STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, June 8, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, June 8, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON June 7, 2011

Dow 12,070.81 -19.15 (-0.16%)
Nasdaq 2,701.56 -1.00 (-0.04%)
S&P 500 1,284.94 -1.23 (-0.10%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.99 -0.01 (-0.33%)
30-Year Bond 4.25 -0.01 (-0.33%)

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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 = 12

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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

Jun 08 07:00 MBA Mortgage Index 06/04 -0.4% NA NA -4.0%
Jun 08 10:30 Crude Inventories 06/03 NA NA 2878K
Jun 08 14:00 Fed's Beige Book Jun

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/investor/calendars/economic/#ixzz1OgNZdGa7

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil falls to near $98 ahead of OPEC meeting

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to near $98 a barrel Wednesday in Asia amid signs OPEC may raise its crude production quotas at a meeting in Vienna.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 69 cents to $98.40 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 8 cents to settle at $99.09 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude for July delivery was down 49 cents to $116.29 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Investors will be closely watching the outcome of a meeting later Wednesday of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a cartel that controls about 40 percent of global crude output.

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

[xchrom]

6. OPEC to hike output, Iran proposes compromise

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/bs_nm/us_opec;_ylt=AmPGq.ad7h2.lDhWOetWN5WyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTI4dnY0N2Q0BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNjA4L3VzX29wZWMEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA29wZWN0b2hpa2VvdQ--

VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC producers on Wednesday hammered out a deal to raise oil supplies for the first time in four years to support the fragile world economy.

Under pressure from consumer countries to contain fuel inflation, Saudi Arabia hopes to convince the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to lift production by as much as 1.5 million barrels a day, Gulf delegates said.

They said that one option could be an initial one million bpd increase with a promise of another 500,000 bpd to come in three months time.

Iran offered to host an emergency meeting within three months to review policy, an Iranian source told Reuters.

[Pale Blue Dot]

83. OPEC leaves oil output unchanged; prices back above $100

VIENNA (AP) — OPEC says it has decided to maintain output levels, with the option of meeting within the next three months for a possible production hike.

Oil prices jumped above $100 per barrel after the news.

The decision is unexpected and reflects unusual tensions in an organization that usually works by consensus.

Saudi Arabia and other influential Gulf nations had pushed to increase production ceilings to calm markets and ease concerns that crude was overpriced for consumer nations struggling with their economies. Those opposed were led by Iran, the second-strongest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-06-08-opec-oil-prices_n.htm

I actually doubt that they can raise production.

[Ghost Dog]

92. Everybody doubts.

Nor, in fact, should they.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4874073

[xchrom]

95. so interesting to watch how the news changed on that. nt

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. U.S. Stock-Index Futures Decline; S&P 500 May Slide for Sixth Straight Day

U.S. stock-index futures declined, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend a 2 1/2- month low, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report on the economy.

LDK Solar Co. sank 1.8 percent after a sales projection from the Chinese maker of solar panels missed estimates. Gap Inc. (GPS), the largest U.S. apparel chain, may move after Barclays Plc downgraded the shares.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month slid 0.3 percent to 1,280.4 as of 10:41 a.m. in London, indicating a sixth day of losses that would be the longest streak since February 2009. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,034. Stocks fell yesterday after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke gave no hint of a new round of economic stimulus, known as quantitative easing, even as the recovery slows.

“Bernanke’s address at the International Monetary Conference last night disappointed those with an immediate QE3 appetite,” Jim Reid, a London-based global strategist at Deutsche Bank AG, wrote in a report today. “The Fed’s Beige Book this evening will give us another updated snapshot on the health of the world’s largest economy.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08/u-s-stock-index-futures-decline-s-p-500-may-slide-for-sixth-straight-day.html

It could be another "fascinating" day in the markets.

[hamerfan]

5. "fascinating"

I guess I better be prepared to be "surprised" by all the "unexpected", then....

Good morning everyone! :donut:

[xchrom]

7. Global stocks hit by downbeat Bernanke views

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-08-06-45-05

LONDON (AP) -- A sober assessment of the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke weighed on stock markets Wednesday, especially as the central banker failed to indicate that more monetary stimulus was likely.

In a speech Tuesday, Bernanke acknowledged that U.S. economic growth remained "frustratingly slow" but said nothing to suggest the Fed was about to take any bold new action to shore it up.

"Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established," Bernanke said.

Last week's payrolls figures, showing only 54,000 jobs created in May and the unemployment rate back at 9.1 percent, provided the clearest evidence that the U.S. economic recovery is slowing down sharply.

[Po_d Mainiac]

9. The chairsatan now plays the the role of da pusher

Watch what happens when he takes his dope off the market for a few weeks. When the drop has taken 25% (or so) off the top, we'll get the announcement of the next round of printing.

go away in May
YMMV

[xchrom]

13. Bernanke Says ‘Uneven’ Recovery Still Needs Stimulus

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08/bernanke-says-frustratingly-slow-recovery-warrants-accommodative-policy.html

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the “frustratingly slow” U.S. recovery warrants sustained monetary stimulus while predicting that growth will gain speed in the second half of the year.

“The economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed,” Bernanke said yesterday in a speech in Atlanta. At the same time, the Fed “will take whatever actions are necessary to keep inflation well controlled,” he said.

Bernanke said consumer spending is being held back by an unemployment rate that rose to 9.1 percent last month, a drop in home values and tight credit. Growth is likely to pick up as fuel prices moderate and factory disruptions ease as factories in Japan recover from an earthquake and tsunami, he said. Stocks and bonds fell as some investors interpreted the comments as a signal that the Fed is unlikely to deploy a new round of bond purchases to bolster the economy.

[xchrom]

14. Bernanke takes his critics back to school

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernanke-takes-his-critics-back-to-school-2011-06-07?dist=beforebell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The people who blame the Federal Reserve for all of our problems are starting to really get under Ben Bernanke’s skin.

Bernanke devoted nearly half of his major address on the economic outlook to debunking the charge by his critics who say the Fed’s ultra-accommodative policies are responsible for high gas prices, high food prices and the falling dollar. Read more about Bernanke’s speech saying the economy will bounce back later this year.

t’s not the first time that the Fed chairman has fired back at critics of his unusual approach to monetary policy in an unusual time — those who say that ultralow interest rates and the massive expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet have fueled an epic bubble in assets, including commodities.

Essentially, Bernanke’s defense is that supply and demand explain virtually all of the increase in commodity prices since 2008. The simplest answer explains it best: The developing world is growing rapidly and using tremendous amounts of petroleum, metals and agricultural commodities, which is pushing prices higher temporarily because producers can’t keep up with demand








:eyes:

[Demeter]

24. Bernanke signals no new round of easing

Ben Bernanke sent a strong signal that the US Federal Reserve is not planning to loosen monetary policy despite weaker economic data

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/8AV0V2/B49CK/D42VCY/KED34L/N9/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=8

[Po_d Mainiac]

90. There is a university in NJ that's missing its idiot! n/t

[Fuddnik]

50. "Ben, you poor, ignorant, misguided slut", To paraphrase Dan Akroyd.

"The economy is still producing at levels well below it's potential".
No shit Sherlock! Why is that? Do you have a clue?

Bernanke said consumer spending is being held back by an unemployment rate that rose to 9.1 percent last month, a drop in home values and tight credit.
Right! Bingo! Give the man a cigar!

So, what do you do to increase consumer spending, add jobs, increase home values, and loosen tight credit?

:think: Give money to the banks at near zero interest, so they can buy T-bills with a higher return? :wtf: Wrong!

:think: Give the wealthy and corporations more tax cuts?
:wtf: Wrong again!! Asshole!


How about increasing taxes on the wealthy, corporations, and eliminating tax breaks for multi-nationals? Maybe a jobs program, say...rebuilding infrastructure, at good wages and benefits. Maybe withdraw from our seven or how many official and unofficial wars. Start dismantling the empire, and some 700 odd military bases overseas? Think that would help?

"God No!!! :wow: :spank: :spank: Socialism!!!:spank: :spank: Commies!!:spank: :spank: Terrorists!!!

[xchrom]

54. preach, brother! nt

[Ghost Dog]

88. But, we're the choir, here. n/t

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

[Demeter]

63. This post deserves a Pulitzer, or at least, Wider Circulation

Way to go, Doc!

[Fuddnik]

84. The Ben Bernank: Full Frontal Cluelessness.

I posted it again at the bottom, just in case you want to read it twice! :crazy: :silly: :crazy:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_bernanke_scandal_full_frontal_cluelessness_20110608/

The Bernanke Scandal: Full-Frontal Cluelessness

Posted on Jun 7, 2011
AP / Alex Brandon

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifying before the Senate Budget Committee last January.

By Robert Scheer

How I wish that Ben Bernanke would get caught emailing photos of his underwear-clad groin. Otherwise we don’t stand a chance of reversing this administration’s economic policy, which is shaping up to be every bit as disastrous as that of its predecessor.

Indeed, the Fed chairman’s much anticipated remarks on Tuesday take one back to the contemptuous indifference of a Herbert Hoover to the public’s suffering: Bernanke dismissed the wobbly economy with its anemic 1.8 percent first-quarter growth as merely “somewhat slower than expected.” The rise in unemployment to 9.1 percent was “some loss of momentum.”

The problem with Bernanke is that he is utterly clueless as to the stark pain and fear endured by the 50 million Americans who have experienced, or face the prospect of, losing their homes. His remarks reflected the insularity of a ruling-power elite that is magnificently impervious to the damage that Bernanke’s policies in the current and past administration helped inflict on what used to be called the American way of life. This is a man who assured us there was no housing crisis, while his policies at the Fed encouraged the mortgage securitization swindles that caused the meltdown of the economy.

His full statement stands as a classic example of the limits of economic language as morally descriptive: “Overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers.” Frustratingly slow—how about going bat nuts with fear over not being able to make your mortgage payment and losing your home? Tell it to workers who must contend with stagnant wage rates and sharply rising gas and food costs as better jobs and therefore consumer demand move offshore. Bernanke takes low wages to be reassuring news on what he sees as the all-important inflation front: “subdued unit labor costs should remain a restraining influence on inflation.”

(snip)

[bread_and_roses]

112. "government of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers."

ayyy-up. That it is. Good article. Great post above too, fuddnick.

[Demeter]

15. Wall Street adds to losing streak after Bernanke speaks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110607/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

Stocks extended a losing streak for a fifth day on Tuesday on mounting concerns about the economy after bearish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The market, which started off on a positive note after the S&P 500 hit a two-month low in the previous session, reversed course to turn negative after Bernanke started speaking. He acknowledged a slowdown in the economy, but offered no suggestion the central bank is considering any further monetary stimulus to support growth. Bernanke also issued a stern warning to lawmakers in Washington who are considering aggressive budget cuts, saying they have the potential to derail the economic recovery.

"It's not like the market was expecting a positive comment from him, but not quite this negative, either. But I think the impact would be limited. I don't see this carrying over to tomorrow's market," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

Bernanke indicated the latest bout of weakness probably would not last very long and should give way to some growth in the second half of the year.

A batch of weak economic data recently, especially in the job market, has pushed major indexes below their support levels.


BERNANKE GOT THE SHORT STRAW--IS BEING SET UP AS FALL GUY---GEITHNER WINS!
AMERICA LOSES.

[Demeter]

93. Bernanke's Talk Kills Stock Rally CONDEMNED BY WSJ!

Ben might as well fall on his sword, now....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576371032577629562.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

A gloomy economic assessment from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke erased an earlier stock rally, sending major indexes in the final minutes of Tuesday's session to their fifth consecutive drop...The sharp reversal came after Bernanke offered downbeat comments on the U.S. economy. He said economic growth has been "somewhat slower" than expected, although he added that the recovery should pick back up in the second half of 2011 despite recent signs of weakness.

Mr. Bernanke also said the recovery two years after the end of the recession remains "uneven" and that conditions—particularly in the labor market—remain troubled.

"The market is not buying what Bernanke is selling," said Keith Bliss, senior vice president at Cuttone & Co., a brokerage on the New York Stock Exchange floor. "He's not wowing the crowd."

[rfranklin]

4. China says Republicans will create global panic...

China warns U.S. debt-default idea is "playing with fire"
(Reuters) - Allowing a brief U.S. debt default to force government spending cuts is a "horrible idea" that could destabilize the world economy and sour already tense relations with big creditors like China, government officials and investors said on Wednesday.

A growing number of Republican lawmakers think a technical debt default might be a price worth paying if it gets the White House to accept deep spending cuts. This idea, once confined to the party's fringe, is seeping into the mainstream, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

"How can the U.S. be allowed to default?" said an official at India's central bank. "We don't think this is a possibility because this could then create huge panic globally."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-usa-debt-bondholders-idUSTRE75718320110608

Republican mainstream flirts with brief default
By Tim Reid and Steven C. Johnson

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK | Tue Jun 7, 2011 11:01pm EDT


(Reuters) - An idea once confined to the fringe of the Republican party is seeping into its mainstream -- that a brief default might be an acceptable price to pay if it forces the White House to deal with runaway spending.

An increasing number of Republicans do not believe the Obama administration's dire predictions of economic "catastrophe" if the debt limit is not increased. They argue a period of technical default can be managed without plunging markets into chaos.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-usa-debt-skepticism-idUSTRE75700720110608

[Ghost Dog]

94. "A brief (US) default might be an acceptable price to pay."

Oh, that will go down very well in Greece...

[xchrom]

8. Shrinking Valuations Drive Bank Payroll Cuts

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08/shrinking-bank-valuations-drive-pressure-for-payroll-cuts-to-buoy-profits.html

Financial firms, shunned by investors to a degree seen only once in the last 20 years, are becoming a smaller part of the U.S. economy as they deal with a past that won’t go away and a future of lower revenue and fewer jobs.

Shares of financial companies have fallen for three straight months and now have their lowest ratio to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 2009. Net revenue at the six largest U.S. lenders -- Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley -- will probably fall 3.7 percent in the second quarter, the fourth year-over-year decline in five quarters, according to 100 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Persistent low interest rates and stagnant loan growth are shrinking interest income as new regulations curtail fee revenue from retail banking. Analysts, including Meredith Whitney and Nomura Holding Inc.’s Glenn Schorr, expect the slow growth to result in job cuts on Wall Street in the coming months.

“Without any change, the financial sector is definitely set to shrink,” said John Garvey, head of the financial industry advisory practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. “You don’t have to be a scientist to figure out that tighter regulation and more onerous capital rules without economic growth will shrink the industry. It has to.”

[DemReadingDU]

85. Muni Defaults Still Coming, But Timing Unclear: Meredith Whitney

6/8/11 Muni Defaults Still Coming, But Timing Unclear: Meredith Whitney

With the clock ticking on her prediction that scores of municipalities would default on their bonds, analyst Meredith Whitney both amped up the rhetoric and backed off on the timing for her highly controversial call. Since her forecast last December on "60 Minutes" that 50 to 100 muni bond defaults were coming with a price tag that would run in the hundreds of billions, Whitney has been a favorite target for detractors who say she has vastly overstated the problems with local government finances.

But in a CNBC interview, Whitney stuck to her prediction even if she said the debt crash may not happen overnight. "It's going to be big," she said. "What was troublesome is people took (the call) that it would have to be this year. I never said that. But that's the size we're looking at."

Whitney, head of the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group in New York, recalled some of her previous forecasts that housing prices would double-dip, and that state and local governments would enact huge layoffs. While those developments didn't happen immediately, she said the accuracy was merely "a question of timing (over) the exact month or the exact quarter."

Seemingly for good measure, she piled another call on her muni prediction, saying that slumping housing prices will continue to burden the economy on both a state and national level, with another double-digit drop in sight. That will further constrain government coffers and add to the muni problem, she said.

"I can't believe I'm the only person talking about it," she said. "That doesn't make any sense to me that we're (the only ones) shedding light on this. If people want to attack me, OK, I'm kind of used to it at this point."

more...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43323425

Videos...
6/8/11 Meredith Whitney: Debt Doomsayer
Muni defaults are a consequence of state budget gaps, says Meredith Whitney, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group founder/CEO, who also points out that there are insufficient revenues to support state projects
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000025866
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000025866&play=1

6/8/11 The Other Jobs Indicator
The net jobs data is a small fraction of a total number of hires, which are the numbers people should look at more closely, says Edward Lazear, former chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers/Stanford University Economics professor; with Meredith Whitney, Meredith Whitney Advisory
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000025967&play=1

6/8/11 Meredith Whitney: Banks, States & Munis
You can't blame lack of growth in banking on regulation alone, says Meredith Whitney, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group founder/CEO
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000026431&play=1

6/8/11 Whitney on the Stock Market
Meredith Whitney, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group weighs in on how de-banking consumers is impacting spending and the changes in bank lending
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000026433&play=1

[Po_d Mainiac]

97. And she will be ridiculed right up to the time that she is

hmm RIGHT!

[xchrom]

10. Japan to host IMF, World Bank talks

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110608a4.html

Washington — Japan will host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in October 2012, taking the place of Egypt, which had requested next year's gatherings be held elsewhere amid the prodemocracy uprising there.

Japan filed its candidacy for hosting the international conferences to demonstrate its recovery and reconstruction after the devastating March earthquake and tsunami as well as the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The meetings will discuss international economic and financial developments, and policies to strengthen inclusive economic growth and help countries overcome poverty, the statement said.

[Fuddnik]

53. Hold the talks at the Fukushima #1 dining room.

That would be an enlightening experience.

[Demeter]

64. Everyone Would be positively GLOWING!

[xchrom]

11. africa: FEATURE-Hunt for ever-deeper S.Africa gold still costs lives

http://af.reuters.com/article/southAfricaNews/idAFLDE74Q0ZQ20110603

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, June 3 (Reuters) - The massive drill is deafening as it bores into the rock of the world's deepest mine, where heat and humidity sap the strength of gold miners who never know when the next rock fall might kill or maim.

At 3.8 km (2.4 miles) underground, it feels like the bottom of the world.

Toil and blood have brought humans to this spot, the lowest in AngloGold Ashanti's Mponeng mine, 60 kms (35 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

At such depths it is impossible to ignore the thousands of tonnes of rock overhead -- unnerving in a region prone to seismic activity.

"Sometimes you feel a tremor down here. You get used to them," said section manager Geert Jacobs, clad in overalls and hard hat as he directed journalists through a tunnel.

[xchrom]

12. Fishing pact loses EU millions in Morocco - report

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE7552EL20110608

BRUSSELS, June 7 (Reuters) - A politically divisive fishing pact between Morocco and the European Union has been costing Europe millions of euros a year and could deplete Morocco's fish stocks, according to a confidential report seen by Reuters.

The EU report says Europe has been unable to profit from the treaty, increase access to fish or impose environmental standards, findings that are likely to erode support among EU governments and lawmakers for the accord.

The treaty, which took effect in 2007, has also long been criticised for tightening Morocco's hold over Western Sahara, a resource-rich territory to the south that Morocco annexed in 1975 and has become Africa's longest land dispute.

"The EU has paid too high a price to support its fishing fleet," said the 112-page report for the EU Commission.

[xchrom]

16. The wacky world of gold

http://www.economist.com/node/18774624

STRIKING gold is generally considered a slice of good luck. Owning it, however, is a sign that you fear the worst. Some people buy the yellow stuff because they think it looks pretty, to be sure. But the quintessential gold bug is an investor who expects every form of paper wealth to collapse, along with civilisation itself.

Gold is not like other commodities. The demand for iron ore depends on down-to-earth things, such as how many steel girders Chinese builders are using. The demand for gold depends on airier considerations, such as whether you think Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ.

Not all gold investors stockpile guns and tinned food in remote cabins, of course. Nor are they all fans of Glenn Beck, an American pundit who preaches doom and urges his listeners to buy gold. But most agree that the world is a scary place. The euro zone is tottering, America’s deficit is alarming and inflation is looming, they reckon. Such fears have ramped the price of gold up to an incredible $1,545 a troy ounce, up almost sixfold in a decade.

Yet gold miners’ shares have failed to keep pace (see chart). This is new. Gold and gold-mining shares used to rise and fall in lockstep. Over the past five years, however, the price of gold has trebled while the value of gold miners has merely doubled. Investors in firms that shift, crush and process rocks are more grounded, it seems, than those who invest in bullion.

[Roland99]

17. just like any craze, eh?

Cabbage dolls were worth a fortune for a while but their makers' stock didn't rise meteorically.

[xchrom]

48. PRECIOUS-Gold dips, market seeks clues on U.S. policy move

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/markets-precious-idUKL3E7H806A20110608

SINGAPORE, June 8 (Reuters) - Gold ticked down on Wednesday
as the dollar edged up from one-month lows against a basket of
currencies, while investors looked for hints on the U.S. central
bank's next policy move after its chairman acknowledged the
economy had slowed.

Gold breached $1,550 for the second straight session on
Tuesday, but failed to close above that key level as the lack of
clues on further stimulus plan in Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke's remarks kept investors on edge.

"Gold lacks momentum for a rally but does not have much room
on the downside," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO
Futures. "We need some earth-shattering news to stimulate the
market."

If the Fed flagged further quantitative easing, it
would drive investors, wary of future inflation, to store their
value in bullion, traders say.

[Po_d Mainiac]

105. Wow. The author must have spent at least 3 minutes

doing the research for this turd :puke:

[Fuddnik]

18. You are not alone.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1130.html

[Demeter]

20. I must be a basket case

He makes a lot of sense.

[Hotler]

38. +1 n/t

[Demeter]

19. Obama presses Europe, pledges help for Greek crisis

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/bs_nm/us_eurozone_usa

President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged European countries and bondholders to prevent a "disastrous" default by Greece and pledged U.S. support to help tackle the country's debt crisis. Obama, whose political prospects have suffered from persistently high unemployment and ballooning U.S. debt, has pinpointed the euro zone crisis as one foreign "headwind" hitting the U.S. economy. (NICE DIG THERE!)

After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he stressed the importance of German "leadership" on the issue -- a hint that he expects Berlin to help -- while expressing sympathy for the political difficulties European Union countries face in helping a struggling member state.

"I'm confident that Germany's leadership, along with other key actors in Europe, will help us arrive at a path for Greece to return to growth, for this debt to become more manageable," Obama said. "But it's going to require some patience and some time. And we have pledged to cooperate fully in working through these issues, both on a bilateral basis but also through international and financial institutions like the IMF."

A proposal for a second Greek bailout package worth 80 billion (117 billion dollars) to 100 billion (146 billion dollars) euros over three years was taking shape, euro zone sources said.

MORE SNIDENESS AT LINK

[Pale Blue Dot]

25. Help??? With what f*cking money???

Sorry. It's the last couple of days of classes and I'm punchy. :-)

[Demeter]

29. I'm Hoping It's Just More Obama Empty Words (tm)

Tastes Great--Less Filling!

because otherwise, it's more "borrowing" from GS.

[Demeter]

30. Free At Last!

Congrats for making it through another school year, Teach!

Will you be starting the thread earlier? (snicker)

It's gonna be another hot, humid day here. I'm cutting off my hair. It's too long for regular swimming.

[InkAddict]

55. Cutting the hair will expose more skin, May I offer this summertime

advice to graduates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfq_A8nXMsQ

[DemReadingDU]

86. Nice video!

[Hotler]

43. Is Obama playing lobbyist for Wall St.???

If European countries bailout Greece does Wall St. win????

[Ghost Dog]

91. Essentially, yes.

... And Angela doesn't know who else to follow, apparently... And Cameron's already in the bag...

A piece at the Guardian yesterday:

... When the crisis broke three years ago, many on the left believed it would rejuvenate support for the interventionist state. Instead, the pendulum has swung aggressively against social democracy throughout Europe. For although voters were concerned about vested interests in the financial system and soaring inequalities driven by unregulated financial markets, their confidence in the capacity of the state to act was at rock bottom. In the meantime, the centre-right deftly redefined the crisis as a fiscal crisis of government overspending, high public debt and unsustainable structural deficits. Bloated and bureaucratic government was now the enemy.

This has been a hammer blow to social democracy. Popular faith in government as a force for good has been eaten away, while the centre-left's embrace of markets has been exposed as profoundly misjudged. New Labour in Britain along with a host of social democratic parties in Europe allowed free-market triumphalism to obscure the left's historic commitment to regulating markets in the public interest. The third way offers no route-map out of the economic and political crisis.

What is to be done? It is delusional to believe that merely restating the case for traditional state action will revive support for centre-left parties. A more fundamental analysis of the underlying causes of the crisis is necessary, together with the development of a viable programme for power.

This programme must include three vital elements. First, a strategy for regulating financial markets that promotes the public good, tackles systemic risks and reforms banks that are "too big to fail". Second, an industrial modernisation plan that would rebalance our economies away from a reliance on financial services, and invest in services and knowledge-based industries as well as traditional manufacturing. And finally, a strategy for reforming the tax system, one which would clamp down on tax evasion and fraud while restoring the progressivity of tax, while using redistribution to tackle inequalities.

/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/06/portugal-why-right-won-again?INTCMP=SRCH

[Ghost Dog]

96. Om. No comment. n/t

[Demeter]

21. UBS pledge to staff to compete on pay

UBS executives have reassured senior bankers that the group will raise pay to attract and retain top staff after suffering a spate of defections from its US investment bank

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/BLH300/TPNRB2/7ZY85/9ZO6R6/6VOWQU/VU/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=7

[Demeter]

22. G20 targets volatile food prices

The G20 group of leading nations is to launch an attempt to reduce price volatility in agricultural commodities by collating greater market information on global stocks and production

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/FG6LAA/3O8BO9/87I64/OJYDBZ/5C64I8/ZH/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=7

HUH? PUT THE SPECULATORS OUT OF BUSINESS! IS THAT TOO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND?

[Demeter]

23. HSBC in $62m Madoff hedge fund deal

Bank agrees to pay investors in a hedge fund that fed money to Madoff, becoming the first custodian bank to settle a class-action lawsuit

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/M9EI8A/LSLXF/728G0D/QFSHYF/MQ/t?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=8

[Demeter]

26. Walk away from your mortgage? Time to get 'ruthless'

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/07/real_estate/walk_away_mortgage/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

...Jon Maddux, CEO of YouWalkAway.com, reports 10% more clients this year to his company, which advises people how best to handle the walk away process.

Charles Gallagher, a real estate attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., has also seen an uptick.

And a recent survey by home finance company Fannie Mae found that while only about 27% of homeowners would even consider walking away, that's up from 15% last year.

In an early 2010 report, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) researchers said nearly 200,000 defaults in the prior year were voluntary, or roughly 12% of the total. The bank expects to issue updated estimates in coming weeks...

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

[Demeter]

47. Quelle Surprise! Banks are Concerned About Mortgage Slowdown

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/quelle-surprise-banks-are-concerned-about-mortgage-slowdown.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

...Investors have come to realize a bit late in the game that private label securitizations were structured so as to be far too favorable to the originators and servicers: too little disclosure, too many abuses, too little accountability, combined with impediments to seeking redress in court.
Borrowers feel every bit as stung between deteriorating housing markets, foreclosure malfeasance, and doubts over chain of title.

It isn’t simply that banks have been slow to ‘fess up and clean up; instead, they’ve kicked and screamed at every possible reform measure, from pro investor reforms such as a very good FDIC proposal that got watered down to nothingness and a weak 5% risk retention rule (which Dean Baker estimates will add all of 0.13% to the yield on a mortgage) to pretty much anything that would help borrowers. And that’s before we get to widespread evidence of incompetence (continuing stories of foreclosing on people who don’t have mortgages is the tip of the iceberg) and fraud.

It’s yet another sign of Banker Derangement Sydrome that the industry can think anyone outside of cash buyers in markets that have arguably bottomed would be keen about buying a house. But this American Banker reports reveals how they appear unable to recognize their role in creating this mess. They seem simply puzzled and a tad depressed that super low interest rates are producing only refis as opposed to home sales...

[Demeter]

27. State, local governments set to see record job cuts, layoffs

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/State-local-governments-set-cnnm-4227360729.html

...this cash-strapped sector is set to go on a record-breaking layoff binge when the new fiscal year starts on July 1. ..State and local governments are forecast to shed up to 110,000 jobs in the third quarter, the first time the blood-letting has risen into the triple digits, according to IHS Global Insight.

"We're on a downward path," said Greg Daco, principal U.S. economist at IHS. "It's not looking good."

State and local government employment has been a drag on the economy all year, averaging a loss of 23,000 jobs a month over the past three months. Meanwhile, the private sector has created an average of 180,000 a month during the same period...

[xchrom]

28. asia: Yuan Climbs to a 17-Year High on Reference Rate, U.S. Outlook

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/yuan-climbs-to-a-17-year-high-on-reference-rate-us-outlook/445705

Beijing. China’s yuan advanced to the strongest level in 17 years as the central bank set the currency’s reference higher for a third straight day.

The People’s Bank of China raised the currency rate 0.03 percent to 6.4795 per dollar, the highest level since July 2005. A record monetary stimulus is still needed to boost a “frustratingly slow” recovery in the world’s largest economy, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday, spurring speculation investors will add to holdings of higher- yielding emerging-market assets.

“Bernanke’s comments confirmed that U.S. economy remains weak so even though there’ll be no quantitative-easing program after June, it’s also unlikely for the Fed to raise interest rates,” said Kenix Lai, a foreign-exchange analyst at Sun Hung Kai Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong.

The yuan strengthened 0.05 percent to 6.4776 per dollar as of 10:10 a.m. in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The currency reached 6.4771 earlier, the strongest level since China unified official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993.

[xchrom]

31. Japan's Hello Kitty Resolves Bunny Battle With Miffy

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/japans-hello-kitty-resolves-bunny-battle-with-miffy/445718

The Japanese company behind Hello Kitty has agreed with the Dutch creator of bunny character Miffy to end a copyright row and instead donate legal costs to victims of the March quake and tsunami.

An Amsterdam court in November 2010 ordered Sanrio to halt production and sales of Cathy -- Kitty's rabbit friend -- merchandise in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg after finding the Japanese bunny closely resembled Miffy, created by a Dutch children's author in the 1950s.

Sanrio argued no such infringement had taken place and appealed the injunction which had been sought by Mercis, the Dutch copyright management firm acting for Miffy's creator Dick Bruna.

But after a lengthy dispute the two companies issued a joint press release late Tuesday announcing that they had reached "a worldwide settlement ending all legal disputes" and spelling the end for Cathy.





at last! -- i can sleep.

[xchrom]

33. Vietnam's Beans at Premiums; Sumatra Firm

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/vietnams-beans-at-premiums-sumatra-firm/445739

Singapore. Robusta coffee from top producer Vietnam was traded at premiums for the first time since at least May 2010, while Indonesian roasters snapped up any beans on offer as supply worries lingered, dealers said on Wednesday.

Vietnam's robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans, changed hands at premiums of between $20 and $60 to London's September contract on thinning stocks ahead of the next harvest and after strong exports earlier this year.

“We've been buying Vietnamese coffee at London levels or at premiums of $20. There's not much stock in the hands of farmers,” said a dealer in Singapore, who trades Vietnamese and Indonesian coffee.

“There will be some tightness in Vietnam from now until the new crop arrives in October."

[xchrom]

40. HK stocks seen edging lower, banks mixed

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/markets-hongkong-stocks-preopen-idUSL3E7H802520110608

HONG KONG, June 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks could edge
lower on Wednesday, weighed by heavyweight banking shares, but
any losses could be capped by investor purchases of coal stocks
that appear attractive after their recent slide.

Sentiment could be further dampened by bearish comments
about the strength of the global economy from U.S. Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke .

The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 0.4 percent on
Wednesday to finish at 22,868.7, falling further below its
200-day moving average at 23,091.8, a level that may cap any
near-term rebound.

Heavyweight HSBC Holdings Plc could come under
selling pressure after brokerage Credit Suisse cut its rating on
the stock to "neutral" on Tuesday. Credit Suisse, which had an
"outperform" rating on the stock since June 2009 when it was
trading at HK$69.85, said HSBC was now fairly valued.

[Demeter]

32. You know, with AnneD and Tansy Gold Missing in Action

Maybe they really ARE campaigning for the White House....it's a paying gig, after all.

[xchrom]

34. oooh -- miss tansy as secretary of defence!

'get the fuck off my lawn!'

[tclambert]

106. Clint Eastwood--Gran Torino--"get off my lawn!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NelBNtNm8l0

[DemReadingDU]

37. Maybe!

Wish they would check in so we know how the campaign is going!

[Ghost Dog]

98. Campaigning pays?

Only if you take the money.

[xchrom]

35. south asia: India in figures: Mergers, internet, the rich and outsourcing

http://www.firstpost.com/business/india-in-figures-mergers-internet-the-rich-and-outsourcing-22070.html

Deal Street

Private equity and venture capital funds closed 45 deals in India worth $1.31 billion as compared to 32 deals worth $563 million during the same period last year, according to vccircle.com. The median deal size increased to $14 million from $5 million with the average deal size nearly doubling to $39 million from $20 million during the period. This was on the back of a couple of large transactions in the infrastructure sector. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners committed $200 million in a joint venture with Isolux Corsán Concesiones to develop road projects. Another large deal was Standard Chartered Private Equity, Jacob Ballas and JM Financial Old Lane Capital investing $200 million in GMR Infrastructure’s airport holding company.

World Wide Web

The Internet accounted for 5% of India’s GDP in 2009 and overall 3.4% of GDP in the 13 nations studied by McKinsey Global Institute. More than half of that impact arises from private consumption, primarily online purchases and advertising. An additional 29% flows from investments by private-sector companies in servers, software, and communications equipment. The Internet economy, now larger than that of Spain, surpasses global industry sectors such as agriculture and energy.

The Internet is also a catalyst for generating jobs. Among 4,800 small and mid-size enterprises surveyed, it created 2.6 new jobs for each job lost to technology-related efficiencies.

[xchrom]

36. India gives US economy (and jobs) a boost with aircraft deal

http://www.firstpost.com/world/aircraft-deal-22043.html

Although Americans seem to love that old saw about how US jobs are always being outsourced to India, here’s a news nugget that turns things on its head: A deal between aircraft manufacturer The Boeing Company and the Indian government could preserve 23,000 American employees from getting the axe.

The Indian Cabinet on Monday approved the purchase of 10 C-17 military cargo planes for $4.1 billion, the country’s largest defence contract with an American company. (In military deals such as this one, the US government represents Boeing in the transaction, and both countries are expected to sign a letter of offer and acceptance in the next few days.)

[xchrom]

57. Govt can tame inflation, expect 8.5% growth rate: R Gopalan

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/govt-can-tame-inflation-expect-85-growth-rate-r-gopalan_555713.html

ndian market has seen a consistent pullback from foreign institutional investors since quite some time. Experts feel that FIIs have started believing that the India’s growth story has been impacted and the overall prospects are not as rosy as they were a couple of years back.

The Finance Minister’s meeting with domestic as well as overseas financial institutional investors is a sign that the government is attempting to resolve macroeconomics concerns and other domestic issues that are hindering growth of the Indian market, however the real question is that will it help lifting investor sentiments and boost FII investment.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, R Gopalan, the Economic Affairs Secretary, said that the FII investment is going through a correction phase. He strongly feels that government is in a position to control inflation, and hence, India will achieve its growth target of 8.5%.

Talking about crude oil movements, Gopalan said that predicting oil is very challenging. “We didn't expect crude oil prices to remain at elevated levels. If anybody would have made a proper guess of this, he would have been a millionaire,” added Gopalan.

[xchrom]

71. Sensex snaps two-day gains, down 101 points on global cues

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-snaps-two-day-gains-down-101-points-on-global-cues/articleshow/8775075.cms

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex on Wednesday fell over 101 points at 18,394.29 on emergence of across the board selling in blue-chips led by Reliance Industries (RIL) as investors booked profits amid a weakening global trend.

The Bombay Stock Exchange index, Sensex, which had gained 120 points in last two sessions, fell by 101.33 points to 18,394.29 after moving in a range of 18,505.10 and 18,365.94 points during intra-day trading.

Broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty closed 29.30 points down at 5,526.85 in a sluggish trade. It had moved between 5,556.60 and 5,514.90 during the session.

Trading sentiment turned bearish after a fall in Asian stock markets and a lower opening in Europe. Global indices fell to their lowest in two weeks after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic recovery in the US was "frustratingly slow".

[Demeter]

39. Austan Goolsbee Exit: Obama Adviser Leaves Behind Frustration, Political Dysfunction

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/austan-goolsbee-leaves-behind-frustration_n_872243.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HP/Business+%28Business+on+The+Huffington+Post%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Austan Goolsbee, one of President Barack Obama's longest serving policy advisers and the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, leaves his post pretty much as he inherited it: with the economy moribund, no clear path to vigor in sight and the unemployment rate stubbornly elevated.

More than ever, the atmosphere in Washington seems so laced with toxicity that policymakers have largely given up merely debating how to spur the economy, cognizant that any approach will be deemed politically impossible.

This, suggest policy-watchers, appears to have played at least some role in prompting Goolsbee to finally throw it in and head back to the University of Chicago to resume his academic career. He felt frustrated and tired of seeing what he viewed as necessary policies sacrificed to the imperatives of political positioning and compromise.

So runs the narrative among those inclined to accuse the administration of failing to marshal an adequate response to the strains of the Great Recession, setting aside plans to put Americans back to work via government-financed projects in favor of scrimping to shrink budget deficits....

Colbert or Goolsbee: Who’s the Clown?

http://www.accuracy.org/release/colbert-or-goolsbee-whos-the-clown/

Nearly two years ago, Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee, told Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert, “A year from now we’re going to be in a very happy place.” (June 15, 2009, 1:40 mark of the video.)...“According to Goolsbee, ‘the main driver of recovery at this point has got to be the private sector.’ Goolsbee recently told the Financial Times that only during ‘a rescue phase’ should the government be the primary driver of the economy. Likewise, for the past year President Obama has repeatedly said that the private sector must be the engine of job creation, a perspective shared by such Tea Party leaders and libertarians as newly-elected U.S. Senator Rand Paul and eerily reminiscent of the approach of the Hoover administration. Unfortunately, private sector job growth continues to stall and underperform. The U.S. added just 54,000 jobs last month, well below the 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs that are needed each month just to keep up with the increase in the working age population. The official U.S. unemployment rate is now 9.1 percent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly one in five American workers are either unemployed, underemployed, or discouraged workers who have given up looking for work.

“Goolsbee suggested that it is proper for the government to take the lead in rescuing Wall Street banks, but when it comes to creating jobs for American workers, all the government can do is provide tax incentives for businesses to hire. Yet, with fourteen million Americans officially unemployed, another ten million or more either underemployed or too discouraged to look for work and many millions of consumers under water on their mortgages, all the tax incentives in the world will not be enough to get U.S. businesses to invest. In fact, the largest U.S. corporations are sitting on more than $2 trillion in earnings. Given the dismal conditions in labor and housing markets, it makes little sense to rely on the private sector to lead recovery.

“We’re now heading into forest fire season and there’s no Civilian Conservation Corp to put young people to work clearing underbrush in national and state parks and forests. According to Robert Shiller, professor of economics and finance at Yale University, the federal government could employ a million Americans in a new CCC for only $30 billion a year, a drop in the bucket compared with the trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve and Treasury have already showered on Wall Street institutions and financial markets. President Obama has talked about investing in infrastructure, but he has proposed no new public works or jobs programs. Ronald Reagan’s father, like millions of Americans, survived the Great Depression working for the Works Project Administration which built schools, hospitals, highways, and bridges throughout the 1930s. During the Carter administration, hundreds of thousands of Americans were employed in major jobs training programs. But ever since the Reagan era, Democratic and Republican administrations alike have turned away from public jobs and training programs.

“Some will argue that House Republicans will never go for any federal jobs programs. That’s a weak excuse for Democrats to remain silent. At a time when mass joblessness remains a most serious obstacle to economic recovery and when private businesses are reluctant to invest, the federal government must take the lead in putting Americans back to work.”...Last month, Goolsbee was on Colbert’s show again and refused to contradict Colbert’s repeated assertion that the government has never created a single job (0:50 mark of the video).

[xchrom]

41. McDonald's sales figure climbed 3.1 pct in May

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MCDONALDS_SALES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-08-08-59-34

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) -- Consumers headed to McDonald's for its fruit and maple oatmeal and drinks like frozen strawberry lemonade in May, pushing its revenue at restaurants open at least 13 months up 3.1 percent.

But the results were sluggish in the U.S. and weaker than May 2010. Shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain fell $1.49 to $79.65 in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Revenue at restaurants open at least 13 months is a key gauge of a restaurant chain's health because it excludes results from locations that were recently opened or closed.

McDonald's posted a 4.8 percent increase in the key revenue metric a year ago. But this May's performance topped the 2.7 percent rise that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

[Demeter]

68. THAT Must Be the "Happy Place" to which Goolsbee referred!

It all makes sense now!

[xchrom]

70. ...

:spray:

[Demeter]

42. Decline and fall of the American empire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/06/us-economy-decline-recovery-challenges

America clocked up a record last week. The latest drop in house prices meant that the cost of real estate has fallen by 33% since the peak – even bigger than the 31% slide seen when John Steinbeck was writing The Grapes of Wrath.

Unemployment has not returned to Great Depression levels but at 9.1% of the workforce it is still at levels that will have nerves jangling in the White House. The last president to be re-elected with unemployment above 7.2% was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The US is a country with serious problems. Getting on for one in six depend on government food stamps to ensure they have enough to eat. The budget, which was in surplus little more than a decade ago, now has a deficit of Greek-style proportions. There is policy paralysis in Washington....

Let me put an alternative hypothesis. America in 2011 is Rome in 200AD or Britain on the eve of the first world war: an empire at the zenith of its power but with cracks beginning to show. The experience of both Rome and Britain suggests that it is hard to stop the rot once it has set in, so here are the a few of the warning signs of trouble ahead: military overstretch, a widening gulf between rich and poor, a hollowed-out economy, citizens using debt to live beyond their means, and once-effective policies no longer working. The high levels of violent crime, epidemic of obesity, addiction to pornography and excessive use of energy may be telling us something: the US is in an advanced state of cultural decadence...

[Ghost Dog]

99. "Advanced state of cultural decadence..." Historians have noticed.

It generally bodes ill, you know.

[Demeter]

101. I'd call it decay, not decadence

because it gets confused with decadent: Marked by or providing unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.

I see the decay, where form, function, and beauty go out the window, and are replaced by crap.

And I see the opulence of the rich, which IS decadent.

So, I guess it's a two-fer word: decay for us, decadence for the 1%ers.

[Ghost Dog]

104. Right. Decay.

American Heritage Dictionary:
dec·a·dence

(dĕk'ə-dəns, dĭ-kād'ns) pronunciation
n.

1. A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art; decay.
2. often Decadence A literary movement especially of late 19th-century France and England characterized by refined aestheticism, artifice, and the quest for new sensations.



Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/decadence#ixzz1OhjqMT9S

...

IN BRIEF: n. - The state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/decadence#ixzz1Ohkjttkk

[Demeter]

44. Financial Overhaul Is Mired in Detail and Dissent

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/business/07derivatives.html?_r=1&src=tptw

Nearly one year after Congress passed financial changes to rein in the banking sector, more than two dozen of the legislation’s rules are behind schedule, and no end to the wrangling over details is in sight...The delays come as regulators extend public comment periods on the rules, and as some on Wall Street and in Congress resist the changes. One result may be that many new safeguards do not take hold in earnest before the next election, an outcome that could open the door for newly elected officials to back away from the overhaul.

The rules are mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law and range from curbs on executive compensation to consumer banking protection provisions to more transparency in the trading of derivatives, those complex financial instruments that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

So far, 28 of the financial overhaul rule-making deadlines have been missed, according to Davis Polk, a law firm that is tracking the rules. Of the 385 new rules to be written, the law firm says, regulators have completed only 24 requirements; they were supposed to have taken 41 such actions by now.

“There’s an attempt to kill this through delay,” said Michael Greenberger, a law professor at the University of Maryland and a former official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is in charge of writing batches of the rules. “The difference between eight or nine months and 24 months could be cataclysmic here.”

[Demeter]

45. Chart of the Day: The Death of Small Businesses

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/05/chart-day-death-small-businesses



...The number of new startup businesses has declined sharply since the beginning of the recession, while the number of jobs created by startup businesses has been declining for over a decade....Since the recession began in 2008, the biggest net generator of jobs has been neither small businesses nor large businesses. It's been medium-sized businesses.

[xchrom]

51. that is just heart breaking.

and no economy can be healthy with out diversity.

[Demeter]

69. Eating the seed corn, to keep zombies alive

and it's been going on since 2001...

[tclambert]

107. Your metaphor blew my mind.

But then the sharpest knife in the deck may not go all the way to the top.

[kickysnana]

80. Our favorite Chinese restuarant since 1921 appears to be closed now.

Survived the Great Depression but not the current one.

[xchrom]

46. europe: REFILE-Commodities lead FTSE lower on recovery fears

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/markets-britain-stocks-idUKLDE75716J20110608

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Concerns over the global economic recovery sent Britain's top share index lower on Wednesday, with commodity stocks and banks leading the fallers as the FTSE 100 index .FTSE headed below a key technical level.

"The index is trading around 5,800 at the moment, below its 200-day moving average (5,815). If the index closes below that level it would send out a bearish signal to investors," Jimmy Yates, head of equities at CMC Markets, said.

The FTSE 100, tracking overnight falls on Wall Street and in Asia, was down 69.89 points, or 1.2 percent, at 5,794.76 at 1050 GMT, having closed up 1.49 points on Monday.

Investor confidence took a pounding as fears over the sustainability of fragile economic recovery intensified.

[xchrom]

49. Vince Cable warns banks on tax if lending stalls

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/uk-britain-banks-idUKTRE7571H420110608

(Reuters) - A minister threatened the country's banks on Wednesday with punitive taxes if they fail to meet lending goals set by the government to help boost a stuttering economy.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, a consistently fierce critic of the banking industry, said the government could consider new sanctions if the banks missed their lending targets.

"We do have the option of approaching the taxation of profits or bonuses or balance sheets in a more forceful way -- that certainly is one of the sanctions open to government," Cable told parliament's business committee.

Earlier this year, the banks struck a deal with the government called "Project Merlin," in which they pledged to moderate excessive salaries to staff and in return lend out more money to small businesses to boost the UK's flagging economy.

[xchrom]

60. Union derides Cable's 'empty threat' to raise bank taxes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/08/banks-higher-taxes-fail-lend-business

Unions have accused the government of indulging in "banking rhetoric" after Vince Cable said the sector would face higher taxes if they do not bolster lending to small businesses.

The business secretary said that the government would take a tougher stand against the UK's banks, as restricted credit to businesses is threatening to hamper the economic recovery.

Cable also told the business, innovation and skills select committee of MPs that he was "pressing" banks for evidence that executive pay was linked to lending, as had been pledged under Project Merlin.

Signed in February after months of prevarication, Merlin involved promises by banks to lend £190bn to businesses and reduce the size of their bonuses.

[xchrom]

59. German Industrial Production Fell in April

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08/german-industrial-output-unexpectedly-fell-in-april-on-construction-slide.html

German industrial production unexpectedly declined for the first time in four months in April, led by a drop in construction output.

Production fell 0.6 percent from March, when it rose a revised 1.2 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.2 percent, the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. In the year, production rose 9.6 percent when adjusted for working days.

The German economy, Europe’s largest, may lose some momentum after expanding at the fastest pace in almost a year in the first quarter, with surging energy costs sapping companies’ spending power and European governments toughening austerity measures. German manufacturing growth and investor confidence weakened last month and exports dropped more than economists forecast in April.

“While the boom may have peaked, the economy is still powering ahead,” said Tobias Blattner, an economist at Daiwa Capital Markets in London. “The domestic economy will remain fairly strong, with exports the main growth driver.”

[xchrom]

62. Pound falls as Moody's reiterates threat to UK credit rating

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/08/pound-falls-moodys-threatens-uk-credit-rating

The pound fell sharply on Wednesday morning after a senior Moody's analyst reiterated warnings that the UK could lose its AAA credit rating if the government fails to hit its economic and fiscal targets.

Sarah Carlson, vice-president and senior analyst at Moody's, was quoted by Market News International saying that if growth continued to be weak and the coalition did not meet its targets for reducing the budget deficit, the UK's prized triple-A rating could be cut.

The pound fell more than half a cent against the US dollar on the back of the comments, hitting a low of $1.6356. There was less impact in the bond market, where the yields on 10-year gilts rose just three basis points.

Some City traders argued that Carlson's comments simply underlined the stance on the UK outlined by the ratings agency in March. Economists suggested that they may even encourage the chancellor, George Osborne, not to change his economic programme, as a slower cuts programme could cause the "fiscal slippage" that concerns Moody's.

[xchrom]

66. Plans for new financial policy committee in disarray

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/07/financial-policy-committee-plans-disarray

The coalition's plans to reform financial regulation are in disarray after MPs and peers raised concerns that the new body intended to analyse catastrophic risks in the system needs to be overhauled before it even holds its first formal meeting.

The Treasury select committee, which will grill the bosses of britain's four biggest banks on Wednesday, has called for the financial policy committee to appoint a new member to ensure it has the skills to decide the scale of the systemic risks facing the financial industry.

The demand is the latest setback for the FPC, a week before it is due to hold its first formal meeting, which is in turn taking place more than six months later than originally expected.

The government was already searching for a new external member for the FPC, which is to be chaired by the Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, after former CBI boss Sir Richard Lambert decided not to take up the post.

[xchrom]

67. Young people leave saving for pension too late, report warns

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jun/08/young-people-saving-pension

Peter Pan syndrome combined with the closure of final salary pension schemes and the disappearance of the "job for life" culture have put young people at risk of a financially unsustainable future.

A report by the International Longevity Centre – UK says that although increasing longevity means the need to save for retirement is greater than ever, the lengthening transition between adolescence and adulthood means young people are putting off saving for retirement.

In the past, people would start contributing to a pension as soon as they started work, often in their teens. But Dr Craig Berry, senior researcher at the ILC and author of the report Resuscitating Retirement Saving: How to Help Today's Young People Plan for Later Life, said young people now value living for today, appear to spend a higher proportion of their income than other age groups, and are often in their thirties before they start thinking about contributing to a pension.

This may be partly because of spending longer in education, but also because young people tend to spend several years in part-time or temporary jobs before starting more permanent employment, while the industries that used to be the route into occupational pensions have either closed down or no longer offer such attractive pension schemes.

[xchrom]

74. Greek prime minister may face revolt

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0608/breaking27.html

Greek prime minister George Papandreou will tomorrow strive to stem an outbreak of unrest in his party over the social cost of a new bailout after data laid bare the depth of the country's economic crisis.

Discontent in the ruling Socialist party (Pasok) could yet spill over into a full-scale parliamentary rebellion and tens of thousands are protesting regularly in central Athens against waves of austerity demanded by the European Union and IMF, as well as corruption and state mismanagement.

Unemployment climbed to 16.2 per cent in March, the highest in the euro zone after Spain, while industrial production tumbled 11.0 per cent year-on-year as Greece suffers its third year of recession, major public spending cuts and higher taxes.

Labour minister Louka Katseli said Pasok deputies wanted to know whether the sacrifices Greeks have made under the original 110 billion euro bailout, agreed with the EU and IMF a year ago, were bearing any fruit. "The deputies are demanding that the burden should be shifted to those who can withstand it better," she told Mega TV.

[Demeter]

102. He's earned it

If even half of what Keiser reported (see yesterday's thread) is true, the man has earned a firing squad.

[xchrom]

75. Euro zone growth up 0.8%

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0608/breaking22.html

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro region rose 0.8 per cent in the first three months of the year, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today.

Economic growth in the final quarter of 2010 was 0.3 per cent in the Euro area and 0.2 per cent in the EU27 area, according to Eurostat figures.

Investment in the 17-nation euro region rose 2.1 per cent from the fourth quarter, when it was unchanged, and exports increased 1.8 per cent, compared with a 1.7 per cent gain.

Euro-area confidence in the economic outlook weakened in May and the European Central Bank signalled it will keep borrowing costs on hold when policy makers meet tomorrow.

[Demeter]

52. HAS China Has Divested 97 Percent of Its Holdings in U.S. Treasury Bills?

YVES SMITH:

Big time reader alert: I’m not sure you can conclude any such thing. This appears to be based on the Treasury International Capital report, which is notoriously inaccurate as far as China is concerned (China makes most of its Treasury purchases via London, which are NOT reported as Chinese purchases). Brad Setser would do a considerable amount of massaging of the Treasury data to make any sense of it. and I’d be very leery of taking it at face value.

http://moslereconomics.com/2011/06/06/china-has-divested-97-percent-of-its-holdings-in-u-s-treasury-bills/

So it looks like QE2 indeed managed to scare China out of the dollar. This is the portfolio shifting previously discussed that’s been dragging down the dollar even though, fundamentally sound, as Fed Chairman Bernanke correctly stated.

And when China (and Japan) offered to buy Spanish and other euro zone national govt debt to ‘help out’, the euro zone fell for that one, watching their currency rise against their better judgement with regards to their euro wide exports.

And maybe Fed Chairman Bernanke is aware of this, and has assured China he does favor a strong dollar as per his latest public statements, and let them know that QE3 is unlikely, and has ‘won them back’? No way to tell except by watching the market prices.

And with most everyone out of paradigm with regards to monetary operations, there’s no telling what they all might actually do next....

[Demeter]

56. the correlation between healthcare spending and life expectancy.

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/01/the-correlation-between-healthcare-spending-and-life-expectancy.html

[InkAddict]

89. Well, that explains #65 below then....

increasing life expectancy @ the low additional cost of $2 - $15 per month, cash or check only please, but will they throw in the Ginzu knife with which to cut one's wrists???

Luddites and technophobes cheer that they've been spared the additional convenience fees - indeed, the rest of the technology-socialized need start paying in person/in pennies (neatly bagged or rolled, of course) or they'll die an earlier death saved only by their new-found cardiovascular exercise walking to the payment department and the resistance training from lugging around the pennies.???

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/069580586X

[Hotler]

58. This country is so fucked up. I have no hope. I see no future. n/t

[Demeter]

79. From the Ashes of Disaster Grow the Roses of Success

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GND10sWq0n0

[Demeter]

61. “Debtors’ Prison”: Bob Kuttner on the Costs of Rentier Rule

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/debtors-prison-bob-kuttner-on-the-costs-of-rentier-rule.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29



The usual poster child for “why not writing down debts is a bad idea” is Japan, but that isn’t gripping enough to evoke the right responses. Even though its post-bubble growth has been dreadful, Japan is still a well-run, tidy country with a low crime rate, universal health care, long life expectancy, and tolerable unemployment. That in turn is due to factors that do not obtain much of anywhere else: Japan was very cohesive to begin with, and its elites chose to have their incomes fall relative to everyone else to save jobs. Wage compression at large companies has increased dramatically. This is the polar opposite of what has happened in the rest of the world, where the gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened.

Bob Kuttner has an elegant and important article at American Prospect, “Debtors’ Prison“. http://www.creditslips.org/files/kuttner-on-past-future-bkcy.pdf It’s an evocative, historical form of the argument made here and elsewhere: that advanced economies have gone down a disastrously bad path in not writing down debt that can’t realistically be paid:

Economic history is filled with bouts of financial euphoria followed by painful mornings after. When nations awake saddled with debts incurred to finance wars, episodes of failed speculation, or grand projects that haven’t paid off, they have two choices. Either the creditor class prevails at the expense of everyone else, or governments find ways to reduce the debt burden so that the productive power of the economy can recover…

The creditor class views anything less than full debt repayment as the collapse of economic civilization. In fact, however, debts are often not paid in full….Bankruptcy ingeniously provides orderly relief from past debt so that the productive enterprise is not needlessly destroyed….But the same business elite looks askance when others—homeowners, small nations, the entire economic system—seek relief from punishing and economically perverse debt….

...Just as Lenin said capitalists would sell him the rope with which he would hang them, so too do ordinary people seem to be putting their necks in the banking class debt noose by siding with the rentier austerity logic. Until they decided to loot entire economies, the first thing that would cross a lender’s mind when his borrower got in trouble is whether he was worth more dead or alive. Normally, the answer is “alive” and restructurings and reschedulings were the norm. Now we are told, falsely, that it is a moral duty to pay every debt in full, when these are commercial transactions. Non-payment has bad consequences for the borrower, so unless they were scamsters, they don’t do it frivolously. But as Kuttner points out, the perverted logic of grinding down borrowers takes the entire economy down with it. It’s ultimately a lose-lose, but having secured political control, it’s going to prove hard to save them and us from their self-destructive behavior.

[xchrom]

65. What's wrong with paying by credit card? [video]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/06/whats-wrong-with-paying-by-credit-card-video.html

Anthem Blue Cross has notified its customers that credit card payments will be discontinued, and consumer columnist David Lazarus asks why. Those who want to keep paying with credit cards will have to call a service rep and be charged a $15 'convenience fee.' As David writes in his column today, "Anthem is doing away with a practice that most other businesses prefer for its customers' convenience and guaranteed payments."

[zogofzorkon]

87. The convenience fee is a very convenient way to increase the premiums.

They are not alone town taxes here charge a 25 buck "convenience fee" . A good number of repeating bills would like direct access to your bank account for payment and offer 20 dollar gift cards or restaurant meal or gas vouchers or some other minor inducement for you to give them the right to take money from you at their pleasure. I (actually my wife) mail them a check when we're ready to part with it.

[Demeter]

72. Michael Hudson: Will Greece Let EU Central Bankers Destroy Democracy?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/michael-hudson-will-greece-let-eu-central-bankers-destroy-democracy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Yves here. This is a long and important post. Hudson reports that he has gotten a great deal of correspondence from Greece saying that articles like this arguing against the pending stripping of Greece by banks are being translated and circulated widely to provide moral support. If you cannot read this piece in full, please be sure to read the discussion at the end of how Iceland stared down its foreign creditors...

[Ghost Dog]

103. Good.n/t

[Demeter]

73. Vouchercare Is Not Medicare By PAUL KRUGMAN TODAY'S MUST READ

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/opinion/06krugman.html?hp

What’s in a name? A lot, the National Republican Congressional Committee obviously believes. Last week, the committee sent a letter demanding that a TV station stop running an ad declaring that the House Republican budget plan would “end Medicare.” This, the letter insisted, was a false claim: the plan would simply install a “new, sustainable version of Medicare.”

But Comcast, the station’s owner, rejected the demand — and rightly so. For Republicans are indeed seeking to dismantle Medicare as we know it, replacing it with a much worse program.

I’m seeing many attempts to shout down anyone making this obvious point, and not just from Republican politicians. For some reason, many commentators seem to believe that accurately describing what the G.O.P. is actually proposing amounts to demagoguery. But there’s nothing demagogic about telling the truth.

Start with the claim that the G.O.P. plan simply reforms Medicare rather than ending it. I’ll just quote the blogger Duncan Black, who summarizes this as saying that “when we replace the Marines with a pizza, we’ll call the pizza the Marines.” The point is that you can name the new program Medicare, but it’s an entirely different program — call it Vouchercare — that would offer nothing like the coverage that the elderly now receive. (Republicans get huffy when you call their plan a voucher scheme, but that’s exactly what it is.)

MORE-

[xchrom]

76. +1

[tclambert]

111. When Republicans are back in charge, surely they'll make it illegal to tell the truth about them.

Because it outlaws honesty, they'll call it the Honesty in Politics Act.

[Demeter]

77. Goldman Plans to Fight Back Against Senate Report

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576367630763029632.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-06-06/goldman-planning-senate-fightback

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., trying to counter a Senate subcommittee report that is fueling investigations and suspicion of the firm, plans to accuse the subcommittee of drastically overstating Goldman's bets against the housing market in 2007, people familiar with the situation said.

The securities firm is considering releasing documents about its mortgage bets that are aimed at showing what Goldman officials claim is sloppy math and incomplete analysis by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as the panel sifted through tens of millions of documents turned over by Goldman.

The information might be released soon on Goldman's website...

[plumbob]

109. So they admit they did it, they just didn't stick it in all the way?

Do they also say they didn't come?

Check's in the mail?

I'll still respect you tomorrow? Or more likely, "TOMORROW? Hell, I don't respect you NOW!"

[Demeter]

78. We must rebuild structure to create U.S. jobs By Andy Grove Bloomberg News

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2012275257_btgrove05.html

...Bay Area unemployment is even higher than the national average. Clearly, the great Silicon Valley innovation machine hasn't been creating many jobs unless you're counting Asia, where U.S. tech companies have been adding jobs like mad for years. The underlying problem isn't simply lower Asian costs. It's our own misplaced faith in the power of startups to create U.S. jobs. Americans love the idea of the guys in the garage inventing something that changes the world.

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman recently encapsulated this view in a piece called "Start-Ups, Not Bailouts." His argument: Let tired old companies that do commodity manufacturing die if they have to. If Washington, D.C., really wants to create jobs, he wrote, it should back startups.

Friedman is wrong. Startups are a wonderful thing, but they cannot by themselves increase tech employment. Equally important is what comes after that mythical moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes from prototype to mass production. This is the phase where companies scale up. They work out design details, figure out how to make things affordably, build factories and hire people by the thousands. Scaling is hard work but necessary to make innovation matter.

The scaling process is no longer happening in the U.S. And as long as that's the case, plowing capital into young companies that build their factories elsewhere will continue to yield a bad return in terms of American jobs...

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

Andy Grove was chairman and chief executive of Intel and now is a senior adviser to the company.

[Demeter]

81. Today's DOW Opening: Battle of the Bots? Machines trading Each Other?

It's up, it's down, it's up, it's down....

[Fuddnik]

82. Bernanke: Full Frontal Cluelessness.

The Bernanke Scandal: Full-Frontal Cluelessness

Posted on Jun 7, 2011
AP / Alex Brandon

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifying before the Senate Budget Committee last January.

By Robert Scheer

How I wish that Ben Bernanke would get caught emailing photos of his underwear-clad groin. Otherwise we don’t stand a chance of reversing this administration’s economic policy, which is shaping up to be every bit as disastrous as that of its predecessor.

Indeed, the Fed chairman’s much anticipated remarks on Tuesday take one back to the contemptuous indifference of a Herbert Hoover to the public’s suffering: Bernanke dismissed the wobbly economy with its anemic 1.8 percent first-quarter growth as merely “somewhat slower than expected.” The rise in unemployment to 9.1 percent was “some loss of momentum.”

The problem with Bernanke is that he is utterly clueless as to the stark pain and fear endured by the 50 million Americans who have experienced, or face the prospect of, losing their homes. His remarks reflected the insularity of a ruling-power elite that is magnificently impervious to the damage that Bernanke’s policies in the current and past administration helped inflict on what used to be called the American way of life. This is a man who assured us there was no housing crisis, while his policies at the Fed encouraged the mortgage securitization swindles that caused the meltdown of the economy.

His full statement stands as a classic example of the limits of economic language as morally descriptive: “Overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers.” Frustratingly slow—how about going bat nuts with fear over not being able to make your mortgage payment and losing your home? Tell it to workers who must contend with stagnant wage rates and sharply rising gas and food costs as better jobs and therefore consumer demand move offshore. Bernanke takes low wages to be reassuring news on what he sees as the all-important inflation front: “subdued unit labor costs should remain a restraining influence on inflation.”

(snip)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_bernanke_scandal_full_frontal_cluelessness_20110608/

[Demeter]

100. Seven Problems a Recovery Won't Fix ANOTHER MUST READ

SHAMELESSLY STOLEN FROM SOMEONE...

http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/06/seven_problems_a_recovery_wont.html

Stagnation. Disemployment. Insecurity. Toxicity. Pointlessness. Dumbification. Dehumanization.


A PRETTY PIECE OF WRITING AND A RIGHTEOUS SCREED...

[Festivito]

108. Debt: 06/06/2011 14,344,658,255,226.84 (DOWN 36,136,990.40) (Mon, DOWN some.)

(OVER the old debt limit of 14.294-trillion dollars by 51-billion dollars. Good day.)
One salad does it.
(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)
= 9,738,557,389,966.16 + 4,606,100,865,260.68
DOWN 2,705,846,785.55 + UP 2,669,709,795.15

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 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.20 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,203.37 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.61, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 312,171,392 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 $45,951.23.
A family of three owes $137,853.68. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 1,046,254,746.04.
The average for the last 30 days would be 732,378,322.23.
The average for the last 31 days would be 708,753,215.06.
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$/day.
There were 169 reports in 249 days of FY2011 averaging 4.63B$ per report, 3.14B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 594 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.8 and 17.4T$.
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)
06/06/2011 14,344,658,255,226.84 BHO (UP 3,717,781,206,313.76 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 +0,783,035,224,335.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,147,822,718,402.86 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
05/16/2011 +051,422,548,961.68 ------------********** Mon
05/17/2011 -009,024,423,933.79 --
05/18/2011 +009,842,715,417.27 ------------*********
05/19/2011 -002,359,793,261.41 --
05/20/2011 +001,132,579,417.77 ------------*********
05/23/2011 -001,060,800,214.98 -- Mon
05/24/2011 -004,058,498,841.79 --
05/25/2011 +010,640,781,539.65 ------------**********
05/26/2011 -005,228,052,393.61 --
05/27/2011 +000,285,108,497.37 ------------********
05/31/2011 +005,592,179,988.61 ------------********* Tue
06/01/2011 +013,072,944,722.02 ------------**********
06/02/2011 -000,912,177,803.85 ---
06/03/2011 +005,646,446,089.80 ------------*********
06/06/2011 -002,705,846,785.55 -- Mon

72,285,711,399.19 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=4875489&mesg_id=4876053

[Fuddnik]

110. Just returned from the bi-weekly, He-Man Woman Haters Club Lunch.

Not that anyone hates women, we just took the name of the old Little Rascals series. Just 5 guys from the dog park, and we meet at someone's house every 2 weeks for lunch and cocktails.

Today, we took the one guy's boat out to the Gulf of Mexico, ate burrito's and drank my deadly lemonade. We took all the hounds with us, and had a ball.

Now, it's time for a nap.


zzzzzzzzzz