The Stars Come Out for Weekend Economists March 25-27, 2011

[Demeter]

This has been a week that was...one in a series. It's better than TV! (what could be worse?)

Back in the high and far off times, beloved children, there were real dramas and comedies; with plots, and dialog, and suspense, and either lots of background research, or years of creative world-making.

And there were stars, real actors, to perform these tales for our entertainment and frequently, education.

We lost one of those stars when Elizabeth Taylor crossed over to immortality this week. Nobody mentions her role in Ivanhoe, but I thought that film, and the Taming of the Shrew, her finest efforts. She also did a very credible job in the film version of "A Little Night Music" as the temptress Desiree Armfeldt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGWhjYzacVY



(Yes, I DO have a passion for costume dramas and musicals, thank you for noticing. You can keep your Tennessee Williams. He has no relevance for most women of any age in any time.)

Perhaps the era of stars drew to a close around the time of the untimely end of Star Trek (the original series), canceled because the Sponsors and Producers couldn't see the point, nor the audience, nor the generations of followers.

Television, film and theater seemed to have the stuffing knocked out of it following the 60's--the war protests, the flower children, the drug culture...the turmoil and the assassinations---but really, wasn't it that Corporations decided right about then that THEY were going to mold public opinion, instead of being molded by it? Think of the ugly clothes, ugly cars, and ugly politicians that came out in the 70's....

This week we also celebrate the two founding fathers, as it were, of Star Trek:
William Shatner, who turned 80 on Tuesday, and Leonard Nimoy, who turns 80 on Saturday. Live long and prosper, gentlemen!







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI

[Demeter]

1. ONE BANK DOWN AT 8 PM

The Bank of Commerce, Wood Dale, Illinois was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation-Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Advantage National Bank Group, Elk Grove Village, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of The Bank of Commerce.

The sole office of The Bank of Commerce will reopen during normal business hours beginning Saturday. The failed bank will operate as a branch of Advantage National Bank Group...As of December 31, 2010, The Bank of Commerce had approximately $163.1 million in total assets and $161.4 million in total deposits. In addition to paying a premium of 0.10% to assume all of the deposits of the failed bank, Advantage National Bank Group agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Advantage National Bank Group entered into a loss-share transaction on $145.7 million of The Bank of Commerce's assets...As part of this transaction, the FDIC will acquire a value appreciation instrument. This instrument serves as additional consideration for the transaction.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $41.9 million. Compared to other alternatives, Advantage National Bank Group's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. The Bank of Commerce is the 26th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Valley Community Bank, St. Charles, on February 25, 2011.

[Demeter]

2. Credit Suisse considers bid for US securities

Credit Suisse has joined the list of financial groups considering a bid for the portfolio of mortgage-backed securities that have already drawn a $15.7bn offer from AIG

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/0GPT6Q/DXJ2Y/9Z84JC/263TPW/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

THIS CAT-FIGHT OVER MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES IS REALLY SCARY....IT'S LIKE SHAMPOO INSTRUCTIONS: WASH, RINSE, REPEAT....

[Demeter]

14. Fed Mulls Auction For AIG Bonds

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703784004576221093662979426.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The Federal Reserve is considering an auction for a large portfolio of subprime-mortgage bonds and is consulting with BlackRock Inc. about the process, according to people familiar with the matter.

The prospect of an auction comes after American International Group Inc. earlier this month formally offered $15.7 billion to buy the bonds from the Fed, which took over the portfolio in 2008 to help the government-controlled insurer stem a cash bleed...

[Demeter]

15. IMF Said to Be Discussing Activation of $583 Billion Crisis Lending Pool

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-24/imf-said-to-be-discussing-activation-of-583-billion-crisis-lending-pool.html

The International Monetary Fund is working on activating its crisis lending pool, a move aimed at showing it has enough liquidity to help bail out countries in need and stabilize the global economy, two IMF officials said.

Countries that contribute to the pool, with new members including China and India, are seeking an agreement on how much of the credit line’s $583 billion should be made available and for how long, according to one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are not public.

The talks are taking place as Europe’s debt crisis deepens, with the resignation of Portugal’s Prime Minister Jose Socrates stoking concern the government is moving closer to seeking a bailout. The activation of the so-called New Arrangement to Borrow would leave the IMF, which has helped rescue countries including Greece and Ukraine over the past two years, with ample resources if more European countries need help.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn requested the activation about two weeks ago, the officials said, when an expansion of the pool was ratified, fulfilling an April 2009 pledge by Group of 20 countries to boost IMF resources...

[Demeter]

3. Oracle earnings beat expectations

US software maker raises its dividend 20% on the back of a better than expected 29% rise in revenue from new software licences

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/0GPT6Q/DXJ2Y/9Z84JC/RND9Y2/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

[Demeter]

4. Spanish Cajas in talks with hedge funds

Some of the world’s largest hedge funds and private equity groups have held talks with Spain’s troubled savings banks as they rush to secure €15bn in capital to avoid a state bail-out

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/0GPT6Q/DXJ2Y/9Z84JC/ZBRUFZ/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

[Demeter]

5. Investors fear fate of Portugal’s banks

As the country’s political and economic woes deepen, investors are asking whether its banks will unravel as dramatically as those in Ireland

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/0GPT6Q/DXJ2Y/9Z84JC/WL9NS2/OS/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

[Demeter]

7. Portuguese political void hits debt costs

Portugal’s borrowing costs rise to euro-era highs as markets and European policymakers fret that the country could be without a government for months in the face of a bail-out

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/TP9R8E/WH2F8/72BMNE/PRXQF5/JY/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

[Demeter]

6. Merkel gets way on Eurozone fund restructure

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, convinced her European counterparts to restructure a new €500bn eurozone bail-out fund so that members will not have to pay cash into the system so quickly


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/TP9R8E/WH2F8/72BMNE/9ZBC7N/JY/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

DON'T THEY CALL THIS THE NEVER-NEVER PLAN, IN ENGLAND?

[Demeter]

8. US housing barometer points to danger

A large overhang of foreclosed homes along with a credit squeeze is pushing the US housing market to new lows, just as government assistance is waning, in a worrying reminder of the fragility in the broader economic recovery.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/TP9R8E/WH2F8/72BMNE/PRXQFV/JY/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=25

[Demeter]

9. US banks in ‘cash for keys’ foreclosure talks

The five biggest US mortgage servicers were told this week at a private meeting with regulators to consider paying delinquent borrowers up to $21,000 each as part of a broader settlement of the foreclosure crisis.

People who attended the meeting, chaired by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Monday, said the industry-wide “cash for keys” programme would involve the biggest servicers, led by Bank of America, paying borrowers as an incentive to leave their homes.


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/3JFELL/UUSJ97/9MEOW/72BMW6/QFKQZT/36/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=24

WELL! THAT'S CERTAINLY GOING TO MAKE THE EARTH MOVE....

[Demeter]

10. Barclays at centre of Libor inquiry

Barclays is emerging as a key focus of the US and UK regulatory probe into alleged rigging of benchmark interbank lending rates that are the reference point for $350,000bn in financial products, people familiar with the investigation said

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/S3QSND/PNGIU/YHF6BY/RND9CN/VU/t?a1=2011&a2=3&a3=24

[Demeter]

11. CFTC’s Chilton sets his sights on high-frequency traders

http://smartblogs.com/finance/2011/03/18/cftcs-chilton-sets-his-sights-on-high-frequency-traders/

INTERVIEW ---VERY ENLIGHTENING!

[Demeter]

12. Job creation rate hit 29-year low during recession

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/22/smallbusiness/kauffman_report_job_creation_recession/index.htm

[Demeter]

13. Weekly Jobless Claims Get To Manageable Levels

http://247wallst.com/2011/03/24/weekly-jobless-claims-get-to-manageable-levels/

The good news from the US Department of Labor is that the old floor of 400,000 in weekly jobless claims may now be acting as a bit of a ceiling in the jobless claims arena. The latest data showed that weekly claims fell 5,000 to 382,000.

The four-week average fell to 385,250 and that was a low of more than two years.

The army of unemployed measured by the continuing jobless claims (with a one-week lag) came down by only 2,000 to 3.72 million. That also appears to be the lowest in more than two years.

The unfortunate part of this is that the real unemployment rate is not being helped by these figures. Workers keep falling out of the criteria that would be deemed as being unemployed, and that is what has driven the unemployment rate lower.

Read more: Weekly Jobless Claims Get To Manageable Levels - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/03/24/weekly-jobless-claims-get-to-manageable-levels/#ixzz1Hf7P6Xug

[Demeter]

16. BP's deal with Rosneft on the verge of collapse

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bps-deal-with-rosneft-on-the-verge-of-collapse-2252432.html

BP's controversial $16bn share swap and arctic exploration deal with Russia's Rosneft was thrown into disarray last night, with an independent arbitration panel ruling it could not go ahead. The ruling dealt a potentially fatal blow to BP's most ambitious attempt to move beyond the crisis of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year.

The Kremlin-backed deal would have seen Rosneft pick up around 5 per cent of BP, which in turn was going to acquire around 9.5 per cent of the Russian group as part of a $16bn share swap. The agreement – billed as a "global strategic alliance" by the companies – would have also seen the two join forces to explore an area roughly the size of the North Sea in Russia's oil-rich Arctic continental shelf.

But the agreement was stopped last night by an arbitration panel called to intervene in a dispute between BP and local shareholders in its TNK-BP venture, which long predates the Rosneft deal. The shareholders – collectively known as the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium or AAR – launched the challenge just weeks after the Rosneft agreement in January, contending that the proposal violated the TNK-BP shareholder agreement.

AAR claimed that the Rosneft pact rode roughshod over the agreement as it specified that either party's business in Russia had to be conducted through the TNK-BP venture unless all sides agreed otherwise. A British judge granted an interim injunction blocking the tie-up earlier this year, and the two parties went into arbitration before a tribunal in Stockholm...

[Demeter]

17. OLIPHANT HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD HERE

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=0734ca46e33129c25dd1afc42a05be97&w=750.0

[Demeter]

18. Tax Holiday Rejected On Overseas Profits

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050204576218972198956948.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The Obama administration on Wednesday rejected the idea of a tax holiday for U.S. multinationals' overseas income, criticizing a plan being floated by some House Republicans and multinational companies for a stand-alone relief measure.

Treasury officials said they would only consider letting U.S. companies pay a reduced tax rate on as much as $1 trillion of profits earned overseas as part of a broader overhaul of the U.S. corporate tax code.

"It would not be sensible to consider a repatriation holiday outside of that context," Assistant Secretary Michael Mundaca said in a statement published on Treasury's blog. Giving companies a temporary tax holiday on their foreign income could undercut the broader overhaul effort, Treasury officials worry. They've previously expressed concern about a stand-alone holiday

Backers of a tax holiday said they would keep trying. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), who this week promoted the idea for a separate tax holiday, believes a broader overhaul will require a longer time and more leadership from the White House to pass, a spokeswoman said. "In the meantime, is an option that can be considered immediately" to spur the economy and jobs, spokeswoman Laena Fallon said.

I THINK THAT A BIGGER GIVEAWAY IN THE FUTURE IS PLANNED BY THIS ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE RE-ELECTION. I THINK BUSINESS IS UNLIKELY TO TAKE THE BAIT.

[Demeter]

19. California’s Tax Hike Did Not Work

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42248793

California’s tax collections grew at around half of what the state projected for 2010—indicating that the state’s fiscal situation may be even more dire than previously understood. California’s tax collections grew 3.79 percent last year, according to data released by the US Census Bureau. At the start of 2010,California was projecting revenue growth of 6.5 percent.

California began raising taxes in 2009, in response to a huge drop in tax revenues caused by the recession. In 2009, California tax collections were 13.9 percent lower than they were the year before—putting severe strain on the state’s budget. But two years of tax hikes have produced far less impressive results than state officials expected.

The increased income, sales and car taxes were supposed to be temporary measures to keep California’s state government fiscally healthy until the local economy recovered and the state’s budget deficit could be addressed. The underperformance of the tax increases, however, has thrown a monkey-wrench into the plans.’

Governor Jerry Brown is pushing lawmakers for a state referendum that would ask voters to extend the taxes for another five years...

[Demeter]

20. Pentagon overpaid billionaire oil tycoon by up to $200million

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY WE HAVE TO READ ABOUT THIS FROM ENGLAND?


A Pentagon audit has revealed that the federal government overpaid a billionaire oilman up to $200 million.

The audit found that Harry Sargeant III was overpaid on several military contracts worth nearly $2.7billion.

It also found that three contracts the Florida businessman won were awarded under conditions that effectively eliminated the other bidders.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367780/Pentagon-overpaid-billionaire-oil-tycoon-Harry-Sargeant-200m.html#ixzz1HfIMwhRk


$200 MILLION? THAT'S CLOSE ENOUGH, FOR GOVERNMENT WORK!

[Demeter]

21. The New York Times' $50 Million Paywall Crumbles With Simple Code Exploit

http://www.alternet.org/story/150349/the_new_york_times%27_%2450_million_paywall_crumbles_with_simple_code_exploit?akid=6719.227380.aYxc_0&rd=1&t=25

[Demeter]

22. “Tax, Tax, Tax the Rich!" Calls to Tax Wealthy Making Right Wingers Sweat?

http://www.alternet.org/story/150305/%E2%80%9Ctax%2C_tax%2C_tax_the_rich!%22_calls_to_tax_wealthy_making_right_wingers_sweat?page=entire

A simple but powerful chant is now starting to reverberate, all across the country, in protests against budgets cuts gone wild.

“How to fix the deficit?” marchers are shouting. “Tax, tax, tax the rich!"

That sentiment, unfortunately, hasn’t yet reached deep into many law-making chambers. Last week, in the nation’s capital, Rep. Jan Schakowsky from Illinois did introduce legislation that would up taxes on income over $1 million, from the current 35 percent to a range of new rates that run from 45 to 49 percent.

But the budget debate in Congress still revolves almost exclusively around questions about how much to cut, with no attention at all to the vast untaxed fortunes of America’s super rich. In state legislatures, largely the same story.

So why are cheerleaders for America's rich starting to sweat? They're hearing the rising drumbeat — from labor and community groups the nation over — for new “millionaire” taxes. And they’re watching the polls, too. Over 80 percent of Americans, the latest surveys show, want higher taxes on our richest.

Apologists for the awesomely affluent, in the face of this swelling tax-the-rich tide, have now begun mounting a pre-emptive strike. Taxing the rich, their new argument goes, can’t possibly offset our budget shortfalls — because, as the National Review’s Kevin Williamson pronounces, “there aren’t enough rich.”

[WhiteTara]

23. that's because if you don't have 7 million

you aren't rich!

[Demeter]

24. Worse Yet, More Than Income Would Have to Be Taxed

The hoards of accumulated wealth would have to be at least partially surrendered, at the very least at death...all capital gains, too. Horrors!

[Demeter]

25. Living the Good Life in Europe: Ex-Pats Enjoy Better Health, Schools

http://www.alternet.org/story/150088/living_the_good_life_in_europe%3A_ex-pats_enjoy_better_health%2C_schools?akid=6697.227380.ZOPR2R&rd=1&t=18

Universal health care, better public education systems, socially liberal attitudes, a frustration with American politics ... there are many reasons to live in Europe.

According to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), more than 5.08 million Americans (not counting those serving in the U.S. military) are living outside the United States—and roughly 1.2 million of them can be found in different parts of Europe...the main reason why Americans initially decide to move to Europe is because they fall in love with all the cultural beauty that Europe has to offer. And after they have taken the plunge and become situated, things like universal health care, a social safety net, a strong infrastructure and socially liberal attitudes may encourage them to stay...

According to AARO, European countries that have more than 100,000 American expatriates include Germany, France, Spain, the U.K., Italy and Greece...

[Demeter]

26. Bill Maher: Republicans Are Like Meth Addicts, Always Focused on Imaginary Problems

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/534126/bill_maher%3A_republicans_are_like_meth_addicts%2C_always_focused_on_imaginary_problems/#paragraph5


VIDEO CLIP

[Demeter]

27. Vision: Urban Gardening and Green Economy Flourish in Detroit

http://www.alternet.org/story/150308/vision%3A_urban_gardening_and_green_economy_flourish_in_detroit?page=entire

THIS IS A CALIFORNIAN'S VIEW OF MY BIRTHPLACE...INTERESTING

[Hotler]

28. k&r Thanks Demeter n/t

[Demeter]

30. Information

It may not be happy, but I hope it's useful.

[Demeter]

29. Art Imitating Life Imitating Art

Since I pretend to know something about economics (got a post doc. with the continuing education program at the School of Hard Knocks and time served with SMW/WEE)...

The Kid and I rented "Wall Street" and "Wall Street the Sequel" from the Blockbuster across town (the neighborhood BB has thrown in the towel--ever since Pfizer left, it's been teetering, and now that BB is in Chapter 11, they can break the lease, and so, I'm traveling 20 miles every 3 days...) The Kid likes Michael Douglas, so it's mutually agreeable, unlike her fascination with Buffy and Angel...

The "Wall Sreet" films are amazing. They even have an Alan Greenspan-look-alike character! This cuts too close to reality for suspension of disbelief. I am sure that these two films are masterful propaganda FOR reality, and will have lasting effect on counteracting the pure BS that the RW spinmeisters spew daily. It is unfortunate that we can't get a TV drama for cable like this...it might have immeasurable effect on national dialog. If we only have time for it to percolate through the public consciousness...

The West Wing certainly did. Unfortunately, an unscrupulous candidate used the momentum stirred up by West Wing to fake his way onto the ticket and into the White House...thereby polluting the positive effect of the propaganda.

It's not that we cannot win the propaganda war, it's that it costs a lot of money and time and we are very far behind at the moment, and the other side is constantly working to undo reality-based efforts. Furthermore, TPTB, having co-opted the latest Administration and Legislature, keep trying to suspend reality for the duration and throw sand in the voting public's eyes on everything, in the hopes of getting more--more time, more loot, more power, but never more satisfaction or progress for anyone, re.

It gives one pause. The bigger they are, the higher the house of cards, the more complete the collapse. We little people have to be ready: ready to survive the collapse, with as much technologysources and infrastructure as possible, ready to take away the steering wheel from the crazy drunkards who have been driving, and ready to make a structure that prevents the same drunkards or any that follow them from grabbing the wheel again.

And we have to be ready with a new vision of life--a sustainable, equitable life for all. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

It's basic Vulcan philosophy....

[snot]

50. We've allowed them to acquire most of the means of production of P.R.

(including "news"). If we don't prevent them from doing the same with the 'net, we're in BIG trouble.

[Demeter]

31. The Radioactive Racism Behind Nuclear Energy

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/03/the_radioactive_racism_behind_nuclear_peace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29

...Today, in the shadow of Fukushima, the African continent’s one nuclear power plant, near Cape Town, is no longer a symbol of South Africa’s relative industrial advancement. Rather, it is an emblem of a ruthless pursuit of new fuel at the public’s expense. Under the government’s energy program, designed to wean the country of its current dependency on coal, nuclear power will grow to about 23 percent of new energy generated by 2031, from just 2 percent in 2009, according to Bloomberg.

Advocates for the poor, women and other disenfranchised communities say the environmental harms of nuclear power will aggravate the social inequalities that persist despite the end of apartheid. In an email from Cape Town, Muna Lakhani, co-coordinator of Earthlife Africa’s Unplug Nuclear Campaign, told Colorlines that the government’s new nuclear agenda “was received with shock by civil society and labour formations” and amounted to “effectively an ‘up yours’ response to the citizens of our country”:

One would think that the South African government would pause for a moment, in the aftermath of the ongoing nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima in Japan, about committing us to a nuclear future….

Effectively, this message says to all of us: 1) we do not care about your health and safety; 2) we would rather support and pay for foreign technologies than develop local industry; 3) we would rather pay foreign workers than generate more jobs in South Africa; 4) we do not care that we will be responsible for poisoning Mother Africa for hundreds of thousands of years.

ANY PEOPLE ON ANY CONTINENT CAN MAKE THE SAME COMPLAINT

[Demeter]

32. Global Supply Lines at Risk as Shipping Lines Shun Japan

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/global/26shipping.html?hp

The economic disruptions from Japan’s crisis have cascaded into another, crucial link in the global supply chain: cargo shipping.

Fearing the potential impact on crews, cargo and vessels worth tens of millions of dollars, some of the world’s biggest container shipping lines have restricted or barred their ships from calling on ports in Tokyo Bay over concerns about radiation from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Meantime, ports in China are starting to require strict radiation checks on ships arriving from Japan. And in California on Friday, the first ship to reach the Port of Long Beach since Japan’s earthquake was boarded and scanned for radiation by Coast Guard and federal customs officials before being allowed to dock.

Big Japanese ports much farther south of Tokyo, like Osaka and Kobe, are still loading and unloading cargo. But the Tokyo Bay ports of Tokyo and Yokohama are normally Japan’s two busiest, representing as much as 40 percent of the nation’s foreign container cargo. If other shipping companies join those already avoiding the Tokyo area, as radiation contamination spreads from Fukushima Daiichi 140 miles north, the delays in getting goods in and out of Japan would only grow worse.

The shipping industry’s fears have escalated since port officials in Xiamen, China, earlier this week detected radiation on a large container ship belonging to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and quarantined the ship. The vessel had sailed down Japan’s northeast coast and reportedly came no closer than 80 miles to the damaged nuclear power plant; the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday afternoon that the vessel had left a berth at the port on Wednesday afternoon and then anchored briefly at sea...

AS ANY MILITARY COMMANDER FROM ROME ON UP TO NAPOLEON AND BEYOND COULD TELL THEM--SHORTER SUPPLY LINES (OR LOCAL FORAGING)! AN ARMY RAVELS ON ITS STOMACH--AND PROFITS GROW ON THE LACK OF CHASMS TO FALL INTO.

[Demeter]

33. Inside America's Most Dangerous Nuclear Plant

http://www.counterpunch.com/stclair03242011.html

These are desperate days for Entergy, the big Arkansas-based power conglomerate that owns the frail Indian Point nuclear plant, located on the east bank of the Hudson River outside Buchanan, New York—just twenty-two miles from Manhattan.

First, a scathing report issued in 2005 by a nuclear engineer fingered Indian Point as one of the five worst nuclear plants in the United States, and predicted that its emergency cooling system “is virtually certain to fail.”

This disclosure was hotly followed by the release of a study conducted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that ominously concluded that the chances of a reactor meltdown increased by a factor of nearly 100 at Indian Point, because the plant’s drainage pits (also known as containment sumps) are “almost certain” to be blocked with debris during an accident.

“The NRC has known about the containment sump problem at Indian Point since September 1996,” said David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The NRC cannot take more than a decade to fix a safety problem that places millions of Americans at undue risk.”

[Demeter]

34. Krugman Is Wrong: The United States Could Not End Up Like Greece

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/krugman-is-wrong-the-united-states-could-not-end-up-like-greece?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+beat_the_press+%28Beat+the+Press%29

It does not happen often, but it does happen; I have to disagree with Paul Krugman this morning. In an otherwise excellent column criticizing the drive to austerity in the United States and elsewhere, Krugman comments:

"But couldn’t America still end up like Greece? Yes, of course. If investors decide that we’re a banana republic whose politicians can’t or won’t come to grips with long-term problems, they will indeed stop buying our debt."

Actually this is not right for the simple reason that the United States has its own currency. This is important because even in the worst case scenario, where the deficit in United States spirals out of control, the crisis would not take the form of the crisis in Greece.

Greece is like the state of Ohio. If Ohio has to borrow, it has no choice but to persuade investors to buy its debt. Unless Greece leaves the euro (an option that it probably should be considering, at least to improve its bargaining position), it must pay the rate of interest demanded by private investors or meet the conditions imposed by the European Union/IMF as part of a bailout.

However, because the United States has its own currency it would always have the option to buy its own debt. The Federal Reserve Board could in principle buy an unlimited amount of debt simply by printing more money. This could lead to a serious problem with inflation, but it would not put us in the Greek situation of having to go hat in hand before the bond vigilantes....

...This distinction is important for two reasons. First, the public should be aware that the Fed makes many of the most important political decisions affecting the economy. For example, if the Fed refused to buy the government's debt even though interest rates had soared, this would be a very important political decision on the Fed's part to deliberately leave the country at the mercy of the bond market vigilantes. This could be argued as good economic policy, but it is important that the public realize that such a decision would be deliberate policy, not an unalterable economic fact.

[DemReadingDU]

35. There's going to be a tipping point

that the U.S. will no longer be able to control things, and suffer dire consequences.

[Demeter]

37. Already the US Cannot Control Things

That's another legacy of W Bush: he didn't just destroy the US at home, he destroyed our reputation abroad. Obama had good press, but the reality doesn't line up with it, and he's squandered that good feeling, that honeymoon, for nothing.

AS FOR THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES:

The citizens are already suffering the dire consequences--what we need is for the Fat Cat, Big Boss, Obscenely Wealthy and Abusive of Power to start suffering.
And that means the ordinary people must rise up and be heard and succeed.

[Demeter]

36. ABOVE RESPONDS TO: Deficits and the Printing Press (Somewhat Wonkish)

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/deficits-and-the-printing-press-somewhat-wonkish/

Right now, deficits don’t matter — a point borne out by all the evidence. But there’s a school of thought — the modern monetary theory people — who say that deficits never matter, as long as you have your own currency.

I wish I could agree with that view — and it’s not a fight I especially want, since the clear and present policy danger is from the deficit peacocks of the right. But for the record, it’s just not right.

The key thing to remember is that current conditions — lots of excess capacity in the economy, and a liquidity trap in which short-term government debt carries a roughly zero interest rate — won’t always prevail. As long as those conditions DO prevail, it doesn’t matter how much the Fed increases the monetary base, and it therefore doesn’t matter how much of the deficit is monetized. But this too shall pass, and when it does, things will be very different.

So suppose that we eventually go back to a situation in which interest rates are positive, so that monetary base and T-bills are once again imperfect substitutes; also, we’re close enough to full employment that rapid economic expansion will once again lead to inflation. The last time we were in that situation, the monetary base was around $800 billion.

[Demeter]

38. Our Theme: Send In the Clowns (Don't Bother, They're Here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POIzZRCOlmc&feature=fvst

[Demeter]

39. Eyes Open, WaMu Still Failed

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/25norris.html?ref=business

In the crazy days of 2005 and 2006, when home prices were soaring and mortgage underwriting standards were crumbling, it took foresight and judgment to see that it was all a bubble.

As it happens, there was a bank chief executive whose internal forecasts now seem prescient. “I have never seen such a high-risk housing market,” he wrote to the bank’s chief risk officer in 2005. A year later he forecast the housing market would be “weak for quite some time as we unwind the speculative bubble.”

At that same bank, executives checking for fraudulent mortgage applications found that at one bank office 42 percent of loans reviewed showed signs of fraud, “virtually all of it attributable to some sort of employee malfeasance or failure to execute company policy.” A report recommended “firm action” against the employees involved.

In addition to such internal foresight and vigilance, that bank had regulators who spotted problems with procedures and policies. “The regulators on the ground understood the issues and raised them repeatedly,” recalled a retired bank official this week.

This is not, however, a column about a bank that got things right. It is about Washington Mutual, which in 2008 became the largest bank failure in American history.

What went wrong? The chief executive, Kerry K. Killinger, talked about a bubble but was also convinced that Wall Street would reward the bank for taking on more risk. He kept on doing so, amassing what proved to be an almost unbelievably bad book of mortgage loans. Nothing was done about the office where fraud seemed rampant...

[Demeter]

40. Shifting the Focus From "Strategic Default" to "Prudent Walkaway"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-carroll/shifting-the-focus-from-s_b_838843.html

A "strategic default" currently means walking away from an underwater home even though the owner could afford to pay the mortgage. However, this represents far less than half of walkaways. The vast majority of foreclosures happen to people who cannot afford to pay the mortgage.

Portrayals of strategic default in 2009 were typically of homeowners who "used their home as an ATM," or "deadbeats." Even news stories describing the positive side of default didn't entirely shake those images. One of the earliest semi-positive stories was in the Wall St. Journal, titled "American Dream 2: Default, Then Rent." This article described a couple who had defaulted, cut their housing costs from nearly $4,000/month to just over $2,000/month, and were living in a bigger house with "a swimming pool with three waterfalls." Another strategic defaulter in the same article found the benefits of default-and-rent included the discretionary income to go out to dinner more often, and hang on to his series-6 BMW.

These are not the people I meet in the course of interviewing and writing about surviving tough times. The people I meet are laid off, or from two incomes down to one, or on their way to medical bankruptcy. They cannot imagine a swimming pool, much less a waterfall -- they just have bills they can't pay, one of which is the mortgage. Some are slow in adjusting to the "new normal," and still eat out regularly, but others have already cut back to eating out four times a year.

Their home may be underwater -- or they may have equity. Often it doesn't matter, when the bottom line is that they have to choose between the mortgage and medical insurance -- because losing medical insurance in America is potentially lethal.

For this group, it is not a matter of cunningly defaulting to maintain a latte-sipping lifestyle. It is a matter of prudently walking away from the mortgage that is dragging their family and future under the waves...

[Demeter]

41. The Austerity Delusion By PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/opinion/25krugman.html?ref=opinion

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Portugal’s government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up.

What do these events have in common? They’re all evidence that slashing spending in the face of high unemployment is a mistake. Austerity advocates predicted that spending cuts would bring quick dividends in the form of rising confidence, and that there would be few, if any, adverse effects on growth and jobs; but they were wrong.

It’s too bad, then, that these days you’re not considered serious in Washington unless you profess allegiance to the same doctrine that’s failing so dismally in Europe....

[Demeter]

42. Some European countries are in the habit of going bankrupt

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100081316/some-european-countries-are-in-the-habit-of-going-bankrupt/

A few hours after George Osborne’s faintly banal Budget speech, José Sócrates, the Portuguese prime minister, resigned. So far as I know, these two events were not in any way connected. Nevertheless, it is a very good bet that this little Iberian drama will have far more effect on British household finances and our national prosperity over the coming year than the Osborne Budget.

The resignation plunges the eurozone into a crisis it cannot survive. Mr Socrates’s failure to force his austerity package through the Portuguese parliament marks a crucial turning point.

It is the moment when the peripheral eurozone countries refuse to take orders any more from the centre. Effectively, Portugal has adopted blackmail as an economic strategy – and very effective it is, too.
The country is ready to be bailed out of its chronic financial mess, but only on its own terms. Otherwise it has a deadly card to play. It has the option of going bankrupt, an act of naked malice which would set in motion a second round of the banking crisis which began in 2007.

The consequences of this would be terrible: the break-up of the euro, mass unemployment, financial collapse, social despair. The scary truth is that the scale of the problem facing the eurozone has been gravely underestimated by British commentators. The reasons are shaming. One significant factor is the financial and economic illiteracy of political journalists and foreign correspondents. Too many are ill-equipped to look behind the bland statements made by European chancellors or to interpret the deliberately misleading balance sheets of major European banks....

INTERESTING READING AND HISTORY LESSON--MUST READ!

[Demeter]

43. PHOTO MONTAGE OF ELIZABETH TAYLOR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBonKdy7t4o&feature=related

[Demeter]

44. Leonard Nimoy - Reflections on Spock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCw7RImHmoM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xw6vDoI4aU&feature=related

[Demeter]

45. Geraldine Ferraro Dies at 75

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Geraldine-Ferraro-Dead-at-75-118706824.html

[Demeter]

46. WEATHER REPORT

It's snowing on the cherry blossoms in DC, NPR reported this morning. I'm not surprised, it's up to 19F at 8:30 AM here. Global warming is a bust. Perhaps all the volcanic activity following the Japanese fault slippage?

[kickysnana]

47. The cool weather saved us from massive flooding...

there is still localized flooding and another crest is expected from the northern snow pack in April. After it cooled down we got another 3-6 inches in the metro area making this the 3rd snowiest winter on record.

[Fuddnik]

48. No global warming? We redid the pool for nothing?

[burf]

49. The pool area really looks good.

But according to the dog there is something seriously wrong....water.

Thye only reason water was created is so that labs have a place to play.

[Fuddnik]

51. We'll fill it up tomorrow.

They've got to put some grout in the coping.

Then, I can have two soaking wet dogs walk into my computer room. The only room in the house with carpet.

[Demeter]

52. Nice Pool, Fuddnik

Just what the Doctor ordered!

I'm just hoping it gets up to 40F at night by Memorial Day, when our refurbished pool is scheduled to open.

As it is, we don't get up to 40F in the daytime...

I really like that pool ornament. The grandpuppy is making me wish for a dog of my own...but really, two-three times a week for a few hours is enough. I don't have time to have any thing like a life.

[DemReadingDU]

53. Joe Bageant :(

http://www.joebageant.com/

[jmowreader]

54. What you're saying is...

there was once a time when they made movies so you cared whose ass it was and why it was farting.

But can that time come again? Probably not if the Kochs have anything to say about it.