STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 27 June 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 27 June 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 26 June 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 26 June 2012
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Dow Jones 12,534.67 +32.01 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,319.99 +6.27 (0.48%)
Nasdaq 2,854.06 +17.90 (0.63%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.63% -0.01 (-0.61%)
30 Year 2.70% -0.01 (-0.37%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.




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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Fuddnik]

1. Tansy must be going out drinking tonight.

Wed. arrived early.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. No, my a/c went out

Fixed now, you don't want to know how much.

[Fuddnik]

12. Lucky you were able to fix it.

I saw the Phoenix forcast for the next 3 days this evening.

111 every day.

[Tansy_Gold]

14. Yeah, we have an extreme heat advisory in effect Wed thru Fri

Could hit 115; it was 111 on the back porch this afternoon though the official temp was only 104.

But that's really normal for this time of year.

Minor dust storm rolled through this evening and we got one brief rain shower. Pre-monsoon flow coming up from the Gulf, producing some storm cells around Tucson but they fizzle when they hit the Phoenix "heat island." Eventually they'll get bigger and stronger and then we'll get rain. Or not.

[Roland99]

56. but it's a DRRRYYYYYYY heat, eh?

glad you got it fixed!!

[Fuddnik]

88. Dry heat, yeah. But so is a blow torch.

[Roland99]

90. heh...I know, right?

I usually tell people:

"Well, my oven is a dry heat but I don't go sticking my head in there!"

[Demeter]

3. IRS offshore tax programs pull in $5 billion

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/irs-offshore-tax-programs-pull-in-5-billion-2012-06-26?siteid=YAHOOB

New rules aim to make it easier for people to report foreign assets...The IRS said Tuesday it’s easing the rules slightly on its offshore disclosure programs, aimed at getting taxpayers to report their money stashed overseas, and that those programs have captured more than $5 billion in back taxes, interest and penalties.

About 1,500 taxpayers have come forward to report a foreign-based account under the current program, which started in January, while 33,000 taxpayers came forward under the first two programs — one in 2009, another in 2011.

“We continue to make strong progress in our international compliance efforts that help ensure honest taxpayers are not footing the bill for those hiding assets offshore,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, in a news release.

“People are finding it tougher and tougher to keep their assets hidden in offshore accounts,” he said.

Each of the programs had slightly different rules and penalties; the current voluntary disclosure program has no deadline, though the IRS has said it could end it at any time. Read about the latest IRS offshore voluntary disclosure program: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/got-money-offshore-irs-starts-new-amnesty-program-2012-01-09

The IRS also said it’s easing rules for some taxpayers with offshore accounts who have not yet reported those assets but are eager to come into compliance with the rules...

SUCH A DEAL! OF COURSE, NO DISCUSSION OF HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE THROWN IN THE TOWEL AND OFFICIALLY EMIGRATED...TO GET AWAY FROM THE HELPFUL IRS...

[Demeter]

4. Why This Economic Crisis Is Not Like the Others By Paul Krugman

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/9995-why-this-economic-crisis-is-not-like-the-others

A number of people have asked me to respond to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Phil Gramm, the former United States senator from Texas, and Glenn Hubbard, the dean of Columbia University's business school, about the Reagan recovery versus the Obama recovery, and why it proves that right-wing economics roolz...But I already did respond. When? In February 2008 — back when people like Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Gramm were denying that there was any recession at all. In fact, Mr. Gramm declared that all we had was a "mental recession," and that America had become a "nation of whiners" in an interview published in The Washington Times on July 9, 2008.

So, more than four years ago I predicted a very slow recovery. Why? Because recessions like those of 1990-1991, 2001 and 2007-2009 have very different origins from recessions like those of 1974-1975 or the double-dip recession of 1979-1982. The old recessions were more or less deliberately created by the Federal Reserve via tight money in order to control inflation, which meant that you had a V-shaped recovery once the Fed decided that we had suffered enough and it loosened the reins. The new recessions all reflected private-sector overreach, which is much harder to make up for. Note that while I predicted a slow recovery way back when, it has been even slower than I expected. But that's no mystery; at that point neither I nor anyone else knew just how far the private sector had overreached, plus I didn't expect the unprecedented fiscal austerity that has been such a drag on recovery given the fact that we're in a liquidity trap.

And yes, it is frustrating that the economic crisis is redounding to the political benefit of people who have been wrong about absolutely everything, whereas people like me may not have been right about everything, but have accumulated a pretty darn good track record over the past five years.

Latvia and Romney's Record

Not a connection you expected anyone to make. But there's something there.

You see, there has been some back and forth over Mitt Romney's job-creation record as governor of Massachusetts. The truth is that governors don't have much impact on such things, but for what it's worth, job creation in Massachusetts was lousy. The response of Mr. Romney's campaign has been to cite the state's low unemployment rate when he left office; the response to the response is that this was due to people leaving the state. Now, there's nothing wrong with labor mobility, but driving down unemployment by getting people to move someplace else isn't exactly a recipe for national recovery.

Which brings us to Latvia, where unemployment, though still very high, has come down. But this has a lot to do with a huge fall in the labor force, driven to an important extent by emigration. See the chart, with data from Eurostat.



Again, nothing wrong with labor mobility — but if Latvia is supposed to be a role model, somehow having all of Europe move to someplace else in Europe doesn't quite seem like a sustainable proposition.

[Demeter]

5. I survived The Board Meeting--Part 2

Breaking it up has made the whole thing less stressful, I think. Trouble is, we make more work for ourselves...pushing to bring the community into the 20th century, if not the 21st...

[Demeter]

6. A Brixit looms

http://www.economist.com/node/21557315

Though no big political party wants to leave the EU, it looks ever more likely to happen...DAVID CAMERON does not want Britain to leave the European Union, though he finds it exasperating and fears euro-zone meltdown could cost him re-election. His Liberal Democrat coalition partner, Nick Clegg, is a pro-European. Nor does the Labour opposition leader, Ed Miliband, want out. Mr Miliband is a European social democrat by instinct (his relatives were refugees from the Holocaust) and by judgment, seeing the EU as a way of delivering public goods such as action on climate change.

Yet the chances of Britain leaving the EU in the next few years are higher than they have ever been. A Brixit looms for several reasons. For one thing, the British never fell in love with Europe, instead weighing costs against economic benefits. Right now the EU is seen as a basket case (though British finances are hardly in great shape). For another, if euro-zone members overcome their differences and integrate much more deeply, they would arguably be leaving Britain, especially if their integration fragments the single market that is the bedrock of British membership. Mr Cameron and his chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, may talk of the euro’s “remorseless logic” compelling richer members to stand behind the weak. But there are paths of European integration down which no government led by Mr Cameron (or for that matter Mr Miliband) could follow. At the top of the Conservative and Labour parties, economic debate is dominated by those who saw the euro as a disaster and think they are being proved right. The public agrees, though their certainty has less to do with economics than misanthropy: the British do not like southern Europeans enough to offer them a subsidy union, and have never believed that other rich northerners, deep down, felt differently.

British politicians can be forgiven a degree of passivity, then. Yet if Britain is closer to the exits than before, politicians do bear the blame in one important way. A worrying number of MPs seem to believe that—as a happy result of this crisis—Britain can blackmail its way to more favourable terms of membership. As Conservative Party leader in 1998, the current foreign secretary William Hague predicted that the single currency would turn into a “burning building with no exits” (in a speech mostly written by a young aide called George Osborne, as it happens). Now that the euro is ablaze, some Tory Eurosceptics want to park in front of the fire station, blocking treaty changes aimed at shoring up the currency unless the EU returns swathes of powers to British control. Their vehicle for such blackmail would be a “referendum lock” that became British law last year, guaranteeing a national vote on any future transfer of powers from Westminster to Brussels. Technically, euro-zone rescue plans could be crafted to avoid transfers of sovereignty from Britain. But some Tories, including—it is reported—some cabinet ministers, have told Mr Cameron that deep euro-zone integration would so alter Britain’s relations with Europe that a referendum should be held anyway.

Tory leaders think they can win that argument. In parallel they also think that they can fend off calls from other Eurosceptics for a straight in-out referendum, calling such a vote the wrong question at a time of rapid change to Europe’s structures. Such arguments are relatively easy to win. Most Tory MPs do not favour outright withdrawal. They want a looser relationship with Europe, involving single-market membership without the bits they dislike such as environmental and employment rules, or big budget contributions. Most Tory MPs also realise that a block-the-fire-station blackmail strategy, unleashed at the height of a global economic crisis, is risky. Instead, a supposedly safer wheeze is generating enthusiasm: to head into the next general election promising a formal renegotiation of British ties with Europe, with the results to be put to a “validating referendum”. The problem is that a negotiate-then-validate strategy is just a prettified form of blackmail. It amounts to a bet that other EU members will grant big concessions, knowing that otherwise British voters would reject the deal.

Nobody is going to pay Britain to stay

Germany—seen by Mr Cameron as the dominant force in a fast-changing Europe—has clearly signalled that Chancellor Angela Merkel will not be blackmailed into British opt-outs or special treatment. Germany accepts that in the event of treaty changes to create new euro-zone institutions, Mr Cameron would need concessions to get such changes endorsed by Parliament. Perhaps certain narrow powers could return to the national level for all EU members, Britain has been told. But push too hard and euro-zone integration will be pursued outside EU structures...

[Demeter]

18. City fear over Cameron’s EU demands

Business has warned that the PM’s wishlist of ‘safeguards’ could have damaged Britain’s standing as Europe’s financial centre

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/SPYIR7/HI3M9/08KBHU/C40HKQ/LE/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

[Demeter]

19. Merkel urged to back euro crisis measures

Germany’s opposition leader says emergency action to reduce eurozone interest rates needs to be agreed at this week’s European summit in Brussels

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/SPYIR7/HI3M9/08KBHU/QNY5UC/LE/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

[Demeter]

7. Well, I Guess I Have a 2nd Theme for the Weekend

Author-screenwriter Nora Ephron dies at 71

http://www.latimes.com/news/breaking-nora-ephron-dies-20120626,0,4350695.story?track=rss

Nora Ephron, the author, screenwriter and playwright whose wry take on life, love and loss informed the hit films "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle" as well as the novel "Heartburn," about the breakup of her marriage to journalist Carl Bernstein, died Tuesday at age 71 in New York.

Through her writing and filmmaking, Ephron was a fixture at the crossroads of New York City, where she was born, and Hollywood, around which she was raised by her screenwriter parents. Starting with a post-college job in the mailroom at Newsweek, Ephron rose swiftly in journalism, writing for the New York Post and New York magazine and landing a column in Esquire.

Unsentimental and cynical in much of her early writing, she found fame in romantic comedies for the big screen. "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as two friends finally drawn into love. Ryan paired with Tom Hanks for "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) and "You've Got Mail" (1998), which likewise end with attraction conquering obstacles.

Ephron was nominated for the Academy Award for screenwriting for "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle," as well as for "Silkwood" (1983), written with Alice Arlen. She directed "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail." She also wrote and directed "Michael" (1996) and "Julie & Julia" (2009), among other films....

[Demeter]

8. I'm not sure how Nora will mix with gangster movies...

but we will experiment, no?

[Fuddnik]

13. "When Harry whacked Sally."

"Sleepless with da fishes in Joisey."

"How'd this fish get in my mail?"

You've got mail from John Gotti".

[Warpy]

91. "Heartburn.....or Arsenic?"

Arsenic wasn't the favorite poison of organized crime, alas. Mostly they preferred the deeper satisfaction of blowing somebody away with a machine gun. Poison was reserved for mistresses who had become inconvenient and usually took the form of chloral hydrate in alcohol, lots of both.

Still, my title was funnier.

[kickysnana]

15. Whenever we are having a sad day we pop "Sleepless..." into the VCR.

[Demeter]

9. One in five UK families admit they are 'living on the edge'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/one-in-five-uk-families-admit-they-are-living-on-the-edge-7881080.html

...Frightening research published today shows that 20 per cent of families are struggling to cope financially while another two-fifths are “just getting by”.

The survey by think tank Centre for the Modern Family shows people are being battered by increased living costs and falling wages.

They’ve also been whacked, by the climbing cost of childcare and the continuing harsh economic climate, as well as many being hit by the Coalition’s cutbacks.

Welsh families have been hardest hit by financial woes with 57 per cent saying it is their biggest challenge compared to a national average of 45 per cent....

[Demeter]

10. BUT NEVER FEAR: Factory prisons will allow inmates to support families on the outside (UK)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9355818/Factory-prisons-will-allow-inmates-to-support-families-on-the-outside.html

New factory jails are to be built that allow prisoners to earn money for their families and to save up a nest egg for their release, it has been revealed. The development is an extension to existing schemes in which inmates work but any money earned goes to their victims of crime. It is thought the "routine and discipline" of employment could cut reoffending rates and reduce the burden on the state of looking after prisoners and their loved ones.

Under the new proposals being unveiled by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, prisoners will be able to use the cash they earn to pay maintenance towards their partners and children like other absent fathers. They will also be allowed to save up "good behaviour bonds", nest eggs they can tap into after their release, provided they stay out of trouble. Mr Clarke claims that safeguards would be put in place that meant the funds could only be spent on legitimate items to help prisoners stay away from crime, such as training or work materials. The Justice Secretary wants to double the number of prisoners employed in productive work in jail to 20,000 by 2020.

A number of the new prisons are being designed with integrated factories. The Government will announce the first factory jails this year and will invite leading companies to tender for prison labour. MORE

[bread_and_roses]

43. OMFG

The way things are going, we'll see people committing crimes to get into prison so they can have a "job."

I just keep telling myself "something has to give, something has to give, somewhere something has to give ..." But my mantra becomes more desperate and despairing by the day ...

[Demeter]

48. It will. The Question is When, and Why

and most importantly, how do we make it work for people--all the people, not the would-be lords and masters?

Going back to feudalism is really not an option anymore. People know better.

I still think that starving on the outside is preferable to slaving on the inside. I'm more worried about the trumped-up charges that are used to feed slave labor into these prison factories, which we see happening in some of these American states already...

[Po_d Mainiac]

51. I do a fly tying program in one of the 2

juvenille max detention centers up heyuh.

I know of two lads that were in strictly to get their GED, 3 hots and a cot.

[snot]

92. So much for hopes of deciminalizing minor drug offenses.

[Demeter]

93. It's already an issue in some states of a souhern persuasion

[Demeter]

11. U.S. Home Sales to Foreigners Rise as Low Prices Draw Investors

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-11/u-s-home-sales-to-foreigners-rise-as-low-prices-draw-investors.html

The dollar volume of U.S. homes sold to foreign buyers rose 24 percent in the 12 months through March as investors from Canada, China, India, Mexico and the U.K. took advantage of low prices and favorable exchange rates.

Foreign buyers spent about $82.5 billion in the period, up from a revised estimate of $66.4 billion a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said today. That accounted for 4.8 percent of the $928.2 billion U.S. market for home sales, the organization said in a report from Washington...U.S. home prices were 35 percent below their July 2006 peak as of March 31, the most recent data available, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of values in 20 cities. Sales of previously owned homes rose 10 percent in April from a year earlier as U.S. consumers took advantage of the decline in prices and record-low interest rates, the Realtors group said.

Arizona, California, Florida and Texas accounted for 51 percent of the purchases by foreigners, according to today’s report. Florida has been the fastest-growing destination of choice, accounting for 26 percent of overseas transactions. California was second with 11 percent and Texas and Arizona accounted for 7 percent each. Canadians made 24 percent of international deals, followed by Chinese buyers with 11 percent and Mexicans with 8 percent. India and the U.K. each accounted for 6 percent of purchases.

Wealthier Buyers

International buyers paid an average $400,000 compared with the $212,000 average of all deals in the U.S. Overseas clients are typically wealthier and looking for a specialized property, such as a home suitable for multigenerational living or a vacation house, according to the report. About 62 percent of international deals were made with cash because the buyers lacked a credit history or lenders don’t offer mortgages for overseas purchases, the Realtors said. International sales were equally split between recent immigrants and foreigners who live permanently outside the country, according to the report, which was based on a survey in April of 1,745 respondents.

[Demeter]

16. Shell set to gain Arctic drilling permits

Oil company has met US regulator’s technical standards for preventing and containing spills, Ken Salazar, US interior secretary, says

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4CU1QU/52KB7/WT51UR/DWCBKG/N9/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR AN ICE AGE, GOD HELP US

[Demeter]

17. Monti’s need for speed underpins EU summit

The debate at Thursday’s meeting is stark. Will leaders agree on short-term fixes or limit themselves to long-term cures, asks Peter Spiegel

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/SPYIR7/HI3M9/08KBHU/2OUJVI/LE/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

MY PREDICTION--THEY WILL DO NEITHER. BUT HAND-WRINGING WILL BE AN OLYMPIC EVENT.

[Demeter]

20. Congress moves closer to student loan deal

Senate breakthrough could end stalemate after Democratic and Republican leaders say they have reached agreement on bill to top rates doubling

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/SPYIR7/HI3M9/08KBHU/4CLFAW/LE/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

"VISIONS OF THE 60'S" DANCING THROUGH THEIR HEADS, NO DOUBT

[Demeter]

21. Brazil’s bad loans hit record high in May

May’s data add to fears that the world’s leading emerging markets are heading for a deeper than expected slowdown

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/SPYIR7/HI3M9/08KBHU/301R2X/LE/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

[Demeter]

22. Some Employers and Republicans Want to Lower the Minimum Wage

http://www.alternet.org/story/156027/some_employers_and_republicans_want_to_lower_the_minimum_wage_--_here%27s_why_they%27re_completely_out_of_touch_?page=entire


In Arizona, GOP legislators fight to allow employers to pay teens working part-time three dollars per hour less than the state minimum wage - a mere $4.65 per hour. If you've been on Facebook this week, you've probably seen the Chris Rock quote making the rounds:

"I used to work at McDonald's making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss is trying to say? It's like, 'Hey, [if] I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.'"

Now it seems that some minimum wage employers are trying to pay their workers less -- and to even make it legal to do so. It seems unfathomable that anyone would consider the minimum wage -- which, for a full-time worker, provides a yearly salary that is thousands of dollars below the poverty line for a family of three or four -- to be too high. But in Arizona, Republican legislators are pushing a bill that would allow employers to pay teenagers working part-time a full three dollars per hour less than the state minimum wage, which works out to a mere $4.65 per hour.

And the Florida legislature is considering lowering the state minimum wage for tipped employees by more than half, from the current $4.65 per hour to the federal minimum of $2.13. OSI Partners, the company that owns Outback Steakhouse, supports the legislation. Given the current political discourse on how best to create good jobs and help struggling families, OSI's involvement is especially noteworthy since the firm is owned by Bain Capital, the company that Mitt Romney co-founded and in which the Republican presidential nominee still has tens of millions invested....

THE BAIN OF OUR EXISTENCE...IT FIGURES!

[Demeter]

23. Pressure builds for civilian drone flights at home FROM FEBRUARY

http://news.yahoo.com/pressure-builds-civilian-drone-flights-home-150120049.html

...Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others wanting a bird's-eye view that's too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to get.

Along with the enthusiasm, there are qualms.

Drones overhead could invade people's privacy. The government worries they could collide with passenger planes or come crashing down to the ground, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.

Despite that, pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home.

"It's going to be the next big revolution in aviation. It's coming," says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for civil aviation.

[Demeter]

24. Is It Hard for You to Say No to Sweets and Temptation? You May Be Suffering From "Ego Depletion"

I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS WAS OBVIOUS

http://www.alternet.org/story/156037/is_it_hard_for_you_to_say_no_to_sweets_and_temptation_you_may_be_suffering_from_%22ego_depletion%22?page=entire

Saying no to every naughty impulse requires a little bit of willpower fuel, and once you spend that fuel it becomes harder to say no...Why is it, as explained by the scientists in this study, that social exclusion impairs self-regulation? The answer has to do with something psychologists now call ego depletion, and you would be surprised to learn how many things can cause it, how often you feel it, and how much in life depends on it.

REST OF ARTICLE (AS FAR AS I COULD STAND TO READ IT) IS PRETTY USELESS

[Demeter]

25. A poll contradicts what we thought we knew about income and happiness

http://www.economist.com/node/21548213?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/chilledout

DESPITE global economic gloom, the world is a happier place than it was before the financial crisis began. That is the counterintuitive conclusion of a poll of 19,000 adults in 24 countries by Ipsos, a research company. Some 77% of respondents now describe themselves as happy, up three points on 2007, the last year before the crisis. Fully 22% (up from 20%) describe themselves as very happy—a more important measure, says Ipsos’s John Wright, since whenever three-quarters of people agree on anything, “you need to pay attention to intensity in the results.”

All such polls come with a health warning. The level of happiness is self-reported—and the term means different things to different people. The Ipsos poll, measuring degrees of happiness, is not strictly comparable with those that ask about “well-being” (such as Gallup) or “life satisfaction” (the World Values survey), so it is hard to test the validity of the conclusions against other efforts. The margin of error is wide, at plus or minus 3.1 points for most countries. Still, Ipsos has been doing its survey regularly for five years and the figures have proved fairly stable during that time, not wildly volatile which they would have been if they had been flaky.



Two conclusions emerge. Large, fast-growing emerging markets do not share rich industrialised countries’ pessimism. The already large “very happy” cohort rose 16 points in Turkey, ten points in Mexico and five points in India. Even rich-country pessimism is uneven. The share of “very happy” people rose six points in—of all places—Japan, defying tsunami and nuclear accidents. But growth amid global misery does not explain everything: the biggest falls in happiness also occurred in large emerging markets, in Indonesia, Brazil and—a perennial miseryguts—Russia.

The second conclusion challenges the received notions of mankind’s moods. A tenet of political science is that happiness levels rise with wealth and then plateau, usually when a country’s national income per head reaches around $25,000 a year. “The richer a country gets,” argued Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in “The Spirit Level”, an influential book of 2009, “the less getting still richer adds to the population’s happiness.” Many on the left have concluded that pursuing further economic growth is pointless. Even right-wing politicians such as Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, have set up projects to study “gross national happiness”. But the Ipsos study shows the highest levels of self-reported happiness not in rich countries, as one would expect, but in poor and middle-income ones, notably Indonesia, India and Mexico. In rich countries, happiness scores range from above-average—28% of Australians and Americans say they are very happy—to far below the mean. The figures for Italy and Spain were 13% and 11% (Greece was not in the sample). Most Europeans are gloomier than the world average. So levels of income are, if anything, inversely related to felicity. Perceived happiness depends on a lot more than material welfare.

OR MAYBE, IT'S THAT WEALTH IS MORE EQUALLY DISPERSED (STILL) IN THOSE ECONOMIES...

[Demeter]

26. Barclays to settle Libor probe

Barclays is poised to announce a deal with US and UK regulators to settle a probe into allegations that its employees sought to manipulate the London interbank lending rate that is the basis of more than $350tn ongoing contracts worldwide.

The settlement, which may be announced as soon as today, would cover both the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the UK Financial Services Authority, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/TUI9XK/GYN7Q/8ZJ4FM/5VTLAH/82/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27

[just1voice]

87. More evidence the markets are COMPLETELY RIGGED

As expected, while the news exposes these criminals, such as Taibbi exposing the rigged muni bond auctions in all 50 states, most people are too dumbed-down to even realize that these criminal banks are exactly why the entire world is getting screwed.

Sadly, most people in the U.S. would rather gossip on twitter and look at pictures of kitty cats.

[Demeter]

27. OECD raises red flag on U.S. long-term unemployment

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/us-usa-economy-jobs-idUSBRE85K0S920120626

The lengthy spells many Americans are spending without work risk leaving a lasting scar of higher unemployment on the U.S. economy and training programs are needed to avert the damage, the OECD said on Tuesday. The warning from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development comes against the backdrop of stalled U.S. jobs growth and an uptick in the unemployment rate in May.

In a report on the U.S. economy, the Paris-based OECD estimated the unemployment rate which the economy could sustain without generating inflation at 6.1 percent, up from 5.7 percent in 2007. In May, the rate stood at 8.2 percent.

"However, structural unemployment may well already have risen more than this estimate would suggest, and there is a risk that it could increase still further, given the still high levels of long-term unemployment," the OECD said.

Before the 2007-2009 recession, many economists believed the so-called natural or structural rate of unemployment was around 5 percent. However, millions of Americans have suffered unusually long bouts of unemployment, eroding both their skills and their attachment to the labor force - and potentially driving structural unemployment higher. The OECD's assessment of structural unemployment is at the high end of the 5.2 percent to 6 percent range that most policymakers at the Federal Reserve estimate. The estimates are important. The closer the Fed thinks it may be to the natural rate of unemployment, the more hesitant it will be to try to spur faster economic growth.

While the U.S. central bank has slashed overnight lending rates to near zero and pumped about $2.3 trillion into the economy through asset purchases, the unemployment rate has stubbornly held above 8 percent for more than two years, the first time this has happened since the Great Depression.

GET A CLUE, MORONS! FIRST, WE'LL KILL ALL THE ECONOMISTS...SHAKESPEARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

[Demeter]

28. Greece names Yannis Stournaras as new finance minister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18597785

...Nicknamed Mr Euro, he was part of a team which negotiated his country's entry into the single currency....

SOMEBODY MADE HIM AN OFFER HE CAN'T REFUSE?

Mr Stournaras was most recently development minister in the caretaker government in power until the 17 June elections.

"Stournaras is a serious, respected person who will inspire some confidence in the markets. But he is entering a bad government, where many old-style, spendthrift politicians are occupying key positions," said political analyst John Loulis.

"He will have to wage a hard battle against them. He is entering the wolf's lair and he won't survive without the prime minister's solid support," Mr Loulis added.

Mr Stournaras was chief economic adviser and aide to former Prime Minister Costas Simitis when Greece was negotiating entry to the euro, which it joined in 2001.

..............................................................................................................................................

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_11150_26/06/2012_449167

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras Tuesday appointed Yannis Stournaras, a prominent economist, former government adviser and outgoing development minister in the caretaker government, to assume the tough post of finance minister, just a few days before a crucial European Union summit in Brussels where Greece’s debt deal with international creditors is expected to be discussed.

The 55-year-old economist is the director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) and has served as adviser to socialist PASOK governments, including that of ex-Premier Costas Simitis, who clinched Greece’s entry into the eurozone. He also has an impressive academic background, serving as research fellow and lecturer at Oxford University and as economics professor at Athens University.

The appointment of Stournaras came a day after the original candidate for the role, National Bank of Greece Chairman Vassilis Rapanos, resigned, saying his health problems would not allow him to undertake the role. Rapanos, 65, was discharged from hospital, where he had been admitted last Friday with stomach pains and nausea.

Stournaras, for his part, pledged “hard work” following talks last night at Samaras’s home -- where the premier is recovering from eye surgery -- with the three party leaders in the government coalition. Earlier in the day, speaking at a book presentation in central Athens, Stournaras appeared cautiously optimistic despite the challenges. “I think there are possibilities for Greece to emerge from the crisis,” noting also that “Greece has enormous potential.” Sources told Kathimerini that Samaras called him on his cell phone during the presentation to officially offer him the job...The appointment of Stournaras was not straightforward. He was Samaras’s favored candidate and ultimately was accepted by the PM’s coalition partners, socialist PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis, but only after initial reservations, sources said. Both are said to have objected to Samaras’s preference for a technocrat instead of a senior cadre from conservative New Democracy, but conceded that Stournaras has the skills and experience required for the job.

THESE PEOPLE ARE INSANE...CONNECTIONS OVER SKILLS?

[Demeter]

29. Eurozone top dogs say they must have teeth

OR PREDATOR DRONES, AT THE VERY LEAST!

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16051421,00.html

The eurozone's main leaders, sometimes called the "Big 4," have published proposals that they hope will provide the bloc with "a big leap forward." They're calling for more integration, and more centralized power.

The leading figures of the eurozone on Tuesday issued a report called "Towards a genuine economic and monetary union," saying it could help pull the bloc out of its debt difficulties and secure the longer-term future of the single European currency.

Leaders of the eurozone's "Big 4" - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - said in the document that there was an "essential" need for "effective mechanisms to prevent and correct unsustainable fiscal policies."

The paper has been submitted to the bloc's 27 capitals, and contains suggestions from European Council President Herman van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Central Bank (ECB) boss Mario Draghi and the head of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker.

"We need a banking union, a fiscal union and further steps towards political union," Barroso told a conference Tuesday. "The first of these building blocks that can be achieved quickly without treaty change is an integrated financial framework - a banking union."

YOU GOT TO SEE THESE PROPOSALS TO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE ALL INSANE....

[Demeter]

31. European Union Prods Germany With Fiscal Plan By STEVEN ERLANGER and STEPHEN CASTLE

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/world/europe/european-union-prods-germany-with-fiscal-plan.html?_r=1


...the plan has weight, and it seems to reflect a new willingness in Europe to isolate Berlin and compel it to accept changes it has steadfastly resisted.

The 10-year “road map” was drafted after months of discussions with the 27 member countries, especially with the 17 that use the euro. It calls for immediate steps “towards a genuine economic and monetary union,” and is meant to provide the agenda for the European Union summit meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels. It is also intended to give the financial markets confidence that the European Union will stand behind its members and its common currency — a harder task, given that much of the plan would take many months to negotiate and ratify.

Although watered down from an earlier draft to try to appease Berlin, the proposals brought immediate criticism from Germany, with Chancellor Angela Merkel telling her partners in her governing coalition, the neo-liberal Free Democrats, that Europe would not have total sharing of debt “as long as I live.” ...Her answer then was blunt: that solidarity was possible only with serious controls and collective oversight, and that “we have existing treaties and they must be respected.” Pooling of debt could come only with pooling of sovereignty and responsibility, she said. On Monday, Ms. Merkel was even sterner, dismissing “euro bonds, euro bills and European deposit insurance with joint liability and much more” as “economically wrong and counterproductive,” besides violating German law.

“It’s not a bold prediction to say that in Brussels most eyes — all eyes — will be on Germany yet again,” said Ms. Merkel, who is known for saying what she thinks. “I say quite openly: When I think of the summit on Thursday, I’m concerned that once again the discussion will be far too much about all kinds of ideas for joint liability and far too little about improved oversight and structural measures.”

Germany’s deputy foreign minister, Michael Link, a member of the Free Democrats, said that the proposals leaned “toward various models for mutualizing debt,” but that “what comes up short is improved controls.” Speaking in Luxembourg, he added, “By beginning with pooling of debt, we’re heading toward a dead end.”

Mr. Barroso, long an advocate of greater European integration, called the release of the plan “a defining moment,” while Mr. Van Rompuy emphasized that it was a document for discussion and “not meant to be a final blueprint.”

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, ANGELA! NEXT HOLLYWOOD REMAKE: ANGELA'S CHOICE

[xchrom]

30. woke up with a sick headache...

?w=420

[Demeter]

32. Poor, sweet baby--try this

followed by this--

[xchrom]

34. both of those look wonderful! -- how'd the board meeting go? nt

[Demeter]

35. No fireworks

but because we make so much progress, we make more work for ourselves...because there is so much that didn't get done for 40 years....

That's the thing about progress...it moves!

[xchrom]

39. good on the no fireworks -- stress you don't need.

yeah -- when a place has been neglected -- it seems like multipliers set in.

[Demeter]

36. Seriously though, get something to drink..juice or sweet soda

You may be dehydrated.

[xchrom]

40. i will -- i have bad sinuses -- and we went from some seriously hot weather to cool and dry.

i'm pretty sure my sinuses are in an uproar right now.

[Roland99]

69. Water or tea would be better for hydration.

[Po_d Mainiac]

52. I'll trade with u. n/t

[xchrom]

53. lol-- no -- if you're willing to trade...then you got worse.

[Roland99]

70. "Frank! I have a sick headache!"

[xchrom]

72. ...

[xchrom]

33. Durable Goods Orders May Point To U.S. Manufacturing Slowdown

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/durable-goods-orders-may-point-to-u-s-manufacturing-slowdown.html

Orders for durable goods in May probably failed to make up for the worst four months since the recession, indicating U.S. manufacturing will cool, economists said before a report today.
The projected 0.5 percent gain in bookings for goods meant to last at least three years would follow little change in April, according to the median forecast of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Orders fell 6.6 percent in the first four months of the year, the weakest stretch since the same period in 2009, during the last recession.

A slowdown in global growth emanating from Europe may harm exports and prompt companies to curtail equipment spending, hurting sales at manufacturers like Joy Global Inc. (JOY) Combined with a slackening in demand from American households facing 8.2 percent unemployment, the cutbacks help explain why the Federal Reserve extended a plan to keep borrowing costs low.
“We’re seeing signs of weakness in manufacturing,” said Millan Mulraine, a senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities in New York. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about the nature of demand, about the global outlook, about the U.S. outlook.”

[Demeter]

37. Morale Takes A Hit At Beleaguered Fannie, Freddie

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/27/155761696/morale-takes-a-hit-at-beleaguered-fannie-freddie?ft=1&f=1001

Created by the federal government during the Great Depression, Fannie Mae became a Washington powerhouse: A highly profitable, private company, protected by the government and boasting huge lobbying clout. But today, Fannie Mae has essentially become a ward of the state....The collapse of the housing market has led to plenty of finger pointing in Washington. Two easy targets are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These government-backed mortgage giants had to be rescued by taxpayers and now owe the government $188 billion. Still, Fannie and Freddie, which currently make the vast majority of home loans possible, are crucial to supporting the housing market right now.

But ever since their government bailout four years ago,both companies have suffered from image problems, they're under the threat of being dismantled by Congress, and many key people are leaving. You know things are bad with the company you work for when you can't even go get a drink without getting an earful about your employer.

"That can be pretty draining," says Andrew Wilson, a manager in corporate communications at Fannie Mae. After a long day at work recently, Wilson met up with some friends at happy hour, and was grilled by a friend of his girlfriend. He recalls she, "immediately [started] peppering me with questions and said ... 'You all just want to foreclose on people.' " Wilson said that is absolutely not true.

...Some employees at Freddie Mac actually say they've stopped telling people where they work. Instead, they say they work at the "Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation," the company's original and seldom-used formal name. That seems to confuse people and avoid unwanted confrontations.

NICE EXPLANATION OF OPERATIONS FOLLOWS

[Demeter]

38. Mediation Fails, Pushing Stockton Toward Bankruptcy

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/us/stockton-california-heads-for-bankruptcy-court.html

The long, slow slide into financial collapse is nearly complete for this Central Valley community. On Tuesday night, City Council members approved a new budget that will guide city operations during bankruptcy and amend a $26 million budget shortfall. With that vote out of the way, city officials could file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy as early as Wednesday, which would make this the country’s largest city to go bankrupt. The new budget will suspend debt payments, cut employee pay and reduce retiree benefits, allowing this city of about 292,000 residents to continue providing essential services through the bankruptcy process.

“This is not where any of us wanted to be,” Bob Deis, the city manager, said in a statement. “But absent restructuring agreements with our creditors, any other options would decimate the city.”

A year after nearby Vallejo, Calif., filed bankruptcy in 2008, state lawmakers passed AB 506, a bill requiring cities to hire a third-party mediator to negotiate with creditors before filing for bankruptcy. Stockton officials had hoped to avoid bankruptcy when the city became the first to enter into the new state-required mediation in March. But on Monday night, after 90 days of mediation, the city and its 18 creditors failed to meet a midnight deadline for a deal.

“Bankruptcy is a terrible option until it’s the only option,” Marc Levinson, a lawyer representing the city, told the council. During Tuesday’s meeting, dozens of emotional residents and city retirees begged officials to avoid bankruptcy and preserve benefits. The state constitution required that the city address its $26 million general fund deficit, of a total budget of $521 million, to meet a July 1 deadline for cities to adopt balanced budgets. The city could continue informal negotiations with creditors with the new budget, but a bankruptcy filing appeared imminent.

Bankruptcy experts and officials at other fiscally wounded cities are keeping close tabs on Stockton as it unravels. “Everyone is watching,” said Karol K. Denniston, a partner at the law firm Schiff Hardin who helped draft the AB 506 legislation. “It’s in the interest of every teetering city to make its bankruptcy process as short and cost effective as possible.” Despite their failure to reach an agreement, three months of negotiation between the city and its creditors could make the bankruptcy process more efficient by shortening what can otherwise be a long and costly period in court, said Ms. Denniston said. Protracted bankruptcy proceedings — like those in Vallejo — can push residents to leave, further eroding a city’s tax base...This city of about 292,000, some 80 miles east of San Francisco, was not so long ago a rapidly expanding bedroom community for commuters to the Bay Area. But in recent years, the city has been crushed by falling housing prices, foreclosures, the mounting costs of retiree pensions and hefty price tags for buildings paid for with taxpayer guaranteed bonds, including a hockey arena. Since 2009, the city has cut some $90 million in spending and eliminated 25 percent of its police officers, 30 percent of its fire department and 40 percent of all other city employees. Earlier this year, the city defaulted on several debt payments and as a result Wells Fargo repossessed a downtown building bought in 2007 for $40 million. Officials had planned a new city hall there. The bank also repossessed three city-owned parking garages.

“We have hit the wall; we are insolvent,” Mayor Ann Johnston said in a statement issued in early June, after city officials authorized the city manager to file for bankruptcy if mediation efforts failed, as they now have. “This is the action that we must take to keep the services that are important for the safety and health of our citizens.”

THANK YOU, RONALD REAGAN AND HOWARD JARVIS. YOU HAVE DESTROYED CALIFORNIA. IT WAS GETTING TOO SMUG ANYWAY.

[Roland99]

75. Wonder if they suffered partly from bid rigging, too?

Of course, freepers will say it's their fault for educating illegals and giving them free healthcare.

[Demeter]

78. I'm sure they did

That hockey rink, for example..a case of backstopping an "enterprise" bond. ...Well, it WAS enterprising for the cons that set it up, and the suckers that have to pay for it are just food for a vampire squid or the like. After all, GS is a global banking concern.

Which means concern about GS is global...or should be!

[Demeter]

41. Why Don’t Americans Take More Vacations? Blame It on Independence Day

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/why-dont-americans-take-more-vacations-blame-it-on-independence-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

AT FIRST I WONDERED IF YVES WAS TALKING ABOUT THE MOVIE... IT'S AN INTERESTING THESIS, REGARDLESS....BUT LONG AND NOT AMENABLE TO SUMMARY. HAVE A READ IF YOU HAVE TIME

[Demeter]

42. Breaking Up Big Banks Hard to Do as Market Forces Fail

IT'S THE JOB THAT'S NEVER STARTED THAT TAKES THE LONGEST TIME TO DO...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/breaking-up-big-banks-hard-to-do-as-market-forces-fail.html

...The stocks of five of the six biggest U.S. banks -- JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) -- are languishing at or below tangible book value. That means the pieces are worth more than the whole, Price said.

“Within the banks are wonderful assets,” said Price, who sold his fund-management company for $610 million in 1996 and now runs MFP Investors LLC in New York. “How long are the boards of directors going to stand by and take no action and let them be pounded? So far there’s no indication that any of these banks or boards of banks is willing to do anything about it.”

Politicians and regulators have resisted calls from some investors to split up conglomerates that were assembled over two decades by executives such as former Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Sanford “Sandy” Weill and former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. These universal banks offered customers everything from checking accounts and insurance to derivatives trading and merger advice. The 2008 financial crisis and subsequent performance of the companies is calling that into question.

...Laws prohibit non-financial firms from buying lenders, and banks can’t make purchases that give them more than 10 percent of U.S. deposits. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo were already at or above that level at the end of March, according to data from the Federal Reserve and the companies...

THIS ARTICLE GOES ON FOR PAGES

[Demeter]

44. As Congress looks away, U.S. tiptoes toward exporting a gas bounty

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-usa-lng-exports-idUSBRE85Q05820120627

ANOTHER EXTREMELY LENGTHY ARTICLE...I THINK THEY ARE PADDING...

[xchrom]

45. Europe clears €2.3bn bailout fund for Ireland

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0627/1224318804988.html

The European Commission has cleared the payment of €2.3 billion of bailout funding to the Government. The decision comes following the completion of the sixth quarterly review of the EU-IMF financial assistance programme for Ireland.

The commission said the implementation of the terms of the bailout “remain strong”.

An additional €500 million is expected to be disbursed from bilateral EU donors who are not in the euro zone – Britain, Denmark and Sweden. This would bring total

funding to Ireland to about €34.9 billion (€32.8 billion from the euro zone bailout funds and €2.1 billion from bilateral EU donors) since the launch of the programme in 2010. It represents 82 per cent of the total amount committed by the euro zone rescue funds to Ireland.

[Demeter]

46. What Killed Us, Then and Now

Via The Washington Post's Sarah Kliff comes this incredible chart from the New England Journal of Medicine comparing the reasons we die now to the way Americans went to their graves a century ago:



http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/chart-what-killed-us-then-and-now/258872/

THIS IS A FALSE COMPARISON...DEATH CERTIFICATES WERE SELDOM PREPARED BY MEDICALLY TRAINED PEOPLE IN THE PAST, AND FURTHERMORE, MEDICAL TRAINING THEN WAS NOTHING LIKE WHAT IT IS TODAY.

SENILITY FOR EXAMPLE...IT'S NOT A KILLER, IT'S A CONDITION. AND MANY OF THOSE GENERAL CATEGORIES COULD HAVE BEEN CANCER, BUT NOBODY LOOKED.

[Demeter]

47. Roman and Celtic coin hoard worth up to £10m found in Jersey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-18579868

..."It was found under a hedge so perhaps this is an early example of hedge fund trading”

Deputy Rob Duhamel Environment Minister

[Po_d Mainiac]

59. Probably not a hedge fund

Last edited Wed Jun 27, 2012, 10:02 AM - Edit history (1)

The Celts often went into battle naked (shunning armor was a courage thingy) .....(and just plain wierd!)

Prior to a fight they'd often bury their wealth (literally) for safe keeping. (Ain't like they had spare pockets sewed into their birthday suits)

That it (the treasure) did not get retrieved wood probably indicate the prior owner didn't fare so well during combat.

[Tansy_Gold]

76. This stuff fascinates me

I can't even begin to imagine the excitement of finding 50,000 coins more than 2,000 years old. I've found a couple of arrowheads and that's quite a thrill in itself, but nothing compared to this! wow!

[Demeter]

79. The Thing That Disturbs Me (or things)

1. That's a massive amount of real wealth. How was it accumulated? Another great crime?

2. Nobody ever came back to dig it up. What does that tell you about the people that buried it? Wiped out..no family...not trusting anybody...

3. How could it sit there for thousands of years, undisturbed? England must be really depressed all the time. Not likely to find that in US, unless it's under the basement of an historical building in a metropolis.

4. What kind of lives would people have had, if that wealth had done something more than just sit in the dirt?

[Demeter]

49. I'm off to learn how to operate an "electronic pollbook"

They scheduled 2.5 hours for this... and it's just a dedicated computer tool.

They probably start at the very beginning for people who never touched a computer of any kind, and can't program their remotes or digital clocks... "This is the ON switch, and you depress it.."

I can't think it would take 2.5 hours to learn. In that amount of time, we could learn how to troubleshoot to the sub-assembly level, if not component....

[Demeter]

80. Yup. We started with "how to open the laptop"

The exercise could have taken 30 minutes, including questions that didn't relate to the machine, but actually to the election process...

and we still ran over time. Fortunately, I did not get a ticket, and there were the first peaches at the farmer's market!

[xchrom]

50. There is an alternative to neoliberalism that still understands the markets

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/27/alternative-neoliberalism-still-understands-markets



'The social pact with unregulated finance capitalism is a Faustian one, and its price is the soul of the welfare state.' Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images


Many fear that neoliberalism will never be defeated. They may be right if their fears are that the interests sustaining the neoliberal system are too powerful. When they claim neoliberalism will prevail because there are no viable alternatives, however, they are quite wrong. The ideas are out there; they are widely understood and coherent; there are even good examples of them in action.

We know that when markets are extended they generate what is known as "negative externalities" – damage caused by market behaviour that does not enter into the cost calculations of those producing it. The most obvious and biggest examples concern pollution. Left to itself, the market only rarely gives a firm incentives to reduce any damage it causes to the general environment. But there are many other less obvious examples of such externalities, such as the anxiety caused to workers' lives by unregulated labour markets, or the general undermining of values and common decency produced by the single-minded concentration on profit maximisation.

Particularly important are externalities where the public damage done undermines the sustainability of business activity itself. The most important example of that today is the exaggerated and highly disruptive effect produced on the economy by the movement of vast funds of speculative finance. More generally, the unwillingness to accept taxation, regulation and collective action that marketisation brings in its train reduces a society's ability to generate the high-quality human and physical infrastructure that an economy needs, but which is only with difficulty achieved through the market itself.

Proposals for resolving these problems can be brought together under the coherent umbrella of tackling market externalities. This has a defensive component, in the protection of interests damaged by markets, and a proactive one, in taking measures to ensure a sustainability that the market cannot provide unaided.

[xchrom]

54. Spain’s deficit nears maximum level agreed with Brussels

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/06/26/inenglish/1340737851_775200.html

Despite tough action being taken by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s deficit rose during the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2011, a top budget official said on Tuesday.

The deficit up until May was listed at 3.41 percent of GDP — just 0.9 percent below the ceiling figure Spain pledged Brussels it would meet by the end of 2012.

Spain was 36.364 billion euros in the red at the end of May, said Marta Fernández Currás, the official in charge of the budget. The figure is 30.6 percent more than it was for the same period last year. She attributed the high figure to the drop in tax revenues, mainly relating to consumer spending. “We are in the middle of the worst moment in the financial year,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rajoy administration officials acknowledged on Tuesday that among the new measures they are studying to help the government get its finances back on track is the elimination of the tax deduction for the purchase of a new home — a recommendation made by the European Commission. The deduction had been eliminated by the preceding Socialist government but was reintroduced by Rajoy six months ago. Public Works Minister Ana Pastor assured two months ago that the government would not eliminate it.

[Demeter]

81. First rule of holes, guys

[Roland99]

55. Today's Reports (Orders) >>>>

* Transportation orders climb 2.7% in May
* Core capital goods orders increase 1.6% in May
* Durable orders minus transportation rise 0.4%
* U.S. orders for durable goods up 1.1% in May
* Orders for April revised down to show 0.2% decline

[xchrom]

57. Spending cuts that can kill

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/06/26/inenglish/1340714465_876454.html

On March 8, 2011, around 11am, a 27-year-old woman called Marta Jorgoso Torres lost control of her Seat Córdoba as she drove across a bridge on the outskirts of the city of Granada. The accident was similar to one experienced by another driver on the same bend in August 2010. Concrete barriers by the side of the road had saved that motorist's life, but were severely damaged by the impact. The regional government of Andalusia's highways department replaced the concrete blocks with a few cones and plastic barriers that did nothing to prevent Jorgoso's car from plunging off the side of the bridge and falling 40 meters. Two weeks later, the highways department replaced the concrete barrier.

What happened to Marta Jorgoso illustrates how poor road maintenance can turn an accident into a tragedy. The Spanish Highways Association (AEC), which brings together the companies tasked with road repair, has issued a report warning of the "dangerous deterioration" of the country's network, and that accident deaths were likely to increase over the coming years as a result.

Investment in road maintenance has fallen over recent years as a result of the deep cuts in public spending imposed by the last two governments. In 2009, the Public Works Ministry spent 1.3 billion euros on road repairs, a figure that includes road surface repair, signage, barriers, and lighting. This year the figure is 873 million.

The AEC says around 325,000 signs need replacing; almost 50,000 kilometers of road have severely worn lane indications; and 21 percent of lights have been turned off or do not work. Most serious, it says, is the state of road surfaces, which are at their worst for 25 years. Between 2007 and 2008, 500 million euros were spent annually, a figure that dropped to 28 billion in 2009, and to 14 billion in 2010. "It has been three years of virtually no real investment, and that is having an impact on road safety," says the AEC's Elena de la Peña.

[DemReadingDU]

58. Matt Taibbi: On Hunter S. Thompson and...

6/26/12 Matt Taibbi: On Hunter S. Thompson and the New Edition of 'Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72'

So earlier this year I was asked by Simon and Schuster to write the introduction to the 40th anniversary edition of Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. Needless to say, this has been one of the coolest things to happen in my career. The book should be out soon, and I hope people like the new edition (the new black cover design looks great); in the meantime, I did a Q&A with the Village Voice about the book, about Hunter, and about what Hunter might have thought about the current presidential race.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/on-hunter-s-thompson-and-the-new-edition-of-fear-and-loathing-on-the-campaign-trail-72-20120626


6/27/12
Q&A: Matt Taibbi on the 40th Anniversary of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson's influence, and Why Barack Obama Isn't a Great Shark
By Eric Sundermann Wednesday, Jun 27 2012

Matt Taibbi, like many journalists, grew up idolizing Hunter S. Thompson. But Taibbi, unlike many journalists, got Hunter S. Thompson's job.

The similarities between the two Rolling Stone scribes do not stop there, even though Taibbi himself argues he's nothing like Thompson. Both made their name pointing out hypocrisies and flaws in the U.S. government. Both thrived (one still is) at a time of turmoil in our country's history. Both even managed to love the same sport, the game of football. And now both have their name on the cover of the same book. Taibbi was given the responsibility of writing a new introduction to the 40th-anniversary edition of one of Thompson's seminal works, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, which releases today.

In his introduction, Taibbi highlights the importance of Thompson's writing, calling him the "most instantly trustworthy" American narrator since Mark Twain, and argues that the book still continues to define the way we think about the dramas of politics. Taibbi stopped by The Village Voice office (where he was a summer intern in 1987) to chat about Thompson's influence, how Thompson lives up to his own cliche, and why Obama would disappoint Thompson, were Thompson still alive.

much more...
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-06-27/books/q-a-matt-taibbi-on-the-40th-anniversary-of-fear-and-loathing-on-the-campaign-trail-72-hunter-s-thompson-s-influence-and-why-barack-obama-isn-t-a-great-shark/

[Roland99]

77. Thanks for those links!

[DemReadingDU]

60. Europe's "Monetary Twilight Zone" Neutron Bomb: NIRP

6/27/12 Europe's "Monetary Twilight Zone" Neutron Bomb: NIRP

Just because ZIRP is so 2009 (and will be until the end of central planning as the Fed can not afford to hike rates ever again), the ECB is now contemplating something far more drastic: charging depositors for the privilege of holding money. Enter NIRP, aka Negative Interest Rate Policy.

Bloomberg reports that "European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is contemplating taking interest rates into a twilight zone shunned by the Federal Reserve. while cutting ECB rates may boost confidence, stimulate lending and foster growth, it could also involve reducing the bank’s deposit rate to zero or even lower. Once an obstacle for policy makers because it risks hurting the money markets they’re trying to revive, cutting the deposit rate from 0.25 percent is no longer a taboo, two euro-area central bank officials said on June 15...

“The European recession is worsening, the ECB has to do more,” said Julian Callow, chief European economist at Barclays Capital in London, who forecasts rates will be cut at the ECB’s next policy meeting on July 5. “A negative deposit rate is something they need to consider but taking it to zero as a first step is more likely.”

Should Draghi elect to cut the deposit rate to zero or lower, he’ll be entering territory few policy makers have dared to venture. Sweden’s Riksbank in July 2009 became the world’s first central bank to charge financial institutions for the money they deposited with it overnight."

more...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/europes-monetary-twilight-zone-neutron-bomb-nirp


Bloomberg article...
6/27/12 Draghi May Enter Twilight Zone Where Fed Fears to Tread
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-26/draghi-may-enter-twilight-zone-where-bernanke-fears-to-tread.html




Yikes!
Time for more deposits into the Bank of Sealy!

[xchrom]

61. China proposes $10bn loan for Latin America countries

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18605450


China has offered to set up a $10bn (£6.4bn) credit line for Latin American countries to support infrastructure projects in the region.

The proposal was made by China's Premier Wen Jiabao as he wrapped up his visit to the region.

He also proposed a free trade pact between China and South American trade bloc Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

China has been keen to increase its trade with the region's economies.

[Fuddnik]

62. Debby's Deluge (pics)

I shot these this morning.


This is the Anclote River, across the street from my house. You can normally see about four feet of seawall below that fence.



This is the neighbor across the street's seawall. It's normally six feet higher than the river. And, that river is full of gators. Now they can swim right out. There's major flooding 3-4 miles upstream, with whole developments being evacuated.


These are golf course condos around the corner. You can usually see aabout four feet of seawall there, and those boats on the davits normally hang about 6 feet above the canal.


This is not the Gulf of Mexico. It's the golf course around the corner.


This is taken from the neighbor directly across from me. We're on the Holiday side of the river. The other side is Tarpon Springs. The river runs down through the Sponge Docks into the Gulf.

We're already above the 100 year flood mark, and it's not expected to crest until Thursday or Friday.

[xchrom]

63. wow! -- so have you banished the dogs from walkies with possible gators around?

that's an amazing amount of water.

[Demeter]

82. How can you take walkies without a place to walk?

It's more like swimmies.

[xchrom]

84. LOL -- swimmies... very good! nt

[DemReadingDU]

66. That's a LOT of water

I hope you don't have water in your house.

I always worry that a small creek leading to a major river could someday become flooded near our house. We did not know we were in a flood zone, until after we bought this house, when they re-zoned this neighborhood to be in the 100 year flood plain. GRRR.

[Fuddnik]

71. We're dry.

The pool overflowed, but a french drain between the pool deck and lanai diverted it all before it got into the house. In-laws next door weren't so lucky. They got water in their bedroom when their pool overflowed.

[Roland99]

74. before long, we'll putting all our houses up on stilts

[Roland99]

73. That's some serious flooding. Saw pics of Sawgrass on the news last night and it's flooded

Live Oak is flooded almost completely and there aren't even any rivers thru there!

[Demeter]

86. I am so envious

We are in a serious drought. Tomorrow's forecast high is now 104F. there's not a prayer of rain for the entire country, outside of Florida and Maine.

I have never seen the entire continent with no humidity.

[xchrom]

64. Vietnam decries 'illegal' South China Sea oil bid

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18610886

Vietnam has protested against China's plan to invite foreign oil bids in a disputed area in the South China Sea, adding to tensions in the region.

The foreign ministry said the move was "illegal" and a serious "violation of Vietnam's sovereignty".

It added that the oil blocks are "deep inside Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and not a contested area".

China's CNOOC oil company on Saturday said that nine offshore blocks were open to foreign bids this year.

[xchrom]

65. Police: 5 suspected of stealing 9.5 tons of garlic

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ODD_AUSTRIA_GARLIC_HEIST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-27-09-56-57

VIENNA (AP) -- Austrian police did not need sniffing dogs to locate this suspected heist - 9.5 tons of garlic.

The Austria Press Agency says police stopped three overloaded and sagging vans about to cross into Hungary from Austria on Wednesday and found them packed to the roof with the pungent cargo. After questioning the five men in the vehicles they charged them on suspicion of receiving stolen goods.

Police say the garlic apparently came from Spain and estimate its value at (EURO)30,000 ($37,500). The men - all Romanian nationals - were not named, in line with Austrian privacy laws.

APA cites one officer as saying it was clear what the vans were carrying even before their doors were opened.

"All three vehicles really stunk like garlic," he says.

[Roland99]

67. Today's Reports (May Pending Home Sales) >>>>

* Pending home sales surge 5.9% in May to 2-yr high

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-climb-to-two-year-high-in-may-2012-06-27

[Roland99]

68. Oil back over $80/bbl on housing data and slightly lower inventories

[Demeter]

83. Bruce Bartlett - A full Fed board can fire up the US economy

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke noted on Monday that this is the first time during his chairmanship that the central bank's seven-member board has been at full strength. This may have important implications for the future course of US monetary policy.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/TUI9RP/06MUC/4CE0O7/FK2VRQ/50/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=27



RIIIGGHT--SEVEN TIMES NOTHING IS STILL NOTHING...UNLESS WE GET SOME DIFFERENT IDEAS ON BOARD, THERE WILL BE NO DIRECTED CHANGE, JUST THE KIND THAT COMES FROM THE CRUMBLING SITUATION.

[Demeter]

85. The irony of the individual mandate by Ezra Klein

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/06/26/the-irony-of-the-individual-mandate/

There are many ironies in the furor around the individual mandate. The fact that it was originally a Republican idea tends to get the most attention. But here’s another: There is no better deal in the legislation — and there has perhaps never been a better deal in the individual health-care market — than to go without insurance and pay the mandate’s penalty.

Here’s what happens now if you decide to wait until you’re sick to buy health insurance: Every health insurance company will tell you no, or they’ll charge you an exorbitant rate, or they’ll offer you insurance that will cover everything except your illness. Insurers, quite rightly, do not want to cover preexisting conditions, and there’s little consumers can do to make them change their minds.

Under the Affordable Care Act, here’s what happens if you wait until you’re sick to buy health insurance: You can buy health insurance and no insurer can charge you more for walking into their office with a lump the size of a golf ball. The catch is that between now and getting sick, if you can afford insurance — which the law defines as you have access to insurance that costs less than eight percent of your income — you have to pay a penalty of $695 a year (that’s the 2016 number; after 2016, it rises with inflation) or 2.5 percent of your annual income, whichever is greater. The fact of the matter is that $695 a year or 2.5 percent of your annual income is likely to be a lot less than a decent insurance policy will cost you. In a way, paying the mandate is like buying an option to purchase insurance at some future date, when you need it more, for a price that you could never have gotten before the mandate

But let’s say you try to eke out an even better deal than that: Let’s say you don’t buy insurance and you simply refuse to pay the mandate. What can the government do to make you pay? Well, unlike if you refuse to pay your taxes, it can’t throw you in jail or put a lien on your home or other property (page 336 of the legislation). It can potentially reduce your tax refund, but that’s really it. If you’re not getting a tax refund, you’re free and clear. Given these specifics, it’s worth asking why anyone thinks the mandate will work at all. And it’s worth saying that some don’t. “Even as it exists today, the individual mandate is weak and still presents problems because the penalty is so low,” Aetna Chief Executive Mark Bertolini told Reuters. “Obamacare individual mandate unlikely to work” wrote Marrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation, an organization that opposes the Affordable Care Act. Most analysts are more optimistic, and for two reasons. First, Americans want health insurance, they want access to care before they get sick, and with the subsidies in place, they’re getting help to buy it. Second, Americans tend to follow the rules. In Massachusetts, where the mandate is similarly weak, compliance has been extraordinarily high.

[xchrom]

89. EU MEMBERSHIP Montenegro and Iceland edge closer

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/2252211-montenegro-and-iceland-edge-closer

The eurozone crisis might have made EU membership a less attractive proposition lately. Nevertheless talks with applicant countries are ongoing in Brussels. The EUobserver reports that EU states have agreed to invite Montenegro for negotiations on membership, with talks starting as soon as 29 June. EU foreign ministers said Brussels would closely monitor Montenegro's efforts to tackle corruption and organised crime during the accession process that may last several years.

Meanwhile, the Swiss daily Le Temps adds that a meeting of EU foreign ministers earlier in the week discussed Icelandic efforts to join the EU 27.

Difficult to believe, that the island is still looking to join the EU, in the midst of the euro crisis... Why is Reykjavik continuing to push for it? ... Essentially, to secure the island to mainland Europe after the speculative financial bubble burst in September 2008.