STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 9 July 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 9 July 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 8 July 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 8 July 2013
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Dow Jones 15,224.69 +88.85 (0.59%)
S&P 500 1,640.46 +8.57 (0.53%)
Nasdaq 3,484.83 +5.45 (0.16%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.64% -0.05 (-1.86%)
30 Year 3.63% -0.02 (-0.55%) [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
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










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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]

[Fuddnik]

1. I saw a guy do that with a train once.

Backe the hind unit of a double unit over a cliff one night, and it was just dangling there.

And the brakeman sleeping in the floor back there shit himself!

Ah, the good old days.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. I always enjoyed train travel

Makes for a much better commute than driving!

[AnneD]

21. Took Amtrack this month....

Houston to Vancouver. I loved it.

Of course I missed out on the free NSA pelvic exam and chest xray. And I missed the price haggling over the weight of my luggage. And the meals, really. Who wants to have to use a metal knife and fork to cut their freshly prepared food. How barbaric! Why I was so upset, I had to use my hip flask to make my cocktails to steady my nerves. Vodka is my new best friend. And to be forced to go to the lounge car and observation deck and have fascinating talks with interesting people was more than I could stand. Why I completed several knitting projects I was just so upset.

The only hitch is that I was 6 hours delayed in leaving Houston. It seems that there was an engine/car accident in Louisanna and there was a fatality. They couldn't release the crew etc until they completed the investigation.

But Amtrack assured us that they would make the time up along the route and that we would all make our connections. We arrived in LA on time and there was a small delay to make it to our Seattle train, but again, we were all assured that we would all make our connections.

Why, I'll never go on Amtrack again, until my next trip.

[Demeter]

6. Sadly, we ride the trains and planes (and govt. programs) we have

not the ones we would like to have...Rumsfeld & Co. has those all sewed up!

We are so screwed.

[marybourg]

2. Total Stock Market 10 year return:

7.35% per year. This is the real increase you would have received if you had bought and then held the most popular total stock market index fund for the past 10 years

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/vanguard/all?reset=true&sort=name&sortorder=asc&assetclass=all


I don't know where the OP gets her/his negative return figure from, since she/he doesn't give a citation, although demanding it from others.

Beware naysayers who discourage you from having a secure retirement.

I do not now, nor ever have had, any relationship with the investment community except as a very satisfied long term buy-and-hold index fund (low cost) investor.

[Fuddnik]

3. Go someplace else with spam and you won't encounter any naysayers.

Try Jonestown, they're gullible.

[Tansy_Gold]

5. A lot of people who said the same thing

Now have their names in big red letters in THIS OP.

Just sayin'. . . . .

[tclambert]

9. No, wait, I gotta agree the 10 year and 30 year line confuse me.

On each line, there are 2 percentages given, and I'm not clear what they mean. Neither percentage comes close to the Dow or S&P 500 returns over a ten year or 30 year span. For instance, 10 years ago, the Dow was around 9100, the S&P 500 around 990.

[tclambert]

10. I think you made a good catch there.

I never really noticed the 10 year and 30 year lines before, and I can't tell what they mean. I don't think you should jump to malicious conclusions, however. I suspect you caught something like a bug in the template software. I don't understand html well enough to tease out where the numbers come from.

[tclambert]

11. Oh, sorry, sorry, I think I found it.

The info gets copied from Google Finance and the 10 and 30 year lines refer to BONDS with 10 year and 30 year maturities. The numbers reflect daily fluctuations in bond prices, not the 10 and 30 year return on the stock market.

Just a misunderstanding. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

[Tansy_Gold]

19. Exactly

The daily OP is a template that gives a very quick snapshot of some of the major markets' activity. The first block is indeed cut-and-paste from Google Finance, which I think is a fairly reliable source for those numbers, if not necessarily for anything else.

Virtually everything that is posted in this thread is either an attributed cite from another source (reliability to be determined by the reader) or it is an opinion of said cite; or it is a personal experience/observation. It's a daily compendium of articles and essays related not only to the markets themselves but to the global economies and how they affect the markets and vice versa.

What it isn't is a forum for shilling commercial investment schemes. We just don't do that here, and we expect newcomers/drive-bys to respect the community that's been established here over the past 10-12 years.

[A HERETIC I AM]

46. You probably have me on ignore, but I'm going to say this anyway. There were several ways to handle

this very basic misunderstanding on the part of the poster "marybourg", but the "SMW" welcome mat never fails to slap the living shit out of a newcomer.

One way to handle it would have been to politely inform her that what she was looking at were not in fact total return numbers for the DJIA, but in fact daily changes in the YIELD of the ten and 30 year Treasury bonds (NOT "prices" as tclambert said above, an important difference).

Another would have been to give a pleasant "hello and welcome" kind of thing and if you weren't sure what the numbers meant and their significance (which is painfully obvious you don't have the slightest clue) you could have followed that up with "give me (us) a little time and I'll (we'll) get an answer for you".

Between you and your snarky response about names in red letters and Fuddnick with his oh, so gracious "Go someplace else with spam and you won't encounter any naysayers. Try Jonestown, they're gullible" greeting, this thread has once again proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is the most close minded, unwelcoming regular feature on the entirety of Democratic Underground.

Hells bells, all she did was post a link to a page on the Vanguard website and you think she is selling (you used the word "Shilling, a lovely, backhanded insult if there ever was one) fucking Mutual Funds! And to top it off, you profess to scold like a put upon school marm. Get over yourself already.

As the Original Poster of a daily thread, perhaps it's time you learned the difference between yield, price and coupon on a bond and how to read a bond quote, not to mention the meaning of the rest of the information you copy and paste on a daily basis. After all, it is information YOU put up every day. One would think by now you would know what the hell it is you are posting about.

The regulars of SMW have shown once again, and staying true to form, that if a new person dares venture into this thread and does not toe the accepted line - that it is all a scam, the market going up is not good, the market should be down and nothing good ever comes of it - then they are insulted, harassed, ridiculed and run off. I just don't understand why you haven't petitioned Skinner to create your own secret little forum so that the 12 or fifteen of you regulars can commiserate without fear of an interloper.

You folks continue to put yourselves up as the only truly knowledgeable people on DU when it comes to the markets and how things work, yet it is clear and has been made clear time and time again over the years that most of you don't know the difference between Common Stock, Preferred Stock and livestock, you don't understand the mechanics of trading, be it on an exchange or OTC and every time the market changes direction is has to be "Fairies" because...well....you haven't any bloody idea, so it must be fairies.

This thread has been a mockery for years now. A joke. And every time you folks do to a new poster what you did to marybourg today, you prove what a joke this thread truly is.

Ever wonder why none of the dozen or so DU'ers who are actually in the securities business or are Financial Professionals ever post in here? (Edit to say; meaning post in order to try and contribute)


It's because they, like me, realize it is pointless.

[Tansy_Gold]

47. No, I don't have you on ignore

In fact, I don't think I've put anyone on ignore since the shift to DU3. That might change.

It's a fact that when people barge into DU communities where they're not welcome because of the sentiments they attempt to impose on the regular citizens of those communities, they get banned. I'm not a moderator in this group, so I don't have that authority.

But marybourg has come into this daily thread before with the same sales pitch and received the same cold shoulder, because this thread, as its daily front page states very clearly, is not about investment recommendations or advice.

And as I posted before, that front page template is a daily snapshot. It's not a critical analysis of every single thing that happened in every single market. But those bits of information are the benchmarks used by this community.

If you don't like this community -- and you made it very clear that you don't -- you are free to leave. Several of us will probably show you the door. And given the numerous other communities that flourish on DU and elsewhere around the Internet, I'm sure you'll find many other places that will welcome you with open arms.

So why do you feel it's so necessary for you to come in here and be rude to us? What did any of us ever do to you? Have I ever gone into your threads and called it a mockery?

I'm not sure that any of us has EVER set ourselves up as the only truly knowledgeable people on DU, but we do have a certain camaraderie.

We also understand the meaning of sarcasm.

[A HERETIC I AM]

51. This isn't a "community"

It is a DISCUSSION THREAD.

Started daily by you, just the latest in a line of folks who think they are actually doing something important.

It isn't a forum or a group unto itself, no matter how much you and the others might like to think so. You have about as much authority to "show me the door" as GW Bush does in getting me to believe he was a good president.

You said "If you don't like this community -- and you made it very clear that you don't".

Here's part of what I don't like, an example in your own post, to wit;

It's a fact that when people barge into DU communities where they're not welcome because of the sentiments they attempt to impose on the regular citizens of those communities, they get banned.

What is so astounding is the unmitigated arrogance that has for quite some time now prevailed over members of this little club that encourage them to think they are so damned superior that before someone has even typed a SINGLE WORD, they might be not welcome. As an example, there is a HUGE difference between saying in all caps "THERE IS NO GOD!" in the religion group and posting on this THREAD that things aren't as bad as you all make them out to be.

So why do you feel it's so necessary for you to come in here and be rude to us?

Because you and others on this thread are rude to DU'ers REPEATEDLY and have been for years, THAT'S WHY. You don't like it when you get a bit of pushback, do you? Not so nice, is it? This is the first time I have posted in this thread in months and months - probably close to a year, but I glance at it on occasion when I need a good chuckle or my blood pressure is dangerously low.

Who gives a damn if marybourg has come in with the same "sales pitch" (what pitch? 'Buy Vanguard Funds! They're the bestestes!!?!?!' Is that it?) repeatedly. Alert on her if she is a true spammer and MIRT will look into it. She's been here for almost 5 years and has over 2200 posts. Are every single one of them promoting the Vanguard Group? Put her on ignore, for crying out loud. But YOU and the others I mentioned were rude to her and have been rude to literally dozens of others and it is a regular occurrence with this thread like NO OTHER ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD.

Why is it that this little club doesn't grow? Ever considered that?

What did any of us ever do to you?

See above. Rudeness - check. Insult - check Etc. Etc. - check and double check, not to mention it would be nice if at least ONE of you actually knew what the hell you were talking about at least some of the time.

Have I ever gone into your threads and called it a mockery?

First of all, I don't give a sloppy Tinkers cuss and secondly, knock yourself out. If any thread I put up truly is a mockery, then you'll be right and I'll probably learn from it. If it isn't a mockery, then you'll look like a fool. Either way, modern science has yet to invent the device that can measure how tiny the bit of difference it will make to me.

BUT.....THIS thread IS a mockery. What's really funny is that you have no idea how much of one.

I'm not sure that any of us has EVER set ourselves up as the only truly knowledgeable people on DU,

Yeah...right. You've been on DU what? 11 years? 12? And you've been putting up this thread for around a year or so? And participating for quite a few years before that. If you can't see how ridiculous that statement is, then there is NO HOPE for your credibility. Either that or you have the memory capacity of a planarian.

We also understand the meaning of sarcasm.

Yes. Quite. Aren't you all just a tight little group of cleverness, eh?

All this matters because this thread has the potential to actually be great. It always had that potential, but it has been hijacked for years now by people like you and Fuddnick and demeter and the others who have NO DESIRE AT ALL to step out of your little bubble. You know what would be a great addition for people who actually want to WATCH the Stock Market? The closing prices of the 30 Dow stocks! Or the S&P 500 biggest gainers and losers!!! AMAZING!! .........Why noooo Heretic! That would entail actually putting up info a stock market watcher could bloody well use!! That would leave less room for pointless, endless, tedious, cut and pasted articles from the Journal Economica Obscura. And we just can't have that, now can we?

You don't want a conversation nor do you want to actually help people interested in watching the stock market do their watching. You also don't want to hear a point of view different from your own. And you have basically made this a closed shop.

And that makes DU suck.

[marybourg]

52. Thank you. Heretic. Since postings to this

"community" appears where everyone can see it, I assumed everyone can reply to it. As a 25- year-retired person who successfully engineered a comfortable retirement out of a working-class background without ever paying a financial professional and never paying high expense ratios for mutual funds, I wanted to counter to what appears to me to be a self-defeating, nearly nihilistic attitude toward the capitalistic system that we all live in.

This is the system we have to make work for us if we are to provide for ourselves and not be a burden to our family or to society as we age, as we all do. Constant trashing of investing and those who invest (even when they do it as much as possible by themselves and don't rely on highly-paid professionals) is classic sour grapes and self-defeating. I've successfully secured my retirement and I can't be hurt by anything hurled at me here.

But I was hoping to help some who've not yet had their consciousness raised (as we used to say in the 60's) that by living a little below their means (yes, by doing without some things their friends have) investing regularly in low cost index funds, not responding to stock market moves, rumors, tips or news, just sticking with a plan over the course of their working lives, they'll be able to give up bitching, complaining, and blaming, and start feeling contented. If that earns me opprobrium here, so be it.

[Demeter]

7. Friends, I had a magnificent time sight-reading and singing Rutter's Magnificat

Last edited Tue Jul 9, 2013, 06:19 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm going to go dream about it.

Besides, vacation is over, and it's back to the 6 AM mornings.

[Demeter]

8. NO bet!

[Tansy_Gold]

17. I've been doing it for years.

And the funniest thing about it is, I learned it from Ayn Rand.

[xchrom]

12. Corruption getting worse, says poll

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23227382

More than one in two people think corruption has worsened over the last two years, according to a public opinion survey by Transparency International. Its annual Global Corruption Barometer found 27% of respondents said they had paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last year. The survey covered more than 100 countries. Perhaps it's time to challenge our perceptions of corruption, writes BBC Newshour's Tim Franks.

The evidence suggests a global pandemic, a disease which infects and corrodes and rots. Most people appear to think it's getting worse. And yet the reaction is often just a tut - it's other people's problem, or a shrug - it's always been with us and it always will be.

It is corruption.

It is an act, a fact of life, which occurs - by and large - in the shadows. Some, though, are trying doggedly to draw back the curtain - among them, the Berlin-based pressure group, Transparency International. Its latest global survey of corruption covered 107 countries and 114,000 people. And most of them say that corruption has worsened over the last two years.

[xchrom]

13. Libor interest rate to be controlled by NYSE Euronext

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23240707


The owner of the New York Stock Exchange is set to take control of a key scandal-hit bank interest rate.

NYSE Euronext has won the contract for setting the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor), a government-backed committee announced.

Libor is used to set trillions of dollars of financial contracts.

The move follows the revelation that banks had been manipulating the rate. Barclays, UBS and RBS have all been fined for their roles in the scandal.

[xchrom]

14. China's inflation rate rises to 2.7%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23238024

China's inflation rate rose by more than expected in June, increasing to 2.7% from 2.1% the month before.

Food price inflation was 4.9% in June, compared with 3.2% in May, with rising pork prices partly to blame.

While the headline inflation number was above analysts' expectations, it remains below the government's target figure of 3.5%.

Analysts say the latest figure reduces the prospect of interest rate cuts in 2013.

[xchrom]

15. lots of info on global corruption here:

http://www.transparency.org/

[xchrom]

16. Latvia gets Ecofin nod to become 18th eurozone member

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23238029


Latvia already sells stamps priced in euros and lats

EU finance minsters have rubber-stamped Latvia's application to become the 18th country to use the euro.

The application for membership had earlier been approved by the European Commission and European Central Bank.

The exchange rate has been set at 0.702804 lats to one euro, and euro notes and coins will be issued in Latvia on 1 January, 2014.

Latvia is keen to strengthen ties with western Europe and reduce its dependency on Russia.

[xchrom]

18. Kroger to buy Harris Teeter Supermarkets in $2.5 billion deal

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/uk-harristeeter-takeover-kroger-idUKBRE9680I220130709

(Reuters) - Kroger Co (KR.N), the biggest U.S. supermarket operator, said it would buy Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc (HTSI.N) in a $2.5 billion deal that will boost its presence in the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

Regional supermarkets like North Carolina-based Harris Teeter are struggling to maintain market share against chains and mass merchandisers such as Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O), Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and Whole Foods Market Inc WFM.N, leading to consolidation in the industry.

The Harris Teeter deal, which includes the assumption of $100 million of debt, is the second-largest acquisition for Kroger after its $13.89 billion purchase of Fred Meyer Inc in 1999 and the second biggest deal in the U.S. grocery industry this year.

Supervalu Inc (SVU.N) struck a $3.3 billion deal in January to reduce its heavy debt by selling five of its supermarket chains to an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management LP CBS.UL.

[Demeter]

28. Locally, Kroger runs radio ads against Walmart

Since I don't watch TV, have no idea if they do it there, too. It's humorous.

[xchrom]

20. Manufacturing slip shows up Britain's uneven road to recovery

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/uk-britain-economy-idUKLNE96800420130709

Reuters) - Britain's recovery from recession is turning out to be an uneven one and the government is still waiting for the shift to an export-driven economy it promised after the financial crisis.

Manufacturing shrank in May at its fastest pace since January and the country's trade deficit was its widest in six months, according to official data on Tuesday that tempered recent signs that growth was starting to pick up speed.

But three surveys published a few hours earlier showed rising house prices, improved business confidence and steady growth in retail sales.

The different pace of recovery in different parts of the economy may be a consequence of the emergency stimulus measures taken by the Bank of England and the government, which have included support the housing market.

[xchrom]

22. 'A Toxic System': Why Austerity Still Isn't Working in Greece

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-austerity-reforms-failing-despite-billions-in-bailout-funds-a-910078.html

After making a lot of money manufacturing swimming pools, Stelios Stavridis has redirected his entrepreneurial talents toward saving his country.

The 66-year-old Greek business executive with aristocratic features recently became the head of the country's privatization agency, which has been charged with selling off hundreds of government-owned real estate, companies, marinas and airports.

Stavridis is the third man to hold the position in only a year, but this doesn't reduce his professional confidence. He says he has just had "excellent" conversations with observers from the so-called troika, consisting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), who regularly review the country's progress.

However, Stavridis also had to confess to the troika that his agency is unlikely to meet its goals for this year. The planned sale of the national gas company to the Russian Gazprom conglomerate fell apart at the last minute, and now a €652 million ($839 million) deal for the privatization of gambling company OPAP is also on the rocks, because the buyer feels that he is being cheated.

[PATRICK]

29. How can you call it privatizatioon

by selling public commons utilities to foreign nations- even if at some remove from being "state run" themselves? And not even to a Euro member? Selling off state run gambling interests seems more for the entertainment of humorists than any gain at all.

When you recover and the other guy falls, your public works are now strongly affected by foreign interests not service or product or gain for the host off which they feed.

[Demeter]

33. Welcome to SMW! Yes, you are completely right

But we just report the stupidity...we don't get to pick the terms.

If the IMF and all call it "privatization", who are we to argue?


I think you will fit right in here...grab a seat and stay a spell!

[Demeter]

30. That WOULD put a damper on the deal

He's either being cheated, or he can't get a big enough cheat himself.

That's why privatization in a bad deal all around.

[xchrom]

23. Aid for Athens: France Demands Direct Funding for Greek Banks

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-grants-aid-money-for-athens-but-france-demands-more-a-910178.html

European finance ministers on Monday night agreed to release some €6.8 billion ($8.8 billion) billion in aid money to Greece to keep the country solvent throughout the summer. But on Tuesday, France said that it is time to pony up even more money to help the ailing Greek banking system.

"A lot of things would be much easier if the euro-zone bailout fund were already now able to directly recapitalize Greek banks," French Europe Minister Thierry Repentin told the German business daily Handelsblatt. He was referring to the fund known as the European Stability Mechanism, which was given the ability last year to help banks directly. Greek banks, Repentin said, should get assistance "just like all other banks in the euro zone that need it so as to limit the negative effects of the crisis on public finances."

First, however, Greece needs to make sure that it fulfils the conditions necessary to receive all of the next aid tranche. European finance ministers made it clear on Monday evening that they are dissatisfied with the progress Athens is making on reform and elected to break up the tranche into smaller payments in order to keep the pressure on the Greek government to fulfil their pledges.

[AnneD]

24. Canada developing biological weapons.....

I was doing some recon here in Vancouver and have discover their biological weapons cache. They have this weapon they call poutine.

It looks harmless enough. Cheese curds over French fries with gravy over all. But let me tell you, this poutine, even in small doses can render one helplessly satiated for hours. No wonder the folks around here are so nice. It is a defense mechanism as they are so helpless.

They are also developing the japadog. This is a direct assault on the American Hot Dog. I fear for our wieners. The Chicago dog doesn't have a prayer.

I will later be investigating Canadian cults. I hear the biggest one here is called Tim Horton.


Happy Hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Demeter]

31. You are going to need liposuction to get back across the border, AnneD

But if you stay, you'll burn it off in the winter, for sure.

If you stay, will you adopt me so I can emigrate?

[Fuddnik]

35. I just took off 30 pounds in the last 10 weeks.

Atkins diet. I'm down to 182. Haven't seen that since I was around 30. 12 more to go.

[AnneD]

38. Good for you Fudd.....

A strict Atkins was always good for me to take off the weight.

I actually have lost 10 lbs since I have been here. Don't ask me how because I have drank lots of beer and have eaten like there is no tomorrow. If my doc was a real sport, she would prescribe more vacations. Maybe she would put me on a Canadian diet. They do not allow high fructose corn sugar or as much salt. Their cigarettes smell better too because chemical are not permitted.

We went to a wonderful breakfast brunch Sunday. Salmon eggs beneidict, coffee and beer (I had hard cider). The waiteress (who totally kicked ass) asked if we needed more coffee. My daughter said she could microwave it. The waitress said...we don't even have a microwave here. Let me get you a fresh cup. Damn I love this place.

[Fuddnik]

40. Now you went and done it.

I'm gonna go out and celebrate, and have a (lite) beer.

Can't have too many though, gotta pick up the new car in a couple of hours.

[AnneD]

44. My daughter's SO

Is into craft beers. I never knew beer could taste so good. I am a hard cider person but I can go a good beer. Post a picture of the new baby!

[Locut0s]

50. There are indeed a lot of different craft beers here in the city. nt :P

[xchrom]

25. Silicon Valley’s ugly rich-poor gap is growing

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/09/silicon-valleys-ugly-rich-poor-gap-is-growing/



When Catherine Bracy moved to San Francisco’s Mission district from Chicago to head up the technology team for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, she was struck by the difference half a minute can make. Walking the 300 feet between the well-to-do Valencia Street and the near-chaos of Mission Street was like moving between different worlds.

In the four months that Bracy lived in the area, five restaurants opened on one block of Valencia, she told an audience of several hundred people at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City in June. Just one block down, Mission Street, the thick, clotted artery of the historic district said to be built in part on Native American slave labor, and for more than a century a home to the working class and, more recently, gangsters and techies, sat in stark contrast.

“I would go from a high-end furniture store to stepping over human feces and witnessing crack deals within the span of about 20 seconds,” said Bracy, who now runs the international program for Code for America.

The scene she described is an uncomfortable one given San Francisco’s status as a center of innovation and wealth, a description that extends to the Bay Area in general, taking in Silicon Valley, the fabled home of the technology industry. This, after all, is a part of the country in which 43 percent of households make more than $100,000 a year, compared to 21 percent in the rest of the country. The Bay Area has the fifth highest concentration of millionaires in the US, and the median home price is $500,000. Down the 101 in Palo Alto – near where you’ll find Google, Facebook, Stanford University, and top-shelf venture capital firms – the average sale price of a home is $2 million.Silicon Valley’s ugly rich-poor gap is growing

[AnneD]

39. Sounds just like India

But without the crack deals. America has become third world in so many ways.

[Demeter]

42. Parts of America always were...like Appalachia

Without FDR, most of the South and West would still be 3rd world.

The poor go in and out of fashion....mostly out.

[kickysnana]

48. My niece in Seattle posted some info she found shocking on FB

The latest was that the area unemployment rate for minorities who had not completed high school was 95%. People are not going to lay down and die because there are no jobs to be had. You are right about people not thinking past tonight's Dancing with the Stars.

Horrible country we live in. Thank you for posting that those who tried to get things to swing to sanity since the 1970's are not responsible for what has been done. It kept me going one more week.

The idea that the head of the Supreme court, final guarder of Constitution, is the head of the secret and therefore illegal legal system including courts and prisons is an abomination according to almost anyone's idea of what America was or is. Tyranny is here. That Obama embraced this leaves people who believe in law, order, freedom and democracy dying in the deserts of climate change, fracking toxins and tar sands oil.

There is no amount of money that can clean all the water, the soil and bring back the glaciers. We need thinkers not mindless joiners.

I am so afraid for the handsful of people with any power who are still left standing fighting this monster: reporters, senators, judges, and non-profit heads.

[Tansy_Gold]

26. Former Hostess Employees Bitter About Wage Cuts

HT to cali over in GD http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023206225

<snip> Eight months after Hostess closed amid labor strife, its former workers have had divergent paths, but many of them have failed to regain their previous income levels. Hostess moved to liquidate in November shortly after the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union went on strike in response to a new contract imposed on them at a bankruptcy court's direction. The bakers balked at the company's cessation of pension contributions. Hostess later admitted to using wages that were supposed to help fund pensions for the company's operations.
<end snip>


What's frightening is how many of the commenters on that thread just plain don't get it. And it's the ignorance and blindness in our own "party" (I use the term reluctantly) that allows the other party to make it all happen.

Is American Idol on tonight? Dancing with the Stars? Shameless twits of some nameless state?

[Demeter]

32. What do you want out of DU? Consciousness-raising?

Not this version...it's all about pushing product, not the envelope. Bah, humbug!

[Fuddnik]

36. Place is getting packed with assholes.

[Demeter]

37. Now THAT'S a disturbing image

[AnneD]

45. Bread and Circus...

Twinkies and American Idol, Cheetos and Dancing with the Stars.

[xchrom]

27. IMF Slashes Global Growth Forecasts

http://www.businessinsider.com/imf-slashes-global-growth-forecasts-2013-7

The International Monetary Fund is out with its latest quarterly outlook for global GDP growth, and it contains several downward revisions to the estimates published by the Fund in April.
The IMF lowered its 2013 global GDP growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.3%.

2013 U.S. GDP growth estimates were revised down to 1.7% from 1.9%.

The IMF expects euro area GDP to contract 0.6% in 2013, downgraded from the previous estimate of a 0.3% contraction.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/imf-slashes-global-growth-forecasts-2013-7#ixzz2YYieubCo

[Demeter]

34. A Global Handbasket to Hell

everybody hold on tight!

[DemReadingDU]

41. Update on the dog's thundershirt

I ordered a thundershirt for my dog who is hypersensitive to thunderstorms. He is wearing it now as Ohio is having another of its thunder boomer rainstorms. This dog is so calm, just lying in his crate all bundled up in the thundershirt. No panting, no tongue hanging out, no pacing.
It works!

http://www.thundershirt.com/

[Demeter]

43. Great! I'll pass the word. Thanks for the experiment and report!

[kickysnana]

49. We had a little Boston Bull Terrier when I was a kid

Terrified of storms and fire crackers. Because of the oily glands on his backside Mom wouldn't let him come into the only carpeted area in the house, the living room One night we were watching TV and of course he heard the storm before we did but when I did I went to find him and he was cowering under my little baby sisters bassinet. Any port in a storm I guess. So I stayed with him until it was over.

Leash laws were more lax back then and he would wander to visit the neighbors and then disappear completely for a while. Seems he was heading down to the lake a few blocks away and going for a swim off a boat launch near a public beach a lot of evenings. He was after all a boat dog.