STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 10 May 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 10 May 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 9 May 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 9 May 2013
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Dow Jones 15,082.62 -22.50 (-0.15%)
S&P 500 1,626.67 -6.02 (-0.37%)
Nasdaq 3,409.17 -4.10 (-0.12%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.76% +0.02 (1.15%)
30 Year 2.99% +0.02 (0.67%) [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.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










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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. I'm betting on the bull

'cause I'm into vengeance and karma....And that goes for Sandra Day O'Connor, too.

[Demeter]

2. A Site for Drooling Over

Whether you like cars or movie stars...

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/celebrities-of-past-days-and-their.html

[Demeter]

3. X-Post: Ugly Canadians in Latin America courtesy of Catherina

Tahoe Resources Investor Alert calls Guatemala project a Dangerous Investment

(Ottawa/Guatemala City) – Yesterday, the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and MiningWatch Canada warned Tahoe Resources investors against further investment in the Escobal silver project, given lack of community support and increasing violence and repression in the area. Risks identified include:

1. Tahoe Resources does not have the social license to operate the Escobal project;

2. It is likely that conflict and violence will persist if the mining project continues to be imposed without community consent, given recent violence attributed to public armed forces, an illegal armed group and the company’s private security;

3. Implication of company private security in recent acts of violence could lead to civil lawsuits as has taken place in relation to other mining conflicts in which Canadian companies are involved;

4. Tahoe Resources is already under investigation in Guatemala for industrial contamination of water supplies near the Escobal mine site;

5. Failure of Guatemalan regulators to address residents’ complaints prior to granting company’s exploitation license is under appeal, which could put Tahoe’s exploitation license in jeopardy;

6. By repeating patterns seen in Guatemala’s mining sector in connection with Goldcorp’s Marlin mine, including lack of respect for prior community consultation, targeting of peaceful protesters through the judicial system and putting the project into production in the midst of violence and repression, the company is likely to be the object of further protests.



The project is located in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores in the department of Santa Rosa where for over three years local communities have been peacefully demonstrating their opposition to the mining project given concerns over potential social and environmental impacts. Twelve municipal and community level plebiscites have been carried out in which over 90% of participants voted against the mine.



Tahoe Resources’ received its license to put the Escobal silver mine project into operation in early April despite widespread social opposition to the project and unaddressed complaints against the granting of the permit.



Tahoe’s project has provoked an increase in conflict in the region, which recently escalated on April 27 when the company’s private security shot at community members, injuring six men, two of them seriously. Contrary to company statements, a spokesperson for the Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City indicated that live ammunition was used. Alberto Rotondo, security manager for Minera San Rafael, Tahoe Resources’ wholly owned Guatemalan subsidiary, has been arrested and charged with with causing mild and serious bodily harm, and for obstructing the investigation by tampering with the crime scene. Two more supposed mine employees have been arrested in connection with the recent violence, including the killing of a police officer.



On May 2, the Guatemalan government declared a state of siege in San Rafael Las Flores, where Tahoe’s Escobal project is located effectively making public protest and further community consultations illegal as long as the measure remains in place. Local activists have been among those targeted in raids and detentions.

....

www.nisgua.blogspot.com/2013/05/tahoe-resources-investor-alert-calls.html


The full investor alert can be read here: https://www.nisgua.org/investor_alert_tahoe_8may13.pdf


Catherina's original thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/110816485#post3

[Demeter]

4. Cyberthieves Looted A.T.M.’s of $45 Million in Just Hours

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/nyregion/eight-charged-in-45-million-global-cyber-bank-thefts.html?_r=0

It was a huge bank heist – but a 21st-century version in which the robbers never wore ski masks, threatened a teller or set foot in a vault. Yet, in two precision operations that involved people in more than two dozen countries acting in close coordination and with surgical precision, the organization was able to steal $45 million from thousands of A.T.M.'s in a matter of hours. In New York City alone, the thieves responsible for A.T.M. withdrawals struck 2,904 machines over 10 hours on Feb. 19, withdrawing $2.4 million.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment charging eight members of the New York crew – including their suspected ringleader who was found dead in the Dominican Republic on April 27 — offering a glimpse into what the authorities said was one of the most sophisticated and effective cybercrime attacks ever uncovered.

“In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the Internet,” said Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn. “Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York City, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of A.T.M.'s in a matter of hours.”

The indictment outlined how they were able to steal data from banks, relay that information to a far-flung network of “cashing crews,” and then launder the stolen money by buying high-end luxury items like Rolex watches and expensive cars.

In the first robbery, hackers were able to infiltrate the system of an unnamed Indian credit-card processing company that handles Visa and MasterCard prepaid debit cards. The hackers – who are not named in the indictment – proceeded to raise the withdrawal limits on prepaid MasterCard debit accounts issued by the National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah, also known as RAKBANK, which is in United Arab Emirates. By eliminating the withdrawal limits, “even a few compromised bank account numbers can result in tremendous financial loss to the victim financial institution,” the indictment states. With five account numbers in hand, the hackers distributed the information to individuals in 20 countries who then encoded the information on magnetic stripe cards. On Dec. 21, the “cashing crews” made 4,500 A.T.M. transactions worldwide, stealing $5 million, according to the indictment.

But that robbery was just a prelude for what prosecutors said was a more brazen crime that took place two months later. On Feb. 19, “cashing crews” stood at A.T.M.'s across Manhattan and in two dozen other countries waiting for word to spring into action. This time, the hackers infiltrated a credit-card processing company based in the United States that also handles Visa and MasterCard prepaid debit cards. The company’s name was not revealed in the indictment. After securing 12 account numbers for cards issued by the Bank of Muscat in Oman and raising the withdrawal limits, the cashing crews were set in motion. Starting at 3 p.m., the crews made 36,000 transactions and withdrew about $40 million from machines in the various countries in about 10 hours. In New York City alone, a team of eight people made 2,904 withdrawals, stealing $2.4 million.

Surveillance photos of one suspect hitting various A.T.M.'s showed the man’s backpack getting heavier and heavier, Ms. Lynch said, comparing the robbery to the caper at the center of the movie “Ocean’s 11.”

MORE

[tclambert]

13. So the New York crew averaged a little over $800 per ATM.

~$826 per. $2.4 M in twenties takes 120,000 bills. That weighs about 264 pounds. And in 10 hours, 2,904 takes about 5 ATMs per minute. If it took, say, 10 minutes to move from one ATM to the next, you'd need 50 people working hard for 10 hours.

The logistics of it amazes me. This took a lot of organization.

[Demeter]

14. Best of all: It's currency

not electronic bits that can be wiped away by a hacker. Or a vengeful government or bank.

I'd sleep better on a mattress stuffed with that.

Even if the bills were marked, or the serial numbers recorded, that's a hell of a lot of pieces of paper to sort through, globally.

Getting it across US borders would be a bit tricky. they'd have to go to...which bank was it? Oh, Citibank! Of course!

http://rense.com/general28/money.htm

On the other hand, keeping it in physical form might not be a bad idea...a stash for local expenses....

Still, some form of laundering would be a good idea. Just in case.

[Demeter]

15. I think I'd like to be a laundress

and get to keep anything in the deep pockets of the pants...

[AnneD]

17. My Mom use to say...

that the laundry fairy gave her the money. What can I say, we kids bought that story for years. She also said that our lost sock went to sock heaven to be with baby Jesus. And some folks wonder where I get my sense of humor. Every day is Mother's Day with her still around.

[DemReadingDU]

16. Edit the limit was raised, and NBC video

In my area, I can only withdraw $200 per day from my ATM.


A well organized bank heist. $45 million, amazing!


edit to include link for video
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/51836005/#51836005

[Demeter]

5. Iceland's Future Depends on the Contours of the Coalition

http://truth-out.org/news/item/16187-icelands-future-depends-on-the-contours-of-the-coalition

As Reykjavik residents awoke to their regular Sunday hangover last weekend, the memory of Iceland's recent credit-binge blackout seemed far more painful to some. The two parties most responsible for the country's 2008 financial collapse - the right wing Independence Party and the center-right Progressive Party - collectively won a majority of seats in parliament after votes cast during Saturday's election were counted.

But because there was no outright winner - each party won 19 seats - coalition politics might diminish the power of a reinvigorated right when the dust settles. Iceland's President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson asked Progressive leader Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson to form the next government, despite the fact that the Independence Party won a marginally higher percentage of the popular vote. According to the Icelandic media, Grimsson asked Gunnlaugsson to take charge of coalition sausage-making because of the left-wing parties' preference for the 38-year-old Progressive Party leader - and because the party doubled its share of the popular vote since the last election. An insider also told Truthout that Gunnlaugsson would first ask the smaller parties to form a coalition, but the presumed next prime minister has since entered into formal negotiations with Independence Party leaders.

The outcome of those talks isn't exactly a foregone conclusion, however. Many observers see the Progressives' victory as an anti-austerity vote, despite claims Iceland's previous government eschewed austerity. The Independence Party merely proposed relief in the form of tax cuts implemented via a flat tax - three-quarters of which, according to Jón Steinsson, an Icelandic economist at Columbia University, "would run into the pockets of those who are not in any financial trouble." The tax cuts would ratchet pressure on an already squeezed welfare state. Although cuts in Iceland haven't been as severe as they have been in other countries still weathering the collapse of global credit markets in 2008, welfare spending declined by about 22 percent - from $139.7 million to $108.8 million - between 2007 and 2011, while, according to Statistics Iceland, the percentage of the population "at risk of poverty or social exclusion" grew from 12 to 14 between 2008 and 2011. The Progressives, on the other hand, gained at the polls, in part, by promising relief for indebted homeowners in the form of a 20 percent write-down of mortgage principle. Mortgage interest payments here are pegged to the consumer price index and inflation, which, in spite of higher than average unemployment in recent years, have increased since the value of the krona took a steep dive after 2008. A steadily improving labor market - unemployment is less than 5 percent - doesn't reflect the frustration that many Icelanders feel. One disaffected left-leaning Icelander sarcastically described the previous center-left government - the first leftist government since Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944 - as "the best right-wing government in Iceland's history." The Left-Green Party, the outgoing junior coalition partner, saw the number of parliamentary seats it controls halved - it will have seven parliamentarians when the Althing, the national parliament, reconvenes. The senior partner of the last government, the Social Democratic Alliance, lost 11 seats, and will be represented by nine legislators at the start of the next session...

MAKES ONE WONDER IF THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM IS AN IMPROVEMENT OVER CONGRESS....I SUPPOSE IT MIGHT BE A BIT MORE EXPENSIVE TO BUY...

[Demeter]

6. 7 Ways the Sequester Is Actually Increasing Gov't Spending

http://www.alternet.org/7-ways-sequester-actually-increasing-govt-spending?akid=10402.227380.JGh-mR&rd=1&src=newsletter835875&t=20&paging=off

Cutting Meals On Wheels doesn’t save the government a dime, it costs $489 million a year. Cutting IRS obviously increases the deficit because it lowers tax revenue. Other cuts also increase spending. All obviously hurt the economy. Tell me again, what’s the justification for this? Repeal this foolish and unjustified sequester...

RIGHTEOUS RANT AT LINK

[Demeter]

7. Another Feeble Jobs Report -- And What's the Answer in Washington? More Austerity!

http://www.alternet.org/economy/another-feeble-jobs-report-and-whats-answer-washington-more-austerity?akid=10402.227380.JGh-mR&rd=1&src=newsletter835875&t=18&paging=off

The press strained to find some good news in the government's April employment report. Superficially, things appeared a little better. The official unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent, and the number of long-term unemployed people declined by about 258,000. The government revised upwards the number of new jobs created, to 138,000 in March, plus 165,000 in April.

The stock market loved the news: Just enough job growth to keep the economy officially out of recession. But a sufficiently sluggish economy that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low, and workers will have little bargaining power.

Take a deeper look at the figures behind the April report and consider the coming impact of budget cuts, and the picture is still bleak for the vast majority of Americans. The job growth is not sufficient to materially improve the condition of most working (and out-of-work) Americans.

Wages are still basically flat. Since the financial collapse of 2008, 9.5 million Americans have simply left the workforce. And if you are not in the measured workforce, you don't count in the unemployment statistics....


PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, MR. KUTTNER...

[Demeter]

8. How Our Incredible Shrinking Government Raises Unemployment and Hurts the Recovery

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/05/how-our-incredible-shrinking-government-raises-unemployment-and-hurts-the-recovery/275562/

How is this recovery different from all other recoveries?

After every other recession since the early 1970s, government employment grew. In the four years following the end of the Great Recession, government jobs got the guillotine.

You can see the specialness of our recovery in this compelling graph produced by the Hamilton Project, comparing government employment changes in the four years of recovery after the last six recessions. Since 1970, government employment increased by an average of 1.7 million following a recession. After the Great Recession, government employment has fallen by more than 500,000.


"The policy differences have led to 2.2 million fewer jobs today," Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney write. With 2.2 million more government workers now, assuming the same labor force size, the unemployment rate wouldn't be 7.7 percent. It would be 6.3 percent. That doesn't mean the "real" unemployment rate is 6.3 percent. It doesn't mean state and local governments should be 2.2 million workers flusher. But it highlights the fact that, in terms of U.S. government responses to recessions, this time is different...

MORE

[Demeter]

9. October2011.org News: Grass Roots Grows Fearless‏

EMAIL BULLETIN:

As more see that the government represents Wall Street, instead of them; that the government continues to give the banksters who crashed the economy a break while cutting access to basic necessities, that the government continues to put big energy profits ahead of protecting the planet – more people are becoming fearless.

Last week, front-line environmental groups including climate justice activists, opponents of tar sands, mountaintop renewal and many others who oppose the extraction economy, announced “Fearless Summer” - a week of actions from June 24 to 29 that starts “an epic summer of actions.”The rising tide of courage in the environmental justice movement is one we also see growing in many other communities.

When people stand up against the destructive extraction industries of big energy interests, we gain community support and sometimes we win. This week in New York communities got a lot of power when a court upheld their right to ban fracking.

Long-time activist, George Lakey, describes how he and 17 colleagues protested Mountaintop Removal at the PNC Bank shareholder meeting. They broke all the middle class rules, gave an award to the outgoing CEO and sang songs. Efforts to drown them out failed and in the end, the meeting was adjourned – and the protest was covered in the media, forcing the bank to respond for the first time. Now, their accountability campaign focused on bank board members will escalate.

Another group that has awakened is members of the first nations. Ever since the Idle No More campaign began last December, native Indians have been standing up across the continent. One issue that Indians are focused on is the extraction economy and the KXL pipeline in particular which will cross hundreds of indigenous sacred spiritual sites and burial grounds, as well as two major sources of drinking water.

From Chicago to Detroit, from San Jose to Portland, from Oakland to Newark, IL people are standing up and saying “NO” to austerity. Whether it is schools closures, mass lay-offs or cuts to essential programs – people are protesting. People know that austerity ensures the economy will remain in collapse; and they know that the real cause of the budget problems are corporate tax loopholes, low tax rates on the wealthy and giveaways to crony capitalists. People also know – it does not have to be this way.

Students are also standing up. For years there have been protests against tuition hikes and mass student debt. This week students at Cooper Union, who are assured of free tuition, are standing up not for themselves but for the students that follow and demanding that Cooper Union continue the 144 year old mission of its founder that college education should be free. This week they took over and occupied the president’s office to protest plans for tuition at the school.

Low wage workers, almost always without a union, are protesting across the country. Most recently they protested in St. Louis and Chicago. Wal-Mart workers, taking a lesson from the Civil Rights Freedom Rides, are planning bus caravans to the annual meeting of Wal-Mart shareholders on June 7. And, now people are realizing that the federal government is the largest employer of low-wage workers, and that President Obama could change that with a stroke of a pen.

Among the lowest paid and most mistreated workers are farm workers, but after years of organizing they are beginning to win victories in their fight for justice. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which has been organizing tomato growers in Florida since 1994, has been winning battles against individual corporations for fair wages and treatment of workers, most recently Chipotle Mexican Grill and Trader Joe’s. Now their targets are Publix and Wendy’s. And, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee has been winning better working conditions for thousands of cucumber pickers through successful boycotts and strikes aimed at Campbell’s, Heinz, and Mount Olive Pickle Company. Standing up, organizing and mobilizing improves people’s lives.

People who are homeless are also organizing for respect and justice. Here is a group of homeless advocates working for civil rights.They advocate for housing when they see thousands of vacant homes around them, and for community land trusts which would keep housing affordable.

And, activists are coming to the aid of people threatened with eviction and foreclosure. This week in Seattle and Los Angeles people stood up against the big banks seeking to put people on the street.

You do not hear about these revolts happening across the United States because the corporate media does not want you to know. But, if you think the media is bad now, watch what happens if the Koch brothers are able to purchase a large chain of newspapers that includes the LA Times, Baltimore Sun and many others. People in LA are not waiting to find out, they are organizing protests now; and writers at the Times are pledging to quit rather than work for the extreme right wing Kochs.

The last two years of working on planning and developing Occupy Washington, DC at Freedom Plaza has lifted our vision higher to see a growing popular resistance. For the last six months we have been working with people in the movement to figure out how we can best help the movement achieve a new level of success. We’ll soon be announcing “Popular Resistance,” a vehicle that will be a resource and information clearinghouse for populist activism. We’ll let you know more as the announcement gets closer because your participation will make it a success.

In peace and solidarity,
Kevin, Margaret and October2011/Occupy Washington DC

[Demeter]

10. CHARTS: Just How Big Is Walmart? —By Andy Kroll

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-sales-energy-use-statistics

Its net sales equal some nations' GDPs. Its grocery revenue makes Whole Foods' look downright puny. In other words: really, really big...These charts are part of Mother Jones' investigation into Walmart's much-praised green makeover, for which reporter Andy Kroll traveled to China, the home of many of the retail giant's manufacturers. He found that although Walmart claims to be monitoring its factories' compliance with environmental and labor rules, its auditing system is plagued by corruption. What's more, many factories outsource more than half their work to "shadow" factories—unregulated operations that auditors never visit at all...

[Demeter]

11. Court Says Labor Board Can't Make Employers Post Workers' Legal Rights

http://www.alternet.org/court-says-labor-board-cant-make-employers-post-workers-legal-rights?akid=10416.227380.nVSN4n&rd=1&src=newsletter837832&t=19

A federal appeals court says the National Labor Relations Board cannot require employers to post a notice detailing workers' organizing rights under the National Labor Relations Act, as it attempted to do in 2011.

Judge A. Raymond Randolph, who wrote the decision for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, suggested the rule was a clear violation of free speech rights because the government “selected the message and ordered its citizens to convey that message.”

That is some sweeping logic there. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka responded to the decision in a statement:

In today’s workplace, employers are required to display posters explaining wage and hour rights, health and safety and discrimination laws, even emergency escape routes. The D.C. Circuit ruling suggests that courts should strike down hundreds of notice requirements, not only those that inform workers about their rights and warn them of hazards, but also those on cigarette packages, in home mortgages and many other areas.

For those keeping score, the D.C. appeals court was also responsible for the similarly sweeping decision invalidating President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB, a decision that, if applied to other presidents' recess appointments, would have struck down hundreds in recent decades. While Judge Randolph was not one of the judges involved in that decision, he has authored some real doozies.

SEE HERE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Raymond_Randolph#Notable_cases

[Demeter]

12. ‘Germany’s Choice’ by George Soros

http://www.nationofchange.org/germany-s-choice-george-soros-1368027114

The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a voluntary association of equal states into a creditor-debtor relationship from which there is no easy escape. The creditors stand to lose large sums should a member state exit the monetary union, yet debtors are subjected to policies that deepen their depression, aggravate their debt burden, and perpetuate their subordinate position. As a result, the crisis is now threatening to destroy the EU itself. That would be a tragedy of historic proportions, which only German leadership can prevent.

The causes of the crisis cannot be properly understood without recognizing the euro’s fatal flaw: By creating an independent central bank, member countries have become indebted in a currency that they do not control. At first, both the authorities and market participants treated all government bonds as if they were riskless, creating a perverse incentive for banks to load up on the weaker bonds. When the Greek crisis raised the specter of default, financial markets reacted with a vengeance, relegating all heavily indebted eurozone members to the status of a Third World country over-extended in a foreign currency. Subsequently, the heavily indebted member countries were treated as if they were solely responsible for their misfortunes, and the structural defect of the euro remained uncorrected.

Once this is understood, the solution practically suggests itself. It can be summed up in one word: Eurobonds. If countries that abide by the EU’s new Fiscal Compact were allowed to convert their entire stock of government debt into Eurobonds, the positive impact would be little short of the miraculous. The danger of default would disappear, as would risk premiums. Banks’ balance sheets would receive an immediate boost, as would the heavily indebted countries’ budgets. Italy, for example, would save up to 4% of its GDP; its budget would move into surplus; and fiscal stimulus would replace austerity. As a result, its economy would grow, and its debt ratio would fall. Most of the seemingly intractable problems would vanish into thin air. It would be like waking from a nightmare.

In accordance with the Fiscal Compact, member countries would be allowed to issue new Eurobonds only to replace maturing ones; after five years, the debts outstanding would be gradually reduced to 60% of GDP. If a member country ran up additional debts, it could borrow only in its own name. Admittedly, the Fiscal Compact needs some modifications to ensure that the penalties for noncompliance are automatic, prompt, and not too severe to be credible. A tighter Fiscal Compact would practically eliminate the risk of default. Thus, Eurobonds would not ruin Germany’s credit rating. On the contrary, they would compare favorably with the bonds of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. To be sure, Eurobonds are not a panacea. The boost derived from Eurobonds may not be sufficient to ensure recovery; additional fiscal and/or monetary stimulus may be needed. But having such a problem would be a luxury. More troubling, Eurobonds would not eliminate divergences in competitiveness. Individual countries would still need to undertake structural reforms. The EU would also need a banking union to make credit available on equal terms in every country. (The Cyprus rescue made the need more acute by making the field even more uneven.) But Germany’s acceptance of Eurobonds would transform the atmosphere and facilitate the needed reforms.

Unfortunately, Germany remains adamantly opposed to Eurobonds...


MUCH MORE AT LINK....MUST READ!

[xchrom]

18. DOLLAR RISES ABOVE 100 YEN FOR 1ST TIME IN 4 YEARS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_YEN_DOLLAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-10-06-31-17

TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar soared above 100 yen for the first time in more than four years Friday, driven by aggressive credit-easing aimed at reviving Japan's sluggish economy and improved U.S. economic figures.

The U.S. dollar rose as high as 101.30 yen, the first time since April 2009 that the greenback has traded above 100 yen. The move lifted Japanese stocks to their highest level in more than five years.

The weaker yen is a boon to Japan's major auto and electronics exporters. The government said the yen's fall signaled that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy mix of increased public spending and aggressive monetary easing, dubbed "Abenomics," was proving successful. Kick-starting the economy has been Abe's top priority since he took office late last year.

"With Abenomics, we hope that the Japanese economy will grow and can contribute to the global economy," said Yoshihide Suga, the chief Cabinet spokesman. "It's better that stocks are high than low. We believe this is a sign that our policies are progressing well."

[xchrom]

19. G-7 TO DISCUSS WAYS TO 'NURTURE RECOVERY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_G7_WORLD_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-10-06-59-05

LONDON (AP) -- The role of central banks in shoring up the global economic recovery is set to be a key point of discussion among top financial officials from the world's seven leading economies when they gather in the UK this weekend.

The Japanese yen's continuing weakness is also expected to come under discussion now that the dollar has breached the 100 yen mark for the first time in a little over four years.

In a statement Friday ahead of the Group of Seven's two-day meeting at a country house around 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of London, British finance minister George Osborne said the main task officials face over the coming two days is how to "nurture" the recovery.

"The G-7 is an opportunity to consider what more monetary activism can do to support the recovery, while ensuring medium-term inflation expectations remained anchored," said Osborne, who will be hosting the event alongside the Bank of England's governor Mervyn King.

[xchrom]

20. Kofi Annan: Africa plundered by secret mining deals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22478994

Tax avoidance, secret mining deals and financial transfers are depriving Africa of the benefits of its resources boom, ex-UN chief Kofi Annan has said.

Firms that shift profits to lower tax jurisdictions cost Africa $38bn (£25bn) a year, says a report produced by a panel he heads.

"Africa loses twice as much money through these loopholes as it gets from donors," Mr Annan told the BBC.

It was like taking food off the tables of the poor, he said.

[Demeter]

21. Cruel logic

[xchrom]

22. Reinhart and Rogoff correct austerity research error

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22466551

Two Harvard economists whose widely-cited research on austerity was called into question last month have published a formal correction.

Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff acknowledged errors in the figures in their 2010 paper on government debt and economic growth.

They did not actually state a causal link between high levels of debt and falling rates of economic growth.

However, others have used the research to support austerity policies.

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23. Hedge funds in search of distress take a look at Detroit

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/uk-usa-detroit-funds-idUKLNE94700V20130508

Reuters) - In the past two decades, a group of specialized hedge funds have transformed corporate bankruptcies, injecting much-needed capital while at the same time drawing fire as "vultures."

Now these same funds may be poised to descend on another landscape: struggling cities and counties - and no place beckons more than Detroit.

This sudden interest in the staid world of municipal debt comes as these so-called distressed funds are looking for new places to put their money. Lucrative corporate bankruptcies have dried up, thanks in part to the Federal Reserve's policy of low interest rates.

Of course, these hedge funds may be deterred by the financial and political constraints of local governments, which must pay police and collect trash and cannot be forced into liquidation.

[Demeter]

30. I hope they lose their shirts doing it

Since 1967, and before, the banksters and Corporations have been screwing over Detroit. 46 years of exploitation, abuse and theft.

Redlining--anybody remember that term?

As for the liquidation part...good ole GOP Gov. Snyder has his Emergency Manager pulling out all the stops that keep people from denuding and stripping the city of all portable and transferable wealth, as well as union contracts, pension funds and the like.

[xchrom]

31. oh yes -- i remember the term well. nt

[xchrom]

24. What taxpayer bailouts? Euro crisis saves Germany money

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/02/uk-eurozone-bailouts-idUKLNE94100T20130502

(Reuters) - Throughout Europe's debt crisis, northern European leaders have often said they will not stand for taxpayers having to fork out for other countries' problems, and the notion of "taxpayer-funded bailouts" has taken root.

Yet despite three-and-a-half years of debt and banking turmoil, with bailouts totalling more than 400 billion euros, northern euro zone taxpayers have not actually lost a cent.

What is more, governments in Germany, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands and France have saved billions of euros thanks to a sharp fall in how much they pay to raise money in financial markets since their borrowing costs have dropped steeply.

But that has not prevented the image taking root in voters' minds of hard working northern Europeans putting money on the line to rescue profligate, work-shy southerners, fuelling resentment and undermining Europe's unity.

[xchrom]

25. KRUGMAN: There Is No Bubble In Bonds Or Stocks

http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-there-is-no-bubble-in-bonds-or-stocks-2013-5

***SNIP

First on bonds, he notes that long-term interest rates are primarily a function of the expected path of short-term interest rates. Since inflation is very low by historical standards, and unemployment is still elevated, it makes a lot of sense to presume that the Fed will not be raising rates for a very long time still. Sure they might end QE before too long, but a rate hike is far off in the future. And a substantial rate hike is very far off. Quite simply, bonds look totally reasonably priced given basic assumptions.

As for stocks, there's not much to see here either.

Says Krugman:
O.K., what about stocks? Major stock indexes are now higher than they were at the end of the 1990s, which can sound ominous. It sounds a lot less ominous, however, when you learn that corporate profits — which are, after all, what stocks are shares in — are more than two-and-a-half times higher than they were when the 1990s bubble burst. Also, with bond yields so low, you would expect investors to move into stocks, driving their prices higher.

A lot of this is political, or at least ideological. The big hedge fund managers talking about distorted markets are unhappy about Bernanke and the various efforts to revive the economy, a phenomenon we discussed here. This leads them to make a lot of silly calls about how distorted everything is, when in reality there just isn't any evidence for that.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/krugman-there-is-no-bubble-in-bonds-or-stocks-2013-5#ixzz2Stan6mma

[Demeter]

33. Precious Metals taking a beating again

It's not even subtle, these days.

[Hugin]

34. I'm not buying it.

Sorry, Paul.

[xchrom]

26. In One Chart, Here's Why Roger Altman Is Wrong About How The Markets Forced Austerity On Europe

http://www.businessinsider.com/in-one-chart-heres-why-roger-altman-is-wrong-about-how-the-markets-forced-austerity-on-europe-2013-5

Evercore chairman Roger Altman was on CNBC this morning arguing that austerity in Europe was not a "choice" but rather something that was forced onto countries by raging credit markets that were rebelling against high debt loads.
This is incorrect, and provably so.
Here's a chart going back 3 years of Italian borrowing costs (the yield on the 10-year Italian bond).


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/in-one-chart-heres-why-roger-altman-is-wrong-about-how-the-markets-forced-austerity-on-europe-2013-5#ixzz2StbpYCjw

[xchrom]

27. The Yen Just Keeps Tanking

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-yen-just-keeps-tanking-2013-5

Everyone's just watching, fascinated, as the yen just keeps diving.
Yesterday USDJPY (the dollar vs. the yen) broke through 100 for the first time in years, and now it's already pushing 102.

[xchrom]

28. 'Can't Call That Savings': German Central Bank Head Blasts France

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/bundesbank-head-weidmann-criticizes-french-deficit-reduction-plans-a-898924.html

France needs more time to get its budget deficit under control. That much was made clear last Friday when the European Commission announced it was granting Paris until 2015 to bring its budget deficit below the maximum 3 percent of gross domestic product allowed by European Union rules ensuring the stability of the euro.

But on Wednesday evening, Jens Weidmann, the president of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said he is adamantly opposed to the move. "You can't call that savings, as far as I am concerned," he told the daily Westdeutsche Allegemeine Zeitung in an interview. "To win back trust, we can't just establish rules and then promise to fulfil them at some point in the future. They have to be filled with life," Weidmann said.
France had originally hoped to reduce its budget deficit below the 3 percent limit this year, but with its economy suffering, the deficit is likely to be closer to 4 percent and slightly higher in 2014.

As a euro-zone "heavyweight", Weidmann said, France must strive to set a positive example. "Particularly now, at a time when we have strengthened the rules regarding deficit reduction, we shouldn't damage their credibility by taking advantage of the built-in flexibility. What we need is trust in our ability to clean up state finances."

[xchrom]

29. Mexico Industrial Output Falls Three Times More Than Expected

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-10/mexico-industrial-output-falls-three-times-more-than-expected.html

Mexico’s industrial production fell three times more than forecast in March as the U.S. economy grew less than expected in the first quarter.

Output dropped 4.9 percent from a year earlier, more than the median estimate of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who expected a drop of 1.4 percent. Manufacturing contracted 5.8 percent and construction fell 5.2 percent, the national statistics institute said on its website today.

The central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by half a point to a record low 4 percent on March 8 as growth slowed and inflation remained within the target range. Policy makers left the rate unchanged at their meeting on April 26. Banco de Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens said May 8 that the industrial sector was less dynamic in the first quarter and was affected by weakness in the U.S.

U.S. gross domestic product rose at a 2.5 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said on April 26. The median estimate of 86 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 3 percent gain.

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32. Resource Strain Pushes Coca-Cola, Dow to Put Price Tags on Nature

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/resource-strain-pushes-companies-to-put-price-tags-on-nature.html

Bloomberg BNA — Companies are starting to consider the value of natural resources in making business decisions, a practice that will become increasingly important as those resources become further constrained, corporate representatives say.

The practice, called natural capital accounting, is a way for companies to accurately assess and manage risk, maintain their social license to operate, manage or lower operating costs, and secure a competitive advantage, the representatives say.

Increasingly scarce resources, growing competition for those resources, and population growth are some of the factors prompting companies to look at valuing and protecting natural capital, said Denise Knight, sustainable agriculture director for The Coca-Cola Co.
Companies like Coca-Cola are working one-on-one with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wildlife Fund to assign a monetary value to natural resources, such as clean water, and the services they provide and then use these calculations in making business decisions. Efforts to establish standard methodologies across companies or industries for conducting natural capital accounting are under way, but still in the early stages

[DemReadingDU]

35. Your Nest Egg May Contain Sticks of Dynamite

5/10/13 Your Nest Egg May Contain Sticks of Dynamite

Does the bond fund you’re holding as a way to buffer your portfolio from the risk of stocks, actually contain more risk than you think? These funds could in fact contain sticks of dynamite, according to Bob Rice, managing partner at Tangent Capital and author of The Alternative Answer. He explains why in the accompanying video.

“You can’t hold a bond fund until maturity, there is no maturity date on a bond fund,” Rice explains (this matters because interest rates or the yield on a bond move in the opposite direction of its price). “Right now interest rates are so low. They have only been this low three percent of the time that U.S. treasuries have existed. So the odds of them increasing are very high, and if that happens many of these bond funds will suffer 20%, 30%, 40% declines in value. So the idea that your bond fund is safe is really misleading.”

Not only that, more than ever bond funds are investing in stocks, which could expose investors to volatility they don’t know about. Rice says, understanding the dynamics of the bond market that he has described, bond managers have taken advantage of their ability in most cases to invest up to 20% in stocks.

video at link
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/nest-egg-may-contain-sticks-dynamite-131223370.html?vp=1