STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 14 January 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 14 January 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 January 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 January 2013
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Dow Jones 13,488.43 +17.21 (0.13%)
[font color=red]S&P 500 1,472.05 -0.07 (0.00%)
[font color=green]Nasdaq 3,125.63 +3.87 (0.12%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.87% -0.04 (-2.09%)
30 Year 3.04% -0.04 (-1.30%)[font color=black]


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

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.



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

[Demeter]

1. Double=edged swords

[Demeter]

2. I find the Java fix isn't fixing anything

Anybody having any better luck?

[DemReadingDU]

22. What should Java fix?

I vaguely read something about an issue with Java, but have not done anything to fix whatever problem is with Java.

[siligut]

46. It is vulnerable to malware, hacking

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp's Java software, amplifying security experts' prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web.

Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected computer part of an ad-hoc network of computers that can be used to attack websites.

"We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem," the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in a posting on its website late on Thursday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-java-securitybre90a0s3-20130111,0,5990182.story

[Fuddnik]

27. My wife has been having a problem with it for days.

I bought her a new laptop (Win7) for X-mas, so she can play games on Pogo.com. It keeps crashing the 'puter. After I finally got it to reboot, Windows wanted to install 140,000 (really, not kidding) updates on a new computer. After struggling with it for about an hour, it kept wanting her to install java. Every time she did, it said install java again. About a dozen times. I switched over to IE, and it's worked fine since.

Now, I'm putting together another desktop, and wonder what kind of surprises I'm going to find there.

[Tansy_Gold]

44. I'm goin' out for coffee in about half an hour

I'll let you know if that fixes anything at all.


(don't hold your breath; i don't think it will)

[Demeter]

49. That picture sure fixed me up!

Thanks, Tansy! (So, I am visually starved).

[siligut]

45. Disabled Java 1.6, my Netbook blue-screened, fixed that and then uninstalled Java

Netbook is working fine now. What type of trouble are you having?

[Demeter]

50. It seems to have worked itself out today

Do enough fiddling, and something's bound to click.

[Fuddnik]

55. Suck-Sess!

I just finished a computer build, and everything went smoothly. Even the re-installation of Windows 7, which usually wants to give me a hard time. Now I have to re-install a shitload of software and peripherals. And start over from scratch.

And no Java on this one...yet.

[Demeter]

3. Cut Corporate Welfare, Not the Safety Net By Carl Gibson

http://www.nationofchange.org/cut-corporate-welfare-not-safety-net-1357655126

In Congress’ latest “fiscal cliff” deal that supposedly had to be passed in order to avoid economic calamity, we spent $30 billion on extending unemployment benefits for a year, and $205 billion in corporate tax breaks, subsidies and excessive tax loopholes. Most of these Christmas gifts for corporate America are benefiting major, multi-billion dollar corporations that haven’t paid a dime of US income taxes in years, like GE and Boeing. In other words, taxpayers spent 6 times more on giving free money to companies making record profits than we did to making sure the people who were laid off by these corporations can still feed their families. $205 billion in corporate goodies was okay with Speaker Boehner, but $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief apparently wasn’t. One of the most egregious giveaways included in the New Years Eve fiscal cliff deal negotiated between Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell is an extension of a loophole that allows corporations to book US profits in overseas, tax-free bank accounts. Today, US companies have up to $2 trillion offshored thanks to loopholes like the one in this deal, at the same time Congress is talking about raising the Medicare eligibility age to avoid a fiscal meltdown. Instead of making us give up the pensions and healthcare that we paid for, why not hold rich companies to the same standards as everyone else when it comes to paying taxes?

The dominant topic in the news media for the next few weeks will be raising the debt ceiling. But what likely won’t be talked about is the fact that our debt can be easily taken care of by lowering unemployment. The whole reason the economy is in the tank is because of less demand due to more people spending less money. When more people are working, more people are spending money at local businesses, who will then hire more workers to meet demand, meaning less government money is spent on sending unemployment checks, meaning less debt. It's basic math. During FDR’s administration, the economy was recovering until the neoliberal economists in his White House convinced him that cutting spending and lowering the deficit was a bigger priority than creating jobs, which then led to the recession of 1937-1938. The economic recovery was at its peak when FDR cut the unemployment rate in half largely through the efforts of the Works Progress Administration from 1935-1943, which provided jobs aimed at revitalizing infrastructure, parks and communities. Adjusted for inflation, the WPA would cost roughly $1.5 trillion today. That seems like a large figure, but we could fund that by simply levying a small sales tax on all Wall Street trading of stocks, bonds, options and futures-- just like ordinary Americans pay when purchasing goods and services. Such a financial transaction tax would generate $150 billion a year, or $1.5 trillion in ten years. Not only would such a program lower the unemployment rate, but the resulting economic boom would largely benefit the 99% of Americans that the latest jobless “recovery” of the last few years left behind.

You can count on the corporate-owned media to make the debate into whether or not we have to give up on Social Security or Medicare, instead of talking about the egregious billions that we’re throwing at America’s richest corporations, or the high volume of tax-free trading done that really only benefits the top 1% of the top 1%. That’s why we have to do everything we can to change the conversation between now and the end of January. The best way to do this is with creative, direct action. Since the 113th Congress is being sworn in this month, and President Obama’s inauguration is set for the 21st, we should organize nationwide actions dubbed as the “Crowning of America’s Corporate Welfare Kings.” Over the next several weeks, activists can don royal garb, roll out the red carpet and get members of the House and on record saying that they will support ending corporate welfare and implementing a financial transaction tax rather than ask us to give up Social Security and Medicare benefits. And if they don’t agree to it, we’ll know that they side with Wall Street over their own constituents, and make a pledge to vote them out of office in the next election cycle. An action could even be as simple as pointing a cell phone camera at a member of Congress and asking them to take a position on the record.

We don’t have to make the same mistake of letting the politicians and the media set the tone for debate like we did in the last debt ceiling debacle. This time, we’ll come loud and strong and let them know we’re paying attention. And once we set the tone, we win.

[Demeter]

4. Obama and the Transformation Illusion

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/07-11

Everyone has an ideology, whether they know it or not. But when your ideology has you - that's when you're an ideologue. It's not a matter of "extremism" but of rigidity and blindness - detachment from reality. Which is why Barack Obama is one of the most ideological presidents we've ever had. And being imprisoned in his "pragmatist" ideology is key to his numerous pragmatic train wrecks, as well his less-noted failures to even take on several really big, really significant problems.Obama is what some political theorists would describe as a "preemptive president".

It's not a matter of intelligence. Barack Obama is clearly one of the smartest men to ever occupy the Oval Office. President of the Harvard Law Review, four years from state senator to President of the United States. First black president. These are not the accomplishments of a stupid, or even just a reasonably competent man. Unfortunately, however, smart people can often be quite dumb - not just do dumb things, but do them over and over and over again. And while Obama's rapid rise to power was a tale that highlighted his intelligence, his time in office - now at its half-way point - has been a tale that highlights the limits of that intelligence. Those limits are deeply implicated in his ideology - a fanatical belief in compromise, no matter what - that has served him admirably on a personal level in his rapid climb to power, but that fundamentally cripples him in the exercise of that power once it is in his hands.

The contrast between Obama's brilliance most of the time and its utter absence when the chips are down has once again been revivified by the sharp transition from his crisp, decisive re-election campaign to his tortured "fiscal cliff" negotiations with Congressional Republicans, particularly House Speaker Boehner. Boehner's own incompetence is legendary - he couldn't even get all his members sworn in on their first day in office - which helps to distract attention from the fact that Obama has been floundering as well. Obama's floundering is further obscured by the political mainstream's inability to diagnose and contextualise its own limited vision of untapped possibilities and unacknowledged costs and consequences.

It's not just that Obama was still negotiating with himself, rewarding Boehner's incompetence with a series of ill-conceived and fruitless concessions, which only weakened him; it's that the entire enterprise is supremely idiotic, on at least three counts: First because it's an invented political problem, not a real world problem. Second, because the larger goal of the process - budget balancing - is a fool's errand for Democrats, in light of how quickly (and gleefully) Republicans undid that very same accomplishment under Bill Clinton, as soon as they got back into power. Third, because America does have very serious real-world problems that need dealing with, which are not just being neglected in the "fiscal cliff" drama, but are being made even worse...

PART SCOLDING, PART THEORETICAL ANALYSIS...

[Demeter]

5. The Shady Inside Deals That Are Protecting Goldman Sachs at Your Expense

http://www.alternet.org/economy/shady-inside-deals-are-protecting-goldman-sachs-your-expense?akid=9920.227380.c04Lww&rd=1&src=newsletter775831&t=10&paging=off

...the financiers of Wall Street never truly experience regime change — their cash brings both political parties to heel. So it is that the policies that got us where we are today — in this big ditch of chronic financial depression — have done little for most, but have been very good to a few at the top. But they’re not satisfied with having only most of it — they want it all...the deal that supposedly kept us from going over the fiscal cliff...Behind closed doors, Congress larded it with corporate tax breaks worth tens of billions of dollars — everything from tax credits for NASCAR racing and the railroads to subsidies for Hollywood, rebates for the rum industry and loopholes for off-shore financing that could help giant multinationals like General Electric avoid billions of dollars in corporate income taxes.

Writing in the conservative Washington Examiner, columnist Tim Carney says many of these expensive giveaways were “spawned by a web of lobbyists, donors and staffers surrounding Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana,” chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. As we know from the Obamacare fight, Baucus is a connoisseur of revolving door corruption. “Pick any one of the special-interest tax breaks extended by the cliff deal,” Carney wrote, “and you’re likely to find a former Baucus aide who lobbied for it on behalf of a large corporation or industry organization.” Even the pro-business Wall Street Journal was appalled. They called it a “Crony Capitalist Blowout.”

And so it was — and more. It was payback time for all those campaign donations. CEOs and lobbyists were tripping over themselves as they traipsed up and down Pennsylvania Avenue between Congress and the White House. You’ve no doubt heard about Fix the Debt, that group of business execs and retired politicians taking out TV ads and campaigning to slash the deficit. In The New York Times, Nick Confessore reported, “…close to half of the members of Fix the Debt’s board and steering committee have ties to companies that have engaged in lobbying on taxes and spending, often to preserve tax breaks and other special treatment.”

Get it? They’re privately protecting their interests as they publicly urge austerity on everyone else...Lloyd Blankfein, CEO and chair of the global investment giant Goldman Sachs, is on Fix the Debt’s Fiscal Leadership Council. Here’s what he said when asked by CBS News’ Scott Pelley about how he would reduce the federal deficit: “You’re going to have to undoubtedly do something to lower people’s expectations — the entitlements and what people think that they’re going to get, because it’s not going to — they’re not going to get it… Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career… in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained.”

[Demeter]

6. How Big Is Wall Street's Housing Bet? Pretty Big

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100367345

Wall Street is hitching its bullish hopes for 2013 to an unlikely star, believing that a real estate industry that led the economy into the abyss is what ultimately will carry it back out. While hopes that housing is about to turn a corner aren't entirely new, the extent to which optimistic stock market forecasts are pinned on the mercurial sector is striking.

"We're seeing much more evidence of a meaningful recovery in housing," said Joe LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. "The (household) balance sheet is better, the housing sector is better, we're seeing better motor vehicle sales. The cyclical side of the economy, which had looked very weak coming out of the last downturn, looks almost like (it could lead the recovery)."

These calls are coming at a time of year when Wall Street strategists and economists hold media briefing sessions to discuss their broad outlooks for the year...While forecasting is always fluid and target numbers for the stock market and economy almost always change along the way, some themes resonate.

During discussions at this year's events, the idea that real estate is ready not just to avoid being a drag but now come to the forefront of growth has become prevalent. David Bianco, Deutsche's chief market strategist, is calling for a 1,575 target this year on the Standard & Poor's 500 fueled by expansion in price-to-earnings multiples. That will be driven, he said, by a healing in the U.S. economy which he said "has passed its housing crisis." The recovery will be broad-based, according to the bullish calls, with commercial real estate especially poised to run higher. Global real estate investment trusts provided returns of 24 percent last year, while U.S.-based REITS repaid investors with an 18 percent profit, said Marc R. Halle, managing director at Prudential Real Estate Investors.

"Real estate is a real simple business, it's supply and demand," Halle said at Prudential's media event Tuesday. "It's building up demand if there's no new supply. Real estate seems to be in a pretty good position in that we're not creating any new competition."

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

"My guess is that the worst of the financial crisis is behind us."

[Demeter]

7. Spring Fever Strikes Again!

This joke is stolen from the Find Jimmy Hoffa thread:


An old man with questionable past lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie

[Demeter]

8. Drought persists in Plains; improvement in Midwest

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/03/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE9020GZ20130103?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

A weekly report issued... by a consortium of federal and state climatology experts said that as of January 1, 42.05 percent of the contiguous United States was in severe to exceptional drought, down from 42.45 percent the previous week. Parts of the central Plains received snow in the last week OF DECEMBER, providing some much-needed protection for the region's dormant winter wheat crop before temperatures plunged at the end of December. However, the snow did not offer much drought relief, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report.

"It's getting colder now and the ground is starting to freeze up, so if any precipitation does fall, it's not going to go into the soil," said David Miskus, a meteorologist with the U.S. Climate Prediction Center who contributes to the Drought Monitor.

In a seasonal outlook released Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center said extreme to exceptional drought was likely to persist across the Plains for the next three months.

"Most of the annual rainfall for the High Plains really occurs in the springtime and early summer, so that is going to be the critical period. They really do need a wet season this year to make any kind of dent in the drought," Miskus said.

MORE

[Demeter]

9. Drought Takes Head Start Into 2013

2012 was a drought year for the record books. It was the warmest year ever recorded in Des Moines, Iowa, Topeka, Kan., and Columbia, Mo. and the driest ever in Grand Island, Neb. The question is whether 2013 will be any different...“Unfortunately (the drought is) not over and we’re definitely starting 2013 in a different status than what we entered 2012,” said Michael Hayes, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center based at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

2012 started with about 28 percent of the mainland U.S. in drought. At that time the worst of it was in Texas and the southern plains. 2013 starts with 62 percent of the lower U.S. in drought and the heart of it is centered on the great plains from the Dakotas down through the Texas panhandle, prime winter wheat country. Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the drought center, says farmers could be in dire straits.

“This year, when we’re already behind the eight-ball when you look at the moisture situation, we’ll be living rain to rain much earlier unless we get a huge spring,” Svoboda said.

...Many communities are 10 inches or more behind their normal precipitation for the year...snowpack in the Rockies is normal, at best [.pdf]. “Normal” might sound good, but Michael Hayes at the Drought Mitigation Center said that’s not enough to refill diminished rivers and reservoirs. Without more snow, water disputes along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers could continue...And climatologist Mark Svoboda said another reason for concern is dry weather settling back into parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast - areas that feed moisture into the Midwest.

“The moisture down there is our source region for our precipitation and our temperatures for the late spring and summer period,” Svoboda said. “So if they stay dry and hot, that sort of migrated up north last year. That could repeat this year. That’s not a good sign.”

MORE GOOD NEWS AT LINK

[AnneD]

56. LOL LOL LOL....

I had not heard that one. Priceless.

[Demeter]

10. Bats Says System Errors Cause Pricing Problems AGAIN?

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-01-09/bats-says-system-errors-caused-pricing-problems-over-4-years

Bats Global Markets Inc., the third- largest U.S. stock exchange operator, said its computers allowed trades that violated rules intended to ensure all investors get the best prices for equities over a period of four years.

Machines that match orders for two Bats equity exchanges and an options venue allowed some trades to occur at prices inferior to the best available bid or offer and enabled others to violate rules for short sales, or bearish bets, the company said in a notice published on its website yesterday. Customers lost $420,360, because of rule violations, Randy Williams, a Bats spokesman, said by e-mail.

The issue allowed technical infringement of rules in the U.S., where trading is fragmented across 13 exchanges and dozens of other venues, aimed at preserving fairness. While losses to any single user would have been close to undetectable and the vast majority of Bats trades executed correctly, the disclosure comes after a year in which breakdowns on American exchanges sowed concern the nation’s electronic equity infrastructure is too complex to manage.

SEC Scrutiny

“Once again, we see there’s a problem with electronic systems, this time an exchange system,” Larry Harris, a finance and business economics professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and former chief economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a phone interview. “Bats will get a lot of scrutiny from the SEC at a time when nobody wants that kind of attention. That said, it’s important to recognize that Bats itself identified the problem and brought it to public attention and to the attention of regulators.”

DETAILS AT LINK....I'M GONNA GET MY TINFOIL HAT REDESIGNED FOR SPRING....THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES!

[Demeter]

11. FBI’s Washington Office Homes in on Financial Fraud Cases

NO DOUBT TO SEE IF IT CAN BE TIED TO OCCUPY WALL STREET, OR MAYBE AL-QUEDA....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-10/fbi-s-washington-office-hones-in-on-financial-fraud-cases.html

The FBI’s Washington field office, long known for its work on terrorism and public corruption, has taken a central role in the U.S. probe of the manipulation of interest rates that has entangled banks around the world.

The office is conducting the U.S. investigation into the rigging of benchmarks including the London Interbank Offered Rate, and its work up to this point has led in part to two international resolutions, including the $1.5 billion settlement with UBS AG in December and charges against two of the bank’s former traders.

The settlement, which included a guilty plea from the company’s Tokyo subsidiary, and investigations into banks and traders across the globe underscore how attacking “major fraud” has become a priority for the office, Timothy Gallagher, the head of the Washington criminal division who is overseeing the probe, said in an interview.

“We’ve got an enormous amount of resources devoted to this,” said Gallagher, who took the helm of the criminal division in October after a stint as the chief of the Financial Crimes Section at FBI headquarters...“People think that financial fraud is pursued in New York, but we’re pursuing it vigorously here,” Gallagher said at his office six blocks from Justice Department headquarters. “There’s more than enough to go around.”

FINALLY, TRUTH FROM THE FBI!

[Demeter]

12. WTO faces a nine-way slugfest

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/wto-faces-a-9-way-slugfest-for-new-leader/2013/01/10/c8250e96-5b6a-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html?wp_login_redirect=0

For eight years, Pascal Lamy has kept a staid, European hand on the World Trade Organization, guiding it beyond the convulsive era of anti-globalization protests even if he was unable to make much headway on the stalled Doha round of global trade talks.

But the impending end of the Frenchman’s tenure has touched off a worldwide scramble to replace him, threatening to stress an institution that thrives on consensus and pitting the interests of the United States and other developed countries against those of the developing world.

The WTO director general doesn’t have the influence over loans and investments that the president of the World Bank enjoys, or the financial clout of the International Monetary Fund’s managing director. But neither does the role have any “gentleman’s agreement” that doles out the position to a European or an American. Among the WTO’s 157 members, it is a one-nation, one-vote free-for-all, and with the growing influence of countries like Brazil and China in the global economy, the lobbying for the job is expected to be intense.

Nine nations nominated candidates before the Dec. 31 deadline — more than twice the number in competition when Lamy took over in 2005. Seven are from developing countries — trade ministers, ambassadors and current and former officials — one is from South Korea, and another is from New Zealand. That guarantees the new WTO head won’t come from the Western developed world...

[Demeter]

13. Federal Reserve says it paid federal government record amount of $88.9 billion in 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/federal-reserve-says-it-paid-federal-government-record-amount-of-889-billion-in-2012/2013/01/10/6eb6890a-5b49-11e2-b8b2-0d18a64c8dfa_story.html

The Federal Reserve paid the federal government a record $88.9 billion in 2012. The central bank earned the money from the Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities it has purchased to drive interest rates lower and boost the economy. The Fed said Thursday that the 2012 payment was up 17.9 percent from 2011 when it paid the federal government $75.4 billion. It also surpassed the previous record payment of $79.3 billion made in 2010.

The Fed began buying Treasury bonds and mortgage bonds during the last recession and has kept up the effort since the downturn ended in June 2009 in an effort to boost the sub-par recovery and lower high unemployment. It is currently purchasing $85 billion in bonds each month. Fed officials say the massive bond buying, known as quantitative easing, is needed until economic growth is stronger...
All of the Fed’s purchases have pushed the central bank’s balance sheet to $2.92 trillion, more than three times the size of the Fed’s holdings before the financial crisis struck in the fall of 2008.

The Fed is funded from interest earned on its portfolio of securities. After covering its expenses, the Fed makes a payment of the remaining amount to the Treasury Department. Before the Fed launched the first bond buying program in 2008, its annual payments had averaged below $30 billion for the previous three years...

[Demeter]

14. Defense plans precautionary cutbacks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/defense-plans-precautionary-cutbacks/2013/01/10/b8824e90-5b6a-11e2-95d2-c7e9f0ba96c8_story.html?hpid=z2

The Pentagon will impose a freeze on hiring civilians, slash operating costs on military bases and take other immediate steps to trim spending in preparation for the possibility that Congress will fail to reach a deal to avert billions of dollars in additional cuts, defense officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said he ordered the cutbacks as a precautionary measure because he has grown pessimistic that Congress and the White House will reach agreement. If they do not, the Pentagon would be subject to $52 billion in cuts this fiscal year — about 10 percent of its non-war-fighting budget...

[Demeter]

15. Japan’s Abe Unveils 10.3 Trillion Yen Fiscal Stimulus

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-11/japan-s-abe-unveils-10-3-trillion-yen-fiscal-boost-to-growth.html

The Japanese government will spend 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion) to drive a recovery from a recession in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s first major policy initiative to end deflation and boost growth. About 3.8 trillion yen will be for disaster prevention and reconstruction, with 3.1 trillion yen directed to stimulating private investment and other measures, according to a statement released today by the Cabinet Office. Extra spending will increase gross domestic product by about 2 percentage points and create about 600,000 jobs, the government said.

A pick-up in China’s inflation reported today highlighted a rebound in Asia’s biggest economy that may aid efforts by the newly elected Abe to lead Japan out of its third recession in five years. The stimulus may heighten concern that the government’s commitment to fiscal reform is slipping, adding to the risk that a public debt more than twice the size of the economy may trigger a surge in bond yields...

[Demeter]

17. Yen Touches Lowest Since 2010 Amid Bets on BOJ Easing

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-13/yen-touches-lowest-since-2010-amid-bets-on-boj-easing.html

The yen fell to the weakest level versus the dollar since June 2010 on bets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will select a central bank chief who will expand monetary easing, accelerating the currency’s decline.

Japan’s currency depreciated beyond 120 per euro for the first time since May 2011 after Abe said he wanted someone “who can push through bold monetary policy” as the next governor of the Bank of Japan (8301), which meets next week. The dollar dropped to a 10-month low against the euro after Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said the U.S. should keep policy accommodative. The Swiss franc weakened as European leaders said the worst is probably over for the region’s crisis.

“The yen is likely to remain on the defensive in the near term as it’s being undermined by policy uncertainty,” said Lee Hardman, a London-based foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. “Investors are very nervous about what the government said, and what that will mean to the monetary policy.”

The yen depreciated 0.1 percent to 89.30 per dollar at 6:20 a.m. New York time after reaching 89.67, the weakest level since June 25, 2010. Japan’s currency slid 0.3 percent to 119.33 per euro and reached 120.13, a level not seen since May 4, 2011. The dollar declined 0.1 percent to $1.3362 per euro...

[Demeter]

16. Bernanke's in my town today--Jawboning the University Wonks

I hope they give him what he deserves...

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will speak in Ann Arbor, Michigan today about monetary policy.

“Bernanke is going to disassociate ending quantitative easing with the start of policy normalization, suggesting that the interval between them could be years rather than months,” said Ray Attrill, global co-head of currency strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “That would be positive for risk and negative for the dollar.”

[Demeter]

18. How HSBC Bank Got Away With Money Laundering for Drug Cartels

http://www.alternet.org/how-hsbc-bank-got-away-money-laundering-drug-cartels?akid=9921.227380.RFKgbQ&rd=1&src=newsletter776253&t=14&paging=off

The illicit drug trade relies heavily on money laundering because it is almost exclusively a cash business. Drug interdiction, while an essential component of attacking the illicit drug trade cannot, standing alone, reverse the tide of illicit drugs. Combating money laundering, combined with strong interdiction efforts, offers a more effective law enforcement response.

- Money Laundering in Florida: Report of the Legislative Task Force, 1999

Stuart Gulliver, the Chief Executive of the London-based international banking giant HSBC said: “We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them and we do so again… What happened in Mexico and the US is shameful, it’s embarrassing, it’s very painful for all of us in the firm…The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes.”

What was Mr. Gulliver apologizing for and was he sincere? His bank got caught laundering tons of cash for drug cartels and alleged terrorists. That is a crime...

Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice (DOJ) explained at a press conference, “HSBC is being held accountable for stunning failures of oversight – and worse – that led the bank to permit narcotics traffickers and others to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through HSBC subsidiaries… The record of dysfunction that prevailed at HSBC for many years was astonishing.”

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch added, “HSBC’s blatant failure to implement proper anti-money laundering controls facilitated the laundering of at least $881 million in drug proceeds through the U.S. financial system…”

As punishment, HSBC was assessed a fine of 1.9 billion — about four weeks’ worth of its pre-tax profits. No bank officials who were caught red-handed will be prosecuted or imprisoned....The U.S. justice system will mete out life sentences without the possibility of parole or mandatory minimum sentences of decades to drug kingpins, mules and the drug addicted. Drug law offender’s lives behind bars will become a dystopia that the profits of the privatized correctional industries depend on. The convicted will be disappeared in to twenty-first century concentration camps in remote, rural towns. Some prisoners will end up in solitary confinement and be driven mad. Their children will be orphaned and their families destroyed by shame, lack of visitation and communication. Everything will be legally stolen from drug law violators. Cars, jewelry, family heirlooms, clothes, cash, homes and property will be seized and put up for sale to benefit various branches of law enforcement. Check out the Asset Forfeiture Program at the DOJ website. You can bid on Rita A. Crundwell’s farmland in Dixon, Illinois. If you prefer a warmer climate, there is beachfront property for sale in the Dominican Republic.

Admitting guilt, apologizing, promising “fundamental” change and paying a financial penalty will not suffice for the poor, low hanging fruit convicted of drug crimes. They have to be taught a “tough love” lesson in zero tolerance, and this: “You do the crime, you do the time.” This stripping the person of everything that connects them to society and to other human beings and locking them up in spaces smaller than a bathroom has to happen because as the Mission Statement of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) asserts, those involved in the drug trade are criminals who “…perpetrate violence in our communities and terrorize citizens through fear and intimidation.” The DEA and the DOJ’s unapologetic modus operandi in the forty-year long War on Drugs is, Lock ‘em up and throw away the key!

Except when the criminals are rich, well-connected bankers who wash drug trafficker’s dirty Benjamin Franklin’s clean. Tough on crime and the rule of law doesn’t apply to them. DOJ attorneys argued that aggressively prosecuting HSBC could destabilize the entire international banking system. Breuer said in an interview with the Washington Post, “If you prosecute one of the largest banks in the world, do you risk that people will lose jobs, other financial institutions and other parties will leave the bank, and there will be some kind of event in the world economy?” In other words, banks that break the law by laundering money for drug cartels and rogue states are immune from criminal prosecution because a global financial meltdown could be triggered. But that didn’t happen twenty-five years ago when the Bank of Credit and Commerce International Bank (BCCI) was prosecuted for laundering drug profits. Like HSBC, BCCI did business with an international cast of unsavory drug dealers and dictators. BCCI helped former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and the Columbian Medellin cocaine cartel convert millions of dollars into pesos. An aggressive investigation led by Senator John Kerry and New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau concluded that BCCI was “one of the biggest criminal enterprises in world history.” BCCI was indicted for money laundering, grand larceny and bribery. Bank branches were shut down in seven countries and restricted in dozens more. The criminals at BCCI were punished and effectively put out of business. They got drug war tough love and the world banking system didn’t crash.

The convictions almost didn’t happen. The Bush Administration only wanted a slap on the wrist for BCCI, but Kerry was apoplectic. He went on national television slamming the hypocrisy: “We send drug people to jail for the rest of their life, and these guys who are bankers in the corporate world seem to just walk away, and it’s business as usual…When banks engage knowingly in the laundering of money, they should be shut down. It’s that simple, it really is.” That was in 1999. Where is Senator Kerry and the rest of Congress’s outrage for the career drug criminals at HSBC that facilitated the illegal deposit of millions of dollars packed into specially designed boxes that would fit through the bank’s teller windows in Mexico? Why isn’t the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that accused HSBC of exposing the United States “financial system to money laundering and terrorist financing risks” and for violating the Trading With the Enemy Act screaming hysterically that those who fund “narco-terrorism” must be punished to keep America safe? The most Congress could muster was a letter written by Rep. Barney Frank to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to reconsider the agreement with HSBC. A letter. Wow! That’s tough on crime?

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

The HSBC scandal shows how the illicit drug trade is completely integrated into the world financial system. In the face of the enormous economic power of the global banking industry to circumvent anti-laundering regulations, winning the war on drugs is utterly futile. The only solution is to legalize and regulate the sale of all drugs. It is an inescapable reality that heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana are global commodities that cross all borders. Millions of people buy drugs and making them illegal has never stopped the use or abuse of them. Ending the war on drugs would not only save human lives and billions of dollars, it would free up law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute banks whose real crimes are far worse than laundering drug money.


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


Helen Redmond is a freelance journalist and a drug and health policy analyst.

[tclambert]

19. Obama said he's not gonna mint the trillion dollar platinum coin.

I haz a sad.

It would have been ridiculous and a slap in the face of the Republicans in House of Representatives. Maybe he's afraid they'll try to impeach him. But they could impeach him for having bacon for breakfast. They won't impeach him, though, because the Senate would laugh at them.

I liked the idea of putting Wile E. Coyote's face on the coin.

[Demeter]

20. On debt ceiling, markets hopeful Washington has learned a lesson

"WHAT LESSON WOULD THAT BE?" SARAH PALIN

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/13/usa-debt-markets-idUSL1E9CADGF20130113

The U.S. government is expected to bump up against its legal borrowing limit by March, and it would be hard to fault investors for feeling edgy...The last fight over the debt ceiling led to one of the most volatile weeks in stock market history, cost the United States its top credit rating and pushed the government to the brink of default.

But this time around, markets are remarkably calm, with the benchmark S&P 500 barely budging on Friday after notching a five-year closing high on Thursday. Some investors seem to be betting that Congress learned its lesson from the bruising debt ceiling fight of 2011 and will choose compromise over market meltdown...some conservative voices are warning against playing hardball with the debt ceiling.

"We played this game of chicken before and we all know how that played out and we don't want to repeat that. The market knows this. Investors know it's not going to be like 2011," said Jack De Gan, the chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. "I think the negotiation will go by with less volatility."

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

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose decision in the 1990s to shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling backfired politically, told MSNBC this week that a repeat performance would be a "dead loser" for the party...In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, Republican strategist Karl Rove said the party may have to accept a debt ceiling increase that doesn't come with cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs.

"Having been defeated in the last election, the Republicans might not want to lose their last vestige of power, which is the House of Representatives, in the next one, so there may be some kind of incentive on both sides to get something done," said Millan Mulraine, senior bond strategist at TD Securities.

"Of course, the market is very mindful that we have a very polarized environment in Washington that has manifested itself in almost every aspect of policymaking," he added. "But I still think markets expect a deal."

[DemReadingDU]

23. Nothing seems to fix anything

Every 'solution' just seems to kick the can down the road a bit longer, nothing gets resolved.

Repeat.

[Demeter]

21. That's it! I can't take any more

The news is bad to worse...

The weather is, too: 25F wind chill of 18F, icy, windy...and it's Monday.

So, stay warm, and dry, and think Spring, everyone. After all, we still have February to cross.

[westerebus]

25. 63F and a light drizzle here in central Virginia. n/t

[Fuddnik]

26. Been severe sunshine and mid-80's here all week.

The same forecast for today.

Perfect motorcycle weather. Which I'll do right after I take these two nuts to the park.

[Tansy_Gold]

40. Cold here the past few overnights but

bright sunshine during the daytime. Really can't complain.

[Fuddnik]

24. Matt Taibbi & Bill Black: Obama's New Treasury Secretary a 'Failure of Epic Proportions'

Matt Taibbi & Bill Black: Obama's New Treasury Secretary a 'Failure of Epic Proportions'
Taibbi and Black dissect the career of Jack Lew, who has been a cheerleader for the financial industry at the public's heavy expense.



January 11, 2013 |


Photo Credit: AFP



JUAN GONZÁLEZ: President Obama is facing criticism for nominating another former Wall Street executive to become treasury secretary. On Thursday, Obama tapped his own chief of staff, Jack Lew, to replace Timothy Geithner. Lew was an executive at Citigroup from 2006 to 2008 at the time of the financial crisis. He served as chief operating officer of Citigroup’s Alternative Investments unit, a group that bet on the housing market to collapse.

Lew has also long pushed for the deregulation of Wall Street. From 1998 to January 2001, he headed the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton. During that time, Clinton signed into law two key laws to deregulate Wall Street: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.

On Thursday, independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont criticized Lew’s nomination, saying, quote, "We don’t need a treasury secretary who thinks that Wall Street deregulation was not responsible for the financial crisis."

At a press conference at the White House Thursday, President Obama praised Jack Lew’s record.

(snip)
http://www.alternet.org/economy/matt-taibbi-bill-black-obamas-new-treasury-secretary-failure-epic-proportions

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The beatings will continue until morale improves!

[xchrom]

28. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DRESS IN THE DARK?!11 oh well, it's monday...

[Demeter]

51. Is the raccoon look back already?

I'm dressed like the poor in Les Miserables....

[xchrom]

29. Double dose of gloom as Honda axes jobs and UK manufacturing shrinks

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/jan/11/double-dose-manufacturing-gloom-uk

Two pieces of gloomy news on Friday summed up the parlous state of British manufacturing.

The first was the news that Honda is to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant due to weak demand from Europe. Given that the auto sector has been one of the few bright spots for industry, this was particularly depressing.

The second snippet came from the Office for National Statistics, which said manufacturing output contracted by 0.3% in November and was 2% lower than a year earlier. With the fourth-quarter growth figures due out in two week's time, the City was on full triple-dip recession alert.

A word of caution is needed here. Manufacturing now accounts for around 10% of gross domestic product, with the broader measure of industrial production – which includes North Sea oil and gas and domestic energy production – making up around 18% of national output.

[xchrom]

30. FTSE companies warned over executive pay

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/14/companies-warned-over-executive-pay

The way the bosses of FTSE 100 companies are paid encourages them to focus on making a "fast buck" rather than taking a longer view of the economy, according to research out on Monday which recommends half their pay should be linked to non-financial targets.

Research by the High Pay Centre found measures of financial performance dominated the way top bosses were paid, rather than measures linked to corporate culture or business reputation. The gauge of total shareholder return is used to calculate at least one element of pay by 74 out of FTSE 100 companies, with 96 companies using TSR or earnings per share, or a combination.

Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, said: "The scourge of fast-buck executive pay is alive and well and fuels excessive short-term decision making which is bad for our economy. Labour, along with others, has led calls for reforms to executive pay but government has failed to act decisively."

[xchrom]

31. Germany's ambitions aren't the problem: its love for austerity is

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/13/germany-ambition-fear-love-austerity

The Conservative party is in such a state over Europe that the Obama administration has had to remind it in public that the much-treasured special relationship between Britain and the US depends these days on this nation's presence in the EU, rather than its defection.

Conservative sceptics who complain that this is not the kind of European Union that was envisaged when we entered need to go back in history. The idea that the wool has been pulled over the British public's eyes does not fit too easily with the public record of the late 60s and early 70s.

Indeed, in those days it was manifest that our fellow Europeans were aiming at monetary union by 1980. Older readers will remember the Werner Report, which set out the plans. Then came the breakup of the Bretton Woods fixed-but-adjustable exchange rate system, the first oil crisis, and the collapse of assorted stout parties.

Paradoxically, however, the disruption of earlier plans led, after a long time-lag, to the second attempt, as the European monetary system, inaugurated in 1978-79, prepared the way for the single currency of 1999 via the Single European Act of 1986, signed by that veritable mistress of detail, one Margaret Thatcher.

[xchrom]

32. Swatch pays $1bn for jeweller to the stars Harry Winston

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/14/swatch-buys-jeweller-harry-winston


Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: the song Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend made jeweller Harry Winston famous. Photograph: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

"Harry Winston, tell me all about it!" sang Marilyn Monroe breathlessly in Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend. Now Swatch is paying up to $1bn (£619m) for the glamorous jeweller and watchmaker in a hope of buying a piece of Hollywood legend.

The world's biggest watchmaker is paying $750m for Harry Winston, which employs 535 people, plus up to $250m of net debt. It is not buying Harry Winston's mining activities.

The chair of Swatch, Nayla Hayek, said: "Harry Winston does brilliantly complement the prestige segment of the group. We are proud and happy to welcome Harry Winston to the Swatch Group family," adding, perhaps inevitably: "Diamonds are still a girl's best friend."

It is Swatch's first big takeover in years and comes as watchmakers race to buy up know-how and production facilities around the world. Swatch already owns luxury brand Omega – the watch of choice for James Bond, as portrayed by Daniel Craig – as well as Breguet, Blancpain and Jaquet Droz. It has bought several component makers over the past years, but it has been more than a decade since it bought a major watch brand.

[xchrom]

33. COCA-COLA TO ADDRESS OBESITY FOR FIRST TIME IN ADS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COCA_COLA_OBESITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-14-09-06-31

NEW YORK (AP) -- Coca-Cola became one of the world's most powerful brands by equating its soft drinks with happiness. Now it's taking to the airwaves for the first time to address a growing cloud over the industry: obesity.

The Atlanta-based company on Monday will begin airing a two-minute spot during the highest-rated shows on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC in hopes of becoming a stronger voice in the intensifying debate over sodas and their impact on public health. The ad lays out Coca-Cola's record of providing drinks with fewer calories over the years and notes that weight gain is the result of consuming too many calories of any kind - not just soda.

Coca-Cola says the campaign will kick off a variety of moves that help address obesity in the year ahead, such as providing more diet options at soda fountains.

For Coca-Cola, the world's No. 1 beverage company, the ads reflect the mounting pressures on the broader industry. Later this year, New York City is set to put into effect a first-in-the-nation cap on the size of soft drinks sold at restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas and other venues. The mayor of Cambridge, Mass., has already proposed a similar measure, saying she was inspired by New York's move.

[Warpy]

58. You mean instead of causing it?

Now that would be truly refreshing.

I can't drink the sugared stuff, it's just like trying to drink maple syrup.

[xchrom]

34. Jack Lew, Tim Geithner: the treasury's new boss, same as the old boss

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/13/jack-lew-tim-geithner-us-treasury-boss


Tim Geithner is congratulated by Barack Obama and Jack Lew. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The long-anticipated departure of Tim Geithner and the appointment of his successor, Jacob Lew, has brought much discussion of Geithner's record, his legacy, and the likely trajectory of the Obama administration treasury department under Lew. In considering this question, I found inspiration in our most profound political philosophers. I refer, of course, to The Who, in the finale of their immortal and highly relevant Won't Get Fooled Again:

"Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss"

Consider first Geithner's legacy, first as president of the New York Federal Reserve, then as treasury secretary. (Actually, his tendencies were evident even earlier, when he was carrying Larry Summers' water during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.) As head of the New York Fed during the bubble, Geithner did – well, not much of anything: no regulation, no warnings, no protests about abuses or excesses, nada, zilch. Geithner was in the audience at Jackson Hole in 2005 when Raghuram Rajan, then the IMF's chief economist, delivered his now-famous warning about systemically dangerous incentives and risk-taking in the financial sector – a warning that Larry Summers slapped down publicly, and about which Geithner never uttered a public word, then or later.

Then came 2008, when, so far as we can determine, Geithner basically did everything that Hank Paulson told him to, and not much else. In fairness, one must concede that Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Geithner were effective in preventing utter systemic collapse – albeit a collapse caused in large measure by their own earlier actions and inactions. Geithner continued that pattern, and then firmly established it as his legacy, after he took over at treasury.

But what, precisely, is that pattern?

In sum, it was to be intelligently pragmatic, in preventing acute systemic collapse and then returning the financial system, the political system, and the economy to their status quo. So, on the plus side, the Obama administration did not embrace the suicidal austerity path and laissez-faire preached by some, and practiced in some now-devastated European nations.

[xchrom]

35. BOJ to get behind 2% inflation target: Abe

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20130114a1.html

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that his government will set a medium-term 2 percent inflation target with the Bank of Japan in a joint statement expected later this month to help shore up the recession-hit economy.

"What will be important is properly including the price goal of 2 percent," Abe said during a program on NHK in his latest move to pressure the central bank to be more aggressive in combatting the country's chronic deflation ahead of its next monetary policy meeting on Jan. 21 and 22.

Abe said the BOJ's current goal of 1 percent inflation lacks "strong determination" and that the government and central bank will come up with "a definite goal and write that it will be 2 percent."

Abe claimed the new target needs to be achieved under a medium-term scenario rather than a long-term one or financial markets "will not react."

[xchrom]

36. Europe's Mounting Reluctance to Bail Out Cyprus

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/tax-haven-reputation-plagues-eu-bailout-of-cyprus-a-877369.html

There is growing resistance in Europe to the planned aid program for Cyprus, because it would also benefit illegal Russian money parked in bank accounts in Cyprus. The government in Nicosia is willing to make concessions, but Brussels is demanding more reforms.

It was a long way to go to deliver a short message. German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew almost four hours last Friday to Cyprus, where she spent a few minutes campaigning for the conservative presidential candidate in the February 17 election, Nikos Anastasiades. Speaking in the city of Limassol, Merkel praised Anastasiades, saying that she had known him for a long time and valued his openness to change, and that the country urgently needed "structural reforms."

After smiling for the cameras, Merkel returned to wintry Berlin.
Her destination in the eastern Mediterranean has a smaller population than the little German state of Saarland, but that hasn't stopped it becoming one of the biggest trouble spots in global politics at the moment. The question of whether the government in Nicosia should be allowed to bolster its ailing banks with more than €17 billion ($22.7 billion) from Europe's bailout funds is dividing the euro zone, causing uncertainty in international markets and adding to the woes of the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, made up of her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP). Now that the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party have announced their opposition to the plan, Merkel's coalition could for the first time fail to muster a parliamentary majority on an important decision relating to the euro crisis.

[xchrom]

37. German Warnings to Britain Fall on Deaf Ears

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/euroskepticism-grows-german-warnings-to-britain-fall-on-deaf-ears-a-877406.html

Growing ranks of euroskeptics in the UK have Prime Minister Cameron scrambling to adjust his country's relationship with the EU. And diplomatic warnings from Germany and the US against such measures have only further encouraged anti-EU voices there.

Gunther Krichbaum is a quiet man who rarely makes front-page news in Germany. But the member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) did just that in the United Kingdom last week.

"One of Angela Merkel's closest allies has warned David Cameron not to try to blackmail the rest of Europe," wrote the Guardian. The tabloid Daily Mail called Krichbaum's remarks "effrontery." And Douglas Carswell, a parliamentarian with Prime Minister Cameron's Conservative Party, said that Britons "don't want to live a life directed by Germany."

The comments were sparked by statements Krichbaum made in London after traveling there with a delegation of German parliamentarians for political talks. Krichbaum, who chairs the European affairs committee of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, had warned against the UK's possible isolation within the European Union, saying that it "cannot be in Britain's interest."

[xchrom]

38. Household disposable income rises

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0114/breaking42.html

Irish households' disposable income rose by 2.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, when compared with the same period in 2011.

This was an increase of €487 million, according to quarterly institutional sector accounts published today by the Central Statistics Office.

Household spending climbed by €127 million in the third quarter when compared with the same period in 2011. However, spending levels in the third quarter of 2012 were lower than they had been during the previous six months.

The institutional sector accounts, which brings together information on the activities of households, businesses and the Government, show that the gross amount of household savings was €11.92 billion for the first three quarters of 2012. This is more than the €9.3 billion of total savings recorded during 2011.

[xchrom]

39. Euro zone factory output down

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0114/breaking22.html

Output at euro zone factories fell for the third straight month in November and against expectations of a rise, but the end of 2012 probably marked the deepest point in the bloc's recession.

Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell 0.3 per cent in November from the previous month, continuing its fall since the European summer, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said today.

Factory output, two-thirds of which is generated by Germany, France and Italy, was also down almost 4 per cent on an annual basis in the month.

The euro zone's debt crisis has driven a vicious cycle of falling business consumer morale and rising, record unemployment that has taken away demand for factory-made goods, ranging from cars to food.

[xchrom]

41. Survey finds attitudes to saving worsen{ireland}

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0114/breaking13.html

Irish consumers are becoming less optimistic about their personal finances, with some 48 per cent not putting any money aside for emergencies or unforeseen circumstances.

This figure has increased by 6 per cent since November, when some 42 per cent of people were not saving, according to the latest Nationwide UK (Ireland) Savings Index.

The savings index fell from 98 to 81 in December, the lowest ever level since the index's inception in April 2010, as increased negative sentiment towards the economic environment discouraged saving.

Some 65 per cent of people believe that they are saving less than they should while only 13 per cent say they are saving more than they think they should. A record 60 per cent of Irish people said government policy discourages saving.

[xchrom]

42. Gun attack on Greek party's office

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0114/breaking15.html

Unidentified attackers opened fire on the headquarters of Greece's governing New Democracy party with a Kalashnikov assault rifle early today, in what the government said was a worrying escalation in political violence.

Police said a bullet pierced the window of the political office that conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras maintains in the building, but no-one was hurt.

The early morning gun assault follows a spate of makeshift bomb attacks against journalists and political figures in the past week, some claimed by leftist groups angry at Greece's deep financial crisis.

Greece is in the sixth year of a recession that has fuelled anger against foreign lenders and the political class, blamed by Greeks for bringing the country close to bankruptcy. Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou condemned today's shooting, saying even a symbolic attack on the prime minister was unheard of.

[siligut]

54. Oh sure, blame the leftists

I would be more inclined to blame the far right. Remember this?

Greece: far-right Golden Dawn politican slaps female MP on live TV.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9316355/Greece-far-right-Golden-Dawn-politican-slaps-female-MP (with video)

The incident happened on a morning telelvision show during a heated discussion of the country's politics in the run-up to repeat elections on June 17
Mr Kasidiaris took offence at a reference by radical left Syriza party member Rena Dorou over a court case that is pending against him and emptied a glass of water over her.
As Ms Kanelli stood up in protest of the dousing, Mr Kasidiaris, who has military training, slapped her several times across the face.

What kind of security do they have there? Imagine a gunman getting anywhere near the oval office.

[xchrom]

43. Indian inflation eases to 11-month low in December

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21008713


Indian inflation slowed last month, boosting hopes of an interest rate cut when the central bank meets later this month.

The annual rate of inflation eased to 7.18% in December, down from 7.24% in November, according to the Wholesale Price Index - the country's main gauge of inflation.

Inflation is now at its lowest rate in 11 months.

The slight fall continues the downward trend which started in October.

[siligut]

47. Why, dear god, do I watch CNBC?

Fuckin' Santelli talking about morality. I have gone back to cyber-punching and the cat thinks I am nuts.

[westerebus]

59. Cats are never wrong about these things.

I'm pretty sure the one that lives here reports to somebody about his human.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

48. Judge Approves Sale of Kodak Patents

This happened last Friday.

Judge Approves Sale of Kodak Patents

January 11, 2013
Judge Approves Sale of Kodak Patents

A judge Friday approved Eastman Kodak Co.'s long-awaited sale of digital-imaging patents to a collection of technology giants, albeit for much less than the company originally wanted.

Judge Allan L. Gropper of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan signed off on the deal, which should take about 45 days to close because of international approvals that are still needed, Kodak said.

The judge called the price "disappointing" but said it moves the case forward.

The $527 million sale, to a group including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., still represents a key milestone for Kodak in its nearly one-year-old bankruptcy, ...

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Tech Trader Daily

January 14, 2013, 10:41 A.M. ET.

This Morning: Bulls Defend Against iPhone 5 Rumors, RIMM Surges, More Ugly PC Data

....
In case you missed it, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper late Friday approved the sale of Eastman Kodak’s digital-imaging patents to a consortium of companies that includes Apple, Google (GOOG), Adobe (ADBE), Samsung Electronics (005930KS), Microsoft, HTC (2498TW), Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Fujifilm Holdings, Shutterfly (SFLY), and Research in Motion, as reported by Joseph Checkler of the Journal.

[Demeter]

52. I listened to part of Obama's Press Conference at 11:37

Up until the point I quit, he sounded good, sensible, firm and sane.

Anybody know how it ended?

[siligut]

53. Major asshole asking questions

Obama called him "Major", Obama said he would speak with him later. Sorry, I only half heard the end.

Just wanted to agree with you about the first half, good, sensible and sane sums it up nicely.

[siligut]

57. A link to The Obama Diary, gives you an idea how it ended

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/01/14/the-news-conference/

Chuck Toad and Major Garrett asking pointed, irritating questions.