STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday December 22

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday December 22, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON December 21, 2010

Dow 11,533.16 +55.03 (+0.48%)
Nasdaq 2,667.61 +18.05 (+0.68%)
S&P 500 1,254.60 +7.52 (+0.60%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.33 +0.02 (+0.70%)
30-Year Bond 4.43 +0.02 (+0.36%)

---

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

---

Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

---

---

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.

Read more: du

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Lol - I was just putting this together.

I didn't know if you were still sick. Nice to see you this morning!

[ozymandius]

5. Thanks and good morning.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
Still coughing. But I am able to manage.

Did you receive the bookmarks?

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. Yes I did - thank you!

I feel that I should let you finish out the year, but otherwise am ready to start at any time.

[ozymandius]

11. That is very kind of you.

I have invited some folks to the 12/31/10 farewell thread. In addition, you may have questions about what I have given you already. Some people here may have proposed changes, which is normal, and those changes may beget other questions. Please PM or e-mail me or just ask right here on the thread. I've tried many different things over the years and some were successful, others not, and some changes that worked in the past would not work today because of web technology shifts.

[DoBotherMe]

52. Tag team!

Hi guys, hope you both have a very happy holiday season! Dana ; )

[ozymandius]

59. Thank you very much!

Here's hoping you have a wonderful holiday weekend! :toast:

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Yves Smith - Foreclosures on People Who Never Missed a Payment

Video here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x537284

[DemReadingDU]

13. that's an evil manipulation of payments

[Demeter]

15. It's all evil

Makes me wonder if we will ever wake up from this 30 year nightmare...

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[ozymandius]

4. Today's Reports

[Demeter]

9. Understanding, Forecasting the Credit Cycle—Why Mainstream Paradigm in Economics, Finance Collapsed

http://www.qfinance.com/macroeconomic-issues-viewpoints/understanding-and-forecasting-the-credit-cyclewhy-the-mainstream-paradigm-in-economics-and-finance-collapsed?full#s4

Crises Have Disproven Mainstream Neo-Classical Economics

...For about two decades, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from August 1987 to January 2006, has been considered the oracle on any issue involving banking, monetary, fiscal, and economic policy. The “Maestro” has been a staunch champion of the deregulation mantra and the belief that markets, if left unregulated and to their own devices, would produce the best possible outcome for society. Likewise, he also believed that bankers should not be further regulated as their self-interest would ensure an optimal result. This thinking is commonly known as “mainstream” or “neo-classical” economics. From about 1980 onwards, it was initially adopted by international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank in their policies imposed on dozens of developing countries, but since the mid-1980s it has became the guideline of other Washington-based decision-making bodies, such as the US government (hence it is often called the “Washington Consensus” on economic policy). It has since also become the basis of government policies worldwide, such as in Thatcherite and New Labour Britain, or more recently in Japan, Korea, or Germany. Even nonmarket economies such as China have begun to adopt a growing set of recommendations derived from this free market economics...Dr Greenspan, an academically trained economist and key promoter of this creed, has, however, now changed his mind...

There was a second admission, concerning the methods used to calculate and manage risk in the entire financial sector: “This modern risk-management paradigm held sway for decades. The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year,” Greenspan testified.

The crisis has with one stroke not only discredited the particular decisions by those responsible for the crisis—central bankers, financial regulators, and bankers—but it has disproved the entire mainstream “neo-classical” paradigm of thinking about economics and economic policy. The Washington Consensus, the basis for recent government and central bank policies all over the world, has been proven wrong...

Thus the experience in many countries has contradicted key aspects of mainstream theories. There is one country, however, where the number of “anomalies” or contradictions of the mainstream approaches has been the largest: this is Japan, the second largest economy in the world. First, Japan’s meteoric postwar rise, which was based on nonmarket policies, cartels, and “guidance” of industries and credit, could not be explained. Then, in the 1980s, Japan experienced a surge in asset prices and capital outflows that economists had not expected (and could not explain). Just when observers were predicting that Japan was about to take over the world, in the early 1990s, asset prices fell sharply and economic growth decelerated for over a decade (soon we will have clocked up two decades). These almost twenty years of recession, deflation, and economic depression have occurred despite all the textbook recommendations having been implemented. During the 1990s, record fiscal spending delivered record government debts, but there was no recovery. Lowering interest rates to zero failed to accelerate growth. Structural changes increased deflation and bankruptcies, but did not boost demand...

[Po_d Mainiac]

34. Actual Mortgage Applications

DOWN 18.6% (-18.6%) Can you say Holy Shit?

[Tansy_Gold]

37. How many of the ones that ARE being applied for are refis? n/t

[Demeter]

6. Is the Ireland Bailout About to Become Bear Redux?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/is-the-ireland-bailout-about-to-become-bear-redux.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Not being an expert in either the Lisbon Treaty or the rules governing the ECB, I’m restricted in my ability to interpret an article in the Financial Times and the underlying position paper at the ECB on the legality of the Irish bailout. The Irish finance minister asked for a reading on the “draft law”, which is the Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010. There is a certain amount of grumpy harrumphing in the ECB response, namely, that it should have been consulted earlier and its preliminary reading has been made in more haste than it would like...



The ECB’s concern is to ensure it holds enough collateral of sufficient quality to minimise its exposure were some of the funds it provides not paid back. The paper is the latest manifestation of the ECB’s worries about the risks it is carrying as it battles the eurozone’s mounting debt crisis.

This too should hardly be a surprise. The root of this wee problem is that central banks have taken to pretending that when banks keel over, all that is happening is a wee liquidity crunch and a bit of attendant market panic. Supply a lot dough and this will pass.

But as we have said from the get go, the rolling financial train wreck is at its root a solvency crisis. That means that the assets are worth less than the liabilities. So if you are going to preserve bondholders from taking losses (which had become the bizarre purpose of all these rescue operations, when bondholders are risk capital), and you get liquidity to do so from your friendly chump central bank, if you keep the game going long enough, you will quickly run out of good assets accurately priced for that central bank to lend against. The central bank will have to lend against overvalued assets. It’s inherent to this model...

[Demeter]

19. Irish bail-out’s unintended consequences

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9efd1f66-0b78-11e0-a313-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz18Zb0FzGt


“Where under the Principate the strategy had been to tax the future to pay for the present, the Dominate paid for the present by undermining the future’s ability to pay taxes. The Empire emerged from the third century crisis, but at a cost that weakened its ability to meet future crises.”

Joseph Tainter, The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology), Cambridge, 1988.

It is usually the case that changes in policy lead to some unintended consequences. What is unusual about the measures taken to deal with the Irish banking crisis is they seem to have only unintended consequences.



...As one Irish establishment friend of mine says: “There is zero support for what the government has done and are doing. Every time they had a chip they threw it away. If a mad dog government came in and reversed their policies, it would have substantial popular support.”...

HMM...THAT RINGS A BELL HERE AT HOME....

[ozymandius]

8. Oil rises above $90 amid US crude supply drop

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $90 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies dropped more than expected for a second week, which suggests demand is improving.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories fell 5.8 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had forecast a drop of 2.4 million barrels. Inventories of gasoline decreased 2.9 million barrels and distillates rose slightly, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports its weekly supply data later Wednesday. The EIA said last week that supplies dropped 9.9 million barrels the previous week, the biggest drop in eight years.

more

I can think of a few reasons why API numbers would look this way. (1) Sales increase from the holiday travel season, (2) Less oil is coming through the Cushing hub, (3) API numbers are often inaccurate.

[DemReadingDU]

24. Gas hit $3.05 yesterday

Local newspaper article said to expect gas to reach $3.75 by spring, and $4 in summer.
:(

[Demeter]

31. We've Been Higher for Weeks

Some stations don't even bother to follow the dips anymore.

[happyslug]

56. Two, big factors for different pricing, State Gasoline taxes and Shipping costs

The big difference is the State Gasoline tax rate (Please note the Federal charges 18.4 cents per gallon over and above the number below):

Ohio is 26 cents a Gallon.

Michigan is only 19 cents a gallon.

Pennsylvania is 31.1 cents per gallon (We have had $3.09 a gallon since the beginning of December 2010).

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp

On the other hand Shipping costs are also a HUGE factor for most fuel in the Central United States comes up the Mississippi River by Barge. The further away from New Orleans, the higher the cost to transport the fuel.

Michigan may get some fuel via the St Lawrence in the summer, but most is shipped in from the Ohio River by truck.

Now some of the fuel goes north via pipeline, which is as cheap as Barges but only if 100% used, thus all are maxed out at present and any "excess" is shipped by Barge. Looking at the map below you will see many gasoline pipelines start on the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers and goes into the Mid-West including Ohio and Michigan. Thus the gasoline is shipped by barge up both rivers and then by pipeline.

Here is a pipeline map:


The vast shipment of gasoline, is overwhelmingly from the Gulf coast to other areas of the Country:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/PET_MOVE_NETR_A_EPM0F_TNS_MBBL_M.htm

All of these transportation method uses fuel, thus the further from the source of oil (New Orleans) the higher the costs of the fuel. This is minor compared to the differences in state gasoline tax rates but significant.

Navigable Water ways by the Army Corp of Engineers is on the Wikipedia web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers

It is just to large to put on this site, but when viewed clearly shows the Navigable waters of the US. all of which can carry barges full of Gasoline. On the map the orange lines are navigable waterways deeper then 14 feet, the Green Lines are navigable waterways less then 14 feet. These two colors are the most useful on the map for it show where barges can go,

The red lines are division of Corp (Not useful except to know who to complain to), Red dash lines are further divisions within a Division of the Corp (Again NOT useful except who to complain to).

Side note: the above pipeline map shows a dense set of gasoline pipelines throughout the midwest (Including Ohio and Michigan). The South has two pipelines in comparison. On the other hand the South has much more navigable waters to ship gasoline on then does the Mid West (But that in compensated by the Great Lakes, which also permits extensive barge shipments, but very little fuel goes via the Great Lakes, even Alberta ships is Crude south via Pipeline via the plains states and the Missouri River NOT the Great Lakes).

As a whole the Mid West has more fuel delivery options then the South, but at higher price point and this adds to the base price of gasoline in the Mid-West, but also prohibits a local price spike like the South Suffered from in the Fall and Winter of 2008 as the rest of the Nation show substantial drop in Gasoline prices (The pipeline was down and the only way to get gasoline in was by truck).

Careful review of the Corp's map and the pipeline map above you quickly see why the Mid-West has the vast Majority of Pipelines and the south very few, the South has a lot more Navigable Waters to transport gasoline by barge, through combined the Mid-West still has a much thicker and denser distribution system in place for Gasoline and other oil Products.

[Po_d Mainiac]

35. One Trader Owns 50-80% of London Copper

CNBS reports this a mere 3 weeks after the world became fully aware that JPM, and it's proxy's, are holding most of the Cu in London warehouses

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40778022

how these a-holes have any credibility left Re reporting on the financial sector, is mind numbing

[Po_d Mainiac]

40. How to wipe out the stimulus in a heartbeat

A penny increase in the price of gasoline decreases disposable income in the US by about $600 million per year....fergedabout what it does to State and Local and Beer budgets

[ozymandius]

42. I have been looking for that stat.

Where did you find it? Thanks.

[Roland99]

49. From nearly 3 years ago on CNN

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/11/news/economy/gas_prices_inflation/index.htm

For each penny increase in the cost of gas, U.S. consumers pay an extra billion dollars a year, said Dean Baker, assistant director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. So to go to $3.22 a gallon from $1.74 a gallon in March 2004 is costing an extra $148 billion dollars this year alone.

No wonder Exxon et al are pulling in tens of billions in profits each year.

EDIT: Oh...here's a link to zerohedge from a week ago:
http://maxkeiser.com/2010/12/15/zerohedge-every-1-per-barrel-rise-in-oil-decreases-u-s-gdp-by-100-billion-per-year-and-every-1-cent-increase-in-gasoline-decreases-u-s-consumer-disposable-income-by-about-600-million-per-year/

[ozymandius]

54. Thanks!

I am working on a post about this right now.

[Po_d Mainiac]

67. Max Keiser, my favorite silver cheerleader! n/t

geez ey whish ey kood spel

[Po_d Mainiac]

53. Had the number saved in me personal 'soft' drive

Kinda easy to remember...used it on my palm cards back in 06 :evilgrin:

The number is actually lite since it only reflects DTD outa pocket at the pump to non-commercial consumers, and not the increase to total cost of goods and services.

[ozymandius]

57. Tip of the iceberg really.

The out-of-pocket cost is for gasoline at the pump only. Now that you mention how the price of transportation of goods cascades through everything that needs to be transported then the overall cost to the economy is immense.

[ozymandius]

55. Just posted.

Click on the headline link to read the version with embedded links.

I have been chasing down gas price stats.

I believe to have an answer to my question: "How much is the actualized cost of a penny increase in the price of gasoline?" This question came to mind when considering the factors that could snuff out any hint of economic recovery. And increase in the price of gasoline acts like a tax on the consumer. Of course, producers feel the effects of this increase as well. But for the sake of this stream of thought, the consumer is most important since PPI and CPI comparisons have become somewhat unhinged. Producers cannot pass along production price increases easily because consumer demand has remained less than robust.

But I digress.

Consumers in a consumption driven society count the most in terms of aggregate demand for products and services. The ability to consume is directly impacted by the cost of transportation. So how much is something as little as a penny increase in gasoline diverting resources away the consumption of other things?

I have found mentions of this stat from the past three years. Let's start with MSN in 2007:

The cost of even a penny increase in gasoline is huge to the American consumer, Cameron Hanover analyst Peter Beutel wrote in a note to clients in early May. "Every penny increase in the price of gasoline costs American businesses and consumers $4 million" per day, he wrote.

The numbers are staggering, Beutel said in an interview. For the first 4½ months of 2007, higher gasoline prices cost the U.S. economy $1 billion more than the same period of 2006 -- and a whopping $40 billion more than the first four months of 2002, Beutel said.

The annualized figure comes to $1.46 Billion absorbed by fuel costs. That is pretty much in the ballpark with the estimate quoted in this L.A. Times article from 2009:

"Every penny rise at the gasoline pump is equal to $1.5 billion a year from the pockets of American consumers," said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. "Another oil bubble is definitely going to hurt the economy."

On the low end is a CNN/Money article from 2008 that estimates:

For each penny increase in the cost of gas, U.S. consumers pay an extra billion dollars a year, said Dean Baker, assistant director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. So to go to $3.22 a gallon from $1.74 a gallon in March 2004 is costing an extra $148 billion dollars this year alone.

The range of estimates compounds concern over consumer spending as the catalyst to economic recovery and reasonable growth amidst the environment of stagnant wages. We need to confront this cost issue head-on.

We know banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley game the energy markets. They need not even take possession of a single teaspoon of crude - a mere certificate of ownership suffices to establish a claim of a commodity as it passes through the pipe. When the banks are called out on this, they pretend this claim is without merit despite pendulous evidence to the contrary (see Semgroup story).

On the accountancy side: Real, solid growth will remain elusive until we address the underlying issues of the actual cost of living, rather than relying on fairy tale "core" statistics. Statistical averaging, like seasonal adjustment, are wallpaper and amount to creative delusion as a pretense that parties interested in gaming markets do not actually exist. In the real world, poor and working class people cannot keep up with forever rising costs while wages stagnate. Middle class people tread water. This is not the stuff from which sustainable recoveries are made.

[Roland99]

47. First it's the dollar tanking causing prices to rise. Now the dollar has recovered well (for now) so

they need something else to keep the price spiked up.

[Demeter]

10. "23 Things they don't tell you about capitalism"

Podcast interview with author Ha-Joon Chang, a Korean economist based at Cambridge University, England. He is a development and institutional expert and has written two popular economics books: Bad Samaritans and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism...

http://www.opendemocracy.net/openeconomy/tony-curzon-price-ha-joon-chang/ha-joon-chang-in-conversation-with-tony-curzon-price-on-?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=201210&utm_campaign=Nightly_%272010-12-19%2005:30:00%27

[ozymandius]

12. Fears grow of euro-style debt crisis in US states

This situation has been brewing since we scuttled Glass-Steagall. The banksters were given free reign to craft exotic instruments that were sold to municipalities as funding mechanisms. Only the poor saps at City Hall did not see that the means of funding bristled with triggers that would explode their debt.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – No sooner has the last crisis ended, than warnings about the next one begin. In the dying days of the year, with the sub-prime mortgage debacle entering the rear-view mirror, economy-watchers are warning 2011 could see US states and municipalities plunge into a debt crisis of that type that has wrought chaos in Europe.

Although the US economy is slowly getting to its feet after a brutal recession, state and local budgets are still prostrate.

The most likely trigger for a crisis would be a major credit rating downgrade that prompts worried lenders to charge states and municipalities more for loans, putting the authorities further in debt.

more

I will look for the Meredith Whitney article.

[ozymandius]

28. 16 US Cities Facing Bankruptcy If They Don't Make Deep Cuts In 2011

Meredith Whitney has forecast nearly 100 cities will be in desperate financial straits. The article below features the most prominent major metro areas that are falling like dominoes under the strain of creative borrowing.

2011 will be the year of the municipal default. At least that's what analysts like Meredith Whitney predict, as do bond investors that have been fleeing the muni market.

There are many reasons to be worried. First, the expiration of Build America Bonds will make it harder for cities to raise funds.

Second, city revenues are crashing and keep getting worse. Property taxes haven't reflected the total damage from the housing crash. High joblessness is cutting into city revenues, while increasing costs for services.

more

And to think that one item left undone during this session of Congress that could mitigate the cascading financial disaster is the Build America Bonds program. This program was sacrificed during the tax extension sausage making in the House last week. In street parlance, this is called, "cutting off your nose to spite your face."

[xchrom]

29. +1 this is a story that has captured my interest. nt

[bread_and_roses]

33. It's part of the union-busting strategy - in addition to whatever else the motivation

With revenues crashing and the Feds bailing on them and the citizenry up in arms over taxes Cities and Counties - and States - are looking to crush the public unions and get rid of things like prevailing wage for construction. The hurting public is told over and over again that it's those greedy public sector workers health care and pensions and salaries that are bankrupting the municipalities. And workers who have not seen a real wage increase in - oh, what is it? thirty years or so? - and who's health care costs are through the roof and who's property taxes keep going up and who's cities or Counties are instating or re-instating income and sales taxes and and and - the whole sorry tale of the transfer of burden to the working class while the rich get richer - anyway (rant off) - they are receptive to the message and all too ready to blame union workers.

Better reserve your cot at the company barracks now.

[ozymandius]

38. "The rats are jumping ship" by gjohnsit

From DailyKos:

There is also the obvious problem of trying to get the economy "competitive" with the rest of the world by vicious job and wage cuts while the entire rest of the world is also engaging in similar austerity measures.

There are terms for this global race to the bottom. They're called Beggar thy neighbor and Global labor arbitrage. It didn't work when it was tried during the Great Depression and there is no reason to believe it will work now.

"economics is politics masquerading as science"
- Hazel Henderson

So why are political and financial leaders around the world preparing to engage in an economic agenda that is certain to lead to disaster?

The thing you need to understand is that it won't lead to disaster for everyone.

From economist Michael Hudson:

Alan Greenspan explained this very clearly a decade ago. He said there’s something wonderful about debt: it’s cured the labor problem. The workers are now one paycheck away from homelessness. If they go on strike or if they’re fired because they complain about working conditions, all of a sudden their interest rate goes up on their credit card, all of a sudden they miss their mortgage payment, they’re losing their home. Alan Greenspan said debt is what has created stability of wages in this country, meaning steadily falling wages...

That's why we have not had any meaningful real wage reform in the past thirty years.

[Demeter]

45. I don't suppose You'd Post This Separately

The greater world needs to read it...

[ozymandius]

58. You mean in GD?

Jonestown, no less?

[Demeter]

60. There must be somewhere besides here for "sane" people

mustn't there?

[ozymandius]

62. I suppose. Haven't figured out where "there" is yet.

I'll give it a try anyway. Let me know if you have another suggestion.

[ozymandius]

63. Done

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x56587

[Demeter]

65. Left you a little something--a gift for the holidays

[Pale Blue Dot]

36. Have you found a list of the 100 cities?

I can't find it anywhere.

[ozymandius]

39. I have not.

It makes me wonder if Whitney is keeping that information proprietary.

[Po_d Mainiac]

41. Hint: Meredith Whitney n/t

[jtuck004]

75. Whitney's 600-page report on the state of the states

Whitney's 600-page report on the state of the states is available only to clients of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group. But if you care to see the market-moving analyst, who is No. 38 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, on 60 Minutes, here's the segment, "State Budgets: Day of Reckoning" that is sure to add a tad more stress to your holiday season.

http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/21/meredith-whitney-on-her-60-minute-warnings/

Googling gets a fair number, and you catch states as well.

[Demeter]

14. Good Morning World, Ozy and PBD

Last night we had the best condo board meeting ever. We got up to date on all current issues, put a number of old issues to bed, and even had fun-lots of laughter, jokes, etc. We even had good food--no more Applebees! Our president has decreed that the meeting ends at 9 PM from now on, and it did. The issues that did not get resolved were referred to the appropriate committee so that any kinks could get worked out and the board wouldn't have to do it while in session.

This is in marked contrast to the first meeting I ever attended, where feelings were hurt, people were quitting right and left, information was usually wrong when it existed at all, we were in deep doo-doo operationally and financially, and the wrangling continued until midnight and beyond. And Applebees...enough said.

We will have the annual meeting next month, including elections. We have all positions covered by nominees, which is a distinct improvement, even though there are not enough nominees for contestation. I'm not sure contested elections are a prerequisite in this situation anyway, for that would imply that there are two governing plans in contention, or that personality was getting in the way...

We know where our money is, and why. We are complying with internal and external reporting requirements.

We have a 50 year maintenance plan nearly complete, and already make decisions based on this kind of long-range planning. We are acting nearly professionally. Board members have respect for each other and for the staff. We truly work together, and share the load according to abilities and resources, and people can pick up when others get a trip, illness, crisis, whatever...

We are formulating and writing down policies and procedures, based on our needs and our adverse experiences, so that the wheel isn't constantly reinvented and all members receive equal and equitable treatment. Writing this stuff down also permits new board members to come up to speed a lot faster...I spent the first two years of my board service just trying to figure things out and nail down a few facts and procedures....

This has been a long time coming. I'm in either the 7th or 8th year. While I can't take complete credit for all the improvement, I will proudly state that I started the ball rolling, and in the process many an "adversary" fled the field. (Some truly unethical, if not criminal behaviors have been eliminated, along with those behind those behaviors). I am looking forward to the day when it's safe for me to "retire" and know that trained successors with the community's best interests at heart will take over. The board otherwise has people in their second to fourth year, and most of them I have either recruited, converted, and sometimes shamelessly browbeat into serving and continuing to serve....

Governing is hard work, and the pace and momentum must be sustained. This is a fact our Democratic Party hasn't faced up to since LBJ left the Speakership.

Harry "Weak Reed" and Nancy "off the table" are too busy with other things, and leave the heavy lifting to thugs like Rahm and Hoyer. I won't even dip a toe into what the White House does or doesn't do.

Our best last hope for the organization, Howard Dean, was politically assassinated by the MSM, and then stomped on by the White House. While I'd like to see him regain the position, he may be feeling "too old" or too compromised to do it. So where will the new blood, the new leadership, come from? That is the pressing issue of the day.

[DemReadingDU]

25. Good job on the condo!

:applause:

[ozymandius]

26. Sounds like the condo board has put itself in shape.

I remember the "bad ol' days" when you would relate the savagery and bone-headed incompetence of those meetings.

I keep thinking about Dean. He certainly has been maligned by the Chicago junta. Rahm Emmanuel really put serious effort into it. But these political cats seem to have nine lives. I will not make a prediction, but the midterm election results that evidence how doing things -NOT- Howard Dean's way amplifies his absence.

[Hugin]

48. A couple of things are required for a real change.

Like you and Demeter... I have been contemplating and cogitating on the Future.

I think we're all in agreement that the current course is ultimately unsustainable and one day will end... But, presently there is still time to guide the end to something less than badly.

It will require Change... and this Change WILL BE and it WILL BE MORE than lip-service and political rhetoric.

Change requires youth and the involvement of the youth. Something Dean had along with the Youth of a new social medium in the Internet. But, now the Internet is typical and ordinary with most of the momentum off-shored to other lands and other agendas. (Note: The Corporate Media won this one... For now.)

Change also requires a Movement and a Movement is not a person. It's nice to have someone to point to as the leader, but, if the Movement is centered on the leader and that leader becomes corrupted or is no longer in the picture the Movement ends. I really think the astro-turf "Tea Bag" movement is and was an attempt to inoculate the populace against a natural movement occurring. TPTB wanted a movement they were in control of instead. A movement that TPTB are currently actively putting-to-bed, I will point out. (Note: 2008 scared the pants off of TPTB.)

Both of these things Change and Movement are neutral... Meaning that they can go either way, Good or Bad.

I will leave the rest of this thought to be read later in my up-coming Novel... "The Way We Whirl". (Available on the Kindle.)

[Pale Blue Dot]

16. On the Gutting of Financial Services Reform

Bloomberg has a well done but disheartening account of the watering-down-to-meaninglessness of financial services industry reform, with the case example being Basel III. Basel III is the latest iteration of capital standards for banks, which is hoped to be implemented more or less true to form by various national bank regulators. Richard Smith has been ably covering the substance of this beat (see here and here for earlier posts) and the details are indeed more that a bit convoluted.

However, Basel III has been touted in the US as the fix for the shortcomings in bank reforms such as Dodd Frank. As Treasury argues, if banks have more than enough capital, you have a lot of room for error on other fronts. But Basel III preserves too many bad ideas of its predecessor, Basel II, such as risk-weightings for various types of assets that lend themselves to gaming; along with risk weighting, a preservation of the problematic role of unreformed rating agencies; allowing big banks to use their own idiosyncratic and often widely varying risk metrics; an obsession with the asset side of the balance sheet, and not enough to the way that liabilities can also blow out when asset prices are under stress. Basel III thus preserves the architecture of Basel II. Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England described how regulation could best contend with a world of uncertainty, meaning risks that cannot be measured.

...

Now a set of rules this elaborate and complex is also a ripe target for lobbying, particularly when it is a new iteration of a largely familiar system. The incumbents know well what the various choke points and how they might obtain relief from them. They may also have a keener appreciation than their minders of how the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts, how a combination of seemingly minor tweaks can give them a tremendous amount of latitude.

But that view presupposes that regulators had their hearts in coming down hard on the banks. It’s remarkable how, despite continuing high unemployment and yawning government deficits in virtually all major economies, that the meltdown of 2008 is regarded as an artifact of the distant past, apparently of sufficiently little consequence as to merit tough action now. The Bloomberg piece describes, admittedly at a high level, how Basel III was watered down. It’s told from the vantage of the battles Shiela Bair lost; query what other skirmishes were therefore overlooked.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/on-the-gutting-of-financial-services-reform.html

[Pale Blue Dot]

18. Here's the Bloomberg piece: Banks Best Basel as Regulators Dilute or Delay Capital Rules

More than 500 representatives from 27 nations, including top regulators and central bankers, met dozens of times this year to hammer out 440 pages of new rules to govern the world’s banks.

What’s not in the documents published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and the escape hatches that are, may have more impact on how financial institutions will operate following a global credit crisis that led to $1.8 trillion in bank losses and writedowns.

The committee’s most significant achievement, members say, an agreement to increase the amount of capital banks need to hold, won’t go into full effect for eight years. Other measures that regulators had hoped would prevent future crises -- liquidity standards, a capital surcharge on the biggest lenders and a global resolution mechanism for failing firms -- were postponed, allowing banks to escape the toughest rules that would force them to change the way they do business.

“There will be changes, but not fundamental changes to the banking model,” said Sheila Bair , who as chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sits on the Basel committee’s top decision-making body. “Hopefully there’ll be some pressure for banks to get smaller and simpler.”

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2065101&sid=apOiFuxg7pIA

[Pale Blue Dot]

22. Basel liquidity rules, going neo-medieval

Can we talk a bit more about the scandal of Basel III allowing banks to give government bonds a zero risk weighting on their books? This time regarding Basel’s liquidity rules.

Actually, can we talk about the related global shortage of AAA-rated assets and what that means for sovereign debt as well?

Buried in recent regulations on Basel’s liquidity coverage ratio, we’ve found a few interesting new provisions on what are called Level 1 and Level 2 liquid assets. Banks have to hold enough of these to be able to withstand 30 days of net cash outflows under a stress scenario (think Lehman-level stress, bank runs, general end-times, etc).

The provisions basically present a ‘post-sovereign’ view of acceptable assets, if you will, worthy of contrasting with those zero risk weights.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/12/20/439811/basel-liquidity-rules-going-neo-medieval/

[Demeter]

17. Man Arrested For Threatening To Blow Up Bank (Connecticut)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40727742/ns/local_news-hartford_ct/

But if one is "blowing it up" from the inside, there are no arrests or even fines...

[Pale Blue Dot]

20. Losing Hope About a Recovery

When will the economy begin to recover? The National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee says the recovery began in June 2009, but unemployed Americans beg to differ:



That pie chart is from a new report from Rutgers’s Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, which has periodically resurveyed the same group of American workers who were unemployed at some point in the year after the financial crisis hit (and many of whom are still unemployed). In November 2010, the center asked these workers when the economy would “begin to recover.”

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/losing-hope-about-a-recovery/?hp

[Demeter]

21. After the TBTF Banks and Banksters Are Taken Out

and not one minute before...

[Pale Blue Dot]

23. Embedded financial journalism at its worst

Today’s biggest financial news story was that the New York attorney-general is suing the accountancy firm Ernst & Young for fraud following its alleged role in the cooking the Lehman Brothers books in the years prior to the investment bank’s September 2008 collapse.

I’d like to focus here on the way in which the Financial Times covered this momentous story. A Lex column on the fraud suit against E&Y, opened by saying:-

Accountants, just about the only people not yet blamed for the banking crisis, are about to feel the heat.

My initial reactions on reading this sentence was to this was to say “Hello…?!” and “What planet are these guys living on?”

It made me wonder whether whoever writes the Lex column gets out much, or even reads much.

http://www.ianfraser.org/embedded-financial-journalism-at-its-worst/

[Pale Blue Dot]

27. On Obama's Failure To Carry Out His Elected Mandate To Reform

Actually it's a speech given by Robert Kennedy in Cape Town, South Africa in 1966, but the sentiment applies today...

"First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New /world, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world."

These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance...

The second danger is that of expediency; of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done.

But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people across the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspiration and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs -- that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities -- no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems.

It is not realistic to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgement, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief; forces ultimately more powerful than all the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.

It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest; only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

A third danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change. Aristotle tells us "At the Olympic games it is not the finest or the strongest men who are crowned, but those who enter the lists. . .so too in the life of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who win the prize." I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

For the fortunate amongst us, the fourth danger is comfort; the temptation to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says 'May he live in interesting times.' Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged -- will ultimately judge himself -- on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."

[Demeter]

32. Yes, Well That's Why They Shot Him

and the world has yet to recover from it...the assassinations that followed were just to hammer the lesson home, and to finish off the hope of a generation.

[Hugin]

50. See my post #48 above. n/t

[TalkingDog]

51. Dang... I'm XPosting to GD

Hope you don't mind.

[ozymandius]

30. States Scramble to Repay Feds for Unemployment Insurance Loans—Plus Interest

Steadily, the question for the 2012 presidential election is being written: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

Pro Publica:

Thanks to the stimulus bill, the 31 states that have borrowed more than $41 billion from the feds to pay unemployment insurance to jobless workers have not had to pay interest on those loans so far, as we’ve reported. That will change, however, when the provision that waived interest payments expires in the new year.

States with outstanding loans will have to begin paying interest on their loans in 2011 or else give back federal grant money used to administer state unemployment insurance programs...

some states have had to borrow from the federal government because they've chronically underfunded their own insurance trust funds. States with little left in their own unemployment insurance trust fund reserves have a few options at their disposal to pay back these loans with the additional interest.

more

This connects to everything posted here today: Build America Bonds expiration, cities and states facing cataclysmic funding crises and possible bankruptcy, shrinking revenues from traditional local sources as an aftereffect of bursting bubble economies. All of these circumstances are lining up to make 2012 a year that any incumbent will loathe to see. Who else can we blame for allowing our localities to be skeletonized?

[xchrom]

46. +1 -- and oh yeah -- oy. nt

[TalkingDog]

43. Cartoon:

It's the Poster Boy for the Adopt a Billionaire Charity Drive!

http://www.aabcd.net

[TalkingDog]

44. How Big Is The Chinese Property Bubble?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/238912-how-big-is-the-chinese-property-bubble

Seeking Alpha

But as James Chanos and others have pointed out, centrally planned economies lead to malinvestment and nowhere is that malinvestment more manifest than in China’s Property market. Consider John Mauldin’s November 24th, Outside the box interview with Vitaliy Katsenelson. Katsenelson compares Japan’s property bubble of the late 1980′s to modern day China and the results aren’t pretty, from the article:

snip

A recent study found that 64.5 million apartments basically don’t use electricity because they are empty. Chinese people buy those condos, and they don’t rent them. Similar to new cars in the U.S. when taken off the lot, in China an apartment is worth less once rented out. So they just keep them unoccupied with the hope to flip them, and you know how that story ends.

[ozymandius]

61. Why Hasn't Obama Fixed The Economy Yet?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

64. Mitch McConnell is on the way! No worries!

:woohoo:


/s

[Demeter]

66. The Onion? Some Joke

BTW, the economy is "fixed" all right. Fixed beyond all possible repair. We don't need Howard Dean, we need James Bond.



We've never done that as a WEEE topic....for Xmas? Hmmm....Think I could get tombstoned for that?

[Festivito]

68. Debt: 12/20/2010 13,868,461,288,845.81 (DOWN 14,938,781,314.06) (Mon)

Debt: 12/20/2010 13,868,461,288,845.81 (DOWN 14,938,781,314.06) (Mon)
(Up little. Good day.)
Mmmm, Blueberry Hill. A great place for updating DU.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,323,679,506,642.29 + 4,544,781,782,203.52
DOWN 83,147,973.47 + DOWN 14,855,633,340.59

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,215.83 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,961,792 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $44,598.6.
A family of three owes $133,795.81. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 3,750,575,919.83.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,625,403,143.88.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,540,712,719.89.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 55 reports in 81 days of FY2011 averaging 5.58B$ per report, 3.79B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 762 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.8T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
12/20/2010 13,868,461,288,845.81 BHO (UP 3,241,584,239,932.73 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,306,838,257,954.10 ------------* * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,382,666,224,114.16 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
11/30/2010 +065,487,463,946.10 ------------**********
12/01/2010 -005,680,380,232.98 --
12/02/2010 +000,827,003,518.64 ------------********
12/03/2010 -000,051,568,825.48 ----
12/06/2010 +000,077,038,802.53 ------------******* Mon
12/07/2010 +000,178,077,201.68 ------------********
12/08/2010 +018,541,141,818.10 ------------**********
12/09/2010 +000,426,018,289.04 ------------********
12/10/2010 +000,085,971,333.21 ------------*******
12/13/2010 -000,140,409,571.73 --- Mon
12/14/2010 +000,270,507,131.41 ------------********
12/15/2010 +035,075,952,728.32 ------------**********
12/16/2010 -002,942,603,716.29 --
12/17/2010 +002,071,215,295.43 ------------*********
12/20/2010 -000,083,147,973.47 ---- Mon

114,142,279,744.51 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4668091&mesg_id=4668105

[TalkingDog]

69. Citigroup banker, 27, leaps to her death from 40-storey Trump apartment building

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340176/Citigroup-banker-27-leaps-death-40-storey-Trump-building.html

Fashano had worked as an analyst with Citigroup since graduating from Georgetown University in 2005 and was so well thought of - thanks in large part to her charity work - that she featured in the company's recruitment video.

She led fundraisers for the Acumen Fund, which makes small-business loans to people in developing countries, and recently helped coordinate an event for Harboring Hearts Housing, a charity that provides affordable accommodation for heart patients




Sad. We need the nice ones like her to stick around....

[hamerfan]

71. A shame,

Having a conscience while working as a financial analyst would mess anyone up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3thnt1xi7Os

[econocrat]

70. First post

Hi. I've been lurking for years (I'm a cautious sort). Of all the DU threads, you guys are what keeps me coming back. Through all the upturns and kick downs, I've been a silent partner watching (slow to commit, you might say). Through it all, you've piqued my curiosity, sounded the sirens and voiced the reasons which no one else would speak. Your voices have kept me sane and illuminated my thinking. You dared speak the truth as you see it.

This first post is a shout out to the DU folks who matter most to me. Thank You!:

Thank You Ozy!!! Thank You Ghost Dog. Thank You DemReading. Thank You Demeter. Thank You Dr. Phool (already sorely missed -- come back in some form or another!!!). Thank You Tansy. Thank You Roland. Thank You AnneD. Thank You TCLambert. Thank You TalkingDog. Thank You Rummyisfrosted. Thank YOu Po'D. Thank You Hugin. Thank you to those I missed and the cast of others ... To those who lurk - you know who you are ...

And a special shout out to Pale Blue Dot for carrying the load forward (it won't be easy following in the footsteps of of a giant, but at least you'll get help with the cartoons). Thank You Pale Blue Dot!!!

You are my bedrock community (like it or not). Here's to another year in the trenches. Keep up the good fight.

[Tansy_Gold]

72. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

What a gracious first post!

And may we continue to deserve your compliments (which I'm sure we will do because you'll be here to hold our feet to the fire. . .. )


:hi:



TG, TT

[Hugin]

73. Welcome!

It's always great to hear a new voice. :)

[DemReadingDU]

74. Welcome!

:hi: