STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday March 17

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday March 17, 2010

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Name(s): David Safavian, James Fondren

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON March 16, 2010

Dow... 10,685.98 +43.83 (+0.41%)
Nasdaq... 2,378.01 +15.80 (+0.67%)
S&P 500... 1,159.46 +8.95 (+0.78%)
Gold future... 1,122 +16.90 (+1.53%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.65 -0.05 (-1.30%)
30-Year Bond 4.59 -0.04 (-0.84%)

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

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie, Silver and US$

---

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Today's Reports

08:30 Core PPI Feb
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.3%

08:30 PPI Feb
Briefing.com -0.3%
Consensus -0.2%
Prior 1.4%

10:30 Crude Inventories 03/13
Briefing.com NA
Consensus NA
Prior 1.43M

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

[ozymandius]

2. Oil above $82 as traders eye US supplies, OPEC

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $82 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude inventories grew less than expected last week. ...

Crude inventories rose 400,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Analysts had expected an increase of 1.9 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Inventories of gasoline and distillates fell, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is scheduled to announce its supply report later Wednesday. ...

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil rose 0.93 cent to $2.124 a gallon, and gasoline gained 1.5 cents to $2.29 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 1.9 cents to $4.366 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[ozymandius]

3. Saudi: no change in OPEC output

VIENNA – The Saudi oil minister says OPEC will keep output levels unchanged later today because the market is enjoying "good demand, reliable supply, beautiful prices."

Ali Naimi spoke ahead of a formal decision by oil ministers of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Wednesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_opec_meeting_11

[ozymandius]

7. Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks

Some of the nation's biggest oil companies are looking at permanently reducing how much gasoline and diesel fuel they make, a move that analysts say would almost certainly trigger higher prices for drivers.

Energy companies are suffering huge losses from refining because of slumping gasoline use -- a product of the economic downturn and changing consumer habits and preferences. Energy experts say refining cutbacks have begun and will accelerate as corporations strive for profits. ....

Major refiners have been circumspect about their plans, saying that they are considering options that could include closing refineries, selling parts of their operations, laying off workers and slashing spending. ....

Energy industry executives say they are facing up to what was previously inconceivable: that the nation's appetite for petroleum products may never return to levels seen earlier in the decade, even if a strong economic recovery takes hold.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-refineries11-2010mar11,0,5317635.story

[mrdmk]

14. Oh yeah, the oil companies pulled the same crap back in 1978

In 1978 he oil companies shorted gasoline supplies in parts of California, namely high population areas. Southern California was hit hard because there was a $0.80 per gallon ceiling that customers could be charged. There were certain signs of a collusion by the Seven Sisters. The ceiling was enacted after 1973 oil embargo because of price gouging by minor and major station owners, thus the reason for the law!

[mbperrin]

16. There were seven gasoline refineries in Ector County, Texas, in 1970,

including one which made gasoline from natural gas, then nearly a waste byproduct. By 1984, there were none. Hmmm. Gasoline went from 13 cents a gallon to $1.38 in the same time period, but that doesn't mean, collusion, does it? ;)



I thought it was those danged environmentalists that were keeping us from building more refineries!!!!!??? Right? Huh?

[mrdmk]

27. The major oil companies buy the refineries then shut them down

Then we wind-up with a market ran by very few companies that collude with each other. That is what happened to your local refineries!

[FarCenter]

20. If crude is $84 / barrel at the input to the refinery, that is $2 / gallon for crude

So $3 / gallon for gasoline means that $1 / gallon has to cover refining costs, transportation, gas station operations, federa and state taxes, etc.

Plus, you don't get a gallon of gas from a gallon of crude. You get a mix of everything from methane to asphalt.

Refining margins are pretty thin.

[mrdmk]

26. That is if you are foolish enough to buy a barrel of oil for $82.83!

At this time speculators are paying $82.83, not the oil companies. These speculators like Goldman Sachs do not take possession of the oil, they just run the price of oil up to their benefit.

Right about now oil companies have about a 3 month supply on hand this does not include the national supply which has a 6 month supply. To further the point, many oil companies have contracts with foreign counties to extract the oil from the ground. Those deals can vary example, an oil company will pay half of the current cost of oil minus the cost of extracting the oil from the ground, this is just an example of an extraction contract.

Another way oil companies do not pay full price is they have a long-term contract for purchasing oil. This contract may look this way, for the next year we will 2,000,000 barrels of oil a month for $70 a barrel, this is just an example. This also needs to be mentioned, that oil companies may buy a barrel of oil at $70 and sell it at $82.

Not to mention, oil companies are extracting oil from the ground in California for no cost except the cost of extraction.

Believe it or not, oil companies do know the future trend of oil prices and play that market to the hilt!!!

[ozymandius]

4. Fed maintains low rates, upgrades view on US economy

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Federal Reserve has maintained record low interest rates but offered a modest upgrade to its view of the US economy still dogged by high unemployment and tight credit.

After a one-day meeting Tuesday, the central bank's policy body voted 9-1 to keep the federal funds rate -- at which banks charge each other for loans -- at a zero to 0.25 percent range, a Fed statement said. ...

The central bank offered a slight upgrade to its view of the economy in the statement issued after the six-hour meeting chaired by Fed boss Ben Bernanke. ....

The statement also noted that consumer spending was constrained by "high unemployment," rather than the previous "weak labor market," which some analysts said shifts the focus away from job growth to the unemployment level, hovering at nearly 10 percent.

After not mentioning housing, the epicenter of the financial crisis that plunged the US economy into recession, in the last statement, the Fed lamented Tuesday that housing activity has been "flat at a depressed level."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100317/ts_alt_afp/useconomybankrate

[ozymandius]

5. Fed Unconvinced Recovery Strong Enough to Warrant Higher Rates

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve officials signaled the U.S. recovery isn’t strong enough to stoke inflation, reduce unemployment quickly or justify an end to record-low interest rates.

Central bankers yesterday retained a pledge to keep their benchmark rate “exceptionally low” for an “extended period,” one year after first using the phrase. While the economy is improving, employers are still reluctant to hire, homebuilding is “depressed” and inflation will be “subdued for some time,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after meeting in Washington.

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are waiting for sustained increases in employment before starting to exit a record expansion of credit, said Charles Lieberman, a former Fed official. Stocks and Treasuries extended gains as traders pared bets the central bank will raise rates over the next 12 months. ...

The economy has lost 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Payroll declines have slowed to an average 27,000 a month from November through February, compared with an average 252,000 from July through October.

The job market is “stabilizing,” the Fed said yesterday, an upgrade from its January statement that the “deterioration in the labor market is abating.” Unemployment in February was 9.7 percent, down from a 26-year high of 10.1 percent in October. ...

The FOMC avoided mention of the tools officials are developing to tighten credit and ensure $1.2 trillion in excess bank reserves don’t stoke inflation. Bernanke is scheduled to testify on the subject March 25 at the House Financial Services Committee, a hearing postponed from Feb. 10 because of a snowstorm.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-17/fed-unconvinced-recovery-strong-enough-to-warrant-higher-rates.html

[ozymandius]

6. $4 bln yanked from U.S. stock funds in February

....
After investors pulled almost $26 billion from U.S. stock funds last year, analysts thought the trend might have turned around in January, when investors added a net $2.7 billion. But the one-month inflow ended in February, fund analysts at Morningstar wrote in their latest monthly report.

Bond giant PIMCO was the top recipient of new money in February, receiving $7.2 billion in net inflow. Privately held Vanguard Group was second, receiving $6.9 billion in net inflow, followed by the fund unit of bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), which got $2.7 billion.

Investors continued to flee American Funds, withdrawing $2.4 billion in February after yanking almost $1 billion the prior month and $23 billion in 2009. Legg Mason (LM.N) also remained out of favor, seeing $478 million slip out the door after $461 million departed in January and $5.1 billion in 2009.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1520896520100315?type=marketsNews

[ozymandius]

8. Lehman: Regulators Chose to Deny, Extend and Pretend

From Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism:

The Lehman Examiner’s report gives an unintentionally damning portrayal, both of the the structure of financial regulation in the US and how regulators failed to use the powers they had effectively.

Section III.A.6: Government shows that even with its imperfect grasp of the situation, the authorities recognized Lehman had a large negative net worth. Yet rather than move decisively towards an unwind, they proceeded inertially. They urged Lehman CEO Dick Fuld to find a rescuer (who would invest in that garbage barge, particularly when Andrew Ross Sorkin’s account makes clear that Fuld’s moves were so obviously desperate and clumsy as to be certain to fail) and also promoted the notion of an LTCM-style “share the pain” resolution. Yet with the rest of the industry weak, and the magnitude of hole in Lehman’s balance sheet a mystery, these courses of action had low odds of success from the outset (indeed, the “Lehman weekend” in which the authorities almost bulldozed through a deal, seemed designed to avoid sober analysis of how bad things were at the failing investment bank).

Two unanswered questions stand out. The first is that even with the extensive Jenner & Block report, we still do not have even a rough sense of how big the shortfall in Lehman’s equity was at the time of its collapse. We know it was hiding $50 billion of liabilities at the end of its fiscal second quarter through its Repo 105 program, but that only tells us the size of one of the cover-up mechanisms. The Lehman report indicates that William Dudley at the New York Fed thought Lehman might require a $60 billion bailout entity, with Lehman providing $5 billion of equity, which says the authorities pegged the unreported shortfall at $55 billion. .....

The second unanswered question is why were the authorities so poorly prepared for a Lehman collapse. Some of the comments in the report make clear that at least some people in the officialdom knew that Lehman was beyond salvation:

“We were tied to the mast here; the opportunities for re‐engineering were quite limited, and to imply otherwise is wrong.” (p 1492)

And the $60 billion estimate for the size of a bailout vehicle similarly said Lehman was terminal unless there was a miraculous recovery in the residential real estate market. Even though that looked very unlikely, the failure to take more concerted action looks as if the authorities were hoping for a deus ex machina to intervene.

Ms. Smith compiles an excellent narrative here. Beyond stupidly waiting for God to intervene with Lehman's problems - the evidence continues to pile up that the Fed, which wants more power to oversee other Lehmans, and the SEC were derelict in most of their duties and incompetent among the duties they chose to exercise.

[ozymandius]

10. Senator Kaufman's Speech

This summary comes from The Baseline Scenario:

Last week, Senator Ted Kaufman (D., DE) gave a devastating speech in the Senate on “too big to fail” and all it entails. A long public silence from our political class was broken – and to great effect. Today’s Dodd reform proposals stand in pale comparison to the principles outlined by Senator Kaufman. And yes, DE stands for Delaware – corporate America has finally decided that its largest financial offspring are way out of line and must be reined in.

Today, the Senator has gone one better, putting many private criticisms of the financial sector – the kind you hear whispered with conviction on the Upper East Side and in Midtown – firmly and articulately on the public record in a Senate floor speech to be delivered (this link is to the press release; the speech is in a pdf attached to that – update: direct link to speech, which will be given tomorrow). He pulls no punches:

“fraud and potential criminal conduct were at the heart of the financial crisis”

He goes after Lehman – with its infamous Repo 105 – as well as the other entities potentially implicated in those transactions, including Ernst and Young (Lehman’s auditors). This is the low hanging fruit – but have you heard even a squeak from the White House or anyone else in the country’s putative leadership on this issue?

And then he goes for the twin jugulars of Wall Street as it still stands: The idea that we saved something, at great expense in 2008-09, that was actually worth saving; and Goldman Sachs.

The famous question from Howard Baker during Watergate is often repeated these days. Yet it applies to everyone who was in position to know what happened with Lehman. The question could be addressed to Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, Cox, Fuld, among others. The question: "What did he know and when did he know it?"

What is at stake? Here is The Baseline Scenario's position:

The tide is turning, but not primarily through the actions of Senator Dodd and his Banking colleagues. Rather the biggest and most unruly players in our financial system have behaved in such an egregious manner that they will be brought down by the law – either that, or they will further bring down the law.

[ozymandius]

11. But what exactly did we save? (Kaufman's speech, part 2)

From Dailykos diarist goinsouth:

There are rare moments in politics when someone breaks ranks with The Powers That Be and stands up for the people and for democracy. Those moments are especially uncommon in the United States Senate, a clubby institution where rabble-rousers are never welcome.

In my lifetime, I can think of a few instances where one or two Senators wisely stood up for principle and against the accepted wisdom of the moment:

Stuart Symington against Joe McCarthy's persecution of Annie Lee Moss;

Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution;

Russ Feingold against the Patriot Act.

I'd now add:

Ted Kaufman against the Wall Street coverup.

(excerpted parts of Kaufman's speech):

The allure of deregulation, instead, led to the biggest financial crisis since 1929. And now we’re learning, not surprisingly, that fraud and lawlessness were key ingredients in the collapse as well. Since the fall of 2008, Congress, the Federal Reserve and the American taxpayer have had to step into the breach – at a direct cost of more than $2.5 trillion – because, as so many experts have said: "We had to save the system."

But what exactly did we save?

[Demeter]

15. Seeing As It Was te W Administration, There's No Surprise Here

They were more incompetent than Lehman's. They have set the Gold Standard for Incompetence and Crookedness.

But at least they were quite open about it, unlike Obama, the most complicit cronyism Administration since who knows when...

[Festivito]

9. Debt: 03/15/2010 12,636,662,956,140.07 (UP 60,984,093,238.46) (Mon)

(Up big. Debt seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat. Good day all.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,152,640,856,906.57 + 4,484,022,099,233.50
UP 60,487,338,970.60 + UP 496,754,267.86

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.24 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.71, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 308,988,318 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $40,896.9.
A family of three owes $122,690.69. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 13,573,274,487.57.
The average for the last 30 days would be 9,501,292,141.30.
The average for the last 31 days would be 9,194,798,846.42.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 112 reports in 166 days of FY2010 averaging 6.49B$ per report, 4.38B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,042 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.1 and 22.2T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/15/2010 12,636,662,956,140.07 BHO (UP 2,009,785,907,226.99 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,726,833,952,628.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,598,158,992,224.88 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
02/23/2010 +000,404,218,476.39 ------------********
02/24/2010 -000,081,552,792.52 ----
02/25/2010 +034,823,775,896.06 ------------**********
02/26/2010 +007,974,774,874.74 ------------*********
03/01/2010 +088,256,071,194.67 ------------********** Mon
03/02/2010 +000,051,419,206.42 ------------*******
03/03/2010 +001,678,102,940.09 ------------*********
03/04/2010 +034,416,128,156.63 ------------**********
03/05/2010 -000,074,542,156.87 ----
03/08/2010 +000,260,238,586.47 ------------******** Mon
03/09/2010 +000,542,827,835.74 ------------********
03/10/2010 +000,295,703,179.30 ------------********
03/11/2010 +029,692,666,288.30 ------------**********
03/12/2010 +000,363,901,611.09 ------------********
03/15/2010 +060,487,338,970.60 ------------********** Mon

259,091,072,267.11 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4308389&mesg_id=4308431

[Festivito]

36. Debt: 03/16/2010 12,643,701,402,529.55 (UP 7,038,446,389.48) (Tue)

(Up a leetle itty bitty bit. Debt seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat. Good day all.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,152,882,370,691.23 + 4,490,819,031,838.32
UP 241,513,784.66 + UP 6,796,932,604.82

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.24 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.71, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 308,996,958 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $40,918.53.
A family of three owes $122,755.59. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 12,349,685,180.63.
The average for the last 30 days would be 8,644,779,626.44.
The average for the last 28 days would be 9,262,263,885.47.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 113 reports in 167 days of FY2010 averaging 6.49B$ per report, 4.39B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,041 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.1 and 22.3T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/16/2010 12,643,701,402,529.55 BHO (UP 2,016,824,353,616.47 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,733,872,399,017.80 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,603,972,608,631.72 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
02/24/2010 -000,081,552,792.52 ----
02/25/2010 +034,823,775,896.06 ------------**********
02/26/2010 +007,974,774,874.74 ------------*********
03/01/2010 +088,256,071,194.67 ------------********** Mon
03/02/2010 +000,051,419,206.42 ------------*******
03/03/2010 +001,678,102,940.09 ------------*********
03/04/2010 +034,416,128,156.63 ------------**********
03/05/2010 -000,074,542,156.87 ----
03/08/2010 +000,260,238,586.47 ------------******** Mon
03/09/2010 +000,542,827,835.74 ------------********
03/10/2010 +000,295,703,179.30 ------------********
03/11/2010 +029,692,666,288.30 ------------**********
03/12/2010 +000,363,901,611.09 ------------********
03/15/2010 +060,487,338,970.60 ------------********** Mon
03/16/2010 +000,241,513,784.66 ------------********

258,928,367,575.38 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4309585&mesg_id=4309612

[ozymandius]

12. G'bye for the day.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
I hope your day is an enjoyable one.

:hi:

[tclambert]

13. It's a beautiful St. Patrick's day here in southern Michigan. 65 degreees and sunny.

The snow is gone, the skies are clear, and the ice-fishing shanties have been pulled off the lake. Actually ice fishing ended last Wednesday on the local big lake (Walled Lake I mean, about 1 square mile in area). They had brought the shanties back to shore the weekend before but I did see a few fishermen out there sitting on boxes staring at holes in the ice. They hardly needed coats. It was 55 degrees. Weird seeing ice at that temperature. It takes a little while for the heat to soak into a lake that big. There is still quite a lot of ice on the lake, but most places 20 feet of water now separates the ice from the shore.

[Demeter]

17. Geez, We Are Almost Neighbors

My daffs grew 6 inches overnight in the sunny part of the garden. And another clump of snowdrops in a shady spot came up, 6 weeks after mine first appeared.

The swans arrived 3 weeks ago, according to maintenance, but they were hiding on the back lake. Now they are ready to nest. Far too early, IMO.

It was 29F when I finally woke up....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Board meeting last night)

The bank that lent the coop money to get out of the blanket mortgage has told us to either foreclose on the coop members that don't convert to condo because they can't afford to, or if the bank is forced to do the foreclosures, they will take all the sales proceeds and not pay any of the outstanding condo dues. They would sell as is for the first offer that clears their books, and the hell with property values, neighborhood, etc. It would be a fire sale, undoing all the good that came of conversion.

So we are forced to do the dirty work, or take enormous losses--enormous for us, anyway. 28 families to evict...some will convert perhaps, before the dissolution date, but most of the remaining are stuck. They write the board pitiful letters.

The co-op was sold a bill of goods about how wonderful conversion to condo would be by previous board members, but had the conversion happened before the credit freeze, they might have been all converted--but the bank that was offering to finance everyone would have been engaging in liar loansharking, and they would have lost their homes anyway.

Not to mention getting entangled in MERS and never having a clear title...

The condo association itself is in much better shape, but at the cost of dispossessing 10% of the co-op shareholders. Our owners are able to sell, our repairs are moving right along, financially we aren't out of the woods, but barring any catastrophe, we will be.

Considering the long dark Economic Winter we face, conversion was a necessary move. but the human cost is tragic. Now we just have to keep on making progress, firing the useless management company and going self-managed, reducing the out-of-housing contracting for maintenance services, and replacing our roads and other less expensive repairs.

Then we can dream of more ambitious projects: going solar/green as a community, updating our clubhouse and other amenities, becoming a political force in the city...

MUAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

[Tansy_Gold]

18. Not sure if this is feasible, but. . .

could the condo association buy them out and lease/rent their places back to them?

Just an idle suggestion, from someone who should not be idle at all because she has paid work to do and isn't getting it done!!!!


TG

[Demeter]

19. Well, I Have Raised that Solution

but I am informed that the PTB in the conversion process specifically and enforceably prohibited such an event, and that lawsuits would be filed should we attempt to do so.

"The Condo Cannot Rescue the Co-op" is the little slogan always trotted out. These are the same bubbleheads that said no one would lose their home, and now that people are, they say "tough luck."

I am dealing with concrete-heads, as my French-Canadian friend would say. Fortunately, most of these have sold out and moved away, or dropped out of active "participation" in governance.

In any event, I will be spending years, literally cleaning up after these opportunistic greedheads. At least now there are a few other people on the board willing to join in the effort, and willing to admit that errors were made and must be fixed NOW.

Good to hear from you Tansy! How's everything?

[Tansy_Gold]

21. How's everything? Answer: WEEDY!

After more rain this spring than most of us can remember, our desert is just popping with green. That means my yard, all 1.25 acres of it, is popping iwth weeds and volunteere grass, and I don't mean the kind you can smoke.

I had a good visit with my mom last week in spite of the rain.

Now I'm back to work on the software-conversion-that-won't-die-and-should for work, but they've got the major bugs worked out and I'm able to sneak around the others, so I'm back to earning a living again.

And I spent way too much time the other day arguing with one of those concrete-heads over the new NCLB proposal, the corporate take-over (in the guise of "charter schools") of the Detroit schools (you were there!), and I'm way behind on all my other projects, including my presidential campaign.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel or over the horizon or something like that. The sun is out, the aloes are blooming, the cactus have buds, the agaves have pups, and Dennis Kucinich ought to have a John Boehner quality tan after all his time in the spotlight the past few days. :evilgrin:


TG

[tclambert]

33. There's a reason why Bonie and Clyde and John Dillinger were considered heroes by some.

They ROBBED BANKS!

[Demeter]

22. Looking for a Job?

http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/census2000.mp3

[icee]

23. Here is why the market is moving up. Listen carefully..

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/444088/Stocks-Rally-Again-But-%22Zombie-Market%22-Faces-%22Major-Risks%2C%22-Bleier-Says

[Demeter]

24. That Was True For Too Long

Even before Lehman's, computer trading was churning the market, and the PPT has been at it for decades, now.

[icee]

25. Did you read the part about the mortgage packages? The banks

sell their toxic mortgage packages to the FED, who issues them Treasuries. The banks, through investing arms exchanges those Treasuries for stocks, bonds, etc. That is how the banks are making money. They aren't lending, and the small amounts made available for loans, no one is taking. The Fed shuts down the toxic window end of March.

[DemReadingDU]

28. The Fed shuts down the toxic window end of March

That is what they said, but how can the Fed shut down the toxic window? The banks need it to stay open to continue the con game. I bet the window is kept open, if only a small crack.

[icee]

29. I misspoke. It begins being fazed out end of March. But with houses

continuing to go down and more and more foreclosures, the Fed may have to extend the program. But how can they? Print more money?

[DemReadingDU]

30. Fed may have to extend the program

That's what I was thinking, there is no way the Fed will ever be able to completely stop.

Until, well, until the global Ponzi implodes. Then everything everywhere will stop.

[icee]

31. So, the market continues up with the banks buying stocks for

inflation hedges and because they don't want to lend money on assets decreasing in price. Finally, all the money causes prices to go up on everything, which cannot be bought, except necessities. Then it all implodes.

[Demeter]

37. yeah, that's what they say they are going to do.

Credibility however, is shot.

[tclambert]

32. So zombies and robots are buying all the stocks.

Man, it's getting tough on us humans. It's like the computers won the war and took over the world and we didn't notice.

[icee]

34. That's a good way to put it. Only the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you

can see as well as I what is happening before our very eyes. Business all around me going kaput. Grocery stores replacing checkout clerks with machines. Permanent unemployment. Just a matter of time before the soylent green.

[Tansy_Gold]

35. 1970

[Demeter]

38. Look at those old time power supplies in that picture!

We used those in circuit lab!

[ozymandius]

39. hotlinking of market charts is not allowed anymore

The trading hours charts have been disabled by their host. I have spent more than an hour looking for a replacement with no luck. If you find something that is available through a hotlink (meaning that the graphic must be visible on the DU page), please let me know. I will keep the dead charts on the page for a few days as a placeholder - but then retire them permanently if a suitable replacement cannot be found.

Thank you.

[Demeter]

40. Thanks for the explanation. I thought it was something at my end