STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 13 February 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 13 February 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 12 February 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 12 February 2014
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Dow Jones 15,963.94 -30.83 (-0.19%)
S&P 500 1,819.26 -0.49 (-0.03%)
[font color=green]Nasdaq 4,201.29 +10.24 (0.24%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.76% +0.03 (1.10%)
30 Year 3.72% +0.02 (0.54%)[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
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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
6/4/12 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.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.








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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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. I'm not a big fan

Of Ted Rall's 'toons, but I thought this one contained such a perfect statement that it needed to be posted.


"Inequality isn't a flaw" of capitalism; "it's a feature."

[Demeter]

2. I would only qualify it to say:Unregulated Capitalism or Free-Market Capitalism

or, "Nature Red in Tooth and Claw"....

If we still had a Rule of Law in this country, the situation wouldn't be half as bad as it is. But even the few laws that the 1% haven't rewritten aren't applied to Them anyway...

[Demeter]

3. Ha! Trying to rack it back up to 16K+ didn't work

As I remarked to Tansy, how can you have a long-needed correction, if you keep inflating the balloon?

[Demeter]

4. U.S. Considers Killing Another American Citizen With a Drone

http://www.alternet.org/world/us-may-try-kill-another-american-citizen-drone?akid=11490.227380.dDBBMq&rd=1&src=newsletter956848&t=6


The NSA is using electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, to lock on drone targets, an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent people...Some officials at the Pentagon want to launch a drone strike on another American citizen overseas on evidence that is secret. The Associated Press’ Kimberly Dozier reports that the Obama administration is divided over killing the U.S. citizen, who is accused of planning attacks on Americans.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BET IT'S SNOWDEN? BHO BETTER NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT....

Currently, Central Intelligence Agency-operated drones are tracking the citizen’s movements. But the CIA is not allowed to go after a U.S. citizen under new rules on drones issued by President Obama last year. That’s the military’s job. But the AP’s Dozier reports that “an official said the president could make an exception to his policy and authorize the CIA to strike on a onetime basis or authorize the Pentagon to act despite the possible objections of the country in question.” The country the alleged suspect is in is averse to U.S. drone strikes, and the Obama administration is reportedly weary over the domestic and international uproar a drone strike on the alleged suspect is living in.

The Justice Department is building a case against the citizen so officials can review what to do about him. The Defense Department is divided over whether the alleged suspect is dangerous enough to justify a risky strike.

The U.S. has killed four American citizens using drone strikes in the past, all without trial or releasing evidence. The same legal process used to decide to kill the preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is being used on this unnamed suspect.

I AM SICK AT HEART. HOW CAN THIS COUNTRY REDEEM ITSELF IN THE EYES OF ITS OWN PEOPLE, LET ALONE ANY OTHER NATION? OR BEFORE GOD? THE KARMA WILL TAKE A REVOLUTION TO WASH THIS STAIN AWAY.

MORE, IF YOU CAN STAND IT, AT LINK

[Demeter]

5. Former New Orleans mayor guilty of graft in Katrina recovery

http://news.yahoo.com/former-orleans-mayor-found-guilty-graft-federal-trial-190954433.html

A federal jury on Wednesday found former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin guilty of bribery and corruption in connection with his dealings with contractors in the early years of the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Nagin, 57, faces more than 20 years in prison and will be sentenced at a later date. The jury found him guilty on 20 of the 21 corruption counts that he faced, including bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and tax evasion. He was cleared on one count of bribery.

Nagin showed no obvious reaction as the verdict was read. His wife Seletha sat quietly weeping behind her husband.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Nagin received cash and other favors with a combined value of more than $500,000 from 2005 to 2008. The bribes also included tons of granite sent to a kitchen countertop company he ran with his sons.

During the 10-day trial, the jury heard from some 30 prosecution witnesses, including a City Hall insider and contractors who earlier pleaded guilty to bribing public officials and are awaiting sentencing. Nagin was accused of diverting some of the money that flowed into the city to rebuild from Katrina into his sons' company. The 2005 storm killed about 1,500 people and caused some $80 billion in damage.

[kickysnana]

15. I was taught that bribery and corruption was business as usual in NOLA...

and Minnesota, and Washington DC and World Bank(s).

[westerebus]

6. It is snowing like all get out here in Virginia.

I know Fud's on the golf course.

Tansy's grilling peppers in flip flops.

Such is life.

[Demeter]

14. And I'm going to be slinging paper in 5F, god knows what windchill.

And I wouldn't call it life. That's far too highfaluting for torture.

[westerebus]

17. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do...

slinging papers at zero dark thirty in Siberia is not my idea of a fun time...

I'm sure it's not yours either...

[AnneD]

36. Morning Marketeers....

AnneD is limping toward the weekend. It has been a while since I have posted. Thank you to the sweetie that remembered me with some hearts.

Things are thawing out here. Today is the last day that we expect some frost. I am not putting out the tender plants yet because we still have the trail riders and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to come through. Those poor guys camp out in Memorial Park and the weather is nasty more times than not for that event. I will be doing more unpacking this weekend so weather or Valentine's weekend is immaterial to me.

Unpacking you say...did you get a house? Noooo. On Nov 1 at 3:30 am, a water pipe burst in our apartment. Despite my bailing, desperate calls to the answering service and 911-we ended up with 3-5 inches of water in the apartment. I managed to save electronics and musical instruments, but we demanded to be moved. The manager wanted to put us in the same apartment after he repaired it. This was the second time a water pipe burst. The first happened when I was in Canada. We had been in the apartment just shy of one year.

Then in late November, Hubby begins getting harassed over stupid attendance policies. One of these absences was due to neighborhood flooding, one due to diabetes related illness. Hubby's supervisor went over the Police Chief's head and internal affairs investigated. This is what they found out....the supervisor had not informed hubby about FMLA, except for those 2 events he had perfect attendance and in addition had worked much overtime. But the damage was done-no bonus and a lesser pay raise than others with more spots on their record. Hubby had 27 yrs-enough to retire with his pension. So in disgust he retired and is now double dipping as they say.

And moi, after a very restful summer, I was looking forward to another year of work. In fact, I figured I would do 5 more and call it quits. THEN I experienced the year from HELL. The district started 2 new mandated programs and dumped them on the School Nurses. Both require extreme amounts of excessive paperwork and the legal liability seems to be dumped it our lap. This is in addition to our already overwhelming schedule. I have had to deal with more clueless employees trying to add their responsibilities to my workload. This year has been worst year I have ever experienced in my 25 years as a Nurse (21 as a School Nurse). So without debate and a lot of disgust-I have decided that this is my last year also. I will be looking for a another job so I will also be double dipping as they say.

I cannot wait to leave. And it seems this is a good time. The state has passed too much education 'deform'. The latest hair brained scheme is a performance based pay system. Everyone (except higher ups of course) gets a base pay of say 42-45K. The rest of their pay is determined by student performance. Now supposedly you can get quite a bit but in the 11 years since they had the ASPIRE bonus program, I have only receive a bonus twice and it was stolen from me one other time. Also, I am a Nurse, I do not teach a class on a testing subject. This scheme will destroy the education system in Texas. I never shied away from a challenge and took the tougher school in poor areas, but with this incentive scheme, you would be a fool to go into certain areas and schools. The schools fail to realize that when they deal with Nurses, their competition is with hospitals, not other schools. We still have 10 openings for School Nurses this year that have gone unfilled. Once the implications of this scheme becomes evident, School Nurses will become as rare as hen's teeth.

And then there is my cat. Poor thing is in renal failure and pancreatitis. We are going though the initial round to see if it can be turned around. He was about 8-10 years when he came into our lives. I have had him for 10 years. My vet says she guesses he is late teens early 20's. I hope he has a few more years but I won't torture him. We may be walking across rainbow bridge soon. He has been extra loving lately, which make it bitter sweet.

But with every storm there are rainbows and sunshine too. My daughter returned to Houston. She got a seriously good job she loves and is becoming fully independent. It looks as if she will do even better. Thank goodness for that.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears....and thanks for the hearts

[Demeter]

37. Hugs, AnneD

Sounds like you've been in the blender of life....I hope that Spring and the shedding of the unbearable stuff brings you peace, joy and prosperity. And a dry home.

It's incredible what they are doing to education...those smart Alec policies are recipes for failure of the system and all who encounter it.

Don't be a stranger, hear? You can always unload on us!

[AnneD]

39. It has been so crazy for so long.....

I just didn't want to bore you guys. Finances and the economy have been the last thing on my mind.

[DemReadingDU]

45. AnneD, glad you checked in

Sorry to hear about your cat.
We have been thru the same thing with our 17 yearold cat, kidneys failing since last October. The vet suggested giving her subcutaneous fluids (3 times per week), and thyroid pills, and potassium gel. I smashed the thyroid pill in baby food (chicken or turkey), and she always ate that before her regular food. Until about a week ago, when she became lethargic and didn't eat much. She passed away early yesterday, purring to the end.

I knew Tuesday the end was near when one of my dogs kept barking at her. My dog was warning me that something wasn't right. Even today, the dog keeps searching all over the house for the cat.

Hoping the best for your cat.

[westerebus]

47. Sorry to hear that.

Lost my Monster back in 2005 when she could no longer tolerate the meds.

She was a great cat. She wasn't a very big cat, but fierce and quick.

She brought home a black snake one time. My Ex flew back wards about ten feet across the kitchen screaming GET IT OUT!!! never once did her feet touch the floor.

Then the time the neighbor's cat Henry, a big red bruiser and local bully, chased Monster into the barn. Well it seems Barn Cat didn't like Henry either. That was a epic battle which resulted in Henry being taught a lesson.

Her favorite indoor game was to get Maggie the border collie to chase her from the living room thru the dining room thru the kitchen until she could jump up on a book shelf and watch the dog go round and round and round.

[westerebus]

46. It's always something.

It appears the force out of senior people who are not upper management is across the boards of just about everywhere. I look at my pay scale and laugh as I get closer to the magical 66 number.
What's funny is there is no way they will get one person to do what I do for way less pay. From what I see, the plan is to fill slots with part time people, max hours being 30 something and splitting tasks. Good luck is all I've can say about that.
Nursing is one of the hardest professions out there. It is not getting any easier and the learning curve gets steeper all the time.
As a friend who finished nursing school two years ago and spent the last year and a half at Cardiac ICU on the evening shift said, all we really learned was to not kill anybody in nursing school, every day it's something new, weird or just out of control.
She was thinking about going into the school system until she saw what the starting pay was.
Currently considering a visiting nurse company. Or the Air Force.
They are planning to raise the homeowners tax to cover the school system here. The dummy's voted down a meals tax as if that was sending a message to control spending. Clueless folks in the red zone of Virginia not looking to the future. This county is still growing strong. Hence the need for more schools and staff.
And it's snowing...

[Fuddnik]

16. Fudd was getting soaked on the driving range running the ball picker.

Had to go out between the thunderstorms to get them, and quit whenever the lighting got near.

Other than that, living in a taxi cab.

[westerebus]

18. I've been wondering where you got to..

[Demeter]

19. How much longer are you in for, Fuddnik?

I'm getting out for Halloween. Not going through another winter like this one. It's not just the weather, it's the organization, too. They don't pay me enough to put up with them.

[Fuddnik]

44. At least two more weeks.

Then I'm taking a couple of weeks off, and go see dear Ole Dad for a few days. I may go back to driving after that, but I doubt it.

Now, it's off to the course.

[Demeter]

7. Whatever Happened to ‘Every Man a King’? Thomas B. Edsall

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/opinion/edsall-whatever-happened-to-every-man-a-king.html

A passionate group of labor economists has taken up a cause championed 40 years ago by Senator Russell Long of Louisiana: to turn every worker into a capitalist. Long, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1966 to 1981, inherited a populist commitment from his father, Huey Long, the Louisiana governor who famously campaigned on the slogan “Every Man a King.” In 1973, Long became intrigued by the idea of granting corporations generous tax incentives to distribute stock to employees through Employee Stock Ownership Plans, or ESOPs. Long’s question was, could ESOPs “make haves out of the have-nots without taking it away from the haves?” Working on assurances that this was indeed the case, Long said, “That’s the kind of populism I can buy.”

Beginning in 1974, Long won enactment of a series of bills establishing tax incentives favorable to corporations that transferred company stock into ESOPs. In 2012, the National Center for Employee Ownership estimated that the number of ESOPs had grown to 12,000, covering 11 million workers with $858 billion in assets. Companies employing at least 10,000 workers with ESOPs include Publix Supermarkets; WAWA; WinCo Foods; and the employee-owned private equity firm, Alliance Holdings. After Long retired in 1987, however, some of the tax breaks he sponsored were eliminated or weakened as Democratic and Republican administrations sought new federal revenues to reduce the deficit. Robert Hockett, a law professor at Cornell, wrote in 2006 that ESOPs had expanded employee ownership of firms, but that “there is indeed a gap to be filled — that firm ownership remains nowhere near as widespread as home and human capital ownership.”

Now three prominent labor policy experts have taken up Long’s cause. They are convinced that a major expansion of employee ownership is the most effective tool available to remediate inequality. The three experts -- Richard B. Freeman of the economics department at Harvard, and Douglas L. Kruse and Joseph R. Blasi, both professors at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers – have been promoting worker capitalism in numerous papers and books. Together they edited “Shared Capitalism at Work: Employee Ownership, Profit and Gain Sharing and Broad-Based Stock Options” and last year they released “The Citizen’s Share: Putting Ownership Back into Democracy.”

In “The Citizen’s Share,” Blasi, Freeman and Kruse make a broad, ideologically cross-cutting case on behalf of profit sharing and employee ownership:

“It offers a new way to address the concentration of both economic and political power that many citizens believe is distorting the country. It offers a new perspective on how to fight the links between the Washington politicians, K Street lobbyists, big corporations, and political donors that fuel many Tea Party members’ opposition to government. It offers a new perspective on how to resolve the huge disparities in wealth and income.”

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


Asked about worker ownership, Robert Frank, an economist at Cornell and a specialist on issues concerning inequality, wrote in an email that he is “skeptical,” and cites his analysis of employee ownership in his book, “The Darwinian Economy,” in which he argues that if a worker-owned firm has all the advantages its proponents claim:

“It would enjoy a prodigious competitive advantage. Since wages account for about 70 percent of a typical firm’s total cost, increasing productivity by 15 percent would reduce total cost by more than 10 percent. The firm could cut its prices by almost that amount and still remain profitable, which would enable it to peel off most of its rivals’ customers.”

Frank pointed out that “any firm that enjoyed these advantages should sweep the market like a prairie fire, reaping enormous profits in the process.”

Freeman addressed this question in a series of email exchanges with me. He began by noting that there is management opposition to profit sharing with rank and file employees “because the people who control the firm may have to take lower profits — if I am in charge of the firm and sharing profits with you raises productivity, but it means that I take less in profits, I will not favor going to a more shared system.”

In addition, Freeman argued, “magnitudes are important.” The gains from employee share programs are modest, a “productivity edge of about 2 percent or so on average,” which may be trumped by other marketplace factors, including “some small monopoly advantage” held by competitors.

Freeman emphasized that many liberal-left economists and policy makers are locked into the view that labor and capital are intractably adversarial. Consequently they “favor a European style big government/strong union solution to inequality” rather than solutions of a more cooperative nature such as ESOPs...

THERE IS MORE...AND CAN YOU SEE THE GLARING HOLE IN THIS ARGUMENT? WHAT ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYED? THE DISCOURAGED WORKER, THE INVOLUNTARILY RETIRED, THE NEWLY GRADUATED, THE RIFFED??

[antigop]

33. yeah, I wanted Enron stock. nt

[Demeter]

8. WEE has another candidate for theme: Sid Caesar, dead at 91.

What say you, loyal readers? Do WEE try to do both Shirley Temple and Sid Caesar? or save Sid for next weekend?

I know I'm not really old enough to know much about him, except he was exceptional.

Whereas Shirley Temple was every little girl's best friend for 3 generations and counting...

[Demeter]

9. Obama signs order to raise minimum wage for federal contractors

I HOPE HE DOESN'T SPRAIN HIS WRIST, PATTING HIMSELF ON THE BACK

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-sign-order-federal-minimum-wage-hike-wednesday-110247693--business.html

U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Wednesday to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour starting next year and encouraged employers nationwide to increase wages for their workers.

Obama announced during his State of the Union address last month that he intended to take executive action to raise wages for federal contract workers.

The order will affect workers starting on January 1, 2015, and applies to new contracts and replacements for expiring contracts...

COULDN'T EVEN MAKE IT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY...

[Demeter]

10. Jobless drop will force Fed to more 'traditional' policy: Bullard

http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-drop-force-fed-more-39-traditional-39-151155304--business.html

The Federal Reserve will probably have to return to more "traditional" policy-making now that the U.S. jobless rate has fallen to 6.6 percent, so close to the U.S. central bank's existing 6.5-percent threshold for considering an interest-rate rise, a top Fed official said on Wednesday.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, speaking on a panel at the New York Stock Exchange, said the Fed will have to adjust its so-called forward guidance on monetary policy. He expects the Fed to drop its economic thresholds and have to "make more qualitative judgments" on when to tighten policy.

The debate over what to do about the increasingly less relevant thresholds is growing within the central bank.

As it stands, the Fed has said it expects not to raise benchmark rates until well after the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent, especially if inflation remains below target. Joblessness has fallen to 6.6 percent last month from 7.9 percent a year earlier, a drop Bullard called "dramatic."

HE SOUNDS LIKE A DRAMA QUEEN

MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

11. Millennials are conservative, cheap and could be the wisest generation Suzanne McGee

IN THE 4 GENERATION ROTA, MILLENNIAL ARE THE EQUIVALENT OF THE UNION SHOCK TROOPS AND THE COMMUNISTS OF THE 1920'S...DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS GAL IS SMOKING, BUT I WOULDN'T INHALE.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/feb/06/millennials-conservative-cheap-wisest-generation?CMP=ema_565

Could millennials, still grappling with the fallout of the Great Recession, emerge better prepared to address all the personal financial challenges confronting them than the rest of us?

Some intriguing new research from UBS suggests that these young people, now ranging in age from 21 to 36, could just pull off that feat.

Previous surveys have labeled members of the generation who have come of age in the 21st century as broke, spendthrift and narcissistic. Others argue that they have short attention spans, demand instant gratification, and are slow to become independent.

But they may posses some traits that will stand them in good stead, financially speaking, in the decades to come....

NO, SUZANNE, THE KIDS ARE NOT ALL RIGHT.

[Demeter]

12. The Office of the Future

THIS RAMBLES...TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/21349-the-office-of-the-future

The modern supermarket, with its promise of a limitless variety of food and household goods available for low prices, is the crown jewel of consumer capitalism. The cornerstone of all retail, the supermarket holds a seemingly permanent place in the canon of American life, yet barely appears in the broader discourse, even in discussions about our food habits. It’s not unusual to debate the ethics involved with farming and food production, or to ponder the pros and cons of nonlocal food distribution, but the fact that the products will be on the shelves tomorrow and the next day is taken for granted. Virtually nobody knows how this happens, and even diligent corporate watchdogs are unaware of the existence of C&S Wholesale Grocers, which recently became the world’s largest grocery distributor.

This is no accident, and it is unlikely to change despite the modest attention garnered by an August 5 piece written by Brendan Coffey and Zohair Siraj for Bloomberg Businessweek. Headquartered in isolated Keene, New Hampshire and routinely ranked between the eighth and thirteenth largest privately held American corporations by Forbes, the supply-chain behemoth boasts distribution centers from Massachusetts to Miami, Buffalo to Stockton, servicing stores from Maine to Hawaii — all without ever issuing a press release.

Its sole owner, Richard B. “Rick” Cohen, gives no interviews and makes no public appearances. Aside from the occasional vague mention in local newspapers and trade publications, C&S flies almost entirely beneath the media radar, which is what made Coffey and Siraj’s portrait of the “hidden billionaire” and his company seem remarkable; it was instantly snapped up by MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, the Daily Mail, and others. In reality, the true yet subtle significance found within the lazy and over-hyped profile lies in its omissions and what they reveal about the secrecy surrounding C&S. The only quote from a current employee of the company is provided by Brian Granger, chief legal officer and spokesman, and it amounts to an admission that the company is large and little-known. Most of the facts and figures cited in the article represent data alternately gathered or estimated by Bloomberg, with quotes from outside industry analysts and a Harvard professor who wrote a case study on C&S back in 2003, when the company was less than half its present size. The piece also relies heavily on interviews with Edward Albertian, whom the writers describe as “a former C&S president” without noting that he left the company nearly a decade ago.

Entirely absent is any acknowledgement of the company’s more controversial side, easily unearthed by a Google search. Not long ago, there were so many anti-C&S agitprop videos on YouTube that company executives found it necessary to begin quietly producing and releasing their own short clips depicting a reality so filled with sunshine and rainbows as to make Pollyanna blush. They have been sued countless times for everything from state and federal labor violations to massive price-fixing on a nationwide scale. In 2005, a New Jersey jury awarded $1.2 million to Steven Summese, finding the company had illegally retaliated against him in 2003 when it fired him for exposing warehouse refrigeration practices that were in violation of the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws. As recently as 2012, the company paid a comparably modest fine of $126,700 for Clean Air Act violations in Massachusetts...

[Demeter]

13. Laura Flanders | The 1% Should Be Afraid: The New Norm in the Workplace Is Unstable

http://truth-out.org/news/item/21785-the-one-percent-should-be-afraid-the-new-norm-in-the-workplace-is-unstable

CORROBORATIVE DETAIL AT LINK...I HAVE TO GO TO A MEETING

[Demeter]

20. Exclusive: EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap

GREAT! ANOTHER BAIL-IN SCAM

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-eu-executive-sees-personal-savings-used-plug-195728225--sector.html

The savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says. The EU is looking for ways to wean the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment.

"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.

The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said.

Banks have complained they are hindered from lending to the economy by post-crisis rules forcing them to hold much larger safety cushions of capital and liquidity. The document said the "appropriateness" of the EU capital and liquidity rules for long-term financing will be reviewed over the next two years, a process likely to be scrutinized in the United States and elsewhere to head off any risk of EU banks gaining an unfair advantage. The EU executive will also complete a study by the end of this year on the feasibility of introducing an EU savings account, open to individuals whose funds could be pooled and invested in small companies. The Commission also plans to study this year whether changes are needed to help fund small businesses by creating a liquid and transparent secondary market for trading corporate bonds in the EU.

It is also seeking to revive the securitization market, which pools loans like mortgages into bonds that banks can sell to raise funding for themselves or companies. The market was tarnished by the financial crisis when bonds linked to U.S. home loans began defaulting in 2007, sparking the broader global markets meltdown over the ensuing two years. The document says the Commission will "take into account possible future increases in the liquidity of a number of securitization products" when it comes to finalizing a new rule on what assets banks can place in their new liquidity buffers. This signals a possible loosening of the definition of eligible assets from the bloc's banking watchdog.

The Commission will also "review" how EU rules treat covered bonds by the end of this year, the document says, a step that will be welcomed by Denmark with its large market in bonds used by banks to finance home loans. Other steps to boost financing in the EU include possible steps to aid crowdfunding, where many people contribute relatively small amounts of money to create a sizeable funding pool. The document said investors and asset managers also have a role and it will propose a revision of EU rules on shareholder rights to "ensure better disclosure of institutional investors' engagement and voting policies". More controversially, the Commission will consider whether the use of fair value or pricing assets at the going rate in a new globally agreed accounting rule "is appropriate, in particular regarding long-term investing business models".

[Demeter]

21. Britain warns Scotland: Forget the pound if you break away

http://news.yahoo.com/britain-warns-scotland-forget-pound-break-away-000401751--sector.html

Britain will warn Scotland on Thursday it can't keep the pound if it votes for independence, its boldest attempt yet to scuttle a nationalist bid to break the 307-year-old union with England. In the latest salvo of a choreographed campaign to keep Scotland in the UK, George Osborne will seek to play on Scottish fears of losing the pound to argue that secession would put Scots' prosperity at risk, pushing them into a tempest of volatility.

"The pound is one of the oldest and most successful currencies in the world," Osborne, Britain's finance minister and Prime Minister David Cameron's closest ally, will say in a speech in Edinburgh, according to his office.

"The UK economy is growing faster than any other advanced economy in Europe. And within the UK, Scotland is growing faster than the rest," Osborne will say in the speech which is due to begin at 0900 GMT.

Two sources familiar with the matter said Osborne will tell Scots they cannot keep the pound if they vote for independence in the September 18 referendum which will be open to about 4 million residents of Scotland over the age of 16. In the speech, entitled "Scotland to keep the pound and the economic security that it brings", Osborne will echo some of Cameron's attempt last week to make the emotional and patriotic case for unity. But the 42-year-old architect of Britain's drive to reduce spending will deliver a much harsher message to Scots: Leave the UK and risk losing the pound you have used for more than three centuries. Osborne's warning will be repeated in future days by the finance chiefs of Britain's two other main parties: Labour's Ed Balls and the Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander.

CURRENCY WAR?

By honing in on Scottish hopes of keeping the pound, London politicians hope to undermine the economic case for independence though the leaders of Scotland's bid to breakaway said it amounted to panicked bullying and would cost London dearly.

"We've gone in under a week from David Cameron's 'love-bombing' to attempted bullying and intimidation - from a charm offensive to just plain offensive," Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

"This is a panic move which will backfire spectacularly. People won't take kindly to the Westminster establishment ganging up to try and bully Scotland in the decision that we are being asked to take on the referendum," she said.

Sturgeon indicated that if London prevented a currency union, an independent Scotland could refuse to take on a share of the UK's 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.99 trillion) of government debt which Britain has promised to honor.

"Osborne's position is also a bluff," she said. "It would leave them having to pick up the entirety of UK debt."

Nationalists in Scotland, whose waters contain the European Union's biggest reserves of oil and gas, say they want the Bank of England to remain the lender of last resort for financial institutions after possible independence. Bank of England chief Mark Carney cautioned last month that any currency union would entail a surrender of some sovereignty and nationalists have refused to say what they would do if they failed to get a currency union. One possible option would be for an independent Scotland to continue to use the pound in a similar way that Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar ahead of a possible entry into the European single currency, the euro, at some later date. Carney has refused to speculate on the risks of Scotland using the pound without a formal currency union. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has said that despite the rhetoric before the vote, London might be willing to do a deal on the currency if Scots voted for independence...Royal Bank of Scotland , Lloyds Banking Group and other major financial institutions based in Edinburgh, have begun contingency planning in case of independence, Reuters reported on Friday. Industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday a key part of that planning is what they will do in the event of a currency union not being agreed. RBS, Lloyds and Standard Life declined to comment.

($1 = 0.6030 British pounds)

[xchrom]

22. China Said to Target 7.5% Export Growth in 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/china-said-to-target-7-5-export-growth-in-2014.html

The Chinese government is targeting export growth of about 7.5 percent in 2014, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, setting sights lower than last year’s pace.

The goal, based on the U.S. dollar value of sales, has been distributed to economy-related ministries and local governments to serve as an internal guideline for planning, said the people, who asked not to be named as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Overseas shipments rose 7.9 percent in 2013, according to official data, as the government targeted 8 percent growth in exports and imports combined.

The target may reflect Ministry of Commerce concerns last month that trade growth won’t be faster than in 2013 amid an unstable global recovery. The strength of exports will help determine the pace of expansion in the world’s second biggest economy that analysts see slowing to a 24-year low of 7.4 percent this year.

“As the European and U.S. economies show signs of warming up, uncertainties remain for China’s export outlook, such as the recent turmoil in emerging markets,” said Liu Xuezhi, a Shanghai-based analyst with Bank of Communications Co., China’s fifth-largest lender.

[xchrom]

23. BNP Paribas Net Falls After $1.1 Billion U.S. Legal Charge

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/bnp-paribas-profit-falls-after-1-1-billion-u-s-legal-provision.html


BNP Paribas SA (BNP), France’s largest bank, reported a surprise drop in fourth-quarter profit after setting aside $1.1 billion tied to a review of payments to parties subject to U.S. economic sanctions.

Net income fell to 127 million euros ($173 million) from 519 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said today. It was the lowest result since the fourth quarter of 2008, when the bank posted a loss, and missed the 1.02 billion-euro average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. BNP declined as much as 4.7 percent in Paris trading.

The French bank said in October that following discussions with the Department of Justice and other U.S. regulators it had for several years been reviewing “certain U.S. dollar payments involving countries, persons and entities” that might be subject to American sanctions. BNP Paribas didn’t identify the parties involved. The decision to set aside funds comes after firms including HSBC Holdings Plc, ING Groep NV and Standard Chartered Plc paid to settle U.S. allegations they carried out improper transactions with countries such as Iran.

“The final amount that will be booked could be very different from the one we have provisioned,” Chief Financial Officer Lars Machenil said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The size of the charge wasn’t discussed with U.S. authorities, he said, declining to elaborate on the probe.

[xchrom]

24. Italy Pays Record Low to Sell Three-Year Debt at Auction

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/italy-pays-record-low-to-sell-three-year-debt-at-auction.html

Italian borrowing costs dropped to a record low at a sale of three-year debt today as investors shrug off rising tensions between Premier Enrico Letta and his party chief Matteo Renzi that could cause the collapse of the government.

Italy sold a total 7.5 billion euros ($10.3 billion), matching the maximum target for the sale. The country sold 3.5 billion euros of a three-year note maturing in December 2016 at a record low 1.41 percent compared with 1.51 percent Jan. 13.

Investors bid for 1.43 percent the amount of the 2016 debt sold, up from 1.38 at the previous sale.

’’Markets are likely to react positively to Renzi becoming premier, believing that the pro-reform and straight-talking politician will re-ignite reforms,’’ Wolfango Piccoli, managing director with Teneo Intelligence in London, said in a note before the sale. ’’However, his lack of a popular mandate could complicate his ability to enact reforms.’’

[xchrom]

25. Luxury Cars as Lottery Prizes to Help Portugal Fight Tax Dodgers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/luxury-cars-as-lottery-prizes-to-help-portugal-fight-tax-dodgers.html

For as long as she can remember, Portuguese pensioner Maria Alice Silva has enjoyed a guilty pleasure she hides from her friends: playing the lottery.

Now the government is counting on her secret indulgence by turning it into a weapon to fight tax evasion. It plans to spend as much as 10 million euros ($13.6 million) this year on luxury cars to give out as prizes in weekly draws. Rather than selling tickets, the entries are from the receipts consumers have been told to demand to prevent businesses from dodging sales tax. Alice Silva, 76, is already collecting them.

“In a couple of months everyone is going to be doing it,” she said after buying her regular fix at a store in Lisbon. “If I win, I can always sell the car and collect the money.”

Countries in Europe’s south have long struggled to match the revenue collection rates of those in the north. While Greeks were threatened with a knock at the door from an auditor if they didn’t ask for paperwork when paying for goods and services, Portugal has opted for an approach that’s more carrot than stick and previously used in Slovakia, Taiwan and Puerto Rico.

[xchrom]

26. Comcast Said to Agree to $44 Billion Time Warner Cable Deal

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-12/comcast-said-to-agree-to-pay-159-a-share-for-time-warner-cable.html

Comcast Corp. agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $44 billion, combining the largest two U.S. cable companies in an all-stock deal, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Philadelphia-based Comcast is paying about $159 a share in the transaction set to be announced this morning, said the people, who asked not to be named because the negotiations were private. That’s about 18 percent more than Time Warner Cable’s last close. Time Warner Cable jumped 16 percent to $157.09 in European trading, while Comcast fell 2.8 percent.

Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts will extend his lead in the U.S. cable-TV market after trouncing John Malone-backed Charter Communications Inc., which had courted Time Warner Cable since June. Holding out for a better offer than Charter’s $132.50-a-share bid allowed Time Warner Cable to deliver an almost 70 percent gain for shareholders since the end of May.

“This leaves Comcast as the sole king of the cable hill, with John Malone and Charter hitting a brick wall in their hopes of becoming a close number-two,” Richard Greenfield, an analyst with BTIG LLC, said by e-mail. “This is a game changer for Comcast.”

[xchrom]

27. Asian Stocks Drop After Longest Streak of Gains This Year

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/asian-stocks-swing-after-longest-run-of-daily-gains-this-year.html


Asian stocks dropped after the regional benchmark index climbed for a sixth day yesterday to cap its longest run of advances this year.

Asahi Group (2502) Holdings Ltd. slid 4.5 percent in Tokyo after Japan’s second-largest beermaker’s net-income forecast missed estimates. Tokyo Tatemono Co. plunged 8.3 percent after the developer predicted full-year operating profit below analyst expectations. Qantas Airways Ltd. jumped 6.3 percent after the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said the nation’s biggest carrier met pre-conditions for government support.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.9 percent to 135.15 as of 4:02 p.m. in Hong Kong, with about seven shares falling for every two that rose. The measure rebounded 4.8 percent through yesterday from a five-month low on Feb. 4. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.4 percent today after the gauge slipped less than 0.1 percent yesterday as Procter & Gamble Co., the world’s largest consumer-products maker, cut its forecasts and Amazon.com Inc. was downgraded at UBS AG.

“The softness that we’re seeing in January and February should be expected,” Mark Matthews, Singapore-based head of Asia research for Julius Baer, which oversees about $377 billion, said on Bloomberg TV. “Markets can’t go up in a straight line. We got so much money after the global financial crisis here in Asia and now we’re seeing a lot of outflows.”

[xchrom]

28. Greece jobless rate hits new record of 28%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26171213

The jobless rate in Greece reached a record high of 28% in November, according to newly released government figures.

The rate increased from 27.7% in the previous month. For those under the age of 25, unemployment hit 61.4%.

Harsh austerity measures have led the Greek economy to shrink by a quarter in four years.

However, other economic indicators have suggested that there are signs of recovery.

[Crewleader]

29. The Persecuted Rich

[xchrom]

30. deep in my heart -- i do believe

[Tansy_Gold]

35. That was stunningly beautiful

Thank you, Xchrom, for this and for all the other incomparably beautiful things you bring to SMW -- yourself not the least among them!

[xchrom]

41. i just use a good foundation

***i love ya Misstress Tansy -- as i do SMW And WEE -- you have all been a refuge.

[xchrom]

31. Why Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Is The Best Dealmaker In Media

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peterlauria/why-comcast-ceo-brian-roberts-is-the-best-dealmaker-in-media

Brian Roberts, the Chief Executive Officer of cable giant Comcast, is not an imposing figure. His frame is thin and of slight musculature, his face framed by a delicate pair of wire-rimmed glasses. He resembles Bill Gates in many respects.

And just like Gates, appearances to the contrary, Roberts will crush anyone standing in the way of his business objectives. The avid squash player (he won a gold medal with the U.S. squash team in 2005) proved that again late Wednesday night, coming out of nowhere to snatch Time Warner Cable away from presumed buyer Charter Communications in a deal valued at $44 billion, or just under $159 per share. At about $25 more per share than Charter’s offer, Roberts has made a bid so prohibitively expensive for anyone else that the idea of a bidding war is out of the question. In deal terms, Comcast’s offer basically says, “If we can’t have Time Warner Cable, then no one can.”

The deal, first reported by CNBC’s David Faber and expected to be announced Thursday morning, if completed would give Comcast a total of about 34 million subscribers, making the already largest pay-TV distributor in the country even larger.

How Comcast grew to be that big is owed almost entirely to Roberts’s dealmaking. He has spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars rolling up rival distributors and, later, cable networks. Indeed, the Time Warner Cable deal isn’t even Comcast’s biggest — in 2001, the company bought AT&T Broadband for $52 billion.


***i think this is fucked up...but nobody is asking me,

[xchrom]

32. The Italian Government Is In Crisis

http://www.businessinsider.com/italian-government-crisis-2014-2

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta faces a showdown with his own center-left party on Thursday that could lead to his resignation and the appointment of Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi as head of a new government within days.

Letta, head of the unwieldy coalition patched together after last year's deadlocked elections, is fighting for his political future after growing criticism from Renzi over the slow pace of economic reforms.

A meeting of the 140-strong leadership committee of the Democratic Party at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) will decide whether he has the backing of his party to continue, or be forced to stand aside less than a year after taking office.

On Thursday, Angelino Alfano, head of the New Centre Right party that supports his coalition, said Letta could count on a "loyal, correct and fruitful alliance" as long as he retained the backing of the PD.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/italian-government-crisis-2014-2#ixzz2tD7N3nCp

[AnneD]

38. The answer is....

A sun tan in England, a functional Italian Government, a unicorn, and the Cub's World Series Victory.








The answer, what are common myths.

[xchrom]

40. !

[Demeter]

34. DJIA down 84+ at open

It's gonna be one of those days.

Meanwhile, back in the Great Lakes, we are up to 5F in Ann Arbor (Yahoo, probably at the airport) or 19F (wunderground, at the park near me) at 20 minutes to 10 am. I survived the paper route. The question is, what about the rest of today?

[antigop]

42. Goldman puts 'for sale' sign on Iran's old uranium supplier

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-goldman-uranium-insight-idUSBREA1A0RX20140211

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are quietly trying to get out of a business few people know they are even in: trading supplies of raw uranium known as yellowcake.

In the last four years, the banks have amassed low-grade stockpiles of the nuclear fuel ingredient larger than those held by Iran, and enough to run China's nuclear plants for a year.

Goldman's uranium business can trace its roots back to an apartheid-era South African trading conglomerate that sold Iran its only known source of foreign yellowcake 35 years ago. To this day, that uranium delivery underpins Iran's disputed enrichment program, which western powers fear is aimed at developing atomic weapons, although Iran denies that.

Now, under mounting political scrutiny of Wall Street's role in physical commodities trading, and following a collapse in demand after the Fukushima disaster, both firms have put their uranium trading desks up for sale. But other banks are already lining up to take their place.

The history of Wall Street in uranium markets illustrates just how far banks moved into physical commodities trading during the natural resources boom of the last ten years.

[bread_and_roses]

43. Thanks to whomever for my heart

I am guessing it was someone here. Thank you - it gave me a smile ...

I'll be back in action here at some point. It's been a rough winter in lots of ways.

Peace and Solidarity,
b&r