i should be asleep!!

It's definitely NOT contained.

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

It would be interesting to see the unofficial problem bank list totals increasing over time.

A hell of a lot more interesting than the bank failures list over time. At 2 per week we'll be done with this in about 20 years. Hmm, wait a minute.

dryfly wrote:

$1B??? $1.5B??? That's a big change - what happened? I recall CR had a post earlier saying Sheila is looking Caribbean way soon but still - that's a big change.

They probably wrote off a couple old Sears stores and an Autozone location. That easily adds up to a $1B. CRE blow out baby!

poic wrote:

Hilarious
How to Stay Awake During Obama Speeches: Play Bullshit Bingo « naked capitalism
read the player testimonials

After the 2010 elections, the 4 remaining democrats will be playing bull$hit bingo while they watch the speech in person. Sad that they are self destructing.. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory....

CalculatedRisk wrote:

I wonder if we will hit 1,000 by the end of this year?

This is like one of those calculus problems with the bathtub filling and draining at the same time, . . .and I wasn't good at solving those either.

There's a new problem:

Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 2/23/2010 - 8:05 am

Danger Will Robinson! Danger!:
Derivative Contracts by Maturity**
Interest rate contracts Q4 '09 v Q4 '08
...................................... < 1 year 80,979,677 58,618,112 +38.1%
..................................... 1-5 years 33,638,254 47,456,432 -29.1%
..................................... > 5 years 26,146,311 36,868,247 -29.1%

The banks are going short on the lending curve.

Eh. What could happen?

Hey google, index this:

AT&T

An AT&T representative defrauded my elderly father by lying outright about the package he was signing us up for. He stated no contract, that the price quoted was not promotional, and that we would be signing up for the 6 Mbps internet package. We questioned him specifically on these points; there is no chance that this was a miscommunication. After 12 hours of wrangling to abandon our old DSL for AT&T's new offering, including wasting two days for their technician to fix the lines their previous technician screwed up, I find out that we were defrauded. The package was 1.5 Mbps (and we were not qualified to receive the 6 Mbps), it was a 12 month contract with a $150 termination fee,the monthly price was promotional, and would just about double at the end of the term. After waiting on hold for a number of calls, totalling about 8 hours of hold time, I was finally transferred to a retention "specialist" who pretended to be looking into getting my speed package but actually just hung up on me.To make matters worse, because we "switched" from our old ADSL to their crappy, latency-ridden new uverse VDSL, they have disallowed us from switching back.

What a sick, sick company. I am young and I have a long life ahead of me. If there is any opportunity in my long future to cost this company some money, to dispirit their employees, to sow seeds of discontent among their customers, to provide succor to their competitors, or to in some minor way contribute to their misfortunes, I will leap at it.

Pretty light on comments this evening. CRVIX going through the floor.

R-G Premier of PR is probably in serious trouble. Their 60 days to comply following the October 23 C&D, plus 25 day revision is over. They are also required, per para 6 of the C&D order, to seek and establish various capital ratios, which sound like a tall order going on what they are presumed to be engaged in:

From the R-G Premier C&D link:

(i) beginning on the effective date of this AMENDED ORDER, the Bank shall maintain a leverage ratio at least 6% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 10%;
(ii) beginning on March 31, 2010, the Bank shall meet and maintain a leverage ratio of at least 6.75% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 11%; and
(iii) beginning on June 30, 2010, the Bank shall meet and maintain a leverage ratio of at least 8% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 12%.

And now the "going concern" warning.

Hi, my name is Sheila, and I'm here to help...

C

Too angry tonight, TJ. I'm so furious with AT&T that I've been randomly exploding with, "MOTHER FUCKERS" for the last 4 hours.

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

Pretty light on comments this evening.

I was actually musing on if there is any real hope for the banking system to avoid Robby the Robot's scenario. But I keep getting distracted by my internal snark-o-meter. Just like in the Forbidden Planet, we take our demons with us.

Didn't Canada win 3-2?

poic wrote:

Didn't Canada win 3-2?

I thought it was 3-0 last I looked [admit I didn't watch it - wife had speed skating on & I was logged into a college hockey game]... Slav's score two late goals?

When the whip comes down.

QUESTION... I'm definitely getting the feeling we're starting that "second leg down" a number of us have been anticipating for some time. Anyone else?

sdtfs, upgrading to their new system might be worth it, theoretically, if you can't get cable and if the speed they promise is the speed you get. There's no way to get a straight answer out of the company. They are liars and their company is completely dysfunctional on a fundamental level.

It's on the list, Fidelity Bank entered into a Material Definitive Agreement Form 8-K, Feb 22.

C

TJ and The Bear wrote:

QUESTION... I'm definitely getting the feeling we're starting that "second leg down" a number of us have been anticipating for some time. Anyone else?

I had that feeling in January, so my crash-o-meter is mis-calibrated by at least two months.

noob goldberg wrote:

But my hockey predictions are just as bad as my market predictions

Me too...

Sign me up for Canada 4 USA 1 - home ice advantage [they have to win or they'll all be petitioning for US citizenship].

dryfly wrote:

That's a bit more extreme than most but sums up what I see.

Was listening to a Bloomberg interviewee today who pointed out that manufacturing is the single bright spot in an otherwise dismal picture in the U.S. What's that about? Wind down from C4C, or something more fundamental?

dryfly wrote:

In what? Housing? Equity markets? Output? Employment?

All of the above, although not necessarily all at once.

dryfly wrote:

Sign me up for Canada 4 USA 1 - home ice advantage [they have to win or they'll all be petitioning for US citizenship].

I'll take Canada 3-2 with most of the game 3-1 and a last second 6 man US desperation score. If the Canadians lose JDs Gulag Hockeypelago will be a distinct possibility.

dryfly wrote:

And got totally wasted when they beat the Rus.

Heh, that's awesome. They played an old-school clog-the-neutral-zone four-back, one-forward game, and the Canadians didn't know what to do with themselves. The only way they scored the first two goals were redirections, because Halak was stopping everything else. The Slovaks didn't give up, not even for a second, even after they were down 3-0.

Given their underdog status, I give full credit to their coach as well as Peter Bondra for eeking that much out of their team, and taking it as far as they did.

this is real_folks wrote:

Cindy Crosby can keep sucking Mike Millbury's crotch too...

That boy is due for a good game. I only saw glimpses of his talent tonight (or even during the whole tournament, for that matter), but when he turns it on it's like everyone else slows down to half speed. He truly is amazing, not just in raw talent but in creativity.

EDIT: Okay, sorry to bore everyone with the hockey talk, I'm heading to bed. .

Financial Armageddon: It Comes Down to Politics, As Usual

One other thing: some people seem to think that buying equities is a great way to hedge against inflation. Is that correct? The answer is that "it depends." Based on what occurred during the Weimar years, inflation isn't the only consideration. Real output, among other things, also matters. Those who bought German equities just as hyperinflation accelerated into its intermediate phase lost around 80 percent of their investment in real -- inflation-adjusted -- terms over the course of 10 months. As with most investment decisions, timing is everything.

I'm sensing a pattern with the Canadian squad. Play bad one game and then good the next.

Wow. I linked that on my facebook account.

Maybe some of the folks paying $100/sq ft in Texas will take a look at that and go ... What the hell?

Brendan Morrow was injured and left the game, which screwed up the best line of the night Morrow / Getzlaf / Perry
Bergeron was his replacement, and it was worse than being shorthanded

dryfly wrote:

Repeat that all across the US and I think you have a pretty accurate picture of where we are.

Good for them, but still doesn't change my outlook one iota. In fact, it reinforces it.

The survivors are hunkered down, watching their resources like a hawk, and not spending a thin dime on anything they don't have to have. The rest, having played their own version of "extend & pretend" holding out for that oft-promised recovery, will now roll over and die.

TJ and The Bear wrote:

The survivors are hunkered down, watching their resources like a hawk, and not spending a thin dime on anything they don't have to have. The rest, having played their own version of "extend & pretend" holding out for that oft-promised recovery, will now roll over and die.

No, they won't die. They'll just "disinvest" on craigslist. It's almost like someone spelled all this out on their blog 3 years ago.

Aging populace puts a dent in Ottawa's bottom line - The Globe and Mail

AIG issues going concern warning, FNM wants another $15 bil, zombie bank list expands...

Something tells me the financial sector is still not well.

Fannie Taps Treasury for $15.3 Billion More After a 10th Loss - Bloomberg.com

C

Rob Dawg wrote:

The $275 million was a typo.

Listing "in Ojai" or "for Ojai"? Too much even on the second count.

TJ and The Bear wrote:

Listing "in Ojai" or "for Ojai"? Too much even on the second count

1118 N Signal St, Ojai, CA 93023 | MLS# 10003188

Idiots want 5x what they paid in 1998. Wishing price is not dead.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Idiots want 5x what they paid in 1998. Wishing price is not dead.

Well they haven't passed the financial advisor responsibility law, and so Bernanke is allowed to give irresponsible advice without consequence

Satan didn't have a great game today, but the Slovaks did come close in the last 5 minutes

noob goldberg wrote:

Luongo almost single-handedly lost the game. It was an impressive feat with only 5 minutes left.

the first goal was bad, he better bring more than his mediocre game Sunday
he's an odd cookie, the more he is challenged and the bigger the game, the better he plays (provided he isn't exhausted from playing a huge amount of hockey, not the case right now)
he needs to work on staying sharp when the pressure is off, has taken the team's play for granted

there's poor people in SoCal?

huge earthquake 175 miles south of valpriso chile, 8 plus

update

A massive earthquake of 8.8 magnitude strikes central Chile, north-east of the city of Concepcion.

Can't imagine that magnitude. I can't imagine any structures would be designed to withstand that. It's more a matter of local geology whether anything is left standing.

Newswire says 9-foot tsunami hit Chile.

Could be more heading in other directions.

Reuters
SANTIAGO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A tsunami warning has been lifted in southern Chile, where a a 8.8-magnitude struck, a local radio station reported, citing the Chilean navy.

The Friedman NY Fed / Glodman story, and insider trading allegations, continues to bubble away:

Friedmanism at the Fed

As it should.

C

Good point about the increase from 390 banks to 644 and still counting.
Everything is a timing issue and is not going to get better soon.

Ethics panel clears 7 on earmarks - washingtonpost.com

"The House ethics committee ruled Friday that seven lawmakers who steered hundreds of millions of dollars in largely no-bid contracts to clients of a lobbying firm had not violated any rules or laws by also collecting large campaign donations from those contractors. "

The lawmakers -- Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) and C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) -- claimed vindication.

Simply because a member sponsors an earmark for an entity that also happens to be a campaign contributor does not, on these two facts alone, support a claim that a member's actions are being influenced by campaign contributions, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said in a unanimous statement.

The new retirement plan.

The Granddad Bandit is not the only middle-age bank robbery suspect currently being sought. Authorities in Houston, Texas, are looking for a woman dubbed "Bad Granny," believed responsible for three recent robberies and attempted robberies of banks in the area.

The woman attempted to rob a bank Friday, the FBI's Houston office said in a release, but "the teller did not immediately provide any cash" after being handed a threatening note. The woman apparently got nervous, took back the note and left, authorities said. However, she then entered another bank and robbed it.

Yeah, I read about that. I remember her talking about they are ready. Engineers who work in govt contract positions, R&D, military contracts etc., know their jobs ride with the political wind and economics. I can't tell you how many years we sat on pins and needles wondering if the job would be there, its a hell of a way to live. Job insecurity isn't fun, some of us are well schooled in it no matter how well educated, hard working and productive you are.

This is an interesting link this morning. Although some areas have canceled their tsunami warning, Hawaii remains on alert as do some other areas.

http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2010/02/27/725245/07/ttvu725245-07.jpg

Tsunami alert lifted after strong quake off Japan - International Business Times

Has it occurred to anyone else that our planet seems...well...angry? This Chilean quake is a monster.

Good read and interesting. Oh and can we haz higher gasoline and heating oil prices on lower demand and high inventories???? Supply demand my azzz.

I've heard some good arguments from smart people but I still fail to see how the price of gasoline is driven by supply and demand.

This has to be a great sign that recovery is near...

The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union, and It's Catching on Quickly | Economy | AlterNet

nanoo

that article is very interesting. We are always told that the US doesn't have enough refinery capacity. Seems like there is excess refinery capacity worldwide. And people will to buy and invest in refineries in the US.

That "prices are high because there aren't enough refineries" argument never made sense to me.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

This has to be a great sign that recovery is near...

CK, expect a lot more groups like these to pop up, working together or at cross-purposes. When times get tough, people with no money and not much left to lose discover their inner activist. It happened in the '30s, it'll happen again if things keep getting worse for the common man. Such social reform groups can become real power blocks outside the control of Washington. And there's nothing scarier to the elites.

,rade kristina,wonder how they are betting on greece?

or cali, or us. the answer is where the money is....

Hahahah gaby, I think we can safely assume they are holding some CDS bets on Greeces failure. After all, they set them up to fail.

Made in China.

Tank Riding - Picture Is Unrelated

The CFMA opened up the commodities markets to speculators in a major way. Its a pet peeve of mine. Read up about Brooksley Born and Hank Greenberger, they both left the CFTC in 1999 after its passage in congress. Traders with massive amounts of money to play in these market squeeze producers and supplier contracts. It is now a highly manipulated market benefiting large traders. This lovely piece of legislation is the path to trading derivative contracts and the path by which those 'dark pools' are created. Repealing this legislation should be front and center.

Just get on Youtube and you will find years of testimony regarding the CFMA to congress and the abuses it has produced by deep pocketed people. Jackasses in congress think we're not watching I guess. Recently, the CFTC increased margin requirements but of course, that has little affect for Merrill, Goldman, etc. who are playing heavily in these markets. Just in the first half of '08, just Goldman alone made billions on trades..just trading and of course making 'forecasts' for the ppb/oil. '08 is a perfect example of how manipulated these markets are. Worse than energy are the soft commodities which can and do affect prices of food worldwide. In developing nations, it meant starvation in 08, for the US and other nations, it meant rapid inflation in food prices.

The CFTC and commodities markets work very well for over 60 years until Uncle Phil got his grimy slimy hands into it. If one reads up on GD1, the policies and agencies created after the 'threats' were identified as contributors to GD1, the commodities market was considered one which deepened GD1 and increased the pain to Main Street during that period of time.

People who think our contemporary/sophisticated mechanisms for modeling, trading, etc. exempt us from lessons of history I think will soon find it isn't the case at all.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

Bob Dobbs, I posted it because it had a "thirties feel" to it. Have we reached Peak Screw You in the J6P class?

No. And that's why populist organizations are just getting off the ground. I actually think you need them to ensure real change in Washington. They're the "loose cannons" in the power structure that scare and pressure the political system into actually paying attention to the people at large.