"I Got Plenty o' Nothin' Weekend Economists December 10-12, 2010

[Demeter]

I don't know how many of you know or care, but I have studied voice and performed some lyric or coloratura pieces from Mozart, among other things, sometimes even for pay, in purely local events.

This serves to further isolate me culturally from the Boomers and everyone else. I would have preferred to do Broadway show tunes, but that wasn't the kind of voice given me. Opera, by default, has been my field of effort.

So today, in a gesture redolent of irony, I'm going to tie the week to "Porgy and Bess", Gershwin's gift to opera, opera singers who happen to be naturally black, Americans, and anyone who likes a good sad story.

There's no happily ever after in "Porgy and Bess". Scene after scene brings tragedy, loss or death, or all three. That's rather like this week in the global economy....hence the appropriateness of today's theme.

Porgy and Bess, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and the play of the same name which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward. All three works deal with African American life in the fictitious Catfish Row (based on the real-life Cabbage Row) in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1920s.

Originally conceived by George Gershwin as an "American folk opera", Porgy and Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring and visionary artistic choice at the time. Gershwin chose African American Eva Jessye as the choral director for the opera. Incorporating a wealth of blues and jazz idioms into the classical art form of opera, Gershwin considered it his finest work.

The work was not widely accepted in the United States as a legitimate opera until 1976, when the Houston Grand Opera production of Gershwin's complete score established it as an artistic triumph. Nine years later the Metropolitan Opera gave their first performance of the work. This production was also broadcast as part of the ongoing Saturday afternoon live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. The work is now considered part of the standard operatic repertoire and is regularly performed internationally. Despite this success, the opera has been controversial; some critics from the outset have considered it a racist portrayal of African Americans.

"Summertime" is by far the best-known piece from the work, and countless interpretations of this and other individual numbers have also been recorded and performed. The second best-known number is "It Ain't Necessarily So". The opera is admired for Gershwin's innovative synthesis of European orchestral techniques with American jazz and folk music idioms.

Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina. It deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, the drug dealer. Where the earlier novel and stage-play differ, the opera generally follows the stage-play.

The Porgy and Bess original cast recording was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress, National Recording Registry in 2003. The board selects songs on an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

On July 14, 1993, the United States Postal Service recognized the opera's cultural significance by issuing a commemorative 29-cent postage stamp, and in 2001 Porgy and Bess was proclaimed the official opera of the state of South Carolina.----http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porgy_and_Bess


And besides, it's impossible to feel the cold when you hear this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JpPkp1f0So

[Demeter]

1. NO BANKS FAILED YET--5:28 pm

Think Sheila has any coal left for the bankers' stockings?

[Demeter]

23. 2 BANKS AT 6 PM

Paramount Bank, Farmington Hills, Michigan, was closed today by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Level One Bank, Farmington Hills, Michigan, to assume all of the deposits of Paramount Bank.

The four branches of Paramount Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of Level One Bank...As of September 30, 2010, Paramount Bank had approximately $252.7 million in total assets and $213.6 million in total deposits. Level One Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of Paramount Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Level One Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Level One Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $233.1 million of Paramount Bank's assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $90.2 million. Compared to other alternatives, Level One Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Paramount Bank is the 150th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the fifth in Michigan. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Mainstreet Savings Bank, FSB, Hastings, on July 16, 2010.


Earthstar Bank, Southampton, Pennsylvania, was closed today by the Secretary of Banking of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Polonia Bank, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, to assume all of the deposits of Earthstar Bank, except for certain out-of-state certificates of deposit (CD).

The four branches of Earthstar Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Polonia Bank...As of September 30, 2010, Earthstar Bank had approximately $112.6 million in total assets and $104.5 million in total deposits. Polonia Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of Earthstar Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Polonia Bank agreed to purchase approximately $77.1 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain most of the assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and Polonia Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $45.8 million of Earthstar Bank's assets.

On Monday morning, the FDIC will mail checks to those customers with out-of-state CDs, as long as the funds were not used as collateral for a loan.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $22.9 million. Compared to other alternatives, Polonia Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Earthstar Bank is the 151st FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the second in Pennsylvania. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Allegiance Bank of North America, Bala Cynwyd, on November 19, 2010.

[Demeter]

45. That's all, Folks $115.1Million

[Demeter]

2. Paul Krugman: Extending Bush Tax Cuts Will Decimate Social Security

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/380219/paul_krugman%3A_extending_bush_tax_cuts_will_decimate_social_security/#paragraph8

I quote:

the only way to cut spending enough to pay for the Bush tax cuts in the long run would be to dismantle large parts of Social Security and Medicare.

That got my attention this morning. Krugman's a Nobel Laureate in economics, and I am not. He was right that the stimulus was too small, and that it would be hard to go back for a second bite at that Apple.

In my diary yesterday I expressed a willingness to accept a temporary extension of Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% if necessary to extend unemployment. Reading Krugman this morning convinces me that I was wrong on that point.

Let me offer a few more selections of Krugman's column this morning, Let's Not Make A Deal, both economic and political.

ful blackmailers, holding a clear upper hand. President Obama, they believe, wouldn’t dare preside over a broad tax increase while the economy is depressed. And they therefore believe that he will give in to their demands.

Bear in mind that Republicans want to make those tax cuts permanent. They might agree to a two- or three-year extension — but only because they believe that this would set up the conditions for a permanent extension later. And they may well be right: if tax-cut blackmail works now, why shouldn’t it work again later?

And for how long an extension - one year, two years, three years? Right now the Republicans hold the House. If an extension is for one year, how do we avoid making the extension, middle class and upper class, the major campaign issue in 2012? How does that help Obama or the Democrats hold the White House, the Senate, or have any chance to regain the House?

We cannot afford to make the cuts permanent, as the Republicans are trying to achieve. It is economic suicide:

We’re talking about almost $4 trillion in lost revenue just over the next decade; over the next 75 years, the revenue loss would be more than three times the entire projected Social Security shortfall.

Krugman, immediately before the words with which I began, tells us the cuts necessary would be savage....MORE

Krugman's column can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/opinion/06krugman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

[hay rick]

43. Peddling compromise on the compromise.

Summary of media reporting on the features of Obama's surrender/betrayal/"compromise" and congress' reaction to date:

Extension of tax cuts for the rich: people may be disappointed, but because the Republicans will never relent, they are going to get raped (again) and they should just lay back and enjoy it.

Estate tax: focus outrage and "compromise" here. Make a great show of insisting on raising the top rate and/or reducing minimum estate size. Our "representatives" are properly outraged...

Payroll tax holiday: call it STIMULUS STIMULUS STIMULUS and ignore the fact that it is a direct and obvious attempt to undermine Social Security by turning the minimum funding needed to sustain the program into a TAX HIKE one short year from now.

Unemployment extension: ignore all the times Republicans (or enough of them) have supported unemployment extensions in the past. Also ignore the near certainty that they will hold the next cohort of the unemployed hostage in another 13 months. The only inhumanity worth mentioning is to be ascribed to Democrats who don't pay the ransom now.

[Demeter]

3. Unemployment for college graduates and people over 45 hit highs

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/marksjarvis_on_money/2010/12/unemployment-for-college-graduates-and-people-over-45-hit-highs.html??track=ct-daywatch-12610

Here's a look at how unemployment is hitting people by age and education. No group of people has been spared as the nation's unemployment rate has climbed to 9.8 percent.

The hardest hit: High school drop outs, with a 15.7 percent unemployment rate.

Yet, college graduates -- which tend to be more immune in recessions -- are facing unemployment at the highest levels on record. Unemployment among people with college degrees is 5.1 percent, and business and management positions are being hit.

Among age groups here is the unemployment rate tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in November:

Age 16 to 19......21.5 %

Age 20 to 24......9.3 %

Age 25 to 34.....10.4 %

Age 35 to 44......7.7 %

Age 45 to 54......8.1 %

Age 55 and up....7.3 %

Unemployment among people with college degrees and the groups at age 45 and over are all at cycle highs, according to JP Morgan's economics team.

They note: "The fact the unemployment for college-educated is so high throws some water on the argument that high unemployment is structural due to a skills-deficit among the unemployed."

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview yesterday that unemployment isn't likely to return to the more typical 5 to 6 percent rate for four or five more years. The economy is simply growing too slowly to spark job growth.

[Demeter]

4. The Green Economy Is Here and It Ain't Pretty by: Dean Baker

http://www.truth-out.org/the-green-economy-is-here-and-it-aint-pretty65682

Many of us have long advocated a green economy where jobs were generated in sectors like alternative energy and recycling. It was our hope that this economy could be both environmentally friendly and offer opportunities for high and rising living standards. Well we've now got a green economy and there's plenty of recycling, but it's not exactly what most of us had in mind.

In a remarkable coincidence, last week, we saw President Obama's deficit commission hold its final hearing. Just two days earlier, the Federal Reserve Board released data revealing the specifics of the trillions of dollars of secret loans it made at the peak of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

While the specifics of the Fed loans may not have been especially surprising to most observers, it was still striking to finally know for sure what many of us had long suspected: the Fed had made trillions of dollars of loans, at well below market rates, to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. Without this bailout from the government, these Wall Street behemoths would have gone under. This would have wiped out their stockholders, left their creditors with big losses and sent their high-flying executives to the unemployment lines.

However, as result of the taxpayers' generosity, the Wall Street banks are back on their feet again. The financial sector is again reporting record profits and the top executives at these companies are once more pocketing salary and bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars a year.

The fact that Wall Street's prosperity comes at a time when the rest of the country is experiencing near double-digit unemployment is undoubtedly annoying to many. But the Wall Street titans don't just take their money and walk away. The Wall Street gang recycles their money, supporting the politicians who ensured that they would have the government loans and guarantees necessary to get them through the crisis they had created...

[Demeter]

5. That Piece is just SCREAMING for this Musical Interlude!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLoNi4qHPg&feature=related

Cab Calloway does the scat justice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBOgH5f36cQ&feature=related

and a film version: Sammy Davis, Jr. as Sporting Life, 1959

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkgt263juzM&feature=related

[Demeter]

6. Goldman CDS trading activities under fire

Goldman Sachs’ trading activities in the credit insurance market in 2007 have come under attack from a US senator after e-mails revealed a senior trader urged colleagues to “kill” some investors’ positions.

Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, told a hearing on Wednesday that the alleged activity “looks like a trading abuse to me”, although he added that at the time in question the credit insurance market was unregulated.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/QM42II/0G9K1L/VTVRG/8AUSFJ/6V9NLA/AZ/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

8. Banks are warned on €1,000bn refinancing

Eurozone banks could face problems in refinancing €1,000bn of debt in the next two years partly because of the borrowing needs of governments, the European Central Bank warns

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/UUK5Y3/MJTKN/TPXZL1/PRCM81/ZH/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

[Demeter]

7. Wolfgang Münchau: Bond plan could end the euro crisis

Jean-Claude Juncker’s and Giulio Tremonti’s common European bond is the first constructive idea since the outbreak of the eurozone financial crisis a year ago. It is the first time that eurozone leaders have dared look beyond the current week’s newspaper headlines. I have no doubt that, if implemented in full, the proposal would end the crisis.

Why should this be? This is not a technical, but a political crisis at heart. It is about whether, when faced with a large financial crisis, the eurozone has the political will to do whatever it takes: set up a mechanism of policy co-ordination,
accept fiscal transfers and ultimately move towards a fiscal union. History has told us that monetary unions that refuse to become political unions are destined to fail. The eurozone has reached that point of destiny merely a decade after its launch. It is decision time.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/5F39HH/BMTNU3/K91WR/5CNI5T/OJ0ZZN/36/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

34. Eurozone bond markets face testing run

Fears grow that the regional crisis could blow up again because of thin trading volumes that may send borrowing costs to new highs

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/H60H77/D4BNOO/OFBYP/QF5O88/40EQST/GX/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

35. IMF calls for ‘comprehensive’ euro solution

There must be a more ‘comprehensive, integrated’ plan to shore up the region’s finances and calm investor fears

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/3JFELL/M9ATHJ/Q38E1/M9ALML/YHW7IE/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=8

[Demeter]

9. Banks deny sending money Madoff’s way

US and European groups facing a $1bn lawsuit from the trustee of Bernard Madoff’s bankrupt business rejected claims they funnelled money into his Ponzi scheme

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/UUK5Y3/MJTKN/TPXZL1/9ZR1QY/ZH/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

[Demeter]

25. Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/madoff-trustee-seeks-19-6-billion-from-austrian-banker/

The trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s fraud has sued Sonja Kohn, an Austrian banker, seeking $19.6 billion in damages and accusing her of masterminding a 23-year conspiracy that played a central role in financing the gigantic Ponzi scheme.

Amid an avalanche of lawsuits filed in recent weeks as the trustee nears a Saturday deadline to file claims, the complaint against Ms. Kohn stands out for its stark allegations of criminal behavior and the size of the financial recovery sought.

“In Sonja Kohn, Madoff found a criminal soul mate, whose greed and dishonest inventiveness equaled his own,” the trustee, Irving L. Picard, said.

A lawyer for Ms. Kohn in Vienna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Kohn led what the trustee’s complaint called the Medici Enterprise, a labyrinth of European banks, hedge funds, asset management firms, offshore trusts and shell companies...

[Demeter]

31. Madoff’s UK directors sued for $80m

The directors of Bernard Madoff’s UK operation were sued for $80m for allegedly allowing the New York broker to funnel ‘fraudulent payments’ through London

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/RN4CJD/DXJ2Y/HDOUIK/9ZRFE5/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

38. HSBC had ‘Madoff warnings in 2001’

HSBC continued to act for funds that fed money into Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme in spite of repeated warning from the bank’s own executives and outside auditors

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/26JANU/LSLXF/PRMLYT/A7FDGN/RF/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=7

[Demeter]

74. Official: Madoff son found dead in NYC apartment

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4654288

Death by dog leash: Mark Madoff hangs himself with leash while child sleeps.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9752260


MSM Articles:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11976801

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12madoff.html

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/madoff-son-dead-suicide-suspected-2010-12-11?siteid=YAHOOB

[Demeter]

100. The Ponzi Scheme That Changed My Life (ELITIST ANGST)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12kubin.html

IT was a “Remember where you were when ... ?” moment: on Dec. 11, 2008, I was standing under a palm tree in Santa Monica when my cellphone rang.

It was my brother-in-law, a Wall Street big shot who rarely called me. “Are you sitting down?” he asked. I wasn’t. And I didn’t. But I should have, because his next sentence made my knees wobble. “They arrested Bernie Madoff.”

He needn’t have said another word; I knew right away my whole investment was toast. Two weeks earlier I had doubled my stake, having thought of Mr. Madoff’s fund as a safe haven from a nose-diving stock market. Just that morning I had received my monthly statement showing a perky increase; I had even called to thank my Madoff contact.

Yet during all the years I had money with Mr. Madoff, I had a sense there was something odd about his fund. Its performance wasn’t stellar — it was just so suspiciously steady. I had joked with friends that “someday this will turn out to be a Ponzi scheme, but I’ll have my money out by then.” Someday turned out to be that Thursday, two years ago.

I had to go meet a prospective client. Sitting in the meeting was a surreal experience. I could focus on bits and pieces of what was being said but every few minutes my newly gruesome financial reality overwhelmed me and I was off in deep space. We did not win the business...

[Demeter]

10. AIB under fire over €40m in bonuses

Allied Irish Banks was under fire after it emerged that staff are to receive €40m in bonuses in spite of the fact the bailed out Irish lender has taken €3.5bn in state support

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/UUK5Y3/MJTKN/TPXZL1/PRCM8G/ZH/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

GEE, WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS BEFORE?

[Demeter]

11. China’s exports surge more than expected

China recorded another large trade surplus in November of $22.9bn as both exports and imports grew strongly, putting more pressure on the Chinese authorities to raise interest rates and let its currency appreciate

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/BMT3ZL/87I64/72P966/72SPXQ/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

[Demeter]

12. Teenager held over WikiLeaks assaults

Dutch police arrest 16-year-old boy for online attacks on MasterCard and PayPal as digital guerilla warfare escalates

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/BMT3ZL/87I64/72P966/TPZX8A/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

[Demeter]

14. US billionaires make charity pledge

Two of the founders of Facebook have become the youngest billionaires to join a campaign spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that encourages America’s wealthiest people to give much of their fortune to charity

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/BMT3ZL/87I64/72P966/IYH0FG/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

MAKES A NICE CONTRAST WITH THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE, NO?

[bread_and_roses]

42. They can take their charity and stuff it - I don't want no stinking "charity"

I want justice. Wealth is theft. And they are thieves.

[Demeter]

54. Hacker toolkits attracting volunteers to defend WikiLeaks

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2010/12/09/low-orbit-ion-cannon-the-tool-used-in-anonops-ddos-attacks/

A DIY kit available online now!

[Demeter]

13. Iceland strikes new deal over failed bank

Iceland has struck a fresh deal with Britain and the Netherlands to repay nearly €4bn lost in the failed Icesave online bank after two years of diplomatic wrangling

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/OZMCDD/BMT3ZL/87I64/72P966/LQ82PL/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=10

[Demeter]

15. SYNOPSIS PORGY AND BESS

Synopsis

Place: Catfish Row, a fictitious black tenement (once, a mansion of the aristocracy) on the waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina.
Time: The 'recent past' (c. 1930).

Act 1

Scene 1: Catfish Row, a summer evening

The opera begins with a short introduction which segues into an evening in Catfish Row. Jasbo Brown entertains the community with his piano playing. Clara, a young mother, sings a lullaby to her baby (Summertime) as the working men prepare for a game of craps (Roll them Bones). One of the players, Robbins, scorns his wife Serena's demands that he not play, retorting that on a Saturday night, a man has the right to play. Clara's husband, the fisherman Jake, tries his own lullaby (A Woman is a Sometime Thing) with little effect. Little by little, other characters in the opera enter Catfish Row, among them Mingo, another fisherman, and Jim, a stevedore who, tired of his job, decides to give it up and join Jake and the other fishermen. Porgy, a disabled beggar, enters on his goat cart to organize the game. Peter, an elderly "honey man" returns, singing his vendor's call. Crown, a strong and brutal stevedore storms in with his woman, Bess, and buys cheap whiskey and some "Happy Dust" off the local dope peddler Sportin' Life. Bess is shunned by the women of the community, especially the pious Serena and the matriarchal cookshop owner Maria, but Porgy softly defends her. The game begins. One by one, the players get crapped out, leaving only Robbins and Crown, who has become extremely drunk. When Robbins wins, Crown attempts to prevent him from taking his winnings. A brawl ensues, which ends when Crown stabs Robbins with a cotton hook, killing him. Crown runs, telling Bess to fend for herself but that he will be back for her when the heat dies down. Sportin' Life gives her a dose of Happy Dust and offers to take her with him when he goes to New York, but she rejects him. He flees, and Bess begins to pound on doors, but is rejected by all of the residents of Catfish Row, with the exception of Porgy, who lets her in.

[Demeter]

16. Scene 2: Serena's Room, the following night

The mourners sing a spiritual to Robbins (Gone, Gone, Gone). To raise money for his burial, a saucer is placed on his chest for the mourners' donations (Overflow). Bess enters with Porgy and attempts to donate to the burial fund, but Serena rejects her money until Bess explains that she is now living with Porgy. A white detective enters and coldly tells Serena that she must bury her husband the next day, or his body will be given to medical students. He suddenly accuses Peter of Robbins's murder. Peter denies his guilt and says Crown was the murderer. The Detective smugly orders Peter to be arrested as a material witness, whom he will force to testify against Crown. Serena laments her loss in My Man's Gone Now. The undertaker enters. The saucer only holds fifteen dollars out of the needed twenty-five, but he agrees to bury Robbins as long as Serena promises to pay him back. Bess, who has been sitting in silence slightly apart from the rest of those gathered, suddenly begins to sing a gospel, and the chorus joyfully join in, welcoming her into the community. (Oh, the Train is at de Station' )

[Demeter]

19. Act 2 Scene 1

Catfish Row, a month later, in the morning

Jake and the other fishermen prepare for work (It take a long pull to get there). Clara asks Jake not to go because it is time for the annual storms, but he tells her that they desperately need the money. This causes Porgy to sing from his window about his new, happy-go-lucky outlook on life. (I got plenty o' nuttin). Sportin' Life waltzes around selling "happy dust", but soon incurs the wrath of Maria, who threatens him. (I hates yo' struttin' style). A fraudulent lawyer, Frazier, arrives and farcically divorces Bess from Crown. When he discovers Bess and Crown were not married, he raises his price from a dollar to a dollar and a half. Archdale, a white lawyer, enters and informs Porgy that Peter will soon be released. The bad omen of a buzzard flies over Catfish Row and Porgy demands that it leave now that he finally has found happiness. (Buzzard keep on flyin' over.)

As the rest of Catfish Row prepares for the church picnic on nearby Kittiwah Island, Sportin' Life again offers to take Bess to New York with him; she refuses. He attempts to give her some "happy dust" despite her claims that she's given up drugs, but Porgy grabs his arm and scares him off. Sportin' Life leaves, reminding Bess as he goes that her men friends come and go, but he will be there all along. Bess and Porgy are now left alone, and express their love for each other (Bess, you is my woman now). The chorus re-enters in high spirits as they prepare to leave for the picnic (Oh, I can't sit down). Bess is invited to the picnic by Maria, but she demurs as Porgy cannot come (due to his disability, he cannot get on the boat), but Maria insists. Bess leaves Porgy behind as they go off to the picnic. Porgy watches the boat leave (I got plenty o' nuttin reprise).

[Demeter]

20. Scene 2: Kittiwah Island, that evening

The chorus enjoys themselves at the picnic (I ain't got no shame). Sportin' Life presents the chorus his cynical views on the Bible (It ain't necessarily so), causing Serena to chastise them (Shame on all you sinners!). Everyone gets ready to leave. As Bess, who has lagged behind, tries to follow them, Crown emerges from the bushes. He reminds her that Porgy is "temporary" and laughs off her claims that she has living decently now. Bess wants to leave Crown forever and attempts to make him forget about her (Oh, what you want wid Bess?) but Crown refuses to give her up. He grabs her and will not let her go to the boat, which leaves without her, and then forcefully kisses her. He laughs at his conquest as her resistance begins to fail, and commands her to get into the woods, where his intentions are only too clear.

[Demeter]

21. Scene 3: Catfish Row, a week later, just before dawn

A week later. Jake leaves to go fishing with his crew, one of whom observes that it looks as if a storm is coming in. Peter, still unsure of his crime, returns from prison. Meanwhile, Bess is lying in Porgy's room delirious with fever, which she has had ever since returning from Kittiwah Island. Serena prays to remove Bess's affliction (Oh, doctor Jesus), and promises Porgy that Bess will be well by five o'clock. As the day passes, a strawberry woman, Peter (the Honey Man) and a crab man each pass by with their wares (Vendor's Trio). As the clock chimes five, Bess recovers from her fever. Porgy tells Bess that he knows she has been with Crown, and she admits that Crown has promised to return for her. Porgy tells her she is free to go if she wants to, and she tells him that although she wants to stay, she is afraid of Crown's hold on her. Porgy asks her what would happen if there was no Crown, and Bess tells Porgy she loves him and begs him to protect her, and he promises that she will never have to be afraid again (I Loves You, Porgy).

Clara watches the water, fearful for Jake. Maria tries to allay her fears, but suddenly the hurricane bell begins to ring.

[Demeter]

22. Scene 4: Serena's Room, dawn of the next day

The residents of Catfish Row are all gathered in Serena's room for shelter from the hurricane. They drown out the sound of the storm with prayers and hymns (Oh, Doctor Jesus) while Sportin' Life mocks their assumption that the storm is a signal of Judgment Day. Clara desperately sings her lullaby (Summertime ). A knock is heard at the door, and the chorus believes it to be Death (Oh there's somebody knocking at the door). Crown enters dramatically, having swum from Kittiwah Island, seeking Bess. He shows no fear of God, claiming that after the long struggle from Kittiwah, God and he are friends. The chorus tries to drown out his blaspheming with more prayer, and he taunts them by singing a vulgar song. (A red-headed woman). Suddenly, Clara sees Jake's boat float past the window, upside-down, and she runs out to try and save him, handing her baby to Bess. Bess asks that one of the men go out with her, and Crown taunts Porgy, who cannot go. Crown goes himself, yelling out as he leaves "Alright, Big Friend! We're on for another Bout!" The chorus continue to pray as the storm rises.

[Demeter]

28. Act 3 Scene 1:

Catfish Row, the next night

A group of women mourn Clara, Jake, and all of the other fishermen, who have been killed in the storm (Clara, Clara, don't you be downhearted). When they begin to mourn for Crown as well, Sportin' Life laughs at them and is told off by Maria. He insinuates that Crown may not be dead, and observes that when a woman has a man, maybe she's got him for keeps, but if she has two men, then it's highly likely she'll end up with none. Bess is heard, singing Clara's lullaby to her baby, whom she is now taking care of. (Summertime ). Once Catfish Row is dark, Crown stealthily enters to claim Bess, but is confronted by Porgy. A fight ensues which ends when Porgy kills Crown. Porgy exclaims to Bess, You've got a man now. You've got Porgy!

[Demeter]

29. Scene 2: Catfish Row, the next afternoon

The detective enters and talks with Serena and her friends about the murders of Crown and Robbins. They deny knowledge of Crown's murder, frustrating the detective. Needing a witness for the coroner's inquest, he next questions an apprehensive Porgy. Once Porgy admits to knowing Crown, he is ordered to come and identify Crown's body. Sportin' Life tells Porgy that corpses bleed in the presence of their murderers, and the detective will use this to hang Porgy. Porgy refuses to identify the body, but is dragged off anyway. Bess is distraught, and Sportin' Life puts his plan in action. He tells her that Porgy will be locked up for a long time, and points out that he is the only one still here. He offers her "happy dust", and though she refuses, he forces it on her. After she takes it, he paints a seductive picture of her life with him in New York (There's a boat dat's leavin' soon for New York). She regains her strength and rushes inside, slamming the door on his face, but he leaves a packet of Happy Dust on her doorstep, and settles down to wait.

[Demeter]

30. Scene 3 - Catfish Row, a week later

On a beautiful morning, Porgy is released from jail, where he has been arrested for contempt of court after refusing to look at Crown's body. He returns to Catfish Row much richer after playing craps with his cellmates. He gives gifts to the residents, and pulls out a beautiful red dress for Bess. He does not understand why everyone seems so uneasy at his return. He sees Clara's baby is now with Serena and realizes something is wrong. He asks where Bess is. Maria and Serena tell him that Bess has run off with Sportin' Life to New York (Oh Bess, Oh Where's my Bess?). Porgy calls for his goat cart, and resolves to leave Catfish Row to find her. He prays for strength, and begins his journey. (Oh, Lawd, I'm on my way)

[Ghost Dog]

37. If it's summertime, it just has to be Janis's rendering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNEgcqWDG4

Does it for me.

[Karenina]

108. But don't forget the roots...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6avX7ebkM&feature=related

These things aren't mutually exclusive. ;-)

[Demeter]

17. Local Bonds, Energy-Smart Homes Lose in Tax Bill

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704457604576011740352346176.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

Provisions to help state- and local-government borrowing and a tax-credit boost for energy-efficient windows and doors are among measures that were left out of an $858 billion Senate tax bill.

The bill, expected to pass the Senate by the middle of next week, includes roughly $69 billion in tax breaks for businesses. That includes extensions of such items as the research tax credit and depreciation benefits for NASCAR racetracks, and new tax breaks, including temporary 100% expensing for new-equipment purchases.

Large business groups are pressing for the bill's approval. "Enacting this bipartisan legislation is one of the best steps Congress can take to eliminate the uncertainty that is preventing U.S. employers from hiring, investing, and growing their businesses," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote Friday.---But some provisions sought by local government groups and by the retail home-improvement industry were left on the cutting-room floor.

Republicans had pressed for expiration of provisions enacted as part of the 2009 stimulus legislation, and were generally successful. The one exception was a federal cash grant program for solar- and wind-energy projects, which would be extended for one year under the Senate bill.

BILLIONS FOR BUSINESS, BUPKIS FOR THE PEOPLE...BUSINESS AS USUAL

[Demeter]

18. SPORTIN' LIFE GOT THE IDEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh5ijrsHx5Q&feature=related

[Demeter]

24. End to Ireland’s Financial Crisis Starts With Banks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/business/global/11ireland.html

As the Irish government introduced the toughest budget in the nation’s history this week, Stephen Henry, a worker at a credit scoring service, paused to glower at the Anglo Irish Bank building facing St. Stephen’s Green in the heart of Dublin.

“The budget is going to increase my taxes, reduce my income and cut my standards of living, and these guys are the culprits,” Mr. Henry said. “The sooner they’re gone, the better.”

He will not have long to wait: Regulators have ordered the bank closed and the nameplate on Ireland’s most notorious financial institution — the bank many blame for precipitating the country’s current crisis — to be taken down within weeks.

The closure is part of a broader effort by Ireland to persuade global investors, just two weeks after Dublin applied for an 85 billion euro ($112 billion) international bailout, that no more banking problems lurk in the shadows. If all goes well, investors will regain confidence in the country and foreign banks and private equity players like Wilbur L. Ross Jr. and J. C. Flowers could be tempted to pluck bargains from the wreckage...



WOW.

[Demeter]

32. Bank of Ireland in debt exchange offer

The bank has begun its efforts to raise the €2.2bn of fresh capital with a debt exchange offer that could net the lender almost a third of that amount

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/RN4CJD/DXJ2Y/HDOUIK/26YI4S/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

49. Ireland to speed up shrinking of banks

Ireland will accelerate the pace of shrinking the country’s banks, as a quid pro quo for continued access to emergency European funding

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/BMTXJ2/1O51V/S3WT1Q/6V9AG5/VU/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=6

[Demeter]

26. Visualizing Slavery

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/visualizing-slavery/


AN AMAZING DOCUMENT FROM HISTORY

[Demeter]

27. Going off to Rehearsal--Vaughn Williams Hodie

Wish us all luck.

[some guy]

40. Good luck!

Wow, that was a short rehearsal; six minutes later, you're back to posting.

y'all are totally ready for live performance! :bounce:

[Demeter]

62. WHAT CAN I SAY?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh5ijrsHx5Q&feature=related

PS: My ride was late.

[Demeter]

33. Toyota Tsusho in deal for India rare earths

The Japanese trading house’s strategic deal to build a plant in the Indian state or Orissa will help cut its dependence on China for vital minerals

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/2SRI11/RN4CJD/DXJ2Y/HDOUIK/C53PJR/7V/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=9

[Demeter]

36. Bangladesh joins microfinance backlash

The microfinance industry has been accused of ‘sucking blood from the poor’ by the prime minister of Bangladesh as part of a growing backlash against the business

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/3JFELL/M9ATHJ/Q38E1/M9ALML/18D49F/W1/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=8

[Demeter]

39. US Treasury sells remaining Citi shares

The US Treasury priced an offering of its remaining shares in Citigroup, exiting its $45bn bail-out of the bank at a profit and freeing the company from government ownership

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/26JANU/LSLXF/PRMLYT/UU78EI/RF/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=7

[bread_and_roses]

41. I admire all singers

Whatever they sing. Unfortunately, my musical taste is pretty primitive - in opera, I really only enjoy Mozart - and mostly only the arias, or rousing choruses from the more comic operas. One afternoon I came across an opera that I did love listening to, though I think the only analogy would be eating an entire 5lb box of chocolates - it's that - luscious? I think it was called "An Italian Girl in Algiers" - ? something like that.

I don't care for musical theatre other than the occasional single song. But I love the sound of the human voice raised in song, and can enjoy a singer even if I don't overall care for the vehicle - if that makes sense. I do love choral music. I have a particular affinity for chant - it is what I put on to calm my soul in hard times. And I love choral Christmas music - using the word Christmas in this case although I usually refer to it as the Solstice Celebration or some such because of course it's apt - carols are mostly very Christian.

I hope that you are enjoying your singing and don't get snowed or otherwise weathered out of your performance.

[Demeter]

47. Thanks...we shall see what tomorrow brings for weather.

I hate freezing rain....

[DemReadingDU]

44. I don't recall that that you studied voice

but oftentimes, you have posted a wide variety of music selections.
Do you have any recordings that you could link to an MP3 podcast, maybe a vocal YouTube?

back to reading, thanks for the weekend thread!

[Demeter]

46. I don't think there's anything web-accessible

and I've been too busy with the condo board lately to do laundry, let alone sing.

[Demeter]

48. BofA says it has met condition of Tarp exit

Bank of America has told US regulators that it has sold enough assets to meet the final condition set
on its landmark plan to repay $45bn in government bail-out funding

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/BMTXJ2/1O51V/S3WT1Q/HDTIMF/VU/t?a1=2010&a2=12&a3=6

[Demeter]

50. Mark Fiore Delivers a Knockout

http://www.markfiore.com/political-cartoons/watch-barack-obama-tax-cut-compromise-republican-gop-victory-animated-video-mark-fiore-an

[Demeter]

52. While Dilbert Checks Out

[Demeter]

51. Farewell to the EU Superstate By Mike Whitney

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27013.htm


...Ireland's problems are just the tip of the iceberg, but its a good place to start. The easiest way to explain what's going on, is by using an example:

Imagine you owe the bank $100, but you can only pay $10 per year. The bank agrees to the payment-schedule but only if you accept a rate of 15% per annum.

"Okay", you say. "I accept your terms."

At the end of the first year, you make your payment of $10 which reduces the amount you owe to $90. But the interest on the loan turns out to be $15, which means that you now owe $105 --more than you owed at the beginning. Finally, you realize that every year the debt will get bigger and harder to pay.

This is the pickle that Ireland is in. The IMF/EU loans put them in a fiscal straightjacket from which there is no escape. They'd be better off defaulting now and restructuring their debt so they can start over. It's better to put oneself on a sustainable growth-path than to submit to long-term economic hardship, harsh austerity measures, loss of sovereignty and civil unrest. That's just a lose-lose situation. For Ireland, leaving the EU is not the just best choice; it is the only choice. Here's how economist Barry Eichengreen sums it up:

"The Irish “program” solves exactly nothing – it simply kicks the can down the road. A public debt that will now top out at around 130 per cent of GDP has not been reduced by a single cent. The interest payments that the Irish sovereign will have to make have not been reduced by a single cent, given the rate of 5.8% on the international loan. After a couple of years, not just interest but also principal is supposed to begin to be repaid. Ireland will be transferring nearly 10 per cent of its national income as reparations to the bondholders, year after painful year.

This is not politically sustainable, as anyone who remembers Germany’s own experience with World War I reparations should know. A populist backlash is inevitable. The Commission, the ECB and the German Government have set the stage for a situation where Ireland’s new government, once formed early next year, rejects the budget negotiated by its predecessor. Do Mr. Trichet and Mrs. Merkel have a contingency plan for this?" ("Ireland’s Reparations Burden", Barry Eichengreen, The Irish Economy)

Still Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is moving forward with the faux-bailout, perhaps to endear himself to his ruffle-shirt EU overlords. And even though his administration has lost all public support, he's still pushing through his slash-and-burn budget that will pare 15 billion form public spending--raise taxes on the poor, reduce the minimum wage, slash social welfare programs and fire thousands of government workers. Irish workers will see their standard of living plunge, only to find that at the end of the year they are more in the red than ever. Here's how Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns sums it up:

"...given the debt burdens in the periphery, some combination of monetisation and default is the most likely eventual scenario for Europe. Ireland, for example, cannot grow nominal GDP at or above the 5.8% interest rate on offer under the bailout terms. Unless the country sheds its bank debt guarantee as I recommend, default is likely. Therefore, the ECB will have to step in or Europe will risk a meltdown and dissolution." ("Brynjolfsson bets on spread convergence...", Edward Harrison, Credit Writedowns)

Ireland is being thrust into a Depression. Its leaders have chosen obsequiousness and expediency over clear-headed resolve to face the challenges ahead. Cowen is condemning his people to years of high unemployment and grinding poverty for nothing. There are alternatives. It will just take a little guts.

The Irish people are being asked to suffer needlessly so that bondholders in Germany, France and England get paid-in-full on their soured investments. It's worse than a bad idea; it won't work. Ireland is just digging itself a deeper hole. But there is a way out, as Wolfgang Münchau points out in a recent op-ed in the Irish Times. Here's what he said:

"What should be done now? My ideal solution – from the perspective of the euro zone – would be a common bond to cover all sovereign debt to be followed by the establishment of a small fiscal union; furthermore, banks should be taken out of the hands of national governments and put under the wings of the European Financial Stability Facility. That would clearly solve the problem.

If this is not going to happen, what can Ireland do unilaterally now?...

First, Ireland should revoke the full guarantee of the banking system, and convert senior and subordinate bondholders into equity holders." ("Will it work? No. What can Ireland do? Remove the bank guarantee and default", Wolfgang Münchau, The Irish Times)

Sure, the experts know what needs to be done, but nothing will come of it. German voters will never support stronger ties with the other EU nations which they have already dismissed as profligate spenders. Nor will the other countries surrender more of their own sovereignty when they see how Ireland and Greece have been treated. That means, the EU is probably headed for the dumpster. And, maybe, that's a good thing. After all, behind all the public relations hoopla, the real goal of the EU was always to create Corporutopia, a place where bankers, business chieftains and other elites lined their pockets while calling the shots. Just look at the Lisbon Treaty fiasco back in 2008, when the EU's corporate Mafia used every trick in the book to push through an agreement that ran roughshod over basic democratic principles and civil rights. Fortunately, the Irish people saw through the ruse and sent the Treaty to defeat. Here's what a spokesperson for the "No Campaign" said at the time:

“The Irish people have spoken. Contrary to the predictions of social and political turmoil, we believe that hundreds of millions of people across Europe will welcome the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. This vote shows the gulf that exists between the politicians and the elites of Europe, and the opinions of the people. As in France and the Netherlands, the political leaders and the establishment have done everything they could to push this through – and they have failed. The proposals to further reduce democracy, to militarize the EU and to let private business take over public services have been rejected. Lisbon is dead. Along with the EU Constitution from which it came, it should now be buried.”

On December 7, Irish MPs will vote on Cowen's austerity budget. If they reject the budget, then the IMF/EU loan package will probably not go through and the eurozone will begin to splinter. Once again, Ireland finds itself with an opportunity to strike a blow against the EU and end the dream of a corporate superstate. All they need to do is vote "No".

[Demeter]

53. Obama's tax-cut deal upsets many major donors

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dem-donors-20101210,0,49525.story


President Obama's advisors are confident that liberals dismayed by his agreement to extend tax breaks for the wealthy will forgive him by the time the 2012 election kicks into gear...Democratic operatives are already laying plans to set up new independent expenditure committees that can raise unlimited funds, and hope to enroll early contributors to establish a beachhead for the coming campaign. But some stalwart party donors are vowing to withhold funds because of their anger over the tax-cut deal.

"I do not plan to support Obama and his reelection effort," said Utah-based hedge fund manager Art Lipson, who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party and its allies in recent elections. He views the tax-cut compromise as a giveaway to Republicans that will increase the deficit.
"He's got many great qualities, but he is not a fighter," Lipson said of the president. "I've met with many donors and the level of disappointment is extreme."...Other discontented contributors are taking a wait-and-see approach.

.........................................

Democratic officials said they were confident that both Obama and the party would have plenty of money in 2012, noting that the Democratic National Committee raised a record $195 million in this cycle despite anger in the liberal wing about the lack of a public option in healthcare reform and the slow pace of repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military...

"I can see why they're going to have some difficulty," said Dennis Mehiel, a longtime Democratic contributor who runs a corrugated-packaging company in New York. Mehiel said he would consider backing a well-planned independent expenditure operation, but noted, "People that have the capacity to write those kinds of checks are used to getting a return when they spend money," and that they may be reluctant to contribute if they do not feel the administration is effective.

This month, many Democratic donors joined a campaign dubbed Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength that called on the president to allow the tax cuts for the wealthy to expire. They are now expressing frustration — and some even fury — at the compromise he struck with GOP congressional leaders to extend the cuts for two more years....

[Demeter]

55. Italian Financial Crisis: A.D. 33

http://businomics.typepad.com/businomics_blog/2010/12/italian-financial-crisis-ad-33.html

I've been reading some Roman history, stimulated by my recent visit to the Eternal City. (See my video "Economic Lesson from Ancient Rome.")

http://businomics.typepad.com/businomics_blog/2010/10/economic-lesson-from-ancient-rome.html

I recently found an interesting passage in Will Durant's classic Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and Christianity from the beginnings to A.D. 325, which is Part III of his and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization..

The famous “panic” of A.D. 33 illustrates the development and complex interdependence of banks and commerce in the Empire. Augustus had coined and spent money lavishly, on the theory that its increased circulation, low interest rates, and rising prices would stimulate business. They did; but as the process could not go on forever, a reaction set in as early as 10 B.C., when this flush minting ceased. Tiberius rebounded to the opposite theory that the most economical economy is the best. He severely limited the governmental expenditures, sharply restricted new issues of currency, and hoarded 2,700,000,000 sesterces in the Treasury.

The resulting dearth of circulating medium was made worse by the drain of money eastward in exchange for luxuries. Prices fell, interest rates rose, creditors foreclosed on debtors, debtors sued usurers, and money-lending almost ceased. The Senate tried to check the export of capital by requiring a high percentage of every senator’s fortune to be invested in Italian land; senators thereupon called in loans and foreclosed mortgages to raise cash, and the crisis rose. When the senator Publius Spinther notified the bank of Balbus and Ollius that he must withdraw 30,000,000 sesterces to comply with the new law, the firm announced its bankruptcy.

At the same time the failure of an Alexandrian firm, Seuthes and Son due to their loss of three ships laden with costly spices and the collapse of the great dyeing concern of Malchus at Tyre, led to rumors that the Roman banking house of Maximus and Vibo would be broken by their extensive loans to these firms. When its depositors began a “run” on this bank it shut its doors, and later on that day a larger bank, of the Brothers Pettius, also suspended payment. Almost simultaneously came news that great banking establishments had failed in Lyons, Carthage, Corinth, and Byzantium. One after another the banks of Rome closed. Money could be borrowed only at rates far above the legal limit. Tiberius finally met the crisis by suspending the land-investment act and distributing 100,000,000 sesterces to the banks, to be lent without interest for three years on the security of realty. Private lenders were thereby constrained to lower their interest rates, money came out of hiding, and confidence slowly re-turned.

[Demeter]

56. Who gains from a renminbi revaluation?

http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/5906

If China appreciates its currency, who will gain and who will lose out? This column argues that the single greatest beneficiary from a gradual renminbi revaluation, accompanied by measures to stimulate demand, will be China itself. Ironically, the US, which has been leading the charge on renminbi appreciation, would likely be among the losers. Certainly, a very large one-off revaluation that disrupts China’s growth hurts everyone.

[Demeter]

57. On Social Security Payroll Tax Cut as a Hidden Threat to Social Security

http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/on-social-security-payroll-tax-cut-as-a-hidden-threat-to-social-security/

TAKE PAIN MEDICATION BEFORE READING THIS...

[Demeter]

58. A Decline in Self-Employment

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/self-employment-falls/?ref=business

The share of Americans working for themselves has fallen since the recovery began, according to the Labor Department.

The following chart, from Steven F. Hipple, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows the quarterly rates of self-employment over the last decade. The figure for the last quarter of 2010 is estimated from rates recorded in October and November.



Since the recession ended, the proportion of self-employed nonagricultural workers peaked at 10.6 percent in the last quarter of 2009. It has edged steadily downward since then, sitting at 10 percent in recent months.

It’s not clear why this might be the case.

To summarize what we’ve written before about this subject, two competing forces affect self-employment and entrepreneurship rates. One is opportunity: how much demand there is for the good or service your new company would offer. The other is opportunity cost: what you’d be giving up by starting a business....

[Demeter]

60. What does the "Take this Job and Shove-It Indicator" say about the Economy?

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-does-take-this-job-and-shove-it.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29


With a salute to Johnny Paycheck, inquiring minds are investigating the CNBC claim ‘Shove It’ Indicator Turns Positive: More People Quitting

Call it the “Take This Job and Shove It” indicator. The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that an increasing number of people are quitting their jobs, a sign of an upturn in consumer confidence and the economy, according to one economist.

“There is one area where there does appear to be some additional risk taking, and that is seen in the number of people leaving their jobs,” said Don Rissmiller, economist for Strategas Research Partners. “The last time we saw an inflection point of this sort in the number of people quitting their jobs, we were at the end of the last ‘jobless recovery’ in 2003.”

In October 2 million individuals quit their jobs, up from 1.7 million during the same month a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On its web site, the BLS states, “Quits tend to rise when there is a perception that another job is available and tend to fall when there is a perception that jobs are scarce.”

The rise in quitting is accompanied by an increase in the job outlook in the latest survey by staffing firm Manpower and an ISM survey of managers indicating bigger capital expenditures planned for next year, Rissmiller points out in his note.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

With that lead-in let's turn our focus on the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October 2010.

Number of Unemployed Per Job Opening



While admitting the trend looks very favorable, please note the ratio was 2.0 at the end of the 2001 recession. It is roughly 4.5 now. Furthermore, at the end of the last recession, the indicator rose for another 2 years.

Here is the alleged Take This Job and Shove It” indicator.



While this indicator did indeed turn up (making a higher low in December 2009), the indicator has done little but flatline since April 2010, a full 6 months. Maybe it continues and maybe it doesn't. Moreover, it has to rise by another 500,000 just to get to the August 2003 low...


MORE GHASTLY CHART PORN FOLLOWS

[Demeter]

59. Companies Cling to Cash

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576009501161973480.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Corporate America's cash pile has hit its highest level in half a century.

Rather than pouring their money into building plants or hiring workers, nonfinancial companies in the U.S. were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September, up from $1.8 trillion at the end of June, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Cash accounted for 7.4% of the companies' total assets—the largest share since 1959.

The cash buildup shows the deep caution many companies feel about investing in expansion while the economic recovery remains painfully slow and high unemployment and battered household finances continue to limit consumers' ability to spend.

The buildup has a big downside for companies, which get little return on their money because interest rates are low, but it reflects the relatively few opportunities they see to deploy their cash more creatively...

[Demeter]

61. WHAT TO DO?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh5ijrsHx5Q&feature=related

[Demeter]

63. Treasury Bars Use of TARP Funds to Help Borrowers Facing Foreclosure

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/treasury-bars-use-of-tarp-funds-to-help-borrowers-facing-foreclosure.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

If you had any doubts about whose side the Administration is on, this story should settle all doubts. From the Nation:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/156973/treasury-blocks-legal-aid-homeowners-facing-foreclosure

...The article also details actions by Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Sen. Sherrod Brown to reverse the Treasury action. Kaptur has introduced a bill (HR 5510) to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to enable nonprofits, both counseling firms and law firms, to receive TARP funds to help single family homeowners to prevent foreclosures. Brown introduced a parallel measure (S 3979) in the Senate.

Please contact your Senators and Representative and ask them to cosponsor these measures. And annoy Treasury

http://www.treasury.gov/connect/Pages/contact-us.aspx

by calling or e-mailing them (try the Domestic Finance and Economic Policy contacts) to tell them they are on the wrong side of this issue.

THE COMMENTS FOLLOWING YVES COLUMN ARE SOMETHING TO READ, TOO

[Demeter]

64. LITTLE TIMMY HAS KIDNEY STONES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gq0euIvKPI&feature=related

[Po_d Mainiac]

92. I posted this story yesterday

The unrec's have been busy, and some of the crap from from the bleeding hearts is scary. The kool-aid crew have no idea the damage/pain turbo has inflicted on the masses and their unborn descendants during his tenures at the NY FED and now with Treasury.

I can't wish upon the Wall St hand puppet too slow a recovery

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4653341

[Demeter]

65. Did Goldman and Other Dealers Squeeze Mortgage CDS Shorts So They Could Sell Toxic CDOs?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/did-goldman-and-other-dealers-squeeze-mortgage-cds-shorts-so-they-could-sell-toxic-cdos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

I CAN'T EVEN LOOK---TONS OF CHART PORN

[Demeter]

66. Bernanke Meddles as Bondholders Exit the Market By Bill Bonner

Well, what you OUGHT to know is that the bond market may finally be cracking up.

“People are getting out…shell-shocked at the speed of the rise in yield,” says a “strategist” quoted by The Financial Times.

Bond buyers are leaving the scene of Bernanke’s crime. They are packing up and moving out.

The yield on the 10-year note hit 3.33% on Wednesday…a full percentage point over its October low.

Whoa. The bond market is the biggest, most important market in the world. What would cause a 25% move in so little time?

Bernanke pledged to lower bond yields (raise bond prices) back in August. He said he would buy $600 billion worth of US government bonds with money he was going to print especially for that purpose. And another $250 billion more with money he got from selling those mortgage backed monsters he acquired in the Panic of ’08-’09.

You’d think that a guy with $850 billion in his pocket could pretty much name his own price. But central planners always seem to run into a ditch. Even with their eyes wide open and GPS on the dashboard.

Here we are almost at the end of the year and what have bonds done? They’ve gone down!


Read more: Bernanke Meddles as Bondholders Exit the Market http://dailyreckoning.com/bernanke-meddles-as-bondholders-exit-the-market/#ixzz17oXhf7yh

As near as we can tell, de-leveraging has a ways to go. A long ways. Say, 7 years?

Maybe longer. That’s how long it OUGHT to take to squeeze the debt out of the system.

But Mr. Bernanke, the aforementioned little creep, is making it a lot harder. As the private sector squeezes debt out, Mr. Bernanke pumps it in. That’s why we’re seeing such crazy anomalies. It’s a correction – yet commodities, emerging market stocks, collectibles, oil, gold…all are flying off the shelves and out of the wells...

[Demeter]

67. Gershwin, "Porgy and Bess" - My Man's Gone Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spenp8_wieo&feature=related

OR AT LEAST, WE WISH HE WAS

[Demeter]

68. When the Government Demands More Debt By The Mogambo Guru

I ran across Dan Cofall of NorAm Capital Holdings, Inc, and also the host of the radio show “The Wall Street Shuffle”, who is, perhaps without realizing it, summing up my horror of the gigantic increases in the money supply by the horrid Federal Reserve announcing a six month-long $600 billion creation of new money, and thus I fearlessly forecast them to create at least $1.2 trillion in the whole year!

The GDP, the total of all the goods and services produced in the Whole Freaking Country (WFC), is only $14 trillion, and yet here are these Federal Reserve weenies printing up a massive, monstrous $1.2 trillion in new money! This is an unbelievable 9% of GDP, for crying out loud!

And that’s just the amount This Freaking Year (TFY)! This doesn’t include even more money next year! And more the year after that! And more the year after that, on and on, more and more until, as Ludwig von Mises of the Austrian school of economics so famously said, the economy cracks up.

And now, thanks to Mr. Cofall, we know that it is worse than the astounding $1.2 trillion, as, “The Fed granted $9 trillion (that’s right, trillion) dollars of loans to countries, central banks, companies, and banks in the fall of 2008,” which leads to the terrifying fact that the money supply has taken a big boost, as he notes when he says, “This $9 trillion did not exist the day before the loans were made.”

If you remember that changes in price always equilibrate supply and demand, this is $9 trillion of new demand, which becomes significant when followed up by the obvious fact that supply did not increase, as, as he says, “The world did not create $9 trillion of goods and services in one day.”

Ergo, demand swamping supply means that prices must go up to clear the market!


Read more: When the Government Demands More Debt http://dailyreckoning.com/when-the-government-demands-more-debt/#ixzz17oYbyGh5

[Demeter]

73. Two Possible Reasons for the Rise in 10-Year Treasury Notes By Addison Wiggin

Somehow, we don’t think this is what Ben Bernanke had in mind when he launched another round of easy money five weeks ago.

Indeed, he promised us lower long-term interest rates. But this morning, the yield on a 10-year Treasury note just reached its highest level in more than six months – 3.28%.

There are two possible explanations…the benign one, and the more likely one.

The benign one, pimped by Deutsche Bank, zeroes in on the cut in payroll tax that’s part of the Grand Bargain between President Obama and congressional Republicans. Deutsche figures that’ll add 0.7% to GDP during the next two years.

The more likely one is evident even to the always-late-to-the party analysts at Moody’s and Fitch: The Grand Bargain is just digging Uncle Sam into a bigger hole.

The rating agencies reckon that with no spending cuts as part of the deal, it’ll add another $1 trillion to the national debt – above and beyond what’s already baked into the cake.


Read more: Two Possible Reasons for the Rise in 10-Year Treasury Notes http://dailyreckoning.com/two-possible-reasons-for-the-rise-in-10-year-treasury-notes/#ixzz17omg2XOS

[Demeter]

69. Worlds Apart: A Firsthand Look at Emerging Market Growth By Bill Bonner

“You know, my friends and relatives in the states still believe that the US is the greatest place in the world,” explained an American in Melbourne, Australia. “They think the rest of the world is full of poor people who can’t wait to emigrate to the US. They need to get out more.”

So we get out. We open our eyes. We look around.

And what do we see?

We see a whole world full of people who are hustling and bustling…schlepping and bussing…each trying to gain an advantage…each looking for a way to get richer, faster.

The motivations all over the world are about the same. People generally want wealth, power and status. And they want to get it in the easiest possible way. But it can mean different things to different people…and they go about it differently too. In the mature economies, they look for subsidies and angles. Tax breaks. Bailouts. Boondoggles. Sinecures.

“We have plenty of corruption here in India, too,” a colleague noted. “But most people know they can’t get much from the government. They have no choice. They have to start a business or get a job.”

Nothing stands still. A few years ago, the Russkies, the Indians and the Chinese were all very helpfully sitting on the sidelines. With their goofy theories and their counterproductive policies, they posed no competition. Americans found it easy to feel superior. Half the world had tied its hands behind its back.

But in the ’70s and ’80s, things began to change. “To get rich is glorious,” said Deng Xiaoping. “Perestroika,” said Gorbachev. And now they’re all at it. Indians, Brazilians, Turks, Indonesians – they all have faster growth rates and much less debt than the developed countries. China and Turkey are both growing about 5 times faster than the US. India, Brazil and a dozen other countries aren’t far behind.

The latest test scores show Chinese math students in Shanghai far ahead of Americans. And the latest reports tell us Chinese trains are setting records – at 300 mph.

Nothing is off limits. No industry is safe. Nobody can expect a free lunch forever.


Read more: Worlds Apart: A Firsthand Look at Emerging Market Growth http://dailyreckoning.com/worlds-apart-a-firsthand-look-at-emerging-market-growth/#ixzz17oZaki3a

[Demeter]

70. Gershwin, "Porgy and Bess" - Oh, I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6WLrMIsMA&feature=related

[Demeter]

71. Investors to Silver: “Let’s Get Physical” By James Turk

The scramble for physical gold and silver is intensifying. People increasingly want to own the real thing, and not some paper substitute, all of which comes with counterparty risk. This conclusion is apparent from the fact that the futures prices for gold and silver have moved into “backwardation.”

Allow me to explain…

Because gold is money, gold almost always trades in “contango,” meaning that the future prices – i.e., forward prices – are higher than the spot price. The percentage difference between gold’s spot and forward price is gold’s “interest rate.” So in this regard, gold is not different from other moneys, except gold’s interest rate is lower than those of national currencies.

But supply and demand dynamics also influence the differential between the spot price and forward prices. And this is where our story gets interesting…

If the forward price is lower than spot – a condition called backwardation – you can sell your metal in the spot market, invest the dollars you receive to earn interest, and then buy your metal back in the future at a lower price and profit the difference. But there is another important factor to consider outside the math of this formula.

If you sell your physical metal in the spot market and at the same time agree with someone to buy it back at a future date, you are now holding someone’s paper promise instead of physical metal. In other words, you have counterparty risk, which, of course, is avoided when you hold physical gold or physical silver.

Normally, few people worry about counterparty risk. So bullion dealers and other institutions that deal in the precious metals watch for opportunities to profit from backwardation, with the result that gold rarely trades in backwardation, which explains why the chart below is so extraordinary.

The Backwardation of 6-Month Gold Futures Contracts



Gold for 1-month and 3-months forward has been mainly in backwardation for more than one year. Even more exceptional is that gold 6-months forward has been in backwardation since November 5th. To show how rare this event is, I checked the LBMA database, which goes back to 1989. There is not one instance of 6-month forward gold being in backwardation, which confirms my own experience. I’ve been trading the precious metals since the 1970s, and I can’t recall any time before this year when 6-months forward gold was in backwardation. The current and continuing backwardation is truly incredible.

12-month forward gold is also approaching backwardation. These downtrends make clear that the demand for physical gold is intensifying.

The picture is even starker in silver. Silver 6-months forward has been continuously in backwardation since June 2nd and mainly in backwardation for more than one year. What does it all mean?

In a word, it is bullish. The only way the increasing demand for physical metal can be met is with higher prices. The higher price will at some level entice people to sell their metal and hold a national currency instead.

Some skeptics may argue that there is no backwardation apparent from COMEX settlement prices. Aside from the fact that COMEX recently changed the method to determine settlement prices from a market-driven basis to instead allow a manual override, which now makes backwardation on the posted COMEX settlement prices virtually impossible, one has to first recognize that COMEX is first and foremost a market for paper-gold and paper-silver.

Therefore, a piece of paper can promise virtually anything, without regard to the underlying reality of how physical metal is actually trading. In other words, COMEX shows March futures in contango, when they should in reality be in backwardation. Thus, if you are buying March silver or April gold futures, you are overpaying. This overpayment is no doubt going into the pockets of those banks that are perennially short and use their size to control the paper market. They can, after all, always conjure up whatever paper they want out of thin air, which of course they cannot do with physical metal.

Any way you look at it, the backwardation in gold and silver is a truly rare event and an exceptionally bullish one too. So be prepared for an upside explosion in the price of both precious metals as the scramble for physical metal intensifies even further, and investors increasingly choose to hold the metals themselves, instead of paper promises.


Read more: Investors to Silver: "Let's Get Physical" http://dailyreckoning.com/investors-to-silver-lets-get-physical/#ixzz17obvRbya

[DemReadingDU]

72. Video: Trends in Income Inequality

12/10/10 Trends in Income Inequality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMdbS1VU5do&feature=player_embedded

more form ZeroHedge...
12/10/10 Record Social Inequality And Its Violent Aftermath, Explained By A Three Minute Cartoon
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/record-social-inequality-and-its-violent-aftermath-explained-three-minute-cartoon

[Demeter]

76. Thanks Good video

[Demeter]

75. What do you think the Unemployment Rate Will Be in March?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=558896

Assume they mean the "official", government-measured and manufactured rate...

[Pale Blue Dot]

77. I waded in there...

I'm spending my morning letting my blood pressure rise in GD and GD:P. There's a reason why I picked my sig line. It's so frustrating to watch people delude themselves. For what?

Anyone, I'm going to put the computer down soon and try to enjoy my day....

[Demeter]

79. Yes, Real Life Calls

I don't know how much more of this I can take--meanwhile, the inbox gets fuller and fuller...

[Pale Blue Dot]

81. Note how many have taken up my challenge.

12 votes that unemployment is going to be below 9% yet not one person will explain how it will happen.

Sigh.

[DemReadingDU]

83. Love Your Sig Line

I changed mine today.
:)

[Demeter]

78. How The Grinch Almost Stole Wall Street's Christmas

(How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
William Banzai7, Christmas 2008

Every banksta down on Wall Street Liked CDOs a lot...
But the Grinch, who lived in a Greenwich trailer, Did NOT!
The Grinch hated those asset backed dickheads for a whole list of reasons!
Now, that is why we are having this exciting Fall tradng season.
It could be his trader head was screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his white shoes were a little too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his NAV was 12 sizes too small.
Whatever the reason, His smarts or his shoes,
He stood there just hating all those Wall Street Whose Whos,
Staring down at his trading book with a sour, Grinchy frown,
Detesting those warm Bloomberg screens in Wall Street town.
For he knew every Captain down in Wall Street beneath,
Was busy now, trying to sail through Greenspan's great subprime reef.
"And they're hammering day traders" he snarled with a sneer,
"In three hours its Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find some way to give those Bankstas a drubbing!"
For Tomorrow, he knew, all the Whose Who of Bankstas,
Would wake bright and early. And rush to save all their bonus earnings!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise!
Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE!
NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the Whose Whos, young and old, would all fly Far East.
And they'd try to talk Korea and China into feasting on synthetic asset backed yeast!
And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST!
FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would feast on champagne and rare banker roast bonus beast.
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!
And THEN They'd do something He liked least of all!
Every Who down in Wall Street, the Bulls and the Bears,
Would stand close together, with opening bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!
They'd sing! And they'd sing! And they'd SING!
SING! SING! SING!
And the more the Grinch thought of this Singing,
The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing!"
"Why, for year after year I've put up with it now!"

"I MUST stop a Wall Street bailout from coming! But HOW?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!

THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch laughed in his throat.
And he made a some quick calls to spread rumours of unkown toxic asset stew.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great short seller trick!"
"With this phone and this screen, I'll batter those Wall Street Dicks!"
"PoohPooh to the Whose Whos!" he was grinchishly humming.
"They're finding out now that no White Knight is coming!"
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!"
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then the Whos down in Wall Street will all cry BooHoo!"
"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "That I simply MUST hear!"
So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.
And he did hear noises over the trading screen glow.
It started low. Then it started to grow.
But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!
He stared down at Bloomberg and Reuters! The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every gangsta down in Wall Street, the longs and the shorts,
Was singing! Without any fright at all!
He HADN'T seen a Big Wall Street bailout coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came!
And the Grinch, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It came with out tickers! It came without a tab!"
"It came as Federal largesse in big boxes and bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe a Bailout," he thought, "is not just for financial Whooers"
"Maybe a Fed bailout...perhaps can help me... a little bit too!"
And what happened then? Well...on Main Street they say,
That the Grinch's tax bill grew 12 sizes that day!
And the minute his wallet didn't feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his Lexus jeep through the Bronx morning light,
And he met those Wall Street boys for a Smith & Wolensky feast!
And he, HE HIMSELF! The Grinch carved the roast bonus beast!





More Season's Greetings at link!

[Demeter]

80. J.P. Morgan and the Great Silver Caper By Eric Fry

Based on some of the latest conjecture, Morgan’s short position totals a whopping 3.3 billion ounces. If, therefore, the buzz about J.P. Morgan and silver is even half true, the prestigious investment bank could be cruisin’ for bruisin’.

For perspective, 3.3 billion ounces is roughly equal to:

1) One third of all the world’s known silver deposits;

2) Two times the world’s approximate stockpiles of silver bullion;

3) Four times the annual mined supply of silver;

4) 30 times the inventory of silver at the COMEX.

To repeat, short positions – even titanic ones – are no big deal, as long as the price of the underlying asset is falling. But if, inconveniently, it is rising, the spaghetti can hit the fan in spectacular and gruesome fashion.

The silver price is rising…a lot. From less than $10 an ounce two years ago, the silver price has more than tripled. Therefore, if J.P. Morgan does, in fact, hold a 3.3 billion ounce short position, every one-dollar increase in the silver price would produce a loss of $3.3 billion…at least on paper.

Unfortunately, Morgan cannot simply unwind this trade with a couple of mouse-clicks in an E*trade account. The position is too large, both in relation to the world’s physical supplies of silver and in relation to the paper “supplies.” (Morgan holds almost half of all short positions on the COMEX, which is essentially a “paper market” – participants rarely take delivery of physical silver).

To make matters even more dicey for Morgan, the supplies of physical silver are disappearing rapidly from the marketplace. Increasingly, the kinds of folks who invest in precious metals are also the kinds of folks who distrust intermediaries. These precious metals investors want to know that the shiny stuff is in their personal possession.

Meanwhile, the ETFs that hold precious metals are soaking up massive quantities of physical metal. Over the last 12 months, the silver ETFs around the globe have increased their holdings by nearly 100 million ounces – or almost as much silver as the entire inventory of the COMEX. The trend in gold is identical.


Read more: J.P. Morgan and the Great Silver Caper http://dailyreckoning.com/j-p-morgan-and-the-great-silver-caper/#ixzz17p0Vli8Z

[Demeter]

82. The Fed’s Misguided Beliefs About Currency Debasement By Eric Fry

30-year Treasury bond yield is now higher than the interest rate on 30-year mortgages...

On the surface, this chart indicates that the average American mortgage-holder is a better credit risk than the US government. After digging a little deeper, the picture doesn’t change very much. The average American mortgage-holder is genuinely trying to repay his debts. The US government isn’t.

Read more: The Fed's Misguided Beliefs About Currency Debasement http://dailyreckoning.com/the-feds-misguided-beliefs-about-currency-debasement/#ixzz17p296XRH

[Demeter]

84. Using Waste, Swedish City Cuts Its Fossil Fuel Use

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/science/earth/11fossil.html

Biogas---it's happening

[Demeter]

85. Housing agencies clash over mortgage-relief program

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/09/AR2010120905963.html?sid=ST2010120906191

The top federal agencies responsible for setting housing policy are clashing over a new program designed to help borrowers whose homes are worth less than they owe on their mortgages...The Federal Housing Administration says the program could avert foreclosures, but the Federal Housing Finance Agency has concerns that the program, if expanded to include the government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could be a logistical nightmare that would cost taxpayers too much, the sources said.

WHAT'S A FEW BILLION $ AT THIS POINT?

About one in four borrowers is underwater. Without equity in their homes, these borrowers tend to be vulnerable to foreclosure because it is difficult for them to refinance or sell their homes. Housing advocates have said that helping these borrowers is important to stem the nation's foreclosure tide.

At issue is an FHA program launched in September that would allow some underwater borrowers who are current on their mortgages to refinance into more-affordable loans with a smaller loan balance and lower interest rate...But without the participation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which control more than half of the mortgage market, analysts say the FHA's program is likely to have little impact on the depressed housing market.

[Demeter]

86. WHICH WAY DID IT GO?

From november 10th to december 9th, the Fed purchased about $90 bln worth of US Treasuries.

Total banks deposits before QE2 = $7.897 bln
Total banks deposits after one month of QE2 = $7.896.5 bln

IN OTHER WORDS, ALL THAT "STIMULUS" WENT ABROAD...

http://www.aleablog.com/money-printing/

[Demeter]

87. OECD Education Rankings – 2010

http://ourtimes.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/oecd-education-rankings/

The United States of America is the only OECD country where 25-34 year-olds are not better educated than 55-64 year-olds....

GRAPHIC PORN AT LINK

[Demeter]

88. Doctors shocked by spread of swine flu – and its severity

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/doctors-shocked-by-spread-of-swine-flu-ndash-and-its-severity-2157407.html

The swine flu virus that swept the world last year causing a global health emergency has returned to claim the lives of 10 adults in the UK in the past six weeks.

The 10 deaths were in younger adults under 65 and associated with H1N1 swine flu. Most had underlying conditions but "a small proportion" were healthy before being struck down by the virus, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA)....

[Demeter]

89. Marci Kaptur’s Anti-MERS Bill Target of Misleading PR by Title Insurance Industry

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/marci-kapturs-anti-mers-bill-target-of-misleading-pr-by-title-insurance-industry.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Rep. Marci Kaptur of Ohio has introduced a short bill, H.R. 6460, which would seriously restrict the operations of MERS by effectively removing Freddie, Fannie and Ginnie as users. The bill would bar the GSEs from guaranteeing or owning any mortgage that is either assigned to MERS or lists MERS as the mortgage of record. Note that those are the two roles typically set forth in the registrations at local courthouses which register mortgage in the name of MERS...


CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT WASN'T MERS CREATED SO FANNIE AND FREDDIE COULD SECURITIZE AND SELL THEIR PORTFOLIOS AS MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES?

Remember, the main motive for MERS was to save local recording fees. If a national system is merely a database and mortgage assignments need to be recorded locally, the incremental value of a centralized information repository may be very limited....Of course, this salvo may also be a diversionary tactic, given that MERS is the handiwork of the title insurers, along with the GSEs and securitization industry.

YUP. I WASN'T MISTAKEN!

[Demeter]

90. Bill Black: No, Mr. President, you did not negotiate a winning tax deal

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/bill-black-no-mr-president-you-did-not-negotiate-a-winning-tax-deal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

THIS IS 3RD IN A SERIES:

What Aspect of Dealing with Bullies Did Obama Fail to Learn as a Child?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/what-aspect-of-dealing-wi_b_793707.html


AND

The Effort to Claim That Economists Support Obama's Capitulation on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

You know the administration is desperate when it creates a web page citing economists who support its capitulation on taxes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/the-effort-to-claim-that-_b_794862.html

[Demeter]

91. TIME FOR A SANITY BREAK

[Demeter]

93. THAT WAS A FUTILE SEARCH FOR SANITY--LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

ANOTHER GOOD REASON NOT TO SHOP AT WALMART:

Homeland Security ‘messages’ coming to Walmart, hotels, malls

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/homeland-security-messages-coming-walmart-hotels-malls/

Shoppers at Walmart will soon have something other than glossy magazines and chewing gum to look at when in the checkout line: A "video message" from the Department of Homeland Security asking them to look out for "suspicious" activity and report it immediately.

It's part of a new Department of Homeland Security program that could see Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's face on video screens in malls, retail outlets and hotels across the United States.

The Walmart video, which will soon be launched at 230 locations nationwide and may eventually be expanded to nearly 600 locations in 27 states, features Napolitano thanking the retailer by name for participating in the program.

Napolitano then says: "If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately. Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff. If you need help, ask a Walmart manager for assistance."

The video, which doesn't appear to offer any advice on what constitutes "suspicious" activity, is part of DHS' "If You See Something, Say Something" program. It was launched originally in the New York City public transit system and, according to the DHS, is about to go nationwide....


IS IT 1984 YET?

[bread_and_roses]

94. OMFG

This would be hilarious if it were not sinister. Shades of 1884 indeed. If we still had any sanity in this country we'd laugh Janet into permanent humiliated retirement. But no doubt, we won't. Talk about giving the authoritarians among us license to exercise their darkest dreams. And we once hoped - even thought, expected! - that an Obama administration would be saner.

Instead, they seem to deliberately foster all our worst impulses, factions.

[Tansy_Gold]

95. As I said the other day,

It's Ashcroft's TIPS program -- or whatever it was called -- all over again. Yes, THAT Ashcroft.

I really really really don't want to say there's no difference between Obama and booooosh. I really really really don't want to say that. I really really really. . . . . .



TG, TT

[bread_and_roses]

96. So I wake up early this AM and Derivatives are at the top of the DU home page

here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4655204#top

[bread_and_roses]

98. AND Wall St. "Biggest Scam" at top of Greatest List

hmmmnnnn ... interesting.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9754613

from the posting, which links to
http://ampedstatus.com/the-wall-street-pentagon-papers-biggest-scam-in-world-history-exposed-are-the-federal-reserves-crimes-too-big-to-comprehend

We are talking about trillions of dollars secretly pumped into global banks, handpicked by a small select group of bankers themselves. All for the benefit of those bankers, and at the expense of everyone else. People can’t even comprehend what that means and the severe consequences that it entails, which we have only just begun to experience.

[bread_and_roses]

97. Still plenty of nothing for African Americans and other people of color

Youth unemployment:
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/african-american-youth-joblessness-and-the-new-normal/

African American Youth Joblessness and the "New Normal"

by: Carl Bloice
November 3 2010
Original source: BlackCommentator.com *

... the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for African Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 reached 49 percent, up from 45.4 percent in August and 41.7 percent for the same period last year.

* I highly recommend this site to anyone not familiar with it

Adult Unemployment among African Americans and Hispanics

http://washingtonindependent.com/81420/jobless-numbers-show-no-evidence-of-a-post-racial-america

Jobless Numbers Show No Evidence of a Post-Racial America
By Megan Carpentier | 04.06.10 | 6:00 am

While overall employment in March stood at 9.7 percent, some 16.5 percent of African-Americans were unemployed.... 19 percent of adult African-American men and 12.4 percent of adult African-American women are facing unemployment. With the exception of the unemployment rate for teenagers, those seasonally adjusted numbers were up over February statistics, even as white unemployment stayed the same.

The numbers weren’t much better among Hispanics.

Latinos face a 12.6 percent unemployment rate overall, while Latino teenagers face a non-seasonally adjusted 30.1 unemployment rate and Latino men and women are unemployed at rates of 12.8 and 12 percent, respectively

Home Equity

http://fairrecovery.org/?page_id=19 *

What Communities have been hit hardest by the recession?

The credit and housing crisis and resultant U.S. recession are clearly having a disparate impact on marginalized communities. The brunt of unemployment, layoffs, social service and education budget cuts, foreclosures, and bankruptcies are being borne by groups already marginalized or undervalued by the mainstream economy: people of color, women, manufacturing employees, rural residents, people with disabilities, and other economically marginalized communities. The following facts from the current economic crisis illustrate these troubling trends.

...Borrowers of color received nearly half of our nation’s subprime loans and Black and Latino homeowners are expected to lose a quarter trillion dollars in home equity due to the foreclosure crisis.

... Reversal of Fortune: Economic Gains of 1990s Overturned for African Americans from 2000-07 (PDF), Economic Policy Institute, Algernon Austin (September 18, 2008). On all major economic indicators—income, wages, employment, and poverty—African Americans were worse off in 2007 than they were in 2000. This report considers how the current economic downturn and the subprime mortgage create concerns for the immediate future for African Americans.

* this is the first time I've come across this site - I'm pretty much just taking the first links I find

Women of color and pay equity
http://www.pay-equity.org/

Census statistics released September 16, 2010 show that the women still earn 77 percent of what men earn, based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers in 2009. Both men's and women's earnings showed slight increases from 2008 to 2009, with men's at $47,127 and women's at $36,278, a difference of $10,849.

Median earnings for most women of color are even lower. In 2009, the earnings of African American were $31,824, 67.5 percent of all men's earnings (a slight drop from 67.9 percent in 2008), and Latinas' earnings were $27,181, 57.7 percent of all men's earnings (a slight drop from 57.9 percent in 2008). Asian American women's earnings in 2009 were $42,331, 90 percent of all men's earnings, a drop from 91 percent in 2008. The National Committee on Pay Equity's The Wage Gap Over Time shows how little the wage gap has changed in this century. (See also the fact sheet from the Institute for Women's Policy Research: The Gender Wage Gap 2009.)

I'm sure I could go on - incarceration rates, food "deserts" in our communities of color, health and health outcomes, high school drop-out rates, insurance fees, "red-lining" ... on and on
edit for forgotten link

[Demeter]

99. A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html

On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.

The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.

Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk.

In theory, this group exists to safeguard the integrity of the multi-trillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the dominance of the big banks.

The banks in this group, which is affiliated with a new derivatives clearinghouse, have fought to block other banks from entering the market, and they are also trying to thwart efforts to make full information on prices and fees freely available...

[DemReadingDU]

101. Spitzer: Subpoena Everything!

12/6/10 Subpoena Everything!
The Democratic House should use its final weeks to demand every single document about the bank bailouts.
By Eliot Spitzer

We've learned much this past week about the magnitude of the bailout of our financial institutions and had many of our worst fears confirmed by recent economic data. It turns out that the Federal Reserve delivered an astonishing $9 trillion in short-term loans during 2008-09. That is not a misprint. Trillion. Goldman Sachs: $590 billion; Citibank: $1.8 trillion; GE: $16 billion. The magnitude of these wealth transfers has not been fully grasped or even fully discussed in the public arena.

Yet despite the enormity of this Fed rescue, our economy has stalled. As many predicted, bailing out the banks is not the same as improving the economy. While capital is making huge sumswatch the size of this year's Wall Street bonuses—unemployment is stuck at 9.8 percent and our core sectors are suffering. Meanwhile, IPOs in Asia have raised about three times as much as IPOs in the United States this year. As an indicator of future growth, this does not bode well.

In addition to the other crises that surround us, we have a crisis of transparency. What's shocking about the bailouts is what we still don't know about them. We don't know what the banks knew about impending risks as the events unfolded. We don't know what the government officials who extended these loans asked before they handed over trillions of your dollars.

Just as I have little confidence anymore that we are given accurate information about the reality of conditions in Afghanistan, so I lack any confidence that the government officials in charge have been anything close to honest about the reality of the bailouts. Remember, part of the reason we passed fundamentally inadequate financial reform legislation is that the folks at the center of these events—Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt—fought vigorously to keep from the public the critical information about the loans and support they received.

So here is my proposal: In the waning days of the Democratic majority in the House, the relevant committees should require testimony from each of these individuals and subpoena every company that received more than $50 billion of loans and require that all their relevant accounting documents—sufficient to understand their condition at the end of each quarter in 2007, 2008 and 2009 be made public. The House should also subpoena and make public all e-mails between these companies and any government agency, about the need for financial support and the prospects for the company absent federal assistance. (I should note that the equivalent documents about the AIG bailout have still not been made available.)

These central figures have been given a free pass about the events surrounding one of the largest, most secret wealth transfers in history. The lines of inquiry are obvious, and the information provided by the release of this data will be fascinating.

Do not forget: Virtually all the major players who brought us into the crisis are still there: the government officials, the CEOs, the investment bankers. The permanent plutocracy has survived unscathed. At a minimum, American citizens are entitled to know what happened.

http://www.slate.com/id/2276916/

[Demeter]

107. +1000

Just on general principles.

[bread_and_roses]

109. I'll second that

However scummy Spitzer's personal life, I always thought it totally ridiculous that anyone would suppose it was any scummier than probably 99% of the powerful... and while he wasn't going to live up to much as Gov, he was known as "the Sheriff of Wall St" which I hoped would mean something - and as far as I was concerned, that was the reason behind his exposure.

I sure as hell trust his take more than that of the establishment apologists around here who are telling us that the TARP was a great thing and all paid back at no cost to the taxpayers!

[Demeter]

102. Vatican Bank mired in laundering scandal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9402966

This is no ordinary bank: The ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.

Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it's under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize euro23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal. (THAT'S PEANUTS! WHAT ARE THEY WORRIED ABOUT?)

The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital." The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.(THIS IS ITALY, GET OVER IT!)

The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew euro650,000 ($860 million) from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed...Yet the scandal is hardly the first for the centuries-old bank. In 1986, a Vatican financial adviser died after drinking cyanide-laced coffee in prison. Another was found dangling from a rope under London's Blackfriars Bridge in 1982, his pockets stuffed with money and stones. The incidents blackened the bank's reputation, raised suspicions of ties with the Mafia, and cost the Vatican hundreds of millions of dollars in legal clashes with Italian authorities.

On Sept. 21, financial police seized assets from a Vatican Bank account at the Rome branch of Credito Artigiano SpA. Investigators said the Vatican had failed to furnish information on the origin or destination of the funds as required by Italian law...The bulk of the money, euro20 million ($26 million), was destined for JP Morgan in Frankfurt, with the remainder going to Banca del Fucino...Prosecutors alleged the Vatican ignored regulations that foreign banks must communicate to Italian financial authorities where their money has come from. All banks have declined to comment.

In another case, financial police in Sicily said in late October that they uncovered money laundering involving the use of a Vatican Bank account by a priest in Rome whose uncle was convicted of Mafia association...Authorities say some euro250,000 euros, illegally obtained from the regional government of Sicily for a fish breeding company, was sent to the priest by his father as a "charitable donation," then sent back to Sicily from a Vatican Bank account using a series of home banking operations to make it difficult to trace.
.............................................................................

The Vatican Bank was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets destined for religious or charitable works. The bank, located in the tower of Niccolo V, is not open to the public, but people who use it described the layout to the AP.

Top prelates have a special entrance manned by security guards. There are about 100 staffers, 10 bank windows, a basement vault for safe deposit boxes, and ATMs that open in Latin but can be accessed in modern languages. In another concession to modern times, the bank recently began issuing credit cards.

In the scandals two decades ago, Sicilian financier Michele Sindona was appointed by the pope to manage the Vatican's foreign investments. He also brought in Roberto Calvi, a Catholic banker in northern Italy...Sindona's banking empire collapsed in the mid-1970s and his links to the mob were exposed, sending him to prison and his eventual death from poisoned coffee. Calvi then inherited his role.

Calvi headed the Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in 1982 after the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans made to dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

Calvi was found a short time later hanging from scaffolding on Blackfriars Bridge, his pockets loaded with 11 pounds of bricks and $11,700 in various currencies. After an initial ruling of suicide, murder charges were filed against five people, including a major Mafia figure, but all were acquitted after trial.

While denying wrongdoing, the Vatican Bank paid $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

Both the Calvi and Sindona cases remain unsolved.

[Demeter]

103. Some Lenders Sell Foreclosed Homes Without Obtaining Title

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/some-lenders-sell-foreclosed-homes-without-obtaining-title.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

When you thought you’d seen every possible stuff-up in mortgage land, a new one comes to light.

When the housing market correction started, most savvy observers pointed out that prices needed to revert to long-term relationships with rentals and income levels. And many have also pointed out that it is reasonable to expect prices to overshoot on the downside.

The powers that be have been trying to forestall the inevitable that by using super low interest rates and purchases of mortgage backed securities to keep mortgage borrowing rates low, making housing more affordable. It isn’t clear how productive that massive effort has been. Not only have banks have tightened up on lending standards (which was warranted) but smart buyers might be worried about financing homes when rates are artificially low. When intervention ceases as inflation picks up and the Fed starts to mop up liquidity, the rise in mortgage rates may prove to be disproportionate to the increase in inflation, dampening appreciation.

But with these ongoing large-scale subsidies, and the almost certain prospect of banks pressing for continuing favored treatment (recall, for instance, the “securitization market is TBTF” argument by American Securitization Forum president Tom Deutsch), it’s disturbing to see members of the financial services industry continue, through incompetence and an undue focus on cost containment, take actions that are detrimental to the housing market.

Evidence of the latest self-inflicted wound comes via e-mail from Lisa Epstein of ForeclosureHamlet.org, namely that some lenders, such as Fannie Mae, had not obtained title to foreclosed properties before selling them out of foreclosures. There’s already been a hue and cry over possible clouded title due to the discovery of errors and corners-cutting, particularly the electronic mortgage registry MERS producing an inability to verify the chain of title (and MERS being so loosely run as to raise questions about the integrity of its data). In classic “shoot the messenger” behavior, people who have pointed out these issue have been criticized for publicizing these failings and arguably hurting the housing market. But this is tantamount to arguing that the media should hide information about serious auto defects because it might hurt GM.

While the latest fiasco has been reported in Orlando, it isn’t hard to believe that the same problems exist in other parts of the US, since Fannie, Freddie, and outsourced servicer process managers like LPS worked to implement standardized processes to the extent state real estate laws permitted....

[Demeter]

104. WOW – Is Lee County Foreclosure Court Above the Law?

http://4closurefraud.org/2010/12/06/wow-is-lee-county-foreclosure-court-above-the-law/

Now a Judge is flat out saying that the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply!
Florida Rules of Civil Procedure
1.510 Summary Judgment

e) Form of Affidavits; Further Testimony. Supporting and opposing affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein. Sworn or certified copies of all papers or parts thereof referred to in an affidavit shall be attached thereto or served therewith.

Not only does it appear that the judge “withdrew” the defendants motion to dismiss, he flat out tells him the Fla.R.Civ.Pro do not apply in his court…

Now check out the order below! SEE LINK

[Demeter]

105. The government has a printing press to produce U.S. dollars at essentially no cost

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/12/parsing-helicopter-speech.html

Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.

Of course, the U.S. government is not going to print money and distribute it willy-nilly (although as we will see later, there are practical policies that approximate this behavior). Normally, money is injected into the economy through asset purchases by the Federal Reserve. To stimulate aggregate spending when short-term interest rates have reached zero, the Fed must expand the scale of its asset purchases or, possibly, expand the menu of assets that it buys. Alternatively, the Fed could find other ways of injecting money into the system–for example, by making low-interest-rate loans to banks or cooperating with the fiscal authorities. Each method of adding money to the economy has advantages and drawbacks, both technical and economic. One important concern in practice is that calibrating the economic effects of nonstandard means of injecting money may be difficult, given our relative lack of experience with such policies. Thus, as I have stressed already, prevention of deflation remains preferable to having to cure it. If we do fall into deflation, however, we can take comfort that the logic of the printing press example must assert itself, and sufficient injections of money will ultimately always reverse a deflation.

-Ben Bernanke, National Economists Club, Washington, D.C. November 21, 2002

What was Bernanke saying here during this now famous speech? First of all, I reckon Bernanke wishes he had never delivered this speech because of how explicit it is about injecting money and depreciating the value of the dollar – and the degree to which today’s monetary policy can be gauged by this speech. This is what is being dubbed "the helicopter speech." This is the one speech Bernanke has given which makes inflation hawks fear quantitative easing. As to the content of the 2002 speech, it is clear that Bernanke was saying that quantitative easing is essentially money printing – i.e. the Fed can "produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost". So let’s get that out of the way first, shall we. You have the Pragmatic Capitalist pointing to Bernanke’s performance last night on 60 Minutes as some sort of proof that QE is not money printing (see here). Yet this is in direct contradiction to Bernanke’s remarks from 2002. What gives? Well, let’s break down the 2002 speech....

[Demeter]

106. It's Precipitating on Me

At 3 AM it was a downpour, which tapered off by 5 AM and shortly turned to slush...not snow, slush. My father's car, with the anti-skid system, performed admirably, going off even before I knew it was needed.

It's supposed to slush all day, accumulating 3-5 inches of snow cone or Slurpie. Unless it freezes, the concert should go off as scheduled tonight.

Since the Younger Kid gave up her route--she needs sleep more than money, now--I have been learning a new route in adverse circumstances. My speed shall improve with time and more efficient routing. Smaller papers after Xmas's frenzy will also help.

AnneD, if you are around, I wonder about the Michelle character on Northern Exposure. Since this sitcom is at least 6 seasons old, it predates Sarah Palin, which Michelle depicts to a T. The character also covers daughter Bristol. I hate to think that such dysfunctional women exist anywhere, but I suppose they have the best chance with the desperate men of Alaska...

[DemReadingDU]

110. After Foreclosure: A Photographer's Requiem for the American Home

a collection of photographs accompanied by background music and commentary by the photographer, John Francis Peters

http://www.time.com/time/audioslide/0,32187,2035734,00.html

[Demeter]

111. It's geting Ugly out there

Temperature's dropping, windchill's rising, snow accumulating...haven't heard any call for cancellation yet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ptttSZfT6M&feature=related