STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 7 January 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 7 January 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 4 January 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 4 January 2013
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Dow Jones 13,435.21 +43.85 (0.33%)
S&P 500 1,466.47 +7.10 (0.49%)
[font color=black]Nasdaq 3,101.66 0.00 (0.00%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.90% -0.03 (-1.55%)
30 Year 3.10% -0.05 (-1.59%)[font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.



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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][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Demeter]

1. Face it ladies, our government is failed.

All 3 branches have abrogated their constitutional duties and succumbed to the bribes and blandishments of the 1%.

It's time to clean House, Senate, the courts, and even the White House.

Then we have the state legislatures....

[siligut]

2. A very powerful lobby of assholes

The dominating sort of right-wing people who believe there are winners and losers and they are going to win no matter what it takes. Giving away rights is like giving away money.

[Tansy_Gold]

27. .

giving away other people's rights and other people's money. spot on.

[siligut]

42. The old basics, money, sex and power.

These are the people who want government to stop helping people. These are the people who have power and want to use it unfettered.

Yes, they are like Mitt Romney, using loopholes to steal pensions and put people out of work and then believe they are superior to them. It takes a certain sort of mental disorder to act in this way.

In trying to understand it I have looked to brain chemistry and function. It seems that the limbic system is stimulated with power and in most people this leads to an increase in sexual desire.

There is also something awry in the gray matter, learned cognitive function that allows inhumanity to prevail.

Similar to war when the victors took the wealth and the women. Weak women make these men feel powerful.

This is a comparatively small group, but they exert a good deal of influence.

[Demeter]

3. REPOSTING A MUST-READ: Eunuchs of the Universe by Tom Wolfe

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/01/04/eunuchs-of-the-universe-tom-wolfe-on-wall-street-today.html

It's the story of how Wall St.'s frat boys had their lunch and future eaten by the quants...and everything that follows....in breathless prose.

[Demeter]

4. Consortium of universities, institutions to meet at U-M to discuss future of Great Lakes

http://www.freep.com/article/20130106/NEWS06/130106034/University-of-Michigan-Great-Lakes-Futures-Project?odyssey=tab

The University of Michigan hosts dozens of Great Lakes researchers, advocates and policymakers Wednesday at its Ann Arbor campus for a meeting of the Great Lakes Futures Project. The consortium of universities and institutions in the U.S. and Canada is developing plans for long-term research projects to protect and restore the Great Lakes. More than 75 Great Lakes researchers and others are expected to attend this week’s meeting, hosted by the U-M Water Center.

Participants will discuss forces that shaped the Great Lakes region in the past and those that will shape it over the next half-century, including climate change, energy, economics, water quantity, biological and chemical contaminants, invasive species and demographics.

In October, Michigan and 20 other U.S. and Canadian research institutions announced they were joining forces to propose a set of long-term research and policy priorities to help protect and restore the Great Lakes and to train new scientists, lawyers, planners and policy specialists. The Great Lakes Futures Project of the Transborder Research University Network “will use a cross-disciplinary, cross-sector approach to outlining alternative Great Lakes futures through science-based scenario analysis,” University of Michigan spokesman Jim Erickson said at the time...According to Erickson, the project is starting with “white papers outlining critical drivers of change in the Great Lakes basin over the past 50 years and the next 50 years, including climate change, the economy, biological and chemical contaminants, invasive species, demographics and societal values, governance and geopolitics, energy and water quantity.”

About 35 million people, or 30% of the Canadian and 10 percent of the U.S. population, live in the Great Lakes region, the university said. The Great Lakes basin’s economic output is at least $4 trillion, and its population is expected to grow by 20 million people over the next 20 years, Erickson said.

“This is a critical time to bring together scholars and practitioners from across the region to chart a more protective future for this precious resource,” said Donald Scavia, director of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute

.

I GET REALLY WORRIED WHEN SUCH MASSIVE INSTITUTIONAL MEDDLING IS PROPOSED....IN A TOP-DOWN FORMAT.

[Demeter]

5. Management Is Getting Smarter

[Demeter]

6. GOP dissension over debt-ceiling strategy

I FOUND THIS NUGGET IN ALL THE HAND-WRINGING


Rep. Billy Long, a Missouri Republican who first won election in the 2010 tea party wave, voted in favor of the 2011 debt-limit deal in part because “no one knows the ramifications of not passing a debt ceiling increase and this plan prevents us from finding out,” according to a statement he released at the time.

In an interview Friday, Long lamented that the only way Congress seems to do business is in eleventh-hour deals and he balked at the notion of shutting down the government.

“When you’re fighting two wars, it’s just not very practical,” he said of a potential shutdown.

A TEABAGGER WITH BRAINS! HE MUST BE A RINGER.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-dissension-surfaces-over-debt-ceiling-strategy/2013/01/05/6dd24012-56ab-11e2-a613-ec8d394535c6_story.html

[Demeter]

7. SCHEDULE OF ANOTHER DISASTER

...The House is out until Jan. 14 and back in session for just three days each of the following two weeks. The Senate returns to Washington on Jan. 22. That means both chambers will be in session for only a few days before Feb. 4, when the limit deadline will be weeks away...

[Demeter]

8. Credit union regulator sues JPMorgan over mortgage securities

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-credit-union-regulator-sues-jpmorgan-over-mortgage-securities-20130104,0,7621402.story

The U.S. credit union regulator NCUA sued JPMorgan and Washington Mutual late Friday over $2.2 billion in mortgage securities sold to credit unions that collapsed because of losses from the securities. The suit is the third the regulator, the National Credit Union Administration, has filed against JPMorgan involving mortgage losses, and the second in a month...In December, it sued the bank over $3.6 billion in securities sold by Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan acquired during the financial crisis. In June 2011, the NCUA sued over some $1.4 billion in securities in which JPMorgan was the underwriter and seller. Both suits are pending...JPMorgan bought the assets of Washington Mutual in 2008 after it failed and was seized by regulators...In the past two years the agency has brought similar actions against Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, RBS Securities, UBS Securities, Wachovia and others. Most of the cases are pending, but it has settled claims against Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities and HSBC for around $170 million. The credit union regulator has been trying to recover losses related to the failure of five institutions it seized in 2009 and 2010 after they ran into trouble due to the crumbling housing market. The wholesale credit unions have experienced more troubles than their retail counterparts because they did not face the same restrictions on permitted investments, leading to big losses during the financial crisis.

In the Friday lawsuit, the NCUA accused the bank of making misrepresentations in underwriting and selling mortgage-backed securities to U.S. Central, Western Corporate and Southwest Corporate federal credit unions. The three credit unions became insolvent on the losses and were placed into NCUA conservatorship, the agency said.

"The damage caused by the actions of firms like Washington Mutual has been extremely expensive to contain and repair," NCUA board chairman Debbie Matz said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, "it's only right that the people who caused the damage be required to pick up that burden, as well."

The lawsuit adds to a growing list of cases JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, is fighting over conduct tied to the financial crisis, including the conduct of entities it acquired at the height of the crisis.

[xchrom]

9. HOLD STILL... i'm going to Adjust your Aura

[Demeter]

16. Good luck with that

I don't think I have one, and never did. Miasma, that I've got in quantity....

[AnneD]

40. Miasma...

is acting up too...damn cold weather!

[siligut]

36. Ooo, me too xchrom, I need some fluffing on the right

My aura is in need of adjustment as well, please

[xchrom]

37. Consider your Self Adjusted! Nt

[Demeter]

38. If I were Self-Adjusted, I wouldn't Be Here!

--Groucho, updated

[xchrom]

39. !

[xchrom]

10. Fix infrastructure, don't fund flagship projects

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/jan/06/fix-economy-infrastructure-flagship-projects

Knives are being sharpened. Lips are being licked. George Osborne's political enemies can barely wait for the release of the growth figures for the final three months of 2012, which are due out in little more than a fortnight's time.

If the economy contracted again, unflattering comparisons will be drawn between Britain and America. On the other side of the pond, it will be said, things are looking up thanks to Washington's determination to put recovery before fiscal discipline. In poor old Blighty we are suffering from the government's insistence on putting the cart before the horse.

This is something of a caricature, of course. Fiscal policy – anything to do with tax and public spending – has been tightened in the US over the past couple of years as the impact of Barack Obama's stimulus has faded, and there will be further tightening in 2013 despite the New Year's Eve deal that backed the US away from the edge of the fiscal cliff.

But there is enough truth in the comparison to make it politically potent. The Americans have not made deficit reduction the judge and jury of economic policy, preferring to make a lower unemployment rate the measure of success.

[Demeter]

11. Tansy, This Article Should Be Tagged as a Permanent Reference on Front Page

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104

Secret and Lies of the Bailout by Matt Taibbi

...This early episode would prove to be a crucial moment in the history of the bailout. It set the precedent of the government allowing unhealthy banks to not only call themselves healthy, but to get the government to endorse their claims. Projecting an image of soundness was, to the government, more important than disclosing the truth. Officials like Geithner and Paulson seemed to genuinely believe that the market's fears about corruption in the banking system was a bigger problem than the corruption itself. Time and again, they justified TARP as a move needed to "bolster confidence" in the system – and a key to that effort was keeping the banks' insolvency a secret. In doing so, they created a bizarre new two-tiered financial market, divided between those who knew the truth about how bad things were and those who did not...

...Now, instead of using the bailouts as a clear-the-air moment, the government decided to double down on such fraud, awarding healthy ratings to these failing banks and even twisting its numerical audits and assessments to fit the cooked-up narrative. A major component of the original TARP bailout was a promise to ensure "full and accurate accounting" by conducting regular­ "stress tests" of the bailout recipients. When Geithner announced his stress-test plan in February 2009, a reporter instantly blasted him with an obvious and damning question: Doesn't the fact that you have to conduct these tests prove that bank regulators, who should already know plenty about banks' solvency, actually have no idea who is solvent and who isn't?

...Such meaningless parodies of oversight continue to this day...

...a key feature of the bailout: the government's decision to use lies as a form of monetary aid. State hands over taxpayer money to functionally insolvent bank; state gives regulatory thumbs up to said bank; bank uses that thumbs up to sell stock; bank pays cash back to state. What's critical here is not that investors actually buy the Fed's bullshit accounting – all they have to do is believe the government will backstop Regions either way, healthy or not...Just like an actual Ponzi scheme, it works only as long as they (US govt.) don't have to make good on all the promises they've made. They're building an economy based not on real accounting and real numbers, but on belief. And while the signs of growth and recovery in this new faith-based economy may be fake, one aspect of the bailout has been consistently concrete: the broken promises over executive pay.

...So what exactly did the bailout accomplish? It built a banking system that discriminates against community banks, makes Too Big to Fail banks even Too Bigger to Failier, increases risk, discourages sound business lending and punishes savings by making it even easier and more profitable to chase high-yield investments than to compete for small depositors. The bailout has also made lying on behalf of our biggest and most corrupt banks the official policy of the United States government. And if any one of those banks fails, it will cause another financial crisis, meaning we're essentially wedded to that policy for the rest of eternity – or at least until the markets call our bluff, which could happen any minute now.

Other than that, the bailout was a smashing success.

And for this, we are supposed to surrender our Social Security, healthcare, jobs, and children's future.


It's comprehensive, detailed, and fundamental. The title stinks, but you can't have everything....

[xchrom]

13. and boy...has The Truth cause a big stink on DU.

matt is now the latest body under the bus.

[Demeter]

15. What?

I must have missed something...details, please!

[DemReadingDU]

18. Check out the greatest page

and this is a website for Democrats

[Demeter]

19. I found it

What an asinine way to really screw up a conversation.

[Tansy_Gold]

26. Tell Hugin. I'm not a mod. oh, wait, never mind

edited to say -- I figured out what you meant. will do, if i can remember how.

[Demeter]

30. I meant OUR front page

or whatever the original post is called.

[Tansy_Gold]

32. I figured it out

what you meant, that is, AND how to do it.

Today's SMW front page will include a new block for "Essential Reading." Submissions are hereby solicited.

[xchrom]

12. Banks win concessions and time on liquidity rules

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/06/banks-introduce-minimum-liquidity-standards


Banks have won significant concessions from global regulators after being granted four more years to introduce watered-down measures designed to make them less vulnerable to Northern Rock-style runs and financial shocks.

As well as extending the time limit on compliance, the Basel committee of banking supervisors has relaxed proposals setting out the range of assets banks must hold as a buffer against the threat of a collapse.

The British banking industry described the changes, secured after lobbying, as a "Twelfth Night present". Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England and chair of the committee's oversight body, denied that the agreement was a weakening of earlier proposals: "For the first time in regulatory history, we have a truly global minimum standard for bank liquidity."

The standards are intended to allow a bank to survive a 30-day crisis by retaining a minimum amount of cash and liquid or easy-to-sell assets, as an insurance against the mass withdrawal of deposits and funding freeze that crippled Northern Rock or a systemic crisis of the kind triggered by the Lehman Brothers collapse.

[xchrom]

14. Breaking Up Banks Is Easy When They Aren’t Failing

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-06/breaking-up-banks-is-easy-when-they-aren-t-failing.html

If we decide to break up the big banks, can we actually do it?

The first and most obvious proof that we can lies in the 2010 bank-regulation law, the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires America’s too-big-to-fail banks to submit plans -- so-called living wills -- outlining how they can be dismantled if they get into trouble. So these banks have already provided breakup blueprints.

All that is required is to remove the conditionality and change the timing: Break them up now, not when and if. And what could be easier than doing so according to their own instructions, and so, once and for all, eliminate the systemic risk posed by the biggest and riskiest banks?

Second, it has been done before. After the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, big banks were divided into separate commercial-banking and investment-banking institutions.

[Demeter]

17. If we wait for the banks to be not failing

we will be waiting forever.

They don't have "NOT FAILING" on their agenda. Neither does the govt. which is only into not admitting failure.

[xchrom]

20. Large German Grocery Chain Faces New Claims Of Spying On Employees

http://www.businessinsider.com/aldi-denies-spying-on-employees-2013-1



The German supermarket chain Aldi used cameras and detectives to snoop on its employees, finding those who were working slow, had financial problems or were having an affair a former employee has claimed.

In an article published in the German magazine Der Spiegel, the unnamed source, who once worked as a store detective at the discount chain, lifted the lid on an alleged extensive surveillance operation employed by Aldi's German shops to gather information on staff that could be used to the company's advantage.

"I had to report everything that came to my attention. I had to say if an employee was working too slowly, engaged in having an affair and reveal other private details such as their financial situation," the source told the magazine.

He also said his job had been threatened when he objected to installing miniature cameras in the staff changing rooms.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/aldi-denies-spying-on-employees-2013-1#ixzz2HIBwWmUV

[xchrom]

21. GOLDMAN: Our Bullish Call On Chinese Stocks Will Pay Off This Year

http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-buy-chinese-stocks-2013-1

Goldman Sachs may have been significantly off the mark on its call for a bumper rally in Chinese equities in 2012, but this year, the U.S. investment bank is confident that its upbeat outlook for the market will materialize.

According to the bank's Chief China Equity Strategist, Helen Zhu, a pickup in earnings growth and the expectation of economic reforms by China's new government will lift the MSCI China Index 8 percent in 2013 from current levels. The index climbed 4 percent in the first week of the year.

Goldman forecasts earnings growth of 9 percent in 2013, driven by an acceleration in gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 8.1 percent from an expected 7.7 percent last year.

"Faster reform progress is the key upside risk," Zhu wrote in a note. "We see better returns heading into the second quarter on a pickup in exports and a kickoff of reforms."


Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100357594#ixzz2HID1iW8P

[Demeter]

22. I apologise in advance for my negligence to SMW

I just don't think I can take any more punishment today. I'm hoping it will get better as the week wears on, but there are no promises.

We are going back to the routine: the Kid is going back to school (finally!) which means I'm back to driving and herding and all those motherly things....and maybe a few minutes of peace and quiet to heal a soul ravaged by TWO WEEKS of "holiday".

Holiday for whom, might I ask?

[xchrom]

23. well you know we miss you...

[Fuddnik]

35. Take two bottles of vodka and call the doctor in the morning.

I dispense aspirin.

[AnneD]

41. It gets harder and harder for me...

to come back from breaks. I was so busy, got a million things accomplished over the Christmas break. I am back to school today and am trying to get things squared away for the Spring Semester. I feel sapped of energy. Funny thing, I had plenty of energy during the break. I think I am suffering from burn out. Right now I am crispy around the edges.

I am desperately trying to rekindle my enthusiasm. I think I will take a leisure learning course. Some of this may be the fact that I haven't totally moved in. Although things are better than they were, I still have boxes to unpack. This clutter drains me so and hubby really isn't helping. I think knitting and taking holy basil capsules are helping me cope and I do look forward to my Thursday knitting classes-cheap therapy.

Maybe I need some nice chicken noodle soup or maybe just a good soup.....

Got a good recipe Xchrom.

[Fuddnik]

43. Check yesterday's WEE thread for the recipe for elephant stew!

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm still suffering from PTSD from the election. The bullshit reached toxic levels, and overwhelmed my brain.

I'm going to start on a couple of fiction books for a distraction.

[AnneD]

44. That sounds like a good idea...

So I guess, I can't count the Budget of the US Government as a work of fiction??? Regular cow pie a la mode.

Maybe the election has something to do with it. I am relieved that Romney didn't win but I am not happy the way the results have been interpreted as a green light for Democrats to become GOP lite...not to be confused with golytely of course. I know the results may be the same but we are talking Granny Smith vs Gala Apples.

[bread_and_roses]

45. Easy pantry Pasta e Fagioli

the ingredients are always on my shelves - part of my "emergency stocks"

2 cans chicken broth
2 cans diced tomatoes w/ garlic & onion
1-2 cans white beans, depending on how "beany" you like it, drained and rinsed till they stop foaming
1 individual serving can of tomato juice (optional, but adds a "brighter" taste)
Salt and pepper to taste (the canned tomatoes and beans are salty, so may want to taste first)
Cora's Italian Seasoning (herbs only, no salt), or blend of your choice
fresh parsley (optional)
cooked pasta - preferably elbows
Olive oil, if you have it
Grated Parmesan for sprinkling, if you have it

Cook and drain pasta, set aside
Soup
If using fresh garlic, chop and saute in olive oil in the soup pot
Pour first four ingredients in the pot, add Italian herbs to taste
heat to rolling boil, turn down to simmer.
Can be eaten immediately or simmered for flavors to meld and develop
When ready to eat, add a little olive oil - to taste - to the pot, and the fresh parsley if you have it
Put some pasta in a bowl, pour soup over it, sprinkle with parmesan

This can obviously be played with endlessly - if you have fresh garlic, you may want to use plain diced tomatoes. You can make it thicker or thinner. You can add olive oil to individual servings instead of to the pot. You can forget the pasta altogether and just eat with lots of good bread. It's good the next day if you DON'T mix the pasta with the soup - store them separately.

[xchrom]

24. Now Portugal’s former colonies are performing much better than Portugal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/06/now-portugals-colonies-are-performing-much-better-than-portugal/

This year’s list of fastest-growing economies, as ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit, is mostly made up of what just a few years ago would have been considered a roster of economic underdogs, with most located in far-flung parts of Asia and Africa:



***SNIP


Meanwhile, for the obvious reason of the ongoing euro crisis, Spain, Portugal and Greece, along with their European neighbors, are listed as the three “fastest shrinkers.” They have GDP growth rates of -1.2, -2.2 percent and -1.8 percent, respectively.

In a turn of tragic irony, this means that as Portugal continues to suffer, its former colonies — Macau, Mozambique and East Timor among them — are booming.

Although the euro zone seems to be stepping back from the brink of disaster, Portugal is still scrambling to get out from under its mountain of debt. The Economist predicts it will be another lean year for the Portuguese:
The recession—the economy will contract for a third straight year—will deepen and the unemployment rate will rise. Popular protest and political opposition will intensify.

[xchrom]

25. November retail sales down 1.1%{ireland}

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0107/breaking21.html


The volume of retail sales fell by 1.1 per cent in November as demand for electrical goods and fuel decreased dramatically.

Sales of electrical goods were down 17.8 per cent in the month, while fuel sales were down 3.2 per cent.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that core retail sales have fallen in volume by 0.5 per cent in the year to the end of November 2012.

The CSO said that when motor trades were excluded, the volume of retail sales decreased by 1 per cent in November, when compared with October 2012.

[xchrom]

28. Revenue looking at 89 cases of serious tax and customs evasion{ireland}

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2013/0105/1224328461239.html


The Revenue Commissioners are investigating 89 cases of serious tax and customs evasion, figures released yesterday show.

The Revenue yesterday published its headline results for 2012 which showed that, during the year, 25 people were convicted of serious tax offences and the same number were found guilty of serious customs breaches. The figures also show that the commissioners are investigating 86 serious tax evasion cases and three customs serious offences, a total of 89 between the two categories.

Jail sentences

Serious offences are those tried by a jury and can attract jail sentences, heavy fines or both. Along with the cases now being investigated, there are 45 with the Revenue Solicitors’ Office, 37 before the courts, three being considered by the Director of Public Prosecutions and 21 where the DPP has made a recommendation, but which have yet to go to court. The revenue got an extra €7.67 million from “other prosecutions”,which included almost 1,900 cases of taxpayers not making tax returns, oil-laundering, excise offences and fraud.

[xchrom]

29. We need to be braver and much more forceful with Germany over bank debt

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2013/0105/1224328461195.html


We have bent over backwards to please Berlin. It has not got us as far as we want

My friend Eddie says the political plan for 2013 seems to be, like Chelsea in the Champions League, to stay in the game and hope we get a lucky break. Good analogy Eddie. But in the end, the Germans really only understand force.

Good faith negotiating is not a concept they get. They make only deals that either suit them or deals they need to make.

Essentially we need the Germans, and perhaps the French, to sponsor a deal to equitise most of our bank-supporting national debt .What does it take to get them back to the table to discuss and agree a long-term deferment of €40 billion of our bank recap debt at an attractive interest rate, say, 2.5 per cent for 30 years?

[Demeter]

31. He's right, you know. Unfortunately.

That applies to the US, too, unfortunately. Unless one wishes to go the populist route, which is much less likely to succeed, but when it does, it succeeds for all time.

[xchrom]

33. blues in the night -- cab calloway

[xchrom]

34. Bank of Spain “looked the other way” over malpractice, says damning report

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/01/07/inenglish/1357562084_759097.html

The Association of Inspectors at the Bank of Spain, which covers 80 percent of the professionals at the lender, has produced a damning report about the institution's practices, including the accusation that when evidence of wrongdoing is discovered in Spanish banks, "the usual reaction is to look the other way."

The new governor of the Bank of Spain, Luis Linde, announced in July 2012 that a commission would be created to investigate the failings of the institution. Under its watch, a number of regional savings banks have been blighted by cases of corruption, while the taxpayer has had to stand by and watch as the government spends billions of euros of public money shoring up the banks, whose balance sheets were devastated after the collapse of the country's construction sector.

The report, to which EL PAÍS has had access, also complains of irregularities in the supervision of Spanish lenders, saying that "between the inspection report and the decisions taken by the Executive Board, there are too many levels of filters, which serve only to adjust the conclusions of the inspection, meaning that the inspectors' report does not figure among the documents at the disposal of the Executive Board."

That criticism is of great importance, given that it suggests that the conclusions of a report written by an inspector who has conducted an in-depth study of a bank are being altered.

[tclambert]

46. Ford sells most of former Wixom plant for redevelopment

Ford’s land development arm announced Friday that it has sold three-quarters of its former Wixom Assembly plant to an industrial site redevelopment group. . . .

Demolition of the 239 acres of shuttered factory space will begin in late March. . . .

Ford Land is still in talks with home improvement retailer Menards to buy a separate 45-acre section of the factory property nearest to I-96 off Wixom Road. Demolition of that segment began late last year.

The 4.7-million-square-foot production complex last produced Lincoln Town Cars and closed in May 2007. It employed 1,100 at the time, down from its 1970s peak of 5,468 workers.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20130104/BUSINESS0102/130104056/ford-sells-most-of-wixom-plant-for-redevelopment

This is of interest to me since I live about a mile from the former plant. Plans for a battery maker and a solar company to take over 1 million square feet of the factory space fell through. The demolition of part of the plant took me by surprise. Rumor has it that Menard's (a Home Depot-like store) plans to build there. Now it sounds as if the rest of the plant will be demolished, too.

Well, at least something is happening there. It bothered me every time I drove by the old plant on the way to stores just the other side of the freeway from it, and 5 million square feet of former industrial might sat abandoned. 5,000 people once worked there. And Ford made 7 million cars there.

The closing of the plant in 2007 froze development in Wixom, and killed a few small businesses that existed to serve workers at the plant. Demolition brings in a few jobs. Construction of a new big box store and its employees will add hundreds of jobs to the area. Not as good as the thousand jobs we thought were coming, but better than the 6 security guards who patrolled the empty plant.