STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, April 11, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday April 11, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 8, 2011

Dow 12,380.05 -29.44 (-0.24%)
Nasdaq 2,780.42 -15.72 (-0.57%)
S&P 500 1,328.17 -5.34 (-0.40%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.59 +0.01 (+0.20%)
30-Year Bond 4.65 +0.01 (+0.24%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

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

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. No reports today. nt

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil below $112 but remains near 30-month highs

Oil prices dropped below $112 a barrel Monday but remained near 30-month highs, as traders continued to eye developments in the Middle East and ongoing weakness in the U.S. dollar.

By midday in Europe, benchmark crude for May delivery was down 94 cents at $111.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract jumped $2.49 to $112.79, the highest since September 2008.

In London, Brent crude for May delivery was down $1.06 to $125.59 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Oil prices have soared about 33 percent since mid-February as traders worry about the impact on crude supplies from the uprisings in the Arab world, most recently in Libya.

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

[StarburstClock]

41. Demand keeps falling, prices keep rising = Complete Corruption

Everyday I guess how much longer people will take the systemic crime we are subjected to in every walk of life.

[hamerfan]

47. Good question, SC

I have no idea about others, but sometimes I wonder how much longer I can take it...
The new normal....

[Demeter]

49. I Figure Ten Years, Max

And I'm hoping a lot less than that....

[Po_d Mainiac]

68. Nope...World consumption is actually growing

At the same time emerging economies are consuming more oil, the purchasing power of the U$D is getting crushed as the bernank continues to attempt inflating the banksters into solvency.

[Demeter]

74. Going to Need a New Form of Justice for Economic Crimes Against Humanity

and Uncle Ben should be the first defendant. Also Paulson, Geithner, Rubin, Summers....

I wouldn't bother going after the small fry sock puppets like Obama. But W, by virtue of his family ties, would be fair game. Clinton? Him yes, her, no.

[tclambert]

97. The sign at the local gasolineum said $3.95/gallon.

Almost to $4. The guys at Exxon Mobil must be grinning great happy grins.

[xchrom]

3. recommend

glad to see you back PBD -- hope you're feeling better.:hi:

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. Everything should be back to normal now.

Well, not the stock market, but this thread, anyway. I'm over the flu and I have my computer back. Thank you Demeter and everyone for keeping this thread running while I was down last week. :thumbsup:

[Demeter]

12. yw

[hamerfan]

14. Great to hear, PBD!

Thanks for being here.
K&R!
hamerfan

[Po_d Mainiac]

28. Hmm..The new normal? n/t

[DemReadingDU]

35. Glad you are feeling better

The true influenza is nasty, lasting 5 days or more. It is something when you get it, that you know it is the flu and not a 24-hour bug. And the flu is something you always remember that you have had it.

December 1968 Hong Kong flu, I will never forget that.

[Demeter]

36. Me either

I vomited down the stairs to the bathroom. I was rather young...

[DemReadingDU]

40. Holiday break from college

and I was in bed for 5 days, alternating between chills and fever, no appetite, and the most god-awful headache.
Nasty stuff.

The only other time I have had that kind of 5-day influenza was in February 2002. It was weird because my sister in Indiana also had it at the same time, and I hadn't seen her for months.

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. Stocks Drop in Europe, U.S. Futures Little Changed; Yen Weakens, Oil Falls

Stocks declined in Europe from a one-month high and the yen strengthened after an earthquake hit Japan. U.S. index futures were little changed before Alcoa Inc. (AA) reports earnings, while energy led commodities lower.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.3 percent at 6:35 a.m. in New York and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.2 percent. The yen appreciated against all but two of 16 most- traded peers, while the euro weakened 0.2 percent versus the dollar. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose one basis point. The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities slipped 0.4 percent, with oil down 0.6 percent and natural gas dropping 0.9 percent.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit Japan’s Tohoku region, southwest of Iwaki, the latest aftershock to strike the country following the March 11 disaster that killed more than 27,300 and caused radiation leaks at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, is due to announce quarterly results after the close of New York trading today, unofficially marking the start of the earnings season.

The quake “is bad news,” said Jacques Porta, a Paris- based fund manager at Ofi Patrimoine, who helps oversee about $425 million in stocks. “It can weigh on the market in the short term.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-11/commodities-gain-as-treasuries-drop-on-global-growth-signs-dollar-rises.html

[xchrom]

6. Cloud Computing in Banking, the Big Debate

http://thefinanser.co.uk/fsclub/2011/04/cloud-computing-in-banking-the-big-debate.html

Gartner estimate cloud computing will grow from a market worth $36 billion in 2009 to over $160 billion by 2015, with around a fifth of all firms relying on the cloud for significant parts of their technology operations by 2012.

A recent FS Club debate on the current state of cloud computing for the financial services industry drew an oversubscribed and enthusiastic audience of over 130 attendees. Cloud computing is hot, but what was the interest and why?

Cloud computing in financial services has been discussed for a while now, but has only just got onto the mainstream agenda thanks to the increasing adoption of cost saving ‘as a service’ software such as Salesforce.com.

Compared to two years ago when the FS Club surveyed over 200 financial professionals worldwide and found financial institutions still lacked a clear vision and way forward in the cloud.

Today, there is a wide range of applications from general hardware clouds, application clouds for CRM, HR, and financial management to specific banking applications. For example mint.com brought Personal Financial Management to sizable community of five million users using Software-as–a-Service as its business model and offering.

[Demeter]

10. the Condo Association Is Trying Out Cloud Computing

We are trying to change our bookkeeping into Quickbooks on line. The only disadvantage aside from theft (who would want to steal this info, anyway) or catastrophic loss of data (we have backup ready to do daily) is:

What happens if the web or the cloud program goes down?

I don't get a satisfactory answer to this. "Wait for it to come back up" isn't a good option. I keep trying to convince everyone that we need our own copy of the software in the event we are cut off from the ouside world, so we can keep the books going.

I'm not getting far with the bean counters. They have far more trust in computers than my engineering knowledge and experiences warrant.

[xchrom]

13. and it will go down. -- you're a savvy woman demeter.

stay on them about the back up.

[snot]

50. There's LOTS to be concerned about re- the Cloud

The net has been so resilient because it's distributed across lots of computers, rather than being centralized.

The Cloud makes it enormously easier for oligarchs to concentrate control over both hardware and software. Entry may be cheap now, but wait 'til we're more dependent on them. You won't have the choice as to whether to "upgrade," what to pay for services, etc.

Also, the more we depend on the Cloud, the easier we make it for big bros. to surveille us, alter records, etc.

[Demeter]

7. PBD Lives! Welcome Back!

Whew!

[xchrom]

8. Keep the Mortgage, Switch the House

http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/kahr-keep-the-mortgage-switch-the-house-1035486-1.html

Our financial system is tested by its ability to resolve contradictions. For instance, banks hold loans and other illiquid assets against short-term liabilities such as deposits. But, after many highly destructive crises, that contradiction was resolved by legislation creating the Federal Reserve System, to provide liquidity for good bank assets. It's profitable.

Another contradiction is "Your home is your biggest investment." Purchase of a home is not an investment decision, it is a means of obtaining and controlling your family's housing. If you reach this goal by putting 0% or even 10% down, then you're primarily investing someone else's money — in the world's largest accumulation of illiquid assets.

We can't much change the preference of households to own their homes. And ownership is the obvious way to vindicate individual choices about maintenance and enhancement of residences — choices that can substantially affect their value and are not consistent with rental.

However, the consequence of this is that with home prices declining from 2006 onward, over 20% of homes are now estimated to have a lower liquidating value than the balance on the mortgages they secure. In some areas, as many as a third of the homes are "underwater."

[xchrom]

9. Mortgage Brokers, It's Time to Get Real

http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/baxter-mortgage-brokers-responsibility-1035219-1.html

Depending on whose version of the story you read, in 1929 either Joe Kennedy, James Pierpont Morgan or Bernard Baruch is reported to have said that he knew it was time to get out of the stock market when his shoeshine boy started giving him stock tips. I should have known in 2006 that we were about to have the greatest financial crash since the Depression when my pool boy announced that he was making his last visit to my home because he was off to join his friend in Florida as a mortgage broker.

This week the mortgage brokerage industry is up in arms about the Fed's new broker pay rules. Broker trade groups are attempting to enjoin the new rules in court and they are predicting all kinds of dire consequences for the nation. Yet an article reporting these reactions in Wednesday's American Banker <"Broker Pay Rules Forcing Banks to Play the 'Bad Cop' "> draws all the wrong conclusions. The story opens with the statement that "lenders are realizing — sadly — they will have to police their brokers," a statement that, in the aftermath of the financial crisis and the substantial contribution to that crisis by out-of-control mortgage lending, is quite extraordinary.

And so the grumbling continues. Among the litany of complaints appears the stunning revelation that the new rules require a "delicate balance between what you make in profit and the amount you need to pay loan officers to be competitive." Welcome to the world of competition!

[xchrom]

11. Sun Pharma, Merck's India unit announce generic drug's pact

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/sun-pharma-mercks-india-unit-announce-generic-drugs-pact_535512.html#

ndian drug major Sun Pharma has entered into a manufacturing and marketing tie-up with US pharma firm Merck & Co, reports CNBC-TV18.

The joint venture with Sun Pharma is aimed at developing, manufacturing and sale of generic drugs in emerging markets, says Merck.

[Demeter]

15. Tax Cuts for the Rich on the Backs of the Middle Class; or, Paul Ryan Has Balls

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/tax-cuts-for-the-rich-on-the-backs-of-the-middle-class-or-paul-ryan-has-balls-20110407

MATT TAIBBI STRIKES AGAIN!

[xchrom]

16. Nifty ends below 5800 on disappointing IIP nos

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/local-markets/nifty-ends-below-5800disappointing-iip-nos_535492.html

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses on Monday for the fourth consecutive session. Lower than expected industrial output data and rising crude oil prices led the investors as well as traders to get into major profit booking today.

The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 56.30 points or 0.96%, to settle at 5,785.7 as more than 35 shares declined out of 50. Oil & gas, auto, realty, metal, select financial and technology companies' shares dragged the markets down.

The biggest negative right now is the crude price, says Sanjiv Patni of Prabhudas Lilladher. "Unless we see resolution on that count it is going to be impacting the sentiment in the market." London Brent crude was trading around USD 125.5 a barrel, down more than a dollar.

"A lot will depend upon how the flows pan out actually going forward. I do not really think market is going to correct a lot from here. It will be more or less remain range bound for some time until we have the complete feel of what are the factors which are going to be playing out."

[xchrom]

17. Economy more rate sensitive than before: Credit Suisse

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fii-view/economy-more-rate-sensitive-than-before-credit-suisse_535413.html

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, Head of India & South East Asia Economics, Credit Suisse, in an interview on CNBC-TV18 gave his expectations on the IIP number.

Below is a verbatim transcript of his interview with CNBC-TV18’s Udayan Mukherjee and Mitali Mukherjee. For the complete interview watch the accompanying video.

Q: Yours is about the most circumspect expectation at 3.4%. Why do you think the number could be as low as that because most others are veering close to that 5% mark?

A: It is a reflection of what we had over the two previous months. If we look at this on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, both December and January on our numbers saw quite a powerful month-on-month rise.

[xchrom]

18. Boom & gloom phases here to stay, says Marc Faber

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fii-view/boomgloom-phases-here-to-stay-says-marc-faber_535423.html

nvestment guru Marc Faber says the boom and gloom phases will continue across the asset classes.

"Asset markets move up and down and they go from a rising phase into boom phase. Then to a collapse and the people are gloomy and there is gloom and doom around and then the markets poke them out and then the whole process starts again," he says.

Faber says, as an investor, one has to realise occasionally markets are overvalued and occasionally they are undervalued.


:eyes:

[xchrom]

19. Bad Credit: How Payday Lenders Evade Regulation

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150556/bad_credit%3A_how_payday_lenders_evade_regulation_

The following article first appeared in The Nation magazine. For more great content from The Nation, sign up for their email newsletters here.

Sam Black woke up one morning not long after retiring to Charleston, South Carolina, with chest pains he didn’t realize would change his life. He took a shower and ate breakfast before his wife, Elsie, got him out the door to see his heart doctor. Within hours, the doctor cracked Sam’s chest open to do a triple bypass.

“They had the surgery early that morning,” Elsie recalls, piecing together the fragmented memory of someone who has survived a sudden trauma. Sam made it through the first operation all right, but later that night the hospital called Elsie. “We gonna have to take your husband back to surgery,” she says they told her. “Something went wrong.”

[xchrom]

20. Is There Such a Thing as 'Ethical Oil'? Canada Claims it Has Lots and the US Is Buying It

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150448/is_there_such_a_thing_as_%27ethical_oil%27_canada_claims_it_has_lots_and_the_us_is_buying_it


To get to the quaint village of Fort McKay in the far north of Alberta, Canada, you first have to pass through some version of hell.

Perched on the western shore of the Athabasca River, Ft. McKay is home to about 650 people, mostly Aboriginals from the Cree and Dene nations, with a smattering of Métis. The houses wind along the river bluff and spiral back toward the thick stands of fir that are shrouded in snow much of the year. A few log cabins are still around, but most of the homes are new: split level houses with all-weather siding in a few standard colors -- white with blue trim, grey with maroon trim, beige. During the first week of January, many people still had their Christmas lights up, a postcard accompaniment to the puffs of smoke rising from the chimneys.

A generation ago, the trees at the edge of Ft. McKay continued unbroken into the wilderness. Today, the woods go only a short distance before hitting the interruptions of the oil industry -- roads, power lines, smokestacks, and long lakes of hazardous waste surrounded by barbed wire. Ft. McKay sits at the center of the region’s tar sands deposits, and for dozens of miles around the town the forest has been stripped bare. At Suncor’s Steepbank/Millenium mine, humungous earthmovers chug through an arid moonscape, their loaders packed with black sand. At Syncrude’s upgrader -- an enormous complex that transforms ore into synthetic petroleum -- clouds of steam envelop a superstructure of pipes and tanks. Towers tipped with flame punctuate the pall of smoke. The scene resembles a city on fire.

[Demeter]

21. Legal action looms as Icelanders vote No

Britain and the Netherlands have vowed to take Iceland to court over €4bn lost in the failed Icesave bank after a deal to repay the money was rejected for second time

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/HDMX5W/HI3M9/72B1ZB/RNI6NS/GX/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=11

ONE HAS TO WONDER ON WHAT GROUNDS THEY WOULD FILE SUIT...

[xchrom]

26. it's a wonder.

what are they gonna do bomb them if the citizens want the people who broke it to pay instead of them?

[girl gone mad]

32. They haven't got much grounds.

Here's Michael Hudson writing at http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2011/04/why-iceland-voted-no.html">Credit Writedowns:

"So the Icesave problem will now go to the courts. The relevant EU directive states “that the cost of financing such schemes must be borne, in principle, by credit institutions themselves.” As priority claimants Britain and the Netherlands will indeed get the lion’s share of what is left from the Landsbanki corpse. That was not the issue before Iceland’s voters. They simply aimed at saving Iceland from an open-ended obligation to take the bank’s losses onto the public balance sheet without a clear plan of just how Iceland is to get the money to pay."

[Demeter]

33. Dutch minister gets tough with Iceland

Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager has responded to the rejection by Icelandic voters of a deal to compensate victims of the Icesave fiasco. “I’m very disappointed that the Icesave agreement has been rejected. That’s not good either for Iceland or the Netherlands,” he commented on Sunday.

However, he added that the time for negotiations was over. “Iceland must honour its commitment to pay us back. It’s now up to the courts to decide the case.”

http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-minister-gets-tough-iceland

[Demeter]

46. Will Iceland Vote “No” Or Commit Financial Suicide? By Michael Hudson

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27851.htm

THE VOTE IS OVER, BUT THE ANALYSIS IS STILL USEFUL TO KNOW


...The EU’s nightmare is that voters may wake up in the same way that Argentina finally did when it announced that the neoliberal advice it had taken from U.S. and IMF advisors had destroyed the economy so much that it could not pay. As matters turned out, it had little trouble in imposing a 70% write-down on foreign creditors. Its economy is now booming – because it became credit-worthy again, once it freed itself from its financial albatross!

Much the same occurred in Latin America and other Third World countries after Mexico announced that it could not pay its foreign debts in 1982. A wave of defaults spread – inspiring negotiated debt write-downs in the form of Brady Bonds. U.S. and other creditors calculated what debtors realistically could pay, and replaced the old irresponsible bank loans with new bonds. The United States and IMF members applauded the write-downs as a success story.

[Demeter]

22. State prosecutor summons Mubarak

The Egyptian state prosecutor has summoned Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president to face questioning over the killing of protesters and embezzlement of funds

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/HDMX5W/HI3M9/72B1ZB/9Z8EZ2/GX/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=11

[xchrom]

23. Obama Team Is Oddly Quiet About Evidence That Renewable Energy Beats Nuclear in Job Creation

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150546/obama_team_is_oddly_quiet_about_evidence_that_renewable_energy_beats_nuclear_in_job_creation

On the heels of President Obama's big energy speech and in the wake of the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, the Obama administration -- along with many members of Congress and the nuclear industry -- remains steadfast in its promotion of nuclear energy here at home.

With nationwide unemployment still hovering around 9 percent, job creation has been one of the leading support points for the so-called "nuclear renaissance."

But AlterNet has learned that University of Massachusetts researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute -- who are also consultants to the Department of Energy -- have provided data to the Obama administration that show investment in renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and biomass, would generate far more returns in American jobs than would investment in building new nuclear power plants.

[Demeter]

27. Jobs? We Don' Need No Steenkin' Jobs!

Obama's set for life.

[xchrom]

38. sad...but true. nt

[Demeter]

24. US watchdogs to sue executives of failed banks

US regulators are expected to file up to 100 lawsuits against executives and directors of failed banks over the next two years

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/26LGBB/87I64/C50GE8/3O1WK4/1G/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=11

POPCORN TIME! :popcorn: BUT DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH.

[girl gone mad]

25. k & r

hope you are feeling better this week.

[Demeter]

29. US profits set to suffer as commodity prices bite

Analysts expect companies to report slower growth in profits for the first quarter as rising commodity prices dent profit margins and risk hitting consumer spending

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/YIQXNN/26LGBB/87I64/C50GE8/RNI60B/1G/t?a1=2011&a2=4&a3=11

[xchrom]

31. +1

[xchrom]

30. Shutdown averted, retail and inflation in focus

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/shutdown-averted-retail-and-inflation-in-focus-2011-04-10?dist=beforebell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — There isn’t any data due to be released on Monday, not because of the Congressional budget fight that nearly locked out the government’s statisticians but simply because of the calendar.

Now that the Departments of Labor and Commerce are open, reports on inflation and retail will be the key releases of the trading week.
U.S. week ahead: Profits on the rise

U.S. corporate results are expected to show improvement for the first quarter as "earnings season" gets under way in the week ahead, MarketWatch's William Spain tells Kelsey Hubbard.

There are three inflation reports due — import prices Tuesday, producer prices Thursday and consumer prices Friday, all of which will reflect the surge in commodities to varying degrees. Friday also will see the April reading of the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer confidence index, which has slumped to one-and-half-year lows in large part due to the pain at the pump.

Import prices may have shot up 2.2% in March, according to a MarketWatch survey of economists, as petroleum prices spike higher.

[xchrom]

34. Float the yuan, lest inflation sink China

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/float-the-yuan-lest-inflation-sink-china-2011-04-11?link=MW_story_popular

BEIJING ( Caixin Online ) — Adjusting China’s foreign-exchange rate system — both the rate-setting mechanism and the rate itself — is more urgent than ever. Over the years, Chinese monetary authorities have stressed the need for a gradual, proactive and controllable approach to yuan policy. This is a prudent, rational approach.

But exchange-rate-system reform should be expedited whenever necessary. And with the yuan climbing to 6.5527 to the U.S. dollar April 1, its highest point since Beijing began exchange-rate adjustments in 2005, the time for action has arrived.

Some academics have recently suggested that China should move as soon as possible from its current exchange-rate system, based on a managed float, to a conditional free float. At the same time, they say, the yuan’s appreciation should accelerate. They say these moves would not only help rebalance the global economy, but benefit sustainable development in China as well.

This is sound analysis. Runaway inflation presents a persuasive argument for the need to let the yuan rise faster. Prices for food and some non-food items have risen significantly in China. Water, electricity, oil and gas costs remain subject to government controls, but the consumer price index is likely to hit a new peak by mid-year, when the index catches up with hikes from late last year and new pressures emerge.

[xchrom]

37. NYSE board rejects Nasdaq-ICE bid

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nyse-board-to-consider-nasdaq-ice-bid-report-2011-04-10?dist=beforebell

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The board of NYSE Euronext on Sunday rejected an unsolicited, $11.3 billion takeover offer from Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc., while affirming its commitment to a previously-planned merger with Deutsche Boerse AG.

NYSE Euronext Chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels said in a statement that the Nasdaq-ICE’s “highly conditional” bid based on the breakup of NYSE Euronext was not in the exchange operator’s best interests.

Under the spurned Nasdaq-ICE proposal, Nasdaq would take NYSE’s stock-trading businesses and ICE would acquire the London-based derivatives divisions.

“Breaking up NYSE Euronext, burdening the pieces with high levels of debt, and destroying its invaluable human capital, would be a strategic mistake in terms of where the global markets are going, and is clearly not in the best interests of our shareholders,” NYSE Euronext’s Hessels said.

[Demeter]

39. Gordon Brown: I made a big mistake on banks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/8441882/Gordon-Brown-I-made-a-big-mistake-on-banks.html

In his first clear admission of some responsibility for the financial crisis, the former prime minister claimed he had not understood how “entangled” the world’s financial institutions had become.

His comments will be seized upon by the Conservatives as proof that Labour played a part in the economic meltdown.

They come as the Treasury prepares to receive a review into how Britain’s banks should operate in the future. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), led by Sir John Vickers, is expected to recommend significant reforms to make it less likely that banks take unnecessary risks and to encourage greater competition.

Mr Brown, who has been criticised for no longer attending the Commons to take part in economic debates, made his remarks while addressing a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, at the weekend. It was the first time he had commented explicitly on the system of regulation that he masterminded during Labour’s first term in power...

[Demeter]

42. One helluva boost: JPMorgan CEO sees compensation jump 1,500 per cent to $20.8million

He has piloted America's second biggest bank through the financial crisis and come out the other side relatively unscathed.

And now Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, is being extremely well rewarded for his efforts.

Dimon's total compensation package was a mere $1.3million in 2009 but in 2010 it jumped nearly 1,500 per cent to $20.8million, based on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's compensation formula, a regulatory filing showed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375023/JPMorgan-CEO-sees-compensation-package-jump-1-500-cent-20-8m.html#ixzz1JDR47p34

[Demeter]

63. Dimon Says Risk of $3 Billion in European Losses Worth Taking for JPMorgan

WHY NOT? HE CAN AFFORD IT OUT OF HIS POCKET CHANGE NOW

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-07/dimon-says-risk-of-3-billion-in-european-losses-worth-taking-for-jpmorgan.html



JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said potential rewards of investing in five European nations including Greece and Ireland outweigh the risk of losing $3 billion if the countries default.

“In the unlikely occurrence of extremely bad outcomes in all these countries, JPMorgan Chase ultimately could lose approximately $3 billion,” Dimon said today in a letter to shareholders. “But we are in the business of taking risks in support of our clients and believe that this is a risk worth bearing since we hope to be growing our business in these countries for decades.”


NOT THAT JAMIE WOULD BE PLANNING TO PERSONALLY COVER THOSE LOSSES...

[Demeter]

43. Amazing Pictures of Japanese Debris Heading For California

http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2011/04/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-debris.html

[Demeter]

44. Japan bans planting rice in radioactive soil

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14409580&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

"We had to come up with a policy quickly because we are in planting season," said Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano, who announced the ban Friday.

The ban will apply to any soil found to contain high levels of radioactive cesium, and farmers who cannot grow rice will be compensated. Rice grown in uncontaminated soil will be screened.

[Demeter]

45. Why Do People Hate John Maynard Keynes? By Mike Whitney

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27854.htm

Anyone who spends time on the economics blogs knows that Keynes is blamed for everything from the Wall Street bailouts to quantitative easing. But, why? There's nothing in Keynes "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" that suggests that he would have supported the bailouts or QE2. Yes, he would have made sure the financial system didn't collapse, but that doesn't mean he would have issued blank checks to insolvent financial institutions run by crooked bankers. He wasn't a moron nor was he a tool of big finance. He simply believed that when the economy was in freefall, it's crazy to worry about deficits. Put the economy back on a solid growth-path first, he thought, then rising revenues would lower the deficits automatically. It's a reasonable solution that's worked many times before. Only, now, the austerity zealots have grabbed the policy levers in Washington and shut off the fiscal stimulus spigot, so tried-and-true economic theory has been jettisoned to placate the nutballs. It's a real mess.

Still, that doesn't answer our question: Why do so many people hate John Maynard Keynes?

Is it because they don't believe the government should ever meddle in the "free market" or is it because Keynes remedies usually involve a lot of red ink? Or is there a different reason altogether, a political objective that disguises itself as "principled Libertarianism" but, in fact, is an effort to crush the middle class and transfer more wealth to the uber-rich? Keep in mind, the GOP-led congress never had any problem running up deficits and doubling the national debt when G.W. Bush was in office. Only recently have they found religion. There's good reason to be skeptical.


Do Keynes critics know that he believed that budget deficits should be balanced during the good times? Of course not, because his most ferocious critics have never read anything he's ever written. They'd rather base their judgments on blog-blabber than give the man a chance and thumb through the original text. That's why they dismiss his many insights with a wave of the hand as if he was some big spending Democrat who didn't give a whit about the red ink he was generating. But that's baloney. Keynes is the best friend capitalism ever had. He put a human face on a system which--stripped of its niceties-- is little more than a bloody scrimmage for survival. His emphasis on full employment helped to strengthen the middle class and create the most prosperous and productive economy the world has ever seen. "The General Theory" was a path-breaking work that revolutionized economics. It wasn't an attack on capitalism or free markets, quite the contrary, it was an in-depth study of how the system could be made to operate more efficiently. The central idea was that the system works best at full employment because additional incomes generate greater demand which leads to more investment and a virtuous circle....

[snot]

48. What do you make of this?

{On edit: per #37 - xchrom above, looks like the NYSE Euronext board -- whoever they are -- agreed with Anonymous? But something to keep an eye on?}

{From http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x87009 :}


http://anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=795 :

On Friday, April 1, 2011, an Operations Department of Anonymous launched "Operation Want" by providing to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission detailed information on the corruption occuring within the NASDAQ OMX Group and their proposed changes to laws that specifically benefit Sweden's Elite Wallenberg Family . . . . NASDAQ OMX Group is valued at over $14 trillion. The makeup of the 15 member Board of Directors has lost their balance between industry, non-industry and public interest. For the past five years there has been a power struggle over control and a considerable amount of personal greed. Two of the wealthiest 1% are fighting for ultimate control at the expense of the public trust. The end-game of the struggle within NASDAQ OMX will result in a Swedish-based cartel, which will prevent majority voting abilities within the world's largest global financial trading body. . . . (more at link)

and

http://issuu.com/anonopwant/docs/secanonopwant?mode=a_p (can't copy any of it, but this is their letter to the SEC and sheds additional light. Basically, they're saying that the NASDAQ board is supposed to be 1/3 non-industry representatives of the public interest but due to lack of SEC enforcement, it's not, and that there's been a slo-mo takeover of Nasdaq by the Wallenberg family, which would be further advanced by a pending proposal to add as another board member an "Investor AB"; that Investor AB's filings have been misleading, etc.)

I lack the expertise to evaluate plausibility of these claims; hope someone here can expound.

{Demeter, I didn't think I'd be up early enough to pose this myself, but couldn't sleep.}

[Demeter]

51. Latin America Shakes Off the US Yoke By Mark Weisbrot

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27850.htm

On Thursday, the United States expelled the ambassador from Ecuador, in retaliation for Wednesday's expulsion of the US ambassador from Ecuador. This now leaves the United States without ambassadorial relations in three South American countries – Bolivia and Venezuela being the other two – thus surpassing the Bush administration in its diplomatic problems in the region.

US Ambassador Heather Hodges was declared "persona non grata" and asked to leave Ecuador "as soon as possible", after a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks showed her saying some disparaging things about Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa. In the cable, she alleges that President Correa had knowledge of corruption by a former head of the national police.

Although the Bush administration intervened in the internal affairs of countries such as Bolivia and even Brazil, it was somewhat better at keeping its "eyes on the prize" and avoiding fights that would distract from its main goal. The prize, of course, is Venezuela – home to the largest oil reserves in the world, estimated by the US Geological Survey at 500bn barrels. Washington's goal there for the last decade has been regime change. The Bush team understood that the more they fought with other countries in the region, the less credible would be their public relations story that Venezuela was the problem.

It's nothing personal, really – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez could have chosen to be the perfect diplomat and he would still be treated in much the same manner by the US government. And it's not the oil itself, since Venezuela still sells the US more than 1m barrels a day and there is a world market for oil, in any case. It's just that any country with that much oil is going to have regional influence; and Washington just doesn't want to deal with someone who has regional influence and doesn't line up with its own goals for the region – not if it can get rid of them. And they have come close to getting rid of Chávez, in the 2002 coup – so they are not giving up.

[snot]

55. +1

[Po_d Mainiac]

93. Largest oil reserves in the world?

Sounds like Faux News type fact checking.

[Demeter]

52. New home sales are at lowest level in almost 50 years

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110324/BUSINESS02/103240333/1003/BUSINESS#searchbox

Home construction in the United States is all but coming to a halt.

Americans are on track to buy fewer new homes than in any year since the government began keeping data almost a half-century ago. Sales are just half the pace of 1963 — even though there are 120 million more people in the U.S...

[bread_and_roses]

53. Glad to see you up and about again, PBD

Not strictly on topic (but when am I ever?) but an interesting article over at CommonDreams on Chalmers Johnson's life. Even so, I would probably not post it here except I thought the following might be of interest to those here: (emphasis added)

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/10-6

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic was published in January 2004. At its heart lay a region by region anatomy of America’s global “baseworld” and how it worked, a subject that remained remarkably undiscussed and unanalyzed in this country. Subsequently, Chal gave many speeches and interviews in an effort to help deny George W. Bush -- “likely the single worst president in the history of the American republic” -- a second term. When Bush was reelected and the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan continued to take their human and economic toll, he became determined to write a third book in what would become The Blowback Trilogy.

This time his tone was more alarmist, while his focus was on the way an American version of military Keynesianism was failing the country. He feared that the U.S. would be simultaneously overwhelmed by related tides of militarism and bankruptcy. Reflecting his own grim mood, he chose for his title the name of the Greek goddess of myth whose task was to punish human arrogance and hubris: Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. In it, he pulled together many of his thoughts about the fate of empires -- particularly the Roman and British ones -- and predicted that, in the reasonably near future, the U.S. would have to choose between remaining a democratic society or becoming a military dictatorship.

Now, being as close to a communist as you can get without carrying a card, I would not call myself a "Keynesian" but I wonder about that comparison? Never saw it before, although Wiki tells me that:

Some interpretations of Keynes have emphasized his stress on the international coordination of Keynesian policies, the need for international economic institutions, and the ways in which economic forces could lead to war or could promote peace.

(I'm way out of my depth here, obviously)

"Blowback" has been on my "to read" list for years, but everytime I almost buy it, I feel a great weariness come over me ... I know the outline, do I really want to fill in the details? Do the details matter, except as a matter of academic interest?

[bread_and_roses]

56. this should be posted under Demeter's, above, re: Keynes

I just read through what had been posted since I went over and read the Chalmers article and composed above, and realized that this would be more apt under Demeter's post above. Serendipity strikes, but too late....

[Fuddnik]

80. Blowback is an awesome book.

After I read the first few chapters, I had to flip back to the front to check the publication date. It's awful hard to believe it was written BEFORE 9/11. His analysis and prognostication are astounding.

I also went through the "Sorrows of Empire", and it's conclusions are pretty accurate, and not pretty. "Nemesis" has been sitting in line on my bookshelf, unread for about a year. I'll have to tackle it soon. After I finish about 6 more ahead of it.

We lost a great one when Chalmers Johnson died. He knew. And had the expertise to prove it.

[bread_and_roses]

87. Well, yours is a recommendation I take seriously

I shall try to overcome my weariness next time I'm at the bookstore and pick it up.

[Demeter]

54. Debt Jumped $54.1 Billion in 8 Days Preceding Boehner-Obama Deal to Cut $38.5 Billion for Rest of Ye

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/debt-jumped-54-billion-8-days-preceding

[Demeter]

57. The Mindless Mantra of Wall Street: The Corporate Tax Rate Is Too High

AND SINCE THE CORPORATIONS DON'T PAY ANYWAY--LOWER IT TO 25%!

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/08

[Demeter]

58. Stiglitz: Of the 1%, By the 1%, and for the 1% and the Downward Spiral Into the Abyss

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2011/04/stiglitz-of-1-by-1-and-for-1.html

STIGLITZ'S TWO PART VIDEO LECTURE AND JESSE'S COMMENTARY

[Demeter]

59. And in local weather

It was a stifling 69F last night, included a thunderstorm, and now it's 62F with light rain off and on.

It's supposed to go back to freezing. I was wearing gloves Sunday morning, and shorts in the afternoon...

One thing about the warmth: suddenly I could sleep deeply, and had to take 3 naps (people kept waking me up). The naps actually helped, but nothing got done, except the cleaning cycle on the oven. What a stench!

[Demeter]

60. Yves Smith of naked capitalism is Watching UK Bank situation

Evidently, all Britain has is 20 monster banks, all too big to fail, and all in the drink. There are some fumbling efforts to break them up, thwarted by the TBTF, and to regulate them, also thwarted, and forget about any punishment for the criminals.

Must be why the bullying of Iceland...distraction and takes the pressure off the home pirates.

I'm not going to post anything specific, both because it's Brit and because it's all up in the air.

But if it intrigues you, see the link in Handy Blogs.

[Demeter]

61. Homeowner sues mortgage servicer over HAMP denial

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42481497

A California homeowner is suing the mortgage servicing unit of Morgan Stanley, claiming the company had no intention of permanently modifying her home loan payments to an affordable amount despite having her make a slew of trial payments under a federal program designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The complaint, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Saxon Mortgage Services Inc. of breach of contract and deceptive debt collection, among other claims, and seeks class-action status.

YES! YES! YES!

[xchrom]

62. audio -- Driving costs more, and not just due to gas prices

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/driving-costs-more-and-not-just-due-to-gas-prices-2011-04-05

AAA reports the cost of driving is up 3.4 percent over one year ago. Ann Cates explains why increasing gas prices are only part of the hike.

[xchrom]

64. Another Internet bubble is coming

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/another-internet-bubble-is-coming-2011-04-05

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and investors have been singing the same song for the last few years: “we really learned last time,” “it’s different now,” and “you don’t need that much money to start up a company anymore.”

Sure, many in this wave of Internet companies have had a relentless focus on costs and are becoming profitable. But it’s been pretty clear based on the skyrocketing valuations of some companies (I’m looking at you, Facebook and Groupon) that we have been seeing the beginnings of a major Internet or social media bubble, even if it is a pre-IPO one.

[Demeter]

65. Too much finance?

http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/6328

Over the last three decades the US financial sector has grown six times faster than nominal GDP. This column argues that there comes a point when the financial sector has a negative effect on growth – that is, when credit to the private sector exceeds 110% of GDP. It shows that, of the advanced countries currently suffering in the fallout of the global crisis were all above this threshold.

[bread_and_roses]

66. Posted by "onehandle" in LBN: Obama’s new approach to deficit reduction...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4809049

Posted by "onehandle" in LBN: Obama’s new approach to deficit reduction...

Obama’s new approach to deficit reduction to include spending on entitlements

Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obamas-new-approach-to-deficit-reduction-to-include-spending-on-entitlements/2011/04/04/AFpDoDHD_story.html?hpid=z1

President Obama this week will lay out a new approach to reducing the nation’s soaring debt, proposing reductions in spending on entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid and renewing his call for tax increases on the rich.

More idiocy. Now, which of these notions - cutting SS & MA or taxing the rich - do we think will go anywhere?

[Demeter]

76. On the Theory that One can't get blood from a stone

but a concussion is very probable, I think they will start to tax the rich.

[xchrom]

67. 'Subtle power' reshapes global village

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MD12Ad01.html

The administration of United States President Barack Obama has rebranded American foreign policy around the grand concept of "smart power", an expression which envelops great confidence if not self-satisfaction, and which, to a certain extent, presupposes a strategic dominance.

However, if the West wants to maintain a real capacity to influence the world affairs, it should not assume a position of intellectual superiority but try to comprehend what makes the


success of the new global forces. While the US public diplomacy apparatus works to persuade the world of its benevolent "smart power", China is quietly reshaping the global village with the effectiveness of its "subtle power".

In the first half of the 21st century, the major redistribution of power and the great game for influence are obviously taking place between Washington and Beijing. At the end of each decade which followed Deng Xiaoping's opening up, the China watcher had to formulate the same observation: the gain of Beijing's relative power in the international system anticipated at the beginning of the period had always been underestimated.

[Demeter]

78. Those that can, do; those that can't, talk about it

and that's where the US stands now. Handcuffed by golden manacles, US policy is bluff and bully, but it's all empty threats and useless Predator drones blowing up civilians.

[Demeter]

69. What are the preconditions for Hyperinflation?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/what-are-the-preconditions-for-hyperinflation.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW....

[Demeter]

70. A suspicious sniff at CoCos

AND LOTS OF OTHER FUNNY STUFF HAT WENT ON IN HE BAILOUT CRISIS

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/04/a-suspicious-sniff-at-cocos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

[xchrom]

71. New 'Gandhi' takes on India's corruption

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MD12Df01.html

CHENNAI - There is a new Gandhi in India - or so it seems. In many ways like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who slipped out of a Savile Row suit and lucrative lawyer's chamber to drive the British out of India, Kisan Baburao Hazare has begun a movement to rid the nation of corruption.

A 71-year-old social activist from Maharashtra, Hazare is known as Anna but calls himself a "fakir" (beggar) - much like Gandhi, who became the Mahatma (great soul) but was described, rather sarcastically, as the "naked fakir".

That "beggar" had the power to unite India in the 1930s and 1940s, silencing the mighty guns of a British Empire which had bragged that the sun would never set on it. It did, and the man


who eclipsed the brightest star in the sky with a non-violent crusade that the world called "Satyagraha", (truth force) was mere flesh and bone.

[Demeter]

72. Got to Go, Looks Like Another Rough Day

Be strong and hopeful, everybody. After all, Friday is only 4 days away...

[xchrom]

77. bye demeter!

:hi:

[xchrom]

73. Bad loans haunt China's banks

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/MD12Cb01.html

Non-performing loans in China are falling sharply, according to the authorities. By the end of 2010, they stood at just 364.4 billion yuan (US$55.5 billion) or 1.15% of total loans. This is down sharply from the 2002 level of 2.28 trillion yuan and 23.61%, according to Liu Mingkang, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the banking regulator.

Banks are also reporting strong profits - ICBC, the largest, recorded a 28% rise in profit to US$25 billion for 2010 to retain its position as the world's most profitable bank for a third year. The


three other state-run lenders reported net profit growth of between 26% and 46%.

Yet investors across Asia are concerned about the health of Chinese banks and more specifically are worried that non-performing loans (NPL) could rise sharply in the coming years with damaging consequences for the economy, analysts interviewed by Asia Times Online say.

[xchrom]

75. Vietnam changes course

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MD12Ae01.html

Those who wrote off Vietnam's economic management as hopelessly sclerotic during January's 11th Communist Party Congress would be wise to take a second look. Though inflation in is on the rise, Vietnam's economy is suddenly looking up.

Held every five years, the party conclave sorts out the pecking order of the Vietnamese political elite. Finding the congress a yawner, many reporters turned their attention to criticizing the Hanoi government's economic management, echoing notes sounded the previous month by the Wall Street Journal.

Unable to shake their fixation on "growth at any price", feckless policymakers had triggered runaway inflation, the Journal had


opined. Vietnam's economy was in the bucket and prospects were dim that the congress had changed anything, according to many reporters' assessment.

But in fact, much has changed. Buoyed by a fresh mandate for a second five-year term, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has sharply tightened credit, reined in state spending and begun to wring out inflationary expectations. Additionally, Dung has served notice that the government is going to impose discipline and economic sense on the nation's investment decision-making.

[xchrom]

79. Miserly Indians see the light

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MC30Df03.html

CHENNAI - In an important way, Indians tend to wake up only when the call comes from foreign shores. There cannot be a better example than Satyajit Ray, whose first film, Song of the Road, was ignored and panned in his native Bengal until it won an award, albeit a minor one, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956. The movie has since been recognized as an all-time classic that placed India firmly on the global cinema map. Decades later on his deathbed in 1992, Satyajit was given an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, which India hastily followed up with the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award.

It should therefore surprise no one that American billionaire Warren Buffet's enormous charity and philanthropy in India and elsewhere is beginning to worry rich Indians. Buffet, who is


reportedly giving away 99% of his US$47 billion net worth to the poor and the needy, said during a recent trip to India that philanthropy was not necessarily the compassionate side of capitalism. Nor was it related to business. "Philanthropy should be part of humanity. When you have everything that you could possibly need yourself, and other people need what you have that is of no use to you and has a great use to them, I think you need to do something about it," he said.

[xchrom]

81. 7 Examples of How the Poor Are Being Robbed to Give More Wealth to the Rich

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150543/7_examples_of_how_the_poor_are_being_robbed_to_give_more_wealth_to_the_rich


The rich have been getting richer and the poor and the middle class have been getting poorer in the US recently. Here are seven examples that show how the US is going through "Robin Hood in Reverse."

Between 1948 and 1979, the richest 10 percent of families in the US claimed 33 percent of average income growth. Between 2000 and 2007, the richest 10 percent claimed a full 100 percent of average income growth in the US, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Business taxes were cut from 46 to 34 percent 25 years ago, according to ProPublica. But today, 115 of the big 500 companies listed on Standard and Poor's stock index paid federal and other taxes of less than 20 percent over the last five years, according to David Leonhardt of The New York Times.

[AnneD]

82. Anyone hearing any buzz...

about what is going on in Bretton Woods now? Just heard about it this weekend. Seems pretty hush hush. Just curious.

[xchrom]

86. i just did a quick google and came up empty. why -- what have you heard? nt

[AnneD]

90. I know there was one ...

a while back. I thought I had heard there was another one this weekend and was wondering. I might have heard a rebroadcast. Davos is a big deal and is covered, Bretton Woods seems to be hush hush and you really want to know about that confab-that seems to be where the big guns meet to decide what they don't want you to know.

I tried google and got nada-that's why I ask.

[DemReadingDU]

83. video - Bringing the cuts home

video - Bringing the cuts home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LgDjHOX_UE

Tweaked version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMj369ISJSc

From the anti-cuts demo in Hyde Park, March 26th 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YctZdic7RI8&feature=related

[DemReadingDU]

84. PIMCO now betting against U.S. government debt

4/11/11 PIMCO now betting against U.S. government debt

The world's largest bond fund began betting against U.S. government debt last month on the expectation that shaky finances will jolt interest rates higher.

PIMCO, through its outspoken co-chief investment officer, Bill Gross, have been raising alarms about a lack of buyers for Treasuries once the Federal Reserve ends its own bond purchase program, also known as QE2, in June.

In February Gross revealed his ultra-bearish view on the United States by dumping all of his fund's U.S. government-related debt holdings.

The portion of PIMCO's $236 billion Total Return Fund held in long-term U.S. government debt, including U.S. Treasuries, declined to "minus 3" percent in March from zero in February and 12 percent in January.

In a short position, an investor sells a borrowed security on a bet it can buy the bond back later at a lower price.

more...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/PIMCO-goes-short-US-rb-3790514655.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

[xchrom]

85. Stiglitz Urges New Global Reserve Currency to Stem Imbalances

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-10/stiglitz-urges-new-global-reserve-currency-to-stem-imbalances.html

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- The world economy needs a new global reserve currency to help prevent trade imbalances that are reflected in the national debt of the U.S., said Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

A “global system” is needed to replace the dollar as a reserve currency and help avoid a weakening of U.S. credit quality, said Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York. The dollar fell to an almost 15-month low against the euro last week, and the U.S. trade deficit widened more than forecast in January to the highest level in seven months.

“By taking off the burden of any single country, we don’t have to have trade deficits,” Stiglitz said in an interview in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. “Things would be much worse if it were not the case that Europe was having even more of a problem, but winning a negative beauty pageant is not the way to create a strong economy.”

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders negotiated a last-minute deal two nights ago to avert a government shutdown. Within weeks, the government may be forced to increase the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. will meet its financial obligations.

[AnneD]

91. See.....

an interview at Bretton Woods. It is going on! And I think it is more than just a coincidence it is at Bretton Woods. The game is afoot. I think they are talking about the USD as a reserve currency, maybe taking it off? Hold on to your butts folks.

[Pale Blue Dot]

88. The Fed's Most Dangerous Game: Checkmate

he Fed can only choose the least-worst option now: either destroy the real economy by sinking the dollar below support and unleashing the Inflation Monster, or abandon the "risk trade" stock market rally.

The Fed's game plan--sink the U.S. dollar to goose corporate profits, reinflate asset prices and create "modest inflation"--is now the most dangerous game on Earth. As overleveraged assets from real estate to stocks imploded in 2008 and early 2009, the Federal Reserve rushed to flood the global economy with zero-interest dollars. This did a number of things the Fed reckoned were necessary:

1. It gave U.S. banks and other insolvent financial institutions an unlimited pool of money to borrow at zero interest and leave on deposit at the Fed, where it earned risk-free interest.

2. It enabled a vast global "carry trade" in dollars: speculators could borrow unlimited dollars at no cost, and then deploy the cash around the world to chase higher yields in stocks, commodities, etc.

3. It allowed banks to lend profitably in the U.S., as their cost of money was reduced to essentially zero, and to pour "hot money" into U.S. stocks, creating a virtuous cycle of ever-rising equity prices...

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapril11/Feds-dangerous-game4-11.html

[xchrom]

89. very good read. nt

[AnneD]

92. Found it....News you won't hear.....

The financial dominance of Europe and America is coming to an end, with developing economies taking the leading role. That is one of the main themes of a summit being hosted by billionaire tycoon George Soros in the American town of Bretton Woods.
­It was here that allied nations came during World War II, searching for stability in a crisis. Here, they formed the International Monetary Fund, which today is the World Bank, and established the US dollar as the global reserve currency.
It is also here that decades later and in the wake of another financial crisis that a group of influential economists and former policy-makers have gotten together to rethink that framework in response to a different world.
"We've got to have a serious plan to reconstruct the international institutions for the times we're in, not the times that are gone," former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said to the conference.
The centuries of American and European dominance, says Brown, are bygone times. With the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China fueling more global growth, they need a bigger seat at the table.
Critics say that in with the new, should mean out with the old orthodoxy of Bretton Woods – the IMF for one.
<more>....

http://RT.com/news/bretton-woods-financial-world/

[kickysnana]

95. +1

[xchrom]

96. +2

[Demeter]

98. Nothing Brings Out the Anarchist In Me Like Such Pontifications

by people who know better, but don't care, and people who don't know better, but feel entitled to play chess with other people's lives.

[Hotler]

102. Wow! That shit makes my head hurt. n/t

[Roland99]

94. 12:55 - Not much action but oil taking a breather....

Dow 12,391 +11 +0.09%
Nasdaq 2,771 -9 -0.33%
S&P 500 1,326 -2 -0.14%
GlobalDow 2,209 -1 -0.06%
Gold 1,468 -7 -0.45%
Oil 110.73 -2.06 -1.83%

[hamerfan]

99. RE: Silver coins

I had asked about these a few days ago on SMW. Thanks to some very knowledgeable people on these boards, I'm gonna keep them.
Thanks, everyone!
hamerfan

[Festivito]

100. Debt: 04/07/2011 14,264,245,526,311.58 (UP 4,483,539,431.92) (Thu, UP some.)

(Good day.)
Not the best rooms, but the service desk is best.
(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)
= 9,652,195,544,012.12 + 4,612,049,982,299.46
UP 2,235,163,853.48 + UP 2,248,375,578.44

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 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.81 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,739,392 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 $45,756.96.
A family of three owes $137,270.87. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 3,548,941,937.78.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,602,557,421.04.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,518,603,955.84.
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$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 129 reports in 189 days of FY2011 averaging 5.45B$ per report, 3.72B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 654 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.6T$.
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)
04/07/2011 14,264,245,526,311.58 BHO (UP 3,637,368,477,398.50 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 +0,702,622,495,419.80 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,356,916,459,408.61 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/16/2011 +001,148,655,957.01 ------------*********
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -
03/18/2011 +000,616,236,061.23 ------------********
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----
04/06/2011 -000,011,756,275.73 ----
04/07/2011 +002,235,163,853.48 ------------*********

-25,140,353,012.71 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=4806048&mesg_id=4806987

[Festivito]

101. Debt: 04/08/2011 14,265,383,134,019.53 (UP 1,137,607,707.95) (Fri, UP a little.)

(Still under the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 29-billion dollars. Good day.)
Mornings not best for the bestest of the best.
(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)
= 9,652,196,858,759.48 + 4,613,186,275,260.05
UP 1,314,747.36 + UP 1,136,292,960.59

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 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.73 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,746,592 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 $45,759.55.
A family of three owes $137,278.64. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 3,282,108,206.72.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,406,879,351.60.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,329,238,082.19.
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$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 130 reports in 190 days of FY2011 averaging 5.41B$ per report, 3.70B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 653 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.6T$.
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)
04/08/2011 14,265,383,134,019.53 BHO (UP 3,638,506,085,106.45 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 +0,703,760,103,127.80 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,351,960,198,113.93 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -
03/18/2011 +000,616,236,061.23 ------------********
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----
04/06/2011 -000,011,756,275.73 ----
04/07/2011 +002,235,163,853.48 ------------*********
04/08/2011 +000,001,314,747.36 ------------******

-26,287,694,222.36 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=4808953&mesg_id=4809991