STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 18 December 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 18 December 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 17 December 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 17 December 2013
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Dow Jones 15,875.26 -9.31 (-0.06%)
S&P 500 1,781.00 -5.54 (-0.31%)
Nasdaq 4,023.68 -5.84 (-0.14%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.83% -0.04 (-1.39%)
30 Year 3.87% -0.04 (-1.02%) [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]

[Fuddnik]

1. I'm holding out for the Ted Cruz Dartboard.

Or Clay Pigeons.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Just for you....

How 'bout Ted Cruz golf balls!


(somebody with good photoshop skills ought to be able to create one.....)

[xchrom]

3. AP SURVEY: US INCOME GAP IS HOLDING BACK ECONOMY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AP_ECONOMY_SURVEY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-18-00-02-24

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The growing gap between the richest Americans and everyone else isn't bad just for individuals.

It's hurting the U.S. economy.

So says a majority of more than three dozen economists surveyed last week by The Associated Press. Their concerns tap into a debate that's intensified as middle-class pay has stagnated while wealthier households have thrived.

A key source of the economists' concern: Higher pay and outsize stock market gains are flowing mainly to affluent Americans. Yet these households spend less of their money than do low- and middle-income consumers who make up most of the population but whose pay is barely rising.

"What you want is a broader spending base," says Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James, a financial advisory firm. "You want more people spending money."

[xchrom]

4. GLOBAL STOCKS RISE ON BET FED WON'T TAPER YET

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-18-06-21-56

PARIS (AP) -- Global stocks rose Wednesday, as investors appeared increasingly confident that the U.S. Federal Reserve won't announce a reduction in its economic stimulus later.

The Fed's $85 billion of monthly bond purchases have kept U.S. interest rates low to encourage economic recovery, but also sent a flood of money into stock markets worldwide in search of higher returns.

There are concerns that "cheap money" has inflated stock prices beyond their rightful value and so prices have been volatile lately as investors try to gauge the impact of any Fed `tapering.'

But on Wednesday, a day after most markets were down, investors seemed to find new confidence that the Fed will maintain its current level of purchases.

"Tapering is likely the only thing on most investors mind today," said Alex Conroy, financial sales trader at Spreadex.

[xchrom]

5. HOW BUDGET DEAL SHOULD HELP SUPPORT US ECONOMY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-12-18-06-13-20

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is on the verge of doing something it hasn't done during three years of partisan warfare: Passing a budget deal that won't likely hurt the economy.

The two-year spending plan the Senate is expected to approve Wednesday all but removes the threat of another government shutdown like the one that slowed the economy in October. Among other things, the agreement will roll back some of the automatic federal spending cuts that kicked in this year.

The result? Economists say the U.S. economy has a good chance to accelerate at its fastest pace since before the Great Recession struck six years ago.

Growth has plodded along at a 2.4 percent annual rate so far this year. Bolstered in part by the budget deal, the economy is poised to expand 2.9 percent next year, its healthiest pace since 2005, according to an Associated Press survey of economists.

[xchrom]

6. Obama Is Trying to Fix Inequality by Hiring the Same Hacks Who Caused It

http://www.thenation.com/article/177622/obama-trying-fix-inequality-hiring-same-hacks-who-caused-it


John Podesta (AP Photo)

How can President Obama be so right and so wrong in the same moment? On the one hand, he warns us that sharply rising income inequality “is the defining challenge of our time” and pledges to reverse “a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility. …” But then he once again turns to the same hacks in the Democratic Party who helped create this problem to fix it.

His tough speech on income inequality earlier this month was delivered at the Center for American Progress, founded by John Podesta. As chief of staff to Bill Clinton, Podesta helped lead the charge to deregulate Wall Street, which resulted in the banking bubble that wiped out the savings of tens of millions of Americans.

But instead of chastising Podesta for the errors of his ways, Obama in 2008 appointed him to oversee his presidential transition team. That led to the appointment of Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner, two former Clinton officials responsible for the banking meltdown, to repair it. Just this past week, it was announced that John Podesta would be reappointed as a senior adviser to the Obama White House.

John Podesta should not be confused with his brother Tony, although both were founding partners of the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm that has represented Walmart, Lockheed Martin, Bank of America and BP along with dozens of other multinational corporations.

[Demeter]

22. Watch what he does (and whom he appoints) not what he says

Never been such abuse of the public airwaves and ears since Nixon.

[xchrom]

7. Fed Said to Delay Bank Leverage Cap Until Basel Completed

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/fed-said-to-delay-bank-leverage-cap-until-basel-completed.html

The Federal Reserve has decided to delay imposing limits on leverage at eight of the biggest U.S. financial institutions until a global agreement is completed, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Fed officials want to wait for a finished rule from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision before completing their own requirement for how much capital U.S. banks must hold as a percentage of all assets on their books, said the people, speaking on condition of anonymity because the process isn’t public. The international accord is shaping up as weaker in some respects than the U.S. plan.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had favored finishing a U.S. rule by year’s end, said one of the people. The Fed’s wait-and-see position is aligned with groups representing the banking industry, who have argued for a delay on grounds that the regulations should be consistent.

After the Dec. 10 adoption of the Volcker Rule that restricts banks from trading with their own money, the leverage ratio is one of the most significant unfinished U.S. initiatives to reduce risks that led to the 2008 global credit crisis.

[xchrom]

8. UBS, Credit Suisse Payout Hopes Ebb as Regulators Tighten Leash

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-17/ubs-credit-suisse-payout-hopes-ebb-as-regulators-tighten-leash.html

Prospects for fatter dividend payouts from Switzerland’s biggest banks are receding as Swiss authorities ratchet up capital demands.

UBS AG (UBSN), the nation’s largest bank, was told to hold more capital for legal risks this quarter, while the finance minister said last month leverage rules might be tightened. Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), the No. 2 bank, is in talks with the regulator that may also lead to a demand for more capital, though it would be much smaller in scope than for UBS, a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified said this month.

The tighter requirements, on top of stricter rules implemented over the past five years, arrived as the banks were preparing to start paying higher dividends. UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti, 53, pledged to pay out more than half of profits to shareholders once the company reaches a common equity ratio of 13 percent -- a level that probably would have been achieved this year without the fresh demands.

“The message from regulators is very clear: ‘if you think you can pay dividends, forget it,’” Oswald Gruebel, who served as CEO of both Zurich-based UBS and Credit Suisse, said by phone. “They don’t want to let banks pay any dividend. It’s totally open how long this will last.”

[xchrom]

9. At 61 She Lives in Basement While 87-Year-Old Dad Travels

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/at-61-she-lives-in-basement-while-87-year-old-dad-travels.html


Lee Manchester sits for a photo in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013.


Eighty-seven-year-old Lew Manchester has just returned from a three-week trip touring Buddhist temples in Laos and cruising the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. His 61-year-old daughter Lee lives year-round in the basement of her friend’s Cape Cod cottage, venturing into the winter cold to get to the bathroom.

Lew is making the most of his old age. Lee is paring back and lightening her load as she looks ahead to her later years. Both worked all their lives, both saved what they could. Yet Lew, a son of the Great Depression and former company man, and Lee, a baby boomer who has pursued careers as an entrepreneur and a mid-level manager, are winding up in two very different economic strata.

“Timing is everything and my dad’s timing with jobs, real estate and retirement benefits was better,” said Lee.

While plenty of baby boomers, born from 1946 to 1964, have become affluent and many elderly around the U.S. face financial hardship, the wealth disparity of this father and daughter is emblematic of a broad shift occurring around the country. A rising tide of graying baby boomers is less secure financially and has a lower standard of living than their aged parents.

[Tansy_Gold]

14. Tell that to some of the boomer-bashers on DU.....n/t

[xchrom]

16. right? i hate that shit. nt

[Demeter]

23. And elsewhere

I can see us, finally fed up, bashing people with our walkers at the next Social Security riot...

[xchrom]

10. Goldman Sachs Case Tests EU Will to Fine Private Equity Investor

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/goldman-sachs-case-tests-eu-will-to-fine-private-equity-investor.html

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is set to be fined early next year in a European Union antitrust probe into an underwater power cables cartel that tests regulators’ ability to penalize private-equity investors.

Prysmian SpA (PRY), an Italian cable maker that Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bought in 2005, and the New York-based bank are among as many as 11 companies that face fines in the four-year-old probe, according to three people familiar with the case who requested anonymity because the process is confidential. The lender has said that the private-equity unit wasn’t aware of efforts to rig prices or share markets by companies that started before it bought the company.

The EU has become more aggressive in holding parent companies liable for bad behavior at subsidiaries, backed by several court rulings. Private equity owners, such as Goldman Sachs, haven’t managed to convince regulators that they should be treated differently.

“There is a tendency of private equity firms to think that because they are financial investors they aren’t in the same category as industrial group parent companies, but so far the case law on parental liability does not distinguish between financial and other investors,” said Jay Modrall, a Brussels-based lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

[xchrom]

11. Greece Courts Paulson in Attempt to Revive State Asset Sale Plan

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/greece-courts-paulson-in-attempt-to-revive-state-asset-sale-plan.html


Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson, founder of Paulson & Co., known for making... Read More

Greece’s Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund is courting U.S. hedge funds as it seeks to lure investment in everything from ports to islands to finance the country’s bailout.

Officials at the privatization fund, charged with raising 11 billion euros ($15 billion) through state asset sales by 2016, met with billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson in New York earlier this week, according to the directors. Funds from Paulson & Co. to Third Point LLC, which profited from wagers that European officials would rescue the indebted nation as government bond yields peaked last year, have expressed interest in the assets, he said.

“There is improved sentiment about investing in Greece,” Andreas Taprantzis, the executive director of the fund, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York yesterday. “Six months or a year ago investors were coming to Greece asking for returns of 30 percent, it was surreal.”

The privatization fund, which failed to secure any bids for the national gas company Depa SA in June, is seeking to collect 3.6 billion euros next year through asset sales, a goal Taprantzis called “ambitious.” Greece plans to sell stakes in two ports in mid-February and aims to conclude the sale next month of Hellenikon SA, a property which at 6.2 million square meters is more than three times the size of Monaco.

[xchrom]

12. Gold Town Turns to Dust as Metal Decline Shutters Mines

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/gold-town-turns-to-dust-as-metal-decline-shutters-mines.html

A half-dozen unemployed workers from the Blyvooruitzicht gold mine southwest of Johannesburg finish off the last scraps of a slaughtered cow in the searing October heat. Since losing their jobs in August, meals have become much less predictable.

The men stand near a small wood fire as the sun shines off a hill of extracted earth, in sight of a housing block that was supposed to be vacated. One holds a jaw bone over the flame, nibbles the meat off, and tosses the rest into a rusty barrel. What’s left of the carcass with its entrails spilling out is starting to dry at their feet.

The scene, resembling something from an apocalypse film out of Hollywood, is an extreme example of the impact gold’s 25 percent drop this year may have on towns around the world that are dependent on the precious metal. Mining companies have announced plans to shutter mines or reduce operations from Nevada and Peru to Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, as gold heads toward its first annual loss in 13 years.

Blyvooruitzicht’s name means “happy prospect” in Afrikaans. These days that’s not such a sure thing. The mine’s most recent operator, Johannesburg-based Village Main Reef Ltd., cut funding and closed it last summer, letting go the remaining 1,700 workers. Plunging prices made it difficult to profitably extract gold, especially with electricity prices soaring and workers demanding higher wages.

[xchrom]

13. Spanish Defaults Surge as Banks Forced to Come Clean: Mortgages

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-17/spanish-defaults-surge-as-banks-forced-to-come-clean-mortgages.html

Liliana Proano Males won’t be decorating her house in Madrid this Christmas because she’s about to lose it.

Males and her husband, who was fired from his job during the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, can no longer afford their mortgage. With Spain’s persistently high unemployment rate now at 26 percent, the couple is among the 350,000 homeowners who may be foreclosed upon by lenders in the next two years as the housing crisis worsens, according to AFES, a Madrid-based association that advises on restructuring debt. Since 2008, about 150,000 families have been hit with a foreclosure.

“We refinanced three years ago, but now the noose is around our necks,” Males, 42, said. “Not only do we still owe more than the original loan. We’re losing our home as well.”

As mortgage defaults rise, lenders will have to set aside money to cover losses, hurting profits, according to Juan Villen, head of mortgages at Spanish property web site Idealista.com. Spanish banks absorbed 87 billion euros ($120 billion) of impairment charges last year after Economy Minister Luis de Guindos forced them to record more defaults on loans to developers. The government took 41 billion euros in European assistance to shore up its failing lenders.

[DemReadingDU]

15. Bank of England to confirm plastic money for Britain

12/18/13 Bank of England to confirm plastic money for Britain

Sterling is to go plastic, the Bank of England will announce today. New polymer notes will first be introduced in 2016, with a new £5 note featuring Winston Churchill, followed by a £10 Jane Austin note in 2017. The move will mark the death of paper bank notes, which the Bank of England has been issuing since 1694.

The bank has said the decision will make for more durable notes that will last an estimated 6 times longer than the current cotton-paper notes. Improved resilience will compensate for higher production costs and save around £100m, the bank claims.

In Australia, polymer notes have been in circulation for two years, and the Band of England’s decision follows Governor Mark Carney’s native Canada, where plastic currency is also being introduced.

Bank Note officials have already begun working with suppliers of cash machines, and with retailers to make provisions for the introduction of the new smaller notes.

Link, which runs the UK cashmachine network has announced that its machines will require new cassettes, to hold the notes, though due to the new size of denominations rather than the material.

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/economic/bank-of-england-to-confirm-plastic-money-for-britain/7053.article



I heard on radio this morning, the plastic money will melt with temps over 120 degrees. Best check the pockets prior to putting wet clothes into the dryer.

[Tansy_Gold]

17. Heavens to Murdstone! It's A-U-S-T-E-N!!! n/t

[DemReadingDU]

18. Happy birthday, Jane Austen!

well, couple days late


12/16/13 Happy birthday, Jane Austen!

Jane Austen was born on this day in 1775. Happy 238th birthday, Jane Austen!

Austen, of course, was the author of novels that have endured and delighted for centuries. Her biggest hits are "Pride and Prejudice," "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" -- lasting stories of young women coming of age in Edwardian England. Less well-known, but no less Austen-y, are "Mansfield Park," "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion."

Born into an affluent family, Austen had a comfortable upbringing not unlike her characters': She learned to play piano, visited friends, attended dances. She also, from a young age, wrote. Her first published work was "Sense and Sensibility," published in three volumes; it was originally published anonymously, identifying Austen only as "A Lady."

Austen lived to be 41, with two of her books, "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey," published posthumously. She is now buried in Winchester Cathedral and a plaque in her memory is in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Last week, an 1869 watercolor portrait of Austen sold for more than $270,000. In 2016, her face will begin appearing on the 10-pound note in the U.K. Meanwhile, her books grace shelves all over the world.

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-happy-birthday-jane-austen-20131216,0,3986179.story#axzz2npZX31Qm

[xchrom]

19. indeed, happy birthday ms austen!

[xchrom]

20. 24 Fierce Gowns That Scream World Domination

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/fierce-gowns-that-scream-world-domination

1. “The only thing I’m hiding under this fabulous cape is my ambition.”


Chanel evening ensemble ca. 1930

2. “Every feather was plucked from the cape of a fallen king.”


Alexander McQueen, fall/winter 2008-9
***i call dibs on this!

3. “My ascent to power was as smooth and simple as this flawless look.”

Evening dress attributed to Adrian ca. 1948-52

4. “You think this is a hand me down because another Queen wore it? Consider it a badge of approval and a warning.”

Emilio Schuberth evening dress worn by Queen Soraya of Iran, 1953

[Tansy_Gold]

21. #2

Goodness gracious, dear, you may have it! I hate to tell you, but it just reminds me too much of those double peacock chenille bedspreads of the 30s and 40s and 50s.




(Google images "double peacock bedspread" for more, MUCH more! There's a wonderful economic story behind the double peacock bedspreads, though. More later.)

[Demeter]

24. I could never sleep in the same room with THAT!

Thanks for the education!

[Warpy]

31. Oh, man, I could! I adore those things

but the only ones I've ever seen were bleached out to white on white by a Clorox addict.

They're no louder than a lot of quilts out there.

[Tansy_Gold]

34. I think the human soul needs color and flamboyance

Just as we court psychological danger when we deny our other hungers for pleasure, I think we risk our aesthetic health if we don't indulge in riots of color and shape and form.

Get out of the little black dress once in a while; go for the ruffles and spangles and purple flounces.

Ditch the button down collar; shove your arms into the billowing sleeves of a pirate's shirt.


It'll do you good. It will. I promise.

[Warpy]

38. Well I have the not-so-little-any-more black dress should I be invited to a fancy dinner or funeral

I also have a whole pile of knit lace to go on top of it. It's one of two dresses I own and I don't wear either one of them, I'm usually to be found in jeans, this year with a loud paisley chenille jacket on top of them.

There is a reason we all exploded into the 60s with noise and color after the bland, regimented, charcoal grey 50s. We desperately needed it.

[Tansy_Gold]

40. I don't think there is anything quite as soothing to the soul

As a loud paisley ...... anything.

[xchrom]

25. GRRRRL! you know me -- if i can't go over the top - don't want to go!

i love, love, love those bedspreads.

and i love finding people who even know about them. cool!

[Tansy_Gold]

28. The wonderful story about the double peacock chenille bedspreads

(Women in Appalachia had been hired in the 1920s and 1930s to laboriously hand-tuft cotton chenille bedspreads for manufacturers who then sold them through various northern retailers. Many of the designs were stamped on cotton backgrounds provided by the manufacturers and then the workers filled in the designs with dyed cotton yarn, also provided.)


from Jane S. Becker's Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940. pp. 163-164

Furthermore, mountain craft producers demonstrated the power to sell their own work and to create products that proved desirable in the marketplace, sometimes by building on the very industries that exploited them. Perhaps the most compelling example of this lies in the story of the development and success of the peacock tufted bedspreads, designed and marketed by spread workers along U.S. Highway 41 in the area around Dalton, Georgia. The peacock spread was the people's spread. It apparently originated with spread workers who put to good use the different colored scraps of yarn they collected as the refuse from their work for the spread companies. The result was a peacock design that allowed them to use many colors. Spread workers hung these "gaudy" spreads on their roadside "spread lines," which began appearing in front of houses, stores, and gas stations as early as the 1920s, intended to catch the attention of tourists traveling to and from Florida. Although tufters also sold other patterns in this way, the peacock spreads -- initially unavailable through the bedspread manufacturers -- dominated. Described by one journalist as "the acme of bad taste," impossible to incorporate into "a well appointed house or bedroom," the spreads were nevertheless very popular with travelers. Indeed, the owner of one spread company, Whitener Chenilles, identified the peacock as the best-selling spread in 1943. That the spread workers themselves had no aesthetic appreciation for the peacock spreads they made was of little concern, one journalist claimed; in 1947 the peacock pattern outsold all other patterns many times over. Eventually manufacturers were forced to acknowledge the success of this people's spread, and by the 1950s a few companies offered "highway designs," including the peacock, as novelty items in their catalogs

The following blogpost is missing some of the pictures, but it does give a little further information on the background.

http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/2011/03/carpet-industry-started-with-one-womans.html

Also
http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/2011/09/carpet-capitals-peacock-alley.html

[xchrom]

33. they're just wonderful and the stories behind them make them more so. nt

[Eugene]

27. Facebook, Zuckerberg, banks must face IPO lawsuit: judge

Source: Reuters

Facebook, Zuckerberg, banks must face IPO lawsuit: judge

BY JONATHAN STEMPEL
NEW YORK Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:26pm EST

(Reuters) - A federal judge said Facebook Inc, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of banks must face a lawsuit accusing the social media company of misleading investors about its financial health before its $16 billion initial public offering last year.

In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan said investors could pursue claims that Facebook concealed material information from its IPO registration statement.

Investors alleged that Facebook should have disclosed its internal projections on how increased mobile usage and product decisions might reduce future revenues, among other things.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

In an 83-page decision dated December 11, Sweet said higher mobile usage had already had a "material negative" impact on revenue, and that the company should have disclosed more about the relationship.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/us-facebook-ipo-lawsuit-idUSBRE9BH0VD20131218

[Tansy_Gold]

29. I'm not holding my breath, but....

... I'm not giving up my dreams, either.

[Demeter]

30. How Elizabeth Warren Upset the DC Establishment's Plans to Weaken Social Security By Dean Baker

http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-dc-corporate-establishments-carefully-laid-plans-destroy-social-security-was-badly?akid=11287.227380.UU9GVj&rd=1&src=newsletter937898&t=14&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

When Senator Elizabeth Warren came out for increasing Social Security last month it set in motion a remarkable turn of events. For over a decade the only discussion of Social Security by the Washington power types was over how much to cut it and when. The extreme left position was that current spending was about right. Senator Warren changed the debate when she endorsed a bill proposed by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin that would index retirees' benefits to an index that more closely tracks the cost-of-living of seniors. The bill also would raise benefits by roughly $70 a month. As a result of Warren's prominence in national politics, and the fact that raising Social Security benefits is actually quite popular, the Washington insider types were forced to take the idea seriously.

As was predictable, she was quickly denounced by the usual suspects, most notably the ostensibly center-left group Third Way. Third Way is one of the many Wall Street funded groups that manage to get credibility in policy circles almost entirely by virtue of their funding. They have no real political following and rarely produce anything resembling original thinking or research. But in Washington, money commands attention. Third Way is one of a long list of organizations that have received Wall Street funding to go after Social Security and Medicare under the guise of protecting the young from their greedy parents and grandparents. This list includes Lead or Leave, the Concord Coalition, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, America Speaks, Fix the Debt and the Can Kicks Back.

At a time when we are seeing the largest upward redistribution in the history of the world these organizations have attempted to divert attention from the class war on the nation's middle class and poor. Instead they are trying to convince young people that their financial difficulties stem from the size of their parents' Social Security checks. The Wall Street crew also has allies in this effort in the media and academia. The Washington Post stands out in the former category, using both its news and opinion pages to push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. There is also considerable funding for academics who want to do work showing how the young are losing out to the elderly. For these reasons, Warren's call for raising Social Security benefits could mark a real turning point. It could mean that we get a public debate which looks at the program with open eyes, recognizing that it is a large and growing portion of workers' retirement income.

While Social Security does keep most seniors out of poverty, the $1,300 average monthly benefit is certainly not enough for a comfortable retirement for people who lack another source of support. A modest increase in benefits to retirees in the bottom half of the income distribution would make a big difference in their standard of living at relatively little cost to the program. What is most desperately needed for middle income workers is a new retirement system to replace the failed 401(k) system.

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[Warpy]

32. Did Bernanke clear his throat at 2 PM?

Because look at the stocks go up, the dollar go up, and metals start to head down.

[Demeter]

35. Greed overcame fear, yet again.

OR somebody spiked the egg nog.

[Demeter]

36. Fed to scale back stimulus by $10 billion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fed-to-scale-back-stimulus-by-10-billion/2013/12/18/54dc2ee4-6747-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html

I DON'T SEE WHY WALL ST WOULD RISE ON THAT

[DemReadingDU]

37. It starts in January

So have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

[Warpy]

39. They're rising on that because looneytarians

see reduced inflation potential in reduced government stimulus spending.

Yeah, they are exactly wrong.

[Demeter]

41. What Fed tapering means for you

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-fed-tapering-means-for-you-2013-12-18?siteid=YAHOOB

... Analysts say consumers should start to prepare now — especially those who are planning to buy a car or home within the next three to six months. “The stimulus program was supposed to boost spending going in, so it’s going to reduce spending going out,” says Peter Morici, economist and professor at the University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business.

Tapering may increase the cost of financing big-ticket items and rates on student loans. “If your furnace goes out and you only have $700 in the bank, you will either have to freeze or buy it in installments,” Morici says. “The same goes for any emergency repairs on your home.” Similarly, college students struggling under the weight of rising tuition fees may face a new challenge in 2014: rising interest rates on loans. “Colleges are already seeing concerns about this reflected in their applications,” Morici says. Law schools are facing a fall in admissions due to rising costs: 54% have reported cutting their entry law school classes for the 2013-14 academic year, according to the 2013 Kaplan Test Prep law school survey.

Mortgage costs will also increase when the Fed pulls back on QE3, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, the trade group for the industry. “Sellers had a very easy time selling houses in the last year,” he says. Those who need to make a move to a better school district or larger home, he says, “need to realize that it could be more challenging a year from now.” The average 30-year mortgage rate currently hovers at 4.3%, “historically a very, very favorable rate,” but that could rise to 5% or 5.5% next year, Yun says.

Auto financing rates have followed the general drop in interest rates that accompanied the Fed’s stimulus program, which means they’re just likely to rise with the winding down of that program, says Lacey Plache, chief economist at car-shopping website Edmunds.com. But consumers could get a break as dealerships get aggressive on discounts to offset a drop in sales. “Last summer auto loan rates remained flat even as mortgage and other interest rates rose,” Plache says, primarily because automakers have the ability to subsidize auto loan and lease rates on deals funded through their financing arms. “While subsidizing rates could cut into their profits, it could be well worth the cost in order to not disrupt current sales momentum,” Plache says. Indeed, some consumers may already be buying cars because they believe auto financing rates will go up next year, says Karl Brauer, senior analyst at auto-pricing publisher Kelley Blue Book. “Does this suggest a drastic drop-off in car sales once rates start to climb? Possibly, but several other factors are contributing to car sales,” he says. There’s still pent-up demand — the average age of a car on the road is 11.4 years, according to market research firm Polk — and continued easy access to credit should help mitigate the negative impact of rising rates in 2014,” he says. Car sales are expected to 16.4 million, according to KBB, which would be the highest sales since February 2007....

MORE TEA LEAVES

[Demeter]

42. Warren Buffett made $37 million a day in 2013

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-made-37-million-a-day-in-2013-2013-12-18?siteid=YAHOOB

...The legendary billionaire and philanthropist finished 2013 with a net worth of $59.1 billion, up from $46.4 billion at the beginning of the year, according to a wealth-analysis study by Wealth-X and UBS. The number of billionaires in the world grew between July 2012 and June 2013 with total wealth rising by 5.3%. Since the market’s March 2009 lows in the wake of the global financial crisis, billionaires have seen their total wealth more than double from $3.1 trillion to $6.5 trillion.

Despite Buffett’s monster gain, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is still the wealthiest billionaire in the world, ending the year with total net worth of $72.6 billion....


SHAME! SHAME ON THEM BOTH!