I was wondering why the markets are up today.

i got
i dont think cr is going to worry about us being off topic hes going so fast we dont even know what topic is.
besides i figure if i fuss about those nasty little toxic swaps when i am on topic

This will easily break at 15+% mortgages in foreclosure. That's 1 in 6 mortgages and a colossal misallocation of resources.

Okay, time for a as I ponder this.

Black Dog:

Yeah, you read my mind. Sucks being responsible.

Make that a .

black dog, homedad43: Just another sucker here. It would take a lot of people making economically irrational decisions to have an impact, though...

ants and grasshoppers...a little bit of the Wise Old Hen... kids and I have been watching all the old disney cartoons lately...and by old I mean the ones from the 30s

I'm sure soon Obama will come out with something about pardoning credit scores soon.

Blogger: Page not found

Quote:
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field.
Lets finance companies outside of the US to explore offshore oil.

But wait, it gets better:

George Soros Buys Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.Petrobras, AutoZone Inc., InterOil Corp., Sells Arch Coal Inc., Public Service Enterprise Group, PPL Corp. -- GuruFocus.com
Quote:
George Soros must be very bullish on stocks, he bought a lot, especially oil.... Petroleo Brasileiro alone is accounted for more than 22% of his fund.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/9162...ght-like-soros
This link says he purchased 811 million in Petroleo stock in Q2 of this year. Do you think he knew what was coming or had any influence?

Yup, the administration is "loaning" 2 billion to a Brazilian company, Petroleo , that Soros owns millions of dollars worth of stock.

Vonbek777 (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 9:27 am

ants and grasshoppers...a little bit of the Wise Old Hen... kids and I have been watching all the old disney cartoons lately...

The grasshopper style of life is sustainable only as long as there are ants they can propagandize, command, coerce or physically force. In the new fairy tale, the grasshoppers persuade some of the ants to emulate grasshopper life in and amongst their fellow ants, and teach them that they are really not ants at all.

Pigged Again@@

The democrats are doing a horrible job at explaining this health care bill. And a 1,000 page document thats confusing and has sections like the one posted in the previous thread regarding financial records and access to them by the government really turn people off this government option.

Sure some right wing people have gone crazy at town halls, but I blame a high-and-mighty, secretive democratic leadership (pelosi, reid) for the problems the health care bill is really having. There are also powerful special interests at work here.

Im open to discussion and republicans do need to have a more compromising attitude, but this whole bill process needs to be started over.

... then again, I'll try to stay on topic today.

C,

Military surplus.

We camp allot for a week at a time. Big tent, all the cooking stuff, I am set.

Of course! If people aren't paying their mortages, and savings are rising, the money must be going somewhere, like the stock market.

The interesting thing I noted was the trouble they had finding a rental after forclosure because of their trashed credit scores.

Not to worry - all those investors buying low-end houses will be desperate for renters very soon. Apartment owners must already be hurting in LA - one of my coworkers was talking about how affordable her beach city rental is getting!

Where's our PBGC update ? We need another Obama (PROC) Bailout, for the peeps!

"Not to worry - all those investors buying low-end houses will be desperate for renters very soon."

Exactly. Very easy to find four examples to make a point, but the reality is landlords are desperate for tenants, and will become even more desperate as more supply hits the market.

I'm beginning to think I'm never gonna get that damn pony...

ghostface, I wish there were statistics on just how many walkaways there are from underwater mortgages compared to folks getting thrown out on their keisters.

In my stage of life, I am around a lot of families. Families with children like stability. Moving is disruptive, and being tossed out (or trading a home for a rental) is unsettling for the kids. It's another side of the elephant, but I am open to believing the other side does exist - I just don't encounter it.

Obama really erred pushing an infrastructure and tax cut stimulus as his first (and so far only) big action. If the stimulus had been built around providing a Medicare buy-in for the uninsured it would have been just as stimulatory, much more appreciated by the recipients, and pretty much guaranteed a substantive health care reform.

"If you are going to ruthlessly default - it helps to get your alternative l9ned up before you do it."

I think you'd need to balance the difficulty of obtaining a rental using trashed credit against the potential to live payment-free for 1 or more years. That is a lot of money on could save, that frankly could be used to sweeten the pot for any potential landlord. Hell, pay 6 months in advance.

"Families with children like stability. Moving is disruptive, "

So families with children shouldn't move? People with kids move all the time, for all kinds of reasons, most not related to walking away from an underwater mortgage.

.....I pretty much said everything I had to say last thread: "green shoots & recovery my ass"

....just curious - are foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies usually considered LAGGING or LEADING Indicators?

You guys really think they are throwing people out? I just imagined they stopped paying and just pretend like they didn't. That's what I would do. Too much publicity is bad for things like this with the amount of people doing it.

Bad data again...the market ignore it and is up again....tanks to the FED Philly - FakeIndex.
Please note that the date from the real economy are bad, while the FakeIndexes that nobody can verify are always "better that expected"....

I agree with you that there many things to consider- hence my comment that those who ruthlessly default are "calculating". The point being that to cite anecdotal story about non ruthless defaulters doesn't apply to ruthless defaulters.

"Enlighten me, why do I continue to pay, my Mortgage, small mortgage yes, but why? "

When a corporation walks away it is a business decision, but when an individual walks away it is a moral decision. go figure.

The govt knows that if individuals act in a rational manner like businesses are, the whole banking system will go under. So it is trying to bribe people into making decisions that are not in their best interest, via lowering mortgage rates (as if the rates are the problem). When the bribes don't work, they use shame and fear tactics. Just trying to herd the sheep.

@ Fair Economist (homepage, profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 7:44 am
Obama really erred pushing an infrastructure and tax cut stimulus as his first (and so far only) big action. If the stimulus had been built around providing a Medicare buy-in for the uninsured it would have been just as stimulatory, much more appreciated by the recipients, and pretty much guaranteed a substantive health care reform.

I agree

DR. HOWARD DEAN: That's all I want. If you allowed people to buy into Medicare who are below 65 years old, that's a public option, and that's what we need.

The great communicator has no business experience - she nails it !
Daily Kos :: Comments Anthony Weiner kills on Morning Joe!!!!  Medicare for all!!!

I'm very uncomfortable with his level of knowledge and experience in the business world. I think they snow and steamroll him. I saw it in the Wall St. bailout and I'm seeing it again now.

But he could certainly make the business case if he just got down to the basics. If he wanted to. If a real public option was really on the table. The business case is strong for expanding Medicare (and it saves Medicare as a whole in the long term).

I'm afraid he has mired himself in the details of all of this. When he started talking specifics about a particular drug in a town hall meeting (was it Lipitor?) I just put my head in my hands.

But more importantly than that, yes, I agree that "Medicare for all" was off the table from day one, as a public plan or as a universal single payer plan.

Matt Taibbi nailed it last night on Rachel Maddow's show. The deal was made long ago. No "Medicare for all" and no universal payer. That was the deal to get insurance companies and Big Health to come to the table and negotiate, and to agree not to declare war on Obama's health care reform.

My speculation is that these deals were facilitated by Tom Daschle, and they are now being negotiated largely by the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, George Mitchell and Howard Baker. Kathleen Sebelius is on board with them and has been from the start. Anyone eligible for the HHS position had to be on board.

I'm starting to feel like a broken record on the Daschle thing but it's so clear that this has been in the works for over a year now. Look for Daschle if you want to understand what's going on. He's been there working with Obama for years now, and he wasn't campaigning. He was dealing with the Big Health companies. Also look up info. on Daschle's wife

"My anecdotal impression is that ruthless defaulters are still a very small percentage."

How do you define one from the other? Many people could make a higher interest payment, if they sacrificed their lifestyle, but choose not to. The only real people with no choice are those with no income and no savings. the rest are making an economic decision.

I think the "broken windows" theory applies to ruthless defaults as well. The trend builds slowly- at first its only a few . Continued economic pressure and observing the first lot get away with it causes more to do it, finally you get a wave. By the time you realize that you are in wave its too late.

Buy waiving taxes due on forgiven loans this administration has removed a strong disincentive to ruthless default. Its one thing to ruthlessly default on a loan to a lender another thing all together to do it to the IRS..

"just curious - are foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies usually considered LAGGING or LEADING Indicators?"

according to some economists everything is a lagging indicator except the stock market.

i guess the stock market in Oct 2007 was leading...

ghostfaceinvestah (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 9:53 am

according to some economists everything is a lagging indicator except the stock market.

except futures. otherwise they wouldn't be futures, and pasts are a sure thing.

How do you define one from the other? Many people could make a higher interest payment, if they sacrificed their lifestyle, but choose not to. The only real people with no choice are those with no income and no savings. the rest are making an economic decision.

Everybody I know who is facing foreclosure is doing everything they can to avoid it - selling furniture, cutting out healthcare, whatever. You forget how expensive it is to live in modern American suburbia - you have to pay for cars, education, and healthcare, all at staggering prices. Most people haven't got much disposable income to cut.

Obama really erred pushing an infrastructure and tax cut stimulus as his first (and so far only) big action. If the stimulus had been built around providing a Medicare buy-in for the uninsured it would have been just as stimulatory, much more appreciated by the recipients, and pretty much guaranteed a substantive health care reform.

Yes, well, that last part is the problem with your suggestion.

These are not errors by the administration; they're looking out for a primary constituency.

Our government hasn't shred their credibility based on the way these town halls have been conducted? We have too much patience. It's been something like: a) I'm going to listen to you and then vote the other way as I don't care; b) I'm going to invite you to my town hall and then berate you and score political/soundbyte points by talking about how you are stupid, and off your rocker; c) I'm not even going to bother with a town hall because I'm a chickenshit coward, and I really am not doing anything when in Washington except following the party line and repeating the party talking points.

If there was critical thinking going on with the health care bills, someone would've realized the direction the Dems were going would end up here. Same thing with the TARP. Same thing with the Iraq War. Oh, hey you know, we can't pull-out now since bombs keep going off... aren't they setting off bombs to ensure we stay...?

"i guess the stock market in Oct 2007 was leading... "

That is what cracks me up about the technical analysts crowing about how the econ graphs are starting to level off and "stabilize". While this might be true (courtesy of trillions of dollars worth of gov't crack) they are in no way an indication of where things are going, especially considering that the gov't crack is not unlimited and must be pulled at some point.

The graphs MAY indicate that we are stabilizing or they may be levelling off before another plunge down.....but according to the chartists we are out of the woods on this recession and they are now busily debating what the "recovery" will look like.

The reason I ask, is we know several Brits, who have called it quits, and went back home recently.

I was told by a local that vacancies are rising rapidly in Battery Park City, the huge development between Ground Zero and the Hudson River, because Europeans who had been leasing/renting space were heading home in droves, being called back.

They liked living close to Wall Street.

Battery Park City was the center piece of a big push to make Lower Manhattan more residential (among non-Chinese and non-hippies). But that tide has washed out.

Yalt, I agree there are a lot of people in power whose main goal is making insurance companies rich. I think Obama isn't in that group, although, clearly many of his advisers are.

Comrade Kristina (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 10:42 am

I'm beginning to think I'm never gonna get that damn pony...

Just for you :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-ROCKING-HORSE_W0QQitemZ370244839641QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFolk_Art?hash=item56344fe8d9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Just back from the back of beyond, another wonderful sojourn into the Sierra Nevada...

Anything of note happen the last 10 days on the Eastern Front?, or just the usual game of "Kick The Can't"?

If you believe the public option will be able to be cut costs; what the hell are insurance companies doing when they can already "improve efficiencies and cut costs". I guess they decided that they are profitable enough and are leaving money on the table? Really? I'm going to believe that just because someone with a govt hat says they can "improve efficiencies" they will be able to; and I believe the insurance companies don't want to improve efficiencies?

Maybe if the bill's were so poorly worded and were simple the other side of the debate wouldn't have ammunition, ie. whatever that electronic funds section was someone posted about; and the one about people not being able to change insurance companies under this bill.

Isn't the underlying problem Medicare insolvency; and the public option is really a ponzi scheme that will extend that insolvency out a few years?

Hmm...well after all your digital and

You can go here to get clean:

Pioneering Internet 'detox' center looks to cure online addicts

@ crazyv

yep....the PTB have diagnosed the problem backwards. That is why the Depression is still ahead of us.

YLSP (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 10:57 am

Our government hasn't shred their credibility based on the way these town halls have been conducted? We have too much patience.
Maybe, maybe not:
Generic Congressional Ballot - Rasmussen Reports™

[Obama really erred pushing an infrastructure and tax cut stimulus as his first (and so far only) big action]

Oh really ? You might be forgetting his REAL big action - BAILING OUT BANKERS. That is all he's done so far. Great President!

I think you're a bit confused here. One man's "cost" is another man's "revenue"...why would the insurance companies and various middlemen want to reduce revenue?

Here's a question: when you a write a check for your insurance premium, what fraction of it do you think actually reaches the underwriters on the risk? Put, another way, what loss ratio does the insurance company need to maintain in order to turn a profit? I'm sure the answer varies greatly depending on the particular type of insurance--let's use corporate D&O insurance because that's the line I know best.

[Edit: by "loss ratio" I mean losses divided by gross premiums. The loss ratio companies disclose are based on net premiums--they let you see the internal inefficiency at the insurer itself but not the skimming done by various brokers in the transaction.]

Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.

re: km4
From the link; I really don't want to get into the debate.

One point I wish Weiner had emphasized to Joe is that new subscribers will be paying premiums to Medicare and because they will be younger than the current Medicare recipients they will both increase the risk pool and add younger members, which should bring down the cost for everyone.

This makes my point that is all about extending the medicare ponzi scheme. Currently you'll be forced to carry some insurance; no doubt the public option would look good... so the young will be joining the Medicare ponzi.

And if you don't join the ponzi scheme you'll be fined for being uninsured. The way the bill is written appears nasty.

But look, I think I've people I trust say the only way to really change/reform health care is to go for single payer. Since that was taken off the table when Obama played nice with the insurance companies, what's the point in subsidizing people into the insurance companies? If we don't get single payer, we're not getting health care reform. And a majority of Americans have been convinced that single payer is bad. Hence, most Americans have been convinced that health care reform itself is bad. This was my conclusion awhile ago.

YLSP (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 11:05 am
Isn't the underlying problem Medicare insolvency; and the public option is really a ponzi scheme that will extend that insolvency out a few years?
That, and unintended consequences. These DailyKOS types keep talking about Medicare efficiency, but they fail to recognize that the "cost saving" achieved by Medicare were actually referenced to cost increases paid by everyone else. That's why the very highest prices paid for medical services are paid by the uninsured; it's so that it will appear as though the large pools are paying less. Remember," there's a fine line between clever and stupid".

Take a name asswipe (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 11:10 am

CNBC: "Are foreclosures hurting the housing recovery?"

Tomorrow's headline:
Bankruptcies and layoffs hurting consumer recovery

"Same thing with the Iraq War. Oh, hey you know, we can't pull-out now since bombs keep going off... aren't they setting off bombs to ensure we stay...? "

They're setting off bombs because sunni's and shia's have been killing each other for over 1400 years. Their strong arm dictactor has been replaced by an ineffectual leader put into place by an invading, occupying army. As the occupiers withdrawl, now or 20 yrs. from now, centuries old hatreds will be stoked as a tool to grab power and access to the trillions of dollars that flow beneath the sands of Iraq. The Iraq civil war wasn't ended by the occupying army, only delayed.The Iraq war hasn't even begun.

High crimes and malfeasance in the mountains:

We hung out with a friend who's a backcountry ranger on the John Muir Trail (near Bench Lake trail) and the day before we got there, a gentleman with a couple of dogs had been reported on the JMT trail (fido is strictly forbidden in the backcountry of our National Parks) that had eluded 2 other backcountry rangers, but the end of the line came for him, when our buddy the long arm of the law spotted the canines with master in tow, and that was all she wrote.

It's like a $200 fine and a mandatory court appearance for the dog handler, and he had to vamoose off the JMT after having walked around 100 miles of it.

Because the soylent green factories are short on inventory.

C

The Two-Track Economy
The Two-Track Economy « The Baseline Scenario 
By Simon Johnson

The United States has, over the past two decades, started to take on characteristics more traditionally associated with Latin America: extreme income inequality, rising poverty levels, and worsening health conditions for many. The elite live well and seem not to mind repeated cycles of economic-financial crisis. In fact, if you want to be cynical, you might start to think that the most powerful of the well-to-do actually don’t lose much from a banking sector run amok – providing the government can afford to provide repeated bailouts (paid for presumably through various impositions on people outside the uppermost elite strata).

Ultimately, of course, you get lower growth. But by the time that is clear in the numbers, it may be too late to do much about it.

Corporate Defaults Soar to $453 Billion, S&P Reports

Corporate Defaults Soar to $453 Billion, S&P Reports (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

Yup all is well all is well.

Nashuatelegraph.com: Frontpage : News and Classifieds from Southern New Hampshire
Your stimulus dollars at work:
"The report also revealed that through the end of June that stimulus money created or saved 796 jobs, with 700 of those state workers who did not have to get laid off thanks to the federal grants, Fitch said."

Bloomberg said Google was added to the GS conviction buy list, not AIG.

Comrade Coinz (homepage, profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 11:30 am

The pull out method is not reliable.

Right; we've already been screwed-

Isn't it odd that our government which could come up with $787 Billion in a heartbeat for clunkers then, seems stretched to come up with a couple billion for clunkers now?

Saw it already, that's why I was joking about another Ca$h for Clunkers program.
So much for deflation.

No dogs allowed on back country trails seems like a crime to me. As long as your critters are under control and don't hurt anyone, dogs were made for backcountry.

Back on topic, hoops said he saw encampments on his endeavor. Anything like that reported to you by your ranger friends?

shill,

nice link.

So that's less than a dollar per person in 50 states, or up to $200 per person for the right kind of appliance until the money runs out.

I still vote for a stimulus octagon where contenstants, I mean citizens, can fight to the death over a pile of money, say, $300 in single denominations...with 3 % of the broadcasts rights going back to the Treasury to pay for the program which will be run by a consortium of consulting firms.
--bh

AIG to repay its loan

Anyone care to enlighten me on how the accounting works?

The problem with dogs in the backcountry is what happens when they encounter bears. That's ok I suppose if you're in the middle of nowhere, but frequent dog-bear encounters in a heavily-trafficked national park is asking for trouble.

"hoops said he saw encampments on his endeavor. Anything like that reported to you by your ranger friends?"

Yes,

Vast amounts of homeless people were spotted-the encampments seldom lasting more than one night, many with just scant amounts of food and the barest of necessities.

They seemed happy...

Ha. ha. ha. You know what I mean.

And in the winter?

AIG to repay its loan:

That article is based on a completely content-free statement of the new CEO?!

AIG jumped 31 percent to $34.93 after Benmosche said in an interview in Croatia that “at the end of the day, we believe we will be able to pay back the government and we hope we will be able to do something for our shareholders as well.”

When did leadership turn into making wishful statements? That works only for as long as your sheep have wool in their eyes.

cinco-x,

in my imagination it is very well fortified, for example, if it were ever breached, the stench alone would kill a thousand men...

--bh

a stimulus octagon where contenstants, I mean citizens, can fight to the death

2 men enter, 1 man leaves!

Shill, so we started the cash for clunkers program with the financial bailout, extended it to cars, and now appliances. Looks like it will ultimately infiltrate the hospitals who really need a cash infusion or is it a cash transfusion?

AIG's CEO: "I'm green as a cucumber but I've got one boatload of AIG stock options, so, hell yea, I'm optimistic!"

Egun on = Good morning (literally: Good day)

Non dago komuna? = How is our new bank doing? (literally: Where are the toilets?)

/When did leadership turn into making wishful statements? /

Clearly you have not worked in corporate america for the last 20 years where, and i must emphasize this, you must have a Vision Statement.

A Vision Statement is an otherwise incomprehensible series of circular run-on sentences that defines your purpose, goals, and, dare I say it, Vision. Without a Vision statement you are just a meek and pathetic carbon-based lifeform holding onto to a piece of driftwood in the middle of storm whereas possessing a Vision Statement is the acumen of accumulated civilized knowledge, condensced, clarified, and pure.

But seriously, have you ever asked for a business loan? because you typically don't get one without a portfolio and business plan, and you'd better have that refined cudgel of a Vision Statement in there somewhere.

--bh

all hail the purple party

Anything from freep.com is right wing propaganda and is pure BS.

I'll bet we could come up with some pretty spectacular Vision Statements for business-as-usual today.

Which all boil down in plain english to mean: "We intend on making the most amount of money through the least amount of work as possible."

I don't know why anyone would turn a loan down based on that shrewd vision.

Somebody sum up the past 10 days action for me,

Same as it ever was?
And the days go by, water flowing under...

steelhead (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 11:54 am

Anything from freep.com is right wing propaganda and is pure BS.

But feel free to quote the DailyKOS
/snark

blackhat (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 10:51 am

A Vision Statement is an otherwise incomprehensible series of circular run-on sentences that defines your purpose, goals, and, dare I say it, Vision. Without a Vision statement you are just a meek and pathetic carbon-based lifeform holding onto to a piece of driftwood in the middle of storm whereas possessing a Vision Statement is the acumen of accumulated civilized knowledge, condensced, clarified, and pure.

Almost all the precepts of a 'vision statement' are violated in a sacrifice to the corporation. Do they originate from the ground-level by the workers themselves? No. Are they clear and easy to understand? No. Do they help to unify or clarify the position of the workers to help give a unified sense of purpose? No, quite the opposite. In fact they are a travesty of command-and-control mentality.

Re: Vision Statements

synergy
core competencies
going-forward space
level setting
holistic
transparent

Of course, the more nouns turned into verbs the better.

broward...
This is not my beautiful house...this is not my beautiful wife...

lot of that going on right now.

Until it gets cold

@zertg (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 8:57 am
Goldman and Bank of Amerika run the markets along with Geithner....

Yup something like Ground Control to Major Douche

S&P now over a thousand. Is it significant?

NOTaREALmerican (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 10:57 am

Of course, the more nouns turned into verbs the better.

"Competencying" is a word, right?

S&P now over a thousand. Is it significant?

It is, unless it isn't.

damn. GM cancels the its new Buick SUV based on the bad Twitter reviews. I sense in opening in astro-twitting.

I like the Duke mostly because he makes me look normal.

JD, unemplyment, consumer confidence, the deficit, and home foreclosures have all gotten "unexpectedly" worse.
Stocks, commodities, oil, and the dollar are all up, much as expected.

England joins Germany, France, Japan, and Korea in announcing that the recession is over. They are just checking to see that the recovery "has legs."
And Cash for Clunkers will apparently be extended to household appliances.

In short, things are unexpectedly steadily getting worserer, just like all year so far, but its nevertheless all good on a go-forward basis.
(I threw a little "vision-statement" speak in there at the end!)

"I like the Duke mostly because he makes me look normal."

Why do you want to look normal?

Less hassle that way, I guess.

ResistanceIsFeudal (profile) wrote on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 12:00 pm

"Competencying" is a word, right?

Isn't competency the verb "compete" turned into a noun, in the same sense that abstinence is the noun form of the verb "abstain"?

NOTaREALmerican (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Thu, 8/20/2009 - 11:03 am

Thanks ahead of time!

I do what I can. Good luck on the promption. Neologism is sort of like creativity, in much the same way that shuffling paper is sort of like creating value.

Competencying will go into the Hall of the Vision Statement, as will its cousin Competencized.

--bh

comade kristina
hello here

Dawg,
You've been quiet lately; are you just continually refreshing Calculated Risk  trying to be first?

GAZ and what looks like the near term natgas contract have moved in opposite directions...

bizarre

I don't think you can absorb black holes, I think they absorb you...

zertg
the market is the bubble!!!!

Everybody is old enough to worry about CALPERS.
Watch it get tacked onto CA income tax!

AIG, up $7 today and prepared to pay back their loan? Where's the money coming from? The printing presses of the US and China must be running full throttle. When is our government going to open up the books of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve like Ron Paul requested? Traitors or New World Order ? Here's a repeat of an article I posted yesterday.

February 22, 2009
Hillary thanks China for stealing American jobs, asks them to please keep doing it
by Howard Richman

During a diplomatic trip to China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just thanked China for stealing American jobs and asked them to please keep doing it. Here is what she said:

In Beijing, she called on authorities in Beijing to continue buying US Treasuries, saying it would help jumpstart the flagging US economy and stimulate imports of Chinese goods.

"By continuing to support American Treasury instruments the Chinese are recognising our interconnection. We are truly going to rise or fall together," Clinton said at the US embassy here.

Clinton had sought to focus on economic and environmental issues in Beijing, saying Washington's concerns about the human rights situation in China should not be a distraction from those vital matters.

In order to understand just how deluded this statement is, you just need to know:
Hillary was endorsing Chinese currency manipulations. The Chinese government buys US Treasury bonds so that they can keep their currency low and our currency high. Such purchases are an important component of China's mercantilist strategy of maximizing exports and minimizing imports. They buy US assets instead of US products. Hillary's praise of Chinese US Treasury bond purchases was a clear signal that the Obama administration is in favor of China's continuing currency manipulations.

Hillary was selling out US producers. Detroit is in trouble partly because China maintains 25% tariffs on US auto parts, tariffs that were found to be illegal by the WTO. Similarly, China agreed to give up their export subsidies when they joined the WTO, but increased them as part of their stimulus package to fight this recession, leading to a new US complaint with the WTO. Hillary's public silence on these issues was a tacit endorsement of China's illegal trade practices.

We don't need China's bond purchases. If China stopped buying US Treasury bonds right now, there would be very little effect upon the United States. American interest rates would go up enough to invite the glut of worldwide savings into the United States in order to earn the higher interest rate. There would be plenty of foreign savings available to make up for any slowing in Chinese government purchases of US Treasuries.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a satire about Secretary Geithner's future constructive dialogue with Chinese leaders. Turns out that Secretary Clinton's real dialogue with the Chinese leaders was even more ridiculous. In that imagined dialogue I had Geithner asking the Chinese leaders to buy more American products so that we could buy more Chinese imports. I had the Chinese leaders reassuring him that they would lend us more money so that we could buy their products. Hillary skipped the imagined Geithner request and jumped right over to the Chinese position.

Ironically, both President Obama and Secretary Clinton campaigned against Chinese currency manipulations when they were running for president. That was when they were seeking the support of the industrial unions. Now they are willing to give away American manufacturing just so that they can get more cheap Chinese loans to finance their massive give-aways.
Posted by Howard Richman at 3:44 PM
e US and China? To repeat an article I posted yesterday:

I was wondering why there was so little Calpers snark today. I see I was just a bit early. Actually, in their defense, walking away from that building in Portland seems like the best option, of investing in it in the first place may not have been.

Ba ba ba BONDS!

Furriners say rude things about T-notes:

Treasuries Increase as Government Leaves Auction Sizes Steady - Bloomberg.com

C

Hey, I'm in California and I had to help pay for the big dig, so fair's fair.

"Anything from freep.com is right wing propaganda and is pure BS."

......I'll step out on a limb here and suggest anyone who would refuse ANY message from any carrier during an "unfinished experiment", in fact might be a bigger fool than the messenger.

Re: refuse ANY message

Refusing the message ISN'T the problem. Each PT's brain's bullshit machine is purposely designed to filler (reject or distort) the bullshit coming FROM another PT's. This is how humans maintain their sanity. So, there's no point is talking about "messages". Nobody can hear anything other their own PT's bullshit.

Sorry, just how our brains work.

"I want to see real financial incentives for the insurance companies to be more efficient."

Stop, you're scaring me.

There never was going to be any health care reform. It is just an insurance company bailout. If the government takes all the health risks out of the insurance pool it makes health insurers more profitable.

Get finance out of public health if you want reform.

And end secret and discriminatory pricing.

.......PT? "political type"? Is that kind of like "he can hit a high-inside curveball?"....give me a break. Some variables always exist and "minor agreements" have even won wars - but only if they're read, digested, and understood and agreed upon.

The reason I ask, is we know several Brits, who have called it quits, and went back home recently.

I was told by a local that vacancies are rising rapidly in Battery Park City, the huge development between Ground Zero and the Hudson River, because Europeans who had been leasing/renting space were heading home in droves, being called back.

==========

yep, had friends there that moved back to europe already, very happy to go back and being closer to family. ... i wonder whether i'll have any friends staying in usa sometimes...

no