STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday May 18, 2011

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Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 12

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

May 18 07:00 MBA Mortgage Index 05/13 NA NA +8.2%
May 18 10:30 Crude Inventories 05/14 NA NA 3.781M
May 18 14:00 FOMC Minutes May

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm#ixzz1MhVriaek

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $98 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as the dollar weakened and a crude supply report showed mixed signs about U.S. demand.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was up $1.52 to $98.43 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 47 cents to settle at $96.91 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude for June delivery was up $1.23 to $111.22 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 2.7 million barrels last week, more than the increase of 500,000 barrels predicted by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

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

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/us-markets-oil-idUSL3E7G601S20110518

Reuters) - Brent crude rebounded more than $1 to above $111 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by a surprise drop in U.S. gasoline inventories and a weaker dollar, with more supply data seen giving prices a further lift.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell 676,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday, ahead of government supply data in the Energy Information Administration report due at 1430 GMT.

"We're waiting for the data from the U.S. The market wants to bounce a bit, and if it's strong it will give the market a lift, but if it comes in weak, then it will just confirm what everyone thinks, so there won't be too much downside," Helen Henton, analyst at Standard Chartered said.

Brent crude was up $1.21 a barrel at $111.21 by 1057 GMT. U.S. crude gained $1.43 to $98.33, rebounding from a 12-week settlement low of $96.91 on Tuesday.

that's about the same as the recent % swings in oil.


free market my ass. Free reign greed is more like it.

U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may break a three-day losing streak, as Dell Inc. (DELL) surged after beating earnings estimates and commodity producers led a global equity rally.

Dell, the world’s second-largest computer maker, climbed 6.2 percent in German trading after its emphasis on corporate data centers helped it top projections and withstand a slump in consumer demand. Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) rallied more than 0.7 percent in Germany as metals rose.

S&P 500 futures expiring in June advanced 0.2 percent to 1,328.60 at 10:48 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts increased 29 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,466. The MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 nations gained 0.5 percent to 342.63.

“The market’s relieved that Dell didn’t confirm Hewlett- Packard’s weaker forecast from yesterday,” said Radu Margoses, senior broker at Newedge Group in Zurich. “It’s not too surprising if economic reports disappoint a bit as we saw a similar soft patch around this time last year.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/u-s-stock-futures-gain-as-dell-rallies-after-beating-estimates.html

are more effective than sandbags?

The numbers from the last few weeks have sucked rocks. Production down, costs up, and margins squezzed. RE and CRE continue to dance on the cliff, but if Dell says things will be better, the HFT's rejoice.

How are things in Maine, Po? Having a good day yet?

Condo's paying thousands to fix a drainage problem--by sealing off the structure. The actual drainage problem is site-wide, and we have maybe half the money so far (and no specific plans, yet). And it's STILL raining.

Remember that April in late 80's, when NH got 10 inches of rain in a month on top of the melting snowpack? I do. We got water in our basement due to water table rising, first time ever (and hopefully last--I adjusted the swales).

Well, the water table around here has yet to recede. And it's STILL raining. Most of the condos don't have basements, fortunately...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-18-05-18-45

BANGKOK (AP) -- World stocks climbed Wednesday, shrugging off weak U.S. economic indicators as Asia got a boost from signs that Japan's post-tsunami recovery is quickening.

Oil prices rose to near $99 a barrel as the dollar slipped against the euro and the yen. European shares were higher in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.9 percent at 5,915.93 and Germany's DAX rose 0.9 percent to 7,324.07. France's CAC-40 added 1 percent to 3,979.45.

Wall Street was also poised for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures 42 points higher to 12,479 and S&P futures up 4.3 points to 1,329.70.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1 percent to close at 9,662.08, helped by reports of a recovery in factory production after massive disruptions following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out much of the country's industrialized northeast.





me: i'm expecting some 'surprised' experts soon.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said budget deficits threaten to erode the nation’s economy and security and can’t be reduced with “magical thinking.”

“Neither Congress nor the administration should be able to use unrealistic assumptions about future economic growth or future political courage, or other forms of magical thinking, to minimize the magnitude of the reforms that will be necessary,” Geithner said today in a speech at the Harvard Club in New York.

Geithner said U.S. “fiscal problems are so pressing that they threaten to undermine the foundations of our future economic strength” and the country’s ability “to protect our national security interests.”

Lawmakers and the Obama administration are trying to reach a bipartisan accord on cutting long-term deficits as part of a plan to raise the legal limit on the national debt. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said his party wants “significant” cuts in spending and no tax increases as a condition for lifting the limit.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/geithner-says-u-s-can-t-use-magical-thinking-to-tackle-budget-deficit.html

He believes in throwing money at a problem. He just has incredibly bad aim, no idea what the problem is, and is totally resistant to any reality-based analysis or contradiction of his beliefs.

So, I guess he does believe in magic...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o89iKsKw19M

Geithner said the U.S. benefits from global confidence in the dollar

Really? So foriegn bidders wood push rates lower if the FED stopped buying T's?

Then he declined to comment on recent investment trends for the dollar and other currencies. This coming from Mr Blank check to AIG?:rofl:

Insomnia strikes again--board meeting last night. Another little fascist growing in our midst. Perhaps that's not the right word....what would define someone who feels that on the basis of nothing at all (no experience, training, or action) he/she is entitled to be superior to someone with it? Sarah Palin? God save us from grandiose amateurs!

this sounds juicy-ish.

and a massive desire to fix the problem before it gets worse.

i just live for gossip.

but if a charming or "educational" story develops, I will post it.

:evilgrin: i live the dull life of a single gay man of a certain age -- this is how i entertain myself when i'm not shopping.

Life will never be dull, then.

it's why i sold and moved to durham.

now i have to live vicariously.

living off second-hand smoke?

:evilgrin:

I messed with the cookie setting, and now I'm paying for it...

Not the same as a condo of course but we are a low income building and the owners have high priced crappy wash/dry machines and one large bottle soda machine that they pick the vendor based on kickbacks.

The Community Board asked that they replace the pop machine with cans with more selections and add a snack machine especially for the MN winters when nobody gets out. They of course said 'No" which is their response to everything at least 98% of the time. So the plucky board is selling pop and snacks from 1-3 in the Community Room with the profit going to the Community Assn not the owners. I am sure they will try to find a way to crush that. Probably have the "Fire Marshal" declare it illegal to vend without a license. I do mean the Fire Marshall because that is who they always quote on rules.

"You cannot move the Community Room piano out from the wall because the Fire Marshall says it is a fire hazard" Community room accommodates 125 people."You cannot leave your boots out on a mat in the hallway because the Fire Marshall says it is a Fire Hazard" (Our doors are recessed, one wall at an angle so boots are not out in the actual hall.) "You cannot have newspapers in one grocery bag in your apartment for recycling it is a fire hazard."

We are in a middle tier suburb and I have had people say "Oh you live in the highrise" to denote it is a HUD building. We have 3 floors. They also equate low-income with criminal and stupid. Most of the people here worked their entire lives they just did not get a golden parachute and their SS does not go very far. And they know what is going on in the world and almost all volunteer their time somewhere in the community and many help support family members during this Great Resession.

Power to the old folks!

Without further ado, the top ten lines from Ben Stein’s article on Dominique Strauss-Kahn:

1. If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn’t he ever get charged until now?

2. This is a case about the hatred of the have-nots for the haves, and that’s what it’s all about.

3. So far, he’s innocent, and he’s being treated shamefully. If he’s found guilty, there will be plenty of time to criticize him.

4. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes?

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/05/17/ben-stein-watch-dsk-edition/

Read the rest. It's jaw-dropping. Here's the link to the Stein article, if you can stomach it:

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/05/17/presumed-innocent-anyone

Ben Stein is a crypto-Teabagger?

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME19Df01.html


DHAKA - United States' approval for shrimp and white fish imports from Bangladesh may help to double related exports from the South Asian country to as much as US$1 billion over the next year.

Bangladesh exported $437.4 million worth of frozen food including shrimps and white fish in the fiscal year to last June 30, and $511 million has been exported during the first 10 months of the present fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA).

"By our data, we have achieved a 58% growth over last fiscal year's exports during the same corresponding period," association executive director Md Abul Bashar told Asia Times Online. About


a third of this amount went to the US, with another "50% going to the EU countries and the remainder to Russia and the Middle Eastern nations".





me: i don't ever buy imported fish.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME18Df02.html

POSCO wins struggle for Orissa steel plant

BANGALORE - Six years and several setbacks after it signed an initial memorandum of understanding with Pohang Iron and Steel Co (POSCO), the Indian government has given the South Korean steel giant its "final approval" for the setting up of a US$12.1 billion steel project in the eastern state of Orissa.

The environment ministry's go-ahead to POSCO's 12 million tonnes per annum steel project is expected to allay investor concern in India's business environment. Business corporations, especially those in the mining and metallurgy sector, have expressed their unease at green activism in the country delaying clearances for their projects and land acquisition not going fast enough.

The government's final approval" should reassure investors that


they can count on full support from the Indian government even if they violate the rights of Indian citizens, land laws and environmental norms.

I've been afraid to buy it even though the price was decent.

I read an article the other day about China's exploding watermelons. Seems the farmers were dousing their watermelons with growth enhancing chemicals but they did it at the wrong time, so the watermelons were exploding in the fields by the thousands. One enterprising farmer decided to feed the chemical saturated watermelons to their fish.

Be very careful of the imported foods you buy.

The problem with fish farming is the same as any factory farming--there's a right way, and a wrong way; a way to make good food cheaply, and a way to make money.

An independent FDA for factory farming would be useful...but susceptible to corruption, in these corrupt times.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/commodity/comm_news.php?autono=153454&type=MKT

Mumbai – Displaying a bullish trend, base metals posted notable change during the early hours of trading on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Wednesday, thanks to firm LME. Weakening dollar against euro boosted metals prices.

Aluminium May contract traded at Rs 113.80, up Re 0.40 at 10:39 AM IST and opened the session at Rs 113.55 per kg. It so far moved between Rs 113.90- 113.60 per kg. Total volume so far recorded at 297 lots.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/oil-price-rise-fuels-india39s-inflation-woe_544438.html

Last weekend, Tarachand Gupta, a 52-year-old engineer, awoke to the bitter news that India's state-owned oil marketing companies had raised petrol prices by 8% overnight.

"This is a rude shock," Mr Gupta, who commutes 46km a day, said angrily as he filled the tank of his tiny Maruti Estilo in New Delhi, while returning home from work. "This could lead to budgeting chaos for me at home."

Increased fuel prices are just the latest headache for Indian consumers already buffeted by high inflation. Household budgets are being squeezed, and with higher diesel prices expected to follow as early as this week, the situation is likely to get worse.

"It's so uncomfortable. Onions are already frightfully expensive, and now you have to go and buy expensive vegetables with your expensive petrol," said Kavita, a middle-class mother of two, filling up her Hyundai Santro.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/commodities/india-gold-demand-muted-as-wedding-purchases-fall_544573.html

ndia's gold futures tracked overseas gains to edge higher on Wednesday afternoon, despite the rupee's pull back from two-month lows. Domestic spot demand remained weak in the absence of support from wedding season purchases, dealers said.

The most-active gold for June delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.44% higher at Rs 21,920 per 10 grams at 3:29 p.m.

> "Demand was weak. People were waiting for correction. They were waiting for level of around USD 1,470 an ounce," said a Mumbai-based dealer with state-run bank dealing in bullion.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/local-markets/nifty-volatile-oilgas-auto-realty-down_544465.html

The NSE benchmark index Nifty was trading weak in afternoon trade. Since morning no confident buying was seen from the investors. Oil & gas, auto, realty, pharma and banking sectors dragged the bourses. However some buying was seen in IT pack.

Heavyweights like Reliance, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and ONGC were the negative contributors to the bourses.

At 13.33 hrs IST, the Sensex was down 51.72 points or 0.29% at 18085.63, and the Nifty was down 21.20 points or 0.39% at 5417.75.

About 899 shares advanced, 1744 shares declined, and 998 shares remained unchanged.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/govt-is-about-to-screw-ongcs-minority-shareholders-again-11655.html

India’s primary oil producer, the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is about to get it in the neck once again. According to news reports, the government is planning to increase the company’s subsidy burden in order to avoid taking a more direct hit on budgetary finances.

Under the formula worked out earlier, ONGC and other oil and gas producers (Gas Authority of India Ltd and Oil India Ltd) have to offer “discounts” (i.e. subsidies) to oil marketing companies (Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL) up to 33.3 percent of their losses on diesel, cooking gas and kerosene sales. Now, the government apparently wants to raise the subsidy amount to Rs 30,000 crore this year, which works out to 38.5 percent, though there is no official confirmation of this move.

While the ONGC share is obviously tanking on this news, the move raises serious concerns about corporate governance at ONGC. The government wears two hats when it comes to ONGC. As a policymaker, it can direct ONGC to subsidise whomsoever it wants to in public interest. But ONGC is not fully owned by the government: 26 percent of its shareholders are ordinary and institutional investors, whose interests cannot be sacrificed at the whims of the majority shareholder. The same holds for GAIL and OIL, both of which are publicly-listed companies.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55087.html


They are the newest breed of government skeptics, the swelling ranks of Republicans who don’t believe the Obama administration when it says a failure to raise the debt limit will prove catastrophic...The growing divide is fed by a combustible mix: deep distrust among conservatives of President Barack Obama and government in general and a hardening view among mainstream Republicans that the debt-limit vote offers the best shot in years to fundamentally reorder the country’s finances — and they can’t let it pass them by. The government hit the $14.29 trillion debt limit Monday, but Treasury took steps to keep the country afloat through August.

Within weeks of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s initial plea in January for a quick vote, Republicans gravitated toward a counternarrative, pushed first by a handful of conservative economists and ushered into the mainstream by Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey on the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal...Now, the negotiating position of a growing number of Republicans appears to be this: If they need to hold out for a better deficit-cutting deal and blow the August deadline, so be it...The doubters — backed by Wall Street — reject Geithner’s repeated claims that failing to raise the statutory cap will force the federal government into the first default in its history.

That’s hogwash, the doubters say, because the government takes in more than enough revenue to cover its obligations. They acknowledge the administration will need to make deep and painful spending cuts but argue that Geithner can avert default if he prioritizes which bills to pay...It would be more like a partial government shutdown, Toomey said.

“That’s disruptive; that’s not optimal,” Toomey conceded in an interview. “But it’s not a financial crisis. It’s not a default on our debt. It’s not a catastrophe. It’s a disruption.” Geithner’s response? It’s default by another name. Even if Treasury pays its debt, other obligations, such as salaries, tax refunds and contractor payments, would go unmet, tattering the country’s creditworthiness, Geithner has argued...In a letter Friday to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Geithner wrote that such an event “would inflict catastrophic, far-reaching damage to our nation’s economy, significantly reducing growth and increasing unemployment.” The value of 401(k) plans and pension funds would plummet, while the cost of buying a home or car and taking out student or business loans would rise, Geithner wrote.

“This abrupt contraction would likely push us into a double-dip recession,” the secretary warned.

SO, IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WAY THE FURNITURE IS ARRANGED IN THE HOUSE, BURN IT DOWN....ESPECIALLY IF NEITHER THE HOUSE NOR THE FURNITURE IS YOURS TO BEGIN WITH...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/590045/white_house_warns_of_economic_crisis_if_congress_fails_to_raise_debt_limit/#paragraph4



Republicans have tried to argue that failing to lift the debt limit would be no big deal because in theory creditors could still be paid, but that is either an ignorant or dishonest way of looking at the situation.

After exhausting emergency measures (which began today), failure to lift the debt limit would mean the federal government would not have enough money to fully fund its obligations. Nobody knows exactly how we'd decide what services to cut, but the one thing that is certain is that we would go from setting the gold standard for dependability to becoming a fiscal rogue state. Confidence in our government would plummet globally and the economy would tank as it did in 2008.

Republicans either don't understand this or they are lying about it. Either way, they are playing a dangerous game. With the debt limit having already been reached, and with emergency measures now in place, they need to come to their senses immediately. If they don't, they'll be entirely responsible for causing the second major financial crisis in the past three years, and that's the last thing America—or the world—needs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_HONG_KONG_NEW_EXCHANGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-18-06-29-22

HONG KONG (AP) -- Hong Kong's new commodity exchange backed by China's biggest bank and a Russian tycoon began trading Wednesday as the Asian city attempts to challenge established markets in Europe and the U.S.

Exchange officials said that Asian countries, especially China and India, have been driving demand for global commodities and the new exchange is aimed at helping traders in the region have a bigger say in setting prices. Trading of gold and other major commodities has traditionally been dominated by exchanges in Chicago, New York and London.

The only product available to trade so far on the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange is a futures contract for one kilogram of gold with physical delivery in Hong Kong. Some 3,415 contracts worth $163.3 million were traded by late afternoon.

A silver contract will start trading in July. To capitalize on growing investor demand for China's gradually strengthening currency, a yuan-denominated gold futures contract will launch in the autumn.

Bangin the close will now be restricted to Friday afternoon only. :popcorn:

It will be China and India, if they are smart enough to avoid doing business with the banksters, who will end the New World Order coup.

And that may save South America from a new wave of colonialism, too.

Let the banksters fight over the Middle East. Life there is artificially sustained by high-tech, fossil fuel consumption. They don't even bother to exploit their solar gain. They have no water, little arable land, no education for the masses except for religious indoctrination.


The BRICS are the antidote to the Eurocentric, hereditary privileged class that has run the world and too many nations into the ground with their economic scams, and religious imports and brain-draining policies.

It will be glorious to watch, if hell to survive.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110518a3.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to book a group net loss of more than ¥800 billion for fiscal 2010 as it gears up for dismantling its crisis-hit nuclear power plant, according to sources close to the matter.

Tepco will include the cost of decommissioning four reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant as an extraordinary loss in its financial statement for the year ended in March to be released Friday, the sources said.

The utility also plans to book some of the compensation costs for the year as it has started making provisional damages payments to residents and others affected by the March 11 nuclear accident, the sources said Monday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-05/18/c_13881597.htm

SHANGHAI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Morgan Stanley launched its first yuan-denominated private equity fund in China on Wednesday to tap investment opportunities in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

This comes after private equity giants Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group have launched their own yuan-denominated funds in China. Goldman Sachs has also been reported to have struck a deal with the Beijing municipal government on a yuan private equity fund, but that has not yet been confirmed.

Morgan Stanley said in a press release it planned to raise 1.5 billion yuan (230.6 million U.S. dollars) via the newly established Morgan Stanley (China) Private Equity Investment Management Co.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-05/18/c_13881426.htm

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Senior executives of PetroChina Co., Ltd., said Wednesday that the company will continue to seek opportunity for overseas merger and acquisition (M&A) and further expand its Latin American presence.

In an interview with Xinhua at PetroChina's annual shareholders' meeting, Chairman Jiang Jiemin said current high oil and gas prices don't make it an ideal time for overseas M&A, but the company won't miss a profitable chance when it comes along.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-05/18/c_13881288.htm

HONG KONG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong shares ended 0.51 percent higher on Wednesday as bargain hunting emerged after the local market had fallen in 12 of the past 14 sessions.

Hong Kong stocks gained 115.66 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 23,016.74 on Wednesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 22,924.46 and 23,057.72. Turnover totaled 60.41 billion HK dollars (about 7.77 billion U.S. dollars).

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 137.62 points, or 1. 08 percent, to close at 12,870.83 .

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/hkmex-idUSL4E7GI13320110518

May 18 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) is eying growing demand for commodities in China and aims to become a bridge between the giant consumer of metals, energy and agricultural products and international markets, President Albert Helmig said on Wednesday.

HKMEx, which is allowed to provide automated trading services in Hong Kong, launched its first gold contract on Wednesday.

The gold contract is priced in U.S. dollars and delivered physically in Hong Kong.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_EU?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-18-07-37-28

SHANGHAI (AP) -- Ailing European economies are getting their houses in order and the euro remains a trustworthy currency, the European Union's president said Wednesday, describing the region's recovery as "not bad at all."

"Newspaper headlines might sometimes overshadow that the economic recovery in Europe as a whole is on track and even gaining momentum in some member states," Herman Van Rompuy said in a speech to the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.

"Our economic fundamentals remain sound," he said.

While forecast European growth rates of 1.8 percent this year and 2.0 percent in 2012 may appear modest compared with China's near 10 percent pace, they reflect the maturity and prosperity of the region's economies.







me: if you have to say so -- how strong is it?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/us-markets-global-idUSTRE71H0EB20110518

(Reuters) - World stocks climbed off four-week lows on Wednesday and the euro recovered some ground against the dollar as investors sought bargains in recently hard-hit markets.

Wall Street looked set to open higher.

The hunt for cheaper assets, however, was tempered by disappointing U.S. economic data on Tuesday and continuing concerns about the euro zone's struggle to control debt in its peripheral economies, particularly Greece.

Europe's top financial officials broke a taboo on Tuesday and acknowledged for the first time that Greece may have to restructure its debts, a move which could stoke Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/spain-banks-debt-idUSLDE74H0RP20110518

May 18 (Reuters) - Spain's bad loans ratio fell slightly in March from February, after six months of rises, due to a slight uptick in overall lending volumes, the Bank of Spain said on Wednesday.

The level of bad loans as a ratio of total lending by Spain's financial sector -- including banks, financial cooperatives and retail credit cards -- dropped to 6.11 percent in March from 6.20 percent reached in February, the highest level since Sept. 1995.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/05/bp_and_rosneft

BILLED as the deal that would put BP’s troubles behind it after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a share swap and Arctic Sea exploration agreement with Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil and gas giant, has so far looked like another calamity in the making. After the deal was announced in January, AAR, BP’s Russian partner in TNK-BP, a money-spinning joint venture, objected to the tie-up, which appeared to break the agreement between AAR and BP that the British oil firm would pursue all its Russian projects through the joint venture. BP had not even told AAR that it had been negotiating the deal with Rosneft. Lengthy negotiations ensued. The latest deadline passed on May 16th without resolving the impasse between BP, Rosneft and AAR. BP admitted that the deal had lapsed.

Yet this time almost all the big issues had been resolved. BP had agreed on a price to buy out AAR, and the make-up of cash and shares involved. And the terms of a deal that would eventually see Rosneft acquire the AAR stake in TNK-BP had been largely hammered out. The sticking-point was finding a mechanism that would lead to the immediate lifting of a tribunal's injunction that had prevented BP and Rosneft swapping shares. Rosneft wanted this so that the share swap could go ahead without delay, allowing the Russian firm to claim its prized stake in BP and denying AAR the opportunity to haggle further. AAR did not want the injunction lifted immediately, since its part of the deal would take 3-4 months to go through and could potentially fall apart, leaving it back where it started.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/mothercare-idUSLDE74F1QN20110518

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Mother and baby products firm Mothercare (MTC.L) is to close over a quarter of its British stores as a collapse in UK profits eclipsed strong growth in overseas markets.

The firm, which issued profit warnings in January and March, said on Wednesday it would shrink its UK in-town store estate as it focuses on high growth markets like China, India, the Middle East, eastern Europe, and Latin America, where it can benefit from higher birth rates and burgeoning middle classes.

In the UK several household names are struggling under intense competition from online retailers and supermarkets and from tough conditions for consumers as prices and taxes rise and government spending is cut.

Store groups including HMV (HMV.L), JJB Sports (JJB.L), Thorntons (THT.L), Comet (KESA.L) and Blacks Leisure (BSLA.L) are also closing shops to avoid the fate of retailers such as Woolworths and Zavvi, which went bust in the recession.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/18/unemployment-falls-claimant-count-rises

Unemployment fell by 36,000 in the first three months of the year despite the economy's lacklustre rate of growth, official figures show, in a rare piece of good news for George Osborne.

The Office for National Statistics said the number of people out of work on the government's preferred International Labour Organisation measure fell to 2.46m, taking the unemployment rate to 7.7%, from 7.8% in the three months to February.

It marks the second successive month of declining joblessness, helping to ease the pain for households facing rising inflation and heavy debts.

Youth unemployment – a potential political flashpoint for the coalition – also declined, to 935,000, although that still means one in five 16-to-24-year-olds are out of work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/18/uk-unemployment-what-economists-say


UK unemployment: what the economists say

City economists, familiar with the concept of jobless growth, are confused by Britain's growthless jobs

City economists are encouraged that Britain's unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in the first three months of 2011, with the jobless total falling to 2.46m. But the claimant count increased by 12,400 in April, bolstering fears that unemployment may be heading upwards.

Andrew Goodwin at the Ernst & Young Item Club

Once again there is a split between the older ILO data and the more timely claimant count. The ILO data has finally caught up with the stronger claimant count data of a few months ago and higher employment, coupled with lower unemployment and inactivity, is certainly what we would like to see at this stage of a recovery.

But the second successive increase in the claimant count is concerning as it suggests that the momentum behind the labour market recovery is ebbing away. We would expect to see this trend continue as the year progresses and the pace of the public sector spending cuts accelerates.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/may/17/home-ownership-locked-out

Just one in four couples will be able to afford to buy a home in the future, according to a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which says that Britain is turning into a "rotten borough" where a whole generation will be locked out of the property-owning democracy.

The report, by the JRF Housing Market Task Force, calls for radical reform to Britain's housing and planning system to reduce the boom-and-bust cycle. It wants an urgent increase in the supply of housing, both private and council, plus credit controls, such as temporary caps on the maximum amounts an individual can borrow, to curb future booms.

Council tax should be reformed, so that it reflects a fixed percentage of a property's value, and stamp duty raised regularly in line with inflation, according to the report.

But increasing the supply of new homes is crucial, it argues. If UK house building remains at the current volume of around 150,000 units a year, the report predicts that the proportion of couples aged 30-34 who are able to afford their first home will fall from 56% today to just 28% by 2026.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/uk-britain-rates-idUKTRE74H1KO20110518

(Reuters) - The Bank of England is no closer to raising interest rates, minutes of its latest rate-setting meeting showed on Wednesday, as mixed jobs data highlighted the patchy nature of Britain's economic recovery.

The central bank has kept interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent for more than two years, and despite inflation rising to more than double its target the hawks on the monetary policy committee are not gaining ground.

May's 6-3 voting split was unchanged from the previous three months, and two of the three Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members who voted to raise rates -- Martin Weale and Spencer Dale -- felt the case remained "finely balanced."

In another sign of the cloudy economic outlook, separate figures on Wednesday showed the number of people claiming jobless benefit unexpectedly rose by 12,400 last month, the biggest rise in over a year.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/markets-britain-stocks-idUKLDE74H11K20110518

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Rallying commodity stocks and bullish results from Land Securities (LAND.L) helped a bruised FTSE 100 rebound on Wednesday, as the index found support around key technical levels. Landlord and developer Land Securities jumped 6.6 percent as the firm posts a double-digit rise in full-year net asset value, prompting Panmure Gordon to up its target price for the stock.

Other real estate companies British Land (BLND.L), Hammerson (HMSO.L) and Capital Shopping Centres (CSCG.L) rose as much as 4.5 percent on the back of Land Securities' results.

The FTSE 100 .FTSE index was up 50.93 points, or 0.9 percent, at 5,911.93 by 1032 GMT, bouncing of key support levels after London's blue chip index was knocked on Tuesday by weak housing data in the United States.

"The FTSE 100 has yet again bounced from support levels of 5,860 to trade within the same 250-point trading range that has kept the UK index moving sideways for the entire year," Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/us-strausskahn-organizations-idUSTRE74H0TH20110518

Reuters) - Whether IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is innocent or guilty of sexual assault, his arrest has raised questions about whether international organizations are soft on their top officials in such matters.

The scandal has broken at a time when private companies are becoming less and less tolerant of any sexual misconduct by their senior executives. A string of high-profile companies have shed their bosses in recent years over such issues.

Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, was arrested on Saturday while about to fly to Paris after a chambermaid at a New York hotel said he had tried to rape her earlier in the day.

His lawyer has said the French economist will plead not guilty, but the sensational incident has probably wrecked his hopes of running for president of France next year or of continuing to lead the IMF.





me: i am not responsible for the headline -- but i could have been.

"me: i am not responsible for the headline -- but i could have been."
:fistbump:

:toast:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015079516_jpmorgan18.html

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chairman and chief executive officer, said he was sorry for foreclosure mistakes as hundreds of protesters at the annual meeting demanded he do more to help homeowners and small businesses recover from the financial crisis.

For any errors that were made, "We deeply apologize," Dimon, 55, said Tuesday at the shareholders' meeting in a 2 million-square-foot office building in Columbus, Ohio. "We are doing everything we can to keep people in their homes that should stay in their homes."

Dimon said he especially regretted the bank's mistakes in foreclosing on active-duty military personnel and for fumbling paperwork on other home seizures.

At least one person was handcuffed after a group of about 400 protesters marched up Chase's property and placed a sign on a raft floating in a pond in the bank's premises. The sign read: "Foreclosed: Chase sinks our economy."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/05/southern-california-dominance-in-international-trade-is-likely-to-continue.html

The Los Angeles Customs District, which includes the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports, is expected to remain the nation's preferred gateway for international trade in 2011. It will handle about $372.8 billion in imports and exports this year, an increase of 7.5% over 2010, according to a new report by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

The report, International Trade Trends: The Southern California Region Review and 2011 Outlook, was officially released Monday at midnight. It contains a number of positive indicators about the effect of trade on the Southern California economy.

n 2010, the Los Angeles Customs District handled $346.9 billion in imports and exports, good enough to maintain its No. 1 ranking in the U.S. New York, the No. 2-ranked customs district, handled $326.3 billion in goods that year. It was followed by third-ranked Detroit, at $218.1 billion; fourth-ranked Houston, with $211.5 billion; and fifth-ranked New Orleans, at $191.2 billion, the LAEDC report said.

The LAEDC estimated that the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, which rank first and second, respectively, in the U.S. in the number of cargo containers they move, will handle about 14.8 million containers in 2011, an increase of 5.2% over 2010.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/590186/federal_audits_find_4_biggest_banks_guilty_of_fraud/#paragraph10

Bank of America: FRAUD

Citigroup: FRAUD

JPMorgan Chase: FRAUD

Wells Fargo: FRAUD

Ally Financial: FRAUD

It looks like they all violated the False Claims Act, which was a law passed during the Civil War to stop firms from swindling the Government...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/588311/flashback%3A_corporations_used_2004_tax_holiday_to_repatriate_billions%2C_then_laid_off_thousands_of_workers/#paragraph3



A slew of multinational corporations — who have crafted a campaign known as “WinAmerica” — are lobbying hard for Congress to enact a tax repatriation holiday, which would allow multinational corporations to bring money they have stashed offshore back to the U.S. at a dramatically lower tax rate. (Usually corporations pay the statutory 35 percent rate on repatriated earnings.)

The campaign has picked up a bit of steam, with Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) introducing legislation this week to enact a tax holiday. Two Republican 2012 hopefuls — Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney — and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) have all endorsed the idea. Their justification for supporting it is that corporations will use the repatriated money to invest domestically and create jobs.

However, the Congressional Research Service looked at a repatriation holiday approved by Congress in 2004 and found “little evidence exists that new investment was spurred.” In fact, many of the largest companies that took advantage of that holiday wound up cutting tens of thousands of jobs over the subsequent two years, as this table shows:

Corporation Amount Repatriated Layoffs In 2005-2006
Pfizer $37 billion 10,000
Merck $15.9 billion 7,000
Hewlett-Packard $14.5 billion 14,500
Honeywell $2.7 billion 2,000
Ford $900 million 30,000
Colgate-Palmolive $800 million 4,000

Even companies that actually used the money for domestic investment, like Dell, wound up spending their new-found windfall on projects that they were going to undertake even in the absence of a tax break. As MIT economist Kristen Forbes explained, “ said part of the money would be brought back to build a new plant in Winston-Salem, N.C. They did bring back $4 billion, and spent $100 million on the plant, which they admitted would have been built anyway.”

Overall, corporations used 92 percent of the money they brought back under the tax holiday to enrich their executives and buy back their own shares, not to invest in job creation. Several of the companies in the WinAmerica coalition already pay exceedingly low taxes due to the various loopholes and credits in the corporate tax code and through their use of offshore tax havens. The Joint Economic Committee found that a repatriation holiday would cost $78.7 billion.

THEY DIDN'T MENTION BUYING ANOTHER 4 YEARS FOR W, EITHER...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/587783/we%27ve_seen_one_prosecution%2C_but_make_no_mistake%3A_%22too_big_to_fail%22_is_still_%22too_big_to_jail%22/#paragraph3

Some of the headlines about the conviction of hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam are misleading or just plain wrong. The Rajaratnam guilty verdict won't "change the way Wall Street does business" - not where it matters most. Too Big to Fail banks will continue to endanger the economy because they know they'll be rescued again. And they'll keep on breaking the law, knowing that even if they're caught they'll be protected from prosecution.

And yet, instead of being grateful, bankers like JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will continue to publicly sulk about their own perceived mistreatment. That can be annoying, since the U.S. taxpayer saved their corporations, their careers, and their wealth from the consequences of their own mismanagement... We never learned our lesson from the 2008 crisis. Instead of ending Too Big to Fail, the government has encouraged it. It's been helping larger banks acquire small ones. There were 157 bank failures last year, and there are now roughly half as many banks in the U.S. as there were 20 years ago. And most industry experts agree that consolidation in the banking industry will continue.

What's much worse is the fact that the top banks are getting bigger, not smaller. The "Big Four" - Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo - had 32% of the market before the 2008 collapse. Afterwards they had 39%, and they continue to grow.

And these corporations are all serial outlaws...So forget all of those headlines that say Raj Rajaratnam's conviction will "change everything." The government is still targeting small fry and trying to convince the public it's getting the people who have ruined their lives. It's not. Justice won't be served, and we won't be protected from the next crisis, until executives from the major U.S. banks are seriously investigated for their roles in the criminal behavior that has already been admitted to and addressed with a wave of large financial settlements...If Raj Rajaratnam's conviction fails to convince the public that the government's cracking down on bad bankers, they'll need another target for the public's wrath. Who knows? Maybe they'll arrest Martha Stewart again.

A GOOD SUMMARY OF ALL THE RECENT MADNESS...YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO READ IT, BECAUSE I CAN'T DO IT JUSTICE IN AN EXCERPT OR SUMMARY...

http://www.alternet.org/story/150904/7_ways_hedge_funds_lie%2C_cheat_and_steal?page=entire

AS ONE WHO HAS BEEN IN A SINGLE-INCOME SITUATION FOR LONGER THAN I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT IT, THIS PILE OF ASSUMPTIONS GETS MY GOAT...

http://www.alternet.org/story/150871/the_decline_of_the_%22two_breadwinner%22_family%3A_how_long-term_unemployment_threatens_to_demolish_the_middle_class?akid=6937.227380.Izphwl&rd=1&t=8



Born of the women’s movement and the income stagnation that started in the 1970s—soon making one income inadequate—the two-income family became a means of staying in the middle class or striving for that status. Now, one of those incomes is rapidly disappearing as more and more husbands or wives lose a job and, in a period of minimal job creation, can’t get back into the workforce. Once the unemployment benefits expire for the jobless husband or wife, the working spouse’s income then becomes the couple’s jobless pay, sustaining them, but at a lower—sometimes much lower—standard of living....



There were more than 58 million “married-couple families” in the United States in 2007, on the eve of the recession, and in more than 30 million of those families, or 51.7 percent, the husband and wife both worked, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, the percentage of two-earner families in which either the husband or wife became unemployed in a given year has doubled, from roughly 1.5 percent in 2007 to 3.1 percent in 2010 for wives and 3.7 percent for husbands, according to analysis of government data by Boushey at the Center for American Progress. In 2010 alone, more than 1 million two-earner married couples were reduced to one earner. That loss helps to explain the rise in mortgage defaults and home foreclosures, and the likelihood that both will continue at an abnormally high rate well into the recovery, as the unemployed in two-earner families re-enter the workforce, in many cases not at their old wages but at jobs that pay less.

An accurate census of two-earner families would almost certainly produce more lost jobs than the published numbers, which cover only those husbands and wives who listed themselves as unemployed. There is another layer of data that count men and women (some married, some not) who are out of work but no longer searching for jobs and therefore no longer qualify as “unemployed.” In many cases, they have given up the hunt and dropped out because of the widespread reluctance of employers to hire until they are more confident that the mild upturn in the economy won’t give way to another recession. Indeed, with so many out-of-work Americans no longer trying to find a job, the labor force participation rate—the percentage of the population either employed or actively seeking work—dropped to 64.2 percent at the end of March, its lowest level in over twenty-five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Given the stresses—particularly the stress inflicted on couples who had come to accept their two incomes as the norm—couples might be expected to be divorcing more, but the divorce rate isn’t higher. Tension and stress, yes; there is plenty of that and irreversible damage to many marriages, particularly when the husband remains out of work for a long time. But not divorce, with its promise of a plunge into poverty for husband and wife as the two go their separate ways...

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/are-you-middle-class/57730?utm_source=newsletter_2011-05-14&utm_medium=email_newsletter&utm_content=node_teaser_57730&utm_campaign=weekly_newsletter_18

Surprisingly, most people who think they are middle class, are not middle class.

Being middle class is being able to afford what most would expect a middle class family of 4 or 5 can afford:

1. Income (from job and/or investments) to financially support yourself and your family of 4 or 5 without resorting to government assistance when it comes to rental housing, food stamps, etc.
2. Reasonable health insurance/health care for your family (with affordable co-pays and deductibles, assuming no major debilitating conditions).
3. Reasonable dental insurance/dental care for your family (cleanings, the occasional crown, braces for a kid or two, etc. with affordable deductibles).
4. Paid off all student loans within 10 years of graduating college.
5. Savings for retirement, around 10% to 15% or more of income put into a 401(k), IRA, or other investments to cover retirement at age 65, medical expenses, possible nursing home care, etc. (With or without Social Security or Medicare, your choice, depending on if you think it'll be there.)
6. Savings for both short- and intermediate-term goals (such as one replacement computer/notebook, television, or home appliance a year; a gently-used replacement vehicle every 7 years for each spouse).
7. Savings for long-term goals (having a 20% down payment towards the purchase of a house near where you currently live within 10 years of entering the job market, having public college expenses at least half-covered within 18 years of each child's birth).
8. Kids' stuff: school clothes, tricycles/bicycles, inline skates or other sports equipment, uniforms or musical instruments, allowances, help with a used car when they reach driving age, etc.
9. A family vacation for a week, at least once every year or two; a family vacation for a week at least 2,000 miles away, at least once every 5 years.
10. Taking the family out to a decent restaurant (not Denny's) at least once per week.
11. Some new clothes and shoes each year - no need to shop for second-hand clothes.
12. Debt-free except mortgage - i.e. credit cards completely paid off every month (or at most three months).

If you're on government assistance, if you've delayed health care or dental care because of costs, if you can't save 10% to 15% of your income towards retirement costs, if you aren't able to save the equivalent of a 20% down payment towards a house (yes I understand you may not want to own, but y'know what I mean), can't afford to take vacations, aren't able to pay off your credit card every month, etc. - then you're really not what traditionally would be defined as middle class. You're struggling or you're working class or lower middle class. Even if you might have an iPhone or some of the latest fashions, you're really deluding yourself.

This goes double if both spouses work and such a lifestyle still can't be afforded. Over 50 years ago, most middle class women didn't even work outside the home.

SOME PEOPLE HAVE UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS ON WHAT CONSTITUTES RATIONAL, SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION...

MIDDLE CLASS IS MORE THAN THAT. IT'S A CONSENSUS ON ETHICS AND MORALS, ON PUBLIC POLICY, ON BEING A SMALL d dEMOCRAT. IT'S VALUING EDUCATION, PRODUCTIVITY, AND THE COMMONWEALTH. IT'S A STATE OF MIND AND AN EXPECTATION FROM GOVERNMENT TO BE JUST, FAIR, AND EQUITABLE AND LEGAL.

constitutes a middle class lifestyle???? or are they assumptions about spousal "helpfulness"?

http://motherjones.com/politics/2004/11/two-income-trap

For spousal helpfulness, one needs a helpful spouse. I never had one of those, even while married....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/05/state-contribution-to-calpers-pensions-to-drop.html

The state of California is getting a slight break on its pension bill for the upcoming spending year.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System on Tuesday reported that the state's contribution for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 will be $170 million less than previously estimated.

The biggest factor in the savings is an agreement by state worker unions to hike employees' contributions to the cost of their own retirements. Employee contributions are going up by between 2% and 5%, CalPERS said, and in the aggregate are forecast to total $1.3 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/water-shortages-threaten-growth-in-gulf-states-400845.html

Four of the six Gulf states have been named the countries most vulnerable to a shortage in water supply, risking disruptions to operations and investments, risk consultants Maplecroft said.

The oil and gas-rich states Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are at “extreme risk” of interruption to their water supply, topping a list of 186 nations, the firm said in a report.

With the least available water per capita, Gulf states have opted to buy up large tracts of farmland in developing countries in a bid to safeguard their food supplies – a strategy that risks exporting their water shortages to other nations, analysts said.

“Exporting water stress via ‘land grab’ has significant implications for companies involved in administering agricultural projects in foreign lands,” says principal environmental analyst Kimberlee Myers.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/oil-gold-help-commodities-rebound-after-setback-400674.html

Commodities will overcome a setback to extend their rebound from the record plunge in 2008 as an advance in oil and gold helps to compensate for a retreat in base metal prices, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“In the short-term, the macro landscape seems to have taken a turn in recent weeks,” Ray Eyles, chief executive officer of the bank’s commodities business in Asia, said in an interview.

“Ultimately the long-term fundamental supply and demand of commodities is still pointing to higher prices.”

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities climbed 20 percent through April, extending its advance from a 43 percent slump in 2008. The index fell 11 percent this month as signs of an economic slowdown spurred sales. Commodities beat stocks, bonds and the dollar for five months through April, the longest run in at least 14 years, on expectations of shortages in everything from oil to copper and corn.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/10/us-nestle-idUSTRE7496Q920110510

Selling water on exchanges in the same way other commodities are traded could help solve a shortage of the world's most precious raw material likely to hit long before oil runs dry, the chairman of Nestle said on Tuesday.

"I am not against the idea," Peter Brabeck, chairman of the world's largest food group, told Reuters when asked about the idea of exchange-based water trade.

The first place to consider it should be Alberta province , he said, where competition could be particularly fierce between farmers needing water for crops, and oil companies needing water to exploit oil sands, which require far more water than other kinds of oil deposit.

"We are actively dealing with the government of Alberta to think about a water exchange," Brabeck said.

As a first step, he added, Alberta had separated land rights and water rights, so owning land did not automatically give rights to water that ran through it.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-18/banks-say-simpler-mortgage-form-could-stifle-new-products.html

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- For Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration adviser setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, simpler mortgage paperwork is a “regulatory sweet spot” that will cut lender costs and borrower confusion.

That view hasn’t stopped battle lines from forming around the prototype “mortgage shopping sheet” the agency is planning to publish today. Industry groups say the revisions may lead to limits on innovation and variety in lending, while consumer advocates are resisting changes that might limit borrowers’ right to sue to stop a foreclosure.

The consumer bureau, created by the Dodd-Frank Act and set to begin work on July 21, is required to propose the simplified form by a year after its start date. Warren has said the goal is to have a document that succinctly shows the costs of a loan and gets to borrowers early enough to allow for comparison shopping.

“The papers come too late and are too complicated to be helpful to consumers,” she told the House Financial Services Committee at a March 16 hearing in comments about the current system. “By the time they see most of the papers, they are at the closing table being told ‘sign here, sign here.’”






translation: new ways to steal from us.:eyes:

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/05/17/Congrats-Class-of-2011-Youre-Hired.aspx?utm_source=The+Fiscal+Times+Latest+News&utm_campaign=175541ad9e-Latest_News_from_the_Fiscal_Times_05_11_17&utm_medium=email

The Fiscal Times
May 16, 2011

Here’s a graduation surprise for the Class of 2011: They may actually get jobs.

Economists, experts in college recruiting and job placement officers around the country say the employment outlook for new grads is brighter than it has been since the Great Recession began in 2007. But this bit of good news doesn't solve one of the worst unemployment rates among young people in decades. “It is a great improvement over the last two years,” says Philip D. Gardner, director of research for the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, which conducts an annual survey of 4,600 employers about their hiring plans. Gardner cautions, however, that like the rest of the economy the college job market will take years to fully recover.

Still, this year’s grads have something to celebrate. Employers are expected to hire 19 percent more grads than they did last year, according to an April survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The job market has steadily increased during the school year, according to NACE, which had projected only a 13 percent increase in hiring at the beginning of the academic year....

Not all grads will have the same number of options. Hiring is concentrated among big corporations that have delayed adding new employees during the recession and smaller, fast-growth companies, according to Gardner’s survey. And although the college labor market is recovering nationwide, demand varies by region, and students who are able to follow the jobs will have a better chance of finding employment. Among the good news: Hiring will improve in the Great Lakes states, which were hard-hit by the recession....Some majors are hotter than others. As in past years, demand is highest for students with degrees in engineering and business, with 25 percent of companies saying they’d prefer those grads to fill their positions, according to Gardner. But 36 percent of companies say they would consider a graduate with any major for a position, and 16 percent of employers surveyed will seek liberal arts grads.

?w=509&h=450&as=1



...And while it seems like this year’s grads would face stiff competition from graduates of the past years who haven’t found meaningful jobs, placement experts say it doesn’t work that way. “More than one employer has told me it’s just easier to recruit on campus, easier to take somebody that’s going to graduate this year,” says Gardner. That’s especially tough since the average senior in 2009 graduated with $24,000 in debt, according to the Project on Student Debt. Despite those hurdles, college grads overall are faring much better than less educated workers. In April, the unemployment rate for those with a Bachelor’s degree or higher was 4.5 percent; the rate for high school graduates without any college was 9.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics...

so 09, or 10 are just out of luck until things get really grooving -- provided they ever do.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/05/16/Recession-Roulette-CEO-Fires-Herself-to-Save-Jobs.aspx?utm_source=The+Fiscal+Times+Latest+News&utm_campaign=175541ad9e-Latest_News_from_the_Fiscal_Times_05_11_17&utm_medium=email


As soon as they arrived at work on that May morning in 2010, she called all employees, including her husband — who had left his job in construction and joined ABC — into her office. They lined up in chairs on the other side of her desk. She took them through the numbers. She was somber, and her staff began sinking into their seats. “I gave them my best Donald Trump,” she explained. “I said, ‘I have to let someone go, and that someone is going to be … me.’”
.......

So far, her sacrifice seems to be paying off. Accurate Background Check hasn’t had to fire anyone since Gonzalez’s resignation. The company continues to sublet space, and it qualified for the Fed’s ARC program, which provided an interest-free loan of $35,000...

After she fired herself, Gonzalez took a job with a branch of Devereux Kids, a national nonprofit that assists children with emotional, developmental and cognitive disabilities. She says she makes 60 percent less than she paid herself at ABC, which was a shock to her family (her husband still works in ABC’s accounting department.) When that work is complete and ABC returns to profitability, she plans to return full-time. She expects that to happen within the year.

Certainly, not many CEOs are in a position to do what she did, but Gonzalez has a message for corporate leaders who profit while employees suffer during hard times. “It’s sad when you hear about CEOs letting people go, shutting down departments and giving themselves bonuses and raises,” she says. “That should be illegal.”

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


It takes a woman all powdered and pink
To joyously clean out the drain in the sink
And it takes an angel with long golden lashes
And soft dresden fingers
For dumping the ashes

Cornelius, Barnaby, & 2 customers
Yes it takes a woman
A dainty woman
A sweetheart, a mistress, a wife
O yes it takes a woman
A fragile woman
To bring you the sweet things in life

Vandergelder
The frail young maiden who's constantly there
For washing and blueing and shoeing the mare
And it takes a female for setting the table
And weaving the Guernsey
And cleaning the stable

All
O yes it takes a woman
A dainty woman
A sweetheart, a mistress, a wife
O yes it takes a woman
A fragile woman
To bring you the sweet things in life
And so she'll work until infinity
Three cheers for femininity
Rah Rah Rah...Rah Rah Rah
F. E. M. - I. T. Y

Vandergelder
F. E. M. I. T. Y?
Get out of here!
And in the winter she'll shovel the ice
And lovingly set out the traps for the mice
She's a joy and treasure for practically speaking
To whom can you turn when the plumbing is leaking?

Vandergelder, Cornelius, & Barnaby
To That dainty woman
That fragile woman
That sweetheart, that mistress, that wife
O yes it takes a woman

Vandergelder
A husky woman
Vandergelder, Cornelius, & Barnaby
To bring you the sweet things in life!

All
O Yes it takes a woman
A dainty woman
A sweetheart, a mistress, a wife
O yes it takes a woman, a fragile woman
To bring you the sweet things in life.

and Barbara!

I couldn't find a US copy...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/opinion/16krugman.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Six months ago President Obama faced a hostage situation. Republicans threatened to block an extension of middle-class tax cuts unless Mr. Obama gave in and extended tax cuts for the rich too. And the president essentially folded, giving the G.O.P. everything it wanted.

Now, predictably, the hostage-takers are back: blackmail worked well last December, so why not try it again? This time House Republicans say they will refuse to raise the debt ceiling — a step that could inflict major economic damage — unless Mr. Obama agrees to large spending cuts, even as they rule out any tax increase whatsoever. And the question becomes what, if anything, will get the president to say no...Normally, a party controlling neither the White House nor the Senate would acknowledge that it isn’t in a position to impose its agenda on the nation. But the modern G.O.P. doesn’t believe in following normal rules.

So what will happen if the ceiling isn’t raised? It has become fashionable on the right to assert that it would be no big deal. On Saturday the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal ridiculed those worried about the consequences of hitting the ceiling as the “Armageddon lobby.”...It’s hard to know whether the “what, us worry?” types believe what they’re saying, or whether they’re just staking out a bargaining position. But in any case, they’re almost surely wrong: seriously bad consequences will follow if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.

For if we hit the debt ceiling, the government will be forced to stop paying roughly a third of its bills, because that’s the share of spending currently financed by borrowing. So will it stop sending out Social Security checks? Will it stop paying doctors and hospitals that treat Medicare patients? Will it stop paying the contractors supplying fuel and munitions to our military? Or will it stop paying interest on the debt?..Don’t say “none of the above.” As I’ve written before, the federal government is basically an insurance company with an army, so I’ve just described all the major components of federal spending. At least one, and probably several, of these components will face payment stoppages if federal borrowing is cut off...

Can he hold out until 4:30?

In 1958, Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith was looking for a term to describe certain ideas that were commonly held, intellectually accessible, and yet fundamentally flawed. To define such widely spread misconceptions Galbraith wrote: “I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the conventional wisdom.”

As an asset manager, I’ve come to view conventional wisdom as the surest path to investment underperformance. One might even amend the old Wall Street saying to read: bulls make money, bears make money, but conventional wisdom gets slaughtered. Consensus opinion is generally a sign to get on the other side of the trade.


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/C5Z123/RP6QL/FXZD6K/WLNWIR/MQ/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=18

Have they done anything new lately?

http://www.truthout.org/good-news-and-bad-news-social-security-trustees-report/1305553525

There was both good news and bad news in the Social Security trustees' report released last week. The bad news is that the program is projected to cost somewhat more in the latest report than in the 2010 report. As a result, its projected 75-year shortfall was increased by 0.3 percentage points of covered payroll from 1.92 percent to 2.22 percent. The year when it was first projected to face a shortfall was moved up a year from 2037 to 2036.

This bad news about the program is also the good news. The main reason that the program's finances deteriorated between the 2010 report and the 2011 report is that, in the 2011 report, the trustees assumed that we would enjoy substantially longer life expectancies than they did in the 2010 report. They increased their projected life expectancy for men turning age 65 in 2010 from 18.1 years to 18.6 years, a gain of 0.5 years. The trustees increased their projected life expectancy for women turning age 65 by 0.3 years. Remarkably, virtually no one in the deficit-obsessed media even noticed this projected increase in life expectancy, simply highlighting the bad news about Social Security's finances.

(THAT SEEMS LIKE A STUPID THING TO DO, GIVEN THE DETERIORATING ECONOMIC SITUATION FOR THE BOTTOM 80% AND THE CONTINUED LACK OF RELIABLE, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE---DEMETER)

Of course, the trustees likely anticipated how their report would be received. It is important to recognize that this is the report of the Social Security trustees, not the professional staff of the Social Security Administration (SSA). It would be interesting to see these recommendations since it is not obvious why the trustees are now so much more optimistic about life expectancy than they were last year. It is worth noting that their optimism does not extend to future gains in life expectancy. The 2011 report actually projects less improvement in life expectancy over the next 70 years than did the 2010 report....


The best way to make the size of the projected Social Security shortfall understandable is to put it in context. Relative to the size of the economy, the projected Social Security shortfall is equal to 0.7 percent of GDP. By comparison, annual spending on the military increased by more than 1.6 percentage points of GDP between 2000 and 2011. So, the burden imposed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is almost 2.5 times larger than the money that would be needed to eliminate the Social Security shortfall...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/583472/republicans_continue_to_spread_lies_and_disinformation_about_social_security/#paragraph3



Uhm no. This life expectancy misinformation is so widespread, I don't know if we'll ever be able to set it straight. But I might have expected that one of President Obama's Deficit commission appointees -- the co-chairman no less -- would not be among those who believe it. (Normally I would suggest that he was just a liar, but from this account it's pretty clear to me that he really doesn't understand it.)

This is a very important point and one that everyone needs to understand if they hope to beat back the social security assault:



This is the frustration with this argument. People just can't seem to wrap their minds around this.



Simpson surely knows about the Greenspan Commission. He's just lying about that (or he's senile.) But what's Erskine Bowles' excuse? Or Dick Durbin or Saxby Chambliss or all the other politicians who parrot this misinformation all the time? Are they all senile too?

The people who designed the system understood very well that if "life expectancy" went up it would mean that there were also more younger workers who hadn't died in childbirth paying into the system. And they understood the concept of productivity gains and knew that more people would be brought into the system --- paying as well as receiving benefits --- over time. They weren't cave men. It was only 70 years ago. Simpson was a teen-ager at the time. What they may not have anticipated was just how badly the political system would be distorted by corporate propaganda that made people believe that black is white and up is down. It's the real problem and solving social security's minor shortfall in 2038 is a piece of cake compared to solving that one.

http://articles.philly.com/2011-05-10/business/29528388_1_mortgage-fraud-broker-price-opinion-denise-james

Although reports of mortgage fraud nationally fell 41 percent in 2010 from 2009, the continuing downturn in the housing market has fostered new ways of perpetrating it, experts say.

Consider "flopping" - the intentional misrepresentation of housing value for purposes of illegal flipping.

Here's how it works: A real estate agent or broker identifies properties with severely depressed values. These could be properties with mortgages that exceed the present values or they could be short sales or foreclosures.

A property is valued using a "broker price opinion." The broker's "opinion" is a low-ball price, because his intention is to profit from a quick resale for a higher price. A lender, believing the broker's assessment is legitimate and unaware of any scheming, agrees to the lower sales price. The broker buys it at the greatly reduced price, arranges for a "straw buyer" to purchase it, then flips it for a higher price than negotiated with the lender. The broker pockets the profits. The broker pays off any of the participants that enabled the scheme, and then moves to the next target property...

THIS NATION WASTES ITS CREATIVITY ON NEW WAYS TO CHEAT

http://ilene.typepad.com/ourfavorites/2011/05/testy-tuesday-playing-in-our-new-range-.html

RAMBLING AND AMUSING COMMENTARY ON CURRENT EVENTS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEC_RULES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-18-11-01-27

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators are proposing tighter oversight of the agencies that rate the debt of companies and governments.

The ratings can affect a company's ability to raise or borrow money, and can influence how much investors pay for securities. The big three rating agencies were criticized for helping fuel the financial crisis by giving low-risk ratings to high-risk mortgage securities that later failed. Critics say the agencies have a conflict of interests because they are paid by the same companies they rate.


it seems to me -- work on making agencies like these less corrupt first -- then regulate.

Remove that protection, and there wood be no need to regulate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMF_FUTURE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-18-12-27-57

BERLIN (AP) -- Europe is staking its claim to the top job at the IMF ahead of the expected departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, fending off any push from developing nations like China, Brazil and South Africa for an end to that traditional monopoly.

Strauss-Kahn's arrest on sex charges has put new focus on the informal arrangement under which a European heads the International Monetary Fund, an American leads the World Bank and another American holds the No. 2 spot at the IMF.

Europeans are citing the IMF's key role in fighting the eurozone's debt crisis as the main reason to keep the job on their continent. But developing nations - many of whom are sitting on piles of cash while rich countries have loaded up on debt - argue their increasing wealth and importance in the global economy means those old ways are outdated.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said it was time for "new criteria" to determine who gets chosen to lead the IMF.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/us-markets-precious-idUSTRE74F62H20110518

(Reuters) - Gold was set for its largest one-day rise in over a week on Wednesday, after a modest retreat in the dollar encouraged a steady stream of buyers, while oil and other commodity prices also rebounded.

Prices are down over 4 percent this month, with investor sentiment toward the precious metal turning more cautious as gold holders worried it may struggle to rise significantly after hitting record highs this month.

Spot gold was bid at $1,496.90 an ounce at 1412 GMT, against $1,484.85 late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for June delivery rose $17.40 an ounce to $1,497.40.

Gold demand was supported by the dollar's slip against the euro as the single currency recovered from the seven-week low it hit earlier this week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/markets-precious-idUSL4E7GI01Y20110518

SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Wednesday
as worries about the euro zone's debt crisis lent support to
bullion, after weak U.S. industrial and housing data triggered
declines in oil and metals in the previous session.



FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,485.59 an ounce
by 0034 GMT, after falling for three straight sessions.

* U.S. gold GCcv1 edged up 0.4 percent to $1,485.60.

* Spot silver inched up 0.4 percent to $34.05. U.S.
silver SIcv1 rose by 1.7 percent to $34.06.

(OVER the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 52-billion dollars. Good day.)
Mmm, lime on salad. Good.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,717,694,227,528.65 + 4,627,843,278,273.80
UP 51,422,548,961.68 + DOWN 14,270,224,809.33

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.20 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,204.92 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.61, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 312,020,192 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,976.31.
A family of three owes $137,928.93. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 1,827,314,764.10.
The average for the last 30 days would be 1,340,030,827.01.
The average for the last 31 days would be 1,296,804,026.14.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 155 reports in 228 days of FY2011 averaging 5.06B$ per report, 3.44B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 615 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.5T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
05/16/2011 14,345,537,505,802.45 BHO (UP 3,718,660,456,889.37 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,783,914,474,910.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,254,950,804,133.36 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
04/26/2011 +000,207,526,568.97 ------------********
04/27/2011 -002,332,483,455.54 --
04/28/2011 -007,710,203,842.40 --
04/29/2011 +013,870,888,452.00 ------------**********
05/02/2011 +043,070,259,587.79 ------------********** Mon
05/03/2011 +000,283,435,714.90 ------------********
05/04/2011 +000,080,372,925.23 ------------*******
05/05/2011 -017,721,236,989.45 -
05/06/2011 +000,087,184,054.82 ------------*******
05/09/2011 +000,429,272,774.96 ------------******** Mon
05/10/2011 +000,237,893,268.24 ------------********
05/11/2011 +000,200,317,592.65 ------------********
05/12/2011 -015,508,101,950.43 -
05/13/2011 +000,162,115,757.85 ------------********
05/16/2011 +051,422,548,961.68 ------------********** Mon

66,779,789,421.27 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4853644&mesg_id=4854344

5/18/11 A New Wall Street Investigation: Is the Hammer Finally Coming Down?

Got a chance to meet Josh Rosner (co-author, with Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson, of the new book Reckless Endangerment) last night during an appearance on Eliot Spitzer’s In the Arena. We were brought in to talk about the new investigation of the banks that apparently is being launched by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which looks like it might be the first for-real attempt at a prosecution of the systemic corruption that led to the financial crisis.

Schneiderman’s probe, news of which came out yesterday in this piece by Morgenson, reportedly targets the banks’ mortgage securitization process during the bubble years. Morgenson reported that Schneiderman is focused on at least three companies: Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and old friend Goldman, Sachs.

This investigation has the potential to be a Mother of All Nightmares situation for the banks for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the decision to go after the securitization process is a total prosecutorial bullseye. This is the ugly heart of the wide-scale fraud scheme of the bubble era. Again, the business model during this time was a giant bait-and-switch scam. Sleazy lenders like Countrywide and New Century first created huge masses of bad loans, committing every conceivable kind of fraud to get people into loans (from doctoring income statements with white-out to phonying FICO scores to engineering fake appraisals). They then moved the bad loans quickly to the big banks, which pooled them and chopped them up (this is the “securitization” process), sprinkled hocus-pocus math on them, and them sold them to suckers around the world as AAA-rated securities.

more, and CNN video
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/a-new-wall-street-investigation-is-the-hammer-finally-coming-down-20110518