STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, February 4, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, February 4, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON February 4, 2011

Dow 12,062.26 +20.29 (+0.17%)
Nasdaq 2,753.88 +4.32 (+0.16%)
S&P 500 1,307.10 +3.07 (+0.23%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.54 -0.01
30-Year Bond 4.66 -0.01

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
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Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
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Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

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

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

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

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

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

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Today's Reports

Feb 04 08:30 Nonfarm Payrolls Jan 125K 148K 103k
Feb 04 08:30 Nonfarm Private Payrolls Jan 140K 163K 113k
Feb 04 08:30 Unemployment Rate Jan 9.6% 9.5% 9.4%
Feb 04 08:30 Average Workweek Jan 34.3 34.3 34.3
Feb 04 08:30 Hourly Earnings Jan 0.1% 0.2% 0.1%

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

One of these days I'm going to learn how to format this properly...

[Pale Blue Dot]

32. Unemployment drops to 9%, despite thea fact that only 36K jobs were created.

Can we be any more blatant in our manipulation? :eyes:

[rfranklin]

35. 2 + 2 = 3 It's the new, New Math!

But don't worry, it was just the snow that prevented the hiring of millions. And don't worry about those unemployed people who just disappeared. They won't bother us any more.

[Demeter]

43. Until the snow melts

Stock up on lime and bulldozers...

[OnlinePoker]

57. Here's the most blatant proof of manipulation

BLS stats show seasonally adjusted population dropped 185k, labor force dropped 500k, employed people UP by 120k, and unemployment rate went down from 9.4% to 9.0%. Meanwhile, NOT seasonally adjust has population dropping 185k, labor force dropped 630k, employed people DROPPED 1.5 million, and unemployment up from 9.1% to 9.8%

http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil rises to $91 on Egypt protests, US jobs report

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose to near $91 a barrel Friday in Asia as traders eyed violent street clashes in Egypt and a key U.S. jobs report.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 45 cents at $90.99 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 32 cents to settle at $90.54 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude gained 23 cents to $101.99 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Oil investors have been closely watching clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo this week after the 82-year-old leader resisted protesters' calls for his immediate resignation. Shipping through Egypt's Suez Canal has not been disrupted, but investors are also concerned political instability could spread to oil rich countries in the Middle East.

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

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[bread_and_roses]

4. Global food prices hit record high

See post by Turborama in LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4721335

Our Oligarch Overlords have become so bloated they've forgotten that hungry people can be dangerous. Of course, once they're hungry enough they're too weak to be a threat - maybe that's what they're counting on.

[Demeter]

5. dilbert!

[Demeter]

25. AND MARK FIORE HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK!

http://www.markfiore.com/political-cartoons/watch-egypt-middle-east-revolution-mubarak-yemen-saudi-arabia-animated-video-mark-fiore-animation

[DemReadingDU]

26. Autocrat action figures

lol!

[Tansy_Gold]

33. Soon be followed by Inflatable Oligarchs and/or Plutocrat Bop-em's?

[Demeter]

42. Tansy, I think we ought to go into business

As a co-operative, not a corporation---manufacturing stress relief items like these. Plus truck farming and private photovoltaic solar farming.

Creating a colony within the wilderness that is America these days....

[Tansy_Gold]

44. About five years ago. . . ..

I happened to be in Jerome, AZ (one of my favorite places on earth, by the way) and saw little pincushion dolls with booosh's face printed on them. Why didn't *I* think of that?

[Warpy]

64. I think Banker Bop 'Ems would sell like crazy these days

Or maybe Wall Street Whack 'Ems.

[Tansy_Gold]

67. DING! DING! DING! Warpy is Today's Golden Glob Winner!

I love it! I love it!

:yourock: x 10,000!

[bread_and_roses]

28. ROFL

that is a home run - I especially loved "action figure" "Wait and See Obama"
:fistbump: :yourock: :rofl: :spray:

[Demeter]

6. JPMorgan Hid Doubts on Madoff, Documents Suggest

http://www.truth-out.org/jpmorgan-hid-doubts-madoff-documents-suggest67437

Senior executives at JPMorgan Chase expressed serious doubts about the legitimacy of Bernard L. Madoff’s investment business more than 18 months before his Ponzi scheme collapsed but continued to do business with him, according to internal bank documents made public in a lawsuit unsealed on Thursday.

On June 15, 2007, an obviously high-level risk management officer for Chase’s investment bank sent a lunchtime e-mail to colleagues to report that another bank executive “just told me that there is a well-known cloud over the head of Madoff and that his returns are speculated to be part of a ponzi scheme.”

Even before that, a top private banking executive had been consistently steering clients away from investments linked to Mr. Madoff because his “Oz-like signals” were “too difficult to ignore.” And the first Chase risk analyst to look at a Madoff feeder fund, in February 2006, reported to his superiors that its returns did not make sense because it did far better than the securities that were supposedly in its portfolio.

Despite those suspicions and many more, the bank allowed Mr. Madoff to move billions of dollars of investors’ cash in and out of his Chase bank accounts right up until the day of his arrest in December 2008 — although by then, the bank had withdrawn all but $35 million of the $276 million it had invested in Madoff-linked hedge funds , according to the litigation...


CHASE INVESTED IN MADOFF??!!

[xchrom]

9. +1

it just shows how incestuous the corruption is.

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. I'm so excited! I have an actual full day of teaching today!

Therefore, I won't be around much. Enjoy! :-)

[Demeter]

12. Don't overdo, now!

You have to build up gradually.

[Demeter]

8. Debts Should Be Honored, Except When the Money Is Owed to Working People

http://www.truth-out.org/debts-should-be-honored-except-when-money-is-owed-working-people67301

This seems to be the lesson that our nation's leaders are trying to pound home to us. According to The New York Times, members of Congress are secretly running around in closets and back alleys working up a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy.

According to the article, a main goal of state bankruptcy is to allow states to default on their pension obligations. This means that states will be able to tell workers, including those already retired, that they are out of luck. Teachers, highway patrol officers, and other government employees, some of whom worked decades for the government, will be told that their contracts no longer mean anything. They will not get the pensions that they were expecting.

Depending on the specific circumstances, they may find their pensions cut back 20 percent, 30 percent, perhaps even 50 percent. There would be no guarantees if a state goes into bankruptcy.

There has been a concerted effort to bash public-sector employees by either highlighting the few instances where pensions actually are exorbitant, or just making things up. Untruths about Goldman Sachs, General Electric, or any other major company rarely appear in the media and are usually quickly corrected when they do. However, exaggerations or outright fabrication are a standard practice for those who report on state and local budgets when it comes to public employees...

[Demeter]

10. Even Rich People Losing Faith in Business, Gov't and Media

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/450278/even_rich_people_losing_faith_in_business%2C_gov't_and_media/#paragraph5

So what's so surprising about these results? The sample. This was a poll that posed these questions to "5,000 educated, wealthy and “well-informed” individuals in 23 countries." In other words, the American elite jas also lost faith in our major institutions. And as Yves Smith (who caught this item) put it over at Naked Capital, "If the people who are likely to be beneficiaries of the status quo aren’t too happy with it, imagine what the average Joe thinks."

[Demeter]

11. Will Only Another Great Depression Save America?

http://www.alternet.org/story/149586/will_only_another_great_depression_save_america

Americans are increasingly aware that the Great American Century is over. A November 2010 Rasmussen poll found that just over one-third (37 percent) of respondents believe America's best days are still ahead. Sadly, nearly half (47 percent) say the nation's best days are in the past. They wonder what will come next.

Officially, the Great Recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Unofficially, the living recession grinds on with millions of Americans remaining unemployed and underemployed, millions continuing to lose their homes due to foreclosure, and millions more joining the legion of the homeless, hungry and those without health care. The U.S. is today marked by second-rate health care, educational and telecommunication systems.

The question haunting America is simple: if the American Century is over, what comes next? Will only another Great Depression save America?


I THINK A REVOLUTION WOULD DO A BETTER JOB FASTER, WITH LONGER-LASTING RESULTS, PROVIDED IT REGULATES TO DEATH THE CORPORATIONS AND BANKS.

[Tansy_Gold]

18. This is what we cheerleaders of DJIA declines have been saying

I'm not even sure if "cheerleaders" is a forbidden word on DU these days, but I do know that many of us have been criticized for "wanting" the stock market to crash, as if we were looking forward to the economic devastation that would follow.

But I think -- and I write this much more for the lurkers than for the choir of regulars -- that we've come to realize TPTB are not going to change course, and they've brainwashed the masses far beyond the borders of poor Kansas to believe that what's good for Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein and the Ben Bernank and the Timothy Geethner is good for all the truck drivers and accounting clerks, nurses and grocery stockers, police officers and teachers, insurance adjusters and auto mechanics, plumbers and electricians and meter readers and waitresses and baristas and, well, you get the picture.

We've seen the support for tax cuts for billionaires right here on DU. "If we get a pittance, too, then it's okay if the elites get buckets of cash. That's fair." IT'S NOT FAIR, and we know, and I think we have fallen back on the only external agent of change available to us. Would we rather have a fighting revolution like what's brewing in Egypt, or a painful but relatively peaceful one brought about by an economic collapse? Please note that I said "relatively peaceful." I know that in a massive economic upheaval there's going to be violence, and I wish that could be avoided. But I honestly don't see how that's possible.

The bill for all this collective profligacy will come due sooner or later. Right now, the interest is compounding on the debt and eventually the collection agencies will come calling, will repossess the car and foreclose on the house. Denying that reality won't change it.


TG, TT

[Demeter]

20. I think a lot more people suffer and die a lot longer in a collapse than a war

[Tansy_Gold]

34. do you think the 30s' Depression killed more than WW2? n/t

[DemReadingDU]

37. How many people died in the Great Depression? Answer

7 million Industrial (city), 5 million rural, particularly farmers. When the unemployment rate rose to over 19%, within a year it's estimated a combined total of close to 12 million Americans died from starvation.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_died_in_the_Great_Depression

[Tansy_Gold]

39. From the same source:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_did_the_great_depression_kill


How many people did the great depression kill?


1-2 1/2



Can we get a more reliable source?

[jtuck004]

50. How do you count people who die because they no longer see a future?

We already know the wealthy outlive those that aren't by several years, and I doubt that is only due to medical care, such as is it.

For the person who has to come home and keep a brave face while telling the family that the future they once saw now doesn't exist,
or who is 50 (saw a post here today where someone said "if you are out of work and over 50, you might as well consider yourself retired"), or the people who haven't realized how much housing and business is being propped up by rules that phony up the books (ala FASB rules on bank assets) and work themselves into the ground for their employers only to find their community less wealthy and further behind every year - TPTB have abdicated all responsibility to work for anyone but the wealthy.


Some might reach for a diagnosis of "depression" for a clinical perspective, which, of course, releases others from responsibility. Regardless, when someone finally internalizes or acknowledges the fact that there is no hope, that all the platitudes about "keep your chin up" and "it's gonna get better" are just pap fostered by cheerleaders trying desperately to keep their own failed hopes from raining down around their ankles, maybe the spirit realizes the game is over.

How do you count those who die from a broken spirit? Or maybe it's just a broken heart...

[Demeter]

47. And how many grew up with scars: economic, social, psychological?

At least two whole generations.

[Demeter]

48. And the Depression ran 10 years

And then there's the suppression of the birthrate, the decline of education, the crumbling of infrastructure, the crushing of spirits.

[Demeter]

46. WWII Wasn't Civil War

Look to Tunisia and Egypt. Think of all the Third World that would be spared by a toppling of the US Hegemony.

[Tansy_Gold]

58. Is there such a thing as "civil" war?

All bad puns aside, I'd still rather see a plummeting stock market than a world war. MUCH rather.


TG, TT

[Demeter]

61. I'd rather see an "educational pig slaughter"

referring to Animal Farm...

[Tansy_Gold]

62. Well, I guess my point is that a "war" is a "war," and

pretty much by definition people are going to get killed, and their killing is going to be deliberate.

People are already dying of the combined effects of poverty in this country -- lack of health care, poor nutrition, environmental toxicity, etc.

So even a "source" that says 5 million died of hunger in the cities during the 30s -- how many of those deaths are attributable to the economic collapse and how many would have died anyway due to circumstances as they existed before the collapse?

And if the Great Depression had a generations-long lasting effect, what about WW2? What about all the families deprived of loved ones, of fathers and sons, brothers and husbands? What about all the returning veterans who had PTSD before we put a name to it?

And given the current state of the planet, what are our options? Would you rather go to war now, when eight or nine countries have atomic weapons? Oh, and anyway, we're already at war, and it's not doing a whole lot of good for our economy.

What's the opposite of a stock market collapse? A continued siphoning of the workers' earnings to prop up the already bloated rich? Would you rather have that?

In an ideal world, we'd get a leadership somewhere that would put a stop to the oligarchies. Wouldn't really matter where that leadership emerged, because once it took hold it would have the backing of the populace. Would it evolve into a dictatorship? It might. And we might have to go through the whole thing again. But to think that progress can be achieved at this point without some pain is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land for sure.

The rich will not go down without a fight, and I suspect some of them will be determined to take the rest of us with them. We'd best be prepared for that, too.


TG, TT

[Demeter]

63. It's either a shooting war, or a starvation war--but it's still war

Thing is, in a starvation war, how does the victim fight back?

[Karenina]

59. Tansy Gold for PRESIDENT!!!

:loveya:

[Warpy]

65. Probably. Unless it starts with some sort of disruption

of trade among our wonderful allies upon whom we lavished our industrial base in the name of cheap labor. In fact, I think that's the likelier scenario.

I could be wrong. The GOP is talking publicly about "strategic default" of all those bonds that represent the money they looted from Boomers through Reagan's FICA/OASDI hikes. If they do that, there will be a run on this country's resources the likes of which the world has never seen before as the nations that hold our debt frantically try to cash out before their bonds are strategically defaulted, too.

We are living in interesting times. Dammit.

[Demeter]

13. Rating agencies bullish on year ahead

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have forecast another strong year of revenue growth, underlining the continued profitability of the credit rating agencies in spite of sharp criticism over their role in the financial crisis

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/ZE9K33/QFKOVF/NRHD3/V1EKFX/NSAQ1F/D5/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=4

[Demeter]

14. Spotlight on hedge funds in SEC probe

At least 15 hedge funds improperly received corporate secrets from company officials, according to securities regulators investigating alleged insider trading on Wall Street.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/ZE9K33/QFKOVF/NRHD3/V1EKFX/5CFO4E/D5/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=4

[Demeter]

15. Fed denies policy is causing food rises

Asset purchases by the US Federal Reserve do not cause rising food prices in countries such as Egypt, the central bank’s chairman Ben Bernanke said

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/18N47V/VTVRG/0GRQPM/OJZ9UL/28/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=4




There are times I wish I knew how to photoshop, and is one of them...

Ben Pinocchio Bernanke

[Demeter]

16. Afghans resist IMF pressure to sell off bank

Officials fear that any move to place the country’s largest bank into receivership may trigger renewed panic in the banking sector

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/LVA6WW/18N47V/VTVRG/0GRQPM/IYOKJE/28/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=4

[Demeter]

17. Lloyds drops brokers over suspected fraud

The UK’s largest mortgage lender has removed some 900 individuals over the past four years from its ‘approved panel’ of brokers, including 300 in the past year alone


Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/DHGUVV/NS4L04/06MUC/BMGP1F/WLDJAH/HK/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=3

[Roland99]

19. Index Futures - Up a bit in anticipation of jobs number

S&P 500 1,305 +1.50 +0.12%
DOW 12,021 +12.00 +0.10%
NASDAQ 2,323 +1.25 +0.05%

[Demeter]

21. Doubts on life sciences campus for Pfizer site

A former senior executive at Pfizer has cast doubt on the prospect of turning the US pharmaceutical group's UK anchor site in Sandwich into a thriving campus for life science companies

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/NA70KK/KE73YO/T10SH/M9M0G5/40RL2A/B7/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=3

COULD THAT DOUBT STEM FROM THE FACT THAT IT'S BEEN 6 YEARS NOW, AND THE ANN ARBOR CAMPUS THAT PFIZER ABANDONED HAS YET TO BE SO CONVERTED?


IT'S BEEN USED FOR FILMING ACTION MOVIES, THOUGH....BAH HUMBUG! A CURSE ON PFIZER, THE LOOTER AND PILLAGER OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL WORLD.

[Demeter]

22. Obama proposes ‘green tax’ incentives

Barack Obama will on Thursday propose to cut oil and gas subsidies to make way for new “green energy” tax incentives designed to encourage US businesses to upgrade their commercial buildings and make them more efficient.

White House officials said the move was intended to spur job growth in the construction industry and make commercial buildings 20 per cent more energy efficient by 2020. Officials declined to comment on the cost of the expanded tax credits, but said Mr Obama was “committed” to paying for the investments by eliminating subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/A1TNOO/UUEO37/4VXHZ/OJ428C/189H2V/JY/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=3

HE'S JUST HOPELESS AND CHANGELESS; NO AUDACITY, AND NO BELIEVABILITY.

[bread_and_roses]

23. "Egyptian Uprising Is Direct Response to Ruthless Global Capitalism"

http://www.alternet.org/world/149793/the_egyptian_uprising_is_a_direct_response_to_ruthless_global_capitalism/?page=entire

The Egyptian Uprising Is a Direct Response to Ruthless Global Capitalism
Economic decline at the hands of 'hot' money has driven Egyptians' discontent. by Nomi Prins

... When people are facing a dim future, in a country hijacked by a corrupt regime that destabilized its economy through what the CIA termed, "aggressively pursuing economic reforms to attract foreign investment” (in other words, the privatization and sale of its country’s financial system to international sharks), waiting doesn’t cut it.

...From 2004 to 2008, as the world economic crisis was being stoked by the U.S. banking system and its rapacious toxic asset machine, Mubarak’s regime was participating in a different way. Mubarak wasn’t pushing subprime loans onto Egyptians; instead, he was embarking on an economic strategy that entailed selling large pieces of Egypt’s banks to the highest international bidder.

... Not surprisingly, those foreign speculation strategies didn’t bring less poverty or more jobs either. Indeed, the insatiable hunt for great deals, whether by banks, hedge funds, or private equity funds, as it inevitably does, had the opposite effect.

edit for quote box

[Demeter]

24. Mohamed El-Erian: Spain is not Greece and need not be Ireland

Spain is an important battleground when it comes to the success of efforts to stabilise the debt crisis in Europe’s periphery and to limit the contamination of the region’s core. To win this battle, the Spanish authorities must move quickly to restructure their cajas (unlisted regional savings banks) and do so without further destabilising their public finances.

Spain’s success is of acute relevance to the rest of the eurozone. If Spain is not successful, Europe’s existing rescue mechanisms and approach would be overwhelmed, raising doubt on the sustainability of the eurozone’s weaker
countries (such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal). It would also lead to renewed pressures on the value of the euro, on German interest rates, and on the credibility and integrity of the European Central Bank.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/RND8E5/YGZ3O/RNK7DS/6VNOIN/1G/t?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=3


I'M SURE THAT'S A GREAT COMFORT TO OUR SPANISH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS

[Demeter]

27. The Importance of Demographics in a Cultural Revolution

“In his book Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World, the historian Jack Andrew Goldstone argues that the great revolutions of Europe – the English and French revolutions – had one thing in common with the great rebellions of Asia that destroyed the Ottoman Empire and dynasties in Japan and China. All these crises occurred when inflexible political, economic, and social institutions were faced with the twin pressures of population growth and diminishing available resources.”

Continued Bill and Addison, “A large, unruly, and youthful rural population was a leading cause of social stress in France prior to and during the Revolution.”

“Likewise,” they observed, “the Russian population doubled between the 1850s and the beginning of World War I… The stress of feeding and providing shelter for that many people was too great for the existing order.”

Read more: The Importance of Demographics in a Cultural Revolution http://dailyreckoning.com/the-importance-of-demographics-in-a-cultural-revolution/#ixzz1CztIzS00

[Demeter]

29. Tracing the Fed’s Vital Role in the Decline of the US Dollar

In 2013, we Americans will commemorate a century of wealth destruction in the United States – the Federal Reserve will be 100 years old.

In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act became law – granting sole authority to the Federal Reserve to “issue legal tender.” Armed with its new power and its good intentions, the Fed embarked on a 98-year process of currency debasement. That’s not what the Fed set out to do; it’s just what it did do.

In the early days of the Federal Reserve, this monetary authority enjoyed the support of a gold standard. Few Americans doubted that the Fed’s new greenbacks would be as good as gold. As such, gold coinage and paper dollars intermingled effortlessly in the US economy for most of the Fed’s first two decades.

But as the wheels of progress roared ahead, America’s “hard money” coinage disappeared and soft promises took its place – soft promises and lots of chatter about hard money. As it turns out, chattering about hard money does not preserve wealth as well as hard money itself.

Read more: Tracing the Fed's Vital Role in the Decline of the US Dollar http://dailyreckoning.com/tracing-the-feds-vital-role-in-the-decline-of-the-us-dollar/#ixzz1CzuGhn8i

[Demeter]

30. They Missed the Money

The Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) had as much chance of satisfying the public as the Warren Commission did of closing the debate on the Kennedy assassination. The FCIC published its report on January 27, 2011. This was the “Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States.” The FCIC itself could not come to a conclusion. The Democrats wrote for the majority, the Republicans for the minority, and a think-tank fellow motored off on a tangent of his own.

By the way, these conclusions, cleaved by the politics of the season, demonstrate the immaturity of Washington. The members could not forsake their hobbyhorses to address the time bomb that, unaddressed, will explode. A half-century’s accumulation of bad debt tumbled over in 2008 and a much larger mountain of waste and ruin lies ahead.

My gripe: the FCIC found the greatest fault with the effects rather than the cause. This is true of all three conclusions. The cause of the crisis was too much money and credit. An economy needs enough credit to operate, but not so much that speculation runs the country. (This, of course, is so obvious that it might seem a waste to write, but the so-called policymakers revved the cyclotron faster and faster.)

Among the “Conclusions” of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report, the majority averred: “t is the Commission’s conclusion that excess liquidity did not need to cause the crisis. It was the failures outlined above – including the failures to rein in the excesses in the mortgage and financial markets – that were the principal cause of the crisis.”

Read more: They Missed the Money http://dailyreckoning.com/they-missed-the-money/#ixzz1CzvB0HLW

[xchrom]

31. kick

[xchrom]

36. Labor Force Participation Plunges To Fresh 26 Year Low

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/labor-force-participations-plunges-fresh-26-year-low

At 64.2%, the labor force participation rate (as a percentage of the total civilian noninstitutional population) is now at a fresh 26 year low, the lowest since March 1984, and is the only reason why the unemployment rate dropped to 9% (labor force declined from 153,690 to 153,186). Those not in the Labor Force has increased from 83.9 million to 86.2 million, or 2.2 million in one year! As for the numerator in the fraction, the number of unemployed, it has plunged from 15 million to 13.9 million in two months! The only reason for this is due to the increasing disenchantment of those who completely fall off the BLS rolls and no longer even try to look for a job. Lastly, we won't even show what the labor force is as a percentage of total population. It is a vertical plunge.

[Demeter]

41. Betcha the Black Market's Taken Up Some of the Slack

This government doesn't deserve law-abiding citizens, since it won't abide by its own internal laws. Society breaks down, to reform on a local tribal basis.

See Bill Bonner's vomitus, below.

[Hotler]

38. k&r n/t

[Demeter]

40. GAG ALERT

http://dailyreckoning.com/why-you-should-be-buying-gold-as-the-fed-prints-money/

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS DIATRIBE, THREE ERRORS PER SENTENCE AT LEAST.


BILL BONNER SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS, AND THEY AREN'T PRETTY. OR PRODUCTIVE. OR USEFUL, EXCEPT AS A SIGN OF PROJECTION AND A WARNING TO IGNORE AT ONE'S PERIL.

[xchrom]

45. you're right and after gagging -- i had this reaction

:mad:

[Demeter]

49. When Stock Market Rallies Validate Effective Monetary Policy

MEANING, NEVER IN THIS CENTURY NOR THE LAST, EITHER.

http://dailyreckoning.com/when-stock-market-rallies-validate-effective-monetary-policy/

In olden times, Federal Reserve Chairmen would devote themselves to safeguarding the dollar’s purchasing power, while giving almost no thought to the plight of the economy or the direction of the stock market. (In very olden times, Federal Reserve Chairmen did not even exist, which meant that America’s silver dollars had to safeguard their purchasing power all by themselves…without any help whatsoever from the Fed.)

Now comes Ben Bernanke, an academic with an obsession for the stock market. Bernanke knows he’s supposed to pursue a “dual mandate” of “maximum employment” consistent with “stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates.” This essentially impossible mandate is akin to pursuing maximum rice production, consistent with low water usage. The objectives clash head-on. But that’s a story for another day.

Our story for today is the mandate Ben Bernanke seems to be pursuing: playing the stock market. Based on his recent public remarks, Bernanke seems more obsessed with the stock market than a day trader.

He justifies his obsession by asserting that a rising stock market will produce rising employment. “Higher stocks prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending,” the Chairman declared last November, the day after the Federal Open Market Committee formally christened QE2 – the second round of quantitative easing.

Read more: When Stock Market Rallies Validate Effective Monetary Policy http://dailyreckoning.com/when-stock-market-rallies-validate-effective-monetary-policy/#ixzz1D0e6uYp8

[Demeter]

51. Liquidate the Fed By Frederick Sheehan

OR AT LEAST, THE BERNANK

“From the moment that art ceases to be the nourishment of the best brains, the artist can use all the tricks of the intellectual charlatan. The refined people, the rich ones and the professional layabouts, only want what is sensational or scandalous in modern art. And since the days of cubism I have fed these boys what they wanted and pacified the critics with all the idiotic ideas that went through my head. Whilst I amused myself with all these pranks, I became famous and very rich. I am just a public clown, a fairground barker.”

-Pablo Picasso, 1951, attributed.

I doubt he said this; but the description fits academic economists, who, unlike the time at which Picasso (may have) spoken, are of another generation, a generation of professional layabouts that is no longer in on the joke. The clowns and barkers spout idiotic ideas because they only think idiotic ideas.

Read more: Liquidate the Fed http://dailyreckoning.com/liquidate-the-fed/#ixzz1D0f26d2j

[tranche]

52. US Dept. of Justice, ICE Still Seizing Domains

Read the comments for the business case.

US Dept. of Justice, ICE Still Seizing Domains
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/02/009214/US-Dept-of-Justice-ICE-Still-Seizing-Domains

Here's a snippet:

Fucking morons. The diplomatic consequences of this will be far reaching and even if we get to keep our queen despite taking these pawns, the diplomatic backlash over the soon to ensue ICANN debate is going to cost the USA billions of dollars over the next decade. How? In lost profit from trade agreements as a consequence of losing our bargaining position.

Let the record show that no one can claim the reprecussions of this were unforseeable. It took me 10 seconds from reading the summary to understand the big picture consequences.

Hopefully this will be the straw that breaks the camels back and causes a public uproar which will put an end to this pro-Corpyright anti-fair use insanity.

[Demeter]

53. Business Is Booming Harold Meyerson

America's leading corporations have found a way to thrive even if the American economy doesn't recover. This is very, very bad news....

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

When he was CEO of General Electric, in 1998, Jack Welch pithily summarized his vision for corporate America: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy."

Since then, corporations have discovered that they don't need barges in order to unmoor themselves from the American economy. As corporate profits skyrocket, even as the economy remains stalled in a deep recession, Americans confront a grim new reality: Our corporations don't need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.

Consider, for example, the crucial role that a company called Foxconn plays in the American economy. Scarcely any Americans had heard of Foxconn until a wave of worker suicides shook its immense factory complex in China's city of Shenzhen last spring. Within the space of a few months, 10 workers inside the company's walled-off Longhua industrial village, a 1.2-square-mile development where 400,000 employees live and work, killed themselves.

What made the stories particularly troubling, though, were the revelations about Foxconn's place in the American industrial system. It's at Longhua that Apple's iPhones and iPods are manufactured (which is why Longhua is also referred to as "iPod City"). At Longhua and Foxconn's other Chinese factory complexes, 937,000 employees also make computers for Dell, games for Nintendo, and several products for Hewlett-Packard. Indeed, the number of Foxconn employees who assemble these companies' products often exceeds by a wide margin the number of workers these companies employ directly in the United States. At Apple, the ratio of Foxconn employees at work on Apple products to U.S.-based Apple employees is 10-to-1: 250,000 Foxconn workers to 25,000 Apple workers. The same ratio exists at Dell....


THIS IS A MUST READ AND BOOKMARK AND SEND TO OBAMA AND CONGRESS AND BERNANKE

[xchrom]

55. this stands in stark contrast to the SOTU:

'Our corporations don't need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.'

we're not regulating enough, we're not creating legislation that re-ties corporations to american soil, we're innovating -- but that innovation doesn't take much to off-shore.

capital -- well i don't what to say about that since we've taken the goods out of goods and services -- it's all hedge funds and equity markets i guess -- but no real labor.

[Festivito]

54. Debt: 02/02/2011 14,116,512,433,408.69 (UP 6,669,554,505.16) (Wed, UP a little.)

(Good day.)
Hours in, tuning out. And feeling goodbyes for Linda.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,482,735,273,832.17 + 4,633,777,159,576.52
UP 160,101,452.72 + UP 6,509,453,052.44

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,212.56 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.64, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,278,592 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,350.09.
A family of three owes $136,050.27. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 33 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 3,969,444,117.40.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,043,240,490.00.
The average for the last 33 days would be 2,766,582,263.64.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 86 reports in 125 days of FY2011 averaging 6.45B$ per report, 4.44B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 718 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.8T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
02/02/2011 14,116,512,433,408.69 BHO (UP 3,489,635,384,495.61 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,554,889,402,516.90 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,620,277,055,349.35 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/12/2011 -000,273,054,954.79 ---
01/13/2011 -005,996,045,152.69 --
01/14/2011 +000,146,255,477.48 ------------********
01/18/2011 +038,613,327,669.01 ------------********** Tue
01/19/2011 +000,009,950,983.18 ------------******
01/20/2011 -000,687,286,291.06 ---
01/21/2011 -000,057,867,302.74 ----
01/24/2011 -000,181,687,031.14 --- Mon
01/25/2011 +000,059,189,192.13 ------------*******
01/26/2011 -000,112,154,254.52 ---
01/27/2011 -004,717,116,457.79 --
01/28/2011 +002,605,585,609.92 ------------*********
01/31/2011 +072,534,426,006.14 ------------********** Mon
02/01/2011 -002,841,687,784.84 --
02/02/2011 +000,160,101,452.72 ------------********

99,261,937,161.01 Total of 15 above reports.

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

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

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4720140&mesg_id=4720338

[Festivito]

66. Debt: 02/03/2011 14,100,427,020,880.94 (DOWN 16,085,412,527.75) (Thu, DOWN a lot.)

(Good day.)
Languising in bed - shamelessly.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,470,979,051,382.32 + 4,629,447,969,498.62
DOWN 11,756,222,449.85 + DOWN 4,329,190,077.90

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,212.48 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.64, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,285,792 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,297.37.
A family of three owes $135,892.1. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 4,456,271,263.13.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,416,474,635.07.
The average for the last 31 days would be 3,306,265,775.87.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 87 reports in 126 days of FY2011 averaging 6.19B$ per report, 4.28B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 717 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.8T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
02/03/2011 14,100,427,020,880.94 BHO (UP 3,473,549,971,967.86 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,538,803,989,989.20 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,560,821,082,111.57 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/13/2011 -005,996,045,152.69 --
01/14/2011 +000,146,255,477.48 ------------********
01/18/2011 +038,613,327,669.01 ------------********** Tue
01/19/2011 +000,009,950,983.18 ------------******
01/20/2011 -000,687,286,291.06 ---
01/21/2011 -000,057,867,302.74 ----
01/24/2011 -000,181,687,031.14 --- Mon
01/25/2011 +000,059,189,192.13 ------------*******
01/26/2011 -000,112,154,254.52 ---
01/27/2011 -004,717,116,457.79 --
01/28/2011 +002,605,585,609.92 ------------*********
01/31/2011 +072,534,426,006.14 ------------********** Mon
02/01/2011 -002,841,687,784.84 --
02/02/2011 +000,160,101,452.72 ------------********
02/03/2011 -011,756,222,449.85 -

87,778,769,665.95 Total of 15 above reports.

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

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

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4721415&mesg_id=4721637

[Demeter]

56. Bernanke: Does He Really Think We're This Dumb?

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=179095

....The current equity bubble makes the 2000 Nasdaq bubble look like a piker, and the level of risk in the market right now is nearly double what was present in the first quarter of 2000.

To the National Press Club: Bernanke is playing you like a fiddle.


MUST READ IF YOU CAN STAND IT

[xchrom]

60. yes. yes, he does. nt

[Tansy_Gold]

68. They all do. n/t