STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 19 April 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

Last edited Wed Apr 18, 2012, 11:28 PM - Edit history (1)

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 19 April 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 18 April 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 18 April 2012
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Dow Jones 13,032.75 -82.79 (-0.63%)
S&P 500 1,385.14 -5.64 (-0.41%)
Nasdaq 3,031.45 -11.37 (-0.37%)


[font color=black]10 Year 1.97% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=red]30 Year 3.12% +0.01 (0.32%) [font color=black]


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

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison



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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[bahrbearian]

1.

[Demeter]

2. Giant Banks Now 30% Bigger than When Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Law Was Passed

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/giant-banks-now-15-bigger-than-when-dodd-frank-financial-reform-law-was-passed.html

IN MY MIND'S EYE, I SEE ALL THESE MASSIVE MARBLE EDIFICES, SWELLING LIKE WATER BALLOONS, UNTIL THEY EXPLODE IN A SHOWER OF COLD WATER REALITY...

[Demeter]

3. The Founding Fathers Knew that Debt-Financed Wars Ruin the Country

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/it-is-incumbent-on-every-generation-to-pay-its-own-debts-as-it-goes-a-principle-which-if-acted-on-would-save-one-half-the-wars-of-the-world.html

Thomas Jefferson said:

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes — a principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

He was right.

The father of modern economics – Adam Smith – agreed:

Were the expence of war to be defrayed always by a revenue raised within the year (instead of financing it with long-term public debt), the taxes from which that extraordinary revenue was drawn would last no longer than the war. The ability of private people to accumulate, though less during the war, would have been greater during the peace than under the system of funding. War would not necessarily have occasioned the destruction of any old capitals, and peace would have occasioned the accumulation of many more new. Wars would in general be more speedily concluded, and less wantonly undertaken. The people feeling, during the continuance of the war, the complete burden of it, would soon grow weary of it, and government, in order to humour them, would not be under the necessity of carrying it on longer than it was necessary to do so. The foresight of the heavy and unavoidable burdens of war would hinder the people from wantonly calling for it when there was no real or solid interest to fight for. The seasons during which the ability of private people to accumulate was somewhat impaired, would occur more rarely, and be of shorter continuance. Those on the contrary, during which that ability was in the highest vigour, would be of much longer duration than they can well be under the system of funding.

Libertarian economics writer Lew Rockwell noted in 2008:

You can line up 100 professional war historians and political scientists to talk about the 20th century, and not one is likely to mention the role of the Fed in funding US militarism. And yet it is true: the Fed is the institution that has created the money to fund the wars. In this role, it has solved a major problem that the state has confronted for all of human history. A state without money or a state that must tax its citizens to raise money for its wars is necessarily limited in its imperial ambitions. Keep in mind that this is only a problem for the state. It is not a problem for the people. The inability of the state to fund its unlimited ambitions is worth more for the people than every kind of legal check and balance. It is more valuable than all the constitutions every devised.

***

Reflecting on the calamity of this war, Ludwig von Mises wrote in 1919

One can say without exaggeration that inflation is an indispensable means of militarism. Without it, the repercussions of war on welfare become obvious much more quickly and penetratingly; war weariness would set in much earlier.

***

In the entire run-up to war, George Bush just assumed as a matter of policy that it was his decision alone whether to invade Iraq. The objections by Ron Paul and some other members of Congress and vast numbers of the American population were reduced to little more than white noise in the background. Imagine if he had to raise the money for the war through taxes. It never would have happened. But he didn’t have to. He knew the money would be there. So despite a $200 billion deficit, a $9 trillion debt, $5 trillion in outstanding debt instruments held by the public, a federal budget of $3 trillion, and falling tax receipts in 2001, Bush contemplated a war that has cost $525 billion dollars — or $4,681 per household. Imagine if he had gone to the American people to request that. What would have happened? I think we know the answer to that question. And those are government figures; the actual cost of this war will be far higher — perhaps $20,000 per household.

***

If the state has the power and is asked to choose between doing good and waging war, what will it choose? Certainly in the American context, the choice has always been for war.

Progressive economics writer Chris Martenson explains as part of his “Crash Course” on economics:

If we look at the entire sweep of history, we can make an utterly obvious claim: All wars are inflationary. Period. No exceptions.

***

So if anybody tries to tell you that you haven’t sacrificed for the war, let them know you sacrificed a large portion of your savings and your paycheck to the effort, thank you very much.

Blanchard Economic Research pointed out in 2001:

War has a profound effect on the economy, our government and its fiscal and monetary policies. These effects have consistently led to high inflation.

***

David Hackett Fischer is a Professor of History and Economic History at Brandeis. His book, The Great Wave, Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History … finds that … periods of high inflation are caused by, and cause, a breakdown in order and a loss of faith in political institutions. He also finds that war is a triggering influence on inflation, political disorder, social conflict and economic disruption.

***

Other economists agree with Professor Fischer’s link between inflation and war.

James Grant, the respected editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, supplies us with the most timely perspective on the effect of war on inflation in the September 14 issue of his newsletter:

“War is inflationary. It is always wasteful no matter how just the cause. It is cost without income, destruction financed (more often than not) by credit creation. It is the essence of inflation.”

James Madison said:

In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.

Madison also noted that never-ending war tends to destroy both liberty and prosperity:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Many have said that “war is the health of the state”, and Thomas Paine wrote in the Rights of Man:

In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice, nor warped by interest, would declare, that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes.

And George Washington – in his farewell address of 1796 – said:

Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty.

ARGUMENT CONTINUES: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/02/debunking-the-myth-that-war-is-good-for-the-economy-once-and-for-all.html

[Warpy]

7. Every student of history knows that

All empires do two things as they expand: oppress their own people to keep things quiet at home and go deeply into debt to finance the continuous fighting it takes to hold onto turf that isn't theirs.

The US is making both mistakes. We'll be lucky to get out of it with the same borders we have now. We'll be lucky to get out of it without being on the losing end of the next world war.

[Demeter]

16. That's what I love about you Warpy

You are always so damn cheerful.

I don't think there's a megalomaniac outside of this country that wants the task of oppressing the US citizenry...because I don't think the US citizenry would tolerate outside oppression. The new master would just appoint a puppet...like Jeb.

The willingness to tolerate inside oppression, though. That's VERY troubling. I thought we were made of more independent stuff. I blame the GOP and the 1% Elitists. They have conditioned Democrats and Republicans alike into accepting the concept of "class differences". The only difference I can see is the amount of money and power and the willingness to abuse them and the people with less power and money.

[Warpy]

51. You're not getting the hopefulness here

because once Empire is slapped down, the imperial country contracts and becomes a much more humane place to live for quite some time. Look at the former empires of Europe.

[Demeter]

4. IMF: Global economic recovery fragile and risk of relapse high

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/apr/17/global-economic-recovery-fragile-imf

Disorderly default and exit by eurozone member could spark market panic and cause bigger crisis than after Lehman collapse, IMF says in World Economic Outlook report

SO, THE BREAKUP OF THE EUROZONE IS STILL ON THE TABLE...

...Asked about the risks that a country would leave the euro, Blanchard said: "We are doing everything possible so that this does not happen."

The IMF's chief economist said membership of the single currency made it harder for countries to become more competitive, but added: "For the moment there is no plan B. The costs of one country leaving the euro unilaterally would be very big and would lead to a very large drop in output."

Blanchard said there would be contagion risks if one country departed from the single currency, and said this would be one of the circumstances in which the firewalls would be needed. There would be knock-on pressure on the sovereign bonds of other nations, he said....

[Demeter]

5. Crisis to Suicide: How Many Have to Die Before We Kill the False Religion of Austerity?

http://www.alternet.org/economy/155012/crisis_to_suicide:_how_many_have_to_die_before_we_kill_the_false_religion_of_austerity/?page=entire

If suicide is a measure of a society’s health, the Eurozone is getting sicker by the minute. The rate of people taking their own lives is soaring in Europe at such a clip that the trend has given birth to a new media term: "Suicide by economic crisis." How has it come to pass that people would rather die than be subjected to the pain imposed by global elites? (HOW HAS IT COME TO PASS THAT PEOPLE WOULD RATHER DIE THAN FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES?==DEMETER)

A Ghastly Epidemic

Before the 2007 global financial meltdown, suicides in European Union countries had fallen sharply among people under age 65. Now, thanks to misguided economic programs and the sheer greed of financiers, that trend has abruptly reversed. The new wave of suicides tracks closely with rising unemployment. In Ireland, churches offer seminars on themes like "Suicide in Recessionary Times." Ever more draconian austerity measures that strip income and social aid act as a toxin, leaving the population so stricken that for some, dying seems the only relief.

In Greece, taking one’s own life is so deeply stigmatized by the Greek Orthodox Church that bodies are rejected for burial. Not surprisingly, suicide rates in the country have been historically low. Yet in 2011, when the joblessness rate rose from 13.9 percent to 20.9 percent, calls to a major suicide hotline more than doubled, with 5,500 people talking of ending their lives. Hotline workers report a variety of underlying issues cited by callers, but job losses and deep cuts in salary are prominent. Callers who often reveal no previous history of mental illness testify to life changes too devastating to cope with. A Greek Ministry of Health study found that the suicide rate in the first half of 2011 was 40 percent higher than the year before. Greece now has the most rapidly increasing rate of suicide in Europe. Shocking headlines tell gruesome tales of the bankrupt and the jobless, like Apostolos Polyzonis, a 55-year-old Greek businessman who set his body ablaze outside the bank that refused to see him last September. He was eventually saved by police and shared his desperation:

"I don't feel proud about it, no way, but all these situations made me lose my self-respect and feel like I've been deprived of my rights because being able to pay your taxes is not only an obligation but also a right. People should have the possibility to pay their taxes, to pay their obligations to others, to offer the basic goods to their family so they can feel that they live with self-respect and dignity.”

More recently, the world shuddered at news of retired Greek pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in central Athens near the Greek Parliament, leaving behind a note stating that the austerity measures that yanked his pension left him facing a life of rummaging through garbage pails and burdening his children.

Squeezed dry by an economic crisis they did not cause, the people of Europe are left without any means to help themselves – and to many, death seems the only alternative.

MORE...INCLUDING RELIGION'S ROLE

[Demeter]

6. The Curious Case Of Liquidity Traps And Missing Collateral – Part 1

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2012/04/the-curious-case-of-liquidity-traps-and-missing-collateral-part-1.html

...Let me begin with the following key premises for my argument and the state of the global economy and financial system post 2008/09. I will try to develop each of these statements in the posts that follows.

The crisis of 2008/09 has ushered in what is likely to be a period of severe stress in global sovereign fixed income markets. Sovereign debt distress and defaults are messy and costly affairs and take a long time to deal with. We have now entered a period where the next 10-20 years will see several developed economies default on their sovereign debt. Ageing populations, too low growth and insufficient future income/consumption to push forward mean that the OECD is now at an inflection point. For global financial markets this means that an unprecedented and systemic share of the global fixed income market is likely to be in distress at any given point in time over the next 10-20 years.

There is an acute shortage of liquid triple A rated government securities. This shortage is structural and capital deepening in emerging economies is too slow and insufficient in size to take up the slack. Pension funds, insurance companies and big real money managers are now essentially unable to construct their portfolios in such a way to match their future liabilities with a satisfactory (or perhaps even promised) yield. In addition, this leads to mispricing in remaining assets considered the last safe havens. US government bonds, UK Gilts, German Bunds, Danish Mortgage Backed Securities etc.

Central banks are now acting as international clearing houses for the banking system. This is mainly seen in Europe where the ECB has been forced into taking up slack for an interbank market which has essentially been broken. Lowering of collateral standards, ever higher portions of liquidity and extension of maturities of its open market operations are all signs that the ECB is now effectively not only acting as the lender of last resort, it is de-facto the vehicle through which European banks can access liquidity across all maturities. However, whether the central banks buys government bonds outright or funnels demand through the banking system amounts to the same thing.

The demand for credit is as much a problem as is the supply. Sifting through the references below, you will find that at least one solution to the problem is that governments must issue even more impaired debt instruments which essentially become assets backed by liabilities created by the central bank. We must understand however that the core of the problem is that there is now a structural lack of solvent sovereign and private credit demand. The argument goes that the higher demand for safe haven triple A rated assets must be met with supply by sovereign debt issuers, but the ability of governments to issue such securities is structurally impaired.

Central bank monetisation of government liabilities either outright or through open market operations providing liquidity to banks are not costless, even in a liquidity trap. Macroeconomic theory is currently informed by the notion that creating unlimited amount of excess bank reserves in the presence of a liquidity trap (zero velocity environment) has no malicious inflationary side effects. I think the evidence from more than three years of monetary experiment among the major central banks forces us to re-visit this conclusion.

MORE

[xchrom]

8. 2 nights i've been without sleep

[DemReadingDU]

9. You must be so tired

Can u nap during the day?

[xchrom]

11. i'm gonna try. thanks. nt

[Demeter]

17. Is it mental or physical pain keeping you up?

Take care of yourself...we need every hand on deck in this storm.

I slept most of yesterday because of the back strain (aspirin and alcohol helped) and am feeling almost normal...got to take it easy for a couple days, and then start some conditioning to get things aligned and flexible...some people just need a sign, and I think I just got mine.

If it's mental, physical exercise and a little bit of coddling helps. So does pleasant distraction....or even unpleasant, in a pinch.

[xchrom]

24. it's not physical -- i don't hurt.

so it must be mental.

shouldn't be -- but there it is.

conditioning is a great thing to do -- there's no bad there.

[Demeter]

34. Maybe you need to stay up all night

to reset the biological clock to line up with the sun.

[xchrom]

39. oh that might be a good idea.

usually i'm awake -- but just stay in bed.

i might try that....

[TalkingDog]

59. I have a sleep "disorder". And while I've cut the going to sleep time down from 1.5 hours to average

which is 15 to 20 minutes, I still have issues with waking up at 3:30 or 4:00. Most sleep specialist will recommend NOT laying in bed. Get up and do something task oriented but boring. Sorting laundry, arranging spice racks... you know, repetitive but about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I used to lay in bed then get sleepy about the time the alarm was set to go off 7 or so. Now I can get up, putz around for an hour or so and start feeling tired. I can usually (not always) fall back to sleep.

We really aren't built to sleep all night. That wake up in the middle is actually fairly normal. And from an evolutionary/survival point of view a handy thing to get up and check for bears, cougars or velociraptors (yesterday was National Velociraptor Awareness day btw)

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Velociraptor



So, good advice upthread. Get up and watch paint dry. Just know that next time it happens, you won't be alone. Most likely I'll be awake with you.

[xchrom]

60. Velociraptors, bears & cougars - oh my!

I knew there was a reason I wasn't sleeping.

Drs. Used to try to give me drugs for my sleep & they work til they don't work.

Then I'm back to square 1.

[TalkingDog]

61. Well, if you are desperate, homeopathy works for some people (yes, I know it's just a placebo)

but desperate times and all that.....


An assortment of coping stategies: Hot baths, tryptophan, above mentioned homeopathy, getting enough sun during the day to reset your internal clock, yoga, exercise in general.

And, for me, because I have a touch of ADD, which means racing thoughts as I lay in bed (brain squirrels I call them), some type of stimulant (1/2 cup of tea) before bed helps keep the brain squirrels at bay.

[xchrom]

62. I've not been diagnosed w/ ADD - but chronic depression.

And Monkeys - as I call them - I know very well.

Years ago - when I had my favorite dog - I would just go out walking.

The dogs I have now are not so suited & I'm older.

I'm going to try not staying in bed.

[DemReadingDU]

64. My daughter suffers from depression since a teenager

She's mid-30s now, has tried various medicines. I think she is on Effexor now. Sometimes I get emails from her in the weeee hours of the morning, so she must have insomnia. My son appears to be going thru a bout of depression now, lots going on. It's a tough getting thru it, I don't think my daughter will ever be able to get off the meds.

[xchrom]

65. Yeah - my thing has always been mess work for a while

Then they don't.

I learn/Ed to live w/ it.

Sleep deprivation is - interestingly - 1 of the worst parts.

[xchrom]

10. Obama Announces Empty Crackdown on Oil Speculation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167433/obama-announces-empty-crackdown-oil-speculation

In the Rose Garden this morning, President Obama spoke strongly about the need to crack down on the Wall Street speculation that leads to higher consumer gas prices. “We can't afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage, and driving prices higher—only to flip the oil for a quick profit,” he said. “We can’t afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions, while millions of American families get the short end of the stick. That’s not the way the market should work. And for anyone who thinks this cannot happen, just think back to how Enron traders manipulated the price of electricity to reap huge profits at everybody else’s expense.”

The White House outlined five steps oday to address the problem:

A six-fold increase in the surveillance and staff budget of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Information technology upgrades at CFTC.

Substantially increasing penalties for energy market manipulation.

Empowering the CFTC to raise margin requirements in oil futures markets, which should reduce volatility and price disruptions

Executive orders to improve intergovernmental data sharing with the CFTC

These are all noble ideas, and ones that should be enacted. There’s just one small problem: all but one rely on Congressional action. And there is absolutely no chance Republicans will help Obama lower gas prices before a presidential election.

It is completely fair, and wise, for Obama to explain the policies he favors for combating oil price speculation, regardless of their viability. When Republicans block them, he can use it as a defense against their attacks about Keystone XL, or whatever other talking point the GOP uses to unfairly blame the president for high gas prices.

[Roland99]

12. Mexed missages on the futures today

DOW +34
[font color="red"]S&P -1.60
NASDAQ -4[/font]

[Roland99]

15. Futures moving up now after US unemployment numbers on the rise

[Demeter]

33. Maybe, but Market's going down at open

Will there be the Invisible barrier rebound?

[xchrom]

13. Spain’s contagious collapse

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/spains_contagious_collapse/

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The words “Spain” and “contagion” have already made history together.



Spanish flu spread around the world in the early 1900s. The pandemic didn’t begin in Spain, but it was there that the world realized how serious — and unstoppable — the outbreak had become.

Now, as Spain takes up a central position in Europe’s economic crisis, the analogy is clear.

Sickly economies in Greece, Portugal and Ireland may yet respond to the European Union’s limited array of economic remedies.

But if Spain’s attempt to heal itself with a shock-treatment of austerity fails, the EU may not be strong enough to prevent the infection from spreading to Italy, France and beyond.

[Roland99]

14. Today's Employment Reports (unemployment claims on the rise) >>>>

* Continuing claims climb 26,000 to 3.3 million
* Four-week claims average rises 5,500 to 374,750
* Weekly U.S. jobless claims total 386,000

[Demeter]

18. Wall St weighs up potential downgrades

Morgan Stanley is seen as among the most vulnerable if Moody’s Investors Service follows through with threatened downgrades

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/97UH5Y/YGZ3O/30XMLM/DWBGZB/VU/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

[Demeter]

19. News Corp foreign investors lose votes

The media group will strip foreign holders of its B shares of half of their voting rights to meet ownership limits on its US broadcasting licences

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/97UH5Y/YGZ3O/30XMLM/623P6S/VU/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

THINGS THAT MAKE ONE GO HMMMM....

[Demeter]

20. BP agrees to $7.8bn Gulf spill payments

The oil group has finalised its settlement agreement with plaintiffs seeking damages over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/97UH5Y/YGZ3O/30XMLM/16SJTJ/VU/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

[Demeter]

21. FSA head targets ‘shadow banking’

Chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority launches attack on ‘shadow banking’ sector with a call for tighter regulation of repo market

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/97UH5Y/YGZ3O/30XMLM/7APUOF/VU/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

IS IT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, OR TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

[Demeter]

22. Ebay aims for lead in mobile payments race

Online marketplace stakes ground in the race to lead the mobile payments market, with its PayPal arm moving to ‘define the future of money’

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/97UH5Y/YGZ3O/30XMLM/FK86MV/VU/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

[Demeter]

23. Spain eyes retaliation for YPF seizure

Madrid expresses frustration at muted response from the US to Argentinian takeover of oil group. Industry minister says Washington ‘unenthusiastic’


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/BLH300/XHY9LH/XBAN6/R3OCKL/R34WRV/4O/t?a1=2012&a2=4&a3=19

I CAN HEAR IT NOW: "EVITA, EVITA EVITA..." MAYBE OBAMA HEARS IT, TOO.

[Demeter]

25. 10 Things Republicans Don't Want You to Know About Taxes by Avenging Angel

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/17/1084191/-10-Things-Republicans-Don-t-Want-You-to-Know-About-Taxes

SEE LINK FOR DETAILS:

Tax Day 2012 has been a busy one for the propagandists of the Republican Party. After the GOP successfully filibustered the Buffett Rule in the Senate, House Speaker John Boehner claimed that Republicans are "listening to the American people." Of course, what Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney and their allies don't mention is that the Democratic proposal to implement a minimum 30 percent tax on millionaires is wildly popular. Then again, the list of things Republicans don't want you to know about taxes is a long one.

Here are the top 10 :

President Obama Cut Taxes for Almost All Working Americans
Tax Cuts Don't Pay for Themselves
Almost All Working Americans Pay Taxes
The GOP's "Job Creators" Don't Create Jobs
Low Capital Gains Taxes Fuel Income Inequality...
...But Not Investment
The Estate Tax Has Virtually No Impact on Family Farms and Businesses
Income Inequality is at an 80 Year High...
...While the Federal Tax Burden is at 60 Year Low
Which of the $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks Will GOP End?

[Demeter]

26. The Landscape of May Day in New York

http://truth-out.org/op-ed/item/8587-the-landscape-of-may-day-in-new-york

... OWS organizers have been patiently patching together an historic joint rally and (MAY 1ST) march with labor unions, immigrants’ rights groups and community organizations, many of which were invited to participate in the planning process since the beginning. The members of this tenuous coalition, however, have refused to demand the impossible together — which is to say, a general strike. Instead, the coalition speaks of “a day without the 99%” and the slogan, “Legalize, Unionize, Organize.” But at just about every other opportunity, people from OWS have been echoing the call for a general strike on May Day, which originated from Occupy Los Angeles’ General Assembly in December. During the April 4 press conference announcing the New York coalition’s plans, the OWS representative avoided saying those words, but after his speech he stripped down to an undershirt with “general strike” scrawled on it in red. Meanwhile, a group called Strike Everywhere, consisting of “anarchists, anti-capitalists and autonomists,” has made a general strike its unapologetic mission, and it is busy covering the city and the Internet with propaganda, both beautiful and obscene, to agitate for revolt. Some of its members have even constituted a tantalizing Central Park Exploratory Committee, which has yet to disclose its intentions to the public.


A strike, if it actually happens on May 1 or thereafter, may not look like one ever has before. Strike Everywhere, for instance, has been holding assemblies for “precarious and service workers” as a way to create new solidarity networks, and numerous social media accounts are trying to do the same online. Tumblrs have appeared collecting people’s various ideas for how and why they plan to strike. For those who can’t skip work or school, OWS recommends at least a consumer boycott: no housework, no shopping, no banking. And, of course, “TAKE THE STREETS!!!!!” Much like the Adbusters call that resulted in Occupy Wall Street itself, the logic of May Day has been to start with the impossible and figure out the possible from there. The plan for the day, insofar as there is any single plan, starts at 8 a.m. in Bryant Park, in Midtown. From there, Occupiers and allied organizations will break off into pickets and other kinds of groupings, each targeting one or several of the many corporations with offices in the surrounding skyscrapers. Meanwhile, in the park, there will be a bazaar of “mutual aid,” with food, trainings, medical care, teach-ins, radio transmitters, massages, bike repair, free stores and more. Over the course of the afternoon, the theater of action will shift (likely by way of a ruckus march) down toward Union Square, where the unions and immigrants’ rights groups will by rallying. From there, at around 5:30, there will be a safe, taxi-led, permitted march further down, through Foley Square and into the Financial District. The general consensus seems to be that the bulk of arrests will be saved for after that — for whatever the night will hold.

When the subset of Occupiers preparing for May Day aren’t planning, or wheatpasting posters, or viral-video making, or negotiating, or tweeting, they’re studying history — the Haymarket Massacre, Rosa Luxemburg, and so on — through old films, teach-ins, zines and the movement-made magazine Tidal. They’re also warming up in the streets. Every Friday, there are “Spring Training” marches to greet the closing bell of the Stock Exchange, and at each Occupiers test out a new creative tactic, like “civilian,” in which they revert to non-protester status so as to evade police blockades, or “melt,” in which they collapse into a disarming die-in or cuddle-puddle. Spring Training culminates in the “people’s gong,” replacing the NYSE’s bell with the voices of Occupiers standing in concentric circles and crying, “Ding!”

On April 17, too, Occupiers will be testing their synergy in the streets for Tax Day actions with many of the institutional allies who will come out in much greater force on May 1. This comes at the end of a nationwide effort called the 99% Spring, in which 100,000 Americans are supposed to be receiving training in nonviolent action, and it will be the first test of a newly-trained populace, just in time for May Day...

[Demeter]

35. HS Students in NYC Call for a May 1st Walkout

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/906163/hs_students_in_nyc_call_for_a_may_1st_walkout/#paragraph4

[Demeter]

36. In New York, Parents Just Say No to School Testing

http://www.alternet.org/story/155027/in_new_york%2C_parents_just_say_no_to_school_testing?akid=8614.227380.F_4OoQ&rd=1&t=31

...a small number of parents are boycotting this year’s state tests, choosing to keep their children home or away from class out of protest against the tests’ growing importance.

Test scores have long been used to judge students’ readiness for the next grade. And for the last several years, the city has rated each school based in large part on how students perform on state tests. But this year, the test scores could end up being used to rate teachers, too, if the city adopts new teacher evaluations as mandated by state law. This year’s tests are also longer than ever: about 300 minutes for each grade, more than twice what some students spent on testing in the past.

Last year, the Grassroots Education Movement, traditionally an outlet for activist teachers, launched a campaign to draw attention to — and, ideally, lower — those stakes. The parents who are opting out of the tests are part of GEM’s “Change the Stakes” committee, which is holding a forum on high-stakes testing Tuesday evening.

Only a few parents have committed to keeping their children out of the tests, but they say they are willing to go it alone to raise awareness about the pressure that students and schools are under....

[Demeter]

37. What’s At Stake With High-Stakes Testing

http://gothamschools.org/2011/07/26/what%E2%80%99s-at-stake-with-high-stakes-testing/

[Demeter]

27. Secret Donor Gave Anti-Obama Group $10 Million, Watchdogs Demand IRS Crackdown

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8608-secret-donor-gave-anti-obama-group-$10-million-watchdogs-demand-irs-crackdown

The name Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies is misleading: much of the Karl Rove-affiliated group's funding comes from megarich donors, not a grassroots political movement, and campaign finance reformers say the group is deliberately using its nonprofit status to hide the names of its donors from the public as the election season heats up.

Two watchdog groups asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this week to investigate Crossroads GPS and other groups on both sides of the political spectrum after Crossroads GPS tax filings revealed the organization has received dozens of multimillion-dollar checks from unknown donors to pay for ads attacking President Obama and Democratic policies.

Since June 2010 and the end of 2011, Crossroads GPS has received 22 donations ranging from $1 to $5 million and two single donations of $10 million, according to tax filings. One of the $10 million donations, given by an unknown donor last year, made up the largest chunk of the group's 2011 income of $28.4 million. The lines for names and addresses of donors in the group's tax filings were simply left blank. Crossroads GPS is not required to report them due to its nonprofit status. The group has raised nearly $77 million since its inception in 2010.

Unlike its sister group, the super PAC American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS claims 501(c)(4) nonprofit status. The IRS considers such groups to be social welfare organizations that cannot make political activity their primary purpose. Such groups can, however, run what are referred to as "issue ads," such as a recent television ad attacking Obama's energy policies. Crossroads GPS spent $1.7 million to run the ad in six states. Crossroads GPS has also funneled millions of dollars to conservative organizations, and along with American Crossroads, the groups have pledged to spend $300 million to defeat President Obama. Crossroads GPS and similar groups exploit a legal loophole with issue ads. The groups cannot legally advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate, so issue ads simply attack a candidate's views or policies. The Crossroads GPS ad criticizing Obama's energy policy, for example, asks viewers to, "tell Obama to ... work to pass better energy policies," but does mention voting against him. In a letter to the IRS, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center wrote that Crossroads GPS is, "engaging in substantial spending to influence elections" and is therefore not eligible for its tax-exempt 501(c)(4) status.

MORE!

[Demeter]

28. ALEC Disbands Most Insidious Task Force After Public Pressure and Loss of Sponsors

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8595-alec-disbands-most-insidious-task-forces-after-public-pressure-and-loss-of-sponsors

LONG AND SATISFYING READ

[Demeter]

38. ALEC Wants You To Pay 750 Percent More For High-Speed Internet

http://www.alternet.org/story/155041/alec_wants_you_to_pay_750_percent_more_for_high-speed_internet?akid=8614.227380.F_4OoQ&rd=1&t=28

...A few years ago, the city of Wilson, North Carolina, decided that it would create its own broadband system, which it called Greenlight. The service offered speeds twice as fast as private competitors in the area for a similar price. Soon, the success of the service spread, and a number of other cities began offering municipal broadband systems that were cheaper and/or faster than private competitors’.

But state legislators — who received $600,000 in contributions from the telecom industry in the previous election cycle — reacted to the spread of these successful services by undercutting them with a bill that made it very difficult for cities to operate their own broadband systems. One provision in the bill made it illegal for cities to offer broadband services that are priced below their costs. “This bill will make it practically impossible for cities to provide a fundamental service. Where’s the bill to govern [cable provider] Time Warner? Let’s be clear about whose bill this is. This is Time Warner’s bill. You need to know who you’re doing this for!” thundered Rep. Bill Faison (D) at the time. The bill was unfortunately passed into law.

ALEC did not publicly say that it was behind the North Carolina bill, but the bill bears similarities to ALEC legislation. ALEC is an outspoken opponent of municipal broadband and crafts model bills to limit and kill these systems. Telecom companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner are all ALEC funders....

[Demeter]

29. How the Goldman Vampire Squid Just Captured Europe By Ellen Brown

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8558-the-european-stabilization-mechanism-or-how-the-goldman-vampire-squid-just-captured-europe

The Goldman Sachs coup that failed in America has nearly succeeded in Europe - a permanent, irrevocable, unchallengeable bailout for the banks underwritten by the taxpayers. WHO SAYS IT FAILED? IT'S MERELY BEEN DELAYED...

In September 2008, Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, managed to extort a $700 billion bank bailout from Congress. But to pull it off, he had to fall on his knees and threaten the collapse of the entire global financial system and the imposition of martial law; and the bailout was a one-time affair. Paulson's plea for a permanent bailout fund - the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP - was opposed by Congress and ultimately rejected.

By December 2011, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, former vice president of Goldman Sachs Europe, was able to approve a 500 billion euro bailout for European banks without asking anyone's permission. And in January 2012, a permanent rescue funding program called the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was passed in the dead of night with barely even a mention in the press. The ESM imposes an open-ended debt on EU member governments, putting taxpayers on the hook for whatever the ESM's eurocrat overseers demand.

The bankers' coup has triumphed in Europe seemingly without a fight. The ESM is cheered by euro zone governments, their creditors and "the market" alike, because it means investors will keep buying sovereign debt. All is sacrificed to the demands of the creditors, because where else can the money be had to float the crippling debts of the euro zone governments? There is another alternative to debt slavery to the banks. But first, a closer look at the nefarious underbelly of the ESM and Goldman's silent takeover of the ECB....

MUST READ!

[Demeter]

30. Alleged $30M Theft By Comptroller Stuns Ill. City

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/19/150901002/illinois-town-treasurer-accused-of-embezzling-30m?ft=1&f=1001

The top financial official for the small city of Dixon, Ill., is accused of stealing more than $30 million from city coffers over the past six years. It's a staggering amount of money for the city of just 15,000 residents in northwest Illinois, and federal prosecutors allege she used the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle that included horse farms and a $2 million luxury motor home.

Federal prosecutors charged Rita Crundwell, who has been the trusted treasurer and comptroller of Dixon for close to 30 years, with fraud for allegedly misappropriating more than $30 million in city funds since 2006. FBI agents arrested the 58-year-old Crundwell on Tuesday and led her out of Dixon's City Hall in handcuffs...

[Demeter]

31. Workers' Pay Divide Persists

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304818404577350274236191922.html?mod=WSJ_economy_LEADStoryTop

The gap between America's highest- and lowest-paid workers is widening.

Labor Department figures released Tuesday show that between the end of the recession in mid-2009 and the first quarter of 2012, earnings of Americans at the top—meaning those who earned more than 90% of all workers—rose 7%, before adjusting for inflation. During the same period, wages of those at the bottom—meaning those who earned less than 90% of all workers—rose 2.5%.

That pay difference predates the global financial crisis: Between 2003 and 2007, wages grew 12.9% for high earners, compared with 8.4% for the lowest-paid 10% of workers.

[Demeter]

32. Reality calls

Gonna see about a program for the Kid...educational and social. Hope it works out.

[Roland99]

40. Philly Fed Reports >>>>

* Philly Fed index falls to 8.5 in April
* Philly Fed orders gauge drops to 2.7
* Philly Fed index was at 12.5 in March

[Roland99]

41. Leading Economic Indicators >>>>

Leading economic indicators rise 0.3% in March

[Roland99]

42. Housing Economic Reports >>>>

* Inventories down 1.3% to 2.37 million units
* Existing home prices up 2.5% year-on-year
* Existing home sales fall 2.6% in March to 4.48 mln
* March existing home sales below 4.63 mln
* 30-year mortgage rate rises to 3.90%

[xchrom]

43. More Americans Than Forecast Filed Weekly Jobless Claims

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-19/more-americans-than-projected-filed-jobless-claims-last-week.html

More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign the improvement in labor-market conditions may be stalling.

Jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 386,000 in the week ended April 14 from a revised 388,000 the prior period that was higher than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a drop to 370,000. Revisions to previous data have been larger than normal and the government is trying to determine the cause, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press.

he claims figures raise the possibility the payroll gains that have helped push unemployment down to a three-year low may cool, weighing on consumer spending. Federal Reserve officials, awaiting evidence of a more robust job market and economic growth, have said they’ll keep borrowing costs low through 2014.
“Progress in the labor market is not quite as strong as people had hoped, but we are still on a recovery track here,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida.

[xchrom]

44. U.S. Previously Owned Home Sales Unexpectedly Fell in March

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-19/u-s-previously-owned-home-sales-unexpectedly-fell-in-march.html

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes in March unexpectedly fell for the third time in the last four months, showing an uneven recovery in the housing market.

Purchases dropped 2.6 percent to a 4.48 million annual rate from 4.6 million in February, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey called for an increase to 4.61 million. In January, sales at a 4.63 million rate were the strongest since May 2010.

Residential real estate remains the economy’s soft spot, challenged by stricter lending standards, lower home values and the threat of more foreclosures. An improved labor market and mortgage rates near historic lows have yet to stoke bigger gains in demand.

The market is “constrained by mild income growth, and there’s still a lot of headwinds,” Sean Incremona, senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York, said before the report. People are still underwater on their mortgages, a lot of these foreclosures are still weighing on us.” Still, “affordability conditions are near their peak levels.”

[AnneD]

45. It is hard to believe....

but my baby turns 22 today. I resisted the temptation to call her very early this am-even though I was up. She should be getting her package today-a funny card and the Unofficial Harry Potter Cook Book. She loves the Harry Potter series so I thought she would enjoy this. No money this time though. I had to pay for the ticket to her graduation ceremony, but she will receive a nice sum at graduation.

I will revive great Grandfather's tradition and give her a gold coin, a book on financial peace from Dave Ramsey, and a bottle of champing.

At this point, she basically goes into the world. I hope I gave her all the tools she needs to make it; an education, a moral compass, and financial literacy. I feel like I am launching a ship into the world. I hope she goes further than I have, but the world is more perilous now than I have ever seen.


Independence doesn't happen overnight. It has been a series of small steps. I have had to hold her hand at times and catch her when she stumbled and sometimes know to let her fall. I have had to sometimes chastise her, sometimes praise her on but always cheer her on. I have learned to use my ears more than my mouth (and I have the bite marks on my tongue to prove it).

At this point all I can do is take a deep breath and hope for the best.

[xchrom]

47. please tell her happy birthday from all your friends here...

the very best to her!

[AnneD]

52. I will....

No matter how old they are they are always your baby.

[Demeter]

49. One mother to another, tears of joy, chills of fear

you did a good job, Mom. Never fear!

[AnneD]

54. The one thing they never tell you....

when you have kids, your heart is never your own any more. It walks out in the world.

[DemReadingDU]

63. So true

and a very Happy Birthday to your daughter. Seems like only yesterday she was off to college, and now she is going off in the world.

You did a good job raising her, congrats to you too!

[PassingFair]

66. ....hostages to fortune...

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works and of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public.
-Francis Bacon



I still feel a squeeze in my chest every time they get in a car...

[xchrom]

46. Spain, France Bonds Fall Amid Renewed Debt Crisis Concern

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-19/german-two-year-note-yield-6-basis-points-from-record-low.html

Italian and Spanish bonds led declines among Europe’s higher-yielding government securities amid concern the regional debt crisis is worsening.

Italy’s 10-year yields climbed for a second day after a government report showed industrial orders fell more than economists forecast and the Finance Ministry said debt-servicing costs will increase. French bonds dropped after Citigroup Inc. said it expects the nation’s credit rating to be cut over the next two to three years. German bunds advanced as investors sought the safest assets. Spain and France both raised the amounts they targeted at debt auctions today.

“There is a quite significant widening” of Italian and Spanish yields relative to German bunds, said Peter Schaffrik, head of European interest-rate strategy at Royal Bank of Canada in London. “Those two economies have low growth and widening budgets. For euro-investors bunds are the natural safe haven.”

The Italian 10-year bond yield rose 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 5.58 percent at 3:26 p.m. London time. The 5 percent bond maturing in March 2022 fell 0.73, or 7.30 euros per 1,000-euro ($1,312) face amount, to 96.165.

[xchrom]

48. Spain Is Doomed: Why Austerity Is Destroying Europe

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/spain-is-doomed-why-austerity-is-destroying-europe/256032/

Let's try a thought experiment. Imagine you walked into the bank, told them you were going to be taking pay cuts for the next few years, and then asked for a loan. You'd be laughed out of the office or else pay an interest rate so high that "usurious" wouldn't do it justice. The logic is simple: If you're in debt and your income is shrinking, it's mighty hard to pay back what you already owe.

It's not any different when it comes to countries that can't print their own money. That brings us to Spain.

The following charts (courtesy of Reuters) show overall and youth unemployment across the euro zone. Spain tops both measures, with truly depression-level joblessness.

[Tansy_Gold]

50. I think we need to start a pool

Which country defaults first, and when.

[AnneD]

55. Sounds good to me...

and I don't mind keeping tabs.

How about this. Three guesses as to the country (countries) and three chances to guess or amend the date on each. So that gives everyone a total of nine chances to win.

Right now we have Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland as the long shot. Each one you choose can have the date amended as info come in. I guess debt bond sales dates might be a good place to start. I would like to know why you made your choices too.

Now all we need is a good name-Maybe Pigs in a Poke, Pigs in the Market, Slaughter House 3....
And the reward... If this does happen Ben will be too busy washing the poop out of his underware, but maybe Timmy can clean your pool or do your gardening-he might have some free time. Or maybe Demeter can dedicate a WEE thread for you. We will come up with a treasure trove of virtual prizes, and as always you will win the awe and respect of the SMW thread.

[Roland99]

53. U.S. Markets at lows of the day. Down about 1%

Will the faeries come to the rescue?

[Roland99]

58. Faeries are trying...50pt bounce since 2:45ish

[Egalitarian Thug]

56. You're paying closer attention than I, so let me ask you this;

Doesn't stock market looks an awful lot like it did in the summer of 2008 (except that it is bouncing around 13,000, rather than 14,000) and shows pretty clear signs of outside manipulation? Are we looking at collapse 2.1?

[Roland99]

57. Good "head" on your "shoulders"

the markets do appear to be forming that other "shoulder" which, if one subscribes to the head and shoulders DOW theory, means a large correction is imminent.