STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 26 May 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 26 May 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 22 May 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 22 May 2015
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Dow Jones 18,232.02 -53.72 (-0.29%)
S&P 500 2,126.06 -4.76 (-0.22%)
Nasdaq 5,089.36



[font color=black]10 Year 2.21% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=green]30 Year 2.98% -0.02 (-0.67%) [font color=black]


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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.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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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. Gaius Publius: Hillary, TPP, the World of Money, and the Center for American Progress

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/05/gaius-publius-hillary-tpp-and-the-center-for-american-progress.html#comment-2447794

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, Americablog, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. This piece first appeared at Down With Tyranny. GP article archive here.


...There has been a lot written lately, including here, about the Democratic Party split between progressives and “progressives” — the former of whom have most of the people on their side, and the latter of whom have most of the money. Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Alan Grayson and others are firmly in the progressive camp, what’s being called the “Warren wing” of the party. Most Democratic Party officials and electeds, however, are in the latter camp, which many call the “Wall Street wing,” though huge swaths of American (and foreign) moneyed interests, not just those on Wall Street, are supporters and controllers of that wing. To take just one moneyed interest — Big Oil — consider that:

Exxon is one of the largest owners of unmonetized methane (yet-to-be-fracked natural gas) in the country.

“Left-wing” support groups and think tanks like EDF (Environmental Defense Fund) and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) strongly support the “temporary” transition to natural gas as a bridge fuel.

By many reports both EDF and NRDC receive money in various ways, as well as advice, from the oil and gas industry and their advocates.

NRDC in particular is said to have had a hand in Obama’s new climate plan.

And … President Obama’s big climate plan — his “Clean Power Plan” (a very methane industry–like phrase) — happens to preference methane over everything else in our arsenal, including just quitting carbon in a World War II–style conversion and being done with it.

The “Wall Street wing” of the Democratic Party is really the Money wing and represents Money wherever it is found. Though some dispute the claim, it seems to me the split between the Warren wing and the Money wing is huge, a chasm, and shows little sign of healing at the moment. It may heal later, artificially and for a time, around a Clinton candidacy, but that time isn’t now.

Hillary Clinton and the Money Wing

I think it’s fair to say, regardless of how you view Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate, that her biggest hurdle on the Democratic side is her perceived connection to Big Money, and lots of it. Her family grew rich by cultivating people with money; her foundation grew fat by cultivating people (and nations) with money; and her donor list has historically included holders of big money, especially Wall Street holders (though Obama seems to have out-raised her on Wall Street in 2008)...She may be able to shed these concerns — there is much time left, too much in fact, until the Democratic primary elections. But she may not need to shed them; for example, the specter of “Republicans in the White House!” may be too much for even the most progressive of voters. We’ll have to see how this plays out. Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that the tag “friend of money” is one of the vulnerabilities Ms. Clinton may have to overcome.

Center for American Progress and the World of Big Money

One of the most important — and “centrist” (code for “corporate-friendly”) — think tanks in the Democratic Party ecosystem is the Center for American Progress, or CAP. They do some good work, and their associated Web group, ThinkProgress, does excellent work. But when it comes time to put their “money” where Money’s mouth is — for example, to support cuts to Social Security and Medicare — CAP is on the anti-progressive side, and reliably so. CAP is strongly connected to the Clinton ecosystem as well as the party ecosystem. CAP was founded by John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff. He’s now chair of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. The current president of CAP is Neera Tanden, who worked for the Obama and Clinton administrations, and also on the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign. With $40 million in 2013 revenue, CAP and those associated with it stand at or near the center of the center of mainstream Democratic politics. CAP is also extremely secretive about where its money comes from. Here’s the always excellent Ken Silverstein, writing in The Nation in 2013:

Nowadays, many Washington think tanks effectively serve as unregistered lobbyists for corporate donors, and companies strategically contribute to them just as they hire a PR or lobby shop or make campaign donations. And unlike lobbyists and elected officials, think tanks are not subject to financial disclosure requirements, so they reveal their donors only if they choose to. That makes it impossible for the public and lawmakers to know if a think tank is putting out an impartial study or one that’s been shaped by a donor’s political agenda. “If you’re a lobbyist, whatever you say is heavily discounted,” says Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and an expert on political ethics. “If a think tank is saying it, it obviously sounds a lot better. Maybe think tanks aren’t aware of how useful that makes them to private interests. On the other hand, maybe it’s part of their revenue model.”

And:

CAP has emerged as perhaps the most influential of all think tanks during the Obama era, and there’s been a rapidly revolving door between it and the administration. CAP is also among the most secretive of all think tanks concerning its donors. Most major think tanks prepare an annual report containing at least some financial and donor information and make it available on their websites. According to CAP spokeswoman Andrea Purse, the center doesn’t even publish one.

Purse told me that CAP “follows all financial disclosure requirements with regard to donors…. We don’t use corporate funds to pay for research or reports.” But she flatly refused to discuss specific donors or to provide an on-the-record explanation for why CAP won’t disclose them.

After growing rapidly in its first few years, tax records show, CAP’s total assets fell in 2006 for the first time, from $23.6 million to $20.4 million. Assets started growing again in 2007 when CAP founded the Business Alliance, a membership rewards program for corporate contributors, and then exploded when Obama was elected in 2008. According to its most recent nonprofit tax filing, CAP’s total assets now top $44 million, and its Action Fund treasury holds $6 million more.

A confidential CAP donor pitch I obtained describes the Business Alliance as “a channel for engagement with the corporate community” that provides “the opportunity to…collaborate on common interests.” It offers three membership levels, with the perks to top donors ($100,000 and up) including private meetings with CAP experts and executives, round-table discussions with “Hill and national leaders,” and briefings on CAP reports “relevant to your unique interests.”

Regardless of what you think of CAP and what it accomplishes, there’s no question that CAP inhabits, is part of, the world of Big Money, just as Wall Street is part of that world, Ford Foundation is part of that world, and everything touched by the Kochs, such as PBS. Welcome to the One Percent and their interests.

CAP’s Donor List

Since the Silverstein article came out, CAP released its donor list:

The liberal think tank Center for American Progress on Friday revealed that it’s funded by some of the country’s largest and most powerful corporations, trade associations and lobbying firms.

Major donors to the group and its affiliate social welfare nonprofit Center for American Progress Action Fund include major retailers, energy interests, health care companies and other corporate actors who spend millions on lobbying and influence peddling in the nation’s capital, according to a list posted on the center’s website.

The group — which is a fundraising powerhouse that takes in about $40 million a year — released its donor list as founder and chairman John Podesta heads into the Obama White House to serve as a senior adviser.

Those corporations and trade associations represent a cross section of corporate America and include Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Google, defense giant Northrop Grumman, T-Mobile, Toyota, Visa, GE, among others. CAP did not disclose the donation amounts.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP — a major player in the health care debate contributed to the group, as did Hollywood’s advocacy arm, the Motion Picture Association of America. Other corporate donors include Microsoft, PepsiCo, Samsung, CVS Caremark, Comcast NBCUniversal and many others.

The firm also has a number of major K Street lobbying firms on the corporate donor list including Akin Gump, the Glover Park Group, Livingston Group and the Downey McGrath Group. All represent dozens of corporate and nonprofit clients.

CAP Strongly Supports TPP

From the CAP main website, a piece written in 2012:

Japan’s Inclusion Makes the Trans-Pacific Partnership a Big Opportunity

New Agreement Could Lead to Better Trade Between U.S. and Japan

… The prospect of Japan joining the TPP is indeed promising for the United States. U.S. goods trade with current TPP economies constitutes 5.3 percent of total U.S. goods trade. Japan’s inclusion would double this to 10.6 percent.

And while Japan is already a leading destination for U.S. exports, the United States has a $62.6 billion goods trade deficit with it. The TPP could help bring down that deficit by reducing trade barriers and opening the Japanese market up to more exports from the United States and other countries. …

There’s even a nice picture of a woman riding a bike past Sony corporate headquarters, with kind words for each.

How Does Hillary Clinton Not Support TPP and Fast Track?

The Center for American Progress sits squarely in the world of money, the world that Obama and his push for TPP seem determined to serve. Hillary Clinton sits squarely in both the world of money and the world of CAP infrastructure. How does she not support TPP? When asked about TPP, all she can say is this:

Clinton punts on trade

Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she will wait until negotiations are completed to take a position on the sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal being negotiated by the Obama administration.

“So, I have said I want to judge the final agreement,” she said during a campaign stop in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “I have been for trade agreements. I have been against trade agreements.”

Pressure on Clinton to take a position on trade has been coming from both sides, with liberal groups urging her to stand against the trade deal.But doing so would be difficult for Clinton, who backed the deal as a member of President Obama’s administration.

When asked about the TPP issue, campaign chief John Podesta, the same man mentioned above, former CAP chair, reportedly quipped, “Can you make it go away?” This is not the behavior of a TPP opponent. Given all the information here (and there’s plenty more elsewhere), there is no way Hillary Clinton is not a strong supporter of TPP and Fast Track.

Note the mention of “national security” near the end. Obama’s Pentagon chief has come out in favor of TPP on “security” grounds...

[Demeter]

2. Free Trade and Unrestricted Capital Flow: How Billionaires Get Rich & Destroy the Rest of Us 3/2013

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/free-trade-and-unrestricted-capital-flow-how-billionaires-get-rich-and-destroy-the-rest-of-us.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Yves here. This post highlights an issue that gets far too little attention: how the “free trade” agenda has been used to promote a capital mobility agenda, and why that works to the detriment of ordinary citizens...As Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart found in their study of 800 years of financial crises, high international capital flows are strongly correlated with more frequent and severe financial crises. A very important BIS paper that has not gotten the attention it deserves, “Global imbalances and the financial crisis: Link or no link?” Claudio Borio and Piti Disyatat, discusses how the crisis was the direct result of what they call excess financial elasticity. That means having a banking system that was way too accommodating to the pet wishes of bank customers. From Andrew Dittmer’s translation of the paper from economese to English (the numbers are page references):

The idea of “national savings” or “current account surplus” refers to the total amount of exports sold minus the total amount of imports sold (more or less). The “excess savings” theory holds that this excess had to have been financed somehow, and so presumably by countries in surplus, like China.

However, for the US in 2010, the total amount of financial flows into the US was at least 60 times the current account deficit (9), counting only securities transactions. If this number were correct, then inflows would be 61 times the current account deficit, and outflows would be 60 times the current account deficit. The current account deficit is a drop in the bucket. Why would anyone assume it had anything to do with the picture at all?

Moreover, if the “savings glut” theory was correct, we would expect there to be certain historical correlations between the following variables: (a) current account deficits of the US, (b) US and world long-term interest rates, (c) value of the US dollar, (d) the global savings rate, (e) world GDP. There aren’t (4-6, see graphs).

You would also expect credit crises to occur mainly in countries with current account deficits. They don’t (6).

Suppose we look at a more reasonable variables: gross capital flows (13-14). What do we learn about the causes of the crisis?

Financial flows exploded from 1998 to 2007, expanding by a factor of four RELATIVE to world GDP (13), and then fell by 75% in 2008 (15). The most important source of financial flows was Europe, dwarfing the contributions of Asia and the Middle East (15). The bulk of inflows originated in the private sector (15)….

So what caused the crisis? Clearly, the shadow banking system (mainly based around US and European financial institutions) succeeding in generating huge amounts of leverage and financing all by itself (24, 28). Banks can expand credit independently of their reserve requirements (30) – the central bank’s role is limited to setting short-term interest rates (30). European banks deliberately levered themselves up so they could take advantage of
opportunities to use ABS in strategies (11), many of which were ultimately aimed at looting these same banks for the benefit of bank employees. These activities pushed long-term interest rates down. Short-term rates remained low because the Fed didn’t raise them as long as inflation didn’t appear to be an issue (25, 27).

By Gaius Publius. Cross posted from Americablog

Paul Krugman makes a point in this post about Cyprus that I’d like use to make a broader and more important point. His point is that Cyprus is already off the euro and has created its own currency, the Cyprus Euro, which at the moment is pegged to the other euro at 1:1. Why is a euro in a Cyprus bank different from other euros? Because you can’t move it freely, so it has less real value...My point, though, is a little different. My point is about unrestricted free trade and capital flow in general and why understanding both is crucial to understanding:

▪ The neoliberal free-trade project, and
▪ Wealth inequality in America

But don’t let your eyes glaze over; this is not hard to understand. It just has a few odd terms in it. Please stick with me...There’s a straight line between “free-trade” — a prime tenet of both right-wing Milton Friedman thinking and left-wing Bill Clinton–Robert Rubin neoliberalism — and wealth inequality in America. In fact, if the billionaires didn’t have the one (a global free-trade regime) they couldn’t have the other (your money in their pocket). And the whole global “all your money are belong to us” process has only three moving parts. Read on to see them. Once you “get it,” you’ll get it for a long time.

What does “free trade” mean?

In its simplest terms, “free trade” means one thing only — the ability of people with capital to move that capital freely, anywhere in the world, seeking the highest profit. It’s been said of Bush II, for example, that “when Bush talks of ‘freedom’, he doesn’t mean human freedom, he means freedom to move money.” At its heart, free trade doesn’t mean the ability to trade freely per se; that’s just a byproduct. It means the ability to invest freely without governmental constraint. Free trade is why factories in China have American investors and partners — because you can’t bring down manufacturing wages in Michigan and Alabama if you can’t set up slave factories somewhere else and get your government to make that capital move cost-free, or even tax-incentivized, out of your supposed home country and into a place ripe for predation. Can you see why both right-wing kings (Koch Bros, Walmart-heir dukes and earls, Reagan I, Bush I and II) and left-wing honchos (Bill Clinton, Robert Rubin, Barack Obama) make “free trade” the cornerstone of each of their economic policies? It’s the song of the rich, and they all sing it.

I’ve shown this video before, but it bears repeating. When you think about “free trade,” you probably think of the Walmart heirs (or Apple owners) wallowing in wealth from the world’s slave factories. But it’s a joint project by all of our owners (sorry, major left- and right-wing campaign contributors and job creators). This is Barack Obama making his case for campaign funding to Robert (Hi “Bob”) Rubin and others in 2006:

Brand-New Senator Barack Obama, 2006
The opening of Robert Rubin’s Hamilton Project Thinktank

At 1:20: “The forces of globalization have changed the rules of the game,” and at 5:52: “Most of us are strong free-traders.” (His “yes-but” to Rubin in that second segment is an appeal to actually do the worthless retraining for non-existent jobs that Clinton earlier supported but never did. See? Pushback. Independence.)

Three things to note:

1. The “forces of globalization” he refers to are not acts of god, whether Yahweh, Juno or Joxer. They were created by the Clinton- and Rubin-crafted CAFTA and NAFTA treaties. If a god did it, that god also caused a certain blue dress to need a dry-cleaning it never got.

2. If Obama doesn’t say what he just said in that room, he doesn’t get a Rubinite dime for his next political campaign. Period. This is his application speech.

3. Never forget that if Oklahoma knuckle-dragger Sam Walton were in that room, or not-America-first Steve Jobs, Obama would say those same words. “Most of us are strong free-traders.” It’s the tie that binds the left and the right. Bind yourself to Obama economically, and you’re tied to the Waltons. Period.

Bonus points for noting that the push to roll back social insurance is part of the NeoLiberal agenda, for example at 1:30 and elsewhere. It’s why we have the Obama Grand Betrayal, the Catfood Snack That Won’t Go Away (do click; there’s a kitty inside).

Finally, listen again to his opening praise of “Bob” Rubin and the others in the first 30 seconds or so. When Obama says that the men he’s praising have “put us on a pathway of prosperity,” what he means is that they’ve put themselves on a path to prosperity. This is wealth inequality in action, wealth inequality on the hoof. Those slave-wage jobs in China (or Indonesia or the Philippines) replace the unionized, high-paying wages you don’t have and will never get back; the men in that room, including Obama, are the reason; and “free trade” is both the cover story and the tool (more on that duality below).

Never forget — “Free trade” is a bipartisan, hands-across-the-aisle screwage of American incomes and wealth. It’s the necessary cornerstone of both left-wing and right-wing economic policy. Period.

The three tools of wealth extraction

Free trade is a primary tool of wealth extraction. What are the others? Recall that corporations aren’t actors per se, they are machines by which wealth is vacuumed from workers and consumers into the hands and pockets of the corps’ true owners, the CEO and capital class. As we’ve said before:

(1) Corporations are not people, and they don’t have ideas or will. They are empty vessels. If you took a neutron bomb to the home office of MegaCorp.com and let it rip, the building, filled to the brim with inventory and IP, would be empty of humans and a dead thing. You could wait for weeks for the offices to act; they wouldn’t.

(2) This is especially true today, since the corporation now serves a different function than it was designed for. At first, a corporation served to make its stockholders moderately wealthy — or at least wealthier.

Modern corporations serve one function only — to make the CEO class obscenely rich.

The looting of global wealth into the hands of the capital and CEO class is a simple two-step process: Corps use free trade to loot the world. CEOs then loot the corps and live higher and better than the kings and presidents they control. Yes, “kings and presidents they control.” The only thing needed to make the looting worldwide is government protection. If the capital class doesn’t control government, they can’t institute … global free trade regimes. And there you have it. So what are the three tools needed by the capital-controlling class?

■ CEO capture of corporations
■ Wealth capture of government
■ A global free-trade regime

And that’s all it takes. With those three tools in your pocket, you can loot and own the world, literally. Hmm, we have all three now. “Mission accomplished,” as they say in private jet circles.


MUCH MORE ON CAPITAL CONTROLS, CLINTON, OBAMA, REAGAN....SEE LINK


Bottom line

The bottom line is simple: A “free trade” system is a regime in which capital always wins, everywhere. It’s the tool by which global wealth is extracted. It’s supported by both parties. The Democratic Party version is called NeoLiberalism. “NeoLiberal” means not-FDR-liberal in the same way that Tony Blair’s “New Labour” means not-Clement Attlee-Labour. Because, framing counts on CNN, and it’s always opposite day there. And Barack Obama, Bringer and Betrayer of Hope and Change, is the lead NeoLiberal warrior, the point of the spear until 2016, at which point he’ll pass the torch to another testosterone-branded neoliberal, retire into the sunset of global acclaim, create his Foundation for NeoLiberal Love and Global Kittens, and collect his checks. (Or not.) My suggestion, given the above — don’t help him. You have enough on your conscience, if you’re at all like the rest of us. Unless, of course, you like your economic crises served always on tap. In which case, do sign up.

[Demeter]

3. 10 Best International Places to Retire MARCH 2013--COMPARE TO NOW

http://www.topretirements.com/blog/international-retirement/10-best-international-places-to-retire.html/

1. Ireland

2. France

3. Coast of Spain

4. Italy

5. Costa Rica

6. Croatia

7. New Zealand

8. Panama

9. Mexico

10. Ecuador

Honorable Mention
We hear many good things about retirement in Uruguay. The country is stable politically and economically, it has beautiful beaches, and the dollar or euro goes far...

DETAILS AT LINK

[tclambert]

10. Okay, you got me to look up Uruguay. It sounds nice.

Decent climate, and quite liberal government. Cannabis is legal, as well as same sex marriage, and abortion. Government is stable, and ranked low in corruption. The capital of Montevideo is the third most southern in the world, though it is only a little bit further south than Buenos Aires, which is not very far away, if you crave time in a big city. Lots of coastline, and lots of rivers. Not much in the way of mountains, which apparently means the weather changes very quickly, kind of like Ann Arbor.

[Fuddnik]

4. Three very important posts Demeter.

We've gotta keep a spotlight trained on these rats. They're 1%er guerrillas working behind enemy (us) lines.

I used to pay a lot of attention to CAP back when they first started, and then I started noticing their neo-liberal bent, and just couldn't wrap my mind around why "Democrats" were promoting Republican economic policy. That was before I realized just what a skunk Podesta really was. I also noticed that most of their liberal columnists started leaving in droves.

A real eye opener was back in 2004, when I was running for Congress. I was in Washington for a week for meetings with DCCC, DNC, and several Congressmen and Senators. The DNC has a new (back in '04) HQ building a few blocks from the White House. On the ground floor is a restaurant and bar called the Democratic National Club, owned and operated by the party. After a long day, or for lunch, me and my campaign manager would stop in there for a few cocktails and snacks. Afternoons were full of Congressmen and party movers and shakers. As we were sitting around drinking and bullshitting with these guys, it turns out that at least half of them were Republicans. That's when you start to realize that this is all a big con job and Kabuki Theater. Argue a good fight for the cameras on C-Span, then go out drinking with the "opposition".

It's all one big game. And that's when Terry McCauliffe and that third way slime Harold Ford was running the show. And things are only worse now.

[Demeter]

5. JAPAN IN THE NEWS TODAY

Japan's net external assets hit record $3 tril as top creditor nation

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/japans-net-external-assets-hit-record-3-tril-as-top-creditor-nation

Japan’s net external assets rose to a record 366.86 trillion yen ($3.03 trillion) at the end of last year as a weak yen boosted the value of overseas holdings, making the country the world’s biggest creditor nation for 24 years in a row, the finance ministry said on Friday. The value of net assets held by the Japanese government, businesses and individuals exceeded the previous year’s 325 trillion yen, the biggest amount on comparable data, ministry officials said.

Japan’s net external assets were 1.7 times those held by China, the world’s No. 2 creditor nation with 214.3 trillion yen in net assets at the end of 2014, followed by Germany whose assets stood at 154.7 trillion yen, the ministry said.

Japan’s gross external assets rose 18.5% to 945.27 trillion yen, up for a sixth consecutive year, as the weak yen boosted the appraised value of external assets by 64 trillion yen from the year before, the ministry said. External debt also grew 22.6% to 578.42 trillion yen, up for a fifth straight year, helped by increased acquisitions by foreign investors of Japanese equities and other assets.

The Bank of Japan’s aggressive monetary stimulus has helped drive down the yen, boosting exporters’ profits and share prices. The dollar traded at 119.80 yen at the end of 2014, up 13.7% from the year before, and the euro largely held steady at 145.44 yen, the finance ministry said.

Japan trade gap returns to deficit in April, more red ahead

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150525p2g00m0bu004000c.html

Japan posted a trade deficit in April following a single-month's surplus in March, and economists said shortfalls were likely to persist given the weakness of the yen. The 53.4 billion yen ($439.6 million) deficit in April for the world's third-biggest economy compared with a 227.4 billion yen surplus in March, the first in several years.

But thanks to lower oil and gas prices, the deficit fell more than forecast, nearly 94 percent from April 2014, when the deficit was 825.5 billion yen, the Finance Ministry reported Monday. The Japanese yen, now trading around 121.60 to the U.S. dollar, is at its lowest level in price-adjusted terms since January 1973, according to Richard Katz of The Oriental Economist Report.

That means imports are costing Japan more in relative terms than in past decades. Oil prices appear to have bottomed out, augering further deficits, economists say...MORE

BOJ Debt Purchases Can’t Offset Tumbling Demand at Bond Auctions

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-25/boj-debt-purchases-can-t-offset-tumbling-demand-at-bond-auctions

Even as the Bank of Japan buys record amounts of debt, investor demand at government auctions is tumbling and bondholders have lost 0.8 percent this year.

At the last 10-year sale, investors bid for 2.24 times the amount of debt available, the least since 2009. An index tracking auction demand for maturities ranging from two to 40-years fell to the lowest level since 2007, according to Barclays Plc.

The BOJ is buying as much as 12 trillion yen ($99 billion) of Japanese government bonds a month to spur the economy, yet the nation’s debt market has been a losing investment as the outlook for inflation rises. Treasuries have returned 0.2 percent in 2015, according to Bloomberg-compiled data calculating price changes plus interest payments.

“The inflation rate will be higher in the second half of the year globally and in Japan,” Hiroki Shimazu, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.’s Tokyo-based senior market economist, said in a telephone interview Monday. “There will be a shock in the global market in the second half of this year, including JGBs.”

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BOJ Econ Report: Japan Q2 Industrial Output To Be Flat

https://www.marketnews.com/content/boj-econ-report-japan-q2-industrial-output-be-flat

Industrial production is expected to be flat in the April-June quarter from the three months amid slow global growth and a modest rise in domestic demand, the Bank of Japan said in its monthly economic report for May released Monday.

"Based on anecdotes by firms and other information, industrial production is expected to tentatively become more or less flat following gains in the latest two quarters (+1.5% in Q1 and +0.8% in Q4 of 2014)," the bank said.

The view was largely unchanged from the previous month but the BOJ slightly modified its assessment of factory output. Industrial production has been "picking up," it said, leaving out the reason - "due in part to the progress in inventory adjustments." The government's forecast index shows industrial output will rise 2.1% on the month in April before falling 0.3% in May. If the outlook is met and June production were unchanged from May, April-June output would post +0.6% on quarter for a third straight rise after +1.7% in the first quarter.

The BOJ also said, "Exports are likely to be a on rising trend with some fluctuations."

The BOJ Friday upgraded its assessment of private consumption in the wake of stronger-than-forecast GDP growth in Q1.

As for its outlook, the BOJ said Monday, "Private consumption is expected to remain resilient with the employment and income situation continuing to improve steadily."

[Demeter]

6. "Three charts show how the BOJ’s unprecedented bond-buying stimulus isn’t offsetting falling demand"

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-25/boj-debt-purchases-can-t-offset-tumbling-demand-at-bond-auctions


CHART 1: The bid-to-cover ratio for two-, five- and 10-year auctions is tumbling. The measure gauges demand by comparing the amount bid with the amount offered.


CHART 2: An index measuring the outlook for inflation has surged, and bond yields are rising in tandem.


CHART 3: Though the BOJ is gorging on debt and other assets, an index tracking returns in Japan’s bond market is falling.

LOOKS LIKE HAIRCUT TIME!

[Demeter]

9. Japan Tells Its Workers to Take More Vacation

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-26/japan-tells-its-workers-to-take-more-vacation

Death from overwork is still a problem in Japan...Japan wants its workers to take more holidays and work fewer hours to cut down the number of people pushing themselves into an early grave.

Decades after "karoshi," death from overwork, entered the Japanese lexicon, the government is still battling to get control of the problem. Leave entitlements and national holidays have increased, but the Japanese still shun vacations and the number of work-related suicides is little changed over the past decade.

Showing dedication to your company through sacrifice and never leaving the workplace before your boss does is deeply ingrained in Japanese employees.



With more than 2,000 suicides a year linked to work and overwork, and most full-time employees taking less than half their leave entitlement, lawmakers were pushed into action last year when half a million people signed a petition calling on the government to improve the situation. Draft measures announced this week encourage companies to shorten working hours and let employees make more use of annual vacation. Revised legislation submitted to parliament in April also obliges companies to have workers take at least five days' paid leave. Japanese full-time workers spent 173 hours on average in overtime in 2014, 18 hours more than 10 years ago and the longest in comparable data going back to 1993, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.



Work was listed as a contributor to 2,323 suicides in 2013, according to most recent government data. The highest number recorded to date was 2,689 in 2011.

“Japanese companies tend to push current employees to work overtime rather than increase hiring when they get busy,” said Koya Miyamae, an economist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo. “Labor shortages are forcing firms in some industries to have employees work longer.”

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[Demeter]

7. Traders Are Hinting Europe’s Bank Rally Is Just Getting Started

PUMPED UP ON QE--EURO-STYLE

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-24/traders-are-hinting-europe-s-bank-rally-is-just-getting-started-ia32imvs

The investment of choice for bulls seeking risk, value and domestic growth? European banks.

The shares have jumped 28 percent since a January low, but they’re still trading at a discount to their two-year average, making the industry among the cheapest in the region. The cost of options protecting against bank stock swings this month reached the lowest level in more than five years versus those on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index.

The lenders’ rally will trump even exporters, which have climbed with the weak euro, says Alex Altmann at Citigroup Inc., who recommends buying banks while shorting the broader index. As the economy recovers, investors are honing in on companies that most benefit from growth at home. And European Central Bank asset buying is also helping earnings, with firms such as Intesa Sanpaolo SpA saying profit doubled in the first quarter as it sold government bonds.

“We’re seeing a substantial rotation into value sectors,” said Altmann, Citigroup’s head of equity-trading strategy in London. “Comments from the ECB lately really highlight credit growth as the key driver for any broad-based recovery. Lending is somewhat improving, and that’s what got us more bullish.”

MORE SALES PITCH AT LINK

[Demeter]

8. China Takes Lessons on How to Better Catch a Thief Overseas

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-25/china-takes-lessons-on-how-to-better-catch-a-thief-overseas

China is learning a new skill in its marquee campaign to catch economic fugitives in other countries and bring them home -- the power of persuasion. Operation Fox Hunt claimed nearly two scalps a day in its first year. The problem: Most suspects returned of their own accord while the bigger fish are in western democracies such as the U.S., Australia and Canada, where China lacks formal extradition agreements and must convince the courts they have a case. Since the start of the year, the catch rate has slowed to about one a day. In response the Communist state is adapting its modus operandi, working more closely with police in other countries plus Interpol, sharing intelligence and evidence, and sending high-level officials to the U.S. to try and smooth the way.

President Xi Jinping needs results as he presses ahead with the widest crackdown on corruption in the party’s history, having warned graft is the single-biggest threat to its future. The campaign has reached into the upper echelons of the party, into the army and into state-owned companies. Tracking down officials who fled overseas may further stem graft and give Xi more control over the party by creating the impression that no one guilty of malfeasance can escape its grasp, even in the U.S. or Canada.

“There’s a great need for China to bring more fugitives back and to warn corrupt officials at home that they will not escape justice,” said Huang Feng, a law professor at Beijing Normal University who specializes in the legalities of extradition. “Without this, the anti-corruption campaign domestically will not succeed.”

In some cases China may offer to split recovered funds -- an international convention but one that’s newer to China -- according to people familiar with the proposals who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are secret. China could keep as little as 20 percent of the assets, they said. U.S. officials say such a plan would be discussed on an individual basis rather than a formal deal. China and Canada will sign an agreement to share assets transferred by economic fugitives, the China Daily reported on Tuesday, citing Canada’s ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques.

China’s capital flight from 1988 to 2002 alone was estimated at more than $191 billion, with an exodus of more than 10,000 officials, former chief justice Xiao Yang wrote in his 2009 book “Anti-corruption Reports.” There are no official figures for more recent years. The country is tightening control on the movement of money across its borders. In November police in Beijing raided more than 10 underground banks that were together involved in $23 billion of transactions.

Still, the money is less important than the campaign’s value in deterring would-be fugitives, including cadres who send their families overseas first and then seek to join them...

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