STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday April 15

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday April 15, 2008

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 281
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2641 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 2366 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 2657
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 10
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

---

U.S. FUTURES &
MARKETS INDICATORS>
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES

---

AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK
OFFICE on January 22, 2001
Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 14, 2008

Dow... 12,302.06 -23.36 (-0.19%)
Nasdaq... 2,275.82 -14.42 (-0.63%)
S&P 500... 1,328.32 -4.51 (-0.34%)
Gold future... 928.70 +1.70 (+0.18%)
30-Year Bond 4.34% +0.04 (+0.91%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.50% +0.03 (+0.92%)








GOLD,
EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver>

---

PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout
the country. Details & links are added as they become
available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing
something, or would like to, contact [e-mail]

For information on protests and other actions
Citizens For Legitimate
Government>

---

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Market WrapUp: Energy in America

Living in a state of denial
BY TONY ALLISON

The nature of humans is to assume everything is okay until the day it isn’t. Then of course it’s too late and we all look for someone to blame, except ourselves of course. Americans started the “age of petroleum energy” in 1859 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and have come to expect cheap and abundant energy ever since. Even today, a quart of oil is cheaper than milk, or even bottled water. However, the earth’s one-time gift of oil is at or near its peak of giving, and most Americans are not even remotely aware or prepared for the changes ahead.

The level of awareness for most of us only extends to grumbling at the gas pump and blaming the “greedy” oil companies for the inconvenience. Most are unaware that “Big Oil” controls about 17% of world oil production. The other 83% is controlled by national oil companies, representing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Fifty years ago, America easily supplied its own energy needs, and much of the rest of the world as well. Today, we import nearly 70% of our energy from outside our boarders. As much as we would like to believe in alternative energy sources, they currently represent only 2-3% of our energy needs. We are a carbon-based society, and will likely remain so for the next few decades.

....

Food prices rise with energy

The industrial food supply system is one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuels. Massive amounts of oil and gas are used in the manufacture of fertilizers and pesticides. All stages of food production use fossil fuels; from planting, to irrigation, feeding, harvesting, processing and distribution. As the demand for energy and food continues to rise, the price to deliver both is likely to rise as well.

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[TalkingDog]

13. But is it cheaper than 2 liters of soda pop?

I had a friend (now deceased) who said he would start taking public transportation when gas was more expensive than 2 liters of soda.

As it started edging up on the price, I started researching ways to bring him back from the dead, just to see it happen......

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Reports

08:30 PPI Mar
Briefing.com 0.4%
Consensus 0.6%
Prior 0.3%

08:30 Core PPI Mar
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.2%
Prior 0.5%

08:30 NY Empire State Index Apr
Briefing.com -17.0
Consensus -17.0
Prior -22.2

09:00 Net Foreign Purchases Feb
Briefing.com NA
Consensus $60.0B
Prior $62.0B

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm

[UpInArms]

25. U.S. March crude goods PPI up 8.0%

01. U.S. March crude goods PPI up 8.0%
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

02. U.S. March core PPI up 2.7% year-over-year
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

03. U.S. March PPI up 6.9% year-over-year
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

04. U.S. March core PPI up 0.2% vs. 0.2% gain expected
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

05. U.S. March PPI up 1.1% vs. rise 0.4% expected
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

[UpInArms]

26. U.S. April Empire State index @ 0.6

01. Rise in Empire State led by shipments, new orders
8:31 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

02. U.S. Empire State index marks biggest jump in 5 years
8:31 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

03. U.S. April Empire State index jumps 23 points to 0.6
8:31 AM ET, Apr 15, 2008

[UpInArms]

52. RPT-TABLE-US Feb net capital inflows $64.1 bln

 WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - Treasury Department
international capital (TIC) data release, in billions of
dollars except where noted. Figures are not seasonally
adjusted.
                      Feb       Jan     Dec
Monthly Net
TIC Flows              $ 64.1      35.7    75.0
  Private              $ 73.1     -42.5    23.2
  Official             $ -9.0      78.3    51.7
Net foreign buys of
long-term securities   $ 60.1      42.2    46.3
  Stock swaps, other   $-12.4     -14.8   -11.3
Long-term securities
  transactions         $ 72.5      57.1    57.5
Domestic Securities,
purchased net          $ 82.8      77.2    69.6
  Private              $ 76.6      23.9    33.8
  Official             $  6.1      53.4    35.8
Total net foreign buys of:
Treasuries               20.60    35.97     1.91
Agencies                 36.90    19.33    -3.32
Equities                  5.97    17.78    33.46
Corporates               19.28     4.17    37.50
Holdings of major foreign
 holders of Treasuries:
Japan                   586.6     586.9    581.2
China                   486.9     492.6    477.6
United Kingdom          180.7     157.2    156.7
Brazil                  146.6     141.7    129.9
Oil exporters           146.1     140.9    137.9
 (Reporting by David Lawder and Mark Felsenthal)

[ozymandius]

3. Oil rises to trading record above $112

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose to an intraday trading record above $112 a barrel Tuesday after the U.S. dollar fell further and crude supplies to the U.S. and elsewhere were disrupted.

The main driver of crude's rally was a decline in the greenback relative to the euro on Monday, analysts said. Crude oil's recent run above $100 a barrel has been largely attributed to a steadily depreciating U.S. currency because a weakening dollar prompts investors to seek a safe haven in hard commodities such as oil and gold.

.....

News Monday from U.S. bank Wachovia Corp. supported oil prices by making the dollar less attractive, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

Wachovia, the fourth largest bank in the U.S., reported a hefty first-quarter loss and cut its dividend, and said it was forced to seek a $7 billion cash injection to make up for a poorly timed expansion of its mortgage business.

......

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures added 1.31 cents to $3.216 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 0.63 cent to $2.8281 a gallon. Natural gas futures gained 6.7 cents to $10.12 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[Roland99]

66. Pushing $114/bbl now. And gas here hit $3.55/gal yesterday. New record.

[ozymandius]

4. US foreclosure filings jump in March

The onslaught of homes facing foreclosures has yet to ebb, a research report showed Tuesday, with bank repossessions skyrocketing last month as more troubled homeowners mailed in their keys and walked away.

And the worst isn't over: the wave of adjustable-rate loans resetting to higher rates will crest in May and June. And that's expected to push more homeowners into default and foreclosure in the third and fourth quarters of this year, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.

......

The number of U.S. homes receiving at least one foreclosure filing jumped 57 percent in March to 234,685, compared with 149,150 properties a year earlier. Filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

The overall foreclosure rate is 5 percent higher than in February, which saw an unexpected month-to-month decline over January. March marked the 27th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in national foreclosure filings.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_bi_ge/foreclosure_rates

[ozymandius]

5. New guidelines proposed for hedge funds

WASHINGTON - In the place of new government regulations, the Bush administration is coming forward with some industry-developed "best practices" to guide the operation of hedge funds.

Those guidelines were scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the leaders of the two groups working on guidelines for the funds.

One set of recommendations provides guidelines on how investors of hedge funds should operate. It was drawn up by an investors' group headed by Russell Read, the chief investment officer of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest pension fund in the United States.

.....

The Bush administration has resisted pressure to increase government regulation of hedge funds....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/hedge_funds

[54anickel]

57. Best practices? Phfft!!!! And the benchmarks would be?....

[Hugin]

60. I was hoping for a more toothy plan than 'guidelines'...

:eyes:

I'd like to see what those guidelines are, however. It's ironic that CalPERS is so involved in developing the 'guidelines'
as they've long been the bane of Management due to the fact their size alone makes them a prime representative of that
which is hated by the 1%-ers most of all... Collective Bargaining.

[54anickel]

62. Ahh, but they also represent a lot of what the 1%-ers love and need most of all...$$$$$ n/t

[Hugin]

72. They view all Pension Funds as un-picked cherry trees...

All that money just *there*!

I've heard that was one of Ahnold's un-spoken directives was to break up CalPERS.

[54anickel]

76. Editorial: Intriguing idea: CalPERS for private savers

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/856128.html

The state taxes all of us, private- and public-sector workers and businesses, pay fuel the massive $242 billion California Public Employee Retirement System. But private-sector workers and their employers don't derive any direct benefit from the system. The investment and money management expertise and market power the state's retirement system wields accrues almost exclusively to the benefit of state and local government workers whose pensions Cal-PERS safeguards and funds.

Assembly Bill 2940 by Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would allow CalPERS to offer individual retirement accounts to private-sector employees and employers for the first time. It's a tantalizing prospect for a number of reasons. In today's economy, fewer and fewer private employers offer workplace-based pensions. That leaves workers, particularly those at the lower end of the wage scale, overly dependent on Social Security. Social Security alone will not be enough to cover the basic needs of most people when they enter their retirement years.

Assemblyman de León's bill would require CalPERS to manage low-cost portable retirement savings accounts for private-sector workers and their employers. Private employers could match a worker's contributions. The money would be deducted from the worker's paycheck and deposited in an account administered by CalPERS for a fee. Such a system would give private-sector workers what government workers already have – an easy way to save money, and access to investment and money-management expertise through CalPERS. That's a good thing both for individuals and the economy.

The personal saving rates of Americans are dismal, nationally amounting to just 0.5 percent of income in 2007. If private-sector workers were able to enroll in a system in which savings were automatically deducted from their paychecks and invested by experts, they would be better able to live comfortably in retirement and to save for education, a house or to deal with fiscal emergencies. The strain on social services could be reduced and there would be more money to invest in our economy.

more...


http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_8927030
CalPERS could be alternative for retirement

IT'S A FACT as certain as death and taxes: Americans aren't saving enough for retirement.

That's why a proposal to open California's public pension system to private-sector workers is intriguing. Its goal certainly is worthy: encouraging workers, especially in low- and middle-income ranges, to save more for their later years. The idea deserves further study to see if some obstacles can be overcome.

AB 2490 by Assemblyman Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, would allow private-sector workers to set up individual retirement accounts through the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS. It's aimed chiefly at the 40 percent of California workers whose employers, usually small companies, don't offer pensions or retirement saving plans.

The state accounts could be offered through employers who could choose to match worker contributions. Workers, not taxpayers, would pay the management fees. They could make pretax contributions through payroll deduction, and plans would be portable from job to job.

The bill passed an Assembly committee last week. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports it.

Letting private-sector workers tap into the expertise of CalPERS is a powerful idea. CalPERS is the nation's largest public pension fund, with $240 billion in assets, and has a sterling investment record.

more...



http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retire14apr14,1,2745590.story
An IRA for the rest of us
CalPERS may oversee retirement funds for workers without pensions or 401(k)s

Israel Briceño has been too busy running his tamale shop to think about saving for retirement.

And no one at Briceño's bank has ever suggested he start putting money aside for when he's done working.

But now that a local legislator has introduced a bill to create a state-sponsored IRA, Briceño, 28, is interested in signing up along with his mother, Maria Morales, and one other full-time worker at the aptly named Mom's Tamales in Lincoln Heights.

"My family never was one to do investments of any type," Briceño said. "It's one of the things you don't think about until someone shows you the way, and you get involved."

Assemblyman Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) says he's determined to make it easier for small-business owners and their employees to start putting money aside. His proposal, which has already received a first approval from an Assembly committee, would direct the California Public Employees Retirement System to offer individual retirement accounts to the one in three workers who can't get traditional pensions or 401(k) plans from employers.

more...

[wordpix]

79. BushCo is all about guidelines that few go along with

[cosmicdot]

87. CALpers flashback

Enron-Recall-Schwarzenegger Memory Lane
```````````````````````````````````````

California Pension Activist Expects to Be Ousted

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

Published: December 1, 2004

A prominent figure in the corporate governance movement, Sean Harrigan, the president of California's large public pension fund, said yesterday that he expected to be ousted today from the board in retribution for stands it had recently taken on topics like executive pay, boardroom cronyism and high health care costs.

"This is nothing more than an effort to assault the voice of Calpers," Mr. Harrigan said yesterday in an e-mail message, using the abbreviated name of the California Public Employees Retirement System. Mr. Harrigan has been a trustee of Calpers since 1999 and president since 2003.

~snip~

Mr. Harrigan was singled out in particular because he has spent his career in the labor movement. He is also an official of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

~snip~

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/business/01calpers.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Dec 1, 8:02 PM EST


CalPERS Ousts Harrigan As Its President

By JIM WASSERMAN
Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO -- Sean Harrigan, a longtime union official and one
of the nation's most outspoken advocates for corporate governance
reform, was ousted from his post Wednesday as president of the $177
billion California Public Employees Retirement System.

In a 3-2 vote in San Francisco, the California State Personnel Board
pulled Harrigan from his CalPERS post after five years as the
board's representative to the pension fund and replaced him with Ron
Alvarado, whose background is more aligned with the private business
and government sector. One of the votes to replace Harrigan was
provided by a new appointee of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

~snip~

http://www.postfinder.com/post/24437902.html

[ozymandius]

6. Delta to Buy Northwest, Form World's Largest Airline (Update1)

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Delta Air Lines Inc., one year removed from bankruptcy, agreed to buy Northwest Airlines Corp. in a $3.63 billion stock deal that would create the world's largest carrier and may unleash more industry consolidation.

The airline will keep Delta's name, Atlanta headquarters and chief executive officer, Richard Anderson, 52. The purchase will lead to a total of $1 billion in new revenue and savings and won't shut any hubs, the companies said yesterday in a statement. The merged carrier will control about 25 percent of the U.S. air-travel market, estimates Ray Neidl, an analyst at Calyon Securities in New York.

Delta, the third-biggest U.S. airline by traffic, is betting that combining with Northwest, the fifth-largest, will help overcome a 74 percent increase in jet fuel over 12 months. The move also is likely to hasten merger talks among rivals including United Airlines to counter Delta's wider network.

.....

Shareholders of Delta and Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest will have to approve the transaction, which also would need clearance from federal antitrust regulators. While Delta pilots would get a 3.5 percent equity stake in the airline and a board seat under a new contract, Northwest's pilots said they would ``aggressively oppose'' the tie-up.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=asAv2lIPXOKU

[ozymandius]

7. Asian Stocks Gain, Led by Energy Producers, as Oil Hits Record

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks advanced, led by energy producers and trading companies, after crude oil rose to a record and silver and gold prices gained.

Australia's Santos Ltd. rose the most in three weeks and Cnooc Ltd. jumped in Hong Kong. Mitsubishi Corp. climbed after Deutsche Bank AG advised investors to buy shares in Japanese trading houses that invest and deal in commodities. JFE Holdings Inc. soared in Tokyo after the Nikkei newspaper said the steelmaker is working to pass on rising costs.

``We prefer companies with pricing power, particularly within the commodity sector,'' said Daphne Roth, Singapore-based vice president of equity research at ABN Amro Private Bank, which oversees $22 billion of Asian assets. ``We're just seeing the beginning of earnings downgrades and it's important to watch how higher raw material prices will affect companies' bottom lines.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=stocksonmove&refer=&sid=adAzWjiCvdyQ

[ozymandius]

8. Producer Prices in U.S. Probably Rose in March on Energy Costs

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Prices paid to U.S. producers probably rose in March, reflecting higher fuel and food costs, economists said before a government report today.

The 0.6 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 71 economists, would follow a 0.3 percent increase in February. Core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, probably climbed 0.2 percent, the smallest rise in three months.

Increasing raw-material costs are hurting profits as slowing demand makes it difficult for companies to pass increases on to consumers. The need to avert a deeper economic slump will prompt Federal Reserve policy makers to lower the benchmark interest rate again this month even as inflation accelerates.

.....

The wholesale-price report is based on figures for the Tuesday of the week that includes the 13th of the month. On that basis, crude oil rose 17 percent in March on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and natural gas futures prices climbed 19 percent. Oil has risen even more so far this month.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a0XuCq_ZlHA0&refer=economy

[ozymandius]

9. Uneasy on Wall Street

LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures pointed to a mixed open Tuesday amid worries about bank earnings and climbing oil prices.

At 4:45 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were slightly higher, although a comparison to fair value suggested a mixed start for Wall Street.

The financial sector remains in focus, with earnings from Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) due out after the market close.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/15/markets/stockswatch/index.htm?postversion=2008041505

[ozymandius]

10. Best Quote of the Day

From Elizabeth Warren at Credit Slips:

Hanging the worldwide economic recovery on reigniting consumer spending is like investing in used fireworks.

The rest of the post, "The Stimulus That Can't Stimulate," is good:

How are Americans planning to spend their stimulus checks? According to a new poll, fully 41% say they will use their rebates to pay down debts. Another 19% are trying to protect themselves by saving it, so that 60% have no spending plans at all. Only 7% describe new spending. Debt is blocking a large part of any impact the stimulus package might have had.

(The rest of the breakdown: 17% will spend it on "ordinary expenses," presumably what they would have bought anyway. No, the numbers don't add to 100%--I assume they left out 16% non-responses and didn't knows.)

.....

Alan Greenspan thought that it was great for Americans to continue spending in the 1990s and early 2000s because it kept the economy healthy. But it didn't keep the economy--or the family--healthy. Instead, it meant that we had a false boom, growth that was financed out of tomorrow's earnings. Now the bills are coming due.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/04/best-quote-of-day.html

[hamerfan]

11. Thanks for the quote!

I love Elizabeth Warren! She really speaks for us commoners and can make sense out of gobbledygook.
dumpbush

[Tansy_Gold]

37. Great quote!

Definitely an article to add to the personal archives!

The bills always come due, if not to us then to our children or their children. I remember shaking my head years ago when I heard about Japanese 100-year mortgages or something like that. I mean, does anything like that make any rational sense? Well, haven't our government and our financial wizards just closed the deal on our own 100-year mortgage?

Sheesh.


Tansy Gold, who just figured out her net income from self employment in 2007 was about $81.

[AnneD]

83. Congrats Tansy....

$81 gets you the stimulus check. I hope you feel adequately stimulated at this point. :rofl:
Some days it isn't worth getting out of bed.

[Hugin]

38. Your quote reminds me of a quote, a story, and a joke...

One of my former co-workers used to liken things like 'Corporate Welfare' as "Buying someone else Fireworks,
it's just no fun."

A friend of mine learned the value of money the hard way... He told me when he was a young man he worked very hard for
a very small weekly amount of money on his Grandfather's farm. He would work all week and then when he was paid on
Saturday, (typically only a couple of Dollars) he'd rush over to the local store and buy a couple of firecrackers.
"Wee! Pop! Pop!" and it was gone. In hindsight, he decided those milliseconds of excitement, just weren't worth
all of the work during the week.

I'm sure we've all heard the one about the guys preparing for a camping trip... One guy watches the other take out
the wax-coated all-weather matches, light each one, blow it out and carefully stick it back into the box. The guy
watching just can't believe what he's seeing and he yells out, "What the heck are you doing!" The Match Lighter
replies, "I want to make sure they work before we get out in the middle of nowhere and really need them."


Hahaha!

uh, well... Ha!

Heh... I guess you had to be there. :/

[AnneD]

84. Stick with the the...

Russian king taxing the peasants;)
Some people just can't tell a joke.

[ozymandius]

12. See you folks when all's said-n-done.

:donut: :donut: :donut:

It's off to the classroom again for me.

:hi:

[Demeter]

14. Blast From the Past: Halliburton Pays Dearly; Finally Escapes Cheney's Asbestos Mess By Allan Sloan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html


Tuesday, January 11, 2005

It's time for yet another Halliburton story -- but not the one you may be expecting. This isn't about the endlessly scrutinized Iraq contracting business of the big energy services company that Dick Cheney ran before he became vice president. And it's not about Halliburton's profit-boosting accounting change during Cheney's regime, or the scandals and problems currently affecting some of the firm's far-flung projects.

Instead, let's talk about Halliburton's well-executed $5 billion escape from its asbestos problems, most of which Cheney created when he orchestrated Halliburton's purchase of Dresser Industries in 1998. Few people connect this problem with Cheney, but they should, given that he was in charge at the time and got a raise as a result of buying Dresser.

Dresser's asbestos problem was only a potential one when Halliburton bought it, but rapidly metastasized into a threat to Halliburton's existence. By then, though, Cheney had gone off to Washington.

Had he still been Halliburton's chief executive, Wall Street might have forced him to take responsibility for the asbestos problem he imported to his company. But because he wasn't around -- and because his successor, Dave Lesar, was a stand-up guy -- Cheney has largely escaped scrutiny for this fiasco.

Now that Halliburton has managed to extract itself from its asbestos liability by paying a ton of cash and stock to trusts that will compensate victims and their lawyers, we can get a handle on how much Dresser's piece of the problem cost Halliburton. It turns out to be almost as much as Halliburton paid for the company.

While Halliburton's all-stock takeover of Dresser was valued at $7.7 billion when it was announced in February 1998, it was worth only $5.3 billion when it was completed seven months later. The bankruptcy settlement is costing Halliburton just about that much: around $2.8 billion in cash, Halliburton stock with a market value of $2.3 billion the day before Dresser's bankruptcy was resolved and miscellaneous odds and ends and potential payments.

The bankruptcy resolution, which became final on Jan. 3, covered both the Dresser problems and the smaller asbestos problems that Halliburton already had.

Halliburton hasn't said how much each set of liabilities cost, but Dresser is clearly way more than half. How do I know that? Because a Halliburton bankruptcy filing discloses that "historical Dresser" accounts for about two-thirds of the claims, and the filing also shows that claims from Dresser's business average from 2.5 to five times as much as equivalent claims from Halliburton's businesses.

Do the math, and at least five-sixths -- 83 percent -- of the claims costs are from Dresser. So let's attribute 85 percent of the costs to Dresser. That seems reasonable, if not conservative.

That works out to around $4.3 billion. That doesn't include what Dresser-related claims cost Halliburton between the purchase in 1998 and the Chapter 11 filing in 2002 by Dresser and other Halliburton subsidiaries. It doesn't include offsets for possible insurance payments, either, but I don't know how to value those.

I give Halliburton's current management huge credit for pulling off this tricky maneuver. And I give them big credit for dealing with the problem rather than awaiting a miracle rescue from Congress. Almost from the day it took office, the Bush administration has pushed hard to get Congress to limit asbestos liability. That includes President Bush's visit to Illinois last week to push his "reform" proposals.

Halliburton, whose fortunes are tied to the oil industry, has profited from the surge in oil prices. Even though its stock has quadrupled from its asbestos-woe low, it's still below what it was when Cheney left in the summer of 2000. Imagine what Halliburton shares would fetch today had the Dresser problems never happened. Much more than it currently sells for, I'm sure.

A Cheney spokesman said the vice president wouldn't comment about Halliburton, and referred all queries to the company.

Halliburton, which is understandably eager to put the whole asbestos mess behind it, wouldn't discuss Cheney's role or how much Dresser's asbestos problems have cost it. "We are certainly glad to close the asbestos chapter in Halliburton's history," said company spokesman Wendy Hall. "We are focused on moving forward in 2005, not backwards."

Even if it had been a non-celebrity CEO who messed up big-time with Dresser, this would still be a tale worth telling. That's because this deal shows that when you analyze a transaction, you have to look long-term as well as short-term.

As Cheney's Dresser misadventure shows, today's triumphant deal champ can be tomorrow's chump.

Sloan is Newsweek's Wall Street editor. His e-mail address is [e-mail].

SO IRAQ WAS A TWO-FER---OIL AND ASBESTOS LIABILITY COMPENSATION VIA COST PLUS CONTRACTS TO HALLIBURTON!

[54anickel]

59. Folks at Dresser would paint a very different picture. Not one of a bumbling CEO,

but rather a very sleezy snake. There were 2 purposes driving the purchase of Dresser - the enginnering division of M.W. Kellogg (the K in KBR) and the pump companies of Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co (located in France they could still do business with Saddam). Of course, they are bitter since Cheney also stripped the profit-sharing from the Engine division before he left. Most believe it helped to fund his golden parachute. His reasoning for excluding them from the profit-sharing was that they were being sold off to the highest bidder as soon as legally possible (2 years nearly to the day after the Halliburton purchase). While the Engine division contributed the most to that profit, the attitude was "Thanks, but what have you done for me today, and what can you do for me tomorrow once your sold?" Remaining Dresser employees will tell you this was a cunning, calculated, low-risk adventure since Cheney's VP spot, or return to government in some capacity, was pretty much in the bag. No :tinfoilhat: required according to them.



http://www.gulfwarvets.com/aiding.htm
U.S. Firms Aiding Iraqi Oil Industry

Sunday, February 20, 2000; Page A23
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 17—Four years ago, when he was director of central intelligence, John M. Deutch headed up American efforts to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Today, Deutch sits on the board of Schlumberger Ltd., a multinational company that is helping Baghdad service its oil rigs.

As secretary of defense during the Persian Gulf War, Richard B. Cheney played a key role in the U.S.-led military coalition that forced Iraq to retreat from Kuwait. But as chief executive officer of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based maker of oil equipment, Cheney recently held a major stake in Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump Co., two American players in the reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry. While the United States and Britain wage almost daily airstrikes against military installations in northern and southern Iraq, U.S. companies, executives and even some architects of American policy toward Iraq are doing business with Saddam Hussein's government and helping to rebuild its battered oil industry. Though perfectly legal, the growing U.S.-Iraqi commerce has been kept quiet by both sides because it seems to fly in the face of Washington's commitment to "regime change" in Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's claim to be defying the world's lone superpower. The United Nations also helps both countries avoid embarrassment by treating the business arrangements as confidential.

The trade is permitted under the "oil for food" deal, a humanitarianexemption from the U.N. trade embargo imposed on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It allows Iraq to sell oil and use the proceeds, under U.N. supervision, to purchase food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, as well as spare parts to keep the oil flowing.

Placing bids through overseas subsidiaries and affiliates, more than a dozen U.S. firms have signed millions of dollars in contracts with Baghdad for oil-related equipment since the summer of 1998, according to diplomats, industry officials and U.N. documents.

"The United States is the cradle of the international oil industry," said James Placke, who tracks Persian Gulf oil production for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm. "A lot of the equipment in Iraq's oil industry was originally made in America, and if you want spare parts, you go back to the original supplier."

more...


http://www.halliburton.com/news/archive/1998/corpnws_092998.jsp

snip>

Dick Cheney, chief executive officer of Halliburton Company, said, "The merger is designed to result in long-term benefits for the company's stakeholders - its customers, employees, and shareholders. It significantly broadens the company's offerings and also improves our position as the leader in providing integrated project management services -- from the earliest phases of field development through the production and delivery of oil and gas to the marketplace. The combination of M. W. Kellogg's engineering expertise with Brown & Root's project management and construction strengths enhances the competitive position of the new Kellogg Brown & Root organization. In addition, we are adding a new energy equipment business segment. The merger will both lower Halliburton's cost structure and increase its operating income from added revenues. We expect that net synergistic benefits will add at least $250 million pretax to earnings on an annualized basis."

Bill Bradford, Halliburton Company's new chairman of the board, commented, "Halliburton's vision is to be the premier global solutions provider for energy services, engineering and construction, and energy equipment. The strategy the company has adopted to achieve this vision is based upon our commitment to integration - both the internal integration of all business operations, as well as integration of Halliburton's core competencies with those of our customers. We support the vision with four key goals to serve our customers - operational excellence, technological leadership, innovative business relationships and maintenance of a dynamic workforce."

Dave Lesar, president and chief operating officer of Halliburton, said, "The new organizational structure of Halliburton Company will now consist of three business segments. The Energy Services Group business segment will continue to operate with four business units. The Halliburton Energy Services business unit will now include the petroleum services business of Dresser. The Brown & Root Energy Services unit adds all of Dresser's upstream engineering and construction businesses. The Engineering and Construction Group business segment will incorporate Dresser's related units, including M.W. Kellogg, to form the new Kellogg Brown & Root business unit. The Dresser Equipment Group business segment will carry over in its entirety from Dresser to form a new a Halliburton business segment. We now move forward on a fast-track to implement cost savings, develop revenue enhancements and begin new research and development initiatives that will benefit future financial performance of the company."

Earlier today Halliburton entered into a consent decree with the U.S,. Department of Justice requiring divestiture of Halliburton's current worldwide logging-while-drilling (LWD) business which in 1997 had revenues of less than $50 million, or approximately four-tenths of one percent (0.4%) of the combined revenues of Halliburton and Dresser. Halliburton's existing directional drilling and Dresser's Sperry-Sun division are not impacted by the decree. In addition Halliburton will continue to provide customers with sonic LWD services using its existing sonic technologies. The consent decree requires Halliburton to divest its LWD business within 180 days. No other Halliburton or Dresser business divestitures are required. Halliburton has retained Warburg Dillon Read LLC to assist it in the sale of its LWD business.

[donkeyotay]

65. At least a two-fer, maybe a mo'-fer

The Halliburton acqusition of Dresser happened at about the same time Cheney was shopping for a vice president for the pretzeldent. I think Cheney was chosen after he made some good faith with the BFEE by saving Dresser, a company associated with Bush, the smarter. I think Cheney offered to take care of the problem in a sort of quid pro quo - you let me use dimson, and I'll take care of this for you. Everyone figured the costs could wash out to the taxpayers in the war and/or the new oil revenue. But that' just me. :eyes:

[Demeter]

15. Financial Collapse will End the Occupation:And it won't be "A time of our choosing"/ Mike Whitney

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19742.htm

--------------------------
“Come and see our overflowing morgues and find our little ones for us...
You may find them in this corner or the other, a little hand poking out, pointing out at you...
Come and search for them in the rubble of your "surgical" air raids, you may find a little leg or a little head...pleading for your attention.
Come and see them amassed in the garbage dumps, scavenging morsels of food...
Come and see, come..." "Flying Kites” Layla Anwar
-------------------

14/04/08 "ICH " -- - The US Military has won every battle it has fought in Iraq, but it has lost the war. Wars are won politically, not militarily. Bush doesn't understand this. He still clings to the belief that a political settlement can be imposed through force. But he is mistaken. The use of overwhelming force has only spread the violence and added to the political instability. Now Iraq is ungovernable. Was that the objective? Miles of concrete blast-walls snake through Baghdad to separate the warring parties; the country is fragmented into a hundred smaller pieces each ruled by local militia commanders. These are the signs of failure not success. That's why the American people no longer support the occupation. They're just being practical; they know Bush's plan won't work. As Nir Rosen says, “Iraq has become Somalia”.

The administration still supports Iraqi President Nouri al Maliki, but al-Maliki is a meaningless figurehead who will have no effect on the country's future. He has no popular base of support and controls nothing beyond the walls of the Green Zone. The al-Maliki government is merely an Arab facade designed to convince the American people that political progress is being made, but there is no progress. Its a sham. The future is in the hands of the men with guns; they're the ones who have divided Iraq into locally-controlled fiefdoms and they are the one's who will ultimately decide who will rule the state. At present, the fighting between the factions is being described as “sectarian warfare”, but the term is intentionally misleading. The fighting is political in nature; the various militias are competing with each other to see who will fill the vacuum left by the removal of Saddam. It's a power struggle. The media likes to portray the conflict as a clash between half-crazed Arabs--"dead-enders and terrorists"---who relish the idea killing their countrymen, but that's just a way of demonizing the enemy. In truth, the violence is entirely rational; it is the inevitable reaction to the dissolution of the state and the occupation by foreign troops. Many military experts predicted that there would be outbreaks of fighting after the initial invasion, but their warnings were shrugged off by clueless politicians and the cheerleading media. Now the violence has flared up again in Basra and Baghdad, and there is no end in sight. Only one thing seems certain, Iraq's future will not be decided at the ballot box. Bush has made sure of that.

The US military does not rule Iraq nor does it have the power to control events on the ground. It's just one of many militias vying for power in a state that is ruled by warlords. After the army conducts combat operations, it is forced to retreat to its camps and bases. This point needs to be emphasized in order to understand that there is no real future for the occupation. The US simply does not have the manpower to hold territory or to establish security. In fact, the presence of American troops incites violence because they are seen as forces of occupation, not liberators. Surveys show that the vast majority of the Iraqi people want US troops to leave. The military has destroyed too much of the country and slaughtered too many people to expect that these attitudes will change anytime soon.

---------------
Iraqi poet and blogger Layla Anwar sums up the feelings of many of the war's victims in a recent post on her web site "An Arab Women's Blues":

"At the gates of Babylon the Great, you are still struggling, fighting away, chasing this or the other, detaining, bombing from above, filling up morgues, hospitals, graveyards and embassies and borders with queues for exit-visas.

Not one Iraqi wishes your presence. Not one Iraqi accepts your occupation.

Got news for you Motherfuckers, you will never control Iraq, not in six years, not in ten years, not in 20 years....You have brought upon yourself the hate and the curse of all Iraqis, Arabs and the rest of the world...now face your agony." (Layla Anwar; "An Arab Women's Blues: Reflections in a sealed bottle"

-----------
Is Bush hoping to change the mind of Layla or the millions of other Iraqis who have lost loved ones or been forced into exile or seen their country and culture crushed beneath the bootheel of foreign occupation? The hearts and minds campaign is lost. The US will never be welcome in Iraq.

According to a survey in the British Medical Journal "Lancet" more than a million Iraqis have been killed in the war. Another four million have been either internally-displaced or have fled the country. But the figures tell us nothing about the magnitude of the disaster that Bush has caused by attacking Iraq. The invasion is the greatest human catastrophe in the Middle East since the Nakba in 1948. Living standards have declined precipitously in every area---infant mortality, clean water, food-security, medical supplies, education, electrical power, employment etc. Even oil production is still below pre-war levels. The invasion is the most comprehensive policy failure since Vietnam; everything has gone wrong. The heart of the Arab world has descended into chaos. The suffering is incalculable.

The main problem is the occupation; it is the primary catalyst for violence and an obstacle to political settlement. As long as the occupation persists, so will the fighting. The claims that the so-called surge has changed the political landscape are greatly exaggerated. Retired Lt. General William Odom commented on this point in an interview on the Jim Lerher News Hour:

"The surge has sustained military instability and achieved nothing in political consolidation....Things are much worse now. And I don't see them getting any better. This was foreseeable a year and a half ago. And to continue to put the cozy veneer of comfortable half-truths on this is to deceive the American public and to make them think it is not the charade it is.....When you say that the Lebanization of Iraq is taking place, yes, but not because of Iran, but because the U.S. went in and made this kind of fragmentation possible. And it has occurred over the last five years....The al-Maliki government is worse off now...The notion that there;'s some kind of progress is absurd. The al-Maliki government uses its Ministry of Interior like a death squad militia. So to call Sadr an extremist and Maliki a good guy just overlooks the reality that there are no good guys." (Jim Lerher News Hour)

The war in Iraq was lost before the first shot was fired. The conflict never had the support of the American people and Iraq never posed a threat to US national security. The whole pretext for the war was based on lies; it was a coup orchestrated by elites and the media to carry out a far-right agenda. Now the mission has failed, but no one wants to admit their mistakes by withdrawing; so the butchery continues without pause.

How Will It End?

The Bush administration has decided to pursue a strategy that is unprecedented in US history. It has decided to continue to prosecute a war that has already been lost morally, strategically, and militarily. But fighting a losing war has its costs. America is much weaker now than it was when Bush first took office in 2000; politically, economically and militarily. US power and prestige around the world will continue to deteriorate until the troops are withdrawn from Iraq. But that's unlikely to happen until all other options have been exhausted. Deteriorating economic conditions in the financial markets are putting enormous downward pressure on the dollar. The corporate bond and equities markets are in disarray; the banking system is collapsing, consumer spending is down, tax revenues are falling, and the country is headed into a painful and protracted recession. The US will leave Iraq sooner than many pundits believe, but it will not be at a time of our choosing. Rather, the conflict will end when the United States no longer has the capacity to wage war. That time is not far off.

The Iraq War signals the end of US interventionism for at least a generation; maybe longer. The ideological foundation for the war (preemption/regime change) has been exposed as a baseless justification for unprovoked aggression. Someone will have to be held accountable. There will have to be international tribunals to determine who is responsible in the deaths of over one million Iraqis.

[DemReadingDU]

22. Iraq War signals the end of US interventionism for at least a generation

I hope so!

But there are rumblings about Iran

:eyes:

[donkeyotay]

69. Stunningly accurate assessment. They'll pry this war from our cold, dead hands.

I've always been amazed at the assumption that we are the only agenda-setters. Bush declared the war, and then he declared it over. He forgot that there were other actors in the chaos he created. But as Mike Whitney says, he has committed our nation to a course that is "unprecedented in US history. It has decided to continue to prosecute a war that has already been lost morally, strategically, and militarily." But this is how it ends: "The US will leave Iraq sooner than many pundits believe, but it will not be at a time of our choosing. Rather, the conflict will end when the United States no longer has the capacity to wage war. That time is not far off."

I think he's right. The course is set. The next president may make it better or worse, but we can't avoid the consequences of bush's war and the rest of his disastrous policies: economic, domestic and foreign, and environmental.

[Demeter]

16. Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805

Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele May 2008


An anti-Monsanto crop circle in the Philippines






No thanks: An anti-Monsanto crop circle made by farmers and volunteers in the Philippines. By Melvyn Calderon/Greenpeace HO/A.P. Images.



...As Rinehart would recall, the man began verbally attacking him, saying he had proof that Rinehart had planted Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) soybeans in violation of the company’s patent. Better come clean and settle with Monsanto, Rinehart says the man told him—or face the consequences....Rinehart was incredulous, listening to the words as puzzled customers and employees looked on. Like many others in rural America, Rinehart knew of Monsanto’s fierce reputation for enforcing its patents and suing anyone who allegedly violated them. But Rinehart wasn’t a farmer. He wasn’t a seed dealer. He hadn’t planted any seeds or sold any seeds. He owned a small—a really small—country store in a town of 350 people. He was angry that somebody could just barge into the store and embarrass him in front of everyone. “It made me and my business look bad,” he says. Rinehart says he told the intruder, “You got the wrong guy.” When the stranger persisted, Rinehart showed him the door. On the way out the man kept making threats. Rinehart says he can’t remember the exact words, but they were to the effect of: “Monsanto is big. You can’t win. We will get you. You will pay.”

Scenes like this are playing out in many parts of rural America these days as Monsanto goes after farmers, farmers’ co-ops, seed dealers—anyone it suspects may have infringed its patents of genetically modified seeds. As interviews and reams of court documents reveal, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents in the American heartland to strike fear into farm country. They fan out into fields and farm towns, where they secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops; infiltrate community meetings; and gather information from informants about farming activities. Farmers say that some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics...When asked about these practices, Monsanto declined to comment specifically, other than to say that the company is simply protecting its patents. “Monsanto spends more than $2 million a day in research to identify, test, develop and bring to market innovative new seeds and technologies that benefit farmers,” Monsanto spokesman Darren Wallis wrote in an e-mailed letter to Vanity Fair. “One tool in protecting this investment is patenting our discoveries and, if necessary, legally defending those patents against those who might choose to infringe upon them.” Wallis said that, while the vast majority of farmers and seed dealers follow the licensing agreements, “a tiny fraction” do not, and that Monsanto is obligated to those who do abide by its rules to enforce its patent rights on those who “reap the benefits of the technology without paying for its use.” He said only a small number of cases ever go to trial.

Some compare Monsanto’s hard-line approach to Microsoft’s zealous efforts to protect its software from pirates. At least with Microsoft the buyer of a program can use it over and over again. But farmers who buy Monsanto’s seeds can’t even do that.

The Control of Nature

For centuries—millennia—farmers have saved seeds from season to season: they planted in the spring, harvested in the fall, then reclaimed and cleaned the seeds over the winter for re-planting the next spring. Monsanto has turned this ancient practice on its head. Monsanto developed G.M. seeds that would resist its own herbicide, Roundup, offering farmers a convenient way to spray fields with weed killer without affecting crops. Monsanto then patented the seeds. For nearly all of its history the United States Patent and Trademark Office had refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life-forms with too many variables to be patented. “It’s not like describing a widget,” says Joseph Mendelson III, the legal director of the Center for Food Safety, which has tracked Monsanto’s activities in rural America for years.

Indeed not. But in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, turned seeds into widgets, laying the groundwork for a handful of corporations to begin taking control of the world’s food supply. In its decision, the court extended patent law to cover “a live human-made microorganism.” In this case, the organism wasn’t even a seed. Rather, it was a Pseudomonas bacterium developed by a General Electric scientist to clean up oil spills. But the precedent was set, and Monsanto took advantage of it. Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Farmers who buy Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready seeds are required to sign an agreement promising not to save the seed produced after each harvest for re-planting, or to sell the seed to other farmers. This means that farmers must buy new seed every year. Those increased sales, coupled with ballooning sales of its Roundup weed killer, have been a bonanza for Monsanto.

This radical departure from age-old practice has created turmoil in farm country. Some farmers don’t fully understand that they aren’t supposed to save Monsanto’s seeds for next year’s planting. Others do, but ignore the stipulation rather than throw away a perfectly usable product. Still others say that they don’t use Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds, but seeds have been blown into their fields by wind or deposited by birds. It’s certainly easy for G.M. seeds to get mixed in with traditional varieties when seeds are cleaned by commercial dealers for re-planting. The seeds look identical; only a laboratory analysis can show the difference. Even if a farmer doesn’t buy G.M. seeds and doesn’t want them on his land, it’s a safe bet he’ll get a visit from Monsanto’s seed police if crops grown from G.M. seeds are discovered in his fields.

Most Americans know Monsanto because of what it sells to put on our lawns— the ubiquitous weed killer Roundup. What they may not know is that the company now profoundly influences—and one day may virtually control—what we put on our tables. For most of its history Monsanto was a chemical giant, producing some of the most toxic substances ever created, residues from which have left us with some of the most polluted sites on earth. Yet in a little more than a decade, the company has sought to shed its polluted past and morph into something much different and more far-reaching—an “agricultural company” dedicated to making the world “a better place for future generations.” Still, more than one Web log claims to see similarities between Monsanto and the fictional company “U-North” in the movie Michael Clayton, an agribusiness giant accused in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit of selling an herbicide that causes cancer.


THERE IS SOME SPECULATION THAT GENETIC MANIPULATION OF SEEDSTOCK LIES BEHIND THE MASSIVE INCREASES IN FOOD ALLERGIES, AS WELL.

[TalkingDog]

34. You can't really control a population except through their stomach

Look at any war. Look at Iraq. Force can't do it.

In the history of warfare the bar-none best way to subdue a people was to cut off the food supply.

Weapons you can improvise, a soldier's loss of limbs can be acommodated, but the 3 things you cannot literally live without: air, food and water will bring any force to it's knees.

[Demeter]

36. Would You Keep In Down, Please?

Don't want to give Bush any ideas--after all, that's what Clinton was doing all those years in Iraq.

[Hugin]

40. Today's conversation obscuring theme... "Top of the World".

And since I'm running low on compositions for the Harpsichord and Accordion.

Today's tune will be played by Your's Truly and his band of Hillbilly Tone Smiths.

Featuring, Me on the sheet metal scrub board, Slim on the wash tub Cello, and introducing Toothless Bob on
the Whiskey Jug.

Take it away boys!

a one... and a two... and a three...

"Top of the World"

Such a feelings coming over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky
Got the sun in my eyes
And I wont be surprised if its a dream


Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear
Its because you are here
You're the nearest thing to heaven that Ive seen


(*) I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that Ive found ever since you've been around
Your loves put me at the top of the world


Something in the wind has learned my name
And its telling me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze
Theres a pleasing sense of happiness for me


There is only one wish on my mind
When this day is through I hope that I will find
That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me
All I need will be mine if you are here

Repeat (*) twice

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/carpenters/top+of+the+world_20027572.html

[TalkingDog]

48. The Spousal Unit's band: Hillbilly Liberation Front

Looking less and less like a joke every day.

[Hugin]

53. Although, we can't hold a candle to Karen Carpenter...

We are a band, which is all business.

Our lead singer Barbie Sue Joe Anne Frank Ellen "Purty" Jenkins is out today... Seems her Blue Ribbon Rooster
is down with the croup. Ah, a spoon full of vinegar and it'll be king of the roost again.

Play it again!

[Hugin]

55. Alternate version for those so inclined... "Top of the World" -- Dixie Chicks

"Top of the World"

I wished I was smarter
I wished I was stronger
I wished I loved jesus
The way my wife does
I wish it had been easier
Instead of any longer
I wished I could have stood where you would have been proud
But that wont happen now
That wont happen now

Theres a whole lot of singing thats never gonna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow
Think I broke the wings off that little song bird
Shes never gonna fly to the top of the world right now
Top of the world

I dont have to answer any of these questions
Dont have no God to teach me no lessons
I come home in the eveing
Sit in my chair
One night they called me for supper
But I never got up
I stayed right there in my chair

Theres a whole lot of singing thats never gonna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow
Think I broke the wings off that little song bird
Shes never gonna fly to the top of the world right now
Top of the world

I wished Id a known you
Wished Id a shown you
All of the things I was on the inside
Id pretend to be sleeping
When you come in in the morning
To whisper good-bye
Go to work in the rain
I dont know why
Dont know why

cause everones singing
We just wanna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow
Wanna grab a hold of that little song bird
Take her for a ride to the top of the world right now

To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/dixie+chicks/top+of+the+world_20041018.html

[Demeter]

74. Karen Carpenter!

[AnneD]

43. Morning Marketeers.....

:donut: and lurkers. This about Monsanto really strikes a raw nerve. The same can be said of Archer Daniels Midland. I had a good friend that worked for them once but the way they treated farmers turned his stomach. He had a bad accident which almost killed him. He did an about face and became a Methodist minister. Boy can he preach against these guys. Some of the things in the article don't even begin to cover the shenanigans these folks are involved in. You can ask any farmer and get an earful. I think they should be stop legislatively now before they do gain control of our food supply. I wouldn't put it past these guys to outlaw home gardens. Most of our population (esp my daughter's generation) are so removed from farming that they can't understand the damage that can be done by these folks. One more thing to put on my to do list.....sigh.

The bad news.... Hubby came home this morning (he works nights)and said that they are going to lay some folks off in his department (security). He said that they were looking at folks that have over 18 years of seniority-which is him. So now that means both of us have been threatened by layoffs.:eyes: We will see what happens. Fortunately we have both been doing part time work that can easily be made into full time and we can withstand something like this for a while, but Houston is suppose to be one of the better places for job creation.....

The really good news....I PAID OFF ANOTHER CREDIT CARD debt, HURRAY. Mailed that check off today. I have not used a credit card in 4 years-so there is no way I'll get back into that trap again. I now have just 2 more major debts to attack. They are the biggest but my last child support payment is in May, so I get my bucket back. Instead of bailing water out of the boat with a teaspoon-I can now do it with a bucket. I will be so happy to kick those debts to the curb. I figure that if I can leave this world with a zero net, I did ok, but extra goes to charity if I am lucky.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[kineneb]

56. want acorns with that?

well, so far, Monsanto hasn't messed with the local traditional (AmerInd) foods. We had a good crop of acorns last year...pinole, anyone?

[burf]

61. Here is something you might be interested in

The World According to Monsanto On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that Americans won't ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19738.htm You can watch the film at the link.

[Joe Chi Minh]

78. Several years ago, after I had been posting about Monsanto to a US

political forum, now defunct - I think it was called, Policy.com - I had a strange experience driving back from a local supermarket.

The car in front of me, as I drew up to the entrance of our road, was an open-topped sports car, absolutely covered in dust, with a chunky young character at the wheel. Anyway, as he slowed down in front of me at the entrance to my road, he kept pressing and releasing his foot-brake pedal, flashing his red brake-light at the rear, on and off.

It occurred to me that he was probably a CIA type warning me to pipe down about Monsanto, GM foods, etc, (a bit like Dale in King of the Hill, adopting a sinister muffled voice and saying to Peggy, who'd been giving sex instruction lessons, "We know where you live...!" Only I had the impression, this lad wasn't at all funny) though the car had a Virginia number plate - which threw me a bit at the time, as I assumed the CIA's HQ would be in New York or Washington. I only associated Virginia with tobacco, and its not a crop I would have associated with GM. But so it wasn't as symbolic as it might have been, I thought.... there was no reason to doubt its CIA provenance. Seems I was right.

I've occasionally criticised them since, but not often. They're plum evil, and one day they'll meet their Waterloo, just the same.

[UpInArms]

17. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 71.817 Change +0.059 (+0.08%)

Euro Coiling Up, Breakout Looking Imminent

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/topheadline/Euro_Coiling_Up__Breakout_Looking_1208234182008.html

The unified trajectory around dollar weakness that had dominated trading in recent weeks continues to deteriorate, with the majors pulling even further in opposite directions. Euro price action has tightened just below the 1.5900 level, wedged between a triple top and a supporting trend line. Pound and Yen both look weak against the dollar. Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand Dollars, the Franc and the Canadian Dollar both look to further gains.




...more...

Even G7 and Retail Sales Can’t Help the US Dollar

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio1/Even_G7_and_Retail_Sales_1208209566056.html

The US dollar has strengthened against all of the majors but the degree of strength is marginal considering the changes in the language of the G7 statement and the better than expected retail sales report. The main reason why the dollar did not rally as much as it could have is because with both reports, there is more than meets the eye. Even though the G7 is worried about the outlook for the global economy, the stability of the financial market and the volatility in currencies, the price action in the FX markets suggest that traders and investors believe that the G7’s words do not pack much punch. More specifically, the G7 called for more self-regulation by investment banks, which the banks balked at. They are also contemplating higher capital requirements for the banks but this would be only to prevent a future financial crisis rather than solving the present one. If such a rule was to be instituted today, it could make the capital markets even more illiquid. As for retail sales, even though the headline numbers increased more than expected, meaning that consumer spending did not contract for the second consecutive month, if gasoline was stripped out of sales, consumer spending was actually flat. Gas prices have increased 11 percent this year, taking a bigger bite out of the pocketbooks of US consumers. Inventories on the other hand have increased 0.6 percent while car sales have been the weakest in 10 years. It is difficult to believe that economy is improving as indicated by the headline retail sales figure when the nation’s fourth largest bank Wachovia posted a $393 million loss and cut its dividend. More banks will be reporting earnings this week and it will be important to see if the losses continue to build. In the corporate sector, survival has become the biggest focus. The potential for a merger between Delta and Northwest as well as Blockbuster’s bid for Circuit City stems from the need to reduce costs or to save an otherwise floundering business. Meanwhile the market’s focus tomorrow will turn to inflation and manufacturing. Strong inflationary pressures are practically a given, but a turn in manufacturing is up in the air. The market is looking for dollar weakness to boost production, but that was not the case in the month of March even though the dollar had weakened that month as well.

...more...

[Caretha]

20. Stopping by....

To check the SMW daily news and to wish you a VERY VERY Happy B-day.

Luv ya Sis :)

[UpInArms]

23. thank you

:blush:

:hug:

:loveya:

[Karenina]

27. More Happy Birthday wishes!!!

All good things to you, UpInArms! :party::toast::party:

[Demeter]

29. And Many More!

[DemReadingDU]

32. Happy Birthday UIA!

Let's eat cake!

[Hugin]

35. Yay!

:party:

Happy b-day, UIA! :)

[Theres-a]

41. Happy Birthday

To one of my favorite shamans! Have a wonderful day,you are appreciated.:bounce:

[Birthmark]

42. Happy Birthday, UIA!

[TalkingDog]

51. enjoy the day. I hope its beautiful. n/t

[54anickel]

63. ...

:party: :hug: :loveya:

[54anickel]

64. I'm so torn.....

UIA B-day :dilemma: Tax day


Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.

[AnneD]

86. I remember when they told me my daughter was due to pop...

in April possibly the 24-27. I didn't want April 1 or April 15 which would mean something when she was an adult. I was hoping for April 16 as in a day late and a dollar short. You'll have to tell us what it was like some time.

Happy Birthday UIA...:party:
Happy Birthday to the sharpest:think:, most calculating-ist:freak:, don't miss a thing:wtf:, dean of the arm chair economist that I trust:evilgrin:, coolest kid on the block:smoke:. Sorry I don't have a grovel icon. Happy Birthday!!!!!

[donkeyotay]

70. Happy BD, UIA

:party: :toast: :party: :hi:

[bain_sidhe]

73. Hippo Birdies, UIA!!!!!!!!!

Hope it's a great one for you!

[Roland99]

67. Ah ha! What a day to have a birthday! I know someone else with the same date (just turned 1)

:)

[ozymandius]

88. Happy Birthday my dear friend.

:party: :party: :party: :party: :party: :party:

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[UpInArms]

91. Ozy and all of you - you are - you (not me) are really the best

of all - you have humbled me with your good will and good wishes and ohhh so many and too much flattery and niceness and ...

:blush:

what can I say?

I love you all and this thread is my rock and you are the ones who make it roll

:grouphug:

(edited for confused grammar)

[UpInArms]

18. MGM Mirage to cut 440 jobs: report

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN1542491520080415?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Las Vegas casino operator MGM Mirage (MGM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has said it is cutting 440 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, signaling the effect of a slowing economy on the casino industry.

A significant part of the cuts will be made in Las Vegas where MGM Mirage owns 10 properties, the report said, quoting the casino operator's spokesman Alan Feldman.

"It's no secret: Business levels are down," Feldman was quoted as saying in the report.

...more...

[Demeter]

19. Chinese fund snaps up stake in BP / BBC NEWS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7347950.stm




China has spent £1bn buying a 1% stake in BP, the UK's largest company by market value.
The investment was made by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, a unit of the Central Bank managing $1.6 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. The move is the latest purchase by China of strategic stakes in leading European and US firms such as Total, Blackstone and Morgan Stanley.


There have been growing calls for state-controlled sovereign wealth funds - which invest the surplus wealth of Asian and Gulf economies such as China, Singapore and Kuwait - to be more transparent about their motives for investing in individual businesses. Particular concerns have been expressed about China's recent drive into the global oil and commodity sectors, at a time when it is searching for fresh sources of energy and mineral resources to fuel its economic expansion...

The Kuwait Investment Authority already owns a 1.7% holding in the oil giant.


The British government is relaxed about Chinese investment in top UK companies and wants to make London the principal destination for Chinese investment in Europe. It shouldn't raise any political concern as the Chinese are not gaining management control


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7347950.stm

[UpInArms]

21. Sour economy casts pall over once sunny Florida - fears of a new "Great Depression"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/usa_economy_florida_dc

MIAMI (Reuters) - Economic data continues to suggest that fears of a new "Great Depression" in the United States are overblown. But in places like Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where the housing bust has bitten hard and prices are rising fast, the specter of economic stagnation twinned with inflation looms all too real.

"Since the 1970s we haven't really seen this simultaneous threat of an economic slowdown, and recession, side by side with the threat of inflation," said Sean Snaith, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida.

Nationally, inflation was flat in February, according to the U.S. Labor Department's consumer price index, the most widely used gauge.

But in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, prices were up by 5.3 percent that month, according to the department's southeastern office, in Atlanta, the highest of any metropolitan area in the country.

<snip>

For many in Florida, a state that people are leaving in droves because of high property tax and home insurance rates, the biggest and harshest rise has been in energy costs, up 18 percent in the 12 months to the end of February.

<snip>

"You're basically one paycheck away from a disaster," said Davis, as she ate a hot dog for lunch in the Costco cafeteria. "I budget whatever I'm going to spend in a week, it's highly budgeted, because if I don't, forget it, I won't make it."

...more...

[wordpix]

80. friggin' BushCo admin in FL has allowed housing, commercial developmts to run rampant

They built, built built, they wrecked wetlands with abandon and now they're crying the blues. I feel badly for those poor folks taken in by the real estate snakes and weasels, but the developers who've wrecked FL get the finger from me and that's it. :grr:

[UpInArms]

24. Bayou (hedge fund) co-founder sentenced to 20 years in prison (Bush cousin connection)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/bayou_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge sentenced the "mastermind" behind the collapsed hedge fund Bayou Group to 20 years in prison on Monday, a sentence that reflects the big losses suffered by investors in the $400 million fund.

Samuel Israel III, 48, is the last of three officials at the defunct fund to be sentenced for their role in bilking investors in Connecticut-based Bayou out of millions. The fund's demise rocked the $1.8 trillion hedge fund industry and led to calls for more oversight.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon rejected requests for leniency by Israel's lawyer -- who cited the Bayou founder's lengthy list of medical problems, including a bad back, heart problems, and gout. She said he was the "mastermind of this scheme."

"You were, in every meaning of the sense, a career criminal," McMahon told Israel, who leaned on the defense table for support and repeatedly wiped sweat from his bald head and neck.

"You ruined lives," she said, saying investors had lost their retirement funds and money for their children's and grandchildren's education. "They want justice," she said.

"Financial fraud, white-collar crimes are every bit as heinous as every other type of crime and they will be punished severely," McMahon said.

Israel was also ordered to make $300 million in restitution. In addition, the judge ordered him to forfeit his interests in a Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) account that held a little more than $100 million. She ordered Israel to surrender no later than June 9 to begin serving his sentence.

...more...



A first cousin of President Bush is emerging as a peripheral player in the increasingly bizarre Bayou Management hedge fund scandal.

Sources say John P. Ellis, a former journalist turned investment banker, represented several companies in investment presentations to IM Partners, a side venture set up by Samuel Israel and Daniel Marino. Israel and Marino were the management team that ran Bayou and who federal prosecutors allege defrauded investors out of $300 million.

People familiar with the Bayou saga say Ellis, a personal friend of Israel for the past several years, helped arranged at least five investment deals for IM Partners while working as a managing director for GH Venture Partners, a New York City-based investment bank. In all, IM Partners, a Connecticut-based investment partnership, invested at least $25 million in deals handled by GH Venture.

There's no indication that Ellis or GH Ventures were direct or indirect investors in either Bayou or IM Partners. And, other than their common principals, there's no direct evidence that any relationship existed between IM Partners and Bayou, although both operated out of the same Stamford, Conn., office.

A former columnist for the Boston Globe, Ellis may be best known for his work as an electoral consultant for Fox News during the 2000 presidential election. It was Ellis' analysis of the Florida vote total that led Fox to declare Bush the victor before any of the other networks.

...more...

[Tansy_Gold]

44. Do we get to add this guy to the SMW OP?

You know, other execs in handcuffs/convicted/frog marched in an orange jumpsuit??

Tansy Gold, rubbing her hands in gleeful anticipation

[UpInArms]

92. note to Ozy and other - change the number on the template

:D

Other Arrests of Execs = 55

[Demeter]

28. Supply Problems Caused Spike That Some Say Should Have Prompted Scrutiny (Chinese drug)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041201662.html

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008; A03

The price of the Chinese-produced main ingredient used to make the blood thinner heparin doubled last year, just four months before hundreds of American patients began having severe and sometimes fatal allergic reactions to the medication, according to a report from an authoritative drug information company in China. The highly unusual increase of the price within a quarter of a year should have been a red flag to drugmakers that something significant -- and perhaps dangerous -- was happening to the ingredient of a medication widely used in life-threatening situations, industry experts said. Heparin contains a substance that is extracted from the intestines of pigs and is collected in slaughterhouses and on farms...Between November and February, hundreds of Americans experienced serious allergic reactions after taking Chinese-made heparin, and 62 died, the Food and Drug Administration reported this week, sharply increasing its previous estimates. Some patients always respond poorly to heparin, but FDA statistics show three fatal allergic reactions in 2006...Last month, the agency discovered through chemical testing that heparin made in China and distributed in the United States by Baxter International had been contaminated with inexpensive over-sulfated chondroitin, an altered version of a widely used dietary supplement.

The company that bought the Chinese raw material and began processing the drug -- Scientific Protein Laboratories (SPL) of Waunakee, Wis., and Changzhou, China -- acknowledged this week that the price of unprocessed heparin doubled in China in the last half of 2007 and said the company passed on some of the increase to its customers. Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said that the company faced "modest" price increases in 2007 because it had long-term contracts, but that it saw a "substantial" rise this year. Wayne Pines, an SPL spokesman, attributed the price spike to a supply shortage caused by an epidemic of "blue ear" disease in Chinese pigs and by decisions of Chinese villages and companies to get out of pig farming and shift to more lucrative businesses. Pines said the price doubling did not raise any safety concerns...Villax added that the supply shortage and the steep price increase offered an obvious opportunity for individuals "who don't play by the rules" to make windfall profits by adding cheaper materials to the raw heparin as a way to meet the demand.

The FDA has not said whether it thinks the contaminant was intentionally added to the drug, but officials described it as a heparin-like compound that appeared to have been formulated so that standard quality-control tests could not detect it. Although officials have not conclusively linked the contaminant to the allergic reactions and deaths, they have said there is clearly an overlap between the two. Chondroitin sulfate does not occur naturally but can be made from pig cartilage.
FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley said Friday that the agency was aware that the price of raw heparin increased dramatically last year but did not necessarily see it as a signal of potential quality problems. The rise was apparently the result of the blue ear disease outbreak, she said, but the agency is looking at other possibilities.

The Healthoo report shows that the price of crude heparin exported from China went from $629 per kilogram in January 2007 to $1,507 per kilogram in December. The report also shows that more than 50 percent of the crude heparin went to the United States, 37 percent to Germany and the rest to other nations...The report shows that the cost of refined heparin exported by China rose at about the same rate as that of raw heparin -- strongly suggesting that the increase was driven by the price of the raw material, rather than by processing problems...In recent years, China has been the world's primary source for the active ingredient in heparin, but in an e-mail Friday, Healthoo said that significantly less heparin is being exported from China now because of the supply problems.

No heparin deaths have been documented in other countries, but the contamination was detected and allergic reactions were reported in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere. It is unclear whether the lack of reported deaths outside the United States is because of differences in the sources of heparin or of a more aggressive U.S. system of reporting adverse events.

Heparin, which is used as a blood thinner during surgery and dialysis, has been on the market since the 1930s. Like many pharmaceuticals -- especially inexpensive generic drugs -- it is now largely made abroad, increasingly in lightly regulated nations such as China and India. The FDA's ability to oversee the supply chains has become a much-discussed issue on Capitol Hill... the case highlights a new reality -- that when a problem arises with an American-manufactured drug, the FDA usually addresses it quickly and can take action promptly. But when a problem surfaces in China or India, where regulation and oversight are far less strict, it inevitably takes officials longer to determine what is happening and why.

IF HALF THAT INGENUITY AT FINDING AN "UNDETECTABLE" ADULTERATION INGREDIENT WENT INTO CURING THE BLUE EAR DISEASE, CHINA COULD BECOME THE LEADER OF BIOTECH....

AND AS FOR THE FDA...HECK OF A JOB, GUYS!

[Demeter]

30. On the Economy, 70% Disapprove of Bush By Jon Cohen Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402842.html


Public disapproval of the way President Bush is handling the nation's economy has hit a new high in Washington Post-ABC News polling, and his overall favorability rating remains near an all-time low.
Seven in 10 Americans now give negative ratings to the president's stewardship of the sinking U.S. economy. Only 28 percent approve of his performance in this area, a double-digit decline from a year ago, and even core Republicans have begun to abandon the president on the issue.

Among Republicans, 59 percent approve of the way he is handling the economy, down from 70 percent at the beginning of February and well off his career average of about 80 percent from his party's base. Only a quarter of independents and 6 percent of Democrats approve of Bush's performance on the economy. Republicans have been more steadfast in their overall support for Bush and in their assessments of his handling of the situation in Iraq, with about three-quarters approving of Bush's job performance generally and 68 percent backing him on his war policies.

But most Democrats and independents remain equally settled in their low opinion of the president's performance. Bush's overall rating stands at 33 percent, a percentage point above his all-time low in Post-ABC polling, a level he touched on most recently about six weeks ago. Among Democrats, "strong" disapproval has reached 80 percent for the first time.

It has been more than three years since a majority of Americans approved of how Bush has handled his job, making his streak of low ratings about equal to Harry S. Truman's in Gallup polls from late 1949 through the end of his presidency.

[DemReadingDU]

31. NPR: 'Bad Money' Criticizes Wall Street, U.S. Finances

4/15/08
Steve Inskeep talks to author Kevin Phillips about his new book, Bad Money. Phillips argues in the book that the U.S. economy is in danger because of its reliance on the financial industry. He also believes that Wall Street has steered the nation toward greater debt.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89642189


This was good. Phillips basically says we have an economy that runs on money, rather than on products.


edit to add link for book
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Money-Reckless-Politics-Capitalism/dp/0670019070

[Tansy_Gold]

39. Phillips is EXCELLENT

I'm reading his 2001 "Wealth and Democracy: A political history of the American Rich" right now, and it has, pun intended, a veritable treasury of information. Because it was written AFTER the Enron collapse, which was the messenger-who-must-be-shot, Phillips was able to use the historical examples of previous panics and depressions - 1837, 1907, 1929-1932, etc. -- to establish the pattern that led DIRECTLY to Enron, and continues through, well, through 15 April 2008.



Tansy Gold, who will buy BAD MONEY as soon as she finds some spare money

[bain_sidhe]

71. I LOVED Wealth and Democracy

Most of his other books are pretty good too. I'll be getting this one, for sure.

[Demeter]

33. The New York Times: Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies By MICHAEL BARBARO

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/15retail.html?hp

The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country. Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.
But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to people briefed on the matter.

Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117, and the jeweler Zales will close 100...Retailing is a business with big ups and downs during the year, and retailers rely heavily on borrowed money to finance their purchases of merchandise and even to meet payrolls during slow periods. Yet the nation’s banks, struggling with the growing mortgage crisis, have started to balk at extending new loans, effectively cutting up the retail industry’s collective credit cards.

“You have the makings of a wave of significant bankruptcies,” said Al Koch, who helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2003 as the company’s interim chief financial officer and works at a corporate turnaround firm called AlixPartners. “For years, no deal was too ugly to finance,” he said. “But now, nobody will throw money at these companies.”

Because retailers rely on a broad network of suppliers, their bankruptcies are rippling across the economy. The cash-short chains are leaving behind tens of millions of dollars in unpaid bills to shipping companies, furniture manufacturers, mall owners and advertising agencies. Many are unlikely to be paid in full, spreading the economic pain...When it filed for bankruptcy, Sharper Image owed $6.6 million to United Parcel Service. The furniture chain Levitz owed Sealy $1.4 million...And it is not just large companies that are absorbing the losses. When Domain, the furniture retailer, filed for bankruptcy, it owed On Time Express, a 90-employee transportation and logistics company in Tempe, Ariz., about $30,000. “We’ll be lucky to see pennies on the dollar, if we see anything,” said Ross Musil, the chief financial officer of On Time Express. “It’s a big loss.”

Most of the ailing companies have filed for reorganization, not liquidation, under the bankruptcy laws, including the furniture chain Wickes, the housewares seller Fortunoff, Harvey Electronics and the catalog retailer Lillian Vernon. But, in a contrast with previous recessions, many are unlikely to emerge from bankruptcy, lawyers and industry experts said.

Changes in the federal bankruptcy code in 2005 significantly tightened deadlines for ailing companies to restructure their businesses, offering them less leeway. And the changes may force companies to pay suppliers before paying wages or honoring obligations to customers, like redeeming gift cards, said Sally Henry, a partner in the bankruptcy law practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and the author of several books on bankruptcy. As a result, she said, “it’s no longer reorganization or even liquidation for these companies. In many cases, it’s evaporation.”

Several of the retailers that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the last eight months, like the furniture sellers Bombay, Levitz and Domain, have begun to wind down — closing stores, laying off workers and liquidating merchandise.

The bankruptcies are putting a spotlight on a little-discussed facet of retailing: heavy debt.
Stores may appear to mint money by paying $2 for a T-shirt and charging $10 for it. But because shopping is based on weather patterns and fashion trends, retailers must pay for merchandise that may sit, unsold, on shelves for long periods.So chains regularly borrow large sums to cover routine expenses, like wages and electricity bills. When sales are strong, as they typically are during the holiday season, the debts are repaid.

[Roland99]

68. yeah, the trickle effect from the dot-com bust is a loogy in the ocean compared to now.

[AnneD]

45. FDA plans to open China office in May

SINGAPORE — U.S. food and drug regulators will start working in China next month once Beijing gives its final approval, the top U.S. health official said Tuesday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said the Food and Drug Administration is planning to open an office in China as part of a change in strategy following product safety problems in Chinese imports that prompted several health scares and have been linked to some deaths.

"In the past, the United States and many other countries have employed a strategy of standing at the border trying to catch things that aren't safe," Leavitt said in an AP interview during a visit to Singapore.

However, he said it is impossible to inspect all of the massive amounts of goods that enter the country.

"So we're changing our strategy from one of trying to catch unsafe products to building safety into the products," Leavitt said. "Our purpose is not just inspection, it's building capacity and maintaining relationships between regulators."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/5701454.html

File this in the High Time file......:sarcasm:

[wordpix]

81. how about an FDA in the US? Oh, there is one already? Hard to tell...

[AnneD]

82. Yeah. .....

it's the guy over there in the blue shirt.

[AnneD]

46. Huge oil find reported off Rio's coast

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL — A deep-water exploration area could contain as much as 33 billion barrels of oil, an amount that would nearly triple Brazil's reserves and make the offshore bloc the world's third-largest known oil reserve, a top oil official said Monday.

National Petroleum Agency President Haroldo Lima cautioned that his information on the field off Rio de Janeiro is unofficial and needs to be confirmed — but his comments sent shares of the state-run Petrobras oil company soaring in New York and São Paulo.

Petrobras said in a statement that more studies are needed to determine the potential of what could be the planet's largest oil find in decades.

Lima told reporters that Petrobras "may have discovered a huge petroleum field that could contain reserves large as 33 billion barrels," amounting to the world's third-largest reserve, according to his spokesman, Luiz Fernando Manso.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5700772.html

Does anyone else see the irony that a country as almost energy independent as Brazil has such a find. All my energy contacts were abuzz over this yesterday. It has potential. The devil in me says that when we declare war on Brazil-I want to sign up, I have some friends in San Paulo.:rofl:

[tama]

75. Russia announcec Peak Oil

"“The period of intense oil production growth is over” claims Fedun. They’ve sucked up the oil fast and now the party’s over."
http://www.dailyreckoning.co.uk/commodities-trading/russia-hits-peak-oil-00087.html

[AnneD]

47. Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies

The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.


Have high energy costs or slipping home values changed your spending habits?
Post a Comment »Read All Comments (82) »Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.

But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to people briefed on the matter.

Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117, and the jeweler Zales will close 100.

More......

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/15retail.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

This is starting to read like the obits.....

[DemReadingDU]

49. Bonddad: Everything You Wanted to Know About Credit Default Swaps

4/14/08 Everything You Wanted to Know About Credit Default Swaps -- But Were Afraid to Ask

Credit default swaps have been getting a tone of ink lately for a variety of reasons. To hear some people talk about them you'd think they were the second coming of the anti-Christ. I was recently on a conference call with George Soros who doesn't like them at all. However, people once thought the same thing about options which are now a standard method of hedging risk. So, let's see what all the hubbub is about.

Let's assume that a money manager buys a GE bond, that matures in exactly 5 years and has a coupon of 5%. It pays interest semi-annually. This is a standard trade for a ton of money managers. Let's assume the manager wants to hedge the downside risk on the bond -- that it, he wants an insurance policy in case GE goes belly-up. Before CDS this didn't exist unless the bond itself was actually insured -- that is it was backed by AMBAC or MBIA or a similar bond insurer. However with a CDS the manager can now insure against the downside risk.

This is not a very complicated issue. The person who wants the insurance pays another party for insurance. The "insurer" guarantees to pay the "insured" X amount of dollars in the event the bond defaults. The cost of the insurance will depend on a host of factors such as the credit worthiness of the bond issuer, the interest rate (which is also a sign of credit-worthiness), the length until maturity and a few other factors.

read more...
http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2008/04/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about.html

[RawMaterials]

77. This is right with one exception

the guys who made CDS made sure their was no mention of the word Insurance written in the contract's so it would not have to be regulated like insurance is supposed to be.

[Tansy_Gold]

90. Not only not "everything," but hardly "anything."

Frankly, this article didn't tell me "everything" I wanted to know about CDSes. In fact, it didn't tell me the single thing I think we all need to know -- and which one of the commenters asked: where did this $45 trillion in valuation come from?

Let's look at this a different way:

I buy a piece of property for $1 million. I want to insure it against loss, so I take out an insurance policy for $1 million. I pay a premium to the insurance company. They pool all the premiums they receive from all their insureds; if one or a few of us have a loss, we get paid, and the insurance company has to recoup. They can raise our premiums or our deductible or whatever.

None of that increases the value of the property. It certainly doesn't increase it 20- or 50- or 1000-fold.

Of course, there may be investors who are investing in the insurance company. They are looking for a return on their investment. Their return will be bigger, in theory, in direct proportion to what the insurance company pays out in claims. The insurance company, therefore, has a vested interest in not paying out claims. It's kind of a conflict of interest, but if all parties are honest, it's also a "hedge" against dishonesty.

So what happens if someone comes along and says, "Hey, I'm going to insure this property for $20 million. The insurance company won't do that, because the property isn't worth that much. But I'm going to sell it to my friend for $20 million. He'll pay me $1 million down and finance/leverage the rest." Now there's a loss, the buyer collects $20 million, pays off the "loan" and. . . .

Is that what has happened in the CDS market? Is the potential for fat pay-offs driving the price of the principles up and up and up? Is the objective to push the price to a point just below breaking, then cash out, and scram? WHAT HAPPENS IF IT GOES BEYOND THE BREAKING POINT?

I have absolutely no clue if this is what's happening or not. SOMETHING is obviously pushing these "instruments" that are nothing but formulas in someone's computer into stratospheric valuations. SOMETHING is persuading "investors" that they're buying something of value. SOMETHING is promising to pay off, and pay off big time.

Because if there's no pay-off, there's no value.

The example given is a 5-year, 5% bond, with an insurance policy against the default. If there's no default, the insurance premium is, well, it's wasted. Just like all those premiums you paid on that house that never burned down. It's peace of mine, it's "just in case." But it's not really anything until something bad happens.

Why is so much money being invested in a hope that things crash?

Tell me I'm stupid or I don't know what I'm talking about or I'm looking at it the wrong way, but bonddad's explanation is about as transparent as, well, as the whole derivatives market.

I can understand options. I can see how they can be manipulated and altered and so on. I can figure out how the value of an option can change constantly, making a balance-sheet figure almost impossible to determine (even though a balance sheet is SUPPOSED to be just a frozen-in-time picture. . .).

By the way, an acquaintance of mine did the sell-it-to-a-friend-and-then-file-a-claim trick a few years ago. Bought a house before he got married, sold it to his fiancee before they got married for about three times what he paid for it. About four years after the wedding, they decided they needed to remodel the family room into a media room and add a play room for their children, so the fireplace in the family room conveniently had a chimney fire. The insurance settlement financed remodelling the family room and kitchen including all new top of the line appliances, adding a play room and a guest room and two full baths, putting on a new roof, and left enough over for a two week jaunt in Hawaii while all the construction was going on. The insurance settlement was more than what this acquaintance paid for the house. The house is still insured for about twice its market value.

[DemReadingDU]

50. Bonddad: People Have Every Right to Be Bitter

4/15/08 The whole dust-up about Obama's statement about people being bitter is, well, overdone. People have every right to be bitter right now. Consider the following facts.

First, the last expansion saw the weakest establishment job growth of any expansion since WWII.

As a result, real median household income has been stagnant for this expansion.

People are seeing massive inflation spikes in oil

and agricultural prices

The dollar is hitting fresh lows

They've see the Republican party piss away a budget surplus into a mammoth increase in debt.

Bottom line -- the US economy isn't doing that well and hasn't for some time. Thanks to Republican mismanagement the federal government's finances are a shambles. And I haven't even mentioned anything about health insurance, college tuition costs, or CEO pay.

more, and lots of graphs and charts...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/15/73817/1694

[jdog]

54. A question on LIBOR and resets.

My understanding is that it is the resetting of ARMs that was the catalyst for this meltdown we are experiencing. Many things I read say the pain of the resets will continue through 2008. My question is, if these ARMS are linked to LIBOR (mine were before I re-financed last year), and LIBOR has now dropped back down (chart: http://www.moneycafe.com/library/libor.htm) shouldn't those people who have not experienced an increase in rates remain at the rates they are at? What am I missing or misunderstanding?

[Hugin]

58. I'd guess it's become CW that the 'resets' are being 'blamed' for the melt down...

But, in truth they are only a small component of the economic crisis as a whole.

The ARM resets are, if you will, a Corporate Media smokescreen. A means of placing the blame for
the outrageous state of the economy anywhere, but, at the feet of the free-marketeers, Reaganomics, and the
ensuing destruction of the Middle Class.

The real causes being the ridiculous Leveraged Buyouts, Corporate Mergers and Outsourcing and dare I say it...
The belief in such a thing as an Investor Class supported solely by the Derivatives Market producing HUGH RETURNS11!!!$!!

See: Ponzi Scheme

[Tansy_Gold]

85. ain't it the truth

I just sent an email to my son regarding this, then sent him another linking to this thread and your post, Prag.

gmta


Tansy Gold, not a great mind but plays one on DU

[ozymandius]

89. Here's the capper on the day.

Dow 12,362.47 Up 60.41 (0.49%)
Nasdaq 2,286.04 Up 10.22 (0.45%)
S&P 500 1,334.43 Up 6.11 (0.46%)
10-Yr Bond 3.5700% Up 0.0670
NYSE Volume 3,581,228,250
Nasdaq Volume 1,902,317,120

4:25 pm : Tuesday's trading was a fairly subdued affair as investor interest was held in check after some discomforting inflation data and ahead of a battery of influential earnings reports.

Before the open the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that producer prices rose 1.1% in March, which was well ahead of the 0.6% consensus estimate. That increase was driven primarily by higher energy and food costs. Excluding those items, producer prices were up just 0.2% in March.

The latter figure left core producer prices up 2.7% year-over-year and was generally met with some relief by traders that it wasn't any worse. Accordingly, the futures market pushed higher after its release and presaged a positive start for stocks.

The recognition that the New York Empire State Index, which is a regional manufacturing report that was released at the same time as the PPI data, was better than expected contributed to the positive bias in the early-going.

Separately, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 65.65, -0.09) reported first quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations and also provided some cover for the bulls. Relatively good earnings news from several financial companies, including U.S. Bancorp (USB 32.21, +0.54), M&T Bank (MTB 85.86, +5.11) and Charles Schwab (SCHW 19.95, +1.64), played a part in pushing the major indices higher at the start of trading.

The airline group wasn't any help, though, as oil prices hitting an all-time high of $114.08 per barrel trumped the news that Delta (DAL 9.16, -1.32) and Northwest (NWA 10.28, -0.94) had agreed to a merger.

On another level, investors weren't all that impressed by the Delta-Northwest union since it didn't seem to provide as much in the way of potential cost savings that many had hoped. The companies said the combined entity is expected to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue and cost synergies.

The move in oil prices, which flowed from supply concerns, detracted from early buying efforts and led to a broad-based pullback that had each of the major indices in negative territory at mid-day.

Selling efforts lacked conviction, however, and stocks again turned higher in early afternoon action. A catalyst for the rebound effort was a remark from Lehman Bros.' (LEH 39.67, +0.29) CEO Richard Fuld that the worst of the credit market crisis is behind us. That view contributed to relative strength in the financial sector, which snapped a five session losing streak with a 1.1% gain.

The energy sector, up 1.0%, was the other key leadership group.

Looking ahead, Wednesday's action will be governed by the Consumer Price Index, as well as earnings reports from the likes of Intel (INTC 20.91, +0.22), JPMorganChase (JPM 42.12, +0.62), Coca-Cola (KO 60.94, -0.06), Wells Fargo (WFC 27.81, +0.61) and Washington Mutual (WM).DJ30 +60.41 NASDAQ +10.22 NQ100 +0.2% R2K +0.9% SP400 +0.5% SP500 +6.11 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1325/1569/1.86 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1266/1861/1.22 bln