STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 2 April 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 2 April 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 1 April 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 1 April 2015
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Dow Jones 17,698.18 -77.94 (-0.44%)
S&P 500 2,059.69 -8.20 (-0.40%)
Nasdaq 4,880.23 -20.66 (-0.42%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.86% -0.03 (-1.59%)
30 Year 2.46% -0.03 (-1.20%)[font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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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
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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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. But is it only a spring shower?

Or a tsunami to wipe away the GOP and the fascism of our times?

I have been looking around my neighborhood, and I have worrisome news: people are so complacent, so unwilling to push for change, that it's going to take a larger crisis affecting more people much more harshly, to get them off their lounge chairs. It's going to have to be bigger than 2008, and that was bad enough!

This isn't the Ann Arbor I found when I first moved here. People are smug...the bad times have abated, and the human debris has been cleared away, and no one of their acquaintance is eating cat food, so everything is fine. The kids are still in college, not pounding the streets or sleeping in the basement. The campers in the middle of the highway have been moved out of the wooded median strip...and nobody gives a damn where they went.

I blame it on the QE-inflated stock market. People look at their 401Ks and feel secure. "See, it all came back! That was just a blip!"

We will see how everyone feels when it comes crashing down...September was the last forecast I heard.

You can lead a horticulture, but you cannot make her think!--Dorothy Parker

[Demeter]

2. 85 Billionaires and the Better Half By Michael Parenti

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/85-billionaires-and-the-better-half-by-michael-parenti/#more-158314

The world’s 85 richest individuals possess as much wealth as the 3.5 billion souls who compose the poorer half of the world’s population, or so it was announced in a report by Oxfam International. The assertion sounds implausible to me. I think the 85 richest individuals, who together are worth many hundreds of billions of dollars, must have far more wealth than the poorest half of our global population.

How could these two cohorts, the 85 richest and 3.5 billion poorest, have the same amount of wealth? The great majority of the 3.5 billion have no net wealth at all. Hundreds of millions of them have jobs that hardly pay enough to feed their families. Millions of them rely on supplements from private charity and public assistance when they can. Hundreds of millions are undernourished, suffer food insecurity, or go hungry each month, including many among the very poorest in the United States.

Most of the 3.5 billion earn an average of $2.50 a day. The poorest 40 percent of the world population accounts for just 5 percent of all global income. About 80 percent of all humanity live on less than $10 a day. And the poorest 50 percent maintain only 7.2 percent of the world’s private consumption. How exactly could they have accumulated an amount of surplus wealth comparable to the 85 filthy richest?

Hundreds of millions live in debt even in “affluent” countries like the United States. They face health care debts, credit card debts, college tuition debts, and so on. Many, probably most who own homes— and don’t live in shacks or under bridges or in old vans— are still straddled with mortgages. This means their net family wealth is negative, minus-zero. They have no propertied wealth; they live in debt.

MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

3. Ever wonder why we waited six years to get a decent economic recovery? By David Dayen

This new revelation will disgust you. Barney Frank's Biggest Bombshell: His Shocking Anecdote About the Financial Crisis

http://www.alternet.org/economy/barney-franks-biggest-bombshell-his-shocking-anecdote-about-financial-crisis?akid=12958.227380.6lJjZf&rd=1&src=newsletter1034129&t=7

Barney Frank has a new autobiography out. He’s long been one of the nation’s most quotable politicians. And Washington lives in perpetual longing for intra-party conflict. So why has a critical revelation from Frank’s book, one that implicates the most powerful Democrat in the nation, been entirely expunged from the record? The media has thus far focused on Frank’s wrestling with being a closeted gay congressman, or his comment that Joe Biden “can’t keep his mouth shut or his hands to himself.” But nobody has focused on Frank’s allegation that Barack Obama refused to extract foreclosure relief from the nation’s largest banks, as a condition for their receipt of hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money.

The anecdote comes on page 295 of “Frank,” a title that the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee holds true to throughout the book. The TARP legislation included specific instructions to use a section of the funds to prevent foreclosures. Without that language, TARP would not have passed; Democratic lawmakers who helped defeat TARP on its first vote cited the foreclosure mitigation piece as key to their eventual reconsideration...TARP was doled out in two tranches of $350 billion each. The Bush administration, still in charge during TARP’s passage in October 2008, used none of the first tranche on mortgage relief, nor did Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson use any leverage over firms receiving the money to persuade them to lower mortgage balances and prevent foreclosures. Frank made his anger clear over this ignoring of Congress’ intentions at a hearing with Paulson that November. Paulson argued in his defense, “the imminent threat of financial collapse required him to focus single-mindedly on the immediate survival of financial institutions, no matter how worthy other goals were.”

Whether or not you believe that sky-is-falling narrative, Frank kept pushing for action on foreclosures, which by the end of 2008 threatened one in 10 homes in America. With the first tranche of TARP funds running out by the end of the year, Frank writes, “Paulson agreed to include homeowner relief in his upcoming request for a second tranche of TARP funding. But there was one condition: He would only do it if the President-elect asked him to.” Frank goes on to explain that Obama rejected the request, saying “we have only one president at a time.” Frank writes, “my frustrated response was that he had overstated the number of presidents currently on duty,” which equally angered both the outgoing and incoming officeholders. Obama’s unwillingness to take responsibility before holding full authority doesn’t match other decisions made at that time. We know from David Axelrod’s book that the Obama transition did urge the Bush administration to provide TARP loans to GM and Chrysler to keep them in business. So it was OK to help auto companies prior to Inauguration Day, just not homeowners.

In the end, the Obama transition wrote a letter promising to get to the foreclosure relief later, if Congress would only pass the second tranche of TARP funds. Congress fulfilled its obligation, and the Administration didn’t. The promised foreclosure mitigation efforts failed to help, and in many cases abjectly hurt homeowners. This is not a new charge from Frank: he first leveled it in May 2012 in an interview with New York magazine. Nobody in the Obama Administration has ever denied the anecdote, but of course hardly anybody bothered to publicize it, save for a couple financial blogs. I suppose those reviewing ”Frank” can offer an excuse about this being “old news,” but that claims suffers from the “tree falling in the forest” syndrome: if a revelation is made in public, and no journalist ever elevates it, did it make a sound? The political media’s allergy to policy is a clear culprit here. Jamie Kirchick’s blanket statement in his review of “Frank” that “readers’ eyes will glaze over” at the recounting of the financial crisis is a typical attitude. But millions of people suffered needlessly for Wall Street’s sins; they’d perhaps be interested in understanding why.

That’s the main reason why the significance of Obama’s decision cannot be overstated. The fact that we waited six years to get some semblance of a decent economic recovery traces back directly to the failure to alleviate the foreclosure crisis. Here was a moment, right near the beginning, when both public money and leverage could have been employed to stop foreclosures. Instead of demanding homeowner help when financial institutions relied on massive government support, the Administration passed, instead prioritizing nursing banks back to health and then asking them to give homeowners a break, which the banks predictably declined. There were no structural or legislative barriers to this proposition. One man, Barack Obama, could tell another man, Henry Paulson, to tighten the screws on banks to write down loans, and something would have happened. Would it have been successful? Would it have saved tens or hundreds of billions in damage to homeowners? Even trillions? Or would Paulson and his predecessors found a way to wriggle out of the commitment again? We know the alternative failed, so it’s tantalizing to think about this road not taken. This still matters because, as City University of New York professor Alan White explained brilliantly over the weekend, the foreclosure crisis isn’t really over. Though 6 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since 2007, another 1 million remain in the pipeline, many of them legacy loans originated during the housing bubble. If you properly compare the situation to a time before the widespread issuance of subprime mortgages, we’re still well above normal levels of foreclosure starts. In addition, over one in six homes remain underwater....


David Dayen is a contributing writer to Salon who also writes for The New Republic, The American Prospect, Politico, The Guardian and other publications. He lives in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter: @ddayen

[Demeter]

26. JPMorgan Chase on track to pay $9 billion to homeowners as part of settlement

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/02/us-usa-bank-jpmorgan-idUSKBN0MT0B020150402?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is on track to meet its mandate to provide billions of dollars in consumer relief to struggling homeowners as part of a settlement it reached over bad residential mortgage-backed securities it sold before the financial crisis, an independent monitor said on Thursday.

Joseph Smith, the monitor overseeing the settlement the largest U.S. bank reached in 2013 with the federal government and five states, credited Chase $2.2 billion out of the $4 billion goal it is required to provide to consumers by 2017. The bank receives extra credit for certain types of help and less for others, so the total is not a dollar-for-dollar accounting of the assistance provided. The relief comes in the form of mortgage forgiveness, refinancing and disaster area lending. Chase, JPMorgan's brand for consumer loans, must also pay $9 billion in cash, totaling a $13 billion settlement.

"We are seeing steady progress from Chase," Smith said, noting the bank may meet its goal before deadline.

Citigroup (C.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) have also entered settlements for their role in the U.S. mortgage crisis.

A DROP IN THE SLOP BUCKET, I'M SURE

[Demeter]

4. Fed's Fischer offers framework for regulating shadow banks

http://news.yahoo.com/feds-fischer-offers-framework-regulating-shadow-banks-231720279--sector.html

A top U.S. Federal Reserve official on Monday suggested stress tests and certain capital requirements to contain the risks within the non-bank lending sector, while acknowledging there is little the central bank can do to impose such restrictions.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer offered a framework to more tightly regulate the lending activities of hedge funds, mutual funds and other non-bank entities - often referred to as shadow banks - though he was careful to show that he was offering suggestions and not potential central bank rules.

The Fed has ramped up the central bank's focus on its crisis-prevention abilities, recognizing the regulatory failures that led to the 2007-09 financial crisis.

While Fischer has often spoken about the need to get ahead of the next meltdown, Monday was the first time since he joined the Fed last year that he offered specific steps to make shadow lenders less dangerous....



GET AHEAD OF THE NEXT MELTDOWN, Y'ALL!

[Demeter]

5. Being a big global bank is not worth the hassle - investor poll

http://news.yahoo.com/being-big-global-bank-not-worth-hassle-investor-124538559--sector.html

Being one of the world's top 30 banks is not worth the hassle of extra regulatory scrutiny and capital requirements, according to a poll of financial industry investors last week. Morgan Stanley said 62 percent of investors polled at its European financial industry conference said the negatives of having a global banking business outweighed the benefits as regulations had "become overbearing" for the largest firms. Only 28 percent of investors said the benefits of being a large and truly global firm outweighed the negatives, and 10 percent of the 60 people polled were undecided.

"We found it striking that some management teams are seeking to make their businesses simpler, and we believe investors would reward the restructuring potential if strategy is clear and perceived as achievable," Morgan Stanley analyst Huw van Steenis wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

Thirty of the world's biggest banks are dubbed global systemically important banks, or G-SIBs, which must hold between 1 and 2.5 percent extra capital from the start of 2016 and also have a buffer of debt that can absorb losses, so they are less likely to collapse. These banks, which include HSBC, JPMorgan, Citigroup and China's ICBC, also typically come under extra scrutiny from national regulators. Banks, particularly many in Europe, are cutting down in size to save costs and simplify their operations.

"We were struck by how many of the management teams we met are trying to reconfigure their business, whether through stretching cost cutting goals via digital in the UK and Nordic banks or shrinking investment banking or addressing balance sheets, such as in Italy," van Steenis said. He said legacy systems, bad loans and businesses not making returns above their cost of capital remained material challenges for the firms, however.

A majority of investors at the conference said they expect European banks to raise at least 20 billion euros (14.6 billion pounds) more equity this year. Morgan Stanley said 41 percent of investors polled said banks would raise 20-30 billion euros, 9 percent expected them to raise 30-40 billion and 13 percent expected them to raise 40 billion or more. A majority of investors said they expected the European Central Bank to require banks it regulates to hold core capital of at least 11 percent in the future.

YUP! EVERYBODY'S GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT MELTDOWN!

[Demeter]

6. APRIL FOOLS FOR GEEKS from email

Security Experts: PANIC

MITRE has announced the PANIC vulnerability, a critical security flaw which affects the server administrators and software developers underpinning almost every interaction we have with the Internet. PANIC is particularly dangerous as it has the potential to interfere with administrators' ability to safely patch other vulnerabilities. This issue appears to have existed, undiscovered or unreported, since the creation of the very first networked computers. It is not yet known if PANIC has been exploited in the wild.

EFF Wins Court Battle to Have Pig Latin Approved For Civilian Use

After more than three years of litigation, EFF has prevailed in Ohencay v NSA with a unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit ruling that the federal prohibition on Pig Latin is inconsistent with the First Amendment. Fred Mithsay, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, said that the government was disappointed in the decision and was considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. "Unrestricted use of Pig Latin threatens national security," said Mithsay. "Al-Qaeda could use it to organize the latest strike on the homeland or my DOJ coworkers might use it to keep me from knowing about the coolest parties."

NSA Tells Public To Reduce Use of Passive Voice In Email

Both style and national security are impacted by the use of passive voice, the NSA said today. Having spent many billions of taxpayer dollars to capture all private electronic communication, the agency is frustrated that poor writing habits are making this data difficult to analyze. "We strongly prefer short declarative sentences where the actor is clearly identified," said an NSA spokesperson. "Instead of writing, 'The protest will be attended by many activists,' it would be better to write, 'Known dissidents Amy Goodman, Laura Poitras, and Glenn Greenwald will travel by bus to the protest in Washington Square Park, New York, and will arrive at approximately 1:04 p.m. on April 1st, 2015.'" The NSA further suggested that instead of composing private email, citizens could instead fill out a webform at NSA.gov or travel to Bluffdale, Utah and share all of their most private secrets with the NSA in person.

Privacy Nihilists Debate Mass Surveillance

The tension was palpable at the first ever Privacy Nihilist Debate held earlier this week in the gymnatorium of San Francisco's Uli Kunkel High School. It started with a strong opening statement: "There is no truth to observe, so from a metaphysical and epistemological perspective, mass surveillance is meaningless." That was followed by a gripping rejoinder: "Merelogically, any perceptor, even myself, will not perceive 'me,' only improper misperceptions of supposed parts of me. The truth of my being cannot be known even if all observable parts are cataloged. The government is capable only of making inherently flawed observations that cannot form the basis of correct action." Ultimately, the nihilists agreed that no act is inherently right or wrong and concluded the debate with a group shrug.

Leaked Documents Reveal NSA Once Ran Dangerously Low on Codenames

The Intercept has published a PowerPoint slide released by Edward Snowden showing that as late as 1999, the NSA was dangerously close to depleting all appropriate permutations of English words to serve as codenames for its surveillance efforts. One internal projection states that before a new reserve of words was added to the supply, the last available combination--OBSEQUIOUS MOUSTACHEHORSE--was set to be assigned in 2004. The presentation implies, but does not explicitly state, that the Agency may have introduced those newly discovered words to the general population, and suggests that this is the origin of "blog."

Obama Requests "Flash Track" for TPP

In a televised address on Tuesday, President Obama defended the secrecy of his administration's trade negotiations, and called for the most aggressive measures yet. While transparency and civil society advocates have previously opposed so-called "Fast Track" bills--which limit Congress to a single up-or-down vote after secret negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership have concluded--Obama has doubled down with a "Flash Track" proposal that gives Congress just 15 minutes to raise objections from the moment Obama declares the agreement completed. "I'm not going to mince words here," stated Obama. "It will probably be in the middle of the night, while everybody's sleeping. But trust me, this is what the American public needs."

White House Reverses Course on Glass Doors Remodel

The White House has turned its back on yet another component in its ill-fated campaign to be the Most Transparent Administration in History, removing its newly installed sliding glass doors and replacing them with traditional wooden models. Transparency advocates have been vocal in their disappointment, but a White House spokesperson said the move is necessary, as both Bo Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have repeatedly run into the closed doors.

miniLinks

Congress To Extend Copyright Terms for All Artistic Works to "Life of Mickey Mouse plus 70 years."

After several impassioned speeches about the harms of piracy, Congressional leaders introduced a bill tying the terms of all copyrights to the lifespan of the fictitious rodent Mickey.

Harris Corporation Demands Non-Disclosure Agreements From Aquarium Visitors

The maker of the Stingray cell-tracking surveillance equipment is notoriously tight-lipped. It's taken that secrecy to a new level in a new partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, demanding visitors to the stingray tank refrain from discussing what they see there.

EFF Scores Zero Stars on Inaugural "Who's On Our Backs" Report

A coalition of tech giants, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, have released a scorecard grading advocacy groups who continue to badger them about their privacy practices. The categories included: "Readily Appeased," "Easily Misled," and "In Our Pockets." EFF got zero stars.

[Demeter]

7. WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? This Conservative Anti-Tax Utopia Is Imploding

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/conservative-anti-tax-utopia-imploding?akid=12963.227380.3ruRkE&rd=1&src=newsletter1034187&t=12

Two weeks after the delusional Gov. Sam Brownback proclaimed in a radio interview that Kansas’ experiment in supply-side economics was “working,” the latest batch of numbers from the Sunflower State further put the lie to the governor’s assertion. State figures released Tuesday showed that tax revenue came in $11.2 million below expectations in March, the latest in a string of lower-than-expected tax receipts. Lawmakers must fill a $344 million revenue shortfall by June, and Brownback has moved to plug Kansas’ fiscal hole by slashing education funding, gutting the state’s pension fund and cutting infrastructure. Additionally, the governor has proposed new sales taxes, which disproportionately impact the poor, in order to proceed full steam ahead with his income tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

While personal income tax revenue was above expectations last month, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports that revenues from oil and gas sales and corporate income taxes were well short of what analysts had projected, largely owing to a state economy whose performance is less robust than the Brownback administration had predicted. Given that Brownback aims to eventually eliminate income taxes, the state will depend on those other sources of revenue in the years to come.

The administration’s spin is that things aren’t quite as disastrous as a year ago, when Kansas began attracting national attention amid its revenue freefall. Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan rejoiced that revenue is now $40 million higher than it was at this point a year ago; his analysts, however, had forecast that it would be more than $50 million higher.

“Kansas continues to bleed revenue as is evident by this month’s numbers,” Democratic House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs told the Capital-Journal. ”How we resolve this issue remains unknown as the legislative session is nearly over and we haven’t seen a comprehensive balanced budget.”

Brownback’s latest effort to clean up the mess his tax created came last week, as he signed an education funding bill that will reduce contributions to poor districts and cut $51 million in aid to districts overall. Prior to Brownback’s most recent round of education cuts, Kansas had already imposed some of the largest cuts in the nation.

Those 423,666 votes to re-elect Brownback sure are looking great right now.


NOTE TO READERS---NOT AN APRIL FOOL!

[Demeter]

8. Even After Walmart Got Busted in Court for Stealing Workers' Wages, It's Trying Not to Pay Up

http://www.alternet.org/walmart-wage-theft-victims-after-lawsuit-victory-get-your-own-lawyers?akid=12959.227380.In3RsD&rd=1&src=newsletter1034143&t=14

Walmart employees have over $187 million in damages they can collect from a successful wage theft lawsuit, but the company is arguing that each victim should get their own lawyer....Walmart is well aware of the fact that its low-income employees lack the resources to individually sue a company that is prepared to drop $2 million to avoid a fine. It’s appealing to the US Supreme Court once again and locking down for yet another fight.

YOU CAN READ THE REST IF YOU WANT....IT'S UGLY AND IT'S NOT APRIL FOOLS, EITHER.

[Demeter]

9. Why is no one talking about a recession? By Steve Goldstein

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-is-no-one-talking-about-a-recession-2015-04-01?siteid=YAHOOB

?uuid=98fbae0a-d88f-11e4-a9a0-e345b34baf2f

It’s an odd conspiracy of silence.

There were signs the economy was slowing in data for the end of the fourth quarter, and it’s looking far, far worse this quarter.

Wednesday brought the latest trio of bad data. ADP said it had the first sub-200,000 print for private-sector jobs growth in more than a year. The Institute for Supply Management reported its fifth consecutive drop in manufacturing sentiment. Construction spending wasn't only lower in February, but January’s report was sharply revised downward.

OK, there are caveats. The ADP report, perhaps after too much tampering and too many surprises, has lost some of its credibility. The ISM report is still in positive territory, and a separate gauge from Markit is a little bit healthier.

There really was unusually bad weather. There really was a big disruption to trade from the port issues on the West Coast. There really was a big run-up in the U.S. dollar.

And yet — it does seem odd that not a single Wall Street economist is worried the U.S. is in, or is near, a recession. A check of emailed reports found the word “recession” was absent in every report issued Wednesday, except for a historical reference to the last one...

[Demeter]

10. McDonald's Is Raising Wages For Some Workers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/mcdonalds-wages_n_6987542.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

McDonald's is finally giving some of its workers a raise. The fast-food giant on Wednesday announced plans to give employees a 10-percent pay bump and some extra benefits. The raise will affect about 90,000 workers at a small fraction of McDonald’s stores. Employees at franchises, which make up the majority of the burger chain's locations, won't be affected.

The increase will lift the average hourly wage at McDonald’s to $9.90, and to more than $10 by the end of next year. The rate currently sits at $9.01, according to the Wall Street Journal. McDonald's will also let workers at non-franchised locations who have been with the company for more than a year earn up to five days of paid time off each year. Additionally, the company will pay for workers to earn a high school diploma and offer some college tuition assistance. Franchise workers will have access to the educational perks, but not the paid time off.

“We’ve been working on a comprehensive benefits package for our employees -- the people who bring our brand to life for customers every day in our U.S. restaurants,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement. “We’ve listened to our employees and learned that -- in addition to increased wages -- paid personal leave and financial assistance for completing their education would make a real different in their careers and lives.”

McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

The move comes two weeks ahead of a planned international strike organized by the movement Fight for $15, which urges fast-food employers to pay workers a minimum wage of $15 per hour. The group condemned McDonald’s announcement as a “weak move for a company that made $5.6 billion in profits last year.”

“This is too little to make a real difference, and only covers a fraction of workers,” Kwanza Brooks, a McDonald’s employee earning $7.25 per hour in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement. “We’re going to keep fighting until we win $15 and union rights for all fast-food workers and our families.”

McDonald's joins a growing list of low-wage employers, including Walmart and Target, that have raised wages in recent months. Labor advocates point out that wages of $9 or $10 an hour, though well above the national minimum wage of $7.25, are still not enough to pull many families out of poverty.

The raise also marks the latest step by McDonald’s to revitalize its ailing brand amid slumping sales. The company kicked off an aggressive campaign last October to present its food as authentic, going as far as to tout the fact that its meals can, in fact, rot. In January, McDonald's said it would cut more items from its menu as it tries to slim down options. Last month, the chain said it would eliminate human antibiotics from its chicken supply.

[Demeter]

11. Ex-Fannie Mae CEO testifies in $1 bln mortgage trial of Nomura, RBS

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/31/banks-mortgages-trial-idUSL2N0WX2O320150331

Former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd testified on Tuesday in a $1 billion civil trial over losses the company suffered on mortgage-backed securities and said it did not predict the severe decline in U.S. housing prices during the financial crisis. Mudd appeared in Manhattan federal court after being subpoenaed by Nomura Holdings Inc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to testify in a trial pursued by Fannie's conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. His testimony came as the defense sought to show that any losses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered on the $2 billion in securities at issue were caused not by any false statements the banks made but by the collapse in the housing market.

Mudd, who left Fannie Mae in 2008 following its government takeover, told a lawyer for Nomura that macroeconomic factors, including housing prices, were among the factors that could have an impact on those investments. Asked if Fannie Mae had been able to predict the housing market decline, Mudd said the company's predictions "undershot" what ultimately took place.

"Did anyone at Fannie Mae when you were CEO predict the depth and extent of the housing price decline in the United States?" asked David Tulchin, a lawyer for Nomura.

"Not to my knowledge," Mudd said.

The case is the first to reach trial of 18 lawsuits the regulator filed in 2011 over some $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that various banks sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA, which is seeking $1.1 billion in the trial, previously obtained nearly $17.9 billion in settlements with banks, including Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. Those deals followed a series of adverse rulings by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is overseeing the non-jury trial.

The FHFA says of the loans underlying the $2 billion in securities Fannie and Freddie bought from Nomura, 68.6 percent had underwriting defects. Nomura, the deals' sponsor, and RBS, which underwrote three of the seven, deny wrongdoing.

After leaving Fannie Mae, Mudd became chief executive of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group LLC. But he resigned in 2012 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Mudd and two other Fannie Mae executives of misleading investors about the company's exposure to risky mortgages. That lawsuit remains pending.


HIS NAME IS MUDD---AND THIS ISN'T APRIL FOOLS, EITHER.

[Demeter]

12. Bill Black: The Homophobic Law and the Indiana Governor Who Dares Not Speak Its Purpose

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/bill-black-homophobic-law-indiana-governor-dares-not-speak-purpose.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Yves here. Since we ran a post yesterday on Indiana’s anti-gay law that is pretending not to be one, I thought that was plenty on this topic. However, when Bill Black sent me his brief legal analysis of the bill, I changed my mind. This legislation is a remarkably nasty piece of work. The trick is that the “religious” ground do not have to hew to any organized religion, giving the business owner or manager the right to claim any pet bias as part of his religion. If nothing else, it’s instructive to see how innocuous-seeming language can be anything but.

By Bill Black, the author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One" and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jointly published with New Economic Perspectives

Sodomy, of course, was once referred to as the crime that dare not speak its name because the combination of fear and hate of straight males for gays was so intense that it was barbaric and even murderous. It is a measure of how much things have changed that the haters now know that they dare not speak their hate. They also know that they are losing. The vast majority of gay Americans live in States with marriage equality and conservatives expect to that the Supreme Court will soon strike down as unconstitutional bans on marriage equality in the Supreme Court. Some equality advocates are warning that the desperate measures like Indiana’s new law designed to authorize merchants to discriminate against gays are similar to the relatively successful strategy to attack abortion rights. They are right to warn about the need keep working, but the LBGT rights are not analogous to reproductive rights. I will discuss only one reason – business. The paradox is that a law purportedly vital to protect the right of merchants to discriminate against gays is the last thing that merchants want. Gays make very good customers. They have income and they buy goods and services. Merchants want to sell goods.

Businesses also need employees. All other things being held constant, businesses prefer happy employees who will stay with the firm and become ever more efficient. Employees need to buy goods and services and have the income to do so. Employees like to eat at restaurants periodically and they prefer the experience to be pleasant. The owners and officers of firms often take colleagues and clients to restaurants. The purpose of doing so is for everyone involved to have a wonderful experience.

So here are two variants of the nightmare a business owner has relative to the Indiana law.

• Four employees go out for lunch. The waitress come over and points to the declaratory judgment of an Indiana justice of the peace proudly displayed on the wall. It declares that the restaurant owner has the right under the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act to deny service to those who are LGBT or support LGBT rights. The waitress informs one of the employees he must leave the restaurant because he has what she believes to be gay mannerisms.
  
  
• The second variant is that the owner of the firm takes an important client visiting from Illinois out to dinner. The owner of the restaurant approaches the table and asks the client (who is straight) to leave because they do not serve sodomites.
  
  
• There are, of course, innumerable variants on this theme. They all offer extreme embarrassment followed by rage by the victims of the discrimination.

The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act was Drafted to be Extreme

Sec. 5. As used in this chapter, ‘exercise of religion’ includes any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.

“Religion” is undefined. The goal of Section 5 is to take the most extreme position possible. “Religion” is whatever the individual decides. The precepts of that religion are whatever the individual decides. Those precepts do not have to bear any relationship to the actual precepts of any organized religion. The precept does not have to be one that a believer is required to follow, indeed, it can be a view that the leaders of the faith reject. There is no requirement that the “belief” be sincere or that there be any record of the individual having held such a belief...The Indiana Act does not mention people who are LGBT. It is far broader than that. Any person in Indiana can invent a “religious” “belief.” That “belief” could be that one should not associate with, touch, speak to, see, or serve any characteristic one can imagine – race, color, gender, nationality, age, eye-color, progressives, or the left-handed. The focus on LGBT is because the purpose of the law is to encourage discrimination against LGBT and because Indiana has no law barring discrimination against LGBT....The law’s ultra-vague standard and the ability of a person in Indiana to sue before any judge they choose seeking a judicial declaration that they have a right to deny service to someone because he or she was LGBT or a Muslim encourages judge shopping. Finding a justice of the peace who is a proud homophobe in rural Indiana should be a piece of cake.



SO MUCH MORE! AND IN CONCLUSION....




Why Governor Pence Won’t Answer Questions About the Act Allowing Discrimination

Pence had a disastrous appearance on ABC in which he refused to answer the most basic question about the Act – six times – would it allow a merchant to refuse services to LGBT. He did not answer the questions because he knew that if he did so he would have to admit that the Act was designed to allow merchants to discriminate against LGBT – and he knew that this was no longer acceptable among the majority of Americans and causes most young conservatives to roll their eyes about their parents’ obsession with gay bashing.


AGAIN, THIS IS NOT APRIL FOOLS--THIS IS EVERYDAY BIGOT FOOLS.

[Demeter]

13. You know, I got home from a job

and turned on the Internet and said, "Great! Tansy's got the thread up and I can catch up on posting!" I was feeling some recovery from the Loathesome Bug the Kid gave me as an early birthday present...

but after reviewing the events of the past couple days, and posting, I'm really feeling rather ill.

Maybe I should wait for a Real Recovery...after the next Big One.

I'm signing off and going to find something less painful if not more pleasurable to do....

[Demeter]

14. Cops: Uber Driver Took Woman to Airport then Went Back to Rob Her House NOT AN APRIL FOOLS

http://gawker.com/uber-driver-accused-of-trying-to-rob-house-of-woman-he-1694944434

An Uber driver in Denver was arrested this week after he allegedly drove a woman to the airport, then drove right back to her house to rob it.

Cops say 51-year-old Gerald Montgomery picked up the victim on Thursday outside her Denver home. After dropping her at the airport, he allegedly doubled back to her home and tried to break in. Unfortunately for him, the victim didn't live alone.

The roommate was reportedly able to identify him based off a screenshot of the Uber receipt. In a statement, the company said it "immediately removed the driver's access to the Uber platform, pending an investigation."

MUST HAVE BEEN A SLOW NIGHT

[Fuddnik]

16. Why didn't I think of that!?!?!?

[Demeter]

18. "You are not a crook!"---Richard Milhous Nixon

[Demeter]

15. China’s Big Stock Market Rally Is Being Fueled by High-School Dropouts

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-31/china-s-big-stock-market-rally-is-being-fueled-by-high-school-dropouts

...New data from the China Household Finance Survey, a large-scale survey of household income and assets headed by Professor Li Gan of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, provides fresh insights into who has been driving the recent rally in China’s markets. It is not reassuring. Gan’s survey, which was conducted at the end of 2014 and covers some 4,000 households across the country, finds that the biggest new investors in China’s equity markets have below a high school education and relatively low levels of asset ownership.



More than two thirds of new equity investors exited the education system by middle school — which in China means around the age of 15. More than 30 percent exited at age 12 or below. Household wealth for new investors is about half the level of existing investors.





There was already strong evidence that the 78 percent surge in China’s equity markets in the past year was driven by momentum rather than fundamentals. New trading accounts and trading volumes have soared. Expectations on growth and profits have not. The new survey data adds to the impression of a rally fueled by inexperienced retail investors. That doesn’t mean it can’t be sustained. China has a large population with a substantial volume of savings and limited alternative investment options. It does mean that the trajectory of China’s markets will be unpredictable, and prone to sudden reversals as sentiment shifts.

The survey also highlights the growing appeal of equities relative to the slumping property sector. For survey participants with multiple homes, expectations on share prices are markedly higher than expectations on property. That adds to the evidence that the speculators who were a major driver of property demand are now steering clear. In theory, a shift away from investment in property toward equities is a positive development. China’s property sector is already oversupplied. As central bank governor Zhou Xiaochaun has said, rising equity markets make it easier for firms to raise funds. In practice, an unsustainable rally where retail investors get burned would do no one any favors.

[Demeter]

17. Obama Personally Tells the Egyptian Dictator that U.S. Will Again Send Weapons (and Cash) to his Reg

Yesterday, the Egyptian regime announced it was prosecuting witnesses who say they saw a police officer murder an unarmed poet and activist during a demonstration, the latest in a long line of brutal human rights abuses that includes imprisoning journalists, prosecuting LGBT citizens, and mass executions of protesters. Last June, Human Rights Watch said that Egyptian “security forces have carried out mass arrests and torture that harken back to the darkest days of former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.”

Today, the White House announced that during a telephone call with Egyptian despot Abdelfattah al-Sisi, President Obama personally lifted the freeze on transferring weapons to the regime, and also affirmed that the $1.3 billion in military aid will continue unimpeded. Announced the White House:

President Obama spoke with Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi today regarding the U.S.-Egyptian military assistance relationship and regional developments, including in Libya and Yemen. President Obama informed President al-Sisi that he will lift executive holds that have been in place since October 2013 on the delivery of F-16 aircraft, Harpoon missiles, and M1A1 tank kits. The President also advised President al-Sisi that he will continue to request an annual $1.3 billion in military assistance for Egypt.

But for those who think the U.S. should not lavish vicious tyrants with arms and money, don’t worry! During the call, “President Obama also reiterated U.S. concerns about Egypt’s continued imprisonment of non-violent activists and mass trials,” and “encouraged increased respect for freedom of speech and assembly and emphasized that these issues remain a focus for the United States.” To read that is to feel the sincerity and potency of those presidential words.


https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/31/obama-lifts-freeze-weapons-transfer-egyptian-dictator/

GLEN GREENWALD DOESN'T DO APRIL FOOLS...HE DOES THE WASHINGTON DC KIND

[Demeter]

19. US Military Will Train Neo-Nazis In Ukraine

TRAIN THEM TO DO WHAT, YOU ASK?

http://firedoglake.com/2015/03/31/us-military-will-train-neo-nazis-in-ukraine/

Though sending US troops into Ukraine was already controversial, a report by the Associated Press shows a bad situation is getting worse. According to the AP the US forces being sent into Ukraine will be training Neo-Nazi militants who have already been accused of war crimes.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has publicly stated that among those forces receiving US training in April will be the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. The Azov Battalion uses Nazi symbols and openly declares its belief in white supremacy and antisemitism. Many members trace their family’s lineage to fighting with the Nazis against the Soviet Union during World War II.

The neo-Nazis will be trained by US forces to more effectively kill people in East Ukraine.

The United States plans to send soldiers to Ukraine in April for training exercises with units of the country’s national guard. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the units to be trained include the Azov Battalion, a volunteer force that has attracted criticism for its far-right sentiments including brandishing an emblem widely used in Nazi Germany.

Avakov said the training will begin April 20 at a base in western Ukraine near the Polish border and would involve about 290 American paratroopers and some 900 Ukrainian guardsmen.

Not only does the Azov Battalion hold antidemocratic fascist views its activities in the field have been condemned by Amnesty International as “ISIS style war crimes.” Part of the Azov Battalion’s methods include decapitating captured prisoners and parading their severed heads around to inspire terror.

The US policy in Ukraine has been a nightmare from the beginning. First supporting a violent overthrow of a democratic government and now supporting and training neo-Nazi militants who have committed war crimes. What kind of Ukraine is the US trying to foster?


A PART OF THE 4TH REICH, MAYBE?

[Demeter]

21. Anger and Unbounded Contempt Howling in Donetsk by PEPE ESCOBAR

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/01/howling-in-donetsk/

I’ve just been to the struggling Donetsk People’s Republic. Now I’m back in the splendid arrogance and insolence of NATOstan. Quite a few people – in Donbass, in Moscow, and now in Europe – have asked me what struck me most about this visit. I could start by paraphrasing Allen Ginsberg in Howl – “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.” But these were the Cold War mid-1950s. Now we’re in early 21st century Cold War 2.0.

Thus what I saw were the ghastly side effects of the worst minds of my – and a subsequent – generation corroded by (war) madness. I saw refugees on the Russian side of the border, mostly your average middle-class European family whose kids, when they first came to the shelter, would duck under tables when they heard a plane in the sky... I saw the Dylan of Donetsk holed up in his lonely room in a veterans’ home turned refugee shelter fighting the blues and the hopelessness by singing songs of love and heroism...I saw whole families holed up in fully decorated Soviet-era bomb shelters too afraid to go out even by daylight, traumatized by the bombings orchestrated by Kiev’s “anti-terrorist operations”...I saw a modern, hard-working industrial city at least half-empty and partially destroyed but not bent, able to survive by their guts and guile with a little help from Russian humanitarian convoys.

I saw beautiful girls hangin’ out by Lenin’s statue in a central square lamenting their only shot at fun was family parties in each other’s houses because nightlife was dead and “we’re at war”...I saw virtually the whole neighborhood of Oktyabrski near the airport bombed out like Grozny and practically deserted except for a few lonely babushkas with nowhere to go and too proud to relinquish their family photos of World War II heroes...I saw checkpoints like I was back in Baghdad during the Petraeus surge.

I saw the main trauma doctor at the key Donetsk hospital confirm there has been no Red Cross and no international humanitarian help to the people of Donetsk.

MORE SCENES OF A WAR -- AT LINK

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009). His latest book is Empire of Chaos. He may be reached at [e-mail].

[Demeter]

20. Markets are Likely to Shrug Off a Greek Tragedy

ALLOW ME TO HAVE DOUBTS.

http://www.marketpulse.com/20150331/markets-likely-shrug-greek-tragedy/

Greece’s debt drama is getting louder and more dire as negotiators lose patience, but some market players are shrugging off a potential default as little more than a hiccup in the European market rally.

“Medium term, there is a very clear potential that Greece should go out [of the euro zone],” Michael Strobaek, global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse, said last week, citing the country’s “notoriously ineffective” reform efforts. But while a Greek exit from the euro zone, dubbed a Grexit, might be tragic and chaotic for Greece, financial markets might not react much.

“That’s not a black swan thing. It’s a grey swan, I guess. I don’t think the markets are going to riot,” Stobaek said. “Even if (interest) rates were to go up because Greece went out, it’s not a disaster,” for other heavily indebted countries such as Spain and Italy because they will still have access to relatively low financing rates, he noted.

BECAUSE THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED TRAGEDY, BUT THE DOMINO THEORY WRIT LARGE ACROSS EUROPE...

[Demeter]

22. No 'bad thing' if Greece leaves euro: Warren Buffett

WELL, IF THE SAGE OF OMAHA GIVES HIS BLESSING...."SAGE IS THE CHIEF HERB USED FOR COOKING TURKEYS"....

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102551722

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC that if Greece ended up leaving the euro zone, "that may not be a bad thing for the euro."

Asked by CNBC's Becky Quick Tuesday whether it could be a good thing for struggling Greece to leave the 19-country single currency union, Buffett said, "it could be a good idea (in) several ways if everybody learns that the rules mean something...If it turns out that the Greeks leave, that may not be a bad thing for the euro," he added.

The chairman and chief executive of multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway said that it was not "ordained" that the euro had to have "exactly the same members it has today" but it did need adequate management, he believed.

"But it is ordained that over time the countries in the euro zone have to have somewhat compatible labor laws, fiscal deficits, general management of their economy that don't result in outliers that really aren't playing the game the way the rules are supposed to be and we may find out very soon about Greece," he said....

For one, Buffett told CNBC he had always been skeptical as to the efficacy of the single currency union, saying the euro had "structural problems right from the moment it was put in." However, he did stress that he did not have a bet on where the euro zone crisis is likely to head, saying, "I don't have a dime on it."

"The euro is not dead and it may never be dead but it does have to work in greater harmonization of financial matters in its constituent countries," he said. " It can't live with people going in dramatically different directions. The Germans are not going to fund the Greeks forever."

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.



Sir Walter Scott

from 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel', Canto sixth

[Demeter]

23. Greek talks stymied By Mike Peacock

GERMAN SADISM IN FULL FLOWER...

http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2015/04/01/greek-talks-stymied/

Greek negotiations are not moving much and an agreement before the Easter break looks increasingly unlikely.

Greece and its EU/IMF lenders failed to reach an initial deal to unlock aid after the creditors dismissed a package of reforms from Athens as ideas rather than a concrete plan.

A conference call will be held by euro zone deputy finance ministers today to take stock but it seems clear that the Greek government has not yet got anywhere near meeting its lenders’ requirements.

That meeting would have to agree that the list stacks up before passing it on to the euro zone finance ministers grouping to nail down a deal. We are a long way from that.

Germany has told Greece that no funds will be forthcoming until it has submitted a more detailed list of economic and fiscal reforms and some are enacted into law. The clock is ticking fast and the gap between the two sides remains wide.

A source familiar with Greece’s financial position told Reuters last week Athens would run out of money on April 20 without new cash...

[Demeter]

24. What Austerity Looks Like Inside Greece By Anand Gopal

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-austerity-looks-like-inside-greece

...For many, Syriza represented the first real hope in years that Greece could climb out of economic crisis. Most of the patrons, including Panos Alexopolous, a welder by trade, had long been out of work. “You wait and wait for something to change,” he told me, “but those previous governments were all the same.” He was laid off in 2009; a year later, Greece, which had racked up enormous debt, agreed to a bailout from international creditors on the condition that it impose a harsh regimen of spending cuts and other economic reforms. His pension dwindled to about four hundred and fifty dollars a month and, following a cut of forty per cent to the country’s health budget, his medical costs soared. Soon, his family was on bread lines. Sometimes, he would set up on a street corner with a sign asking for spare change, but always in a neighborhood far from home so that no one would see. “Syriza,” he said, “is the first government that will give us our pride back.”

Two months on from the election, the government’s pledge to address what Tsipras has repeatedly called a “humanitarian catastrophe” is colliding with the stipulations of Greece’s creditors, who continue to say that austerity measures are necessary for the country to regain solvency. Last week, the European Commission, one of the “troika” of institutions that oversee the bailout and austerity program, warned against putting forward a Syriza bill intended to provide free electricity and food stamps for cash-strapped households. (Under the terms of the bailout, which was extended by four months in a deal signed in February, Athens must get approval for any anti-austerity measures.)

For Syriza to stick to its campaign promises, it would have to contravene the rules of its bailout, which could catalyze a series of reactions that would ultimately force Greece out of the euro. Despite growing dissent in the party’s hard-left wing and its activist base, most Syriza leaders, as well as most of the public, oppose an exit because of the economic troubles it would provoke, at least in the short term. So the impasse won’t be solved anytime soon. For the time being, though, the wave of ebullience brought about by the election has yet to subside. Athens hums with optimism, and the belief that an escape from the crisis is finally possible. Ask around in the city’s crowded cafés, and you’ll hear what has become something of an unofficial mantra about Syriza: “Even if they do ten per cent of what they say,” Alexopolous told me, “they’ll change Greece forever.”

It’s not clear, however, that ten per cent would be enough to rescue Greece from its woes. Around a quarter of the workforce is officially unemployed—a twofold increase from pre-austerity levels—and for those under twenty-four years old, unemployment rate hovers around half. The average family income has plunged to 2003 levels, and forty percent of Greek children now live below the poverty line.

Syriza’s proposed solution is to dramatically increase social spending, to create “effective demand, to pump the economy” as Nikos Theocharakis, the chair of the economics department at the University of Athens, put it...

[mother earth]

31. Funny, when no money is involved, it's no biggie...but to an EU demise with a Grexit, and then one

after another does the same, it is monumental...I think Greek will be like the Phoenix rising after the ashes if they leave, it will be hard & it will be a new beginning with several nations joining in...so really, what it might be and might not be is up to Greece & all who will follow. Germany better wake up and smell the coffee. As austere as Germany likes to project themselves, they truly are rendered impotent by the dominoes to follow if this be their route. Austerity is done, the masses cannot and will not accept more.
Damn the troika, may Syriza prevail.

[Demeter]

25. Market's reaction to jobs number 'could be quite fierce'

SO, GREECE DOESN'T MATTER, BUT IF JOE SIXPACK CAN ACTUALLY GO OUT AND BUY BEER FOR ONCE, IT DOES?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102554935



Economists expect to learn on Friday that the string of 200,000-plus nonfarm payroll gains is continuing. But one trader is warning that if the March jobs number comes in especially strong, the market could be in big trouble

"A really hot number could set this tape in motion to go a lot lower, mainly because it'll change perceptions" about when the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate target, said David Seaburg, head of equity sales trading with Cowen & Co.

The Fed is finally getting closer to raising rates, with some expecting to see a rate hike rate as early as June, though that's becoming less of a consensus opinion. The future Fed move is expected to raise bond yields across the spectrum, making fixed income more attractive and consequently dampening demand for stocks. And since the Fed's dual mandate is to maximize employment while maintaining price stability and to promote moderate long-term interest rates, a strong jobs number would persuade the Fed to move sooner rather than later, on balance, as it would show that the economy needs less stimulus. The problem, as Seaburg sees it, is that investors really aren't prepared for such an outcome—perhaps because recent economic data, including Wednesday's ADP private sector payrolls number, have come in relatively weak.

"Investors really aren't protected right now," he said. "So the trajectory to the downside could be quite fierce."

The stock and bond markets will be closed on Friday due to the Good Friday holiday, but futures on the CME Globex exchange will trade in the morning, until 9:15 a.m. EDT.

And what if the number comes in below expectations, leading investors to think a rate hike is further down the road?

"I don't see the upside. I don't see people scrambling to really buy stocks and take the market much higher. So the risk is to the downside here," Seaburg said. "I think a pullback could be much greater than people actually anticipate."

Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at MKM Partners, is more mellow.

"Trends don't change overnight. So one jobs report or one day's action is not going to change that uptrend," Krinsky said.

The technician says the S&P 500 chart is well intact, noting strong support at the 2,010 level, which is about 2.5 percent below Tuesday's closing price.

[Demeter]

27. Big bank brokers use decoys, spy tactics to go alone| By Elizabeth Dilts

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/02/us-usa-brokerage-departures-idUSKBN0MT0BW20150402?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

(Reuters) - Secret contracts, covert real-estate deals, scurrying around after nightfall to avoid detection: this is how far big-bank brokers are prepared to go when they plan to go independent. It is a risky enterprise. If the brokerage learns that someone intends to leave, it often dismisses the broker so the bank can try to retain clients...The Botkin Group, a team of brokers in Pittsburgh who produced $1.6 million in revenue last year for Morgan Stanley, went so far as to require non-disclosure agreements from contractors who made new signs, installed phones and delivered furniture to their new office. They never visited the building during daylight, always staggered their arrival times and parked in the back.

"We felt like we worked for the CIA," said Lester H. Botkin, 35, the youngest of the group, which also includes his father, Lester P. Botkin, 63, sister, Sara Botkin, 37, and one client service associate.

They represent growing numbers of brokers who are leaving big bank brokerages, such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors and UBS Group AG to branch out on their own.

The big four brokerages lost nearly 7 percent of their market share to independent firms between 2008 and 2013, according to Boston-based research firm Cerulli Associates, a leading global analytics firm. In the next five years, Cerulli expects independent advisory firms to surpass the big brokerages in their control of the market, according to a survey of 7,000 brokers working at firms across the industry.

Most departures so far have concerned brokers who managed relatively few assets. Analysts and industry sources say they expect 2015 to be a turning point for financial advisers who manage more than $200 million in assets at the four big Wall Street brokerages collectively referred to as wirehouses. The reason is that many of the retention bonuses those firms gave employees during the 2008 financial crisis will reach their final installments this year. At the same time, several brokerages have started deferring more of advisers' current pay.

Cerulli estimates 30 percent of wirehouse advisers are considering going independent.


COULD THIS BE A SIGN OF "FROTH"? OR JUST THE GRASPING WAYS OF THE BIG BANKSTERS, SQUEEZING THEIR EMPLOYEES? OR BOTH?

[Demeter]

28. Ukraine says signs deal to buy Russian gas at lower price

BECAUSE, BUSINESS. BECAUSE, MARKETS. BECAUSE, SUPPLY AND DEMAND...BECAUSE, WINTER!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/02/us-ukraine-crisis-gas-idUSKBN0MT0B420150402?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Ukraine has signed a new agreement to buy Russian gas over the next three months at $248 per thousand cubic meters, after paying $329 in the first quarter of this year under the just expired 'winter package', the Ukrainian energy ministry said on Thursday.

Despite being at loggerheads over a separatist rebellion in east Ukraine, the two sides are bound by a 10-year gas agreement signed in 2009 which successive Kiev governments say carries an onerous price that weighs heavily on the economy.

Apart from the price, the latest agreement extended all the other terms of the 'winter package' which has just lapsed between Ukraine's state gas concern Naftogaz and Russia's gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), the ministry said in a statement.

The agreement represented a "victory" for an economic approach to relations between Naftogaz and Gazprom over a political one, Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn was quoted as saying on his ministry's website...The energy ministry's statement on Thursday indicated that a requirement for pre-payment for Russian gas supplies by Ukraine, whose economy teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, would stay in place.

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[Demeter]

29. Word gets around

[mahatmakanejeeves]

30. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (04/02/2015)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20150542.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at http://blog.dol.gov

U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 15-542-NAT
Program Contacts: Tom Stengle [phone] Tony Sznoluch [phone] Media Contact: [phone]

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, April 2, 2015

Note: This week's release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims seasonal adjustment factors. The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2010 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 268,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 6,000 from 282,000 to 288,000. The 4-week moving average was 285,500, a decrease of 14,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 3,250 from 297,000 to 300,250.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent for the week ending March 21, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 21 was 2,325,000, a decrease of 88,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since December 16, 2000 when it was 2,322,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 3,000 from 2,416,000 to 2,413,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,387,750, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 14,500 from 2,422,250 to 2,407,750.

UNADJUSTED DATA

....
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 14 was 2,759,764, a decrease of 25,188 from the previous week. There were 3,201,504 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.