STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 23 January 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 23 January 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 22 January 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 22 January 2015
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Dow Jones 17,813.98 +259.70 (1.48%)
S&P 500 2,063.15 +31.03 (1.53%)
Nasdaq 4,750.40 +82.98 (1.78%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.86% -0.03 (-1.59%)
30 Year 2.44% -0.06 (-2.40%) [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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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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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. Not until . . .

. . . .we can't afford the cheap crap they're importing from slave-wage countries. . . .

[Demeter]

2. The Davos oligarchs are right to fear the world they’ve made Seumas Milne

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/22/davos-oligarchs-fear-inequality-global-elite-resist?CMP=ema_565

The billionaires and corporate oligarchs meeting in Davos this week are getting worried about inequality. It might be hard to stomach that the overlords of a system that has delivered the widest global economic gulf in human history should be handwringing about the consequences of their own actions. But even the architects of the crisis-ridden international economic order are starting to see the dangers. It’s not just the maverick hedge-funder George Soros, who likes to describe himself as a class traitor. Paul Polman, Unilever chief executive, frets about the “capitalist threat to capitalism”. Christine Lagarde, the IMF managing director, fears capitalism might indeed carry Marx’s “seeds of its own destruction” and warns that something needs to be done.

The scale of the crisis has been laid out for them by the charity Oxfam. Just 80 individuals now have the same net wealth as 3.5 billion people – half the entire global population. Last year, the best-off 1% owned 48% of the world’s wealth, up from 44% five years ago. On current trends, the richest 1% will have pocketed more than the other 99% put together next year. The 0.1% have been doing even better, quadrupling their share of US income since the 1980s. This is a wealth grab on a grotesque scale. For 30 years, under the rule of what Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, calls “market fundamentalism”, inequality in income and wealth has ballooned, both between and within the large majority of countries. In Africa, the absolute number living on less than $2 a day has doubled since 1981 as the rollcall of billionaires has swelled.

In most of the world, labour’s share of national income has fallen continuously and wages have stagnated under this regime of privatisation, deregulation and low taxes on the rich. At the same time finance has sucked wealth from the public realm into the hands of a small minority, even as it has laid waste the rest of the economy. Now the evidence has piled up that not only is such appropriation of wealth a moral and social outrage, but it is fuelling social and climate conflict, wars, mass migration and political corruption, stunting health and life chances, increasing poverty, and widening gender and ethnic divides. Escalating inequality has also been a crucial factor in the economic crisis of the past seven years, squeezing demand and fueling the credit boom. We don’t just know that from the research of the French economist Thomas Piketty or the British authors of the social study The Spirit Level. After years of promoting Washington orthodoxy, even the western-dominated OECD and IMF argue that the widening income and wealth gap has been key to the slow growth of the past two neoliberal decades. The British economy would have been almost 10% larger if inequality hadn’t mushroomed. Now the richest are using austerity to help themselves to an even larger share of the cake.

The big exception to the tide of inequality in recent years has been Latin America. Progressive governments across the region turned their back on a disastrous economic model, took back resources from corporate control and slashed inequality. The numbers living on less than $2 a day have fallen from 108 million to 53 million in little over a decade. China, which also rejected much of the neoliberal catechism, has seen sharply rising inequality at home but also lifted more people out of poverty than the rest of the world combined, offsetting the growing global income gap. These two cases underline that increasing inequality and poverty are very far from inevitable. They’re the result of political and economic decisions. The thinking person’s Davos oligarch realises that allowing things to carry on as they are is dangerous. So some want a more “inclusive capitalism” – including more progressive taxes – to save the system from itself...Perhaps a section of the worried elite might be prepared to pay a bit more tax. What they won’t accept is any change in the balance of social power – which is why, in one country after another, they resist any attempt to strengthen trade unions, even though weaker unions have been a crucial factor in the rise of inequality in the industrialised world. It’s only through a challenge to the entrenched interests that have dined off a dysfunctional economic order that the tide of inequality will be reversed. The anti-austerity Syriza party, favourite to win the Greek elections this weekend, is attempting to do just that – as the Latin American left has succeeded in doing over the past decade and a half. Even to get to that point demands stronger social and political movements to break down or bypass the blockage in a colonised political mainstream. Crocodile tears about inequality are a symptom of a fearful elite. But change will only come from unrelenting social pressure and political challenge.

EDITED TO FIT

[magical thyme]

21. until they fear having their heads on a pike

nothing will change.

I mean that literally. Until a large majority of the 99% have nothing left to lose, nothing will change.

[xchrom]

3. Here's Everything We Know About The New Saudi King

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-everything-we-know-about-the-new-saudi-king-2015-1

The brother of Saudi Arabia's former leader, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, has become king, following Abdullah's death.

His name is Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

King Salman was born in Riyadh in 1935, making him 79 years old. He's educated in religion and modern science.

Salman has held several positions within the kingdom since 1954, and was named Crown Prince in 2012.

He was governor of Riyadh province for five decades before that.

King Salman has been part of the ruling clique of princes for decades.

And as far as how he will rule, most think he will continue the status quo in Saudi Arabia strategic policy. That includes maintaining the alliance with the US and working toward energy-market stability.

During his five decades as Riyadh governor, he was supposedly rather adept at managing the delicate balance of clerical, tribal, and princely interests that determine Saudi policy, while maintaining good relations with the West.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-everything-we-know-about-the-new-saudi-king-2015-1#ixzz3Pdy62GhY

[Demeter]

15. funding terrorism, fomenting religious intolerance, suppressing women....

the usual.

Oh, and the BFEE. And 9/11

What a lovely stability.

[xchrom]

18. ...

[xchrom]

4. The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-jan-23-2015-1

1. Saudi Arabia's 91-year-old King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died early Friday and his half-brother Salman was named the new king.

2. Oil prices jumped on the news of King Abdullah's death.

3. The European Central Bank announced a huge quantitative easing (QE) programme Thursday in which it will buy bonds worth €60 billion each month until the end of September 2016.

4. Yemen's president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his prime minister resigned on Thursday, citing the seizure of the capital Sanaa by Houthi fighters in September as a key reason.

5. Libyan militants seized a Central Bank facility in Benghazi with a reported $100 billion (£66 billion) in cash.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-jan-23-2015-1#ixzz3PdyZx4yG

[xchrom]

5. Oil Prices Jump On News Of King Abdullah's Death

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-oil-jumps-after-saudi-kings-death-amid-huge-market-shifts-2015-1

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped in early Asian trading on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades.

Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television.

U.S. benchmark WTI crude futures rose more than 2 percent to a high of $47.76 a barrel in early Asian trading. International benchmark Brent futures opened up almost 1.5 percent higher at $49.10 per barrel at 0100 GMT.

The Saudi King's death comes amid some of the biggest shifts in oil markets in decades.

"The fear of the unknown is going to be supportive to crude oil prices," said John Kilduff, partner, Again Capital LLC in New York.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-oil-jumps-after-saudi-kings-death-amid-huge-market-shifts-2015-1#ixzz3Pdz0sxDj

[magical thyme]

23. I'm thinking the oil blip is a dead cat bounce

I read from a single, totally unreliable, unprovable source that Saudi Arabia tried to frack 2 of its oldest wells, and ended up in a situation where they have to them pump continuously to keep from losing the altogether.

I know zip about geology and fracking, but it made sense to me. And was as believable as anything in the msm.

Besides, they had no longer term reason to kill the fracking biz; that was going to die a natural death soon enough.

[xchrom]

6. Greek Stocks Surge 5% On ECB Stimulus Package

http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-greek-stocks-surge-5-on-ecb-stimulus-package-2015-1

Athens (AFP) - Greek stocks surged over 5.0 percent on Friday after the European Central Bank announced a bond-buying programme to stimulate the eurozone economy, and ahead of Sunday's general election.

The Athens stock market was up 5.55 percent in early trade to 835.75 points two days before the crucial ballot that could determine the country's future in the euro area.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-greek-stocks-surge-5-on-ecb-stimulus-package-2015-1#ixzz3Pe3Dk2DQ

[xchrom]

7. Top Economists Call For Greece To Get A Debt Write-Off Ahead Of Crucial Election

http://www.businessinsider.com/stiglitz-pissarides-goodhart-call-for-debt-forgiveness-for-greece-2015-1

A letter published in the Financial Times, co-authored by 18 eminent economists from academia, research institutes and industry, states that "the whole of Europe will benefit from Greece being given the chance of a fresh start".

Some form of forgiveness of the country's mountainous sovereign debt burden (currently around 177% of GDP) would be necessary, though not by itself sufficient, in order for the country to aid Europe's prospects for sustainable economic recovery.

Here are their suggestions in detail:

Greece should be provided a "further conditional increase in the grace period, so that Greece does not have to service any debt, for example for the next five years and then only if Greece is growing at 3% or more".

Some debt reduction, especially of bilateral official debt [held by institutions like the European Central Bank], to further increase the fiscal space available.

Significant money [provided through eurozone institutions] for efficient investment projects, especially for exports.

The letter is especially interesting as their calls mimic a number of proposals put forward by Greece's left-wing Syriza party, which is currently leading in the polls. Alexis Tsipras, the head of the party and the man who could become Greece's next prime minister, took the opportunity earlier this week to outline his economic plans in the FT.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/stiglitz-pissarides-goodhart-call-for-debt-forgiveness-for-greece-2015-1#ixzz3Pe3fnbyx

[xchrom]

8. The Doomsday Clock Is Now 2 Minutes Closer To Global Disaster

http://www.businessinsider.com/doomsday-clock-winded-3-minutes-to-midnight-2015-1

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) moved the hands of their Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight last night.

It now stands at 11.57 p.m., the closest it’s been to midnight since 1984.

The Doomsday Clock is the BAS’s symbolic countdown to a possible global catastrophe. The group, which is advised by a board containing 18 Nobel Laureates, meets twice annually to discuss global events. In 1947, they launched the Doomsday Clock as a way to:

“…reflect basic changes in the level of continuous danger in which mankind lives in the nuclear age”



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/three-minutes-to-midnight-humans-made-a-significant-move-toward-doomsday-in-2014-2015-1#ixzz3Pe49zTpp

[Demeter]

16. You know, nobody gives a care anymore

After 40+ years of living on a knife-edge, it gets old.

[magical thyme]

22. 50 years

remember climbing under desks for nuclear attack drills?

[xchrom]

9. World Bank: Commodity Prices Are Going To Keep Falling In 2015

http://www.businessinsider.com/commodity-prices-to-keep-falling-in-2015-2015-1

Here’s the summary of the World Bank’s Outlook:

In oil markets, a “perfect storm” of conditions has led to a plunge in prices since mid-2014: growth in unconventional oil production, decline in demand, appreciation of the U.S. dollar, receding geopolitical risks, and a major redirection toward maintaining market share rather than targeting prices by the world’s oil cartel, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Oil prices have dropped 55 percent in seven months, from the most recent high of $108 per barrel in mid-June 2014 to $47 two days ago. Should the current slide continue, it could surpass the previous records of a 7-month decline of 67 percent, set in 1985/86, and a 75 percent drop in 2008.

In addition, the World Bank’s three industrial commodity price indices – energy, metals and minerals, and agricultural raw materials – experienced near identical declines between early 2011 and the end of 2014, of more than 35 percent each, and will continue to contract this year. Prices of precious metals are also expected to decline by 3 percent in 2015, on top of the 12 percent decline seen in 2014. Again, ample supplies, weak demand, and a strengthening U.S. dollar have weighed on prices of these commodities as well.

Food commodity prices, which have declined by 20 percent since 2011, are projected to drop by a further 4 percent in 2015, given that current good crop prospects for grains, edible oils and meals, and beverages (led by coffee) in the 2014/15 season.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/world-bank-commodity-prices-are-going-to-keep-falling-in-2015-2015-1#ixzz3Pe4jVoSb

[xchrom]

10. US Banks Have Resigned Themselves To Lower Yields For Longer

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-banks-resign-themselves-to-lower-yields-for-longer-2015-1

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. banks, after spending much of the last year bracing themselves for higher bond yields, are now resigning themselves to at least another few quarters of low rates, executives and analysts said.

Banks including Wells Fargo & Co and PNC Financial Services Group are contemplating steps like investing their extra cash at current low yields or using derivatives that pay off if rates stay low.

"We are seeing more management teams acknowledging the prospect and reality that we remain in a lower for longer [interest-rate] environment," said Christopher Lee, a portfolio manager who specializes in financial companies at Fidelity Investments, which has $1.15 trillion invested in stocks across the world, in an e-mail.

Lee added in a telephone interview that "over time, you've got to throw the towel in" if the benefits of rising rates keep failing to materialize.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-banks-resign-themselves-to-lower-yields-for-longer-2015-1#ixzz3Pe5Q0XL5

[xchrom]

11. Disinflation And Weaker Growth Put Pressure On Asian Central Banks

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-disinflation-weaker-growth-put-pressure-on-asian-central-banks-2015-1

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese factories were forced to cut prices for the sixth straight month in January to sell their products, while economic growth in South Korea slowed sharply, raising the prospect of more policy easing from major central banks in Asia.

The weak manufacturing reading from China added to expectations that Beijing will have to announce fresh stimulus measures soon, and came a day after the European Central Bank took the ultimate leap and launched a huge bond-buying program as it tries to stave off deflation and kick-start growth.

China's manufacturing growth stalled for the second month in a row, the HSBC/Markit Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey showed on Friday, while the sub-index for input prices fell to the lowest since the global financial crisis, reflecting a tumble in oil prices that is spreading disinflationary pressure throughout the globe.

Chinese companies again cut output prices, but more deeply than in December, eroding their profit margins and pointing to faltering demand.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-disinflation-weaker-growth-put-pressure-on-asian-central-banks-2015-1#ixzz3Pe5sznJk

[xchrom]

12. China's Flash PMI Beats

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-manufacturing-pmi-beats-2015-1

Almost good news out of China with the release of the HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI which beat expectations of 49.5 with a print of 49.8. However the index still lingers in the contraction zone below 50.


BI Australia

As you’d expect with a print so close to the expansion/contraction line of 50 the inner break of individual sectors is mixed.

Commenting on the outcome Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said:



“Today’s data suggest that the manufacturing slowdown is still ongoing amidst weak domestic demand. More monetary and fiscal easing measures will be needed to support growth in the coming months.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-manufacturing-pmi-beats-2015-1#ixzz3Pe9PdaXz

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-manufacturing-pmi-beats-2015-1#ixzz3Pe9BrIpo

[xchrom]

13. ASIAN STOCK MARKETS BOOSTED BY ECB STIMULUS PLAN

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-23-04-04-18


KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 jumped 1.2 percent to 4,608.67 and Germany's DAX rose 1.3 percent to 10,571.60. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent to 6,835.63. U.S. shares were also set to rise. Dow futures were up 0.3 percent to 17,789. S&P 500 futures gained 0.2 percent to 2,061.00.

EUROPE FACTOR: Europe's ailing economy will get a major dose of stimulus from the European Central Bank's bond buying program designed to make loans and exports cheaper so companies can hire and expand. Starting in March, the ECB will buy 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of government and corporate bonds each month at least through September 2016. The 1.1 trillion euro program was an emphatic signal of the ECB's willingness to do all it can to rejuvenate the economy shared by the 19-nation euro currency alliance.

THE QUOTE: "The European Central Bank has set the ticker boards alight across the globe with investors responding favorably to another central bank deploying more stimulus," IG strategist Stan Shamu said in a market commentary. "The next key event for markets will be the Greek elections which are set to take place this weekend. Polls continue to show Syriza in the lead but markets seem unfazed at the moment."

CHINA WORRIES: One dampener to the global growth optimism came from China. An HSBC report Friday said China's manufacturing shrank for a second month in January, largely because of weak demand. Earlier in the week, official Chinese data showed the world's second-biggest economy expanded 7.4 percent last year, the slowest pace since 1990.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.1 percent to close at 17,511.75 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.3 percent to 24,850.45. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 1,936.09. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.5 percent to 5,501.80. Markets in Taiwan, India and Southeast Asia also rose.

[xchrom]

14. ECB HAS DONE ITS PART. NOW, THESE 5 THINGS NEED TO HAPPEN

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ECB_STIMULUS_WILL_IT_WORK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-23-00-43-53

- GOVERNMENT SPENDING

After the Great Recession ended, instead of spending to spur growth, many European governments cut spending and raised taxes to pare their debts. The results have been dismal: The eurozone slid back into recession in 2011. It's expected to grow just 1.2 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The eurozone's collective unemployment rate is 11.5 percent. (The U.S. rate is 5.6 percent.)

Kirkegaard and other economists think the eurozone should pour money into roads and other infrastructure projects to energize hiring and growth. The ECB's action could help: Among the bonds it buys could be those issued for infrastructure projects by the European Investment Bank, part of the European Union, Kirkegaard says. Still, Germany and some other wealthier European countries oppose aggressive spending on public works, worried they'll end up footing the bill.

- CONFIDENT CONSUMERS

European consumers have been reluctant to spend. One reason: With the economy so anemic, prices are actually falling - down at an annual 0.2 percent in December. Tumbling prices encourage consumers to delay spending. They figure they can buy things more cheaply in the future. The ECB's bond-buying program is intended to break that mindset, to convince consumers that prices will rise and to prod them to spend now rather than later.

[xchrom]

17. AUSTERITY-BATTERED GREEKS FAVOR RADICAL LEFT BEFORE VOTE

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_ELECTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-23-07-33-44

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The winds of political change are coursing through austerity-weary Greece, but a financial whirlwind may lurk round the corner.

All opinion polls on Sunday's closely-watched national election agree: The radical left opposition Syriza party, which has vowed to rewrite the terms of Greece's international bailout, enjoys at least a 4 percent lead over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservatives. To govern - in a historic first for the Greek left - it may need the backing of a smaller party, but most seem willing to oblige.

"I want this government to go, it has disappointed me," said Babis Limnaios, 41, an Athens electrician who last voted in 2004 for the conservatives but will now back Syriza. "I want them to change everything - tax, health care, education."

Communist-rooted Syriza has alarmed markets and investors with its talk of massive debt forgiveness and riding roughshod over the bailout deals. But the mood is less fraught than in the last national election in 2012, when many saw a Syriza victory as a precursor to a possible Greek exit from the eurozone, the 19 nations that share the euro currency.

[Demeter]

19. 7 things the middle class can't afford anymore

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/10/25/cheat-sheet-middle-class-cant-afford/17730223/

1. Vacations
   
   
2. New vehicles
   
   
3. To pay off debt
   
   
4. Emergency savings
   
   
5. Retirement savings
   
   
6. Medical care
   
   
7. Dental work

DETAILS AT LINK

[Demeter]

20. Have just discovered that American Laser Skincare has gone bust November 14

The Kid had an appointment today, and I was wondering why we hadn't gotten a reminder call....

while there's some money/treatment owing us, we at least got the Kid's immediate problem under control. Part of PCOS is excessive amounts of body hair, which is a trial for those without the agility to care for it. So, it could be worse. But it is shocking. Nobody called, wrote, or anything. A tale of our times.

That, plus the 3rd or 4th virus of the winter, and the #^$&%@ condo board, have left me in a funk. At least it isn't snowing, raining or sleeting...I'm grasping at straws, I know. And it might get up to freezing today and even higher, tomorrow.

I do a dreadful Pollyanna.

I'll get over it. Think of the 4-5 hours a year I have gained back...

[antigop]

24. Jon Stewart on Davos...

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/r4vd91/wealthstock---insurance-vice

[magical thyme]

26. I've got the fed looking over my shoulder

so we couldn't do an '08 again if we wanted to.

[Demeter]

27. Stunning faux pas, on film for the record!

It's the sign of arrogance unbound...like Romney's 47% crack.

[antigop]

25. wow...now even Krugman is "suspicious" about the TPP

Why?

Because "trade" is the #1 Priority of the US Chamber of Commerce.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/suspicious-nonsense-on-trade-agreements/

Tom Donohue, head of the US Chamber of Commerce, warns against economic populism, which he says is really a push to create a “state-run economy.” Yep — so much as mention rising inequality, and you’re Joseph Stalin (unless you’re Mitt Romney.) But what really gets me is the Chamber’s supposed agenda for growth. Topping the list — the number one priority — is completing those trade agreements.

This is absurd, and disturbing.

Think about it. The immediate problem facing much of the world is inadequate demand and the threat of deflation. Would trade liberalization help on that front? No, not at all. True, to the extent that trade becomes easier, world exports would rise, which is a net plus for demand. But world imports would rise by exactly the same amount, which is a net minus. Or to put it a bit differently, trade liberalization would change the composition of world expenditure, with each country spending more on foreign goods and less on its own, but there’s no reason to think it would raise total spending; so this is not a short-term economic boost.
..
Maybe you still think we should do this. But trade agreements as your top economic priority? Really? That’s so bizarre that it should make you wonder why, exactly, the likes of Tom Donohue want these deals. And you have to suspect that the reason is that some of his important clients think that the non-trade aspects of the deals — stuff like intellectual property protection — will yield them a lot of monopoly rents.

There are reasons to support these deals and reasons to oppose them. But my immediate take is that when the US Chamber of Commerce makes a huge priority out of complicated deals, and offers an obviously false rationale, you should strongly suspect that there’s bad stuff hidden in the fine print.

[Demeter]

28. Assuming I survive Friday

which is an optimistic assumption,

See you on the Weekend!

I have to go kick somebody where it will do the most good. Decisions, decisions....