January 8, 2009
You cover a lot of ground in 200 pages -- Mexico's "tequila" crisis in the early 1990s, the
Asian financial crisis, the collapse of the Long Term Capital Management, the dot-com and housing
bubbles, and, of course, the great financial crisis of the past year. What do you think is the one
thread that links all these crises together?
Two threads, I think: leverage and the economic fragility it creates, on one side, and the
limits to monetary policy on the other. The collapse of Indonesia or Argentina was all about
leverage, and we've seen that replayed in the collapse of securitization in the United States.
Japan showed us that central bankers can't always save the day, and Ben Bernanke is seeing that
truth right now.
So the answer is to relearn our grandfathers' lessons: Highly leveraged financial
institutions have to be regulated and insured.
January 7, 2009
HONG KONG — China has bought more than $1 trillion of American debt, but as the global
downturn has intensified, Beijing is starting to keep more of its money at home, a move that could
have painful effects for American borrowers.
The declining Chinese appetite for United States debt, apparent in a series of hints from
Chinese policy makers over the last two weeks, with official statistics due for release in the
next few days, comes at an inconvenient time.
When we factor in how much it costs to pay for food stamps and unemployment benefits, the cost
of a bailout seems minor.
January 7, 2009
WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The recession will drive the cost of the U.S. food stamp program,
which helps poor people buy food, to $50 billion this year, up 27 percent from 2008, congressional
forecasters said on Wednesday.
Spending on food stamps rises during economic slowdowns because more people apply for help. The
Congressional Budget Office projected higher unemployment rates for the next few years, although
economic recovery would begin in 2010.
There's some irony in all this. The same banks that worked with the GOP to make it nearly
impossible for average joe to go bankrupt, are now bankrupt (for all practical purposes). It seems
appropriate that they suffer a little after causing so much harm to others when they were down
and it's nice to see they realize they were wrong.
January 9, 2009
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.'s agreement to back legislation that lets bankruptcy
judges cut mortgage rates for at-risk borrowers drew criticism from bank industry lobbyists who
said the compromise with Senate Democrats was flawed.
Citigroup endorsed the bill after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, and
Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin of Illinois, said they will limit the
legislation to existing mortgages, rather than future loans. Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking
Democrat, brokered the deal with Citigroup and sought similar agreements with other lenders.
Just think, our tax dollars are paying for the war crimes Israel is committing.
January 7, 2009
New York, NY (AHN) - A United Nations aid agency on Thursday suspended delivering food to
Palestinians refugees in Gaza Strip after one of its drivers was killed and another was injured by
Israeli gunfire.
The incidents happened when a convoy of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East (UNRWA) picking up supplies at the Erez crossing into Gaza and another convoy
picking up the remains of an UNRWA worker earlier killed by Israeli bombardment came under Israeli
fire despite getting clearance from Israeli authorities and bearing the UN flag.
The US can't complain too loudly because we did the same thing in Iraq.
There's one way to end this conflict within one day. The US should bomb an Israeli military base
for every day this conflict continues. Israel will stop after one bomb.
January 9, 2009
GENEVA (AP) — The international Red Cross accused Israel on Thursday of "unacceptable"
delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling where they eventually
found 15 dead and 18 wounded, including young children too weak to stand.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, said the Israeli army
refused rescuers permission to reach the site in the Zeitoun neighborhood for four days.
Ambulances could not get to the neighborhood because the Israeli army had erected large earthen
barriers that blocked access.
The economy continues to collapse at an unprecedented rate.
January 9, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people continuing to seek unemployment benefits has risen
sharply, according to government data released Thursday, indicating that laid-off workers are
having a harder time finding new jobs as the recession enters its second year.
The Labor Department also reported that initial applications for unemployment insurance dropped
by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 467,000 for the week ending Jan. 3. Wall Street economists
expected initial claims to increase, but analysts said the new figure reflects the difficulty the
government has in making seasonal adjustments over the holiday period.
Israeli war crimes continue/
January 7, 2009
The UN security council debating the Gaza attacks Link to this video
Israel's assault on Gaza has exacted the bloodiest toll of civilian lives yet, when the bombing
of UN schools being used as refugee centres and of housing killed more than 50 people, including
an entire family of seven young children.
January 7, 2009
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Companies in the U.S. eliminated an estimated 693,000 jobs in December,
the most since records began in 2001, a private report based on payroll data showed.
The drop in the ADP Employer Services gauge was larger than the median estimate of economists
surveyed by Bloomberg News. Today's report is the first to reflect methodological changes that ADP
says will narrow the differences between its calculations and the government's payroll
numbers.
The likelihood that US imports will stimulate global recovery continues to decline. When this
mess is over the global economic super power will be China.
January 7, 2009
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's exports slumped by a record 41.9 percent in December on weaker
demand from the U.S. and China for laptops, mobile phones and computer chips.
Shipments fell for a fourth month, extending the longest losing streak in almost seven years,
the Ministry of Finance said in Taipei today. The drop was more than the median estimate of a 30
percent decline in a Bloomberg survey of 13 economists.
For the past 30 years the Fed spent everything it had trying to stop inflation (and causing one
recession after another), but the real problem was the Fed stopping the economy from growing with
all those unneeded recessions. Now the problem is deflation and deflation almost always leads to
depression. There isn't anything the Fed can do to stop deflation. Inflation is easy to kill so
their obsession was unfounded.
January 7, 2009
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve officials revived the prospect of setting an explicit
target for inflation to counter the risk that the worst economic slump in the postwar era will
trigger a broad decline in prices.
The Federal Open Market Committee at its Dec. 15-16 meeting discussed ways to avert deflation
while approving a reduction in the benchmark interest rate to as low as zero, according to minutes
of the gathering released yesterday. The FOMC also considered increasing emergency loans that have
doubled the Fed's balance sheet to $2.3 trillion in the past year.
Policy makers "face considerable uncertainty about how inflation expectations could evolve,"
said Brian Sack, deputy director at Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in Washington and a former Fed
economist. "That enhances the argument for taking the further step and adopting an explicit
inflation objective."
Does anyone still wonder why Palestinians hate Israel?
January 9, 2009
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tiny bodies lying side by side wrapped in white burial
shrouds. The cherubic face of a dead preschooler sticking up from the rubble of her home. A man
cradling a wounded boy in a chaotic emergency room after Israel shelled a U.N. school.
Children, who make up more than half of crowded Gaza's 1.4 million people, are the most
defenseless victims of the war between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli army has unleashed
unprecedented force in its campaign against Hamas militants, who have been taking cover among
civilians.
What took him so long? Has he spent the past eight years reading US newspapers and watching US
network news?
January 3, 2009
BAGHDAD, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced
the policies of President George W. Bush as an "utter failure" that gave rise to the sectarian
venom that ravaged his country.
In an interview published on Saturday in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Allawi found
fault with American management of Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as well as the
government of present Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The idea that governors know how to govern has been pretty much destroyed by this crisis.
January 2, 2009
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide
$1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and
infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.
The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats --
said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a
meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain
services in the face of slumping revenues.
The Fed is filled with idiots who got us into this mess in the first place so it probably
doesn't matter what they think.
January 5, 2009
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve officials, after taking the historic step of cutting the
benchmark interest rate to as low as zero, are calling for greater government spending to help
revive the U.S. economy.
San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen said yesterday at an economics conference in San
Francisco that "it's worth pulling out all the stops" with an economic recovery package. Charles
Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, told the same gathering he believes a "big stimulus is
appropriate."
The legacy of conservative government is trillion dollar deficits for "as far as the eye can
see."
January 3, 2009
Warning of $1 trillion deficits "for years to come," President-elect Barack Obama and
congressional Democrats on Tuesday vowed to eschew pork-barrel spending in the giant economic
stimulus bill, a rare move in a place where large spending bills are routinely larded up with
earmarks.
"What I'm saying is, we're not having earmarks in the recovery package, period," Mr. Obama told
reporters, calling his election a mandate to force the federal government to change its budgeting
and spending, slash broken programs and prevent pork.
December 31, 2008
In a mere 12 months, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 4,488.43 points, or 33.8 percent,
its most punishing loss since 1931. Blue chips like Bank of America, Citigroup and Alcoa lost more
than 65 percent of their value. The broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index sank 39.5
percent, almost exactly matching its decline in 1937.
All told, about $7 trillion of shareholders' wealth — the gains of the last six years
— was wiped out in a year of violent market swings.
Israel is hiding something, that's a given. What is that 'something' it doesn't want the rest
of the world to see? War crimes?
January 2, 2009
EREZ CROSSING, Israel – Israel maintained its ban on foreign journalists entering the
Gaza Strip Friday despite a recent Supreme Court order to allow a limited number of reporters to
enter the territory.
The ban has been in place since a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began to fray on Nov. 5.
Israel eased the ban last month but tightened it again after launching its air offensive against
Gaza's Hamas rulers a week ago.
President-Elect Obama hasn't said a word about the war crimes committed by Israel yet. What is
he waiting for? Change to hit him in the face with a 2x4?
January 2, 2009
GAZA (Reuters) – The civilian death toll climbed in Israel's air offensive against the
Gaza Strip on Friday and Palestinian Islamists vowed revenge for the killing of a senior Hamas
leader and his family.
There was no sign of a ceasefire on the seventh day of the conflict, in which at least 425
Palestinians have been killed and 2,000 wounded, but a Palestinian official told Reuters that
Egypt had begun exploratory talks with Hamas to halt the bloodshed.
January 3, 2009
The federal government has agreed to sell the skeleton of IndyMac Bank, the aggressive
California mortgage lender whose July failure portended the autumn crisis of the financial system,
to a group of private investors.
It is the first failed bank in almost two decades that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has
sold to a buyer outside the banking industry, underscoring both the dearth of banks able to bid
and the increased interest of wealthy investors in the ailing but historically lucrative
industry.
January 2, 2009
NEW YORK — Signs grew that the economy could turn even weaker in 2009, as an index of
December manufacturing activity sank to its lowest point in 28 years. Every corner of the sector
was down, from bakeries to cigarette-makers to aluminum smelters.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Friday its
manufacturing index fell to 32.4 in December, a greater-than-expected decline from November's
reading of 36.2. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the reading to
fall to 35.5.
Why doesn't this journalist know who was in the Mosque? Because journalists are banned from
Gaza so they have to wait until Israeli propagandist tell them what to write.
January 3, 2008
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli airstrike on a
mosque in the Gaza Strip has killed 10 people and wounded dozens.
It was not immediately clear whether the dead were Hamas militants. The mosque is named after a
founder of Hamas who was killed by Israel in 2004.
The medical officials say more than 30 people were wounded in Saturday's airstrike in the
northern town of Beit Lahiya. At least seven are in critical condition.
Impeachable Offense
January 1, 2009
If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the
unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the
2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to "make appointments based
on loyalty first and expertise second."
Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. "Government is
not the solution to our problem," declared Ronald Reagan. "Government is the problem." So why
worry about governing well?
December 25, 2008
U.S. President George Bush, in an unusual move, has reversed one of 19 pardons that he issued
on Tuesday.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement Wednesday the president acted based
on information that has subsequently come to light in the case of convicted Brooklyn, New York
developer Isaac Robert Toussie.
December 25, 2008
American International Group retired $16 billion in credit default swaps, the contracts that
almost caused the company's collapse, after buying the underlying securities with help from the
Federal Reserve.
The fund created by the Fed and AIG to protect the insurer's customers from losses has now
purchased collateralized debt obligations with a face value of about $62.1 billion, the firm said
in a statement.
December 24, 2008
Federal regulators will permit the financing arm of General Motors to become a bank and gain
access to billions of dollars in government aid, a crucial step that will help ensure the survival
of the company.
In a 4 to 1 vote, the Federal Reserve Board approved GMAC's application to transform itself
into a bank holding company "in light of the unusual and exigent circumstances" affecting the
financial markets. The move will allow GMAC to tap as much as $6 billion in government bailout
money. The approval came as GMAC bondholders were facing a Friday deadline to vote to approve a
complex transaction that would significantly reduce the company's outstanding debt.
One of these quotes if off target. Barney Frank wanted to use Fannie and Freddie to buy up bad
mortgages in order to stop this crisis from happening. What was he supposed to say? That Fannie
and Freddie were not sound?
December 24, 2008
1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days
to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" —Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing
Letter, Mar. 27, 2008
At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December
it was at 8,500.
2. AIG (AIG) "could have huge gains in the second quarter." —Bijan Moazami, analyst,
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008
AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over
in September by the U.S. government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.
3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM) are fundamentally
sound. They're not in danger of going under…I think they are in good shape going forward."
—Barney Frank (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008
December 30, 2008
Palestinians in Gaza believed Israel had called a 48-hour lull in retaliatory attacks with
Hamas when Israel Air Force warplanes launched a massive bombardment of militant installations in
the Gaza Strip, a UN official said Monday.
Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner of the UN Relief and Works Agency which helps Palestinian
refugees, raised the possible violation of an informal truce in a video press conference with UN
reporters from her base in Gaza.
December 31, 2008
Regional bank Fifth Third Bancorp said Wednesday it received $3.4 billion as part of the
government's $700 billion bank investment program.
The government investment, administered by the U.S. Treasury Department, is part of a broader
program to invest in banks amid the ongoing credit crisis in an effort to stabilize the financial
services sector and spur lending between banks and to consumers and other businesses.
|
|
December 31, 2008
New York Community Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday it was approved to receive $596 million as part
of the government's $700 billion bank investment program.
The government investment, administered by the U.S. Treasury Department, is part of a broader
program to invest in banks amid the ongoing credit crisis in an effort to stabilize the financial
services sector and spur lending between banks and to consumers and other businesses.
December 15, 2008
The Labor Department said initial filings for state jobless benefits fell to 492,000 for the
week ended Dec. 27, a decline of 94,000 from the 26-year high of 586,000 claims a week
earlier.
Economists were expecting jobless claims to slip to 575,000, according to a consensus survey by
Briefing.com.
It's the first time claims were below 500,000 since the week ended Nov. 1, when the government
reported 481,000 initial claims. So far this year, job losses have totaled 1.9 million.
December 30, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A key measure of consumer confidence fell to an all-time low in
December amid a dismal job market and uncertain outlook for the new year.
The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer
Confidence Index fell to 38 in December from the downwardly revised 44.7 in November.
Those of us who've been following this crisis since 2007 know it's bad - really, really bad and
with almost certainty we can say the US going through a period of long-term decline. But collapse?
Not likely...at least not now. If the GOP puts up barriers to Obama's reforms, it could and
probably will happen but not the way Panarin predicts.
December 15, 2008
Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the
Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions,
lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia
relations.
But it's his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in
recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the
global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin's views also fit neatly with the Kremlin's narrative that
Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when
many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into
separate territories.
Imagine if the supporters of this war paid for it with higher taxes. Imagine the GOP becoming
responsible. Sure it's a dream and the problem with dreams is they hardly ever become real.
Impeachable Offense
December 26, 2008
The news that President Bush's war on terror will soon have cost the U.S. taxpayer $1 trillion
- and counting - is unlikely to spread much Christmas cheer in these tough economic times. A trio
of recent reports - none by the Bush Administration - suggests that sometime early in the Obama
presidency, spending on the wars started since 9/11 will pass the trillion-dollar mark. Even after
adjusting for inflation, that's four times more than America spent fighting World War I, and more
than 10 times the cost of 1991's Persian Gulf War (90 percent of which was paid for by U.S.
allies). The war on terror looks set to surpass the cost the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, to
be topped only by World War II's price tag of $3.5 trillion.
The cost of sending a single soldier to fight for a year in Afghanistan or Iraq is about
$775,000 - three times more than in other recent wars, says a new report from the private but
authoritative Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. A large chunk of the increase is a
result of the Administration cramming new military hardware into the emergency budget bills it has
been using to pay for the wars. (See pictures of U.S. troops in Iraq)
Impeachable Offense
December 10, 2008
Since it invaded Iraq in 2003, the U.S. has detained thousands of juveniles---some of whom were
tortured and sexually abused, according to published reports. Figures of the number of children
behind bars vary. Some estimates put the number as high as 6,000.
While the criminal abuse of male prisoners at Abu Ghraib is well known, child and women
prisoners held there have also been tortured and raped, according to Neil Mackay of Glasgow's
Sunday Herald. Abu Ghraib prison is located about 20 miles west of Baghdad.<
December 23, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US economy shrank in the third quarter, official data confirmed
Tuesday, as the IMF's top economist warned of a second Great Depression offering no respite from
relentless gloom ahead of Christmas.
The abrupt 0.5-percent contraction of gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's largest
economy was seen as marking the start of a steep downturn for the United States after GPD growth
of 2.8 percent in the second quarter.
Impeachable Offense
December 23, 2008
A senior federal banking regulator approved a plan by IndyMac Bank to exaggerate its financial
health in a May federal filing, allowing the California company to avoid regulatory restrictions
only two months before it collapsed, a federal inquiry has found.
The same regulatory agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, allowed similar legerdemain by
other banks, according to a letter sent yesterday to members of Congress by the Treasury
Department's inspector general, Eric Thorson. The letter did not provide details about the other
incidents.
Impeachable Offense
December 20, 2008
As early as 2006, top advisers to Mr. Bush dismissed warnings from people inside and outside
the White House that housing prices were inflated and that a foreclosure crisis was looming. And
when the economy deteriorated, Mr. Bush and his team misdiagnosed the reasons and scope of the
downturn; as recently as February, for example, Mr. Bush was still calling it a "rough patch."
"There is no question we did not recognize the severity of the problems," said Al Hubbard, Mr.
Bush's former chief economics adviser, who left the White House in December 2007. "Had we, we
would have attacked them."
Looking back, Keith B. Hennessey, Mr. Bush's current chief economics adviser, says he and his
colleagues did the best they could "with the information we had at the time." But Mr. Hennessey
did say he regretted that the administration did not pay more heed to the dangers of easy lending
practices. And both Mr. Paulson and his predecessor, John W. Snow, say the housing push went too
far.
Warren is a religious man and because he holds this title, he's allowed to lie. The fact that
Obama embraces liars doesn't bode well for our future. He should call Warren a liar and leave it
at that.
December 20, 2008
Summary: In a Dateline NBC report on Rev. Rick Warren, after noting Warren's support for
California's Proposition 8, co-host Ann Curry reported that "Warren says he joined the fray out of
a concern that if Proposition 8 wasn't passed, pastors would lose their right to preach about the
biblical definition of marriage." Curry then added, "But many constitutional experts say that fear
was totally unfounded, and gay rights leaders saw Warren's stance as an infringement on their
civil rights." Curry had uncritically reported the previous day that Warren "was worried that this
Proposition 8 would prevent him from getting up on the pulpit and speaking out against same-sex
marriage."
Obama thinks too highly of dumb conservatives.
December 15, 2008
To understand how angry and disappointed many Democrats are that Barack Obama has invited
evangelical preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inaugural, imagine if a
President-elect John McCain had offered this unique honor to the Rev. Al Sharpton -- or the Rev.
Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. I know, it's hard to picture: John McCain would never do that in a million
years. Republicans respect their base even when, as in McCain's case, it doesn't really return the
favor.
Only Democrats, it seems, reward their most loyal supporters -- feminists, gays, liberals,
opponents of the war, members of the reality-based community -- by elbowing them aside to embrace
their opponents instead.
December 15, 2008
A downward spiral of prices, earnings and economic activity, it may be the most difficult
problem for officials to fix. Deflation is best remembered for the severe economic hardship it
caused in the United States during the Great Depression.
Financial markets will confront this specter on Tuesday, when U.S. data is expected to show
another monthly drop in prices as the year-old recession cuts into consumer demand for everything
from cars to casual wear and gasoline to groceries.
December 10, 2008
But the 17th floor was Bernie Madoff's sanctum, occupied by fewer than two dozen staff members
and rarely visited by other employees. It was called the "hedge fund" floor, but federal
prosecutors now say the work Mr. Madoff did there was actually a fraud scheme whose losses Mr.
Madoff himself estimates at $50 billion.
According to charges against Mr. Madoff, his firm paid off earlier investors with money from
new investors, fitting the classic definition of a Ponzi scheme. It unraveled as markets declined
and many investors who lost money elsewhere sought to withdraw money from their investments with
Mr. Madoff.
December 15, 2008
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- National Lampoon Inc. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Laikin and six
others were charged with stock manipulation as part of a federal crackdown.
Laikin, 46, conspired to pay kickbacks to a stock promoter to boost shares of National Lampoon,
the Los Angeles-based media company, according to allegations in an indictment filed by acting
U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid in Philadelphia.
December 15, 2008
The fines that the company agreed to pay on the American side of the case — $450 million
to the Justice Department and $350 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission — dwarf
the previous high for a foreign corruption case brought by Washington. That mark of $33 million
was set last year in the case of Baker Hughes, an oil conglomerate that paid a total of $44
million over foreign bribery charges.
Officials said that Siemens, beginning in the mid-1990s, used bribes and kickbacks to foreign
officials to secure government contracts for projects like a national identity card project in
Argentina, mass transit work in Venezuela, a nationwide cellphone network in Bangladesh and a
United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
Impeachable Offense
December 12, 2008
While the Pentagon preps for a new administration, a scandal from an earlier era is rearing its
head.
A Defense Department project, supposedly designed to support U.S. troops, was used instead to
channel millions of dollars to personal friends and allies of its chief. The "America Supports
You," or ASY, program was led in a "questionable and unregulated manner," according to a
Department of Defense Inspector General report, obtained by Danger Room. At least $9.2 million was
"inappropriately transferred" by the project's managers. Much of that money served only to further
promote ASY, instead of assisting servicemembers.
December 15, 2008
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Sentiment among Japan's largest manufacturers fell the most in 34 years,
signaling companies are likely to cancel spending plans and cut more jobs, pushing the economy
further into recession.
An index that measures confidence among large makers of cars and electronics dropped to minus
24 from minus 3, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey showed today. A negative number means
pessimists outnumber optimists.
November 12, 2008
Summary
Continuing economic problems have created budget problems in many
states, leading some 25 states to reduce services to their residents, including some of their most
vulnerable families and individuals. Some 14 states have increased taxes or taken other
revenue raising measures to help mitigate the need for budget cuts.
Examples of enacted cuts to state services include:
- Public health programs: At least 17 states have
implemented cuts that will affect low-income children's or families' eligibility for health
insurance or reduce their access to health care services. For example, Rhode
Island eliminated health coverage for 1,000 low-income parents; New
Jersey cut funds for charity care in hospitals; and California and
Utah are reducing the number of services covered. Additionally, the governor in
California has proposed cuts that, when fully phased in, will cause more than
400,000 adults to be denied health coverage.
Impeachable Offense
December 13, 2008
In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that
in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department "kept inventing numbers of Iraqi
security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! 'We now have 80,000, we now have
100,000, we now have 120,000.' "
Mr. Powell's assertion that the Pentagon inflated the number of competent Iraqi security forces
is backed up by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former commander of ground troops in Iraq, and L.
Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator until an Iraqi government took over in June
2004.
December 10, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankruptcy filings rose 30% during the government's 2008 fiscal
year, which ended Sept. 30, according to figures released Monday by the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts.
Total bankruptcy filings increased by 241,724 cases, or 30%, to 1.04 million in the 12 months
between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008.
December 16, 2008
After a year that saw the collapse of credit markets and the loss of nearly 2 million U.S.
jobs, five out of six financial professionals do not expect business conditions to improve in
2009, according to the newly released 2009 Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Business
Outlook Survey. Fifty-five percent of the more than 800 financial professionals responding to the
survey expect business conditions to continue to weaken during 2009; while 29 percent expect
business conditions to remain the same.
Without access to credit, organizations are taking defensive actions, including: hiring
freezes, layoffs, reduced capital spending, tightening credit standards for trading partners and
the closing of plants and/or offices.
December 16, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Consumer prices dragged down by plunging energy costs fell by a
staggering amount in November, the government reported Tuesday.
The decline marked the second straight month that prices fell by a record amount.
December 16, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Housing permits and starts fell to record lows in November, the
government said Tuesday, in the latest sign that the housing market is continuing its decline.
Housing permits fell more than 15% to an annual rate of 616,000 last month, the Commerce
Department said, while starts slid nearly 19% to an annual rate of 625,000.
December 16, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Goldman Sachs suffered its first loss as a publicly traded company
Tuesday, serving as yet another reminder that no corner of Wall Street has escaped the ongoing
financial crisis.
The once-revered investment bank said it lost $2.1 billion, or $4.97 a share during the fourth
quarter, representing the company's first loss since it went public in 1999. A year ago, Goldman
reported a profit of $3.2 billion, or $7.49 a share.
December 15, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankruptcy filings rose 30% during the government's 2008 fiscal
year, which ended Sept. 30, according to figures released Monday by the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts.
Total bankruptcy filings increased by 241,724 cases, or 30%, to 1.04 million in the 12 months
between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008.
Japanese wages will raise as their workers retire.
December 11, 2008
Hourly wages for United Auto Workers laborers at General Motors Corp. factories actually are
almost equal to those paid by Toyota Motor Corp. at its older U.S. factories, according to the
companies. GM says the average UAW laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota says it pays about
$30 per hour.
GM says its total hourly labor costs are now $69 including wages, pensions and health care for
active workers, plus the pension and health care costs of more than 432,000 retirees and spouses.
Toyota says its total costs are around $48. The Japanese automaker has far fewer retirees and its
pension and health care benefits are not as rich as those paid to UAW workers.
December 2, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Economic conditions deteriorated further across the nation,
according to the Federal Reserve's latest snapshot, suggesting the U.S. central bank may continue
to lower interest rates in the near future.
"Overall economic activity weakened across all Federal Reserve districts," the Fed said
Wednesday in the December edition of its Beige Book, a report on current economic conditions.
How much more evidence do we need that Bush is a war criminal?
Impeachable Offense
December 2, 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama should act from the moment of his inauguration to restore a
U.S. image battered by allegations of torturing terrorism suspects, said a group of retired
military leaders planning to press their case with the president-elect's transition team on
Wednesday.
"We need to remove the stain, and the stain is on us, as well as on our reputation overseas,"
said retired Vice Adm. Lee Gunn, former Navy inspector general.
December 3, 2008
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Non-manufacturing companies in the United States were contracting in
November at the fastest pace on record, according to a survey of companies released Wednesday by
the Institute for Supply Management.
The ISM nonmanufacturing index fell to 37.3% from 44.4% in October. It's the lowest level since
the survey began in 1997.
Readings below 50% in the diffusion index indicate more firms are contracting than expanding.
In November, only one industry - health care - reported growth.
December 10, 2008
TOKYO -- Overseas orders for Japanese machinery dropped in October while deflationary pressure
appeared to increase in the country's corporate sector, according to government data.
The figures suggest that the global slowdown could continue to cut into foreign demand for
Japanese products as domestic demand in the world's second-largest economy remains stagnant. They
also indicate that a sharp drop in world commodity and energy prices might bring deflation back to
Japan's economy, possibly forcing its central bank to cut its policy interest rate lower than the
current 0.3%.
|
