STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 5 March 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 5 March 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 4 March 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 4 March 2013
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Dow Jones 14,127.82 +38.16 (0.27%)
S&P 500 1,525.20 +7.00 (0.46%)
Nasdaq 3,182.03 +12.29 (0.39%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.87% +0.03 (1.63%)
30 Year 3.10% +0.03 (0.98%)[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 - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[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
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
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."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.



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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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. The toon and my observations

So, Willard Romney blames "minorities" for keeping him out of the White House. That's so no-brainer it doesn't deserve a response. D'uh, dude.

Maybe if we tell the privileged little twit that the White House doesn't have a car elevator, it will make him feel better.

But it seems so very very very odd to me that even while we are in the maelstrom of a (gasp!) sequestration, the market continues to rise.

I don't think it takes a Vulcan mind meld to read the mind of those who really drive the market: "Yippee!"




My house has a new roof, my day job still sucks, the weather forecast for Saturday is cool and possibly rainy. I have a two-day outdoor art show starting at 9:00 a.m. saturday. I am not a happy camper.

[Fuddnik]

2. So, you're not going camping?

Supposed to warm back up here tomorrow. And, it's Beer Week in the Tampa Bay area. The first annual one, to celebrate the proliferation of craft beers in the area. So, after my doctor check-up and oral surgeon check up, it's Beer O' Clock for me.

[Demeter]

3. Mention Beer, and Polka Springs to Mind

Listen to Romney and the GOP, and the lyrics become:

"I don't want them, you can have them, they're too F.A.T. for me!"

F.A.T.= Foolish Asinine Twits.

Too Fat Polka


Here's a silly ditty,
You can sing it right away
Now, here is what you say
So sing it while you may

Here's a silly jingle,
You can sing it night or noon
Here's the words, that's all you need
'Cause I just sang the tune:

Oh, I don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
I don't want her, you can have her,
She's too fat for me
She's too fat
She's too fat
She's too fat for me

I get dizzy
I get numbo
When I'm dancing
With my Jum-Jum-Jumbo

I don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
I don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat
She's too fat
She's too fat for me

Can she prance up a hill?
No, no, no, no, no
Can she dance a quadrille?
No, no, no, no, no
Does she fit in your coupe?
By herself she's a group
Could she possibly
Sit upon your knee?
No, no, no

We don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
And she's too fat for me
But she's just right for me
We don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
Yeah, she's too fat,
Much too fat
But she's just right for me

She's so charming
And she's so winning
But it's alarming
When she goes in swimming

We don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
But she's just right for me
So I sure want her, you can't have her
She's just right for me
But she's too fat!
She's not too fat!
She's just right for me!

She's a twosome,
She's a foursome
If she'd lose some
I would like her more some

I don't want her, you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
She's too fat for me
I don't want her you can have her
She's too fat for me
She's too fat
Much too fat
She's too fat for me
Hey!

German version:

Sie sieht neben mir aus oh oh oh oh oh
Wie ein wandelndes Haus oh oh oh oh oh
Steh' ich einmal hinter ihr
Sieht man nichts mehr von mir
Und für mein Gefühl ist mir das viel zu viel oh oh oh

Kaum hat er sie geseh'n oh oh oh oh oh
War es um ihn gescheh'n oh oh oh oh oh
Ihre mächtige Forma fand er einfach enorm
Und er bat galant mich um ihre Hand oh oh

Drum nimm sie dir ich mag sie nicht
Denn sie ist mir zu fett
Sie ist mir zu fett
Sie ist mir zu fett
Drumm nimm sie dir
Ich mag sie nicht
Denn sie ist mir zu fett
Viel zu fett viel zu fett sie ist mir zu fett
Deine Liebe und dein Sehnen
Und dein Herz schenk' dieser runden Schönen

[Demeter]

4. Here's hoping Tuesday is an improvement

[Hugin]

6. Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney candidate for Detroit's emergency financial manager?

Source: ABC channel 7 WXYZ news

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Since Governor Snyder proclaimed Detroit is in a financial emergency Friday, only one name has surfaced as a possible emergency financial manager.

Could a man that last ran for president be Detroit's EFM?

"I do have a top candidate and we do have additional people that could serve that role," said Governor Snyder. "The top candidate's outstanding," he continued about the mystery person.

At least two political commentators speculate former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney may be Detroit's EFM. Washington Post opinion writer Charles Lane suggested Romeny would be a good choice after turning around a number of businesses and citing Romney's Detroit roots and his availability.



Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/detroit/former-gop-presidential-nominee-mitt-romney-candidate-for-detroits-emergency-financial-manager


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm guessing not. :|

[tclambert]

19. Dear God. He'd sell off the city's assets, lay off the workers, and pay himself a giant bonus.

Then declare bankruptcy, and ask the governor for a bailout. (Pay attention to that last part, Snyder. He'll ask YOU for a bailout. And you'll have to do it, or admit failure.)

[DemReadingDU]

7. No improvement in Ohio

Supposed to get 8 inches of snow

[Hugin]

5. It's no coincidence that the Bubble-boy showed up on the eve of Sequestration.

He must be delighted that Big Bird is getting plucked to the tune of $22 million.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting
344-00-0151 Corporation for Public Broadcasting Nondefense Discretionary Advance appropriation 445 5.0 22

Must think this is some sort of proof he actually won in his demented disturbed mind.

And in some odd way, since he's getting everything he ran on... I suppose he did win.

[Demeter]

8. Hugin, I am getting afraid

This is going way beyond foolish.

[Fuddnik]

10. For all intents and purposes, we are now a Failed State.

As defined by Chomsky, "A nation that cannot or will not protect it's citizens".

And I fear that it's too far gone to ever recover. We have a defense and security apparatus that is so large, ingrained, and powerful now, that Congress or the Executive couldn't rein it in if they tried. There would be a coup. Or more realistically, we've already had a coup. They just didn't tell anyone.

Ballots don't work. The police are militarized. SCOTUS is compromised. Representative Democracy is just an illusion now. The fascist takeover is complete.

Well, at least it's Beer Week.

[Demeter]

12. Realism about the prospects for reform in America by Fabius Maximus

http://fabiusmaximus.com/2013/03/03/reforming-america-49097/

Summary: Yesterday we looked at the evolution of American, and what’s coming. Today we consider what that means for those working to reform America: abandon vain hopes, regroup, lay the foundation for later victories. A bleak prospect, but important to understand.

The “Correlation of Forces” is an objective indicator of combat might/power of opposing sides which makes it possible to determine the degree of superiority of one side over another. This is determined by means of comparing the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of units and formations, and armaments of one’s own troops and those of the enemy.

— Soviet Dictionary of Military Terms (1988)

Contents

1. America Today
   
2. Next Steps to Reform
   
3. The Road Ahead
   
4. Leave a comment
   
5. For More Information
   
6. A closing note from the past

(1.) America Today

Today reform movements in America run to fantasy and unseriousness. One obvious sign of this is their disinterest in an objective evaluation of their strengths vs. those of their opponents (the correlation of forces). Comic book heroes need not do this, but in the real world only fools skip this step before pledging their lives, fortune, and sacred honor to a great task. Hope and confidence are not enough. Failure is always an option.

Let’s briefly do this, and discuss what the implications for those seeking reform.

Since 9-11 the evolution of America has accelerated. Twelve years later the outline of the resulting New America appears clear. The list of differences between Republic 2.2 and 3.0 is long; here are some of the more obvious (more will emerge over time):

High inequality, low social mobility

Strong domestic surveillance apparatus

Powerful domestic security services, from a militarized local police up to powerful national agencies — all willing to crush dissent (or manufacture incidents to arouse fear)

Both parties de facto owned by the 1% (not that the party with the largest funding wins, but that political groups without elite funding get little traction)

Weak institutions to mobilize grassroots activity, both political and social, from unions to Boy Scouts (unions are dying; BSA is rapidly centralizing from locally run to top-down controlled)

The momentum towards the New America appears irresistible, with two major drivers.

First, the 1% own the high ground in almost every major institution — private and public. Years of inequality have given them a tremendous control over America. This forecloses many potential avenues for reform. For example, calling a Constitutional Convention would let the 1% create the America of their dreams.

Second, the citizenry remains incapable of effective response. We are divided on not just tactics but also on the ends of political reform. Worse, an increasingly large majority has changed from citizens into subjects, accepting not just their impotence to influence the government’s actions but also ignorance about what it does (so that key deeds remain secret until useful for the Executive to reveal).

The US Constitution lived only in our hearts; recent events prove that it has died. The structure of our political regime remains — the institutions and buildings housing them — but Constitution’s power came from citizens committed to the responsibility of self-government. Such people no longer command a majority in America.

The combination of both makes effective reform an impossibility today, and for the foreseeable future.

(2) Next Steps to Reform

America cannot reform today. Attempts to institute reforms waste scarce time and resources. That’s not cause for despair. Consider two of the great reform programs in American history, where our forefathers begin great projects with nothing but hope and confidence on their side. Where are we today on their timelines?

(1) In May 1764 Samuel Adams took his first steps to end British rule in America (see here for details). That same year a small group of people in Boston formed the first of the Committees of Correspondence. The Revolution ended 19 years later with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

(2) In 1774 Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush founded America’s first anti-slavery society. In 1868 we ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. In the mid-1960?s the Civil Rights legislation ended government-sponsored oppression of Blacks, concluding the project begun 190 years earlier.

Now we are in the first step of an equally important project. A long road lies ahead, years or decades of work to return America to the ideals of self-government. Will you step on to it? Then reach out to others, show them the path, and ask them to join you. On a larger scale this means organizing, agitation, and a thousand other kinds of political effort.

(3) The Road Ahead

Step one is the key, reaching out to each other. Finding common grounds to form alliances rather than seeking a remnant of doctrinal purity. Seek political reform rather than utopia.

Our modern myths give us wrong models. Action adventure heroes like the Lone Ranger and Batman are opiates for subjects. Only through collective action can citizens rule themselves.

We must create visions of what lies at the end of the reform path. We need not agree except in broad details. When seeking independence the Founders did not agree on the form of the new government, nor did abolitionists have one vision for the fate of slaves after abolition.

Another necessary component is organization. Street parties like the Occupy movement play a useful role only as part of a larger process. Also, the lesson of the Tea Party must loom large in our minds, about the 1%’s ability to entice and control: rebels angry at the bank bailouts became shock troops in the bank-friendly Republican partisan machinery.

Most of all we’ll need commitment and determination. The road will be long and difficult...MORE AT LINK

[bread_and_roses]

28. The planet won't give us 190 years

Maybe not even 19. The externalities have changed. The death of the plantetary web of of life we depend on is not going to wait for us.

The analysis strikes me as correct, but I don't understand following "The combination of both makes effective reform an impossibility today, and for the foreseeable future." with "Seek political reform rather than utopia."

Reform is impossible, so seek reform?

"We" (by whom I mean generally progressive forces in US and the Labor movement) adopted "seeking political reform" rather than direct action lo these many years ago (see the devolution of many environmental groups into so-called "partnerships" with our corporate Masters and the focus of Labor over Lo these many long years as examples). And exactly where has that gotten us? Both the environment and Labor are on their deathbeds.

I don't have the answer, but I think the evidence shows that traditional organizing models for electoral change are broken - defeated even before they start by the factors the article delineates in first section. Nor do I think those models are even optimum today - among the externalities that have changed is the existence of instant communications and the power of social media - which for all it's faults and inanities is potentially a game-changer.

[bread_and_roses]

29. Scares me too, Demeter

I have been listening to heads of service agencies talk about what it means for them - literally, taking food out of the mouths of babes for instance. Unutterably appalling. We could see serious malnutrition as a result - no exaggeration. At one Press Conference we had, a Minister practically said that those who are imposing this on the poor and the old and the sick are going to hell. I have no truck with most of the hypocrites in the "Faith Community" but she was good.

[Ghost Dog]

21. They're quite clear about why stocks are rising

...“The continued penchant for monetary largesse by the major central banks around the world still does provide an unprecedented cushion,” said Benjamin Yeo, the Singapore-based head of Asian investment strategy at Barclays Plc’s wealth management unit, which has about $250 billion under management. “The risk-on mode will prevail for the remainder of 2013.” ...

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-05/asian-stocks-gain-on-stimulus-bets-as-precious-metals-advance.html

[Demeter]

9. Fannie And Freddie Announce Plans To Merge Some Operations

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/04/173466801/fannie-and-freddie-announce-plans-to-merge-some-operations?ft=1&f=1001

The government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced today that they would try to merge some of the operations the two companies currently perform separately.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

"Edward DeMarco, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the agency would begin forming a new company that would consolidate some of the 'back-office' functions currently replicated individually by each firm. The new company will have its own chief executive and board and for now would be jointly owned by Fannie and Freddie, said Mr. DeMarco, in a speech Monday afternoon before the National Association of Business Economics in Washington, D.C.
"Fannie and Freddie have operated for decades as independent firms in competition with each other, but last year the FHFA began working with the companies to create a single platform in which home loans could be packaged into securities. The companies were taken over by the U.S. Treasury in 2008 and the FHFA was tasked with conserving the firms' assets until Congress and the White House decided what to do with them."

The two firms help finance about two-thirds of U.S. home loans.

Reuters reports:

"Since they were seized by the government, the companies have drawn nearly $190 billion from the U.S. Treasury to stay afloat.

"By creating a new securitization company, FHFA intends to pave the way for a single securitization platform, forcing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to abandon their current separate systems. DeMarco said the goal is to build a single infrastructure to support the mortgage credit business."

Essentially, the Journal explains, what's happening here is a winding-down of sorts. The third company will begin packaging and selling mortgage securities and then government can then decide what it wants to do with the new company.

"What we are trying to do...is to ease the transition from where we are today to wherever lawmakers decide the country ought to ultimately go," DeMarco said.

[Warpy]

30. High time.

The creation of Freddie Mac as a separate entity was always just to give the illusion of competition. They need to be merged and they need to be taken out of private hands since Fannie Mae provided an important source of revenue in its original form.

Bankers will yowl, of course, but it's time they had occasion to yowl.

[Demeter]

11. The Shape of Things to Come

[Demeter]

13. Republicans Are Not Telling the Truth When They Say that Government Spending Is Out of Control

I COULD HAVE SHORTENED THIS TITLE:

REPUBLICANS ARE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH--AND NEITHER ARE MOST DEMOCRATS, ESP. THE LEADERS.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/republicans-are-not-telling-the-truth-when-they-say-that-government-spending-is-out-of-control

GRAPHS AT LINK

[Demeter]

14. The Sequester Is President Obama's Fault By Dean Baker

http://truth-out.org/news/item/14904-the-sequester-is-president-obamas-fault

Now that we are counting up the days of the sequester instead of counting down, it would be a good time to cast blame. And my candidate is President Obama...I'm not blaming Obama for the reasons that Bob Woodward came up with in his fantasyland. I am blaming President Obama and his administration for trying to be cute and clever rather than telling the public the truth about the economic crisis. The result is that the vast majority of the public, and virtually all of the reporters and pundits who deal with budget issues, do not have any clue about where the deficit came from and why it is a virtue rather than a problem.

The basic story is incredibly simple. Demand from the private sector collapsed when the housing bubble burst. We lost $600 billion in annual demand due to residential construction falling through the floor. We will not return to normal levels of construction until the vacancy rates return to normal levels. Vacancy rates are still near post-bubble record highs. We also lost close to $500 billion in annual consumption spending due to the loss of the $8 trillion in housing-bubble-generated equity that was driving this consumption. This demand will also not come back. This creates a gap in annual demand of more than $1 trillion. The stimulus, which boosted demand by roughly $300 billion a year in 2009 and 2010, helped to fill part of this gap, but was nowhere near big enough. Furthermore, stimulus spending fell off quickly in 2011, and the stimulus is now pretty much gone altogether. This means that we are still faced with a huge hole in private-sector spending...As a result, we are stuck with an economy that is mired well below full employment. President Obama's top economic advisers from his first term all claimed that they understood this point. But they said that they could not get a bigger stimulus package through Congress.

That assessment may well be true, but the real issue is what President Obama did after the stimulus package passed. He could have told the country the truth. He could have said what all his advisers claim they told him at the time: the stimulus was not large enough and we would likely need more. He could have used his presidency to explain basic economics to the public and the reporters who cover budget issues. He could have told them that we need large deficits to fill the hole in demand that was created by the collapse in private-sector spending. He could have shown them colorful graphs that beat them over the head with the point that there was very little room for investment to expand even under the best of circumstances. He could have also explained that consumers would not go back to their bubble levels of consumption since the wealth that had supported this consumption had disappeared with the collapse of the bubble. The public would likely understand this point, since most homeowners themselves lost large amounts of equity and understood that they were much poorer as a result of the collapse of the bubble...We will never know if President Obama could have garnered support for more stimulus and larger deficits if he had used his office to pound home basic principles of economics to the public and the media. But we do know the route he chose failed...set the ball rolling for the obsession with deficit reduction that has dominated the nation's politics for the last three years. Instead of talking about the deficit of 9 million jobs the economy faces, we have the leadership of both parties in Congress arguing over the debt-to-GDP ratios that we will face in 2023...Now the sequester comes along, throwing more people out of work, worsening the quality of a wide range of government services and denying hundreds of thousands of people benefits they need. Yes, this is really stupid policy, and the Republicans deserve a huge amount of blame in this picture. But it was President Obama who decided to play deficit reduction games rather than be truthful about the state of the economy. There was no reason to expect better from the Republicans in Congress, but we had reason to hope that President Obama would act responsibly.

I THINK DEAN IS UNREASONABLE...A MAN WHO PUTS BERNANKE AND TIMMEH AND JACK LEW IN CHARGE OF THE ECONOMY IS NOT ACTING RESPONSIBLY, AND HE'S NOT GOING TO ACT RESPONSIBLY, BECAUSE HE IS EITHER BOUGHT, OR AN IDIOT, OR BOTH, AND HE WON'T EVEN KNOW IT, UNLESS AND UNTIL HE GETS A GOOD LESSON IN ECONOMICS AND POLITICS BY BEING STABBED IN THE BACK BY HIS HENCHMEN...

UNFORTUNATELY, THAT LESSON WILL NOT BE LEARNED UNTIL THE ENTIRE GLOBAL ECONOMY, HELD TOGETHER BY "GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENTS" ( LIKE HONOR AMONGST THIEVES) COMES UNDONE.

THE QUESTION IS, WHO WILL PULL THE STRING THAT UNRAVELS THIS CRAZY QUILT ECONOMY THAT BINDS US TO POVERTY?

OR MAYBE, THE QUESTION SHOULD BE: WHAT? BECAUSE WHEN POWER OVER SOCIETY CONTROLS EVERY LEVER WITHIN THAT SOCIETY, IT IS NATURE ITSELF THAT RIGHTS THE WRONGS.

MUCH AS THE THOUGHT OF BANKSTERS DOING EACH OTHER IN APPEALS, THEY SEEM TO HAVE DECLARED A TRUCE.

SEEMS THAT EVEN BANKSTERS ARE SCARED OF THIS MONSTROUS FRAUD THEY HAVE CREATED. AND THEY ARE EVEN MORE SCARED OF THOSE IN THE 99% WHO KEEP POINTING OUT THAT EMPERORS HAVE NO CLOTHES.

[Demeter]

15. "We have to kill austerity before it kills us": Sequester Insanity By William K. Black

http://www.alternet.org/economy/sequester-insanity-why-are-we-flushing-economic-recovery-down-toilet?akid=10131.227380.tBN5MW&rd=1&src=newsletter803235&t=9

We have been strangling the economic recovery through economic incompetence -- and worse is in store because President Obama continues to embrace

1. the self-inflicted wound of austerity,
2. austerity primarily through cuts in vital social programs that are already under-funded, and
3. attacking the safety net by reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The latest insanity is the sequester -- the fourth act of austerity in the last 20 months. The August 2011 budget deal caused large cuts to social spending. The January 2013 "fiscal cliff" deal increased taxes on the wealthy and ended the moratorium on collecting the full payroll tax. The sequester will be the fourth assault on our already weak economic recovery. We have a jobs crisis in America -- not a government spending crisis and the cumulative effect of these four acts of austerity has caused a certainty of weak growth and a serious risk that we will throw our economy back into recession. The Eurozone's recession -- caused by austerity -- greatly adds to the risk to our economy because Europe remains our leading trading partner.

President Obama and a host of administration spokespersons have condemned the sequestration, explaining how it will cause catastrophic damage to hundreds of vital government services. Those of us who teach economics, however, always stress "revealed preferences" -- it's not what you say that matters, it's what you do that matters. Obama has revealed his preference by refusing to sponsor, or even support, a clean bill that would kill the sequestration threat to our nation. Instead, he has nominated Jacob Lew, the author of the sequestration provision, as his principal economic advisor. Lew is one of the strongest proponents of austerity and what he and Obama call the "Grand Bargain" -- which would inflict large cuts in social programs and the safety net and some increases in revenues. Obama has made clear that he hopes this Grand Betrayal (my phrase) will be his legacy. Obama and Lew do not want to remove the sequester because they view it as creating the leverage -- over progressives -- essential to induce them to vote for the Grand Betrayal.

Further evidence of Obama's continuing support for the sequester was revealed in an odd fashion today. Bob Woodward is in a controversy because of his column about sequestration. His column made two primary points. First, the administration authored the sequester. Second, Woodward claimed that Obama was "moving the goal posts" by asking for revenue increases. Woodward was criticized by many Democrats for this column and created a further controversy by saying that the administration threatened him. It turned out that the purported threat was based on a statement by Gene Sperling, Obama's economics advisor. David Weigel's column summarizes the dispute. Weigel comes out where I do on each of the three issues. Yes, the administration created the sequester and has fought to keep it alive when Republicans tried to kill it. (The Republicans "started it" by their obscene extortion in 2011 in which they threatened to force a default.) No, Obama has not moved the goal posts. No, Sperling did not "threaten" Woodward. I raise this background simply to provide a context for Sperling's comments about the reasons that the administration created and continues to support the sequester.

The idea that the sequester was to force both sides to go back to try at a big or grand bar{g}ain with a mix of entitlements and revenues (even if there were serious disagreements on composition) was part of the DNA of the thing from the start. It was an accepted part of the understanding -- from the start. Really.... There may have been big disagreements over rates and ratios -- but that it was supposed to be replaced by entitlements and revenues of some form is not controversial. (Indeed, the discretionary savings amount from the Boehner-Obama negotiations were locked in in BCA {Budget Control Act of 2011}: the sequester was just designed to force all back to table on entitlements and revenues.)

Obama continues to want to "force" a "grand bargain" in which he proposes to make large cuts to social programs, some tax increases, and reductions in the safety net. Again, Obama can easily break with this strategy of choking our economic recovery by supporting a clean bill that would kill the sequester instead of our economy. The good news is that Representative John Conyers has made the Obama's task simple by sponsoring exactly that clean bill in the one sentence form many of us have been urging: "Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed." Amen. I propose that we launch an effort, open to all, to support Conyers' bill and demand that our representatives in the House and the Senate promptly enact it.

[Demeter]

16. BREAKING: Rep. Conyers introduces bill to repeal the sequester

http://americablog.com/2013/02/breaking-cpc-member-john-conyers-introduces-hr-900-a-stop-the-sequester-bill-in-the-house.html

You read that right. Action from a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The bill is H.R. 900, introduced today (February 28) and it’s a Big Deal. Now the House has something to vote on, and the House Progressive Caucus has something to support. The bill — just cancel the sequester.

According to two sources, here’s the text:

“Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed.”

A way out out of this mess, for now anyway, and a clean one. If the president hates the sequester as much as he claims to, this will be easy for him to support, won’t it.

Huge props to John Conyers for providing a bold (and simple) solution. For more on “cancel the sequester,” see here. For how the sequester is just one more manufactured crisis, see here (one place of many).

How you can help

Next steps are to push.

■ The bill needs co-sponsors. Feel free to call your Congress guy or gal and make the request. A full list of House phone numbers is at the link. A full list of House Progressive Caucus members (with phone numbers) will appear in this space in the next few days. Feel free to call. Every CPC member who co-sponsors this bill is an action-hero, not just a statement-hero. You can say so when you thank them.

■ There needs to be a Senate bill. A full list of Senate phone numbers is here. I’d start with Senator Merkley and Senator Sanders, since Merkley has already come out in favor of “cancel the sequester” and I imagine Sen. Sanders is in full agreement.

■ Finally, here’s a sweet list of vulnerable Republican House members, those sitting in districts won by Obama in 2012. They can be lobbied to support this; after all, voting to cut benefits to programs like Social Security and Medicare has got to be frightening indeed to these men and women. Worth a call? I think so.

I’ll have call lists in the next few days. In the meantime, thank John Conyers. He richly deserves it.

SEE LINK FOR MORE DETAIL

[Demeter]

17. The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot ROBERT B. REICH

http://robertreich.org/post/44259531689

Imagine a plot to undermine the government of the United States, to destroy much of its capacity to do the public’s business, and to sow distrust among the population. Imagine further that the plotters infiltrate Congress and state governments, reshape their districts to give them disproportionate influence in Washington, and use the media to spread big lies about the government. Finally, imagine they not only paralyze the government but are on the verge of dismantling pieces of it. Far-fetched? Perhaps. But take a look at what’s been happening in Washington and many state capitals since Tea Party fanatics gained effective control of the Republican Party, and you’d be forgiven if you see parallels.

Tea Party Republicans are crowing about the “sequestration” cuts beginning today (Friday). “This will be the first significant tea party victory in that we got what we set out to do in changing Washington,” says Rep. Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), a Tea Partier who was first elected in 2010. Sequestration is only the start. What they set out to do was not simply change Washington but eviscerate the U.S. government — “drown it in the bathtub,” in the words of their guru Grover Norquist – slashing Social Security and Medicare, ending worker protections we’ve had since the 1930s, eroding civil rights and voting rights, terminating programs that have helped the poor for generations, and making it impossible for the government to invest in our future. Sequestration grew out of a strategy hatched soon after they took over the House in 2011, to achieve their goals by holding hostage the full faith and credit of the United States – notwithstanding the Constitution’s instruction that the public debt of the United States “not be questioned.” To avoid default on the public debt, the White House and House Republicans agreed to harsh and arbitrary “sequestered” spending cuts if they couldn’t come up with a more reasonable deal in the interim. But the Tea Partiers had no intention of agreeing to anything more reasonable. They knew the only way to dismember the federal government was through large spending cuts without tax increases. Nor do they seem to mind the higher unemployment their strategy will almost certainly bring about. Sequestration combined with January’s fiscal cliff deal is expected to slow economic growth by 1.5 percentage points this year – dangerous for an economy now crawling at about 2 percent. It will be even worse if the Tea Partiers refuse to extend the government’s spending authority, which expires March 27.

A conspiracy theorist might think they welcome more joblessness because they want Americans to be even more fearful and angry. Tea Partiers use fear and anger in their war against the government – blaming the anemic recovery on government deficits and the government’s size, and selling a poisonous snake-oil of austerity economics and trickle-down economics as the remedy. They likewise use the disruption and paralysis they’ve sown in Washington to persuade Americans government is necessarily dysfunctional, and politics inherently bad. Their continuing showdowns and standoffs are, in this sense, part of the plot.

What is the President’s response? He still wants a so-called “grand bargain” of “balanced” spending cuts (including cuts in the projected growth of Social Security and Medicare) combined with tax increases on the wealthy. So far, though, he has agreed to a gross imbalance — $1.5 trillion in cuts to Republicans’ $600 billion in tax increases on the rich. The President apparently believes Republicans are serious about deficit reduction, when in fact the Tea Partiers now running the GOP are serious only about dismembering the government. And he seems to accept that the budget deficit is the largest economic problem facing the nation, when in reality the largest problem is continuing high unemployment (some 20 million Americans unemployed or under-employed), declining real wages, and widening inequality. Deficit reduction now or in the near-term will only make these worse Besides, the deficit is now down to about 5 percent of GDP – where it was when Bill Clinton took office. It is projected to mushroom in later years mainly because healthcare costs are expected to rise faster than the economy is expected to grow, and the American population is aging. These trends have little or nothing to do with government programs. In fact, Medicare is far more efficient than private health insurance. I suggest the President forget about a “grand bargain.” In fact, he should stop talking about the budget deficit and start talking about jobs and wages, and widening inequality – as he did in the campaign. And he should give up all hope of making a deal with the Tea Partiers who now run the Republican Party. Instead, the President should let the public see the Tea Partiers for who they are — a small, radical minority intent on dismantling the government of the United States. As long as they are allowed to dictate the terms of public debate they will continue to hold the rest of us hostage to their extremism.

IF I WERE A LOGICAL PERSON..I WOULD CONCLUDE THAT OBAMA'S NTH DIMENSIONAL CHESS IS A CLOAK FOR HIS CLOSET-TEA PARTY MEMBERSHIP.
OR,
HE IS AN ECONOMIC IDIOT
OR,
HE'S BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE SAME PUPPET MASTERS THAT RUN THE TEA PARTY BEHIND THE SCENES.

OR MAYBE, ALL THREE.

THE TEA PARTY MAY BE DYING AND ITS MOST VISIBLE SPOKESPEOPLE DISCREDITED AND THROWN OUT OF POWER...BUT THE TEA PARTY IS LIKE THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG....AND 80-90% IS UNDER THE WATER, OUT OF SIGHT.

HERE'S TO GLOBAL WARMING, WHICH WILL MELT THE ICEBERG AWAY...

[Demeter]

18. Consequence to cuts no one thought would happen By TOM RAUM

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_BATTLE_UNINTENDED_CONSEQUENCES?SITE=IADES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

It's not the first time that government economic engineering has produced a time bomb with a short fuse.

Back in 2011, few lawmakers, if any, thought deep and indiscriminate spending cuts, totaling about $85 billion and now starting to kick in, were a smart idea. The across-the-board cuts, set up as a last-resort trigger and based on a mechanism used in the 1980s, are a reality largely because President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, failed to find a way to stop them. Republicans, influenced by tea party and other conservative factions, insisted on just spending cuts to narrow the deficit. Tax increases were out. Obama and the Democratic-run Senate didn't budge from a mix of cuts and increased tax revenues. "Arbitrary" and "stupid" Obama called the auto-pilot cuts, known as sequester.

But history shows a long trail of unintended consequences from government actions - or inaction:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after a solid re-election victory in 1936, believed that the Great Depression was winding down. Unemployment was declining and economic activity was coming back. Roosevelt and Congress believed it was time to cut free-flowing government spending and raise taxes. The Federal Reserve tightened its financial reins. But the fragile economy couldn't withstand the blows. The Depression roared back, lasting until the 1940s when U.S. involvement in World War II finally revived the economy.

President Ronald Reagan's ambitious 1986 overhaul of the tax code simplified taxes and closed many loopholes, including repealing the popular tax deduction for credit-card interest. Then people started borrowing heavily against fast-rising equity in their homes; that interest still was deductible. But the practice eventually helped put millions of homeowners under water on their mortgages when the housing bubble burst, contributing to the 2007-2009 recession.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates unusually low and printed money to keep downward pressure on longer-term rates, easing borrowing for businesses and individuals. Yet retirees and other savers are earning near-zero interest on bonds and savings accounts, and many investors are jumping into riskier transactions in search of higher returns. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and many mainstream economists argue that the Fed's stimulus policies have helped the housing and financial sectors recover and kept the downturn from getting worse. One leading Fed critic Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., accused Bernanke at a hearing last week of "throwing seniors under the bus" by driving down interest rates on their savings to almost nothing.

The tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were first proposed by Texas Gov. George W. Bush as he campaigned for president in 2000. At the time, the economy was enjoying rare multi-year budget surpluses and government economists were predicting surpluses well into the future. Bush told cheering audiences his tax cuts would return to taxpayers "what is rightfully yours." Those cuts long have outlived the surpluses, which vanished in Bush's first year in office. Deficits returned with a vengeance and have grown ever since. But most of them (BUSH TAX CUTS)remain today, trimmed only slightly by the New Year's deal that ended Bush's tax breaks for households making over $450,000 a year. Economists view those tax cuts as one of the biggest drains on the Treasury, and a major contributor to the spiraling government debt.

Wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq lasted far longer and cost much more, in terms of U.S. lives and dollars, than anticipated.

Social Security has become one of the most expensive federal programs ever. When it was created in the 1930s, the average life expectancy was about 65. Longer life expectancies and the coming retirements of millions of baby boomers have put enormous strains on Social Security, as well as Medicare and Medicaid. (OF COURSE, SMW READERS KNOW THAT THE SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM IS SELF-FUNDED, AND THE ONLY REASON IT IS "EXPENSIVE" IS BECAUSE ALL THE FUNDS STOLEN FROM IT TO FIGHT WARS OF IMPERIAL AGGRESSION WILL HAVE TO BE REPAID OUT OF GENERAL REVENUES, WHICH MEANS INCOME TAX..AND WHERE DOES ONE GET TAXES? FROM THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE EXTRA MONEY...DEMETER)

And now the sequester.

"It's not hard to come up with something better, yet all efforts to do so went down the toilet for various reasons," said economist Bruce Bartlett, who held economic posts in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. "And I think people didn't realize how wedded Republicans are to not raising taxes." Still, no one really thought the cuts would happen, he added.

Stan Collender, a former staffer on both the House and Senate budget committees, said Congress is "very short-term focused. The longer-term consequences are of very little concern to people who have to run for re-election every two years," said Collender, now a partner at Quorvis Communications, a financial consulting firm.

More House districts have been redrawn in recent years with political factors in mind, and that's tended to concentrate conservatives in Republican districts and liberals in Democratic ones. And set the terms of the debate on Capitol Hill. "If people in your district are hell bent on cutting spending, even if it hurts the economy, and applaud your intransigence, then that's going to be your priority and your vote, even if it's not necessarily good for the country," Collender said. The sequester now in play is actually an updated version of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985. There also was a small sequester in 1986, and a big one planned for 1990. The latter was avoided only after President George H.W. Bush broke his "no new taxes" pledge to join Democrats in a deficit-reduction compromise that raised taxes. There was a huge GOP backlash, one that many politicians believe contributed to Bush's 1992 re-election defeat to Democrat Bill Clinton.

Clearly not the consequence Bush had in mind.

[Fuddnik]

20. KeyCorp is shifting 60 more bank jobs to India; additional layoffs expected in future

Continuing its efforts to save money, KeyCorp is eliminating more U.S. jobs and transferring the work to India.

KeyCorp, which is Cleveland's largest bank by deposits, recently entered into a partnership with Genpact, a business and technology company with operations worldwide. Its work for Key will be based in India.

About 60 jobs at Key, including 20 in Cleveland, will be eliminated as a result during the next 11 months. Additional jobs are expected to be cut in the future.

"Like any other business, Key continually reviews the structure of its organization to meet the specific needs of our clients, to maintain a strong position in the marketplace, and to meet our business needs," spokesman Jack Sparks said.

In 2011, Key eliminated 64 technology jobs in Greater Cleveland and shifted the work to Hewlett-Packard and Cognizant Technology Solutions of India. The positions - mostly in software development and support - represented 7 percent of Key's 900 technology positions in Cleveland. Key employs more than 5,000 people locally.

In 2008, Key in 2008 eliminated about 70 technology support jobs, about 50 of them in Cleveland, and shifted the work to two firms, Cognizant and Wipro Limited, both of which are big in India.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/03/keycorp_is_shifting_60_more_ba.html#incart_river#incart_special-report

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess the boss needs a bigger bonus. My wife worked for these bozo's before we moved to Florida. They outsourced her whole division in 2002.

[xchrom]

22. Dow Jones share index hits new record high

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21621048

New York's Dow Jones share index set a new all-time high on Tuesday, returning to levels not seen since before the global financial crisis.

The Wall Street index reached 14,226, exceeding the previous record intra-day high of 14,198, set in October 2007.

The recovery in the market suggests investors are regaining confidence in the US economy.

That is despite the ongoing fiscal crisis in Washington, and continued concerns about the eurozone.

[Ghost Dog]

32. Europe stocks rally to 4½ year high

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stocks rallied to their highest level in 4½ years Tuesday, as investors cheered stronger-than-expected euro-zone retail sales and keyed off gains in U.S. equities, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved into record high territory.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +1.81% added 1.8% to 294.11, marking its highest closing level since June 2008.

The jump came as U.S. markets rallied, after the ISM services gauge jumped to the highest level in a year.

Both European and U.S. stock markets have since New Years drifted higher, after U.S. politicians averted the immediate so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts. Additionally, ultra-loose monetary policy through massive liquidity injections from central banks have boosted equity markets to close to pre-crisis levels.

On Tuesday, investors keyed also off gains in Asia, where bourses rebounded after tighter Chinese property mortgage rules sent markets lower. Shanghai stocks ended 2.3% higher.

/... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/europe-stocks-key-off-strong-us-asia-sessions-2013-03-05

[xchrom]

23. Rolls-Royce unveils 'most powerful' model

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21615082

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/66201000/jpg/_66201564_photorolls(3).jpg
Rolls-Royce's Wraith will be more expensive than coupes sold by Bentley


Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is officially unveiling its fastest and most powerful model yet at the Geneva motor show.

The 624 horse power Wraith will travel from 0-60mph (0-100km/h) in 4.4 seconds and cost more than £200,000 ($300,000) when it goes on sale later this year.

The car was designed to change people's perception of the luxury marque, chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos told BBC News.

"I'm confident it will attract a lot of new customers to the brand," he said.



***honestly - i can't give it any points for style - if i had that kind of moolah -- i'd want a vintage

[siligut]

35. Agreed, the classic Rolls Royce is still the best looking

Just can't improve on excellence.

[xchrom]

24. Standard Chartered profits rise despite huge fine

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21667121


Standard Chartered bank managed to increase profits last year despite being hit by a huge fine for breaking sanctions on Iran.

The London-listed firm saw pre-tax profits rise 1% to $6.9bn (£4.5bn), just short of analysts' forecasts.

The bank also said it had cut its bonus pool by 7% after the $667m fine from US regulators for breaching sanctions on Iran and three other countries.

Standard has ridden Asia's boom through the last decade.

[xchrom]

25. Apple value falls below $400bn, as Warren Buffett says 'ignore critics'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/04/apple-stock-value-400-billion-warren-buffett

Apple's value fell below $400bn (£265bn) for the first time in a year on Monday, as the prominent investor Warren Buffett said the company should ignore its critics and stick to running its business.

At the close of business in New York, the tech giant's stock price stood at $420.05 (£280), a 52-week low, fuelling the demands of those who say it should pay back some of its $137bn cash pile to shareholders. The share price continued to fall in after-hours trading.

But speaking on financial news channel CNBC, Buffett – who does not hold Apple stock – said that the company should ignore critics like hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who has pushed unsuccessfully for Apple to pay out some of the cash.

"I would ignore him. I would run the business in such a manner as to create the most value over the next five or ten years. You can't run a business to try and run the stock up every day," Buffett said.

[xchrom]

26. Heinz chief could get $56m golden parachute

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/heinz-chief-golden-parachute


Heinz chief executive officer William Johnson is entitled to a golden parachute worth $56m (£37m) if he is fired by the company's new owners.

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital announced in February they were buying the ketchup and baked beans maker in the food industry's richest acquisition ever. Pittsburgh-based Heinz, which also makes vinegar and Classico pasta sauce, disclosed Johnson's deal in a regulatory filing on Monday.

The deal lets him walk away with $40m at any time if he chooses. He would get another $16m if the new owners were to let him go.

In addition, Johnson is entitled to $99.7m in vested stock and $57m in deferred compensation benefits that he accrued over his 30-year career with Heinz. That means he could walk away with a total of $212.7m.



*** getting out my frilly apron and starting to work on a ketchup recipe -- RIGHT FUCKING NOW!11

[xchrom]

27. We Just Got The 'All Clear' Sign For The Economy

http://www.businessinsider.com/ism-new-orders-2013-3

We just got a strong reading from the ISM services report.
According to Dave Lutz of Stifel, Nicolaus we just got the "all clear" sign for the economy.
His email to clients was "ISM New Orders Gives The 'All Clear.'"
He writes:
Key component of the ISM data at 10am today was the "new Orders" index - Last month the “new Orders” index fell to 54.4 from 58.3. That was the weakest reading since April. After 41 months in a row in expansion territory, another sharp drop would be an ominous sign (Attached SPX overlay) – The New Orders Index just came in at 58.2 - just off 1Y highs.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ism-new-orders-2013-3#ixzz2MgGSDFNZ

[Warpy]

31. Obfuscation

European megabank money is being yanked out of futures, especially crude oil futures. It's got to go somewhere and it appears to be going into equities, especially US equities.

As long as our government remains ignorant and pigheaded about it, the Dow will continue to fly high.

[Fuddnik]

33. It's not at all clear to me.

[xchrom]

34. Ha! Me either. Nt

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. Sooooo...that's it?

2 1/2 hours since the closing bell and not ONE of you has a comment regarding the highest closing EVER?

Seriously?

The highest Dow close ever, the highest intraday high ever, the highest close since October of 2007 and NOT ONE OF YOU REGULARS says a single word about it for two and a half hours?


Wow.

Some stock market watchers, you are.

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. Unfuckingbelievable.

Still nothing, eh?

I suppose if it had fallen 500 points, you folks would still be yammering, all full of yourselves and your "I told you so's".

This thread has become more of a joke than it was 4 years ago, and that's saying something.

[Fuddnik]

38. Some of us have lives, and more important things to do.

Ever hear of vodka?

[A HERETIC I AM]

39. LOL

Good one!

As an excuse, it least it has some modicum of believability.

So....you started slamming at 2:15PM? I'm impressed.

[Fuddnik]

41. Retirement has it's benefits.

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. Yes, I imagine it does.

May your martini's always be dry, but your vodka bottle remain full.

[Ghost Dog]

40. Oh, all right then...

... "Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country.

When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank...You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out."

- Andrew Jackson, Andrew Jackson and the Bank of the United States (1928) by Stan V. Henkels

What is the market price of policy error, careerism, and corruption?

The charts are simple, but the implications are profound...

... The central banks have created a new era of permanent prosperity.

All you have to do is believe. And everyone can be rich. Your turn will be coming soon.

One might feel better about the corporate profits and new highs in stocks, and the abundance of bank reserves, most of which is driven by policy and the Fed, if it was not such a transparent attempt to once again approach severe economic problems by using a 'trickle down' approach.

This is going to fail, and the consequences may be quite severe.

/... http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/

Nb. A reminder of where we're at:

Bernanke Defends Asset Buying as Benefits Outweigh Risks

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the central bank’s unprecedented asset purchases, saying they are supporting the expansion with little risk of inflation or asset-price bubbles. Bernanke, speaking before the Senate Banking Committee in his semiannual policy report to Congress, said inflation remains "subdued."

“We do not see the potential costs of the increased risk- taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery,” Bernanke said today in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington. “Inflation is currently subdued, and inflation expectations appear well anchored.”

Automatic federal budget cuts set to begin March 1 will put a “significant” burden on the economy if lawmakers can’t avert the reductions, Bernanke told lawmakers in the first day of his semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. He also urged lawmakers to put the budget on a “sustainable long-run path.”

Bernanke and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee are debating whether to curtail $85 billion in monthly bond-buying amid concern the Fed’s record $3.1 trillion balance sheet may encourage excessive risk-taking by investors and complicate the Fed’s exit from easing. Several participants at the Jan. 29-30 meeting said the Fed should be prepared to vary the pace of purchases as the economic outlook changes, according to minutes released last week...

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-26/bernanke-defends-asset-purchases-as-benefits-outweigh-risks.html

Today see here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/111631762

[bread_and_roses]

43. Since most if not all of us live out here in the real economy -

out here, where:

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/mind-blowing-charts-senates-income-inequity-hearing
Mind-Blowing Charts From the Senate's Income Inequality Hearing

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/a-giant-statistical-round-up-of-the-income-inequality-crisis-in-16-charts/266074/
A Giant Statistical Round-Up of the Income Inequality Crisis in 16 Charts

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
It's the Inequality, Stupid
Eleven charts that explain what's wrong with America.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/09/easy-as-pie-inequality-in-downloadable-charts.html
Easy As Pie: Inequality In Downloadable Charts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/us-inequality-infographic_n_845042.html#s261400&title=Wealth_Inequality
15 Facts About U.S. Income Inequality That Everyone Should Know (CHARTS)

.... I could cite more but I'm sure you get the picture ....

And since Tuesday's high doesn't seem to have altered the impending cuts to programs like WIC (food for babies), HEAP (heating assistance for low-income), etc. ...

And since there seem to be no indications that the wonderful supersizing of "the Market" will change the fact that we have worse "quality of life" stats - health care, children in poverty, unemployment support, infant mortality, social mobility ...etc. - than just about any other western industrial country in just about all categories....

... just exactly what was it you thought we should get all excited about?

[westerebus]

44. Market at all time high.

Steve Jobs is still dead.