"Some Like It Hotter" Weekend Economists October 1-3, 2010

[Demeter]

This weekend we say goodbye and safe landing to Tony Curtis, aka Bernie Schwartz, a leading man and comic hero of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I confess an early infatuation with Tony Curtis. Something about that apple-cheeked, dimpled smile set my girlish heart aflutter. The fact that he was 6.5 years older than my father didn't register.

"Tony Curtis (June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor who's career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 60 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.

Although his early film roles were partly the result of his good looks, by the latter half of the 1950s he became a notable and strong screen presence. He began proving himself to be a “fine dramatic actor,” having the range to act in numerous dramatic and comedy roles. In his earliest parts he acted in a string of "mediocre" films, including swashbucklers, westerns, light comedies, sports films, and a musical. However, by the time he starred in Houdini (1953) with his wife Janet Leigh, "his first clear success," notes critic David Thomson, his acting had progressed immensely.

He won his first serious recognition as a skilled dramatic actor in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in another drama, The Defiant Ones (1958). Curtis then gave what many believe was his best acting, in a completely different role, the comedy Some Like it Hot (1959). Thomson calls it an "outrageous film," which costarred Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by Billy Wilder. That was followed by Blake Edwards’ comedy Operation Petticoat (1959) with Cary Grant. Those two “frantic comedies” were among his many collaborations with Edwards, and displayed “his impeccable comic timing.” He gave another strong comedic performance in ‘’The Rat Race’’ (1960).

His most significant serious part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama The Boston Strangler, which some consider his “last major film role.” The part reinforced his reputation as a serious actor with his "chilling portrayal" of serial killer Albert de Salvo. He gained 30 pounds and had his face “rebuilt” with a false nose to look like the real de Salvo.

Curtis is the father of actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis who he fathered with his wife, actress Janet Leigh. He died of a heart attack near Las Vegas on September 29, 2010.

Early life

Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in Bronx, New York, the son of Emanuel Schwartz and his wife, Helen Klein. His parents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants from Mátészalka, Hungary. Hungarian was Curtis' only language until he was five or six, postponing his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop — the parents in one corner and Curtis and his brothers Julius and Robert in another. His mother had once made an appearance as a participant on the television show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Curtis said, "When I was a child, Mom beat me up and was very aggressive and antagonistic." His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness which also affected his brother Robert and led to Robert's institutionalization. When Curtis was eight, he and his younger brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis attended Seward Park High School.

During World War II, Curtis joined the United States Navy, inspired by watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo and Tyrone Power in Crash Dive (1943). He served aboard USS Proteus, a submarine tender, and on September 2, 1945, he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from about a mile away. Following his discharge, Curtis attended City College of New York under the G.I. Bill and studied acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator, along with Elaine Stritch, Walter Matthau, and Rod Steiger. He was discovered by a talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Curtis claims it was because he "was the handsomest of the boys." Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at age 23, he was placed under contract at Universal Pictures and changed his name to Tony Curtis, taking his first name from the novel Anthony Adverse and his last name from "Kurtz", a surname from his mother's family. Although the studio taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admits he was at first only interested in girls and money."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis

A typical story of success we hear so often in that generation--immigrant reaches pinnacle after starting from nothing. Will we ever have that kind of social opportunity and mobility again in this country==outside of the great athlete or the great beauty? What do great minds do in this 3rd World Country?
Emigrate?

Post them if you've got them.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. First rec!

I may actually be around this week-end.

And maybe I'll have some success stories to post.


Tansy Gold, not quite a failure ;-)

[Demeter]

6. Looking forward to the company!

[Demeter]

2. Latter-Day "Houdinis"

Houdini is a 1953 biographical film about the life of the magician and escapologist Harry Houdini. It was made by Paramount Pictures, directed by George Marshall and produced by George Pal from a screenplay by Philip Yordan, based on the book Houdini by Harold Kellock. The music score was by Roy Webb and the cinematography by Ernest Laszlo. The art direction was by Albert Nozaki and Hal Pereira and the costume design by Edith Head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3BPpCQeLI

"Houdini" is one of my favorites--the fact that the Detroit River plays a part in it contributing in no small measure. Magic tricks (legerdemain) was a popular hobby in the 60's, and TV featured magicians and circuses and all such wonders for kids to marvel. Here are some actual clips of the real Houdini:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8AC21wSiWI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SMh_uiva1Y&feature=related

and a documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf5FHY2po4k&feature=related

[Demeter]

3. ONE BANK DISAPPEARS

Wakulla Bank, Crawfordville, Florida, was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Centennial Bank, Conway, Arkansas, to assume all of the deposits of Wakulla Bank.

The 12 branches of Wakulla Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Centennial Bank...As of June 30, 2010, Wakulla Bank had approximately $424.1 million in total assets and $386.3 million in total deposits. Centennial Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of Wakulla Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Centennial Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Centennial Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $212.7 million of Wakulla Bank's assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $113.4 million. Compared to other alternatives, Centennial Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Wakulla Bank is the 128th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the twenty-fifth in Florida. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Haven Trust Bank Florida, Ponte Vedra, on September 24, 2010.

[Demeter]

38. OOPS! SHEILA DID IT AGAIN! SECOND BANK VANISHES

Shoreline Bank, Shoreline, Washington, was closed today by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with GBC International Bank, Los Angeles, California, to assume all of the deposits of Shoreline Bank.

The three branches of Shoreline Bank will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of GBC International Bank...As of June 30, 2010, Shoreline Bank had approximately $104.2 million in total assets and $100.2 million in total deposits. GBC International Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.25 percent to assume all of the deposits of Shoreline Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, GBC International Bank agreed to purchase approximately $65.7 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the balance of the assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and GBC International Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $49.2 million of Shoreline Bank's assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $41.4 million. Compared to other alternatives, GBC International Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Shoreline Bank is the 129th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the tenth in Washington. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was North County Bank, Arlington, on September 24, 2010.

[Demeter]

39. MINIMUM LOSSES $154.8 MILLION

Any credit unions down? (Any credit unions left?)

[Demeter]

26. Jury is still out over rescue of Wachovia

It was a deal that almost did not happen. And yet, the tale of how Wells Fargo snapped up failing Wachovia from under Citigroup’s nose at the height of the financial crisis is likely to be regarded as one of the savviest negotiating moves of all time

Read more >>

http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/6VSD62/K91WR/C5UWTM/5CWH18/AZ/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=29

[Demeter]

28. Eurozone banks face test as loans expire

The health of eurozone banks faces a fresh test this week when they are due to roll over the largest amount of loans at the European Central Bank since early July, when €442bn of one-year loans matured

Read more >>

http://link.ft.com/r/TWK799/OJC3EO/4VXHZ/NS0E3H/KEPZ8K/ID/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=27

THAR SHE BLOWS!!!

[Demeter]

29. At Hearing, a Dispute Over Banking Provision in Reform Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/business/01regulate.html?_r=1&src=busln

The unity of regulators who have to put the Dodd-Frank financial reform law into effect was put to the test at a Congressional hearing Thursday as squabbling emerged over a provision affecting lenders.

The disagreement involved a measure requiring lenders to keep at least 5 percent of the credit risk when they bundle and sell debt.

Before the housing market collapsed in 2007, many mortgage originators made reckless loans, in part because they were able to quickly sell them to other investors to lay off the risk. The new law required regulators to change that.

So on Monday, the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation voted 4 to 1 to approve a rule that makes “risk retention” by banks a condition for any bank that wants protection under new accounting rules if the bank were to fail...

[Demeter]

32. U.S. Treasury Gets $1 Billion Profit on Sale of Citigroup Stake

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/u-s-treasury-sells-5-stake-in-citigroup-for-5-9-billion.html

The U.S. Treasury Department earned a $1.02 billion profit for taxpayers from the sale of a 5 percent stake in Citigroup Inc. during the past nine weeks as markets slowed and the bank’s share price fell.

The Treasury sold 1.5 billion shares since July 26 for $5.9 billion, it said yesterday in a statement. That equals an average price of $3.93 a share, more than the $3.25 taxpayers paid for a stake in the New York-based bank during the financial crisis of 2008. The sales were handled by Morgan Stanley.

Treasury’s stake in Citigroup, the fourth-biggest U.S. bank by deposits, fell to 3.6 billion shares, or about 12 percent. The stake is worth about $14 billion. The department, headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, sold shares at a rate of 31 million a day, less than half the pace it needs to meet its goal of exiting the bank by the end of this year.

“I don’t think that’s good from Treasury’s point of view and I don’t think that’s good from Citigroup’s point of view,” Linus Wilson, a finance professor at the University of Louisiana, said in a telephone interview. “The longer the sale takes, the more chances that Treasury is going to have to sell some shares at a loss.” ...

[Demeter]

33. TARP Bailout to Cost Less Than Once Anticipated (HERE WE GO AGAIN)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/business/01tarp.html?hp

..........

Among those who voted for the program in 2008, several Republicans have lost nominating contests for re-election or for another office, and others are on the defensive in fall races.

Senator Robert F. Bennett of Utah was “Bailout Bob” to Republicans who refused to re-nominate him for a fourth term.

“For those who were screaming at me — and screaming was the operative word — ‘You’ve just saddled our children and grandchildren with $700 billion,’ I said, ‘No, I haven’t,” Mr. Bennett said in an interview.

“My career is over,” he added. “But I do hope that we can get the word out that TARP, number one, did save the world from a financial meltdown and, number two, did so in a manner that, I believe, won’t cost the taxpayer anything. And even if it did not all get paid back, it was still the thing to do.”

[Demeter]

42. A Bank Bailout Some Won't Exit MUST READ FOR BASIC INFO

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522242672430182.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

The government's $700 billion financial bailout officially ends Monday, costing far less than expected and having largely achieved its goal of propping up the financial sector. But some banks are having a hard time letting go.

For months, financial institutions across the U.S. fought to extricate themselves from the much-maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was viewed as a liability for banks because of pay restrictions and the potential for government meddling.

Yet with Monday's TARP expiration looming, more than 600 banks are sitting on about $65 billion in government bailout funds. The situation is frustrating federal officials who believe some larger institutions can repay the government but have chosen not to because it would require them to raise additional capital and weaken existing shareholders, according to government officials.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been trying to "put TARP out of its misery" for months and the government is in the process of winding down programs and trying to recoup money already invested. Many of the programs have either ended or are shrinking...

LOTS OF LUCK, TIMMY! YOU'RE GONNA NEED IT.

[Demeter]

72. The Credit Meltdown and the Shadow Banking System: What Basel III Missed

http://www.truth-out.org/the-credit-meltdown-and-shadow-banking-system-what-basel-iii-missed63782



...What went wrong in September 2008 was not that the existing Basel II capital requirements were too low, but that banks found a way around the rules. The Basel II rules base a bank's capital requirement on how risky its loan book is, and banks can make their books look less risky by buying unregulated "insurance contracts" known as credit default swaps (CDS). This insurance, however, proved to be a fraud, when insurer AIG went bankrupt on September 15, 2008. The credit collapse that followed has normally been blamed on the collapse of the subprime housing market. But according to Yale economist Gary Gorton (whose views were recently embraced by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke), the subprime problem was not itself sufficient to trigger a global credit freeze. What it did trigger was an old-fashioned bank run, in the not-so-familiar market known as the shadow banking system....



Only a complete overhaul of the banking system can eliminate these systemic flaws, flaws that ultimately stem from a misconception about what money is. We think of it as a "thing," something that must be dug out of the ground or borrowed from someone who already has it. Since banks don't have enough of this thing to cover their loans and investments, they engage in a shell game in which they advance credit and scramble to cover it with short-term loans, exposing them to the systemic risk of sudden and unpredictable withdrawals.

That is the old model, but today money and credit are something else. No gold or other commodity backs our money today. Nothing backs it but "the full faith and credit of the United States." Money and credit are creatures merely of legal agreement, a tally of accounts keeping track of who owes what to whom. Two or more parties can enter into a legal agreement without having any money at all. They can advance credit against goods or services and engage in productive trade. The tribute exacted by a private banking monopoly actually hampers this productive flow. As Thomas Jefferson complained to Treasury Secretary Gallatin in 1815:

"The treasury, lacking confidence in the country, delivered itself bound hand and foot to bold and bankrupt adventurers and bankers pretending to have money, whom it could have crushed at any moment."

Jefferson wrote to John Eppes in 1813:

"Although we have so foolishly allowed the field of circulating medium to be filched from us by private individuals, I think we may recover it.... The states should be asked to transfer the right of issuing paper money to Congress, in perpetuity."

The "full faith and credit of the United States" could and should be overseen by a branch of the United States, just as legal agreements are overseen by the judiciary. Publicly-owned banks could issue the full faith and credit of the nation without worrying about capital or reserves. After all, if you are the United States, why do you need "reserves" of your own credit?

While we're waiting for the Calvary to swoop down from Washington and save us - something that could take a while - we might consider setting up some state-owned banks. The Bank of North Dakota, currently the country's only state-owned bank, is very stable and very profitable, returning a 26 percent dividend to the state. A bank of that sort could be an attractive investment for all those state and local rainy day funds, pension funds and other local government funds looking for greater returns from the low-risk investments allowed by their legislative mandates. We need to set up some banks that serve the needs of the real economy rather than those of Wall Street bankers, brokers and their super-rich clients for yet more bonuses, bailouts and paper profits. State-owned banks could fill the role the Wall Street banks have declined to fill, providing an effective credit engine for state and local economies.

[Demeter]

4. "The Great Race" (to the Bottom)

The Great Race is a 1965 slapstick comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. It starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, Arthur O'Connell and Vivian Vance....

Only the approximate race route and the time period were borrowed by Blake Edwards in his effort to make "the funniest comedy ever" <1>. Building on the dedication to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy", the film makes use of every silent movie era slapstick and visual gag, along with double entendres, parodies, and period-related absurdisms. (Amongst these are the elaborate gowns of Maggie DuBois and the fact that, with limited luggage, she never repeats an outfit.) A western saloon brawl embodies a parody of Westerns in general, and a plot detour launched during the final third of the film is a direct parody of The Prisoner of Zenda. The unintended consequences of Professor Fate's order, "Push the button, Max!", is a running gag, along with the untouchability of "The Great Leslie".

Music for the film was by Henry Mancini and the costumes were designed by Edith Head. Production design, so important in setting the period but also in establishing a setting for the visual humour, was by Fernando Carrere who also designed The Great Escape and The Pink Panther for Blake Edwards.

Marvin Kaplan, Peter Falk, and Dorothy Provine all appeared in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World two years earlier....

The Great Race was generally not well-received upon time of release and was considered a critical flop, making it the first notable failure for director Blake Edwards. Most critics attacked its blatant and sometimes overdone slapstick humor claiming it was merely a "joke" movie and it had little substance as a film; it also suffered from comparisons with another race-themed "epic comedy" of 1965, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (which was a commercial success and found favor with many critics). Regardless of its initial reception, it has since become something of a cult film due to the solid performances of its main cast (in particular, those of Peter Falk, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis) and such memorable scenes as a large fist fight in a Western Saloon, one of the better sword fights filmed, and a rather lengthy pie fight towards the film's climax. The film was a box office smash however and was one of the top 10 grossing films of 1965.

The film also won an Oscar for Best Sound Effects as well as being nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Song (Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer), and Best Sound.<2> It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (Jack Lemmon). It currently has a 75% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BOOgW7rHE

I really cannot too strongly recommend this film.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GIchwvJ-aNk/SnI-vnhBGwI/AAAAAAAAKOE/2hrckrU20ik/s800/The+Great+Race+movie+poster.jpg

[Po_d Mainiac]

5. Good title for U$D currency related articles

[Demeter]

7. The Whole Damn US, IMO

[Po_d Mainiac]

8. Race to the Bottom

Race to the Bottom
Submitted by Peter D Schiff on Thu, 30 Sep 2010

<snip>

However, due to the blather spouted by modern economists, success is no longer measured in those terms. Instead, governments simply look to pump up nominal levels of gross domestic product (GDP), while simultaneously catering to the needs of entrenched political classes. As exports feed directly into GDP, currency devaluation has been widely used as a means to boost exports and therefore achieve 'prosperity.' In this model, selling is an end unto itself. There is no focus whatsoever paid to the obviously negative consequences of currency debasement: diminished purchasing power and lowered living standards.

Way back in the 20th century, a nation's currency was viewed much as a company's stock price. The reliability, competitiveness, and growth of a national economy usually translated into a strong currency. This system made sense.

http://financialsense.com/contributors/peter-d-schiff/race-to-the-bottom

[Demeter]

9. Tax Cuts for the rich create jobs outside the US

http://www.ianwelsh.net/tax-cuts-for-the-rich-create-jobs-outside-the-us/

The standard right wing talking point that tax cuts for the rich and for corporations create jobs is true: Tax cuts for the rich create jobs overseas.

The tax cuts’ two bills, in 2001 and 2003 – changed laws so that personal income tax rates were reduced, exemptions for the Alternative Minimum Tax increased, and dividend and capital gains taxes also cut.

Yet in the debate, it seems of no moment to either side whether the tax cuts were effective in achieving their goal of spurring business investment and making the US economy more competitive.

Our own examination of US non-residential investment indicates that the reduction in capital gains tax rates failed to spur US business investment and failed to improve US economic competitiveness.

The 2000s – that is, the period immediately following the Bush tax cuts – were the weakest decade in US postwar history for real non-residential capital investment.

Not only were the 2000s by far the weakest period, but the tax cuts did not even curtail the secular slowdown in the growth of business structures.

Rather, the slowdown accelerated into a full decline.

The logic of this is simple enough. If you have money to invest, you’re going to invest it where it’ll return the most. Right now and in the past couple decades that is either in leveraged financial games, or it is in economies which are growing fast and have low costs. The US does not have high growth compared to China or Brazil or many other developing countries. It has high costs compared to those countries as well.

If you can build a factory overseas which produces the same goods for less, meaning more profit for you, why would you build it in the US?

Until that question is adequately answered, by which I mean “until it’s worth investing in the US”, most of the discretionary money of the rich will either go into useless speculative activities like the housing and credit bubbles, which don’t create real growth in the US, or they will go overseas.

There are a number of ways this question can be answered.

* You could slap taxes on foreign capital flows;
* you could slap tariffs on foreign goods produced in low cost domiciles so that companies have to produce in the US to have access to the US market;
* you could push industries which are hard to outsource but don’t actually decrease American competitiveness. The housing bubble increased the cost of doing real business in the US by inflating real estate costs. A massive buildout making every building in the US energy neutral or an energy producer would increase US competitiveness.
* you could try and do what America once did: have a tech boom. If the future is being produced in a country then everyone has to invest there and when things are changing fast you can’t offshore production, because speed matters and offshoring is slow. This is why real wages increased during the tech boom of the 90s.

There are other answers as well, but the point is simpler: you must answer the question “why invest in the US instead of a low cost, high growth country?” Until you answer that question tax cuts will not only not do any good, but in a sense will do harm, by increasing the speed at which jobs are offshored out of America.

[AnneD]

36. Some like oysters some prefer snails.....

either way, your getting screwed.

No, Lawrence Olivier did not say that last line to Tony Curtis in the iconic movie Spartacus, but it was implied. And the monologue is so fitting about much that is happening to the middle class in the economy today. Spartacus along with Houdini, were 2 of my favorite movies featuring Tony Curtis. I haven't seen Houdini in forever, but I recently bought Spartacus and saw it again for the first time in over 30 years.

This scene jumped out when I watched it. I don't know if it got past the censors in the first showing, but it is classic Hollywood code talk.

Marcus Licinius Crassus (Olivier): Do you eat oysters?
Antoninus (Curtis): When I have them, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you eat snails?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of snails to be immoral?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?
Antoninus: Yes, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals.
Antoninus: It could be argued so, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: My robe, Antoninus. My taste includes both snails and oysters.

At that point the camera pans back to get a reaction shot of the handsome Antonius.....WHO IS NO LONGER THERE-run away so fast you could still see the swirling air currents from his hasty departure.


My other best quote from the movie and on my sig line for a long time......

Batiatus: "Come with us. See to it I don't misuse the money."
Gracchus: "Don't be ridiculous. I'm a Senator."

AnneD who is here this weekend because she mixed up the date on the greek festival, which is NEXT weekend but may go and eat greek this weekend anyway. We all need a gyro in this day and time. :spray: Shameless, just shameless :rofl:

[Demeter]

40. INTERNATIONAL PUNNING, IN MY THREAD!

Just can't take you people anywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwS66EBUcY&feature=related

[AnneD]

60. I feel so......

ashamed :blush:She said as she hung her head.

[Demeter]

10. Taking On China By PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/opinion/01krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th



Serious people were appalled by Wednesday’s vote in the House of Representatives, where a huge bipartisan majority approved legislation, sponsored by Representative Sander Levin, that would potentially pave the way for sanctions against China over its currency policy. As a substantive matter, the bill was very mild; nonetheless, there were dire warnings of trade war and global economic disruption. Better, said respectable opinion, to pursue quiet diplomacy.

But serious people, who have been wrong about so many things since this crisis began — remember how budget deficits were going to lead to skyrocketing interest rates and soaring inflation? — are wrong on this issue, too. Diplomacy on China’s currency has gone nowhere, and will continue going nowhere unless backed by the threat of retaliation. The hype about trade war is unjustified — and, anyway, there are worse things than trade conflict. In a time of mass unemployment, made worse by China’s predatory currency policy, the possibility of a few new tariffs should be way down on our list of worries.

Let’s step back and look at the current state of the world.

Major advanced economies are still reeling from the effects of a burst housing bubble and the financial crisis that followed. Consumer spending is depressed, and firms see no point in expanding when they aren’t selling enough to use the capacity they have. The recession may be officially over, but unemployment is extremely high and shows no sign of returning to normal levels.

The situation is quite different, however, in emerging economies. These economies have weathered the economic storm, they are fighting inflation rather than deflation, and they offer abundant investment opportunities. Naturally, capital from wealthier but depressed nations is flowing in their direction. And emerging nations could and should play an important role in helping the world economy as a whole pull out of its slump.

But China, the largest of these emerging economies, isn’t allowing this natural process to unfold. Restrictions on foreign investment limit the flow of private funds into China; meanwhile, the Chinese government is keeping the value of its currency, the renminbi, artificially low by buying huge amounts of foreign currency, in effect subsidizing its exports. And these subsidized exports are hurting employment in the rest of the world....

[Karenina]

89. The Ami Gubmint has LOST ITS DAMNED MIND!!!

Take on China: We're the only thing standing in the way of Israel fucking up your investments...

Take on Europe: AMERICANS!!! BE AFRAID! WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING BUT DE TURRISTS MIGHT GITCHOO IN YURP!

:crazy::wtf::crazy:

[Demeter]

92. YUP--AROUND 1980 AND IT'S STILL MISSING

Thanks for noticing.

[Demeter]

11. The Washington Post Wants Your Social Security to Pay for the War

http://www.truth-out.org/the-washington-post-wants-your-social-security-pay-war63746

For The Washington Post, there's no such thing as a war that America can't afford.

In an editorial Wednesday, The Washington Post takes President Obama to task for being concerned about the cost of the war in Afghanistan and the fact that it conflicts with domestic priorities. That The Washington Post, a knee-jerk supporter of war for empire, would slam President Obama for this is the opposite of surprising. Nonetheless, what The Washington Post actually said in its editorial is still breathtaking:

Mr. Obama repeatedly cites the cost of the war and the need to shift resources to domestic priorities - though spending on Afghanistan is well below 1 percent of US gross domestic product.

We have been led to believe that official Washington is seized with urgency about long-term projections of US budget deficits. Yet, here is The Washington Post, downplaying the cost of the war in Afghanistan on the grounds that it is "well below 1 percent" of US gross domestic product (GDP).

Logically, there are two possibilities.

One possibility is that The Washington Post is saying that, in the future, we can ignore any government expenditure or savings that amounts to less than 1 percent of US GDP as being too small to bother about.

The other possibility is that, according to The Washington Post, there are two standards for judging costs. One standard is for war, in which an expenditure of less than 1 percent of GDP is too small to bother about. The other standard is for domestic spending that benefits the majority of Americans, in which a reduction of government expenditure of less than 1 percent of GDP is something that should be seriously considered....

[Demeter]

12. Tax Breaks Are Not Sufficient to Restore Employment

http://www.truth-out.org/tax-breaks-are-not-sufficient-restore-employment63749

There is a depressing complicity among much of the political leadership about the recession. Many politicians seem prepared to accept that we will have sky-high rates of unemployment for the indefinite future. Projections from the Congressional Budget Office and other authoritative forecasts show the situation improving little over the next few years.

At the moment, this means 15 million people unemployed, nine million underemployed and millions of other workers who don't even get counted because they have given up hope of finding a job and stopped looking. It is outrageous that we have this situation today. Allowing high unemployment to continue for years into the future is unacceptable.

We know how to get the unemployment rate down.

Part of the story should include programs like the Local Jobs for America Act that will save and create jobs in areas of high unemployment. This will be a way to give young people a decent start to their working careers in areas like Detroit where the youth unemployment rate is close to 50 percent. These workers can help maintain and cleanup parks, schools and other public facilities.

We should also build on the successful parts of President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, by increasing their size. The ARRA includes tax credits that will provide incentive to weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes. The target should be weatherizing millions of homes. This puts people to work in the short run and reduces energy use in the long run...

[Demeter]

13. Japan's Horror Story Not So Scary After All by: Paul Krugman

http://www.truth-out.org/japans-horror-story-not-so-scary-after-all63776

The tale of Japan’s economic woes is a nuanced one, despite its unearned reputation as a horror story... I found that from 1992 to 2007 (the eve of the global economic crisis), Japanese gross domestic product per capita — or the approximate value of goods produced in a country, divided by its total population — fell from 88 percent to 76 percent, as compared to the United States’s G.D.P. per capita...That sounds bad, and it is...But about two-thirds of that decline can be explained by the aging of Japan’s workforce.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s fact book, working-age adults, or people between the ages of 18 and 65, made up 69.7 percent of Japan’s population in 1992, compared with 65.5 percent of the United States’s...By 2007, the Japanese figure was down to 64 percent, while the United States’s was up to 67 percent. So it is clear that demographics played a big part, though that is not the whole story.

Japan also suffers from inadequate demand, and this is why it faces persistent deflation, why ever-fewer workers can get long-term employment, and why unemployment has risen while working hours have fallen.

Japan’s demand failure hasn’t been as severe as the G.D.P. figures suggest. Most of the relative decline of Japan’s G.D.P. as compared with the United States’s would probably have happened even if Japanese economic policy had managed to avoid the deflationary trap in which the economy is currently stuck – this is when falling prices make consumers and businesses less willing to spend because they expect additional declines in prices, further depressing the economy. In Japan’s case, the result has been a depressed economy, though the nation is not officially in a depression.

By the same token, Japan’s fiscal policies have not been the utter failure that some economists and government officials portray them to be. The Japanese have not created self-sustaining growth because these policies have never been sufficiently forceful to restore full employment and pull the economy out of deflation...But the policies have kept the economy afloat.

AND THIS IS WHAT THE DC ECONOMIC TEAM IS AIMING FOR, I THINK...STAGNATION AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE....

[Demeter]

23. Japan takes stake in Indonesia’s future

For decades, Indonesia enjoyed a simple economic relationship with Japan. The poor, resource-rich country exchanged oil, gas and other commodities for cash, while fuelling the advanced manufacturing sector of its wealthy Asian neighbour.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/0GDXFF/7ZY85/KE6R10/TP6RL5/AZ/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=30

[Demeter]

20. Junk buying fuels ‘yield chasing’ fears

Retail investors in the US have sharply increased their direct buying of junk bonds in the third quarter of the year, providing evidence of a trend of “yield chasing” that is worrying regulators

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/A7NEO4/T10SH/BMP4QR/BME0EN/JY/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=28

[Demeter]

34. Waddell & Reed E-Mini Trades Said to Help Trigger May 6 Crash

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/waddell-reed-e-mini-trades-are-said-to-have-helped-trigger-may-6-crash.html

A mutual fund’s routine effort to hedge against losses helped set off a chain of events that turned an orderly selloff on May 6 into a crash that erased $862 billion in U.S. equity value in less than 20 minutes, according to two people with direct knowledge of regulators’ findings.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. sold CME Group Inc.’s E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, spooking traders nervous because of the European debt crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have concluded, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the findings haven’t been released. Their report on the crash, which briefly sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 998.50 points, may be released as early as today.

“Every day, markets are capable of handling large trades,” said Lawrence Harris, a finance professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a former chief economist at the SEC. Any large transaction on May 6 could “have been the unfortunate trade that broke the camel’s back.”

Regulators are facing pressure from investors to explain whether trading rules have failed to keep pace with markets that now handle order executions in millionths of a second. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro is trying to protect investors in a fragmented U.S. stock market while maintaining liquidity -- the ease with which investors can buy and sell shares -- on venues dominated by firms that profit from computerized trading...

[Demeter]

45. Congress OKs stop-gap spending, ready to go home

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/30/congress.continuing.resolution/

Congress on Thursday passed a measure to fund the federal government another two months, their last major legislative action before shutting down and returning to the campaign trail for the Nov. 2 elections.

The House voted 228-194 early Thursday morning and the Senate voted 69-30 on Wednesday to pass a stop-gap effort that effectively keeps the lights on at agencies and major federal programs until Dec. 3. The tab for the 64 days tops $219 billion, meaning the overall budget for the new fiscal year will be $219 billion lighter, a congressional aide explained.

The move marks Congress' second major accomplishment since returning from summer break in September. Congress also passed a bill giving tax breaks to small businesses. The Senate also confirmed two of three nominees to the Federal Reserve board of governors, a seven-member board which has been operating short by three members.

"We may not agree on much," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is facing a tough re-election fight. "But with rare exception, all 100 senators want to get out of here and get back to their states."...MORE

I REFER YOU TO CHRIS WEIGANT'S TALKING POINTS THREAD FOR THE LATEST ON SCUMBAG HARRY REID...MAY INDUCE NAUSEA, VOMITING, OR CHOKING...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x562802

[Demeter]

47. Senate Confirms Yellen, Bloom Raskin as Fed Board Members

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522282164334848.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

...The Fed currently has only four of its seven Washington, D.C.-based board members, and has been without a vice chairman since Donald Kohn stepped down from that position in June. Mr. Kohn remained on the board until the beginning of September.

The vacuum comes at a delicate time because the U.S. recovery has been losing momentum recently and the Fed must take a crucial decision on whether to take further steps to support the economy.

Mr. Diamond's nomination has been held up because Republicans have objected to his candidacy on the grounds that he has limited macroeconomic policy experience.

In August, Senate Republicans used a parliamentary maneuver to force the White House to renominate Mr. Diamond, which means his nomination requires another vote of the Senate Banking Committee before it can go to the floor....

[Demeter]

49. Infighting Besets Financial-Oversight Council

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575522330414286778.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

...The Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is set to meet for the first time Friday, was created by the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul in part to address years of infighting among federal officials. The council is headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and the format is designed to give regulators a joint role in monitoring emerging risks to the financial markets.

But behind-the-scenes jostling in recent days—largely over the writing of new policies relating to the securitization market—shows how many of the powerful personalities that make up this council are already at odds. Regulators are scheduled to brief a Senate panel on their progress implementing the Dodd-Frank law Thursday.

The spat was kicked off by an email exchange among Treasury Department officials and other regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It is the latest in a series of clashes between Mr. Geithner and the FDIC's chairman, Sheila Bair, who have butted heads in recent years over turf and the FDIC's independence. Last summer, Mr. Geithner berated Ms. Bair and other regulators at a meeting over their outspoken criticism of the Obama administration's overhaul efforts.

During congressional debate over the bill, critics warned that giving the existing regulators such large roles relied perhaps too heavily on the kind of human interactions that proved incapable of spotting and tackling the mortgage bubble...

[Demeter]

50. As 44 million Americans live in poverty, a crisis grows

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/28/AR2010092802356.html

...It's clear that the Great Recession battered those on the bottom most heavily, adding 6 million people to the ranks of the officially poor, defined as just $22,000 in annual income for a family of four. Forty-four million Americans -- one in seven citizens -- are now living below the poverty line, more than at any time since the Census Bureau began tracking poverty 51 years ago. Shamefully, that figure includes one in five children, more than one in four African Americans or Latinos, and over 51 percent of female-headed families with children under 6...

...Georgetown University law professor Peter Edelman points out that 19 million people are now living in "extreme poverty," which is under 50 percent of the poverty line, or $11,000 for a family of four. "That means over 43 percent of the poor are extremely poor," said Edelman, who served as an aide to Sen. Robert Kennedy (D-N.Y.) and in the Clinton administration before resigning in protest over welfare reform that shredded the safety net. "That's over 6 percent of the population, and that figure has just been climbing up and up."

Edelman says that the number of people living at less than two times the poverty line ($44,000 for a family of four) is equally significant.

"Data shows that's really the line between whether or not you can pay your bills," said Edelman. "That has reached 100,411,000 people. That's 33 percent of the country. That's the totality of the problem -- whether you call it poverty or not." ...

SOME VERY GOOD CONCLUSIONS--READ ON AT LINK

[Demeter]

54. The ugly reality of lowering debt by default

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/28/pf/consumer_debt_default.fortune/

...It turns out that many households aren't exactly tightening their wallets and using all their saved cash to pay down debts. They're simply defaulting on them.

Total household debt fell by $77 billion during the three months ending in June, but nearly half of that decline stemmed from bank charge-offs of residential mortgages, credit cards and other consumer loans, according to Capital Economics Group. In a recent report, the London-based economic research consultancy found that this isn't necessarily a new development. Household debt has fallen every quarter since the beginning of 2008, leaving it $473 billion below the peak, which is the equivalent of reducing debt at every household by $4,200.

Shedding away debt - however it's done - is critical to the overall health of the economy. But the wave of households de-leveraging by default is worrisome. And many Americans are using their new savings to buy up U.S. Treasuries instead of devoting it all toward paying down debt. During the past year, households bought 42% of the new Treasury debt issued, equal to about $616 billion and far more than the $432 billion absorbed by foreign investors.

This will probably prolong the de-leveraging process further, say analysts at Capital Economics. Until households can meaningfully shed off debt, it will likely be one of the key factors stalling economic growth and the job market as many companies wait for GDP to pick up significantly before hiring more workers....

[InkAddict]

85. Fond memories of those wild and crazy 60s...

My girlfriends and I secretly planned to meet our "boyfriends" at the show to see this flick that night...on going to get refreshments, imagine my surprise to find the parental units some 5-7 rows back...oh-oh!

[Demeter]

14. TONY CURITS MEMOIR EBOOK

http://books.google.com/books?id=JtrTgvdx0P0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=tony+curtis&source=bl&ots=niX1Ow1uAs&sig=Vy3eTaiLu7epRrTvT4w-HO4Mppw&hl=en&ei=2mKmTPhOlPqcB-jd6Y8B&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=17&ved=0CF0Q6AEwEA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Demeter]

15. ALL ABOUT BERNIE

He was born Bernie Schwartz on June 3 1925, the son of an impoverished Hungarian immigrant, Manny Schwartz, who had himself arrived in New York with hopes of making it as an actor. Unable to speak the language, Manny Schwartz found a tailoring job and remained in the Bronx with his family. Bernie grew up in a predominantly Hungarian-speaking part of the Bronx, and recalled that he did not learn to speak English until he was seven years old.

At 12 he spent his days playing truant and working as a shoeshine boy outside Bloomingdale's department store. He supplemented his income by throwing himself under the wheels of oncoming traffic, pretending to be injured, then begging for the taxi fare to hospital. At night he spent most of his time stealing from shops and bars. "I was a real delinquent kid," he recalled, "but acting put me on the straight and narrow."

Encouraged by his father, who wanted his son to succeed where he had failed, Bernie attended a summer camp for troublemaking boys and took up acting. He became so enamoured of his new interest that he volunteered to appear as Guinevere, in a wig and dress, in the end-of-camp performance of an Arthurian tale.

At 17 he joined the Navy, signing on for three years. But his hopes of promotion were crushed when he was told that he did not have good enough school marks for officer training. "I couldn't believe it," he recalled, "these guys were telling me I was real dumb." After leaving the Navy, he took advantage of the Forces Educational Scheme and enrolled in high school to complete his education.

He continued to act, first (in spite of parental disapproval) with the YMCA, and later with a Jewish theatre company. In 1945 he was playing the lead in Golden Boy when he was spotted by a talent scout for Universal, which immediately signed him on a seven-year contract.

He moved to Hollywood where, despite regular income from the studio, he found himself on the brink of poverty. After paying for membership of various performing guilds, buying a new wardrobe and paying agent's fees he was left with $1.50 a week.

The actress Shelley Winters recalled that Tony Curtis arrived at her flat one afternoon at this time, and introduced himself as Bernie. "My mom knows your aunt back in the Bronx," he said, "and she said you should take care of me until I get settled." Shelley Winters found him an apartment to share (with Marlon Brando) and introduced him to her friends – including Marilyn Monroe, whom Curtis immediately asked out.

Universal decided that Bernie Schwartz was not a "bankable" name, so Curtis chose Antonio Cortez. When Universal again complained that the name was too "Latin", he changed it to Curtiz and eventually Curtis. He made his screen debut in 1945, dancing a 15-second Mambo with Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross, which starred Burt Lancaster...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8034695/Tony-Curtis.html

[AnneD]

37. What the book might not tell you.....

is what a genuinely likable guy he was. I got to meet him once, he was on some promotional tour here in Houston. He had to be up in his late 70's early 80's. He was still Hollywood handsome but I was impressed with his humble nature. He just seemed like a sweetie, very much like the men of his generation. I am really sad to see him go.

[Demeter]

16. EUROPA

[Demeter]

17. Anglo failure would ‘bring down’ Ireland

The failure of Anglo Irish bank, the lender at the centre of the country’s financial crisis, would “bring down” Ireland, the country’s finance minister said, as he vowed the government would stand behind the institution as it winds down.

Dublin will on Thursday unveil a fresh recapitalisation of Anglo Irish and seek to draw a line under its banking crisis. But doing so will raise the cost of its taxpayer-funded bail-out of the banks to up to €35bn ($48bn) and lift the country’s fiscal deficit to a record expected to be as much as 30 per cent of gross domestic product.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/FXLPCR/T10SH/KE6JK3/RNG9WR/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=29

POOR IRELAND DID WHAT THE IMF SAID TO DO....

[Demeter]

44. Ireland Says Bank Bailout May Hit 50 Billion Euros

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/anglo-irish-allied-irish-may-need-as-much-as-19-6-billion.html

Ireland is preparing to take majority control of Allied Irish Banks Plc and pump extra cash into Anglo Irish Bank Corp., raising the cost of repairing the financial system to as much as 50 billion euros ($68 billion).

“The Irish banking system is at rock bottom today,” Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said today in a Bloomberg Television interview in Dublin. He rejected speculation Ireland will need outside help. “It can only revive from now because it’s recapitalized and reformed,” he said.

Ireland’s deteriorating finances fueled investor concerns that it would become the first government after Greece to tap the 750 billion-euro rescue fund set up by the European Union and International Monetary fund to stanch the debt crisis. Irish bonds have plunged this month, sending the yield on 10-year securities to higher than any other euro nation except Greece.

The cost of bailing out the country’s banks may ultimately rise to about 50 billion euros, under a “stress case” scenario for Anglo Irish, according to figures published by the country’s finance ministry and the central bank in Dublin today. The base case estimate is about 45 billion euros, the figures show. Allied Irish may need as much as 3 billion euros...

[Demeter]

65. Ireland Swaps Surge to Record on Anglo Irish Bailout Cost Wager

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-28/ireland-leads-surge-in-sovereign-default-swaps-on-bank-system-bailout-cost.html

The cost of insuring against default on Ireland’s government debt surged to a record as Standard & Poor’s said the price of bailing out nationalized lender Anglo Irish Bank Corp. could exceed $47 billion.

Credit-default swaps tied to Irish bonds jumped as much as 33 basis points to 521.5 after more than doubling in the past two months, and were at 493 basis points as of 4 p.m. in London, according to data provider CMA. Contracts on Anglo Irish rose 4 basis points from yesterday’s record high closing price to 940, implying a 56 percent probability of default within five years....

[Demeter]

18. ECB warns on impact of banking reforms

Although European banks are becoming safer in the wake of the financial crisis, rising funding costs could pressure some institutions back into increased risk-taking, the European Central Bank has warned.

The ECB’s annual report on the banking sector concludes that new capital and liquidity requirements handed down by global and national regulators will generally increase financial stability. But it also warned the rules will also crimp profits and increase competition for deposits and some institutions could lose out.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/H60H77/TP7267/06MUC/9ZN47D/5CWGSN/ZH/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=29

[Demeter]

19. BP to unveil management shake-up

BP is preparing to announce a major shake-up of its senior management team just days before Bob Dudley takes the helm of the UK oil group.

The company’s exploration business is expected to bear the brunt of the changes with Andy Inglis, the head of the division, expected to leave his current role. It is not yet clear whether he will leave BP.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/G8OTZZ/LQ6HAE/WH2F8/LQOJNA/TP6J8D/ZH/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=29

[Demeter]

21. BP plans a return to the capital markets

BP is planning to sell $2bn-$3bn in new bonds in a move that marks a return to “business as usual” following the sealing of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/HDHNTC/B49CK/RNZNBH/187U68/JY/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=28

[Demeter]

22. BP signals dividend payment next year

The new chief executive of BP sends the clearest signal yet that the UK oil group is on course to restore its dividend payments next year after suspending them in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/M9O0MU/VTVRG/GKHSCL/V10POD/VU/t?a1=2010&a2=10&a3=1

[Demeter]

25. New chief revamps BP safety operations

BP has ousted Andy Inglis, the head of its exploration division, and announced plans for a radical restructuring of its safety operations as Bob Dudley prepares to take over as chief executive of the UK oil group

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/26IYQK/GYN7Q/IYGSNQ/BME2X5/UP/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=30

WASHINGTON DC TAKE NOTE...

[Demeter]

24. Goldman warns Europe on regulation

Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, has issued a clear warning that the bank could shift its operations around the world if regulatory crackdown on the industry becomes too tough

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/26IYQK/GYN7Q/IYGSNQ/YH2U6H/UP/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=30



I'M TRYING TO FIND A DOWNSIDE TO THIS THREAT...

[Po_d Mainiac]

83. How to read FT articles

copy paste the headline into the Google search bar...access via the Google page.

You will be able to see the full article with active links

[Joe Chi Minh]

95. ROFL! Say it ain't so... Lloyd.

[Demeter]

27. Iceland ex-PM faces negligence charges

Iceland’s parliament has voted to press negligence charges against former prime minister Geir Haarde, in the first concrete step to hold politicians accountable for the 2008 bank crisis that left the country’s economy in ruins

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/C5PJVZ/MJTKN/9ZNM8U/8AD86F/OS/t?a1=2010&a2=9&a3=29

[Demeter]

41. Iceland's politicians forced to flee from angry protesters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/01/iceland-politicians-flee-protesters

Thousands take to the streets of Reykjavik as anger erupts over the impact of the financial crisis

Protesters took to the streets of Reykjavik today, forcing MPs to run away from the people they represent as renewed anger about the impact of the financial crisis erupted in Iceland.

The violent protest came amid growing fury at austerity measures being imposed across Europe. Disruption in more than a dozen countries this week included a national strike in Spain and a cement truck driven into the Irish parliament's gates.

Witnesses said up to 2,000 people caused chaos at the state opening of the Icelandic parliament, with politicians forced to race to the back door of the building because of the large number of protesters at the front. Eggs were said to have hit the prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, other MPs and the wife of the Icelandic president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.

Árni Páll Árnason, the minister of economics affairs, who was caught up in the protests, said: "We have a difficult economic situation and this is something to be expected in a democratic country."

GUESS WE REALLY AREN'T A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY ANY MORE...

[Demeter]

46. France blocks EU hedge fund rules - diplomats

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE68S2C520100929

France's finance minister Christine Lagarde is set to dash hopes of an imminent deal on EU hedge fund rules when she meets finance ministers in Brussels this week, said sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

France's refusal to back a scheme to give foreign funds a licence to do business across all of the EU's 27 states will scupper any chances of a deal between ministers on a new regime for the industry.

Lagarde, who sources close to the talks said had won the backing of Germany, will reaffirm this position at the meeting of finance ministers including Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble and British financial services chief Mark Hoban.

The stand-off could lead to a lengthy delay for one of the most high-profile planned reforms in Europe and would be a set back to Brussels' attempts to catch up with Washington, which recently voted through a regulatory overhaul of finance...

WATERLOO REVISITED?

[Demeter]

48. Regulate Banks Individually: French Financial Expert

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39415935



...Global regulators agreed earlier this month on new banking rules which will force banks to more than triple the amount of top-quality capital they must hold in reserve.

Meanwhile, calls are intensifying for banks deemed "too big to fail" to hold extra capital to provide a buffer in the event of another financial crisis.
But the “too big to fail” debate, which is likely to be on the agenda at next month’s G20 meeting, requires a “diversified” approach, according to de Larosiere.

“You can’t say one size fits all,” de Larosiere said. “I think it would be more intelligent to look into the reality of those banks, to look at their business model, and if the business model appears too concentrated on ‘dangerous’ things, then the supervisor has to act on that. If a business model raised serious concerns, the regulator could ask the bank to put aside “much larger capital buffers”, he explained.

The former IMF managing director and French central bank governor also said he was concerned that the new regulatory system might have “unintended consequences” in creating a shadow banking system that will not be supervised.
If “high-risk” businesses move to unregulated hedge funds for example, the new rules could “open the door of regulatory arbitrage. I am fearful that indeed, there may be unintended consequences from this new regulatory system that’s shaping up, and one of them is indeed to shift towards non-regulated hedge funds,“ he said.

[Joe Chi Minh]

96. Sounds good to me. We've got enough on our hands with our own spivs. But

just assuming they were intrinsically beneficial, globalism = bad; protectionism = good.

[Demeter]

51. China Says Still Positive On European Bonds, Economies

http://imarketnews.com/node/19878

China's attitude towards European sovereign debt remains positive and the government will continue to support measures designed to support recovery in Europe, an official with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

CHINA'S Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Europe next week INCLUDES... Greece, Italy, Belgium and Turkey and HE will attend the Eighth Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels to discuss economic issues with European leaders.

European officials have confirmed that China has been a buyer of eurozone sovereign debt, including that issued by Greece and Spain.

[bread_and_roses]

98. Horse named "Workforce" wins the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

- probably one of the toughest races in the world*. But don't get too excited - I thought it was pretty cool, and a rare good omen (if one believes in omens, which I don't) until I thought to look up the owner. "Workforce" is owned by

Khalid Abdullah (born 1937 in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia) is a prince in his homeland although he chooses to not go by his title in his numerous international business ventures. He is a first cousin of King Abdullah of Saudi Arbia and brother-in-law of the late King Fahd.

from Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Khalid_Abdullah

Maybe an omen indeed, though not a good one.

*See the remarkable Sea the Stars win last year - you have to listen to a minute or so of the commentary at conclusion of the race to understand why the win was rather amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f824CU-F3rc

(I know it's not Tony, but at least I included a video!)

[Demeter]

30. GETTING ON LIKE A HOUSE AFIRE

[Demeter]

31. Foreclosure Errors Cloud Homeownership With `Blighted Titles'

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-01/foreclosure-errors-cloud-homeownership-with-millions-of-blighted-titles-.html

U.S. courts are clogged with a record number of foreclosures. Next, they may be jammed with suits contesting property rights as procedural mistakes in those cases cloud titles establishing ownership.

“Defective documentation has created millions of blighted titles that will plague the nation for the next decade,” said Richard Kessler, an attorney in Sarasota, Florida, who conducted a study that found errors in about three-fourths of court filings related to home repossessions.

Attorneys general in at least six states are investigating borrowers’ claims that some of the nation’s largest home lenders and loan servicers are making misstatements in foreclosures. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is asking judges to postpone foreclosure rulings, while Ally Financial Inc. said Sept. 21 its GMAC Mortgage unit would halt evictions. The companies said employees may have completed affidavits without confirming their accuracy.

Such mistakes may allow former owners to challenge the repossession of homes long after the properties are resold, according to Kessler. Ownership questions may not arise until a home is under contract and the potential purchaser applies for title insurance or even decades later as one deed researcher catches errors overlooked by another. A so-called defective title means the person who paid for and moved into a house may not be the legal owner...

[Demeter]

43. Fannie Mae: Problem Loans Keep Falling

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521811482267310.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Fannie Mae said serious delinquencies on single-family mortgages slid in July from June, the fifth-straight month of declines, further signaling that home-loan problems are on the downswing.

A host of data have shown delinquencies easing this year as the U.S. economy heals. The number of serious delinquencies in Fannie's portfolio—loans at least 90 days behind for single-family homes—dropped in March from February, marking the first month-over-month decline in three years. They have been sliding ever since.

The rate fell to 4.82% in July from 4.99% in June, reaching a 10-month low. The prior-year figure was 4.17%.

Fannie's latest report also showed that its mortgage portfolio fell 0.3% on month in August to $809.1 billion, shrinking at a 4.1% annual rate. Its book of business, which includes mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees, declined 0.1% to $3.202 trillion, or a 1.3% annual rate.

Fannie's net commitments to purchase mortgages jumped 34% to $54.84 billion on month and 73% from a year earlier.

HMMM, MAYBE THIS SHOULD HAVE GONE UNDER HOUDINI...

[Demeter]

94. Waiting Till the Price is Right

How to make real money in real estate and other investments

...We were discussing Irish property. There's a lot of it for sale. Buyers can practically name their own prices. But the choice properties are still in the hands of the insiders. When they see something go down to where it is a bargain price...they snap it up.

This signals to us that the whole process of debt destruction still has a long way to go. The assets still have appeal. Investors still think they can make money by buying low and selling high. In other words, they still think there is a bias towards the upside.

They haven't given up. They're still eager to buy - at the right price.

But just wait. When the end comes...they won't be interested at any price. Some of the finest properties will go "no bid." Then, the players...the insiders...the smart money will all be convinced that property is a losing proposition...and that you will never make money by buying real estate - because it always goes down. Then, when the insiders have given up. Then, and only then, can you expect to make any real money.

It's no different in the stock market. What investors want now are bargains. They think that they can make money, by buying at the right price. Then, as the "recovery" comes their stocks will go up. They think the bias of the stock market is still upwards....

DAILYRECKONING.COM

[Demeter]

35. NAPTIME

Off to a slow start this weekend...see you all in the morning!

[Demeter]

52. "Some Like It Hot" COMMODITIES

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film was adapted by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. Logan had already written the story – but without the gangsters – for a German film, Fanfaren der Liebe (directed by Kurt Hoffmann, 1951), so Wilder's film is considered by some as a remake.

During 1981, after the worldwide success of the French comedy La Cage aux Folles, United Artists re-released Some Like It Hot to theatres. In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time.

Two struggling musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), witness what looks like the Saint Valentine's Day massacre of 1929. When the Chicago gangsters, led by 'Spats' Columbo (George Raft), see them, the duo flee for their lives. They escape and decide to leave town, taking a job that requires them to disguise themselves as women, playing in an all-girl musical band headed to Florida. Calling themselves Josephine and Geraldine (later Jerry changes his pseudonym to Daphne), they join the band and board a train. Joe and Jerry both become enamored of "Sugar Kane" (Marilyn Monroe), the band's vocalist and ukulele player, and struggle for her affection while maintaining their disguises.

In Florida, Joe woos Sugar by assuming a second disguise as a millionaire named "Junior", the heir to Shell Oil, while mimicking Cary Grant's voice. An actual millionaire, Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown), becomes enamored of Jerry in his Daphne guise. One night Osgood asks Daphne out to his yacht. Joe convinces Daphne to keep Osgood ashore while he goes on the yacht with Sugar. That night Osgood proposes to Daphne who, in a state of excitement, accepts, believing he can receive a large settlement from Osgood immediately following their wedding ceremony.

When the mobsters arrive at the same hotel for a conference honoring "Friends of Italian Opera", Spats and his gang see Joe and Jerry. After several humorous chases (and witnessing yet another mob murder), Jerry, Joe, Sugar, and Osgood escape to the millionaire's yacht. Enroute, Joe reveals to Sugar his true identity and Sugar tells Joe that she's in love with him regardless. Joe tells her that he is not good enough for her, that she would be getting the "fuzzy end of the lollipop" yet again, but Sugar loves him anyway. Jerry, for his part, tries to explain to Osgood that he cannot marry him, but Osgood is oblivious to all of Jerry's objections and remains determined to go through with the marriage--he says that he already told his mother and that the wedding is on. Finally, as he starts to get angry, Jerry removes the wig and yells, "I'm a man!", prompting Osgood to utter the film's memorable last line "Well, nobody's perfect."

The film was planned originally to be filmed in color, but after several screen tests, it had to be changed to black and white because of a very obvious 'green tint' around the heavy make-up required by Curtis and Lemmon when portraying Josephine and Daphne. The Florida segment was filmed at the Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California.<1>

Some Like It Hot received a "C" (Condemned) rating from the National Legion of Decency (formerly the Catholic Legion of Decency). The film, along with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and several other films, contributed to the end of the Production Code in the mid-1960s. It was released by United Artists without the MPAA logo in the credits or title sequence, since the film did not receive Production Code approval.

Tony Curtis is frequently quoted as saying that kissing Marilyn Monroe was like "kissing Hitler". During a 2001 interview with Leonard Maltin, Curtis stated that he never made this claim.<2> In his 2008 autobiography, Curtis notes that he did make the statement to the film crew, but it was meant in a joking manner.<3> During his appearance at the Jules Verne Festival in France (2008), Curtis revealed on the set of Laurent Ruquier's TV show that he and Marilyn were lovers in the late 1940s when they were first struggling for recognition in films...

The movie is not to be confused with the 1939 comedy Some Like It Hot starring Bob Hope, which it doesn't resemble except for the title.

[Demeter]

53. Gold Prices Settle at New Record

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10873131/1/gold-prices-fall-on-technical-selling.html

Gold prices made new highs Tuesday as the end of the third quarter forced traders to re-balance their gold positions....

[Demeter]

71. Gold Rush On The Gulf: Researchers Clamor For Cash

http://www.wbur.org/2010/09/29/gulf-oil-cash

Once a backwater in the world of oceanographic research, the Gulf of Mexico has suddenly become the site of a scientific gold rush, all because of the BP oil spill.

The environmental disaster represents a once-in-a-generation research opportunity that has oceanographers salivating. There’s big money – $500 million from BP alone – up for grabs. And for scientists who usually toil in near-obscurity, there’s the prospect of lots of media attention.

Researchers are suddenly in demand, with more than 100 hired guns on the job. BP has signed up nearly 50 scientists to help defend it from legal action. The federal government has its paid experts, and so do attorneys suing BP. Environmental activists have their own research vessels and scientists.

At least 165 proposed studies are registered through a federal clearinghouse. Some crucial supplies – such as boats – are hard to find...

[Po_d Mainiac]

84. A Report From The Front Lines Of The Gold Bubble

snip

The main takeaway here is that there was no bubble-like bad behavior. I expected something out of the high-pressure school of sales. Men dangling gold chains with “Beth” in fake diamonds and telling me it was a better investment than a prosaic gold coin. Or perhaps a creative soul pushing some crappy ¼ carat uncut diamond as a “superior” choice to precious metals. But none of this happened, despite my repeated attempts and encouragements to all who would listen. As a final note, keep in mind that recent or current issue gold coins have some of the thinnest margins in the business. Maybe you buy some as a dealer and the price of the metal rises, but generally the bid/ask spread is no better than 10-15%.

To me, this experience was somewhat like walking into a mortgage broker in Florida in 2006, asking for a $750,000 loan with no income verification, and being laughed out of the office. Which is what should have happened, but obviously rarely did. I am not trying to portray every jewelry and precious metals dealer as the paragon of virtue; that’s obviously not true. If you keep up on this space, you know the criticisms of organizations like Goldline International.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/report-front-lines-gold-bubble

[jotsy]

55. Uhm...excuse me Ms. Demeter?

I went on the hunt for a photo I know exists, but can't seem to put my fingers on the right sequences of letters and words for Google to figure out what I want. I was hoping to provide a description of said photo here and see if you might know how I might go better about it. The shot is of a group of Wall Skimmers and perhaps a politician or two, taking a chainsaw to a chest high stack of regulation legislation, which is wrapped in a red ribbon.

Grateful for any direction you might know to point in and of course, I rec'd this last night. Good Saturday morning to you, hope the day is finding you well.

[Po_d Mainiac]

56. June 03..OTS & FDIC (with others) posed for the picture

That should give you plenty of data for your google search :hi:

[Po_d Mainiac]

57. link

[jotsy]

58. Yup!

That's the one. Thank you. I thought Phil Gramm to be in the pic, but apparently have remembered incorrectly.

Thanx again
j

[Po_d Mainiac]

59. You are welcome..I recall the day quit vividly

The picture was on page one of the business section. It was the same day the sale of my business became official.

[Demeter]

61. Thank You, Po, for filling in.

I've been AWOL.

First there was the farmer's market (cold, wet and windy) then the free kid film (Marmaduke--computer-manipulated, talking dogs--I fell asleep in self-defense--for your sanity, avoid it!), then another hour of moving furniture and stuff in preparation for the great FLOOR LAYING project...

It's barely 52F, gray and damp. November weather. Frost threat tonight, besides.

Welcome to not-summer.

[Po_d Mainiac]

81. Tomorrow we expect to pick

fresh frozen vegetables....right outa our garden.

[Demeter]

87. Well, We Didn't Frost--Yet

Maybe Sunday or Monday night....they keep pushing it out each day.

[Demeter]

62. "The Great Imposter"

This was a highly edited, sanitized and romantizied version of the story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, not to be confused with a 2002 film release "Catch Me If You Can" based on the life of imposter and master forger Frank Abagnale Jr, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGu8_HBPq1E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDfnT80696Q&feature=related

[Demeter]

63. Crisis panel head: How did Wall Street miss it?

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/28/news/economy/financial_crisis_commission/index.htm

Phil Angelides says he just doesn't get how Wall Street executives say they never saw the financial crisis coming.

The head of a federal panel charged with determining what caused the meltdown says the proof was sitting in plain view -- in places like Florida and California where bad and even fraudulent home loans were being made by the bucketful. The big banks knew full well what was going on because they were buying the loans.

Angelides runs the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which has recently spent time talking to those on the frontlines of the housing crisis in Las Vegas, Miami and Bakersfield and Sacramento in California.

Among the discoveries: As early as 2004, the FBI warned that an "epidemic" of mortgage fraud would cause a crisis if not contained.

"It's been eye-opening," Angelides said in an interview with CNNMoney. "We've heard for a year how folks on Wall Street and people in Washington didn't see it coming."

The 10-member, congressionally-appointed panel is now in the home stretch. It has until Dec. 15 to issue a report that it hopes will be be the definitive word on what caused the financial crisis...

[Demeter]

64. Warren Worked on Banks Lawsuit While Heading TARP Panel

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-28/warren-worked-on-lawsuit-against-banks-while-heading-tarp-panel.html

Elizabeth Warren, named by President Barack Obama to set up the new consumer finance agency, was paid $90,000 this year to be an expert witness in a class-action lawsuit against some of the biggest U.S. banks.

Warren, who at the time she did the work was head of the Congressional Oversight Panel monitoring the $700 billion bank bailout, was retained by a law firm that represents retailers suing credit-card networks Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., and banks including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. for alleged antitrust violations in setting card processing rates, her financial disclosure forms show.

In an interview, Warren said that she first discussed being an expert witness before joining the oversight panel in November 2008. She said she cleared the outside work with the panel’s ethics counsel. The two reports she wrote, which she said she can’t discuss because they are filed under seal in a New York federal court, contain “nothing that I haven’t said in print, on TV and in published academic articles.”

As an appointee to a part-time government post, Warren was permitted to continue doing outside work under the rules governing such positions. Some ethics attorneys said her work created at least the appearance of a conflict of interest given her leverage over banks as head of the watchdog group.

“She should have had the judgment to say no,” said Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who was chief ethics lawyer in the White House counsel’s office under President George W. Bush and last year published a scholarly work on government ethics. “It’s highly inappropriate in a position that has this much power.” ...

HOITY-TOITY FOR A BUNCH OF FRAUDULENT BANKSTERS!

[mbperrin]

88. chief ethics lawyer in the White House counsel’s office under President George W. Bush

That's about all I need to know about Painter. ETHICS and BUSH??????!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEWOOHOO!

Gotta catch a breath. Meanwhile, fuck this guy Painter....

[Demeter]

66. Eliot Spitzer on the crisis of accountability

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/01/eliot_spitzer_interview/index.html

"When people feel no accountability, they are more hesitant to presume that the system is functioning"

...The paramount difference is that we tried to bring prosecutions that led to structural reforms. That was the idea behind the suit against AIG for using deception and fraud to elevate stock price, or the case against Merrill Lynch, where we charged analysts of offering investment advice influenced by gross conflicts of interest. It was important to challenge the whole structure of the banking and financial-services industry and argue for greater accountability. After the economic collapse, what I’ve seen so far are one-off prosecutions where you catch somebody for insider trading, for example. Given the systemic nature of the problems on Wall Street, the effort should be less on how to address violations in a particular case, but rather the ongoing structural issues...

Disaffection of the public has passed from Wall Street to governance and beyond. There is a tremendous sense of failure in accountability in everything from nonprofits to for-profit entities to the whole spectrum of American institutions...

If accountability suffers, then institutions become highly suspect. This happens everywhere from Wall Street to Congress. When people feel no accountability, they are more hesitant to presume that the system is functioning. This affects the entire structure of our democracy.

[Demeter]

70. Joseph Stiglitz: The Stimulus 'Absolutely' Worked, Wants Second Round

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/joseph-stiglitz-stimulus-absolutely-w

He said one reason that stimulus has not had more effect is that state and local governments have cut spending, undoing about one-half of the impact of the money that the feds have injected.

He said the stimulus also could have had more effect if more money had been put into making up for the shortfalls of state budgets, stopping layoffs; if less had been put into tax cuts that wary consumers just ended up saving; and if safeguards to prevent waste had not slowed the money from being spent.

Still, he said, “The stimulus absolutely worked.” Without it, unemployment could have peaked at more than 12 percent.

[Demeter]

73. Shock Therapy for Wall Street: JPMorgan Suspends 56,000 Foreclosures; GMAC and BOA Many More

http://www.truth-out.org/shock-therapy-wall-street-jpmorgan-suspends-56000-foreclosures-gmac-and-boa-many-more63803

“Maybe this is like shock therapy. Maybe this will actually get the lenders to the table and encourage them to work out deals that are to the benefit of everybody.”

...On September 20th, Ally Financial Inc., which owns GMAC Mortgage, the nation’s 4th largest lender, halted evictions and the resale of repossessed homes in 23 states. This was after a document processor for the company admitted that he had signed off on 10,000 pieces of foreclosure paperwork a month without reading them. The 23 states were all those where foreclosures must be approved by a court, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and Illinois.

On September 24th, Representatives Alan Grayson (D-FL), Barney Frank (D- MA) and Corrine Brown (D-FL) directed a letter to Fannie Mae questioning its use of “foreclosure mills,” which were described as “law firms representing lenders that specialize in speeding up the foreclose process, often without regard to process, substance or legal propriety.” The letter followed a report by the Florida attorney general’s office in August that it was investigating three law firms that had allegedly fabricated documents in thousands of cases to obtain final judgments of foreclosure.

On September 24, California attorney general Jerry Brown asked GMAC to halt foreclosures in his state until the lender could prove it was complying with a law that prohibits lenders from taking steps to foreclose a home before making an effort to work with the borrower. California is a non-judicial foreclosure state, meaning foreclosures do not require the prior approval of a court.

On September 28, JPMorgan Chase said it was halting 56,000 foreclosures because some of its employees might have improperly prepared the necessary documents. All of the suspensions were in the 23 states where foreclosures require court approval.

On September 29, the Washington Post reported that a top federal bank regulator had directed seven of the nation’s largest lenders to review their foreclosure processes, after learning about widespread mishandling of homeowner evictions. Besides JPMorgan Chase, they included Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo....

A Box Even Houdini Couldn’t Escape? MUCH MORE AT LINK~!

[Demeter]

76. Foreclosures and REOs Were 24% of Q2 Sales: RealtyTrac

AND HOW MANY OF THOSE SALES WILL BE VOIDED?

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/foreclosures-and-reos-were-24-of-q2-sales-realtytrac-2010-09-29

New data released by RealtyTrac Thursday shows that foreclosure and REO homes accounted for 24 percent of all residential sales during the second quarter. A total of 248,534 properties in default, scheduled for auction, or repossessed by the bank sold to third parties during the April to June timeframe. RealtyTrac says on average, these homes went for a discount of 26 percent...
Based on RealtyTrac’s market data, a total of 151,290 REO properties were sold in the second quarter, accounting for nearly 15 percent of all home sales. REOs sold for an average discount of nearly 35 percent, the tracking firm reports.

Pre-foreclosure property sales, which are often short sales, totaled 97,244 during the three-month period. They made up 9 percent of all sales transactions and had an average discount of nearly 13 percent.

Not surprisingly, Nevada (56 percent), Arizona (47 percent), and California (43 percent) posted the highest percentage of foreclosure sales in Q2. Nevada’s pre-foreclosure sales jumped 29 percent compared to the previous quarter. Other states where foreclosure sales accounted for at least one-quarter of all sales were Rhode Island (37 percent), Massachusetts (35 percent), Florida (34 percent), Michigan (33 percent), Georgia (27 percent), Idaho (27 percent), and Oregon (25 percent).

Ohio claimed the biggest discount for foreclosure properties, at nearly 43 percent. There, short sales had an average price cut of nearly 24 percent. The discount for Ohio REOs was double that at 48 percent.

[Demeter]

75. Tens of thousands lose stimulus-subsidized jobs

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tens-of-thousands-lose-cnnm-3509483947.html;_ylt=AlefIYgLioQcRsaDC7MXCIy7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1N29ocm5lBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawN0ZW5zb2Z0aG91c2E-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=5&asset=&ccode=

Tens of thousands of low-income workers lost their jobs Thursday as a stimulus-subsidized employment program came to an end.

About a quarter of a million people in 37 states were placed in short-term jobs thanks to a $5 billion boost to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. States used about $1 billion to provide subsidized employment, with the remaining funds going to cash grants, food programs, housing assistance and other aid.

About half the jobs were summer employment for youth and the rest were for disadvantaged parents. Each state configured its initiative differently. Some covered all the workers' wages for a few months, while others paid for a portion of their salary.

With the program expiring, many of the adults have been told not to report to work anymore. And it won't be easy for them to find a new position at time when the unemployment rate continues to hover at 9.6%...

[Demeter]

67. COMIC RELIEF

Doonesbury has a new series on getting Obama off the chill pills--it starts Sept. 27th. Follow the links!



http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=2d3c011d82da72a4e4d5df8025d99830

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=db415abc06d42a827c29a8f90f67064a

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=17bece0871195b41f1fe78833acf5694

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=9c15909024a68ecda57149d3615d4f2e

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=2e39e4bf3eca0f257abcfd3b96d98ff6

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=f792c1003182c52a247806f5057eaca3


AND DILBERT DECONSTRUCTS MODERN BUSINESS PRACTICES, AS USUAL:

[Demeter]

68. Oliphant looks to the mid-terms

http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=ad0d7e3a3c27c61cadea4f215abad521&w=750.0

[Demeter]

69. And Mark Fiore Dishes Out the Tea

http://www.markfiore.com/political-cartoons/watch-founding-fathers-tea-party-midterm-election-tea-bag-animated-video-mark-fiore-animation-political-carto

[Demeter]

74. AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST ON THE LATE GREAT MR. CURTIS

http://www.nndb.com/people/005/000022936/

[Demeter]

77. "Taras Bulba" CLASS WARFARE

Taras Bulba (Russian: Тара́с Бу́льба) is a romanticized historical novel by Nikolai Gogol. It tells the story of an old Zaporozhian Cossack, Taras Bulba, and his two sons, Andriy and Ostap. Taras’ sons studied at the Kiev Academy and return home. The three men set out on an epic journey to Zaporizhian Sich located in Ukraine, where they join other Cossacks and go to war against Poland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Bulba


Taras Bulba is a 1962 film loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short novel, Taras Bulba, starring Yul Brynner in the title role, and Tony Curtis as his son, Andrei, leaders of a Cossack clan on the Ukrainian steppes. The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson. The story line of the film is considerably different from that of Gogol's novel, but is closer to the Russian 1842 edition than the original Ukrainian version (1832).

Its most famous line has Taras Bulba saying "Put your faith in your sword, and your sword in a Pole."

OH, DEAR. WELL, POLE-STICKING ASIDE...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Bulba_%281962_film%29

[Demeter]

78. Wall Street Brings Class War to America? By Les Leopold

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26496.htm

As thousands of demonstrators marched in European capitals on Wednesday to protest recent austerity measures, officials in Brussels proposed stiffening sanctions for governments that fail to cut their budget deficits and debt swiftly enough. ("Workers In Europe Protest Austerity Measures", New York Times, 9/30/2010)

October 01, 2010 "Huffington Post" -- Oh, do the super-rich hate the sound of "class struggle." Dare to utter the words and they'll reach for their red-baiting paint guns and spray you silly with invective. It's un-American. It's socialistic. It's an insult to democracy and freedom.

But try as they might, they can't paint over the reality, which the new Fortune 400 listings make so clear: Wall Street billionaires have more money than they'll ever be able to use--at a time when more than 29 million of us don't have that most basic necessity, a full-time job. A hidden class war got us to this point. It's not hidden anymore.

Once upon a time there was a tangible connection between the plutocrats and the rest of us. Carnegie, Mellon and Rockefeller built sprawling enterprises that employed tens of thousands of workers (even if they did treat them brutally). But today's billionaire financiers, about 100 of whom are on the Fortune 400 list, have a tough time explaining how their money-making schemes produce any jobs at all. Very few of us have a clue about how they even make their money.

But we are clued in to the way our society is splitting apart. What's good for the Wall Street tycoons is not good for America. The wealthy may loathe hearing about "class struggle," but we're in the middle of one -- and it's a doozy.

[Demeter]

79. Governments must Lower Wages or Suffer Financial Blackmail By Michael Hudson

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26500.htm

Most of the press has described Wednesday's European-wide labor demonstrations and strikes across in terms of the familiar exercise by transport workers irritating travelers with work slowdowns, and large throngs letting off steam by setting fires. But the story goes much deeper than merely a reaction against unemployment and economic recession conditions. At issue are proposals to drastically change the laws and structures of how European society will function for the next generation. If the anti-labor forces succeed, they will break up Europe, destroy the internal market, and render that continent a backwater. This is how serious the financial coup d'etat has become. And it is going to get much worse - quickly. As John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, put it: "This is the start of the fight, not the end."

Spain has received most of the attention, thanks to its ten-million strong turnout (reportedly half the entire labor force). Holding its first general strike since 2002, Spanish labor protested against its socialist government using the bank crisis (stemming from bad real estate loans and negative mortgage equity, not high labor costs) as an opportunity to change the laws to enable companies and government bodies to fire workers at will, and to scale back their pensions and public social spending in order to pay the banks more. Portugal is doing the same, and it looks like Ireland will follow suit - all this in the countries whose banks have been the most irresponsible lenders. The bankers are demanding that they rebuild their loan reserves at labor's expense, just as in President Obama's program here in the United States but without the sanctimonious pretenses.

The problem is Europe-wide and indeed centered in the European Union capital in Brussels. This is why the major protests were staged there. On the same day that the strikers demonstrated, the neoliberal European Commission (EC) outlined a full-fledged war against labor. Fifty to a hundred thousand workers gathered to protest the proposed transformation of social rules by the most anti-labor campaign since the 1930s - even more extreme than the Third World austerity plans imposed by the IMF and World Bank in times past.

The neoliberals are fully in control of the bureaucracy, and they are reviving Margaret Thatcher's slogan, TINA: There Is No Alternative. But there is, of course. In the small Baltic economies, pro-labor parties have made it clear that the alternative to government shrinkage is to simply repeal the debts, withdraw from the Euro and break the banks. It is either the banks or labor - and Europe has just realized that this is truly a fight to the economic death. And the first test will come this Saturday, when Latvia holds its national parliamentary elections....

[bread_and_roses]

80. that is absolutely bone-chilling

The Neoliberal Revolution seeks to achieve in Europe what has been achieved in the United States since 1979, when real wages stopped rising. The aim is to double the relative share of wealth enjoyed by the richest 1%. This involves reduce the population to poverty, breaking union power, and destroying the internal market as a precondition for blaming all this on "Mr. Market," presumably inexorable forces beyond politics, purely "objective" rather than a political power grab.

[Po_d Mainiac]

82. All the unrest on the Continent explains the dollars' surge

Uhhh hmmm...But I just checked, the U$D is getting hammered. :shrug:

Very strange times indeed.

[bread_and_roses]

86. "The U.S. labor movement's fight for relevancy"

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/02

Cracks in the American Way, as Labor Stands Strong in Europe

by Michelle Chen

A report published by the International Trade Union Confederation (submitted, ironically, to that pillar of the postwar American hegemony, the World Trade Organization) takes a critical view of the U.S. workforce in the context of global human and labor rights. The ITUC's findings expose many of the cracks in the American Way, from a persistent gender wage gap to a failure to uphold child labor protections to a disturbing prevalence of human trafficking. One of the key systemic problems is the institutional weakness of the labor movement:

... The greater challenge looming over the One Nation campaign isn't just the optics—it's defining a weakened movement in an increasingly unstable political arena. And it's tapping into the public outrage that the right has shrewdly exploited in galvanizing new constituencies. So the groups carrying the “One Nation” banner might want to focus a bit less on projecting an aura of middle-class liberal harmony, and instead learn from the mass appeal of European union militancy.

We're running into one of the most dangerous aspects of the myth of American Exceptionalism: the concept that American workers somehow operate outside historical class antagoisms. Folks are lulled into the belief that deep social crisis can and should be resolved by individual upward mobility and by negotiating within establishment institutions (like Election Day or corporate-controlled collective bargaining).

I am not excited about yesterday's call to GOTV. Surely I am glad to see so many of "us" show up - and glad to see the Labor movement standing side-by-side with organizers for civil rights, anti-war, environment, but to see all that organizing effort used for a message to go out and vote does nothing for me - didn't we do that in '06 & '08? Actually, haven't I been working that line for years and years and years?

No. The only thing that's going to work is if ALL those Pols are "afraid" of "us" - if we are creating so much agitation that they don't dare sit in their bubble and call us "retards" and give away our lives and livelihoods to the Oligarchs. That's one thing that Obama and his Merry Band of Corporatists accomplished that even the illegitimate little Tinpot Dictator Wanna-Be couldn't - finally disabusing me of any last shreds of "hope" that electoral politics could make a real difference. I don't thank them for it - it was a comforting illusion. Elections were fun - the strategy, the fight, the intensity - it's seductive, and hard to give up. Too bad it's a waste of time.

[Demeter]

90. "SPARK-TACUS"

"Spartacus" is a 1960 American historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast about the historical life of Spartacus and the Third Servile War. The film stars Kirk Douglas as rebellious slave Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as his foe, the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. The film also stars Peter Ustinov (who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus), John Gavin (as Julius Caesar), Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, Woody Strode, Tony Curtis, John Dall and Charles McGraw. The titles were designed by Saul Bass. Anthony Mann, the film's original director, was replaced by Douglas with Kubrick after the first week of shooting...

Tony Curtis is Antoninus, a young Sicilian slave who leaves his master, Crassus, and joins Spartacus. At the conclusion of the movie Spartacus and Antoninus are forced to fight to the death in a gladiatorial match, the survivor to be crucified. Academy Award–nominee Curtis had recently had a huge success with Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, and Douglas wanted him for the film to add more "star power".

IF YOU WANT THE ENTIRE PLOT, WHICH RUNS FOR PARAGRAPHS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus_%281960_film%29

[Demeter]

91. Tesla recalls 2 Roadster models for power-cable issue

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-recalls-roadsters-20-and-25-2010-10-03?siteid=YAHOOB

Tesla Motors recalled two models of its Roadsters because of an instance where a backup power cable chafed against a panel, causing a short-circuit, smoke and possibly a fire behind the right front headlight.

The Palo Alto, Calif., electric-car maker /quotes/comstock/15*!tsla/quotes/nls/tsla (TSLA 20.60, +0.20, +0.96%) recalled the models 2.0 and 2.5, a total of 439 vehicles. The earlier model 1.5, which doesn’t have the cable, is unaffected by the recall.

The repair involves installing a protective sleeve over the cable, which is attached to a backup to the system that provides power to the head- and taillights, turn signals and air bags, Tesla said in a Friday statement,

Tesla added that it had notified regulators about the incident.

The company, founded in 2003, first put the Roadster on the street in 2008 and now has sold more than 1,300 of them to customers in North America, Europe and Asia.

[Demeter]

93. Visteon, auto-parts producer, exits Chapter 11

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/visteon-auto-parts-producer-exits-chapter-11-2010-10-03?siteid=YAHOOB

After a 16-month reorganization effort, auto-parts producer Visteon Corp. exited bankruptcy court with a bit more than a fifth of its previous debt load and a focus on four product lines.

The Van Buren Township, Mich., company had filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy law in late May 2009.

Its reorganization plan, which had been confirmed Aug. 31 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., cut the company’s debt to $600 million from $2.7 billion at the time of the filing.

The new balance sheet enables Visteon, which employs 26,000 people in 26 countries, “to be very competitive in the Tier 1 automotive supplier industry,” the company said in a Friday statement...

[DemReadingDU]

97. Sorry I'm late

I've been to our annual sister bonding weekend. We had fun, now time to catch up!

[Demeter]

99. THAT'S A WRAP, FOLKS

Didn't post as much as I wanted to, but on the other hand, my sister is here, and she's gutted one room already...and it's off to beautiful Cleveland tomorrow...may not surface until Thursday. Have a good one!