STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday May 18

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday May 18, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON May 17, 2010

Dow... 10,625.83 +5.67 (+0.05%)
Nasdaq... 2,354.23 +7.38 (+0.31%)
S&P 500... 1,136.94 +1.26 (+0.11%)
Gold future... 1,215 -13.50 (-1.10%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.48 -0.01 (-0.37%)
30-Year Bond 4.35 -0.02 (-0.34%)

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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:
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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

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

[ozymandius]

1. Today's Reports

08:30 Housing Starts Apr
Briefing.com 675K
Consensus 655K
Prior 626K

08:30 Building Permits Apr
Briefing.com 715K
Consensus 680K
Prior 680K

08:30 PPI Apr
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.7%

08:30 Core PPI Apr
Briefing.com 0.0%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.1%

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

[ozymandius]

2. Oil rises above $71 after 2-week sell-off

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $71 a barrel Tuesday in Asia, bouncing back after fears a European debt crisis could halt a global economic recovery sparked a 20 percent sell-off over two weeks.

Crude has plummeted from $87.15 a barrel on May 3 on investor concern that deep government spending cuts and spiraling higher debt obligations will choke off economic growth and oil demand.

Global crude demand has rebounded this year from last year's recession, led by consumption in emerging economies such as China and India. Some analysts expect demand in the U.S. to pick up in the second half as the economic recovery takes hold.

Investors will be eyeing the latest U.S. crude supply data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday and the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on Wednesday for signs demand may be improving.

Analysts expect inventories rose 950,000 barrels last week, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Crude stocks have grown 14 of the last 15 weeks and supplies at the key Cushing, Oklahoma storage terminal are at a record high.

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

[salazarmms]

6. long on oil?

[ozymandius]

8. I am neither long nor short on anything.

Welcome to the Stock Market Watch. :hi:

[ozymandius]

9. Top US senator: Lift oil spill liability cap

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The top US senator said Monday that raising oil firms' liability for economic damages from a spill to 10 billion dollars was "inadequate," amid growing anger at a ruinous slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The catastrophe that continues to poison our Gulf coast is a wake-up call. We must make sure that oil companies learn their lesson," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid noted that US law requires oil firms to pay up to 75 million dollars for economic damages, calling that "clearly insufficient" and noting efforts in the US Congress to raise that ceiling.

"Some believe it should be raised to 10 billion dollars. Others support no cap at all. I certainly think a 10-billion-dollar cap is inadequate," the senator said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100517/pl_afp/usblastoilenergypollutionpoliticsreid

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No cap to damages is fine with me. To paraphrase Shakespeare here: "If Big Oil be rough with you then you be rough with Big Oil.

[Demeter]

18. Unhinged: When Concrete Reality No Longer Matters to the Market (and What to Do About It)

I'll continue posting segments of this fine summation until I've used it all up... if you are the impatient type, or have the time, it's at:

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay10/market-unhinged-from-reality05-10.html

Exhibit 2: Fabricated Supply and Demand Scam: The Speculative Run-Up in Oil

Remember in the mid-2000’s when the media kept falling over itself to explain why gas prices were unhinged from oil supply and unrelated to any impinging world and seasonal events. Back then it was all explained away by mumbo-jumbo about the price of refining, and how certain refineries were off line. By 2007, the U.S. had begun a serious inquiry, with some settlements won for price fixing by retailers (the “bad apple strategy” that always leaves the big boys untouched), and, soon after, the prices settled down.

Now we have news of a new unexplained buoyancy in gas prices. This time commentators aren’t even bothering to pretend it has any rational connection with present supply and demand. Oil supplies are abundant, demand is down due to unemployed people staying home, and the summer driving season has yet to arrive. Instead prices are being “expectation driven” by speculators betting future upticks in the world economy, particularly China’s, will increase demand for oil.

The bitter irony of all this future possible value being more important than the present actual value is that this speculation could actually drive prices beyond the reach of people with less money now due to the poor economy and squash the very recovery that would give rise to legitimately higher prices in the future.

Again, a certain kind of twisted, counterproductive logic is allowed to run the market without correction from present, concrete conditions.

[hamerfan]

20. Thanks, Demeter,

for breaking this up into chunks/chapters. It makes it a lot easier for me to digest and gives me time to think through each chapter without encountering brain overload.
hamerfan

[Hugin]

36. I'm glad I'm not alone in sensing this Unreality.

It reinforces my belief in the Force. :jedismilie:

[Ghost Dog]

40. Seconded

(or thirded, whatever).

I'm in Barcelona at the moment (all cool here, still, in the center, but...), cadging intermittant internet connection off I don't know whom (this barrio is so sindico-anarchist :) ), planning to drive the old diesel Peugeot up to Geneva over the next few days (driving on account of potential vagrant volcanic ash clouds, and because the train would be inconvenient time-wise and much more expensive in monetary terms, though not in still-unaccounted pollution terms). Taking my time.

We'll see if I manage to engrave my socio-politico-financial impressions on paper, later, maybe once I'm back home on the arid island.

I think we're turning the corner. There will be Change. :hi:

Nb. They say we need not only to eliminate waste and reduce social costs, but also that we need to improve commercial competitiveness (competitivity?). Sure. We regulate the financial industry: that will eliminate a lot of waste. And we attack corruption elsewhere. Socially, in southern Europe we are behind still way behind the progressive curve. And as regards competitivity: My question: In terms of Quality (German, Scandinavian-style - quality of life), or in terms of Quantity, producing and consuming more-and-more unnecessary crap (and destroying the planet)?

Change is going to come. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaNzxniXxYE&feature=related

[happyslug]

43. What would you invest in if you believe a major decline is just ahead?

Land would be my first option, on the grounds that no matter how far its value goes down land retains value (But if the decline STARTS in Land, you may be looking at a 90% drop in price, just like what happened in the Great Depression, 89% price drop between 1928 and 1938 for example). Gold and Silver would be a second choice, for like land it will also have some value. The question is what do you invest in if Gold and Silver are sky high AND land is dropping like a rock in value (i.e. Present day)? You want to invest in something whose value will be retain in a general decline and right now that is oil. No matter how bad the economy will go, oil will have some value for people will need it to hear their homes, run their cars etc. Unlike food (another item people always need) there is limited number of suppliers of oil, yet you have many potential buyers and thus a constant demand. In simple terms oil is a safe place to deposit money in while looking for better investments. I suspect this is why the price of oil has held its own, people are afraid to invest in anything else. The same rationale explains the recent support for the US Dollar, people have more faith that the Dollar is hold its value then any other currency in the world given today's economic situation.

Bubbles can start with safe investments as more and more money try to go to the safest investments people can buy. The price then starts to go up as more and more people are willing to pay top price for a safe investment. Now, most bubbles start and end with speculative investments, but any subsequent bubble tend to be a race to safe investments (i.e. the Dot-Com was followed by the Real Estate Bubble). Right now, people with money do NOT trust real estate but want a safe place to deposit their money. For example, US Treasure bills are selling at a price where buyers of the bonds are PAYING the Federal Government to hold onto their money. Why? because investors biggest fear is LOSING their Money NOT missing a chance to earn a profit. The same with oil, investors prefer the relatively safety of oil, then anything else at the present time. This is keeping demand up, even as inventories of oil are at records high (Unlike 2007-2008 when inventories were low). This is what I believe is driving the market, fear and a search for safe investments. Right now, oil looks like the safest investment, how long will that last I do NOT know, but it is what is keeping the price of oil fairly steady over the last few months.

Please note the recent increase in the price at the pump is probably the result of the traditional switch from making home heating oil, for ruse in the winter, to making Gasoline, for the summer driving period. The recent price at the pump can best be explained by the shortages caused by the switchover. To a degree this also affects oil prices (Europe uses more diesels then the US and Diesel and Home Heating oil is basically the same fuel as diesel, thus in the spring and summer you see Gasoline being shipped to the US from Europe, driving down the price of gasoline in the US, but also increasing the price of oil in Europe).

Something is wrong, I suspect it is do to the fear of losing money, and the efforts to avoid such a lost. That explains the US Treasury bonds sales AND the fact oil is holding its own when it comes to price.

[Ghost Dog]

46. Nice analysis, happy. But those "safe" investments in oil reduce

investment in sustainable alternatives to oil.

Sure, we're all (ordinary people) thinking about how to survive the current circumstances. But, what happened that we no longer make longer-term plans for the future, anymore?

Even the "Western Oligarchy", to coin a term,, I'd suggest, needs to think very carefully about the future, if they're serious.

In the near future, for example, Europe (is already and) will be working closely with North African partners on Mega-Solar-Electric projects.

Eyes open. The best defense is to attack, usually.

[happyslug]

64. I am NOT talking of the Future, but the present

As I stated below, the problem is NOT with people looking to invest long term, but people looking to invest for the near future. Where do they want to deposit their money?

Now, smart people will look at long term investments such as solar and renewable power sources, but the problem investors that are causing the problems are NOT looking long term, but what will give them profits (or no loses) this year? This year to year view has become the norm since about 1980 (and had been the norm prior to 1930). FDR and the "Second New Deal" (The 1938 era changes in the US Law that permitted 20 year mortgages and other long term investments to become the norm, when previously it had NOT been the case) forced society to look at terms longer then one year. People tend to forget that prior to the 1930s, if you mortgaged your home you had to pay it all back (or get a another mortgage) within a year. The old westerns of the 1930s made a point about this, showing cases where the bank refused to renew the mortgage and the homesteader had to find a way to pay the mortgage in full. Yes, each year your old mortgage was paid in full, more often then not by entering a new mortgage on the property to be paid within one year (and this patterned continued till the homestead was paid in full). In the late 1930s FDR help invent what is now know as Fannie Mac that would buy long term mortgages banks entered into. These long term investments became the norm after WWII (One of the side affects of the GI Bill AND other housing programs of the Federal Government). All these programs started businesses in thinking long term, i.e more then one year. By the 1970s most companies started to think in 20 plus year terms. This was encouraged by the tax structure, high income taxpayers faced a 90% tax rate, but if the investment was from an investment of five years or longer, the 90% tax rate only applied to 50% of the profit, an effective 45% tax rate IF LONG TERM. Kennedy started the decline when he drop the overall tax rate to 70%, but Reagan killed the whole concept when he dropped top tax rate to 35% AND eliminated long term capital gains.

In affect Reagan said make your money this year or five year from now, I tax you the same. FDR had said, make your profits this year or in Five years, I will tax you TWICE as much for rapid profits then for profits from long term investments.

Sorry about going on a tangent, but the switch to long term investments started under FDR, was effectively killed by Reagan. Long term investments were valued the same as short term swindles under Reagan. 20 year mortgages were part of FDR program, but under Bush II it was effectively undermined for short term profits. And that is what is looking for investments in Oil today, people looking for short term profits NOT people looking long term, we are NOT even looking at people buying oil wells for future production, instead it is oil for rapid re-sell and re-purchase of more oil. Thus Long Term Investors are NOT what is causing this problem but people looking for a quick profit OR to minimize losses so they have money for the next opportunity to make a quick dollar.

[Ghost Dog]

67. Yeah! Right on. Say more!

I'm brief 'cause lack of (shared) connectivity... Say more, I say. The world wants to learn.

[DemReadingDU]

74. For the present? Stockpile for an emergency, Here's a list

Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency
http://baconreport.blogspot.com/2007/07/top-100-items-to-disappear-first-during.html

Also
1. Have some extra cash at home, in a safe place. Some people say keep at least 1 month, or more.
2. After this, if you have extra money, pay off all debts

If I had more extra money, I would invest in a solar water heater.

[Demeter]

75. Reagan Killed a Lot of Things (and People)

[Demeter]

47. Solar Power

There isn't anything like electricity in the world--and biomass diesel. And wind, and water distillation equipment. And insulation.

And enough land to feed your nearest and dearest. And enough security to keep it all under your control or enough privacy to hide it.

And then, books. God knows we will try to keep the Internet, but....

And knowledgable people who can make and repair and DO things other than shuffle paper and feet.

[Ghost Dog]

54. Electricity is like, magic, and there is so much more to learn, is that not so,

Demeter, American engineer?

[Demeter]

58. Electricity is Very Basic

what we don't want to lose is the manufacturing capability. So me can make replacement equipment, etc. And innovate.

Which is why people are screaming about shipping it all overseas.

[Tansy_Gold]

76. Absofuckinglutely

Are there things you wanta know how to do? Get yourself a big ass hard drive -- 1, maybe 2 terrabytes worth -- and start downloading. Documents, blueprints, schematics, manuals, how-to videos. Learn how to do stuff.

Are we gonna have a new dark ages? Maybe, maybe not. But there are things one can do quickly, easily, even cheaply that provide damn good insurance.

[happyslug]

57. That sounds like a good ten year plan

Which, I fear, we are facing and what most investors are NOT willing to accept. Everyone knows there is to much money in the economy and it has to be destroyed, generally that is done through bankruptcy. When the excess money is destroyed the economy will start to boom again (hopefully like 1938-1980 NOT the bubbles of the 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s).

Solar power and finding a way to have a source of "income" (Which may be barter type income) may see many people through this coming years, but the thrust of my comment is the big investors who will NOT accept a decline in value of their investments and will do everything to keep that value up.

[Ghost Dog]

65. The "big investors", in general, you refer to, happy,

have made big mistakes in the recent past, right?

It just doesn't make technical sense, never mind the economics (which tend to follow), this return to sixteenth-century finance/politics/mentality.

The response, in the West, may come (some hope) from below. The response, in the East, will come from above. Intellectually very evolved.

Unlike dumbed-down tv-wanker culture.

[DemReadingDU]

73. Thanks for the daily sections

That was a long article!

[Festivito]

3. Debt: 05/14/2010 12,926,689,780,236.68 (DOWN 721,487,692.56) (Fri)

(Down a little. Good morning.)

(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)
= 8,420,100,716,520.27 + 4,506,589,063,716.41
DOWN 440,383,687.55 + DOWN 281,104,005.01

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 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.7, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,267,685 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $41,797.74.
A family of three owes $125,393.22. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 4,486,841,044.41.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,439,911,467.38.

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$/day.
There were 156 reports in 226 days of FY2010 averaging 6.52B$ per report, 4.50B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 982 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.3 and 18.0T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
05/14/2010 12,926,689,780,236.68 BHO (UP 2,299,812,731,323.60 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 +1,016,860,776,724.90 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,642,275,148,250.39 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
04/26/2010 +000,019,005,411.26 ------------******* Mon
04/27/2010 +000,734,843,937.10 ------------********
04/28/2010 -000,020,446,125.69 ----
04/29/2010 -019,519,315,418.04 -
04/30/2010 +098,427,087,705.17 ------------**********
05/03/2010 -004,329,381,263.93 -- Mon
05/04/2010 +000,043,170,775.25 ------------*******
05/05/2010 +000,598,834,211.91 ------------********
05/06/2010 -014,947,673,650.95 -
05/07/2010 +000,000,195,077.74 ------------*****
05/10/2010 +000,804,647,162.22 ------------******** Mon
05/11/2010 -000,148,047,510.67 ---
05/12/2010 +000,782,970,242.92 ------------********
05/13/2010 +003,301,759,550.17 ------------*********
05/14/2010 -000,440,383,687.55 ---

65,307,266,416.91 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=4384774&mesg_id=4384778

[Festivito]

53. Debt: 05/17/2010 12,974,895,930,216.56 (UP 48,206,149,979.88) (Mon)

(Up a lot. Good day.)

(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)
= 8,466,170,133,514.44 + 4,508,725,796,702.12
UP 46,069,416,994.17 + UP 2,136,732,985.71

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 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.7, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,287,624 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $41,950.91.
A family of three owes $125,852.72. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 4,417,346,564.44.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,239,387,480.59.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,134,891,110.25.
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$/day.
There were 157 reports in 229 days of FY2010 averaging 6.78B$ per report, 4.65B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 979 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.3 and 18.0T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
05/17/2010 12,974,895,930,216.56 BHO (UP 2,348,018,881,303.48 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 +1,065,066,926,704.80 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,697,595,756,538.22 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
04/27/2010 +000,734,843,937.10 ------------********
04/28/2010 -000,020,446,125.69 ----
04/29/2010 -019,519,315,418.04 -
04/30/2010 +098,427,087,705.17 ------------**********
05/03/2010 -004,329,381,263.93 -- Mon
05/04/2010 +000,043,170,775.25 ------------*******
05/05/2010 +000,598,834,211.91 ------------********
05/06/2010 -014,947,673,650.95 -
05/07/2010 +000,000,195,077.74 ------------*****
05/10/2010 +000,804,647,162.22 ------------******** Mon
05/11/2010 -000,148,047,510.67 ---
05/12/2010 +000,782,970,242.92 ------------********
05/13/2010 +003,301,759,550.17 ------------*********
05/14/2010 -000,440,383,687.55 ---
05/17/2010 +046,069,416,994.17 ------------********** Mon

111,357,677,999.82 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=4386232&mesg_id=4386238

[ozymandius]

4. Greece to get $17.9 billion EU aid at 6 a.m. ET: official

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will receive 14.5 billion euros ($17.9 billion) in aid from the European Union at around 1000 GMT (6 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, a central bank official said, in time to pay an 8.5 billion euro bond the next day.

It was Greece's presumed inability to pay this debt, which matures on Wednesday, that prompted the EU and IMF to intervene with a 110-billion euro emergency aid package. The IMF has already lent Greece 5.5 billion euros.

According to a standard convention for Greek bonds, Greece would not technically default on its payments as long as it paid the principle within seven days and the interest within 30 days, though the markets might well have viewed any delay differently.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100518/bs_nm/us_greece_economy

[Demeter]

27. Europe’s Debt Crisis Casts a Shadow Over China

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/business/global/18yuan.html?hpw

The pain of the European debt crisis is spreading as the plummeting euro makes Chinese companies less competitive in Europe, their largest market, and complicates any move to break the Chinese currency’s peg to the dollar.

Chinese policy makers reached a rough consensus early last month about breaking the dollar peg and letting the currency, the renminbi, rise in value somewhat, according to people close to Chinese currency policy makers. Uncoupling the currencies would make American goods more competitive against Chinese products. But for various reasons, China has not yet put that policy into place.

And in light of the euro’s nose dive, such a move could be difficult. Letting the renminbi rise against the dollar would also mean a further increase in the renminbi’s value against the euro, creating even more problems for Chinese exporters to Europe.

The euro has plunged against the renminbi in recent weeks, at one point Monday reaching its lowest level since late 2002.

The steep rise of the renminbi prompted a Commerce Ministry official in Beijing to warn Monday that China’s exports could be threatened.

The official’s comments were the most explicit yet on the implications for China of Europe’s recent financial difficulties. The comments also suggest that even China — the world’s fastest-growing major economy and increasingly the engine of global growth — is not immune to the crisis that started in Greece and threatens to spread across much of Europe.

“The yuan has risen about 14.5 percent against the euro during the last four months, which will increase cost pressure for Chinese exporters and also have a negative impact on China’s exports to European countries,” Yao Jian, the ministry’s spokesman, said at a news conference in Beijing, according to news services, using another term for China’s currency.

It is a potentially awkward moment. The American secretary of commerce, Gary Locke, is in China this week leading the first cabinet-level trade mission of the administration of President Obama.

Some economists warn that China may face more problems. The biggest reason Chinese exports plunged early last year was not weakening demand in industrialized countries but a sudden, temporary disappearance of trade finance from Chinese and foreign banks. The availability of trade finance could easily become a serious problem again soon, said Dong Tao, the chief Asia economist at Credit Suisse.

Chinese exporters rely very heavily on bank letters of credit to finance their shipments. The availability of the letters of credit is closely linked to overnight lending rates between banks. When banks have trouble borrowing money themselves — as has been happening as a result of worries about European banks’ possible losses from the region’s sovereign debt crisis — they tend to cut sharply the issuance of letters of credit for trade finance.

The banks see that as a quick, easy way to conserve cash without violating the terms of other financial obligations, like established lines of credit for big corporations.

Interbank lending rates surged late last week and on Monday and must now come back down very quickly to persuade banks to keep issuing letters of credit, Mr. Tao said. “Without trade finance, trade won’t happen,” he said.

The Shanghai stock market plunged Monday, with the composite index falling 5.1 percent on worries about global demand as well as concerns about possible further moves in China to limit a steep rise in real estate prices this spring.

Some Chinese companies are already running into difficulty because of the euro’s fall against the renminbi.

“We have been receiving calls from some European clients who signed contracts with us earlier this month, and they all want to cancel their orders, since the depreciation of the euro has eroded all their margins and then some,” said Elvin Xu, the sales manager of Guangdong Ouyi Electrical Appliance in Zhongshan, China, which makes gas stoves, heaters and water heaters.

“They say they cannot increase the prices at their end to their customers, given intense competition in their marketplace,” Mr. Xu added.

The renminbi is rising along with the dollar against the euro. The Chinese government has continued to intervene heavily in currency markets in recent weeks to prevent the renminbi from rising against the dollar, maintaining an informal peg of 6.827 renminbi to the dollar, the level since July 2008.

Because American companies in particular compete in the Chinese market with European companies in many industries, the euro’s weakness against the renminbi is putting American companies at a disadvantage. The American commerce secretary, Mr. Locke, said Monday in Hong Kong that Mr. Obama’s goal was to double American exports by 2015. Short-term currency fluctuations do not detract from that goal, he said in an interview, adding, “Who knows what the euro will be next month, six months from now or a year from now?”

Steve Jennings, one of the American executives traveling with Mr. Locke, said that the weakness of the euro would help European companies compete against American companies in export markets all over the world.

“As the euro continues to decline, they’re going to have some advantages,” said Mr. Jennings, the chief marketing officer of BPL Global, a company based in Oregon that manufactures electricity monitoring equipment....

AND ALTHOUGH YOU PROBABLY DON'T NEED THE REMINDER, US TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING FOR PART OF THE EURO BAILOUT...SHOOTING OUR EXPORTS IN THE FOOT, THEREBY

[Demeter]

28. E.U. faces tough questions as euro continues to slide

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/16/AR2010051603653.html?hpid=topnews

The once-mighty euro, which briefly plunged to a four-year low against the dollar on Monday, may be doomed to keep falling whether or not European leaders can contain the region's roiling debt crisis.

The euro clawed back from a deep spiral in Asian trading Monday, closing down 0.2 percent at 1.239 against the dollar. But after its slide of almost 4 percent against the greenback over the past week, analysts say the euro's continued fall over the coming months may be inevitable given the economic turmoil gripping the region.

Assuming there is no full-blown run, the decline may not be all that bad for Europe -- a weaker currency, after all, would make German BMWs and Spanish wines cheaper overseas, heightening demand. By the same token, a surging dollar would make U.S. products less competitive.

For Europe, the real danger is yet to come. If the euro's fall accelerates, investors could begin to question the viability of what was considered the world's most ambitious monetary experiment when it was introduced 11 years ago. There could even be pressure to eject members of the 16-country eurozone if they cannot get their finances in order, although there is currently no mechanism to do so....

[Demeter]

29. Default, and other dogmas

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/europeview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16095379

The experience of ex-communist countries in the 1990s undermines many of the claims now made about Greece...

FOR anyone from the ex-communist world with a medium-term memory, the frantic efforts under way to save Greece (and the other wobbly southern members of the euro zone) are rather puzzling.

For a start, what is so bad about default and restructuring? In the 1990s Russia restructured $32 billion worth of Soviet debt into PRINs and IANs (both are now stored in the Museum of Financial Archaeology and may be viewed on application to the curator). In 1998 it defaulted on those debt instruments. People said Russia’s financial credibility would never recover. One banker said he would rather eat nuclear waste than invest in Russia again. But within a couple of years, Russia was flavour of the month.
Relics of restructurings past

It was the same story with Poland, which restructured its debt after 1989. Thanks to heavy politicking from America, the freely elected authorities were allowed to swap sovereign debt incurred by the communist regime into less onerous “Brady bonds” (stored in the same museum, also viewable on application). Hungary, which did not have the same backing from America, has had to pay its debt in full. That depressed its growth rate in the 1990s and meant lower government spending and higher taxes. Hungary should have benefited from this sacrifice by gaining a better credit rating. It didn’t. Funny things, markets.

The moral is that investors’ memories are short. If Greece were to restructure its debt, it would not take long for greed to trump fear and for capital to start flowing again.

A second piece of dogma undermined by the experiences of the ex-communist countries is that leaving a common currency area is all but impossible. The Czech and Slovak korunas separated without even a ripple of disturbance. The Yugoslav dinar disappeared in a puff of hyperinflation, but the currencies that succeeded it did pretty well almost from the word go. The death-agonies of the Soviet rouble were painful, but now the Russian currency is one of the most solid in the region. Dig out the drachma from the museum and it may float better than anyone expects.

But perhaps trumping these feelings of confusion is a kind of envy. Greece is benefiting from the kind of support of which the ex-communist half of Europe could have only dreamed in the 1990s. Imagine for a moment that Greece was an EU candidate country, rather than a full member of both the union and of the euro zone. To judge by the way Turkey has been treated in recent years, Brussels would be demanding not only a leaner public sector but a different political system: for example, secularisation of church-state relations, greater minority rights or a climbdown on issues such as the names the country calls its neighbours.

The big difference, of course, is that in 1981, when it joined the then EEC, Greece was just one small country emerging from authoritarian rule (and from a military regime that had been partly supported by the West). In 1989, the sentiment was different. The west Europeans felt intimidated by the ill-dressed needy hordes in the east and preferred to slow things down rather than speed them up. That led to a long process of negotiations with phoney benchmarks for reform and adoption of EU standards. That was a great business for bureaucrats and consultants. But at the end the decisions on which countries to admit were almost entirely political. Funny thing, politics.

The lesson of Greece is that faced with a big, urgent issue, Europe can get its act together. What will it take for Ukraine or Turkey, both of which arguably deserve EU membership just as much as Greece does, to gain the same kind of attention?

[Demeter]

31. Berlin calls for eurozone budget laws

Germany is to press other eurozone countries to adopt their own versions of Berlin’s balanced budget law. The law bans the federal government from running a deficit of more than 0.35 per cent of gross domestic product by 2016
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/OJLN7C/B49CK/GKNJHF/GKI4DO/36/t

[Demeter]

32. Most French expect Paris to default

Europeans and Americans see a plausible chance of their governments defaulting in the next decade, with the French emerging from among the largest nations as most nervous about their country’s public finances
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/4RNQTT/OJLN7C/B49CK/GKNJHF/180HOO/36/t

[Ghost Dog]

42. NYT(not only) == Pentagon/Zionist psyops. n/t

(I mean, for example, to what unspecified American so-called "goods", as opposed to the cornucopia of Chinese/Other Asian so-called "goods" does this NYT journo refer)?

Most "journalists" are just required to repeat memes (and, which memes?) and fill up the "white space" between the diminishing advertising placements.

Dinosaurs.

[ozymandius]

5. Japan business mood turns positive; consumers upbeat

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese manufacturers turned optimistic for the first time in two years in May, a Reuters poll showed, providing further evidence of the economy's continuing recovery led by Asian demand.

Manufacturers expect sentiment to improve further over the next three months, with export-led industries such as electrical appliance and machinery makers encouraged by growing demand from China and elsewhere in Asia, the Reuters Tankan showed.

Consumer confidence also hit a 2- year high in April, a separate government survey showed, in a sign the optimism was spreading.

There are early signs of improvement in domestic demand. Japan's core machinery orders rose in March and manufacturers expect further increases in the coming months, suggesting capital spending will keep rising moderately.

Consumer confidence improved for the fourth straight month in April to hit its highest level since October 2007, a Cabinet Office survey showed on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100518/bs_nm/us_japan_economy

[ozymandius]

7. April credit card data shows fewer late payments

NEW YORK – More consumers paid their credit card bills on time in April, in another sign the fledging economic recovery may be picking up some steam.

Capital One, Discover, American Express, Chase and Citibank all said the rate at which they wrote off unpaid credit card bills fell last month. Several lenders saw improvement for the second straight month.

American Express had the lowest rate at 6.7 percent of its total loans, down from 7.5 percent in March. American Express customers tend to be more affluent than those of some of the other lenders.

Of the top six U.S. credit card issuers, only Bank of America posted higher charge-offs for April — 12.71 percent versus 12.54 percent in March. Citi took the No. 2 highest spot at 11.23 percent of total balances, though that improved from 11.55 percent in March.

Every one of the top six issuers said the number of bills 30 days or more past due declined in April. Bank of America had the highest late payment rate at 6.73 percent of its total credit card loans, but that was still less than the 7.07 percent a month earlier. American Express had the lowest delinquency rate at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent in March.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_bi_ge/us_credit_cards_charge_offs

---

Barry Ritholtz, among others, believe that the consumer spending upswing and the drop in credit card defaults is due to higher mortgage delinquencies. Don't pay the mortgage: higher disposable income.

[ozymandius]

14. Consumer spending trend is a shaky foundation for economic recovery

Increased consumer spending has fueled hopes that the current economic recovery will keep getting stronger, but behind the encouraging numbers is a little-noticed reality: Much of the new spending has come not from America's broad middle class but from a small slice of affluent people at the top.

And upper-crust spending, while welcome, can be worrisomely volatile: Since it involves luxuries, not everyday necessities, the buying can suddenly shrink if something such as the recent stock market plunge panics affluent shoppers.

What's more, some analysts calculate that another big chunk of the recent spending spurt has come from an even shakier source — delinquent homeowners who have more cash in their pockets because they've stopped making mortgage payments now that their houses are worth less than the loan amounts.

The improving job market should broaden the base of consumer spending, but wages are not expected to go up fast, which will crimp middle-class spending power.

Moreover, the job gains this year have gone largely to less-educated and lower-income workers, according to Labor Department statistics.

Since December, sales at luxury chains have outpaced those at department stores and discounters, helping boost overall consumer spending by a surprisingly robust 3.6% in the first quarter, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers.

But an economy that has become more dependent on the well-to-do is an economy at the mercy of volatile financial markets.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer-spending-20100516,0,4184055.story

[Demeter]

15. I Actually Know a Guy Who Did This

Finally gave up and walked away from the house because of the homeowners association (and the inability to pay both mortgage and revolving credit bills). Makes over $50K but has way too much credit card debt. Was told he couldn't go chapter 7 because he makes too much. Now exploring Chater 13.

[AnneD]

39. One of the blessings of not owning a home....

is that we were able to dig out of our hole sooner. That alone has brought us so much peace of mind.

We took out a small loan to be able to pay my IRS taxes this year. We borrowed 7K in March and as of this week owe 1.3K and probably have it paid off at the end of the month.

While I was there I was checking my credit. The loan officer congratulated me. My credit went from a C to a strong B (no small feat in this environment). He gave me a pre-approval letter for a car loan (more than I need for a good used car)to prevent them from running credit checks and dropping my credit. He also said that I qualify for a home loan now.

We are so close to being out of servitude. We are in no hurry to get back in to debt. A good used car loan that we can repay within a year is not seen as bad, but before we take on the obligation of a home-we will not be in debt other than the home and we will have a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months as a back up. We want a 15 year fixed and will retire only upon paying off the house. Hubby may retire early as he has a business that can give us extra money. Once we have a paid for house-our pensions should cover our living expenses and our investments should cover the extras.

Well, that is the plan anyway-for what it is worth. We will both continue to work, but it will be our choice.

[happyslug]

45. No, the article clearly says lower rate of "Write offs" not late payments

Given that many retailers like closing their books on January 31st (January 31st gives retailers a chance to see what was the total intake for Christmas minus the returns after Christmas AND do to activities of Christmas many retailers have their lowest level of inventory in January), followed by the fact Corporate IRS first quarter statements are generally due March 15th (not April 15th, which is the deadline for Income tax for the previous year), April will always have less write offs then January, February or March. In January many corporations wants to get their books up to date for that years Income tax filing (remember, while you file on April 15, the actual tax year ended on December 31st (through many Corporations use February 1st to January 31st Taxable year, others use March 1st to February 28th Taxable year).

Now some corporations use January 1sr to December 31st (The Calendar year), the law permits them to use other dates as long as they do it every year (and when they change Taxable years explain why). Just a comment that the reduction in April write offs may be the result of Companies preferring to write off bad debts just before the end of their Taxable year then at any other time of the year AND that may explain why April writes off were down, for most writes offs occurred in December, January, February and March.

Thus you have strong reasons to write off bad debts in January, February and March of any one year. You have less reasons to do so in April. Thus it may be that every year you see a decline in write offs in April, since for tax and financial reporting requirements it is better to write them off in January, February or March then April. In simple terms this may mean nothing, it may mean something, but I suspect nothing.

[ozymandius]

10. FTSE climbs at open

LONDON (AFP) – The leading stock exchange shot higher at the start of trade on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 index climbed 0.95 percent to 5,312.54 points.

The headline Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 45.64 points to end the morning session at 10,281.40, after losing 2.17 percent Monday to close at its lowest level since March 4.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100518/wl_uk_afp/stocksbritain

[ozymandius]

11. SEC, exchanges mull tight circuit breakers: sources

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators and exchanges are considering market-wide circuit breakers that would temporarily stop trading when it falls five percent, two sources familiar with the talks said on Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and major exchanges, responding to the severe stock market plunge on May 6, could detail the changes later on Monday or on Tuesday. There are already broad circuit breakers in place, but those were not tripped in the plunge.

The SEC is also looking at other thresholds that would slow or stop trading for a period, although those details were unclear, one source said. New breakers based on individual stock movements are also expected.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100518/bs_nm/us_selloff_breakers

[Demeter]

16. 5% of 10k is 500 points

not that it will do them any good. If it's going down, it's going down regardless of how many steps it will take, and people will not be able to liquidate, which makes it much worse.

Better to take out the HFT. Now THERE'S A cheat and artificial market driving force. And Naked Shorts.

[ozymandius]

12. Credit card overhaul cuts bank fees by $5B

New credit card and overdraft restrictions will save U.S. consumers from being charged at least $5 billion in fees this year alone at the largest U.S. retail banks and credit card companies, a USA TODAY analysis reveals.

The analysis — based on institutions' own estimates — comes during a year when new rules are kicking in to address unfair credit card rate increases and steep bank overdraft fees. It highlights the sizable dent these rules will have on an industry blamed for pushing consumers deeper into distress during the recession.

In recent years, banks made it easier for consumers to overdraw their bank accounts and raised credit card fees and rates. As consumer outcry swelled in the recession, Congress passed a credit card law and the Federal Reserve issued a regulation to crack down on banks' aggressive overdraft policies on debit cards.

Lawmakers hope the restrictions will mean much-needed savings for consumers, boosting spending and the economy. Indeed, new data show the measures are their "own little stimulus for the economy, keeping billions in the pockets of consumers rather than in profits gained from deceptive practices," says Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., co-author of card reform signed into law last year.

Of the 10 institutions with the largest amount of credit card receivables, seven gave estimates about the credit card law's impact. In all, the issuers —Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, HSBC North America and Barclays Group US — will forgo at least $2.5 billion to $3.1 billion in fees just in 2010. Also, seven of the top 10 depositary institutions expect to take a combined $2.4 to $2.6 billion hit under the new overdraft rules and banks' voluntary policy changes.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2010-05-18-creditcardfees18_st_N.htm

[Demeter]

59. My Bank Has the NERVE

to ask depositors to send post cards to Congress protesting this!!!!

[ozymandius]

13. What’s Up with Goldman Sachs?

A great ginormous graphic posted at The Big Picture shows how Goldman Sachs has been a bad neighbor for decades. The controversies weigh most heavily in recent years.

[Demeter]

17. Nice Summation

Use it as a charge sheet!

[ozymandius]

19. Have a nice day, everyone.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
Off to work... :hi:

[Demeter]

21. Gome founder jailed for 14 years

Huang Guangyu, once China’s richest man, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and had Rmb200m worth of his property confiscated for insider trading, bribery and illegal business dealings
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/ZB2C10/3CWTA/ZB77GT/BMX7MF/MQ/t

They may be a dictatorship, but it's not a CORPORATE dictatorship....

[Demeter]

22. GM reports first profit in three years

Detroit carmaker’s turnround due mainly to sharp improvement in its North American operations, which swung to a $1.2bn operating profit, from a loss of $3.4bn in previous quarter
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/ZB2C10/3CWTA/ZB77GT/HDQKD6/MQ/t

[Demeter]

23. Iran deal sets back US goal of sanctions

The deal with Turkey complicates Washington’s drive to impose more UN sanctions on Iran, perhaps the highest priority of the Obama administration’s foreign policy
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/UU688O/Q38E1/S3OOU1/S3LN1C/JY/t

GOOD. The Iraq Sanctions were the most shameful thing the US has done since turning away the boatloads of Jews in the 1930-40's, or ravaging South and Central America, or....anyway, one less atrocity is all to the better.

[Demeter]

24. EU ministers thrash out details of loan scheme

European finance ministers praised Greece, Portugal and Spain for adopting rigorous measures to restore order to their public finances and overcome Europe’s sovereign debt crisis
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/UU688O/Q38E1/S3OOU1/S3LN10/JY/t

[Demeter]

25. ECB reveals €16.5bn bond purchases

European Central Bank says it has bought €16.5bn worth of eurozone government bonds so far as part of the eurozone rescue plan announced last week, and pledges to counter any inflationary side effects
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/UU688O/Q38E1/S3OOU1/WLG1BM/JY/t

and monetizing the debt goes global--this cannot end well. Of course, "ending well" is not the goal....

[Demeter]

26. Arkansas Democrat gets tough with banks

Blanche Lincoln, the Democratic senator from Arkansas, is vowing to press ahead with her controversial plan to force deposit-taking banks to spin off their derivatives operations, a tough new provision that is set to be debated on the Senate floor this week
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/UU688O/Q38E1/S3OOU1/18CG0A/JY/t

[Robbien]

34. They are saying this is just a campaigning tactic

Reid/Dodd allowed her to add this amendment onto the bill so she can campaign on it. They fear she is not going to get 51% of the vote without those damn lefty bleeding hearts.

The plan is to water down the amendment as soon as the primary is over.

[Demeter]

48. Sometimes the Best Laid Plans Get Away From Them

Lately, it's all the time.

[Demeter]

30. Lehman to spin out European mezzanine unit

The bankrupt US lender is to sell one of the last parts of its disbanded investment management empire as it announces that its European mezzanine business is spinning out as an independent group called Neovara
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/73UJGG/EW9D8G/GYN7Q/TP08XF/RNUSJ3/QR/t

[DemReadingDU]

33. Responses to the Gulf Oil Spill and to the Financial Crisis Are Remarkably Similar

5/17/10 ZeroHedge: The Responses to the Gulf Oil Spill and to the Financial Crisis Are Remarkably Similar ... And Have Made Both Crises Much Worse

The Gulf oil spill and the financial crisis were both caused by excessive risk-taking by industry giants and the "capture" of politicians and regulators by the corporate behemoths.

Moreover, the response to the Gulf oil spill and the financial crisis are remarkably similar.

With regards to the financial crisis, the response has been to cover up the truth:

The same is true for the Gulf oil spill.

Indeed, the industry and government spokespeople have used the exact same word as each crisis - financial and environmental - unfolded. They said the problem was "contained".

In both cases, we the people are left holding the bag because the giant companies and their campaign-contribution-buddies in DC are trying to sweep the severity of the problem under the rug, to manage the crisis as p.r. campaigns to protect those who let it happen ... instead of actually taking steps necessary to solve the problems, and to make sure they won't happen again.

more...
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/responses-gulf-oil-spill-and-financial-crisis-are-remarkably-similar-and-have-made-both-cris

[Hugin]

38. To make a long story short... (so to speak) Both have been textbook examples of the capitalism.

"Privatize the profits and socialize the risks. (and then blame the sour outcome on socialism.)

[Demeter]

49. Denial Is a River of Universal White-Out

until the rains fall....

[Ghost Dog]

51. .

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

[Robbien]

35. Financial advisers to municipalities colluded with Banks to defraud public

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/18/bloomberg1376-L2M9970YHQ0X-1.DTL

<snip>

West Virginia was just one stop in a nationwide conspiracy in which financial advisers to municipalities colluded with Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Wachovia Corp. and 11 other banks.

They rigged bids on auctions for so-called guaranteed investment contracts, known as GICs, according to a Justice Department list that was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on March 24 and then put under seal. Those contracts hold tens of billions of taxpayer money.

California to Pennsylvania

The workings of the conspiracy -- which stretched from California to Pennsylvania and included more than 200 deals involving about 160 state agencies, local governments and non- profits -- can be pieced together from the Justice Department's indictment of CDR, civil lawsuits by governments around the country, e-mails obtained by Bloomberg News and interviews with current and former bankers and public officials.

"The whole investment process was rigged across the board," said Charlie Anderson, who retired in 2007 as head of field operations for the Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond division. "It was so commonplace that people talked about it on the phones of their employers and ignored the fact that they were being recorded."

Anderson said he referred scores of cases to the Justice Department when he was with the IRS. He estimates that bid rigging cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Anderson said prosecutors are lining up conspirators to plead guilty and name names.

"This will go on for a long time and a lot of people will be indicted," he said in a telephone interview.

Bidding Encouraged

The U.S. Treasury Department encourages public bidding for GIC contracts to ensure that localities are paid proper market rates. Banks that conspired in the bid rigging for GICs paid kickbacks to CDR ranging from $4,500 to $475,000 per deal in at least 10 different transactions, government court-filed documents say.

A GIC is similar to a certificate of deposit, but its rates aren't advertised publicly. Instead, towns rely on advisory firms such as CDR to solicit competing offers.

In the bid-rigging deals, CDR gave false information to municipalities and fed information to bankers allowing them to win with lower interest rates than they were otherwise willing to pay, the indictment says. Banks took their illegal gains from the additional returns and paid CDR kickbacks, according to the indictment.


---

Headline on original article makes no sense at all:
Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash


Per the article banks were caught doing something like this before in defrauding munis. They paid the fine and while they were writing that check they were setting up the this GIC scheme to defraud munis:


This isn't the first time Wall Street has faced accusations of reaping excessive fees on investment deals with public officials. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008, Merrill Lynch & Co. and other securities firms agreed by 2000 to pay more than $170 million to settle SEC charges that they had sold overpriced Treasury bonds to municipalities.

The so-called yield burning drove down the returns that local governments earned and trimmed required payments to the IRS. The firms neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

Even as the banks were settling with regulators, they devised another way to burn yield, this time by skimming money from GICs, according to the indictment, which said the conspiracy went from 1998 to at least 2006.

---------

Its a long article with good details. Someone over at SFGate did a good job at researching this fraud. Too bad the headliners screwed up with that headline.

[bread_and_roses]

37. Just read that. It never ends. Someone tell me again how wonderful Capitalism is (n/t)

[Ghost Dog]

52. SFGate is on my "Honest (Serious) Americans" list..

For what it's worth.

[Dr.Phool]

41. Phizer to trim 6,000 jobs, shut 8 plants worldwide.

That merger killed a lot more jobs than they admitted. The University of Florida used to conduct a lot of clinical trials for Wyeth. They would advertise in the Sunday St. Pete Times for people to participate in research Hepatitis C, laxatives for opiate and methadone patients, weight loss and more.

Since the merger last year, haven't seen a single one.


NEW YORK -- Pfizer Inc. said today it will cut 6,000 jobs as it trims its manufacturing capacity worldwide after acquiring smaller rival Wyeth last year.

The world's biggest drugmaker says it will cease operations at eight plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. by the end of 2015, and reduce operations at six other plants over the next several years. The plants make a range of pharmaceutical and consumer health products. Overall, the company operates 78 plants internationally and employs about 116,000 workers.

The New York-based company said in April it would cut 20,000 jobs as part of the Wyeth integration.

"The restructuring of our global plant network is critical to our efforts to remain competitive so that we can continue to meet patient needs and expand the access and affordability of our medicines," said Pfizer global manufacturing president Nat Ricciardi, in a statement.

Under the plan, Pfizer will cut operations at pharmaceutical plants in Caguas, Puerto Rico; Loughbeg, Ireland, and Rouses Point, N.Y. The company plans to shut down injectible medicines plants in Carolina, Puerto Rico and Dublin, Ireland. Other shutdowns include biotechnology plants in Shanbally, Ireland along with consumer health care plants in Richmond, Va. and Pearl River, N.Y.

(more)

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/pfizer_to_trim_6000_jobs_shut.html

[Demeter]

50. After Pfizer Has Bought Up Every Other Pharma, Will They Shut Themselves Down?

and why the hell isn't the govt. shutting them down for playing monopoly?

[TalkingDog]

44. Marketing the Gulf Spill

Don't tell me somebody hasn't thought of it......

[Roland99]

55. 3:48pm - Lackluster day. Oil taking a spill.

Dow 10,536 -90 -0.85%
Nasdaq 2,323 -31 -1.33%
S&P 500 1,124 -13 -1.18%
GlobalDow 1,827 -7 -0.37%
Gold 1,222 -6 -0.46%
Oil 69.36 -0.72 -1.03%
Euro /$1US 1.2211 -0.0181
$1US / Yen 92.4100 -0.2000
Pound / $1US 1.4345 -0.0139
10-yr T-bond 3.38 -0.11

[Robbien]

56. Lackluster only if you missed

the middle of the day trades.

Markets slid down in the morning to almost a hundred under, then went up to a positive almost 200 and ends the day where it started.

The PPT did a great job of bringing the market up, but then Germany banned naked short selling (for a WHOLE YEAR) which made the market tank.

[Demeter]

61. Angela Reads SMW?

Whoodathunkit?

[Robbien]

62. Quite a few financial blogs are calling her stupid for doing this

She banned only naked shorts. Naked shorts are supposed to be illegal in the first place.

She sat there and watched the naked shorts kill off the trillion dollar bailout they set up and finally said enough. No use throwing any money around if the only thing that happens is that naked shorts chase it.

By the way Goldman dropped like a rock on the news and now is at about $137.

[Ghost Dog]

66. She's learning, fast.

'Fuck's sake, what do you expect from even the above-average so-called democratic politician?

Of course, the true answer is the "nuclear option".

[Demeter]

60. You Should Be Slapped for That

or forced to listen to Beetle Bomb for 24 hours straight...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2kv-QQhIE

[Roland99]

63. I just downloaded that a couple of weeks ago from lala.com!

lol

[Ghost Dog]

68. This will cure ear-worms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WrXqN_qEy0

:evilgrin:

And also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Zsb0Y8Tpg

(Very straight). :smoke:

[Roland99]

69. So will this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-I7-gF4rJQ



ok ok...seriously...try this:

John Williams from the Seville Concert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzz-MywbJlw

[Ghost Dog]

70. You're a clown, Roland..

:rofl: :hug:

The second is, authentic, though.

There are more bars, and there is more music (and beautiful women) in Spain (and let's not mention, for example, Cuba) than in the whole of the Rest of Europe put together.

(Limiting to Europe music only).

Heh. So what?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t936rzOt3Zc

[Roland99]

71. Oh, nice selection there.

BTW, you're quite welcome for the hilarity! lol!

[Ghost Dog]

72. Truth with smiles

:)

That was, um, Italian, though ;)

Solidarity. Thanks. mate.