Economy
Related: About this forumSTOCK MARKET WATCH - Wednesday, 4 January 2012
[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 4 January 2012[/font]
SMW for 3 Jan 2012
AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 3 January 2012
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Dow Jones 12,397.38 +179.82 (1.47%)
S&P 500 1,277.06 +19.46 (1.55%)
Nasdaq 2,648.72 +43.57 (1.67%)
10 Year 1.95% 0.00 (0.00%)
30 Year 2.98% +0.01 (0.34%)
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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
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[font size=3][font color=red]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.[/font][/font]
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Demeter
(85,373 posts)Aries
To improve your spiritual health, avoid the myriad temptations of the flesh. This is most easily accomplished by repeating the word "flesh" over and over until it creeps you out.
Taurus
Most accidents occur at home, so stay safe this week by living on the streets of a distant city.
Gemini
You've always been afraid no one will notice when you die, but take comfort: The swarm of killer bees will be very much aware of what's happening.
Cancer
There is little that can truly mend a broken heart besides time. Sadly, you only have about three weeks to learn to love and be loved again.
Leo
You'll learn a lot about yourself this week, but despite that, you'll still struggle to figure out exactly what you're supposed to eat.
Virgo
The stars see many things ahead for you, which is exactly the kind of vague and value-neutral statement they've spent the long eons of their existence perfecting.
Libra
Saturn and Mars rising in your sign foretell a deadly combination of conflict and the search for knowledge. To avoid sudden murder, try not to read any predictions about your future this week.
Scorpio
The circumstances of your life will combine in such a way as to grant you possession of a great many lemons. However, all the advice you receive regarding their purpose will be useless and trite.
Sagittarius
The resources and knowledge of human civilization will once again be marshaled and brought to bear for the purpose of telling you what everyone's cat is doing.
Capricorn
One of the most magical sounds in the world is the laughter of children on Christmas morning, but it's kind of jarring when directed at you as the flames consume your body.
Aquarius
The stars would love to tell you what's ahead for you this week, but they've decided they'd rather wait and see the look on your face when it all happens.
Pisces
Nothing will be able to prepare you for the sense of dread and fear you'll experience when you suddenly realize your life has meaning and purpose again.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)NO, REALLY....THIS IS A FAR-REACHING, OUT OF THE BOX, GLOBAL THINK PIECE THAT SHOULD BE SEEN BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE BUT PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE.
SO, IF IT GETS TO THE 99%, MAYBE WE WILL BE THE RIGHT PEOPLE!
Demeter
(85,373 posts)THAT SHOULD SAY: EUROPE'S 1% RESIGNS THE 99%TERS TO RECESSION, CONTINUES AUSTERITY
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/01/02/europe-resigns-itself-to-recession-continues-austerity/
CatholicEdHead
(9,740 posts)The more austerity the weaker the economy.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...There is a certain absurdity to the obsession with maximizing long-term average income growth in perpetuity, to the neglect of other risks and considerations. Consider a simple thought experiment. Imagine that per capita national income (or some broader measure of welfare) is set to rise by 1% per year over the next couple of centuries. This is roughly the trend per capita growth rate in the advanced world in recent years. With annual income growth of 1%, a generation born 70 years from now will enjoy roughly double today’s average income. Over two centuries, income will grow eight-fold...Now suppose that we lived in a much faster-growing economy, with per capita income rising at 2% annually. In that case, per capita income would double after only 35 years, and an eight-fold increase would take only a century.
Finally, ask yourself how much you really care if it takes 100, 200, or even 1,000 years for welfare to increase eight-fold. Wouldn’t it make more sense to worry about the long-term sustainability and durability of global growth? Wouldn’t it make more sense to worry whether conflict or global warming might produce a catastrophe that derails society for centuries or more?
Even if one thinks narrowly about one’s own descendants, presumably one hopes that they will be thriving in, and making a positive contribution to, their future society. Assuming that they are significantly better off than one’s own generation, how important is their absolute level of income?
.........................................................................................................................................
In a period of great economic uncertainty, it may seem inappropriate to question the growth imperative. But, then again, perhaps a crisis is exactly the occasion to rethink the longer-term goals of global economic policy.
Tansy_Gold
(17,846 posts)is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Edward Abbey
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Newt Gingrich may be going negative on Mitt Romney, but here's one strategy that Newt and the rest of the Republican presidential field are unlikely to embrace: highlighting the voices of workers who lost their jobs because of Romney's work at Bain Capital.
Democrats are doing exactly that, holding an event in Iowa Sunday featuring a worker who lost his job thanks to Romney and Bain Capital...
DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT THERE'S SEVERAL MILLION DISPOSSESSED AMERICANS WITH NO JOBS AND FORECLOSED HOMES BEARING DOWN UPON YOU, DEMOCRATS!
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I'D LIKE TO BELIEVE THAT IT WAS RISING AND THAT IT WAS MAKING CHANGE FOR THE BETTER....
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/757519/rising_egalitarianism_is_changing_american_politics_--_for_the_better/#paragraph3
As an old country saying puts it, "Money is like manure — it does no good unless you spread it around."
Yet America's corporate and political leaders have intentionally been shoveling wealth into an ever-bigger pile for those at the top. They've gotten away with this by lying to the great majority, which has seen its share of America's prosperity steadily disappear. Yes, they've told us, the rich are getting richer, but that's just the natural workings of the new global economy, in which financial elites are rewarded for their exceptional talents, innovation, and bold risk-taking.
Horse dooties. The massive redistribution of America's wealth from the many to the few is happening because the rich and their political puppets have rigged the system. Years of subsidized offshoring and downsizing, gutting labor rights, monkeywrenching the tax code, legalizing financial finagling, dismantling social programs, increasing the political dominance of corporate cash — these and other self-serving acts of the moneyed powers have created the conveyor belt that's moving our wealth from the grassroots to the penthouses.
Not since the Gilded Age, which preceded and precipitated the Great Depression, have so few amassed so much of our nation's riches. Having learned nothing from 1929's devastating crash, nor from their own bank failures in 2008 that crushed our economy, the wealthiest of the wealthy fully intend to keep taking more for themselves at our expense.
Now, however, the people are onto their lies. In an October poll, two-thirds of Americans expressed support for increased taxes on millionaires, an end to corporate tax subsidies, and policies to more evenly distribute the wealth we all help create. This rising egalitarianism shows the true American character, and it's changing our politics — for the better.
CatholicEdHead
(9,740 posts)There are many bosses out there like Romney who put numbers on a spreadsheet before people. It is a good approach as many people still have not forgotten 2007 as much as the Republicans want them to.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)TOKYO | Wed Jan 4, 2012 6:04am GMT (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investor risk appetite returned after upbeat U.S. and European economic data improved the global growth outlook, but the euro's gains were short-lived due to deep-set worries over the European debt crisis.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose as much as 0.9 percent to its highest in nearly a month, before trimming some gains to stand up 0.6 percent. The materials sector outperformed.
The index fell 18 percent in 2011, sharply underperforming Wall Street's S&P 500, which ended the year virtually unchanged, and an 11 percent drop in the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares.
Japan's Nikkei stock average reached a three-week high and was up 1.4 percent, but Hong Kong and Shanghai shares lagged, with lacklustre turnover suggesting investors were cautious, refraining from chasing recent gains and taking profits.
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/04/uk-markets-global-idUKTRE8020BV20120104
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)LONDON | Wed Jan 4, 2012 8:14am GMT Jan 4 (Reuters) - European shares broke a four-session rally on Wednesday as concerns over the euro zone's huge refinancing needs lead investors to cash in on recent gains.
Banking stocks, many of which are heavily exposed to euro zone debt, fell 0.9 percent ahead of a German debt auction later in the session.
"It's all down to the bond market and it's all down to the sovereigns," said David Moss, a director and senior fund manager at F&C Asset Management's European Equities team, which has around 2.7 billion euros under management.
"We've seen some encouraging comments and actions from (prime ministers Mario) Monti in Italy and (Mariano) Rajoy in Spain. If they carry on on the tone they started and the bond markets are happy, then we can carry on."
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/04/markets-europe-stocks-open-idUKP6E7NR00V20120104
Note:
"The basic structure is unchanged from 2011, that is, developed countries will be undermined by the euro zone debt crisis and its fallouts while developing countries will manage to spur domestic demand, supporting industrialised countries' exports," said Makoto Noji, senior strategist for SMBC Nikko Securities...
... Analysts say global economic data and European events will continue to drive markets in 2012, and that investors were expected to remain wary of aggressively taking risks throughout the year.
"We expect global economic concerns to begin to dominate as Q1 2012 progresses," Standard Chartered said in a note to clients...
... Risks related to the euro zone debt crisis include progress in Greece's fiscal reforms, Italy's refinancing of about 150 billion euros (125.2 billion pounds) of government debt in February-April alone and the possibility of sovereign credit rating cuts in key euro zone economies including France.
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/04/uk-markets-global-idUKTRE8020BV20120104
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The demands of working people in the US and around the world haven't yet been met, and there's still a need for the same energy and outrage on the issues of jobs, income and wealth inequality, home foreclosures, working people's rights to organize, and of course, Wall Street's crimes. So, while we hesitate to make predictions for victories and political outcomes, we do have some guesses as to where we'll see some exciting activism in 2012.
In some cases, the plans are already being laid for big spring and summer actions (and even fall, with the presidential election fast approaching). In other realms, we haven't heard anything definitive, but the conditions are certainly ripe for a big move by the 99%. After all, social movements aren't built in a few months. They take years of planning, new and escalating tactics, and the occasional great leap forward. We saw that leap in 2011—now it's time to take the next step in 2012.
Read on for seven places where working people's fight for justice should erupt over the next year.
1. Iowa Caucuses
... according to Mother Jones' Gavin Aronsen, Occupy Iowa supporters have already held their own People's Caucus. They broke out into groups similar to the preference groups that occur at the real Iowa caucuses—but rather than choosing the candidate they want to win, they chose a candidate most deserving of having their headquarters occupied. The winner? Barack Obama, with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in close second and third...
2. Wisconsin
... recalling Walker seems very likely to be on the agenda this year. In addition, on February 17, the anniversary of the occupation of the capitol, United Students Against Sweatshops is holding a conference in Madison celebrating 15 years of organizing—and planning a big action to celebrate Wisconsinites' fight for workers' rights...
3. University of California
...while campus-based activism is not new in the U.S., the way the occupiers have linked their complaints with the larger issue of growing Wall Street and corporate power may be a new chapter for student organizing...student activists are planning weeks of action across the California public university system, and thinking of ways to make their fight a national one—perhaps by connecting to the burgeoning movement against student debt...
4. Charlotte, North Carolina
The Democratic National Convention's selection of Charlotte has already angered some party supporters—the party that relies on union support chose for its gathering the state with the smallest union density in the country, and the city that is the headquarters of Bank of America (and, until it was bought out by Wells Fargo, Wachovia Bank as well)...Occupy groups are present not just in Charlotte, but in Raleigh, Asheville, Greensboro and Chapel Hill, and now it looks as if the city is moving preemptively to boot the protesters out before the estimated 50,000 visitors come in for the conference...Lawyers are already vowing to challenge the constitutionality of such an ordinance, saying it may violate the First Amendment...
5. G-8 Summit in Chicago
...that city's officials announced this week that Daley Plaza would be open to protesters who want to gather there and speak out against the G-8 and NATO summits this May. That's after announcements of increased fines and crackdowns against protesters drew criticism, and the city's police superintendent, according to NPR, called the Occupy protests (and busts thereof) a “dry run” for what they expect during the summits...tens of thousands of protesters are expected. It's the first time since 1977 that the NATO and G-8 summits will be held at the same time, and they're expected to discuss Afghanistan war policy as well as the global economic issues that are the usual focus of the G-8. No permits have been granted yet for those who are seeking official permission to march and rally, but Occupy protesters at least haven't been stopped in the past by the lack of permits...
6. New York
...It's not a stretch to predict that the financial district hasn't seen the last of raucous protest, civil disobedience, or dance parties...But New York City is also the site of one of the most-watched home occupations, the house at 702 Vermont St. in East New York, where organizers from community groups and Occupy Wall Street liberated a home that had been foreclosed upon by Bank of America and moved a homeless family in. So far, they have succeeded in holding that house, and the next step will be putting more families in foreclosed homes, as well as defending families against foreclosure...And finally, the City University of New York has seen battles second only to University of California's over tuition hikes, student debt, and the privatization of public education. New York is also home to the working group that founded the Student Debt Refusal Pledge...
7. Ohio
Possibly the biggest win for the working class in the US this year was Ohio's overturning of SB5, the anti-union bill that Governor John Kasich pushed through last year. The bill, stripping collective bargaining rights from 360,000 public sector employees, so angered working Ohioans that more people actually came out in an off-year election to vote for a “Citizens' Veto” of SB5 than voted to make Kasich governor in 2010. The coalition, We Are Ohio, that gathered 1.3 million petition signatures to get the repeal on the ballot, isn't ready to quit yet, either...Ohio, being one of the largest swing states, has the power to shift an election. It also has a working population still struggling, with high unemployment that dates back before the financial crisis to the predations of deindustrialization and offshoring...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...At a time when workers between 55 and 74 with limited education and jobs skills are far more likely to lose a job and stay out of work longer, Congress held steady on the funding level for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) at last year's amount -- cut 45 percent from two years ago...
SCSEP is the largest federally funded program for older adults and is the last vestige of the jobs programs that began during the depression-era New Deal under the Works Progress Administration. It's a community service and work training program for older adults. Participants work an average of 20 hours a week and are paid minimum wage. Subsidizing jobs at day-care centers, senior centers, schools and hospitals are intended to help older adults find unsubsidized jobs.
Participants must be over 55, unemployed and with an income of less than 125 percent of the federal poverty level.
Currently the Department of Labor, which oversees the program, reports 46,000 participants in fiscal year 2011, but that is down from the 100,000 participants in year earlier. Of the 46,000, roughly 89 percent were at or below the poverty level...For these workers the Great Recession has been particularly tough. During 2010, more than 8.3 million people from 55-74 lived in households with incomes of no more than $20,000 a year, representing roughly 15 percent of that cohort, according to Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies and an economics professor at Boston's Northeastern University...This low-income older population is far more likely to be female, black or Hispanic, a high school dropout, and unmarried, Sum said...The current 7 percent unemployment rate for workers over 55 is below the national average, but it is the highest rate since World War II for this group, Sum told the GSA conference...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The new great hope for job creation in Washington is the Keystone pipeline, a plan to create a pipeline that would transport oil from Alberta, Canada, as far as New Orleans. According to the Republican leadership and other proponents of the pipeline, it is expected to create 20,000 jobs in the construction and supplier industries.
There have questions raised about this number by analysts and by the State Department, which must approve the pipeline. It seems that this 20,000 number refers to "job years," not jobs. This means that if a construction worker is employed for two years working on the pipeline, she would count as holding two jobs in the 20,000 jobs number. The number of jobs created at a point in time would likely be closer to half of this figure, perhaps less than 10,000.
It's also likely that many of these jobs will go to Canadians. This is good for them, but beside the point if the goal is to create jobs for people in the United States....The question is how Keystone measures up to other potential job-creation policies...One that should be on the agenda is lowering the value of the dollar. If the dollar falls in value, it will make our exports cheaper to people in other countries, causing them to buy more US exports. Similarly, imports will be more expensive for people living in the United States, leading people to buy domestically produced goods instead of imports.
Suppose that the dollar fell by an average of 10 percent (adjusting for differences in inflation rates) against the currencies of our trading partners. Economists often assume that the change in the quantity of imports and exports will be roughly twice as large as the change in relative prices...This means (using some simplifications) that if the dollar fell by 10 percent, then our exports would rise by 20 percent and our imports would fall by 20 percent. Since most of the items traded are manufactured, this would translate into a huge increase in the output of our manufacturing sector. Working off the 2010 trade data, this decline in the value of the dollar would imply an increase in manufacturing output of more than $500 billion a year. This is equal to almost 44 percent of current manufacturing output. If employment increased proportionately, that would translate into more than 5 million additional manufacturing jobs.
Comparing this to the Keystone pipeline, we could say that a 10 percent reduction in the value of the dollar would have roughly the same impact on employment as 500 Keystone pipelines...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)AND REMEMBER, THE EURO IS FALLING LIKE A STONE...AND GERMAN JOBS HAVEN'T BEEN OUTSOURCED
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15640474,00.html
Over 41 million people in Germany were employed in 2011 – a record high since the country's unification in 1990, new figures published Monday by the Federal Statistics Office show.
The surprising statistic has inspired economic pundits agree that the employment figure will rise even further in the current year, although another increase of almost half a million as recorded in 2011 seems out of the question.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Santa Claus came early this year for four former executives of Washington Mutual (WaMu), a large US bank that failed in fall 2008. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) had brought a lawsuit against the four, actions that included taking huge financial risks while “knowing that the real estate market was in a ‘bubble.’” The FDIC sought to recover $900 million, but the executives have just settled for $64 million, almost all of which will be paid by their insurers; their out-of-pockets costs are estimated at just $400,000.
To be sure, the executives lost their jobs and now must drop claims for additional compensation. But, according to the FDIC, the four still earned more than $95 million from January 2005 through September 2008. So they are walking away with a great deal of cash. This is what happens when financial executives are compensated for “return on equity” unadjusted for risk. The executives get the upside when things go well; when the downside risks materialize, they lose nothing (or close to it).
At the same time, their actions – and similar actions by other bankers – are directly responsible for both the run-up in housing prices and the damaging collapse that followed. That collapse has impacted non-bankers in many negative ways, including through the loss of more than eight million jobs....
...Big banks represent the ultimate in concentrated economic power in today’s economies. They are able to resist all meaningful reform that could really change their compensation schemes. Their executives want to get all the upside while facing none of the true downside. But capitalism without the prospect of failure is not any kind of market economy. We are running a large-scale, nontransparent, and dangerous government subsidy scheme for the benefit primarily of a very few, extremely wealthy people.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...Ben Bernanke’s plan to goose up spending by printing extra money began in January. That was a big deal. QEII it was called. It was expected to lower bond yields and get the economy going by putting more money in more pockets…Wrong on all counts. Bond yields rose. No new jobs were created. The economy didn’t expand. And the money stayed in the pockets of the bankers. But the new cash — or the thought of it — was enough to drive up the price of oil and food. This didn’t do much for America’s middle class consumers. Their cost of living rose while their incomes and net worth fell. Houses kept going down, month after month, quarter after quarter...Gold soared…from somewhere in the $1,400 range…to over $1,900, before falling back into the $1,500 range by year end. Another solid year for our friend, gold, in other words. Up about 10%. Who can complain about that?
Meanwhile, the price of oil surprised us. It was as if it didn’t know there was a Great Correction going on. The price was pushed up by the feds’ money printing…and something else. Speculators were afraid that freedom and democracy might catch on in the Mideast. The US government supported practically all the old “strong men” of the region. It slipped them a twenty from time to time…along with a few US surplus handguns and torture equipment. Then, when the winds of “Arab Spring” shifted direction, the feds went over to the other side. Mubarak and Gaddafi were out of luck.
The old tyrants disappeared. Nobody cared. And oil stayed around $100.
QEII expired in June. Then, a different crisis took over the headlines. Despite all their rescue efforts, Europe’s little boats kept sinking. First the Irish went down. Then, the Greeks began to go under. France and Germany, on Europe’s only dry ground, kept throwing them lifelines. But just as soon as they had one little boat in tow, another one started to ship water. The Greeks groused because they wanted more money. And the Germans fussed because they didn’t want to give them any more. Investors thought that was all there was to it. But then the Spaniards…and the Italians began to sink too. And then speculators began to wonder about the French. If you studied the numbers, you saw that there wasn’t that much difference between the Spaniards, the Italians and the French. All the Latins were deep in debt. And none seemed to have a serious plan for getting out of it. It was one thing to toss a line to the Greeks…but who had enough money for the Italians? They were the third largest debtor in the world. And the French? Forget it. Silvio Berlusconi was a special case. The Italian president didn’t seem to want to play along; he just wanted to play around. The banks wanted him to put on a good show…to pretend to cut spending…to pretend to implement a serious austerity program. Berlusconi wouldn’t do it. Italian bond yields continued to rise. Whether it was speculators…or the Euro insiders themselves…we don’t know. But someone wanted Italy’s elected chief out of the way. Berlusconi stepped aside when Italian bond yields approached 7%, making room for a guy named Monti...The papers reported that the ‘technocrats’ were taking over. Monti used to work for the Boston Fed, if we recall correctly. And then there was Mr. Draghi over at the European Central Bank, who used to work at Goldman Sachs. Not only that, he was head of the Bank of Italy at the very time Italy was getting itself in financial trouble. The top job in Greece turned over too. Papandreou stepped aside to make room for Papademos. Something like that. Papademos was a banker too.
All of which recalled for us the famous remark of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, “Give me control of a nation’s money; I care not who makes its laws.”
Read more: A Brief Retrospective of the Year Gone By http://dailyreckoning.com/a-brief-retrospective-of-the-year-gone-by/#ixzz1iTsUO5Gk
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Private equity groups and financiers are expecting a strong start for the US leveraged loan market in 2012
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/VLA71K/GYN7Q/JERS43/30XSGI/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=3
“What fresh hell is this?” --- Dorothy Parker, The Portable Dorothy Parker
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Private equity arm scales down Hollywood presence by disposing of Alliance Films, the company that financed the Oscar-winning ‘The King’s Speech’
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/VLA71K/GYN7Q/JERS43/DWRT7S/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=3
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Nissan’s Leaf and GM’s Chevrolet Volt have sold about 30,000 units combined in their first year
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/VLA71K/GYN7Q/JERS43/62YFOY/FW/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=3
dmallind
(10,437 posts)Constrained by supply, not demand. They have said for years 20k a year is the limit until TN comes online. There is still a waiting list for Leafs, and still more than 20 states where you can't even order one. The Volt of course is a serial hybrid not a true EV.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)France’s largest oil company, acquired a $2.32 billion holding in Ohio’s Utica shale region from Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and EnerVest Ltd.
Total will gain a 25 percent stake in 619,000 acres of Utica in eastern Ohio, a shale deposit rich in liquids as well as natural gas, Chesapeake said today in a statement. Chesapeake will get $2.03 billion and EnerVest $290 million.
Extracting hydrocarbons from underground shale rocks has turned the U.S. into the world’s largest gas producer, attracting investments from international oil companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA) The Utica fields may also provide oil, making them more profitable should crude prices hold above $100 a barrel...
Total bought a stake in Chesapeake’s Barnett Shale field in Texas in 2010 and has advanced unconventional gas projects in Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark and Poland. Total said in October it may work with China Petrochemical Corp. to explore shale in the country that consumes the most energy in the world...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Deficit hawks try to scare us about the debt we're leaving. That's economic nonsense – unlike the costs of global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/03/climate-change-real-bequest
It is remarkable how efforts to reduce the government deficit/debt are often portrayed as a generational issue, while efforts to reduce global warming are almost never framed in this way. This contrast is striking because the issues involved in reducing the deficit or debt have little direct relevance to distribution between generations, whereas global warming is almost entirely a question of distribution between generations.
Seeing the debt as an issue between generations is wrong in almost every dimension. The idea that future generations will somehow be stuck with some huge tab in the form of the national debt suffers from the simple logical problem that we are all going to die. At some point, everyone who owns the debt being issued today, or over the next two decades, will be dead. They will have to pass the ownership of the debt to someone else – in other words, their children or grandchildren. This means that the debt is not money that our children and grandchildren will be paying to someone else. It is money that they will be paying to themselves.
...If the deficit has little to with the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren, global warming has everything to do with it. We run the risk of handing them a planet without many of the fascinating features that we had the opportunity to enjoy (for example, coral reefs that are dying, plant and animal species that are becoming extinct, landscapes that are being transformed). Far more seriously, we face the likelihood of handing them a planet in which hundreds of millions of people risk death by starvation due to drought in central Africa, or through flooding in Bangladesh and other densely populated low-lying areas in Asia, as a result of human caused global warming....
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...
Germany will not be able to fudge EMU any longer. It must either immolate itself, accepting a debt union and internal inflation to save a currency it never wanted and doesn't love; or opt instead to uphold fiscal sovereignty and the essence of its own democracy, and let the Project die.
The shrewd, equivocating, ice-cold Chancellor will quietly oust arch-europhile Wolfgang Schauble and let the Project die, always pretending otherwise....
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Central banks have the means to prevent a 1930s outcome, even with rates at zero, if willing to deploy Fisher-Friedman monetary stimulus with conviction, buying assets from non-banks and targeting nominal GDP growth of 5pc. But policy defeatism is in the air, and Austro-liquidationists are winning the popular debate.
The second leg of our Kondratieff Winter comes at an awful moment for Euroland, just as the North-South split turns deadly.
Why not nationalize?
Demeter
(85,373 posts)One is likely to get bit.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)A homeowner was astounded to learn that his parking space was worth more than his riverfront apartment with panoramic views. The single car bay in the underground garage had been valued at almost $300,000 - when up until last week, it was only considered to be worth $5,000 by city authorities. Richard Milesky Jr, lives upstairs in a condo that offers stunning views of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The home is valued at $230,000.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081354/Richard-Milesky-Jr-facing-legal-battle-underground-parking-spot-valued-300.html#ixzz1iU41NCub
Demeter
(85,373 posts)
Po_d Mainiac
(4,183 posts)He saves his fiercest words for "media morons" who avoid the stories that matter most, noting:
"And the bigger they got, the more untouchable they became. TV Money Honeys, fast-talking finance finaglers, Nightly News anchors, Sunday Morning Beltway Blowhards, and Talk Show Tough Guys genuflected, scraped, kissed up and bowed down before those magnificent men in their money machines.
When these kings, queens and aristocrats of 21st-century commerce spoke, their ex cathedra judgments went unquestioned. Thus, when they warned that if the "too big to fail" were allowed to fail the world financial system would collapse, their conclusions went unchallenged. No evidence was provided, no proof was needed, and no explanation was tendered. Harvard, Princeton, Yale ... the White Shoe Boyz had spoken. They who invented the "too big to fail" were "too big to question."
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)Spouse always says if it isn't on TV, it is not important.
All this doomy stuff we read on the internets, is not discussed on the TV. Therefore, to spouse (and everyone else I know), the economy is not that bad. The stock markets are skyrocketing to the moon, so they all believe recovery is here now.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)has been driving me crazy. We have serious problems to deal with and most people are concerned with the lives of people they will never meet rather than the homeless guy on their street corner (that was probably a decorated war vet).
I forgot the term until recently (the trouble with getting older-I don't forget, it just takes a bit longer to access it).
Humans fall victim to the normalacy bias What is this normalacy bias....
"The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.[1]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
Why do some people (I include those in SWT) not fall for this. I think maybe we work another side of our brains. Math and hard science types like hard data. Note I left out economists. Most people that call themselves economists these days are nothing more than salesmen, trying to sell the company line or worse yet the government line. I think folks are so confused these days that they don't know what is real and what is not-further distorting the normalacy bias.
I first noticed this when I gave up watching television several years ago. Now I do not live in a cave, and I do catch snippets, but it is just that, snippets. I do not watch long enough to get sucked in. I watch movies etc, but again, I chose.
When I meet with friends, they will go on for hours about some TV show and the peoples lives that are involved in the show. It is like we have forgotten how to relate to each other. I don't give a rat's ass about Kate Middleton's uterus, but I do care about how your kids are faring and what you think about the worlds problems.
And when you do try to relate and point out some serious problems, you are a Gloomy Gus or Debbie Downer. Until we shake off the television opiate and realize we have a problem, we will only magnify our normalacy bias.
I just hope we wake up before it is too late.
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)I need to bookmark that term.
For me, I started to connect the dots after the 2004 election. Being from Ohio, I knew Bush had stolen the election, again. So I began earnestly reading the internets. There is so much information out in cyberspace, it has become my personal library!
Then appx 4 years ago, I branched from politics to the absurdity of the stock market, to the unsustainability of, well everything, plus all the frauds and absence of the rule of law (for the elites).
Yet it is nearly impossible to explain it to people. It is right in front of them, but I can't open their eyes. Obviously, they have other priorities, and unfortunately, won't wake up until it is too late. I only hope that with our collective minds and bodies, that we will be able to pitch in and help each other with whatever comes.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)It talks about our naturally occuring bias. That is the one that comes closest to explaining our current perdicament.
We are on about the same time scale as far as connecting the dots. I truly think the fact that I weaned myself off tv is part of the solution. I think OWS is part of the awakening.
Look at Chris Martinsen Crash Course. He puts it togather very nicely. I guess I am such a science and numbers freak, but I think he is on to something.
I was mad at myself for forgetting the term for so long, but I now have it taped on my iPad. I am learning to check my filters periodically to make sure I am getting the right value out of the info I recieve.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Bill Black has an interesting new take on the role of Fannie and Freddie in the housing bubble. He sees their investment in non-prime mortgages as being driven by executive compensation, rather than a fight for market share against investment bank securitization conduits or govt affordable housing policy. The government affordable housing policy point has been repeatedly debunked (and Susan Wachter and I have a new paper that adds to this debunking via an examination of the commercial real estate bubble, where there was no government involvement whatsoever). Black is not, however, able to disprove the market share theory. What he does point to is that the GSE's involvement with nonprime mortgages was as whole loans kept in portfolio, rather than securitized (and also via purchases of MBS), which he says was a move to increase the short-term yield for the GSEs and thus maximize short-term executive compensation.
I think this is an interesting theory, but there are a few data points necessary to make it work, and I'm skeptical that they all support Black.
According to Black, the GSEs' involvement in nonprime mortgages grew out of their earlier accounting scandals. Black sees these scandals as the result of efforts to increase executive compensation. He argues that Fannie and Freddie first tried to goose their returns by increasing the size of their whole loan portfolios and thus taking on massive interest rate risk. Fannie bet the wrong direction on interest rates and this resulted in the Fannie accounting scandal as it tried to cover up its losses. Freddie got the bet right, but then tried to set up a "cookie jar" to cover future losses in order to inflate future earnings. The SEC was having none of it, and forced out the CEOs and mandated accounting restatements. In the wake of these scandals, OFHEO (the GSE's regulator) made the GSEs limit their hedging activities and reduce the size of their portfolios.
Black argues that this boxed in the GSEs in terms of how their could up their returns. In order to increase the returns from their portfolio, they shifted it to non-prime products, and moved more of the prime products into MBS. He further argues that the only thing that kept the GSEs from getting into really poorly underwriting non-prime products was that their risk managers and underwriters had a superior culture of responsibility and fought harder to maintain standards.
I don't doubt that executive compensation could (and probably did) play a role in the GSEs' purchases of nonprime mortgages. But Black hasn't presented a convincing story. His story relies on three pieces of evidence that he has not produced: first, that the GSEs' kept the nonprime in portfolio and securitized only prime; second, that this execution was more profitable in the short term than securitizing the nonprime mortgages; and third, that the GSEs' had a superior culture of underwriting and risk-management that kept things in check. The first point should be reasonably easy to verify. But I'm less sure about the second, and the third, is entirely speculative. Regarding the second point, remember that the GSEs' bear the credit risk on mortgages regardless of whether they are in portfolio or securitized (via a guarantee). The only difference is whether the GSEs bear the interest rate risk, which they do for portfolio, but not for securitized loans. Unless there was a real difference in yield based on interest rate risk (which is possible) between a securitized and a portfolio nonprime loan, there'd be no reason to securitize the prime and keep the non-prime in portfolio because of higher yields. That matters because Black's argument that the GSE involvement in non-prime was because of higher yields which boosted executive compensation, and if the form of their involvement didn't track with yields, this story falls apart. Certainly the investment banks decided that securitization rather than portfolio was the better execution, and it's hard to believe that the economics would have been different for the GSEs.
Again, an executive compensation angle is quite possible, but I think there's a lot to be said for the market share theory. Executive compensation (and tenure) depended on GSE share price, and GSE share price was dependent upon market share, which was falling. What happened, then was an insurance rate war. The GSEs are best understood as mono-insurance companies, like MBIA (or AIG): like insurance companies they have an investment portfolio (MBS or whole loans) and they issue bond insurance, in the form of the guarantees on their MBS. The only difference is that the GSEs securitize the products that they insure. A major insurance regulation concern is preventing rate wars for market share, as a rate war will leave all competitors undercapitalized for paying out future claims. The GSEs got into a rate war with private-label MBS. They did this not by lowering the G-fee that they charge for their guarantee, but by holding the G-fee constant and lowering underwriting standards. The rate that the GSEs charge needs to be understood as a risk-adjusted rate, and while the stated rate stayed constant, the risk-adjustment did not, resulting in a lower risk-adjusted rate....Bottom line here is that we don't have definitive evidence supporting for any of the theories of the GSEs' involvement in the housing bubble. There's strong evidence against some theories, but little affirmative evidence. The GSEs are themselves sitting on the best evidence; it would be really nice to see FHFA (or the FHFA IG) put out a definitive report on the role of the GSEs in the housing bubble.
Hugin
(33,032 posts)MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions.
But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the sources said.
The sale of securities to Goldman occurred on Oct.27, just days before MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct.31, the ex-employees said.
...
The lien puts JPMorgan's interests ahead of MF Global customers who have not yet received an estimated $900 million worth of money from their accounts, which remain frozen as regulators search for missing funds.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45866612
Cross post from SixthSense's thread in LBN. http://www.democraticunderground.com/101417129
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 4, 2012, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)
The insiders know the brokerage company(s) that they want to bankrupt. But before bankruptcy is declared, the TBTF banks and elites are sold (steal) the client money from the soon-to-be-bankrupt-brokerage-company.
Poof - your money is gone.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
At some point, after the elites have all the money they can steal from the brokerages, there will be a flash crash to take whatever money is left, and leave the little guy with empty bags.
IMO, the flash crash that happened on 5/6/10 was just a test for the Big One.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Flash_Crash
Demeter
(85,373 posts)In the spring of 2008, the real estate bubble popped in the United States and it triggered a financial tsunami that engulfed the entire globe. This catastrophe provided an opportunity for change, change that was necessary to restructure the economic architecture of the US Despite the hefty promises made by President Obama during his election campaign, upon taking office he did the complete opposite of what was expected, or to be precise, hoped for, and succumbed, as his predecessors did, to the same interests that were responsible for the catastrophe. Instead of seizing the opportunity, all policies implemented after 2008, were geared towards maintaining the status quo. These polices have exacerbated the magnitude of a crisis that will take effect anytime after 2012.
After the 1907 panic, influential bankers agreed to establish the Federal Reserve by 1914. The Fed is a “private” central bank that controls U.S monetary policy, acts as the lender of last resort and its shareholders consists of corporate banks. In addition, it is excluded from independent audits and congressional oversight. The monetary policy of the Fed is the core factor why the US economy is currently on an unsustainable path. The Fed currently holds fractional reserve at 10%. For example, when ‘Bank ABC’ borrows $10,000 from the Fed it deposits $1,000 and is able to loan out $9,000. Let say that $9,000 is then loaned out to an individual who needs a car. After purchasing the car, the $9,000 is transferred to the seller and deposited in Bank ‘XYZ’. Under a 10% fractional reserve, ‘Bank XYZ’ deposits $900 and is able to loan out $8,100. In total, banks combined lend out $17,100 with deposits of only $1,900.This policy benefits lenders handsomely whereas the savers are at risk. In addition, systematic risk increases significantly when the investment arm of the bank is included that speculates on derivatives with a leverage of 40:1 on capital. Currently, the total aggregate derivates market is 12 times of global GDP at $701 trillion traded by a handful of corporate banks. And then we have the FIAT System. In 1963 the Fed abolished the gold/silver standard and violated the US constitution (Article 1, Section 10) that prohibited states from using anything other than gold and silver for the repayment of debts. An elastic money supply known as the FIAT system was established in which currency could be created without restraint (gold reserves). This system does not constitute any cost or liability to the issuer, only to the borrower. The fractional reserve principle combined with an elastic money supply primarily benefits the financial sector as they are on the top of money issuing pyramid.
Artificially low interest rates
The Federal reserve uses credit inflation to prop up the FIRE (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) economy. Cheap credit creates both an artificial demand and misleading price signals, for example, before the 2008 collapse, due to cheap credit flooding into the housing market, housing price kept rising creating a false perception of an improvement in the economic and productive environment causing an overinvestment in the industry. Speculators on Wall Street profiteered from this asset price inflation. The economy didn’t. A prolonged low interest rate policy discourages and diminishes savings. Savings are vital for capital formation that will be invested in the future. Since the FIRE economy took off in the 1970’s, the US saving rate has declined rapidly whereas the debt culture has grown exponentially.
Special interest capturing politics
The FIRE economy is, by far, the largest spender when it comes to shaping US Politics. It has contributed over $1.9 Billion since the 1990’s in political affairs, which includes donations to President Obama. Through intense lobbying it has managed to deregulate the market by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act and push the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 into law. The modern economic philosophy needs to go back to the classical view which states: Finance cannot substitute production. The productive (manufacturing & export) is the real economy and should be at the forefront, not the FIRE economy. Credit cannot replace savings. Speculation is not the same as sound investment. Issuing more debt is not the solution to grow out of existing debt.
The writer is a freelance journalist and works for Muffathalle
Demeter
(85,373 posts)US press coverage has usually cast the Tea Party as an authentic expression of popular anger against Washington insiders. Anthony DiMaggio’s new book, Rise of the Tea Party, shatters such myths, demonstrating that the Tea Party has never been a genuine social movement or political outsider but rather an elite-dominated group that was closely linked to the Republican establishment from its inception three years ago. The Tea Party’s goal has been to aid a struggling Republican Party in its efforts to further roll back the social safety net and funnel more wealth and power from workers to the rich...
...The study is really two books in one: an authoritative examination of the Tea Party phenomenon and “a grand theory of public opinion and the larger social forces that influence it”...
The first two chapters critically analyze the Tea Party’s emergence and growth in 2009-10, showing that the organization has never been an independent or mass-based movement. DiMaggio refutes the typical depiction of the group as maverick agitators who cause headaches for Democrats and Republicans alike: from the start the Tea Party and its affiliate groups had close institutional ties to the Republican Party and billionaire Republican sponsors like the Koch brothers. Common claims about the effect of the Tea Party on Congressional Republicans are also misleading. The shift of the Republican Party toward ever more extremist positions cannot be attributed to the influence of the Tea Party faction (and certainly not, as some claim, to any shift in public opinion). As DiMaggio observes, the Republican Party’s rightward shift has been underway for decades. Moreover, there is strong agreement among Tea Party and “moderate” Republicans in Congress on the vast majority of policy questions, belying characterizations of Tea Partiers as challengers to the Republican establishment. The Tea Party’s primary purpose has been to “rebrand” the Republican Party as a populist force and channel votes to Republican candidates in an era when the electorate views the Republican Party (even more so than the Democratic Party) with ever-increasing scorn.
...The chapter’s provocative title—“The Tea Party Does Not Exist”—conveys two key points: that the Tea Party has very little local presence and that it has never been an independent party but rather “a covert Republican operation” (p. 92). DiMaggio and Street’s research found that most of the typical features of a genuine social movement were lacking. Few chapters were active on the local level, few held regular open meetings, and there was little or no commitment among chapter leaders to movement-building and member empowerment. Meetings that did occur were conducted in a highly authoritarian manner with little open discussion. Chapter leaders engaged in outreach mainly in order to generate turn-out at periodic events that served as thinly-veiled campaign rallies for Republican candidates. Most chapter work was “dominated by partisan electioneering interests” (p. 89)...
...In mid-2011 one Tea Party leader admitted that “there would not have been a Tea Party without Fox”...
THE MASKS ARE OFF--AND THERE STILL IS JOURNALISM IN THIS BEKNIGHTED NATION!
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The Crewe-based carmaker reports its second-best annual result after selling more cars in China than the UK for the first time in its history
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/16WIRG/4VXHZ/5VM46Y/L9T781/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=4
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Bank is at risk of another increase in its mortgage losses after judge sides with MBIA on crucial point in long-running lawsuit
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/16WIRG/4VXHZ/5VM46Y/AM9BF3/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=4
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)DoJ claims trio advised US citizens to move out of UBS accounts once the Swiss bank came under increased scrutiny from American authorities
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/16WIRG/4VXHZ/5VM46Y/8ZETJN/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=4
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Most of the core countries, mainly in northern Europe and in a cluster around Germany, have unemployment below the 10.3% eurozone average
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/U124TE/IEP5S/QNLHSM/B5SGP9/1G/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=4
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The US central bank will publish forecasts of its own interest rates in a permanent shift in how it conducts monetary policy
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/U124TE/IEP5S/QNLHSM/7AILRK/1G/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=4
THIS HAS GOT TO BE STUPID AND EVIL. EVIL IS STUPID, BY DEFINITION, TURNING ONE'S BACK ON SOCIETY.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)My reputation as hugely negative editorialist on developed world economies is fortunately not in jeopardy. For the past three years at this blog, I have articulated the intractable dilemma of debt and resource scarcity that will plague the EU, US, and Japan for the balance of the decade. In short, oil prices are never going to come down again—not for any length of time. And US house prices and US wages are not likely to ever go up again—not for any length of time. The dream of higher wages and lower oil prices is just that. And the utopia of 1999, when purchasing power was flipped (compared to now) and the US Dollar stood like a giant against food and energy, will eventually be accepted as a lost era. Never to be regained.
While enormous advantages can be lost in absolute terms, however, in relative terms the developed world still has some advantages. The US, while not often thought of in this regard, is a veritable titan of natural resources. Not in oil, so much, but along with North America more generally the US sits on a tremendous cache of timber, natural gas, coal, and arable land. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan remain epicenters of the highly technical manufacturing bases the world will need as it transitions away from liquid fossil fuels to the powergrid, and transport globally becomes increasingly electrified. I have written endlessly about failure of Western economists to sufficiently account for the influence over natural resources now held by the 5 billion people in the developing world. However, the pressure that their gargantuan demand places on oil, coal, copper, and food is still offset by the crucial advantages still offered by the West, from our engineering traditions. This makes for ironic portraits. For example, the United States with its political dysfunction is unable to do the correct thing and choose rail over automobile transport, which itself is now a low to negative ROI economic proposition. Meanwhile, China correctly embraces rail tranport but there is a problem: many of the large engineering projects in Asia and in China—and I’m sorry to say this—are not constructed very well. The economic might of Germany, therefore, is not a fluke: that country continues to make along with other parts of Europe the finest infrastructure equipment the world can buy. If you think this tradition can be replicated easily, you are wrong.
This does not change the fact, however, that the West—particularly Washington and London—has fucked up big time in allowing private and public sector debt levels to reach a terrifying escape velocity that now extends way, way beyond any reasonable growth prospects (in industrial terms) that we could achieve in our future. If you want to be calmed about debt and find yourself turning to the whispers of the Keynesians and MMT-ers for comfort, at least recognize that included in every scolding article from Paul Krugman about debt fear-mongering is an admission that growth, yes, economic growth, will still be necessary to escape our current debt levels. Unfortunately, I must remind that the entire economic policy and business complex is still operating with the assumption that economic growth is inevitable and will resume. There remains alot of market risk, embedded in that belief.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)And selling off the natural resources of our country will continue unabated, sounds like.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Looks the same to me...
xchrom
(108,903 posts)but we're bone dry -- supposed to rain on saturday.
i had the yard man over yesterday -- and he put down 7 yards of mulch in the front yard -- i was so confused about what day it was -- i almost left and missed him.
i don't think it's going get cold enough for long enough for my tulips - that bums me out -- tulips are among my favorite flowers.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)(Reuters) - China's state audit office uncovered 530 billion yuan (54 billion pounds) worth of irregularities with local government debt, leaving investors wondering how much work remains to be done to clean up after 2008's stimulus-fuelled credit binge.
The findings of the National Audit Office report published on China's central government website (www.gov.cn) reveal a litany of bad practice.
But the figure is barely a fraction of the 2-3 trillion of sour loans economists reckon are buried in the 10.7 trillion yuan of debt local governments had by the end of 2010.
"It is becoming increasingly obvious that significant debt restructuring will need to take place at the local level, the scale of which has yet to be fully understood," Alistair Thornton, a Beijing-based economist with IHS Global Insight said in a note to clients.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)HONG KONG, Jan 4 (Reuters) - China shares started the new year on the backfoot on Wednesday as Premier Wen Jiabao's warning of a "difficult" period ahead for the economy gave little comfort to domestic investors already suffering from a 2-1/2 year slump on the mainland markets.
The Shanghai Composite fell 1.4 percent, dragging down stocks in Hong Kong, which gave back about a third of Monday's gains. The Hang Seng index closed down 0.8 percent.
After a period in which Chinese authorities had sought to cool credit and overall high growth rates, Wen said the first quarter of 2012 would be "difficult" for the world's No.2 economy, according to comments published on the government portal www.gov.cn overnight.
Wen said there would be policy tweaks as slowdown concerns intensify, but hinted the government is not ready to carry out another massive stimulus programme as it did during the 2008/09 global crisis.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I have a stock currently priced at 40.00. I want to sell when it gets to 42.00. My on-line toy makes me choose among "Market", "Limit", "Stop", and "Stop Limit". Which do I select?
TIA
Hugin
(33,032 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I still don't get the difference between a Limit order and a Stop order, but it sounds like either will work
xchrom
(108,903 posts)(Reuters) - Hedge funds hunting profits from falling share prices are circling many of Britain's biggest retailers after deep pre-Christmas discounting failed to tempt shoppers to splash the cash in the festive season.
Lacklustre festive spending is expected to blight a wave of New Year trading figures from Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), WHSmith (SMWH.L), Carpetright (CATVU.L), Home Retail Group (HOME.L) and Mothercare (MTC.L), who have all suffered a spike in the volumes of stock out on loan, a key indicator of short-selling interest.
Short-selling is a common way for hedge funds and other equity traders to bet on falling share prices. Short-sellers borrow stocks to sell them in the hope of scooping them up later at a lower price and pocketing the difference.
Carpetright and Home Retail Group top the sector, with over 14 percent of their total shares out on loan. Interest in the former has climbed to a record high with almost all supply out on loan, securities lending research house Data Explorers said.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)
DPA
Merkel the Mistress and Sarkozy the Butler A screenshot from the German parody of the famous 'Dinner for One'
The sketch "Dinner for One," recorded in 1963 by two little-known British comedy actors, is virtually unheard of in Britain but has Germans in stitches once a year when it is broadcast on TV as part of the staple New Year's Eve schedule.
The plot is simple: Miss Sophie sits down at an empty table for a grand 90th birthday banquet with imaginary, long-dead guests who each have to be played by the hapless butler James. He gets steadily more drunk because he has to join her in toasts in his various roles as the dinner progresses.
That's the joke, plus a bit of slapstick as James keeps tripping over the head of a tiger skin. This year, though, the sketch has been reinvigorated with topical satire thanks to a digitally doctored version featuring Chancellor Angela Merkel as Miss Sophie barking orders at a sycophantic James in the form of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The "Merkozy" Dinner for One spoof, called "The 90th Rescue Summit or Euros for No One," cleverly plants the heads of Sarkozy and Merkel on the bodies of the original actors. It was created for ARD television by a German satirist, Udo Eling, and has become a YouTube hit.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Asian and European energy producers are spending billions of dollars to amass stakes in oil and natural-gas discoveries from Ohio to British Columbia even as earthquakes and tainted water threaten to stall the biggest drilling boom (BAKEHORZ) in at least two decades.
Total SA (FP), Europe’s third-largest oil company, and China Petrochemical Corp. (600028), that nation’s second-biggest crude producer, committed $7 billion to U.S. and Canadian shale rock formations during the past two weeks. The investments are aimed at tapping the expertise of smaller explorers including Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) that pioneered techniques employed to crack previously impervious shale.
The potential rewards from shale regions such as the Utica and Marcellus formations in the eastern U.S. are too big for overseas explorers to ignore, said Mark Hanson, an analyst at Morningstar LLC in Chicago. A New Year’s Eve earthquake in Youngstown, Ohio, linked to a well used to store drilling wastewater prompted the state to halt operations at five such wells. Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying whether intensive shale-drilling practices pose a danger to drinking water.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)
both the markets and the temperature....of, course, because it's paper night.
Hotler
(11,392 posts)I have no hope. I see no future.
Hotler
(11,392 posts)Every time I click on SMW or WEE it takes forever to load and I get virtual memory low.
It adds a lot of overhead and isn't very happy with large threads.
Noticed this yesterday trying to keep up with the Iowa results. I couldn't even get into DU for awhile last night.
But, this is all pure speculation based on nothing.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I can always break up the weekend.
Hotler
(11,392 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)even when you don't run them all at the same time
But I like youtube! Gives another dimension to the news.
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)
ciaoant1
(28 posts)[...] Many say that "gold is a bubble" or "i am not interested in investing my money in gold because i do not want to invest, I want my money to be stable and not having to worry about how my investment will perform".
In reality, these people have no money. They only have currency.
All of humanity is today participating in an "experiment" where we are all investors, even without realizing it. We are by default investing our money in various currencies (apart from all the other investments that someone can make such as shares, etc).
These currencies, like any other investment, can rise and fall - maybe you will make a profit if the currency you use rises, or even completely lose your money (if the value of the currency in which you invest goes to zero (hyperinflation)).
In contrast, gold is money (not currency), and it remains constant. In fact, it is the only thing that remains constant. Its value has never gone down to zero in the thousand of years that it has been used as money, and actually it has not changed much. Gold just stays constant, as a storage of wealth.
As for the value of gold against all the currencies breaking one record after another, it is not because gold is rising, but because the currencies are falling.
So, anyone looking for stability and wanting to protect his wealth, will actually have to resort to gold.
Unfortunately, most people are economically illiterate (the ruling class has made sure of it for it, and the today's "left" has not done much better). This is why most people think that that the currency is what remains constant, and that gold is what is changing. This way of thinking suits the ruling class, which is why they propagate it, as it enables them to steal from people by inflating the currency, without the people realizing it (since in the minds of most people, the currency is stable, and gold is "an investment" that may or may not do well. Most people do not want to invest their money, they just want to store it, so they choose currency over gold, when if fact gold is what they are looking for stability-wise).
Someone could argue that maybe the dollar, the euro or some other currency will actually do well - if they do, then maybe it is better for someone to own currency instead of money (gold). And if the economy is growing, then this is true - for the short term at least: If you decide to invest your money and start a business, maybe this business will do well, and you will become a rich person with lots of money. But what happens if your business does not go well?
“Don’t be a pessimist”, some will say, maybe businesses will do well in the future.
In today's environment however, this is impossible - and here's why:
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source: http://whataboutmarx.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-is-money-is-it-same-as-currency.html
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The sudden change in the weather, the complete lack of change in everything else, waiting for a sign that doesn't say STOP, wondering if the swans that dropped in for Christmas packed up and went south again, hoping the snowdrops make it...walking the grandpuppy.
