max Keiser at chaostheorien.de

Category:Investment bankers Category:American journalists Category:Documentary film producers Category:1960 births Category:Living people