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Tansy_Gold

(17,817 posts)
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 07:57 PM Mar 2013

STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 27 March 2013

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 27 March 2013[font color=black][/font]


SMW for 26 March 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 26 March 2013
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Dow Jones 14,559.65 +111.90 (0.77%)
S&P 500 1,563.77 +12.08 (0.78%)
Nasdaq 3,252.48 +17.18 (0.53%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.94% +0.01 (0.52%)
30 Year 3.17% +0.02 (0.63%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.





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[font size=3][font color=red]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.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]


53 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 27 March 2013 (Original Post) Tansy_Gold Mar 2013 OP
Europe Expands Investigation Into Derivatives Market BY JAMES KANTER Demeter Mar 2013 #1
Head Of Bank Of Cyprus Quits After Appointment Of Special Administrator by SCOTT NEUMAN Demeter Mar 2013 #2
The 147 People Destroying the World MUST READ Demeter Mar 2013 #3
........ Hotler Mar 2013 #4
I know Demeter Mar 2013 #5
"We can't let the public decide...... AnneD Mar 2013 #9
One gets used to it... Ghost Dog Mar 2013 #47
Maybe it is a small pool. "The 1% aren't like the rest of us". jtuck004 Mar 2013 #7
This study really belongs in GD, amandabeech Mar 2013 #48
NOT on my life! Demeter Mar 2013 #51
**sigh** amandabeech Mar 2013 #52
I agree, and that's too bad. I remember a posting on the old site, jtuck004 Mar 2013 #53
and we continue with our mewling petitions and tame "rallies" and and and ... bread_and_roses Mar 2013 #8
If you think THAT'S bad, go look at this provocative thread Demeter Mar 2013 #6
I long for the reasonable sanity in the old DU2. We must learn to..... Hotler Mar 2013 #16
It's the appalling ignorance Demeter Mar 2013 #18
Beyond appalling Tansy_Gold Mar 2013 #49
Krugman's Advice to Cyprus: 'Leave the Euro. Now.' xchrom Mar 2013 #10
Well, that's an Unequivocal Answer Demeter Mar 2013 #19
Even-handedness of Krugman is more like Tansy_Gold Mar 2013 #50
The US Army Is Planning For A Failed Nuclear State In North Korea xchrom Mar 2013 #11
Then they might want to leave well enough alone Demeter Mar 2013 #20
right? nt xchrom Mar 2013 #22
Greece Is Crashing xchrom Mar 2013 #12
Europe Is Getting Smoked This Morning — Here's All The Ugly Stuff That's Happening xchrom Mar 2013 #13
I'm wondering if 6 months was too optimistic a guess for the final death throes Demeter Mar 2013 #26
Billions Of Dollars Worth Of Gold Is Hiding In Our Garbage xchrom Mar 2013 #14
A real entrepreneurial opportunity Demeter Mar 2013 #23
Wells Fargo Investment Unit Paid Board Member’s Son $1.4 Million xchrom Mar 2013 #15
Talk about clueless Demeter Mar 2013 #24
Panasonic gets home solar sales lift xchrom Mar 2013 #17
Given the shutdown of all the nuclear reactors Demeter Mar 2013 #25
Crisis in France: Hollande Failing to Handle Unemployment xchrom Mar 2013 #21
So should we all Demeter Mar 2013 #27
... xchrom Mar 2013 #29
. Tansy_Gold Mar 2013 #44
Post analysis of Dow 30 firms shows declining tax burden as a share of profits xchrom Mar 2013 #28
U.S. private companies squeezing more profit out of every dollar sold xchrom Mar 2013 #30
In Cyprus, making up a euro solution on the fly xchrom Mar 2013 #31
It could hardly be worse Demeter Mar 2013 #37
Brussels requires Spain to revise public deficit upwards xchrom Mar 2013 #32
Jobless rate will hit 27 percent, says central bank{spain} xchrom Mar 2013 #33
Bank of Cyprus chief Yiannis Kypri 'sacked' xchrom Mar 2013 #34
Putting more Goldmen in charge, no doubt Demeter Mar 2013 #38
China and Brazil sign $30bn currency swap agreement xchrom Mar 2013 #35
HAPPY HOLI!!! xchrom Mar 2013 #36
??? Demeter Mar 2013 #39
It's one of the big holidays in India - Hindu. xchrom Mar 2013 #43
From our Ecumenical house to yours.... AnneD Mar 2013 #42
Galbraith and Panitch: What Would Real Economic Reform Look Like? Demeter Mar 2013 #40
The London Whale and the real link between the US economy and Cyprus By Dean Baker; The Guardian Demeter Mar 2013 #41
No, Bersani - it is politics as usual that is "mentally ill" - in fact quite insane bread_and_roses Mar 2013 #45
Bersani is so shallow, he probably is just objecting to the pay scale and bennies Demeter Mar 2013 #46
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
1. Europe Expands Investigation Into Derivatives Market BY JAMES KANTER
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 09:25 PM
Mar 2013
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/europe-expands-investigation-into-derivatives-market/

European Union antitrust regulators have expanded their investigation into whether a small network of big banks unfairly controls the derivatives market. The inquiry, which has already ensnared major international giants like Barclays, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, has been broadened to include the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a trade organization for market participants. The European Commission, which oversees antitrust regulation, had “found preliminary indications that I.S.D.A. may have been involved in a coordinated effort of investment banks to delay or prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business,” European antitrust regulators said in a statement. “Such behavior, if established, would stifle competition in the internal market in breach of E.U. antitrust rules.”

The commission has the power to levy fines as much as 10 percent of a firm’s global annual sales in such cases, although fines rarely, if ever, go that high. “I.S.D.A. is aware that it has been made subject to these proceedings,” the association said in a statement sent by e-mail. “I.S.D.A. is confident that it has acted properly at all times and has not infringed E.U. competition rules,” the statement said, adding that the association was co-operating fully with regulatory authorities.

The European investigation, like a similar one undertaken earlier by United States Department of Justice, highlights efforts by regulators to address concerns that large banks may be using unfair methods to control highly lucrative corners of finance. The investigation, which began in April 2011, focuses on whether 16 banks worked with the Markit Group, a data provider, to create pricing procedures and indices related to a type of derivative known as credit default swaps. Authorities are also looking into whether a deal between nine banks and the Intercontinental Exchange might have been unfair to other players in the market. The commission is using the full arsenal of European Union competition law to investigate the matter, including a statute prohibiting firms from covertly rigging the market and another prohibiting big firms from bullying smaller ones. The commission said on Tuesday that it suspected the banks of acting “through collusion or an abuse of a possible collective dominance.”

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have pursued the investigations because the effects could extend well beyond the world of finance into the wider economy. A number of industries, including airlines, energy companies and food manufacturers, rely on the derivatives market to help manage their risk and protect their profits.
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
2. Head Of Bank Of Cyprus Quits After Appointment Of Special Administrator by SCOTT NEUMAN
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 09:28 PM
Mar 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/26/175355924/head-of-bank-of-cyprus-quits-after-appointment-of-special-administrator?ft=1&f=1001

The chairman of the Bank of Cyprus abruptly stepped down after a special administrator was appointed to oversee its restructuring in the wake of a painful bailout of the island nation by international lenders. Andreas Artemis' resignation, The New York Times reports, was "not wholly unexpected" but "still caught the market by surprise and was a further reminder of how volatile and uncertain Cyprus' financial system has become in recent days." Dinos Christofides was appointed Monday night by the Central Bank of Cyprus to act as a special administrator to oversee "the restructuring of the bank and the absorption of part of Cyprus Popular Bank," he tells Reuters. "It means that from now until further notice I will be running the bank," he said. "It could be short term ... or it could be longer."

John Psaropoulos, reporting for NPR from the capital, Nicosia, says the resignation of Artemis comes as the Bank of Cyprus prepares to absorb the country's second-biggest lender, Laiki Bank. In the process, depositors with more than $130,000 in their accounts will be levied a one-time charge of as much as 40 percent of their savings.

"But while both banks are crunching the numbers, nobody knows what their assets will be at the end of the day," Psaropoulos says. "Today's resignation [of Artemis] could throw a wrench in the entire process."

He says employees, unsure about their jobs, protested outside the Bank of Cyprus headquarters in Nicosia. Meanwhile, Greece's Piraeus Bank agreed Tuesday to buy the Greek operations of three Cypriot banks for $678 million, according to The Associated Press:

"Piraeus, which was selected last Friday to take over the Greek units of the Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic ... says the Cypriot bank branches in Greece would reopen Wednesday, a day earlier than in Cyprus."
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
3. The 147 People Destroying the World MUST READ
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 10:09 PM
Mar 2013
http://www.alternet.org/147-people-destroying-world?paging=off



There must be some explanation for last week’s economic madness. Take a look:

  • Cyprus: The European Union acted destructively – and self-destructively – when it tried to seize a portion of the insured savings accounts of the citizens of Cyprus. They were telling anyone with a savings account in the financially troubled nations of the Eurozone: Forget your guaranteed deposits. If we need your money in order to bail out the big banks – banks which have already gambled recklessly with it – we’ll take it. That didn’t just create a political firestorm in Cyprus. It threatened the European Union’s banking system, and perhaps the Union itself. The fact that the tax on deposits has been partially retracted doesn’t change the basic question: What were they thinking?

  • The Grand Bargain: The President and Congressional Republicans reportedly moved closer to a deal that would cut Social Security and Medicare while raising taxes – mostly on the middle class – without doing more to create jobs. A “Grand Bargain” like that would run counter to both public opinion and informed economic judgement. Who would impose more economy-killing austerity when there’s so much evidence of the harm it does? Why would the White House want to become the face of a deal to cut Social Security, killing its own party’s political prospects for a generation?

    There’s more:

  • Him again: Washington reporters once again sought the opinion of Ex-Wyoming senator Alan Simpson, a vitriolic blowhard with no discernible knowledge of either economics or social insurance, and then wrote up his opinions on those topics in flattering pieces like this one.

  • Derivatives, the Sequel: Four short years after too-big-to-fail banks nearly destroyed the world economy, as the nation continues to suffer the after-effects of the crisis they created, a Congressional committee moved to undo the already-insufficient safeguards in the Dodd/Frank law.

  • Within days of a Senate Report which outlined the mendacity, extreme risk, and potentiality criminality surrounding JPMorgan Chase’s “London Whale” fiasco, the House Agriculture Committee approved new bills that would legalize trades like the “London Whale.”

  • Above the Law: The Attorney General of the United States remained silent as the controversy continued over his recent admission that banks like Dimon’s were too big to face prosecution. And yet there were no moves to change either Holder’s policy or the size of these institutions. Politico, the Washington insiders’ tip sheet, ran a piece entitled “Why Washington won’t break up the big banks.”

  • Dimon Unbound: The Senate report also provided evidence that JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, failed to manage his bank’s risk and concealed information about its losses from regulators. We learned last week that regulators lowered their rating of Dimon’s bank after chastising the bank’s leadership for management failures that included inadequate safeguards against money-laundering, poor risk management, and failure to separate the banks’ own investments from those of its customers...Illegalities during Dimon’s tenure as CEO have cost his shareholders billions in settlements and fines. Poor risk management (and additional potential illegalities) cost it another $6.2 billion in Whale-related losses. And yet last week Dimon’s own Board “strongly endorsed” his dual role as CEO and Board Chair, an unusual concentration of power at what is (by some measurements) the world’s largest bank, and commended itself in aproxy filing for the “strength and independence” of its oversight, adding: “The Firm has had strong performance through the cycle since Mr. Dimon became Chairman and CEO.”

    All this, in just seven days. Has the world gone insane? What is everybody thinking?

    That’s where the number “147? comes in. Anthropologist Robin Dunbar tried to find out how many people the typical person “really knows.” He compared primate brains to social groups and published his findings in papers with titles like “Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates.” Dunbar concluded that the optimum number for a network of human acquaintances was 147.5, a figure which was then rounded up to 150 and became known as “Dunbar’s Number.” He found groups of 150-200 in all sorts of places: Hutterite settlements. Roman army units. Academic sub-specialties. Dunbar concluded that “there is a cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships.” Around 150 or 200 people form a human being’s social universe. They shape his or her world view, his or her world. That means that 147 people can change the course of history. Not necessarily the same 147 people, of course. But the small social groups which surround our world’s leaders have extraordinary power. Economist Simon Johnson mentioned Dunbar’s Number last week in a column about incoming Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and the new SEC chair, Mary Jo White. “The issue is not so much their track record,” Johnson wrote, “because neither has worked directly on financial-sector policy issues; it is much more about whom they know...If most financial experts you know work at, for example, Citigroup,” added Johnson, “then you are more likely to see the financial world through their eyes.” Lew is a former Citigroup executive. That mismanaged megabank is also the former corporate home of ex-Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and the current home of Peter Orszag, formerly President Obama’s OMB Director. For her part, White went from prosecuting criminals to defending Wall Street bankers. That was also Attorney General Eric Holder’s profession before he was appointed to his current position. These are the people who surround our President, our Senators, our Representatives. They talk to them every day. They say, This is how the world works. They say, Everybody knows these things.

    Their European counterparts saw the effects of austerity on the economies of their Union: Unemployment up. Gross domestic product down. Even the deficits, which austerity was meant to reduce, have been rising as the result of these unwise cuts. But, they say, we know Angela Merkel. We know George Osborne and Christine Lagarde. We trust their judgement. How did the predictably disastrous plan to tax guaranteed savings accounts in Cyprus get approved? It’s not hard to imagine: “Everybody we know” thought it was a great idea.

    That’s how it works here in the US, too. Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin were spectacularly wrong about everything: deregulation, the housing bubble, government spending, everything. But we know them. Nobel Prize-winning economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz keep explaining why more stimulus spending is needed. But we don’t know them – not the way we know Larry, Alan, and Bob. Same for Simon Johnson, or William K. Black Jr., or Robert Johnson, or any of the other economists we don’t know very well. And when we don’t know someone very well, their criticisms make us uncomfortable. Bill Clinton’s “Third Way” triangulation led to welfare “reform” that’s proven disastrous. His Wall Street deregulation ruined the economy, and his brand of old-fashioned pseudo-centrism is out of touch with today’s political and economic realities. But we know him. Bill Clinton doesn’t make us uncomfortable at all. Investigate Jamie Dimon, or Lloyd Blankfein, or Robert Rubin? But they were our clients, and will be again once we leave government. Investigate them? We know them. Dimon’s Board of Directors is a case study in Dunbar’s Number. It includes Honeywell CEO David Cote, who was a member of the Simpson Bowles Commission. There’s a retired senior executive with another big defense contractor, Boeing. Together with Dimon, that makes three CEOs who earn their money from government largesse. The CEO of Comcast is on Dimon’s Board, too. (The media’s leaders are always among the 147.) One seat belongs to the head of one of the accounting groups that overlooked massive bank fraud when signing off on their annual statements. Another belongs to the former CEO of Exxon Mobil.

    The “147? run companies. They also hold fundraisers for politicians – in both parties. When Senator Obama became President Obama, during the gravest unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, one of his first acts was to create a “Deficit Commission” instead of a “Jobs Commission.” Why? Because “147 people” thought that was the right priority. Then he appointed the dyspeptic, unlikable, and uninformed Sen. Simpson to co-chair it. You see, the “147 people” in Washington’s political and media circles like Alan Simpson. To them he’s not an embarrassment to his President, a paid pitchman for billionaire Pete Peterson’s anti-Social Security jihad. (We know Pete!) To them Simpson’s not an ill-informed and misogynistic bully who taunts women with comments about “310 million tits.” To them he’s Al. They know him. They say he’s a lot of fun when you get to know him.

    They really say that.

    Then there are the news anchors and journalists who say things like this: Everybody knows that we need to cut Social Security. Everybody knows the deficit is our most urgent problem. Everybody knew that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, too. Everybody understands that the right-wing, anti-government Simpson Bowles plan represents the “political center,” although it’s far to the right of public opinion – even ofRepublican or Tea Party voters’ opinion – on issues that range from job creation to increasing Social Security benefits.

    You can’t fit millions of frustrated voters into a social group of 147 people.

    When Teddy Roosevelt became President, J.P. Morgan (the person, not the bank) suggested he “send your man to my man and they can fix it up.” He was shocked that the new President chose instead to operate outside the Circle in order to create real change. And when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President he brought in new faces, new voices, new ideas. He broke the social circle that had paralyzed government and the economy. But the circle of right-wing Republicans and corporatist Clintonite Democrats is still intact. That means Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders will keep on promoting the right-wing agenda known as Simpson Bowles until their party loses all its political power at the polls. It also means that Republican extremism will still be reported with straight-faced gravity.Congressional committees will keep deregulating big banks, the Justice Department will avoid prosecuting them, and their Boards of Directors will keep rewarding their executives. They’ll all keep doing exactly what they’re doing – until the economy blows up again, perhaps with far worse consequences than the last time.

    And when the next crisis comes, “147 people” will react to it exactly the same way they reacted to the last one. You can almost hear them now, can’t you? You can’t blame us, they’ll say. Nobody could’ve seen this coming. How do we know that?

    Because we asked everybody we know.

  •  

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    5. I know
    Tue Mar 26, 2013, 10:26 PM
    Mar 2013

    after a post like that, even sleeping seems pointless.

    On the other hand, there's nothing more to be said. Until several dozen of the 147 die or drop into sinkholes, we are stuck. Because god forbid we should have free and fair elections and politicians who pay any attention to them. That would be democracy! We can't just let anyone go around opinionating! We can't let the public decide! They would decide to off the 147 without even thinking twice.

    AnneD

    (15,774 posts)
    9. "We can't let the public decide......
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:21 AM
    Mar 2013

    They would decide to off the 147 without even thinking twice".

    Truer words were ever said. FRSP for everyone.

     

    jtuck004

    (15,882 posts)
    7. Maybe it is a small pool. "The 1% aren't like the rest of us".
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 02:45 AM
    Mar 2013

    Hold off on the "Well, duh!" for just a minute. We can all assume that, but this is an interesting survey of a small sample of wealthy people, and their wish list sounds like our national policy, the Survey of Economically Successful Americans. While it need to be better sampled, they hold very different viewpoints from those reported of the large percentages of 311 million other Americans. Their average political contribution to political campaigns was about $5000, and about half reported initiating contact with a Senator or Congressperson - not just mail or calls to a staffer. Yet the folks who are supposed to be on our side sure seem to be parroting the wishes of these people, despite all the marching, phone calls, letters, etc. Maybe we are just being fooled? A couple hundred million people want an emphasis on jobs, and most don't want cuts to Social Security, yet that is opposite from what appears to be policy. If the influence of the wealthy is out of proportion to their numbers, we are just being fed PR, not being represented.

    In the LA Times, here:


    We recently conducted a survey of top wealth-holders (with an average net worth of $14 million) in the Chicago area, one of the first studies to systematically examine the political attitudes of wealthy Americans. Our research found that the biggest concern of this top 1% of wealth-holders was curbing budget deficits and government spending. When surveyed, they ranked those things as priorities three times as often as they did unemployment — and far more often than any other issue.

    If the concerns of the wealthy carry special weight in government — as an increasing body of social scientific evidence suggests — such extreme differences between their views and those of other Americans could significantly skew policy away from what a majority of the country would prefer. Our Survey of Economically Successful Americans was an attempt to begin to shed light on both the viewpoints and the political reach of the very wealthy.
    ...
    Two-thirds of the respondents had contributed money (averaging $4,633) in the most recent presidential election, and fully one-fifth of them "bundled" contributions from others. About half recently initiated contact with a U.S. senator or representative, and nearly half (44%) of those contacts concerned matters of relatively narrow economic self-interest rather than broader national concerns. This kind of access to elected officials suggests an outsized influence in Washington.
    ...
    Our initial results suggest the wealthy have very different ideas than other Americans on a variety of policy issues. If their influence is far greater than that of ordinary people, what does that mean for American democracy?
     

    amandabeech

    (9,893 posts)
    48. This study really belongs in GD,
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 03:12 PM
    Mar 2013

    at least when the dust settles from marriage equality and guns.

    All other subjects seem to be buried at this point.

     

    amandabeech

    (9,893 posts)
    52. **sigh**
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:27 PM
    Mar 2013

    I know you're right Demeter, and that you speak from experience.

    Still, this is the best read I've seen at DU for a long, long time.

    It explains so much, as does the similar article from the LA times to which it links.

    Thanks for posting.

    PS, I'm finally going home next week after a long absence. Between a bunch of serious upper respiratory infections and bad weather on the western side of the state, I've been away far too long for the age of my Mom. She turned 91 in January. I am thankful for the friends and neighbors who keep watch on her while I'm away. Here's to them all, not that I think they follow DU, let alone SMW.

     

    jtuck004

    (15,882 posts)
    53. I agree, and that's too bad. I remember a posting on the old site,
    Thu Mar 28, 2013, 12:48 AM
    Mar 2013

    something to do with people confusing a political party for a progressive movement. Now it's more like how many people can be marginalized to support the profiteering of "these" millionaires instead of "those" millionaires.

    But we can't kick the can forever, and people living in the tar paper covered villages will be telling each other a different history one day, I suspect.


    bread_and_roses

    (6,335 posts)
    8. and we continue with our mewling petitions and tame "rallies" and and and ...
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:14 AM
    Mar 2013

    ... and they ignore us. We slobber over some crumb they toss us and bow and scrape to them for their largesse ....

    Wake me up when we decide on a national strike or decide to occupy our workplaces and the banks and not just the public square.

    There were a few instances when people tried to awake the sleeping giant .... Wisconsin, Occupy. One can only hope they were harbingers, as yet unrealized, but still gestating ....

    Hotler

    (11,353 posts)
    16. I long for the reasonable sanity in the old DU2. We must learn to.....
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:49 AM
    Mar 2013

    stay out of that hell hole. I always feel like I need a shower after venturing over to GD.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    10. Krugman's Advice to Cyprus: 'Leave the Euro. Now.'
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:30 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/27


    Students take part in an anti-Troika protest outside the Presidential palace in Nicosia March 26, 2013. (Photo: Reuters/Yorgos Karahalis)

    Asked to put aside the obstacles of political reality or feasibility and simply offer his unadulterated advice to the nation of Cyprus, Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman spoke bluntly and plainly by agreeing to say what he would do if it was up to him.


    "Cyprus should leave the euro. Now," Krugman said on Tuesday.

    As the banks in Cyprus remain closed and public opposition to the bailout deal being orchestrated grows, Krugman explained why he (and many others) support the idea of an exit.

    "The reason is straightforward," He continued. "Staying in the euro means an incredibly severe depression, which will last for many years while Cyprus tries to build a new export sector. Leaving the euro, and letting the new currency fall sharply, would greatly accelerate that rebuilding."
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    19. Well, that's an Unequivocal Answer
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:19 AM
    Mar 2013

    not the usual even-handedness Krugman specializes in.

    Now, he sounds like Max Keiser and Ilagri and Zerohedge and all those other favored sources of ours.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    11. The US Army Is Planning For A Failed Nuclear State In North Korea
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:33 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.businessinsider.com/army-war-games-north-korea-collapse-2013-3

    ***SNIP

    Yes, the most terrifying thing about North Korea is actually if it loses positive control of its nuclear technology and any active warheads it has.

    The war games didn't go smoothly:

    It took 56 days for the U.S. to flow two divisions’ worth of soldiers into the failed nuclear-armed state of “North Brownland” and as many as 90,000 troops to deal with the country’s nuclear stockpiles, a major U.S. Army war game concluded this winter.
    There were a few major problems tripping up the military, generals at the event told a handful of reporters, talking only without attribution.

    — No "ISR": It's difficult to establish Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance in a hermit kingdom as closed off to the world as North Korea. Essentially, the generals involved agreed that they would move rapidly north of the 38th parallel and be totally blind, without well established information infrastructure.


    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/army-war-games-north-korea-collapse-2013-3#ixzz2OkMdVOVs
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    20. Then they might want to leave well enough alone
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:20 AM
    Mar 2013

    and bribe the populace with food and energy. Assholes!

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    12. Greece Is Crashing
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:35 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-stocks-falling-march-27-2013-3

    The fallout from Europe's mismanagement over Cyprus continues.
    Greece fell over 4% yesterday.
    And today it's down about 6.5%.


    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    13. Europe Is Getting Smoked This Morning — Here's All The Ugly Stuff That's Happening
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:37 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.businessinsider.com/why-europe-is-falling-march-27-2013-3

    Europe is getting smoked this morning.
    Spain is down 1.7%
    Italy is down 1.4%
    Germany is down 1.2%
    Greece is down 4%
    The euro is at a 4-month low.


    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-europe-is-falling-march-27-2013-3#ixzz2OkNq2rOm
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    26. I'm wondering if 6 months was too optimistic a guess for the final death throes
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:27 AM
    Mar 2013

    Guess it depends on if Obama decides to "fix" it. Or Bernanke. or Jake Lew...or some other official moron.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    14. Billions Of Dollars Worth Of Gold Is Hiding In Our Garbage
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:40 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.businessinsider.com/gold-urban-mining-2013-3

    The rally cry of the gold bug has never been louder thanks to the aggressive monetary policies of central banks around the world.
    To meet demand, traditional miners crush tons of rock for specks of gold.
    Meanwhile, most of us just throw away gold without knowing it.
    Here's an interesting infographic from GoldAndSilverBuyers.com that shows how much gold is in our garbage.


     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    23. A real entrepreneurial opportunity
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:22 AM
    Mar 2013

    just like that Chinese woman who recycled US waste paper into cardboard.... and became a billionaire in the process.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    15. Wells Fargo Investment Unit Paid Board Member’s Son $1.4 Million
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 09:43 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/wells-fargo-investment-unit-paid-board-member-s-son-1-4-million.html

    Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the most valuable U.S. bank, paid a board member’s son about $1.4 million last year for his work in a unit responsible for investing deposits.

    Scott P. Quigley, 44, received the compensation as a manager in the principal investments group, according to the San Francisco-based lender’s most recent proxy filing. His father, Philip J. Quigley, a Wells Fargo director since 1994, is retiring from the board in April. Scott Quigley declined to comment, and his father didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The bank declined to make them available.

    It compromises both the executive and the director,” said Nell Minow, a corporate-governance consultant at GMI Ratings who co-founded the Corporate Library, based in Portland, Maine. “If it were me advising the company, I would tell them not to do it under any circumstance.”

    The principal investments group, which buys bonds with the bank’s own money and excess customer deposits, has been among Wells Fargo’s most profitable units, said three former employees who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the lender’s behalf. Jobs there are among the most sought- after by personnel seeking transfers, one of the people said.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    17. Panasonic gets home solar sales lift
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:07 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/27/business/panasonic-gets-home-solar-sales-lift/#.UVL82u1qP8s

    Panasonic Corp. said its solar-panel operation will probably remain profitable amid growing demand from domestic homeowners.

    Shipments in February reached a record level as the nation’s feed-in-tariff system for electricity triggered demand for rooftop systems, Kazuhiro Yoshida, who heads the business, said in Tokyo on Monday, declining to elaborate.

    Panasonic is targeting Japanese individuals for its HIT-brand solar cells, a strategy that has helped preserve profitability and protect the business from a glut in commercial production, he said. The Osaka-based company is focusing on premium products for residential users as an oversupply in large-scale facilities led to price declines and threatened the survival of Suntech Power Holdings Co., once the biggest solar-panel maker, he said.

    “Demand is booming in Japan,” Yoshida said, “It is not our goal to become the No. 1 company. Our focus is how to be profitable.”
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    25. Given the shutdown of all the nuclear reactors
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:25 AM
    Mar 2013

    Japan is doing what they ought to have done 30 years ago. Europe more and more is following the renewable road to riches...what will it take to get US go here?

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    21. Crisis in France: Hollande Failing to Handle Unemployment
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:21 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/french-president-hollande-failing-to-control-unemployment-crisis-a-891182.html

    Ten months after the election of French President Francois Hollande, the number of people registered as unemployed is nearing the national record set in 1997, at just below 3.2 million. Nearly 2 million have been searching for work for more than a year, and every month an additional 80,000 people lose their claim to unemployment benefits, often falling into poverty.

    Unemployment is 10.8 percent higher than last year -- a harsh blow to Hollande, who promised during his campaign to curb the crisis on the job market. Instead, the jobless rate has steadily risen, bringing to memory a statement made in 1993 by Hollande's predecessor and fellow Socialist, Francois Mitterrand: "Against unemployment, we've tried everything."

    In anticipation of catastrophic new reports on the labor market, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the National Assembly on Tuesday that one "has never done enough against unemployment," calling for "a general mobilization" to create jobs in the public and private sectors.

    The government has taken a number of measures to combat youth unemployment, such as generous subsidies to companies that hire employees between 16 and 25 for at least one year. The plan was to create 100,000 "contracts for the future" in 2013, but so far only 15,000 people have benefited from the program.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    28. Post analysis of Dow 30 firms shows declining tax burden as a share of profits
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:40 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/post-analysis-of-dow-30-firms-shows-declining-tax-burden-as-a-share-of-profits/2013/03/26/3dfe5132-7b9a-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html

    Procter & Gamble, the Cincinnati-based company behind Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, reported a federal tax burden in 1969 that was 40 percent of its total profits, a typical rate in those days.

    More than four decades later, P&G is a very different company, with operations that span the globe. It also reports paying a very different portion of its profits in federal taxes: 15 percent.

    The world’s biggest maker of consumer products isn’t the only one. Most of the 30 companies listed on the country’s most famous stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average, have seen a dramatically smaller percentage of their profits go to U.S. coffers over time, even as their share prices have driven the Dow to an all-time high.

    A Washington Post analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ, a research firm, found that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, companies listed on the current Dow 30 routinely cited U.S. federal tax expenses that were 25 to 50 percent of their worldwide profits. Now, most are reporting less than half that share.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    30. U.S. private companies squeezing more profit out of every dollar sold
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:42 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/us-private-companies-squeezing-more-profit-out-of-every-dollar-sold/2013/03/26/a41c3338-9645-11e2-9e23-09dce87f75a1_story.html


    Still battling weak consumer spending and a shaky economy, business owners are finding ways to squeeze more profit out of every dollar they make, according to a new study.

    U.S. private companies reported an average net profit margin over the past six months of 7.6 percent, significantly higher than the 4.6 percent margins they sustained during the same period one year ago, according to data compiled by financial analysis firm Sageworks.

    Profit margins measure profits divided by total sales. The increase suggests employers are moving slowly to add workers or add costs to their operations.

    “The businesses that survived the recession were ones who were able to do more with less, and that mentality of lean operations seems to have carried over,” Libby Bierman, an analyst at Sageworks, said in an interview.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    31. In Cyprus, making up a euro solution on the fly
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:45 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-cyprus-making-up-a-euro-solution-on-the-fly/2013/03/26/40a6de70-964f-11e2-af7c-0aa3dca5a203_story.html

    THIS MUCH can be said fairly certainly about the new bailout plan for Cyprus: It’s a big improvement on the previous plan. Last week, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and Cyprus’s own government concocted a scheme that would have propped up two of the island’s largest insolvent banks, partly by confiscating the supposedly insured deposits of small savers. The Cypriot parliament rejected it in the face of amply justified public protests. Plan B winds up the two banks, puts a de facto end to Cyprus’s days as an unsustainable offshore bank center and imposes the costs on big depositors — who include a disproportionate number of Russian tax avoiders and similar folk.

    Beyond that, however, the implications are much harder to determine. Has Europe set a precedent, according to which big bank creditors, from uninsured depositors to bondholders, must henceforth assume that their funds are at risk? Who knows? Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands, who heads the “Eurogroup” of finance ministers, suggested that such a precedent had indeed been set — whereupon a top official of the European Central Bank, Benoit Coeure, declared that Mr. Dijsselbloem was “wrong.” In his view, Cyprus is a “unique” case.

    Wouldn’t it be healthy for Europe if bank creditors did get the idea that their funds were at risk, so that shaky banks would find it harder to get funded in the first place? Yes, according to those who say Europe’s problem has always been a “too big to fail” mentality. No, according to those who say that the Cyprus deal fatally undermined depositor confidence, thus making bank runs in other countries more likely.

    Certainly Cyprus and its paymasters in the European Central Bank have broken a taboo of the common European currency by imposing controls on the flow of capital into and out of the country, albeit “temporarily.” As long as those controls last, a euro held in Cyprus is no longer as valuable as those deposited elsewhere. But even that measure can be justified by the greater threat of a bank run; to save the euro, it was necessary to destroy it, partially, in one place, for a while.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    32. Brussels requires Spain to revise public deficit upwards
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:49 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/03/27/inenglish/1364387357_553464.html

    The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat has obliged Spain’s Finance Ministry to revise the estimated public deficit upwards for last year as a result of the government’s decision to delay until this year tax refunds due at the end of 2012.

    After the adjustment imposed by Eurostat, the shortfall in the state’s books for last year increases from 6.74 percent to 6.98 percent. The Finance Ministry, headed by Cristóbal Montoro, said Wednesday that the change imposed on the treatment of tax refunds will oblige the department to amend the figures for the historical series, which dates back to 1995.

    The secretary of state for the budget, Marta Fernández Currás, said the methodological treatment of tax refunds has been changed in such a way that requests for refunds by taxpayers are recognized as obligations without prior recognition of the validity of such claims by the administration.

    The European Commission is expected to grant Spain some leeway in bringing the deficit back within the EU ceiling of 3 percent of GDP as a result of the country slipping back into recession for the second time in four year. Currently, the administration of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is committed to doing so in 2014.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    33. Jobless rate will hit 27 percent, says central bank{spain}
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:51 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/03/26/inenglish/1364327538_872839.html

    Spain's GDP will contract by 1.5 percent this year while unemployment could reach as high as 27 percent by the end of 2013, as the country continues to deal with a devastating recession that will continue into next year, the Bank of Spain said Tuesday.

    In an updated forecast for the Spanish economy, central bank officials said that the continued decline in the economy will produce "a notable reduction in employment" for the rest of the entire year.

    “In 2014, the pace of job destruction is expected to moderate substantially and, in fact, it is estimated that net job creation will begin in the market economy over the course of the year,” the bank said in its quarterly economic bulletin.

    “This projection for employment will result, despite the foreseeable decrease in the labor force, in further rises in the unemployment rate in 2013, which will be corrected slightly in 2014 when this variable is expected to show a declining quarter-on-quarter profile.”

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    34. Bank of Cyprus chief Yiannis Kypri 'sacked'
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:53 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21953222

    The chief executive of the Bank of Cyprus has been sacked as part of a restructuring of the country's largest commercial lender.

    In a statement Yiannis Kypri confirmed his removal, but said he had not yet received a formal letter.

    It was reported that his removal was requested by Cyprus' international lenders - the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF - the troika.

    But a European Commission spokesman has denied the reports.
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    38. Putting more Goldmen in charge, no doubt
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 11:01 AM
    Mar 2013

    Last edited Wed Mar 27, 2013, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)

    What a farce. That troika should be driven off a cliff, before they take all of Europe into a crash.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    35. China and Brazil sign $30bn currency swap agreement
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:54 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21949615

    China and Brazil have signed a currency swap deal, designed to safeguard against future global financial crises.

    The pact, first announced last year, will allow their central banks to swap local currencies worth up to 190bn yuan or 60bn reais ($30bn; £20bn).

    Officials said this will ensure smooth bilateral trade, regardless of global financial conditions.

    Along with being the world's second-largest economy, China is also Brazil's biggest trading partner.

    xchrom

    (108,903 posts)
    43. It's one of the big holidays in India - Hindu.
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 11:52 AM
    Mar 2013

    And people throw tons of color powder all over each other as part of the celebration.

     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    40. Galbraith and Panitch: What Would Real Economic Reform Look Like?
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 11:05 AM
    Mar 2013

    I CAN'T BEAR TO WATCH (AND THE SOUND IS STILL BROKEN)



    In Pt.3 of this series James K. Galbraith and Leo Panitch imagine what a genuinely reform -minded US government might do about the economy.

    Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto. He is the author of many books, the most recent of which are: The Making of Global Gapitalism: the Political Economy of American Empire (Verso 2012); and, In and Out of Crisis: The Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives (PM Press 2010). In addition to his university affiliation he is also a co-editor of the Socialist Register, whose 2013 volume is entitled The Question of Strategy.

    James K. Galbraith teaches at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. He is a Senior Scholar of the Levy Economics Institute and the Chair of the Board of Economists for Peace and Security. The son of a renowned economist, the late John Kenneth Galbraith, he writes occasional commentary for many publications, including Mother Jones, The Texas Observer, The American Prospect, and The Nation. He directs the University of Texas Inequality Project, an informal research group based at the LBJ School, and is President this year of the Association for Evolutionary Economics.

    TRANSCRIPT AT LINK

    http://itsoureconomy.us/2013/03/galbraith-and-panitch-what-would-real-economic-reform-look-like/
     

    Demeter

    (85,373 posts)
    41. The London Whale and the real link between the US economy and Cyprus By Dean Baker; The Guardian
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 11:10 AM
    Mar 2013
    http://itsoureconomy.us/2013/03/the-london-whale-and-the-real-link-between-the-us-economy-and-cyprus/

    Many highly-respected Washington types have been running around for the last three years yelling that because of its large budget deficits, the United States is Greece. Then we learned last week that the immediate danger is the United States being Cyprus. As we now know, Cyprus is a small island country with a financial sector that has run amok, following in the footsteps of Ireland and Iceland. The assets of its banks were eight times the size of the country’s economy. This meant that when the banks’ big bets went bad, there was no way Cyprus’ government could afford the price of the bailout. As a result, Cyprus was forced to go hat in hand to the European Central Bank and accept whatever offer was put on the table. However the Cyprus crisis is finally resolved, it is not likely to be a pretty picture for the citizens of Cyprus.

    As the Cyprus crisis was unfolding last week, we also got to see the report of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (pdf) on JP Morgan‘s losses at its “London Whale” trading division. The report chronicles a series of bad bets on derivatives that were compounded by traders doubling down their stakes. They concealed the size of their losses both to bank officers and regulators. The end result was a $6bn loss. JP Morgan is a huge bank and can swallow $6bn in losses, but the incident showed as clearly as possible that the Dodd-Frank reforms are not working. The London Whale’s losing trades were all done in the Dodd-Frank era. The bill’s provisions did not prevent JP Morgan from making massive bets and misleading regulators about their nature and the risks involved. If the regulators were not able to catch the London Whale’s huge gambles before they went bad, why would we think that they will catch the next crapshoot from the Wall Street gang? It’s time that we looked at this seriously: the regulators lack either the will or the competence to rein in the big banks. The big banks are going to get away with everything they want, regardless of the provisions of Dodd-Frank.

    If the big banks are too big to regulate and, according to Attorney General Holder, too big to prosecute, then the only sensible course is to break them up. There have been some promising developments in this area. At the top of the list is Elizabeth Warren’s election to the senate. Senator Warren has already made it clear that she will use her seat on the Senate banking committee to try to hold the banks and bank regulators accountable. The other important development is that Warren seems to have an ally in Louisiana Senator David Vitter. At first glance, this might seem an unlikely alliance. Warren is clearly on the left side of the Democratic party and Vitter is to the right of center of a very conservative Republican party. But Vitter, apparently, takes his belief in the market seriously enough to realize that there is no place for “too big to fail” banks in a free market. The point is straightforward: if a bank’s creditors know that the government will cover its losses, the bank is gambling with the taxpayers’ money, not its own.

    If there is ever going to be enough political force to break up the big banks, it will have to come from this sort of left-right coalition that moves in toward the center. As it stands, the leadership of both parties is too closely tied to the financial sector to take any steps that fundamentally threaten their interests. This has nothing to do with political philosophy: the leadership of both parties is owned by the financial industry. However, if the outsiders in both parties can build up enough popular outrage over Wall Street’s shenanigans, the party leadership will follow. There is precedent for this sort of left-right coalition. In 2009, Representative Alan Grayson, one of the most progressive members of the House, joined with Ron Paul, one of the most conservative Republicans, to co-sponsor a bill calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve Board by the Government Accountability Office. Over the next year, the bill gradually got more co-sponsors until eventually an overwhelming majority of members had signed on. It was difficult to see why the operations of such an important government agency should be exempted from normal oversight. As a result of this pressure, an amendment was slipped onto the Dodd-Frank bill that required the Fed to release the details of the $16tn in loans that were made through its special lending facilities. It will take the same sort of dynamic to create the political space where the big banks can be broken up. Of course, this effort will be much harder. It means pulling the big banks away from the public trough, not just releasing some embarrassing information. We can also expect the elite media to provide the same sort of condescension and misinformation in the battle to break up the banks as they did in the battle over the Fed audit. Proponents of downsizing the banks will be ridiculed, regardless of their expertise in finance. The big banks will be given every opportunity to push their line, in spite of its absurdity and the lack of supporting evidence.

    It will be a tough fight. On its face, it seems that the Wall Street crew is invincible. But the London Whale episode and the silly efforts at cover-up should provide some grounds for confidence. These people can be pretty brazen in their contempt for the law and the general public. This arrogance on the part of the Wall Street gang is exactly what we need to give democracy a chance.

    bread_and_roses

    (6,335 posts)
    45. No, Bersani - it is politics as usual that is "mentally ill" - in fact quite insane
    Wed Mar 27, 2013, 12:45 PM
    Mar 2013

    dipsydoodle posted this story in LBN

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21956855

    Italy Bersani: PM job 'only for mentally ill'

    The head of Italy's centre-left bloc has hit an impasse in his efforts to form a government and said only a mentally ill person would want to govern Italy now.

    ...The political stalemate is delaying reforms that could help revive Italy's recession-hit, debt-laden economy.


    Since "reform" in these contexts never means anything but "austerity" for the people and protection for the Banksters, I say good for Five Star and Beppe.

    Here's an article back from Feb that I linked to from the first cited

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21591246

    Italian voters declare opposition to austerity

    The conflicting and confused message just sent by voters is bound to trigger further effects beyond the initial plunge on the Milan stock market and an overnight hike in bond yields. Financial commentators are already speculating that Italy may be obliged to seek a rescue loan.


    The entire article goes on like this - it's all about the Banks, the Markets .... (to be fair I will note that it is in the Business Section - but what matter? The lives of ordinary people don't matter to "business?"

    The article goes on

    This election result also illustrates that the longer the hardship lasts, the more voters may be drawn to populist policies.

    Some 57% of Italian voters plumped for parties that explicitly oppose austerity. It's an uncanny repeat of the similar electoral success of the anti-establishment Syriza party in Greece.


    Wonder of wonders! Ordinary people don't want to die for the Banksters! Who'd a thunk it?

    and then

    Recent history suggests people are more likely to support austerity measures, if they can start to see tangible results in return for their sacrifice.


    Really? What recent history is that? And we are to believe that the people in Greece with no power or fuel for the cold, without medication - dropping their children off at convents, for goddess sake - that they would be supportive based on some sort of "results?????"

    Like I said - it is politics as usual - including here in the greatest society on earth, where Dear Leader proclaims he'll protect us and than calls for "Grand Bargains" .... it is politics and reporting as usual that is insane, not Beppe
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