Friday, June 8, 2012

China's economy hasn't foreign banks!

Walt Disney (DIS) didn’t have trouble raising money for its $4.4  billion theme park in Shanghai. After it won approval in 2009, a dozen Chinese banks sprang into action, offering $2 billion in loans and promising more. Foreign lenders, limited by the Chinese government in how much they can lend, watched from the sidelines. The size of the deal put it beyond their reach.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Spain in the field of crisis!

As Greece prepares for a June 17 election that may determine whether it exits the euro, the attention has shifted to Spain, where the problems are different—and much larger. Greece’s troubles stem from excessive government borrowing; Spain suffers from a property bust and its banks remain crippled by an estimated €184 billion ($230 billion) in troubled real estate assets. The government is struggling to devise a rescue plan as the country grapples with a deepening recession and 24 percent unemployment.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Reward points to your credit card with the help of PointsPay

Could this be the year we can start spending our frequent flier miles and loyalty rewards like cash?

When American Express Rewards launched "Pay With Points" eight years ago, rewards experts and frequent fliers began predicting that miles would become a spendable currency. The program allowed AmEx rewards holders to spend their points like cash at Amazon.com. Yet the phenomenon never expanded beyond American Express rewards and Amazon -- until now.