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Old February 19th, 2009 #301
Hugo Böse
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eff64394-f...077b07658.html

Insight: Gold primed to be ‘mania asset’
Steve Ellis February 18 2009

Gold is exhibiting all the classic signs of being in a structural bull market. On fears of inflation in early 2008, it rallied. Then, on fears of deflation in late 2008, it rallied again.

So does gold perform better during inflation or deflation?

In our view, that question is the wrong starting point. On the contrary, the rationale for owning gold, as it once again approaches the $1,000 an ounce level, is the prospect of mounting monetary disorder.

The US Federal Reserve, having flooded the market with liquidity by more than doubling its balance sheet in less than six months, may be unable or unwilling to withdraw it in time for fear of precipitating a secondary relapse in economic activity. Other central bankers will also face intense pressures to “support” their domestic economy by weakening the currency, leading to competitive currency devaluations.

The race to the bottom in fiat currencies has begun and hard assets, particularly gold and silver, should be the primary beneficiaries.

Gold is a prime candidate to become a “mania asset” once its demand becomes chiefly financially driven as opposed to jewellery and/or industrial demand driven where its upside could be capped by “sticker shock”.

In fact, gold is currently one of the few remaining major asset classes where a case could be made for it to rise in a parabolic fashion. Once the psychologically significant $1,000 an ounce is breached convincingly, the speed of the move beyond that level could accelerate sharply. One precondition for a mania is there must be uncertainty about how the asset is properly valued which allows “new era” thinking to take hold. This is very true for gold.

Price explosion might not be imminent, however. Gold is experiencing unprecedented buying by exchange-traded funds, offset by substantially reduced jewellery demand. The fall in the Indian rupee has meant Indian gold prices have reached record levels. This is causing a slowdown in jewellery purchases (even though rupee expenditure levels are holding up, the tonnage of gold imports is suffering).

The long-term story for gold, however, is as a remonetisation play as investors lose faith in fiat currencies. Keep an eye on gold lease rates; a spike would be a good lead indicator that gold is about to punch higher as this would reflect a shortage of lendable bullion. Rising lease rates will cause gold to go into backwardation as holders of gold may not want to sell their gold forward under any circumstances a trend currently evidenced by the high physical premium being paid for gold coins.

Rising lease rates prefigured the last big move in gold back in the spring of 2007 just as the two Bear Stearns hedge funds were blowing up. Central Banks feared counterparty risk for the first time in 20 years and substantially curtailed gold lending and sales. This led to a 40 per cent rally in gold from $700 to over $1,000.

How high can gold ultimately go? A Dow Jones Industrial Average/gold ratio of 2:1 would be a good sign the bull market in gold is getting well advanced. We saw this in 1932 and 1980. Only nine years ago in 2000, however, this ratio reached over 40:1.

Arriving at 2:1 again does not necessarily mean the Dow must decline significantly from here; more likely gold prices surge and the Dow stays range-bound but volatile. Investors are looking for good risk/reward investments.

I cannot say with any confidence that gold will not be without risk and volatility but at least it offers early participants plenty of upside reward to compensate them for the wild ride.
Speaking to central bankers, this is the first time I can recall them actually favouring a high gold price. Normally they see high gold prices as a lack of trust in the financial system (not to mention their ability as central bankers). Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chairman, for example used to target a gold price of around $400 to $500 an ounce.

Recently, the central bankers have become more enamoured of higher gold prices as it would suggest that their attempts to stave off deflation were starting to work.

Central bankers in favour of higher gold prices? Things really have changed.

The writer is manager of the RAB Gold Strategy
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Last edited by Hugo Böse; February 19th, 2009 at 08:24 AM.
 
Old February 19th, 2009 #302
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Not an exceptional day on the Street but a good number nonetheless.



 
Old February 19th, 2009 #303
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Originally Posted by Peer Fischer View Post
Not an exceptional day on the Street but a good number nonetheless.



Indeed it is. We witness the unraveling of the jew in the Kwa.
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Old February 19th, 2009 #304
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bailout backlash:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29288463

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29286398
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Last edited by Joe_J.; February 19th, 2009 at 09:43 PM.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #305
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U.S. Stocks Tumble, Sending Dow Below Lowest Close in 11 Years

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below its lowest close since 1997, as concern deepened that the government will need to take over struggling banks. Treasuries rallied and gold climbed above $1,000 an ounce.

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., which combined have received more than $90 billion in federal aid, slid more than 32 percent on concern nationalization will wipe out shareholders. Europe’s benchmark index sank to a six-year low, and Japan’s Topix plunged to the lowest since 1984.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index decreased 3 percent to 755.38 at 1:20 p.m. in New York and is down more than 8 percent on the week. The Dow fell 204.86 points, or 2.7 percent, to 7,261.09.

“There’s so much uncertainty and a decent chance of the worst case, nationalization, that it’s complete speculation to mess with Citigroup and Bank of America,” said Edwin Walczak, head of U.S. equities at the American unit of Vontobel Holding AG of Switzerland. “The price is telling you that.” Vontobel’s U.S. unit manages $6 billion.

Stocks dropped yesterday as Hewlett-Packard Co. cut its profit forecast and concern about rising credit-card defaults dragged financial shares to the lowest level since 1995. The S&P 500 has lost 15 percent in 2009 as companies from Microsoft Corp. to Procter & Gamble Co. reported disappointing earnings and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner failed to convince investors that his plan to rescue banks will work.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...eCY&refer=home
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #306
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My estimates of the likely floor of DJIA for 2009 puts it at 6000.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #307
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The low made on 23 Nov has been broken. There will be blood tonight, I can't wait.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #308
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Originally Posted by fdtwainth View Post
My estimates of the likely floor of DJIA for 2009 puts it at 6000.
The economy will be well served indeed if the floor can hold to at least 6000.
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Old February 20th, 2009 #309
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Default White House Response.

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Originally Posted by deathtozog View Post

Friday, Feb 20
White House Responds to Santelli's Outburst

Quote:
A few minutes ago, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded to CNBC's Rick Santelli and his outburst which tapped into populist anger over some of the policies of the month-old Obama Administration.
CBS's Chip Reid asked Gibbs, referring to "that cable rant," about the Obama mortgage plan. Gibbs:
I've watched Mr. Santelli on cable the past 24 hours or so. I'm not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives. But the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their jobs, pay their bills, send their kids to school, hope they don't get sick or somebody they care for gets sick and sends them into bankruptcy. I would be more than happy to have him come here and read [the mortgage plan]. I'd be happy to buy him a cup of coffee. Decaf. (laughter)
But I also think it's tremendously important that for people who rant on cable television to be responsible and understand what it is they're talking about. I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about.
Santelli's rant was quickly picked up on Drudge (where it still resides) and has since gone viral. CNBC responded to a flood of Web traffic by adding a poll on the subject.
Santelli, who covers the CBOT and Mercantile Exchange, didn't back down one bit in an appearance on NBC's hometown station WMAQ:

...Nor in an appearance on the Today show this morning. Although at one point Santelli said, "Maybe I could have chosen some words better, but I think at the end of the day, what this boils down to is you have to treat everybody fairly."
.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;} Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So, what did the rant heard 'round the world do for CNBC.com's traffic?
A lot. A record-breaker. Leaving Cramer's "Bernanke" rant from August '07 in the dust.
WebNewser has the details...
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/...rst_109226.asp

Issue Volume Price Chg % Chg
BankAm (BAC) 424,967,530 2.87 -1.06 -27.03
Citigroup (C) 358,408,264 1.76 -0.75 -29.88
WellsFargo (WFC) 199,882,668 9.01 -3.00 -24.98
GenElec (GE) 192,244,328 9.15 -0.91 -9.05
JPMorgChas (JPM) 67,163,121 19.04 -1.56 -7.57
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Last edited by Joe_J.; February 20th, 2009 at 03:18 PM.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #310
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Originally Posted by notmenomore View Post
The economy will be well served indeed if the floor can hold to at least 6000.
This year, yes, as the economic stimuli will postporn the collapse of the financial system and the collapse of the real economy for one year and a half. Then the collapse of the financial system and the real economy will continue even stronger.

Last edited by fdtwainth; February 20th, 2009 at 03:28 PM.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #311
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Oil at $38.94 at 3:42 EST. I couldn't have imagined even six months ago that oil would shake out so low.

Jews putting squeeze on arab oil nations? I wonder.
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Old February 20th, 2009 #312
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Originally Posted by deathtozog View Post
Oil at $38.94 at 3:42 EST. I couldn't have imagined even six months ago that oil would shake out so low.
That's not low. The intrinsic value of the barrel of oil under current economic forecasts is USD20.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #313
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Originally Posted by fdtwainth View Post
That's not low. The intrinsic value of the barrel of oil under current economic forecasts is USD20.
We have a Disneyland, judeo economy here. We are used to thinking within that paradigm.
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Old February 20th, 2009 #314
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Default Gone in 60 Days: Citi and Bank of America Won’t Live to See May

Quote:
Gone in 60 Days: Citi and Bank of America Won’t Live to See May
Thursday, February 19, 2009 16:21

Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) won’t live to see May. The government will take them over within the next 60 days. The announcement may come as soon as tomorrow evening.

If there’s one thing our readers know, it’s that ChartingStocks.net has made some bold calls in the past which seemed controversial and highly unlikely at the time. Our January 2007 post warned of the coming stock market crash at a time when the market was making new all time highs. In February 2007 we warned about the breakdown of the brokerage stocks and singled out Bear Stearns (Trading at $160), Merrill Lynch (Trading at $87), and Morgan Stanley (Trading at 78). In September 2007, we warned of a selloff in the coming weeks. The market peak and decline began 4 weeks later.

We’re going to make another bold prediction. Bank of America and Citigroup won’t live to see May. The two banks will be nationalized in the coming weeks, and we think that the announcement can come as soon as tomorrow evening (Friday evenings are when major bank announcements and failures occur).

The US government has already committed half a trillion dollars to these two firms which is more than 10 times the amount it would cost to buy and control both companies. The market doesn’t believe that $500 billion is enough to save these companies.

All the kings horses and all the kings men can’t put humpty dumpty back together again.

Today both banks made fresh new lows with Citi closing at $2.51 and Bank of America closing at $3.93. The 1 year charts below show the short term price movements.

You should understand that when a bank stock’s chart looks like this, even a HEALTHY bank would be in trouble. Nobody wants their deposits tied up in a company that trades at $2. The outflows of deposits from Bank of America and Citi must be catastrophic.


Quote:
Below is the long term view of BAC and C. These stocks have made multi decade lows. Other stock charts which looked similar to these were Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, Bear Stearns.

http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/0...ve-to-see-may/
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Old February 20th, 2009 #315
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Default New Orleans Niggers Still Getting "Emergency" Rent Payments.

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End of rent help is a disaster for many Hurricane Katrina victims
Posted by mrkrupa February 06, 2009 19:45PM

As a longstanding disaster rent subsidy ends this month, thousands of families might be unable to pay their March rent.

Among them is a nursing assistant from Algiers who just got laid off, a Gentilly homeowner who works with the homeless and now fears he could join their ranks, and a disabled St. Bernard Parish man who worked with oil for decades until the fumes scrambled his nervous system.

The federal Disaster Housing Assistance Program, known as DHAP, will no longer pay rent for nearly 15,000 New Orleans-area households and thousands of other families displaced by Katrina, including more than 5,000 in the Houston area. "We don't know what we're going to do. I guess we're going to have to become a burden to our children, " said Charles Ricord, the disabled man from St. Bernard.

On the Bush administration's last day, federal housing officials refused to continue the program. The Louisiana Recovery Authority and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., are pushing for a one-year extension, arguing that New Orleans still faces an acute affordable-housing shortage and that thousands of Louisiana homeowners still await Road Home money.

In a recent letter to President Barack Obama, Landrieu wrote: "It would be remiss of the federal government to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy . . . while we terminate a program housing more than 30,000 people in a region struggling to restore its affordable housing stock."

As many as 80 percent of DHAP tenants might be eligible for permanent Section 8 rental assistance because they're elderly, disabled or impoverished, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the program. But only 300 of the area's 15,000 affected households secured vouchers by this week, officials said. Many renters interviewed for this story didn't know they were eligible.

HUD, along with the Housing Authority of New Orleans, has beefed up the staff for its toll-free phone line, 866.202.3487. The agency can handle as many as 150 appointments a day in the office and more through teams that make home visits, said Dwayne Muhammad of HANO. "Get in here and we'll see you on the spot, " he said.

Still, the sheer number of vouchers at stake might make the task impossible, with three weeks left and Mardi Gras approaching, observers say -- especially since disabled and elderly renters are apt to need more time and help.

Even renters who emerge with vouchers have more work to do. If their landlords accept vouchers, HANO still must inspect each unit and sign a contract, which usually takes at least two weeks.

'We don't want to unpack'

Charles and Cynthia Ricord moved into a house near the Murphy Oil plant in July, supported by DHAP, since their only income is his $637 monthly disability check. On one wall are family photos. All else remains in boxes.

"We don't want to unpack, " he said. "We don't know when we'll be moving again."

Many tenants who remain on DHAP could be called the neediest of the needy, because the program took in the last Katrina holdouts living in hotels and in FEMA trailers. For some, the past three years have been a turbulent sequence of moves between temporary homes, made worse by illness, depression, meager resources and shattered support networks.

The Ricords, who ran a successful but uninsured oil recycling business before Katrina, lived in Texas and Mississippi motels before returning to St. Bernard. They've stayed inside a tent, a garage, a FEMA trailer and an apartment where sewage ran under the floor.

They had begun to repair the home they lived in before Katrina, making payments on it as part of a lease-to-own deal. But last year, their landlord evicted them without explanation, they said.

The house was across the pasture from where they grew up as neighbors, before her rheumatoid arthritis made it hard to fold laundry and before he was diagnosed with nerve damage that causes him to clench his fists in pain, even when he's taking painkillers. "It seems like a lifetime ago, " he said.

No one is hiring

D'Antionette Johnson got the call from her supervisor on Wednesday, and her heart sank. Her employer had laid off a group of people, including her.

She has been trying to land a job as a nursing assistant. But few, if any, are hiring, she said.

After Katrina, a helicopter rescued Johnson, clutching her toddler daughters, from a roof in the Lower 9th Ward, where she had rented a one-bedroom apartment for $150 a month. They began a nomadic life, mostly following relatives who can keep her daughters while she works.

Before her apartment in Algiers, the family lived with an aunt in Baton Rouge, cousins in Houston, and in three different places in New Orleans.

Her girls -- Darreion Johnson, 9, and Laureion Johnson, 8 -- have now attended nearby Harriet Tubman Elementary School since March, their longest stay in the same place since the storm, she said. She hopes to get help there for her younger daughter, whose sweet disposition changed after the storm.

Lately, Johnson has earned about $800 a month, the same amount DHAP paid for her apartment. Inside, there's almost no furniture except a flowered couch, salvaged from the street. The girls sleep on the couch, Johnson on the floor.

Johnson graduated atop her high school class, got her nursing assistant's certificate when she was 19, and has always worked hard to provide for her children, she said.

She hopes to pay her own rent again, she said. But not by March 1. "I can do it if I have a little more time, " she said.

'I have to make a decision'

Last fall, FEMA relocated Clarence White from the trailer he had set up in front of his Gentilly house, citing potential formaldehyde exposure.

He's now in an apartment, paid for by DHAP, in the Irish Channel. But the house he owns is only half rebuilt because of Road Home delays, a bad contractor and the incessant demands of his job as a caseworker for the homeless.

White helped house hundreds of people from the city's homeless encampments at Duncan Plaza and underneath the Claiborne Avenue overpass. Most of his monthly salary goes toward his $1,200 mortgage, utilities and other bills.

But DHAP renters who aren't elderly or disabled can get vouchers only if their income is less than 30 percent of the area's median income. Even White's modest paycheck exceeds the threshold of $12,550 a year for a single person.

"By the end of this month, I have to make a decision, " he said. Right now, he's leaning toward living with relatives in Baton Rouge and commuting.

White spends every day working with people who live precariously. He and other caseworkers say thousands of homeless people squat in houses that lack electricity or plumbing.

Only his family saves him from that fate, he said.

Not so wonderful

The Ricords still hope to get a voucher by March 1, with the help of a New Orleans Legal Assistance lawyer. But they aren't sure their landlord will accept it.

The two flip through a photo album they brought when they evacuated on Aug. 28, 2005. Pictures show the family clowning on its boat, Mr. Mac. They're smiling, playing horseshoes and volleyball, boiling crawfish. "It's like we're in the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life, ' " said Charles Ricord.

But in this version, no angel appears to give them the good part back, he said.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2..._disaster.html

Obama saves the day and rescues the chocolate city. LOL, pathetic niggers will never go off the rent subsidy:

Quote:
Voucher processing goes slowly for families in disaster program

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
By Bruce Alpertand Katy Reckdahl Staff writers

The Obama administration is giving a temporary reprieve to the estimated 31,000 families that are scheduled to lose their rental subsidies Feb. 28 under the federal Disaster Housing Assistance Program.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Tuesday that he has decided that there must be a transition period, the details of which are still being worked out, because the agency won't be able to process housing vouchers for all eligible families.

As of last week, the Housing Authority of New Orleans had processed only a few hundred vouchers even though more than 4,000 had been allotted for renters terminated by DHAP.

Donovan also plans to extend eligibility for permanent vouchers to all DHAP renters whose incomes fall below HUD's usual Section 8 income limits. The Bush administration had decided to give vouchers only to the elderly, disabled or extremely low-income families.

"Thank you, Jesus!" said New Orleans Legal Assistance housing-law attorney Laura Tuggle, as she heard of Donovan's decision. Tuggle represents several dozen elderly and disabled DHAP renters, all of whom are eligible for vouchers but are struggling to complete the conversion process ahead of the deadline.

"The time was too tight to transition thousands and thousands of families," she said. She said she hoped that housing authorities and tenants would work together to enroll all voucher-eligible families so that no one will be left without housing when the transition period ends. "We really need to use this time wisely to make sure we have a smooth landing," she said.

Donovan said that HUD might need some additional financing from Congress to extend the program to all those who meet the income requirements, which he believes could qualify half the 31,000.

If HUD uses its standard Section 8 income requirements, vouchers will be offered to working-poor households earning up to 50 percent of an area's median income.

In the New Orleans area, a four-person household making up to $29,900 would now qualify, whereas under the Bush administration standard, a four-person household could earn only up to $17,950.

--- A little extra time ---

But all 31,000 families, including those that have been paying up to $600 a month in rent because their incomes didn't qualify for full federal rent subsidies, would get some additional time to work out alternative housing beyond the current Feb. 28 deadline.

The extra time also helps moderate-income New Orleans homeowners such as Clarence White, who earns too much to qualify for a voucher but can't afford rent on top of his $1,200 monthly mortgage payment for his half-rebuilt Gentilly home, he said.

About 15,000 of the households served by the program live in the New Orleans area, where many eligible Section 8 families have long lived without even a chance at a voucher. At the time Hurricane Katrina hit, the Housing Authority of New Orleans had a Section 8 waiting list that was more than 10,000 names long. The housing authority last accepted new applicants for that list in July 2001.

Donovan said he is working with Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and other members of Congress to gain additional financing for the program, and the response might determine how much additional time HUD will provide.

Landrieu said she had a positive meeting with Donovan on Tuesday and expected to have things resolved in the next few days.

"The Bush administration had made a decision to provide vouchers only to vulnerable families -- elderly, disabled and extremely low-income," Donovan said. "There's a whole group of other families that are eligible for the permanent voucher program that they were not planning to cover. I made a decision to make vouchers available to every eligible family."

--- 'It's fantastic' ---

He said he also quickly determined that HUD had not provided enough time to get vouchers to affected families soon enough for the end of the DHAP program.

"We've got to find some transition for those families that will allow them not to be put at risk because HUD hadn't moved quickly enough to put vouchers in their hands," Donovan said.

Terrol Williams was evacuated from New Orleans after Katrina and, after a short stint at the Washington, D.C., Armory, has been living at an apartment complex near Capitol Hill ever since. There are about 15 New Orleanians living there, all of whom depend on DHAP to help pay their rent, according to Williams.

"This is great news for sure," Williams said of Donovan's announcement.

Josh Bruno, president of Metrowide Apartments in New Orleans, said that he had 150 DHAP tenants in buildings he owned. Before Tuesday's reprieve, many had no way to pay March rent.

"We had a whole lot of people who didn't know where they were going to go," he said. Some were homeowners who'd been fleeced by unscrupulous contractors and others had been working but were laid off because of the poor economy.

"The last thing we wanted to do was massive evictions," Bruno said, applauding Donovan's decision. "It's fantastic and, really, what's needed."
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories...l=1&thispage=2

Quote:
Direct Housing Assistance Extension Option Offered to Katrina and Rita States

Release Date: February 12, 2009

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) temporary housing program for Katrina and Rita individuals and families may, at the request of a state, be extended for an additional 60 days until May 1, 2009. The Katrina/Rita direct housing mission is currently scheduled to end on March 1, 2009.

"We understand the importance of helping states smoothly transition families into a better long-term living environment. Given that, I am authorizing states a 60-day extension, where needed, to provide additional time to successfully coordinate and manage this transition," said Secretary Napolitano.

"This extension opportunity allows FEMA to continue to be responsive to states' needs by providing innovative, flexible and compassionate solutions to help disaster survivors get back on their feet.

While we are proud of the tremendous progress we've made, we won't be satisfied until every disaster survivor has the opportunity to successfully navigate the road to recovery."
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1234456773596.shtm
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Old February 20th, 2009 #316
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Originally Posted by deathtozog View Post
Oil at $38.94 at 3:42 EST. I couldn't have imagined even six months ago that oil would shake out so low.

Jews putting squeeze on arab oil nations? I wonder.
That and/or the Russians.
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #317
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Talking Bank of America?

Quote:
Originally Posted by deathtozog View Post
Did Bank of America buy up some other failed bank about 6 months ago?

About 2 years ago when doing offical paper work with my BAC branch manager I told her that we were going to have the biggest economic collapse since at least the Great Depression and the biggest political shake up since at least the civil war.
Wonder if she's recruitable now for my local WN party cell? She's cute as well as educated. (not to mention probably desperate by now, heh heh heh)
 
Old February 20th, 2009 #318
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Originally Posted by Steve B View Post
That and/or the Russians.
Oil price drops have halted some big construction projects in arab nations.

The only stock market that has been consistently in the green over the past eight months or so has been in Tel Aviv.
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Old February 21st, 2009 #319
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Default Ireland Puts 100K Protestors On The Streets...

About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.

They oppose plans to impose a pension levy on 350,000 public sector workers.

Trade union organisers of the march said workers did not cause the economic crisis but were having to pay for it.

In a statement, the Irish government said it recognised that the measures it was taking were "difficult and in some cases painful".

The pension levy was "reasonable", the government said.

It reflected "the reality that we are not in a position to continue to meet the public service pay bill in the circumstances of declining revenue", it added.

Reports say the plan could cost the 350,000 public sector workers between 1,500 euros and 2,800 euros (£2,500) a year.

High unemployment

There were conflicting estimates of the numbers of people at the march, which began on the north side of Dublin in the middle of the afternoon.


Protesters march in Dublin
Police said 100,000 people were on the streets, while organisers said they expected 200,000 to protest in total.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), which organised the march, said it was campaigning for "a fairer and better way" of dealing with the economic crisis.

"Our priority is about ensuring that people are looked after, the interests of people are looked after, not the interests of big business or the wealthy," Sally-Anne Kinahan, Ictu's secretary general, told the BBC.

I've a mortgage to pay, I've children to put through school, and now I'm being told I have to take cutback, after cutback, after cutback

Irish protester
One protester said he was "sick and tired of the way this government conducts itself and what it's doing to this country".

"I've worked all my life, I've never broke the law, never walked out on strike. Instead I've went to work and done my job," he said.

"I've a mortgage to pay, I've children to put through school, and now I'm being told I have to take cutback, after cutback, after cutback."

Ireland, which was once one of Europe's fastest-growing economies, has fallen into recession faster than many other members of the European Union.

The country officially fell into recession in September 2008, and unemployment has risen sharply in the following months.

The numbers of people claiming unemployment benefit in the Irish Republic rose to 326,000 in January, the highest monthly level since records began in 1967.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/n...nd/7903518.stm
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Old February 22nd, 2009 #320
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Default

Quote:
Citigroup (C) declined 61% from a peak of $4.10 to an intraday low of $1.61 over just 10 trading days. Bluntly put: Citigroup is dead.

Bank of America (BAC) declined 64% from a peak of $7.05 to an intraday low of $2.53 over just 10 trading days. Bluntly put: Bank of America is dead.

Dead actually means dead. It is unlikely they can survive the weekend... and if they do, they most definitely cannot survive the week.

It used to be that bank runs were very public affairs. Crowds would rush the PHYSICAL offices of a stricken bank and demand PHYSICAL withdrawal. The large, panicked and angry mobs would make instant newspaper headlines. More importantly, bank runs could not be covered up and kept secret. Unruly mobs demanding their money don't tend to go quietly into the night.

Today, things are much different. Bank runs occur with a phone call... nah... a click of the mouse. There is absolutely no need to show up at office and demand paper money. Now the bank run is electronic. Without the mob, without the noise and the rage a bank can be entirely drained of reserves almost INSTANTLY.

With Citigroup and Bank of America reeling from massive losses from failed credit and investment policies, their common stock, bonds and credit default swaps are all now signaling their imminent failure.

The single largest investor in Citigroup is Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal. in November 2008 the Saudi prince increased his stake from 4% to 5%, investing an additional $350 million. In January of 2007, Citigroup had a market capitalization of more than $250 billion. As of Friday's close, the ENTIRE bank is worth about $10 billion. The Saudi prince is down 96% on his 4% stake. Put another way, his original stake was worth about $10 billion in January 2007. Today, he could buy the whole damn mess for the same amount. The prince must be absolutely livid over these developments.

The prince is very exposed to Citigroup. Not only is he an investor, he also does extensive business with the bank. The assets and debts of his financial empire flow through Citigroup in the course of normal business operations. Although his financial dealings are very secretive and opaque, it stands to reason that his advisors would insist he manage this risk. Being long the bank via his ownership stake AND conducting business with the bank is now just too risky. It is the equivalent of doubling up or more in terms of risk on the very same trade. If the bank fails, everything fails. His investment and his business exposures both get severely impaired SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Therefore, the only rational action the prince can take is to shift his business AWAY from Citigroup and towards more stable banks. First the most liquid assets, such as cash deposits would be electronically routed to safer banks. Less liquid assets held in trust from stocks to bonds would be next... all the way down to the least liquid or least transferable assets. Second the credit provided by Citigroup would be swapped out. The prince can't be certain that Citigroup will have the ability to honor the requirements as they come due. This would in fact be an electronic run on the bank.

The prince is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. The very action of reducing his exposure to Citigroup actually accelerates the death of the bank. If he does not act, he then runs the risk of being the final bagholder should the bank die anyways. Consequently, he can't act until he has determined beyond a reasonable doubt that the cause is lost. Then and only then will his hand be forced into action.

Unfortunately there will be no angry mob lining up at the bank. Like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the run will be overnight, instant, electronic and leave no trace.

When the tipping point is hit, the world at large won't know until AFTERWARDS.

Big money investors can't run the risk of waiting and hoping that everything will work out just fine. They find themselves in a Prisoner's Dilemma. Since they can't play nice as a team, they have to be first to act... and act they will. The first to panic wins.

Therefore, big money investors must now be pulling their deposits at both Citigroup and Bank of America and they must be doing it quietly and quickly with the click of a mouse. No mobs demanding paper money... just a 'click' and a string of ones and zeros blitzes from one end of the world to another over the internet.

In the immortal words of Charles O. Prince III, the disgraced former Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup;

"When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing."

The music has stopped. Clearly. The dance is over. Time to panic... because the market has signaled quite ominously that Citigroup and Bank of America won't get to a chair in time...

Personally, I'm almost certain there simply aren't enough chairs. There never were.

Consequently, nationalization is guaranteed.
http://benbittrolff.blogspot.com/200...prisoners.html
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The average kwan is of such low quality that he'd shoot himself if he had any self awareness.
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