STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 2 February 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 2 February 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 30 January 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 30 January 2015
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Dow Jones 17,164.95 -251.90 (-1.45%)
S&P 500 1,994.99 -26.26 (-1.30%)
Nasdaq 4,635.24 -48.17 (-1.03%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.64% -0.04 (-2.38%)
30 Year 2.22% -0.04 (-1.77%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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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.
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]

[Demeter]

1. Whatever

[Demeter]

2. Police Stations Increasingly Offer Safe Haven for Craigslist Transactions

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/01/30/police_stations_offer_their_lobbies_as_safe_havens_for_craigslist_transactions.html



The police department in Columbia, Missouri, announced Wednesday that its lobby will be open 24/7 for people making Craigslist transactions or any type of exchange facilitated by Internet services. The decision fits into a broader trend that has been gaining traction over the past couple of years.

Internet listings like Craigslist are, of course, a quick and convenient way to buy, sell, barter, and generally deal with junk. But the worst part about using them is actually having to meet someone and navigate the moment of trust when money changes hands. The item being sold could be broken or fake, and the money being used to buy it could be counterfeit. Or something even more sinister could go on.

In Columbia, people can’t buy and sell weapons in the police department lobby, but anything else is fair game. Columbia Police public information officer Bryana Maupin told the Missourian that the police department lobby has surveillance cameras running 24 hours a day, plus the obvious bonus of a constant police presence. “People with stolen items may not want to meet at the police department,” she said.

On Tuesday, Virginia Beach police announced a similar policy, called “Find a Safe Place,” that will open the four local police precinct lobbies as safe transaction points between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. The East Chicago and Boca Raton police departments also created similar policies during 2014. It’s certainly a step up from meeting in a Starbucks.

AND THE 50'S ARE SO OVER...WHEN 3 GENERATIONS LIVED WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE AND THERE WERE MEN TO SUPPORT/PROTECT THE WOMEN....

HONESTLY, I DO NOT SEE THIS AMERICAN SOCIETY AS BEING VIABLE ANY MORE. IT'S ALL OVER BUT THE SCREAMING AND CRYING.

[Demeter]

3. It's Not The Oil Price That Is Causing Deflation In The Eurozone

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/01/31/its-not-the-oil-price-that-is-causing-deflation-in-the-eurozone/

YOU CAN READ IT, BUT THERE'S NO POINT....HE NEVER GETS TO THE POINT, IN OTHER WORDS.

DEFLATION IS CAUSED BY THE AUSTERITY THAT THE EUROCRATS INSIST UPON.

[Demeter]

4. IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME

Greece Sets Up Cash Crunch for March Telling EU Financial Bailout Is Over

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-30/greece-shuns-eu-bailout-cash-before-dijsselbloem-visit

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis set the clock ticking on Greece’s standoff with the euro area on Friday saying he’s ready to take his chances without a financial backstop rather than submit to more austerity. The new government may be operating without a financial safety net for the first time in five years by March after Varoufakis challenged the euro area to agree to a new framework of support that allows for more spending. Greece won’t engage with officials from the troika who have been policing the conditions of its rescue since 2010, he said at a joint press conference with Eurogroup Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem in Athens.

“We don’t plan to cooperate with that committee,” Varoufakis said. “The Greek state has a future, but what we won’t accept has a future is the self-perpetuating crisis of deflation and unsustainable debt.”

The standoff could see Greek banks effectively excluded from European Central Bank liquidity operations and the government with no source of funding, having rejected European aid while still shut out of international markets. Outgoing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said last month the government may run short of financing as early as March. Greece has a special dispensation from the ECB at the moment because it’s complying with a bailout program. That means its debt can be used in central bank refinancing operations even though it is rated junk.

Bonds Tumble

“There will be no surprises if we find out that a country is below that rating and there’s no longer a program that that waiver disappears,” ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said at an event in Cambridge, England, on Saturday.

Angela Merkel rejects debt relief for Greece

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/angela-merkel/11381518/Angela-Merkel-rejects-debt-relief-for-Greece.html

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out any cancellation of Greece's debt and said the country has already received substantial cuts from banks and creditors.

"There has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt," Merkel said in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

"I do not envisage fresh debt cancellation," she said. MORE

Greece economy: PM Tsipras seeks to placate creditors

I THINK "PLACATE" IS THE EXACTLY WRONG WORD HERE--DEMETER

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31075767

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said he is confident that agreement can be reached with creditors over repayment of Greece's debts.

Mr Tsipras said in a statement issued to Bloomberg news agency that he had never intended to act unilaterally....Mr Tsipras' Syriza party won last weekend's election with a pledge to have half the debt written off.

Its new Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has refused to work with the "troika" of global institutions overseeing Greek debt, which had agreed a €240bn (£179bn; $270bn) bailout with the previous Greek government. The troika is made up of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Greece still has a debt of €315bn - about 175% of gross domestic product - despite some creditors writing down debts in a renegotiation in 2012...MORE

It’s Greece vs Wall Street by Raúl Ilargi Meijer

On the one hand, I’ve written so much about Greece lately I fear I’m reaching overkill. On the other hand, there’s so much going on with Greece, and so fast, that I wouldn’t know here to begin. Moreover, I’m thinking and trying to figure what is what and what is actually happening so much it’s hard to stay focused for more than a short while before something else happens again and it all starts all over. And I’m thinking it must feel that way for the Syriza guys as well.

One thing I do increasingly ponder is that it gets ever harder to see the eurozone survive. In its present shape and form, that is. Damned if you do, doomed if you don’t, is an expression I’ve used before. It’s like this big experiment that a bunch of power hungry Europeans really get off on, that now all of a sudden is confronted with the democracy they all only thought existed in books of history anymore.

But if you take your blind hunger far enough to kill people, or ‘only’ condemn them to lives of misery, they will eventually try to speak up, even if not nearly soon enough. It’s like a law of physics, or like Icarus in, yes, Greek mythology: try to reach too high, and you’ll find you can’t.

What is Brussels supposed to do now? Throw Athens off a cliff? Not respect the voice of the Greek people? That doesn’t really rhyme with the ideals of the union, does it? If they want to keep the euro going, they’re going to have to give in to a probably substantial part of what Syriza is looking for. Or Greece will leave the eurozone, and bust it wide open, exposing its failures, its lack of coherence, and especially its lack of democratic and moral values...

MORE AT http://www.theautomaticearth.com/its-greece-vs-wall-street/

New Finance Minister Says Greece Is Insolvent

http://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2015/01/31/new-finance-minister-says-greece-is-insolvent/

The new Finance Minister of Greece has been making waves. In a meeting with Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem on January 30th he appeared to say that Greece would no longer cooperate with the Troika – the combination of the IMF , European Commission and the ECB that has been running Greece’s bailout programme. Dijsselbloem’s face was an absolute picture, as FT Alphaville gleefully reported.

Except, of course, that Varoufakis was speaking in Greek, so this isn’t what he actually said. And Dijsselbloem, who was listening via a translation service, did not hear what he actually said. Nor did the world’s journalists, who by and large also don’t speak Greek. Varoufakis (who is bilingual) later said that he perhaps should have made his remarks in English.

Nonetheless, his apparent refusal to deal with the Troika made headline news. The BBC’s headline claimed he said “No debt talks with EU-IMF Troika”. The FT put up an inflammatory headline saying that Varoufakis was refusing to work with the Troika. But the FT’s report explains it differently:

Mr Varoufakis….said Greece “is working from the standpoint of the best possible co-operation with its institutional partners and the International Monetary Fund but not with a bailout program that we think is anti-European.

MORE THIS ARTICLE IS THE BEST EXPLANATION I'VE SEEN YET

[Demeter]

5. Europe's creditors play with 'political fire' in pushing Greece to the brink/Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

AND THIS IS THE BEST ANALYSIS FROM THE EUROZONE SIDE

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11381071/Europes-creditors-play-with-political-fire-in-pushing-Greece-to-the-brink.html


"The creation of the euro was a terrible mistake but breaking it up would be an even bigger mistake. Anything could happen," warns former IMF bail-out chief ... The North European power structure has issued stern and inflexible warnings to Greece. Syriza’s triumphant radicals must pay the country’s debts and stick to the letter of the hated `Memorandum’ imposed by creditors. If premier Alexis Tsipras breaches the terms of Greece’s EU-IMF Troika bail-out – signed by earlier leaders under duress, and deemed unjust in Athens – Europe will cut off €54bn of support for the Greek banking system and force the country out of the euro in short order. Europe must not yield to “blackmail,” said Germany’s ZEW institute.

Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, said the new Syriza government is bound by the contractual terms of Greece’s €245bn loan package from the Troika. “Elections change nothing. There are rules. We did whatever could be done to support Greece in difficult times, again and again," he said... Mr Schäuble thinks they are ready. “We face no risk of contagion, so nobody should think we can be put under pressure easily. We are relaxed,” he said.

...It is politics that now matter. EU veterans warn that any mishandling of the Greek drama could escalate into an existential threat to the European Project itself. They deplore the sabre-rattling in Brussels and Berlin, deeming it petulant, even bordering on idiocy at a time when the political centre is imploding in a string of countries, and not just in the South... “Syriza has just won a landslide popular mandate from the Greek people to tell the Troika to go to Hell. It is ludicrous to shout at them and tell them they can’t wriggle out of agreements,” said Giles Merritt, head of the Brussels think-tank Friends of Europe. Mr Merritt said the Syriza revolt has exposed the political failure of EMU crisis strategy with refreshing clarity. “People in Brussels are losing patience with Germany. The real issue at hand is how we are going to rescue the eurozone from economic depression caused by five years of misguided austerity. Tspiras may find that he has more friends in this city than he thinks,” he said. “We cannot possibly risk Grexit at this stage and trigger a fresh eurozone crisis, so the Commission will soon waiver. Jyrki Katainen is toeing the line for now but he is not a fool. It is Greece that really has the whip hand, and the task is to find a face-saving formula for Germany,” he said

MORE

[Demeter]

6. Big banks want to merge into bigger bank, run astroturf to pressure Fed

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/30/1361205/-Big-banks-want-to-merge-into-bigger-bank-run-astroturf-campaign-to-pressure-the-Fed

Two banks with troubled histories of foreclosures and squandered public bailouts are now asking the Federal Reserve to merge, making them “too big to fail”—and they are getting really creative in their tactics. It is very rare for the Federal Reserve to deny bank mergers, but OneWest Bank is not taking any chances. They have set up an online petition to support the merger on the bank’s website that has netted 1,900 signatures.

The bank is even trying to pressure regulators to approve the merger with no public hearing, and the facts behind the two banks—OneWest and CIT Bank—make it clear why.

OneWest has a terrible record on foreclosures—they recently attempted to evict an 103-year-old Texas widow because she forgot to pay her homeowner’s insurance.

They are asking to merge with CIT Bank—who received $2.3 billion in taxpayer funds to help small businesses, and then filed for bankruptcy to be discharged of this obligation. If the Federal Reserve approves the merger, experts say they would become “too big to fail.”

DAILY KOS HAS A COUNTER-PETITION, TO PREVENT THIS MERGER

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/1086

[Demeter]

7. Protect and Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid Programs for Another 50 Years

http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/24/protect-strengthen-medicare-medicaid-programs-another-50-years/

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, two programs that play a key role in ensuring that elderly and disabled Americans have access to health care and are not bankrupted by its costs...Before Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, 35 percent of Americans over 65 did not have health insurance, leaving a huge uninsured aging population with either insurmountable doctor and hospital bills, or more frequently, no health care at all.

While we celebrate the fact that millions of people are better off now than they were in 1965, we must be aware that access to health care is continually threatened by program cuts, and millions of beneficiaries have trouble accessing the care they are entitled to because the programs don’t always work as well as they could. Medicare provides health care for 54 million seniors and people with disabilities, while Medicaid is the single largest source of health care coverage in the nation, covering some 68 million low- income children, families, pregnant women, workers, people with disabilities and seniors.

Since health care costs are one of the leading drivers of bankruptcy and because these programs serve so many people who are already living in poverty, preserving and strengthening Medicare and Medicaid is one of the biggest things we can do to fight poverty.

We and other healthcare advocates are using the opportunity of the Affordable Care Act to strengthen and improve these programs by working to ensure new coverage options and models of care reach communities of color and low-income families and improve access to the services they most need. In addition, we and everyone who cares about poverty, must use the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of these programs to celebrate their successes and speak out strongly against program cuts or changes that would threaten the health and economic security of some of our most vulnerable citizens.

BAH! UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER, NOW!

[xchrom]

8. The 10 most important things in the world right now

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-2-2015-2

1. An Australian journalist for Al Jazeera English who had been serving a 7-year jail sentence in Egypt on charges of aiding a terrorist organisation was released and deported on Sunday after spending 400 days in prison.

2. At least 8,000 pro-democracy protesters marched through the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday in opposition to the Chinese government's decision that candidates in the 2017 election would be approved by a largely Beijing-controlled nominating committee.

3. Greece's new finance minister promised not to ask for more loans as it tries to builds support for a debt renegotiation on its bailout agreement.

4. Life is returning to normal in Liberia, where new Ebola cases each week have dropped to the single digits.

5. Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will go on trial on France on Monday on charges of pimping.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-2-2015-2#ixzz3QaKmeTFQ

[Demeter]

19. DSK pimping? Whom? To whom?

He had a pretty vindictive wife, I think.

[xchrom]

9. What the ECB is doing to Greek banks is outrageous

http://www.businessinsider.com/ecb-threats-greece-over-emergency-funding-2015-2

The European Central Bank (ECB) again risks stumbling into a huge political controversy by threatening to withdraw emergency funding from Greek banks.

The central bank's actions toward Greece occur less than two months after secret letters revealed that the ECB threatened to pull emergency funding from Irish banks if the state did not apply for a bailout, in what many saw as an over-reach into the sovereign affairs of the country.

As the new Greek government led by the left-wing Syriza party attempts to renegotiate the terms of its bailout deal with the so-called Troika — consisting of the ECB, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — the country's access to emerging funding from the central bank to support its banking system may be cut off at the end of the month unless a compromise is struck. This, at least, is the message coming from members of the ECB's Governing Board.

Currently Greece enjoys special dispensation that allows its banks to use Greek government debt and government-guaranteed bank debt as collateral in exchange for funding from the central bank, despite being rated as "junk." This waiver was granted as part of a deal under which the country committed to undertake a package of structural reforms insisted upon by the Troika in exchange for bailout money.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ecb-threats-greece-over-emergency-funding-2015-2#ixzz3QaLM5q00

[Demeter]

20. Take down the banks--lock up the banksters--make banking a public utility

Fix something forever. It's the only way out.

[xchrom]

10. ASIAN STOCKS DOWN AFTER CHINESE FACTORY ACTIVITY WEAKENS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-02-03-56-57

KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX added 0.7 percent to 10,768.71 and France's CAC-40 gained 0.4 percent to 4,622.42. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent to 6,780.49. Wall Street looked set to rebound from Friday's losses, with futures for the Dow Jones and Standard & Poor's 500 index both up 0.4 percent. On Friday, the Dow lost 1.5 percent and the S&P was down 1.3 percent.

EUROPEAN DEBT: Greece's new finance minister won support from Paris for his effort to renegotiate the debt for its bailout. Yanis Varoufakis, a member of a new ruling party that campaigned against the austerity terms of the Greek bailout, struck a conciliatory tone as he sought new conditions from creditors. Germany has criticized Greece's stance but French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Sunday that while his government wouldn't support canceling the debt, it was willing to consider a new time frame or terms. That is for now easing worries that Greece's new government might eventually leave the euro common currency.

CHINESE MANUFACTURING: Surveys by HSBC Corp. and a Chinese industry group found manufacturing activity in the world's second-largest economy weakened in January. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers' index fell to a 28-month low. A separate index by HSBC edged up but still showed activity contracting. Both blamed weak demand in China and abroad. Analysts said they expect this to prompt Beijing to inject more credit into the economy or launch other stimulus measures.

THE QUOTE: "We think demand in the manufacturing sector remains weak and more aggressive monetary and fiscal easing measures will be needed to prevent another sharp slowdown in growth" in China, said HSBC economist Hongbin Qu in a report.

ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index gave up 2.6 percent to 3,128.30 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was off 0.7 percent to 17,558.04. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.1 percent to 24,484.74. Seoul's Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,952.86. Markets were mixed in Southeast Asia while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7 percent to 5,625.30.

[xchrom]

11. UNION ASKS REFINERY WORKERS TO STRIKE AFTER TALKS BREAK DOWN

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REFINERIES_STRIKE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-01-19-26-18

The United Steelworkers Union called for its refinery workers to stage their largest walkout in more 30 years Sunday, saying its negotiations with Shell Oil Co. broke down less than two weeks after they began.

The union asked about 3,800 workers at nine refineries mostly in Texas and California to strike shortly after their previous contract expired after midnight.

Negotiations over a new contract started Jan. 21. The call for a strike happened after United Steelworkers, or USW, rejected Shell's fourth contract offer. The union said Shell refused to provide a counter offer and that the company's representatives had left the bargaining table.

"We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage," USW International President Leo W. Gerard said in a statement.

[xchrom]

12. NEW RULES MAY ANSWER QUESTION OF WHOSE INTERNET IT IS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NET_NEUTRALITY_NEWS_GUIDE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-02-03-40-57

THE ISSUE

Net neutrality is the idea that Internet providers should not move some content faster than others or enter into paid agreements with companies such as Netflix to prioritize their data.

Broadband providers have questioned the fairness of this approach. They have invested heavily in a sophisticated infrastructure and question whether the government should be telling them how to run their networks and package services.

But what if the major cable companies that provide much of the nation's broadband had free rein to load some files faster than others? It is easy to imagine scenarios where these providers might favor content produced by their affiliates or start charging "tolls" to move data. Consumers naturally would gravitate toward faster sites and services that pay those fees, while smaller startups or nonprofits get shut out.

----

THE OPTIONS

The FCC had used the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which was intended to encourage competition in the telephone and cable industry, to enforce "open Internet" rules, until recently, when a federal appeals court knocked down that approach.

President Barack Obama and consumer advocates say a better tack would be to apply Title II of the 1934 Communications Act. That law, written with radio, telegraph and phone service in mind, prohibits companies from charging unreasonable rates or threatening access to services that are critical to society.

Industry likens that approach to cracking a nut with a sledgehammer.

[xchrom]

13. Piketty: Europe Should Learn Lesson From Japan on Deflation

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/piketty-says-europe-should-learn-lesson-from-japan-on-deflation


(Bloomberg) -- Thomas Piketty, the French economist whose 2013 book on wealth inequality became an international best-seller, said Europe should learn from Japan that monetary policy alone can’t prevent the economy entering deflation.

“Maybe one lesson is that it’s not enough to print money,” he said during a brief interview on Saturday in Tokyo. “If you print money, you can create bubbles on the stock market, on real estate prices. But that’s not necessarily increasing consumer price inflation and increasing growth.”

The 43-year-old author commented after speaking at a forum in Tokyo where he compared Europe’s economy with Japan’s.

Euro-area consumer prices fell 0.6 percent in January from a year earlier, according to data published by Eurostat Jan. 30. A week earlier, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi announced a bond-buying program valued at about 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion).

[xchrom]

14. Obama’s $4 Trillion Budget Sets Up Fight with Congress

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/obama-s-4-trillion-budget-sets-up-fight-with-congress

(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will send a $4 trillion budget blueprint to Congress today that would raise taxes on corporations and the nation’s top earners, fund major investments in infrastructure and education and stabilize, but not eliminate, the annual U.S. budget deficit.

The plan challenges Republicans to make politically thorny choices between defending current tax rates for the wealthy and Obama’s proposals to boost spending for the middle class, the Pentagon and companies that build domestic infrastructure.

That’s exactly the ground Democrats want to fight on heading into the 2016 elections. Addressing income inequality has become a mantra for Democrats from Obama to 2016 presidential nomination front-runner Hillary Clinton, and some of the Republican contenders have taken up the issue as well.

The budget plan for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 backs up Obama’s recent talk about directing assistance to the middle class with tax breaks and programs for education, job training and child care, administration officials said. Rather than dialing back his goals after Republicans expanded their House majority and took control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections, the president is pursuing a more aggressive strategy.

[Demeter]

21. $4 Trillion

How much do you figure is for war, the NSA, the CIA, and overthrowing other people's governments?

[xchrom]

15. India Grew 6.9% Last Year. But No One's Sure What That Means

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/india-grew-6-9-percent-last-year-but-no-one-s-sure-what-that-means

India changed its GDP calculations and caught everyone by surprise on Friday evening, with the revisions suggesting Asia's third-largest economy is in much better shape than we thought it was. Or is it?

Subdued expansion was at the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election win last May, when he promised to jumpstart growth from a near decade-low.

Now we're told the economy wasn't actually sputtering along at 4.7 percent last fiscal year through March 2014; instead, it was surging 6.9 percent. The revision takes India closer to China's 7.4 percent, the fastest-growing major economy in the world, but without a breakdown to show how. The input data for these numbers isn't available beyond a few years, so even though the government has promised more details by the end of February, we probably could be left with incomparable figures.

The new methodology uses market prices rather than factor costs, and a larger dataset that includes reporting from more companies and government bodies. The input data for these numbers is unavailable beyond a few years.

[xchrom]

16. North Dakota Faces Boom-Town Dilemma as Oil Tumbles: Muni Credit

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/north-dakota-faces-boom-town-dilemma-as-oil-tumbles-muni-credit

(Bloomberg) -- The city at the heart of North Dakota’s energy boom is asking for $80 million of state money to upgrade streets, improve a landfill and expand city hall to serve a population that’s grown by two-thirds since 2010.

Now, lawmakers in Bismarck may find themselves putting their faith and their funds in Williston’s unbridled growth even as crashing crude prices have chopped $4 billion off the state’s forecast for oil and natural-gas tax collections in the next two years.

Legislators are considering a $1.1 billion bill that would tap savings from energy-related revenue to send money to western North Dakota, including Williston, for infrastructure. The Senate passed the measure Jan. 29 by 44 to 2 and the House takes it up this month. For Senator Dwight Cook, memories of the 1980s oil bust were enough to prompt a no vote.

“I would love to vote for this bill, but considering our financial situation right now and the uncertainty of the future, this bill is too rich for me,” Cook, a Republican from Mandan, southeast of Williston, said on the Senate floor.

[Demeter]

22. they still have their state bank

besides, once all the wildcatters leave town, they won't need so much infrastructure.

[xchrom]

17. Oil Companies Draw on Creative Financing to Stay Afloat After Prices Tumble

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/credit-challenged-drillers-draw-on-creative-financing-to-survive

(Bloomberg) -- North America’s small and mid-sized energy companies are searching for creative ways to stay afloat as investors smell blood in the water from the almost 60 percent fall in the price of oil since June.

Oil and natural gas companies are straining for solutions before cuts in credit lines and increases in lending rates hit home in April, when banks re-price the collateral used to secure revolving credit lines. Some are turning to more creative forms of financing as familiar sources of money dry up.

That financing is coming from hedge funds, private equity shops and mega-wealthy investors like billionaire Carl Icahn who have the cash to weather a prolonged downturn and are on the hunt for deals among the wounded, bankers and analysts say. Oil operators, meanwhile, are laying off staff, freezing salaries and deferring investments to conserve cash.

“Companies have lived in a state of outspending cash flow, and the markets have facilitated that,” said Gregory Sommer, who runs energy investment banking at Deutsche Bank AG in New York. “But if prices persist at this level, you’re going to see some companies pulling back significantly” more than they already have.

[bread_and_roses]

18. Most Americans on Brink of Financial Disaster

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/30/most-americans-brink-financial-disaster

Most Americans on Brink of Financial Disaster
New Pew report highlights "financial fragility" of most U.S. households.
by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Fifty-five percent of all households have a month or less of liquid savings, referring to savings or checking accounts, if a financial emergency struck, while a typical household at the bottom has less than two weeks such savings.

... The report also found that a vast difference in earnings increases across the time studied. Though wage growth for a typical worker was 22 percent from 1979 1999, that growth was just two percent from 1999 to 2009.

... Adding to instability, the reports finds, are "volatile" fluctuations in family income. "Nearly half of households experienced an income gain or drop of more than 25 percent in a given two-year period," it states.

Add this to our appalling child poverty figures ....

What the hell happened that ordinary people forgot that the purpose of a "country" - as formulated by our Founders, no less - is to assure a decent life for its citizens? To "promote the general Welfare." What is the point otherwise?

[DemReadingDU]

26. Disgraceful

But until the majority people wake up, as they are in Greece, I see the PTB to continue their ongoing power, greed and control.

[bread_and_roses]

29. agree (n/t)

[mother earth]

30. Greece may pave the way for rejecting oligarchy and despite all the turmoil, Varoufakis

is awe inspiring.

[bread_and_roses]

34. "Thousands of Croatia’s Poorest Citizens Just Had Their Debts Wiped Out"

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/tens_of_thousands_croatias_poorest_citizens_just_had_debts_wiped_20150202

The Washington Post:

Starting Monday, thousands of Croatia’s poorest citizens will benefit from an unusual gift: They will have their debts wiped out. Named “fresh start,” the government scheme aims to help some of the 317,000 Croatians whose bank accounts have been blocked due to their debts.

Given that Croatia is a relatively small Mediterranean country of only 4.4 million inhabitants, the number of indebted citizens is significant and has become a major economic burden for the country. After six years of recession, growth predictions for Croatia’s economy remain low for this year.

“We assess that this measure will be applicable to some 60,000 citizens,”

We need some of that Jubilee here .... though to be sure, without fundamental change otherwise, it would just be a short respite, allowing people to accumulate NEW debt ..... But certainly, it seems to me the situation as is is unsustainable. I know a low-wage worker who owes something like $4,000 to the electric company. She will never on this earth be able to pay it back under current circumstances. Another who has about the same in old credit card debt - from a credit card acquired during a brief period of good employment that disappeared in the crash of '08 .... no chance of ever repaying. Those in similar boats are legion.

[mother earth]

35. Greece seems to be evidence that a tipping point has been reached, it can only grow, austerity has

done nothing, it's the oligarchy and systems that feed it, how else can it end but for people to reject it. Something's gotta give right?

It seems encouraging, but it is early…it will be interesting to see what happens that's for sure. Spain, Italy and so on, are sure to follow and it will be fought tooth and nail simply because of that alone, but really, is there any other way?

To your point about debt in our country there's this:

http://gawker.com/debt-forgiveness-is-real-1683301061

What Reparations in America Could Look Like

Debt forgiveness is a good way to give hope to the hopelessly indebted. But Croatia's program is too small to make a real dent—even though it is still far too generous to ever pass Congress here in the USA, where food stamps are still considered an egregious government handout in some quarters. Fortunately, even if debt forgiveness is politically unpalatable here (for now), there are still other ways to accomplish basically the same goal, at least somewhat:

Allow student debt to be written off in bankruptcy.
Bring back the WPA—a massive government jobs program.
Tax very high incomes a lot and push the revenue towards education and social programs that benefit the poor and middle class.
Abolish regressive taxes like the payroll tax and get rid of tax loopholes like the capital gains tax that benefit the rich and not the poor.

And don't we know all of the above are nothing but pipe dreams under a country where Citizens United reigns unfettered, but again, something's gotta give.

[bread_and_roses]

36. I like your list

I think I'll add it is as a "but for now at least" to my own pie in the sky list, if you don't mind. It would be enough for people to take a breath and remember what it is to live again. With a little time, it would even go some way, I think, to put a dent in the frightening rumbles of real hate and xenophobia we see rising.

[Demeter]

23. The sun shines brightly on 12-18 inches of snow and it's 10F (-3F windchill)

I'll be out shoveling...bring back a better number on the snowfall...no school!

[bread_and_roses]

27. at least 12" here and still snowing

at least it's quiet

[Demeter]

31. I am finished! I'd say at least 18 inches, maybe more. Huge drifts and plow piles

The sky is so blue, deeper than an October blue...the wind is still from the north.

At 12 Noon, we are up to 14F! (+4F windchill).

I'm going for some chicken stew for lunch...

[Demeter]

24. Campaign to audit the US Federal Reserve gathers pace

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/182e3278-aa2e-11e4-8f91-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fhome_us%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct&siteedition=intl

The US Federal Reserve is coming under the most political pressure it has faced since the financial crisis, as Republicans who say it lacks transparency attempt to subject its monetary policy deliberations to external audit. Republicans who took control of both houses of Congress this year want to use their new power to push for laws that would expose the Fed’s rate-setting and quantitative easing policies to formal review. The Fed has long been a whipping boy of anti-government conservatives who dislike its power and perceived opacity. But interest in reforming the central bank is now spreading to the Republican establishment.

Janet Yellen, who chairs the US central bank, is likely to face questions on the topic this month in congressional testimony. Bill Huizenga, the Republican vice-chairman of the House subcommittee on monetary policy and trade, said the Fed was a “massive labyrinth of very opaque gears and levers” and that “very few people understand the why; the how.” He said: “There is this walled-off area — this is a no fly-zone. In an open society when you are making significant decisions that impact a lot of people, why would we have this opaqueness on purpose?”

GOOD QUESTION, BILL! IF YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING WRONG, YOU SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID OF AN AUDIT...DEMETER

Last week, the conservative senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz — both 2016 presidential aspirants — jointly introduced a bill to force the Fed to open its books. Its co-sponsors include the Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, whose spokesman said: “The leader believes we should have more transparency.” Some Republicans are also renewing a longstanding push for the central bank to follow mechanical rules in setting monetary policy, drawing on the work of the economist John Taylor. Some economists say this sort of constraint would be hazardous, with Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist, writing last week that it was a “really terrible idea”.

Ted Truman, a former Fed official and now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said the idea would remove “a substantial amount of the operational independence of the Federal Reserve”. He said Ms Yellen could be forced to spend a lot of time debating the Republican reform proposals in the coming two years, even though any bill would probably be vetoed by President Barack Obama. Ms Yellen said last year that she would “forcefully” oppose efforts to advance the “audit the Fed” legislation, saying it was important that her institution was free from short-term political interference.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE? HOW ABOUT NATIONALIZING THE FED, THEN? SHE WOULDN'T HAVE A THING TO WORRY ABOUT THEN.

[Demeter]

25. sUCCESSION pLAN

[DemReadingDU]

28. For French investors, a Euro Disney nightmare

2/2/15 Special Report: For French investors, a Euro Disney nightmare

(Reuters) - When Edith Zemirou bought Euro Disney stock two decades ago, she expected a decent return and her own small share in Mickey Mouse magic.

In 1989, the Walt Disney Company announced a public share offering of its young European arm. It was the continent’s largest-ever IPO to that point and analysts said Euro Disney stock promised "good long-term returns."

Zemirou bought in, and has regretted it ever since. Her original 1992 investment would have lost 95 percent of its value by now. "It's too bad they didn't give us paper share certificates,” said the grandmother and former high school principal, who still has 100 shares worth about 3 euros ($3.4)each. "At least we could have framed them, as souvenirs.”

Zemirou says she feels duped. She heads Euro Disney's investor club and is one of 1,000 or so investors who are furious at the way Euro Disney, which is raising fresh capital in the face of insolvency, has been run. The Paris-listed firm has recorded losses in 16 of its 23 years, despite owning Europe's top tourist destination with about 14 million visitors per year.

Euro Disney managers say the firm has struggled because initial projections were too optimistic and the park borrowed too heavily. They also blame a lack of visitors, Europe’s weak economy and, in many years, guests who spend too little on food and merchandise.

more...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/02/us-eurodisney-shareholders-specialreport-idUSKBN0L60UU20150202

[Demeter]

32. Europe isn't into plastic--and that's all Disney is

and Chinese crap. And awful food. And this timeless gem

[Demeter]

33. This banker was a spy By Julie Steinberg

https://secure.marketwatch.com/story/this-banker-was-a-spy-2015-02-02?siteid=YAHOOB

BALTIMORE — Edwin “Ed” Hale Sr., a retired bank executive known locally for his sharp-elbowed approach to business, installed video surveillance on his 186-acre farm and still sleeps with a sawed-off shotgun by his bed.

His friends, former employees and even his own daughters were shocked to learn in his recently published biography that he had ample reason to do so: The former chief executive and chairman of Bank of Baltimore says he worked covertly for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.

During that time, he said, he spoke regularly with a CIA handler and allowed the agency to create a fake company under his corporate umbrella, which included shipping and trucking companies he ran at the same time he led the bank. Operatives in the field used the fictitious firm as cover when traveling the world, complete with business cards and hats. Hale said he worked under “nonofficial cover,” in which his identity was unassociated with the U.S. government. In the early 1990s, Hale said, the CIA used agents posing as his employees to track Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts and gather information on the terrorist’s financing operations.

Not everyone was pleased that Hale decided to go public, including the man who Hale said recruited him to the agency in 1992. “I am disappointed and upset that Ed would violate his agreement and understanding with the agency,” said A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard in a phone interview. Krongard was the executive director of the CIA from 2001 to 2004 and was also once chairman of Alex. Brown & Sons, a Baltimore investment bank that later merged with Bankers Trust and was acquired by Deutsche Bank AG.

A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment on Hale’s statements or any assistance he may have provided to the agency. Hale said he expected Krongard would “get over it.”