STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday November 22

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday November 22, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON November 19, 2010

Dow 11,203.55 +22.32 (+0.20%)
Nasdaq 2,518.12 +3.72 (+0.15%)
S&P 500 1,199.73 +3.04 (+0.25%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.88 +0.00 (+0.14%)
30-Year Bond 4.25 +0.00 (+0.05%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren

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

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

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

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. no goobermental reports today n/t

[Festivito]

2. Debt: 11/18/2010 13,788,455,142,118.05 (DOWN 823,777,584.57) (Thu)

(Down some. Good morning. Now, off to bed.)
What a pile of shredded leaves.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,202,939,173,580.15 + 4,585,515,968,537.90
DOWN 2,271,166,541.35 + UP 1,447,388,956.78

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,218.21 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,731,392 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $44,374.19.
A family of three owes $133,122.58. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 5,198,289,957.59.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,985,355,634.15.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,856,795,774.99.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 34 reports in 49 days of FY2011 averaging 6.67B$ per report, 4.63B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 794 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
11/18/2010 13,788,455,142,118.05 BHO (UP 3,161,578,093,204.97 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,226,832,111,226.30 ------------* * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,689,667,767,297.95 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
10/28/2010 -000,237,760,056.32 ---
10/29/2010 +010,778,095,157.00 ------------**********
11/01/2010 +063,143,305,537.83 ------------********** Mon
11/02/2010 +000,562,237,098.37 ------------********
11/03/2010 -000,042,244,820.71 ----
11/04/2010 +002,136,844,217.63 ------------*********
11/05/2010 -000,209,791,147.70 ---
11/08/2010 -000,059,969,255.93 ---- Mon
11/09/2010 -000,005,858,868.46 -----
11/10/2010 +001,354,516,168.52 ------------*********
11/12/2010 +001,236,686,699.48 ------------*********
11/15/2010 +065,794,144,300.11 ------------********** Mon
11/16/2010 +000,750,562,513.87 ------------********
11/17/2010 +000,670,859,874.97 ------------********
11/18/2010 -002,271,166,541.35 --

143,600,460,877.31 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4621300&mesg_id=4621352

[Festivito]

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

(Up some. Good day.)
What a wet pile of shredded and some unshredded leaves.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,205,331,929,626.46 + 4,584,367,264,902.87
UP 2,392,756,046.31 + DOWN 1,148,703,635.03

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

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

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,738,592 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $44,377.17.
A family of three owes $133,131.51. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 4,938,680,791.62.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,786,321,940.24.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,664,182,522.82.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 35 reports in 50 days of FY2011 averaging 6.52B$ per report, 4.56B$/day.
Above line should be okay

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

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

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,228,076,163,637.60 ------------* * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,664,955,994,554.49 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

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

146,230,976,979.94 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4624604&mesg_id=4624606

[ozymandius]

3. Oil rises to near $83 after Ireland bank bailout

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose to near $83 a barrel Monday in Asia after Ireland agreed to a massive bailout of its troubled banking sector, stemming investor fears that a debt crisis could spread across Europe.

Ireland said Sunday it would accept a European Union and International Monetary Fund loan whose terms, conditions and size would be negotiated in the coming weeks. News of the deal helped strengthen the euro, making crude, which is traded in dollars, cheaper for investors with the European currency.

In Nymex trading in December contracts, heating oil rose 2.2 cents to $2.296 a gallon and gasoline gained 0.1 cent to $2.21 a gallon. Natural gas was up 2.9 cents at $4.19 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[ozymandius]

4. Economists worried about U.S. inflation: survey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Steps by the Federal Reserve to pump more money into the U.S. economy through government bond purchases could stoke inflation, even though growth will remain moderate through 2011, a survey showed on Monday.

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) said its 51-member forecasting panel continued to rank inflation as a bigger worry than deflation. The survey was conducted between October 21 and November 4.

Still, they forecast the Fed's preferred measure of consumer inflation -- the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy -- to rise to 1.5 percent by the end of 2011 from a projected 1.0 percent this year.

That is below the Fed's considered comfort zone between 1.7 percent and 2.0 percent. Inflation remains subdued as the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession since the 1930s. Core consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in October from a year ago, the smallest increase since records started in 1957.

more

The Fed pays more attention to wage inflation than price inflation with the exception being when prices excluding food and energy fall as they have done. But still - that measure of inflation is ridiculous. This underlines how the minds at the Fed do not relate to the real world.

[ozymandius]

5. World stocks mostly up after Ireland bailout news

BANGKOK – World stock markets were mostly higher Monday after debt-hobbled Ireland applied for a massive EU emergency loan to bail out its banking sector, easing fears Europe's debt woes will escalate.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.6 percent at 5,767.94 and Germany's DAX gained 0.8 percent to 6,897.30. France's CAC-40 added 0.9 percent to 3,895.34. Wall Street was set to go higher at the opening bell, with Dow futures up 0.4 percent to 11,220.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed 0.9 percent higher, or 92.80 points, at 10,115.19 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2 percent to 1,944.34. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 4,643.5. Benchmarks in India, Taiwan and Thailand also rose.

more

Hong Kong and Singapore are the outliers as each fell marginally.

[ozymandius]

6. Ireland swallows bitter pill, asks EU for loan

DUBLIN – Debt-crippled Ireland formally applied Sunday for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks, joining Greece in a step unthinkable only a few years ago when Ireland was a booming Celtic Tiger and the economic envy of Europe.

European Union finance ministers quickly agreed in principle to the bailout, saying it "is warranted to safeguard financial stability in the EU and euro area." But all sides said further weeks of negotiations loomed to define the fund's terms, conditions and precise size.

The European Central Bank — which oversees monetary policy for the 16-nation eurozone and first raised alarm bells about a renewed cash crisis in Dublin banks — said the aid would "contribute to ensuring the stability of the Irish banking system." Sweden and Britain, not members of the euro currency, said they also were willing to provide bilateral loans to Ireland.

more

Ireland has requested less than what many economists thought would be needed to stop the bleeding from its bank deposits. Ireland requested a loan of €100 Billion (about $140US Billion) to cover losses. Next up on the bailout tour... Spain and Portugal.

[rfranklin]

10. Banksters: "Who says crime doesn't pay!"

The Irish people forced to pay for the malfeasance of their bankers. Austerity measures and reduced wages.

[Po_d Mainiac]

23. We have the technology to deal with this shit

[Demeter]

37. That is SOOOOO Cute! And much more

portable as a virtual icon...

[Ghost Dog]

39. "Hearse Chasers"

need to be Toibin-taxed, or something, unless they prefer buzz-cuts in the end, to rein them in. They are market manipulators at present, are they not?

After an initial dip, the cost of borrowing for the most debt-burdened eurozone members -- Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain -- reversed course. Interest rates on Greek and Spanish bonds even rose above Friday's closing levels, suggesting Ireland's bailout has not eased concerns in the weakest countries.

...

"A bailout for Ireland does increase the chance that Portugal will tap the facility as well," said Marco Valli, chief eurozone economist at UniCredit in Milan. "It will be a matter of time."

Valli said he was more optimistic that Spain could avoid an EU-IMF intervention, citing the strong performance of Banco Santander and Spain's other major banks.

But Marc Ostwald, senior strategist at Monument Securities in London, compared the bond markets to "hearse chasers" who soon would "take Portugal and Spain to task."

/... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/EU-bailout-endangers-Irish-apf-1181630462.html;_ylt=At78ZPusArXSfbhTvoelEyITbq9_;_ylu=X3oDMTFkZDYzdmprBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNuZXdzSHViQXJ0aWNsZUxpc3QEc2xrA2V1YmFpbG91dGVuZA--?x=0

(Hiya, PBD). :hi:

[Pale Blue Dot]

13. The thrill is already gone.

As of 7:15, most European stocks are down. Same for U.S. futures.

[DemReadingDU]

21. Welcome back!

Nice to see you posting here again
:hi:

[Tansy_Gold]

28. Where you been??? n/t

[Pale Blue Dot]

29. Awww... thank you both for noticing!

I've been spending the past year or so lurking. I'm ready to become actively involved again, however... at least until it all falls apart. :-)

[Tansy_Gold]

31. Glad to have you back.

:grouphug:

We worry about each other, y'know.



TG, NTY

[Dr.Phool]

34. We missed you!

Stop in more often.

[AnneD]

57. Howdy...

sit a spell, take your shoes off, make yourself at home. We missed you but glad to know you were out lurking.

[Demeter]

36. We've Been So "Blue" Without U!

Which made us very "ble".

[xchrom]

7. recommend

[ozymandius]

8. SEC Gauges Rewards for Snitches

...a new high-stakes drama is playing out at the SEC, driven by the lure of jackpot payouts and an effort to stamp out the kind of corporate cons - or alleged cons - that have propelled Enron, Bernard Madoff and Goldman Sachs to infamy.

Legislation enacted over the summer in response to the financial crisis requires the SEC to pay rewards for information that leads to enforcement sanctions of at least $1 million.

But it falls to the SEC to translate the language of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into detailed regulations, and the rulemaking process is becoming a battle.

For their troubles, many whistleblowers end up being stigmatized or subjected to retaliation. But their information has stopped countless frauds - from defense contractors cheating the Pentagon to drugmakers ripping off Medicare and a major Swiss bank helping Americans hide money from the Internal Revenue Service.

more

Companies that are subject to the new snitch rule say that whistleblowers should follow internal protocols. This is another way of saying they should be able to police themselves. The SEC has a system under consideration that would be a combination of internal and SEC-directed investigations. The complaint to the SEC may be referred back to the company where the complaint originated. The company would then report back to the SEC after an internal audit.

This is where the proposed system is full of pitfalls. Any company would then be able to conduct its own review - not of the complaint but to ferret out the snitch. Another SEC proposal would silence a whistleblower complaint from public view. The SEC can require the person filing the complaint to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevents said person from revealing the alleged wrongdoing if the SEC decides to sit on the complaint and do nothing.

The proposed SEC plan is a 181 page PDF document available here for your review.

[tclambert]

9. In the last month, Tesla has gone from around $20 to $30 per share.

Apparently, a rumor started that Ford intended to acquire Tesla. Ford recently denied these rumors, which some no doubt see as proof of their truth.

In Tesla's last quarterly report, they announced large losses. And their sales volume remains low.

[Demeter]

11. Neat Way to Combine Two Grievances in One Cartoon

when I think about it analytically and politically, it makes my head hurt.

[AnneD]

14. Morning Marketeers...

:donut: and lurkers. I will brave going in to work today and just hope the old BP stays down.

As if I don't have enough to think about, my daughter has been flying and has been subjected to the 'enhanced' pat downs.What a crock of shit this is and an effort to sell those high priced machines. My daughter was so upset. She said they actually penetrated her vulva when they patted her down. Thank God she was not on her period, they might have strip searched her (she does nit like tampons). She got the pat down after she failed the xray. The threat to national security- a scrunchy that looked suspicious. We have traveled the world and the USA is the worst, sorry to say. My daughter was so upset she said 'I instinctively jerked back when they grouped me, my first instincts were to smack their hand back. I would not tolerate it on a date.' She is still furious about it and she has 2 more flights to go.

Mom is holding up as is my step dad. I will find out today how the insurance hunt is going. No wonder the BP is up. And this is BEFORE the economic news. I really think the shit is about to hit the fan. Now the riots in Greece, Spain, and France do not look bad. I dare the cat food commission to mess with social security. There is a reason it is called the third rail. I am no electrician but I know what a third rail is.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[ozymandius]

15. Outrageous!

Your daughter's experience has me furious. I predict these TSA assholes will rue the day this became policy. The first notion that crossed my mind with the "enhanced patdowns" (sounds like "enhanced interrogation") is how the practice could affect someone who has been sexually abused, raped.. what have you. Beyond that: the Fourth Amendment takes another hit. What happened to 'probable cause' and citizens being "secure in their persons... against unreasonable searches and seizures?"

[Dr.Phool]

17. They're a little touchy about the criticism too.

I just got back from the dog park, and one of the regulars there works for TSA. I asked him about their new slogan.

He said what?

"TSA. We handle more packages than UPS".

He was not amused.

[Ghost Dog]

61. If we eliminate cheap air travel from the economic

(and ecological) mix then the world would change quite profoundly.

Just a thought I find myself pondering.

Same applies to cheap air transport of goods.

It would then make more sense to produce more goods more locally.

Maybe life could slow down just a bit, and trans-continental as well as regional rail networks with all the attendant development, people could realise, would make a lot of sense.

[Po_d Mainiac]

70. The bulk still travels by boat...n/t

[Roland99]

18. It's beyond outrageous. There's absolutely NO need for such measures

all in the name of "security"

makes me wanna :puke:

[AnneD]

26. I pity those traveling with wee one....

they have no humanity. Separating parents from kids, pulling diapers back. Kids terrified. I drilled inappropriate touch into my daughter that it is instinctual now. If it is inappropriate in our personal life-what give the airlines permission. The only crime one has to do is buy an airline ticket-and last time I checked, that was still legal.

It seems I have more faith in my fellow passengers than the TSA. And considering passengers were what stopped the shoe bomber and the under ware bomber-my faith is well placed. And if you really want a cost effective screener-a specially trained dog does just fine and is a whole lot nicer.

Frankly, I always thought that the TSA was just another chance for the government to pick our pockets. This whole thing is nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to fund more money for those damn machines and smacks of a psyop operation. It flies in the face of the Constitution and is more like Napoleonic law (guilty until you prove your innocence). This is the same reason why I oppose random drug tests. I think TSA should be done away with and funding go to FBI and CIA and they should both report to someone like homeland security. Homeland Security should be a clearing house/ coordinator only.

[tclambert]

54. They had a bit on "Dexter" about this.

Julia Stiles plays a character who was abducted and raped by a group of men. The "hero" rescued her and took her to the airport. The patdown freaked her out, brought back the memories of her multiple assaults, and sent her on a vendetta against the men who attacked her.

[AnneD]

58. My daughter has.....

cold cocked a guy 1 1/2x bigger than herself before. She may small but she is a Texas gal through and through. She ended up with a black eye but I am sure he woke up with worse. We teach the gals in our family to defend themselves. We laugh about opening your first can of whop ass.

She said her first instinct was to back up and defend herself.

I guess this is the new Health Care Reform. Free prostate and breast exams or exray with every airline ticket...cant wait for the rectal exam. :sarcasm:

[fasttense]

16. Oh dear, I'm so sorry for your daughter.

I just can't believe this administration thought these procedures woulds be A OK with American citizens. It's as if they don't see the humanity in Americans anymore. It's as if we are considered nothing more than chattel that need to be moved from place to place with no regard for our dignity or humanity.

[DemReadingDU]

22. That is disgusting about what happened

I haven't flown in 5 years, and I sure don't intend to now.

[Dr.Phool]

25. I had my last straw with the whole thing over a year ago.

I decided to stop flying then. This just makes me more determined not to fly.

Getting packed in like a sardine, going through security and taking off your shoes, charged to carry a piece of luggage, several hidden fees, that you don't even know are added until you get ready to pay. Screw 'em. Now add insult to injury, under threat of jail and/or a fine if you decide you've had enough indignity for one trip.

[ozymandius]

12. Fair-Value Fight in Finance Making Volcker Rue FASB Dissonance

A fight between American and European accounting standards is shaping up over the Volcker Rule. The article is a bit confusing at the beginning. It would seem that the FASB standards would fall more in accordance with Paul Volcker's views. Not the case. He is siding with the IASB that contends that banks should be allowed to value their assets at their original price as long as they keep them for a "long term" - whatever "long term" means.

Intense talks between the European authority and the American FASB occur frequently, occasionally once per week.

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A dispute between U.S. and international accounting groups about how to value financial instruments is threatening to derail efforts to converge global standards, affecting how trillions of dollars of assets are marked on bank balance sheets.

The debate pits the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, which wants to expand the use of fair-value accounting to all financial assets, including loans and deposits, against the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, which opposes such a wide usage. The outcome also will determine how much capital banks have to hold to meet new rules.

FASB’s proposal, announced in May, could cause 26 of the largest U.S. banks to write down the value of about $4 trillion of loans on their books by as much as $138 billion, estimated Jason Goldberg, an analyst at Barclays Plc. Lenders, regulators and some investors have taken IASB’s side, leaving the U.S. standard-setter isolated in its battle.

more

Mark-to-market is a rational system used to gauge a bank's assets to current market value. In contrast to Geithner's rationale, he advocates allowing banks to set the values of assets where banks wish they would be. Previous iterations of mark-to-market in the United States tends to look more like "mark-to-make believe." Treasury Secretary Geithner has spoken publicly to advocate keeping it this way. The adoption of FASB standards would be a bitter pill to swallow but nonetheless healthy to establish the real value of potentially crap assets. In either case, the rules are scheduled to apply in 2013.

[PassingFair]

20. Can't have the banks putting a real value on their housing stock.

CRASH.

[Po_d Mainiac]

24. tick-tick-tick

snip
And now investors—from the federal housing giants Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNMA.OB - News) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FMCC.OB - News) to major bond managers like closely held Pacific Investment Management and BlackRock (NYSE: BLK - News) —are fighting back. They are seeking to put back the mortgages to the banks from whence the investment flotsam came and force the banks to eat much of the mortgage losses.
snip

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111374/banks-face-another-mortgage-crisis?mod=bb-budgeting&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

Nice to see that even Barron's is starting to understand that fraudulently packaged MBS's can and will be crammed back, and investors have the legal right to be made whole.

Making up for these write-offs will require an extremely creative cook book.

[Demeter]

38. "'Til the End of Time..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zekNyJf9Ok

[Roland99]

19. One more thing to make you wanna : puke :

A Lively Talk with George W. Bush
http://www.cnbc.com/id/40279542

2-part interview starting tonight on Kudlow on CNBC

[AnneD]

27. I was in Costco the other day...

Saw his autobiography and Keith Richards. I was amazed that either one of them remembered enough to write anything over 20 pages.

Frankly, I want to buy Mark Twain's autobiography. Now there is a page turner!

[Dr.Phool]

33. Was Mark Twain the first political blogger?

http://www.thenation.com/blog/156580/mark-twain-hits-bestseller-list-was-he-first-political-blogger

Sounds like an addition to my reading list!

[wordpix]

30. "lively talk?" Is * drinking and snorting again?

[hamerfan]

32. "Again"?

You do mean "still", don't you?

[Demeter]

35. Doesn't Look Like the Market's Happy

Is Ireland on their minds? Or the Apocalypse?

I can't think the banksters will be able to keep all those plates spinning in the air much longer.

Sure, they THINK they've won by forcing Greece and Ireland to their knees, but it's still all debt, and debt can and will have to be repudiated by the nations, sooner and sooner if the pressures keep mounting.

Greed is not good. If the naughty monkey can't pull his full fist out of the cookie jar, then he will have accomplished nothing...


" the monkey realized one day that his master had left the lid off the peanut jar. The monkey waited for his master to leave the house for his afternoon walk. When the master left, the monkey jumped onto the table where the jar was, only to realize that the jar was only half-full and too tall for him to reach the peanuts. The monkey knocked over the jar, but none of the peanuts fell out. So he reached into the jar and grabbed a large handful of peanuts, and his eyes lit up. But as he went to take his hand out of the jar, he realized his hand wouldn’t fit through the mouth of the jar while it was full of peanuts. The monkey looked at the peanuts and pulled harder and harder, to no avail. He could see the peanuts, hold the peanuts, but he couldn’t enjoy them. Torture.

When the master returned, the monkey was still on the table, clenching the handful of peanuts, refusing to let go. Foolish monkey."


I HAVE ADDED TWO ITEMS TO MY "NEVER GONNA DO THAT AGAIN" LIST:

1. Ride a rollercoaster
2. Vote for Obama
3. Fly under TSA "protection"

[Ghost Dog]

41. Monkey ... cookie-jar ... Good one!

... The image of two mating dogs stuck in the honey also comes to mind, for some reason (conjured in Orhan Pamuk's "Museum of Innocence" I've just finished reading).

[AnneD]

42. That is actually how....

they catch baboons in the wild. They use a jar of oranges.

Never gonna do that again list:

Volunteer for the military
Vote for Obama
Vote for Nixon
Fly under TSA protection
Accept societal limitations re:gender

[Demeter]

44. Nixon Is Still Dead, Last I checked

I was too young to vote for him, thank goodness. I might have been traumatized for life my first time out.

[Dr.Phool]

48. I was fortunate enough to vote against him the first time I voted.

Since that didn't work out very well, I went to DC for his second coronation, with a tribe of Yippies, and we threw thousands of dead rats at him as his motorcade passed.

[Ghost Dog]

64. Nice image.

Did anyone take photos, I wonder. Some one part of the situation recording :)

[Dr.Phool]

67. It made the national evening news.

And there were photo's in the Yipster Times.

We also made a giant papier mache float of a rat with Nixon's head on it, and tried to get it into the inaugural parade. That didn't work.

Our Madison, Wisconsin chapter brought down about 12,000 dead lab rats.

What a riot that week was.

[AnneD]

55. It was my first time to vote...

I have been GOP shy ever since.

But I use to have a cool election day shirt.

He's tanned rested and ready. Below that was a pic of the young Nixon.

[Dr.Phool]

68. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car.

"Lick Dick in '72"

My dad kept scraping them off, and I kept putting them back on.

[AnneD]

73. Best cartoon...

Pregnant woman wearing a campaign shirt that read....Nixon's the one.

[Demeter]

40. We're Having a Thunderstorm, a Deluge and It's 60F

in Michigan In November. 3 days before Turkey. (shakes head sadly)

It's freaking wet out there! I wanna stay home! No work!

[kickysnana]

62. That rain was sleet here...

13 MnDOT vehicles in accidents, worse accident total EVER. Hospitals were swamped with fall victims.

2/100 of an inch of rain at 29 degrees on cold ground = MN= skating rink.

[Demeter]

43. There Will Be Blood By PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/opinion/22krugman.html



...So here’s what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April. ... When debt limit time comes, they’re going to look around and say, ‘What in the hell do we do now? We’ve got guys who will not approve the debt limit extension unless we give ’em a piece of meat, real meat,’ ” meaning spending cuts. “And boy, the blood bath will be extraordinary,” he continued. Think of Mr. Simpson’s blood lust as one more piece of evidence that our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown, than most people realize.

Some explanation: There’s a legal limit to federal debt, which must be raised periodically if the government keeps running deficits; the limit will be reached again this spring. And since nobody, not even the hawkiest of deficit hawks, thinks the budget can be balanced immediately, the debt limit must be raised to avoid a government shutdown. But Republicans will probably try to blackmail the president into policy concessions by, in effect, holding the government hostage; they’ve done it before....The fact is that one of our two great political parties has made it clear that it has no interest in making America governable, unless it’s doing the governing. And that party now controls one house of Congress, which means that the country will not, in fact, be governable without that party’s cooperation — cooperation that won’t be forthcoming...Elite opinion has been slow to recognize this reality. Thus on the same day that Mr. Simpson rejoiced in the prospect of chaos, Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, appealed for help in confronting mass unemployment. He asked for “a fiscal program that combines near-term measures to enhance growth with strong, confidence-inducing steps to reduce longer-term structural deficits.”

My immediate thought was, why not ask for a pony, too? After all, the G.O.P. isn’t interested in helping the economy as long as a Democrat is in the White House. Indeed, far from being willing to help Mr. Bernanke’s efforts, Republicans are trying to bully the Fed itself into giving up completely on trying to reduce unemployment.

And on matters fiscal, the G.O.P. program is to do almost exactly the opposite of what Mr. Bernanke called for. On one side, Republicans oppose just about everything that might reduce structural deficits: they demand that the Bush tax cuts be made permanent while demagoguing efforts to limit the rise in Medicare costs, which are essential to any attempts to get the budget under control. On the other, the G.O.P. opposes anything that might help sustain demand in a depressed economy — even aid to small businesses, which the party claims to love...Right now, in particular, Republicans are blocking an extension of unemployment benefits — an action that will both cause immense hardship and drain purchasing power from an already sputtering economy. But there’s no point appealing to the better angels of their nature; America just doesn’t work that way anymore.

And opposition for the sake of opposition isn’t limited to economic policy. Politics, they used to tell us, stops at the water’s edge — but that was then.
... Mr. Simpson may or may not get the blood bath he craves this April, but there will be blood sooner or later. And we can only hope that the nation that emerges from that blood bath is still one we recognize.

IS PAUL KRUGMAN ALLUDING TO FRSP? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!

[Tansy_Gold]

45. "Lively discussion" of this essay going on . . . .

here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9607350

[Demeter]

46. Nice Post, Tansy

And you aren't alone, either. Good to see there's still a Left wing here.

[Tansy_Gold]

47. Thanks

I'm thinkin' about spiffing it up a bit to make an OP over in editorials or someplace. If I get time. . . . .

The day job has been an avalanche the past two weeks. I'm goin' outta my freakin' mind.



But, yes, indeed there is a Left and it's still here on DU.

:hi:




TG, NTY

[Ghost Dog]

69. Do you believe that because of the "big gun" held

whether to the head of the middle class or to the figurative head of Obama, that Obama was and is entirely powerless, from the day of his election, to change the course of the American economy? And so collapse is inevitable; the middle class is destroyed no matter what we do?


Succinct, to the point. Nice.

[StarburstClock]

49. Good post and article. The "discussion" ain't much of one

The same recitals of failed economics that most people wrap up into some twisted kind of political stance instead of an actual understanding of what's real is what usually passes as "debate" these days. Somebody cites a false premise then people start flapping their lips over the propaganda paradigms built around the false premise. I applaud your ability to be clear, I don't have the patience for it, especially with people that this place said they would ban for being disruptive over a long period of time.

I don't think there will be much "blood" as Krugman says, everyone I know is going on with their lives despite political corruption and won't care a bit when the corrupt system starts collapsing in on itself. In fact, most people will applaud it and get busy with the real business of building a new system that actually represents the people. The financial system already collapsed, all it is now is a propped up shell perpetuated by criminal corporations, nobody has any confidence in it whatsoever. Very few people will be surprised when it finally reaches a breaking point, we're all just waiting.

[Dr.Phool]

51. PPT coming to the rescue!

Timmeh must have told all of his buddies on Wall Street that the investigations on Wall Street are just for show, and the only person going to jail is Mervyn down in the mail room.

[Dr.Phool]

52. I'm not saying she's Hitler,

But that mustache looks familiar.

[AnneD]

56. It's not polite to talk about a woman's mustache....

look at those eyes. She is too sweet. Now I had a tuxedo cat that I called Charlie after Charlie Chaplin. He was an abandoned cat that the neighborhood kids called Hitler. I adopted him and the first thing we did was a name change. He lived a long and happy life and got to welcome my daughter into the world of pets. He loved her milk and occasionally he would add another hole to the nipple of her bottle. :spray:

[Tansy_Gold]

59. Ditto

[Dr.Phool]

53. FBI raids offices of three hedge funds

The FBI raided three hedge funds on Monday in what could turn out to be one of the largest insider trading probes ever, according to news reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided offices of Diamondback Capital Management, Level Global Investors LP, and Loch Capital Management in a probe that the newspaper says could eclipse past insider-trading investigations. Citing people familiar with the matter, the paper said on its website that more raids could be on the way.

"The FBI is executing court-authorized search warrants in an ongoing investigation," Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, told the newspaper, which first broke the story of a massive probe over the weekend. Kolko declined to comment further.

(snip) more

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40317931/ns/business-us_business/

[Robbien]

60. They are raiding Conservative hedges

tied to SAC

The Street is saying they are also planning on going after conservative "mutual-fund companies, investment bankers and law firms."

These guys are part of TPTB

I'm so confused.

[kickysnana]

63. What is the Strategic Air Command got to do with Toilet Paper Testing Bureau?

:dunce: :shrug:

[Dr.Phool]

65. Maybe that's where Helicopter Ben was dropping the money bombs.

And they're trying to sap us of our precious bodily fluids.

[Robbien]

66. Sorry. By SAC I meant Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors

Poppy Bush is tied to those guys.

The hedges being raided right now are spin offs of SAC Capital Advisors.

[Demeter]

71. You Know What They Say: Behind Every Bush

there's a criminal enterprise, just begging to be taken down.

So why is the Omen giving Bush a medal? For leaving office without a gun to his head?

[Demeter]

72. Shamelessly Stolen from abelenkpe

What the people of Ireland and every country must realise is that if they agree to play by the bankers' rules, they will lose.

---------------------------------------------------------------

It's more than that. What countries need to realise is that agreeing to play by the bankers' rule is agreeing to give up their countries' sovereignty. They basically abdicate power of their government to the will of the bank.