STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 24 May 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 24 May 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 23 May 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 23 May 2012
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Dow Jones 12,496.15 -6.66 (-0.05%)
[font color=green]S&P 500 1,318.86 +2.23 (0.17%)
Nasdaq 2,850.12 +11.04 (0.39%)


[font color=black]10 Year 1.73% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=green]30 Year 2.81% -0.01 (-0.35%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[div]
Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison



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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Dishonorable Mention

[Fuddnik]

2. Dishonorable first rec!

[AnneD]

23. I watched....

Charlie Wilson's War last night. I knew some of those people. Joanne Herring had a show on a local channel. She was a big socialite in Texas. I knew of Congressman Wilson. It was an interesting watch.

He really pegged the situation in Afghanistan to a T. If we had added a little extra money to rebuild schools, we might not have this current war. We will end up leaving with our tail between our legs, just like the Soviet Military.

Our foreign aid should consist of the Peace Corp and building schools, water systems, etc., not a military presence.

[Fuddnik]

25. I read the book when it first came out.

Much better than the movie, and a whole lot more detail.

The Afghans would skin a Russian soldier alive, after they gang-raped them for days. The US had a program for any Russian soldier to receive US citizenship and a trip to America if they defected.

Only one has been known to have accepted, and after the Afghans were done with him, he's halfway insane, working a 7-11 in Baltimore.

If you really want the complete history of our involvement there, read "Ghost Wars", by Steve Coll. You'll have an urge to nuke Pakistan after that one.

[AnneD]

36. Remember....

Hubby is from India-he doesn't have too many good things to say. We have many Pakistani friends-but they tend to be artists, musicians, intellectuals...you know, the dregs of society.

I always laugh when Pakistan indulges in saber rattling with India. India is like a giant elephant and Pakistan is a gnat on the elephant's ass. If that gnat annoys the elephant enough-the elephant will simply swat it with it's tale. End of story.

India is a democracy. It may not be the democracy that the US wants, but a democracy none the less. Just like Palestine and the election of Hezbollah. It may not be what we like but it was a fair election, so we should respect their choice. The failure to do so can result in endless wars that waste everyone's resources, time, and countless lives.

I might check the book out. Not your typical light summer reading, but then I normally haul economics books to the beach.

[DemReadingDU]

31. +++

The spin is that our military is there to win the hearts and minds. But why the military? The Peace Corp could do that.

[AnneD]

37. Hello...

she says, snapping her fingers.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Ouch..THAT brings back memories, doesn't it?

And yet will not be a memory/meaning for so many of the younger folks here.

[Tansy_Gold]

43. I know.

It was almost my first choice.

Seriously, it brings tears to my eyes.

[Demeter]

3. Shale gas boom helps slash US emissions

The shale gas boom in the US has led to a big drop in its carbon emissions, as power generators switch from coal to cheap gas, according to the International Energy Agency

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/S4XZQQ/16RMOT/HI3M9/YB56W3/EXOMIY/PJ/t?a1=2012&a2=5&a3=23

CHANGES WEATHER PATTERNS TOO, I'LL WAGER

[Roland99]

20. More from the article...

According to the International Energy Agency, US energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have fallen 450m tonnes over the past five years – the largest drop among all countries surveyed.

Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist, attributed the fall to improvements in fuel efficiency in the transport sector and a “major shift” from coal to gas in the power sector. “This is a success story based on a combination of policy and technology – policy driving greater efficiency and technology making shale gas production viable,” Mr Birol told the Financial Times.

Shale gas has transformed the US energy landscape, with surging production pushing gas prices down to 10-year lows and heralding an industrial renaissance. But it is also the subject of a heated environmental debate, with critics alleging that the production process can pollute groundwater.

...

The agency has calculated that in order to contain rising temperatures and avoid the most damaging effects of global warming, annual energy-related emissions should be no more than 32.6GT by 2017. “We are now only 1GT away from that, with five years still to go,” Mr Birol warned. “The door to a 2 degree trajectory is about to close, and to close forever.”

[Demeter]

4. Autonomy founder Lynch to leave HP

Last edited Thu May 24, 2012, 01:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Hewlett Packard has announced 27,000 job cuts in a major restructuring of its struggling computer business. An immediate and high-profile casualty is Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, the enterprise search company acquired for $10.3bn by HP last year

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/AMHI8E/EKRAI/EX3YU2/AMB24N/W1/t?a1=2012&a2=5&a3=23

DONE IN BY SMART PHONES AND A LOUSY ECONOMY --AND SOME REALLY BAD MANAGEMENT

[Demeter]

5. Copper ETF plan would ‘wreak havoc’

US manufacturers have attacked plans by JPMorgan Chase to launch an exchange-traded fund backed by physical copper, arguing that the product would “grossly and artificially inflate prices” and “wreak havoc on the US and global economy”

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/5F39HH/C4GQC7/3CWTA/KQH3KX/R3KJ3M/KI/t?a1=2012&a2=5&a3=23

[dixiegrrrrl]

48. oh..save those old pennies!

[Demeter]

6. Lehman E-Mails Show Wall Street Arrogance Led to the Fall

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-06/lehman-e-mails-show-wall-street-arrogance-led-to-the-fall.html

If one wants to understand the full complicity of Wall Street in the Great Recession, look no further than the voluminous package of pre-collapse Lehman Brothers documents that have been made available by the law firm Jenner & Block LLP, which has acted as the coroner in the Lehman post-mortem.

Most important, the cache dispels the myth that Dick Fuld, chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and his close associates were unaware of the risks their business faced in 2007 and 2008. That would be bad enough, but the more devastating reality is that Fuld and his sycophants were warned repeatedly but were blinded by their hubris.

The records confirm, yet again, that the “forces-out-of- our-control” argument we hear from Wall Street leaders is bunk. It is the ill-advised behavior of one banker after another, day in and day out, that leads to the sort of devastating financial crisis we are only now emerging from.

For instance, at a Lehman board meeting in September 2007, according to a copy of the presentation in the data cache, Lehman executives presented a clear summary of the brewing crisis. “The initial tremors were felt at the end of 2006,” the board was told, “when the poor loan performance of sub- prime borrowers began to be a cause for concern in the marketplace. This was evidenced by a gradual spread widening in the asset backed index.” The presentation continued: “The market continued to widen as it became apparent that the performance problems in mortgage loans was not going to abate and was no longer limited to the sub-prime market but also affecting the Alt-A product.”

MORE

[Tansy_Gold]

7. :yawn:

[Demeter]

27. Oh, You Found It!

[Tansy_Gold]

29. It's always where I keep it.

In my purse.

Seriously. It's in my purse.

The jpg is in my album.

Certain things are NEVER lost.

[xchrom]

8. well fuck -- i'm up.

[Demeter]

13. Morning, X!

Just got back from throwing the second route of the night (I'm filling in for a buddy).

Got two hours sleep between them. I should go to bed now....

[xchrom]

14. I tried laying down again.

I got so tired & wired I was nauseous.
2 hours of sleep!?!? You take care of your self.
That's a lot of 'not sleeping'.

[Roland99]

19. Got to work at my usual 10 min. before start time

and the parking lot was already overflowing...finagled my way into a non-parking spot that people do use all the time so at least I didn't have to park a couple of blocks away. I think people are catching on, finally, that the lot fills up more quickly now (we have several contractors and I guess some of the other depts have added a few people here and there). I might have to start coming in 20-30 min. early from now on.

[xchrom]

9. Asia stocks down as Europe holds another summit

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-24-01-07-35

BANGKOK (AP) -- Asian stock markets faltered Thursday as the lack of a breakthrough in Europe's attempts to shake off its debt crisis kept sentiment gloomy.

Worries over Greece intensified after European leaders adjourned a summit without taking concrete measures to prevent Europe's debt crisis from exploding and Greece from making a messy exit from the region's shared currency.

The likelihood of Greece leaving the euro has been growing since early May, when political parties opposed to the terms of the country's financial rescue deprived pro-austerity parties of a majority at the polls. New elections are planned for next month.

"Many European countries are preparing for a Greek exit, so I think this is what scares the people most. It will be a chaotic and disorganized exit if and when it happens," said Francis Lun, managing director at Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.

[xchrom]

10. Europe Solves Nothing And The Spat Rages On Between Merkel And Hollande

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-happened-at-todays-big-eu-summit-2012-5

EU leaders met in Brussels today, with little hope that it would produce any tangible results.

Meanwhile, tensions between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande seemed to continue unabated, a further sign that the Franco-German partnership seen under "Merkozy" (with former French President Nicholas Sarkozy had deteriorated.

Now all we have is Merde.

As analysts had predicted, eurobonds and deposit insurance for banks were discussed at the summit, but it does not appear that substantial progress has been made on either of these issues. Leaders reiterated support for Greece, yet framed the important Greek parliamentary elections next month as a referendum on the country's euro membership.

European Council President Herman van Rompuy told reporters that leaders hope to make more headway on growth measures at their next meeting in five weeks.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-happened-at-todays-big-eu-summit-2012-5#ixzz1vlyNCSMQ

[xchrom]

11. France Dominates EU Summit Hollande Steals the Show from Merkel

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/euro-bond-discussion-dominates-european-union-summit-a-834865.html

The air was stuffy in the French press room of the European Council building, which was crowded with journalists. Everyone wanted to see the new French president during his first press conference after a European Union summit. Shortly after 1 o'clock on Thursday morning, François Hollande held court just as his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, once had, explaining his "vision for growth" for nearly an hour.

In the room next door was German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In front of her were just a few rows of chairs and some cameras, and the room was half empty. She had decided not to hold a full press conference. Instead, she gave a brief statement, answered two questions and left after five minutes. She apparently knew that she didn't have much of a chance against the appeal of her new French counterpart. It almost seemed as if she was happy to concede the stage to Hollande without a fight.
The parallel appearances in Brussels in the early hours of Thursday had symbolic value. It was the first EU summit in years which was not dominated by Merkel. Instead, Hollande set the tone at the informal dinner attended by the leaders of the 27 EU member states, even if he only spoke briefly himself and showed surprise at the lengthy comments of some of his colleagues.

Striking Change

But with his demand for euro bonds, he set the main topic of discussion at the dinner. Hollande has deliberately put the controversial proposal for jointly issued bonds at the center of his growth agenda. His aim is to challenge the German chancellor. His unspoken message at the summit was that Merkozy, and the symbiotic relationship between Merkel and Sarkozy, was history. In the future, France will assert itself again.

[xchrom]

12. Hey, Germany: You Got a Bailout, Too

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-23/merkel-should-know-her-country-has-been-bailed-out-too.html



In the millions of words written about Europe’s debt crisis, Germany is typically cast as the responsible adult and Greece as the profligate child. Prudent Germany, the narrative goes, is loath to bail out freeloading Greece, which borrowed more than it could afford and now must suffer the consequences.
Would it surprise you to know that Europe’s taxpayers have provided as much financial support to Germany as they have to Greece? An examination of European money flows and central-bank balance sheets suggests this is so.

Let’s begin with the observation that irresponsible borrowers can’t exist without irresponsible lenders. Germany’s banks were Greece’s enablers. Thanks partly to lax regulation, German banks built up precarious exposures to Europe’s peripheral countries in the years before the crisis. By December 2009, according to the Bank for International Settlements, German banks had amassed claims of $704 billion on Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, much more than the German banks’ aggregate capital. In other words, they lent more than they could afford.

When the European Union and the European Central Bank stepped in to bail out the struggling countries, they made it possible for German banks to bring their money home. As a result, they bailed out Germany’s banks as well as the taxpayers who might otherwise have had to support those banks if the loans weren’t repaid. Unlike much of the aid provided to Greece, the support to Germany’s banks happened automatically, as a function of the currency union’s structure.

[Egalitarian Thug]

46. No, no, no, no, no! It's those awful lazy no-paying taxpayers!

Imagine the turpitude of those useless eaters believing that they own their own country!

[Roland99]

15. Today's Economic Reports

[Roland99]

16. Unemployment claims

* Continuing claims drop 29,000 to 3.26 million
* Four-week claims average falls 5,500 to 370,000
* U.S. jobless claims little changed at 370,000

[Roland99]

17. April Durable Goods

* April durable-goods orders edge up 0.2%
* April core capital-goods orders -0.2%
* March orders revised to -3.7% vs -4.0%

[Roland99]

22. May U.S. flash manufacturing PMI 53.9 vs 56.0

[Roland99]

18. Overnight Sentiment: European Economic Implosion Sends Risk Soaring

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/overnight-sentiment-european-pmi-implosion-sends-risk-soaring

If there was one catalyst for the market to be "convinced" of an imminent coordinated liquidity injection, as Zero Hedge first hinted yesterday, or simply a 25-50 bps rate cut from the ECB as some other banks are suggesting and Spain's ever more desperate Rajoy is now demanding, it was the overnight battery of European Flash PMI, all of which came abysmal, throughout Europe, the consolidated Eurozone PMI posting the worst monthly downturn since mid-2009, the PMI Composite Output and Manufacturing Index printing at a 35 month low of 45.9 and 44.7 respectively. PMIs by core country were atrocious: France Mfg PMI at 44.4 on Exp of 47.0 and down from 46.9, a 36 month low; German Mfg PMI at 45.0 on Exp. of 47.0 and down from 46.2. The implication, as the charts below show, is that GDP in Europe is now negative virtually across the board. Adding insult to injury was the UK whose GDP fell 0.3%, more than the 0.2% drop initially expected. The cherry on top was German IFO business climate, which tumbled from 109.9 to 106.9 on Expectations of 109.4 print, as the European crisis is finally starting to drag the German economy down, or as Goldman classifies it, "a clear loss in momentum." What does it all add up to? Why nothing but a massive surge in risk, as the market's entire future is now once again in the hands of the #POMOList, pardon, the central banks: unless the ECB steps up, Europe will implode due to not only political but economic tensions at this point. Sadly, as in the US, by frontrunning this event, the markets make it more improbable, thus setting itself up for an even bigger drop the next time there is no validation of an intervention rumor: after all recall what sent stocks up 1.5% yesterday - a completely false rumor of a deposit insurance proposal to come out of the European Summit. It didn't, but that didn't prevent markets to not only keep their massive end of day gains, but to add to them. it is officially: we have entered the summer doldrums, when bad is good, and horrible is miraculous.


Europe:
FTSE 100 5,335 +68 +1.30%
CAC 40 3,035 +32 +1.06%
DAX 6,317 +32 +0.50%
FTSE MIB 13,064 +103 +0.79%
IBEX 35 IDX 6,542 +101 +1.57%
GlobalDow 1,762 +5 +0.31

[Eugene]

21. European business activity falls to near three-year low

Source: BBC

24 May 2012 Last updated at 10:04 GMT

European business activity falls to near three-year low

Activity at European businesses hit a near three-year low in May, according to a survey by Markit.

Its index, based on a survey of purchasing managers in the manufacturing and service sector, fell to 45.9 in May, a 35-month low.

In response, the euro fell to $1.2515 against the dollar, a 22-month low.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

"The flash PMI figures for May look horrible and provide a clear warning that eurozone GDP will almost certainly show a contraction in the second quarter after stagnating in the first quarter," said Martin Van Vliet, from the bank ING.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18186972

[AnneD]

24. And that loud...

metal to metal scraping sound you hear is the economic engine seizing up.

[Fuddnik]

26. Thank God!

I thought the pool pump was going, again!

[AnneD]

34. If your kids are playing in the pool....

that is also a possibility. They might clog up the filter, the hairy little rascals.

[Demeter]

28. Did he say Euro = $1.2515?

Well, it's been fun....

Serves the bastards (and bitches) right. This is the 1%'s fault. They orchestrated it.

[Demeter]

30. I love the parabolic opening of the DOW

I'm reading this murder mystery set at the Lake Placid Olympics...guy shot out of the sky while ski jumping...

We'll find out how it turns out.

[Roland99]

35. S&P is totally schizoid. In the black, in the red, in the black, in the red....

Kramer : There he is. Striker, you're coming in too fast . . .
Striker : I know, I know.
Elaine : He knows, he knows.
Airdude : Getting below 700 now, still going down. 675, 650, 625,
he's holding. . .no, no he's down, he's down.
Kramer : Sound your alarm bell, now.
Attendant: Alright now everybody, get in crash positions
Kramer : Put down 30 degrees of flap. Striker now listen to me
Remember your brakes and switches, get ready to fly it out . . .
Airdude : He's all over the place, 900 feet, up to 1300 feet . . .
what an asshole.

[TalkingDog]

38. I picked a bad week to give up sniffing glue.

n/t

[AnneD]

41. Switch to crack....

It seems to be the economist's drug of choice....

[Fuddnik]

47. 9 out of 10 University of Czechago economists prefer....

Peyote.

[westerebus]

54. Mixes well with teh kool aid. n/t

[just1voice]

45. I watched some TV business hell programming yesterday, dayam!

It's like watching used car dealers on crack. They are so frenetically busy lying about something or propping up some false paradigm or just flat out inventing absurdities.

[Fuddnik]

50. I flipped on CNBC about 10 minutes ago.

The first words I hear were, "Business regulation, is there too much of it"?

<click>

Back to our regularly scheduled vodka.

[Tansy_Gold]

51. I much more often tend to flip off CNBC. . . . n/t

[Roland99]

53. ha!

[Demeter]

32. The EU's Black Holes: Saving the Euro Will Require Banking Sector Reform

WELL, THAT WOULD BE A GOOD START...BUT I THINK IT'S GONE TOO FAR FOR THAT TO BE THE CURE. SECONDARY AND TERTIARY EFFECTS ARE GUARANTYING THAT CIVILIZATIONS WILL BE CRUMBLING UNDER THE BUMBLING

IT MIGHT HAVE HELPED IF THE BANKS WERE TAKEN TO TASK IN 2008

BUT INSTEAD, THEY WERE GORGED ON FUNNY MONEY, FROM THE US AND OTHER TAXPAYER POCKETS

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/europe-needs-to-reform-its-banking-sector-a-831712.html

...Time is running out. With the financial crisis now in its fifth year, the banks' problems remain unresolved, and in some countries they are even jeopardizing the stability of the state -- and the future of the European common currency....

Spanish banks are particularly unsteady. They are sitting on roughly €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) in shaky loans related to the ailing real estate sector -- and urgently need fresh capital as a risk buffer. The estimates for the cash shortfall range from €50 billion to €200 billion.

Since such sums of money would overburden both the banks and the government budget, experts believe that the Spanish government should urgently seek help from the EFSF. But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is resisting this move, not just because the euro partners would basically have a say in governing the country, but also because his entire nation would then be branded as high risk -- and would probably find itself cut off from the international financial markets for a long time.

Direct aid for banks from the euro countries is a sensitive issue, though. The German government rejects the idea flat out for fear that its money will disappear into a black hole. Sources at Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, say they have no idea what's going on in the Spanish banks. This lack of knowledge is a consequence of a dangerously nation-centric approach that Europe has allowed to flourish in its financial industry. The sector is more internationally interconnected than any other, yet each country controls and, if necessary, rescues its banks on its own...

A STUNNING INDICTMENT OF THE BUNGLERS--INTERESTING READING

SCHAUDENFREUDE FOR BREAKFAST--GERMAN STYLE

[Demeter]

33. IT'S THE POPE'S FAULT

THIS ARTICLE IS FASCINATING, AND UNFORTUNATELY, UNVERIFIABLE...

http://one-evil.org/acts_global_depression/acts_global_depression.htm

The Great Vatican-Jesuit Global Depression 2009-2012

...What then does either the Catholic Church and/or the Jesuits have to do with any of this? At this stage, the events discussed so far all point to the hallmarks of good old "greed" and "incompetence" on behalf of people like President Bush and his financial cronies. So how is the Catholic Church and the Jesuits involved with this? and what proof is there? To answer, we need to ask as simple question - how wealthy is the Roman Catholic Church?

...the Vatican and Catholic Officials quote two important arguments: the first being that the Catholic Church considers its subsidiaries as "independent" entities when it comes to financial disclosure --a contradiction against both Church law and practice which states all organs and subsidiaries are sworn to obedience to the central power of the Holy See in Rome. The second argument when all else fails is to state that the Vatican is politically an independent sovereign state and so may choose to accept or reject calls for open global transparency of its financial accounts. To date, this claimed "true Church" has steadfastly refused to cooperate with any kind of global accounting of its wealth. Regardless of continuing refusal by the Catholic Church to declare its global wealth for its Catholic faithful and all the world to see, the stark anomaly of how a multi-billion dollar entity can manage to stay off every published list of wealthy entities remains a mystery.


Prior to the appearance of mainstream "entertainment" based news and media, if you were to ask an educated person 100 years ago what single entity was the largest and wealthiest in the world, they would have told you without question the Roman Catholic Church. The clear, unmistakable and uncontestable truth concerning the Roman Catholic Church is that for 1,000 years it has been the most dominant organization on the planet, during which time it virtually owned directly or indirectly the whole or the majority of wealth of Europe. For the four hundred years up until the last century, it was well recognized that the Roman Catholic Church also owned and controlled vast wealth and people of the Americas including large parts of South-East Asia and Africa....How then did something so dominant suddenly appear to drop in asset value to a corporation of only a few billion dollars, that it would not even rate in the top 1,000 economic entities of the world today? Simply through creative history and creative accounting.

....To hide the massive assets of the Catholic Church, a decentralized system with safeguards and controls were invented. Whereas it would have been unthinkable even 200 years ago to place such wealth in the hands of bishops. However thanks to modern communication, modern finance and accounting, the task was much easier. The major investments of property, fixed assets were transferred under the control of the dioceses around the world. In turn, all non-visible church property was hidden via complex shelf companies and trusts. Major classes of assets such as shares, gold bullion, diamonds and other precious resources were transferred for direct control under the banks owned and controlled by the Vatican. Using the cloaks of secrecy in such states as Switzerland and even the Vatican itself, the true ownership and identity of these massive treasures could be hidden. The Vatican depends upon these laws of secrecy to maintain the lie of its true wealth. Without the secret banking laws and lack of uniform, proper and transparent disclosure laws around the world, the great fraud that the Catholic Church is no longer No 1. could not be maintained. Thus in the end, the single largest economic entity the world has ever seen disappeared from the radar of people’s minds and returned as a poor and impoverished church in desperate need of funds.

AND THERE'S MUCH MORE...

[Demeter]

40. Mark Fiore - Dronetopia

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/24/1094339/-Mark-Fiore-Dronetopia

[Demeter]

42. Bankrupt In Paradise

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/05/24/153442859/bankrupt-in-paradise?ft=1&f=1001

The Northern Mariana Islands are about 4,000 miles west of Hawaii. They look like the kind of tropical islands you see in the movies with bright blue water and white sand beaches. The people who live on the islands are American. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is a U.S. territory. And just like a lot of U.S. states, the commonwealth has a pension plan for its government employees.

Sixto Igisomar used to run it.

"We always say that the CNMI pension plan is the best pension plan within the United States because the benefits were very good, " Sixto says.

They used to say that. Last month, the pension fund became the first public pension fund in the U.S. to seek bankruptcy protection. How did the fund get into trouble? Part of the problem, according to Igisomar: The benefits were very good.

MUST BE READ TO BE BELIEVED

[Roland99]

44. 2pm - markets got spooked

[font color="red"]Dow 12,421 -75 -0.60%
Nasdaq 2,822 -28 -0.99%
S&P 500 1,311 -8 -0.63%
GlobalDow 1,755 -2 -0.09%[/font]
Gold 1,552 +4 +0.24%
Oil 90.74 +0.84 +0.93%

[Roland99]

49. 3:15pm Faeries are calming things down nicely.

[Roland99]

52. The Faeries have more saves than Mariano Rivera!