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Post by sandi66 on Feb 14, 2011 9:31:21 GMT -5
FEBRUARY 14, 2011, 9:19 A.M. ET Treasurys Fall As Worries On Egypt Ease; Key US Data Eyed NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Treasurys fell on Monday as worries over geopolitical risks in Egypt eased, reducing demand for safe assets. Some investors were relieved that the powerful military establishments in Egypt dissolved the parliament and pledged fresh elections in coming months. The announcement made on Sunday followed the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday. Prompting some caution, demands for similar political reform swept across the Arab world, from Libya to Iran. But some investors bet that the situation in the Middle East is unlikely to undermine global economic growth. China, the second-largest economy, reported a 51% surge in imports, showing signs of robust domestic demand. In the U.S., investors are bracing for several key data reports--Tuesday's retail sales numbers, Wednesday's housing starts and Thursday's U.S. consumer prices index release. "There was fear over the weekend that the unrest in the Middle East could cause a problem. As nothing new came out, there is a small unwind to that trade," said Ted Ake, head of Treasury and Agency trading in New York at Societe Generale SA. In recent trading, the benchmark 10-year note was 4/32 lower in price to yield 3.653%. The 30-year bond was 4/32 lower to yield 4.703%. Treasury yields had risen in recent months as signs that the U.S. economy is gaining traction lured investors into stocks. The rise of global food and commodities prices added to the anxiety about inflation, which eats into bonds' fixed return over time, even as consumer prices are relatively tame compared to many other countries. The benchmark 10-year note's yield hit 3.77% last week, the highest level since April 2010. That was a spike of about 144 basis points from the recent trough in October. Should the U.S. data continue to be stronger than economists' consensus this week, that would likely hurt demand for Treasurys, some traders said. Still, some investors argued that a further rise in yields could undermine economic growth by pushing up mortgage rates, which rose above 5% last week. Such investors, including some foreign central banks, took advantage of the recent rise in yield to scoop up cheapened securities. Some traders said the bond market could get support from the Federal Reserve, with a dearth of new regular government bond auctions this week. The only sale is a $9 billion, 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities auction Thursday afternoon. The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasurys in every trading session this week as part of its $600 billion bond-buying program launched in early November to support the economy. During late morning trade Monday, the Fed will buy TIPS in a broad range of maturities. It will buy regular Treasurys from Tuesday through Friday. online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110214-708625.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 14, 2011 9:42:20 GMT -5
Is he in a coma? Mubarak health rumours circulate Former Egyptian president has ‘physical health problems’ – but claims he had fallen into a coma appear wide of the mark By Eliot Sefton LAST UPDATED 2:27 PM, FEBRUARY 14, 2011 ShareMystery surrounds the health of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak following conflicting reports in the Egyptian media, some of which suggest he may be in a coma – or being treated in Germany. On Sunday, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted "well-informed sources" as saying that Mubarak had gone into a coma at his villa in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday. It also claimed the president had fainted twice while recording his televised speech on Thursday, when he was expected to resign but didn't. Mubarak finally quit on Friday, although his resignation was not televised. Meanwhile the pro-government Al-Gomhuria said Mubarak, 82, was in a "severe psychological condition and is declining treatment, despite his illness" and another Egyptian newspaper claimed he was being treated in Germany. Today, Al-Masry Al-Youm appeared to backtrack somewhat on its earlier report, saying that Mubarak merely had "physical health problems and psychological distress", adding that he is refusing medical treatment and is in Sharm El Sheikh. In March last year, Mubarak travelled to Heidelberg in Germany to have his gall bladder and a benign tumour in his duodenum removed. Last week there was speculation www.thefirstpost.co.uk/75076,people,news,is-mubarak-ill-egypt-speculates-on-health-of-deposed-president-coma
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 14, 2011 9:54:50 GMT -5
Iraqis in Baghdad protest bad services, corruption Monday, February 14, 2011; 9:11 AM BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of Iraqis rallied Monday in central Baghdad, protesting the rampant corruption and the lack of government services that have plagued the country for years. Iraqis have been venting their anger at the lack of jobs and government services such as electricity in small-scale protests across the country. The protests are not nearly as large as those that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, but are nonetheless embarrassing for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and highlight the many challenges facing his fragile government. "We want reforms to take place," said Hanaa Adwar, an activist from the nonprofit watchdog group, al Amal. "We have witnessed the popular revolution carried by Tunisian and Egyptian people that led to the toppling of their regime." She vowed that there would be more protests if the government did not bow to people's demands. Despite sitting on some of the world's largest oil reserves, Iraqis endure electricity shortages that make summer almost unbearable and leave them shivering in winter. There are also water shortages, and garbage is often left on the streets. At the same time, Iraqis are infuriated by the high salaries earned by their elected officials, compared with ordinary Iraqis. Many of the demonstrators carried banners that bore the image of a broken red heart, alluding to the fact that the protest took place on Valentine's Day. They shouted slogans saying Iraq's oil wealth should go to the people but goes to thieves instead. "Government, you should take lessons from Egypt and Tunisia," demonstrators shouted as they walked through downtown. Across the Middle East, people emboldened by the protests in Tunisia and Egypt have staged demonstrations calling for change. The gatherings in Iraq have been small in scale, although organizers are promising a much larger event on Feb. 25. One of the organizers, 31-year-old Bassam Abdul Razzaq, said word of the march had gone out through Facebook, the same way that Tunisian and Egyptian youth rallied support. The protests have rattled al-Maliki, who met Sunday with government officials to discuss problems facing Iraqis. In a statement from his office, al-Maliki said the government is working to solve the electricity shortages as well as to address the food ration problem. All Iraqis are entitled to a food ration, a legacy of the days when Iraq was under sanctions. But Iraqis complain that the rations, now given out by the government, are getting smaller, and they blame government corruption. "Efforts are being exerted to solve these two problems, but we need time and the electricity problem will be completely solved within two years," al-Maliki said. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021401566.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 14, 2011 10:16:25 GMT -5
Protesters and police clash in Bahrain on "Day of Rage" Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:03pm GMT NUWEIDRAT, Bahrain (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with police in Bahrain Monday as the government tightened security in the Gulf island state for an opposition "Day of Rage" inspired by upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia. Helicopters circled over the capital Manama, where protesters were due to gather later in the day, and security forces tightened their grip on Shi'ite communities. At least 14 people were wounded in clashes in three villages overnight and Monday. Police broke up one protest with teargas and rubber bullets. Bahrain, where a Sunni family rules over a Shi'ite majority, has offered cash payouts in the run-up to the protest, in a move that appears to be aimed at preventing Shi'ite discontent from bubbling over as popular revolts spread in the Arab world. In the village of Diraz, authorities dispersed with teargas about 100 Shi'ite protesters who had squared off with police, shouting slogans demanding more political rights. "We don't want to overthrow the ruling family, we just want to have our say," said Ali Jassem, married to a daughter of Sheikh Issa Qassem, a powerful Bahrain Shi'ite cleric. Diplomats say Bahrain's demonstrations, organised on Facebook and Twitter, will gauge whether a larger base of Shi'ites can be drawn to the streets. The big test will be if protests take hold in Manama, where demonstrations are rare. "We call on all Bahraini people -- men, women, boys and girls -- to share in our rallies in a peaceful and civilised way to guarantee a stable and promising future for ourselves and our children," Bahrain activists said in a statement on Twitter. "We would like to stress that February 14 is only the beginning. The road may be long and the rallies may continue for days and weeks, but if a people one day chooses life, then destiny will respond." Analysts say large-scale unrest in Bahrain could embolden marginalised Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. There was no immediate comment from Bahraini authorities. TEARGAS, RUBBER BULLETS Bahrain is a small oil-producing country whose Shi'ite population has long complained of discrimination by the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family, well before popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt emboldened activists throughout the region. Tension was high in Shi'ite villages Monday. In the village of Nuweidrat, police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd demanding the release of Shi'ite detainees, and 10 people were hurt, witnesses said. "There were 2,000 sitting in the street voicing their demands when police started firing," 24-year-old Kamel told Reuters, declining to give his full name. Nearby, streets were littered with teargas canisters and rubber bullets. The scene was different in Manama, where government supporters honked car horns and waved Bahraini flags to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a national charter introduced after unrest in the 1990s. In Karzakan, where security forces regularly skirmish with Shi'ite youths, police clashed late Sunday with residents and one person was injured, witnesses said. Police said three officers were hurt. The cost of insuring Bahrain's 5-year sovereign debt widened by 10 basis points Monday, according to Markit, in a sign investors were worried about stability. Protest organisers say they want the dissolution of Bahrain's constitution, to be replaced with a new version penned by a committee that includes both Sunnis and Shi'ites. They want the country's prime minister to be directly elected by the people, and demand the release of "all political prisoners," and an investigation of torture allegations. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, trying to defuse the tension, said he would give 1,000 dinars (1,655 pounds) to each local family, and the government has indicated that it may free minors arrested under a security crackdown last year. Non-OPEC Bahrain, which unlike Gulf Arab peers has little spare cash to use for social problems, has also said it would spend an extra $417 million (260 million pounds) on social items, including food subsidies, reversing attempts to prepare the public for cuts. af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE71D1G520110214?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 15, 2011 8:06:46 GMT -5
President Obama official schedule and guidance, Feb. 15, 2011. Medal of Freedom ceremony By Lynn Sweet on February 15, 2011 6:50 AM | No Comments THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2011 DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011 In the morning, the President and the Vice President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. This meeting is closed press. In the afternoon, the President and the Vice President will meet for lunch in the Private Dining Room. This lunch is closed press. Later in the afternoon, the President and the First Lady will honor recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom in a ceremony in the East Room. The ceremony is open press. The fifteen recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom were announced in November; the full list can be found here. Later in the afternoon, the President and the Vice President will meet with Secretary of Defense Gates in the Oval Office. This meeting is closed press. In-Town Travel Pool Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP TV Corr & Crew: ABC Print: Washington Post Radio: NPR EST 9:15AM In-Town Travel Pool Call Time 9:15AM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press 12:15PM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT meet for lunch Private Dining Room Closed Press 1:30PM THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY honor recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom in a ceremony East Room Open Press (Pre-set 12:30PM - Final Gather at 1:00PM - North Doors of the Palm Room) 4:30PM THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT meet with Secretary of Defense Gates Oval Office Closed Press blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/02/president_obama_official_sched_535.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 15, 2011 8:09:25 GMT -5
Former President Bush To Get Medal Of Freedom Posted: Feb 15, 2011 6:54 AM WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is honoring one of his predecessors today with the Medal of Freedom. Former President George H.W. Bush is not only being honored for his one term in office but what he's done since. That includes raising cash for Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina victims. The Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- has often been a non-partisan one. Bush is among six former presidents and four former first ladies to receive it. Others being honored today include investor Warren Buffett, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, basketball great Bill Russell and baseball hall of famer Stan Musial. www.kristv.com/news/former-president-bush-to-get-medal-of-freedom/
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 15, 2011 8:12:40 GMT -5
President Obama to Award Medal of Freedom to 15 Recipients February 15, 2011 (WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will award the Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- to 15 recipients Tuesday, which include a former president, a famous poet and a Hall of Fame baseball player. The medal is awarded annually "to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." The 15 honorees were announced last year in November and "come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our country and our world a better place," President Obama said. The 2010 Medal of Freedom recipients are: -- Former President George H. W. Bush -- Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel -- Rep. John Lewis of Georgia -- Co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, John H. Adams -- Author, poet, actress and civil rights activist, Dr. Maya Angelou -- Investor, industrialist and philanthropist, Warren Buffett -- Artist, Jasper Johns -- Jewish Holocaust survivor, Gerda Weissmann Klein -- Optometrist, Dr. Tom Little (Posthumous) -- Cellist, Yo-Yo Ma -- Civil rights activist, Sylvia Mendez -- National baseball Hall of Fame first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, Stan “The Man” Musial -- Former Boston Celtics Captain and five-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Bill Russell -- Founder of the non-profit organization VSA, Jean Kennedy Smith -- Current President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney www.670kboi.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=118&itemid=29633553
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 15, 2011 8:45:14 GMT -5
Euro Continues Slide Versus the USD by: Ralph Shell February 15, 2011 So far the new week has failed to bring a new trend in the euro. The latest sell off started after the euro was unable to muster the strength to trade above the 1.3750 area. Concern for the single currency euro may have been re- awakened because of awareness the peripheral debt problems are not going away. A meeting of finance ministers in Brussels today is not expected to provide a solution or relief for the problems. Again the euro is confronted with rising interest rate in Portugal. ECB bank purchases gave the market some stability but the rate has climbed back tp to 7.37%. The support given to the market by the Central Bank's addition of the higher risk peripheral debt to their balance sheet has proved to be temporary. It will be very difficult for Portugal to service their existing debt at the high prevailing rates when their growth rate is less than 2%/year, without inflicting grave damage on the Portuguese economy. Irish elections, scheduled for February 25, may also negatively impact the euro. During the banking crises, the ruling party, Fianna Fial, agreed that the government would guarantee 100% of bank loans gone bad by the private sector banks. With the same party in charge of the parliament, they agreed in November, to borrow from the IMF and the ECB €85B needed to bail out the zombie banks. Irish repayment loans carry a 5.8% loan rate. This results in about $30,000 new debt for every Irish man, woman or child, a very unpopular outcome. The opposition Fine Gael party and the Labour Party are destined to displace the ruling party later this month, and they both claim there is a "mandate to renegotiate" these agreement. What happens, though, when the electorate chooses new leaders dedicated to over ruling the terms of the bail out? So far the euro finance ministers have been able to patch up and defer the problems, kicking the can down the field. The Germans and French ministers have talked about more financial responsibility for the PIIGS, in return for loan guarantees, but what happens when the electorate says no, exposing the core weakness in the single currency. This pending election has the potential to be an unsettling event for the euro. Since early January the CFTC COT reports shows a consistent trend, specs shorting the USD, against all currencies. Data from 1 -11- 2011 shows the net positions of the specs long another currency and short the USD, was 113,624 contracts. During the ensuing period until 02-08-2011, this position has ballooned to 319,577 contracts. Collectively, this is the largest USD short position in the currency markets for almost two years. The position shift in the euro has been dynamic. On 01-11 the specs were short the euro and long the USD by 49,870 contracts. By 02-08 the large and small specs combined were now long the euro and short the USD, 48,709 contracts. This collective bullish market epiphany, buying almost 100k of euro contracts in five weeks, created market noise that attracted others, and they too bought. Bulls need fresh stories every day to keep the market running. This market is loaded with lots of bulls and some may be tiring of their positions. Last Thursday and Friday the open interest in the futures alone markets was down over 10k contracts, so part of the recent sell off has been longs getting out. We think they have more to sell, and prefer the short side for a trip down to about 1.3350. If given the opportunity sell a relief rally back above the 1.35 handle. seekingalpha.com/article/252877-euro-continues-slide-versus-the-usd
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 15, 2011 8:58:36 GMT -5
Hurdles to a Deutsche Boerse deal with NYSE Euronext-FACTBOX Tuesday February 15, 2011 11:05:11 PM GMT DEUTSCHEBOERSE/FACTBOXFeb 15 (Reuters) - German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse is in advanced talks with NYSE Euronext in a deal that would create the world's largest trading powerhouse. A deal is expected to be announced on Tuesday, however key obstacles remain: EUROPEAN COMMISSION European antitrust authorities will eye derivatives trading in particular, given that the combination of Deutsche Boerse's Eurex and NYSE Euronext's London-based Liffe platforms would dominate trading in interest rate, fixed-income, and equity- and index-based products in Europe. Adding to its European derivatives stronghold, NYSE Euronext plans to launch a U.S. futures exchange and clearing house next month, putting pressure squarely on Chicago-based CME Group Inc , the world's top derivatives exchange operator. Investment bankers promoting the deal argue the new group would not constitute a monopoly, citing competition from the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market. HESSIAN MINISTRY The Ministry of Economics in the German state of Hesse, home to Deutsche Boerse, can veto a deal. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is an independent entity under administrative law and therefore regulated by the ministry in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse, which also bestows the license to operate the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. If the ministry finds that a new operating company impedes the smooth operation of financial markets, it could refuse to award a licence. The Hessian regulator also has the power to cancel the voting rights of shareholders if their influence endangers the smooth running of the exchange. PARIS French markets regulator AMF has said it will seek to ensure the smooth functioning and development of Paris as a financial centre. The role of the French capital as a stock exchange hub was diminished through the merger of NYSE and Euronext in 2006. Paris is afraid to be left out in the cold. Economy Minister Christine Lagarde has said she would seek to preserve French interests and scrutinise the deal "with close attention." BONN Germany's financial markets supervisor Bafin would also need to approve any takeover offer for Deutsche Boerse's shares under Germany's takeover law. DEUTSCHE BOERSE'S FAILED MERGERS * July 17, 2000 - Deutsche Boerse presents plans to create iX-international exchanges together with the LSE. They hope to create a pan-European exchange organisation that would draw other exchange operators to join. It fails to muster enough support. * Summer 2003 - Deutsche Boerse chief executive Werner Seifert sits down with Jean Francois Theodore chief executive of Euronext NV to discuss a potential merger but talks are abandoned following disagreements on valuation. * Spring 2004 - Seifert sits down for a second time with Theodore to discuss a merger but disagreement over leadership structure scuppers the deal. * February 21, 2006 - Reto Francioni, the new chief executive of Deutsche Boerse, presents a preliminary merger offer for Euronext, sparking a renewed wave of consolidation. * May 19, 2006 - Deutsche Boerse offers Euronext's Theodore the position of chief executive but insists that the headquarters remain in Frankfurt, which would be the location for the majority of executive management's offices. * June 1, 2006 - Euronext announces a merger with NYSE Group * June 19, 2006 - Deutsche Boerse presents revised proposal for Euronext. No longer insists Frankfurt be the headquarters for the majority of executive management's offices, but it's too late. A NYSE Euronext merger prevails. * December 2008 - Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext discuss the outlines of a possible deal, but talks scuppered by a leak. (Reporting by Edward Taylor and Jonathan Gould; Editing by Alexander Smith) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.forexyard.com/en/news/Hurdles-to-a-Deutsche-Boerse-deal-with-NYSE-Euronext-2011-02-15T110523Z-FACTBOX
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 17, 2011 12:18:41 GMT -5
Bank of Canada's Carney urges monetary reform Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:53am EST Print This Article[-] Text [+] PARIS (Reuters) - Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney threw his support on Thursday behind calls for reform of the international monetary system, saying it was an inevitable byproduct of an increasingly multi-polar global economy. Carney said the rise of China and other emerging powers as the main drivers of growth represented a global shift that was unprecedented in history. "Any monetary system would show strains and fragilities in the face of such massive structural change," Carney told the Institute of International Finance, a bankers group, ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. "The French presidency's initiative to put reform of the IMS (international monetary system) on the top of the agenda is absolutely appropriate," he said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a "new Bretton Woods" system for the 21st century. One aspect of that reform would be a move away from the dollar's preeminence as a reserve currency and consideration of the longer-term use of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as a reserve asset. Many officials support the idea in principle of the Chinese yuan becoming part of the SDR basket of currencies, but say that is unlikely to happen unless it becomes fully convertible. Carney said an "increasingly unstable hybrid of fixed and floating exchange rate regimes" was fostering disinflationary or deflationary risks in advanced economies and inflationary risks in emerging economies. "It promoted, in our opinion, the enormous buildup of debt that preceded the crisis and could complicate, is complicating the necessary balance sheet repair in its wake," he said. He said large sovereign borrowing needs and required business investment underscored the need to keep the global financial system open, suggesting regulators should not clamp down too hard on the banking sector as they seek to prevent another crisis. "It would be sheer incompetence to move from a savings glut to one that is capital starved," he said. ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE71G2TU20110217
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 17, 2011 12:57:39 GMT -5
111 Charged in Medicare Scams Worth $225 Million Published February 17, 2011 Federal authorities charged more than 100 doctors, nurses and physical therapists in nine cities with Medicare fraud Thursday, part of a massive nationwide bust that snared more suspects than any other in history. More than 700 law enforcement agents fanned out to arrest 111 people accused of illegally billing Medicare more than $2225 million. The arrests are the latest in a string of major busts in the past two years as authorities have struggled to pare the fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder partnered in 2009 to allocate more money and manpower in fraud hot spots. Thursday's indictments were for suspects in Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Chicago, Brooklyn, Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La. A podiatrist performing partial toenail removals was among 21 indicted in Detroit. He is accused of billing Medicare about $700,000 for the costly and unnecessary procedures, which authorities said amounted to little more than toenail clippings. The podiatrist billed Medicare for 20 nail removals on three toes of one patient, according to the indictment. He charged Medicare about $110 for each procedure. A Brooklyn, N.Y., proctologist was charged with billing $6.5 million for hemorrhoid removals, most of which he never performed. He claimed he performed 10 hemorrhoid removals on one patient, which authorities said is not possible. Authorities also busted three physical therapy clinics in Brooklyn, run by an organized network of Russian immigrants accused of paying recruiters to find elderly patients so they could bill for nearly $57 million in physical therapy that amounted to little more than back rubs, according to the indictment. In Miami, two doctors and several nurses were charged with swindling $25 million by writing fake prescriptions recommending nurses and other expensive aids to treat homebound patients, authorities said. The services were never provided. In total, nearly three dozen defendants were charged in Miami in various scams that topped about $56 million. Thursday's totals exclude busts two days earlier in Miami that netted 21 suspects accused of bilking $200 million from Medicare. "These unprecedented operations send a clear message. We will not tolerate criminals lining their pockets at the expense of Medicare patients and taxpayers," HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson said in prepared remarks to be delivered at a news conference in Washington. For decades, Medicare has operated under a pay-and-chase system, paying providers first and investigating suspicious claims later. The system worked when the agency was paying hospitals and institutions that couldn't close up shop and flee the country if they'd been overpaid. But as Medicare has expanded to one of the largest payer systems in the world, he agency has struggled to weed out crooks. There are about 1.3 million licensed suppliers nationwide with 18,000 new applications coming in every month. Sebelius has promised more decisive action on the front end, by vigorously screening providers and stopping payment to suspicious ones, under greater authority granted by the Affordable Care Act. www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/17/111-charged-medicare-scams-worth-225-million/?test=latestnews
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Post by travelbugaz on Feb 19, 2011 8:29:37 GMT -5
Pressure on China to back G-20 deal on imbalances G-20 finances chiefs optimistic on deal to track dangerous economic imbalances AP Business Writers, On Saturday February 19, 2011, 4:08 am EST PARIS (AP) -- Finance chiefs of the world's dominant economies on Saturday pressured China to drop its resistance to a deal on tracking dangerous imbalances in the global economy, in an effort to revive the Group of 20 rich and developing nations as the forum to prevent further financial crises. "I have the impression that China is aware of its responsibility in the world," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Saturday morning after holding late-night talks with his Chinese counterpart Xie Xuren. "China is also greatly affected by global developments." France, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, asked finance ministers and central bank governors in their first meeting in 2011 to come up with a list of indicators to measure economic imbalances. Talks Friday and Saturday revolved around five specific measures: current accounts, real effective exchange rates and currency reserves, as well as public and private debt levels. Beijing -- watching over the world's second largest economy -- has emerged as the power to convince to take even this first step in targeting imbalances, which most economists say not only were central to the recent financial crisis but also have been a big obstacle to getting the global economy back on track. China has so far opposed targeting current account surpluses -- which show that a country sends much more goods and capital abroad than it receives -- and exchange rates, as it has resisted letting its own currency, the yuan, appreciate more quickly against the dollar. The United States in particular accuses China of artificially lowering the price -- and therefore improving the competitiveness -- of its exports by preventing the yuan from rising in value. Many countries are also concerned over the political and economic influence Beijing could derive from its huge foreign currency reserves, denominated mostly in dollars. But Germany's Schaeuble was nevertheless optimistic that a deal on all five indicators could be reached Saturday. The stakes are high: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde warned Friday that a failure to address imbalances "leads us straight into the wall of another debt crisis," while President Nicolas Sarkozy said that countries must not get complacent as some parts of the world are starting to recover from the crisis while others are still lagging behind. "That would be the death of the G-20," Sarkozy warned. France has set an ambitious agenda for its G-20 presidency in an attempt to revive the grouping, after a meeting of heads of state in Seoul last year failed to come up with specific yardsticks for measuring imbalances. But the gathering in Paris left many of the more difficult questions to be decided at later meetings. Officials will not even attempt to set firm limits for when imbalances actually become dangerous. The still more difficult question of how to enforce any thresholds that leaders eventually sign up to is yet further off the agenda. "Name and shame" policies like those used in the fight against international tax havens would be one, albeit toothless, possibility. Progress on some of France's other priorities -- such as tighter regulation of speculation in commodities markets and introducing a tax on financial transactions -- appeared even more elusive in Paris. While there is widespread agreement that smoothing out imbalances is key to a more even recovery of the global economy, how that should be done is more divisive. The mere existence of the imbalances points to vastly different growth models among the world's biggest economies, with each arguing that changing its strategy -- whether based on exports, exchange rate controls or the free flow of money -- would hurt its recovery. What is clear to most economists is that sticking to the status quo could be fatal. In the years before the financial meltdown of 2008, countries with trade surpluses plowed money into mortgage and other investments in the United States, helping escalate their value, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told his G-20 colleagues Friday. But the U.S. failed to safely absorb money flooding in from emerging nations like China, Middle Eastern oil countries and industrialized countries in Europe, Bernanke said. The Fed Chairman called on surplus countries like China to let their exchange rates float freely, and urged nations like the United States to narrow their budget shortfalls and save more. "If there is no stabilizing system, then you can have situations where like today, you have a two-speed recovery and demand is not optimally allocated around the world," Bernanke said. Emerging markets like China and Brazil have come out of the financial crisis much stronger than some of the more traditional powers such as the U.S, Europe and Japan. finance.yahoo.com/news/Official-G20-reach-compromise-apf-3737136899.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
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Post by travelbugaz on Feb 19, 2011 8:34:52 GMT -5
House passes sweeping cuts to domestic programs GOP-controlled House passes sweeping cuts to domestic programs, curbs new regulations WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jolted to action by deficit-conscious newcomers, the Republican-controlled House passed sweeping legislation early Saturday to cut $61 billion from hundreds of federal programs and shelter coal companies, oil refiners and farmers from new government regulations. The 235-189 vote to send the bill to the Senate was largely along party lines and defied a veto threat from President Barack Obama. It marked the most striking victory to date for the 87-member class of freshmen Republicans elected last fall on a promise to attack the deficit and reduce the reach of government. Three Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure. "The American people have spoken. They demand that Washington stop its out-of-control spending now, not some time in the future," declared freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan. The $1.2 trillion bill covers every Cabinet agency through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, imposing severe spending cuts aimed at domestic programs and foreign aid, including aid for schools, nutrition programs, environmental protection, and heating and housing subsidies for the poor. The measure faces a rough ride in the Democratic-controlled Senate, even before the GOP amendments adopted Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning pushed the bill further and further to the right on health care and environmental policy. Senate Democrats promise higher spending levels and are poised to defend Obama's health care bill, environmental policies and new efforts to overhaul regulation of the financial services industry. Changes rammed through the House on Friday and Saturday would shield greenhouse-gas polluters and privately owned colleges from federal regulators, block a plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and bar the government from shutting down mountaintop mines it believes will cause too much water pollution, siding with business groups over environmental activists and federal regulators in almost every instance. "This is like a Cliff Notes summary of every issue that the Republicans, the Chamber of Commerce, and the (free market) CATO Institute have pushed for 30 years," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. "And they're just going to run them through here." The gulf between the combatants ensures that difference on the measure won't be resolved soon, requiring a temporary spending bill when a current stopgap measure expires March 4. Senate Democrats and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, are already maneuvering for political advantage in anticipation of talks on a short-term extension that will be needed. Democrats say Boehner's insistence that any stopgap measure carry spending cuts amounts to an ultimatum that could threaten a government shutdown like the episodes that played to the advantage of former President Bill Clinton in his battles with Republicans in 1995-1996. The Obama administration upped the ante on Friday, warning that workers who distribute Social Security benefits might be furloughed if the GOP cuts go through. Across four long days of freewheeling debate, Republicans left their conservative stamp in other ways. They took several swipes at the year-old health care law, including voting for a ban on federal funding for its implementation. At the behest of anti-abortion lawmakers, they called for an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Republicans awarded the Pentagon an increase of less than 2 percent increase, but domestic agencies would bear slashing cuts of about 12 percent. Such reductions would feel almost twice as deep since they would be spread over the final seven months of the budget year. Republicans recoiled, however, from some of the most politically difficult cuts to grants to local police and fire departments, special education and economic development. Amtrak supporters easily repelled an attempt to slash its budget. About the only victory scored by Obama during the week came on a vote Wednesday to cancel $450 million for a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon's next-generation F-35 warplane. It was a top priority of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and passed with the votes of many GOP conservatives who opposed the $3 billion program, more than half of the 87 Republican freshmen elected last fall on promises to cut the budget. Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the measure and Obama has threatened a veto if it reaches his desk, citing sweeping cuts that he says would endanger the economic recovery. "The bill will destroy 800,000 American jobs," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., citing a study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. "It will increase class sizes and take teachers out of the classrooms ... It will jeopardize homeless veterans, make our communities less secure, threaten America's innovation." The Environmental Protection Agency was singled out by Republicans eager to defend business and industry from numerous agency regulations they say threaten job-creation and the economy. The EPA's budget was slashed by almost one-third, and then its regulatory powers were handcuffed in a series of floor votes. Proposed federal regulations would be blocked on emission of greenhouse gases, blamed for climate change, and a proposed regulation on mercury emissions from cement kilns would also be stopped. Additionally, the bill also calls for a halt to proposed regulations affecting Internet service providers and privately-owned colleges, victories for the industries that would be affected. The 359-page bill was shaped beginning to end by the first-term Republicans, many of them elected with tea party backing. They rejected an initial draft advanced by the leadership and produced by Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the Appropriations Committee, saying it did not cut deeply enough. The revised bill added more reductions, and cut $100 billion from Obama's request for the current year, the amount Republicans had cited in their campaign-season Pledge to America. But a tea party-backed amendment to slash $22 billion on top of the $60-billion-plus worth of steep cuts already made by the measure failed on Friday almost 2-1. The heavily subsidized ethanol industry absorbed a pair of defeats Saturday at the hands of it many critics, including Rep. John Sullivan, R-Ohio, who won a vote to block the EPA from approving boosting the amount of ethanol in most gasoline to 15 percent. On other regulatory issues, foes of the EPA won a 249-176 vote to block the agency from using its regulatory powers to curb greenhouse gases. EPA has already taken steps to regulate global warming pollution from vehicles and the largest factories and industrial plants and is expected to soon roll out rules that target refineries and power plants. The move to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse-gas polluters came from Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who said his congressional district is home to more oil refineries than any other. "We're in the midst of a massive economic downturn and the last thing we need to do is shoot ourselves in the foot with unnecessary, expensive new regulations that are on business and industry," he said. Republicans also prevailed in more parochial issues, with Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., winning a close vote to block the government from removing hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, while Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., won a 230-195 vote to block an EPA plan for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay that would cut pollution from runoff from farms and municipalities throughout the Chesapeake watershed. And Florida agricultural interests won a vote to block EPA rules issued last year aimed at controlling fertilizer and other pollutants that stoke the spread of algae in the state's waters. On Thursday, the House voted to block regulations governing the emission of mercury from cement plants and to stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing proposed regulations opposed by Verizon and other large Internet Service Providers finance.yahoo.com/news/House-passes-sweeping-cuts-to-apf-1435796122.html?x=0
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 10:46:42 GMT -5
Citigroup Extends Expiration Time Of Consent Solicitation Of TRUPS 2/18/2011 10:35 AM ET Citigroup Inc. (C: News ) today announced the extension of the Expiration Time of its previously announced consent solicitation from holders of record on January 21, 2011 of the 6.00% Capital Securities of Citigroup Capital XI to terminate each of ten capital replacement covenants executed by Citigroup in connection with various securities offerings. The Expiration Time on February 17, 2011 has been extended to March 4, 2011 unless further extended or terminated by Citigroup. If Citigroup receives the Requisite Consents, holders who validly deliver their Consent by the Expiration Time would be eligible to receive a consent fee of 0.50% of the liquidation amount of Covered Securities as to which such Consent was validly delivered. www.rttnews.com/Content/QuickFacts.aspx?Id=1556775&SM=1
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:12:04 GMT -5
First lady, daughters skiing in Vail Posted: 02/19/2011 12:36:54 PM MSTUpdated: 02/19/2011 12:37:02 PM MST VAIL — First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Malia and Sasha, are among the Presidents Day weekend crowd. Mrs. Obama arrived Friday night for a weekend of skiing in Vail and Beaver Creek. A motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers, traveled from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Vail on Friday night, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Roads were temporarily blocked to make way for the motorcade in Eagle. The motorcade entered an underground garage beneath the Sebastian hotel in Vail Village shortly after 9:30 p.m. The White House confirmed to the Washington Post the trip the morning in an email. "The First Lady and several close family friends are chaperoning their children on a ski trip. Personal expenses are being paid for by the Obamas," the email said. Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12, have been skiing once before, at Liberty Mountain Resort, in Carroll Valley, Pa., in February 2010. www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_17431874IMO, all Americans and others need a vacation, but not at a time when supposedly money is so tight you can hear it squeak!!!!
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:14:16 GMT -5
February 19, 2011 Obama's War on Democracy Message to Wisconsin taxpayers: President Obama and the Democratic National Committee have declared war on you. Message to other states: You're next. The political unrest in Wisconsin, billed as some kind of grass-roots uprising, is being organized and directed by Barack Obama‘s Organizing for America and the Democratic National Committee. This development is consistent with Mr. Obama‘s instructions for supporters to "get in the face" of those who oppose them, but in this case, they are seeking to derail a lawful legislative process. READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT WASHINGTONTIMES.COM nation.foxnews.com/barack-obama/2011/02/19/obamas-war-democracy
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:17:40 GMT -5
SEC May Risk Harming Investors With ‘Trade-At Rule’ for Stocks By Nina Mehta, Whitney Kisling and Jesse Hamilton - Feb 19, 2011 12:01 AM ET Individual investors could be hurt should regulators alter an equities-trading rule limiting the prices at which brokers can execute orders away from public markets, an executive at TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said. An eight-member committee urged the Securities and Exchange Commission in a report yesterday to adopt a restriction called a trade-at rule. It would prevent venues and brokerages from executing orders within their walls unless they improve pricing by a specified amount versus the market’s best level. The change is designed to limit the amount of trading on private venues, including dark pools, that represent about 30 percent of the market. NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., the biggest operators of U.S. exchanges, argue the transactions impair price discovery, or investors’ ability to determine the best prices based on buying and selling interest. While the rule may shift more orders to public markets, it may also mean retail investors won’t get prices that are as good as what they now receive, TD Ameritrade’s Christopher Nagy said. “I was disappointed,” Nagy, a managing director for order routing, sales and strategy at the third-largest retail brokerage by client assets, said in an interview. “The report appears to be a politically motivated stalking horse to implement the trade-at rule. A trade-at would serve to increase costs for retail investors by creating an inconsistent trading experience.” Joseph Stiglitz The committee, created by the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the 20-minute plunge on May 6 erased $862 billion from U.S. shares before prices recovered, gave 14 recommendations for improving regulation. Members include Joseph Stiglitz, an economist who won the Nobel Prize; David Ruder, a former SEC chairman; Brooksley E. Born, who was chairman of the CFTC; and John J. Brennan, chairman emeritus and senior adviser at mutual-fund operator Vanguard Group Inc. The trade-at rule "might affect the business models of a number of firms," Maureen O’Hara, a committee member and finance professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said at a meeting in Washington yesterday. "This is not a trivial change." TD Ameritrade’s retail customers usually get better prices from wholesale brokers, such as Chicago-based Citadel LLC, who trade against the orders within their own walls instead of sending them to the public marketplace, Nagy said. The trade-at rule may provide a disincentive to wholesalers, who may not be able to offer the requisite level of price improvement or pay as much to retail brokers for the orders, he added. The result may lead to investors paying more for executions as brokers seek to cover the lost payments. Half a Cent The advisory group suggested that brokers provide price improvement of half a cent per share if they want to internalize, or trade against, a customer’s order. Citadel, Knight Capital Group Inc. of Jersey City, New Jersey, and other brokers that execute retail orders for securities firms usually improve the prices they provide beyond what’s publicly available, as well as pay retail brokers, such as Omaha, Nebraska-based TD Ameritrade, for sending trade requests to them. The SEC introduced rules in 2007 that prohibit exchanges and brokers from executing orders at prices worse than the best available quote on a public venue. The rule aimed to tie together a marketplace composed of several dozen trading venues by requiring them to respect the best published price. “While such a routing regime provides order execution at the current best displayed price, it does so at the expense of the limit order posting a best price which need not receive execution,” the committee’s report said. “An alternative framework is a ‘trade at’ regime in which orders must be routed to one or more markets with the best displayed price.” Right Problem By seeking to limit trading off public markets, the advisers focused on the right problem, said Joe Ratterman, Kansas City, Missouri-based chief executive officer of Bats Global Markets, the fourth-largest operator of U.S. exchanges last month. A broad trade-at rule could affect exchanges, which allow investors to use hidden orders, and would be the “regulatory equivalent of a sledgehammer," he said. ‘‘Exchanges would be hampered from providing price improvement’’ unless they were displaying quotes at the best price, he said. ‘‘There are subtler ways to swing the pendulum of dark liquidity to a healthier level.’’ Data Vendors Ratterman said the SEC could alter the formula used to allocate the hundreds of millions of dollars in annual fees exchanges collectively get from data vendors such as New York- based Thomson Reuters Corp. and Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News. The current formula, which the SEC changed in 2005, allocates half the money to exchanges based on their quotations and half based on their trades. He said regulators could also adjust the so-called fair-access level at which dark pools must make their orders publicly available. Half of the committee’s recommendations didn’t call for specific actions, instead saying regulators should explore or examine potential rule changes. The committee could have been ‘‘a little bit more specific,” said John Bates, chief technology officer at Progress Software Corp. and a member of the CFTC’s group of technology advisers. The committee also recommended that U.S. equity markets limit price moves before resorting to the current technique of halting a stock when it fluctuates a certain amount. The system, known as limit-up/limit-down, would prevent prices from moving outside bands based on trading in the previous five minutes and would trigger pauses only if liquidity, or trading interest, remains insufficient during the period, the committee said. S&P 500, ETFs Exchanges implemented single-stock circuit breakers after the May 6 rout. The pause lasts five minutes for Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Russell 1000 Index companies as well as more than 300 exchange-traded funds when they rise or fall at least 10 percent within five minutes. The committee recommended expanding the program to “all but the most inactively traded” stocks, ETFs and related derivatives. Limit-up/limit-down “really is a more efficient system,” said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC in New York. “I can only think of a couple instances since the circuit breakers were put in place where a stock was halted for something other than a single clearly erroneous print.” The circuit breakers, which started in June, have been triggered by at least 21 companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The five-minute halt “has been particularly problematic in a number of situations in which a single erroneous trade triggered the pause,” according to the report. The recommended system is “highly desirable if it operates as a supplement to the present process.” High-Frequency Traders Regulators should consider implementing fees for market participants when they exceed a specified level of order cancellations relative to executions, according to the report. Those fees would be aimed at high-frequency traders, who have a “disproportionate impact” on market data traffic and exchanges’ costs for conducting surveillance, the advisers said. Fees would help ensure that the costs of that activity are borne by those responsible for the increase in market data. “Algorithmic trading, high-frequency trading poses some special problems in terms of orderly trading on the markets,” Born, the former CFTC chairman, said at the event in Washington. “The high percentage of order cancellations I think could well be considered a disruptive trading practice that should be looked at very carefully by the commissions.” Create Incentives The committee urged regulators to consider incentives for market participants to supply liquidity in various conditions including times of high volatility. The report recommended exchanges consider a “peak load” pricing strategy in which they charge higher fees to execute orders against bids and offers and provide bigger rebates to traders adding liquidity when prices are fluctuating more. That could ensure there’s more liquidity during “bad times,” the report said. “I don’t think any of this will make a difference when markets decline,” Nagy said. “The solution is to pause trading and let the fear subside. Limit up/limit down is the most important change we can put into the marketplace.” The committee said regulators should consider switching the benchmark that triggers market-wide circuit breakers that stop trading across securities and futures exchanges to the S&P 500 instead of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Regulators should also reassess the amount the index must decline before the market-wide circuit breaker is triggered. The initial trading halt should be reduced to as little as 10 minutes, the group said. It also said the circuit breaker should be allowed to be triggered until 3:30 p.m. New York time. Better Measure “It just seemed to us to be a better representation of the markets, if you will, and not coincidentally has some cross- market characteristics that seemed to us to make it a better benchmark,” Vanguard’s Brennan said at the event in Washington. The eight-person group recommended the CFTC and Chicago- based CME Group Inc., the largest U.S. futures exchange operator, consider whether safeguards beyond a five-second trading curb on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is warranted. The price-based limit let S&P 500 futures rebound after a trigger was hit on May 6. Most equity exchanges didn’t have a similar mechanism for stocks. The advisers said the CFTC should impose "strict supervisory requirements" on futures brokers sponsoring trading by firms using algorithms, which slice a larger order into smaller pieces and execute them over a period of time. The SEC adopted risk controls and stronger supervisory requirements for brokers in November. A trader’s use of an algorithm to execute an S&P 500 futures order on May 6 helped set off the chain of events that sent the Dow down as much as 998.50 points, the SEC and CFTC said in a report on Oct. 1. Two people with knowledge of the findings identified the company as Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., an Overland Park, Kansas-based mutual-fund company. www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/stock-markets-require-limit-up-limit-down-system-sec-cftc-advisers-say.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:19:00 GMT -5
U.S. Ends Criminal Investigation of Angelo Mozilo, Person Says By Edvard Pettersson - Feb 19, 2011 1:16 PM ET The U.S. Justice Department has ended a criminal investigation of former Countrywide Financial Corp. Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo and won’t bring charges, a person familiar with the investigation said. The person asked not to be identified because the investigation hadn’t been made public. The Federal Bureau of Investigation started a probe of possible securities fraud at the mortgage lender in 2008, people familiar with the case said at the time. Mozilo, 72, last year agreed to pay $67.5 million to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing him of misleading investors. Brendan Sullivan, a lawyer for Mozilo, didn’t immediately return a call to his office outside regular business hours. The SEC sued Mozilo and two other former Countrywide executives in June 2009. The agency said the three publicly reassured investors about the quality of Countrywide’s loans while knowing that the lender was fueling its growth at least since the beginning of 2005 by letting its underwriting guidelines deteriorate, and by originating an increasing number of risky subprime loans. Mozilo’s penalty was the biggest ever to be paid by a senior executive of a publicly traded company in an SEC settlement, the agency said last year. Loan Defaults The SEC alleged that Mozilo sold $140 million in Countrywide shares from November 2006 through October 2007 at an inflated price because he hadn’t disclosed the increasing risk he knew the company faced from defaulting mortgages. Mozilo was the most prominent executive targeted by U.S. regulators examining the subprime mortgage crisis. He co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and built it into the nation’s biggest mortgage lender. Mounting loan defaults made it impossible for the lender to raise funds to issue new mortgages, prompting its sale to Bank of America Corp. in 2008. The Los Angeles Times reported on the end to the investigation yesterday. www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-19/criminal-probe-of-countrywide-ex-ceo-mozilo-is-ended-person-familiar-says.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:22:56 GMT -5
King George Was Remembered Fondly by Many American Patriots: Lewis Lapham By Lewis Lapham - Feb 19, 2011 12:01 AM ET Once liberated from British rule, many American Patriots felt they had less freedom than under King George III. (To listen to the podcast, click here.) Years before, these people had put aside self-interest to join with their neighbors in mobilizing against their British oppressors. They grew strong by forming coalitions across social, geographical and religious lines. Once the hostilities started in 1775, popular movements helped convince people to share the costs of the war, distribute and price goods fairly, and curb the influence of Loyalists. Toward the end of the Revolutionary War, power began to shift away from artisans, farmers and free laborers and toward the moneyed classes. Self-interest was newly celebrated as a duty, even a virtue, and once popular meetings, committees, petitions and resolutions became emblematic of mob rule. One aspect of the Patriot economy to be lost was the capacity for people to decide the use and value of property based on social purpose and human need, and not simply leave it to market forces. I spoke with Barbara Clark Smith, author of “The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America,” on the following topics: 1. Consent in Law’s Execution 2. Crime & Punishment 3. Patriotism in Action 4. Loyalty to People 5. Freedom for Avarice www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/king-george-was-viewed-fondly-by-postwar-patriots-lewis-lapham.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:29:09 GMT -5
4 banks, 1 credit union fail in US Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:52PM Regulators in the United States have closed four banks. Two were in Georgia, and two were in California. That brings the total number of 2011 bank failures to 22. All four banks were small. The largest, Habersham Bank in Georgia, had 8 branches and total assets of $387.6 million. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) arranged for all four banks to be acquired by other banks. All deposits were assumed by these acquiring banks except for certain brokered deposits. In addition to the four bank failures, there was one credit union liquidation this week. This brings the number of credit union liquidations this year to 2. Also, the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) placed one credit union into conservatorship. That's the first for the year. In a conservatorship, the NCUA assumes control over the credit union. depositaccounts.com FACTS & FIGURES According to FDIC, nearly 340 banks have been seized by the government since 2008. The total number of bank failures in 2011 has so far been 16, compared to 157 in 2010, 140 in 2009, 25 in 2008 and just 3 in 2007 FDIC. More than 10 percent of the U.S.' 7,760 banks are still in financial trouble. Rawstory.com www.presstv.ir/usdetail/166014.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:30:20 GMT -5
US agent linked to 'Taliban, CIA and drone attacks' Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:14PM Pakistani defense analyst and security consultant Zaid Hamid says that there is evidence that confirms the links between the detained U.S. undercover operative, Raymond Davis, with “CIA espionage and sabotage” as well as the “U.S. drone attacks” in Pakistan. “The documents, photographs and the evidence that has come out from Davis' sofa almost confirms his links with Taliban terrorism…the attacks on ISI and the security establishment as well as the drone attacks,” Hamid said in an interview with Press TV's U.S. Desk on Saturday. Raymond Davis is being detained in Pakistan on charges of gunning down two Pakistanis in Lahore on January 27. “With this kind of evidence the issue is not just the assassination of those two boys on the streets of Lahore but it is an indication of a much larger network of CIA espionage and sabotage inside Pakistan,” he said. “That is why we find that every day the Pakistani security establishment tightens the cordons around Davis,” the defense analyst added. The U.S. embassy and State Department have accused Pakistan of breaching international conventions by remanding in custody an official with diplomatic status. Davis, 36, has reportedly told police he shot two motorcyclists in Pakistan in self-defense, believing they were planning to rob or kidnap him, after they approached his car at an intersection in Lahore on January 27. Pakistani police, however, say that their findings refute the claims of self defense, and that Davis' shootings amounted to "cold-blooded murder." Antiwar The incident led to a third death when a speeding U.S. consulate vehicle coming to the rescue of Davis overran a motorcyclist. Further controversy surrounds U.S. claims of "diplomatic immunity" for the murders, which would not be the case if Davis is, as previously reported, a technical support staff for the consulate in Lahore. U.S. officials have begun referring to him as an employee of the embassy in Islamabad, however, which could theoretically give him such immunity. Antiwar Furthermore, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, had pressurized him to sign a summary giving diplomatic immunity to American official Raymond Davis who is accused of a double-murder, but he refused to oblige. Sify Earlier, the U.S. had threatened to oust the Pakistani ambassador and close down U.S. consulates in Pakistan if Islamabad did not immediately free Davis www.presstv.ir/usdetail/166066.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 15:47:36 GMT -5
FEBRUARY 18, 2011 Regulators Eye Apple Anew - Enforcers Interested in Whether Digital-Subscription Rules Stifle Competition By THOMAS CATAN And NATHAN KOPPEL WASHINGTON—U.S. antitrust enforcers have begun looking at the terms Apple Inc. set this week for media companies who want to sell their content on its popular iPad and other devices, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's interest in Apple's new subscription service is at a preliminary stage, and might not develop into either a formal investigation or any action against the company. But it comes as Apple has attracted growing antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe. A spokeswoman for the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said Thursday that the commission was aware of the new subscription service and was "carefully monitoring the situation." The Justice Department and the FTC are both interested in examining whether Apple is running afoul of U.S. antitrust laws by funneling media companies' customers into the payment system for its iTunes store—and taking a 30% cut, the people familiar with the situation said. The agencies both enforce federal antitrust laws and would have to decide which one of them would take the lead in the matter. Representatives of the Justice Department, the FTC and Apple all declined to comment. Apple's rules don't stop media companies from selling digital subscriptions on their own. But the company imposed restrictions that could make that option less attractive to customers, and steer more sales through its own system. Apple keeps a tight grip over almost every aspect of its iPad tablet, iPhone and iPod music and video player. It decides which applications can run on them, and the devices work only with content delivered through its iTunes store. That level of control has drawn complaints from publishers unhappy with the company's subscription-sales terms. Under Apple's terms for the new service, companies that sell digital subscriptions to content on Apple devices would be required to make it available for sale through apps at the company's iTunes App Store at the best available price. Buying magazine or other subscriptions through the iTunes store would require just a few clicks and use billing details already on file, giving users an incentive to use Apple's system. Apple would prohibit media companies' apps from linking to stores outside its App Store or from offering better terms to subscribers elsewhere, making it difficult for them to attract buyers to their own sites. Legal experts say some of those rules could pose antitrust problems. Banning apps from linking to external sites "sounds like a pretty aggressive position," said Eric Goldman, director of Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute. "It seems like that's purely in the interests of Apple trying to restrict people doing transactions they don't get a cut from." Apple's condition that its own customers should get the best deal available from media companies could also attract scrutiny. Such conditions, sometimes known as "most favored nation" clauses, can be deemed anticompetitive if they distort pricing. The Justice Department recently sued a Michigan health-insurance company for allegedly using such clauses to hobble rivals. Online music companies said Apple's 30% commission would cut too deeply into their profit margins. The rate "is so obviously anticompetitive that it will never survive in Europe," said Axel Dauchez, the president of Deezer, a French company that sells subscriptions to its digital music library of 10 million songs. Jon Irwin, the president of Rhapsody International Inc., which sells online music subscriptions through apps on Apple and other mobile devices, said his company would be squeezed by having to pay royalties to the owners of the music it sells online as well as a 30% cut to Apple. "The costs don't leave any room for a sensible business model," he said. Antitrust officials in the U.S. and abroad may be hard-pressed to conclude that Apple's 30% commission is excessive, antitrust experts said, partly because it will be difficult to determine a benchmark commission rate for digital subscriptions. "The European Commission has been reluctant in the past to second-guess pricing as it is a complex exercise, and the commission does not want to become a price regulator," said Damien Geradin, a professor of competition law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. To make a case against Apple, antitrust enforcers would have to show that Apple has market power and is abusing it. That depends on how they define a market. Apple's iPhone is the phone of choice for many affluent consumers, but it has only a 16% share of smartphone sales and a sliver of the broader mobile-phone market. Apple accounts for about three-quarters of world-wide tablet-computer sales, but that share could fall fast as a slate of competitors become available. Antitrust enforcers would also have to determine to what extent media companies need to be on Apple devices, or whether other alternatives are available. Making that determination won't be easy in a fast-changing market. Google Inc. on Wednesday launched its own subscription service with terms that seemed far more attractive to publishers. Google will allow publishers to keep at least 90% of the subscription price for their publications and give them greater control over valuable subscriber information. If media companies abandon its devices, Apple could suffer greatly. Nearly half of all tablet owners use iPads to read newspapers and magazines, according to a recent survey by Forrester Research. Apple also would have the option of changing its practices, if need be, to head off any possible formal action by antitrust regulators. Last year, the Justice Department began examining whether Apple's practices in the music business were anticompetitive. In the U.S., Apple controls around 70% of online music sales and has more of the overall music market than Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to market research firm NPD Group. At around the same time, the FTC started looking at the company's App Store. In particular, the FTC examined Apple's rules preventing app developers from using tools made by software maker Adobe Inc. It also investigated restrictions that appeared to impede Google's ability to effectively serve ads on Apple devices, something that potentially gave Apple's own ad service an edge in a fast-growing market. In September, Apple backed down on both issues, revising its rules and taking the heat out of that investigation. —Yukari Iwatani Kane contributed to this article. online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657704576150350669475800.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 19, 2011 16:53:09 GMT -5
First California Acquires San Luis Trust Bank WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA--(Marketwire - February 18, 2011) - First California Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCAL), the holding company of First California Bank, today announced that First California Bank assumed all of the deposits and substantially all of the assets of San Luis Trust Bank (OTCBB: SNLS), effective at the close of business Friday, February 18, 2011, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) acting in its capacity as receiver of San Luis Trust Bank. To protect depositors of San Luis Trust Bank, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement under which First California Bank assumed all deposits of San Luis Trust Bank. The single branch previously operated by San Luis Trust Bank will reopen Tuesday morning, February 22, as part of the First California Bank franchise. San Luis Trust Bank's depositors will automatically become depositors of First California Bank. "This transaction is in keeping with our growth strategy and expands our geographic footprint into San Luis Obispo County," said C. G. Kum, president and chief executive officer of First California Financial Group. "First California is financially strong, and San Luis Trust Bank customers can be confident that their deposits are safe and readily available. We welcome our new customers and employees to the First California family." As a result of this transaction, First California Bank will assume approximately $275 million in total deposits and $220 million in total loans. All of the loans purchased from the FDIC are covered under loss-sharing agreements that afford First California Bank significant protection from losses. San Luis Trust Bank is a single branch community bank located in San Luis Obispo, California, serving the banking needs of businesses and individuals countywide since 1999. About First California First California Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCAL) is the holding company of First California Bank. Celebrating 32 years of business in 2011, First California is a regional force of strength and stability in Southern California banking with assets of approximately $1.9 billion and led by an experienced team of bankers. The company specializes in serving the comprehensive financial needs of the commercial market, particularly small- and middle-sized businesses, professional firms and commercial real estate development and construction companies. Committed to providing the best client service available in its markets, First California offers a full line of quality commercial banking products through 19 full-service branch offices in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. The holding company's Web site can be accessed at www.fcalgroup.com. For additional information on First California Bank's products and services, visit www.fcbank.com. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains certain forward-looking information about First California that is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for "forward-looking statements" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, and include statements related to the safety and accessibility of customers' deposits and increases to market share. Such statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the control of First California. First California cautions readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, revenues are lower than expected, credit quality deterioration which could cause an increase in the provision for credit losses, First California's ability to complete future acquisitions, successfully integrate such acquired entities, or achieve expected beneficial synergies and/or operating efficiencies within expected time-frames or at all, changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits, technological changes, the cost of additional capital is more than expected, a change in the interest rate environment reduces interest margins, asset/liability repricing risks and liquidity risks, general economic conditions, particularly those affecting real estate values, either nationally or in the market areas in which First California does or anticipates doing business are less favorable than expected, a slowdown in construction activity, recent volatility in the credit or equity markets and its effect on the general economy, loan delinquency rates, the ability of First California to retain customers, demographic changes, demand for the products or services of First California as well as their ability to attract and retain qualified people, competition with other banks and financial institutions, and other factors. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or if any of the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements proves to be incorrect, First California's results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by such forward-looking statements. First California assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements. For a more complete discussion of risks and uncertainties, investors and security holders are urged to read the section titled "Risk Factors" in First California's Annual Report on Form 10-K and any other reports filed by it with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The documents filed by First California with the SEC may be obtained at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These documents may also be obtained free of charge from First California by directing a request to: First California Financial Group, Inc., 3027 Townsgate Road, Suite 300, Westlake Village, CA 91361. Attention: Investor Relations. Telephone (805) 322-9655. For further Information: At the Company: Ron Santarosa 805-322-9333 At PondelWilkinson: Robert Jaffe 310-279-5969 Corporate Headquarters Address: 3027 Townsgate Road, Suite 300 Westlake Village, CA 91361 www.marketwire.com/press-release/First-California-Acquires-San-Luis-Trust-Bank-NASDAQ-FCAL-1398757.htm
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 9:55:41 GMT -5
Dennis Kucinich's revolutionary Bill February 19, 2011 at 11:08am Dennis Kucinich's revolutionary Bill On December 17th, 2010, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced one of the most radical monetary Bills presented to the House of Representatives since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Designated as Bill H.R. 6550, this proposed Act is also referred to as the 'National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2010'. Kucinich's Bill includes the following astounding objectives: "to restore the authority of Congress to create and regulate money... [and to] retire public debt..." One needs to read that again. Restore the authority of Congress to create and regulate money? Retire public debt? Does that really say what it seems to be saying? What a revolutionary Bill! H.R. 6550 is much more far-reaching than Ron Paul's valiant attempt to audit the Federal Reserve. This Bill would take us back 175 years to Andrew Jackson who killed central banking in the United States and became the last president to pay off the National Debt. And it would take us back to Abraham Lincoln who, 150 years ago, instructed the Treasury to bypass the banks and issue some 450 million debt-free 'greenbacks' to pay for the Union war effort during the Civil War. Kucinich's Bill, if enacted as written, would take the power of money creation away from the banksters and return it to Congress as the Founding Fathers had originally intended. And in no time, the National Debt would be fully paid off with debt-free, interest-free U.S. Treasury dollars. Such a scenario has long been the stuff of banksters' nightmares. According to a London Times editorial in 1865, alarmed at the success of Lincoln's greenbacks, "[America] will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous without precedent in the history of the world...That country must be destroyed or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe."[1] And if Congressman Kucinich and his sponsors are successful, America will indeed become prosperous without precedent in the history of the world. And the other nations of the world will follow suit. The enactment of Bill H.R. 6550 is sure to create an epidemic of incontinence among the banksters throughout the world. The sale of toilet paper and adult diapers is sure to rise as the term "Cover your ass" takes on a whole new meaning. Wall Street especially will smell like an Arkansas hog ranch as the financial elite vacate their offices along with their bowels. For those lucky enough to live in South Dakota, it would be interesting to mosey on over to Mount Rushmore and see if Tom Jefferson and Abe Lincoln have broken into huge smiles. While Representative Kucinich is to be congratulated for his courage, intellect, and patriotism in presenting this Bill, special recognition should go to Stephen Zarlenga and his colleagues at the American Monetary Institute (AMI) for doing much of the groundwork over the past number of years. (Visit www.monetary.org for the text of H.R. 6550 and for a 32 page AMI precursor to the Bill.) Stephen Zarlenga, co-founder of the American Monetary Institute, has 35 years experience in finance, securities, insurance, mutual funds, real estate, and futures trading and is the author of the widely acclaimed 700 page tome, The Lost Science Of Money. Zarlenga and the AMI have been working on the genesis of this Bill for some time. Representative Kucinich has been a regular attendee and speaker at AMI events in Chicago for the last few years and has incorporated their monetary reform document in his Bill, H.R. 6550. This monetary reform is based on three crucial areas, all of which must occur if the reform is to be truly effective. 1. Incorporate the Federal Reserve System into the U.S. Treasury where all new money is created by government as money, not interest-bearing debt, and spent into circulation to promote the general welfare; monitored to be neither inflationary nor deflationary. 2. Halt the banks' privilege to create money by ending the fractional reserve system in a gentle and elegant way. All the past monetized private credit is converted into U.S. government money. Banks then act as intermediaries accepting savings deposits and loaning them out to borrowers; what people think they do now. 3. Spend new money into circulation on infrastructure, including education and healthcare needed for a growing society, starting with the $3 trillion that the American Institute of Architects estimate is needed for infrastructure repair (roads, bridges, railroads, water systems, sewer systems, etc.); creating good jobs across the nation, re-invigorating local economies and re-funding government at all levels. In Section 2 a), Findings, Kucinich targets the malfeasance and abysmal record of the Federal Reserve. The following selected paragraphs give a flavour of his controlled anger and serious intent. (19) This ceding of Constitutional power [to the Federal Reserve] has contributed materially to a multitude of monetary and financial afflictions, including-- (A) growing and unreasonable concentration of wealth; (B) unbridled expansion of national debt, both public and private; (C) excessive reliance on taxation of citizens for raising public revenues; (D) inflation of the currency; (E) drastic increases in the cost of public infrastructure investments; (F) record levels of unemployment and underemployment; and (G) persistent erosion of the ability of Congress to exercise its Constitutional responsibilities to provide resources for the general welfare of all the American people. (20) A debt-based monetary system, where money comes into existence primarily through private bank lending, can neither create, nor sustain, a stable economic environment, but has proven to be a source of chronic financial instability and frequent crisis, as evidenced by the near collapse of the financial system in 2008. (21) Banks pyramided their value by spending money into existence, greatly inflating the value of bank holdings, inflating the value of their asset bases, enticing unknowing investors to participate in financing schemes like the bundling of subprime mortgages, and ultimately bringing undercapitalized banks and the entire financial system to the edge of ruin, creating circumstances where the taxpayers of the United States were called upon to save the banks from their own imprudent money-issuing practices, misspending and mis-investments. The banks' ability to create money out of nothing ultimately became the taxpayers' liability, and raises a fundamental question about a practice of money creation which threatens the wealth of the American people. (22) Abolishing private money creation can be achieved with minimal disruption to current banking operations, regulation, and supervision. (23) The creation of money by private financial institutions as interest-bearing debts should cease once and for all. (24) Reclaiming the power of the Federal Government to create money, and to spend or lend money into circulation as needed, eliminates the need to treat money as a Federal liability or to pay interest charges on the Nation's money supply to financial institutions; it also renders unnecessary the undue influence of private financial institutions over public policy. (25) Under the current Federal Reserve System, the persons responsible for the conduct of United States monetary policy have been unaccountable to the Congress and the Nation, have resisted auditing by the General Accounting Office, and have claimed exemptions from some Federal statutes, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that apply to all agencies of the Federal Government. (26) The conduct of United States monetary policy by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and specifically the failure of Board members to safeguard the financial system against wholesale fraud and abuse of citizens, demonstrates the risks of maintaining a system wherein the power to create and regulate money has been delegated to private individuals who are unaccountable to the People of the United States in any way, even through their representatives in Congress. (29) As our money system is a key pillar in maintaining general economic welfare and as the Federal Reserve System and its private banking partners has consistently failed to promote or preserve the general welfare, it is essential that Congress, in the name of protecting the economic lives of the American people and the long-term security of our Nation, reassume the powers and responsibilities granted to it by the Constitution. Hear! Hear! All freedom-loving Americans would chant. This legislation should be studied and supported for the redemption it offers to us all, especially the poor and the down-trodden. Not only Americans, but the entire world should sit up and take note of Dennis Kucinich's revolutionary Bill. Citizens in other countries should download copies for their own political representatives and agitate for reform in their own countries. This Bill, if enacted, has the capability of creating widespread prosperity, peace, and goodwill. Here in Ireland we are in the middle of a General Election campaign where there is much debate and controversy about banking fraud, the collapse of the economy, and the involvement of EU/IMF predators who are intent on eating us alive. Not one of our so-called future leaders of the State has presented us with an intelligent, effective alternative to the banksters' grip of death. And the mainstream media, with all its political debates, opinions, op-eds, and pontificating economics gurus, has not offered a single original or radical idea. Why not? Are they all so lacking in intelligence and innovation? Are they all so hopelessly under-informed about the history of banking and economics? Or do they all belong to the banksters, body and soul, and have been charged with keeping revolutionary new ideas out of the public domain? Ireland sorely needs a Dennis Kucinich, or a single politician of integrity who will run with his baton. Is it possible to find such a creature among our gaggle of chancers and deadbeats? We'd better not hold our breath. Nonetheless, let's all hope that Congressman Kucinich prevails with this Bill and that it will not be defeated or emasculated by those in the pay or the influence of the Money Power. With the enactment of Bill H.R. 6550 the world may not become a Utopia overnight, but it will certainly move us a lot closer to the joyous abundance of the Garden of Eden since the day Adam and Eve got the boot. [1] This quote is attributed to Lord George J. Goschen, Director of the Bank of England and later, Chancellor of the Exchequer. . www.thegic.org/profiles/blogs/dennis-kucinichs-revolutionary
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:01:59 GMT -5
Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh Resigns February 20th, 2011 Bush appointed Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh announced his resignation today after only five years at the Fed. His term would have ended in 2018. Warsh’s resignation now leaves two vacancies on the seven-member board.Warsh was considered the most hawkish of the Fed Governors having openly stated that the Fed may need to raise rates with force in order to combat inflation. The departure may smooth the way for Chairman Bernanke to expand or extend the current $600 billion Treasury purchase program.Warsh was previously an investment banker and at 40 years old, was the youngest of the Fed governors. “Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh Resigns” is categorized as “business”. This video was licensed from Grab Networks. For additional video content, click the “video” tab at the top of this page. If you are a new American Banking & Market News reader, we would like to welcome you to our website. American Banking & Market News provides daily coverage of analysts’ ratings for some of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. We cover news surrounding large-cap U.S. financial companies, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase and discuss the fledgling industry of peer to peer lending. American Banking & Market News publishes hundreds of press releases per day and is part of the American Consumer News, LLC network. www.americanbankingnews.com/2011/02/20/federal-reserve-governor-kevin-warsh-resigns/
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:02:55 GMT -5
Zero Reserve Banking? February 20, 2010 Last March, Ben Bernanke wrote: "The Federal Reserve believes it is possible that, ultimately, its operating framework will allow the elimination of minimum reserve requirements, which impose costs and distortions on the banking system." (http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/bernanke20100210a.htm#fn9 ) So, the Fed is on record as saying we ought to move to a banking system in which there are NO reserves at all, making all the discussion about reserve requirements, including on this site, moot. Let's be careful not to fight the last war. Here is a more in-depth discussion of this pronouncement: www.businessinsider.com/now-bernanke-wants-to-eliminate-reserve-requirements-completely-2010-3and also appearing here: theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/money-out-of-thin-air-now-federal-reserve-chairman-ben-bernanke-wants-to-eliminate-reserve-requirements-completelyPerhaps this is not as bizarre and alarming as it first appears, or at least, it is not such a radical change from what is actually being practiced right now. After all, the Federal Reserve essentially back-stopped the 19 biggest TBTF banks when their reserve ratios proved insufficient. Perhaps they (that is, Bernanke) are thinking, "Well, we managed to cover the worst banking bust in history. How much worse can it get?" Perhaps Bernanke is just acknowledging in fact what has already been practiced in the last crash. Now, I am NOT saying this is a desirable, or even efficient state of affairs. After all, we do not want booms and busts like the current one we are trying to claw our way out of (the results of that clawing, QE, etc, have still to be determined.) To solve that, we must look deeper to the root causes of financial instability, beyond regulations (which we tried post S&L and post Enron - both of which had more "bite" than the current watered down set of regulations, and still failed.) I'm thinking we should eliminate securitization - the practice of bundling up loans and selling them to outside investors, so that loans are not kept on the books of lending banks. Related to that is the practice of insuring, and allowing betting short on insuring, bundles of bank loans - aka Collateralized Debt Obligations. We should also end the practice of back-stopping home loans via GSEs like the now-defunct Fannie Mai and Freddie Mac. We can eliminate sub-prime as a category, while we're at it, as this is the highest risk pool of borrowers for home loans. The banks will say some people, maybe many, will not be able to get loans if these policies are put in place. Well, if they are just going to fail to pay their mortgages down the road anyway, is that such a bad thing? Is there a banking model that practices such policies? Yes, it's called State Banking, and its leading example is the Bank of North Dakota, one of the most successful banks since its founding in 1919, and a bank which has helped its home state - where all its loans are made - achieve the biggest surplus in its history in 2009, when most states were flopping on the beach under debt-bombs. It's not just the oil&gas in North Dakota either - lots of states have that, and they have big debts too. But, beyond banking reform, there is another way that will get people in homes they own (as opposed to the perfectly honorable, but somehow disparaged, practice of renting where you live): A Land Value Tax. According to the Federal Reserve, about half of the initial cost of buying a home is just for purchasing the land beneath it. That land gets its value almost entirely from location (unless it is a farm or some other kind of land that actually produces something of value, beyond serving as a base for a home, and even there, a Land Value Tax makes sense). If you tax the land, the price of the land will come down, making sites more affordable to more buyers; after all, if people are paying high rent, they will not pay high price too. If you tax it enough, you can eliminate every other tax, which falls on production. That means you will encourage production while discouraging land-hoarding, not a bad combination of win-wins! It's estimated, by Georgist Economists like Mason Gaffney, that up to 40% of GDP is actually some form of uncaptured "rent" on location and natural resources, including actual land (See: The Hidden Taxable Value of Land: Enough and to Spare). This idea has actually been put in place in many cases - most recently in Altoona, PA, which after 10 years of transition, went completely tax-free on buildings this year, and is only taxing land. The result during the transition period already shows great leaps in Building Permits Issued, over comparable cities, like Johnstown, PA, which does not have LVT. We also had zero tax on buildings during the great building boom in New York City in the 1920s, and a boom even somewhat beyond the policy's expiration in 1931, and into the Great Depression. Now you know why pre-war apartments are both so desirable and so plentiful in New York City. www.opednews.com/articles/Zero-Reserve-Banking-by-Scott-Baker-110220-944.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:05:41 GMT -5
Fed may reconsider its plan to limit debit card fees February 20, 2011 WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve told Congress Thursday that it may reconsider its proposal to limit the fee that banks charge merchants for debit card transactions to 12 cents per swipe, the latest twist in a battle over billions of dollars. Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin made the remark at a House hearing at which lawmakers of both parties attacked the Fed’s plan and asked her to reconsider, saying it would batter banks still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis. At a separate hearing, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may drop an exemption its proposal would allow for smaller banks because it might leave them charging higher fees, putting them at a competitive disadvantage. The financial overhaul bill that President Barack Obama and Congress enacted last summer ordered the Fed to issue rules that would set the fees at a reasonable rate. Currently, merchants typically pay between 1 percent and 2 percent of the transaction’s total and those charges average about 44 cents. The question of where to set the fees has triggered a lobbying battle pitting merchants and some consumer groups against banks and credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard. The Fed’s proposed 12-cent cap would be a major victory for merchants, who say higher fees are hurting their businesses and their ability to create jobs. Banks say cutting the fees would cause them to lose money and force them to raise their charges for checking accounts and other services. Raskin told the House Financial Services Committee’s financial institutions subcommittee that the Fed has received thousands of comments on the proposal and expects many more. “The other board members and I are reserving judgment on the terms of the final rule until we have an opportunity to consider these comments,” she said, citing the complexity of the issue. The period for reviewing public comments ends Tuesday. The financial overhaul law requires the Fed to issue final standards by April 21, and they would take effect in July. The law’s requirement was sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate’s No. 2 Democratic leader, who says the current system is unfair to consumers and merchants. At Thursday’s hearing, lawmakers of both parties said the Fed has not adequately considered the banks’ and card networks’ costs of fraud prevention in proposing lower fees. They also said the lower fees would especially batter small community banks and credit unions, powerful constituencies in Congress, because larger banks might be able to charge lower fees. The charges are currently mostly uniform. The Fed’s proposed rule would exempt smaller banks — those with assets below $10 billion — from the lower charges. At the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke said the exemption may not work because merchants might reject debit cards issued by the smaller banks, since the fees they charge could be higher. “It may not be the case” that the exemption will be retained in the final rule, he told senators. Several legislators suggested that the Fed should take more time in issuing its rule. “We owe it to the American people” to delay the rules, said Rep. David Scott, D-Ga. Raskin told Scott and other lawmakers that since the deadlines were set by law, only a new law could change them. Under questioning from lawmakers, Raskin said the Fed was unsure how much of the savings merchants would pass on to consumers should the fees be reduced. She also expressed uncertainty over whether it would cause banks to boost charges for their services. Capping the fee at 12 cents would cost banks $14 billion, according to testimony by David W. Kemper, representing the American Bankers Association and the smaller Consumer Bankers Association. Kemper said the subcommittee should “immediately take all necessary congressional action to stop the Federal Reserve” from implementing the proposal. Doug Kantor, a lawyer representing a coalition of merchants, said that for most merchants the fees trail only labor as their highest operating cost. “Debit card swipe fees as they exist today cannot be justified. Banks benefit every time a debit card is used,” he said in his written statement. www.telegram.com/article/20110220/NEWS/102200577/1002/BUSINESS
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:10:17 GMT -5
G20-RESOLUTION 2 LAST PTI | 06:02 PM,Feb 20,2011 "Today, we agreed on... strengthening the functioning of IMS... mindful of possible drawbacks and management of global liquidity to strengthen our capacity to prevent and deal with shocks...," the communiqu� said. The document also expressed concern over the impact of rising oil prices, which have exceeded USD 100 per barrel. It has been decided to call a meeting of the G-20 Energy Ministers to deliberate on the problem of rising crude oil prices in the international market. As far as tax evasion and unearthing ill-gotten money is concerned, Mukherjee said that about 500 tax information exchange agreements have been signed. The communiqu� said, "We urge all jurisdictions to extend further their networks of TIEA and encourage jurisdictions to consider signing the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters." India has been at the forefront in raising issues concerning the parking of slush money in tax havens. On the contentious suggestion of removing structural imbalances, the communiqu� accommodated China's objections to the inclusion of forex reserves and current account deficit in the list of parameters for determining such flaws. The communique instead said that indicative guidelines without targets will be used to assess public debt and fiscal deficit; private savings and private debt; and external imbalances composed of trade balance and net investment income flows and transfers, taking exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other policies into due consideration. In the financial sector, the ministers committed themselves to "regulating and oversight of the shadow banking system to efficiently address the risks, notably of arbitrage associated with the shadow banking..." The shadow banking system, or the shadow financial system, consists of non-depository banks and other financial entities (investment banks, hedge funds and money market funds). ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/g20resolution-2-last/584582.html
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:13:13 GMT -5
China’s boom lift’s the World Last Update: February 20, 2011 10:05 ET Human evolution brings with it a need to review and revise our views of the World. This is true of China’s extraordinary, peaceful development, called by many China’s “Boom and Rise”. Last week, official Japanese statistics confirmed that China overtook it in Y 2010 as the World’s 2nd largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), a position Japan held since Y 1968. This was not unexpected, though the media, uses this data as a tool to ferment the POV that China is a threat, on the theory of a “hegemonic China” which I believe is false. The basis of this flawed premise is that a rising power will inevitably pursue hegemony. This is conventional wisdom about Western World politics and International relations is ill suited in the light of China’s ongoing peaceful development. This Eastern Nation, following the honored tenets established by ancient Chinese philosophers over 2,000 years ago, upholds a deep-rooted commitment to Peace and Harmony. “As a responsible member of the international community, China will stick to the path of peaceful development and play its due role in protecting world peace and promoting common development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday. In an article published in December, Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo spoke of China’s strategic intention in the plainest words: “The Chinese people have suffered long enough from poverty. Our greatest and only strategic intention is to live a better life, in which every day is better than the previous one. We wish the same for all the people in the World.” China’s devotion to peaceful development is widely applauded by well-informed scholars,and commentators throughout the World. Some of them stressed in recent interviews that China’s development not only poses no threat to the World, but brought significant opportunities for other countries, and that China’s peaceful development was a suitable, feasible and on the correct path going forward. Some in the West remain vigilant in their concern about China’s rise on the basis of the Western perception that all great powers seek hegemony, a conclusion that is drawn from the historical record of the major Western powers throughout history. Things are different in China, an Asian country whose rise happened at a time when the Global systems that saw Western powers rise through War and Colonization had passed. As pointed out by Kazuteru Saionji, director of the Confucius Institute at Kogaku University, the upward trajectory of China is unlike those of the powers in both ancient and recent times, and China’s development to date is not at the price of other countries’ interests. Quite the contrary, China keeps its economy growing by building through its own efforts a unique economic system, what they call the “socialist market economy.” Dan Mahaffee, a scholar from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress in the US, observes that China’s rise is not one of powers rising from conflict. He noted that many European powers used to feed on colonizing other countries, but China has never that. China’s way is to concentrate on economic growth rather than military buildup, and favored Globalization rather than on trampling the existing Global system, Mahaffee said. Sun Yat-sen, a founding father of China’s democratic revolution, said that those who submit to the World trend will prosper, while those who resist shall perish. And it is because China has recognized the mainstream of the World trend, namely peace and development, that it stays on the path of peaceful development. Yakov Berger, a professor at the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, writes that China’s policy of peaceful development evolved from a lengthy theoretical and practical study of the times and a search for its place in the modern World. The policy consisted of 2 parts: development and peace, he said, adding that development is a Main theme of the current times and long-lasting peace was not only possible but necessary in the post-Cold War World. Besides, globalization had made interconnections of different countries the necessary imperative of the modern age due to acute global problems, the Russian scholar said. Professor Kjeld Broedsgaard, head of the Asia Research Center of Copenhagen Business School, said China has not shown any intention to expand its territory, but aims to integrate into the current International order and share its development achievements with the World. Chinese leaders long ago ruled out the path of a hegemonic rise, and China was engrossed in growing economically and creating a well-off society for its population, he said. Noting that “we are living in an integrated World” where the West and the East are highly interdependent, he said China, a beneficiary of Globalization, could only harm itself if it threatened other countries. Be that as it may, some Westerners keep broadcasting the “China Threat” theory, and although they are not able to find any conclusive evidence to support that premise, they just go on to cite what they call a lack of transparency over China’s strategic intention to fuel suspicions about China’s future development. Professor Mahaffee says some countries have succumbed to this paranoia because they are uneasy about the differences in political systems or culture, or because they feel threatened by the shift of the World economic center from the West to the East plus the Eastward movement of many manufacturing bases in the West. As I view it, he doubts about China’s peaceful development spring from 2 sources: the “Old Order” refuses to accept change, and the harboring of Exclusivism and Discrimination. Rebutting the accusation that China’s development threatens other countries, Kenyan scholar Elizabeth Kalambu says China respected the sovereignty of other countries, and provided assistance without strings attached to the benefit of the World, particularly many African countries. Some in the United States and Europe questioned China’s commitment to peaceful development because they believe that China is competing with their countries for International influence, and natural resources, she said. “If we view China as a sort of a threat, we are acting against Globalization,” Broedsgaard said. “China is acting according to the rules, so we have nothing to fear or complain about.” China sticks to peaceful development not only to create a sound external environment for its advancement but help the World with more development opportunities. As early as in December 2005, the Chinese government published a 32 pg White Paper titled “China’s Peaceful Development Road” to explain its development path. The White Paper noted that China’s peaceful development road was aimed at seeking a peaceful International environment for its development, whiling promoting World peace with its development. “China cannot develop independently without the rest of the World, and the World needs China if it is to attain prosperity,” the White Paper said. China’s policy of peaceful development has been favored and supported by the World, especially the developing countries, which have similar tasks and need to cooperate closely with China, the World’s largest developing country, to develope. China has become a main engine of the World economy, and many developed countries have also established close economic ties with China, which means that China’s development is a Strong benefi to developing and developed countries alike. Mr. Mahaffee said China’s development made the Global geopolitical situation stabler and lifted large numbers of Chinese people out of poverty, contributing greatly to world peace and security. Broedsgaard also favors the POV that China’s peaceful development, like Globalization, is beneficial to the World. “We cannot attempt to block the process of Globalization due to the development of new economies. That will trigger economic crises. We should think about a Win-Win situation,” he said. History, and contemporary trends of development determined that peaceful development is the inevitable course of China’s modernization, and that the path leads to a bright future. “To stick to the path of peaceful development is not an impulsive decision. On the contrary, it is a carefully considered choice based on our analysis of the great changes that have taken place in the world, in China and in China’s relations with the rest of the world,” Dai said in his article. “We realize that we must adapt to the changing situation and follow a path that suits the trend of world development and China’s national conditions,” he wrote. China’s policy of peaceful development is a strategic choice pointed at long-term and sustainable growth. The policy formed out of experimentation and exploration, both in theory and practice, and its correctness has proved itself by the grand achievements China’s made over the pas 40 yrs, he said. “Still, many important tasks for China remain, and Key are; modernization, industrialization and urbanization. This is why China seeks a Strong and long-lasting peace,” he said. Eugenio Anguiano, a researcher at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico and the 1st Mexican Ambassador to China, said that if China built mutual trust with other countries and stuck to the principle of peaceful co-existence, the country would make greater achievements from its adherence to peaceful development. In that manner, China’s adherence to peaceful development was undoubtedly a feasible strategy, Anguiano said. Broedsgaard says: “Peaceful development is certainly the best development strategy… China has chosen the best way to develop itself, which benefits not only China but also the World.” —Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. www.livetradingnews.comwww.livetradingnews.com/chinas-boom-lifts-the-world-34942.htm
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Post by sandi66 on Feb 20, 2011 10:24:02 GMT -5
Wisconsin protest draws thousands pro and con Associated Press Posted on February 20, 2011 at 7:00 AM Updated today at 7:01 AM MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — An estimated 70,000 protesters converged on the Wisconsin Capitol, with supporters of Republican efforts to scrap the union rights of state workers facing off against pro-union activists. Supporters of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to ease Wisconsin's budget woes by reducing the power of public employee unions gathered on the east side of the Capitol, where they were surrounded by a much larger group of pro-labor demonstrators. There were no clashes. Pro-union activists and their supporters since Tuesday have filled the Capitol with chanting, drumbeats and anti-Walker slogans. On Saturday, Walker's supporters came out in force for the first time. Walker has proposed legislation he says is needed to bring government spending under control. It does so, in part, by requiring government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs while largely eliminating their collective bargaining rights. The dispute is being watched carefully because if Walker prevails in Wisconsin, other conservative Republican governors may try to go after powerful public employee unions as part of their budget-cutting policies. Defeating the Wisconsin bill and others like it is crucial for public-sector unions, an important part of the Democratic Party base. President Barack Obama and other Democrats will need the strong support of unions in the 2012 elections — especially in key swing states like Wisconsin — to counter a huge influx of corporate funds allowed under a Supreme Court decision last year. Nearly every major union leader — both public and private sector — has united behind an ambitious $30 million plan to stop anti-labor measures in Wisconsin and at least 10 other states. Saturday's protest In Madison was marked by opposing chants: "Pass the bill! Pass the bill!" and "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" The Wisconsin governor — elected in November's Republican wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans — says that concessions from public employee unions are needed to deal with the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and to avoid layoffs of government workers. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said the crowds of demonstrators that have gotten bigger each day have yet to win over any member of his caucus. "What they're getting from individuals back home is stick to your guns, don't let them get to you," Fitzgerald said. "Every senator I've spoken to today is getting that back home, which is awesome." Fitzgerald said Republicans have the votes needed to pass the so-called "budget repair" bill without any changes just as soon as 14 Senate Democrats who fled the state on Thursday and remain in hiding return to the Statehouse. Without them, there isn't the required quorum to vote on legislation. The missing Democrats have threatened to stay away for weeks and remain more resolved than ever to stay away "as long as it takes" until Walker agrees to negotiate, Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said Saturday. "I don't think he's really thought it through, to be honest," Erpenbach said. Democrats offered again Saturday to agree to the parts of Walker's proposal that would double workers' health insurance contributions and require them to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary to their pensions, so long as workers retained their rights to negotiate with the state as a union. Walker, who was spending time with his family Saturday and didn't appear in public, also rejected the Democrats' offer. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the fastest way to end the stalemate was for Democrats to return and "do their jobs." Madison police estimated 60,000 or more people were outside the Capitol with up to 8,000 more inside. Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said there were no arrests or problems during Saturday's protests. "We've seen and shown the world that in Madison, Wisconsin, we can bring people together who disagree strongly on a bill in a peaceful way," he said. Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes covering public employees' absences. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said. "What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work," Sanner said. "Employers don't have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it's as valid as every other work note that I've written for the last 30 years." www.kgw.com/news/business/116560323.html
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