STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, May 20, 2011

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday Friday, May 20, 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

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose to above $99 a barrel Friday in Asia as a weaker U.S. dollar made commodities cheaper for investors with other currencies.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was up 87 cents to $99.31 a barrel in late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract, which expires later Friday, fell $1.66 to settle at $98.44 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude for July delivery was up 21 cents to $112.14 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The euro rose to $1.4338 on Friday from $1.4309 late Thursday while the dollar dropped to 81.63 yen from 81.69 yen.

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

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_GULF_OIL_SPILL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-06-04-33

LONDON (AP) -- BP has struck a deal to receive around $1 billion from one of its minority partners in the blown-out Gulf of Mexico well, raising hopes it will successfully pursue other companies involved and reduce its bill for the disaster.

BP PLC said Thursday that MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, which had a 10 percent interest in the Macondo well, has agreed to pay $1.065 billion to settle all claims between the companies over the accident on the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Under the settlement, MOEX, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co., agreed to recognize findings by the U.S. Presidential Commission that the accident "was the result of a number of separate risk factors, oversights and outright mistakes by multiple parties and a number of causes."

It also recognized findings from the U.S. Coast Guard that "the safety management systems of both Transocean and its Deepwater Horizon rig had significant deficiencies that rendered them ineffective in preventing the accident."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2011/may/20/bp-jumps-as-gulf-partner-pays-up

BP is leading the FTSE 100 higher after one of its partners involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill agreed to pay the company $1.1bn towards the cost of the disaster.

Moex, a subsidiary of Mitsui, has a 10% interest in the Macondo well and has now agreed with BP and a presidential commission that the accident was due to a number of factors, including the safety management systems of Transocean.

BP will immediately put the $1.1bn into the $20bn trust it established to meet claims relating to the disaster. BP has not yet decided whether to now releases some of its provisions. The two sides have also settled mutual claims against each other.

This comes as a piece of good news for BP at a time when it is spending much management time struggling to settle disputes with its partners in Russia. BP chief executive Bob Dudley said:

We call on the other parties involved in the Macondo well to follow the lead of the Moex and Mitsui parties.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/markets-britain-stocks-idUKLDE74J0Z420110520

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - BP, boosted by a contribution to the cost of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and bullish analyst comment helped drive Britain's FTSE 100 index higher on Friday, but concerns over weak buying momentum capped gains.

BP (BP.L) was up 3.7 percent, adding around 13 points to London's blue-chip index, after it said MOEX, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co (8031.T) and partner in BP's doomed Macondo well, had agreed to pay the UK oil major $1.1 billion toward the cost of the spill.

"This allows BP's risk reward to trade on the upside, with downside risk limited. This adds some certainty, and bearing in mind that sum-of-the-parts is above 600 pence, we will see buyers on this news," said Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers.

The rise was underpinned by upbeat broker comment from Investec, which upgraded BP to "buy", while RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the stock with an "outperform" rating.

First time in a while for me.:)

U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index heading for its first weekly gain in three weeks.

Foot Locker Inc. (FL) rallied 9.8 percent after the athletic shoe and apparel retailer reported first-quarter revenue of $1.45 billion, beating the average analyst estimate. Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) climbed 6.5 percent as the supplier of customer-management software forecast sales and profit that topped estimates. Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) soared 25 percent as the bookstore chain received an offer from John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. to buy the company.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring next month gained less than 0.1 percent at 1,341.80 as of 10:50 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1 percent, or 9 points, to 12,582.

“The earnings momentum tailwind remains supportive in the U.S.,” Robert Parkes, a London-based HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) equity strategist, wrote in a report. “First-quarter corporate results in the U.S. beat consensus expectations on both the top line and bottom line. Analysts have responded by upgrading further their 2011 earnings-per-share numbers.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-20/u-s-stock-index-futures-advance-foot-locker-climbs-in-european-trading.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-markets-stocks-idUSTRE74J1Z820110520

Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as Wall Street faced technical resistance after shares rose two days in a row.

* Shares in clothing retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N) will be under pressure after it slashed its full-year profit outlook on Thursday, saying higher price tags will not be enough to offset rising cotton costs.

The stock of Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) was up 25.8 percent at $17.75 in premarket trade after John Malone's Liberty Media Corp (LINTA.O) proposed buying the company for $1.02 billion. The largest U.S. bookstore chain put itself up for sale nine months ago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/19/us-gap-idUSTRE74I6X720110519

Reuters) - Clothing maker and retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N) slashed its full-year profit outlook, saying higher price tags will not be enough to offset rising cotton costs, and its shares fell more than 15 percent.

Gap, which operates the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, said on Thursday that product costs, primarily cotton, should rise about 20 percent later this year compared to a year earlier and "more than outweigh retail price increases."

Chief Executive Glenn Murphy told analysts on a conference call that vendors were not as accommodating as hoped for as Gap has ordered merchandise for the fall and holiday season.

"We are disappointed in the numbers they're quoting back to us," Murphy said, faulting Gap for not being "aggressive" enough in negotiating with vendors in recent years.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-20/euro-weakens-on-growth-concern-greek-bonds-u-s-stocks-drop.html

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- The euro weakened, snapping a four- day gain versus the dollar, as the Bundesbank said Germany’s economy will probably lose growth momentum. Greek bonds slid on speculation the nation will have to reorganize its debt, while U.S. stock index futures fell after Gap Inc. cut its forecast.

The euro slipped against all 16 major peers, losing 0.4 percent against the dollar at 9:36 a.m. in New York. The yield on the Greek 10-year bond added 54 basis points, driving the difference with German bunds to a record 1,346 basis points. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.2 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.3 percent and the yield on the 10-year Treasury was little changed. Cocoa and wheat declined more than 1.3 percent to lead the S&P GSCI Index of commodities lower.

Germany’s 1.5 percent growth rate in the first quarter “considerably overstates the underlying economic momentum,” the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank said. Greece may extend its debt maturities because it’s unlikely to regain market access for at least five years, economist Nouriel Roubini said yesterday.

“Growth is likely to ease somewhat in the foreseeable future,” the Bundesbank said. First-quarter “output growth was clearly lifted during the reporting period by backloading and catching-up effects.”

:hi:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ME21Dj03.html

UNITED NATIONS - Since the election of Camille Gutt of Belgium as the first managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) back in 1946, the Europeans have continued to claim that job as their political and intellectual birthright.

Successive IMF heads have come from France (which has held the post four times), Sweden (twice) and one each from Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

The resignation on Thursday of the current IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France, following allegations of rape in a New York hotel room last week, has triggered speculation about another European for one of the most powerful jobs in international finance.

As things stand, one of the front-runners for the job is the current


finance minister of France, Christine Lagarde, who could well be the first woman to run the Washington-based IMF, if she is elected to succeed the departing Strauss-Kahn, who was expected to continue his term of office until 2012.

At I.M.F., Men on Prowl and Women on Guard

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/business/20fund.html

REALLY DISGUSTING--I THOUGHT WE WERE PAST THIS, AT LEAST IN THIS COUNTRY

They want what they want when they want it. Period.

i'm really hoping ms. lagarde gets the job -- i hope she actually wants it.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151022/accusing_dsk_of_sexual_assault_took_guts_--_but_union_protection_is_essential?page=entire

A woman attacked by her employer's most powerful customers was perhaps empowered to come forward knowing her union contract meant she wouldn't lose her job for it...By any measure, it was a risky thing to do. There's a reason most rapes go unreported. But there was one thing that housekeeper knew could not be done to her for reporting her account, observes a colleague in the labor movement: she could not be fired for having done so, because of the contract between her union, the New York Hotel Trades Council, and the Sofitel Hotel at which she works.

...Strauss-Kahn is a white European man who, until yesterday, sat at the helm of an institution that exerts controls on the economies of countries once more overtly colonized by Europe. (As Lynn Parramore of the Roosevelt Institute pointed out, the IMF's pressure on the Congolese government to privatize its mineral resources for mining by Western companies is fueling Congo's civil war, which has resulted in the systemic rape of countless women.) She is an immigrant in a nation that will never quite accept her as one of its own; he is a citizen of the world...Take a good look, the Strauss-Kahn case may turn out to provide an example of why the rich men of the right despise organized labor; the check on power it provides can land a titan in jail.

It is not because of the wages. It is because unions empower workers to stand up for themselves.

http://www.economist.com/node/18713896

“I DID warn him!” These were the words supposedly uttered by France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, when he heard that Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been arrested in New York on charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid. When “DSK” moved to Washington, DC, in 2007 to take up his duties as the boss of the IMF, Mr Sarkozy is said to have told him to check his passions: he was going to a country that had come close to hounding Bill Clinton out of office for having an affair with a White House intern.

In matters of sex, as of war, Europeans are from Venus. They mock Americans’ puritanism about the sex lives of public figures. For a politician to cheat on his wife in America is a sign of dishonesty. Witness the opprobrium heaped on Arnold Schwarzenegger over the new revelation that he had fathered a child out of wedlock. In much of Europe, affairs can be a badge of virility. That is the insinuation of an interview given by none other than Mr Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair. Asked in 2006 whether she minded her husband’s reputation, she replied: “No, I’m rather proud of it! It’s important for a politician to seduce. As long as he seduces me and I seduce him, that’s enough for me.”

Nowhere is the politician’s entitlement to sex more tolerated than, perhaps, in Italy. For Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s longest-serving prime minister in modern times, sexual appetite is a matter of pride, not of shame. He is on trial, charged with paying for sex with an underage prostitute. (He also faces a range of corruption charges.) But there are no handcuffs for Il Cavaliere. “I love life and I love women,” he declares cheerily.




so sarkozy knew dsk was an asshole -- and reacted like all 'good ol' boys'.

Took the side of a Sarkozy crony in a row with the State. I believe the term is called "bribery" YMMV

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMF_FUTURE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-08-40-33

PARIS (AP) -- France's frank, hard-working and chic finance minister, Christine Lagarde, emerged Friday as Europe's likely candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF insists that the departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has not hurt its day-to-day operations, but is clearly under pressure to find a successor fast to lead a body that provides billions of dollars of loans to stabilize the world economy. A new chief would also draw attention away from the seamy scandal surrounding Strauss-Kahn, who quit this week to face charges in New York that he tried to rape a hotel maid.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that she "very much appreciates the French finance minister." She insisted she wasn't announcing Lagarde's candidacy, just sharing her views.

Merkel says the next IMF chief should be a European, since the fund is deeply involved in tackling the eurozone's sprawling debt crisis. Germany's view is critical, since as the continent's powerhouse it funds much of the bailouts to other eurozone nations.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/Not-making-pitch-for-IMF-chief-job-Brown/articleshow/8466270.cms

JOHANNESBURG: Britain's former Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he's not angling to replace the International Monetary Fund head who has resigned amid sexual abuse charges.

Brown thanked Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the work he did, saying Strauss-Kahn played "a very singular, important part" in the IMF's response to the global financial crisis.







good!

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110520a1.html

Automakers and auto parts makers formally agreed Thursday to operate their plants on Saturdays and Sundays and close shop on Thursdays and Fridays to help ward off the threat of blackouts during the summer, when demand for electricity is expected to peak from July to September.

The decision follows a government request to major companies earlier this month to cut power consumption by 15 percent this summer to offset the loss of capacity triggered by the nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, which led to the recent closure of another nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture. Japan depends on nuclear power for 30 percent of its electricity needs.

The devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the main facility for the Tokyo area.

The operator of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which supplies power to the Chubu region, decided to shut down its reactors this month to take extra measures against future natural disasters, especially tsunami.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-20/asian-stocks-drop-for-a-third-week-as-commodity-producers-fall.html

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index set for a third straight weekly drop, as raw material producers declined on lower metal and oil prices utilities tumbled as Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported Japan’s biggest corporate loss in eight years.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s No. 1 carmaker, and Brambles Ltd., the world’s largest supplier of wooden pallets, advanced at least 1.4 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, fell 1.7 percent in Sydney as oil and metal futures dropped. Kansai Electric Power Co. slumped 4.9 percent, leading declines in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, after Tokyo Electric, owner of the nuclear reactor crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, posted a record loss.

“The market may have become oversold amid selling in the past three weeks,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which manages $98 billion in Sydney. “The soft patch of economic data from the U.S., along with tightening concerns in China, the recession in Japan and Europe’s debt crisis will leave a volatile environment for the market in the next few months.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1 percent to 134.82 as of 7:27 p.m. in Tokyo, after swinging between gains and losses at least 10 times. About five stocks fell for every four that rose. The gauge is heading for its third weekly drop, the longest streak of weekly declines since November

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2936454

A new report suggests that over five decades of continuous, high economic growth in Korea have come to en end.

An aging society is expected to dampen Korea’s potential economic growth, according to a study released yesterday by the Korea Development Institute.

There was some good news from the report: The impact of the global financial crisis in late 2008 was limited on the Korean economy and isn’t expected to be much of a drag on potential growth.

That differs from advanced economies such as the United States and United Kingdom, whose potential growth might dip as a result of the financial crisis.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2936448

Korea said yesterday that it will further lower the ceiling on foreign exchange derivatives transactions handled by local and foreign banks in a bid to curb the country’s growing short-term debt. The new rule will take effect starting July 1.

The finance ministry said the government plans to restrict the amount of currency forwards held by local branches of foreign banks to 200 percent from the current 250 percent. The ceiling for Korean banks will be lowered to 40 percent from 50 percent.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/20/c_13885700.htm

TOKYO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) said on Friday its annual net loss reached 1.25 trillion yen (15 billion U.S. dollars) and its president Masataka Shimizu said he will step down to take the blame of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The troubled utility said it will appoint Managing Director Toshio Nishizawa to replace Shimizu, effective after a June shareholders meeting, in a move widely expected after its Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant went into Japan's worst nuclear crisis after the March 11 quake and ensuing tsunami.

"I wanted to take managerial responsibility (for the huge loss and crisis)," Shimizu told reporters, bowing several times during the news conference. "We are doing our utmost to settle the crisis. "

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/20/c_13886125.htm

ALMATY, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Growth of the Kazakhstani economy may reach 7 percent in 2011, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says.

"According to the latest EBRD forecasts, the real growth of the Kazakhstani GDP this year may keep its current pace and reach the 7 percent mark again," the EBRD said in a statement.

The EBRD noted that the amount of problem loans in Kazakhstan "has long remained at 25 percent of the total volume of the loan portfolio preventing banks from obtaining foreign loans and lending outside the oil sector."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-06-17-50

LONDON (AP) -- An impressive initial stock offering from professional networking site LinkedIn supported markets Friday despite concerns about the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.

With little in the way of economic news later, analysts said markets may be heading for modest gains at the end of the week when sentiment in stock markets has rebounded from sizable declines.

Investors have been worrying about a slowdown in the global recovery, with the U.S. economy showing distinct signs of running out of steam.

However, on Thursday, a stable listing of commodities giant Glencore PLC and a doubling in the share price of LinkedIn helped shore up confidence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-markets-forex-idUSTRE74562320110520

(Reuters) - The euro was steady against the dollar on Friday, holding on to modest gains made in the previous session, with investors' focus slowly shifting to interest rate differentials from the euro zone's debt crisis.

Trading in the euro was influenced by a large $1.4360 digital option for expiry on Monday, with the spot euro/dollar

pair needing to hold below that level for a payout.

The euro was flat at $1.4310, well above a seven-week low of $1.4048 struck on trading platform EBS earlier this week. It was hovering above its 55-day moving average, currently at $1.4301, although traders said players could square their positions before close, mindful of a possible event risk from Spanish local elections at the weekend.

The euro was supported by the dollar's own struggles, with the greenback taking a hit on Thursday from data showing a slowdown in manufacturing growth in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region and an unexpected fall in existing home sales in April.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/20/honda-swindon-factory-two-day-week

The restricted supply of car parts caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is continuing to hit car production at Honda's Swindon plant.

Some 3,000 workers would remain on restricted shifts until the end of July, the company said on Friday, because it was taking longer than expected for the supply of electronic components, engines and brakes to return to normal.

At full capacity the plant makes 600 cars a day, but is now only making the equivalent of around 200 as the production line is functioning for just two days a week.

The company had hoped to return to more normal working patterns by the end of May but has concluded that it will be unable to do so until after July.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/tata-steel-to-cut-1500-jobs-at-england39s-scunthorpe-plant_545219.html

Tata Steel plans to cut around 1,500 jobs at its Scunthorpe plant and Teesside sites in Northeastern England after its long products business continued to make losses for the last two years, the company said in a press release Friday.

Tata's England-based long products business produces bars, rods and rails -- mostly for the construction sector.

"The long products business as a whole has continued to make losses over the last two years. The decline in some major markets, particularly the construction sector, has been a key factor," said Tata Steel's managing director and chief exeuctive, Karl-Ulrich Köhler in the press release.

"Demand for structural steel in the UK is only two-thirds of the 2007 level and is not expected to fully recover within the next years," he added.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_ELECTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-09-38-43

MADRID (AP) -- Spain's prime minister avoided saying Friday if he'll order police to break up crowds if they attend banned election-eve protests, part of a snowballing movement that has riveted the country.

The national electoral commission issued the ban Thursday night as thousands of mainly young people demonstrated for a fourth straight night in central Madrid and dozens of other Spanish cities over their bleak economic future.

They are angry over the country's economic crisis and at political parties they see as inept, corrupt and indifferent to everyday people struggling to get by.

Municipal and regional elections are scheduled for Sunday, and the protesters have said they will rally on Saturday and beyond.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/20/eurozone-crisis

he crisis of the eurozone seems to be going from bad to worse. Not only have the key players not yet found convincing solutions for the fiscal problems in Greece, Ireland and Portugal but we are already witnessing the beginning of a political backlash that could undermine the achievements of decades of European integration. There is generally a lack of ideas about what needs to be done to turn things around so here are my suggestions:

1. Say it as it is: it's about politics, not economics

As Wolfgang Muenchau observed, the debt to GDP ratio of the eurozone as a whole is less than that of the UK or the US and does not pose an overall economic problem. The problem is that there is a lack of political mechanisms to deal with fiscal crises in some areas of the eurozone. So this crisis is not about economics, it is about politics and economically illiterate politicians.

2. There are no payments – be honest with Europe's citizens

It is frankly shameful that most European leaders, especially in Germany, keep their population believing that there are direct payments to countries such as Greece. This nurtures the wrong assumption that the German taxpayer pays for early retirement and other luxuries they themselves do not enjoy.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-05/20/c_13886117.htm

PARIS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The secretary-general of the Orgnization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Friday voiced confidence in the euro's bright future, saying the current debt problem should not be called a "eurozone debt crisis."

"There is no eurozone debt crisis except in the larger sense of being an OECD debt -- not crisis -- but debt problem, debt challenge," Angel Gurria said at OECD headquarters in Paris.

"The OECD has 100 percent debt to GDP ratio today and that's obviously unsustainable," he said, "Problem, it's still growing!"

However, European countries have respective problems not linking to the others, Gurria said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/20/greek-liabilities-fraction-of-lehman

For once Larry Elliott is completely wrong (Could Greece be the next Lehmans? Yes – and potentially even worse, 18 May): while his analysis of the choice of lesser evils facing Greece is perceptive, the idea that a Greek default has the potential to be worse than Lehmans is fanciful in the extreme. Greece has no systemic relevance, its external liabilities are a fraction of the cash and contingent obligations owed by Lehmans, it is an insignificant economy without a financial sector which threatens the global economy.

Markets have long since discounted a default and banks holding Greek bonds have had time to write them down in their books. Banks have been forced by regulators to massively increase their risk capital since 2008 and are well positioned to weather further storms. Conditions bear no resemblance to September 2008, when values of securities crashed across the board in an environment of total uncertainty and panic about the extent of damage to be caused by the sub-prime disaster and bursting of the credit bubble.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/may/20/rents-hit-record-high

A spring surge in demand from tenants pushed rents back up to record high levels during April. The typical cost of renting a home jumped by 0.8% during the month to £692, matching the record reached in November last year, before rents suffered a seasonal downturn, according to the UK's biggest letting agency network LSL Property Services.

The latest jump has left rents 4.4% or £30 a month higher than they were in April last year, the strongest annual growth rate since November 2010.

LSL said rents strong tenant demand was continuing to push up rents, as would-be buyers were forced to put plans on hold while they raise the substantial deposits they need. It added that a slight increase in the number of properties available to let had failed to cool the market.

David Newnes, the estate agency managing director of LSL, said: "The rental market is heating up as thousands of would-be tenants have taken advantage of the weather and long weekends to hunt for new rental homes.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/20/c_13886137.htm

ULAN BATOR, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian mineral resources and energy minister says that Germany intends to develop a strategic partnership with Mongolia and wants a part in the country's mining sector.

Minister D. Zorigt spoke with local reporters after Wednesday receiving a German delegation headed by Bernd Pfaffenbach, State Secretary of Ministry for Economics and Technology.

(OVER the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 52-billion dollars. Good day.)
Foggy day, off quickly. Pump fixed by the sevant.
(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)
= 9,718,512,519,012.13 + 4,626,999,697,976.90
UP 9,842,715,417.27 + DOWN 9,855,360,788.32

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 $3,204.77 makes 1T$.
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 312,034,592 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 $45,974.11.
A family of three owes $137,922.33. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 1,580,570,396.15.
The average for the last 30 days would be 1,211,770,637.05.

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$/day.
There were 157 reports in 230 days of FY2011 averaging 4.99B$ per report, 3.41B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 613 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)
05/18/2011 14,345,512,216,989.03 BHO (UP 3,718,635,168,075.95 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 +0,783,889,186,097.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,243,998,056,197.89 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
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
05/17/2011 -009,024,423,933.79 --
05/18/2011 +009,842,715,417.27 ------------*********

69,723,037,791.32 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=4855928&mesg_id=4855968

(OVER the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 52-billion dollars. Good day.)
Windows open day and night, so nice.
(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)
= 9,716,152,725,750.72 + 4,629,358,121,484.54
DOWN 2,359,793,261.41 + UP 2,358,423,507.64

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 $3,204.70 makes 1T$.
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 312,041,792 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 $45,973.04.
A family of three owes $137,919.13. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 1,088,795,310.59.
The average for the last 30 days would be 834,743,071.45.

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$/day.
There were 158 reports in 231 days of FY2011 averaging 4.96B$ per report, 3.39B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 612 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 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)
05/19/2011 14,345,510,847,235.26 BHO (UP 3,718,633,798,322.18 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 +0,783,887,816,343.50 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,238,610,618,897.74 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
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
05/17/2011 -009,024,423,933.79 --
05/18/2011 +009,842,715,417.27 ------------*********
05/19/2011 -002,359,793,261.41 --

75,073,448,372.31 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=4857148&mesg_id=4857163

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281504576331811046204714.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in trouble again....No one seems to care much about Goldman's latest troubles, and many Americans seem numb to more allegations of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis. Yet they keep coming, especially at Goldman. One of the biggest was last week's disclosure that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's staff has "orally advised" the company that it "intends to recommend ... aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges" against the trade-clearing unit at Goldman...In addition, Goldman said the Justice Department is reviewing data related to credit-default swaps and fee arrangements for clearing of credit-default swaps, including potential anticompetitive practices. European regulators are also investigating.

And remember Abacus? That's the collateralized debt obligation created by Goldman that morphed into a $550 million fraud settlement. There are more subpoenas on that gem, Goldman said last week. Goldman declined to comment beyond the disclosures it made in its quarterly report and didn't offer any additional comment Wednesday. In the filing, the company said it is cooperating with the CFTC, now led by former Goldman executive Gary Gensler.

.....

And what about Goldman Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein? One of the few people to publicly suggest he should go is gadfly shareholder Evelyn Davis, known for proposing radical ideas...Even she didn't sound convincing at Goldman's shareholder meeting. "I want people to know I have nothing against you personally," the 81-year-old Ms. Davis told Mr. Blankfein. "And you are not a bad looking guy." He said he had no plans to step down.

It's hard to believe that any CEO at any other publicly traded company would have Mr. Blankfein's job security. Tony Hayward didn't survive at BP PLC. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CEO Dirk Meyer resigned in January, even though the stock had been on a four-month surge...Yet Goldman shareholders have brushed aside the regulatory and legal messes-and Mr. Blankfein's questionable handling of the Goldman boardroom.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511?page=2

To fully grasp the case against Goldman, one first needs to understand that the financial crime wave described in the Levin report came on the heels of a decades-long lobbying campaign by Goldman and other titans of Wall Street, who pleaded over and over for the right to regulate themselves.

Before that campaign, banks were closely monitored by a host of federal regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC and the Office of Thrift Supervision. These agencies had examiners poring over loans and other transactions, probing for behavior that might put depositors or the system at risk. When the examiners found illegal or suspicious behavior, they built cases and referred them to criminal authorities like the Justice Department.

This system of referrals was the backbone of financial law enforcement through the early Nineties. William Black was senior deputy chief counsel at the Office of Thrift Supervision in 1991 and 1992, the last years of the S&L crisis, a disaster whose pansystemic nature was comparable to the mortgage fiasco, albeit vastly smaller. Black describes the regulatory MO back then. "Every year," he says, "you had thousands of criminal referrals, maybe 500 enforcement actions, 150 civil suits and hundreds of convictions."

But beginning in the mid-Nineties, when former Goldman co-chairman Bob Rubin served as Bill Clinton's senior economic-policy adviser, the government began moving toward a regulatory system that relied almost exclusively on voluntary compliance by the banks. Old-school criminal referrals disappeared down the chute of history along with floppy disks and scripted television entertainment. In 1995, according to an independent study, banking regulators filed 1,837 referrals. During the height of the financial crisis, between 2007 and 2010, they averaged just 72 a year....But spiking almost all criminal referrals wasn't enough for Wall Street. In 2004, in an extraordinary sequence of regulatory rollbacks that helped pave the way for the financial crisis, the top five investment banks — Goldman, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns — persuaded the government to create a new, voluntary approach to regulation called Consolidated Supervised Entities. CSE was the soft touch to end all soft touches. Here is how the SEC's inspector general described the program's regulatory army: "The Office of CSE Inspections has only two staff in Washington and five staff in the New York regional office."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-19/mets-owners-hold-300-million-from-madoff-picard.html

A lawyer for the trustee liquidating the estate of Bernard L. Madoff said Mets owners Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and the Sterling Equities Inc. partners “refuse to return” $300 million in “other people’s money” received from the jailed con man...Trustee Irving Picard’s lawyer, David Sheehan, made the statement yesterday as part of a move to persuade a bankruptcy judge not to dismiss Picard’s $1 billion lawsuit against the Mets owners. In addition to $300 million in what he called “fictitious profits,” the trustee is seeking return of their principal invested with Madoff. (WHY? HOW?)

Picard said his case against Sterling and its partners stems from a bankruptcy-law concept of good faith. The concept doesn’t require that those sued acted illegally or knew they were dealing with a Ponzi scheme, he said. “Under bankruptcy law, a defendant did not act in good faith if what it knew about BLMIS gave it a reason to inquire further, but instead it turned a blind eye and continued to take money from an enterprise it should have known might be a fraud,” he said in the statement. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was Madoff’s investment firm.

‘No Evidence’

“Today’s filing recklessly rehashes the same fictitious claims” from the trustee, Sterling said yesterday in a statement. “He has no evidence, and no witnesses, to support his baseless claims.” Asking a judge in March to dismiss the Picard suit, the Sterling partners said they weren’t professional investors and saw no warning signs. Picard’s calculation that the Sterling partners and companies made $300 million in false profit from the Ponzi scheme ignored their Madoff accounts that had net losses, they said. After losses, Sterling’s fake profit was about $150 million over 25 years, according to the filing.

According to Picard, Peter Stamos, who ran the Sterling Stamos hedge fund and was part of the Mets owners’ inner circle, “repeatedly warned” that Madoff’s results were “too good to be true.” The trustee ignored Stamos’s testimony under oath that he assumed Madoff was “honorable” and a “legend” in the hedge fund industry, Sterling said in its filing. According to Sterling, Picard cited an e-mail that referred to Madoff as a “scam,” although Stamos had testified that he couldn’t recall ever describing Madoff that way.

http://www.truthout.org/great-switch-super-rich/1305737742

Forty years ago, wealthy Americans financed the U.S. government mainly through their tax payments. Today wealthy Americans finance the government mainly by lending it money. While foreigners own most of our national debt, over 40 percent is owned by Americans – mostly the very wealthy.

...Over that four decades, tax rates on the very rich have plummeted. Between the end of World War II and 1980, the top tax bracket remained over 70 percent — and even after deductions and credits was well over 50 percent. Now it’s 36 percent. As recently as the late 1980s, the capital gains rate was 35 percent. Now it’s 15 percent.

Not only are rates lower now, but loopholes are bigger. 18,000 households earning more than a half-million dollars last year paid no income taxes at all. In recent years, according to the IRS, the richest 400 Americans have paid only 18 percent of their total incomes in federal income taxes. Billionaire hedge-fund and private-equity managers are allowed to treat much of their incomes as capital gains (again, at 15 percent). Wealth is even more concentrated at the top — more concentrated than at any time since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.


The great irony is if America’s super rich financed the U.S. government the way they used to – by paying taxes rather than lending the government money – that long-term budget deficit would be far lower. This is why a tax increase on the super rich must be part of any budget agreement. Otherwise the great switch by the super rich will make the income and wealth gap far wider. Worse yet, average working Americans who can least afford it will either lose the services they depend on, or end up with a tax burden they cannot bear.

http://www.truthout.org/will-us-have-debt-crisis/1305723881

Washington, DC - John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is leading the Republican Party’s charge on fiscal policy, arguing that his side needs to see “trillions of dollars” in spending cuts in order for Congress to approve an increase in the US government’s debt ceiling. But framing the issue this way creates a major problem for Boehner: it will directly, completely, and quickly antagonize one of the Republicans’ most important constituencies – the US corporate sector.

Focusing on the debt ceiling creates a political trap for Boehner and the Republicans. It is true that the US Treasury’s ability to borrow will reach its legally authorized limit in early August. It is also true that whenever Republicans rattle their sabers about the debt ceiling, and threaten not to raise it, the bond market yawns and there is no significant impact on yields.

If the Republicans’ threats were credible, any news that increased the likelihood of a problem with the debt ceiling would send Treasury bond prices down and yields up. This is not happening, because bond traders cannot imagine that the Republicans would be able – or even willing – to follow through.

After all, the consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling would be catastrophic. The entire credit system in the US – and in much of the rest of the world – is based on the notion that there are “risk-free assets,” namely US government securities. There is no provision in the US Constitution to guarantee that the US will always pay its debts, but the American Republic has proven itself for 200-plus years to be about as good a credit risk as has ever existed....

RECOMMENDED READING

The bond bubble wood have burst without QE2, and will likely get a case of dysentary next month without further FED intervention.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12706

"Letting Bush tax cuts expire would halt rise in debt over next decade."

That's a point made in an analysis and charts released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities last week, and picked up by a few columnists. One of those writers, James Fallows of the Atlantic, writes about one of the primary reasons for the burgeoning deficit:



The very large, but permanent and worsening, budgetary impact of the "Bush tax cuts" - which when first proposed back in the pre-9/11 era, were supposed to end in 2010 and were in response to what back then seemed to be the "problem" of a burgeoning surplus in federal accounts! Since "extending" those cuts just sounds like business as usual, I think it is hard for most people to envision the profound and growing effect they have.



If the federal government ended the Bush tax cuts and the three wars (remember Libya), not to mention further reduced the Pentagon budget, the projected national deficit could possibly be reduced by 75 percent within this decade. With increased economic performance, the reduction would be even greater.

It's stupefying how proponents of economic reality have lost control of the debate, particularly at the White House and Congressional Democratic level.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/opinion/19kristof.html

...When I was in college, I majored in political science. But if I were going through college today, I’d major in economics. It possesses a rigor that other fields in the social sciences don’t — and often greater relevance as well. That’s why economists are shaping national debates about everything from health care to poverty, while political scientists often seem increasingly theoretical and irrelevant. (HMMMM....ARE ECONOMISTS RELEVANT?--DEMETER)

Economists are successful imperialists of other disciplines because they have better tools. Educators know far more about schools, but economists have used rigorous statistical methods to answer basic questions: Does having a graduate degree make one a better teacher? (Probably not.) Is money better spent on smaller classes or on better teachers? (Probably better teachers.)...Now we reach a central question for our age: How can we most effectively break cycles of poverty? For decades, we had answers that were mostly anecdotal or hot air. But, increasingly, we are now seeing economists provide answers that are rigorously field-tested, akin to the way drugs are tested in randomized controlled trials, yielding results that are particularly credible and persuasive.

Prof. Michael Kremer, a Harvard economist, helped pioneer randomized trials in antipoverty work. In the 1990s, Kremer began studying how to improve education in Africa, trying different approaches in randomly selected batches of schools. One intervention he tried was deworming kids — and bingo! In much of the developing world, most kids have intestinal worms, leaving them sick, anemic and more likely to miss school. Deworming is very cheap (a pill costing a few pennies), and, in the experiment he did with Edward Miguel, it resulted in 25 percent less absenteeism. Even years later, the kids who had been randomly chosen to be dewormed were earning more money than other kids.

Kremer estimates that the cost of keeping a kid in school for an additional year by building schools or by subsidizing school uniforms is more than $100, while by deworming kids, the cost drops to $3.50. (In a pinch, kids can usually go to “school” in a church or mosque without a uniform.)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/markets-precious-idUSL4E7GK0OB20110520

SINGAPORE, May 20 (Reuters) - Gold bounced on Friday as bargain hunters
resurfaced after prices slipped in the previous session, while silver could be
struggling to sustain early gains following a drop in exchange-traded fund
holdings.

Bullion has fallen about 5 percent since rallying to a lifetime high around
$1,575 an ounce in early May, but expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will
keep monetary policy ultra-loose for a while longer following the release of
weak economic data could polish up gold's safe haven appeal.

Spot gold added $5.76 an ounce to $1,497.36 by 0603 GMT. Silver
barely moved, standing at 35.19 an ounce -- well below a record at $49.51
an ounce in April.

"The long-term uptrend for gold is still intact. If gold moves above the
resistance of $1,500, then I think it could go higher. As the commodity markets
start to stabilise, investment demand for silver could return. It has a strong
positive correlation to gold and is a cheaper alternative," said Ong Yi Ling,
investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Sillver Bullion coins/bars are in short supply, with most major dealers out of inventory. This is with the price at a $5 (plus) premium over spot.
That compares to what used to be spot plus $1-$1.50 last fall.

Currently the COMEX has registered inventy of 32 million oz of Ag. A contract is for 5K ounces. If 3% of the puts took delivery of settled contracts, the exchange wood be be dry. :popcorn:

China overtook India to become the largest market for gold bars and coins in the first quarter of this year, as rising inflation inspired a surge in bullion investment

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/GK40VA/PNGIU/EWAEWZ/V1FYFA/SN/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=20

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/gold-demand-weak-as-wedding-demand-subsides/articleshow/8465963.cms

MUMBAI: Gold futures rose on Friday supported by firm overseas prices, dealers said adding local demand was subdued as the wedding season was nearly at an end.

* The most-active gold for June delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was 0.42 percent higher at 21,977 rupees per 10 grams at 4:18 p.m.

* "This week demand remained on lower side compared to last week. Wedding season purchases are almost over. It is unlikely we can see any kind of improvement next week," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank dealing in bullion.

the other, not so much

China's investment demand for gold more than doubled to 90.9 metric tons in the first three months of the year, outpacing India's modest rise to 85.6 tons, the World Gold Council said in its quarterly report on Thursday. China now accounts for 25% of gold investment demand, compared with India's 23%.

snip

In 2007, just before investing in gold began to take off globally, India's physical gold demand accounted for 61% of the world's total. China's was 9%
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/112783/china-top-gold-bug-wsj?mod=bb-budgeting&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Public_Worries_about_Unemployment_and_the_Economy_but_Media_Prefers_Deficit_110519

The largest daily newspapers in the U.S. have placed greater emphasis on coverage of the federal budget deficit than the issue of unemployment, even though the American public is most concerned with jobs and the economy. The latest Gallup Poll showed that when asked about the nation’s most important problem, only 12% chose the deficit, while 57% named the economy, jobs or unemployment.

National Journal examined stories published over a two-year period (April 2009 to May 2011) by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and The Washington Post. It found references to unemployment declined since peaking at 154 in August 2010. As of last month, joblessness mentions were down to 63.

On the other hand, the deficit was brought up more than 260 times in December 2010, in response to the release of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission report. But mentions of the deficit have remained high in the succeeding months, much to the delight of House Republicans.

If we don't see or hear them they don't exist.

it's just like the sunday talk fests -- all republicans all the time.

and whether it's john mccain or little timmy gheitner -- it's always the same story with the same ending.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151016/the_big_squeeze%3A_how_americans_are_being_crushed_by_financial_insecurity_and_doubt?page=entire

...The “American Century” is over. The great historical phase of America’s domestic prosperity and global hegemony is withering. In the decades following the Second World War, American capitalism fashioned the postmodern, and increasingly globalized, world order. In the process, it abandoned America and the American people.

We first witnessed the transfer of jobs overseas, rationalized as “throwaway” or low-skilled jobs. Then came the growing dependency of foreign borrowing, rationalized by the U.S.’s ostensible credit worthiness. Now, America’s great corporations, like GE and GM, are earning more overseas than at home, accompanied by generous domestic tax breaks. More disturbing, the U.S. military-industrial-political establishment repeatedly embarks on doomed “great war” campaigns that rob the nation of its young, its wealth and its ideals...Domestically, over the last three decades the rich have systematically expropriated the middle-class’s sizable and hard-earned wealth. It has been the most massive transfer of wealth in the nation’s history, with the gravest consequences. It has been a period of legalized robbery...Capitalism is being restructured, and in the process, Americans are being disciplined, forced to accept a poorer quality of life. The process of social and personal “reeducation” now being imposed on the vast majority of Americans is the Great Squeeze, it is the process of accepting a qualitatively more miserable life.

................DEPRESSING STATISTICS FOLLOW..................


Progressive resistance to the Big Squeeze has been slow in coming. The Tea Party movement expressed the first round of popular rage, reflecting the genuine fears of a segment of the aging, insecure, white (often racist) and conservative Christian populace. It screamed loud and was heard. However, having been organized and funded by well-financed conservative and Republican operatives, the politicians and legislative solutions it championed are turning out to only make worse the lives of an increasing number of the more vulnerable Tea Party proponents. Tea Party ideology and politics is being exposed as a con job....The response among more self-conscious progressives, the broad moderate citizenry (i.e., the majority of the voting public) and decent, apolitical Americans, has been slow to come to a boil. In light of the uprising in Madison and the growing number of angry constituents greeting Republican Congressmen throughout the country, political resistance is beginning to bubble up.

There is, however, a form of resistance that takes place everyday, but is invisible to the media and traditional political analysis. It occurs at the friction points of the Big Squeeze, where the values and/or authority of the more middle-class or managerial sector rubs up against the reality lived by poor and low-wage working Americans...Resistance to the Big Squeeze will likely intensify over the next two years as the nation builds to the 2012 election. The most visible form of this resistance will likely be protest marches, strikes and other public demonstrations. A new, emboldened progressive movement may well take shape. As this occurs, we shouldn’t lose sight of the more invisible, but mounting, resistance of the moral underground. As it grows, it may undermine one of the great social fictions grounding American capitalism: That one leaves one’s morals and politics at the office, factory or store door when one enters the job site. This fiction is based on the well-propagated notion that when one sells one’s labor power one leaves one’s personal beliefs and values at home. This social fiction is crumbling under the pressure of the Big Squeeze.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/592472/amid_huge_ceo_pay_hikes%2C_citigroup_head_gets_chart-topping_raise/#paragraph4

Last year, US CEOs received an 11 percent increase in salary on average, with a 19 percent increase within that leap. And this year, Vikram Pandit, the Citigroup CEO who's been quasi-celebrated for his symbolic $1 annual pay since the financial crisis, raked in a $23.2 million retention package that included tens of millions in stock and over $6 million in cash...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/592206/why_have_republicans_shifted_the_conversation_from_job_creation_to_deficit_reduction/#paragraph5

...We have a short-term economic problem (high unemployment and sluggish growth) and a long-term fiscal problem (large deficits and growing Medicare costs).

Policymakers could, in theory, use this dynamic to strike a credible deal — Dems would get stimulus now to boost the economy and create jobs, and Republicans, in exchange, would get a deficit-reduction agenda for the coming years...

AS IF!

...I suspect the White House would accept this in a heartbeat. And even fiscal conservatives should be able to appreciate the fact that the surest way to cut the deficit in a hurry is to grow the economy and put more Americans back to work.

But none of this is even open to consideration, and no one has made any effort to put it on the negotiating table. Part of this is because Republicans are actively opposed to any measures intended to create jobs, and part of it is the result of a political establishment stuck in the wrong conversation.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_22/b4230029760752.htm

U.S. lawmakers in both parties are seriously weighing proposals that could shave from $4 trillion to $6 trillion from the U.S. budget over the next decade. For America's lobbying class, that's the equivalent of a Category 5 storm warning. So the pinstripe brigade representing interest groups as diverse as ethanol producers, defense contractors, and hospital chains has descended on the nation's capital in recent weeks to ensure their tax breaks and subsidies are spared. Some 2,000 real estate agents parachuted into Washington the week of May 8 to defend the tax deduction homeowners receive on mortgage interest. Thousands of farmers who want to forestall cuts in agriculture subsidies have also been buttonholing their representatives. "I can't remember anything close to this," says Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists in Alexandria, Va., who during three decades as a Washington lobbyist has seen his share of budget battles.

One lobbyist making the rounds is Bob Livingston. He represents Raytheon (RTN) and Northrop Grumman (NOC), two defense contractors that have raised their deflector shields hoping to repel cuts to defense programs dear to them.

DOES ONE REALLY HAVE TO ASK? THE US WAS THE WORLD'S REFUGE FROM PSYCHOPATHY--
UNTIL ST. RONNIE CONVERTED THE CHOIR AND W LET THE DOGS OUT.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151014/schwarzenegger%2C_dsk%2C_and_gingrich%3A_do_we_have_psychopaths_misruling_our_world?page=entire

...What the three men have in common, aside from wielding more influence than they can handle or deserve, is that their serial misbehavior went unchecked for years. In fact, it was rationalized as mere exuberance, frequently excused in “exceptional” people, when it actually demonstrated something else – ruling class impunity...

Think about entering a portal and emerging into the head of Donald Trump. What could that level of self-absorption be like? Begin by imagining a complete lack of empathy, one of the tell-tale signs of the psychopath...Th(is) checklist, a way to help identify potential psychopaths among us, was developed by Bob Hare, a prison psychologist who conducted remarkable experiments and eventually codified his findings. Jon Ronson has provides an excellent history and analysis in his new book, The Psychopath Test.

Here’s the basic list, a collection of tendencies and an analytical tool to spot those who might be functioning psychopaths. The last two items relate specifically to criminals, but you don't have to be caught to have "criminal versatility." Keep in mind that having mild tendencies doesn’t make you a psychopath. But a high score – more than 30 on Hare’s 40 point scale – should be a warning sign. Personally, I give Trump and Gingrich high marks:

1.Glibness, superficial charm
2.Grandiose sense of self-worth
3.Need for stimulation, proneness to boredom
4.Pathological lying
5.Conning, manipulative
6.Lack of remorse or guilt
7.Shallow affect
8.Callous, lack of empathy
9.Parasitic lifestyle
10.Poor behavioral control
11.Promiscuous sexual behavior
12.Early behavior problems
13.Lack of realistic long-term goals
14.Impulsivity
15.Irresponsibility
16.Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
17.Many short-term marital relationships
18.Juvenile delinquency
19.Revocation of conditional release
20.Criminal versatility

I WISH I'D SEEN THIS LIST IN COLLEGE...DEMETER

5/19/11 The "Game Over" Redux
Back in November, we posted a piece by Knight Research titled "The Game Is Over" in which the firm's strategist Mark Lapolla presented his thesis why he believes that "the structural and cyclical terms of global trade have finally reached their tipping point.

This will catalyze a wholesale change in sentiment and a historic repositioning of risk assets. The emerging market global growth story is over." And while the article came out just as the barrage of $750 billion in daily POMOs courtesy of QE2 was starting and hence masked the true state of reality, now that QE2 is finishing, it is only appropriate to bring Mark back up front, as the imminent and very violent convergence of the rosy myth that is the stock market, and of the underlying miserable reality, is about to wake up all those who have been dozing under the Pied Printer of Eccleslin's soothing tune, and Lapolla's thesis is about to see its first validation.

In essence, while we have heard much from those who claim that the end game will come as a result of hyperinflation, Lapolla is convinced in the opposite: namely that the end will be not a bang but a hyperdeflationary whimper. In order to refresh readers with his thoughts, recently Lapolla conducted an interview with the master questioner Kate Welling in which the Knight strategist laid out his uber-bearish case in more gruesome detail than most can stomach. Below we present the key points from his interview, as well as the full thing subsequently.

In a nutshell, and this won't come as a surprise to anyone, Lapolla believes that "the game is over because there is no collateral... When consumer debt is rooted 75%-plus in residential real estate and residential real estate is impaired, easy Federal Reserve monetary policy simply cannot make it to Main Street. The transmission mechanism is broken. There is no conduit. "

more...
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/game-over-redux


11/17/10 Knight Research' Stunning Call: "The Game Is Over"
The simple story is this: We believe the structural and cyclical terms of global trade have finally reached their tipping point. This will catalyze a wholesale change in sentiment and a historic repositioning of risk assets. The emerging market global growth story is over.
more...
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/knight-research-stunning-call-game-over

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/05/19/warren-devises-actually-readable-mortgage-disclosure-forms/

Elizabeth Warren, the current acting head and possibly future director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, wants to make mortgage forms simpler, and has created a series of samples:



You can see the new forms AT THE LINKS IN THE ORIGINAL LINK

The great untold story of the Warren era at CFPB is how she has generated a lot of goodwill from bank trade groups. In this case, she has something to offer both bankers and consumers. Banks and mortgage lenders want to streamline the forms and not duplicate information. This will help their productivity by cutting down on paperwork. Consumers and their advocates want to actually know what it is they’re signing. This accomplishes both goals.

Now there ought to be concern that this goes the way of the Good Faith Estimate, the disclosure forms that mortgage brokers send to customers before closing the loan, which this would apparently replace. During the bubble era, lenders habitually either forgot to send the Good Faith Estimate, or told their customers to disregard it as merely a non-binding formality. Though they were often incomprehensible, there actually was some information in that disclosure about the nature of the loans, but it was either downplayed or hidden from the public. And frequently, the lender would change the terms of the loan from the Good Faith Estimate to the final documents. As important as these new forms are, we cannot have lenders talking them down or rushing their customers through the signature phase. Consumers have to be educated on financial literacy as well, so they can make smart choices. And, the offer described on the form must be binding – no changing the loan after the fact.

But this is a nice start for an agency that is under threat from Congress to be defanged. It’s also a proof of concept for the agency’s current leader, Elizabeth Warren. She’s more than making the case for her appointment... UPDATE: House Democrats have begun to pressure the White House for a recess appointment for Warren.

http://www.truthout.org/one-lawman-guts-go-after-wall-street/1305815368

The fix was in to let the Wall Street scoundrels off the hook for the enormous damage they caused in creating the Great Recession. All of the leading politicians and officials, federal and state, Republican and Democrat, were on board to complete the job of saving the banks while ignoring their victims ... until last week when the attorney general of New York refused to go along... Despite a mountain of evidence of robo-signed mortgage contracts, deceitful mortgage-based securities and fraudulent foreclosures, the banks were going to be able to cut their potential losses to what was, for them, a minuscule amount....In a deal that had the blessing of the White House and many federal regulators and state attorneys general—a settlement probably for not much more than the $5 billion pittance the top financial institutions found acceptable—the banks would be freed of any further claims by federal and state officials over their shady mortgage packaging and servicing practices and deceptive foreclosure proceedings....

As Gretchen Morgenson reported in The New York Times, the Justice Department division responsible for checking for fraud in the bankruptcy system has found a widespread pattern of deception by banks foreclosing homes, and she concluded: “So an authoritative source with access to a lot of data has identified industry practices as not only pernicious but also pervasive. Which makes it all the more mystifying that regulators seem eager to strike a cheap and easy settlement with the banks.”

...But now Schneiderman has a chance to derail the deals, given that he is supported by the state’s tough 1921 Martin Act, which one of his predecessors as New York state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, had used to good advantage in exposing the financial behemoths that are so heavily based in New York. The Wall Street Journal describes the Martin Act as “one of the most potent prosecutorial tools against financial fraud” because, as opposed to federal law, it doesn’t carry the more difficult standard of proving intent to defraud.

Last week, it was revealed that Schneiderman’s office has demanded an accounting from Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as to the details of their past practice of securitizing those mortgage-based packages that proved so toxic. Maybe he will fail against such powerful forces, as did Spitzer and later Andrew Cuomo, but it is a test worth watching, since no one else, from the White House on down, seems to be concerned with holding the bailed-out banks accountable for the massive pain and suffering they inflicted on the public.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/why-%E2%80%9C-qe-3-coming%E2%80%9D-debate-moot-point-pt-1

...the Fed HAS to perform QE 3 in some form or another....Indeed, the market has not operated without money pumps around $30 billion each. By June 2008, the Fed had done this 14 times to the tune of $200+ billion. Then came the $700 billion bailout in November 2008.

After this came QE 1 from March 2009-April 2010. This entailed roughly $50-80 billion in money pumps per month hitting the market. Even after QE 1 ended the Fed continued supplying the juice to the tune of $30 billion or so per month (though most commentators completely missed this)...Then we get QE lite, which results in another $50 billion per month, then QE 2 which brings it to $100 billion per month, and finally, at the beginning of 2011, the Fed starts pumping another $100 billion per month behind the scenes.

So, in the last two years, the Fed has gone from making monthly money pumps of $30 billion to monthly money pumps of $200 billion. THIS is why I am certain QE 3 is coming. The Fed has done nothing but pumped money into the market since July 2007. Even during periods when it had no formal QE program in place it was STILL pumping money into the system. However, the Fed has got itself in a bind. Having pumped so much money into the system, the Fed has created mini-bubbles in Silver and a few other commodities. Add to this the growing public outrage over the rising cost of living in the US and the Fed is finding itself the center of unwanted attention.



Consequently, Bernanke toned down his money printing talk and hinted at even worrying about inflation in the most recent Fed FOMC announcement. As a result of this, Silver and the other “bubbly” commodities have collapsed in a free-fall. However, all of this is just idle posturing. Ben Bernanke has done only one thing since taking the helm of the Fed in 2006. And that’s monetary EASING. During every part of his tenure as Fed Chairman, Bernanke has responded to all issues by loosening his monetary policy. Here’s just a brief recap of the moves he’s made since the Financial Crisis began:



* The Federal Reserve cutting interest rates from 5.25-0.25% (Sept ’07-today)
* The Bear Stearns deal/ Fed taking on $30 billion in junk mortgages (March ’08)
* The Fed opens up various lending windows to investment banks (March ’08)
* The SEC proposes banning short-selling on financial stocks (July ’08)
* Hank Paulson gets a blank check for Fannie/Freddie but promises not to use it (July ’08)
* Hank Paulson uses the blank check with Fannie/ Freddie spending $400 billion in the process (Sept ’08).
* The Fed takes over insurance company AIG (Sept ’08) for $85 billion.
* The Fed doles out $25 billion for the auto makers (Sept ’08)
* The Feds kick off the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) with the Government taking stakes in private banks (Oct ’08)
* The Fed offers to buy commercial paper (non-bank debt) from non-financial firms (Oct ’08)
* The Fed offers $540 billion to backstop money market funds (Oct ’08)
* The Feds agree to back up to $280 billion of Citigroup’s liabilities (Oct ’08).
* $40 billion more to AIG (Nov ’08)
* Feds agree to back up $140 billion of Bank of America’s liabilities (Jan ’09)
* Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus (Jan ’09)
* QE lite (August ’10)
* QE 2 (November ’10)



I’m sure I left something out. But the above make it clear just how Ben Bernanke likes to tackle financial problems: printing money.

Three years ago, investors received a brutal lesson in why it is a bad idea for banks or other financial institutions to fund long-term holdings with short-term debt. Could it now be time for investors to re-learn that concept in relation to sovereign debt?

That is a question currently hovering over America’s $14,000bn Treasuries market, as the political fight about US fiscal policy intensifies. In recent months, the atmosphere in the Treasuries market has been eerily calm; so much so that this week ten-year yields dropped to their lowest level this year.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/PR95HS/K91WR/QFE17I/C52BFV/ZH/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=19

Twice as many business leaders say the world economy is going to improve in the next six months than think it is going to get worse, according to an FT/Economist survey

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/RNJX0H/JQU4J/A70X28/C52B2E/4O/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=20

But the rest of us are not going to see it.

Chrysler has raised $7.5bn from banks and private investors in a deal to repay loans from the US and Canadian governments and increase Fiat’s control over the Detroit carmaker two years after its bankruptcy

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/GK40VA/PNGIU/EWAEWZ/C52B2F/SN/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=20

GE plans to make share buy-backs totalling about $12bn over the next few years, joining a succession of US companies setting out plans for large repurchase programmes

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/7203PC/06MUC/9ZO47Z/FX7HUX/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=19

Anthony Scolaro, a former Diamondback portfolio manager, agrees to co-operate with the government’s probe into an alleged stock trading scheme with ties to Galleon Group

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/7203PC/06MUC/9ZO47Z/QFQZ0J/FW/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=19

Egypt is seeking up to $4bn from the International Monetary Fund to help plug the huge hole in its public finances that opened up after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/EB8122/LQY6K6/EKRAI/A70MAH/ZBU4YZ/AZ/t?a1=2011&a2=5&a3=18

SO MUCH FOR THAT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AP_POLL_GAS_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-07-48-15

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With gasoline prices hovering at $4 a gallon nationally, many Americans are making tough choices: scaling back summer vacations, driving less or ditching the car altogether. Some seniors are choosing a tank of gas over their prescriptions.

An Associated Press-GfK poll shows the share of Americans who say increases in the price of gasoline will cause serious financial hardship for them or their family in the next six months now tops 4 in 10.

Overall in the poll, 71 percent said rising prices will cause some hardship for them and their family, including 41 percent who called it a "serious" hardship. Just 29 percent said rising prices are not causing a negative impact on their finances.

By income, 63 percent of those with annual household incomes over $50,000 now say rising prices are causing financial hardship, up from 55 percent in March.

whoopee

4 outa 10 people suffer from diarrhea. Which some wood interpret to mean 6 outa 10 enjoy it.
:hide:

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/think-real-estate-investmentsturning-risky-heres-why_545231.html

The first quarter of this financial year promises to be a difficult one for the real estate sector, says a report by Economic Times. The report says that the big players in metropolitan cities have had to borrow funds to pay their installments on loans due to banks by the end of March 2011.

Why real estate investments are getting riskier

The report observes that realtors who overestimated demand for housing, received advances from speculators and investors are now coming under pressure to deliver promised projects to enable them to cash in on their investments.

Projects are reported to be stagnant due of lack of cash, and banks are not lending money to the sector any longer, especially as the RBI has restricted such flows. Under such background, the report suggests, the potential investors now need to be cautious of where they invest in.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/high-interest-rates-slow-economy-to-weaken-real-estate_545224.html

The hardening of the interest rates coupled with slowdown in the economy will affect the activities in the real estate sector,said an Economic Times report.

Rising interest rates coupled with economic slowdown will affect real estate sector

The real estate sector is likely to bear the brunt of Reserve Bank of India’s rate hike, the report suggests. RBI increased both the repo rate and reverse repo rate by half a percentage points each, to 7.25% and 6.25% respectively, which forced banks and financial institutions to increase their lending rates.

The report says the more worrying for the feel-good factor of the Indian economy is the RBI's projection moderating the economic growth to around 8% for 2011-12, from around 8.6% in 2010-11. It will affect the general mood of the investors pulling down the return on investment in the economy, the report suggests.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/business-is-also-to-blame-for-corruption-say-top-execs-12644.html

Last Monday, India ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption. (India signed it six years ago). The move will make India co-operate internationally on information sharing and asset recovery. For example, annual reports of investigative agencies would be submitted to the UN each year.

Corruption is one of the top trending words on the internet these days.

Economists are writing papers to explore if corruption is another tax. The media is sparing no effort to highlight every act of omission. Over the past few months, the commonwealth games and 2G spectrum scams have dominated headlines. Global Financial Integrity, a US-based outfit, said that the estimated value of India’s total illicit financial flows (IFFs) was at least $462 billion. High net worth individuals (HNIs) and private companies were found to be the primary drivers of illicit flows out of India’s private sector.



We rarely see business leaders speak out on corruption. While they are very much in the thick of things, they usually blame politicians and bureaucrats and watch from the fence.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-closes-185-pts-up-LT-leads-the-gains/articleshow/8458643.cms

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex on Friday surged nearly 185 points at 18,326.09, with blue-chip L&T leading the rally on the back of handsome earnings, amid easing inflation, and falling commodity prices and rise in global markets.

Extending the gains for the second day on Friday, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index, Sensex resumed higher and remained in the positive terrain throughout the day before settling 184.69 points, or 1.02 per cent, higher at 18,326.09.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange gauge Nifty rose by 58.25 points, or 1.07 per cent, at 5,486.35.

Traders said a dip in food inflation early this month also spurred the market sentiment. Food inflation fell to a 18-month low of 7.47 for the week ended May 7.

Meredith Whitney Trips Over Her Muni Default Tale: Joe Mysak
Re "60 Minutes" Dec. 19, 2010:
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/story?docId=1376-LLGTH31A1I4H01-2NSVPIJ5TTTS6432JHE7ESMMTH

Another asshat calling a ball game before the home half of the 4th inning. Cities and towns are dumping essential services, selling buildings, (Short term cash, but now rent must be paid), and cutting back on infrastucture maintainance/upgrades. These are the last steps before default

Whitney will be chided and shit on for being wrong until.. oops, she was 'right'

http://www.firstpost.com/business/dark-clouds-over-citi-are-gone-pandit-in-for-a-16-m-windfall-12209.html

Boston: Citigroup today said it has rewarded CEO Vikram Pandit with an over $16-million “retention award” for his “outstanding job” of steering the financial giant to profitability and executing a strategy for sustainable growth.

Pandit has been taking home a token $1 salary from Citigroup since 2009. The three-part multi-year retention award will accrue to Pandit if the company meets certain performance goals, New York-based Citigroup said in a filing with to the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Vikram has done an outstanding job since coming on board as the financial crisis began. Under his leadership, the management team has navigated Citi through the crisis, returned Citi to profitability and is executing a strategy for sustainable growth,” the Chairman of Citigroup’s board of directors, Richard Parsons, said.

Parsons said the “long-term, multi-year, performance-based structure of this award is designed to retain Vikram as our CEO and reward him for future performance benefiting the company and our shareholders”. The first part of the retention award is deferred stock valued at $10 million.




:eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr6EldSFwOI

Needless to say--I'm not seeing blue skies, personally. I could chew nails. Iron ones.

Lots of standing water that even 50,000 trees (along with a couple hundred million lesser species) are unable to mitigate.

For us, it's been more like 3 months. Although part of that was snow...and it's probably all radioactive, although since nobody's looking, we may not know until the cancer clusters pop up...

A take-out puts the next stop in the 1275/80 range...With APPL now out of favor with several large HF's, that could happen in a heartbeat.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-20/analysts-punished-as-fewer-than-1-of-sells-work-since-2009.html

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. had rallied 40 percent from its spinoff when Adnaan Ahmad started covering the stock with a “sell” rating. The mobile-phone maker has lost nearly all its gain since his Jan. 21 report.

“The market was pricing in strong profits for its handset business, which I found outrageous for a company that’s not a low-cost leader or a niche vendor,” said Ahmad, a London-based analyst at Berenberg Bank who has also covered phone stocks for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Ahmad is one of the few analysts who issued “sell” recommendations and fewer still whose advice turned out to be right during the biggest U.S. market rally since 1955. Just 5.1 percent of analyst ratings are “sells,” according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among 1,890 analysts tracked by Bloomberg for this story, fewer than 1 percent advised investors to unload a Standard & Poor’s 500 stock that later showed a decline, or rose only after they upgraded it, the data show.

“Any calls that an analyst makes that’s right deserves some praise and sells are so few and far between,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees $85 billion. “An analyst who’s a good analyst and does great, honest work, if he puts out a ‘sell’ signal, it should be looked at.”

5/20/11 Norway Stops Aid Payments To Greece

And here comes the first domino: according to Swiss journal NZZ, the Greek bailout is about to take a turn for the worse. "Norway will first stop all further financial aid payments to the highly indebted Greece. The reason is that Greece does not fulfill its obligations descendants, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Thursday before the Parliament." And with Norway which is a member of the European Economic Area, and actually one of the few solvent and non-basket case European countries saying let the chips fall where they may, it is just the first. Look for every other country currently on the sidelines vis-a-vis Greece (and just as insolvent) to follow suit as the European experiment falls apart.

more...
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/norway-stops-aid-payments-greece

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/shell-bulks-up-with-floating-gas-giant/story-fn7j19iv-1226059969902

AUSTRALIA's economy is expected to receive a $45 billion-plus shot in the arm after Shell signed off on the world's first floating liquefied natural gas project.

The global energy giant yesterday described the development of the colossal Prelude project - tipped to cost more than $10 billion - as a "game-changer for the energy industry".

Shell Australia chairman Ann Pickard said the group would be one of Australia's biggest investors over the next five years, pumping more than $30 billion into projects including Prelude and the massive Chevron-operated Gorgon gas development.

Shell is a key player in Australia's LNG race, as energy players position themselves to tap into strengthening demand from Asia for the cleaner-burning fuel.

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/dollar-headed-for-weekly-gain/story-e6frfkur-1226059852396

THE dollar was headed for a weekly gain after a fortnight of losses, following quiet trading today as investors judged its recent low as a buying opportunity.

At 5pm (AEST) today, the dollar was trading at 106.59 US cents, up slightly from 106.53 cents yesterday.

The local currency gained 0.8 per cent over the week against the US dollar and rose two per cent against the yen.

Since 7am (AEST) today, the local unit traded between 106.78 cents and 106.53 cents.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/dollar-headed-for-weekly-gain/story-e6frfkur-1226059852396#ixzz1MuZleeOG

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/sa-business-journal/sa-to-benefit-from-chinas-transition/story-e6fredel-1226059864093

THE state will benefit from China's "second stage" of transformation, according to St George chief economist Besa Deda.

Speaking at a BankSA economic breakfast in Adelaide yesterday, Ms Deda said China was expected to become the world's largest economy by 2016, before the end of the "first stage" of transformation, at least 10-to-15 years from now. "China and India are really undergoing the first wave of transformation," she said.

"That is, they're building their infrastructure, they're building their railways - so they're demanding the hard commodities like coal and steel. The second wave is when they move their economy from being export investment driven towards being a consumer society like most advanced economies."

Ms Deda said the state's service industries would gain from the second stage of Asian growth. "As they urbanise, they'll cross over . . . and that'll be the next wave of their transformation, and that will open up new opportunities for Australia in tourism and in services, and South Australia is quite well positioned for that," she said.

:kick:
Great toon today! Thanks to all.
hamerfan