January 9, 2013

Robert Reich: TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up

TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up — And Washington Knows It
Tuesday, January 8, 2013


TARP – the infamous Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out Wall Street in 2008 – is over. The Treasury Department announced it will be completing the sale of the remaining shares it owns of the banks and of General Motors.

But in reality it’s not over. The biggest Wall Street banks are now far bigger than they were four years ago when they were considered too big to fail. The five largest have almost 44 percent of all US bank deposits.

That’s up from 37 percent in 2007, just before the crash. A decade ago they had just 28 percent.

The biggest banks keep getting bigger because they can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. That’s because investors believe the government will bail them out if they get into trouble, rather than force them into a form of bankruptcy (as the new Dodd-Frank law makes possible). .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://robertreich.org/post/40027650245

January 9, 2013

Searing temperatures fan Australia wildfires

(BBC) High winds and record temperatures fanned fires in south-east Australia, after the prime minister warned of a "very dangerous day".

More than 130 fires are currently burning in New South Wales, 40 of which have not been contained.

An uncontrolled fire is burning by the Tasman peninsula, near areas already hit by blazes over the weekend.

Teams in Victoria are also fighting a blaze, as Australia's heat wave continues. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20937509

January 8, 2013

Fuel Leak Is Latest Setback for Boeing 787

(NYT) Boeing’s newest and most sophisticated jet, the 787 Dreamliner, suffered a new mishap on Tuesday when a fuel leak forced an aircraft to return to its gate minutes before taking off from Boston, a day after an electrical fire broke out on another plane.

The events were the latest in a series of problems with the 787, which entered commercial service in November 2011 and has been hit by technical and electric malfunctions since then. Boeing delivered 46 planes last year, more than any analyst had predicted, and has outlined ambitious plans to double its production rate to 10 planes a month by the end of this year.

Much rides on the success of the 787 for Boeing, which expects to sell 5,000 of the planes in the next 20 years. The basic model has a list price of $206.8 million, but early customers typically received deep discounts to make up for the production delays and teething problems. All this means it could be years before Boeing starts recouping its investment costs and turn a profit on the planes.

Shares of Boeing dropped 2.6 percent to $74.13 on Tuesday, extending Monday’s drop of 2 percent. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/business/fuel-leak-is-latest-setback-for-boeing-787.html?_r=0

January 8, 2013

Repug rep admits that the GOP is like the Mob

from HuffPost:



Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) blasted out a fundraising email to supporters on Monday, telling them that he was effectively a wanted man following his vote last week against Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) for speaker of the House.

"But voting against a sitting Speaker of the House was a great risk. They will punish me. They will attack my family. But America is too important to be lost to overspending, high taxes, and big government. I refuse to stand by and allow our country to be destroyed," the email said, according to The Hill. “For my principled vote, Washington insiders are coming after me. I need your help and the help of 100 fellow conservatives immediately. If you are tired of Republicans who campaign as conservatives -- but vote like Democrats -- stand with me and make your contribution of $35 here.”

Huelskamp, an outspoken conservative known for bucking the establishment, has been a loud critic of Boehner, especially after being stripped of a key committee post in early December. He remains on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and was recently assigned to the Small Business Committee.

During the speaker vote last Thursday, Huelskamp became one of the most visible faces of the coup against Boehner when Politico posted a picture of his iPad showing that he and other conservative House Republicans had conspired to topple the speaker. Huelskamp cast a vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as speaker, but Boehner was eventually reelected after the opposing coalition reportedly fell apart. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/tim-huelskamp-fundraises-_n_2431440.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

January 8, 2013

Keiser Report: Deadly Deflation

January 8, 2013

Why Post-Sandy America Needs State Banks More than Ever

from YES! Magazine:


Why Post-Sandy America Needs State Banks More than Ever
If we the people want the sort of security in emergencies that is available to the owners of Wall Street banks, we need to own some banks ourselves.

by Ellen Brown
posted Jan 07, 2013


Most people believe that they'll be covered by their insurance policies or by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), if a disaster hits their region. But many victims of Hurricane Sandy have found that their insurance policies included obscure provisions that excluded coverage, and the only aid that FEMA gives to individuals is the opportunity to take on more debt.

A demonstrated solution exists to this problem, in the form of state-owned banks like the one that exists in North Dakota. As climate change makes disasters like Hurricane Sandy more common in many parts of the United States, the fight to establish state banks in new places will become ever more urgent.

In the coastal regions of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut that got slammed by Sandy, homeowners were already strained by underwater mortgages prior to the storm. Many properties have now depreciated to the point of having no market value at all.

They have no choice but to try to rebuild, but how can they take on more debt? FEMA's focus on lending moves money from the victims of disaster into the hands of loan servicers, who make enormous profits off these loans. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-state-banks-help-disaster-relief-efforts

January 8, 2013

Hey Joe, I said where you goin' with that gun in your hand.......

Think Progress / By Annie-Rose Strasser

America’s Craziest Sheriff Sends Armed Posses to Arizona Schools
Joe Arpaio has thought of less friendly uses for firearms in his recent past. Back in November, the sheriff decided to arm his deputies with automatic weapons to stop “illegal aliens” “attempting to escape” his county.

January 7, 2013 |


Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will begin sending armed “posses” to patrol around Arizona schools today, in response to the shooting less than a month ago at Sandy Hook elementary school.

Arpaio made a name for himself by abusing the civil rights of undocumented immigrants — and for detaining a six year old undocumented child. Now he’s heeding the NRA’s advice that every school needs a “guy with a gun” and is sending out volunteers “ with questionable pasts” to guard students:

.................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/americas-craziest-sheriff-sends-armed-posses-arizona-schools

January 8, 2013

The Laughter You Hear Comes From Wall Street and The Banks

from the Working Life blog:


The Laughter You Hear Comes From Wall Street and The Banks
Posted on 07 January 2013


When I come back in my next life, I want to be a banker or a hotshot on Wall Street. Because it’s the kind of work where you can do anything you want, break any laws, never get punished and make a huge amount of money. And the best thing is: you make someone else pay for your fuck-ups. That is the upshot of the settlement reached today with the banks. Another day, another sham.

I get why people are going to say, “wow, this is some deal”. Because for the normal person, when you read the word “billion”, you think that is a heap of money. So, this will distract people from the truth:



Yes, it is good that some money will get into the hands of homeowners. I’m sure it will be a relief to some people.

But, this is a distraction for a few reasons.

First, remember the damage these guys on Wall Street caused. Trillions of dollars — “trillion” now that’s real money — of value lost, a large chunk of it from pension funds, meaning peoples’ retirement. Millions of people around the world lost their jobs. And, in many countries, like Spain and Greece, vicious austerity has been the cost for the greed and crimes on Wall Street. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.workinglife.org/2013/01/07/the-laughter-you-hear-comes-from-wall-street-and-the-banks/

January 8, 2013

Samsung Profit Beats Estimates as Galaxy Fends Off IPhone 5

(Bloomberg) Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world’s largest maker of mobile phones and TVs, reported higher-than- expected fourth-quarter earnings as sales of Galaxy smartphones withstood the debut of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone 5.

Operating profit rose 89 percent to 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the three months ended December, Samsung said in a preliminary earnings statement today. That compares with the 8.5 trillion won average of 35 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The Suwon, South Korea-based company didn’t give net income or divisional figures.

Earnings at Samsung’s mobile business probably doubled from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg News survey of five analysts, helped by demand for Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III phones. That contrasted with slower than expected sales of the iPhone 5, which entered the market in September, following glitches with mapping software.

.......(snip).......

Samsung sold about 62 million smartphones in the quarter, compared with Apple’s 45 million, according to a Daewoo estimate. The South Korean company is in a global patent legal fight with Cupertino, California-based Apple, which is also its biggest customer. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-07/samsung-profit-surpasses-estimates-as-galaxy-fends-off-iphone-5.html

January 8, 2013

There's a Violent World War Going on Right Now, with Millions of Casualties - Oligarchs vs. Everyone

AlterNet / By Thom Hartmann

There's a Violent World War Going on Right Now, with Millions of Casualties -- Oligarchs vs. Everyone Else
We have become, in the United States, and increasingly all over the world, a society with only two classes: Those who own, and those who owe.

January 7, 2013 |


History is littered with the corpses of those who thought they could conquer the world, or at least the “known” or “important” world, through force of arms. Many come immediately to mind: Alexander the Great; Caesar; Hitler; the Celts, Ottomans, and Catholics; various European, Asian, and American empires from the 17th Century Dutch to the 18th Century French, to the 19th Century British and the 20th Century Soviets and Americans. Others, like the Aztecs, are less well known to westerners, Europeans, and Asians, but no less ambitious.

All used some variation on war, the force of military power, to accomplish their goal. All won, over the short-term, and then collapsed over the long term (making the relatively safe assumption that the American Empire is in the process of collapse right now).

So, who’s next?

While the rising economies of the world, like the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations, all have the potential, particularly the Chinese, all also are pretty focused on regionalism. But there is one group that has declared war on us - all of us, all over the world - and already won some significant victories. And that’s the creditor class, what economist Henry George called the “rentiers,” and we generally today refer to as “the billionaires.”

The top story on the Sunday, January 6 2013 online edition of the Financial Times, was headlined, “Banks win more flexible Basel rules” by Brooke Masters. The lead paragraph noted that “International banks received a new year fillip” or gift, when the new regulations out of the Basel bank regulators meeting “announced that the first ever global liquidity standards would be less onerous than expected and not be fully enforced until 2019, four years later than expected.” Perhaps the single most relevant sentence in the article started: “The results are largely good news for bank profits…” .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/theres-violent-world-war-going-right-now-millions-casualties-oligarchs-vs-everyone