dkf
dkf's JournalCNN. Father gives account of Marine son's prediction he would be killed.
Heartbreaking.
The Afghani he was training told him he was going to kill him.
He was shot in cold blood while lifting weights in the gym.
No recourse...the Afghanis just released the guy from service.
Deposit Flight From Europe Banks Eroding Common Currency
An accelerating flight of deposits from banks in four European countries is jeopardizing the renewal of economic growth and undermining a main tenet of the common currency: an integrated financial system.
A total of 326 billion euros ($425 billion) was pulled from banks in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece in the 12 months ended July 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The plight of Irish and Greek lenders, which were bleeding cash in 2010, spread to Spain and Portugal last year.
The flight of deposits from the four countries coincides with an increase of about 300 billion euros at lenders in seven nations considered the core of the euro zone, including Germany and France, almost matching the outflow. That’s leading to a fragmentation of credit and a two-tiered banking system blocking economic recovery and blunting European Central Bank policy in the third year of a sovereign-debt crisis.
“Capital flight is leading to the disintegration of the euro zone and divergence between the periphery and the core,” said Alberto Gallo, the London-based head of European credit research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “Companies pay 1 to 2 percentage points more to borrow in the periphery. You can’t get growth to resume with such divergence.”
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-18/deposit-flight-from-europe-banks-eroding-common-currency.html
Fed study says unemployment would be 7% if not for consumer doubt
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. unemployment rate would be around 7 percent instead of 8 percent to 9 percent without the current level of doubt among consumers about economic issues including fiscal policy, a Federal Reserve study showed.
“Uncertainty has pushed up the U.S. unemployment rate by between one and two percentage points since the start of the financial crisis in 2008,” Sylvain Leduc and Zheng Liu, who are research advisers at the San Francisco Fed, wrote in a paper released today. “The private sector responds to rising uncertainty by cutting back spending, leading to a rise in unemployment and reductions in both output and inflation.”
The Federal Open Market Committee on Sept. 13 announced it will hold interest rates near zero until at least mid-2015 and purchase $40 billion a month in mortgage debt until the labor market improves. The unemployment rate has exceeded 8 percent for 43 months, Labor Department figures showed Sept. 7.
Consumers’ doubts about the economy may have been a greater drag on the economy in the past few years compared to previous recessions because policy makers had never run out of room to lower the federal funds rate until 2008, Leduc and Liu said.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/business/fed-says-unemployment-would-be-7percent-if-not-for-consumer-doubt/2012/09/17/78b68386-00ec-11e2-bbf0-e33b4ee2f0e8_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
Chinese groups feel pain of cash squeeze
By Paul J Davies
As the Chinese corporate earnings season went on through late August, analysts at CICC, the mainland investment bank, noticed a startling new trend – net profit numbers were coming in much lower than the rest of their numbers would suggest.
After quizzing managements of a number of companies, a common theme emerged – local governments were suddenly raising their tax demands.
“Managements explained that it is because some local subsidiary had been requested by the local government to pay full enterprise tax rate this year, rather than the preferential high- and new-tech-enterprise tax rate they had been granted,” the analysts noted in an email to clients.
The story is illustrative of the cash squeeze that is afflicting broad sections of the Chinese economy this year as growth slows, credit remains tight and a hoped-for stimulus from the central government is emerging only slowly and in some areas, not at all.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6d62c68c-f8ce-11e1-8d92-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26v9GbXh7
Muslims decry French Mohammad cartoons as new insult
(Reuters) - Muslim leaders criticised a French magazine's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday as another Western insult to their faith and urged France's government to take firm action against it.
"We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs," the acting head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Essam Erian, said.
The cartoons were featured in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Its front cover showed an Orthodox Jew pushing a turbaned figure in a wheelchair and several caricatures of the Prophet were included on its inside pages, including some of him naked.
Their publication follows widespread outrage and violent anti-Western protests in many Muslim countries in Africa and Asia in the past week over an anti-Muslim film posted on the Internet.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/film-protests-france-reaction-idUSL5E8KJC4Q20120919
Experts: Only US can destroy Iran's nuke program
The United States is the only country that can carry out a successful, preventative military strike against Iran's nuclear program, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a well-regarded Washington-based think tank.
According to the study published in September, only the United States has the capacity to both deliver the explosive payloads needed in the initial strike and effectively carry out follow-up strikes based on continued near-real-time intelligence.
"The US would be the only country that has the air power, support capability, and mix of sea‐air forces in the Gulf to continue a sustained campaign over a period of time and restrike after an initial battle damage assessment [if] it is found that further strike sorties are required," the report said.
"Israel does not have the capability to carry out preventive strikes that could do more than delay Iran’s efforts for a year or two," the report said, adding, "a strike by Israel on Iran will give rise to regional instability and conflict as well as terrorism. The regional security consequences will be catastrophic."
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=285495
Crowd Attacks The US Ambassador In Beijing
A crowd of around 50 Chinese protesters surrounded the official car of the United States ambassador in Beijing, who escaped unharmed, a State department spokesman said.
The melee occurred outside the gates of the US embassy on Tuesday and security guards had to intervene to protect Gary Locke, 62. The protesters caused minor damage to the vehicle, a statement from the embassy said.
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The statement gave no details about the demonstrators who blocked Mr Locke's car, or what angered them.
However the Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei tweeted a photograph of the protest on Tuesday afternoon, and said the crowd had chanted: "Down with US imperialism" and "Pay us back our money!" referring to the trillion dollars or so of US government debt that China holds.
Some Chinese observers have blamed the US for standing behind the Japanese on their claim, and suggested that the US is attempting to foment unrest in the region as a pretext for "pivoting" its naval forces back to the Pacific.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/attack-on-us-ambassador-in-beijing-2012-9#ixzz26utKMDpm
AMR expects about 4,400 job cuts, warns 11,000
DALLAS — American Airlines is sending layoff warning notices to more than 11,000 employees although a spokesman says the company expects job losses to be closer to 4,400.
The notices went out to mechanics and ground workers whose jobs will be affected as American goes through a bankruptcy restructuring.
American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said Tuesday that fewer than 40 percent of those getting notices will lose their jobs. Hicks said federal law requires the company to notify anyone whose position could change, including those who could get "bumped" by more-senior employees whose jobs are eliminated or outsourced.
American said in February that it planned to cut 14,000 jobs, including 13,000 held by union workers. But if Hicks is right, the final job losses will be about a third of that.
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP11fe570d7a7543f5877ae9c9554c4da1.html
Disabled Mother Allegedly Beaten By Her 11-Year-Old Son Dies
ELK GROVE(CBS13) – A disabled Elk Grove woman who was allegedly beaten by her 11-year-old son has died, according to Elk Grove police.
Police say 51-year-old Tracey Gipaya died of a pre-existing condition and they do not anticipate filing any new charges against the boy.
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Elk Grove police say the young boy lived in the home alone with his 51-year-old, severely physically disabled mother and became her unofficial caregiver.
“I cannot recall a case in which a kid has been taken into custody on charges of abusing a parent who has fiduciary responsibility for the child,” said Officer Trim. “Typically the situation is reversed. A kid will go to school with marks or bruises, and someone calls police and the parent is arrested.”
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/09/18/disable-mother-allegedly-beaten-by-her-11-year-old-son-dies/
Newspaper revenue at 1950's levels
Over the past decade, lots of big newspaper companies have gone bust.
But when you take a look at what's happened to newspaper advertising over that period, it's a wonder they all haven't.
Below, via Mark J. Perry and Bill Gross, is a chart we've run before. It shows inflation-adjusted newspaper advertising revenue over the past 60 years.
Thanks to the precipitous decline in the last ~7 years, the industry is now back to where we it was in 1950. And it's only slightly better off when you factor in online revenue.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-newspaper-advertising-2012-9#ixzz26umBY7Ps
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