STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, November 30, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, November 30, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON November 29, 2011

Dow 11,555.63 +32.62 (+0.28%)
Nasdaq 2,515.51 -11.83 (-0.47%)
S&P 500 1,195.19 +2.64 (+0.22%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.01 +0.01 (+0.50%)
30-Year Bond 2.98 +0.02 (+0.68%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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

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

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 12

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

Read more: du

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Today's Reports

Nov 30 07:00 MBA Mortgage Index 11/26 NA NA -1.2%
Nov 30 07:30 Challenger Job Cuts Nov NA NA 12.6%
Nov 30 08:15 ADP Employment Change Nov 110K 125K 110K
Nov 30 08:30 Productivity-Rev. Q3 2.6% 2.6% 3.1%
Nov 30 08:30 Unit Labor Costs Q3 -1.9% -2.1% -2.4%
Nov 30 09:45 Chicago PMI Nov 56.0 57.5 58.4
Nov 30 10:00 Pending Home Sales Sep -2.0% 0.1% -4.60%
Nov 30 10:30 Crude Inventories 11/26 NA NA -6.219M
Nov 30 14:00 Fed's Beige Book Nov

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/investor/calendars/economic/2011/11/28-02/#ixzz1fBnpwWmU

[Roland99]

86. Pending home sales rise 10.4% in October

[Roland99]

87. Nov. Chicago PMI climbs to 62.6 vs. 58.4 (7 month high. 26 months in a row of expansion)

[Roland99]

88. Private-sector jobs rise 206,000: ADP

majority in service-providing, not goods-producing. 7k in mfg.

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil falls to near $99 after US supplies increase

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to near $99 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected, suggesting demand is tepid.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 65 cents to $99.14 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.58 to settle at $99.79 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude was down 11 cents at $110.71 on the ICE futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 3.4 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted an increase of 1 million barrels.

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

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. It's China's turn to kick the can! U.S. stock futures rise after China move

LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures turned higher on Wednesday after China announced a cut in banks’ reserve-requirement ratio and as investors awaited a batch of U.S. economic data.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ1Z +0.74% rose 65 points to 11,630 after trading down around 50 points.

The reversal came as China’s central bank said it would lower banks’ reserve-requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage point in an attempt to boost the economy. European stock markets also erased losses, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +1.10% up 0.7% to 233.29.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index SP1Z +0.81% gained 8 points to 1,204.5 and Nasdaq 100 futures ND1Z +0.96% climbed 17.75 points to 2,230.2.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-slip-after-sp-move-2011-11-30?link=MW_latest_news

[Roland99]

34. U.S. stock futures rally on central bank action (DJIA futures up 235!)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rally-on-central-bank-action-2011-11-30-812130?dist=beforebell

U.S. stock futures rallied Wednesday after global central banks said they had agreed to lower dollar swap rates in a bid to provide more liquidity to domestic banks. Already higher, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ1Z +2.22% rose 255 points to 11,820. Those for the S&P 500 SP1Z +2.44% gained 30 points to 1,227. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 ND1Z +2.19% added 53.75 points to 2,266.25

[xchrom]

4. morning...

:donut:

[Roland99]

5. chilly one here

thought about turning the heat on last night even. :)

[xchrom]

8. it's chilly here too.

i turn on the heat in the mornings -- but i have to sleep w/ the window open in the bedroom.

[Demeter]

16. It snowed

a couple inches of heavy wet slushy snow. The last rosebud is officially frozen, now. Of course, it's a paper night....

[DemReadingDU]

17. We had snow too

just a dusting, it will be gone soon

[xchrom]

18. oy -- the slushy stuff...

becareful -- it's never fun driving in that -- and if it freezes?

[Demeter]

21. I'm hoping there will be sun to clear it away

We have definitely flipped into winter--below freezing nights all week.

At least it stopped raining. I was going crazy from the wind and rain.

[xchrom]

27. the older i get -- the less i like wind.

it's really starting to drive me crazy -- and now that i live some where with lots of big trees -- it's become a worry.

[Demeter]

58. There seems to be so much more wind these days, too

Climate change, Midwestern style.

[xchrom]

6. europe: Eurozone crisis: finance ministers turn to the IMF - live

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/blog/2011/nov/30/eurozone-crisis-finance-ministers-imf

12.03pm We're getting some details of a briefing from a briefing given by Herman Van Rompey, EC president, to the EPP Group (the largest political group in the European Parliament).

He told them that interventions by the Europen Central Bank "can't be a sleeping pill for government", and can only take place if there are sufficient guarantees of "fiscal discipline" within Europe. Van Rompey also told them that:

On the short term, we need to stabilize the eurozone. The leveraging of the EFSF is key for that.

11.46am: While we wait for developments in Brussels....the latest economic data from Europe gives little reason to be optimistic.

The unemployment rate across the EU rose to 9.8% in October from 9.7% the previous month, while within the eurozone the jobless rate also increased, to 10.3%.

[xchrom]

7. Why an IMF rescue plan for Italy won't work

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2011/nov/30/imf-rescue-plan-italy?intcmp=239

Italy's bond yields are still climbing this morning, to 7.3% on 10-year paper. This should not be a surprise: the latest attempt to soup up the grand rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, looks like an attempt to revive a parrot that remains resolutely dead.

The finance ministers in Brussels have two ideas for resuscitation. The first would involve the EFSF insuring against loss the first 20% to 30% of new bond issues for members states requiring assistance. The second would see the creation of "one or more co-investment funds" that would purchase bonds at issue or in the market (ie after issue).

There is a big problem with both ideas: it is almost impossible to imagine that enough cash could be raised to turn the tide in the €1.9tn (£1.62tn) Italian debt market. The EFSF started with €440bn of guarantees from member states but this resource has already been depleted to €250bn by the Greek bailout and the need to participate in bank recapitalisations. Three times leverage via insurance of co-investment would achieve €750bn – but that's only enough to finance Italy for a couple of years, even assuming funds are not diverted elsewhere in the interim. The imagined rush of co-investors could be a trickle.




*** i can't swear this is from today -- but i think it's very recent.

[xchrom]

19. IMF rescue of Italy will spark global uprising

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/imf-rescue-of-italy-will-spark-global-uprising-2011-11-30?dist=beforebell

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Soviet Russia didn’t produce much of enduring value. No one drove its cars, or flew in its planes if they could possibly avoid it. But it did have a good line in cynical world-weary humor.

Among the many jokes that circulated in the country was one that went like this: Every philosophy is like looking for a black cat in a dark room; Marxist philosophy is like looking for a black cat in a dark room, but the cat isn’t there; Soviet philosophy is like looking for a black cat in a dark room, the cat isn’t there, but you keep shouting “I’ve found it! I’ve found it!”

The search for a solution to the euro zone crisis is starting to sound very similar — and might soon start to develop its own brand of morose gags. Every week we get another big search for a smart-sounding scheme to rescue the project. Every week, officials proclaim they have found it — when, of course, they haven’t really.

The latest wheeze? Getting the International Monetary Fund to bail out Italy.

[dixiegrrrrl]

120. I thought you might apprciate the remarks of this guy:

Never heard of him, stumbled over him on YouTube, he resonates with me, I like plain speaking...I would be interested in opinions of those who frequent this board.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGQIxYfKKtc&feature=player_embedded

Also: I found this to be interesting reading...cuts thru the BS of foggy language re: Europe:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7378428/europes-hit-squad.thtml

I know nothing of this Brit paper, so it if it not a "good" one pls let me know..good read, I thought.

Europe’s hit squad:
If you thought the EU couldn’t get any less democratic, meet the Frankfurt Group
...it was here, last month, that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met the EU’s bureaucratic elite in what would, in another era, be described as a putsch. They had grown tired of eurozone summits, with leaders flying here and there but getting nowhere. A smaller group needed to be formed, who would wield power firmly but informally. That evening, as they gathered to hear Claudio Abbado conduct the Mozart Orchestra of Bologna, a new EU hit squad was born.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7378428/europes-hit-squad.thtml

[xchrom]

9. Cairn fails to strike oil off Greenland

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/30/cairn-fails-oil-greenland

Cairn has suffered another blow in its search for oil off the coast of Greenland, after two more wells failed to discover commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves.

The AT7-1 and the AT2-1 wells have been abandoned, Cairn said.

Tests on fluid samples taken from the AT7-1 well "revealed only mud filtrate and failed to establish hydrocarbons". The AT2-1 well found only "minor hydrocarbon shows."

Cairn shares slumped almost 6% on Wednesday morning on the news. They had risen more than 5% last month on indications that the two wells were showing positive signs.

[xchrom]

10. Cairn's Greenland oil failure under fire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/28/cairn-under-fire-over-greenland-drilling?intcmp=239

The British oil company leading a controversial drive to discover new oil and gas reserves in the pristine waters off Greenland has come under fire from environmentalists and again disappointed investors after failing to find anything with its sixth well.

Shares in Cairn Energy lost 6.5%, closing at 276p, after it told the London stock exchange that its Delta-1 hole in the West Disko area had been abandoned "without encountering hydrocarbon shows". Six months ago the shares were changing hands at 462p.

Greenpeace also claimed the Edinburgh-based company had irresponsibly pumped more "red-listed" hazardous chemicals into the ocean than the entire oil operations of Norway and Denmark combined.

The campaigners claim more than 225 tonnes of toxic materials – described by the Ospar convention as giving "reason for suspicion because of several polluting effects on the environment" – had been leaked into the Greenlandic Sea this year by Cairn.

[xchrom]

11. Life after the end of economic growth

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/30/end-of-growth

The tide of economic growth that has flowed since the second world war may finally be ebbing. For politicians and most economists, this is like saying the sky is falling. Growth has become guidepost and grail, the sine qua non of economic existence. Growth is necessary to job creation and the health of businesses. Without growth the rolls of the homeless and jobless swell, requiring governments to shoulder more responsibility; yet at the same time tax revenues fall, making both new and existing government debt unbearable.

Stimulating growth has become job No 1 for policymakers. David Cameron insists that his nation must deregulate business and reform employment law in order to "go for growth". And at the conclusion of the recent G20 global economic summit, the US president, Barack Obama, reported that the discussions there had revolved around the question, "How do we achieve greater global growth?" Such statements raise nary an eyebrow; they are entirely expected.

Nonetheless, in recent years a few economists have advanced a contrary view. Tim Jackson in the UK, Herman Daly in the US, and Serge Latouche in France have argued that growth is not always good for the environment or for the real health of communities, and that GDP growth is impossible to sustain over the long run anyway because we live on a planet with limited natural resources. Their position has won few adherents in the mainstream. In the "real" worlds of politics and economics, questioning growth is like arguing against gasoline at a Formula One race.

But doubts about growth are no longer theoretical. We seem to have arrived at a moment when further economic expansion is hemmed in by financial as well as natural limits. As extraction industries chewed through the low-hanging fruit of the world's oil, coal, natural gas and other minerals, and turned to lower-grade and thus more expensive ores and fuels, managers of the economy tried to keep growth going by piling up debt in the mistaken belief that it is only money that makes the economy run, not energy and raw materials. Today, high oil prices are keeping a lid on commercial expansion in the older industrial nations as petroleum demand shifts to the hyperactive economies of Asia, which for now can afford steeper fuel prices. Meanwhile, we in the west seem to have maxed out government and consumer credit, and that realisation is sending financial markets into fibrillation. With energy resources and credit both stretched tight, that means more economic growth may simply not be possible in the US and Europe, regardless of our opinions about it.

[Tansy_Gold]

12. Growth for the sake of growth

is the ideology of the cancer cell. (Edward Abbey)

[bread_and_roses]

13. Amen, Sister

Some of us have been pointing this out for a long time - along with the total non-viability of a "consumer" economy. These are the paradigms that have to change.

[DemReadingDU]

26. Indeed

However, many people think that today's consumer lifestyle is normal. It is all they have been used to and have never known what it is like to do without. Heck, many young people just whip out their credit card for instant gratification for anything.

I was early-thirties in the early 1980s before I could get a credit card in my name. I had gotten a good job as a computer programmer making $16,000 and I wanted a credit card. But I was told I didn't work there long enough and to come back in 6 months. Six months later, I was told that I didn't make enough money.

I was then told to buy something with '90 days - same as cash'. For the youngsters who don't know what that is, something is bought at a store using their terms for 12 months which included interest. A payment book is received, but if the item is paid back within 90 days, there is no interest charged. Fyi - I bought a $100 bicycle.

I received my own credit card, but it took a year.

It was only 10 years later when my kids were in high school that they were being sent applications for credit cards.

Perhaps the paradigm of easy credit should be re-thought also.

[Tansy_Gold]

64. "Perhaps the paradigm of easy credit should be re-thought also."

For governments (large and small) as well as individuals.

But the banksters who collect the interest on that credit will never allow the paradigm to be altered. We will have to force it.

[DemReadingDU]

67. It will be forced eventually

I think it will take awhile. Maybe forced by our kids and grandkids.

[Tansy_Gold]

112. or by

mother nature herself.

[xchrom]

14. +1

[xchrom]

15. weird dupe. nt

[Loge23]

107. Yet, corporations continue to ignore this reality.

Growth is the only real agenda for most businesses - damn customer satisfaction. They blithely ignore the realities of their own markets and product limitations in continuing to insist on absurdly defined percentages year after year after year.
Eventually, like during recessions for example, these projections become impossible to meet. Even in a growth cycle, the projections often become physically impossible due to demand, competition, or just plain old saturation. So, they fire their Sales & Marketing force, bring in yet another republican-type ass#^! BS artist to "lead" the charge and start all over again. And we wonder what has happened to American business!
On a much broader scale, the "growth cancer" as TG aptly noted, has invaded all sectors of our "free enterprise" economy effectively strangling the life and spirit out of any semblance of democracy that this system once supported. One year's salary - one - that most CEO's of F500 firms makes is enough for many of us to live quite comfortably for years if not decades or the rest of our lives! But it's not enough - they have to make even more the next year.
The $50K/yr or less salesperson is left to wander the wasteland as a failure because he/she alone was not able to stem the tide of normal economic activity.
I live and work in FL and I assure you, you can go into any company down here - large or small - and they will have ridiculous growth percentages penciled in for 2012. Based on what?? ...and they drug-test!! Hell, you need drugs just to buy in!
But, the market's up 400 pts. today. Yikes!

[xchrom]

23. Eurozone unemployment rate rises to 10.3%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15961626

The eurozone unemployment rate rose slightly to 10.3% in October, up from a revised 10.2% in September, official figures have shown.

The number of people unemployed rose by 126,000 from September to 16.3 million.

The rate in Germany fell to 5.5% from 5.7%, while that in Spain rose to 22.8% from 22.5%, Eurostat said. Youth unemployment in Spain rose to 48.9%.

Separate figures also released by Eurostat showed the eurozone inflation rate unchanged at 3% in November.

[Demeter]

38. "Austerity" will do that to ya

Decreasing people's ability to participate in the economy will deflate, shrink, and ultimately destroy that economy.

[Ghost Dog]

25. critical period of 10 days to complete and conclude the crisis response of the European Union

Europe faces a crucial 10 days to save the euro zone after agreeing to ramp up the firepower of its bailout fund but acknowledging it may have to turn to the International Monetary Fund for more help to avert financial disaster...

...Two years into Europe's sovereign debt crisis, investors are fleeing the euro zone bond market, European banks are dumping government debt, south European banks are bleeding deposits and a recession looms, fuelling doubts about the survival of the single currency.

"We are now looking at a true financial crisis -- that is a broad-based disruption in financial markets," Christian Noyer, France's central bank governor and a governing council member of the European Central Bank, told a conference in Singapore.

The 17-nation Eurogroup adopted detailed plans to insure the first 20-30 percent of new bond issues for countries having funding difficulties and to create co-investment funds to attract foreign investors to buy euro zone government bonds.

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/eurozone-idUSL5E7MU11820111130?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=bondsNews&rpc=401

[bread_and_roses]

99. btw, GD, "TB" = thoroughbred and I don't bet

sorry about not explaining "TB" - I made a leap from your mention of studying "the form." I don't bet - have no interest in gambling - I'm what is called a "Pretty Pony" fan - just love the horses - all horses, but with a particular appreciation for the beauty and grace of TBs. "Following the ponies" is my dirty little secret: a good Anarcho-Syndacalist like me (or at least, that's about as close as I can get to a category) has no business with "the sport of kings."

[xchrom]

41. Sikorski: German inaction scarier than Germans in action

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/11/polands-appeal-germany

POLAND'S foreign-policy course over the past five years has been marked by two features: caution, and improving relations with Germany. But in a remarkable speech in Berlin yesterday Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, threw caution aside and made a dramatic appeal (couched more as a demand) to Germany. The speech made front-page news in the Financial Times, which also ran extracts as an op-ed.

The speech starts with a reference to the break-up of Yugoslavia, which Mr Sikorski (disclosure: a close friend of this author) witnessed as a journalist in 1991. The decision by Serbia to print its own dinars marked the end of the federal republic, and the path to a series of wars that killed 140,000 people, ruined the lives of millions more, and turned places that had once been among the most advanced bits of the "communist" world into impoverished backwaters.

Mr Sikorski (who studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford) then paid a nice tribute to the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who highlighted the moral importance of money. Kant, he noted, had argued that:

'the entire practice of lending money presupposed at least the honest intention to repay. If this condition were universally ignored, the very idea of lending and sharing wealth would be undermined. For Kant, honesty and responsibility were categorical imperatives: the foundation of any moral order. For the European Union, likewise, these are the cornerstones. I would point to the two fundamental values: Responsibility and Solidarity. Our responsibility for decisions and processes. And Solidarity when it comes to bearing the burdens.'

[xchrom]

42. Mariano Rajoy starts talks with the unions and employers

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_32866.shtml

All indications are that labour reform will be imposed if no agreement is found

Spain’s Prime Minister to be, Mariano Rajoy, has been meeting with the unions and employers today. First he met with the CCOO and then the CEOE employers, and this evening he meets with union UGT. He wants to explain his ideas for labour reform, and is trying for the employers and unions to reach an agreement. Rajoy has said he would like to see a deal in place in time for Three Kings Day. PP number two, María Dolores de Cospedal, has warned that such an agreement has to made urgently.

However after the meeting with Rajoy the UGT has warned that yet another reform is not the way to face the crisis, and they understand that the Government will impose and legislate if no agreement is reached.

CEOE President, Juan Rosell, from the employers, has called on the PP to concentrate their plans and says that they would impose and decree to impose reform. He said redundancy costs need to be reduced, and claimed that Zapatero never did things so badly.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_32866.shtml#ixzz1fCEeo2E9

[Demeter]

78. Death of a currency as eurogeddon approaches

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/8913884/Death-of-a-currency-as-eurogeddon-approaches.html

The defining moment was the fiasco over Wednesday's bund auction, reinforced on Thursday by the spectacle of German sovereign bond yields rising above those of the UK. If you are tempted to think this another vote of confidence by international investors in the UK, don't. It's actually got virtually nothing to do with us. Nor in truth does it have much to do with the idea that Germany will eventually get saddled with liability for periphery nation debts, thereby undermining its own creditworthiness.

No, what this is about is the markets starting to bet on what was previously a minority view - a complete collapse, or break-up, of the euro. Up until the past few days, it has remained just about possible to go along with the idea that ultimately Germany would bow to pressure and do whatever might be required to save the single currency. The prevailing view was that the German Chancellor didn't really mean what she was saying, or was only saying it to placate German voters. When finally she came to peer over the precipice, she would retreat from her hard line position and compromise. Self interest alone would force Germany to act. But there comes a point in every crisis where the consensus suddenly shatters. That's what has just occurred, and with good reason. In recent days, it has become plain as a pike staff that the lady's not for turning. This has caused remaining international confidence in the euro to evaporate, and even German bunds to lose their "risk free" status. The crisis is no longer confined to the sinners of the south. Suddenly, no-one wants to hold euro denominated assets of any variety, and that includes what had previously been thought the eurozone safe haven of German bunds.

Investors have gone on strike. The Americans are getting their money out as fast as they decently can. British banks have stopped lending to all but their safest eurozone counterparts, and even those have been denied access to dollar funding. The UK hardly has anything to boast of; it's got its own legion of problems, many of them not so dissimilar to those of the eurozone periphery. But almost anything is going to look preferable to a currency which might soon be assigned to the dustbin of history. All of a sudden, the pound is the European default asset of choice. What we are witnessing is awesome stuff – the death throes of a currency. And not just any old currency either, but what when it was launched was confidently expected to take its place alongside the dollar as one of the world's major reserve currencies. That promise today looks to be in ruins. Contingency planning is in progress throughout Europe. From the UK Treasury on Whitehall to the architectural monstrosity of the Bundesbank in Frankfurt, everyone is desperately trying to figure out precisely how bad the consequences might be.

What they are preparing for is the biggest mass default in history. There's no orderly way of doing this. European finance and trade is too far integrated to allow for an easy unwinding of contracts. It's going to be anarchy. It's worth stressing here that for the moment the contingency planning is confined to officialdom. This week, for instance, we've had the Financial Services Authority's Andrew Bailey admit that he's asked UK banks to plan for a disorderly breakup of the euro. He'd be failing in his duties if he hadn't. Europe's political elite, as ever several steps behind the reality, still regards the prospect as unimaginable. They need to wake up fast; it's happening before their very eyes. In its current form, the single currency may always have been doomed, but it has been greatly helped on its way by an extraordinarily inept series of policy errors.

MORE INTERESTING IDEAS AT LINK

[Demeter]

80. IMF drawing up £500bn package to save Italy, Spain and the euro

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8919470/IMF-drawing-up-500bn-package-to-save-Italy-Spain-and-the-euro.html

Reports in Italy suggested that the IMF is drawing up plans for a €600 billion (£517 billion) assistance package for the country. Spain may be offered access to IMF credit, rather than a rescue package, to avoid it being “picked off” by the markets in the coming weeks...Any IMF involvement in European rescue packages would be partly underwritten by British taxpayers, which could leave this country liable if Italy and Spain did not repay any international loan. Britain provides 4.5 per cent of the IMF’s funding and would, therefore, face a potential liability to an Italian package of up to €27 billion (£23 billion).

An IMF rescue package involves a country being offered hundreds of billions of euros in return for agreeing to launch a major austerity programme to cut spending. A credit line is a more flexible arrangement which gives countries short term access to international finance.

Italy and Spain are likely to be forced to accept some international help as the cost of their debts has risen to unsustainable levels of about seven per cent...

[AnneD]

113. LOL LOL LOL....

"we've had the Financial Services Authority's Andrew Bailey admit that he's asked UK banks to plan for a disorderly breakup of the euro." Germany still has an economy, I don't think England has much of one now.

Good read. This is the beginning of the end of the current fiat money and it will be disorderly. This is why they are pressuring Italy to back it's bonds with gold. These rats are trying to get all the gold too. In the end I think currency will have to be backed by more than faith. The stupid banksters need to be afraid, very afraid.

[Demeter]

20. SEC Pushes to Toughen Penalties for Offenders

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204262304577068281927469216.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The Securities and Exchange Commission, bruised by a judge's rejection of a proposed settlement with Citigroup Inc., sought the power to impose much-larger penalties on financial firms and individuals that commit fraud. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, in a letter sent to senators late Monday, asked Congress to pursue legislation that changes the legal formulas used by the agency to calculate penalties. Ms. Schapiro's proposals would allow the SEC to impose fines up to nine times greater than the maximum currently allowed by U.S. law. The changes would include increasing the maximum penalty to triple the net profit made as a result of the alleged wrongdoing, up from the current limit of no more than the profit. Ms. Schapiro also sought power to further triple penalties for repeat offenders, or firms or individuals who have been the subject of another SEC enforcement action or criminal conviction in the previous five years.

The move came after U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff spurned a $285 million settlement between the SEC and Citigroup. That pact addressed civil-fraud charges that the New York firm failed to disclose to investors its role in selecting investments in a $1 billion mortgage-bond deal that it was simultaneously betting would fail. Judge Rakoff ordered the matter to go to trial next summer, saying the settlement was "neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest." Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the SEC's findings. A Citigroup spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday.

If the toughened powers sought by Ms. Schapiro had been used in the Citigroup case, the maximum penalty would jump to $1.44 billion from $160 million. That compares with the penalty Citigroup agreed to pay of $95 million as part of the larger settlement, a penalty denounced as "pocket change" by the judge in his order Monday.

Ms. Schapiro's push faces uncertain prospects. Since she took over the agency, the SEC has been under fire from Republican critics in Congress over everything from financial controls to handling of insider-trading referrals. As a result, lawmakers might be reluctant to hand the SEC more power, though some favor a tougher stance by the agency in dealings with Wall Street...In her letter, Ms. Schapiro said the SEC is constrained by statute from seeking penalties that match investor losses. She also warned that the agency can't adequately take into consideration the severity of misconduct or its impact on victims. The letter was sent to Sens. Jack Reed (D., R.I.) and Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), the top members of the Senate banking subcommittee on securities...The SEC already can seek triple damages in insider-trading cases. Expanding that power to other civil cases "would allow the commission to address situations where the actual pecuniary gain to the violator is relatively small compared to the nature or magnitude of the wrongdoing," Ms. Schapiro wrote. Another proposed change would allow the SEC to calculate penalties based on the amount of investor losses incurred as a result of misconduct. A further change would allow penalties of as much as $1 million per violation for individuals and $10 million for financial firms, an increase from current caps of $150,000 and $725,000, respectively. Sen. Reed said he is working on legislation to give the SEC additional firepower. "If they don't have the tools to effectively police the market and protect investors, then we need to give them those tools," Mr. Reed said in a statement. The legislation also would increase the SEC's ability to sanction companies and individuals that repeatedly violate securities laws. Current law "does not provide the commission with adequate tools to deter this category of violators," Ms. Schapiro wrote in the letter.

GIVE 'EM HELL, JACK REED!

[xchrom]

22. africa: Uganda struggles to make oil a blessing

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uganda-struggles-to-make-oil-a-blessing-2011-11-30?dist=beforebell

KAMPALA, Uganda (MarketWatch) — Every year, thousands of tourists trek into the lush Albertine Rift in western Uganda, where deep forests are home to elephants, chimpanzees and the endangered Mountain gorilla. But in 2006, geologists discovered the Rift was home to something else as well: enough oil to make Uganda one of Africa’s top petroleum producing countries.

Some $1.5 billion has already been invested in Uganda’s oil, the country’s Ministry of Energy announced earlier this month. The UK’s Tullow Oil /quotes/zigman/271296 UK:TLW +2.10% , France’s Total /quotes/zigman/167990/quotes/nls/tot TOT +4.12% and China’s CNOOC /quotes/zigman/274848/quotes/nls/ceo CEO -1.10% are all eager to begin commercial production, which is slated to begin as early as next year.

With 40% of the oil-rich Albertine Graben explored so far, 2.5 billion barrels have already been confirmed, according to Tullow. Fred Kabagambe-Kaliisa, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy, said in October the Graben’s potential could be as high as six billion barrels. Oil revenues could be enough to boost the Ugandan government’s income by as much as 30%, according to the World Bank.

This imminent flood of oil dollars has led some to wonder whether Uganda is about to become the latest victim of the so-called “resource curse,” which has afflicted other resource-rich countries in Africa with lopsided economies, poverty, corruption and weak growth.

[Demeter]

39. Hence, the US Military "Advisors" Obama sent recently

[xchrom]

60. +1

[xchrom]

24. south asia: India's growth rate drops to slowest in two years

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15956847

The Indian economy grew at its slowest pace in two-years, as the manufacturing and mining industries suffered.

Gross domestic product growth fell to 6.9% between July and September compared to the same period a year earlier, data showed.

Growth expanded at 7.7% in the previous three months.

A slew of interest rate increases aimed at reining in high prices have hurt industrial expansion in Asia's third largest economy.

[xchrom]

31. India PM Manmohan Singh battles retail reform crisis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15956449

India's Congress party has held a key meeting of senior officials, including PM Manmohan Singh and leader Sonia Gandhi, to tackle the crisis over controversial retail reform plans.

Mr Singh also spoke to two key coalition allies opposed to the move to try to shore up support.

Opponents say the move to allow 51% foreign ownership of multi-brand stores will damage small retailers.

Parliament has become paralysed, with forced adjournments almost daily.

[xchrom]

48. Gold adds Rs 220, silver Rs 150 on seasonal demand

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/gold-adds-rs-220-silver-rs-150-on-seasonal-demand/articleshow/10931073.cms

NEW DELHI: Gold prices rallied for the fourth consecutive day by adding Rs 220 to Rs 29,440 per 10 grams in the bullion market here today on seasonal demand amid a firming global trend.

Silver also moved up by Rs 150 to Rs 55,900 per kg on emergence of buying by jewellers and industrial units at prevailing lower levels.

Traders said buying by investors as the weakening equity and forex markets left no other option for them but to park their funds in bullion also influence the sentiment.

In Singapore, gold rose 0.7 per cent to USD 1,727.50 an ounce.

[xchrom]

61. Sensex closes 115 pts up on value buying

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-closes-115-pts-up-on-value-buying/articleshow/10931835.cms

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex rose 115 points on Wednesday on value buying, which helped it wipe out initial losses in volatile trade, despite low GDP growth numbers for the second quarter.

After losing 115 points, Sensex bounced back to close 115.12 points, or 0.72 per cent, up at 16,123.46 led by refinery and IT stocks. Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose 26.95 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 4,832.05 after moving between 4,851.55 and 4,754.80.

Marketmen said trading sentiment improved on investors purchasing the recently battered stocks at cheaper levels, following the recent over 9 per cent fall in Sensex. They also said that GDP growth of 6.9 per cent in the July-September quarter was in line with market expectations, which kept the investor sentiment up even as the global markets were subdued on the euro zone debt crisis.

The major contributors to the upsurge were Reliance Industries, Infosys, SBI, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and TCS. The Oil & Gas sector index gained the most by rising 1.63 per cent to 8,152.63, followed by FMCG - 1.2 per cent to 4,040.82, Teck - 0.95 per cent to 3,352.80 and IT - 0.64 per cent to 5,499.09.

[Ghost Dog]

28. Fed, global central banks move to boost financial system

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it joined some of the world's major central banks in a coordinated action to inject liquidity into the global financial system.

Joining in the move were: the Fed, The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank, the Fed said.

"The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity," the Fed said in a statement.

/... http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/30/9113897-fed-global-central-banks-move-to-boost-financial-system

The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland said in a joint statement they had agreed to lower the cost of existing dollar swap lines by 50 basis points from December 5, as well as take other measures.

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/us-eurozone-cenbanks-idUSTRE7AT13K20111130

[Ghost Dog]

36. Liquidty injection in USD "at present"

As expected, the Fed has just bailed out the world once again...

... "At present, there is no need to offer liquidity in non-domestic currencies other than the U.S. dollar."

/... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/here-comes-global-liquidity-bail-out

[Demeter]

40. And what did they get for it?

A one-day flash increase.

[DemReadingDU]

50. Of course, and tomorrow another injection increase. and on and on

What is it about an addict?
One needs that heroin injection not only more often, but more potent.

This is going to end very very badly.


edit
Many banks are listed, but isn't this really the FED bailing out all of Europe?

[Ghost Dog]

59. Collapse avoidance?

"Cutting swap costs is the equivalent of interest rate cuts. These banks are now basically providing unlimited US dollars to banks with which to fund themselves. The banks will be hoping this is a turning point in the crisis.

We do not know what caused this decision, we may never know, but the smart money is on the fact that yields on one-year German debt went negative this morning (paying Germany to lend it money).

This may have been a signal that the money markets were a short shove away from complete collapse ."

/... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/8924834/Debt-crisis-live.html

[DemReadingDU]

65. temporarily avoidance of collapse

But it is working so well today, maybe it will be needed to be done again. But eventually, there will be a devastating global crash. This Ponzi bubble is huge, and it will crash. All Ponzis do end. The bigger the bubble, the more devastating the kaboom.
:(

[Po_d Mainiac]

101. 2008 redux only without a Lehman/AIG (yet) n/t

[Ghost Dog]

63. China's central bank cuts reserve ratios to boost sagging economy

China's central bank cuts reserve requirements to inject liquidity into the country's slowing economy
In an unexpected policy shift, China's central bank said Wednesday that it would cut the amount of money banks must hold in reserve, a move aimed at boosting liquidity in the country's slowing economy.

...

"Today's surprise reserve ratio cut marks the start of an across-board easing policy for China," Qu Hongbin, an economist for HSBC, wrote in a note Wednesday. "This, plus tax cuts and additional fiscal spending should help keep China on track for a soft-landing."

...

The move allows banks to inject more credit into the economy, which has been feeling the effects of declining export orders from the West and plunging property transactions because of government cooling measures.

"More important though is the signal this gives to the markets and to investors," Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "The fact that chose to act in this more public way is a signal not only that policymakers are loosening but that they want to be seen to be doing so."

/... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/11/china-central-bank-cuts-reserve-ratios.html

[Roland99]

77. On FX intervention and the ECB/SMP

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/fx-intervention-and-ecbsmp

I sat on FX interbank desks in the 70’s and 80’s when the NY Fed came into the FX markets on a regular basis in an effort to stabilize and steer the dollar. The “Stick” (what the Fed was called) was on both the sell and buy side at different times over those years. This was low-tech time. There was a direct telephone wire to the Fed desk. It would light up and they would ask for a price on $100mm USDDM (no Euros then). Dealers are obligated to make prices. You knew you were going to get slammed as soon as they said:

“Done for a 100 mil. We can carry on at that price”.

All hell would break out in the FX markets when the Fed intervened. I would get little sleep for a few days. After about a dozen of these sphincter event I formed my own opinions on how intervention should be conducted. There’s plenty of academic stuff on this too. The following are considerations when evaluating the efficacy of FX intervention. Some of the lessons apply to the dilemma the ECB finds itself in today.

When confronted with unstable markets where the instability is, by itself, undermining the broader economy, the first objective is to re-establish stability. There is only one way to do that in the short-term. The financial authorities must establish Two Way Risk back into the market. Ideally, the objective is to create as much risk in being long as the risk of being short.

The ECB has failed to establish two-way risk. Virtually every (Italian, etc) bond that has been sold over the last few months has been a “good” sale. There has been no risk to selling, the only risk has been in buying. If the ECB wants to be successful they must create a risk situation that is equally weighted. Call that shock and awe. It has to call the dealers and make them understand sphincter power. (As the Fed did to me.) In my day, the the term “Don’t fight the Fed” came into being because the Fed had learned (after early failures) that it had to be on the offense when it came to intervention.

[Demeter]

92. As Far As the People are concerned, it's ALL offensive

a Regulated market--not one slammed back and forth like a tennis ball, is what stability needs.

[rfranklin]

29. Are corporate balance sheets really the strongest in history?

...The debt burden of U.S. corporations is near all-time highs, having retreated only modestly since 2009. Debt burdens are elevated regardless of whether they are measured against total assets or net worth. Certainly, corporations are presently benefiting from very low interest rates on corporate debt, which substantially reduces the servicing burden of these obligations. But the combination of high debt levels and low servicing burdens does create a potential risk to corporate health in the event that yields rise in future years. Overall, the picture is fairly stable at present thanks to low yields and high levels of cash-equivalents, but it is important for investors to keep in mind that cash can burn fairly quickly during economic downturns, and debt is not spread evenly across corporations.

The bottom line is that at an aggregate level, corporate balance sheets look reasonable, but are certainly not "stronger than they have ever been in history." Cash levels are elevated, but this is at best a second-order factor (with excess cash representing only a few percent of total assets), while debt remains near record levels relative to total assets and net worth. In any event, balance sheet risks should be evaluated on a business-by-business level, rather than accepting the blanket notion that cash levels are so high that nobody needs to worry about corporate credit risk.

http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc111128.htm

[bread_and_roses]

30. OT but interesting: "...the Tea Party ...carries the seeds of its own destruction"

I cannot speak to the solidity of the author's main premise - about the eleven rival regional cultures in the US - I simply don't have the background/knowledge base - but it's interesting, and I suspect that like most classification systems, it has some truth and some conclusions open to challenge. But the analysis of the probable future of the Tea Party "movement" is hopeful of it's not-too-distant eclipse - a happy thought. Besides, the cultural analysis certainly has pertinence in our ongoing war against the Oligarchs/Corps (see particularly the description of the Deep South:

http://www.alternet.org/story/153255/a_look_at_america%27s_geography_shows_that_the_tea_party_is_doomed/?page=entire

A Look at America's Geography Shows That the Tea Party Is Doomed
Even as the movement's grip tightens on the GOP, its influence is melting away across vast swaths of America, thanks to centuries-old regional traditions.

...Established by English slave lords from Barbados as a West Indies-style slave society, this region has been a bastion of white supremacy, aristocratic privilege, and a version of classical Republicanism modeled on the slave states of the ancient world, where democracy was the privilege of the few and enslavement the natural lot of the many. It spread apartheid and authoritarianism...

... the Tea Party has encountered little resistance to its agenda in the four nations of the Dixie bloc, as it is a carbon copy of the Deep Southern program of the last two centuries: reduce taxes for the wealthy and services for everyone else, crush the labor unions, public education, and the regulatory system, and suppress voter turnout.

In the author's analysis, other regions have very different cultural norms (thank the goddess), thus preventing the Tea Party from gaining lasting power in them. (The description of the LePage governorship in Maine is quite hilarious and worth reading.)

It's also worth noting, I think, that the strategies the author suggests for capturing those "swing" voters in regions where the culture "prizes personal freedom and resents domination by outsiders" marks their strain of a sort of Libertarianism might include:

If progressives were to campaign in these regions on promises to bring rogue bankers, mortgage lenders, mining interests, health insurers, seed companies, and monopolistic food processors to heel, they would have far wider appeal; here, regulation can be sold as a matter of justice, the closing of tax loopholes a matter of fairness.

are exactly the strategies that our wholly owned so-called "Representatives" of both the R & D stripes can't undertake without alienating their Corporate Masters. (Oh, well - so much for "hope")

All in all, this article is more a WE submission, but it's only Tuesday, and by Friday I'll have read hundreds of other articles and forgotten about it ... thought some here might enjoy it.

[Demeter]

37. I wish I could believe it

Too many have migrated north and west from Dixie, and brought their "white supremacy, aristocratic privilege, and... classical Republicanism modeled on the slave states of the ancient world" with them. Plus, they are well-funded by the 1% and supported by the MSM.

[rfranklin]

44. NY Times: Support for Tea Party Falls in Strongholds, Polls Show

Support for the Tea Party — and with it, the Republican Party — has fallen sharply even in places considered Tea Party strongholds, according to an analysis of new polls.

In Congressional districts represented by Tea Party lawmakers, the number of people saying they disagree with the movement has risen significantly since it powered a Republican sweep in midterm elections; almost as many people disagree with it as agree with it, according to the analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Support for the Republican Party has fallen even further in those places than it has in the country as a whole. In the 60 districts represented in Congress by a member of the House Tea Party Caucus, Republicans are now viewed about as negatively as Democrats.

-more-

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/us/politics/tea-party-support-falls-even-in-strongholds-survey-finds.html

[Demeter]

69. NYT--Not My Most Trusted Source on Politics

[rfranklin]

81. It's basically reporting on analysis by Pew Research...

so the argument is with Pew, not NY Times, if that makes a difference to you.

[AnneD]

74. Not all genetic mutations...

are successful, in fact most are not. Sterility is a frequent consequence... Oh my bad, I actually used a scientific reference while discussing the tea party. I am so embarrassed. :blush:

[bread_and_roses]

97. LOL, good one! (n/t)

[Demeter]

32. Fracking here, fracking there

http://www.economist.com/node/21540256

SHALE gas has turned the American energy market on its head. Production has soared twelvefold since 2000, to 4.9 trillion cubic feet, or a quarter of the country’s total gas output. By 2035 the proportion could rise to half. As the shale gas flows, prices have come crashing down. Not long ago, America depended on imports of liquefied natural gas. Now it is likely to become a gas exporter. These benefits have not gone unnoticed in Europe.

The old continent has nearly as much technically recoverable shale gas (natural gas trapped in shale formations) as America. Europe’s reserves are 639 trillion cubic feet, compared with America’s 862, according to America’s Energy Information Administration, a government agency. But technically recoverable does not mean economically recoverable, notes Peter Hughes of Ricardo Strategic Consulting. Costs are higher in Europe, for several reasons. First, European geology is less favourable: its shale deposits tend to be deeper underground and harder to extract...Second, America has a long history of drilling for oil and gas, which has spawned a huge and competitive oil-services industry bristling with equipment and know-how. Europe has nothing to compare with that. In 2008, at the height of the gas boom in America, 1,600 rigs were in operation. In Europe now there are only 100. America’s more cut-throat market drives costs down. A single gas well in Europe might cost as much as $14m to sink, three-and-a-half times more than an American one, estimates Deutsche Bank...Third, America’s gas industry faces fewer and friendlier regulations than Europe’s. Call it the Dick Cheney effect. And fourth, in America wildcat drillers, if they strike it rich, enjoy access to a spider’s web of existing pipelines, so they can get their gas to market. Europe has no such network nor open-access rules.

Some European countries are keen to replicate America’s shale-gas boom. Poland, which may have Europe’s largest deposits, has issued exploration licences to more than 20 firms. Test wells have been sunk. But Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, reckons that commercial production will not get under way until 2014. Other European countries are less gung-ho about shale gas, often for environmental reasons. France has potentially abundant reserves, but has imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), the technique for winkling gas from rocks deep underground, while the dangers are assessed. These include the possible pollution of groundwater by the chemicals in fracking fluids, and the leakage of methane, a gas that aggravates global warming. Another fear is that fracking may cause earth tremors. Recent seismic activity near a test well in Britain has been linked to it. Such concerns are real and widespread—in August South Africa followed France’s lead and slapped a moratorium on fracking. More studies will be needed before the public is reassured.

Americans worry about the environmental impact of fracking, too. But Europeans worry more, not least because western Europe is far more densely populated than America. Extracting shale gas is more disruptive than hoicking other hydrocarbons out of the ground—far more wells must be sunk than are needed to produce the same quantity of conventional gas. Fracking requires oceans of water, brought in by fleets of noisy tankers. More people will live close to a typical European drilling site, so opposition to drilling permits is likely to be louder...The legal framework is different, too. In America, mineral rights belong to the landowner. In Europe, they usually belong to the state. So when American property–owners see drills, they see dollar signs. European landowners just see big, ugly drills. (The situation is different in America if the gas lies under federal land. If so, getting leases can be trickier.)

MORE FASCINATING FACTS AT LINK

[Demeter]

33. Total to challenge French government decision on shale gas

French oil and gas giant Total plans to challenge the French government's decision to cancel its exploration permit for a shale gas field in Montelimar, in the south of France, reported Les Echos Monday. In October the French government canceled exploration permits on shale-gas fields after it said Total maintained its intention to drill the potential fields using hydraulic fracturing, a controversial technique that was banned in the country earlier this year...

http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/Article/2941256/Latest-News/Total-to-challenge-French-government-decision-on-shale-gas-report.html

[Demeter]

35. Lower 48 US Sept natgas output hits record high

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1E7AS15120111129

Gross natural gas production in September in the lower 48 U.S. states rose 1 percent from August to a record high, data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration showed on Tuesday.

It was the seventh straight monthly gain after extreme cold in January and February shut in some wells in the Southwest. Lower 48 "wet" gas output in September totaled 70.4 billion cubic feet per day, up 0.72 bcf per day from upwardly revised August output of 69.68 bcf daily, the EIA said in its Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report. The EIA's previous estimate for August was 69.66 bcf per day.

Lower 48 gross gas production is running at 4.5 bcf per day, or 6.9 percent, above the same year-ago month.

For complete report: link.reuters.com/dyb84m

[bread_and_roses]

55. I live in the epicenter of current fracking fight in NorthEast

- Southern Tier of NY. It's all just too depressing. We are looking at the utter destruction of a bucolic landscape, and the probable destruction of our greatest resource - abundant water.

I have no hope. I see no future.

(despite momentary "hopefullness" prompted by article I posted upthread)

[xchrom]

43. Productivity up in summer while labor costs fell

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PRODUCTIVITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-30-08-46-50

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. workers increased their productivity over the summer by the most in a year and a half but the gain was smaller than initially thought.

A more productive and less-costly work force can boost corporate profits. But unless companies see more demand, they're unlikely to step up hiring.

Productivity rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the July-September quarter, the Labor Department said. That was slower than the 3.1 percent the government estimated a month ago. Labor costs fell at a 2.5 percent rate, a slightly larger decline than the 2.4 percent drop first estimated.

The downward revision reflected slower economic growth in the third quarter. The government said total output grew at an annual rate of 2 percent, less than the 2.5 percent initially estimated.

[xchrom]

45. UN scientist: fighting climate change saves costs

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_CLIMATE_CONFERENCE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-30-07-56-29

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) -- The U.N.'s top climate scientist cautioned climate negotiators Wednesday that global warming is leading to human dangers and soaring financial costs, but containing carbon emissions will have a host of benefits.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, summarized a litany of potential disasters at a U.N. climate conference in the South African city of Durban. Although he gave no explicit deadlines, the implication was that time is running out for greenhouse gas emissions to level off and begin to decline.

Heat waves currently experienced once every 20 years will happen every other year by the end of this century, he said.

Coastal areas and islands are threatened with inundation by global warming, rain-reliant agriculture in Africa will shrink by half and many species will disappear. Within a decade, up to 250 million more people will face the stress of scarce water.

[Demeter]

46. Speculators Reduce Bullish Holdings to Lowest Since July 2009: Commodities

THANK YOU, MFGLOBAL!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/speculators-cut-bullish-holdings-to-lowest-since-july-2009-commodities.html

Speculators decreased wagers on rising commodity prices to the lowest since July 2009 amid concern that Europe’s inability to contain its debt crisis will crimp demand for raw materials as global growth slows. Money managers cut combined net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 25 percent to 562,508 contracts in the week ended Nov. 22, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. That’s the biggest decline in eight weeks and the lowest since July 14, 2009. Corn wagers tumbled 25 percent, the most since June 2010, and bets on lower copper prices doubled. About $4.6 trillion was wiped from the value of global equities this month. Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday the “rapid escalation” of Europe’s crisis threatens all of the region’s sovereign ratings. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development yesterday said growing doubts about the survival of the region’s monetary union represents the main risk to the world economy. “The events in Europe have cast doubt on global economic growth,” said Walter “Bucky” Hellwig, who helps manage $17 billion at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. “People are moving out of riskier assets.” Seventeen of the 24 commodities tracked by the GSCI have dropped in November. The index is still up 0.9 percent this month. Crude oil jumped 7.1 percent, leading gainers that included hogs, feeder cattle, live cattle and coffee.
.....

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trimmed its forecast for commodity gains in the next 12 months to 15 percent from 20 percent in a report Nov. 14. The bank has a “neutral” recommendation on commodities for the next three to six months, and “overweight” in 12 months...

Open interest, or the number of contracts that have yet to be closed, liquidated or delivered, for commodities tracked by the GSCI has tumbled 16 percent since reaching 8.848 million contracts in February, the highest since the data began in February 2006. The figure includes 18 U.S. commodities of the 24 raw materials tracked by the gauge and is based on CFTC data...Investors put $615 million into commodity funds in the week ended Nov. 23, according to data from Cambridge, Massachusetts- based EPFR Global, which tracks money flows. Gold and precious- metals inflows contributed $1.26 billion, and non-gold and non- precious metal commodities had net outflows of $645 million, said Cameron Brandt, the director of research. “Gold is a good investment to make when there are fears of a breakdown in the European Union,” Brandt said. Funds trimmed their net-long position in gold for the first time in five weeks, cutting by 13 percent to 149,256 contracts, the government data show. The wagers are still up 15 percent since the end of September.

A measure of 11 U.S. farm goods showed speculators lowered bullish bets in agricultural commodities by 34 percent to 261,477, the lowest since September 2009. Investors turned bearish on soybeans for the first time since July 2010 and hold a net-short position of 8,622 contracts. Net-long positions in corn dropped by 48,543 to 149,084 contracts....“People are inherently short to neutral on the commodities market,” DoubleLine’s Sherman said. “It could change, but for that we need a very strong fundamental reason out of Europe.”

[Demeter]

47. European Officials Agree to Bolster Bailout Fund

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/business/global/italy-and-belgium-borrowing-costs-soar.html?_r=1

With the euro zone debt crisis worsening by the day, finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the currency approved more loans on Tuesday to stave off a Greek default and agreed to bolster their bailout fund.

Speaking after the meeting, Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the euro zone finance ministers, said they had agreed to release their portion of an 8 billion-euro loan to Greece. The International Monetary Fund is expected to sign off on its share — roughly one third — early next month, making the loans available by the middle of December.

The ministers also agreed on rules to increase the firepower of their bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, and will be able to offer insurance to those buying the bonds of nations like Spain and Italy. In these cases, insurance certificates — attached to make bonds more attractive — will themselves be tradable, said Klaus Regling, who heads the bailout fund. The fund will also seek investment from sovereign wealth funds and other non-European sources.

Though a goal of 1 trillion euros, or $1.3 trillion, was set for the expanded bailout fund, ministers acknowledged that this was now unlikely, and no figure was given at Tuesday night’s news conference...

[Demeter]

49. BofA, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Credit Ratings Cut by S&P

DIE! YOU EVIL BANKSTERS, DIE!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/s-p-cuts-bank-of-america-citigroup-goldman-ratings-in-industry-revision.html

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Citigroup Inc. had long-term credit grades reduced to A- from A by Standard & Poor’s after the ratings firm revised criteria for dozens of the world’s biggest lenders.

S&P made the same cut to Morgan Stanley and Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit today. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was reduced one level to A from A+. S&P upgraded Bank of China Ltd. (3988) and China Construction Bank Corp. to A from A- and maintained the A rating on Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (1398), giving all three lenders higher grades than most big U.S. banks.

The moves may increase pressure on firms already dealing with weak economies and Europe’s mounting sovereign debt crisis. Lenders including Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have said they may have to post billions of dollars of additional collateral and termination payments on trades because of a one-level downgrade in their credit ratings....The ratings firm also downgraded UBS AG (UBSN) and Barclays Plc (BARC) to A from A+, and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) to A+ from AA-, according to the report.

Change in Technique

S&P, a unit of New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP), has been changing the way it looks at debt after its faulty grades contributed to the credit-market seizure that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. It started to review the methodology in December 2008, months after the collapse of those two firms.

[dixiegrrrrl]

121. Whoa..I had missed that!!! thanks for posting.

am I going to hell for grave dancing on this news?

oh, wait..I don't believe in hell..

never mind.

[Demeter]

51. Businesses plan for possible end of euro

International companies are preparing contingency plans for a possible break-up of the eurozone, according to interviews with dozens of multinational executives. Concerned that Europe’s political leaders are failing to control the spreading sovereign debt crisis, business executives say they feel compelled to protect their companies against a crash that can no longer be wished away.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/KC2844/ORBNWV/6ADGM/B5XE3W/U108WD/28/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=29

[Demeter]

52. Germany set to overtake Italy in CDS protection

Net notional amount of credit default swaps written on German government debt on course to go beyond $20bn

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/FKFI2J/VTVRG/GDERTL/304MOO/GX/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=30

[Demeter]

53. China cuts reserve requirements by 50bp

China has eased monetary policy for the first time in three years by cutting the amount of deposits that banks must hold in reserve, in a sign of Beijing’s unease over slowing growth in the country.

On Wednesday evening, the People’s Bank of China said it would reduce the required reserve ratio for all banks by 50 basis points, starting from December 5.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/U1C8B5/T10SH/R31GZ8/SP66FC/T3/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=30

[Demeter]

54. ‘Big Four’ accountants face audit reform

The European arms of the four biggest accountants are being threatened with a break-up under sweeping European Commission reforms to be unveiled on Wednesday

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/ZE9K33/HY3E57/WH2F8/EXYS1I/PFBLMZ/JY/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=29

[Demeter]

56. Moral hazard will result from ECB bond buying

Bank will lose credibility if it becomes ultimate buyer of public debt, writes former executive board member Otmar Issing

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/8ZI5QD/YGZ3O/627KW6/2O546H/B7/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=30

[Demeter]

57. Martin Feldstein: Only Italy can save the euro

The euro currency may soon collapse even though there is no fundamental reason for it to fail. Everything depends on Italy, because financial markets now fear that it may be insolvent.

If the Italian government has to continue paying a seven or even eight per cent interest rate to finance its debt, the country’s total debt will grow faster than its annual output and therefore faster than its ability to service that debt.

If investors expect that to persist, they will stop lending to Italy. At that point, it will be forced to leave the euro. And if it does, the value of the “new lira” will reduce the price of Italian goods in general and Italian exports in particular. The resulting competitive pressure could then force France to leave the euro as well, bringing the monetary union to an end.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/ZE9K33/4CX7FR/K91WR/HYQFBE/SP66K4/4O/t?a1=2011&a2=11&a3=30

"MARTY" FELDSTEIN IS THE AUTHOR OF THE CURRENT CRISIS--AND WHAT A JERK HE IS! NOTE THE AIG TIE-IN...

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

[AnneD]

93. For a second there....

I read it to be Marty Feldman and thought that was a punch line to a joke :crazy:

[Demeter]

95. Feldstein is the punchline

as in, where do I line up to get a punch in?

[AnneD]

100. Igor wasn't that lump on the other si...

Never mind." paraphrasing Gene Wilder to Marty Felddman, from Young Frankenstien.

[Demeter]

62. THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."

- John Maynard Keynes

"All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but that once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force."

- George Orwell

"When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty."

[Ghost Dog]

66. "Since all our money is loaned onto existence, our economy has to grow exponentially."

- http://www.zerohedge.com/news/chris-martenson-lecture-why-next-20-years-will-be-marked-collapse-exponential-function

[Demeter]

68. U.S. to restart construction of nuclear reactors

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2016866631_japanreactors27.html

After 34 years, the United States is expected to resume construction of nuclear reactors by the end of the year, and Toshiba will export turbine equipment for the reactors to the U.S. early next month, it was learned Saturday. According to sources, construction will begin by year-end on the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia and the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina...No construction on reactors has been carried out in the United States since January 1978...BECAUSE IN 1979, THREE MILE ISLAND MELTED DOWN...

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to shortly approve the construction and operation of the reactors, which have been designed by Westinghouse, a subsidiary of Toshiba. The decision to resume construction of reactors is expected to pave the way for Japan to export related equipment to the United States, observers said. The reactors to be constructed are of the AP1000 type, an advanced 1,100-megawatt pressurized water reactor, and are targeted to go into operation in 2016 at the earliest. The AP1000 can better withstand disasters — the outer structure is so strong it can handle the impact of a large airplane crashing into it — and is designed to automatically cool down over a 72-hour period even after external power is lost. Four AP1000 reactors are currently being built in China. Toshiba will export to the United States core equipment for the reactors that helps convert steam back to water, the sources said.

Before the construction of a reactor can begin, it needs to receive a final safety-assessment report from the NRC as well as NRC approval for its construction and operation. The NRC issued final safety-assessment reports for the four reactors in the summer after the onset of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear-power plant in Japan. U.S. electric-power companies, which plan to construct the four reactors, already have started procuring equipment and have entered the final stage in preparation for the construction of the four reactors, as the utilities are likely to receive NRC approval soon.

The United States has 104 reactors in operation, making the country the world's largest nuclear-energy producer. However, after the Three Mile Island nuclear-power-plant meltdown in 1979, construction of new nuclear-power plants was suspended. Former U.S. President George W. Bush, who called for less dependence on Middle East oil, shifted policy toward resumption of construction of nuclear-power plants. Since 2007, many electric-power companies have applied to build new nuclear-power plants. The NRC is currently screening 26 new reactors. Following the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear-power plant, the NRC placed priority on safety assessments for existing nuclear-power plants, delaying the screening of new projects...Capitalizing on the planned construction of the four reactors, the Toshiba-Westinghouse alliance will try to secure more orders for advanced reactors from other countries.

WELL, THAT'S JUST LOVELY! ANYONE WANT TO BUY A JAPANESE-BUILT NUCLEAR TIME BOMB? OF COURSE, THEY WILL POINT OUT THAT GE BUILT THE FUKUSHIMA PLANTS...BUT WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THAT MAKE?

[AnneD]

70. Morning Marketeers....

:donut: and lurkers. I was listening to the Young Turks and the reading about the secret loans that the Feds gave banks that made TARP look like bread crumbs at a picnic. As I was driving in to work listening to our Christmas music radio station COMA 99.1, my mind started mulling over the situation. The SCOTUS has ruled that corporate money=free speech. Since I have known few young creatures that have willingly gotten off the teat, I don't look for Congress to be getting off it any time soon.

And then I thought, what is so wrong with corporate sponsorship. I mean companies brag about their sponsorship of public radio, television, the arts, and humanitarian efforts. Are they ashamed to sponsor our government? So why not have transparency in our government. we are all grownups here, let us chose brand loyalty or generic if we prefer. I think that is part of the reason for this OWS. If our money is being used to fund things, lets be honest with where is goes.

So in order to assist with this transparency, I am recommending a NASCAR style jacket for members of Congress, the executive branch and yes, even the Supremes (just patches on their robes, we must maintain decorum here). And while we are at it, how about those captains of industry on WS. I know the Banksters would be sporting big old FED patches or maybe it should be a US Taxpayers patch (you know the universal symbol of the guy bending over and a screw behind him).

But the real payoff will come when candidates running for office sport their togs. At last, now more confusion, guessing, or disappointment with those we elect. All the information is right up front.

Anne D proudly sponsored by our city's education system and the taxpayers of the state of Texas with additional contributions from the taxpayers of the US. Thank you.

:sarcasm: (for the sarcastically impaired)

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Roland99]

119. The Capitol One Capitol Building. The Clorox White House.

[AnneD]

125. Love the naming rights...

Pentagon-the GE Building, CIA HQ-Tide Building...The list is endless.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

71. To the Moon!

[Roland99]

73. got that right...good grief!

Dow 11,880 +325 +2.81%
Nasdaq 2,585 +69 +2.75%
S&P 500 1,228 +33 +2.75%
GlobalDow 1,807 +48 +2.71%
Gold 1,748 +29 +1.66%
Oil 101.02 +1.23 +1.23%

[Demeter]

72. Here We Go Again! Up 300+ at Open

Come on, 12,000! Baby needs a new yacht for Xmas...

[DemReadingDU]

79. +370! wow

Dow 11,926.41
+370.78
+3.21%

[Roland99]

89. +410

[Demeter]

94. Just shy of 12,000

We'll get one of those cute little gooses at the finish, I'll betcha.

[Demeter]

98. Stocks surge thanks to good news on jobs, Europe and China

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-stocks-1130-m,0,4629629.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

ADP STRIKES AGAIN

[Hugin]

111. ... and a spike in crude signals the siphon pumps have been activated.

To relieve the markets of this new found QEn "liquidity".

[Demeter]

75. Democrat calls for hearing on 'secret' bank loans from Federal Reserve

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/195675-top-democrats-calls-for-hearing-with-bernanke-on-secret-bank-loans

A top House Democrat is calling for a hearing with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following a report that the central bank secretly committed more than $7 trillion to save banks during the financial crisis. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (Md.) sent a letter on Monday to panel Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) requesting the committee look into how banks "benefitted from trillions of dollars in previously undisclosed government loans provided at below-market rates...Many Americans are struggling to understand why banks deserve such preferential treatment while millions of homeowners are being denied assistance and are at increasing risk of foreclosure,” Cummings said.

The request comes on the heels of a Bloomberg report that said the Fed secretly committed more than $7 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the nation’s top financial institutions, and that these banks "reaped an estimated $13 billion of income" on the below-market rates. "Unfortunately, officials from many of these financial institutions declined to comment about these loans, including officials from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley," Cummings writes.

Information about the loans was withheld from Congress as lawmakers debated and passed the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Cummings said. Banks also failed to disclose the information to their shareholders...Kenneth D. Lewis, then CEO of Bank of America, told shareholders on Nov. 26, 2008, that the company was “one of the strongest and most stable major banks in the world.” According to the Bloomberg report, he failed to disclose that “his Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm owed the central bank $86 billion that day,” Cummings writes...This “secret financing helped America’s biggest financial firms get bigger and go on to pay employees as much as they did at the height of the housing bubble," according to economists cited in the report...

The Bloomberg report disclosed that total assets at the largest six banks increased by 39 percent and executive compensation increased by 20 percent in the past five years, or by more than $146 billion in compensation in 2010.

[Turbineguy]

76. This isn't going well

for the republicans.

[Demeter]

85. It's not going well for anyone except the 1%ers

hence, the global depression.

[Demeter]

82. Venezuela brings home gold reserves

Cheering crowds line streets as first batch of bullion, previously held in UK, is deposited in central bank in Caracas.



http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/11/20111126744164125.html

[MindMover]

114. the 1%ers are bringing the gold closer to home....

I have never heard of people who eat gold.....until I took a closer look at these greedy bastards....

[Demeter]

83. "I'll Occupy" Recruitment Song: The 99 is Pissed and We Will Not Be Dismissed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N5N8UzSRTQ&feature=player_embedded

Lyrics

"I'll Occupy"

I first was pepper sprayed
Just standing on the side
But it took me being blinded
to open up up my eyes
Cause I'd read the daily news,
and not responded actively
and I realized then and there
this revolution needed me




So here I am,
camped in a tent
Which is really so convenient
cause I can't afford my rent
But they came with shields and mace
In the night while it was dark
A NYPD army
Sent to clear Zuccotti Park

We'll protest on, with catchy phases
We're going global
From London to Uc Davis
If you think that your batons are going to get us to go home
GO on and hit me, I'll just upload it from my phone.

Until I die,
I'll occupy
As long I know how to sit
And hold this heavy sign
cause the 99 is pissed
and we will not BE dismissed
I'll occupy
I'll occupy
hell yeah

Call us "hippies" call us "homeless,"
yeah we're fed it.
And we "don't know what we want,"
to our discredit.
But if you're reading all the news, funded by the corporations
Its no mystery
How you've missed our declaration

We're armed too
Yeah, we've got twitter
We're a techno savvy nation
And we're bitter
There's no Marie Antoinette
We're dragging to the Guillotine
Got non-violence, you bet!
Cause we aim to keep this clean

We will not go! Bring on the snow!
Got your faceless cooperate body
One peaceful badass foe
We're awake, we saw Wall-e, and you know we're organized
Did you think we'd crumble?
Did you think we'd lay down and not try?

Until I die,
I'll occupy
As long I know how to sit
And hold this heavy sign
cause the 99 is pissed
and we will not be dismissed
I'll occupy
I'll occupy
HELL yeah
HELL yeah!

We're off our Meds, we're watching Ted
And we're into Zombie culture,
But we're not the walking dead
If you want to fight for justice join the masses, we are strong
And it wouldn't hurt to take a
minute to repost this song!

Until we die,
We'll occupy
As long we know how to sit
And hold these heavy sign
cause the 99 is pissed
and we will not be dismissed
We'll occupy
We'll occupy
HELL yeah

[Demeter]

84. Fitch Drops U.S. Debt Outlook To Negative By Kevin Carmichael

http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2252552.html

Fitch Ratings has dropped its long-term outlook for U.S. debt to “negative” from “stable,” citing the failure of the congressional super committee to agree on a plan to narrow the budget deficit.

“The negative outlook reflects Fitch’s declining confidence that timely fiscal measures necessary to place U.S. public finances on a sustainable path and secure the U.S. AAA sovereign rating will be forthcoming,” the London-based firm said Monday in a press release. “The failure of the (Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) underlines the challenge of securing broad-based consensus on how to reduce the outsized federal budget deficit.”

To be clear, the U.S. gets to keep its top rating from Fitch for now. Unlike Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded the U.S. this summer, Fitch acknowledges there is absolutely no danger of the United States government missing a debt payment for the foreseeable future. “The U.S. economy remains one of the most productive in the world, reflected in levels of income per head that are substantially higher than that of major AAA peers,” the agency said. Fitch said the economic recovery should regain momentum in the later half of next year and into 2013, which will ease short-term pressures on the federal government’s bottom line.

But beyond that, Fitch isn’t so sure. The firm projects that U.S. debt will amount to 90 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of the decade, and interest payments will climb to 20 per cent of revenue, unless politicians constrain the deficit. “Such a level of government indebtedness would no longer be consistent with the U.S. retaining its AAA status despite its underlying strengths,” Fitch said...All of the Big Three credit rating agencies now have rendered their verdicts on the failure of the super committee. Last week Moody’s Investors Services retained its negative outlook on its own AAA rating and Standard & Poor’s stuck with its dim view...Fitch said a negative outlook indicates there is a “slightly greater” than 50-per-cent chance that the U.S. credit rating will be downgraded over the next two years. For now, the agency appears willing to let U.S. politicians get through next year’s election before making that decision. “In the absence of material adverse shocks, Fitch does not expect to resolve the negative outlook until late 2013, taking into account any deficit-reduction strategy that emerges after congressional and presidential elections,” the statement said.

[plumbob]

124. Who cares what these terrorists think?

I thought we had drones to take care of threats to the country!

[Hotler]

90. k&r n/t

[BadgerKid]

91. FOX had a graphic showing US debt-to-equity at 100%.

Seems like bailing out Europe is a bad idea because we'd be even worse off. Dragged-out global meltdown?

[Demeter]

96. We can't really believe any number, anymore

all we can do is watch the pain and suffering and collapse of people's lives, and try to bring back the Rule of Law. Or the result of not doing so: revolution.

[MindMover]

123. and or potentially War.......nt

[Demeter]

102. ‘Unsellable’ Real Estate Assets Threaten Survival of Smaller Spanish Banks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-17/spain-s-unsellable-real-estate-assets-threaten-smaller-banks.html

Spanish banks, under pressure to cut property-backed debt, hold about 30 billion euros ($41 billion) of real estate that’s “unsellable,” according to a risk adviser to Banco Santander SA (SAN) and five other lenders.

“I’m really worried about the small- and medium-sized banks whose business is 100 percent in Spain and based on real- estate growth,” Pablo Cantos, managing partner of Madrid-based MaC Group, said in an interview. “I foresee Spain will be left with just four large banks.”

[Demeter]

103. First Steps in Reforming the U.S. Financial and Tax System By Michael Hudson

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/18/first-steps-in-reforming-the-u-s-financial-and-tax-system/

The Occupy Wall Street movement has many similarities with what used to be called the Great Awakening periods in America. Such periods always begin by realizing how serious the problem is. So diagnosis is the most important tactic. Diagnosing the problem mobilizes power for a solution. Otherwise, solutions will seem to come out of thin air and people won’t understand why they are needed, or even the problems that solutions are intended to cure. The basic problem today is that nearly everyone is in debt. This is the problem in Europe too. There are Occupy Berlin meetings, the Greek and Icelandic protests, Spain’s “Indignant” demonstrations and similar ones throughout the world. When debts reach today’s proportions, a basic economic principle is at work: Debts that can’t be paid; won’t be. The question is, just how are they not going to be paid? People with student loans are not permitted to declare bankruptcy to get a fresh start. The government or collection agencies dock their salaries and go after whatever property they have. Many people’s revenue over and above basic needs is earmarked to pay the bankers. Typical American wage earners pay about 40 percent of their wages on housing whose price is bid up by easy mortgage credit, and another 10 to 15 percent for credit cards and other debt service. FICA takes over 13 per cent, and federal, local and sales taxes another 15 percent or so. All this leaves only about a quarter of many peoples’ paychecks available for spending on goods and services. This is what is causing today’s debt deflation. And Wall Street is supporting it, because it extracts income from the bottom 99% to pay the top 1%.

Half a century ago most economists imagined that the problem would be people saving too much as they got richer. Saving meant non-spending. But the problem has turned out to be just the opposite: debt. Overall, salaries have not risen in decades, so many people have borrowed just to break even. Instead of an era of free choice, very little of their income is available for discretionary spending. It is earmarked to pay the financial, insurance and real estate sectors, not the “real” production and consumption economy. And now repayment time has arrived. People are squeezed. So when America’s saving rate recently rose from zero to 3 percent of national income, it takes the form of people paying down the debts...Many people thought that the way to get rich faster was to borrow money to buy homes and stocks they expected to rise in price. But this has left the economy financially strapped. People are feeling depressed. The tendency is to blame themselves. I think that the Occupy Wall Street movement, at least here in New York, is like what has occurred in Greece and also in the Arab Spring. People are coming together, and at first they may simply watch what’s going on. Onlookers may come by to see what it’s all about. But then they think, “Wait a minute! Other people are having the same problem I’m having. Maybe it is not really my fault.” So they begin to see that all these other people who have a similar problem in not being able to pay their debts; they realize that they have been financially crippled by the banks. It is not that they have done something wrong or are sore losers, as Herman Cain says. There’s something radically wrong with the system.

Fifty years ago an old socialist told me that revolutions happen when people just get tired of being afraid. In today’s case the revolution may grow nearer when people get over being depressed and stop blaming themselves. They come to think that we are all in this together – and if this is the case, there must be something wrong with the way the economy is organized....Gradually, observers of Occupy Wall Street begin to feel stronger. There is positive peer pressure to reinforce their self-confidence. What they intuitively feel is that the Reagan-Clinton-Bush-Obama presidencies have squeezed their lives. The economy has become untracked. What’s basically wrong is that the financial system is running the government. For years, Republicans and Democrats have both said that a strong government, careful regulation and progressive taxation are markers on the road to serfdom. The politicians and neoliberal economists who write their patter say, “Let’s take planning out of the hands of government and put it in the ‘free market.’” But every market is planned by someone or other. If governments step aside, then planning passes into the hands of the bankers, because of their key role in allocating credit.

The problem is that they have not created credit to finance industrial investment and employment. They have lent for speculation on asset price inflation, using debt leveraging to bid up housing prices, stock and bond prices, and foreign exchange rates. They have convinced borrowers that they can get rich on rising housing prices. But this merely makes new homebuyers go deeper into debt to buy a home. And when banks say that rising stock and bond prices are good for the economy, this price rise lowers the dividend or interest yield. This means that pension funds and individuals have to save much more for retirement. Instead of improving their life, it makes them work harder and borrow more just to stay in place. The banking system’s alternative to “the road to serfdom” thus turns out to be a road to debt peonage. This financial engineering turns out to be worse than government planning. The banks have taken over the Federal Reserve and Treasury and put their lobbyists in charge – men such as Tim Geithner and the others with ties to Rubinomics dating from the Clinton administration, and especially to Goldman Sachs and other giant Wall Street firms.

MUCH MORE AT LINK...TODAY'S MUST READ

MICHAEL HUDSON is a former Wall Street economist. A Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (new ed., Pluto Press, 2002) and Trade, Development and Foreign Debt: A History of Theories of Polarization v. Convergence in the World Economy. Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, forthcoming from AK Press. He can be reached via his website, [e-mail]

[Hotler]

104. Woo-hoo! Stocks up, jobs up, housing up.

We turned the corner. No where to go but up, up, up.

[hamerfan]

118. Ponies!

Or Unicorns. Or something.
Cue the music. Money For Nothing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

[Demeter]

105. We’re Not Broke: “They got bailed out; we got sold out!” By Annie Leonard

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29774.htm


The United States isn't broke; we're the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn't working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this 'dinosaur economy' on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money.

The Story of Broke (2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49q6uPcwY8&feature=player_embedded

[Demeter]

106. Lobbying Firm's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine Occupy Wall Street

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29776.htm

A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”

The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.

CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.

According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”

[Demeter]

108. Weimar Revisited By Uri Avnery

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29785.htm

“YOU AND your Weimar!” a friend of mine once exclaimed in exasperation, ”just because you experienced the collapse of the Weimar Republic as a child, you see Weimar behind every corner.” The accusation was not unjustified. In 1960, during the Eichmann trial, I wrote a book about the fall of the German Republic. Its last chapter was called: “It can happen here” Since then I have come back to this warning time and again. But now I am not alone anymore. During the last few weeks, the word Weimar has popped up in the articles of many commentators.

It should be sprayed in huge letters on the walls.

(WHILE HE DISCUSSES IT FROM AN ISRAELI POINT OF VIEW--CAN ANY WESTERN DEMOCRACY CLAIM IT'S SAFE?--DEMETER)

What we are witnessing now are not isolated attacks on one or another human right – what we are seeing is a general attack on democracy as such. Perhaps only people who have experienced life under a fascist dictatorship can fully realize what that means...We are not yet in 1932. The Storm Troopers are not yet roaming our streets. We still have time to mobilize the public against the looming danger. This week's demonstration that will take place in Tel Aviv against the de-democratization of Israel may mark a turning point.

Uri Avnery's Website www.avnery-news.co.il

[Demeter]

109. Citi Chief Economist Willem Buiter: A Spanish Or Italian Default Could Happen In A Few Short Days

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/willem-buiter-spanish-or-italian-default-could-happen-few-short-days

Citi's Willem Buiter whose succinct analysis a few weeks ago sealed the coffin of the worthless EFSF, has just come out with another knock out punch this morning after telling Bloomberg TV what everyone else knows is true, but is terrified to say out loud: namely that, "time is running out fast." He adds: " I think we have maybe a few months -- it could be weeks, it could be days -- before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it. So they have to act now." In sum - a rehash of the Deutsche Bank pitchbook to the ECB we posted earlier, only in Mutually Assured Terms that would make even Hank Paulson blush. At this point Germany has an option: tell Europe to take a hike, or go balls to wall in bailing out 250 million European's early retirement packages. The ball is in Merkel's court, who unlike Citi, JPM, DB, and everyone else, has to worry about this fickle, and potentially pitchfork bearing, thing called "voters."

VIDEO AT LINK

[Demeter]

110. Top Favorite Stock Holdings of Congress By Barry Ritholtz

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/top-favorite-stock-holdings-of-congress/

Why aren’t congressional members required to put all of their stock holdings into a blind trust? Why can’t insider trading by Congressional members be banned? How can elected officials do “the people’s business” when they are too busy running around trading on the votes they are about to cast? How one earth can we ever get fair outcomes of issues involving finance, healthcare, or energy when the members so personally have a monetary stake in an outcome they may or may not be in the public interest?

Why aren’t these people in jail?

~~~

1. General Electric (GE)

Members invested: 75
Total value of holdings (max.): $11.41 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $3.58 million

Top Congressional Investors
Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) – $1 million to $5 million
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $616,004 to $1.315 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $400,003 to $850,000

2. Procter & Gamble (PG)

Members invested: 62
Total value of holdings (max.): $39.42 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $8.72 million

Top Congressional Investors
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R.-N.J.) – $7.07 million to $35.15 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $200,002 to $500,000
James B. Renacci (R.-Ohio) – $180,485 to$222,482

3. Bank of America (BAC)

Members invested: 57
Total value of holdings (max.): $5.41 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $2.83 million

Top Congressional Investors
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R.-N.J.) – $1.02 million to $1.08 million
John M. Spratt Jr. (D.-S.C.) – $500,001 to $1 million
Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) – $500,001 to $1 million

4. Microsoft (MSFT)

Members invested: 56
Total value of holdings (max.): $6.43 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $3.22 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $1.77 million to $2.55 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $515,003 to $1.05 million
Jane Harman (D.-Calif.) – $130,003 to $350,000

5. Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Members invested: 56
Total value of holdings (max.): $3.24 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $1.27 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $602,005 to $1.28 million
Richard L Hanna (R.-N.Y.) – $100,000 to $250,000
Jane Harman (D.–Calif.) – $100,000 to $200,000

6. Pfizer (PFE)

Members invested: 51
Total value of holdings (max.): $4.61 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $2.04 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $752,004 to $1.53 million
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R.-Wis.) – $507,005 to $1 million
Kurt Schrader (D.-Ore.) – $265,002 to $550,000

7. Intel (INTC)

Members invested: 47
Total value of holdings (max.): $3.21 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $1.28 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $602,005 to $1.28 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $200,002 to $500,000
Jane Harman (D.-Calif.) – $130,003 to $350,000

8. Wells Fargo (WFC)

Members invested: 45
Total value of holdings (max.): $4.28 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $1.71 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $351,003 to $765,000
Sander Levin (D.-Mich.) – $250,001 to $500,000
David Vitter (R.-La.) – $126,007 to $365,000

9. AT&T (ATT)

Members invested: 44
Total value of holdings (max.): $4.08 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $2.23 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $1.52 million to $2.07 million
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R.-Wis.) – $105,877 to $255,876
Richard L Hanna (R.-N.Y.) – $100,001 to $250,000

10. Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Members invested: 42
Total value of holdings (max.): $11.09 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $2.74 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Carter (R.-Texas) – $1 million to $5 million
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R.-Wis.) – $551,185 to $1.05 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $500,002 to $1 million

Sources: Open Secrets, CNBC,

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

115. Any Suckers left? Come one, come all

Suck it, Europe!

[DemReadingDU]

117. lol!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

116. The "Safe Harbor" of 12.

:think:

[Hotler]

122. +490! Is that yards rushing???? eom.