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Tansy_Gold

(17,816 posts)
Mon May 20, 2013, 07:12 PM May 2013

STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 21 May 2013

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 21 May 2013[font color=black][/font]


SMW for 20 May 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 20 May 2013
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Dow Jones 15,335.28 -19.12 (-0.12%)
S&P 500 1,666.29 -1.18 (-0.07%)
Nasdaq 3,496.43 -2.54 (-0.07%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.96% +0.04 (2.08%)
30 Year 3.17% +0.05 (1.60%)[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 - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
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
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










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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]


32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 21 May 2013 (Original Post) Tansy_Gold May 2013 OP
A cap out for charity while using a smart phone? siligut May 2013 #1
Not fuzzy. That really is how things are out there. People will go homeless, but keep their phone. jtuck004 May 2013 #11
A cell phone absolutely, but not a smart phone siligut May 2013 #12
I have a 3G smart Tracfone. I get 3 times more minutes for the same $ than the 2004 tracfone phone. kickysnana May 2013 #13
Good deal, our two IPhones cost us @ $120 every month siligut May 2013 #14
what you also have to take into consideration is how much bang they get for that smartphone buck Tansy_Gold May 2013 #15
Yes, I appreciate the education siligut May 2013 #16
Always happy to teach the teachable! ;-) Tansy_Gold May 2013 #32
Prehaps a recent college grad? DemReadingDU May 2013 #20
White House Says It Didn’t Loop Obama In on I.R.S. Inquiry IMPLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY Demeter May 2013 #2
Timothy Geithner Is Key To IRS Scandal NO SURPRISE THERE! by Chriss Street Demeter May 2013 #8
New Evidence: IRS Already Had "Enemies List" In 2010 by Chriss Street Demeter May 2013 #9
Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust Demeter May 2013 #3
Chinese Hackers Resume Attacks on U.S. Targets Demeter May 2013 #4
Mandiant picks on OCCUPY? eom Kolesar May 2013 #17
"They" in my post refers to our Super Secret Spying Agencies Demeter May 2013 #19
THE GOLD MAN AND THE ORACLE Demeter May 2013 #5
Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds NOTABLE QUOTABLES Demeter May 2013 #6
Russia's Plan For The BRICS To Dismantle The Dollar System By Valentin Mândrăşescu Demeter May 2013 #7
"The Mother Of All Shorts" Demeter May 2013 #10
Like it will ever happen Demeter May 2013 #18
US Futures mixed. Best Buy posts loss of $0.24/share Roland99 May 2013 #21
8 Currencies That Could Tank As Commodities Collapse xchrom May 2013 #22
Senators accuse Apple of 'highly questionable' billion-dollar tax avoidance scheme xchrom May 2013 #23
Economics and the perils of big data xchrom May 2013 #24
Ireland says not to blame for Apple's low tax rate xchrom May 2013 #25
Inflation falls in April, giving more leeway for stimulus{uk} xchrom May 2013 #26
Labour calls for country-by-country tax reporting xchrom May 2013 #27
Robert Reich: Pyromaniacs on the Potomac: The Problem With Obama’s Second Term Fuddnik May 2013 #28
Corporate Tricks: EU Faces Tough Battle to Close Tax Loopholes xchrom May 2013 #29
Urban Class Warfare: Are Cities Built for the Rich? xchrom May 2013 #30
Germany to create 5,000 jobs a year for young Spaniards xchrom May 2013 #31
 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
11. Not fuzzy. That really is how things are out there. People will go homeless, but keep their phone.
Mon May 20, 2013, 10:29 PM
May 2013

It's mostly the norm now. The illogic of it seems plain, until one thinks about that only being a tank of gas, or a third of a Walmart grocery basket. So they get much more benefit from having that phone than many other things.

siligut

(12,272 posts)
12. A cell phone absolutely, but not a smart phone
Mon May 20, 2013, 10:36 PM
May 2013

Though I recognize by his clothes that his need for charity is recent.

kickysnana

(3,908 posts)
13. I have a 3G smart Tracfone. I get 3 times more minutes for the same $ than the 2004 tracfone phone.
Mon May 20, 2013, 11:00 PM
May 2013

siligut

(12,272 posts)
14. Good deal, our two IPhones cost us @ $120 every month
Mon May 20, 2013, 11:04 PM
May 2013

I may have made a judgement based on limited knowledge, I try not to do that.

Tansy_Gold

(17,816 posts)
15. what you also have to take into consideration is how much bang they get for that smartphone buck
Mon May 20, 2013, 11:47 PM
May 2013

Internet to check on job openings, send email, fire off a résumé, pay bills, manage bank accounts. They're not tied to a landline at a fixed address or dependent on a friend/relative to take a message. If they have to move to take a job, even a temporary one, the phone goes with them; no need to worry about not informing someone of a new phone number.

I suspect in many cases, a smartphone is far more essential than a car. And a lot cheaper!

DemReadingDU

(16,000 posts)
20. Prehaps a recent college grad?
Tue May 21, 2013, 06:53 AM
May 2013

Perhaps with a masters degree too. Check out what he has on the ground holding the money.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
2. White House Says It Didn’t Loop Obama In on I.R.S. Inquiry IMPLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:13 PM
May 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/politics/white-house-says-obama-was-kept-out-of-loop-on-irs-inquiry.html

White House officials were first notified on April 16 about an investigation into Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups and discussed its potential findings with the Treasury Department but never told President Obama, the White House said Monday.

The Treasury Department’s legal office informed the White House counsel’s office about the nearly finished I.R.S. audit along with other reviews nearly a month before its release, the White House said. Kathryn Ruemmler, the White House counsel, was personally told on April 24, and she notified the White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and other senior aides without informing the president, the White House said.

“She made the decision or the judgment that it was not necessary or appropriate to inform the president of this, and that didn’t happen,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “And most importantly, no action was taken by anyone in this building to intervene.”

He added that the president would not have acted even if he had known. “Obviously, that would be wholly inappropriate,” Mr. Carney said....

THIS IS WHY I WILL NEVER BE ELECTED TO ANYTHING...I WOULDN'T PUT UP WITH THIS KIND OF SHIT.
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
8. Timothy Geithner Is Key To IRS Scandal NO SURPRISE THERE! by Chriss Street
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:39 PM
May 2013
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/17/timothy-geithner-is-key-to-irs-scandal.html


Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller was forced by to resign, predominantly due to the July 7, 2011 memorandum that I published last weekend in my report, IRS HAD ENEMIES LIST IN 2010 & 2012.(SEE FOLLOWING POST) The document, written on U.S. Treasury Department stationary, demanded that senior IRS management terminate attempts to have donations to selected tax-exempt groups be fully taxed as gifts. The IRS admitted the groups examined were conservative, such as Tea Parties. The Miller memo appeared to confirm that he knowingly lied to Congress while under oath at least twice last year about predatory audits of conservative organizations. But Mr. Miller has told the press he is only resigning when his “acting assignment ends in early June.” I was suspicious Mr. Miller’s resignation was an effort to prevent him from being required to testify again under oath on Friday to three Congressional Committees. But if Mr. Miller is staying until June, he must testify on Friday. With the President throwing the IRS Commissioner “under the bus,” Mr. Miller may be ready to throw former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and President Obama under the bus.

Steven T. Miller is a career civil servant at the IRS. He holds a Juris Doctorate law degree from George Washington University and a Master of Laws in taxation from Georgetown University. He has held several senior positions at the IRS and worked for a number of years as an attorney in the IRS Chief Counsel’s office. He also served as a Congressional staff member for the Joint Committee on Taxation. Holding prestigious law degrees and having given harsh warnings to senior IRS staff in 2011 to ban predatory examinations, it is doubtful Mr. Miller would have authorized continued examinations unless ordered to by his direct boss, former IRA Commissioner Douglas H Shulman. Douglas H. Shulman was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate as IRS Commissioner on Friday March 14, 2008 at the youthful age of 41. Mr. Shulman formerly served as the Vice Chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), at an even more youthful age, where he made a name for himself working closely with New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner, pioneering over-the-counter trading of derivatives by banks. As IRS Commissioner, he reported directly to Timothy Geithner as U.S. Treasury Secretary.

Over the next four days after his confirmation, the legendary Bear Stearns Brokerage firm collapsed, heralding the beginning the worst recession since the Great Depression. The U.S. Federal Reserve was required to take responsibility for $29 billion in toxic sub-prime assets from Bear Stearns' portfolio. As the FINRA whiz-kid he was the regulatory architect that championed banks and brokerage firms’ taking on sub-prime asset leverage. Douglas Shulman again showed incredible timing for avoiding horrific personal blame for scandal by resigning on November 9, 2012, a day after the reelection of President Barack Obama. By the time Barack Obama came into office in January of 2009, real estate was collapsing, the stock market was down by 40% and unemployment was about to vault to over 10%. President Obama summed up his opinions of leveraged banks on CBS's “60 Minutes” stated: “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” Mr. Obama went on to say: “They're still puzzled why it is that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in—in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10% unemployment.”

It was always baffling to me that IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman had managed to convince the President to not demand his resignation as punishment for his dubious leadership at FINRA that contributed to the financial crisis. As IRS Commissioner, Mr. Shulman must have received a copy of Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steven T. Miller's memo of July 7, 2011 that screamed the audits and examinations had: “significant legal, administrative and policy implications with respect to which we have little enforcement history.” It is documented President Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS to investigate and intimidate his political enemies, so IRS Commissioner Shulman must have known that Mr. Miller was concerned the retaliation against conservative groups exceeded FDR’s using the IRS against political enemies. The IRS continues to mislead the public, as Fox News reported that at least 471 tax-exempt organizations, not the 300 admitted to by the IRS, were examined with “extra scrutiny.” Then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner must have received a copy of the 2011 Miller memo, because it was written on Department of Treasury stationary and Shulman and Miller reported to him. Therefore, to find out if the IRS has been running a massive enemies list for the White House, Congress must demand that Timothy Geithner testify under oath.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
9. New Evidence: IRS Already Had "Enemies List" In 2010 by Chriss Street
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:46 PM
May 2013
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/14/new-evidence-irs-already-had-enemies-list-in-2010.html

The Internal Revenue Service admitted on May 10th that “low level” staff in their Cincinnati office, supposedly “not motivated by political bias,” targeted 75 conservative tax exempt organizations for audit and investigation, because they used the names “Tea Party” and “Patriot.” I have obtained a copy of a hand signed memorandum (SEE LINK) from Steven T. Miller, IRS Acting Commissioner, dated July 7, 2011 revealing that he, while serving as Department of Treasury Deputy Commissioner for IRS Services and Enforcement, ordered similar activity terminated on March 23, 2011.

Coupled with the resignation of IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman the day after the 2012 election, IRS agents may have “knowingly and willfully” retaliated against a conservative “Enemies List” during the 2010 Congressional election and continuing through the 2012 Presidential election.

Lois G. Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, apologized for the “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to “see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.” Ms. Lerner stated that IRS agents singled out dozens of organizations for additional reviews, because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their exemption applications. She also stated in some cases, groups were asked for lists of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases. Ms. Lerner blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware. But prior to being appointed to her current position on August 15, 2012, Ms. Lerner served since 2005 as the Director of the Exempt Organizations Rulings & Agreements Division where she managed the “determinations letter program” for Exempt Organization, public guidance, and technical assistance for IRS agents conducting examinations of tax-exempt organizations. Steven T. Miller’s “Guidance Memo” was sent directly to IRS TE/GE (Tax Exempt and Government Exempt) management. As the head of “Tax Exempt” determinations, Ms. Lerner was the prime recipient of the hand signed July 7, 2011 memorandum (here) that reiterated the March 23, 2011 suspension of IRS examinations of applications for 501(c)(4) tax exempt entities.

IRS Commissioner Miller’s guidance memo clearly warned:

This is a difficult area with significant legal, administrative, and policy implications with respect to which we have little enforcement history. My office will be coordinating with the Office of Chief Counsel to determine whether there is a need for further guidance in this area.


The memo states the IRS: “should not expend examination resources initiating referrals or developing audits.” This was meant to be a klaxon horn going-off in every IRS office across the nation screaming no IRS agent is allowed to be involved in this activity. The IRS is wildly sensitive regarding the use of its powers to intimidate political opponents. Despite a substantial lead in the 1972 polls, Richard Nixon’s Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP) created what became known as the “Enemies List” of 576 supporters of Democrat George McGovern’s 1972 Presidential campaign. John W. Dean III, Counsel to President Nixon forwarded the list to the IRS for action:

This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration; stated a bit more bluntly—how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.


 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
3. Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:17 PM
May 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/us/high-plains-aquifer-dwindles-hurting-farmers.html

Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland. He struck an artery of water so prodigious that he could pump 1,600 gallons to the surface every minute.

Last year, Mr. Yost was coaxing just 300 gallons from the earth, and pumping up sand in order to do it. By harvest time, the grit had robbed him of $20,000 worth of pumps and any hope of returning to the bumper harvests of years past.

“That’s prime land,” he said not long ago, gesturing from his pickup at the stubby remains of last year’s crop. “I’ve raised 294 bushels of corn an acre there before, with water and the Lord’s help.” Now, he said, “it’s over.”

The land, known as Section 35, sits atop the High Plains Aquifer, a waterlogged jumble of sand, clay and gravel that begins beneath Wyoming and South Dakota and stretches clear to the Texas Panhandle. The aquifer’s northern reaches still hold enough water in many places to last hundreds of years. But as one heads south, it is increasingly tapped out, drained by ever more intensive farming and, lately, by drought. Vast stretches of Texas farmland lying over the aquifer no longer support irrigation. In west-central Kansas, up to a fifth of the irrigated farmland along a 100-mile swath of the aquifer has already gone dry. In many other places, there no longer is enough water to supply farmers’ peak needs during Kansas’ scorching summers.

And when the groundwater runs out, it is gone for good. Refilling the aquifer would require hundreds, if not thousands, of years of rains.

DEFINITION OF INSANITY APPLIES HERE
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
4. Chinese Hackers Resume Attacks on U.S. Targets
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:19 PM
May 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/world/asia/chinese-hackers-resume-attacks-on-us-targets.html?pagewanted=2&pagewanted=print

Three months after hackers working for a cyberunit of China’s People’s Liberation Army went silent amid evidence that they had stolen data from scores of American companies and government agencies, they appear to have resumed their attacks using different techniques, according to computer industry security experts and American officials.

The Obama administration had bet that “naming and shaming” the groups, first in industry reports and then in the Pentagon’s own detailed survey of Chinese military capabilities, might prompt China’s new leadership to crack down on the military’s highly organized team of hackers — or at least urge them to become more subtle.

But Unit 61398, whose well-guarded 12-story white headquarters on the edges of Shanghai became the symbol of Chinese cyberpower, is back in business, according to American officials and security companies.

It is not clear precisely who has been affected by the latest attacks. Mandiant, a private security company that helps companies and government agencies defend themselves from hackers, said the attacks had resumed but would not identify the targets, citing agreements with its clients. But it did say the victims were many of the same ones the unit had attacked before...

BUT THEY CAN PICK ON WIKILEAKS, AND OCCUPY, AND ALL OTHER DEMOCRATICALLY ORIENTED, NON-THEFT PURPOSED ORGANIZATIONS...

I MAY CHOKE ON THE GALL
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
19. "They" in my post refers to our Super Secret Spying Agencies
Tue May 21, 2013, 06:37 AM
May 2013

the ones that are supposed to protect our freedoms and the nation...

and the only thing they are protecting is the 1%.

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
5. THE GOLD MAN AND THE ORACLE
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:25 PM
May 2013
Buffett trades warrants for smaller stake in Goldman

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/26/us-goldmansachs-berkshire-idUSBRE92P0K820130326

Warren Buffett has given up his chance to become Goldman Sachs Group Inc's (GS.N) largest shareholder by converting his warrants into a smaller stake in the bank at no additional cost to his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N).

Buffett received the warrants as part of a 2008 deal during the depths of the financial crisis, when his investment in Goldman was seen as a vote of confidence in the firm. Under that deal, Berkshire had the right to buy about 43.5 million Goldman shares - or a roughly 9 percent stake - at an exercise price of $115 per share, for $5 billion in total.

On Tuesday, Goldman announced a new deal that would give Berkshire a much smaller stake, but would not require it to commit any capital to exercise the warrants: Berkshire would convert the warrants for Goldman shares equal in value to the difference between the warrants' exercise price and the average closing price for the 10 trading days up to October 1.

At current market prices, Buffett would receive 9.2 million shares, or a 2 percent stake, making him the ninth largest investor in Goldman, according to Thomson Reuters data...

Goldman registers risky credit fund as publicly traded company

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/01/goldman-liberty-idUSL2N0CO1LB20130401

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has registered a fund that invests in risky credit products as a publicly traded business development company, a way for the bank to avoid some regulations that would otherwise limit its activity. Goldman's Liberty Harbor Capital LLC unit will invest in middle-market companies that have weak credit ratings and are underserved by banks, according to a registration filing on Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Liberty Harbor typically invests in bonds and loans that are not rated by credit ratings agencies, but would be considered less than investment-grade. Reuters first reported on Goldman's plans for the Liberty Harbor business in January.

Goldman does not expect Liberty Harbor to be subject to the Volcker rule, which would restrict its ability to sponsor or invest in such funds, the bank said in the filing. Business development companies are specifically exempt from the Volcker rule. Liberty Harbor also qualifies as an "emerging growth company" under the JOBS Act, which will allow it to "take advantage of...reduced reporting and other burdens" that would otherwise be applicable to a publicly traded firm.


Liberty Harbor will mainly invest in companies with adjusted earnings of $5 million to $75 million a year, across a variety of sectors. Its investments will range in size between $5 million and $50 million, and last from three to 10 years. Goldman provided seed funding to the business on Nov. 15, and since then Liberty Harbor has invested about $73 million in eight companies.
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
6. Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds NOTABLE QUOTABLES
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:29 PM
May 2013

Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen, Congressional investigators disclosed on Monday. The investigation is expected to set up a potentially explosive confrontation between a bipartisan group of lawmakers and Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, at a public hearing on Tuesday. Congressional investigators found that some of Apple’s subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world.

“Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” said Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that is holding the public hearing Tuesday into Apple’s use of tax havens. “Apple successfully sought the holy grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere.”

Thanks to what lawmakers called “gimmicks” and “schemes,” Apple was able to largely sidestep taxes on tens of billions of dollars it earned outside the United States in recent years. Last year, international operations accounted for 61 percent of Apple’s total revenue.

Investigators have not accused Apple of breaking any laws and the company is hardly the only American multinational to face scrutiny for using complex corporate structures and tax havens to sidestep taxes. In recent months, revelations from European authorities about the tax avoidance strategies used by Google, Starbucks and Amazon have all stirred public anger and spurred several European governments, as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based research organization for the world’s richest countries, to discuss measures to close the loopholes.

Still, the findings about Apple were remarkable both for the enormous amount of money involved and the audaciousness of the company’s assertion that its subsidiaries are beyond the reach of any taxing authority. “There is a technical term economists like to use for behavior like this,” said Edward Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a former staff director at the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. “Unbelievable chutzpah.”

Over all, Apple’s tax avoidance efforts shifted at least $74 billion from the reach of the Internal Revenue Service between 2009 and 2012, the investigators said. That cash remains offshore, but Apple, which paid more than $6 billion in taxes in the United States last year on its American operations, could still have to pay federal taxes on it if the company were to return the money to its coffers in the United States. John McCain of Arizona, who is the panel’s senior Republican, said: “Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders.”

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
7. Russia's Plan For The BRICS To Dismantle The Dollar System By Valentin Mândrăşescu
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:33 PM
May 2013
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/12/russias-plan-for-the-brics-to-dismantle-the-dollar-system.html

The status of the US dollar as the world reserve currency gives the US a number of advantages over other countries. The world’s most important commodities are priced and traded in dollars, even if most of these commodities are not produced in the US. The fact that the world’s financial system is based on the dollar allows the Federal Reserve to export inflation to other countries, while the Federal Government runs a huge deficit with impunity.

So far, only China has been active in challenging the dollar supremacy. The internationalization of the yuan is an official priority of Chinese leaders. Currency swap agreements with major trade partners like Brazil, France, or Australia are small but important steps in the Chinese strategy. Changing the world financial system is not an easy task and certainly a very challenging undertaking for China. Now, it seems that Beijing has found an ally in the Kremlin. And there appears to be a consensus between the BRICS countries: the urgent necessity to dismantle the dollar system.

A week before the recent BRICS summit in Durban, the Kremlin administration has silently produced a document which describes the Russian strategy in the context of BRICS cooperation. The document makes for a fascinating read for anyone brave enough to plow through the dense Russian legalese. The strategy has been designed in the “inner circle” of Vladimir Putin’s team, so it is safe to assume that it represents the official view on the BRICS future.

In Russia, politics are Byzantine; the fact that the Kremlin decided not to hide the document or leak it to a chosen few journalists, but publish it outright is a very strong signal, a very vocal angry signal directed at the US. A signal that the Western media chose to ignore...

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
10. "The Mother Of All Shorts"
Mon May 20, 2013, 09:59 PM
May 2013
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/5/6/the-mother-of-all-shorts.html

Monday, May 6, 2013 at 8:56AM

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have been stumbling like drunken but determined sailors from all-time high to all-time high, despite an ongoing employment fiasco and lousy economic data. And despite an avalanche of declining corporate revenues: of the 30 Dow components, 25 reported first-quarter results so far, but their combined revenues didn’t show the dizzying growth you’d expect during times of stock market records, but they dropped 1.6% from last year, led by Caterpillar with a 17% dive. Even Exxon’s revenues were down. And so were IBM’s.

But our drunken sailors took no notice. They're fixated on the Fed's zero-interest-rate policy and relentless money-printing and bond-buying binge. It not only inflated stock prices to record highs but also bond prices across the board, pushing yields down to record lows. A trend that had actually started in the early 1980s – endlessly rising stock prices and endlessly dropping bond yields. This graph by Global Financial Data that compares the S&P 500 and the Dow to the 10-year Treasuries Constant Maturity Yield since 1910 has taken on the shape of terrifying open jaws of a ravenous crocodile:

?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1367870803307

"Could we be looking at the “Mother Of All Shorts?” mused Global Financial Data. Looks just too tempting. The open jaws already looked terrifying in 1999, and then again in 2007, shortly before epic crashes, but never more so than today.

Bonds are "a terrible investment right now,” fretted even the avuncular face of Wall Street and the Fed, our favorite Warren Buffett, on CNBC. They’re "priced artificially," he said, driven up by the Fed's purchases of $85 billion a month, "and when that changes, people could lose a lot of money."

But then he talked up his book that had tremendously and directly benefited from the Fed – many of his largest investments had received hundreds of billions in Fed money and some of them had even issued taxpayer-guaranteed bonds, including Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs: "Stocks are reasonably priced now,” he said, though they’ve been even more inflated than bonds, and though, after the great open-jaws moments in 1999 and 2007, they crashed ferociously, while Treasuries continued to rise in their loosey-goosey manner – as always, the Mother Of All Shorts, whether bonds, stocks, or both, will only be confirmed afterwards.

Roland99

(53,342 posts)
21. US Futures mixed. Best Buy posts loss of $0.24/share
Tue May 21, 2013, 07:22 AM
May 2013

Pound is down (not so sound)...fine with me...helps me with the exchange rate while I'm in the UK on business last week and this (been in Derby...err....Darby but in Leeds for the day)

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
22. 8 Currencies That Could Tank As Commodities Collapse
Tue May 21, 2013, 07:45 AM
May 2013
http://www.businessinsider.com/9-currencies-that-could-tank-as-commodities-collapse-2013-5

A big story this year has been the decline in commodities.
That's bad news for countries and currencies that are closely tied to commodities.
In a note, Sebastien Galy has a quick rundown of what currencies are associated with what commodities:
Aussie Dollar : aluminum, coal & wheat
Canadian Dollar : oil and wheat
South African Rand : coal & platinum
Chilean Peso : copper
Mexican Peso: oil & silver
Russian Rubel: oil, nickel, platinum, wheat
Brazilian Real: oil
Norwegian Kroner: oil


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/9-currencies-that-could-tank-as-commodities-collapse-2013-5#ixzz2TvWRQ6CC

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
23. Senators accuse Apple of 'highly questionable' billion-dollar tax avoidance scheme
Tue May 21, 2013, 08:34 AM
May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/20/apple-accused-tax-avoidance-billions-scheme

Apple uses a "highly questionable" web of offshore entities to avoid paying billions in US income taxes, a Senate committee alleged on Monday.

The complex arrangement includes three subsidiaries, based ostensibly in Ireland, which appear not to be designated as tax resident anywhere, the committee said. A source on the committee called them "iCompanies – I for imaginary, invisible".

The commitee said that the arrangement, described by one senator as "the epitome" of tax-avoidance schemes, allowed Apple to pay only very small amounts of tax on much of its overseas profits, thanks to the Irish companies that exist "nowhere" for tax purposes.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, will answer the accusations at a hearing convened by the bipartisan permanent subcommittee on investigation in Washington on Tuesday. Apple vehemently denied the charges ahead of the meeting.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
24. Economics and the perils of big data
Tue May 21, 2013, 08:43 AM
May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/may/17/economic-big-data-rogoff-reinhart

The brouhaha over Carmen Reinhart's and Kenneth Rogoff's article "Growth in a Time of Debt" may be the most conspicuous and incendiary scholarly controversy since 1974, when two earlier economists, Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, published a notorious book, Time on the Cross, defending the efficiency of American plantation slavery.

As with Time on the Cross, the Reinhart/Rogoff controversy, while ostensibly stemming from the authors' statistical procedures, is actually rooted in the purposes to which others put their study.

Some of the results reported by Fogel and Engerman were used – not by the authors themselves, it should be noted – to challenge affirmative action and question the civil rights movement. Similarly, some of the results reported by Reinhart and Rogoff have been used by politicians and others to justify fiscal austerity.

When the problems with the Reinhart/Rogoff analysis came to light, the critics were aghast. The authors had inadvertently omitted data, used a questionable weighting scheme, and employed an erroneous observation on GDP growth.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
25. Ireland says not to blame for Apple's low tax rate
Tue May 21, 2013, 09:24 AM
May 2013
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/uk-usa-tax-apple-ireland-idUKBRE94K0BJ20130521

(Reuters) - Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments after the U.S. Senate said the company paid little or nothing on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries.

The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple was too low.

"They are issues that arise from the taxation systems in other jurisdictions, and that is an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions," deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore told national broadcaster RTE on Tuesday.

In a 40-page memorandum released ahead of an appearance by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook before Congress on Tuesday, a Senate subcommittee identified three subsidiaries that have no tax residency either in Ireland, where they are incorporated, or in the United States, where those companies are managed.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
26. Inflation falls in April, giving more leeway for stimulus{uk}
Tue May 21, 2013, 09:26 AM
May 2013
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/uk-britain-inflation-idUKLNE94K00A20130521

(Reuters) - British inflation fell twice as fast as expected last month, giving incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney more leeway to support the economy with more stimulus should the recovery weaken.

Inflation eased to 2.4 percent from 2.8 percent in March, with almost half of that drop coming from weaker petrol and diesel costs. The pound fell and British government bonds rose after the figures.

Combined with recent signs that the economy is gaining traction, the easing in price pressures will be welcome news for Carney. The Canadian, who replaces Mervyn King at the helm of the Bank of England in July, has a reputation for monetary activism and has stressed the importance of the economy achieving "escape velocity" before stimulus is withdrawn.

Britain's economy grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter of this year and surveys suggest it has picked up pace since.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
27. Labour calls for country-by-country tax reporting
Tue May 21, 2013, 09:28 AM
May 2013
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/uk-britain-tax-reporting-idUKLNE94J00E20130520


(Reuters) - The Labour party, tapping into widening public anger over corporate tax avoidance, wants the government to push for new international rules to force companies to report profit and tax payments country-by-country.

Campaigners say the move, which is receiving increased support internationally despite strong opposition from business, would deter companies from shifting profit into tax havens where they have no staff or sales.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said corporate tax avoidance will be discussed at the annual summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial economies, which Britain is hosting next month in Northern Ireland.

He has urged companies to be more transparent but has only proposed voluntary measures.

Fuddnik

(8,846 posts)
28. Robert Reich: Pyromaniacs on the Potomac: The Problem With Obama’s Second Term
Tue May 21, 2013, 09:41 AM
May 2013

Six months into a second term and the Obama White House is on the defensive and floundering: Benghazi, the IRS’s investigations of right-wing groups, the Justice Department’s snooping into journalists’ phone records, Obamacare behind schedule, the Administration’s push for gun control ending in failure.

Should the blame fall mainly on congressional Republicans and their allies in the right-wing media, whose vitriolic attacks on Obama are unceasing?

After all, the only thing the GOP stands for – the sole mission that unites its warring factions — is an unwaivering determination to block anything the Administration seeks while distracting public attention from any larger issue.

But surely some of the seeming disarray is due to the President, whose insularity and aloofness make him an easy target, and whose eagerness to compromise and lack of focus continuously blurs his core message.

Is the central goal of his second term to achieve a grand bargain on the budget deficit? Or progress on gun control? Or restore jobs? Or reform the immigration laws? It is difficult to tell.

(snip)
http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2013/05/pyromaniacs-on-the-potomac-the-problem-with-obamas-second-term/?utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EconoMonitor%20Highlights%3A%20EZ%27s%20All%20That

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
29. Corporate Tricks: EU Faces Tough Battle to Close Tax Loopholes
Tue May 21, 2013, 10:13 AM
May 2013
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/eu-faces-tough-battle-to-curb-tax-avoidance-and-evasion-a-900900.html

BASF, the world's largest chemical group, is primarily known for its paints, state-of-the-art plastics and perhaps its natural gas dealings with Russia. The down-to-earth managers at the company's headquarters in Germany's Palatinate region have occasionally criticized the greedy banking sector, but otherwise have quietly gone about their business of generating billions in profits. But innovation isn't the only source of BASF's profitability.

The chemical group, based in Ludwigshafen in southwestern Germany, has a large tax department, whose work consists partly in moving money around between continents. But now the company has discovered a tax haven right at home in Europe.
In addition to a large plant, the company operates the BASF Belgium Coordination Center in Antwerp. Some 160 employees at the center spend a portion of their time searching for legal ways to reduce BASF's tax bill. In 2011, the company paid taxes on its many millions in profits at a rate of only 2.6 percent.

BASF is by far not the only company to take advantage of favorable tax conditions in a neighboring EU country to improve its bottom line. Volkswagen, currently the most profitable company in Germany, was even greedier. In 2012, Belgian subsidiary Volkswagen Group Services paid no taxes at all on profits of €153 million, and in the previous year it raked in €141 million in tax-free profits -- and it was all completely legal.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
30. Urban Class Warfare: Are Cities Built for the Rich?
Tue May 21, 2013, 10:16 AM
May 2013
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/marxist-and-geographer-david-harvey-on-urban-development-and-power-a-900976.html

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why should a Marxist be concerned about major cities instead of the working class these days?

Harvey : Traditional Marxists admittedly see the avant-garde of the revolution in the industrial working class. However, since this is disappearing in the wake of Western deindustrialization, people are starting to grasp that urban conflicts will probably be decisive.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Over the course of the debt crisis, wages have decreased and social benefits have been slashed in Greece. Meanwhile, general strikes haven't generated enough pressure to reverse the changes. Can this be viewed as evidence to support your theory that the traditional proletariat can no longer paralyze a state?

Harvey : Yes. Today's working class is part of a wider configuration of classes in which the struggle centers on the city itself. I replace the traditional concept of class struggle with the struggle of all those who produce and reproduce urban life. Unions must look at the urban everyday existence -- a key for the social conflicts to come. In the United States, for example, this has prompted the AFL-CIO federation of labor organizations to start collaborating with domestic workers and migrants.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)
31. Germany to create 5,000 jobs a year for young Spaniards
Tue May 21, 2013, 10:24 AM
May 2013
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/05/21/inenglish/1369144315_570067.html

German has agreed to create 5,000 jobs a year for young Spanish workers as part of efforts to reduce youth unemployment in Spain, which hit 57 percent at the end of March.

A memorandum of understanding in this area was signed Tuesday in Madrid by Spanish Labor Minister Fátima Báñez and her German counterpart Ursula Von der Leyen. It includes work combined with professional training and stable posts for qualified workers.

Báñez welcomed Germany’s “commitment” toward helping young Spaniards, adding that the accord would provide “many opportunities for many young Spanish people which today, because of the crisis they do not have in Spain, and which, however, they can have in other European Union countries on a temporary basis.”

The accord calls for the interchange of workers and cooperation in the area of labor affairs. There are currently 43,548 Spaniards affiliated with the German Social Security system, and 37,797 Germans in the Spanish system.
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