Weekend Economists and the Man in the Checkered Career August 16-18, 2013

[Demeter]

Bert Lance died Thursday this week.

Who, you ask?

Thomas Bertram "Bert" Lance (June 3, 1931 – August 15, 2013) was an American businessman, who was Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He is known mainly for his resignation from President Jimmy Carter's administration due to a scandal in 1977. He was cleared of all charges.

Lance was born in Gainesville, Georgia and lived in Gordon County (Calhoun), Georgia. His father, Thomas Jackson Lance, had served as president of Young Harris College. In 1941, the family relocated to Calhoun when Lance's father became superintendent of the Calhoun schools. Lance graduated from the University of Georgia in 1951 and was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity at the Delta Chapter. He graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge and Rutgers. While attending college he married LaBelle David, whose family owned the Calhoun First National Bank; they had four sons. After graduation, Lance became a clerk at the bank and within a decade, its president. He later served as president of the National Bank of Georgia in Atlanta from 1975 to 1977.---WIKI

SO HE MARRIED THE BOSS'S DAUGHTER AND QUICKLY ADVANCED TO PRESIDENT OF THE BANK....

Lance became acquainted with Jimmy Carter during the latter's time as Governor of Georgia, and served as State Highway Director during his administration. Lance ran to succeed Carter in 1974, but lost a bid for the Democratic nomination, finishing third in the first primary, behind Lester Maddox and the eventual winner, George Busbee. During the campaign, Lance accrued campaign debts of nearly $600,000.

Lance was an adviser to Jimmy Carter during Carter's successful 1976 campaign. After Carter's victory over President Gerald Ford, Lance was named Director of the Office of Management and the Budget (OMB). According to former OMB officials, it was well known in the department that Bert Lance and President Carter prayed together every morning.

Within six months, questions were raised by the press and Congress about mismanagement and corruption when Lance was Chairman of the Board of Calhoun First National Bank of Georgia. William Safire's article written during this time, Carter's Broken Lance, later earned a Pulitzer Prize.

SO, A DABBLER IN POLITICS, HE WAS ONE OF THE GOOD OLE BOY CRONIES THAT WAS USED TO BEAT THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION OVER THE HEAD.....

This was an embarrassment for Carter's administration, particularly as it occurred soon after Nixon's Watergate scandal and President Ford's pardon of Nixon just before he could be impeached. To insure there was no hint of similar impropriety in the Carter administration, Lance resigned his position. Later, after a well-publicized trial in 1981, Lance was acquitted by a jury on all 9 charges.

In 1981, Lance returned to the Calhoun First National Bank as Chairman. He left in 1986. He then made something of a political comeback in 1982 when he was elected Chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party. In 1984 Walter Mondale, who was the Democratic candidate for U.S. President at the time, sought to name Lance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, but was forced to withdraw his name because it was felt that it would hurt Mondale's chances. In 1988 Lance was an advisor to Jesse Jackson during Jackson's presidential campaign.

IN OTHER WORDS, HE WAS STAGE-STRUCK, BUT NEITHER PARTICULARLY TALENTED, NOR PARTICULARLY WELL-CONNECTED. BUT HE HAD THE EGO...

...(HE) cruised around Washington during Inaugural week in a black Cadillac bearing special license plates with BERT on the front bumper and LANCE on the back...

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915153,00.html#ixzz2cAzbuxcp

I'M HAVING NO LUCK FINDING THE PHOTO OF THIS CAR THAT I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER SEEING...

Lance is credited with originating the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", when he was quoted saying it in the May 1977 issue of the magazine Nation's Business. The expression became widespread, and William Safire wrote that it "has become a source of inspiration to anti-activists."

OTHER, MORE SUCCESSFUL POLITICOS QUICKLY SHORTENED THAT TO "IT AIN'T BROKE" OR MORE OFTEN, "WE CAN'T AFFORD TO FIX IT, SO LET'S THROW IT OUT ENTIRELY".

NEED I ADD THAT I DON'T HAVE A HIGH OPINION OF WILLIAM SAFIRE, EITHER?

Lance died on August 15, 2013 at his home in northwest Georgia. He had been in hospice care due to recent declining health. He was 82.

[Demeter]

1. BCCI scandal (WHAT WAS THAT, YOU ASK?)

BCCI was often referred to as the Bank of Crooks and Criminals. It was a forerunner for today's banksters, laundering drug money, CIA money, Mafia money, and losing money while doing so.

The world's worst banking scandal, inflicting huge financial losses on thousands of people worldwide, surfaced in the media in 1991. This was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). As could be expected, it had heavy ties with the CIA, terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, and any other crooked financial transaction shunned by most other banks. It financed terrorist activities, financed drug trafficking deals, defrauded depositors. Years before it was shut down, Robert Gates referred to BCCI as the Bank of Crooks and Criminals.

Following a standard pattern, Justice Department officials and the various divisions including the FBI, and other government agencies, kept the lid on the worldwide criminal activities of the bank. It wasn't until law enforcement agencies in Europe and a state prosecutor in New York City prepared to file charges that the bank's corrupt operations were shut down in the United States. By that time billions of dollars were lost by thousands of depositors all over the world.

BCCI was a private bank operating in over seventy countries, including the United States. At one time BCCI had over 400 branches in 78 countries, and assets of over $20 billion. Its holding company was based in Luxembourg and its principal operation in London. The primary bank supervisor for BCCI was Luxembourg Monetary Institute, the central bank of Luxembourg.

The BCCI scandal was related to other criminal activities, including BNL; Iraqgate; Iran and its Contra cousin; and others. BCCI and BNL both played a role in the Iraqi armament buildup, in which funds provided by U.S. taxpayers were forwarded by the Atlanta branch of Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. There were numerous cross-dealings between the banks. BCCI used its international connections to fund loans to BNL, which funded the Iraqi weapon buildups, which then required the U.S. taxpayer to fund much of the Persian Gulf War.

Defrauding America, Chapter 23 http://www.copi.com/defrauding_america/chp_23.htm

BERT GOT IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR ON THIS ONE...

Lance was implicated in the BCCI scandal of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was involved in deals with notable BCCI luminaries Agha Hasan Abedi, Mochtar Riady and Ghaith Pharaon and with BCCI's largest borrower, P. S. Prasad, and joined with Arkansas-based power investor Jackson Stephens in facilitating BCCI's takeover of Financial General Bankshares.

Lance and Stephens made millions in the wake of BCCI's collapse.

In January 1978, Lance sold his stock in National Bank of Georgia to Ghaith Pharaon, while on the same day, BCCI founder Agha Hasan Abedi paid off Lance's $3.5 million loan at the First National Bank of Chicago. The following month, Lance helped BCCI with their hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares of Washington. The attempt failed, but three years later, BCCI secretly acquired the bank (renamed First American Bankshares) using 15 Arab investors as nominees. The next year, Lance introduced Jimmy Carter to Abedi. In 1987, First American Bankshares acquired National Bank of Georgia from Pharaon.

BCCI was terminated in 1991 and it was subsequently revealed that the bank had engaged in many illegal activities, including secretly controlling several U.S. banks, in violation of federal banking statutes....WIKI

UNFORTUNATELY, JPMORGAN MAY HAVE BROKEN THIS RECORD...NOBODY'S UPDATED THE LIST, TO MY KNOWLEDGE.

[Demeter]

2. NO BANKS DOWN AS OF 7:30 PM EDT

But check back....

[Demeter]

3. Bert's bank is not as it was. It's now part of the TBTF

Calhoun First National Bank is now owned by BB&T.

The BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking & Trust) is an American bank with assets of US$182 billion (September 2012), offering commercial and retail banking services along with other financial services such as insurance, investments, retail brokerage, mortgage, corporate finance, consumer finance, payment services, international banking, leasing and trust. Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, BB&T operates more than 1,800 financial centers in the United States including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C..

BB&T dates back to 1872, when Alpheus Branch and Thomas Jefferson Hadley founded the "Branch and Hadley" merchant bank in their small hometown of Wilson, North Carolina. After many transactions, mostly with local farmers, Branch bought out Hadley's shares in 1887 and renamed the company to "Branch and Company, Bankers." Two years later, Branch, his father-in-law Gen. Joshua Barnes, Hadley, and three other men, secured a charter from the North Carolina General Assembly to operate the "Wilson Banking and Trust Company." After numerous additional name changes, the company finally settled on the name "Branch Banking and Trust Company". Branch remained an active member in the company until his death in 1893.

BB&T sold Liberty Bonds during World War I and grew to have more than $4 million in assets by 1923. An insurance division was added in 1922, followed by a mortgage division in 1923. As banks across the nation failed as a result of the 1929 Stock Market Crash, BB&T survived; it was the only one to do so in the town of Wilson.

World War II revived BB&T. BB&T's prosperity continued into the 1960s and 1970s, as mergers and acquisitions grew the company to $343 million in assets with new branches in 35 cities. By 1994, BB&T had become North Carolina's largest bank with more than $10.3 billion in assets and 263 offices in 138 cities in the Carolinas, though it has since slipped to second behind Bank of America.

In 1995, BB&T and Southern National Bank, another bank with roots in the eastern part of the state, completed a "merger of equals." In an unusual arrangement, the holding company retained the Southern National name for a few years, but all of its banks took the BB&T name. This gave the new BB&T 437 branches in 220 cities in the Carolinas and Virginia. The bank continued to expand nationwide through the 1990s, purchasing Fidelity Financial Bankshares, First Financial of Petersburg, Maryland Federal Bancorp and Franklin Bancorporation in the Virginia/Maryland area. In 1999, BB&T acquired MainStreet Financial Corp. of Martinsville, Va., and Mason-Dixon Bancshares of Westminster, Md., and further expanded into Georgia and West Virginia after purchasing First Liberty of Macon, Ga., and Matewan Bancshares. The latter deal made BB&T the largest bank in West Virginia, a position it has held on to since.

From 2000 to 2005, BB&T acquired numerous smaller banks, expanding into Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Florida. By Dec. 31, 2005, BB&T Corporation had secured $109.2 billion in assets; operated more than 1,500 banking offices in 11 states and the District of Columbia; and had more than 28,000 employees.

In early 2007 BB&T acquired Coastal Federal Bank which is primarily located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It has been one of the Carolinas' fastest growing banks. After BB&T's announcement of an opportunity for a "merger of equals" it was speculated that it would be a merger with either Regions Financial of Birmingham or Fifth Third of Cincinnati.

In late 2008 the bank accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money through the sale of its preferred shares to the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank said in June 2009 that it had received approval to repurchase the shares. Also in June 2009, its chairman, John A. Allison IV delivered a keynote address to a meeting of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where he claimed to show how government regulation caused the 2007-2009 financial collapse.

On August 14, 2009, it was announced that the deposits and loan accounts of the Colonial Bank were being transferred to BB&T as part of Colonial Bank's receivership by the FDIC. This acquisition added more than 340 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas along with approximately $22 billion in assets. This moved BB&T Corporation to the 10th largest commercial bank in the United States based on assets. BB&T quickly flipped the Nevada branch to U.S. Bancorp (dropping it to 10th overall), but hung on to its Texas branches, despite the Texas branches being outside of its historical footprint. As of November 1, 2011, In acquiring BankAtlantic, BB&T will acquire approximately $2.1 billion in loans and assume approximately $3.3 billion in deposits....wiki

This conglomerate of banks still exists...it even is not grossly out of line

http://banktracker.investigativereportingworkshop.org/banks/north-carolina/winston-salem/branch-banking-and-trust-company/

[Demeter]

4. Bert Lance, Carter Adviser, Dies at 82 By ROBERT D. HERSHEY Jr. NYT OBIT

Bert was from the South, and you remember what Faulkner, another Southern boy, said:

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/politics/bert-lance-carter-adviser-dies-at-82.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Bert Lance, a small-town Georgia banker who became pre-eminent adviser and tennis-playing confidant to Jimmy Carter but was forced to resign after eight months as director of the Office of Management and Budget because of accusations that he had personally traded on his ties with the president, died on Thursday in Georgia. He was 82.

His death was confirmed in a statement from Mr. Carter, who called him “one of the most competent and dedicated public servants I have ever known.”

Mr. Lance died at home near Calhoun, Ga., Thursday evening, said the Gordon County deputy coroner, Heath Derryberry. The cause was not immediately known, Mr. Derryberry said, but Mr. Lance had been in failing health and was receiving hospice care...

... Mr. Lance’s troubles during his brief Washington tenure were a blow to the new administration, which took office in 1977 after campaigning as an antidote to the Watergate era culminating in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. His departure meant the loss of an important bridge to the business community and a voice counseling restraint of the populist tendencies elsewhere in the administration.

Later, Mr. Lance was indicted and subsequently cleared in the financial scandal involving the shuttered Bank of Credit and Commerce International, for which he served as a consultant after selling his controlling interest in the National Bank of Georgia to an Arab business associate of the B.C.C.I. president....

...He took a (first) job as a $90-a-month teller at the Calhoun First National Bank, which had been founded by his wife’s grandfather. He and some associates bought control of the bank in 1958 and five years later Mr. Lance had risen to chief executive... ...

[Demeter]

5. Summers & Bezos Get Virtually No Scrutiny by the Media, Just Awe and Praise /By Dean Baker

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/larry-summers-and-jeff-bezos-get-virtually-no-scrutiny-media?akid=10803.227380.q63GZH&rd=1&src=newsletter882752&t=20

It will be a big step forward when reporters and columnists are able to look at the people they consider brilliant with open eyes and talk about their accomplishments and failures in a serious way...The news in the last couple of weeks has had endless references to two people who we have been repeatedly told are brilliant: former Treasury Secretary and top Obama advisor Larry Summers and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The paeans to the genius of both men say a great deal about the quality of public debate in elite circles.

Larry Summers has been in the news because President Obama told a number of reporters of his desire to have Summers replace current Federal Reserve Board chair Ben Bernanke when his term ends in January. This caught many by surprise, since Janet Yellen seemed the obvious pick for this position. In addition to having served the last two years as vice-chair at the Fed, Yellen had previously been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, headed President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors, and been a member of the Board of Governors. Yellen also had an outstanding academic background, having been a professor at both Berkeley and Harvard. In addition, she would be the first woman to chair the Fed.

But Summers supporters countered that the country needed his brilliant mind. New York Times columnist David Brooks led the charge, telling the audience of an NPR show about Summers' "meta-cognition skills," which Brooks defined as his ability to know what he doesn't know. While most of us really don't have any idea of how smart Summers actually is, we do have some basis to assess his record. He was a big proponent of deregulation of the financial sector in 1990s and in the last decade, right up to when the collapse of the housing bubble led to the financial crisis. Apparently his meta-cognition skills didn't help him much on that one. Summers also was an opponent of actions to break up the big banks even when they when they were bankrupt and would have collapsed if the market was allowed to work its magic. Largely as a result of Summers' actions, the big banks are bigger and more profitable than ever. Summers also played a role in getting President Obama to accept a less than adequate stimulus and then shifting his focus to deficit reduction, even when the economy clearly needed more stimulus. The weak recovery and continued high unemployment is the price that we are paying for these policies. Whatever meta-cognition skills Summers may have, they do not seem to have benefited the country thus far.

Jeff Bezos has been in the news because of the surprise announcement of his purchase of the Washington Post for $250 million, roughly 1 percent of Bezos' estimated wealth. This announcement was quickly followed by news stories praising Bezos' extraordinary business acumen in building up Amazon as the dominant force in on-line retailing. While Bezos has succeeded over many competitors in the online world, it was more than just his brilliance that allowed him to get a hand up on the competition. In the vast majority of states Amazon has an advantage over brick-and-mortar competition (including brick-and-mortar stores with Internet sales) because it does not have to collect sales tax. This is a really big deal. In many states, including California and New York, sales taxes are in the range of 7-8 percent. This means that if Jeff Bezos and a mom and pop retail outlet could both deliver the same product to your house for $100, Bezos would be able to pocket an extra $7-$8 on the sale because the mom and pop retail outlet has to collect the tax, whereas Jeff Bezos gets to put everything you pay into his pocket...

MORE

[DemReadingDU]

6. Bert Lance

I vaguely remember this guy. During this time I had 2 babies and then was recovering from a car crash, then going back to school. Nice to have him as a weekend topic, so I can read what I missed 30 years ago.

[Demeter]

7. Politicians who are charged with wrongdoing often not convicted 1980 ARTICLE

EVER SINCE FORD PARDONED NIXON....WHY BOTHER, IF A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON IS JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY?

http://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0610/061043.html/%28page%29/2

Despite the low public esteem of American politicians, those charged with improprieties are enjoying a surprising run of success in escaping conviction. In little over one year, seven persons current or former Washington political figures have won acquital or dismissal of an assortment of corruptions charges -- often in jury trials.

The latest is Bert Lance, the former federal budget director and friend of President Carter, who was cleared April 30 in Atlanta of nine bank fraud charges.

Only three defendants of similar political standing have been convicted during the same period. And even two of these were nearly spared -- one on an initial hung jury, another on a temporary judicial exoneration.

The recent string of defeats suffered by corruption prosecutors is leading some critics to raise questions of professional competency and is stirring rumblings of discontent within the US Department of Justice itself.

The long losing streak:

* The acquittal of Mr. Lance.

* Dismissal in Febraury of charges against former Rep. Henry Helstoski (D) of New Jersey that he had taken bribes for assisting illegal aliens, after the US Supreme Court in June had granted him constitutional immunity from evidence based on his legislative actions.

* Acquittal in November of Rep. Claude (Buddy) Leach (D) of Louisiana on vote-buying charges. A second trial is scheduled this year on campaign finance allegations.

* Dismissal in August of perjury charges against former Rep. Nick Galifianakis (D) of North Carolina -- the last of the government's court cases in the two-year investigation of alleged South Korean influence buying. The probe resulted in the jailing of just one of the 31 current and former lawmakers who accepted Korean funds.

* Dismissal in April, 1979, of local assault charges against Rep. Michael O. (Ozzie) Myers (D) of Pennsylvania. (Congressman Myers, however, was indicated last month by a federal grand jury on bribery and conspiracy charges growing out of the ABSCAM investigation, along with fellow Pennsylvania Rep. Raymond Lederer , also a Democrat.)

* Acquittal in April, 1979, of former Rep. Otto Passman (D) of Louisiana on accusations of accepting illegal gifts from South Korean rice dealer Tong Sun Park, as well as tax evasion and conspiracy.

The list of comparable courtroom victories during the same 13-month span is much shorter....

[Fuddnik]

8. I recall Lance being mentioned in Daniel Ellsberg's memoirs.

Possibly as a NSC staffer or Defense Department official under Johnson. Can't remember exactly. I'll have to dig it up.

[Demeter]

9. Two Petitions about the Federal Reserve

Do not nominate Larry Summers to head the Federal Reserve

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/do-not-nominate-larry-summers-head-federal-reserve/jjNxxvXp

Nominate Janet Yellin as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and not Larry Summers -- NO MORE CRONIES !!!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/nominate-janet-yellin-next-chairman-federal-reserve-board-and-not-larry-summers-no-more-cronies/qZCtqFWs

Both these petitions are (supposedly) going right to the Oval Office, if they hit 100,000 signatures BEFORE August 24th, and Obama promised he would reply to all petitions that met this requirement (and we all know what his promises are worth).

Still we must do something! YVES SMITH recommends signing both.

[Demeter]

10. Obama’s Approval on the Economy Drops Sharply By: Jon Walker

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/08/15/obamas-approval-on-the-economy-drops-sharply/

Over the past two months President Obama’s overall job approval rating is down only slightly but his approval rating on the issue of the economy has dropped significantly. According to Gallup, since June the number of people who approve of his handling of the economy is down 7 points. Now almost twice as many people disapprove of his handling of the economy (62%) as approve (35%)....


THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING US

[Demeter]

11. A Disturbance in the Force? YVES SMITH NAKED CAPITALISM

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/08/a-disturbance-in-the-force.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

...The feeling I have is that of heightened generalized tension, the social/political equivalent of the sort of disturbance that animals detect in advance of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, of pressure building up along major fault lines. The other way to articulate this vibe is that it is as if events are being influenced by a large unseen gravitational or magnetic force, as if a black hole had moved into the ‘hood. We can’t see the hidden superdense object, but we can infer that it’s distorting the space around it.

Now if you just want to go with the “maybe this is just your neurosis” view, we are in the midst of a counterrevolution, and it’s not exactly cheery to be watching its progress on a daily basis.

It isn’t just that the economic rights for ordinary workers and the social safety nets of the New Deal and the earlier labor movements here and abroad are being demolished. Major elements of a broad social and political architecture that served as the foundation for the Industrial Revolution are being torn apart: the Statute of Fraud (essential to give people of every level of society decent protection of property rights) and access to legal remedies; basic protection of personal rights (habeas corpus, due process, protection against unlawful search and seizure); local policing (as in policing being accountable to local governments). Decent quality public education and the freedom of the press are also under assault. People here have used various terms for this new political order that is being put in place; neofeudalism works as well as any, but it looks intended to dial the clock back on many economic and civil rights of ordinary people, not back to the Gilded Age, but to before the French and American Revolutions.

The sense of heightened tension isn’t that this program is underway, or the recent phases have moved rapidly (that’s bad enough) but that ordinary people are increasingly aware of it, and the folks behind it didn’t want to be caught out at this delicate stage. Imagine if you were executing a coup and got exposed, before you had seized all the critical installations you needed to capture for your victory to be complete...

MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

12. BofA may settle with FHFA; Morgan Stanley analysts predict worst-case scenerio of $3.6bn

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26221-bofa-may-settle-with-fhfa


Morgan Stanley analysts Betsy Grasek and Michael Cyprus speculate that Bank of America (BAC) may settle with the Federal Housing Finance Agency for anywhere between $2 billion to $3.6 billion according to a note in Seeking Alpha.

The FHFA is suing several banks for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

UBS Americas decided to settle recently with the FHFA for $885 million.

More news of settlements is expected over the next few months as the FHFA goes down the list.

[Demeter]

13. Obama’s unconstitutional steps worse than Nixon’s By George F. Will

GODDESS HELP ME, I'M AGREEING WITH GEORGE WILL!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-obamas-unconstitutional-steps-worse-than-nixons/2013/08/14/e0bd6cb2-044a-11e3-9259-e2aafe5a5f84_story.html?hpid=z2

President Obama’s increasingly grandiose claims for presidential power are inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency. Desperation fuels arrogance as, barely 200 days into the 1,462 days of his second term, his pantry of excuses for failure is bare, his domestic agenda is nonexistent and his foreign policy of empty rhetorical deadlines and red lines is floundering. And at last week’s news conference he offered inconvenience as a justification for illegality.

Explaining his decision to unilaterally rewrite the Affordable Care Act (ACA), he said: “I didn’t simply choose to” ignore the statutory requirement for beginning in 2014 the employer mandate to provide employees with health care. No, “this was in consultation with businesses.” He continued: “In a normal political environment, it would have been easier for me to simply call up the speaker and say, you know what, this is a tweak that doesn’t go to the essence of the law. . . . It looks like there may be some better ways to do this, let’s make a technical change to the law. That would be the normal thing that I would prefer to do. But we’re not in a normal atmosphere around here when it comes to Obamacare. We did have the executive authority to do so, and we did so.”

Serving as props in the scripted charade of White House news conferences, journalists did not ask the pertinent question: “Where does the Constitution confer upon presidents the ‘executive authority’ to ignore the separation of powers by revising laws?” The question could have elicited an Obama rarity: brevity. Because there is no such authority. Obama’s explanation began with an irrelevancy. He consulted with businesses before disregarding his constitutional duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” That duty does not lapse when a president decides Washington’s “political environment” is not “normal.” When was it “normal”? The 1850s? The 1950s? Washington has been the nation’s capital for 213 years; Obama has been here less than nine. Even if he understood “normal” political environments here, the Constitution is not suspended when a president decides the “environment” is abnormal. Neither does the Constitution confer on presidents the power to rewrite laws if they decide the change is a “tweak” not involving the law’s “essence.” Anyway, the employer mandate is essential to the ACA.

Twenty-three days before his news conference, the House voted 264 to 161, with 35 Democrats in the majority, for the rule of law — for, that is, the Authority for Mandate Delay Act. It would have done lawfully what Obama did by ukase. He threatened to veto this use of legislation to alter a law. The White House called it “unnecessary,” presumably because he has an uncircumscribed “executive authority” to alter laws.

In a 1977 interview with Richard Nixon, David Frost asked: “Would you say that there are certain situations . . . where the president can decide that it’s in the best interests of the nation . . . and do something illegal?”

Nixon: “Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

Frost: “By definition.”

Nixon: “Exactly, exactly.”

AND THERE'S MORE TO AGREE WITH, AT LINK

[xchrom]

14. The Death Of A 19-Year-Old Greek Student Has Become The Symbol Of What's Wrong With Austerity

http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-students-death-symbolize-whats-wrong-with-austerity-2013-8


People stand around flowers at the site where 19-year-old Greek student Thanassis Kanaoutis died after an argument with a bus ticket inspector in the middle-class Peristeri suburb, near Athens, August 16, 2013.

ATHENS (Reuters) - A 19-year-old Greek student who died after an argument with a bus ticket inspector has come to symbolize the plight of a population ground down by worsening poverty and unemployment.

Thanassis Kanaoutis suffered a fatal head injury when he fell or jumped from a moving bus as it passed through a middle-class neighborhood of Athens late on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have not yet established how Kanaoutis died.

Witnesses said they saw him brawl with the ticket inspector. The bus company said he pulled the emergency brake to jump out, but the family's lawyer said Kanaoutis might have been pushed during the altercation.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-students-death-symbolize-whats-wrong-with-austerity-2013-8#ixzz2cEBZoUmm

[DemReadingDU]

15. Miranda Warning 2013

[xchrom]

16. Justice Department Trying To Prevent Ben Bernanke From Having To Testify In AIG Bailout Lawsuit

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-tries-saving-bernanke-from-testifying-2013-8

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Friday asked an appeals court to reverse a judge's ruling last month that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke must testify in a lawsuit about American International Group Inc's <AIG.N> 2008 bailout.

Bernanke cannot be forced to sit for a deposition because high-ranking U.S. government officials are generally protected from being drawn into time-consuming civil litigation, the Justice Department said in its petition.

The petition was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.

"The demands of civil litigation, if not appropriately limited by the courts, will impair the ability of senior government officials to lead the departments and agencies for which they are responsible," the petition said.

Parties to a lawsuit also do not have the right to depose agency officials to cross-examine the basis of their decisions, the Justice Department argued.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-tries-saving-bernanke-from-testifying-2013-8#ixzz2cEMPWULd

[Demeter]

20. No one is above the law

And the truth might set us all free.

[xchrom]

17. The NSA Held A Rare Conference Call To Defend Their Surveillance Programs As Lawful

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-conference-call-defend-2013-8

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under increasing pressure to justify electronic surveillance programs that at times capture communications of American citizens, the U.S. National Security Agency went to unusual lengths on Friday to insist its activities are lawful and any mistakes largely unintentional.

In a sign of how much heat it has taken since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden started disclosing details of highly classified U.S. surveillance programs, the ultra-secretive intelligence agency held a rare conference call with reporters to counter public perceptions that NSA transgressions were willful violations of rules against eavesdropping on Americans.

The NSA's presentation was an attempt to calm the latest firestorm over documents disclosed by Snowden. The Washington Post late Thursday reported that the NSA had broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since 2008, citing an internal agency audit and other top secret documents.

"These are not willful violations, they are not malicious, these are not people trying to break the law," John DeLong, NSA director of compliance, told reporters.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-conference-call-defend-2013-8#ixzz2cEN8mMk6

[Demeter]

21. Which part of Unconstitutional do they not understand?

[Demeter]

33. Audit Finds NSA Broke Rules Thousands Of Times - The Snowden Effect, Continued - Esquire

Charles P. Pierce WRITES A MEAN COLUMN...HERE IS THE MONEY PARAGRAPH, BUT GO READ THE WHOLE THING


http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Snowden_Effect_And_What_Should_Happen_Now

...It's well past time for another Church Committee -- or, if you will, another Pecora Commission -- dedicated to a full exposition of the surveillance state and its place in our lives and in our democracy. No half-truths. No hedging. No James Clappers, slow-dancing with perjury and obstruction of Congress. Put people under oath and compel their testimony as to what is being done in our name, especially what is being done to us in our name. If we're going to have a "national conversation," then let's have a by-god national conversation, and let it be held in the place where we are supposed to have our national conversations on issues like this -- in the Congress, among our elected representative, out in the open and in the light of day. Let us at least have all the information so we can decide for ourselves how to keep ourselves safe. We are not fragile children. We're the world's oldest democracy. We should damned well begin to raise hell and act like it...

[xchrom]

18. Murdoch's UK unit could face corporate hacking charges - source

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/16/uk-newscorp-hacking-police-idUKBRE97F11V20130816

(Reuters) - London police are actively investigating Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper business for possible criminal violations over allegations of phone-hacking and illegal payments to public officials by its journalists, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Murdoch's News Corp said it was aware of the police inquiry but gave no further details.

Until now, the investigation appeared to be focused on News Corp employees rather than the corporation.

British police launched an investigation in January 2011 into claims journalists at Murdoch's now defunct News of the World tabloid had been illegally accessing mobile phone voice-mail messages to find stories.

[xchrom]

19. The Case For Giving Poor People Handouts With No Strings Attached

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/the-case-for-giving-poor-people-handouts-with-no-strings-attached/278770/


Children at the Fkih Tahiri Primary School in Fes on June 1, 2007. ( Rafael Marchante/Reuters)



Morocco is one of the more developed countries in Africa, but only about half -- 56 percent -- of its population can read. Most schools there lack electricity, and many don't even have toilets. Most children living in the country's rural areas start primary school, but about 40 percent drop out before finishing six years of primary education. The rudimentary education system makes its mark in the country's test scores: It's ranked 59 out of 69 countries in math and 64 out of 70 on science.

To nudge families to keep their children in school, researchers recently experimented with giving parents in the country's poorest districts small grants of between $8 and $10 per child each month. Some of them were told they'd only get paid if their child attended school regularly, but the others were simply handed money, told nothing, and sent on their way.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that giving out money without any preconditions was more effective than asking families to do something in exchange for their bounty.

"To the extent that conditionality had any impact, it was a negative one," they concluded.

[Demeter]

22. JPMorgan in $23 million settlement with clients over Lehman

THAT'S ALL?

http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-23-million-settlement-clients-over-lehman-194612519.html

JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to pay $23 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of mishandling money of pension funds and other clients by investing it in notes from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, which later went bankrupt. The largest U.S. bank denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and entered the settlement solely to eliminate the burden and cost of litigation, according to papers filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs called the settlement terms fair, reasonable and adequate, according to Friday's filing. The settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan. The case over the Lehman notes had been bought on behalf of participants in JPMorgan's securities lending program, led by the Operating Engineers Pension Trust of Pasadena, California, and had sought class action status.... The settlement is one of two disclosed on Friday over claims against JPMorgan tied to the recent credit and financial crises.

Liquidators for two Bear Stearns hedge funds that collapsed in 2007 because of problems with subprime mortgages agreed to drop their lawsuit against JPMorgan, which bought Bear in 2008, to recoup at least $1.1 billion of losses. Terms of that settlement were not disclosed.

In the Lehman case, the plaintiffs said JPMorgan wrongly put their money in Lehman notes despite being "uniquely positioned," as Lehman's main clearing bank, to know that Lehman's survival was in question, and while reducing its own exposure. The Operating Engineers trust said JPMorgan in 2006 bought $446,000 of Lehman notes on its behalf with collateral it had posted, and refused to sell as Lehman's troubles mounted. It said these notes lost 85 percent of their value when Lehman went bankrupt on September 15, 2008.

In March, Forrest rejected JPMorgan's motion to dismiss the case. A different federal judge had dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit, but allowed the case to be brought again. The plaintiffs' lawyers plan to apply for attorneys' fees not to exceed 30 percent of the settlement fund, court papers show....



FOLKS, I THINK WE FOUND US A LAW FIRM! ALL HAIL Paul Geller, a partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd

IT'S NOT CLEAR FROM THIS BRIEF SUMMARY WHETHER IT WAS A CLASS-ACTION SUIT. IF IT WASN'T, I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD GET A $23M SETTLEMENT ON A $446,000 LOSS--OR IF THEY DID, THAT WAS SOME PENALTY!

[xchrom]

23. Make this Drink to Celebrate National Rum Day

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52274/make-drink-celebrate-national-rum-day



Today is National Rum Day, which for some reason is not yet a federal holiday. However, unlike Arbor Day or Grover Cleveland’s birthday, this is a holiday you should take the trouble to celebrate. That’s why we’ll be throwing back Cuba Libres in the mental_floss offices this afternoon.

The mojito and daiquiri may get all of the glory as rum cocktails, but Bacardi has been pushing to restore the Cuba Libre—a concoction of rum, cola, and lime juice—to its rightful place among these summer classics. Once we tasted a Cuba Libre, a venerable cocktail that dates back to Havana at the turn of the 20th century, we were sold.

You wouldn’t think a squeeze of lime would be enough to cut through the sweetness of cola and rum to make an impact on the drink, but that little splash of citrus is magic. It transforms the boring old rum and Coke—a drink that tastes more like a night of making bad decisions in college than a real cocktail—into something surprisingly refreshing. The acidic lime is the perfect counterpunch to the other two ingredients’ overwhelming sweetness, and we give it extra points for being so easy to make.

Here’s the recipe—give it a try and let us know what you think:

- 3 parts cola
- 1 part rum (we’ve been using Bacardi Gold)
- 1 lime wedge



Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/52274/make-drink-celebrate-national-rum-day#ixzz2cEaxhZPq
--brought to you by mental_floss!

[Demeter]

25. All my days are rum

but I don't have time to indulge.

Cracks me up that they would be pushing anything with the appellation "Cuba". I thought that was the country we do not name.

[Demeter]

24. Stocks fall Friday; Dow sees worst week of year

IN THE WORDS OF MAE WEST: YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-steady-before-consumer-gauge-2013-08-16?siteid=YAHOOB

U.S. stocks declined on Friday, handing the Dow Jones Industrial Average its worst week this year, with investors on uncertain footing as longer-term Treasury yields rose to two-year highs... For the week, the Dow lost 344 points, or 2.2%, suffering its biggest weekly percentage drop and point loss of 2013. It was the blue-chip index’s worst weekly percentage slide since May 2012, and its largest point decline since June 2012.

The S&P 500 slumped nearly 36 points, or 2.10%, for the week, suffering its biggest weekly point drop of the year, but not its biggest percentage decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down just 1.6% for the week, as Apple’s weekly gain provided a boost.

All three main stock indexes lost ground for the second week in a row.

“Stocks are taking their lead from the bond market. Higher yields are not good news for stocks, but if higher yields come because the economy is getting stronger,” the latter would be positive for equities, said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

IF YOU SAY SO, DEAR. I RATHER THINK THERE'S NO STRENGTH INVOLVED HERE, JUST WEAKNESS FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA.

[Tansy_Gold]

27. I think that was Al Jolson, "You ain't heard nothin' yet"

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/you-aint-heard-nothing-yet-how-one-sentence-uttered-by-al-jolson-changed-the-movie-industry-464743.html

One sentence uttered on screen that night 80 years ago changed the movie industry as it had never been changed before – and perhaps would never be altered quite so excitingly again. Colour, widescreen, and television all made huge impacts on the movie industry. But The Jazz Singer was altogether different. Al Jolson calling to the orchestra, "Wait a minute, wait a minute I tell yer, you ain't heard nothin' yet" not only marked the arrival of what from that moment on became known as the talkies, it instantly – and I do mean instantly – killed off the silent cinema.


http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/299765/Jazz-Singer-The-Movie-Clip-You-Ain-t-Heard-Nothin-Yet-.html

[Demeter]

29. Mae Probably said, "You ain't SEEN nothin' yet"

She was a "visual" type of person...

Google isn't much help. Probably because EVERYONE has said it in one context or another...

[Fuddnik]

36. Musical Interlude: You Ain't Seen Nuthin Yet.

[Demeter]

26. The NSA Is Commandeering the Internet Bruce Schneier

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/the-nsa-is-commandeering-the-internet/278572/

Technology companies have to fight for their users, or they'll eventually lose them. It turns out that the NSA's domestic and world-wide surveillance apparatus is even more extensive than we thought. Bluntly: The government has commandeered the Internet. Most of the largest Internet companies provide information to the NSA, betraying their users. Some, as we've learned, fight and lose. Others cooperate, either out of patriotism or because they believe it's easier that way.

I have one message to the executives of those companies: fight.

Do you remember those old spy movies, when the higher ups in government decide that the mission is more important than the spy's life? It's going to be the same way with you. You might think that your friendly relationship with the government means that they're going to protect you, but they won't. The NSA doesn't care about you or your customers, and will burn you the moment it's convenient to do so. We're already starting to see that. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others are pleading with the government to allow them to explain details of what information they provided in response to National Security Letters and other government demands. They've lost the trust of their customers, and explaining what they do -- and don't do -- is how to get it back. The government has refused; they don't care. It will be the same with you. There are lots more high-tech companies who have cooperated with the government. Most of those company names are somewhere in the thousands of documents that Edward Snowden took with him, and sooner or later they'll be released to the public. The NSA probably told you that your cooperation would forever remain secret, but they're sloppy. They'll put your company name on presentations delivered to thousands of people: government employees, contractors, probably even foreign nationals. If Snowden doesn't have a copy, the next whistleblower will.

This is why you have to fight. When it becomes public that the NSA has been hoovering up all of your users' communications and personal files, what's going to save you in the eyes of those users is whether or not you fought. Fighting will cost you money in the short term, but capitulating will cost you more in the long term. Already companies are taking their data and communications out of the US... The extreme case of fighting is shutting down entirely. (LAVABIT AND SILENT CIRCLE DID) Google or Facebook couldn't possibly shut themselves off rather than cooperate with the government. They're too large; they're public. They have to do what's economically rational, not what's moral. But they can fight. You, an executive in one of those companies, can fight. You'll probably lose, but you need to take the stand. And you might win. It's time we called the government's actions what it really is: commandeering. Commandeering is a practice we're used to in wartime, where commercial ships are taken for military use, or production lines are converted to military production. But now it's happening in peacetime. Vast swaths of the Internet are being commandeered to support this surveillance state.

If this is happening to your company, do what you can to isolate the actions. Do you have employees with security clearances who can't tell you what they're doing? Cut off all automatic lines of communication with them, and make sure that only specific, required, authorized acts are being taken on behalf of government. Only then can you look your customers and the public in the face and say that you don't know what is going on -- that your company has been commandeered. Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis recently wrote in The Guardian: "Technology companies: now is the moment when you must answer for us, your users, whether you are collaborators in the US government's efforts to 'collect it all' -- our every move on the internet or whether you, too, are victims of its overreach."

So while I'm sure it's cool to have a secret White House meeting with President Obama -- I'm talking to you, Google, Apple, AT&T, and whoever else was in the room -- resist. Attend the meeting, but fight the secrecy. Whose side are you on? The NSA isn't going to remain above the law forever. Already public opinion is changing, against the government and their corporate collaborators. If you want to keep your users' trust, demonstrate that you were on their side.

FROM YOUR LIPS TO CORPORATE EARS...

WILL THEY LISTEN, WEEKENDERS? TELL US WHAT YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN, IN THE REPLY...

[Demeter]

28. Former Internet Provider Gagged by National Security Letter Recounts How He Was Silenced for 6 Years

AND HOW HE REMOVED THE GAG!

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/13/former_internet_provider_gagged_by_national?autostart=true

[Demeter]

30. I'm in a very weird mood and exhausted to boot

I'll try to finish up Saturday, grab some zzzz's, and return for more postings of amazing, ridiculous, or evil events.

I'd offer good news, if I thought there was any. But keep looking! Somewhere we'll find it, the rainbow connection...

[Demeter]

31. No market for old investors

NO MARKET FOR INVESTORS AT ALL, I WOULD THINK

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-market-for-old-investors-2013-08-17?siteid=YAHOOB

If you’re the sort of person who likes death-defying roller-coaster rides, then what went on in the stock and bond markets this week probably suits you fine.

But if you’re not that sort of person—say you’re a retiree or you’re getting close to retirement age—Thursday’s 200-point drop in the stock market and the fact that the 10-year U.S. Treasury is trading close to a two-year high has probably scared the bejeezus out of you and raised more questions than it answered...Such as:

If you are saving for retirement, how can you protect yourself from downdrafts and potential bear markets?

And, if you are in retirement, how can you survive another downturn?


MORE AT LINK, BUT IF IT'S HELPFUL, I'LL BE AMAZED...

[Fuddnik]

32. Goody!

The Book of Mormon is coming to Tampa.

Now I know what to get my wife for her birthday.

[DemReadingDU]

34. Karl Denninger: The Problem With the NSA's Illegal Data Collection

This is a long essay. Readers Digest version is that if one uses anything electronic, the NSA likely has a wide profile of the user, and could falsely predict one might be a felon.


8/17/13 Karl Denninger: The Problem With the NSA's Illegal Data Collection
http://market-ticker.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=223684

[Demeter]

37. With no Rule of Law, Magna Carta or Constitution Left in this country

We probably ARE all felons, in their eyes.

[AnneD]

55. Shades of...

The Minority Report.

[jtuck004]

35. US Car Makers Crank Out Cars Around the Clock; Who is Buying the Cars?

Since you mentioned cars, above...

...

Nearly 40% of car factories in North America now operate on work schedules that push production well past 80 hours a week, compared with 11% in 2008, said Ron Harbour, a senior partner with the Oliver Wyman Inc. management consulting firm.
...
Through a series of agreements negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, the Detroit Three now can schedule work at night and on weekends without paying as much in overtime as they would have in the past. Adding a third shift, as many plants have done, also reduces overtime. Overtime pay also starts after 40 hours a week, not after eight hours a day as in the past. On top of those savings, a newly hired Big Three factory worker now earns about $15 an hour versus $28 an hour for veteran workers, under postrecession labor pacts.
...

But Who is Buying Them?
...
In recent years, auto makers have developed a bevy of pint-size models like the Chevy Sonic, Fiat, Ford Fiesta and Kia Soul, and promoted them using social-media, music festival sponsorships, and in some cases, daredevil stunts. To hype the new Chevy Sonic, General Motors Co. filmed the subcompact parachuting out of a plane for an online campaign aimed squarely at 18-to-30-year-olds.
...
Last year, buyers 55 and older accounted for more than 40% of all new car sales, up from 33% in 2008 while buyers between the ages of 18 and 34 represented only 12% of new-car purchases. And that is down from 14% five years ago, according to Edmunds.com.

Rest of the story here.

His interpretations are always Obama-is-responsible-for-all-the-bad, but he has a lot of good data no one else bothers to get, so I just ignore it. I figure smart people can come to their own conclusions.

[xchrom]

38. Local authorities warn on youth unemployment schemes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23730015

National schemes to tackle youth unemployment are not working, the group representing English councils has said.

The LGA said the current system was over-complicated, with 35 different national schemes across 13 different age boundaries costing £15bn a year.

Research by the LGA also found a drop of 8% in the number of young people in England who started a scheme last year compared with three years ago.

The government has insisted it is not complacent about youth unemployment.

[xchrom]

39. Marikana shooting: Lonmin apologises for South Africa deaths

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23730268

The owner of the South African mine where 34 striking workers were shot dead by police a year ago has apologised to relatives.

"We will never replace your loved ones and I say we are truly sorry for that," Lonmin boss Ben Magara said.

He was speaking to thousands of people gathered to mark the anniversary of the deaths at the Marikana platinum mine.

South Africa's governing ANC is not attending the commemorations, saying they have been "hijacked".

[xchrom]

40. Egypt: Travel firms cancel holidays as violence escalates

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23730016

Europe's largest tour operator TUI has cancelled all holidays bought by German customers to Egypt until mid-September.

The move comes in the wake of the country's escalating violence, following advice from the German government.

TUI's rival, Thomas Cook, also announced similar measures for its German customers.

The two companies said holidaymakers who are already in Egypt will be able to stay until the end of their trips.

[xchrom]

41. the 'Bankization' of America

http://www.nationofchange.org/bankization-america-1376721385

***SNIP

Reality Bites

Meanwhile, the “real” economy – the one where people live, and work, and buy things – has suffered even as Wall Street and the stock market have boomed. That trend continued this week too; Wal-Mart announced disappointing sales and lowered its projections. Its Chief Financial Officer observed, “The retail environment remains challenging in the U.S. and our international markets, as customers are cautious in their spending.”

Cisco also lowered its sales expectations. As the Journal article notes, these announcements added to the fear that the Fed’s interventions might wind down.

This stock market story illustrates the gulf between a stock-market economy increasingly driven by the banking industry – an economy which has been booming, today’s news notwithstanding – and a human economy wracked by consumer fears, falling wages, joblessness, and low-level jobs for a growing number of people who are working.

The gulf between these two economies drove this morning’s stock market story. It’s also driving the long-term depression-like misery, which holds millions of Americans in its grip.

[xchrom]

42. The Pursuit of Imperfection: Why Some People Collect Broken Antiques

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/the-pursuit-of-imperfection-why-some-people-collect-broken-antiques/278706/



Here's yet another subculture that's found a space for itself online: people who obsessively collect antiques with inventive repairs, also known as “make-do” repairs. “Until I blew the lid off their cover, they hovered below the radar,” says Andrew Baseman, a set designer for TV and film whose blog Past Imperfect: The Art of Inventive Repair reports on chipped and cracked household items that were put back together with intricate, jerry-rigged apparatus, long before the invention of Krazy Glue. “Make dos” are anathama to traditional antiques collectors, who want only pristine items—not the well-used stuff relegated to the bargain shelves with the lewd swizzle sticks, novelty ashtrays, and other déclassé knick-knacks.



Past Imperfect, which launched in 2010, is the platform for Baseman’s mission to save these orphaned, misshapen objects and give them the respect they deserve. He dissects and analyzes artifacts following an interest that began during childhood. His parents collected, and eventually dealt in, antiques, and “as far as I knew, everyone grew up with antiques,” he says. But even at an early age, his taste was more Addams Family than Brady Bunch. Now, he believes “it is my duty to rescue these plucky survivors, some lingering in limbo for hundreds of years of neglect. I make it sound like I run an adoption agency on the Island of Misfit Toys, which is fine with me.”

[Demeter]

47. How wonderfully eccentric--he'd LOVE my house!

[DemReadingDU]

52. and mine!

silver duct tape, Elmer's glue, Scotch tape, and string.

[xchrom]

43. Google Crashes, Taking 40% Of Internet Traffic Down With It

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-goes-down-2013-8

In what may be an unprecedented outage, all of Google's services briefly went dark about 4:52 on Friday afternoon Pacific time.

The outage, which reportedly affected most of Google's services worldwide, led to a staggering 40% drop in global Internet traffic (pageviews), according to analytics firm GoSquared (via Eric Mack of CNET).



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-goes-down-2013-8#ixzz2cK6U8h9x

[Demeter]

48. I was working...missed it!

Thanks for posting, X! I'm really tired this weekend.

[Warpy]

54. I was here. I wasn't searching

but every page I tried to navigate to had a "page has been permanently relocated here" link on it. I got where I was going, but had to take a couple of U turns to get there.

I wondered what had happened. It was fine an hour later.

[xchrom]

44. Ferrari NART Spyder Sets $27.5 Million Auction Record

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-18/ferrari-nart-spyder-sets-27-5-million-auction-record.html


A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spyder. One of only 10 made, was estimated at $14 million to $17 million in a two-day sale held by RM Auctions in Monterey, California, on Aug. 16-17. The car sold for $27.5 million with fees, the most paid at auction for the Italian carmaker anywhere in the world and the most for any car bought at a U.S. public sale.

A rare 1960s Ferrari convertible sold last night in California for a record $27.5 million.

The 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spyder’s price was the most paid at auction for the Italian carmaker anywhere in the world and the most for any car bought at a U.S. public sale.

“The NART Spyder is a very special car,” the U.K.-based dealer John Collins, who was the underbidder at the RM Auctions event, said in a telephone interview. “They’re so rare. They’re among the most beautiful of all Ferraris. Some of the biggest collectors in the world own one, and Steve McQueen tried to buy this one after he crashed his,” said Collins, of the Telacrest dealership.

Classic Ferrari racers from the 1950s and 1960s are the world’s most consistently valuable motor cars, dominating both the auction and private market. Prices for the marque’s investment-grade road cars have surged in 2013. The HAGI F index of collectible Ferraris has climbed 34.3 percent this year through July, according to the London-based analysts, the Historic Automobile Group International.

[xchrom]

45. Rudd Faces Election Defeat as Polls Show Marginal Seat Losses

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-18/rudd-faces-election-defeat-as-polls-show-marginal-seat-losses.html

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is facing defeat at next month’s Australian election with polls in the nation’s most marginal electorates indicating the opposition may gain enough seats to form government.

The ruling Labor party would lose at least five seats in the Sept. 7 election, according to separate polls published in the Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald. The opposition coalition needs to gain four additional seats to make Tony Abbott the prime minister.

“There’s no doubt we’re still the underdog, and there’s no doubt that Tony Abbott, if the election was held on the day it was announced would be the prime minister,” Finance Minister Penny Wong told the Financial Review Sunday program on Australian television.

Rudd pledged A$500 million ($459 million) over the weekend to help the nation’s car industry after producers cut jobs and announced plant closures as lower tariffs and a strong Australian dollar make imported models cheaper. The coalition announced plans for a parental leave system to start from 2015 that would give mothers 26 weeks leave at their full wage.

[xchrom]

46. What 1939 Thought Fashion in 2000 Would Look Like

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52284/what-1939-thought-fashion-2000-would-look



It's Saturday. It's hot. Why not look at retro-futuristic fashion predictions from 1939? Okay.

In this British Pathé clip, fashion designers predict what the future of fashion will be. It mostly involves removable sleeves and adjustable-length gowns, though there is a nifty cantilevered heel design shown. But my favorite is the one male outfit shown at the end, which predicts that the man will carry "a telephone, a radio, and containers for coins, keys, and candy for cuties." That's...partly accurate. Okay, roll the minute of odd fun:



Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/52284/what-1939-thought-fashion-2000-would-look#ixzz2cKNnwaCK
--brought to you by mental_floss!

[Demeter]

49. Been there, done that--yawn!

[Demeter]

50. Hiring in China By JPMorgan Under Scrutiny MUST READ!

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/hiring-in-china-by-jpmorgan-under-scrutiny/

Federal authorities have opened a bribery investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase hired the children of powerful Chinese officials to help the bank win lucrative business in the booming nation, according to a confidential United States government document.

In one instance, the bank hired the son of a former Chinese banking regulator who is now the chairman of the China Everbright Group, a state-controlled financial conglomerate, according to the document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, as well as public records. After the chairman’s son came on board, JPMorgan secured multiple coveted assignments from the Chinese conglomerate, including advising a subsidiary of the company on a stock offering, records show. The Hong Kong office of JPMorgan also hired the daughter of a Chinese railway official. That official was later detained on accusations of doling out government contracts in exchange for cash bribes, the government document and public records show. The former official’s daughter came to JPMorgan at an opportune time for the New York-based bank: The China Railway Group, a state-controlled construction company that builds railways for the Chinese government, was in the process of selecting JPMorgan to advise on its plans to become a public company, a common move in China for businesses affiliated with the government. With JPMorgan’s help, China Railway raised more than $5 billion when it went public in 2007.

The focus of the civil investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s anti-bribery unit has not been previously reported. JPMorgan — which has had a number of run-ins lately with regulators, including one over a multibillion-dollar trading loss last year — made an oblique reference to the inquiry in its quarterly filing this month. The filing stated that the S.E.C. had sought information about JPMorgan’s “employment of certain former employees in Hong Kong and its business relationships with certain clients.” In May, according to a copy of the confidential government document, the S.E.C.’s anti-bribery unit requested from JPMorgan a battery of records about Tang Xiaoning. He is the son of Tang Shuangning, who since 2007 has been chairman of the China Everbright Group. Before that, the elder Mr. Tang was the vice chairman of China’s top banking regulator. The agency also inquired about JPMorgan’s hiring of Zhang Xixi, the daughter of the railway official. Among other information, the S.E.C. sought “documents sufficient to identify all persons involved in the decision to hire” her.

The government document and public records do not definitively link JPMorgan’s hiring practices to its ability to win business, nor do they suggest that the employees were unqualified. Furthermore, the records do not indicate that the employees helped JPMorgan secure business. The bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Yet the S.E.C.’s request outlined in the confidential document hints at a broader hiring strategy at JPMorgan’s Chinese offices. Authorities suspect that JPMorgan routinely hired young associates who hailed from well-connected Chinese families that ultimately offered the bank business. Beyond the daughter of the railway official, the S.E.C. document inquired about “all JPMorgan employees who performed work for or on behalf of the Ministry of Railways” over the last six-plus years.

A spokesman for JPMorgan said, “We publicly disclosed this matter in our 10-Q filing last week, and are fully cooperating with regulators.”

....Attempts over the weekend to reach Ms. Zhang and Tang Xiaoning, both of whom have left JPMorgan, were unsuccessful....


AND THERE'S MORE! BRIBERY, THAT IS. SEE LINK!

[Demeter]

51. Maybe The U.S. Should Get A Nice Democratic Junta Too, Like The One We Support In Egypt

http://mjayrosenberg.com/2013/08/17/maybe-the-u-s-should-get-a-nice-democratic-junta-too-like-the-one-we-support-in-egypt/

You have to read this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/opinion/democracy-in-egypt-can-wait.html?ref=opinion

It’s by Charles Kupchan, one of the key figures in the U.S. foreign policy establishment. He is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also professor of international affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown University. He was director for European affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) during the first Clinton administration. Before joining the NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. Prior to government service, he was an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University.

In short. you cannot be more establishment than this guy.

And what is his view of Egypt? It comes in the headline on his op-ed piece: In Egypt, Democracy Can Wait:

Rather than cajoling Cairo to hold elections and threatening to suspend aid if it does not, Washington should press the current leadership to adhere to clear standards of responsible governance, including ending the violence and political repression, restoring the basic functions of the state, facilitating economic recovery, countering militant extremists and keeping the peace with Israel. At this fragile moment in Egypt’s political awakening, the performance of its government will be a more important determinant of its legitimacy and durability than whether it won an election.

Why don’t we apply that same logic to the United States? If “performance of its government” is a better determinant of “legitimacy” than “whether it won an election,” why don’t we dump democracy here too? I wouldn’t mind a government without the Christian Brotherhood (otherwise known as the GOP), one that would deliver single payer health care, address climate change, tax the hell out of the rich and turn us into a social democracy. All we have to do is get rid of the Republicans. Shut down the Congress and make the GOP illegal. And then our government would work like a charm. Also, chief obstructionist Mitch McConnell needs a few years in jail.

No, we can’t do that? It’s not democratic. So what. It’s good enough for Egypt.

Why not a nice progressive junta. After all, elections here clearly do not work. Democracy can wait.

[Demeter]

53. I'm wrapping it up, folks

Have a good, safe, productive and prosperous week!