Staring into the abyss (continued)...

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.

RBS, which had to be bailed out by the government last year, said that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1bn ($34.2bn).

The bank is also under fire over the estimated £693,000-a-year ($992,000) pension of former boss Sir Fred Goodwin. Mr Goodwin has rejected calls from the Chancellor Alistair Darling to hand back some of the money, which he is already receiving at the age of 50 (under an early retirement deal agreed with the RBS board when Mr Goodwin was forced out late last year).
Prime Minister Gordon Brown "demanded action" on the issue, saying pension payments on such a scale could not be justified when the company was losing so much money and cutting thousands of jobs.

RBS will also put £325 billion of toxic assets into a taxpayer-backed protection scheme, while the Government extends its 70% stake in the institution by a further £13 billion.

And there will be further gloom for the sector, as Lloyds Banking Group is expected to announce significant losses incurred by HBOS.
RBS reports record corporate loss

Sir Fred Goodwin has written a letter to Treasury minister Lord Myners, claiming that the government had been aware of his pension for months, so all the wailing and lamentation from our Prime Minister & Chancellor is a bit like bolting the stable door long after the horse has scarpered.

But when one considers that just over a year ago, RBS was involved in the £49 billion deal to capture Dutch rival ABN Amro, its fall from grace has been dramatic.
The British taxpayer (including me) now effectively own RBS. My concern is not so much Goodwin looking after number one, but the fact that we're now saddled with the financial equivalent of Monty Python's "Norwegian Blue" parrot!

Meanwhile....more grim news:

The United States will rack up a $1.75 trillion budget deficit this year, the biggest since World War Two. The White House budget announcement came as data showed the number of U.S. workers filing for jobless benefits jumped to a record high of 5.1 million.

Europe and Asia were also struggling, with economic sentiment in the euro zone slumping and Japan's finance minister declaring a "very bleak" outlook for first quarter GDP.

According to the World Bank, the global financial and economic crisis will trap 53 million more people in developing countries on less than $2 (£1.4o) a day this year. That's on top of the 130-155 million pushed into poverty in 2008 by soaring food and fuel prices.

Initial estimates for 2009 to 2015 indicate an average 200,000 to 400,000 more children may die each year if the crisis persists.
Also the effects of the crisis can been seen in various protests across Europe.
FACTBOX - Financial crisis sparks unrest in Europe

No light at the end of this particular tunnel, then...