STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, April 7, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, April 7, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 6, 2011

Dow 12,426.75 +32.85 (+0.27%)
Nasdaq 2,799.82 +8.63 (+0.31%)
S&P 500 1,335.54 +2.91 (+0.22%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.55 0.00 (0.00%)
30-Year Bond 4.60 +0.01 (+0.13%)

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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. I know it's bizarre to start this thread now,

but I have the flu and only have computer access for a few hours right now. I'm hoping the regular Marketeers will kick this in the morning. :-)

[Po_d Mainiac]

2. Ayuh...Get bettah

[uppityperson]

4. Hope you feel better soon and I had to check my clock to make sure it's still evening

[girl gone mad]

5. Get some sleep!

I will kick it in the AM.

[Ghost Dog]

46. Mmm. Oregano?

(Afternoon, PBD). I prescribe citrus fruits and honey, and especially, if possible, palm-tree syrup.

[DemReadingDU]

32. Good morning, hope you are feeling better today

[TalkingDog]

36. Ugg... feel better soon.

n/t

[xchrom]

3. Glad to see you back, PBD - please be well

And stay well.

[Tripod]

6. Kicking!

:kick:

[Roland99]

7. FWIW - Asian markets

Nikkei 225 9,640 +56 +0.59%
S&P ASX 5,013 +1 +0.02%
Hang Seng 24,261 -24 -0.10%
Shanghai 3,138 -5 -0.15%
Sensex 19,612 -75 -0.38%
GlobalDow 2,208 0 -0.01%


I just happened to be on the laptop tonight (updating some stuff on a server at work) and lo and behold...tomorrow's SMW thread!

:)

[Po_d Mainiac]

8. kick

[Festivito]

9. Debt: 04/05/2011 14,262,144,462,897.94 (UP 18,212,898,681.37) (Tue, DOWN a little.)

Debt: 04/05/2011 14,262,144,462,897.94 (UP 18,212,898,681.37) (Tue, DOWN a little.)
(The Thursday Stock market Watch on Wednesday evening. Novel. I'll bite. Good day.)
Sleep, glorious sleep.
(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)
= 9,649,972,136,434.37 + 4,612,172,326,463.57
DOWN 31,815,631.67 + UP 18,244,714,313.04

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.96 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,724,992 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 $45,752.33.
A family of three owes $137,256.99. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 32 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 3,786,537,048.42.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,650,575,933.90.
The average for the last 32 days would be 2,484,914,938.03.
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$/day.
There were 127 reports in 187 days of FY2011 averaging 5.52B$ per report, 3.75B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 656 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.7T$.
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)
04/05/2011 14,262,144,462,897.94 BHO (UP 3,635,267,413,984.86 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 +0,700,521,432,006.20 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,367,327,928,782.16 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/14/2011 +000,380,093,829.66 ------------******** Mon
03/15/2011 +066,006,214,426.70 ------------**********
03/16/2011 +001,148,655,957.01 ------------*********
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -
03/18/2011 +000,616,236,061.23 ------------********
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----

39,022,547,665.90 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=4802577&mesg_id=4802755

[Festivito]

56. Debt: 04/06/2011 14,259,761,986,879.66 (DOWN 2,382,476,018.28) (Wed, DOWN a little.)

(Good day.)
Home again.
(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)
= 9,649,960,380,158.64 + 4,609,801,606,721.02
DOWN 11,756,275.73 + DOWN 2,370,719,742.55

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,207.88 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.62, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 311,732,192 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,743.63.
A family of three owes $137,230.89. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 33 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 3,506,127,363.57.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,571,160,066.62.
The average for the last 33 days would be 2,337,418,242.38.
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$/day.
There were 128 reports in 188 days of FY2011 averaging 5.45B$ per report, 3.71B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 655 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.2 and 17.6T$.
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)
04/06/2011 14,259,761,986,879.66 BHO (UP 3,632,884,937,966.58 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 +0,698,138,955,987.90 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,355,429,356,040.34 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/15/2011 +066,006,214,426.70 ------------**********
03/16/2011 +001,148,655,957.01 ------------*********
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -
03/18/2011 +000,616,236,061.23 ------------********
03/21/2011 -000,100,873,734.64 --- Mon
03/22/2011 +000,366,066,174.28 ------------********
03/23/2011 -000,063,255,741.95 ----
03/24/2011 -015,763,143,549.40 -
03/25/2011 -000,034,574,737.25 ----
03/28/2011 +000,227,402,237.21 ------------******** Mon
03/29/2011 +000,181,007,415.32 ------------********
03/30/2011 +000,670,089,469.30 ------------********
04/04/2011 +000,336,873,927.41 ------------******** Mon
04/05/2011 -000,031,815,631.67 ----
04/06/2011 -000,011,756,275.73 ----

38,630,697,560.51 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=4803947&mesg_id=4804360

[xchrom]

10. Stocks edge up in Europe ahead of ECB decision

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-edge-up-in-europe-ahead-of-ecb-decision-2011-04-07

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stocks edged higher Thursday ahead of an expected interest-rate hike from the European Central Bank, while shares in Lisbon rallied after Portugal announced it will ask for financial aid.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:STOXX600 282.32, +0.75, +0.27%) rose 0.3% to 282.39 in early trading after a mixed session for Asian markets.

Financial stocks were the strongest performers across the Continent, led by gains for Portuguese banks after the debt-laden country said it will join Greece and Ireland in requesting international financial assistance. Read more on Portugal's request for aid.

Shares in Banco Espirito Santo SA /quotes/comstock/24s!e:bes (PT:BES 3.04, +0.17, +5.82%) jumped 10.4% and Banco BPI SA /quotes/comstock/24s!e:bpi (PT:BPI 1.31, +0.06, +4.88%) rallied 5.3%. European banks with the most exposure to peripheral countries were also stronger, including a 2.1% gain for Societe Generale /quotes/comstock/24s!e:gle (FR:GLE 47.70, +1.11, +2.38%) in Paris.

[xchrom]

11. Portuguese bank stocks gain after aid request

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/markets-take-portugal-in-stride-eye-spain-2011-04-07

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Shares of Portuguese banks rallied on Thursday after Lisbon’s long-anticipated request for a bailout, as investors pondered the next turn in the euro zone’s long-running sovereign-debt drama.

For now, investors appear confident Portugal’s request, which follows bailouts of fellow euro-zone members Greece and Ireland, will mark the final rescue in the region, strategists said.

But Spain will be closely watched, particularly as the European Central Bank prepares to raise rates at its meeting later Thursday.

“Now that Portugal has finally succumbed to a bailout, the markets’ attention may well shift to Spain and it could be today’s monthly rate meeting of the European Central Bank that could be the catalyst for that,” said Michael Hewson, strategist at CMC Markets.

[Ghost Dog]

47. Spain Debt Costs Fall at Auction After Portugal Seeks Rescue

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Spain sold 4.13 billion euros ($5.9 billion) of three-year bonds and its borrowing costs fell after Portugal said it would seek a European Union bailout.

Spain sold the bonds at an average yield of 3.568 percent, compared with 3.592 percent when it sold debt of similar maturity on March 3, the Treasury said. Demand was 1.79 times the amount offered, compared with 3.04 times on March 3, and the amount sold compared with a maximum target of 4.5 billion euros.

The debt sale, hours after Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said he would ask the European Union for financial help, was a test of investor sentiment as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said contagion from the sovereign debt crisis would stop at Portugal. Spain, in an attempt to distance itself from other so- called peripheral nations, is implementing the deepest budget cuts in at least three decades while trying to shore up savings banks suffering a surge in bad loans.

“The fact that Portugal seeks help early reduces contagion risk,” Mohit Kumar, a fixed-income strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in London, said by telephone. “The bonds have performed very well; any decline in Spanish bonds in the near-term is likely to come from their rich valuation rather than contagion concern.”

/... http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9e98D5DVe1Q&pos=3

:P

[xchrom]

12. Bank of Japan holds off on easing, offers loans

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-holds-off-on-easing-offers-loans-2011-04-07

TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The Bank of Japan held off on easing its policy interest-rate range further Thursday, but it did establish a special lending facility for financial institutions in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The central bank said its policy board unanimously voted to keep its overnight call rate range at zero to 0.1%.

The BOJ said it plans to lend a total of 1 trillion yen (about $12 billion) in one-year loans at 0.1%. And it said it would broaden the range of eligible collateral for its money-market operations, “with a view to securing sufficient financing capacity of financial institutions in disaster areas.”

The BOJ’s lending move “is a decisive measure to aid financial institutions in the disaster area,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities Japan. She added, though, that she didn’t expect bank lending to be boosted much by the BOJ’s action.

[xchrom]

13. Disney set to break ground on Shanghai theme park

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-disney-shanghai-20110405,0,5122220.story

Reporting from Los Angeles and Beijing—
As Walt Disney Co. prepares to break ground on its first theme park in mainland China, the significance for the company reaches well beyond the opportunity to sell legions of Mickey Mouse-ear hats.

Although much smaller than Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., the Shanghai park holds outsize importance for the company, because it would provide entree to a market of 1.3 billion people, 30 million of whom enter the middle class each year. When it opens in five years, the $3.7-billion tourist attraction would serve as a launching pad for Disney's broader ambitions in the region.

Shanghai Disneyland culminates a decade-long effort to bring Disney's distinct brand of themed attractions — built around Mickey, Minnie and the panoply of animated characters — to the world's most populous country. Disney Chief Executive Robert A. Iger plans to attend the ceremonial groundbreaking Friday, underscoring the project's importance.

[Demeter]

38. Gives them someplace to go

When they have to shut down Disney Tokyo due to radiation contamination...

unless the cloud spreads to Shanghai. The two cities are only 1096.04 miles apart, but the reactors location makes the distance even farther, so it's probably a good interim solution...

This is the #1 fustercluck of the entire human race for the foreseeable future.

[xchrom]

14. Some progress cited in federal budget talks

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-congress-spending-20110407,0,2735099.story

Reporting from Washington—
As partisan rancor intensified on the edge of a threatened government shutdown, President Obama summoned congressional leaders back to the White House on Wednesday, but the late-night session failed to break a stalemate over Republican demands for deep budget cuts.

Even as the public bickering continued, there was progress behind the scenes on details of the spending reductions, and negotiators planned to work through the night. But House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), juggling his own political pragmatism with the conservative convictions of the GOP majority, has refused to yield to a public compromise with Democrats.

"We do have some honest differences," Boehner said as he emerged from the two-hour meeting with Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Reid and Boehner, in a rare moment, stood side by side outside the White House and pledged to keep working. Reid said he believed the meeting "narrowed the issues," and Boehner said there had been "some progress" in reaching a deal to fund the government for the remaining six months of the 2011 fiscal year.

[xchrom]

15. Andreessen Horowitz creates $200-million 'growth-stage' investment fund

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/04/andreessen-horowitz-creates-new-200-million-investment-fund.html

Andreessen Horowitz announced Wednesday the formation of a $200-million investment fund, pushing the firm to a total of $1.2 billion in investments overseen.

A16zlogo The Menlo Park, Calif., venture capital firm will use the new fund to invest in "growth-stage" companies that are past an initial "seed round" funding level or a secondary "venture round" funding stage, John O'Farrell, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in a blog post.

[xchrom]

16. Doyle McManus: The choice between low taxes vs. Medicare benefits

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-ryan-budget-20110407,0,679456.column

Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, won praise from his fellow Republicans this week for proposing a federal budget that would reduce the deficit by slashing spending in almost every domestic program.

Some of the praise was exaggerated; Ryan's plan has holes in it, just like President Obama's budget. Ryan proposes an overhaul of the tax code, but doesn't offer any specifics except for lower tax rates. It doesn't suggest any fixes for Social Security, even though he says fixes are needed.

But on one major point, Ryan has done a great service. He has made it clear that if you're serious about cutting the federal deficit, you have to make a choice: low taxes or guaranteed Medicare coverage. You can't have both.

That may come as unwelcome news to millions of Republican voters, including "tea party" adherents who helped Ryan's GOP win its majority in the House. Polls have shown that most tea party folks are just like everyone else: They want lower taxes and they want to keep their benefits.

[xchrom]

17. Solar panel manufacturing and disposal -- is it green and safe?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/04/solar-panel-manufacturing-and-disposal-is-it-green-and-safe.html

Major solar companies aren’t just prioritizing market share and installed megawatts these days, according to a study that contends that the environmental and health effects of photovoltaic panels also are becoming a major consideration.

In its most recent Solar Scorecard, the nonprofit advocacy group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition ranked international solar manufacturers on factors such as extraction of the raw materials, toxic chemical use in production, worker safety issues, product disposal, recycling and more.

[xchrom]

18. related story from march 10: $6-billion solar industry logs another record year

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/03/6-billion-solar-industry-records-another-record-year.html

The solar industry seems to have turned in yet another record-breaking year in 2010, as the total market value of the sector spiked 67% to $6 billion from $3.6 billion in 2009, according to an annual report.

Companies installed 878 megawatts of photovoltaic solar and 78 megawatts of concentrating solar power facilities, enough to power about 200,000 homes, according to trade group Solar Energy Industries Assn. and GTM Research on Thursday.

[Demeter]

19. Freddie Mac: Tone Deaf at the Top Bill Black

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/75-more-blog-posts-from-william-black/619-freddie-mac-tone-deaf-at-the-top

Freddie Mac made a terse announcement Wednesday in a securities filing about the resignation of its chief operating officer, Bruce Witherell. Freddie said that Witherell resigned "for personal reasons." His departure was effective immediately and he received no termination benefits. He had been receiving several millions of dollars in annual compensation from Freddie. The Wall Street Journal reporter commented:

Efforts to attract and retain top managers at Freddie and its larger sibling, Fannie Mae, have been stymied by salary restrictions that are modest relative to comparable to private sector pay and by the fact that the firm's federal overseers have effective veto rights over major decisions.

It is true that pay at Fannie and Freddie used to be even more criminogenic. According to the Los Angeles Times:

In 2007, then-Freddie Mac CEO Richard F. Syron had a base salary of $1.2 million and total compensation of $18.3 million, according to SEC filings. In the same year, Daniel Mudd, the chief executive of Fannie Mae, had a base salary of $987,000 and total compensation of $11.7 million.

Those were the days, when you could in a single year be made wealthy for destroying a company and causing scores of billions of dollars of losses to the taxpayers. The title of Akerlof & Romer's famous 1993 article has never looked more prescient -- "Looting: the Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit."

I do not know why Witherell resigned. I hope he is not facing a family emergency. I write to ask why he was hired. Witherell's principal experience was with Lehman. In particular, he was chief executive officer of Aurora Loan Services from 2003 to 2006. Lehman owned Aurora. Aurora specialized in purchasing and reselling "liar's" loans...The key point is that Aurora was a massive fraud -- purchasing and selling often fraudulent mortgages. It is virtually certain that Freddie purchased material amounts of Aurora's fraudulent mortgages (directly, or by purchasing collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that were supposed to be backed by Aurora's liar's loans). As my colleague Randy Wray has emphasized, we need a new term for the toxic MBS (mortgage-backed securities) because they often weren't backed by mortgages due to lender fraud....The proverbial bottom line is that a global search for talent, after Fannie and Freddie's second descent into accounting control fraud bankrupted both firms, Fannie and Freddie (with its regulators' blessing) chose Witherell. (Heidrick & Struggles, which describes itself as the leading executive search firm, issued a press release praising itself for finding Witherell.) When Obama knew he had to clean up the Stygian Stables that were Fannie and Freddie -- knew that their senior managers and their regulators had failed catastrophically -- he left in charge the failed regulatory leadership team. The regulator team allowed Freddie to select as its COO one of the leaders in the creation of the liar's loans that were the greatest single contributor to Freddie's failure and the financial crisis. This was bizarre politics -- the senior regulator Obama left in power until his voluntary resignation was a Republican chosen because he was George Bush's close friend since their days together in prep school. It was even more insane regulatory policy.

Freddie (and Fannie) should be suing Aurora/Lehman for their frauds. Freddie and Fannie should be making thousands of criminal referrals against Aurora's fraudulent loans. Witherell would be a key witness in the cases. Freddie placed him in impossible positions due to his conflicts of interest...Aurora was notorious -- why would anyone, much less Freddie, hire a top official from one of the firms most responsible for the frauds that destroyed Freddie and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars in losses? Is there anything that a business leader can do that disqualifies him from receiving millions of dollars annually -- paid for by the taxpayers? It's bad enough that our elites now loot with impunity. Do we really have to make them even richer?

Fannie and Freddie have no need to pay these high salaries to senior managers. It was the perverse executive compensation that drove the accounting control frauds at Fannie and Freddie -- as the SEC explicitly charged. Executive compensation created the perverse managerial incentives that destroyed Fannie and Freddie. This was an unanticipated consequence of their privatization. Because Fannie and Freddie were privatized, their officers designed their compensation system in the same perverse manner as most firms (Bebchuk & Fried 2004). The mangers stood to gain enormous compensation if they inflated short-term accounting income, and as Akerlof & Romer famously observed, accounting fraud is a "sure thing."

Mr. Raines explained in response to a media question what was causing the repeated scandals at elite financial institutions:

Investment banking is a business that's so denominated in dollars that the temptations are great, so you have to have very strong rules. My experience is where there is a one-to-one relation between if I do X, money will hit my pocket, you tend to see people doing X a lot. You've got to be very careful about that. Don't just say: "If you hit this revenue number, your bonus is going to be this." It sets up an incentive that's overwhelming. You wave enough money in front of people, and good people will do bad things.

If we are going to continue Fannie and Freddie's existence then the business model they should follow is simple and requires modest executive pay. Fannie and Freddie should purchase only prime loans and it should promptly package those loans to form MBS and sell the MBS. This will minimize credit and interest rate risk. Fannie and Freddie can hedge the modest interest rate risk created by the "pipeline" of inventory without the need for any esoteric derivatives. The safe business turns out to be a simple business.

[xchrom]

24. boy is that an interesting read. nt

[Demeter]

39. In a stomach-churning kind of way

[Roland99]

45. What makes it stomach-churning is that NO ONE will be held accountable!!

:banghead:

Thanks a billion, Obama, for holding the criminals' feet to the fire... :eyes:

[Fuddnik]

49. Yeah, but just read this!!!!

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/05-9

[Roland99]

50. good slamming there!

[Demeter]

20. Wallison: Leader of the Financial Wrecking Crew by Bill Black

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/75-more-blog-posts-from-william-black/549-wallison-leader-of-the-financial-wrecking-crew

The most theoclassical economists are often non-economists like Peter Wallison...From June 1981 to January 1985, he was general counsel of the United States Treasury Department, where he had a significant role in the development of the Reagan administration's proposals for deregulation in the financial services industry...he is co-director of American Enterprise Institute's ("AEI") program on financial market deregulation.

Wallison is back in the media because the Republican Congressional leadership appointed him to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The Commission has four Republicans and six Democrats. Three of the Republicans were architects of the financial deregulation policies that made possible the current crisis. The fourth, Bill Thomas, was an ardent Congressional supporter of those policies that helped make those policies law. Unsurprisingly, none of the Republicans is willing to support the findings of the Commission's staff's investigations of the causes of the crisis because deregulation, desupervison, and de facto deregulation (the three "des") played a decisive role in making the crisis possible. Each of the Republican members of the Commission is in the impossible position of being asked to investigate his own policies, which the Commission's investigations have shown to have had disastrous consequences.

Even within the Republicans, however, Wallison stands out for the zeal of his efforts to blame everything on the government and working class Americans. He decided that his Republican colleagues had been too weak in condemning the staff's findings and wrote a separate, lengthy dissent to make his case. Wallison's actions were predictable. He was famous prior to his appointment for creating the narrative that the government's desire to help working class Americans purchase homes twisted Fannie and Freddie into the Great Satans that caused the crisis. He believes in complete deregulation - banks deposits should not be insured by the public and banks should not be regulated...Wallison wrote an article in Spring 2007 ("Banking Regulation's Illusive Quest") criticizing a conservative law and economics scholar, Jonathan Macey, who had written an article about financial regulation. Wallison was disappointed that Macey, who typically opposes regulation, concluded that banking regulation was necessary.....AEI's financial deregulation efforts have been immensely influential even though they were run by individuals who had a "total incapacity to do anything" successful "in the real world." Accounting and fraud happen in the real world and they turn these anti-regulatory dogmas into "a total disaster." Indeed, they turn them into recurrent, intensifying disasters. That is why Tom Frank's famous book title: "The Wrecking Crew" describes Wallison so well. He has led the financial wrecking crew. As his track record of failure has increased, so has his refusal to accept personal responsibility for those failures.

MORE AT LINK

[xchrom]

21. Money can't buy China happiness

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MD08Ad01.html

HONG KONG - Late Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, a couple of years before his death in 1976, once advised a visiting foreign guest how to read and understand propaganda in the Chinese media. He said what was being trumpeted or glorified in "our newspapers" was exactly what "we" needed to improve or try to attain.

Nearly 40 years later, his advice seems still valid, even as China's economy and society have changed profoundly. Following his advice, one may interpret Chinese media's zealous praise of "pursuit of happiness for the people" - a goal set by the Chinese government recently - as an indication that "happiness" is still


something Chinese people are in want of, though they are much better off economically.

Indeed, even some Chinese officials and commentators frankly admit this. For example, Zhang Lijuan, a columnist for China.org.cn - the official website of the State Council's Information Office, wrote on March 16, "30 years' of economic reforms in China have created an economic miracle. The government has promoted economic growth with a GDP target every year. But paradoxically, although people are wealthier, they are not happier. Facing issues of social injustice, high inflation, and a widening gap between the rich and poor, the government has decided to directly target happiness."

[xchrom]

22. OMH issue to flood market

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/MD08Cb01.html

MOSCOW - What's been bad for Japan's steel industry has accordingly been not so bad, you might say good, for the China market, and those who supply it with what it must have - iron-ore, coking coal, ferrous scrap, nickel and manganese. These are the primary ingredients of steelmaking. Russian exports them, so does Australia.

The earthquake and tsunami of March 11, followed by the partial meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, have cut about 15 gigawatts of electricity from Japan's consumption capacity. That directly threatens to reduce Japanese steel production and exports for up to 12 months.

Less Japanese steel production means less in the way imports of the wherewithal to make it, but only for the time it takes Japan to


recover from the shock. Then rebuilding will accelerate demand for steel. There are big and related impacts on other minerals and metals, the magnitudes of which vary with the size of Japan's share in global consumption:

[xchrom]

23. there's a lot of stuff in this link: Rise and decline of institutional economics

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/MD07Dj03.html

Institutional economics is a policy-oriented social science that seeks resolution of economic-political problems at government levels that impair the efficiency and equity of the economic


system and the fair distribution of the resultant income and wealth.

Institutional economists generally question the presumption of neoclassical orthodox economics that participants in the economy acting separately and competitively to maximize their own individual self interests in unregulated free markets necessarily result in the best possible common good. Among the aims of institutionalists are the development of effective normative policy analyses upon which goal-oriented government economic policy is derived and problem-solving programs are formulated and implemented to achieve policy aims.

While much intellectual roots in American thought had been sourced from European thinkers, institutional economics in the United States had been developed by American economists in the US historical and political context. Two major figure in US institutional economics are Thorstein B. Veblen (1856-1929) and John Rogers Commons (1862-1945).

[xchrom]

25. India leads the way

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/MD02Dk01.html

MONTREAL - This week in Asia, all indexes gained for the second week running. India was the winner, with the Sensex rising 3.2% to 19,414 since last Friday's close by mid-morning local time, and is now not far from 10% in the last 10days.

Despite being the week's second most volatile index across Asia, its own internal volatility is low and rising slowly, and nearly all other short-term technical indicators are favorable. The index broke through its 200-day moving average in midweek. Short-term resistances appear around the 20,000 and 21,000 levels as well as between them at 20,500.

The next-best performing sub-region was non-China northeast Asia, due more to Seoul than to Tokyo, while together they made for the most volatile sub-region. The South Korean KOSPI, the


fourth-most volatile national index, closed the week up 3% to 2,115. This puts it exactly at a short-term resistance level representing its all-time high. Volatility is low and steady, and nearly all other short-term technical indicators are favorable or very favorable, except for those (and there are several clear signs) showing it to be short-term overbought.



please note the above article was from april 2.
so a few days have gone by.

[xchrom]

26. Sokol Acted Unethically, Warren, Just Say It

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/04/sokol_acted_unethically_warren.html

In announcing the resignation of David Sokol, Berkshire Hathaway executive and possible successor, Warren Buffett said on March 30th, "Neither Dave nor I feel his Lubrizol purchases were in any way unlawful."

Buffett should have gone on to say, "I do, however, think David Sokol acted unethically." But he didn't, and a firestorm of questions about Buffett, Sokol, and Berkshire governance has ensued.

As every business-savvy reader now knows, the "Lubrizol purchases" involved Sokol's acquisition of about $10 million of Lubrizol shares on January 5-7, 2011; his recommendation to Buffett that Berkshire buy the company on about January 14th and then again on January 25th; and Berkshire's decision to buy Lubrizol announced in mid-March with a resulting increase of $3 million in Sokol's Lubrizol holdings.

According to Buffet's March 30th statement, "In our first talk about Lubrizol, Dave mentioned that he owned stock in the company. It was a passing remark and I did not ask him about the date of his purchase or the extent of his holdings."

[xchrom]

27. Corporate Citizenship Should Include Paying Taxes

http://blogs.hbr.org/winston/2011/04/corporate-citizenship-should-i.html

General Electric paid no taxes in 2010. Or at least that was the major takeaway from a recent bomb-dropping exposé in the New York Times. At a time of obsessions with federal fiscal austerity, this was a big story, and everyone was talking about it last week.

I'll admit to having a visceral negative reaction, in part because GE is an important company that most people have high expectations for. So I wanted a bit of distance before composing some thoughts. I thought it would also be interesting to see GE's reaction and response before jumping to conclusions. But even after mulling it, I feel like the whole affair is not good for anyone — the country, the business world, or even GE itself.

Ok, so the facts are these. GE made $14 billion in profits in 2010, $5 billion in the U.S. Its tax bill in the U.S. will be negative $3.5 billion (as in getting money back). Is this legal? Of course it is. But the question on everyone's lips is whether a company can be a solid, contributing member of society and pay no taxes.

That's much less clear. After all, as I've long argued, responsible corporation, particularly one that is responsible with environmental resources, can create real value. GE has been a green leader for a number of years now with its ecomagination products and growth strategy through clean technology. And we always have to include the obligatory, but not insignificant, mention of providing jobs and livelihoods. We should also remember that this story is about income tax, not all taxes — I assume the company is still paying social security taxes on all employees (please tell me they are).

[xchrom]

28. this isn't new: Benefit Corps, a New Kind of Company

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/can-animals-save-us/benefit-corps-a-new-kind-of-company

For-profit corporations have become known over the past two decades for layoffs, outsourcing, and determination to maximize profits for investors—no matter the cost to employees, consumers, or the economy. But such practices may be waning: States across the U.S. are considering laws to enable entrepreneurs to create corporations that do as much for society as they do for their shareholders.

Maryland was the first state to pass Benefit Corporations (“B-Corps”) legislation. Co-sponsored by State Senators Jamie Raskin and Brian Frosh and Delegate Brian Feldman, the law, which went into effect in October 2010, creates a new class of corporation committed to having a positive impact on the environment and society. Vermont and New York passed similar legislation in June. Legislators in other states, including California, Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, are considering the issue.

Businesses incorporated under B-Corps laws have social goals and commitments written into company bylaws. This ensures that companies will no longer face the hard choice of sacrificing their socially beneficial goals in order to fulfill their responsibility to investors when, for example, an acquisition offer is on the table. Under traditional corporate law, company heads can’t refuse such an offer for fear of a lawsuit from shareholders.




this has probably been posted on du before -- but i like the article and i think other marketeers would like it.

[Demeter]

40. It's Worth a Try

But I'll bet the MBAs fight it tooth and nail.

[xchrom]

29. Sarkozy May Stop Ireland From Getting A Rate Cut On Its Bailout For Over A Year

http://www.businessinsider.com/ireland-interest-rate-2011-4

Ireland has three countries between it and a lower interest rate on its bailout loan, according to the Irish Independent. Ireland needs a unanimous vote to get that rate cut from the EU.

The first two, Finland and Germany, are worried about domestic political issues. The Fins are holding an election on April 17, and should be open to allowing the Irish rate cut thereafter. The recent elections in Germany have hit Chancellor Merkel hard, and it may be sometime before she can allow an Irish rate cut to occur, without seeing strong opposition from her base.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ireland-interest-rate-2011-4#ixzz1Ipuqvg00

[xchrom]

30. Is The Global Economy TOAST Or BOAST?

http://www.businessinsider.com/is-the-global-economy-toast-or-boast-2011-4

An important question that you've probably asked yourself: If the global economy TOAST or BOAST?

What do these words mean?

As Morgan Stanley explains, TOAST = Tough Oil And Soggy Trade. So that means...

Assumes Brent oil surges to US$140 and stays there and global trade growth falls 5% short of the baseline. Result: a serious bout of stagflation. Global GDP falls about one percentage point below our baseline in both 2011-12 (3.2% and 3.6% respectively). Inflation turns out to be about one percentage point higher (4.8% and 4.5% respectively).

And BOAST = Benign Oil And Surging Trade.

Assumes Brent eases to US$ 90 and stays there and global trade growth is 5% above baseline. Result: Global GDP growth at 4.8% this year (0.6 pp above baseline) and a hefty 5.4% (0.8pp above baseline) in 2012, with China and India displaying double-digit growth rates. Global inflation drops by 0.5pp below baseline.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/is-the-global-economy-toast-or-boast-2011-4#ixzz1IpvEeWEI

[Demeter]

41. It's just toast--as in charcoal

radioactive charcoal, at that.

[xchrom]

31. Remember The Payroll Tax Holiday? Look Where That Went

http://www.businessinsider.com/remember-how-the-payroll-tax-holiday-was-going-to-save-the-economy-2011-4

Bad news. The entire benefit from the payroll tax holiday will be wiped out by April, thanks to soaring food and energy prices, says BofA/ML.

In the United States, the job market is showing increasing signs of life. In March, payrolls rose by about 200,000 for the second month in a row. For the quarter as a whole, our US economics team points out that aggregate hours worked rose at a 2.0% annual rate. Adding in a percentage point of productivity growth to this number, the rough supply-side measure of GDP growth comes to 3.0%. On the
back of this improving outlook, markets have been very sensitive to even the smallest hint of an exit . However, consumption is looking softer despite the payroll tax cut. The 2% cut in the social security tax started adding about an $8bn per month tailwind to disposable income starting in January.
Unfortunately, that tailwind is quickly being displaced by mounting food and energy price headwinds. As Chart 23 shows, our US economics team thinks the cumulative rise in food and energy prices this year will completely cancel out the tax cut by April.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/remember-how-the-payroll-tax-holiday-was-going-to-save-the-economy-2011-4#ixzz1IpvjIrun

[DemReadingDU]

33. The New Commodore 64, Updated With Its Old Exterior

4/6/11 The New Commodore 64, Updated With Its Old Exterior

nearly 30 years later, the Commodore brand has taken on new management and is re-releasing its flagship computer, this time with all the amenities of a modern-day computer packed inside.

In its heyday, the Commodore 64 was one of the most successful home computers made, shipping more than two million units a year for almost a decade after its release. Although exact numbers don’t exist, experts estimate that the company sold between 15 and 30 million Commodore 64 computers.


The new Commodore 64, which will begin shipping at the end of the month, has been souped-up for the modern age. It comes with 1.8 gigahertz dual processors, an optional Blu-ray player and built-in ethernet and HDMI ports. The new Commodore is priced between $250 to $900.

The company’s Web site says that the new Commodore 64 is “a modern functional PC,” and that although the guts of the device have greatly improved, the exterior is “as close to the original in design as humanly possible.” Most people would not be able to visibly tell the old or new versions apart, it says.

more...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/the-new-commodore-64-updated-with-its-old-exterior/

[Roland99]

35. ha! That would make a great conversation piece as a low-end home theater PC

:)

[Roland99]

34. US Futures: upticking away. Oil breaks above $109/bbl

S&P 500 1,332 +2.80 +0.21%
DOW 12,377 +20.00 +0.16%
NASDAQ 2,330 +4.50 +0.19%

[xchrom]

37. oy. -- is the economy so recovered from the Great Recession

that it can absorb japan, oil spikes, food spikes, etc?

i don't see it.

[Demeter]

42. 7.2 Quake at Fukushima at 11:16 EDT; Tsunami on its way

So long, DOW

[Fuddnik]

48. Mother Nature's way of saying "Fuck You Shima"!!

I thought they canceled the tsunami warning.

[Demeter]

43. Why Pay Congress? By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/opinion/07kristof.html

If we careen over a cliff on Friday and the American government shuts down, hard-working federal workers will stop getting paychecks, but the members of Congress responsible for the shutdown are expected to be paid as usual.

That’s partly because Congressional pay is not subject to the regular appropriations process, and partly because of Constitutional concerns. The Senate passed a bill proposed by Barbara Boxer of California that would suspend Congressional paychecks in any government shutdown, but the Republican-controlled House has blocked it. House Republicans approved a similar pay suspension, but it was embedded in legislation that has zero chance of becoming law.

The upshot is that federal workers who do important work for the public — cleaning up toxic waste, enrolling sick people into lifesaving medical trials, answering medical hot lines, running national parks, processing passport applications — risk being sent home and going unpaid. But members of Congress would continue to receive $174,000 a year. As the humorist Andy Borowitz wrote in a Twitter message: “That’s like eliminating the fire dept & sending checks to the arsonists.”

In my travels lately, I’ve been trying to explain to Libyans, Egyptians, Bahrainis, Chinese and others the benefits of a democratic system. But if Congressional Republicans actually shut down the government this weekend, they will be making a powerful argument for autocracy. Chinese television will be all over the story...

[xchrom]

44. nicely written -- love the borowitz quote. nt

[tclambert]

54. I thought we paid Congress because we don't want those people running loose in the streets.

Keep 'em institutionalized and keep 'em busy arguing with each other.

[Roland99]

51. Oil has topped $110/bbl.

awesome.

[Fuddnik]

52. Oh goody! I just noticed gas was $3.69 this morning.

I'd probably better top off tonight before it jumps any more.

[Po_d Mainiac]

53. Where is diesel at? n/t

[Demeter]

55. $3.89 HERE IN THE DEPRESSION BELT