This meeting was for February, actually, and it had at least 40 and maybe 50 agenda items...and we got through them all in 3 hours! this is attributable to the fact that our two least efficient board members were not present. One is resigning (bad health all winter) and the other is in hot water of her own making and mad at the board and staff for not pulling her out.

I'm bushed, but it takes time to wind down from such a marathon.

Then we get to do it all over again in two weeks. Fortunately, many of the agenda items have been completed and removed from the list.

How many new things can spring up in two weeks, after all? (Don't answer that--I shudder to think).

Our swan family is back. The planets are shining brightly in a cloud-free sky, and Mars actually looks red tonight. Usually I can't tell. It's quite a celestial show. And warm...it's 51F at 9:30 PM.

Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texas banker who was once knighted by the government of Antigua, was convicted stealing $7bn in customer money to fund a high end lifestyle that involved sponsorship of an international cricket tournament, yachts, and island properties

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/H60H77/GDHH7U/6ADGM/YBAC3F/62JOC3/PJ/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=6

ONE BANKSTER DOWN, UMPTY-UMP MORE TO GO....

(simple pleasures for simple minds. . . . . . )

I didn't know Stanford was in the army!

http://blog.chron.com/stanford/

I hope he gets the "salad tossin' guy" for a cellie.

the advantages of having a federal circuit court down town. Sometime I think Texas punishments are too strict but then at times like these.......

I really think Texas might be the first state to give a corporation a death sentence.

Greece threatened to default on any of its bondholders who do not take part in this week’s €206bn debt swap, raising the pressure on potential holdouts.

The Greek public debt management agency said that Athens “does not contemplate the availability of funds to make payments to private sector creditors that decline to participate in PSI”.

The threat is aimed in particular at the 14% of investors who own Greek bonds issued under international law.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/R5WAEE/8ZFFB7/ULCJB/HYNJMA/GDH5W7/KI/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=6

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/03/wolf-richter-the-debacle-of-my-last-post.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

By Wolf Richter, San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience, who writes at Testosterone Pit.

*********************************************************************

As some readers have pointed out, there was a major problem in my last post, Deep Trouble at the Core of the Eurozone. I thank all commenters who criticized or defended my post, and I apologize for the errors it contained....On March 1, I was working on a post on the hard-hit French auto industry and the deal between GM and PSA Peugeot Citroën when I came across an article in a German paper about a 30% drop in registrations in February in Germany. Surprised and shocked that sales would fall off a cliff like that, I checked www.KBA.de, the German federal office for motor vehicles, which publishes the vehicle registration numbers every month. But it didn’t have the February numbers yet.

That should have been a warning. Why would a newspaper reporter get the numbers before the government publishes them? But the decline was so sudden that I threw caution into the wind and changed the focus of my story. I was overly eager to be out in front of what seemed to be a significant development—without getting confirmation. A big and stupid mistake. I posted it on my blog on March 1.....The actual figures (PDF), when they were released on March 2, were flat for February year over year, and showed a 0.2% decline year to date. These numbers match the mildly mixed German economic data that has emerged recently. Overall, given the registrations so far this year, I don’t envision a major up or down move in Germany in the near term. In other EU countries, the recent and sometimes steep declines may continue for a while. Industry sales for the EU are expected to decline this year.

German automakers may be able to overcome any weakness in the EU with strong sales in the US and Asia (but sales in China, after years of phenomenal growth, are at risk of a setback).

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/03/europes-recession-has-barely-begun.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

The reserves from the ECB’s LTRO stage II operation are making their way back into the excess reserve facility at the ECB. The overnight holdings were at an all time record of €820.81bn. As I explained previously, this in itself isn’t a problem. In fact, unless the reserves are moving to some other non-commercial bank accounts at the ECB there is little other place they can go. However, what is the problem:

…is that the increasing use of the ECB’s marginal lending facility shows that not all of these parked reserves are actually “excess to market requirements”.

The statistics from last night show that for the last 3 days there is still €783 million being rolled over using the ECB’s margin lending facility. With €0.8trn technically available for interbank lending it is certainly a concern that there is at least one bank still having to lean on the ECB for overnight liquidity. Once again this suggests the ECB is still holding up zombie banks that other banks are unwilling to trade with.

On top of the LTRO outcomes I have been running two major risk themes on Europe under the current “plan” over the last few months. Firstly the major one:

Periphery nations weakening, France in the middle, Germany outperforming, but the whole ship slowly sinking.

Secondly, on top of the obvious problems in Greece and Portugal, the “black cygnet” that is Spain:

.. Spain which I consider to be the major unrecognised problem. The country has seen its yields tumble since December on the back of the ECB’s 3-year LTRO but there hasn’t been anything in the economic metrics of the country to support such action. Spain has 23% unemployment and still rising, the banking system is under-capitalised and still has unknown exposure to the country’s housing market collapse. On top of that the rising unemployment rates is pushing up bad loans in the banking system to 7.4%, a 17-year high, and is still rising.

You can read more about my expected outcomes for Europe here, but in short, my base case is that the fiscal compact will never actually be implemented because member nations will look to Greece and Portugal and quickly realise it is economic suicide to attempt to deleverage the government sector of a non-export competitive euro-bound nation at a time when the private sector has no capacity to provide the required counter measures. That is, increased production, dis-saving and/or additional debt. As I noted yesterday, it appears Spain has already come to that conclusion and is now openly rebuking Europe’s call for it to meet unachievable deficit targets over the next financial period...

GRAPHIC PORN FOLLOWS AT LINK

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100015432/spains-sovereign-thunderclap-and-the-end-of-merkels-europe/

The Spanish rebellion has begun, sooner and more dramatically than I expected.

As many readers will already have seen, Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council (hijacked by Merkozy). Taking what he called a "sovereign decision", he simply announced that he intends to ignore the EU deficit target of 4.4pc of GDP for this year, setting his own target of 5.8pc instead (down from 8.5pc in 2011).

In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a bold and open act of defiance by any state. Usually such matters are fudged. Countries stretch the line, but do not actually cross it. With condign symbolism, Mr Rajoy dropped his bombshell in Brussels after the EU summit, without first notifying the commission or fellow EU leaders. Indeed, he seemed to relish the fact that he was tearing up the rule book and disavowing the whole EU machinery of budgetary control.

He is surely right to seize the initiative. Spain’s economy will contract by 1.7pc this year under his modified plans and unemployment will reach 24pc (or 29pc under the 1990s method of counting). To compound this with manic fiscal tightening – and no offsetting devaluation – is intellectually indefensible.

There comes a point when a democracy can no longer sacrifice its citizens to please reactionary ideologues determined to impose 1930s scorched-earth policies. Ya basta.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/spain-lags-italy-as-growth-concern-halts-rally-euro-credit.html

Spanish bonds are underperforming those of Italy as concern the Iberian nation’s economy will struggle to grow has left it trailing in a rally sparked by two rounds of extraordinary European Central Bank lending.

Spain’s benchmark borrowing costs rose above Italy’s for the first time in almost eight months last week after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said his nation’s 2012 deficit would be higher than agreed at budget talks with the European Union. That came after Italy’s 2011 deficit narrowed more than economists forecast even as the economy slipped into recession.

“The spotlight is back on Spain’s fiscal performance,” said Peter Chatwell, a fixed-income strategist at Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank in London. “Italy appears to still be meeting targets. On that basis alone we could continue to see Italian bonds outperforming Spanish bonds.”

Spain’s 10-year bond yields closed higher than similar- maturity Italian securities on March 5 for the first time since Aug. 19. Last month Italian two-year rates became cheaper than Spain’s for the first time since Sept. 2.

I think that you could replace 1930s with "Reaganite scorched-earth policies", though, and it would still have a lot of snap for the non-history major crowd.

Credit to the author.

http://theautomaticearth.org/Earth/uneconomic-growth-when-illth-trumps-wealth.html

PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION ON THE LIMITS TO GROWTH, DEBT, AND THEREFORE, PROFITS. WORTH A READ, BUT LENGTHY.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-04/london-calling-why-the-libor-affair-matters-to-you

Stories about the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) typically don’t set one’s heart aflutter. This one should: Investigators in the U.S. Canada, Japan, the U.K., and the European Union are trying to figure out if a handful of brokers and traders manipulated a key benchmark rate that affects the price of $350 trillion worth of securities and loans around the world. That may include your car loan or even your home mortgage. No banks or individuals have been charged with any wrongdoing. Yet even if the case fizzles out, there is something weird about an internationally recognized benchmark interest rate set by a small group of financial professionals with little transparency or regulatory oversight.

Libor is the rough equivalent of the U. S. federal funds rate—that is, the interest rate that banks charge each other. These rates, set by a 16-bank panel and calculated and published daily by Thomson Reuters on behalf of the British Bankers Association, cover a variety of currencies and time durations, from overnight to 12 months. In theory, any given Libor rate is the average bank borrowing cost for unsecured funds, based on data supplied by participating lenders and representing market conditions. Think of it as a daily temperature reading of the money markets.

A variety of U.S. mortgage products are directly influenced by these market rates. The typical American adjustable rate mortgage is indexed to the six-month Libor, plus a 2 percent to 3 percent premium, according to Investopedia. Also, when the credit markets are in turmoil, as they were in 2008, a soaring Libor rate raises funding costs for global banks. Lenders in turn typically pass those higher borrowing costs to Main Street.

In mid-February, Bloomberg News broke the story of a court filing from Canada’s Competition Bureau in which an unnamed bank alleged a scheme by bankers to manipulate the yen Libor rate to increase trading profits. Canadian regulators are trying to figure out if traders acted in unison “to see a higher or lower yen Libor to aid their trading positions,” according to the court filing. Since then, other global regulators have joined the hunt...MORE

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/average-sales-tax-rate-lowest-45-years/story?id=15804632#.T1QVcnlm7Tg

The average sales tax rate that Americans pay dropped last year to the lowest level since 1967 as a shift to tax-free Internet sales and untaxed services keeps eroding the No. 1 source of revenue for state and local governments, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

States and cities are being forced to keep their belts tight because sales tax collections rose only 1.2% last year even though consumer spending climbed 4.7%.

Governments have jacked up sales tax rates in recent years to get more money. But consumers are a step ahead, buying less of what's taxed and using the Internet to save money. The result: higher tax rates covering a shrinking share of purchases.

Americans paid an average 4.27% sales tax rate on purchases in 2011, down from 4.63% five years ago and far below the peak of 5.18% in 1973, according to an analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis data....MORE

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-07/municipal-defaults-may-surpass-record-in-2011-lehmann-says.html

Municipal-bond defaults, including bankruptcies and the use of reserve funds for payments, may set a record this year as tobacco bonds and AMR Corp.’s Chapter 11 filing push the total to more than double the previous mark, said Richard Lehmann, publisher of the Distressed Debt Securities Newsletter.

Adding tobacco debt sold by states such as California and Ohio as well as AMR-backed munis, the total will eclipse the $8.62 billion high set in 2009, Lehmann said today. His newsletter in Miami Lakes, Florida, tracks defaults and uses a broader measure than those applied by other municipal analysts.

“We’re going to hit $20 billion this year,” Lehmann said today in a telephone interview. His tally wraps in everything from bankruptcies to missed payments and using reserve funds to service the debt. “These amounts will make 2011 the highest default year by far,” he said.

Not all analysts put AMR and tobacco debt in their totals for defaults in the $2.9 trillion market, because payments to investors haven’t been officially missed, said Matt Fabian, managing director of Municipal Market Advisors in Concord, Massachusetts. Fabian, who compiles payment defaults, said those have reached $2.1 billion this year, down from about $2.8 billion in 2010...MORE

http://www.cbs42.com/content/breaking/story/Bankruptcy-Approved/AaWYQFeN1EOIhyoiXHCJ4g.cspx?rss=2592&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Jefferson County, Ala. (WIAT) - Federal Judge Thomas Bennett cleared the way for Jefferson County to officially enter into Chapter 9 Bankruptcy.

The order Overrules objections filed by The Bank of New York Mellon which sought to stave off Chapter 9 and forcing the County to resume negotiations with creditors over the counties multi-billion dollar sewer debt.

The order ensures that the county may continue to operate while reorganizing the debt.

While the order does not specify the amount of debt that Jefferson County will still have to pay, it does find that Jefferson County did negotiate in good faith with creditors to reduce its debt obligations.

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/417338/us_man_convicted_helping_thousands_steal_internet_service

An Oregon man has been convicted of seven courts of wire fraud for helping thousands of people steal Internet service, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Ryan Harris, 26, of Redmond, Oregon, was convicted Thursday by a jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He faces a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to US$250,000 on each of the seven counts.

Harris was owner of the company, TCNISO, which distributed products that helped customers steal Internet service, the DOJ said in a press release. From 2003 to 2009, Harris distributed software and hardware tools that allowed his customers to modify their cable modems to disguise themselves as paying customers, the agency said.

The products included a packet sniffer, called Coax Thief, that intercepted Internet traffic so that the users could obtain the media access control addresses and configuration files of surrounding modems. TCNISO and Harris offered customer support, primarily through forums on the TCNISO website, to assist customers in their cable modem hacking activities, the DOJ said.

"Mr. Harris tried to hide behind the banner of freedom of access to the Internet, but the evidence established that he built a million dollar business helping customers steal Internet service," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer of the DOJ's Criminal Division, said in a statement.

WUKAN, China — The Chinese fishing village that went into open revolt against government control last year held elections on Saturday, an event that some local people said was the first time they'd been able to elect their leaders fairly.

Young and old, the villagers who in December erected barricades made of felled trees took a seat on narrow benches and wrote in their choices for village council members. Men previously identified by officials as agitators and criminals watched the ballot boxes being sealed and then carted into school rooms. Under the glare of dozens of news cameras the votes were tallied on large orange posters leaned against the walls outside.

As night fell, the new leader and deputy head of Wukan's committee were announced: Two former protest organizers, who once faced arrest, are now in charge of the village. A remaining five spots will be filled during a runoff election on Sunday. "Before this year, I had never voted," said 71-year-old Zhang Aizhen, a woman with short white hair and a proud smile...Although China began to allow village-level balloting in the 1980s, many here said that in the past crooked officials either stage-managed elections or didn't bother to hold them at all. "In their corruption, they took whatever they wanted," said Xue Jingmian, a 25-year-old security guard who dropped his pink ballot into a steel box. "The villagers only got what was left."

After years of resentment about real estate deals brokered between local leaders and businessmen, which residents said amounted to rampant theft of communal land, villagers staged a series of demonstrations last fall that culminated in a December standoff with police. In an unusual development that gained international attention, both security and government officials got chased out of town before a deal was brokered with provincial officials....

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/03/140742/in-chinese-village-that-revolted.html#storylink=cpy

Last edited Wed Mar 7, 2012, 07:59 AM - Edit history (1)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204276304577261554100410414.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Some very large banks are clashing with the Federal Reserve over how much detail the central bank will reveal about them when it releases the results of its latest stress test.

The 19 biggest U.S. banks in January submitted reams of data in response to regulators' questions, outlining how they would perform in a severe downturn. Now, citing competitive concerns, bankers are pressing the Fed to limit its release of information—expected as early as next week—to what was published after the first test of big banks in 2009...

Groan. I have to go out and throw papers for an hour or so....at least it's warm, 46F. And the sun is up (I HATE Daylight Savings Time!) Guess I'll be leaving off posting earlier today...

it's been warming up here too -- i still have to cut on the heat to warm the house up in the morning -- but it goes off for good after an hour or so.

i hat daylight savings time too -- seems to me there's less daylight -- or less of it when i want it.

everyone who calls me from out of state doesn't know what time it is here in Arizona. I don't know what their problem is. It's always the same time here; THEY are the ones who keep changing.

windy here yesterday, and cooler and overcast this morning.

driving by one of the canals.

to Mom in Gilbert and Daughter in LA. If I were consulted about DST, I would have told them to shove it where the sun don't shine.

Anne DeLay-counting the days to retirement.

by the time I get used to it, it is time to change back to regular time


BTW,
I heard one of the reasons for having more daylight in the summer was for the oil/gas companies so that people would get in their cars and go motoring during the extended daylight hours in the summer, thus having to buy more gas for their cars for all those extra errands and trips and other fun summer activities.

I thought was a couple of Sundays from now.

As it is now, there's less than an hour of daylight after I get home.

And once that sun starts going down, that's when the mosquitoes come out...in droves. It's a mass exodus of parents and kids back to their homes

Why should I have to get out of bed in the middle of the night, at 2:00am to change all the clocks?

Why don't they do it at 11 or 12:00, when I'm still up?

but I change my clocks the day before, so I can get use to the sun position. An old trick for an old dog.

Last edited Wed Mar 7, 2012, 01:34 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/03/chris-cook-the-ghost-of-enron-past-explains-oil-market-manipulation.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

HIGHLY TECHNICAL DISSECTION OF THE "STRUCTURED FINANCE" AS IT RELATES TO OIL--ANOTHER PONZI AROUND US, LIKE WATER AROUND FISH.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/chris-cook-naked-oil.html

All is not as it appears in the global oil markets, which in my view have become entirely dysfunctional and no longer fit for its purpose. I believe that the market price is about to collapse as it did in 2008 and that this will mark the end of an era in which the market has been run by and on behalf of trading and financial intermediaries.

In this post I forecast the imminent death of the crude oil market, and I identify the killers; the re-birth of the global market in crude oil in new form will be the subject of another post....

HE EXPLORES THE BP-GOLDMAN CONNECTION AND WHAT IT DID TO THE PRICE OF OIL...DO I HEAR A CONTANGO?

FROM THE Department of What is WRONG with These People?

http://www.correntewire.com/arrogant_oligarchs_wall_street_vs_k_street


By now we have all read the story of the arrogant bankster who not only cheated a cabbie, but stabbed him into the bargain. I thought to myself that that would never happen here in the nation's capital, simply because the local oligarchs would worry that they might get caught; if not right away, it might come up at some future confirmation hearing.

So what is the Washington, DC version of this? I asked a cab driver:

The most common problem here is the lawyer/banker/whatever asks for 2 receipts, one is accurate and one blank. The accurate one will have the driver's name and cab number on it. The creep fills in the blank one with a greatly inflated fee. He gets the cab number and name from the other receipt. If and when the expense account office questions the amount on the receipt, it comes back to the driver as a violation.

As always, the political one is more insidious than the strictly economic one.

You folks do know that the many of the war expenditure are off the books don't you?

We have no hope we have no future......

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/as-pension-crisis-looms-golden-years-fade-to-black-clive-crook.html

The resolution of every economic crisis sows the seeds of the next.

Public pension systems in advanced and emerging economies alike were already under stress before the Great Recession. The past few years’ destruction of wealth and the likelihood of slower growth in the future have weakened them further and will put some under intolerable pressure.

Getting pension systems to work as they should will be one of the toughest tests governments face in the next several decades. It demands something they are notoriously bad at: thinking ahead.

I’m not saying governments don’t understand the problem. Many have started to address it. The trouble is, they’re framing the issue too narrowly, and adopting fixes that are unlikely to stick. Getting on top of this issue will require more radical thinking. In many countries, options that have been taken off the table will need to be put back on.

At the moment, governments see pensions almost entirely as a looming fiscal emergency -- which, to be sure, they partly are. On average, according to the International Monetary Fund, aging populations will raise public pension spending in advanced economies by about four percentage points of GDP over the next 20 years. That is an enormous amount. Rapidly falling fertility also means that a diminishing base of workers will have to bear that burden. (The ratio of pensioners to workers in developed economies is expected to double by 2050.)

Last edited Wed Mar 7, 2012, 01:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Second, the wealth is accumulated in piles by the criminals and used as a weapon against people, companies, nations, and Democracy itself.

So the original crime is compounded, unleashing a global crime wave that circles the globe endlessly, like a wildfire or an epidemic.

Whether these criminals are working together to some master plan, or merely doing their own thing, it has to be stopped by the 99%. Nothing else will do it. Not our courts, not our elected officials, and definitely not the legislatures as presently constituted.

the masses have to wake up to the fact that the wealth accumulated by the 1% is in fact theirs. it was taken from them.

that have their sites set on the Texas Teachers Retirement System. our current managers have done well, but we watch it like hawks. At 85% funded, it is one of the more stable pension set ups. It is well managed, but the battle lines are being drawn. Since teachers generally don't qualify for Social Security, this would be devastating.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/advising-deal-goldman-sachs-had-all-angles-for-a-payday/?ref=business

...Goldman had a 19.1 percent stake in Kinder Morgan, the pipeline and energy storage company, and two seats on its board...About a month later, Kinder Morgan announced it had agreed to acquire El Paso for $21.1 billion in cash and stock.

When the deal was announced, buried at the end of the news release was a list of Wall Street banks that had advised on the deal, including Goldman Sachs. Goldman received a $20 million fee for playing matchmaker for El Paso. The fee, of course, was not disclosed, nor was the Kinder Morgan stake owned by Goldman Sachs’s private equity arm, worth some $4 billion. Nor did the release disclose that the Goldman banker who advised El Paso to accept Kinder Morgan’s bid owned $340,000 worth of Kinder Morgan stock.

Now, however, a court ruling in a shareholder lawsuit has laid bare the truth: Goldman was on every conceivable side of the deal. As a result, El Paso may have unwittingly sold itself far too cheaply. Mr. Blankfein may have said he was “very sensitive to the appearance of conflict,” but the judge’s order ruling “reluctantly” against a motion to block the merger made it clear that Goldman’s conflicts went far beyond mere appearances....Goldman’s brazenness in this deal is nothing short of breathtaking. It is just another example of why Goldman’s reputation has been dented as questions have circled about the firm’s loyalty to its clients over itself. Other firms have conflicts, but rarely do you hear about them being so incestuous. A Morgan Stanley banker involved in the deal wrote in an e-mail at the time: “This is GS at its most shameless.”

DETAILS AT LINK

YEAH, YEAH, JUST PULL THE OTHER ONE, TOO, WHILE YOU'RE AT IT. I LIKE MY LEGS TO BE EQUAL LENGTH...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/06/us-usa-housing-idUSTRE8211OO20120306

President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday a cut in fees on many government-backed mortgages that he said could help millions of homeowners refinance, part of an election-year push to boost the shaky U.S. housing market.

Under the plan, a typical borrower with a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration could save a thousand dollars a year by refinancing into a new FHA loan, the White House said. The fee reductions would be on top of any savings from a lower interest rate.

Two million to three million borrowers would be eligible, although the White House said participation would more likely number in the "hundreds of thousands."...

SO THAT'S WHAT IT WAS...EUROPE DOING "HAPPY DANCE" TODAY, THOUGH.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9127166/European-markets-plunge-as-Greece-threatens-to-default.html

Bourses across Europe shed more than 3pc each as Greece said it was ready to impose the €206bn restructuring on bondholders who do not vote for it by the 8pm GMT deadline on Thursday.

After a meeting in Frankfurt on Tuesday, the Greek Debt Management Agency "confirmed" that, if a majority of bondholders agree to the deal, it "intends... to declare the proposed amendments effective and binding on all holders".

Traders took the statement as a warning that Greece was expecting to use the Collect Action Clauses (CACs) to force through the deal. Rating agencies have warned that the retrospective measure, which was approved by Greek politicians last month, would constitute a sovereign default - the first in the eurozone's history.

A leaked document written by the International Institute of Finance (IIF), the body that negotiated with the Greek government on behalf of private bondholders, warned of "some important and damaging ramifications" from a Greek default. In the document, dated last month, the IIF said it was "difficult to add all these contingent liabilities up with any degree of precision, although it is hard to see how they would not exceed €1 trillion"...

MORE

http://video.pbs.org/video/1308436568?starttime=61000

and will watch it again. Thanks

The bank has ended the largest-ever corporate bankruptcy, emerging from Chapter 11 and announcing it will begin making its first payouts to clients in April

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/UXDMSS/16I90G/3CWTA/FKR97R/XHXUW1/4O/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=7

SEE ALSO:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11167747

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/lehman-estate-emerges-from-bankruptcy/

More than three years after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the estate of the failed Wall Street firm emerged from Chapter 11 protection on Tuesday as a sliver of its former self, devoted to paying off creditors.

What once was one of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks is now essentially a holding company for assets that include vast real estate holdings and an array of securities like derivatives.

All of those will be sold over time to pay an army of creditors, including hedge funds, money managers and corporations, with claims of more than $300 billion. Lehman said in a statement that its first payout, which could exceed $10 billion, would be made on April 17. Creditors are expected on average to receive well below 50 cents for each dollar of their claims when the payouts are finished.

Enron met a similar fate after its bankruptcy filing. Its estate emerged from Chapter 11 protection in 2004 as a holding company whose assets have been sold to pay claims. Creditors so far have received nearly $22 billion...

Department of Justice charges alleged members of the ‘hacktivist’ group in the US and elsewhere with conspiracy and hacking-related crimes

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/4C9JHK/VTVRG/ZGZVUV/GDH4L6/W1/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=7

Gross domestic product expanded 2.7 per cent last year – about a third of the rate of 2010 and the lowest since 2003

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/IOCBMM/4C9JHK/VTVRG/ZGZVUV/62JO9R/W1/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=7

As Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu discuss next steps regarding Iran, investors are becoming increasingly jittery. At one point late last year, the Brent oil price was around $90 a barrel. Now, even after falling on Tuesday on news that talks with Tehran were to be reopened, it is still well above $120, reflecting both renewed economic optimism and fears over how, precisely, Iran’s nuclear ambitions can be contained.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/8ZFPUZ/RP6QL/R38H9O/PFAN75/OS/t?a1=2012&a2=3&a3=7

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-06/asia-s-central-banks-may-be-nearing-end-of-rate-cuts-on-oil-risk.html

Asia-Pacific central banks will probably hold off on adding monetary stimulus this week as higher oil prices combine with diminishing concern of a euro- region meltdown to make the case for preserving firepower.

South Korea and New Zealand will hold interest rates tomorrow, according to all economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Indonesia will keep its key rate at 5.75 percent the same day after an unexpected cut last month, while Malaysia will stand pat for a fifth meeting a day later, separate surveys indicated.

The 18 percent jump in crude oil since September risks spurring price pressures in a region that’s seen little slackening in job markets as employers retain workers even with exports moderating. A report today showing Australia’s economy grew at half the pace analysts projected last quarter reminds that further stimulus may yet be warranted later this year.

“Growth or inflation risks are not compelling enough to push central banks aggressively in any direction,” said Matt Hildebrandt, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Singapore. “Central banks have probably shifted from growth concerns to being neutral.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/merkel-sees-euros-minted-from-marks-in-political-trial-of-german-integrity.html

The vaulted red-brick building overlooking the River Main on Frankfurt’s east side has an illustrious if checkered past.

Once the biggest free-standing reinforced concrete hall in the world, the 220-meter-long Gross-markthalle became an emblem of modernism when it first opened its doors as a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in 1928, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue.

Then, from 1941 to 1945, it was a deportation point for more than 10,000 Frankfurt Jews, most of whom met their deaths in concentration camps. Partially destroyed in World War II bombing raids, the Grossmarkthalle is being recast for its next incarnation: the new home of the European Central Bank, which is now housed in three separate buildings around the city.

The central bank complex is designed to be what its architect, Wolf Prix, calls a “three-dimensional icon” of European unity. And yet its construction coincides with a bout of angst in Germany over the single currency that the ECB is charged with safeguarding.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/u-s-companies-added-216-000-jobs-in-february-adp-employer-services-says.html

Companies added 216,000 workers to their payrolls in February, according to data today from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Employer Services.

The median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an advance of 215,000. Projections of the 44 economists ranged from gains of 120,000 to 270,000.

ADP’s initial figures for January showed a 170,000 rise, while the Labor Department’s data two days later showed an increase of 257,000 in private payrolls.

S&P 500 1,348.50 6.50 0.48%
DOW 12,799 55.00 0.43%
NASDAQ 2,604 14.00 0.54%

Last edited Thu Mar 8, 2012, 12:14 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/markets-deserve-a-borrowing-rate-that-libor-banks-can-t-manipulate-view.html

The value of about $360 trillion in financial contracts, ranging from derivatives to adjustable-rate mortgages, depends largely on a benchmark -- known as the London interbank offered rate -- that is demonstrably broken.

Regulators and global banks are trying to figure out how to fix it. They should be looking for a replacement instead.

Perhaps no financial indicator is more important for global finance, and less understood by the people it affects, than Libor. Every weekday morning London time, a panel of the world’s largest banks reports how much it would cost to borrow from other banks in various currencies and time periods, ranging from overnight to a year. An adjusted average of those rates -- the three-month and six-month dollar loan rates are the most widely used -- determines the size of payments on corporate and mortgage loan worldwide. In times of crisis, Libor also serves as an indicator of stress in the banking system: The more that banks are paying for short-term loans, the more trouble they’re in.

Problem is, banks have powerful incentives to fib about their borrowing costs -- a flaw that has become the focal point of numerous civil lawsuits, a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and a multinational regulatory inquiry into possible manipulation of Libor. Troubled banks can make themselves appear healthier by artificially lowering their reported borrowing rates, which are made public. Manipulating Libor can also help banks that are major players in derivatives markets. Hundreds of millions of dollars can be made on differences of as little as a quarter of a percentage point.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-hiltzik-20120307,0,246162.column

The federal government's response to the home mortgage crisis always has been an exercise in living down to one's lowest expectations.

The $25-billion settlement with five big banks over foreclosure abuses that U.S. housing officials and 49 state attorneys general announced last month was supposed to be an exception. Here, at last, was real compensation from those who played key roles in the disaster.

But with every passing day, the shortcomings of this deal appear to proliferate. That is, as far as we know, because the specific terms of the settlement are still not public, nearly one month after it was unveiled in Washington with the sort of fanfare formerly associated with the splashdown of a space capsule.

The latest explanation for the secrecy is that the parties are waiting until the settlement is filed with a federal court in Washington, which could happen this week or next. But the explanation only evades the question of why the deal wasn't filed in court before or simultaneously with the big dog-and-pony show, as is customary with high-profile legal settlements.

I need some opinions. For weeks Wells Fargo, who services our Fannie Mae mortgage, has been calling and sending postal mail offering to refinance us at a lower interest rate with no closing cost and no appraisal. Now we are not in trouble and are in a good equity position. From what I've read Fannie Mae is not covered under the mortgage deal that the government made with these banks in the settlement. We already have a fairly low IR so I don't understand why they are calling us. Feels like they want to own our mortgage but I can't figure out why.

Mortgage Plan Gives Billions to Homeowners, but With Exceptions
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/business/states-negotiate-26-billion-agreement-for-homeowners.html?pagewanted=all

Critics also pointed to the fact that millions of mortgages owned by the government’s housing finance agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not be covered under the deal, excluding about half the nation’s mortgages.

Or do they want to get your mortgage in the MERS system, where no one really 'owns' the mortgage, but it gets passed along thereby generating toxic investments for investors?

If you are happy with the your mortgage now, why change.

We had a typical mortgage in the 70s and 80s...7.5%. Yeh, typical!
We paid extra every month to reduce the principal, and was able to pay it off several years early, rather than re-financing.

Honestly I don't know Dem. I assumed if they refinanced us they would buy out the mortage from Fannie. I have a giant red flag in my head but am clueless.

What you did is what we're trying to do. Make extra payments to get it paid off and yes we're fine with the way it is. But these people are hounding us twice a week with mail in the box in between. What they offer would lower our payments quite a bit but yes I have thought about the MERS thing too. I don't want to help these people in the least but most of all their foreclosure practices have been highly questionable so yep..we'll probably sit tight the way we are. Was just wondering what could be up their sleeve.

I've had nothing but headaches with those assholes since they took over Wachovia and my mortgage. For three years running, they've been trying to make me buy forced place insurance, even though I'm over-insured by everything the mortgage agreement calls for.

Make that four years. I got the new letter last week. Here we go again.

My wife has a credit card with them, that we hadn't used in years. No balance in probably five years. In November we put $1600 on it to cover what we didn't have in cash for new laminate floors. We paid it off in two months, and I got a letter from them yesterday, jacking our interest rate up 30%. Never use that card again.

I know what you mean. Have moved my checking from there and don't use their Visa either. Had a problem once with how they applied a double payment. The took out future interest. Yeah, had to threatened them but they finally fixed it.

Sage advice..thankyou.

some how and in some way, they smell money to be made. This is why they are bugging you. And since when did mega bank have you interest in mind?

Even with out looking at your mortgage with a real estate attorney (and I would), I see red flags too. I'd be as stubbon as a government mule.

My guess... they do not have a copy of your mortgage and are trying to hoodwink you into a new one. God knows who they sold it to or even if it exists. I would hang on to my copy. A real estate attorney can be worth their weight in gold.

A lower interest rate is nice. Getting stuck into the fraudulent mortgage securitization/shadow banking system is not.

Do you know where your current mortgage is? Have you checked the county records to see what is recorded?

Are you getting good service?

(It's called churning, when people are offered carrots to generate fees for the brokers, but get little or nothing to show for it in the end).

They don't want to OWN your mortgage, they want to securitize and sell it. Big banks don't own such things--they turn them into cash ASAP by selling it to Fannie. Credit unions might. Small local banks might. The Big Boys churn, for profits and bonuses.

When you sup with the Devil, you need a very long spoon.

Mind you, Fannie and Freddie and all that gang ALSO securitized everything they bought from the banks, and sold it to the Chinese, who then insisted they buy it back when Fannie and Freddie went bust. So you may already be ensnared. the question is: can they straighten it out? Will they straighten it out?

The most worrying news has been that people find they can never get a clear title if it's been in MERS....in which case, they may not be able to refinance without committing more fraud....

If you do refinance, do it for a substantial improvement in cash flow and/or reduction in duration, and buy title insurance!

show it was sold to Fannie after I refinanced a few years ago before the crash. When I checked online at the Fannie Mae lookup tool it was there. When I wrote WF they said yes it was with Fannie.

they may not be able to refinance without committing more fraud.... that's what I'm thinking.

Good advice. Guess I should dig a little deeper..thanks

wanting to take advantage of the fed settlement by making you upside down and underwater.

They can rob you with a pen faster than a gun.

I just wrote them to ask where my mortgage doc is. This should be good

Do you have any other notes agaist the deed? Even an unused HELOC?

Is there anything in the solicitations that state WF wood in fact 'own' the mortagage?

Funny thing. I got a couple similar props from the scumbags, and I don't have a mortgage with them or any other institution. I've had two separate dealings with them however. I did buy a house 3 years ago via a short sale, but it was a cash deal. And a couple years ago tried to buy a foreclosure in the Miami area in which they were the assigned foreclosure agent. That deal never happened due to their failure to be able to provice a clear chain of title and 'warrentee' deed vs. a 'quit claim.' I assume I just got into their mass mailing pool, from one of those encounters.

hit the link below and see if any criterium apply. This pprogram is new, but the banksters have known about it coming for a while

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/06/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-new-steps-provide-housing-relief-ve

Greek bond swap prospects lifted by pledges
http://news.yahoo.com/athens-creditor-group-turn-heat-greek-bondholders-111001591.html

First off, it's 75% required, not two-thirds (although there has been talk that even 50% would be acceptable to stave off a default).

Second, with just over 24 hours left they're going to double the number of commitments????

It's going to happen...and the sooner it happens, the less little people and nations will be hurt.

Thanks for all the good thoughts concerning daughter's property from the tornado.

Some neighbors and volunteers are helping, but it is still a slow and daunting task clearing debris from the dozen+ huge old trees that blew over in the tornado.

Some young strong Amish guys happened along to finish taking apart the barn and burning the timbers. Maybe they can help build her a new one soon.

Thankfully her house was spared, but overwhelming ordeal emotionally.

So much carnage. How terrifying for your love one. Glad she's ok and house still intact.

and glad that it wasn't even the tiniest bit more worse than it was.

some moron alerted on this post?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002396111

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: This post is the truth, and DU should not be party to suppressing truth, just because some people don't want to see it or let other people see it. This is no exaggeration. This is no conspiracy. And if there is a God, Obama will live to regret it when it's applied to his family.

Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: The truth hurts...this is a valid point, and I see no reason for this to be removed.

Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT and said: the most obvious troll DU has ever seen, perhaps. total anti-dem, every single post. day after day after day, campaigning against democrats.

Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Criticism of the Administration's record on war and Constitutional rights is "ridiculous exaggeration, Obama bashing, and conspiracy theorism"? If the shoe fits . . .

Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given

Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I disagree with the alerter. The post may be something I also disagree with but it seems appropriate to discuss by adults on DU.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

The person who correctly identifies my vote gets to name the weekend of his/her choice.

They hate BBI beyond belief because he prints verifiable truth that dissolves their rose colored glasses.

#1, #2, #4, AND #6!

I give credit to BBI for sticking it out with . . . . Them.

and both hands are busy pickin everyones purse/pocket?

Well they sure don't get it with their peronalities, so they dip into their bonuses!

An artist whose nude portraits have been displayed in galleries around the world has been busted and charged with managing a brothel in the Financial District that catered to wealthy Wall Streeters.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_ql5j2M0H4GG3507H7KWR8N#ixzz1oSZPvgGL

http://gothamist.com/2007/03/04/wall_street_bro.php

lord, he looks like a crook...even more than Nixon!