STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 26 November 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 26 November 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 23 November 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 23 November 2012
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Dow Jones 13,009.68 +172.79 (1.35%)
S&P 500 1,409.15 +18.12 (1.30%)
Nasdaq 2,966.85 +40.30 (1.38%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.69% +0.01 (0.60%)
30 Year 2.82% +0.01 (0.36%) [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
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
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.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.



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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]

[Demeter]

1. How cautiously and carefully oil is creeping up

Last edited Mon Nov 26, 2012, 08:51 AM - Edit history (1)

as if we wouldn't notice...

[Demeter]

2. Why the Foreclosure Crisis is Getting Worse By Selena Cowell (OCTOBER)

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2012/10/22/worried-about-your-home-why-the-foreclosure-crisis-is-getting-worse

Although the housing market is showing signs of recovery, other indicators show the foreclosure crisis is getting worse. In a September interview with U.S. News, Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said, "I think there's a lot wrong in the housing market. If Fannie and Freddie would start enabling people to rent out the vacant homes, that would also help." YEAH, RIGHT. GOOLSBEE IS AN IDIOT

Some foreclosure facts:

The mortgage loans which are currently under the foreclosure process is amounting to almost $45 billion (that is mainly in terms with negative equity)

More than almost 12 million homeowners are currently considered to be underwater, who are still making payments

There are more than 1.5 million of the homeowners, who are at least 50 years or even older and may have lost the home to foreclosure, since the year 2007, when the mortgage crisis actually began

The government has monitored the settlement program, and has reported that the 5 most significant banks has provided around $10.6 billion in total, as the aid money starting from only from March 1 through that of June 30.

Almost close to 140,000 numbers of homeowners has received at least one or the other type of mortgage debt relief, with respect to the mortgage settlement program, averaging to around $76,615 amount every person.

Since the year 2010, almost 270 churches have gotten sold off, after they have defaulted on the mortgage loan payments, and the 90 percent of the home sales resulted after foreclosure chain which was triggered off by the lenders

[Demeter]

3. A Minimum Tax for the Wealthy By WARREN E. BUFFETT

THE ORACLE OF OMAHA SPEAKS IN NYT OP-ED

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/opinion/buffett-a-minimum-tax-for-the-wealthy.html?_r=0

SUPPOSE that an investor you admire and trust comes to you with an investment idea. “This is a good one,” he says enthusiastically. “I’m in it, and I think you should be, too.” Would your reply possibly be this? “Well, it all depends on what my tax rate will be on the gain you’re saying we’re going to make. If the taxes are too high, I would rather leave the money in my savings account, earning a quarter of 1 percent.” Only in Grover Norquist’s imagination does such a response exist.

Between 1951 and 1954, when the capital gains rate was 25 percent and marginal rates on dividends reached 91 percent in extreme cases, I sold securities and did pretty well. In the years from 1956 to 1969, the top marginal rate fell modestly, but was still a lofty 70 percent — and the tax rate on capital gains inched up to 27.5 percent. I was managing funds for investors then. Never did anyone mention taxes as a reason to forgo an investment opportunity that I offered.

Under those burdensome rates, moreover, both employment and the gross domestic product (a measure of the nation’s economic output) increased at a rapid clip. The middle class and the rich alike gained ground. So let’s forget about the rich and ultrarich going on strike and stuffing their ample funds under their mattresses if — gasp — capital gains rates and ordinary income rates are increased. The ultrarich, including me, will forever pursue investment opportunities.

And, wow, do we have plenty to invest. The Forbes 400, the wealthiest individuals in America, hit a new group record for wealth this year: $1.7 trillion. That’s more than five times the $300 billion total in 1992. In recent years, my gang has been leaving the middle class in the dust. A huge tail wind from tax cuts has pushed us along. In 1992, the tax paid by the 400 highest incomes in the United States (a different universe from the Forbes list) averaged 26.4 percent of adjusted gross income. In 2009, the most recent year reported, the rate was 19.9 percent. It’s nice to have friends in high places. The group’s average income in 2009 was $202 million — which works out to a “wage” of $97,000 per hour, based on a 40-hour workweek. (I’m assuming they’re paid during lunch hours.) Yet more than a quarter of these ultrawealthy paid less than 15 percent of their take in combined federal income and payroll taxes. Half of this crew paid less than 20 percent. And — brace yourself — a few actually paid nothing. This outrage points to the necessity for more than a simple revision in upper-end tax rates, though that’s the place to start. I support President Obama’s proposal to eliminate the Bush tax cuts for high-income taxpayers. However, I prefer a cutoff point somewhat above $250,000 — maybe $500,000 or so. Additionally, we need Congress, right now, to enact a minimum tax on high incomes. I would suggest 30 percent of taxable income between $1 million and $10 million, and 35 percent on amounts above that. A plain and simple rule like that will block the efforts of lobbyists, lawyers and contribution-hungry legislators to keep the ultrarich paying rates well below those incurred by people with income just a tiny fraction of ours. Only a minimum tax on very high incomes will prevent the stated tax rate from being eviscerated by these warriors for the wealthy.

Above all, we should not postpone these changes in the name of “reforming” the tax code....

************************************************************

Warren E. Buffett is the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

[Demeter]

4. Greece, fiscal cliff weigh on U.S. stock futures

AND I'M SURE THAT WARREN BUFFET'S OP-ED WILL HAVE THEM ALL JITTERY, TOO

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-fiscal-cliff-weigh-on-us-stock-futures-2012-11-26?siteid=YAHOOB

U.S. stock-market futures headed lower on Monday, with investors focusing on continued negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff and discussions among euro-area finance ministers over the next tranche of Greek aid.

No major economic data are on the agenda...

Later on Monday, European finance ministers will meet to try and OK the latest aid payment to Greece, after failing to agree last week with the International Monetary Fund over those conditions...

Lawmakers will return to Washington, for a three-week session after the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Some Republican lawmakers reportedly said over the weekend that they are ready to break a longstanding promise not to raise taxes...leading Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday, also was guardedly optimistic about a deal...

[Demeter]

5. Your tax money is about to be blown in Greece

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/your-tax-money-is-about-to-be-blown-in-greece-2012-11-23

How much has the Greek crisis cost taxpayers in the rest of the world so far? A billion? Fifty billion? A trillion? Actually, the answer is nothing. For all the drama, panics in the markets, and late night crisis summits, the whole saga has yet to cost a bean. Indeed some countries — such as Germany — have actually made a profit out of it.

Greece and the rest of the bankrupt peripheral countries have been propped up with loans, guarantees and all kinds of fancy sounding schemes. But not much in the way of hard cash has been spent. The International Monetary Fund and euro-zone governments have stepped in with support programs. But although private bond-holders had a ‘haircut’ imposed on them in the last bail-out, the fiction has been maintained that all the taxpayer support for Greece will be re-paid. That is about to change. The euro-crisis is about to cost cold, hard cash for taxpayers throughout the world. And you don’t exactly need to be Nate Silver to predict they are not going to be very happy about it.

The situation in Greece goes from bad to worse (or rather from catastrophic to apocalyptic). The economy, which was forecast to be ‘recovering’ by now when the rescue package was launched back in 2010, will shrink by another 7% this year, and probably by as much next year. Debt ratios are still soaring out of control. Greece’s debt to GDP is now forecast to hit 180%, according to the latest report of the European Union, the IMF, and the European Central Bank. Greece is in danger of running out of cash any day now. Another bailout is being negotiated. It was held up while the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras struggled to get the latest austerity package through a reluctant Parliament. And yet, even though that has been delivered, the next $44 billion of aid money still hasn’t been paid out. Why? Because the IMF is quite rightly insisting on realistic debt targets. The Greek economy can’t support a debt ratio of 180%. Very few economies can, and certainly not one going through a 1930s –style depression. Greece needs to get the ratio down to 120% or less to survive. But there is no way it can do that simply by cutting spending. As we now know, that simply worsens the depression.

There is only one way out. Debt forgiveness.

In the last bailout, a ‘haircut’ was imposed on private sector holders of Greek debt. There are not very many of them left, however. Most of the outstanding Greek debt is now in the hands of the ECB, the IMF, or national governments. Much of it will have to be written off. How much? A hundred billion euros according to an estimate by Barclays Capital. In other words, serious money. Until now, hardly a cent of real cash has been spent supporting Greece. According to a report in Der Spiegel, Germany has actually made a profit of 400 million euros so far on the money it has lent the country. Germany borrows cheaply, and passes the loans on to the Greeks at a higher rate. As any credit card company will tell you, that is an easy way to make a living — as long as you get repaid in full.

But the Greek loans won’t be repaid. That much is obvious to anyone. The moment when that simple truth has to be faced is fast approaching.

[Roland99]

6. A little Cyber Monday hangover...

[font color="red"]S&P 500 -0.3%
DOW -0.3%
NASDAQ -0.2% [/font]

[Warpy]

68. The rise in capital gains taxes weighs a hell of a lot heavier

and we're going to see a huge selloff by fat cats if it looks like the ridiculous 2001 tax cuts are going to be allowed to expire at last. It will be followed by a big rebound in January as they pocket the difference and snap up stocks again.

[Demeter]

7. Australia introduces "kill switch" for computer share trading

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/20/australia-trading-idUKL4N09015L20121120

The Australian government introduced new market trading rules, including a "kill switch", on Tuesday to protect investors from volatility caused by controversial super-fast computer-driven trading. The government also launched further inquiries into high frequency trading and so-called dark pool trading, which allows shareholders to trade amongst themselves away from the main "lit" market without revealing their identity or display prices.

Electronic trading has come under global scrutiny since it was blamed for the "flash crash" in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in May 2010 when the index plunged 1,000 points, or 9 percent, and regained most of those losses in less than 20 minutes.

The Australian government's package of new market integrity rules includes the use of "kill switches" which could be used to immediately stop computer-generated, or algorithmic, trading in the event of sudden or untoward market movements. The rules, which were recommended by the Australian Securities and Investments Commmission, also require dark pools to offer a "meaningful price improvement" over the traditional "lit" market...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is mulling the effectiveness of "kill switches" as part of a broad review of technology issues after a major glitch at Knight Capital on Aug. 1 that led to a $440 million trading loss that nearly bankrupted the firm....

[DemReadingDU]

9. Wankers. If one is afraid of volatility, get out of the markets

duh.

[AnneD]

57. This is why...

I have as little exposure as possible in the market....

[Demeter]

8. U.S. Deficit Shrinking At Fastest Pace Since WWII, Before Fiscal Cliff

http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/112012-634082-federal-deficit-falling-fastest-since-world-war-ii.htm

Believe it or not, the federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since demobilization from World War II.

In fact, outside of that post-WWII era, the only time the deficit has fallen faster was when the economy relapsed in 1937, turning the Great Depression into a decade-long affair.

If U.S. history offers any guide, we are already testing the speed limits of a fiscal consolidation that doesn't risk backfiring. That's why the best way to address the fiscal cliff likely is to postpone it.

While long-term deficit reduction is important and deficits remain very large by historical standards, the reality is that the government already has its foot on the brakes...


Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/112012-634082-federal-deficit-falling-fastest-since-world-war-ii.htm#ixzz2DKWND5Y6

[Demeter]

10. Bernanke signals support for Fed policy "thresholds"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/20/us-usa-fed-bernanke-thresholds-idUSBRE8AJ17520121120

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke voiced support on Tuesday for numerical unemployment and inflation thresholds, in a signal that he backs adopting them to help guide expectations about when the Fed will start raising interest rates.

"This is something we are looking at very carefully," Bernanke told the New York Economic Club after delivering a speech. "It does have the advantage that it would help to distinguish between our anticipation for how the economy is going to evolve, and how we will react to those conditions."

Bernanke's tacit endorsement of thresholds follows strongly voiced support last week from Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen. Together they provide a powerful hint that the U.S. central bank is seriously thinking about moving in this direction. Such a step would allow it to get away from a current commitment to hold rates down until a specific calendar date, which a number of policymakers view as problematic. The U.S. central bank has said it expects to keep overnight rates near zero until at least mid-2015 and that policy will remain highly accommodative for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens.

Bernanke explained that this date-tied commitment mixes up two important factors impacting consumer and business behavior: how long the Fed might think the economy will need "life support" and how it will respond to economic conditions...

ISN'T HE SUPPOSED TO BE THROWN OUT SHORTLY?

[Demeter]

11. WALL OF SHAME: Ex-SAC Manager Was ‘Pupil’ of Doctor Accused of Tips

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/ex-sac-manager-was-pupil-of-doctor-accused-of-tips.html

Sid Gilman, a University of Michigan neurologist, was portrayed by U.S. authorities as a $1,000-an- hour consultant who leaked confidential drug trial data that helped hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP illegally avoid losses or make profit of $276 million.

Gilman, 80, was chairman of a safety-monitoring committee that oversaw a clinical trial by Wyeth LLC and Elan Corp. (ELN) into whether the drug bapineuzumab, or bapi, was safe for patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Gilman also moonlighted for a New York-based expert network, providing advice at a fee to former SAC portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department.

Gilman treated Martoma, 38, as a “friend and pupil” as he leaked him secret data for 18 months, authorities said. Gilman told Martoma on July 17, 2008, that bapi wasn’t helping patients as expected, according to the SEC. Prosecutors yesterday charged Martoma with insider trading and the SEC sued him, saying Gilman’s tips let Stamford, Connecticut-based SAC and its CR Intrinsic Investors unit sell more than $960 million in Elan and Wyeth securities before a July 29, 2008, announcement of the drug-trial results. The SEC also sued Gilman.

“At the center of the scheme was the cultivation and corruption of a renowned medical doctor,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said yesterday at a news conference in Manhattan. “He is prepared to testify in connection with a non-prosecution agreement.”

SURE, THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY--MAYBE HE'LL TAKE AN ALZHEIMERS DEFENSE!

[Demeter]

12. Credit Suisse Sued by N.Y. Over Losses on Mortgage Bonds

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/credit-suisse-sued-by-n-y-over-losses-on-mortgage-bonds.html

Credit Suisse (CSGN) Group AG was accused in a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of deceiving investors in mortgage-backed securities that were sold before the financial crisis.

Credit Suisse, which last week agreed to settle U.S. claims that it misled mortgage-bond investors, committed “multiple fraudulent and deceptive acts” in promoting and selling the securities, Schneiderman’s office said in a complaint filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court.

“This lawsuit against Credit Suisse marks another significant step in our efforts to hold financial institutions accountable for the misconduct that led to the worst financial crisis in nearly a century,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

The lawsuit is an enforcement action by a state-federal task force established earlier this year to investigate misconduct in the bundling of mortgage loans into securities before the housing bust. Schneiderman is co-chairman of the group, which includes officials from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We firmly reject this complaint, which recycles baseless claims from private lawsuits and uses an inaccurate and exaggerated number,” Jack Grone, a spokesman for Zurich-based Credit Suisse, said in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our defense in court.”

MORE

[xchrom]

13. monday...

[DemReadingDU]

24. Bummer, I get the dreaded red x

[xchrom]

32. it's a shot from who's afraid of baby jane.

bette looking out of a window with a sour look.

[AnneD]

60. I thought it was...

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. Maybe my cold is short circuting the brain.

Edited to add...Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

[xchrom]

62. You're right - my bad. Nt

[Demeter]

35. What is that?

What Red X?

X, are you wearing red today?

(LOOKS FRANTICALLY OVER ONESELF FOR RED X'S OR ANYTHING RED)

[DemReadingDU]

39. Red x

I can't see the picture, instead there is a tiny box with a red x in it

I usually use Firefox, but then I tried both IE and AOL browsers, and still the dreaded red x

[Demeter]

40. Oh, I didn't even get that

no picture, red x, nothing

[DemReadingDU]

41. I got it!

On the red x, I right-click, and found the URL for the picture. So here is the URL, just ignore the quote marks when you past the URL in the browser

" "


edit to add that I now see the picture in xchrom's posting

[Demeter]

42. All I see is Quote Marks

Giving it up as a hopeless case.

[DemReadingDU]

44. We're in the Twilight Zone

http://tzone.the-croc.com/sounds/tzone2.wav

[Tansy_Gold]

49. Right click on the red X in the little box

That will give you a menu of options.

Go all the way down to "Properties" and left click on it.

That will give you another box. Go to URL/Address and left click until the whole URL is highlighted. Make sure the cursor is on the highlighted portion and right click. This will give you another menu box. Go to "copy" and left click.

Open another browser window. Left click on the address box, then paste the copied URL into it. Go to that URL and you'll get the picture.

I think.

[xchrom]

14. UK 'could face austerity until 2018'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20470864


The think tank's analysis takes account of a weaker outlook for the economy


The chancellor may have to extend the squeeze on public spending until 2018 if the recent deterioration in growth prospects and tax receipts turns out to be permanent, a think tank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said George Osborne may have to find another £11bn from tax rises or spending cuts if the economy does not pick up.

This is on top of £8bn of cuts already mooted in the Budget.

Mr Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement on 5 December.

[Demeter]

15. Deadline Looms for Long-Term Unemployed

Benefits for More Than 2 Million Could Expire at Year-End

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324712504578133093359840804.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

More than 40% of the nearly five million Americans who receive unemployment insurance are set to lose those benefits if federal programs expire as scheduled at year-end. Some economists worry that cutting off those benefits could harm the economy by leaving millions of Americans with less money to spend on everything from food to fuel. Others argue that overly generous benefits are helping to prolong joblessness.

About 2.1 million Americans receive payments through federally backed emergency unemployment programs, which Congress adopted starting in 2008 as a temporary supplement to state-level programs funded primarily with taxes on employers, which generally offer six months of benefits. That number has tumbled from more than 3.5 million at the start of the year and a peak of more than six million in early 2010, reflecting not just the gradual improvement of the job market but also new limits that have pushed hundreds of thousands of workers off the rolls before they could find jobs. Already this year, hundreds of thousands of people have exhausted their jobless benefits. Now, virtually everyone left in the federal programs would lose their benefits if the programs expire as scheduled at year-end.

Congress has repeatedly extended unemployment benefits amid high joblessness, and it could do so again. But the programs have gotten caught up in the fight over the "fiscal cliff," a package of tax increases and spending cuts due to take effect early next year. Some Democrats are pushing to extend benefits again, but the programs must contend not only with Republican opposition but also competing priorities such as business and individual tax breaks. For more than a year, unemployment benefits have been contracting. At the peak of the jobs crisis, workers in many states were eligible for up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Today, New York offers the longest-lasting benefits, at 83 weeks, and other states—including those with double-digit unemployment rates such as Nevada and California—offer 73 weeks at most. In a handful of states, benefits now expire after less than a year. As a result, benefits are expiring far faster than unemployed workers are finding jobs. As of October, about half of job seekers were receiving unemployment benefits, down from about 70% in early 2010.

With national unemployment at 7.9%, more than two points higher than when Congress enacted the temporary benefits in 2008, few economists support eliminating the federal programs entirely. But James Sherk, a senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said given current unemployment, benefits should last about 60 weeks. Mr. Sherk said overly generous benefits can prolong unemployment by giving people an incentive to keep looking for jobs they are unlikely to find.

"If you've been unemployed for a year, that job you're looking for probably doesn't exist," Mr. Sherk said.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, JAMES SHERK AND HERITAGE FOUNDATION

WAS EVER A MAN BETTER, MORE APTLY NAMED? AND WHAT KIND OF HERITAGE IS THAT?

[xchrom]

16. Germany's Ongoing Refusal to Forgive Greek Debt

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/germany-remains-adamant-in-refusal-to-forgive-greek-debt-a-869300.html

An elegant appearance is important to Christine Lagarde. The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wears her short hair carefully coiffed, and diamonds glitter on her manicured fingers. When she talks about global financial issues, she hardly ever raises her voice. Her colleagues at the Washington-based financial authority call her "Ms. Perfect."

But last Tuesday Lagarde, who was once French finance minister, was having trouble keeping her composure. She had hurried back to Europe from Asia to attend the latest in a series of Euro Group crisis meetings on Greece. And even though she had a fever and felt weak from the flu, she began to raise her voice as she spoke. For Greece to recover, she insisted, creditor countries would have to forgive the government in Athens a large share of its debt. "Nothing else will work," Lagarde said.
But the group, most notably Germany's impassive Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), refused to budge. The meeting ended unsuccessfully at around 5 a.m. and was adjourned until this Monday.

It is something of a paradox. Originally, Germany was the primary backer of IMF involvement in efforts to save the euro, primarily because of the group's experience, as Merkel repeatedly emphasized. Schäuble, for his part, said at the time: "There is no institution worldwide that has a comparable level of expertise."

[Demeter]

17. Retailers’ Thanksgiving Deals Cut Black Friday Sales

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-25/retailers-thanksgiving-deals-cut-black-friday-sales.html

Thanksgiving Day openings and midnight deals at retailers from Target Corp. (TGT) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) drew U.S. shoppers out earlier than ever, trimming spending on Black Friday at stores. Online shopping surged.

Sales on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. fell 1.8 percent from last year to $11.2 billion, according to a report yesterday from ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based researcher. That compares with a 6.6 percent gain a year earlier. Online shopping on Black Friday rose 26 percent to exceed $1 billion for the first time, research company ComScore Inc. said today.

Retailers have turned Black Friday, once a one-day event after Thanksgiving, into a week’s worth of deals and discounts. With the earlier openings, online deals starting as far back as last weekend and new promotions stores are offering to win return visits, shopping malls were less hectic on Black Friday this year, said Ramesh Swamy, an analyst at Deloitte LLP....

[xchrom]

18. German-Swiss Tax Evasion Deal Blocked in Berlin

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-opposition-votes-against-tax-treaty-with-switzerland-a-868912.html

It was supposed to end decades of disagreement between Switzerland and Germany over tax evasion, but on Friday lawmakers in Berlin put a stop to it. The country's upper legislative chamber, the Bundesrat, voted against implementing a long-awaited tax treaty that parliament had already approved.

The conflict between the two neighboring countries on the issue now threatens to continue after members of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party used their majority to block the measure in the Bundesrat, which represents the interests of Germany's 16 states. The issue must now be addressed by the Mediation Committee between the upper and lower parliamentary chambers. But any potential agreement would then have to be re-approved by Switzerland.
The tax treaty, which would have retroactively taxed the unclaimed money held by German citizens in Swiss bank accounts, was expected to bring in about €10 billion ($12.9 billion) in tax revenues. Under the agreement, money stashed in Switzerland over the last 10 years would be taxed at a rate of between 21 and 41 percent, and the tax evaders would remain anonymous. Beginning in 2013, they would then be taxed at normal German rates. But the SPD and Greens said the agreement didn't go far enough.

They voted against the measure despite warnings from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The party's General Secretary Hermann Gröhe told daily Neue Westfälische ahead of the vote that their "total refusal" on the issue is "irresponsible" and will cost the country's states billion

[Demeter]

19. Argentina willing to go to U.S. Supreme Court in bond row

WILL THE DANCING SUPREMES BOW BEFORE A HEDGE FUND / VULTURE CAPITALIST / PRIVATEERING BILLIONAIRE, OR TREAT A SOVEREIGN NATION WITH THE RESPECT IT'S NEVER GOTTEN?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/23/uk-argentina-bonds-idUSLNE8AM00420121123

Argentina will appeal a U.S federal court ruling ordering it to pay $1.33 billion to holdout bond investors, the government said on Thursday, vowing to fight "judicial colonialism" all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The stakes in the years-long legal battle were raised when New York federal judge Thomas Griesa on Wednesday ordered Argentina to immediately pay bondholders who shunned two exchanges of defaulted debt in 2005 and 2010.

As financial markets fretted about a possible new default ahead for the South American county, Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino said the government will take the judge's ruling to the U.S. Second Circuit Appeals Court on Monday.

Referring to the holdouts as "vultures" out to exploit Argentina's massive 2002 sovereign default, Lorenzino said the government will go to the U.S. Supreme Court or "whatever international body that might be necessary" to press its case.

"To pay the vultures is not only unfair but illegal in terms of our internal rules," he said. "We will continue to defend the position of Argentina in all forums and with all available legal instruments."

Fears of a looming default on Argentine bonds sent all but the bravest investors to the exits on Thursday. Argentine bond spreads, measuring default risk against that of safe-haven U.S. Treasury paper, grew 116 basis points wider in thin Thanksgiving trade, according to JP Morgan's Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus. Argentina's fiery left-leaning president, Cristina Fernandez, had vowed her government will not pay "one dollar" to the holdouts. In his ruling, Griesa cited threats by Argentina's leaders to defy his rulings in the decade-old dispute.

"These threats of defiance cannot go unheeded," he wrote, ordering Argentina to pay $1.33 billion to holdouts such as Elliot Management Corp's NML and Aurelius Capital Management by December 15.

He said the less time Argentina was given "to devise means for evasion, the more assurance there is against such evasion."

If Griesa's ruling is upheld by an appeals court and Argentina still refuses to pay, U.S. courts could eventually block debt payments to creditors who took part in the debt restructurings out of consideration for investors who rejected Argentina's terms at the time. That would trigger a technical default on approximately $24 billion worth of debt issued in the 2005 and 2010 exchanges, although Argentina has said it will keep making routine repayments and that funds deposited for creditors within the South American country cannot be seized.

Lorenzino decried Griesa's ruling as "a kind of judicial colonialism."

"Someone is sitting in a courtroom in a very important country making decisions that go against the laws and institutions not only of Argentina but other countries as well," he said. "The only thing we're missing is for Griesa to send in the Fifth Fleet."

[AnneD]

61. They will be dancing to....

Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

As we learned in our WEE episode on Argentina, their politicians worked the middle class over sans KY jelly. Watch for the same thing in our politicians.

[xchrom]

20. Euro zone to seek Greek aid deal without write-off

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/26/us-eurogroup-greece-idUSBRE8AP05820121126

(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund began their third attempt in as many weeks to release emergency aid for Greece on Monday, with policymakers saying a write-down of Greek debt is off the table for now.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras voiced confidence the ministers would finally reach a deal after Greece had fulfilled its part of the deal by enacting tough austerity measures and economic reforms.

"I'm certain we will find a mutually beneficial solution today," he said on arrival for what was set to be another marathon meeting.

Greece, where the euro zone's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, is the currency area's most heavily indebted country, despite a big "haircut" this year on privately-held bonds. Its economy has shrunk by nearly 25 percent in five years.

[xchrom]

21. Fed balance sheet contracts in latest week

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/23/us-usa-fed-discount-idUSBRE8AM0WW20121123

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's balance sheet shrank in the latest week with a lower holdings of federal government and agency securities, Fed data released on Friday showed.

The Fed's balance sheet - a broad gauge of its lending to the financial system - stood at $2.853 trillion on November 21, down from $2.859 trillion on November 14.

The Fed's holdings of Treasuries totaled $1.650 trillion as of Wednesday from $1.657 trillion the previous week after it sold more debt than it purchased for its Operation Twist this week.

Operation Twist involved the Fed selling its short-dated Treasuries holdings and buying longer-dated ones on the open market in an effort to lower long-term borrowing costs. This program was expected to expire at the end of the year.

[Demeter]

25. Fed Minutes Show Interest in Extending Bond-Buying Effort

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/business/economy/fed-minutes-show-interest-in-extending-bond-buying.html

The Federal Reserve signaled in the records of its last policy meeting that it would probably announce a new bond-buying program in December to try to spur job growth, the documents showed on Wednesday. The purchases would be intended to reduce long-term borrowing rates to encourage spending and strengthen the economy. The expectation is that more hiring would follow.

Minutes of the Fed’s Oct. 23-24 policy meeting, released on Wednesday, NOV 15, suggested that it would unveil a Treasury-buying plan to replace a program that expires at the end of the year. Under that program, Operation Twist, the Fed has been selling $45 billion a month in short-term Treasury bonds and using the proceeds to buy an equal amount of longer-term securities. When Operation Twist ends, the Fed will run out of short-term investments to sell. The minutes showed support among Fed policy makers to replace Twist with another program of long-term bond purchases.

At their October policy meeting, Fed officials took no new action. They decided to wait to see whether the aggressive steps they announced in September would lift the economy.

In September, the Fed began buying the mortgage bonds to try to reduce long-term rates and make homes more affordable. It was the Fed’s third round of bond-buying. The Fed said in September that it planned to keep its benchmark short-term rate near zero through mid-2015. It signaled it might take other steps if hiring did not increase. It reaffirmed that stance in October. And in a statement after its meeting, it said that while the economy was improving moderately, job growth remained slow and the unemployment rate elevated. The rate is 7.9 percent. Many analysts say the economy is growing in the current October-December quarter at an annual rate of less than 2 percent — too slow to reduce unemployment. In part, that is why many economists predict the Fed will take further action at its last policy meeting of the year Dec. 11-12.

Operation Twist has not expanded the Fed’s bond portfolio but has reconfigured the length of the maturities. A new Fed program would expand the portfolio.

[Demeter]

22. Trade Deal Between U.S. and Europe May Come to the Forefront By JACK EWING

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/business/global/trade-deal-between-us-europe-may-pick-up-steam.html

A free-trade agreement between the United States and Europe, elusive for more than a decade but with a potentially huge economic effect, is gaining momentum and may finally be attainable, business and political leaders say. Arduous negotiations still lie ahead, but if technical hurdles can be overcome, supporters of a pact argue, it could rival the North American Free Trade Agreement in scale and be a cheap way to encourage growth between the European Union and the United States, which are already each other’s biggest overseas trading partners.

“There is now, for the first time in years, a serious drive towards an E.U.-U.S. free-trade agreement,” Karel De Gucht, the European trade commissioner, said in Dublin earlier this month.

Within days, if not hours, of President Barack Obama’s re-election, numerous European leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and David Cameron, the British prime minister, were urging Mr. Obama to push for a free-trade agreement. The Europeans hope that eliminating frictions in U.S.-E.U. trade would provide some badly needed economic growth. Corporations and business groups on both sides of the Atlantic are also pushing hard for a pact. Tariffs on goods traded between the United States and the European Union are already low, averaging less than 3 percent. But companies that do substantial amounts of trans-Atlantic business say that even a relatively small increase in the volume of trade could deliver major economic benefits.

“The reason we care about this is because these base line numbers are so huge,” said Karan Bhatia, a former deputy U.S. trade representative who is now vice president for global government affairs at General Electric in Washington. “This could be the biggest, most valuable free-trade agreement by far, even if it produces only a marginal increase in trade.”

Noting that a free-trade agreement would not cost taxpayers any money, Mr. Bhatia said, “This is the great, untapped stimulus.”

While China has dominated the political debate in the United States, U.S. trade with Europe is much larger, totaling $485 billion in goods in the first nine months of this year, compared with $390 billion in trade with China. Perhaps more important for U.S. companies, Europe buys much more from the United States than China does. U.S. exports of goods to Europe through September totaled $200 billion, according to U.S. government data , while China imported $79 billion worth of U.S. goods. “The economic music is between America and Europe,” said Fred Irwin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. The organization has been among groups lobbying energetically for a comprehensive agreement to replace the potpourri of existing tariffs and regulations and also to roll back national rules in Europe that may impede trade. The chamber estimates that an agreement that eliminated tariffs and other barriers between the United States and Europe could add 1.5 percentage points to growth on both sides of the Atlantic. While that may be optimistic, economists agree that trade increases when barriers fall. Supporters of an agreement hope that Mr. Obama will visit Europe early in 2013 and that he agree while there on a framework for negotiations that could lead to a detailed agreement within several years. They argue that a pact would offer Mr. Obama an opportunity to improve his relations with the business community while reaching out to European political leaders who feel he has taken them for granted.

There does not seem to be any broad-based political opposition to an E.U.-U.S. trade agreement, as there was to Nafta. But some industry groups have expressed concern about how a free-trade accord would affect them. Last week, a coalition of food and agricultural groups led by the National Pork Producers Council in the United States wrote to Mr. Kirk, expressing concern that a free-trade agreement might leave them out. The council complained that in the past, Europe had blocked imports of genetically modified corn and soy products and objected to American companies’ use of product descriptions like “Parmesan” cheese. In Europe, that label is reserved for cheese that comes from the Parmigiano-Reggiano region of Italy...

[snot]

55. Based on what I know of the TPP, I don't trust the current admin to negotiate

a trade agreement that's not an abomination.

[Demeter]

23. Roubini Says Euro-Area Crisis Spreading From Periphery to Core

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-14/roubini-says-euro-area-crisis-spreading-from-periphery-to-core.html

Nouriel Roubini, co-founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC, said the debt crisis in the euro area is increasingly affecting the currency bloc’s biggest economies, Germany and France.

“The economic contraction used to be in the periphery of the euro zone,” Roubini said in a speech in Mainz, Germany, today. “It is spreading now to the core of the euro zone. For example, it is quite clear that France is entering a recession.”

Referring to Germany, the region’s biggest economy, Roubini said “there is evidence of an economic slowdown” caused by lower demand for the country’s exports from its euro-area partners and China. Third-quarter gross domestic product data for Germany, France and the euro area will be released tomorrow.

Roubini said it is “very positive” for the 17-nation euro area that the “European Central Bank has now taken a more active role.” The announcement of its unlimited bond-buying program “significantly reduced” the risk of a breakup of the common currency, he said.

[DemReadingDU]

26. Twitter : NBC News - Superstorm Sandy

NBC News ‏@NBCNews
Superstorm Sandy not only claimed lives and homes - it also threatens the U.S. economy, wiping out job market gains...

[Demeter]

27. Report: Corzine to blame for MF Global's collapse

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/267917-report-corzine-to-blame-for-mf-globals-collapse

The high-profile collapse of the investment firm MF Global largely lays at the feet of its former head, Jon Corzine, according to a new congressional report. According to the investigatory subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, the former New Jersey governor and senator exhibited a "dereliction of duty" in managing the firm, rapidly expanding it into risky investments while failing to heed warnings and checks that could have saved the futures merchant. The panel's findings will be officially released Thursday, 11/14, but portions unveiled by committee Republicans on Wednesday largely blame Corzine for the firm's collapse, which led to a slew of congressional hearings as roughly $1.6 billion in customer funds went missing in the firm's final days. Corzine resigned as its head just days after it went bankrupt on Oct. 31, 2011, but has insisted he did not know what happened to the missing funds.

"Choices made by Jon Corzine during his tenure as chairman and CEO sealed MF Global’s fate,” said Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), chairman of the panel. “Farmers, ranchers and other customers may never get back over $1 billion of their money as a result of his decisions. Corzine dramatically changed MF Global’s business model without fully understanding the risks associated with such a radical transformation.”

However, the report has not received the blessing of the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), who said he did not have enough time to review it.

"I am not co-sponsoring the majority’s staff report on MF Global primarily due to an insufficient amount of time to review the report and go over it with other Democratic Subcommittee Members," he said in a statement provided to The Hill. "While I agree with a number of the report’s observations and recommendations, others require additional commentary. I am preparing an addendum in conjunction with other Democratic Subcommittee Members. I appreciate Chairman Neugebauer’s efforts and look forward to working with him on MF Global issues in the future."

The subcommittee stops short of declaring that laws were broken in the frantic final days of the firm, deferring to regulators and prosecutors dissecting the bankruptcy. But the report does call on Congress to consider legislation that would impose civil liability on the officers and directors of futures commission merchants like MF Global, especially those officials that sign off on financial statements and authorize transfers from customer accounts. Republicans are heaping blame on Corzine's feet for the bankruptcy. Portions of the report released by committee Republicans paint the former Democratic lawmaker as eagerly expanding the risks taken on by the firm, primarily by investing heavily in European debt. At the same time, he failed to subject his moves to appropriate checks and properly disclosing those risks to regulators. They accused Corzine, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, of creating an "authoritarian atmosphere" where his decisions could not be questioned. The report notes that Corzine overhaul the top of MF Global when he took it over after losing his gubernatorial reelection bid, including bringing on his former chief of staff, Bradley Abelow, to be the firm's chief operating officer. The report states that Corzine directed concerns about his moves to Abelow instead of the firm's board, which "deprived" the board of an independent assessment of those risks. The report also claims that Corzine's investments in European debt quickly expanded "well in excess of prudent limits without effective resistance." In addition, regulators were not fully aware of the risks being taken on by the firm because it did not fully disclose the extent of the holdings at first...

[Demeter]

28. Corzine Decisions Felled MF Global, House Republicans Say

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-14/corzine-decisions-felled-mf-global-u-dot-s-dot-house-republicans-say

...Corzine, a Democrat who served in the U.S. Senate and as New Jersey governor before taking the helm at MF Global, pushed the company into new areas without reviving its core commodities trading business, lawmakers led by Representative Randy Neugebauer of Texas said in a 101-page report stemming from a year-long investigation. U.S. regulators under President Barack Obama failed to coordinate oversight of the firm, they said...

...MF Global’s Oct. 31, 2011, bankruptcy, the eighth biggest in U.S. history, left a $1.6 billion shortfall in customer funds that were supposed to be segregated. Corzine, who was Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s co-chairman before entering politics, told lawmakers he doesn’t know what happened to the money.

“Mr. Corzine acted in good faith and did what he believed was necessary to turn around MF Global,” Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Corzine, said yesterday in an e-mail statement...

MORE BACKBITING AT LINK

[Demeter]

29. House Report Faults MF Global Regulators

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/house-report-details-collapse-of-mf-global/

When MF Global was on the brink of collapse, chaos and confusion spread not only among the firm's executives in New York, but also among its regulators in Washington, according to a report released on Thursday. In the final hectic hours before the brokerage firm's bankruptcy more than a year ago, regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission instructed MF Global to transfer $220 million to plug a hole in customer accounts. The firm agreed - over the objections of the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.

Upon learning of the futures commission's orders, the chairwoman of the S.E.C., Mary L. Schapiro, responded in an e-mail to a colleague: "Without telling us? That is unacceptable." The e-mails of regulators, cited in an "autopsy" report from Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee's oversight panel, portray a "disorganized and haphazard" approach to oversight from an alphabet soup of federal agencies. The regulators, the Republicans said, struggled to communicate even as MF Global was reeling.

The 100-page report, which some Democrats dismissed as a sort of public shaming of Obama administration watchdogs, further traced the MF Global debacle to the firm's top executives. Republicans placed blame on the former chief executive, Jon S. Corzine, a onetime Democratic senator and governor of New Jersey, who they said increased a bet on European debt without regard for internal controls or the danger to clients. Rather than rein in his risk-taking, Republicans said that regulators afforded Mr. Corzine a long leash....The report, the outgrowth of several Congressional hearings with MF Global's executives and other officials, is the culmination of a yearlong investigation that sought to chronicle the firm's undoing and rebuke those at fault. The House panel's findings stemmed from dozens of interviews with former employees and more than 240,000 documents. The report leveled some of its harshest criticism on regulatory agencies, which it blamed for breakdowns in communication...

"We didn't need additional regulation. We needed regulators actually doing their job," Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Republican from Texas who led the investigation as chairman of the oversight panel, said at a news conference on Thursday

.

Citing "an apparent inability" of the regulators to coordinate their actions, Republicans suggested that investors and customers would be better served if the S.E.C. and the futures commission streamlined their operations or combined into a single agency. But that proposition is fraught with political peril. Lawmakers have sought to merge the two agencies for decades, only to scuttle the plans in the face of opposition. The Senate and House agriculture committees - clinging to the power and campaign donations that come with overseeing the futures commission - are often the first to object. After the financial crisis, as lawmakers debated the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul, federal authorities again put forward the idea of combining the agencies. But legislators reached a bipartisan consensus that such a change would spread confusion at a time when the financial industry was barely back on its feet. On Thursday, federal officials were skeptical of the House panel's suggestions. While some top S.E.C. and Congressional officials say they support a merger, others doubt it is politically feasible unless another crisis erupts. One Congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity dismissed the House panel's recommendation as a "power grab."

[Demeter]

30. Credit raters, regulators failed MF Global

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-11-15/report-raters-regulators-failed-mf-global

... the House panel said in its report that rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's failed to identify the biggest risk: MF Global's $6.3 billion bet on European countries' debt....S&P spokesman David Wargin said "We monitored MF Global's creditworthiness and took ratings action as events warranted, based on a review of available information." The SEC disagreed with the report's findings. It noted that it had shared a request for MF Global to increase its capital cushion against losses with the CFTC in August 2011. "The report neglects to note that our staff in fact informed the CFTC staff," SEC spokesman John Nester said. He noted that CFTC General Counsel Dan Berkovitz testified at a subcommittee hearing that his agency had been told about the issue by the SEC.

...The report also said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York fell short of properly assessing the firm's level of risk before allowing it to join an elite group of firms that help the government sell Treasury securities. That endowed MF Global with a seal of financial strength and gave it a competitive edge.

"This marked the first time in the history of the U.S. futures industry that a customer suffered a loss due to the mishandling of customer funds," Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the full Financial Services Committee, said in a statement.

"These customers deserve to know how and why their money went missing. And all Americans deserve to know that regulators and policymakers are held accountable to prevent similar losses from ever occurring again," Bachus said.

Much of the money belonged to farmers, ranchers and other business owners. They bought and sold financial contracts with MF Global to reduce their risks from the fluctuating prices of corn, wheat and other commodities. In recent months, nearly 80 percent of those funds have been returned...


ANYBODY NOTICE HOW JPMORGAN'S INVOLVEMENT HAS COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE HERE?

[Demeter]

31. Merge SEC, CFTC after MF Global - US House Committee

IF HOUSE REPUBLICANS ARE FOR IT, I'M AGAINST IT, JUST ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES, ESPECIALLY IF NO ONE ELSE IS FOR IT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/mfglobal-report-idUSL1E8MF46Z20121115

Regulators, credit rating agencies and MF Global itself were all to blame for the brokerage's collapse last year, a U.S. congressional committee found.

The panel also said in a report that Congress should look at merging two the main U.S. financial supervisors - the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

It said the agencies "failed to share critical information" about MF Global.

Congress should explore whether it would be better for the two agencies to "streamline their operations or merge into a single financial regulatory agency that would have oversight of capital markets as a whole," the report said

[Tansy_Gold]

38. We all know they're only going after Corzine because he's a Dem

Not because he actually did anything, you know, WRONG. . . . . .

[snot]

56. It's the "one bad apple" theory--rather than, you know, there being any need for systemic REFORM.

[Po_d Mainiac]

48. Didn't see much about the cozy

revolving door policy between the regulators and the so called 'regulated' either.

[Demeter]

33. Senate confirms Gruenberg and Hoenig as FDIC leaders

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senate-confirms-gruenberg-and-hoenig-as-fdic-leaders/2012/11/15/af97c028-2f85-11e2-ac4a-33b8b41fb531_story.html

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Martin J. Gruenberg as chairman and Thomas Hoenig as vice chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The banking agency has been without an official leader since Sheila Bair stepped down as chair in July 2011. Congressional bickering over President Obama’s nominations at other agencies, including Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stalled a number of confirmations.

NICE! FDIC ON AUTOPILOT FOR OVER A YEAR...

Gruenberg and Hoenig were confirmed to six-year terms on the FDIC’s board of directors in March, but the Senate refrained from finalizing their leadership roles.

Gruenberg and Hoenig were widely expected to sail through the confirmations process once the presidential election was over. Gruenberg has served as acting chair since Bair’s departure, while Hoenig was selected by Republicans to be second in command.

However, Senate Republican leaders held out on bringing the confirmation to a vote on the chance that Mitt Romney won the presidential election and wanted to select his own nominees...

SO THE ROMNEY INEVITABILITY DELUSION PERMEATED THE GOP...

[xchrom]

34. Investors Grab Sinking Returns Amid Scandinavia Recession

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-25/investors-grab-sinking-returns-amid-scandinavia-recession.html

The onset of recessions in Scandinavia is proving no deterrent for bond and currency investors reduced to sifting between Europe’s least ugly markets.

Even negative returns, driven by record capital inflows, haven’t put off buyers eager to protect their principal rather than risk losses on euro-denominated securities.

“From a credit perspective, the current set-back in economic indicators in the Nordics doesn’t change the fact that the region is looking very good relative to the rest of Europe,” Thomas Clausen, chief investment officer at Alfred Berg Asset Management in Copenhagen, said in an interview.

The economies of Denmark and Finland have both suffered contractions this year, while Swedish growth is stalling as exporters such as Volvo AB (VOLVB) and Ericsson AB fire thousands of workers. Norway and Sweden may be in the grip of housing bubbles, according to government agencies in the two countries. Denmark has yet to recover from a burst real estate bubble that’s triggered more than a dozen bank failures since 2008. Yet investors continue to pour in.

[Demeter]

36. Poll: Americans generally optimistic after election

YES, IT'S USA TODAY--THE NATIONAL CHEERLEADER

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/11/14/gallup-poll-americans-optimism-election/1704185/

The election is over, where does the nation stand and where is it headed?

SEE LINK FOR PIE CHARTS

SPEAKING OF PIE, I DIDN'T GET ANY THIS THANKSGIVING. GONNA HAVE TO WHIP SOME UP THIS WEEK.

[xchrom]

37. Eisenhower's Chilling Analysis Of Defense Spending

http://www.businessinsider.com/eisenhowers-chilling-analysis-of-defense-spending-2012-11



As Congress considers across-the-board defense cuts, let's call on the wisdom of Dwight Eisenhower, the last general to become president of the US.

In one sense, Eisnhower's warnings about the rise of the military-industrial complex never came to pass, according to historian Aaron O'Connell, who notes in the New York Times that military spending has declined as a share of GDP; military research has spurred the US economy, not held it back; and the defense industry is not driving foreign policy any more than it used to.

Still, you've got to think Eisenhower would be shocked to hear that America spends $700 billion on defense. Here's how he described the opportunity cost of war in 1953:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. [...] Is there no other way the world may live?"


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/eisenhowers-chilling-analysis-of-defense-spending-2012-11#ixzz2DKoO0Gzm

[Demeter]

43. Duty calls

Let's get back together tonight, those that survive...

[xchrom]

45. bye miss demeter -- see ya later...

[xchrom]

46. Early Push for Sales Undercuts Black Friday

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/business/chasing-early-sales-retailers-undercut-black-friday.html?ref=business


Thommy Brown, one of the first shoppers in line at a Target store in Manhattan, took home two 50-inch TVs on Thursday night.

After spending years to make Black Friday into the year’s blockbuster shopping day, retailers undercut themselves last week.


Sales on the day after Thanksgiving fell from those a year earlier, according to one major tracker, the first decline since the recession of 2008, as stores started their “doorbuster” promotions early in the week and opened for business on Thursday evening.

The culprit seems to be less a faltering economy and more a diffusion of holiday shopping to other days and online.

Black Friday “is certainly not dead,” said Matthew Shay, chief executive of the National Retail Federation trade group, but “it’s starting to spread out.”

[xchrom]

47. If you want to see where Spain is headed, take a long look at Jerez

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/11/21/inenglish/1353507214_212572.html

Jerez, in the southern region of Andalusia, can be viewed as an illustration of all that has gone wrong with Spain over the last two decades: rapid growth based on seemingly limitless borrowing, which has produced a glut of houses and office space that nobody wants. Three years ago the bubble burst, and the local authority has been left with no money. That means it is unable even to pay its utility bills or the cleaning staff in its schools.

To put it simply, Jerez has been living beyond its means. Anybody working in the public sector - or for a company that depends on the public sector - is either on strike, has been on strike, or is likely to be very soon. From one month to the next they have no idea whether they will be paid, or even if they will be left with a job. People were being laid off even before the government introduced new laws to make it easier to fire employees, and the unions have been unable to do anything about it.

Some commentators say that if you want to see where Spain is headed, take a long look at Jerez: ever-declining public services that mean people just have to get on with making the best of what there is.

Around 8pm on a rainy Wednesday at the end of October we meet Moisés Gálvez, the father of one of 7,000 children in the city who haven't been to school that week, and the head of the parents' association of the Manuel de Falla junior school. He tells us that around half of the city's 47 infant and junior schools have been closed this week because of a strike by cleaning staff who haven't been paid. Negotiations are underway, and it is possible, he says, that the strike may be lifted this evening. But then again, it may not. That's the way things are in Jerez right now: nobody knows anything.

[Tansy_Gold]

50. Shoulda stuck with this

Jerez de la Frontera is the birthplace of sherry (which is an English corruption of the Spanish "Jerez&quot . All that money for all that speculating and from all the borrowing went somewhere. Someone still has it. The task, therefore, is simply to get it back. Simply. Yeah, right.

[xchrom]

53. Wouldn't you love to be in spain

Eating tapas & drinking excellent sherry?

[Tansy_Gold]

54. Por supuesto que sí

If it weren't for all the STUFF I own -- and the dogs -- I would go back there immediately. I need to be less attached to my STUFF.

[xchrom]

63. I feel ya! Nt

[DemReadingDU]

51. Mary Schapiro Will Step Down as SEC Chairman Effective Dec. 14

11/26/12 Mary Schapiro Will Step Down as SEC Chairman Effective Dec. 14

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, who took the agency’s helm in 2009 as it reeled from public rebukes for failing to rein in Wall Street practices that exacerbated losses from the housing market collapse, is leaving the agency. Schapiro, 57, will depart the SEC on Dec. 14, the agency said in a statement today.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to work with so many dedicated SEC staff who strive every day to protect investors and ensure our markets operate with integrity,” Schapiro said in the agency’s statement. “Over the past four years we have brought a record number of enforcement actions, engaged in one of the busiest rulemaking periods, and gained greater authority from Congress to better fulfill our mission.”

Schapiro’s departure comes as the agency continues to navigate through a flood of new mandates generated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act and a wave of enforcement matters related to the financial market turmoil of 2008.

The former chairman and chief executive officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was appointed by President Barack Obama to run the SEC in January of 2009. Schapiro, a political independent, replaced Christopher Cox, a Republican who had held the office since 2005, becoming the first woman to lead the commission on a permanent basis.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-26/mary-schapiro-will-step-down-as-sec-chairman-effective-dec-14.html

[Po_d Mainiac]

58. Wunner which TBTF she'll be drawing a salary from next January?

[DemReadingDU]

52. Canada’s Mark Carney Chosen to Replace King as Governor of BOE

11/26/12 Canada’s Carney Chosen to Replace King as Governor of BOE

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney was unexpectedly appointed as the next head of the Bank of England, succeeding Mervyn King. Carney, 47, takes the helm of a 318-year-old institution that’s preparing to become the most powerful central bank in the world as it absorbs broad new powers to oversee the financial system and prevent another crisis. He’ll also have to guide the Monetary Policy Committee as it implements unconventional tools to stoke a recovery and battles to protect the inflation- fighting credibility earned since it won independence in 1997.

Carney is currently head of the Group of 20’s Financial Stability Board. He worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for more than a decade before becoming a policy maker in 2003, and took over as chief of Canada’s central bank in 2008. He has pushed for tougher regulations for global lenders and clashed with banking executives over new rules requiring them to hold more capital. His appointment was announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in a statement to Parliament today.

“His CV looks terrific,” said Shamik Dhar, a former Bank of England economist and head of investment strategy at Aviva Investors, which oversees $409 billion in London. “He’s obviously an extremely good experienced leader of a central bank and is a very credible appointment. Given his background with BIS it makes it internationally credible. He’ll have quite a big upfront job getting familiar with the circumstances in the UK. But he’s not going to do badly.”

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-26/canada-s-carney-chosen-by-osborne-to-replace-king-as-boe-chief.html

[AnneD]

59. Morning Marketeers.....

and lurkers.

I don't get sick from the kids often but boy when I do.....I am at the end of some bug that had me missing Tuesday, Wednesday of last week. I poured myself into the car and went to see my brother for Thanksgiving. They were sick too so it didn't make too much difference.

All the kids I am seeing today have the same thing: the Creeping Crouping Crude. I am subsisting on mucinex and hot lemonade, sweetened with my brother's honey and the last of the lemons I got from California this summer (yes they keep that long).

I missed the Black Friday nonsense but hey, my money is going to the rolling jubilee anyway. Been knitting up a storm too. Between the baby blankets, baby sweaters, scarves hats, eye glass covers, and coffee slips...my knitting needles are starting to feel warm like kindling.

[Demeter]

64. Tolles' cartoon is cute, if incomplete

http://assets.amuniversal.com/e0399a50164f0130ff38001dd8b71c47?width=750.0

[AnneD]

65. I am reminded of the Star Trek Movie

the scene where the Genesis planet is decaying and Kirk is fighting one of Khan's supporters. They are at the edge of the cliff when Kirk gets the better of him and the guy is over the cliff. The guy grabs Kirks boot. Kirk uses his boot to kick the guy loose and shouts, "I have had enough of you!" as the guy goes into the abyss.

How many time have I listened to the TBag analyze the election----wrongly. I just want to shove my foot through the TV screen and shout...I have had enough of you!

[Tansy_Gold]

66. AMEN!!!! (And A WOMEN, too!) n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

67. .