STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday October 7

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday October 7, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON October 6, 2010

Dow 10,967.65 +22.93 (+0.21%)
Nasdaq 2,380.66 -19.17 (-0.81%)
S&P 500 1,159.97 -0.78 (-0.07%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.40 +0.00 (+0.17%)
30-Year Bond 3.68 +0.01 (+0.14%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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    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 Initial Claims 10/02
Briefing.com 450K
Consensus 455K
Prior 453K

08:30 Continuing Claims 09/25
Briefing.com 4450K
Consensus 4450K
Prior 4457K

15:00 Consumer Credit Aug
Briefing.com -$3.0B
Consensus -$3.0B
Prior -$3.6B

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

[Roland99]

43. September sales run better than expected (Bonus report)

September sales run better than expected
Abercrombie & Fitch, Limited and Dillard’s among standouts
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/september-retail-sales-better-than-expected-2010-10-07

[Roland99]

48. Natural gas stocks rose 85 bcf last week: EIA (74-78 expected)

[Roland99]

49. Weekly U.S. jobless claims drop by 11,000 to 445,000

[TheWatcher]

62. And of course last week's were revised UPWARD once again.

The Great Shell Game and Scam continues.

In other news, Continuing Claims continue to rise, Recovery Cult Ignores, Celebrates Propaganda, bludgeons non-believers.

There are days when I wonder how close we are to the Salem Witch trials coming back.

"This one doesn't believe the "The Recovery"! Heretic! Burn Them! Burn The Witch!"

[Po_d Mainiac]

85. if you're a drinkin, I'm a pourin

shot glasses are for wimps...we'll break out the good mason jars to toast the occasion.

No that ain't a live bug in da jar..It's been dead for hours....Geez quit bitchin, it's not like it's your blood on the damn thing!
:toast:

a few more rounds and life will seem good again...But don't stop to sleep...this shine has split more heads than a barkeeps butter knife.

[ozymandius]

93. And if you're a-pourin' then I'm a-drinkin'

Reciprocity is polite among Southern gentlemen like myself.

[Po_d Mainiac]

95. By all means, Sir. Come on up...

Always have plenty of groceries and an extra bedroom. Trees provide the climate control. (Either as shade, or fuel in the stove) The fresh air would do ya good.

A nephew has gotten the process of boiling the water out of a variety of different grains down pat. He keeps us well stocked.

Just don't get too hung up on what the glasses look like. To be honest, I'm afraid of the potential damage to the septic system if any of the hooch made it down the drain (no matter how diluted). The 'burned' patches of lawn at the tree line, are further testimony of the extreme measures I take to keep that juice from killing off the beneficial microbes.

[ozymandius]

2. Oil heads for $84 in Asia amid US dollar slide

SINGAPORE – Oil closed in on $84 a barrel Thursday in Asia as a weak U.S. dollar fueled gains in commodity prices.


Oil has held above $80 over the last week amid a plunge in the dollar as investors anticipate that U.S. interest rates could head even lower if the Federal Reserve moves to buy Treasury bonds and takes other measures to lower long-term interest rates to boost the economy.

Dollar-based commodities, such as oil, become cheaper for investors with foreign currencies when the dollar drops. On Wednesday, the euro moved above $1.39 for the first time since February, while the yen struck a new 15-year high.

The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude inventories increased last week by 3.1 million barrels and are now 7 percent above year-ago levels. Analysts expected a drop of 1.3 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

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

[ozymandius]

3. Job losses in 2009 likely bigger than thought

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economy likely shed more jobs last year than previously thought, but analysts say the undercount by the government should prove less severe than it did during depths of the recession.

The Labor Department on Friday will give an initial estimate of how far off its count of employment may have been in the 12 months through March. The government admitted earlier this year that its count through March 2009 had overstated employment by 902,000 jobs.

The department blamed its 902,000 miss on faulty estimates of how many companies were created or destroyed, and it has not yet made any changes to the so-called birth-death model that produces this projection.

Analysts will be looking at the sectors where job losses are concentrated. Steeper job losses than already reported in manufacturing and construction could strengthen the argument of a structural unemployment problem.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101007/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_jobs

[Demeter]

18. "but analysts say the undercount by the government should prove less severe than it did in recession

Oh, I feel so much better now.

Love that cartoon. Not only numbers, but the entire subject of algebra, would have to be purged from the curriculum.

But since Science is off already in this faith=based culture, nobody will notice.

Demeter

PS: I'm back. Cleveland was very nice and friendly restful and I had a great time. I might even return, since it isn't really that far, and I now have a car that can make it.

[AnneD]

37. Demeter....

It is not called Al Gebra on accident. And 'students' learn to use such weapons as a compass with a bayonet attached at the end. It is nothing more than disguised terrorist cells masquerading as schools. And we are funding these operation. Look at how the children are being brainwashed. They enter school as obedient children and come out as teenagers. Our education system is turning against us. :rofl:

[Tansy_Gold]

32. "A Structural Unemployment Problem"

Uh, does that like mean that like a lot of these like jobs were like shipped out to China and liek Vietnam and like if something isn't done like to bring those jobs like back here, then it's broke dead beyond any resuscitation?


Wankers.




TG, NTY

[Po_d Mainiac]

4. A few cherrypicked quotes from recent blogs

Morning Ozy :donut:As things get worse, the productive members of society will redouble their efforts to save themselves by producing more while consuming less; the excess will be savings. Those savings create a pool of capital that can be used to fund new businesses and technologies.
The problem here is that with the dollar losing value quickly, the savers will be punished for doing the only thing that can really improve the situation

The Tea Party movement? They’re desperately looking for a political solution. These folks tend to be highly nationalistic and atavistic, with a tendency to worship their preachers and the military. I just hope some popular general doesn’t get political ambitions…

Don’t forget that there are more scientists and engineers alive today than have lived, altogether, in all of previous human history. These are the people that will wind the main stem of human progress. And their numbers are going to grow. So there’s real cause for optimism. <snip>The problem is that most young Americans now go in for things like sociology and gender studies, whereas the up-and-coming scientists and engineers are primarily Chinese and Indians

inflation or deflation? <snip> both at the same time, just in different sectors of the economy

b-b-benny and the (ink)jets!

The NY Fed's President William Dudley “As the central bank, we and we alone can control inflation—if not precisely in the short run, then over the medium term. By clarifying our intentions, we can reduce the risk of further disinflation.”
A 16y/o male, pumped full of Viagra, is capable of better reasoning than this.While only using the thought process of the little head :grr:

Meanwhile, the action continues to be in the forex market, where the dollar is getting beaten like a rented mule.

[ozymandius]

6. Good morning.

:donut: :donut: :donut:

Dudley is correct in his assertion that the central bank can have a huge influence on inflation through the members' rhetoric. This issue I see at this point is that so much dissent among board members is in the public domain. This makes their message incoherent.

[Po_d Mainiac]

9. but his statement was

"we and we alone can control inflation"

They now holding a gun to OPEC/4X/the weather/Earths continental plates?...etc

However they have made it clear that they will continue to print money until our attitudes improve

[ozymandius]

12. Okay. I follow you now.

I just posted something about the carry trade. There ain't jack shit the Fed can do about that one. Decoupling is happening in many facets of the global economy. The carry trade games any decision the Fed and other central banks make (although some players in the carry trade markets will often lose big) when any cogent decision is made. Right now, as it stands, the cacophony of voices among decision makers gives Forex gamblers a wide berth to do their thing.

[Po_d Mainiac]

17. I've had this nagging thought for a couple days

What if the rest of the world figures that US consumers are not going power the world mfg with our imports. Add to that, what we do export is high end, that is often out of reach, price-wise, esp in emerging markets.

So they decide to give the FED a little help with QE2 and dump a few boatloads of U$ T's at whatever the market will pay?

[Po_d Mainiac]

5. While the sun was resting overnight

Folks that spend U$D's lost another 0.24% of their purchasing power against the 'basket of currencies' ..That's 13% less buying clout since the first week of June

On Sept 15 the BoJ pulled the plug on their currency. As of this moment all the loss that bought has ..hmm been lost. USD/JPY is now trading under 83Yen/$

[Dr.Phool]

31. 13% less purchasing power.

But there's no price inflation, huh? No COLA again.

[Po_d Mainiac]

66. That index get's more tinkering than an old farm tractor.

Take the steak off the list and replace with ground chuck. Then take the ground chuck off and replace with chicken legs. Pretty soon the average American's diet will be priced to sawdust and 9/lives

[Dr.Phool]

75. Good thing I'm putting in my garden now.

At least I'll have something to eat.

I better go get some more plants.

[Po_d Mainiac]

7. And the best quote of the night ...T-shirt worthy

"The number one performing stock market in the last ten years has been Zimbabwe - in nominal terms"
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/kyle-bass-hyperinflation-and-other-less-relevant-things

"The number one performing stock market in the last ten years has been Zimbabwe - in nominal terms" - that is the most memorable soundbite of Kyle Bass' presentation to David Faber at the Bearfoot Summit, because unfortunately, in real terms investors have lost all their money.

[ozymandius]

13. Mind. Numbingly. Stupid.

I just love that qualifier - "in nominal terms." I wonder how much that idiot gets paid for spewing rubbish.

BTW - I got a 'page not found' message when I clicked on the link.

[Po_d Mainiac]

15. fixed n/t

[AnneD]

80. Well...

it did preform well for SOMEONE.

"the story you are about to see is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent."

[Ghost Dog]

8. Fascist Business Model Crumbles

by Jim Willie

Some, extremely important developments in the grand pathogenesis that reflects the deep decay and deterioration in the US financial structure. The most recent events pertaining to mortgage loans, home foreclosures, and disclosed fraud carry great potential to open extremely wide cracks in the American social order. Revealed systemic fraud is slowly coming into the open. Civil disobedience has already entered the arena of popular protest. However, the recent events surrounding illegal home foreclosure seizure of properties elevates the exposed fraud to a very clear high new level. This is a boil ready to break open, releasing financial puss.

... big snip ...

The quintessential core of the Fascist Business Model is not the merger, but the conquest of the USDept Treasury by Goldman Sachs. New Treasury Secretaries must come from the marbled halls of Goldman Sachs with full pedigree in order to perpetuate entrenched ongoing activities, including vast role programs under the USGovt roof, in particular the Fannie Mae clearing house operations. Observe the Wall Street mortgage bond fraud, conflict of interest, counterfeit bonds, naked bond shorting, high frequency trade skimming, hidden monetization of USTreasury auctions, and the MERS database reliance. The MERS database and countless home foreclosures are at the center of legal investigations. Even a sitting US Senator has called for investigation of JPMorgan, Bank of America, and GMAC, regardless of their size, prominence, influence, or prestige. Not a single conviction has come to the elite in South Manhattan for criminal felonies of grotesque type. Again, if the theft or fraud is in the $billions, then chalk it up to extreme skill, outstanding research, exclusive pedigree, and a tradition of excellence, but never felony actions or shades of malfeasance. The TARP Fund has been declared a victory, saving the US human strain from depression and extinction. Please! Give me a break! Not mentioned in the TARP Fund disbursement is the payoffs for foreign investors extorting money from culpable Wall Street firms, even rumors of payoffs to quiet the death threats to Wall Street executives. The $700 billion did not go to mortgage portfolio relief, but instead to Wall Street firm preferred bank stock, the stuff of family fortunes and trust funds, vigorously protected. The TARP Funds still remain without an independent audit. As Paul Volcker said in his unprecedented diatribe harangue last week, the Financial Regulatory Overhaul Bill started out with strong motive to reduce the US Federal Reserve powers, but ended up giving it even more power. Credit goes to the $200 million lobby budget by Wall Street firms handed to the USCongress, the biggest pack of losers, petty thieves, influence peddlers, compromised hacks, and babbling idiots perhaps in existence.

At great risk is the breakdown of faith and trust in the USDollar and USTreasury Bond internationally, from a climax collapse of the Fascist Business Model itself. The deep hidden costs of the Fascist Business Model are diverse inefficiency, layered cost to the privileged corporatocracy, crushed middle class, interrupted capital formation, lost income engines, and the social effect of a recognized two-tier justice system. The primary threads of criminal fraud serve as its hallmark glue for cohesion. At great risk is the breakdown of contract law and legal obligation, a cornerstone of American commerce, even commerce globally. At risk is the revenue stream for the big banks, many of which are dirty up their ears in bond fraud creation, misrepresentation of bond sales, predatory lending, duplicate mortgage titles in bond securities, document forgery, and disguised property theft. If a significant portion of the American public decides to scoff at their legal obligation to pay on loans, initially here with home loans, but later possibly with car loans and credit card loans, then the US financial system will plunge into darkness and surely collapse.

The nation is at the doorstep of systemic failure, greatly at risk of the social accelerant of Civil Disobedience tossed on the fires of anger from betrayal, and despair from loss. Capitalism has failed in the United States of America, simply put. Its capitalist spirit was crushed by unsound money managed by a squatting central bank, raids upon the national gold treasury, abandonment of industry, wretched economic theories, labor union backlash, the high cost of military pursuit, price inflation (in particular labor) from war expenditures, and banking policy that encouraged a series of asset bubbles. The population is vulnerable to disseminated disease like the Swine Flu, vulnerable to poverty from wrecked wealth engines and wrecked wealth repositories, vulnerable to foreign blockade of imported supplies, vulnerable to resistance to high crimes being declared terrorist activities, vulnerable to information restrictions from internet censorship, vulnerable to incarceration of the dispossessed in FEMA Camps, and vulnerable to police suppression against efforts toward survival. The nation has never been closer to class war in its history. The nation is witnessing a climax of a systemic debt cycle. The Macro credit cycle is in the process of declaring the USGovt debt condition as unfixable and growing worse each year, a macro bankruptcy process at work. We finally see the USGovt dealing unsuccessfully with insolvency. Inescapable is the Macro credit cycle, where the USEconomy is drowning in oceans of debt, the US banks are stuck with toxic debt, the US households are weighed down by excess debt, US industry with its legitimate income is long gone to Asia, and the USGovt new debt issuance is as much a burden as debt service. The nation is plunging slowly into the Third World. Systemic failure has advanced in a grand tragic pathogenesis. The escalating gold price is urgent response.

... big snip ...

/... http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article23276.html

I suppose this could be viewed as a hypothetical 'smart teabagger'-type take on the economic situation. Though perhaps prone to (poetic) exaggeration, I see much to agree with here, especially in terms of the erosion of Rule of Law. Significant events are in progress.

x-post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x563553

[Demeter]

19. On the Contrary, capitalism Has Succeeded Beyond The Wildest Dreams of Capitalists

It is democracy, a nation of laws, of the People, by the People, for the People, that has failed. I don't think it can be brought back in my lifetime. Maybe never.

[Demeter]

20. Stolen from villager in LBN: Bank foreclosure cover seen in bill at Obama's desk

Source: Reuters

Bank foreclosure cover seen in bill at Obama's desk

By Scot J. Paltrow

(Reuters) - A bill that homeowners advocates warn will make it more difficult to challenge improper foreclosure attempts by big mortgage processors is awaiting President Barack Obama's signature after it quietly zoomed through the Senate last week.

The bill, passed without public debate in a way that even surprised its main sponsor, Republican Representative Robert Aderholt, requires courts to accept as valid document notarizations made out of state, making it harder to challenge the authenticity of foreclosure and other legal documents.

The timing raised eyebrows, coming during a rising furor over improper affidavits and other filings in foreclosure actions by large mortgage processors such as GMAC, JPMorgan and Bank of America.

Questions about improper notarizations have figured prominently in challenges to the validity of these court documents, and led to widespread halts of foreclosure proceedings.

The legislation could protect bank and mortgage processors from liability for false or improperly prepared documents.

The White House said it is reviewing the legislation.

"It is troubling to me and curious that it passed so quietly," Thomas Cox, a Maine lawyer representing homeowners contesting foreclosures, told Reuters in an interview.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6955YX20101006?pageNumber=1

[Dr.Phool]

24. So much for Due Process, and Equal Protection.

One set of laws for us, and one set for them. And if they screw up, change the law retroactively in their favor.

Disgusting.

Tell me again why we need more Democrats? There is no hope of redemption in either party.

[Po_d Mainiac]

72. Wanna place a side bet?

How long before MERS tracking replaces County deed registries...and of coarse in retro fashion.

I cover anything longer than a week...:rofl:

[Papa Boule]

83. Wild, isn't it?

n/t

[Dr.Phool]

25. Dreaded Dupe.

[DemReadingDU]

26. HR 3808 "Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act."

I received this in an email from Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of State


On Monday, September 27, 2010, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), on the Senate floor, asked that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of a bill that would hurt consumers. H.R. 3808 requires federal and state courts to recognize notarized documents from other states, including ones that contain electronic notarizations that are not subject to the same consumer safeguards of documents notarized in person. Some financial institutions are using electronic notarizations to process home foreclosure documents.

Sen. Casey asked that the Senate move forward with immediate consideration of the bill with unanimous consent that the bill pass with no other action or debate. The Senate passed the bill without amendment by unanimous consent. It now sits on the President's desk. I'm asking you to email or call the President at 202-456-1111 to ask him not to sign the bill.

H.R. 3808 is known as the "Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act." It passed the House under a suspension of the rules in April 2010. It requires federal and state courts to recognize any notarization that is lawful in the state where the notary is licensed. Now, in one day, it passed in the Senate.

When I learned of it last Thursday, it sounded innocuous to me, but then I started looking at the timing of the bill. GMAC, owned by Ally, had just suspended its foreclosure actions in 23 states, including Ohio. I had already referred Chase Home Finance, LLC, on August 23, 2010, to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking it to review and investigate Chase's document notarization practices in home foreclosures (18,000 documents per month were being notarized by 8 people, along with other irregularities). I license notaries in the State of Ohio. Even though I don't have the power under state law to investigate or prosecute, I couldn't stand idly by without acting. That's why I'm asking you to email or call the President at 202-456-1111 to ask him not to sign the bill.

Last Wednesday, the day before I announced the DOJ referral, JPMorgan Chase announced it was having third party counsel review its document procedures for foreclosures. Just two days before, the U.S. Senate had rushed through H.R. 3808. Something didn't seem right. Since then others agree with me.

Notarizing a document requires the signer to make a fundamental statement, an acknowledgment, before a notary public. It is used for documents of great sensitivity or value, like when the title of a car is transferred on its sale or when a bank tells a court how much is owed on a note for a mortgage when it wants to foreclose.

Some states have adopted "electronic notarization" laws that ignore the requirement of a signer's personal appearance before a notary. A notary's signature is that of a trusted, impartial third party, whose notarization bolsters the integrity of the document. Many of these policies for electronic notarization are driven by technology rather than by principle, and they are dangerous to consumers.

President Obama was presented with HR. 3808 on Thursday, September 30, 2010. As of today, he has not signed the bill. Please join me in urging him not to sign the bill by sending an email or calling the White House at 202-456-1111.

Mortgages are now being used as backing for securities traded all over the world by financial institutions. When a mortgage goes into default, a "chain of title" (list of its owners) must be created. It's being discovered that many financial institutions have taken shortcuts in creating lawful chains of title that allow them to foreclose and take homes when they would not otherwise have the right under the law.

Banks demand we follow every letter of their contracts. We must demand they follow the law. It's that simple. Please join me in urging President Obama not to sign the bill by sending an email or calling 202-456-1111.

Thanks for working together,

Jennifer Brunner
Ohio Secretary of State

[Tansy_Gold]

34. Well, some of us knew this had to happen. At least I did

Either the courts would start recognizing "virtual" documents or there would be laws passed to turn "virtual" into quasi-literal.

In other words, absent a physical signed, notarized, recorded Promissory Note or other traditional evidence of the debt, the courts would find experts and precedents to accept MERS registration or other non-physical, i.e. "virtual," evidence as the equivalent. The banksters certainly weren't going to sit around and let this one slip by them, and they have much more pull than, say, centuries of common law or Tradition.

As I wrote in another post in another thread, and don't ask me where, there is sufficient displeasure, for lack of a better term, within the general populace at the idea of Some People getting Something for Nothing. Hell, I'd be madder than hell if someone like my current Pinal County Supervisor Bryan Martyn, who just "walked" on his $600,000 mortgage on a home he could NEVER have afforded, were handed that 4700-square-foot palace simply because someone lost the paper on it. And while it's absolutely true that many of those caught in the first rush of foreclosures as the housing market collapsed -- because they, like Martyn, never had the income to make the mortgage payments and were merely suckered in by the banksters -- that element has now been weeded out for the most part, and the sharks are moving up the food chain.

The little folks who got suckered at the beginning didn't CAUSE the collapse. The collapse was built into the system of greed that ensnared them. But the system now is reaching its unholy tentacles into the more affluent tiers, which includes those who had (past tense) sufficient income and other assets to legitimately buy into the market but have now lost that income as the rest of the economy has begun its collapse -OR- those who had sufficient income and/or other assets to game the system.

The worst thing that could have been done was the class action suits and the publicity. Had the "lack of documentation" suits gone quietly forward, some homeowners might have been afforded significant relief. Compromises might have been reached in individual cases -- Say you owe $100,000 on a house that's now only worth $75,000. You've already paid $25,000 in downpayment, principal and interest payments. No physical note can be found but documents have been recorded that show you did sign the note and all the funds changed hands. The banks could have and should have and in a sane world would have negotiated for a new note, a new loan, drop the balance due to $60,000 at 0.1% higher rate than before (assuming the borrower can pay at that level), all the paperwork is safely stored, and everyone would have been reasonably satisfied.

But people got greedy, only this time it was on the other side, OUR side if you will. People were tempted with the promise of something for nothing -- "If they can't find your note, the house is yours! Free!" -- and out came the publicity and the class action suits and POOF! there it all goes.

Anyone who thought the missing documents ploy was going to turn into free ponies was living in a dream world.


Tansy Gold, whose emergency band-aid on the A/C system last year got her through most of another cooling season but yesterday the whole thing went belly up and she is going to have to spend most of today purchasing a new one at a HUGE hit to her meager savings. . . . . .

[fasttense]

41. What bothers me more than the folks thinking they may get something for nothing

Is the corruption of law in our country.

Torture is Not prosecuted with slogans like look forward not backward. Wars are started on lies and no one investigates. Telecoms are giving amnesty for breaking the law. Banks are giving cover for fraudulent paperwork. The Dancing Supremes give rights of people to corporations but the laws governing people are not applied to those same corporations.

Is there any real rule of law that can not be destroyed by a big name or corporation? Do the laws only apply to those who can't pay off Congress, the President or the Supremes?

When will this blatant disregard for rules and laws trickle down to the middle class and poor? Wealth and money never trickles down from the uber wealthy but morales and attitudes do.

[Tansy_Gold]

45. You're correct. The flip side, however, at least imho

is that the rule of law is generally an abstraction for most people. We/they understand speed limits and shoplifting, but the nuances of contracts and notarizations and certainly the way that affects the economy/stock market are beyond most people. And I think that's a deliberate intention of the education system. Regardless whether it's a fundy home school or an elite public school, what's taught in The System is morality.

And while you say, and correctly I think, that the blatant disregard for the rules seems to begin and somewhat end with the rich, the rules reflect the morality AND vice versa. As Altemeyer writes in The Authoritarians, the followers have a very sharp double standard. What's good and right and moral for the rich is not necessarily good and right and moral for the masses. We've seen the outcry against the poor getting anything handed to them right here on DU. To be sure, we see a lot of outrage against the excesses of the rich, too.

The point I'm trying to make, and not doing it very well I'm afraid, is that we should not have been surprised at this tactic of The Rich to keep The Poor (meaning, anyone not filthy rich) from getting something for nothing, because for the most part they've already done it. They flouted the laws and the conventional morality when they pushed liar loans on the poor. They banked -- literally -- on the right wing double standard of morality. I mean, the right wing electorate are for the most part people who are just flat out ideologically incapable of seeing that Sarah Palin is everything a "bad" mother would be in their own world, that Christine O'Donnell exemplifies their sexual standard, and THAT THEY CONFLATE THE TWO AS IDENTICAL.

Dealing with that mentality, therefore, is an exercise in futility if you're going to try to use what passes for logic in the real world. You have to work on the basis of THEIR morality, not the morality they apply to their "betters."

[DemReadingDU]

63. Link to send Obama a comment about HR 3808

H.R. 3808 - Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010
Use the form below to submit a comment on legislation received by the President.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/webform/comment-legislation?billname=H.R.%203808%20-%20Interstate%20Recognition%20of%20Notarizations%20Act%20of%202010

[DemReadingDU]

73. Obama Will Not Sign Bill Seen As Cover For Bank Foreclosures

10/7/10 Obama Will Not Sign Bill Seen As Cover For Bank Foreclosures

The White House announced Thursday afternoon that President Obama would not sign a bill that some consumer advocates worried would make it more difficult for homeowners to fight fraudulent foreclosures.

The White House noted that the bill was designed to ease restrictions on interstate commerce. "While we share this goal, we believe it is necessary to have further deliberations about the intended and unintended impact of this bill on consumer protections, including those for mortgages, before this bill can be finalized."

more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/07/obama-pocket-veto-foreclosures_n_753987.html

10/7/10 Why President Obama is Not Signing H.R. 3808
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/07/why-president-obama-not-signing-hr-3808

[florida08]

79. thank you DRD

for both links

[Ghost Dog]

76. Obama will not sign foreclosure bill-W.House

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will not sign legislation that could have made it more difficult for homeowners to challenge unjustified foreclosure actions, the White House said on Thursday.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said Obama was sending the bill back to the House of Representatives for further discussion of how it would affect the foreclosure crisis, which has become a political lightning rod amid media reports that banks acted improperly to evict struggling borrowers.

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/idAFN0720617520101007?rpc=44

[florida08]

78. thanks

was boiling over this and I take norvasc

[florida08]

77. such bullshit

coming out of this session of congress. Banks kicking doors in on homeowners not in foreclosure and now fighting over who has the real ownership of it since it was cut up and sold to so many. In the 60's where I lived the unhappy white bigots did something when desegregation was happening. They moved..but before they left they turned the gas on and closed all the windows. We heard several booms in those days.

[DemReadingDU]

28. Yeh, especially in the past 40 years

Capitalism has succeeded enormously, to the point I could consider it a huge Ponzi. It will implode, as all Ponzis do. How soon will it take us to return to a nation of laws, for everyone, is anybody's guess.

[Demeter]

22. Wall Street Brings Class War to America? By Les Leopold

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26496.htm

Oh, do the super-rich hate the sound of "class struggle." Dare to utter the words and they'll reach for their red-baiting paint guns and spray you silly with invective. It's un-American. It's socialistic. It's an insult to democracy and freedom.

But try as they might, they can't paint over the reality, which the new Fortune 400 listings make so clear: Wall Street billionaires have more money than they'll ever be able to use--at a time when more than 29 million of us don't have that most basic necessity, a full-time job. A hidden class war got us to this point. It's not hidden anymore.

Once upon a time there was a tangible connection between the plutocrats and the rest of us. Carnegie, Mellon and Rockefeller built sprawling enterprises that employed tens of thousands of workers (even if they did treat them brutally). But today's billionaire financiers, about 100 of whom are on the Fortune 400 list, have a tough time explaining how their money-making schemes produce any jobs at all. Very few of us have a clue about how they even make their money.

But we are clued in to the way our society is splitting apart. What's good for the Wall Street tycoons is not good for America. The wealthy may loathe hearing about "class struggle," but we're in the middle of one -- and it's a doozy...

[Tansy_Gold]

35. They don't "make" their money. They skim it from those who do. n/t

[Roland99]

52. No, but they *do* earn their money.

Why...without Wall St, who would help fund massively leveraged buyouts and mergers and further the debtload on Big-Ass Companies That Will Later Need A Goverment Bailout?

[Ghost Dog]

46. Thanks for your comments, guys. Keep 'em coming

(I'm learning here). :smoke:

Edit: This bears repeating, though:

The deep hidden costs of the Fascist Business Model are diverse inefficiency, layered cost to the privileged corporatocracy, crushed middle class, interrupted capital formation, lost income engines, and the social effect of a recognized two-tier justice system. The primary threads of criminal fraud serve as its hallmark glue for cohesion. At great risk is the breakdown of contract law and legal obligation, a cornerstone of American commerce, even commerce globally.

... To which costs I would add: in the process, a stunting, a cutting-off-at-the-knees of so much Human Potential, and Planetary Biosphere-scale ecological destruction.

[ozymandius]

10. World Bank and IMF at odds over hot money flows

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Emerging economies should consider steps to contain fund flows that could cause currency rallies and asset bubbles, the World Bank chief was quoted as saying, but the International Monetary Fund called such actions "undesirable."

The contrasting views over capital controls come amid rising tension between emerging and developed economies over exchange rates, which is expected to be a hot topic at Group of Seven and International Monetary Fund meeting starting on Friday.

Western leaders are worried efforts by emerging economies to weaken their currencies could derail the fragile economic recovery. Officials from developing markets say ultra-low interest rates in rich countries are fuelling massive fund flows into their markets, pushing up their currencies and inflating prices of stocks, property and other assets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101007/bs_nm/us_currencies

---

This is the carry trade, once again, making headlines and carrying the story without so much being said about it. The catchy phrase "hot money" obscures the meaning and impact of massive flows of capital into nations that do not have adequate protections against asset bubbles. We may take pride in the United States and Europe that we can recognize fairly easily when a bubble develops. The tangential impact of "hot money" flows and, ultimately, the carry trade can be felt in the reciprocal nature of global trading.

One currency weakens as others strengthen. This will push up the prices of commodities anywhere you find a lop-sided import based economy. Export based economies will see their export markets weaken. Money will naturally look for so-called safe havens that will, by nature, develop into bubbles.

In other words, everyone loses eventually.

[Po_d Mainiac]

11. volcanic cash?

new term for "hot money"

[Tansy_Gold]

36. +1000

I love puns!

:applause:

[Ghost Dog]

54. "Mongolian UFOs" was one I liked -

;) (no apostrophe, sure).

Hang on, where's the link... Oh, right: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9268161

[Roland99]

53. hmm...are currencies the next asset bubble?

Seems not too long ago we were talking about the yen unwinding. Now the USD is the carry-trade soup du jour.

The euro is not sound as a pound either.

[Po_d Mainiac]

70. good question eur/usd $1.40 just triggered something large

It's lhe CB'ers are standing in a circle kicking each other in the groins. The ladies hold a slight advantage. (geographically speaking)

Brazil just decided to try what failed for Japan vs the U$D, good luck with that. The Swiss tried and failed to prop the EUD....

China can probably nuke the world with a couple sell orders.

where & how does it end :shrug:

[ozymandius]

14. Explosive Growth in Food Stamp Usage

By Invictus at The Big Picture:

I came across a piece of research today that referenced the growing number of households (currently a whopping 19.4 million) participating in the nation’s food stamps program (the official name changed two years ago from food stamps to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)), and was a bit taken aback by what I read, so I went to check out the numbers for myself. The year-over-year (YoY) percent gains in the number of households participating in this program is staggering and, like the recent report on poverty in our country, saddening. Here’s a table sorted in descending order of YoY percent change in number of households participating...

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/10/explosive-growth-in-food-stamp-usage/

---

Food stamps are now equivalent to the Great Depression's soup kitchens.

[ozymandius]

16. G'bye for the day.

Work calls.

:hi:

[DemReadingDU]

21. Justice Department Investigates Foreclosures

10/7/10
Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department is investigating reports that mortgage lenders may have improperly evicted homeowners. Several of the nation's biggest lenders halted evictions after media reports showed that they were using so-called robo-signers to push through foreclosure paperwork.
Audio available appx 9am
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130395082


Feds to investigate foreclosures
The Justice Department will investigate foreclosure procedures after reports of incomplete or inaccurate paperwork, Attorney General Eric Holder says.

His announcement, during today's news conference about the arrests of Puerto Rican police, comes a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other California Democrats sent a letter calling for such a probe.

Holder said the investigation will be handled by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which includes officials from more than 20 federal agencies plus state and local authorities. Several states have launched their own investigations, with North Carolina joining in today.

Last week Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase announced they were halting tens of thousands of foreclosures in 23 states because of potential problems resulting from "robo-signers" — middle managers who signed documentation quickly without reviewing it.

In a statement to Bloomberg News, JPMorgan said bank officials "believe the accuracy of the factual loan information contained in the affidavits was not affected by whether or not the signer had personal knowledge of the precise details. The affidavits were prepared by appropriate personnel with knowledge of the relevant facts."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/10/feds-to-investigate-foreclosures/1

[DemReadingDU]

23. Ohio Attorney General Sues GMAC, Seeks $25,000 Per False Affidavit

10/6/10 Ohio Attorney General Sues GMAC, Seeks $25,000 Per False Affidavit
By: David Dayen Wednesday October 6, 2010 1:13 pm

This is big news. I just got off a conference call with Richard Cordray, the Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He has filed a lawsuit in Lucas County (Toledo) Common Pleas Court against GMAC Mortgage and their parent company Ally Financial, in a suit which names Jeffrey Stephan, the infamous “robo-signer” who signed off on up to 10,000 foreclosures a month across the country with affidavits, without verifying the information in the foreclosure documents. The lawsuit alleges fraud on the part of GMAC, along with violations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, in filing false affidavits to mislead the courts in what they describe as “hundreds” of Ohio foreclosure cases. And, the Attorney General is treating every single false affidavit filed in an Ohio court as a separate violation, with a fine of up to $25,000, plus additional restitution for the homeowner of an unspecified amount.

This is a major lawsuit, and as Cordray told reporters, “We’re at the beginning of this, not the middle or end, and we’ll see where it leads us.” For context, approximately 450,000 foreclosures have been filed in Ohio since 2005, and potentially all of them used this robo-signing process. At the outer edge of this, if every one of those foreclosure processes is seen as a single case of fraud, the fines for the entire lending industry would add up to $11.25 BILLION dollars, just in the state of Ohio, not including the extra restitution for homeowners.

more...
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/10/06/ohio-attorney-general-sues-gmac-seeks-25000-per-false-affidavit/

[Dr.Phool]

27. Not to worry.

That little "technicality" will be fixed any day now, as soon as the President signs it.

[DemReadingDU]

30. Too many 'technicalities'

There seem to be even more 'technicalities' to cover-up the 'technicalities'. At some point, it's all going to implode from the weight of all these 'technicalities'.

[Festivito]

29. Debt: 10/05/2010 13,624,352,674,172.79 (UP 7,097,117,816.75) (Tue)

(Up a little. Good day.)
Slept late, drove around.
(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)
= 9,018,180,023,701.53 + 4,606,172,650,471.26
UP 697,809,032.26 + UP 6,399,308,784.49

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 $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,221.50 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.66, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,414,592 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $43,890.83.
A family of three owes $131,672.48. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 32 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 8,591,341,044.77.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,300,316,766.16.
The average for the last 32 days would be 5,906,546,968.28.
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$/day.
There were 254 reports in 370 days of FY2011 averaging 6.75B$ per report, 4.63B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 838 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.8 and 18.6T$.
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)
10/05/2010 13,624,352,674,172.79 BHO (UP 2,997,475,625,259.71 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 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,062,729,643,281.00 ------------* BHO
Endof11 +120,580,963,998,740.00 ------------* * too many *s, will need a few more days * *

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
09/15/2010 +064,417,149,283.94 ------------**********
09/16/2010 -036,646,694,679.28 -
09/17/2010 -000,203,034,896.34 ---
09/20/2010 +000,019,446,813.89 ------------******* Mon
09/21/2010 +000,509,875,602.04 ------------********
09/22/2010 -000,022,020,658.96 ----
09/23/2010 -008,701,405,875.05 --
09/24/2010 +000,034,117,767.19 ------------*******
09/27/2010 -000,066,407,812.28 ---- Mon
09/28/2010 +001,463,391,855.14 ------------*********
09/29/2010 +000,391,315,850.35 ------------********
09/30/2010 +058,907,978,013.89 ------------**********
10/01/2010 -005,585,417,177.51 --
10/04/2010 +000,259,208,393.70 ------------******** Mon
10/05/2010 +000,697,809,032.26 ------------********

75,475,311,512.98 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=4565744&mesg_id=4565890

[Festivito]

96. Debt: 10/06/2010 13,624,678,196,435.07 (UP 325,522,262.28) (Wed)

(Up a little. Good day.)
Many state troopers on the way back from Constatine.
(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)
= 9,018,282,657,267.76 + 4,606,395,539,167.31
UP 102,633,566.23 + UP 222,888,696.05

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 $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,221.42 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.66, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,421,792 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $43,890.86.
A family of three owes $131,672.57. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 33 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 8,231,957,619.44.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,311,167,508.24.
The average for the last 33 days would be 5,737,425,007.49.
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$/day.
There were 255 reports in 371 days of FY2011 averaging 6.72B$ per report, 4.62B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 837 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.8 and 18.4T$.
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)
10/06/2010 13,624,678,196,435.07 BHO (UP 2,997,801,147,521.99 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 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,063,055,165,543.30 ------------* BHO
Endof11 +100,484,136,665,617.00 ------------* * Oh, that's too many stars * * *

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
09/16/2010 -036,646,694,679.28 -
09/17/2010 -000,203,034,896.34 ---
09/20/2010 +000,019,446,813.89 ------------******* Mon
09/21/2010 +000,509,875,602.04 ------------********
09/22/2010 -000,022,020,658.96 ----
09/23/2010 -008,701,405,875.05 --
09/24/2010 +000,034,117,767.19 ------------*******
09/27/2010 -000,066,407,812.28 ---- Mon
09/28/2010 +001,463,391,855.14 ------------*********
09/29/2010 +000,391,315,850.35 ------------********
09/30/2010 +058,907,978,013.89 ------------**********
10/01/2010 -005,585,417,177.51 --
10/04/2010 +000,259,208,393.70 ------------******** Mon
10/05/2010 +000,697,809,032.26 ------------********
10/06/2010 +000,102,633,566.23 ------------********

11,160,795,795.27 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=4567099&mesg_id=4567212

[Roland99]

33. Futures - sending some mexed missages.

S&P 500 1,156 +0.50 +0.04%
DOW 10,888 -18.00 -0.17%
NASDAQ 2,002 -2.75 -0.14%

[xchrom]

38. recommend

[DemReadingDU]

39. Jim Quinn: Consumer Deleveraging = Commercial Real Estate Collapse

10/6/10 Jim Quinn: Consumer Deleveraging = Commercial Real Estate Collapse

Yves here. I did a small study for a then midlevel, now top level Russian oligarch in the early 1990s who bought a US retail chain. It wasn’t exactly the most astute purchase. One of the factoids I came across in assisting him in figuring out how to scrub it up for resale was the proliferation of retail store space. As of then, it had increased considerably over the 1980s to 27 square feet per capita. Compare this with the figures in Quinn’s piece that follows.

By Jim Quinn, who writes at The Burning Platform

There is a Part 2 to the story of Consumer Deleveraging that will play out over the next decade. Consumers will deleverage because they must. They have no choice. Boomers have come to the shocking realization that you can’t get wealthy or retire by borrowing and spending. As consumers buy $500 billion less stuff per year, retailers across the land will suffer. To give some perspective on our consumer society, here are a few facts:

* There are 105,000 shopping centers in the U.S. In comparison, all of Europe has only 5,700 shopping centers.
* There are 1.2 million retail establishments in the U.S. per the Census Bureau.
* There is 14.2 BILLION square feet of retail space in the U.S. This is 46 square feet per person in the U.S., compared to 2 square feet per capita in India, 1.5 square feet per capita in Mexico, 23 square feet per capita in the United Kingdom, 13 square feet per capita in Canada, and 6.5 square feet per capita in Australia.

Despite the ongoing recession and the fact that consumers must reduce their spending over the next decade, irrationally exuberant retail CEOs continue their death march of store openings. Below are announced expansion plans for some major retailers:

* GameStop – 400 new stores
* Walgreens – 350 new stores
* Dollar General – 315 new stores
* Ashley Furniture – 300 new stores
* Target – 128 new stores
* Starbucks – 100 new stores
* Best Buy – 55 new stores
* Kohl’s – 50 new stores
* Lowes – 45 new stores

Retailers expanding into an oversaturated retail market in the midst of a Depression, when anyone without rose colored glasses can see that Americans must dramatically cut back, are committing a fatal mistake. The hubris of these CEOs will lead to the destruction of their companies and the loss of millions of jobs. They will receive their fat bonuses and stock options right up until the day they are shown the door.

All of the happy talk from the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the other mainstream media about commercial real estate bottoming out is a load of bull. It seems these highly paid “financial journalists” are incapable of doing anything but parroting each other and looking in the rearview mirror. Sound analysis requires you to look at the facts, make reasonable assumptions about the future and report the likely outcome. Based on this criteria, there is absolutely no chance that commercial real estate has bottomed. There are years of pain, writeoffs and bankruptcies to go.

lots more, graphs and charts too
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/10/jim-quinn-consumer-deleveraging-commercial-real-estate-collapse.html



There was 27 square feet of retail space per capita in the 1980s. Today, it is 46 square feet. Yikes!

[florida08]

40. Currency wars threaten global economic recovery

Manipulating their currencies has become governments' new weapon in the battle for economic recovery.

In recent months a string of countries, from Japan to Switzerland, Colombia to Israel, have tried to drive down the value of their currencies. Some experts call it "competitive devaluation".

Others, though, argue that it is nothing short of a currency war - and far from boosting global recovery, it threatens to undermine it.

So concerned are policymakers that the issue looks set to dominate talks on Friday at a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which hosts the meeting in Washington, set out the concerns in the Financial Times on Tuesday.

"There is clearly the idea beginning to circulate that currencies can be used as a policy weapon.

"Translated into action, such an idea would represent a very serious risk to the global recovery," he said.
.......

Hot money

Although America sees itself as a victim of global currency intervention, many people argue that its own policies are the cause.

The governor of Taiwan's central bank, Perng Fai-Nan, said last month: "The US printed a lot of money, so there's a lot of hot money flowing around. We see hot money in Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia.

"These short-term capital flows are disturbing emerging economies," he said.

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel economics laureate, agrees: "The irony is that they created all this liquidity... It's doing nothing for the American economy, but it's causing chaos over the rest of the world."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11484532

Morning everyone. We got our first cool break this week here. The grass has actually declined at it's normal growing rate. We may even get to skip the week's mow. But the weeds in the political races are unyielding. Midterms are as exciting as getting your yearly Publsher House sweepstakes entry. Crist and Meek are splitting the moderates while the lockstep pelicans are pushing Rubio ahead. Rubio bumper stumpers are everywhere. Then we have thing 1 and thing 2 for the guber race. You can choose from corporate medicare fraud or the BofA/SBA pension fraud but nowhere is there an item called 'none of the above'...

[Dr.Phool]

42. Isn't it nice to be able to open the windows again?

Now, if we could just open our doors, and throw our Florida politicians out.

[florida08]

44. it sure is Dr.

we actually might have a cool halloween this year for the kids. I don't think I can stand another republican advocating smaller government and tax cuts to create jobs without just shooting him. Do rubber bullets count as an attempt on life?

[Dr.Phool]

47. Just to be safe, use a rubber mallet instead.

[Roland99]

55. 3rd day in a row with the windows open. And, hey, can we at least keep Grayson?

[Dr.Phool]

61. By all means. And maybe Kathy Castor.

The rest, Pfffft.

[Ghost Dog]

60. Notice how the BBC doesn't like to mention the devaluation of GBP,

the pound Sterling itself. Very early. Which is precisely why mainland UK will always operate its own currency and not, for example, ever join the Euro (which is fine for others).

[fedsron2us]

87. The UK runs a huge current account deficit with its EU partners

even after the pound tumbled by 25% so could hardly be accused of running a beggar thy neighbour trade policy against the rest of Europe. It would be nearer the truth to say that the UK government uses devaluation as a means of quietly defaulting on some of its debt. There are more than a few people in Ireland Greece etc at the moment who wish they could do the same.

[Ghost Dog]

68. ECB warns of disruptive FX moves, holds policy

FRANKFURT, Oct 7 (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet joined an increasingly tense global debate over currencies on Thursday with his strongest warning against market volatility in almost a year.

Trichet told a news conference that sudden swings in foreign exchange were harmful to growth and that exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals, a pointed reference to countries intervening to keep their currencies low.

But he stopped well short of full-blown verbal intervention, eschewing the word 'brutal' to describe currency moves -- his favoured expression when relaying displeasure -- and the euro shed earlier gains after briefly spiking during his speech.

How to nip a currency war in the bud will top the agenda for world leaders at the Group of Seven and IMF meetings starting on Friday, where the issue of influencing exchange rates is pitching economically fragile rich nations against faster growing emerging economies.

/... http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-10/18178148-update-5-ecb-warns-of-disruptive-fx-moves-holds-policy-020.htm

[Ghost Dog]

69. Bank of England holds record-low interest rates

AFP - The Bank of England held interest rates at a record low level of 0.50 percent on Thursday for the 19th month running, as it struggles to nurture recovery, but opted against pumping out more cash.

...

The BoE maintained its bond-purchasing programme, widely known as quantitative easing (QE), and under which it had injected about 200 billion pounds (242 billion euros, 308 billion dollars) into the economy.

...

"The Bank of England and ECB both behaved as expected by keeping interest rates and all other aspects of monetary policy unchanged at their October policy meetings," IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer told AFP.

"The BoE is coming under increasing pressure to revive QE in reaction to slowing UK growth and ongoing tight credit conditions, but most MPC members seem reluctant to do this for now at least, given stubbornly high consumer price inflation."

He added: "The ECB had already extended some of its emergency liquidity measures for banks to the end of the year at its September meeting, so was never likely to do anything."

/... http://www.france24.com/en/20101007-bank-england-holds-record-low-interest-rates

[Demeter]

50. Krugman Frustrated

http://www.truth-out.org/krugman-frustrated63920



...Endless debates between the two sides are spectacles of mass distraction: political theater about "overcoming the economic crisis." As their relative political strengths shift, public policy oscillates between the two sides. Bush did relatively little in 2007 and 2008; his advisers were devotees of permitting "creative destruction." When the downturn deepened, widened, and threatened to spin out of control, many of those same advisers switched into Keynesian interventionists. Obama kept them to do more of the same. Krugman was hopeful. Once "recovery" seemed underway during 2009 and early 2010, the political strength shifted back toward FCRR, Obama's commitment to Keynesianism weakened, and Krugman began to panic.

All the while, below the surface of these debates, the actual economy proceeds through its cycle in typical capitalist fashion. Enduring high unemployment, home foreclosures, and stagnant production have kept downward pressure on wages, benefits, and the non-human costs of private business (falling costs of second-hand equipment, rents, etc.). Eventually, these will fall far enough to project possibilities for profit sufficiently attractive to coax new investments from capitalists. Then the usual upswing may take hold. However, the amount of time, suffering, and criticism of the economy involved in that "eventually" may generate social tensions and movements that need to be contained. This will then require renewing Keynesian interventions. Then FCRR perspectives will resume the status of loyal opposition and wait again for "recovery" to regroup its forces and return to power.

It is not one side or the other that optimally secures the underlying capitalist system against its instabilities. It is rather the public oscillation between them that best performs that task. Similarly, it is neither Republicans nor Democrats that best protect the government's subordination to the capitalist organization of the economy. That task is rather achieved above all by oscillations between them, by making each the only available political antidote for the failings of the other.

Arguments that capitalism is the problem and that an alternative system is the solution are rarely heard. Mass media, the politicians, FCRR, and Paul Krugman are aligned to maintain that silence. Yet, in a strange twist, the alternative of socialism has resurfaced yet again. Tea Party types, specialists in that American tendency to blame economic problems first and foremost on the government, criticize Obama and his policies as "socialist." Because Obama's enemies introduce the term, his many remaining supporters, especially the young, have begun to inquire about this "socialism." It is genuine interest (rather than guilt) by association. In countless venues, we now face friendly questions about socialism and what socialist responses to capitalism's crisis would entail. The US left now has an historic moment of real opportunity.

Rick Wolff is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. He is the author of New Departures in Marxian Theory (Routledge, 2006) among many other publications. Check out Rick Wolff’s documentary film on the current economic crisis, Capitalism Hits the Fan.

[Demeter]

51. Cash-Strapped States Resurrect "Debtors' Prisons"

http://www.truth-out.org/punishing-poor-being-poor63949

Two reports published by NYU's Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reveal a rising trend of patently unconstitutional practices in cash-strapped states, where a growing number of impoverished people are jailed for being unable to pay their legal fees - including charges for use of public defenders, a guaranteed right in the United States. The resurgence of these draconian "debtors' prisons" has been documented in at least 13 of the 15 states with the largest prison populations in the country, including California, Arizona, Michigan and Alabama...


Judge Calvin Johnson, who served for 17 years in the Criminal District Court or Orleans Parish, said that regularly sentencing defendants in a "fine or time" method could have cost the city more than it collected. "30 days or $100 - that was something I heard every day," said Johnson in the ACLU report. "Now, how can you describe a system where the city pays $23 a day to the Sheriff to house someone in jail for 30 days to collect $100 as anything other than crazy?"


...As noted in the Brennan Center report, several states have also started to utilize practices that violate the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees defendants a right to counsel. Florida, North Carolina and Virginia have all implemented mandatory defender fees and provide no opportunity to waive them for indigent cases.

According to the report, "defender fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney - leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts. In Michigan, for example, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found that the threat of paying the full cost of assigned counsel resulted in misdemeanor defendants systematically waiving their right to counsel - at a rate of 95 percent in one county." In Virginia, defendants often face up to $1,235 per count for some felonies.

The Brennan Center recommends that states eliminate public defender fees and offer community service programs that build job skills, among other state and local policy reforms; the ACLU similarly recommends that a judicial assessment of a convicted defendant's ability to pay fines must be comprehensive.

[nc4bo]

57. $23 to Sheriff, $100 or 30 days in jail and just how much to house the inmates again?

Incredibly Stupid. Lame. More Stupid.

But you know what? It's just another way the overlords can punish the with-outs and they'll get away with it as long as they can and as long as our lovely corporate owned government allows them to get away with it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the biggest with-outs find themselves in real prisons so the states can use them for cheap labor.

Disgusting.

[Demeter]

65. China, Here We Come

Now the court put my ex in jail for contempt when he refused to offer a plan for paying overdue child support--bad luck wearing a Rolex to the hearing! He had to plead with his second wife to get the money so he could get out....

[Demeter]

56. The Economic Hit Man Confesses Again: An Interview With John Perkins

http://www.truth-out.org/the-economic-hit-man-confesses-again-an-interview-with-john-perkins63885

...Everything that I talk about obviously happened - the assassination of Roldos of Ecuador and Torrijos of Panama is pretty well known throughout Latin America. You can ask people in the Dominican Republic, I'm sure that most people who were alive at that time in Latin America realized that it was an assassination. And there's tremendous amounts of evidence. And there was no question that economic hit men were talking to those two people along with many others. Every incident I talk about in my books happened. You can verify it. The only question might be, was I actually one of the economic hit men there? And my passport proves that I was in those countries at the time. So, there's a lot of evidence.

Bechtel Corporation wrote a letter setting up a lawsuit against me, saying that they wanted us to remove their name and portions of the book that refer to Bechtel. Other organizations did something similar. We gave them the backup information that I had - my files are extensive. So we told them that if they continued to try to blackmail us, we would write an addendum to the next edition of the book exposing the fact that they were trying to get us to change things that are facts. They never filed a lawsuit, they never gave us more trouble. The evidence is all there; I have no problem at all substantiating it if people really want to dig, like Bechtel did and The New York Times did. But most people, I think, have a real sense that these things go on anyway, and so the book just confirms what they already suspected.

While discussing modern robber barons in "Hoodwinked," you write that "from a purely economic perspective, philanthropy is inefficient. A person who has accumulated billions of dollars and in doing so has caused others to lose their jobs, closed the doors of small businesses, or ravaged the environment, and then donates a small percentage of his fortune to correcting those problems or to the arts, would have served the world far better by making fewer profits while increasing employment, supporting small businesses, and insisting that his executives practice good environmental stewardship." This is such a critical point that even most educated people don't recognize. Why haven't universities made this point clear, and how can we ensure that the next generation will learn this obvious and important point?

I do all I can do, which is when I'm at universities and this question comes up I say exactly that, and I talk to university professors and have told them they should point that out. So it seems to me that it's something that ought to be part of business school curricula, particularly, but of course I have no control over what Wharton or Stanford or Cornell or any of the other business schools teach. All I can do is, every chance I get, I say these things. I also want to say that although I come down pretty hard on these kinds of philanthropists - people like Bill Gates today, and in the past, the Carnegies, and so on - I also recognize that once someone has done the things they've done and perhaps sees the light, has a change of heart, that I certainly honor the fact that they are trying to somehow redeem themselves by giving some of the money back, and so I certainly do encourage that, too. After all, I did some pretty bad things in my life as an economic hit man and now I'm working to turn things around, to try to change those very things. So I think it is important that if people have done things that are not the best for the world, that if they realize their mistakes, we do everything we can to encourage them to give back as much as they can. However, it would be far better if they had worked hard in the beginning to do the socially and environmentally responsible things, as I write in the book. So all I can do is encourage that in my writings and in my speeches and I hope more and more business schools will teach that, too.

[skoalyman]

58. looks like gold and silvers selling off

some ones making a profit.:shrug:

[Po_d Mainiac]

71. Looks to be due more to the currency plays..maybe

and pocketing some profit

I wouldn't be surprised if today's close is back up near yesterday's finish.

CB interventions are starting to fade faster than a pair of denims in battery acid.

[Demeter]

59. Wall Street's Global Race to the Bottom by: Robert Reich

Having created giant loopholes in the Dodd-Frank law recently passed by Congress (keeping “customized” derivatives underground, for example), fighting off attempts to cap the size of the biggest banks, and keeping capital requirements relatively modest, Wall Street is now busily whittling back the rest through regulations.

Squadrons of lawyers and lobbyists are now pressing the Treasury, Comptroller of the Currency, SEC, and the Fed to go even easier on the Street. Their main argument is if regulations are too tight, the big banks will be less competitive internationally. Translated: They’ll move more of their business to London and Frankfurt, where regulations will be looser.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is warning Europeans that if their financial regulations are too tight, the big banks will move more of their business to the US, where regulations will be looser...



So the race to the bottom is now official. Wall Street will set up its casino wherever financial gambling is least regulated.

http://www.truth-out.org/robert-reich-wall-streets-global-race-bottom63912

[florida08]

74. lol..I just bet they are

Meanwhile, Wall Street is warning Europeans that if their financial regulations are too tight, the big banks will move more of their business to the US, where regulations will be looser


EU set to clamp down on bankers’ pay
European regulators are poised to impose much tougher restrictions on bankers’ pay than expected, in spite of concerns raised by French, UK and Spanish officials that the rules could make the European Union uncompetitive, people familiar with the talks said.

[wordpix]

90. Robert Reich should be Obama's #1 financial advisor

I don't know enough about the workings of the governmental finance system to say whether that's Treasury Dept head or some other position, but I do know this guy speaks sense, is brilliant and I have confidence in him.

[TalkingDog]

64. Bernanke's Oct. 4 speech.

http://federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20101004a.htm


I really don't think anybody is actually listening or reading to anybody else, otherwise the markets would be vomiting with fear.

[florida08]

67. U.S. companies buy back stock in droves as they hold record levels of cash

For months, companies have been sitting on the sidelines with record piles of cash, too nervous to spend. Now they're starting to deploy some of that money - not to hire workers or build factories, but to prop up their share prices.

Sitting on these unprecedented levels of cash, U.S. companies are buying back their own stock in droves. So far this year, firms have announced they will purchase $273 billion of their own shares, more than five times as much compared with this time last year, according to Birinyi Associates, a stock market research firm. But the rise in buybacks signals that many companies are still hesitant to spend their cash on the job-generating activities that could produce economic growth....

A share buyback is a quick way to make a stock more attractive to Wall Street. It improves a closely watched metric known as earnings per share, which divides a company's profit by the total number of shares on the market.

Such a move can produce a sudden burst of interest in a stock, improving its price.

Among the biggest buybacks so far this year: Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest maker of personal computers, said in August it would spend $10 billion buying its shares. Its shares rose 1.5 percent after the announcement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100606772_pf.html

[Papa Boule]

81. Window dressing. That's not good.

n/t

[florida08]

82. capitalism at it's finest

[Papa Boule]

84. What's the opposite of a flash crash? Well, one happened...

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/adobe-flash-smash

[florida08]

86. LOL

Drinks are on them..love that first response

I'll have an Unhalting on the Rocks with a lime twist..sell sell sell

[TheWatcher]

88. WTF Quote of the day from the Meadow.

"Buy That Apple Stock, Kids."

People are going to feel really stupid for cheerleading this whole, corrupt mess when it finally comes to a grinding halt.

Instead of Bread Lines, we have iPhone lines.

Gimcrack Nation.

:crazy:

[wordpix]

89. seems really high priced to me, especially when the operating system

is rather hard to operate. I'm buying a new laptop soon and I find Windows much easier to deal with. It took a college student and me (both pretty good brains) several minutes to figure out how to make a new folder on her Apple laptop. We also could not figure out how to put a folder on the loading dock for easy access. We tried that for 10 min. I'm sure with a manual we could have figured it out but with Windows, you don't need a manual for such easy operations.

[hamerfan]

91. "figure out how to put a folder on the loading dock"

Pie and cake. Drag and Drop, to the right side of the dock line. Not too hard.
Apple stock is way overvalued, IMHO, but so is most of the rest of the stock market.
hamerfan

[hamerfan]

92. "It took a college student and me (both pretty good brains) several minutes...

to figure out how to make a new folder on her Apple laptop."
Pie and cake. Click on the desktop. File>New Folder.

[ozymandius]

94. Why buy APPL? Seriously.

That sounds like the rallying cry for someone who earns 25¢ for every share sold.