Central Perk

joi, 19 aprilie 2012

Photo: President Obama on the Rosa Parks Bus

Your Daily Snapshot for
Thursday, April 19, 2012

Photo: President Obama on the Rosa Parks Bus

President Barack Obama sits on the famed Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum following an event in Dearborn, Mich., April 18, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Seth's Blog : Bandits and philanthropists

Bandits and philanthropists

The web is minting both, in quantity.

Bandits want something for nothing. They take. They take free content where they can find it. They fight for anonymity, for less community involvement. They want more than their fair share, and they walk past the busker, because they can hear him playing real good, for free.

The spammer is a bandit, stealing your attention because he can get away with it, and leaving nothing in return.

Philanthropists see a platform for giving. They support the tip jar. They argue for community standards and yes, for taxes that are more fair to the community. They support artists online, and when they can, they buy the book.

The artist who creates a video that touches you, or an infographic that informs you--she's giving more than she gets, leaving the community better than it was before she got there.

Both types have been around forever, of course. But the web magnifies the edges. It's easier than ever to be a free rider, to make your world smaller and to take. And easier than ever to be a big time contributor, even if you don't have any money. You can contribute your links or your attention or your energy...

The fascinating thing for me is how much more successful and happy the philanthropists are. It turns out that when you make the world smaller, you get to keep more of what you've got, but you end up earning a lot less (respect, connections, revenue) at the same time.

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

IMF Chief Jackass Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Bank Recapitalisations to Avoid Painful Deleveraging; Mish Says Fire the Parasites and Disband the IMF
Economic Madness; Bank of Japan Threatens More QE to Meet 1% Inflation Target
Hopeless Situation in Spain: New Wave of Defaults as Home Prices Crash; Bad Loans Highest Since Oct '94
Are Oil Embargoes Hurting Iran or the US? Obama Blames Oil Manipulators; Who are the Real Manipulators?

IMF Chief Jackass Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Bank Recapitalisations to Avoid Painful Deleveraging; Mish Says Fire the Parasites and Disband the IMF

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 12:24 PM PDT

Yesterday TrimTabs president & CEO, Charles Biderman, proposed Firing All Government Economists and Disbanding the BLS, BEA and Census Bureau

I countered with ...

"Biderman's proposal a mere down payment on what needs to happen. In addition to getting rid of the BLS, the BEA, and the census bureau, we also need to get rid of the Fed, the department of energy, student loans, crop subsidies, the small business association, Davis-Bacon, prevailing wage laws, collective bargaining, and all sorts of other programs that at best accomplish nothing at tremendous cost, and in most cases do further economic damage because of graft, inefficiencies, and bad reporting."

Neither of us mentioned the ECB, central bankers in general, or the focus of this column, the IMF.

IMF Chief Jackass Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Bank Recapitalisations

Please consider the Financial Times article IMF sees banks deleveraging by $2.6tn

A drastic contraction of European bank balance sheets during the next 18 months could jeopardise financial stability and economic growth in Europe and beyond, according to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund.

In its Global Financial Stability Report, published on Wednesday, the fund warned that European banks looked set to shrink their balance sheets by $2.6tn (€2tn) over that period. Unless officials improved their policy response, the IMF said, European banks would dump almost 7 per cent of their assets by the end of next year.

José Viñals, director of the monetary and capital markets department at the fund, said: "The key is to recapitalise, restructure and resolve."

The warning comes a day after Olivier Blanchard, the fund's chief ~~economist~~ jackass, called for taxpayer-funded bank recapitalisations to be put back on the policy agenda to counter the risk of a painful deleveraging.

Fire the Parasites and Disband the IMF

Did taxpayers force banks to make stupid loans? If not, why should taxpayers bail out the banks and bondholders?

Have the efforts to do that worked so far? Is Greece in better shape? Portugal?

Did housing prices in the US recover after US taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bondholders such as PIMCO?

Take a good look at Iceland. It is recovering because Iceland made banks and bondholders take a hit. Instead, the IMF wants to burden already over-burdened taxpayers so the likes of banks and bondholders (the wealthy class) can be made whole.

Supposedly this will get banks to lend. How can it? Taxpayers have seen prices rise, wages fall, and taxes go up, all of which leaves them in a much worse position to borrow and spend.

Who exactly do these jackasses represent?

The answer is obvious. The IMF is not setup to help countries or taxpayers, it was created to rob countries, rob taxpayers, and generally wreak havoc in times of trouble just so the wealthy class can be bailed out again, and again, and again, whenever the banks and bondholders get in trouble by taking on excessive risk.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Economic Madness; Bank of Japan Threatens More QE to Meet 1% Inflation Target

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 09:26 AM PDT

The last thing Japan really needs is to kick off a bout of inflation. At a mere 2% interest rate or so, interest on its national debt would consume all revenues. Nonetheless, the Wall Street Journal reports BOJ Ready to Take Additional Steps

The Bank of Japan stands ready to take additional steps as needed to achieve its price goal, a deputy governor of the central bank said Wednesday, amid strong expectations it will act at its policy-board meeting next week.

"The bank is committed to implementing additional easing measures if deemed necessary," Kiyohiko Nishimura told business executives in a speech in Okayama, western Japan.

"We will pursue powerful easing through a virtually zero interest-rate policy and asset buying until the 1% goal comes into view," he told business leaders.

Market participants took Mr. Nishimura's comments as confirmation the bank will act at its meeting next week, which will follow close on the meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee on April 24 and 25.

"The BOJ will ease its policy even without the Fed's action. That's the market's understanding. Nishimura's comments today confirmed that," said Atsushi Ito, a senior analyst at UBS Securities in Tokyo

Economic Madness

Japan's aging society benefits from low prices and low taxes. However, politicians want to raise taxes which would tend to strengthen the Yen, while the Bank of Japan wants to print money to weaken the Yen.

If this is not economic madness what is?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Hopeless Situation in Spain: New Wave of Defaults as Home Prices Crash; Bad Loans Highest Since Oct '94

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Bad news upon bad news keeps piling up in Spain as the government still insists it can meet deficit targets without needing a bailout. Anyone with any common sense knows there is no can left to kick.

Reuters reports Spain banks' bad loans highest since Oct '94

Non-performing loans rise to 8.2 pct of portfolios

House prices fall 7.2 pct in Q1

Defaults to keep rising on back of budget cuts

Spanish banks' bad loans rose to their highest level since Oct. 1994 in February, to 8.2 percent of their credit portfolios, Bank of Spain data showed on Wednesday, as the sector continues to battle sliding house prices and a looming recession.

Banks are facing a new wave of loan defaults as an economic crisis deepens and analysts say some may not survive as the government implements sweeping budget cuts that will only add to Spanish households' problems with repaying debt.

Non-performing loans increased by 3.8 billion euros ($4.99 billion) to 143.8 billion euros in February from the previous month. They totalled 7.9 percent of total debt portfolios in January.

That picture - driven by the collapse of a housing boom in the global financial turmoil of 2008 - is at the heart of problems for Spanish banks that have seen other institutions refuse to lend to them and forced some to rely on the European Central Bank for funding.

Hopeless Situation

Back on March 28, my friend Pater Tenebrarum on the Acting Man blog pinged me with the following comments.

The situation is totally hopeless. If banks were to raise their puny loan loss provisions by just 1% of total loan exposure, it would eat 12% of their tangible net asset value.

These banks are completely insolvent. I actually think all of Spain is bankrupt at every level of its society, from households to banks to the government.

Apart from their exposure to €200 billion in 'problem loans' (to developers, consumers and in the form of already foreclosed loans), they have an additional exposure to €1.6 trillion in 'other loans', including mortgages, of which they say only 2.4% are delinquent (a certain bridge in Brooklyn comes to mind).

It looks to me like Spain will become a huge problem for the eurocracy.

Yes indeed, it already has.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Are Oil Embargoes Hurting Iran or the US? Obama Blames Oil Manipulators; Who are the Real Manipulators?

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 01:51 AM PDT

The US and European embargo of Iranian oil is one of the factors behind the stubbornly high price of crude, trumping the huge slump in petroleum demand in the US. Although Iranian oil exports are down 33%, Iran is on a course for its third largest oil-related earnings ever. Thus, the primary beneficiary of high oil prices is Iran.

Rather than blame himself for the absurdity of the situation, president Obama blames oil speculators.

High Oil Prices Shield Iran From Sanctions

The Financial Times reports High Oil Prices Shield Iran From Sanctions.

The Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), a London-based think-tank, estimates that Iran will earn $56bn selling its crude this year – its third-highest earnings ever – even after factoring in the loss of roughly a third of its export volume due to sanctions.

Washington has imposed sanctions to penalise foreign financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, while Brussels has approved a full embargo on Iranian crude oil starting formally from July 1.

The western allies are trying to achieve a difficult balance: hurt Iran enough to force it to negotiate over its nuclear programme, but keep enough oil flowing to avoid a price spike that damages the fragile economic recovery.

"The sanctions are not working," said Olivier Jakob, head of the Swiss-based oil consultancy Petromatrix, in a note to clients. "They are definitely hurting Iran as it limits its [crude oil] exports, but they are also hurting the rest of the world, given that the western powers have not managed to control prices."

Iran has had a hard time repatriating those earnings but Iran's president, says Tehran has enough savings to survive until 2015. "We have as much hard currency as we need, and the country will manage well, even if we don't sell a single barrel of oil for two or three years."

It's difficult to know if that is a bluff or reality. However, artificially high oil prices are certainly not helping the global economy.

Obama Blames Oil Manipulators

Please consider Obama proposes steps to curb oil market manipulation

Facing heat for high gasoline prices, President Obama tried to shift the focus to Congress, Republicans and energy traders, calling for legislation that he said would "put more cops on the beat" to crack down on potential manipulation of the oil market.

Obama called on Congress to provide more money for regulators and increase penalties for market manipulators. The president, flanked by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithnerand Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., suggested that traders and speculators are affecting the price of oil and digging into Americans' pocketbooks.

"We can't afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions while millions of American families get the short end of the stick," Obama said in brief remarks in the Rose Garden on Tuesday. "That's not the way the market should work."

Who is the Real Manipulator?

Multiple ironies abound in Obama's lecture about "market" forces.

Besides Obama's own influence on the price of oil, the Fed artificially holding interest rates low is "not the way the market should work" either.

The very idea that 10 alleged wizards can sit in a room eight times a year and divine the proper interest rate to steer the economy is preposterous. Indeed that is precisely "not the way the market should work" and in fact cannot possibly work.

Proof is easy to find. We have had bubble after bubble after bubble, each with increasing amplitude, each with bank bailouts, each causing greater and greater income disparity, and ultimately culminating in the biggest housing bust in history.

History proves there have are no wizards on the FOMC, only economic and academic jackasses. Yet eight times a year, those jackasses sit in a room and set policy. Worse yet, they are arrogant enough to believe they, not the market, know what is best for the economy.

Then to top it off, we have to listen to an Obama lecture on the market when it is his own policies coupled with inane Fed policies that are the real cause of high oil prices.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Damn Cool Pics

$370000 Lamborghini Aventador Catches Fire On Test Drive
Beautiful Girls of The Israeli Army - Part 3
7-Year-Old Kid Gets to be Batman for a Day
Mobile Gaming on the Rise [infographic]

$370000 Lamborghini Aventador Catches Fire On Test Drive

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 04:54 PM PDT

A Lamborghini Aventador worth $376,000 caught fire during a test drive by a potential buyer on California's Route 73 South.

The man behind the wheel was test-driving the luxury vehicle when a fire broke out around the rear left tire. He pulled the car over to the shoulder and was able to exit the vehicle without injury.

The Lamborghini Aventador can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.9 seconds and is considered one of the most elite vehicles ever manufactured.

Via: Luxury4play

Beautiful Girls of The Israeli Army - Part 3

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 03:00 PM PDT

There are not so many armies where you can see so many girls. Israel Defense Forces, IDF, is one of them and being a man in their army is the best job on the planet. Israeli Girls are pretty tough and most of them have spent two years in the army.

Previous Posts:
Girls of The Israeli Army - Part 1
Girls of The Israeli Army - Part 2

Via: Ar15

7-Year-Old Kid Gets to be Batman for a Day

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 11:37 AM PDT

This weekend local police and fire departments in collaboration with non-profit organization 'A Wish With Wings' made a dream come true for a 7 year old boy named Kye who is battling leukemia. They made him Batman.

He got to apprehend the Joker during a bank robbery, arrest a purse-snatching burglar, foil the Riddler's car bomb plan, and his day ended with the Arlington police chief handing him the key to the city.

Via: Reddit

Mobile Gaming on the Rise [infographic]

Posted: 18 Apr 2012 10:57 AM PDT

Mobile gaming, the most popular app category, is on the rise. Jen Rhee of BusinessDegree.net highlights the fast growth of mobile games, including how long people are playing them (and on which mobile phone platforms), where there's money to be paid, and leading companies in the space.

Click image to see a larger version.

joi, 19 aprilie 2012

Photo: President Obama on the Rosa Parks Bus