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Related: About this forumSTOCK MARKET WATCH - Thursday, 26 January 2012
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[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 26 January 2012[/font]
SMW for 25 January 2012
AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 25 January 2012
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Dow Jones 12,756.96 +81.21 (0.64%)
S&P 500 1,326.06 +11.41 (0.87%)
Nasdaq 2,818.31 +31.67 (1.14%)
[font color=red]10 Year 2.00% -0.05
[font color=green]30 Year 3.15% +0.01 (0.32%)
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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
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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
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Naked Capitalism
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Brad DeLong
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goldmansachs666
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
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[/center][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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Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
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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]
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Demeter
(85,373 posts)European Union officials have stepped up pressure on Greece and its creditor banks in a complex game of three-way brinkmanship, signalling that they will allow a Greek default to run its course unless both sides accept more pain. Austria's finance minister Maria Fekter said patience with Athens is exhausted. "Greece has failed its austerity targets by a wide margin. The Greeks have made decisions, but they weren't implemented. They have agreed to austerity measures, but costs haven't come down. This situation has caused great consternation," she said at a meeting of EU finance minister in Brussels. "We're sending a direct message to Greece that the community expects more. We're not pleased and only when there's a written message on the table in front of us, can further assistance be discussed," she said.
The head of the European Commission's economics team Mario Buti said Brussels is prepared to allow credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek bonds to come into play if talks fail to reach a deal that gives Greece enough debt relief to claw its way back to viability. "Triggering CDS may have to be considered," he said.
The comment is a clear warning to private creditors holding €206bn (£172bn) of Greek debt that the EU will not step in with fresh money to prevent a default on March 20, when Greece must make a €14.5bn debt payment.
The EU authorities are demanding that banks, insurers, and pension funds accept a cut in the interest rate on new bonds to 3.5pc – on top of the 50pc haircut agreed – to reflect the drastic deterioration in Greece. The creditors are holding out for 4pc. EU officials would leave Greece's debt at 125pc of GDP by 2020, above the 120pc level deemed the maximum tolerable burden.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Is Schneiderman Selling Out? Joins Federal Committee That Looks Designed to Undermine AGs Against Mortgage Settlement Deal
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/is-schneiderman-selling-out-signs-up-to-co-chair-committee-designed-to-undermine-defectors-to-mortgage-settlement-deal.html
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been celebrated as the progressive Great White Hope. But the danger of assuming leadership is that individual becomes a target both of attacks and of seduction. And while I’d like to think better of Schneiderman, an announcement earlier this evening has strong hallmarks of Schneiderman falling prey to the combined pressures and blandishments of the Administration and its allies.
Only a sketchy bit of news has been released, with the most extensive reporting so far coming in Huffington Post which incorrectly anticipated a State of the Union announcement of the fact that Schneiderman will be co-chairing a Federal committee to investigate mortgage abuses (the story appears to have been confirmed in general terms via an announcement from Schneiderman’s office). Key details from the HuffPo story:
So get this: this is a committee that will “investigate.” The co-chair, Lanny Breuer, along with DoJ chief Eric Holder, hail from white shoe Washington law firm Covington & Burling, which has deep ties to the financial services industry. Even if they did not work directly for clients in the mortgage business, they come from a firm known for its deep political and regulatory connections (for instance: Gene Ludwig, the Covington partner I engaged for some complicated regulatory work when I was at Sumitomo Bank, later became head of the OCC). We’ve written at length on how the OCC is such a shameless tout for the banking industry that it cannot properly be called a regulator. Similarly, the SEC has been virtually absent from the mortgage beat, no doubt because its enforcement chief, Robert Khuzami, was general counsel to the fixed income department at Deutsche Bank. That area included the trading operation under Greg Lippmann who we have described as Patient Zero of so called mezz CDOs, or to the layperson, toxic mortgage paper that kept the subprime bubble going well beyond its sell date. And we don’t need to say much about the DoJ. It has been missing in action during this entire Administration.
Neil Barofsky, former prosecutor and head of SIGTARP, doesn’t buy the logic of this committee either: MORE AT LINK
READING TEA LEAVES....ALWAYS DEPRESSING
Demeter
(85,373 posts)One of the things that amazes me about the European “crisis” is how symptoms of the underlying problems of the macro-economic system that is the Eurozone get confused with the actual problem...So as of yesterday, the EU finance ministers , the EC and the IMF joined forces to demand that the Greek creditors take a larger hit on the countries debt forgiveness. The Institute of International Finance, that represents the creditors, said that its last offer is a 4% coupon on new bonds issued after the deal. The EU wants a better deal because the target is to get Greece down to 120% debt to GDP by 2020 and a lower rate is supposedly required to make that happen. The main reason there is so much argy-bargy about the rate is because every time someone looks at the state of the Greek economy it is worse. So basically, the EU is demanding more from creditors because their own policies have failed to turn the economy around. What makes this particular situation most interesting is that Europe has spent 2 years and literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to avoid a Greek default, yet now they are making demands that have the potential to push the country in exactly that direction.
If a new deal cannot be struck that both sides can agree on then Greece may have no choice but pursue collective action clauses on outstanding bonds written under Greek law to force private creditors to take a deal. Talks are on-going.
However, although this particular problem is now the focus, it is just one symptom of the actual problem. That problem was highlighted overnight with the European flash PMI’s. Germany once again outperformed the rest of Europe, France treaded water, admittedly with its head held a little higher, while the periphery of Europe slowly drifts away. The latest Euro PMI was a little better than expected, in some part due to the ECB’s actions over the last month or so no doubt, put the forward looking indicators suggest more weakness to come and I expect the divide to grow as Europe slows further. As I have stated previously that the German data is a double edged sword because, although it is good for Germany that its economy is powering, it is a big negative for the rest of Europe because one of the major issues that brought on the crisis in the first place was the competitiveness imbalance of nations under the single currency.
What we are now seeing in Greece, and will continue to, is a symptom of this underlying problem. But Greece is not alone, it is becoming obvious that Portugal has got itself into a similar position...So now even if Greece manages a deal to write-off some of its debt the markets will quickly turn their eyes to Portugal who will no doubt require a second bail out, but increasingly a debt restructure as well. With Spain also struggling and Italy under increasing pressure, the continuation of contagion appears to be taking its toll on the politics of Europe with Germany’s ability to control the situation diminishing...Germany also appears to be losing support from even its strongest allies. Last week the Dutch central banker Klaas Knot gave an interview blaming Germany for the failure of the EFSF...To add to that, Luxembourg’s new foreign minister gave an interview with German media yesterday in which he called the fiscal compact a ‘waste of time and energy’.
Is the failure of austerity-centric policy finally taking its toll on Germany’s ability to steer Europe’s response to the financial crisis? This would certainly explain why Mario Monti seems so sure that his country will be receiving the fiscal and monetary backstops. The outcomes from next week’s EU summit will provide more clues.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)told them I was supporting Jill Stein....
Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)Tansy Gold?
AnneD
(15,774 posts)Does my vote still count. I have some names from tombstone etchings, if only we were in Chicago, we the dead raise from their graves at poling time.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I would never tell a stranger anything.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)
and lurkers. Ok, so it isn't morning, but I won't be able to post tomorrow, so I can do it now. I am still recovering from the really draining clinic I had the other day. The day was one mishap after another. After a long slog home, hubby locked the top door lock, leaving me to pound on the door, trying to wake him up to let me in before my diuretic kicked in again. Did you know you can burn a crock pot dinner? I was extra crabby and fried. He made the mistake of asking me how my day went.
I made a conscience choice many years ago not to talk too much about what I do at work. Many Nurses are a lot like policemen in that respect. It sometimes is too sad and horrible that you don't want to depress or bore your spouse. Now, I can talk to my Nurse buds and they totally understand.
But last night I was just too through. So when he made the rather flippant observation, I told him just what my day was like. He actually winced more than once when I told him about the abuse I had to document and what some of these kids went through. After I had gotten it off my chest, he was quite for a long, long, time. He asked how often it was like this. I told him it was like this more than it should. I told him that I didn't tell him about my days because there was no point in 2 people feeling sad.
And then he apologized to me. I asked him why and he said something really sweet. He said he remembered all the times that he had come in of late bitching about his job and wanting to retire before me and how petty and selfish that seemed. He understood now why I got so upset with him when he said that. I just had no idea he kept saying. Needless to say, his eyes were opened.
I don't know how much longer I will be at this, but it is starting to wear on me. At least I will not have to explain myself to him again.
Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)It's a horrible combination for a relationship, and even worse for the kids to live thru it. They all think money grows on trees and readily use credit cards to buy the latest gadgets, toys, and vacations. I don't see how either of them will adjust to the difficult times that are coming.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)cops and nurses. He laughed and said it was because we had to deal with the cream of society. He also said that many cops he knew also dated/married strippers.
Cops and Nurses also tell the best stories too. We don't gross each other out when we tell them to each other. Cops are superstitious about giving Nurses tickets-not always but they tend to let us slide. As one cop once told me...I don't want to come too in the ER and see your face over me and know I wrote you a ticket. But they will ticket a Doc in a New York minute.
You are right to worry about your son and DIL. That has such a potential to be a high stress situation. I would recommend Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University to them, as a gift maybe. Sounds like they are on a dangerous path. Money should not get in the way of a relationship-but it does.
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)When you're crabby and fried, fry crab cakes!
AnneD
(15,774 posts)Crabby Patty myself...hold the tartar sauce unless I make it.
Best tartar sauce ever...Mayo, sweet pickle relish, and a good squeeze of lime. Mix togather.
Remoulade sauce!
AnneD
(15,774 posts)your recipe that is....
A pre-emptive 
Roland99
(53,342 posts)
AnneD
(15,774 posts)Thanks, for some reason this has been a brutal week. My kid with the good luck charm is doing better. We still have not heard from the run away. All you can do is pray for them sometimes.
Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)see what I did...
http://volcanoclast.com/accretionary-wedge-42-or-why-ive-loved-rocks-since-before-i-could-walk/
I got some great micro shots thanks to you.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)My own love of rocks comes from growing up in Michigan....so many kinds and colors, esp. the agates. The playgrounds were full of colors when wet. And making mosaics from those kits in the 60's.
And rocks are rather permanent....
Oh! And the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor...with many mineral specimens and a fluorescent display box and fossils and lovely mosaic floors....and the DIA with their exhibits...
Po_d Mainiac
(4,183 posts)
Demeter
(85,373 posts)the mica was pretty, though...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)PLEASE DO NOT ASK WHERE THIS MAN HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS....I HATE TO SEE US ALL WEEP.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/business/obama-urges-tougher-laws-on-financial-fraud.html
President Obama called on Congress Tuesday to toughen laws against securities fraud and to strengthen the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission to punish Wall Street firms that repeatedly violate antifraud statutes. In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama also said he would ask the attorney general to establish a special financial crimes unit to prosecute cases of large-scale financial fraud. It is not clear how that effort would differ from the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, a cross-agency group that Mr. Obama established in November 2009. Its mission, as the White House put it then, was to “hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial crisis and to prevent another crisis from happening.”
The two initiatives represent an attempt to give financial regulators a greater ability to police the financial markets. In addition, the proposals seek to acknowledge the continuing frustration among many Americans — exemplified by the Occupy Wall Street movement — that few financial executives have been prosecuted for their actions leading up to the crisis. Given the election-year pressures and the continuing gridlock on Capitol Hill, neither measure is certain to win approval in this session of Congress.
The issue of how to deal with Wall Street firms that repeatedly violate securities laws has come into focus in recent months as the S.E.C. has stepped up its efforts to bring cases related to the financial crisis. Many of those cases involve financial companies that have violated the same laws many times before. A New York Times analysis of S.E.C. enforcement actions over the last 15 years, published in November, found at least 51 cases in which the S.E.C. concluded that Wall Street firms had broken antifraud laws that, as part of settlements of earlier fraud cases, they had pledged never to breach. The 51 cases spanned 19 firms, including nearly all of the biggest financial companies — Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Company and Bank of America among them....
Mr. Obama first outlined his plans to crack down on repeat offenders in an economic speech in December in Osawatomie, Kan. “Too often, we’ve seen Wall Street firms violating major antifraud laws because the penalties are too weak and there’s no price for being a repeat offender,” Mr. Obama said. “No more. I’ll be calling for legislation that makes those penalties count so that firms don’t see punishment for breaking the law as just the price of doing business.”...In the State of the Union address, Mr. Obama said that banks and financial companies should be held accountable for their actions and should face the same type of consequences as anyone else who has been charged with breaking the law.
WE WILL CALL IT THE "O"BLIVIOUS DOCTRINE
Demeter
(85,373 posts)President Obama's emphasis on creating manufacturing jobs in his State of the Union address on Tuesday sounded just right to union leaders. But even these most ardent supporters expressed doubts that his proposals would do much to alleviate unemployment, agreeing with economists and business leaders contacted by The Huffington Post Tuesday night that the speech offered little that would move the needle in the jobs market. "If you do exactly what he's asking for, it would make almost no difference," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
In December the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent and many economists expressed hope that the nation was beginning to emerge from its jobs crisis. Economists and business and labor leaders said after the speech, however, that the president's proposals would not have a real impact on the jobless rate. For some, his proposals were just a reminder of how ineffectual the president's jobs plans have been through the Great Recession and nascent recovery.
In contrast to what Obama said in his speech, Baker said, lower taxes abroad are not the reason why jobs are going overseas. China's cheap currency has played a much more important role in bringing manufacturing jobs to East Asia. Commenting on Obama's suggestion that cracking down on piracy in China would play a major role in creating jobs in the United States, Baker said, "It's kind of a joke." Baker was skeptical of Obama's claim that higher-paying, high-skill manufacturing jobs are bountiful in the United States and just waiting for Americans to be trained for them, he added. The fact that new manufacturing jobs generally do not pay better than the old ones is proof that not many such jobs are available, he said...."The lines on manufacturing are silly," Baker wrote in an email critiquing Obama's speech. "Jobs in the sector are barely increasing (125,000 over the last year)." Added Baker: "This is not much to boast about, we are down by 2 million manufacturing jobs since the recession began."
Kevin L. Kearns, president of the Business and Industry Council, agreed that Obama's specific proposals would have too small of an impact. He also pointed to a need for reform of China's currency policy. If the president pushed for that, it would be a far stronger move, Kearns said, than "saying, 'I saved 1,000 jobs in the tire industry by imposing the tariffs on pirated Chinese tires.'" And as far as Obama's proposals for re-educating the workforce, Kearns said, "The best retraining program is called a job."
MORE BS AT LINK
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)...The president, it seems, has heard the hew and cry from his base, coming out strong against the banks, and laying the economic devastation he inherited at the feet of his predecessor. "In 2008, the house of cards collapsed..." Obama said. "Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people's money. Regulators had looked the other way, or didn't have the authority to stop the bad behavior. It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag."
Following a shout-out to Richard Cordray, his recess-appointed Consumer Financial Protection Board chief, the president announced the creation of a new entity in the Justice Department, the Financial Crimes Unit, "to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect people's investments." In fact, because of the gridlock in Congress, Obama laid out several initiatives he could create within the executive branch; unfortunately, without congressional funding, the jobs program he asked for is unlikely to be among them. Neither is the DREAM Act, despite the president's call to revive the bill that would allow a path to citizenship for people born abroad but raised in the U.S. The president also called on Congress to "stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July."
.....Obama also spoke to the unfairness of the tax code, but coupled his criticism with concerns about the national debt. Among the guests who sat with First Lady Michelle Obama in her box was Debbie Bosanek, secretary to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who has immortalized her for paying a much higher tax rate than he does.
"Right now, we're poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans," Obama said. "Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments in everything else -- like education and medical research; a strong military and care for our veterans? Because if we're serious about paying down our debt, we can't do both."
Obama also sought to put a dent in the Republican narrative about him as a regulation-happy, job-thwarting chief executive by noting that his administration has issued fewer new regulations than did predecessor George W. Bush at the same point in his presidency, and noted that since he took office, the private sector has added 22 million new jobs....
Demeter
(85,373 posts)(ONLY NINE?)
http://www.alternet.org/story/153891/9_crucially_important_issues_obama_ignored_in_his_state_of_the_union?page=entire
1) Student loan defaults. Obama claimed he wants to cap interest rates on student loans -- which would be great, but can only work in this particularly low-rate environment. He urged colleges to keep costs down – again, something that’s worked out really well when he’s mentioned it before. This year, student loan debt surpassed credit card debt, breaching the $1 trillion mark, at an average of more than $25,000 per student (and up 47% over a decade ago, not all under Obama, but a bi-administration problem is still a problem). Not surprisingly, student loan default rates have risen alongside this debt increase. Nearly 9% of loans defaulted in 2010, of those that began repayment in 2009, vs. 7% that began in 2008. Obama didn’t mention this growing problem.
2) Youth unemployment. Obama took credit for the creation of 3 million jobs. (I’m not going to debate that here.) Regardless, youth unemployment is at its highest rate since 1948. The unemployment rate for those under age 25 is 18.1% (31% for blacks), having risen sharply since 2008. Do the math. High student loan debt + diminishing job prospects = bad ending. Work-study programs have to be intense to really alter that.
3) Big banks. The largest firms continue to grow their asset bases and fee extrapolation strategies from their captive customer base. (If you’re say, a JPM Chase customer, it costs you $5 to extract your own money from a Bank of America ATM – both banks get a cut.) It was Obama who re-confirmed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for another 14 years (and yes, a bi-partisan Congress agreed), and who still keeps Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner around. Both men were gung-ho about the merger mania that dotted Wall Street in the fall of 2008 and made the too-big-to-fail banks bigger, as they now are.
4) Small banks. President Obama didn’t address the smaller bank closings occurring because the big banks got disproportionate subsides: 389 smaller banks (with $297 billion in assets) failed from 2009 to 2011. Like during the early years of the Great Depression, this means less choice for individuals, less loans for local businesses, and consolidation of influence and market share for the big banks.
5) Borrowers. Despite a few tepid programs to help homeowners, the sheer number of foreclosures is higher today than it was in 2008. There were a record number of foreclosure filings: 2.9 million in 2010 and 2.7 million in 2011. These are predicted to rise once more in 2012. Why? Because Obama’s program (that was supposed to help 5 million borrowers, and helped half a million) had to be approved by the banks. Banks don’t like citizen aid programs, even if they screwed them to begin with by fueling a $14 trillion toxic asset pyramid repackaging risky (for people), high interest-bearing (for them) securities. Obama said, “The banks will repay a deficit of trust.” What?! When?! Where?!
6) Recent regulator incompetence. Regulators looked the other way, Obama said, pre-crisis. But he mentioned nothing about the regulators giving a pass since. The SEC bestows banks settlements for fraudulent mortgage asset products, without extracting any admission of wrongdoing. He missed saying anything about the lack of related DOJ criminal indictments. The top five banks agreed to pay $1.149 billion to the SEC to settle subprime-mortgage related fraud charges, with no admission of guilt or criminal indictments. (The SEC settlement of $285 million with Citigroup was rejected by Judge Rakoff in November, 2011 and is being renegotiated.) And Obama wants to create a Financial Crimes Unit? What’s the SEC supposed to be doing? Or the DOJ? Or the FBI?
7) MF Global and customer money. On the same topic – the deficit of trust thing: Obama avoided any talk about his buddy, Jon Corzine or MF Global, the nation’s eighth largest bankruptcy. He didn’t point out how diabolical it was to use and "lose" customer funds that were supposed to have been kept separate from bad bets. He didn’t suggest having a solid separation between customer money and financial firm money, as in -- don't have it at the same firm. He claimed "we will not bail you out again” and yet, we still are.
8) Banks hoarding. Obama neglected to mention the $1.6 trillion that banks are stashing at the Fed in the form of excess (and interest-bearing) reserves, which do nothing for the Main Street economy. Meanwhile, small business loans are at a 12-year low, having shrunk continuously since 2008.
9) Obama conveyed that we dodged a bullet getting the banking system under control. He didn’t note the rising risk in the banking system: the largest four US banks (JPM Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs) control nearly 95% of the US derivatives market, which has grown by 20% since just last year, to $235 trillion. JPM Chase holds 11% of the world’s derivative exposure, Citibank, Bank of America and Goldman comprise about 7% each. Goldman has 537 times as many (from 440 times last year) derivatives as assets and it’s still considered a bank holding company (as per Bernanke) that gets federal backing.
************************************************************************************
Nomi Prins is a senior fellow at the public policy center Demos and author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.
Po_d Mainiac
(4,183 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)The recent Pew Research report on tensions between the rich and poor gives a road map to the ofttimes unfocused Occupy movement. Since 2009, the study found, there is “a growing awareness of class conflict” among Americans. Whatever its findings, that the mainstream Pew Research Center would frame the report in the usually verboten language of “class conflict” is itself remarkable. Whenever verbiage such as “class” or “class struggle,” let alone “class conflict” is used by academics or politicians to describe the incongruity between democracy and capitalism, it is rejected as Marxist ideological rant. Even the avoidance of the use of “working class” for the more centrist “middle class” by President Obama led to the farcical cry of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum that Obama was encouraging class warfare.
This is hardly surprising, for when Obama attempted to raise taxes on the wealthy for the benefit of the larger populace, he was charged with encouraging class warfare rather than attempting a more equitable distribution of wealth. Although the concept of a fair distribution of assets is democratic, not Marxist, in thrust, and the 1 percent have been waging a rigged undeclared war against the 99 percent for decades, now that the 99 percent have begun pushing back, there is an inevitable cry of foul from the reactionary rich.
Award-winning author and scholar Michael Parenti, especially in his classic “Democracy for the Few,” argues “whatever modicum of democracy the people attain in any society is usually the outcome of a general struggle for a more equitable politico-economic order.” With the Occupy movement, that struggle has become visible.
Lest I be charged with advocating some form of Marxist rubric, I believe that while struggle, such as the civil rights movement, is at the heart of the most dramatic social change in the United States, only someone with historical and sociological amnesia would think that revolution will ever hold sway in the United States. The widespread belief of working-class people that they can become part of the upper class and the coming of the computer age renders stillborn any Marxist notion of a violent overthrow. The savage corporate plunder that led to our current recession, however, seems to have exploded for all time the belief in the existence of a harmonious, prosperous society. Who would argue against the theory that the protest of the so-called 99 percent against the 1 percent is a rebellion of the poor and middle class against the rich based on a recognition that society is stratified? And that is the essence of class consciousness. Marx thought such class consciousness would inevitably lead to revolution. In 2012 America, it has led instead to a consciousness among the Occupy protesters against a one-sided system of financial exploitation, which in its own way is quite revolutionary.
Ross T. Runfola is an attorney, writer and poet who is a professor of sociology at Medaille College.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)1. Don't put the IRS in charge.
Bad outcomes are often born of good intentions -- consider the social change-oriented non-profit. I give a contribution to an organization with an IRS-approved social purpose, I get a tax deduction. The organization does its best to fix society. If only it were that simple. But the IRS, always the voice box of conservative thinking, insists that my money be virtually untouched by the foul hand of partisan activity. And that it stays entirely on the right side of the law. No nonviolent civil disobedience on a non-profit dime. In terms of day-to-day spending for systemic change, that translates into a penchant for policy-oriented reports, meetings and the occasional campaign. What it does not translate into is occupying anything. And, with notable exceptions, it dulls the voice from speaking truth to power. Heaven forefend that your 501(c)3 dollar be used to organize against legislation that will benefit the 1 percent at the expense of the rest of us. Those restrictions may be entirely compatible with the worlds of museums and ballets, social service agencies, or research organizations. But they aren’t compatible with achieving the level of social and environmental change that we crave...Put another way, if we believe in the value and power of this work (and, one might add, all genuinely radical political work), we have to find a way to pay for it that looks more like union dues than something a financial adviser would approve.
2. Let's not anoint OWS leadership.
At a recent gathering of OWSers, everyone applauded the remark, “The phrase ‘the leadership of Occupy’ is and should always be an oxymoron.” If that sentiment doesn’t make sense to you, read Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid. Or just take a few minutes to think about the difference between Moment and Movement. Genuine leaders do emerge from political moments, but being lifted up by community action produces accountability to that community. Being anointed by the media or funders produces accountability only to them. (Since we’ve mentioned reading, try Lawrence Goodman’s The Populist Moment on this subject.)
3. Keep the spirit of Occupy free from bricks and mortar.
We need and have vibrant progressive institutions. In fact, many of them enabled Occupy to prosper. Supporting the existing infrastructure that allows interruption to be meaningful is crucial to the future of whatever comes next. Have you who cheer on the occupations sent contributions to the National Lawyers Guild which was everywhere defending the legal rights of all the occupiers? Or have you joined the Working Families Party or CodePink or The Other 98% or any organization that rolled up its sleeves for Occupy? Are you paying your dues to maintain a vibrant, independent media? These are all part of the institutionalized left that we should support. The irony is that any plan to put occupiers behind computers at desks in conventional offices (especially if all that is funded by tax-exempt money) guarantees only one thing: more good people writing memos and reports and having meetings about what they have the money to do, rather than what they feel the personal and politically strategic imperative is and would do even if there were no guaranteed source of funding.
4. Don't drown it in money.
As far as we know, no one was paid to occupy. But occupy they did. And did. And did. Yes, many sympathetic non-campers helped by generously dropping money in the hat, box or garbage bag. And the sandwiches and fruit and ice cream (thank you, Ben and Jerry's) kept morale high and tempers down. But the comment in the 1/18/12 NYT that “With the (OWS) funding freeze, no money will be laid out for… out-of-town projects” sounds an awful lot like institution-think. Even if someone else somewhere else has a brilliant notion, the dollars will be saved for...? Throughout the fall, the OWS folks across the country did maintain the very good sense to reject the idea of paying themselves. (“Which selves?”) But the fruits of that good sense will be erased with the prospect of salaries and budgets to “institutionalize” OWS. Contrary to some opinions, it’s OK if the first generation of occupiers become labor organizers or politically active waitstaff or take time to gain the skills to build a better society and a healthier planet. Making space for new energy, lending a hand, evolving into a different part of the social change ecosystem is a positive way to build movement. There will be a next wave. And soon. Give the determined old- or newcomers, “no strings attached” moving around dollars, but not titles or commitments to do anything but pursue high-stakes action in solidarity.
5. Keep it out of the silo.
Since the first days in Zuccotti Park, traditionalists have chastised Occupy for refusing to “say what they want.” What that usually means is “Support my issue.” However, in the one-page OWS September 29 Declaration, the occupiers spoke as clearly as the Founding Fathers in saying that what is wrong is not a function of any single issue. It is systemic and it is the obligation of us all to fix it. Occupiers were holding the whole, blowing away the fog of politics-as-usual. It felt like a national shout of the last line of Spike Lee’s School Daze: “WAKE UP!” That’s a happening, not an issue. Occupy is a spirit that should not be contained or funneled into a single issue orientation.
6. Don't forget the lessons of history.
We all want Occupy to have meaning beyond its moment. Because of the encampments, we know anew the powers of interruption, of surprise, of witnessing, of narrative and of place. If we honor those gifts and integrate them into the weave of our work, the progressive front will become more powerful. But if we attempt to morph the Occupy spirit and energy into another 501(c)3 funded non-profit, competing with other groups for media attention and contributions, if we institutionalize its thinking so that the Occupy spirit succumbs to the politics of the possible, rather than continuing to create new possibility, we will have missed an opportunity that history seldom offers...Ideally, the OWS spirit of truth-telling, determination and commitment to creating community in action will infiltrate all our work. Ideally, the spirit of ruckus will consistently refresh our activism. Ideally, we will all talk about and act and vote with class analysis in mind. But lest you settle on the familiar notion that radical change is possible within the confines of the practical or the comfortable or the familiar, do have that conversation about what stilled the spirit of past movements. And don’t let Occupy be occupied!
Demeter
(85,373 posts)...In colonial America, historians estimate that between one-half and two-thirds of white immigrants arrived as indentured servants. Indentured servants in England were in servitude typically for one year, while indenture in America was typically four to seven years. Today in the United States, student debt is an even longer debt commitment than colonial indentured servitude. The standard Stafford federal loan is, for example, 15 years, and with waivers and refinancing, it is not uncommon for Americans to be paying off student loans well into middle age.
In “Student Debt and the Spirit of Indenture,” Carnegie Mellon University professor Jeffrey Williams concludes, “College student loan debt has revived the spirit of indenture for a sizable proportion of contemporary Americans.” Williams points out that college loan debt, like indentured servitude, “looms over the lives of those so contracted, binding individuals for a significant part of their future work lives.”
Similar to students signing their college loan papers, indentured servants also “freely chose” their servitude. In colonial times, while the elite saw indentured servitude as a freely chosen and fair economic deal, the servants themselves routinely saw it as an exploitative system of labor, a form of time-limited slavery. Like colonial indentured servants who “freely chose” to sign papers agreeing that they would pay off their debt directly in labor, modern student loan debtors “freely choose” to sign papers agreeing to pay off their debt. However, this is a choice that the financial elite do not have to make.
Like colonial indentured servitude, the student loan contract is virtually unbreakable. Student loans are enforced by garnishing wages, and unlike most other forms of debt, student loan debt is almost never forgiven even in personal bankruptcy. Similar to some indentured servants, some student loan debtors—most famously, Michelle and Barack Obama—do go on to prosper. However, half of those who attend college don’t graduate, and many college graduates do not get high-paying jobs and struggle to make debt payments for much of their adult lives....
Demeter
(85,373 posts)MORE FROM ABOVE
Several years ago, I was speaking to a group of high school seniors, and I mentioned that my experience is that the adult world tries to scare young people about so much crap, that the net effect is for young people not to take anything we say seriously. I told them that most mistakes are useful learning experiences, but that there are two things that should concern them because they are very difficult to overcome, and I then moved on to another topic. A sea of hands went up, and several students shouted out demanding that I tell them what the two things were. So I told them: One, it’s difficult to overcome driving drunk and killing somebody; and two, it also tends to drag your life down if you have a kid with someone you can’t stand....These days, however, I’ve had to modify what I say to high school kids. My recent experience is that, for more people, even more depressing than having a kid with someone you can’t stand is running up a gigantic student loan debt. So, now I talk with young people in groups, individually, and their parents about student loan debt hell.
Many young people among the 99 percent, in my experience, have been socialized not to have “class consciousness.” So, we discuss how kids from 1 percent families can go to expensive colleges without any career plans, party, flunk out, go to another expensive college, and have no student loan debt—and can fall back on either the family business, a trust fund, or a career in politics. While the 1 percent can afford—without loans—to shell out whatever money is necessary for college, many of the 99 percent will have a “debt sword” that hangs over their heads for a significant part of their lives. The 1 percent and the corporate media have succeeded in making the terms “class consciousness” and “class war” taboo, which is part of the reason why they are winning the class war and enslaving the 99 percent.
College Decision-Making for the 99 Percent
Today, high school students hear repeatedly that they are losers if they don’t go to college, and their parents are made to feel like failures if their kids don’t go to college. For the 99 percent, the truth is that it may make sense to go college, or it may not. College may make sense if you want to earn a living at something that requires a college-level certification. But college may not make sense, especially if you are not motivated for it, or your career desires don’t require a degree and certifications. Exiting from the modern world-religion view that not attending college is sinful and shameful, let’s look at it soberly. Colleges offer 1) learning; 2) certifications and accreditation; and 3) partying and potential for meeting people. While learning does take place in college, it is just as easy to gain knowledge outside of college. Most college learning is book learning, and one need not go to college to read books. Moreover, most of us have learned much of what we use to make a living and survive through experience, not through coursework.
It is true, however, that without a college degree and specific certifications, one simply will not be hired for certain jobs. While much of what I learned in my formal schooling was worthless or worse than worthless, I needed degrees for credentialing and licensing. The same is true for teachers and other professionals. But there’s little reason not to get that degree as inexpensively as possible.
STILL MORE
Demeter
(85,373 posts)What this psychologist has to say has some value, if one intends to be a good worker-bee and go along to get along, and a job exists at the end of the line.
If one has TALENT, however, it is absolutely worthless. If one wishes to succeed in Art, or Research, or Higher Science or any field where one needs the mentoring and connections to qualify in the first place and advance in the second...one needs to get into the elite school. Otherwise, one will never be considered top drawer, because one will never have been trained to the highest standard. It may be possible to do the first 2-4 years cheaply, but then one will need an expensive advanced degree.
FURTHERMORE, if one wishes to associate with top people, or even marry such a one, it isn't going to happen at a public university. And by top people, I don't mean George W. Bush. (Unless that is what you wish.) Nor do I mean future tentacles of the Vampire Squid. I mean International Stars and Nobel Prize Winners.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)I have every read for students (and their parents) EVER. This gets bookmarked and sent to all the social workers and counselors I know. Thanks so much for posting this.
I was the first in my family to ever go to college. I had no mentor and learned by trial and error. As a poor kid from the other side of the tracks, I was all to aware of class-even in the 70's. I had wealthy friends in college so I circulated and saws thing close up. I did not get as far as I could have, but what I learned, I taught and mentored my daughter. She had talent in music (runs in the family) and was pretty smart. With training and taking advantage of opportunities that came our way, we parlayed that into an education at an elite university. They recognized her talent and gave her as much aid as they could find. She will come out this May with some debt, but she now has the connections and skill to pay that debt off and do better than I ever could dream of. Time will tell, but she has recieved the benefit of my hard earned knowlege.
Every child has skills. The important thing is to guide and mentor them. I have as much respect for a mechanical engineering mind as an artistic or academic mind. As kids come in the clinic, I often talk to them about what they like and what are their dreams. I try to encougage real dreams that can be achieved-not pie in-the-sky fantasies.
Everyone pushes a college bound culture but that is foolish and wasteful. I am a firm believer in education to make you a better person-but education, not necessarily getting a piece of paper but no job, skill or hope of any prospects. That is just cruel.
If my hubby got the paper to match his skill as a musician-he would have a PhD on the wall now and I would be working for Elizabeth Warren.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2012, 06:20 AM - Edit history (1)
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Confidence among German consumers is set to increase in February, supported by rising economic optimism and high income expectations despite growing concerns about a possible recession in euro area in the first quarter of 2012, survey results from market research group GfK revealed Thursday. The forward-looking consumer confidence index is seen at 5.9 in February, higher than the revised 5.7 in January. Economists had forecast the score to stay unchanged at the initial January reading of 5.6. 'This development would seem to suggest that private consumption will be fulfilling its designated role as an important mainstay of economic growth in 2012,' the GfK said.
Especially given the sluggish global economy and growing trend towards recession in Europe, consumption will have the role of stabilizing the economy in Germany and preventing a slide into recession, the research group said.
The economic expectations index for January rose by 8.4 points to 7.5, marking the second consecutive rise. The income expectations indicator improved marginally by 0.1 point to 34.1. Prior to this, the indicator had fallen successively for five months.
Income expectations received a continued boost from the extremely positive situation in the German labor market. The majority of forecasts currently assume that the employment rate will increase further this year, although rather less dynamically than in 2011, the group said. The indicator reflecting willingness to buy durables gained 14.4 points to 41.8, reversing prior fall of 12.9 points. A higher value than the January reading was last recorded over five years ago, in December 2006. According to the group, there are several reasons for this remarkably strong desire to buy among Germans, including the positive development in employment, falling rates of inflation and the indirect impact that the current banking and debt crisis is having on retail trade. 'Given the lack of trust Germans have in financial markets and historically low interest rates, consumers seem to be more inclined to make high-value purchases rather than saving their money,' GfK said...
/... http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2012-01/22536896-german-consumer-morale-to-improve-despite-eurozone-recession-fears-gfk-020.htm
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)LONDON | Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:04am GMT (Reuters) - Retail sales suffered their biggest annual fall in nearly three years in January, as shoppers reined in spending after picking up pre-Christmas bargains, an industry survey showed on Thursday.
The Confederation of British Industry distributive trades survey's balance for reported sales volumes plunged to -22 in January from +9 in December, its lowest level since March 2009, when Britain was last in recession. Analysts had forecast a fall to -6.
The figures come a day after official data showing that the economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the last three months of 2011, raising fears that the country was entering recession.
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/uk-britain-economy-idUKTRE80N0KE20120126
Hugin
(33,120 posts)Must add this fxstreet to the SMW toolkit. 
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Grumble grumble. Have to go look for them now. 
- imgur.com now makes it very easy to post a selective screenshot on the fly -
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Orders for durable goods rose last month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Separately, the Labor Department said that unemployment rose last week to 377,000, but economists think the numbers point to a recovering job market.
The dollar was also falling against most other currencies. The dollar fell to 77.48 Japanese yen from 77.81 Japanese yen, to 0.9176 Swiss franc from 0.9231 Swiss franc and to 99.90 Canadian cents from 1.0053 Canadian dollar.
/.. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/markets/euro-rises-against-the-dollar-on-us-durable-goods-jobs-data/2012/01/26/gIQA70QATQ_story.html
durable-goods rose 3.0% in December on stronger demand for civilian aircraft, machinery, and primary metals, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. This is the third straight monthly gain and the fourth in the past five months. Excluding transportation, orders rose 2.1%, the fourth straight gain. The increase was stronger than expected. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a 2.4% rise in durables. Transportation orders had a large increase, rising 5.5%.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/26/durable-goods-orders-up-strong-30-in-december/#ixzz1kZZzYe63
Continuing claims increased by 88,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.55 million in the week ended Jan. 14. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. About 7.64 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended Jan. 7, down 188,612 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/01/26/us-jobless-claims-increase-21000-to-377000/#ixzz1kabEvPPT
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Dec. New Home Sales: -2.2% to 307K vs. 320K expected, 314K (revised) prior. Months' supply 6.1 vs. 6 prior. Median price $210,300.
/.. http://seekingalpha.com/currents/post/112144
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Dec. Leading Indicators: Leading Index +0.4% vs. +0.7% expected, 0.5% prior. Coincident Index +0.3% vs. +0.1% prior. Lagging Index +0.3% vs. +0.4% prior.
Conventional Wisdumb Comments (1382)
Another major Data-set revision downwards - this is why the cynics like me have a hard time accepting the governments stats...
... August was originally report as 0.3% and the new measure was -0.7%. The LEI under the revised measurement went NEGATIVE in August and September (-0.7% and -0.6%) which explains why ECRI made its call.
/... http://seekingalpha.com/currents/post/112143
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Most Asian market ended higher Thursday, amid thin trading, as traders took positive cues from the overnight gains on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve yesterday indicated they would likely keep interest rates low at near zero through late 2014 as the U.S economy continued to be sluggish with subdued levels of inflation.
In the commodities market, the price of crude was steady around the $100-mark, even after an official report revealed unexpected jump in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. Wednesday during trading hours, the EIA said that U.S. crude oil inventories moved up by 3.60 million barrels, while gasoline stocks eased 400,000 barrels in the weekended January 20. Analysts were expecting crude oil inventories gain by 700,000 barrels and gasoline stocks are seen adding 2.2 million barrels last week. Crude for March delivery edged up $0.15 to $99.55 a barrel...
... The Japanese market leveled off from its 3-month high, with the Nikkei average easing 34.22 points or 0.39 percent to 8.849.70. Tokyo Electric Power Co. gained over 5 percent amid reports that the company will accept public funds to avoid bankruptcy.
The Hong Kong market, which reopened after three day holiday, surged 328.77 points or 1.63 percent to 20.439.14. Energy stocks turned in a strong performance amid a surge in oil prices. China's largest offshore energy company Cnooc gained over 2 percent. China Coal Energy and Yanzhou Coal Mining gathered over 2 percent each. Zhaojin Mining Industry surged close to 10 percent and gold miner Zijin Mining moved up 5 percent. Toys maker Li & Fung Ltd. advanced over 3 percent.
South Korea's Kospi average edged up 4.95 points or 0.25 percent to 1,957.18 even after data revealed that the GDP growth fell far short of analyst forecasts to a two-year low. South Korea's largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co eased over 2 percent after reporting quarterly net income of $1.80 billion, that came in below consensus estimates.
/... http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2012-01/22537120-asian-stocks-end-higher-as-fed-favors-low-rate-regime-020.htm
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)(Reuters) - The euro held firm against the dollar, while European shares and gold moved higher on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve set out an unambiguously easier policy stance, but fears of a messy Greek debt default still haunt the markets...
... "We are definitely seeing risk-on at the moment, markets have got excited as economic growth helps bring down debt," said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners. "But it tells us an awful lot about the state of the economy in the United States. If the Fed is telling us interest rates are going to stay low the recovery must be fragile," she added.
The MSCI world equity index was up 0.6 percent to 318.38, extending its strong start to the year with gains of six percent in 2012.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares opened up 0.3 percent at 1,042.53 points. The index is up around 21 percent from its 2011 low it hit in September.
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/uk-markets-global-idUKTRE80M23K20120126
http://seekingalpha.com/currents/post/112010
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)LONDON | Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:46pm GMT (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending gains on the back of a weaker dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates low for longer than planned, in a bid to stimulate an economic recovery...
... Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that the U.S. central bank could consider further monetary easing weighed on the dollar, lending further support to oil.
A weaker greenback renders dollar-denominated assets such as crude cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar index .DXY was down 0.48 percent, after slipping to five-week lows earlier in the session.
Front-month Brent crude futures rose by $1.53 to$111.34 a barrel by 1206 GMT, reversing two days of losses, and just back from an intra-day high of $111.35 per barrel. U.S. crude was meanwhile $1.30 higher $100.70, rising for a second day.
/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/businesspro-us-markets-oil-idUKTRE7AD06820120126
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)European stocks advanced after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it may keep interest rates low through 2014 and a report indicated Greece is making progress in talks for a debt-swap deal. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also climbed.
Commodity shares led gains, with Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) adding at least 3 percent. Petropavlovsk Plc (POG) rallied 8.3 percent after reporting a 24 percent increase in 2011 gold production. Logitech International SA (LOGN), the world’s biggest maker of computer mice, declined 13 percent after cutting its forecasts for sales and operating income.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.8 percent to 256.92 at 10:34 a.m. in London. Stocks rose after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke made a case for a third round of asset purchases. The benchmark gauge has rallied 5.1 percent so far this year amid signs that the U.S. economy is recovering and speculation that the euro area will contain its debt crisis...
... Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in March increased 0.3 percent, after erasing a loss of as much as 0.3 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1 percent.
/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/european-stock-index-futures-rise-on-fed-s-rate-outlook-ericsson-may-move.html
hamerfan
(1,404 posts)For one of the best 'toons I've seen in a long while.
Thanks!
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)[center]
[/center]Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Corporate defaults may almost double in Europe as companies struggle to refinance debt and banks hoard cash borrowed from the European Central Bank or use it to buy government bonds.
Europe’s default rate may soar to 8.4 percent or more, from 4.8 percent at the end of 2011 as the recession bites and company financing dries up, according to Standard & Poor’s. Petroplus Holdings AG (PPHN) became the latest victim of the tough stance banks are adopting when the region’s biggest independent oil refiner said this week it will file for insolvency after losing access to $2.1 billion of credit lines.
“It’s very challenging for anyone to raise money from lenders right now,” said Andrew Cleland-Bogle, a Frankfurt- based director at corporate finance specialist DC Advisory Partners. “Combine that with increased bank capital requirements and you can see that although banks are getting money they’re very selective when it comes to lending it. 2012 is going to be a very, very tough year.”
... Speculative-grade companies have to refinance about 230 billion euros ($300 billion) through 2015, according to S&P. At the same time, banks and loan funds that provided the initial funding are scrambling for capital or reaching the end of their reinvestment periods and may be unwilling to extend loans.
Banks are using the 489 billion euros they borrowed at 1 percent from the ECB under its three-year longer-term refinancing operation to scoop up government bonds yielding more than 2.5 percentage points extra instead of lending the money to companies.
/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/banks-hoarding-ecb-cash-may-double-defaults.html
Cancerous Squid Vulture-Culture at work, sucking the economic life out of main street.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)So much for that big fat Greek payday.
Hedge funds that loaded up on Greek bonds in the last month — betting on a quick gain — are now scrambling to sell those holdings, fearful that European policy makers will force them to take a deep and binding haircut on the debt.
But walking away from the trade may not be that easy. While the money managers had little problem snapping up the bonds from European banks eager to sell, the pool of potential buyers is drying up.
Hedge funds have few options. Although talks between Greece and its bondholders have stalled, European officials are pressing for a deal by the end of this month. Under the proposed debt restructuring plan, hedge funds and other private sector creditors would have to incur losses of 50 percent or more — whether or not the bondholders agreed...“I think it’s going to be take it or leave it. And if you do not participate you will get massively beaten up,” said one hedge fund holder of Greek debt, alluding to the unpleasant prospect that if he did not take the deal — and the steep loss in value, or haircut — he would end up with nearly worthless Greek bonds and with virtually no legal protection.
The situation represents a significant shift in how Europe has approached the issue. Last year, when the idea of a Greek debt default seemed a remote possibility, the private sector agreed to a “voluntary” 21 percent loss on its bonds. The fear was that forcing mandatory losses would lead to a disorderly default and scare investors off European debt altogether. But as Greece’s economic problems have worsened and the need for debt relief has become more acute, Europe, particularly Germany, has come around to the realization that the private sector must take a deeper loss. In a sign of the new direction, the region’s leaders have begun discussions with the European Central Bank on an arcane debt swap that would strip 55 billion euros ($72 billion) of Greek bonds from the central bank’s portfolio, thus removing the possibility that the central bank might share losses with the private sector in a debt restructuring deal. Now, the smart money isn’t looking so smart. Starting in December, the counterintuitive, go-long Greece bet was one of the more popular pitches made to hedge funds in New York and London. Investment banks — Merrill Lynch was particularly aggressive in recommending the trade, investors say — argued that even though Greece was nearly bankrupt, those who bought the paper maturing in March could double their money when Greece received the next installment of its bailout, due that same month...The theory was that the bulk of that money would be paid to bondholders to keep Greece solvent, just as was the case with past payments from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece might well restructure its debt, the bankers said, but added it was likely to happen later and would not affect the March payout.
The pitch worked. In the last month or so, hedge funds purchased an estimated 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) of beaten-down Greek bonds that mature on March 20.
SUCKERS!
Hotler
(11,416 posts)Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Here in the 21st century, it should be clear to us that better technology is not sufficient to build the kind of better lives and society that we want. If it were, we wouldn’t be in a position of mass unemployment, widespread suffering, and a democracy in decay. Social institutions, including workplaces and corporations, have to be full partners in building a democratic, empowered, and equal society. Most corporations, however, don’t see themselves that way – including Apple. Today’s New York Times took a look at Apple, America And A Squeezed Middle Class, curious to see why Apple no longer manufactures its products in the US and what the impact is on our prosperity. They found that Apple builds in China in large part because they have a narrow focus on their products and their profits, and disdain wider concerns for the good of society. When an unnamed Apple executive was asked about their role in addressing America’s economic problems, their response was revealing:
“We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries,” a current Apple executive said. “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.”
That quote is perhaps the best encapsulation of the pathologies of the modern American corporation. In fact, Apple does have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Everyone who lives in this country has that obligation. And corporations have that obligation too. If they don’t want to help make things better, then they shouldn’t exist.
The notion that companies exist only to generate profit or build a specific few set of products is corrosive. Those profits and products serve the rest of society. And as a part of that society, companies and their executives exist to make that society a better place. If they are engaged in a set of practices that make society worse off, then those actions are indefensible and need to be changed. For the last 30 years, American businesses have been devoted to a single-minded pursuit of maximizing short-term profits. Unsurprisingly, this has had profound ripple effects throughout the rest of society. The economy became focused on those profits, and so with it followed politics, culture, and our values as a civilization. By now it should be clear to everybody that while this works well for the small elite that has hoarded all these profits – the so-called “1%” – it has utterly failed to provide a happy and fulfilled life for everyone else....
If all we want out of life is an iPhone, then we can just continue on the present path. But for those of us who know we can and should aspire to much more fulfilling things, it’s time we started figuring out how to change the global economy, rather than let it continue undermining our values and our lives.
*****************************************************************
Robert Cruickshank is a political activist and historian. He writes about California politics at Calitics.com.
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)he and his company may produce gee whizz products but they do it using the worst practices of the corporate gangsters.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Chief executive picks out the country as having the most potential for growth but the company may have a hard time fulfilling demand
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/5VEE8H/B49CK/XHCH53/MSGIIK/B7/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
HOW LONG BEFORE THE CHINESE ARE BOYCOTTING APPLE? BET IT HAPPENS THERE BEFORE HERE...AND HERE, IT HAPPENS IN SYMPATHY...
AnneD
(15,774 posts)can be changed or revised....if the need arises!Now is a good time.
xchrom
(108,903 posts) xchrom
(108,903 posts)A little-known source of clean energy funding could prove a crucial job-creation engine in the states, as federal support diminishes and they seek fresh growth drivers.
Every state can create clean energy funds, or CEFs, which are typically supported by a small surcharge on monthly electricity bills. So far 22 states have done so, generating $2.7 billion overall for the clean technology sector during the past decade. Most have used the money to install tens of thousands of solar panel arrays, wind turbines and biomass facilities.
But a few states have gone further by broadening investments to include technology research hubs, fledgling cleantech startups and green job training programs. The idea is to use the money, which today totals some $500 million a year, to help develop all the components of the clean economy and stimulate the creation of thousands of permanent local jobs.
The strategy is still experimental, but it could turn these CEFs into a major source of economic growth, according to new report published today by the Brookings Institution, a public policy group, and the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic organization. The report outlines a four-part policy strategy for every state to adopt this "next generation" of CEF spending.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)These documents could reveal a lot about how our economy was transformed into a playground for the 1 percent.
Before Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was, as he describes it, "unemployed," he used to get up in the morning and go to work, like the rest of us. Did he pay taxes, like the rest of us have to? He doesn't seem to want us to know.
If you are lucky enough to still have a job, you get dressed, go to work, sit in a noisy cubicle, pound a nail, teach a class, take care of someone, or any of the other things we do most days. You get your paycheck, you pay your taxes. Let's say you do pretty well, making ...wow ... more than $379,150 (after all deductions). According to the IRS your federal income tax should be 35 percent on every dollar that is above that amount...Mitt Romney has released his most recent tax returns. They tell us some eye-popping things about Romney and about the wealthy 1 percent and the low taxes they pay on the gains from invested wealth. But they only raise questions about Romney's controversial years "working" at Bain Capital. What would we learn from seeing his tax returns from the Bain Capital years, and what would that tell us about the transformation of our economy into a playground for the 1 percent and a sweatshop for the rest of us?
A PROPER ARTIST WITH A KNIFE, AS MRS. LOVETT SAID OF SWEENY TODD...
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Here in my household, we are swimming in Apple products. We have four iPhones, although only three of them are currently in use. We have an iPod and an iPad. We have a MacBook and a MacBook Air (on which this post is currently being composed). We have two iBooks in storage, along with my iMac, which dates to the summer of 2000. It still boots up and works just fine.
I’m not an Apple fanboy. I just prefer products that work well, rarely ever crash, and help me create value. Apple products meet those needs perfectly, whereas most PCs I’ve used simply don't.
If those were the only things I cared about in life, I wouldn’t give those products a second thought. But there’s more to life than a functional piece of consumer electronics. Those items should exist to help me do the things in life that I want to do, to help me live a better life. They’re tools, not ends.
***disclaimer: i am an apple product fan. -- it's just stupid of them to engage in this horrible behavior -- it's going to hurt them or worse.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)THE HONEST PEOPLE CALL IT SLAVERY....SCATHING INDICTMENT OF APPLE'S "GLOBALIZATION"
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Bill before parliament could leave S European nations struggling to find alternative supplies
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/C4N311/7ZY85/WT0T58/C4FZ77/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
THIS IS SO RICH! THE WEST LIKES TO PRETEND THERE NEVER WAS AN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION BEFORE THE VIRGIN QUEEN...IN FACT, THERE WERE SEVERAL...CHINA, INDIA, PERSIA, BYZANTIUM, GREECE, ROME, ALL THOSE POPULATIONS THEY'VE BEEN SHITTING ON RECENTLY.
SAUCE FOR THE GANDER!
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)The history of chess spans some 1500 years. The earliest predecessors of the game originated in India, before the 6th century AD. From India, the game spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Southern Europe. In Europe, chess evolved into roughly its current form in the 15th century. In the second half of the 19th century, modern chess tournament play began, and the first world Chess Championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward in chess theory and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Developments in the 21st century include use of computers for analysis, which originated in the 1970s with the first programmed chess games on the market. Online gaming appeared in the mid 1990's....
wikipedia
it is called chaturanga (army in sanskrit). It spread to Persia and then through arab traders to Spain. People think of Russia because that is where the first World Tournaments were held.
AnneD_who use to teach intro chess to talented elementary kids although she has no ranking and bemoans the fact that we have gone from a nation of chess players to a nation of checker players
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)The Libro de los Juegos, ("Book of games"
, or Libro de acedrex, dados e tablas, ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish) (which) was commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León and completed in his scriptorium in Toledo in 1283...
/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libro_de_los_juegos
AnneD
(15,774 posts)this is what I like about the internet. Thanks GD for sharing.
I love the cross pollination of cultures that happened in Spain at that time. It really helped bring in the Rennaissance in Europe.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Europe can only recover the confidence of global markets if the weaker European economies boost their growth with structural reforms, says Merkel
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/C4N311/7ZY85/WT0T58/MSGIE8/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
GIVE IT UP, ANGELA! YOU CAN'T TURN A SOW'S EAR INTO A SILK PURSE!
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Germany is determined to play a full part in combating the eurozone crisis but will not commit to anything that it cannot deliver, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor has told delegates at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Delivering the keynote address in Switzerland, Merkel questioned the rationale of those in financial markets, governments and the International Monetary Fund who were pressing Berlin to put more money on the table, but did not rule it out
Merkel said: "We have said right from the start that we want to stand up for the euro, but what we don't want is a situation where we are forced to promise something that we will not be able to fulfil.
"If Germany, for example, on behalf of all the other member countries, were promising something that - if the markets really attack us we would not be able to come up with - then we have indeed an open flank."
Demeter
(85,373 posts)David Cameron delivered a direct rebuke to Germany at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, calling on Berlin to contribute significantly more resources and guarantees to help solve the eurozone crisis.
The British prime minister stressed that although progress had been made, particularly with the European Central Bank’s funding of the European banking system, policymakers were still far from finding a solution to the underlying problems of the crisis.
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/2ODE5S/WH2F8/TU8U9W/GD1YL5/PJ/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
NOW THERE'S A MAN WHO KNOWS HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE!
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Britain’s economy shrunk by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Another negative result this quarter would put the economy back in official recession – two successive quarters of contraction – for the second time in three years. Public sector net debt reached the £1trn mark – 64% of GDP.
What the commentators said
Europe is the main culprit, said Philip Aldrick on Telegraph.co.uk. A slide in manufacturing exports undermined growth, which shows that the eurozone is “not putting its hand in its pocket anymore”. Normally it buys 40% of UK goods. A tightening in credit conditions can also be traced to euro-induced jitters in bank funding markets.
/... http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/economics/uk/uk-economy-shrinks-debt-rises-57306
Wankers.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Just days after the South Carolina primary became a referendum on which GOP candidate could hate union workers the most, deeply unpopular Governor Nikki Haley (34 percent approval rating in December, worse than that of Mark Sanford when he was on his way out after being caught bailing on his duties to have an affair in Argentina) is looking for a way to smack organized labor around a bit more.
The State newspaper reports that Haley and Republicans in the state legislature are pushing a bill that would require employers to display a poster in the workplace telling workers they don't have to be union members to work (a right already in the state's law), increase civil penalties for violation of the "right-to-work" law that forces unions to represent workers who don't pay dues, allow workers to resign and stop paying dues without the waiting period required in current law, and require unions to file financial information with the state.
Not content with less than 5 percent union density in the state (the seventh-lowest in the nation), Haley wants to get rid of them entirely. “Unions are not needed, wanted or welcome in South Carolina,” she said at the press conference unveiling the new bill.
She also issued an executive order last week prohibiting striking workers from receiving unemployment benefits.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The extension of ultra-loose monetary policy prompted an immediate fall in bond yields, caused US equities to reverse earlier losses and pushed up gold
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/C4N311/7ZY85/WT0T58/QN0SJF/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
YUP, GOLD GOING BACK TO $1900 AND BEYOND...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Japan has reported its first trade deficit since 1980, as imports of fossil fuels rose to help meet the country’s energy shortfall
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/C4N311/7ZY85/WT0T58/JETKD1/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
Po_d Mainiac
(4,183 posts)I see a barter deal in the making. Japan supplies Nuclear Power plant technology in exchange for petroleum.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)when the US started thumping their chest about Iran. The US and our minions in Israel and the bankers that own them are ginning us up for war with Iran. It is the only way they can deflect attention from themselves and get their money problems squared.
They reported a surplus in gas recently (and they said something about exporting it in recent reports), but the price has become as heated as the rhetoric.
Iran's nuclear research scientists have been assignated lately and we are ratteling our swords in the Strait of Hormuz.
TBTB, Please, don't piss all over me and tell me it's raining. I know a government psyop con job when I see it.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The 3.5% fall underlines the precarious state of the housing market which has lagged behind the slow recovery in other sectors
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/C4N311/7ZY85/WT0T58/XHMU1Y/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
Demeter
(85,373 posts)A former Stanford banker told the trial of Allen Stanford, the Texas banker accused of running a $7bn Ponzi scheme, that she was not aware the bank was investing client money in real estate, as alleged by prosecutors
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/5VEE8H/B49CK/XHCH53/SPVRRW/B7/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Ben S. Bernanke laid the groundwork for a third round of large-scale asset purchases should unemployment remain higher than the Federal Reserve would like while inflation falls below a newly-established target.
The Federal Open Market Committee “recognizes the hardships imposed by high and persistent unemployment in an underperforming economy, and it is prepared to provide further monetary accommodation,” Bernanke said yesterday at a press conference in Washington.
Stocks and Treasuries rallied after policy makers said the benchmark interest rate would stay low until at least late 2014, pushing back a previous date of mid-2013. Fed officials also lowered their projections for economic expansion and inflation for this year and next.
“It was an unambiguous, aggressive statement,” said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York. “My expectation is that we are going to get quantitative easing three in April,” she said, referring to a third round of bond buying.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)The Fed hopes to use greater transparency to mould expectations in a manner that promotes economic growth and price stability. But this new approach could also create confusion and even greater hesitancy on the part of healthy balance sheets to engage in productive investments.
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/B5F33R/PNGIU/KQ3Q48/NJ6RFE/GX/t?a1=2012&a2=1&a3=26
GOING BEYOND SMOKE AND MIRRORS TO TRANSPARENCY....(SHAKES HEAD SADLY)
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect to remain in office if the president is re-elected.
“He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.”
Geithner, 50, has led President Barack Obama’s efforts to pull the U.S. economy out of the worst recession since World War II, including overseeing bailouts of automakers General Motors Co. (GM) and Chrysler Group LLC, which have since emerged from bankruptcy. Before joining the administration in 2009, Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, playing a key role in the government’s rescue packages for banks such as Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC)
In the interview, Geithner said he would do “something else” after leaving the Treasury Department, without specifying what that would be. In August, an administration official said Geithner would stay in his job at least through this year’s presidential election...
YVES SMITH SAYS: " Before you get too cheerful, January 2012 is a long time away, and there are plenty of not as well known bad dudes to fill his shoes."
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Most of the failed political leaders and their corporate mates are in Switzerland at the moment, presumably wining and dining in fine style and pontificating about what the rest of this need to do next. The sheer preposterousness of the World Economic Forum in Davos is astounding. There remains a denial by the leaders of what has to be done. They seem insistent that the failed neo-liberal paradigm should remain intact. Apparently, calls for reforms just reflect an unrealistic nostalgia for the past. It is apparently nostalgic (meaning nonsensical) for us to long for the days when nations delivered full employment, real wages growth in line with productivity, and declining inequality. This accusation of nostalgic longing is the way the elites are avoiding facing the facts that their economic model based upon self-regulating markets has failed and will never deliver on its promises. We need a new approach that recognises the capacities and options available to a currency-issuing national government. This is not a nostalgic longing for an unchanged world. Rather it is a realisation that the macroeconomic fundamentals of a currency-issuing national state have not changed, notwithstanding the challenges that globalisation presents.
In the middle of the 18th century, Davos began to offer medical services to the rich which aimed at providing cures for a number of illnesses, especially tuberculosis. For more than 100 years, the particular micro-climate up in the high valleys of Switzerland was seen to be an excellent environment for the recovery from urban-related (pollution-based) diseases. In the Second World War, even though Switzerland claimed itself to be neutral, German and Italian Nazis often gathered in Davos.
It seems that Davos is still keen to play host to anti-Democratic forces. In keeping with its traditions as a sanatorium, the founder of the WEF was quoted in the UK Guardian article (January 25, 2012) – Davos: a sanatorium for those in denial of capitalism’s ills – as saying:
Davos will be the sanatorium for the world for the next five days.
That would presume that the gathering at Davos had some answers. The reality is that the utterances that are coming out already suggest more of the same failed models. World leaders are entranced with neo-liberalism and until they become free of the rapture there will be no change of direction.
The journalist, Larry Elliot also noted that while everybody realises that the political solutions in Europe are failing:
What there isn’t, is a plan for getting out of the mess, or even much of a desire on the part of those doing very nicely out of the current system to start drafting one.
I would exclude Chicago economists from the collective “everybody”. They are in a world of their own and still believe the free market is working...
MASSIVE SCATHING DECONSTRUCTION OF NEOLIERALISM ECONOMICS ENSUES
There is nothing nostalgic about citizens demanding that their elected governments stop acting in the interests of the elites and instead ensure that the policy environment they create is consistent with broad prosperity. There is also nothing nostalgic about currency-issuing governments using their fiscal capacity to ensure that aggregate demand is sufficient to generate high levels of employment growth and broad provision of public goods.
Conclusion
In radio interviews (etc) that I give I stress the need for nations to return to the “new” normal. Households are now returning to their their previous behaviour – that is, they are now saving around 10 per cent of their disposable income (although this varies according to nations – for example, the ageing population in Japan will probably save less than that over time)...Given that every nation cannot run external surpluses (by definition) then this “new” normal will also require continuous budget deficits (of varying sizes relative to GDP) if nations are to achieve high levels of employment and stable growth.
*****************************************************************
6 Responses to Davos – an exercise in denial not solutions
Neil Wilson says:
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 18:48
“In keeping with its traditions as a sanatorium”
Where I come from ‘sanatorium’ refers to somewhere where you lock up the dangerously insane.
So it made me smile when they used that phrase.
OTHER COMMENTS JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER
AnneD
(15,774 posts)he'll keep him on just to prosecute him and Bernanke as examples.
Now that thought ought to keep Timmy and Ben awake at night washing out their underware.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)MF Global (MFGLQ) Holding Ltd.’s clients may be the losers no matter who wins a $700 million dispute between bankruptcy administrators in London and New York that threatens the return of money locked in customer accounts.
The trustee of MF Global Inc., the New York brokerage unit, is seeking the return of money used as margin for American customers trading in Europe. It wants U.K. administrators KPMG LLP to tap into $1.2 billion it had set aside for customers with segregated accounts, which are supposed to be protected.
MF Global Inc. trustee James Giddens “is prepared to use all legal avenues available to him in recovering the customer funds, including litigation,” Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Giddens, said in an e-mailed statement.
If successful, the trustee’s claim would significantly reduce KPMG’s client money pool and lower returns for U.K. customers, said two people with knowledge of the discussions who declined to be identified because they are confidential. Should KPMG win, U.S. customers will be treated as unsecured creditors and face a lengthy wait for any payout.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Well, Euro spiking higher, markets moving higher.
All's well now. Everyone can start investing again!
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate seeking to unseat President Nicolas Sarkozy, pledged a cut in the retirement age to 60 from 62 and a tax increase to pay for the reversal of the Sarkozy policy.
Hollande, 57, the frontrunner in the presidential campaign, advocated forcing banks to separate retail and investment operations. He’ll raise levies on the wealthy to finance an expansion of the civil service while respecting budget-cutting commitments.
“We must make an effort for more fairness and to rein in the financial industry,” Hollande said today as he detailed his campaign platform in Paris. “We will separate the speculative sector from the credit sector.”
Hollande’s address in Paris came four days after his first major campaign speech in which he said the finance industry, and not Sarkozy, was his main rival. Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has plunged the region into an economic slump.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)One year after Egypt knocked global finance off the agenda at the World Economic Forum, Arab officials returning to Davos may struggle to drum up interest in the region.
Across North Africa, where uprisings ended the autocratic rule of three men, economic growth has stalled, stock markets have slumped and Egyptian bond yields are at a record, with the nine-month treasury bill at 15.802 percent. Foreign direct investment in the Middle East and North Africa last year was the lowest since 2005.
Failure to lure investments threatens to hinder the transition to democratic rule and may spark more deadly protests, while energy-rich states, such as Saudi Arabia, may struggle to diversify their economies and cut the world’s highest youth unemployment rates.
“There’s certainly long-term potential in the Middle East, but that’s not necessarily a compliment,” said Michael Cirami, who helps manage $12 billion at Boston-based Eaton Vance. “What’s unfortunate is that there’s so much low-hanging fruit and so much the governments can do to improve the situation.”
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Hobbyist uses drone to find corporate pollution in Texas....
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/drone-pilot-finds-river-blood-outside-dallas-meatpacking-155450010.html
Roland99
(53,342 posts)graph at link.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US WHO CAN WALK AND CHEW GUM AT THE SAME TIME? OR SWITCH-HIT? IT USED TO BE CALLED "VERSATILITY"...I BELIEVE EVERYONE CAN CONTRIBUTE, IF PERMITTED TO DO SO IN THEIR OWN STYLE.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-power-of-introverts&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_MB_20120125
Author Susan Cain explains the fallacy of "groupwork," and points to research showing that it can reduce creativity and productivity. Do you enjoy having time to yourself, but always feel a little guilty about it? Then Susan Cain’s “Quiet : The Power of Introverts” is for you. It’s part book, part manifesto. We live in a nation that values its extroverts – the outgoing, the lovers of crowds – but not the quiet types who change the world....
Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)(in very soft voice ) hello?
(softer yet) that would be me. . . . .
never mind.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)I have an extrovert acquaintance who literally distracts herself from her life with her need to be social...
I've known introverts who couldn't get their noses out of their corner long enough to see a star...
I believe in having both abilities and using them as needed, and cultivating the weak spots so that there are no weak spots.
IIn other words, go with your strengths and interests, but know how to work the other side, or be blind-sided.
Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)I spend 22+ hours a day pretty much by myself, with only the computer and the dogs for company.
People do not like me; dogs adore me.
My online personality is a fraud.
Seriously.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)& Still working to change the world...
Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)"Oh, yeah, right. Tell me another one!"
Or how someone who is successful in a very public way can still feel insecure and inadequate and unsure of her or himself.
It makes perfect sense to me.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Although, I guess that forces one to rely on oneself more.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)The following Saturday I land in Brussels for the start of our honeymoon (going on to Paris the following day). One of the stops I want to make is the visitor center at the EU Parliament building. No sessions will be going on (or will they?) so that part probably won't be accessible.
Might make for an interesting day there!
Demeter
(85,373 posts)
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Who will bleed for Greece? For weeks, private creditors like banks and insurers have been trying to negotiate a debt rescheduling with the country without success. Even when they seem close to agreement, it remains unclear if all creditors are on board. In particular, hedge funds that own Greek bonds could have a significant interest in ignoring the results of the negotiations, instead preferring to focus on an official national default.
Bank representatives assume in the meantime that many hedge funds are not really interested in an agreement. With a controversial investment strategy they have assured themselves of profiting with either a low level of Greek bad debts, or a complete Greek bankruptcy.
At issue are Greek bonds with a total volume of about €200 billion. How many are owned by hedge funds is unclear, but the amount is estimated to be about €70 billion (including other funds).
The bondholders are expected to voluntarily give up 50 percent of their claims. Another 15 percent is to be compensated with either cash or secure bonds of the European rescue fund EFSF. The remaining 35 percent should come in the form of new Greek bonds, that will likely reach maturity in 30 years.
Hotler
(11,416 posts)
xchrom
(108,903 posts)3.58pm Here's some footage of David Cameron speaking at Davos today.
During the speech, the prime minister urged world leaders to fix their 'manmade' problems. He also called for bilateral trade deals to be set up between the EU and other major trading regions this year.
3.54pm: Even if Greece does agree a deal with its creditors, its people face the prospect of even further austerity measures.
With the EU/IMF Troika pushing for wage and bonus cuts, Greek government spokesman Pandelis Kapsis admitted that further belt-tightening measures were bound to exact "a huge social and economic cost".
Kapsis added that the time had come for all parties to make their stance clear:
The formation of this government [in November] was a political decision and [showed] that we wanted to do what was needed for Greece to stay in the euro with a continued supply of funds from the EU. If now, in the face of political or social costs ... we decide openly as a society and political system to choose a [different] road [then we should know] that it will be much worse, much more painful for its citizens and full of danger and unpredictability. But every society and political system makes it choices. I think the moment has come when everyone should say seriously what they believe.
Potential cutbacks include suspending automatic salary increases, reducing social security contributions and abolishing or reducing holiday pay known as the 13th and 14th annual salaries.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold prices climbed to levels unseen since early December on Thursday, extending a rally triggered the previous day after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to hold interest rates near zero until the end of 2014.
Gold futures for February delivery /quotes/zigman/656382 GC2G +1.44% rose $28.50, or 1.6%, to trade at $1,727.40 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
They earlier traded as high as $1,731.50 an ounce. Futures soared by more than $35 on Wednesday to break the $1,700 barrier on the heels of the Fed’s decision.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)New York: US Federal Reserve policy makers will probably buy mortgage bonds should the economy warrant more easing, with purchases of all debt totalling $500 billion (Dh1.83 trillion), according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey...
... Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in a January 4 letter to Congress that housing is "blunting" the impact from interest rates near zero and impeding economic growth. By purchasing more mortgage bonds, Bernanke would aim to cut the cost of home loans, spurring refinancing and sales of residential properties.
"Housing has been a critical piece of prior recoveries, and the US economy is not likely to achieve sustained above trend growth without the participation of housing," said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York.
Easing debate
Economists are split on whether the Fed will buy more assets, with half saying they don't expect a third round of so-called quantitative easing at any time. Last month, 51 per cent of surveyed economists predicted the Fed won't engage in more purchases.
/... http://gulfnews.com/business/property/international/mortgage-bonds-key-to-us-recovery-1.971759
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)... However, the economic evidence leads to a massive disappointment to the current bulls. The first road block is politics. High asset and commodity prices will not make it politically possible for Bernanke to go through with QE3. Oil is already trading near $100 per barrel, the S&P 500 is only 2.5% away from its 52-week high, and agricultural softs such as orange juice, corn, pork, and live cattle are near all time highs. More money printing will only drive food and energy prices even higher.
Negative effects from the loss in purchasing power of Americans who do not trade commodities will outweigh any optimism generated by a higher stock market. In addition, the American public has grown more skeptical of the Federal Reserve, and QE3 will be seen as Ben Bernanke using monetary policy to buy the Obama administration votes or a tactic for the government to cheat its way out of deficit spending instead of a real fiscal policy solution.
QE3 will also not take place because of the track record of the results of the previous two rounds of quantitative easing. They may have provided support for the stock market, but have done little to improve unemployment while adding severe risks of high inflation. Unemployment actually increased 2.6% during QE1, and only declined 1% (9.5% to 8.5%) since the announcement of QE2 in August of 2010.
These numbers are not even factoring the large amounts of workers who have dropped out the labor force that skew official unemployment numbers lower. The real products of quantitative easing have been higher commodity prices, artificial support in equities markets, and civil unrest (from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street) generated by declining real wages. As a result, it does not make political or economic sense to add more quantitative easing.
/... http://seekingalpha.com/article/321863-market-pricing-in-non-existent-qe3-expect-major-sell-off
Some comments to the above:
- cedarhill Comment (1)
Let me be clear (viz Obama), Bernanke-Geithner will do QE3 to shore up things timed to the election. The July date is about right since about mid-August for QE3 would be about right for a big QE3-driven rally. Thus, buy heavily at the end of July and sell off before the election. And don't get greedy.
- Nicholas Pardini Comments (234)
That sounds like good timing if there were to be a QE3. I'm just not sure if I'm cynical enough to believe that the Obama and the Fed (I'm a supporter of neither) is that openly corrupt to screw the American people through inflation to benefit a few friends and donors on Wall Street.
- joe kelly Comments (384)
The top Wall Street dogs will get what they want from either Obama or if he happens to lose in November, that guy. It's been going on since Reagan.
- untrusting investor Comments (5046)
NP,
Openly corrupt. Of course they are. Politicians, the Fed, and crony capitalists could care less about the American people. It has been all about wealth transfer for decades now. Why would that change? The balance sheet recessions is masking/offsetting inflation at the present, but at some point raging inflation will explode again. Just no way to tell when that will happen, but oil will likely be a good predictor yet again. These crooks in Washington, Wall Street, and the Fed will likely be able to continue the charade until oil prices once again force their hand.
Tansy_Gold
(17,855 posts)"Buying mortgage bonds" suggests to me some wacko kooky scenario like this:
"Okay, guys, here's how we're gonna do this. The Fed is gonna print a bunch o' money and lend it to the banks at zero interest. Or maybe even .01% negative interest, just so's they'll borrow it in bunches. Then to cover the printing o' the money, the Fed is gonna buy barrels of stinky mortgages from the banks by selling bonds to investors who will get loans from the banks at really really low rates. That way the banks won't have to mark down their mortgage inventories and nobody questions what the Fed's got on its books, and the investors will be happy 'cause they know the Fed won't default. Cool idea, right?!"
Does anyone ever take these froot loops aside and tell 'em there ain't gonna be no "participation of housing" if people don't have jobs? There's only so much fucking paper pushing you can do. . . . ..
