Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Mon 03.23.2009
Treasury's toxic asset plan could cost $1 trillion Administration rolling out plan to buy up to $1 trillion in toxic assets The Obama administration's latest attempt to tackle the banking crisis and get loans flowing to families and businesses will create a new government entity, the Public-Private Investment Program, to help purchase as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets on banks' books. The new effort, to be unveiled Monday, will be followed the next day with release of the administration's broad framework for overhauling the financial system to ensure that the current crisis -- the worst in seven decades -- is not repeated. A key part of that regulatory framework will give the government new resolution authority to take over troubled institutions that would pose a threat to the entire financial system if they failed.
New Gold Upleg After gold's breathtaking $38 surge in 15 minutes Wednesday, there is much renewed interest in the Ancient Metal of Kings. The Federal Reserve, which is clearly being run by lunatics, publicly announced it is going to create over a trillion dollars out of thin air to monetize US debt. This degree of pure monetary inflation is utterly unprecedented. Gold soared because it remains the best asset to own in inflationary times. Inflation is an immoral stealth tax levied on everyone. But it hits those of modest means the hardest, because rising everyday living expenses consume a higher proportion of their incomes. When the Fed injects fiat money into the economy, relatively more dollars chasing relatively fewer goods and services bid up prices on everything. But gold always stays ahead of the rising inflationary tide.
Gold May Rise on Demand for Dollar Alternative Gold may rise for a second straight week as the slumping dollar boosts demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Twenty-one of 28 traders, investors and analysts surveyed from Tokyo to Chicago on March 19 and March 20 advised buying gold, which rose 2.8 percent last week to $956.20 an ounce in New York. Five said to sell, and two were neutral.
Obama to Outline Regulation Changes to Avoid Crisis The Obama administration will this week outline regulatory changes aimed at avoiding a repeat of the financial crisis that's crippled the banking system and pushed the U.S. into the deepest recession since 1982. The proposals will address the risks that remain in financial regulation, an administration official said, including the need for an agency to have the power to resolve a breakdown at a major financial institution. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke two weeks ago called for regulators to be given the authority to seize such firms, in the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. already has for deposit-taking institutions.
Barack Obama appeals to the 'good guys' of Wall Street in $1 trillion rescue President turns the spotlight on financiers and reinforces support for Tim Geithner Barack Obama's Administration will announce its latest economic rescue plan today by offering private investors vast government-backed loans to buy as much as $1 trillion of toxic assets from America's stricken banks. The scheme, designed to help unfreeze the flow of credit for consumers, will be an important credibility test for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who has cut an increasingly forlorn and embattled figure in recent weeks. It will also turn the spotlight once more on Wall Street financiers, repeatedly castigated for helping to create the crisis, but whose participation and expertise are now needed to make the plan work.
Sen. Gregg says Obama budget will bankrupt US The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee says the Obama administration is on the right course to save the nation's financial system. But Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire also says President Barack Obama's massive budget proposal will bankrupt the country.
GOP predicts doomsday if Obama budget passed GOP lawmakers: Bankrupt US, weak dollar await country if Congress approves Obama's budget Congressional Republicans on Sunday predicted a doomsday scenario of crushing debt and eventual federal bankruptcy if President Barack Obama's massive spending blueprint wins passage. But a White House adviser dismissed the negative assessments, saying she is "incredibly confident" that the president's policies will "do the job" for the economy. In a TV interview, Obama himself laughed when discussing the dire state of parts of the economy -- and ascribed his laughter to "gallows humor." White House Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman Christina Romer insisted that the nation's flailing economy will be rebounding by 2010.
Obama On 60 Minutes: Interview Highlights 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft Interviewed The President At The White House On March 20, 2009 On Friday, March 20, 2009, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House. It was one of the longest interviews the president has granted since taking office.
Obama 60 Minutes Interview - part 1
Obama 60 Minutes Interview - part 2
Obama On AIG Anger, Recession, Challenges Also Tells 60 Minutes How He Is Adjusting To The Job, And His Family To The White House By most accounts, this past week was one of the most difficult in the young presidency of Barack Obama. At the heart of it all was the public upheaval over $165 million in bonuses paid to employees of AIG, a company largely responsible for bringing the world's financial system to its knees and now being propped up by U.S. taxpayers. The bonuses touched off a cultural war between Wall Street and Main Street, both of whose support the president needs to help stabilize the economy. After campaigning in California to drum up support for his $3.6 trillion budget, the president sat down with 60 Minutes in the Oval Office for a conversation about the AIG debacle, the economy, and getting the hang of the world's most difficult job.
Resistance grows to Obama's bigger government A public furor over big bonuses paid by firms bailed out with U.S. taxpayer money is fueling resistance to President Barack Obama's ambitious plans to extend government intervention in the U.S. private sector. Republican opponents say his commitment of huge sums to try to revive the ailing economy is driven by a philosophical belief in greater government intrusion in many areas, from healthcare to education, dubbing it socialism. Obama is pursuing these policies just 13 years after President Bill Clinton, a fellow Democrat, disarmed Republican opponents by declaring: "The era of big government is over."
Obama's toxic assets plan greeted with skepticism Skeptics worry that Obama's plan to buy up banks' toxic assets won't get credit flowing soon The Obama administration's latest plan to help banks get credit flowing again is drawing a tepid reaction from investors and academics, who say the proposal comes with too many strings attached and is unlikely to stimulate lending industrywide. And even if banks are willing to start lending more money, they wonder if many people will be able to take on more credit until the economy gets going again. "We went on a borrowing binge," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors. "Debt levels, especially in households, are too high or unmanageable." The plan Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner intends to announce Monday aims to create a new government entity -- the Public Investment Corp. -- to help buy up to $1 trillion in toxic assets on banks' books.
Treasury to detail toxic assets plan on Monday U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will announce details on Monday of the Obama administration's plans for removing so-called "toxic" assets from the banking system by enlisting private investors in the effort, the Treasury Department said on Sunday. Treasury said Geithner will hold a briefing at 8:45 a.m. EST on Monday to talk about wide-ranging efforts to stabilize the financial system through pumping cash into faltering banks and its other efforts to try to increase lending. "Tomorrow, Treasury will release details of the next component: the Public Private Investment Program, which will invest alongside private investors in funds that will provide a market for the legacy loans and securities that currently burden the financial system," Treasury said in a statement.
Toxic assets plan is big White House test The Obama administration faces its latest moment of truth on Monday when Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, unveils a plan to take hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic assets off banks' balance sheets. Monday's announcement, the success of which will help determine whether an increasingly besieged administration regains full credibility in its handling of the financial crisis, follows a weekend of frantic leaking, with both the Treasury and the White House denying being the sources. The build-up to Monday's plan, in which the Treasury will put $75bn to $100bn of troubled asset relief funds into a public private investment programme, resembles what happened before Mr Geithner's previous attempt last month, which was attacked in the markets for lacking detail.
Bank will need to act fast to prick inflation balloon Next week, for the first time since February 1960, all of 49 years ago, Britain's most-watched inflation measure will go negative. The retail prices index (RPI) is expected to be 0.5% down on a year earlier, so watch out for the flood of articles and reports it provokes on deflationary Britain. It will not end there. Negative RPI readings will be with us for the rest of this year, culminating in a deflation number of between 2.5% and 3% by September. This bout of deflation is due to various factors, including the unwinding of last year's record oil prices and sharply falling mortgage rates and house prices.
Barack Obama's $1 trillion 'detox' AMERICA will this week unveil plans to flush $1 trillion of toxic assets out of the country's financial system in President Barack Obama's latest attempt to kick-start the economy. Timothy Geithner, Obama's embattled Treasury secretary, will ask investors to form partnerships with the American government to buy the troubled mortgages and other bad loans from financial institutions. The ambitious plan is aimed at freeing up frozen credit markets. Low-interest loans are likely to be offered by the government to encourage investors, while an auction of the assets will attempt to fetch the highest price for taxpayers, who will be paying for the bulk of the plan.
U.S. Rounding Up Investors to Buy Bad Bank Assets Obama administration officials worked Sunday to persuade reluctant private investors to buy as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and related assets from banks, with government help. The talks came a day before the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, planned to unveil the details of the administration's long-awaited plan to purchase troubled assets, meant to remove them from the balance sheets of banks and, in turn, spur banks to lend more money to consumers and companies. The plan relies on private investors to team up with the government to relieve banks of assets tied to loans and mortgage-linked securities of unknown value. There have been virtually no buyers of these assets because of their uncertain risk.
The Geithner Plan FAQ Q: What is the Geithner Plan? A: The Geithner Plan is a trillion-dollar operation by which the U.S. acts as the world's largest hedge fund investor, committing its money to funds to buy up risky and distressed but probably fundamentally undervalued assets and, as patient capital, holding them either until maturity or until markets recover so that risk discounts are normal and it can sell them off--in either case at an immense profit. Q: What if markets never recover, the assets are not fundamentally undervalued, and even when held to maturity the government doesn't make back its money? A: Then we have worse things to worry about than government losses on TARP-program money--for we are then in a world in which the only things that have value are bottled water, sewing needles, and ammunition. . . . .
Toxic Asset Plan Foresees Big Subsidies for Investors The Treasury Department is expected to unveil early next week its long-delayed plan to buy as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and related assets from financial institutions, according to people close to the talks. The plan is likely to offer generous subsidies, in the form of low-interest loans, to coax investors to form partnerships with the government to buy toxic assets from banks. To help protect taxpayers, who would pay for the bulk of the purchases, the plan calls for auctioning assets to the highest bidders.
Fed Adopts Quantitative Inflation The big story of the week was the U.S. Fed's head long fling over the cliff into Quantitative Easing by printing more than $1 trillion (electronically) , this is on top of the $800 billion already printed on the sly as the Fed buys toxic junk such as the weeks announcement of buying $1.25 trillion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage backed securities, as well as other junk bonds, on top of $300 billion of US Government bonds to help finance the ever growing budget deficit. The implications of this extra supply of dollars is inflationary that devalues the value of all dollars. I have already warned indepth of the consequences of Quantitative Inflation so won't repeat it here. Meanwhile the stealth bull markets spike higher left many analysts scrambling to cover their backs early week with analysis that typically suggested both that the Low 'could be in' and then again it 'could not be in'. Though the sell off late week again started to see a reversion towards the bearish mean.
U.S. Central Credit Union may form "bad bank" Two days after regulators seized the largest U.S. corporate credit union, the newly installed CEO said he is considering a variety of options, including setting up a "bad bank," to handle a mixture of troubled mortgage assets. Several options are on the table at the $34 billion-asset U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, said new CEO James Nance, who quit as chief administrative officer at Icap Capital Markets Llc in New Jersey to helm the Lenexa, Kansas-based institution at the request of regulators. In addition to setting up a separate entity, a so-called "bad bank," to take toxic assets off the books of U.S. Central, Nance told Reuters in an interview that he will look at options for securitizing the troubled assets in ways that would allow for them to be held for an extended periods, and he will explore the sale of certain assets to non-credit union buyers.
It Ain't Gonna Work III Back in October when that stimulus package was being discussed I wrote a couple of articles, which were posted here, stating that it "Ain't Gonna Work." This past Wednesday the Fed announced their latest intentions with a plan to buy $300 billion in long-term Treasuries and $750 billion of mortgage-backed securities. I'm now beginning to wonder if the powers that be are really in their minds trying to "fix" things or if they are actually trying to destroy the dollar, the free markets and perhaps even the nation. To be honest, the latter is starting to make more sense to me because surely there is enough intelligence in Washington to understand the potential consequences of these actions. In any event, in the wake of this news the equity markets surged, the dollar sold off and commodities rallied. Hip, Hip, Hurray. Hip, Hip, Hurray. It's 2007 all over again, or is it?
Systemic Failure By Patrick J. Buchanan As the U.S. financial crisis broadens and deepens, wiping out the wealth and savings of tens of millions, destroying hopes and dreams, it is hard not to see in all of this history's verdict upon this generation. We have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. For how did this befall us, save through decisions that brushed aside lessons that history and experience had taught our fathers? It all began with the corruption called sub-prime mortgages. The motivation was not wicked. Democrats wanted to raise home ownership among African-Americans from 50 percent to the 75 percent of white folks. Rove Republicans wanted to do the same for Hispanics.
Dollar Concerns Are Real Gold surged 8% Thursday (as is the norm, the far smaller market that is silver surged by even more and was up by 13.3%) as the shock Federal Reserve announcement led to concerns regarding the dollar and the inflationary implications of massive money printing and debasement of the currency. The dollar has fallen sharply against all currencies and particularly against the finite commodity and currency of gold which cannot be debased. In just two days the dollar has fallen from below 1.30 (EUR/USD) to over 1.37 (EUR/USD) despite concerns regarding the European economy. Concerns about the dollar are justified and real. This is likely no short term weakness in the dollar indeed the dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world is increasingly coming into question in an increasingly multipolar world.
Inflation: Making Sure "It" Happens Everywhere "Gold and the Euro just hooked up together again. But for how long depends on central-bank policy..." SO BEN BERNANKE SAYS (see next link) the United States has plunged into a deflationary depression. Really, that's what Wednesday's Fed announcement said, shouting it loud and shouting it proud. Because Bernanke's deflation-prevention policies have failed. So he's gone to applying the cure instead. "The US government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many US dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost."
Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. November 21, 2002 Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here
Agenda on track despite worsening deficits President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday. The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama's budget than the new administration predicted just last month - a deficit $2.3 trillion worse. It's a prospect even the president's own budget director called unsustainable. In his White House run, Obama assailed the economic policies of his predecessor, but the eye-popping deficit numbers threaten to swamp his ambitious agenda of overhauling health care, exploring new energy sources and enacting scores of domestic programs.
Worries Voiced Over Global Economy The global economy is on pace to shrink by 1 percent to 2 percent this year, the head of the World Bank said Saturday. Speaking at the Brussels Forum on geopolitical problems, the bank's president, Robert B. Zoellick, said that 2009 would be a "dangerous year" as the global economy wrestles with its first recession in more than 60 years. "We haven't seen a figure like that globally since World War II, which really means since the Great Depression," he said. Global trade is set to slide the most in 80 years as demand dries up, with East Asia being the hardest-hit region. The World Bank has forecast a 2.1 percent decline in global exports this year, which would be the first such drop since 1982.
UN panel calls for council to replace G20 The Group of 20 should be replaced by a new Global Economic Council, an advisory panel of senior international economists has said. Under the panel's proposals, the council, which would be a United Nations body, would become the main forum for setting the agenda for worldwide economic and financial policy. The proposal, made by an 18-member UN commission headed by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-prizewinning economist, will be raised at next week's expanded G20 summit in London, at which heads of state will debate a global response to the world financial crisis. It is part of a draft 10-point plan put forward by the panel, appointed last October by the 192-member UN General Assembly, to study reform of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The team includes academics, central bank officials, and former and serving ministers from Japan, western Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
The Mother of all Bells There is an old adage on Wall Street that no one rings a bell at major market tops or bottoms. That may be true in normal times, but as many have noticed, we are now completely through the looking glass. In this parallel reality, Ben Bernanke has just rung the loudest bell ever heard in the foreign exchange and government debt markets. Investors who ignore the clanging do so at their own peril. The bell's reverberations will be felt by everyday Americans, whose lives are about to change in ways few can imagine. While nearly every facet of America's economy has been devastated over the past six months, our national currency has thus far skipped through the carnage with nary a scratch. Ironically, the U.S dollar has been the beneficiary of the global economic crises which the United States set in motion. As a result, our economy has thus far been spared the full force of the storm.
Obama says would not accept Geithner resignation President Barack Obama on Saturday stepped up his weeklong defense of much-criticized Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, saying he would not accept his resignation even if it was tendered. It came ahead of a critical week for Geithner, who is expected to unveil his much-anticipated bank bailout plan and flesh out the administration's proposals for financial regulatory reform when he appears before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Obama said in an interview with CBS television network's "60 Minutes" program that if Geithner tried to quit, he would tell him, "Sorry buddy, you've still got the job."
Ron Paul talks AIG Bonuses on CNN American Morning 03/20/2009
AIG bonus estimates grow $53 million Company paid $218 million, not $165 million, Conn. attorney general says The attorney general of Connecticut said Saturday that he is asking American International Group Inc. why documents appear to show the company paid $53 million more in bonuses to its financial products division than previously reported. Documents turned over late Friday show AIG paid $218 million in bonuses last weekend, higher than the $165 million that was previously disclosed, said the office of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who had issued a subpoena. Bonuses were "showered like confetti" on AIG employees, Blumenthal said.
Protesters visit AIG officials' lavish Conn. homes A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout. About 40 protesters sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the $165 million in bonuses to do more to help families. "We think $165 million could be used in a more appropriate way to keep people in their homes, create more jobs and health care," said Emeline Bravo-Blackport, a gardener.
Bailout discontent hits Boston streets Hub protest centers on actions by AIG, Bank of America Umbrella in hand, Heleodora Caraballo marched through the drizzle yesterday afternoon outside Bank of America's downtown Boston offices to protest what she called the misuse of taxpayer money by failing financial institutions. "There's a lot of workers being left without jobs and ways to support their families," Caraballo, a contracted janitor at Logan International Airport, said in Spanish. "The [bailout] money belongs to the public, the workers."
Congress looking at power to seize big firms Giving the government new powers to seize big troubled companies became the new focus of debate in Congress on Thursday as lawmakers and the administration begin efforts to overhaul the nation's financial rule book. The head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the government's strategy in the financial crisis of bailing out huge institutions deemed "too big to fail" must be replaced. FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair called for a new system of supervision that prevents institutions from taking on excessive risk and becoming so large their failure would threaten the financial system. A mechanism is needed to resolve troubled financial institutions similar to what the FDIC does with federally insured banks and thrifts, she said.
Anything But Decoupling . . . . Just two months ago, the IMF predicted world output would increase by 0.5%. But in its report drawn up for the G20 group of finance ministers, the IMF now says that the whole world economy will shrink, and predicts that the advanced economies will suffer a decline in output of between 3% and 3.5% in 2009, and barely grow in 2010, with growth of between 0% and 0.5%. The IMF says this will happen despite a big fiscal stimulus from many G20 countries designed to boost growth. It says that the G20 as a whole is adding 1.8% of GDP ($780bn) to boost growth this year - but that the EU is lagging behind with only 1%. And it warns that the UK is building up the biggest fiscal deficit amongst all the G20 countries, which will amount to 11% of GDP by 2010. Financial crisis unresolved
Obama Challenges the Law of Markets In the public mind, recessions are ascribed to insufficient consumption. Members of the public can hardly be held accountable for their erroneous thinking when we consider that every media outlet on the planet seems to regurgitate the same error, including vulgar Keynesians. However, more intelligent Keynesians will point an accusing finger at the "animal spirits" of businessmen, blaming them for investment being volatile. But this is just a flashier version of the underconsumption theory that argues that insufficient demand is what brings on recessions. If this be so then the solution is obvious: pump up demand. In plain English, increase the money supply.
2 corporate credit unions taken over by government Regulators take over 2 big wholesale credit unions, seek to stabilize corporate credit unions Federal regulators on Friday seized control of two large institutions that provide wholesale financing for U.S. credit unions, a move they say was needed to stabilize the credit union system. The National Credit Union Administration said it has taken over and put into conservatorship the two corporate credit unions, U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, based in Lenexa, Kan., and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union, in San Dimas, Calif. U.S. Central has about $34 billion in assets while Western Corporate, known as WesCorp, has an estimated $23 billion in assets. A conservatorship enables the government to operate a financial institution. Corporate credit unions provide financing and investment services to the much larger population of retail credit unions. Some of the 28 corporate credit unions in the U.S. have sustained steep losses on paper from the depressed value of the mortgage-linked securities they hold.
Washington Mutual sues FDIC for over $13 billion Washington Mutual Inc, the failed U.S. savings and loan, has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for well over $13 billion in connection with the loss of its banking operations, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the thrift's former parent accused the FDIC of having on January 23 made a "cryptic disallowance" of its claims, prompting the lawsuit. It also accused the FDIC of agreeing to an unreasonably low price in arranging the a $1.9 billion sale of the banking business to JPMorgan on September 25, when regulators seized Washington Mutual and appointed the FDIC as receiver.
Warning over cuts in credit card lines Banks trying to reduce their exposure to losses on credit card loans are driving some borrowers deeper into trouble, say credit counsellors and analysts in the US. Major card issuers such as Bank of America, Citigroup and American Express have reacted to the economic crisis and rising credit card defaults by raising interest rates, closing inactive accounts and paring credit lines. When a bank cuts a borrower's credit line to lower its potential exposure, it can drive down the borrower's credit score, even if he or she has paid all their bills on time in the past. A lower credit score can prompt other lenders to cut the borrower's access to credit and to raise interest rates.
In credit drought, U.S. car dealers battle to survive Deep in the last stronghold of the struggling U.S. auto industry, Rosario Criscuolo says he owes the survival of his business to Toyota Motor Corp. "If it weren't for Toyota, I'd be gone," said the owner of Spartan Auto Group, which runs three auto dealerships selling Toyota, Lexus, Infiniti, Volkswagen and Mazda brand cars. "Without them I'd be selling papers on the corner." To fund the $25 million worth of gleaming new cars at his showrooms, including here in Michigan's capital, Criscuolo needs floorplan financing, or inventory loans.
Americans fear home price drop accelerating Americans fear home prices will drop more sharply in the coming year, despite government efforts to resuscitate the battered real estate sector, according to a poll released on Friday. U.S. homeowners surveyed by Reuters and University of Michigan predicted their home values would fall by 2.2 percent in the year ahead, the biggest anticipated decline in the past few years. This predicted decline in March was steeper than the expected average fall of 1.9 percent in February.
Trade Barriers Rise as the Recession's Grip Tightens After repeated pledges by world leaders to avoid erecting trade barriers, protectionism is on the march, provoking nasty trade disputes and undermining efforts to plot a coordinated response to the deepest global economic downturn since World War II. From a looming battle with China over tariffs on carbon-intensive goods to a spat over Mexican trucks using American roads, barriers are going up around the world. As the recession's grip tightens, these pressures are likely to intensify, several experts said. The surge in protectionism is casting a shadow over an economic summit meeting of world leaders scheduled for London on April 2. At the last such gathering, in Washington in November, former President George W. Bush persuaded the Group of 20 members to commit to protecting free trade - whatever the pressures caused by faltering economies and lost jobs. The members include industrialized and developing nations, and the European Union.
Office staff warned of confrontation as City braces for mass G20 protests Police forecast transport paralysis in capital as campaigners insist demonstrations against globalisation and climate change will be peaceful Office workers face chaos next week with swaths of London in security lockdown for the G20 summit and warnings that bankers will be targeted in a series of protests aimed at causing maximum disruption. Staff in the City are being advised to dress down and postpone non-essential meetings amid fears that they will be forced to run the gauntlet of protesters. Thousands of G20 Meltdown campaign posters show a mannequin wearing a suit being hanged, while an anarchist website has the slogan: "Burn a banker!"
Orlando 'Tea Party' rally draws more than 4,000 Singer Lloyd Marcus told the crowd assembled in Lake Eola Park on Saturday that he was going to give them his take on the first days of the Obama administration. Then he shrieked. That pretty much summed up the mood in the park Saturday afternoon, when more than 4,000 people attended the Orlando Tea Party, a conservative rally aimed at expressing discontent with Washington.
GM, Chrysler May Need More Aid Than Requested General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC may need "considerably" more than the $21.6 billion in aid they requested, which was based on optimistic recovery plans, said Steven Rattner, the Treasury's chief auto adviser. President Barack Obama's auto task force is assessing proposals from GM and Chrysler to decide whether to recommend U.S. assistance or tip the carmakers into bankruptcy. Rattner made the comments yesterday on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," airing this weekend. The task force will give its "sense of direction" by March 31, Rattner said. The companies have received $17.4 billion since December and asked for the additional $21.6 billion in aid last month, an amount that depends on achieving turnaround plans that are "somewhat ambitious," Rattner said.
Daimler to Sell $2.7 Billion in New Stock to Abu Dhabi Daimler, the German maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, said Sunday that it would sell about 1.95 billion euros worth of new shares of stock to Abu Dhabi, making the emirate its largest shareholder at a time of extreme hardship for the global auto industry. Aabar Investments, the fund of the Abu Dhabi government, and Daimler said in a statement that the injection of cash was worth $2.7 billion and that it "further strengthens Daimler's sound capital base and offers additional flexibility to invest in new automotive technologies." Automakers worldwide are suffering their worst slump in decades. European sales fell 18.3 percent in February from a year earlier, despite an increase in Germany that resulted from a government tax incentive.
Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama "ignoramus" Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America. "He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region. Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
Russian planes again fly over U.S. Navy ships Russian military aircraft flew just 500 feet over two U.S. Navy ships this week as the ships participated in a joint military exercise with South Korea in the Sea of Japan, according to U.S. military officials. On Monday, two Russian Ilyushin IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft, known as "Mays," overflew the U.S. aircraft carrier Stennis while it was in international waters in the Sea of Japan. The Russian aircraft flew about 500 feet over the ship, lower than other flights the Russians have made over U.S. ships in the past year.
N. Korea Says It Is Holding Reporters North Korea confirmed Saturday that it had detained two American journalists on charges of "illegally intruding" into the North through its border with China. The journalists, Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, both working for Current TV, were on a reporting trip along the border when they were detained by North Korean border guards, according to human rights activists and a South Korean news report. Their colleague, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide were reported to have been detained by Chinese border guards. "A competent organ is now investigating the case," the North's official news agency, KCNA, said. The terse dispatch, which gave no details, was the first confirmation by North Korea of the arrests. On Friday, Washington said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to free the two journalists, who had traveled to the border area to report on North Korean refugees in China, according to Chun Ki-won, a Christian clergyman in Seoul who helped arrange their trip.
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