STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 3 July 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 3 July 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 2 July 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 2 July 2012
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Dow Jones 12,871.39 -8.70 (-0.07%)
[font color=green]S&P 500 1,365.51 +3.35 (0.25%)
Nasdaq 2,951.23 +16.18 (0.55%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.59% -0.04 (-2.45%)
30 Year 2.69% -0.04 (-1.47%) [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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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.




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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]

[Ghost Dog]

1. Bankers’ Fraud Now ‘Too Big To Fail’ (Nielson)

Last edited Mon Jul 2, 2012, 08:54 PM - Edit history (1)

There is more outrageous news out concerning the Western banking cabal, the crime syndicate otherwise known as our financial sector. The news was not that these banksters have openly admitted that they willingly/gleefully participated in LIBOR-related fraud which exceeds (present tense) $350 trillion in scope. No, the news was that this crime syndicate has now proclaimed that its acts of fraud are themselves “too big to fail”.

As the banking cabal’s favorite apologist, it was delegated to Bloomberg to frame the announcement of this obscenity, in its best media spin. Naturally Bloomberg did not use the phrase “too big to fail” when it explained why these bankers must be allowed to continue their crimes:

…because structural changes risk invalidating trillions of dollars of contracts.

This euphemism from Bloomberg is, itself, perverse to the point of being fraudulent. The banking cabal has admitted their fraud in this $350 trillion crime spree (more than 5 times the size of the entire global economy). As a matter of law, all of these contracts became null-and-void the moment this fraud was discovered (and confessed).

Indeed, it is a separate (criminal) act of fraud for each and every one of these contracts which continues to be enforced despite being null-and-void as a fundamental precept of the Rule of Law. To demand that these contracts remain in effect is nothing less than a proclamation that the Rule of Law no longer exists. Crime becomes “OK” as long as it’s large enough (or as long as the perpetrators wear expensive enough suits).

It was bad enough following the Crash of ‘08 that this financial crime syndicate was allowed to proclaim itself “too big to fail”. The message it sent (to a group of psychopathic gambling addicts) was this: if you increased the total amount of your bets to a high enough threshold (leveraged to the hilt, naturally) this qualified you for Permanent Corporate Welfare.

To provide an exclamation point to this insanity, Wall Street then proceeded to extort $15+ trillions in assorted hand-outs and subsidies from the U.S. government (and U.S. taxpayer), an amount greater in size than the entire U.S. economy. As I observed at the time, even if these monstrous hand-outs had not taken place, as a basic proposition of logic “too big to fail” must actually mean too big to exist.

The logic is tautological. Being allowed to exist with a status of “too big to fail” means nothing less than a permanent license to blackmail. It is literally financial terrorism: ‘Give us what we want or we will blow up the world.’ The difference with these financial terrorists is that they are holding the entire world as their hostages.

/... http://www.bullionbullscanada.com/intl-commentary/25570-bankers-fraud-now-too-big-to-fail


... The U.K. bankers and regulators charged with reviewing Libor in the wake of regulatory probes are resisting calls to overhaul the rate because structural changes risk invalidating trillions of dollars of contracts...

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-25/libor-guardians-said-to-resist-changes-to-broken-benchmark-rate.html

... We don’t countenance bank bashing. Nor have we ever called on regulators to bust up big banks. But it’s difficult to defend an industry that defrauds the market with fake interest rate figures, thereby stealing from other banks and customers.

Sadly, the Libor case reveals something rotten in today’s banking culture. We hope the investigations expose the bad actors, lead to jail terms for those who knowingly manipulated the market, and force out the senior managers and board directors who participated in, or overlooked, such conduct...

... The Libor system, overseen by the British Bankers Association, operates much the way it did in the 1980s. Even after the news media uncovered evidence of manipulation in 2008, the bank lobby did little to reduce conflicts or improve the veracity of its numbers. Marcus Agius (edit: married into the UK branch of the Rothschild family), the now-departed Barclays chairman, was also chairman of the bankers group -- until he stepped down Monday from that role, too. The best solution, as Bloomberg View has advocated, is to end Libor and create a benchmark using data from actual loans, rather than relying on banks to tell the truth about their borrowing costs.

The real tragedy of the scandal is the apparent lack of ethics or self-restraint among the people involved. Following billions of dollars of trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s out-of-control London unit, the latest installment of big-bank follies offers yet more proof that the industry shouldn’t be trusted to regulate itself...

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/barclays-case-shows-something-s-rotten-in-banking-culture.html

(Is that last paragraph quoted a masterpiece in understatement or are they deliberately provoking a strong reaction from the muppets here?).

[just1voice]

4. Rigging the LIBOR rate for years is a much bigger crime than most realize

or even care about, especially in the U.S.. Most people don't even know what the LIBOR rate is:

http://www.bankrate.com/rates/interest-rates/libor.aspx

Most propagandized Americans only care about who's gay, who wins fights based on false premises and, gossiping on networking sites about the same. Not many people care that municipal bond auctions were rigged in all 50 states either. It's no surprise in a country where torture camps exist and anyone who actually cares is considered a progressive extremist.

[Hugin]

7. And what will come of this?

Rhetorical question.

[Tansy_Gold]

8. .

[Ghost Dog]

13. Banker Fraud Is Undermining Confidence in the Markets

People forget, but there are times in history when the financial markets fall out of favor with investors because they lose confidence..

And they now have very good reasons to doubt just about anything that Wall Street says.

I think the low volumes indicate that the Wall Street wiseguys are pushing their luck. Once trust is lost, it is difficult to get it back.

And if justice long denied comes in a rush to Wall Street, hell may come with it. History shows us that.

/... http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/banker-fraud-is-undermining-confidence.html

Credibility Trap: Barclays' Bob Diamond Threatens British Parliament With 'Embarrassing Revelations'

"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive."

Sir Walter Scott, Marmion

This is the credibility trap for government regulators and officials who have played fast and loose with market manipulation when it suited their purposes in the past.

I wonder if Jamie Dimon has similar 'dirt' on the Congress and the regulators. JPM would be in a good position for that, given their past involvement with the Exchange Stabilization Fund and their major role in the metals markets.

The power brokers say that bribery is good, but blackmail is better, more reliable. And so it may be.

Let's see if Mr. Diamond can intimidate the British Parliament and make them dance to his tune. He has certainly thrown down the gauntlet as they say.

/... http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/barclays-bob-diamond-threatens-uk.html

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect...

..."I look forward to fulfilling my obligation to contribute to the Treasury Committee's enquiries related to the settlements that Barclays announced last week without my leadership in question," Mr Diamond said...

...The chairman of the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), noted the public outrage at the bank's actions.

"The cynical greed of traders asking their colleagues to falsify their Libor submissions so that they could make bigger profits - has justifiably shocked and angered people, in particular when we are facing hard economic times provoked by the financial crisis," Lord Turner told the FSA's annual meeting...

/... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18685040

... The exceptionalism and denial in this discussion as it unfolds is surprising to watch, and the group chastises Europe while dismissing the corruption in the Anglo-American banking system that significantly contributed to the crisis.

Normally we do not hear such relatively open talk until the late stages of an unfolding financial collapse when hiding the reality of what is happening becomes pointless...

/... http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/cnbc-silver-market-is-manipulated-but.html

[Hugin]

43. I'm beginning to believe that underlying every Speculator is an Opportunist.

I don't care for Opportunists... My life has suffered greatly from interactions where others have lived by the creedo, "Where there's chaos, there's opportunity." ( I'd like to take whoever came up with that bilge to the woodshed. ) In former times these high risk personalities eventually faded because they are addicted to risk. They are unable to see the danger in seeking ever increasing levels of it and would eventually self-distruct. Now, however, they are protected by the very apparatus that was developed to keep them at heel. ( Government, Regulation, Justice, Law, etc. ) The world has become the very definition of "regulatory capture".

What would I replace this mind set with, you may ask?

"In stability, there is profit."

[Demeter]

36. There are no muppets here...

[Ghost Dog]

48. Rephrasing...

... are they, with this kind of 'spin', attempting to deliberately provoke a strong reaction from those they consider muppets (the '99%')?

[Ghost Dog]

2. How Delaware Thrives as a Corporate Tax Haven (NYT)

... Big corporations, small-time businesses, rogues, scoundrels and worse — all have turned up at Delaware addresses in hopes of minimizing taxes, skirting regulations, plying friendly courts or, when needed, covering their tracks. Federal authorities worry that, in addition to the legitimate businesses flocking here, drug traffickers, embezzlers and money launderers are increasingly heading to Delaware, too. It’s easy to set up shell companies here, no questions asked...

... In these troubled economic times, when many states are desperate for tax dollars, Delaware stands out in sharp relief. The First State, land of DuPont, broiler chickens and, as it happens, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., increasingly resembles a freewheeling offshore haven, right on America’s shores. Officials in other states complain that Delaware’s cozy corporate setup robs their states of billions of tax dollars. Officials in the Cayman Islands, a favorite Caribbean haunt of secretive hedge funds, say Delaware is today playing faster and looser than the offshore jurisdictions that raise hackles in Washington.

And international bodies, most recently the World Bank, are increasingly pointing fingers at the state...

... President Obama has criticized outposts like the Caymans, complaining that they harbor giant tax schemes. But here in Wilmington, just over 100 miles from Washington, is in some ways the biggest corporate haven of all...

... It is also a great place to reduce a tax bill. Delaware today regularly tops lists of domestic and foreign tax havens because it allows companies to lower their taxes in another state — for instance, the state in which they actually do business or have their headquarters — by shifting royalties and similar revenues to holding companies in Delaware, where they are not taxed. In tax circles, the arrangement is known as “the Delaware loophole.” Over the last decade, the Delaware loophole has enabled corporations to reduce the taxes paid to other states by an estimated $9.5 billion...

... “Delaware is the state that requires the least amount of information,” says David Finzer, the chief executive of Capital Conservator, a registration agent that sets up accounts in Delaware and elsewhere for non-United States citizens. “Basically, it requires none. Delaware has the most secret companies in the world and the easiest to form.”...

/Much more:... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/business/how-delaware-thrives-as-a-corporate-tax-haven.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

[just1voice]

5. Excellent article

It again highlights how corrupt the U.S. has become.

[Ghost Dog]

3. On Taxmageddon: $4 trillion in tax hikes and deep spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff (CNBC)

... The reasoning goes like this. Politicians are scared to death of raising taxes. But they wouldn't have to if they just let the Bush tax cuts expire. They don't have to lift a finger. They just let them die, as scheduled, on Dec. 31.

Then, flush with cash, they take some of the $3.7 trillion, which they would then have on the budget books from the expired Bush tax cuts, and they announce to voters that they're going to give it back to them in the form of brand new tax cuts.

They take another chunk of the $3.7 trillion and devote it to deficit-reduction - maybe - and as they rewrite the tax code to include rate reductions for corporations and others, they also end some tax goodies, possibly getting more money for the Treasury.

Even though taxes for some might rise in the end, that bit of unpleasantness gets tucked into a tax-cut bill in a way that eases everyone's jitters.

Politicians can brag about giving Americans new tax cuts. There's some new deficit-reduction - maybe and that might be a big maybe - as a result of Congress letting Treasury keep some of the Bush-era tax cuts that have died.

The approach reflects deep pessimism for an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff other than some temporary fix, which, as Orszag noted, would only set the stage for more uncertainty and partisan struggle...

/... http://www.cnbc.com/id/48031423

Looks like sovereign deficits and debt are still considered to be 'just numbers' over there, then...

[girl gone mad]

6. President Obama, Bored With the Foreclosure Crisis. That Explains A Lot, Actually.

Jean Braucher is the Roger C. Henderson Professor of Law at the University of Arizona law school. She occasionally guest posts on Georgetown Law School Professor, Adam Levitin’s blog, Credit Slips. Last week she posted a piece titled, “Fighting Foreclosure Fatigue.” Reading it, although I can’t say its message came as a surprise, made me slightly ill. I had to lay down for a bit to stop from throwing up.

The inspiration for her piece was that several of her friends in Washington had basically told her that folks in the Obama Administration had grown bored with the foreclosure crisis… frankly, they were just kind of tired of hearing about it. As in… YAWN… “Oh, I’m sorry… you were saying…”

Here’s how her piece begins… (and be sure to stick around for my 2-minute movie at the end…)

“Folks in Washington tell me there is a general sense of “foreclosure fatigue” in our nation’s capital. It’s just so boring to keep thinking about all the people losing their homes year after year. Can’t we move on to something new? This attitude goes along with a failure to do anything meaningful to get out of the five-year-old mortgage crisis, still very much with us. More charitably, the people who would like to do something see no political opening in an election year.”

So, they’re bored with the foreclosure crisis, is that it? Well, that’s understandable, after all they’ve spent the last four years talking about it almost… NEVER. The issue of foreclosures doesn’t even appear on President Obama’s campaign Website, not that you’ll find it on Mitt Romney’s either.

No, the fact of the matter is, according to our two candidates for president, the foreclosure crisis that continues to tear the lives of millions of middle class families to shreds… the crisis that is cutting scars in the fabric of this country that are unlikely to heal for 50 years… the crisis that’s on a scale no one has even imagined since the 1930s… the crisis that has middle class families living in their cars, and almost one in six dependent on food stamps… and according to the two men running for president, it doesn’t even warrant a mention while on the campaign trail.

read more: http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2012/07/president-obama-bored-with-the-foreclosure-crisis-that-explains-a-lot-actually

[Demeter]

11. You must admit, foreclosure isn't half a sexy as War in Iran

What kind of president would work tirelessly to see that crime was thwarted, middle class neighborhoods protected from theft and ripoff, and children sleeping in their childhood homes?

I don't know. But I'm willing to find out.

[Ghost Dog]

16. Morgan Stanley Got S&P to Inflate Ratings, Investors Say

Morgan Stanley (MS) successfully pushed Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service Inc. to give unwarranted investment-grade ratings in 2006 to $23 billion worth of notes backed by subprime mortgages, investors claimed in a lawsuit, citing documents unsealed in federal court.

Executives at the ratings firms failed to warn investors about the risks associated with subprime-backed notes that were issued by a unit of London-based hedge fund Cheyne Capital Management Ltd. because they wanted to reap financial rewards from doing business with Morgan Stanley, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets and designer of the notes, the investors allege, citing the material made public yesterday in Manhattan.

The unsealing of the internal documents from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s came in one of the largest ratings lawsuits to emerge from the 2008 financial crisis. The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, based in the United Arab Emirates, and Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle.

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/morgan-stanley-pushed-s-p-to-boost-ratings-investors-say.html

[Demeter]

9. So, which came first? The Chicken or the Egg?

Just in time for 4th of July

[Demeter]

10. Dave Barry Helps Us Celebrate

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/01/2875138/all-fired-up-for-the-fourth.html

...While Dad is saying traditional bad words to the barbecue grill, Mom can organize the kids for a fun activity: making old-fashioned ice cream by hand, the way our grandparents' generation did. You'll need a hand-cranked ice-cream maker, which you can pick up at any antique store for $1,875. All you do is put in the ingredients, and start cranking! It makes no difference what specific ingredients you put in, because - I speak from bitter experience here - no matter how long you crank them, they will never, ever turn into ice cream. Scientists laugh at the very concept. "Ice cream is not formed by cranking, " they point out. "Ice cream is formed by freezers." Our grandparents' generation wasted millions of man-hours trying to produce ice cream by hand; this is what caused the Great Depression...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/01/2875138/all-fired-up-for-the-fourth.html#storylink=cpy

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. "this is what caused the Great Depression... "

[Ghost Dog]

12. China factory construction halted amid violent protests

Chinese officials have halted the construction of a copper alloy plant in Sichuan province following violent protests by local residents.

Local officials said large crowds of residents gathered on Sunday and Monday in Shifang city to protest against the plant on environmental grounds.

Both police and residents were injured in the clashes as bottles were thrown and cars damaged, they said.

Officials said they would now consult residents on the project...

/... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18684895

[Ghost Dog]

14. Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Silver Manipulated, and a Silver Exchange Holiday

There has been some significant intraday commentary. I wished to highlight the portion of it that deals with the disposition of the metals markets.

There was a remarkable admission on a major US television network that the silver market is being manipulated. - http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/cnbc-silver-market-is-manipulated-but.html

And having thought about this for some time, afterwards I put forth a possible scenario about what comes next given the inevitability of some event on the exchange, given the severe imbalance of claims to legitimate supply, which are estimated at 40, 50, and even 100:1.

I can envision a holiday for the American silver exchange and the forced settlement of all paper bullion claims for a set price, much lower than what will follow next. This might include gold as well.

It is difficult for a manipulation scheme to come to any other end, given the length of time it has been in place and the size of the positions still being held by the untouchable Banks and Very Important People. I imagine they will blame some defunct scapegoat, like a Bear Stearns.

If you do not think that this is possible, read the description. It sounds very much like the sudden decline and fall of MF Global.

Knowledge grows when shared. If you enjoy these things, then you may wish to consider passing them to others.





/... http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/gold-daily-and-silver-weekly-charts.html

[tclambert]

15. I was wondering what happened with gold and silver.

Last time I checked gold was down about 12% from its highs in February. Silver was down about 25%.

[Ghost Dog]

18. More manipulated markets.

Natch.

[Po_d Mainiac]

21. That is the paper stuff

The stackable form didn't shrink at all

[Po_d Mainiac]

20. Just another self regulator gone rogue

Those of us that made the case for 'holding hard' years ago, anxiously await the demise of the CRIMEX.

[Tansy_Gold]

68. Looks like what any

four year old with a few crayons can do.

[Demeter]

17. ‘Period of remorse’ catches up to Diamond

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/period-for-remorse-catches-up-to-diamond-2012-07-03?siteid=YAHOOB

Sometimes sorry isn’t enough.

Robert Diamond’s resignation, effective immediately, as chief executive officer of Barclays Tuesday morning in the wake of the Libor-manipulation scandal comes a day after he reportedly sent a letter to employees saying he was “sorry” and pledged to impose tougher internal controls.

That was just one in a series of “sorries” delivered by the bank as it attempted to fend off calls for Diamond’s head after Barclays last week paid nearly $454 million to settle an investigation by U.S. and British authorities into allegations that personnel falsely reported interbank lending rates, resulting in the manipulation of crucial benchmarks used to price trillions of dollars’ worth of credit products around the globe.

On Monday, Chairman Marcus Agius stepped down, saying the “the buck stops with me.”

It didn’t.

On Tuesday, after further calls for Diamond’s ouster, the CEO said he would step down because the “external pressure placed on Barclays has reached a level that risks damaging the franchise — I cannot let that happen.”

Agius returned to the chairmanship pending the appointment of a new CEO.

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

The contrite Diamond stands in contrast to the pugilistic CEO who in January 2011 lectured British lawmakers on the perils of continued bank bashing in the wake of the financial crisis.

Diamond made headlines and earned the ire of bank critics at the time when he told a parliamentary committee: “There was a period of remorse and apology for banks. I think that period needs to be over.”

Diamond defended the industry, saying it was important for banks to be willing to take risks. Diamond later adjusted his rhetoric, acknowledging in a lecture the following November that bankers needed to become “better citizens.”

...The “period of remorse” may just be beginning.

[Demeter]

19. Ann Arbor Under a Week-long Heat Advisory

and it isn't even Art Fair, yet!

We just had 30 minutes of natural fireworks (and 10 seconds of rain). 73F and overcast at 7 AM with 95% humidity.

I don't have to go anywhere today, and I think I'll take advantage of that.

[xchrom]

22. i am so tired -- up at 3am...DAMN IT ALL...

[Demeter]

64. I slept at least 12 hours--didn't eat supper, even

and I'm still tired. At least it's hazed over enough so the temps are moderated to low 80's.

[xchrom]

23. Healthcare spending around the world, country by country

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country

***SNIP

The data shows that

• The US has the highest health spending in the world - equivalent to 17.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP), or $8,362 per person. And it's not all private - government spending is at $4,437 per person, only behind Luxembourg, Monaco and Norway

• Under half of all US health spending is by private companies - 46.9%. But it has the highest rate for health insurance in the world - 67.8% of all private spending. Which means the rest comes from out of pocket expenses, ie paying for health as you go

• In many countries 'pay as you go' health care is all that's available. Some of them are very poor, such as Congo or Eritrea
• Cuba has some of the highest government health spending in the world - 91.5% of all health spending. The result is 67.23 doctors per 10,000 population, the highest of any major country
• But it's beaten by the UK on nurses - it has 101 per 10,000 people, only behind countries like Norway and Germany. The UK also spends $3,480 per year on health - 9.6% of health spending - with government spending making up 83.9% of all health spending
• Qatar has the lowest health spending in the world, 1.8% of GDP, followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Pakistan at 2.2%. The WHO says Burma's government spends only $4 per person on healthcare

What would make this data even more interesting is mashing it up with health outcomes, to get some sense of which approach is most effective. This is just a start - we'd love to know if you can add some more detailed analysis to it.

[Roland99]

24. Barclays's Diamond resigns; Agius renamed chairman

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclayss-diamond-resigns-agius-renamed-chairman-2012-07-03-4485426?dist=beforebell

[Roland99]

27. at England Central Bank's request?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/english-central-bank-eased-diamond-out

[Demeter]

49. DETAILS!

Anyone wondering if the reason why Diamond resigned less than 6 hours ago is because he suddenly grew a conscience, will be disappointed. The real reasons are two: on one hand politicians were concerned he would make it public where all the bodies were buried as reported last night, in the process taking down at least half the English political establishment, obviating his departure from the public eye immediately, and, more importantly, as BBC's Robert Peston reports, the English Fed, that "impartial" and "apolitical" institution known as the Bank of England, got involved. From Peston: "I have learned that Bob Diamond's departure was encouraged by the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, and the chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Lord Turner."

...BBC PRESS RELEASE...

All this of course just in case it was still unclear who really calls the shots of what happens in the world...

[Ghost Dog]

53. Someone had a quiet word with the UK establishment's whackers.

n/t

[Ghost Dog]

60. Barclays CEO Faced Rebellion in New York Over Scandal

Barclays CEO Bob Diamond, who resigned Tuesday over the Libor-fixing scandal, narrowly avoided an insurrection among senior bankers in New York who were furious over Diamond’s attempts to distance himself from the affair...

... In a letter to employees on Monday, Diamond said he was “disappointed and angry” about the rate-fixing practice despite strong signs that Diamond himself and other senior executives played a key role in the activities, according to the New York Times.

-> Click Here to Read Diamond's Letter (.pdf): http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_News/__EDIT%20Englewood%20Cliffs/Bob%20Diamond.pdf

If the letter was intended to reassure employees or strengthen Diamond's position at the bank, it backfired. Interviews with 14 people at Barclays Capital in New York reveal that the letter was met with derision and disbelief by many in the bank.

"It was ridiculous that he thought he could stay on after the Libor scandal," one senior executive said Tuesday morning. "It made us look like crooks and fools."

Some even began plotting to force Diamond, who is American, to step down. Many of the Barclays Capital employees interviewed are former members of Lehman Brothers, the failed investment bank taken over by Barclays Capital during the financial crisis...

... "He was like a guy trying desperately to keep his girlfriend from breaking up with him. I was literally cringing reading (the letter)," an investment banker said...

/... http://www.cnbc.com/id/48058410

I think that should read: ...made us look not just like the crooks we are (who cares?) but also fools (that hurts).

[Demeter]

65. Barclays says BOE, Fed knew of Libor concerns

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-says-boe-fed-knew-of-libor-concerns-2012-07-03?siteid=YAHOOB

On a day when both the chief executive and chief operating officer of Barclays PLC resigned over an interest-rate fixing scandal, the U.K. bank released its own version of events and suggested Tuesday that Bank of England and Federal Reserve officials were well aware of the issue.

The document, released ahead of Wednesday’s appearance by now ex-Barclays BCS -2.14% UK:BARC -0.80% CEO Bob Diamond’s testimony in front of the British parliament, effectively throws part of the blame back onto the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority, the British Bankers’ Association and the U.S. Federal Reserve, as well as rival banks whose submissions determine the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor. See external link to Barclays testimony.

Barclays was fined roughly $450 million for fixing Libor. Other banks also are being probed.

Barclays released a memo by Diamond written after a phone call with Paul Tucker, the Bank of England deputy governor. The memo, from October 2008, states that “Tucker reiterated that he had received calls from a number of senior figures within Whitehall to question why Barclays was always toward the top end of the Libor pricing. His response was ‘you have to pay what you have to pay.’ I asked if he could relay the reality, that not all banks were providing quotes at the levels that represented real transactions, his response, ‘oh, that would be worse.’”

AND SO A GENERAL ROUND OF FINGER-POINTING ENSUES....TOO BAD IT WON'T BE FOLLOWED BY A GENERAL ROUND OF FIRINGS, EARLY RETIREMENTS, AND PROSECUTIONS.

[Roland99]

25. Chrysler posts best June sales since 2007

[Roland99]

26. US Futures flat. Europe up negligibly.

[xchrom]

28. Analysis - Spain may need more aid despite EU summit steps

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/10318569

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will find it tough to avoid asking for a full-scale sovereign bailout despite steps taken at an EU summit to help the country's indebted banks and pressured borrowing costs.
Euro zone leaders agreed on Friday to let their rescue fund directly inject aid into Spanish banks from next year and buy bonds to support troubled member countries, to try and curb a regional debt crisis that threatens the single currency.
But the deal lacks details and Rajoy, who struggles at the EU negotiating table, will face long and difficult talks to finalise the rescue, while the recession deepens, the public deficit rises and one in four of the workforce has no job.
Investors and officials say the steps may not be in place quickly enough to stop the country needing more cash to keep the state afloat on top of up to 100 billion euros made available to fund the country's banks.
"Spain remains at risk. Its total debt, public and private, is still massive... It will be key to see if the recapitalisation can be done quickly enough," said one senior European union official who attended the summit.

[xchrom]

29. Iran fights oil embargo with £150bn reserve

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/01/iran-oil-embargo-reserve


Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi: 'All possible options have been planned in government to counter sanctions.' Photograph: Reuters

Iran has pledged to counter the impact of an EU oil embargo, saying it had built up $150bn (£95bn) in foreign reserves to protect itself.

The EU ban on crude imports, which took effect on Sunday, is part of a push by western countries aimed at choking Iran's export earnings and forcing it to curb a nuclear programme they fear includes weapons development. Tehran says it has no such plan.

"We are implementing programmes to counter sanctions and we will confront these malicious policies," Mehr news agency quoted the governor of the Iranian central bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, as saying.

He said the effects of the sanctions were tough but that Iran had built up $150bn in foreign reserves.

[xchrom]

30. Euro gloom spreads across the Atlantic

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/02/us-manufacturing-sector-recession-obama


US President Barack Obama will be dismayed by the latest US industry data. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images


US factories saw their biggest one-month drop in orders last month since the 9/11 terrorist attacks as the effects from Europe's sovereign debt crisis rippled across the Atlantic.

Amid growing evidence that the battle to save the euro is now having a global impact, a key monthly snapshot of business in America showed manufacturing sliding into recession territory for the first time in three years.

Shares fell on Wall Street after traders were taken aback by a gloomy report from the Institute for Supply Management in the US, which followed downbeat news earlier in the day from China and the UK as well as the 17-nation eurozone.

Oil prices also fell back sharply, losing almost $2 a barrel amid concerns that weaker growth across the world economy would hit demand for energy.

[Ghost Dog]

50. You see? The meme being pushed now by the anglo-american brainwashers

is that Europe is to blame for the current state of the shitpile that is the US (and UK) economy.

[xchrom]

54. Yes. America's elites don't want us to deal

With our own fucked upness - which starts by dealing with the financial houses and banks.

[Eugene]

31. Greece to present debt inspectors 'alarming' data

Source: Associated Press

Greece to present debt inspectors 'alarming' data

AP foreign, Tuesday July 3 2012

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's new government will present "alarming" data on its recession and unemployment to international debt inspectors this week, in a bid to renegotiate the terms of its bailout agreements.

Spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said in a television interview Tuesday that the data would demonstrate that the current austerity program was counterproductive. He did not elaborate.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Along with uncertainty over the country's finances, those austerity measures have hit the economy hard — it is in a fifth year of recession, with unemployment topping 22 percent, roughly double the eurozone average.

The Greek government will argue that it cannot withstand the current pace of austerity terms. Debt inspectors from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF are due in Athens Wednesday.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10318611

[DemReadingDU]

32. ZeroHedge: The Great LIBOR Bank Heist of 2008?

Submitted by John Aziz of Azizonomics

7/2/12 The Great LIBOR Bank Heist of 2008?

The LIBOR manipulation revelations ask some interesting questions.

Washington’s Blog notes:

Barclays and other large banks – including Citigroup, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lloyds,Bank of America, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland– manipulated the world’s primary interest rate (Libor) which virtually every adjustable-rate investment globally is pegged to.

That means they manipulated a good chunk of the world economy.

They have been manipulating Libor on virtually a daily basis since 2005.



While the implications of this to the $1200 trillion derivatives market would seem to be profound, one question I have not seen asked much yet are the implications of the manipulation to the reality of the 2008 financial crisis.

?w=600&h=360

Here’s a really wild hypothesis: if the LIBOR rate was under manipulation in 2008, is it not possible that the inter-bank lending rate spike (and resultant credit freeze) was at least partly a product of manipulation by the banking cartel?

Could the manipulators have purposely exacerbated the freeze, to get a bigger and quicker bailout? After all, the banking system sucked $29 trillion out of the taxpayer following 2008. That’s a pretty big payoff. LIBOR profoundly affects credit availability — and the bailouts were directly designed to combat a freeze in credit availability. If market participants were manipulating or rigging LIBOR, they were manipulating a variable directly tied to the bailouts.

That means that every single tick must be under scrutiny; we know that rates have been manipulated for profit. I am no conspiracy theorist; it may just be a coincidence that a massive spike in a variable we now know to have been manipulated contributed to a credit freeze that led to historically-unprecedented bailouts. Yet it is no great leap of the imagination to say that the crisis may have been deliberately worsened for profit.

Investigators should investigate.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-great-libor-bank-heist-2008


edit to add italics

[Demeter]

34. Either that, or they got lucky

OF COURSE THEY DID! THEY ARE CROOKS, NOT MORONS!

[xchrom]

33. A Flight Attendant Reveals 10 Shocking Secrets About Her Job

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-flight-attendant-reveals-10-of-the-jobs-most-shocking-secrets-2012-7

1. IF THE PLANE DOOR IS OPEN, WE’RE NOT GETTING PAID.
You know all that preflight time where we’re cramming bags into overhead bins? None of that shows up in our paychecks. Flight attendants get paid for “flight hours only.” Translation: The clock doesn’t start until the craft pushes away from the gate. Flight delays, cancellations, and layovers affect us just as much as they do passengers—maybe even more.
Airlines aren’t completely heartless, though. From the time we sign in at the airport until the plane slides back into the gate at our home base, we get an expense allowance of $1.50 an hour. It’s not much, but it helps pay the rent.
2. LANDING THIS GIG IS TOUGH.
Competition is fierce: When Delta announced 1,000 openings in 2010, it received over 100,000 applications. Even Harvard’s acceptance rate isn’t that low! All that competition means that most applicants who score interviews have college degrees—I know doctors and lawyers who’ve made the career switch.
But you don’t need a law degree to get your foot in the jetway door. Being able to speak a second language greatly improves your chances. So does having customer service experience (especially in fine dining) or having worked for another airline, a sign that you can handle the lifestyle.


Read more: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/131754#ixzz1zZ4nEM6t

[Demeter]

35. Are you trying to tell us something, X?

Career switch coming up?

[xchrom]

38. i really should -- cause i would be FIERCE and FABULOUS...

[xchrom]

37. Consumer Discretionary Spending 'Plummets'

http://www.businessinsider.com/discover-june-consumer-discretionary-spending-2012-7

Ruh-oh.
We just got this in the inbox from Discover Financial Services, which keeps its own tally of consumer discretionary purchases.
--------------
Discover’s June U.S. Spending Monitor is available today and shows consumer confidence dropped to its lowest levels since the start of 2012, declining 4.8 percentage points to 90.7. June’s monitor reports that consumers saw their personal finances and the economy as worsening, leading to lower spending intentions, specifically on discretionary purchases.
...
More than half of respondents rate the U.S. economy as poor, a 3-point increase since May and the highest level since January 2012
Nearly half (48 percent) of consumers expect spending on major personal purchases, like vacations, to be lower in July, a 6-point increase since last month
Nearly half (47 percent) of consumers expect to spend less on discretionary purchases in July, like going out to dinner or the movies
Consumers expecting to spend more in the month of July dropped 4 percentage points to 25 percent


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/discover-june-consumer-discretionary-spending-2012-7#ixzz1zZ6C3L16



*** where's that rich guy from TEDtalks -- we need him back.

[spotbird]

39. Did insurance stocks go up an hour before the ACA decision was announced?

I read that they did, but I don't know where, maybe a post somewhere. Since the conservatives on the court leaked so much afterward, it's likely they let their friends in on money making opportunities before as well. It's not as if they could get in trouble after all.

Has anyone heard about this?

[Demeter]

55. Chief Justice Roberts Gutted Congressional Power and May Still Have Invalidated Obamacare

http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/7/1/chief-justice-roberts-gutted-congressional-power-and-may-sti.html

Conservatives should be ecstatic that Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts sided with the four liberal Justices in ruling the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is constitutional as a tax, while siding with the four conservative Justices that the law is un-constitutional under the Commerce Clause. Roberts just humiliated President Obama, gutted the social welfare and regulatory state, and appears to have set-up the entire Obamacare law to be constitutionally invalidated.

Senator Barack Obama cemented his relationship with John Roberts by leading the opposition by liberal Senators to Roberts’ confirmation as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Obama said he did not trust Roberts’ political philosophy on Constitutional questions such as: “whether the Commerce Clause empowers Congress to speak on those issues of broad national concern that may be only tangentially related to what is easily defined as interstate commerce.” Obama as a constitutional lawyer knew Congress’ power to exercise control over individuals’ personal lives began through Supreme Court decisions during the President Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration that expanded the Constitution’s Commerce Clause far beyond its limited plain reading: “The Congress shall have Power”…“To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”.

President Obama may have stridently denied Obamacare was a tax, but the legislation contains 21 new taxes that raise $800 billion over the next ten years. On the same day as the Obamacare decision, the Court also ruled 6-3 that a law convicting a California politician named Xavier Alvarez for falsely claiming he won the Medal of Honor was unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority: “Though few might find (Alvarez’s) statements anything but contemptible, his right to make those statements is protected by the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech and expression.” Having ruled dishonest boasting by politicians cannot be a crime, Roberts reasoned Obama’s dishonesty does not invalidate Obamacare: “decisions are entrusted to our nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them, it is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

Before 1937, Congressional efforts to pass legislation forcing unionization, minimum-wage laws, restrictions on agricultural planting and so forth were held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court as “not commerce.” After winning re-election in 1936, Franklin Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill that would have given him the right to “pack” the Supreme Court in his favor by appointing six more Justices. However, in what became known as “the switch in time that saved nine“, Justice Owen Roberts capitulated to Roosevelt’s threat to rig the Court by reversing his position and voting to expand the Commerce Clause to by uphold minimum wage laws as regulating “commerce”. Four years later, an intimidated Court dispensed with the 10th Amendment to the Constitution: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”, as but a “truism” and not a limitation on Congressional power....The Roberts Opinion that Obamacare is “not commerce” guts seventy-five years of the poisonous growth of the vines of government under the expanded Commerce Clause:

“The Framers knew the difference between doing something and doing nothing. They gave Congress the power to regulate commerce, not to compel it. Ignoring that distinction would undermine the principle that the Federal Government is a government of limited and enumerated powers. The individual mandate thus cannot be sustained under Congress’s power to 'regulate Commerce.'”

In what may be Roberts ultimate legal slam-dunk of Obama, Roberts’ ruling that the President and Congress’ passed a tax now threatens to constitutionally invalidate all of Obamacare under Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution: “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.” Although the law originated and was narrowly passed in the House and then the Senate wrote and passed their version of law, the House version hit a roadblock in the Senate. So Democrats to avoid an even riskier close vote in the House and because they reasoned the legislation wasn’t a tax bill, pulled the Senate version of Obamacare and deemed it passed. Failing to originate the final bill in the House allows another constitutional challenge that the law is invalid. Conservatives should praise John Roberts as a brilliant legal tactician WHO has revived the Original Intent of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause and vanquished Barack Obama’s quest for the Forward expansion of a Living Constitution. At the still young age of 57, Chief Justice Roberts may have two more decades to honor the strict construction meaning of the Constitution of the United States.

*********************************************************************************


Cross-posted from Chriss Street's blog.

[dixiegrrrrl]

71. I had been wondering about that issue, actually.

Seriously....calling it a tax ( a tax on what, exactly??) was a stretch, even to my Democratic way of thinking.
This should be a fascinating on-going issue.

[Po_d Mainiac]

62. here is aetna's 5 day chart...the announcement was around noon IIRC

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AET+Interactive#symbol=aet;range=5d;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

[Demeter]

40. Keep the Dictators Out of Malibu By KEN SILVERSTEIN

I LIKED THE PREVIOUS TITLE--THROW OUT THE MONEY LAUNDERERS--BETTER. I GUESS THE CIA AND DEA TOOK OFFENSE..

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/opinion/throw-out-the-money-launderers.html

ON June 11, the United States government filed a complaint documenting a record of corruption as outlandish as anything seen since Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos plundered the Philippines in the 1980s. The complaint detailed allegations of massive bribery and money-laundering practiced by the son and heir apparent of Equatorial Guinea’s dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. As his nation’s minister of forestry, the younger Mr. Obiang, known as Teodorin, accumulated a fortune by forcing foreign timber companies to pay him lavish bribes, often in cash-filled suitcases.

While Washington has gotten better at shutting down terrorist financing and starving regimes like Sudan and Iran of investment, it has done little to stop sitting dictators and their families from using America to stash their assets. Until now, Washington has sent a message to friendly dictators that you can steal and terrorize your people as much as you like as long as you hold power. We’ll only seize your assets if you’re overthrown.

Going after Mr. Obiang is especially courageous because Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil producer, is an important energy ally. American oil companies have billions invested there, pump virtually all of its oil and ship a good part of it to the United States. Washington generally avoids the potential foreign policy fallout that comes from pressuring friendly states to clean up their acts on human rights and corruption. Yet now, a top Justice Department official has declared, “the United States will not be a hiding place for the ill-gotten riches of the world’s corrupt leaders.” The Justice Department’s complaint is also a crucial test, because if the United States government can’t win a case involving the Obiangs, it might as well stop trying to hold corrupt dictators accountable. The message to tyrants and oligarchs will be, “Come here and spend without fear that we’ll confiscate any of your ill-gotten gains.”

...VARIOUS SORDID DETAILS...

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

The primary legal shortcoming is that many jurisdictions — from the Cayman Islands to certain American states — don’t require companies to disclose their true beneficial owners (as opposed to their registered owners, who serve as fronts). Dictators and despots can therefore easily hide their assets: instead of buying property in their names, they instead will buy a mansion owned, for example, by a Panamanian trust controlled by a Bahamian corporation that’s run by a company registered in Lichtenstein. Mr. Obiang hired lawyers and accountants to set up shell companies with bank accounts that were used to launder money into America. His own ties were kept hidden so banks didn’t know they were handling his money. If they discovered his ties, they closed the accounts, prompting him to use even more duplicitous methods. Senator Carl M. Levin, Democrat of Michigan, has long advocated reforms that would require companies registered in the United States to reveal their beneficial owners. The World Bank, which found that America is the top destination for corrupt politicians trying to set up shell companies to access the financial system, supports the same goals. Yet Mr. Levin’s bill has gone nowhere thanks to opposition from the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Bar Association and the State of Delaware, America’s premier tax haven, where corporations outnumber people. “You can no longer open an account at a respectable bank merely with a suitcase of cash,” The Economist wrote recently. “Let the same apply to starting a limited company.” Despots and crooks love to bring their money to America, not only for prestige but also because our corporate secrecy laws, like those of Switzerland and Luxembourg, make it almost impossible for law enforcement agencies to figure out who has money sheltered here. So long as those loopholes remain open, even if the Justice Department wins its case, there is nothing to prevent future Mr. Obiangs from laundering their money in the United States and using the country as their personal shopping mall just as he has.

*******************************************************************************

Ken Silverstein, a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, is a fellow at the Open Society Foundations.

[Ghost Dog]

56. ... many jurisdictions — from the Cayman Islands to certain American states ...

Uh huh. (See #2 above).

[Demeter]

41. The Global Paradigm

[xchrom]

42. Spain's jobless level falls by 100,000 in June

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18686210

he number of people looking for work in Spain fell almost 100,000 in June, a record for the month, to 4.62 million.

The Labour Ministry said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell by 98,853, or 2.1%, compared with the previous month.

June is generally a good month for employment as it marks the beginning of the tourist season.

Despite the fall, the unemployment rate in Spain is still the highest in the eurozone.

According to EU figures published on Monday, one in four of the Spanish workforce is out of a job, compared with an overall rate of unemployment for the 17-member bloc of 11.1%.



*** a sliver? of good news for spain.
of course i don't know if they are better at counting their unemployed than we are. i hope so.

[Demeter]

45. They probably emigrated

And not everybody can.

[Ghost Dog]

58. Also, they've been cracking down on scammers. And coverage doesn't last forever...

... The current unemployment insurance system was established by act of parliament on 23 of July 1961 in the form of the Seguro Nacional de Desempleo (National unemployment insurance)[2]. It followed previous systems established starting in the 1930s. A reform in 2010 resulted in the inclusion of the self employed and domestic workers within the scheme[3].

Contributory benefits

The main allowance paid to the unemployed is a contributory allowance known as 'prestación por desempleo'.

Requirements

In order to receive a contributory benefit an employee must have contributed at least 360 days in the last 6 years, be registered with the employment authorities as available for work[4]

Benefit Amount and duration

As a rule the benefit is paid for 1/3 of the period that the unemployed person has contributed. As a minimum the benefit is paid for 4 months and a maximum of 24 months is permitted.[5] The benefit amount is calculated on the basis of the last 180 days salary with both a minimum and a maximum amount applicable. The base amount is supplemented according to the specific family situation of the unemployed person with a supplement for those with children under 26 or handicapped- The unemployed receive 70% of their reference salary (subject to the ceiling)during the initial 6 months falling to 60% thereafter.

Minimum/ Maximum

Person with no children: 497.01 / 1087,21 euro
Person with 1 child:664,75/1242,52 euro
Person with 2 or more children:664,75/1397.84 euros

Income tax and contributions are deducted from the contributions.

Non-Contributory benefits

The 'Subsidio de desempleo' is a non-contributory benefit targeted to those who no-longer qualify for the contributory benefits due to duration of unemployment or lack of contributions and is means-dependant.

Finance

Both the contributory and non-contributory benefits are financed through a 1.55% contribution by employees and 5,5% by employers on employees salaries up to 3262 euros per month[6]

/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_Spain#Benefit_Amount_and_duration

[Po_d Mainiac]

67. Lithuania redux?

[Demeter]

44. Difference Between Money & Wealth: You Can Easily Print One But Must Actually Create The Other

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-03/difference-between-money-and-wealth-and-why-you-can-easily-print-one-must-act

Many lay persons are misled by terms such as money printing. This misdirection is easily understood and stems from a basic misunderstanding of what money is, versus actual economic value. Let's assume we have a pie called the EU (or US?), with a 1 trillion euros of economic value. This is the European economic pie. The EU gets in trouble and the banks start to run out of money. Now, the fact of the matter is that those same banks failed to make incremental gains to their actual economic value (true profit) and everyone who's paying attention knows it, hence they faced a problem getting funding. So, they go crying to the central bank, who basically printed euros through various mechanisms in order to push new and additional little pieces of digital paper throughout the system. This is what the layperson sees as money appearing out of nowhere at the behest of the financial bailout gods of the governmental powers that be.

The problem with this viewpoint is that the money appeared out of nowhere, but said money was not backed by actual economic capital. Hence more euros (or dollars) are available in the system, but each of those euros/dollars are simply worth that much less.

This is not economic progress boys and girls. What we need to move forward is to bake bigger pies, not cut the existing and steadily shrinking economic pies into more pieces!!!

[Demeter]

46. Reggie Middleton Interview: Collapse in Europe is Absolutely Unavoidable

[Demeter]

47. “Ugly” doesn’t even describe it. Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-02/piling-detritus-failed-stimulus-policies

...I’m not talking about today’s ISM index of US Manufacturing, which was quite ugly, dropping to the worst level since 2009; and whose all-important New Orders sub-index was beyond ugly, plunging 12.3 percentage points, one of the worst dives in the history of the index. And I’m not talking about the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI, which was truly ugly as it fell to its lowest level since June 2009. Those are volatile indices, and they might turn around on a dime, though that appears to be wishful thinking.

No, what “ugly” can't describe is their relationship to the worldwide explosion of government deficit spending and central bank money-printing operations, ballyhooed for years and with deafening intensity as a powerful stimulant to the economy. They did goose certain markets around the globe—though not all, for example equity markets in China or certain European countries. And they did prop up economies around the globe, but only briefly and unevenly, producing an ongoing four-year recession in Greece, mediocre results in the US, and stellar results in China and Germany.

Since the onset of the financial crisis, central banks have forced yields on high-quality debt, such as US Treasuries, to near zero—and often below the rate of inflation. And they have printed voluminously to buy assets that are now decomposing on their balance sheets: $18 trillion “and counting,” or “roughly 30% of global GDP,” is now weighing down these balance sheets, according the Bank for International Settlements. A huge monetary stimulus.

?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1341271355133

CENTRAL BANK ASSETS

And fiscal stimulus—that is, deficit spending—around the globe took on mind-boggling proportions. At the very top is Japan, whose fiscal quagmire has no peers among developed nations: by March 2013, the end of the fiscal year, gross national debt will surpass $14 trillion, or 240% of GDP. Of its fiscal 2012 outlays, 56% will have to be borrowed. In the US, budget deficits have been ballooning for a decade, driving up gross national debt from $5.75 trillion in January 2000 to $8.68 trillion in December 2006, just before the financial crisis oozed to the surface. Then, all heck broke loose in Congress, and it opened the spigots all the way, and by December 2012, gross national debt will have nearly doubled to well over $16 trillion. It’s already over 100% of GDP. China also dumped stimulus on its economy, and so did Europe, despite the debt crisis festering on its margins, and despite “austerity” which continues to produce hefty deficits.

But now the party appears to be over. The economies have burned through these trillions and have misallocated or squandered them, and what’s left are mountains of public debt everywhere, a debt crisis in the Eurozone, and central banks with balance sheets that are stuffed with reeking assets they’d bought with the money they’d printed. I have previously written about the effects of the Fed’s policies on housing and the broad employment picture but now, the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI shows the combined economic impact of worldwide central bank operations and record government deficit spending on a big part of the real economy:

?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1341271418433

MORE AT LINK

[Roland99]

51. Now JPM is the new Enron??

Enron Redux Has JPMorgan Probed For Abusive Energy Trading
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/enron-redux-has-jpmorgan-probed-abusive-energy-trading

While the CIO was clearly not populated by the smartest guys in the room, it appears the bank that just can't get a break has hit another snag as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is probing them over 'bidding practices' and abusive trading in California and Midwest energy markets. Via Bloomberg:

*FERC PROBES POTENTIAL POWER-MARKET MANIPULATION BY JPMORGAN
*FERC ASKS U.S. COURT TO ORDER JPMORGAN TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS
*FERC SAYS PROBE COVERS JPMORGAN'S `BIDDING PRACTICES' :JPM US
*FERC SAYS CALIFORNIA, MIDWEST OPERATORS CITED ABUSIVE TRADING

Is there a wondrous capital structure here for Bethany Mclean to investigate? We can only assume that JEDI Morgan is 'not the Chewco FERC is looking for'.

[DemReadingDU]

61. Global Finance is an Enron

I don't trust anything financial anymore.


So, I'm going to Indiana for the July 4th family festivities, before the Global Financial Enron implodes.

[spotbird]

63. What happens after? nt

[Po_d Mainiac]

66. The same thing that has been going on for the last couple decades

A couple dollars worth of fines and a warning that there might be a letter of reprimand forthcoming if they do it too many more times in the future.

Pre-addressed envelopes to senior members of CONgress will be enclosed, just in case the JP Morgue feels like making any contributions.

[Roland99]

52. France Gives "Fairness Doctrine" Details; Will Tax Millionaires At 75%

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/france-gives-fairness-doctrine-details-will-tax-millionaires-75

With the Great June Socialist Revolution spilling over into July, here are some details as they become available from France:

FRANCE TO HAVE NEW TAX RATE OF 45% FOR WEALTHY
FRANCE TO TAX INCOME OF MORE THAN EU1 MLN AT 75%, AYRAULT SAYS
FRANCE TO TAX CAPITAL INCOME AT SAME LEVEL AS WAGES
FRANCE TO RAISE TAXES FOR LARGE COMPANIES, BANKS, OIL FIRMS

But... FRANCE TO ANNUL PLANNED VAT INCREASE PLANNED BY SARKOZY

After all, it's only fair. In other news, we are rotating our secular long thesis away from Belgian caterers and into tax offshoring advisors, now that nobody in the 1% will pay any taxes ever again.

The good news is that with the entire world set to adopt 100%+ taxes on "wealthy" individuals as defined arbitrarily by Ph.Ds, there will be no place to hide. Which incidentally is just the first step toward what we warned back in September 2011 will happen: a 30% tax on all financial assets. Everywhere.

[Demeter]

57. Taxpayer-funded slavery?

EMAIL RECEIVED

U.S. contractors have made billions from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But now, several are being investigated for slave labor.

Please tell your Senators to pass the bipartisan End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act and stop taxpayer-funded modern slavery.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

In Iraq and Afghanistan, private contractors working for the U.S. government pocketed billions of dollars while filling jobs with slave labor. Almost 70,000 people have signed the petition calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act - can you take a moment to add your name?

http://www.democrats.com/stop-taxpayer-funded-modern-slavery?cid=ZGVtczYwOTIzZGVtcw%3D%3D

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Stop Taxpayer-Funded Modern Slavery
Dear Activist,

According to evidence before the US Congress, government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan pocketed billions while filling jobs for government contracts with slave labor1.

Walk Free: The Movement to End Modern SlaveryVinnie Tuivaga, a hairdresser from Fiji2, was one of their victims. Vinnie was recruited for a hair-cutting job in a luxury hotel in Dubai – but instead she was sent to a war zone. She was forced to live in a shipping container and paid only a fraction of what she was promised. And although she was not in chains, she was held against her will, unable to leave without her passport. This is modern slavery.

But right now, we have an opportunity to stop this! The End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (S. 2234), a bill that would stop U.S.-sponsored slavery, is still pending in Congress3. Almost 70,000 people have already signed Walk Free’s petition to get it passed - can you take a moment to add your name?

Tell Your Senators: Stop Taxpayer-Funded Modern Slavery

U.S. contractors have made billions of dollars supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But over the last eight years many of them, including KBR (formerly part of Halliburton), have reportedly filled outsourced jobs with slave labor to fatten their wallets.

People like Vinnie were recruited with the promise of good-paying jobs, only to end up victims of slavery, deceived and exploited by unaccountable subcontractors. Yet even as reports exposed stories like Vinnie’s and others living in modern slavery4, the U.S. government continued giving contracts worth billions to the same companies who’d been repeatedly accused of deceiving and exploiting hundreds of thousands of people.

The Pentagon has turned a blind eye to its contractors’ practice of modern slavery. But together, we can end it. The End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (S. 2234) would take important measures to hold contractors accountable if their subcontractors traffic workers into slavery by creating real consequences5.

Sign the petition urging the Senate to pass the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act.

This is our chance to help Vinnie and thousands of others and win an important victory over modern slavery.

Thank you for your support,
Tim, Lauren, Josh, Debra, Galit, Martine and the rest of the Walk Free team

More information:

1. “More DoD Investigations of Allegations of U.S. Contractor-Fueled Human Trafficking” http://bit.ly/NxK3be

2. “The Invisible Army” http://nyr.kr/LNfvlw

3. “Committee acts to stop contractors from enabling human trafficking” http://wapo.st/LE6Ntl

4. “KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case” http://wapo.st/Mnl0Mg

5. GOP, Dems come together to fight human trafficking by contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan http://bit.ly/LO426Z

[Demeter]

59. Former Brokers Say JPMorgan Favored Selling Bank’s Own Funds Over Others

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/ex-brokers-say-jpmorgan-favored-selling-banks-own-funds-over-others/

Facing a slump after the financial crisis, JPMorgan Chase turned to ordinary investors to make up for the lost profit. But as the bank became one of the nation's largest mutual fund managers, some current and former brokers say it emphasized its sales over clients' needs. These financial advisers say they were encouraged, at times, to favor JPMorgan's own products even when competitors had better-performing or cheaper options. With one crucial offering, the bank exaggerated the returns of what it was selling in marketing materials, according to JPMorgan documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The benefit to JPMorgan is clear. The more money investors plow into the bank's funds, the more fees it collects for managing them. The aggressive sales push has allowed JPMorgan to buck an industry trend. Amid the market volatility, ordinary investors are leaving stock funds in droves. In contrast, JPMorgan is gathering assets in its stock funds at a rapid rate, despite having only a small group of top-performing mutual funds that are run by portfolio managers. Over the last three years, roughly 42 percent of its funds failed to beat the average performance of funds that make similar investments, according to Morningstar, a fund researcher.

...JPMorgan, with its army of financial advisers and nearly $160 billion in fund assets, is not the only bank to build an advisory business that caters to mom and pop investors. Morgan Stanley and UBS have redoubled their efforts, drawn by steadier returns than those on trading desks. But JPMorgan has taken a different tack by focusing on selling funds that it creates. It is a controversial practice, and many companies have backed away from offering their own funds because of the perceived conflicts. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have largely exited the business. Last year, JPMorgan was the only bank among the 10 largest fund companies, according to the research firm Strategic Insights.

"It said financial adviser on my business card, but that's not what JPMorgan actually let me be," said Mathew Goldberg, a former broker who now works at the Manhattan Wealth Management Group. "I had to be a salesman even if what I was selling wasn't that great."

JPMorgan has previously run into trouble for pushing its own funds. In a 2011 arbitration case, it was ordered to pay $373 million for favoring its products, despite an agreement to sell alternatives from American Century. JPMorgan defends its strategy, saying it has "in-house expertise," and customers want access to proprietary funds. "We always place our clients first in every decision," said Melissa Shuffield, a bank spokeswoman. She said advisers from other companies accounted for a large percentage of the sales of JPMorgan funds....MORE