Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Wed 01.06.2009
Senate Health-Care Bill Provision Would Make it Impossible for Future Congresses to Repeal Parts of Bill A provision deep within the Senate’s 2,000-page health-care overhaul bill would make it impossible, once approved, for the legislation to be repealed or changed by future Congresses -- a provision that a Senate Republican and a conservative analyst say is unconstitutional. On page 1,020, the bill states: “It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.”
Democratic Leaders Plan Secret Health Reform Deliberations Despite their claims to the contrary, the way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have handled the healthcare bill has been anything but transparent. And, if the left-wing blogosphere is to be believed, the two congressional leaders intend to keep the deliberations secret as they try to merge the House and Senate versions of the legislation into something that will pass both chambers. The Talking Points Memo website reported Monday that Democrats in both the House and Senate are saying the process will likely follow the path of the House taking up the Senate-passed legislation, amending it and sending it back to the Senate, which will have to pass it again. "This process cuts out the Republicans," a House Democratic aide told TPM, indicating the congressional majority intended to make sure the Republican minority would "not have a motion to recommit opportunity."
Willem Buiter warns of massive dollar collapse Americans must prepare themselves for a massive collapse in the dollar as investors around the world dump their US assets, a former Bank of England policymaker has warned. The long-held assumption that US assets - particularly government bonds - are a safe haven will soon be overturned as investors lose their patience with the world's biggest economy, according to Willem Buiter. Professor Buiter, a former Monetary Policy Committee member who is now at the London School of Economics, said this increasing disenchantment would result in an exodus of foreign cash from the US.
America Rising: An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians We elected you on a promise of hope and change. We regret it. In 2010, we are taking our country back. Blue collar democrats, independents, and conservatives. We love our country. We are proud of our founders. And we will fight for our traditions. We don't want your revolution.
Democrats Brace for Year of Living Dangerously From Afghanistan to jobs, there are big risks ahead for the ruling party and President Obama, says Bloomberg's Al Hunt This year will be a difficult one for Democrats. The only issue is how tough. If conditions and circumstances take a negative turn, Democrats could lose 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and more than a half-dozen in the Senate in the November midterm elections. With this prospect, any lingering clout enjoyed by President Barack Obama would evaporate.
It Begins: Dorgan says he will not seek re-election in 2010 North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan says he will not seek re-election to the Senate in 2010, a surprise announcement that could give Republicans an opportunity to pick up a seat from the Republican-leaning state. Dorgan, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992 after serving a dozen years in the U.S. House, said he reached the decision after discussing his future with family over the holidays.
Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rising Fast The number of Americans filing for personal bankruptcy rose by nearly a third in 2009, a surge largely driven by foreclosures and job losses. And more people are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which liquidates assets to pay off some debts and absolves the filers of others. That is significant because a 2005 overhaul of federal bankruptcy laws aimed to encourage Chapter 13 filings, which force consumers to sign onto debt-repayment plans in exchange for keeping certain assets.
Class Warfare American Style Matt Taibbi's reaction to the ZeroHedge story with regard to Turbo Tim's lifting of the government support on Christmas Eve for the GSE's was exactly my own. You can read it in its entirety here. What he does not overtly say is that this is class warfare, and it is becoming worse in the US than at any time since the 1930's. And the outcome of this will be a fundamental test of the US commitment to its republic. The media stokes the viewing public into emotionally-based and virulently distracting arguments about liberal versus conservative, while the gentried class skins them all alive. One only has to watch the 'news shows' on American television to see the lack of real content and discussion, with diametrically opposed 'strategists' hurling sound bytes at each other with all the depth of a school yard standoff.
America is losing the free world Ever since 1945, the US has regarded itself as the leader of the “free world”. But the Obama administration is facing an unexpected and unwelcome development in global politics. Four of the biggest and most strategically important democracies in the developing world – Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey – are increasingly at odds with American foreign policy. Rather than siding with the US on the big international issues, they are just as likely to line up with authoritarian powers such as China and Iran.
Where Are The Damn Handcuffs? If you're not mad enough to contemplate the use of your pitchfork and torch after reading this, you are unfit to be an American and should immediately book yourself on a one-way flight - to Yemen. . . . . . . . . Now here's the problem. We were later told that the FDIC would not allow the banks to game the system like this. That was a lie too. It’s “absolutely ridiculous” that banks, which were expected to reduce their holding of such volatile mortgage securities, bought them before the government program was running and may now profit, said Michael Schlachter, managing director of Wilshire Associates, the Santa Monica, California-based investment-consulting firm. “Some of them created this mess, and they are making a killing undoing it.”The people involved need to be indicted for looting the Treasury and Geithner along with Sheila Bair must be removed from office for permitting it, after BOTH said it would not happen. They lied - period.
The Gates of Hell Have Opened The abyss is widening, many have already fallen in. The Fat Boys at Goldman say they are doing God's work, do they really believe that. Maybe they know dark secrets we are not privy to. What does God's work entail? Stopping fear and panic? Holding up asset prices and presenting the illusion of a stable, recovering economy? If they fail, then hell will follow.
Annus Horribilis Now that 2009 has passed into history, analysts have flooded the public with their opinions on how the events of the past year will impact the coming years. While most are optimistic, I feel that last year's developments have greatly exaggerated the imbalances in the U.S. economy. Although we may see a temporary respite from the turbulence, these mistakes will hinder our long-term viability. I fear that we have gone down a road that will destroy the value of the dollar and may even threaten the political stability of the United States.
China to control gold prices in 2010 How will India's reluctance to continue its gold buying spree affect the global bullion market? This is the question haunting many analysts across the globe as the world's numero uno consumer of gold, India, posts a huge fall in gold imports in 2009. But, the ray of hope for the bullion market is that China has fast emerged as the leader in gold buying. In fact, in 2009 China has pipped India to the post in gold purchases. Chinese New Year gold rush has already begun, and robust demand looks likely to continue through 2010. So, in the coming years, analysts will be watching China, instead of India, to make their decisions on investments in gold.
China to see rising gold sales in 2010 As a solid, tangible, intrinsically valuable store of wealth, gold will be increasingly popular in China with the nation soon set to surpass India as the biggest consumer, the China Daily reported Wednesday. China is already the largest gold producer in the world with an output of around 282.504 tons in the first 11 months of 2009. The figure represents a 14.6 percent increase over the same period in 2008, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on its website Tuesday. Miners expanded output last year after bullion prices soared to record highs, with production alone reaching 27.952 tons, the newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.
Gold rises and dollar falls amid global recovery signs Gold rose as the US dollar fell yesterday and prospects for a global economic recovery encouraged investors to favour riskier assets over the greenback. Spot gold hit a three-week high at $1,127.70 and was bid at $1,125.65 an ounce at 13.07 GMT, against $1,121 late in New York on Monday. Platinum and palladium rose to their highest in well over a year on hopes the economic recovery will lift demand and the launch of new exchange-traded products backed by the white metals in the United States.
Gold to hit $1,300 by 2012: RBS A number of industry analysts have suggested that Gold Prices will remain intrinsically linked with the fortunes of the US dollar. James Moore, an analyst at London-based TheBullionDesk.com, mentioned in a recent report that Gold Prices could expect to continue to rise provided the dollar remains weak, according to Bloomberg. He said: "The weaker dollar and broad commodity gains should continue to push gold higher in coming sessions. The market should continue to be underpinned by investment and physical dip-buying." Mr Moore's observations are supported by Jon Nadler, a senior analyst with Kitco Metals Inc. in Montreal, who said in a report that Gold Prices depended on variances in the value of the US dollar.
Peter Schiff on CNBC 04 January 2010
Gold goes on the offence in 2010 Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's to the inferno the paperbugs now go. Gold kicked off the first day of trading in 2010 by taking the gold shorty pants to the cleaners. Then the woodshed. The COT report released yesterday showed the fundsters dumping another 8000 gold longs into weakness in failure, while the banksters booked profit on about the same number of their shorts.
Three Charts: Gold, Silver, Dollar It will be interesting to see how the Fed and Treasury juggle the various markets that do not play well together, being stocks, dollar, and Treasuries, and of course those nasty reminders of dollar mortality, gold and silver. Although the ADP report tomorrow may be a bit light, we think the BLS will do its duty and show us a jobs positive report on Friday.
Gold: Above $1,133, next target comes at $1,169 - Oil N' Gold Gold prices have resumed uptrend after December's retreat, and XAU/USD has reached levels at $1,128 with intraday bias on the upside, targeting $ 1,133 level, according to the Oil N' Gold Technical analysis team. Gold's rebound from $1,075 is still in progress, according to the Oil N' Gold Team and further appreciation above $1,133 would target 1,169 area: "Intraday bias remains on the upside for 38.2% retracement of 1227.5 to 1075.2 at 1133.4 first. Break there will target 61.8% retracement at 1169.3 next."
Current status of gold and dollar Trades Gold and the US$ usually move in opposite directions. In recent months, however, gold has done a good job of breaking out in the positive direction in almost all currencies around the world. Right now we are in a position that is very hard to analyze without some tools and that's what I'll try to show you today (based on close 1/4/2010). First, let's look at the U.S. $$ in terms of short and medium term potential
Glittering gold scales new peak The yellow metal's allure as a solid, tangible, intrinsically valuable store of wealth seems to be growing further in China with the nation soon set to surpass India as the biggest consumer. China is already the largest gold producer in the world with an output of around 282.504 tons in the first 11 months of 2009. That figure represents a 14.6 percent increase over the same period in 2008, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on its website yesterday. Miners expanded output last year after bullion prices soared to record highs, with production in November alone reaching 27.952 tons, said the ministry.
Gold: Place to go when you're scared: Milchan Even though the year 2009 saw billionaires' wealth rising, many of them are still not sure of the prospects in store for them in 2010. According to a Forbes survey of billionaires from around the world on topics ranging from global warming and the weakening dollar to the price of gold and best places to invest in 2010, no unanimous opinion was there on global economy. Nearly all of the billionaires quizzed a year ago had predicted an economic recovery, but this year's participants were less unanimous.
Outlook for 2010 & A World First Welcome to 2010 and a happy New Year to all from the GoldOz team. I have been looking at the trends, contemplating chart technicals and talking to some equity & finance analysts. This year will initially see a continuation of the trends established in 2009. I understand that this seems like a bland statement. The stock market reads future trends and outcomes at times and has factored (government sponsored) growth this year. Thanks to the vast overflow and after effect of the stimulus capital flows this will come to pass initially and therefore I consider that the highest probability is that the stock market rally will continue in the first half.
Why Jim Rogers and Nouriel Roubini fight over gold It takes serious guts to call a top in a nine-year bull market for gold, and a flair for controversy to do so while suggesting that those who think otherwise "delude themselves." That is precisely what upstart uber-economist Nouriel Roubini has done, but I predict he will find himself gobbling down a guru-sized slice of humble pie as subsequent chapters of gold's epic revaluation unfold.
Fed Statements Clear Any Doubts of Gold Hitting $1,700 Apparently, the Federal Reserve does not believe that the low interest rate policy caused the housing bubble. Previously it informed us that low interest rate policies did not cause the technology stock market bubble. We are now to understand that low interest rates do not inflate the prices of any assets. On some days this author does have doubts about $Gold exceeding $1,700. Then, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve makes a speech such as he did. All doubts flee, and belief in Gold as an investment savior is renewed. One has to wonder after such a speech if no greater waste of money exists than that spent on an education in economics.
Gold Rises Slightly, Silver Jumps 1.9% New York gold futures advanced modestly on Tuesday as a seesawing US dollar eventually tilted stronger toward the end of the trading day, curbing the yellow metal’s appeal and cutting into its earlier gains. Silver shined the brightest, jumping 1.9 percent. Platinum rose 0.9 percent. In other markets, crude oil advanced for the ninth consecutive session while US stocks ended mixed with narrow movement.
Dollar Trades Near Two-Week Low Against Yen on Yield Outlook The dollar traded near the lowest in almost two weeks against the yen as signs of an uneven recovery in the U.S. weakened speculation the Federal Reserve will make an early end to its efforts to keep interest rates low. The greenback fell the most against the yen in four weeks yesterday as the yield premium of 10-year Treasuries over similar-dated Japanese bonds narrowed before a U.S. report that economists said will show jobless claims rose. New Zealand’s dollar retreated from a six-week high after Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest dairy producer, said the price of whole milk powder fell for the first time in six months.
The Federal Reserve Needs More Money The Federal Reserve needs more money to continue purchasing US government debt, the aggregate amount of which is soaring because of ballooning deficits. But the Fed has a problem. The US government doesn't pay its bills with 'cash currency', the green paper Americans carry around in their pocket. So the Fed cannot crank up the printing press like central banks did in Weimar Germany in the 1920s, or in recent years, in Zimbabwe. The US government needs 'deposit currency' – or 'electronic' currency, to put it into Mr. Bernanke's terms – so that it can pay its bills by check or wire transfer. Payment for goods and services by deposit currency are made through the banking system, and nearly all commerce in the United States is conducted in this way. So where will the Federal Reserve get enough deposit currency to enable it to continue purchasing US government debt?
Inflationary Forces and a Tectonic Crack in U.S. Treasuries It seems that the long-awaited crack in US Treasuries is opening up before our eyes. For some time now (actually for the last 8 months) we have been bemused as to who would “logically” or “rationally” lend the US Government funds for 30 years and be compensated by less than 4.5% p.a! At that return, it simply says that the actions the US Treasury and Fed have undertaken over the last 2 years will have absolutely no impact on inflation!
Charting the Stealth Inflation Ahead Inflation has become the financial wolf that never came. But the danger is still there. And it may come in sheep's clothing. I'll sum up my point upfront: The most likely form of coming inflation is not high official CPI or interest rates, but high food and energy prices that are invisible to policy makers and their think-tanks. Now on to the long version. What the western governments have done in 08/09 are primarily two things:
Massive injection of liquidity and expansion of money supply, to partly compensate for financial deliveraging.
Massive transfer of private debt to public, to temporarily lessen the perception of credit risk in the system.
The Futility Economy It's the first business day of the new year and oil is trading above $80 a barrel, which means the price has re-entered the danger zone where it can crush industrial economies. This is a central element of the predicament we find ourselves in. The US economy is essentially a Happy Motoring economy. During the whole nervous period since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, American gasoline consumption hardly went down at all, though so many other activities collapsed, from house-building to trucking. Yesterday, The Seattle Times published a story with the idiotic headline: Oil Touches $80 on US Economy, Demand Optimism. Apparently, they think high oil prices are "a good sign."
Potential for Double Dip Increases as Stimulus Fades Last month we were skeptical of all the touting regarding the Holiday season and the possibility that it would save the day. The final verdict is that sales were not as bad as we expected, but nothing to cheer about either. The MasterCard SpendingPulse data (one of many data points) adjusted by the extra shopping day this season indicates growth of about 1% YoY, or slightly negative in real terms. So much for a strong season! After looking into the abyss and even with massive stimulus, we are only a few feet away from it. As the stimulus fades, the probability of a double dip increases.
Global Stocks Bear Market Rally Will End with Japan as Hyperinflation Rips Economy to Pieces Let me welcome you to a new year of Outside the Box. I doubt we will have trouble finding interesting commentary this year, as there are many things that could happen that demand our attention. We start with a short column by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the London Telegraph giving us a quick run down of the problems faced around the globe. He thinks the #1 problem is Japan, and I more or less agree.
China Think Tank Calls for One-Off 10% Rise in Yuan BEIJING -- Now is a good time to reform the yuan exchange-rate mechanism and allow a one-off 10% appreciation in the Chinese currency against the U.S. dollar, a prominent Chinese think tank said Wednesday, as it also warned the domestic economy is at risk of overheating this year. A 10% appreciation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar would have limited impact on the Chinese economy, according to an essay by Zhang Bin, a research fellow in the Institute of World Economic and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China should allow the yuan to rise or fall as much as 3% annually against a basket of currencies, he said.
Bank Bailouts and the 2009 Federal Budget The Untold Story of Canada’s $275-Billion Financial Bailout If you’re still scratching your head with bewilderment trying to understand how the ‘free-market’ Conservatives could make an overnight turn to Keynesianism – from promising budget surpluses during the October 2008 Federal election to deficits in the 2009 Budget and into the future – then you’ve bought too much into the terms of the public debate set by the media and Parliamentary forces. The Conservatives have not broken with their old neoliberal ideas, even as they engage in last-ditch attempts to hold onto power in Parliament.
“Robert Rubin’s absurd economic recommendations” I should not be surprised to see that Robert Rubin, having been one of the single most destructive forces over the last two decades (Greenspan gets more heat because he was more visible, but Rubin has long had enormous sway) continues to have influence, not simply through his large network of well placed proteges (Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner as the most visible examples), but his ability to command attention (an article by him in Newsweek as the latest example).
Double-Dip Risk Seen in ‘Stall Speed’ Recovery Where there was despair a year ago, today there is hope. Policy makers have been successful in putting in a bottom to the most wrenching crisis and recession of the post-World War II era. Yet the outlook remains uncertain. That’s because the bottoming process, however encouraging, does little to inform us about the character of the coming economic recovery. There are four key reasons to remain skeptical about the vigor and sustainability of any rebound in the global economy:
Bernanke’s Ivory Tower Doesn’t Have a Mortgage You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief emanating from the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, and the nearby offices of Alan Greenspan, to Fed chief Ben Bernanke’s elegant, econometric argument that low interest rates didn’t cause the housing bubble. The Fed, in other words, is guilty of one count of regulatory oversight failure. As to the charge of using interest-rate policy to inflate the housing bubble that burst and destabilized the entire financial system, the defendant is not guilty.
Washington, Bernanke, Still Fighting Wrong War Sometime soon the U.S. Senate is expected to confirm Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term. Soon the Senate will also vote on legislation to overhaul the financial industry. Neither action directly determines the U.S. monetary outlook. Yet a monetary assumption underlies all of Washington’s finance- or banking-related activity these days. The shared belief is that the potential for deflation or credit-and- deflation-related spirals deserve our near-exclusive attention.
Roach Says Bernanke Should Start Exit Now If Recovery Strong Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. Chairman Stephen Roach said U.S. policy makers should start to exit emergency stimulus measures now if the economic recovery is as strong as they say it is. “There is never an easy time to do it,” Roach said on Bloomberg Television today. “The longer they wait, the greater the chance they sow the seeds for the next bubble. So I’m in favor of an early exit strategy.”
Phony Growth from Fiscal Stimulus How was the first day of 2010? Well, most commentators would say it was a good day. The Dow rose 155 points. Oil closed over $81. The dollar fell. And gold shot up $22. Is that a good day, or what? ‘Or what’ is probably the best answer. Stocks rose. But are they forecasting a booming economy? Or more EZ money from the feds? Are they signaling the end of the slump? Or, no end to the feds’ rescue efforts? Here at The Daily Reckoning, we will stick with our view. We’re in a depression. It won’t end until it has done its work. And, with the feds trying to block it, prevent it, hold it off, deflect it and retard it, it could take years before this depression has finished its job.
Get the hell out of Dodge The Automatic Earth Right, Americans and their economy. Well, it's an ideal situation, isn’t it? Every marketeer’s wet dream. That is, through appealing to people's need and desire for hope and good tidings, you succeed in making them believe that they will benefit from the very things that hurt them more than anything else in the world. You have them convinced that black is white. This is what the US government, media, and big industry are pulling off, and since they do it so well, nary a soul is any the wiser for it. You use their very own cash to deceive them, by boosting markets for a while, which makes them believe the future is rosy, and you can use the resulting economic lull to take as much of their wealth as you can possibly carry.
Quickie Bankruptcy Filings: Companies Zoom In, Zoom Out For executives at lender CIT Group Inc., filing for bankruptcy seemed like a death sentence. No financial firm had ever survived a Chapter 11 process. But after cajoling from advisers, CIT filed a "prepackaged" bankruptcy-restructuring plan supported by an overwhelming number of its bondholders. The company entered court Nov. 1 and sped through Chapter 11 in just 40 days, emerging Dec. 10 after eliminating $10.5 billion in debt.
Oil, currencies drive DGCX volumes up in 2009 The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has recorded 31.6% growth in volumes in 2009 as the Exchange recorded 1.5 million contracts valued at US $79 billion at the end of 2009. Surpassing the 2008 total volume of 1.142 million contracts, DGCX said that this is the highest annual volume to be achieved since inception. Currencies and crude oil were the key drivers for the rise in annual volume. While currencies recorded a 132% increase compared with last year, full year volume for crude oil futures rose by 140%.
Oil Could "Easily" Hit $90: Energy Key to 2010 Stock Market, Philip Roth Says Oil truly is "black gold" these days. Oil futures have climbed for nine straight sessions, rallying about 12% in that time. Phil Roth, chief technical market analyst with Miller Tabak, sees plenty of reasons not to bet against the trend. Examining the charts, he sees "very little resistance over head" and believes momentum could "easily" move oil into to $90-95 per barrel range.
Google Introduces Nexus One Handset to Take On iPhone Google Inc., aiming to take on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and defend its dominance in Web search, introduced a touch-screen mobile phone called Nexus One and opened an online store for the handset. The device is 0.45 inches (11.5 millimeters) thick, about the same as the iPhone, and has a larger screen than its rival. The phone costs $179 with a T-Mobile USA contract and $529 without it, Mario Queiroz, a Google vice president, said today at an event at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Companies turn to virtual trade shows to save money Who needs handshakes and cocktail hours? With travel budgets deeply slashed across Corporate America, more companies are turning to virtual trade shows to connect with customers and suppliers. Virtual shows combine the latest technology in webcasting, online chats, video streaming, webinars and avatar graphics to offer the elements of trade shows: exhibitor booths, speeches, seminars, distribution of marketing literature and social "gatherings." The technology companies that develop virtual-meetings software, such as Unisfair, ON24 and Second Life, say they're seeing big demand. Event-planning firm Champion Exposition Services says about 70% of companies that it has queried are "producing, considering or interested in pursuing virtual events."
Coming Soon to the U.S.: Clean Energy from Mexico In the steep, dry mountains of Baja California (pictured), the wind whistles through the rocky crags. That's the sound of money to wind developers who see these mountains, which enjoy some of the best wind energy on the planet, as the perfect power plant for the burgeoning metropolis of San Diego, Calif., a few hundred miles away. Already, a small 10-megawatt windfarm is going up in these hills near the town of La Rumorosa.
Chinese companies evade U.S. sanctions Lack of enforcement allows targeted firms to sell goods Chinese state-owned companies sanctioned by the U.S. government for illicit arms sales to Iran evaded those restrictions by selling goods to U.S.-based companies, according to a report by a Washington research group. "Lax enforcement of U.S. sanctions is allowing Chinese companies to continue to ship goods to the United States even after being hit with an import ban for proliferation to Iran," the report by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control stated.
Heard Any Upbeat Business Stories? Wall Street traders bought just about everything in sight yesterday, inspired by news of a strong performance by global manufacturers in December and some loose talk from a Fed muckety-muck, vice chairman Donald Cohen, who thinks tightening to head off perceived inflation threats “could be expensive.” U.S. manufacturing reportedly grew at the fastest pace in more than three years, purchasing managers said. Europe and Asia reported similar surges, although we’re having trouble imagining who’s going to buy all that new inventory. Last week, we tried without success to determine just what it is that is still made in this country. The question drew some spirited discussion in the Rick’s Picks forum, but in the end there were no clear answers. One thing’s for sure, though: Whatever we still make cannot be easily found at Wal-Mart.
State Jobs Depend on Expansion of Gambling in Pennsylvania Government agencies in Pennsylvania have been told to start planning for staff furloughs in case the state legislature does not pass a bill expanding legal gambling by the end of this week. When the current budget was adopted last October, the General Assembly and the Rendell administration agreed that the state would raise $250 million by legalizing of table games at Pennsylvania's licensed casinos, which currently allow only slot machine gambling.
Severe unemployment worsens in cities The number of U.S. metropolitan areas with jobless rates above 15% increased in November, according to government figures released Tuesday, despite the biggest one-month drop in the national rate in more than three years. The Labor Department said 17 of 372 metropolitan areas surveyed suffered unemployment rates of at least 15% last month, up from 15 metro areas in October.
Americans’ job satisfaction falls to record low Economists warn discontent could stifle innovation, hurt U.S. productivity We can't get no job satisfaction. Even Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy are becoming more unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey that found only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work. That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years of studying the issue. In 2008, 49 percent of those surveyed reported satisfaction with their jobs.
Premiums are key issue for health care negotiators Faced with giving up government health plan, House Democrats seek affordable premiums Congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama began work in earnest Tuesday on difficult issues still standing in the way of their national health care overhaul after months of tortuous debate. Topping the list: How to help Americans pay for insurance premiums. At a White House meeting that stretched into Tuesday evening, the president and Democratic congressional leaders agreed on fast-track negotiations that would bypass the need for a formal conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate health care bills. Obama "also stated his intention to work with leaders to strengthen affordability ... beyond what is in the Senate bill," said a House leadership aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
Pensioners burn books for warmth [U.K] Hard-up pensioners have resorted to buying books from charity shops and burning them to keep warm. Volunteers have reported that ‘a large number’ of elderly customers are snapping up hardbacks as cheap fuel for their fires and stoves. Temperatures this week are forecast to plummet as low as -13ºC in the Scottish Highlands, with the mercury falling to -6ºC in London, -5ºC in Birmingham and -7ºC in Manchester as one of the coldest winters in years continues to bite. Workers at one charity shop in Swansea, in south Wales, described how the most vulnerable shoppers were seeking out thick books such as encyclopaedias for a few pence because they were cheaper than coal.
Silicon Valley ‘Bloodbath’ Leaves Buildings Empty Silicon Valley is beset by the biggest office property glut since the dot-com bust, leaving the U.S. technology hub with empty high-rises and office parks that make it impossible for landlords to sustain average rents. More than 43 million square feet (4 million square meters) -- the equivalent of 15 Empire State Buildings -- stood vacant at the end of the third quarter, the most in almost five years, according to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. San Jose, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto have 11 empty office buildings with about 3 million square feet of the best quality space.
Phoenix Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial office joining Cassidy Turley ranks Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC in Phoenix is breaking its alliance with Grubb & Ellis effective March 1 and will become part of a new national commercial real estate company named Cassidy Turley. The new firm will have 2,700 employees in 57 locations. It will be the fourth-largest commercial brokerage in the U.S. based on 2008 revenue, according to information released Tuesday by company executives. The Cassidy Turley brand includes numerous firms that previously were associated with Colliers International and NAI, but in Phoenix, the company’s executives wooed Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial to secure its presence in the Southwest.
Mesa Air files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Mesa Air Group Inc., whose operations include flying regional routes for major airlines such as Delta, United and US Airways, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hoping to shed financial obligations for leases on airplanes it no longer needs. Mesa, which currently flies 130 aircraft, said the filing will allow it to reorganize its operations and allow it to get rid of its extra planes and become more competitive. Mesa said Tuesday that its go!-Mokulele Hawaiian joint venture with Mokulele Airlines is not included in the bankruptcy filing and will run a full flight schedule.
GMAC headed for $5 billion loss GMAC, the troubled finance company that last week scored a third government bailout, said Tuesday it expects to post a record fourth-quarter loss of $5 billion. The company also said it has decided to try to sell its ResCap mortgage unit, which has lost billions of dollars since the U.S. housing market crashed. Those losses have strained the already stretched finances at GMAC, which is best known as a lender to the troubled U.S. auto industry.
Toyota, Honda sales off 20% in '09 A final-month spurt in sales couldn’t salvage a difficult 2009 for Honda and Toyota, makers of Hawaii's top-selling vehicles. Toyota and Honda both saw sales sink 20 percent for the year. Nissan’s sales were down 19 percent in 2009. All three Japanese automakers saw double-digit sales increases in December but they didn't offset the sales declines from earlier in the year. Toyota and Honda make the five best-selling cars and trucks in Hawaii, according to PBN research. The Toyota Tacoma truck was No.1 in 2008, followed by the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Honda CR-V.
Fannie, Freddie, and the New Red and Blue Over the Christmas holiday a nasty thing happened: Tim Geithner’s Treasury Department decided to lift the cap on aid to the Government-Sponsored Entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, apparently in response to Obama administration fears that the two agencies would become insolvent. The cap was raised from $200 billion on each and government backstopping of the mortgage market will apparently now extend into infinity for at least three years, through 2012. The move has already inspired a mini-firestorm, with several outlets delving deeply into the recent history of the GSEs and uncovering some disturbing new facts. Chief among those were an analysis of the GSEs by a former chief credit officer of Fannie named Edward Pinto, who found that Fannie and Freddie routinely mismarked subprime or Alt-A (a sort of purgatory class of nonprime risky mortgage, resting between subprime and prime) mortgages as prime.
Unlimited Credit for Fannie, Freddie: A Backdoor Bailout? At a hearing last fall, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers that he and his team were working to put the $700 billion financial bailout fund "out of its misery." But some in Washington now see a second, backdoor bailout in its place. On Dec. 24, the Obama administration announced it was extending an unlimited credit line to mortgage finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which would keep them afloat no matter how high their losses.
Pending home sales fall 16 percent in Nov. November pending home sales fall 16 percent, a sign sales will fall this winter The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, a sign sales will fall this winter, undermining last summer's recovery. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements fell 16 percent from October to a November reading of 96. It was the first decline following nine straight months of gains and the lowest reading since June.
Pending home sales slump, factory orders up Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell more sharply than expected in November, but a surge in new factory orders offered assurance the economic recovery remained on track. In a further boost to the economy, initial results from automakers on Tuesday showed December's vehicle sales on track to be the strongest since the summer's "cash for clunkers" trade-in incentive program. "It goes along with what we've been seeing, a slight improvement in the economy overall and it's gaining some breadth ... particularly on the manufacturing level," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co. in Nashville.
This Year’s Housing Crisis The financial crisis and Great Recession have their roots in the housing bust. When it comes, a lasting recovery will be evident in a housing rebound. Unfortunately, housing appears to be weakening anew. Figures released last week show that after four months of gains, home prices flattened in October. At that time, low mortgage rates (courtesy of the Federal Reserve) and a home buyer’s tax credit (courtesy of Congress) were fueling sales. That should have propped up prices. But it was not enough to overcome the drag created by a glut of 3.2 million new and existing unsold single-family homes — about a seven-month supply.
Brit Hume: Tiger Woods must become Christian to be forgiven - 01/03/10
Brit Hume's off message: Have faith, Tiger Woods, as long as it's Christianity In "North by Northwest," cold and heartless bureaucrats in Washington realize they may have inadvertently sent a frivolous but innocent advertising man to his death, and one of them says, "It's so horribly sad -- why do I feel like laughing?" The dichotomy pops up all the time among observers of media, politics and the personalities who inhabit those spheres, and it probably always will, largely because people in those lines of work are, to state it in the most innocuous way possible, full of surprises. Brit Hume was certainly full of something on "Fox News Sunday" this week. Hume, a part-time analyst at Fox since stepping down from his daily anchor role, sought to redefine the job of political pundit, apparently, when he stepped boldly up to the task of telling people what religious beliefs they ought to have. He prescribed in particular a remedial, therapeutic dose of Christianity for disgraced golfing champ Tiger Woods, a man whose lubricious private life has been haunting the headlines for weeks.
Obama Says U.S. Could Have Foiled Airplane Bomb Plot President Barack Obama said U.S. intelligence services had sufficient information to foil the attempted bombing of an airliner on Dec. 25 and “failed to connect those dots.” “This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had,” Obama said at the White House today. The administration will act to repair the system to try to ensure such failures don’t happen again, he said.
Airline security: Is it time to start profiling? In light of the botched Christmas day airline bombing - some say it's past time to start profiling passengers - especially from certain countries. The U.S. is demanding more careful screening for people who are citizens of - or flying from - 14 countries considered security risks... including Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The screening is to include things like full-body scanning and pat-downs, searches of carry-on bags and explosive-detection technology.
Jordanian doctor called double agent behind CIA attack The man identified as the double agent who killed eight people at a U.S. base in Afghanistan was a Jordanian doctor recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence source, a senior Jordanian official said Tuesday. A former U.S. intelligence official identified the suicide bomber Monday as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi. The Jordanian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities in Jordan arrested al-Balawi more than a year ago "for some suspicious information related to him" but released him because of a lack of evidence.
Something Evil This Way Comes As I write, the world is falling apart. Military forces from all major powers are flooding the Gulf of Aden, using piracy and terrorism as a pretext. This is all jockeying in anticipation of a major, and possibly total, war in and around the Persian Gulf -- where 60% of the planet's known oil is. Pakistan is imploding. Within days it will face a "worst possible" energy crisis and, according to Pakistani news sources, trigger massive civil unrest. Pakistan has failed. An Israeli and/or U.S. attack on Iran is now, no longer unthinkable. Just recently, Israel recalled all its ambassadors and charges d'affaires simultaneously for what (sure looked to me) was an emergency huddle. Major power shortages are crippling nations from the Phillipines, to Vietnam, to India, throughout the Caspian and especially Pakistan. Cities in many countries (including the US and Britain) are selectively turning out streetlights that will never come back on because they can't afford the cost. The world is starting to shut down.
China dismisses UN Security Council debate on Iran sanctions China does not plan to hold debates on more sanctions on Iran's nuclear program during its Security Council presidency this month, despite US demands for tougher sanctions, the Chinese ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday. Ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters Tuesday "this is not the right time or moment for sanctions" and that diplomats need "more time and patience" to try to bridge differences.
Al Qaeda’s Pandora Osama bin Laden's 17-year-old daughter is trying to get out of Iran. Her story could expose ties between the mullahs and her father's terror networks. She has spent almost half her life in chadors and hidden away behind closed doors, so we do not know exactly what she looks like. But if the 17-year-old girl who showed up unexpectedly outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran last November resembles her father, she is tall and lissome, with angular features that would be hard to mistake. In any case, the Saudis quickly let Iman bint Osama bin Laden into their embassy compound, and she has been there ever since, waiting for a guarantee of safe passage out of the country.
Iran welcomes Cliton non-deadline on nuclear talks Iran said Tuesday it welcomes Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's comments that there is no hard-and-fast deadline for starting nuclear dialogue. On Monday, Clinton said the Obama administration remained open to negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, though it will move toward tougher sanctions if Iran does not respond positively. She stressed there was no hard-and-fast deadline for Iran.
UN Warns of Critical Situation in Afghanistan The latest UN report spells an alarming tale of ineptitude both by the Afghan government and by the international community, which has seen the situation in Afghanistan deteriorate to the point that it faces a serious threat of catastrophic irreversibility. After thousands of civilian deaths, nearly 1,000 military fatalities, eight years and $ 250 bn. the country is teetering on the edge of a chasm. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report, released on Monday minces no words, calling the situation “critical”, describing the Presidential election as “flawed”, referring to the “adverse effects of increased Taliban…attacks”, “insufficient resources”, “lack of coordination”, “lack of political readiness” which if not addressed and redressed, will lead not only to diminishing prospects of success but worse, “the deteriorating overall situation will become irreversible”.
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