WHAT IS THIS, SUMMER RERUNS?

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/lehman-barclays-idINL2N0QB11220140805

Barclays Plc is entitled to about $6 billion of disputed assets as part of its hurried purchase of much of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's brokerage unit at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, a federal appeals court ruled. Tuesday's decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is a setback for the brokerage's creditors, including Lehman affiliates and hedge funds, for whom the trustee James Giddens has been seeking to recoup money.

Lehman had been Wall Street's fourth-largest investment bank. It had $639 billion of assets when it filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 15, 2008, making its bankruptcy by far the most in U.S. history. Barclays won court approval to buy much of Lehman's brokerage business at a Sept. 19, 2008 hearing overseen by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in Manhattan. A dispute remained, however, over how to dispose of various "cash" assets of the brokerage. These included about $4 billion of margin assets held by third parties to support a Lehman exchange-traded derivatives business, and $1.9 billion of "clearance box" assets used to process securities trades.

In February 2011, Peck said Barclays was entitled to the clearance box assets but not the margin assets. But in July 2012, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan partially reversed him, and said Barclays deserved both. Upholding Forrest's ruling, Circuit Judge Ralph Winter noted for a three-judge appeals court panel that "ambiguities and loose ends were inevitable" given the "urgency under which this deal was executed." But he said the sale agreement and a later "clarification letter" showed Barclays should prevail, despite the emphasis in documents and court hearings that "no cash" should be involved. Otherwise, Winter said a buyer such as Barclays might have deemed the purchase commercially unacceptable.

"It would be highly unusual for a buyer to purchase LBI's ETD business in its entirety but not the collateral that allowed that business to exist, particularly in a time of economic crisis when the value of the underlying assets, e.g., options and futures, would be extremely volatile," Winter wrote.

WILL THIS BANKRUPTCY BE WRAPPED UP IN OUR LIFETIMES?

WHICH IS MORE DEADLY--THE ASSAULT RIFLE, OR THE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION?

http://www.ifre.com/derivatives-and-kalashnikovs-get-sanctions-relief/21158483.fullarticle

As financial lawyers scramble to assess the impact on financial markets of the latest round of international sanctions against Russia, two unlikely bedfellows have been earmarked by the US Treasury as safe for the time being. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury division responsible for meting out economic sanctions, provided reprieves for both Kalashnikov-owners and derivatives users in an FAQ published in mid-July relating specifically to the Russian measures.

While gun enthusiasts will be relieved that they can continue toting their AK47s (that is, provided they haven’t bought them on credit from the Russian manufacturer), the FAQ also clarified that secondary trading of legacy financial instruments (including loans, bonds and equities generally) does not fall foul of the law. But arguably the greatest coup came for the derivatives market, which was singled out by a general licence authorising swap trades linked to bonds with maturities greater than 90 days or equity issued by sanctioned firms after July 16 – the date the licence was signed by OFAC acting director Barbara Hammerle.

“I can’t recall another sanctions programme in which the US government issued a general license with respect to derivatives, but I’m not surprised as it is consistent with US policies under other programmes,” said Dale Turza, a Washington, DC-based partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.

“Reading the text at face value, derivatives are authorised provided they fall within the parameters set by the Treasury.”

Industry professionals are cautiously optimistic that the general licence will offer a reprieve for derivatives users with Russian exposure and prevent a mass wind-down of swaps trades. This was supported by further information in the FAQs, which stated that counterparty credit risk to Russia is not considered an extension of credit if the derivative is otherwise permitted under the regulations. However, the unprecedented nature of the economic sanctions – which have never before been levied on this scale against a G-20 nation – means that some uncertainty remains over the interpretation of regulations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Not explicit

European policymakers, for their part, have yet to provide explicit relief for derivatives markets, and lawyers say the original legislation, published in March, looked like it could create issues for closing out derivatives trades with sanctioned Russian firms.

“European regulations say that changing the character of the asset, or exercising a right of set-off, would breach the sanctions, which means there is a potential problem with the close-out and netting of derivatives trades with sanctioned firms,” said Simon Firth, a partner at Linklaters, referring to the March legislation.

...The new EU legislation, which was published on Thursday, bans dealing in securities of sanctioned firms from August 1 onwards. This includes trading these securities in secondary markets and trading derivatives referencing the firms in question if the contracts are physically settled.

“Cash-settled derivatives are probably not prohibited, but it will be impossible to hedge them by acquiring the securities (or selling them short) and so, in practice, these transactions are unlikely to be possible,” said Firth.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/focusing-on-g-m-unit-u-s-starts-civil-inquiry-of-subprime-car-lending/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Federal prosecutors have begun a civil investigation into the booming business of subprime auto lending, focusing on the packaging and selling of questionable loans to investors.

The inquiry is being undertaken amid worries among some regulators that checks and standards are being neglected as the subprime auto loan market surges, in a small, yet disturbing, echo of the subprime mortgage crisis. Those concerns — and signs that some borrowers’ loan applications had false information about income and employment — were the subject of a front-page article in The New York Times last month. General Motors’ finance subsidiary disclosed in a securities filing on Monday that it had received a Justice Department subpoena for documents on the origination and the securitization of subprime loan contracts since 2007. The subpoena asks for the underwriting criteria and how the loans were represented to those who were pooling them and assembling securities to be sold to investors.

The office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, also is looking at other companies, say people briefed on the matter. In the G.M. investigation, Mr. Bharara is reviewing whether the lender sold questionable auto-loan investments to investors, they said. At the center of the investigation, the people said, is whether the lender fully disclosed to investors the credit worthiness of the borrowers whose loans made up the complex securities...

GO PREET! MORE AT LINK--SHADES OF 2008!

http://www.ifre.com/derivatives-new-cds-comes-too-late-for-holders-of-bes-protection/21158662.article

Bond investors are set to be given a stark reminder of why the old model of credit default swaps is no longer fit for purpose, less than two months before new improved CDS documentation is rolled out. A flaw in the old contract means the CDS are unlikely to pay out even though junior bondholders in Banco Espirito Santo were effectively wiped out over the weekend after €4.9bn of public money was injected in the bank and the lender split into a good and bad bank. The bank’s senior debt, which remains intact, will be transferred to the good bank, Novo Banco.

Credit experts say ISDA is likely to rule that a so-called succession event has occurred, meaning that all outstanding CDS contracts on BES debt will be transferred with that debt to the new entity, which would remove the possibility of a credit event being declared – meaning those who held CDS as protection for their sub debt holdings will lose out.

The nationalisation looks set to bring CDS into the headlines once again for the wrong reasons and calls into question the decision to postpone the introduction of new credit definitions – which experts say would have captured the credit event and compensated bondholders for their losses – from last March to September 22.

“There are a lot of people lamenting the fact that the new CDS contracts weren’t available before this happened,” said the head of European credit trading at a US house.

“If all of BES’s senior debt is transferred cleanly to this new entity, then this would have been an example where the new credit definitions would reflect the capital structure of the company: that if there is a write-down of sub debt then there would be a credit event on sub debt.”

BES represents the second high-profile bailing in of European sub debt, following the nationalisation of SNS Reaal last year. SNS protection holders did not receive any payout as the junior bonds were wiped out before a CDS auction could be held. While different in nature to the Dutch lender’s debt restructuring, BES has also highlighted that old-style CDS contracts are seemingly worthless in the face of a bail-in of bank debt.



OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE...MORE AT LINK

TRANSLATION: THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES

https://mninews.marketnews.com/content/juncker-eu-will-stick-fiscal-discipline-efforts

Incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested Monday that he will continue with the mandate of fiscal discipline in the European Union. Speaking at a joint press conference in Athens after an official meeting with Greece's Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, Juncker said that the crisis is not over yet, though signs of recovery are visible and that the doctrine of fiscal discipline continues to be followed in the EU.

"I never said that fiscal discipline is coming to an end. No. Fiscal discipline will remain in Greece and in all EU countries. I was always in favour of that, in order to achieve the right results," Juncker said.

Asked to comment whether he was worried over the recent collapse of the Portuguese bank, Espirito Santo, Juncker said that he had phone calls with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and that he had "full confidence the Portuguese government will do what is necessary."

"We have not reached the finish line yet. Such developments show that we are fragile. But great progress has been made," he said. "Unforeseen events may happen and we should be prepared for them. This is the attitude I will adopt."

Juncker refused to comment on questions regarding the Greek adjustment programme and the upcoming debt deal talks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/04/eurozone-greece-idUSL6N0QA2P220140804

Incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker played down on Monday the option of an outright writing off of part of the euro zone loans to Greece to make the country's debt more manageable. But in his first visit since being elected to lead the Commission, he praised Greece as an example for debt-stricken nations like Argentina to follow, a show of support for the country where the euro zone debt crisis began.

Bailed out twice by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, Greece has sharply reversed course since nearly crashing out of the euro in 2012. But it is still expected to require further debt relief, talks on which are expected to start later this year. Juncker's latest comments appeared in line with indications from Greek and EU officials that Athens will likely get lower interest rates and an extension of loan maturities rather than outright write-off of debt as part of any new debt relief.

Asked whether Greek debt could be sustainable without a so-called "haircut" or writeoff, Juncker declined to go into specifics but said: "When it comes to Greece, the question you're mentioning is not part of my meditation."

Juncker has made occasional stops in Greece when he was head of the powerful Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, including a 2012 visit when he warned Athens was staring at its last chance to avoid bankruptcy. But recent visits have largely focused on praising Greece and he has portrayed himself as an advocate of the country in the corridors of power in Europe, saying he "fought like a lion" against talk of kicking Greece out of the euro.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, he dismissed suggestions that Greece was similar to Argentina, which is facing a new debt crisis since defaulting in 2002.

"Comparing Greece to Argentina doesn't offer any parallel. Greece would have been a good example for Argentina to avoid the problems Argentina was not able to avoid," Juncker said.

MORE BILGE
.......................................................................

Juncker, who takes office on Nov. 1, also reiterated that he would push for growth and investment in Europe as part of his new role.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/03/us-economy-global-weekahead-idUSKBN0G307N20140803

After the Federal Reserve maintained its path towards raising U.S. interest rates next year, other major central banks will jostle for space on a crowded stage this week. The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the central banks of India and Australia all hold meetings. While imminent action is unlikely, the time when policy settings start pointing in different directions is nearing.

U.S. growth rebounded in the second quarter and the Fed upgraded its assessment of the economy last week. It is on course to stop creating money in October but the expectation is that there will be no interest rate rise before mid-2015.

That puts the Bank of England in pole position to be the first major central bank to push rates up from their record low 0.5 percent, perhaps before the year is out. Although the UK economy is expanding at an annualized clip in excess of 3 percent and unemployment is tumbling, the absence of wage pressure means there is no immediate reason to act.

The consensus is that rates will not rise until early 2015 but polling by Reuters last week found economists expect a first voice or two on the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee to call for a rate rise this week.

MORE DRIBBLE AT LINK
THESE PEOPLE ALL NEED PSYCHIATRIC CARE IN A LOCKED INSTITUTION...

Winner

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/08/obamas-russia-policies-based-on-ignorance.html

Obama's Russia policies are based on ignorance and driven by illusions:



Fact: Russia is making and exporting not only raw materials but also lots of industrial goods, machinery (65% increase over 5 years) and weapons:


Fact: Russia has strong, net positive migration:



Fact: Over the last decade life expectancy in Russia has significantly increased:

Russia - Life expectancy at birth
Date Life expectancy Life expectancy - Men Life expectancy - Women
2012------70.46 ----------------64.90 ----------------------76.30
2011 -----69.66 ----------------64.00 ----------------------75.60
2010 -----68.86 ----------------63.10 ----------------------74.90
2009 -----68.70 ----------------62.80 ----------------------74.70
2008 -----67.90 ----------------61.80 ----------------------74.20
2007 -----67.50 ----------------61.40 ----------------------73.90
2006 -----66.60 ----------------60.40 ----------------------73.20
2005 -----65.47 ----------------58.87 ----------------------72.40
2004 -----65.42 ----------------58.87 ----------------------72.30
2003 -----65.01 ----------------58.51 ----------------------71.83
2002 -----65.09 ----------------58.50 ----------------------72.00
2001 -----65.49 ----------------59.00 ----------------------72.30
2000 -----65.34 ----------------59.00 ----------------------72.00

Fact: Russia has genuine population growth:


All four claims Obama made in the Economist interview quoted above are demonstrably false. They are mere illusions. How qualified then is he to decide on policy issues with regard to Russia?

WORSE YET...WHAT KIND OF ADVISORS FILL HIS EARS WITH SUCH BS?

http://www.theautomaticearth.com/debt-rattle-jul-27-2014-us-and-eu-lose-major-energy-battle-in-ukraine/

As the propaganda war over 298 innocent dead people plunges into ever deeper absurdity, I think we may have found the answer to a question that intrigued me over the past few days: why did Ukraine PM Yatsenyuk and his government resign all of a sudden last week? A banker, installed by the west, who produced some of the most over the top language against Russia and his own Russian speaking fellow citizens, who leaves mere days after the battle he’s involved in gained a whole new dimension with MH17. Puzzling. But there are now clues as to why he may have done it (note: I don’t rule out his possible personal involvement in the MH17 crash either). The clues don’t come from western media, but that’s probably not surprising. I therefore have to turn to Russian media, and though many will say they may be part of the propaganda war as well, I don’t think these particular things are made up, simply because it makes no sense to invent a TV talk show and a parliamentary vote out of thin air; these things are easy to trace.

First, Ria Novosti reports on a Yatsenyuk talk show appearance after his resignation:



In my view, that last bit is the clincher. RT expands on the story.



While I don’t rule out that URDA, Kiev mayor Klitschko’s party, may have left the coalition in part as a protest against the army’s continued and intensified assault on east Ukraine, I’d put my money on Yatsenyuk’s failure to deliver control over Ukraine’s energy industry to western interests as the reason he left. And I’m equally sure there is a plan B in place to use the ensuing political – and military – chaos to let the west take over large parts of Naftogaz anyway. That’s why we’re there. It’s an energy war. IMF loans, IMF-style reforms – in an EU sauce -, the whole package is in place. And Yats failed to make it happen. It’s very possible that “we” have found an alternative option to get what we want in President Poroshenko, who can rule like an emperor until the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Poroshenko’s army launched another major offensive against east Ukraine, which makes it impossible for international forensic experts to work on the crash scene. This has basically been going on since the plane came down, and all the blame has been put with the rebels. Who, when asked why they removed – some of – the bodies from the scene, said no-one turned up for three days to claim them, and the sweltering heat made it seem respectless to leave them out in the sun any longer. And, despite what the Kiev government and western media said to the contrary, this was done in a dignified way. A fact that was corroborated by the experts who took possession of the remains.

The overall western storyline remains Putin’s desire for empire building, but from where I’m sitting it looks a whole lot more like it’s not Putin but Washington and Brussels who dream of empires. And that, as I said earlier, is directly linked to to the demise of the age of fossil fuels. That age is not over yet, and shale provides some – futile – hope for more oil, but empires need to look forward lest they crumble and fall. While many may not yet be fully aware of how valid it already is, the energy=power principle will become much more pronounced as less energy becomes available – we’ve entered that phase – . If energy equals power, less energy equals less power, and if you don’t want to lose your power, you will have to take someone else’s resources, and that will in almost all cases involve some act of war, be it economic, physical or otherwise (e.g. propaganda). Putin, and Russia, were fine with Ukraine the way it functioned before the Maidan protests, and especially before the western involvement in these protests. They had a good oil and gas deal going, they had steady customers and steady income. There was one weak link in that chain: the pipelines that delivered the gas destined for Europe ran largely under Ukraine soil (dating back to Ukraine being part of the Soviet Union). This is the weak link US and EU are now seeking to explore. That’s why they seek to take over Naftogaz.

And now it’s sanctions time. Time for Brussels to self-righteously squeeze Moscow, or something like that. I got to tell you, I can only see this go horribly wrong. I have a picture in my head of a boomerang hitting the various EU politburos straight back in the jaw. But they certainly don’t see it coming, they’re far too smug about what they think is their new found power:


Europe rides the train of public anger that their own spin doctors have created. And that is a hazardous thing to do. The EU can agree amongst itself to define – new – sanctions on Russia, or perhaps it can’t even do that, we’ll have to wait and see. And the US can unilaterally announce all sorts of additional sanctions of its own. And some of these sanctions may hurt Russia quite a bit, simply because it’s part of the global financial system. Still, if either US or EU wants a UN resolution to be accepted (they’ll need it at some point), they will, despite all the applied propaganda, have to produce hard evidence. Something both have so far categorically refused to do. They’ve managed to change the mood in many places without even one piece of evidence. Maybe we should congratulate them on that.

MUCH MORE AT LINK


UPDATE 10 am EDT: The Ukraine army, as per Dutch press just now, is fighting to ‘conquer’ the plane crash scene. What a great way to get rid of evidence. Needless to say, forensic experts still can’t do their work.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bans-food-imports-from-eu-us-2014-8

Medvedev said Russian food producers will step up to supply the market.

Here's the list of banned products (via Reuters):

- cattle meat, fresh, chilled or frozen;

- pork, fresh, chilled or frozen;

- poultry and its subproducts, fresh, chilled or frozen;

- all salted, dried or smoked meats;

- fish, shellfish, scallops and other aquatic invertebrates;

- milk and dairy products;

- vegetables;

- fruits;

- nuts;

- sausage and similar meat products;

- cheese and similar products.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bans-food-imports-from-eu-us-2014-8#ixzz39hj88zNX

Europe Furious That Putin Dares To Retaliate To Sanctions, Blames Economic Slide On Kremlin
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/07/2014 - 08:14

Either Europe is run by a bunch of unelected idiots, or... well, that's about it. After blindly doing the US' bidding over all propaganda matters Ukraine-related, and following just as blindly into round after round of US-inspired sanctions, sanctions to whose retaliation Europe would be on the frontline unlike the largely insulated US, Europe appears to be absolutely shocked and is apoplectic that after several rounds of sanction escalations, Russia finally unleashed its own round of sanctions and yesterday announced a 1 year ban on all European food imports, something which will further push Europe into a triple-dip recession as already hinted by Italy yesterday. - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-07/europe-furious-putin-dares-retaliate-sanctions-blames-economic-slide-kremlin

http://www.businessinsider.com/german-economic-data-astonishingly-bad-2014-8

German economic data has been unquestionably bad in recent days.
Earlier today, we learned industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.5% year-over-year in June, missing expectations for a 0.3% gain. This was the first year-over-year decline since July 2013.

"June's year-over-year reading confirms the German industry is decelerating from a 5% annual growth peak reached in January," said Bloomberg's Maxime Sbaihi and Niraj Shah in a piece titled "No End in Sight for the German Industrial Slowdown."

"[T]he pace deceleration is worrying with the crisis in Ukraine adding further weakness," said Pantheon Macroeconomics' Claus Vistesen.

This report came hours before Russia announced a sweeping ban on food imports from the European Union.

Markets are down modestly in Europe with Germany's DAX down by 0.1%.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/german-economic-data-astonishingly-bad-2014-8#ixzz39hjd0GJf

http://www.businessinsider.com/state-economic-growth-rankings-2014-8?op=1

50. Alaska


The petroleum sector is a major part of the Alaskan economy, but many of Alaska's oil deposits have been depleted over the years. This depletion has dropped the state's crude oil production to fourth place. Other major employment sectors include the federal government and the fishing and tourism industries. Here's a bit more about Alaska:

Alaska was one of the few states that actually lost payroll jobs between June 2013 and June 2014.
Wages decreased by .41% from 2012 to 2013.
And the GDP decreased by 2.5% in 2013, the worst among the states.

49. Vermont


The major industries in Vermont include tourism — with a focus on skiing and snowboarding — and dairy. Additionally, Vermont is a major leader in the maple syrup production industry. Here's how Vermont fared in our measures:

Vermont saw a 1.1% decrease in wages between 2012 and 2013.
The GDP increased by 1.9% during 2013.
The unemployment rate fell from 4.4% in June 2012 to 3.5% in June 2013.
Housing prices dropped by 2.7% between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014, by far the largest drop of any state.

48. New Mexico


New Mexico has major petroleum and natural gas deposits in the northwest and southeast corners of the state. Plus, agriculture and mining are other major sectors. Additionally, the healthcare industry employs the "largest percentage of New Mexico's workforce."

New Mexico saw a 1.2% increase in wages from 2012 to 2013.
GDP grew by 1.5% during 2013.
And the auto sales per dealer increased by 1.8% from 2012 to 2013.

47. Maine


Maine is the lead producer of blueberries in the U.S. Other major industries include agricultural and industrial outputs, such as paper and various wood products. Unfortunately, Maine's lobster industry has had a "slow start" this year (after two years of early starts).

Maine's housing price index fell by 1.2% and the auto sales per dealer increased by 7.7%.
Exports dropped by 13.1% between 2012 and 2013.
Maine's wages fell by 0.3%.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/state-economic-growth-rankings-2014-8?op=1#ixzz39hkvIfUK


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/state-economic-growth-rankings-2014-8?op=1#ixzz39hkja7dg


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/state-economic-growth-rankings-2014-8?op=1#ixzz39hkNPU6M

Sprawl, traffic jams, smog, dick heads and Trader Joes. The Californication is complete.

http://www.businessinsider.com/europes-economic-problems-not-putin-2014-8

1. Italy's GDP unexpectedly contracted last quarter putting the nation into a third recession in since the financial crisis.

WSJ: - Italy has slipped into its third recession since 2008, data showed Wednesday, in an unexpected setback that threatens to restrain the broader euro zone's fitful recovery.

Italy's economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.8% in the quarter ending June 30, according to a first estimate by national statistics institute Istat—the latest sign of how parts of Europe are still struggling to escape the legacy of the global financial crisis. It was the second successive quarter of falling Italian output, which meets the common international definition of a recession.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dj4RlkOAJXs/U-LyKcfB9nI/AAAAAAAAgzM/vcQ29p30Rtw/s1600/Italy+GDp.PNG

2. The area's retail sector took an unexpected turn for the worse last month.

Markit: - The eurozone retail sector started the second half of the year on a weaker footing. The fragility of consumer spending was exposed by the PMI, particularly in France and Italy where the data showed sharper downturns in sales. Even in Germany, the one area of relative strength, there was an appreciable slowdown from June’s recent peak. Retailers underperformed relative to their targets to the greatest extent since March 2013, leading to further accumulations of unsold stock and the prospect of greater discounting ahead.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPMwYqhChTg/U-LvDnoj8PI/AAAAAAAAgzA/XjyVEXwZ2D0/s1600/Retail+sales+PMI.PNG

3. German factory orders contracted at the fastest pace since 2011.

Deutsche Welle: - German industrial orders fell for the second consecutive month in June at a rate of 3.2 percent, following a similar 1.6 percent contraction in May, the economics ministry in Berlin said Wednesday. According to the data, orders contracted at their fastest pace since September 2011, disappointing analysts who had predicted gains of 0.9 percent in a consensus forecast.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9VGwbXofQJQ/U-LymiBb64I/AAAAAAAAgzU/9-3CSKdzaa8/s1600/German+factory+orders.png

Read more: http://soberlook.com/2014/08/a-stream-of-poor-economic-reports-from.html#ixzz39hm71M3M

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-judge-tells-new-york-bank-to-hold-onto-argentine-bond-funds---2014-06

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The U.S. judge in charge of Argentina's debt default case on Wednesday ordered Bank of New York Mellon to hold on to money deposited by the government rather than disburse the funds to holders of the country's restructured bonds.
The move by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa came after Argentina earlier in the day demanded the intermediary bank deliver $539 million in bond payments that were due in June but blocked by previous court rulings.

Argentina defaulted on its sovereign bonds last week after losing a long legal battle with hedge funds that rejected the terms of debt restructurings in 2005 and 2010.

The government has kept up pressure on Bank of New York Mellon to make payouts to the holders of restructured bonds despite Griesa's order saying it has to pay the holdout hedge funds at the same time. The holdouts are asking for repayment of 100 cents on the dollar rather than accept steep discounts offered in Argentina's two restructurings.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-judge-tells-new-york-bank-to-hold-onto-argentine-bond-funds---2014-06#ixzz39hmsQaED

He sounds like he's totally in the bag for the Vulture Singer.

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-asia-stocks-cautious-bonds-up-on-ukraine-tensions--2014-06

(Reuters) - Asian shares retreated while investors flocked to safe haven assets such as bonds and gold on Thursday, spooked by a Russian troop build-up on the border with Ukraine and tit-for-tat economic sanctions between the West and Moscow.
Sentiment soured further in Asia after the Australian dollar, seen as a barometer of risk appetite, sank after Australia's unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to a 12-year high, sparking talk of an interest rate cut there.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> dropped 0.3 percent but Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> turned positive after Reuters reported Japan's public pension fund will increase allocations to stocks.

European shares are also expected to fall, with spread betters seeing Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> falling up to 0.2 percent and France's CAC40 <.FCHI> 0.1 percent.

"We had negative factors when investors had already felt that stocks are a bit risky because they are supported by expectations of easy monetary policy rather than a strong economy," said Akito Fukunaga, chief yen bond strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-asia-stocks-cautious-bonds-up-on-ukraine-tensions--2014-06#ixzz39hs9XZAs

http://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-spending-recovery-still-lagging-2014-8

Consumer spending still hasn't grown to pre-crisis levels, and it isn't all that close.

In a post on the New York Fed's blog on Wednesday Jonathan McCarthy, VP at the Fed's research and statistics group, took a look at how sluggish the recovery in consumer spending has been since the financial crisis.

From pre-financial crisis levels, real consumer discretionary fell 8%, and even still it is languishing more than 3% below pre-crisis levels.

"Discretionary expenditures have picked up noticeably over recent quarters," McCarthy writes. "But, unlike spending on nondiscretionary services, they remain well below their pre-recession peak. Even so, the pace of recovery for both discretionary and nondiscretionary services in this expansion is well below that of previous cycles."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-spending-recovery-still-lagging-2014-8#ixzz39htIfOax

They have eyes, but cannot see,

they have ears, but cannot hear,

they have brains....

actually, they only have degrees and fancy titles and salaries. No brains involved. They don't know how to use them.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-fate-of-americas-dying-supercenters-2014-8

America's supercenters are dying a slow death.
Huge big-box stores like Wal-Mart Supercenters and Target are being phased out in favor of "some combination of value and convenience," Goldman Sachs recently wrote.

"Just about every major trend we're following right now bodes poorly for power center retail," Doug Stephens, founder of industry website Retail Prophet and author of "The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism" told Business Insider.

Americans are driving less than they have in decades. Populations are flocking to smaller, urban communities over sprawling suburbs. And consumers in their 20s and 30s increasingly prefer small, local shops to big-box retail.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-fate-of-americas-dying-supercenters-2014-8#ixzz39hu62NZW

that you can't get blood from a stone, nor profits from the penniless.


If they don't start raising workers' wages, pretty soon they will have to fire themselves!

http://www.alternet.org/economy/sick-market-driven-world-you-should-be

To be at peace with a troubled world: this is not a reasonable aim. It can be achieved only through a disavowal of what surrounds you. To be at peace with yourself within a troubled world: that, by contrast, is an honourable aspiration. This column is for those who feel at odds with life. It calls on you not to be ashamed.

I was prompted to write it by a remarkable book, just published in English, by a Belgian professor of psychoanalysis, Paul Verhaeghe. What About Me? The Struggle for Identity in a Market-Based Society is one of those books that, by making connections between apparently distinct phenomena, permits sudden new insights into what is happening to us and why.

We are social animals, Verhaeghe argues, and our identities are shaped by the norms and values we absorb from other people. Every society defines and shapes its own normality – and its own abnormality – according to dominant narratives, and seeks either to make people comply or to exclude them if they don’t.

Today the dominant narrative is that of market fundamentalism, widely known in Europe as neoliberalism. The story it tells is that the market can resolve almost all social, economic and political problems. The less the state regulates and taxes us, the better off we will be. Public services should be privatised, public spending should be cut, and business should be freed from social control. In countries such as the UK and the US, this story has shaped our norms and values for around 35 years: since Thatcher and Reagan came to power. It is rapidly colonising the rest of the world.

http://www.businessinsider.com/austerity-economic-recovery-2014-8

Neil Irwin has a good piece up on the NYT Upshot blog aiming to demonstrate why the recovery from the Great Recession has been so weak. He rightly highlights the drag of government spending, but I’d argue that if one narrows down on the question of how big a role has austerity played in slowing recovery, even Irwin’s numbers don’t quite capture it.
Irwin’s method is to look at the various components of gross domestic product and calculates the average share of total GDP that they accounted for between 1993 and 2013. Then, he multiplies this average share by the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of 2014 potential GDP to get the level that each of these components “should be” today. The difference between today’s actuallevel and what that level “should be” is then the contribution of the sector to today’s economic weakness. Using this method, he comes up with government spending accounting for 40 percent of the gap between today’s actual versus potential GDP.

This is definitely a useful exercise, but I have three quick thoughts on why this might understate the actual effect of policy-induced austerity. Irwin is not trying to estimate an austerity effect, but I just want to be clear that if one wanted to isolate the effect of policy-induced austerity, his numbers might be too low.

First, there are multiplier effects, so if actual federal government spending was $118 billion higher today (that’s the gap between actual and “should be” spending identified by Irwin), then overall GDP would be roughly $180 billion higher. So, the policy decision to pursue austerity is costlier (in GDP terms) than just the difference between government spending levels.



Read more: http://www.epi.org/blog/reminder-stupidity-austerity/#ixzz39hwS4vH9

or he's locked up in a sanitarium with one of those backwards, long sleeve jackets.