January 9, 2013

Robert Reich: TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up

TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up — And Washington Knows It
Tuesday, January 8, 2013


TARP – the infamous Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out Wall Street in 2008 – is over. The Treasury Department announced it will be completing the sale of the remaining shares it owns of the banks and of General Motors.

But in reality it’s not over. The biggest Wall Street banks are now far bigger than they were four years ago when they were considered too big to fail. The five largest have almost 44 percent of all US bank deposits.

That’s up from 37 percent in 2007, just before the crash. A decade ago they had just 28 percent.

The biggest banks keep getting bigger because they can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. That’s because investors believe the government will bail them out if they get into trouble, rather than force them into a form of bankruptcy (as the new Dodd-Frank law makes possible). .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/40027650245

January 9, 2013

Happy 150th to the Tube !!! Cheers !!!

(BBC) Special stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the London Underground are to go on sale later.

Among the scenes on the 10 stamps are a steam locomotive, builders at work and a carriage of Edwardian passengers.



They have been issued by the Royal Mail in celebration of the world's oldest underground transport network.

The London Mayor said they were "a fitting celebration of London Underground's rich heritage". .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20948900

January 9, 2013

Germany Gears Up for Big Pay Hikes

from Der Spiegel:



German trade unions plan to demand big pay increases this year and look set to get their way. Economists say that after years of wage moderation, it is high time that German firms agreed to bigger hikes -- not least because this would help the entire European economy.

Frank Bsirske, the head of the Ver.di service workers' union, gets annoyed when he hears people say that Germany is doing pretty well. "That only applies to the well-off," he says angrily. "The gap between rich and poor has never been this wide, and never has the middle class felt this threatened." The union leader is even worried that social conflict could escalate.

His recipe against the erosion of society is hardly surprising: Wages have to go up, and by a significant amount, at that. In the current collective bargaining round, Ver.di is calling for a 6.5-percent pay increase -- the highest in years -- for German public sector employees.

Bsirske has the support of other unions with his demand for a substantial pay hike. After metalworkers' union IG Metall fought for improvements in the treatment of temporary workers and more assistance for trainees in the last bargaining round, the union's main focus in the new round beginning in May will be on money. "Our demand will focus on a decent pay increase," says IG Metall regional director Meinhard Geiken. Michael Sommer, head of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), is convinced that "the people who keep the country running and generate its wealth deserve to get their fair share." .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-trade-unions-demanding-big-pay-increases-after-years-of-restraint-a-876268.html

January 9, 2013

Paul Krugman Warns: 'We Are Crippling Our Future'

from HuffPost:



Paul Krugman is worried about our future.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist told a meeting of other prominent economists that we're not doing enough in the short term to ensure that country's long-term economic health is taken care of.

"We are crippling our future as well as our present by falling to do what is needed to deal with the short run," the Nobel Prize-winning economist said at the American Economic Association's 2013 annual meeting on Sunday, according to a new transcript by Brad DeLong, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "A failure to deal with the short run is inflicting very large long-run costs."

Though Krugman did not give examples, there are several signs that the prolonged economic downturn is inflicting long-term damage on the economy. For one, the unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent in 2007, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in December that the economy's long-run unemployment rate is now somewhere between 5 and 6 percent. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/paul-krugman-aea-meeting-2013_n_2434563.html

January 9, 2013

Robert Reich: TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up

TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up — And Washington Knows It
Tuesday, January 8, 2013


TARP – the infamous Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out Wall Street in 2008 – is over. The Treasury Department announced it will be completing the sale of the remaining shares it owns of the banks and of General Motors.

But in reality it’s not over. The biggest Wall Street banks are now far bigger than they were four years ago when they were considered too big to fail. The five largest have almost 44 percent of all US bank deposits.

That’s up from 37 percent in 2007, just before the crash. A decade ago they had just 28 percent.

The biggest banks keep getting bigger because they can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. That’s because investors believe the government will bail them out if they get into trouble, rather than force them into a form of bankruptcy (as the new Dodd-Frank law makes possible). .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/40027650245

January 9, 2013

Searing temperatures fan Australia wildfires

(BBC) High winds and record temperatures fanned fires in south-east Australia, after the prime minister warned of a "very dangerous day".

More than 130 fires are currently burning in New South Wales, 40 of which have not been contained.

An uncontrolled fire is burning by the Tasman peninsula, near areas already hit by blazes over the weekend.

Teams in Victoria are also fighting a blaze, as Australia's heat wave continues. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20937509

January 8, 2013

Fuel Leak Is Latest Setback for Boeing 787

(NYT) Boeing’s newest and most sophisticated jet, the 787 Dreamliner, suffered a new mishap on Tuesday when a fuel leak forced an aircraft to return to its gate minutes before taking off from Boston, a day after an electrical fire broke out on another plane.

The events were the latest in a series of problems with the 787, which entered commercial service in November 2011 and has been hit by technical and electric malfunctions since then. Boeing delivered 46 planes last year, more than any analyst had predicted, and has outlined ambitious plans to double its production rate to 10 planes a month by the end of this year.

Much rides on the success of the 787 for Boeing, which expects to sell 5,000 of the planes in the next 20 years. The basic model has a list price of $206.8 million, but early customers typically received deep discounts to make up for the production delays and teething problems. All this means it could be years before Boeing starts recouping its investment costs and turn a profit on the planes.

Shares of Boeing dropped 2.6 percent to $74.13 on Tuesday, extending Monday’s drop of 2 percent. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/business/fuel-leak-is-latest-setback-for-boeing-787.html?_r=0

January 8, 2013

Repug rep admits that the GOP is like the Mob

from HuffPost:



Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) blasted out a fundraising email to supporters on Monday, telling them that he was effectively a wanted man following his vote last week against Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) for speaker of the House.

"But voting against a sitting Speaker of the House was a great risk. They will punish me. They will attack my family. But America is too important to be lost to overspending, high taxes, and big government. I refuse to stand by and allow our country to be destroyed," the email said, according to The Hill. “For my principled vote, Washington insiders are coming after me. I need your help and the help of 100 fellow conservatives immediately. If you are tired of Republicans who campaign as conservatives -- but vote like Democrats -- stand with me and make your contribution of $35 here.”

Huelskamp, an outspoken conservative known for bucking the establishment, has been a loud critic of Boehner, especially after being stripped of a key committee post in early December. He remains on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and was recently assigned to the Small Business Committee.

During the speaker vote last Thursday, Huelskamp became one of the most visible faces of the coup against Boehner when Politico posted a picture of his iPad showing that he and other conservative House Republicans had conspired to topple the speaker. Huelskamp cast a vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as speaker, but Boehner was eventually reelected after the opposing coalition reportedly fell apart. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/tim-huelskamp-fundraises-_n_2431440.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

January 8, 2013

Keiser Report: Deadly Deflation

January 8, 2013

Why Post-Sandy America Needs State Banks More than Ever

from YES! Magazine:


Why Post-Sandy America Needs State Banks More than Ever
If we the people want the sort of security in emergencies that is available to the owners of Wall Street banks, we need to own some banks ourselves.

by Ellen Brown
posted Jan 07, 2013


Most people believe that they'll be covered by their insurance policies or by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), if a disaster hits their region. But many victims of Hurricane Sandy have found that their insurance policies included obscure provisions that excluded coverage, and the only aid that FEMA gives to individuals is the opportunity to take on more debt.

A demonstrated solution exists to this problem, in the form of state-owned banks like the one that exists in North Dakota. As climate change makes disasters like Hurricane Sandy more common in many parts of the United States, the fight to establish state banks in new places will become ever more urgent.

In the coastal regions of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut that got slammed by Sandy, homeowners were already strained by underwater mortgages prior to the storm. Many properties have now depreciated to the point of having no market value at all.

They have no choice but to try to rebuild, but how can they take on more debt? FEMA's focus on lending moves money from the victims of disaster into the hands of loan servicers, who make enormous profits off these loans. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-state-banks-help-disaster-relief-efforts