STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday April 1

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday April 1, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON March 31, 2010

Dow... 10,856.63 -50.79 (-0.47%)
Nasdaq... 2,397.96 -12.73 (-0.53%)
S&P 500... 1,169.43 -3.84 (-0.33%)
Gold future... 1,118 +3.60 (+0.32%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.82 -0.03 (-0.83%)
30-Year Bond 4.71 -0.04 (-0.78%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

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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.

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Today's Reports

08:30 Continuing Claims 03/20
Briefing.com 4650K
Consensus 4618K
Prior 4648K

08:30 Initial Claims 03/27
Briefing.com 450K
Consensus 440K
Prior 442K

10:00 Construction Spending Feb
Briefing.com -1.3%
Consensus -1.0%
Prior -0.6%

10:00 ISM Index Mar
Briefing.com 56.2
Consensus 57.0
Prior 56.5

14:00 Auto Sales Mar
Briefing.com NA
Consensus NA
Prior 3.7M

14:00 Truck Sales Mar
Briefing.com NA
Consensus NA
Prior 4.2M

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm

[ozymandius]

2. Oil rises above $84, extending 2-month rally

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $84 a barrel Thursday in Asia, extending a two-month rally amid surging regional stock markets ahead of the Good Friday holiday. ...

Oil prices have jumped from $69 a barrel in early February on investor expectations that a gradual recovery in the U.S. economy this year will eventually boost crude consumption.

So far, demand remains sluggish. The Energy Information Administration said crude inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels last week, slightly more than analysts expected. ...

In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil rose 1.46 cents to $2.1936 a gallon, and gasoline gained 1.70 cent to $2.3242 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 2.4 cents to $3.893 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[ozymandius]

14. California Gasoline Usage declines for 4th Consecutive Year

From Calculated Risk:

From David Baker at the San Francisco Chronicle: State gas usage falls for 4th straight year

Driven lower by high prices and the recession, gasoline sales in California fell for the fourth year in a row during 2009, state officials reported Tuesday. ...
Annual gas sales in California peaked at 15.9 billion gallons in 2005 and have tumbled 7 percent since then.

In addition to gasoline usage being down for four straight years, driven by higher prices and then the recession, usage turned down again in Q4 2009 - probably because prices are up over $3 per gallon again.

CR also displays some very straightforward charts.

[Tansy_Gold]

21. "investor expectations" = speculation =

rich folks is playin' games with our money.

They already have way more than they know what to do with and they still want more, and since they're not atually EARNING anything, they have to steal from those who are.

Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all.

I talked with my daughter last night. Both she and her husband work for school districts in NJ. They are getting screwed left and right, the state hasn't paid into the pension fund for like 10 or 15 years, and the media is hyping nothing but how evil teachers are.

So on behalf of my daughter and son-in-law and grandson, fuck you, rich man Jon Corzine, for being such a dickwad you let your state fall into the hands of a piece of shit puke.


Tansy Gold, who has decided she really does hate the idle greedy rich including the FOAF who "made a killing" last year on the stock market

[Po_d Mainiac]

22. Why do you always beat around the scrub?

Just let folks know how you really feel :evilgrin:

Have a soggy Northeastern :donut:

[Tansy_Gold]

29. Because somebody has to do it.

I'm tired of all the "I don't really hate the rich" bullshit.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, all of 'em. They live obscenely richly and they contribute nothing commensurate to society. Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all. I don't care how "liberal" they are, how much they "donate" to charity.

I'm not advocating numerical equality of wealth; that's impossible and stupid anyway. But this massive obscene disparity, with the wealthy living off the sweat and misery of the working classes, is unAmerican. It's the antithesis of everything America once stood for. It's a fucking lie and it needs to be stopped.

"Needs to be" and "Will" are of course two different concepts. One may lead to the other but it ain't necessarily so.

I should point out that I have friends who are at what I would consider the upper end of the working class. Most are retired and live quite comfortably on their investments and savings. Some are more liberal than others, some are rightwing dickheads. Some I might defend in a court de guillotine. Some I wouldn't.


Tansy Gold

[ozymandius]

3. World stocks up after Japan, China economic reports

HONG KONG – Asian stock markets rose Thursday as signs of growing strength at powerhouse economies China and Japan brightened the outlook for the world recovery. European shares also gained in early trade. ...

An impetus came from news China's manufacturing accelerated last month, helped partly by a continuing rebound in domestic sales and exports from the world's third-largest economy. In Japan, a key report showed companies' confidence about the business climate rose a fourth straight quarter.

Taken together, the reports suggested international trade was on the mend and contributed to a growing belief the global economy can avoid slipping back into recession. Still, analysts noted that volumes were thin in many markets ahead of the long Easter holiday and key U.S. jobs data as traders sat the session out. ...

Europe followed Asian stocks higher, with Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX gaining 0.8 percent and France's CAC-40 adding 1 percent. Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open Thursday.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 154.46 points, or 1.4 percent, to 11,244.40.

Hong Kong's market index rose 1.4 percent to 21,537.00 and South Korea's Kospi benchmark was up 1.6 percent at 1,719.17.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

[ozymandius]

4. SEC Examining Use of Derivatives by Funds

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it will begin evaluating the use of derivatives by mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. A derivative is essentially a security whose price is derived from one or more underlying assets, and the term is used to describe a range of activities including futures trading and default swaps. The SEC says that until the investigation has concluded, it will defer any new requests for ETFs that would make substantial investments in derivatives. The number of funds that engage in derivatives trading is growing, and the SEC wants to assess the risks associated with these funds. ....

For most investors, derivatives can be difficult to understand because of their complexity. "Derivatives are a sort of instrument that give market exposure without actually being a direct investment in that market," says Eric Jacobson, Morningstar's director of fixed-income research. "Whether it's a bond, a stock, a currency, or an interest rate, a derivative generally gives you price exposure to something without you actually having to own that item."

Jacobson says that there are a wide range of things that managers can do with derivatives, like shorting particular securities. At times, managers may use derivatives because they find them to be a good value. The problem is, says Jacobson, some managers have used them in a reckless fashion by taking on risks or leverage in the hopes of multiplying a fund's returns. Some managers have failed and lost significant amounts of investors' money.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20100331/ts_usnews/secexamininguseofderivativesbyfunds

[ozymandius]

5. Negative US job report prompts recovery fears

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An unexpected rise in company job losses fueled concerns about the strength of the US economic recovery, ahead of a key government labor report later this week.

US firms shed 23,000 jobs in March, payrolls firm ADP said in a report that was dramatically worse than market expectations.

Sensing a slow improvement in the health of the world's largest economy, investors had expected around 40,000 private-sector jobs to be created this month.

The private sector accounts for more than two-thirds of US employment and its payrolls are a widely watched barometer of the US recovery. ....

Investors are now waiting for official unemployment figures for March to be published on Friday, asking if they had been overly optimistic in suggesting the jobs market was about to turn a corner.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100401/ts_alt_afp/useconomyunemployment

[ozymandius]

6. Fed Reveals Bear Stearns Assets It Swallowed in Firm’s Rescue

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- After months of litigation and political scrutiny, the Federal Reserve yesterday ended a policy of secrecy over its Bear Stearns Cos. bailout.
The Fed’s vehicle known as Maiden Lane LLC has securities backed by mortgages from lenders including Washington Mutual Inc. and Countrywide Financial Corp., loans that were made with limited borrower documentation. More than $1 billion of them are backed by “jumbo” mortgages written by Thornburg Mortgage Inc., which now carry the lowest investment-grade rating. Jumbo loans were larger than government-sponsored mortgage buyers such as Fannie Mae could finance -- $417,000 at the time.

“The Fed absorbed that risk on its balance sheet and is now seen to be holding problematic, legacy assets,” said Vincent Reinhart, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington who was the central bank’s monetary- affairs director from 2001 to 2007. “There is both an impairment to its balance sheet and its reputation.”

The Bear Stearns deal marked a turning point in the financial crisis for the Fed. By putting taxpayers at risk in financing the rescue, the central bank was engaging in fiscal policy, normally the domain of Congress and the U.S. Treasury, said Marvin Goodfriend, a former Richmond Fed policy adviser who is now an economist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. ....

The Fed disclosed that some of Maiden Lane’s assets were portions of commercial loans for hotels, including Short Hills Hilton LLC in New Jersey, Hilton Hawaiian Village LLC in Hawaii, and Hilton of Malaysia LLC, in addition to securities backed by residential mortgages. ....

The portfolio also includes $618.9 million of securities backed by Countrywide, mortgages now rated CCC, eight levels below investment grade. All the underlying loans are adjustable- rate mortgages, with about 88 percent requiring only limited borrower documentation, according to Bloomberg data. About 33.6 percent of the borrowers are at least 60 days late. Countrywide is now part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-01/fed-reveals-bear-stearns-assets-it-swallowed-in-firm-s-rescue.html

[Demeter]

7. 8 Levels Below Investment Grade

That says it all, doesn't it?

Good Morning Ozy. We are supposed to hit 80F today. I wore shorts on March 31st. And I didn't need to cross the Mason-Dixon Line to do it!

The pansies I planted Tuesday should be happy. There was frost on Tuesday.

Strange times we live in.

[ozymandius]

9. Good morning, Demeter.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
We hit 80º yesterday. It looks like we will eclipse that mark today and tomorrow. I look forward to getting the garden in shape this weekend.

[Tansy_Gold]

23. We'll be lucky to hit 60 here in central Arizona

Strange times, indeed!

But I don't complain. At least it doesn't snow.



Tansy Gold, who has weeds, weeds, weeds, weeds, and more weeds as a result of the heavy spring rains but her cactuses/cacti are COVERED with buds for blossoms due to pop into bloom in the next few days.

[Dr.Phool]

25. I went swimming for the first time this year on Sat.

The pool was a chilly 83 degrees, but I think this week-end it will be a perfect 86. I'm doing yard work this week. The couple of freezes we had this winter killed all the flowers in back. I'm still digging out the bougainvilleas. Maybe I can get the veggies in this week-end.

I think I'm going to vacate DU for a while. I'm right on the edge of getting tombstoned right now. This ain't the same place I've been visiting for the last 8 years anymore. Other than SMW and WEE, it's turned into a gaggle of goofs.

Anyway, out to the yard.

[Demeter]

34. Just Stick Around Here Then

I saw some of your righteous expostulations--and agreed with them. We will listen, even if the koolaid drinkers won't.

[hamerfan]

37. Agreed!

"This ain't the same place I've been visiting for the last 8 years anymore."
Absolutely. It's been going downhill for a while now.

[Tansy_Gold]

47. Do stay, Doc. I for one would miss you terribly

Just stay in friendly territory.

:hug:



TG

[Loge23]

55. It's become a larger community

I'm no mainstreamer on DU, but I have become accustomed to the neighborhood somewhat.
Consequently, I have learned to avoid certain neighborhoods: too loud, too violent, or too quiet, to mention a few reasons. Unfortunately, we can all pretty much guarantee someone will PC this analogy - hence this thread!
But I like to stroll in here everyday. People like yourself are worth a read. Please reconsider, unless you have discovered that ther are so many beter things we could doing instead of this!! In that case, please share. Be well.

[tclambert]

38. Got my bicycle out, pumped up the tires, lubed the chain, and got a pair of pants all greasy.

And had my first Slurpee of the year. It's frakkin' hot out there.

[ozymandius]

8. How Lou Lucido Let AIG Lose $35 Billion With Goldman Sachs CDOs

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Joseph Cassano insisted American International Group Inc. would be fine.

The insurer had quit guaranteeing securities tied to U.S. subprime loans in 2005, before lenders got reckless, the head of AIG’s derivatives unit told investors on Dec. 5, 2007, as home prices plummeted and mortgage losses mounted.

Cassano didn’t mention Lou Lucido, 61, a guitar-playing bond buyer at TCW Group Inc. in Los Angeles with a taste for the Rolling Stones. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Lucido had been buying bundles of subprime loans for an investment pool that AIG was bound by contract to insure against failure.

In one such purchase, 11 months before Cassano, 55, reassured shareholders, Lucido’s team bought $7 million of a mostly subprime bond. They put it in a $1.5 billion fund managed by TCW called Davis Square Funding III Ltd., which was created by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and registered in the Cayman Islands. A few months later, Lucido bought $3 million more.

By May 2008, the bond was worthless.

Without having to ask AIG’s permission, firms such as TCW, hired to oversee funds called collateralized debt obligations, replaced maturing assets with junk that quickly went bad. Managers including Lucido said they didn’t realize how severe the mortgage crash would be and were called upon by CDO contracts to reinvest. At the same time, buying riskier assets could mean bigger paydays.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=arFjbsBO7BS8

Then there's something about perverse incentives...

[ozymandius]

10. Three potential explanations for the continued fall in US savings rate

I have been tracking the savings rate on this blog for some time. What has been obvious to me and other observers is that the U.S. has had a declining savings rate since the secular bull market in bonds and shares began in the early 1980s. Indeed, it seems likely that there is a correlation between asset prices and savings rates in the United States.

However, we have now experienced a spectacular bust in asset prices. Many pundits including myself expect a secular shift away from consumption toward saving. However, the data do not show this shift. In fact, after peaking this past Spring at 6.4%, savings rates have plummeted to 3.1% in the last month. What gives?

Well for one, asset prices have skyrocketed since then. And it does seem that the prior correlation between asset price increases and low savings rate is intact. This has been the conclusion I draw. However, I want to offer up a few other possibilities and make a few conclusions about low income growth and industrial policy.

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/03/three-potential-explanations-for-the-continued-fall-in-us-savings-rate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+creditwritedowns+%28Credit+Writedowns%29

[Roland99]

12. The Census should have the following questions:

1) Do you consider yourself a paycheck-to-paycheck household?
2) How many months of expenses do you have in savings:
...a) 0
...b) 1-3
...c) 4-6
...d) more than 6

[ozymandius]

13. I agree.

The U.S. Census is considered the gold standard in statistical surveys for the data it currently measures. This bit of information would remarkably increase that value.

[DemReadingDU]

19. In addition to Census, sibling received the ACS survey

What is ACS survey?
The American Community Survey
* is an on-going survey
* is sent to a sample of the population
* tells us what the population looks like and how it lives
* helps communities determine where to locate services and allocate resources
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/


The American Community Survey and the 2010 Census
Both require your participation.


The American Community Survey and the 2010 Census provide important pictures of America. They show not only the number of people who live here, but how we live as a Nation—our education, housing, jobs, and more. The information collected in each helps community leaders decide where schools, highways, hospitals, and other services are needed.
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/acs_2010.htm

[Change Happens]

17. I think the savings rate will stabilize here at 3% or so...People saved more when they were more

worried the past 18 months, not so much now, not much savings. I like this to stay right here 2-3% savings rate.

[Demeter]

43. .1% Interest--Only Explanation Needed

[ozymandius]

11. Jamie Dimon Complains About Demonization of MegaBanks

One has to wonder whether anyone in a position of influence really believes what he is selling. At best, Jamie Dimon’s defense of too big to fail banks like his own JP Morgan is a vivid illustration of Upton Sinclair’s saying, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” But Dimon’s patently self-serving argument is more likely part of a broader industry push to try to win over the public it just looted.

The Financial Times took note of his salvo, which comes in his letter to shareholders:

In the current political environment, size in the business community has been demonized, but the fact is that some businesses require size in order to make necessary investments, take extraordinary risks and provide vital support globally. America’s largest companies operate around the world and employ millions of people. This includes companies that can make huge investments – as much as $10 billion to $20 billion a year – and compete in as many as 50 to 100 countries to assure America’s long-term success. Combined, big and small businesses spend $1.5 trillion per year on capital expenditures and $300 billion on research and development. It is estimated that more than 70% of the capital expenditures are made by large companies. ....

Large companies such as the ones mentioned above need banking partners with large
enough balance sheets to finance transactions around the world. And it’s not just multinational corporations that rely on such scale: States and municipalities also depend on the capital that a firm like JPMorgan Chase can provide.

More self-serving drivel and Yves Smith's debunking available at Naked Capitalism

[Change Happens]

16. Then he is going to end working for the Obama administration one day?

That would be nice...

[tclambert]

39. I said before, many people regarded John Dillinger, and Bonnie and Clyde as heroes

BECAUSE THEY ROBBED BANKS!

[bain_sidhe]

45. "States and municipalities also depend on the capital that a firm like JPMorgan Chase can provide."

Can't read that statement without also reading the expose by Matt Taibbi, Looting Main Street. JP Morgan Chase was the main bad actor in that sad story.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32906678/looting_main_street/print

[Tansy_Gold]

46. I thought states and municipalities depended on taxes?

Am I missing something here?


Tansy Gold

[bain_sidhe]

48. read the article. The complexities are a bit over my head, but...

if I understand correctly... J.P.M.C. handled the bonds issued, or financed, the construction of a new very expensive sewage treatment plant, and then kept sucking them into trading up to riskier and riskier ways to keep up with the financing charges.

Here's what I think is the gist of it:

The sewer bill, in fact, is what cost Pack and her co-workers their jobs. In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street — and misery for people like Lisa Pack.

And once the giant shit machine was built and the note on all that fancy construction started to come due, Wall Street came back to the local politicians and doubled down on the scam. They showed up in droves to help the poor, broke citizens of Jefferson County cut their toilet finance charges using a blizzard of incomprehensible swaps and refinance schemes — schemes that only served to postpone the repayment date a year or two while sinking the county deeper into debt. In the end, every time Jefferson County so much as breathed near one of the banks, it got charged millions in fees. There was so much money to be made bilking these dizzy Southerners that banks like JP Morgan spent millions paying middlemen who bribed — yes, that's right, bribed, criminally bribed — the county commissioners and their buddies just to keep their business. Hell, the money was so good, JP Morgan at one point even paid Goldman Sachs $3 million just to back the fuck off, so they could have the rubes of Jefferson County to fleece all for themselves.

[Tansy_Gold]

49. sorry. I forgot the :sarcasm: thingy

:hi:

Now, if I have any of the following wrong here, please jump in and correct me. I really dislike being wrong, but even more do I dislike being uncorrected. :evilgrin:

I meant that I thought cities and counties and towns and states, etc., were supposed to rely on taxes for their operating budgets. Oh, to be sure, there are "user fees" or whatever you want to call it for things like municipal water systems and public parks and so on, but governmental bodies aren't supposed to operate on a for-profit basis. At least that's my understanding.

So when they decide to embark on a major project -- like a wastewater treatment facility (aka "sewer plant") -- they float a bond issue. They sell the bonds to acquire the funds for the construction of the facility, since it can't be constructed out of user fees that it can't collect 'cause it ain't built yet. The facility gets built, the user fees come in, and those fees are used to pay off the bonds. Isn't that the way it used to be?

What happened, of course, is that the banks that used to just "facilitate" the sale of the bonds decided they needed a bigger cut of the pie. So, the bigger the bond issue, the bigger their cut. After all, the repayment is ultimately gonna come from the poor peasants who have no rights and no alternatives. And the bankers don't give a shit about the peasants.

I've got a friend who used to be a city councilmember in a large midwestern suburb in a very liberal state. I emailed him the Taibbi piece this afternoon, and will probably see him tomorrow morning. His reaction ought to be interesting.


Tansy Gold, stoking her anger

[DemReadingDU]

51. Awaiting for you to describe your friend's reaction

And yeh, I think you have the process stated correctly for the municipal bonds.

Every day I get more furious with these big banks.
:mad:

[ozymandius]

15. Have a nice day, everyone.

Time for me to leave for work.

:hi:

[Change Happens]

18. Thank you Oz, good day.

[Roland99]

24. Today is my Friday so it's already a good day! Then I heard this news.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8066295

[Dr.Phool]

26. I think you got April Fooled.

No mention of it anywhere else, including the St. Pete Crimes.

[Roland99]

27. Be sure to click the link in that thread

all the detail's there.

[tclambert]

41. In your honor, isn't it April Phool's day?

[tclambert]

40. When did Florida move to the other side of the International Date Line?

[Roland99]

42. When I decided to take tomorrow off!

:)

[UpInArms]

20. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?acs=NYBOT_DX&v=i

81.037 -0.036 (-0.05%)

USD Graphic Rewind 04.01

http://www.dailyfx.com/forex/fundamental/article/usd_graphic_rewind/2010-04-01-0707-USD_Graphic_Rewind_04_01.html



...more...

New Zealand Dollar Tumbles After IMF Report Says Currency is Overvalued

http://www.dailyfx.com/forex/fundamental/daily_briefing/session_briefing/euro_open/2010-04-01-0613-New_Zealand_Dollar_Tumbles_After.html

The New Zealand Dollar fell by nearly a full percentage point against the majors after a report from the International Monetary Fund said the currency is overvalued by as much as 25 percent. Headline Australian and Japanese economic data disappointed.

Key Overnight Developments

• New Zealand Dollar Tumbles After an IMF Report Said the Currency is Overvalued
• Australian Manufacturing Slows Most in a Year, Trade Gap Widens on Coal Exports
• Japan’s Tankan Survey Shows Firms to Cut Investment For Third Year in FY2010

Critical Levels



The Euro was little-changed in overnight trade, with prices consolidating in a choppy range above the 1.35 figure to the US Dollar. The British Pound inched higher, adding 0.3 percent against the greenback. We remain short EURUSD at 1.4881 and GBPUSD at 1.5765.

...more...

[Roland99]

28. 10:15am - Markets aren't getting fooled.

Dow 10,946 +90 +0.83%
Nasdaq 2,420 +22 +0.93%
S&P 500 1,180 +11 +0.94%
GlobalDow 2,042 +20 +0.10%
Gold 1,124 +10 +0.85%
Oil 84.89 +1.13 +1.35%

[Doctor_J]

30. Looks like DJIA11K is right around the corner

Now when the hell are the jobs coming back?

[TheWatcher]

50. They aren't.

But there will be plenty of Propaganda Copy/Pasted in LBN to try to convince you they are.

What a sad state this country is in.

Recovery by Rhetoric and Rainbow Colored Thinking is about all we can look forward to.

Reality?

Doesn't exist in America anymore.

[DoBotherMe]

31. k&r n/t

[DemReadingDU]

32. Matt Taibbi: Looting Main Street

3/31/10 Matt Taibbi: Looting Main Street
How the nation's biggest banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece

If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt — meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff's precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid.

As public services in and around Birmingham were stripped to the bone, Pack struggled to support her family on a weekly unemployment check of $260. Nearly a fourth of that went to pay for her health insurance, which the county no longer covered. She also fielded calls from laid-off co-workers who had it even tougher. "I'd be on the phone sometimes until two in the morning," she says. "I had to talk more than one person out of suicide. For some of the men supporting families, it was so hard — foreclosure, bankruptcy. I'd go to bed at night, and I'd be in tears."

Homes stood empty, businesses were boarded up, and parts of already-blighted Birmingham began to take on the feel of a ghost town. There were also a few bills that were unique to the area — like the $64 sewer bill that Pack and her family paid each month. "Yeah, it went up about 400 percent just over the past few years," she says.

The sewer bill, in fact, is what cost Pack and her co-workers their jobs. In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human shit into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street — and misery for people like Lisa Pack.

rest of article...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32906678/looting_main_street/print


Matt Taibbi's blog
4/1/10 On Jefferson County

Of all the financial shenanigans I’ve had to write about in the last few years, this is the one that I wished was talked about more in public, because I think if more people knew what happened in places like Birmingham (and there are problems with swap agreements all over the country, from Pennsylvania to Detroit to Los Angeles to Chicago to Oakland and beyond), they’d completely lose their illusions about what modern Wall Street is all about.

more...
http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/04/01/on-jefferson-county/

[Tansy_Gold]

33. Revisiting Taibbi: The Peasant Mentality

From a year ago, 4/14/09


http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/04/14/americas-peasant-mentality/


<snip>
This is not a simple rhetorical accomplishment. It requires serious mental gymnastics to describe the Obama administration — particularly the Obama administration of recent weeks, which has given away billions to Wall Street and bent over backwards to avoid nationalization and pursue a policy that preserves the private for-profit status of the bailed-out banks — as a militaristic dictatorship of anti-wealth, anti-private property forces. You have to somehow explain the Geithner/Paulson decisions to hand over trillions of taxpayer dollars to the rich bankers as the formal policy expression of progressive rage against the rich. Not easy. In order to pull off this argument, in fact, you have to grease the wheels with a lot of apocalyptic language and imagery, invoking as Beck did massive pictures of Stalin and Orwell and Mussolini (side by side with shots of Geithner, Obama and Bernanke), scenes of workers storming the Winter Palace interspersed with anti-AIG protests, etc. — and then maybe you have to add a crazy new twist, like switching from complaints of “socialism” to warnings of “fascism.” Rhetorically, this is the equivalent of trying to paint a picture by hurling huge handfuls of paint at the canvas. It’s desperate, last-ditch-ish behavior.

<snip>

After all, the reason the winger crowd can’t find a way to be coherently angry right now is because this country has no healthy avenues for genuine populist outrage. It never has. The setup always goes the other way: when the excesses of business interests and their political proteges in Washington leave the regular guy broke and screwed, the response is always for the lower and middle classes to split down the middle and find reasons to get pissed off not at their greedy bosses but at each other. That’s why even people like Beck’s audience, who I’d wager are mostly lower-income people, can’t imagine themselves protesting against the Wall Street barons who in actuality are the ones who fucked them over. Beck pointedly compared the AIG protesters to Bolsheviks: “ basically said ‘Eat the rich, they did this to you, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” He then said the AIG and G20 protesters were identical: “It’s a different style, but the sentiments are exactly the same: Find ‘em, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” Beck has an audience that’s been trained that the rich are not appropriate targets for anger, unless of course they’re Hollywood liberals, or George Soros, or in some other way linked to some acceptable class of villain, to liberals, immigrants, atheists, etc. — Ted Turner, say, married to Jane Fonda.

But actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish… can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses! If ever there was a textbook case of peasant thinking, it’s struggling middle-class Americans burned up in defense of taxpayer-funded bonuses to millionaires. It’s really weird stuff. And bound to get weirder, I imagine, as this crisis gets worse and more complicated.

<end snip>


Then look at --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8066906

Geithner: Disparity in recovery 'deeply unfair'


WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday it's "deeply unfair" that some financial institutions that got taxpayer-paid bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions of ordinary Americans.

He acknowledged public outrage over that and said people watched with disdain as Washington protected high-risk banks and investment houses, even as the national unemployment rate was soaring to double-digit levels for the first time in a generation.

But in a nationally broadcast interview, Geithner also argued that President Barack Obama had no choice when confronted with a financial crisis.

"As the president has said, we had to do some very unpopular things," Geithner said. "People looked at what had happened."

"It's not fair. It's deeply unfair," he said. "He (Obama) had to decide whether he was going to act to fix it or stand back ... and that would have been calamitous for the American economy."





There are plenty of peasants on DU, still bowing before the masters.


But not



Tansy Gold

[AnneD]

36. This should seem familiar to Marketeers....

first you and your friends get together and buy a business (it may or may not be distressed). You don't need to put up all the money-just enough to make you look serious.

Once you have the business, you sell off all the assets and you and your friends pocket your profits first. Now you loan the folks that bought the assets money for their purchases. Now the assists are no longer assets but debts.

Suppose you were a country. You had some debt but you need a sewer system. A business tells you that they can build you a great system and it won't cost the city anything and they will give you money too boot. The only people that will pay are those that use it. So they build you a Taj Mahal sewer system complete with a golden toilet. Your citizens are now on the hook for this. You and your buddies don't care. You are on to the next asset or country or asset.

Lather, Rinse, and repeat. This is what they have done in South America and now they are doing it here. We are going the way of Argentina.

AnneD, who sees just as clearly as Tansy and proud to be her running mate. :hi:

[DemReadingDU]

53. Third World America

How soon it will come
:(

[Demeter]

44. I Do Not Make a Good Peasant

Probably genetic. After all, my ancestors came only 100 years ago. Not long enough to weaken the bloodlines.

[ozymandius]

35. There was another document chronicling this atrocity.

And the venue was also in Alabama - but not limited to there.

[Festivito]

52. Debt: 03/30/2010 12,684,570,896,780.80 (DOWN 1,678,900,934.21) (Tue)

(Up a little. Good day all.)

(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,200,073,493,391.96 + 4,484,497,403,388.84
UP 146,146,107.03 + DOWN 1,825,047,041.24

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.24 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.71, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,117,918 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $41,034.73.
A family of three owes $123,104.2. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 7,864,151,014.07.
The average for the last 30 days would be 5,504,905,709.85.
The average for the last 28 days would be 5,898,113,260.55.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 123 reports in 181 days of FY2010 averaging 6.30B$ per report, 4.28B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,027 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.1 and 18.7T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/30/2010 12,684,570,896,780.80 BHO (UP 2,057,693,847,867.72 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,774,741,893,269.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,562,324,812,393.49 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/10/2010 +000,295,703,179.30 ------------********
03/11/2010 +029,692,666,288.30 ------------**********
03/12/2010 +000,363,901,611.09 ------------********
03/15/2010 +060,487,338,970.60 ------------********** Mon
03/16/2010 +000,241,513,784.66 ------------********
03/17/2010 +000,318,864,879.69 ------------********
03/18/2010 +020,986,560,998.86 ------------**********
03/19/2010 +000,244,805,712.35 ------------********
03/22/2010 +000,662,784,714.13 ------------******** Mon
03/23/2010 +000,796,033,080.11 ------------********
03/24/2010 +000,495,755,553.04 ------------********
03/25/2010 +024,094,622,106.32 ------------**********
03/26/2010 -000,521,947,711.23 ---
03/29/2010 -000,032,502,739.57 ---- Mon
03/30/2010 +000,146,146,107.03 ------------********

138,272,246,534.68 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4327025&mesg_id=4328385

[Festivito]

54. Debt: 03/31/2010 12,773,123,096,139.43 (UP 88,552,199,358.63) (Wed)

(Up a lot. Good day all.)

(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,290,037,831,046.49 + 4,483,085,265,092.94
UP 89,964,337,654.53 + DOWN 1,412,138,295.90

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.7, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,126,558 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $41,320.04.
A family of three owes $123,960.13. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 12,579,942,789.47.
The average for the last 30 days would be 8,805,959,952.63.
The average for the last 28 days would be 9,434,957,092.10.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 124 reports in 182 days of FY2010 averaging 6.96B$ per report, 4.74B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,026 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.2 and 22.5T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/31/2010 12,773,123,096,139.43 BHO (UP 2,146,246,047,226.35 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,863,294,092,627.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,731,331,559,390.72 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
03/11/2010 +029,692,666,288.30 ------------**********
03/12/2010 +000,363,901,611.09 ------------********
03/15/2010 +060,487,338,970.60 ------------********** Mon
03/16/2010 +000,241,513,784.66 ------------********
03/17/2010 +000,318,864,879.69 ------------********
03/18/2010 +020,986,560,998.86 ------------**********
03/19/2010 +000,244,805,712.35 ------------********
03/22/2010 +000,662,784,714.13 ------------******** Mon
03/23/2010 +000,796,033,080.11 ------------********
03/24/2010 +000,495,755,553.04 ------------********
03/25/2010 +024,094,622,106.32 ------------**********
03/26/2010 -000,521,947,711.23 ---
03/29/2010 -000,032,502,739.57 ---- Mon
03/30/2010 +000,146,146,107.03 ------------********
03/31/2010 +089,964,337,654.53 ------------**********

227,940,881,009.91 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4328463&mesg_id=4329276