STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 15 October 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 15 October 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 14 October 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 14 October 2015
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Dow Jones 16,924.75 -157.14 (-0.92%)
S&P 500 1,994.24 -9.45 (-0.47%)
Nasdaq 4,782.85 -13.76 (-0.29%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.98% -0.02 (-1.00%)
30 Year 2.84% -0.02 (-0.70%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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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
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
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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
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.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.





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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]

[Fuddnik]

1. I am not.

[Demeter]

2. None of us are.

The people I find boring are those who cannot see a forest or the trees in it, but beat every little forest creature to death with their jawbones....

[Ghost Dog]

5. ¡!

A metacomment.

[Hotler]

3. I'm shocked! Just shocked I tell you.......

Iran sends fighters to Syria, escalating its involvement
But wait! What is this I read, the CIA are helping out.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-sends-fighters-to-syria-escalating-its-involvement/ar-AAfqmCE?li=AAa0dzB

"Sending more troops from Hezbollah and Iran only increases the shelf life of the Syrian regime, which is destined to end," Maj. Jamil Saleh, the leader of Tajammu Alezzah, a CIA-backed Free Syrian Army faction, told the AP. "It will only add more destruction and displacement."
He said their presence in Syria is not new but had been kept quiet.

Charles Lister, a Syria expert at the Brookings Doha Center, said much will depend on how quickly and efficiently the rebels' weaponry can be replenished by the states supporting them.

The CIA-backed rebels shrugged off criticism of cooperating with al-Qaida.

Why is the CIA over there? Trying to establish a drug route?
Hi agent Mike.

[MattSh]

4. The problem of abuse is the greatest challenge the web faces today.

This article is nominally about Twitter, but it sums up a number of things that are wrong in the world today. IMHO.

Why Twitter’s Dying (And What You Can Learn From It) — Bad Words — Medium

Abuse does not arise in a vacuum. A healthy mind does not (need to) abuse. Abuse is created of trauma, and it is the traumatized mind which abuses. Whether to externalize, bury, escape its anger and frustration — the abused mind must purge it’s hurt in some manner, or risk being broken, split apart by it entirely.

But the troubling fact is this.

We have created an abusive society. We have normalized, regularized, and routinized abuse. We are abused at work, by the very rules, norms, and expectations of our jobs, at which we are merely “human resources”, to be utilized, allocated, depleted. We are abused at play, by industries that seek to prey on our innocence and literally “target” our human weaknessses. And now we are abused at arm’s length, through the lightwaves, by people we will never meet, for things we have barely even said. We live in a society where school shootings are the rule, not the exception, where more people will have taken antidepressants than not…and now one where nearly everyone will have been abused on the web…for a random, off-hand, throwaway comment, an idle thought, something trivial, unremarkable, meaningless.

This is an age of stagnation. Of broken dreams and thwarted expectations. What is stagnating is not just “the economy” — but us. Our possibilities and potential, the lives that we should be living. That is what is creating a great cycle of violence. Stagnation is abuse. And we are its victims. We have been cheated not just of our savings, retirements, jobs, social contracts — but of what all those free us to be: ourselves. But we are also, in our anger and despair, its enforcers. Endlessly, at least on the social web, picking on, bullying, squabbling with, decrying, outraged at, one another…for nothing that means anything at all. The abused become the abusers.

That is the great megatrend which the social web is part of: the abusive society, a great stagnation cresting into a wave of anger. Do you think I overstate my case? Then step back for a moment and consider the rise of right-wing extremist parties across the globe. It is fuelled by the resentment and frustration of stagnation. And that anger and frustration, whether it is perpetual outrage, or the passive aggression of bitter irony, is perhaps today’s defining culture feature. We abuse one another, having been abused ourselves.

And it is a very great problem indeed. Yet, it points to a necessary role that social technologies must play if they are to regain their relevance. The most successful social platforms will be those that reverse the cycle of abuse that is a product of stagnation. And help heal people’s emotional wounds in this age of broken dreams. Those wounds are deep. It was not a fall from grace that caused them. Nor was it a knife. It was a scalpel, sharper than sin, with a razor’s edge. And so the wounds will continue to bleed until they are healed. Not with bandages, nor with salves. But with grace, mercy, love, and meaning.

-----> https://medium.com/bad-words/why-twitter-s-dying-and-what-you-can-learn-from-it-9ed233e37974

[Ghost Dog]

7. Yes. Being cheated yields a frustrating stagnation

that has to move:

"We have been cheated not just of our savings, retirements, jobs, social contracts — but of what all those free us to be: ourselves." ... leading to ... "a great stagnation cresting into a wave of anger."

[Demeter]

8. Exactly what I meant, above!

Serendipity? Coincidence? Thanks, Matt!

[antigop]

24. +1000 nt

[Ghost Dog]

6. Xi’s UK trip to start ‘golden era’

... China is also planning to push forward financial cooperation such as issuing short-term yuan debt in London, a first outside of China, and a feasibility study to link the Chinese stock market directly to the London stock exchange.

“The complementarity of the two countries’ economic structures has drawn China and the UK closer. En route to making the yuan a global reserve currency, Beijing has much to learn from London, which is a dominant force in global foreign exchange trading,” Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

He believes that the UK’s openness to Chinese investment in key areas such as energy and infrastructure, which often fall under protectionism in other countries, is crucial to economic cooperation between the two countries.

“The UK’s pragmatic approach to adopting a deal-by-deal negotiation model, rather than an all-encompassing and reciprocal treaty, is another reason that attracts Chinese investment,” Wang noted...

...The vast difference between the somewhat tense relations with the US and the warmth in Sino-UK ties has led media, such as the Financial Times, to believe that Xi’s trip marks “a divergence between London and Washington on a big issue for foreign policy.”

London also angered Washington with its unilateral decision to join the China-initiated Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank in March...

/...http://www.eureporter.co/frontpage/2015/10/15/xis-uk-trip-to-start-golden-era/

[Demeter]

9. It's a cold, clear morning

Out my southeast window, I can see Venus, Jupiter (and Mars, the conjunction is so tight I cannot distinguish them apart-no binoculars or telescope) and Mercury!

3 days of killer frost coming down from Canada this weekend, and it might reach 48F while I'm sitting on the concrete bleachers for the Mich/Mich State game....

And the Kid has a new cold. I haven't even gotten rid of the last one she gave me! Ay ay ay!

[DemReadingDU]

11. Frost!

I let out my dogs at 7 this morning, and the ground was frosty. I was shocked. The frost was predicted for maybe Saturday morning, definitely Sunday morning. Absolutely nothing predicted about frost this morning, so I didn't cover the last few remaining green tomatoes last night.

[Demeter]

14. Then I'm bringing the pots in tonight

Thanks for the warning. I've kept those geraniums for years....

[DemReadingDU]

16. My mom would over-winter geraniums

She told me to put them in paper bags, do nothing else, then re-plant in May.

Did not work for me. Out of couple dozen geraniums, I was only able to recover 2.

[Demeter]

20. I just keep watering them

Gonna put them in direct sun and see if they will keep blooming

[Demeter]

10. Insurance Dropouts Present a Challenge for Health Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/us/insurance-dropouts-present-a-challenge-for-health-law.html?_r=2

Stephanie Douglas signed up for health insurance in January with the best intentions. She had suffered a stroke and needed help paying for her medicines and care. The plan she chose from the federal insurance exchange sounded affordable — $58.17 a month after the subsidy she received under the Affordable Care Act.

But Ms. Douglas, 50, who was working about 30 hours a week as a dollar store cashier and a services coordinator at an apartment complex for older adults, soon realized that her insurance did not fit in her tight monthly budget. She stopped paying her premiums in April and lost her coverage a few months later.

“When you owe on your house, on your truck, when you’re a single parent of a college student and you have other bills,” she said, “it just doesn’t work.”

**********************************************************

On Nov. 1, a new sign-up period for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will begin, and insurers, health care providers and enrollment groups are ramping up campaigns to encourage 10.5 million eligible uninsured people to buy policies. But even as those efforts begin, the public insurance exchanges, also known as marketplaces, created by the law are facing another challenge: keeping the customers they already have. About 9.9 million people were enrolled in the federal and state marketplaces at the end of June, a drop of about 15 percent from the 11.7 million who the Obama administration said selected plans during the open enrollment period that ended in February. Though there is no comprehensive data on why people drop or lose their marketplace coverage, enrollment counselors, health care providers and consumers say cost is a factor. In some cases, people lost jobs or their income dropped after they enrolled. Other people signed up for coverage only to decide later that they could not afford it. Still others dropped their insurance after their federal subsidies — intended to help pay premiums — were reduced or eliminated because the government could not verify their incomes or concluded that they were earning more than they had reported on their applications. The cost of marketplace coverage may be particularly challenging for some in Mississippi and 19 other states that have not expanded Medicaid to provide largely free health care for people earning up to 138 percent of the poverty line. Many of these people can receive federal subsidies to help pay for private plans. But the subsidies do not always help enough...

AND THEN, THERE'S THE PAPERWORK, AND THE TOTAL LACK OF UNDERSTANDABILITY...

[DemReadingDU]

15. People are back to where they were - NO Insurance!

I know people have never had health insurance. They never signed up for Obamacare either. Maybe they are the smart ones.

[DemReadingDU]

12. Pension checks to be cut in half for Teamsters retirees

10/8/15 Pension checks to be cut in half for Teamsters retirees

Retired truck driver Jerry Deaton, 69, says every time he received his monthly Teamsters pension check, he would get the chills and worry how much money he could lose in the future given all the rumors.

On Monday, he got the answer he dreaded: His pension could be slashed by roughly half.

His $2,700 a month pension is targeted to be cut to around $1,317 a month as of July 1, 2016, as part of a massive proposed rescue of the troubled Teamsters Central States Pension Fund.

"It doesn't leave you with much options," said Deaton, who lives in Osseo in Hillsdale County. "I'll be 70 years old in December. Who's going to hire a 70-year-old truck driver?"

The giant Central States Pension Fund — which has $17.3 billion in net assets — covers more than 250 union locals with more than 400,000 participants who live in 37 states. Currently, the fund said it pays a pension benefit to more than 220,000 retirees nationwide and about 115,500 retirees across the U.S. face reductions now.

more...
http://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2015/10/07/teamsters-pension-cuts-central-states/73515432/

[Demeter]

13. VISUALIZE YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY

Last edited Thu Oct 15, 2015, 08:38 AM - Edit history (1)

FEELS ABOUT RIGHT...



Speaking of contributions, the Weekend approaches. It is the 50th anniversary of My Fair Lady... any objections?

[antigop]

25. no objections from me! nt

[Demeter]

17. Strong dollar holding back US growth says Fed report

NOW, IMAGINE WHAT A WEAK DOLLAR WOULD DO TO THIS PLACE....

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34533895

The Beige Book - a review of economic activity from the Federal Reserve - showed modest growth in the economy between mid-August and October.

It also noted that wage growth across the country was "subdued".

The report will contribute to the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to raise rates in October.

The central bank is widely expected to raise rates for the first time since the financial crisis before the end of the year - but most economists predict the move will come in December.

"Producers continued to cite weak oil and gas activity along with a strong dollar as key reasons for the sluggish activity," the report said....

[Demeter]

18. With deadline approaching, Boehner hasn’t ruled out debt ceiling increase

BOEHNER'S A PRETTY SMART COOKIE---HE'S RESIGNED, BUT ON CONDITION THAT SOMEBODY ELSE TAKES JOB. AND NOBODY WANTS IT....SO HE STAYS! BUT HE DUMPS THE CONSTITUENCY PART OF BEING A LEGISLATOR, AND THE RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION PART....AND UNTIL AND UNLESS THE DEMOCRATS TAKE OVER, IT'S STALEMATE! EVIL GENIUS AT WORK!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/10/14/with-deadline-approaching-boehner-hasnt-ruled-out-debt-ceiling-increase/



A friendly reminder: While the political world remains enthralled with the upheaval inside the House Republican Conference, a series of legislative deadlines are moving ever closer — and the lack of an obvious successor to outgoing Speaker John A. Boehner hasn’t changed that.

The Congressional Budget Office delivered the latest reminder Wednesday, updating previous guidance on the most serious of those deadlines — the approach of the federal debt ceiling.

Should Congress fail to act to raise the debt limit, according to the CBO, “the Treasury will begin running a very low cash balance in early November, and the extraordinary measures will be exhausted and the cash balance entirely depleted sometime during the first half of November. At such time, the government would be unable to fully pay its obligations, a development that would lead to delays of payments for government activities, a default on the government’s debt obligations, or both.”

That assessment moves forward the CBO’s previous deadline estimate by several weeks and largely comports with the Treasury Department’s latest guidance, which predicted the ceiling would be reached on or about Nov. 5.

So what is Congress going to do about it?

WELL, THEY COULD REMOVE THE DEBT CEILING...BUT THAT WOULD BE SENSIBLE...MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

19. Brazil Supreme Court Freezes Impeachment Efforts Against Dilma Rousseff

Government supporters accuse the opposition of trying to oust President Dilma Rousseff through a parliamentary coup.

Brazil's Supreme Court issued an injunction Tuesday, freezing efforts by opposition parties and the embattled head of the lower house of Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff.

The speaker of the lower house Eduardo Cunha insisted that he would continue to review impeachment requests despite the injunction.

"The decision on impeachment requests is a constitutional prerogative I have and it is not being questioned. I continue to have this prerogative and I will use it," said Cunha who himself is under investigation by Brazilian authorities for money laundering.

At issue is the constitutionality of the impeachment process. As speaker of the lower house, Cunha has stated that he has the power to decide the steps and introduced a document several months ago to this affect. Pro-government law makers believe that any process should follow Brazilian law number 1.079 / 1950, which outlines the legal means to address allegations of wrongdoing by state officials.

The Supreme Court agreed with a petition submitted by a lawmaker from Rousseff's Workers Party that current efforts by Cunha to single-handedly proceed with impeachment should be frozen as it could violate the constitution.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
"http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Supreme-Court-Freezes-Impeachment-Efforts-Against-Dilma-20151013-0034.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

[DemReadingDU]

21. Illinois gives lottery winners IOUs

wow, buying a lottery ticket in Illinois is a big gamble, even if you win!!


10/15/15 Illinois gives lottery winners IOUs

CHICAGO— The cash-strapped state of Illinois announced Wednesday they’ll be handing out IOUs for the time-being to any state lottery winner who wins more than $600.

The IOUs are one of the many side effects of the stalemate over a new budget between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s Democratic lawmakers who control the Illinois General Assembly.

“Payment delays will occur because there currently is no legal authority for the Illinois Comptroller or the Illinois Lottery to issue checks,” the Illinois Lottery said in a statement. “Please note that the funding to pay winners exists, but the legal authority to issue checks does not.”

The lottery said the payments will be made once a state budget is passed.

The lottery has been delaying payments to big winners since the current fiscal year started on July 1. Initially, only winners who were set to get $25,000 or more were receiving IOUs.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Lottery lowered the threshold to $600.

Last month, two winners, who won $50,000 and $250,000 prizes in July but had yet to be paid, launched a class-action suit against the Illinois Lottery.

The lawsuit estimated the lottery had failed to pay out more than $288 million in prizes since the last state budget expired on June 30.

One of the lead plaintiffs in the suit questioned how the Illinois Lottery can continue to operate when they are failing to make payouts to winners.

“How the heck can they do this, and they're still selling tickets?" said Homer Glen resident Rhonda Rasche, 48, according to the Chicago Tribune. "If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn't pay, I would be sued or in jail or both."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/10/14/cash-strapped-illinois-gives-ious-to-lottery-winners/73960268/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report {10-15-2015}

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20152015.pdf

News Release

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, October 15, 2015

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending October 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 255,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 263,000 to 262,000. The 4-week moving average was 265,000, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since December 15, 1973 when it was 256,750. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 267,500 to 267,250.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent for the week ending October 3, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 3 was 2,158,000, a decrease of 50,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since November 4, 2000 when it was 2,110,000. The previous week's level was revised up 4,000 from 2,204,000 to 2,208,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,201,250, a decrease of 21,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since November 18, 2000 when it was 2,169,000. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,000 from 2,221,500 to 2,222,500.

UNADJUSTED DATA

....
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 26 was 1,916,239, a decrease of 7,496 from the previous week. There were 2,088,591 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.

[DemReadingDU]

22. Illinois Will Delay Pension Payments Because of Cash Shortage

10/14/15 Illinois Will Delay Pension Payments Because of Cash Shortage

Illinois will delay pension payments as a prolonged budget impasse causes a cash shortage, Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger said.

The spending standoff between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders has extended into its fourth month with no signs of ending. Munger said her office will postpone a $560 million retirement-fund payment next month, and may make the December contribution late.

“This decision is choosing the least of a number of bad options,” Munger told reporters in Chicago on Wednesday. “For all intents and purposes, we are out of money now.”

Munger said the pension systems will be paid in full by the end of the fiscal year in June. The state still is making bond payments, she said.

“We prioritize the bond payments above everything else,” Munger told reporters.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-14/illinois-will-delay-pension-payment-because-of-cash-shortage

[antigop]

26. well, I guess that settles it. Karl Rove says Hillary won the debate.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/clinton-wallops-a-cranky-hobbit-1444861801

The Democratic debate Tuesday revealed the best thing that Hillary Clinton has going for her: the weakness of her challengers.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came off as an elderly, dyspeptic Bilbo Baggins attending a British Labour Party meeting. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley sounded like an overly earnest, slightly too intense 1950s ad man making a bad pitch. Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee was as hapless as a puppy stranded in a hurricane. And former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, probably sensing how inconsequential he is, was angry all night. It’s hard to believe this crew will draw many viewers for future debates.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, reminded the crowd that she is a good debater who bested then-Sen. Barack Obama in most of their 2008 matchups. She was knowledgeable, in command and much less mechanical than usual. Team Clinton was right to be elated with her performance.