STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday March 25

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday March 25, 2009

Bush Administration Officials Under Indictment = 2
Financial Sector Officials Under Indictment = 0
Financial Sector Officials In Prison = 2

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON March 24, 2009

Dow... 7,660.21 -115.65 (-1.51%)
Nasdaq... 1,516.52 -39.25 (-2.52%)
S&P 500... 806.25 -16.67 (-2.03%)
Gold future... 923.80 -28.70 (-3.11%)
30-Year Bond 3.61% -0.09 (-2.36%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.65% -0.01 (-0.23%)

---

U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES..............................................S&P FUTURES

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

---

Handy Links

Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    LayoffDaily    The Big Picture    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns    Brad DeLong    Bonddad    Atrios    LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database

---

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Market WrapUp: Can the Treasury's Ponzi Scheme Lift the Stock Market?

BY GARY DORSCH

The corruption of Wall Street’s financial elite has been extensively documented in the case of Bernard Madoff, who squandered more than $50-billion in client wealth in a giant Ponzi scheme. There are also Wall Street bankers who awarded themselves $18.5-billion in bonuses last year, even as they reported $500-billion in write-off’s, driving the US economy into its biggest crisis since the Great Depression.

While US-layoffs pile up by the hundreds of thousands each month, the financial robber barons have horded TARP cash, used it to buy up other banks, and handed money out to the members of their derivative trading units. But this transfer of wealth from the public purse pales in comparison to the scheme devised by US Treasury chief Timothy Geithner, which would transfer hundreds of billions to the same bankers that played the key role in setting the present economic disaster.

.....

Geithner’s plan is to enable Wall Street banks to offload up to $1-trillion of their toxic assets at public expense. It revolves around the use of taxpayer money to guarantee large profits for hedge-funds, private-equity firms, and mutual-fund companies, financed with low-interest, non-recourse government loans, in order to purchase virtually worthless mortgages at inflated prices from the banks.

.....

“The Geithner scheme would offer a one-way bet, - if asset values go up, the investors profit, but if they go down, the investors can walk away from their debt,” Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times. “So this isn’t really about letting markets work. It’s just an indirect, disguised way to subsidize purchases of bad assets. For the private investors, this is an open invitation to play heads I win, tails the taxpayers lose,” Krugman added.

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[Dr.Phool]

3. Good morning Oz, workers and fellow insomniacs.

I owe a little over $200 in taxes next month. Should I make the check out to the IRS, AIG, or Goldman-Sachs? I think I'll call my Senators and ask them.

[ozymandius]

5. Good morning Dr. Phool.

:donut: :donut: :donut:

I'd use the "for" line on the lower left corner of the check - possibly something about a charitable contribution to those guys.

[MattSh]

23. Added Debt Won't Rescue the Great American Ponzi Scheme.

••• Looks like "Ponzi Scheme" is a theme for today... •••

Policy-makers not only misunderstand the economic crisis, they continue to underestimate it. Consequently, solutions to date have not only failed to “fix” anything, they have made the problem worse. The problem isn’t falling asset prices, it’s not rising foreclosures, it’s too much debt. With an assist from mark-to-market accounting,* too much debt inflated the asset bubble in the first place. Yves Smith has it exactly right that the only “solution” to this crisis is price discovery, to allow asset prices to fall to whatever level they need to in order for markets to clear. This is bad news for over-levered balance sheets, but there’s nothing else to be done.

And yet American policy-makers appear convinced that more debt can rescue an economy already drowning in it. If we can just keep the leverage party going, all will be well. $787 billion to fund “stimulus,” another $9 trillion committed to guarantee bad debts, 0% interest rates and quantitative easing to drive more lending, new off balance sheet vehicles to hide from the public the toxic assets they’ve absorbed. All of it to be funded with debt, most of it the responsibility of taxpayers.

If I may offer just one reason this will all fail: rising interest rates. Interest rates need only revert to their historical median in order to hammer asset values, and balance sheets, into oblivion.

A simple present value calculation suggests that house prices could fall another 30% if mortgage rates get back to 8%.** Enough to wipe out a 20% downpayment made today and still leave the buyer upside down on his mortgage. Given the pile of Treasurys the Obama administration plans to dump on the market, it seems logical to assume interest rates are headed up.

<more>

http://seekingalpha.com/article/127261-added-debt-won-t-rescue-the-great-american-ponzi-scheme?source=article_sb_popular

[tclambert]

31. I've said it before, the entire stock market is a multi-generational Ponzi scheme.

It only works as long as investors pour new money into it. We count on the next generation of investors to keep pumping up the investments.

BUT . . . Ponzi schemes work . . . for a while. If you get out before the final crash, you can make pretty good returns. It's the last generation of investors who end up holding an empty bag. If the return rate is small enough and the growth in new investment large enough, you can keep them going a long time. Madoff kept his going close to 20 years.

I'm beginning to wonder if you couldn't put together an openly Ponzi investment company, Ponzi, Inc., and tell your investors up front that they only get a payout if they bring in enough new investors. Wait, aren't there like 20 pyramid sales companies that do that?

[Tansy_Gold]

39. The "market" is a ponzi scheme, but the underlying investments

may not be.

As always, I come to this with only gut instinct and ordinary logic, so feel free to correct me if I get this wrong.

*IF* one buys stock in a particular company in order to be an investor in that company and share (isn't that the origin of the term?) in the profits, then it's not a matter of getting the income out of the market; it's about getting income from the entity in which one has invested. One becomes, in essence, a silent partner in the enterprise. And one takes all the risk of losing one's investment if the company fails to succeed and distribute dividends.

*IF* however one merely buys the stock for its own value, to be held only long enough to make a profit on its sale, then indeed the market is a modified Ponzi scheme. Modified in the sense that a true Ponzi scheme would pay out to the old investors from the new investors' investment directly, whereas a "modified" scheme could see "losers" even among the oldest of investors should the market value of a particular stock drop.

My understanding was that this distinction established the different tax structure for long term versus short term capital gains, the theory being that those who only held "investments" short term were in essence gamblers who could afford to pay higher taxes than those who invested long-term to earn income through the invested company/entity itself. (In trying to figure out the source of this information, I remembered it came from a much-disliked accounting instructor in about 1973 or '74.)

I would suspect that the shift from defined benefit pensions to 401k plans and so on also permitted/encouraged a shift to market trading versus market investment, and this fueled the gradual transformation of the market into more Ponzi scheme than investment vehicle.

But as always, I could be wrong.



Tansy Gold

[AnneD]

62. Morning Marketeers.......

:donut: and lurkers. Tansy-your spin on what a share is is what I thought too. But what do I know-I got my information from a Warner Bros.
Bugs Bunny cartoon that explained how capitalism worked using the fairy tale of the elves making shoes for the cobbler. I swear, I think my whole out look on life was tainted by cartoons. I grew up liking opera and Classical Music(Mighty Mouse and Bugs Bunny),spinach and hamburgers (Popeye), witches and ghosts weren't so scary (Casper and Wendy),Acme Manufacturing made everything you would ever need (Road Runner), and Uncle Walt could explain anything-with the help of a mouse.

Too bad all kids have these days are corporate infomercials disguised as cartoons. I can count on one hand the number of 'fun' cartoons that are first done for fun and don't bludgeon you to mind numbing coma with a social message.:eyes:Guess I am not a good little consumer because I didn't get the proper socialization. And don't get me talking about reading....We were the Seuss generation-Dick and Jane took a hike.

So here is too my ethereal compatriots-who believe none of what they hear, 1/4 of what they read and 1/2 of what they see.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Demeter]

88. Rocky and Bullwinkle ---Horrible Puns! Shaggy Dog Stories!

Those were the days, my friend!


Music and Lyrics by Russian composer Boris Fomin


Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern
We'd smile at one another and we'd say

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we're older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/thosewere.htm

CLICK ON THE LINK AND SING ALONG!

[AnneD]

109. How did I manage to forget Rocky and Bullwinkle.......

Frostbite Fall, the Fractured Fairytale. I think my youth was well wasted. Damn I am getting forgetfull.

[tclambert]

95. I've been investing IRL since 1981, and I think only once did I invest for the dividends.

That was preferred stock in a utility company, paying a pretty high rate. Then the company bought back the preferred stock in order to save those dividend payouts. Somehow they allowed themselves to not pay very much for the preferred stock. I think I broke even on that one, maybe just a hair better, but that was disappointing. When I invested for appreciation of the stock value, I did better, including when I invested in a bankrupt company. Chapter 11 isn't that bad.

My worst investment was when I talked myself out of buying a few shares of Cray Research, the supercomputer company. I found out they had only sold a handful of supercomputers in the previous year, each costing several million. But it was like four sales or something, and that was way too close to zero sales for me. What I invested in instead was the one thing that lost money for me, you know, until the Bush years.

[janedum]

42. So far, so good .. Futures UP 29

Same Ponzi Scheme as last year!
ROFL!!
"Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss"

[spotbird]

57. White House Nominates Three Individuals For Senior Treasury Posts

President Obama announced that he will nominate three individuals to fill senior positions in the Treasury Department, which has been operating with vacancies in important posts since the inauguration. The White House said the nominees will fill three of the four most senior positions under Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The nominees are:

–Neal Wolin to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
–Lael Brainard to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
–Stuart Levey to remain as the current Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial

.......

http://capitalbeat.com/?p=2720

Two of them are industry people, one of those is a Bushie holdover, the third has a mixed resume. Normally, I'd post the news in LBN, but since it doesn't support the group think on Obama, it would be considered bashing.

This story literally made me sick to my stomach.

[Tansy_Gold]

59. And the sad thing is, there are some good headlines being posted

Housing sales are up, hedge fund managers are doing well, FedEx is "threatening" to cancel orders for jets, Argentina is nationalizing a Lockheed plant, the UK can't find buyers for its bonds......

anyway, I'm just posting this to move SMW back to the top of the page. I get tired of scrolling down to get the real news.




TG

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Reports

08:30 Durable Goods Orders Feb
Briefing.com -2.5%
Consensus -2.5%
Prior -5.2%

08:30 Durables, Ex-Transportation Feb
Briefing.com -2.1%
Consensus -2.0%
Prior -2.5%

10:00 New Home Sales Feb
Briefing.com 305K
Consensus 300K
Prior 309K

10:30 Crude Inventories 03/20
Briefing.com NA
Consensus NA
Prior +1942K

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm

[UpInArms]

75. U.S. Jan. durable-goods orders down revised 7.3% vs 4.5 prev - Feb. durable-goods orders up 3.4%

65. U.S. Feb. durable-goods orders ex-defense up 1.7%
8:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

66. U.S. Feb durable-goods shipments fall 0.5%
8:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

67. U.S. Feb. durable goods orders ex-transportation rise 3.9%
8:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

68. U.S. Jan. durable-goods orders down revised 7.3% vs 4.5 prev
8:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

69. U.S. Feb. durable-goods orders up 3.4% vs fall 1.2% expected
8:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

....

kinda meaningless since this too will be revised downward versus the current report of "up"

[UpInArms]

76. U.S Jan. new home sales revised 322,000 vs 309,000 prev - Feb new-home sales up 4.7%

34. U.S Jan. new home sales revised 322,000 vs 309,000 prev.
10:00 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

35. U.S. Feb new-home sales stronger than 323,000 pace expected
10:00 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

36. U.S. Feb new-home sales up 4.7% to 337,000 pace
10:00 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

[UpInArms]

77. Petroleum Inventories Report:

27. U.S. gasoline inventories fall 1.1 million barrels last week
10:31 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

28. Distillate inventories fall 1.6 million barrels last week
10:31 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

29. U.S. crude inventories rise 3.3 million barrels last week
10:30 AM ET, Mar 25, 2009

[ozymandius]

4. Oil dips in Asia on signs of building inventories

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices declined in Asia Wednesday in tandem with a pull back in global stock markets and on signs of building crude inventories.

Benchmark crude for May delivery fell 96 cents to $53.02 a barrel by afternoon Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract staged a late rally Tuesday to close up 18 cents at $53.98 a barrel.

Oil prices haven't climbed much higher because the buying has been driven by stock market gains and not because of a real improvement in global oil demand.

....

Analysts expect a build up of 1.4 million barrels in commercial crude oil stocks in the U.S, the world's largest energy consumer, a Platts survey showed.

....

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery fell 1.81 cents to $1.4845 a gallon, while heating oil lost 2.31 cents to $1.4765 a gallon. But natural gas for April delivery climbed 0.7 cent at $4.34 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[ozymandius]

6. Sold! Bargain-hunters buying groceries at auction

DALLAS, Pa. – Out of toilet paper? Need to pick up a few things for dinner? Take a number and start bidding.

Many bargain hunters these days are trading supermarket aisles for the auction circuit in search of deep discounts on everything from cereal to spare ribs. Past the sell-by date? Bidders are happy to ignore that detail if they're getting a good deal.

As consumers seek relief from the recession and spiraling food prices, grocery auctions are gaining in popularity as an easy way to cut costs. The sales operate like regular auctions, but with bidders vying for dry goods and frozen foods instead of antiques and collectibles. Some auctioneers even accept food stamps.

....

The economic downturn, paired with the worst food inflation in nearly 20 years (grocery prices spiked in 2008 before easing in January and February), has caused a "seismic shift" in consumer behavior, said Brian Todd, president of The Food Institute, an industry information service.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_bi_ge/new_frugality_auctioning_groceries

---

My grandparents did this. Only the groceries were still clucking, oinking and mooing. But that was during the Great Depression, which we are not in right now. So stop saying that! :sarcasm:

[54anickel]

47. When I was a kid we'd go to the RR salvage where they'd sell damaged food goods at huge discounts

Dented can goods, stuff that got wet, crushed boxes - you know, stuff that fell off the train or got smushed during transit.

Yep, railroad salvage and oleo runs across the border - we were such "bandits"! Those were the days!!!

[Ghost Dog]

84. "oleo runs across the border" ? Margarine?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oleo is a term for oils. It is commonly used to refer to a variety of things:

* Margarine
* Oleic acid
* Oleo (shock absorber), A type of shock absorbers on airplane landing gear
* Oleo (composition), a Sonny Rollins bebop piece
* Oleo (website), a popular Lyrics website
* Óleo, a city in the São Paulo state in Brazil
* GNU Oleo, a spreadsheet program

or, are we speaking Spanish here?

[54anickel]

120. Yep, Margarine. This is the dairy state, no fake butter allowed. So, we'd run across the IL border

and "smuggle" in cases of yellow oleo. Dad would always play it up, like we were involved in something dangerous and sinister - rebels against the "fascist butter state". Who knew back then that crap could kill you!!!

http://books.google.com/books?id=Sp5M-rZVizAC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=wisconsin+margarine+runs&source=bl&ots=NQ5Pwf_kZ4&sig=fws-OuJ2qBZPsZT9axbgV7uwqm4&hl=en&ei=-K_KSaOUL-ngtge8xKjSCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA168,M1

[ozymandius]

7. Did Nouriel Roubini fall and hit his head?

Dr. Doom Finds Promise in Obama’s Toxic-Asset Plan

Nouriel Roubini, a/k/a “Dr. Doom,” is giving the Obama administration’s new plan to buy toxic assets the thumbs up.

That may be surprising given how critical Mr. Roubini, the bearish economics professor at New York University, has been in the past regarding various government plans to fix the economy. But Mr. Roubini seems to have seen something he likes for a change.

.....

“Having five people bid on a toxic asset, rather than a clueless government, will ensure that the government doesn’t overpay,” Mr. Roubini said in a telephone interview. “People say, ‘the government is putting in 95 cents on the dollar, so why not put 100,’ to do it all by itself. It’s because private-sector participants have the incentive to get the best price.”

It wasn’t all positive: Mr. Roubini said he did not like that banks have the option not to sell an asset after the auction concludes, as this would create confusion and frustration on the part of the buyers. He also believes the government should use its leverage over the banks to force them to participate, whether they want to or not.

.....

But unlike many critics of the plan, like Paul Krugman, a Princeton economic professor and columnist for The New York Times, who prefers full nationalization of the banks now, Mr. Roubini believes that the Treasury’s plan does not preclude nationalization at all. Rather, he said, it will help to clear the way to full government takeover of some troubled institutions.

more...

[Roland99]

24. RGE Monitor email on the PPIP....

Greetings from RGE Monitor!

The main components of Treasury Secretary Geithner’s new PPIP to price and remove toxic assets from banks’ balance sheets are as follows:

Basic Principles: Treasury will use $75bn - $100bn in TARP money to co-invest alongside private sector participants and the FDIC as well as the Federal Reserve, to buy $500bn to $1 trillion of toxic mortgage assets (both residential and commercial) off banks’ books (‘legacy assets’)

There are two separate approaches for legacy loans and for legacy securities. At first, Treasury will share its $75-100bn equity stake equally between the two programs with the option to shift the bulk of financing towards the option with the greater promise of success with market participants.

1) Public-Private Program for Legacy Loans: The FDIC establishes several public-private investment funds whose sole purpose will be to purchase and hold specific loan pools put up for sale by banks (large and small). The transaction price will be established by the highest bid at an auction run by the FDIC, in which a wide array of institutional investors and even individuals with a long-term orientation are encouraged to participate. The liabilities of the investment fund consist of an equity stake (50% of which provided by auction winner, 50% from Treasury TARP), and collateralized debt issued by the investment fund and guaranteed by the FDIC to finance the remainder of the purchase price (FDIC gets guarantee fee). Before the auction, the FDIC specifies the pool-specific debt-to-equity ratio it is willing to guarantee subject to a maximum 6-to-1 leverage ratio. The private investor would then manage the servicing of the asset pool - using asset managers approved and supervised by the FDIC - until disposal or maturity.

Example: Assuming a 6-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio, the highest bid for a loan pool with $100 face value might turn out to be $84. Of this amount, the FDIC would provide $72 in debt guarantees whereas the equity stake of $12 would be shared equally between the auction winner ($6) and the Treasury ($6).

2) Legacy Securities Program: The legacy securities program is to be incorporated into the Term Asset-Backed Securities Facility (TALF) whose original goal was to provide collateralized financing (non-recourse loans) to buyers of newly created consumer loan/small business loan ABS. Under the Legacy Securities Program, the eligible collateral for TALF is extended to include non-agency RMBS that were originally rated AAA and outstanding CMBS and ABS that are rated AAA.

Example: Under the Legacy Securities Program, up to five Treasury-approved fund managers will have a period of time to raise private capital to target the purchase of designated securities. Assuming the fund manager is able to raise $100 of private capital for the fund, Treasury will provide $100 equity co-investment alongside private investors. Treasury will then provide a $100 loan to the public-private investment fund. Moreover, Treasury may also choose to provide an additional loan of up to $100 to the fund. The investment fund then has $300-$400 at its disposal to buy legacy securities at its discretion. As a purchaser of TALF-eligible securities, the PPIF would also have access to the expanded TALF program of collateralized Fed loans when it is launched.


Assessment

The main sticking points in previous market-based approaches to clear toxic assets from banks’ books were threefold:

a) How to value illiquid assets?
b) Once a transaction price is established, will banks be willing to sell and take a hair cut?
c) How to induce private investors to purchase legacy assets without unduly wasting taxpayer money?

a) Valuation of Illiquid Assets
The theoretical foundations of Geithner’s plan are provided by Lucian Bebchuk from Harvard University among others. He explains that “if the underlying market failure is at least partly one of liquidity, an effective plan for a public-private partnership in buying troubled assets can be designed. The key is to have competition at two levels.First, at the level of buying troubled assets, the government’s program should focus on establishing many competing funds that are privately managed and partly funded with private capital--and not creating one, large "aggregator bank"-- funded with public and private capital and engaging in purchasing troubled assets. Second, several potential fund managers should compete for government capital under a market mechanism resulting in maximum participation of private capital and minimum costs to taxpayers.”

Geithner’s plan seems to follow these guidelines to a large degree. In particular, on the one hand the government subsidy allows private investors to bid a higher price than otherwise warranted (i.e. the government gives investors the equivalent of a call option.) On the other hand, the fact that the private investor is bound to lose its entire equity stake if the asset value deteriorates from artificially high valuations provides an incentive to bid conservatively. Both effects together may contribute to a reasonable level of price discovery. In case of the securities program, the prospect of refinancing purchased legacy securities with TALF via a non-recourse loan (which is the equivalent of a put option) should incentivize private investors to bid higher than otherwise warranted.

b) Will banks participate?
A similar purely private solution to get toxic assets off banks’ balance sheets was tried with Paulson’s aborted Super-SIV when legacy assets were still marked substantially higher than at present. It became clear then that the private sector will require a possibly substantial taxpayer subsidy in order to overcome the collective action paralysis. Indeed, in the case of the legacy loan example outlined in the Geithner plan with a 6/1 leverage, private investors that invest 7.1% (=1/7 * 0.5) of the equity will get 50% of any upside in return. While Treasury will also share in any upside by half, any downside beyond the private investors’ equity stake is clearly borne by the taxpayers.

While this subsidy to investors provides a powerful incentive to bid prices up in a competitive auction, banks stuck with particularly toxic assets or thin capital buffers may still find a potential writedown at market-clearing prices prohibitive and some might need to be recapitalized after taking the hair cut. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has already warned that while this plan will help many solvent banks get rid of their toxic assets thus clearing the way for new loans and fresh capital some banks are beyond the stage of rescue. Those borderline insolvent banks will likely require an additional incentive to sell or mandatory participation otherwise they will prefer to hold on to their assets, especially in view of the FASB’s prospective easing of mark-to-market accounting rules.

For the sake completeness, some commentators would also like to see better safeguards established in order to prevent banks and asset managers from potentially colluding in their common interest to the detriment of the taxpayer.

c) And taxpayers?
At the end of the day the performance of the toxic legacy assets is driven by the cash flow performance of the underlying loans. Keep in mind that among subprime borrowers, serious delinquencies and foreclosures have affected about 20% of outstanding loans as of December 2008 thus impairing the cash flow directed to junior RMBS investors and/or ABS CDOs consisting of these junior tranches. While ABX prices responded positively to the prospect of increased buyer interest, the ultimate loan value will depend on whether households and commercial real estate borrowers will continue making payments in the future. More on that below.

As a practical example of the performance of a toxic portfolio, take the Fed’s Maiden Lane portfolio with Bear Stearns assets. Cumberland Advisors reported that so far the results aren’t promising, and they see no prospect for a profit on the assets. In fact, the portfolio has lost over 10% of its value, and losses are mounting. At present, losses on that portfolio exceed $4.5 billion and the taxpayers’ share is now $3.5 billion. Others point to the low recovery value of IndyMac’s mortgage portfolio as a benchmark.


Bottom line: Will it get credit flowing again?

The immediate market reaction (equities and investment grade CDS staged a substantial rally, less so high yield CDS) was clearly one of relief that nationalization seems to be off the table for now and that the administration is committed to market-based solutions. While the extent of the guarantees almost makes one wonder why the involvement of the private sector is needed in the first place, it is the involvement of the private sector that creates a context in which price setting and discovery happen based on a market mechanism.

An important question at this point is: What should we look at while assessing the plan in the months ahead?

Clearly the unfreeze of credit markets would be the first sign of success but we might not see this happening before some time. Some of the banks that choose to sell assets and take a writedown might be in need of additional capital before they can resume lending. Also, for those institutions that are beyond the stage of rescue and effectively insolvent, the plan will likely not be as effective in stimulating lending or participation in the first place.

The increase in the supply of credit that will come from institutions that are solvent will be important, but will demand be there to do its part? If the real side of the economy continues to deteriorate, it is likely that credit demand might be subdued. Moreover, a further continued deterioration on the real side of the economy would imply new defaults on credit cards, consumer loans, auto loans and mortgages that would result in new toxic assets on the balance sheets of financial institutions recreating an environment where banks would maintain stringent lending standards. Therefore, the success of the plan is a necessary but not sufficient condition to get the economy back on a recovery path. The success of the fiscal stimulus package in sustaining aggregate demand and minimizing job losses and the success in restarting demand in the housing sector will be instrumental to put a stop to the negative feedback loop between the real and the financial side of the economy.

Moreover, if the negative feedback loop persists, need for further funding will arise. While it will be very challenging to obtain Congress approval for additional TARP money, we should point out that the government has set aside an additional $750bn in the FY2010 budget in aid for the financial sector.

Hence, taking care of legacy loans and securities is a welcome step forward, especially for solvent institutions whose asset values are subject to a substantial liquidity discount. However, insolvent institutions might not find as much relief from this plan, and the impact of the plan on the real economy might not be enough to pull the economy out of a contraction for good part of this year and sluggish growth thereafter. But by conducting auctions and determining the market value of the toxic assets, the Treasury will be implicitly using the private sector to ‘stress test’ the financial system to determine which banks are insolvent and therefore will need further government intervention.

[Tansy_Gold]

26. "Bottom line: Will it get credit flowing again?"

Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the (over)flow of credit what got us into this mess in the first place?

How is making more of it -- and remember, extending credit also equals taking on more debt -- going to fix anything?



Tansy Gold, either stubborn or stupid or maybe both?

[tclambert]

36. Loansharking ain't that bad, as long as your mark can pay the vig.

The problem comes when they can't pay. Breaking legs might be fun and all, but if your mark can't work, can't make any more payments, you gotta kill him, and take a loss. That's bad for business. And it draws unwanted attention. You want to run a nice, quiet Shylock business, you stay in the shadows and keep your greed under control. Don't squeeze your marks too much, or you force yourself into the leg-breaking scenario. The best Shylocks don't break no legs, 'cause they don't have to, see?

Sometimes it means you gotta say no to your mark, 'cause you know he's gotta pay the rent or child support and he don't really need to bet on every single basketball game. But sometimes you float him a little for a kind of investment, like on new burglar tools, 'cause you see how that will help him pay the vig later.

'Course yer average loan shark only loans out actual money, he hands you cash, he don't make up money out of thin air like those crazy bankers with their 35 or 40 to 1 leveraging. Those guys are kiting checks to make the original loan. They don't actually have the money they loan out. Even loan sharks think that's dishonest.

[Tansy_Gold]

41. Yeah, it's pretty bad when the thieves have no honor.

Makes doing business with anyone at all a bit difficult.


Oh, yeah, that's why we're in this pickle, ain't it.




TG

[Ghost Dog]

49. There is 'ordinary' credit required to keep wheels turning

in a steady economy; then there is 'extraordinary' credit that has been used for bubble-blowing.

Where Roubini and/or his students ask: Will the demand be there? They are really asking, on the sane level: Will many small-to-middle-sized bread-and-butter businesses have survived, and at least be ticking-over, a few months further down this road...?

[Ghost Dog]

30. "Private-sector participants have the incentive to get the best price.”

Aye, there's the rub.

Best price for themselves individually; however, not necessarily best price for society (nor the biosphere) as a whole.

[janedum]

43. Roubini is just FINE!

He always said it would take at least $7 Trillion.
I clearly remember him saying something like that A YEAR AGO!

[Festivito]

8. Debt: 03/23/2009 11,041,711,544,305.34 (UP 904,516,747.24) (Still small.)

(Small moves.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 6,746,641,784,041.68 + 4,295,069,760,263.66
DOWN 116,003,157.82 + UP 1,020,519,905.06

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 306-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.27 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.8, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 14 seconds we net gain a another American, so at the end of the workday of this report, there should be 306,029,572 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
Currently, each of these American's owe $36,080.54.
A family of three owes $108,241.61. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 9,627,854,896.11.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,739,498,427.28.
The average for the last 28 days would be 7,220,891,172.09.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 43 reports in 62 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 0.59B$ per report, 0.46B$/day so far.
There were 118 reports in 174 days of FY2009 averaging 8.62B$ per report, 5.84B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,399 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.0 and 21.1T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/23/2009 11,041,711,544,305.34 BHO (UP 414,834,495,392.26 so far since Obama took office.)

Fiscal Year ends: Sep 30
Borrowed in FY1993: (Maybe later.)
Borrowed in FY1994: 281,261,026,873.94
Borrowed in FY1995: 281,232,990,696.07
Borrowed in FY1996: 250,828,038,426.34
Borrowed in FY1997: 188,335,072,261.61
Borrowed in FY1998: 113,046,997,500.28
Borrowed in FY1999: 130,077,892,735.81
Borrowed in FY2000: _17,907,308,253.43 Bill alone
Borrowed in FY2001: 133,285,202,313.20 Bill and George
Borrowed in FY2002: 420,772,553,397.10 All George
Borrowed in FY2003: 554,995,097,146.46
Borrowed in FY2004: 595,821,633,586.70
Borrowed in FY2005: 553,656,965,393.18
Borrowed in FY2006: 574,264,237,491.73
Borrowed in FY2007: 500,679,473,047.25
Borrowed in FY2008: 1,017,071,524,650.01
Borrowed in FY2009: 1,016,986,647,392.90 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/03/2009 +000,498,419,440.82 ------------********
03/04/2009 +000,625,214,862.41 ------------********
03/05/2009 +006,943,273,604.61 ------------*********
03/06/2009 +000,851,040,035.06 ------------********
03/09/2009 -000,039,321,146.54 ---- Mon
03/10/2009 +000,452,187,222.11 ------------********
03/11/2009 +000,187,775,216.55 ------------********
03/12/2009 +031,351,798,430.48 ------------**********
03/13/2009 -000,013,659,079.13 ----
03/16/2009 +047,789,810,398.18 ------------********** Mon
03/17/2009 +000,031,463,665.67 ------------*******
03/18/2009 +000,237,422,838.19 ------------********
03/19/2009 +004,087,134,960.77 ------------*********
03/20/2009 +000,429,200,142.60 ------------********
03/23/2009 -000,116,003,157.82 --- Mon

93,315,757,433.96 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008.
US borrowed $1,377,079,741,046.27 in last 186 days.
That's 1,377B$ in 186 days.
More than any year ever, including last year, and it's 135% of that highest year ever only in 186 days.
And it is over 100% of ANY dismal Bush, for any dismal Bush-year, ONLY IN 186 DAYS NOT 365.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3797365&mesg_id=3797438

[Festivito]

126. Debt: 03/24/2009 11,046,928,257,010.20 (UP 5,216,712,704.86) (Small plus FICA.)

(Small moves.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 6,746,864,697,941.99 + 4,300,063,559,068.21
UP 222,913,900.31 + UP 4,993,798,804.55

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 306-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.27 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.8, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 14 seconds we net gain a another American, so at the end of the workday of this report, there should be 306,035,743 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
Currently, each of these American's owe $36,096.86.
A family of three owes $108,290.57. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 9,693,961,816.63.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,785,773,271.64.
The average for the last 28 days would be 7,270,471,362.47.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 44 reports in 63 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 0.56B$ per report, 0.46B$/day so far.
There were 119 reports in 175 days of FY2009 averaging 8.59B$ per report, 5.84B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,398 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.0 and 21.2T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/24/2009 11,046,928,257,010.20 BHO (UP 420,051,208,097.12 so far since Obama took office.)

Fiscal Year ends: Sep 30
Borrowed in FY1993: (Maybe later.)
Borrowed in FY1994: 281,261,026,873.94
Borrowed in FY1995: 281,232,990,696.07
Borrowed in FY1996: 250,828,038,426.34
Borrowed in FY1997: 188,335,072,261.61
Borrowed in FY1998: 113,046,997,500.28
Borrowed in FY1999: 130,077,892,735.81
Borrowed in FY2000: _17,907,308,253.43 Bill alone
Borrowed in FY2001: 133,285,202,313.20 Bill and George
Borrowed in FY2002: 420,772,553,397.10 All George
Borrowed in FY2003: 554,995,097,146.46
Borrowed in FY2004: 595,821,633,586.70
Borrowed in FY2005: 553,656,965,393.18
Borrowed in FY2006: 574,264,237,491.73
Borrowed in FY2007: 500,679,473,047.25
Borrowed in FY2008: 1,017,071,524,650.01
Borrowed in FY2009: 1,022,203,360,097.80 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/04/2009 +000,625,214,862.41 ------------********
03/05/2009 +006,943,273,604.61 ------------*********
03/06/2009 +000,851,040,035.06 ------------********
03/09/2009 -000,039,321,146.54 ---- Mon
03/10/2009 +000,452,187,222.11 ------------********
03/11/2009 +000,187,775,216.55 ------------********
03/12/2009 +031,351,798,430.48 ------------**********
03/13/2009 -000,013,659,079.13 ----
03/16/2009 +047,789,810,398.18 ------------********** Mon
03/17/2009 +000,031,463,665.67 ------------*******
03/18/2009 +000,237,422,838.19 ------------********
03/19/2009 +004,087,134,960.77 ------------*********
03/20/2009 +000,429,200,142.60 ------------********
03/23/2009 -000,116,003,157.82 --- Mon
03/24/2009 +000,222,913,900.31 ------------********

93,040,251,893.45 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008.
US borrowed $1,382,296,453,751.13 in last 187 days.
That's 1,382B$ in 187 days.
More than any year ever, including last year, and it's 136% of that highest year ever only in 187 days.
And it is over 100% of ANY dismal Bush, for any dismal Bush-year, ONLY IN 187 DAYS NOT 365.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3799186&mesg_id=3799212

[ozymandius]

9. Geithner, Bernanke Seek to Plug Gaps in Financial Regulation

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration is preparing an overhaul of U.S. banking rules that would force financial companies to keep more cash on hand in case their trading bets go wrong.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers yesterday that changes will include “strong oversight, including appropriate constraints on risk-taking.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the case of American International Group Inc. showed the “intense problem” of trading with insufficient capital to guard against losses.

....

The comments foreshadowed what may become the biggest overhaul to U.S. banking rules since the 1930s. To prevent the nation from losing its share of the global financial industry, the administration will also need to ensure that regulators abroad take similar measures, Geithner said.

....

While the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has the ability to take over failing deposit-taking firms and wind down their assets, no such authority exists for financial firms that aren’t classified as banks, such as AIG or a hedge fund with extensive links throughout the banking system.

....

Barney Frank, the chairman of the House panel, said he supported the call for legislation to put nonbanks “out of their misery.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3WaF0XoX3XA&refer=home

[Ghost Dog]

18. French PM: US agrees on new financial regulation

WASHINGTON (AP) — French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday that Europe and the United States agree on how to fix the global economy.

Fillon was in Washington on Monday and Tuesday for meetings with lawmakers and officials in the Obama administration, including senior economic adviser Lawrence Summers and Vice President Joe Biden.

In a press conference Tuesday, Fillon said he believes the United States is prepared to agree to new regulation of financial institutions at a meeting of the G-20 summit early next month in London.

"We reached an agreement which is very specific on regulating hedge funds," Fillon said through an interpreter. "It's not about regulating activities for what they are but for what they do."

He also cited broad agreement between Europe and the United States on regulating rating agencies, reforming international accounting standards and establishing new rules on executive compensation.

Fillon also pointed to a message by U.S. President Barack Obama, published Tuesday in 31 newspapers around the world, that set out his G-20 goals that urge stiffer government controls over financial practices that were a major cause of the momentous global downturn.

"Only coordinated international action can prevent the irresponsible risk-taking that caused this crisis. That is why I am committed to seizing this opportunity to advance comprehensive reforms of our regulatory and supervisory framework," the president said.

/... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iERjOvoBPNIeumOv0eE59E9Z3VLwD974GU0G0

[ozymandius]

10. European Stocks Rise for Fifth Day; Inditex, Retailers Climb

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose for a fifth day, led by retailers as Inditex SA posted profit that beat analysts’ estimates. Asian shares advanced, while U.S. futures gained before reports on durable-goods orders and housing.

....

Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.5 percent at 8:53 a.m. in London, reversing an earlier drop of 0.4 percent. The regional gauge has gained 14 percent since March 9 as Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said they made money in the first two months of 2009 and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled plans to finance as much as $1 trillion in purchases of distressed assets.

The Stoxx 600 swung between gains and losses at least 20 times yesterday as investors assessed whether Geithner’s plan will spur economic growth. Data today may show that orders for U.S. durable goods fell for a seventh straight month, while American housing sales declined to the lowest level on record.

....

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fluctuated between gains and losses today before climbing 0.7 percent. The gauge fell 2 percent yesterday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Geithner called for stronger regulation of financial firms and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said the government will have to seize major lenders.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXdIfcvcorpc&refer=home

[Ghost Dog]

13. German Business Confidence Declines to 26-Year Low

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- German business confidence fell to the lowest level in more than 26 years in March, adding to signs that the recession is deepening.

The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, dropped to 82.1 from 82.6 in February. That’s the worst reading since November 1982. Economists expected a decline to 82.2, according to the median of 37 forecasts in a News survey.

A global slump in demand has forced German companies to scale back production and cut jobs, pushing the economy into its worst recession since World War II. Metro AG, Germany’s largest retailer, yesterday reported an unexpected drop in fourth- quarter profit as consumers pared spending. Commerzbank AG expects gross domestic product to decline as much as 7 percent this year.

...

Ifo’s gauge of current conditions declined to 82.7 from 84.3. Still, the measure of expectations increased to 81.6 from 80.9.

“The Ifo’s absolute level is still depressingly low,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Group in Brussels. “Nevertheless, the gradual improvement of the Ifo’s expectation component is at least a tender green shoot of stabilization.”

The European Central Bank has signaled it’s ready to lower its key interest rate further from a record low of 1.5 percent. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition also plans to spend about 82 billion euros ($110 billion) to stimulate growth, including tax breaks and investment in infrastructure.

...

The global economic crisis has exposed Germany’s reliance on exports as an Achilles Heel. German exports dropped for a fourth month in January, manufacturing orders plunged 38 percent from a year earlier and industrial output declined the most on record.

...

German investor confidence unexpectedly rose to the highest level in almost two years in March and the country’s benchmark DAX share index has gained about 13 percent this month. In neighboring Belgium, business confidence increased in March, the central bank said yesterday.

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVbxJJymy57Q&refer=worldwide

[ozymandius]

11. UPDATE 3-Japan exports, imports dive as demand shrivels

TOKYO, March 25 (Reuters) - Japan's exports posted another record drop in February as global demand for Japanese cars and electronics evaporate amid a deepening global financial crisis, but analysts see little sign of recovery in coming months.

A record fall in imports helped Japan's trade balance swing into surplus for the first time in five months but the data provided little comfort as it showed both domestic and overseas demand crumbling under the weight of the global slowdown.

....

Exports halved from a year earlier, with shipments to the United States and Europe falling at record rates, dragged down by plunging demand for cars and auto parts.

....

Exports dived a record 49.4 percent in February from a year earlier while imports slid 43.0 percent, showing the effects of a global decline in trade from the global crisis.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUST31631420090325

[Ghost Dog]

12. Japan Exports Drop Record 49% as Global Slump Deepens

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s exports plunged a record 49.4 percent in February as deepening recessions in the U.S. and Europe sapped demand for the country’s cars and electronics.

Shipments to the U.S., the country’s biggest market, tumbled an unprecedented 58.4 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. Automobile exports slid 70.9 percent.

The collapse signals gross domestic product may shrink this quarter at a similar pace to the annualized 12.1 percent contraction posted in the previous three months, the sharpest since 1974. Prime Minister Taro Aso is compiling his third stimulus package as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Panasonic Corp. fire thousands of workers.

...

Last month’s drop in exports was the sharpest since at least 1980, when the government started to keep comparable data. Economists predicted a 47.6 percent decline.

Toyota, forecasting its first net loss in 59 years, yesterday said overseas shipments plunged 69 percent in February.

Demand fell across all regions. Exports to Europe dropped a record 54.7 percent, shipments to Asia declined 46.3 percent and goods sent to China slumped 39.7 percent.

Imports fell a record 43 percent, helping Japan post its first trade surplus in five months. The 82.4 billion yen ($842 million) surplus was still 91.2 percent lower than the same month a year earlier.

...

Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said on March 22 that a new stimulus package of as much as 20 trillion yen, double the amount pledged since October, is “not out of line” as the world’s second-biggest economy heads for its worst recession since 1945. The spending would add to public debt already estimated at 170 percent of gross domestic product.

...

Japan has become more reliant on exports in the past decade, making it especially vulnerable to changes in global commerce, which the World Trade Organization forecasts will shrink 9 percent this year, the most since World War II. During Japan’s expansion of 2002 to 2007, exports as a portion of GDP rose to 15.6 percent from 10.4 percent.

Fared Worse

Asia’s largest economy fared worse last month than its neighbors. Exports from South Korea fell 17.1 percent, about half the pace of the decline in the previous month. Taiwan’s shipments slid 28.6 percent after dropping a record 44.1 percent in January.

“The fact that these other countries are doing a little better might give Japan some encouragement that world demand is bottoming out,” said Action Economics’ Cohen. “It should only be a matter of time before Japan shows the same stabilization.”

There are signs that China, Japan’s second-largest overseas market, is stabilizing. The World Bank said last week that government spending on roads, power grids and housing is “working” to take up the slack left by plunging exports.

“For some sectors like the chemical and raw-material industries, they’re seeing some rebound in demand coming from China,” said BNP’s Shiraishi. “Basically, demand for key industries -- transportation machinery, electronics, general machinery -- those aren’t recovering.”

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a5ElP4y2JoH8&refer=economy

[ozymandius]

14. Kodak closing 2 divisions in Windsor (Colorado)

Eastman Kodak Co. is shutting down two of the four manufacturing divisions at its Windsor plant and laying off up to 300 workers.

Company officials said Tuesday the printing plate manufacturing operation and a converting and packaging facility for motion picture films will close by the end of the year.

Plate production will be transferred to Kodak's plant in Columbus, Ga., while the motion picture operation will move to Rochester, N.Y.

The company says some workers will be given the opportunity to take other positions at the Colorado facility or to transfer to other sites.

After the closures, the Windsor plant will have about 400 workers, and will focus on producing media for digital and photographic prints, thermal media for digital picture kiosks and color photographic paper used by photofinishing outlets, the company said.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/25/ap6208808.html

[Ghost Dog]

15. Asia shares mixed as bank plan euphoria fades

TOKYO, March 25 (Reuters) - Asian shares put in a mixed performance on Wednesday as a sharp rally in stock markets this week over a U.S. plan to deal with toxic debt ran out of steam.

...

In Asia, shares in South Korea and Australia .AXJO rose and the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS nudged up to set a fresh 2-½ month peak.

But Japan's benchmark index ended down 0.1 percent as bank stocks took a breather. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T), the country's top lender, fell for the first time in eight sessions.

The yen edged up, winning respite from a fall to multi-month lows this week while the dollar dipped against the euro after a steep rise the previous day on growing expectations of lower euro zone interest rates and U.S. President Barack Obama's comment its strength was a sign of confidence in the economy.

...

Investors remain wary that large advances in stock markets in recent weeks could quickly fizzle out amid a stream of gloomy economic news and weaker corporate earnings as the global recession saps consumer spending and investment.

...

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.4 percent and has gained about 28 percent from a five-year low last November.

...

Japan's benchmark Nikkei .N225 reversed early losses but failed to sustain a move into positive territory, after jumping 3.3 percent the previous day to post its highest close since Jan. 9. Exporters such as electronics giant Sony Corp (6758.T) tumbled on expectations of weaker earnings <.T>

"It has been too good to be true, with the Nikkei jumping nearly 1,500 points in such a short period, so the market is due for a breather," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, manager at SMBC Friend Securities. "There are few investors willing to chase prices higher from the current levels."

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINSP49238320090325?rpc=44&sp=true

[ozymandius]

16. Eat-What-You-Kill Bond Traders Rise From Wreckage

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street bond trading is heading back to the 1980s, when private partnerships and independent firms dominated the market.

...

Smaller firms are emerging from the wreckage of the world’s largest financial companies, which are conserving capital following more than $1.2 trillion of writedowns and credit losses since the start of 2007. They’re luring traders with a shot at $500,000 commissions for two days’ work as banks that accepted federal bailouts retrench and slash bonuses.

...

Just as when Gutfreund, 79, walked the aisles of Salomon’s trading floor, BTIG’s principals aren’t secluded in their offices during the day, said Bass, 46, who most recently headed fixed-income client management at UBS.

“Back then it was motivating to see the person running the firm in the trenches,” Bass said. “It’s getting back to basics.”

Partnerships including Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley went public in the 1980s, and many closely held firms disappeared into larger banking institutions by the end of the next decade. The trend accelerated after Sanford “Sandy” Weill’s creation of New York-based Citigroup and the 1999 repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which had separated commercial and investment banks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a17vSRycD4TQ&refer=exclusive

[ozymandius]

17. Bernanke Bombshell: AIG Insurer Exposed to (AIG)FP - burned down its own house

from Ritholtz blog

In researching and think about AIG, I have been writing about them as if it were two separate companies: A well regulated Insurer, and a rogue derivatives products firm (FP).

The working assumption has been that the regulated insurer was run fairly conservatively, and the structured financial product side run like a giant hedge fund. The 32% net profit retention on the FP side is actually better than what most hedge funds see.

This dichotomy is mostly true, but with now has an interesting twist to it. In congressional testimony today, Ben Bernanke implied that had the Fed allowed AIG too fall, he detailed what might have happened had AIG been allowed to fail:

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury agreed that AIG’s failure under the conditions then prevailing would have posed unacceptable risks for the global financial system and for our economy. Some of AIG’s insurance subsidiaries, which are among the largest in the United States and the world, would have likely been put into rehabilitation by their regulators, leaving policyholders facing considerable uncertainty about the status of their claims. State and local government entities that had lent more than $10 billion to AIG would have suffered losses. Workers whose 401(k) plans had purchased $40 billion of insurance from AIG against the risk that their stable value funds would decline in value would have seen that insurance disappear. In addition, AIG’s insurance subsidiaries had substantial derivatives exposures to AIG-FP that could have weakened them in the event of the parent company’s failure.

If we are to take Bernanke at face value, he is saying that AIGFP had buried their own firm with junk paper. BB does not define what “substantial derivative exposure” meant — but given the $2.7 trillion dollars in derivatives exposure that FP had, even a tiny percentage might amount to an enormous sum.

That the collapse of AIG Financial Products would have damaged the other Insurance half of the firm is a frightening development.

---

They should have been nationalized from the get-go.

[radfringe]

21. too big to fail = too big to exist... BUST THE TRUSTS n/t

[Demeter]

22. Or Taken Out and Shot

Is there no bottom to the depravity? Is this what they all learned in B-school?

How many more little ooopses lie in the shadowy depths?

Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of "As the Stomach Turns".

[Tansy_Gold]

52. You know what happens to people who burn down their own houses

for the insurance money?


1. They don't get to collect on the policy.

2. They sometimes go to jail.



I happen to be working on the paperwork for just such a case even as we speak.

Seems this ought to apply to AIG. It won't, though, and more's the pity.




Tansy Gold

[formercia]

19. Investigators find abuse in small business program

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Investigators-find-abuse-in-apf-14735795.html

Investigators find abuse in small business program
GAO: Undeserving companies collected millions in federal contracts due to poor SBA oversight

* Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer
* Wednesday March 25, 2009, 12:03 am EDT


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Because of lax oversight, undeserving companies collected millions in federal contracts from an $8 billion government program designated for small businesses in poor neighborhoods, congressional investigators charge.

The Small Business Administration repeatedly failed to verify paperwork and conduct audits to weed out sham firms claiming to have main offices in economically distressed areas, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Wednesday, raising questions about an agency seeking to take a greater role in helping business owners stave off job losses.

--snip--
In some cases, the business owners freely admitted diverting the lucrative work to large companies or ineligible businesses.
--snip--

[nc4bo]

34. The bush admin. basically gutted the SBA. Those left had to do the jobs of 100 people

and yea I exaggerated but those left were crossed trained and expected to take on all these additional duties or become jobless.

Intense pressure to perform the impossible even with the lack of staff, many like my stepmother had to take work home during the weekday and spent many weekends trying to make a dent in an endless pile of paperwork. Of course you're not supposed to take work home or work your weekends away but she really had no choice if she wanted to keep her job.

[Nickster]

54. This is a difficult one. I'm sure a lot of fraud happened, but the way the SBA rules are written for

HubZONE or any other small business is kinda hinky.

"To participate in the program, companies affirm that their principal office -- where the greatest number of employees work -- is in a designated HUBZone and that at least 35 percent of the firm's full-time employees live in that area. HUBZone firms also must spend at least 50 percent of a contract's personnel costs on its own employees"


Now it makes sense that they are looking to focus the dollars on actual small businesses, but what happens when that small business lands a huge gov't contract and they don't have the staff to handle the business? If they sub-contract any of the work, then they go under the 50% personnel cost rule. So then the business gets hurt for being a small business.

Again, what if they need to hook up with a larger distribution company to ship their products so they can actually service the government accounts effectively? Their 50% rule is enforced and the small business gets pushed out by the larger businesses who have the infrastructure.

So I'm not so sure all of this is necessarily fraud, or simply small businesses trying to stay alive and compete.

[DemReadingDU]

20. Charles Hugh Smith: SURVIVAL+ Chapter Two

Survival+: Chapter Two (March 25, 2009)

Charles Hugh Smith
Let's begin by considering Context One: Human Nature in more depth. Entire libraries have been written on the subject of human nature, but for our practical purposes those which probe humanity's "default settings" such as Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal and E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology: The New Synthesis are the most useful.

Although we can slice and dice complex human responses in hundreds of ways (for instance, Who am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our Actions and Define Our Personalities ), for the purposes of a stripped-down practical analysis we can group our "default responses" into four basic categories: inertia, fear/panic, casting our lot with a "Big Man"/leader or fatalism/giving up.

Since we cannot sustain the emotionally charged state of fear/panic ("fight or flight") for long, decisions made in this instinctive mode tend to be rash, hasty, impulsive and poorly planned. Thus the key is to recognize this mode and consciously avoid making decisions with long-term consequences while in the grip of this "instant response" survival-mode.

Humans, like our relatives the chimpanzees, are social animals. Like chimps, we are "wired" to form groups and select/follow leaders who reach their high status by offering something back to the community: protection, "potlatch" type sharing of wealth, etc. We will examine this political/social response to crisis in a later section.

But humans also have the capacity to be alone, like our other primate relatives the orangutans. Thus withdrawing from the community has deep roots in human nature and history.

Being creatures of habit—and habits are a survival mechanism, for why change anything when "everything's working"?-- humans prefer the status quo until crisis forces us to change. The underlying state in this inertia/attachment to the status quo is complacency, which acts as a cognitive and emotional "attractor" or trap, as does fatalism/withdrawal.


Complacency and Fatalism

Complacency and fatalism are both seductive "cognitive traps" and emotional "attractors" which we have to avoid if we are to think clearly. Each is an "attractor" because each is highly appealing for several fundamental reasons.

1. Human nature veers between these basic social/anti-social emotions: complacency/status quo (inertia) and fatalism/resignation (withdrawal).

2. History reveals these attractors (complacency and fatalism) were active in previous great declines/collapses, such as the Roman Empire circa 400-576 C.E. (see below)

3. Humans prefer simplistic "answers" to challenges/problems, and a blind faith in the status quo or resignation both fit the bill.

Complacency is best understood as what's expressed in the phrase, "Don't worry, it will sort itself out on its own." In stable "normal" times, this complacency is usually rewarded; various corrective feedback loops within complex systems kick in and problems are met with countermeasures that act to restabilize the system.

But in very dynamic eras, destabilizing factors overwhelm the usual corrective feedback mechanisms, and things do not sort themselves out. Dramatic, even radical action must be taken. In these times, complacency is not a practical or helpful strategy: it is a soothing but dangerous cognitive trap which guarantees the believer will be unprepared for the challenges just ahead.

In the cognitive trap of fatalism, we recognize the risks/dangers of the situation but feel helpless to correct or solve the problems. In this trap, we remove ourselves from action and give up, dooming ourselves to being swept up by whatever passing winds arise.

The goal here is to avoid these traps, analyze the challenges we face clearly, and then plan out a simple but interconnected three-part strategy for not just survival but prosperity and security.

Complacency can take many forms. For instance, a person who has prepared themselves for a doomsday collapse of civilization, i.e. "The end of the world as we know it" (TEOTWAWKI) may well find themselves ill-prepared for an equally probable slow decline in social cohesion and living standards. That is, living conditions in highly developed nations may descend not to a Collapse of Civilization into Chaos but to a Third World level of stable impoverishment.

This highlights the need to ground our analyses and expectations in history—not because it repeats, but because it rhymes. No one can know the future, so we must be cautious about putting all our eggs in one basket/scenario. Prudence suggests always maintaining a skeptical point of view: what if we're wrong? What's our Plan B/alternative strategy?

Fatalism is similarly devious. People who withdraw from society are certainly taking action, but they have surrendered the opportunity to influence the outcome positively: that is fatalism of the first order.

If you're reading this, then you have already advanced beyond the naïve complacency of "don't worry, everything will work itself out" which is mesmerizing large segments of our citizenry. You may well be a member of The Remnant—more on that later.

Continue reading Chapter Two...
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar09/survival2-03-09.html


link backwards to chapter one...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3795940&mesg_id=3796069

[Ghost Dog]

28. Thanks, I'll be reading this,

as well as this (from yesterday): http://www.energybulletin.net/print/48082

As an aside, I've been drawn to contrast the perhaps too-fatalistic reaction that's often observable in the US - towards looking for ways and means for 'individualistic', 'survivalist' approaches (ie. living off the land, of which you have a lot, in relation to population), and guns, in contrast to more 'social solidarity'-oriented approaches, such as that of Cuba.

While I can see room for some exceptions - and I made the decision long ago to remove myself to one of the southernmost island 'fringes' or 'peripheries of (political) Europe - In the European context, and in that of most cultures in this world, I can see no real 'hopeful' alternative to essential social cooperative solidarity - we all have to share what's coming (and going).

We need to orient economies towards achieving a 'steady state' at an environmentally sustainable, socially-at-least-tolerable level: This means accepting much less consumption in the 'rich' world in exchange for allowing others to raise their standards.

The eternal-growth-dependant capitalist system cannot do that.

Worst comes to the worst, or in any case as I approach childless old age, I may well get me to a Monastery (as long as it has fertile land, water, plenty of opportunity for meditation and an excellent library).

[DemReadingDU]

33. yes, Dmitry Orlov

Dmitry Orlov discusses the prospects, compares the parallels and differences, and argues that the Soviet Union was much better prepared for collapse than we are in the US.
He discusses different ways of looking at food, shelter, transportation and security.

The audio of the talk Orlov gave on February 12 at Point Reyes Books, Point Reyes Station, Marin County, California. In it, the same ground is covered as the talk to a much larger audience in San Francisco on the following day. The difference is that while the San Francisco talk was 100% scripted, this one was 100% improvised.
http://web.mac.com/bgong/Site/Home_Page/Entries/2009/2/23_Dmitry_Orlov_speaking_at_Point_Reyes_Books.html


Dmitry Orlov: Social Collapse Best Practices
The Long Now Foundation
The following talk was given on February 13, 2009, at Cowell Theatre in Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, to an audience of 550 people.
http://fora.tv/2009/02/13/Dmitry_Orlov_Social_Collapse_Best_Practices

_____________

Monastery, Abbey, seminary, or convent - Interesting thought to join as one gets older, a group of people working together for the welfare of the community. Could be a viable option.

[Ghost Dog]

40. Oh, well, I certainly should add

that a nearby friendly open-minded Nunnery would represent much more than just icing on the cake. :)

[dweller]

25. lol

love the cartoon, at least something these days still gives me a smile.

this was over on the latest: perhaps a trend?
http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=01fdb45a3c9a60cd3c8408ccc99ca8c4


dp

[Demeter]

27. AIG Shows Why We Need the Employee Free Choice Act By Mike Elk

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009031220/aig-shows-why-we-need-employee-free-choice-act

At first, it might seem a bit odd that Bank of America and Citigroup paid for a conference call to coordinate a campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act. Why would Bank of America and Citigroup be so interested in hosting efforts against a measure that would allow workers to more easily join unions, since unionization has traditionally had little appeal for financial service workers? As a union organizer, I've never heard of stockbrokers wanting to unionize.

The real interest big banks have in opposing unions and the Employee Free Choice Act lies in the unions' role in preventing corporate greed.

Unions are a countervailing force against corporate greed in a market that has proven incapable of regulating itself. One example is the 2003 dismissal of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso. CalPERS—the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest pension fund with assets of over $200 billion dollars—raised red flags when it discovered that Grasso was going to receive a compensation package of nearly $140 million. The compensation package was designed for him by a board of representatives from NYSE-listed companies. Since Grasso was charged with regulating these companies, such a large compensation package represented a clear conflict of interest. Under the threat of pulling their investment out of NYSE-listed companies, CalPERS and other worker-run pension funds forced Grasso to step down as NYSE chairman. That was a major victory for workers and for market accountability.

Corporate greed has gone unchecked recently in part due to the decline of the labor movement. Is it a coincidence that union membership declined dramatically from 20 percent of the private sector workforce in 1980 to just over 7 percent in 2006 while CEO pay has increased from 42 times what the average worker made in 1980 to 364 in 2006? Unions demand an economy that works for all, not just those at the top, such as AIG executives. As William Greider, author of the Soul of Capitalism, told me, "Unions are an honest broker in the economy.”

Through pension and retirement funds, workers can fund companies that invest in communities and in green jobs, promote workers' rights and operate in a transparent manner; and penalize companies that don't. With over $6 trillion of workers' money in retirement plans, pension funds, profit-sharing and stock plans and union reserve funds, the money of workers' plays a large role in fueling the global economy. Through putting workers' representatives on the board of these funds, unions can make sure that "worker investments are managed in workers' best financial interests." By investing in transparent, open and financially healthy companies, unions through stockholder activism can lead the way in ending the culture of reckless corporate short-term profit-seeking, which led to the rise of subprime mortgages and credit-derivative swaps.

Unions have long sought ways to make corporate profits sustainable in the long run in order to both retain and create jobs. It is ironic that the United Auto Workers (UAW) has been unfairly scapegoated as the cause of the demise of the auto industry since, as early as 1949, they have called for the Big Three to make small, more fuel-efficient cars. In 1949, in a pamphlet entitled "A Small Car Named Desire," the UAW cautioned automakers against investing solely in big cars since some consumers would ultimately be interested in cheaper smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. In short, unions have also sought was is best for all— not just for workers, but creating the economic conditions that will allow their companies to thrive.

As President Obama stated, "We know that strong, vibrant, growing unions can exist side by side with strong, vibrant and growing businesses. This isn't a either/or proposition between the interests of workers and the interests of shareholders. That's the old argument. The new argument is that the American economy is not and has never been a zero-sum game. When workers are prospering, they buy products that make businesses prosper."

Indeed, passing the Wagner Act, which allowed unions to collectively bargain for higher wages, in 1935— during the middle of the Great Depression—was crucial to getting the economy going again.

The recent AIG scandal shows why we need an active force to protect us against the greed of Wall Street CEOs. Unions, representing the combined interests of everyday Americans, can be a valuable instrument in fighting for the interests of all, not just those at the top. By passing the Employee Free Choice Act, we would make it easier for workers to advocate for a union without facing the kind of employer intimidation that currently results in one of five workers who attempt to organize a union being fired from their job. The Employee Free Choice Act would not just protect the right of workers to join a union, but would protect us all from the corporate greed of AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup and the rest of their partners in crime.

[Demeter]

29. Greenspan Not Reserved About His Innocence By The Mogambo Guru

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/greenspan-not-reserved-about-his-innocence/

Bloomberg.com had Alan Greenspan, disastrous former chairman of the Federal Reserve - who is the one person directly responsible for all of our economic woes with his bizarre monetary insanity Every Freaking Day (EFD) during his demented chairmanship of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, being indignant that he should be blamed for anything, and insists that nothing is his fault, except for maybe having too much faith and trust in his fellow man, which would explain the complete lack of regulatory scrutiny, or even a minimal due diligence attention, to any of the glaring excesses in the banking system, for which he was responsible.

He is reported to have said, "Given the decoupling of monetary policy from long-term mortgage rates, accelerating the path of monetary tightening that the Fed pursued in 2004-2005 could not have prevented the housing bubble." Hahahaha!

I was at first going to make sport of Mr. Greenspan and cast aspersions on both his intellect and degree of mental illness that would turn a former gold-bug into the monetary inflation monster that he became, but soon I realized the gem of a philosophy that we have here!

Hastily, I scheduled a meeting with my boss, who thinks that my poor job performance, the hostility of customers (morons) and mutiny among my employees (more morons) has something to do with my terrible cost- center numbers that were provided.

To the contrary, I plan to stress that these are mere statistical artifacts by a bunch of hateful accountants (pencil-neck geek morons) who are probably lying just to get me in trouble.

I know that my boss will laugh dismissively at my conspiracy theory, like she always does - but this time I have proof! It was provided by Alan Greenspan himself, lying former chairman of the Federal Reserve - which is itself a Big Fat Lie (BFL) because the Federal Reserve is not a part of government, but is, instead, just a name picked by the true owners of the Fed; shadowy figures creeping around in the shadows, which is why I called them "shadowy" in the first place...
"...Mr. Greenspan has now famously said, that not only is nothing my fault, but that the true culprits may be forces...at work, which are already sinisterly creating excess money and credit 'beyond the control of monetary policy'..."

I am not, as you would expect, going into a loud, Screaming Fit Of Outrage (SFOO) at the sheer, outlandish corruption of the banking system, Congress, government in general and everything it touches, or the unbelievable corruption and stupidity in everything else, both here in America and around the world.

Instead, I have been galvanized to action to, hopefully, to prevent being fired from my stupid job. Now, that task has been made easier after reading that Mr. Greenspan said, "If we are dealing with global forces beyond the control of domestic monetary policy makers, as I strongly suspect is the case, then we are facing a broader issue." Hahahaha! I can't believe my eyes at this unexpected bonanza!

Excitedly, I am planning to say to my boss, like Mr. Greenspan has now famously said, that not only is nothing my fault, but that the true culprits may be forces - perhaps strange, malevolent-yet-evil forces - at work, which are already sinisterly creating excess money and credit "beyond the control of monetary policy"; so it could also be controlling people's thoughts, probably with some kind of secret, super ray-gun, or some new chemicals that they put into the water so that the strange molecules get into our blood streams and go to our brains to make us think, "Don't pay attention to Austrian/classical economics, common sense, the entire history of economics for the last 4,500 years or the Lunatic Mogambo Loudmouth (LML)! And for crying out loud don't buy any gold, silver or oil, which is the only smart thing to do, with special emphasis on 'smart', especially since 'everything else is stupid and you will lose your butt, big time.'"

And speaking of losing one's butt, Agora Financial's 5-Minute Forecast reports, "The seldom-reported net long-term and total Treasury International Capital (TIC) flow came in way worse than expected."

Like most reports, this is complete gibberish to me, and I am soon fascinated with the idea of finding out if I can get a whole burrito in my mouth at one time, and I am halfway out of the office to grab an early lunch to test my new theory when I am stopped by their news that, "in English" for dummies like me, "foreigners - and not just the Chinese - are losing their taste for U.S. debt. Global investors sold $148 billion more U.S. debt than they bought", which I assume was for the year.

In response, I have written a blues song about it, and the four lines of lyrics go:

"Oh, I'm so blue because foreign devils are selling my debt.
"Oh, I don't know what to do.
"This comes at a particularly bad time since the Obama lunatics and the brain-damaged halfwits in Congress are committed to deficit-spending almost $2 trillion this year, a sum so staggering that it is not only eye-popping, head-spinning and/or heart-stopping, it is also more than 14% of GDP, and we desperately need these damned foreign devils to buy that new towering mountain of American Treasury debt to fund that suicidal, low-IQ orgy of deficit-spending, and not for them to sell the Treasury crap they already have.
"Baby, oh baby, I'm so blue, blue, blue."

Okay, I realize this is not my best work and it needs some polishing, so don't bother writing to me about the usual bad reviews ("He is stupid and so is his stupid song!" - Chicago Sun), but the sentiment is perfectly correct: Foreigners refusing to use the dollars they receive, as a result of America's $820 billion per year trade-deficit, to buy more Treasury debt is terrible news to a bunch of socialist/communist dirtbags like Obama and Congress; and the rest of us worthless morons around the world are apparently desperate and willing to sacrifice everything on a long-shot that for once, in all the times it has been tried in all of history, expanding a fiat money supply so that the government can buy its way out of bankruptcy will not, hopefully, end in inflationary tragedy like it always - with stress on the "always" - has before! Hahahaha! We're freaking doomed!

Until next time,

The Mogambo Guru
for The Daily Reckoning

[Ghost Dog]

38. Maybe related: Mervyn King warns Gordon Brown to stop spending

The Governor of the Bank of England laid bare tensions between Gordon Brown and the Treasury yesterday by warning that Britain could not afford a second economic stimulus in the Budget.

Mervyn King threw caution to the wind as he sided with Alistair Darling and the CBI against Downing Street in raising strong doubts over any prospect of another round of “significant fiscal expansion” next month.

Mr King spoke as the Prime Minister, beginning an international tour to co-ordinate measures for next week’s G20 gathering in London, called on leaders to do “whatever it takes to create growth and the jobs we need”.

...

No 10 and the Treasury deny any split but ministers admit that Mr Brown is keener than his Chancellor to go for further expansionist Budget measures on April 22.

...

Bank governors do not normally talk about Budgets in advance, just as ministers do not comment in advance about Bank decisions on interest rates. The conclusion drawn from the unusual intervention of Mr King, who met the Queen yesterday in her first audience with a Bank governor, was that he was backing the Treasury in resisting pressure for a further stimulus. It seems certain that his already strained relations with No 10 will hit a new low.

Mr Brown told the European Parliament in Strasbourg: “I believe that we are seeing the biggest cut in interest rates the world has ever seen and seeing implemented the biggest fiscal stimulus the world has ever agreed.”

...

Britain was urged by Brussels, meanwhile, to make “additional efforts” from next year — code for tax increases or spending cuts — to reduce its burgeoning budget deficit. The situation had worsened substantially since last summer, the European Commission said, as it gave Britain a new target of 2013-14 for cutting its deficit back to below 3 per cent of GDP, replacing the previous target of 2009-10. This leaves Britain with the longest planned period of “excessive deficit” in the EU, after a target of 2010 was given to Greece, 2012 to France and Spain, and 2013 for the Irish Republic.

/... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5971296.ece

[AnneD]

58. Time for new glasses .......

I read it as Greenspan not reserved about his incontinence....thought he was going to be the new spokesperson for Depends. Silly me :evilgrin:

[Demeter]

32. Enough With The Pitchforks And Head-Rolling by Stuart Whatley

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stuart-whatley/enough-with-the-pitchfork_b_178098.html



Responses to the AIG bonuses debacle have so far been aptly described with a "pitchforks and torches" motif. Hordes of disgruntled citizens are taking to the streets -- and AIG executives' driveways -- to direct their anger over a generational economic crisis towards a select few who have received bonuses in accordance with company retention contracts. This dubiously esteemed coterie is now the scapegoat for what appears to be a vast populist resurgence of a scale not seen in decades. (And even beyond executive bonus recipients, an AIG memo last week advised all employees to hide their affiliation to the beleaguered company, lest they also suffer public harassment or worse.)

Sure, the AIG outrage is justified and comes as no surprise. But beyond the dam's initial breach, what practical goals will aimless rabble-rousing and picketing 'Joe Executive's' driveway achieve? The public's bloodlust so far has been much more a guilt-tripping effort than anything else. And though this is an understandable initial reaction, it is hardly productive. Indeed, such knee-jerk populist rage is precisely what gave populist rage a bad name in the first place, whereby a valid democratic outlook is construed as nothing more than an angry-mob uprising. One wonders how long the focus will remain on what is, monetarily, a trivial scandal rather than on the larger economic and -- crucially -- financial recovery effort.

Populist champion William Jennings Bryan's iconic 1896 'Cross of Gold speech' to the DNC reveals a perverse irony for the current crisis, wherein it is proclaimed: "Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." The implication was of course that the farmers and middle class were the key economic drivers, and that the cities were just a bonus byproduct of this indispensable foundation.

Needless to say, things have changed since Bryan's day and the complete opposite is now true -- in this 21st Century economic triage, the 'cities' of which Bryan spoke are now the foremost priority. As both the current and past administration have emphasized, nothing will improve until credit flows freely, making the financial sector the Gordian knot of the entire crisis. Throwing a lifeline to Wall Street boneheads may seem like bitter medicine, but the alternative is like taking cyanide.

Moreover, such shrill public outcry can undermine vital recovery policies. Politicians of all stripes last week felt compelled to pick up their own pitchfork and join the anti-AIG rabble, lest it turn on them next. Congress and the White House have wasted time and political capital ceremoniously threatening to break contracts, sniper-tax corporate pay, or deduct the bonus amount from future bailout injections when, in reality, none of these solutions are at all practical or even necessarily legal. In fact, these efforts to mollify public anger could be detrimental to fixing the larger financial crisis.

Firms could become disinclined to accept the type of government assistance that is accompanied by such public flagellation and instead choose to roll the dice (yet again) by going it on their own. Of course, when they fail, the systemic Lehman-like meltdown will affect everyone. Furthermore, targeting specific individuals' pay gets one into mucky legal territory and could serve as a dangerous precedent down the road. And finally, deducting a portion from any future tranches to account for the recent bonuses would accomplish nothing. That money has already been paid, so it is AIG's other expenses that would be shorted.

Why squander such a vast, concerted effort on picketing individual homes and possibly undermining the recovery process? The pointlessness is revealed in victory. A number of AIG bonus recipients have indeed already caved and agreed to return the money, and yet nothing has really improved. It is not as though a few million dollars out of the $170 billion AIG has received from the taxpayers is any reason to break out the champagne.

In a perfect world, those responsible for the financial mess would be subject to all due banishment and excoriation, and justice would be served to the poor and middle class who suffer most. Unfortunately, however, the system and the current situation dictate otherwise. Because revenge is a dish best served cold, the resurgent populist movement should redirect their efforts for the time being towards helping themselves and those in need, rather than towards public head-rolling displays that ultimately yield little to nothing in practical gains. Destructive avarice and ridiculous double standards should by no means be upheld or condoned in principle, but it's time our government moved on from what is quickly becoming a domestic quagmire.



I GET DIBS ON WHATLEY'S HEAD! WHAT A TOTAL, OUT OF THE LOOP, DIVORCED FROM REALITY MAROON!!

[radfringe]

35. if we can't use pitchforks and torches... how about

tar and feathers?

[burf]

55. It looks as though

some people across the pond have gone beyond pitchforks and torches. The NY Times had an article today that a former big shot for the Royal Bank of Scotland had his house and Mercedes vandalized by some disgruntled folks. Its only a matter of time before it hits closer to home.

[Wednesdays]

44. Translation

"In a perfect world, those responsible for the financial mess would be subject to all due banishment and excoriation, and justice would be served to the poor and middle class who suffer most. Unfortunately, however, the system and the current situation dictate otherwise. Because revenge is a dish best served cold, the resurgent populist movement should redirect their efforts for the time being towards helping themselves and those in need, rather than towards public head-rolling displays that ultimately yield little to nothing in practical gains. Destructive avarice and ridiculous double standards should by no means be upheld or condoned in principle, but it's time our government moved on from what is quickly becoming a domestic quagmire."

Translation: "Oh well, shit happens. Quit whining, and move on." :eyes:

[Tansy_Gold]

45. You forgot to add --

". . . And leave the filthy rich to their ill-gotten gains. You really wouldn't want them anyway."


excuse me while I :puke:

[Demeter]

50. Thing Is 95% of the Population ISN"T Moving On

They, WE, are mired in the slime pit created by psychopaths at play, going under and being drowned or smothered or both.

[radfringe]

37. Halliburton / KBR - Nigeria

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5326670&mesg_id=5326670

it's off the US-MSM radar, but I would suggest setting up a google news alert to follow this

[DemReadingDU]

46. Thanks radfringe for keeping us alerted to Halliburton/KBR scandals

[radfringe]

48. You're welcome... and

Don't neglect the other three countries represented in the TSKJ consortium.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=corpgovactivist+tskj

The DOJ/FBI and SEC soundboard with their counterparts overseas, and the OCC and other banking regulators are looking into the Bushy Banks that funneled the bribes (not just in Nigeria, but to Dubai and elsewhere).

It's massive.

[NMDemDist2]

51. lurker here, but wanted to share this Democracy Now! interview with Thomas GEOGHEGAN

it made so much sense when I heard it yesterday

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/24/thomas_geoghegan_on_infinite_debt_how

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. OK, how did we get here? Or how did they get us in this mess?

THOMAS GEOGHEGAN: In the article, I talk—that appeared in Harper’s, I’ve talked about the fact that we’ve not focused enough on the big deregulation that precedes all other deregulations, and that’s the ceiling that has existed on the financial sector since time immemorial on the amount of interest that banks can get from their clients, their customers, their depositors. Historically, and even up through movies like It’s a Wonderful Life with Frank Capra and Mr. Potter and George Bailey, the interest rates in this country were capped at eight percent, nine percent. In the 1970s, we began to deregulate this, and then we had a massive big bang with a Supreme Court case that effectively knocked out all the interest rate caps. And we have today, taken as common, that banks can charge 17, 18, 19, 30, 35 percent, not to mention payday lenders charging 200, 300, 400 percent in states like Illinois, California —

AMY GOODMAN: Tom Geoghegan, let’s go back to that 1978 case, Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha Service Corp. Explain the significance of it. What was it?
THOMAS GEOGHEGAN: Sure, that’s the Brown versus Board of Deregulation for the financial sector. The case—Justice Brennan, of all people, opinion said that banks that operate—out-of-state banks that were subject to the National Banking Act of 1864, signed by President Lincoln in the middle of the Wilderness Campaign, effectively preempted any state regulation capping the interest rates of those banks when they sent their credit cards in from out of state. Now, back in 1864, banks in Delaware weren’t operating out in Nebraska or handing out credit cards across the country, and there was no such thing as Visa or MasterCard.

The effect of this was that the big national banks were not subject to any state usury law, because the Banking Act of 1864 had no interest rate cap on it, not contemplating the kind of situation that we’re in today. And in effect, this sealed what had been a trend throughout the country, which is lifting these interest rate caps for banks and giving consumers easy credit on the premise that they would just pay tons and tons of interest so that the banks were protected if the loan weren’t repaid. In fact, the banks had incentive to hand out credit cards and hope that the loans would not be repaid, because the interest rates on these credit cards were so high.

You know, if you are Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life and can only get six percent, seven percent on your loan, you want the loan to be repaid. Moral character is important. You want to scrutinize everybody very carefully. But if you’re able to charge 30 percent or, in a payday lender case, 200 or 300 percent, you don’t care so much if the loan—in fact, you actually want the loan not to be repaid. You want people to go into debt. You want to accumulate this interest. And this addicted the financial sector to very, very, very high rates of return compared to what investors were used to getting in the real economy, the manufacturing sector, General Motors, which would give piddling five, six, seven percent returns.

So the capital in this country began to shift in the financial sector. That’s why the financial sector began to bloat up. That’s why we ended up, by 2006, having a third of all profits going into the banks and the financial firms and not into the real economy.

more at link above.......

[Roland99]

56. Martin Sheen as Carl Fox in 1987's Wall Street....

Carl Fox: "Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others."

[upi402]

60. The U.N. panel meets in Luxembourg March 25 to ditch US Dollar

crickets...

WTF?

[Ghost Dog]

70. Geithner says dollar to be reserve currency for long time

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday the U.S. dollar is still the world's reserve currency and will remain so for a long time, though he also expressed openess to expanded use of an IMF currency basket.

Geithner, when asked during an audience question-and-answer period following a speech in New York, whether he foresaw a change in the dollar's global role, he said, "No, I do not."

"The dollar remains the world's dominant reserve currency and I think that's likely to continue for a long period of time."

He also said, "as a country, we will do what's necessary to make sure we're sustaining confidence in our financial markets and in this economy's long-term fundamentals."

The comments came shortly after Geithner, in response to another question, said he was "quite open" to a recent Chinese suggestion to move toward greater use of a IMF-created global currency basket comprising dollar, euros, sterling and yen.

/... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Geithner-says-dollar-to-be-rb-14740779.html

Dollar trades at session low vs euro on Geithner comments

Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:07am EDT NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar fell to a session low against the euro on Wendesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he was "quite open" to China's suggestion of moving toward SDR-linked currency system.

Geithner was speaking before the Council of Foreign Relations in New York.

The euro was last up 1.2 percent against the dollar at $1.3632 <EUR=> after going as high as $1.3649. It was trading at around $1.3495 when Geithner began speaking.

/. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2540912120090325?rpc=44

Sterling jumps vs tumbling dlr on Geithner comment

Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:10am EDT LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Sterling jumped more than a cent against a sharply falling dollar on Wednesday, with the U.S. currency winded after U.S. Treasury Sectrary Timothy Geithner said he was "quite open" to China's suggestion of moving toward SDR-linked currency system.

By 1408 GMT, the pound had jumped to a session high of $1.4725 <GBP=>.

"The market is purely reacting to the Geithner comments and it's taken out a whole load of stops (in euro/dollar and cable)," a London-based trader said."With a comment like that people just cut all their positions."

/. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINLP95212320090325?rpc=44

(Just a brief spasm, though, it appears from the charts above...

or not... Hang on... Pesky Swiss Franc just won't stop rising, but Sterling still weak...)
____

Hmmm. Maybe this didn't (or did) help:

UK's Brown says world has reserves to beat crisis

Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:03pm EDT NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - The world has more than enough reserves to restore financial stability, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, but a means needs to be found to unlock the funds and reassure reserves-rich nations.

Speaking on the second leg of a three-continent tour to drum up support for the G20 summit in London next week, Brown said countries with high reserves, such as China, needed some form of insurance policy to protect them while encouraging them to lend.

"We've got 7 trillion (dollars) of reserves around the world. Probably for the sake of financial stability you need maybe only half of these reserves. The rest can actually be far more effective in being used to get growth into your economies," Brown told an audience at the Wall Street Journal in New York.

"If we could find an insurance policy which guaranteed for these countries action in the event of their currency being in difficulty, that in my view would satisfy half the problem that is being raised by China and Russia."

Brown did not offer more details on any such programme or insurance policy, but said such a scheme could be managed by the International Monetary Fund.

/.. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINLP66253420090325?rpc=44

[Ghost Dog]

91. Volcker says Chinese SDR idea not practical

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Senior Obama adviser Paul Volcker said on Wednesday a Chinese suggestion to move toward a world currency system linked to the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights was not practical.

"I understand restiveness about the lopsided nature of the present international monetary system that's so dependent on the dollar," Volcker said at a panel with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at New York University.

But Volcker said when China questioned the dollar's role as the world reserve currency, "They ignore the fact that they didn't have to buy those dollars in the first place, so they contributed to the problem."

Volcker said he thought the issue of the role of the dollar "should receive more attention in the next year or two than it has in the last decade or so."

"But the ambition of ... a brand new international monetary system where the role of the dollar will be suddenly devalued, I don't think it's practical. That would only happen in the case of a collapse of the system that nobody wants to see."

/.. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2530926020090325?rpc=44

Huh? Say again?

[Hugin]

65. Great find!

"And this addicted the financial sector to very, very, very high rates of return compared to what investors were used to getting in the real economy, the manufacturing sector, General Motors, which would give piddling five, six, seven percent returns."

Yep, there's the lure to Predatory Lending.

[KoKo]

53. Geneva Bankers Have a Word for Brown’s Tax Attacks: Hypocrisy (Offshore Tax Havens)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a23vPWrCK0_A&refer=exclusive#

By Simon Clark and Elena Logutenkova

March 25 (Bloomberg) -- In yet another sign that financial centers are losing each other’s confidence, Geneva bankers are insisting that Gordon Brown, the champion of deregulated markets in London and the British Isles, favors tax cheats at least as much as he says they do.

The British prime minister is calling for curbs on tax evasion and bank secrecy ahead of next week’s Group of 20 summit at the ExCel conference center in the docks near Canary Wharf.

“How much safer would everybody’s savings be if the whole world finally came together to outlaw shadow banking systems and offshore tax havens?” Brown asked in a March 4 speech to U.S. Congress on a visit to Washington.

While financial services in places like Switzerland are under scrutiny, Britain has a network of semi-autonomous financial centers with little or no taxes. That puts Brown in no position to campaign on tax and secrecy, said Pierre Mirabaud, chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association in Geneva.

“I would define Mr. Brown and the British government’s position as full of hypocrisy,” Mirabaud, who’s also senior partner of Mirabaud & Cie, a 200-year-old private bank in the Swiss city, said in an interview. “At the end of the day, we are engaged in an economic war for market share.”

Guernsey’s private equity firms, Jersey’s securitization vehicles, the Cayman Islands’ hedge funds, Bermuda’s insurers, and the British Virgin Islands’ holding companies are all incorporated on sovereign British ground.

Meeting Standards

The U.K., the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Dublin held a combined 24 percent of offshore private banking assets in 2007, or $1.7 trillion, second after Switzerland’s 27 percent share, or $2 trillion, according to Boston Consulting Group.

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be among leaders at the G-20 summit. Brown wants to reach an agreement on new global rules for tax havens, including the British islands. “These dependent territories have got to meet our standards,” Brown told the U.K. Parliament on March 23.

Michael Ellam, Brown’s spokesman, said the government is conducting a “serious and constructive” review of British tax havens.

Brown welcomed Switzerland’s decision on March 13 to renegotiate international tax agreements by saying the move may mark “the beginning of the end of tax havens.”

Bankers in Geneva say Brown, 58, should focus on his home market, rather than on Switzerland. They also question whether their country, which is outside the G-20, will be treated fairly.

Brown’s Havens

“Gordon Brown must know much more about tax havens than we do because he’s got a lot of tax havens around Britain,” said Michel Derobert, secretary general of the Swiss Private Bankers Association, a Geneva group for bankers who cater to millionaires. “I’m not sure that G-20 is going to be as tough with its own members as they are with the countries outside the room.”

Economy Minister Doris Leuthard is also concerned the Swiss financial industry, which accounts for about 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, will suffer a disadvantage.

“If we’re making concessions in administrative assistance, countries like the U.K. and the U.S. have to follow,” she said in a March 20 interview with Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung. “We won’t accept hypocrisy from other nations.”

Non-profit organizations and labor unions in the U.K. have long criticized the country’s offshore financial centers. The Trades Union Congress in London estimates tax havens cost the country 4 billion pounds ($5.9 billion) of lost taxes each year.

Threatened Regulation

“They undermine regulation and they enable secrecy on a massive scale,” said John Christensen, director of Tax Justice Network and a former adviser to Jersey. “At this stage, we don’t see the substance behind Gordon Brown’s rhetoric.”

Michael Foot, a former official at the Bank of England and the Central Bank of the Bahamas, is leading the U.K. review of nine financial centers. Foot, who can’t challenge the islands’ freedom to set tax rates, said he will publish an interim report by April 22.

Politicians on Britain’s offshore centers said they channel billions of pounds into London’s financial district.

“We are vitally important feeders into the United Kingdom,” Allan Bell, the Isle of Man’s finance minister, said in a January interview.

Jersey, located off France’s northern coast, is home to Granite Finance Trustees Ltd., through which U.K. mortgage lender Northern Rock Plc parceled home loans and sold notes to investors before the bank was nationalized. A unit of New York’s KKR & Co. is among private equity funds incorporated on Guernsey, an adjacent island in the Channel.

Cayman Companies

Cayman had 9,870 funds as of December. It’s also home to Ugland House, where 18,857 shell companies were registered as of last year. Bermuda had 1,481 insurers as of 2007. In 2003, British lawmakers criticized the Inland Revenue, the country’s tax collector, for selling government buildings to a Bermuda company that paid no U.K. tax.

-snip-

A global tax truce is possible, said Jean-Pierre Cuoni, chairman of Zurich-based private bank EFG International.

“If we have the same conditions more or less all over the world, then there is no exodus of funds from one place to the other,” he said.

Mirabaud is skeptical Brown can achieve that.

“The British government does everything to align itself in the international debate with those calling for reform of the financial system,” he said. “At the same time, it acts to protect itself from criticism.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a23vPWrCK0_A&refer=exclusive#

[MattSh]

61. Too bad the article doesn't elaborate about the USA.

“If we’re making concessions in administrative assistance, countries like the U.K. and the U.S. have to follow,” she said in a March 20 interview with Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung. “We won’t accept hypocrisy from other nations.”

Yep, the USA is the world's biggest tax haven. As long as you don't live, and are not a citizen or resident alien.

[Ghost Dog]

81. Looks like Omertà, doesn't it. n/t

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omert%C3%A0

[antigop]

63. Summers to brief guests at 5,000-a-head WSJ conference

http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0309/Summers_to_Brief_Guests_at_5000ahead_Conference.html

National Economic Adviser Larry Summers conducted a private briefing at the White House Tuesday afternoon for about 100 financial industry executives attending a $5,000-a-head conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal.

Organizers said the Summers session is off-the-record, though some from the Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones, are expected to be present.

The White House said the event is considered "closed press" and one in a series of briefings by administration officials. This session has been planned for some time. The list of participants suggests that the administration's new plan for a public-private partnership to buy banks' toxic assets was likely to be discussed.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke to the two-day Future of Finance Initiative conference on Monday night, but that session, like others held at a Washington hotel, was open to press coverage. Reporters from various news organizations were also allowed in Tuesday as attendees heard from Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), and former Federal Reserve chairman and current Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board chairman, Paul Volcker.

Conference attendees were taken on buses from the Park Hyatt hotel in Northwest Washington to the White House for the briefing.

Sirota's commentary:
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=12453

[antigop]

64. Morgan Stanley to pay $7.2 million for duping retirees

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/25/retirement/retirees_fine.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009032512

Morgan Stanley will pay more than $7.2 million to settle regulatory charges its brokers induced dozens of workers at Eastman Kodak Co. and Xerox Corp. to retire early and open accounts that cost them much of their wealth.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said the penalty includes a $3 million fine and more than $4.2 million of restitution.

The regulator also permanently barred former Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) broker Michael Kazacos from the securities industry, charged another former broker David Isabella with misconduct, and suspended their manager Ira Miller from acting as a principal for one year. Miller was also fined $50,000. All three worked in a Morgan Stanley branch office in Rochester, New York.

FINRA accused the brokers of promising Kodak (EK, Fortune 500) and Xerox (XRX, Fortune 500) employees they could earn returns of 10% or more each year, and that they could withdraw money for living expenses without reducing principal.

In fact, the regulator said at least 184 customers suffered "financial hardships" such as market losses, reduced principal and an inability to withdraw as much as they expected.

[specimenfred1984]

66. New restaurant chain idea: large breasted nubiles with keyboard implants

I'll call it "Titter Twitter". We'll serve Titter Twitter platters to only those who matter.

No, I'm not losing it, I'm just trying to find an idea dumb enough and bigoted enough to make it in today's pure BS world.

[specimenfred1984]

69. OK investors/players, it's too late, I already outsourced the entire operation

You had your opportunity to get in on this ground-breaking mega plan but now it's a lot cheaper/profitable for me to set it up in a communist/slave labor country. I know, I'm an investment genius!

[specimenfred1984]

72. Oops, outsourcing not profitable and I need a bailout

I'm too big to fail now so it'll be up to you suckers/taxpayers to foot the bill. I employ silicon-implanted keyboard boobie waitresses in 72 countries, we'd have a 1930's-style global financial meltdown if I'm not bailed out!

[AnneD]

78. You will just have to.......

pull yourself up by your own bra straps bucko!!!!No free lunch here-LaLeche is suing your ass(ets).

edited to add is that real milk or Chinese milk??????:hide:

[specimenfred1984]

80. Nope, the plan is huge bonuses to retain talent

and buyouts of smaller foreign firms using your money.

[Dr.Phool]

92. OK, meet me at Hooters to pick up your check.

You don't mind if it's written on a Nigerian Bank, do you? If so, I have another account at Lehman Bros.

[AnneD]

108. Snarky....

at least you guys won't have to wash the hot wing sauce off your faces. The drool will take care of that-have another paper towel. :eyes:

When are we going to get the guy candy??????? :spray:

[specimenfred1984]

111. OK, I resigned and am writing nasty letter to be published in NYTimes

It'll talk about how great I am, how I deserve millions and none of the crimes committed along the way by my company were my fault.

[AnneD]

117. Why do I find myself suddenly humming....

Born Free. Now I have that ear worm!

I think the entire operation was a Ponze operation with improperly inflated profits.

[Tansy_Gold]

121. Are you suggesting that guy in the NYT wasn't sincere?

:sarcasm:

[Dr.Phool]

125. That would be me- If you leave your glasses at home.

And I wear a bag.

[AnneD]

67. Fight erupts over bankruptcy-credit card issue....

WASHINGTON — Republicans and the banking industry are railing against legislation being pushed by key Democratic lawmakers that would block credit card companies charging high interest rates from collecting from consumers in bankruptcy proceedings.

The proposal would change bankruptcy laws to dissolve claims for repayment of debt carrying interest over a certain level, now 18.5 percent. It could affect millions of dollars in claims made by creditors from consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection.

“American consumers are relying more than ever on credit cards to make ends meet each month,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a sponsor of the bill, said Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing.

“At the same time, banks losing money in mortgages and their other areas of business are attempting to squeeze more and more profit out of their credit card customers.”

more....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6339131.html

Time to dust off the usuary law. Or maybe declare a jubilee year-something the conservative religious right could agree too.:spray:

[tclambert]

107. But it applies to bankruptcy cases only?

We need a national usury law. I can remember when states could have such things and credit cards couldn't charge more than 15% interest. If you wanted to charge 30%, you had to have leg-breakers on staff. Then the Supreme Court, the wisest court in the land, ruled the states had to respect the interest rate laws of the state in which the credit card company was incorporated (Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp., 1978). They all real quick incorporated in South Dakota or other states that had no limits.

It seemed like an obvious invitation to Congress to pass a federal law regulating this form of interstate commerce, but for 31 years, they've all given it a pass.

This is one that makes me mad. It is grossly unfair to the little mom-and-pop loansharking operations.

[AnneD]

68. Texas Crop Report

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M Agrilife Extension regional crop reports for March 25:

CENTRAL: Pastures and small grains greatly benefited from last week's rain, but some counties remained extremely dry. Supplemental feeding of livestock continued. Stock tanks remained low. Warm days and nights caused some corn to emerge. Farmers were trying to plant remaining milo acreage.

COASTAL BEND: A small amount of rain fell over a three-day period. More rain was needed to replenish deep soil moisture. Planting was limited with some producers dry-planting to meet deadlines. Ranchers either continued to feed remaining livestock or sell off herds as grazing was virtually nonexistent.

EAST: The region received between 2.5 and 6.5 inches of rain. Despite the recent rains, Newton County reported several wildfires. Cattle were in fair to good condition with supplemental feeding. There was an increase in reports of damage from beaver and feral hog activity. Spring planting and soil testing continued. Dairy prices continued to drop and feed prices remained high, causing more concern among producers.

FAR WEST: With the exception of Terrell County, which received more than 2 inches, there was no rainfall reported in the region. Land for chiles and cotton was about 50 percent pre-irrigated. Fall-planted onions were growing well. Pecans remained dormant. Alfalfa came out of dormancy and was slowly growing. Planting of spring wheat was completed with about 95 percent of the crop emerged. Irrigated wheat looked good.

more....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6340617.html

Things looked good coming back from my brother's due to some nice showers earlier but we are in a drought and we could be hurting soon.

[54anickel]

71. Feeling nostalgic? NYTimes Dec 7, 1922

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E07E3D91E3FE432A25754C0A9649D946395D6CF

TOPICS IN WALL STREET.; Sudden Upturn to Stock Prices. The Treasury's New Financing. Run-Up" in the Motor Stocks. Manhattan Railway Dividend. Wall Street and the Exchange Market. Railway Earnings in October. Great Northern Meeting Dec. 18.

December 7, 1922, Thursday

Section: Business & Finance, Page 28, 1152 words

Following irregular movement of prices during the early dealings yesterday, the stock market shortly after noon suddenly started upward; numerous very substantial gains were reported at the close compared with the final levels of Tuesday.

more...



Came across that while digging for those early meetings between Treasury and Wall Street. Haven't found exactly what I was looking for yet. The article below is beginning to shake the cob webs loose though. Remember the Master-Liquidity Enhancement Conduit (M-LEC) fund the banks were bantering about to help cover the Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs)?

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSSP20704820071014

Treasury officials seek to help battered SIVs
Sat Oct 13, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Treasury officials are looking into ways to help investment vehicles called SIVs that have been battered by this summer's credit crisis, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Big banks, including Citigroup Inc (C.N), are discussing a plan to pool together and financially back as much as $100 billion in these investments, which include mortgage securities, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site.

Treasury representatives met about two weeks ago with sponsors of these vehicles, Wall Street banks and investors to discuss "how to alleviate some of the issues in the SIV market," one source informed of the meeting by participants said.

SIVs are investment vehicles that raise cash by issuing short-term debt called commercial paper and use the proceeds to buy higher-yielding securities, often tied to U.S. mortgages. The vehicles, often set up by banks, make money by pocketing the difference between their funding costs and investment returns.

One plan that was discussed at the meeting involved setting up a "super fund" where "each SIV in the market could pledge up to one-third of its assets and get financing," the source said.

A government source also confirmed that there is a Treasury initiative to ease funding costs in the SIV market.

more...



http://www.doomers.us/forum2/index.php/topic,8038.0/topicseen.html
OCTOBER 13, 2007 Big Banks Push $100 Billion Plan To Avert Crunch

In a far-reaching response to the global credit crisis, Citigroup Inc. and other big banks are discussing a plan to pool together and financially back as much as $100 billion in shaky mortgage securities and other investments.

The banks met three weeks ago in Washington at the Treasury Department, which convened the talks and is playing a central advisory role, people familiar with the situation said. The meeting was hosted by Treasury’s undersecretary for domestic finance, Robert Steel, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. official and the top domestic finance adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The Federal Reserve has been kept informed but has left the active role to the Treasury.

The new fund is designed to stave off what Citigroup and others see as a threat to the financial markets world-wide: the danger that dozens of huge bank-affiliated funds will be forced to unload billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities and other assets, driving down their prices in a fire sale. That could force big write-offs by banks, brokerages and hedge funds that own similar investments and would have to mark them down to the new, lower market prices.

The ultimate fear: If banks need to write down more assets or are forced to take assets onto their books, that could set off a broader credit crunch and hurt the economy. It could make it tough for homeowners and businesses to get loans. Efforts so far by central banks to alleviate the credit crunch that has been roiling markets since the summer haven’t fully calmed investors, leading to the extraordinary move to bring together the banks.

In recent weeks, investors have grown concerned about the size of bank-affiliated funds that have invested huge sums in securities tied to shaky U.S. subprime mortgages and other assets. Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank by market value, has drawn special scrutiny because it is the largest player in this market.

Citigroup has nearly $100 billion in seven affiliated structured investment vehicles, or SIVs. Globally, SIVs had $400 billion in assets as of Aug. 28, according to Moody’s.

more...

[AnneD]

73. I know this may be a lagging indicator.....

Port firm: Trade down broadly, no sign of recovery

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Cargo handler DP World warned Wednesday it sees no end to a shipping slowdown that has left some of its ports struggling with a double-digit drop in business because of evaporating global trade.

The CEO of the Dubai-based company, one of the world's biggest port operators, said market conditions are changing on an almost daily basis, making it impossible to predict how badly the global shipping business might suffer this year.

"Volumes are just disappearing," Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf said in a round-table with reporters. "It's not that we are losing our business to our competition. ... It's just not there. It's gone."

DP World said trade at its ports tumbled 8 percent during the first two months of the year, extending a slide that began in late 2008. The falloff "shows little sign of easing in the foreseeable future," Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said in a statement.

DP World's biggest operations are on the Persian Gulf in Dubai, but its reach across 31 countries on six continents makes it an important barometer of global trade. It operates 49 cargo terminals and is developing 12 more worldwide.

more....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6340255.html

Still want to bet on a recovery time...

[AnneD]

74. EU presidency: US economic plans 'a road to hell'

STRASBOURG, France — The president of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plans to have the U.S. spend its way out of recession as "a road to hell," underscoring European differences with Washington ahead of a crucial summit next week on fixing the world economy.

Other European politicians kept their distance from the blunt remarks by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his strong language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the U.S.

Topolanek, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told the European Parliament on Wednesday that Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market."

European governments, led by France and Germany, say the focus should be on tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. is pushing for larger economic stimulus plans — but nobody has so far escalated the rhetoric to such strident levels.

Topolanek's remarks are the strongest criticism so far from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc sticks to its position that its member countries are already spending enough to stimulate demand.

more......
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6340703.html

reads like a bed room score card....easy to tell who is sleeping with whom, who is getting a blow job, and who is just plain fucked:rofl:

[Kolesar]

82. Topolanek spoke the day after he was ousted by his own parliament.

European governments have a requirement to control their national debt as a requisite for staying in the EU.

... The Czech Republic currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency but its leadership is in question, with Topolanek hanging on to a caretaker government at home after losing a "no confidence" Tuesday.
...
Analyst Nicolas Veron, a research fellow at the Bruegel think tank, said Topolanek's view is not widely shared by EU leaders.

"I don't think the damage can be as large as the very strong wording of this would lead one to think," he said. "Many people have doubts about the U.S. plan but what he said is much stronger."

Veron said European leaders worry that the U.S. plan may not work or could cost taxpayers heavily — but he did not doubt the U.S.' "fiscal robustness" or that it still had extra room to maneuver to stoke economic growth.

Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European parliament, immediately chided Topolanek, saying his comments were "not the level on which the EU ought to be operating with the United States."

"You have not understood what the task of the EU presidency is," he told the Czech premier.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said it was "not helpful ... to try to suggest that Americans and Europeans are coming with very different approaches to the crisis."

"On the contrary, what we are seeing is increased convergence," he told the parliament.

[UpInArms]

79. dollar watch (better late than never?)

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 83.691 Change -0.440 (-0.57%)

Greenback Whipsawed on Geithner Comments

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/dailyfx_reports/daily_forecasts/Greenback_Whipsawed_on_Geithner_Comments_1237993027744.html

It has been a wild morning of trade in the US with the majority of the whipsaw price action resulting from comments from Treasury Secretary Geithner who initially sent the USD into a tailspin after saying that he was “quite open” to China’s suggestion of moving to an SDR-linked currency system. However, minutes later Geithner was quick to mitigate impact from the comments after reaffirming the USDs place as the world’s reserve currency for a long time to come. The morning event risk has also no doubt impacted on the broader markets with much stronger than expected US durable goods orders and new home sales data bolstering global equity prices and higher yielding currencies. The ongoing debate between the US and the Eurozone seems to be escalating with the Czech EU President describing the US stimulus measures as a “way to hell.” However, UK PM Brown remains firmly in-line with the US approach and calls for a coordinated approach to fiscal and monetary policy while also saying that the UK will do “whatever it takes to restore growth.” Meanwhile, in Norway, the Norges Bank has caught many traders off guard after releasing an accompanying statement to their as expected 50bp cut to 2.00% that left the door open to further rate cuts back towards 1.00% over the coming months. Analysts had been looking for a signal of an end to the easing cycle. This has left the Nok as the weakest currency on the day down some 1.70% against the USD and -2.50% against the Euro. All major US equity indices are up some 2.00% on the day thus far.

...more...

EUR/USD: Trading the U.S. 4Q GDP Report

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio1/EUR_USD__Trading_the_U_S__4Q_1237986962523.html

Trading the News: U.S. Gross Domestic Product (Annualized)

What’s Expected

Time of release: 03/26/2009 12:30 GMT, 08:30 EST
Primary Pair Impact : EURUSD

Expected: -6.6%
Previous: -6.2%



3Q 2008 U.S. Gross Domestic Product

The final GDP reading for the U.S. showed that the economy contracted 0.5% in the fourth quarter, which was the biggest drop in growth since 2001, and conditions are likely to get worse as economists expect the world’s largest economy to face its worst recession in over a quarter century. The breakdown of the report showed that personal consumption plunged 3.8% from the previous quarter to mark the biggest decline since 1980, and the outlook for private-spending remains bleak households face a weakening labor market paired with falling home prices. Mounting growth fears paired with increased turmoil in the banking sector led the Federal Reserve to lower the benchmark interest to a record low of 0-0.25% earlier this month, and the central bank is expected to hold borrowing costs near zero for sometime as policy makers employ all of their available tools in an effort to steer the economy out of a deepening recession.

...more...

[antigop]

83. IBM set to cut more U.S. jobs (many jobs transferred to India)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123799610031239341.html

International Business Machines Corp. is expected to inform a large number of U.S. employees in its global-business services unit that their jobs are being eliminated, with the work of many of them being transferred to IBM employees in India, according to people familiar with the situation.

[Demeter]

86. Tone Deaf?

Lord, what fools these mortals be.

[tclambert]

99. IBM was profitable last quarter, weren't they?

The Republicans told me when companies make money, they don't lay off, they hire. If that's wrong, why then, trickle down economics would be all wrong. And that would mean Ronald Reagan made a mista--no, no, no, that can't be!

[Demeter]

85. Update on the Dad Report

Sis has been policing Dad, and with regular food, medicine, and doctor visits, he is feeling and looking better. His vision in the left eye is still affected--brain lag, Sis says.

We are negotiating a way to get him support. I might end up living a snowbird's life, going down there for the winter, dragging him back here for summer. The Kid finishes school this June, and the paper route dies a dog's death in the same month, and God knows there are plenty of houses going cheap locally, so perhaps something can be arranged to the satisfaction of all.

I really didn't want to throw papers through another winter. Still, it would have been nice to have some choice with the timing.

It's rather like a sign, isn't it? Sigh. I'm tired of signs.

[antigop]

87. Take care, Demeter. Hope things work out.... n/t

[Demeter]

89. Thanks!

Something will turn up (a misplaced, overdue bill, no doubt).

[Tansy_Gold]

90. Snowbird down where?

PM me if it's AZ

[Demeter]

112. Virginia--Just Outside DC

The temptation to go in guerrilla mode would be strong....

[Dr.Phool]

96. Or me if it's in Florida.

I'm glad he's showing improvement.

My dad is flying down tomorrow, to look at some of the places he decided not to move into. Hopefully I can talk some sense into him.

If it's down here, you'll appreciate the winters. And the St. Pete Times is always advertising for paper throwers.

[ozymandius]

113. It pains me to see anyone who goes through these troubles - parenting your parent.

My hopeful wishes for a smooth resolution go with you. :hug:

[antigop]

93. Oh, this is rich! House Republicans Promote Solutions to Rebuild American's Savings

http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=115813

Rep. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) on Fox Business – “Leader Boehner has put together a task force to look at 401(k)s and retirement and some of the things we can do to help seniors and people across the board and those who have equities, which is the majority of people across the board now, that have lost a lot in the past year or two… We would give people a longer time and a chance to put more money over the next three years into their IRAs or 401(k)s to give them a better chance to average cost the investments that they’ve been making.”

[KoKo]

94. Words can not describe....the smoke comes outta my ears...

reading this...

[Dr.Phool]

97. It's really simple! Lose all your savings? Save more!

[antigop]

101. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS???? n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

98. does he have a single functioning brain cell?

Even one????

oh my fucking god.

Steaming mad? You bet!

[tclambert]

100. Details of Boehner's plan:

(Is that his real name? The kids on the playground must have loved that.)

1) They light you on fire.
2) Let you burn for 8 years.
3) Offer you some lemonade.

Well, they offer you a lemonade kit. Supply your own lemons.

[Tansy_Gold]

102. Edited to add:

Lemonade Kit -

Comes with everything you need
Just add lemons, glass, water, sugar.





TG

[nc4bo]

106. Some "kit". They really do have no idea do they? Why does Obama even bother asking them

for their input?

[DemReadingDU]

127. it's pronounced Bae-ner

He's the Rep in the district next to mine. He's usually referred to as Bo-ner

[nc4bo]

104. huh?

I don't get it(seriously, I don't get it). Is anyone supposed to get it? It is a joke, right?

Crazy.

[Demeter]

114. The Joke Is On the American Average Citizen

a real thigh slapper, innit?

[hugo_from_TN]

118. Not sure why this is so bad.

Certainly it isn't a big help, but all it is doing is allowing people to put more pre-tax money into their IRA than they would have been able to under current law. People can do that if they wish, or not do it if they don't want to. If you're still working and can afford to put more in, why not? The alternative is that the money gets taxed and you end up with less.

[Dr.Phool]

119. Or Wall Street can steal that too.

[hugo_from_TN]

124. You can just put it in cash or a MM.

[ozymandius]

122. This makes no damn sense.

Wha...? “Buck” McKeon needs to brush up on his language skills.

[tclambert]

103. Does anybody watch the stock market any more?

Closed up about 1% after gaining for a while, then losing for a while. There were a few pieces of good news in durable goods and housing. But right after those reports came out, the market went down. The move back into positive territory came considerably later. The financial press looks especially silly trying to rationalize today's fluctuations.

----

"EW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose in a late rally on Wednesday as upbeat housing and durable goods data fueled hopes that the toll taken by the recession may be abating, more than offsetting concerns the United States may struggle to fund plans to pull the economy out of recession. Durable goods orders, home sales rebound in February. Poor bond auction hits sentiment.

----

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street has managed a moderate gain after an attack of nerves had investors giving back a big early advance and then barreling back into the market right before the close.

Trading was extremely erratic -- the Dow Jones industrials rose as much as 203 points in early trading in response to upbeat economic data, then fell nearly 110 during the afternoon before closing up 90. Analysts said weak demand during an auction of government debt stirred up worries about how easily Washington will be able to raise money to fund its economic rescue program. The fear in the market is that the government might not be able to easily raise the hundreds of billions of dollars it needs.

The day shows how fragile Wall Street remains despite a two-week rally that saw the Dow regain more than 1,000 points. The market was pulled in different by opposing forces Wednesday that led to choppy trading -- which may well be the pattern for stocks going forward.

"There was a mix of good and bad news and at the end of the day the good news won out," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones. "It's a jumpy market."

[Tansy_Gold]

105. the what?

:evilgrin:

[Demeter]

115. SHHH!

Ozy is so depressed, he doesn't even put the thread to bed any more....Michigan is at 12% unemployment for February....12%! And that's the most optimistic number they can fudge.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

110. Is this what bottom looks like?

Only $3T.

:freak:

[Demeter]

116. If you can still see something, it isn't the bottom

It's dark as a coal mine at the bottom.

[ozymandius]

123. closing numbers and blather

DJIA 7,749.81 +89.84 +1.17%
Nasdaq 1,528.95 +12.43 +0.82%
S&P 500 813.88 +7.63 +0.95%
30-Year Bond 3.72% +0.11 +3.08%
10-Year Bond 2.77% +0.12 +4.45%

A batch of better-than-expected economic data induced broad-based buying for the first part of the session, but the upbeat tone fell apart as stocks pushed through intraday support levels and a Treasury auction produced disappointing results. However, an underlying bid emerged late in the session, setting off a rally in the last few minutes of trading.

The latest durable goods orders data and new home sales figures both turned out to be better than expected.

February durable goods orders increased 3.4%, marking the first time in six months that orders increased. Excluding transportation, orders increased 3.9%. Economists expected respective declines of 2.5% and 2.0%.

February new home sales increased 4.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 337,000. Economists predicted a 2.9% decline.

The upbeat data helped the financial sector build on early strength. Financials had climbed as high as 6.5%, led by diversified financial services stocks (+7.4%). Bank of America (BAC 7.70, +0.48) was a top performer after a report indicated the company plans to soon repay federal aid. Financials turned sharply lower amid a broad-based, afternoon selling effort, which took the sector to a loss of 2.5%, but financials rebounded to close with a 4.6% gain.

The afternoon's selling effort gained momentum after the S&P 500 failed to find support at the 818 level, which had provided intraday support in the early going. Selling intensified after weak demand for a government auction of 5-year Treasuries led to a jump in yields. The disappointing auction followed an auction of Gilts, or British debt securities, by the United Kingdom that failed to attract enough buyers.

The weak auctions suggest investor appetite for government debt carrying low interest rates is waning, which will bring future auctions into closer focus. As such, tomorrow's auction of 7-year notes now has a much higher level of importance.

Sellers took the stock market to a loss of 1.8%, but a late, broad-based rally effort helped stocks close the session with a solid gain. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed the other headline indices by closing 1.2% higher, but the Small-Cap Russell 2000 fared even better by putting together a 2.3% gain. The Nasdaq 100, which is rich in large-cap tech names, lagged by closing just 0.2% higher.

Tech giant IBM (IBM 97.89, -0.41) closed lower after an article from The Wall Street Journal stated the company is planning layoffs, despite its profile as a strong company. The announcement comes as a reminder that near-term economic prospects haven't improved materially.

On a related note, Automatic Data Processing (ADP 35.62, -0.81) lost ground after trimming its outlook. The company expects revenue for fiscal 2009 to grow from 1% to 2%, which is down from the prior range of 2% to 3%. The company also expects earnings growth from continuing operations to come in at the low end of the range 10% to 14%.

The final fourth quarter GDP reading is due tomorrow morning, as are weekly jobless claims (8:30 AM ET). Best Buy (BBY 33.46, +0.22), ConAgra (CAG 15.56, +0.14), and GameStop (GME 26.84, -0.21) also report before Thursday's opening bell.
..Nasdaq 100 +0.2%. ..S&P Midcap 400 +1.2%. ..Russell 2000 +2.3%.