Shock, Laughter Greet Plan for Saudi Arabia's Record Oil IPO

When one financial adviser heard about Saudi Arabia’s plans to list a company larger than the economies of most nations, he had to pull over his car because he was laughing so hard.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, said Friday it’s considering an initial public offering. It confirmed an interview with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman published in the Economist Thursday. The news was greeted with incredulity in the financial industry, according to interviews with a half dozen bankers who do business in the Middle East. They asked not to be identified to protect their business interests.

For one thing, Aramco’s inner workings are opaque, making its true value a mystery. Then there’s the timing. The price of crude oil is near its lowest level in more than a decade. Discussions with Aramco about selling assets in the past had been about much smaller parts of the business, five of the people said. An initial public offering of the entire enterprise had only ever been discussed as a joke, one of the people said.

The company could be worth anything from $1 trillion to upwards of $10 trillion, which would make it the most valuable company in the world, according to a note from Jason Tuvey at research firm Capital Economics. The last mega IPO from the oil industry was a decade ago, when Russia’s OAO Rosneft raised more than $10 billion.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-08/shock-laughter-greet-plan-for-saudi-arabian-sale-of-the-century

Burlington College funded Caribbean vacation for Sanders family friend

The college also reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars to an all-inclusive Caribbean resort run by Jonathan Leopold, the son of a family friend, for a study-abroad program. Between 2009 and 2011, when O’Meara Sanders stepped down, Burlington College paid around $68,000 to the resort. The Free Beacon reports that payments to both the woodworking school and the resort stopped soon after she left.


http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/01/bernie-sanders-family-money

Catholic Church Takes Loss in Loan Settlement With Burlington College.

BURLINGTON — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington lost at least $1.5 million and perhaps as much as $2 million on a $3.65 million loan to Burlington College, according to financial statements from the church.

In 2010, Burlington College bought the former diocese headquarters on North Avenue for $10 million. The diocese sold the property to help cover the cost of a $17 million settlement with victims of priest sex abuse in Vermont.

The college borrowed heavily to buy the 33-acre prime Lake Champlain waterfront property. The purchase was part of an ambitious expansion plan for the school, led by Jane Sanders, the former Burlington College president and the wife of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. In August 2011, Jane Sanders resigned as doubts emerged about her plans and fundraising strategy. The college trustees gave her a $200,000 early exit package.

Sanders hoped to double the size of the college and create a new campus at the diocese location. When she signed off on a $6.7 million loan from People’s United Bank and a $3.65 million loan from the diocese in 2010, she was banking on pledged donations from supporters.

The diocese loan was settled earlier this year, and recently released documents show the diocese lost $1 million in principal payments, plus $500,000 to $1 million in interest accrued but never paid over a five-year period.

A VTDigger investigation in September showed that Sanders overstated pledged donations used to secure the People’s bank loan. Pledged donations never materialized, according to documents and statements from college officials. Ambitious plans to boost enrollments failed, pushing the college toward financial collapse.


http://vtdigger.org/2015/12/23/catholic-church-nailed-in-loan-settlement-with-burlington-college/

What goes down...: China Stocks Extend Rebound as State Funds Said to Buy Equities

Chinese stocks gained in volatile trading after the government suspended a controversial circuit breaker system, the central bank set a higher yuan fix and state-controlled funds were said to buy equities.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3 percent at 1:34 p.m. local time, after falling as much as 2.2 percent earlier. Regulators removed the circuit breakers after plunges this week closed trading early on Monday and Thursday. The central bank set the currency’s reference rate little changed Friday after an eight-day stretch of weaker fixings that roiled global markets. State-controlled funds purchased Chinese stocks on Friday, focusing on financial shares and others with large weightings in benchmark indexes, according to people familiar with the matter.
“The scrapping of the circuit breaker system will help to stabilize the market, but a sense of panic will remain, particularly among retail investors," said Li Jingyuan, general manager at Shanghai Bingsheng Asset Management. "The ‘national team’ will probably continue to buy stocks significantly to stabilize the market."

While China’s high concentration of individual investors makes its stock-market notoriously volatile, the extreme swings this year have revived concern over the Communist Party’s ability to manage an economy set to grow at the weakest pace since 1990. The selloff has spread around the world this week, sending U.S. equities to their worst-ever start to a year and pushing copper to the lowest levels since 2009.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-08/chinese-stocks-set-to-rally-after-circuit-breakers-scrapped

Genesee County Sheriff uses work detail to distribute filters in Flint

FLINT, MI – Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell took to the streets on the north side of Flint Thursday morning as part of a water filter distribution to residents.

Pickell was joined by more than a dozen reserve officers from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, detectives, paramedics and a work detail of people sentenced to community service as they picked up water and filters stored at the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan and the Genesee County Community Action Resource Department, or GCARD.

"We went door to door with the filters, replacement filters, water," said Pickell, while discussing why he chose to organize the outing in Flint neighborhoods.

"We have babies that are getting brain damage. You can't just sit around and talk about it. You've got to get off your (butt) and do something," he said. "I don't think there's any higher calling for community service than an emergency declaration."


http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/work_detail_used_by_genesee_co.html

Giuliani Says Donald Trump's "Sexism" Attack on Hillary Clinton Is "Politically Brilliant"

Today on "Morning Joe," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called Donald Trump's attack on Hillary Clinton "politically brilliant."

AMC Theaters Screening Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Autism & Special Needs Families

AMC theaters has a special program called "Sensory Friendly Films," and the record-setting Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the latest film being screened in these special presentations. The movies are screened in a partnership with the Autism Society, meant to be more friendly to families with autism and other special needs in their group.

At the Sensory Friendly showings, AMC "turns the lights up, turns the sound down," and encourages guests stand up, move around, and even shout and sing and speak along with the films.

The movies are presented all across the country, on the second and fourth Tuesday and Saturday of each month. Two showings of The Force Awakens aired in this manner at the end of December, with two more planned for this week.


http://comicbook.com/2016/01/07/amc-theaters-screening-star-wars-the-force-awakens-for-autism-sp/

Gov. Brown Proposes $122B California State Budget

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a $122.6 billion budget plan for California on Thursday that attempts to balance his fiscally restrained approach to spending with increasing demands for California to invest in social service and health care programs that suffered cuts during the recession.

The plan calls for significant increases in funding for education, health care and state infrastructure, while bolstering the state's Rainy Day Fund and paying down state debts and liabilities. It also includes a $1.1 billion compromise on a new tax on health insurers to replace one that will expire in June.

In addition, per-pupil spending would increase to $10,591. Schools are guaranteed about 40 percent of general fund revenues under voter-approved Proposition 98.

Brown said soaring tax revenues allow the state to boost spending on programs, but he also warned of the boom-and-bust cycle, proposing to put an additional $2 billion into the Rainy Day fund.


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Governor-Jerry-Brown-California-State-Budget-364533851.html#ixzz3wcmPgKz1
Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on Facebook

Daredevil Season 2 Teaser/Trailer Released

Ted Cruz "Goes There" with Obama