STOCK MARKET WATCH - Wednesday, 15 February 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 15 February 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 14 February 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 14 February 2012
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Dow Jones 12,878.28 +4.24 (0.03%)
[font color=red]S&P 500 1,350.50 -1.27 (-0.09%)
[font color=green]Nasdaq 2,931.83 +0.44 (0.02%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.94% -0.01 (-0.51%)
30 Year 3.09% -0.01 (-0.32%) [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
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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
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Atrios
goldmansachs666
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
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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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Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS



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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. Tansy, I think we are being victimized by the Golden Rule

All of us who don't have much "gold".

So that means

1) We must renounce the power of the gold,

2) and embrace the power of solidarity. People power.

This is a revolution that the People really aren't ready for. It will mean removing the gold and the power from those who have it in abundance, and ensuring that such concentrations never occur again.

It also means that personal favoritism will have to be strictly limited.

I cannot even begin to imagine how to pull it off. I cannot think of any people that has managed to do so, even partially, without bloodshed, in all the history with which I'm familiar.

I know my great-grandparents emigrated to get out of that kind of power structure. There isn't anywhere to emigrate anymore...maybe Venezuela, or Iceland, if one can bring some capital or a good idea...

The "Elite" can make the rules for everyone else, break or change them at will without consequence. Well, there's going to have to be some consequences, if we want things to change.

[Tansy_Gold]

24. of course we are.

many of our ancestors emigrated to escape; many more were brought here against their will as part of the structure; and still others were enslaved or exterminated in the process.

But what was never addressed, never dealt with, was the underlying acceptance of a divinely-instituted hierarchy, "by the grace of God."

As long as the insertion of religion -- ANY religion, but especially one that posits an omnipotent male god -- is tolerated, there will be no escape from the system. It rots from the head.

[Fuddnik]

2. Check this out.

http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/

Some really cool t-shirts.

I know Tansy will get one. I am, and some bumper stickers too!

I RIDE INSIDE!

[Demeter]

3. Occupy Movement Regroups, Preparing for Its Next Phase

http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-movement-regroups-preparing-its-next-phase/1329069588

The ragtag Occupy Wall Street encampments that sprang up in scores of cities last fall, thrusting “We are the 99 percent” into the vernacular, have largely been dismantled, with a new wave of crackdowns and evictions in the past week. Since the violent clashes last month in Oakland, Calif., headlines about Occupy have dwindled, too.

Far from dissipating, groups around the country say they are preparing for a new phase of larger marches and strikes this spring that they hope will rebuild momentum and cast an even brighter glare on inequality and corporate greed. But this transition is filled with potential pitfalls and uncertainties: without the visible camps or clear goals, can Occupy become a lasting force for change? Will disruptive protests do more to galvanize or alienate the public?

Though still loosely organized, the movement is putting down roots in many cities. Activists in Chicago and Des Moines have rented offices, a significant change for groups accustomed to holding open-air assemblies or huddling in tents in bad weather.

On any night in New York City, which remains a hub of the movement, a dozen working groups on issues like “food justice” and “arts and culture” meet in a Wall Street atrium, and “general assemblies” have formed in 14 neighborhoods. Around the country, small demonstrations — often focused on banks and ending foreclosure evictions — take place almost daily.

If the movement has not produced public leaders, some visible faces have emerged...

[Demeter]

4. General Strike Call

...Some question how many people will heed a call to stay home from work on May 1, especially since labor unions, which have generally supported Occupy’s message, say they will not strike for the day...

[Demeter]

5. Mathematics has an Occupy moment

http://mathbabe.org/2012/02/13/mathematics-has-an-occupy-moment/

The Occupy Wall Street movement means a lot of things to a lot of people, but one of the things it pretty much universally represents is the concept of agency. Instead of sitting passively by and allowing a dysfunctional system to detract from a culture, the participants in Occupy want to object, to reform the system, and if that doesn’t work, to build a new system. And the crucial point is that they feel that they have the right (if not obligation) to do so. Moreover, they wish to construct a new paradigm built on democratic understanding of the shared goals of the system itself, rather than letting whomever is in power decide how things work and who benefits.

I feel like there’s an analogy to be drawn between this process and what’s happening now in the fight between mathematicians and Elsevier, and for that matter the publishing world (as has been pointed out, Springer has the same issues as Elsevier, even though people like Springer a lot more). It may seem like the fight against Elsevier is only a small part of the mathematics system, in that it’s really only one publisher of many, and some people (like the journal of Topology) have already gone ahead and started new journals that don’t share the more toxic properties that the Elsevier journals have. I don’t think that narrow view is justified.

In fact, part of tearing down Elsevier has to include a broader understanding of how antiquated the entire academic publishing world is, which immediately begs the question of what we need to build to replace it. This is not unlike the Occupy movement’s goal to replace the current financial system with another which would primarily serve the needs of the citizens and only secondarily the desires of bankers. A tall order to be sure, but luckily for mathematicians their system is less complicated, and moreover the community is much more empowered.

[Demeter]

21. A Separation of Church and Bank

http://www.nationofchange.org/separation-church-and-bank-1329238627

There were more than 3,500 foreclosures in Father Eduardo Samaniego's San Jose parish in 2008. The banks were unwilling to work with the community to keep people in their homes, and the number of houses that were standing empty were becoming a blight on the community and devaluing the remaining homes.

Most of the mortgages were held by Bank of America—which also controlled the accounts of the church and its affiliated school.

So what did the congregation do? They divested the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church's money from Bank of America and moved funds to a local credit union. The hope is that transferring the church's sizable accounts—totaling $3 million—will make Bank of America take note.

[Demeter]

22. Conference Calling Across the Occupy Rhizome By Joan Donovan

http://www.nationofchange.org/conference-calling-across-occupy-rhizome-1328799542

...The OLA Occupation Communication Committee set up a speakerphone in the media tent at our camp and dialed in. There were over one hundred people on that call and nearly 40 occupations represented. At the end of it, OWS asked for volunteers to help set up the next call—and thus began the early makings of InterOccupy. The first “Call Planning” meeting happened via telephone the following Thursday, when we decided on some protocols for rotating the hosts of the Monday night general call and soliciting agenda items. Occupy Philadelphia led the charge on the second general call, and OLA took up the third—albeit with technical support from OWS when the bomb squad showed up at OLA that night. After much debate, this small call-planning group settled on registering the domain name InterOccupy.org and started a call calendar.

Before the encampments suffered eviction, the calls provided a sense that the movement was much bigger than any one camp. It felt truly global when I heard an occupier say “Goodnight, from Italy” on a call in November. OLA hosted a call for sharing advice on peaceful resistance among occupiers all over the country. By December, InterOccupy was arranging calls for large-scale actions such as the West Coast Port Shut Down—but most of its organizers still had not met one another.

After the evictions, we decided that it would be important to meet in person to improve our services. I bought a plane ticket to NYC in mid-December, as did an occupier from Portland. Occupiers from Philadelphia drove up, while members of OWS arranged places for us to stay. Others from Kalamazoo, Stanford, and Reno called in to the three-day meeting. In a sunny apartment in Manhattan, we established some best practices for getting new voices on the calls, set up a series of subgroups for administration and expanded our call services. InterOccupy evolved from a group of distributed occupiers to an organization intent on providing a platform for truly horizontal communication. Clay Shirky, the New York University professor and author of Here Comes Everybody, attended the meetings, where he talked with us about decentralized communication and described the structure of Occupy as “loosely connected clusters of tightly connected groups” united by “satisfying and effective ties.”

InterOccupy is able to put horizontality at the forefront of its mission to foster coordination across general assemblies and working groups. It’s meant to expand the way rhizomatic plants mature, with growth spreading out, rather than up. Any occupation can ask for a call, and no one agenda is given priority. The content of the calls, therefore, is up to the movement itself, with the goal of aligning strategy and actions, not to efface the autonomy of local assemblies....

[Demeter]

23. Occupying Corporations: How to Cut Corporate Power By Bill Quigley

http://www.nationofchange.org/occupying-corporations-how-cut-corporate-power-1328800322

Corporations are obviously not people. But Romney is accurate in the sense that corporations have hijacked most of the rights of people while evading the responsibilities. An important part of the social justice agenda is democratizing corporations. This means we must radically change the laws so people can be in charge of corporations. We must strip them of corporate personhood and cut them down to size so democracy can work. People are taking action so democracy can regulate the size, scope and actions of corporations.

One of the most basic roles of society is to protect the people from harm. The massive size of many international corporations makes democratic control over them nearly impossible.

Corporate crime is widespread. The New York Times, ProPublica and others have revealed Wall Street giants like JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs have been charged with fraud many times only to get off by paying hundreds of millions. Professors at University of Virginia have documented hundreds of corporations which have been found guilty or pled guilty in federal courts. Corporate abuse is even more widespread. For example, Corporate Accountability International named six to its Corporate Hall of Shame, including: Koch Industries for spending over $50 million to fund climate change denial; Monsanto for mass producing cancer causing chemicals; Chevron for dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon; Exxon Mobil for being the worst polluter; Blackwater (now Xe) for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians and hiring paramilitaries; and Halliburton, the nation’s leading war profiteer.

Making corporations responsible to democracy of the people is challenging considering Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest corporation, does more business itself annually than all but two dozen of the two hundred plus countries in the world. Without dramatic changes, how can we expect people in small or even big countries to force corporations like Wal-Mart, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, BP, Toyota or Chevron to live by the same rules all the people have to?

Justice demands we make sure corporations do not harm people. Democracy must require that they operate for the common good. In order to cut corporations down to size, the people must strip corporations of the special artificial legal protections they have created for themselves...Corporations now claim: 1st amendment free speech rights to advertise and influence elections: 4th amendment search and seizure rights to resist subpoenas and challenges to their criminal actions; 5th amendment rights to due process; 14th amendment rights to due process where corporations took the rights of former slaves and used them for corporate protection; plus rights under the Commerce and Contracts clauses of the constitution....Because of the bad Supreme Court decisions, it takes a constitutional amendment by the people to change the laws back. An amendment requires two-thirds of both houses of Congress to agree then three-quarters of the states must vote to ratify. This will take real work. But despite the growing size and unrestricted power of corporations, people are fighting back...

[Demeter]

66. Supreme Court Building Covered in Giant Dollar Signs VIDEO

[Demeter]

73. Occupy the SEC Weighs In on the Volcker Rule

http://www.businessweek.com/finance/occupy-the-sec-weighs-in-on-the-volcker-rule-02142012.html

The Occupy movement is turning up in surprising places. Yesterday was the deadline for comments to regulators about the Volcker Rule, the part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act that limits the bets financial firms can make with their own money. In the flurry of comments from all corners of the financial industry, one 325-page letter came from an unlikely source: Occupy the SEC. The group’s detailed response won quick praise from some financial bloggers. Felix Salmon calls it “absolutely astonishing” and Naked Capitalism says: “The group seems to have understood and articulated Volcker’s (and the electorate’s) intent pretty effectively.”

Occupy the SEC is a working group from the New York General Assembly, the coalition of people that organized the occupation of Zuccotti Park last fall. Other Occupy groups focus on topics ranging from sustainability and labor to health care and “alternative” banking systems. The Securities and Exchange Commission team has been developing a response to the Volcker Rule since soon after regulators released a draft, says Alexis Goldstein, who says she worked at Wall Street firms that include Deutsche Bank (DB), building IT systems for traders. The team of seven people held a biweekly “book club” to examine the proposed rule. They initially met at a diner, but their sessions lasted so long that the diner grew unhappy, Goldstein recalls. She said they moved their meetings to the atrium of a building in the financial district. The group went through the questions proposed by regulators, ultimately dividing up responsibility for drafting sections of their response.

On Jan. 12, six members of the Occupy group held a conference call with 11 SEC staffers to clarify questions such as: “Do you believe § _. 13(d)(2)) can be interpreted to include credit default swaps, total return swaps and repurchase agreements?” In the end, the group responded to 244 of the 395 questions regulators asked.

Along with Goldstein, five other Occupiers—Eric Taylor, Elizabeth Friedrich, Caitlin Kline, Cathy O’Neil, and Akshat Tewary—participated in the SEC calls. Goldstein says a seventh member wanted to remain anonymous, so didn’t join that conversation. Like Goldstein, several members have experience in finance. Kline says she used to be a derivatives trader. Tewary is a lawyer who worked on securitization cases at the firm Kaye Scholer, according to his bio on the website of his current firm, Kamlesh Tewary. Mother Jones, which reported on the group in December, says O’Neil is a former Wall Street quant.

[Demeter]

6. America’s failed promise of equal opportunity IMPORTANT READ

http://politics.salon.com/2012/02/12/americas_failed_promise_of_equal_opportunity/

The 99 Percent Plan is a joint Roosevelt Institute-Salon series that explores how progressives can shape a new vision for the economy. This is the second essay in the series.

Americans are increasingly aware that the ideal of equal opportunity is a false promise, but neither party really seems to get it.

Republicans barely admit the problem exists, or if they do, they think tax cuts are the answer. All facts point in the opposite direction. Despite various tax cuts over the past 30 years, not only have income and wealth inequality dramatically increased, but the ability of individuals to rise out of their own class has declined. Social stagnation is increasingly the norm, with poverty rates the highest in 15 years, real wage gains worse even than during the decade of the Great Depression, average earnings barely above what they were 50 years ago, and more than 80 percent of the income growth of the past 25 years going to the top 1 percent. In fact, since 1983, the bottom 40 percent of households have seen real declines in their income and the same goes for the bottom 60 percent when it comes to wealth. We know what the economic status quo does: It redistributes upwards.

Despite the ambiguity of their goals, the Occupy protests have made one point abundantly clear: The mainstream Democratic alternative is paltry stuff. For the most part, Democrats disagree that tax cuts and deregulation are the solution, and instead argue that the state should be used to guarantee equal opportunity. For instance, cheap, publicly available education, job training and affirmative action are all justified on the grounds that each American should have the skills to compete and the labor market should treat everyone equally. Yet, the two parties differ only on means, not ends. While Republicans profess a more abiding faith in a self-regulating economy, Democrats believe carefully tailored state interventions are needed to ensure equal opportunity.

The question becomes: Equal opportunity for what? For both parties, opportunity basically means a market-oriented ideal where individuals are given the chance to fight over a limited supply of high-status jobs. As it turns out, the end that each party agrees on is largely same: the equal opportunity to become unequal. Most Democrats and Republicans share a commitment to an inegalitarian, early 21st-century version of social mobility first articulated in the United States by Thomas Jefferson. In a famous letter to John Adams, Jefferson argued that there is a “natural aristocracy amongst men” who are marked by “virtue and talents.” According to Jefferson, the natural aristocracy was “the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society.” He distinguished this natural aristocracy from the “artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents.” The latter won its power through circumstances and laws that protected the privileges of birth – like laws of primogeniture, or hereditary political positions. Jefferson’s view was seemingly egalitarian: Inherited status, wealth or power is undeserved. But at its heart, this view – let’s call it meritocracy – remained deeply inegalitarian. It favored a society in which the majority were deferential to, even subject to, the power and authority of the naturally talented few. Republicans and Democrats each pay tribute to this Jeffersonian vision of meritocratic decision-making and political leadership. If anything, Democrats are often even more intent that Republicans in promoting expert authority and professional management...More generally, both parties agree that equal opportunity means the equal opportunity to rise into the few positions of social power and prestige, or perhaps more broadly, into the economically secure, high earning professions. Call them the 20 percent who control 67 percent of the income and, even more importantly, 85 percent of the wealth.

The apparent egalitarianism of the meritocratic society is a thin veil indeed. The reality of rising poverty and declining social mobility underscores that in practice our “meritocratic” order is hardly fluid. Rather than individuals easily entering and exiting the upper classes based on personal skill, professional status has become an inherited privilege – reproduced from one generation to the next. But even at its purest, stripped of race or sex-based barriers to advancement and in a setting of fluid inter-generational change, the meritocratic ideal is still aristocracy by a different name. After all, meritocratic success is a zero-sum game. Professional respectability and high-status positions are inherently exclusive domains. For every one person who rises into the top 20 percent, there are four others who by definition fail to make it. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 20 occupations projected to grow rapidly over next decade, just five require an associate’s degree or more. Just two require a doctorate or professional degree (hat tip Doug Henwood). As a model for society, Jefferson’s “natural aristocracy” does not challenge the permanence of social hierarchy, but instead seeks simply to rearrange its membership.

Still, there is another possible interpretation of equal opportunity that we can look to. Just before the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln articulated an alternative account of economic improvement: “The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on his own account another while… [This] is free labor.” Lincoln imagined social mobility as the transition from dependence to independence, or in his terms, from wage-labor to free labor. An economy consistent with this idea had to be organized so that everyone could become economically independent. One person’s success was not another’s failure, because ideally everyone could rise together. Moreover, this was an ideal of freedom applied not just to politics but to economics. The thought was that a person ought to be free from domination in all spheres of life. As Corey Robin recently put it, Americans have a “visceral hostility to – individual forms of domination.” This Lincolnian vision is truly egalitarian and highlights precisely what is troubling about the current crisis of social mobility. The problem is not just that we do not to live up to the ideal, but that the underlying ideal is hierarchical, and fails to grasp the way in which we ought to be making it possible for everyone to escape relations of dependence and control. MORE

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Alex Gourevitch is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University's Political Theory Project. He also co-authors the blog The Current Moment. More Alex Gourevitch

Aziz Rana teaches law at Cornell University and is the author of "The Two Faces of American Freedom," recently published by Harvard University Press. He writes on American constitutional development, with a particular interest in issues of citizenship, immigration and national security. More Aziz Rana

[Demeter]

7. Quelle Surprise! Administration and State AGs Lied, Mortgage Settlement “Broad”

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/quelle-surprise-administration-and-state-attorneys-general-lied-mortgage-settlement-release-described-as-broad.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

North Carolina has posted an executive summary of the foreclosure settlement (hat tip Abigail Field), and it is a a troubling document. The first aspect is the very fact that an executive summary, rather than actual text of an agreement, is what is being released. And it’s not being released for the worst of reasons: the deal has not been finalized.

...MUCH MORE HORROR AT LINK

[Demeter]

8. FHA Pronounces Budget Problems Gone, Thanks to Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/02/13/fha-pronounces-budget-problems-gone-thanks-to-foreclosure-fraud-settlement/

The Administration’s FY 2013 budget predicts a large shortfall for the Federal Housing Administration, which has predictably suffered during the housing crisis. But the FHA’s Acting Director (what a surprise, an acting director at a key regulatory agency) says that shortfall has been wiped away by the foreclosure fraud settlement deus ex machina:

A budget plan sent to Congress today projected that the FHA would require as much as $688 million from the U.S. Treasury Department. It would be the first cash draw in the agency’s history.

That estimate is “obsolete,” (Carol) Galante said in an interview, because five of the nation’s largest banks last week agreed to inject about $1 billion into the agency’s capital reserve fund to settle fraud and foreclosure claims.

Pardonez? This is a case where it really hurts not to have settlement terms. Because the total amount in the foreclosure fraud settlement that gets delivered to the federal government, and that includes every agency, is $750 million.

Nick Timiraos pointed me to this separate settlement with the FHA from Bank of America on Countrywide underwriting claims:

As part of the global resolution between the United States of America and the five largest mortgage servicing banks in the country, which will bring much needed relief to financially distressed homeowners nationwide, Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, today announced that the government will also resolve its claims against the Bank of America, Countrywide Financial Corporation and certain Countrywide subsidiaries and affiliates (Countrywide) for underwriting and origination mortgage fraud.

Since 2009, the office has been investigating the Bank of America’s lending practices to determine whether the bank, through Countrywide, which the bank acquired in 2008, knowingly made loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to unqualified home buyers. To date, the FHA has incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in damages as a result of this conduct. The investigation also encompassed allegations that the bank and Countrywide defrauded the FHA insurance fund by originating mortgage loans that were based upon inflated appraisals. During the investigation, the office determined that the bank’s conduct provides a basis for affirmative civil enforcement under, among other legal remedies, the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-33.

As part of the global settlement, Bank of America will pay $1 billion to resolve the wrongdoing uncovered during the office’s investigation. The settlement will entail an immediate payment of $500 million to provide a recovery for the harm done to the FHA by Countrywide’s conduct. Payment of the second $500 million will be deferred to fund a loan modification program for Countrywide borrowers across the nation with underwater mortgages. Under the terms of the program, Bank of America will solicit all potentially eligible borrowers and provide a loan modification to anyone with an eligible mortgage who accepts the offer. If, after the expiration of three years, the bank has not met its obligation to apply the full $500 million to provide such relief, any remainder will be paid directly to the United States.

Is this the $1 billion Galante’s talking about? Because it really only resolves half of it. The other half doesn’t go to the FHA, but to a loan modification program, with money going to the government only if the $500 million in the mod program doesn’t get paid down. Also confusing is whether or not this $1 billion deal is considered part of the $25 billion settlement, or an add-on (which would explain why some news outlets call it a “$26 billion” settlement). But even if we assume $500 million comes to the FHA from the Countrywide part of the settlement, then we’re still talking about Galante claiming that $500 million more would come to her from the settlement. That would be 2/3 of all the money due to the federal government under the settlement, and given that DoJ, HUD, the FTC, OCC, the Fed, the FHFA and plenty of other agencies would want some money for their time and effort on investigations and negotiations, that’s not a very realistic claim.

But here again is why the lack of settlement terms is so infuriating. We cannot make out what Galante is talking about with respect to the FHA, because we don’t have the terms spelled out. Attorneys General and federal regulators feel free to throw out numbers when no real numbers exist yet. WSJ has their best guesstimate, but that’s not official. It’s really a travesty. OR PERHAPS, A FRAUD?

[Demeter]

9. Financial crisis chair Angelides quits mortgage firm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-mortgages-angelides-idUSTRE81C20A20120213

Phil Angelides, the former chairman of a federal commission set up to look into the causes of the financial crisis, has stepped down from a group seeking to turn a profit by investing in distressed mortgages....
A representative for Angelides told Reuters on Monday the former California state treasurer stepped down as executive chairman of the upstart firm on January 27. The representative did not give any reason for the move...

Reuters reported a month ago that Angelides was heading a firm called Mortgage Resolution Partners, which had touted its political connections as part of its "secret formula" for negotiating deals to buy distressed mortgages. (link.reuters.com/vyx56s) Angelides' involvement with the firm had drawn scrutiny on Capitol Hill, where one congressman recently sent a letter warning about potential political influence peddling...In a fundraising letter sent earlier this year to prospective investors, Mortgage Resolution Partners talked about the political connections of Angelides and several other members of the firm. The start-up was focused on buying distressed mortgages in California and was seeking to raise about $6 million to study the feasibility of its plan.

In an emailed statement, the representative for Angelides said the former chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission "has returned to his business and civic commitments." Angelides, according to the statement, "continues to support the mission of stemming the tidal wave of foreclosures and any efforts, including those of MRP, which help homeowners." MORE

[Demeter]

20. The Bank Settlement’s Flawed - But Fight Bank Crime, Not Each Other By Richard (RJ) Eskow

http://www.nationofchange.org/bank-settlement-s-flawed-fight-bank-crime-not-each-other-1329142789

Two thousand bucks for having your home illegally foreclosed on is an insult. But two billion dollars' worth of lawyers suing bankers on behalf of wronged homeowners could change everything. And a real investigation into bank crime could make a real difference.

Will we get those things? Maybe - but only if we fight for them.

There are still opportunities to take action. (There's even a loophole in the deal that could still leave banks on the hook for robo-signing crimes.) So rather than attacking one another - something progressives are very good at - why don't we build pressure for the best outcome we can get?

RELATED PODCAST

http://ia600807.us.archive.org/0/items/DailyDigest-021012/2012_02_10_settlement.mp3

[Demeter]

10. EU divisions threaten aid for Greece

Fight grows among European creditors on the merits of allowing Athens to go bankrupt

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/PFVJWN/6ADGM/C4QEXC/YBWUQI/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=2&a3=15

[Demeter]

12. Greeks direct cries of pain at Germany

Anti-Berlin populism finds mirror in Germans’ impression that Greeks are lazy, unreliable and responsible for their own woes

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/PFVJWN/6ADGM/C4QEXC/MS6YZC/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=2&a3=15

[Demeter]

11. US congressional negotiators reach payroll tax deal

House and Senate leaders made a tentative pact to pass the extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/PFVJWN/6ADGM/C4QEXC/16DTJI/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=2&a3=15

[Demeter]

13. Obama plan would end dozens of business tax breaks

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-usa-economy-geithner-idUSTRE81D11F20120215

The Obama administration's corporate tax reform plan would end "dozens and dozens" of tax breaks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday as he defended the White House's election-year call for higher taxes on the wealthy.

Within days, the administration intends to unveil a blueprint aimed at eliminating inequities in the corporate tax system and lowering the top rate.

Companies, which pay wildly different levels of taxes, are clamoring for a cut in the corporate tax rate - which tops out at 35 percent -- but disagree about how to strip out preferences that benefit selected industries.

Geithner spoke before the Senate Finance Committee a day after President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget-and-tax proposal that called for aggressive government spending to boost the economy and higher taxes on the rich.

"We think they can handle it. We think they can afford it," Geithner said....

[Demeter]

14. Obama budget: Price tag for Wall Street bailout goes up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/price-tag-for-wall-street-bailout-goes-up/2012/02/13/gIQAUdB3BR_story.html?hpid=z13

The Obama administration has repeatedly boasted how the historic rescue of Wall Street will cost taxpayers far less than originally expected. But the budget proposal released Monday came with some unwelcome news: The price tag of the bailout is suddenly going up.

As a result, the administration said it will seek twice as much money from its proposed bank tax compared with last year, $61 billion vs. $30 billion.

A main reason for the increased bailout cost is that the government’s stock holdings of companies rescued by taxpayers have fallen in value. Insurance giant American International Group’s stock has fallen 36 percent in the past year while General Motors’s has tumbled 30 percent.

In 2011, the administration put the cost of the government’s financial rescue at $28 billion. Now, it’s expected to reach $54 billion....MORE

[Demeter]

15. China Pledges to Invest in Europe’s Bailout Funds, Sustain Euro Holdings

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/eu-s-van-rompuy-welcomes-china-s-interest-in-aiding-europe.html

China pledged to invest in Europe’s bailout funds and sustain its holdings of euro assets, spurring gains in the currency and Asian stocks on optimism the region’s debt crisis will be overcome.

“China will always adhere to the principle of holding assets of EU sovereign debt,” People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in Beijing today. “We would participate in resolving the euro debt crisis,” he said, echoing comments by Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday.

The remarks offer a carrot to European finance ministers, who are increasing pressure on Greece to deliver budget cuts in exchange for a second bailout. At stake for China is helping to stabilize the economy of its largest export market amid a global slowdown that has curtailed growth in Chinese shipments abroad.

“Wen and Zhou are giving the best support China can offer now, which is to send out positive messages such as promising not to cut euro assets and to buy European bonds to help bolster market confidence,” said Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. who previously worked at the European Central Bank. “How much and when China will buy will depend on its foreign-exchange investment strategy -- when they find the pricing and exchange rate favorable.”

DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A PLEDGE TO ME...SOUNDS LIKE DIPLOMACY

[Demeter]

16. JPMorgan, HSBC Among Firms Facing Canada Libor-Fixing Probe

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/jpmorgan-hsbc-are-among-seven-firms-facing-libor-fixing-probe-by-canada.html

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) are among at least seven firms facing a Canadian probe into whether they participated in a conspiracy to manipulate prices on interest-rate derivatives.

The nation’s Competition Bureau is investigating conduct by the group -- also including Citigroup Inc. (C), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, ICAP Plc and RP Martin Holdings Ltd. -- between 2007 and 2010, according to documents it filed with the Ontario Superior Court in May. Investigators are examining whether firms conspired to affect prices on derivatives linked to the Yen London interbank offered rate, according to the documents, which were shown to Bloomberg News by court clerks.

Alexa Keating, a spokeswoman for the Competition Bureau, said in an e-mailed statement that “there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time and no charges have been laid.”

Canadian officials opened the case after a “cooperating party” told the bureau that banks, at times facilitated by cash brokers, agreed to make artificially high or low submissions for the benchmark rate known as Yen Libor, according to the documents, which described the informant as a bank involved with the matter...MORE

[Roland99]

72. Alexa..."Keating"?

heh

[Demeter]

17. NY Fed sells $6.2 bln in mortgage bonds to Goldman

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/usa-fed-mbs-maidenlane-idUSL2E8D89F620120208

* Second major Maiden Lane II sale in three weeks

* Allows Fed bank to recoup balance of $19.5 bln loan

* Bonds were acquired in 2008 bailout of AIG

The Fed bank did not reveal the sales price nor the specific bonds in the auction but said Goldman's bid "represented good value for the public."

Credit Suisse Group bought a $7.01 billion chunk of the portfolio on Jan. 19 after an auction.

In the latest round, the Fed also invited bids from the U.S. securities units of Barclays PLC, Morgan Stanley , Royal Bank of Scotland PLC and Credit Suisse, whose unsolicited offer for the assets set off the auction.

The back-to-back sales chop the portfolio down to about $6.2 billion in face value, and suggest the market for such bonds is warming up. The U.S. housing market was at the heart of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis....

[Roland99]

35. "represented good value for the public"

I'm sure it did...wink wink nudge nudge say no more!!

[Demeter]

18. EU agrees rules to tame derivatives market

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/eu-derivatives-idUSL5E8D969P20120209

* New rules set to regulate roughly $700 trillion market

* EU's Barnier: era of shady deals is over

* Law will ensure trades recorded under eye of regulators

European Union diplomats and the European Parliament agreed on Thursday to overhaul regulation of the roughly $700 trillion derivatives market, a move that will make it easier to control one of the most opaque areas of finance. The new regime, which could be largely in place by the end of 2012, will overhaul a market that boomed in the decade before the economic crash and was blamed for amplifying the crisis by hiding risks from regulators. Under new EU laws, banks, hedge funds and other buyers and sellers of derivatives will be encouraged to move away from the unregulated 'over-the-counter' market, which accounts for almost 95 percent of all trades. ENCOURAGED? ENCOURAGED?!!

"The era of opacity and shady deals is over," said Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of writing these and other new rules to reform finance. "It is a key step in our effort to establish a safer and sounder regulatory framework for European financial markets." In the past, it has been common for multi-million-euro contracts to be recorded by no more than a fax, with only the parties involved aware of the details... SCREW THEM ALL! THESE ARE PRIVATE CONTRACTS, LET THEM GO BANKRUPT SUING EACH OTHER.

...Those that do not shift to exchanges or a central counterparty such as LCH Clearnet in London, which acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller, will face higher capital charges to reflect the extra risk. Crucially, the new rules mean that all deals must be recorded, whether conducted on or off an exchange. Supervisors hope that will make it easier to monitor the market and intervene, if necessary, to avoid a repeat of the chaos surrounding the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, where it proved difficult to assess exposure to derivatives. WHAT A TALE OF COCK AND BULL!

...By forcing increased transparency, the rules are likely to challenge the half a dozen or so large banks that dominate the market now. These banks, including Deutsche Bank, Barclays , Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America and Citigroup, design such products for customers and trade them among themselves. The United States has been quicker to implement controls, establishing a regulatory framework in 2010 for derivatives, such as those that hedge the risk from price moves on oil, gas or other commodity markets. SURE THEY HAVE.

....Some analysts see risks in the new regime and think regulators will be overwhelmed by trying to follow such a huge market. "By centrally clearing trades, you concentrate risk dramatically into one body, such as a central counterparty," said Graham Bishop, who advises banks on European financial policy. "We have to be careful these bodies don't become a financial nuclear bomb."

SUDDENLY, I HAVE LOST ALL INTEREST IN BREAKFAST AND LIFE IN GENERAL.

[Demeter]

19. EU Reached Accord on Clearing Law for Over-the-Counter Derivatives

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-09/eu-reaches-deal-on-clearing-law-for-over-the-counter-derivatives.html

European Union officials and lawmakers brokered a deal on rules to force trading of some over-the-counter derivatives through clearinghouses to safeguard financial markets.

The law, approved after negotiations in Brussels today, will empower EU regulators to decide on types of derivatives that should be centrally cleared. Traders who flout the rules would face penalties including fines. The law also sets rules on management of clearinghouses, including on reserves they must hold to protect themselves from insolvency. YEAH, THAT WILL BE A BIG HELP

THERE'S MORE, IF YOU HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT

[Po_d Mainiac]

44. Preparing for an orderly Greek default

Although the odds of the duct tape lasting long enough is doubtful.

[Demeter]

59. These idiots couldn't prepare for a one sandwich picnic

No point trying to cheer me up, I am beyond consolation.

[xchrom]

25. morning -- cool in the house but bright and sunny outside -- promises to be 60.

[Fuddnik]

29. Morning. Sunny side up here too.

I don't think it got down to 60 last night. Supposed to be in the low 80's today, so i can get my garden beds all prepped, and maybe planted within the next week.

And deciding what to plant, other than the usual tomatoes and peppers.

[xchrom]

37. dude -- that is awesome.

how garlic, and basil to w/ those toms?

[Fuddnik]

38. And a little fresh mozzarella!

[xchrom]

39. i like this because i make my own pizzas!

[Tansy_Gold]

41. Ooh, can I come to your house?

I'll bring sparkly hearts!

[xchrom]

48. anything sparkly will get you a good home made pizza!

what do you like on it?

[Po_d Mainiac]

49. Only gardening up heyuh, will be tapping maple trees

Hoping for a run by the end of the month.

[xchrom]

26. Miss Demeter - por vous -- - poor, white and republican

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/02/poor-white-and-republican.html

F.D.R. called him “the forgotten man,” but that was long ago. By 1972, he was a member of the silent majority and had become a Democrat for Nixon (he wore a hard hat with an American-flag sticker). 1980 produced the Reagan Democrat (this time he came from Macomb County, Michigan, and was discovered by the pollster Stan Greenberg). By 1994 he had curdled into the Angry White Male (he elected the Gingrich Congress). In 2008, he was simply the working-class white—by then he was no longer forgotten, and no longer a Democrat of any kind; he was a member of the much-analyzed Republican base. The television godfather of the type, of course, is Archie Bunker, but you can also trace his lineage more darkly through the string of hard-bitten blue-collar movies that begins with “Joe” (Peter Boyle, 1970), goes on to “Falling Down” (Michael Douglas, 1993), “Gran Torino” (Clint Eastwood, 2008), and, in a rural context, “Winter’s Bone” (2010). He’s a descendant of the thirties Everyman played by Henry Fonda and Gary Cooper, except that in the intervening decades he lost his idealism and grew surly, if not violent, consumed with a hatred of hippies, immigrants, blacks, government, and, finally, himself.

This election year, he’s back and getting a lot of attention from sociologists and pundits (Charles Murray’s new book “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010” sparked the current flurry of commentary). But in 2012 he’s no longer even working class. He’s fallen through the last restraints of decency and industriousness, down into the demoralized and pathological underclass that, in the past, Americans associated with the black poor. There, he lives on disability, is no longer fit for employment nor has any impulse to get a job, is divorced, fathers illegitimate children who grow up to do the same, gets hooked on meth or prescription drugs, does time in prison now and then, and has bad teeth.

Is it useful to make generalizations about whole classes of people? We all know the reasons why it’s not—they stoke prejudice, crush nuance, distort reality, are unkind and unfair. But just as it was wrong for a generation of liberals to reject Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s notorious 1965 report “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,” it would be a mistake to dismiss the subject of Murray’s new book simply because it insults half of the Americans who weren’t already tarred by “The Bell Curve.” Murray has a talent for raising important questions on the way to arriving at invidious answers.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/02/poor-white-and-republican.html#ixzz1mSKC46I0




*** left leaning writers will once again try to answer charles murray seriously -- and while we should be dancing to tunes of economic equality -- we will once again dance to the tune of murray for a year -- like the bell curve business.

[Demeter]

32. Can I take it back for a refund, or exchange, maybe?

[xchrom]

34. ...

indeed.

moynihan and murray will have a lot to answer for in the next life.


but why? we do left leaning writers and thinkers feel we have to spendo so much TIME on this crap -- as though any of it were serious.
improve the economy, improve wages{++}, improve the amount of leisure time people have -- and that ends the realities those two have cooked up for us.

[Tansy_Gold]

43. Read Charlie Pierce's "Idiot America"

And Barry Glassman's "Culture of Fear."

The media has given these "cranks" a forum and there are far too many people whose fears make them susceptible to the comforting answers provided by the cranks. Answers that absolve them of any and all responsibility. Murray, Buchanan, O'Reilly, Coulter, all of them. They play to and prey upon the very fears they create.

I could go on, but my less-than-minimum-wage job calls.

[xchrom]

47. indeed. nt

[xchrom]

27. Euro-Area Economy Contracts for the First Time Since 2009

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-15/euro-economy-shrinks-less-than-forecast-with-first-contraction-since-2009.html

Europe’s economy shrank less than economists forecast in the fourth quarter as a better-than- predicted performance in Germany and France helped mitigate the region’s first contraction since 2009.

Gross domestic product in the 17-nation euro area fell 0.3 percent from the prior three months, the first drop since the second quarter of 2009, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a drop of 0.4 percent, the median of 42 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey shows. In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, GDP dropped less than economists projected in the fourth quarter, while France’s economy unexpectedly expanded in that period.

German companies have boosted output and spending over the past year to meet export demand, helping soften the impact of tougher budget cuts from Spain to Ireland. While Moody’s Investors Service cut the ratings of six of the region’s member states on Feb. 13, saying policy makers haven’t done enough to restore investor confidence, the economy is showing some signs of stabilization. Euro-region economic sentiment improved in January and services output expanded.

“It could have been worse,” said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING Group in Amsterdam. “The debt crisis has thrown the euro-zone recovery into reverse. The recent improvement in leading indicators suggests there is a fair chance that the euro-zone economy as a whole might not shrink further in the first quarter.”

[xchrom]

28. Deere says 1Q profit up 4 percent on strong sales

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/15/financial/f043542S03.DTL&type=business

Deere & Co. said Wednesday that strong equipment sales, particularly abroad, boosted its quarterly net income by 4 percent and the company raised its outlook for 2012.

The company posted first-quarter earnings of $532.9 million, or $1.30 per share in its fiscal first quarter. That's up from $513.7 million, or $1.20 per share, last year.

Deere's quarterly revenue grew 11 percent to $6.77 billion from last year's $6.12 billion.

That blew past Wall Street expectations and company shares gained more than 1 percent to sell for $90 in premarket trading. The analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings per share of $1.23 on revenue of $6.56 billion, on average.

Deere, based in Moline, Ill., says it still expects equipment sales to be up about 15 percent in fiscal 2012, but the company now predicts net income of $3.275 billion. That's up from last fall's forecast of $3.2 billion in net income.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/15/financial/f043542S03.DTL#ixzz1mSM905dJ

[Roland99]

30. Report Eurozone Considering Delay Of Greek Bailout

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/eurusd-collapses-report-eurozone-considering-delay-greek-bailout

And scene.

EURO ZONE FINANCE OFFICIALS CONSIDERING PROPOSAL TO DELAY ALL OR PART OF GREEK BAILOUT YET STILL AVOID DEFAULT-EU SOURCES

Yes: Europe suggests it may be best for Greece to be partially pregnant... er, in default. But all will be "controlled" - promise. We were a little generous in our estimate for the halflife of the Chinese bail out rumor. Either way, EURUSD plunging down to under 1.3070 on the news.

[DemReadingDU]

36. It seems that TPTB know Greece is going to default

TPTB are working behind the scenes how to divide up Greece's assets now, so that when the actual default is declared, it will be orderly. Or so they hope.

[bread_and_roses]

40. "Greece: Your Money or Your Life"

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/15-1

Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 by Black Agenda Report
Greece: Your Money or Your Life
by Margaret Kimberley

Greece is at the epicenter of an horrific assault on working people and on their democracy. As a result of corruption at the top of the Greek government and world wide finance capital, that nation is teetering on the brink of insolvency. The rescue cooked up by the same people who created the problem is in fact anything but.

The so-called bail out is a plan to destroy the last vestiges of the welfare state and the expectations of humanity that they can have any hope of being treated fairly in capitalist countries. The European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission have descended like vultures, making it crystal clear where their interests lie.

... Americans should be paying close attention to events in Greece. They are omens showing people around the world what lies in store for them when thieves in high places get their way.

The MOU shows in black and white that the aim of the bankers is to demolish the hard won rights of people in the so-called democratic world. Greece’s government has been neutered, relegated to the whims of high finance. Greece may still have a prime minister and a parliament, but they now rule in name only. A military coup could not have driven home the point more clearly.

[DemReadingDU]

45. more from the article

Beginning in 2008, Americans got a dose of some of the same medicine. We were told that our economy would implode if we didn’t give our money to bail out the very same banks which created the crisis. Four years and trillions of dollars later, we are still in a recession, unemployment remains high, ordinary people have lost their assets and our president and Congress bicker over how much they can cut government spending and ruin our lives even more.

The Greeks are ahead of the curve. At least they stood up and protested. Hopefully more people around the world will be like them instead of like passive Americans. Hopefully Americans will stop being passive before they end up like people in Greece.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/15-1



I have told a few people to watch what is happening in Greece. I am told that Greece is 'over there', that nothing like that will happen in the U.S., that we have laws and our constitution and our government would protect us. I'm told there is nothing to worry about, that we'll muddle thru, and there isn't anything to prepare for anyway.

[Po_d Mainiac]

51. orderly?

&feature=related

[Demeter]

31. Deficit Reduction Won’t Create Jobs By Dean Baker D'OH!

http://www.nationofchange.org/deficit-reduction-won-t-create-jobs-1328976633

It's budget time, and that means that we can expect to hear the Washington elite wailing about the budget deficit for the next several weeks. When hearing the cries about out-of-control deficits, people would be best advised to turn off their television sets, put down their newspaper, and smash their computers. (Okay, don't smash your computer.)

The economy has one major problem right now and that is a serious lack of jobs. We still have more than 25 million people unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up looking for work altogether because there are no jobs. This should be the issue that everyone in Washington is talking about.

Instead, many politicians and pundits want to distract people's attention from unemployment by complaining about the deficit. They have deceived many people into thinking that the economy would somehow be stronger and there would be more jobs if the deficit was reduced, either due to spending cuts or increased taxes.

This view makes no sense. There are no businesses that are going to hire additional workers because the government laid off school teachers or firefighters and we cut back spending on food stamps. Businesses hire more workers when they see more demand for their product. All of these actions that reduce the deficit, either on the spending or tax side, translate into less demand and therefore less employment. In short, those who want to cut the deficit now are lobbying for fewer jobs and higher unemployment...

[Fuddnik]

42. Deficit reduction does one thing.

It lowers overall interest rates.

And, with interest rates near zero, that cat's already dead. If Obama, Geithner and all of the above started framing this as a revenue crisis, instead of a debt crisis, they'd have a hammer to beat the Paul Ryans of the world over the head. But, the Republicans and the Blue Dogs are out there 24/7 squawking about a deficit, and nobody from the administration tries to mount a counter-offensive. Probably because they don't believe it either.

I'm just finishing up Ron Suskind's "Confidence Men". It's a book about a rudderless ship, sort of.

One quote stands out glaringly. Larry Summers, at a private meeting with Peter Orszag, tells him, "We're home alone here". There are no adults in charge.

[Tansy_Gold]

52. And it's a sure bet

Larry Summers ain't no "adult"!

[Demeter]

60. Odds are he's not even human

[Tansy_Gold]

69. Are any of them?? n/t

[Fuddnik]

63. The book paints him as the ultimate, petulant, spoiled brat.

Especially after he didn't get the Fed Chairmanship that he thought Obama promised him. He proceeded to run a reign of terror over the domestic policy side of the White House.

Unfortunately, he comes off as mature compared to Rahm, Geithner, and a few others.

[Demeter]

71. If he'd been appointed Chairman, he'd have been fired by now

[Roland99]

33. Feb. Empire State index jumps to 19.5 (15.0 expectation) highest since June 2010

[Roland99]

46. Despite Two Thirds Of Components Declining, Empire Fed Prints At Highest Since June 2010

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/despite-two-thirds-components-declining-empire-fed-prints-highest-june-2010

Chalk this one to "seasonal adjustments" or something, cause we no longer have any clue what is going on with the data fudging in America. When it comes to banana republic economic indicators the US is rapidly eclipsing China - case in point the Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which despite seeing the majority, or 6 out of 9 sub indices, declining in February, managed to not only rise, but beat the highest Wall Street estimate, printing at 19.53, the highest since June 2010, on expectations of 15.00, and compared to a previous print of 13.48. What lead to this epic surge? Why nothing short of a decline in just about two thirds of the components: New Orders declined from 21.69 to 22.79, Unfilled Orders declined from -5.49 to -7.06; Inventories declined from 6.59 to -4.71, Prices Paid declined from 26.37 to 25.88; Prices received declined from 23.08 to 15.29, and Number of Employees declined from 12.09 to 11.76. What increased? Shipments, Average Employee Workweek, and, drumroll, Delivery Times. And somehow this disaster of a report is supposed to bring peace and comfort to the market that things are getting better? Perhaps at the Fed's data manipulation department. And just like a 2.9 million seasonal NFP adjustment in January has resulted in an ebullient market tone, we wonder just how high 3 out of 9 subindices improving will send the market today?

[Fuddnik]

53. The Fed has obviously endorsed someone in the election!

I wonder who?

[xchrom]

50. Regulators weigh massive public input on 'Volcker rule'

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-volcker-rule-20120215,0,3620518.story

Regulators are confronting some 15,000 public letters attempting to influence the final shape of one of the most controversial elements of the 2010 financial reform bill.

Five regulatory agencies have until July to complete a new rule that would ban proprietary trading at Wall Street firms, a move that some believe would make the U.S. financial system safer. The rule named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker would stop banks from using their own money to trade for profit rather than fulfilling a client's order.

Banks, trading firms and critics of the financial industry have inundated regulators with letters and meetings before this week's deadline for public comment on the so-called Volcker rule. Trading operations have been among the most profitable divisions of the nation's largest banks in recent years, and the financial industry has spared no expense in fighting new restrictions.

But critics of the banks say that risky speculative trading was one of the factors that fueled the mortgage bubble and needs to be curtailed. Financial firms have also faced anger for betting against their own clients in pursuit of profit.

[Roland99]

54. Feb. NAHB builder gauge hits more than 4-year high

[Roland99]

55. Point Out The Housing Recovery On This Chart

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/point-out-housing-recovery-chart

[Fuddnik]

64. Time to buy some hip waders.

Better yet, a diving suit. It's really getting deep out there.

[xchrom]

56. Eurozone has one foot in recession

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-15-09-02-28

LONDON (AP) -- The 17-nation eurozone has one foot in recession, according to official figures showing the economy contracted 0.3 percent in the final three months of 2011 from the previous quarter, a clear sign that Europe's debt crisis has spared no country in the single currency bloc.

The decline was the first since the second quarter of 2009 and followed a meager 0.1 percent increase in the previous three-month period, Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, said Wednesday.

The figure was slightly better than expected but shows Europe's economy was hit hard when the debt crisis intensified and threatened to spread to big economies, notably Italy. In November, it appeared likely that the eurozone's third-largest economy would need financial rescue like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

In a desperate bid to save the euro, Europe's governments agreed to tie their economies more closely together and the European Central Bank offered super-cheap long-term loans to struggling banks. The twin response has helped calm market jitters this year, despite the ongoing confusion over Greece's second bailout.

[TalkingDog]

57. Junius Peake, Early Advocate of Electronic Securities Trading, Dies at 80

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-13/junius-peake-early-advocate-of-electronic-trading-dies-in-colorado-at-80.html

Peake, known as Jay, had a front-row view as Wall Street firms were inundated by paper during what became known as the back-office crisis of the late 1960s. As partner in charge of operations at the Manhattan brokerage firm Shields & Co., he oversaw the use of a $500,000 computer system the firm purchased in 1964 from National Cash Register Co., now known as NCR Corp.

The computer, which some employees called “the monster,” calmed the frenzy of settlement days, the New York Times reported in a 1965 article. “Our overtime has been minimal recently,” Peake told the Times.

The back-office experience shaped Peake’s view that buying and selling by shouting on trading floors such as the New York Stock Exchange “was no longer viable in the modern world and that it was essential to move to automated trading,” he wrote in a four-page summary of his career. “This was a change in which I passionately believed, and I began to express my opinions and suggestions for change in many articles and papers, which led to me being asked to testify at various congressional hearings.”

[DemReadingDU]

58. World Bank's Zoellick to step down June 30

2/15/12 World Bank's Zoellick to step down June 30

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday he plans to step down when his term ends on June 30, raising questions whether the United States will insist on holding on to a job that has always gone to an American.

"I'm honored to have led such a world class institution with so many talented and exceptional people," Zoellick said in a statement announcing his plans.

Speculation has been rife in recent months over who might take the job when Zoellick departs. Possible U.S. candidates include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former White House economic adviser Larry Summers.

Zoellick, a Republican, would potentially be a strong candidate for a senior position if a Republican candidate takes the White House in presidential elections in November.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-banks-zoellick-spell-plans-150345694.html

[Demeter]

61. And he'd look stunning in an orange jumpsuit!

[Roland99]

65. Who's the next PNACer in line?

[xchrom]

62. Greece battles to salvage deal

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0215/breaking3.html

Greece's leaders battled to salvage a new €130 billion EU/IMF bailout, rejecting doubts over their commitment to a punishing austerity package just hours before a conference call of euro zone finance ministers.

But with mistrust of Athens high, several EU sources told Reuters that finance officials in the 17-state currency union were studying whether it was possible to delay part or all of the rescue deal while still avoiding a disorderly default - news which pushed safe haven German Bund futures to session highs.

Finance minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted that Greece would have clarified all outstanding issues on a 3.3-billion-euro package of cuts in time for a euro zone call scheduled for 4pm Irish time, attacking critics in the zone for "playing with fire".

Greece's conservative party leader Antonis Samaras, widely tipped as the country's next prime minister, pledged in writing that if elected he would stick to an agreed programme of welfare and job cuts that triggered riots in central Athens this week.

[xchrom]

67. Treasury toasts Spanish banks as they lap up ECB's "open-bar" invite

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/02/15/inenglish/1329318118_150506.html

Record borrowing of cheap long-term funds from the European Central Bank by Spanish lenders underpinned the Treasury's auction of short-term paper on Tuesday as the markets shrugged off Moody's latest downgrade of Spain's sovereign rating.

Largely cut off from the wholesale funding markets, Spanish banks tapped the ECB in January for a daily average of 133.2 billion euros, similar to the levels seen in July of 2010 during a critical phase of Greece's debt problems.

As part of its so-called "open-bar" policy, the ECB at the end of December offered to lend banks in the euro-zone area unlimited sums of three-year money at an interest rate of 1 percent. Dealers said banks are using those funds to buy largely short-dated Spanish government debt at higher rates, thereby making a quick and relatively safe profit.

This has eased the Treasury's task of covering Spain's borrowing needs, and Tuesday's auction of 12- and 18-month bills was no exception. The Economy Ministry's debt-management arm sold 5.445 billion euros in the two issues at lower rates, amid heavy demand of 13.885 billion.

[Demeter]

68. Paulson Sold His Stakes in Citigroup, Bank of America Ahead of Share Rally

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/paulson-sold-his-stakes-in-citigroup-bank-of-america-ahead-of-share-rally.html

Billionaire John Paulson sold his entire stakes in Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. (C) in the fourth quarter before the bank’s shares rallied.

Paulson & Co. sold 25.1 million shares of Citigroup valued at $643 million as of Dec. 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge fund sold about 64.3 million shares of Bank of America worth $394 million.

[Demeter]

70. Fed Judge Strips Vt of Power to Terminate Nuke: VT Govt Diddles;

http://www.nationofchange.org/federal-judge-strips-vermont-power-terminate-nuke-state-government-diddles-vermonters-take-matters-o


Federal Judge Strips Vermont of Power to Terminate Nuke: State Government Diddles but Vermonters Take Matters into Own Hands By Dan DeWalt


...Vermont state law gives the state the power to decide whether to allow further operation of the reactor past March 21, 2012 (the expiration date for VY). When Entergy bought VY, they agreed to this law and swore that they would not try to abrogate it. This was an outright lie on Entergy's part, and they sued the state as soon as it was decided that further operation of this crumbling, leaking and led-by-liars reactor would NOT be in the interests of the state and they were not given permission to continue operation past March 21. Federal Judge J. Garvan Murtha, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal bench in 2002, gave Entergy all that they wanted and denied Vermont the right to legislate on this matter. The judge misconstrued testimony and completely ignored the case presented by the state to show that the Vermont legislature acted within the purview allowed by federal law. In his decision he cites quotes referring to safety that are either unattributed or taken out of context, having been expressed outside of the actual process of crafting the legislation. Some quotes cited even fail to distinguish between legislators and advocates who were speaking in committee hearings.

This ruling goes hand in glove with current Federal policies that enrich the 1% and keep power firmly in the hands of America's largest corporations. It affirms that corporate profits trump the interests of the citizenry. And it's based on the laughable notion that only the Federal government can be trusted to keep us safe from radiological accidents caused by corporate malfeasance and profit-driven lax practices.

The executives of Entergy have lied under oath repeatedly to the Vermont legislature. Reactor officials testified that there were no pipes in the ground underneath the plant, but that falsehood was exposed when the source of tritium leaks at the reactor in 2011 were found to be coming from a network of underground pipes located precisely where they claimed there were none. Entergy repeatedly warned that VT would lose a reliable energy provider if VY went off line, but VT utilities have chosen to buy future power elsewhere and not one watt of VY power will be purchased by any Vermonter. Entergy tried to bribe the legislature (in Louisiana talk, they called it a gift offer) and have run roughshod over every aspect of the state's self governance, relying on their tight association with the NRC, which abets rather than regulates the industry, to ensure that their reprehensible actions are allowed to occur unchecked.

The state of Vermont is fighting back, considering all possible moves that can be made to rein in this corporate behemoth, but Federal law and the courts are limiting the State's possible responses. It is an outrage that a federal judge would ignore a lengthy and well documented trail of lies and deception on the part of a powerful corporation, and choose instead to basically accuse the Vermont legislature of lying about its intent when passing the legislation. He chose to accept Entergy's lawyers' claim that the legislature was trying to address radiological safety issues, which are exclusively under federal jurisdiction, and he rejected the legislature's defense that they were responsibly considering issues of environmental safety and economic benefit to the state...

READ ON, THERE'S MORE, IT GETS WORSE

[Demeter]

74. No Miracle Today--the Train Got Derailed?

I have had a bad day myself...it started out so-so, and just got worse with every passing hour. Co-incidence, I suppose.