STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 20 March 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 20 March 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 19 March 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 19 March 2013
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Dow Jones 14,455.82 +3.76 (0.03%)
[font color=red]S&P 500 1,548.34 -3.76 (-0.24%)
Nasdaq 3,229.10 -8.49 (-0.26%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.94% +0.01 (0.52%)
30 Year 3.17% +0.02 (0.63%) [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
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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



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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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. "Lesson learned"???

[Hotler]

4. aaaahhhhhh! The stamp. It's been awhile since I've seen the stamp. n/t

[AnneD]

54. I am here to tell you....

The stamp is real and Tansy had it in her purse the last time I saw her. Tansy...you could make a fortune selling that stamp. I know I could use one!!!!!!

[Tansy_Gold]

67. And AnneD really has seen it!

Actually, I bought it from a little push-cart rubber-stamp vendor. It was made by either Rubber Stampede or Ink-a-Doo. They sold prepaid custom stamp envelopes: You bought the envelope for the desired size stamp, selected your text and font, then sent in the envelope. They made the stamp and mailed it to you. I think this one cost $8, but that was probably 15 years ago.

[westerebus]

2. Rec'd for the ITYS.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. It's mine, you know.

I carry it in my purse.

[westerebus]

7. I know.

I imagine if it could talk, there would be some very interesting stories it could tell...

I'll leave it at that.

[Tansy_Gold]

8. LOL

Mostly about my telling my son, "One of these days you're going to jump off that swing and break your arm."

[Hotler]

5. Markets Showing 'Extreme Similarities' With 1929 Crash: Pro

Investors should remain on the sidelines and wait for a market correction as a 4-year rebound comes to an end, Sandy Jadeja, chief market strategist at SignalPro said on Tuesday.

"If you take a look at the patterns which repeat themselves through the years, they are re-emerging. So what it's suggesting is: it isn't all good out there," he said.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/100567928?__source=xfinity|mod&par=xfinity

[Demeter]

6. Oh, it will be much worse than a "correction"

The Great Depression was more than a "correction". It was a revolt that led to a revolution (several, in fact).

The Great Recession we are currently suffering is just Chapter 1. When we get to Chapter 7 (pun intended) then we might be coming out from under....

Good to see your smiling typeface, Hotler! How is it?

[Fuddnik]

32. I, for one, would welcome a good revolt.

The stock market is nothing but a balloon filled with gasoline fumes. And when it blows, it's gonna blow big.

And, it's not just the stock market. I'm sitting here watching Democracy Now! A retrospective on the Iraq war. Recent film from Fallujah, depleted uranium babies, Nazi-style death camps, a President who keeps losing elections, but remains in power.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, all us good "christians" can celebrate economic renewal, the 4th Bush Administration, our national security police state, until it all blows up in our faces.

Sorry I'm in such a good mood this morning.

[Demeter]

35. Been there, done that

getting the ulcer to prove it, I think.

If it doesn't get above freezing and stay there pretty darn soon...

It's Spring, and it's snowing and the windchill is currently...well the site is unresponsive, but it's probably still no more than 14F. And the low tonight? 9F.

I am holding onto my sanity with desperation.

[Fuddnik]

46. My friend left St Pete to head back to Cleveland this morning.

He was supposed to be here another few weeks, but his daughter, who has MS was hospitalized again, and he saw a small window to drive back, before more storms hit the Midwest and SE.

[Hotler]

51. I'm hanging in there.

I'm starting a paper route tomorrow morning to bring in some extra cash. (the Denver Post) I used to throw the Post 45 yrs. ago when I was a kid. I did it on a bike and could porch almost every paper from the middle of the street. That was back when the Post was an evening paper.

[Demeter]

9. WE ARE NOT LOOKING AT CYPRUS ANY MORE....

Europe stocks recoup from Cyprus selloff

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/europe-stocks-recoup-from-cyprus-selloff-2013-03-20?siteid=YAHOOB

European stock markets rebounded from a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, with investors digesting the latest developments in the Cyprus debt crisis, after lawmakers the prior day rejected a proposed levy on bank deposits as a condition for a bailout...Trading on the Cyprus Stock Exchange was halted and banks were closed as politicians scrambled to find a solution to the country’s debt woes.

The Cypriot parliament Tuesday night rejected a proposed bailout, which would have seen bank depositors lose money for the first time in the euro-zone debt crisis. Thirty-six members voted against the deposit tax, while 19 members from the ruling party of President Nicos Anastasiades abstained.

The bailout rejection opened the door a bit wider to the possibility of Cyprus leaving the 17-nation currency bloc, analysts said....Banking shares, which were among the biggest decliners in recent days’ action, recouped...


Stock futures shake off Cyprus, look to Fed

OH YES, UNCLE SUGAR'S BANKSTERS WILL SAVE US ALL...NOT

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-shake-off-cyprus-look-to-fed-2013-03-20?siteid=YAHOOB

U.S. stock futures shook off some lingering Cyprus worries and pushed higher on Wednesday ahead of the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting and news conference from Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Investors are hoping for a tepid economic outlook from the Fed and no signs that the central bank will ease up on its easy-money policy. But they’ll still be looking eastward for news on Cyprus, where a day prior the parliament rejected a controversial bailout deal...The Fed will release its economic projections at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time Wednesday, the same time as it releases the policy statement. Bernanke’s news conference will start at 2:30 p.m. Fed watchers say the central bank will hold steady on policy, but its economic forecasts will be watched closely for any signs of optimism over the outlook for the next three years. If that view is too rosy, it could spark fears the Fed will end its ultra-easy money policy sooner and stocks could sell off, said economists.

But they also don’t expect the Fed to rock the boat too much for markets. Strategists at Deutsche Bank said they don’t see any big changes at Wednesday’s meeting. Chairman Bernanke and Vice Chair Janet Yellen “have been clear in recent commentary that the improvement in the labor market to date falls far short of what they will need to see before reducing monetary-policy accommodation,” they said in a note.

That is all that’s on the U.S. calendar for Wednesday, which leaves investors time to chew over the Cyprus crisis...Laurence D. Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday that Cyprus is a reminder of the “frailty of Europe” but is not really a “major economic issue,” and investors should put it in perspective. He expects U.S. stocks will rally another 20% this year, though he said Cyprus has triggered somewhat of a correction.

“Depending on the economic information that we receive, we can be in the beginning of a 5% correction or we’re going to be in a probably prolonged one- or two-month pause, which I don’t mind. But I would say by year end, equity markets are going to be much higher,” said Fink.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS...

[Demeter]

12. Cyprus is euro zone’s very own Lehman moment: Needlessly introducing new fear chokes off bull market

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cyprus-is-euro-zones-very-own-lehman-moment-2013-03-20?siteid=YAHOOB

Only a few days ago, the markets were looking in good shape — indeed in better shape than they have at any time since the crash of 2008. Japan was coming back to life. The Dow DJIA was recovering its highs of five years ago. Some of the European markets were bouncing up again, and gold was falling in value as investors decided the economy was getting back to stability, and perhaps even a normal level of growth...And then? The euro-zone crisis flares up again. In Cyprus, euro-zone finance ministers meeting late on a Friday night decided to impose a levy on all bank accounts in the country as part of a bailout agreement for the island.

For the sake of 5.7 billion euros — a sum so small it would be an insult to peanuts to compare it to a packet of the salty nuts — the people running the single currency put the recovery in jeopardy. It was a “Lehman moment” — a tiny decision, with huge consequences. And the euro zone looks set to keep lobbing those moments at the market, choking off every potential bull run. The proposal to impose a levy on deposits in Cyprus threatened a run on the banks right across Europe, leading to a potential catastrophe for the global economy. After all, if they imposed a levy on deposits in Cyprus, why not pull the same trick in other floundering European countries? Would anyone really want to have money in a Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, or indeed a French bank after that fateful step was taken? It might easily be confiscated if those nations needed to be rescued. True, there were few immediate signs of queues forming outside banks in Madrid or Milan on Monday or Tuesday. Still, the seed of doubt about whether those accounts are safe or not has been planted and will now be impossible to remove. Whether the bank run is in fast- or slow-motion does not in the end make much difference. If deposits flee out of countries over the next weeks and months, banking systems will crumble and economies will suffer.

There are respectable arguments to be made on both sides. No one disputes that the Cypriot banking system needed bailing out, largely because of the huge losses it had made in Greece. The issue was who would pay for it...The Cypriot government couldn’t afford it, and it can’t print money. The rest of the euro zone didn’t want to pay for a bailout that protected a lot of dodgy Russian money. So there is something to be said for forcing depositors to take some of the risk, because that way they might think harder about which banks were safe and which were not, rather than just assuming central banks and governments will always come to the rescue...Against that, it is clearly unfair to penalize ordinary Cypriot savers...The levy punishes the prudent with savings in the bank — a point the Cypriot government has recognized by exempting accounts of less than 20,000 euros. It drains money out of the economy. It encourages everyone to keep their savings stashed under the mattress at home rather than putting it in the bank where it might actually be lent out to people. And worst of all, it spreads the fear that no bank is safe — and fear is the one force that no economic system can withstand. So you could debate whether the right decision was made in Cyprus. What you can’t argue is that the measure was worth the risk. The Cyprus levy would raise a mere 5.7 billion euros. It’s a paltry amount. Indeed, the entire Cypriot economy amounts to a mere 0.2% of the euro zone. The entire nation could be bailed out several times over without imposing any serious costs on its partners in the single currency. In that sense, the decision was a “Lehman moment” for the markets. Why? Because when the U.S. authorities were faced with the choice of bailing out the Wall Street bank in 2008, they decided it was not worth the moral hazard involved. They reckoned it was better to let it go bust than allow a bunch of wild, over-paid investment bankers to pass their losses onto the state. As it turned out, that was a big mistake. After Lehman, we had the credit crunch, and a five-year global depression. If the clock could be re-wound, there is no doubt those same regulators and politicians would give Lehman the few billion it needed to stay afloat. It would have been cheap at any price.

Likewise, Germany and France decided it was better to impose some costs on bank creditors than let them think they could get bailed-out for nothing. The trouble is, euro-zone finance ministers have no grasp of how the markets work. They have not understood how interconnected they have become, or how relatively small events can have big consequences if they send out the wrong signals. Now they have made it clear that no bank deposit in the euro zone is safe, and they shouldn’t be surprised if money starts to leave the continent. They might be backpedaling furiously now, looking at ways to protect small savers. But the damage has been done. If the officials running the euro zone can’t get to grips with how markets work, the bull market is not going to get any traction. The world economy may well steadily improve, employment will rise, debt may come down, and corporate profits power ahead. But the euro zone will keep chucking Lehmans into the mix. Every time equity markets start to rise, there will be another catastrophe in Europe and they will start to wobble again. The result? The bull market is never going to have a chance to get going — at least until the euro crisis is finally resolved with the partial dismemberment of the single currency or a fully-fledged fiscal and political union between its members.

Matthew Lynn is a financial journalist based in London. He is the author of "Bust: Greece, the Euro and the Sovereign Debt Crisis," and he writes adventure thrillers under the name Matt Lynn.

I THINK MATTHEW LYNN HAS DRAWN THE WRONG LESSON FROM LEHMANS...

THE PROPER LESSON IS THAT ONCE LEHMANS WENT DOWN IN A PILE OF CORRUPTION, THE REGULATORS SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE REST OF THE ROTTING PILE OF BANKSTERS DOWN, TOO. THEN, THEY SHOULD HAVE REBUILT THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM WITH AN EYE TOWARDS SOMETHING OTHER THAN GREED: LIKE EFFICIENCY, TRANSPARENCY, EQUALITY OF ACCESS, EQUALITY OF COSTS, EQUALITY OF SERVICE, TURNING BANKING INTO A UTILITY, INSTEAD OF THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE...

BUT THEY WEREN'T GIANTS, THESE PEOPLE. THEY WERE INSIDERS SEEING THEIR FREE RIDE VANISHING IN A 1929-STYLE BLOODBATH. SO THEY DECIDED TO SAVE THEIR INCOMES, INSTEAD OF FIXING THE MASSIVE PROBLEM IN THE GLOBAL BANKING INDUSTRY...

SIMILARLY, CYPRUS IS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF GREECE, WHICH IS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF GOLDMAN SACHS, WHICH IS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF LEHMANS....

THIS IS THE ONLY TIME THE "DOMINO THEORY" HAD ANY BASIS IN REALITY.

[Ghost Dog]

15. Cyprus seeks Russian bailout aid, EU threatens cutoff

NICOSIA | Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:39am GMT (Reuters) - Cyprus's finance minister pleaded with Russia for help on Wednesday to avert a financial meltdown after the island's parliament rejected the terms of a European bailout, raising the spectre of a looming default and bank crash.

Finance Minister Michael Sarris said he had reached no deal on financing with his Russian counterpart, Anton Siluanov, but talks were continuing.

Cypriot officials disclosed that the country's energy minister was also in Moscow, ostensibly for a tourism exhibition. Cyprus has found big gas reserves in its waters adjoining Israel but has yet to develop them....

... Austria's finance minister made clear the European Central Bank could soon pull the plug on Cypriot banks after the island's parliament rebuffed EU demands for a levy on bank deposits to raise 5.8 billion euros...

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/20/uk-eurozone-cyprus-idUKBRE92F07R20130320

[Ghost Dog]

18. The Big Picture

Cyprus is dominating the markets after Parliament rejected the bank levy plan. With risk aversion rising, EUR/USD has fallen, stocks have fallen and gold is up modestly. But Asian stocks are mixed this morning and EUR/USD hasn’t moved that much since the rejection was announced, suggesting that the market may be rethinking whether the problems of this small island are really systemic.

These negotiations are following the usual pattern for the EU. Reaching an agreement on an adjustment program has always been difficult and taken several attempts. We still believe that some settlement is likely, indeed inevitable, but until it is passed the markets are likely to remain nervous and risk-off.

The Cyprus Parliament is acting with some pressure, as the provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) funds from the ECB to Cyprus would normally expire today. Removing that aid would impair Cyprus’ ability to make transactions with the rest of the world. After the “no” vote, the ECB released a statement saying that it “reaffirms its commitment to provide liquidity as needed within the existing rules.” The statement is ambiguous as the existing rules require banks receiving the funds to remain intrinsically solvent.

According to the local press, there are several “Plan Bs” under discussion in Cyprus. These include:

- Negotiating a better package from the Eurogroup.

- Splitting the banks into “good” and “bad” banks, as is often done in countries with troubled banking systems. One idea is to have the “good” bank guarantee deposits up to the EUR 100k deposit insurance limit and the “bad” bank take over the larger uninsured deposits. That might result in the large depositors taking an even larger hit than the 9.9% originally planned, however.

- Offering large depositors a voluntary haircut in return for bonds indexed to the country’s as-yet undeveloped offshore natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea. The depositors might find that a more attractive alternative than the above idea.

- Tapping the Social Security funds, which have EUR 5.2bn in assets.

- Negotiating further assistance from Russia. Some ideas here reportedly involve selling troubled Popular Bank of Cyprus (Laiki) to Russia. Russia might seek a naval port in Cyprus for the Russian fleet and access to the natural gas in return.

- Russia’s Gazprom may present a private bailout plan that would involve buying exploration rights to the offshore gas, according to the New York Times. This would not only add to the company’s reserves but also prevent a competitor from providing Europe with an alternative to Russian gas.

The rescue ideas involving Russia add an unusual geopolitical dimension to this rescue that other troubled Eurozone borrowers don’t have. It may well be that security concerns trump EU politics and give the Eurozone an added incentive to come to a mutually agreeable solution.

Today there is plenty to move the markets besides Cyprus. The UK budget will be announced and all eyes are on what changes the Chancellor may make to the Bank of England’s mandate. Also the FOMC meeting ends and Fed Chairman Bernanke will hold a press conference. The statement is likely to indicate some improvement in the recent economic data, but a lower forecast for US growth this year due to the government sequester. Fed officials have made it clear that the recent improvement in the labor market isn’t enough to allow them to back off on the extraordinary easing measures, so we do not expect any change in asset purchases or guidance on policy...

/... http://www.ironfx.com/en/research-and-analysis

[Ghost Dog]

24. European shares bounce as market bets on Cypriot crisis backstop

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - European shares broke a three-day losing streak on Wednesday as investors bet a funding crisis in Cyprus would not spread to the rest of the euro zone and continued monetary support would sustain shares.

The European Central Bank allayed the risk of an immediate collapse of Cypriot banks by providing liquidity, albeit within certain limits, helping to backstop sentiment.

Cyprus was also pleading with Russia for help after the island's parliament rejected a levy on bank deposits that was one of the conditions for a 10 billion euro European Union bailout.

Traders said the limited size of Cyprus's cash requirements meant it was likely there could be a compromise with international lenders, averting a spillover effect to other euro zone countries...

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/20/markets-europe-stocks-midday-idUKL6N0CC9UZ20130320

[Ghost Dog]

52. U.S. Stocks Rise as Europe Policy Makers Weigh Options

U.S. stocks rose, snapping a three- day decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as euro-area leaders weighed options for Cyprus and investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.

The S&P 500 (SPX) added 0.6 percent to 1,557.18 at 9:31 a.m. in New York.

“Europe has taken the Cyprus rejection of the terms of the EU bailout in stride,” Peter Jankovskis, the chief investment officer at Lisle, Illinois-based Oakbrook Investments LLC, said in a phone interview. His firm oversees $3.3 billion. “Most of the European markets are up, and that’s basically what things are reacting to.” ...

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-20/u-s-stock-futures-gain-as-policy-makers-weigh-cyprus-aid.html

[Demeter]

10. High Court rules in favor of book reseller FREE TRADE FOR LITTLE PEOPLE

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/high-court-rules-in-favor-of-book-reseller-2013-03-19?siteid=YAHOOB

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a setback to publishers, ruling in favor of a Thai student who bought inexpensive foreign-edition textbooks and resold them to U.S. students on eBay.

The high court rejected arguments by publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc., which accused Supap Kirtsaeng, a former University of Southern California Ph.D. student, of infringing its copyrights on several works, including textbooks on physics, organic chemistry and engineering. The Asian versions of those books were marked with warnings that they were intended for sale only in certain foreign regions.

U.S. law has long held that in principle, once a company sells a copyrighted product, the purchaser has the right to resell it later. Kirtsaeng argued that rule protected his conduct. The court, in a 6-3 opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, agreed with Kirtsaeng that the rule, known as the “first sale” doctrine, applies even if the product was produced abroad. In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the ruling “shrinks to insignificance” publishers’ copyright protections against the unauthorized importation of foreign-made copies of copyrighted works.

The decision is likely to be welcome news to participants in secondary markets for used books, music and other products sold secondhand. Retailers supported Kirtsaeng, seeking to protect their ability to obtain foreign-made goods through unofficial distribution channels. Wiley’s supporters, including trade groups representing entertainment, publishing and software industries, warned in court briefs that U.S. content producers would suffer if they couldn’t block unauthorized imports. POOR BABIES! LOST YOUR CAPTIVE MARKET TO PRICE GOUGE!

[xchrom]

11. Verizon, Cablevision emerge as unlikely allies of cable-TV customers fed up with bundling

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/verizon-cablevision-emerge-as-unlikely-allies-of-cable-customers-fed-up-with-bundling/2013/03/19/11fe0dac-900d-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_story.html

Cable viewers have long complained about paying ever-higher bills for hundreds of channels they don’t want to watch. Now, in a twist, some cable companies are beginning to agree.

Verizon and Cablevision are publicly pressing media companies that own the programming to stop pushing them to distribute unwanted channels and instead offer cable bundles based on what viewers actually watch.

If successful, the efforts could lead to cheaper options for consumers and a sea-change in how the television industry has done business — and protected its profits — for more than two decades.

Such change has become necessary, Cablevision and other cable companies argue, as more Americans cut their cable cord in favor of cheaper Web-based video provided by Netflix, Apple and Amazon.com. Today, 5 million households get their television solely from the Internet, up from 2 million in 2007, according to Nielsen.

[Demeter]

13. think of all the bandwidth that would free up

when stupid channels (religious, shopping, most sports) have to get paid (or perhaps pay their way) based on their true market share, instead of inflated pricing by forced bundling.

Coercion is never a sustainable marketing ploy...but people pushing crap have no other recourse...it's so Stalininst!

[bread_and_roses]

53. SO and I were just talking about this -

- we have ignored the myriad unwanted channels and ignored the constant price rises because TW is convenient for us - but as per usual, TW is pushing us too far. The last time I paid my TW bill and realized it had gone up AGAIN -. It's become utterly ridiculous. We are going to make some changes as soon as we can find time to figure out what we want and what works best for us. But we know we can put our own sort of "bundle" of services together a LOT cheaper.

[Demeter]

14. Honesty is the Most Rewarding Policy (in this case)

[xchrom]

17. ...

[xchrom]

16. UH-OH: Global Bellwether FedEx Just Cut Guidance

http://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-cuts-guidance-2013-3

They cut Q4 EPS guidance to a range of $1.90 to $2.10. Analysts were looking for $2.12.

"Our lower-than-expected results for the quarter and reduced full-year earnings outlook were driven by third quarter international revenues declining approximately $100 million versus our guidance primarily due to accelerating customer preference for lower-yielding international services, lower rate per pound and weight per shipment,” said CFO Alan B. Graf Jr. “We expect these international revenue trends to continue. We have other actions under way beyond those already included in our profit improvement program. Some of these additional actions may involve temporarily or permanently grounding aircraft, which could result in asset impairment or other charges in future periods."

"In response, beginning April 1, FedEx Express will decrease capacity to and from Asia and will aggressively manage traffic flows to place low yielding traffic in lower-cost networks," said Smith.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-cuts-guidance-2013-3#ixzz2O51rqpnM

[xchrom]

19. Russia May Want A Cyprus Naval Port In Exchange For A Bailout

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-may-want-a-cyprus-naval-port-in-exchange-for-a-bailout-2013-3

If you want to know why the EU is nervous about Cyprus negotiating with Russia for a bailout, look no further than this Ekathimerini report on the status of negotiations between the two countries.

It is likely the Russians will ask for some form of compensation for such an investment. A naval port in Cyprus for the Russian fleet and access to the country’s natural gas reserves are among the rewards Moscow might seek.

Future gas reserves are one thing. A naval port? Now that gets interesting.

And here's a reminder of where Cyprus is:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-may-want-a-cyprus-naval-port-in-exchange-for-a-bailout-2013-3#ixzz2O52kbfLv

[Demeter]

26. Is it Detente Yet?

Isn't it time to declare the Cold War over?

I can see Europe falling all over itself to host a US port, why not a Russian one?

Cash is cash.

[Fuddnik]

33. Do it the old-fashioned American way.

Invade the fuckers and take a naval base!

Negotiations are for sissies.

[xchrom]

36. !

[AnneD]

55. Cyprus will not want to give up their....

potential gas reserves, and Russia doesn't need them. But now a Naval base or port.........

I don't know who in EU or at the IMF thought it was a good idea to take money from the Russians...but they better be watching their backs. Maybe the Russian Mafia will do us all a favor and go after the IMF. Never f$#k with a Russian's money. They make the drug cartels look like the Apple Dumpling gang. In fact, I am waiting for the drug cartels to go after the bankers.

[Demeter]

57. I think the drug cartels ARE the banksters

but we can hope that someone somewhere pisses the wrong person off...

[Demeter]

20. Giving Credence to the Wrong People By Paul Krugman

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15195-giving-credence-to-the-wrong-people

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, is feeling dyspeptic — not for the first time — over a Washington Post article published earlier this month suggesting that slow growth is the new normal in the United States. In a recent online post, Mr. Baker wondered why we should listen to people who have been wrong about everything so far. But it’s actually worse than he said.
In the Washington Post article, the case for slow growth forever is mainly made by quoting Kevin Warsh, a former governor at the Federal Reserve.

And Mr. Warsh is indeed someone who has been wrong about everything; a bubble denier who spoke of strong capital markets before the crash, a hawk who has been warning about the risk of inflation for three years, an invoker of invisible bond vigilantes who somehow managed to describe the supposed threat from these vigilantes as somehow both a certainty and unknowable...If there is a special distinction to those of Mr. Warsh’s speeches and articles I’ve read, it’s this: he has had a habit of saying and writing things that are supposed to be profound, but say nothing at all.

But wait: who is Kevin Warsh, anyway? Well, he’s a lawyer turned investment banker turned George W. Bush appointee to the Fed turned Hoover Institution fellow — not an economist at all...Now, I hate credentialism: there are plenty of fools with Ph.D.s, some fools with fancy prizes and a fair number of first-rate economic thinkers without formal qualifications. Still, if someone is going to make pronouncements about how the whole nature of the business cycle has changed, you’d like some sign that somewhere in his life he has thought hard about, well, anything. So why pay any attention at all to this guy on these matters? I guess it’s a different kind of credentialism — the notion that because somebody was once appointed to a policy position, he must be an expert. But that is, of course, ridiculous — and people at The Washington Post, who get to see former officials all the time, surely must know better.

From the Department of Things That Are Just Too Perfect

Jonathan Chait, a commentator at New York magazine, recently found James K. Glassman, co-author of “Dow 36,000” — a 1999 book that argued, based on some creative double-counting and other innovations, that 36,000 was the actual value of the Dow at the time of publication — claiming that the recent Dow record vindicates his ideas. But that’s not what’s so perfect...No, what caught my eye was where Mr. Glassman went on the strength of his bold prediction. And the answer is, he’s the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute. All is well with the world.

[xchrom]

21. This Market Reaction Is Brutal For Cyprus

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-market-reaction-is-brutal-for-cyprus-2013-3

A good point from Pawelmorski here:

Worse yet, this looks more and more like a “ringfenced” Cypriot problem, as markets continue to refuse to sell off (-1.25% on EuroStoxx? a 0.1% rise in BTP (Italian govt) yields? really?)

If Cyprus thought it had any leverage in its negotiations, that's going out the window daily, as financial markets everywhere else have been basically unafected.

Greece has been hit a bit. Italy a hair.

italy:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-market-reaction-is-brutal-for-cyprus-2013-3#ixzz2O53PclMT

[xchrom]

22. ANALYST: Europe Isn't Going To Blink

http://www.businessinsider.com/analyst-the-eurozone-isnt-going-to-blink-2013-3



SocGen's Sebastien Galy gives the state of play in Cyprus:

First, the Eurogroup blinks and provides much more funds. Second, the Eurogroup stands firm and Cyprus is eased out of the EZ with ECB liquidity support ensuring a relatively orderly exit. Third, some face-saving compromise is found but where Cyprus would still deliver the bulk of the €5.8bn in question. Fourth, Russia enters the stage as a white knight. I doubt the Eurogroup will blink, and the next 24 hours will be dominated by the negotiation between it and Cyprus. Negotiation 101 tells you the most important factor is which of the parties hold the strongest cards. My estimation is that Cyprus holds the weakest cards.

The big story right now is all about what emerges from the Cyprus talks in Russia.

The Finance Minister is holding a press conference there in a couple of hours. Europe does not Russia to gain a bigger foothold there, which is one reason there might be some compromise.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/analyst-the-eurozone-isnt-going-to-blink-2013-3#ixzz2O54bnzQ3

[Demeter]

23. Undoing Chavez’s Humanitarian Efforts: Will the CIA Rig the Election for Control of Venezuela’s Oil?

http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17868-undoing-chavez-humanitarian-efforts

...Those who are familiar with Noam Chomsky’s work have learned about the United States’ brutal history of intervention in Latin America for corporate control via the CIA and how the CIA creates havoc and chaos to pave the way for overthrowing democratically elected leaders that have socialistic leanings, i.e. leaders who want to improve conditions for the poor, whose policies strengthen middle-class economies...Under Chavez’s policies, the wealthy continued to do quite well, businesses prospered, but unlike our policies under corporate control in the U.S., Chavez’s economic recovery agenda promoted an equal distribution of wealth, policies that lifted all boats, not just the $80 million dollar yachts. Moreover, Hugo Chavez was an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Chavez was more than familiar with the nefarious ways the U.S. government operates when the corporate oligarchs want full control of resources either by forcing leaders into bad agreements with the International Monetary Fund which only sinks said country deeper in debt while the U.S. corporations take the profits from their resources, be it oil or agricultural lands as pay off of the interest to the IMF – or the U.S. government simply invades militarily and takes what it wants at the taxpayers’ expense, dripping in blood from the hundreds of thousands of families that are killed, maimed, or displaced. Until recently, the reprehensible cost of U.S. interventions in South America (coup d’etats) have led to genocide, mass torture, hundreds of thousands of poor civilians either disappeared into torture dungeons or they were simply killed on the spot. Thousands of Guatemalans died as a result of the CIA’s overthrow of their democratically elected leaders. Same story in Chile, Nicaragua, San Salvador…


While the Bush administration was bombing, killing and occupying Iraqis for their oil, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was accusing Hugo Chavez of “interfering in the affairs of other nations.” So invading a sovereign country—that's not interfering? How dare Chavez condemn their invasions! How dare he be against wars (and war profiteering!) ...Intervention begins and ends with the CIA. The CIA is an independent organization that receives an undisclosed amount of funding from the Feds known as “black accounts”. The function of the CIA is to protect corporate interests. Most CIA operations are covert because they violate constitutional and international laws. As Saul Landau explained in his Forward to Eva Golinger’s excellent book The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuala:

The CIA functions as one of the President’s Praetorian Guard units that become activated every time people of a foreign nation elect a leader who plans to redistribute wealth to the poor. A veritable red alarm bell sounds in Washington’s national security apparatus and, as if in a Pavlovian experiment, the CIA and the other attack dogs respond automatically to the stimulus.

This is particularly the case when leaders nationalize oil for the purpose of increasing socio-economic conditions. The U.S. Pentagon and CIA have become propaganda experts at covertly overthrowing democratically elected leaders who dare to care about improving the conditions of the poor and middle-class workers.

Regarding Venezula’s Vice President Nicolas Maduro’s distrust of U.S. ambassadors, Chavez’s trusted friends have good reasons for sending them back to President Obama. As Eva Golinger revealed, “CIA operatives work covertly, under the guise of embassy officials and even carry out embassy duties as cover.”

Under President Obama’s authority, Iraq is now controlled by the CIA. The CIA is also in charge of media-news propaganda. Obama’s domestic and foreign surveillance policies consist of an increase of drone attacks in Afghanistan and in an increase of surveillance drones (estimated 30,000 drones) in the United States at the cost of billions of tax dollars. Under the National Defense Authorization Act, the President can assassinate citizens on U.S. soil without due process. These rogue operations all have the mark and signature of the CIA, all of which are violations of the Constitution that Obama swore on the Bible to protect and uphold. (I suppose that sacred tradition is just for show now.)

So we will see if President Obama sends the CIA into Venezuela to undo Hugo Chavez’s good efforts on significantly reducing poverty, establishing free health care clinics, food for the poor programs and boosting a middle class economy that is beginning to stabilize and grow. Let’s see if he sends the CIA in to undo Venezuela’s free and fair participatory democratic elections (something that we don’t have in our own country). Let’s see if he sends the CIA in to steal Venezuela’s oil profits for U.S. and international Oil Executives. Or—will he do what’s morally and constitutionally right and leave Venezuela alone? Will he have the moral fortitude to tell oil executives that if they want Venezuela’s oil—they will have to buy it like everyone else, the way we all have to pay for gas at the pump? As for invading and stealing the oil—let Iraq stand as one of the worst catastrophic failures of U.S. policy in the history of the world. $6 Trillion dollars later…

[Fuddnik]

39. The CIA is already there.

They've been planning for this day for at least 10 years now.

The question is, can Venezuela survive? They've got to beat back an almost certainly fixed election. And, if they're successful, a brutal propaganda campaign.

[xchrom]

25. UK unemployment rises to 2.52m

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21857396

Unemployment rose by 7,000 to 2.52 million between November and January, according to official figures.

The rise will put extra pressure on Chancellor George Osborne in advance of his lunchtime Budget.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in February fell by 1,500 to 1.54 million, the lowest level since June 2011, the Office for National Statistics said.

Despite the unemployment rise, the overall figure held at 7.8%.

[Ghost Dog]

59. UK Budget gumph, see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ & http://www.telegraph.co.uk/



The London Evening Standard has apologised for a “very serious mistake” after details of the Budget were leaked on the Internet 20 minutes before the Chancellor of the Exchequer had started his speech in Parliament.

The paper’s editor Sarah Sands said: “An investigation is immediately underway into how this front page was made public and the individual who tweeted the page has been suspended while this takes place. We have immediately reviewed our procedures. We are devastated that an embargo was breached and offer our heartfelt apologies.”

An image of the newspaper’s front page, including clearly visible details of the Chancellor’s plans for borrowing, tax cuts and growth forecast, was posted on Twitter by a member of the newspaper’s staff shortly after midday.

/... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/evening-standard-editor-apologises-after-twitter-leak-of-budget-frontpage-8542432.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/

... ( Larry Elliott, economics editor, Wednesday 20 March 2013 15.17 GMT ) -The economic news was grim, with the growth forecast halved for 2013, bigger deficits in the years ahead and a further delay in meeting the Treasury's target for cutting the national debt as a proportion of GDP. The only comfort for the chancellor was that the independent Office for Budget Responsibility believes Britain will escape a triple-dip recession by posting an increase in activity in the first three months of 2013. But the OBR's forecasting record is poor and it will probably be a close run thing.

The budget itself will neither boost the economy nor suck demand out of it, so the Treasury will not be doing anything itself to rescue Britain from its slowest economic recovery in 100 years. That job will be left to the Bank of England, and one of the more significant sections of the speech detailed the changes to the job description for Mark Carney, Threadneedle Street's governor-elect. Put simply, the Bank will be expected to signal to the financial markets that it is going to provide a monetary stimulus to the economy for a very long time. Carney will provide "guidance" to the markets to make sure the message gets across loud and clear.

Osborne's changes are likely, therefore, to have a bigger political than economic impact. Many of the measures – the duty cuts for beer drinkers and motorists – were blatantly populist, while the help-to-buy scheme for the moribund housing market was a throwback to Margaret Thatcher's right-to-buy scheme of the early 1980s. There is something ironic in a government that came to power intent on rebalancing the economy towards investment and exports is now be relying on that old warhorse – the housing market – to revive growth.

These headline-grabbing measures, together with the announcement of a £10,000 personal allowance, the reduction in corporation tax and the cut in national insurance contributions gave the impression this was a giveaway budget when it was in fact neutral. Indeed, once pre-announced changes to benefits and tax credit are taken into account, most people are going to be worse off this year than they were last.

In the end, the fact that living standards are being squeezed more intensely than at any time since the 1970s may be what sinks the government. The chancellor's political calculus seems to be that the wretched state of the economy is now taken as given and that voters might want to be cheered up a bit. After three years in which growth has been weaker and borrowing higher than he envisaged, Osborne had precious little to work with. But he gave it his best shot...

/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/mar/20/george-osborne-giveaway-budget-worse-off

[xchrom]

62. +1

[xchrom]

27. Asia currencies gain as Cyprus bailout fears hurt euro

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21854825


Asian currencies have continued to strengthen as uncertainty over the developments in Cyprus hurt the euro.

On Tuesday, Cyprus rejected a controversial levy on bank deposits, proposed by the EU and IMF as part of their bailout package for the country.

Fears that Cyprus's two biggest banks may collapse if a bailout is not agreed have seen investors ditch the euro and turn to relatively safer assets.

The Japanese yen, Australian dollar and US dollar all rose against the euro.

[xchrom]

28. South Korea network attack 'a computer virus'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21855051

Disruption that paralysed the computer networks of broadcasters and banks in South Korea appears to have been caused by a virus, an official close to the investigation has told the BBC.

The official said it was believed a "malicious" code was to blame for the system failure.

He said investigators were trying to identify and analyse the virus.

Last week, North Korea accused the US and its allies of attacks on its internet servers.

[Demeter]

29. The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Jamie Dimon, Wall Street’s Golden Boy By Lynn Stuart Parramore

http://www.alternet.org/economy/spectacular-rise-and-fall-jamie-dimon-wall-streets-golden-boy?akid=10211.227380.ngElvg&rd=1&src=newsletter811974&t=3&paging=off

They called him a hero. The most esteemed banker of his time. The captain who could steer the ship while others foundered. The handsome, charismatic CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he of the silver hair and golden tongue, beloved by presidents and praised by pundits. Now the truth is out, and Wall Street’s golden boy, Jamie Dimon, has fallen to earth with a thud...Why did it take so long? Why did the American media treat him with kid gloves? In a populist moment, how did he manage to escape the scorn heaped on his colleagues?

....
Man on the Make SHORT BIO FOLLOWS


How the Mighty Have Fallen

Fast-forward to summer 2012, when it seemed that the Great Gatsby ran into Moby Dick while taking his yacht for a spin. A nasty, behemoth of a trading fuck-up dubbed the “London Whale” sent billions of dollars up in smoke when a hedging strategy – at least that’s what the bank claimed – went wrong. At first, Dimon pooh-poohed the disaster as a "tempest in a teapot.” Then he tried to spin it as an isolated risk management problem that had been fully addressed. Criminal investigators weren’t buying it, and they began to probe into the bank’s activities. By January 2013, Dimon’s pay was cut by more than half, down to $11.5 million. Even so, the bank’s board of directors praised Dimon for “forcefully responding” to the trading loss.

But praise was getting harder to come by. Around the time the pay cut was announced, Forbes magazine, hardly known for its distrust of bankers, published an article summing up the feeling about Dimon that had begun to circulate in Switzerland at the big annual convention of economic honchos held in January: “Davos: How Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase Endanger the Public Safety.” Then came the Big Reveal. Last Thursday, a 300-page Senate report delving into the details of the $6.2 billion London Whale loss pointed the finger of blame directly at Jamie Dimon. An email containing the words “I approve” made it clear that the guy known for micromanagement and checking out data knew exactly what was going on at JPM. He had specifically told his people to take on riskier business and he approved new ways of hiding it...The New York Times is no longer singing Dimon’s praises. Gretchen Morgenson and others have been filling the business pages for the last two weeks with tales of Dimon’s follies and the reckless behavior of JPM. Morgenson had two words when she read the Senate report: “Be afraid.” For all the Dodd-Franking and the tough talk of reining in big banks, JPM, she concluded, is a ticking time-bomb rife with stupid risk-taking, bad management and a penchant for misleading investors and the public.

In the blogosphere, some put it more plainly. David Dayen, writing for Naked Capitalism, covered a report written by Joshua Rosner, an Graham-Fisher and Co. analyst (and Morgenson’s co-author on the book Reckless Endangerment). The title of Dayen’s piece told the tale: “New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise.” Dayen, a veteran reporter of dastardly Wall Street deeds, was aghast at the list of frauds and malfeasance covered in Rosner’s report, including everything from illegal flood insurance claims to auto-finance rip-offs to shifting trading losses to customer accounts. (If you can stomach it, read the full report SEE LINK.) The rise and fall of Jamie Dimon is more than simply another tawdry tale of Wall Street. It is a reflection, and a criticism, of the American experience—our beliefs, our desires, and our attitude toward the wealthy. Dimon’s story is about the tarnishing of the American Dream. It reveals the sham of romanticizing riches and the folly of our need to believe in the goodness of those who possess wealth...Maybe Jamie Dimon was a cut above his fellow bankers. Given the looks of that crowd, that’s pretty lousy praise. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he’s just a run-of-the-mill hustler, no better than the rest of them. He pretended to be in control of a too-big-to-manage bank and when things went awry – which they always do – he tried to fake his way out of trouble. This Golden Boy just got away with it longer than some.

OH, I WOULDN'T SAY IT'S THAT GLOBAL...IT'S THE ELITIST 1%.

THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING!

[Hotler]

49. This is a cold hearted statement but......

the fall Dimon needs to take is at the end of a short rope in the public square and his corpse left to rot and let the crows pick it apart.

[xchrom]

30. JPMORGAN, MF GLOBAL TRUSTEE REACH AGREEMENT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_JP_MORGAN_CHASE_MF_GLOBAL_SETTLEMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-20-02-33-17

NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a deal that will return $546 million to former customers of trading firm MF Global Holdings Ltd., which collapsed in 2011 with $1.6 billion missing from its accounts.

MF Global failed in October after a calamitous bet on European debt spooked its investors, partners and clients. The bankruptcy was the eighth-largest in the U.S. and the largest on Wall Street since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers. Much of the missing money belonged to farmers, ranchers and other business owners who used MF Global to reduce their risks from fluctuating prices of commodities such as corn and wheat. A House panel has said credit rating agencies and federal regulators contributed to MF Global's collapse. But it pinned most of the blame on risky strategies by ex-CEO Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. held MF Global funds in several accounts and also processed the firm's securities trades. The trustee tasked with getting customers' money back, James W. Giddens, threatened to sue the New York bank if it didn't return money that was transferred to the bank from MF Global. By June 2012, JPMorgan had returned $608 million to the firm.

Under a settlement agreement filed Tuesday in Manhattan bankruptcy court, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $100 million to reimburse customers and will relinquish claims on $417 million that it previously returned. JPMorgan also will return over $29 million that it is holding as security on an MF Global credit line. The recovered money will eventually be passed along to customers.

[AnneD]

68. Key words.....

The recovery money will EVENTUALLY be pass along to the customers. Wonder how many pennies on the dollar they will get back. Still no jail time for someone?

[Demeter]

31. Are Americans Too Stupid For Democracy?

How can we rationally pursue our self-interests when we don't know what's going on? In 2011, Newsweek asked 1,000 Americans to take the standard U.S. Citizenship test, and 38 percent of them failed. One in three couldn't name the vice-president. A 2009 study in the European Journal of Communications looked at how informed citizens of the U.S., UK, Denmark and Finland were of the international news of the day, and the results weren't pretty. “Overall,” the scholars wrote, “the Scandinavians emerged as the best informed, averaging 62–67 percent correct responses, the British were relatively close behind with 59 percent, and the Americans lagging in the rear with 40 percent.” We didn't fare much better when it came to domestic stories.

Widespread ignorance of objective reality poses a genuine threat to democracy. The people of the United States have ignorance in abundance.

The way representative democracy is supposed to work is pretty simple: you protect the fundamental rights of the minority (so it doesn't become two wolfs and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner), and then the majority of citizens, acting in their own rational self-interest, elect representatives who will pursue the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens. That's the theory, but “rational” is a key word in that formulation. What happens when lots of citizens don't have a solid grasp of what's going on in the real world?

Consider some examples that are especially relevant to our current political scene:

YOU CAN GO READ AT LINK--THE CONCLUSION IS, WE ARE DOOMED

OF COURSE, THIS DISCUSSION DOESN'T FACTOR IN THE IMMENSE AMOUNT OF PROPAGANDA, DECEIT, AND SECRECY THAT THE GOVERNMENT FOISTS UPON THE CITIZENRY...AND THE EFFORTS TO DESTROY PUBLIC EDUCATION BY THE FASCISTS AMONG US...AND THE "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE" CARDS ISSUED TO THE 1%ERS...AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL GENUINE POPULIST MOVEMENT WITHIN THE BORDERS (LET ALONE OF MOVEMENTS OUTSIDE THE US)...

I THINK IT'S LESS THAT AMERICANS ARE STUPID, MORE THAT THEY ARE "KETTLED"

[Fuddnik]

40. YES

In spades.

[DemReadingDU]

50. Yes!

The Day That Albert Einstein Feared May Have Finally Arrived
http://weknowmemes.com/2012/11/the-day-that-albert-einstein-feared-may-have-finally-arrived/


browse thru all the pictures

[kickysnana]

56. Too ignorant at the moment. I swear immigrant NY cab drivers have a better grasp of the world. n/t

[xchrom]

34. ndia's interest rate cut passes growth woes to government

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-200313.html

NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday made its second successive rate cut, repeating its 0.25% reduction of January to bring the policy repo rate to 7.5%

The move is in line with the market and this author's expectations, since India is now clearly facing a threat of stagflation, with growth slowing to a 15-quarter low of 4.5% while headline inflation remaining above the RBI's comfort level.

Despite an uptick in industrial production in January (after two consecutive months of contraction), weakness in manufacturing
persists, especially if one looks at the capital goods segment and continued weakness in mining activity. More worrying, India's growth engine, the service sector, is also showing signs of a slowdown and may now be growing at its slowest pace in a decade.

However, while growth weakness is a serious concern, stubbornness in inflation is unlikely to influence monetary policy action since it is but a consequence of the government's determined effort to bring about fiscal consolidation, which requires raising administered prices of certain products, most notable of which are oil and oil products like diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.

[Demeter]

37. The Sad Reality of How Warmongers and Elite Media Desperately Avoid All Responsibility for Iraq Disa

HAPPY IRAQ INVASION 10TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY, EVERYONE! LET'S LIFT A GLASS TO THAT FABULOUS DRUNKARD WHO BROUGHT US PEACE, PROSPERITY, AND THE GOOD LIFE....FOR THE 1%ERS.

http://www.alternet.org/world/sad-reality-how-warmongers-and-elite-media-desperately-avoid-all-responsibility-iraq-disaster?akid=10211.227380.ngElvg&rd=1&src=newsletter811974&t=9&paging=off

The Iraq War raises many questions still, 10 years after those first bombs sought out Saddam Hussein. Most of the coverage of this tenth anniversary will focus on the decisions leading to the war, the blend of lies and arrogance in the Bush administration, which never really learned a lesson from their vast carelessness. Others will focus on the naiveté of the liberal hawks -- Hitchens, Remnick, Ignatieff, et al -- whose self-righteousness could have lit up a metropolis. Or the spotlight will be on the fallen soldiers and marines, the 4,488 killed in Iraq, and the effect on their families.

What we won't hear much about is what happened to Iraqis. And having written about this many times, having commissioned a mortality survey in Iraq, and having developed an explanation for American indifference, I am hardly surprised that the national discourse about the war focuses the way it does.

As I reflect on the 10 years of the Iraq War, what is most striking with respect to the war's enormous human toll -- nearly one million dead, five million displaced, hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, untold misery -- is the sheer callousness of the pro-war clique when confronted with these facts. As I argued in my book about this topic, The Deaths of Others, nothing stings the national security establishment like the charge of wanton killing. Even failure in war is more acceptable than culpability for large numbers of civilian casualties. And that, perhaps as much as any reason, is why the policy and media elites avoid the topic almost completely...

RIGHTEOUS RANT

[Fuddnik]

61. This one gives trailer trash a bad name.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17373769-iraq-war-10-years-later-where-are-they-now-lynndie-england-abu-ghraib?lite


On September 26, 2005, England was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count. England was sentenced to three years for her crimes and given a dishonorable discharge. The next day, when she was sentenced, she apologized for appearing in the pictures, though not for the maltreatment and assault committed on the prisoners.

(snip)

In her interview with the Daily, Lynndie expressed no remorse for her actions. “Their (Iraqis’) lives are better. They got the better end of the deal,” she said. “They weren’t innocent. They’re trying to kill us, and you want me to apologize to them? It’s like saying sorry to the enemy.”

[Demeter]

38. Okay, enough of that

It's so depressing, that I'd rather go outside and freeze for an hour or two than face any more good news...

And tonight is paper night. It will be 9F when I finish...send hot chocolate!

[xchrom]

41. ...

[Demeter]

44. Oooh! Thanks, X!

Have some yourself, while you are at it! Hope the day brings pleasant surprises!

[xchrom]

47. thanks -- her highness needs some pleasant surprises. nt

[Fuddnik]

42. I'm going for a motorcycle ride before the rain comes.

Then spend the rest of the day in a bar.

I need it.

[xchrom]

43. Cameron Evokes Black Wednesday as Pound Weakens 7%: U.K. Credit

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-20/cameron-s-weakening-pound-shows-austerity-doubts-u-k-credit.html

The pound is bearing the brunt of a loss of confidence in the economic policies of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron.

Sterling has weakened more than 7 percent against the dollar this year. In the week through Sept. 16, 1992, when investor George Soros earned $1 billion by helping to force the pound out of the exchange-rate system that preceded the euro, sterling dropped by 9.5 percent. Black Wednesday, as the day became known, damaged the Conservatives’ reputation for economic competence.

Economists and investors say a similar judgment faces the present Tory-led government unless it gets the economy moving. Gilts are among the world’s worst performers this year.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his annual budget to Parliament at 12:30 p.m. today amid calls from the opposition Labour Party and even his own Cabinet colleagues to spur an economy at risk of falling into a third recession in five years. Britain has recovered only half of the output lost in 2008-2009, and the country forfeited its top credit rating at Moody’s Investors Service on Feb. 22. Output in the U.S. is back above its pre-recession peak and the recovery is gaining pace.

“The chancellor’s policy is bankrupt -- he is going to have to face that,” Robert Skidelsky, a member of the upper chamber of Parliament without party affiliation and biographer of John Maynard Keynes, said in a phone interview on March 14. “The economy is not growing, the pound will go on slipping and we will lose further credit ratings.”

[xchrom]

45. Freddie Mac Sues Multiple Banks Over Libor Manipulation

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/freddie-mac-sues-multiple-banks-over-libor-manipulation.html

Freddie Mac (FMCC) sued Bank of America Corp., UBS AG (UBSN), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and a dozen other banks over alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, saying the mortgage financier suffered substantial losses as a result of the companies’ conduct.

Government-owned Freddie Mac accuses the banks of acting collectively to hold down the U.S. dollar Libor to “hide their institutions’ financial problems and boost their profits,” according to a complaint filed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

“Defendants’ fraudulent and collusive conduct caused USD LIBOR to be published at rates that were false, dishonest, and artificially low,” Richard Leveridge, a lawyer for Freddie Mac, said in the complaint, which was made public yesterday.

Manipulation of interest rates by some of the world’s biggest banks has spawned probes by half a dozen agencies on three continents in what has become the industry’s largest and longest-running scandal. More than $300 trillion of loans, mortgages, financial products and contracts are linked to Libor.

[xchrom]

48. Shadow Economy Shows Joblessness Less Than Meets U.S. Eye

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-20/shadow-economy-shows-joblessness-less-than-meets-u-s-eye.html

When Kevin Kalmes received a foreclosure notice on her home after being unemployed for more than two years, she said she started selling the contents of her basement, figuring that “I can’t fit all this stuff in a Wal- Mart shopping cart.”

“Then I just kept the basement sale open, forever, without getting permits, because I didn’t sell it all,” said Kalmes, 61, who lives in Chicago. She then sold items for family, neighbors and friends and dubbed her never-ending sale the “Little Shop of Hoarders.”

Kalmes is among the 4.8 million unemployed Americans -- 40 percent of all those jobless -- who have been out of work for more than 27 weeks, even as the economy has been growing since June 2009 and the job market shows recent signs of healing. As her unemployment benefits have run out, she has entered the informal economy to make ends meet.

America’s shadow economy includes activities that are actually illicit -- prostitution and drug dealing -- and more benign jobs like working construction for a day for cash, or even the $2 a kid that Kalmes gets for walking neighborhood children to the bus. Added together, economists estimate $2 trillion could be involved.

[Demeter]

58. This is inevitable

and the 1% deserve everything that's coming to them.

[Fuddnik]

60. A few of these!

[Hotler]

63. What the hell has happened to DU????

That fucking crowd over in GD has no spine. Geeez!

[Demeter]

64. What do they need spine for?

They are fueled by spite.

Which issue were you viewing?

[AnneD]

65. Make fun of LBJ all you want....

but he was the last Democratic POTUS that had a spine and as he so quaintly put it, a large nut sac. He never passed up the opportunity to use either if the situation called for it. He was our most liberal Democratic POTUS ever.

Gee, I miss that.

[Hotler]

70. On the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war with all of the truths

that have come forth about the lies, failures, I wonder why the largest progressive website in the world has not organized mass protest. Why more members of DU are not mad enough to spit bullets.

[Tansy_Gold]

66. That's why so many of us avoid

the hinterlands.

[DemReadingDU]

69. This is the only forum on DU that I read

The others are just too crazy. Besides, I don't have enough time anymore to read all that stuff.