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[sandi66]

Japan Intervenes for First Time Since 2004 to Rein in Yen

Sep 15, 2010 12:14 AM ET

Japan intervened in the foreign- exchange market for the first time since 2004 after a surge in the yen to the strongest against the dollar in 15 years threatened to stunt the nation’s economic recovery.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters in Tokyo that the move was unilateral. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said the ministry “seems to think” 82 yen per dollar to be the line of defense, after it reached 82.88 earlier today. Government officials speaking on condition of anonymity have previously said volatility was a bigger concern than the level.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan was under pressure to intervene after business leaders’ calls for steps to arrest the yen’s gains, which undermine the exports propelling Japan’s growth. It may do little for the economy because Japan alone won’t be able to keep the yen from rising, said analyst Tohru Sasaki.

“In the medium-term it can’t change the overall direction” of the currency, said Sasaki, head of Japan rates and foreign- exchange research in Tokyo at JPMorgan Chase & Co., who yesterday said intervention odds had doubled after Kan’s reelection as head of Japan’s ruling party.

The yen tumbled 2.1 percent to 84.85 per dollar as of 12:42 p.m. in Tokyo, after reaching a high of 82.88 earlier today. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 2.6 percent to 9,543.38. The currency had climbed more than 13 percent against the dollar in the five months through yesterday.

Yen’s Climb

Japan’s currency has rallied amid concern about the durability of the U.S. recovery and the effect of Europe’s debt woes. The yen typically gains when investors avoid risk because of the country’s current-account surplus and deflation.

Authorities probably decided to intervene today because the yen’s climb yesterday and overnight was due to traders’ views that Kan wouldn’t take such a step, said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo. Kan’s opponent to head the Democratic Party of Japan, former DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa, had specifically called for yen sales.

It’s “pretty unlikely” officials will be able to return the yen to the level “that companies are basing their profit forecasts” on, Nishioka also said. Firms said they remain profitable as long as the yen trades at 92.90 per dollar or weaker, according to the Cabinet Office’s annual report released in February.

‘Bold’ Pledge

“Investors were starting to doubt the government’s commitment to its pledge that it would take bold action,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, a senior economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo. Kan and Noda in recent weeks repeatedly said that Japan was ready to take “bold” measures to stem the currency.

U.S. Treasury spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth declined to comment on Japan’s announcement when reached by telephone. China’s Ministry of Commerce also declined to comment.

For China, Japan’s decision is a “favorable development,” said Tomo Kinoshita, co-head of Asia Economic Research at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. China has limited gains of its own currency to less than 2 percent since ending a two-year peg to the dollar in June.

U.S. lawmakers have criticized China’s currency policy for providing a subsidy to the nation’s exporters. The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the subject today in Washington.

Record Sales

Japan hadn’t intervened to sell yen in the foreign-exchange market since 2004, when the yen was around 109 per dollar. The Bank of Japan, acting on behest of the Ministry of Finance, sold 14.8 trillion yen in the first three months of 2004, after record sales of 20.4 trillion yen in 2003.

Noda didn’t say how much was used in today’s action, while that figure will be released at a later date.

“We can’t overlook these movements that could have a negative effect on the stability of the economy and financial markets,” Noda said. “We conducted intervention to contain excessive movements in the currency market. We will continue to watch developments in the market carefully and we will take bold actions including further intervention if necessary.”

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said in a statement that the action should “contribute to a stable foreign exchange-rate formation.”

Until now, the government has pressed the Bank of Japan to step up liquidity injections to help address the gains in the yen. The central bank last month increased a credit program by 10 trillion yen ($119 billion) after an emergency meeting. The step had little impact on the currency.

Business Calls

Top business executives have been calling for government action to stem the yen’s rise.

“We want verbal or actual intervention if the yen appreciates more than the current level,” Hiromasa Yonekura, head of Japan’s Keidanren business lobby, said at a Sept. 13 press conference. “Rapid change should be managed,” Hiroaki Nakanishi, president of Hitachi Ltd., said this week in Tokyo.

Some analysts have said that official action by Japan might not weaken the yen for long unless it’s conducted together with overseas authorities. Kan said last week in a debate with Ozawa that getting international cooperation to halt the yen’s rise is “difficult.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner declined to comment about the prospects for currency intervention in an interview last week, instead saying that Japanese officials should do what they can to help their economy grow.

“They’re working through some difficult problems,” Geithner said on Bloomberg Television. “My view is they should be focusing like we are on how to make sure they’re reinforcing recovery in Japan and doing things that are going to help.”

Recent Japanese data have pointed to the expansion losing momentum. The government yesterday revised its July industrial output figures to show that output fell rather than increased from a month earlier. Japan’s economy expanded at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter, less than half the pace of the previous period, and consumer confidence slid to a four- month low in August.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/japan-intervenes-for-first-time-since-2004-as-yen-surge-threatens-recovery.html

[sandi66]

Gates, Buffett Woo Chinese Tycoons With Charitable `Opportunity'

Sep 14, 2010 8:54 PM ET

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, planning a trip to China to discuss philanthropy, touted the chance the country’s wealthiest people have to make a difference through charity.

“The present generation of successful entrepreneurs has an opportunity to set an example for future generations in China,” Gates and Buffett, the world’s second- and third-richest people, said in a letter published yesterday by Xinhua News Agency. “It is very likely they will have a substantial impact on how large- scale philanthropy grows and develops in modern China.”

Gates, 54, and Buffett, 80, worth a combined $100 billion according to Forbes Magazine, are working to persuade fellow billionaires to give at least half their wealth to charity. The letter, written in response to questions from Xinhua, follows a report by the Chinese-language newspaper Economic Observer that said some wealthy Chinese declined an invitation to attend a private gathering with Gates and Buffett in Beijing.

“Some people have wondered if we’re coming to China to pressure people to give. Not at all,” Gates and Buffett said. “China’s circumstances are unique, and so its approach to philanthropy will be, as well.” They said they will visit the country “in a few weeks.”

Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Microsoft Corp. cofounder Gates have signed up more than 30 philanthropists, including Larry Ellison and Paul Allen, to their Giving Pledge initiative.

‘Noble Tradition’

Buffett said last month that he would broaden his efforts to India and China. In the letter, Gates and Buffett said they will listen to China’s philanthropists and share their own experiences.

“Certainly there is a long and noble tradition of giving in China going back centuries,” the two U.S. billionaires said. “The Giving Pledge is just one approach to philanthropy, and we do not know if it’s the right path forward for China.”

The Shanghai-based Hurun Report said in April that the number of millionaires in China had climbed 6 percent from a year earlier to 875,000. The average age of China’s wealthy is 39, 15 years younger than their counterparts overseas, it said.

The millionaires, with minimum assets of 10 million yuan ($1.48 million), made their money primarily from the service, property and manufacturing industries, the report said.

In contrast, China has about 21.5 million of its rural population living below the “absolute poverty” line of about $90 a year, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency website. An additional 35.5 million of people in the countryside live below the “low income” line of about $125 a year, the CIA said.

China’s gross-domestic product surpassed Japan’s in the second quarter, expanding 10.3 percent from a year earlier, and was second only to the United States. China will overtake the U.S., where annual GDP is about $14 trillion, as the largest economy by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief economist Jim O’Neill.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-14/gates-buffett-tout-philanthropy-opportunity-to-china-s-rich-before-trip.html

[sandi66]

Japan MOF official: FX intervention not finished





Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:24am EDT



TOKYO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Japan's intervention in the foreign exchange market is not finished, a senior official at the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

Asked if Japan would continue to intervene in the market after Wednesday morning's action, the official said: "Intervention isn't finished after one move."

He added: "If currency rates change after intervention, there are people who want to sell or buy, so it is a continuous act to respond to these developments."

Japan stepped into the currency market on Wednesday for the first time in six years, selling yen to stem a rise that is threatening a fragile economic recovery.



www.reuters.com/article/idUSTKG00686320100915

[sandi66]

Asian Currencies Fall on Risk Central Banks Will Follow Japan Intervention
By Yumi Teso - Sep 15, 2010 12:11 AM ET
Asian currencies dropped on concern regional central banks will intervene to stem currency gains after Japan sold the yen for the first time since 2004.

A weaker yen boosts the competitiveness of Japanese exporters such as Sony Corp. versus South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan’s Tatung Co. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index snapped a five-day winning streak after Japan’s Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda confirmed the intervention following the yen’s surge to its highest in 15 years. The gauge is still trading near a two-year high as Asian economic growth attracts funds from overseas.

“Currencies weakened on speculation of more intervention in some Asian countries,” said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in Tokyo. “But the trend will remain for regional currencies to strengthen.”

South Korea’s won fell 0.2 percent at 1,164.35 per dollar as of 1 p.m. in Seoul, reversing an earlier gain of as much as 0.4 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Philippine peso dropped 0.3 percent to 44.385 and the Malaysian ringgit declined 0.2 percent to 3.1180.

Central banks intervene by buying and selling currencies to try and influence exchange rates.

‘Concerted Efforts’

The yen slid the most in four months against the dollar, tumbling 2.2 percent to 84.94. The intervention came a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan won reelection as the head of Japan’s ruling party, beating a candidate who had specifically called for currency curbs to help protect the nation’s exporters.

“Japan’s intervention increases the risk of some concerted efforts from Asian policy makers,” said Julian Chow, head of Asian fixed-income and currency research at AmInvestment Management in Kuala Lumpur.

Overseas sales account for about half of South Korea’s gross domestic product, two-thirds of Thailand’s and more than two-thirds of Taiwan’s.

South Korean policy makers have signaled possible intervention to counter appreciation in the won. The government will take measures to stabilize the market when “exceptional” movements occur, Kim Yi Tae, director of foreign exchange at the finance ministry, said last week. Pongsak Assakul, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said on Sept. 9 that the baht’s gain to the highest level since 1997 “really hurts” exporters.

“The decline in the yen limits gains in the Korean won,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, Hong Kong-based chief economist for Credit Agricole CIB. “The market knows that the Bank of Korea will try to intervene more aggressively if the yen weakens substantially to protect the competitiveness of their exporters against Japanese manufacturers.”

Elsewhere, the baht dropped 0.1 percent to 30.85 per dollar, retreating from a 13-year high of 30.71 reached earlier. Indonesia’s rupiah was little changed at 8,978 after rising as much as 0.3 percent, and Singapore’s dollar traded at S$1.3378 from S$1.3384 yesterday. Taiwan’s dollar edged up 0.1 percent to NT$31.787 and India’s rupee rose 0.1 percent to 46.41.



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/asian-currencies-fall-on-risk-central-banks-will-follow-japan-intervention.html

[sandi66]

Waking up to a World Currency

Written by Alex Newman

Wednesday, 15 September 2010 00:00

If all the advocates of a world fiat currency (a currency not backed by a precious commodity like gold) were to scream at once, workers in world capitals, business centers, colleges, and news media may be deafened. And if global financial elites have their way, America will move quickly toward accepting a planetary fiat currency issued by a world central bank.

Calls for a new world monetary regime are nothing new. After World War II left the world’s financial system in disarray, political leaders and financial gurus met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, from July 1-22, 1944, to plan the post-war economic order. Economist John Maynard Keynes and the British government proposed the creation of a world currency called the “bancor,” and the U.S. government proposed a world currency to be known as “unitas.” But for a lot of reasons, mostly American reluctance, the schemes never took off. Instead, the Bretton Woods agreement resulted in the U.S. dollar — its value at the time tied to gold — being crowned “the” world reserve currency. But the dollar’s place as the unchallenged world currency began being displaced with the dollar’s decoupling from gold in 1971. A new system emerged: The dollar retained its position as the world’s reserve currency, but now it was backed not by gold, but only by trust and the fact that oil and other commodities were traded around the world in dollars. Since then, the U.S. government has been growing itself and its power through creating money via the inflationary power of the Federal Reserve, thus making the dollar increasingly less stable, prompting vigorous calls for a world currency to stabilize world financial markets. That has especially been true as markets have imploded.

Leading the Charge
Naturally, prominent globalist leaders and central bankers have been at the forefront of promoting world-currency schemes. And they are confident that the groundwork has been sufficiently laid to achieve the goal. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been among the most vocal supporters. At the G-8 meeting last year, he actually pulled a “united future world currency” coin out of his pocket bearing the words “unity in diversity.” Then, he explained to the audience that it “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.” In June of this year, he was at it again. “We are making plans for the future. We are talking about creating other reserve currencies, and we are counting on other countries to understand this,” Medvedev told an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

At the same forum, French President Nicolas Sarkozy concurred, saying world powers “should think together about a new international currency system” at the upcoming G-20 summit. He also said the world’s financial system was “outdated” and should be replaced. “We all need to think about the foundations for a new international financial system,” he urged. “We’ve been based on the Bretton Woods institutions of 1945, when our American friends were the only superpower. My question is: Are we still in 1945? The answer here is, ‘no.’”

Numerous other prominent national leaders have jumped on the international fiat-currency bandwagon as well — too many to list in a short article. But perhaps more importantly, powerful central bankers around the world are also pushing the issue. Former Fed boss and current chairman of Obama’s “Economic Recovery Advisory Board” Paul Volcker, for example, has long been a strong proponent of a global fiat currency and a global central bank. He is widely reported to have said, “A global economy needs a global currency.” And he has repeatedly called for such a system, hoping to see it emerge during his lifetime.

In China, the “people’s” central-bank boss Zhou Xiaochuan has also frequently called for a new reserve currency. In a 2009 report published on the central bank’s website entitled “Reform the International Monetary System,” Xiaochuan explained that “the desirable goal of reforming the international monetary system, therefore, is to create an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.”

When asked about the communist-Chinese regime’s idea at a Council on Foreign Relations event, tax-dodging U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a regular proponent of global regulation, after acknowledging that he had not read it yet, said, “We’re actually quite open to that.” The dollar immediately plunged. And while Geithner promptly backtracked on his statement, as the saying goes, the cat was already out of the bag.

At a separate Council on Foreign Relations event earlier this year, European Central Bank boss Jean-Claude Trichet gave a speech entitled “Global Governance Today.” While different in important respects from calls to empower the International Monetary Fund as the world central bank, which seems to be the consensus view on how to quickly achieve a world currency, Trichet offered a vision that would ultimately lead to the same end. “We need a set of rules, institutions, informal groupings and cooperation mechanisms that we call ‘global governance,’” he said, praising the progress that has already been made in “strengthening the mandate of existing international institutions” but noting that “no market can survive without a set of rules. This is particularly true at the international level.”

In terms of the international monetary system, he applauded the fact that central banks around the world were already “able to take quick, decisive and coordinated action at short notice.” But “the crisis also showed that gaps in the system of global governance — in terms of both efficiency and legitimacy — have to be filled,” he explained, pointing out that the process was already ongoing.

“Overall, the system is moving decisively towards genuine global governance that is much more inclusive,” Trichet said. “The significant transformation of global governance that we are engineering today is illustrated by three examples. First, the emergence of the G20 as the prime group for global economic governance at the level of ministers, governors and heads of state or government. Second, the establishment of the Global Economy Meeting of central bank governors under the auspices of the [Bank for International Settlements (BIS)] as the prime group for the governance of central bank cooperation. And third, the extension of Financial Stability Board membership to include all the systemic emerging market economies.” In other words, the BIS, the central bank of central banks (which was almost disbanded for supporting the Nazis), is becoming increasingly powerful, along with global financial regulatory institutions. And for Trichet, this is a positive development.

He added, “Global governance is of the essence to improve decisively the resilience of the global financial system,” and concluded by saying, “The crisis has driven an historic change in the framework of global governance. In my view this transformation was overdue.” And indeed, the economic crisis has given a major boost to advocates of a world financial and monetary regime.

Global Institutions
With the onset of the global financial crisis, which interestingly enough was largely brought on by an asset bubble caused via currency manipulation by the United States’ version of a central bank — the Federal Reserve — international authorities have become increasingly vocal about the supposed need for a world fiat currency controlled by a single world central bank. The United Nations and the International Monetary Fund are the most prominent among them. And both of these quasi-governmental institutions have recently issued reports blasting the dollar and calling for a world fiat currency.

“A new global reserve system could be created, one that no longer relies on the United States dollar as the single major reserve currency,” said the UN’s World Economic and Social Survey for 2010. “The dollar has proved not to be a stable store of value, which is a requisite for a stable reserve currency.” The new UN report said that the IMF should be given the authority to print its own fiat currency, claiming that the new system “must not be based on a single currency or even multiple national currencies but instead, should permit the emission of international liquidity — such as [Special Drawing Rights] — to create a more stable global financial system.” SDRs are “assets” issued by the IMF with a value currently based on multiple national fiat currencies.

Late last year, another UN report from a different arm of the institution offered similar analyses and suggestions. “In the discussion about necessary reforms of the international monetary and financial system, the problem of the United States dollar serving as the main international reserve asset has received renewed attention,” said the report, published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The paper also pointed to SDRs as the potential international reserve currency.

Earlier in 2009, another UN panel also called for talks on setting up a new international monetary system and moving away from the dollar. And the calls are only becoming more frequent and respected as time goes on.

Then there is the International Monetary Fund, a likely candidate for the position of global central banker, which in some ways has already taken on the role. Like other figures within the organization, IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn — an avowed socialist — has repeatedly called for global regulation and a world currency controlled by the “Fund.”

“One day, the fund might even be called upon to provide a globally issued reserve asset, similar to — but in important respects different from — the SDR,” he explained in a speech earlier this year, saying it would be “intellectually healthy to explore” the creation of a new IMF-backed world reserve currency before it is “needed.” A few months later, he told the High-Level Conference on the International Monetary System that “crisis is an opportunity” and “a new global currency issued by a global central bank, with robust governance and institutional features, could provide a nominal anchor and risk-free asset for the system.”

And it’s not just Strauss-Kahn. In a barely noticed paper published in April of this year, the Fund went even further than the UN or Strauss-Kahn. It outlined the future global fiat currency, to be run by a transformed and newly empowered IMF.

The paper, published by the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department and entitled “Reserve Accumulation and International Monetary Stability,” offers very specific proposals which — not surprisingly — would involve handing it massive new powers over the global economy and “making the special drawing right (SDR) the principal reserve asset in the [International Monetary System].” And this is merely the short-term policy; the IMF wants to go further, with the creation of a global currency called the bancor.

Of course, even the IMF says its schemes will not likely come about quickly or easily. “It is understood that some of the ideas discussed are unlikely to materialize in the foreseeable future absent a dramatic shift in appetite for international cooperation,” it says in the report. Some analysts have suggested a war with Iran or a crash of China’s economy could trigger such a shift.

Trend Toward Monetary Unions
Monetary unions, where a collection of national governments surrender their power over money to international institutions, are popping up around the world. In recent decades, there has been a declining number of currencies as more countries abandon their own currencies to use a multinational currency, such as the euro.

Africa already contains a patchwork of regional supranational currencies, including one in West Africa, another in Central Africa, and a group of countries that use the South African Rand. A plan to introduce a continental currency — sometimes referred to as the “afro” — controlled by the already existing African Union’s African Central Bank is set for completion in less than two decades. In Asia, calls for a regional monetary union are growing stronger. Arabian nations, through the Gulf Cooperation Council, are planning their own common currency right now.

In closer proximity to the United States, a group of Caribbean nations formed the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. All use the East Caribbean dollar. More recently, a number of leftist Latin American regimes created the SUCRE under the leadership of socialist despot Hugo Chavez. And a South American currency is currently in the works. Significant numbers of nations have also unilaterally abandoned their own currencies and switched to the dollar, such as Ecuador and El Salvador. In Europe, while not officially joining the Eurozone, numerous small countries have also switched to the euro. And this is exactly what many proponents of a global fiat currency are promoting as a means to that end. Once there are fewer currencies and the principal of supranational currency is established, such as has already occurred with the euro, it becomes easier to simply merge them.

A 2007 article for the Council on Foreign Relations’ magazine Foreign Affairs entitled “The End of National Currency” offered some insight into the strategy being pursued. Benn Steil, the powerful group’s director of international economics, suggests a very specific proposal: “Governments should replace national currencies with the dollar or the euro or, in the case of Asia, collaborate to produce a new multinational currency over a comparably large and economically diversified area.... Most of the world’s smaller and poorer countries would clearly be best off unilaterally adopting the dollar or the euro, which would enable their safe and rapid integration into global financial markets. Latin American countries should dollarize; eastern European countries and Turkey, euroize.”

And that is precisely the argument of the most prominent global currency enthusiasts. Columbia economics Professor Robert Mundell, who could not be reached by press time, is one of them. He is a Nobel-prize winner, a key advisor to the communist Chinese regime, and also known as the “father” of the euro. And he argues that the world should move toward a new global currency system called the “DEY” — a “basket” of dollars, euros, and yen controlled and issued by a global central bank, possibly a newly empowered IMF. Eventually, the architecture would lead to a truly global fiat currency.

“My approach is rather to start out with arrangements for stabilizing exchange rates, and move from there to a global currency. It would start off from the situation as it is at present and gradually move it toward the desired solution. We could start off with the three big currencies in the world, the dollar, euro, and yen, and with specified weights, make a basket of them into a unit that could be called the DEY,” Mundell explained in a 2005 speech called “The case for a world currency.” “The DEY could then become the platform on which to build a global currency, which I shall call the INTOR.”

His “basic plan” for the world currency would be implemented in three stages, he said. First, stabilization of exchange rates. Next, a monetary union under the DEY consisting of most of the world’s economy. And finally, the creation of the INTOR. While Mundell acknowledged that it might be difficult, he expressed optimism about the currency’s prospects, saying, “The next big crisis might be the occasion for a reconvening of a Bretton Woods type conference to establish the conditions for a new international monetary system.” With the United States looking at a likely second round of economic turmoil and its dollar becoming increasingly unstable as interest payments on the national debt take up an ever larger part of all taxes collected, such a “crisis” is probably closer than Americans would like to imagine.

Other prominent advocates agree with the Mundell strategy for achieving a world currency managed by a global central bank. “We’ll probably get there by the merger of monetary unions,” explained Morrison Bonpasse, founder and president of the Single Global Currency Association and author of The Single Global Currency: Common Cents for the World, in an interview with The New American. “But there are several possible routes. One is to continue the current regionalization of currencies, to include North America, and creation, expansion and merger of monetary unions; and then combine those currencies into one. Another is for smaller countries to continue to ‘ize’ their nations’ legal tender, as in ‘dollarize’ and ‘euroize.’ … Once the ‘tipping point’ is reached where one currency supports approximately 40-50 percent of the world’s GDP, the movement will accelerate to anoint that currency as the single global currency.” The organization’s target date: 2024.

Clearly, the move toward regional currencies is picking up traction, especially during this decade.

Already Emerging
Some argue that the global central bank and all that it entails are already taking solid form or, worse, already here.

“What the IMF is doing is, they’ve positioned themselves and are actually beginning the process of issuing debt for the first time,” explained James Rickards, senior managing director for market intelligence and co-head of threat finance and market intelligence at Omnis, a leading consulting firm. “So what that means is the IMF is acting like a central bank because it’s leveraging its balance sheet,” he told The New American, saying SDRs could replace the dollar and become the international reserve currency in two to five years. And it’s already going on. “In terms of paper currency, a leveraged balance sheet, and the creation of liquidity out of thin air, the IMF is clearly the way they’re going because, as I said, they’ve already done it.... It’s not speculation, it’s actually happening,” he said, noting that the shift away from dollars has already started and would accelerate.

The IMF has indeed taken some extraordinary steps recently. Last year, for example, for the first time in the Fund’s history, it issued bonds denominated in SDRs. The Chinese regime promptly gobbled up $50 billion worth, with the IMF saying in a statement that the sale “offers China a safe investment instrument” and that it was part of a broader plan to “boost the Fund’s capacity to help its membership — particularly the developing and emerging market countries — weather the global financial crisis, and facilitate an early recovery of the global economy.” And of course, there’s still more.

“The other thing the IMF has done — not for the first time, really for the second time, but the first time in quite a large size — is to issue SDRs,” explained Rickards. “The IMF is issuing its own paper currency,” and, like all fiat currencies, it’s backed by nothing, Rickards said. “I view all of these as pilot programs. In other words, they’re kind of testing the plumbing.... Now the IMF is positioned to — in effect, and I think this is the plan — to become a global central bank which can issue its own currency called SDRs, leverage its balance sheet through borrowing, and then create assets by making loans and investing in securities, all under the auspices of the IMF executive committee, which is basically the same set of people as the G20.”

At recent G20 confabs, the centralization of the world’s monetary system has indeed been a hot topic. Headlines around the world announced — boldly and with good cause — the imminent arrival of a “new world order,” a global currency, a world central bank, and a planetary monetary-policy regime. The early 2009 G20 declaration, for example, said, “We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250 billion into the world economy and increase global liquidity.” In simpler terms, printing international fiat money.

Now, the regulatory regime is going global, too. And fast. The same G20 meeting also led to the Financial Stability Forum being transformed into the Financial Stability Board, usurping financial regulatory authority traditionally held by national central banks around the world. The new “board” is rapidly becoming a global financial regulator as its mandate expands to include overseeing action to address vulnerabilities in the financial system, setting guidelines, and even managing “contingency planning for cross-border crisis management.”

Media Support
No strategy for dramatic, unpopular change would be complete without a public media campaign. So, of course, among the prominent voices throwing their weight behind a global fiat currency and a global central bank are some of the most influential media outlets in the world. Already in 1988, The Economist wrote an article predicting a global currency within 30 years, saying, “This means a big loss of economic sovereignty, but the trends that make the [new hypothetical global currency] so appealing are taking that sovereignty away in any case.”

A decade later, the New York Times took up the issue with a piece from prominent CFR insider and global central bank promoter Jeffrey Garten calling for a “global Fed.” After praising the development of various unconstitutional institutions in the United States, most notably the Federal Reserve, Garten wrote, “The world needs an institution that has a hand on the economic rudder when the seas become stormy. It needs a global central bank.” Ten years after that, Garten penned a piece for the Financial Times, once again advocating “the establishment of a Global Monetary Authority.”

In a 2008 Newsweek article entitled “We Need a Bank of the World,” Garten claimed, “The financial crisis is global, and only an international central bank can deal with it.” The piece called for world leaders to “begin laying the groundwork for establishing a global central bank” because “the Fed no longer has the capability to lead singlehandedly.”

The year after that article, Garten was at it again, this time in Businessweek. “If critics could suspend the hyperventilating for a few minutes, they’d realize a global central bank is becoming a necessity in today’s complex, interconnected world economy,” he wrote. The piece also cites Tim “TurboTax” Geithner, who said, “We need a common global solution to these markets, not separate regional solutions.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post ran a 2009 story praising the International Monetary Fund’s transformation into a bank of the world. “Bowing to a new economic world order, the IMF would grant fresh powers to the likes of China, India and Brazil. It would have vastly expanded authority to act as a global banker to governments rich and poor,” wrote Post staff writer Anthony Faiola. “And with more flexibility to effectively print its own money, it would have the ability to inject liquidity into global markets in a way once limited to major central banks.” The article also mentioned “the IMF’s transformation into a veritable United Nations for the global economy” and quoted various experts praising the developments.

Even the supposedly more free-market-friendly press in the United States has also backed the scheme. “World money, with a world central bank, seems a next logical step,” wrote Wall Street Journal editor emeritus Robert Bartley in a 2003 opinion piece for the newspaper. “A world money would be an extraordinary boon to international stability.” He was writing from Mundell’s monetary conference at his castle in Italy.

The world elite is on a mission. Its plan to impose a global fiat monetary regime on humanity is well under way. And if serious resistance is not mounted soon, the new world monetary order could be just around the corner.

www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/economy/economics-mainmenu-44/4591-waking-up-to-a-world-currency

[sandi66]

Updated Wednesday, September 15, 2010 9:09 pm TWN, Reuters

US House lawmakers urge action on China currency

WASHINGTON--Ninety-three U.S. lawmakers have signed a letter urging Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives to schedule a vote on a bill to get tough with China over its currency exchange rate practices, a lawmaker's office said on Monday.
Many members of Congress believe China undervalues its currency by as much as 40 percent to give Chinese companies an unfair price advantage in world trade.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.6 percent and the U.S. trade deficit with China rising rapidly again this year, House Democratic leaders have come under growing pressure to address the concern.

“So far we have 93 members signed on to the letter,” a spokeswoman for Representative Tim Ryan told Reuters in an e-mail ahead of congressional hearings this Wednesday and Thursday to examine what action if any the United States should take to deal with China's exchange rate policies.

Ryan is the lead Democratic sponsor of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which the lawmakers said in their letter would allow the U.S. Commerce Department to impose countervailing and anti-dumping duties on “injurious imports from any country that persistently undervalues its currency.”

He will testify on the bill on Wednesday, when the House Ways and Means Committees kicks off the first of two days of hearings on China's currency practices.

The panel will also hear from three other House lawmakers, as well as Leo Gerard, the president of the United Steelworkers union; Dan DiMicco, president of Nucor Corp, a top US steel producer; and several trade policy experts.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will testify before both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee on China's currency.

Geithner and President Barack Obama have disappointed many in Congress by failing to formally label China a currency manipulator in three semi-annual Treasury Department reports since they Obama office in January 2009.

Lawmakers are expected to grill the Treasury chief on what the administration will say in the next report due on Oct. 15 and whether it supports legislation to deal with the issue.

The yuan's appreciation has quickened in recent days, a move some analysts see as an effort by Beijing to calm the political waters in Congress.

However, it has still risen less than 1 percent since China loosened a peg to the dollar in June.

Lawmakers often circulate a letter to persuade the leadership to schedule a vote on a bill.

A Democratic aide said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still has not decided whether to set a vote on the bill, which is expected to irritate Beijing if it becomes law.

www.chinapost.com.tw/business/americas/2010/09/15/272507/US-House.htm

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US lawmakers to target China, grill Geithner

By Olivier Knox (AFP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Facing November elections shaped by voter anger at the sour economy, US lawmakers this week will grill US Treasury chief Timothy Geithner on what they charge are China's unfair trade practices.

Key Senate and House of Representatives committees are weighing bills to impose retaliatory measures against Chinese goods amid accusations that Beijing keeps its currency -- and thereby its exports -- artificially cheap.

Other bitter US congressional complaints center on Beijing turning a blind eye to rampant intellectual property theft, and its "indigenous innovation" practice of buying key products from domestic producers.

The White House's Democratic allies have expressed frustration with both China and US President Barack Obama's administration, and warned that lawmakers may be forced to act unless Washington wrings some concessions from Beijing.

The House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes and trade, was to grill Geithner on Thursday after a hearing one day earlier featuring executives and the head of the United Steelworkers union, Leo Gerard.

"American workers, communities and industry have every right to expect their government to take action. It is long, long overdue," Gerard said ahead of the hearing.

Democratic Representative Sander Levin, the panel's chairman, has said it is "vital" to get Geithner's input on "how best to proceed" on the currency front.

"There is no real question that China's deliberately undervalued exchange rate is unfair, contributes to global trade imbalances, and costs the United States jobs and economic growth," according to Levin.

Geithner on Thursday will also go before the Senate Banking Committee, where at least one member, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, has blasted the Obama administration for not formally finding that China manipulates its currency.

China has called such charges "groundless," and the US Commerce Department released a report in late August that it found insufficient evidence to probe allegations that the undervalued yuan constitutes a state subsidy.

"Once again, even when the opportunity is thrust into its hands, the administration has refused to take action," Schumer said in response to the findings.

The hearings come with Obama poised to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, after a parade of US officials visited Beijing over the past few weeks to press Washington's case on intellectual property and currency.

China pledged in June to let the yuan trade more freely against the dollar, but Geithner has reiterated that he is still not satisfied with Beijing's moves to loosen its grip on the currency.

So far, it has appreciated about one percent against the greenback.

US lawmakers have been pressing for legislation that would require the US Commerce Department to apply punitive sanctions against China and other countries with allegedly undervalued currencies.

Other congressional proposals include stripping China of permanent normal trade relations status with the United States, which Congress granted in late 2000 to pave the way for Beijing to join the World Trade Organization.

Even spurred by the economy and the election, it was not clear whether US lawmakers would ultimately take formal action against China, whose help Washington wants on issues like the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

"We'll continue to push. I hope something can be done but I'm not holding my breath," said Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan, who was to lead a September 22 hearing focused on intellectual property theft in China.

Lawmakers were also to question a top official with the Motion Picture Association of America, which has expressed anger at widespread Chinese piracy of Hollywood films.

www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gcQCWuT9gKyBsIf-wLFnKryNX3Ow

[sandi66]

Soros, Spitzer Flay Greedy Financiers, D.C. Cowards in 'Inside Job': Film

By Rick Warner -

Sep 15, 2010 12:01 AM ET

Filmmaker Charles Ferguson doesn’t see much difference between bank robbers and the Wall Street titans whose greed triggered the financial crisis.

“They’re both criminals,” says Ferguson, whose “Inside Job” documentary outlines the causes of the economic meltdown that cost millions of Americans their jobs. “It’s just that the financial people stole a lot more money and they haven’t been prosecuted.”

Narrated by actor Matt Damon, the movie features interviews with economists, politicians, journalists and Wall Street executives. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, billionaire investor/philanthropist George Soros and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker are among those who blame deregulation and corporate flimflams for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Ferguson, 55, who received an Oscar nomination for his Iraq War documentary, “No End in Sight,” spoke about his new movie at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before becoming a movie director, he founded a software company and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Warner: Congress recently passed a financial-reform bill. Do you think it will prevent another economic meltdown?

‘Weak Law’

Ferguson: No. It’s an extraordinarily weak law. Most of the provisions don’t change anything. They establish committees to study the problem for up to two years. We don’t need another two years to know what happened and to figure out what to do about it.

Warner: You say the crisis was completely avoidable.

Ferguson: We know it was because many other countries, especially in Europe and Asia, avoided it. And that’s because they had stronger regulatory systems and their banks behaved in a more prudent way.

Warner: What role did deregulation play?

Ferguson: A huge one. We had a 40-year-period in the United States where we didn’t have a financial crisis. Then financial deregulation started in the 1980s and we began to have these crises.

Warner: Are you satisfied with the way the Obama administration has dealt with the problem?

Ferguson: I’m very disappointed with the president. His economic team includes a lot of people who were responsible for causing this mess in the first place. Plus, there’s been no serious investigation or prosecution of the crimes that were committed.

Blame Obama

Warner: A lot of Americans seem to blame the government more than Wall Street. Isn’t their anger misdirected?

Ferguson: I think the American people are angry, and when you’re angry you usually look for a scapegoat. Since most people are more familiar with the government than they are with Wall Street, that’s who they consider the bad guy.

Warner: Wall Street has gone right back to handing out these huge bonuses. How is that possible?

Ferguson: That’s one of the major problems with the financial-reform bill. It doesn’t seriously address the problem of executive compensation.

Warner: None of the top executives whose companies were implicated in the subprime-mortgage debacle or these other dubious financial practices agreed to be interviewed on camera. What does that tell you?

No Comment

Ferguson: It tells me they are intelligent men who know that they have a lot to hide. It also tells me that they don’t want to face tough questions from someone who has done his research.

“Inside Job,” from Sony Pictures Classics, will be released Oct. 8 in New York and Oct. 15 in Los Angeles.

(Rick Warner is the movie critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own. This interview was adapted from a longer conversation.)

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/soros-spitzer-flay-greedy-financiers-d-c-cowards-in-inside-job-film.html

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Naked Short-Sellers, Derivatives Traders Face European Union Restrictions
By Ben Moshinsky - Sep 15, 2010 5:45 AM ET

Naked short-sales of shares and government bonds would be limited and some over-the-counter derivatives trades forced through clearinghouses, under European Commission proposals to safeguard financial markets.

Frequent traders of some OTC derivatives in Europe will be forced to use central clearinghouses to close sales, while naked short-sellers would be required to submit proof they can access the underlying security to settle a trade designed to profit from falling prices, under two separate initiatives announced in Brussels today.

“In distressed markets, short selling can amplify price falls, leading to disorderly markets and systemic risks,” Michel Barnier, the European Union’s financial services commissioner, said in an e-mailed statement.

The rules on short-selling would bring the EU closer to the stance taken by Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel banned some naked short-selling in May. Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy argued that some bets against stocks and government bonds should be banned as the Greek debt crisis made markets more volatile.

The EU bill on derivatives clearing is part of a package of laws to strengthen regulation following the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The plan is aimed at limiting losses in the event of a default by a major counterparty.

‘Wild West’

“No financial market can afford to remain a Wild-West territory,” Barnier said. “OTC derivatives have a big impact on the real economy, from mortgages to food prices.”

The commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation EU, announced the proposals for discussion by the European Parliament and member states. U.S. and European regulators are pushing for tighter oversight of the $605 trillion over-the- counter derivatives market.

The proposed law on short-selling would require traders to notify authorities of any short position exceeding 0.2 percent of issued capital, and tell the market of positions exceeding 0.5 percent.

The rules also give regulators emergency powers to require more disclosure or temporarily ban short selling and credit- default swaps.

‘Therapeutic Effect’

“These proposals will have a very therapeutic effect,” said Michael Greenberger, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, said in a telephone interview earlier this week. “The problems speculators pose in markets far outweigh concerns about liquidity and financial costs. We have had too many systems without costs that have had a calamitous effect on our financial system.”

In the U.S., regulators and Congress rejected a proposed ban on naked swaps last year, with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank saying “there was concern that a broad grant to ban abusive swaps would be unsettling,” and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner saying he doesn’t think such a measure would have merit.

Short sellers borrow assets and sell them, betting the price will fall, buying them later and pocketing the difference. In naked short-selling, traders never borrow the assets, so betting is unlimited.

Credit-default swaps are derivatives that pay the buyer face value if a borrower -- a country or a company -- defaults. In exchange, the swap seller gets the underlying securities or the cash equivalent. Traders in naked credit-default swaps buy insurance on bonds they don’t own.

Data Bank

The rules on OTC derivatives would force traders to record contracts with a central data bank known as a trade repository, and hand powers to European regulators to decide what type of derivatives must be cleared by a central counterparty.

A derivative is a contract between two parties linked to the future value or status of the underlying asset to which it refers, such as the development of interest rates or of a currency. An OTC derivative is one privately negotiated between two parties, rather than being traded on an exchange.

Clearinghouses operate as central counterparties for every buy and sell order executed by their members, who post collateral, reducing the risk that a trader defaults on a deal.



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/naked-short-sellers-derivatives-traders-face-european-union-restrictions.html

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China Said to Consider 15% Capital Ratio for Biggest Lenders
By Bloomberg News - Sep 15, 2010 5:03 AM ET

China’s banking regulator may require the nation’s biggest lenders to boost their capital adequacy ratios to as high as 15 percent by the end of 2012, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The regulator is drafting a plan that would call for a Tier 1 capital ratio of 8 percent, with the overall capital adequacy ratio set at 10 percent, the person said. China would also require a buffer of up to 4 percent on top of that to protect lenders against economic fluctuations, plus another 1 percent cushion for “systemically important” banks, said the person.

China’s rules would be stricter than capital requirements announced Sept. 12 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in response to the global financial crisis. The country has moved to rein in risk-taking among banks this year after last year’s record $1.4 trillion of new loans fanned concerns about the financial system’s ability to withstand future stress.

“This is quite onerous and I’m surprised they are going this far,” said Michael Werner, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. “Given the risks, maybe they feel they’d rather be erring on the conservative side.”

The China Banking Regulatory Commission’s plan would require lenders to have common equity equal to at least 6 percent of risk-weighted assets, the person said, declining to be identified as no announcement has been made.

Fundraising

Banks deemed systemically important should meet the new standard by 2012, while other lenders have until 2016, said the person.

Chinese lenders have announced plans to raise more than a combined $84 billion from equity sales since the beginning of 2010. The biggest banks are currently subject to a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 11.5 percent, while the requirement for other publicly traded lenders is 10 percent or more.

Domestic lenders had an average capital adequacy ratio of 11 percent as of June 30, with the Tier 1 ratio standing at 9 percent, according to the CBRC.

Should the CBRC impose the full 4 percent of additional capital for economic swings, banks would likely be forced into another round of fundraising, said Li Shanshan, a Beijing-based analyst at BoCom International Ltd.

“Even a two percent increase could mean a few hundred billion yuan” of capital shortage, Li said.

Basel Rules

The new Basel rules require banks to have a 4.5 percent common equity within five years, and to add an additional 2.5 percent buffer by Jan. 1, 2019. The Tier 1 capital requirement was set at 6 percent. Tier 1 capital, whose definition has been narrowed by the Basel committee, includes common equity and perpetual preferred stock.

Banks are currently required to have common equity equal to 2 percent of total assets and 4 percent Tier 1 capital.

Chinese systemically important banks also need to maintain loan-loss reserves equivalent to at least 2.5 percent of total lending by 2012, while other banks should comply by 2016, according to the person.

A CBRC press official, who declined to be identified citing agency policy, wasn’t immediately able to comment.



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/china-said-to-weigh-15-capital-ratio-for-systemically-important-lenders.html

[sandi66]

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Credit Suisse Adds Heft in Hedge Fund as Rivals Exit

BY JENNY STRASBURG
Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to take a stake in New York hedge fund York Capital Management, moving deeper into the hedge-fund business while other banks exit from it.

The $425 million deal will give Credit Suisse a 30% stake in York, people familiar with the terms said. The hedge-fund firm, with $14 billion in assets, was founded 19 years ago by ex-Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. investment banker James Dinan.

The deal, announced Tuesday, runs contrary to moves by many of Credit Suisse's rivals, which have divested themselves of businesses after the enactment of new regulation that discourages banks ...


online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703376504575491962889003330.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

[sandi66]

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Outlook Clouds Fed Move - Officials Disagree Over Threshold for Further Action to Boost Economy

Federal Reserve officials differ on the question of how weak the economic outlook should get before they move to take major steps to boost growth, such as resuming purchases of long-term bonds. With no consensus on the threshold for action, officials are unlikely to launch any new bond-buying effort at their Sept. 21 meeting.

The latest government report was mildly encouraging: Retail sales increased 0.4% in August from the prior month, after rising 0.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, in a sign consumer spending is growing at a sustainable clip.

Federal Reserve officials differ on the question of how weak the economic outlook should get before they move to take major steps to boost growth, such as resuming purchases of long-term bonds. With no consensus on the threshold for action, officials are unlikely to launch any new bond-buying effort at their Sept. 21 meeting.

The latest government report was mildly encouraging: Retail sales increased 0.4% in August from the prior month, after rising 0.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, in a sign consumer spending is growing at a sustainable clip.

Federal Reserve officials differ on the question of how weak the economic outlook should get before they move to take major steps to boost growth, such as resuming purchases of long-term bonds. With no consensus on the threshold for action, officials are unlikely to launch any new bond-buying effort at their Sept. 21 meeting.

The latest government report was mildly encouraging: Retail sales increased 0.4% in August from the prior month, after rising 0.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, in a sign consumer spending is growing at a sustainable clip.

Weak consumer spending and high unemployment have hobbled the recovery and prompted fears in some quarters the U.S. could slip back into recession. The fears have eased recently with several better-than-expected economic reports.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is still weighing different views on what threshold of economic weakness should prompt further action, such as resuming a bond-purchasing program. The point of buying bonds is to drive down long-term interest rates and encourage more private borrowing, and thus economic growth.

The central bank has already pushed short-term interest rates to near zero, but growth remains slow, unemployment high and inflation lower than the Fed prefers.

Although the Fed can't cut short-term rates below zero, it can push long-term rates lower by buying bonds, which tends to push their prices upward and their yields down. Among monetary-policy specialists, this is known as "quantitative easing."

The Fed undertook a big bond-buying program last year and early this year, through March 31. It now is considering whether to restart that program, in what some dub quantitative easing II, or QE II.

Right now, the Fed is holding its bond portfolio at a constant level. Mr. Bernanke has avoided laying out specifically what would prompt the Fed to increase that portfolio by restarting the bond-buying program.

Members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee are split.

Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, says, "If the growth numbers come in about where the consensus forecast is, and we continue to get inflation between 1% and 2%, I don't believe I would see a need for further stimulus."

He is part of a vocal group who are reluctant to expand the Fed's current $2.3-trillion portfolio of securities and loans.

The group—including presidents of the Kansas City and Philadelphia Fed banks, Thomas Hoenig and Charles Plosser, among others—doubts new purchases would help growth and fears they could cause inflation later by expanding the money supply too much.

That's because when the Fed buys bonds, it essentially creates the money to do so, expanding the number of dollars in existence.

Mr. Lacker says it would take a real risk of broadly falling consumer prices, known as deflation, to justify more action.

Other Fed officials have much lower thresholds. One camp argues that with the 9.6% unemployment rate far above the Fed's long-run objective of 5% to 6%—and inflation at the low end of its preferred 1.5% to 2% range—there already is reason to act to spur recovery.

Among presidents of the Fed banks, Janet Yellen of San Francisco and Eric Rosengren of Boston likely would support a decision to buy more bonds.

Many officials are between the "avoid acting" and "act now" positions. One view gaining currency is that the Fed should restart the bond-buying program simply if the economy fails to improve soon.

Tuesday's retail-sales numbers suggested the consumer sector is holding up, although not growing briskly. Thanks in part to back-to-school shopping, sales at clothing stores climbed 1.2% in August from July. Spending at department stores, grocery stores and gas stations also rose.

But shoppers have been made hesitant by high unemployment and soft home prices. This hit big-ticket items in August. Sales were down at auto dealers, furniture stores and appliance retailers.

Mr. Bernanke has laid out broad markers for his threshold for further Fed action. In an August speech, he said the Fed would be "proactive in addressing significant further disinflation," or a slowing of the rate of inflation, suggesting this could spur him to act.

He added the Fed would act to avoid "a further significant weakening in the economic outlook," suggesting that continued subpar growth also could be a trigger.

The Fed has another meeting Nov. 2 and 3, which could be an important decision point. Fed officials are due to update their own economic forecasts then. An official downgrade to an already disappointing outlook for 2011 could create more pressure to act.

The Fed in June projected the unemployment rate would fall to between 8.3% and 8.7% by the end of 2011. Private forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month see the jobless rate at 8.9% then.

"A lack of progress toward lower levels of unemployment would be a reason to give serious consideration to additional action," said Donald Kohn, who retired this month as vice chairman of the Fed and now is at the Brookings Institution. He said he was speaking for himself, not the Fed.

Fed officials next Tuesday could use their post-meeting statement to signal a willingness to restart bond-buying if conditions warrant.

They also are considering how to structure a bond-buying program if needed. It could look different from the one the Fed announced in March 2009, when it set out to buy $1.7 trillion of Treasury bonds and mortgage debt.

Announcing a massive program is known by insiders as the "shock and awe" strategy.

A new round could be smaller-scale at first and adjusted as the recovery unfolds, an approach advocated by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.

"I don't think you need the shock and awe," said Mr. Kohn. He envisions the Fed making smaller purchases and signaling it might do more, depending on growth and inflation.

The expectation of more purchases if the economy fails to improve could help keep long-term interest rates low, he says.

Conversely, the Fed then could stop buying or sell securities if the economy improves.

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704285104575491813115042140.html?mod=WSJ_business_LeftSecondHighlights

[sandi66]

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010, 8:11 A.M. ET

BEFORE THE BELL: US Stock Futures Down As Dollar Rebounds Vs Yen

By Simon Kennedy

U.S. stock-market futures were tending lower Wednesday ahead of data on import prices and industrial production, while the dollar rebounded against the yen after Japan intervened in currency markets.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25 points to 10438, while those of the S&P 500 index dropped 3.5 points to 1112.30. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 were off 0.5 point at 1922.

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Tuesday, halting a four-session winning streak, as investors eyed the latest U.S. retail-sales figures and some disappointing data from Germany. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down around 18 points.

The dollar was up 2.6% against the Japanese currency at 85.237 yen Wednesday after Japanese authorities publicly intervened in currency markets for the first time since 2004.

The intervention was aimed at stemming the rise of the yen, which had earlier hit its highest level in more than 15 years and has been an increasing concern for exporters in the country.

The Finance Ministry and Bank of Japan were continuing to intervene in markets intermittently, according to reports Wednesday.

The dollar was little changed against other currencies, with the euro falling 0.2% to $1.29697.

On the data front Wednesday, 8:30 a.m., EDT, will see the release of the September Empire State Index as well as data on import prices for August. Figures on August industrial production are due at 9:15 a.m., EDT.

Among companies in focus, Boeing Co. (BA) said it expected the World Trade Organization to rule Wednesday in a case the European Union brought in 2006, alleging that the U.S. government was subsidizing the Chicago aerospace giant.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the WTO is likely to rule that Boeing received improper government subsidies. That could prompt talks between Boeing and the Airbus unit of France's European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. (EAD.FR, EPAR) to settle the question of subsidies, the report added.

Shares in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) fell more than 4% in premarket trading after the company late Tuesday announced plans for a simultaneous offering of stock and bonds.

Savient Pharmaceuticals (SVNTE) shares were another big mover, jumping 22% in premarket trades after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Savient drug Krystexxa for the treatment of gout in adults.

In international markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 Average surged 2.3% after the intervention in currency markets, while most major European indexes were lower, with the French CAC 40 dropping 0.4%.

online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100915-706060.html

[sandi66]

Greenspan Says Fiscal Stimulus Has Been Less Effective Than Anticipated

Sep 15, 2010 8:20 AM ET

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said deficit spending by the federal government hasn’t been as effective at stimulating the economy as expected.

“I’m not saying the stimulus is not working, I’m saying it’s working far less than anyone anticipated,” Greenspan said today at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“We have to find a way to settle down the extent of activism that is currently going on and allow this economy to heal,” Greenspan said, who said the low level of investment relative to savings signals a lack of confidence in the economy.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/greenspan-says-fiscal-stimulus-has-been-less-effective-than-anticipated.html

[sandi66]

Soros Insider-Trading Case to Be Reviewed by European Human-Rights Court

By Heather Smith - Sep 15, 2010 8:35 AM ET

Billionaire investor George Soros won a bid to have the European Court of Human Rights review his French insider-trading conviction from 2002, one of his lawyers said today.

The court notified Soros it will rule on the complaint without a hearing, based on submissions by the parties, Ron Soffer, a Paris-based attorney working with London lawyer Anthony Lester on the complaint, said in a telephone interview today.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/soros-insider-trading-case-to-be-reviewed-by-european-human-rights-court.html

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Citigroup, Lehman, Wells Fargo, Calpers, Morgan Stanley in Court News
By Ellen Rosen and Elizabeth Amon - Sep 15, 2010 8:30 AM ET

Citigroup Inc. must face a trial set for Oct. 18 over claims it tricked private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. into overpaying for EMI Group Ltd. in 2007, a U.S. judge ruled.

Citigroup had asked U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan to dismiss Terra Firma’s lawsuit. The private equity firm alleges in its complaint that it was misled by New York- based Citigroup into believing that Cerberus Capital Management LP was also bidding for the music recording and publishing company.

Rakoff dismissed two of Terra Firma’s claims while rejecting Citigroup’s bid to dismiss allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment, according to a copy of yesterday’s order provided by Terra Firma. The ruling wasn’t yet available on the court’s website. The judge said he will issue a more detailed opinion explaining the ruling “in due course.”

Citigroup argued there was no evidence that David Wormsley, one of its bankers, knew Cerberus wasn’t planning to bid when, according to Terra Firma, he told the buyout firm’s principal, Guy Hands, that Cerberus would bid 2.62 pounds ($4.07) a share for EMI.

“We are pleased that Judge Rakoff has rejected Citi’s attempt to avoid a trial on both of Terra Firma’s fraud claims,” Jonathan Doorley, a spokesman for London-based Terra Firma, said in an e-mailed statement. “We look forward to the beginning of the trial on Oct. 18, when Citi will have to answer to a group of New York jurors.”

Shannon Bell, a Citigroup spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment after regular business hours yesterday.

The case is Terra Firma v. Citigroup, 09-cv-10459, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Lawsuits

Lehman Brothers Defies Bankruptcy to Become a Business Again

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is a business again two years after declaring the biggest bankruptcy in history, with billions of dollars in cash, 500 employees, real estate and investments in other bankruptcies, Bloomberg’s Linda Sandler and David McLaughlin report.

The defunct New York-based investment bank, being run by Bryan Marsal, has almost $20 billion in cash and a monthly payroll of as much as $45 million for managers and advisers. Hard-to-sell investments are being managed by 400 employees, and the firm is spending tens of millions of dollars on litigation set to stretch to at least 2012.

Lehman’s strategy is unusual for a bankrupt company that’s liquidating. Marsal, 59, is betting that he’ll raise twice as much by holding Lehman’s worst-performing investments as he would by conducting a fire sale.

“The liquidating estate is acting like an ongoing investment concern,” said Lawrence A. Larose, a lawyer with Winston & Strawn LLP’s financial-restructuring practice in New York. “It’s trying to slowly extricate itself from these billions of dollars of investments around the world.”

Marsal is not only pouring cash into distressed assets he inherited. He spent $1.4 billion to buy a bankrupt affiliate’s loans on a bet he could sell them at a profit.

Creditors haven’t pushed Marsal to “dump these assets into a very questionable market,” Larose said.

Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, with assets of $639 billion, foundered on Sept. 15, 2008, because of risky real estate bets and too much debt, which it tried to hide from investors, according to a report by examiner Anton Valukas.

The case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

For more, click here.

Court Rulings

Judge Says Obama Health Suit Will Probably Proceed

A legal challenge to the health-care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama will “probably” be allowed to proceed, a federal judge in Florida said.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola said yesterday he will make a decision by Oct. 14 on whether the states have jurisdiction to sue. He told lawyers he would probably dismiss part of the suit, while allowing other claims to proceed.

“The states are left almost powerless to affect Congress,” Vinson said. “It’s enforced upon them whether they like it or not.”

The states allege the government’s requirement that people buy health insurance exceeds Congress’s powers under the Constitution, while the U.S. counters that provision is allowed under its commerce powers because of the billions of dollars a year in unpaid medical bills absorbed by the market each year.

The Justice Department claims the lawsuit is premature and fails to identify any injury the states have suffered.

Any injuries to state budgets fall short of the imminent harm required to bring a claim, the U.S. argued before Vinson.

With at least part of the case surviving yesterday’s hearing, Vinson scheduled further arguments for Dec. 16.

A federal judge in Richmond, Virginia, last month allowed a similar lawsuit brought by that state to proceed, rejecting the federal government’s motion to dismiss the claim. He scheduled an Oct. 18 hearing for further arguments.

The case is State of Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 10-cv-00091, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola).

For more, click here.

Wells Fargo Wins Baltimore Foreclosure Suit Dismissal

Wells Fargo & Co. for the second time won dismissal of a lawsuit by Baltimore claiming its lending practices discriminated against black borrowers and led to foreclosures that harmed the city.

U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz yesterday dismissed the city’s amended complaint, saying it failed to establish a causal connection between decreases in property tax revenue and its allegation that Wells Fargo steered borrowers who were qualified for prime loans to more expensive subprime loans.

Motz allowed the city until Oct. 22 to file a third amended complaint to address this issue.

“Theoretically, the city does have viable claims if it can prove property specific injuries inflicted upon it at properties that would not have been vacant but for improper loans made by Wells Fargo,” Motz said. “It is in the interest of justice that the city be granted leave to file a third amended complaint.”

Wells Fargo said in a statement that the challenges Baltimore faces can’t be attributed to the small number of loans in the city foreclosed on by the bank.

John Relman, a Washington lawyer representing the city, didn’t return a call seeking comment after regular business hours.

Baltimore sued Wells Fargo in 2008, accusing it of “reverse redlining” by targeting black borrowers though loans they couldn’t afford. That led to foreclosures, a drop in city tax revenue and increased costs for police to fight crime in neighborhoods with vacant homes, the city said.

The case is Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A., 08-00062, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland (Baltimore).

Pennsylvania Fund Manager Liable for Securities Fraud

A Pennsylvania hedge-fund manager committed securities fraud by misrepresenting his holdings when doing trades in two companies conducting private placements of their shares, a federal judge ruled.

Robert A. Berlacher misrepresented his positions when he signed agreements for the private placements, U.S. District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg in Philadelphia found. Berlacher was accused of securities fraud in a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Goldberg, who held a three-day nonjury trial in March, ruled in Berlacher’s favor on other claims.

“The SEC has not sustained its burden of proof on the insider-trading count and two of the fraud claims,” the judge wrote in his ruling yesterday. “The SEC has met its burden on two separate fraud claims.”

The SEC said Berlacher, 56, made $680,000 in ill-gotten gains trading in four companies’ shares in 2004 and 2005 before the so-called private investment in public equity, or PIPE, issues were publicly known.

Nicolas Morgan, a lawyer for Berlacher at DLA Piper LLP in Los Angeles, said in an e-mailed statement that he was pleased that the decision “rejects the lion’s share of the SEC’s claims and its overreaching attempt to mischaracterize certain conduct as a violation of federal law.” He called the decision a “strike out” for the SEC.

Berlacher’s case stemmed from a probe by the federal government into hedge funds that short-sold the stock of companies after learning, before the public, that they would issue PIPE shares.

PIPEs, issued by companies to raise money quickly, are typically sold for less than market prices and often drive down the price of the publicly traded shares.

The SEC attacked the hedge funds’ practice of covering their short positions with the cheaper shares they got in the PIPE issues, almost guaranteeing a profit.

In yesterday’s ruling, Goldberg found fraud with regard to only two deals by Berlacher. The judge ordered the Villanova, Pennsylvania, resident to surrender profits of $352,364. He declined to impose penalties or interest. The commission sought potential money remedies totaling $1.5 million, Morgan said.

“We are pleased with the ruling, which finds that Mr. Berlacher committed securities fraud and orders him to disgorge more than $350,000 of illicit gains that he obtained as a result of his misconduct,” Julie Riewe, assistant director of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, said in an e- mailed statement.

The case is SEC v. Berlacher, 07-cv-03800, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).

For more, click here.

California Suit Against Ex-Calpers Official Villalobos Blocked

California’s influence-peddling lawsuit against a former board member of the state’s public pension fund was put on hold by a federal bankruptcy judge.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown lost his bid to proceed with a lawsuit against Alfred Villalobos, a former California Public Employees’ Retirement board member, while Villalobos is seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors, according to a ruling yesterday by Judge John Peterson of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nevada.

“We are disappointed with the decision and intend to appeal it,” Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for Brown’s office in Sacramento, said yesterday in an e-mail.

Villalobos was a Calpers board member from 1993 to 1995 who later became a so-called placement agent, a private middleman hired by money managers to help win investing assignments from pension funds. Brown accused Villalobos in May of trying to improperly influence Calpers personnel to favor Apollo Global Management LLC and other private-equity clients. Villalobos has denied any wrongdoing.

Brown’s lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, sought $95 million in civil penalties. Villalobos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June. Under bankruptcy law, all litigation against a company or person who seeks protection is put on hold while the case is pending. A judge can grant a request to allow claims to proceed outside bankruptcy court in some circumstances.

The state also sued Federico Buenrostro Jr., a former Calpers chief executive officer who left the fund in June 2008 to work for Villalobos. Buenrostro was accused of taking gifts from Villalobos and using the agent’s Lake Tahoe mansion for his 2004 wedding. Buenrostro also has denied wrongdoing.

Brown’s lawsuit stemmed from federal and state investigations into influence-peddling for access to the $2 trillion in U.S. public retirement funds.

The case is In re Alfred J.R. Villalobos, BK-N-10-52248, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Nevada (Reno).

Madoff Trustee Picard Wins Court Approval of $34.6 Million Fee

Irving Picard, the lawyer in charge of liquidating con man Bernard Madoff’s firm, won court approval of his request for $34.6 million in fees for four months of work.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan approved the interim fee request for Picard and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP, at a court hearing yesterday, Picard said in an e-mailed statement. The fees covered work from February through May.

“Judge Lifland said that, as required by the Securities Investor Protection Act, he was approving the interim fee requests of the trustee, his counsel and special counsel,” Picard said.

Picard was appointed to recover money for Madoff’s victims. He said the fees in the case are paid by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. and don’t reduce the amount of money available to pay Madoff’s creditors.

Madoff pleaded guilty to running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. He is serving a 150-year prison term in a federal prison in North Carolina.

The case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-01789, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

For the latest new suits news, click here. For copies of recent civil complaints, click here.

Verdicts/Pleas

DHB Ex-Chief Guilty of Fraud at Military Contractor

David Brooks, a founder and former chief executive officer of military contractor DHB Industries Inc., was found guilty of committing a $185 million fraud and looting the company to pay for personal expenses.

Brooks, 55, and former Chief Operating Officer Sandra Hatfield, 56, were convicted yesterday of insider trading, fraud and obstruction of justice in manipulating financial records to increase DHB’s reported earnings and profits, according to Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. Brooks was also convicted of lying to auditors.

“Corporate executives who lie to and steal from their employers -- the shareholders -- put the investing public at grave financial risk,” Lynch said in a statement yesterday.

DHB, now called Point Blank Solutions Inc., makes body armor for the military and police. It filed for bankruptcy protection on April 14. Brooks and Hatfield lied about inventory of “Interceptor” combat vests that were shipped to the U.S. armed forces and falsely inflated the company’s value and their own stock, the government said.

Brooks and Hatfield face as much as 25 years in prison on the most serious counts of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and insider trading.

Kenneth W. Ravenell, a lawyer for Brooks, and Roland G. Riopelle, a lawyer for Hatfield, didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the verdicts.

The trial in federal court in Central Islip, New York, began with opening statements Jan. 25. The jury began deliberating Aug. 2.

Brooks earned $185 million in the scheme while Hatfield earned $5 million, according to prosecutors. Brooks spent company funds “lavishly” on perks and expenses for himself and his family, including purchases of a Bentley and a Ferrari and grooming of 100 purebred trotting horses, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Lunger told jurors in his opening statement.

The case is U.S. v. David Brooks and Sandra Hatfield, 06- CR-550, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Central Islip).

For more, click here.

New Jersey Woman Admits to Ponzi Scheme, U.S. Says

A New Jersey woman pleaded guilty to federal charges that she directed a $45 million real estate Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in New York and New Jersey, prosecutors said.

Antoinette Hodgson, 58, of Montclair, New Jersey, entered her plea yesterday to conspiracy and wire fraud in Manhattan federal court. Hodgson paid off early investors in her business with funds from later participants and spent some of their money on herself, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

“Hodgson promised investors high rates of return,” Bharara said. “Most of the $45 million she received from investors was immediately used to repay other investors.”

Hodgson used only about $6 million of the $45 million she received to buy real estate, prosecutors said. She was arrested in June.

Jack Arseneault, Hodgson’s lawyer, didn’t immediately return a call.

The case is U.S. v. Hodgson, 10-mj-01261, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

For the latest verdict and settlement news, click here.

Appeals

Lego Can’t Get EU-Wide Toy Trademark After Court Loss

Lego A/S, Europe’s biggest toymaker, lost a court challenge seeking European Union-wide trademark rights for the shape of its toy bricks.

The ruling by the EU’s highest court in Luxembourg yesterday puts an end to Lego’s chances to get a trademark to protect the shape of its building blocks in the region’s 27 nations. The dispute has its origins in 1999, when Billund, Denmark-based Lego won an EU trademark on the blocks’ shape which Mega Brands Inc., Lego’s biggest competitor in snap- together toys, then succeeded in overturning.

A shape such as Lego’s toy brick that “merely performs a technical function cannot be registered as a trademark,” the European Court of Justice ruled yesterday. “Such a registration would unduly impair the opportunity for competitors to place on the market goods whose shapes incorporate the same technical solution.”

Lego had claimed the knobs on top of its toy bricks make them “highly distinctive” and eligible for a trademark. The EU trademark agency said the toy can’t be protected because its shape serves a technical purpose, a decision backed by a lower EU court in 2008.

“It is naturally a matter of concern to us that use of the brick by others can dilute the trademark,” Peter Kjaer, head of Lego’s intellectual property department, said in a statement on the company’s website. “The worst aspect is that consumers will be misled.”

“Analyses show that 40 percent to 60 percent of shoppers believe they are buying a Lego product when in fact they are purchasing a different product,” said Kjaer.

Mega Brands, based in Montreal, Canada, said in a statement that the ruling “has no impact on Mega Brands’ extensive footprint” in the EU, because it confirms previous decisions by a lower court and the region’s trademark agency.

L’Oreal Heiress Gift Probe Can Continue, Appeals Court Says

L’Oreal SA heiress Liliane Bettencourt lost a bid to block an investigation into gifts worth 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) that she gave to a photographer friend.

The appeals court in Versailles, near Paris, said judge Isabelle Prevost-Desprez could continue the investigation. Prevost-Desprez suspended a trial over the gifts while she investigated secretly made recordings in the case.

The dispute pits France’s richest woman against her only child, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, over gifts including art, real estate and insurance policies given to photographer and author Francois-Marie Banier. The family battle spawned a French political scandal after the recordings of Bettencourt’s conversations with friends and advisers prompted inquiries into claims including campaign-finance law breaches tied to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.

The decision “is a victory for the independence of justice,” said Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Bettencourt Meyers, saying his client had renewed a request for an independent doctor to review her mother’s mental fitness.

Bettencourt will appeal the decision to France’s highest appeals court, according to her lawyer, Matthieu Boccon-Gibod.

“The court simply said that our appeal was not immediately admissible,” Boccon-Gibod said. “We find the decision debatable.”

New Suits

Adobe, Symantec Among Companies Sued by Uniloc Over Software

Symantec Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. were among 10 companies sued for patent infringement by Uniloc USA Inc., the business that’s been in a legal battle over anti-piracy technology with Microsoft Corp. since 2003.

Uniloc USA and Uniloc Singapore Ltd., which owns the patent, also sued CA Inc., National Instruments Corp., Pervasive Software Inc., SafeNet Inc. and its Aladdin Knowledge unit, Avid Technology Inc.’s Pinnacle Systems unit, Sonic Solutions Inc. and Onyx Graphics Inc. The complaint was filed yesterday in federal court in Tyler, Texas.

The company, with U.S. offices in Irvine, California, has sued 60 companies and reached licensing agreements with more than 20, Chief Executive Officer Brad Davis said in a telephone interview. Uniloc won a $388 million jury verdict in 2009 that Microsoft violated a patent related to product activation technology. The decision was later thrown out by a trial judge.

Uniloc is contesting the decision to vacate, and arguments were heard on the case by an appeals court on Sept. 7. In the complaint filed yesterday, Uniloc is seeking unspecified cash compensation and a court order that would block further use of its technology.

Adobe, Avid, CA, Symantec, Onyx and National Instruments declined to comment. Officials with the other companies targeted in Uniloc’s lawsuit didn’t immediately return messages.

The new case is Uniloc USA Inc. v. National Instruments Corp., 10cv472, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler).

Morgan Stanley Sued by China Development Over CDO Losses

Morgan Stanley was sued by China Development Industrial Bank for fraud to recover losses from an investment tied to residential mortgage-backed securities.

The complaint, filed in New York state Supreme Court on July 15, was made public yesterday. The Taiwanese bank claims Morgan Stanley made an investment linked to U.S. subprime mortgage bonds in mid-2006 and, after learning of problems with it, “dumped those losses” on CDIB in April 2007.CDIB claims it was sold a $275 million interest in what Morgan Stanley called the STACK 2006-1 Ltd., a hybrid collateralized debt obligation. CDOs are pools of assets such as mortgage bonds packaged into new securities.

“Morgan Stanley structured and sold CDIB a security that was a house of cards built on a shoddy foundation of fraudulently manipulated credit ratings,” Samuel Rudman of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, lead counsel for CDIB, said in a statement.

“We believe these allegations are wholly without merit,” Mark Lake, a spokesman for New York-based Morgan Stanley, said in a telephone interview. “We intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”

The case is China Development v. Morgan Stanley, 65057/2010, New York state Supreme Court (Manhattan).



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/health-care-calpers-madoff-morgan-stanley-in-court-news.html

[sandi66]

Formation of a new Iraqi government granted 9/15/10

Acceptance of regional and international scenario for the formation of a new Iraqi government granted the presidency and the presidency of the national government and
parliament of the Kurdish

2010-09-15 09:56:59 2010-09-15 09:56:59

BAGHDAD (Iba) - with the multiplicity of negotiations between the parliamentary blocs, and the lack of a clear-cut solutions on the formation of the new government so far, although more than six months after elections, sources revealed on the link close to the deliberations of the political blocs, the existence of a new scenario to get out of crisis with the support of internal and external scale.

The source said on condition of anonymity, told the independent press (Iba) that this scenario is acceptable to a regional, Arab and international and with the consent of the Iraqi List is based on supporting a candidate of the National Coalition Adel Abdul-Mahdi as the candidate of the National Coalition away from the National Alliance, with the approval right of the Iraqi constitutional and electoral systems with non-omission the importance and size of the block state law.

The source said that includes a new scenario for the Iraqi position against the President of the Republic to be prime minister of the Iraqi National Coalition and will be the Presidency of the parliament of the Kurdistan Alliance.

He also included a proposed project that there will be one Vice President of the Republic be a coalition of state law, that there would be three deputy prime ministers of Iraq, and state law, the Kurdistan Alliance.

As for the ministries of the sovereign, the official pointed to the source that the defense and interior ministers will be among the independents to run for the National Coalition first, while the run Iraqi II, will be foreign according to this scenario, the share of Iraq with reserves of the National Coalition Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the oil share of the Kurds.

According to this proposal also will get the Iraqi Ministries of 9 and compensation for waiving the post of prime minister as the electoral maturity, commensurate with its size in parliament.
The rest of the ministries, there will be 7 and the ministries of law of the state, and 4 of the National Coalition, and 4, the Kurdish Alliance, and 2 to the Accordance Front, and 1 for the unity of Iraq, the Ministry and one each from the Communist Party, Christians, Yazidis, and 2 Department of independents. The source noted that it is scheduled to be put this scenario in the new round of negotiations between the Iraqi and the Iraqi National Coalition to be put to other blocs later.

The Iraqi has announced the resumption of negotiations between them and the National Coalition Nmsheerp that the coalition has not yet written any project on the management of the state. (End)

dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32323-formation-of-a-new-iraqi-government-granted-91510/

[sandi66]

Maliki to form the government after the return of SLC delegation

September 15, 2010

Tuesday, September 14th 2010

Erbil, Sept. 14 (AKnews) – Official media sources in Syria said on Tuesday that a delegation from State of Law coalition (SLC) gave the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a letter from the outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, over the “bilateral relations between Syria and Iraq, and the importance of enhancing them in all fields to serve the interests of both countries.”

A delegation of SLC went since Monday to the Syrian capital of Damascus, to establish talks with Syrian President over the developments of the next government formation, which included the Minister of National Security Sherwan al-Waeeli, Hassan al-Seneed and Abbas al-Bayati.

The Syrian Prime Minister, Muhammad al-Otari called on Thursday Maliki and held with him talks over the political and security situation and the stages of government formation; they also discussed mechanisms to strengthen the relationship between Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian official news agency “SANA” said on its website, “The meeting discussed the developments related to the efforts of forming a new Iraqi government and the importance of the participation of all Iraqi components… Assad renewed Syria’s support for any agreement among the Iraqis on the basis of maintaining Iraq’s unity and sovereignty.”

The agency quoted members of the SLC delegation saying, “Talks still exists between the SLC, al-Iraqiya List and the Iraqi National Coalition (INC) to involve everyone in the government of national partnership,” pointing out that after the delegation’s return to Iraq, al-Maliki will study the government formation.”

The delegation members added that Iraq’s next government will be based on real national partnership and it will not exclude or marginalize any bloc or list, indicating that the coalition and al-Iraqiya led by Ayad Allawi, had held serious and genuine talks and that 80 percent of the papers exchanged by both sides were agreed upon.”

In the opinion of political observers, the Syrian Prime Minister’s initiative to contact Maliki is a shift in the Syrian attitude towards Maliki, whose candidacy for the PM post was met by Syria’s dissatisfaction; Maliki had actually held Syria responsible during the past years of supporting the dissolved Baath Party, accused of being at the origin of violence in Iraq.
Faleh al-Ziyadi, a member of the SLC told AKnews, “A delegation from the SLC will go to Damascus to meet the Syrian President, after the relations between both sides were strained over the post of prime minister, in which our coalition insisted to nominate Maliki. ”

The disputes between Baghdad and Damascus escalated after Wednesday bloody bombings on Aug. 19, 2009, which killed and wounded hundreds of civilians; Maliki accused publicly and for the first time the Syrian government of providing support for the Baath Party,Yunis al-Ahmad wing, accused of said bombings.

A number of Iraqi officials visited Syria during the past few months, including Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of Sadr Current, Ammar Hakim, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council, Ayad Allawi, leader of al-Iraqiya list, Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Iraqi Vice President and Ayad al-Samarrai, the leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front, as the importance of forming a new Iraqi government was confirmed to ensure the participation of all segments of the Iraqi people.

Reported by Saffa Khalaf

www.theiraqidinar.com/maliki-to-form-the-government-after-the-return-of-slc-delegation/

[sandi66]

U.S. Lodges WTO Complaints on China’s Payment-Processing, Steel


By Mark Drajem and Peter Eichenbaum


Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. filed two complaints against China at the World Trade Organization, as lawmakers stepped up pressure on the Obama administration to push China for an increase in the value of its currency.

One case concerns curbs on payment-processing companies such as MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. that are at a disadvantage because China favors a monopoly provider, China UnionPay Data Co., the U.S. trade office said yesterday in a statement. The second complaint is over dumping duties that China imposed on more than $200 million of U.S.-made steel products.

The Obama administration “is fighting for the American jobs threatened by China’s actions, and insisting on the level playing field promised in our WTO commitments,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in the statement.

President Barack Obama is under pressure from Congress to take more action against China on trade and currency. Lawmakers held a hearing yesterday to discuss legislation aimed at getting China to raise the value of its currency, the yuan. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is scheduled to appear today before two congressional panels where lawmakers will press him on China.

The filing of the complaints yesterday wasn’t related to pressure from lawmakers or to the hearings, said Carol Guthrie. “We file cases when they are ready.”

Wang Baodon, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in an e-mail that “China will continue to faithfully implement its WTO obligations and at the same time firmly defend its legitimate rights.”

$723 Billion Market
Payment-processing in China is a $723 billion business, Terry Xie, an analyst with Mercator Advisory Group, a research firm in Maynard, Massachusetts, said earlier this year. China will overtake the U.S. as the largest market for credit cards by 2020 with about 900 million cards in circulation, MasterCard said on Sept. 10.

China doesn’t let foreign companies issue their own bank cards denominated in its currency, build networks to support such cards or process interbank point-of-sale transactions. Foreign banks must “co-brand” with Chinese operators to supply these services and execute payments through UnionPay.

Those rules run counter to the pledge China made when it joined the WTO in 2001 to open up its credit- and debit-card market to foreign processing companies by the end of 2006, according to the U.S. complaint.

China “did not make any commitment regarding the supply of payments and clearing services by foreign non-financial institutions” when it joined the trade arbiter, the Chinese government said in a statement at a WTO meeting in 2007.

‘Patently Unfair’
UnionPay, created by the People’s Bank of China in 2002, is owned by more than 80 of the nation’s largest banks and other state-owned enterprises. The company has access to payment markets in more than 70 countries and aims to make its cards “acceptable all across the globe,” company President Xu Luode said in an interview last year in New York.

“Having government-sponsored exclusivity over the world’s largest consumer market is patently unfair, especially when they are accessing markets abroad,” said Phillip Philliou, a partner with industry consulting firm Philliou Selwanes Partners LLC in New York.

Hang Jia, UnionPay’s chief representative for the Americas, declined to comment in an e-mail and referred inquiries to the company’s Shanghai headquarters.

Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, clashed with China UnionPay in June when the San Francisco-based firm told banks and merchants to use its system to process international transactions by Chinese holders of cards that carry both companies’ brands.

MasterCard’s Agreement
MasterCard of Purchase, New York, the second-biggest network, has taken a different tack and said Sept. 14 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with UnionPay that may increase the number of merchants who accept both companies’ cards.

Chris Monteiro, a MasterCard spokesman, said the agreement with UnionPay is unrelated to the trade dispute.

“The WTO case is a matter between the U.S. and Chinese governments,” Monteiro said. The memorandum of understanding “covers commercial discussions between MasterCard and China UnionPay.”

Steel Case
The steel case involves dumping and countervailing duties China has placed on flat-rolled steel, which is made by companies such as AK Steel Holding Corp., the third-largest U.S. steelmaker.

Last December, China, the world’s biggest steel market, said it would impose antidumping and subsidy duties of as much as 25 percent on flat-rolled electrical steel products, used in transformers, reactors and electric machines.

China didn’t follow WTO procedures by failing to disclose the facts underlying its legal conclusions and not explaining its calculations, according to the U.S.

“China’s imposition of anti-dumping duties on the relevant American electrical steel was based on a sound investigation,” Wang, the Chinese Embassy spokesman said.

Compared with Chinese steel exports to the U.S., the volume of trade affected in this case is small, said Michelle Applebaum, a steel analyst in Chicago.

“It’s a small product in general,” Applebaum said in an interview.
“But it’s material to AK Steel, and it’s the kind of thing we should be making” because it is a high-end product, she said.

Under the rules of the WTO, a filing begins a 60-day period of mandatory consultations between officials from the two nations.
After that the U.S. can request a WTO panel of judges to rule on the matter.


To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at [e-mail]; Peter Eichenbaum in New York at [e-mail].

Last Updated: September 15, 2010 18:27 EDT

noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7Hiw_rjIyUQ&pos=7

[sandi66]

Obama Turns Focus to Trade as Way to Encourage Economic Growth

By Julianna Goldman and Nicholas Johnston - Sep 16, 2010 6:00 AM ET

President Barack Obama’s export advisory group, headed by Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer James McNerney and Xerox Corp. CEO Ursula Burns, released a report today recommending the government step up trade promotion and complete work on free trade agreements.

Less than two months before congressional elections, with the economy a top issue for voters, Obama is turning his attention to trade, highlighting his goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years as a driver of economic growth.

“Exports are actually leading our economic recovery,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told reporters yesterday. “The more that America’s companies export, the more they produce. The more they produce, the more they hire, and that means more jobs.”

Obama formed the Export Council in March, laying out a goal of doubling U.S. exports during the next five years to about $3.1 trillion by 2015, supporting 2 million additional jobs. As part of his trade agenda Obama is also working to revive stalled free-trade talks with South Korea and reach a deal during his November visit to Seoul.

“We’re focused on creating jobs. This is all hands on deck,” Locke said.

The report recommends the government increase the number trade missions and step up promotion abroad, increase financing for the purchase of U.S. exports and finish work on pending free trade accords with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Friction With China

The advisory group didn’t address the value of China’s currency, which labor unions and some lawmakers argue is a barrier to U.S. exports and job growth.

Congressional hearings on China’s foreign exchange policy continue for a second-day with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Banking Committee.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers Union, told a congressional panel yesterday that China’s currency policy has “directly harmed millions of manufacturing workers” while contributing to job losses and wage stagnation.

Doubling exports “will take deep reform of our trade policies and practices, starting with concrete measures to address currency manipulation,” he said.

The yuan, which had been pegged to the dollar before China announced a shift in policy earlier this year, yesterday surged to its highest level since 1993.

By promoting U.S. exports, the president is also addressing a core issue for the Democratic Party’s supporters in organized labor.

Politics of Trade

“Trade issues have split the Democratic Party for decades,” said Linda Fowler, professor of government at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, who studies midterm elections. “Blue-collar workers are not happy with the Obama administration, which needs the unions to get out the vote in this tough election.”

As part of the administration’s effort to showcase policies that will bolster long-term growth, Obama will announce the creation of a not-for-profit group that will be funded by private industry and work with corporate executives to encourage the study of math and science in school.

The group, Change the Equation, was founded by Burns, former astronaut Sally Ride, former Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett, Eastman Kodak Co. CEO Antonio Perez and Time Warner Cable Inc. CEO Glenn Britt. The group’s members include more than 100 chief executives, who have provided $5 million in funding for its first year.

The organization’s goal is to improve teaching of science, technology, engineering and math and encourage students to study in those fields.

White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes said the program would “ensure that our students are no longer outperformed throughout the world.”



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-16/obama-turns-focus-to-trade-as-way-to-encourage-economic-growth.html

[sandi66]

Geithner Says U.S. Examining Ways to Push China on Yuan Rise
By Rebecca Christie and Mark Drajem - Sep 15, 2010 11:43 PM

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the U.S. isn’t satisfied with the pace of yuan gains and is considering ways to urge China to let the currency rise faster.

“The pace of appreciation has been too slow and the extent of appreciation too limited,” Geithner said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing today. “We are examining the important question of what mix of tools, those available to the United States and multilateral approaches, might help encourage the Chinese authorities to move more quickly.”

Geithner’s comments, his strongest since he took office in January 2009, highlight growing frustration among American officials with policies they say put American companies at a competitive disadvantage. The U.S. yesterday filed a pair of complaints against its second-largest trading partner with the World Trade Organization, and lawmakers facing elections in November are introducing measures allowing companies to pursue sanctions against China for its currency stance.

“The Treasury secretary looks like he is turning up the volume on his request for action from Chinese monetary officials,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “Politics in Washington is playing a role as Congress is looking for progress ahead of the midterm elections.”

Yuan Outlook

The yuan headed for a sixth daily gain against the dollar today, trading at 6.7333 as of 11:18 a.m. in Shanghai, compared with the 6.83 peg authorities maintained from July 2008 to June 2010 to shield Chinese exporters from the global crisis. Non- deliverable forwards indicate China will limit its appreciation to 1.2 percent over the next 12 months.

Geithner renewed calls on countries with trade surpluses, such as Japan and Germany, to increase domestic demand and rely less on exports. While he didn’t refer to Japan’s decision to intervene in the currency market yesterday, the subject may come up today after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin called the move “deeply disturbing.”

The secretary is slated to testify twice today, before the Senate Banking Committee and Levin’s panel.

“Heavy intervention” keeps the yuan undervalued, even after China’s June decision to drop a peg to the dollar, according to the U.S. Treasury chief.

Geithner, 49, said the Obama administration would step up its efforts to urge the Chinese to loosen restrictions on the currency that make the nation’s exports cheaper in overseas markets.

Currency Report

“We are examining the important question of what mix of tools, those available to the United States and multilateral approaches, might help encourage the Chinese authorities to move more quickly,” he said. These include the Treasury’s semiannual foreign exchange report, due to Congress next month, Geithner said.

In June, the U.S. stopped short of branding China a currency manipulator in a report that was originally due in April. Such a designation could lead to sanctions against China.

China, which surpassed Japan as the world’s second-largest economy last quarter, ran up a $119 billion trade deficit with the U.S. in the first half of 2010, putting it on a course to exceed last year’s total of $227 billion. It is also the biggest foreign investor in U.S. Treasury securities, with holdings of $843.7 billion in June.

China on June 19 announced that it would allow greater flexibility in its exchange rate, which Geithner called a “very important step.” Since then, the currency, also known as the renminbi, has advanced 1 percent against the dollar, he said.

‘Right to Be Frustrated’

“The United States is right to be frustrated with the rate of appreciation and the way that the renminbi has not appreciated since June,” said Edwin Truman, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and a former Geithner adviser.

China may be using its exchange rate to handle the aftermath of the global crisis in ways that could help the U.S., said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, in an e- mail. He said China is moving cautiously while doing its “fair share” of righting lopsided global trade and investment flows.

“In a fragile post-crisis era, there is nothing wrong with China relying on a currency anchor as a linchpin of financial stability,” Roach said. “As much as Washington politicians would want China to help the U.S. devalue its way back into economic prosperity, that approach is bound to fail in an era of huge budget deficits.”

Economic Rebalancing

Geithner said China’s currency stance has created a “major distortion” in the global economy that is having a “negative impact” on the U.S. He said appreciation of the yuan would help with economic rebalancing, while not erasing the U.S. trade deficit with China.

He called on China to adjust its exchange rate and make a slate of other structural reforms to policies on interest rates, energy prices and service-sector investment. Geithner pledged the U.S. would “aggressively” pursue trade remedies, such as yesterday’s WTO complaints on electronic payment services and steel exports.

Geithner also said the U.S. is committed to “restoring fiscal sustainability” and reining in its long-term budget deficits.

Japan’s Intervention

Paul Krugman, a Nobel-prize winning Princeton University economist, has said China’s currency practices helped push the yen to rise to this week’s 15-year high against the dollar, prompting Japan to intervene unilaterally to weaken its currency on Sept. 15 for the first time since 2004.

Truman said Japan might be able to avoid the need for such actions by joining the U.S. efforts to persuade the Chinese to allow the yuan to appreciate.

In a hearing yesterday, Representative Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat and co-sponsor of legislation letting companies seek duties on Chinese imports, said China is violating trade laws and the bill would give the U.S. tools to combat undervalued currencies.

“It’s now time for our country to have the guts to stand up and take a strong stand against China’s currency manipulation,” Ryan said in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee.

China’s yuan on Sept. 15 rose to the highest level since 1993 against the dollar on speculation the central bank will allow faster appreciation as inflation accelerates and foreign pressure mounts. The People’s Bank of China fixed the yuan’s reference rate at a record high before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee convened two days of hearings to discuss the Asian nation’s currency policy.



www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-16/geithner-says-u-s-to-urge-china-to-speed-up-too-slow-yuan-appreciation.html

[sandi66]

ffice of Homeowner Advocate Gets Another Chance in Giant Tax Extenders Bill

Thursday September 16, 2010 2:09 pm
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Yesterday, I mentioned the Office of the Homeowner Advocate, an attempt by Sen. Al Franken to get an independent review process for HAMP, the Treasury Department foreclosure mitigation program which has failed homeowners while merely extending foreclosures out a bit and squeezing additional payments into the hands of the banks. Today, this common-sense effort to get some accountability and oversight over what the banks have been doing in HAMP has found its way into a new version of the tax extenders bill, a catch-all, end-of-the-year effort that could be a vehicle for several measures which have hung around in the Senate.

Max Baucus introduced the bill today, and in addition to the OHA, it includes a number of provisions. Here’s a summary, and as you can see it’s really a catch-all. There are dozens of “tax extenders,” the initial name for the bill, including a one-year extension of the R&D tax credit (unlike the permanent extension called for by the President), and the ubiquitous “small business tax credits” in every bill out of Washington these days.

The bill would extend the TANF Emergency fund, a successful stimulus program which subsidizes jobless workers and is responsible for 250,000 jobs, by one estimate. 30 Senators called for its renewal today, as it expires September 30, leaving hundreds of thousands jobless. It also re-ups the Build America Bonds program for infrastructure projects. There’s a youth jobs program which would reportedly fund jobs for 350,000. The Cobell and Pigford Black Farmer settlements are thrown in here.

The oil spill liability cap gets changed in this bill, up to $5 billion. The bill raises taxes through that spill fund from 8 cents to 78 cents a barrel, raising $31 billion. There are mine safety provisions, disaster relief provisions, provisions adding funds to the National Housing Trust Fund, incentives for energy-efficient vehicles and renewable tax credits, and much, much more.

The bill is fully paid for with a variety of measures, including what I mentioned already. In addition, this would end the carried interest loophole, preventing investment fund managers from paying income taxes as capital gains. This raises $13.75 billion. It also scales back some stimulus funding, to broadband, to Defense Department building, and to food stamps, which by January 31 would “return to the levels that individuals would have received in 2014 under pre-Recovery Act law.”

I think this is what you’d call an omnibus bill, a staple of the end of a legislative period. It has something for everyone to like and something for everyone to dislike. In this Congress, that has meant it will fail. But you never know.

If it doesn’t pass, Franken has stated another option for the Office of the Homeowner Advocate – get Treasury to institute the program administratively

news.firedoglake.com/2010/09/16/office-of-homeowner-advocate-gets-another-chance-in-giant-tax-extenders-bill/

[sandi66]

US Dept of State - Office of the Chief of Protocol Hosts "State of the Administration" Briefing
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 16, 2010

On Tuesday, September 14, the Office of the Chief of Protocol’s Diplomatic Partnerships Division hosted the latest “State of the Administration” briefing on the 65th United Nations General Assembly for members of the Diplomatic Corps. The featured speakers included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Esther Brimmer.

Nearly 100 foreign ambassadors attended the briefing at the Blair House. As a former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Secretary Albright spoke about her experiences at UNGA, while Assistant Secretary Brimmer provided an outline of the United States’s priorities at this year’s Assembly.

“State of the Administration” briefings bring together foreign Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions and influential policymakers for conversations on relevant topics. Prior speakers have included White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew, and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.

This event was organized by the Diplomatic Partnerships Division of the Office of the Chief of Protocol, whose mission is to foster international goodwill and cultivate the relationship between the Diplomatic Corps and the people and institutions of the United States through an exchange of ideas, cultures and traditions.

Diplomatic Partnerships pursues this goal through a broad range of unique programs and events including “State of the Administration.” Other events include “Experience America” trips that provide opportunities for foreign Chiefs of Diplomatic Mission to travel outside of Washington DC and experiencing diverse neighborhoods and communities across the United States. The “Issue Roundtables” allows foreign Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions and senior Obama administration to meet for smaller discussions on relevant issues.

www.isria.com/pages/17_September_2010_24.php

[sandi66]

September 17, 2010

Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate

Welcome to the Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate & Iraqi Dinar Currency Converter page. The Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate represented on this page is updated every minute within the trading hours of 00:00 Monday through 21:00 Friday GMT.

AUD IQD 1028.37655 Australian Dollars to Iraqi Dinar
GBP IQD 1706.71429 Pounds to Iraqi Dinar
EUR IQD 1427.62741 Euros to Iraqi Dinar
NZD IQD 795.86022 New Zealand Dollars to Iraqi Dinar
USD IQD 1086.91994 Dollars to Iraqi Dinar

IQD AUD 0.00097 Iraqi Dinar to Australian Dollars
IQD GBP 0.00059 Iraqi Dinar to Pounds
IQD CAD 0.00094 Iraqi Dinar to Canadian Dollars
IQD CNY 0.00619 Iraqi Dinar to Yuan
IQD EUR 0.0007 Iraqi Dinar to Euros
IQD HKD 0.00714 Iraqi Dinar to Hong Kong Dollars
IQD INR 0.04217 Iraqi Dinar to Rupees
IQD JPY 0.07896 Iraqi Dinar to Yen
IQD NZD 0.00126 Iraqi Dinar to New Zealand Dollars
IQD ZAR 0.00654 Iraqi Dinar to South African Rands
IQD CHF 0.00094 Iraqi Dinar to Swiss Francs
IQD TRY 0.00137 Iraqi Dinar to Lira
IQD USD 0.00092 Iraqi Dinar to Dollars
IQD AED 0.00338 Iraqi Dinar to Dirhams

www.exchangerates.org.uk/Iraqi-Dinar-IQD-currency-table.html



Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rate Full Table (IQD):
EuropeNorth/ South AmericaAsia & PacificMiddle East/ Cen AsiaAfrica Updated: 17/09/10 10:19
Convert from Convert to 1 Iraqi Dinar Conversion Historical in Iraqi Dinar Conversion
Iraqi Dinar Albanian Lek 0.096 IQD ALL Table Graph 10.429 ALL IQD
Iraqi Dinar Belarus Ruble 2.333 IQD BYR Table Graph 0.429 BYR IQD
Iraqi Dinar British Pound 0.001 IQD GBP Table Graph 1706.714 GBP IQD
Iraqi Dinar Bulgarian Lev 0.001 IQD BGN Table Graph 729.571 BGN IQD
Iraqi Dinar Croatian Kuna 0.005 IQD HRK Table Graph 196.143 HRK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Cyprus Pound 0 IQD CYP Table Graph 0 CYP IQD
Iraqi Dinar Czech Koruna 0.017 IQD CZK Table Graph 57.286 CZK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Danish Krone 0.005 IQD DKK Table Graph 191.838 DKK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Estonian Kroon 0.011 IQD EEK Table Graph 90.857 EEK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Euro 0.001 IQD EUR Table Graph 1427.627 EUR IQD
Iraqi Dinar Hungarian Forint 0.2 IQD HUF Table Graph 5 HUF IQD
Iraqi Dinar Icelandic Krona 0.108 IQD ISK Table Graph 9.286 ISK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Kazakhstan Tenge 0.135 IQD KZT Table Graph 7.429 KZT IQD
Iraqi Dinar Latvian Lats 0 IQD LVL Table Graph 2013.561 LVL IQD
Iraqi Dinar Lithuanian Litas 0.002 IQD LTL Table Graph 413.857 LTL IQD
Iraqi Dinar Macedonian Denar 0.043 IQD MKD Table Graph 23.143 MKD IQD
Iraqi Dinar Moldovan Leu 0.011 IQD MDL Table Graph 89 MDL IQD
Iraqi Dinar Norwegian Krone 0.006 IQD NOK Table Graph 179.442 NOK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Polish Zloty 0.003 IQD PLN Table Graph 358.714 PLN IQD
Iraqi Dinar Romanian Leu 0.003 IQD RON Table Graph 336 RON IQD
Iraqi Dinar Russian Rouble 0.029 IQD RUB Table Graph 35 RUB IQD
Iraqi Dinar Slovak Koruna 0.02 IQD SKK Table Graph 50.286 SKK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Slovenian Tolar 0 IQD SIT Table Graph 0 SIT IQD
Iraqi Dinar Swedish Krona 0.006 IQD SEK Table Graph 154.668 SEK IQD
Iraqi Dinar Swiss Franc 0.001 IQD CHF Table Graph 1069.048 CHF IQD
Iraqi Dinar Turkish Lira 0.001 IQD TRY Table Graph 727.717 TRY IQD
Iraqi Dinar Ukraine Hryvnia 0.007 IQD UAH Table Graph 137.143 UAH IQD

www.exchangerates.org.uk/Iraqi-Dinar-IQD-currency-table.html

[sandi66]

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 16, 2010 Presidential Proclamation--Constitution Day, Citizenship Day, Constitution Week
The summer of 1787 was a watershed moment in our Nation's history. In the span of four short months, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia established a Constitution for the United States of America, signing the finished charter on September 17, 1787. With their signatures, and subsequent ratification of the Constitution by the States, the Framers advanced our national journey.

On Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and during Constitution Week, we commemorate the legacy passed down to us from our Nation's Founders. Our Constitution, with the Bill of Rights and amendments, has stood the test of time, steering our country through times of prosperity and peace, and guiding us through the depths of internal conflict and war. Because of the wisdom of those who have shaped our Nation's founding documents, and the sacrifices of those who have defended America for over two centuries, we enjoy unprecedented freedoms and opportunities. As beneficiaries, we have a solemn duty to participate in our vibrant democracy so that it remains strong and responsive to the needs of our people.

Each year, thousands of candidates for citizenship commemorate Constitution Day and Citizenship Day by becoming new American citizens. These individuals breathe life into our Constitution by learning about its significance and the rights it enshrines, and then by taking a solemn oath to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America." In so doing, they voluntarily accept that citizenship is not merely a collection of rights, but also a set of responsibilities. Just as our Founders sought to secure the "Blessings of Liberty" for themselves and their posterity, these new Americans have come to our shores to embrace and impart the fundamental beliefs that define us as a Nation.

In the United States, our Constitution is not simply words written on aging parchment, but a foundation of government, a protector of liberties, and a guarantee that we are all free to shape our own destiny. As we celebrate this document's profound impact on our everyday lives, may all Americans strive to uphold its vision of freedom and justice for all.

In remembrance of the signing of the Constitution and in recognition of the Americans who strive to uphold the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, the Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 108), requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as "Constitution Week."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 17, 2010, as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, and September 17 through September 23, 2010, as Constitution Week. I encourage Federal, State, and local officials, as well as leaders of civic, social, and educational organizations, to conduct ceremonies and programs that recognize our Constitution and reaffirm our rights and obligations as citizens of this great Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/16/presidential-proclamation-constitution-day-citizenship-day-constitution-

[sandi66]

Tight outcome in St. Maarten's 1st parliament vote

Posted September 19, 2010 at 2:08 p.m.
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PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) - Tiny St. Maarten has elected its first independent parliament, but results on Saturday leave unclear who will govern when the former Dutch colony becomes a semiautonomous country on Oct. 10.

The National Alliance that had led the outgoing island council won seven of the 15 seats in the new parliament, one more than the recently formed United People's Party. The Democratic Party took two seats - giving it a potential deciding role if the top two parties fail to agree on a coalition on their own.

"We need to move swiftly to form a coalition," said National Alliance leader William Marlin. "No political games. The electorate's decision should be respected."

Theo Hayliger, who established the United People's Party two months ago, said he is willing to work with any party to establish a government.

There are no major ideological differences between the parties, though the UP favors adopting the U.S. dollar while the National Alliance wants to continue using a regional Dutch-linked currency.

The new country is gaining domestic political independence with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, although the Dutch monarch remains head of state and will oversee foreign affairs and defense. The country's people will remain Dutch nationals, with Dutch passports.

Curacao also will become semi-independent. and will share some government functions, such as a central bank and supreme court, with St. Maarten. The small islands of Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire will become Dutch municipalities.

St. Maarten has about 40,000 citizens on its 13 square mile (34 square kilometer) territory, the southern third of an island shared with French-ruled St. Martin. It is the smallest land mass in the world to be divided between two sovereign nations.

Nearly 70 percent of the 19,600 voters turned out for Friday's elections.

Many key details of the new governments for St. Maarten and Curacao remain to be decided, including what sort of currency they will use and how their tax systems will be structured.

The island was sighted and named by Colombus in 1493, though the explorer never landed there. The Dutch and French agreed to divide control of the island in 1648, but often clashed over where the border should be until a final pact in 1817.

www.vcstar.com/news/2010/sep/19/tight-outcome-in-st-maartens-1st-parliament-vote/

[sandi66]

Disappointment risk: Aussie dollar '27% overvalued'

September 20, 2010 - 7:11AM

Australia's dollar, this quarter's best performing major currency, is now the most overvalued.

Purchasing power parity, a measure of the cost of goods relative to other countries, shows the so-called Aussie is 27 per cent too expensive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The median estimate of strategists and economists is for it to weaken 6 per cent by year-end, the fourth-worst performance of 31 currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

While Australia's dollar has soared 11.4 per cent since June, benefitting from its ties to China's economy, traders speculate new Prime Minister Julia Gillard's planned tax on mining companies will damp demand for the nation's assets at the same time global economic growth decelerates. The nation's mining industry has enjoyed a record investment boom to feed Chinese demand for iron and coal.

"If I were to pick a currency to have my money in for the next month, it would be Australia's, but after a month I'd pick something else, like the US," said John Taylor, who oversees about $US9 billion as chairman of FX Concepts in New York.

Momentum in the Aussie may lead it to test its record high of 98.5 US cents next month before depreciating to the low 80-US-cent level by early 2011, Taylor said. That's when a slowdown in global growth will prompt investors to seek safety in the US dollar, he said. The currency closed at 93.63 US cents on September 17, strengthening for a fifth-straight week, the longest winning streak since the period ended September 25, 2009.

'Greater Risk'

"At these levels, there's a lot of good news in the price for the Aussie," said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ in London. "There's greater risk of disappointment."

The median estimate of strategists and economists surveyed by Bloomberg is for the currency to weaken to 88 US cents by year-end. The forecast is the same as in early July, even though the Aussie has risen from about 84 cents. The only survey respondent to forecast a rise is UniCredit SpA, which sees a rate of 94 cents, little changed from last week.

Of the 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, only three are forecast to do worse than Australia's dollar: the Czech Koruna, Danish Krone and Swedish krona.

Investors are awaiting final details of a planned tax which the government estimates will result in BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, Rio Tinto Group, the third biggest, and the rest of the nation's coal and iron ore companies paying an extra $10.5 billion more in tax in the first two years.

'Jewel in the Crown'

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan signaled on September 8 that final terms of the government's planned mining tax may depend on talks with independent lawmakers. Gillard held on to power on September 7 as the nation's first female prime minister after independent lawmakers and the Greens Party agreed to help her govern following a deadlocked August 21 election. Greens leader Bob Brown said September 15 his party wants to increase the proposed levy and expand it to include uranium.

While the Aussie "has a lot of good things going for it," the mining tax "is something that every investor has been watching," said Neil Jones, head of European hedge fund sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank in London. "Anything that hampers the jewel in the crown is going to catch a lot of attention."

Australia's dollar has become a favorite for traders because of the nation's relatively high interest rates. The nation's central bank has raised its benchmark borrowing rate to 4.5 per cent from 3 per cent over the past 12 months, as the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank kept theirs unchanged.

Surpassing Switzerland

The Aussie has passed the Swiss franc to become the world's fifth most-traded currency according to the Bank for International Settlements' Triennial Central Bank Survey released Septemebr 1. It accounts for 7.6 per cent of daily trading though Australia is 1.6 percent of world gross domestic product.

Twenty per cent of Australia's economy depends on exports led by iron ore and coal to countries including China, the nation's largest trading partner. Links with fast-growing economies helped it skirt a global recession and expand 1.2 per cent last quarter, the fastest pace in three years, driving the jobless rate down to almost half the level of the US.

Australia's currency may maintain its gains as long as the Fed and the ECB keep their benchmark rates at record lows to nurse their economies' recovery, according to Christoph Kind, head of asset allocation at Germany's Frankfurt-Trust, which manages about $US20 billion. He has an "overweight" position on the currency, meaning he is expecting it to outperform.

'Breathtaking' Performance

"The past performance of the Aussie dollar has been breathtaking and every attempt to go short on the currency always failed," said Kind. "I don't see an immediate turnaround as long as US growth remains weak."

Futures traders have increased bets that Australia's dollar will gain against its US counterpart, figures from the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission show. The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on an advance compared with those on a drop was 56,669 on Sept. 14, up from 7246 on July 6.

The Aussie reached a two-year high against the greenback on September 17 amid speculation the Fed will increase the supply of dollars to buy Treasury securities to keep borrowing costs low and sustain growth, a practice known as quantitative easing.

US central bankers are scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide monetary policy. A survey by Jersey City, New Jersey- based Ried Thunberg ICAP of money managers overseeing $US1.34 trillion found that 43 per cent of respondents expect the Fed to announce renewed quantitative easing; the rest don't.

Paring Bets

Fed purchases of additional securities may ultimately be bad for Australia's dollar because it would signal that global growth is slowing, leading traders to decrease their bullish bets on the currency and seek havens, according to Joseph Capurso, a foreign-exchange strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The Sydney-based bank is the nation's largest lender.

"More US quantitative easing means a weak US economy," he said. "Ultimately, that's a softer world economy, which makes it hard for commodity prices and commodity currencies to go up. It's a difficult environment for Aussie."

The International Monetary Fund's John Lipsky, the agency's second highest-ranking official, said last week in a speech the global economic recovery "has slowed somewhat." Australia's currency weakened 9.5 per cent amid the worldwide recession in 2008, its worst performance since 1997, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency indexes.

Growth in Europe may falter as nations including Greece, Spain and Portugal trim spending after a budget deficit crisis forced European officials to craft a 750 billion euro ($US979 billion) aid package in May. The region's growth may slow to 1.4 per cent next year from 1.5 per cent in 2010, according to a Bloomberg poll of economists.

The Australian dollar will peak in October and "by that time Europe is going to be rotting," said Taylor at FX concepts. "Australia will do very poorly between the second half of October and January-February."

www.smh.com.au/business/markets/disappointment-risk-aussie-dollar-27-overvalued-20100920-15i8l.html

[sandi66]

NZ dollar falls vs greenback
September 20, 2010 - 7:44AM

NZPA

The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback as weak consumer data in the United States and fresh worries about European debt hurt the euro and enhanced the US dollar's safe-haven appeal.

By 8am (0600 AEST) on Monday, the NZ dollar was buying US72.64c from US73c at 5pm on Friday, although it had pushed to around US73.30c during Friday night.

ANZ bank said the Friday night lift in the NZ dollar could not be sustained as rumours circulated on the financial health of Ireland and Portugal. While denied late, the rot set in and the kiwi weakened with the euro.



news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/nz-dollar-falls-vs-greenback-20100920-15iac.html

[sandi66]

Legislators Divided On How Far To Extend Tax Cuts

September 19, 2010
When Congress reconvened for its last session before the mid-term elections last week, one issue loomed large: To cut or not to cut? This time, taxes are on the chopping block.

Debate over extending the so-called "Bush-era tax cuts" has not been cleanly divided along party lines. Last Thursday, 31 moderate and Blue Dog Democrats in the House sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi imploring her to extend all of the cuts, including those for top earners.

Congressman Jim Matheson of Utah's second district helped draft the letter. He told NPR's Mike Pesca that small businesses would be in danger if tax cuts for the wealthy were allowed to expire.

"These rates also apply to a lot of small businesses across the country. So we've got to be careful when we say it's just wealthy individuals," he says.

The cuts were passed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003. They were designed to be a temporary measure and are set to expire at the end of this year. But a struggling economy has both parties reconsidering that deadline.

The debate isn't over whether or not to extend the cuts — it's about who should get them. Legislators largely agree that the cuts for the middle class should stay, but they are divided on extending them for individuals who earn more than $200,000 and households that earn more than $250,000.

Matheson says a significant number of small businesses in the U.S. are taxed under those individual rates.

"I know $250,000 of income is a lot of money for an individual, but if you're a small business with 10 or 12 employees and your overall income is around 250,000 bucks, that's not a lot of money for that business and they want to put that money back into the business," Matheson says.

While Matheson says he — like most legislators — support a temporary extension of the cuts for the middle class, he doesn't deny that it will have an impact on the deficit if held for too long.

"I'm not one of these folks who thinks tax cuts pay for themselves or they simulate the economy so much like the supply-side theory says," he says. "I'm suggesting short-term, it makes sense to keep this economy stimulated to the extent it can be."

Short-term Or Long-term?

If the tax cuts were not extended for top-earners, their tax rate would increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on income above $200,000 or $250,000 for individuals or households respectively.

Adam Davidson of NPR's Planet Money says it just depends on who you talk to.

"I don't think there's any core, basic economic view that tells you 35 percent is good and 39.6 percent is bad or the other way around," he says. "I think most of the heat here is politics."

But are some earners "better" to tax than others? Davidson says it depends on whether you're thinking in the short- or long-term.

If your goal is short-term — to inject a stimulus — he says you should cut breaks for low-income earners.

"Now you don't want to do that necessarily because you think poor people deserve it or you think that's more just. It's simply a math problem — the poorer you are, the more likely you are to spend any additional dollar in revenue that you get, whereas the richer you are, the more likely you are to take that dollar and put it into savings," he says. "So if what you want to accomplish, which President Obama and many Democrats want to accomplish, is to get people spending money, then you want the tax cuts to go to poorer people."

But in the long-term, he says it may be better to hold off on high taxes for the wealthy because it doesn't encourage them to invest as readily.

"It does seem based on economic history that higher taxes on rich people [and] higher taxes on small business owners does tend to suppress entrepreneurial activity," he says. "It's sort of intuitive. The more the government is going to tax, the less incentive there is to create new businesses, to invest in new lines of business, whatever it might be."

However, a large national deficit — like the U.S. currently has — can complicate that plan.

"If we don't raise enough taxes to lower the deficit, then that can also start to stifle growth," he says.

And just like it would be hard to find a perfect tax rate, Davidson says it will also be hard in the future to look back at the current situation and determine the impact of each decision.

"It will be hard to piece out what was the impact of taxation, what was the impact of the debt that pushes interest rates up — this is simply not a big enough move that it's not clear."

Little Opposition Expected


Meanwhile, Congressman Matheson says he doesn't anticipate a lot of opposition to extending all of the tax cuts — even though President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have remained firm against the cuts for the wealthy, even after the letter.

"There are several other Democrats who have indicated they have the same interest. Some didn't sign the letter because they didn't think the letter was strong enough — they wanted to go farther than just a one-year extension, quite frankly," he says. "But I do think that there is a chunk of folks within the Democratic caucus who — on a short-term basis — are very concerned about where our economic circumstances are today and they're prepared to extend — at least for some period of time — the tax cuts."

So is Matheson quietly getting the thumbs up from eight or more House Democrats in the halls of Congress?

"Yes, absolutely," he says.

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129973643

[sandi66]

Colin Powell defends Obama - The ex-general decries "fringe" Republican attacks against the President

Sunday, Sep 19, 2010 12:16 ET

Retired Gen. Colin Powell, a moderate Republican who endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, says the president's critics should be going after him on policy, not "nonsense."

"Fringe" elements on the right are taking a low road when they label Obama a foreign-born Muslim and peddle other theories about non-American influences on the president's character, Powell said Sunday. Obama was born in the U.S. and is Christian.

The former secretary of state said he still sees Obama as a transformational figure, if one who has lost some of his ability to connect with people.

Powell welcomed Obama's policies in health care and education while saying the president may have taken on too many problems at once and not done enough to control the deficit.

"There are so many rocks in our knapsack now that we're having trouble carrying it," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Powell said the tea party may not become an enduring force unless it moves beyond slogans and promotes an agenda that people "can see, touch and actually believe in." It's not enough, he said, to call for goals that most Americans support, such as controlled federal spending and adherence to the Constitution.

And in challenging Obama, Powell said, "Let's not go down low. ... Let's attack him on policy, not nonsense."

Powell says he's not giving up on the GOP, despite its rightward drift, and says it might actually help Obama if Republicans win the House in November and gain responsibility for driving policy, not just opposing Democrats at every turn.

www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/09/19/us_powell_obama