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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
June 28, 2012
Published on Thursday, June 28, 2012 by Common Dreams
'Monopoly': Calling the Global Financial Sector What It Is
by Sasha Breger Bush
New York Times columnists Protess and Scott report that Barclays Bank is paying some US$450 million to regulators in the US and UK to “resolve accusations” surrounding its manipulation of a key interest rate, the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (Libor), during the first years of the ongoing global financial crisis. According to the article, the Libor rate is used as a benchmark rate to price some US$350 trillion in financial products worldwide each year, from credit cards to derivatives and student loans.
The Financial Times reports that the investigation now spans 12 regulators—from the US to Europe and Japan—and 20 banks, including the multinational giants JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, UBS and Deutsche Bank. The general idea is that the big banks—so far only Barclays has admitted wrongdoing—misreported the rates at which they borrowed from other banks, influencing the LIBOR rate so as to profit the banks. Barclays has also admitted to allowing consultations between various bank departments, and between itself and other banks, before reporting its rates to Libor, an illicit practice.
In most accounts, blame for such unsavory practices are spread around from bank managers and employees seeking higher profits and lower losses, to regulators who were asleep at the wheel, to the secretive and opaque process by which the Libor rate is set. Yet, behind the regulators and the greedy bankers, lies the ‘m’ word that no one dares utter in the business presses—monopoly. The global financial system is increasingly run by a few big firms operating in a highly uncompetitive market place and wielding enormous power, often behind a veil of secrecy, (intentional) regulatory blindness, and technical complexity.
As any introductory economic textbook shows, imperfectly competitive marketplaces (e.g. monopoly, monopsony, oligopoly and oligopsony) are defined by the ability of a few firms, or only one firm, to manipulate prices and other exchange terms. As markets concentrate, and free competition is replaced by collusion and superprofits, firms gain the market power to influence market rules and prices in their own interest. Indeed, any college freshman in an traditional economics department could foresee that growing concentration in global credit markets would result in price distortions, to the detriment of consumers and other less powerful actors. And, some might also be able to cite a few examples of the manner in which market power confers political power, another dangerous dimension of monopolistic market structures frequently noted in the Marxist tradition, among others (think, say, of Goldman Sach’s ability to staff the US Treasury and Federal Reserve). .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/28-3
'Monopoly': Calling the Global Financial Sector What It Is
Published on Thursday, June 28, 2012 by Common Dreams
'Monopoly': Calling the Global Financial Sector What It Is
by Sasha Breger Bush
New York Times columnists Protess and Scott report that Barclays Bank is paying some US$450 million to regulators in the US and UK to “resolve accusations” surrounding its manipulation of a key interest rate, the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (Libor), during the first years of the ongoing global financial crisis. According to the article, the Libor rate is used as a benchmark rate to price some US$350 trillion in financial products worldwide each year, from credit cards to derivatives and student loans.
The Financial Times reports that the investigation now spans 12 regulators—from the US to Europe and Japan—and 20 banks, including the multinational giants JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, UBS and Deutsche Bank. The general idea is that the big banks—so far only Barclays has admitted wrongdoing—misreported the rates at which they borrowed from other banks, influencing the LIBOR rate so as to profit the banks. Barclays has also admitted to allowing consultations between various bank departments, and between itself and other banks, before reporting its rates to Libor, an illicit practice.
In most accounts, blame for such unsavory practices are spread around from bank managers and employees seeking higher profits and lower losses, to regulators who were asleep at the wheel, to the secretive and opaque process by which the Libor rate is set. Yet, behind the regulators and the greedy bankers, lies the ‘m’ word that no one dares utter in the business presses—monopoly. The global financial system is increasingly run by a few big firms operating in a highly uncompetitive market place and wielding enormous power, often behind a veil of secrecy, (intentional) regulatory blindness, and technical complexity.
As any introductory economic textbook shows, imperfectly competitive marketplaces (e.g. monopoly, monopsony, oligopoly and oligopsony) are defined by the ability of a few firms, or only one firm, to manipulate prices and other exchange terms. As markets concentrate, and free competition is replaced by collusion and superprofits, firms gain the market power to influence market rules and prices in their own interest. Indeed, any college freshman in an traditional economics department could foresee that growing concentration in global credit markets would result in price distortions, to the detriment of consumers and other less powerful actors. And, some might also be able to cite a few examples of the manner in which market power confers political power, another dangerous dimension of monopolistic market structures frequently noted in the Marxist tradition, among others (think, say, of Goldman Sach’s ability to staff the US Treasury and Federal Reserve). .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/28-3
June 28, 2012
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, demand the big banks prove they are not dead by removing the life support systems, especially cufflinky Jamie Dimon's Too-Big-To-Fail bank.
Keiser Report: Baby Bank vs JP Morgan
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, demand the big banks prove they are not dead by removing the life support systems, especially cufflinky Jamie Dimon's Too-Big-To-Fail bank.
June 28, 2012
(Bloomberg) The U.S. Federal Home Loan Banks’ unsecured lending to foreign institutions skyrocketed last year as the European sovereign debt crisis intensified, raising concerns about their risk management, an auditor’s report said today.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the 12 regional Home Loan Banks, should tighten limits on such lending and improve monitoring of whether that lending exceeds the limits, the FHFA Office of Inspector General said in the report.
“FHFA’s current regulation continues to permit FHLBanks to build large unsecured credit portfolios that may produce unreasonable risk,” wrote Richard Parker, director of the auditor’s Office of Policy, Oversight and Review. “FHFA should, therefore, reassess the counterparty risk limits associated with its existing regulation.”
Several Home Loan Banks last year made short-term loans totaling about $3 billion to two European banks that had received government bailouts and were on a credit watch, according to the report. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/u-s-home-loan-banks-overexposed-in-europe-audit-finds.html
U.S. Home Loan Banks Overexposed in Europe, Audit Finds
(Bloomberg) The U.S. Federal Home Loan Banks’ unsecured lending to foreign institutions skyrocketed last year as the European sovereign debt crisis intensified, raising concerns about their risk management, an auditor’s report said today.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the 12 regional Home Loan Banks, should tighten limits on such lending and improve monitoring of whether that lending exceeds the limits, the FHFA Office of Inspector General said in the report.
“FHFA’s current regulation continues to permit FHLBanks to build large unsecured credit portfolios that may produce unreasonable risk,” wrote Richard Parker, director of the auditor’s Office of Policy, Oversight and Review. “FHFA should, therefore, reassess the counterparty risk limits associated with its existing regulation.”
Several Home Loan Banks last year made short-term loans totaling about $3 billion to two European banks that had received government bailouts and were on a credit watch, according to the report. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/u-s-home-loan-banks-overexposed-in-europe-audit-finds.html
June 28, 2012
BRUSSELS — Economic growth was the mantra Thursday as European leaders gathered to sign off on measures to boost it around the continent. Yet expectations of a breakthrough on the explosive issue of pooling European debt have fallen by the wayside.
European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn told reporters he expected leaders would agree on new growth measures for Europe, as well as taking some kind of action to reduce borrowing rates for Spain and Italy, which are approaching unmanageable levels.
“I expect that there will be a decision on a further step toward rebuilding the economic and monetary union,” he said shortly before the summit was to start. “We also need concrete decisions on a short term stabilization of financial markets, especially sovereign debt markets.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has resolutely opposed the issuing of mutual debt — known as Eurobonds — is the woman to watch, fear or confront at the two-day summit. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1218409--it-s-merkel-vs-everyone-else-at-troubled-eu-summit
It’s Merkel vs. everyone else at troubled Europe summit
BRUSSELS — Economic growth was the mantra Thursday as European leaders gathered to sign off on measures to boost it around the continent. Yet expectations of a breakthrough on the explosive issue of pooling European debt have fallen by the wayside.
European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn told reporters he expected leaders would agree on new growth measures for Europe, as well as taking some kind of action to reduce borrowing rates for Spain and Italy, which are approaching unmanageable levels.
“I expect that there will be a decision on a further step toward rebuilding the economic and monetary union,” he said shortly before the summit was to start. “We also need concrete decisions on a short term stabilization of financial markets, especially sovereign debt markets.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has resolutely opposed the issuing of mutual debt — known as Eurobonds — is the woman to watch, fear or confront at the two-day summit. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1218409--it-s-merkel-vs-everyone-else-at-troubled-eu-summit
June 28, 2012
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Tens of thousands of Colorado Springs residents forced from their homes by a raging wildfire took refuge with friends or family and crammed into hotels and shelters as Army troops helped firefighters protect the U.S. Air Force Academy from encroaching flames.
The blaze was burning out of control early Thursday in the mountains and within Colorado's second-largest city, after more than 30,000 evacuees frantically packed up belongings and fled.
The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced the closure of a portion of Zion National Park.
Shifting winds Wednesday challenged firefighters trying to contain the 29-square-mile Waldo Canyon blaze and extinguish hot spots inside Colorado Spring's western suburbs. The National Weather Service reported 60 mph winds and lightning above the fire Wednesday afternoon, but winds were calmer by nightfall.
"It won't stay in the same place," said incident commander Rich Harvey. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.kxan.com/dpps/news/national/west/displaced-colorado-residents-wit-as-fire-rages-nt12-jgr_4219429
Colorado fire raging out of control
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Tens of thousands of Colorado Springs residents forced from their homes by a raging wildfire took refuge with friends or family and crammed into hotels and shelters as Army troops helped firefighters protect the U.S. Air Force Academy from encroaching flames.
The blaze was burning out of control early Thursday in the mountains and within Colorado's second-largest city, after more than 30,000 evacuees frantically packed up belongings and fled.
The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced the closure of a portion of Zion National Park.
Shifting winds Wednesday challenged firefighters trying to contain the 29-square-mile Waldo Canyon blaze and extinguish hot spots inside Colorado Spring's western suburbs. The National Weather Service reported 60 mph winds and lightning above the fire Wednesday afternoon, but winds were calmer by nightfall.
"It won't stay in the same place," said incident commander Rich Harvey. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.kxan.com/dpps/news/national/west/displaced-colorado-residents-wit-as-fire-rages-nt12-jgr_4219429
June 28, 2012
from truthdig:
Big Money Wins in the Big Skies of Montana
Posted on Jun 28, 2012
By Amy Goodman
“I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale,” William A. Clark reportedly said. He was one of Montana’s “Copper Kings,” a man who used his vast wealth to manipulate the state government and literally buy votes to make himself a U.S. senator. That was more than 100 years ago, and the blatant corruption of Clark and the other Copper Kings created a furor that led to the passage, by citizen initiative, of Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act in 1912. The century of transparent campaign-finance restrictions that followed, preventing corporate money from influencing elections, came to an end this week, as the U.S. Supreme Court summarily reversed the Montana law. Five justices of the U.S Supreme Court reiterated: Their controversial Citizens United ruling remains the law of the land. Clark’s corruption contributed to the passage of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Now, close to 100 years later, it may take a popular movement to amend the Constitution again, this time to overturn Citizens United and confirm, finally and legally, that corporations are not people.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations can contribute unlimited amounts of funds toward what are deemed “independent expenditures” in our elections. Thus, corporations, or shadowy “super PACS” that they choose to fund, can spend as much as they care to on negative campaign ads, just as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate’s campaign committee. That 2010 ruling, approved by a narrow 5-4 majority of the court, has profoundly altered the electoral landscape—not only for the presidential election, but also for thousands of races around the country. According to a summary of the ruling’s impact, prepared by the National Conference of State Legislatures, “While the ruling does not directly affect state laws, there are 24 states that currently prohibit or restrict corporate and/or union spending on candidate elections.”
Montana, with its long history of banning corporate contributions, was alone among the states to defy those five U.S. Supreme Court justices. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia filed a brief in support of Montana, noting that state elections are different. Their supporting brief read, “States—particularly resource-rich States with small populations, like Montana—face the risk that nonresident corporations with discrete and well-defined interests will dominate campaign spending in state and local election contests.”
Montana is not known for bipartisanship these days. Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer says his veto pen has run out of ink from the number of “crazy” Republican bills that he has had to veto since taking office. Lacking ink, he now takes bills from the Republican-controlled legislature onto the Capitol steps and emblazons them with a red-hot branding iron that says “Veto.” So it was significant that, after the Supreme Court decision this week, Schweitzer and his lieutenant governor, John Bohlinger, a Republican, stood together before the Capitol. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/big_money_wins_in_the_big_skies_of_montana_20120628/
Amy Goodman: Big Money Wins in the Big Skies of Montana
from truthdig:
Big Money Wins in the Big Skies of Montana
Posted on Jun 28, 2012
By Amy Goodman
“I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale,” William A. Clark reportedly said. He was one of Montana’s “Copper Kings,” a man who used his vast wealth to manipulate the state government and literally buy votes to make himself a U.S. senator. That was more than 100 years ago, and the blatant corruption of Clark and the other Copper Kings created a furor that led to the passage, by citizen initiative, of Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act in 1912. The century of transparent campaign-finance restrictions that followed, preventing corporate money from influencing elections, came to an end this week, as the U.S. Supreme Court summarily reversed the Montana law. Five justices of the U.S Supreme Court reiterated: Their controversial Citizens United ruling remains the law of the land. Clark’s corruption contributed to the passage of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Now, close to 100 years later, it may take a popular movement to amend the Constitution again, this time to overturn Citizens United and confirm, finally and legally, that corporations are not people.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations can contribute unlimited amounts of funds toward what are deemed “independent expenditures” in our elections. Thus, corporations, or shadowy “super PACS” that they choose to fund, can spend as much as they care to on negative campaign ads, just as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate’s campaign committee. That 2010 ruling, approved by a narrow 5-4 majority of the court, has profoundly altered the electoral landscape—not only for the presidential election, but also for thousands of races around the country. According to a summary of the ruling’s impact, prepared by the National Conference of State Legislatures, “While the ruling does not directly affect state laws, there are 24 states that currently prohibit or restrict corporate and/or union spending on candidate elections.”
Montana, with its long history of banning corporate contributions, was alone among the states to defy those five U.S. Supreme Court justices. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia filed a brief in support of Montana, noting that state elections are different. Their supporting brief read, “States—particularly resource-rich States with small populations, like Montana—face the risk that nonresident corporations with discrete and well-defined interests will dominate campaign spending in state and local election contests.”
Montana is not known for bipartisanship these days. Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer says his veto pen has run out of ink from the number of “crazy” Republican bills that he has had to veto since taking office. Lacking ink, he now takes bills from the Republican-controlled legislature onto the Capitol steps and emblazons them with a red-hot branding iron that says “Veto.” So it was significant that, after the Supreme Court decision this week, Schweitzer and his lieutenant governor, John Bohlinger, a Republican, stood together before the Capitol. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/big_money_wins_in_the_big_skies_of_montana_20120628/
June 28, 2012
Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, some eastern Germans are once again carrying round images of Karl Marx -- if only in their pockets.
The disappearance of communist former East Germany has not deterred them from using credit cards emblazoned with the image of the man who foretold the end of capitalism and the triumph of communism.
More than a third of customers at Sparkasse Bank in Chemnitz opted for the picture of a bronze bust of the bearded 19th-century German-born philosopher, bank spokesman Roger Wirtz said. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/06/15/karl-marx-credit-cards-prove-a-hit-in-eastern-germany/
Karl Marx - don't leave home without him.
Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, some eastern Germans are once again carrying round images of Karl Marx -- if only in their pockets.
The disappearance of communist former East Germany has not deterred them from using credit cards emblazoned with the image of the man who foretold the end of capitalism and the triumph of communism.
More than a third of customers at Sparkasse Bank in Chemnitz opted for the picture of a bronze bust of the bearded 19th-century German-born philosopher, bank spokesman Roger Wirtz said. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/06/15/karl-marx-credit-cards-prove-a-hit-in-eastern-germany/
June 28, 2012
By Jenny Deam and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2012, 6:41 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Marking the worst fire season in Colorado history, three major blazes are burning uncontrolled in the Rocky Mountain state, destroying hundreds of homes, prompting mass evacuations in Colorado Springs and threatening the city of Boulder 100 miles away.
For weeks, Colorado has been in a state of siege as the mammoth High Park fire raged unhindered in mountain wilderness west of Fort Collins, destroying 257 rural homesteads and cabins, while residents of cities and suburbs to the east held their collective breath and prayed that the flames would not reach them.
Experts are warning already fire-weary Coloradans that this could be the new routine for their state — that the blazes could rage all summer until the arrival of the autumn rains.
On Wednesday, the Waldo Canyon fire, named for a popular hiking area west of the state's second-largest city, Colorado Springs, continued to burn unchecked. It prompted the evacuation of 32,000 people in the metropolitan area of 600,000, including portions of the U.S. Air Force Academy. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-colorado-fires-20120628,0,4990066.story
Mass evacuations ordered as wildfires rage in Colorado
By Jenny Deam and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2012, 6:41 p.m.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Marking the worst fire season in Colorado history, three major blazes are burning uncontrolled in the Rocky Mountain state, destroying hundreds of homes, prompting mass evacuations in Colorado Springs and threatening the city of Boulder 100 miles away.
For weeks, Colorado has been in a state of siege as the mammoth High Park fire raged unhindered in mountain wilderness west of Fort Collins, destroying 257 rural homesteads and cabins, while residents of cities and suburbs to the east held their collective breath and prayed that the flames would not reach them.
Experts are warning already fire-weary Coloradans that this could be the new routine for their state — that the blazes could rage all summer until the arrival of the autumn rains.
On Wednesday, the Waldo Canyon fire, named for a popular hiking area west of the state's second-largest city, Colorado Springs, continued to burn unchecked. It prompted the evacuation of 32,000 people in the metropolitan area of 600,000, including portions of the U.S. Air Force Academy. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-colorado-fires-20120628,0,4990066.story
June 28, 2012
from the Toronto Star:
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter
Two councillors leading the TTC say it’s time to move ahead on an accumulating wish list of transit projects: 175 kilometres, including six subway lines, 10 LRTs and five bus and streetcar routes across the city.
The latest proposal would dramatically expand Toronto’s transit network over the next 30 years. And while it comes with a $30 billion price tag, it is well within the city’s grasp, say the councillors at the helm of the Toronto Transit Commission.
TTC chair Karen Stintz (Eglinton-Lawrence) and vice-chair Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) believe residents can be persuaded to make the kind of transformative investment that would save Toronto from descending into a prosperity-crushing, gridlocked future.
They are calling their proposal OneCity and are asking council to approve a staff study of the plan in July. Councillors would then have until October to take the plan to their constituents before considering approval. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/transportation/article/1217721--transit-plan-dramatic-onecity-proposal-floated-by-stintz-debaeremaeker?bn=1
Toronto floats dramatic $30-billion transit plan
from the Toronto Star:
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter
Two councillors leading the TTC say it’s time to move ahead on an accumulating wish list of transit projects: 175 kilometres, including six subway lines, 10 LRTs and five bus and streetcar routes across the city.
The latest proposal would dramatically expand Toronto’s transit network over the next 30 years. And while it comes with a $30 billion price tag, it is well within the city’s grasp, say the councillors at the helm of the Toronto Transit Commission.
TTC chair Karen Stintz (Eglinton-Lawrence) and vice-chair Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) believe residents can be persuaded to make the kind of transformative investment that would save Toronto from descending into a prosperity-crushing, gridlocked future.
They are calling their proposal OneCity and are asking council to approve a staff study of the plan in July. Councillors would then have until October to take the plan to their constituents before considering approval. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/transportation/article/1217721--transit-plan-dramatic-onecity-proposal-floated-by-stintz-debaeremaeker?bn=1
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