July 21 (Bloomberg) — Investors worldwide are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in stock prices.
Never Have So Many Short Sellers Made So Much Money
Read moreInvestors are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in stock prices
Month: July 2008
The U.S. Enters into an Ever-Worsening Cycle
We are a year into the financial pain and virtually no systemic problem has been solved. Markets have entered into a new unsustainable cycle. The new dance is a two-step. Home prices slide, delinquencies rise, defaults rise. This puts additional pressure on housing going forward. Financial firms announce greater write-offs. Retailers slump and contagion goes global. Selling grips the markets, the good and the bad are sold off indiscriminately. Commodities rise, fear escalates and reaches a crescendo as at least one major institution nears or reaches insolvency. Forecasts of impossible return to the good old days are debated and rebound timetables are pushed back. In the depths of the swoon, the Fed opens the discount window to some new and previously barred set of institutions. Bail-outs are readied, Treasury checks are cut and we rebound off the lows. Bad news becomes good, commodities sell-off and financials soar.
US Military Recruits Children: “America’s Army” Video Game Violates International Law
“America’s Army” is a video game developed in part by the US Army to lure potential recruits. (Photo: techtarget.com)
In May of 2002, the United States Army invaded E3, the annual video game convention held in Los Angeles. At the city’s Convention Center, young game enthusiasts mixed with camouflaged soldiers, Humvees and a small tank parked near the entrance. Thundering helicopter sound effects drew the curious to the Army’s interactive display, where a giant video screen flashed the words “Empower yourself. Defend America … You will be a soldier.”(1)
Read moreUS Military Recruits Children: “America’s Army” Video Game Violates International Law
Are You On the Terror Watch List? Good Luck Getting Off It
The TSA’s “no fly” terrorism watch list contains between 400,000 and 1,000,000 names. If you’re on the list by mistake, good luck getting off of it.
After having begun a series of investigative stories criticizing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in May 2008, CNN reporter Drew Griffin reports being placed with more than a million other names on TSA’s swollen terrorism watch list.
Although TSA insists Griffin’s name is not on the list and pooh-poohs any possibility of retaliation for Griffin’s negative reporting, the reporter has been hassled by various airlines on 11 flights since May. The airlines insist that Griffin’s name is on the list.
Congress has asked TSA to look into the tribulations of this prominent passenger.
Read moreAre You On the Terror Watch List? Good Luck Getting Off It
U.S. government: We know parenting better than you
Proposals would give Washington unprecedented control over kids
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate two bills that could give the federal government unprecedented control over the way parents raise their children – even providing funds for state workers to come into homes and screen babies for emotional and developmental problems.
Quotes from the Great Depression
September 1929
“There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue.” — Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury.
October 14, 1929
“Secretary Lamont and officials of the Commerce Department today denied rumors that a severe depression in business and industrial activity was impending, which had been based on a mistaken interpretation of a review of industrial and credit conditions issued earlier in the day by the Federal Reserve Board.” — New York Times
December 5, 1929
“The Government’s business is in sound condition.” — Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury
Ford Posts Loss of $8.7 Billion on Asset Woes
DETROIT – The Ford Motor Company, stunned by abysmal sales of its most profitable vehicles and a sudden shift in consumers’ tastes, said Thursday that it lost $8.7 billion in the quarter, its worst ever, and would overhaul its North American plants to focus on small cars.
The loss, equal to $3.88 a share, was mostly the result of $8 billion in write-downs because of falling demand for and resale values of gas-thirsty pickups and sport utility vehicles in the United States. Ford took charges of $5.3 billion charge related to lower asset values in North America and $2.1 billion on the lease portfolio at its financing arm, the Ford Motor Credit Company.
The news sent Ford shares tumbling nearly 10 percent in morning trading.
Excluding the write-downs and other charges, the company lost $1 billion from continuing operations, down from a profit of $483 million a year ago. It lost $1.3 billion in North America, where $4-a-gallon gasoline has caused consumers to clamor for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Housing bailout bill – another $800 billion gift from the taxpayer to Wall Street
This bill will probably pass in Senate tomorrow. You, your children and generations to come will pay for this. All taxes will be spent servicing this debt.
Cost of 5 years of Iraq war: $560 billion
Cost of this bill: $800 billion
It will be spent bailing out the same fraudsters who got us into this mess. Call your senator now and demand they vote against this! If you don’t, it will probably pass. If you care for your country and your children’s future, vote this video up.
Video: Current.com
Ron Paul on the Housing Bill 7/23/08
“The Mother of All Bailouts”
Ron Paul talks about the bailout out of the housing industry and how it really just destroys the dollar and adds enormously to the debt.
Also, slipped into the bill, was the stipulation that ALL credit card transactions must now be reported to the IRS.
Added: July 23, 2008
Source: YouTube
Governor plans to slash state workers’ pay to the federal minimum
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to help ease the state’s budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by The Chronicle on Wednesday.
The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers.
“As a result of the late state budget, there is a real and substantial risk that the state will have insufficient cash to pay for state expenditures,” the executive order states.
Read moreGovernor plans to slash state workers’ pay to the federal minimum
Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power
Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate.
Excerpts (Full article follows):
“According to several former U.S. government officials with extensive knowledge of intelligence operations, Main Core in its current incarnation apparently contains a vast amount of personal data on Americans, including NSA intercepts of bank and credit card transactions and the results of surveillance efforts by the FBI, the CIA and other agencies. One former intelligence official described Main Core as “an emergency internal security database system” designed for use by the military in the event of a national catastrophe, a suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law. Its name, he says, is derived from the fact that it contains “copies of the ‘main core’ or essence of each item of intelligence information on Americans produced by the FBI and the other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community.”
“An article in Radar magazine in May, citing three unnamed former government officials, reported that “8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect” and, in the event of a national emergency, “could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and even detention.”
Related information:
– Homeland Security: Operation Endgame
Why do you think they have called it “Operation Endgame”? That makes no sense if you just want to get rid of some illegal immigrants. The Nazis had the term Endsieg (Sieg = Victory). And here we have Operation Endgame with it’s concentration, ahhhmmm, detention camps. Probably just a coincidence.
– Police State 2008 (Interview with Paul Craig Roberts )
Paul Craig Roberts, a Republican who worked in the Reagan administration: “Homeland that is a Nazi term.”
He is predicting a 9-11 type of attack before the 2008 elections. If that occurs, Bush can declare martial law and begin arresting those who disagree with his foreign policy (based on Executive Orders recently issued by the Bush Administration that grant the president these powers
– G. W. Bush and Adolf Hitler signed a Directive 51
Adolf Hitler signed a Directive 51 (Source: Brittanica.com) and here is Bush’s NSPD 51 (Source: The White House).
National Security Presidential Directive 51 Source: YouTube
If President Bush will declare Martial Law, for the given reasons in NSPD 51, he will hold all power in his hands alone. He has to answer to no-one anymore. Presidential Directive 51 overrides everything.
So both directives were issued to give the Dictator in charge absolute power!
Jul. 23, 2008 | The last several years have brought a parade of dark revelations about the George W. Bush administration, from the manipulation of intelligence to torture to extrajudicial spying inside the United States. But there are growing indications that these known abuses of power may only be the tip of the iceberg. Now, in the twilight of the Bush presidency, a movement is stirring in Washington for a sweeping new inquiry into White House malfeasance that would be modeled after the famous Church Committee congressional investigation of the 1970s.
FDIC Faces Mortgage Mess After Running Failed Bank
Subprime Lender Made Problem Loans On Regulators’ Watch
Federal officials heap much of the blame for the subprime mortgage mess on lenders, claiming they recklessly made too many high-cost home loans to borrowers who couldn’t afford them.
![[Loan Troubles]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AM282_SUBFED_20080720190427.gif)
It turns out that the U.S. government itself was one of the lenders giving out high-interest, subprime mortgages, some of them predatory, according to government documents filed in federal court.
The unusual situation, which is still bedeviling bank regulators, stems from the 2001 seizure by federal officials of Superior Bank FSB, then a national subprime lender based in Hinsdale, Ill. Rather than immediately shuttering or selling Superior, as it normally does with failed banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. continued to run the bank’s subprime-mortgage business for months as it looked for a buyer. With FDIC people supervising day-to-day operations, Superior funded more than 6,700 new subprime loans worth more than $550 million, according to federal mortgage data.
The FDIC then sold a big chunk of the loans to another bank. That loan pool was afflicted by the same problems for which regulators have faulted the industry: lending to unqualified borrowers, inflated appraisals and poor verification of borrowers’ incomes, according to a written report from a government-hired expert. The report said that many of the loans never should have been made in the first place.
Apollo 14 astronaut claims aliens HAVE made contact – but it has been covered up for 60 years
Edgar Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14
Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed.
Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.
Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as ‘little people who look strange to us.’
He said supposedly real-life ET’s were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.
Chillingly, he claimed our technology is ‘not nearly as sophisticated’ as theirs and “had they been hostile”, he warned ‘we would be been gone by now’.
FEMA seeks immunity from suits over trailer fumes
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency is requesting immunity from lawsuits filed on behalf of Gulf Coast hurricane victims who claim they were exposed to dangerous fumes while living in government-issued trailers.
Plane carrying Ron Paul, congressmen makes emergency landing
A plane carrying Ron Paul and six other congressmen made an emergency landing Tuesday.
(CNN) – A plane carrying Texas Rep. Ron Paul and six other members of Congress was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday due to mechanical issues.
Read morePlane carrying Ron Paul, congressmen makes emergency landing
Thanks to you, impeachment will be heard Friday
President Bush and Vice-President Cheney must be impeached.
Added: July 22, 2008
Source: YouTube
A message from Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
Log on to: http://kucinich.us to sign the petition.
Merrill Cuts 2009 U.S. GDP Forecast: Chart of the Day
July 22 (Bloomberg) — Merrill Lynch & Co. economists clipped their forecasts for U.S. growth, making revisions that they described as “adjusting to the new reality.”
“Just like consumers, who are insulating their windows and making fewer trips to the malls, we are adjusting our economic forecasts to the new high-oil-price reality, not to mention the latest round of trauma in the mortgage markets,” New York-based economists Sheryl King and Drew Matus wrote in a report.
The chart of the day shows the quarterly change in U.S. gross domestic product in green, with the annualized figure in red. Merrill now expects the economy to contract by 0.5 percent in 2009, after previously forecasting growth of 0.5 percent.
``We expect GDP to plummet 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter, and see a similar decline in the first quarter” of 2009, wrote King and Matus. “With the consumer likely to remain under duress into 2009 and inflation fears likely to abate, we continue to expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates early next year.”
Read moreMerrill Cuts 2009 U.S. GDP Forecast: Chart of the Day
Government index shows record 4.8 percent decline in US home prices in May from a year ago
WASHINGTON: A government report says U.S. home prices fell a record 4.8 percent in May from the same month last year.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight also says prices, on a seasonally adjusted basis, fell 0.3 percent from April to May. The index is down almost 5 percent from its peak in April of last year.
OFHEO oversees the government-sponsored mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Read moreGovernment index shows record 4.8 percent decline in US home prices in May from a year ago
Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”
Google’s on and off negotiations with Digg
have been back on in a big way for the last six weeks, we’ve heard from multiple sources inside of Google, and the two companies are close to a deal that will bring Digg under the Google News property. The acquisition price is in the $200 million range, says one source.
We first wrote about the Google-Digg negotiations in March. Despite a vigorous denial by Digg CEO Jay Adelson the negotiations continued, although Google’s Marissa Mayer reportedly cooled on the company for a period of time.
The companies are now in final negotiations according to our sources, although it could be a couple of weeks before it closes. And while the major deal points have been agreed on, the acquisition could still fall apart. Microsoft, which was previously interested in the company, may be willing to step back in at a much lower price.
Most of Digg’s revenue comes from a three year ad deal with Microsoft, which will be terminated on a sale to Google. Digg has raised $11.3 million in venture capital.
Meanwhile, Google’s fascination with the Digg voting concept continues.
Read moreGoogle In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”
Banks: Plans to Seek Secret Emergency Funding
So in a free market it is justifiable to keep some “potentially situations” secret!?!? Hmmhh.
Secret from whom?
“The main case for an exception would be if disclosure could panic investors and lead to fears for a bank’s solvency, the regulator said.” Investors in the U.K. have all the right to panic.
“Under certain circumstances, immediate disclosure would still be required.”
These “certain circumstances” will occur when it is too late to panic!
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The City watchdog has laid out plans to allow banks to tap the Bank of England for emergency funding without informing the market, in a move which might avoid a repeat of the run on the bank which led to the collapse of Northern Rock.
Under the European Union’s market abuse directive, regulated firms have to disclose price sensitive information. However, the Financial Services Authority yesterday said there were potentially situations where banks would be allowed to keep it secret if they had applied to the Bank.
The main case for an exception would be if disclosure could panic investors and lead to fears for a bank’s solvency, the regulator said. The FSA laid out a series of proposals in a consultation document. It invited industry groups to respond by September 30.
US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba
Installing a missile defense system in eastern Europe is alright and cannot be seen as a provocation, but….
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Russia would cross “a redline for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday.
“If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.
Wachovia Has Record $8.9 Billion Loss, Cuts Dividend
If Wachovia fails, then you can probably forget about the FDIC.
And remember that there are no more bailouts left:
– Fed: No more bailouts, except Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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July 22 (Bloomberg) — Wachovia Corp., the U.S. bank that hired Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel as chief executive officer two weeks ago, reported a record quarterly loss of $8.9 billion, slashed the dividend and announced 6,350 job cuts. The stock slumped as much as 10 percent in New York trading.
The second-quarter loss of $4.20 a share compared with net income of $2.3 billion, or $1.23, a year earlier, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in a statement. The loss included a $6.1 billion charge tied to declining asset values.
The writedown, job cuts and second dividend reduction in three months reflect Steel’s response to the worst housing market since the Great Depression, which cost former CEO Kennedy Thompson his job after eight years. Wachovia has dropped more than 75 percent since it spent $24 billion two years ago to buy Golden West Financial Corp. just as home prices were peaking.
Read moreWachovia Has Record $8.9 Billion Loss, Cuts Dividend
CENTCOM’s Master Plan and U.S. Global Hegemony
Many people deny that the U.S. government presides over a global empire. If you speak of U.S. imperialism, they will fancy that you must be a decrepit Marxist-Leninist who has recently awakened after spending decades in a coma. Yet the facts cannot be denied, however much people’s ideology may predispose them to distort or obfuscate those facts.
How can a government that maintains more than 800 military facilities in more than 140 different foreign countries be anything other than an imperial power? The hundreds of thousands of troops who operate those bases and conduct operations from them, not to mention the approximately 125,000 sailors and Marines aboard the U.S. warships that cruise the oceans, are not going door to door selling Girl Scout cookies. United States of America is the name; intimidation is the game.
Raytheon: Directed Energy Weapons Set To Go
FARNBOROUGH, Britain – Work on laser, infrared and microwave defensive systems has reached a high level of readiness, with the possibility of deployment close at hand, a Raytheon executive said at the Farnborough Airshow.
Development has advanced on products that can protect troops against mortar rounds, guard against shoulder-launched missiles fired at helicopters and airliners taking off at airports, and dissuade without killing – a non-lethal laser weapon for civil security, Michael Booen, Raytheon vice president of directed energy weapons, told journalists at the show.
Governor Proposes Martial Law Choppers For Chicago
Blagojevich wants National Guard helicopters to patrol gun control capital of America
The gun control capital of America – Chicago – where only the criminals are allowed to own firearms – has been hit by a fresh wave of crime and violence, prompting Governor Rod Blagojevich to call for National Guard helicopters to be used in law enforcement operations.
Blagojevich plans to form an “elite tactical team” to help the city fight crime, according to a speech he gave last week.
“Violent crime in the city of Chicago is out of control,” Blagojevich said at the bill signing ceremony. “I’m offering resources of the state to the city to work in a constructive way with Mayor Daley to do everything we can possibly do to help stop this violence,” said the governor.
Citing the fact that a child has been shot nearly every day since the end of June, Blagojevich called for National Guard helicopters to be used in high crime areas.
However, as police department spokeswoman Monique Bond noted, the actual number of homicides in the city is significantly down.
“2008 may end with fewer than 500 homicides and that it is expected to be one of the least deadly years in the city in the last 40 years,” reports NBC5.com.