I don’t know ten percent of what I would need to know to even begin to comprehend whether the clusterfuck Taibbi describes here is accurate. As much as I know about finance it could just be an inbred profession where people run across each other all the time and everyone being connected to Bob Rubin is no more nefarious than the Bill Walsh head coaching tree.
But I don’t know that for a fact, and Taibbi makes a pretty convincing case. And it’s pretty interesting to me that various corners of the liberal blogosphere like OW are so quick to dismiss him. Some of us are too quick to give the president the benefit of the doubt, or to simply say ‘well he’s eons better than McCain would have been,’ and leave it at that.
This is exactly what obama wants. a large Federal Government that is sucking jobs from the private sector. And of course will these Government workers vote for anyone who wants to cut the Federal work force? Of course not. The obama “stimulas” package was all about creating Government jobs and nothing else.
Federal salaries through the roof as unemployment climbs | Washington Examiner.
500 Coal Miners will be out of a job in February and their bosses blamed Environmentalists for closure. CONSUL Energy based in Pittsburgh,PA says The environmentalists who opposed mountaintop mining uses a series of “nuisance” lawsuits.
CONSUL Energy CEO Nicholas J. DeIuliis says the bad economy and environmentalist opposition to mountaintop mining forced the company to cut jobs.
“It is challenging enough to operate our coal and gas assets in the current economic downturn without having to contend with a constant stream of activism in rehashing and reinterpreting permit applications that have already been approved or in the inequitable oversight of our operations,” he said in a statement. “Customers will grow reluctant to deal with energy producers they perceive are unable to guarantee a reliable supply due to regulatory uncertainty. It inhibits the ability to remain competitive.”
The environmental groups that oppose mountaintop mining including The Sierra Club, Ohio Valley Environmentalist Coalition; West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the Coal River Mountain Watch.
OVEC’s Executive Director Janet Keating told the Washington Times she believes CONSOL Energy is using the lawsuit as an excuse to layoff workers, although she says “we don’t hide the fact we don’t like mountaintop mining.”
“The price of coal has dropped in half and I think we are a convenient target, a convenient scapegoat,” she said.
“This ruling does not even go into effect for 60 more days so doesn’t that tell you something?” Ms. Keating added. “Suddenly, all the sudden they are issuing these layoff notices as if the world is ending.”
This is the 2nd part of a speech given by Dr. Ned Hill, Dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs and Keynote Speaker at the 2010 Greater Springfield Chamber Annual Meeting + Business Expo. It was given at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA); thus, he is addressing economic development professionals. The videos are above and beneath the PowerPoint slideshow.
In this 14-minute segment (2 videos), Hill finishes his discussion of the drop in the dollar and moves to the auto industry, where he spends the remainder of the segment, looking at the US auto industry and coming up with some very interesting insights. The first video starts at Slide 13 and continues to Slide 18, where he remains for the second video.
In this week’s Moneycorp Dollar update: Guarded optimism from the Bank of England balances concern about UK government borrowing. US employers report a striking improvement in the jobs situation.
Sterling started last Monday at $1.6550 and passed through that level another four times before the weekend. Investors were no more certain which way to take it than they had been the previous week. They had a look at $1.6350 and $1.6750 but could not make up their minds which looked better. When London opened this morning the pound was trading at its lows.
Sterling began the week as it had ended the previous one; under the microscope. Investors were more relaxed regarding the default of Dubai World and the exposure of UK banks to the firm. However, they were still sensitive about government debt, which is expected to reach 80% of Britain’s economic output before long. Investment bank Morgan Stanley fanned the flames with a research paper. It said ‘In an extreme situation a fiscal crisis could lead to… severe pound weakness and a sell-off in UK government bonds. The Bank of England may feel forced to hike rates to shore up confidence in monetary policy and stabilize the currency, threatening the fragile economy.’ Nobody could accuse Morgan Stanley of pulling its punches.
On the positive side, there were some chinks of light from the Bank of England. Monetary Policy Committee member Adam Posen said in a speech that the UK economy has probably passed its lowest point. His colleague Spence Dale, who is also the Bank’s chief economist, went down a similar track the following day. He told an audience in Essex that ‘the economy appears to have turned’ and ‘we are likely to be moving into a period of renewed expansion.’
For much of the week the economic data coming out of the United States was disappointing. The purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs), compiled from surveys of businesses across the country, operate on a scale of 0-100 where 50 represents the neutral point between falling and rising activity. The PMIs for the manufacturing and services sectors have been rising in recent months, adding to the image of recovery. Last week the figures for November both went down by a couple of points. The manufacturing index dropped to 53.6 while the services sector measure fell back below the boom/bust divide to 48.7.
It was a very different story on Friday with what is probably the most important economic statistic to investors; US non-farm payrolls. The tally of US jobs created or lost each month is seen as a critical pointer to how the US economy – and therefore the world economy – is doing. Analysts expected the November figure to continue the trend of the previous two years of job destruction, this time to the tune of around -120,000 jobs. When a figure of -11,000 appeared on their screens traders stared in disbelief, thinking it must be a typo. It was not, and to put icing on the US economy’s cake the October number was revised upwards from -190,000 to -111,000. That worked out at 188,000 more jobs than investors had been expecting. For once, a good US economic statistic was good for the US dollar and it finished the week on a high note.
So another week of good-news-bad-news from both sides of the Atlantic left investors no wiser than they had been at the outset. We remain stuck with a pound/dollar relationship that cannot make up its mind what to do and, therefore, does nothing. We also therefore remain saddled with a neutral risk management strategy. Buyers of the dollar should hedge half their requirement with a forward purchase. Those with a short time horizon who do not want to cover their whole exposure should protect themselves with a stop order.
For more information and expert guidance on the currency markets, call Moneycorp today on +44 (0)20 7589 3000, don’t forget to mention International Horizons to secure the best rates. Alternatively go to the Moneycorp Website where you can open a free, no obligation Trading Facility.
Risk appetite is struggling to make any headway, with equities losing ground overnight. The positive impact on markets and adjustment to growth expectations following the US jobs report has given way to renewed concerns. Caution increased as Fed Chairman Bernanke introduced a dose of reality to markets talking about “formidable headwinds” to growth. As a result, bonds gained some lost ground and markets pared back expectations of interest rate hikes, leaving the USD vulnerable.
Eurozone risk factors continue to dampen market enthusiasm too, with ECB President Trichet warning of further bank writedowns and S&P downgrading the outlook for Greece and Portugal. The release of German factory orders data revealing a sharp 2.1% fall in October fed into concerns and played against strengthening recovery hopes in the region. EUR/USD failed to close below 1.4820 suggesting some alleviation of downside pressure. FX markets are likely eye stocks for further direction, with various EUR negative specific factors set to limit the upside.
The delayed release of additional stimulus measures in Japan will be the main focus of attention in Japanese markets assuming that an agreement is reached within the coalition. In the meantime markets will digest news that the current account surplus narrowed in October but was still up 51.4% from a year earlier. Additionally loan growth continued to slow, for the 11th straight month in November, adding further evidence that the injections of liquidity into banks are not finding their way into the economy.
GBP has come under growing pressure over recent days and bulls will be disappointed by the BRC retail sales data. The 1.8% YoY rise in like-for-like sales according will come as another disappointment for GBP. The gain was the slowest since August and below forecasts and as noted by the BRC looks even weaker when considering that the year ago figure was very weak. The sales data may fuel concerns about the recovery in consumer spending, especially going into the all important Christmas season. Attention will turn to the release of November Halifax house price data and October industrial production data later today and the pre-budget report tomorrow. GBP/USD looks likely to track EUR/USD for now and looks supported above 1.6390.
Although the USD has slipped as markets pare back expectations of rate hikes, the currency appears to be in a win-win situation and will likely see limited downside as risk aversion creeps back. Lingering concerns about Dubai as well as short covering towards year as well as other factors pushing risk aversion higher will likely see the USD retaining some support into the end of the week ahead of the US retail sales and Michigan confidence data
El miércoles 25 de noviembre, el Gobierno del emirato de Dubai emitía un comunicado de urgencia a los mercados. Casi al final de su nota anunciaba un aplazamiento en el pago de la deuda de sus dos principales empresas, Dubai World y Nakheel. Como cabía esperar, la noticia provocó un gran nerviosismo entre los inversores de todo el mundo, con caídas generalizadas en las bolsas. Un movimiento amortiguado por las festividades de Acción de Gracias, en Estados Unidos, y del Eid al Adha, la celebración del sacrificio, en los países musulmanes.
This is the 2nd part of a speech given by Dr. Ned Hill, Dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs and Keynote Speaker at the 2010 Greater Springfield Chamber Annual Meeting + Business Expo. It was given at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA); thus, he is addressing economic development professionals. The videos are above and beneath the PowerPoint slideshow.