Come Unto WE, All Ye That Labor: Weekend Economists Sept. 3-6, 2010

[Demeter]

With lavish pardons to George Frederick Handel and the King James bible....

Welcome to another Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza! Labor Day is the anemic holiday given to the American worker to distract him/her from the very existence of May Day, the traditional labor holiday of the world, because it became conflated with Communism, Socialism, and all those other Isms, like Unions, equal pay for equal work, overtime, vacation and sick pay, retirements, seniority, etc., etc.

Which is funny, because International Labour Day, or May Day, commemorates the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour workday, killing several demonstrators and resulting in the deaths of several police officers, largely from friendly fire. Yup, a horror story from Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1886 which we dare not remember (officially) for fear that the proletariat will rise up, string the treasury officials from the nearest lamp poles, put tariffs on the borders and CEOs on the streets...

You young whippersnappers will have no idea what I am talking about, unfortunately. Read a history book or two about unions. Wiki is another good source, although the article has shrunk considerably from last year's entry:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x477725

A year later, and not even the names have been changed--because there are NO Innocents in this economy. Except the wage slaves, who are more to be pitied than censured.

Post the indictments here, and share whatever you may have for frivolity on labor. Try, anyway...

[Demeter]

1. The Official Government Story of Labor Day

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm



Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

[Demeter]

9. One of the Labor Reforms Was Taking Children Out of Manufacturing

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tY1gk6J6zc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBE7QO1NU-I&feature=related

[Demeter]

2. It is Unlikely that FDIC Will Close Any Banks Tonight

but check this spot for updates.

[Demeter]

43. The days of "open-bank" bailouts are over, FDIC's Bair says

The Dodd-Frank act prohibits U.S. regulators from assisting banks on an "open-bank basis," an intervention that fails to get rid of management and doesn't give debt haircuts, said Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair. "The statute specifically prohibits open assistance," she said. "Regulators have no authority to do bailouts anymore." CNNMoney.com/Fortune/Street Sweep blog (02 Sep.)

http://wallstreet.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/02/bair-promises-war-on-too-big-to-fail/

[Tansy_Gold]

58. At least in the US. Now we gotta bail out the banks in

Afghanistan.

:wtf:

[Demeter]

64. That WAS an Incredible Bit of Chutzpah

I can't believe nobody's called anybody on that.

We ought to just pull out and let the animal instincts take over--maybe with a Lysistrata airlift for the women of Afghanistan....

[Karenina]

83. Come Unto Me...

Try as I did I could not find a video of Take 6's studio version of this song. The arrangement is so compelling it overcomes my X-tian aversion. The music really transports those most human desires to be loved, embraced and protected. These guys did a decent cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Sy-PC3kNU

[Demeter]

63. Nope, It Was a Banker's Holiday Weekend

[Demeter]

76. Problem bank list climbs to 829

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/31/news/companies/fdic_problem_bank_list/

The government's list of troubled banks hit its highest level since 1993 during the second quarter, although the pace of growth continued to slow, according to a government report released Tuesday.

The number of banks at risk of failing rose by 53 to 829, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in its quarterly survey of the nation's banking system. That increase marks the smallest rise since the first quarter of 2009.

However, it's still nearly double the 416 banks that were on the FDIC's watch list a year ago and is up from 775 in the first quarter of this year...

[Demeter]

97. More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38986777

[Demeter]

102. $12.8 Trillion : The True Cost Of The Bank Bailout

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26299.htm

VIDEO AT LINK

[Demeter]

3. SMILE! YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA!

What gives on the national scene? You read it here, first!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYRcCa-ddOo&feature=related

or John Denver's version:

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

[Demeter]

4. Outsourcers warn US producing too few engineers

US universities are producing too few engineers to meet industry demand, Indian outsourcing companies say, leaving such businesses little choice but to hire foreign skilled workers to fill jobs in America.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/D43UEB/204L2/ZBXNQJ/YHV9X4/N9/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

Too few to work at sweatshop wages, in any event...and to peak out after 5 years, and be laid off at 40 as "obsolete".

US engineers were always adamant about NOT unionizing--that was for the technicians--trade school grads.

So Big Business started calling the technicians "engineers"....and the rest is history. No security, no career, and no unions!

[Demeter]

5. Executive pay law ‘nightmare’ on Wall St

US companies face a “logistical nightmare” from a new rule forcing them to disclose the ratio between their chief executive’s pay package and that of the typical employee, lawyers have warned.

The mandatory disclosure will provide ammunition for activists seeking to target perceived examples of excessive pay and perks. The law taps into public anger at the increasing disparity between the faltering incomes of middle America and the largely recession-proof multimillion-dollar remuneration of the typical corporate chief.


Read more >>

http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/A7RQ5L/ULCJB/9ZRTUM/C5ELHT/9A/t?a1=2010&a2=8&a3=30

QUICK! A VINAIGRETTE!

[Demeter]

6. US housing woes compound labour concerns

Concerns that the depressed US housing sector will remain a drag on the US labour market have mounted following the loss of nearly 120,000 jobs in construction and related businesses in the last three months for which statistics were available.

According to Financial Times analysis, the decline in housing-related employment was the biggest weight on private sector job creation as it slowed to an average of 51,000 jobs a month during the May-July period from 153,000 a month in February-April.

Read more >>

http://link.ft.com/r/J0VG55/ZBW7HA/RP6QL/26YFIS/6VWFNH/1G/t?a1=2010&a2=8&a3=30

[Demeter]

10. Unemployment Edges Up to 9.6 Percent as Weak Job Growth Continues

http://www.truth-out.org/dean-baker-unemployment-edges-96-percent-weak-job-growth-continues62931

The unemployment rate edged up to 9.6 percent in August as the economy shed 54,000 jobs. The decline was entirely attributable to the loss of 114,000 temporary Census jobs. Excluding these jobs, the economy created 60,000 jobs. With job growth for the prior two months revised up by 123,000, excluding the Census jobs, the August pace is roughly even with June and July.

The largest increases in unemployment were among African Americans who saw their overall rate rise 0.8 percentage points to 16.3 percent, near the recession peak. The unemployment rate for black teens jumped 4.8 percentage points to 45.4 percent. Unemployment for Hispanics edged down to 12.0 percent, a full percentage point below its year-ago level....

[Demeter]

66. Why Stock Market Rallies Aren't Worth the Hype

What happened to the “Recovery Summer,” workers and non-workers alike want to know. We all remember when Vice President Joe Biden, like an idiot savant minus the savant, predicted the economy would begin adding 250,000 to 500,000 new jobs a month in the near future. This is the same fellow who urged America to pass a $787 billion dollar stimulus program – later upwardly revised to $864 billion – or suffer unemployment rising above 8%...


Read more: http://dailyreckoning.com/why-stock-market-rallies-arent-worth-the-hype/#ixzz0yYkCOQgw

[Demeter]

82. Despite hiring, US unemployment rate seems frozen

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Despite-hiring-US-apf-780694354.html?x=0

[Demeter]

12. Burger King approves 3G Capital’s bid

The board of Burger King has agreed for the Miami-based fast-food chain to be taken private for the second time in its history, after accepting a $3.25bn bid from 3G Capital

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/DHGUVV/EWPBDN/LSLXF/RN29VY/9ZDBNY/YT/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

BECAUSE IT WORKED SO WELL LAST TIME--FOR THE BANKSTERS


NYT VERSION:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/global/03burger.html?src=busln

[Demeter]

18. Bernanke regrets reticence on Lehman

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, expressed regret for not being ‘more straightforward’ with Congress in 2008 when he avoided saying that the central bank had no means to save Lehman Brothers

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/TPA4XB/NRHD3/OJ0IZB/BMI81Q/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

20. Fuld criticises Fed for letting Lehman fail

Dick Fuld, the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers, squared off against Federal Reserve officials and his former peers on Thursday as he argued that his investment bank could and should have been saved


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/KEB6VT/GYN7Q/WL5RAF/YHVSTH/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=2

[Demeter]

36. Government regulators slow to act on triggers of crisis, Bernanke says

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090205552.html

Regulators fell short in using their powers "forcefully or effectively" to stop risky practices by banks and were slow to identify and address abuses in the U.S. financial system that led to global economic crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told a panel investigating the financial crisis on Thursday...

[Demeter]

37. Bernanke Says He Failed to See Financial Flaws

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/03commission.html?_r=2

Ben S. Bernanke, who told Congress in 2007 that the subprime mortgage crisis was “likely to be contained,” said Thursday that he had failed to recognize flaws in the financial system that amplified the housing downturn and led to an economic disaster.

[Demeter]

38. Bernanke Defends Record on Lehman

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467392170628602.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a panel examining the U.S. financial crisis that he had no options to prevent Lehman Brothers' failure in September 2008 even though he knew its downfall would be "catastrophic" to the financial system and economy...

[Demeter]

39. Bernanke Says He Wasn't `Straightforward' on Lehman

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-02/bernanke-regrets-not-being-straightforward-on-myth-of-fed-saving-lehman.html

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he regretted not saying in congressional testimony shortly after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 that the central bank had no authority to save the firm...


WHAT'S ON THE LABOR DAY BBQ MENU?

GRILLED BERNANKE!!!

[Demeter]

47. Bear Stearns Help Was `Original Sin,' Wallison Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-01/bear-stearns-s-rescue-marked-original-sin-crisis-panel-s-wallison-says.html

Bear Stearns Cos.’s rescue by JPMorgan Chase & Co., facilitated with government guarantees, was the “original sin” made by regulators in 2008 because it signaled that other firms would get aid, said Peter Wallison of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

“Participants in the market thought that all large firms, at least larger than Bear Stearns, would be rescued,” Wallison said today at a hearing of the panel in Washington. “Companies probably didn’t believe they had to raise as much capital as they might have needed because the government would ultimately rescue them, and fewer creditors were going to be worried about their capitalization.”

The FCIC is reviewing regulators’ decisions in 2008 to aid firms such as insurer American International Group Inc. while allowing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to fail. The Treasury Department committed as much as $700 billion to bolster companies through the Troubled Asset Relief Program...

[Tansy_Gold]

59. Liar.

[Demeter]

65. That Goes Without Saying

Why couldn't they have done this BEFORE he was reappointed?

[Demeter]

67. Fed Vows to Maintain Public Financial Health By Bill Bonner

The US financial system is still holding hundreds of billions worth of mortgage debt that isn’t going to be repaid. Who’s going to take those losses?

The feds have already made it clear – it won’t be the big banks. They extended cash and credit to the banks and pretended everything was okay. The Fed itself bought up much of the big banks’ bad mortgage debt already; it holds it in its vault and calls it an “asset.” And the US government nationalized the biggest, most reckless and irresponsible lenders – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So now the taxpayer takes the losses – even if he never bought a house…and never invested a penny in the housing industry.

And we’re only talking about the domestic housing market – not about commercial loans. All together, the problem is still huge…and still there…

…and if housing prices fall – almost certain to happen as this “shadow inventory” hits the market – one out of every three mortgaged houses is likely to sink underwater, with millions of new defaults, foreclosures and distressed sales.

Extend…and pretend…and maybe the problem will go away. Or maybe the situation will become so confused that nobody knows whom to blame or what to think!

Ben Bernanke is hoping for the former and counting on the latter. He answered questions in Congress yesterday. At least one of the politicians wanted to know: “If you’re so smart how come you told us that the subprime crisis would be ‘contained.’ How come you didn’t seem to have any idea what was happening or what to do about it?”


Read more: Fed Vows to Maintain Public Financial Health http://dailyreckoning.com/fed-vows-to-maintain-public-financial-health/#ixzz0yYlJh1dN

[Demeter]

68. Bernanke to World: We’re Going to Fiddle While Rome Burns By Bill Baker

http://dailyreckoning.com/bernanke-to-world-were-going-to-fiddle-while-rome-burns/

In Jackson Hole, Wyoming today Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the risk of an “undesirable rise in inflation or of significant further disinflation seems low.” Yup, can’t argue with that.

If you are operating a bank, and you had lost your depositors’ funds by making bad real estate loans, normally you would be sweating bullets by now, or among the 14.6 million pounding the pavement looking for work. But you need not worry. You got $1.3 trillion of reserves to tide you over while your bad loans continue to deteriorate.

Uncle Ben bailed you out, and he even gave you the money to pay back your other uncle, Sam. Now that you got rid of the TARP, you can go back to paying out big bonuses, even if they are on profits facilitated by the easing of accounting rules.

So why is the spotlight on Ben now? Some employment, consumer confidence, and even national income data have weakened a little. But mainly the stock market has everyone a little scared. Big bank stocks have acted like a canary in the coal mine, failing to do much since a year ago...


Read more: Bernanke to World: We're Going to Fiddle While Rome Burns http://dailyreckoning.com/bernanke-to-world-were-going-to-fiddle-while-rome-burns/#ixzz0yYtCSFrg

[Demeter]

81. Fed's Bernanke doesn't know if big banks will get reined in

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2010-09-02-bernanke-financial-crisis_N.htm

..."I don't know," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday told a panel investigating the causes of the financial crisis. "Over the long run, you have to take into account the political influence of these large institutions ... that's an issue."

"We'll find out," said Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "The tools are there. The regulators have to use them."

...Two years ago, policymakers lacked clear authority to rescue failing non-bank financial firms or an orderly way to put them out of business.

But a sweeping financial regulatory overhaul, signed into law in July, requires big financial firms to write "living wills" detailing how they should be shut down and gives regulators power to liquidate or break up firms that pose a risk to the health of the financial system.

Now the FDIC and other regulatory agencies must write the rules to put the law into effect.

"The stakes are high," Bair said in her written testimony. "If we fail to create effective frameworks now ... we will have forfeited this historic chance to put our financial system on a sounder and safer path."

Bair said the FDIC has begun the work with a sense of "urgency." The law, for instance, gives the agency 18 months to write rules spelling out how financial firms must write their living wills. She hopes to be done within months: "The important thing is to get the rules out"...

[Demeter]

19. Wall St backs Dinallo for NY attorney-general

Wall Street is backing the right-hand man of Elliot Spitzer, its previous scourge, in the race for one of the most powerful financial law enforcement jobs in the US, the New York attorney-general, according to new analysis of campaign contributions


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/TPA4XB/NRHD3/OJ0IZB/C5E6LW/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

21. GM sales dip casts shadow over IPO

General Motors’ sales in its core US market sagged in August, potentially complicating its bid to drum up investor support for its forthcoming public share issue


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/KEB6VT/GYN7Q/WL5RAF/3OMN8G/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=2

[Demeter]

28. US bank profits return to pre-crisis levels

US banks’ profits rebounded to pre-crisis levels in the second quarter despite the continued struggles of small lenders, as falling loan losses enabled large institutions to reduce provisions and boost income, the latest official data show


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/RNV2UI/B49CK/40EU6L/8AKUO2/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1


WELL, ISN'T THAT SPECIAL!!

[Demeter]

29. Exelon to buy Deere’s wind power unit

Exelon, the US’s biggest nuclear generator, has announced it will buy John Deere Renewables for as much as $900m to gain a foothold in the wind power industry


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/RNV2UI/B49CK/40EU6L/HDRO5N/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

[Demeter]

40. President mulls new measures to spark economy

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/02/obama.economy/#fbid=eVcnyzUQgn4&wom=true

THINK WE COULD FIND A GOOD USED COPY OF A BOOK ON FDR'S NEW DEAL? AND MAIL IT TO 1600 PENNSYLVANIA?

[Demeter]

41. White House considering emergency economic stimuli

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41727.html

SURE THEY ARE--AS LONG AS IT INVOLVES NO HOPE OR CHANGE OR MONEY...

[Demeter]

42. White House considers pre-midterm package of business tax breaks to spur hiring

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090204235.html?hpid=topnews

O MAN, TURN BACK, FORSWEAR THY FOOLISH WAYS!

[Demeter]

44. IMF ponders the improbable: Will U.S. default?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/09/imf_ponders_the_improbable_wil.html

[Demeter]

45. IMF seeks to soothe market's sovereign default fears

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/imf-seeks-to-ease-fears-of-debt-default-2010-09-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp

[Demeter]

46. Analysis: Romer pulls no punches and calls for more stimulus

Economist Christina Romer, outgoing chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in her final speech as a part of the Obama administration that the economic recovery needs to be supported by tax cuts and increased government spending. "While we would all love to find the inexpensive magic bullet to our economic troubles, the truth is, it almost surely doesn't exist," she said. That means the U.S. economy is on a dangerous path, according to The Economist. With a possible exception of a payroll-tax cut, there is little chance Congress will adopt additional stimulus this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0110636320100901

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-01/rohmer-urges-congress-to-help-boost-economy-amid-talks-on-additional-steps.html

[Demeter]

51. Mortgages Lose Ground in Best Month for Bonds Since 2008: Credit Markets

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-31/mortgage-bonds-lose-ground-as-homeowners-grab-lower-rates-credit-markets.html

Government-backed U.S. mortgage bonds underperformed Treasuries in August by the most since November 2008 amid concern federal intervention will spark a refinancing wave that reduces the value of the securities.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae bonds tied to home loans returned 34 basis points, or 0.34 percentage point, less than U.S. debt last month, Barclays Capital indexes show. Fannie Mae’s 6.5 percent bonds maturing in about 24 years fell 0.75 cent last month to 108.9 cents on the dollar as 4.5 percent Treasury bonds maturing in 2036 gained 8.9 cents to 118.34 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

President Barack Obama’s administration responded to July’s record decline in U.S. home sales by highlighting the Federal Housing Administration’s refinancing program. Homeowners swapping into new loans, with the lowest mortgage rates in 39 years, would punish bond investors who bought securities pegged to loans with higher interest rates...

[Demeter]

84. Mortgage rates hit decades-low of 4.32 percent

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mortgage-rates-hit-decadeslow-apf-2452651798.html?x=0

[Demeter]

52. Older Work Force Has an Ugly Wrinkle

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465773596037574.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Summertime, and the living is easy…for many, too easy. This July was the worst on record for youth employment: Less than half of all 16- to 24-year-olds had a job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Add in those who were looking for a job and the overall labor-force participation rate, at 60.5%, was also the worst for any July since 1948.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, more than 40% of over-55s have work or are looking for it, the highest share since JFK was in office.

The graying of America's work force is a fact of (longer) life. But it is amplified by changing work habits among different age groups.

In the last economic upswing, lasting six years starting in November 2001, a net 10.4 million jobs were created. Almost one in seven were for workers 55 or older. In the period since November 2007, when the latest recession began, 7.4 million jobs have disappeared. For over-55s, though, a net 1.8 million jobs have been added in that time....

[Demeter]

53. Young Firms, Not Small Ones, Are the Engines of Job Growth

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/young-firms-not-new-ones-are-the-engines-of-job-growth/?src=busln

A new paper, by John C. Haltiwanger, Ron S. Jarmin and Javier Miranda, challenges this view, arguing instead that start-ups and other young firms are the disproportionate source of new jobs. From the abstract:

Using data from the Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics and Longitudinal Business Database, we explore the many issues regarding the role of firm size and growth that have been at the core of this ongoing debate (such as the role of regression to the mean). We find that the relationship between firm size and employment growth is sensitive to these issues. However, our main finding is that once we control for firm age there is no systematic relationship between firm size and growth. Our findings highlight the important role of business startups and young businesses in U.S. job creation. Business startups contribute substantially to both gross and net job creation. In addition, we find an “up or out” dynamic of young firms. These findings imply that it is critical to control for and understand the role of firm age in explaining U.S. job creation.

[Demeter]

54. Strong Exports Lift U.S. Agriculture Sector

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/business/economy/01exports.html?hp

Even as the broader economy falters amid signs of a weakening recovery, the nation’s agriculture sector is going strong, bolstered in part by a surge in exports, according to federal estimates of farm trade and income released on Tuesday.

The estimates confirm what economists have been saying for months: agriculture, which was generally not hit as hard by the recession as many other segments of the economy, remains a small bright spot going forward...

[Demeter]

55. Bidding wars, scrapped holidays herald M&A pickup

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6800GG20100901

August's unseasonable burst of dealmaking -- the busiest in over a decade -- could herald a wider rebound in M&A for the remainder of the year as low interest rates, record cash piles and low stock-market values encourage chief executives to strike deals.

Previously deal-starved bankers and lawyers canceled holiday plans and worked through vacations in August, as companies had the gusto to launch hostile bids or fight over target companies.

Announced deals and offers during the typically slow month of August surged to $262 billion worldwide, according to Thomson Reuters data.

It is the highest value of deals and offers announced during an August since 1999 when the value reached $275 billion. Still, by number of deals, it ranks lower than last August...

[Demeter]

57. Housing quagmire: Is it time to remove relief?

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/31/real_estate/federal_housing_programs.fortune/

WHAT RELIEF?

[Po_d Mainiac]

133. Someone gets it

So why try to prop up prices any longer with federal programs? Is it time to simply let prices freefall, clearing the way for a genuine correction of the real estate market?
Exactly!

The following statement is the best approach by far.

Baker's solution: Let the market dictate where prices should fall. As for the many homeowners who would likely face foreclosure, give them the option to stay in their homes by letting them rent their homes for up to five years - a proposal similar to one introduced by Raul Grijalva, a Democratic congressman from Arizona.

[Demeter]

135. I am inclined to agree

But where is the pound of flesh for the modern Shylocks? What do you mean, can't get blood from a stone? And then, without a job, how can that even be a solution for the hapless soon-to-be ex-homeowner?

It's more reasonable to tell the banks that they have been paid in full for all outstanding mortgages...and burn all the paper. If any fool then tries to take out a mortgage on a free and clear property...on his head be it. But they better be honest, credit-worthy mortgages of the old style...

[Tansy_Gold]

136. I think there's a tendency to consider all of this as a transaction

between the bank/mortgage company and the homeowner, while forgetting that there is a third party involved, and that's the seller. The seller may have been every bit as "guilty" in jacking the prices up as the mortgage company was in making false promises regarding the loan, but no one is screaming to get the profits back from the sellers.

I'm reading about a lot of people who bought at the top of the market -- roughly, 2006 -- and are now facing mortgages that are twice what the market value of the house is. As they contemplate walking away from the mortgage and leaving the bank holding the debt, as if the bank is somehow solely responsible, everyone seems to be forgetting that the bank GAVE THAT MONEY to someone else, and no one is asking for clawbacks on the purchase price.

When I sold my house in March 2006 for $340,000, I was absolutely flabbergasted at the price. Built in 1988 for $87,000, it should by rights have been worth maybe $120,000, or $150,000 tops. But $340,000??? No way! I thought the real estate agent was nuts when she told me that. But it sold in five days for the full price, which I pocketed and then turned around and spent it all on another place. Pretty much an even-steven trade, and the house I'm in now has dropped in market value to about $130,000, less than half what I paid for it but just about what it's really worth.

So do I get to keep my filthy lucre (all of which was invested in the current place) but the developer who sold a $300,000 house for $600,000 in March 2006 to some poor schmuck who couldn't afford it and then lost his job and now lost the house, should that developer be forced to disgorge his profits? Why should he walk away free as a bird while the taxpayers bail out the banks?

That's why I agree that it's necessary, absolutely essential, to let the market find its level, let the chips fall where they may, let the homeowners be foreclosed and the banks go bankrupt. If the banks are faced with the real risk of losing everything instead of being bailed out all the time, they'll figure out a way to make a deal. But as long as they're protected, they don't have to do a damn thing.


TG, NTY

[Demeter]

7. NOT SO INNOCENTS ABROAD--EUROPA

[Demeter]

8. Cold war base to be private ‘Top Gun’ school

Iceland’s Keflavik airbase, a bulwark of western security during the cold war, would be home to two squadrons of Russian-made fighter jets under plans being considered by Reykjavik.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/G8OTZZ/V17CFJ/LSLXF/V1MIZF/GKJG8K/YT/t?a1=2010&a2=8&a3=30

TWIST THE KNIFE, ICELAND.

[Demeter]

11. HSBC in clearest warning over relocation

Warning given over British banks moving their headquarters abroad if UK government-appointed Commission on Banking were to decide that big groups should be broken up

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/DHGUVV/EWPBDN/LSLXF/RN29VY/QFHKAT/YT/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

22. Supertax on bankers failed, says Darling

The former chancellor admitted that Britain’s levy on bonuses had failed to change banking behaviour over pay, as ‘imaginative’ financiers devised ways to avoid it

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/KEB6VT/GYN7Q/WL5RAF/EW965A/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=2

[Tansy_Gold]

137. Hoocoodanode??? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

:sarcasm: just in case.






TG, NTY

[Demeter]

13. Norway keen to exploit carbon capture lead

The Sleipner platform is something of a holy site for believers in carbon capture and storage, a promising but controversial technology in the fight against climate change

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/J0VG55/NS6A3K/Q38E1/JIBW8G/3OMPQQ/9A/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

14. Fears grow over global food supply

Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/TPA4XB/NRHD3/OJ0IZB/9ZDBP4/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3


REUTERS VERSION

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6814KD20100902

UK TELEGRAPH

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7978954/Global-food-shortage-fears-as-Russia-extends-wheat-ban.html

[Demeter]

32. Russia plans tariff rise on car imports

Vladimir Putin plans to raise car tariffs to encourage foreign carmakers to invest in Russian production, but the move deals a blow to the country’s WTO membership bid


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/QFC630/HI3M9/KEGADQ/YHVI80/YT/t?a1=2010&a2=8&a3=31

[Demeter]

17. ECB rules out double dip

The European Central Bank forecast that the eurozone would expand this year and in 2011 much more strongly than previously expected, ruling out a double dip back into recession


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/TPA4XB/NRHD3/OJ0IZB/PRTXZ3/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

23. Greece debt default seen as ‘unlikely’

International Monetary Fund report foresees gradual adjustment and contradicts consensus view that restructuring is inevitable

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/GK1HE4/SUO9T/72SGF9/ZB2SPY/HK/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=2

WELL, IT'S STILL EARLY DAYS YET--AND UNTIL EVERYBODY IS OUT OF DANGER, NOBODY IS OUT OF DANGER.

[Demeter]

25. Europe hopes bright spell will last

Led by Germany, performances of many of the continent’s main economies have improved noticeably in recent weeks, as shown in the ninth edition of the Financial Times’ economic weather map


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/9ZJJYJ/IEP5S/NSOWSM/GKJ6VB/UP/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

[Demeter]

34. EU Finance Ministers Face Tough Agenda This Fall

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467770592600194.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

When the ministers assemble for their first meeting Tuesday in Brussels, an unpleasant reality will be on the agenda: Despite €110 billion (about $140 billion) in promised loans to Greece and a €750 billion backstop for the whole euro zone, yields on the bonds of Europe's wobbliest countries have spent their vacation rising...

[Demeter]

15. CHINATOWN!

CHINESE COOLIE GOLD MINERS

[Demeter]

16. Foreign companies ‘losing out’ in China

Foreign companies are losing market share in China across a broad range of industries because of discriminatory treatment by the government and regulators, according to the European Chamber of Commerce in China


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/TPA4XB/NRHD3/OJ0IZB/WL09KC/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=3

[Demeter]

33. EU calls on China to open up markets

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0903/1224278126508.html

..China is now the EU’s second trading partner behind the US and the biggest source of imports, but chamber president Jacques de Boisseson expressed his group’s “frustration” with China’s stalled effort to open up market access and make laws and regulations more predictable...

[Demeter]

24. Chinese manufacturers report growth

Fears that the Chinese economy is running out of steam were calmed after survey data showed growth in factory activity accelerated in August, but results from other Asian economies were gloomier

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/9ZJJYJ/IEP5S/NSOWSM/LQP2M8/UP/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

[Demeter]

30. Taipei rejects proposed sale of AIG unit

Regulators said they would not give approval to a proposed sale of AIG’s Taiwan life insurance unit to a Hong Kong-based consortium for $2.15bn after months of protracted and uncertain negotiations


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/RNV2UI/B49CK/40EU6L/18ZSLC/KI/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

[Demeter]

35. Major Chinese banks' risky loans reportedly rising

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/major-chinese-banks-risky-loans-reportedly-rising-2010-09-02?siteid=rss#mod=BOL_hpp_BOL2MW

Four of China's five biggest banks reported increases in special-mention loans in the second quarter from the preceding quarter, offering fresh evidence of potentially high credit risk in the local banking system, the China Securities Journal reported Friday, citing its own statistics.

Special-mention loans refer to loans that have a potential weakness or pose an unwarranted financial risk that, if not corrected, could weaken the asset and lead to higher risks.

China's banks issued a record CNY9.6 trillion worth of loans last year, triggering concerns about a potential surge in lenders' bad-loans ratios to crippling levels last seen in the first half of this decade...

[Demeter]

26. THE SUBCONTINENT OF INDIA

CHILD LABOR IN INDIA

[Demeter]

27. Indian economy shows 8.8% growth

India’s economy grew a brisk 8.8 per cent from April to June, its fastest pace in two-and-a-half years, highlighting the strength of India’s economic recovery despite high inflation now acting as a drag on consumer spending


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/9ZJJYJ/IEP5S/NSOWSM/S3GWYX/UP/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=1

[Demeter]

31. India gives BlackBerry group more time

Research in Motion and India’s government avoided a standoff on Monday by agreeing to extend for two months talks over a demand to open all BlackBerry services to scrutiny by the country’s intelligence agencies


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/QFC630/HI3M9/KEGADQ/S3G41N/YT/t?a1=2010&a2=8&a3=31

[Demeter]

48. O CANADA!

[Demeter]

49. Canada May Need More Stimulus as Growth Slows, Opposition Lawmakers Say

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-01/canada-may-need-more-stimulus-as-growth-slows-opposition-lawmakers-say.html

Canada’s sagging economic recovery means Prime Minister Stephen Harper should ready an extension of stimulus measures, lawmakers from the three opposition parties said.

Canada’s economy grew at a less-than-expected 2 percent rate in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said yesterday, one third the pace of the previous quarter. Government spending was responsible for a quarter of the growth rate, its smallest contribution since 2008, the government agency said.

Slower growth comes less than a year after Harper’s stimulus measures powered Canada’s economy out of recession, and show efforts to support the economy are beginning to fade and drag down growth. Harper needs opposition support to pass legislation and stay in power because he leads a minority government...

[Demeter]

50. Slowdown hands Carney pause

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/slowdown-hands-carney-pause/article1691028/

Canada’s economy is slowing down sharply, ushering in a new phase of tepid growth that could last for years.

The 2-per-cent pace of expansion for the second quarter, reported Tuesday by Statistics Canada, gives the central bank more flexibility to hold off on interest rate increases in the months to come. The growth rate, which compares with a 5.8-per-cent clip in the previous three months, was slower than even the most pessimistic estimates, and reflects a widening gap between the country’s imports and its sales abroad, as well as slower spending by consumers and governments.

Canada is likely settling in for a long, underwhelming stretch, rather than taking a nosedive back into recession. The scenario policymakers and economists have been warning about for months is now playing out: households are rebuilding savings, companies are still investing cautiously, and governments are retrenching after showering their economies with billions in stimulus money to ward off a deeper slide.

The second-quarter growth figure was been slower than the Bank of Canada predicted it would be only weeks ago. As recently as April, the central bank’s forecast for second-quarter growth was 3.8 per cent. In late July, policy makers cut that estimate -- but only to 3 per cent...

[Tansy_Gold]

56. Happy Holiday!

Speaking of posting indictments --

I'm going to work on an "open letter" to Obama regarding the departure of Christine Romer and the devoutly-to-be-wished-for departures of Messrs. Geithner, Summers, Rubin, Bernanke, et alia. WEE will get the sneak previews.


TG, NTY

[ozymandius]

60. Oh, goodie!

I suggest "wallowing in their own excrement" for the opening paragraph for I have neither candor nor succor for those vile people.

[Scruffy1]

61. your idea is right but your history weak

President Cleveland actually gave us Labor Day as a sop to Labor after sending in the Federal troops to quash the American Railway Union strike against the Pullman company and putting Eugene Debs in prison.1894.
In Minneapolis we have a two large May Day parades. The one to Powderhorn Park has often over 50,000
participants.

[hamerfan]

62. K&R!

Thanks, Demeter.
:kick:
Happy Labor Day weekend to us all!

[Demeter]

69. Local Weather Report

With the landfall of hurricane Earl (such a Bubba name!) the heat and humidity has finally broken. May the humidity never return again this year! I was truly losing the will to live.

We had our first new-format Board meeting Wednesday. It was a smashing success. It is truly a pleasure to see 10 people working seamlessly and selflessly in a common cause...they even liked the new food! Maybe I should go to wrok on the Democrats, next...it would mean using party discipline and the threat of criminal prosecution to oust the evil, venal and criminal...

I have been thinking long and hard about something Tansy said about TPTB:

"We can't do anything about them, and they know it. They know they have power over us. They know we are here to do their bidding, to give them the blood out of our veins, the children out of our bodies. They know, and they delight in it. That's why they do things like what they are doing today and yesterday and the day before that and the day after tomorrow. They do it because they can, and because their perversity takes delight in our misery."

And I've been thinking about alternatives to the status quo.

I've concluded that a third party is the only recourse outside of blood in the streets--a party with a level of discipline and commitment to the nation and its people that we haven't seen in a long while, if ever.

I thought that the start of such would be THE TRICENTENNIAL COMMISSION, a website-organized national movement dedicated to the restoration of the original democratic goals of the nation, outside of the Manifest Destiny. The commission's goal would be to ensure that there still is an America in 2076 dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal, etc., and that Corporations are our servants, not our masters.

I see no reason why such a movement could not channel, educate, "purify" and incorporate those attracted to the Tea Party. They KNOW something is wrong, but they haven't the information, education, and skill to figure out what it is. Knowing something is wrong is the first step to a solution, but the Tea Party is currently engaged in mindless emotion without reason, lashing out at its fears instead of solving its problems.

The Commission would identify a problem, educate the entire voting population like mad, and work to elect and protect those implementing the solution. It would be result-oriented, not person-oriented. In a way, that is what propelled the Women's Movement successes. It is only when personalities overtook policies that the WM dissolved into squabbles and navel-gazing. And the tendency for a small vocal minority to hijack the program would have to be rigorously prevented. This is a level of discipline that humanity hasn't known since the powerful days of the Catholic Church...but our nation and probably the world depend upon it. Just muddling through isn't going to cut it, this time. We are going to have to grow our own FDRs on a regular basis.

[Po_d Mainiac]

70. TY Earl

Desperately needed H2O and he busted the heat wave...:bounce:

[Demeter]

71. Sadly, We Didn't Get Much Rain

But now that the pattern is broken, maybe we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming...

[DemReadingDU]

78. Heat wave is busted

Finally! This weather is gorgeous! Happy Labor Day Weekend!

[Roland99]

138. Back to hot 90s in central FL

Of course...the cooler weather goes away right when my gf's mom and brother arrive for a weekend of Disney fun. But, had fun despite the copious amount of perspiration :)

[Dr.Phool]

72. Kick!

For regularly scheduled programming!

[Demeter]

73. For Newark, it's come to this: Selling city buildings

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/08/for_newark_its_come_to_this_se.html

Newark is scrambling to plug a monstrous budget gap that threatens to force huge tax hikes, hundreds of layoffs, and deep cutbacks in a police department that has helped turned this city around during the last four years.

How desperate? The city is trying to sell off its buildings to win a cash windfall today, a move that will force it to make rent payments in years ahead. It’s like selling your house to grab the equity, and then renting it back from the new owner.

This is a sad state of affairs, and reflects serious missteps by both Mayor Cory Booker and the city council...

[Demeter]

74. Homelessness Up 50% In New York City

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/nyc/homelessness-up-in-new-york-city-20100830-lgf

If you think you've been seeing more people sleep on city streets, statistics back up the perception. The homeless population living on New York City streets has gone up 50 percent in the past year, according to city statistics reported by the HellsKitchenLife.com blog.

The New York City Department of Homeless Services conducts a yearly survey of the streets of the city to count the number of homeless who are not in shelters. The HOPE survey was conducted in January 2010.

The number of homeless in the borough of Manhattan was up 47 percent in the past year, according to the count. The 2010 count had 1,145 people living in the streets. That is up 368 from 2009.

Brooklyn had the biggest increase of any borough. It saw a homeless increase of more than 100 percent in 2010.

More than 1,000 people now live in New York City's subway system -- up 11 percent in the past year....

[Demeter]

75. 17 Percent of America in Anti-Poverty Programs

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/08/17-percent-of-america-in-anti-poverty-programs/62263/

One out of every six Americans are in government anti-poverty programs, according to USA TODAY. More than 50 million Americans are in Medicaid. Forty million receive food stamps and 10 million receive unemployment benefits.

The long and deep recession has increased federal assistance by about $200 billion a year....

[DemReadingDU]

77. Jim Puplava at Financial Sense interviews Stoneleigh

9/4/10 Jim Puplava at Financial Sense interviews Stoneleigh

Preparing For and Learning to Survive the Coming Perfect Storm

With: Nicole M Foss
With: Antony Froggatt PhD

Nicole Foss: Nicole M. Foss is co-editor of The Automatic Earth, where she writes under the name Stoneleigh. She and her writing partner have been chronicling and interpreting the on-going credit crunch as the most pressing aspect of our current multi-faceted predicament. The site integrates finance, energy, environment, psychology, population and real politik in order to explain why we find ourselves in a state of crisis and what we can do about it. Prior to the establishment of TAE, she was previously editor of The Oil Drum Canada, where she wrote on peak oil and finance.

Her academic qualifications include a BSc in biology from Carleton University in Canada (where she focused primarily on neuroscience and psychology), a post-graduate diploma in air and water pollution control, the common professional examination in law and an LLM in international law in development from the University of Warwick in the UK. She was granted the University Medal for the top science graduate in 1988 and the law school prize for the top law school graduate in 1997.

On this week’s Financial Sense Newshour, Nicole lays out her ominous thesis of a coming deflationary depression, made worse by peak oil. Nicole believes that the depression will cause demand for energy to go down, creating further energy shortages and less and less economic growth.

Dr. Antony Froggatt: Antony Froggatt is a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House. He has worked on international energy and climate issues for over 20 years providing research and information for a wide range of bodies including companies, governments, the media, non-government organizations and international organizations and has published over 50 reports and papers.

On this week’s Financial Sense Newshour, Dr. Froggatt discusses his latest research white paper, “Sustainable Energy Security” with Jim Puplava. Dr. Froggatt makes the assertion that businesses which prepare for and take advantage of the new energy reality will prosper, but failure to do so could be catastrophic. He also mentions that the world is heading towards a global oil supply crunch and price spike.

Click this link for the download to the audio
http://www.financialsense.com/financial-sense-newshour/big-picture/2010/09/04/02/nicole-foss-jack-spirko/preparing-%2526-learning-to-survive-coming-perfect-storm


Click 'TAE' for a transcript of this audio
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-4-2010-jim-puplava-interviews.html

[Demeter]

79. In the Vein of the Tricentennial Commission...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9078830

[Demeter]

80. Construction Spending in U.S. Fell Twice as Much as Forecast

http://mikechamberslive.com/?p=9727

...The 1 percent drop brought spending to $805.2 billion, the lowest level in a decade, after a revised 0.8 percent drop in June that wiped out a previously estimated gain, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Spending on federal government projects fell by the most in a year...Construction spending was down 11 percent in the year ended in July...

[DemReadingDU]

85. All You Need To Know About Genus: Faticus, Species: Caticus (Order And Family: Wall Street)

:)

"Welcome to Wall Street Executive Air flight 2009 with service to Economic Disaster." All you need to know about the endangered species of Wall Street Faticus Caticus, and why it is about to cannibalize itself into oblivion, in a simple cartoon even Saturday night drunks can comprehend.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/all-you-need-know-about-genus-faticus-species-caticus-order-and-family-wall-street

or direct link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUosjHiiHTQ&feature=player_embedded

[DemReadingDU]

86. Interactive charts: Job losses by labor sector, gender and race

Two charts
1. Job losses by labor sector
2. Job losses by gender and race

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575470001733933356.html?mod=e2tw


comments
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/visualizing-many-winners-and-few-losers-among-76-million-job-losses-start-recession

[DemReadingDU]

87. Artist's Rendering Of A Typical SEC Desktop

click ZeroHedge link for large picture
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/artists-rendering-typical-sec-desktop

[DemReadingDU]

88. Artist's Rendering Of Larry Summers' LinkedIn Profile

click link from ZeroHedge for larger picture
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/artists-rendering-larry-summers-linkedin-profile

[Demeter]

89. In Search of a Bedbug Solution

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/opinion/05sun3.html

bedbugs proliferate once again in New York City and other major urban areas...
after virtually disappearing from this country for decades, bedbugs may have been brought back by travelers from abroad. The bugs are showing up in all sorts of places — not just where people sleep, like hotels and residential units, but also in the occasional movie house or clothing store. A survey last year by the New York City health department found that 6.7 percent of adult New Yorkers — some 400,000 people — reported a problem with bedbugs that required an exterminator in the previous 12 months.

There are few sure-fire ways to turn the tide. Even the original magic bullet, DDT, would misfire if brought back today because bedbugs long ago became resistant to it on a large scale. Critics who blame environmentalists for disarming us against bedbugs might better blame the inevitable development of resistance, hastened by overuse of chemicals...Some pest controllers are placing their hopes on resuscitating propoxur, a highly toxic chemical that was phased out of indoor uses because it could cause nervous-system damage in children. Ohio and Kentucky have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to allow professional exterminators to use it indoors, and other states may follow suit. The requests are based in part on laboratory tests by a Kentucky entomologist on small groups of bedbugs. Some of today’s leading pesticides could not kill even half of the bugs, while propoxur wiped them all out in two hours. The E.P.A. is studying whether there might be limited situations — a nursing home with no children present — where it could be used.

Propoxur would probably kill better than current pesticides, but nobody expects it could be an all-purpose solution the way DDT once was. Pesticides need to be supplemented with non-chemical options, like heat or steam treatments, vacuuming, tossing infested sheets or clothes into a hot washer or dryer, encasing mattresses to entomb the bugs, and sealing crevices. It is hard to know whether these tactics will be enough to reverse the rapid rise of infestations.

Bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases, and their bite is almost never felt. But the bite triggers an allergic reaction — mostly itchy bumps or welts and, in rare cases, fatal shock. The primary damage, besides the potentially high cost of extermination, is emotional and psychological. Government and industry need to expedite the search for better solutions. The public’s tolerance for bedbugs is near zero.

MY NEIGHBOR TRAVELLED CROSS-COUNTRY THIS SUMMER, FRETTING OVER THE POSSIBILITY THAT SHE WOULD PICK UP BEDBUGS ALONG THE WAY...WHILE WE HAD AN INFESTATION IN ONE BUILDING HERE, WHICH WAS TREATED SUCCESSFULLY, TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE. THE HYSTERIA WOULD BE COMICAL, IF IT WEREN'T SO INTENSE.

[bread_and_roses]

90. I've been meaning to post a whole volumn of articles....

...but somehow, after I read about the food riots in Africa, I just lost heart. I did post two of them in your other thread - most everything I've been reading is on Commondreams.org

David Michael Green, Matthew Rothschild, Les Leopold, Lakoff, Pilger, and Walden Bello, just for starters. They can all be linked from here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views_articles

[bread_and_roses]

91. Well what do you know...DMG on the front page - 78 Rs

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9078708

Of course, it does read as if many of those posting have not read the whole article, only the bit posted, but some clearly have. And here I thought he was deemed "not productive." I have to work today, have a good Labor Day everyone. I'll drop in this eve.

[Demeter]

92. Obama to propose permanent research tax credit

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67O4WF20100905

The proposal would cost $100 billion over 10 years, and Obama would pay for the plan by closing other corporate tax breaks, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration is scrambling for solutions to tackle a 9.6 percent unemployment rate and invigorate an economy whose recovery from the worst recession in 70 years is in danger of stalling, with congressional elections looming.

Obama, who is to lay out this plan and other initiatives in a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday, is trying to both create jobs and help his Democrats hang on to control of Congress in November 2 elections, when Republicans are poised to pick up seats and possibly take command of the House of Representatives...

[Demeter]

93. Housing Woes Bring New Cry: Let Market Fall

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/business/economy/06housing.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

The unexpectedly deep plunge in home sales this summer is likely to force the Obama administration to choose between future homeowners and current ones, a predicament officials had been eager to avoid.

Over the last 18 months, the administration has rolled out just about every program it could think of to prop up the ailing housing market, using tax credits, mortgage modification programs, low interest rates, government-backed loans and other assistance intended to keep values up and delinquent borrowers out of foreclosure. The goal was to stabilize the market until a resurgent economy created new households that demanded places to live.

As the economy again sputters and potential buyers flee — July housing sales sank 26 percent from July 2009 — there is a growing sense of exhaustion with government intervention. Some economists and analysts are now urging a dose of shock therapy that would greatly shift the benefits to future homeowners: Let the housing market crash.

When prices are lower, these experts argue, buyers will pour in, creating the elusive stability the government has spent billions upon billions trying to achieve....

THIS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH STUPIDITY. WITHOUT GOOD JOBS, THERE IS NO ECONOMY. AND THEREFORE, NO HOUSING MARKET.

GET A CLUE, MR. WASHINGTON, DC!

[Demeter]

96. Sellers Cut Prices on 50% of Homes

http://www.housingwatch.com/2010/09/03/sellers-cut-prices-on-50-of-homes/

...Seven cities saw price reductions on more than half of their inventory, with Jacksonville, Phoenix and Minneapolis on top with 55 percent, 54.4 percent and 52.4 percent, respectively....

[Demeter]

110. Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05house.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=business&adxnnlx=1283773720-TuGKWr862i3G3dM1pkDPUQ

Earlier this year, Florida earmarked $9.6 million to set up foreclosures-only courts across the state, staffed by retired judges. The goal of the program, which began in July, is to reduce the foreclosures backlog by 62 percent within a year.

No one disputes that foreclosures dominate Florida’s dockets and that something needs to be done to streamline a complex and emotionally wrenching process. But lawyers representing troubled borrowers contend that many of the retired judges called in from the sidelines to oversee these matters are so focused on cutting the caseload that they are unfairly favoring financial institutions at the expense of homeowners.

Lawyers say judges are simply ignoring problematic or contradictory evidence and awarding the right to foreclose to institutions that have yet to prove they own the properties in question.

“Now you show up and you get whatever judge is on the schedule and they have not looked at the file — they don’t even look at the motions,” says April Charney, a lawyer who represents imperiled borrowers at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. “You get a five-minute hearing. It’s a factory.”

........................................

Doctored or dubious records presented in court as proof of a bank’s ownership have become such a problem that Bill McCollum, the Florida attorney general, announced last month that his office was investigating the state’s three largest foreclosure law firms representing lenders.

“Thousands of final judgments of foreclosure against Florida homeowners may have been the result of the allegedly improper actions of these law firms,” said Mr. McCollum in an interview. “We’ve had so many complaints that I am confident there is a great deal of fraud here.”

To be sure, adjudicating foreclosure cases is difficult, complicated by multiple transfers of mortgages and notes when a loan is sold, bewildering paperwork submitted by loan servicers and shoddy record-keeping by the many institutions that touched the mortgages during the byzantine securitization process that fueled the housing boom.

Nevertheless, Florida law requires that before a financial institution can foreclose on a borrower, it must prove to the court that it actually has the standing to do so. In other words, it has to show that it is truly the owner. And this is done by demonstrating ownership of the note underlying the mortgage....MUCH MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

94. Exit from eurozone is Greece's worst option, says Jean-Claude Trichet

THEN IF I WERE GREECE, I WOULD RUN, NOT WALK, FOR THE NEAREST EXIT...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/05/debt-crisis-europeanbanks

[Demeter]

95. Summer jobs hit all-time low for youths

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-09-03-youth-unemployment_N.htm

Only 47.6% of people ages 16 to 24 had jobs in August, the lowest level since the government began keeping track in 1948, the Labor Department said Friday. By comparison, 62.8% of that age group was employed in August 2000.

[Demeter]

98. Rahm Emanuel's 'F--k The UAW': White House Pushes Back On Account In Rattner Book, UAW Prez Responds

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/03/rahm-emanuels-fuck-the-ua_n_704809.html

SOMEBODY'S STARTING TO READ THE POLLS...OR THEIR EMAIL!

[Demeter]

99. Drowning in Debt: US Students Helpless to Pay Off Education

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26303.htm

A ticking time bomb of American debt. Over $830 billion are owed by college students in the US with $3 thousand more added on every second.

The most traditional financial baggage for Americans was credit card debt. For the first time, debt belonging to college students has over taken that number one spot. "Students graduating in 2008, 2009 and 2010 are facing the worst job markets in a generation at least. And so you have people with more debt that we have ever seen before, who are having a harder time finding any job, let alone a job that pays them enough to somehow pay off all this debt."

VIDEO AT LINK

[Tansy_Gold]

140. $1200/month. . . . and counting

A friend's grandson graduated last year -- May 2009 -- from a large public university in a midwestern state. Although he wanted to major in history, he instead sensibly (?) opted for secondary education in business. His intention was to teach for a few years while working toward his MBA. He was fortunate enough to land a teaching job and got into grad school, but after a year of full-time teaching and part-time studying (with a substantial commute since his work place is some distance from his grad school), he's totally worn out. But, he says, he can't give up either his job or his education.

He gets a deferral on repaying his loans as long as he stays in school, and right now he can't even begin to afford to pay off the loans on a teacher's salary so deferral is the only option. However, teaching is the ONLY job available, and each year he teaches gives some forgiveness of the loans.

On the other hand, the only way he can afford to continue his education is to take out more loans. Although he's eligible to borrow enough to live on if he should quit teaching and go to school full time, with no guarantee of a job, adding to his already horrendous loan balance would be catastrophic. As he wrote to his grandmother last week, anticipating the start of his second year teaching, his current loan balance would require a repayment of $1200/month and he's only taking home about $2500 teaching.

And he's one of the lucky ones.



TG, NTY

[Demeter]

141. Jesus

Fortunately, my daughter refuses to take out any loans...and my father has so far paid her way...

[Tansy_Gold]

142. It's nice if they can avoid it, but it's becoming more and more difficult

Here's an example --

Michigan State -- tuition and fees, room & board = $20K/year

University of Illinois -- tuition and fees, room & board = $31K/year

University of California, Santa Cruz -- $30K/year

Arizona State University -- $22K/year


Taken from the various schools' websites.

Scholarships and tuition waivers and work-study and campus jobs can help, but a college education is financially out of reach of many, if not most, families these days, without the predatory assistance of loans. And people wonder why software engineers from India are willing/able to work for $20K less per year than an American-educated one? Or why this country is simply running out of engineers?

This enrages me.



TG, NTY

[Demeter]

100. Richest Lawmakers Grew Wealthier as Economy Faltered

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26300.htm

The rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a sluggish-at-best economic recovery -- but the wealthiest members of Congress are in high cotton. Indeed, the top 50 wealthiest lawmakers saw their combined net worths increase last year, according to the Hill's annual analysis of financial disclosure documents.

Combined, the 50 lawmakers were worth $1.4 billion in 2009 -- an $85.1 million increase over their 2008 total -- the Hill reports. The members' total combined assets depreciated by nearly $36 million last year -- but Congress' well-to-do set also reduced their debts by a combined $120 million.

The list of 50 lawmakers spans both parties (27 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and both chambers of Congress (30 House members, 20 senators), the Hill reports.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts topped the list for the second year in a row; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made his debut in the top 10.

Here are profiles for the 10 most flush Hill power-and-money brokers: SEE LINK

[Demeter]

101. The Real Economy is Jobs and Paychecks The Economy Is the Number on Your Paycheck R. REICH

The Real Economy is Jobs and Paychecks
The Economy Is the Number on Your Paycheck, Not the Stockmarket's Ups and Downs

By Robert Reich

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26304.htm

...Many big American companies have been showing profits because they're doing ever more business in China while cutting payrolls at home. American consumers aren't buying much of anything because they've lost their jobs or are worried about losing them, and are still trying to get out from under a huge debt load (the latest figures show more consumer debt delinquent now than last year and a surge in personal bankruptcies). The U.S. housing market is growing worse, auto and retail sales are dropping, and the ranks of the jobless continue to swell.

Europe is in almost as much a mess. The problem there isn't just or even mainly that Greece and other nations on the "periphery" have too much public debt. A bigger problem is European consumers aren't buying nearly enough to generate more jobs. Unemployment remains high, and the trend is bad. Manufacturing growth there has slowed to its weakest pace in six months. Yet bizarrely, Europe's large economies -- Britain, Germany, and France -- are paring back their public budgets. It's exactly the wrong time, and a recipe for disaster.

Germany's so-called "job miracle" (as Chancellor Angela Merkel calls it) is more mirage than miracle. Most of the gains in employment there have come from part-time jobs, often at low pay. Average annual net income per German employee continues to drop. This explains why domestic demand there is so sluggish and why Germany is desperately dependent on its exports of machinery and manufacturing components to Asia, especially China.

Meanwhile, Japan, now the world's third-largest economy, is a basket case. Japanese consumers aren't buying much of anything, and why would they? The country is still in the grip of a deflationary cycle that shows no end. Japanese consumers reason if they can buy it cheaper next week there's no reason to buy now. Basically the only thing keeping Japan's economy going are its exports of cars and electronic components to China....

[Demeter]

103. Cash-Poor Governments Ditching Public Hospitals

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575459823259071294.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

[Demeter]

104. More Employers Looking for Armed Guards

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/business/more-employers-looking-for-armed-guards-08282010

Many worries come with tough times, and some employers right now are scared the economy could lead to more violence in the work place, and they're taking action.

One valley security agency said the troubled economy is driving businesses to ask for armed guards because they are concerned about what some desperate, unemployed people could do. FOX 10 spent the day at an intense training camp.

Bullets thundered in the desert Saturday as men and women trained to become armed security personnel for valley businesses.

Out at the Ben Avery Shooting Range, Lyle Rapacki, director of training for Anderson Security, said the security company has seen a 35 percent increase in calls that appears to be coinciding with the number of layoffs...

[Demeter]

105. Top economists: The second Great Depression has arrived

http://www.helium.com/items/1933168-us-in-economic-great-depression

[Demeter]

106. And Now We're Headed For The GREATEST Depression, Says Gerald Celente

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/and-now-were-headed-for-the-greatest-depression-says-gerald-celente-535350.html?tickers

The fake "recovery" was nice while it lasted, says famous apocalyptic forecaster Gerald Celente, founder of the Trends Research Institute. But now the fun's over, and we're headed for what Celente describes as the "Greatest Depression."

Specifically, the always startling Celente says the country is headed for rising unemployment, poverty, and violent class warfare as the government efforts to keep the economy going begin to fail.

The crux of the problem, Celente argues, is that the middle class has been wiped out. America used to be a land of opportunity for all, where hard-working people could build their own small businesses in their own communities and live prosperous and fulfilling lives. But now a collusion of state and corporate interests that Celente describes as "fascism" have conspired to help only the biggest companies and the richest Americans. This has put a shocking amount of the country's wealth in the hands of a privileged few and left the rest of the country to subsist on chicken-feed wages and low job satisfaction as Wal-Mart "associates" -- or worse.

The answer, Celente says, is to bring back the laws that prevented huge companies from getting so big and powerful, and put some opportunity back in the hands of ordinary people. But doing that is going to take a while. And in the meantime, we're headed for trouble...

[Demeter]

107. "I Was Wrong Again!" What Ben Bernanke meant to say

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26273.htm

[Demeter]

108. The Backward Slide into Recession By Mike Whitney

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26274.htm

...Far right policymakers have shrugged off increasingly ominous economic data, choosing to pursue their political aims through obstructionism. Their goal is to block countercyclical measures that will boost activity, lower unemployment and narrow the output gap. By torpedoing the recovery, GOP leaders hope to take advantage of anti-incumbent sentiment and engineer a landslide victory in the midterm elections. But the timing could not be worse. The economy is in greater peril than most realize and badly in need of government intervention. As the current account deficit continues to widen, the global system inches closer to a major currency crisis. Ballooning trade imbalances signal that a disorderly unwinding of the dollar is becoming more probable. If the dollar drops precipitously, US demand for foreign exports will fall and the world will plunge into another deep slump....


The Fed does not have the tools to fix the ailing economy. Quantitative easing can lower rates and keep asset prices inflated, but it cannot increase demand, reduce the output gap or lower unemployment. Only fiscal stimulus can do that and policymakers have rejected that option. The US is now facing a protracted period of high unemployment and subpar economic performance punctuated by infrequent stock market rallies and predictable bursts of optimism. The recovery is over.

[Demeter]

109. Make Sure the Bunker is Well Stocked By Mike Whitney

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26260.htm

Robert Herz was forced to resign from his job as as chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) because he insisted that the banks assign a fair value to their assets. That's not what you'll read in the papers, but it's true just the same. Herz was a major proponent of mark-to-market accounting, a simple means of determining the value of a bond or security by comparing the price of similar assets sold at market. In other words, Herz is a defender of universally-accepted accounting principles, which is why he was terminated, er, I mean, resigned...Pretty nifty, eh? As soon as Herz became a nuisance for the banks, he got his pink slip. Surprise, surprise. It's just more evidence that the country is ruled by a Financial Mafia. Think of it like this: If you or I went to the bank to secure a loan using a dilapidated old bicycle and couple bags of empty cat food cans as collateral, we'd be ushered to the door by two beefy security guards who'd toss our sorry ass onto the street pronto. But when the banks use their putrid mortgage-backed sludge to borrow in the repo markets (or to conceal their true condition from investors), they get high-fives from bondholders and regulators alike. Herz threatened to blow the lid off the whole charade by exposing the extent to which the banks are doctoring their balance sheets and hiding the red ink on their books. Only he was sent packing (resigned?) before he got a chance to clean up the system.

[Tansy_Gold]

139. The middle class has NOT been wiped out. Not yet.

We're headed in that direction, but we aren't there yet.

If we take the roughly 10% unemployment rate and double that to an effective rate of 20%, we still have 80% employed. We also have Social Security, which didn't exist in the previous Great Depression. In fact, we have a middle/working class that mostly didn't exist prior to about 1950.

Are we headed in the wrong direction, in a direction that could see the destruction of the middle class? Yes. Are there places where the middle/prosperous working class has been virtually wiped out? Yes.

But there are still some cars rolling off the assembly lines in Detroit. The auto industry may be on life support, but it's still alive. People are still buying houses and furniture (most of it made in China) and so on.

What we do have is a shrinking middle class and, what's probably even worse, major shrinkage of opportunities for those entering the work force to maintain or achieve a middle class status.

Doom and gloom is fine, but I think it needs to be less bombastic and more realistic. Of course, that probably wouldn't capture anyone's attention. :shrug:


TG, NTY

[Demeter]

111. The odd decouple Theories about why some rich-world economies are doing better than America’s don’t

The odd decouple
Theories about why some rich-world economies are doing better than America’s don’t stand up

http://www.economist.com/node/16943853

SOMEBODY IS LYING--EVERYBODY, PROBABLY

[Demeter]

112. Analysts: Iraq war ‘partly to blame’ for financial crisis

YA THINK?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/iraq-war-blame-financial-crisis/

[Demeter]

113. The Medicare Headline You Didn't See (and won't)

For years we have been regaled with scary, scary numbers about how Medicare's projected unfunded liability was in the TENS OF TRILLIONS. And sure enough if you consulted the Medicare Report and examined the actuarial projections for Medicare Part A you would find that number. But a funny thing happened with the 2010 Report and is shown in the data table above: the 75 year number is down to $6.9 trillion, a big number but only 0.5% of projected GDP over that period, and the infinite future number is actually a $600 billion SURPLUS.

Oddly this multi-multi trillion dollar turnaround did not result in banner headlines in the NYT or the WaPo, nor did congratulatory telegrams pour into the offices of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and dare I say it Barack Obama from the folk at Cato and Concord that have been weeping bitter, bitter tears about 'intergenerational inequity' and begging us to 'think about the grandchildren'. Because that is not how they roll nor was any of this what the kerfluffle has been about. The fundamental hostility to Medicare among the self-style deficit hawks is not because it is broken, but instead because it works. For them that infinite future $600 billion SURPLUS is terrible, terrible news. Which is why it never made it to the inboxes of Lori Montgomery and Perry Bacon at the WaPo, though you can bet big that any deterioration would have. Funny that.

http://www.angrybearblog.com/2010/09/medicare-headline-you-didnt-see-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FHzoh+%28Angry+Bear%29

[Demeter]

114. Is the Economy as Broke as Lehman Was? MICHAEL HUDSON

http://michael-hudson.com/2010/09/is-the-economy-as-broke-as-lehman-was/

A RIGHTEOUS RANT WITHOUT ANSWER

[Demeter]

115. Pending Home Sales Reconfirm the Market is Crashing

GRAPHIC PORN

http://blog.ml-implode.com/2010/09/pending-home-sales-reconfirm-the-market-is-crashing/

[Demeter]

116. Megabanks Will Shrink, Bernanke Tells Financial Crisis Commission, Yet Doubts Over Too Big To Fail R

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/bernanke-banks-too-big-to-fail-but-smaller_n_702842.html

...Asked if he thought regulators would be able to shut down one of the nation's largest banks if its failure could cause other big banks to fall, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, another crisis commissioner, responded with a question of his own: "Are you going to pull the trigger and wind down the six largest financial institutions simultaneously?"

The answer was clearly no.

[Demeter]

117. The Purge at Cato

CATO INSTITUTE EVIDENTLY GOT TEABAGGED--TOO BAD! ONE LESS SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND IDEAS, ONE MORE SOURCE OF WHACKERY

http://www.frumforum.com/the-purge-at-cato/comment-page-1#comments

NOW THE LIBERTARIANS ARE ON THE RUN....

[Demeter]

118. Collapse of Kabul Bank Points to Fatal Corruption of Karzai Government

http://www.juancole.com/2010/09/collapse-of-kabul-bank-points-to-terminal-corruption-of-karzai-government.html



I write in anger. Not blind rage, mind you. A cool, searing, steady anger. I think it is a righteous anger. It is not consequential, but it is my reality. I am angry about the 1,172 US troops dead in the Afghanistan War, and all the other brave NATO and Afghan soldiers who gave their lives for a new Afghanistan. Because they haven’t gotten a new Afghanistan. They have paid the ultimate sacrifice for a ponzi scheme masquerading as a reformist government. And, as usual, you and I may well get stuck with the bill for the economic damage done by the fraud.

The house of cards that is the Hamid Karzai government in Kabul may be falling before our eyes, as vast, globe-spanning webs of corruption, formerly hidden in shadows, have suddenly had a spotlight thrown on them. The crisis raises the severest questions about whether the Obama administration can plausibly hope to stand up a stable government in Afghanistan before US troops depart.

As with the second phase of the Great Depression in the United States, the crisis begins with a run on Da Kabul Bank. Depositors took out $85 million on Wednesday, after a damning story appeared in the Washington Post. They took out another $70 million on Thursday. The bank, which owes $300 million, may now have as little as $120 million left in the kitty, though it had once been worth over a billion. But the problem is not just a run on one bank. Can Afghanistan’s whole financial system and economy emerge unscathed?

...The same world-wide real estate crisis that abruptly revealed the ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff has undone Da Bank Kabul. But imagine if Madoff had not merely been a criminal who preyed on the wealthy, but had bankrolled a president’s political campaign with his ill-gotten gains and had brought the president’s brother and the brother of the vice-president into his inner circle. And imagine if he had been only one of a handful of financiers in New York with substantial capital.

MUCH MORE AT LINK==THE REPORTS WE HAVEN'T BEEN GETTING FROM MSM

[Demeter]

130. Bill Black: “Control Fraud” Crushes Kabul, And the New York Times Needs to Correct its Correction

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/09/bill-black-%E2%80%9Ccontrol-fraud%E2%80%9D-crushes-kabul-and-the-new-york-times-needs-to-correct-its-correction.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

The New York Times, in a story entitled “Afghanistan Tries to Help Nation’s Biggest Bank” issued the following correction:

Correction: September 4, 2010

An earlier version of this article, citing American and Afghan officials, erroneously stated that the United States would contribute money to help the Kabul Bank. American officials say the United States is providing technical assistance but no funds for the bank.

The problem is that the “earlier version” was correct – the correction is incorrect. Kabul Bank has been revealed to be a “control fraud.” Control frauds occur when those that control a seemingly legitimate entity use it as a “weapon” to defraud. Control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime – combined. Control frauds can also cause immense damage to a nation because they are run by financial elites that curry favor from political elites. The result is that they are often able to loot “their” banks for years with impunity. They also degrade the integrity of the entire system.

Kabul Bank is a typical example of a crude variant of control fraud at a major bank. Systems of crony capitalism, such as Afghanistan, inherently create an intensely “criminogenic” environment that produces epidemics of control fraud in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Kabul Bank, like the (originally Pakistani) Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) – better known to regulators as the “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International” is reported to have helped everyone – corrupt Afghani government officials, corrupt business leaders, and the Taliban laundering its drug profits to, in part, buy weapons. Like BCCI, Kabul Bank’s managers’ reported frauds and self-dealing blew up the bank by causing massive losses. (If you believe that Kabul Bank is the only bank like this in Afghanistan you are consuming too much of Afghanistan’s leading export.) MUCH MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

119. Psychics and Fortune Tellers Being Regulated to Reduce Fraud

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100903/us_time/08599201567600

I'VE GOT A NICE TAROT DECK....

[Demeter]

120. Ancient Brew Masters Tapped Antibiotic Secrets

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100902094246.htm

THIS IS FASCINATING--AND GOOD IDEA FOR SURVIVALISTS TO HOLD IN STORE

[Demeter]

121. Fannie to Crack Down on Foreclosure Delays

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/09/fannie-to-crack-down-on-foreclosure-delays.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Fannie Mae wants out of its defaulted residential mortgage holdings as quickly as possible and is warning loan servicers not to stand in its way.

The government-sponsored enterprise notified servicers Tuesday that it will begin monitoring them to determine why there are delays in moving delinquent loans into foreclosure. If servicers cannot properly account for the holdups, it will perform on-site reviews and assess fees to give servicers “a financial incentive to comply with Fannie Mae policies and improve the overall quality of their performance.”…

“This is a shot across the bow that servicers have to start paying attention,” said Kevin Kanouff, a founder of Statebridge Co., a Denver special servicer. “Now they’re going to put their feet to the fire and expect to move these loans along as opposed to throwing them in a program and just collecting the fees.”…

…the timing of the guidance suggests the GSE believes the process has grown unaccountably sluggish…

[Demeter]

122. Dick Fuld’s Fantastic Revisionism ! A MUST READ ARTICLE--SUCCINCT AND POINTED

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/dick-fulds-fantastic-revisionism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

The fantasy world inhabited by Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld was given a surprisingly sympathetic ear from an unexpected forum yesterday: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

This is a deeply disturbing development, as it leads to the unfortunate suspicion that the FCIC does not have the slightest clue as to the causes of the housing collapse, recession and and market crash.

There are two issues here: The first is “why did Lehman collapse?” The second is “Why didn’t the Fed rescue them?” Let’s look at both...

SEE LINK

[Demeter]

131. Dick Fuld is Still Trying to Blame Everyone Else For Lehman’s Failure

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/09/dick-fuld-is-still-trying-to-blame-everyone-else-for-lehmans-failure.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

[Demeter]

123. What Bernanke Doesn't Understand About Deflation

http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/08/29/what-bernanke-doesn%E2%80%99t-understand-about-deflation/

THIS COULD RUN TO SEVERAL VOLUMES...

[Demeter]

124. Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/7970619/Obama-could-kill-fossil-fuels-overnight-with-a-nuclear-dash-for-thorium.html

I GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS....

[Demeter]

125. China allows insurers to invest in private equity, real estate

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100906/bs_nm/us_insurance_investment

DEFINITION OF INSANITY?

[Demeter]

126. IMF's Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100905/bs_nm/us_g20_economy_lipsky

PROOF OF INSANITY

[Demeter]

127. What might make the Fed flinch?

JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, I'LL WAGER. BUT THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT ANYWAY...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100905/bs_nm/us_economy_weekahead_outlook

[Demeter]

128. BP Says Cost of Spill Has Hit $8 Billion

WHAT PRICE FOR AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575468902411545436.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

[Demeter]

129. Delusions Of Recovery PAUL KRUGMAN

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/delusions-of-recovery/

I’ve had a couple of conversations lately with people who follow politics and public affairs, but aren’t that close to the economic discussion — and I’ve discovered that there are two comforting delusions still out there.

Delusion #1 is that we’re on the road to recovery, just more slowly than we’d like; to be fair, the White House keeps saying this.

But it’s not at all true. GDP is growing below potential; employment, even if you focus just on private employment, is growing more slowly than the working-age population. If you ask how long it will take us to return to, say, 5 percent unemployment on the current track, the answer is forever.

Delusion #2 is the belief that the stimulus may yet do the trick, because there are still substantial funds unspent. I tried to deal with this last year. The level of GDP depends not on total funds spent, but on the rate at which funds are being spent, which has already peaked; GDP growth on the rate of change in the rate at which funds are being spent, which peaked last year. It’s all downhill from here.

[Demeter]

132. A deregulation conundrum MARC RICH, CLINTON'S PARDON, OIL SKIMMING MUST READ

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2010/08/deregulation-conundrum.html

THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH THAT WAS INEXPLICABLE WHEN CLINTON LEFT OFFICE WITH AN IN-YOUR-FACE PARDON OF A "NOTORIOUS ARMS DEALER"

I have just read Daniel Amman’s excellent biography of Marc Rich - the oil trader notoriously pardoned by Bill Clinton. I don’t want to get into the politics and ethics of the pardon other than to note that few things in it are black-and-white when you finished reading the book.

But the way Marc Rich made his money is fascinating and says a lot about the current re-regulation debate.

Marc Rich exploited price fixing/import/export controls to make simply unbelievable profits trading oil. Marc Rich & Co (the Swiss vehicle) was started with just over $1 million in capital and a couple of years later was making in excess of $200 million in profit. This level of profitability exceeds - by far - any other trading operation I have ever seen - and was probably the most profitable trading operation in history. Marc Rich & Co (since renamed Glencore) is possibly the most valuable business in Switzerland within the lifetime of its founder.

A typical Marc Rich & Co trade involved Iran (under the Shah), Israel, Communist Albania and Fascist Spain. The Shah needed a path to export oil probably produced in excess of OPEC quotas and one which was unaudited and hence could be skimmed to support the Shah’s personal fortune. Israel - a pariah state in the Middle East - wanted oil. Spain had rising oil demand and limited foreign currency but was happy to buy oil (slightly) on the cheap. Spain however did not recognise Israel and hence would not buy oil from Israel - so it needed to be washed through a third country. Albania openly traded with both Israel and Spain. Oh, and there is an old oil pipeline which goes from Iran through Israel to the sea. MUCH MUCH MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

134. Well, I Could Go On and On

after all, time and tide wait for no holiday....but this thread is long enough already.

It's a Ben and Dick show this weekend--Bernanke and Fuld are in the spotlight. Two sides of the same coin--but I hope both end up in the slammer. The game is rigged and they both played it. They should share the same fate.

Great candidates for those indictments--and don't forget Little Timmy!

Goddess knows what the week will bring--more lies, more videotape, no sex, alas. More ersatz miracles, without a doubt. That well will have to run dry eventually. I can hardly wait. Then, perhaps, the healing can begin.