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Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 06:47 PM Jul 2012

STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 24 July 2012

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 24 July 2012[font color=black][/font]


SMW for 23 July 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 23 July 2012
[center][font color=red]
Dow Jones 12,721.46 -101.11 (-0.79%)
S&P 500 1,350.52 -12.14 (-0.89%)
Nasdaq 2,890.15 -35.15 (-1.20%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.43% +0.02 (1.42%)
30 Year 2.50% +0.02 (0.81%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]




[div]
[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."



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[font size=3][font color=red]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.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]


44 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 24 July 2012 (Original Post) Tansy_Gold Jul 2012 OP
Fuck the NRA! rfranklin Jul 2012 #1
I had a feeling I was taking a bit of a risk posting that toon Tansy_Gold Jul 2012 #2
This message was self-deleted by its author Po_d Mainiac Jul 2012 #4
Well, it's 83F at 10PM Demeter Jul 2012 #3
Crappy day here, and then I went outside Tansy_Gold Jul 2012 #5
West horizon iz alive with bolts.. Po_d Mainiac Jul 2012 #8
After a full day of super little boy mischief I would tell my sons... kickysnana Jul 2012 #7
Shit Po_d Mainiac Jul 2012 #12
Yeah, they make kids sturdy. kickysnana Jul 2012 #13
Girls ARE Easier Demeter Jul 2012 #27
I sure wasn't at 14 and then there is one of my nieces... kickysnana Jul 2012 #44
The words of Rozy...Tuff to embelish on ymmv Po_d Mainiac Jul 2012 #6
This Global Financial Fraud and its Gatekeepers By Naomi Wolf Demeter Jul 2012 #9
Sorry, I just can't do it tonight. Demeter Jul 2012 #10
Of the many apposite comments at the link, I'll just quote this: Ghost Dog Jul 2012 #14
"Three Big Lies Perpetuated by the Rich" bread_and_roses Jul 2012 #17
I ain't a NRA fan Po_d Mainiac Jul 2012 #11
Anybody remember 1973 New Orleans Howard Johnsons sniper? DemReadingDU Jul 2012 #15
so, what will today bring? xchrom Jul 2012 #16
maybe rain DemReadingDU Jul 2012 #18
we have humidity here out the yin yang -- we SHOULD have rain. xchrom Jul 2012 #20
pouring buckets Tansy_Gold Jul 2012 #24
i guess some is better than none? xchrom Jul 2012 #26
I'm already dancing as fast as I can--Barbara Gordon Demeter Jul 2012 #29
Sally Ride - that will be a very good thing to do. Nt xchrom Jul 2012 #30
it certainly worked here! Tansy_Gold Jul 2012 #34
Oh I love those silks! xchrom Jul 2012 #35
Vikings would be an improvement Demeter Jul 2012 #28
Rating Agency Worker: 'I Am Genuinely Frightened' xchrom Jul 2012 #19
The Euro Area Downturn Is Getting Worse xchrom Jul 2012 #21
UH-OH: UPS CUTS GUIDANCE xchrom Jul 2012 #22
U.S. Stock Futures Decline As German Credit Outlook Cut xchrom Jul 2012 #23
Where Did Business Suits Come From? xchrom Jul 2012 #25
don't know where the suit coat came from but wobblie Jul 2012 #40
Smashing The Can Instead Of Kicking It Down The Road & Keiser Report Demeter Jul 2012 #31
U.S. flash PMI at lowest since December 2010 Roland99 Jul 2012 #32
How Finland keeps its head above eurozone crisis xchrom Jul 2012 #33
Finland has no assets, so no one will lend to them Demeter Jul 2012 #36
Bungled Bank Bailout Leaves Behind Righteous Anger By Neil M. Barofsky Demeter Jul 2012 #37
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes Demeter Jul 2012 #38
Per Matt Taibbi: Octopus: Read This Book to Understand Wall Street DemReadingDU Jul 2012 #39
DJIA and S&P now down about 1.2%. daily lows. Roland99 Jul 2012 #41
Euro Nations Ready To Act On Spain As Yields Surge, Frieden Says xchrom Jul 2012 #42
Off to a Bored Meeting Demeter Jul 2012 #43

Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
2. I had a feeling I was taking a bit of a risk posting that toon
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 08:33 PM
Jul 2012

But, well, I posted it anyway.



I'm not one to hide my feelings, and they're about like yours (only not as nice???).

Response to rfranklin (Reply #1)

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
3. Well, it's 83F at 10PM
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:08 PM
Jul 2012

Ick. My car air-conditioning died, so I will be trying to get it fixed tomorrow.

After struggling neck deep in Bach's Magnificat Monday night, everything else seems easier. Not fun, just not as challenging. And Tuesday night is board meeting, part 2. It's one of those weeks.

Durbin claimed the banks own the Senate. I'm surprised it took him that long to catch on.

The Atlantic Ocean is broken. There are no hurricanes or even tropical storms to push water on shore for the cornfields. The African wave is in the wrong place.

Let's see, is there anything else I can complain about in my five minutes of griping? Complaining should be a natural thing.....take my Kid, please!

Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
5. Crappy day here, and then I went outside
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:33 PM
Jul 2012

to check on the progress of the latest batch of storms that's not bringing me any rain.



There have been brighter, bigger rainbows over Superstition Mountain, but this one was unexpected.

Po_d Mainiac

(4,183 posts)
8. West horizon iz alive with bolts..
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:41 PM
Jul 2012

If the front stays tight, the rain buckets will be full by dawn.....thank you mother nature, good timing!

kickysnana

(3,908 posts)
7. After a full day of super little boy mischief I would tell my sons...
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:39 PM
Jul 2012

Its a good thing I love you because if I didn't on days like this I would sell you for a nickel and they would giggle and usually give me the evening off.

Did I tell you about the time that a teen bicyclist ran a red light coming from the left where a semi was blocking my line of sight. He catapulted over the hood of the car, picked himself up ran around and grabbed the bike and took off leaving me there shaking.

I called the police at home because if something happened to him I didn't want to be accused of leaving the scene of an accident. Kids were 4 and 6. The police showed up. In the mean time I had made their favorite meal, mac'n'cheese and hot dogs. I told them to wait in the kitchen while I talked to the policeman. I think I had spoke to my Mom on the phone and said kiddingly :if someone hits you with a bike do you go to jail, just because?" The Policeman looks past me and says "put those down now!", I turn and there they are with their cap rifles making sure Mom wasn't going to go to jail. Despite the fact I had told them many times you don't point guns at people not even toy ones. Grandpas had gotten the guns for them. Luckily our police at that time were not bat shit crazy and he just gave them a stern lecture and made sure the cap guns were grounded for a month.

Then there was the time I said, everyone got their seat belts on, doors locked? Yes, yes. Out of a steep driveway cars passing on both sides of me, and Son2 age 6 goes flying out the rear door. I thought sure he was dead.

Then there was the first time Son2 age 5 got to go to the neighbors house at the end of the block with and dropped a real bowling pin from the second floor balcony onto his brothers noogin. Both of them said "didn't think it would actually hit". Eleven stitches. I never thought to tell them not to drop a bowling pin on our brothers head from the second floor. My mistake.

We go all the way back to Dad's Toyota Celica won't ever start in the snow so we have to go give him a jump because he is the last one out overnight. Son 1 is about 26 months. I am strapping Son 2 and I said stand right there and you go in next. The early run MTC bus comes barreling down the hill about 45mph and blows his horn, but doesn't slow or stop. I turn and Son 1 is missing off of the curb. I hold my breath and quickly go around the other side of the car to see him hanging onto the door handle. 1st discussion about the right side and the suicide of the car.

There is a reason old people aren't able to have children.

Po_d Mainiac

(4,183 posts)
12. Shit
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 11:08 PM
Jul 2012

I done that roll over the hood thrice.....40/39 years ago...didn't even leave a mark... the Huffy got fucked......still pedal 2-3 milles to this day....sleep well.....we be tough......


ps......Ain't nevah wrapped me head in tupperware...nevah will

kickysnana

(3,908 posts)
44. I sure wasn't at 14 and then there is one of my nieces...
Thu Jul 26, 2012, 10:02 AM
Jul 2012

I refer to her as our Isadora Duncan, free spirit, a lot of flair. She drove her second grade teacher crazy because when she would get bored she would do something about it, sing, interrupt to ask a question, start drawing and sharing. My sister went in to take a bath after a long day and as laid back she spied something on the ceiling. It was raw bacon. So the next day she asked who and why and Jacqui about 11 said it was because she wanted to know what would happen.

I turned into a fire breathing monster at 14. I guess I was lucky they didn't try to get me "help" because I grew out of it. When a comic cracked a joke "Puberty hit her hard" they immediately thought of me.

Po_d Mainiac

(4,183 posts)
6. The words of Rozy...Tuff to embelish on ymmv
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:35 PM
Jul 2012

This is looking more and more like a modem-day depression. After all, last month alone, 85,000 Americans signed on for Social Security disability cheques, which exceeded the 80,000 net new jobs that were created: and a record 46 million Americans or 14.8% of the population (also a record) are in the Food Stamp program (participation averaged 7.9% from 1970 to 2000, by way of contrast) — enrollment has risen an average of over 400,000 per month over the past four years. A record share of 41% pay zero national incomes tax as well (58 million), a share that has doubled over the past two decades. Increasingly, the U.S. is following in the footsteps of Europe of becoming a nation of dependants.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/david-rosenberg-modern-day-depression-vs-dow-20000

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
9. This Global Financial Fraud and its Gatekeepers By Naomi Wolf
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:45 PM
Jul 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/14/global-financial-fraud-gatekeepers


The media's 'bad apple' thesis no longer works. We're seeing systemic corruption in banking – and systemic collusion...Last fall, I argued that the violent reaction to Occupy and other protests around the world had to do with the 1%ers' fear of the rank and file exposing massive fraud if they ever managed get their hands on the books. At that time, I had no evidence of this motivation beyond the fact that financial system reform and increased transparency were at the top of many protesters' list of demands... new data... abundantly fills in this hypothesis and confirms this picture. The notion that the entire global financial system is riddled with systemic fraud – and that key players in the gatekeeper roles, both in finance and in government, including regulatory bodies, know it and choose to quietly sustain this reality – is one that would have only recently seemed like the frenzied hypothesis of tinhat-wearers, but this week's headlines make such a conclusion, sadly, inevitable.

The New York Times business section on 12 July shows multiple exposes of systemic fraud throughout banks: banks colluding with other banks in manipulation of interest rates, regulators aware of systemic fraud, and key government officials (at least one banker who became the most key government official) aware of it and colluding as well. Fraud in banks has been understood conventionally and, I would say, messaged as a glitch. As in London Mayor Boris Johnson's full-throated defense of Barclay's leadership last week, bank fraud is portrayed as a case, when it surfaces, of a few "bad apples" gone astray...In the New York Times business section, we read that the HSBC banking group is being fined up to $1bn, for not preventing money-laundering (a highly profitable activity not to prevent) between 2004 and 2010 – a six years' long "oops". In another article that day, Republican Senator Charles Grassley says of the financial group Peregrine capital: "This is a company that is on top of things." The article goes onto explain that at Peregrine Financial, "regulators discovered about $215m in customer money was missing." Its founder now faces criminal charges. Later, the article mentions that this revelation comes a few months after MF Global "lost" more than $1bn in clients' money.

What is weird is how these reports so consistently describe the activity that led to all this vanishing cash as simple bumbling: "regulators missed the red flag for years." They note that a Peregrine client alerted the firm's primary regulator in 2004 and another raised issues with the regulator five years later – yet "signs of trouble seemingly missed for years", muses the Times headline...A page later, "Wells Fargo will Settle Mortgage Bias Charges" as that bank agrees to pay $175m in fines resulting from its having – again, very lucratively – charged African-American and Hispanic mortgagees costlier rates on their subprime mortgages than their counterparts who were white and had the same credit scores. Remember, this was a time when "Wall Street firms developed a huge demand for subprime loans that they purchased and bundled into securities for investors, creating financial incentives for lenders to make such loans." So, Wells Fargo was profiting from overcharging minority clients and profiting from products based on the higher-than-average bad loan rate expected. The piece discreetly ends mentioning that a Bank of America lawsuit of $335m and a Sun Trust mortgage settlement of $21m for having engaged is similar kinds of discrimination...


It is very hard, looking at the elaborate edifices of fraud that are emerging across the financial system, to ignore the possibility that this kind of silence – "the willingness to not rock the boat" – is simply rewarded by promotion to ever higher positions, ever greater authority. If you learn that rate-rigging and regulatory failures are systemic, but stay quiet, well, perhaps you have shown that you are genuinely reliable and deserve membership of the club. Whatever motivated Geithner's silence, or that of the "government official" in the emails to Barclays, this much is obvious: the mainstream media need to drop their narratives of "Gosh, another oversight". The financial sector's corruption must be recognized as systemic... In an electronic world, evidence of these crimes lasts forever – if people get their hands on the books. In the Libor case, notably, a major crime has not been greeted by much demand at the top for criminal prosecutions. That asymmetry is one of the insurance policies of power. Another is to crack down on citizens' protest.

**********************************************************************************

Naomi Wolf is the author, among other books, of The Beauty Myth and Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. She is a graduate of Yale University and New College, Oxford
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
10. Sorry, I just can't do it tonight.
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:47 PM
Jul 2012

I need to cool off, and this stuff isn't helping. See you in the morning, perhaps.

 

Ghost Dog

(16,881 posts)
14. Of the many apposite comments at the link, I'll just quote this:
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 04:43 AM
Jul 2012

richardbunning

14 July 2012 5:58PM

There is a common misconception about the Mafia.

It is not a monumental organisation with a central chain of command. Its controlling families in each country are few, they often know each other and may even intermarry, but a mafiosi in Bologna probably has no connection or even knownledge of another in Brindisi - and none whatsover of a mafia family in Chicago.

"Our Cause" - the Causa Nostra - is therefore a loose affiliation of cooperating or vying groups of criminals who have only one thing in common - their use of criminal rackets to make money.

In the UK "Our Cause" is the common cause of bankers, financial services and big business to make as much money as they can - and they do this through ensuring that there is a little regulation and as much public money spent in the private sector as possible.

Bank deregulation allowed UK banks to engage in massive financial gambles, but knowing because there are so big, if things went badly they could effectively blackmail the government to bail them out - and have now had over a trillion pounds in state aid of one sort or another - equal to the national debt.

The revolving door between the Tory Party and the City, where 75% of Tory MPs have direct personal links and interests in the banks speaks for itself. There are a few hundred families who hugely benefit from "Our Cause" and they are the British end of the 1% richest, who have benfited from "Our Cause".

Therefore we live in a Mafia State - one where the people are milked relentlessly to take even more money to keep the 1% incredinly wealthy.

There is no difference between a protection racket in a city run by hoods who threaten to destroy the economy unless the local businesses pay them off and a bunch of City bankers who threaten to destroy the nation's financial system unless we give them a trillion pounds.

The mafia buy politicians and subvert law enforcement - they seek to control the media and cooperate to keep the lid on their conspiracy to manipulate the financial system for their own greed.

Mafia - pure and simple - dressed up as neoliberal supply side economics - the justification for a system where the cards are completely stacked against ordinary consumers and small businesses.

We need to rip its heart out - nationalise the zombie banks and create a dozen new regional mutual cedit banks which are owned and accountable to their customers - no sdhareholders, no bonuses, no casino capitalism anymore.

The British class system used to dominate society because only the ruling class could rule - today it is a narrow strate of society exemplified by the sort of families who sons join the Bullingdon Club, went to Oxford, Eton and move in the sort of circles of the megarich - media tycoons, city bankers and entrepreneurs - i.e. Daviod Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson to mention but three of the leaders of "Our Cause" in the disunited kingdom.

The globalised structure of the banks and the availability of rapid communications has removed the geographical barriers to the criminal activities of "Our Cause" - and unless we dismantle them and remove their power over our economies, we face our societies being eaten away from within.

bread_and_roses

(6,335 posts)
17. "Three Big Lies Perpetuated by the Rich"
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:28 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/23-1

1. Higher taxes on the rich will hurt small businesses and discourage job creators

A recent Treasury analysis found that only 2.5% of small businesses would face higher taxes from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

As for job creation, it's not coming from the people with money ... The Mendelsohn Affluent Survey agreed that the very rich spend less than two percent of their money on new business startups.

2. Individual initiative is all you need for success.

... If anything, it's harder than ever today to ascend through the ranks on one's own. As summarized in the Pew research report "Pursuing the American Dream," only 4% of those starting out in the bottom quintile make it to the top quintile as adults, "confirming that the 'rags-to-riches' story is more often found in Hollywood than in reality."

3. A booming stock market is good for all of us

But the richest 10% of Americans own over 80% of the stock market. What Mr. Gross referred to as the "democratization of the stock market" is actually, as demonstrated by economist Edward Wolff, a distribution of financial wealth among just the richest 5% of Americans, those earning an average of $500,000 per year.

... There's yet more to the madness. The stock market has grown much faster than the GDP over the past century, which means that this special tax rate is being given to people who already own most of the unearned income that keeps expanding faster than the productiveness of real workers.


Nothing particularly new to anyone here, but thought I'd add it on the systemic fraud piece. Let's see: we know that the financial system is basically operating as a criminal cartel for the Oligarchs, workers are being systemically robbed of the value of their work, racial and gender discrimination is rampant and systemic, there are more poor and near-poor in this Country than since the Great Depression, the Oligarchs don't create jobs, wealth does not "trickle down," and "social mobility" has become a myth. Not to mention the little matter of destroying the ecosystem and thus our and other creatures' ability to live on this earth.

Yet the exact opposite is trumpeted from the Halls of DC to your local radio station. Forget "Groundhog Day." We are replaying 1984 since - oh, gee, right about 1984.

Po_d Mainiac

(4,183 posts)
11. I ain't a NRA fan
Mon Jul 23, 2012, 10:57 PM
Jul 2012

But.

Is there any other group that has been able to stand up to the trashing of the "Bill Of Rights?".....give TSA u'r best smile.

Think about it....Think more....yup we share the same nightmares...

And if you think the a-hole that went whack-job in Aurora woodn't have found a different means...think OKC.....fertilixer and diesel, just add a spark.

DemReadingDU

(16,000 posts)
15. Anybody remember 1973 New Orleans Howard Johnsons sniper?
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:20 AM
Jul 2012

I don't recall it, but I was listening to the radio yesterday and someone talked about being a survivor from that sniper's rampage. She was 12 at the time. What a horrible memory, and yet even the radio host hadn't heard of it either.


I found this on the Internet...

On Jan. 7, 1973, the high-rise was a Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, the climactic scene of a sniper’s rampage that left 10 people dead – including five New Orleans police officers and the gunman. Ten other people were wounded. Tens of millions of dollars in property were destroyed. Armed with a .44 caliber, semiautomatic rifle, self-styled black militant Mark J. Essex kept hundreds of police at bay for 10 hours. He set diversionary fires on the upper floors of the hotel and shot responding firefighters and cops.
more...
http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/March-2008/Remember-Howard-Johnsons/







xchrom

(108,903 posts)
20. we have humidity here out the yin yang -- we SHOULD have rain.
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:31 AM
Jul 2012

what we get are thunderstorms but no pay-off -- rain.

Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
24. pouring buckets
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 08:53 AM
Jul 2012

After watching the rain go all around me, with thunder and lightning in the distance to the east, north, and west but nothing coming up the weather trail from the south, I went to bed disappointed last night. And I overslept. Woke up to more thunder so hurried to let the dogs out. They had barely enough time for their morning "business" when a small but powerful cell opened up right on top of me. In less than ten minutes, my yard is flooded and there's a steady stream of water where my driveway is.

and it won't last more than another 10 minutes.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
26. i guess some is better than none?
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:00 AM
Jul 2012

i'm sure the rain smell was intoxicating.

i believe, Mistress Tansy -- that it's time to organize an SMW Rain dance?

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
29. I'm already dancing as fast as I can--Barbara Gordon
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:14 AM
Jul 2012

A really depressing true story that was made worse in film. No, I am NOT doing it for Weekend. I figure this weekend belongs to Sally Ride.

Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
34. it certainly worked here!
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 10:36 AM
Jul 2012

Two brief but torrential downpours of typical monsoon rain.

Get out your finger cymbals, X, and bring it on!


(oh, what I wouldn't give for all that silk!!!)

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
28. Vikings would be an improvement
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:08 AM
Jul 2012

Besides, the heat would stop them dead in their tracks. They can't take it over 75F....

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
19. Rating Agency Worker: 'I Am Genuinely Frightened'
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:30 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/rating-agency-worker-i-am-genuinely-frightened-2012-7

"Every time I read about a new financial product, I think: 'Uh-oh.' Every new product is described in those same warm, fuzzy phrases: how great they are and how safe. Well, that's how credit default swaps and asset-backed securities were explained when banks were introducing these.

"I still get so angry when I think about it. Taking a job at a rating agency seemed a perfect match: drawing a good salary while providing a service of genuine value for society. We need ratings to work out how safe a company or an investment bond is, what the risk of default might be. If you can't trust it, you shouldn't do business with it – it's that simple.

"The reality was very different. What's making me even angrier is that we don't seem to have learned from the crisis. It's back to business as usual. I am no longer with a rating agency, and when I ask former colleagues what lessons they've taken away from the 2008 debacle, they give me a blank stare and say: 'That wasn't us, that was Moody's and Standard & Poor's.' But we just lucked out: our methods were similar.

"Moody's and S&P are the two major credit rating agencies in the world. Between them, they control 80% of the market and they are large, rich and powerful. Then there's Fitch, desperately trying to get the training wheels off and grow. Finally, there are specialised smaller agencies, one of which I was working for.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rating-agency-worker-i-am-genuinely-frightened-2012-7#ixzz21XSKXorF

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
21. The Euro Area Downturn Is Getting Worse
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:54 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/eurozone-flash-pmi-2012-7



New economic data out of the Eurozone suggests things are just getting worse.
The Flash Eurozone purchasing managers index fell to 46.4 in July, which represents the sixth straight month below 50. And a reading below 50 signals contraction.
Economists were looking for a reading of 46.5.
"The flash PMI for July suggests the euro area downturn showed no signs of letting up at the start of the third quarter and is consistent with GDP falling at a quarterly rate of around 0.6%, which is similar to the rate of decline we expect to see for the second quarter," said Chris Williamson, Markit's Chief Economist.
The manufacturing component of the index was particularly ugly, falling to a 37-month low of 44.1.
"Manufacturing output fell at the steepest rate since May 2009," according to the report.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/eurozone-flash-pmi-2012-7#ixzz21XYXgzBl

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
22. UH-OH: UPS CUTS GUIDANCE
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:57 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-earnings-2012-7

UPS's earnings announcement is out and it doesn't look good.
Details to come...
Click here for updates.
"Increasing uncertainty in the United States, continuing weakness in Asia exports and the debt crisis in Europe are impacting projections of economic expansion,” said CEO Scott Davis.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-earnings-2012-7#ixzz21XZF9j5S

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
23. U.S. Stock Futures Decline As German Credit Outlook Cut
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 08:12 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-24/u-s-stock-futures-are-little-changed-texas-declines.html

U.S. stock futures fell, signaling the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) will extend a one-week low, as Moody’s Investors Service cut the outlook on Germany’s top credit rating.
Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) declined 0.7 percent in Europe as the largest maker of analog chips forecast third-quarter sales and profit that may miss some analysts’ estimates. Pfizer Inc. (PFE) slid 1.9 percent after its experimental Alzheimer’s drug failed to improve symptoms of dementia in the first of four pivotal studies testing the drug.
S&P 500 futures expiring in September slipped 0.2 percent to 1,340.8 at 7:32 a.m. in New York. The gauge has declined 1.9 percent over the past two days as concern grew that Europe’s debt crisis is deepening and a Chinese central-bank adviser said growth may slow further. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,632 today.
“Stocks will head further down after markets catch up to the reality of higher sovereign rates and no progress in Greece,” said Witold Bahrke, a senior strategist at PFA Pension A/S in Copenhagen, where he helps oversee $55 billion. “Focus is shifting to fiscal policies from monetary policy, putting focus back on the euro area.”

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
25. Where Did Business Suits Come From?
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 08:54 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/where-did-business-suits-come-from/260182/



Good morning, gentlemen. You look lovely today. Is that a peaked lapel I see?

Yes, Casual Friday is four days away. While you carve another hash mark into the wall of your cubicle, wouldn't you like to know the origin of your wool-flannel slave-suit?

This symbol of the American establishment in fact comes to us courtesy of our colonial oppressors! In fact, the suit's prehistory begins in the evolution of court dress in Britain. Until the mid-17th century, sumptuary laws prevented commoners from wearing certain colors, like the royal purple, fine furs, and elaborate trimmings, including velvet and satin. These were reserved for courtiers of various ranks, and sometimes for the royal family alone.


Frilly sleeves at the court of Charles II, pre-austerity laws. Hieronymus Janssens, 1660

After a nasty outbreak of plague in 1665, the lacy and elaborate court outfits suddenly seemed like a political liability to Charles II, who ordered his nobles to begin dressing -- for a while -- in modest tunics and breeches in your usual office-drab colors (navys, grays, shudder-inducing taupes). This subdued, neutral-looking dress, which made displays of individuality difficult, was a sort of proto-suit. (And so professional!)

From the more tailored garments of the upper-class in the 18th century evolved the morning suit -- an early-19th-century forerunner of the tuxedo, then considered more casual but today used in Britain for royal weddings and other very formal state occasions.

 

wobblie

(61 posts)
40. don't know where the suit coat came from but
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 12:02 PM
Jul 2012

the neck tie was a working class clothing article (it protected one's shirt, was a useful towel and napkin) The elites used handkerchiefs . Louis Philippe I (the citizen king) wore a neck tie to offset the common perception of aristocrats as useless parasites on society (ie. I'm wearing work clothes, I must be working !). His use of the neck tie popularized it among the bourgeoisie, thus it became the common wear of white collar and office workers.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
31. Smashing The Can Instead Of Kicking It Down The Road & Keiser Report
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:21 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-23/smashing-can-instead-kicking-it-down-road

“No, absolutely not,” said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi when asked if the euro was in danger. “The euro is irreversible,” he added just as a whiff of panic began sweeping over the Eurozone. Everybody was supposed to enjoy their long vacation, and nothing important was supposed to happen. But, like a group of disruptive homeless guys, the ECB, the International Monetary Fund, and politicians have apparently gotten tired of kicking the Greek bailout can down the road, and they stomped on it instead...Last week it was the ECB; it announced that it would no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral, thus cutting Greek banks off from ECB funding. They will now be dependent on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) by the Bank of Greece, an unsustainable, risky measure....Over the weekend, word seeped out that the IMF, having lost patience with Greece’s stalled reform efforts, would be unwilling to contribute more funds to the bailout. A huge blow. Vigorous denial by the IMF? Nope. On Monday, it only said tepidly that it would be “supporting Greece in overcoming its economic difficulties.”

Inspectors of the Troika—the EU, the ECB, and the IMF—are trundling into Athens today for meetings and inspections starting on Tuesday. Their final report will be the basis for the Troika’s decision in September to make the next bailout payment, or to let go. Politicians appear to be holding off on their final judgment until then. But they’re talking—and it doesn’t look good for Greece. Its demands to renegotiate the agreed-upon reform measures and then to delay their implementation has hit a wall of resistance. “We won’t agree to any substantive change of the agreements we made,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. Economics Minister Philipp Rösler was “more than skeptical” that Greece could work out its problems. But any decision would have to wait for the final Troika report. “If Greece cannot meet the stipulations, then there won’t be any more payments,” he said. Greece would have to default, which might encourage it to leave the Eurozone. But no big deal: “Greece’s exit has long ago lost its scariness,” he said.

Giorgos Papakonstantinou, Greek Finance Minister from October 2009 until he was replaced by Evangelos Venizelos in June 2011, doubted the abilities of the Greek government to deal with the challenges and was “not optimistic“ that it could remain in power much longer....Even the Big Kahuna, who is on vacation, and who’d pushed for these serial bailouts though they put deep rifts into her coalition government, lost patience with Greece. It leaked out that Chancellor Angela Merkel considered it “unthinkable” for her to beg the Bundestag for a third bailout package. And a third bailout package would be required if Greece’s demands for watering down the reforms and for delaying their implementation were met—they’d raise the costs by an additional €30 to €50 billion.

The next opportunity for Greece to default is August 20, when it has to pay the ECB €3.8 billion, which it doesn’t have. As Greece’s debt is now mostly held by public institutions, including the ECB, a default would cost taxpayers outside Greece dearly. Requests for emergency funding have fallen on deaf ears. So Greece could try to sell three- or six-month bills at astronomical rates, but most likely, the ECB will find a way to keep it afloat until a political decision has been made in September. With Spain under fire, and with Italy—and thus the Eurozone as a whole—at risk, the perception is growing that the Eurozone might be stronger if it scuttled its leakiest ship. The surprise factor has long been wrung out of the system. Markets are ready. After a bit of chaos, there might even be relief. And that perception, if it gains the upper hand, will seal Greece’s fate...By getting the Greek default over with, politicians and the Troika could focus on bailing out Spain. Unlike Greece, Spain is critical to the survival of the euro—and after Spain there is Italy, whose debt is huge, and even the ESM won’t be able to bail it out. All that remains is hope that contagion somehow stops before it gets to Italy. Hope, or a treaty change that would allow the ECB to buy sovereign bonds on a massive scale and bail out banks directly. The whole debt crisis would be over. To be replaced by a crisis of a different and more pernicious sort. Unlikely that the “northern” Eurozone countries would go for that.

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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
33. How Finland keeps its head above eurozone crisis
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 10:23 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/24/finland-triple-aaa-rating-moodys-eurozone


Island, Lake Inari, Lapland, Finland. The country has maintained its stable outlook with credit ratings agency Moody's. Photograph: Jorma Jaemsen/zefa/Corbis

Finland – home of polar bears, pickled fish and Nokia – is now the only eurozone country with a stable triple-A credit rating, according to Moody's.

On Monday night, the credit rating agency hit Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with a stinging blow, cutting the outlook on their triple-A ratings from stable to negative. That pushes them into the same bracket as France and Austria, leaving Finland the only European country with a triple-A rating and stable outlook.

What has Finland done right? It has a population of just 5.3 million, spread out over a country roughly the size of Germany. Its economy is dominated by services but it is competitive in manufacturing – principally wood and electronics – and exports account for more than a third of GDP. Income per capita is among the highest in western Europe and the country is celebrated for its generous welfare state.

Moody's said that while Finland would not be immune to the eurozone crisis, it had "strong buffers which differentiate it from the other AAAs". Among these were the fact it has no debt on a net basis. The IMF estimates Helsinki will collect taxes and other revenues of €105bn (£82bn) this year, compared with €101bn of government debt
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
36. Finland has no assets, so no one will lend to them
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 11:14 AM
Jul 2012

believe me, I've been there. Nothing worth having, unless you want to spy on Russia, or love obscure Central European historical sites.

Of course, if they struck oil off the coast....

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
37. Bungled Bank Bailout Leaves Behind Righteous Anger By Neil M. Barofsky
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 11:18 AM
Jul 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-22/bungled-bank-bailout-leaves-behind-righteous-anger.html

In the year since I stepped down as the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the sadly predictable consequences of the government’s disparate treatment of Wall Street and Main Street have only become worse. As the banks amass size and power, Main Street continues to get pummeled.

Part of the current economic malaise can be traced directly to Treasury’s betrayal of its promise to use TARP to “preserve homeownership.” The Home Affordable Modification Program has brought little meaningful improvement, with fewer than 800,000 ongoing permanent modifications as of March 31, 2012, a number that is growing at the glacial pace of just 12,000 per month. In June 2011, Treasury appeared to take a tentative step toward holding the mortgage servicers accountable for the widespread misconduct in the program by pledging to withhold the incentive payments to three of the largest banks -- Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co., Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) -- until they came into compliance with HAMP’s rules. Treasury couldn’t even keep this modest commitment. Although Wells Fargo had improved its performance and was awarded all of its withheld incentive payments, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America continued to fail to meet the baseline standard. Nonetheless, in March 2012, as part of a broader settlement of the so-called robo-signing scandal, Treasury released all of the withheld payments, totaling more than $170 million. As a result, the government hasn’t held any servicer responsible for the widespread abuses of HAMP applicants, nor is it ever likely to do so.

In return for what was touted as a $25 billion payout, the banks received broad immunity from future civil cases arising out of their widespread use of forged, fraudulent or completely fabricated documents to foreclose on homeowners.

The headline number sounds impressive, yet the banks only had to cough up $1.5 billion to provide a paltry $2,000 to each borrower wrongfully foreclosed upon, a few billion dollars more in penalties to the states, and a few billion to provide for borrower refinancing. The remaining $17 billion, however, won’t involve payouts of money, but will be met in the form of the banks receiving “credits” for certain activities. This includes $7 billion that will be “earned” for routine tasks related to the housing crisis, such as bulldozing worthless houses, donating homes to charity, and agreeing not to pursue deficiency judgments against homeowners, whereby banks seek to force a homeowner to pay the difference between the balance of the loan at the time of foreclosure and what is recovered by the bank from a foreclosure sale. This sounds good, but it should be noted that these are all part of the normal course of business for the banks. The remaining $10 billion in credits are supposed to be scraped together through principal reductions on “underwater” mortgages, but that doesn’t mean that the banks themselves will be taking $10 billion in losses. The settlement grants them partial credit for reducing the principal on loans that they service but don’t own, such as those contained in mortgage- backed securities. Worse still, they can earn additional “credits” toward the settlement through taxpayer-funded HAMP modifications. For example, if a servicer reduces $100,000 in principal for a mortgage through HAMP and receives a taxpayer incentive check for $40,000, it will still be able to claim $60,000 in credit toward meeting its obligations under the settlement...

MORE WHISTLEBLOWING AT LINK

DemReadingDU

(16,000 posts)
39. Per Matt Taibbi: Octopus: Read This Book to Understand Wall Street
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 11:47 AM
Jul 2012

Per Matt Taibbi:

7/24/12 Octopus: Read This Book to Understand Wall Street
First things first: someone is going to make Octopus into a movie. By this time next year, the books author, fellow Rolling Stone contributor Guy Lawson, will have a fat deal (he may already have one as far as I know) and will be hobnobbing with Ed Norton or John Cusack or whoever else gets to play the incredible role of Sam Israel, the Madoff-esque Ponzi artist who headed the infamous Bayou hedge fund. When I try to get Guy on the phone for whatever reason, I’m going to get fobbed off instead on a personal assistant with a name like Minka or Yue-Yue. That’s just a fact.

The reason for that is that Octopus is an incredible dark comedy with one of the craziest true-life ironic twists you can possibly imagine. I should point out right here that this incredible plot twist is not the reason I think this is an important book that should be read by everyone who wants to know how Wall Street works.

more...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/octopus-read-this-book-to-understand-wall-street-20120724


xchrom

(108,903 posts)
42. Euro Nations Ready To Act On Spain As Yields Surge, Frieden Says
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 12:15 PM
Jul 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-24/euro-nations-ready-to-act-on-spain-as-yields-surge-frieden-says.html

The euro area is ready to act to help Spain as the country’s borrowing costs soar, Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said.
While Frieden said no work is being done for a bailout of the Spanish government, policy makers in the 17-country euro area must be prepared to move quickly.

“In such difficult times as we are in, one has to follow the situation on a permanent, daily basis and be ready to act at any moment,” Frieden said in a telephone interview today in Luxembourg. “The political decisions in the case of Spain and also of Greece have been taken to be able to act fast. That’s what is important especially now in the summer months.”
Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos will visit Berlin today for crisis talks with German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble. After taking on as much as 100 billion euros ($121 billion) of bailout loans to aid banks, the risk for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government is that the additional burden of helping regions pushes bond yields to unaffordable levels.
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
43. Off to a Bored Meeting
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 05:13 PM
Jul 2012

(ooops! did I type that?) Well, first some food and a swim, I hope.

The car is fixed, better than ever...it just needed some coolant, after 10 hot years, poor baby.

The Kid seems to be fixed, too. The weather is beyond repair, although 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. I'm still watering, people. Let's get these rain patterns restored, shall we?

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