STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday November 23

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday November 23, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON November 22, 2010

Dow 11,178.58 -24.97 (-0.22%)
Nasdaq 2,532.02 +13.90 (+0.55%)
S&P 500 1,197.84 -1.89 (-0.16%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.78 -0.02 (-0.78%)
30-Year Bond 4.19 -0.02 (-0.48%)

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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

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

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

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

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Today's Reports

08:30 GDP - Second Estimate Q3
Briefing.com 2.5%
Consensus 2.4%
Prior 2.0%

08:30 GDP Deflator - Second Estimate Q3
Briefing.com 2.3%
Consensus 2.3%
Prior 2.3%

10:00 Existing Home Sales Oct
Briefing.com 4.20M
Consensus 4.42M
Prior 4.53M

14:00 Minutes of FOMC Meeting Nov 3

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

[Roland99]

45. They got one right? Q3 Rev is +2.5%

[ozymandius]

2. Oil falls to $81 as traders eye equities, dollar

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to near $81 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as falling stock markets and a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on crude.

Most Asian stock markets fell and the dollar gained Tuesday amid fears Ireland's debt crisis will spread to other financially weak European countries. Investors often look to stock markets as a gauge of overall investor sentiment while a stronger dollar makes crude more expensive for traders with other currencies.

Other analysts are less optimistic about a pick-up in oil demand in the U.S. and Europe. National Australia Bank expects crude prices to average in the $80s in every quarter through 2012.

In other Nymex trading in December contracts, heating oil fell 1 cent at $2.26 a gallon and gasoline dropped 2 cents to $2.13 a gallon. Natural gas slid 1.1 cents $4.26 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[ozymandius]

4. China bans hoarding of oil, coal to cool prices

SHANGHAI – China is banning the hoarding of oil, coal and other key commodities, seeking to ensure supplies and cool prices that have surged to politically volatile levels despite repeated moves to curb inflation.

The moves reported by state media Tuesday are Beijing's latest effort to counter unease over inflation that jumped to a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October. Authorities want to reassure a nervous public that the government can handle inflation pressures that some worry could spiral out of control.

Authorities say soaring food prices — which jumped more than 10 percent in October — are mainly to blame for the current bout of inflation, but costs for fuel and other necessities have also jumped, as supplies have run short.

more

China is playing it smart by short-circuiting the mechanisms that threaten its economic national security. I would applaud if the United States and other nations would do the same as I see energy resources as essential to our national security in every definition of the phrase.

[Roland99]

43. RBOB down to $2.11. Gas prices here in KY shot up $0.20 yesterday

Up to $2.89. found a place at $2.73 this morning and filled up my future son-in-law's truck.

Been toting this little cutie around town the last couple of days:

[AnneD]

51. I would not be toting that cutie to a gas station.....

They might make you hand her over as payment to fill the tank. And for God's sake stay out of airports!

What is the name...Roland 99.5

[Roland99]

55. HA!

Her name is Kaylin Grace.

If she'd been a boy, I might have had a shot at getting Roland in there... ;-)

[Demeter]

52. I rec this baby!

And I'm available to sit or anything...

[Roland99]

56. You'll have to wait in a long line!

:)

[Dr.Phool]

64. Don't bring her around my wife.

You'll never get her back.

[DemReadingDU]

67. ah, I rec this babe too!

[ozymandius]

78. How adorable!

That lovely face is a good antidote for today.

[Roland99]

99. Thought she might brighten things up a bit

Had another great day out and about with them.

Trying not to think about having to leave later in the week.

[Demeter]

3. First Rec! Haven't Done that in a while!

Good morning, Ozy!

[ozymandius]

5. Good morning, Demeter.

:donut: :donut: :donut: Thanks.

[Demeter]

7. Some Commentators Seem to Think the Euro Is Toast

and will shrink to Germany, France and the Netherlands. What have you thought, heard, etc?

[ozymandius]

12. My 2¢

I have heard nothing of substance about the EU zone breaking apart. It is not surprising that yelling and spitting happens when PIIGS problems cause this much of a headache. When tempers and bond markets settle down then I expect that EU members are going to address the political issues that created these national solvency crises. Remember in the Spring when Greece went through the same thing Ireland experienced this week? There was plenty of speculation that Greece would walk through "that door" and drop the euro, revert to their old currency and inflate their way out of debt. It didn't happen.

Now with an economy of scale like Ireland, Italy and Spain the bailout stakes are much higher because the economies are much larger. Is any one of these nations going to walk through "that door" and leave the EU? Probably not - because membership in the EU offers more security than it acts as a weight. A "go it alone" approach will not solve the main issues of insolvency for each nation. The EU is not the problem. The main issue is incompetent management of financial resources respective of each EU member nation's government. Their governments were way too enthralled with creative accounting gimmicks like the nonsense people worship here in the U.S.

Accounting rules will probably be reformed. The Five Tests that applicant nations must pass in order to join the EU may be revamped. But a breakup? I just don't see it.

[54anickel]

71. Not that it matters, but I agree with you assessment Ozy. There is also something to be said

about safety in numbers. As the world watches the US dollar falter and become too unstable to remain the world's reserve currency, there's nothing on the horizon to replace this Brenton Woods fiasco.

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to, "Are ya feeling lucky - punk"?

Then again, wtf do I know....

[DemReadingDU]

68. nah, not for awhile

but as the global economy continues to deteriorate, various countries will become disillusioned with the Euro, and return to its own currency. Not for awhile, probably not in our lifetimes.

[Festivito]

6. Debt: 11/19/2010 13,789,699,194,529.33 (UP 1,244,052,411.28) (Fri)

(Up some. Back from Ann Arbor and off to bed for me. Good morning.)
Warm nights, warm rainy days.
(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)
= 9,205,331,929,626.46 + 4,584,367,264,902.87
UP 2,392,756,046.31 + DOWN 1,148,703,635.03

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 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,218.14 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,738,592 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 $44,377.17.
A family of three owes $133,131.51. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 4,938,680,791.62.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,786,321,940.24.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,664,182,522.82.
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$/day.
There were 35 reports in 50 days of FY2011 averaging 6.52B$ per report, 4.56B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 793 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
11/19/2010 13,789,699,194,529.33 BHO (UP 3,162,822,145,616.25 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 +0,228,076,163,637.60 ------------* * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,664,955,994,554.49 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
10/29/2010 +010,778,095,157.00 ------------**********
11/01/2010 +063,143,305,537.83 ------------********** Mon
11/02/2010 +000,562,237,098.37 ------------********
11/03/2010 -000,042,244,820.71 ----
11/04/2010 +002,136,844,217.63 ------------*********
11/05/2010 -000,209,791,147.70 ---
11/08/2010 -000,059,969,255.93 ---- Mon
11/09/2010 -000,005,858,868.46 -----
11/10/2010 +001,354,516,168.52 ------------*********
11/12/2010 +001,236,686,699.48 ------------*********
11/15/2010 +065,794,144,300.11 ------------********** Mon
11/16/2010 +000,750,562,513.87 ------------********
11/17/2010 +000,670,859,874.97 ------------********
11/18/2010 -002,271,166,541.35 --
11/19/2010 +002,392,756,046.31 ------------*********

146,230,976,979.94 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=4624604&mesg_id=4624606

[Demeter]

8. Sorry for all the rain, hope you dry out soon

We don't usually have monsoons in November. Mother Nature made a special effort for you. I thought the lightning was a special touch!

[Festivito]

84. It's Michigan, after ten minutes, it relented.

Although, Main street in front of the Heidelberg was a river out four feet from the curb for a while.

Hopefully it will be more easily crossed tonite.

[Festivito]

85. Debt: 11/22/2010 13,794,645,743,594.58 (UP 4,946,549,065.25) (Mon)

(Up a little. Good day.)
My poor muscles are not yelling at me, only mildly shouting from time to time.
(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)
= 9,205,399,986,156.01 + 4,589,245,757,438.57
UP 68,056,529.55 + UP 4,878,492,535.70

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 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,217.92 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,760,192 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 $44,390..
A family of three owes $133,170.01. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 6,048,607,208.74.
The average for the last 30 days would be 4,234,025,046.12.
The average for the last 31 days would be 4,097,443,593.02.
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$/day.
There were 36 reports in 53 days of FY2011 averaging 6.47B$ per report, 4.40B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 790 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
11/22/2010 13,794,645,743,594.58 BHO (UP 3,167,768,694,681.50 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 +0,233,022,712,702.80 ------------* * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,604,779,059,179.67 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
11/01/2010 +063,143,305,537.83 ------------********** Mon
11/02/2010 +000,562,237,098.37 ------------********
11/03/2010 -000,042,244,820.71 ----
11/04/2010 +002,136,844,217.63 ------------*********
11/05/2010 -000,209,791,147.70 ---
11/08/2010 -000,059,969,255.93 ---- Mon
11/09/2010 -000,005,858,868.46 -----
11/10/2010 +001,354,516,168.52 ------------*********
11/12/2010 +001,236,686,699.48 ------------*********
11/15/2010 +065,794,144,300.11 ------------********** Mon
11/16/2010 +000,750,562,513.87 ------------********
11/17/2010 +000,670,859,874.97 ------------********
11/18/2010 -002,271,166,541.35 --
11/19/2010 +002,392,756,046.31 ------------*********
11/22/2010 +000,068,056,529.55 ------------******* Mon

135,520,938,352.49 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=4625932&mesg_id=4625942

[ozymandius]

9. Obama economic aide Farrell stepping down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Monday that Diana Farrell would step down as a deputy director of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, marking the latest Obama administration staff departure.

Farrell, who will leave within weeks, works alongside council Director Larry Summers, who has already announced his intention to return to Harvard University at the end of 2010.

more

Who is Diana Farrell?

An advocate of offshoring and innovation to produce economic growth, Farrell joined President Barack Obama’s administration as he fought to restore confidence in the credit markets and save financial institutions on the brink of destruction. more

Does she put lipstick on pigs?

In op-eds and other published writings, Farrell has written extensively on the subject of companies moving jobs overseas in pursuit of cheaper labor. In a book titled “The Economists' Voice: Top Economists Take on Today's Problems,” Farrell wrote a chapter titled “U.S. Offshoring: Small Steps to make it Win-Win.”

And what about "too big to fail" companies like AIG and Citigroup? Should they be broken into smaller companies that would not pose a danger to national and global financial stability?

Some argued that Congress should create measures that would prevent a company from growing too large.

But Farrell argues that the large, complex institutions, like AIG and Citigroup, have benefits as well. "We have created them, and we're sort of past that point, and I think that in some sense, the genie's out of the bottle and what we need to do is to manage them and to oversee them, as opposed to hark back to a time that we're unlikely to ever come back to or want to come back to," said Farrell.

I can't say that I will miss her and the Summers fella too.

[Demeter]

10. Disgusting

And then these fake economists leave Obama to take all the cream pies.

Worse yet, he seems to like it.

[hamerfan]

14. Just a guess here,

But is Diana Farrell from Chicago?

[Demeter]

17. Looks Like Harvard, and a Goldman Alumna, To Boot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Farrell

[ozymandius]

18. Not quite. But she does have one essential credit on her CV for the White House gig.

Born in Bogota, Colombia as a U.S. citizen abroad, Farrell attended Wesleyan University in 1987, earning a B.A. in economics. After Wesleyan, Farrell joined the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, where she worked two years before attending Harvard Business School.

[54anickel]

60. Never thought I'd see the day when I pity the Monster of Jekyll Island, even if its just a wee-bit.

Its like watching a mother rodent being devoured alive by her ravenous, mutant off-spring. She copulated with the likes of Wall Street and this is what she gets.

[Hugin]

62. Buh-bye. n/t

[Demeter]

11. Looks Like Bernanke Has Palin and Tea Party to Blame for His Failings

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/business/economy/23fed.html?_r=3&ref=business

What a wanker!

[54anickel]

63. OMG - Tea partiers are looking to make Greenspanism/AynRandism the law of the land?

"Mr. Pence introduced legislation that would strip the Fed of one of its two legally mandated goals — promoting maximum employment — and have it focus on fighting inflation and preserving the value of the dollar."

Cantcha just feel the love in the final paragraph quoting GReenspin? Sort of a "whodathunk" and "sucks to be you" statement....

Mr. Greenspan, who recently suggested that the Fed was weakening the dollar, expressed sympathy for his successor. “The Fed in recent years has been facing far greater policy challenges than I, or my colleagues, had to confront during the whole of my tenure,” he said.

[Demeter]

13. Mortgage File Missteps Extend Past Securitization, Cantor Fitzgerald Says

Paperwork? We don' need no steenkin' paperwork!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-22/mortgage-file-missteps-extend-past-securitization-cantor-fitzgerald-says.html

[Demeter]

15. U.S. Banks Will Close 5,000 Branches, Whitney Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-22/u-s-banks-will-close-5-000-branches-in-18-months-whitney-says.html

..Whitney has said earnings pressures and new regulation will lead to some lower-income customers losing access to banking services. The number of households without access to the “traditional banking system” will rise to 41 million by 2015 from 30 million in 2009, she said in the Nov. 18 note.

“The most regrettable unintended consequence of some of the quickly written regulatory reform, we believe, will be the inevitable ‘debanking’ of the U.S. financial system,” said Whitney, who started New York-based Meredith Whitney Group after correctly predicting Citigroup Inc.’s dividend cut in 2007. “Fewer ‘bankable’ customers will contribute to the trend in fewer bank branches.”

Whitney also sees slower growth in investment banking. U.S. securities firms may cut as many as 80,000 jobs in the next 18 months as revenue growth slows, she said in September.

Bank branches in the U.S. fell by 1,035, or 1 percent, over the 12 months ended June 30, Whitney said, citing data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Banks may cut 10,000 branches by 2015, she said...

[ozymandius]

21. When Meredith Whitney Speaks, People Listen.

She is a class act, very smart and knows her banking bidness. I wonder how this sits with the shills departing the White House economic circle?

[54anickel]

66. Duh! Who the hell needs a bank when they're unemployed, homeless and f'ing broke!

This is just the banking system saying, "adios suckers! we don't need you anymore...we've got all your money from your pensions, and retirement savings".

Damn, this is why I don't hang out here anymore...just makes me bitter and cynical.

[Demeter]

16. Countrywide's Mortgage Document Errors May Doom Bank of America

Testimony in a New Jersey foreclosure case decided last week may spell big trouble for Bank of America (BAC). If what one bank employee said on the stand proves to be accurate, paperwork problems it acquired when it purchased the failing mortgage provider Countrywide in 2008 could leave BofA on the hook for billions of dollars.

Linda DiMartini, a supervisor and operational team leader for the Litigation Management Department of BAC Home Loans Servicing, testified in the foreclosure case of John T. Kemp that it was "customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of the original note and related documents."

If that's true, then Bank of America may discover that it has millions of loans on its books that it thought it had transferred to trusts that issued mortgage backed securities, because 96% of Countrywide loans were ostensibly securitized. As the Congressional Oversight Panel explained, that outcome alone could cause massive damage to a bank's balance sheet. And as bad as that would be, it isn't the only problem that could result from Countrywide hanging on to the notes.

If the mortgage-backed securities aren't in fact "mortgage-backed," investors who bought them could be able to force BofA to buy the securities back. A significant number of buybacks could on its own destroy BofA's balance sheet. Nor could BofA stave off either outcome retroactively by delivering those notes today. First, the contracts that created the trusts would typically forbid transferring the loans into the trusts now. Second, even if somehow that could happen, such a transfer would destroy the special tax status the mortgage backed securities enjoy and give the investors a different reason to put back the securities or sue over them.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/ar7Mlc

[ozymandius]

24. Lawsuits Galore

I have been reading about caveat emptor in court cases. That may have been a valid argument to win a case 150 years ago. Today, that argument will receive belly-shaking laughter from the judge. That will be followed with an angry judge lecturing from the bench about insulting his intelligence and wasting the court's time.

The ratings agencies are party to this fraud, too.

[Demeter]

29. A European Lynch Mob Is Coming For Bank of America

http://blogs.forbes.com/schifrin/2010/10/25/a-european-lynch-mob-is-coming-for-bank-of-america/?boxes=financechannelforbes

I pity CEO Brian Moynihan and the 284,000 other employees of Bank of America Corp (BAC). That includes 15,000 Merrill Lynch brokers who are still recovering from the financial crisis and now have to explain to their clients why they work for a firm that is at the epicenter of America’s housing crisis.

Not only have they seen $80 billion in stock market value evaporate since April but they also have to suffer the humiliation of having a parent company bone-headed enough to pay $4 billion for Countrywide, the financial firm created by subprime mortgage pimp Angelo Mozilo. That mess could wind up costing BAC $50 billion, excluding legal fees and brand value deterioration. Remember Countrywide originated $1.4 trillion in mortgages from 2005 to 2007 alone.

The latest ugly news for Bank of America is actually coming from Europe, where big institutional money managers and other mortgage securities buyers are now beginning to organize for an assault. This information comes from John Mauldin’s, Thoughts from the Frontline Weekly Newsletter. His e-letter is a must-read for many money managers and serious investors.

This week he devotes a lot of his letter to testimony that seems to prove that big banks like Citigroup (C) and BAC were negligent and even willfully careless in underwriting subprime mortgages. He also reports on some new ominous developments brewing overseas and that law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan , which specializes in going after money center banks, has been hired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac parent, the FHFA. Below is an excerpt of his newsletter...SEE LINK

[ozymandius]

37. You may need to explain the concept of 'pity' to the BoA board.

Globalization works in reverse. Banksters love globalization as a means to get what others have. I wonder if they are at all surprised that others can reverse the process?

[Demeter]

38. That Is Beyond My portfolio

Some other poor slob gets that pleasure. I have to laugh at Goldman, gnawing on the bindings of Warren Buffett's largess...they've been keeping an awfully low profile lately....

[Demeter]

33. Pimco, NY Fed Said to Seek BofA Repurchase of Mortgages

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-19/pimco-new-york-fed-said-to-seek-bank-of-america-repurchase-of-mortgages.html

Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are seeking to force Bank of America Corp. to repurchase soured mortgages packaged into $47 billion of bonds by its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.

A group of bondholders wrote a letter to Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the debt’s trustee, citing alleged failures by Countrywide to service loans properly, their lawyer said yesterday in a statement that didn’t name the firms. The New York Fed acquired mortgage debt through its 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.

Investors are stepping up efforts to recoup losses on mortgage bonds, which plummeted in value amid the worst slump in home prices since the 1930s. IN SPETEMBER, BNY Mellon declined to investigate mortgage files in response to a demand from the bondholder group, which has since expanded. Countrywide’s servicing failures, including insufficient record keeping, may open the door for investors to seek repurchases by bypassing the trustee, said Kathy Patrick, their lawyer at Gibbs & Bruns LLP. ..

[CountAllVotes]

74. stay away from PIMCO

I had (note the word HAD) some of their bond funds awhile back. :puke:

:kick:

[Tansy_Gold]

49. Can I get some additional explanation? I'm confused.

I read the linked article and I've read some others about the Kemp/BofA case, but I'm still not clear on what exactly happened.

1. Kemp takes out a mortgage with CountryWide. There's a note and a mortgage and all the usual original documents, which CountryWide has in their possession.

2. CountryWide "securitizes" Kemp's mortgage along with bazillions of other mortgages issued by CW.

2a. These MBSes are sold to "investors" as, ostensibly an interest in collecting the interest/profits/whatever from the particular bundle/portion of CW's massive portfolio of mortgages. Thus CW collects the sale price of the MBSes but continues servicing the loans and then, I presume???? paying out the proceeds to the purchasers of the MBSes?????

3. CW goes belly up and is bought by BofA. Now BofA has the task of servicing the loans, collecting the payments, and passing them on to the holders of the MBSes???

4. Kemp files for bankruptcy and in the course of that case it is discovered that CW never delivered the physical mortgages and notes to a "trustee" who was supposed to physically have them as evidence of the MBSes????

4a. Existence/records of the sale of the MBSes indicates that someone other that CW actually "owns" the mortgage debt and is entitled to the proceeds, but CW still "owns" the paper.

4b. Purchasers of the MBSes who find out they don't have legal right to claim the proceeds may turn on CW/BofA and demand their money back???

4b (1). Is the buyback of the MBS reduced by the amount already paid out by CW/BofA on the MBS???

4c. CW doesn't really own the paper because it sold the MBS, but since they didn't transfer physical possession of the paper, the trusts don't own the debt either, so the debt is still owed by Kemp but no one knows to whom it's owed????



I live in a community where there are a lot of foreclosures, a lot of people trying to renegotiate their mortgages and a lot of people trying to buy foreclosed properties. I've heard all kinds of nightmare stories, and at least one potential buyer has said they've had to change real estate agents because it became clear neither the agent nor the broker -- a loooooong time player in the local market -- had any clue what was going on.

This buyer is a family transferred to AZ by the breadwinner's job, and the employer has allocated a lump sum to cover moving expenses, rent while house-hunting, closing costs, etc. The less spent on rent, the more that can be applied to downpayment, etc. That money will run out 1/31/11 and they have been unable to negotiate an affordable sale even with willing and sometimes DESPERATE sellers. They were two days away from closing on a house three weeks ago only to have it fall through because of paperwork "difficulties."

Does the general public have any clue what this all means? I know it means catastrophe, but how and why and who benefits and who pays?


Tansy Gold, the ever curious and frequently confused

[DemReadingDU]

70. paperwork "difficulties."

I think when mortgages were entered into the MERS system, and became securitized to be bought and sold (over and over), the chain of paperwork was omitted. Thus there is no clear title/deed to the house. No one knows who owns the property and so the house can't be foreclosed, nor sold to other buyers until the title/deed is clean.

Anyway, that is my simple explanation.

[54anickel]

83. Legal challenges to foreclosure middleman are mounting

http://westlawnews.thomson.com/Securities_Litigation/News/2010/11_-_November/Legal_challenges_to_foreclosure_middleman_are_mounting/

snip>

In the wake of the housing market meltdown, banks have been a common target of plaintiffs' lawyers representing homeowners facing foreclosure. Now, MERS is emerging as another defendant-of-choice in the exploding foreclosure crisis, as lawyers seize on its role as a foreclosure middleman in their ongoing effort to attack the legitimacy of foreclosures. It's certainly a juicy target: from the beginning of 2007 through October, MERS served as the lender, servicer or plaintiff in 508,268 foreclosure auction notices, 12 percent of the nationwide total, according to data provided exclusively to Reuters Legal by research firm RealtyTrac. That's roughly the same amount as for major lenders such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Since September, lawyers have filed class-action lawsuits against MERS on behalf of homeowners in Georgia, Florida, New York and Kentucky. The lawsuits allege that MERS did not have legitimate title to the foreclosed properties, so the foreclosures were fraudulent. Besides seeking damages, many of the lawsuits are asking for court orders to vacate all foreclosures in the states where MERS was involved. And in the last six months, judges in at least six states have halted foreclosures because they found that MERS either lacked standing to be an agent for mortgage firms or had improperly transferred ownership rights.

If the trend continues, it's not only MERS that could suffer. The legal assault on MERS casts doubt on the ownership rights of countless foreclosed properties. And because foreclosed properties represent such a significant segment of the current housing market -- a full quarter of all homes sold in the U.S. during the second quarter were in foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac -- the broader housing market is exposed. "A lot of people who have bought homes or are looking to buy homes are going to have a lot of problems because of MERS," said Alan White, an associate professor at Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana who has written extensively about foreclosures.

more...

[StarburstClock]

87. I'm afraid you already know the answer, the taxpayer will pay, the crooks will walk

That's our system. It's disguised as democracy but it's true fascism in every sense. Laws benefit the elite and if they don't, new laws are passed that do. That facts in any particular matter aren't that important because the solutions that are arrived at have nothing to do with the reality of what occurred. Criminals pay people off to either keep quiet or to invent new things to say. Crime keeps growing unless it's stopped, it easily rises into the political and judicial ranks which leaves everyone else confused and dumbstruck because we have trouble believing what is happening, we don't think it could be that bad.

It is.

[Tansy_Gold]

95. Well maybe yes, and maybe no.

I'm not quite ready to give up hope yet, so I'm working from the basis that there is still a possibily of turning this runaway train around.

Here's the problem for the oligarchs --

For far too long they've posited home ownership as the route to financial independence. Upton Sinclair used it in "The Jungle," so this isn't a new, post-Reagan strategy. The aristos employed a lot of different tactics to do this. There were the old days of deed restrictions that kept neighborhoods "safely" white, so white folks would invest their money and pay their mortgages and their interest and their taxes. There were GI bill mortgages. And so on.

Now, some will say that private home ownership and the debt it involves is antithetical to personal financial independence. But private property is part and parcel of the capitalist (and even part of the socialist) ideology.

(Charlie Keating discovered that being a developer and making all the tons and tons and tons of money from selling houses was less attractive financially than being a hotelier, because then you maintain ownership of the asset while generating income from it. And that's the true aristo attitude.)

But the question then becomes, how do the current oligarchs safely switch course? How do they suddenly dismiss home ownership -- remember boooosh and his "ownership society"? -- as the foundation of the American economy without pulling down their own curtain and revealing the little bald man behind it?

I don't think they can come right out and throw all those homeowners over a cliff, even if they'd like to, because I think they know it will backfire on them. They don't really care about the peons, the peasants, the serfs and other little people, but they do care about avoiding armed insurrection.

Maybe they will go ahead and retroactively protect MERS and the banks and let middle- and working-class homeownership fade from the American scene. But if those people don't have a living room to sit in while they watch DWTS or Idol or whatever other mindless drivel passes for mass entertainment these days, then those people might be sitting around campfires and talking about how they got thrown out of their homes while the greedy banker pigs got bailed out.

Maybe.


TG, NTY

[Demeter]

19. Barclays Transfers From Lehman May Have Broken Law, SEC Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-22/sec-says-two-transfers-to-barclays-in-lehman-deal-violate-law.html


...The U.K. bank got $769 million in securities held in the Lehman brokerage’s reserve bank account, and $507 million in assets listed as a debit item in the brokerage’s customer reserve, when it bought defunct Lehman’s brokerage, Lehman Brothers Inc., the SEC said in a filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The transfers would violate securities law if they increased the deficiency in the accounts, “and LBI would not have sufficient funds to satisfy all claims of the remaining customers,” the SEC said.

The SEC’s filing comes amid a bankruptcy court trial of Barclays, which is accused by Lehman of making an $11 billion “windfall” on its purchase of the brokerage.

“The sale transaction that was disclosed to the court was based upon false premises from the very outset,” Lehman’s lawyer, Robert Gaffey, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James in a court filing yesterday that is his last chance to sway the judge.


LAWS? WE DON' NEED NO STEENKIN' LAWS!

CONTROL FRAUD ALL THE WAY....

[Dr.Phool]

23. I saw a list of all the banks that own the Federal Reserve.

Barclays was one of them, but of the 9 or so other banks, Barclays owned a major stake in all of them.

Maybe Barclays is the Fed.

[Demeter]

28. Okay, You Just Put Me Off Any Idea of Breakfast

care to try for lunch??

[AlabamaLibrul]

32. I could really do with a link on that. Not because I don't believe you, most stuff on who owns the

Fed gets into really wild conspiracy theories about our overlord rulers who are always of a particular race stereotyped to be bankers..... As opposed to the actual stock-type share system.

[Po_d Mainiac]

40. read and weep

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/fedreservebankexplained19dec05.shtml

[hamerfan]

46. Thank You!

For a very informative link, Po_d Mainiac.

[Ghost Dog]

41. Noted for future investigation.

Barclays famously supported the S.A. apartheid regime and resisted sanctions, back in the day.

- I'm heading for the island airport shortly: A few days in Barcelona. Let's see if I can still scrounge a free connection from time to time at home there.

[Demeter]

20. Top Banks Face $100 Billion Basel Shortfall

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12208182

The new Basel III banking rules will leave the biggest U.S. banks short of between $100 billion and $150 billion in equity capital, with 90 per cent of the shortfall concentrated in the top six banks, the Financial Times said, citing research from Barclays Capital....


"These shortfalls are entirely manageable ... The more difficult question is what affect the new rules will have on the cost and availability of credit and bank profitability," the FT quoted Tom McGuire, head of the Capital Advisory Group at BarCap, as saying.

McGuire estimates that U.S. banks can cut their equity needs by $10 billion with each $125 billion reduction in risk-weighted assets, the FT said....


OR THE TBTF COULD DO THE USUAL, AND IGNORE BASEL, JUST LIKE THEY IGNORED EVERY OTHER CONSTRAINT ON BUSINESS...

[Demeter]

22. SEC Proposes Requiring Hedge Funds, LBO Firms to Register With U.S. Agency

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-19/sec-proposes-requiring-registration-by-hedge-funds.html

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed requiring hedge funds and private-equity funds to submit to inspections and new disclosure requirements, aiming to expand oversight as required by the Dodd-Frank law.

SEC commissioners voted 4-1 today to approve a preliminary rule requiring most hedge-fund managers, who currently operate with limited government scrutiny, to register with the agency.

The rules would improve what regulators know about the funds, including their size and the identity of key personnel, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said during a meeting at the agency’s Washington headquarters. Deeper background information, such as the name of an auditor, can “serve as a red flag to regulators,” she said.

Until now, the funds have been “out of sight and were unknown to financial regulators and the public,” Schapiro said...

THE PROPOSED "GRANDFATHER CLAUSE" WILL GUT IT AT THE START...

[tclambert]

25. North Korea attacked South Korea, with artillery.

We can't afford another war. We couldn't really afford the two we started in 2001 and 2003. North Korea has The Bomb.

But South Korea is a major ally and trading partner of the US. We get a lot of electronics from South Korea. Fear of war will no doubt sink the markets today.

If Kim Jong-il were smart, he would have had third party surrogates short LG and Samsung stock. And that's how you make money with artillery shells!

[Po_d Mainiac]

36. Doesn't help that Seoul is within range from North Korean

conventional artillery.

It's well past time for PRC too curb their friggin mutt!

[Ghost Dog]

47. Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un tour soy sauce factory and medical school in Pyonyang

GMT/Zulu 13:47: Yonhap reports that hours after the incident, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, and his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, toured a soy sauce factory and a medical school in Pyongyang.

GMT/Zulo 13:42: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has ordered the military to retaliate against North Korea if there are "additional provocations", the Yonhap news agency reports. A presidential spokeswoman says Mr Lee has ordered strikes on a North Korean missile base near Yeonpyeong if further attacks take place on South Korean territory.

BBC Updating Timeline: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/9218848.stm


- This will be just more of the usual unless someone's gone crazy or the Pentagon is activating a Plan.

[Demeter]

26. Five US Dealers Account For 37% Of OTC Derivatives Market

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101024-705219.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

-The International Swaps and Derivatives Association said Monday that the five largest U.S. dealers hold 37% of the outstanding volume of privately negotiated derivatives contracts globally.

At its annual regional conference in Hong Kong, ISDA said the notional amount of outstanding interest rate, credit, and equity derivatives as of June 30 was $466.8 trillion, up 1% from the end of 2009. Of the total, five U.S. dealers hold $172.3 trillion.

That figure takes into account the global volume of over-the-counter derivatives, said the association, adding that when the 95% of the OTC market is said to be concentrated among those five dealers, that holds true only for contracts among U.S. bank holding companies.

The volume of outstanding contracts reported by the 14 largest international derivatives dealers, known as the G14, was $354.6 trillion at the half-year point, after eliminating double counting. That represents 82% of the total volume of interest rate trades reported to ISDA, 90% of credit derivatives and 86% of equity derivatives...

[Demeter]

27. Too big to fail banks to be determined in mid-2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE69L0A920101023


...The Financial Stability Board is to propose to leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies a global framework for regulating systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) at their Seoul Summit in November. But the set of banks this framework will apply to will not be determined until the middle of next year, and even then no such list will be made public.

"A set of qualitative and quantitative indicators will be produced by year-end and by then there will be a discussion which will empower the FSB to identify the SIFIs," FSB chairman Mario Draghi told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea...

The framework, which is expected to be endorsed by the G20, will require that regulators can resolve the failure of a SIFI without causing market disruption or using taxpayer support.

Financial authorities will also have to ensure that these banks have extra "loss absorbency" capacity. However the FSB will not specify up front what measures regulators must impose, letting them decide instead the most suitable out of capital surcharges, contingent capital and bail-in debt...

[Demeter]

30. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bailout cost is likely to rise to $154 billion, agency projects

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102101941.html

...Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington research firm, said the FHFA projection gave a good indication of what Fannie and Freddie may ultimately cost taxpayers, but "nowhere near a definitive picture of it."

The firm noted that the analysis was based on housing prices and ignored the potential costs associated with a massive breakdown in the foreclosure process that has recently come to light.

"It's simply impossible to forecast reliably now how much foreclosuregate will cost" Fannie and Freddie, the firm said in a memo to clients Thursday.

Repayment unlikely

In any event, it is becoming increasingly clear that the rescue of Fannie and Freddie will be the most expensive part of the government's response to the financial crisis. While many banks and even American International Group have repaid or are working to reimburse the government, the likelihood of Fannie and Freddie doing so is slim, their regulator said...

[jtuck004]

59. The worst part of this ongoing financial crisis was and is the derivative,

paper such as the Credit Default Swaps, in which investors bought insurance on the CDO's. Unlike normal insurance, however, they had no insurable interest. It was just a big bet. Nomi Prins and Michael Lewis talk about these in their books. Prins estimates the notional value of those derivatives at near $140 trillion at its peak, and a lot of those "toxic assets" were taken behind the veil of the Fed, traded for treasuries.

The big problem is that people, bombarded by articles such as the above (an example is Rick Santelli's rant on tv one day, where he started going off on Fannie and Freddie), and sloppy or uninformed reporting by the MSM, leads people to think that somehow the (at its peak) $13 trillion housing market was the big problem, when it was actually the $100+ trillion of leveraged (borrowed) money from pension funds, state investments, international investors, AIG, etc, all of which "evaporated" when just a small fraction of the housing market lost it's value, because of the tremendous leverage which made the impact far greater than it would have been. That huge run up of credit that we all lived on for the past 40 years is what we are going to be paying for during the next 2, 3, or more decades. It may even cause the eventual destruction of this country.

I know it is easier for people to understand how not paying a mortgage on a home can cause a problem, and perhaps this is why the media focuses on that end. But anytime I see statements such as "the rescue of Fannie and Freddie will be the most expensive part of the government's response to the financial crisis" I have to wonder what these folks have to gain from mis-reporting. At its peak the government loaned nearly $23 trillion to investment banks, of which about $3 trillion is never coming back, a considerable amount more than the $154 billion mentioned in this article. Is it just too hard to educate people as to what is really going on, or would they rather beat up on homeowners because we have all been so thoroughly conditioned to kowtow to the financial sector?

Anyone can see the numbers, at sites like http://www.nomiprins.com/reports/, in her book "It Takes A Pillage". or in Ritholtz's book "Bailout Nation". Books like "Broke, USA" show us the path that led us into this. The movie "Inside Job" does a pretty good job of introducing people to some of the major players, especially those in the government - it's a little light on detail, but there is enough in there to make you sick, or very angry.

I just think it is important to keep reminding people what the real problem is, and who the real opponents are, because if we don't recognize the real problem, how will we ever fix it? And if we don't fix it, the financial sector, with the help of our elected officials, will continue to bleed this country dry.

[Demeter]

75. The REAL Problem Is: They Are ALL Crooks

You can't throw a stone in finance without nicking half a dozen big-time, small time, or sub rosa crooks. Ditto in DC.

Where are you gonna start, to clean up this mess? Pick a promising pile and start carting it to the compost heap.

If I were to start fixing things, it would be dealing on the little people level: health care, jobs, justice from corporate abuse. I'd tax the corporations and confiscate their lootings. Ditto wheeler-dealers like the Koch family and the Supremes.

We could employ a lot of people, just prosecuting these crooks.

Also nationalize the TBTF and throw their leadership on unemployment.

[StarburstClock]

88. I know exactly where to start, at the top with war criminals

If an ex-president and some of his cabinet were held accountable it'd send a crystal clear signal to the rest of the country that no one is above the law. Until then, it's just as clear that there are a lot of people who are indeed above the law. For all the criminals in power, this means they see it as a life goal to become a person who is above the law and a lot of them are succeeding.

[Demeter]

98. Or wipe up all the little fish

so they can squeal on the big ones.

[Demeter]

31. New York Fed Faces `Inherent Conflict' in Mortgage Buybacks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/new-york-fed-faces-inherent-conflict-in-seeking-to-recover-mortgage-loss.html

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s effort to recover taxpayer money used in bailouts during the crisis may be at odds with its mission to ensure the stability of the financial system.

The New York Fed, which acquired mortgage debt in the 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc., joined a bondholder group including Pacific Investment Management Co. that aims to force Bank of America Corp. to buy back some bad home loans packaged into $47 billion of securities..

“This is an inherent conflict,” said former Atlanta Fed research director Robert Eisenbeis, now chief monetary economist at Cumberland Advisors Inc. in Sarasota, Florida. “They’re transferring the loss from what would have been Bear Stearns through the Fed to the originators of the mortgages. That’s an odd chain, and I don’t know how you manage that.”

SMOKE AND MIRRORS, AND A BIG TAXPAYER FUNDED BAILOUT, WOULD BE MY GUESS..

[ozymandius]

44. Geithner! In my office, NOW!

I seem to recall that the FRBNY accepted this truckload of manure as AAA-rated bonds in exchange for the federal funding backstop.

From the article:

The New York Fed, which acquired mortgage debt in the 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc., joined a bondholder group including Pacific Investment Management Co. that aims to force Bank of America Corp. to buy back some bad home loans packaged into $47 billion of securities, people familiar with the matter said this week.

Concern that Bank of America may be forced to buy back soured mortgages helped send its stock down almost 5 percent in the last two days, wiping out $5.92 billion of its market value. The decline runs counter to the Fed’s goal of strengthening the banking system after the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

So they cannot force the buyback without admitting they knew these securities were shit and that our current Treasury Secretary abdicated his fiduciary duty. This would leave Geithner naked on top of a flagpole, subject to the accusation that he didn't do his fucking job!

[Demeter]

50. Blood Pressure, Ozy!

You know nothing will come of it....they will hold it off until President Palin takes office...

[AnneD]

65. Our theme today......

to honour Timmy

Stars and Stripes by John Philips Sousa with the altered lyrics by anon.It goes like this...

Oh the monkey wrapped his tail around the flag pole
to watch the grass grow
up his ass..er elbow

[Demeter]

34. Goldman Eyes Its Buffett Tab

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304011604575564710405535300.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is considering paying back a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that bolstered the securities firm during the worst of the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the situation.

Goldman announced Berkshire's cash investment in September 2008, a vote of confidence that helped Goldman raise an additional $5 billion the next day despite the chaos that was sinking shares of financial firms. Goldman has the option to redeem the preferred shares held by Berkshire for $5.5 billion, though the move would trigger a charge of $1.6 billion and require approval by the Federal Reserve.

Before deciding to invest in Goldman, Mr. Buffett turned away other Wall Street firms that came looking for help. But he drove a hard bargain with Goldman, including big dividends and curbs on the sale of Goldman shares by company executives.

It isn't clear if executives at the New York company have sought formal Fed approval yet, but they are looking closely at whether to use a small chunk of the firm's $173 billion in excess liquidity to unwind the investment, people familiar with the matter said...

[AnneD]

35. Morning Marketeers...

:donut:and Lurkers. I was perusing last night about the TSA debacle. Yes we are still pissed in our household about it. What would be illegal in public is not suddenly legal just because the government is doing it. I have been against this whole attitude since they started with these random drug tests, Instead of innocent until proven guilty, it is a Napoleonic guilty until proven innocent. Maybe I am too optimistic and think the better of people, but the whole tone of the legal argument changes with that subtle shift. Any way, my search results did not enhance my trust in the government. They like to paint the right wing as mistrustful of the government, but I can't tell the difference between a RW conservative and a pissed off liberal at this point. But enough of that.

In the process, I came across the comments of a Alex Jones out of Austin and that led me to an interesting thing about Max Keiser and the efforts to sink JP Morgan by buying silver coin and forcing JP Morgan under due to their holdings. Now I remember the Hunt Bros. manipulating the market years ago. So my question to my fellow marketers is.....can this be done, what would be the effects of this exercise, wishful thinking or is this another way to sell silver. I pose that question to you all and am interested in your thoughts.

Here is a link....

www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x528234

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Karenina]

48. Max may seem to many to be "out there," as does this guest, however

This idea is a win-win. Silver coins in all the kids' stockings would be a great way to start teaching them the value of saving AND about Econ 101! ;-)

[kickysnana]

61. Silver and Old

I have a cousin who claims to have been on the plane with Reagan and Hunt(s) during discussion of bailing them out. I wish I could ask him as he he and a brother started out in agricultural banking and went into coins and then into international business(es) having one nationalized in Ecuador but he sent me right wing rants about how if we didn't let businesses keep screwing us we were doomed as a nation.
I finally called him on it in a reply to all and never heard any more from him but his sister thanked me.

I am personally in a fight with the state Human Services over PCA hours for my Aunt to stay in her apartment. Our DFL legislature slashed hours, took oversight out of the hands of public health nurses hired by the county and into private companies hired by the HMO she has to go to becuase she has SSI and MA. I figured it out and the hours that they were paying for her to stay in her apartment were $2,500 a month including rent subsidy, she won't take food stamps, just shops frugally. When she got out of the nursing home in Sept 2006 the cost was $5,500 a month. My Dad was in hospice for a week in July but the monthly bill there, assisted living, the level of care he got was what she needed (I was not impressed by what he recieved for care one of us had to be there as they expected him to ring for them and he could not.) was 8000 a month. So figure it would be $6500 for her. How is that saving anyone money?

I just finished the hearing. Her wound care does not qualify as wound care. I testified that the assessment agency claimed they worked under contract to UCARE not the state and how did we know that if the rating agency did not cut hours that they would not fire that agency? The Rep for UCARE said we don't do things that way. I said they were a business and a business exists to make money and they make money by providing as few services as possible. The UCARE rep objected and the HS Judge upheld her objection. I asked the Judge how the State could say that former ratings system in place for 40 years was now wrong and she said "It was not the state it was the Legislature". I said the Legislature is the State. She said it was a different part of the state. (She works for Pawlenty, I guess).

[xchrom]

39. recommend -- oy this is an amazing read today. nt

[Demeter]

54. We Live in Amazing Times

(I'm still trying to empty the inbox, only 245 emails to go...)

[DemReadingDU]

72. really amazing times

There is so much going on to read about, I can't seem to find time to get anything else done

[Roland99]

42. Index futures - mighty shaken

S&P 500 1,183 -14.70 -1.23%
DOW 11,054 -111.00 -0.99%
NASDAQ 2,135 -19.25 -0.89%

[Dr.Phool]

53. Dow down 103 at the open.

Nazquack down 27

S&P down 14.

[Roland99]

57. Down volume is 18:1

[Demeter]

58. Here we go again!

Guess what we're getting for Christmas? At this rate, 1929.

[AnneD]

69. We will have a....

Black and Blue Christmas this year, between the the TSA patdowns and WS.

[DemReadingDU]

73. It's looking bleaker

I am so upset with my sister. She is of the opinion that the TSA can do anything in the name of 'security', because 9/11 changed everything. She has no qualms about losing her freedoms and civil liberties to have TSA sexually assault her to search for bombs and explosives.

To me, it would be money better spent to search all cargo for the bombs. Currently only 20% of cargo is even inspected.

"It is a gaping hole in the nation’s anti-terrorism security system, experts say. About 22 percent of all U.S. packages shipped via air cargo are finding their way into the bellies of passenger jets, according to the General Accounting Office. Yet, there is little or no screening of such parcels.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2010/11/air-travel-today-doesnt-scan-for.html

11/2/10 Only 20% of cargo to U.S. checked for bombs
Billions of pounds of packages bound for the U.S. each year are delivered on passenger flights in which cargo is checked with an electronic system that does not screen for bombs, lawmakers and security experts said Monday.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-02-1Acargobombs02_ST_N.htm
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/only-20-percent-us-bound-cargo-screened-bombs

11/2/10 In Air Cargo Business, It’s Speed vs. Screening, Creating a Weak Link in Security
It is an essential lubricant of the global economy — the multibillion-dollar air cargo industry, which every day carries millions of express packages of every shape and size around the world, parcels that can include things as diverse as an electronic component and a human body part. But the discovery last week that terrorists had used United Parcel Service and FedEx to ship two explosive devices has set off a debate over what can be done to improve cargo security without damaging a business built on getting packages anywhere, quickly and cheaply.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/business/02cargo.html


This is also the same sister who believes her money is the safest in the biggest of all banks.
:eyes:

[54anickel]

79. 9/11 changed everything...that's so priceless!

Remember the scandelous cost-cutting of safetly measures in the name of profits in the couple of years before 9/11?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/jan-june05/faa_6-09.html



3 years later, still no real progress on the matter

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/02/travel/main3990153.shtml?source=related_story


Finally, this August we get some movement...but what does the legislation address? Pilots and possible pilot errors. Nothing regarding proper inspections, or the outsourcing of those inspections. Just scapegoating the employee.

http://travelsentry.blogspot.com/2010/08/airline-safety-bill-sails-through.html



Tell your sister she's being ridiculous. TSA has NOTHING to do with air-travel safety - it's simply another privatized profit center, sucking on the government teat, feeding on unrational fears such as hers.

Now that cockpits are locked down, air travel saftey risks are basically where they were pre-9/11. Aircraft can no longer be captured by terrorists to be used as missles. Sure, there's the risk of a nut job making it on board - which always existed - and there may be a few more nut jobs in the world. Meanwhile the risk of mechanical failure hasn't been seriously addressed and as the aircraft continue to get older those risks are increasing.

Yes, lets all give up our civil liberties in an attempt to "feel" safe while in reality we are no safer....maybe even less so as the system protects the liberties of the profit centers involved.


F'ing paranoia types exchanging everyone's libertiesso they can have their damned security blankie to suck on!

[54anickel]

91. Egads, did I type that? Irrational fears, not unrational! God, talk about a Palinism!

[Demeter]

76. Come on 11K!

If they're gonna play craps with the economy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craps

and of course, Marlon Brando:

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

and Frankie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEGlAZfp1yQ&feature=related

[ozymandius]

77. IMF Urges Ireland to Suffer to Appease Banksters

They must think Irish citizens are stupid.

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Ireland should gradually lower unemployment benefits and cut the level of its minimum wage in order to boost employment, the International Monetary Fund said in a paper released on Monday.

The paper, approved by Ajai Chopra, the IMF's mission chief negotiating terms of a joint rescue package with the EU in Dublin, said Ireland should introduce stricter job search requirements, give more resources to unemployment agencies to promote job search assistance, and review the level of minimum wage to make it consistent with a general fall in wages.

more

To recap:

• lower the minimum wage;
• decrease unemployment benefits to match the general fall in wages;
• improve competitiveness to promote exports
• blah blah blah
• blah blah blah
• become our slaves

By "general fall in wages" are they excluding bankster wages? It does not take a genius to see in which direction wealth extraction flows.

[54anickel]

80. Ozy, did you catch this post over in GD:Presidency? Interesting take by Matt Taibbi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x530468

Looks like his Griftopia might be a good read...Amazon reviews have been an entertaining read

snip from the linked DU thread>

"Voters who throw their emotional weight into elections they know deep down inside won't produce real change in their lives are also indulging in a kind of fantasy. That's why voters still dream of politicians whose primary goal is to effectively govern and maintain a thriving first world society with great international ambitions. What voters don't realize, or don't want to realize, is that that dream was abandoned long ago by this country's leaders, who know the more prosaic reality and are looking beyond the fantasy, into the future, at an America plummeted into third world status.

"These leaders are like the drug lords who ruled American's ghettos in the crack age, men (and some women) interested in just two things: staying in power, and hoovering up enough of what's left of the cash on their blocks to drive around in an Escalade or a 633i for however long they have left. Our leaders know we're turning into a giant ghetto and they are taking every last hubcap they can get their hands on before the rest of us wake up and realize what's happened.

[Demeter]

81. It Doesn't Have to Be That Way

and many of them know it.

[54anickel]

82. Many of whom know what? Our leaders? They seem to all end up like the sailors, lured

by the song of the Sirens. The Sirens can well afford to continually to upgrade their sound system.

Where is our Orpheus? He needs a better song.

[TheWatcher]

86. One particular post from that thread resonates with me.

"Or is your position that we need to STFU and starve in silent desperation because the rhetoric is offensive to those still living in relative comfort?"

That pretty much crystallizes the mentality of that particular Echo Chamber, and an all too large of a percentage of the population.

The Unaffected don't want their Comfort Bubble to Pop, and they are desperate to believe anything that will keep the Fallacy alive.

What a bunch of weak, soft, cowards.

[54anickel]

90. I see that thread has encountered some "explosive" growth since I linked to it. I'm simply amazed

by the changes here at DU. I've been away for a long time...
Sad, but I hardly recognize the place anymore.

[TheWatcher]

93. We've become Thumb Sucking, Go-Along, Cowed, Submissive Safety Whores.

Like I told another poster earlier today.

It reminds you of a time about 75 years ago.

We never thought it could happen here.

Welcome To history Repeating Itself.

Unbelievable.

[Dr.Phool]

96. I had to stick my $0.34 in.

Two cents just wasn't enough.

[ozymandius]

94. Taibbi is a human lightning rod.

PLease pardon the non-answer answer.

There are elements of truth in this screed. The Super Bowl atmosphere of modern politics and the phenomenon of the stage managed campaign and candidate create an environment that, to me, is so far removed from its core purpose: to pursue a public policy agenda and general governance. So I agree, in some spirit with this excerpt from Taibbi's book. It does concern me that what is offered here is short on examples with details.

This is just an excerpt, of course, and there may be more substantive parts to his book. So there would be no legitimacy in me either praising or trashing this opinion. This snippet sounds like a good entry point for a major inference. But for now, it just sounds like Matt doing his thing.

[54anickel]

97. Lightening rod??? Ya think? I had no idea how controversial he was

here until I looked back in on that thread.

Personally, I tend to like Matt doing "his thing". I realize he can tend to sensationalize things. He's still no Orpheus...I'm still waiting to hear a better song - but at least the likes of Taibbi keep me from being lulled into complacency by the Siren's never-ending drone. ;-)

Been a fun visit...sort of glad I can't stay....:hi:

[ozymandius]

101. Yikes! That thread sizzled some pixels on my monitor.

It's always good to see you, 54anickel. I understand your impulse to leave. BTW - that forum with the Taibbi thread is commonly referred to here as Jonestown.

[54anickel]

102. Bwahahaha - Jonestown. Now that is priceless!!! And yes, it appears as though it is

time to move on. Can't stand the ads and my last DU donor star runs out this quarter.

:hi: Hope to still swing by the SMW once in a while....

[AnneD]

103. Love to see you here....

we are the island of sanity in the sea of crazy.

[tclambert]

89. How have airline stocks done since the new TSA grope the passengers policy went into effect?

I see a drop in most of them starting around Nov. 8th. I would like to know who sold airline stocks short just before the procedure change.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

92. Thar she blows?

[Demeter]

100. Where's the Bloodbath?