STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday August 27

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday August 27, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON August 26, 2010

Dow 9,985.81 -74.25 (-0.74%)
Nasdaq 2,118.69 -22.85 (-1.07%)
S&P 500 1,047.22 -8.11 (-0.77%)
Gold future... 1,238 +0.70 (+0.06%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.48 +0.00 (+0.16%)
30-Year Bond 3.52 +0.00 (+0.06%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren

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

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

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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 GDP - Second Estimate Q2
Briefing.com 1.3%
Consensus 1.4%
Prior 2.4%

08:30 GDP Deflator - Second Estimate Q2
Briefing.com 1.8%
Consensus 1.8%
Prior 1.8%

09:55 U Michigan Consumer Sentiment - Final August
Briefing.com 69.6
Consensus 70.0
Prior 69.6

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

[Roland99]

13. GDP revised down to 1.6% (better than expected, futures up sharply)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-second-quarter-growth-slows-to-16-2010-08-27?dist=beforebell

U.S. economic growth slowed to 1.6% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, two-thirds the rate at which the same department had initially projected for the April-to-June period as imports surged.

...

Gross domestic product, or the inflation-adjusted, seasonally adjusted value of all goods and services produced in the U.S, slowed from the 3.7% annualized pace in the first quarter, the government agency said.

Final sales to domestic purchasers -- which include consumers, businesses and the government -- rose 4.3%.

The sharply downward GDP revision from the 2.4% growth initially pegged was largely expected after the release of June inventories and imports reports, which were not available for the first estimate released on July 30. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected an even worse figure showing 1.3% growth in the second quarter -- Wall Street appears to have been caught off-guard by an upward revision to electricity and natural gas usage figures, which led to an increase in real personal consumption to 2% from the 1.6% initially projected.

[Ghost Dog]

22. ‘Not as Bad’

“The GDP numbers were bad, but not as bad as expected,” said Frank Ingarra, a Stamford, Connecticut-based money manager at Hennessy Advisors Inc., which oversees about $850 million. “The whisper numbers were 1.3, 1.4 percent. That’s why the market sold off so much during the week because everyone was expecting these numbers to be awful.”

The S&P 500 briefly erased gains as a gauge of consumer confidence trailed estimates, Bernanke started speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Intel Corp. cut its sales forecast at the same time, 10 a.m. in New York. The Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan final index of U.S. consumer sentiment for August rose to 68.9, lower than the median economist forecast of 69.6, from an eight-month low of 67.8 in July.

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/u-s-stock-futures-rise-as-gdp-report-tempers-concern-over-recession-redux.html

"Whispers". Hmmm.

[ozymandius]

2. Democratic Underground is painfully slow to load.

Just DU - no other site. Pages take 90 to 120 seconds each. Worse than a dialup connection. My patience is quickly eroding. So if it seems that I just disappear with a scant few posts, you know why.

[ozymandius]

3. Oil falls to near $73 as stock markets waver

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices eased in Asia on Friday after two straight days of gains, taking a cue from regional stock markets which were mixed amid expectations of slower U.S. economic growth.

Crude has tumbled to near $70 from a high of $82.55 a barrel earlier this month, drawing buyers in the past two days on the expectation that prices will rebound again.

But the rally was short-lived amid gloom about the global economy. Asian stock markets were mostly weaker Friday in line with Wall Street's overnight declines. The U.S. is expected revise down economic growth for the April-June quarter when it releases an updated GDP report later Friday.

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil fell 0.82 cent to $2.00 a gallon and gasoline lost 1.08 cents to $1.898 a gallon. Natural gas rose 0.4 cent to $3.821 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[Festivito]

4. Debt: 08/25/2010 13,361,354,442,247.95 (DOWN 9,947,258,047.33) (Wed)

(Up a little. Good day.)
Folders gone. More reports. To try TEM again. Long day.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,834,183,612,860.18 + 4,527,170,829,387.77
UP 455,932,262.67 + DOWN 10,403,190,310.00

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 310-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,226.30 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.68, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,952,239 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $43,107.78.
A family of three owes $129,323.35. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 24 reports in the last 30 to 33 days.
The average for the last 24 reports is 4,701,226,884.92.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,760,981,507.93.
The average for the last 33 days would be 3,419,074,098.12.
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$/day.
There were 226 reports in 329 days of FY2010 averaging 6.42B$ per report, 4.41B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 879 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.6 and 17.9T$.
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)
08/25/2010 13,361,354,442,247.95 BHO (UP 2,734,477,393,334.87 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 +1,451,525,438,736.20 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,610,354,970,026.48 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
08/05/2010 +005,243,790,680.65 ------------*********
08/06/2010 +000,053,282,619.67 ------------*******
08/09/2010 -000,264,966,096.92 --- Mon
08/10/2010 +001,721,061,315.43 ------------*********
08/11/2010 +000,095,029,920.46 ------------*******
08/12/2010 +008,430,031,924.23 ------------*********
08/13/2010 -000,288,829,216.29 ---
08/16/2010 +038,527,213,023.81 ------------********** Mon
08/17/2010 +000,086,946,367.61 ------------*******
08/18/2010 +000,214,319,067.84 ------------********
08/19/2010 +008,231,027,173.23 ------------*********
08/20/2010 -000,497,978,282.78 ---
08/23/2010 -000,107,792,107.60 --- Mon
08/24/2010 +000,493,029,883.18 ------------********
08/25/2010 +000,455,932,262.67 ------------********

62,392,098,535.19 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=4518122&mesg_id=4518153

[Festivito]

49. Debt: 08/26/2010 13,376,189,739,693.61 (UP 14,835,297,445.66) (Thu)

(Up a lot. Good day.)
Too much going on for TEMs.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,849,513,131,006.47 + 4,526,676,608,687.14
UP 15,329,518,146.29 + DOWN 494,220,700.63

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 310-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,226.23 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.68, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,958,885 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $43,154.72.
A family of three owes $129,464.17. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 24 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 24 reports is 5,173,318,652.48.
The average for the last 30 days would be 4,138,654,921.99.
The average for the last 31 days would be 4,005,149,924.50.
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$/day.
There were 227 reports in 330 days of FY2010 averaging 6.46B$ per report, 4.44B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 878 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.6 and 17.9T$.
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)
08/26/2010 13,376,189,739,693.61 BHO (UP 2,749,312,690,780.53 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 +1,466,360,736,181.90 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,621,883,844,564.83 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
08/06/2010 +000,053,282,619.67 ------------*******
08/09/2010 -000,264,966,096.92 --- Mon
08/10/2010 +001,721,061,315.43 ------------*********
08/11/2010 +000,095,029,920.46 ------------*******
08/12/2010 +008,430,031,924.23 ------------*********
08/13/2010 -000,288,829,216.29 ---
08/16/2010 +038,527,213,023.81 ------------********** Mon
08/17/2010 +000,086,946,367.61 ------------*******
08/18/2010 +000,214,319,067.84 ------------********
08/19/2010 +008,231,027,173.23 ------------*********
08/20/2010 -000,497,978,282.78 ---
08/23/2010 -000,107,792,107.60 --- Mon
08/24/2010 +000,493,029,883.18 ------------********
08/25/2010 +000,455,932,262.67 ------------********
08/26/2010 +015,329,518,146.29 ------------**********

72,477,826,000.83 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=4519132&mesg_id=4519140

[Po_d Mainiac]

5. Banks’ Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis

Over the last two years of the housing bubble, Wall Street bankers perpetrated one of the greatest episodes of self-dealing in financial history.

Faced with increasing difficulty in selling the mortgage-backed securities that had been among their most lucrative products, the banks hit on a solution that preserved their quarterly earnings and huge bonuses:

They created fake demand.

<snip>

s the housing boom began to slow in mid-2006, investors became skittish about the riskier parts of those investments. So the banks created -- and ultimately provided most of the money for -- new CDOs. Those new CDOs bought the hard-to-sell pieces of the original CDOs. The result was a daisy chain <1> that solved one problem but created another: Each new CDO had its own risky pieces. Banks created yet other CDOs to buy those.

<more at link>

http://www.propublica.org/article/banks-self-dealing-super-charged-financial-crisis

[Po_d Mainiac]

6. Welcome to the Recovery.. By TIMOTHY F. GEITHNER (Idiot)

Published: August 2, 2010

THE devastation wrought by the great recession is still all too real for millions of Americans who lost their jobs, businesses and homes. The scars of the crisis are fresh, and every new economic report brings another wave of anxiety. That uncertainty is understandable, but a review of recent data on the American economy shows that we are on a path back to growth.

While the economy has a long way to go before reaching its full potential, last week’s data on economic growth show that large parts of the private sector continue to strengthen. Business investment and consumption — the two keys to private demand — are getting stronger, better than last year and better than last quarter. Uncertainty is still inhibiting investment, but business capital spending increased at a solid annual rate of about 17 percent.

This clown really needs to shovel/eat/sleep/smoke his own stinking pile of manure on a set of train tracks
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/opinion/03geithner.html?_r=2

[AnneD]

14. It's Village Idiot to you...

Please, give proper credit where it is due.

I don't care for Ben Stein's economic opinion and I am glad that he can moonlight in acting..but I was listening to him eviscerate Tim Geithner on the Connie Mack show. Now THAT was funny. All but called him an arrogant prick.

Don't you just love using the spell check. When it flags Geithner-you get to hit ignore. We have to find our joy where we can.

[Po_d Mainiac]

19. I would never insult a villiage idiot

by comparing him/her to turbo timmy.

[AnneD]

20. I consider the SWT a virtual villiage....

and like it or not, he's our idiot. Larry Summers is the shyster. The CC companies are the Mafia loan sharks (no offense to the Mafia), Goldman Sachs are the grave robbers, etc.

[Hawkowl]

21. It takes a village to make an idiot Treasury Sec!

Gaahh. Until Geithner and Summers are fired the economy is fucked beyond all recovery.

[Demeter]

23. The Second String Is Even Worse

I am thinking we need a new coach. Or a new owner. After all, they already moved the franchise....(snicker)

[wordpix]

28. I am thinking same and replace them with Eliz. Warren & Robt. Reich

or someone who's got a good handle on this

[Demeter]

25. That Was the Most Amazing Blue-Sky, Rosy Scenario Balderdash I Have Ever Read

If Geithner ever gets tired of crime, he can go into escapist fiction.

Not even St. Ronnie of Raygun (or his telepropter writers) could do better...

[AnneD]

34. As the cheerleaders of...

Sam Houston Institute of Technology yell.....
Gimme an S
Gimme an H
Gimme an I
Gimme a T

What's that spell
What's that spell
What's that spell

:applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause:

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[ozymandius]

41. Pages loading fine now - fine enough to post a response to this drivel.

"last week’s data on economic growth show that large parts of the private sector continue to strengthen. Business investment and consumption — the two keys to private demand — are getting stronger, better than last year and better than last quarter."

But still this improvement, losing momentum, is not enough to sustain a recovery or continued employment. The Federal Reserve still operates under the policy that allows banks to park money with them, earning interest while the money should be flowing into sectors that are naturally able to enhance productive improvements and, in turn, employment numbers.

Somewhere along the way we have come to accept that any figure below 450K newly unemployed is a good figure. Nevermind that this figure indicates jobs are increasingly scarce and that more people, 125,000 on average, are entering the workforce. How is that going to get fixed? As this dynamic of chronic unemployment and catastrophic losses of jobs continues -even the churn of newly unemployed/newly employed- we will see little more than statistical static to cheer about.

Really, when the trumpets ring tones of victory over the Great Recession with 1.9% growth - we know that the people who brought us this poor showing will grasp onto anything to vindicate their policies. Geithner, it seems, would be willing even to celebrate statistical white noise.

[Roland99]

7. nice toon.

and good morning. It's FRIDAY!

[Demeter]

24. Please don't remind me

I spent 6 hours helping a friend yesterday getting a truck, picking up a refrigerator, getting the old refrigerator out of the house and into the dump, returning the truck, and then went to 3hrs. of gainful employment.

On the way, improvising most of the original tools of the Greeks...

My friend had very little strength, due to disability...I am gonna hurt tomorrow.

[TalkingDog]

26. Been there.... Our water line to the well is broke.

Hauling water from the tanks (that collect it from the roof) in the back yard (down a hill) up to the front to do things like: dishes, bath rescue kitties, flush.....


Extra vitamin C and some arnica rub will be your friend.

[Po_d Mainiac]

8. The so-called "capital gains" that are taxed at 15%

There has some discussion about the Cap Gain tax in the "E" forum and some serious misunderstanding of the way the tax is applied to some of the highest paid terrorists in the world..:grr:

Hedge Fund Managers Pay Only A 15% Income Tax
If you're a lawyer, doctor, or small businessperson who had a really good year, you'll pay a 35% income tax on your income. If you manage a hedge fun, you'll pay 15% on your income. That's not a typo. How can this be?

Hedge fund managers are paid on the 2-and-20 principle: They get 2% of the value of the hedge fund as compensation, no matter what. They also get 20% of any profits the hedge fund makes.

<snip>

The hedge fund manager will pay a 15% tax on his fees because a tax loophole holds that hedge fund compensation is treated as long-term capital gains. This makes no sense, since hedge fund managers are being paid a fee for their work. They are not investing their own money into the hedge fund. Instead, they are being paid a fee to manage the fund.

This tax loophole is so outrageous and illogical that I've stopped bringing it up at dinner parties. People don't believe me. Yet power is not concerned with what is logical. Power is concerned with what can be done. "Do what thou wilt," is the first principle of Satanism. And so hedge fund managers pay a 15% income tax rate.

<more at link>

http://www.crimeandfederalism.com/2010/06/hedge-fund-managers-15-percent-flat-tax.html

edited to add: Little will be required from everyone to whom much has been given.

[AnneD]

15. It use to be reversed....

but since Bush, wages are heavily taxed and capital gains aren't taxed as much. I was hopping mad then and tried to point this out but I gave up when I saw folks eyes glaze over. I just don't know what it will take to piss people off enough to motivate them.....I guess giving them free health care and telling them Obama is Moslem is the only thing that pushes their buttons.:eyes:

[DemReadingDU]

9. How Wall Street Made The Crisis Worse

Planet Money partnered on this story with the investigative reporters at ProPublica. For more, see ProPublica.org


8/27/10 How Wall Street Made The Crisis Worse by Adam Davidson

We believe we can show that some Wall Street bankers had evidence, a year or two before the financial crisis hit, that there were serious problems with subprime mortgage investments.

Rather than wind down this business, they sped it up using financial trickery. These people earned huge bonuses for their actions. They also made the crisis considerably larger and more damaging.

The folks we're talking about work in the CDO department of big Wall Street banks — "the sexiest place to work on Wall Street," in the words of Jake Bernstein, one of the ProPublica reporters who worked on this story.

CDOs — collateralized debt obligations — were the primary way that big banks turned those subprime mortgages into what we now think of as toxic assets. But back in 2006, they were just the hot new part of the industry. The people working on CDOs could make millions of dollars a year, but their income depended on how many CDOs they sold.

I think of a CDO like a sausage. Take meat nobody wants, toss it in a grinder, and out comes something delicious.

With CDOs, you buy a bunch of unattractive bonds backed by subprime mortgages, put them all together, then sell off pieces of this new structure. And, like sausages in a diner on Sunday morning, CDOs were incredibly popular.

"CDOs, they are the heart of the American boom," says Jesse Eisinger, the other ProPublica reporter on the story. "Everyone wants them. Pension funds, insurance companies, small banks around the world."

Click link to read rest of the text or listen to the audio...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/26/129454550/inside-the-sausage-factory-how-wall-street-made-the-financial-crisis-worse


Bankers' Song - We Didn't See It Comin
This song, fondly entitled "We Didn't See It Comin", by The Gregory Brothers with some help from various titans of finance, not to mention the FCIC, scrutinizing in the key of B minor.

Click link to hear the song, lyrics also available
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fTh2GffJsM&feature=player_embedded


edit to add date of article

[DemReadingDU]

10. Banks’ Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis

8/26/10 Banks’ Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis
by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger
ProPublica

Over the last two years of the housing bubble, Wall Street bankers perpetrated one of the greatest episodes of self-dealing in financial history.

Faced with increasing difficulty in selling the mortgage-backed securities that had been among their most lucrative products, the banks hit on a solution that preserved their quarterly earnings and huge bonuses: They created fake demand.

A ProPublica analysis shows for the first time the extent to which banks -- primarily Merrill Lynch, but also Citigroup, UBS and others -- bought their own products and cranked up an assembly line that otherwise should have flagged.

The products they were buying and selling were at the heart of the 2008 meltdown -- collections of mortgage bonds known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.

As the housing boom began to slow in mid-2006, investors became skittish about the riskier parts of those investments. So the banks created -- and ultimately provided most of the money for -- new CDOs. Those new CDOs bought the hard-to-sell pieces of the original CDOs. The result was a daisy chain <1> that solved one problem but created another: Each new CDO had its own risky pieces. Banks created yet other CDOs to buy those.

Individual instances of these questionable trades have been reported before, but ProPublica's investigation, done in partnership with NPR's Planet Money <2>, shows that by late 2006 they became a common industry practice.

lots more...
http://www.propublica.org/article/banks-self-dealing-super-charged-financial-crisis

[DemReadingDU]

11. Welcome to CDO World!

http://www.propublica.org/special/cdo-world

[Po_d Mainiac]

12. Sing to the music of 100,000 Ton of Steel (Grateful Dead)

I know these deals we've done like I know my steamy pile,
We fucked a dozen dreams and done it with a smile.
Can't begin to count the traps she and I have set,
But I got tons of dollars each time we gamed the winning bet.

900,000 tons of oil, moving to gold.
The regs don't work and this pays so steep, the market’s sure to blow.
900,000 tons of oil, that I now control,
She's now a rollercoaster and the bots now run the show.

Here's today's earworm...add verse as they form in the dark corners of the cranium

[Ghost Dog]

16. 10:10 AM ET: Speech briefing

* The big disappointment is that Bernanke did not announce any new measures, but, considering the venue, that was always the likely result.

* Bernanke indicated that the Fed had the monetary tools to combat deflation, outlining many of the tools it had already mentioned.

* Made clear that the unemployment recovery is going to be slow.

* Read the full Bernanke speech here > http://www.businessinsider.com/ben-bernanke-text-of-jackson-hole-speech-2010-8

10:08 AM ET: Markets dived on the speech, the NASDAQ most notably:

10:04 AM ET: Markets are now starting to slide in response to the text of the speech, which spells out that unemployment is only going to recover slowly. No plans to change policy at the moment. Claims Fed already has the tools to combat deflation:

/... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Morning-Rally-Fades-As-siliconalley-440778896.html;_ylt=AlDMlTnYUaksmTUT15uvEeQTbq9_;_ylu=X3oDMTFkbzluOHVvBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNuZXdzSHViQXJ0aWNsZUxpc3QEc2xrA21vcm5pbmdyYWxseQ--?x=0


Where are the tools to combat un- and under-employment?

[Demeter]

17. The Index Is Like a Ping-Pong Game

what a joke

[MilesColtrane]

18. This is Not a Recovery

Krugman weighs in...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/opinion/27krugman.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

..we can safely predict what (Bernanke) and other officials will say about where we are right now: that the economy is continuing to recover, albeit more slowly than they would like. Unfortunately, that’s not true: this isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters. And policy makers should be doing everything they can to change that fact.

The small sliver of truth in claims of continuing recovery is the fact that G.D.P. is still rising: we’re not in a classic recession, in which everything goes down. But so what?

The important question is whether growth is fast enough to bring down sky-high unemployment. We need about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment from rising, and much faster growth to bring it significantly down. Yet growth is currently running somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, with a good chance that it will slow even further in the months ahead. Will the economy actually enter a double dip, with G.D.P. shrinking? Who cares? If unemployment rises for the rest of this year, which seems likely, it won’t matter whether the G.D.P. numbers are slightly positive or slightly negative.

All of this is obvious. Yet policy makers are in denial.

[Po_d Mainiac]

40. Of coarse it is....Don't u listen to a Radio/TV?

It's (recovery) just in stealth mode. Like that new set of duds the Emperor's prancing around the castle in.

[Roland99]

27. 2:50 - Pop the bubbly! (and fill up the gas tank before the weekend)

Dow 10,137 +152 +1.52%
Nasdaq 2,151 +32 +1.52%
S&P 500 1,063 +15 +1.48%
GlobalDow 1,792 +18 +0.99%
Gold 1,238 0 0.0%
Oil 75.12 +1.76 +2.40%

[TheWatcher]

29. It's Official. 70's PRAVDA is now "Hard Factual News" compared to our Media.

Take a look at this:

Stocks March Higher as Traders Shake Off the Negatives :rofl: (I believe we have a new Orwellian Buzz Phrase. "Shake Off")

Wall Street rose Friday as "investors" :rofl: looked past a revenue warning from technology bellwether Intel and a downbeat economic assessment by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to snap up bargains. :rofl:

Major indices fell sharply after Bernanke's comments and Intel's warning, which came within minutes of each other.

The decline took the S&P 500 index to 1,040, a key technical level that has consistently brought in buyers in the past year.

The testing of 1,040 and a better-than-expected reading on second-quarter gross domestic product triggered buying by short sellers, who covered their positions that profited from recent weakness in housing and manufacturing earlier in the week.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

(The testing of 1,040 on the S&P and a manipulated, fabricated GDP number that will be revised lower next quarter, triggered many buying programs in Algo-Robo driven, High Frequency Trading Computers, which artificially manipulated the Markets at precisely 10 AM, which has typically been the chosen hour for such false Market Moves for months now.

We know the American Public is too stupid and dumbed down to know what's really going on, so we'll trot out the "short-seller covering" myth, to entertain them while they graze away in the meadow with their morning Bagel. At least those have enough change in their pocket to afford one.

Actual short sellers, who were likely holding legitimate overnight positions in anticipation of a weak GDP number, were slaughtered in our fake, casino-like frenzy this morning, but since the majority of the American Public are so self-lobotomized they can't wipe their own asses or tie their own shoelaces unless Rachel Zoe taught them how in an episode of her reality show, they'll never know the wiser. And even if they do, they'll just perceive such slaughtering as "dealing a victorious blow to financial Terrorists", because we've brainwashed them so well.)

"The economic news, while not great, was better than expected," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He said net short market participants probably decided to cover some of their positions in light of the data.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

(And by the way, just in case you didn't buy the lie the first time, here's an empty suit, planted mouthpiece, agenda gatekeeper to confirm it for you, so you have a "knowledgeable official" to quote when anyone with a functioning brain stem tries to harass you with any actual reality)

More Vintage Orwellian Stand-Up at the link:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Market-bounces-off-key-level-rb-2190271255.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[Ghost Dog]

46. Nicely put.

[TheWatcher]

48. Is it me Ghost Dog, or should most economic news be accompanied by it's own Laugh Track?

[DemReadingDU]

30. Stoneleigh Presentations

For anyone who would like to hear a financial presentation by Stoneleigh
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

Per comments at The Automatic Earth, Stoneleigh's presentation comes highly recommended. It is appx 2 hours long, followed by an hour for questions.


Stoneleigh's itinerary...

"I'll be going from Ohio to Michigan, to Wisconsin to Minnesota and then further south. I have invitations to Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, and I'll be speaking at the ASPO conference in Washington DC in early October. In a different direction, people also asked me to come to Montana, Wyoming and California. I'm trying to turn all that into some kind of sensible itinerary at the moment."
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-26-2010-in-america-housing-is.html?showComment=1282880183818#c577451562287170505


Tentative Schedule...

Canada
- September 2, Ottawa, Auditorium Public Library, 7 pm

USA
Ohio
- September 9, North Olmsted, Public Library, 5.30 pm

Michigan
September 10, Chelsea, Michigan Friends Center, 7 pm
September 13, Muskegon, MAREC, 6.30 pm
September 14, Wayland, Union High School, 7 pm
September 15, Middleville, Thornapple Township Hall, 7 pm
September 16, Grand Rapids, Community College Spectrum Theater, 7 pm
September 17, Hastings, Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, 6.30 pm
September 18, Bear Lake, Lions Club, 1 pm

Additional bookings available.
For all information and bookings (dates available US September-October 2010),
contact StoneleighTravels at Gmail dot com


Here is a short interview where Stoneleigh discusses deflation, Ponzis, energy, and more.

Click this link from the KBOO-FM server to download podcast to hear Stoneleigh's radio interview in Portland
(28 minutes, 26 MB download)
http://www.kboo.org/node/19246

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

31. Guess:

[TalkingDog]

33. Those would be the lower and middle classes up there on that stone?

But look, the sun, it shines for us!

[TalkingDog]

32. Did this appear ANYWHERE on DU? Now a Depression.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/25/david-rosenberg-were-in-a-depression_n_694638.html

The "current economic malaise" is a "depression, and not just some garden-variety recession," said Rosenberg in a note to clients today, as reported by CNBC. Rosenberg, who's been issuing warnings about a double-dip recession, was formerly the chief economist at Merrill Lynch.


Well, all I gots to say: Hallelujah! Finally, SOMEBODY had the stones to call it.

[AnneD]

35. Finally....

We have been calling it here for some time....Ozy will be happy to see this post.

I think part of the reason they have not been more aggressive in helping the middle class in all of this is they really HAVE been treating it like it is just another recession (a more difficult recession, but still a recession). Maybe once the seriousness of this sinks in they will take more aggressive action to shore up the disappearing middle class.

[ozymandius]

43. Is there such a thing as Pyrrhic Happiness?

There is some vain satisfaction in being vindicated by some professional someone who makes tens of dollars more than I do in saying this. (Truth be told - if Mr. Rosenberg makes 1¢ from his pronouncements than he makes more than I do.) But the pyrrhic nature of this indicates that we are losing momentum on a "recovery" with no sticking power. So many people bought into the idea that Obama hope stimulus would mean something enduring and beneficial. False hope translates 99% of the time into anger.

[Demeter]

44. You Mean, Self-Schaudenfruede?

Too kinky for Germans....

[ozymandius]

45. Like the sadomasochist who self-flagellated?

While feeling guilty over the pleasure of it? Yeah. Something like that.

[Demeter]

47. You Are Really Twisted, Ozy

I'm not sure I want to post in your thread anymore.

[DemReadingDU]

36. It was posted in Editorials

posted by dtotire

8/25/10 Economy Caught in Depression, Not Recession: Rosenberg
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x555649

Click link for video, appx 12.5 minutes
Edit: Rosenberg appears appx 6:30 into the video
http://www.cnbc.com/id/38831550

[TalkingDog]

38. Thank you ma'm. I was just surprised that it is 2 days old....n/t

[Hawkowl]

37. I saw it a couple of days ago

It of course, promptly disappeared. This is an earth shattering revelation, and I'm not being sarcastic. When the former chief economist at Merrill Lynch is calling it a depression, we are truly in the shit.

I being completely cynical believe that many more MSM types will start broadcasting this as a depression. The MSM and corporate types are going to accuse Obama and the Democrats of turning Bush's itty bitty recession into a full blown depression. It is going to be timed to the mid-terms and will only intensify into the next presidential cycle. I think a lot of us so this coming two years ago, and Obama just continues to happily march on to his own lynching. I just don't see how Obama runs for re-election.

[DemReadingDU]

39. This is the plan

Periodically toss out the big 'D' (Depression). Let some people hear it, they will tell others. 'Depression' was also tossed out on July 4th weekend. Probably a few more will talk about depression during Labor Day weekend. So by the time depression can no longer be denied, more people will have heard it and felt it. They won't be so shocked.


Obama - I have always thought he was a one-term. If he decides to run in 2012, it is doubtful he could be re-elected with a full-blown depression. So perhaps, Obama won't run at all.

[ozymandius]

42. Got some stones here. Posted at the SMW at least two dozen times.

Although no one here is as professional as Mr. Rosenberg in making these calls.

Sensible people can appreciate this quote:

"So let's get this straight. Mortgage rates have tumbled nearly 100 basis points in the past year to a record low of 4.42% for the 30-year rate, yet existing home sales collapse a record 27% MoM to an all time low (data only back to 1999 for total sales) of 3.83 million units at an annual rate? Are you kidding me?"

Yes, Sir, you're being kidded. Secretary Geithner wrote a huge joke of a screed for the New York Times.