STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 18 September 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 18 September 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 17 September 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 17 September 2015
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Dow Jones 16,674.74 -65.21 (-0.39%)
S&P 500 1,990.20 -5.11 (-0.26%)
[font color=green]Nasdaq 4,893.95 +4.71 (0.10%)



[font color=green]10 Year 2.19% -0.10 (-4.37%)
30 Year 3.01% -0.07 (-2.27%) [font color=black]


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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
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.







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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. So, the Federal Reserve, Janet and Fischer, Blinked

That's a startling admission right there, that

1) the data is junk
2) the policies are junk
3) the economy is a basket case

But you knew that, didn't you?

[Demeter]

3. Why Yellen Blinked on Interest Rates NEIL IRWIN

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/upshot/yellen-blinks-on-interest-rates.html

It has been seven years of zero percent interest rates. What’s another two or three months among friends?

That’s the conclusion that Janet Yellen and her colleagues at the Federal Reserve reached in their policy meeting Thursday. They left interest rates unchanged at the same near-zero level where they have been lodged since December 2008. For them, the risk of changing course prematurely just seemed higher than another couple of months of zero rates.

Ms. Yellen blinked, which is not to say she made a mistake. Sometimes blinking is a very sensible thing to do.

It’s clear that the Fed officials think that the economy is well on the path toward healing and that neither a modest interest rate increase nor a volatile stock market will wreck it. Inflation may have been persistently below the central bank’s 2 percent target the last few years, but it is on track to steadily rise in the year ahead.

That helps explain why 13 of 17 Fed officials continue to expect that interest rate increases will be warranted in 2015, according to newly released projections. In case you’re counting, that is a year with a mere 104 days left in it, and two Fed policy meetings, which kind of narrows the possibilities of what they have in mind for policy. What comes through in both the written materials the Fed released Thursday, and in Ms. Yellen’s comments in a news conference, is the sense that they want just a little more assurance, from both economic data and financial market prices, that their underlying assumptions are correct.

THE ONLY MOVIE I EVER WALKED OUT OF--AND THIS IS THE SCENE

[Demeter]

4. Dollar sinks after Fed keeps interest rates steady

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-holds-to-tight-ranges-ahead-of-fed-policy-decision-2015-09-17?siteid=YAHOOB

The dollar tumbled against most of its rivals Thursday after the Federal Reserve left interest-rates unchanged while policy makers hinted that the first hike might not come until 2016.

DOLLARS NOT NEEDED TO SNAP UP BARGAINS IN US NOW--WE AREN'T GOING TO CRASH IMMEDIATELY...

The dollar plummeted almost immediately after the policy statement and economic forecasts were released at 2 p.m. Eastern. The Fed’s “dot plot” — a collection of policy makers’ forecasts — showed most members of the central bank’s rate-setting committee had pushed back their forecasts for the trajectory of interest-rate forecast, and the updated policy statement was uncertain.

In the statement, the Fed cited “recent global economic and financial developments” — a reference to slowing economic growth and stock-market volatility in China — as a threat to growth in the U.S.

Policy makers also revised their long-term inflation forecasts lower, a sign they believe the U.S. economy remains too vulnerable for a hike.

A LOWER DOLLAR SHOULD MEAN CHEAPER OIL AND PRICIER IMPORTS FOR US....

[Demeter]

5. Opinion: Spooked by global events, the Fed won’t raise rates By Rex Nutting

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spooked-by-global-events-the-fed-wont-raise-rates-2015-09-17?siteid=YAHOOB

The Federal Reserve thinks the U.S. economy is doing OK, but the global economy is a different matter. And that’s why the Fed held rates steady today.

If it were just a matter of looking at the U.S. jobs and inflation data, the Fed probably would have raised interest rates today. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen made it clear in her press conference that the labor market is close to full employment, and that she’s reasonably confident that the inflation rate will drift back up to around 2% eventually.

When asked specifically about the undershooting on inflation, Yellen said she and her colleagues aren’t too worried. Inflation will be very low this year, true, but it will inevitably accelerate next year as the labor market tightens further and the impact of a stronger dollar dissipates.

They could be wrong about inflation, of course, but for now Fed officials appear to be reasonably confident that disinflation won’t persist, and that means they’re still on course to raise rates....


SO, WE ARE PROTECTING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY?

NOT ON YOUR KIDNEY PLASTER!

[Demeter]

16. Oil prices steady as dollar weakens post-Fed

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/18/us-markets-oil-idUSKCN0RH02A20150918?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Oil prices steadied on Friday on a weaker dollar after the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, while bearish signs persisted that the world's biggest crude producers would keep pumping at high levels to maintain market share.

The U.S. central bank decided against raising interest rates from historic lows on Thursday, saying uncertainty about global economic growth had forced its hand.

The oil market had mixed reactions to the decision, with the weaker U.S. currency supporting oil by making it cheaper for non-dollar traders, but concerns over global economic weakness providing some counterbalance.

"The perception of 'ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) forever' should provide some underlying support to the commodity complex," said Olivier Jakob, a strategist at Petromatrix, a Swiss-based consultancy...

[Demeter]

2. The World's Most Inexpensive Cities You Might Actually Want To Live In FORBES

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45hhmll/the-worlds-most-affordab/

Investment firm UBS published their Prices and Earnings report, which looks at some of the most affordable, and least affordable, places in the world today...We took some of the cities at the bottom of the list that might be attractive to Americans.



Vilnius, Lithuania

A main street in the old town in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is the most expensive on our list and scores a 40.9. By comparison, the most expensive cities -- New York, Geneva and Zurich, all score 100 and above. Most people speak English fluently. Demographics are young, and attractive. And it is part of the Baltic region, the fastest growing economies of northern Europe. It's no longer in Russia's sphere of influence. It joined the euro in January 2015 and is now closely linked to politically and economically stable Scandinavian countries.


Warsaw, Poland

Christmas lights are seen as people walk along Royal Route at Old Town in Warsaw, Poland. The city is ranked below Vilnius with a cost of index rating of 39.6. Political changes cast some uncertainty regarding future economic policies, but the economy is expected to grow at a healthy rate thanks to strong private consumption and a dynamic credit market. A FocusEconomics survey says economists expect the GDP to grow 3.5% in 2015, making it one of the best eastern European markets. Next year is expected to bring more of the same.


Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary. The city ranks 38.6 on UBS' cost of living index. It's been in the news since August as thousands of Syrian refugees have been struggling to make it through Hungary, putting the country in a relatively negative light. New political leadership adopted a 15% flat tax, helping this economy grow better than it has in years. It's not as dynamic as Poland, however. Private consumption is set to replace investment as the main pillar of growth this year, lifted by debt reduction, lower energy costs, falling unemployment and accommodative monetary policy. GDP is seen expanding 3% in 2015 and a little less next year.


Riga, Latvia

Riga is the second Baltic city that scores low on the list, making it one of the best, safest affordable cities in the world. Its fortunes are more tied to Finland nowadays than to Russia. UBS ranks it with a price score of 37.1 out of 100. GDP per capita is around $13,000. FocusEconomics panelists expect the economy to grow 2.3% in 2015 and 3.2% next year.


Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is ranked 36.4 out of 100 on the UBS cost of living index. The economy is stable and the city is American friendly and cosmopolitan. The Eurozone’s ongoing recovery, a strengthening external sector, loose monetary policy, low oil prices and a pickup in household spending are all expected to support the economy. Consensus puts the country's GDP growth at 3.5% this year, but declining somewhat next year to U.S. style growth of around 2.5%.


Bucharest, Romania

Not on many people's radar, Bucharest ranks 34.5 on the UBS price levels index, making it the third least expensive city looked at by the bank. Per capita GDP is around $8,000 in this euro zone nation, putting in on par with Johannesburg. The country is still on IMF support. On September 3, 2015, the parliament approved a gradual cut in the general Value Added Tax (VAT) rate from 24% to 20% in 2016 and to 19% in 2017, along with several further fiscal easing measures. GDP growth is expected to top 3.3% for the next two years. Slow and steady wins the race.


Sofia, Bulgaria

Only Kyiv is cheaper than Sofia, Bulgaria. With an index rating of 30, Sofia is actually a tad cheaper than Kyiv because real estate values in Ukraine's capital city are still higher than they are in Bulgaria's. These newer eurozone members did not do as well as the northern countries, tied moreso to the fortunes of the rich Scandinavian powers. The southeastern countries have been tied to...maybe Poland. In Bulgaria's case, Greece. At the beginning of August, the Central Bank stated that it expects softer growth this year because of subdued direct investment from Greece as well as decreasing Greek tourism. On September 1, the World Bank signed a bilateral agreement for technical assistance in order to support Bulgarian investment in energy and infrastructure. FocusEconomics expects GDP to expand 1.8% in 2015 and 2.1% in 2016.



Some cities are cheap for a reason. Like Kyiv, Ukraine, seen here. A political crisis and a proxy war with Russia on its eastern border have destroyed the Ukrainian economy. Kyiv might be an attractive, and inexpensive place to live. But few foreigners are willing to come here... On a scale of 0 to 100, 100 be most expensive, Kyiv scores at the bottom of those cities reviewed by UBS with a score of just 30.

[Demeter]

6. Do You Live In One of the Most—or Least—Happy Places in America?

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/do-you-live-one-most-or-least-happy-places-america?akid=13482.227380.bLaB0X&rd=1&src=newsletter1042527&t=9

..In general, it turns out Latin America is the place to be. For the third year running, Paraguay is the happiest country in the world. The 10 happiest places on Earth are all located in Central and South America— minus Denmark, which squeezed in there at number eight.

Wallet Hub's US poll found out that the five most emotionally well states are, in order of ranking: Utah, Minnesota, Hawaii, Colorado and North Dakota. The five unhappiest states are Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and all the way down in last place, West Virginia.

Find out where your state ranks on the Wallet Hub happiness scale. http://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-happy-states-in-america/6959/

[Demeter]

7. Officials Cover Up Housing Bubble’s Scummy Residue: Fraudulent Foreclosure Documents

https://theintercept.com/2015/09/14/officials-cover-housing-bubbles-scummy-residue-fraudulent-foreclosure-document/

EVERY DAY IN AMERICA, mortgage companies attempt to foreclose on homeowners using false documents.

It’s a byproduct of the mortgage securitization craze during the housing bubble, when loans were sliced and diced so haphazardly that the actual ownership was confused.

When the bubble burst, lenders foreclosing on properties needed paperwork to prove their standing, but didn’t have it — leading mortgage industry employees to forge, fabricate and backdate millions of mortgage documents. This foreclosure fraud scandal was exposed in 2010, and acquired a name: “robo-signing.”

But while some of the offenders paid fines over the past few years, nobody cleaned up the documents. This rot still exists inside the property records system all over the country, and those in a position of authority appear determined to pretend it doesn’t exist.

In two separate cases, activists have charged that officials and courts are hiding evidence of mortgage document irregularities that, if verified, could stop thousands of foreclosures in their tracks. Officials have delayed disclosure of this evidence, the activists believe, because it would be too messy, and it’s easier to bottle up the evidence than deal with the repercussions.

“All they’re doing is making a mockery of our judicial system,” said Bill Paatalo, a private investigator and one of the activists.

[Demeter]

8. More Proof That Economic Policies Have Failed Workers: Median Real Incomes Stagnant for Last 2 Decad

http://www.epi.org/blog/income-stagnation-in-2014-shows-the-economy-is-not-working-for-most-families/

[Demeter]

9. Contemporary Capitalism: Neoliberal Capitalism, Financialized Capitalism, or Globalized Capitalism?

http://triplecrisis.com/understanding-contemporary-capitalism-part-2/

[Demeter]

10. ALL JEREMY, ALL THE TIME

THE NEWLY-ELECTED UK LABOR LEADER IS ABOUT THE ONLY THING GENERATING INK, THIS WEEK

Jeremy Corbyn’s victory has already transformed politics Seumas Milne

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/16/jeremy-corbyn-politics-labour-leader-election

It must have been the shortest political honeymoon ever. Barely had the landslide election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader been announced than the backlash began in earnest. The 100-1 outsider might have pulled off the most extraordinary democratic leadership victory. But when it came to the political and media establishment, the usual niceties were dispensed with entirely.

Within minutes, the first of a string of Blairite resignations from shadow cabinet jobs they had not yet been offered had begun. The Conservatives issued bloodcurdling warnings about the threat posed to the security of the country and every family in the land. And the media campaign was raised to new levels of hysteria – with Corbyn and his allies depicted as deranged terrorist sympathisers.

One more notch on the propaganda dial and they’d be calling for the Labour leadership to be deported to internment camps in Caithness. The onslaught was expected. But the anti-democratic virulence of Britain’s tax-dodging media monopolists still has the capacity to take the breath away. It has also served to obscure the scale and significance of what has taken place.

There is no parallel for such a dramatic democratic upending of official politics in Britain. In three months Corbyn went from backbench obscurity to winning more than a quarter of a million votes, nearly 60% of the total, beating Tony Blair’s 57% when he was first elected leader in 1994 as well as eclipsing Blair’s support from individual members. Corbyn drew hundreds of thousands into the Labour party and reduced the Blairite candidate Liz Kendall to a humiliating 4.5%.

By any reckoning, Corbyn’s election and the movement that delivered it represent a political eruption of historic proportions. Whatever now happens, such a fundamental shift cannot simply be reversed. Eight years after economic crisis took hold of the western world, the anti-austerity revolt has found its voice in Britain in an entirely unexpected way. The political conformity entrenched during the years of unchallenged neoliberalism has been broken...

Jeremy Corbyn's QE for the people is exactly what the world may soon need

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11869701/Jeremy-Corbyns-QE-for-the-people-is-exactly-what-the-world-may-soon-need.html

There are many good reasons to gasp at Jeremy's Corbyn's planned assault on capital, but his enthusiasm for "People's QE" is not one of them.

Overt monetary financing of deficits - the technical term - is exactly what the world will need if the global economy tips into another recession with interest rates already at zero and debt ratios stretched to historic extremes.

Governments that do not have such a contingency plan in place to combat a potential deflationary shock from East Asia should be hauled before their respective parliaments to account for their complacency.

HSBC's chief economist, Stephen King, argues such drastic measures may be our last resort in a "Titanic" world with few lifeboats left, if anything goes wrong. He is not alone in the City of London...MORE

Jeremy Corbyn’s Dangerous Fantasies By Anne Applebaum

WARNING--THIS WOMAN IS A KNOWN LUNATIC/FASCIST/NEOCONSERVATIVE. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY

The new leader of Britain’s Labour Party doesn’t much care for democratic politics...We went back and forth, all through dinner. Yes, my acquaintance admitted, Jeremy Corbyn’s economic plans—the renationalization of industry, the imposition of a “maximum wage”—were fantastical. Yes, it’s true, Corbyn’s fondness for the people he has referred to as “our friends in Hezbollah” hardly seemed sane or rational. And yes, of course, the new leader of the British Labour Party might well be unelectable. Then he sighed: “But at least we’ll be having fun again!”

The nostalgia, the wistfulness, the longing for an era when politics were “fun,” the look backward to a mythical time when “ideas mattered”—all of these motivated my dinner companion to support the election of Corbyn. So did his wish for a different sort of world, one in which we didn’t need NATO, nuclear weapons, or even a military. “Wouldn't it be wonderful,” Corbyn asked a few years ago, if “every politician around the world ... took pride in the fact they don’t have an army.” So did his wish for a different kind of global economy, one in which financial markets didn’t punish profligate borrowers, money can be printed, and resources are infinite.



These kinds of fantasies are hardly new: Many people over many centuries have wanted the world to be different from what it is, and some have even forcibly tried to change it. Nor are they uncommon. Some very similar fantasies gripped Greece this year after Greek voters threw their support behind a political party, Syriza, that promised, in effect, to give them more money. This proved impossible: The Greek state didn’t have more money. Nor did anybody outside of Greece want to lend it to them. Syriza was forced to capitulate and wound up promising to try to spend even less money instead.

But Corbyn also embodies a different fantasy: the dream of a world without political realities. Corbyn doesn’t want to speak to the “mainstream” media. He’s already canceled an interview with the BBC, although he has in the past spoken to Iran’s Press TV and Russia Today, and is refusing to answer questions from others. He doesn’t like Prime Minister’s Question Time, the traditional forum for British parliamentary debate. His closest ally, now Labour’s shadow chancellor, declared a few months ago that “you can’t change the world through the parliamentary system,” an extraordinary comment for an elected official. Tony Blair, the last Labour prime minister to win an election (in fact he won three of them), has even observed with astonishment that neither Corbyn nor the activists—less than 1 percent of the voting public—who selected him in the internal Labour Party ballot even want to talk about how the new leader will fare in a national ballot. Last weekend Blair wrote that a friend told him not to bring up the issue: “Don’t blah on about winning elections; it really offends them.”

MORE

[Demeter]

21. U.K.’s Corbyn Says Labour to Back EU Membership, Transaction Tax

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/u-k-s-corbyn-says-labour-to-back-eu-membership-transaction-tax


JEREMY CORBYN a rather scruffy-looking bloke, don't you think? I think corbyn is derived from "raven" in French, meaning black-hair...

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Labour will campaign to keep Britain in the European Union as the bloc may support his goals to raise more revenue from the City and protect workers’ rights.

“The answer to any damaging changes that Mr. Cameron brings back from his renegotiation is not to leave the EU but to pledge to reverse those changes with a Labour government elected in 2020,” Corbyn wrote in an article for the Financial Times, published on its website late Thursday.

Corbyn has until now remained largely silent on whether he would maintain Labour’s stance to campaign unequivocally for Britain to stay within the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the bloc before a referendum planned by end-2017.

As well as remaining in the bloc Britain should also support proposals by 11 EU countries for a common transaction tax, Corbyn wrote. Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has fought to oppose the levy from its inception, claiming it threatens Britain’s future as a financial center...

[Demeter]

11. Rose from my sickbed and did some googling--I think this is what we got

Virus Going Around With Symptoms That Mimic Allergies

http://www.wchstv.com/news/features/eyewitness-news/stories/Virus-Going-Around-With-Symptoms-That-Mimic-Allergies-205588.shtml

If people are feeling pretty miserable these days, it might be allergies but it might not.

A nasty virus going around the Tri-State mimics severe allergy symptoms. It's even challenging health care providers who are trying to make sure people get the right treatment.

Beth Bailey was one of the lucky ones. Her symptoms are simply seasonal this time of year. But at the same time the Tri-State had an allergy explosion these past few weeks.

Dr. Scott Woods said a respiratory virus also hit hard.

"There must have been a new strain," Woods said. "Most of us didn't have a lot of resistance to."

Dozens of patients Woods said came in thinking they had allergies the last few weeks when it was likely the newer virus, or they may have had both. Separating symptoms is critical to getting the right treatment. Allergies usually start with sneezing and itching while a virus hits quickly, often with a fever.

"Respiratory viruses, like that one, will usually spread through families, spread through employment areas very rapidly. A sign it's more contagious and infectious," Woods said.

This can even be difficult for a person's health care provider to determine what is actually and allergy or a viral reaction. Both have had sort of a severe allergic bronchitis, or a feeling that a person can't breathe, and there is also a viral bronchitis. People need to probably get in to see a health care provider if they have a lingering cough, if they are noticing the phlegm is still sort of there and if they are having trouble breathing, especially at night.

The allergy symptoms are lasting into the season. The virus does appear to be slowing its spread. If people get it, they may be really sick for up to a week.


I WISH IT WERE ONLY A WEEK...THE KID MUTATED IT! SHE'S STILL NOT RECOVERED, 6 WEEKS LATER. OF COURSE, SHE'S ALSO MILKING IT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH....BUT TOMORROW STARTS MY 4TH WEEK, AND IT'S THE DRIPPING PHLEGM AND COUGHING AND DIZZINESS FROM LACK OF BREATH...

AND AS WE ALL KNOW, ONE CANNOT CURE A VIRUS WITH ANTIBIOTICS.

I AVOID DOCTOR'S OFFICES BECAUSE THEY ARE A GREAT PLACE TO PICK UP NEW GERMS. GUESS WHAT WE WERE DOING, JUST BEFORE THE KID GOT SICK? HER ANNUAL MEDICAL BOMBARDMENT. ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT SAFE TO GO INTO A DOCTOR'S OFFICE BEFORE EVERYONE CAME HOME WITH THEIR EXOTIC GERMS FOR THE START OF SCHOOL, BUT NO!

[Demeter]

12. I've run out of material

and don't feel like sifting through the old stuff this evening. Good night, all, and stay well!

[Demeter]

13. Janet Yellen Warns Against Government Shutdown

AND HERE WE HAVE THE REAL REASON WHY SHE DIDN'T GO FOR IT---THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS INTIMIDATED BY THE THREE RING CIRCUS THAT IS CONGRESS.

BECAUSE CONGRESS IS GOING TO SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT, AGAIN, NOBODY ELSE DARE MAKE A MOVE, FOR GOOD OR ILL. THEY ARE BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES AND POURING MONEY INTO POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, IN THE BELIEF THAT SANE FISCAL POLICY CAN BE BOUGHT...IF YOU BUY THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

SOMEHOW, I DON'T THINK THE TEA PARTY ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE. WHILE THEY MODEL THEMSELVES AFTER THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, THEY ARE MORE LIKE THIS TEA PARTY:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/janet-yellen-government-shutdown_55fb376ae4b08820d9180e54?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business&section=business

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday called on Congress to fund the government, warning that a government shutdown would jeopardize the country’s economic health. Yellen also cautioned against brinksmanship over raising the debt ceiling.

“I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to pass a budget, to fund the government, to deal with the debt ceiling so that America pays its bills,” Yellen said at a press conference on the Fed’s decision to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged. “We have a good recovery in place that is really making progress. To see Congress take actions that would endanger that progress -- I think that would be quite unfortunate.”

Yellen insisted that fear of a government shutdown and the harm it would cause the economy had not influenced the Fed’s decision to maintain near-zero interest rates. “It played absolutely no role in our decision,” Yellen said.

House Republicans are refusing to pass legislation to fund the government, if it provides money to Planned Parenthood. President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any measure that doesn't include funding for the reproductive health care provider, setting up a confrontation that could shutter the federal government if a resolution is not reached before Sept. 30.

Standard & Poor’s estimated that the last GOP-led government shutdown in October 2013 cost the economy $24 billion in lost GDP. That shutdown, which lasted 16 days, was precipitated by House Republicans’ refusal to provide funding for the Affordable Care Act...

MORE

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14. Billionaire JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon says there's no point in slashing CEO pay

OF COURSE NOT, JAMIE, IT'S JUST A BAD DREAM, GO BACK TO SLEEP...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-jpmorgan-chief-jamie-dimon-204704893.html


JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says it's OK that chief executives get paid way more than their average employees — and that cutting down on executive compensation wouldn't help eliminate income inequality.

That's according to Bloomberg's Claire Boston and Hugh Son, who wrote up comments from Dimon at a Detroit event Thursday.

"It is true that income inequality has kind of gotten worse," Dimon said, but "you can take the compensation of every CEO in America and make it zero and it wouldn't put a dent into it. What really matters is growth."

In August, the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a new rule requiring public companies to disclose how much money CEOs earn in comparison to typical employees...

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15. Brazil's top court bans corporate money in election campaigns

Brazil's Supreme Court decided on Thursday to ban corporate donations to election campaign financing in a move to clean up Brazilian politics caught in a massive kickback scandal.

The top court voted 8-3 to allow election donations from individuals but not from companies, a decision that renders unconstitutional a bill passed last week by the country's Congress allowing corporate funding for political parties.

The ruling comes in the midst of Brazil's biggest corruption investigation into bribes and political kickbacks on contracts with state-oil company Petrobras. The funds allegedly went into the pockets of dozens of politicians in President Dilma Rousseff's governing coalition.

The treasurer of her Worker's Party is in jail, and her election-campaign accounts are under investigation to see whether bribe money was used to help re-elect her last October.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/17/us-brazil-politics-financing-idUSKCN0RH33A20150917

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17. EU could lose 3.5 million jobs if cuts trade defences against China

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-could-lose-3-5-040238157.html

The European Union could lose up to 3.5 million jobs if it removes its trade defences against China as Beijing expects it to do by the end of 2016, according to a study for a group of 25 European manufacturing federations published on Friday. The report, presented to senior EU officials and lawmakers this week, forecasts that EU imports of manufactured goods would rise by between 25 and 50 percent over the next three years.

"That's another 5 to 10 percent a year on top of trend growth and I would argue the study is conservative. China is capable of exporting much more given its excess capacity," co-author Robert Scott, director of the Economic Policy Institute, told Reuters ahead of the report's publication.

The European Union, along with other World Trade Organization (WTO) members, needs to determine whether to accord China "market economy status" (MES) at the end of 2016. The WTO recognised when Communist China joined the trade body in 2001 that local prices were not set by market forces but expected that 15 years later Beijing would play less of a role in directing the economy. MES status is important because, if granted, it reduces the EU's ability to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese imports. This could only happen if Chinese export prices were beneath already low domestic prices.

Opponents, such as Aegis Europe, a grouping of 25 European industry federations from steel to ceramics, say that Chinese prices are not the result of normal market forces but are artificially depressed. Scott says lower import tariffs and the reduced threat of anti-dumping procedures would lead Chinese companies to reduce the price of their exports goods by almost 30 percent. A consequent loss of EU production would strip 1 to 2 percentage points from the bloc's gross domestic product, resulting in the loss of between 1.7 and 3.5 million jobs.

The report says that the sectors hardest hit would be automotive parts, paper and paper products, steel, ceramics, glass, aluminium and bicycles, which collectively employ 2.7 million people in the EU.

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"Three or even four, five million jobs could be at risk due to a potential climbdown on MES. Even if Europe decides to grant market economy status to China, it doesn't change the fact that China is not a market economy."

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18. But, that's what it's for!

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19. US CFTC brings first enforcement case against a Bitcoin operator

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/17/cftc-bitcoin-idUKL1N11N2NR20150917



U.S. derivatives regulators brought their first case against a Bitcoin trading platform on Thursday, declaring that virtual currencies are deemed "commodities" covered under existing law. LIKE THE PRECIOUS METALS THEY SEEK TO EMULATE? ELECTRONIC GOLD, IN OTHER WORDS...

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it had reached a settlement with San Francisco-based Coinflip Inc and its Chief Executive Francisco Riordan. Bitcoin, a web-based "cryptocurrency" sold through exchanges, provides a vehicle for moving money across the world quickly and anonymously without the need for third-party verifications. The agency said Coinflip was operating an online platform known as Derivabit, which helped match up buyers and sellers with Bitcoin options. Because these Bitcoin options are deemed "commodities," the CFTC said the business should have been properly registered and subject to the laws governing swaps.

"While there is a lot of excitement surrounding Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, innovation does not excuse those acting in this space from following the same rules applicable to all participants in the commodity derivatives markets," said Aitan Goelman, the head of the CFTC's Enforcement Division.

Riordan could not be reached immediately for comment. The CFTC did not impose any penalties on him or his firm, and Riordan settled the case without admitting or denying the charges.

Thursday's case is not the first time U.S. regulators have sought to bring virtual currencies into the regulatory fold. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also brought a handful of cases so far involving Bitcoin, including one case late last year against a computer programmer who ran virtual currency trading platforms that were not registered as brokers, as required by law.

WELL, THAT DEFINITELY CLARIFIES THE MEANING OF BITCOIN, AND BRINGS IT INTO THE CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT....WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO AVOID!

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20. Fiat Chrysler to invest $5.3 billion in U.S. plants

http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2015/09/17/fca-mexico-cherokee-jeep-toledo-uaw/72369300/

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to invest $5.3 billion in U.S. plants over the next four years as it shuffles vehicle production at various U.S. factories and moves the Chrysler 200, Dodge Dart and a Jeep crossover to Mexico as part of its tentative agreement with the UAW.

The sweeping plan, which came to light Thursday, also moves the Jeep Cherokee out of Toledo and the Ram 1500 out of Warren Truck.

The U.S. investments would help the UAW secure thousands of jobs and move production of less-profitable vehicles to Mexico where labor costs are lower. But sending production to Mexico runs the risk of alienating the 39,000 FCA workers preparing to vote on a new 4-year agreement forged on Tuesday by UAW President Dennis Williams and FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Even before news of the plant investments broke Thursday, two UAW officials in Indiana and Michigan told the Free Press the new agreement will be difficult to ratify because many workers feel pay increases are not big enough considering profits and the health of the industry. The two union officials were not authorized to speak publicly about the agreement or coming vote....

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22. Take me out to the ball game

This Weekend we will visit America's pastime: baseball. I'm feeling intellectually lazy, and baseball, for all its fans, has got to be right up there...

Maybe figure out where the money is?

Until tonight!