STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 26 September 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 26 September 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 25 September 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 25 September 2013
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Dow Jones 15,273.26 -61.33 (-0.40%)
S&P 500 1,692.77 -4.65 (-0.27%)
Nasdaq 3,761.10 -7.15 (-0.19%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.62% -0.03 (-1.13%)
30 Year 3.67% -0.02 (-0.54%) [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.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.








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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. Spy Agencies Are Doing WHAT? by George Washington

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-09-23/spy-agencies-are-doing-what

Revelations about the breathtaking scope of government spying are coming so fast that it's time for an updated roundup:

The government is spying on essentially everything we do. It is not just "metadata" ... although that is enough to destroy your privacy. The government has adopted a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act which allows it to pretend that "everything" is relevant ... so it spies on everyone. For example, the NSA "oversight" court believes the mere claim that terrorists use the phone system is enough to show that all phone records are relevant. NSA whistleblowers say that the NSA collects all of our conversations word-for-word.

It's not just the NSA ... Many other agencies, like the FBI and IRS – concerned only with domestic issues - spy on Americans as well. The Drug Enforcement Administration has had direct access to AT&T phone records for 25 years. The information gained through spying is shared with federal, state and local agencies, and they are using that information to prosecute petty crimes such as drugs and taxes. The agencies are instructed to intentionally "launder" the information gained through spying, i.e. to pretend that they got the information in a more legitimate way ... and to hide that from defense attorneys and judges. The Department of Health and Human Services will also have access to vast quantities of sensitive federal data on Americans as part of Obamacare (here's the underlying Government Accountability Office report).

The NSA not only shares our information with other American agencies, it also gives personal, sensitive unfiltered information on Americans to Israel and other foreign nations. And it's not only governments. Private contractors can also view all of your data (and the government isn’t keeping track of which contractors see your data and which don’t). And because background checks regarding some contractors are falsified, it is hard to know the types of people that might have your information. Indeed, private contractors are involved in spying on behalf of governments world-wide.

It's not just your computer and your phone. It is well-documented that the government may be spying on us through cars and buses, streetlights, at airports and on the street, via mobile scanners and drones, through our smart meters, and in many other ways

Top counter-terror experts say that the government’s mass spying doesn't keep us safe. Indeed, they say that mass spying actually hurts U.S. counter-terror efforts (more here and here). They say we can, instead, keep everyone safe without violating the Constitution ... more cheaply and efficiently than the current system

There is no real oversight by Congress, the courts, or the executive branch of government. And see this and this. Indeed, most Congress members had no idea what the NSA is doing. Even staunch defenders of the NSA - and congress members on the intelligence oversight committees - now say they've been kept in the dark. A Federal judge who was on the secret spying court for 3 years says that it's a kangaroo court. Even the current judges on the secret spying court now admit that they're out of the loop and powerless to exercise real oversight. When these judges raised concerns about NSA spying, the Justice Department completely ignored them

A former U.S. president says that the spying program shows that we no longer have a functioning democracy

The chairs of the 9/11 Commission say that NSA spying has gone way too far

Top constitutional experts say that Obama and Bush are worse than Nixon ... and the Stasi East Germans

While the government initially claimed that mass surveillance on Americans prevented more than 50 terror attacks, the NSA’s deputy director John Inglis walked that position back all the way to saying that – at the most – one (1) plot might have been disrupted by the bulk phone records collection alone. In other words, the NSA can't prove that stopped any terror attacks. The government greatly exaggerated an alleged recent terror plot for political purposes (and promoted the fearmongering of serial liars). The argument that recent terror warnings show that NSA spying is necessary is so weak that American counter-terrorism experts have slammed it as "crazy pants"

You're much more likely to be killed by brain-eating amoeba, lightning or a toddler than by terrorism. Even President Obama admits that you're much less likely to be killed by terrorists than a car accident. So the government has resorted to lamer and lamer excuses to try to justify mass surveillance

Experts say that the spying program is illegal, and is exactly the kind of thing which King George imposed on the American colonists ... which led to the Revolutionary War

A Harvard law school professor - and director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University - says:

"The NSA has mounted a systematic campaign against the foundations of American power: constitutional checks and balances, technological leadership, and market entrepreneurship. The NSA scandal is no longer about privacy, or a particular violation of constitutional or legislative obligations. The American body politic is suffering a severe case of auto-immune disease: our defense system is attacking other critical systems of our body".

The top counter-terrorism Czar under Clinton and Bush says that revealing NSA spying programs does not harm national security

The feds are considering prosecuting the owner of a private email company - who shut down his business rather than turning over records to the NSA - for refusing to fork over the information and keep quiet. This is a little like trying to throw someone in jail because he's died and is no longer paying taxes

Whistleblowers on illegal spying have no "legal" way to get the information out

Spying started before 9/11 ... and various excuses have been used to spy on Americans over the years

Governments and big corporations are doing everything they can to destroy anonymity

Mass spying creates an easy mark for hackers. Indeed, the Pentagon now sees the collection of "big data" as a "national security threat" ... but the NSA is the biggest data collector on the planet, and thus provides a tempting mother lode of information for foreign hackers

Mass surveillance by the NSA directly harms internet companies, Silicon Valley, California … and the entire U.S. economy. For example, Facebook lost 11 millions users as of April mainly due to privacy concerns (and that was before the Snowden revelations). And see these reports from Boingboing and the Guardian

IT and security professionals are quite concerned about government spying

Some people make a lot of money off of mass spying. But the government isn't using the spying program to stop the worst types of lawlessness

The NSA spying program is unambiguously being used for industrial espionage, by spying on large foreign corporations, and the biggest financial payments systems such as VISA and Swift. Indeed, in a slide leaked by Edward Snowden, "economic" was one of the main justifications for spying

The top U.S. spy's justifications for such financial spying is not very reassuring:

"We collect this information for many important reasons: for one, it could provide the United States and our allies early warning of international financial crises which could negatively impact the global economy. It also could provide insight into other countries' economic policy or behavior which could affect global markets."

Top financial experts say that the NSA and other intelligence agencies are using the information to profit from this inside information

The Wall Street Journal reported that the NSA spies on Americans’ credit card transactions. Many other agencies are doing the same. In fact, virtually all U.S. intelligence agencies – including the CIA and NSA – are going to spy on Americans’ finances. The IRS will also be spying on Americans’ shopping records, travel, social interactions, health records and files from other government investigators

Polls show that the public doesn’t believe the NSA … and thinks that the government has gone way too far in the name of terrorism

While leaker Edward Snowden is treated as a traitor by the fatcats and elites, he is considered a hero by the American public. Members of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government have all praised the debate on spying which Snowden's leaks started

The heads of the intelligence services have repeatedly been caught lying about spying. And even liberal publications are starting to say that Obama has been intentionally lying about spying. The government claimed that most spying programs ended in 2011, when - in fact - they were expanded that year

Obama says he'll rein in spying ... but his words and deeds indicate that he won't. Indeed, Obama appointed the fox to guard the chicken coop. No wonder only 11% of Americans trust Obama to actually do anything to rein in spying

A huge majority of Americans wants the director of intelligence - Clapper - prosecuted for perjury. One of the chairs of the 9/11 Commission agrees

While the Obama administration is spying on everyone in the country – it is at the same time the most secretive administration ever (background). That’s despite Obama saying he’s running the most transparent administration ever

The NSA treats the American people with contempt. For example, Spiegel notes:

"The authors of the [NSA slides] draw a comparison with "1984," ... revealing the agency's current view of smartphones and their users. "Who knew in 1984 that this would be Big Brother …" the authors ask, in reference to a photo of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. And commenting on photos of enthusiastic Apple customers and iPhone users, the NSA writes: "… and the zombies would be paying customers?

Worse, the intelligence agencies often view normal, true-blue Americans as potential terrorists (and see this)

A Congressman noted that - even if a mass surveillance program is started for good purposes - it will inevitably turn into a witch hunt

There are indications that the spy agencies aren't just passively gathering information, but are actively using it in mischievous ways

Surveillance can be used to frame you if someone in government happens to take a dislike to you

Government spying has always focused on crushing dissent … not on keeping us safe

An NSA whistleblower says that the NSA is spying on – and blackmailing – top government officials and military officers (and see this)

High-level US government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny in America

A top NSA whistleblower says that the only way to fix things is to fire all of the corrupt government officials who let it happen. As the polls above show, the American public is starting to wake up to that fact

[Demeter]

2. SCHAUDENFREUDE BY MAUREEN DOWD: No Brief Encounter

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/opinion/dowd-no-brief-encounter.html?_r=0



The man formerly hailed as a messiah was having a bad day.

The Iranians snubbed him. The Brazilians upbraided him. Ted Cruz fauxlibustered him. And you just know that, behind the scenes, the Russians were messing with him.

At the end of a long, hard day at the United Nations, he escaped into the sweaty and freighted embrace of the Clintons, who had to explain and defend the president’s own health care plan for him at their global initiative conference/Hillary 2016 pep rally. The choreography of diplomacy danced around the tantalizing possibility of a historic handshake that could end three decades of poison. (Even though the last climactic clasp, between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat, disappointingly proved that sometimes a handshake is just a handshake.)

With the welcome exit of the provincial Iranian fruitbat, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could the country W. declared part of the “axis of evil” reach out to the country smeared as the “Great Satan” by Ayatollah Khomeini? Obama administration officials at the U.N. on Tuesday explained to reporters that there would not be a bilateral between President Obama and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, or any sort of “formal meeting.”

“We’re not prepared for heads of state to negotiate or presidents to negotiate on the nuclear issue,” an official said, speaking on background. An “encounter” would be permissible. Not a long one, but an “informal, brief encounter.”

“So,” a reporter asked, “like a handshake?”

“Yes, that type of thing,” the official replied. “Exactly. On the margins here.”

Except that, after the White House spent a week suggesting that there could be a press-the-flesh moment, Rouhani snubbed Obama. And not on the margins. Maybe the tweet-happy Iranian president was too busy retweeting Christiane Amanpour to have time to pretend to bump into the American president in a U.N. hallway. “Ultimately it became clear that that was too complicated for them at this time,” the Obama official said just before 3 p.m., trying to put a good face on the scuttled face-to-face, adding that “the Iranians, number one, have an internal dynamic that they have to manage” and they “were not ready to have an encounter at the presidential level.” Even a brief encounter wasn’t brief enough...(HILLARY COMMENTARY)...A handshake can’t be forced on someone who is not quite ready to come to grips.

[Fuddnik]

3. "I just can't get no respect".

Rodney Dangerfield.

[Demeter]

13. Quite a come down for a nobel Peace Prize winner, no?

If there were some way to remove that "L" tattooed on his forehead...

[Tansy_Gold]

18. .

[xchrom]

4. JPMorgan in talks to settle government probes for $11 billion: sources

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-jpmorgan-probes-idUSBRE98O12O20130926

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is in talks with government officials to settle federal and state mortgage probes for $11 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The sum could include $7 billion in cash and $4 billion for consumers, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.

The talks are fluid and the $11 billion amount could change, the people familiar with the matter said. The discussions include the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the New York State Attorney General, the sources said.

JPMorgan is hoping to ease some of the pressure that regulators have been putting on the bank for months. The bank sidestepped the worst losses in the financial crisis, but it has looked less smart since May 2012, when it said it was losing money on derivatives bets that became known as the "London Whale" trades.

[Tansy_Gold]

19. At this point, chump change. n/t

[xchrom]

5. New era as Brussels tightens its grip on budget miscreants

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-eurozone-governance-idUSBRE98P0BS20130926

(Reuters) - Four months ago, President Francois Hollande warned Brussels not to tell France how to run its finances. In a few weeks' time, the European Commission will do exactly that as a new era of rigid fiscal surveillance begins in Europe.

In one of the most far-reaching responses to the region's debt crisis, the Commission, the EU's executive, will now run the rule over the budget plans of the 17 euro zone countries before they are fully digested by national parliaments.

The aim is to raise a red flag before it is too late and prevent a repeat of the turmoil of the past four years, which began because countries were living far beyond their means.

The Commission, which acts as a civil service for the EU, will have the right to send back any budget plans it thinks do not make the grade. Countries can ignore its advice, but face tough, rapidly imposed fines if they stray out of line.

[xchrom]

6. Recent Chinese data reinforce IMF's 2013 GDP forecast: official

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-china-economy-imf-idUSBRE98P07420130926

(Reuters) - China's recent economic data reinforce the International Monetary Fund's forecast that the world's second-largest economy will avoid a second-half slowdown and grow 7.75 percent this year, a fund official said on Thursday.

Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the IMF's Asia Pacific Department and the fund's mission chief for China, said the IMF expected China's economy to sustain its pace of growth despite a difficult international environment.

"This is borne out by a number of high frequency indicators out of China. These indicators suggest that activity has indeed been stabilizing into the third quarter, into the second half," Rodlauer told a conference in Tokyo.

He noted double-digit retail sales growth and figures for industrial added value and fixed asset investment as some examples of such indicators.

[xchrom]

7. Citigroup agrees Freddie Mac mortgage claim settlement

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24237900

US banking giant Citigroup has agreed to pay $395m (£245m) to Freddie Mac to settle claims of potential flaws in mortgages it sold to the firm.

It covers nearly 3.7 million loans sold to Freddie Mac between 2000 and 2012.

It is latest in a series of settlements by US banks with agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - bailed out by the government during the financial crisis.

The two have claimed that banks sold them toxic debts and as a result should be responsible for the losses on them.

[Demeter]

14. $100/loan is going to settle it?

Seems more than improbable.

[xchrom]

8. UK economic growth confirmed at 0.7%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24281908

The UK economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, official figures have confirmed.

Bright spots included the construction and industrial sectors, which expanded at their fastest pace for three years.

However, the pace of consumer spending was revised down, and business investment fell.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revised up the growth rate for the first quarter of the year to 0.4% from 0.3%.

[xchrom]

9. HUSSMAN: We May Be Witnessing The Final Stages Of A Stock Market Bubble

http://www.businessinsider.com/will-the-fear-trade-bubble-up-2013-9

This is a pretty interesting perspective from one of Wall Street’s biggest bears – what if the market is in the late stages of a bubble? In other words, what if the wall of worry continues to fuel the most hated bull market in decades to levels that become truly absurd? John Hussman discusses the logic:

“My impression is this. Based on numerous past speculative episodes in the financial markets, we know that financial bubbles have often proceeded in an oscillating pattern featuring increasingly frequent cycles of advance, punctuated by gradually shallower declines reflecting an accelerating eagerness to buy dips. This can produce what Didier Sornette has called “log-periodic” oscillations (see Increasingly Immediate Impulses to Buy the Dip). Given the negative return/risk estimates we observed in April and early-May, I believed that this series of oscillations was ending several months ago. In order to preserve a log-periodic pattern, further oscillations needed to exhibit an even faster alternation between steeply-sloped advances and shallow declines. Yet despite the strongly negative return/risk estimates we already had in April and May, this is unfortunately what has unfolded. With the Fed’s decision last week, we can’t rule out one particularly extreme version of a log-periodic bubble that is consistent with price fluctuations to date. That version is pictured below, and would comprise an advance above 1800 in the S&P 500 over a period of about 6 weeks. Again, this is emphatically not a forecast, but the conditions for a final wave of speculation may have been created by the Fed’s decision last week, and it leaves us unable to rule out this admittedly hypothetical possibility – particularly in the context of what has been a classic Sornette-type bubble to-date.“



Read more: http://pragcap.com/will-the-fear-trade-bubble-up#ixzz2g06f1YPN

[xchrom]

10. All-Cash Purchases Are Surging In The US Housing Market

http://www.businessinsider.com/cash-purchases-surge-to-45-of-housing-sales-2013-9

All-cash purchases accounted for 45% of all residential sales in August, according to RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report. This is up from 39% in July, and up 30% year-over-year.

In metros with a population of 1 million or more, Miami had the highest percent of all-cash sales at 69%, followed by Detroit at 68%, Las Vegas at 66%, Jacksonville, Florida at 65^ and Tampa at 64%.

What's more? The share of institutional investors buying 10 properties or more in the last 12 months jumped to 10% of all sales. This is up from a share of 9% in July, and 9% a year ago.

"This recovery in home prices and sale volume continues to be driven in large part by cash buyers and institutional investors, as evidenced by the increasing share of sales represented by those two categories in August,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac in a press release.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/cash-purchases-surge-to-45-of-housing-sales-2013-9#ixzz2g08G6NOF

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (09/26/2013)

Last edited Thu Oct 17, 2013, 03:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20131953.htm

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending September 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 305,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 310,000. The 4-week moving average was 308,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 315,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending September 14, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 14 was 2,823,000, an increase of 35,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,788,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,842,500, a decrease of 42,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,885,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

....
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 7 was 3,921,399, an increase of 22,769 from the previous week. There were 5,173,998 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.
....

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending September 14 were in California (+22,611), Florida (+3,946), Georgia (+2,690), Nevada (+2,504), and New York (+1,871), while the largest decreases were in Oklahoma (-439), Tennessee (-404), Kansas (-351), Massachusetts (-304), and Idaho (-294).

== == == ==

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I ask you to put aside your differences long enough to read this post. Following that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

I have been posting the number every week for at least a year. I seriously do not care if the week's data make Obama look good. They are just numbers, and I post them without regard to the consequences. I welcome people from Free Republic to examine the numbers as well. They paid for the work just as much as members of DU did, so I invite them to come on over and have a look. "The more the merrier" is the way I look at it.

I do not work at the ETA, and I do not know anyone working in that agency. I'm sure I can safely assume that the numbers are gathered and analyzed by career civil servant economists who do their work on a nonpartisan basis. Numbers are numbers, and let the chips fall where they may. If you feel that these economists are falling down on the job, drop them a line or give them a call. They work for you, not for any politician or political party.

The word "initial" is important. The report does not count all claims, just the new ones filed this week.

Note: The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2007 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised. These revised historical values, as well as the seasonal adjustment factors that will be used through calendar year 2012, can be accessed at the bottom of the following link: http://www.oui.doleta.gov/press/2012/032912.asp

[xchrom]

12. Look Around, Workers Are Pissed

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/26


Bangladeshi police officials stand in a line as striking garment workers throw stones during a protest in Narayanganj on Sept 26, 2013. Most Bangladesh garment factories reopened on Thursday, Sept 26, 2013, after five days of violent protests, following a promise of a wage rise for workers and a warning of a tougher crackdown on unrest. (Photo: AFP)

It doesn't take much digging.

Across the world and within the United States, workers—both in the public and private sectors—are demanding living wages, better working conditions, and above all, dignity. Here's just a sample.

In Bangladesh, garment factory workers have been striking for nearly a week over the poor working conditions in their country, facing down rubber bullets, tear gas, and violent reprisals as they called for meaningful reforms of their industry. On Thursday, the government ordered paramilitary troops into the industrial areas to wrest control from workers and provide security to factories. As Bloomberg reports:

Bangladesh’s government deployed paramilitary troops in the industrial belt of Gazipur to deter further protests as garment factories reopened after five days of violent demonstrations.

“The situation is now relatively calm,” Mostafijur Rahman, additional superintendent of police for Gazipur district, said in a phone interview. Television footage showed the troops patrolling streets where workers attacked factories and blocked traffic earlier this week to demand wage increases.

The government is acting after factory owners met Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir yesterday to urge tighter security. Thousands of garment workers clashed with police this week in the industrial belt on the outskirts of Dhaka, forcing about 400 factories that supply companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to close.

“Unrest in the garment sector will be firmly dealt with,” the minister told reporters, after the meeting.

[Demeter]

15. Feeling sick? Blame your computer BY DAVE BARRY

http://www.miamiherald.com/2003/12/14/1291457/feeling-sick-blame-your-computer.html

It's time once again for Keyboard Korner, the computer-advice column that uses simple, "jargon-free" terminology that even an idiot like you can grasp; the column that shows you how to "take command" of your personal computer, if necessary by reducing it to tiny smoking shards with a hatchet.

Today on Keyboard Korner we will address a very important topic: computer security. If you own a computer, or have touched a computer, or have ever shaken hands with somebody who might have touched a computer, you need to take precautionary measures NOW. Because modern cyberspace is not the friendly, open, trusting, safe place it was back in February. Modern cyberspace is a deadly festering swamp, teeming with dangerous programs such as "viruses, " "worms, " "Trojan horses" and "licensed Microsoft software" that can take over your computer and render it useless.

This is exactly what happened last summer when the "SoBig" virus infected computers around the world, causing millions of computer users to be completely cut off from the Internet during what turned out to be a critical phase in the relationship of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Fortunately, most of these computer users were able to resume monitoring the situation by turning on their televisions. But precious minutes were lost.

If you want to prevent a similar tragedy from happening to you, you should immediately take the following steps to protect your computer from viruses:

*1. Determine what version of operating system your computer uses, and write this information on a piece of paper. If you don't know how to determine the version, just write down "Version 2.038."

*2. Now write down the numbers and expiration dates of all your credit cards.

*3. Now mail this information, along with your mother's maiden name, to
WARNING WARNING DELETE DELETE

Whoa! That was a close one! A computer virus just attempted to take over the Keyboard Korner column WHILE YOU WERE READING IT. That's how sophisticated these darned things have become!


DAVE RANTS AND RAVES ON AT THE LINK...IT'S NOT THE ONION, IT'S WORSE!

[Roland99]

16. U.S. jobless claims fall by 5,000 to 305,000

U.S. jobless claims fall by 5,000 to 305,000
California says it has cleared up backlog; claims near lowest level in six years
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobless-claims-fall-by-5000-to-305000-2013-09-26-81035554

New applications for U.S. jobless benefits fell again last week and hovered just above a six-year low, but it’s unclear whether the decline stems from a pickup in hiring or is the residue of processing delays earlier in the month.

Initial claims dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 305,000 in the week ended Sept. 21, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to 327,000 on the assumption that California would catch up on a backlog of claims.

[antigop]

17. Bank of England experiencing technical IT problems

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/news/2013/115.aspx

​The Bank has been experiencing some technical IT problems today. There is no impact on critical payment and settlement services. Alternative procedures are in place where necessary. The Bank is acting to resolve these problems as soon as possible.

[DemReadingDU]

20. me too

I tried various browsers to connect to Internet. No luck. Called cable company and the auto-message said there was an outage. So ran some errands, came home, and tried to re-connect. No luck. Called cable company again, and somehow was able to talk to a real person..who told me there was an outage. aaargh.

So next I pulled the electric cord from the router and plugged it back into the router, followed by turning the computer off and back on. And here I am! Need to read and catch up for the day.

Edit
Just received a call-back message from the cable company telling me the outage is repaired.
So now I'm wondering if it was a router problem or a system outage.