STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday April 15

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday April 15, 2009

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

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 14, 2009

Dow... 7,920.18 -137.63 (-1.74%)
Nasdaq... 1,625.72 -27.59 (-1.67%)
S&P 500... 841.50 -17.23 (-2.01%)
Gold future... 892.00 -3.80 (-0.43%)
30-Year Bond 3.66% -0.03 (-0.81%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.79% -0.06 (-2.07%)

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

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

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Handy Links

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Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Market WrapUp

The Eye of the Storm
BY FRANK BARBERA, CMT

There are statistical ‘turns’ in the economy and then there is the ‘real deal.’ The “real deal” is defined by an actual improvement in the economy on Mainstreet in terms of material job creation, better wages, higher productivity, etc. None of that is likely to happen for some time as the US economy is undergoing what will be a structural change likely to last five years or more. Without a cleansing of the Banking system, ‘zombie banks’ will not be in lending mode, and without new lending, it is highly doubtful that a genuine recovery will appear on the horizon any time soon.

That said, there is now little doubt that a ‘headline’ recovery bounce is destined to appear in the months just ahead. In classic leading fashion, the rally in the US stock market seems to be discounting this event in advance. In this week's update, we spend some time with an overview of recent economic data and what some of the current data implies for the months just ahead. In my view, the Bottom Line strongly suggests that we will be treated to a period of five or six months wherein the economic headlines will improve. Yet, what most investors need to understand is that this type of ‘recovery’ is largely a statistical mirage caused by a rebuilding of the inventory cycle.

It is the economic equivalent of a stock market so called ‘dead cat’ bounce where after being sold down very hard, stocks have a natural tendency to move counter-trend for a period of time, retracing some of the period of lost ground. So too does the economy at times reach a point where it is hard for the data to remain so compressed, and for new data to deteriorate much further from where prior data left off. As a result, once economic data reaches major trend extremes, a bounce develops as the negative rate of change begins to naturally slow. Unfortunately, while this makes for uplifting short run headlines, that’s about all you end up with, as once the bounce phase is over, Phase II of the contraction can take control and pound things down to still lower lows. In my view, we are a long way from anywhere near convinced that any of the measures put forth in recent months will do anything to make the economy revert to a self reinforcing growth mode. In fact, the more we look at it, the more we are getting concerned that the interlude ahead may be most akin to the ‘eye of a hurricane,’ that relatively brief period of time in the middle of the storm where the sun comes out, and hope emerges that the worst is over. That is what we believe stands directly ahead, and we sincerely hope we are wrong.

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

[KoKo]

56. Interesting read of Barbera today....

"eye of the storm." Beware the CNBC blatherers and the rest..with those inventory numbers.

[Demeter]

58. "The farmers say, I don't know why, that we will have a warm July"

You don't need a weatherman to know this storm hasn't begun to blow yet.

[Demeter]

59. Speaking of the Weather, that November that was on backorder has arrived

April showers, my aunt fanny!

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Avalanche of Reports

08:30 Core CPI Mar
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.2%

08:30 CPI Mar
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.4%

08:30 Empire Manufacturing Apr
Briefing.com -36.0
Consensus -35.0
Prior -38.2

09:00 Net Long-Term TIC Flows Feb
Briefing.com NA
Consensus $10.0B
Prior -$43.0B

09:15 Capacity Utilization Mar
Briefing.com 69.7%
Consensus 69.6%
Prior 70.9%

09:15 Industrial Production Mar
Briefing.com -0.9%
Consensus -0.9%
Prior -1.4%

10:30 Crude Inventories 04/10
Briefing.com NA
Consensus NA
Prior +1645K

14:00 Fed's Beige Book

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

[UpInArms]

52. April Empire State index @ -14.7 - March core CPI up 0.2% - March CPI down 0.1%

06. U.S April Empire State index rises to -14.7
8:32 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

08. U.S. March CPI down 0.1%, matching expectations
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

09. U.S. March core CPI up 0.2% vs. 0.1% expected
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

10. U.S. CPI down 0.4% in past year, core CPI up 1.8%
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

16. U.S. March real weekly earnings unchanged
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

17. U.S. March energy prices down 3%
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

18. U.S. March shelter prices unchanged
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

19. U.S. March food prices fall 0.1%
8:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

[UpInArms]

66. U.S. factory output down 15.7% in recession, 63-year low

08. U.S. factory output down 15.7% in recession, 63-year low
9:22 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

09. U.S. March industrial production down 1.5% vs -0.8% expected
9:15 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

10. U.S. March factory production down 1.7%
9:15 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

16. U.S. March capacity utilization falls to record low 69.3%
9:15 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

17. U.S. output down 13.3% in recession, most since WWII
9:15 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

[UpInArms]

87. Petroleum Inventories Report - crude inventories rise 5.6 million barrels

02. U.S. distillate inventories fall by 1.2 million barrels
10:32 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

03. Crude inventories rise much more than expected
10:31 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

05. U.S. gasoline inventories fall 900,000 barrels last week
10:31 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

06. U.S. crude inventories rise 5.6 million barrels last week
10:30 AM ET, Apr 15, 2009

[UpInArms]

94. U.S. April home builders' index jumps to 14 from 9

01. U.S. April home builders' index jumps to 14 from 9
1:00 PM ET, Apr 15, 2009

02. U.S. April NAHB index highest since October
1:00 PM ET, Apr 15, 2009

[ozymandius]

3. Oil prices rise above $50 despite demand concerns

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $50 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as investors shrugged off an unexpected drop in U.S. retail sales last month that suggested crude demand could remain weak amid a severe recession.

Benchmark crude for May delivery rose 89 cents to $50.29 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after hovering around $49 for most of the day. The contract on Tuesday fell 64 cents to settle at $49.41.

A rally that lifted prices from below $35 in February has stalled in the last couple weeks near $50 as investors look for signs of how long and deep the worst global slowdown in decades will be.

....

Traders also are focused on weekly petroleum inventory data that the Energy Information Agency will release Wednesday. Analysts expect a build of 2.5 million barrels in crude stocks, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Crude stocks already are at 16-year highs.

....

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for May delivery fell 0.41 cent to $1.45 a gallon and heating oil dropped 0.78 cent to $1.39 a gallon. Natural gas for May delivery was steady at $3.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[Demeter]

4. If You're Going to Post Scary Pictures Like That, I'm Staying In Bed

Morning, Ozy!


Business
Cost Of Living Now Outweighs Benefits

WASHINGTON, DC—A report released Monday by the Federal Consumer Quality-Of-Life Control Board indicates that the cost of living now outstrips life's benefits for many Americans.

"This is sobering news," said study director Jack Farness. "For the first time, we have statistical evidence of what we've suspected for the past 40 years: Life really isn't worth living."

To arrive at their conclusions, study directors first identified the average yearly costs and benefits of life. Tangible benefits such as median income ($43,000) were weighed against such tangible costs as home-ownership ($18,000). Next, scientists assigned a financial value to intangibles such as finding inner peace ($15,000), establishing emotional closeness with family members ($3,000), and brief moments of joy ($5 each). Taken together, the study results indicate that "it is unwise to go on living."

"Since 1965, the cost-benefit ratio of American life has been approaching parity," Farness said. "While figures prior to that date show that life was worth living, there is some suspicion that the benefits cited were superficial and misreported."

Analyzed separately and as one, both the tangible and intangible factors suggest that life is a losing investment.

"Rising energy costs, increased prices on everyday goods and services, and the decreased value of the dollar have combined to drive the cost of living in this country to an all-time high," Farness said. "At the same time, an ever-increasing need for additional emotional-energy output, low rates of interest in one another, and the decreasing value of ourselves all greatly exceed our fleeting epiphanies."

Experts nationwide have corroborated the report's findings.

Gulfport, MS resident Stan Holiday weighs the cost of living against life's benefits.

"The average citizen's lousy, smelly, uncomfortable daily-transportation costs rose 2.1 percent in January," Derek Capeletti of Wells Fargo Capital Management said. "Clothing costs were up 2.3 percent, reflecting an increased need for the pleated khakis, sensible sweater-sets, and solid ties we have to wear to our awful fucking jobs. And grocery expenses were up almost 4 percent, reflecting the difficulty that light-beer, microwave-burrito, and rotisserie-chicken makers have faced in meeting the needs of a depressed economy and citizenry."

Capeletti added: "The benefits of living remained stable or decreased. Especially—surprise, surprise—in our love lives."

According to the study, high-risk, short-term, interest-based investments in the lives of others cost thousands of dollars a year and rarely yield benefits, financial or otherwise. Although conservative, long-term partnerships do provide limited returns, the study indicates that they tie up capital and limit options.

Child-rearing, a course taken by many people who choose to live, is actually contributing to the problem.

"The fact is, the supply of Americans greatly outstrips demand," said Evan Alvi of the Portland-based Maynard Institute. "Americans seem to believe that minting more lives will increase the value of their own holdings. All they are doing, though, is inflating the supply and reducing the dividends paid by long-term familial bonds."

Despite life's depreciating value, Alvi did not recommend that shareholders divest themselves of their holdings.

"Limited dumping could result in a short-term increase in available resources for those who remain in the market," Alvi said. "However, it's a risky move that could affect perception of value, leading to mass divesture."

Alvi added, "And let's not fail to mention that some religious experts say there are penalties for early withdrawal."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/cost_of_living_now_outweighs?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

[ozymandius]

7. I was face-to-face with that horrific maze of numbers and lines yesterday.

The cartoon really related to me. As does The Onion. I loves me some Onion!

[Hugin]

62. Hey! This is just a swipe at the SMW Economic Index!

No fair! :scowl:

Which I am diligently working on BTW....

I've been calibrating the Index by running historical numbers through it... (Note: Something THE SMARTEST WIZARDS of THE UNIVERSE'S GUYS in the ROOM -*FAILED*- to do with their Supermodels.)

Surprisingly enough... The mid-90s (prior to the Phil G. led Financial Coup) were a really good time to be on the Demand Side. It goes to shit soon thereafter... There were a few other historical bright spots.

There's also a few downers... But, they all pale in comparison to now. :scared:

[Dr.Phool]

69. I think I'm looking forward to seeing it.

:scared: :wow: :scared:

[Hugin]

77. I always enjoy taking a Supermodel out for a spin.

Right now I don't have the subjective data to input. That will really flesh out the results.

[ozymandius]

5. UBS cuts 8,700 more jobs

ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) made a first-quarter loss and will cut another 11 percent of staff, its new chief executive said on Wednesday, warning that Switzerland's largest bank still faces an uncertain future.

Chief Executive Oswald Gruebel, the veteran former Credit Suisse boss pulled out of retirement in February to get UBS back into shape, said the bank will post a first-quarter loss of nearly 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.74 billion), mainly due to writedowns and outflows at its prized wealth management unit.

.....

The new cuts come on top of thousands already announced during the crisis and mean UBS will have shrunk its workforce by almost a fifth from a headcount peak of 83,800 a year ago.

.....

The financial crisis has already forced UBS to announce $50 billion of writedowns and its shares have lost nearly three quarters of their value in the last 12 months.

About 2,500 jobs would be axed at UBS' home Swiss division, which employed above 26,000 people at the end of 2008. Gruebel gave no details about headcount reductions in other regions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/bs_nm/us_ubs

[Demeter]

6. U.S. planning to reveal data on health of top banks: report

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/bs_nm/us_banks_stress_test_1

(Reuters) – The Obama administration is drawing up plans to disclose the financial condition of the 19 biggest banks in the country, the New York Times said, citing senior administration officials.

The administration has decided to reveal some sensitive details of the "stress tests" now being completed after concluding that keeping many of the findings secret could send investors fleeing from financial institutions rumored to be weakest, the paper said.

The stress tests, announced in February, were designed to see if banks are adequately capitalized. Banks that are found to need more money would then have six months to raise it, or take funds directly from the government in a new round of capital injections.

But government officials have been less than clear about how the details of the test results will be released.

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have asked banks not to discuss the exams publicly out of concern that information will trickle out inconsistently and create market chaos, a source familiar with the talks between the government and the banks told Reuters.

While all of the banks are expected to pass the tests, some are expected to be graded more highly than others, according to the paper.

Officials have deliberately left murky just how much they intend to reveal - or will encourage the banks to reveal - about how well the banks would weather difficult economic conditions over the next two years, according to the paper.

Indicating which banks are most vulnerable still runs some risk of doing what officials hope to avoid, the paper said. "The assessments are not yet complete," the paper cited Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Treasury, as saying. "When they are, we'll work with the banks on how best to release the appropriate data and on what time-frame to ensure fairness and minimize market uncertainty."

A CASE OF "DON'T ASK THE QUESTION IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO LIKE THE ANSWER".

[ozymandius]

9. Oh, I bet those numbers and words are getting the Greenscam treatment.

Cryptic...fluffy...naked...yet with a hat

[ozymandius]

17. US Decides to Disclose (Some) Results From Stress Tests

From Naked Capitalism:

Now in fairness, the Administration is in uncharted waters in this economic crisis, and has launched a number of new programs to try to restore a measure of health. We've lambasted just about all the bank program as being based on the flawed premise that asset prices are temporarily distressed, rather than the recognition that a tremendous amount of credit was given to people who even at the time could not have realistically serviced the debt, plus another group that would be money good only if the economy kept running in high gear. But rather than accept the new reality, they are instead trying to prop up asset prices to restore status quo ante.

Aside from content, a second problem has been process. Despite Team Obama's desire to be more consistent than the often improvisational Hank Paulson, they seem to be suffering from the same syndrome, of not being able to think enough moves ahead. For instance, Geithner first announced a plan to have a bank industry plan. That went over like a ton of lead bricks. Then he announced the public private partnership concept. Embarrasingly, the banks have started to buy up bad paper, making all too apparent the fact that the effort is merely to provide a huge, opaque subsidy to the banks, rather than an equity infusion (which economically is what this amounts to). But more equity infusions would lead to calls for more control or a resolution (let's face it, if the banks need that much life support, they need to be put into receivership and restructured). But the Obama camp has decided we don't do nationalization in America, as if Mussolini style corpocracy is a better option.

.....

The latest change in direction is on the bank stress tests. We've been cynical about them from the get-go, seeing them as more PR than substance, since both the design of the tests and the manpower devoted to them guarantees that the examination will fall woefully short of what is needed. Although the analysis will be used to (presumably) make some of the 19 banks raise more capital, either on their own or from Uncle Sam, the main purpose was to assure taxpayers that their money was being spent wisely, the banks were not goners, that the Treasury does know what is going on and has procedures in place.

.....

Now the New York Times reports that the Treasury has decided to reveal "some" stress details, its hand being forced by.....Goldman Sachs. The irony is rich, but if the markets take badly to some of the information revealed, this could produce a result exactly the reverse of what the Administration intended to achieve with this effort.

.....

While Ludwig is likely correct, the Administration created this risk with an element of program design not stressed in these stories. Remember, a bank that fails the test is given a certain amount of time to raise equity, and if that fails, they have to take more TARP funding. Now pray tell, how is a bank going to raise capital except on hugely dilutive terms when it is evident that it did badly on the test? The revelation that a bank got a low score, more than the high level and not terribly revealing tidbits, will be the source of trouble.

The paper of record, The New York Times, is called forth in its telling of the stress test tale. Yves Smith's analysis is worth the read.

[ozymandius]

8. Yahoo to cut hundreds of jobs: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc is preparing to lay off several hundred workers in the first round of cuts since Carol Bartz became chief executive in January, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

The layoffs could be announced next Tuesday, when Yahoo reports its first-quarter financial results, according to the source, who wished to remain anonymous because of the issue's sensitivity.

Yahoo's last round of layoffs was in December, under former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang. The company, which is the No. 2 U.S. Internet search provider, finished 2008 with roughly 13,600 employees, down by more than 1,600 employees from the third quarter of 2008.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/ts_nm/us_yahoo

[ozymandius]

10. Reminder: Goldman disappeared December!

The Case of the Missing Month

Excerpt:

7:15 a.m.| December Write-Offs: They did discuss December up front (unlike in the news release). It sounds as if they took write-offs everywhere, including commercial real estate and private equity. They took more write-offs in both of those areas in the first quarter.

So how did they make money? One answer is that this is a great time to be in the banking business — if you ignore what we politely call legacy assets. Customers are desperate for cash, and will pay for it. Fees are up. If underwriting volumes continue to rise, this could be a great, great year. Assuming, of course, that the write-offs are over.

6:50 a.m.| Where’s December?: Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $1.8 billion in the first quarter, and plans to sell $5 billion in stock and get out of the government’s clutches, if it can.

How did it do that? One way was to hide a lot of losses in not-so-plain sight.

Goldman’s 2008 fiscal year ended Nov. 30. This year the company is switching to a calendar year. The leaves December as an orphan month, one that will be largely ignored. In Goldman’s earnings statement, and in most of the news reports, the quarter ended March 31 is compared to the quarter last year that ended in February.

The orphan month featured — surprise — lots of write-offs. The pretax loss was $1.3 billion, and the after-tax loss was $780 million.

[DemReadingDU]

35. Did Goldman Sachs Just Call The Top Of The Market?

4/14/09 Did Goldman Sachs Just Call The Top Of The Market?

It might go down as one of the all time greatest trades of all time. Goldman watched its share price soar 170 percent since the lows of November, and conducted a rush sale into a bouyant market. Just minutes after the Goldman shares prices, the market got hit by bad retail numbers and the Dow sank 100 points. Now Goldman may be able to ditch the TARP and all its attendant hassles, while its rivals will find it much more expensive--if not impossible--to do the same.

It brings back the old cliche: if the smart guys are selling, should you really be buying?

Others are now wondering if Goldman's stock sale signals the top of the market, at least for financials. If Goldman believed shares were headed still higher, they would have been wise to take the offering slowly. Instead, they rushed to sell in an almost unprecedented combination of early announcement of good results and overnight pricing of a $5 billion offering.

Lots of market watchers, including Boom Doom & Gloomster Marc Faber, have been saying that the markets would drop in late April. Goldman looks to be adopting this view as well.

http://www.businessinsider.com/did-goldman-sachs-just-call-the-top-of-the-market-2009-4

[Dr.Phool]

43. Something smelly was going on from Day 1.

Starting with the leaked Citi rumor. I started looking for a massive pump and dump in financials. These guys were looking for a big boost to dump their crap.

If we ever needed an Elliot Spitzer on Wall Street, we need it now.

[DemReadingDU]

45. that leaked Citi rumor started a rally

a rally based on nothing substantial. Wouldn't surprise me if the banks in every country are coordinating this rally. After they have taken their gains while the market was up, then they will pick a day to collapse the market. They win, everyone else holds the empty bag.

[Demeter]

11. Older Borrowers, Out in the Cold

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123967085817315655.html

YUBA CITY, Calif. -- In 2006, Carol Couts, a 66-year-old widow in Yuba City, Calif., was living in her home, payment-free, when a mortgage broker persuaded her to refinance her no-cost mortgage for one that exceeded her monthly income by more than $400.

She can't afford the payments, and unless her lender modifies the loan to make it affordable, she'll lose her home of 25 years. She's given away most of her furniture and her cat, and packed her belongings in cardboard boxes. "We've got nowhere to go," she says, referring to herself and her dachshund, Ollie.

As the government presses lenders to modify mortgages, a large subset of distressed borrowers is being left out: older homeowners on low fixed incomes. Many of them are now facing foreclosure, say legal-aid advocates and AARP attorneys, because they were sold loans they could never afford, often fraudulently.

Many of these homeowners had lived for decades in their home and had built up substantial equity, but had low incomes. This made them tempting targets for brokers who persuaded them to refinance their mortgages, telling them they could lower their monthly payments. Instead, many of these loans were loaded with fees and exploding interest rates and quickly became unaffordable.

These borrowers' incomes are often so low -- many are living solely on Social Security -- that few qualify for mortgage-relief programs. Even if lenders agree to reduce the interest rate and stretch out the repayment period, strategies at the heart of the Obama administration's antiforeclosure guidelines, "they won't get payments low enough," says Tara Twomey, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center.

Hundreds of thousands of people in once-hot markets such as California's Central Valley fall into this camp, say housing counselors. Often the only way to keep these people in their homes is if lenders rescind the fraudulent loans or reduce the principal, steps most are unwilling to take.

The U.S. House of Representatives has endorsed legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify or rescind loans even if lenders are unwilling. But lenders oppose the measure and the legislation has stalled in the Senate.

Meanwhile, people like Mrs. Couts are facing foreclosure. After her husband died in 2005, she took out a reverse mortgage, a deal available only to people 62 or older with substantial equity. It's actually a sale of your home to a bank, which then pays you a lump sum or a monthly income and receives the property after your death. The arrangement enabled Mrs. Couts to stop making mortgage payments so she could afford to remain in her home on her $913 a month in Social Security.

In 2007, she received numerous phone calls from a mortgage broker named Daniel Lewis. According to Mrs. Couts, he told her he was contacting seniors to warn them that banks were canceling reverse mortgages because they were unprofitable. She would have to refinance her home, he told her, or lose it. (This wasn't true; reverse mortgages generally aren't repayable until death.)

Mrs. Couts signed a document that said she could cancel within three days, and also signed documents that she thought were for a 30-year conventional loan with low monthly payments. The next day she saw that the application listed her income as $5,075 a month. She called Mr. Lewis to point out the error and to cancel the loan, but says he told her it was too late to change anything.

The broker had used a "no doc" application, which doesn't require proof of income. Many brokers used these stated-income applications when borrowers' incomes were too low to qualify them for loans. All of the other boxes for listing income and assets in Mrs. Couts's application, which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, were blank.

Mrs. Couts's first statement showed she had an adjustable-rate mortgage with an initial interest-only monthly payment of $1,333. She soon defaulted, and Wachovia Corp. -- which had acquired World Savings & Loan, the firm Mr. Lewis worked with -- started foreclosure proceedings.

Wachovia -- now a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. -- has offered to change Mrs. Couts's loan to one with interest-only payments that begin at 66% of her monthly income, rising to more than 100% in a few years.

Citing customer privacy, a Wachovia spokesman declined to say whether the bank took fraud into account when it proposed the modification plan to Mrs. Couts. In a statement, Wachovia said that Wells Fargo has developed mortgage assistance plans to help Wachovia customers with Pick-a-Payment loans (the type Mrs. Couts has) and that the solutions "differ based on the customers' circumstances and what will be required to help them reach a sustainable mortgage payment."

KEEP READING...IT GETS WORSE

THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE BELONG IN JAIL

[AnneD]

78. In Texas.....

we use to string crooks like these from a tall tree. We have/had a homestead act to prevent this from happening to elderly. These laws came about I believe during the depression when homes and farms were taken from widows and children.

I'm not one for injecting religion into public law but seriously....since ancient biblical times there has been a religious mandate for the care of the poor, widowed, and orphaned.

I also think jubilee isn't a bad idea either. I think it was a way to keep wealth circulating instead of ossifying.

[UpInArms]

102. jail and hell are too good for these criminals

these stories just make me insane

:haironfire:

[Demeter]

12. Obama hints at hopes for recovery

READ THE ARTICLE, THEN ANSWER THE POLL:

IS OBAMA THAT NAIVE, OR IS HE JAWBONING US?


President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that aggressive efforts to boost the US economy were starting to bear fruit, even though the recession would cause more pain this year.

Confirming a shift in official rhetoric, Ben Bernanke expressed wary optimism that the economy was no longer falling off a cliff. “We have seen tentative signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing,” the Federal Reserve chairman said.

“A levelling out of economic activity is the first step toward recovery,” he added, although he did not say when he thought this levelling out would take place.

March retail sales figures, released on Tuesday, highlighted the continued fragility of the US economy and raised questions as to whether consumer spending has found a floor following a plunge in late 2008. Sales fell 1.1 per cent from February, with declines in every category apart from food and health. Stocks fell after the report, with the S&P 500 index losing 2 per cent.

In a speech at Georgetown University, Mr Obama said the $787bn stimulus, the $700bn bank recapitalisation programme, $70bn housing plan and extra federal aid to Detroit car companies were “starting to generate signs of economic progress”.

“This is all welcome and encouraging news, but it does not mean that the hard times are over,” he said. While officials in both the US administration and the central bank think the economy will probably bottom out in the second half of this year they remain wary of calling the turn in the economic cycle.

They regard recent signs of green shoots as hopeful but not definitive, and do not want to undermine support for continued extreme fiscal and monetary measures that may still be needed to support growth. Mr Bernanke said: “We will not have a sustainable recovery without a stabilisation of our financial system and credit markets.” He added: “We are making progress on that front.”

Offering his lengthiest defence yet of his administration’s handling of the crisis to date, Mr Obama rebuffed criticism that it was running excessively large deficits, saying the “last thing a government should do in the middle of a recession is to cut back on spending”.

The president, who is 85 days into his administration, said he had used the time to “clear the wreckage” from the economic collapse in order to prevent the recession from getting deeper. But he cautioned against expectations of a rapid recovery. “The severity of this recession will cause more job losses, more foreclosures, and more pain before it ends,” he said.

Both Mr Obama and Mr Bernanke defended the US decision to avoid bankruptcies of large financial institutions, while Mr Obama gave his clearest defence so far of the administration’s decision to avoid nationalising the banks before the results of “stress tests” expected this month. Banks that were shown with insufficient capital in the stress tests would be held accountable and forced to clean up their balance sheets. “Governments should practice the same principles as doctors – first, do no harm,” he said. “We believe that pre-emptive government take-overs are likely to end up costing taxpayers even more in the end . . . because it is likely to undermine rather than create confidence.”

WHAT'S YOUR VERDICT, MARKETEERS?

[Tansy_Gold]

39. WE WILL NOT HAVE A SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY UNTIL

we have jobs.

Bernanke, you're an insufferable and insupportable moron. A twit. A stooge. A greedy blood-sucking nincompoop. A stinking piece of fresh dog shit.


And if Obama continues to listen to, believe in, and trust you, Bernanke, then he's no better.


There. That's my vote.





Tansy Gold

[Dr.Phool]

44. The Fudd's turd resents that comparison!

[Tansy_Gold]

49. All apologies to the Fudd but I have four dogs that I dearly love.

And fresh dog shit still stinks.


:hi:

[janedum]

60. You're right Tansy

Mr. Obama might be smart enough to graduate from Harvard, but he wasn't smart enough to NOT allow himself to be mislead by the SAME people who got us into this mess in the first place.
WHO designed the initial "stimulus packages".
GEITHNER!
Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.

[Tansy_Gold]

63. Ya know, there's an old joke about two envelopes

Guy gets hired to replace someone who was enormously incompetent. First day on the job, the new guy sits down at his new desk and opens the center drawer. In it are two white envelopes, one with a big #1 on the outside, the second with a big #2. Curiosity aroused, he opens the first envelope and reads:


To my successor:

I screwed up royally because I didn't know how the game was played. I'm here to help you out.

For the first few months of your tenure here, if your efforts don't succeed, you can always blame me. I'm not here to defend myself and truth is I really did screw up. And then when you feel you just don't know how to fix anything any more, then open the second envelope.

Good luck!



So the new guy thinks this is gonna be a piece of cake. Every time something goes wrong, he just says, "Hey, not my fault. The guy who was here before me, ya know, he left a real mess." And it works! Nobody blames him for anything, since it was the other guy's fault, and so he just kinda relaxes. Comes in every day, puts in his time, blames his predecessor, collects a paycheck, and is happy as a clam.

But then people start wanting results. They get tired of "the other guy did it" routine. They start putting pressure on the new guy -- who isn't so new any more -- to produce results. And he suddenly starts to get scared, 'cause he really doesn't have any solutions. He's spent all his effort just blaming the other guy and not actually doing what needs to be done. But he hasn't taken the time to get out there and learn the business so now he's getting a bit panicked. Finally one day he remembers the other envelope, #2, that's sitting in his desk. He races back to his office and shuffles through the accumulated papers and pencils and fingernail clippings (long story, you don't want to hear it) until he finds the second envelope. Certain that he now has the key to success in his hands, he tears it open.


To my successor:

You thought you could get away with it, didn't you? You thought you could spend your whole career here blaming someone else. Well, now you know it doesn't work that way.

So I'm going to tell you what to do now.












Prepare two envelopes. . . . . . . . . . . . .









Tansy Gold

[Demeter]

71. That was nasty!

I've got that situation under observation here on the condo board....

[Tansy_Gold]

73. Well, the thing is,

Obviously management hadn't caught on either, because they kept hiring incompetents who just blamed but never fixed.. . . . . . .

There's always more to the story.



TG

[MattSh]

42. Is this the whole article???

Or did you mean to link it to somewhere? ???

[Demeter]

47. Oooops! I was so incensed

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/10f7fa3e-28f2-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html

[MattSh]

50. Well, I asked for the link 'cause I figured "there must be more".

But there isn't. That's the whole story.

There's nothing of substance here.

[Demeter]

51. True

It's propaganda.

[Tansy_Gold]

55. or it could be

dog shit.

Propaganda, dog shit, same stuff.

:hi:


TG

[Demeter]

57. Morning Tansy! Never Knew Propaganda That Wasn't

Actions speak a whole lot louder than words. Take Goldman Sachs (please)...

[AnneD]

101. Tansy Tansy.....

Propaganda and dog shit are 2 different thinks. At least with dog shit. it can be useful as fertilizer.

[Tansy_Gold]

103. Actually --

Dog shit is not recommended as fertilizer because, unlike horse or cow shit, it is meat-based. it will, of course, make the grass grow greener, but it's not recommended for the compost heap.

At least that's what Mother Earth News told me years ago. . . . .


TG

[AnneD]

109. True....

it is good for grass and never put it in the compost heap. Propaganda dosen't do a thing but turn your brains to shit.

[ozymandius]

13. Unrelated aside to the thread: you really need to see this. Really, you do.

I went to Naked Capitalism where they had a link to this bit of video. Here you will find a wonderful antidote to the day (especially if you are an American taxpayer). Please go see it.

[Demeter]

15. Thanks Ozy!

that's an excellent rejoinder to the Onion article!

[ozymandius]

19. Ms. Boyle is amazing, isn't she?

What a pure, sweet voice she has.

[radfringe]

25. saw it the other night

brought tears to my eyes... WOW WOW WOW

would love to see her do a duet with paul potts

[Karenina]

88. May all her dreams come true.

:cry::cry::cry:

[tclambert]

33. I thought for a moment even Simon might give her a standing ovation.

Loved it when his eyebrows went up after the first note.

[Tansy_Gold]

100. Plucked from GD -- A must-read to follow a must-watch

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php


<snip>
The answer is that only the pretty are expected to achieve. Not only do you have to be physically appealing to deserve fame; it seems you now have to be good-looking to merit everyday common respect. If, like Susan (and like millions more), you are plump, middle-aged and too poor or too unworldly to follow fashion or have a good hairdresser, you are a non-person.

and


Susan is a reminder that it's time we all looked a little deeper. She has lived an obscure but important life. She has been a companionable and caring daughter. It's people like her who are the unseen glue in society; the ones who day in and day out put themselves last. They make this country civilised and they deserve acknowledgement and respect.

Susan has been forgiven her looks and been given respect because of her talent. She should always have received it because of the calibre of her character.


<end snip>



Tansy Gold, plump, middle-aged, too poor but NOT to unworldly, but who can't carry a tune in a bushel basket and sits in proud awe of talent and determination ---- and caring. Susan Boyle :yourock:

[tclambert]

110. I feel compelled to defend the laughing skeptics.

When a person goes onto a show like this, apparently oblivious to the visual aspect of it (it's a frakkin' teleVISION show!), it is natural to assume they are also oblivious to the aural aspect. Plus these shows have a track record of putting on totally ridiculous performers in the early rounds.

The look of the contestant is often a clue to the sound you will hear. The ones who dress neatly and professionally generally give you a workmanlike performance. They sound like they've rehearsed a few times. Maybe in front of a mirror. Anybody wearing a weird costume will inevitably sing just as weirdly. The completely careless looking often forget the lyrics to the song they selected after hearing it on the car radio on the way to the audition.

So many early contestants seem to live in an imaginary world in which they are beautiful and sing like Celine Dion, but aren't and don't. On American Idol I'm sure they select several like this during the stadium audition phase. Out of the twenty thousand who show up, they select a few good singers and a few atrocious singers, 'cause that's where the ratings are.

Which category did everyone naturally expect Susan Boyle to fall into? The William Hung category. (Though, to be fair, I think William Hung is the biggest star to come out of that season of American Idol.)

And as far as her deserving respect for the "calibre of her character," I have no idea what her character is like. For all I know, she chopped up her parents with an axe. All I know about her is she sings really well. That is not proof of character. Whitney Houston sings really well, too. And Britney Spears, well, no, she doesn't really sing, either.

[Tansy_Gold]

118. I think you've just made the point, though, that we do expect

appearance to indicate the quality of work, even though it may in reality have nothing to do with it.

As for the quality of Susan Boyle's character, at least some of that was reported in the article: that she remained at home to care for her mother, and for whatever reasons never had a "life" of her own.

And I'm not chewin' you out, tc, not at all. I live with a guy who is all about "appearance." He routinely judges people by how they dress, how they comb their hair, what kind of car they drive, all that superficial shit that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things - but it MATTERS enormously to him. Overweight people are merely lacking in discipline, in his opinion. Gamblers and drunks and other addicts simply don't exert enough control over their actions. HIS addictions on the other hand, are NOT the result of lack of discipline.

But we do live in a visual culture, far more than ever before. Between photographs and videos, movies and TV, the whole thing, it's all about image -- and image is assumed to mean more than, well, image.

So we see the frumpy middle-aged woman on the tv and we immediately judge her to be a joke. And we see the pretty blonde beauty queen, poised and polished and groomed and the very picture /sic/ of self-assurance -- and we're astonished that she stumbles over her maps soliloquy.


And then there was the woman who testified before congress, in her too large, garish plaid suit, her over-sized glasses sliding down her nose, unglamorous but sincere, explaining that 9/11 could have been prevented. There was nothing striking about her except her competence. She was no millionaire Sherrin Watkins in her elegant scarf and smooth coiffure. Even on the Person of the Year cover of Time, Colleen Rowley looked drab. And who knows? Maybe if she'd been as glamorous LOOKING as Sibel Edmonds, people would have listened to her. And who knows what different world we might have today.

If any of you saw me on the street, you'd probably not give me a second look. Here on DU, on SMW, we are known by our words, not our hair styles, our orthodontics, our nips and tucks and frostings and nails.

A few weeks ago, on one of those idle rambles through the intertubes, I stumbled upon a pdf of Baum's Ozma of Oz. Billina is the real heroine of the story, but you'd never guess it by her appearance, which is how she saved the royal family of Ev and all her companions.

As I tell the BF every so often, to his face and oftener behind his back, don't underestimate people based on their appearance. Especially that little short fat chick. . . .





Tansy Gold

[tclambert]

123. Now, no one expects the blond beauty to be competent.

The stereotype there is Jessica Simpson, who wasn't sure if Chicken of the Sea Tuna was fish or chicken. The one we expect to sing well is the fat blond in a Viking helmet. I remember in the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough," critics had a real problem with Denise Richards as the nuclear physicist. Personally, I've always been suspicious of the unusually attractive, whether they've earned their successes through competence or traded on their looks, which maybe is a kind of competence. But this case is about show business. And I bet in coming weeks we see Susan Boyle made over, plucked and styled and fashionably dressed. If they're smart, they will gradually evolve her visual image. She won't look like Heidi Klum ever, but she might look more like Dame Judi Dench.

She's got the voice, though, that they've always hoped for on this type of show. She could ditch the show right now and make a good career out of singing. However, the TV exposure of Britain's Got Talent could give her career something of a boost. Looking forward to hearing more from her.

[ozymandius]

125. She made me tear up four times today.

She the bomb and she knows it. What a voice! What confidence! All things good to Ms. Boyle.

[Tansy_Gold]

36. Watch it. watch it. WATCH IT.

I take a great deal of pride in saying I have never watched the domestic version. I have seen too many clips on Olbermann, too many absurdities, too many (probably) decent human beings embarrassing themselves. And I can't stomach that smarmy host. (Even on this clip he makes me want to smack him.)

Worse still are the giggling, ooohing and aaaaahing 50- and 60-year old friends who just can't wait for the latest installment, as the (uniquely?) American dream of fortune and fortune and more filthy fortune for one while the others go scratch in the dirt for bugs is reinforced with all the bloodlust of the gladiators.

As I remarked to BF last night over dinner, Mark Fidrych was a character who brought fun back to a game that had started to lose its fun-ness. Games are part of the character of life, and yes, even we Marxists know -- at least this one does! -- that fun and games and beauty and joy are as vital to humanity as food and water and sunshine and fresh air.

I'm up at 4:00 a.m. because I got slammed with too much work yesterday that has to be finished today. I haven't finished my tax returns. Okay, I've barely started. Susan Boyle just put all of that into perspective.

WATCH THE VIDEO.




Tansy Gold

[DemReadingDU]

46. I saw that on the news last night

awesome!

[AnneD]

120. I can't wait to see Ms Boyle.....

I never try to judge a book by it's cover but I am well aware of human nature....Still I never cease to be amazed when and where God given talent pops up. It is always a humbling event.

I have been mourning the loss of Pavarotti for a while. Maybe this is my antidote.

[Demeter]

14. Banks warned over assets held by subsidiaries

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78980ea6-291d-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html

International banks will have to hold more assets in their subsidiaries if they want to avoid a re-run of the chaos caused by the fall of Lehman Brothers, according to PwC, administrators for the collapsed bank’s European operations.

The comments come as the UK’s Financial Services Authority is pushing a series of contentious liquidity proposals that would involve UK subsidiaries doing just that.

Banks have warned, however, that the rules would tie up capital and dent the UK’s competitiveness if the regulator forges ahead without waiting for other regulators to agree an international system.

Lehman Brothers’ sudden collapse, particularly in Europe where it had large cross-border trading operations, left global markets in disarray as leading banks, hedge funds and other investors struggled to work out their positions.

Steven Pearson, one of the joint administrators for the bank’s European operations said: “You’ve just got to have some assets held locally that you can rely on,”

On Tuesday PwC disclosed its fees had reached more than £77m for the six months of work to date and that they are expected to continue at broadly the same pace.

The European operations have proved one of the most complex pieces of the global Lehman jigsaw because they were involved in a large array of market operations.

Its problems were further intensified by the company’s practice – common among multinationals – of sweeping all cash each day back to the US parent.

In the case of Lehman Europe, the sweep had taken £8bn out of the UK business the Friday before it collapsed, meaning the administrators did not even have the funds to cover that week’s payroll and had to seek an emergency loan from business contacts, a process Mr Pearson describes as “scary” given the importance of the bank to the financial system.

He said: “We walked into this one with no one we could turn to. It wasn’t a UK-regulated bank, there was no bail-out fund ready. Holding local liquidity plus having regulatory facilities would have made a lot of difference”.

The comments come as the administrators released their six-month progress report. More than $12bn of client assets have been returned so far but those are only the simplest cases and the return of further holdings is likely to take far longer. Clients and administrators are working to set up a standardised system for doing this.

Lehman Europe’s position so far suggests its has almost $17bn in “headroom” above its liabilities but the administrators warned yesterday this was worth just 1.3 per cent of the gross balance sheet.

[Festivito]

16. Debt: 04/13/2009 11,169,978,555,115.48 (UP 252,907,390.98) (Small.)

(Both move by a small amount.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 6,893,196,397,961.72 + 4,276,782,157,153.76
UP 309,440,014.97 + DOWN 56,532,623.99

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 306,159,172 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
Currently, each of these American's owe $36,484.22.
A family of three owes $109,452.66. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 8,464,926,034.92.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,207,612,425.61.
The average for the last 31 days would be 6,007,366,863.49.
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$/day.
There were 58 reports in 83 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 0.58B$ per report, 0.49B$/day so far.
There were 133 reports in 195 days of FY2009 averaging 8.61B$ per report, 5.87B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,378 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.1 and 19.4T$.
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)
04/13/2009 11,169,978,555,115.48 BHO (UP 543,101,506,202.40 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: 1,145,253,658,203.00 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/24/2009 +000,222,913,900.31 ------------********
03/25/2009 +000,059,898,960.86 ------------*******
03/26/2009 +007,175,786,187.90 ------------*********
03/27/2009 -000,468,145,936.78 ---
03/30/2009 +000,069,902,880.68 ------------******* Mon
03/31/2009 +079,841,314,678.25 ------------**********
04/01/2009 -001,742,860,350.87 --
04/02/2009 +007,764,243,786.78 ------------*********
04/03/2009 +028,967,677,130.84 ------------**********
04/06/2009 +000,073,808,356.95 ------------******* Mon
04/07/2009 +000,123,552,400.07 ------------********
04/08/2009 +000,050,639,456.95 ------------*******
04/09/2009 +024,055,285,655.59 ------------**********
04/10/2009 +000,051,156,797.54 ------------*******
04/13/2009 +000,309,440,014.97 ------------******** Mon

146,554,613,920.04 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008.
US borrowed $1,505,346,751,856.41 in last 207 days.
That's 1,505B$ in 207 days.
More than any year ever, including last year, and it's 148% of that highest year ever only in 207 days.
And it is over 100% of ANY dismal Bush, for any dismal Bush-year, ONLY IN 207 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=3830266&mesg_id=3830321

[Festivito]

130. Debt: 04/14/2009 11,172,298,738,031.41 (UP 2,320,182,915.93) (Mostly FICA.)

(Small debt move. The FICA increase is not big and a good thing -- we payed less than we collected today.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 6,893,364,260,485.43 + 4,278,934,477,545.98
UP 167,862,523.71 + UP 2,152,320,392.22

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 306,165,343 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
Currently, each of these American's owe $36,491.06.
A family of three owes $109,473.19. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 32 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 8,197,763,290.62.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,284,951,856.14.
The average for the last 32 days would be 5,892,142,365.13.
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$/day.
There were 59 reports in 84 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 0.53B$ per report, 0.47B$/day so far.
There were 134 reports in 196 days of FY2009 averaging 8.56B$ per report, 5.85B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,377 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.1 and 19.3T$.
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)
04/14/2009 11,172,298,738,031.41 BHO (UP 545,421,689,118.33 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: 1,147,573,841,119.00 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/25/2009 +000,059,898,960.86 ------------*******
03/26/2009 +007,175,786,187.90 ------------*********
03/27/2009 -000,468,145,936.78 ---
03/30/2009 +000,069,902,880.68 ------------******* Mon
03/31/2009 +079,841,314,678.25 ------------**********
04/01/2009 -001,742,860,350.87 --
04/02/2009 +007,764,243,786.78 ------------*********
04/03/2009 +028,967,677,130.84 ------------**********
04/06/2009 +000,073,808,356.95 ------------******* Mon
04/07/2009 +000,123,552,400.07 ------------********
04/08/2009 +000,050,639,456.95 ------------*******
04/09/2009 +024,055,285,655.59 ------------**********
04/10/2009 +000,051,156,797.54 ------------*******
04/13/2009 +000,309,440,014.97 ------------******** Mon
04/14/2009 +000,167,862,523.71 ------------********

146,499,562,543.44 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008.
US borrowed $1,507,666,934,772.34 in last 208 days.
That's 1,508B$ in 208 days.
More than any year ever, including last year, and it's 148% of that highest year ever only in 208 days.
And it is over 100% of ANY dismal Bush, for any dismal Bush-year, ONLY IN 208 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=3832080&mesg_id=3832116

[Demeter]

18. Venture offers charging system for news sites

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cb0a9514-294f-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html\

Three US media veterans have joined forces to offer newspapers a co-ordinated means of charging for journalism online, as publishers confront the realisation that internet advertising alone cannot support the industry’s current heavy costs.

Journalism Online will launch an e-commerce platform this autumn that news sites around the world can use to charge daily, monthly or annual subscriptions or to levy micro-payments for individual articles.

Publishers, who otherwise face the cost of developing such software alone, can use the technology on their own sites, and participate in “all you can read” subscription packages allowing consumers access to all members’ paid content.

“We’re at a special moment in time when everybody has finally agreed there’s a crisis,” said Steven Brill, founder of Court TV and The American Lawyer and co-founder of Journalism Online. Several US publishers have hinted in recent weeks that they may start charging for content.

The initiative could herald the biggest test yet of consumers’ willingness to pay for news they have grown accustomed to finding for free online. The new company was “in some stage of discussions” with the top 10 newspaper, magazine and online publishers, Mr Brill told the Financial Times, but had not signed any deals yet.

Mr Brill’s partners are Gordon Crovitz, the former Wall Street Journal publisher, and Leo Hindery, the managing partner of InterMedia Partners and former chief executive of TCI, the largest US cable operator of its time.

The emergence of hybrid free and paid models online, from FT.com to online multiplayer games, had encouraged more publishers to believe that consumers would pay for internet content, Mr Crovitz said.

Journalism Online would take a share of revenues generated through its platform, but would let publishers decide pricing and what content to charge for, he said.

The company has hired David Boies, the lawyer who led the US antitrust case against Microsoft, and Theodore Olson, the former US solicitor general, to help negotiate licensing fees with distributors such as Google News and Yahoo News, which many publishers believe pay too little.

Mr Crovitz said Google could be “an effective ally” for publishers with a paid model, but the group noted such intermediaries base their businesses on content produced “at great cost”.

[KoKo]

64. Ahh...David Boies and Ted Olson .....working together...again?

:sarcasm:


"The company has hired David Boies, the lawyer who led the US antitrust case against Microsoft, and Theodore Olson, the former US solicitor general, to help negotiate licensing fees with distributors such as Google News and Yahoo News, which many publishers believe pay too little."

[Dr.Phool]

74. Boies is also the guy who screwed up the Florida recount for Gore.

[KoKo]

85. yep.....working together again....

Amazing how this all goes. :eyes:

[UpInArms]

90. I watched his televised appearance before the USSC and was

appalled by his absolute incompetence as an attorney.

My dog could have done better then this POS.

Not once did he challenge the basis for the suit - that it violated the 14th Amendment ?????

It basically was premised on the fact that Bush would be damaged if the votes were counted.

This POS creepweasel should be behind bars.

[Demeter]

20. AIG faces probe into role of PR companies

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/45c0395a-294e-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html

AIG, the insurance group bailed out with more than $170bn of US taxpayer money, is under investigation by a House of Representatives committee over payments to public relations companies.

Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House committee on oversight and government reform, wrote on Tuesday to Edward Liddy, chief executive of AIG, to ask whether the company paid “public relations firms to attack critics of AIG and the federal bail-out”. He said the inquiry was necessary “to ensure that federal funds are not being misused”.

The letter, which demands copies of any contracts between AIG and Burston-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton, both PR companies, is the latest step in an increasingly interventionist stance by Congress and the Obama administration towards bailed-out companies.

Large banks, which like AIG have taken billions of dollars from government schemes such as the $700bn (€530bn, £475bn) troubled asset relief programme (Tarp), say privately that the mood of censure towards the financial sector and the risk of further restrictions on their operations is one factor motivating them to pay back the money.

AIG, which came close to collapse before the government intervened in November, has no capacity to repay in the near term and has become the lightning rod for critics of the bail-outs.

Mr Towns drew a distinction between AIG’s advertising of its products – which he is not investigating – and any payments made to PR companies to draw up lines of attack against Maurice Greenberg, the former chief executive, and other critics of the bail-out.

He gave Mr Liddy two weeks to deliver a host of documents, including contracts with PR companies and copies of any material AIG provided to the companies to formulate a communications strategy.

Congress returns from its Easter recess in 10 days with proposals to claw back executive bonuses still under discussion.

However, the angry mood of politicians and demands for immediate punitive legislation have waned after most recipients of a combined $165m bonus pay-out at AIG chose to repay the money.

AIG said it had been forced to counter “misleading statements” about the group by Mr Greenberg. “This issue is not about AIG’s corporate public relations expenditures, which are down sharply since last year,” an AIG spokesman said.

“It is about correcting Mr Greenberg’s false and damaging statements.”

OF ALL THE ISSUES ON THE TABLE, THEY PICK THIS ONE?

[Dr.Phool]

38. Well think about it.

They hired these P.R firms to do exactly that. Change the conversation. And didn't you just know that Mark Penn had to have his nose stuck in there somewhere?

[Demeter]

40. Must I? You're Right Of Course

but it's the usual Congress being led by its nose that gets me, every time.

[UpInArms]

61. Hill & Knowlton - please read this

http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html

How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf
Iraq
Excerpted from Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, Chapter 10

"If I wanted to lie, or if we wanted to lie, if we wanted to exaggerate, I wouldn't use my daughter to do so. I could easily buy other people to do it."
--Saud Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait's Ambassador to the United States and Canada
The Mother of All Clients

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops led by dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the oil-producing nation of Kuwait. Like Noriega in Panama, Hussein had been a US ally for nearly a decade. From 1980 to 1988, he had killed about 150,000 Iranians, in addition to at least 13,000 of his own citizens. Despite complaints from international human rights group, however, the Reagan and Bush administrations had treated Hussein as a valuable ally in the US confrontation with Iran. As late as July 25 - a week before the invasion of Kuwait - US Ambassador April Glaspie commiserated with Hussein over a "cheap and unjust" profile by ABC's Diane Sawyer, and wished for an "appearance in the media, even for five minutes," by Hussein that "would help explain Iraq to the American people."69

Glaspie's ill-chosen comments may have helped convince the dictator that Washington would look the other way if he "annexed" a neighboring kingdom. The invasion of Kuwait, however, crossed a line that the Bush Administration could not tolerate. This time Hussein's crime was far more serious than simply gassing to death another brood of Kurdish refugees. This time, oil was at stake.

<snip>

Hill & Knowlton, then the world's largest PR firm, served as mastermind for the Kuwaiti campaign. Its activities alone would have constituted the largest foreign-funded campaign ever aimed at manipulating American public opinion. By law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act should have exposed this propaganda campaign to the American people, but the Justice Department chose not to enforce it. Nine days after Saddam's army marched into Kuwait, the Emir's government agreed to fund a contract under which Hill & Knowlton would represent "Citizens for a Free Kuwait," a classic PR front group designed to hide the real role of the Kuwaiti government and its collusion with the Bush administration. Over the next six months, the Kuwaiti government channeled $11.9 million dollars to Citizens for a Free Kuwait, whose only other funding totalled $17,861 from 78 individuals. Virtually all of CFK's budget - $10.8 million - went to Hill & Knowlton in the form of fees.74

The man running Hill & Knowlton's Washington office was Craig Fuller, one of Bush's closest friends and inside political advisors. The news media never bothered to examine Fuller's role until after the war had ended, but if America's editors had read the PR trade press, they might have noticed this announcement, published in O'Dwyer's PR Services before the fighting began: "Craig L. Fuller, chief of staff to Bush when he was vice-president, has been on the Kuwaiti account at Hill & Knowlton since the first day. He and Dilenschneider at one point made a trip to Saudi Arabia, observing the production of some 20 videotapes, among other chores. The Wirthlin Group, research arm of H&K, was the pollster for the Reagan Administration. . . . Wirthlin has reported receiving $1.1 million in fees for research assignments for the Kuwaitis. Robert K. Gray, Chairman of H&K/USA based in Washington, DC had leading roles in both Reagan campaigns. He has been involved in foreign nation accounts for many years. . . . Lauri J. Fitz-Pegado, account supervisor on the Kuwait account, is a former Foreign Service Officer at the US Information Agency who joined Gray when he set up his firm in 1982."75

In addition to Republican notables like Gray and Fuller, Hill & Knowlton maintained a well-connected stable of in-house Democrats who helped develop the bipartisan support needed to support the war. Lauri Fitz-Pegado, who headed the Kuwait campaign, had previously worked with super-lobbyist Ron Brown representing Haiti's Duvalier dictatorship. Hill & Knowlton senior vice-president Thomas Ross had been Pentagon spokesman during the Carter Administration. To manage the news media, H&K relied on vice-chairman Frank Mankiewicz, whose background included service as press secretary and advisor to Robert F. Kennedy and George McGovern, followed by a stint as president of National Public Radio. Under his direction, Hill & Knowlton arranged hundreds of meetings, briefings, calls and mailings directed toward the editors of daily newspapers and other media outlets.

[Demeter]

21. Goldman amasses $164bn war chest

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fa8701b2-2916-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html

Goldman Sachs has amassed a war chest of $164bn in cash and liquid assets that could be used to buy distressed securities and loans as its rivals clear their balance sheets, Goldman’s chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

David Viniar spoke as the bank completed the sale of $5bn in common stock – at $123 per share – which it plans to use to pay back some $10bn from the government’s troubled asset relief programme.

The sale price represented a 5.5 per cent discount to Monday’s close. Goldman’s shares closed down more than 11 per cent at $115.11.

Other banks were weaker too, with Morgan Stanley down 12 per cent as investors speculated it could raise funds when it announced results next week.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Speaking a day after Goldman reported $1.81bn in first-quarter earnings, Mr Viniar said the bank’s liquid assets, which rose more than $50bn in the first quarter, could also be put to defensive use if the crisis worsened.

Goldman’s earnings were helped by a record $6.5bn in revenues in fixed income, commodities and currencies (FICC) activities. It made money taking advantage of the wide difference between buying and selling prices in those markets.

“The environment in the first quarter was such that . . . there were so many opportunities in truly liquid assets that there was no need to use liquidity to buy illiquid assets and there weren’t a lot of good illiquid assets for sale,” Mr Viniar said, adding that strong liquidity made sense “from a defensive and offensive point of view”.

He acknowledged the liquidity position was a drag on profits, but said in the current environment “prudence is the better path”. But he noted activity in the capital markets was gaining momentum, pointing to two dozen equity offerings last week.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Viniar said Goldman wanted to pay back the $10bn in Tarp funds as soon as possible so it could pay bankers, invest abroad and hire foreign workers without generating criticism it was using taxpayer money for such purposes.

However, Mr Viniar told investors that repaying Tarp would still allow Goldman to keep issuing government-guaranteed debt.

“It’s important to run our business the way it ought to be run,” he said. “Not only is it important to be able to compensate deserving executives with bonuses much larger than those currently allowed by regulators, he said, but “we don’t want to have to worry about who we hire with an H-1B visa (for skilled foreign workers)”.

SOMETHING IS PROFOUNDLY ROTTEN AT GOLDMAN SACHS!

[ozymandius]

23. Related to post #10: Bush budgeting lives — at Goldman Sachs

Wow. Just wow. Floyd Norris, via Barry Ritholtz, tells us that Goldman’s good numbers have a lot to do with a magic trick: they made December disappear! It’s an “orphan” month!

This is Bush-style budgeting, with sunsets and all that which made the true costs of policies disappear, but this time applied to the private sector.

So says Paul Krugman.

[Demeter]

24. I Don't Care How Many Months They Vanished--- $164 BILLION!

and they didn't find it in the sofa cushions. They picked our pockets directly, and through AIG!

[ozymandius]

26. Plus, the association with AIG is not insignificant as they have portrayed them.

There are ZERO layers of separation between Treasury, AIG and Goldman Sachs. So this gibberish about AIG being an insignificant one of many thousands of trading partners is utter nonsense.

[KoKo]

65. Exactly, Ridholtz and others have been all over this.. and yet

that piece'o'trash propaganda machine at CNBC and elsewhere,just wipes it all out of public memory. Naomi Klein's well titled "Shock & Awe" is in my mind like an ear worm these days.

[Demeter]

22. Trucker hopes to back pensions with property

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c90029dc-2855-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html

By Deborah Brewsterin New York

Published: April 13 2009 19:17 | Last updated: April 13 2009 19:17

YRC Worldwide, the biggest trucking company in the US, is negotiating with its unions to allow it to suspend cash payments to its defined-benefit pension plan and to pledge real estate as collateral instead.

It would be the first major US company to use its real estate to help meet its pension obligations. The talks are also a strong sign that corporate payments to defined benefit plans, usually considered sacrosanct, could be reduced or suspended as a result of the economic downturn.

The largest corporate pension plans, which provide employees with a defined benefit on retirement, have lost more than $330bn since January 2008, leaving companies under pressure to make up the shortfall, according to Milliman, a consulting firm.

Companies are struggling to make payments to the plans while their profits are plummeting. YRC said it had to pay $34m to $45m a month to its plan, while its freight volumes had fallen by 29 per cent in the latest quarter compared with a year ago.

It said it was finalising talks with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters “to provide certain of the company’s real estate as collateral to its ... defined benefit plans in lieu of making payments for certain to-be-agreed-upon months”. The Teamsters declined to comment.

More than a third of US companies have cut back or eliminated matching payments to employees’ defined-contribution pension plans since January 2008, according to Spectrem Group, a research firm.

Defined contribution plans, called 401(k)s after the section of the tax act which governs them, require employees to pay into their own plans, with their company typically matching contributions up to a certain level. Saks, General Motors, Coca-Cola Bottling, FedEx, Motorola and Sprint Nextel are among the companies which have suspended such contributions in recent months.

George Halper, the president of Spectrem, said: “This ... raises questions about the ability of the current generation of working Americans to adequately fund their retirements.”

Among employees who have 401(k) plans, 20 per cent have reduced their contributions, and more say they intend to over the next 12 months, said Spectrem.

The trend has in recent weeks spread to the UK, where Aon became the first large UK company to cut payments to its workers’ defined contribution plan.

[KoKo]

67. Interesting how this will play into the Stock Market in the coming

months, years...isn't it. Folks not getting matching payments, having to withdraw early from 401-K's (penalties) and not being able to contribute at all.

Where's the silver lining in all this?

[antigop]

104. Where's the silver lining in all of this? There isn't. We're sooo screwed. n/t

[tclambert]

112. Did we say "silver lining?" We-e-e-ll, aluminum foil looks kinda silvery.

Remember, in 100% pure capitalist economics, workers who don't work don't get any pay. Why should employers pay for no work? The idea of retiree pensions is a socialist plot. A worker who retires is supposed to be buried three days later.

[Demeter]

27. China property prices ‘likely to halve’

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9a36b342-280e-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html

Property prices in China are likely to halve over the next two years, a top government researcher has predicted in a powerful signal that the country’s economic downturn faces further challenges despite recent positive data.

The property market, along with exports, were leading drivers of the booming Chinese economy over the past decade and the slumps in both have taken a heavy toll.

Cao Jianhai, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading government think tank, said an apparent rebound in the property market was unsustainable over the medium term and being driven by a flood of liquidity and fraudulent activity rather than real demand.

He told the Financial Times he expected average urban residential property prices to fall by 40 to 50 per cent over the next two years from their levels at the end of 2008.

“Prices may not fall in the near term but I expect a collapse starting next year, followed by many years of stagnation,” said Mr Cao, known as one of the “three swordsmen” of the real estate market because of his influence as an official economist.

Average urban housing prices across 70 cities in China fell 1.3 per cent from a year earlier in March but were up 0.2 per cent from February, according to figures released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

That broke seven months of sequential declines and was accompanied by a rebound in transaction volumes....

[tclambert]

28. If Spain indicts the Bush six, will that count?

Or do you only count indictments in American courts?

[Demeter]

29. If I Were Asked, I'd Say Count 'Em

[ozymandius]

31. Well, for starters, they can never travel to Spain.

Setting foot on any Spanish soil, anywhere in the world, would be a problem for the Bush Six too.

Edit: Forgot to add - I will limit the count to American courts. There is where the rubber meets the road to address their heinous crimes.

[Demeter]

48. I'd Bet ANY Nation Would Arrest Them

It would be a badge of honor....you hear that, Mr. President? The roar of an angry and aggrieved world crying for justice? That's YOUR cue.

[tclambert]

114. Hell, if I were a county sheriff, I would arrest them.

Hmm. Maybe I should run for sheriff.

[Demeter]

30. Japanese wholesale prices fall

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6beff668-27d9-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html

Japan’s wholesale prices registered their largest drop for almost seven years last month, stoking fears that the world’s second-largest economy was falling further into deflation.

The domestic corporate goods prices index (CGPI), which reflects what businesses pay for raw materials and energy, fell much more than expected. It posted a 2.2 per cent year-on-year decline as the price of a range of products fell, from non-ferrous metals to steel, according to the Bank of Japan.

This was the biggest fall in the CGPI since May 2002, and follows the BoJ’s quarterly tankan survey this month, showing business confidence down 34 points to a record low of minus 54.

The CGPI figures add to mounting evidence that the Japanese economy is becoming one of the biggest casualties of the global financial crisis, in spite of a financial sector that has been relatively shielded from subprime losses.

In the last quarter of last year, Japan’s real gross domestic product fell 12.1 per cent – the largest proportion among developed economies.

In February, real GDP fell 0.1 per cent in an unprecedented seventh consecutive month of decline.

Against mounting evidence of a sharp recession, the government has faced growing calls for action to create jobs and stimulate domestic demand.

“The reason why domestic demand isn’t growing is because disposable income has not risen,” Tsuyoshi Takagi, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, said on Monday.

The government unveiled a Y15,400bn ($154bn, €115bn, £104bn) stimulus package on Monday which, it said would boost GDP 2 per cent in the fiscal year starting this month and create up to 500,000 jobs.

The package, which follows an earlier stimulus of about 1.4 per cent of GDP, is “a large, meaningful boost to demand,” said Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities in Tokyo.

Share prices continued their upward trend on Monday as investors took cheer from the potential impact of the stimulus plan.

However, concerns are growing that Japan’s home-made deflation is set to strengthen, before the positive impact of the stimulus kicks in, with analysts expecting price falls to gather pace.

The CGPI has now fallen for three consecutive months, while the corporate services index, reflecting the price that companies pay for transport and other services, has been on a decline since November.

Price falls are broadening across the economy as demand has slumped amid the global downturn.

“Looking at the shape of the domestic economy, home-made deflation is set to strengthen,” said Barclays Capital in a note.

Consumer prices are also expected to fall as job and wage cuts reduce the level of households’ discretionary spending.

Wages fell for nine months to February, while unemployment rose to a three-year high of 4.4 per cent. The latter is widely expected to climb above 5 per cent

[Demeter]

32. Executive charity aims to counter anger

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c5b85e94-284a-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html


Some of Europe’s leading executives, chastened by rising anger over executive pay and bonuses, are setting up charities, giving away money or waiving their salaries.

Senior managers at Porsche and Volkswagen, who made millions on the back of controversial share price gains, have led the way with charitable donations.


Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive of Porsche, earned almost €80m ($107m, £72m) last year at the German sports carmaker, drawing scorn from some in Germany. He has set up two charities with €5m each to help needy families in the small German towns where he grew up and now has residences.

“Hopefully that will take the heat out of this debate and we can concentrate on doing our job,” he told colleagues last month.

Executives at VW who also benefited from wild share price movements in Europe’s largest carmaker agreed to give €2.5m to a civic foundation to help children. The donation, which amounted to 10 per cent of their gains from cashing in on stock options, was publicised by press release.

“We were very worried about the negative publicity of the top executives doubling their pay when the rest of the economy is doing so poorly but this was the perfect solution. Who can criticise giving money to children?” said one senior VW manager.

Some executives have responded to anger over their salaries by offering to work for a nominal €1 or $1. They include Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, and Wolfgang Klein of Postbank, who had drawn scorn for earning €3.3m after taking government aid for the loss-making German bank.

High-earning managers have long been a source of funds for charity. Philip Richards, co-founder of hedge fund RAB Capital, advocates paying a tithe – traditionally a one-tenth voluntary contribution – to charity.

But not everybody agrees public displays of charity are the best way to win back the public trust that business leaders have lost. Alessandro Profumo, chief executive of UniCredit, one of Europe’s largest banks, thinks self-publicising philanthropy creates the wrong impression: “I think people should give to charity privately and not publicise it. It doesn’t create the right impression.”

Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia and Royal Dutch Shell, says it can help win back respect as long as it does not look like an afterthought. “The best thing is if you don’t do it after the facts but that it is an ongoing feeling,” he says. “Philanthropy is one way but it needs to be part and parcel of what you do every day.”

MY IRONY METER IS BROKEN AGAIN--STUPID THING!

SO, THE ROCKEFEELER, CARNEIGIE, MELLON PATH TO PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE WITH THE WORKING CLASS THAT HAS BEEN RAPED BY THE INDUSTRIALISTS IS OPEN AGAIN?

[KoKo]

72. At least the path is open in Europe....

Given the state of greed here, one wonders. Perhaps new theme parks or spectacular museums to honor Reagan and Freidman will open giving the masses an opportunity to view a vanishing age of grandness. I'm thinking Williamsburg and various Museums and projects. Although this scum doesn't have the class to go along with the crass that those other robber barons had...imho.

[Demeter]

76. The robber barons of long ago new the value of class--and paid a pretty penny for it

Take the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum as an example....

[tclambert]

113. When I saw the phrase "executive charity" . . .

some very bad thoughts popped into my head, all based on the idea of a charity for the benefit of executives. Bread lines? No. Caviar lines. Soup kitchens? No. Lobster thermidor kitchens. Second hand clothing stores? No. Second hand mink stores. Food stamps? No. Jewelry stamps.

But then I shook my head and came back to reality. Executive charity starts with the TARP bailout.

[Pale Blue Dot]

34. Big Banks Increase Foreclosure Activity

From the WSJ: Banks Ramp Up Foreclosures

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all say they have increased foreclosure activity in recent weeks. Those companies say they have lifted internal moratoriums which temporarily halted foreclosures.
...
Citigroup Inc. says it stopped all foreclosures until March 12, at the Obama administration's request, on loans serviced for Fannie and Freddie. Since then, says a spokesman, it has "reverted to our previous business-as-usual moratorium."
...
Wells Fargo has also increased foreclosure actions since the expiration of its foreclosure moratorium ...

Both Fannie and Freddie have stepped up sales of foreclosed properties since their moratoriums ended on March 31.
...
More than 2.1 million homes will be lost this year because borrowers can't meet their loan payments, up from about 1.7 million in 2008, according to Moody's Economy.com.

Just something to be aware as foreclosure activity picks up again - the lull was because of the moratorium, not market fundamentals.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/04/big-banks-increase-foreclosure-activity.html

[Demeter]

37. Song for the Day (and Year)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlOFN2SYaEk&feature=player_embedded

NEW WORLD COMING

written by BARRY MANN, CYNTHIA WEIL


There's a new world comin'. and it's just around the bend.
There's a new world comin', this one's comin' to an end.
There's a new voice callin', you can hear it if you try.
And its growin' stronger with each day that passes by.

There's a brand new mornin', rising clear and sweet and free.
There's a new day dawnin', that belongs to you and me.
Yes, a new world's comin', the one we've had visions of

[Dr.Phool]

41. The end of the world as we know it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8&feature=related

[tclambert]

115. Funny how the audience was all smiles and giggles listening to this song.

Doesn't anyone pay attention to the words? It's not really an upbeat, happy, happy song.

[tclambert]

116. You might also like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akoukq5DvAE

Eve of Destruction.

[UpInArms]

53. dollar watch

dollar chart



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

Last trade 85.188 Change +0.408 (+0.52%)

Will Falling Consumer Prices Raise Growth Concerns and Support The Bullish Dollar Technical Outlook?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/special_report/special_reports/Will_Falling_Consumer_Prices_Raise_1239771807028.html

Consumer prices in March are expected to have their first annual drop since 1954 as economists are forecasting that they fell to -0.1% from 0.2% the month prior. Following yesterday’s larger than expected 3.5% decline in producer prices we could see a sharper than expected fall in inflation.



Fundamental Outlook

This will raise deflation concerns and could reignite depression talk as the downside risk to the economy will increase if the Fed’s printing of money fails to raise prices to a level where they stimulate growth. Therefore, a decline in inflation could spark risk aversion sentiment and lead to dollar support which would support the bullish greenback technical outlook.

...more...

US Dollar Higher as Stocks Slip in Asian Trading, Fueling Demand for Safety

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/special_report/special_reports/US_Dollar_Higher_as_Stocks_1239771778684.html

The US Dollar gained on demand for safe-haven assets as stocks fell across Asian exchanges. Overnight data saw Westpac forecast that Australian interest rates will head lower in the second half of the year as the economy sinks into recession. Germany’s Wholesale Price Index is on tap in European hours.

Key Overnight Developments

• UK House Prices Improved in March, Says RICS
• Australian Leading Index Drops to Record Low, Signals Recession
• US Dollar Higher as Stocks Slip on US Retail Sales, Higher Yen

Critical Levels



...more...

[DemReadingDU]

54. GM bonds: Big trouble for small investors

4/15/09 GM bonds: Big trouble for small investors

Nearly $6 billion of GM's unsecured debt is held by individual investors like Harley VanDeloo. A GM bankruptcy could mean a 'significant' loss to his income.

Harley VanDeloo, a 69-year old retiree in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has resigned himself to losing an important piece of his retirement income: interest payments from $25,000 worth of General Motors bonds.

The bonds were due to pay VanDeloo about $1,000 twice a year, an important supplement to his social security benefits that he said are his main source of income.

"It's not going to kill us, but it's significant," he said about the loss of income.

VanDeloo, a self-described car enthusiast who says his GM van is the best car he's ever owned, bought the bonds at a 20% discount just over a year ago. He believed GM (GM, Fortune 500) was on the verge of a turnaround and that the bonds were relatively safe despite having already been downgraded to junk bond status by the rating agencies.

He said he didn't care about the bonds' prices. He was attracted instead to the better than 8% yield the bonds paid. "They were due to be paying off well after I'm gone," he said about the debt, which matures in 2033.

VanDeloo said he had been hoping that GM would avoid bankruptcy right up through January of this year. But as the company's sales and financial performance continued to sink, so did his hopes for his income stream. The January payments did arrive, but he thinks the automaker is likely to default on its debt before the next payment is due in June.

VanDeloo is just one of many average Americans who could lose out if GM goes bankrupt. According to an ad hoc committee of GM bondholders, which represents the major bondholders in negotiations with the company, nearly $6 billion of the $28 billion in unsecured bonds are held by retail investors, in blocks as small as $25 in some cases.

That's in stark contrast to the situation at privately held Chrysler LLC, where almost all of its debt is held by banks and major investors.

more...
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/15/news/companies/gm_bonds/index.htm?postversion=2009041503

[DemReadingDU]

68. Michael Collins: The Money Party

From a couple years ago...

Michael Collins: The Money Party
Sunday, 30 September 2007, 8:50 pm

The Money Party: The Essence of our Political Troubles

The Money Party is a small group of enterprises and individuals who have most of the money in this country. They use that money to make more money. Controlling who gets elected to public office is the key to more money for them and less for us. As 2008 approaches, The Money Party is working hard to maintain its perfect record.

It is not about Republicans versus Democrats. Right now, the Republicans do a better job taking money than the Democrats. But The Money Party is an equal opportunity employer. They have no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. Democrats are as welcome as Republicans to this party. It’s all good when you’re on the take and the take is legal.

This is not a conspiracy theory. There are no secret societies or sinister operators. This party is up front and in your face. Just follow the money. One percent of Americans hold 33% of the nation’s wealth. The top 10% hold 72% of the total wealth. The bottom 40% of Americans control only 0.3% (three tenths of one percent). And that was before “pay day loans.”

The story is as old as civilization but the stakes have never been higher than they are right now.

In every campaign for major office, the party passes out money and buys candidates from both parties. Thanks to the candidates who get elected, this pay to play system remains perfectly legal. Those elected get luxury trips, sweet jobs for family members, and more campaign contributions for the next round of elections. What they do is perfectly legal even though it looks like bribery.

In return for contributions, the election winners come through by fixing the laws so that The Money Party cleans up. Lower taxes, highly favorable business regulations, laws that shield their businesses from real competition all start with the nonstop flow of Money Party funds. Cost is no object, because in the end it’s all paid for with our tax dollars.

The Money Party gets no-bid contracts as well as the ability to lay off their employees and dump their pension plans just about any time they want. It doesn’t get much better than that. It's welfare for big money and survival of the fittest for the rest of us.

We are nothing to them.

When the White House and Congress ignore the health care crisis year after year, why be surprised? They’re not in office to serve you. The drug companies and hospitals had their bid in first.

When our public servants fail to get us out of Iraq, don’t take it personally. That will happen when The Money Party says so.

When citizens suffer and starve for days after a hurricane, we’re told they should have been better prepared. When levees and bridges collapse, it's an act of God. But when the fat no-bid contracts show up, The Money Party takes it all.

Unreliable election systems, citizens excluded from the vote on the basis of race and class, and questionable results don’t matter as long as the right candidates get in. We pretend to vote, they pretend to get elected, but there’s no doubt who is in charge - The Money Party.

It’s nothing personal. The party is just doing its job. Why be surprised or disappointed? It’s been happening for centuries. The more some have, the more they want, the harder they fight to keep it. Spread some around so they can get even more. It’s a rigged game from top to bottom.

We let this happen. We can change it. The first step is to name it, and we just did.

The Irish fought for 800 years to win their independence from the world’s most powerful empire. Generations came and went before the goal even seemed possible. They never gave up.

Now it’s our turn.

END

Note: This is the first in series of articles on The Money Party. Other topics include why we end up with such lousy leaders, why it’s so hard to get rid of them, and how the party manipulates the public debate with misleading terms and crackpot ideas that seem legitimate. Special thanks to John Arbuthnot and Jillian Hayroot for their input.

Permission granted to reproduce in whole or part with a link to the original article in “Scoop” Independent News and attribution of authorship to Michael Collins.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0709/S00549.htm


More Money Party articles
http://electionfraudnews.com/MichaelCollins.htm

[AnneD]

70. Morning Marketeers.........

:donut: and Lurkers. Wicked funny toon today Ozy. well this evening we bid a fond farewell to my favorite Germany friends. We didn't spend as much time with them as we would have liked.

We also have so big doings in our household. Hubby released his first You Tube video. I cannot access you tube here at work to cut and paste but if you can for a looks ie, just search You Tube for "Eastern Fantasia" by David Courtney. We gave it a retro 60's look complete with shots of his hometown of Hyderabad. I'll post the link tomorrow (unless someone with You Tube access is kind and can post it here). Our CD is finished and the cover is going to press next week. We want to do a CD launch and a school opening party in May. Looks like I am about to be drug into the music business. Hubby is the artist but I am the business person-so I have to set it up so that it works for us. Thank God we have good friends that know IT marketing and can help us with web pages, domains, UPS codes, etc. Well, there goes my summer. Next time he travels-I'd better be on the train too. I know things have been bleak in the financial pages- so I wanted to share some good news for a change.

Hubby is a kind good man that has worked very hard all his life. He has met bigotry with kindness, adversity with patience, and has always kept his humour and his friends. This is something he has always dreamed of achieving. It is nice to see good guys coming in first now and then. I'll keep you posted on this overnight success that took 30 years to achieve.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Demeter]

75. Here It Is, AnneD!

http://www.chandrakantha.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxSpKlDEFkw

[AnneD]

80. Thanks Demeter....

I hope you all enjoy it.

[Demeter]

81. I Did. It's Lovely

I care for an elderly couple from the Punjab, and get a load of Zee TV, and it's generally awful stuff, Western ripoff and TV soap soundtrack. This sounds like something worth listening to!

[AnneD]

98. I have a confession...

Hubby plays Indian classical-and don't get me wrong-I appreciate it. But I really love Punjabi folk music. I never tire of it. I even like Punjabi rap. Of all the places and people I met in India-the Punjabi 'get it' as far as music is concerned. I can't listen for a few minutes that my feet don't start tapping. I think a fusion with American music forms would yeild some interesting fruit.

[DemReadingDU]

82. Very nice, thanks for sharing!

[Karenina]

91. Really beautiful stuff!!!

[KoKo]

86. Very nice....thanks...takes me

back to a Ravi Shankar concert in Carnegie Hall...many moons ago. Loved the visuals bringing back that mood.

[AnneD]

99. That was the look and mood we were going for...

I'll let David know. I think it was one of the best things he's done to date.

[Ghost Dog]

111. Very nice. I'm also enjoying this mp3 audio track

http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/trailer/4203/bageshri.mp3 found at Srinivas's geocities page http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/trailer/4203/

Thanks! And do keep up the internet 'marketing' work :thumbsup:

[AnneD]

119. Good on ya mate....

we are movin on up to the east side of the internet as they say. Since we are pay as you go people it has been slow, but the video and soon to be released CD seems to be changing that. The number of students has exploded in the last few months and and the talent that has walked in has been amazing.

I had been bugging him for years to record and he finally started listening. He has a gift for it and since he has no children of his own-his music and students are his legacy. He is just starting to reach his peak as far as preforming-so we are hoping to help him make the transition from needing the day job to having the day job be a hindrance.

I remember someone once telling me that when someone is playing the sitar-that you can hear what sounds like other sitars playing in the vibrations. Now I have heard Ravi Shankar play on many an occasion and in many locations-but I never heard that. At one of my husband's concerts-I once heard and counted 7 separate sitar sounds. I have never heard as many since (3-4 is good) but just hearing that many convinced me to get him on tape.

Enough of the esoterica of the Sitar. Glad you enjoyed it. Next time we are in the neighbourhood...we'll let you know.

[tclambert]

117. Trippy use of solarization. Very 60s.

Reminds me of that scene in Across the Universe where Bono sings I am the Walrus.

Lovely music, lovely video.

[ozymandius]

128. Also aspects I enjoyed.

It is reminiscent of Hendrix videos. I am very impressed with the audio and video quality and the inspired music.

[AnneD]

131. It may be considered an 'amateur' production.....

but we are far from amateurs. Hubby has been a musician since childhood. David has been producing he and his own wife's music since the 80's. He is a great sound and recording tech, and a wicked tabla player too.

He and hubby are best mates in the best Australian sense of the word. Chandra and I get along great too. Funny thing though when we travel, folks try to pair David and I together and SK and Chandra together.

[Demeter]

79. Shamelessly Stolen From Larkspur: Economist William Black accuses Obama Admin of breaking the law...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123940701204709985.html?page=sp

With the passion of an Old Testament Prophet admonishing the Kings of Israel for breaking the Covenant with God, William Black, Associate Professor, Economics and Law, University of Missouri warns that the current banking crisis and an inappropriate response to it can destroy Obama's Presidency in an interview in this week's Barron's.

We have failed bankers giving advice to failed regulators on how to deal with failed assets. How can it result in anything but failure? If they are going to get any truthful investigation, the Democrats picked the wrong financial team. Tim Geithner, the current Secretary of the Treasury, and Larry Summers, chairman of the National Economic Council, were important architects of the problems. Geithner especially represents a failed regulator, having presided over the bailouts of major New York banks.

It is worse than a lie. Geithner has appropriated the language of his critics and of the forthright to support dishonesty. That is what's so appalling -- numbering himself among those who convey tough medicine when he is really pandering to the interests of a select group of banks who are on a first-name basis with Washington politicians.

The current law mandates prompt corrective action, which means speedy resolution of insolvencies. He is flouting the law, in naked violation, in order to pursue the kind of favoritism that the law was designed to prevent. He has introduced the concept of capital insurance, essentially turning the U.S. taxpayer into the sucker who is going to pay for everything. He chose this path because he knew Congress would never authorize a bailout based on crony capitalism.

Geithner is mistaken when he talks about making deeply unpopular moves. Such stiff resolve to put the major banks in receivership would be appreciated in every state but Connecticut and New York. His use of language like "legacy assets" -- and channeling the worst aspects of Milton Friedman -- is positively Orwellian. Extreme conservatives wrongly assume that the government can't do anything right. And they wrongly assume that the market will ultimately lead to correct actions. If cheaters prosper, cheaters will dominate. It is like Gresham's law: Bad money drives out the good. Well, bad behavior drives out good behavior, without good enforcement.

His plan essentially perpetuates zombie banks by mispricing toxic assets that were mispriced to the borrower and mispriced by the lender, and which only served the unfaithful lending agent.

[Demeter]

83. Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's topped raining for a bit--see you all tonight!

[Warpy]

84. Love that cartoon

and I can relate fully. I gave Turbo Tax a real workout this year and had to send my forms in one of those big mailers from the USPS.

[AnneD]

122. Because of Hurricane Ike....

CPA and accountants are working overtime.

[Pale Blue Dot]

89. Lambuth University can't make payroll

Lambuth University officials announced Tuesday that the school will not be able to make its regularly scheduled payroll today.

The business office was informed Monday that an anticipated line of credit would not be available as previously thought, according to a news release from the university.

Jerry Israel, interim president of Lambuth, broke the news to the faculty and staff at a meeting in the R.E. Womack Chapel Tuesday afternoon.

Israel said Tuesday evening that he did not know how soon the university would be able to pay employees.

"It might be a day, it may be two," Israel said. "It may be relatively short-lived, but we won't know until it is over."

The university's financial difficulty is directly related to the credit crunch that has spread from Wall Street to communities throughout the country, Israel said.

"The banks don't have the flexibility, and it is much more difficult to get credit," Israel said.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090415/NEWS0401/90415011

Yesterday somebody on DU called me "obsessed". Well, here I am on my lunch break looking at bad news; maybe he had a point.

[DemReadingDU]

92. and in L.A., Schoolteachers Protest Budget Cuts

4/15/09 L.A. Public Schoolteachers Protest Budget Cuts

The Los Angeles public schools are facing a huge budget deficit. The Board of Education voted Tuesday to cut thousands of jobs over the coming year — everything from teachers to janitors.

Angry teachers, holding picket signs and mock pink slips, chanted outside the doors of the downtown Los Angeles school board offices.

Inside the packed board chambers, fifth-grade teacher Araceli Castro pleaded with school board members not to fire her.

"I've always begun the first day of class telling my students I was once in your seat, I grew up in your community, and I was able to achieve my dreams," Castro said.

"I fear that in consequence of them seeing what is happening to their beloved teacher, they will be afraid to aspire to their own dreams, because they can see how quickly everything can be taken away from them," Castro added.

The school board is facing a nearly $600 million deficit. To close the gap, the school superintendent says the district must lay off 7,000 thousand teachers and staff, increase class sizes and even have schools share principals.

more...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103119173


p.s. Spouse calls me obsessed too.

:shrug:

[AnneD]

108. Cassandra complex.......

most of us here a afflicted with it at some point or another:pals:

Keep us posted.

Edited to add that I read that many teachers were not paid during the depression and farm families gave food donations to help pay.

[Dr.Phool]

93. A friend of mine just called me, to let me know he was gonna stop by.

I co-managed his congressional campaign in '06. He was driving by the park in New Port Richey, while he was on the phone with me, and saw a bunch of tea-baggers gathered there.

He's always armed with a bullhorn in his trunk. In fact he got close enough to Bush in '04 to stop his speech in the same park a few times.

He decided to stop and have some fun.

[Roland99]

95. Oh, can't wait to hear the details!

:-)

[Dr.Phool]

106. He had some fun, and got it all on video tape.

He had them eating out of his hand, when talking about the bailouts, and how both parties have to sell their souls to get elected.

Everything was going fine, and they were cheering him, until he identified himself. I guess he created a lot of cognitive dissonance. A few heads exploded.

Now, him and a well-known, activist elections attorney are headed down to the main event in Tampa.

[Roland99]

96. And the job news keeps getting better....

First off, thanks for the warm congrats yesterday on me starting a short-term job tomorrow.

Today, I took that phone interview from a place in Orlando and they now want me there for an in-person interview! Trying to get that scheduled for Monday.

Plus, I've had 5 phone calls since Monday for other job opportunities in the area.

Things are finally starting to pop, for me anyway.

[Tansy_Gold]

97. This warms my heart.

You know, I don't know any of you in the personal face to face sense, but I spent a lot of time here when my own fortunes were looking very, very bleak. I'm glad that for someone else, things are starting maybe to turn in a positive direction.

Good for you, Roland. May we all take encouragement from your example.


:thumbsup:


:yourock:

[AnneD]

107. I feel the same way.....

I know what a tough time some areas of the country are having.

The worst part of going through the crash in the 80's was the isolation. You went through a grinding day just trying to survive and at the end of the day you were by yourself-too much in your own thoughts. That makes it doubly hard to hang in there. What I wouldn't have given for an atta girl-keep trying or even a tip now and then.

You don't want to be a drag on your friends, and it can be embarrassing to let them know how tough it really is. So sometimes we feel a bit free-er to talk about things here than with most folks we know. And that really lifts a heavy burden.

[antigop]

105. Great to hear, Roland. Hope things work out for you! n/t

[Demeter]

121. Go get Them, tiger!

Sory for my erratic typing...I have to reboot, I think. Too much junk piling up from not powering down...

[tclambert]

124. Hey, I was busy yesterday, didn't hear your good news.

Congratulations! And here's hopes for more!

[ozymandius]

126. Again - Good on ya!

That's great news to hear on a thread so often bereft of such things. With Ms. Boyle and you, this has been a stellar day for positive new beginnings.

:toast:

[ozymandius]

127. End of the day stuff.

Dow 8,029.62 Up 109.44 (1.38%)
Nasdaq 1,626.80 Up 1.08 (0.07%)
S&P 500 852.06 Up 10.56 (1.25%)
10-Yr Bond 2.759% Down 0.027
NYSE Volume 7,291,411,500
Nasdaq Volume 2,105,109,250

4:30 pm : A late surge of buying interest was accompanied by a spike in trading volume, which helped all three major indices finish at their session highs.

The buying effort was largely focused on financial stocks. The sector reversed early weakness to trade with gains for the entire afternoon, but it wasn't until a surge in the final hour that financials were able to climb to their session high. Financials finished with a gain of 5.6% for the session.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM 32.56, +1.86) was a primary leader in the move by financials. Interest in shares of JPM comes ahead of the company's first quarter earnings announcement, which takes place tomorrow morning.

The move by financials helped spur buying in the broader market so that nine of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 closed in the green.

Technology was the only sector to finish with a loss. It closed 0.7% lower amid weakness in shares of large-cap tech stocks like Intel (INTC 15.62, -0.39). Intel actually announced last evening better-than-expected first quarter earnings results and indicated during its conference call that a bottom has been reached in the personal computer market. Intel went on to say that the worst is behind them from an inventory and demand perspective.

Traders' decision to sell such good news comes in contrast to the trends seen in recent weeks. Nonetheless, Intel's weakness bled into other semiconductor and large-cap tech stocks. As such, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.5%, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.4%.

While most large-cap tech stocks lagged, Google (GOOG 379.50, +10.59) traded with strength ahead of its earnings announcement tomorrow evening. Google's strength helped lift the Nasdaq Composite out of negative territory in the final few minutes of trade, but Google's strength didn't prevent the Nasdaq from lagging its counterparts for the entire session.

Economic data did little to move investors this session. March industrial production fell a more-than-expected 1.5%, while capacity utilization came in at 69.3%.

Consumer prices for March slipped 0.1%, but core prices increased 0.2%. Economists expected a respective increase of 0.1% and an increase of 0.1%.

The Fed released its Beige Book, which didn't contain any real surprises. Though five of 12 districts reported contraction slowed last month, the bigger message is that activity still contracted. Essentially, the report fit Fed Chairman Bernanke's recent pronouncement that there are tentative signs the decline in economic activity may be slowing.DJ30 +109.44 NASDAQ +1.08 NQ100 -0.4% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.4% SP500 +10.56 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1702/2.06 bln/998 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2162/1.48 bln/872

[Ghost Dog]

129. That is indeed large volume;

what we were calling only a year or so ago _very_ large volume.