STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 24 June 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 24 June 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 21 June 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 21 June 2013
[center][font color=green]
Dow Jones 14,799.40 +41.08 (0.28%)
S&P 500 1,592.43 +4.24 (0.27%)
[font color=red]Nasdaq 3,357.25 -7.38 (-0.22%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.53% +0.12 (4.98%)
30 Year 3.59% +0.10 (2.87%) [font color=black]


[center][/font]

[HR width=85%]

[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
[center]


[/center]

[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

[/center]

[center]

[/center]

[HR width=95%]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
[center]
Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
[center]
The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
[center]
Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
[center]
LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
[center]
Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
[/center]

[div]
[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










[HR width=95%]


[center]
[HR width=95%]
[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]

[Demeter]

1. That's what one does with manure...leave it to rot in the fields

Wishing you all a Happy Monday and a good week, Marketeers!

Sunday, The Kid and I saw the film Now You See Me, which I can recommend without reservation. The actors are all fairly new, at least to me, with the exception of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, who have a very good scene together that positively crackles...rather like the scene between Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, in What Lies Beneath, when the audience literally held its breath en masse. Now THAT's acting, that's directing, that's a story!

I cannot tell you the plot, because that would spoil the ending. It is, however, magical! I want to buy it when it comes out, to re-watch at my leisure (without the Kid jabbering).

After such a tumultuous Weekend, with lots of action, rather like a thriller at the local Bijou, I cannot wait to see what happens next. I think I'm half in love with Edward Snowden. I always had a soft spot for geeks...since I probably qualify as one, myself.

[Demeter]

2. I see they are still squeezing gold under $1300, but what's with the price of oil?

Fire sale prices? Where there's smoke....

[Warpy]

4. I'm sure there are a few fat cats out there who think they can

either prop up the price or corner the market. That's usually what is going on when there are minor gains after a big drop.

Gold has a long way to fall before it's in line with what the inflation rate has been since 2006 or so. The price isn't just inflated, it's hyper inflated, carried along by all those true believers who thought certainly QE would lead to Weimar Republic style inflation.

And so it might have, if the only ones to see any of that printed money had actually worked for a living instead of flitting from mansion to mansion while watching it all roll on in. It didn't, so all the deflationary pressures have been left in place, wages are below subsistence, and some of the gold bugs have finally smelled the coffee.

[Demeter]

3. Barclays under German taxman's gaze over tax credits

http://news.yahoo.com/barclays-under-german-taxmans-gaze-over-tax-credits-144009090.html

German tax authorities are investigating Barclays over the use of legal loopholes which cut the British lender's tax bill by billions of euros, a German newspaper reported on Saturday. Daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said German authorities obtained internal bank documents dated 2007-2010 in which Barclays mapped out lucrative tax loopholes related to naked short-selling transactions before and after the dividend payout dates of stocks. With the help of a trading platform it operated in Luxembourg, Barclays obtained more tax credits than the tax it actually paid in these transactions, the paper said.

These trades took place for more than 10 years until 2012 at a cost to the taxpayer of about 280 million euros annually, Sueddeutsche said, citing German finance ministry documents.

Authorities are now investigating whether taking advantage of these loopholes amounts to tax evasion and whether back taxes are due.... Other banks are subject to investigations linked to the tactic also known as dividend stripping, which Germany outlawed in 2012. A source close to UniCredit's German unit HVB earlier this year told Reuters the bank expects a hit of up to 200 million euros from a tax evasion probe relating to share deals several years ago...


ONLY TWO THINGS IN LIFE ARE CERTAIN...LOOKS LIKE MAYBE THEY WILL HIT AT THE SAME TIME!

[Demeter]

5. Gensler Sticks to Swaps Plan

DON'T YOU JUST HATE WSJ HEADLINES? THEY ARE USELESS AT CONVEYING ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTICLE. POSITIVELY CRYPTIC, EVEN AFTER READING THE WHOLE THING...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323893504578558132689272070.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler is holding fast to a plan to apply U.S. swaps rules to foreign-based banks in mid-July after a daylong meeting of international regulators failed to resolve differences, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Separately, Mr. Gensler is facing renewed criticism from a top European Union official. EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier called Mr. Gensler's approach "flawed" and "self-defeating," in a Bloomberg op-ed Thursday.

"Cooperation and mutual reliance, not confrontation, will protect investors and taxpayers far better than duplication and protectionism," Mr. Barnier said. He said that negotiations over the derivatives rules and other financial regulations should be included in U.S.-EU trade talks in July...


THERE'S GOING TO BE MONTHS OF PIG SQUEALING, THIS SUMMER...WHETHER IT'S NSA OR WALL ST OR EUROZONE OR DRONES OR BRAZIL OR WHATEVER....

THE CENTER WILL NOT HOLD. IT ALL COMES APART IN THIS ANNO DOMINE 2013...

[Demeter]

6. Warren: Don't delay on cross-border derivatives rules

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/306871-warren-dont-slow-walk-cross-border-derivatives-rules

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a message for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): Get a move on.

Warren chided commissioners looking to slow a push from CFTC head Gary Gensler, whose time at the agency may be short, to extend the reach of new regulations on derivatives that foreign institutions enter into with U.S. counterparts.

In a interview Thursday, Warren said that she was keeping a close eye on regulators to see if they will try to ease new global rules regulating derivatives, or at least try and delay the rules until Gensler's exit. She added that she is not afraid to use her reputation as a vocal Wall Street critic to make any displeasure known.

"It would be a real mistake for commissioners to think they can run out the clock and just hold tight until Gary Gensler's term expires," she told The Hill. "I will certainly still be here and watching this process very closely ... there's no reason to delay."


DARLING ELIZABETH IS ONLY ONE PERSON...WE HAVE TO WATCH HER BACK, AND GET HER TO RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE...

[Demeter]

7. TALK ABOUT DELUSIONS: Still time to solve Greek funding gap -euro zone, IMF

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/eurozone-eurogroup-greece-idUSL5N0EW4BV20130620

Senior euro zone officials and the International Monetary Fund played down concerns on Thursday that Greece could face a shortfall in its finances, saying there was still time to remedy the situation. Earlier this week, officials told Reuters that some of Greece's creditors, which include the European Central Bank and the IMF, were reluctant to extend finance to the country because of worries that part of Greece's financing broke ECB rules. To compound the problem, deep divisions have emerged in Greece's governing coalition over how to reduce the number of workers at its public broadcaster and end a nine-day dispute over the contested closure of the station.

Euro zone finance ministers pressed Greek coalition partners to work together to allow them to conclude their review of Greece's finances and reform program in July and disburse the next tranche of aid, adding that emergency funding would not fall short.

"There is no financing gap, the program is fully financed for at least another year," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the meetings of euro zone finance ministers, told a news conference. He said, however, that agreement would need to be reached with Greece by July on the course of its future reforms. "It is of the utmost importance that the troika can finalise its review at the beginning of July," he said, referring to the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The International Monetary Fund also called on Greece on Thursday to speedily deliver on its bailout program, adding that doing so would ensure the country encountered "no financing problems." The impact of any shortfall would be exacerbated by the fact that the IMF would find it difficult to justify its payments to Athens because its rules require Greece to be fully financed for at least a year....Greek officials have said that discussions had already started on closing the gap, which is estimated at up to 2 billion euros. They said options could include requesting an earlier payment of rescue loan tranches or issuing short-term debt...

[Demeter]

8. Greek coalition in disarray, small party considers quitting

FRANKLY, THEY LASTED LONGER THAN I THOUGHT THEY COULD (AND IT WAS ALL FOR NAUGHT)
I HOPE THE BANKSTERS LOSE THEIR SHIRTS IN GREECE; AFTER ALL, EVERYONE ELSE HAS.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/us-greece-coalition-idUSBRE95J14D20130620

Greece's small Democratic Left party could pull out of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's ruling coalition after talks to resume state television broadcasts collapsed, party officials said on Thursday, plunging the nation into fresh turmoil. Lawmakers from the leftist party - which was angered by the abrupt shutdown of broadcaster ERT last week - will meet at 0730 GMT (0330 ET) on Friday to decide whether to continue backing Samaras, who in turn warned he was ready to press ahead without them.

"I want us to continue together as we started but I will move on either way," Samaras said in a televised statement, vowing to implement public sector reforms demanded by lenders.

"Our aim is to conclude our effort to save the country, always with a four-year term in our sights. We hope for the Democratic Left's support."

Samaras's New Democracy party and its Socialist PASOK ally jointly have 153 deputies, a majority of three in the country's 300-member parliament, meaning they could continue together, but a departure of the Democratic Left would be a major blow.

Officials from all three parties ruled out snap elections...

The latest crisis began nine days ago when Samaras abruptly yanked ERT off air, calling it a hotbed of waste and privilege, sparking an outcry from his two allies, unions and journalists. After initially refusing to restart ERT, Samaras on Thursday complained he offered to re-hire 2,000 out of 2,600 ERT workers who were fired, a compromise "courageously" accepted by the Socialist PASOK party but rejected by the Democratic Left.

"We will no longer have black screens on state TV channels but we are not going to return to the sinful regime," he said.

"At this point we had a serious disagreement over ERT. I undertook efforts to restore unity and to find a solution. I did not respond to nasty comments."

THAT KIND OF FASCISM DOESN'T GO OVER ANY BETTER IN GREECE THAN IT DOES HERE...

[Demeter]

53. THEY QUIT ALREADY: Political crisis, privatization gap won't derail bailout, Greek PM says

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_23/06/2013_505523


...Samaras's government saw its parliamentary majority sharply reduced on Friday after the small Democratic Left party left the ruling coalition to protest against an abrupt shutdown of the state broadcaster ERT.

Samaras told the newspaper To Vima that his new, two-party government with the Socialist PASOK party would be more coherent, adding that he expected no problems in talks with lenders who are inspecting Greece's austerity and economic reform program.

"The government went through a rough patch over the last few days but it stood on its feet and continues with renewed determination and much better cooperation," To Vima quoted him as saying.

Samaras's conservative New Democracy party and PASOK together control only 153 of the 300 seats in parliament. A few independents may also back the government, and the Democratic Left has signaled it could support some reforms on a case-by-case basis to keep Greece in the euro.

Samaras and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos are expected to meet as soon as Sunday to update their coalition agreement and arrange a cabinet reshuffle. According to Greek media reports, Yannis Stournaras is expected to remain finance minister....

[Demeter]

14. Ireland on track for bailout exit, says IMF

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/19/ireland-imf-idUSL5N0EV15I20130619

Ireland has a good chance of exiting its bailout this year but would benefit from more European support in cleaning up its indebted banks and the safety net of precautionary funding, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

Tight budgets in line with the conditions of its 85 billion euro ($114 billion) bailout have helped Ireland get back on its feet. In contrast to much of the euro zone, the country's economy has expanded for much of the last two years, and the Fund kept its growth forecasts for 2013 and 2014 unchanged, at 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.

The second euro zone country to be rescued by the IMF in 2010 after Greece, Ireland received its latest chunk of aid this week. The fund said Dublin's fiscal consolidation was going as planned, but European help in cleaning up the banking sector would help its long-term return to debt markets. "The policy program of Ireland is sound and adjustment is being delivered, providing reasonably strong prospects for programme success," the IMF said in a review of the country. The country has consistently hit the targets under the bailout and come closer to weaning itself off emergency aid by raising 5 billion euros in a 10-year bond sale in March.

But Dublin has several important hurdles still to overcome, and risks remain from factors outside its control. With domestic demand weak, much hinges on quickening growth in Ireland's main trade partners, particularly the euro zone, the IMF said. Dublin must also keep up efforts to restore health to its indebted banks.

"Further European support in addressing the profitability challenges of the banks and in cushioning the impact of any capital needs that may arise would support recovery and protect debt sustainability, and thereby enhance prospects for a durable return to reliance on market financing," the review said.

Ireland agreed to a detailed review of its troubled banks' loan books this year ahead of stress tests in 2014 and the IMF's Irish mission chief Craig Beaumont said that the first exercise was not expected to lead to a need for capital injections.

[Demeter]

9. House defeats farm bill in surprise move

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2013/06/20/8d04ba3a-d9de-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_story.html?hpid=z2

A broad five-year farm bill went down to a surprise defeat in the House on Thursday when Republican conservatives revolted against the legislation, arguing that it would cost too much, while Democrats defected, saying it would not spend enough on their priorities. The 234 to 195 vote was the latest rebuke to House GOP leaders, who have struggled to muster enough control of the chamber to pass major legislation. The defeat also bodes ill for legislation on the budget and immigration that is expected to be debated in the House this summer and fall. Senators reached an agreement Thursday to increase funding for border security, a deal that increases the likelihood that the immigration bill will be approved with broad support...

Senior Republicans accused House Democrats of political gamesmanship, alleging that the Democrats withdrew their support at the last minute to embarrass GOP leaders. But conservative advocacy groups claimed victory, suggesting that the 62 Republicans who opposed the legislation did so with an intent to draft a more conservative, less costly plan. Democrats, who opposed a $20.5 billion cut to the food-stamp program in the measure, said the failure was the result of Republicans’ inability to govern their caucus or count votes. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called it “amateur hour.”

Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, “They turned what should have been a non-controversial farm bill into a partisan mess. I cannot imagine what they will manage to do with a controversial immigration bill.”

LIKE BASEBALL, ONLY MUCH MORE EARTH-SHAKING

...The agriculture sector stands to suffer the most from the bill’s failure. Without action later this year, American farmers will fall back to a 1949 law governing the industry, which could lead to steep price increases on items such as milk. The Senate passed its version of a longer term farm bill earlier this month on a bipartisan vote of 66 to 27. The measure calls for spending $24 billion less than current law by ending programs such as a $5 billion direct cash subsidy program for absentee farmers. The House plan would have resulted in nearly $40 billion in savings, in large part by slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps.

IT'S SO SAD WHEN AN ILLUSION IS SHATTERED...

[Demeter]

10. Rosneft Plans $60 Billion Oil Supply Deal With China, Putin Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-20/rosneft-plans-60-billion-oil-supply-deal-with-china-putin-says.html

OAO Rosneft, the world’s biggest oil producer by output, plans to sign an “unprecedented” $60 billion contract to supply crude to China, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

China may become Russia’s biggest oil customer after signing the contract, following a government accord in April. Rosneft may sign that deal as well as a crude supply agreement with PKN Orlen SA’s Czech refining unit and liquefied natural gas accords with Japan’s Marubeni Corp. (8002) and Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co. at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this week, two people with knowledge of the plans said.

BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Eni SpA executives are in St. Petersburg during the annual forum, where Putin has courted foreign investors needed to develop resources in the world’s biggest oil and gas producing nation. Last year, Rosneft signed follow-up accords with Eni and Statoil ASA on planned Arctic projects, while OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, failed the previous year to clinch a much-touted deal with China to build a pipeline and agree on supplies.

“You didn’t just come here to stroll through Petersburg,” Putin told a Chinese delegation including Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli. “An unprecedented contract with Rosneft has been prepared. Deliveries of hundreds of millions of tons of crude are expected.”

MORE

[Demeter]

11. Breaking down Brazil's protests

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/06/2013619134555233454.html

What started in anger over a 20 cent transport fee increase has ballooned into Brazil's most significant social unrest in decades, with tens-of-thousands taking to the streets demanding economic justice. For a week now annoyed Brazilians throughout the country have expressed their discontent with the status quo by massing themselves, mostly peacefully, in the country's biggest cities. Following the lead of São Paulo - Brazil's biggest metropolis - other centres have seen similar scenes of mass demonstration, including Rio de Janeiro and the nation's capital Brasília. Estimates put the number of protesters in the hundreds of thousands, with as many as 100,000 demonstrators in both São Paulo and Rio on Monday night.

For the government of President Dilma Rousseff, the demonstrations couldn't have come at a worse time. The Confederations Cup is currently underway and Pope Francis arrives on July 22 for a weeklong stay. Brazil hosts the World Cup next year and also the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio - and the international community is watching.

It doesn't appear the protests will fade away anytime soon.

...Still, many in Brazil's press remain uncomfortable with the upheaval, according to Caccia Bava.

[blockquote]"What the media have done reflects the distribution of power in this country as well," he said. "The powerful families that own some of the main newspapers and TV networks are afraid of social movements, so they have a tendency to criminalize them. They have shifted in their narrative just because of the momentum, nothing else has changed."

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

The sociologist Caccia Bava said the size of the demonstrations have surprised him, adding it hasn't been "part of our culture for a long time".

"This was not about international pressure or Brazil's image, this was about the people in the streets," he said. "Such massive demonstrations were impossible to ignore, the kind we hadn’t seen for the past 20 years.”

[Demeter]

12. How to stage effective protests in the 21st century by Fabius Maximus

http://fabiusmaximus.com/2009/04/21/protests/

Discussions how to reform America frequently end on one set of rocks: the ineffectiveness of mass protests in 21st century America. In this post Joshua Keating explains the problem (“Do protests ever work?“, blog of Foreign Policy, 2 April 2009 ):

Collins names Gandhi’s march to the sea and Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington as the ultimate effective demonstrations in this sense. They mobilized huge groups in support of a definable and achievable goal rather than opposing an amorphous concept like “capitalism.”

The fact that much of the street activism against the U.S. war in Iraq has been led by a group called Act Now to Stop War & End Racism is a good indication of why the antiwar movement has never really been a factor in debates over U.S. foreign policy. Rather than organizing around a specific political goal, ending the war, these marches tend to devolve into general lefty free-for-alls encompassing everything from Palestine to free trade the environment to capital punishment.

… Recent examples of effective protests would be the unbelievably effective demonstrations in Pakistan that led to the reinstatement of chief justice Iftikhar Chaudry or the pro-Thaksin demonstrators who have Thailand’s government on the brink of capitulation. Strangely, it also seems to be the case that demonstrations in partially free or inconsistently democratic societies tend to be the most effective.

Matthew Yglesias’ blog features many of the best comment threads I’ve seen on the Internet. Frequently better than his posts. Here are selected comments from his post about Keating’s article, in 5 sections.

1. About goals
   
2. About tactics
   
3. Who is protesting?
   
4. Why are people protesting?
   
5. About Violence

SEE LINK FOR DETAILS

[kickysnana]

16. Protesting Alan "There is no chronic Lyme" Steere

cause I say so despite the research when the energized establishment made him "Clinician of the Year" in Manhattan Nov 2000. He helped make treatment almost impossible to get.

In four weeks our grassroots groups pulled together the permits, the security, the on stand by ambulances and got hundreds people in from across the country wheelchairs, hooked up to IVs on crutches and with help to navigate NY due to Lyme fog. Despite the (s)election the press showed up. Zucker/Zuckerman? head of Time at the time pulled up in his limousine on the way to the gala and stopped got out pulled out his cell phone and made a call in full view of the leaders of the protest. Twenty minutes later most of the media had departed and there was no coverage of the event anywhere.

If there is no news coverage it never happened.

The leaders cars were broken into and everything..everything removed only to be mysteriously returned to the parking ramp one week later.

Tuskegee study didn't go away it went underground into the bio-terror realm. Plum Island is where they studied syphilis as an agent. Plum Island is off the coast of both Lyme Ct and Long Island NY and where that program was located after WWII and still going during Desert Storm. Lyme, a cousin is an old disease in nature but it was not virulent until the 1980's. It spread west across the country with the migrations of birds and animals

BTW. When I installed the Prism alert earlier this week. I am still on their radar. So Hello Agent Mike. I am still here and still speaking out because if I don't people will continue to suffer and lose everything for huberous and nonsense.

[Demeter]

17. What's a Prism alert?

[kickysnana]

23. Firefox Addon: Dark Side of the Prism

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023025527

@AnonymousWWN: Opt out of #PRISM, the #NSA’s global data surveillance program - PRISM BREAK
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023031014

I found what I was looking for last week with DuckDuckGo except for images but I didn't read the directions so there may be a way.

Besides being a Lyme Activist since 1992, and working genealogy which they were monitoring back when there were only Bulletin Boards ca 1988 I have a relatives who may be of National interest. I just assume everything I type online is being collected. Oh and I was vetted for Army Military Intelligence in October 1970, first enlisted women but they had a full fledged race riot, followed by snipers in the woods and MPs hunting them down until I left a few weeks later, My fellow midwesterners all took the get out of the Army with an Honorable Discharge offer while in Basic Training and those from other states that stayed in told us we made the right decision. Roseanne Barr's sister was in my platoon. "Only Jewish family in Utah" got called in and yelled at because she "wasn't serious enough." But you either laughed, cried or died inside. It was much worse than the movies showed and few survived intact.

[Demeter]

13. The Last Mystery of the Financial Crisis MATTT TAIBBI

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-last-mystery-of-the-financial-crisis-20130619

It's long been suspected that ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's helped trigger the meltdown. A new trove of embarrassing documents shows how they did it...What about the ratings agencies? That's what "they" always say about the financial crisis and the teeming rat's nest of corruption it left behind. Everybody else got plenty of blame: the greed-fattened banks, the sleeping regulators, the unscrupulous mortgage hucksters like spray-tanned Countrywide ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo. But what about the ratings agencies? Isn't it true that almost none of the fraud that's swallowed Wall Street in the past decade could have taken place without companies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's rubber-stamping it? Aren't they guilty, too? Man, are they ever. And a lot more than even the least generous of us suspected.

Thanks to a mountain of evidence gathered for a pair of major lawsuits by the San Diego-based law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, documents that for the most part have never been seen by the general public, we now know that the nation's two top ratings companies, Moody's and S&P, have for many years been shameless tools for the banks, willing to give just about anything a high rating in exchange for cash. In incriminating e-mail after incriminating e-mail, executives and analysts from these companies are caught admitting their entire business model is crooked.

"Lord help our fucking scam?.?.?.?this has to be the stupidest place I have worked at," writes one Standard & Poor's executive. "As you know, I had difficulties explaining 'HOW' we got to those numbers since there is no science behind it," confesses a high-ranking S&P analyst. "If we are just going to make it up in order to rate deals, then quants [quantitative analysts] are of precious little value," complains another senior S&P man. "Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of card[s] falters," ruminates one more.

Ratings agencies are the glue that ostensibly holds the entire financial industry together. These gigantic companies – also known as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations, or NRSROs – have teams of examiners who analyze companies, cities, towns, countries, mortgage borrowers, anybody or anything that takes on debt or creates an investment vehicle. Their primary function is to help define what's safe to buy, and what isn't. A triple-A rating is to the financial world what the USDA seal of approval is to a meat-eater, or virginity is to a Catholic. It's supposed to be sacrosanct, inviolable: According to Moody's own reports, AAA investments "should survive the equivalent of the U.S. Great Depression."

It's not a stretch to say the whole financial industry revolves around the compass point of the absolutely safe AAA rating. But the financial crisis happened because AAA ratings stopped being something that had to be earned and turned into something that could be paid for. That this happened is even more amazing because these companies naturally have powerful leverage over their clients, as they are part of a quasi-protected industry that enjoys massive de facto state subsidies. Largely that's because government agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission often force private companies to fulfill regulatory requirements by retaining or keeping in reserve certain fixed quantities of assets – bonds, securities, whatever – that have been rated highly by a "Nationally Recognized" ratings agency, like the "Big Three" of Moody's, S&P and Fitch. So while they're not quite part of the official regulatory infrastructure, they might as well be. It's not like the iniquity of the ratings agencies had gone completely unnoticed before. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission published a case study in 2011 of Moody's in particular and discovered that between 2000 and 2007, the agency gave nearly 45,000 mortgage-backed securities AAA ratings. One year Moody's doled out AAA ratings to 30 mortgage-backed securities every day, 83 percent of which were ultimately downgraded. "This crisis could not have happened without the rating agencies," the commission concluded.

Thanks to these documents, we now know how that happened. And showing as they do the back-and-forth between the country's top ratings agencies and one of America's biggest investment banks (Morgan Stanley) in advance of two major subprime deals, they also lay out in detail the evolution of the industrywide fraud that led to implosion of the world economy – how banks, hedge funds, mortgage lenders and ratings agencies, working at an extraordinary level of cooperation, teamed up to disguise and then sell near-worthless loans as AAA securities. It's the black box in the American financial airplane.

MORE

[Demeter]

15. G'night,all!

Can't keep eyes open...

[Demeter]

18. Et Tu, Bernanke? By PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/opinion/krugman-et-tu-bernanke.html?_r=0



...Lately, Fed officials have been issuing increasingly strong hints that rather than doing more, they want to do less, that they are eager to start “tapering,” returning to normal monetary policy. The impression that the Fed is tired of trying so hard got even stronger last week, after a news conference in which Mr. Bernanke seemed quite happy to reinforce the message of an imminent reduction in stimulus. The trouble is that this is very much the wrong signal to be sending given the state of the economy. We’re still very much living through what amounts to a low-grade depression — and the Fed’s bad messaging reduces the chances that we’re going to exit that depression any time soon...The first thing you need to understand is how far we remain from full employment four years after the official end of the 2007-9 recession. It’s true that measured unemployment is down — but that mainly reflects a decline in the number of people actively seeking jobs, rather than an increase in job availability. Look, for example, at the fraction of adults in their prime working years (25 to 54) who have jobs; that ratio fell from 80 to 75 percent in the recession, and has since recovered only to 76 percent. Given this grim reality — plus very low inflation — you have to wonder why the Fed is talking at all about reducing its efforts on the economy’s behalf. Still, it’s just talk, right? Well, yes — but what the Fed says often matters as much as or more than what it does. This is inherent in the relationship between what the Fed more or less directly controls, namely short-term interest rates, and longer-term rates, which reflect expected as well as current short-term rates. Even if the Fed leaves short rates unchanged for now, statements that convince investors that these rates will be going up sooner rather than later will cause long rates to rise. And because long rates are what mainly matter for private spending, this will weaken growth and employment.

Sure enough, rates have shot up since the tapering talk started. Two months ago the benchmark interest rate on 10-year U.S. government bonds was only 1.7 percent, close to a historic low. Since then the rate has risen to 2.4 percent — still low by normal standards, but, as I said, this isn’t a normal economy. Maybe the economic recovery will, as the Fed predicts, continue and strengthen despite that increase in rates. But maybe not, and in any case higher rates will surely mean a slower recovery than we would have had if Fed officials had avoided all that talk of tapering. Fed officials surely understand all of this. So what do they think they’re doing? One answer might be that the Fed has quietly come to agree with critics who argue that its easy-money policies are having damaging side-effects, say by increasing the risk of bubbles. But I hope that’s not true, since whatever damage low rates may do is trivial compared with the damage higher rates, and the resulting rise in unemployment, would inflict.

In any case, my guess is that what’s really happening is a bit different: Fed officials are, consciously or not, responding to political pressure. After all, ever since the Fed began its policy of aggressive monetary stimulus, it has faced angry accusations from the right that it is “debasing” the dollar and setting the stage for high inflation — accusations that haven’t been retracted even though the dollar has remained strong and inflation has remained low. It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that Fed officials, worn down by the constant attacks, have been looking for a reason to slacken their efforts, and have seized on slightly better economic news as an excuse. And maybe they’ll get away with it; maybe the economic recovery will strengthen and all will be well. But rising interest rates make that happy outcome less likely. And now that everyone knows that the Fed is eager to slacken off, it will be hard to get interest rates back down to where they were.

It’s sad and depressing, in both senses of the word. The fundamental reason our economy is still depressed after all these years is that so many policy makers lost the thread, forgetting that job creation was their most urgent task. Until now the Fed was an exception; but now it seems to be joining the club. Et tu, Ben?


I DON'T AGREE WITH DR. KRUGMAN HERE. I THINK BERNANKE HAS TO STOP PUMPING UP THE PAPER ASSETS AND FUELING SPECULATIVE BUBBLES.

THE FED HAS REALIZED THAT IT CAN'T DO IT ALONE.


THE PROPER SOURCE OF JOB CREATION IS, AS IT ALWAYS WAS...CONGRESS. PRESSURE SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO BEAR WHERE IT WILL DO THE MOST GOOD.

[Demeter]

20. When the Ben and Beijing party comes to an end

http://news.yahoo.com/ben-beijing-party-comes-end-041132112.html

Through the dark days of the financial crisis, and the grey days of the halting recovery that have followed, investors have always been able to count on backing from two sources - Ben Bernanke and Beijing.

They have provided stimulus, mainly by pumping funds into the U.S. and Chinese economies in various ways, when other pillars of support had become unreliable.

That helps to explain why global financial markets took such a beating last week when both signaled that they are getting tired of being leant on so heavily...

[Demeter]

21. Volcker warns on limits of U.S. Fed's easy money MAY 29

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/29/usa-volcker-easing-idUSL2N0EA1AK20130529

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker on Wednesday waded into the debate over when to reduce today's ultra-easy U.S. monetary policies, arguing that the benefits of bond-buying are "limited and diminishing" and warning that central banks are too often late in removing stimulus.

Volcker, who led the U.S. central bank's aggressive battle against inflation in the 1970s, said the decision to adjust policy will come down to good judgment, leadership, and "institutional backbone" in the face of political pressure.

"Here and elsewhere, the temptation has been strong to wait and see before acting to remove stimulus and then moving toward restraint," Volcker, 85, told the Economic Club of New York.

"Too often the result is to be too late, to fail to appreciate growing imbalances and inflationary pressures before they are well engrained," he said....


LOOKS LIKE BEN IS LISTENING TO TALL PAUL

[Demeter]

19. Oil slips on strong dollar, weak fundamentals

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-slips-on-strong-dollar-weak-fundamentals-2013-06-24?siteid=YAHOOB

WELL, YEAH, ONE WOULD HOPE SO

[Demeter]

22. Hedge fund boss Baha sees gold at $3,000-$5,000 By Laurence Fletcher MAY 28

WHEN DID GOLD CRASH, NOW? DECLINE STARTED APRIL 15TH

http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/2013/05/28/hedge-fund-boss-baha-sees-gold-at-3000-5000/


Christian Baha, the head of Austrian fund firm Superfund and representative of the hedge fund industry in Oliver Stone movie Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, is predicting that the gold price could rise to between $3,000 and $5,000 over the next five to 10 years.

Baha, who says he has more than half his personal wealth in gold and silver, either physically or in units in Superfund funds denominated in the precious metals, believes that an unprecedented phase of quantitative easing by central banks is driving a bubble in government bonds, but that gold offers real value.

“Do you think paper money has any intrinsic value? I don’t believe so. Gold has real value,” Baha said in a recent interview.

“If gold goes down to $1,200 or $1,000 then I’m going to buy more. I really don’t care. They’re just printing new money.”

Gold fell around 5.2 percent on Friday April 12 and a further 8.4 percent on Monday April 15 – the biggest two day drop in 30 years – as investors fretted over a possible 400 million euro gold sale by debt-laden Cyprus and the possible ending of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus by the end of the year. The fall came as a surprise to investors, many of whom had seen the precious metal as a hedge against future inflation induced by ‘quantitative easing’ by central banks. Numerous banks, who had been forecasting a higher gold price, were caught out, as were some hedge funds, including billionaire John Paulson, who saw his $700 million gold fund lose 27 percent in April.

Baha, a former policeman whose cameo in the Gekko sequel came thanks to his friendship with the director, said he bought gold as the price fell, buying on both the Friday and the Monday. He added that inflationary pressures set to drive gold higher could also push the yields on 10-year German and French government bonds – currently 1.46 percent and 1.99 percent – to 10, 15 or 20 percent.

“Governments more and more are being obliged to buy their own government bonds, which means the bubble is even bigger than before, and so the gold price will be driven higher than before,” he said.

“A gold price of $3,000 to $5,000 in the next 5 to 10 years will be just the start.”

[Fuddnik]

50. Translation:

"I bought a shitload of gold at $1700, and I've gotta find some sucker to take it off my hands".

Paging Mr. Beck.

[Demeter]

58. I think you are correct

or there's a massive devaluation of the dollar, in 5...4...3...2...

[Demeter]

24. Snowden on the run asks Ecuador for asylum

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/snowden-on-the-run-asks-ecuador-for-asylum-2013-06-24?siteid=YAHOOB

Snowden’s unexpected Sunday flight to Moscow from Hong Kong exposed the apparent limits of America’s diplomatic and intelligence-gathering reach. At a time when Snowden has been the subject of intense interest from U.S. authorities, they were unable to prevent his departure from a jurisdiction generally viewed as friendly to U.S. extradition requests.

Washington had requested Hong Kong arrest Snowden in anticipation of extradition, and officials including Attorney General Eric Holder had reached out to authorities in the city to urge that request be honored, a U.S. official said. But it wasn’t until Snowden had left for Moscow that the Americans had found out that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, viewed their request as "insufficient" the official said.

According to people familiar with the case, the U.S. never asked Interpol, the international police agency, to issue a "red notice" for Snowden, which would have triggered alerts at airports to delay, if not stop outright, his departure.

The White House early Monday said it expects the Russian government to "look at all options available" to expel Snowden to the U.S. to face charges, according to Reuters. The White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the U.S. also registered strong objections to authorities in Hong Kong and China through diplomatic channels over the decision to let Mr. Snowden flee, according to Reuters.

Ecuador said it had received a request for asylum from Snowden, but that no decision had been reached, according to the Associated Press....

I'M BETTING INTERPOL AND EVERYBODY ELSE TOLD THE US WHAT THEY COULD DO WITH THEIR REQUESTS....YES, I THOUGHT SO

...The U.S. could have sought an Interpol red notice — the equivalent of an arrest warrant sent to its 190 member countries. But under Interpol guidelines, espionage charges are considered political, and the organization isn't permitted to get involved in a matter of a military, political, racial or religious nature, an Interpol official said...





THE DISSING OF AMERICA HAS MOVED INTO THE ACTIVE PHASE. THE HONEYMOON FOR OBAMA IS FINALLY OVER, AND THE WORLD IS ACTING TO THWART THE BIGGEST TERRORIST ON THE PLANET.

THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU SPY ON EVERYONE IN THE WORLD...WELL DESERVED, LONG OVERDUE PARIAH STATUS.

EDWARD SNOWDEN IS THE TOAST OF THE PLANET. OBAMA'S JUST TOAST.

[Demeter]

25. "Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy--Updated for Modern Times

We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Yankees seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell?
That damned, elusive Pimpernel

[Demeter]

26. The Feds Seized Another Bitcoin Site JUNE 4

SOMEHOW I MISSED THIS EARLIER

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-feds-just-seized-another-bitcoin-site-2013-6

The domain of Bitcoin exchange wm-center has been shut down by the government (as first observed by BitcoinByte and FT's Stephen Foley).

Here's what you'll see right now if you go to http://www.wm-center.com/index.html:



This comes on the heels of the feds shutting down Liberty Reserve, the charges against which contained language seemingly directed at all other digital currencies, including Bitcoin.

UPDATE: wm-center was named as one of the sites seized in the Liberty Reserve case:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-feds-just-seized-another-bitcoin-site-2013-6#ixzz2X8WhUUHo


THAT'S OUR ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER, FOLKS, MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR BANKSTERS...WHO CAN'T STAND THE COMPETITION (AND CAN'T COMPETE, EITHER).

[Demeter]

27. For Obama’s ex-aides, it’s time to cash in on experience

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-obamas-ex-aides-its-time-to-cash-in-on-experience/2013/05/30/a649ccde-c867-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html

The decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline is a political headache for President Obama. But to five of his former aides, it represents a business opportunity. Four of them — Bill Burton, Stephanie Cutter, Jim Papa and Paul Tewes — work as consultants for opponents of the project, which would carry heavy crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. Another, former White House communications director Anita Dunn, counts the project’s sponsor, TransCanada, among the clients of her communications firm. Keystone XL is just one of several upcoming administration decisions providing lucrative work for former Obama advisers on issues ranging from gun control to mining to legalized gambling. Just this week, three of Obama’s top former political advisers — Robert Gibbs, Jim Messina and David Plouffe — were given five-figure checks to deliver remarks at a forum in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, which is in the midst of a campaign to burnish its image in Washington.

Obama came into office promising that his administration would hew to higher standards than his predecessors did. He implemented rules barring former aides from directly lobbying the government for two years and frequently decries the influence of “special interests” in Washington.

But the efforts have done little to slow a tide of groups hiring former top aides as highly paid consultants, speakers and media advisers in an effort to influence the administration — part of a longtime Washington practice in which interest groups seek access to the White House by hiring people who used to work there.

The activities also pose a political challenge for Obama, who will be put in the position of making decisions on Keystone XL and other controversial issues that his former employees have taken sides on...

AS YE SOW, SO SHALL YE REAP

[Demeter]

28. SWISS Parliament vote stalls US tax settlement

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Parliament_vote_stalls_US_tax_settlement.html?cid=36187016

The House of Representatives has clearly rejected a planned law allowing Swiss banks to hand over data of suspected tax dodgers to the United States. Discussions in parliament are continuing on Wednesday. A majority of opponents on Tuesday argued the law violated Swiss sovereignty and didn't provide either enough information about possible consequences or assurances from the US to protect bank employees. The result of the vote – 126 against, 67 in favour, with two abstentions – dealt a blow to the cabinet and Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. The bill now returns to the Senate, which had approved the deal last week.

The rightwing Swiss People's Party, the centre-right Radical Party and most centre-left Social Democrats voted against the bill in the house and demanded the government take a decision without parliament. They said the planned deal between Swiss banks and the US authorities would prompt further demands by other countries. “The draft law is an act of surrender,” said People’s Party parliamentarian Christoph Blocher. He added the banks under investigation would face penalties but they could bear them without being put out of business.

Supporters of the law, the centrist Christian Democrats, the Conservative Democrats, the Liberal Greens as well as the centre-left Greens, argued it was better to accept the bill to minimise the risk of escalating the tax row with the US. They said all banks and many experts had come out in favour of a law which allowed a settlement of suspected cases of tax evasion of the past. A rejection of the deal was undermining the stability of the Swiss banking centre and putting jobs at risk, said Christian Democrat Lucrezia Meier-Schatz...


2 TO 1 IS A PRETTY STRONG REJECTION...

[Demeter]

29. US Banks present crisis plan to the Fed

http://news.yahoo.com/banks-present-crisis-plan-fed-wsj-033414926.html

U.S. banks have given a proposal to federal regulators on how to pay for restructuring the country's too-big-to-fail institutions in the event of a future crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the conversations. The Journal said the proposal, given to the U.S. Federal Reserve at a private meeting on May 22, is an effort by banks to pre-empt tougher rules from officials, who believe banks still could pose a threat to financial stability in a crisis.

According to the plan, the largest financial services holding companies would maintain a certain amount of debt and equity that would be used to prop up any failed bank subsidiary seized by regulators. Some banks might even be forced to issue expensive long-term debt, according to the newspaper. In the presentation, the banks said they each would agree to hold combined debt and equity equal to 14 percent of their risk-weighted assets, the Journal said.

For the six biggest U.S. banks that may have to hold an additional buffer of capital because of international guidelines, the total could be as high as 15 percent to 16.5 percent, the people told the Journal. Currently, Wells Fargo has a ratio of existing debt and equity of 14 percent, JPMorgan Chase has 18.4 percent, while Bank of America and Citigroup have 20.2 percent and 22.1 percent each respectively, the Journal said, citing Goldman Sachs estimates...Regulators have not yet responded to the bank's proposal and could reject it in favor of their own plan. However, they have favored banks issuing more debt because it can provide liquidity for a failing bank while government officials replace senior management and fix problems, the Journal said.

[xchrom]

30. The End of Brazil's Boom: Inflation and Corruption Fuel Revolt

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-boom-ends-in-brazil-inflation-and-corruption-fuel-revolt-a-907481.html


Protesters burn flags of the Workers' Party in Sao Paulo on June 20. After a week of mass protests, Brazilians won the world's attention and a pull-back on the subway and bus fare hikes that had first ignited their rage.

The Hotel Glória was once Brazil's finest establishment. Heads of state stayed in the magnificent building when Rio de Janeiro was still the capital. But the hotel lost its luster and its high-class clientele. Five years ago, a multibillionaire bought the hotel and vowed to bring back the old glory.

Eike Batista, who was Brazil's richest man at the time, had big plans: He wanted to build a luxury resort, complete with a helipad and marina. He hired star architects and the building was gutted down to its foundation walls. The idea was to reopen the hotel in time for next year's World Cup soccer championship. But now the cranes are standing still and most of the workers have been laid off. The wind blows through the windows and a homeless man is sleeping under an awning. The hotel is for sale. The multibillionaire has run out of money.

The downfall of the Batista empire symbolizes the end of the economic boom -- and the multibillionaire embodies everything that hundreds of thousands of Brazilians, primarily from the middle class, are protesting against: nepotism, delusions of grandeur and the fabulous wealth of a select few. It started with demonstrations against raising the bus fare by 20 centavos (9 US cents), but rapidly became a more general uproar over the issue of who should benefit from Brazil's riches and what is more important -- new hospitals or glittering sports stadiums.

Batista enjoyed close ties with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who extolled him as a model for the new Brazil. He received massive loans from the state, and when his son hit and killed a cyclist with his sports car, expensive lawyers managed to keep the young man from serving a prison sentence. A consortium that included Batista was awarded the contract to manage the rebuilt Maracanã Stadium in Rio. The renovation of the Hotel Glória is also financed with a loan from the state development bank. And Brazil's state-owned Petrobras has signed a deal to make Batista's port facilities more profitable.

[Demeter]

32. Not to mention Oppression

Good morning X!
Tansy and I were comparing nightmares we dreamt last night. Hope you slept well.

I wonder if it was an effect of the extra-large Moon.

[xchrom]

34. THE FUCKING BOTTOM FELL OUT OF THE DOG FOOD BAG!11

whew....i got that off my chest.

the moon has been amazing -- it shines right in my bedroom.

[Demeter]

37. In a dream, or for real?

If it was for real, the dog will help you clean it up, I'm sure. He/she/it might even be complicit in its falling off...

[xchrom]

39. lol! yes, it was for real

and yes, the dogs helped.

[Tansy_Gold]

45. I have one who waits, breathless

for any scrap that might escape while I'm filling the bowls. If the bag ever broke, he'd be in dog heaven.

[xchrom]

46. Gasp! Look at that baby! Nt

[Tansy_Gold]

55. He is ridiculously photogenic

And he seems to know it.

[Fuddnik]

51. I'll send the clean-up crew right over.

[xchrom]

52. !

[xchrom]

31. It's Becoming More Clear How Hard Hong Kong Just Slapped The US In The Face

http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-us-hong-kong-russia-cuba-flight-2013-6

U.S. officials expressed disappointment in the Hong Kong government's decision to defy its extradition request of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and allow him to travel to Russia.
Asked to respond to Hong Kong's passive-aggressive statement confirming Snowden's departure, a Justice Department spokesperson said only that the U.S. was "disappointed" and that it "disagrees" with the Hong Kong government's decisions on the matter.

Another Justice Department official said in a statement: "As we stated yesterday, the United States had contacted authorities in Hong Kong to seek the extradition of Mr. Snowden, based on the criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, and in accordance with the U.S.-Hong Kong Agreement for the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders.

"We have been informed by the Hong Kong authorities Mr. Snowden has departed Hong Kong for a third country. We will continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-us-hong-kong-russia-cuba-flight-2013-6#ixzz2X8hxVzKb

[Demeter]

33. Remember that After-Shave Commercial?

Guy slaps himself in the face with it, and says:

"Thanks, I needed that!"



If the shoe fits...

And now, I must be off (NO WISECRACKS, PLEASE) have a good Monday, everyone...try!

[xchrom]

35. !

[xchrom]

36. Markets Are Falling, Interest Rates Are Spiking Again, And China Got DESTROYED

http://www.businessinsider.com/morning-markets-june-24-2013-6



A few weeks ago all the talk was about Japan.
Now the focus turns to China.

Last week we saw a surge in short-term interbank lending rates spark fears of a credit crisis.

Today: market crash.

The Shanghai Composite fell 5.3%, as the saddest index in the world continues to plummet. A big contributor to this was a message from the People's Bank of China telling banks that their liquidity issues were their own problem, and that they needed to sort them out.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/morning-markets-june-24-2013-6#ixzz2X8jy1wtD

[Demeter]

38. DOW down 140 at open and still falling

Never a fairy around when you need one...

[xchrom]

40. Market Tanking — Dow Off 160

http://www.businessinsider.com/markets-are-tanking-2013-6



Markets are open in the U.S., and they're looking ugly to start the week.

The Dow is down 160 point, or 1.0%. The S&P 500 is down 22 points or 1.4%.

This comes after hawkish commentary from the People's Bank of China sent the Shanghai Composite into a bear market (i.e. down 20% from its highs).

Later this morning, we'll get the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity report. Otherwise, it's a quiet day in the U.S.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/markets-are-tanking-2013-6#ixzz2X8qXyxbZ

[Demeter]

47. -200 plus at lunch

I am torn between Edward Snowden and Dow Jones!

[Fuddnik]

56. Oooo. Lookie now.

Faeries.

[xchrom]

41. Here's The Message From The People's Bank Of China That Sent Stocks Cratering

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-message-from-the-peoples-bank-of-china-that-sent-stocks-cratering-2013-6

Shanghai shares got crushed last night, and financials were really hard hit.

One culprit: The People's Bank of China is showing that it's very disinclined to step in and smoothe over tight liquidity conditions.

Instead it's telling the banks to deal with their own mess.

Nomura's Zhiwei Zhang passes allong the message from the PBOC in a brief note

The guidance note stated that “overall bank liquidity conditions are at a reasonable level” and asked banks to “prudently manage liquidity risks that have resulted from rapid credit expansion”, “appropriately contain the pace of loans and bill financing” and “utilize the stock of money and credit to support the economy”. We believe these statements suggest that the central bank's policy stance remains tight. The decision to put this note on its website suggests the PBoC wants to reiterate its policy stance.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-message-from-the-peoples-bank-of-china-that-sent-stocks-cratering-2013-6#ixzz2X8rNMR5n

[xchrom]

42. CHINA SLUMP, HIGHER BOND YIELDS WEIGH ON MARKETS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WALL_STREET_OPEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-24-09-47-17

More signs of distress in China's economy and rising U.S. bond yields are weighing on U.S. stocks in early trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 160 points, or 1.1 percent, to 14,639 in the first few minutes of trading Monday.

The Standard & Poor's index fell 24 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,570. The Nasdaq composite fell 45 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,312.

An increase in China's commercial lending rates brought new worries about China's finances. China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged 5 percent, its biggest loss in four years.

The selling also spread to Europe. France's index fell 1.8 percent, Germany's 1.2 percent.

[xchrom]

43. Decline in defense mergers and acquisitions sparks staffing changes at banks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/decline-in-defense-mergers-and-acquisitions-sparks-staffing-changes-at-banks/2013/06/22/07c47366-d451-11e2-b05f-3ea3f0e7bb5a_story.html

The aerospace and defense industry saw a decline in mergers and acquisitions during the first part of the year as federal budget cuts set in, forcing the banks and financial advisers that facilitate those deals to reconsider their stomach for the sector.

The result has been several months of staffing ­changes at finance firms as some decide to close their Washington offices or trim their workforce here, and others hire or open their doors in anticipation of the market’s eventual return

The total number of mergers and acquisitions in the aerospace and defense industry dropped 40 percent, to 25, in the first quarter of the year compared with the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a report from Deloitte Corporate Finance, an advisory firm.

The average disclosed value of those deals fell 77 percent, to $88 million, in the first quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the Deloitte report, making them less palatable for larger banks that thrive on big-ticket transactions.

[xchrom]

44. German business confidence rises in June

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23026953


Germany's Ifo index of business sentiment rose slightly in June, raising hopes that the eurozone's largest economy is returning to stronger growth.

The index rose to 105.9, up from 105.7 the month before.

Germany's economy shrank by 0.7% in the final quarter of 2012, and grew just 0.1% in the first quarter of 2013.

But the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is forecasting 0.4% growth for the year.

[Demeter]

48. Now THERE'S a Delusional Nation

They ALMOST make us look sane.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

49. Stocks Dig Deeper Near Midday; Coal Miners Dive On SCOTUS Nod

Stocks Dig Deeper Near Midday; Coal Miners Dive On SCOTUS Nod

....
Coal producers were under heavy pressure after the Supreme Court agreed to reconsider an overturned ruling on an Environmental Protection agency rule that would further curb emissions from coal-fired power plants. Cliff Natural Resources (CLF), Peabody Energy (BTU), Arch Coal (ACI) and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) were all down 7% or more near midday. Walter Energy (WLT) led the slide with a 13% loss.

Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook

Disclaimer: I own some of the stocks mentioned in the article, but this is not an offer to....

[Fuddnik]

54. People of the Walmart.

#at=173

[Fuddnik]

57. Would you buy a used car from these dogs?

We highly recommend this car. Except when we step on the window buttons and fall out.






Ooops. Linkie no workie.