STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, April 14, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, April 14, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 13, 2011

Dow 12,270.99 +7.41 (+0.06%)
Nasdaq 2,761.52 +16.73 (+0.61%)
S&P 500 1,314.41 +0.25 (+0.02%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.44 -0.02 (-0.61%)
30-Year Bond 4.53 -0.01 (-0.29%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

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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.

Read more: du

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Today's Reports

Apr 14 08:30 Initial Claims 04/09 390K 385K 382K
Apr 14 08:30 Continuing Claims 04/02 3700K 3700K 3723K
Apr 14 08:30 PPI Mar 0.8% 1.1% 1.6%
Apr 14 08:30 Core PPI Mar 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm#ixzz1JUif5Z9L

[Demeter]

15. that oughtta leave a mark on the markets...

[Demeter]

80. 42 points straight down at open

So nice when Reality is even temporarily in force...

Correction: 57 points

[Demeter]

83. 60

[Demeter]

89. -77 AT 9:47

[Demeter]

91. -92 at 9:53

Reality is a bitch....

[Demeter]

105. Fortunately, In This Land of Denial, It Doesn't Last Long

[Po_d Mainiac]

20. Repeat after me

Inflation is in check-----Inflation is in check--------Inflation is in check---shuddup Fisher-----Inflation is in check

Shit, even WallyWorld is telling people to bite a stout piece of lumber while holding their ankles. Vaseline-aisle 4..trowels-aisle 666

[Demeter]

30. SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS

Great minds think alike...

[rfranklin]

41. Weekly U.S. jobless claims jump 27,000 to 412,000

Weekly U.S. jobless claims jump 27,000 to 412,000
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - New applications by workers seeking unemployment benefits climbed by 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000 in the week ended April 9, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new applications for jobless benefits to drop to 380,000. The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, rose by 5,500 to 395,750. A Labor Department spokesman said claims typically jump in the week following the end of a quarter. Workers who wait to file in the next quarter sometimes can get higher benefits based on periodic adjustments in how they are calculated. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who continue to receive state unemployment checks decreased by 58,000 to 3.68 million in the week ended April 2.
http://www.marketwatch.com/

[Demeter]

69. Wow

the losses were big enough that no amount of massaging or handwaving could make it look like zero!

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil hovers near $107 after US gasoline supply drop

SINGAPORE – Oil prices hovered above $107 a barrel Thursday in Asia as a large drop in U.S. gasoline supplies suggested the two-month crude rally hasn't yet undermined consumer demand.

Benchmark crude for May delivery was down 4 cents at $107.07 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 86 cents to settle at $107.11 on Wednesday.

In London, Brent crude for May delivery was down 2 cents to $122.86 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Traders are mulling whether global crude demand is strong enough to justify extending a 27 percent surge in prices since mid-February. Oil touched $113.46 in intraday trading Monday, the highest since September 2008.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[xchrom]

66. Oil prices halt decline after 5.8% drop in two days

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/

Crude oil prices edged higher Wednesday after two days of losses, as the market focused on upbeat U.S. economic data and a sharp drop in gasoline inventories.

Oil futures for May delivery added 86 cents to $107.11 a barrel in New York after falling a total of $6.54, or 5.8% in the previous two sessions.

The pullback in crude on Monday and Tuesday had been fueled in part by fears that prices had reached levels that were likely to significantly slow gasoline demand and economic growth.

The International Energy Agency warned Tuesday that “there are real risks that a sustained $100-plus price environment will prove incompatible with the currently expected pace of economic recovery.”

[xchrom]

77. ok not oil but an oil company: Chevron plans Kazakh wind power -presidential site

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/kazakhstan-chevron-idUSLDE73D1K620110414


ALMATY, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. energy major Chevron Corp (CVX.N) plans to invest in a wind power project in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh presidential administration said on Thursday, quoting visiting Chevron Chief Executive John Watson.

"Chevron will invest in the construction of a wind farm and will contribute its share to the development of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan," presidential website www.akorda.kz quoted Watson as saying, in comments translated into Russian.

He gave no further details about the project. A Chevron spokeswoman in Almaty declined to give further details and other local officials were unavailable for comment.



ok -- if i'm being proper -- they're an ENERGY company.

[Demeter]

82. What do they mean, "invest"?

Going to run it for profit? Not turn it over to the Kazakhs?

[xchrom]

86. well -- i think it's safe to say -- they will keep their fingers in the mix some how. nt

[xchrom]

94. Republicans push bills to boost offshore oil drilling

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/us-usa-oil-drilling-idUSTRE73D07O20110414

(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Wednesday pushed a trio of bills through a congressional committee that would boost offshore oil drilling and ease some regulations on oil companies.

Republicans said the bills would reverse the Obama administration energy policy of the last two years that they claimed has reduced domestic oil production and made the United States more reliant on foreign suppliers and vulnerable to oil price spikes.

"Congress must take action to increase energy production," said Representative Doc Hastings, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee that approved the three bills.

[xchrom]

95. EU executive outlines green plans for fuel tax

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-eu-energy-tax-idUSTRE73C2J420110413

(Reuters) - The European Union's executive outlined plans on Wednesday to tax high-energy fuels, a move which users fear could push up the price of diesel but which EU officials hope will fight global warming.

The blueprint, which could become EU law by 2013, attempts to make taxes on motor fuels, in particular, more environmentally friendly by raising the minimum levy on polluting diesel to bring it into line with petrol.

But the framework, which carmakers and motorists worry could inflate the price of diesel because its high-energy content puts it in line for steeper taxes, has put Brussels on a collision course with Europe's biggest car producer, Germany.

Under the plans, Germany's tax on diesel would have to rise from 47 cents per liter to 75 cents in 2020, undermining Berlin's subvention for the fuel, which supports carmakers such as BMW and Daimler.

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. U.S. Stock-Index Futures Drop; Apple Retreats, Financial Shares May Move

U.S. stock futures retreated, signaling that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may decline for the fifth time in six days.

Financial shares may be active after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded the industry to “neutral.” Apple Inc. (AAPL), the maker of the iPhone and iPad, retreated 1 percent.

S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures expiring in June fell 0.4 percent to 1,303.3 at 10:45 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.3 percent to 12,160. Nasdaq-100 Index futures dropped 0.4 percent to 2,298.75.

“Clearly equity markets have a lot of headwinds at the moment, whether it’s the ongoing risk in Japan, high price of oil, or more importantly some downward revision in corporate earnings outlook,” Bob Parker, a London-based senior adviser at Credit Suisse Asset Management, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/u-s-stock-index-futures-drop-apple-retreats-financial-shares-may-move.html

[Roland99]

40. Futures....

U.S. stock futures fall ahead of earnings, data
Zipcar Inc., Arcos Dorados Holdings set to begin trading
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-fall-ahead-of-earnings-data-2011-04-14?dist=beforebell

U.S. stock futures dropped on Thursday, with attention focused on earnings from Google Inc. to come after the market close, as well as on data on jobless claims and producer-price inflation.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 51 points to 12,149, while those for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 6.7 points to 1,302. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 16.50 points to 2,292.

While earnings remain in the spotlight, the threat of more European sovereign-debt troubles weighed on futures, said Joel Kruger, currency strategist at Forex Capital Markets.
Singapore dollar revalued as GDP surges

Singapore revalued its dollar upwards to keep high inflation in check, a move that may push other Asian country's currencies higher too. Dow Jones Newswires' Mark Cranfield reports.

“There’s talk about default in Ireland and restructuring in Greece and EMU peripheral spreads have widened out to record levels,” he said.

[xchrom]

5. Ex-Google exec eyes US$1 bn

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/MD15Cb01.html

HONG KONG - Former Google China chief strategy officer Alan Guo aims to achieve a US$1 billion market capitalization value for his young e-commerce site, LightInTheBox, by raising about $200 million through a share sale in the United States this year, according to an investment banking source.

Guo founded the company with partners Mike Liu, Wen Xin and Zhang Liang in 2007. Rather than focusing on the domestic market, Beijing-based LightInTheBox specializes in selling


products from China to consumers around the world.

"It is like Amazon, but with an export-twist," said a LightInTheBox executive, referring to the US-based Internet site that has expanded from selling books to offering a wide range of electronics and other products.

Guo earlier worked with Amazon and with Microsoft after picking up a masters degree in electronic engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Stanford University. Liu is a former vice president of Joyo, Amazon's subsidiary in China.

[xchrom]

6. Hong Kong gets an unlikely hero

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MD15Ad01.html

HONG KONG - Everywhere you look these days there are signs of the social fabric of this city of 7.1 million tightly packed but widely divided people fraying at the edges.

Radical legislators have made hurling fruit and invective an eagerly anticipated ritual whenever the city's top officials appear in the chamber of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong's mini-parliament.

Youthful protesters have laid siege to the corporate headquarters of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, claiming that "Superman", as Li is known in business circles, is the city's de


facto leader (not Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen) and that profit and greed are the key components of its unspoken creed.

And, perhaps even more worrying, middle-aged, middle-class apartment owners are staging mass outdoor "lie-ins" at the Mei Foo private housing estate, in the hope of preventing a property developer from spoiling it with further light-blocking, noise-producing, profit-boosting and high-rise construction.

[xchrom]

9. Global banks face 'pay up or lose talent' war in China

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/idINIndia-56326920110414

(Reuters) - International banks in China find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place as the battle for top-tier talent on the mainland leaves them facing a stark choice: either pay exorbitant salaries and benefits or lose their best people to competitors at a head-spinning rate.

China last year overtook Japan as the world's second-biggest economy and the country is positioning itself for a record fundraising boom to fuel its next stage of growth.

The financial market has experienced explosive growth in the past two decades. China now has more than 2,000 listed companies and the world's second-biggest stock market capitalisation, according to Thomson Reuters data. But the pool of financial talent has not expanded as fast, industry players say.

Heady expansion by JP Morgan, UBS and others has aggravated the problem.



creating that wealth gap in china?
looks like it.

[xchrom]

103. China's yuan sets new high against U.S. dollar Thursday

http://www.chinesestock.org/show.aspx?id=121986&cid=8

The Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, on Thursday gained 30 basis points from Wednesday to a record high of 6.5339 per U.S. dollar.

[Demeter]

116. Don't know why

Seems the Chinese are printing as fast as the Bernank.

[xchrom]

118. yeah -- that's the impression i was under.

there must be something i'm missing.

and the Teh Bernanke -- he should print this::mad:

[Festivito]

7. Debt: 04/12/2011 14,272,993,603,617.44 (UP 5,233,064,425.55) (Tue, UP a little.)

(Still under the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 21-billion dollars. Good day.)
I'm so tired.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,652,592,140,320.38 + 4,620,401,463,297.06
UP 4,915,349.75 + UP 5,228,149,075.80

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.44 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,775,392 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,779.73.
A family of three owes $137,339.19. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 32 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 5,173,011,539.93.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,621,108,077.95.
The average for the last 32 days would be 3,394,788,823.08.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 132 reports in 194 days of FY2011 averaging 5.39B$ per report, 3.67B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 649 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.6T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
04/12/2011 14,272,993,603,617.44 BHO (UP 3,646,116,554,704.36 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,711,370,572,725.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,338,403,397,138.56 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----
04/06/2011 -000,011,756,275.73 ----
04/07/2011 +002,235,163,853.48 ------------*********
04/08/2011 +000,001,314,747.36 ------------******
04/11/2011 +000,390,366,211.15 ------------******** Mon
04/12/2011 +000,004,915,349.75 ------------******

-11,592,220,285.38 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4812033&mesg_id=4813214

[Festivito]

128. Debt: 04/13/2011 14,264,147,359,046.28 (DOWN 8,846,244,571.16) (Wed, UP a little.)

(Still under the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 30-billion dollars. Good day.)
Thank you, McClaren for a nice internet connection.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,652,808,590,790.24 + 4,611,338,768,256.04
UP 216,450,469.86 + DOWN 9,062,695,041.02

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.36 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,782,592 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,750.3.
A family of three owes $137,250.9. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 33 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 4,751,761,798.45.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,326,233,258.91.
The average for the last 33 days would be 3,023,848,417.19.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 132 reports in 195 days of FY2011 averaging 5.32B$ per report, 3.60B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 648 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.6T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
04/13/2011 14,264,147,359,046.28 BHO (UP 3,637,270,310,133.20 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,702,524,328,154.50 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,314,981,434,750.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----
04/06/2011 -000,011,756,275.73 ----
04/07/2011 +002,235,163,853.48 ------------*********
04/08/2011 +000,001,314,747.36 ------------******
04/11/2011 +000,390,366,211.15 ------------******** Mon
04/13/2011 +000,216,450,469.86 ------------********

-11,380,685,165.27 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4813611&mesg_id=4813619

[xchrom]

8. Dollar at low, world stocks weaker

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/us-markets-global-idINTRE71H0EB20110414

Reuters) - The dollar sank to a 16-month low against a basket of currencies on Thursday as investors bet U.S. monetary policy would continue to be loose, while a report that Chinese inflation will rise dragged on equities.

World stocks were flat to lower despite a burst of corporate activity that would usually lift investors' spirits.

Glencore, the world's largest commodities trading company, plans to raise up to $12.1 billion in a London and Hong Kong stock market floatation that is London's biggest ever. Shares in Japan's Isuzu Motors jumped on a report that Volkswagen was considering buying all or part of it.

But European shares, as measured by the FTSEurofirst 300

were down a half a percent, partly out of concern that Chinese inflation is returning.

[Pale Blue Dot]

10. Carl Levin To Refer Goldman To Justice Department, SEC For Misleading Investors

And Committing Perjury

Yesterday JPMorgan, today Goldman (again) and Deutsche Bank. Following the completion of a two-year report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of Investigations into the role of Goldman and other banks in the housing collapse, the FT reports that "US Senate investigators probing the financial crisis will refer evidence about Wall Street institutions including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to the justice department for possible criminal investigations, officials said on Wednesday." According to Carl "Shitty Deal" Levin, head of the subcommittee, "banks mis-sold mortgage-backed securities and misled investors and lawmakers. “We will be referring this matter to the justice department and to the SEC ,” he said. “In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled Congress.” Bloomberg further clarifies: "At a briefing today, Levin said he believed Goldman Sachs executives weren’t truthful about the company’s transactions in testimony before the subcommittee at an April 2010 hearing. He said he would refer the testimony to the Justice Department for possible perjury charges...In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled the Congress.” Levin said. And Deutsche Bank's Greg "I am short your house" Lippmann was not spared either: "Republicans and Democrats signed off on the report, which said Greg Lippmann, Deutsche’s top CDO trader, referred to assets underlying the securities as “crap” and “pigs” at the same time as his bank was selling them to clients. Prior to the crisis, Mr Lippmann built a short position in CDOs, betting that they would fall in value, even though Deutsche had a large long position on the securities." Just more smoke and mirrors? Or are we getting to a critical mass where even the very corrupt judicial system will have to respond?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/carl-levin-refer-goldman-justice-department-sec-misleading-investors-and-committing-perjury

[xchrom]

12. fingers crossed.

but if we don't take their wealth -- then it was just the cost of doing business.

[Demeter]

16. Yessiree!

It's a start

[Demeter]

23. Goldman and Deutsche Bank criticised in US Senate report

US Senate investigators probing the financial crisis will refer evidence about Wall Street institutions including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to the justice department for possible criminal investigations, officials said on Wednesday.

Carl Levin, Democratic chairman of the powerful Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, said a two-year probe found that banks mis-sold mortgage-backed securities and misled investors and lawmakers.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/DHGUVV/XT3COO/YGZ3O/JIM52A/GKAVDO/7V/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=13

[Demeter]

35. US Senate report zeroes in on Goldman

Does the Senate report into Wall Street draw a line under Goldman Sachs’ political and legal issues or breathe new life into the charges against it of misleading clients?


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/LQ4MWT/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[plumbob]

126. Please let this amount to something.

That would really be somethin'!

[xchrom]

11. Google Q1 report to kick off era under new CEO

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/idINIndia-56321920110414

(Reuters) - Management changes, spending plans and regulatory risks will be in the spotlight when Google Inc reports its first-quarter financial results after the market closes on Thursday.

Larry Page, the 38-year-old co-founder of the world's No. 1 Internet search company became chief executive earlier this month, after a decade in which Eric Schmidt held the job.

Page is expected to bolster innovation and cut bureaucracy as Google faces fierce competition from social networking leader Facebook and Apple Inc.

But some investors are anxious about how Page will adapt to the day-to-day tasks of managing a company of more than 24,000 employees, as well as whether he will drive up spending.

[xchrom]

13. i'm putting this article up because there is so much talk about gold and silver.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/07/idINIndia-56189320110407

Should you invest in gold or silver?



It is really important for an investor to first understand the economy and the financial systems prevalent in the market before he decides what to invest in. With the cost of crude oil having increased considerably per barrel, the government has also acted by increasing the price of petrol and diesel severely. Other stocks are now rallying to catch up with these prices.

Should an investor buy more gold or silver?

According to a research concluded earlier this year, precious metals were the best performing assets for the second consecutive year and also for the fourth time in the last five years. Investors enjoyed a 42% return by investing in precious metals in 2010.

Silver performed much better than other precious metals in the market in 2010 with prices rising by an astounding 80% which is two and half times the rice in price of gold (29%). Along with being deemed a safe investment, the relatively low supply of the metal as compared to the high demand has also contributed to the steady increase in price. In the first two months of 2011, silver’s price has increased at a steady 9.3%.

[Po_d Mainiac]

70. You buy and hold if you believe the purchasing power of your

local fiat currency is going to deteriorate further. Shit storms happen. (Japan comes to mind)

Cash was king in the immediate aftermath. ATM's weren't worth a turd when the power went down. Soon after though, it all came down to what maintained purchasing power and held value as the fiats twisted with the prevailing fallout.

Ag:Au continues to close, but 17:1 is still a long way away. Either Au drops and Ag maintains, or the two continue to rise but at varied rates. The historical value ratio will happen

[xchrom]

97. Stagflation's metallic lining

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/stagflation-s-metallic-lining-393461.html

Google “stagflation threat” and you will find dozens of articles that herald the impending return of this dreaded economic situation. No wonder. The so-called “new normal” of the global economy means high oil prices due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa; rising consumer inflation coupled with high unemployment; US and EU central bankers printing money to stave off debt problems; and liquidity at risk of being sucked through a vacuum into the next potential bubble.

When you throw unpredictable “Black Swan” events like the Japanese tsunami into the mix, our still-tenuous recovery from the 2008 global recession seems beset on all sides. The result is a recipe for stagflation – and a bullion bull market.

Investors seek a save haven

With crude prices skyrocketing from supply concerns, more wealth is accumulating in the GCC region and investors are looking for places to park their money. Precious metals – especially gold – are proven reserve assets. Those with liquid capital are flocking to precious metals as a hedge against inflation and market volatility.

[xchrom]

100. Sudan gold rush flows to the Middle East

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/sudan-gold-rush-flows-the-middle-east-393877.html

The Middle East, specifically Dubai and Beirut, has become a popular destination for Sudanese gold as output of the precious metal from the African country soars nearly twenty fold in two years.

Tens of thousands of small-scale Sudanese prospectors are undertaking hazardous expeditions across barren areas of Sudan to search for gold, drawn by tales of big finds and prices that have topped record highs this year above $1476 an ounce.

"Now we have the so-called gold fever because everybody is searching for gold, just like in 19th century America," Minerals Minister Abdelbagi Gailani told Reuters.

He estimates as many 200,000 small-scale prospectors are hunting in scattered areas in Sudan, forcing the government to consider incentives to stop them from selling the gold abroad and push for the creation of co-operatives to support them.

[Demeter]

14. I'm only 4th rec at 7:30?

Did everyone get a good night's sleep?

I didn't; Kid was sick, and then there's the paper route...

There are hyacinths and daffodils blooming, and still at least one pile of snow, greatly diminished, lingering in the shadows....

Spent 2.5 hours in a Budget and Finance Meeting...the more things we fix, the more we find to fix. Not scraping the barrel yet. Maybe another year, and we'll have the bugs worked out of the Condo Association. I see something that could be light at the end of the tunnel, if it's not a mirage or hallucination.

How about that Waffle? Wasn't that disgusting?

[Demeter]

25. TO WIT: THE WAFFLE: Obama calls for budgetary straitjacket

Barack Obama called on Congress to create a budgetary straitjacket that would restrict future US deficits, as part of a sweeping plan to rein in America’s debt through a mixture of spending cuts and tax increases.

The US president proposed cutting $4,000bn from deficits in the next 12 years, shrinking discretionary spending and the defence budget, and reducing government outlays to Medicare and Medicaid, the largest federal healthcare programmes.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/J0VG55/40BMQM/RP6QL/EWV28Q/5CTUHF/36/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=13

[Demeter]

26. OPINION Mohamed El-Erian - Obama adds fuel to confusion but no resolution

Barack Obama’s speech will, unfortunately, only add fuel to the raging budget debate, rather than resolve it. Republican’s will attack it for some things … And Democrats will oppose it for others … Yet both sides would be well advised to consider how all this looks to the rest of the world, including some of America’s largest creditors

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/H60H77/M9DPZA/MJTKN/UU9SRI/XTR9PZ/YT/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=13

[Fuddnik]

72. Waffle?

Go elsewhere around here, and it was the Sermon on the Mount.

[Demeter]

78. Which is why I'm not even going there

I'm staying here, among the Enlightened.

[AnneD]

130. I started to post...

But I got my hands slapped a record 3 times in one day. I have been posting for years and nothing and now boom. I think new mods over sensitive or elements ie sock puppets are working OT to shape perceived opinions. I know psyop when I smell it.

For some reason this thread has always been more shall we say open to other lines of thinking.L

[Demeter]

17. Medicare isn't the problem -- it's the solution Robert Reich

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/13/robert_reich_paul_ryan_obama_medicare/index.html


...The real problem is the soaring costs of health care that lie beneath Medicare. They're costs all of us are bearing in the form of soaring premiums, co-payments, and deductibles. Americans spend more on health care per person than any other advanced nation and get less for our money. Yearly public and private healthcare spending is $7,538 per person. That's almost two and a half times the average of other advanced nations.Yet the typical American lives 77.9 years -- less than the average 79.4 years in other advanced nations. And we have the highest rate of infant mortality of all advanced nations.

Medical costs are soaring because our health-care system is totally screwed up. Doctors and hospitals have every incentive to spend on unnecessary tests, drugs, and procedures...America spends $30 billion a year fixing medical errors -- the worst rate among advanced countries. Why? Among other reasons because we keep patient records on computers that can't share the data. Patient records are continuously re-written on pieces of paper, and then re-entered into different computers. That spells error.

Meanwhile, administrative costs eat up 15 to 30 percent of all healthcare spending in the United States. That's twice the rate of most other advanced nations. Where does this money go? Mainly into collecting money: Doctors collect from hospitals and insurers, hospitals collect from insurers, insurers collect from companies or from policy holders. A major occupational category at most hospitals is "billing clerk." A third of nursing hours are devoted to documenting what's happened so insurers have proof.

Trying to slow the rise in Medicare costs doesn't deal with any of this. It will just limit the amounts seniors can spend, which means less care. As a practical matter it means more political battles, as seniors -- whose clout will grow as boomers are added to the ranks -- demand the limits be increased. (If you thought the demagoguery over "death panels" was bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet.)...Paul Ryan's plan -- to give seniors vouchers they can cash in with private for-profit insurers -- would be even worse. It would funnel money into the hands of for-profit insurers, whose administrative costs are far higher than Medicare....So what's the answer? For starters, allow anyone at any age to join Medicare. Medicare's administrative costs are in the range of 3 percent. That's well below the 5 to 10 percent costs borne by large companies that self-insure. It's even further below the administrative costs of companies in the small-group market (amounting to 25 to 27 percent of premiums). And it's way, way lower than the administrative costs of individual insurance (40 percent). It's even far below the 11 percent costs of private plans under Medicare Advantage, the current private-insurance option under Medicare....Estimates of how much would be saved by extending Medicare to cover the entire population range from $58 billion to $400 billion a year. More Americans would get quality health care, and the long-term budget crisis would be sharply reduced.

Let me say it again: Medicare isn't the problem. It's the solution.

[Demeter]

18. Medicare's perfect storm HISTORY LESSON

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/04/13/medicare_lyndon_johnson_and_obama/index.html

History remembers Lyndon Johnson as the creator of Medicare and Medicaid, but Barry Goldwater, the arch-conservative Johnson annihilated in the 1964 presidential election, deserves his fair share of the credit. A month before Election Day, Goldwater interrupted his campaign in Arizona to fly back to Washington for the sole purpose of voting no on a key precursor to what became Medicare. The Johnson campaign capitalized immediately with a television ad pointing out that Goldwater had voted "against a program of hospital insurance for older Americans."

Democrats already controlled the House and Senate before the 1964 election, but a coalition of Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats had hitherto managed to stymie every attempt to make that crucial first step toward what the American Medical Association's spokesperson Ronald Reagan decried as "socialized medicine." But on Election Day, Johnson's landslide victory ushered in majorities so huge that reaching a goal Democrats had been seeking since Harry Truman's first term finally became inevitable. Johnson's mandate was undeniable, and even the powerful Arkansas Democrat Wilbur Mills, chairman of the all-important House Ways and Means Committee, who had long stalled a House vote on Medicare, was forced to acknowledge it. As Johnson told Vice President Humphrey in March 1965, with the kind of Southern slang laxative analogy that only he could pull off, in the new political atmosphere, "Medical care will go through like a dose of salt through a widow woman." And he was right.

So who knows? If Goldwater hadn't been such a bad candidate, Medicare might have been delayed further, or even forestalled indefinitely.

There were other factors, of course. In the mid-1960s, the United States was in the middle of one of its greatest all-time sustained economic booms, providing room for Americans to dream big and act magnanimously. Lyndon Johnson boasted an unparalleled knowledge of the ins and outs of the legislative process and was probably better at twisting arms to get his way than any other post-WWII president. A perfect storm was required for the creation of Medicare and Medicaid -- a fact awesomely attested to by the difficulty Democratic presidents have faced ever since in attempting to further improve the healthcare safety net. The fact that Obama, who not only lacks the legislative skills of Johnson but faces a united front of Republican politicians distinguished primarily by their utter absence of twistable arms, managed to get anything passed at all in the middle of a horrible economy is all the more amazing when you look back at all the advantages Johnson enjoyed...

SEE LINK FOR PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

[xchrom]

46. great read. nt

[lovuian]

115. yep the rising cost of healthcare is unchecked

soon only millionaires will be able to afford it

Our companies can't keep paying these exorbitant prices to the insurance companies
People can't afford to retire knowing healthcare prices are ridiculous

socialized medicine is the only way to hem in rising prices and compete with other countries who have socialized medicine

[Demeter]

19. Scott Adams of "Dilbert" Is Regular Saturday Columnist for WSJ

The best description for him is "edgy". I can see him in future years, grasping his walker and shaking his fist, yelling "Get off my lawn!" to children and small animals. Here are two semi-humorous, semi-serious recent offerings:

How to Get a Real Education

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576247143383496656.html

Scott's adventures in entrepreneurship are entertaining, but I suspect even he would have a hard time doing such tricks in today's Modern Depression...

How to Tax the Rich

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106164123424314.html

Scott offers a selection of "well crafted delusions" for the peons....

[hamerfan]

22. Like this:

"I can see him in future years, grasping his walker and shaking his fist, yelling "Get off my lawn!" to children and small animals."

[Demeter]

113. And here's his latest

[Demeter]

21. The 1785 Struggle Over Concentrated Banking Power

http://vinceseconomicblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/the-1785-struggle-over-concentrated-banking-power/

How a farmer, a weaver, and a backwoods prophet took on the money interest in founding-era politics — and won.

One of the better-known episodes in American founding finance occurred in 1791, when Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary, proposed forming the United States’ first central bank. James Madison of Virginia, serving in the House of Representatives, objected. Prefiguring the Republican lawmakers who recently pledged not to introduce legislation without first citing the constitutional provision enabling it, Madison asserted that because the Constitution doesn’t grant Congress a specific power to form banks, a national bank would be unconstitutional...Hamilton famously responded by arguing that if a power to do something is constitutional, then powers necessary to doing it must be constitutional too, even when not enumerated. If Congress determines that exercising its power to do anything “necessary and proper” in the discharge of its duties calls for forming a bank, it can form a bank. Any unconstitutionality, for Hamilton, would require a specific prohibition against banks (”Congress shall make no law…,” etc.).
...........................................................

Robert Whitehill was a farmer, Herman Husband a career activist, William Findley a weaver. All lived in western parts of Pennsylvania, where antipathy prevailed both for big planters tying up land and eastern slicksters tying up money and credit. Whitehill led an early 1770s movement for western independence from Philadelphia, as important to his constituency as American independence from England. Husband had led the North Carolina Regulation in the 1760s, barely escaping hanging; as a fugitive in the Pennsylvania wilderness, he experienced Biblical visions of a democratically ruled America, the New Jerusalem. Findley was a natural pol, anything but visionary: he thrived under Jefferson but exemplifies the rough-and-tumble politics of the Jackson era. What the three shared, along with passion for democratic finance, was sudden electability under the new Pennsylvania Constitution, which in 1776 shocked famous founders from John Adams to Hamilton by smashing the old Whig connection between representative rights and property ownership. (Whitehill helped write it.) With the unpropertied voting in Pennsylvania, Husband entered the Pennsylvania assembly in the mighty year of 1776, Whitehill and Findley in the early 1780s. For the first time, democratic finance was no longer a crowd protest but a legislative effort.

Husband really was a prophet. He proposed such things anathema to the creditor class as going off the gold standard and managing a slow, deliberate rate of paper depreciation; imposing taxes on wealth and income; making those taxes progressive; and instituting programs for supporting the elderly after they could no longer work. Prefiguring Bretton Woods, the New Deal, and Great Society by nearly two centuries, Husband became known as “the madman of the Alleghenies.”

Whitehill and Findley attacked the bank that Robert Morris had founded in Philadelphia. Its charter belonged to the people of Pennsylvania, they asserted, not Morris, and the bank served no public function, existing only to enrich its founders. They proposed revoking the charter, establishing a land bank for small-scale lending, and issuing legal-tender paper to enable small transactions and debt relief. They wanted the electorate, via representatives in the assembly, to regulate public and private finance on behalf of ordinary working people. Robert Morris himself was serving in the assembly, so floor debate was intense. His merchant constituents were panicking. Investors everywhere in America relied on the bank for gigantic, poorly secured loans to fund their speculations in the land bubble, the bond rollercoaster, and their own fabulous lifestyles. (THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR....DEMETER) James Wilson, one of the bank’s directors, had personally borrowed more than $250,000 from the bank for the purpose of wild speculation. Wilson too served in the Pennsylvania assembly, and in hopes of saving the charter, he and Morris found themselves forced to duke it out with the low-rent likes of Whitehill and Findley...In a stunning benchmark legislative victory for popular finance, the Pennsylvania assembly did revoke the bank’s charter. When the charter came up in the next session, the assembly refused to reinstate it. The people had won. Rich men far and wide gasped in fear of what a democratic American legislature might achieve. Morris announced that a mob was confiscating his property. But for once there was nothing he could do. In a democratic process of republican government, struggling against an enormously powerful money interest in politics, economic fairness had prevailed. That was 1785...
So in judging the relative effectiveness of popular versus elite finance, it’s worth considering some outcomes. The sophisticates Morris and Wilson, like many of our best-certified wizards today, persisted in speculating well past the point where rationality would suggest stopping, often in manifestly dubious ventures. The unabashed scale and mounting danger of their adventuring will sound familiar. In a time of widespread economic depression, Morris at one point owned most of western New York and many millions of acres in Pennsylvania and the South. Wilson borrowed at rates of up to 30% to invest, among other things, in what turned out to be the Yazoo land fraud in Georgia... And inevitably, just as today, it all came crashing down. Wilson was serving on the U.S. Supreme Court when his increasingly desperate throwing of good money after bad finally landed the great legal scholar in debtors prison. Our mighty founding financier Robert Morris? He ended up in debtors prison too. In 1800, the first Bankruptcy Act was passed — in large part to get Robert Morris out of jail.

[Demeter]

24. Greek goal of return to market in doubt

Greece needs time to convince international investors about its reform programme and may not be able to return to financial markets next year as planned, finance minister George Papaconstantinou has told the FT.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/GKMS90/VTVRG/8AG8PL/C508VR/UP/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=13

[xchrom]

49. they need to 'convince' the people who fucked them. that's rich.

:eyes: nothing has changed.

[Demeter]

27. Inflation fears force Singapore tightening

The Singapore dollar jumped to a record level against its US equivalent on Thursday after the island state tightened monetary policy for the second time in six months to combat rising inflation

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/PREHIH/OFBYP/HDZMF7/40LU10/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

IF WE CAN'T GOOSE OUR OWN ECONOMY INTO LAYING GOLDEN EGGS, WE CAN EXPORT INFLATION SO THAT OTHER GEESE STOP LAYING SO MANY....

DID THAT COME OUT RIGHT?

[Demeter]

28. Currency wars fade as inflation hits emerging world

As the prices of commodities, and especially oil and food inch upwards, developing countries are lifting interest rates and betting on appreciating currencies to keep prices under control

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/PREHIH/OFBYP/HDZMF7/GKAVVL/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

I'M ADDING INFLATION WATCH TO MY BEAT...WATCHING MY PURCHASING POWER DIMINISH AS UNACKNOWLEDGED INFLATION EATS UP THE AMERICAN ECONOMY...

[Demeter]

29. Tepco president’s ‘sorry’ return to work

Shimizu’s ‘apology news conference’ angered even jaded Japanese reporters with years of experience of watching dishonoured executives

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/PREHIH/OFBYP/HDZMF7/C5066P/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

31. Allies look for ways to end Libyan stalemate

UK prime minister David Cameron held hastily convened talks with French president Nicolas Sarkozy to explore how to break the military stalemate in Libya

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/PREHIH/OFBYP/HDZMF7/V1SQQW/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

THE GREEDY MONKEYS CAN'T GET THEIR HANDS OUT OF THE COOKIE JAR WITHOUT LETING GO OF THE LOOT...

WE GOT THE SAME PROBLEM IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND NOW PAKISTAN, SO I SHOULDN'T BE POINTING FINGERS AT ADOLF SARKOZY AND BENITO CAMERON...

[Demeter]

32. Record quarter for JPMorgan with 67% rise in net income

US bank released reserves set aside for credit losses and reported investment-banking profits that approached a record high set a year ago

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/C506CS/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

33. Toyota and Ford suffer Japan aftershock

Supply disruptions from the Japanese earthquake ripple through to operations in Asia, Europe and the US, underscoring the vulnerability of carmakers to shocks in the global supply chain

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/C506C9/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

34. Italian lenders to resume pay-outs

The country’s banks plan to continue dividend pay-outs at the same, or even higher, levels than before the financial crisis, reversing the strategy of a few months ago

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/UU9ESZ/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

ISN'T ITALY ONE OF THE PIIGS? SHOULDN'T THEY BE SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY?

[Demeter]

36. US lenders look to top up with prepaid cards

Large US banks are eyeing prepaid cards as a way to recoup lost fees and cater to the 9m Americans who do not have ­traditional checking or savings accounts, say industry ­executives

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/BMO80R/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

37. Galleon’s trades in Goldman scrutinised

US government prosecutors aggressively cross-examined a former top executive in the insider trading case against the founder of the hedge fund group, Raj Rajaratnam

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/PRDXY2/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

38. Cargill set for record yearly profit

World’s largest agricultural trader appeared headed for its most profitable year yet on the back of disruptions in global food supplies

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/XT3VR7/4VXHZ/5CTB2Y/TPQI96/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=14

[Demeter]

39. VOICE FROM THE PAST

"A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors and schoolteachers.... The greatest triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing.

Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth."
-- Aldous Huxley -(1894-1963) Author
- Source: forward to Brave New World, 1946 edition.

[Hawkowl]

123. I used to think it was a cautionary tale

However, now it appears to me as if the PTB have used Huxley and Orwell as instruction manuals.

[Roland99]

42. Foreclosure delays near end, might get 'scary'

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/foreclosure-delays-near-end-might-get-scary-2011-04-14?link=MW_home_latest_news

Foreclosure delays due to the increased scrutiny of robo-signing and other investigations of bank practices may be ending. RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga says "it's a little scary to think about what's coming down the pike."

[DemReadingDU]

44. Possible more jobs to process all these backlogged foreclosures?

or just make the current handlers work more?

[jtuck004]

121. 240,000 received foreclosure notice in March, a 7% increase over

February, and that is with the slowdowns in effect.

According to Sharg's interview, this could increase over the next 2-3 months to "scary".

Dr Housing Bubble talked a while back about as many as 6 homes in bank inventory for every one that is on the MLS listings.

Plus $4+ gas and increasing food prices. No one at any important level is talking about job creation - just cuts to gut the safety nets...

The rules going forward for perhaps a majority of Americans - reduce debt where you can and don't take on any more, prepare for shortages and keep some cash on hand. And it wouldn't hurt to try and start a small business of some kind or learn some mechanical and building skills, garden...

Maybe communes will start coming back - I think that might give some people the backup they need.

[Demeter]

43. Fed penalizes 10 banks on mortgage practices

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-penalizes-10-banks-on-mortgage-practices-2011-04-13

The Federal Reserve said it's taken enforcement action against 10 banks over
"a pattern of misconduct and negligence related to deficient practices in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing. These deficiencies represent significant and pervasive compliance failures and unsafe and unsound practices at these institutions."

The banks are:
Bank of America
Citigroup
Ally Financial, the HSBC North America unit of HSBC Holdings
J.P. Morgan Chase
MetLife
PNC Financial Services
SunTrust Banks
U.S. Bancorp
and Wells Fargo

In addition to the actions against the banking organizations, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced formal enforcement actions against Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS), a domestic provider of default-management services and other services related to foreclosures, and against MERSCORP, Inc., which provides services related to tracking and registering residential mortgage ownership and servicing, acts as mortgagee of record on behalf of lenders and servicers, and initiates foreclosure actions

[DemReadingDU]

47. Enforcement action?

What is that, and how is it being done?

[Demeter]

50. Wet Noodle, Probably

If I find more, I'll post under it.

[Fuddnik]

62. I doubt it's that harsh.

Based on two days of conversations I've had with Wells this week, they don't exactly seem to have the fear of God in them.

If their attitude has improved, it isn't exactly showing.

[AnneD]

131. Round up the usual suspects...

For Major Strassa visit, I've ordered my men to round up twice the number of usual suspects.

[AnneD]

132. Dupe..

..

[AnneD]

133. Drunken dupe

Actually more like a stupid dupe.

[Demeter]

45. Iran stops providing fuel to European aircraft in retaliatory move

http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-stops-providing-fuel-to-european-aircraft-in-retaliatory-move-1.355721

Iranian planes have been denied fuel in Germany, Britain and a Gulf Arab state, prompting Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi to halt fuel supply for European planes...

Last year, U.S. President Barack Obama signed off on far-reaching new sanctions on Iran that targeted the country's fuel imports, punishing any company worldwide that exports gasoline or other refined petroleum products to Iran...The U.S. legislation did not make clear whether its new sanctions were intended to require firms to refuse to refuel Iranian aircraft at airports in third countries...

[Demeter]

48. Tax Me, I'm Rich, Says Deep-Pocketed Group By Alan Farnham

http://www.fiscalstrength.com/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27886.htm

Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength--rich guys in favor of raising taxes on themselves and other wealthy people--say they are irritated over President Obama's failure to do just that...Nor do they believe his latest announcement that he intends to try again, says Erica Payne, founder of the Agenda project and coordinator of the Patriotic Millionaires campaign.

The president, when a candidate in 2008, had recommended ending the Bush tax cuts for households earning over $250,000 a year. But he conceded that point when he signed into law in 2010 an agreement with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts two more years. It's that concession that has disappointed and rankled Patriotic Millionaires, curdling their feelings. "The administration cut the deal they felt they needed to cut," shrugs Payne. "But we disagreed wholeheartedly. The president's quick and easy capitulation on an issue with such solid moral elements was disheartening."...Payne has little confidence the president will fare any better in the fight ahead than he fared against the Republicans in 2010.

"Allegedly, he was always in favor of raising taxes on people making over $250,000. In fact, he capitulated when pushed. He showed little marketing accumen. It's not a very auspicious beginning to what will be the continuing fight. He knows he won't get it through the House. It would surprise me greatly if he actually stepped up to fight for it." In her view, the fight this time--over whether to raise the nation's $14 trillion debt ceiling--"ups the ante" and makes less likely an administration victory on forcing the wealthy to pay higher taxes.

"At the end of last year they had an easy fight, and they couldn't make the case. Now they have a much more difficult fight and a more difficult end point, which is raising the debt ceiling. He didn't make it when it was easy. I see no reason to think he'll do it now. This White house has been surprisingly inept at articulating what's sensible public policy. It's not ideologically driven one way or another." Her group's members are, she says, are "just as irritated now as they were four months ago." And in the interim they have grown in number: Patriotic Millionaires now counts about 150 members...

[Demeter]

120. Oliphant's Opinion

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=7593f43162677f6380cfb3b67bcaca73&w=750.0

[Demeter]

51. VIDEO STORE

A lot of newsworthy video clips--I'm going to bunch them all here as they attract my eye...maybe get to watch them even!

[Demeter]

52. Nobel Prize Winning Economist Slams US Dollar (Joseph Stiglitz)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27885.htm

[xchrom]

74. Japan's corporate confidence plunges (1:18) --- video of news report.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=202364527&videoChannel=5

[Demeter]

88. MAX KEISER COLLECTION

Keiser Armed: Pirates of Digital Age

http://vinceseconomicblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/the-1785-struggle-over-concentrated-banking-power/

Keiser Report: Food Stamp Army

http://vodpod.com/watch/5883139-keiser-report-food-stamp-army?u=ampedstatuscom&c=ampedstatus

[Demeter]

107. Max is on a roll--MUST SEE

[Demeter]

109. Inside Job - Full Movie Oscar Winning Documentary

http://vodpod.com/watch/5904001-inside-job-full-movie?u=ampedstatuscom&c=ampedstatus

[Demeter]

110. Chris Hedges on Mad as Hell in America

http://vodpod.com/watch/5900942-chris-hedges-mad-as-hell-in-america?u=ampedstatuscom&c=ampedstatus

[Demeter]

112. Ratigan: Ending Oil Price Manipulation

http://vodpod.com/watch/5912107-ratigan-ending-oil-price-manipulation?u=ampedstatuscom&c=ampedstatus

[xchrom]

53. Flaming Out and Fighting Back

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hewlett/2011/04/flaming_out_and_fighting_back.html

Next month I will be the proud recipient of two honors: the "Isabel Benham Award" (Women's Bond Club) and the "Woman of the Year Award" (Financial Women's Association). I'm more than usually appreciative. I've held high-profile jobs and delivered impressed results, but I know about banishment and lonely struggle.

Like many working moms I've grappled with a variety of road blocks and "off-ramps." One of my off-ramps was voluntary; the others were forced on me by employers and the marketplace. In the 1980s I lost twins in the seventh month of pregnancy. This loss triggered a protracted struggle on the childbearing front, and it also torpedoed my promotional prospects. The timing was bad (as it often is). I was at the seven-year mark in my career as a college professor and I was turned down for tenure. To quote one of the conservative members of my tenure committee, I wasn't "sufficiently committed" and had allowed childbearing to "dilute my focus."

As I packed up my office — having lost both my job and my babies — it struck me that the peak demand of many female careers, not just mine, clashed and collided in the worst way with the urgent demands of the biological clock. So many of us were trying to have children in our mid or late thirties, before it was too late, and running into all kinds of punishments and penalties.

Despite the bitter disappointment of failing to get tenure, I landed a great job and went on to spend six exhilarating years as executive director of the Economic Policy Council, managing a debate across the political divide and testifying on the Hill on issues from immigration reform to LDC debt. But in my early 40s I hit a second wall. The pressures of my ever-expanding job were crowding out my small children. I was becoming an over-committed wife and mother. How could I help my five-year-old deal with separation anxiety when I needed to catch the 6:30 a.m. shuttle to Washington two out of his first three days in kindergarten? Something had to go. I tried to negotiate some flexibility, but my board was convinced that running an organization required a five-day-a-week, in-the-office commitment.

[Demeter]

54. Libya, Libya, Oh Do You Know Libya?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

Bunch of articles on the peculiarities of the Libyan adventure...

[Demeter]

56. Col. Gaddafi is the Perfect Target By Jack A. Smith

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27877.htm

The official story about the attack on Libya is that the purpose is to save civilian lives, stop "madman" Gaddafi from killing civilians, and to bring democracy to the MENA. But this is fiction — variations on well worn themes frequently employed by Washington in recent decades against the leadership of small countries the White House decides to invade or crush for geopolitical or resource reasons, such as Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The USNATO decision to attack came after the National Libyan Council (or Transitional Council), mainly headquartered in Benghazi in the anti-Gaddafi eastern region, began publicly calling on Washington and its European allies earlier in March to take economic, political and military action to topple the Libyan government and install a new leadership composed mainly of itself.

We assume USNATO instructed the National Council to make the public plea, to which it would then respond under the UN's "responsibility to protect" clause. As far as we know this is the only instance where those who sought to conduct an uprising in MENA asked the leading western countries to militarily pave the way for them.

Col. Gaddafi is the perfect target, having been demonized by the West for decades as an authoritarian, and at times displaying character traits suggesting megalomania and instability. The American people were indoctrinated to hate him many years ago, so U.S. public opinion was already prepared for regime change. It was the same with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, or Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloseviç in 1999, among many others. Demonize first, exaggerate second, attack third....

[Demeter]

60. Qatar confirms helping Libyan rebels sell oil

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9MIANQ03.htm

The tiny Gulf Arab nation of Qatar said Tuesday it was behind last week's sale of more than $100 million of crude oil from areas held by Libya's rebels.

Qatar also said it has been shipping gasoline and other fuel to Benghazi, the main city in rebel-held eastern Libya, providing a lifeline to opposition-held areas that lack sufficient capacity to produce their own refined fuel.

Though not a surprise, the announcement underscores Qatar's position as the most prominent Arab state supporting opposition forces seeking to topple Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Qatar is one of two Arab countries enforcing the no-fly zone over the North African Arab nation...Qatar has been the strongest Arab voice supporting the anti-Gadhafi rebels, and the region's first to commit fighter planes to enforcing the NATO-dominated no-fly zone over Libya. It was the second county in the world after France to recognize the rebels' Transitional National Council as Libya's legitimate government.

[Demeter]

64. Libya group agrees 'trust fund' for rebels

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/20114134730363347.html

The international contact group on Libya has agreed to set up a temporary "trust fund" to help channel assets to the opposition Transitional National Council in Benghazi.In a statement issued at the conclusion of Wednesday's one-day summit in Doha, Qatar, the group united to call on Libya's longterm leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down. "Gaddafi and his regime has lost all legitimacy and he must leave power allowing the Libyan people to determine their own future," the group said.

The financial mechanism being set up will allow international donations to be made directly available to Gaddafi's opponents - possibly from frozen assets of the Gaddafi administration...Members of the group have called for more pressure to be exerted against Gaddafi's regime, but they disagree on whether to arm the rebels seeking to eject him.

Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays said some participants had "deep concerns" about providing Libyan rebels, who are fighting to topple Gaddafi from power, with access to funds. "I spoke to the German foreign minister and he had concerns over whether it was legal or not," our correspondent said. "Statements from the UK and Qatar have agreed that the situation in Benghazi is urgent. And most is due to a lack of cash - it's not all about heavy weapons for frontline fighters; it's also about being able to pay public servants and getting schools back open."...


"We are very hopeful that the American people and the American government will not buy into the Qatari lies and Qatari schemes," a spokesman of the Libyan (Gaddaffi) regime told reporters in Tripoli on Tuesday. "Qatar is hardly a partner of any kind. It's more of an oil corporation than a true nation," the spokesman said....

[Demeter]

65. Libya group says Gaddafi must go, rebel funds needed

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/libya-qatar-meeting-idUSWEA441320110413?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=hotStocksNews&rpc=401

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi must leave soon and rebels fighting against him should be receive material support, foreign ministers said at a meeting to discuss Libya's future on Wednesday.

"Participants remained united and firm in their resolve," they said in a final statement obtained by Reuters. "Gaddafi and his regime has lost all legitimacy and he must leave power allowing the Libyan people to determine their own future."

The language indicated a stronger stance than that seen at the group's meeting two weeks ago, reflecting increased pressure by Britain and France, who are delivering most of the air strikes on Gaddafi's armour and want other NATO members to contribute more to the alliance's efforts in Libya to end the deadlock in the country's civil war...The "contact group" meeting of foreign ministers, who will next meet in May, said they would work with the national council rebel group to to set up a temporary financial mechanism, referring to an idea floated earlier of establishing a fund to help rebels using frozen assets.

"Participants agreed that a Temporary Financial Mechanism could provide a method for the INC (interim national council) and international community to manage revenue to assist with short term financial requirements and structural needs in Libya."

[Demeter]

67. Libya: The Law is Clear - It is Illegal to Arm the "Rebels"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27880.htm

The law is the law, and it is crystal clear. Under the UN Charter and Resolutions 1970 and 1973 it would be illegal for any entity to arm the "rebels" in Libya and in so doing, this would constitute a breach of international law, leaving the perpetrators open to criminal liability. And has anyone researched the history of the "rebel" movement?

(PERHAPS THIS IS WHY THE "REBELS" ARE CREATING A CENTRAL BANK AND MAKING OIL-SELLING DEALS, TO AVOID THE APPEARANCE OF OUTSIDE NATIONS ARMING THEM)


The legal principle which governs international law

The legal principle of the UN Charter is to avoid war and to ensure peace; that is why any act of aggression outside the specific scope of a Resolution must necessarily pass by a separate Resolution in the UN Security Council. Since the scope of the resolutions covering Libya - UNSC Resolutions 1970 (2011) and 1973 (2011) - do not include the supply of weaponry to the "rebel" cause in Libya - but instead prohibit it and cover attacks on civilians, then under no circumstances whatsoever would it be admissible, acceptable or legal for any entity to supply weapons or train the "rebels" against the Libyan authorities.


UNSC Resolution 1970 (2011)

Paragraph 9 prohibits the supply of weapons to Libya:

"9. Decides that all Member States shall immediately take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, from or through their territories or by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, and technical assistance, training, financial or other assistance, related to military activities or the provision, maintenance or use of any arms and related materiel, including the provision of armed mercenary personnel whether or not originating in their territories,..."

MORE AT LINK


Under these precepts, I hereby accuse Messrs Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nicolas Sarkozy, Alain Juppé, David Cameron and William Hague of war crimes for the deployment of military equipment against forces which were not attacking civilians....(SIGNED) Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

[xchrom]

84. WRAPUP 5-Libya rebels say NATO must stop "massacre" in Misrata

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/libya-idUSLDE73D00A20110414


BENGHAZI, Libya, April 14 (Reuters) - Libyan rebels begged for more NATO air strikes on Thursday, saying they faced a massacre from government artillery barrages on the besieged city of Misrata, but Western allies squabbled over the air campaign.

Rebels said a hail of Grad rockets fired by besieging forces into a residential district of Misrata, Libya's third largest city, had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children.

Aid organisations warn of a humanitarian disaster in Misrata, the lone rebel bastion in western Libya, where hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege.

[xchrom]

98. Islam blamers ignore real Middle East trouble source

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/islam-blamers-ignore-real-middle-east-trouble-source-392389.html

Why is Libya exploding? Why are Iraq and Egypt always, even after many millennia, undemocratic? Why was there scarcely any looting or rioting in Japan even after the triple calamity of tsunami, earthquake and nuclear accident?

Blame the rain. Or rather, the lack of it. Egypt and Libya boil over because precipitation levels there are among the lowest in the world. Japan has received enough rain over the centuries to learn how to govern itself.

The idea that rainfall amounts might start wars or foster democracy is consistent with new research by Stephen Haber, a professor at Stanford University, and Victor Menaldo, a professor at the University of Washington. In their paper, Haber and Menaldo sort nations into three categories: those that are persistently authoritarian (Egypt) or democratic (the UK) and ones that cycle between the two. Next, the authors ranked nations by annual precipitation. The authors are talking about rainfall, not water from, say, a river.

Haber and Menaldo found that countries where rainfall averages between 50 and 100cm a year are more likely to be democratic. In places with less than 50 centimeters annually, dictatorship predominates.

[xchrom]

99. this is from february - but in the same vein

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/cut-back-on-farming-save-water-uae-told-379554.html

Cut back on farming to save water, UAE told

The UAE should conserve water by using less of it for agriculture, a senior safety official said on Tuesday, highlighting concerns about the future of the Gulf state's scarce water resources.

The UAE, which has seven percent of the world's known oil reserves, is among the top per capita consumers of water in the world.

Abu Dhabi consumes 550 litres of water per person per day, an official from the emirate's Environment Agency said last year, compared to a world average of 180-200 litres.

At the same time, the small country suffers from a chronic shortage of water due its year-long hot and dry climate.

[Demeter]

117. Water = Wealth

[xchrom]

101. Libyan conflict brings French-Qatari ties to the fore

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/libyan-conflict-brings-french-qatari-ties-the-fore-393772.html

When Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007 he could have invited any number of Arab leaders to France for a first contact to define his stance towards the Middle East. He picked the emir of the Gulf Arab state Qatar.

The economic rationale for boosting ties was clear: Qatar is the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has one of the highest per capita income levels globally and is a major client of the French aerospace and arms industry.

Yet it was arguably Doha's political role as home to the influential pan-Arab television news channel al-Jazeera, and its aspiration to act as an honest broker in the region that tweaked Sarkozy's interest and has cemented the closeness between the two countries in the Libya crisis.

The relationship offers mutual benefits, allowing France to profit from Qatar's considerable economic prowess and Qatar to expand its diplomatic clout, using France as a conduit.

[xchrom]

55. Grading Britain's Independent Banking Commission Report

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2011/04/grading_britains_independent_b.html

Britain's Independent Banking Commission came out with an interim report Monday that identified the broad outline of the country's future banking regulation. The report's findings had been the subject of a fair amount of media speculation, fanned by reports that two of Britain's biggest Banks, HSBC and Barclays, would decamp (respectively) to Hong Kong and New York. Many commentators saw this as a not-so-veiled threat to the Commission that draconian recommendations would compromise London's competitiveness as a center for international banking.

The report has probably laid those fears to rest. If its recommendations were implemented, it would, if anything, bring British regulation closer to the post-Glass-Steagal US model, which largely ring-fences without actually separating retail and investment banking. Depositors would also have to forego state insurance on deposits held with bank groups without a UK head office. Since British depositors lost a fair amount of money in the collapse of Iceland's banks in 2008 and would presumably be sensitive on this issue, the absence of a guarantee should give pause to any bank considering relocation.

More generally, how do the proposals stack up? Some components make intuitive sense. Putting depositors ahead of lenders, for instance, could reduce the likelihood that the politicians would have to bail out banks in the future. Bondholders and wholesale lenders are much better placed than retail depositors to deal with banking crises and their fallouts. As long as a collapsed bank could cover retail depositors, the government could stay on the sidelines.

[AnneD]

57. Day One....

Finding out info and adjusting my life....
I found out lots of things yesterday.

1) They can't do a conference of record with out at least 48 hrs notice. I had zero. I had just come in and opened the clinic and taken my

2) The Nurse that has more seniority than me also does 3 days at the supposed middle school we will be combining with and 2 days at an elementary school. This school is small but I see more kids in my clinic than in larger schools and that I know for a fact.

3) The Union Rep wants to see me and my letter. I am the first person that may not have been terminate with out cause. So far they have all been trumped up causes and she and a school board member want to see my letter. This member is a per on that I worked hard to elect and is also one of the smartest people I have ever met.....I am talking Howard Dean smart if you have ever had the chance to talk to him. Smartest person in the room smart. I don't necessarily expect to get a job back but I expect to be treated fairly. I am sure that she will make sure the district is on the up and up. I have talked to her many times about health care for our low income students and the importance of school nurses in these settings.

4) I found my old resume and will try to get it online now. If I find a great job I may not even wait until the end of my contract in May. As hubby is fond of saying....show them your middle finger. My gut feeling is that I will, in the end, wind up with more pay and a better job. The district has a bad rep now especially for Nurses. All the Nurse consultants they let go did find other jobs, all at better pay from what I heard. I have not worked this job for pay but because I love the kids, especially the special ed kids. Those kids I will miss.

[xchrom]

61. we're all very interested -- keep us informed and be as well as you can.

these firings we keep hearing about are very upsetting.

sorry this is happening to you.

[Demeter]

71. Got a pro bono lawyer in your phone book?

You could get something out of this...

[AnneD]

129. Actually.....

My best bud's daughter is a great labor lawyer and does work for the union. I've known her since she was a knock kneed little kid. She and my daughter would gravitate together at union functions what with their moms being Nurses. I am as proud of her accomplishments as if she were my own child. I guess I am her Auntie of sotrs.

[xchrom]

58. You Have the Power to Choose Prosperity

http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/04/you_have_the_power_to_choose_p.html

Our forebears struggled, toiled, fought, and sweated for generations to create a future better, wealthier, stronger than their own. The gifts they handed down — democracy, markets, justice, opportunity, reason, equality, liberty — are the fundamental institutions — the building blocks — of enduring, authentic prosperity.

So here's a tiny hypothesis I'd like you to consider: instead of making the most of them, or better yet, bettering them — we might be, each of us, squandering them like Lehman Bros at a three card monte convention. And perhaps in that choice lie the deepest roots of this Great Stagnation.

To make my case, consider a fable of two lifestyles:

The first is what I'll call, in shorthand (with profuse apologies to the fine folks of the Garden State) "Jersey McTrenta." Here's a quick sketch of a day in the life. First, coffee — but not just any coffee: Starbucks' latest, not-so-groundbreaking "innovation," a coffee actually larger than the average human stomach. Then, the all-important daily ritual: GTL. All topped off with a heaping dose of McConsumption — fast food, fast fashion, and endless partying.

[Warpy]

127. Simplistic and silly

After all, it's a lot easier to afford a simple luxury like an overpriced coffee once or twice a week than it is to afford to do things like buy health insurance, the one item contributing more to the breakdown of the middle class than any other since any wage increases are immediately eaten up by increased health premiums. People aren't doing the second lifestyle because they are simply not paid enough to do the second lifestyle, both in wages and free time. If they're savers, those savings can be gone in the blink of an eye over some rather minor problem like suddenly needing dental work or having some idiot rear end the car at a stop light.

I much prefer his pipe dream at http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/04/when_customer_rebellion_become.html?cm_sp=blog_flyout-_-haque-_-when_customer_rebellion_become

[Hotler]

59. Kicking for the morning crew. n/t

[xchrom]

63. Leasing is in fashion among wealthy house hunters

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-luxury-lease-20110414,0,6883536.story

By Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times

April 14, 2011
Real estate agents have been hustling lately but not necessarily to sell homes. Instead, leasing is in vogue, particularly at the top of the price spectrum.

If phone inquiries are an indication, interest in leasing luxury homes is intense, said Justin Mandile, an agent in the Sotheby's International Realty office in Beverly Hills.

He and partner Mary Swanson received 10 to 15 calls a day for two months on a five-bedroom house in the Sunset Strip area priced at $3.5 million for sale or $10,000 a month to rent. After initially holding out for a sale, the owner recently accepted a short-term lease.

[Demeter]

76. So Is Fraud

Our condo association rules clearly state that no unit is to be held for investment purposes, and that all units must be occupied by the actual owner for at least a year before it can be temporarily rented...

but a unit just sold is being fitted out for rental, and when confronted, the owners said it's for their daughter serving in Iraq. Now there are a whole bunch of rules and protections for the military, but this is a definite case of fraud.

We will go after these bastards, and probably take away the option of renting from everyone. Enough is enough. You would not believe the rudeness, lying, whining, legal costs, etc., having rentals has cost the condo owners...

The rental crisis has been with us since the start of the co-op. It was supposed to get fixed when we converted to condos...and "fixed" is exactly what happened when our crony board members got through with subverting both the conversion committee and the board. Rentals, and rebuilding the roads and drainage, are the current Big Two on my shit list. After those two are fixed properly, it might actually be a pleasure to perform one's civic duty....

[xchrom]

81. not your exact nightmare -- but i have lived in a small condo -- 19 units --

and renting was ALWAYS a problem.

way too much time wasted trying to keep the people renting honest and playing by the condo rules.

[Demeter]

90. Very few condos in this city allow any kind of renting

We thought we would enable people on sabbatical to afford to go somewhere.

But it's been abused time and again.

Units are selling in a week or less, for above asking price, this spring. Surely, some of the rental units could be sold at a profit....they can't all be underwater, considering how depressed prices were before conversion.

Of course, those are the units that are profitable to rent...

[xchrom]

68. American Airlines sues Orbitz over online distribution feud

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/04/american-airline-sues-over-online-distribution-feud.html


American Airlines filed an antitrust lawsuit against the travel website Orbitz.com and the distributor of its booking information, accusing them of monopoly tactics.

The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. district court in Texas, is the latest salvo in a prolonged dispute over how booking data from airlines gets distributed to Orbitz, one of the nation's most popular travel websites.

At the center of the dispute is Travelport, a Delaware-based company that owns a controlling interest in Orbitz and has an exclusive contract to collect booking data from airlines and distribute it to Orbitz and other travel websites. Travelport controls the sales of about 30% of all airline bookings made by U.S.-based travel agents.



i will never forgive the world for the demise of the neighborhood travel agent.
all my best trips were booked through them -- and i hate, hate, hate these online booking thingys and always feel ripped off, purposely misguided and more.

[xchrom]

73. Core producer prices, jobless claims rise

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/us-economy-jobless-idUSTRE73D2WR20110414

(Reuters) - U.S. core producer prices rose slightly faster than expected in March from February, as motor vehicle prices jumped, and the core increase from a year ago was the largest since August 2009.

The Labor Department said on Thursday its seasonally adjusted index for prices paid at the farm and factory gate -- excluding volatile food and energy costs -- rose 0.3 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in February. Economists had expected core PPI to rise 0.2 percent in March.

Light trucks prices, which advanced 0.7 percent, accounted for a third of the rise in core PPI last month. The increase in light truck prices was the biggest since July. Passenger vehicle prices increased 0.9 percent, the largest increase since June 2009.

"It looks like the disruption to global autos production stemming from the Japanese disaster will hit autos supply and, consequently could lead to some further steep price increases over the next few months," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital economics in Toronto.

[DemReadingDU]

79. Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise

Unexpectedly
:eyes:

[xchrom]

87. SURPRISE!!!

they're always fucking surprised.

[DemReadingDU]

102. Gas Drives Wholesale Prices Higher In March

4/14/11 Gas Drives Wholesale Prices Higher In March

More expensive gas pushed U.S. wholesale prices higher last month, although pricier cars and furniture also contributed to increase.
more...
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/14/135403709/gas-drives-wholesale-prices-higher-in-march
:eyes:

[xchrom]

104. i'm just not getting this 'recovery'. nt

[Demeter]

108. You Aren't Supposed to, none of us are

that's the point, and the problem.

[DemReadingDU]

75. Karl Denninger: TickerCon symbol

A few days ago Denninger started to add the 'DefCon' symbol number light to his Tickers. He originally set it to yellow '3'.
more...
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=184102

He has now moved to red '2', mainly because we are being told less and less of the truth and spinning more and more distortions.
more...
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=184218

[Demeter]

92. That would be amusing if it weren't such a crisis out there

[xchrom]

85. GACK: larry summers has had enough of financial regulation

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/04/13/larry-summers-has-had-enough-financial-regulation/

The financial crisis? Regrettable, obviously. But let’s not rush to judgment here. Our financial system, pre-crisis, worked pretty well. Let’s not break it just because there was a crisis.

That’s the message being peddled by Alan Greenspan, predictably, sadly, and hilariously. And now he has a high-profile bedfellow from the other side of the aisle: Larry Summers, who was hanging out in Bretton Woods this weekend. Stephen Gandel summarizes:

One of the other big questions was what, if anything, Summers would have done differently in terms of regulating the banking system. The answer – not much. “I’ve been more cautious than many about constraining financial innovation,” he said, adding that he didn’t believe the financial crisis had its roots in “new-fangled financial instruments” but rather in a simple real estate bubble. Hmmm—tell that to Iceland. One thing Summers said that most of the crowd could agree with is that “anger and dissatisfaction with the financial system doesn’t constitute a policy.”






:mad:

[Demeter]

93. Maybe not, but it should prompt MASSIVE CHANGES IN POLICY!

we should live so long.

[xchrom]

96. Dubai shares rise to highest since January on earnings outlook

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-shares-rise-highest-since-january-on-earnings-outlook--393820.html

Dubai shares rose to the highest since January on bets quarterly earnings will beat expectations and as investors turned to assets in the emirate, which has been spared protests that toppled two North Africa governments.

Emaar Properties, builder of the world’s tallest tower, advanced a third day and Union Properties, Dubai’s third-largest real-estate developer by market value, soared 15 percent. The DFM General Index climbed 1.4 percent to 1,622.58 at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai, the highest since January 26, bringing the gain for the week to 4.3 percent. Abu Dhabi’s index rose 0.7 percent and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index climbed 0.1 percent.

“Selected companies in the UAE are expected to report strong first-quarter numbers,” said Ziad Dabbas, a financial analyst at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s second-largest lender by assets. “Dubai is looked at as a place with political stability, unlike most of the rest of the region, and that encourages investors.”

Emaar, the company with the heaviest weighting on Dubai’s index, may report a 26 percent increase in first-quarter profit to AED961.5m ($262m), according to the average estimate of two analysts on Bloomberg. First-quarter net income at Union Properties may surge almost seven-fold to AED335m when earnings are announced in the first week of May, according to an EFG-Hermes Holding SAE estimate.




your grain of salt should probably be substantial when reading this.

[DemReadingDU]

106. Too BiG To JaiL (FRauDCLoSuRe SeTTLeMeNT SiGNaTuRe PaGe)

4/13/11 Too BiG To JaiL (FRauDCLoSuRe SeTTLeMeNT SiGNaTuRe PaGe)
Submitted by williambanzai7 on 04/13/2011 15:15 -0400

some light reading, especially the comments between williambanzai7 and CognitiveDissonance
:)

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/too-big-jail-fraudclosure-settlement-signature-page

[Demeter]

111. We’re Now Engaging in the Same Disastrous Policies… Only On a National Level

http://gainspainscapital.com/

The financial world is entering a massive process of transition though most folks have failed to see it. That process is that of Ben Bernanke being forced to resign and the US Federal Reserve being broken up.

I know many people believe the Fed is always going to be in power, but they are wrong. The US Federal Reserve is in fact the third central bank the US has had. And it, like the other two, will be dismantled in the next five years.

The reason for this is quite simple. The REAL Crisis (of which 2008 was the warm-up) is fast approaching. When I say REAL Crisis I mean full-scale systemic meltdown, a situation in which the market accomplishes what the Fed, regulators, and US Government at large have failed to do: clean house.

The plain facts are right in front of us. The US is broke on every level: Federal, State, Local, and individual/ consumer. We all know this, but we don’t want to admit it because doing so would likely mean wiping out at minimum 30% of what we have today....

[Demeter]

114. Fed's Discount Window: Closed for Banks on Brink

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703518704576258993132298396.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The U.S. Federal Reserve may be the lender of last resort, but not, it turns out, for banks on the brink of insolvency.

Data recently provided by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by Dow Jones show that of 201 banks that failed between February 2008 and March 2010, only 11 had loans outstanding from the central bank's discount window when they failed.

The discount window makes secured short-term loans, usually overnight, to help banks when market funding is expensive or hard to obtain. One of the Fed's historic roles is to help banks that are healthy but are temporarily out of cash; it is one of the core tasks of any central bank.

The revelation that the Fed sometimes will reject a bank's discount-window request therefore came as a surprise to some observers. Several lawyers and bankers familiar with how and why banks fail said they simply assumed the Fed required more collateral from weak banks—not that it wouldn't lend to them at all.

[Hawkowl]

124. The purpose of the Fed is to consolidate power

The Fed is not designed to stabilize the banking system or to provide solvency to pesky community banks. It is to enforce rigid cronyism with an iron fist. It's sole purpose is to perpetuate the monopoly on money. To enable a select few to rule the world through brutal financial extortion, raping and pillaging.

Jeebus. I think I'm getting more cynical with every year. I don't think my high school teachers would have thought that possible.

[mrdmk]

119. K & R, good reading here...

[Demeter]

122. There's Talk of Moving the Government Out of Tokyo

We will see how long that little nugget takes to hatch....

[tclambert]

125. Silver is up something like 36% this year.

I don't have anything clever to say about it. I just thought it was amazing.