STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday February 22

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday February 22, 2010

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Name(s): David Safavian, James Fondren

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON February 19, 2010

Dow... 10,402.35 +9.45 (+0.09%)
Nasdaq... 2,243.87 +2.16 (+0.10%)
S&P 500... 1,109.17 +2.42 (+0.22%)
Gold future... 1,122 +3.30 (+0.29%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.77 -0.03 (-0.74%)
30-Year Bond 4.70 -0.03 (-0.59%)

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U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES..............................................S&P FUTURES

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie, Silver and US$

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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.

Read more: du

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $80 a barrel Monday in Asia, extending a three-week rally as investors expect the U.S. central bank to keep interest rates near zero to help fuel economic growth, which would boost crude consumption. ...

Investors are betting that a low inflation rate and weak employment figures will lead the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low. ...

Consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent in January, the Labor Department said Friday, and excluding volatile food and energy, prices fell 0.1 percent, the first monthly decline since December 1982. ...

Low interest rates and massive government stimulus spending could also help weaken the U.S. dollar, which would further support oil prices. A weaker dollar makes dollar-based commodities such as oil cheaper for foreign investors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

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So these dimwits believe that keeping interest rates low will boost demand for overpriced oil. It brings to mind the question: has that worked at all since the mortgage market went ka-boom? And another thing: This run in oil prices looks like another speculative bubble from the makers of the last one. Demand simply is not there.

...
Obama will propose giving federal authorities the power to limit rate hikes by health insurers — part of a new blueprint for remaking the health care system that the White House will unveil Monday. Days before a health care summit with congressional leaders of both parties, it may be Obama's last chance to salvage his signature issue.

The insurance rate proposal would give the federal Health and Human Services Department — in conjunction with state authorities — the power to deny egregious premium increases, roll them back, or demand rebates for consumers, said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because details have not yet been officially released. ...

Obama's latest plan is expected to require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies to help many afford the premiums. Hewing close to a stalled Senate bill, it would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. A tax on high-cost health insurance plans objected to by House Democrats — and labor unions — would be scaled back. The expected price tag is around $1 trillion over 10 years. ...

Oversight of insurance companies has traditionally been a state responsibility. The proposal for a new federal role calls for setting up a new seven-member Health Insurance Rate Authority that would monitor insurance industry behavior and issue an annual report. States that beef up their consumer protection programs would be eligible for a share of $250 million in federal grants.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

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Jeebus! This is crass. The proposal really does nothing to address major healthcare issues like lifetime caps on insurance company payouts and it merely preserves the status-quo with public funding of insurance companies. I am sorely disappointed.

This is where I came in. The health care issue is dead to me.

:donut: and lurkers. Most of the regulars here know I am a Nurse. This chance at health care reform was a golden opportunity. There is no other way to say it-the DEMS have screwed the pooch on this one. We need a public option and a straight up and down vote. None of this super majority crap (that is nothing more than a fig leaf for those spineless bastards to hide behind),

We are having our early voting. I may be voting in the GOP primary to elect the weakest candidate. UGGG-I feel so dirty-like a rape victim. Our new Sup of the school district has already pissed off Rick Perry and Perry's TEA appointment is not that bad a guy. Of course in the actual election-my vote, money, and heart will go to Bill White. He was such a good mayor that he has Gop and Dem support here in the coastal areas of Texas.

The union steward meeting was depressing. We are really under seige by the charter school folks. It doesn't help that developers are trying to create all these charter schools to sell homes. They are gentrifying the traditional poor areas (cheapest available land) and starting charter because they don't want to go to school with them.

Of course charter school look better-they can cherry pick their students and do not have to be accountable. I enroll students that were kicked out of charters every day. All charter schools do is take scarce funds from schools. Public Education was once the great equalizer-a common denominator. Now, teachers are portrayed as incompetent, ignorant fools (there are racial overtones in the blogs-teachers are too ethnic for some) worthy of scorn. It is all too depressing these days. Oh and if that isn't enough I just heard that the Sec of Education sats there will be teacher layoffs....Sigh. I think I will be needing a stiff drink at the end of the work day.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears

We had public schools, even though many of the European nations had strong private schools for their elites.

After America moved into empire mode, the draft was subverted in favor of a professional, career army made up of the lowest economic levels of citizens and immigrants.

Now the public schools, once the pinnacle of democracy and equality, are dying of snobism and penny-wise, pound foolish public policies.

Death spiral, dead end, damned stupid. All of these and more.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke is expected to shed light this week on the central bank's sudden decision to hike an emergency bank-lending rate, triggering speculation on monetary tightening.

Bernanke is scheduled to appear before the financial committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday and the Senate banking panel the next day, where his testimony will be closely scrutinized by jittery markets. ...

It was the first major action by the Fed to remove some of the unprecedented monetary easing measures; and also the first tinkering of interest rates by a central bank from the Group of Seven industrialized nations after emerging from recession, analysts said. ....

The US economy expanded by a strong 5.7 percent in the final 2009 quarter after 2.2 percent growth in the preceding quarter, but unemployment near double digits is expected to persist for some time in the face of lagging job growth.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100221/bs_afp/useconomybankratebankingcongress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The already gloomy conditions of states' economies are set to worsen, according to preliminary survey findings from the National Governors Association released on Saturday. ...

In a survey conducted last week of 45 of the 50 states, the group found that states have $18.8 billion of budget gaps yet to be closed in fiscal 2010. This comes after they have already imposed measures to eliminate budget imbalances totaling $87 billion in the fiscal year, which for most started last summer.

In the budgets they are drafting for fiscal 2011, states foresee shortfalls of $53.6 billion and for fiscal 2012 $61.6 billion. ...

States' economic recoveries usually lag national recoveries because of state governments' increased spending on help for the unemployed and declines in tax payments.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100220/ts_nm/us_usa_economy_governors

With $1+ Billion cuts each and every year, because the GOP dominated State Senate will not pass a meaningful revenue bill. Taxes? You want people to pay taxes?

Granted, there aren't that many people with incomes--we've lost at least half a million since 9/11, but there are still many very comfortable people who need to be a little less comfortable and a little more responsible.

because one of these days, our government will wise up and we won't be seeing those kinds of bargains any more. Buy your cheap, imported poisons now. They may cost a lot more in the future.

because one of these days, our government will wise up and we won't be seeing those kinds of bargains any more. Buy your cheap, imported poisons now. They may cost a lot more in the future.

After a whole week of Spring....

Well, let's just say there's 5+ inches of fluffy white stuff in the driveway, the Kid's heater in her car is broke, and I was a bad girl this weekend.

I went out to 3 (THREE) evening events! Friday's coffeehouse, Saturday's dinner theater, and Sunday's concert. I haven't been this social since ever.

As a result, there is a mountain of laundry, nothing is clean, and the puppy is coming for the day...

It was a good change, and a chance to figure out what was missing in my life, and how to get it.

That's rather what the Weekend Thread was like, too. The mob is heating up nicely. I expect an explosion is coming, finally. But don't ask me when. Just get ready for more chaos and crime.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
I am glad you had a wonderful weekend full of frivolity. My weekend was spent on (a) school related activities and (b) a trip out of town. So I was a stranger to most news and the Internet for the major part of the weekend. Like you, Demeter, not much was done around here to keep the homestead in shape.

Rain hammers this part of the continent this morning. It has been awhile since we've seen thunderstorms. Winter is expected to settle back here later this week.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x519303

there's a lot of read them and weep articles. The rest are inflammatory.

I'd say it was particularly illustrative of the state we're in. I read Ozy's first post with a sense of heightened unreality - every other day, oil goes up, oil goes down. Increased demand? Based on what? Nothing changes out here.

It's an alternate mythical universe. However, for a mythical alternate universe to "work" - even in fiction - it has to have an internal logic and coherence. That's why "Lord of the Rings" has had such power over time to compel readers and why Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia doesn't (imho, of course).

Whatever internal logic and coherence "the Market" once had, it looks long gone to me. It's long degenerated into a pastiche, grotesqueries, a rip-off like the endless Tolkien rip-offs that line the "Fantasy" shelves in book-stores and come and go each year, forgotten as soon as they're shredded. And for backup on that, I'd refer anyone - again - to this week's WE edition.

The Price of Oil is precisely about the rapidly escalating oil prices in 2007-2008. This segment goes into some detail about the increase of $25 in one trading day for crude.

To sum it up: this increase in prices had absolutely nothing to do with "supply and demand" AT ALL. It was gouging from investment houses. Of course - if you frequented this thread back then - you knew the price increase was speculative and amounted to theft.

Theft was taking the profits from the extortion, paying out massive bonuses and gyping the stockholders.

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Greece arranged swap agreements with about 15 securities firms, including some payments from banks that may have helped hide the country’s true deficit, according to a person with direct knowledge of the contracts.

The swaps that allowed Greece to receive payments upfront date from before 2008, when European Union regulators changed rules to limit the use of the contracts, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which provided Greece with about $1 billion in funding in a 2002 swap, may have arranged the biggest of the contracts, the person said. ...

The spread, the premium investors demand to hold Greek 10- year notes instead of German bunds, Europe’s benchmark government securities, reached 396 basis points last month, the most since the year before the euro’s debut in 1999. That compared with an average of 57 basis points in the past decade. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

The 15 banks that have swap agreements with Greece are among the country’s so-called primary dealers, said the person. Greece had 21 dealers last year, including Citigroup Inc., Barclays Plc and Morgan Stanley, according to the country’s central bank.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aViC_3fxSWK8&pos=3

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The more I read about derivatives trading - the more I keep coming to the same conclusion: governments need to get medieval on derivatives trades and traders. These instruments consistently serve one side of the trade: the banks who sell these things. Overall it looks like the purpose of derivatives is to steal wealth from public sectors and concentrate it into private hands.

this is their only option. It's a world-wide insanity. No sign of it going away, either.

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Alabama Republicans Jo Bonner and Robert Aderholt took to the U.S. House floor in July, denouncing the Obama administration’s stimulus plan for failing to boost employment. “Where are the jobs?” each of them asked.

Over the next three months, Bonner and Aderholt tried at least five times to steer stimulus-funded transportation grants to Alabama on grounds that the projects would help create thousands of jobs.

They joined more than 100 congressional Republicans and several Democrats who, after voting against the stimulus bill, wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood seeking money from $1.5 billion the plan set aside for local road, bridge, rail and transit grants. The $862 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed last year with no Republican votes in the House and three in the Senate. ...

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, in a Feb. 17 statement, said it’s the Democrats who are playing politics. “No amount of political spin will change the fact the bill created more government than jobs and dramatically increased our national debt,” he said.

Graham, on Sept. 11, wrote LaHood asking for $360 million to improve Interstate 73 near Myrtle Beach. The construction funding “is expected to create 5,789 new jobs in the I-73 corridor region,” said the letter, one of a dozen grant pitches signed by Graham.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aPeLiub0jnQE&pos=10

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So Graham voted against creating 5,789 new jobs in South Carolina.

How these people have the gall to walk out their front door and face the public every day is beyond me.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) accused his Republican colleagues in Washington on Sunday of blatant hypocrisy on the stimulus package -- railing against the jobs bill in public while posing for stimulus-related projects and ceremonies in their home districts.

Appearing on ABC's This Week, the moderate Republican frequent GOP scourge pointed to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in particular for arguing this past week that the stimulus bill hadn't produced a single "net" job gain.

"I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around, and pushing back on the stimulus money and saying, 'This doesn't create any new job,'" said Schwarzenegger. "And then they go out and do the photo ops, posing with the big check and they say: 'Isn't this great, look at the kind of money I've provided for the state and this is money to create jobs, and this has created 10,000 new jobs, this has created 20,000 news jobs, and all those kinds of things.' It doesn't match up."

snip

Romney, it should be noted, has already been slapped on the wrist once for the stimulus-related statement he made during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. The Associated Press fact-checked the speech ( http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/ap_on_an/us_consequences_of_untruths_analysis )and found his "assertions lacked context at best and at worst were flat-out wrong."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/21/schwarzenegger-rips-romne_n_470594.html

...................................
Let them :ESAD: pass the cake please

You could have said so Friday.

I've got your sugar snow right here, by the way. When are you coming to pick it up?

(CNNMoney.com) -- A batch of new restrictions aimed at curbing the most egregious credit card practices kick in Monday, but business owners will need to stay alert -- the new rules don't cover cards used for corporate purposes.

The bill Congress passed in May reforms the Truth in Lending Act, which governs only consumer credit. The measure fulfills a wish list of long-sought reforms. Issuers won't be able to hike the interest rates on existing balances as long as customers pay their bills on time, and they'll need to notify customers at least 45 days in advance of interest rate increases and most fee changes. ....

Nearly 60% of business owners polled recently by the National Small Business Association said they use plastic for their capital needs -- and 79% said the terms of their credit cards have grown worse in the past five years. ...

"What matters is the purpose for the card," says Detweiler. And it makes no difference if you apply for a business card as a sole proprietor, an LLC, or a corporation. If the card is obtained for business purposes, it's not covered.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/22/smallbusiness/credit_card_rules_small_business/index.htm

If you can find any still in business....If it weren't for all those fees, the TBTF would be dead already, slaughtered without a finger being lifted.

:evilgrin:

I've been shoveling. 6 inches so far.

We could use a :shoveling: smilie, too.

The latest endorsers for the so-called Volcker Rule separating riskier trading activity form government insured depository banks have gone public. Five former U.S. Treasury secretaries have called upon Congress to implement rules limiting both the size and trading activity of these banks.

The Treasury secretaries are John Snow, Paul O’Neill, Nicholas Brady, George Shultz and W. Michael Blumenthal.

In a letter to the editor, published this morning in the WSJ, they wrote:

.....
The principle can be simply stated. Banks benefiting from public support by means of access to the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance should not engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services.

Hedge funds, private-equity funds, and trading for speculative gains are activities carried out by thousands of nonbanking firms. These firms and funds are and should also be free to compete and to innovate. They should, like other private businesses, also be free to fail without explicit or implicit taxpayer support. Those few nonbank firms that present systemic risk should be subject to reasonable restrictions on capital, leverage and liquidity. .....

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/02/more-endorsements-for-volcker-rule/

Yves Smith puts on her stomping boots.

The evidence just keeps mounting that Team Obama sees its flagging poll ratings and increasing criticism of key incumbents as a mere communications/imaging problem. Its response is just to slap more lipstick on those pigs.

Let’s look at a couple of particularly obvious plants. One is from the Washington Post by Dana Milbank, “Why Obama needs Rahm at the top.” The title is a tacit admission that the calls for Rahm’s ouster have gotten noisy enough that merely ignoring them will no longer do. But this piece is such a vomititious piece of fawning spin-transmission that I can’t imagine anyone taking it seriously. I pinged a Capitol Hill insider for his reaction and got this:

My guess is that this is Rahm’s exit memo. Rahm’s method is self-promotion through people like Dana Milbank. He’s like an executive going down with the ship using the press to shift the blame to everyone but himself.

A more adept but ultimately no more persuasive piece runs at the Wall Street Journal. The headline alone is a sorta win for Team Obama: “Bailout Anger Undermines Geithner”. Yes, they have to admit the Treasury secretary is bloodied (it would be hard not to notice how Paul Volcker has suddenly become he face guy for the Administration’s financial reform program) but it’s due to anger, which is code for lunacy. Sane people are of course ever and always level headed. No reason to be angry just because banksters enriched themselves on a scale heretofore unheard of, and as a result wrecked the housing market, the commercial real estate market, most people’s retirement accounts, and on top of that, looted taxpayers and are merrily off repeating the very same behavior that created The Near Destruction of the World Economy, 2007-2008 Edition. ....

So a lack of political will, the failure to take over the sick big banks, just as the FDIC does with the small fry, is falsely portrayed as sound policy. And Geithner does not just look weak, he IS weak. Has he ever stood up to the industry? Opposing a bailout of Lehman does not count, that was the course of least resistance in the backlash after the subsidized acquisition of Bear by JP Morgan. Similarly, his bonus talk is loud and clear: he BELIEVES in those big bonuses, he just lacks the guts to say so. He knows he has to cover for how badly he is captured by the industry. ....

But it was pretty obvious that something was up last week when I got this Treasury press release: “Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Remarks on the Healthy Food Financing Initiative“. And indeed, the Journal reveals this uncharacteristic move is part of a charm offensive (the Journal has a picture of Geithner “touring” a grocery store. “Touring”? Are normal domestic errands that alien to our Treasury Secretary? The stunt smacks more than a bit of desperation.

Of course, we get the usual denials:

In interviews, top White House officials—including Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, and senior political adviser David Axelrod—said Mr. Geithner’s job is secure. “The president’s view is that Tim is one of the stars,” Mr. Emanuel said. “Tim was an essential and a key player in developing a strategy that helped restore confidence and turn the whole country around.”

Yves here. So far, Geithner’s job looks safe. It’s when the President has to start defending him that we will know that the end is nigh.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/02/administration-ratchets-up-pr-campaign-for-beleaguered-emanuel-and-geithner.html

other than in the banks themselves. I don't know a single person who is not furious about the bank fraud on the American people and the world. My friends are for the most part poorer now than they were a couple of years ago, but they aren't a bit less sane. They are just poorer.

President Obama is living in a bubble. He needs to get out more.

He needs to re-read Team of Rivals, especially the parts where President Lincoln, during a time of civil unrest and violence, allowed the public into the White House without screening. It's fascinating to see just how much access President Lincoln allowed even relatives of Confederate soldiers to come to him.

And here we are in a time of relative peace and tranquility and without any access at all to our president.

and when Geithner or Bernanke, or Blankfein, or any GS alumni or hanger-on turns on the charm, it's pretty offensive anyway.

Bloomberg.com's Ryan Donmoyer has a brief story out on recent IRS statistics of income. See Top Earners Averaged $345 million in 2007, IRS says (Feb. 17, 2010).

Here are the figures cited in Donmoyer's report (based on Tax Analysts' data analysis presented by David Cay Johnston on Tax.com):

• Average income of top 400 US households in 2007: $345 million (that's income per year, folks)
• Average income of top 400 US households in 2001: $131.1 million (that's about half)
• Average effective tax rate in 2007 for this same group: 16.6% (per Johnston article)
• Average effective tax rate in 1993 for this same group: 29.4%
• Percent of the top 400 earners in items taxed at preferential (low) tax rates: about 75%

So the richest of the rich managed to do quite well in the artificial boom of the Bush years when most Americans were barely holding even (or actually declining) in wages. They doubled their annual income from 2001 to 2007 in the years after the Bush ta cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthy.

More Angry Bear here

S&P 500 1,111 +4.70 +0.43%
DOW 10,394 54.00 0.52%
NASDAQ 1,831 +11.75 +0.65%

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?acs=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 80.447 Change -0.076 (-0.10%)

US Dollar: Policy Tightening and Mounting Risk Build Bullish Pressure

http://www.dailyfx.com/forex/fundamental/forecast/weekly/usd/2010-02-20-0348-US_Dollar__Policy_Tightening_and.html

There is a reason the Federal Reserve decided to announce the first hike in the discount rate since 2006 after the market’s close this past Thursday. With a precedence of jittery responses to stimulus withdrawal in other countries (most notably the hikes to China’s reserve ratio); the central bankers were concerned such a move could trigger a panic among speculators born from the fear that the fuel for 2009’s rally was disappearing. However, after an initial rally from the greenback immediately after the release; the currency tempered its gains. As much as the fundamental and interest rate backdrop is improving for the US; underlying risk trends are still the primary guide for the benchmark currency. Yet, this connection hasn’t condemned the dollar’s rally. A comparison between the Dollar Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average these past few weeks shows something quite unusual: a positive correlation. Has something fundamentally changed for the currency or in the global financial market?

Recent history has shown us quite clearly that the US dollar has been an ideal safe haven and funding currency. Yet, if that were the case, we would expect the build in risk appetite and carry that rising capital markets should have supported this past week to weigh the greenback down. Yet, there are a few unusual factors at play. First, for the undercurrent in sentiment, while some of the growth-linked benchmarks have indeed trended higher; this is more a stabilization and reversal of the late-January / early-February slump in risk appetite than a true rebound in optimism. There are many reasons to be concerned over the stability of financial markets and the nascent economic recovery. From the start, the potential for expansion and returns inherent in the otherwise tepid recovery from the worst financial crisis in modest history already reasons asset prices are misaligned. However, the conviction of greed (risk appetite) can keep trends in place longer than fundamentals would otherwise support. What is needed is a catalyst to break this conviction. The greatest threat to stability is without doubt the situation in Greece. While concerns over the nation’s deficit seem to have subsided; the threat to broader Euro Zone is undeniable. All that is needed is a spark in sentiment for this situation to once again erupt. In the meantime, China could once again roil the markets (and perhaps set off the dominos in Europe). The Far East market is set to open for the first time in over a week; and this epicenter for speculation has yet to price in the most recent reserve ratio hike, not to mention the other developments.

Another consideration is the influence that the hike in the deposit form this past week can have on the dollar. There are two distinct impressions this move has. First, this move helps normalize the monetary policy in the US and moves up the time table for an eventual hike to the Federal Funds rate. Another consideration is that this move has the same implications for risk appetite that the increase in the Chinese reserve ratio had: this is a move that is withdrawing the same stimulus that has facilitated the market’s recovery over the past year. We have already seen the immediate reaction to this data; but don’t expect this development to have already played itself out.

As for scheduled event risk on the docket; there are many big ticket names. However, don’t expect a second reading of GDP, durable goods or consumer confidence numbers to distract the market from the bigger, more pressing themes already in motion.



...more...

Daily Sound Bites 02.22

http://www.dailyfx.com/forex/fundamental/article/daily_sound_bites/2010-02-22-1309-Daily_Sound_Bites_02_22.html



...more...

2/22/10 'Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois'
It will take a massive tax increase -- and $2 billion more in cuts -- to reach solvency, group says

To become solvent, the state must enact the largest tax-increase package in Illinois history, whack another $2 billion from already starved government programs and wrest major financial concessions from the state's unionized work force, a nonpartisan government watchdog contends.

In a new analysis of Illinois' "horrific" finances, the Civic Federation lays out the painful choices awaiting Gov. Quinn and the Legislature as they stare down an epic $12.8 billion budget deficit that has choked the flow of state cash to public universities and schools, transit systems and social-service agencies to the point of economic collapse.

"Doomsday is here for the State of Illinois," said Laurence Msall, the organization's president.

The Civic Federation recommends that the state income tax be increased from 3 percent to 5 percent for individuals, that retirees' pension and Social Security checks be taxed for the first time at the same rate as workers' paychecks, and the tax on cigarettes be raised by another $1 per pack. The group also favors getting rid of $181 million in corporate tax breaks.

more...
http://www.suntimes.com/news/maxedout/2062132,CST-NWS-doomsday22.article

link via Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/21-2

<snip>
Published on Sunday, February 21, 2010 by Rolling Stone
Wall Street's Bailout Hustle
Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crash

by Matt Taibbi

On January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis.

The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses - meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly commensurate with what they received during the bubble years. Still, the troops were worried: There were rumors that Dr. Ballsachs, bowing to political pressure, might be forced to scale the number back. After all, the country was broke, 14.8 million Americans were stranded on the unemployment line, and Barack Obama and the Democrats were trying to recover the populist high ground after their bitch-whipping in Massachusetts by calling for a "bailout tax" on banks. Maybe this wasn't the right time for Goldman to be throwing its annual Roman bonus orgy.

Not to worry, Blankfein reassured employees. "In a year that proved to have no shortage of story lines," he said, "I believe very strongly that performance is the ultimate narrative."

Translation: We made a shitload of money last year because we're so amazing at our jobs, so fuck all those people who want us to reduce our bonuses.

Goldman wasn't alone. The nation's six largest banks - all committed to this balls-out, I drink your milkshake! strategy of flagrantly gorging themselves as America goes hungry - set aside a whopping $140 billion for executive compensation last year, a sum only slightly less than the $164 billion they paid themselves in the pre-crash year of 2007. In a gesture of self-sacrifice, Blankfein himself took a humiliatingly low bonus of $9 million, less than the 2009 pay of elephantine New York Knicks washout Eddy Curry. But in reality, not much had changed. "What is the state of our moral being when Lloyd Blankfein taking a $9 million bonus is viewed as this great act of contrition, when every penny of it was a direct transfer from the taxpayer?" asks Eliot Spitzer, who tried to hold Wall Street accountable during his own ill-fated stint as governor of New York.

<end, lot more at link>

It is time for the Obama Administration to wise-up and get on the ball with regulation that works and a few of these crooks in jail. The real test of a politician is not what he/she says, but what they do!

It's so crazy, it just might work. If he is capable of it, that is. He usually gets Michelle to do the heavy lifting.

Besides, I can expected, that does not mean that I will get. Just like the good kid at Christmas, all full of wishes! (I will refrain from saying something totally disgusting...)

Also heard some good news through the grapevine, Rahm Emanuel might be looking for a new job. I mean, how can one be a Democrat and loathe/hate liberals? That is like decorating your house for Halloween with a Christmas tree...

(Up some. Debt seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat. Good day all.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 7,893,641,770,933.09 + 4,507,806,895,875.21
UP 15,224,901,067.79 + DOWN 271,770,141.72

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.24 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.72, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 308,772,318 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $40,163.73.
A family of three owes $120,491.2. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 34 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 3,570,530,308.00.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,737,406,569.46.
The average for the last 34 days would be 2,415,358,737.76.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 95 reports in 141 days of FY2010 averaging 5.17B$ per report, 3.49B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,067 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
02/18/2010 12,401,448,666,808.30 BHO (UP 1,774,571,617,895.22 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,491,619,663,296.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,272,632,461,725.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/28/2010 -024,245,578,618.07 -
01/29/2010 -000,416,981,206.21 ---
02/01/2010 +090,319,223,365.33 ------------********** Mon
02/02/2010 -000,066,012,400.47 ----
02/03/2010 +000,334,538,130.44 ------------********
02/04/2010 -009,677,289,403.68 --
02/05/2010 -000,081,816,346.60 ----
02/08/2010 +000,119,837,978.11 ------------******** Mon
02/09/2010 +000,368,016,270.35 ------------********
02/10/2010 -000,056,577,287.25 ----
02/11/2010 +007,265,093,186.33 ------------*********
02/12/2010 -000,104,736,856.82 ---
02/16/2010 +030,097,605,306.92 ------------********** Tue
02/17/2010 +000,408,694,886.67 ------------********
02/18/2010 +015,224,901,067.79 ------------**********

109,488,918,072.84 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4275265&mesg_id=4275294

(Up a tiny amount. Debt seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat. Good day all.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 7,893,756,033,843.68 + 4,508,298,801,745.00
UP 114,262,910.59 + UP 491,905,869.79

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 309-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.24 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.72, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 10 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 308,780,958 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 11/07/2009 08:19 -> 307,879,272
Currently, each of these Americans owe $40,164.57.
A family of three owes $120,493.71. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 23 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 23 reports is 3,475,967,097.20.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,664,908,107.86.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,578,943,330.18.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 96 reports in 142 days of FY2010 averaging 5.13B$ per report, 3.47B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 1,066 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
02/19/2010 12,402,054,835,588.68 BHO (UP 1,775,177,786,675.60 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +0,492,225,832,076.90 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,265,228,371,183.58 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
01/29/2010 -000,416,981,206.21 ---
02/01/2010 +090,319,223,365.33 ------------********** Mon
02/02/2010 -000,066,012,400.47 ----
02/03/2010 +000,334,538,130.44 ------------********
02/04/2010 -009,677,289,403.68 --
02/05/2010 -000,081,816,346.60 ----
02/08/2010 +000,119,837,978.11 ------------******** Mon
02/09/2010 +000,368,016,270.35 ------------********
02/10/2010 -000,056,577,287.25 ----
02/11/2010 +007,265,093,186.33 ------------*********
02/12/2010 -000,104,736,856.82 ---
02/16/2010 +030,097,605,306.92 ------------********** Tue
02/17/2010 +000,408,694,886.67 ------------********
02/18/2010 +015,224,901,067.79 ------------**********
02/19/2010 +000,114,262,910.59 ------------********

133,848,759,601.50 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4278492&mesg_id=4278711