STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, February 7, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday February 7, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON February 4, 2011

Dow 12,092.15 +29.89 (+0.25%)
Nasdaq 2,769.30 +15.42 (+0.56%)
S&P 500 1,310.87 +3.77 (+0.29%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.67 +0.03 (+0.93%)
30-Year Bond 4.75 +0.02 (+0.40%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

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 = 11

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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

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Today's Report

Feb 07 15:00 Consumer Credit Dec $2.5B $2.5B $1.3B

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

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil falls to below $89 amid mixed US jobs data

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to below $89 a barrel Monday in Asia as traders mulled mixed signals from the U.S. jobs market about economic growth and crude demand.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 23 cents at $88.80 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.51 to settle at $89.03 on Friday.

In London, Brent crude gained 23 cents to $100.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, the lowest rate since April 2009 and a sharp fall from 9.4 percent in December. Economists had expected the rate would rise to 9.5 percent.

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

[hamerfan]

3. Gas at the pump

went up 10 cents per gallon here yesterday. $3.09/gal for unleaded regular.

[bread_and_roses]

7. Here is $3.35

And has been around that for a while. For unleaded regular.

[Warpy]

47. I've been waiting for the Robber Baron 3 blocks away

to go from $2.97 up over three bucks, but he hasn't budged so far.

Maybe this will be the week. Thanks a heap, Morgan Stanley.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[Festivito]

5. Debt: 02/03/2011 14,100,427,020,880.94 (DOWN 16,085,412,527.75) (Thu, DOWN a lot.)

(Good day.)
Healthily sickly weekend.
(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)
= 9,470,979,051,382.32 + 4,629,447,969,498.62
DOWN 11,756,222,449.85 + DOWN 4,329,190,077.90

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 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,212.48 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.64, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,285,792 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 $45,297.37.
A family of three owes $135,892.1. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 4,456,271,263.13.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,416,474,635.07.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,306,265,775.87.
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$/day.
There were 87 reports in 126 days of FY2011 averaging 6.19B$ per report, 4.28B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 717 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.8T$.
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)
02/03/2011 14,100,427,020,880.94 BHO (UP 3,473,549,971,967.86 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 +0,538,803,989,989.20 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,560,821,082,111.57 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/13/2011 -005,996,045,152.69 --
01/14/2011 +000,146,255,477.48 ------------********
01/18/2011 +038,613,327,669.01 ------------********** Tue
01/19/2011 +000,009,950,983.18 ------------******
01/20/2011 -000,687,286,291.06 ---
01/21/2011 -000,057,867,302.74 ----
01/24/2011 -000,181,687,031.14 --- Mon
01/25/2011 +000,059,189,192.13 ------------*******
01/26/2011 -000,112,154,254.52 ---
01/27/2011 -004,717,116,457.79 --
01/28/2011 +002,605,585,609.92 ------------*********
01/31/2011 +072,534,426,006.14 ------------********** Mon
02/01/2011 -002,841,687,784.84 --
02/02/2011 +000,160,101,452.72 ------------********
02/03/2011 -011,756,222,449.85 -

87,778,769,665.95 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=4721415&mesg_id=4721637

[Festivito]

57. Debt: 02/04/2011 14,099,823,671,305.06 (DOWN 603,349,575.88) (Fri, UP a little.)

(Good day.)
Had to revive the laptop with linux.
(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)
= 9,471,076,036,751.63 + 4,628,747,634,553.43
UP 96,985,369.31 + DOWN 700,334,945.19

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 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,212.41 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.64, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,292,992 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 $45,294.38.
A family of three owes $135,883.15. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 3,729,331,652.63.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,859,154,267.02.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,766,923,484.21.
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$/day.
There were 88 reports in 127 days of FY2011 averaging 6.12B$ per report, 4.24B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 716 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.8T$.
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)
02/04/2011 14,099,823,671,305.06 BHO (UP 3,472,946,622,391.98 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 +0,538,200,640,413.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,546,797,116,148.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/14/2011 +000,146,255,477.48 ------------********
01/18/2011 +038,613,327,669.01 ------------********** Tue
01/19/2011 +000,009,950,983.18 ------------******
01/20/2011 -000,687,286,291.06 ---
01/21/2011 -000,057,867,302.74 ----
01/24/2011 -000,181,687,031.14 --- Mon
01/25/2011 +000,059,189,192.13 ------------*******
01/26/2011 -000,112,154,254.52 ---
01/27/2011 -004,717,116,457.79 --
01/28/2011 +002,605,585,609.92 ------------*********
01/31/2011 +072,534,426,006.14 ------------********** Mon
02/01/2011 -002,841,687,784.84 --
02/02/2011 +000,160,101,452.72 ------------********
02/03/2011 -011,756,222,449.85 -
02/04/2011 +000,096,985,369.31 ------------*******

93,871,800,187.95 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=4724044&mesg_id=4724057

[Pale Blue Dot]

6. U.S. Futures Increase; General Electric, InterDigital Advance

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures gained after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose to its highest level since June 2008, as investors speculated that the rally in equities can continue as corporate earnings increase.

General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc. led rising shares of U.S. companies traded in Europe. InterDigital Inc. climbed 4.4 percent in Germany after Barron’s predicted it may gain as much as 15 percent.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March rose 0.4 percent to 1,312.50 at 10:42 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge climbed 2.7 percent last week, snapping two consecutive weekly declines. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.3 percent to 12,080 today, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures added 0.3 percent to 2,345.25.

“The fourth-quarter earnings season has started off well,” Shanthi Nair and Mark Diver, London-based strategists at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a note dated yesterday. “We believe these results provide the support for markets to continue to rally.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a0UX5St2OoFA

[Demeter]

8. Update on conditions in Ireland…another letter from Ireland

http://www.angrybearblog.com/2011/01/update-on-conditions-in-irelandanother.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FHzoh+%28Angry+Bear%29

We’re forced to do silly things out of desperation, things that other nations don’t have to resort to. For instance, we’ve the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe at 12.5%. Sarkozy recently excoriated us for this. But we use it as an incentive to bait the multi-nationals. We’ve no other choice. Why else would the big companies bother locating here? If the labour market is cheaper elsewhere then we have to compete somehow, we're told. We lure them in by offering them tax shelters. We even set aside developed estates for them and we build their factories when they come, with the Taoiseach on hand to cut the ribbons. Their overheads remain very low and then we allow them to siphon all their profits out of the country. Talk about being recolonized by self-imposed deference, but Ireland is a dependent economy and does what it must do to survive.

There are other options, of course. There’s the old reliable one of emigration. 100,000 people will leave Ireland this year alone, and the numbers are rising, again. That’s one way of solving unemployment, but it’s not completely or satisfactorily solving our problem. Our crisis. As of this month, the CSO (Central Statistics Office) http://www.cso.ie/statistics/sasunemprates.htm quotes the unemployment rate at 14.1%, that’s over 400,000 people out of work. Those people will be on the dole or getting some version of welfare, which starts at €197 per week and rises according to number of dependents.

The CSO’s figures are frightening. They say that of the over 800,000 mortgages http://www.cso.ie/statistics/sasunemprates.htm in the country, worth €120 billion, 40,000 are in arrears and that figure will rise to 70,000 in the coming year: the banks will be forced to repossess these houses. But the banks don’t want all that property. What good is it to them? They especially don’t want to be shackled with toxic real estate when so many are already in negative equity. Every town and village in the country sports its token ghost estate, the relic of the boom years, a reminder of the savage greed that swiftly plunged us into ruin. More on that in a bit. The ESB http://www.esb.ie/main/home/index.jsp> are shutting off service to 50 homes per month for non-payment of bills.

Health Care in Ireland is totally banjaxed: My father who is 80 spent three nights on a trolley in a hallway last year because there were no beds available. He is no longer able to regulate his body temperature because he suffers from leukemia and other complications, so he nearly shivered to death in the one place he went to for care. My sister is a doctor but she could do nothing. Our Health Care system was dismantled and then rebuilt in order to centralize it, hospitals were closed all over the country and acute services scaled back or abandoned altogether. A moratorium on hiring nurses and doctors was instituted and all administrative staff downsized....

[Demeter]

9. Everyday Brits Are in Revolt Against Wealthy Tax Cheats -- Can We Do That Here?

http://www.alternet.org/story/149806/vision%3A_everyday_brits_are_in_revolt_against_wealthy_tax_cheats_--_can_we_do_that_here?page=entire

Imagine a parallel universe where the Great Crash of 2008 was followed by a Tea Party of a very different kind. Enraged citizens gather in every city, week after week—to demand the government finally regulate the behavior of corporations and the superrich, and force them to start paying taxes. The protesters shut down the shops and offices of the companies that have most aggressively ripped off the country. The swelling movement is made up of everyone from teenagers to pensioners. They surround branches of the banks that caused this crash and force them to close, with banners saying: You Caused This Crisis. Now YOU Pay.

As people see their fellow citizens acting in self-defense, these tax-the-rich protests spread to even the most conservative parts of the country. It becomes the most-discussed subject on Twitter. Even right-wing media outlets, sensing a startling effect on the public mood, begin to praise the uprising, and dig up damning facts on the tax dodgers.

Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism. It shows that there is an alternative to making the poor and the middle class pay for a crisis caused by the rich. It shifts the national conversation. Instead of letting the government cut our services and increase our taxes, the people demand that it cut the endless and lavish aid for the rich and make them pay the massive sums they dodge in taxes.

This may sound like a fantasy—but it has all happened. The name of this parallel universe is Britain. As recently as this past fall, people here were asking the same questions liberal Americans have been glumly contemplating: Why is everyone being so passive? Why are we letting ourselves be ripped off? Why are people staying in their homes watching their flat-screens while our politicians strip away services so they can fatten the superrich even more?

And then twelve ordinary citizens—a nurse, a firefighter, a student, a TV researcher and others—met in a pub in London one night and realized they were asking the wrong questions. “We had spent all this energy asking why it wasn’t happening,” says Tom Philips, a 23-year-old nurse who was there that night, “and then we suddenly said, That’s what everybody else is saying too. Why don’t we just do it? Why don’t we just start? If we do it, maybe everybody will stop asking why it isn’t happening and join in. It’s a bit like that Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams. We thought, If you build it, they will come.”

I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE, AND IT IS US!

[xchrom]

16. +1

[Demeter]

10. Why the US Fears Arab Democracy (AS MUCH AS THE HOME BRAND)

http://www.alternet.org/story/149813/why_the_us_fears_arab_democracy_?page=entire

Anybody believing that Washington's "orderly transition" led by Vice President Omar Suleiman (aka Sheikh al-Torture, according to protesters and human-rights activists) could satisfy Egyptian popular will believes Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin could have gotten away with a facelift. The young, urban masses in Egypt fighting for bread, freedom, democracy, Internet, jobs and a decent future - as well as their counterparts across the Arab world, two-thirds of the overall population - see right through it.

Real "change we can believe in" (the Egyptian version) means not only getting rid of the dictator of 30 years but of his torturer-in-chief, who happens to be so far a key interlocutor of Washington, Tel Aviv and European capitals, and a key exponent of a regime rotten to the core, dependent on pitiless exploitation of its own citizens, and receiver of US aid to pursue agendas virtually no one would vote for in the Arab world.

"Orderly transition" may also be regarded as a ghastly euphemism for sitting on the fence - way distinct from an explicit call for democracy. The White House has morphed into a succession of white pretzels trying to salvage the concept. But the fact is that as much as Pharaoh Mubarak is a slave to US foreign policy, US President Barack Obama is boxed in by geopolitical imperatives and enormous corporate interests he cannot even dream of upsetting.

A crash course on 'stability'

To cut to the chase; it's all about oil and Israel. That's the essence of Washington's foreign policy for the past six decades as far as the Middle East, Arabs and the Muslim world at large are concerned. This has implied coddling an array of dictators and assorted autocracies, and sprinkling their countries with military bases. A crucial example - the story on how the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) brought down democracy in Iran in 1953. Geostrategically, the code word for this state of things is "stability".

Egypt plays out a very special strategic role...So as one of the pillars of the "cold peace" with Israel, Egypt is a paradigm. It's a bipartisan phenomenon, in US terms; Republicans and Democrats see it the same way. There's the Suez Canal, through which flows 1.8 million barrels of crude a day. But "partner with Israel" in the 1979 Camp David accords is what explains all the billions of dollars showered on the Egyptian military and the three decades of unconditional support to the corrupt Mubarak military dictatorship (and make no mistake, the US implication in that vast shop of horrors is all documented in the vaults of the regime). On a parallel track, "stability" also translates as a lousy quality of life for virtually the totality of Egyptians; democratic rights of local populations are always secondary to geostrategic considerations...

[Demeter]

11. LOVE THIS BIT

Shameless self-aggrandizing Mubarak must have thought; if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can publicly humiliate Obama, why not me?

[Demeter]

12. Income Inequality Is Worse in the U.S. Than Egypt

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/463856/income_inequality_is_worse_in_the_u.s._than_egypt/#paragraph5

While income inequality in Egypt is more dangerous for its government, as the last two weeks of protests amply demonstrates, the fact is, it's worse in the United States, as ThinkProgress's Pat Garofalo writes.

As Yasser El-Shimy, former diplomatic attaché at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote in Foreign Policy, “income inequality has reached levels not before seen in Egypt’s modern history.” But Egypt still bests quite a few countries when it comes to income inequality, including the United States:

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the U.S. is ranked as the 42nd most unequal country in the world, with a Gini Coefficient of 45.

In contrast:

– Tunisia is ranked the 62nd most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of 40.

– Yemen is ranked 76th most unequal, with a Gini Coefficient of 37.7.

– And Egypt is ranked as the 90th most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of around 34.4.

The Gini coefficient is used to measure inequality: the lower a country’s score, the more equal it is. Obviously, there are many things about the U.S. economy that make it far preferable to that in Egypt, including lower poverty rates, higher incomes, significantly better infrastructure, and a much higher standard of living overall. But income inequality in the U.S. is the worst it has been since the 1920′s, which is a real problem.

Currently, the top one percent of households make nearly 25 percent of the total income in the country, after they made less than 10 percent in the 1970′s. Between 1980 and 2005, “more than 80 percent of total increase in Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent.”

[Demeter]

17. Egyptian natural gas to Israel cut off after explosion

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/06/2742859/egyptian-natural-gas-supplies-to-israel-cut-off-after-explosion

Natural gas supplies to Israel were cut off after an explosion in an Egyptian gas line in the Sinai Peninsula.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet at its regular Sunday meeting that Israel is prepared for "such situations" and he didn't expect the explosion from the previous day to cause any disruption in power in the country.

The head of Egypt's natural gas company said the explosion was caused by a gas leak; Egyptian state television said it was sabotage. An Egyptian security official said the blast was caused by an explosive charge detonated inside the terminal, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Gas supply also was cut off to Jordan, according to reports.

It will take a week for the pipeline to be repaired and for the flow of gas to be restored to Israel, according to reports...

[Demeter]

22. For the US in Egypt, Blowback Is a Bitch

http://www.truth-out.org/for-us-egypt-blowback-is-a-bitch67481

...But as far as the United States and Egypt are concerned, one thing is certain: blowback - the unforeseen consequence of our policies abroad - is a bitch. "For too long," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry wrote in The New York Times this week, "financing Egypt's military has dominated our alliance. The proof ... tear gas canisters marked 'Made in America' fired at protesters, United States-supplied F-16 fighters streaking over central Cairo." All because, Kerry said, there was "a pragmatic understanding that our relationship benefited American foreign policy and promoted peace in the region."

Or, in the words of a 2009 American embassy cable, part of the WikiLeaks document dump, "The tangible benefits to our ... relationship are clear: Egypt remains at peace with Israel, and the US military enjoys priority access to the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace."

In exchange, we willfully paid little or no heed to the Egyptian dictatorship's abuse of human rights, despite its role in radicalizing such terrorists as Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's operational and strategic commander. In fact, our strategy of rendition in the wake of 9/11 - sending terror suspects to other countries for interrogation - took advantage of Egypt's torture cells. As Jane Mayer writes in her book, The Dark Side, and on The New Yorker magazine's "News Desk" blog, Omar Suleiman, Egypt's new vice president and the former head of the country's general intelligence service, was "the CIA's point man in Egypt for renditions." Former US Ambassador to Egypt Edward S. Walker, Jr., described Suleiman as "very bright, very realistic" and "not squeamish."

One of those whose rendition Suleiman helped oversee was al-Qaeda suspect Ibn Sheik al-Libi, who told the CIA, according to a bipartisan report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, that he was locked in a tiny cage for more than three days, then beaten because, at the behest of the United States, the Egyptians wanted him to say that Saddam Hussein was going to give al-Qaeda chemical and biological weapons. "They were killing me," he told journalists Michael Isikoff and David Corn. "I had to tell them something," and so his coerced confession wound up in Colin Powell's now notorious address before the United Nations in February 2003, justifying war against Iraq...

[Demeter]

23. Obama Backs Suleiman-Led Transition

http://www.truth-out.org/obama-backs-suleiman-led-transition67489

PICK THE STUPIDEST COURSE OF ACTION TO TAKE...AND HE WILL

NEGOTIATING WITH TORTURERS (WELL, HE IS OUR TORTURER, AS WELL AS A PURVEYOR OF DOMESTIC TORTURE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST) IS THE SAME AS NEGOTIATING WITH TERRORISTS, IN MY BOOK.

[Fuddnik]

32. Did you expect anything different?

The CIA and the State Department are digging through their box of assets to find a worthy puppet. They can't seem to understand that we're no longer a superpower. We're a bankrupt, glorified, third world nation now.

The people in the streets aren't asking for "hope and change". They want a goddamn revolution.

[Ghost Dog]

52. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x367814#368487

[girl gone mad]

55. Whenever trying to guess what Obama will do at any one time..

I think of the most logical and reasonable options, then I throw them out and pick the most objectionable option left on the table.

Almost never fails.

[Po_d Mainiac]

13. JP Morgan Accepts Gold Bullion As Collateral

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Will Accept Gold as Collateral for Securities Lending
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will accept physical gold as collateral “to satisfy securities lending and repo obligations with counterparties.”

The company expects to accept additional precious metals and commodities as collateral later this year, it said today in an e-mailed statement.

snip

JP Morgan announced today that from now on they will accept physical gold bullion as collateral. This is a sign of gold’s further remonetisation in the global financial and monetary system. It may signal that JP Morgan is having difficulty in securing gold bullion in volume. JP Morgan is the custodian for many of the gold and silver exchange traded funds. They will not accept ETF trust gold as collateral.

Silver prices remain in backwardation, showing that buyers are willing to pay a premium for silver delivered sooner rather than later.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/morning-gold-fixing-jp-morgan-accepts-gold-bullion-collateral-%E2%80%93-silver-backwardation-lead-sh
....................
Is there a shortage of physical? If so has the dip has run it's coarse? :popcorn:

[DemReadingDU]

14. AOL buys HuffingtonPost

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/


A Merger of Visions
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huffington-post-aol_b_819373.html

[Demeter]

20. And Another News Outlet Is Shut Down

The LA Times must be the next target, based on how many real stories they break...

[DemReadingDU]

24. Recently I had read that AOL was getting into community news

Such that a locality would have a correspondent to report on news in that community. So whether buying HuffPo helps in this regard to bring more news to communities, or HuffPo dies, remains to be seen.

8/17/10
NEW YORK, NY – August 17, 2010 – AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced today the launch of Patch's 100th site, Morristown Patch (http://morristown.patch.com). AOL also announced that Patch plans to rapidly expand to more than 500 U.S. neighborhoods in 20 states by the end of 2010. Additionally, with over 500 journalists still to be hired, Patch expects to be the largest hirer of full-time journalists in the U.S. this year.
more...
http://corp.aol.com/2010/08/17/aol-s-patch-launches-100th-site-plans-expansion-to-more-than-50/

[Demeter]

26. People Pay for News They Can Use

Hyper local, unless it's local politics, job openings, and scandal, are not going to turn a profit. Ask the fishwrap I'm delivering...which makes most student publications look like Pulitzer material.

[skoalyman]

45. don't remind me lol I replied in a thread last night

about that instead me and two other peoples replies somehow ended up being posted in lbn :scared: almost afraid to reply in any thread lol

[Po_d Mainiac]

15. Sugar Shortage Looms as Storm Ruins Australian Crop

World sugar output will probably fall short of demand, said Rabobank, after a cyclone with winds stronger than Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes and smashed crops in Australia, driving prices to 30-year highs.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi ripped through northern Queensland, a region growing a third of the country’s cane, cutting output potential in the area by about 50 percent, producers group Canegrowers said Feb. 4. The storm, which the government says may have wiped out at least A$500 million ($507 million) of agricultural production, raised speculation that the world’s third-largest sugar exporter may struggle to match last year’s output that was the lowest in two decades.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-06/sugar-supply-shortage-looming-as-cyclone-yasi-devastates-australian-crops.html

............

Cocoa and now sugar........Wunner if my wife will take an IOU on Valentines Day?

[Demeter]

21. There ARE Alternatives

You just need to be a bit creative and actively search them out...(hint, hint)

[DemReadingDU]

25. There is no alternative to fine chocolates

:)

[Demeter]

27. Any Woman Can Buy Her Own Chocolates

but some things are team efforts....
(think painting a room...if nothing else comes to mind)

[Po_d Mainiac]

42. Geez I'm building a new kitchen, from scratch.

Scratch meaning every stick started out as a tree out back, and has never left the property.

[DemReadingDU]

50. That's a project!

and time consuming, take pictures!

[Demeter]

53. That Qualifies in My Book

If your honey isn't happy with it, buzz over here!

[Po_d Mainiac]

58. She's happy...and she likes chocolate

A bag of peppermint patties will go much further than a paint brush!

[Roland99]

36. I've lately learned about xylitol

Still much to learn about it.

[Demeter]

18. Surge of immigrants from India baffles border officials in Texas

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-border-indians-20110206,0,3295315.story

Thousands of immigrants from India have crossed into the United States illegally at the southern tip of Texas in the last year, part of a mysterious and rapidly growing human-smuggling pipeline that is backing up court dockets, filling detention centers and triggering investigations.

The immigrants, mostly young men from poor villages, say they are fleeing religious and political persecution. More than 1,600 Indians have been caught since the influx began here early last year, while an undetermined number, perhaps thousands, are believed to have sneaked through undetected, according to U.S. border authorities.

Hundreds have been released on their own recognizance or after posting bond. They catch buses or go to local Indian-run motels before flying north for the final leg of their months-long journeys...The trend has caught the attention of anti-terrorism officials because of the pipeline's efficiency in delivering to America's doorstep large numbers of people from a troubled region...

SO MUCH FOR BORDER SECURITY--ONE MAY ASK--IS THIS HAPPENING AT THE CANADIAN BORDER, ALSO?

[Demeter]

19. Farm insurance fraud is cheating taxpayers out of millions

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-farm-fraud-20110206,0,7267369.story

Perpetrators falsely claim weather or insects destroyed their crops and cash in on a government-backed insurance program. Some don't bother planting at all. Others sell their harvests in secret...

The federal investigator took the witness stand and described the crime scene: a sprawling field clogged with boulders, native grasses and knee-high sagebrush.

The defendant, a California farmer, had said the site was a 200-acre wheat field. But the investigator found no tilled soil, no tractors, no plows. In fact, she testified, she found no wheat.

The field was just a field — and a prime example, federal prosecutors allege, of a wave of agricultural insurance scams sprouting across the nation.

Get the monthly that has L.A. talking. Subscribe to Los Angeles Times Magazine at a special introductory rate.

Such crimes are being perpetrated by farmers who fraudulently claim that weather or insects destroyed their crops to cash in on a government-backed insurance program. Some cheats never bother planting at all. Others sell their harvests in secret and then file claims for losses, collecting twice for the same crop....

[Demeter]

28. It's Snowing, again

I have gone from drinking, to rage, to despair, and now, numbness.
February will be a month of unceasing snow, and dreams of spring will die with dreams of democracy in Egypt...and we will all be numb by frostbite of the soul...I have to go out now, take the puppy to the dog park, watch him gambol and snow surf, and try to enjoy seeing some pleasure in another's life, at least....

And then see if the battery turns over the spare car, so it can be moved...

[xchrom]

30. have fun with the puppy and let us know if the car starts. nt

[Fuddnik]

31. Puppies snow surfing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYa1uyuZ9cg

[DemReadingDU]

51. Good one!

[Hotler]

29. k&r n/t

[TalkingDog]

33. Food Shortages: China distributes plastic rice.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rice-takes-out-december-2009-highs-next-stop-20-china-distributes-fake-plastic-rice

And so the tide rising all commodities keeps coming: rough rice has just passed its December 2009 high and is now at its highest since October 2008. When we predicted on Monday morning that "rice is next", little did we think that it would be up by 11% in 4 days. And with this important resistance level broken, it is smooth sailing to the next two resistance levels of $20 and $24. Of course, Bangladesh will be in flames long before any of those are hit. But a speculator has to eat, right. After all, none of this is Gen Ben's fault.



Wow.

[Pale Blue Dot]

34. I think we need to begin tracking commodities more closely in this thread.

I'd like to add something to the template. If anyone has any ideas about how to accomplish this, please let me know.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

39. for now... a link to INO

Major Futures Price Board - All Futures
updated continuously

Scroll down for energy, grains, etc.
http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/futboard/

[Ghost Dog]

40. Excellent truthout article by Ellen Hodgson Brown:

The Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World

"What for a poor man is a crust, for a rich man is a securitized asset class." -Futures trader Ann Berg, quoted in The Guardian UK.

Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.

...

Goldman ... came up with this idea of the commodity index fund, which really was a way for them to accumulate huge piles of cash for themselves.... Instead of a buy-and-sell order, like everybody does in these markets, they just started buying. It's called "going long." They started going long on wheat futures.... And every time one of these contracts came due, they would do something called "rolling it over" into the next contract.... And they kept on buying and buying and buying and buying and accumulating this historically unprecedented pile of long-only wheat futures. And this accumulation created a very odd phenomenon in the market. It's called a "demand shock." Usually prices go up because supply is low.... In this case, Goldman and the other banks had introduced this completely unnatural and artificial demand to buy wheat, and that then sent the price up.... (H)ard red wheat generally trades between $3 and $6 per sixty-pound bushel. It went up to $12, then $15, then $18. Then it broke $20. And on February 25th, 2008, hard red spring futures settled at $25 per bushel.... (T)he irony here is that in 2008, it was the greatest wheat-producing year in world history.

... (T)he other outrage ... is that at the time that Goldman and these other banks are completely messing up the structure of this market, they've protected themselves outside the market, through this really almost diabolical idea called "replication".... Let's say, ... you want me to invest for you in the wheat market. You give me a hundred bucks.... (W)hat I should be doing is putting a hundred bucks in the wheat markets. But I don't have to do that. All I have to do is put $5 in.... And with that $5, I can hold your hundred-dollar position. Well, now I've got ninety-five of your dollars.... (W)hat Goldman did with hundreds of billions of dollars, and what all these banks did with hundreds of billions of dollars, is they put them in the most conservative investments conceivable. They put it in T-bills.... (N)ow that you have hundreds of billions of dollars in T-bills, you can leverage that into trillions of dollars.... And then they take that trillion dollars, they give it to their day traders, and they say, "Go at it, guys. Do whatever is most lucrative today." And so, as billions of people starve, they use that money to make billions of dollars for themselves.

/Complete Article... http://www.truth-out.org/the-egyptian-tinderbox-how-banks-and-investors-are-starving-third-world67424

edited brackets.

See also DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x586921

The enormous evil danger this year will be that, in addition to this kind of speculation, major staple crop yields are seriously falling, failing, due to weather/climate factors.

[ret5hd]

46. Baltic Dry Goods Index

[Viva_La_Revolution]

38. This “rice” is a mix of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plastic.

A Chinese Restaurant Association official said that eating three bowls of this fake rice would be like eating one plastic bag.

[Roland99]

35. 11:30 - Happy Monday on Wall Street

Dow 12,177 +85 +0.70%
Nasdaq 2,794 +25 +0.90%
S&P 500 1,322 +11 +0.84%
GlobalDow 2,202 +14 +0.63%
Gold 1,351 +2 +0.16%
Oil 88.74 -0.29 -0.33%

[bread_and_roses]

37. Starving people good for the Oligarchs

and a K&R

[Ghost Dog]

44. Also cheapest way to deal with overpopulation

pressure, they'll be thinking.

[Demeter]

41. Is Ginni Thomas Getting Rich Off Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court Decisions?

I USUALLY SAY "THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS" BUT IN THIS CASE, I'LL MAKE AN EXCEPTION....

http://www.truth-out.org/is-ginni-thomas-getting-rich-off-clarence-thomas-supreme-court-decisions67487

Supreme Court spouse Ginni Thomas has a new job — as the head of a Tea Party lobbying firm called “Liberty Consulting.” Her new firm, which promises to give “voice to principled citizens and the tea party movement in the halls of Congress through governmental affairs efforts” also offers very unusual service to its clients:

Liberty Consulting offers advice for short or long term projects and bringing resources to bear for impact — whether it includes a short term bill-reading project, assistance on congressional oversight efforts or an effective coalition for impact. Additionally, Liberty Consulting offers advice on optimizing political investments for charitable giving in the non-profit world or political causes.

Ginni Thomas’ new career advising clients on how to donate money to political causes is striking in light of the fact that this career path was much more difficult to break into just one year ago. In Citizens United v. FEC, Ginni’s husband Clarence cast the key fifth vote enabling corporations to spend unlimited money influencing U.S. elections. As a result of this vote, outside groups spent nearly $300 million influencing the 2010 elections — much of which would have been illegal before Justice Thomas greenlighted this spending.

Now, Ginni Thomas appears to have found a way to earn money off her husband’s actions as a justice. Clarence Thomas released countless amounts of corporate spending on U.S. elections, and Ginni Thomas can get rich advising those corporate clients on how to direct that spending.

To be sure, it is possible that Ginni is somehow limiting her advice to “political investments” that were legal before Clarence gave businesses like hers so many new potential customers. But if this is the case, Ginni has an obligation to explain just how she is limiting her advice — it’s the only way to remove the obvious cloud of corruption her actions have created around her husband.

[Demeter]

43. Koch brothers now at heart of GOP power

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-koch-brothers-20110206,0,1681069.story

The billionaire brothers' influence is most visible in the makeup of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where members have vowed to undo restrictions on greenhouse gases....

[Viva_La_Revolution]

48. Consumer Credit in U.S. Climbed More Than Forecast in December

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-07/consumer-credit-in-u-s-climbed-more-than-forecast-in-december.html

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer borrowing rose in December for a third consecutive month, led by the first increase in credit-card charges in more than two years as holiday sales improved.

Credit rose by $6.1 billion to $2.41 trillion after increasing a revised $2.02 billion in November, according to Federal Reserve data issued today in Washington. Economists projected a $2.4 billion increase in the measure of credit card debt and non-revolving loans, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Borrowing peaked at $2.58 trillion in July 2008.

[Roland99]

49. 5 Ominous Signs the Bond Bubble is Breaking

http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/bonds/5-ominous-signs-the-bond-bubble-is-breaking-1296858484748/?mod=mktw

[hamerfan]

54. Great link!

Thanks, Roland99.

[hamerfan]

56. Is it too late to get into stocks?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2011-02-07-mart07_ST_N.htm

I'd laugh if it wasn't for the fact some people are going to read/hear articles like this and get into the market at a very bad time, IMHO.
hamerfan