STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 22 September 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 22 September 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 21 September 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 21 September 2015
[center][font color=green]
Dow Jones 16,510.19 +125.61 (0.77%)
S&P 500 1,966.97 +8.94 (0.46%)
Nasdaq 4,828.96 +1.73 (0.04%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.20% +0.03 (1.38%)
30 Year 3.02% +0.05 (1.68%) [font color=black]


[center][/font]

[HR width=85%]

[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
[center]
(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
[/center]

[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

[/center]

[center]

[/center]

[HR width=95%]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
[center]
Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
[center]
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
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
[center]
Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
[center]
LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
[center]
Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
[/center]

[div]
[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
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.






[HR width=95%]


[center]

[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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. I added. . .

Volkswagen to the wall of shame.

[Demeter]

2. Former peanut company CEO sentenced to 28 years for salmonella outbreak

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/21/us-usa-georgia-salmonella-idUSKCN0RL24H20150921?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

The former owner of a peanut company in Georgia was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Monday for his role in a salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and sickened hundreds, a rare instance of jail time in a food contamination case. Stewart Parnell, 61, who once oversaw Peanut Corporation of America, and his brother, Michael Parnell, 56, who was a food broker on behalf of the company, were convicted on federal conspiracy charges in September 2014 for knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanuts to customers.

Contamination at the company's plant in Blakely, Georgia, led to one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history and forced the company into liquidation.

U.S. District Judge Louis Sands gave Michael Parnell 20 years in prison. Mary Wilkerson, 41, a former quality control manager at the plant who was found guilty of obstruction, was sentenced to five years in prison. Stewart Parnell faced life in prison and his brother faced about 24 years. Before the judge issued the sentences, Stewart Parnell said; “This has been a seven-year nightmare for me and my family. I’m truly, truly sorry for what’s happened.”

A man whose mother died from eating tainted peanut butter was among those who told a federal judge on Monday that the Parnells should receive stiff prison time. Jeff Almer, of Brainerd, Minnesota, said his mother, Shirley Almer, was among the nine people killed in the salmonella outbreak linked to the company in 2009.

"My mother died a painful death from salmonella, and the look of horror on her face as she died shall always haunt me," Almer said during the hearing on Monday in Albany, Georgia.

"I just hope they ship you all to jail," Almer said.

During the seven-week trial last year, prosecutors said the Parnell brothers covered up the presence of salmonella in the company's peanut products for years, even creating fake certificates showing the products were uncontaminated despite laboratory results showing otherwise. The Parnells have said they never knowingly endangered customers, and their supporters asked a judge on Monday to show mercy...

[tclambert]

3. Darn that government interference putting unnecessary burdens on businesses!

Those poor, poor businessmen had to liquidate their company and will now spend years in jail, just because they wanted to make a little extra profit. Sure, sure, I know a bunch of people died, but, hey, they were all gonna die eventually, anyway. If the Parnells had had to clean up their facilities and throw out some tainted peanuts, they would have made a little less profit. You see what government overreach leads to? If everyone votes Republican, we can save businesses from such anti-capitalist attacks.


(Or possibly what Republican presidential candidates will say tomorrow.)

[Demeter]

4. SEC settles with two ex-Fannie Mae executives, but not ex-CEO

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/22/us-sec-fanniemae-settlement-idUSKCN0RL2F420150922

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a settlement with two former Fannie Mae executives in one of its biggest lawsuits tied to the financial crisis, and the two men agreed as part of the deal to cooperate with the SEC in its case against former Chief Executive Daniel Mudd. Fannie Mae's former chief risk officer Enrico Dallavecchia and former executive vice president Thomas Lund will pay $25,000 and $10,000, respectively, to settle charges that they helped conceal the company's exposure to more than $100 billion of subprime and $341 billion of low-documentation "Alt-A" home loans. Both denied wrongdoing. Their agreement to cooperate with the SEC in its case against Mudd could increase pressure on him to settle. The SEC said that case could last another year. The settlement was approved on Monday by U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan.

Mudd, in a statement, called the SEC charges "false" and "politically motivated” and said Fannie Mae's disclosures had been accurate. "I have never contemplated accepting the SEC’s retrospective revision of the facts, and I have declined to engage in any settlement discussions," he said....Monday's settlement means the SEC has been unable to extract major penalties against five of the six former top executives it sued at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government seized both mortgage finance companies on Sept. 7, 2008, and put them into a conservatorship under the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where they remain.

In April, former Freddie Mac Chief Executive Richard Syron, its former chief business officer, Patricia Cook, and former vice president of credit policy, Donald Bisenius, agreed to pay a combined $310,000 to resolve the SEC case against them.

Michael Levy, a Paul Hastings partner representing Lund, said his client did nothing wrong.

"Tom Lund has been vindicated," he said. "After investigating for three years, litigating for another three years, deposing 50 witnesses and hiring four experts, the SEC concedes that it has not prevailed."

Andrew Levander, a partner at the Dechert firm representing Dallavecchia, said he was pleased to reach a settlement that leaves the SEC's "baseless charges" behind. "Mr. Dallavecchia's conduct was entirely proper," he said. The $35,000 of payments will go to the U.S. Treasury, not the SEC, and may be made by Fannie Mae on the defendants' behalf, settlement papers show. Levy said Lund "will not contribute a dime from his own pocket."

In March, Crotty approved Fannie Mae's separate $170 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of misleading shareholders about its finances before the financial crisis.

IF THERE IS ANY POINT TO THIS EXERCISE, IT ESCAPES ME

[Demeter]

5. What If the Richest Person in Every Country Gave All Their Money to the Poor?

WHY STOP AT ONE?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-22/what-if-the-richest-person-in-every-country-gave-all-his-money-to-the-poor-

Would the world be a better place if the wealthiest gave their fortunes away to the bottom billion? We tried to answer the question by creating the Robin Hood Index.



We took a spattering of 42 countries with radically different demographics and economies, then compared the wealthiest individuals to the percentage of the populations living in poverty. By the way, only in Chile, the Netherlands, France and Australia is the richest person a woman.

The index shows how the net worth of each country's wealthiest person compares to the livelihood of his fellow countrymen by calculating the lump sum in dollars each person living in poverty would get if the assets of the richest citizen were liquidated and redistributed. The Bloomberg Billionaire Index and the CIA World Factbook were our reference points.

The net worth of Bill Gates would turn into a one-off payment of $1,736 if distributed to the neediest 15 percent of Americans...

[Demeter]

6. How UBS Spread the Pain of Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis to Clients

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-22/how-ubs-spread-the-pain-of-puerto-rico-s-debt-crisis-to-clients



UBS had a good thing going in Puerto Rico. The Swiss bank served as an adviser to the commonwealth’s Employees Retirement System, led the underwriting of a $2.9 billion bond issue for the pension agency in 2008, and then stuffed half of those bonds into a family of closed-end mutual funds it sold exclusively to customers on the island. It collected fees at every step.

Now, with the U.S. territory in the downward spiral of a government debt crisis, it’s all coming apart for UBS, long the biggest retail brokerage on the island. After UBS helped the government dig itself into a deeper hole and put island customers on the hook for the losses that followed, its Puerto Rico saga has become a cautionary tale of how risks can multiply.

Angry customers have filed hundreds of arbitration claims with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. They’re seeking more than $1.1 billion in damages from UBS after huge losses in the tax-free bond funds, sold as high-income investments that would preserve their capital, and in the bonds themselves. Three of UBS Puerto Rico’s five offices have closed since 2010, and nearly 60 of the unit’s 140 financial advisers have departed. The bank’s retail brokerage market share on the island has dropped to 33 percent from 48 percent over that period.

Retiree Juan Burgos Rosado was 66 in December 2011, when he opened an account with UBS. A month earlier, he had taken a fall from a tall ladder, ending his career rehabbing real estate. Rosado was “the quintessential conservative investor,” according to the arbitration panel that heard his case. UBS advised him to move $325,000 from a maturing certificate of deposit into its high-income funds. Rosado invested a further $200,000 in 2012, when he sold a house, and $600,000 more in January 2013, when another CD matured. He tried to sell the funds later that year as they plunged in value. His statements showed they were still worth $450,000, but UBS offered him just $90,000. While most closed-end funds are listed on an exchange, these were not, so clients depended on bids and offers from UBS Puerto Rico to get in or out. Rosado didn’t sell; he went to arbitration and won. In May, the arbitrators wrote in their decision that Rosado was “grossly over-concentrated” in the bond funds, which were unsuitable for a senior with no investing experience. UBS was ordered to pay Rosado $1 million, including $602,000 in damages. With six other arbitration cases decided on the merits so far this year, one of which went in favor of the bank, UBS has been ordered to pay out a total of more than $7 million. The bank was disappointed in the outcome of Rosado’s case...

I'LL BET THEY ARE

MORE WHINING AT LINK

[Demeter]

7. U.S. Looking at Chicago Trader as Probe Over Fake Orders Widens

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-18/u-s-said-to-investigate-chicago-trader-as-spoof-probes-broaden

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a Chicago trader placed fake orders in an attempt to manipulate prices, said two people familiar with the matter, as the Justice Department broadens its effort to police the $30 trillion U.S. futures market.

A grand jury is hearing testimony in Chicago about possible commodities-market manipulation and in particular about the actions of Igor Oystacher, one of the people said. This comes on top of a regulatory probe and concerns raised in the past year by two exchanges about Oystacher, the co-founder of proprietary trading firm 3Red.

Oystacher couldn’t be reached through telephone numbers he has previously used. Steve Strohmer, 3Red’s chief operating officer, declined to comment on the possibility of any charges or make Oystacher available for comment.

Spokesmen for the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

The Oystacher investigation is the third in a year by the Justice Department related to spoofing, an attempt by traders to move prices by placing orders they never intend to fill and then canceling them...

[Demeter]

8. VW Sets Aside $7.3 Billion to Pay for Emissions Crisis

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-22/vw-to-set-aside-7-3-billion-as-diesel-emissions-scandal-widens

Volkswagen AG plans to set aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in the third quarter to cover the costs of addressing irregularities in diesel engines installed in 11 million vehicles worldwide, as the scandal that started in the U.S. widens.

“Volkswagen is working at full speed to clarify irregularities concerning a
particular software used in diesel engines,” the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said in statement. The manufacturer said it will adjust its earnings forecasts for 2015 accordingly. VW shares plunged for a second day after the announcement.

Germany, France, South Korea and Italy were among countries on Tuesday that said they would look further into revelations that VW rigged diesel vehicles to pass emissions tests in the U.S. That comes as the U.S. Justice Department begins its own probe into the matter, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the inquiry.

The scandal has grown since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed on Friday that VW had cheated on the lab tests, exposing the company to as much as $18 billion in fines. The unfolding scandal brought an apology Monday from VW’s top U.S. executive, who vowed to win back the trust of consumers....

MUCH MORE

[Demeter]

9. In Top-Secret Brazil Vaults, Diamonds Are Evidence of a Downturn

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-22/in-top-secret-brazil-vaults-diamonds-are-evidence-of-a-downturn

...Business at the government-run pawnshops that feed the secret vaults is booming as Brazil’s economy is forecast to contract this year and next, its longest recession in eight decades. The pawnshops -- different from U.S. storefronts that hawk everything from used guitars to leather jackets -- are operated exclusively by state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal and take mainly rare stones and jewelry.

On a recent day, behind a partition in the back of a Rio de Janeiro branch, Hilcia Mauad watched anxiously as a Caixa employee used a jewelers’ loupe to appraise a diamond ring she inherited from her mother. Until April, the 78-year-old hadn’t pawned anything in more than 15 years. But inflation is close to 10 percent, so money isn’t stretching as far as it used to and her husband, who is losing his vision, has medical bills to pay.

“In the last four months, I’ve been here twice,” Mauad said. “It’s a bad sign, a sign that the country is starting to leave us in the lurch.”

Minutes later, she walked out the door with 330 reais, or about $83, for the decades-old family heirloom embedded with 24 small diamonds. The cash is a loan, one that carries an interest rate of 1.9 percent a month. That’s among the lowest in Brazil, where credit cards charge about 13 percent a month, according to the association of finance, administration and accounting executives. The overnight benchmark rate stands at a nine-year high of 14.25 percent annually...

[Demeter]

10. American Delusionalism, or Why History Matters

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2014/03/american-delusionalism-or-why-history.html

...The tech stock bubble that popped in 2000, the real estate bubble that popped in 2008, and the fracking bubble that’s showing every sign of popping in the uncomfortably near future are all different from each other, and from every other bubble and bust in the history of speculative markets, all the way back to the Dutch tulip mania of 1637. It’s quite true that tech stocks aren’t tulips, and bundled loans backed up by dubious no-doc mortgages aren’t the same as bundled loans backed up by dubious shale leases—well, not exactly the same—but in practice, the many differences of detail are irrelevant compared to the one crucial identity. Tulips, tech stocks, and bundled loans, along with South Sea Company shares in 1730, investment trusts in 1929, and all the other speculative vehicles in all the other speculative bubbles of the last five centuries, different as they are, all follow the identical trajectory: up with the rocket, down with the stick.

That is to say, those who insist that it’s different this time are right where it doesn’t matter and wrong where it counts. I’ve come to think of the words “it’s different this time,” in fact, as the nearest thing history has to the warning siren and flashing red light that tells you that something is about to go very, very wrong. When people start saying it, especially when plenty of people with plenty of access to the media start saying it, it’s time to dive for the floor, cover your head with your arms, and wait for the blast to hit.

With that in mind, I’d like to talk a bit about the recent media flurry around the phrase “American exceptionalism,” which has become something of a shibboleth among pseudoconservative talking heads in recent months. Pseudoconservatives? Well, yes; actual conservatives, motivated by the long and by no means undistinguished tradition of conservative thinking launched by Edmund Burke in the late 18th century, are interested in, ahem, conserving things, and conservatives who actually conserve are about as rare these days as liberals who actually liberate. Certainly you won’t find many of either among the strident voices insisting just now that the last scraps of America’s democracy at home and reputation abroad ought to be sacrificed in the service of their squeaky-voiced machismo.

As far as I know, the phrase “American exceptionalism” was originally coined by none other than Josef Stalin—evidence, if any more were needed, that American pseudoconservatives these days, having no ideas of their own, have simply borrowed those of their erstwhile Communist bogeyman and stood them on their heads with a Miltonic “Evil, be thou my good.” Stalin meant by it the opinion of many Communists in his time that the United States, unlike the industrial nations of Europe, wasn’t yet ripe for the triumphant proletarian revolution predicted (inaccurately) by Marx’s secular theology. Devout Marxist that he was, Stalin rejected this claim with some heat, denouncing it in so many words as “this heresy of American exceptionalism,” and insisting (also inaccurately) that America would get its proletarian revolution on schedule. ....

MORE

[Demeter]

11. That's it for today...not much news in the news

If I get a chance, will root through the inbox of yore for more material.

It's trash day, and I have to get it out to the curb. Have a good, safe week. Survive, at least!

[DemReadingDU]

12. Something is going on in the markets

European markets down 3%, and U.S. markets heading lower at opening...down 1.5%

[DemReadingDU]

13. An uneasy market now driven by 'daily fantasy' traders

9/22/15 An uneasy market now driven by 'daily fantasy' traders

This is one of those times when it becomes too tempting to assign colorful reasons to the market’s sudden changes of mood.

The overnight tumble in stocks, fresh weakness in commodities and bidding up of safe government bonds mostly reversed Monday’s reprieve for risky assets.

A scan of the morning headlines provides plenty of plot points for a good narrative: China’s president compared its economy to an unstable ship in rough water. Fed speakers have come of as muddled while attempting to sound vigilant, discussing the “close call” on rates last week.

And a “businesses behaving badly” theme is forming, with Volkswagen’s false performance claims and a drug-profiteer villain stirring price-control talk and undermining biotech stocks.

Still, none of these stories are necessary to understand the S&P 500’s unsettled state following its modest, low-energy rally Monday. In the aftermath of the cascading drop in mid-August, the market is mostly consumed by its own internal dynamics.
.
.
.
Long-term investors should feel free to ignore all this trader scenario planning, the way a pure sports fan scoffs at the legions of “daily fantasy” bettors hustling to make a buck off statistical anomalies. But unlike in sports, in times of emotional markets whipped around by tactical considerations, the stats mongers and opportunistic punters can actually affect the score of the game.

more...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/an-uneasy-market-now-driven-by--daily-fantasy--traders-121633461.html#

[Demeter]

15. It's the auto emission cheating scandal

More than just the Volkswagen brands involved...everybody is changing pants faster than the laundry can clean them up.

It's huge---investigations on every continent.

Schadenfreude for breakfast...the Germans are getting it in the neck: immigrant refugees, cheating on the environment, and next?

[DemReadingDU]

14. video: Martin Shkreli increases Daraprim price 5500%

9/22/15 Martin Shkreli increases Daraprim price 5500%: Turing jacks AIDS drug up to $750 a pill

It's no secret big pharma is greedy and douchey, but Turing Pharmaceuticals — founded by 32-year-old Martin Shkreli — is by far the greediest and douchiest after this little weasel jacked up the price of Daraprim, which costs about $1 to make, from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.

Certain pharmaceutical companies have been using a relatively new strategy of acquiring old, neglected drugs and turning them into costly 'specialty' drugs. Daraprim treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be deadly in babies or people with weak immune systems like AIDS and cancer patients, or even pregnant mothers.

Turing Pharmaceuticals purchased the rights to the 62-year-old drug for $55 million from Impax Laboratories, Inc. and then jacked up the price by 5500%. After getting criticized all over social media, Shkreli attempted to defend the price gouging by saying profits will be used to educate doctors and develop better drugs for toxoplasmosis.

However, doctors say it isn't needed in this case. But it's obvious it's all about the money for Shkreli. Unfortunately, with all the backlash Shkreli has received, he's had to delete his OKCupid account. Maybe he should design a drug to make people actually like him.

Taiwanese Animators video appx 2 minutes, lol

more from New York Times...
9/21/15 Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html?_r=0