Weekend Economists Track the Games People Play June 10-12, 2011

[Demeter]

As promised, today's thread. Discuss your gaming foibles, fancies and failures. Any kind of game will do: board games, card games, gambling, psychological, even....gasp....ECONOMIC! If it's a pastime, it qualifies. If there's a winner and/or loser, it qualifies. If it provokes arguments, it qualifies....you get the drift?

This topic has multiple theme songs:

Alan Parsons Project: Games People Play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYPQMPO_oY0

And the classic by the Spinners: Games People Play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlnjsS0KCo



Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships is a 1964 bestselling book by psychiatrist Eric Berne. Since its publication it has sold more than five million copies. The book describes both functional and dysfunctional social interactions.

In the first half of the book, Berne introduces Transactional Analysis as a way of interpreting social interactions. He describes three roles or ego states known as the Child, the Parent, and the Adult and postulates that many negative behaviors can be traced to switching or confusion of these roles. He discusses procedures, rituals, and pastimes in social behavior, in light of this method of analysis. For example, a boss who talks to his staff as a controlling parent will often engender self-abased obedience, tantrums, or other childlike responses from his employees.

The second half of the book catalogues a series of "games" in which people interact through a patterned and predictable series of "transactions" which are superficially plausible (that is, they may appear normal to bystanders or even to the people involved), but which actually conceal motivations, include private significance to the parties involved, and lead to a well-defined predictable outcome, usually counterproductive. The book uses casual, often humorous phrases such as "See What You Made Me Do," "Why Don't You - Yes But," and "Ain't It Awful" as a way of briefly describing each game. Often, the "winner" of a mind game is the person that returns to the Adult ego-state first.

Not all interactions or transactions are part of a game. Specifically, if both parties in a one-on-one conversation remain in an Adult ego-state, it is unlikely that a game is being played.

In the 1950s, Berne synthesized his theory of "human gaming" and built on Freud's psychodynamic model, particularly the "ego states" to develop Transactional Analysis. Transactional analysis, according to physician James R. Allen, is a "cognitive behavioral approach to treatment and ... a very effective way of dealing with internal models of self and others as well as other psychodynamic issues."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_People_Play_%28book%29

I'd like to recommend this book for dealing with the neurotic, neurotypical personality--but trust me, it will not help with psychopaths, nor with individuals that rank on the autistic spectrum. For the autistic, I refer you to the writings of Temple Grandin. For the psychopaths, get a lawyer. And a Personal Protection Order or a "Cease and Desist" wouldn't hurt, either.

[Demeter]

1. No Banks Failed---Yet

Check back here for updates all evening....

[Demeter]

2. Key regulator: Speculators swamping oil, grain markets

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/09/115551/key-regulator-speculators-swamping.html

In the sharpest criticism yet of excessive speculation in oil markets, the head of a key regulatory agency presented data Thursday showing that almost nine in 10 traders betting that oil prices would rise were financial speculators, not actual end-users of oil. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler vowed during a New York speech that his agency soon will act "to guard against the burdens of excessive speculation." (I'LL HOLD YOUR COAT FOR YOU, GARY!--DEMETER) He also said the CFTC will publish historical data later this month to show who's betting on oil prices. Those bets drive up the contract price of oil and are partly responsible for current high oil and gasoline prices....Futures markets allow airlines that buy jet fuel or cereal makers who that grain to hedge against the risk of changing prices by purchasing contracts for future delivery at a set price. A buyer and seller come together to determine a fair market value. But a growing number of experts now warn that excessive speculation in these markets has driven up prices to the speculators' profit and to the punishment of the public.

New data seem to confirm the trend. Gensler cited May 31 data that show end-users accounted for just 12 percent of the "long" positions in futures contracts for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil. Long positions are bets that prices will rise in the future. That means that 88 percent of bets on price hikes for oil were held by financial players_ mainly Wall Street banks and hedge funds that invest for the ultra wealthy — not interests seeking to use the oil...The trend was the same for wheat futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, Gensler said; there end-users represented just 10 percent of trades betting that prices would keep rising months out — or "long" positions. Wheat prices, like oil, have soared this year. This May 31 data suggests that huge inflows of speculative money create a self-fulfilling prophecy that drives up commodity prices. CFTC data also show that up to 80 percent of trading in key futures markets is either day trades or trading around the expiration of contracts, Gensler said.

"This means that only about 20 percent or less of the trading is done by traders who bring a longer-term perspective to the market on the price of the commodity," the CFTC chairman said. "We plan to publish historical data on directional position changes later this month on our website to enhance market transparency." Gensler said a top priority is finalizing a rule to establish so-called position limits_ caps on how much of the market any one trader can capture — "a tool to curb or prevent excessive speculation that may burden interstate commerce," Gensler said. Up until 2001, financial speculators faced caps on how much they could buy in futures markets. Those caps disappeared in 2001. A McClatchy investigation last month showed that participation ratios have flipped since then, with speculators now accounting for more than 70 percent of the oil futures market. On Thursday, Gensler said that number is up to 88 percent.

.............................................................

Not everyone blames speculators. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used a Tuesday speech in Atlanta to insist that global demand for oil is outstripping supply and brings oil price volatility. Similarly, he said, droughts and production shortfalls have resulted in demand outstripping supply in many grains markets.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/09/115551/key-regulator-speculators-swamping.html#ixzz1OufBKrrM

[Demeter]

3. SEE ALSO: Oil Speculation Curbs Would Aid Market Diversity, Gensler Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-09/oil-speculation-curbs-would-aid-market-diversity-gensler-says.html

[bread_and_roses]

72. good goddess - Fed seizes Credit Union in my town

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110610/NEWS01/106100378/BCT-Credit-Union-seized-by-feds?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

BINGHAMTON -- The 3,900-member BCT Federal Credit Union was seized by federal regulators on Friday.

The National Credit Union Administration, the federal regulator overseeing the nation's credit unions, assumed control of the $52 million financial institution to ensure its "safety and soundness." BCT is headquartered at 47 Broad Ave., Binghamton and has branches in Endicott and Montrose, Pa...

!

[Demeter]

4. At Last, Low Yields Trip Up Auction And Send Treasury Prices Lower

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110609-714093.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

It finally happened. Treasury prices caved in Thursday after a sequence of rallies and well-bid auctions that defied conventional wisdom over the past two weeks.

A lousy 30-year bond sale--the third and final auction of the week--put the finishing touches on a broad selloff. The benchmark yield even briefly topped its psychologically important 3.0% mark on a few occasions...The two-, five- and 10-year yields were, in late trading, down on the day. It's the first time since June 2 that this occurred among major coupon notes.

Before the disappointing 30-year sale, most analysts expected less demand than in the 3-year and 10-year auctions on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. But the analysts still thought it would fare reasonably well. But unlike the past five auctions of shorter-term debt, the 30-year bond flopped. A measure of overall demand--the bid-to-cover ratio--came in at 2.63, below the 2.70 average over the past four auctions. Indirect bids, which reflect demand from foreign investors, took 38.4% compared with the 41.0% average over the same length of time. "We finally saw some signs of supply indigestion as the bond auction closed with a big tail and weak bidding," said Nomura Securities' rate strategy team. A tail means the Treasury had to offer a higher yield than expected to get the bonds sold...

[Demeter]

5. DILBERT AND OFFICE GAMES

[Demeter]

62. AND MORE

[Demeter]

6. Ally Financial shelves $5bn offering

Ally Financial, the home and car loan company, is shelving its initial public offering because of weak market conditions and impending fines due to its mortgage foreclosure practices, according to three people close to the situation.

Delaying the $5bn offering would stymie the Obama administration’s attempt to sell a big parcel of its 73.8 per cent stake in the lender, acquired as a result of the government’s bail-outs of the financial and automotive sectors. In total, the government invested $17bn in Ally in a series of rescues.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/WT1HY3/MJTKN/C5VZDL/UUNZAH/6C/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=9

[Demeter]

7. Southern Cross to surrender 132 homes (UK NURSING HOMES)

Southern Cross plans to surrender control of 132 care homes as part of a financial restructuring package aimed at saving the struggling group.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/KC2844/R3FP6Z/WH2F8/181HO3/EWMP9A/E4/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=9

Blackstone Blamed for British Nursing Home Woes

The financial troubles of Southern Cross, Britain’s biggest nursing home operator, are causing problems for the Blackstone Group.

Blackstone, the American private equity firm, which owned Southern Cross five years ago, was accused Thursday by trade union representatives and some analysts of having at least contributed to the company’s dire situation.

Southern Cross, which houses more than 31,000 elderly people, said this week that it would have to defer 30 percent of its rent on its nursing homes for three months to stay in business.

Fear among residents’ families that the company would have to close some homes forced the British government to guarantee that residents would continue to receive care....

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/blackstone-blamed-for-british-nursing-home-woes/

[InkAddict]

8. Gaming the Self from an earlier age...

FAQ #40
Narcissism –
The Psychopathological Default

snip (Q) and Response

"The DSM-IV-TR is a linear, descriptive (phenomenological), and bureaucratic. It is "medical", "mechanic-dynamic", and "physical" –akin to the old taxonomies in Botany and Zoology. It ignores life circumstances, biological and psychological processes, and an overarching conceptual and exegetic framework. Moreover, the DSM is heavily influenced by fashion, prevailing social mores and lores, and by the legal and business environment.

We are all narcissists at an early stage of our lives. As infants, we feel that we are the centre of the universe, omnipotent and omniscient. Our parents, those mythical figures, immortal and awesomely powerful, are there only to protect us. Both self and others are viewed immaturely, as idealisations. Inevitably, the inexorable processes and conflicts of life erode them and grind the ideal into the fine dust of the real. Disappointments follow disillusionment. If gradual and tolerable – they yield adaptation. If abrupt, capricious, arbitrary, and intense – the injuries sustained by the tender, budding, self-esteem, are irreversible. Moreover, the empathic support of the caretakers (the Primary Objects, the parents) is crucial. In its absence, self-esteem in adulthood tends to fluctuate, to alternate between over-valuation (idealisation) and devaluation of both the self and others. Narcissistic adults are the result of bitter disappointment, of radical disillusionment with their parents. Healthy adults accept their self-limitations (=the limitations, the boundaries, of their selves). They accept disappointments, setbacks, failures, criticism and disillusionment with grace and tolerance. Their self-esteem is constant and positive, not affected by outside events, no matter how severe.

The common view is that we go through the stages of a linear development. We are propelled forward by forces: the libido (force of life) and Thanatos (force of death) in Freud's thinking, Meaning in Frenkel's, socially mediated phenomena , cultural context , interpersonal relations and neurobiological and neurochemical forces, to mention but a few schools of developmental psychology. In an effort to gain respectability, psychologists constructed a "physics of the mind".

These thought systems differ on many issues. Some say that personal development ends in childhood, others – during adolescence. Yet others say that development is a process which continues throughout the life of the individual. Common to all these schools of thought are the mechanics and dynamics of the process. Forces – inner or external – facilitate the development of the individual. When an obstacle to development is encountered, development is stunted or arrested – but not for long. A distorted pattern of development, a bypass appears. Psychopathology is the outcome of disturbed growth. Humans can be compared to trees. When a tree encounters a physical obstacle to its growth – its branches or roots curl around it. Deformed and ugly, they still reach their destination, however late and partially. Psychopathologies are adaptive mechanisms. They allow the individual to continue to grow around the disturbing factor. The personality twists and turns, deforms itself, is transformed – until it reaches a functional equilibrium, which is not too ego-dystonic. There it settles down and continues its more or less linear pattern of growth. The forces of life (as expressed in the development of the personality) are stronger than any hindrance. The roots of trees crack mighty rocks, microbes live in the most poisonous surroundings – humans form the personality structure which is best suited to their needs and outside constraints. Such a personality structure may be abnormal – but it has triumphed in the delicate task of successful adaptation." (Read more here)

http://www.toddlertime.com/sam/40.htm

[westerebus]

9. I bid six, no trump. n/t

[Demeter]

23. Is that even possible?

I don't play bridge...

[westerebus]

30. You play euchre.

Yes. It is possible.

[Demeter]

35. My parents played bridge, my sister learned and goes out to play regularly

but I have yet to attempt it. Nobody has been willing to try to teach me...I don't even think they have classes at the Rec and Ed program.

My grandfather taught us all to play pinochle, but it's a lost art in Michigan, once a center of the sport. Euchre is much more suited to this busy times, and it didn't take long to learn.

[westerebus]

43. Pinochle.

My grandfather and dad were both firemen in the city I grew up in. That was their game, penny a point, of course no one had money back in the day.

[westerebus]

37. I have to add..

We use slightly different rules as far as a no trump bid. Once that bid is made, the top card of the stack is turned over and the stack dealt out. So you have six cards in your hand. Other than that, we use the same rules.

[Demeter]

40. That's a new twist on the game for me

I've played 3 hand, 6 hand, but never no trump.

[westerebus]

47. Got to run, see ya later.

:hi:

[Po_d Mainiac]

41. doubled

I'm holding two 'virtual' aces :hi:

[westerebus]

45. OH GREAT!

Now put your glasses on and look at your cards. Better? LOL :toast:

[Po_d Mainiac]

76. no re-double? n/t

[Demeter]

78. You're talking Bridge--he's talking Euchre

[hamerfan]

10. King Curtis featuring Duane Allman

Games People Play. From 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaYEglQ37Y8

A personal favorite of mine. Thanks, Demeter, for letting me share

[Tansy_Gold]

11. Scrabble

and Trivial Pursuit.






TG

[Fuddnik]

12. Where have you been hiding girlfriend?

Rolling Sarah Palin's new digs? Burning down the state?

We were going to send the bloodhounds out looking for you and your running mate!

[Tansy_Gold]

18. Well, you know that old saying?

"I've got places to and things to do, people to see and contracts to sign."

Let's just say I've been unsigning some contracts.


The fires are truly devastating, and with fireworks now legal in AZ, expect to see more. It's bad enough we have morons tossing cigarette butts out their car windows to start roadside blazes. Now we have neighborhood kids setting strings of cracklers alight and then running. This is a desert to begin with, and I can't remember when we last had rain.


TG

[burf]

19. Good to hear you are

alive and well!!!

[xchrom]

22. Miss Tansy!

:hi:

[DemReadingDU]

31. Hey! good to see you!

[Fuddnik]

13. Ohio judge says Ford must pay dealers $2B

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 10, 2011
» 4 Comments | Post a Comment

COLUMBUS, Ohio Ford Motor Co. must pay nearly $2 billion in damages to thousands of dealerships in a 2002 class-action lawsuit that said the automaker violated dealer agreements, an Ohio judge ruled Friday.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan issued the ruling based on a Feb. 11 jury determination that the company overcharged dealers for commercial trucks over an 11-year period.

Damages are to be paid to more than 3,000 dealerships, said James Lowe, a Cleveland attorney for Westgate Ford Truck Sales Inc., a dealership in Youngstown that represents the class.

"In awarding the dealers the amount of money they overpaid for trucks, the jury verdict places Westgate and the rest of the dealers in the financial position contemplated by the terms of the contract," Lowe said.

Ford said in a statement that the company will appeal.

(snip)

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/jun/10/ohio-judge-says-ford-must-pay-dealers-2b-ar-236574/

[Demeter]

14. too bad all the liability sufferers got such short shrift

The law and the corporations are such wankers.

[Pale Blue Dot]

15. Stocks Post Longest Multi-Week Drop Since 2002 - History Predicts Much More Pain In Store

As the superimposed chart below demonstrates, the current 6 week drop, which is the longest in the last 9 years, or since 2002, may just be the beginning. And while our prediction that 2011 is a replica of 2010 is now confirmed, the far scarier possibility is that the next comparison to 2011 is 2002 - if that year is any indication, the SPX will drop to ~1000 before rebounding: obviously at that point the Fed will have no choice but to proceed with QE3, or the downward momentum will accelerate in what may then become a repeat of October 2008, and all those predictions for an S&P 400 would promptly be validated.



http://www.zerohedge.com/article/stocks-post-longest-multi-week-drop-2002-history-predicts-much-more-pain-store

[Pale Blue Dot]

16. According To The Fed, In Q1 US "Households" Sold $1.1 Trillion Annualized In Treasurys To...

The Federal Reserve.

Either we have just gotten yet another confirmation of just how worthless the Flow of Funds "household" plug category is, or there is something very, very wrong with conventional wisdom. According to a detailed breakdown of the Z.1 from Goldman Sachs the biggest seller of US Treasurys to the Fed in Q1, at an annualized rate of $1.1 trillion, were... US Households. We have to wonder how this news makes even remote sense when confronted with the ongoing dumping of stocks by retail investors. On the other hand, if indeed the Fed is correct then the entire paradigm of retail jumping into the safety of US paper may have to be reevaluated. And not only that, but if this activity has continued into Q2, it may present even greater risks for the Fed's unwind of QE2: should households persist in their Treasury dispositions with only dealers left to pick up the pieces, Gross' thesis may be proven right much faster than we expected, Fed Treasury puts notwithstanding.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/according-fed-q1-us-households-sold-11-trillion-annualized-treasurys-federal-reserve

:rofl: through my :cry:

[Po_d Mainiac]

46. Printing $20 billion/wk in FRN's for the last seven months has gotten us what?

Oil prices have risen 35% since September 2010.
Unleaded gas has risen 50% since September 2010.
Gold has risen 24% since September 2010.
Copper has risen 20% since September 2010.
Corn has risen 67% since September 2010.
Soybeans have risen 40% since September 2010.
Coffee has risen by 44% since September 2010.
Cotton has risen 88% since September 2010.
US dollar is 15% lower since last July.
90% of the US population owns virtually no stocks,

Something like:
25% of all holders of 401K's have borrowed against them
35% of all secondary RE loans are against underwater properties

[westerebus]

65. The Bernank giveth.

The Bernank taketh away.

For the Paulson has said:

Render unto the Golem Sacks that which is the Golem Sacks.

There was a great cry from the people.

We have built the great city. We have tilled and harvested the fields. We have fought the wars.

We have paid our tribute and our taxes. Yet, we suffer greatly!

Where is our daily bread?

Alas, there came no answer to their plea.

And a great tribulation swept forth covering the world in darkness.

And the judges did not judge.

For the wicked kept to their wicked ways and all was corrupted.

And so it is written.

[Pale Blue Dot]

17. Eurocalypse Cometh! Principal Haircuts, Serial Bailouts, ECB Insolvent!

It is now time to start putting in some serious short positions across the board – globally – for all those who have not already done so. Anyone who has followed me on BoomBustBlog knows that I have clocked heavy four digit gains (250% to 450%), mostly unlevered, throughout the first leg of the financial crisis – see Sample Research & Performance. This was accomplished by keeping my eyes open and objective, and in doing so recognizing the enormous holes in economic value that were trading at ridiculously high risk adjusted prices. The result of which enabled me to publicly call the fall of nearly every major collapsed FIRE sector institution that did actually fall, and do so months in advance, including Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, WaMu, Countrywide, Lehman Brothers, General Growth Properties, etc. The near 100% equity run up at the height of the correction was easily seen by my and my staff, but I (and I put the blame squarely on myself and no one on my staff) severely underestimated the breadth and depth of this synthetically contrived, central bank centrally planned, bear market rally. This underestimation of the depths that our Federal Reserve would stoop to in mortgaging the future of this country, and this country’s children of the next generation cost me 50% of the gains that I made over the previous two years. For this I was actually forced to apologize to my subscribers in a lengthy letter with tears dripping off of my virtual typewriter, reference 2009 Year End Note to BoomBustBlog Readers and Subscribers. I felt horrible about underestimating the self destructive staying power of the concerted efforts central bankers around the globe attempting to rescue a failed oligarchy, but despite this significant shortcoming, I still ran many circles around what the best Sell Side Wall Street had to offer, reference Did Reggie Middleton, a Blogger at BoomBustBlog, Best Wall Streets Best of the Best?

Yesterday, I went through a quick timeline that illustrated what was once considered sensationalist now considered by most to be fact: The ECB, several national central banks, and a good portion of the private banking system are insolvent. This is the case regardless of what name you want to cut and paste on the state of insolvency. As excerpted from Over A Year After Being Dismissed As Sensationalist For Questioning the ECB’s Continued Solvency After Sovereign Debt Buying Binge, Guess What!:

European Banks’ Capital Shortfall Means Greece Debt Default Not an Option: A failure by European regulators to make banks raise enough capital to withstand a sovereign default is complicating efforts to resolve Greece’s debt crisis. The “fragilities” of Europe’s banking industry mean a Greek default isn’t an option, European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in New York last week. By delaying a decision some investors consider inevitable, policy makers risk increasing the cost to European taxpayers and prolonging Greece’s economic pain. “European officials are trying to buy time for the troubled economies to get their house in order and the banks to be strengthened,” said Guy de Blonay, who helps manage about $41 billion at Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. in London. While estimates of the capital shortfall vary, the vulnerability of European banks to a sovereign shock isn’t disputed. Independent Credit View, a Swiss rating company that predicted Ireland’s banks would need another bailout last year, found in a study to be published tomorrow that 33 of Europe’s biggest banks would need $347 billion of additional capital by the end of 2012 to boost their tangible common equity to 10 percent, even before any sovereign default.

Here’s a newsflash for all of you who are still not grounded in reality. The loss to the banks have already occurred it just hasn’t been officially recognized. You see, their bond and debt holdings are already devalued. The value is gone, vamoosed, disappeared. I have made this perfectly clear, both in my keynote speech at the ING valuation conference and here on BoomBustBlog.

http://boombustblog.com/reggie-middleton/2011/06/10/eurocalypse-cometh-principal-haircuts-serial-bailouts-ecb-insolvent-disruptive-sound-of-dominoes-in-background-going-click-clack-boombustbloggers-instructed-to-line-up-bearish-positions-agai/#more-5625

Wow. Lots more - with video - at the link. Right now I'd trust this guy far more than I'd trust Krugman.

[Pale Blue Dot]

20. No More Fed Easing Unless Stocks Drop More: Tepper

Noted hedge fund manager David Tepper doubts the Federal Reserve will continue its intervention in the markets unless things get considerably worse.

The head of Appaloosa Management and source of the "Tepper Rally" that generated a huge run in the market last September said in an email to CNBC that stocks would have to fall considerably more before the Fed would start another round of quantitative easing, or QE.

"If (the S&P 500 falls) a couple hundred points and financial conditions tightened maybe they would reconsider," Tepper wrote. "But there is no logic to QE3 now and the only result might be more food and energy inflation."

Tepper made his influential call in a September CNBC appearance in which he said stocks were in a win-win situation: Either the economy would improve and drive a rally, or the economy would drop and the Fed would undertake another round of easing.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43352322

This asshole, who just 8 months ago called QE2 a "win-win", is the very definition of an economist these days.

[Demeter]

25. Well, PBD, Looks LIke It's All Over, Except for the Screaming

Your string of posts is good news for people, bad news for the elite.

Of course, the Elite will do everything in their power to see that the People hurt, but without money...what power? If they try to use their bought-and-paid-for politicians, they will take out the corruption, too.

We may see in a very app New Year, indeed. It may not feel like it, but we've hit bottom.

[Sherman A1]

21. I will trade wood for brick.....

Settlers of Catan..........


and then there is the Cows vs Aliens App for my iPad, which is pretty cool.

[xchrom]

24. US deficit cut would trim growth-BlackRock's Fink

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/10/blackrock-idUKN1017881120110610

(Reuters) - U.S. economic growth could be trimmed by 1 percentage point a year for the next decade if plans to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion are enacted, BlackRock (BLK.N) Chief Executive Officer Laurence Fink said.

With analysts already predicting modest growth of 2 percent to 3 percent annually, that would leave the country with an economy expanding at only about 1 percent a year, Fink said at the Morningstar investment conference on Friday.

As a result, the government needs to work more closely with the private sector to bolster the economy, said Fink, who heads the world's largest money management firm.

[Demeter]

26. More likely, the Economy will collapse.

More than it has...

[xchrom]

27. that would be a tremendous disruption.

if we would only be growing @ 2% -- and then hit for another 1% -- yikes.

[Demeter]

28. Euchre Night Was....unexpected

We had enough people for 3 tables, and 3 kinds of chicken, and a delicious confection which goes by the name of "lousy cake": a tender yellow cake frosted with whipped cream over a layer of pineapple, and sprinkled with coconut.

Each player puts $5 into the pot. I had terrible cards, and when I had good ones, I couldn't get the bid. If I managed to take the bid, my partner had no strength in his hand, and I was euchred 3 times! When a person euchres (or fails to make his bid) he must throw a quarter into the Euchre Pot.

We split the pot of money after the 5 rounds of 12 hands amongst the top 3 scorers, and the lowest scorer gets the quarters in the euchre pot.

There were so many people in 3rd place, that each took home less than the $7.50 in the Euchre pot. And I ended up with the quarters....so at least, I got back my admission fee!

Euchre is a fast game--a hand holds only 5 cards, and 3 tricks are needed to win the bid. In the selected trump suit, the Jack is the highest card and called the right bauer, followed by the Jack of the other suit of the same color, called the left bauer, Ace, King Queen, ten, nine. All non-trump suits are ranked Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten, nine...except the suit which donates its jack to the trump suit, of course...

With 24 cards in the Euchre deck, the last 4 cards are left in a kitty, the top card turned up, and each player in turn can decide if the suit of that card should be called trump. If no one selects it, then each player in turn can name a trump suit, if he thinks he can win 3 tricks...if no one selects trump. The dealer is stuck with the job...and if the dealer can't make the 3 tricks, and is euchred, we don't require him to put a quarter in the euchre pot.

It's a fast game, designed for the lunch-hour break, I'm told. It has some elements in common with pinocle, but the bauer is its own unique feature.

[DemReadingDU]

32. Eucher is my favorite!

Netbooks are great to keep up on the news when traveling. Now we're off to hear the bands in Danville!

[Demeter]

29. Interesting Stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/5818028458/

For more humor of a less elevated kind, see

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/shit

[xchrom]

33. China Economy at Risk of ‘Hard Landing’ After 2013, Nouriel Roubini Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-11/china-economy-at-risk-of-hard-landing-after-2013-nouriel-roubini-says.html

China’s economy is at risk of a “hard landing” after 2013 as efforts to spur growth through investment cause excess capacity, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the financial crisis.

“China is now relying increasingly not just on net exports but on fixed investment” which has climbed to about 50 percent of gross domestic product, Roubini said in Singapore today. “Down the line, you are going to have two problems: a massive non-performing loan problem in the banking system and a massive amount of overcapacity is going to lead to a hard landing.”

The nation faces a 60 percent chance of a banking crisis by mid-2013 in the aftermath of record lending and surging property prices, according to Fitch Ratings. A record $2.7 trillion of loans extended over two years has pushed property prices in China to all-time highs even as authorities set price ceilings, demanded higher deposits and limited second-home purchases.

China’s current challenge is to maintain growth and curb price gains ahead of a leadership change next year, Roubini said. Officials may use administrative steps and price controls as well as raising rates further and allowing currency appreciation if inflation becomes a bigger problem, he said.

[Demeter]

36. Well, they aren't the only ones

There's no going back, we have to go through the coming hard times, but this round, I think we will see more formerly wealthy jumping out of windows...

It was odd, when all this started, that it was the Europeans committing suicide, but based on the torture that Europe is enduring due to the folly of the Euro as presently constituted, and the fact that the banksters here in the USA managed to tie up the government with a bow, it's now much more understandable.

Not acceptable, mind you!

[Demeter]

34. The Kid borrowed "The Shop Around the Corner"

the original film, of which "You've Got Mail" was a crass and callous ripoff...

Based on the dialog, I suspect the film was based on a stage play....in the theatre, the playwright has instant feedback on every line and can fine tune the lines for maximum comedic effect as long as it runs.

Margaret Sullivan, playing the heroine, is no Meg Ryan; she's rather annoying, but the ensemble is splendid, and Jimmy Stewart is so young and he has hair!

I will be adding this film classic to my home library. Highly recommended.

[Demeter]

38. Pfizer, Boeing Help Sink DJIA: STOCK MARKET ANALYSIS FOR FRIDAY

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576377051184752240.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

Another dose of anguish about the global economic recovery sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the first close below 12000 since mid-March, capping the blue-chip index's longest weekly slump since 2002.

The Dow industrials sank 172.45 points, or 1.4%, to 11951.91, the sixth straight week of declines. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 18.02, or 1.4%, to 1270.98. That broad index also has notched six weeks of declines, the longest losing streak since 2008.

Two closely watched stock indexes turned negative for the year Friday. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 41.14, or 1.5%, to 2643.73. The small-capitalization Russell 2000 fell 13.10, or 1.7%, to 779.54.

Investors were dour after U.S. May import prices showed a surprise rise of 0.2%, hinting at an inflation push coming into the U.S. from abroad. Overseas, sovereign-debt worries continued to rattle investors, pushing European stocks lower. A surprise interest-rate increase by the Bank of Korea weighed on Asian bourses....

[Demeter]

39. Goldman served first again? Maybe not

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-served-first-again-2011-06-10?siteid=YAHOOB

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has a reputation for metaphorically cutting in line — whether it comes to bailouts, deals with Libya or selling toxic mortgages to the unsuspecting. But now its bankers can claim reputation for the real thing...Wall Street gossip site Dealbreaker reported from an overheard conversation that Goldman Sachs has its own grill at the always-packed, supertrendy New York eatery Shake Shack, a new location of which opened near the bank’s new headquarters on West Street near the World Trade Center site.

As any New Yorker knows, waiting for a Shake Shack order is among the most miserable experiences in life. Not only does it take a long time, but also it feels like it takes longer. It’s like waiting for Rep. Anthony Weiner’s news cycle to end or Middle East peace. Godot came quicker than the $6.75 ‘Shroom Burger.

But Goldman now disputes the allegation. There is no “Goldman grill,” unless you’re talking about hearings on Capitol Hill. David Wells, a spokesman for the bank, says the story is bunk. The firm’s employees have to wait, just like everyone else...

WELL, WE WILL PROBABLY FIND OUT...OTHERWISE, LATER

[Demeter]

42. Raising the Minimum Wage, Rebuilding the Economy

http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2011/06/minimumwage.html?utm_source=Budget+Campaign&utm_campaign=0b6405c601-Balance_Sheet5_11_2011&utm_medium=email

SUMMARY AND VIDEO AT LINK--FROM A THINK TANK

SURELY WE ALL REALIZE THAT IT WOULD TAKE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TEAM IN POWER TO HAVE ANYTHING BESIDES THE MALODOROUS "YELLOW SHOWERS" TRICKLE DOWN TO THE STREETS OF AMERICAN HOMES...

[Demeter]

44. Don't Talk About the Libyan War: Administration hopes Qaddafi will fall before Congress finds out

The administration hopes Qaddafi will fall before Congress finds out what it's costing.

http://www.slate.com/id/2296293/?from=rss&utm_source=Budget+Campaign&utm_campaign=0b6405c601-Balance_Sheet5_11_2011&utm_medium=email

...the Libyan war—or the Libyan rebellion, or whatever we are calling it—is in stalemate. But is stalemate bad?...Stalemate looks bad. It makes NATO seem ineffectual. Stalemate also sounds bad, which is why nobody publicly defends it. And yet there are plenty of people, at least in the United States and the United Kingdom, who are perfectly happy with their Libya policy just as it is, even if they never say so. They do give hints: A couple of weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that "time is working against Qaddafi." The Libyan leader, she argued, will never again be able to establish control over the country. Instead—or so the theory goes—sanctions will begin to bite, food and fuel shortages will grow, his followers will grow restless, and his cronies will defect. Without any direct Western military intervention, Qaddafi will thus be overthrown, the rebels can claim victory, and NATO will disappear into the night. During his trip to Europe last week, President Barack Obama told his counterparts, in effect, that this is, in fact, his plan. He even urged officials from countries not in the military coalition to join now, so as to be "on the right side" when the colonel's regime collapses.

There is another piece to this argument, also never publicly stated, that goes like this: If time works against Qaddafi, time also works in the rebels' favor. Time lets the rebels develop politically, giving them a chance to think about what they might want to become. Time lets them develop foreign contacts and a supply chain. Ships carrying supplies are now docking in Misrata, which wasn't possible a few weeks ago.

It's an interesting theory, and in the best of all possible worlds, it might even work. A steady but relentless bombing campaign, generous humanitarian aid and training for the rebels, a bit of patience, and we're done with Qaddafi without too much fuss and without boots on the ground. Alas, this scenario fails to take into account either Qaddafi's staying power—what is his incentive to leave?—the costs of this operation, and the consequent domestic politics. Nobody is publishing honest figures, so they are hard to measure. But the Guardian newspaper reckons the Libya engagement will have cost the United Kingdom $1.65 billion by September. It recently quoted a defense analyst who says the British military had spent $500 million by the end of April and that ongoing operations are costing more than $60 million a week...American military spending may well be as high or higher: Last Friday, the House passed a resolution demanding, among other things, that the president give us some ballpark figures. Though Congress resisted Kucinich's attempt to stop the war immediately, it can't be long before someone more mainstream takes up the same cause. Deficit-conscious Republicans are already noticing that large amounts of money are being spent on a war that nobody is winning and that isn't even a war as such. At some point, populists of all sorts are going to notice it, too.

I reckon President Obama knows this, and I also reckon that this is why he so rarely talks about Libya in public. The less attention drawn to the Libyan stalemate, the less chance there is that someone will begin to ask questions. Here is his gamble: that Qaddafi will fall before Congress has focused on the costs of the war, that the war will be over before the public questions his tactics, and that no one will ever notice that there isn't a Plan B. Double or quits?

I THINK THE MOST GRATUITOUS, DISTASTEFUL PART OF THIS IS HILLARY'S TRASH TALKING. I THINK WE DODGED A PREDATOR MISSILE WHEN SHE LOST THE NOMINATION. OF COURSE, WE GOT SHOT IN THE FOOT, INSTEAD....

[Demeter]

48. TALKING ABOUT GAMES: When Your Base Is Nuts

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=when_your_base_is_nuts

...the Republicans who actually are running or still thinking it over fall into two categories: those who have functioned with some success in real-world politics and are now scurrying to repudiate their previous accommodations with reality, and those who have been Mad Hatters at the tea party all along. Some candidates have a foot in each camp: Newt Gingrich is probably responsible for more non-reality-based allegations than anyone else in the Republican field (that may simply be a function of his longevity), but he knew enough to recognize that Paul Ryan’s decimation of Medicare would never fly. His mistake was saying so publicly—a position that so inflamed Republican base voters he had to repudiate it (and, Newt being Newt, he threatened to attack anyone who dared to quote his initial criticism, claiming they would be speaking “a falsehood”).

In today’s Republican Party, the truth shall set you down, and out...

How did the Republican Party become at once so insular and unmoored that winning its presidential nod requires an extremism that would give Barry Goldwater the creeps? Many are responsible for the Republicans’ descent into madness, but pride of place surely goes to Fox News chair Roger Ailes, the onetime Nixon aide who created a counterfactual network that in turn helped create a counterfactual Republican Party. Ailes, we now learn from a recent article in New York Magazine, despairs over the current crop of Republican candidates, but he has no one more to blame than himself for driving more electable Republicans from the race. The man who gave Palin (as well as Huckabee, Santorum, and Gingrich) a regular gig at Fox, according to one Republican close to Ailes who’s quoted in the article, now thinks “Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid.”

But take a bow, Roger; that’s the Republican field you’ve built.

A MASTERFUL TEAR-DOWN!

[Demeter]

49. Making the US Economy "Scream"

http://www.truth-out.org/making-us-economy-scream/1307728011

Modern Republicans have a simple approach to politics when they are not in the White House: Make America as ungovernable as possible by using almost any means available, from challenging the legitimacy of opponents to spreading lies and disinformation to sabotaging the economy.

Over the past four decades or so, the Republicans have simply not played by the old give-and-take rules of politics. Indeed, if one were to step back and assess this Republican approach, what you would see is something akin to how the CIA has destabilized target countries, especially those that seek to organize themselves in defiance of capitalist orthodoxy...

COMPARING CURRENT US DILEMMA TO THE OVERTHROW OF CHILE'S ALLENDE--BITING, AND PAINFUL.

[Demeter]

50. Bitcoin, Silk Road, and the Two Senators Who Would See Them Destroyed

http://dailyreckoning.com/the-war-on-digital-currency/

How many Senators does it take to dismantle a cryptographically secured, completely decentralized, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network of voluntary, free market traders exchanging goods and services across six continents using tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of individual computers and some of the most advanced cyber technology and software coding known to date?

Answer: we don't know...but Senators Charles Schumer (D, New York) and Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia), seemingly immune to common ignominy, have taken on the challenge anyway...We are referring, of course, to the latest furor surrounding bitcoin, a P2P cyber currency setting the virtual - and, some would argue, actual - world ablaze. (We first brought you the story a couple of weeks ago, when bitcoins were trading for roughly B$1 = US$7.5. As of this morning, they've shot up to B$1 = US$31.5. See here and here for a "bit" of background about them and about the pitfalls of government- backed currencies in general.) Long story short, bitcoin is a limited supply, decentralized digital currency; a free market alternative to state issued notes and coins. As such, it poses a direct - though entirely non-violent - threat to the state's monopoly on counterfeiting. This, cry the powers that be, must not be tolerated. Of course, before any politico can act, they must first have a distraction, a fall boy, a pretense, a reason for rescuing us from the horror that is our own decision-making capacity... As one might imagine, a virtually untraceable currency - such as bitcoin or...umm...CASH! - might find use as a medium of exchange to purchase both white and black market products like, say, drugs. Such was the case with Silk Road, a website where users (literally) can buy illegal substances with bitcoin.

Said Senator Chuck of Silk Road and bitcoin in a news conference on Sunday: "Literally, it allows buyers and users to sell illegal drugs online, including heroin, cocaine, and meth, and users do sell by hiding their identities through a program that makes them virtually untraceable." Apparently, the senator wants Silk Road shut down immediately with bitcoin, no doubt, soon to follow. The pair have written to Attorney General Eric Holder and the DEA asking that action be taken to crackdown on Silk Road. Now that the pair have their straw man, we can be sure it will be used as a pretense to attack free-market currencies themselves. Stay tuned as the story unfolds on that front...

For now, we wonder what users of bitcoin are to do now that the self- appointed invigilators of free market activity are on their case? Well, for the past few weeks at least, they've been rejoicing. The currency has almost quadrupled in value since the Silk Road issue came to the fore.

MORE

[Demeter]

51. CIA Now Thinks Greece Military Coup Possible By Rocky Vega

...the Central Intelligence Agency has now issued a report warning on how worsening Greek unrest could bring rise to even a military coup....

Read more: CIA Now Thinks Greece Military Coup Possible http://dailyreckoning.com/cia-now-thinks-greece-military-coup-possible/#ixzz1OyPEUqtl

WHEN DO THEY NOT? I DOUBT THE CIA WOULD EVEN EXCLUDE THE ANTARCTIC FROM THE LIST OF PLACES VULNERABLE TO A COUP--ALL THOSE FASCIST PENGUINS, MARCHING AS ONE, IN THEIR IDENTICAL UNIFORMS...

[xchrom]

52. +1

[Demeter]

53. Playing Old Maid By Frederick Sheehan

http://dailyreckoning.com/playing-old-maid/

When my youngest sister was four-years-old, we taught her how to play Old Maid. She learned quickly but played the game like – a four-year-old. When she was dealt the Old Maid, her little thumb would push it a couple of inches above the others in her hand. She did this with a giggle since her maneuver was tricking us (in her 4-year-old mind) into taking the Old Maid. She succeeded; someone would remove it from her hand so that she could say: “Ha, Ha, you have the Old Maid!” Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a four-year-old mind. On the morning of June 3, 2011, it released its monthly Employment Situation Report. The very first words were: “Non-farm employment changed little (+54,000) in May…” Nowhere in the 38-page report does the BLS state that the addition of 54,000 jobs was actually a loss of 152,000 jobs.

The BLS invented 206,000 jobs. The Bureau has constructed an equation called the “Net Birth/Death Model.” Its purpose is to count “Business births.” That is, new jobs in new businesses net the number of lost jobs in “Business deaths”: companies that went out of business. This figure plays a large role in how Americans are told to think about the economy. CNBC did not look beyond the first sentence that morning when it announced The Number: +54,000. It did not mention the 206,000 net birth-death jobs. The Wall Street talking heads who were then interviewed were also ignorant. Last month, on May 6, 2011, the BLS April Employment Situation Report opened: “Non-farm payroll employment rose by 244,000 in April…” The +175,000 net birth/death jobs were not mentioned by Bubble TV and maybe not by any other major media outlet. There are those who say the net birth/death (NBD) figure is a sophisticated calculation. No doubt it is; but is it accurate? If it is, why does the BLS never mention that NBD jobs were added when it manufactured The Number? Why does it so diligently hide it?

The initiative for the NBD calculation addressed a real problem. The BLS is not equipped to include “business births” in its monthly Employment Situation Report. It makes sense to adjust The Number, but the BLS, like most of Washington, is detached from the economy. In June 2011, it is ridiculous to conclude the US economy is adding more jobs than it is losing. On June 2, 2011, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a trade group of smaller businesses, released its latest survey results. (I have found the direction of the trend in the monthly NFIB survey offers a good indication of the direction of the economy.)



...The Bureau of Labor Statistics pushes the Old Maid above the other cards in its hand each month. It takes five seconds to type “net birth death” into the BLS website’s search engine and read this month’s NBD number. Yet, it is not mentioned by the media or by Wall Street talking heads. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has every reason to look at America and proclaim: “Ha, Ha, you have the Old Maid!”

[xchrom]

54. Asian Stocks Drop, Equaling Post-Lehman Decline, on U.S. Growth Concerns

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-10/asian-stocks-drop-equaling-post-lehman-decline-on-u-s-growth-concerns.html

Asian stocks dropped, matching the six-week losing streak in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008, amid concern a slowing U.S. economic recovery will stifle global growth.

Li & Fung Ltd. (494), the world’s biggest supplier of toys to retailers, tumbled 9.5 percent in Hong Kong. Hyundai Motor Co. (005380), South Korea’s biggest automaker, slumped 7.7 percent in Seoul. Nintendo Co. lost 10 percent in Tokyo after UBS AG lowered its investment rating. Tokyo Electric Power Co. sank 34 percent after the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s president was quoted saying the operator of the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant should be put under bankruptcy protection.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index declined 1.4 percent to 132.08 this week after the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly climbed and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke gave no hint of a new round of economic stimulus even as the nation’s recovery slows. The gauge fell 0.3 percent last week as reports showed U.S. manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in more than a year and employers hired fewer workers than forecast.

“Bernanke’s somber outlook combined with no hint of further quantitative easing being used as a policy response near-term have led to a negative tone in markets,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage about $1 billion in global equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “In a glass-half-empty environment, investors globally are adopting a much more cautious stance.”

[xchrom]

55. Iceland makes successful return to bond markets

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0611/1224298736664.html

ICELAND RETURNED to international debt markets for the first time since its banking meltdown more than two years ago as investors offered to buy twice the amount the government offered in dollar-denominated bonds.

“This transaction is an important milestone for Iceland,” finance minister Steingrimur J Sigfusson said in a statement on the government’s website yesterday. “Iceland has set a benchmark in the market which should over time facilitate capital market access for other Icelandic issuers.”

Iceland, which averted a sovereign default by refusing to bail out bondholders when its banks failed in October 2008, will enjoy economic growth of 2.2 per cent this year and 2.9 per cent in 2012 as its budget deficit narrows to 1.4 per cent of gross domestic product, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The island’s approach to resurrecting itself from financial ruin has won the praise of Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, who says Iceland is now better off than euro member Ireland.

[Demeter]

57. Truly, The Mouse Who Roared

[xchrom]

58. i know, huh?

iceland was always a cool country -- but that factor went up a bit the way they handled the 'crises' & all.

[Demeter]

56. US Income Expectations Plummet to 25-Year Low By Rocky Vega

The average US worker anticipates that in a year from now he or she will be earning the same or less in wages than right now, a 25-year low in income expectations, based on an analysis by Goldman Sachs.

The research explicitly compared expectations of real income growth, meaning that inflation was a significant consideration in the gloomy outlook. However, a combination of additional factors can also be blamed including the still-limping economy, anemic job growth, stagnant wages, lower-paying jobs, and fewer hours.

According to USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2011-06-04-cnbc-belt-tightening_n.htm

“Real hourly wages have dropped 2.1% on an annualized basis over the past six months, a rate of decline not seen in 20 years, according to Goldman. This analysis is backed up by the other most-watched consumer survey from the Conference Board, which indicated earlier this week that the proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase was below 15% in May.

“‘I am much more concerned that the second half resurgence we all expect never arrives and by early 2012 we are in a recession,’ said Joe Terranova, chief market strategist for Virtus Investment Partners and a ‘Fast Money’ trader. Stocks are sliding in June ahead of the monthly jobs report released on Friday. Economists have slashed the number of jobs they believe were added last month as a string of recent economic data have pointed to a slowdown. The 10-year Treasury yield broke below 3% Wednesday as investors bought bonds as a safehaven in case of the slowing economy.

“The fact that income expectations are so low, makes the jobs outlook that much more important, argues Goldman and other investors. These same surveys show that consumers are not nearly as pessimistic about job growth. So once enthusiasm on the labor front is dented at all, then all aspects of consumer confidence are lost.”

Dismal income expectations could potentially lower forecasts for consumer spending as well, meaning that business income, and subsequently the wages those businesses pay out, are that much less likely to pick up any time soon. You can read more details in the USA Today article on how Americans are belt tightening due to lower income expectations.

Read more: US Income Expectations Plummet to 25-Year Low http://dailyreckoning.com/us-income-expectations-plummet-to-25-year-low/#ixzz1OyXj6rfS

[Demeter]

59. Bernanke Describes US Economic Growth as “Frustratingly Slow” By Chuck Butler

Well… Big Ben Bernanke said the economy was “frustratingly slow”… So… For once, he agrees with me, for I said it long before he ever admitted it! So, we’ve got that to talk about this morning, and a few other things.

Well… As I walked out of the door yesterday, Big Ben Bernanke was speaking to the good people in Atlanta… I say they are good people, because they sat and listened, and didn’t pull a John Wilkes Booth on Big Ben! But, just like politicians who like to pat their own backs when something goes right, even though it had nothing to do with them, Big Ben is touting the “necessity” of his stimulus or quantitative easing (QE)… He told the audience yesterday that his stimulus was “warranted” because the economy is “frustratingly slow”… Hmmm… Yes the second part of that statement is correct; it is “slow”… But, unless you are trying to emulate the Japanese, shouldn’t you have just let the economy bottom out, and by now we would be moving in the right direction, instead of these starts and stops caused by your stimulus, Mr. Bernanke?

Hey… Did you hear that White House Chief Economist, Goolsby, is leaving his job? I find this very suspicious, considering that the other day, I told you how he had downplayed last week’s jobs data, and called it a “freak report” and merely a “bump in the road”… And now he’s gone… Oh well, he was as useless as a pay toilet in a diarrhea ward to me, or the US as a whole, given that he was so removed from reality…

Read more: Bernanke Describes US Economic Growth as "Frustratingly Slow" http://dailyreckoning.com/bernanke-describes-us-economic-growth-as-frustratingly-slow/#ixzz1OyYgtAqt


A REGULAR LAUNDRY LIST OF TROUBLES HE'S SEEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVKKRzemX_w

[Po_d Mainiac]

102. What the bernank said

“The Federal Reserve’s objectives – its dual mandate, set by Congress – are to promote a high level of employment and low, stable inflation. Unfortunately, the job market remains quite weak; the national unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, a large number of people can find only part-time work, and a substantial fraction of the unemployed have been out of work six months or longer. The heavy costs of unemployment include intense strains on family finances, more foreclosures and the loss of job skills.” - Ben Bernanke – Washington Post Editorial – November 4, 2010

“This approach eased financial conditions in the past and, so far, looks to be effective again. Stock prices rose and long-term interest rates fell when investors began to anticipate the most recent action. Easier financial conditions will promote economic growth. For example, lower mortgage rates will make housing more affordable and allow more homeowners to refinance. Lower corporate bond rates will encourage investment. And higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion.” Ben Bernanke – Washington Post Editorial – November 4, 2010
Hellova job bennie.. 90% of Americans own vertually zero stocks & 30% of people with a 401(k) have now taken out a loan/s against them ( A new record)...Residential RE has fallen another 5% (average) over the last 6 months

“Although asset purchases are relatively unfamiliar as a tool of monetary policy, some concerns about this approach are overstated. Critics have, for example, worried that it will lead to excessive increases in the money supply and ultimately to significant increases in inflation. But the Federal Reserve has a particular obligation to help promote increased employment and sustain price stability. Steps taken this week should help us fulfill that obligation.” Ben Bernanke – Washington Post Editorial – November 4, 2010

[Demeter]

60. Animal Crackers Bridge Game

Animal Crackers Bridge Game THE MARX BROTHERS STRIKE AGAIN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CQHOCsOfWw

[Demeter]

61. Why Income Investors Should Pursue Alternative Income Strategies By Addison Wiggin

Whatever is left of the baby boom generation’s retirement is about to get wiped out. It’s the third and final step in the systematic destruction of a whole generation’s wealth...The first step came with the dot-com crash. Retirement accounts stuffed with tech stocks pumped by CNBC – or funds that bought tech stocks pumped by CNBC – were vaporized. Boomers picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and a few years later they figured they were riding high again. Yes, their retirement accounts were a shadow of their former selves… but their homes were rising in value 10% a year, every year. So who complained? Phase 2: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan encouraged folks to load up on ARMs. His successor Ben Bernanke assured them there’d never been a sustained nationwide drop in home prices...In their effort to “chase yield,” bankers on Wall Street created the Frankenstein known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and went on to insure them with the abominable credit default swap (CDS). That derivative stew poisoned the entire global financial system…

Now comes Phase 3. Baby boomers are approaching retirement age. What are you supposed to do with whatever wealth you have remaining? Why, unless you’re a speculator in stocks and commodities and willing to bet on monetary policy outcomes… you’re supposed to play it safe with fixed income, of course – first and foremost with US Treasuries. A 10-year US Treasury note yields a paltry 2.95% this morning. Consumer prices, even using the government’s heavily gamed figures, grew 3.1% over the last 12 months. In other words, if you lend your money to Uncle Sam in “safe” Treasuries, you lose all of your yield, and a bit of your principal, to inflation. It’s even worse if you opt for a savings vehicle like a bank CD. The best rate we find for a 5-year CD on the Internet this morning is 2.41%.

This is no accident. It’s policy. Even if, in the end, we discover it’s accidental policy. “Negative real interest rates” are how the federal government will try to pay down some of its staggering debt...This puts income investors in a real pickle. Sure, they could turn to a corporate bond fund… but how wise is that when the economy is slowing and profits are bound to come in below Wall Street’s lofty expectations? Of course, there are municipal bonds, and the tax advantages they bring. But at a time when municipal budgets are strained and whole cities in California are filing for bankruptcy… how “safe” is that?

Income investors need to throw out the traditional playbook… and pursue alternative income strategies. For instance, did you know you could take a humble corporate bond yielding 7%… collect a yield of 10%… and cash out a 73% gain? And all without adding risk or leverage?...Your broker won’t tell you about this strategy… because there’s little in the way of fees to collect.

Read more: Why Income Investors Should Pursue Alternative Income Strategies http://dailyreckoning.com/why-income-investors-should-pursue-alternative-income-strategies/#ixzz1OybdIfXs

MAYBE, BUT WHAT'S TO KEEP THE CORPORATIONS AFLOAT, WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE GOES DOWN TO DAVY JONES' LOCKER?

[Demeter]

63. Reality calls--See you around supper, maybe

It's cloudy and in the 60's again...unusual weather we're having. Damn the iodine in the radioactive plumes...

[Fuddnik]

64. Track and Field. I just survived my first 5k race.

No heart attack yet. But, the feets sure are sore.

[Demeter]

66. Congratulations, I Guess

and condolences to the wife, who is not a widow. Yet.

Are you out of your mind????

[Fuddnik]

73. Yes I am out of my mind.

But, I accomplished my goal. I didn't finish last.

However, it is pretty embarrassing when you're coming down the final stretch, and a woman, pushing 3 kids in a stroller passes you. But, she was at least 30 years younger than me.

I almost beat 100 people. #852 out of 934 who finished!

[Po_d Mainiac]

77. Since we be of similar age...a hat tip too u

I do about the same distance daily...but de dog do the running, I do the bicycle thingy. In udder words, I cheat.

Had my PET scan for this chronic lymphoma shit I been fed chemo for Thursday. Didn't lite the screen up this time! Gonna be off the juice for a while at least.

[Demeter]

79. That's wonderful, Po!

Sending you all the best.

[xchrom]

74. i was going to offer him congratulations until

:spray: i read what you said.

[Demeter]

67. Wage growth slows to a crawl Heidi Shierholz

http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/wage_growth_slows_to_a_crawl/

Unemployment remained high at a rate of 9.1% in May 2011, but that is only one of many problems facing the labor market. In addition to this stubbornly high unemployment rate, wage growth has tumbled in the recession and its aftermath, falling from an annual growth rate of 3.8% in May 2007 to a rate of 1.8% in May 2011. Average hourly wages were relatively flat in May (up 6 cents), a rate that has been treading water over the last year and which is far worse than before the recession started (see chart). As for the concerns of inflation hawks, the trend in wage growth provides absolutely no cause for alarm.

[Demeter]

68. Murdoch sends in crack US lawyers to clean up News International

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murdoch-sends-in-crack-us-lawyers-to-clean-up-news-international-2296116.html

Staff at Wapping HQ sidelined as media mogul finally loses patience with phone-hacking scandal that is spiralling out of control...

yeah, well, everybody has troubles...

[Demeter]

69. The tobacco industry’s past role in weight control related to smoking

Smoking is thought to produce an appetite-suppressing effect by many smokers. Thus, the fear of body weight gain often outweighs the perception of health benefits associated with smoking cessation, particularly in adolescents. We
examined whether the tobacco industry played a role in appetite and body weight control related to smoking and smoking cessation. Methods: We performed a systematic search within the archives of six major US and UK tobacco companies (American Tobacco, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, Brown & Williamson and British American Tobacco) that were Defendants in tobacco litigation settled in 1998. Findings are dated from 1949 to 1999. Results: The documents revealed the strategies planned and used by the industry to enhance effects of smoking on weight and appetite, mostly by chemical modifications of cigarettes contents. Appetite-suppressant molecules, such as tartaric acid and 2-acetylpyridine were added to some cigarettes.

Conclusion: These tobacco companies played an active and not disclaimed role in the anti-appetite effects of smoking, at least in the past, by adding appetite-suppressant molecules into their cigarettes.

http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/04/07/eurpub.ckr023.full.pdf

[Demeter]

70. Scientists 'Find EHEC Bacteria at Sprout Farm'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,767935,00.html#ref=nlint

Is this the breakthrough? According to SPIEGEL ONLINE information, scientists have finally managed to prove that the pathogens that caused a deadly E. coli epidemic in Germany were found on sprouts at a farm in Lower Saxony. Authorities are still puzzled as to how the deadly bacteria got there.

[Demeter]

71. AIG Does It Again: Sale of Maiden Lane II Assets Tanking Credit Markets

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/aig-does-it-again-sale-of-maiden-lane-ii-assets-tanking-credit-markets.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

(I CAN'T LOOK)

[xchrom]

75. IMF targeted in computer attack reported serious

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INTERNATIONAL_MONETARY_FUND_CYBERATTACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-11-15-28-35

NEW YORK (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund says it's investigating a computer attack.

IMF spokesman David Hawley says the fund's computer systems are fully functional. IMF told staffers about it on Wednesday but hasn't released a public announcement. The IMF wouldn't give further details.

The New York Times cited unnamed IMF officials as saying the attack was sophisticated and serious.

The IMF is already facing a headache after the arrest of its former leader, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was charged with sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel.

[Demeter]

80. Stanley Fischer running for head of IMF

Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, on Saturday announced that he would run for the managing directorship of the International Monetary Fund, challenging French finance minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican central bank governor Agustín Carstens.

Mr Fischer, previously second-in-command at the institution, had considered a run, but his decision came as a surprise. Nominations closed at midnight on Friday.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/MSQNLS/EKRAI/WLN185/S3RZ2T/D5/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=11

[Demeter]

93. Mohamed El-Erian: In praise of Stanley Fischer

Based on professional qualifications and cultural fit, Stanley Fischer is the perfect candidate for managing director of the IMF. He would likely prevail in an open, transparent and merit-based selection process. The question is whether European attempts to preclude this can still be overcome by countries that care about the legitimacy of the institution and the beneficial role it should play in the global economy

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/A1TNOO/EX4Y7E/204L2/26T8WX/8ACRRQ/UP/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=12

[bread_and_roses]

81. "American Banks 'High' On Drug Money"

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151135/american_banks_%27high%27_on_drug_money%3A_how_a_whistleblower_blew_the_lid_off_wachovia-drug_cartel_money_laundering_scheme/?page=entire

American Banks 'High' On Drug Money: How a Whistleblower Blew the Lid Off Wachovia-Drug Cartel Money Laundering Scheme
A fraud investigator helped expose the shocking world of multi-billion dollar drug laundering by American banks and the surprising lack of oversight by the Feds.

... This high-profile investigation ultimately revealed that from 2004-2007, a staggering amount of illegal drug proceeds totaling $378.4 billion dollars were transferred into Wachovia by the Mexico-based Casa Cambios that violated U.S. government anti-money laundering compliance....

... As part of the agreement Wachovia agreed to pay the government a fine of $110 million dollars with an additional fine of $50 million dollars to be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department. The total fine of $160 million dollars was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3 billion dollars in profit made in 2009. By the time Wachovia agreed to pay the hefty fine, Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia during the banking crisis for $12.7 billion. Then Well Fargo reaped a windfall from the government, a gift of $25 billion dollars of taxpayers money as part of President Obama stimulus package in 2009....

...As professor Dale Scott noted in his book, American War Machine: Deep Politics; the CIA Global Drug Connection: "A U.S. Senate staff chaired by the banking committee reportedly estimated that between $500 billion and $1 trillion dollars are laundered each year through banks worldwide, with approximately half of that amount funneled through U.S. Banks."

The UK Independent newspaper reported in 2004 that drug trafficking constituted "the third-biggest global commodity in cash terms after oil and the arms trade."...

I could only read the first few pages of this article before just giving up in despair - meanwhile, our bought and sold "representatives" bleat on about the evils of drugs - just protecting their Masters, as usual.

[Demeter]

82. Making the US Economy "Scream"

http://www.truth-out.org/making-us-economy-scream/1307728011

Modern Republicans have a simple approach to politics when they are not in the White House: Make America as ungovernable as possible by using almost any means available, from challenging the legitimacy of opponents to spreading lies and disinformation to sabotaging the economy.

Over the past four decades or so, the Republicans have simply not played by the old give-and-take rules of politics. Indeed, if one were to step back and assess this Republican approach, what you would see is something akin to how the CIA has destabilized target countries, especially those that seek to organize themselves in defiance of capitalist orthodoxy.

To stop this spread of “socialism,” nearly anything goes. Take, for example, Chile in the early 1970s when socialist President Salvador Allende won an election and took steps aimed at improving the conditions of the country’s poor....

[Pale Blue Dot]

83. The Fed's $600 Billion Stealth Bailout Of Foreign Banks Continues At The Expense Of The Domestic

Exclusive: The Fed's $600 Billion Stealth Bailout Of Foreign Banks Continues At The Expense Of The Domestic Economy, Or Explaining Where All The QE2 Money Went

Courtesy of the recently declassified Fed discount window documents, we now know that the biggest beneficiaries of the Fed's generosity during the peak of the credit crisis were foreign banks, among which Belgium's Dexia was the most troubled, and thus most lent to, bank. Having been thus exposed, many speculated that going forward the US central bank would primarily focus its "rescue" efforts on US banks, not US-based (or local branches) of foreign (read European) banks: after all that's what the ECB is for, while the Fed's role is to stimulate US employment and to keep US inflation modest. And furthermore, should the ECB need to bail out its banks, it could simply do what the Fed does, and monetize debt, thus boosting its assets, while concurrently expanding its excess reserves thus generating fungible capital which would go to European banks. Wrong. Below we present that not only has the Fed's bailout of foreign banks not terminated with the drop in discount window borrowings or the unwind of the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, but that the only beneficiary of the reserves generated were US-based branches of foreign banks (which in turn turned around and funnelled the cash back to their domestic branches), a shocking finding which explains not only why US banks have been unwilling and, far more importantly, unable to lend out these reserves, but that anyone retaining hopes that with the end of QE2 the reserves that hypothetically had been accumulated at US banks would be flipped to purchase Treasurys, has been dead wrong, therefore making the case for QE3 a done deal. In summary, instead of doing everything in its power to stimulate reserve, and thus cash, accumulation at domestic (US) banks which would in turn encourage lending to US borrowers, the Fed has been conducting yet another stealthy foreign bank rescue operation, which rerouted $600 billion in capital from potential borrowers to insolvent foreign financial institutions in the past 7 months. QE2 was nothing more (or less) than another European bank rescue operation!

For those who can't wait for the punchline, here it is. Below we chart the total cash holdings of Foreign-related banks in the US using weekly H.8 data.



Note the $630 billion increase in foreign bank cash balances since November 3, which just so happens is the date when the Fed commenced QE2 operations in the form of adding excess reserves to the liability side of its balance sheet. Here is the change in Fed reserves during QE2 (from the Fed's H.4.1 statement, ending with the week of June 1).



http://www.zerohedge.com/article/exclusive-feds-600-billion-stealth-bailout-foreign-banks-continues-expense-domestic-economy-

More at the link.

[Demeter]

85. Yup. Ties into the next one, too.

[Po_d Mainiac]

103. This kinda explains why there have been so few 'put backs'

Sure sounds like the FR has been 'bribing' the Euro zone holders of toxic 'Made In USA' securities, praying that the housing market will re-inflate the losses away. Un-fucking believable

[Demeter]

84. How Hedge Funds ride herd in America

http://brucekrasting.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-hedge-funds-ride-herd-in-america.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BruceKrasting+%28Bruce+Krasting%29

Let me try to connect some dots. I think this adds up to an interesting comment on how things get done in the good old USA. This example does not pass my “smell test”.

Start with something called a “Safe Harbor”. This is a legal designation that is established by the IRS. The activities of entities inside the Safe Harbor are free from taxation. The critical variable in determining whether Safe Harbor status is granted is if the activities of those seeking tax-free status are conducting trade or business in the USA.

I will go you two extreme examples. Toyota, a foreign corporation, has plants and retail outlets in the USA. They are clearly conducting trade or business here. No Safe Harbor status for Toyota. On the other extreme consider an individual in Europe who owns some US Treasury securities as a passive investment. They are not conducting trade or business, so the interest income is tax-free.

These two examples are pretty clear-cut. The problem is that everything in the middle of these two extremes is not so clear. Those who want the benefits of tax-free status, but have a question mark as to whether they in fact deserve the favored treatment, have to petition the US IRS and get a letter ruling to clarify their status. If they get a favorable ruling, they are off to the (tax-free) races....Hedge Funds are becoming lenders. They are acting as banks. They have customers, they loan money to them. This is becoming a big deal...So what is MFA doing to promote business and make money for the hedge funds? They are doing everything possible to get Safe Harbor status for inward lending to the hedge funds for offshore money...Hedge funds want to make loans to US companies; they will finance this activity with untaxed money from abroad...

THE GAMES HEDGE FUNDS PLAY--GAMING THE SYSTEM FOR THEIR GAIN AND EVERYONE ELSE'S LOSS...

[Demeter]

86. CHEER UP! Economic data may be as grim as bad summer movie

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/economic-data-may-be-as-grim-as-bad-summer-movie-2011-06-12?siteid=YAHOOB

...The main focus for economists will be to see whether there are any good performers in the most up-to-date reports, such as the early indicators of manufacturing and consumer sentiment in June, Basile said. These reports are usually bit-players in the data drama.

The Philadelphia Fed’s index, a more closely followed measure of regional bank activity, is forecast to show a partial rebound in June. Last month, the index sank to 3.9 from 18.5 in April, the lowest reading since October. Just two months ago, the index reached 43.4, the highest level since Jan. 1984. That report comes out Thursday.

The Empire State index, which measures business activity in the New York region, is also expected to rebound somewhat in June, but not reach April levels. The index fell to 11.9 in May from 21.7 in April. The data will be released on Wednesday.

Both indexes are what are called diffusion indexes, in that they represent the percentage of respondents indicating an increase minus those indicating a decrease. This means the numbers range from -100 to +100. Another key piece of June data will be the survey of consumer sentiment from Thomson Reuters and University of Michigan....


OUR STATISTICS WILL SAVE YOU!!

[Demeter]

87. Market Update: Weekly Recap

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/overview

Week ending 10-Jun-11The stock market suffered wide-spread selling, pushing the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 in negative territory for the year. As stocks stumbled, market participant sought the relative safety of Treasuries and the dollar...All 10 of the S&P 500 sectors fell. Defensive investments outperformed on a relative basis with utilities down just 0.5%. On the downside, financials (-3.9%) and tech (-3.1%) got hit the hardest. Selling was broad-based with only 57 companies trading higher in the S&P 500.

...Fed Chairman Bernanke issued an economic outlook that failed to lift stocks because he didn't say anything all that surprising to alter a negative mood, and a trend, that has been prevailing for the last five weeks or so. The Fed Chairman began his remarks with an acknowledgment that U.S. economic growth has been slower than expected so far this year, but that wasn't anything the market didn't already know. On balance, he kept to the party line that (a) commodity-based inflation pressures are transitory (b) the economy should regain momentum in the second half of the year and (c) economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period....There was no hint of QE3, but anyone truly expecting him to go down that road with this speech was way ahead of themselves.

In economic developments, economic releases were mixed. The not-so-good news is that initial claims remained above 400,000 for the week ending June 4 while the good news is that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $43.7 bln in April from $46.8 bln in March, which was revised from an originally reported deficit of $48.2 bln, which will factor positively for GDP growth.

Briefly, initial claims rose 1,000 from the prior week to 427,000 and were slightly weaker than the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 423,000. A level above 400,000 is not typically consistent with strong labor growth. Although the latest reading doesn't cover the survey period for the June household survey on employment, it will nonetheless feed ongoing concerns about the frustratingly slow pace of recovery in the labor market.

[Demeter]

88. The Economy and D.C.: Renewed Weakness NYT EDITORIAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12sun1.html

The recent deluge of weak economic data has led to a guessing game among analysts. Is the weakness temporary? Or is there more bad news to come?

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, weighed in last week, saying that growth will recover later in the year as gas prices fall and the effects of the Japanese tsunami fade. That is the too-easy answer.

Oil prices are a wild card, and the impact of other setbacks is probably overstated. If disruptions from the Japanese supply chain were a big force behind weak job numbers in May, for instance, work hours would likely have been cut back. But hours held steady, while job growth slowed broadly. That indicates general weakness.

Even if temporary setbacks were to blame, the economy’s inability to take hits without backsliding is a sign of underlying fragility. So the important question is not the extent to which temporary problems are in play, but whether the economy will improve steadily as those problems work themselves out...Unfortunately, it seems more likely to stagnate. Private-sector job growth, such as it is, will be undercut by continuing mass layoffs of public employees. Foreclosures, driven by joblessness and falling home prices, are expected to further depress property values. These factors — along with a faltering stock market — will constrain consumer spending. So it is folly to believe that the economy is ready to stand on its own, if not for passing setbacks. And yet that is the view from Washington...

[Demeter]

89. The Uncertainty Tax By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12friedman.html

If you want to understand why the unemployment rate has been stubbornly lodged around 9 percent, a good place to start is with the eye-popping mortgage statistics released last week by the economic analysis firm CoreLogic: 38 percent of homeowners with second mortgages are underwater. They borrowed against the value of their homes, and they now owe more than their houses are worth. The total number of underwater homeowners in America, with first and second mortgages, is a stunning 22.7 percent. In Nevada alone, 63 percent of all mortgaged properties are worth less than the owners paid; in Arizona 50 percent, Florida 46 percent, Michigan 36 percent and California 31 percent.

When people are so underwater, they find it hard to move to take new jobs, they find it hard to borrow or raise cash for education or start-ups, and banks become even more cautious about lending. Until we as a country figure out how to divvy up these losses on housing and let these markets clear and move on, they will be a serious drag on employment.

Indeed, this mortgage mess just feeds the three other big problems undermining U.S. job growth today: weak aggregate demand, structural impediments and an epidemic of uncertainty about what the future holds for everything from health care to the rate of taxation to Social Security and Medicare spending to the availability of credit to the general direction of the economy — the sum of which has people holding back and thus undermining the government’s stimulus.

We need to be working on all three at once, and urgently. How? Others have focused on the aggregate demand problem, so I’d like to address some of the structural impediments and uncertainty.

HE MIGHT HAVE A FEW POINTS THERE, BUT NO BULLSEYE...

[xchrom]

90. Star emerging nations needed aid money – but much more than that, says new report

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/12/emerging-nations-need-more-than-aid-odi

The best-performing countries of the developing world have been identified in a new report that stresses that breaking out of poverty requires more than large quantities of aid.

A report from the UK's Overseas Development Institute (ODI) due out on Monday will say the elite emerging nations of the past two decades have four building blocks in common – smart leadership, smart policies, smart institutions and smart friends.

The London-based thinktank says its study of 24 developing nations has thrown up countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa where broad-based improvements in living standards have been sustained over a lengthy period.

The report is being published amid a row over the wisdom of ring-fencing the aid budget at a time when the chancellor is insisting on spending restraint for every other Whitehall department bar health. Critics of the government's decision to stick to Labour's plan to raise development assistance to 0.7% of national output by 2013 say that aid money often does more harm than good and traps countries in dependency.

[Demeter]

92. You Mean: "Please sir, can you get your Imperial foot off my neck?"

and while we're at it, get some medicine to deworm or de-mosquito, or otherwise improve public health? and some food? and education? Clean water, sanitary sewers?

And then some capital accumulation--homegrown, if you don't mind.

[Demeter]

91. Games I Have Played---and Forgotten

Cribbage

It was a rainy summer in the UP. We kids were up North with the grandparents for a few weeks, and aside from bingo, and watching the bears in the dump foraging, there wasn't much entertainment in the pouring rain. Grandpa bought a cribbage board and taught us to play. I seem to recall getting pretty good at it, but today, I couldn't play to save my life...and I've had annual occasions to relearn, with guidance, at Mensa RGs.

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Cribbage

A friend's father was a woodcarver, he made lovely inlaid cribbage boards...rather like this one



Canasta

Someone gave us Hoyle's book of how to play everything, so we learned canasta. The biggest problem was trying to hold all the cards in ones hand, when one hadn't even reached adult size...canasta requires multiple decks, so many per player, if I recall (it's been 40 years, at least).

http://www.rummyroyal.com/canasta/learn-how-to-play-instructions.html

Canasta originates from Uruguay and is similar to the card game rummy. There are two decks of cards with the jokers and the deuces acting as wild cards. Although either of these can be played as a wild card, the jokers have a higher point value of the two. There are usually four players divided into two teams for this game, but there is a variation that works well for only two people.

1.
Card Values and Dealing
*

It's important to know the values of the cards before you play. Jokers equal 50 points; aces and 2's are worth 20 points; K's, Q's, and J's are worth 10 points as are 10's, 9's; and 8's; 7's, 6's, 5's and 4's are worth five points. Depending on what version is being played, the 3's may have a different function.

The cards are handed out one at a time until each player has 11. The rest, called stock, are put into the face down position.
Starting a Game
*

The player to the left of the dealer starts by taking a card from the stock and disposing of one already in hand. This card is placed face up on a discard pile. If the player can start a meld already, he should start one after drawing but before discarding.

The term meld is used for a group of cards with the same values that has to contain more than three cards, but no more than three wild cards, and not less than two natural cards. The meld is kept face up on the table until the end of the play. Each team cannot have more than one meld started at a time.
Special Cards and Plays
*

If the red three is picked up from the stock pile it must be played to the table team and the player has to pick up another card. If in the first hand a black three or a wild card is picked up, then the discard pile is frozen.

The play ends when a player has used all of his cards, but you can only "go out" if your team has met certain conditions pertaining to the melds created.
Going Out
*

A player can only "go out" if all the cards in his hand have been used and if the team has more than one canasta meld. A player can also go out if he can meld all of his cards, except for the final card, which is placed in the discard pile.

To get a canasta there must be at least seven cards in the meld, including any combination of regular cards and wild cards. A natural canasta is one comprised of only natural cards. In team play, a player must ask his teammate for permission to go out. This prevents your partner from going out while you are still holding playable cards.


Read more: Canasta Card Game Instructions | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5630090_canasta-card-game-instructions.html#ixzz1P4mLjhXX

[Demeter]

94. Gaddafi regime staked £12bn on secret deal in bid to open peace talks

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/gaddafi-regime-staked-16312bn-on-secret-deal-in-bid-to-open-peace-talks-2295343.html

ANY BETTER OFFER FROM THE WEST? AND GADDAFI CAN SHOOT YOU AFTER, IF YOU DON'T GET HIM FIRST...WHILE THE WEST WOULD DO IT OUT OF HAND...WHILE LOOTING THE LAND.

THE REBELS HAVE NO WAY TO WIN. POOR FOOLS.

[Demeter]

95. The Unemployment Conspiracy; It's the Policy, Stupid By Mike Whitney

RIGHT ON! IT'S THE STUPID POLICY!!

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28295.htm

When the recovery began 2 years ago, the rate of unemployment was 9.5 percent. Today it's 9.1 percent. Think about that for a minute. Doesn't that prove that the market isn't really self-correcting after all? I mean, if the market was self-correcting then unemployment would have gone down by now, right? But, it hasn't. Why? There's a long answer for that, and a short answer. The short answer is that unemployment can stay high forever if the wrong policies are in place. If you don't believe that, then vote Republican in 2012 and watch what happens when they start hacking away at public spending. Unemployment will soar to 15 or 20 percent in the blink of an eye.

So, it's the policy that matters not the market. And when the wrong policies are implemented, then demand weakens, people get laid off, and the economy goes into a funk. The good news is that we know how to fix the problem and get the economy revved up again. But the bad news is the politicians are not interested in doing what it takes to put people back to work. In fact, unemployment isn't even on their radar. Maybe that's because some of their bigshot constituents aren't bothered high unemployment; in fact, they kind of like it. It crushes big labor and puts pressure on wages. Maybe that's why they haven't been griping.

Look, the economy is just a reflection of the ideas of the people in power, right? That's why economics can't be separated from politics, because it is politics. And, it's totally agenda driven. There's no economic theory that's not agenda driven.

There's no reason why a recession has to drag on year after year. Everyone knows what needs to be done; it's just a matter of doing it. But, of course, that's not possible because "what needs to be done" conflicts with the objectives of the people who run the system. So the slump goes on and on and people get madder and madder until, finally, something snaps and the crowds pour out onto the streets and and start burning stuff down. That's how it works, isn't it? Have you checked out Athens, lately? How about Madrid, Lisbon, Dublin, or Reykjavik? People are pissed. And they're not pissed about the recession. They're pissed because they're getting reamed and they know it. They're pissed about the policy.

So, is that where America is headed; massive public demonstrations and street violence?

[Demeter]

96. US largest mortgage firms penalized

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184054.html

The US Treasury has penalized America's three largest banks for failing to implement a government-sponsored program to modify mortgage loans for distressed homeowners.


Treasury officials said on Thursday that the three banks -- Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- have abused homeowners and violated the rules of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), The Huffington Post reported.

The initiative aims to lower monthly payments, reduce loan balances or enable distressed borrowers to sell their homes before they are seized by awarding a series of incentive payments to banks, investors and homeowners when foreclosures are averted.

The Treasury Department announced that it is withholding incentive payments for the three mortgage loan servicers until they substantially improve their performance in the HAMP...

WELL, THAT'S ONE WAY TO SHRINK THE DEFICIT... PARDON MY CYNICISM.

[Demeter]

104. Treasury Waves Wet Noodle at Big Banks Over HAMP Mortgage Mod Abuses

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/treasury-waives-wet-noodle-at-big-banks-over-hamp-mortgage-mod-abuses.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

YVES SMITH INTERPRETS ABOVE POST:

This latest move by the Treasury Department to appear to Do Something about Big Bad Banks is so off the charts pathetic that I am straining to find an adequate description. It isn’t merely ineffectual; it looks instead like a deliberate thumbing of the nose at the financier-afflicted public, with the Treasury and the mortgage industrial complex elbowing each other in the ribs and laughing uncontrollably at how they’ve made their point, that the public be damned, while observing proper bureaucratic forms in the process.

The latest measure is to withhold (as in merely delay) $24 million in payments to three big banks, Bank of America, Wells, and JP Morgan, for their abuses under the Obama mortgage modification program know as HAMP. That averages $8 million each. And since this is merely a delay, the cost to the bank is the cost of not having the money sooner. Since they can borrow at pretty much zero, the economic cost is so minuscule as to not be worth presenting to the public. The abusive late and junk fees on a single abused borrower (which are ultimately paid to the bank out of the foreclosure sale) are bigger than the monthly cost per bank of the embarrassing sanction imposed here.

To give you an idea of how utterly insulting this penalty is, we need to give a bit of background. If you’ve been paying any attention to the mortgage crisis, you’ve probably taken note of efforts by the Bush and Obama Administrations to pretend to be doing something about foreclosures. The problem is that neither was keen to do all that much. Both were unwilling to apply real pressure mortgage servicers to make more mortgage modifications. Yet nobody’s soft touch vulture investor Wilbur Ross has reported good success with deep principal mods, Indeed, the overwhelming majority of mortgage investors would greatly prefer them if borrowers were screened to eliminate those hopelessly beyond redemption. After all, a 30% to 40% loss on a mortgage mod is a hell of a lot better than a 50% to 75%+ loss on a foreclosure. And the damage to investors is only getting worse as more borrowers fight in court. I know of disputed foreclosures where the loss was 400%.

So instead, we’ve had a series of mod programs that have largely failed because they worked within a rigid and badly malfunctioning securitization model. The worst, in terms of collateral damage, was HAMP, because it was bloody clear servicers gamed the program. The banks falsely told borrowers they had to be in default to participates, kept losing paperwork of those who got trial mods, kept them at a lower payment level longer than the stipulated three months, never notified borrowers they would have to make up the shortfall plus late fees if they did not get a permanent mod, and led many borrowers who were rejected for permanent mods to believe they were going to be approved. And there was a common horror story too: borrowers who had been approved for permanent mods who nevertheless lost their homes because the servicers were using the so-called “dual track” approach, continuing to process the foreclosure while the modification was under consideration. Borrowers were advised to ignore legal notices when they called their servicer. Yet the notices were valid, and many borrowers lured into inaction by their bank lost their home unnecessarily, since the department that was handling the mod could not be bothered to call off the area grinding forward with the foreclosure, even when distraught borrowers pleaded for intervention... The states of Arizona and Nevada are suing Bank of America over its actions under HAMP, which violate consent decrees, and Arizona (and I assume Nevada, their lawsuits were broadly similar) ALSO sued Bofa for consumer fraud. Coming up with litigation strategies is over my pay grade, but truth in advertising is a Federal matter, and I’m sure there were other threats of litigation against servicers that Treasury in conjunction with other Federal agencies could have made if it had any real interest in bringing the banks to heel. I’m sure if Treasury had put on its thinking cap, it could have come up with a basis for inflicting some real pain on the banks over this cynical misconduct. Or they could threaten to audit servicers for compliance under the RESPA and the Truth in Lending Act. I’m certain they are a cesspool of violations....MORE

[Demeter]

97. Goldman investigated over £31m Libyan 'bribe'

DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU ALL, BUT I'M GETTING REALLY TIRED OF GOLDMAN, ALWAYS THERE ON THE SPOT WHEN MONEY IS MOVING FROM ONE UNLIKELY SPOT TO ANOTHER...OR COUNTRIES ARE GETTING BLOWN UP.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-investigated-over-16331m-libyan-bribe-2295344.html

Goldman Sachs' dealings with Muammar Gaddafi's regime have come under scrutiny from US regulators investigating whether they broke anti-bribery laws. The investment banking giant made the offer of a $50m (£31m) payment, which would have gone to the son-in-law of the state oil company boss, according to reports last week. Now it has emerged that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking over documents related to the plan.

The payment was suggested at fractious talks between Goldman and the Gaddafi administration's sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which was set up to invest hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenues. The LIA had given Goldman $1.3bn to make complicated currency bets and other derivative investments, but the bank had lost 98 per cent of the Libyan money when those bets turned spectacularly wrong. Such was the scramble to mollify the LIA that talks on how Goldman should appease Colonel Gaddafi's government were held at the highest level of the bank. Sources at the bank have said its executives at one point felt physically threatened. An offer was eventually made to the regime in Tripoli to take preference shares in Goldman. Goldman also agreed to pay a fee of $50m, which would have then been passed on to an outside adviser, Palladyne International Asset Management, which was run at the time by a relative of the state oil company's chief executive.

The SEC is examining paperwork related to the proposed settlement under a tough US anti-bribery law, which sets stiff penalties for bribery by any company operating in the US, regardless of where the corruption happened. It also does not require that a bribe was actually paid. The examination, revealed by The Wall Street Journal, has not progressed to a full-blown investigation.

Goldman said: "We are confident that nothing we did or proposed could have been a breach of any rule of regulation. We retained outside counsel, as is our normal practice for any transaction, to ensure we were compliant with all applicable rules."

[Demeter]

98. Goldman and Clive Capital try commods index

Goldman Sachs, the bank that popularised commodities investing among pension funds and other conservative money managers, is to launch a commodities index in conjunction with Clive Capital, the largest commodities hedge fund

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/16GV3A/87I64/18LGRF/8ACRN2/RF/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=12

[Demeter]

99. Trading in Eurozone periphery bonds at new lows

Trading volumes in eurozone government bonds issued by Greece, Ireland and Portugal have fallen to record lows as disagreements over another international bail-out for Greece unsettles investors and revives fears of a default

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/MSQNV5/K91WR/IY4DZD/A72N3K/VU/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=12

[Demeter]

100. The Green Revolution Backfires: Sweden’s Lesson for Real Sustainability

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/10-3

What if electric cars made pollution worse, not better? What if they increased greenhouse gas emissions instead of decreasing them? Preposterous you say? Well, consider what’s happened in Sweden.

Through generous subsidies, Sweden aggressively pushed its citizens to trade in their cars for energy efficient replacements (hybrids, clean diesel vehicles, cars that run on ethanol). Sweden has been so successful in this initiative that it leads the world in per capita sales of ‘green cars.’ To everyone’s surprise, however, greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s transportation sector are up...Or perhaps we should not be so surprised after all. What do you expect when you put people in cars they feel good about driving (or at least less guilty), which are also cheap to buy and run? Naturally, they drive them more. So much more, in fact, that they obliterate energy gains made by increased fuel efficiency.

We need to pay attention to this as GM and Nissan roll out their new green cars to great fanfare. The Chevy Volt, a hybrid with a lithium-ion battery, can go 35 miles on electric power alone (after charging over night, for example), and GM brags on its website that if you limit your daily driving to that distance, you can “commute gas-free for an average of $1.50 a day.” The Volt’s price is listed at a very reasonable $33K (if you qualify for the maximum $7500 in tax credits). The fully electric Nissan Leaf is advertised for an even more reasonable $26K (with qualifying tax credits, naturally). What a deal—and it’s good for you, too, the carmakers want you to know. As GM helpfully points out on its website, “Electricity is a cleaner source of power.”

[Demeter]

101. Blocking Elizabeth Warren By JOE NOCERA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/opinion/11nocera.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1307797219-6ZqDahKztstlvZ+cxQCsKw

It’s official: Elizabeth Warren will return to the torture chamber known as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 14. Earlier this week, Darrell Issa, the California Republican who is chairman of the committee, tweeted the news. Apparently, Democrats aren’t the only ones who use Twitter to harass women...The last time Warren appeared before the committee, on May 24, she was mauled by the Republicans in a brutal hearing during which a North Carolina freshman named Patrick McHenry twice accused her of lying, while conducting a Perry Mason-style interrogation (“Yes or no, Ms. Warren”) that was at once ludicrous and shameful. Afterward, Issa expressed outrage because she had dared to defend herself and demanded that she return for another round of browbeating. Hence, July 14.

Ostensibly, the House Republicans are outraged that Warren, in her capacity as a special adviser to the White House, offered “secret” counsel to the states’ attorneys general, who have been investigating the big foreclosure robo-signing scandal. Never mind that she has repeatedly acknowledged that she offered her advice, which they had asked for — and that there is nothing wrong with a federal official advising state officials.

No, the real reason Warren has become a piñata is that, as a Harvard law professor, she dreamed up the idea of a federal agency that could help prevent consumers of financial products — like, oh, predatory subprime mortgages — from being taken advantage of. Then she lobbied to turn it into reality, as part of the Dodd-Frank reform law. And now, working for the administration, she is busy setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will “go live” in less than six weeks. What’s worse, she’s been doing a pretty good job of it so far...Unfortunately, the president’s response has been to dither. Despite the impending start date for the bureau — and despite the fact that Warren is the clear and obvious choice to run it — he still hasn’t been able to pull the trigger. For months, there were rumblings that he would name Warren in a “recess appointment,” which wouldn’t require Senate confirmation. But that is simply not going to happen: There are parliamentary maneuvers that will allow the Senate to remain “in session” even when there are no actual senators in the vicinity...

In politics, there are certainly times when compromise is the right approach. But this is not one of those times. The agency needs to begin its life unafraid to do its job, which won’t happen if the White House backs down now. By contrast, nominating Elizabeth Warren, who is nothing if not unafraid, would send exactly the right signal...

[Demeter]

105. Michigan Court Relies on New York Trust Theory, Rules Loan Never Made it to Trust

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/michigan-court-relies-on-new-york-trust-theory-rules-loan-never-made-it-to-trust.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

ANOTHER FINE MESS...THE COMMENTS ARE EQUALLY INFORMATIVE