via Grantland.com

On Tuesday morning, word around the NFL was that the Bears were basically formalities away from locking up Vincent Jackson and Mario Williams. By 5 p.m., the Bears had acquired Brandon Marshall, but the Bills were now going to host Robert Meachem and Mario Williams and sign them both before their fans woke up the following morning. As the clock struck midnight on the East Coast, Meachem was on the Chargers, Williams was a free man, and we vowed to stop listening to the rumor mill. And then on Wednesday at 12:05 am on the East Coast, we started refreshing Twitter every five seconds while jonesing for our fix. We’re only human.

By the end of a busy first day of free agency, the league had raided the wide receiver and cornerback aisles and left them barren, with 10 notable signings between the two positions alone. About half of those moves made a lick of sense, as logic took a backseat to getting (or spending) cash now. It is our duty to cover both the insightful and the incoherent, and so we start our look at Day 1 of free agency in Washington, where the Redskins defied the odds to pull off their best Redskins impersonation.

The More I Get, The More I Want

With their draft picks tied up in the RG3 trade and their spending money repossessed by the NFL, you would have forgiven the Redskins for taking a rare opening day of free agency off. And then they would have said, “Thanks for forgiving us! Now, please get out of our way so we can get back to spending money we may or may not have. There are second-tier free agents just roaming around out there! For free! Without contracts!”

And so the Redskins found it in their hearts to give Pierre Garcon a five-year, $42.5 million contract with $21.5 million in guaranteed money. This is the same Pierre Garcon who has caught just over 53 percent of the passes thrown to him over the past three seasons despite having Peyton Manning at quarterback for two of those three years. The other Colts wide receivers caught just under 64 percent of the passes thrown to them over that time frame. And while a low catch rate is fine if you’re a deep threat or a demon after the catch, Garcon’s averaged 13.6 yards per catch over that span, which is almost exactly league average. Jabar Gaffney has averaged more yards per catch over the past three years than Pierre Garcon. Is he a downfield threat?

Garcon fits one of the archetypes we identified last year when we described the free agents you meet in hell, a second or third wideout from an effective passing offense. These sorts of players look good against single coverage with great quarterbacks around them, but when you move them into the no. 1 slot on a team with an inferior quarterback, they fail to meet expectations. Last year, Garcon’s raw numbers showed some improvement because he took more snaps and made it through all 16 games for the first time in his career, but his catch rate without Manning fell from 56 percent to 52 percent, and that came while Garcon enjoyed the splendor of garbage-time yardage for the first time in his career. He had three receptions for more than 40 yards all year, and two of them came in one game against the dismal Buccaneers. What about this guy says, “We need to give him $21.5 million as soon as possible?”

While the Redskins were seemingly down to Santana Moss and flotsam at wideout, they already had a useful receiver sitting in Mike Shanahan’s ample doghouse. Anthony Armstrong spent most of 2011 on the bench because Shanahan thought he couldn’t get off press coverage at the line of scrimmage, but Armstrong’s production as a starter in 2010 was arguably better than Garcon’s, despite the fact that the former swapped out Peyton Manning for Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman:

Garcon might be the better player, but it’s not a clear case. At the very least, the difference between the two of them over the next two seasons certainly isn’t $21.5 million in guaranteed cash. As bad signings go, this isn’t bringing in Albert Haynesworth, since Haynesworth was at least at the top of his game in the two seasons before the Redskins paid too much for him. This is more like the signings of DeAngelo Hall or Brandon Lloyd, when the Redskins acquired (or retained) a B-list player by giving him A-list money. You can make the case that Washington needed to upgrade at wide receiver and give RG3 options, but you don’t accomplish that by throwing $21.5 million at league-average receivers.

On the other hand, the Redskins made a perfectly rational, reasonable decision to buy low on Josh Morgan, who broke his leg after five games and missed most of San Francisco’s 2011 season. Morgan’s statistics aren’t all that impressive, and he’s not regarded as a burner, but he’s spent the past three years playing with Alex Smith in a conservative offense. It’s also worth noting that he’s averaged 13.0 yards per catch over those three seasons, virtually identical to Garcon’s figure. The Redskins only paid $7.5 million in guaranteed money for Morgan on a five-year, $12 million contract that will void after two years (for cap purposes, the Skins will spread the signing bonus hit over five years, but it’s essentially a two-year deal). Washington may find that Morgan’s actually the better player of the two.

Big Receiver-a-Go-Go

We were right to assume that there were two oversize wideouts on the market who would move fast during free agency, but we had the wrong receivers. After the Saints locked up Marques Colston early Tuesday morning, the Bears abandoned their chase of Vincent Jackson and shockingly acquired Brandon Marshall from the Dolphins for a pair of third-round picks.

The Marshall trade didn’t obviously stink the way that the Santonio Holmes trade did — when the Jets acquired a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver for a fifth-rounder — but the sudden availability and acquisition of Marshall suggested that there was more to the move than meets the eye. It was no surprise hours later, then, when Adam Schefter reported that Marshall was being investigated by the league for yet another off-field incident. It later came to light that Marshall had allegedly “slugged” a woman in the face at a New York City club on Sunday, a move that might have inspired Miami’s desire to give up on Marshall.

The only logical perspective from which this makes sense for the Dolphins is the disciplinarian angle, where a new head coach simply wanted to move on from a frustrating player. That makes for wonderful quotes, but Marshall was the team’s best offensive weapon by a wide margin, and there’s nobody left on the market to replace him. They gave up two second-round picks for Marshall and then paid him $19 million for two years of above-average production before shipping him away for two third-round picks.

Obviously, what Marshall offers on the field is worth more than two third-round picks. Over the past five years, only four players have more receiving yards than Marshall, and his three 100-catch seasons all came in Denver with Jay Cutler at the helm. Cutler, of course, will be Marshall’s starting quarterback again in Chicago. Marshall’s arrival will take the heat off Devin Hester as a no. 1 wideout and keep Earl Bennett in the slot, moves that will make everyone in the offense better. In addition, the Bears won’t be responsible for paying Marshall’s signing bonus and should only owe Marshall his base salary (a little over $9 million) in each of the next three years. If Marshall becomes too much to handle, they can cut him without incurring any cap penalty.

We had a whole paragraph written here about how the Dolphins now needed to sign Reggie Wayne — even if it meant throwing him a few extra bucks — because it would fill their biggest need while giving Peyton Manning extra ammunition to choose Miami over Denver in his quest for a new organization. After being linked with Manning for the past week as a combo deal, Wayne stunningly returned to the one place Manning isn’t heading to, Indianapolis. The Colts gave him a three-year deal worth $17.5 million with $7.5 million guaranteed. It’s shocking that the a receiver-needy team like the Dolphins wouldn’t have offered Wayne more in guaranteed money, but perhaps the veteran wanted to finish his career in Indianapolis after all. The Colts don’t exactly need a 33-year-old wideout these days, but at that price, Wayne can be a viable target for the beginning of Andrew Luck’s career without costing the organization very much. It’s a win-win-oh-my-god-the-Dolphins-lose deal.

And as for Jackson, he finally got the long-term deal he’s sought for years by inking a five-year, $55,555,555 contract with the Buccaneers to serve as Josh Freeman’s top wideout. The deal guarantees Jackson $26 million. To put that in context, consider that Jackson has more receiving yards over the past three years than Garcon despite being thrown 97 fewer passes (344 for Garcon, 247 for Jackson), while his catch rate is at a far-superior 58 percent despite being the target of so many Philip Rivers prayers downfield. We’ll stop picking on Garcon now. Jackson has his own history of off-field issues and has spent his entire career playing in an effective passing offense with a great quarterback, so he could qualify as a free agent from hell (especially if you consider Antonio Gates to be the team’s top target), but his sheer size and athleticism should play well in a division with small corners like Brent Grimes and Jabari Greer. The Bucs should be a little concerned that they have two wideouts of markedly similar styles in Jackson and Mike Williams, though, and they might want to stay in the market to add a slot receiver who can do some damage underneath. That player could be Early Doucet, who the Cardinals can’t afford to retain.

The Chargers found their replacement for Jackson in Robert Meachem, giving the former Saints wideout a four-year deal with $14 million in guaranteed money after he failed to come to terms with the Bills. As a third or fourth option in the Saints’ passing attack over the past few years, Meachem’s been remarkably consistent. Over the past three seasons, he’s started either seven or eight games, caught between 40 and 45 passes, and averaged between 14.5 and 16.0 yards per catch. Those numbers have some value, but at 28, it’s worth wondering whether Meachem is ever going to become anything more than that. If the Chargers continue to use Meachem as a third target, they should find that he’s up to the task. If they expect Meachem to be their no. 1 receiver, though, San Diego might be disappointed by what they find.

Finnegan’s Wake of Money

Last August, Cortland Finnegan disappeared from Titans training camp and attributed the absence to a personal matter. The personal matter was that he wasn’t happy with his contract and wanted the Titans to give him a new one. As you might suspect, the Titans were not desperate to re-sign Finnegan this offseason and let him go to St. Louis, which released a bevy of veterans to sign Finnegan to a five-year, $50 million deal with $26.5 million in guaranteed money. Much like the Redskins, the Rams desperately needed help at cornerback. Their top three corners all went down with season-ending injuries last year, and since previous ace Ron Bartell’s injury was a fractured neck, it’s easy to understand why the Rams would go out and target a top corner.

Is Finnegan a top cornerback, though? Pro Bowl voting is far from exact, but Finnegan’s only made one Pro Bowl in his career, and that was in 2008. More importantly, is Finnegan going to be a Pro Bowler with the Rams? St. Louis is paying him like one, and there are reasons to be concerned about his future viability. Finnegan, who just turned 28 in February, is generously listed at 5-foot-9. The recent history of short cornerbacks making it into their thirties as starters is not very long, as only five players listed at 5-foot-9 or less have started 12 or more games in a season after they turned 31 since 2002. That includes a few embarrassingly bad seasons, too, for guys like Fred Thomas, Dre’ Bly, and Tyrone Poole. The only short corner to really keep up his performance at a high level into his early thirties is Antoine Winfield, while dozens of taller corners have lasted into and beyond that age range over the same time frame. The Rams might get a year or two of solid performance out of Finnegan, but this contract is likely to end very messily.

Compare the Finnegan signing to that of Carlos Rogers, who re-signed with the Niners on Tuesday on a four-year deal for about $30 million. There’s no word yet on the guaranteed money, but Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas re-signed with his team on a similar deal with about $11 million guaranteed, and it’s hard to imagine that Rogers would get more than $15 million or so of his deal locked up in guaranteed cash. Rogers was better than Finnegan last year, when he made his first Pro Bowl, and he’s arguably been better over the whole of the past three years. And for that, Rogers is getting about as much total money over the length of his contract as Finnegan’s getting in guaranteed cash. That’s a victory for the San Francisco front office, which now returns all 11 starters from last year’s dominant unit.

Block the Doors With Beef on Weck

Don’t let him leave the facility. It’s the rule that every team follows when a big-time free agent heads to their city for a visit. If you get a player to hop on your private plane and head to your town for hours of meetings and interviews, your best way to sign that player is to lock him in your offices until he puts pen to paper. If that means ordering in the fanciest dinner in town, turning on the stadium’s lights, and dining on the 50-yard line, you do it. If it means adding a few million dollars to the contract figure you had in mind, you do it. If it literally means locking the doors and stalling the player in question from getting in a limo to take him back to the airport, you do it. The moment that player leaves your facility and heads out of town, though, your odds of signing him decrease dramatically. The Bills had their shot at Mario Williams last night. They weren’t able to keep him in the facility.

Although we suggested that the Bills should only enter the market to make a Godfather offer to Williams, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they actually went ahead and convinced Williams to start his free agent tour in Buffalo. They presumably got Williams to head there by telling his agent that the organization would give Williams the prescribed $40 million in guaranteed money that would help make him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.

It’s here where the NFL’s business model shines through. Because the league’s television contract is entirely national and split evenly between the league’s 32 teams, every team has enough money to make a legitimate top-dollar offer to the best free agent on the marketplace. Meanwhile, baseball teams who were already struggling with an income gap between the haves and have-nots are facing cavernous differences in their local television deals. The Pirates would not have been able to credibly offer Albert Pujols $300 million this offseason. The Bills — in a tiny market with a 40-year-old stadium — can outbid the rest of the league for an elite player if they want to.

Unfortunately for the Bills, it takes two to tango, and it doesn’t appear that Williams wants to dance. In all likelihood, Williams chose to start his national tour in Buffalo to send a message to his other suitors. Baseball’s rumor mill is famous for introducing the Mystery Team, an unknown suitor who agents would perpetually report as lurking in the shadows to sign their free agent for an exorbitant sum. Williams has basically started free agency by going to visit the Mystery Team. He can now go visit any other team in the league and tell them that Buffalo’s made him the biggest offer any defensive free agent has ever seen, and unless they’re willing to come close to that offer, he’ll go back to Buffalo and take their money. The Bills don’t have the leverage to take their deal off the table, since there’s nobody else in the market who would be worth that sort of contract. Even if Williams has no intention of ever signing with the Bills, it makes total sense for him to start his search there and strike fear into the penurious hearts of owners around the league.

Of course, Williams could still end up sticking around in Buffalo and signing with the Bills. Maybe they sweeten the pot and make it $45 million, or Williams simply changes his mind after a long night’s sleep and decides to stay. Nobody even whispered Williams’s name in reference to the Bills before free agency began, so there’s little reason to trust the rumor mill surrounding him now. We know one thing for sure, though: You can’t sign a contract with one team when you’re locked inside another team’s facility. Once the Bills got Mario Williams inside of Ralph Wilson Stadium, he shouldn’t have left without a contract.

I’ve just been informed that it is Steak and Blowjob day. I had no idea this day existed until now, but excited to find out such a day exist.

Celebrated on March 14th, Steak and Blowjob Day is a holiday for men, celebrated the month after Valentine’s Day — a holiday for women.

The idea is simple: no cards, flowers, candy or other whimsical gifts. Ladies, you simply bestow your partner with a steak and a blowjob. Not necessarily in that order.

Urban dictionary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wie1gte6IRE

via WSJ.com

By SUMATHI REDDY

The morning after two groups of diners didn’t show up at the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen last month, chef and co-owner René Redzepi took to Twitter. “And now a message from the Noma staff: to the people of two different no-show tables last night,” he wrote, and sent a picture of staff members showing their middle fingers.

The tweet, deleted shortly after it was posted, was a joke, says Peter Kreiner, managing director of Noma. But at a restaurant that has just 12 tables and takes in as much as $500 per person for a meal, no-shows aren’t taken lightly. “It’s quite a large percentage of the sales that we missed out on,” he says.

As more people don’t show up for their reservations, some high-end restaurants are taking action, from charging no-shows to shaming them on social media. Sumanthi Reddy has details on Lunch Break.

Fickle diners are every restaurant’s worst nightmare. A select group of high-end chefs and restaurants are fighting back—from charging people who don’t cancel in time to using Twitter and other social media to call out no-shows.

The impact of an empty table can be a significant in an industry where average profit margins run as low as 3% to 5%. In cities like New York, it’s not unusual to find 20% of diners unaccounted for on any given night.

Restaurant owners expend tremendous resources trying to confirm reservations. Some restaurants, like Wylie Dufresne’s wd~50, will turn down a reservation from someone with a history of not showing up. Other chefs, like Ron Eyester of Rosebud in Atlanta, will jot down a note if a diner seems wavering on the phone, so that the staff knows not to hold the empty table too long.

A number of high-end restaurants now require credit-card numbers from anyone reserving a table. Some, like Hearth in New York and Cochon in New Orleans, seek credit cards only for larger parties and for special occasions. Others, like Eleven Madison Park in New York and Coi in San Francisco, extend the policy to parties of any size.

In January, Eleven Madison began charging anyone who didn’t show up or cancel a reservation 48 hours beforehand $75 a head. Owner Will Guidara says the restaurant was losing eight to 10 people per night. He adds, “With the length of our wait list and how many people we’re turning away, it just became really difficult to say, ‘No, no, no,’ to so many people and then have people who were supposed to be joining us just not showing up.”

Since the policy has been in place, Mr. Guidara says he has had to charge only a couple of cards a week.

According to online-reservation system OpenTable, 10% of restaurants nationally seek credit-card numbers for certain reservations, while about 15% of restaurants in New York do so. Those numbers have been trending down, the company says.

Eleven Madison Park / Francesco TonelliManhattan’s Eleven Madison Park requires credit cards for reservations and charge people who don’t show.

But Sherri Kimes, a professor at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, thinks the practice will only increase. Ms. Kimes says her research has found that consumers are open to being charged for last-minute cancellations—as long as restaurants keep up their end of the bargain. “When the customer shows up… their table better be ready,” she says.

In Australia, a campaign to publicly name no-show diners through Twitter has been gaining steam. Erez Gordon, owner of Sydney’s Bistro Bruno, said in an email that he has outed customers just a few times, when they failed to respond to his calls. He likened it to diners’ jumping online to anonymously rate restaurants. “With Twitter, we are given the opportunity to respond in exactly the same manner as our guests respond if they feel we have let them down,” he said.

In the U.S., too, frustrations run high. “Every single day I will look at how the previous night went and every single day there’s upwards of 40—four, zero—no-shows at Nobu,” says Drew Nieporent, owner of the Myriad Restaurant Group.

Mr. Nieporent has called people the next day to find out why they didn’t show up. “Quite frankly, it’s worse now, because with online reservations we’re not even speaking to the customer,” he says. “So it could be someone in theory who is a concierge at a hotel or a broker who can book prime-time tables 30 days in advance, hold on to tables for 29 days and maybe, if they feel like it, call to cancel.”

Often, the price charged for a no-show doesn’t compensate a restaurant for its loss. At New York City’s Del Posto and Jean-Georges, the no-show fee for OpenTable.com reservations is $50 a head. In October, Mr. Nieporent’s Corton began requiring credit cards to reserve tables on Friday and Saturday nights and charging no-shows a $50 fee if they don’t cancel 48 hours ahead.

Daniel Patterson, the owner of Coi, says that when he started a $25 and then a $50 penalty for no-shows about three years ago, he saw few results. It wasn’t until he upped the amount to $100 that the rate dropped from 20% to 10%. “Our menu is $165, so we’re still losing money,” he says. “It’s really not about charging people. It’s really more about making sure they’re serious about the reservation.”

Other restaurants charge more. When Torrisi Italian Specialties in Manhattan began accepting reservations in November, it chose to charge diners for the full $125 tasting menu if they don’t cancel 24 hours ahead. Diners who reserve its shorter $60 menu have until 4 p.m. that day.

At the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, where reservations are snapped up six weeks ahead of time, consumers pay the full $225 prix-fixe price about a week in advance.

Perhaps most radical is the system started last year at Grant Achatz’s Chicago restaurant Next. To dine there, customers must buy nonrefundable tickets for a meal in advance. A dynamic pricing system makes tickets at prime times pricier. Mr. Achatz’s business partner, Nick Kokonas, says the system has been so successful they plan to use it at their Alinea restaurant.

Mr. Kokonas is working on a system for other restaurants. Another Chicago restaurant will pilot-test it soon. He sees one reaction from restaurateurs: “Show me how to do it.”

Write to Sumathi Reddy at [email protected]

Prior: 832k build

Actual: +1.8 mln barrels….less than expected

Distillates: -4.7 million barrels …in line

Gasoline: -1.4 million barrels….more than expected

ISSUE GAINERS                 SYMBOL   EXCH   LAST PRICE   MONEY FLOW    RATIO 
                                                          (in millions) 
iShs Tr DJ U.S. Real Es        IYR     ARCA       62.19       +44.2      16.20 
iShrs Russell 2000             IWM     ARCA       83.12       +43.3       3.08 
Bank Of America                BAC     NYSE        8.72       +36.2       1.30 
SPDR S&P 500                   SPY     ARCA      140.30       +22.0       1.13 
PwrShrs QQQ Tr Series 1        QQQ     NASD       66.47       +17.2       1.42 
Wells Fargo                    WFC     NYSE       33.10       +16.9       1.39 
Goldman Sachs                  GS      NYSE      122.64       +15.2       1.25 
Lowe's Cos                     LOW     NYSE       30.46       +12.6       2.32 
GNC Holdings A                 GNC     NYSE       33.49       +12.1       2.01 
iShrs Barclays TIPS Bond       TIP     ARCA      117.95       +11.5       4.76 
Home Depot                     HD      NYSE       49.57       +10.9       1.93 
Caterpillar                    CAT     NYSE      112.91       +10.0       1.56 
Cheniere Energy                LNG     AMEX       15.06        +9.5       1.79 
Anadarko Pete                  APC     NYSE       84.88        +8.9       1.70 
Suntrust Banks                 STI     NYSE       23.73        +8.9       1.29 
Johnson & Johnson              JNJ     NYSE       65.23        +8.7       2.01 
Lazard                         LAZ     NYSE       31.00        +8.6      29.49 
Bebidas de Americas ADS        ABV     NYSE       41.62        +8.2       6.83 
Pfizer                         PFE     NYSE       21.98        +8.0       2.04 
American Express               AXP     NYSE       55.95        +7.1       1.38 

ISSUE DECLINERS               SYMBOL   EXCH   LAST PRICE   MONEY FLOW    RATIO 
                                                          (in millions) 
Apple                          AAPL    NASD      581.33      -220.3       0.87 
JPMorgan Chase                 JPM     NYSE       43.47       -47.5       0.65 
Citigroup                      C       NYSE       35.42       -22.2       0.85 
General Electric               GE      NYSE       19.86       -17.6       0.55 
Microsoft                      MSFT    NASD       32.58       -17.3       0.48 
Oracle                         ORCL    NASD       30.02       -17.3       0.36 
IBM                            IBM     NYSE      204.54       -14.5       0.57 
Hewlett-Packard                HPQ     NYSE       24.28       -13.0       0.34 
Starbucks                      SBUX    NASD       52.62       -12.5       0.43 
Philip Morris Intl             PM      NYSE       85.41       -12.0       0.40 
iShrs MSCI S Korea             EWY     ARCA       60.48       -11.9       0.08 
Cameron Intl                   CAM     NYSE       53.69       -11.2       0.13 
Intel                          INTC    NASD       27.59       -10.7       0.55 
ExxonMobil                     XOM     NYSE       86.54       -10.2       0.66 
Newmont Mining                 NEM     NYSE       54.20       -10.2       0.67 
Disney                         DIS     NYSE       43.44       -10.0       0.42 
McDonald's                     MCD     NYSE       96.95       -10.0       0.64 
Procter & Gamble               PG      NYSE       67.94        -9.9       0.45 
Regions Fincl                  RF      NYSE        6.14        -9.8       0.76 
Amer Cap Mortgage Invt         MTGE    NASD       21.84        -9.3       0.48

NYSE

New Highs 122 

COMPANY                       SYMBOL      HIGH                VOLUME 
-------                       ------      ----                ------ 
Actuant                       ATU         29.31              106,903 
Advance Auto Parts            AAP         88.86               44,066 
Airgas Inc                    ARG         84.00               15,629 
Allergan                      AGN         93.65              112,062 
Allied World                  AWH         71.00               16,216 
Amer Eagle Outfitters         AEO         16.81              833,840 
American Express              AXP         55.96            2,159,624 
Amphenol                      APH         58.21               18,974 
Anheuser Busch                BUD         72.00              149,505 
Asbury Automotive             ABG         27.71                7,335 
Assured Guaranty Ltd          AGO         18.86              183,074 
Atlas Energy                  ATLS        27.09               81,836 
BB&T Corp                     BBT         30.58              629,471 
Banco Latinamer               BLX         21.13               26,895 
Beam Inc                      BEAM        58.14               93,412 
Blyth                         BTH         78.70               59,020 
CBS Corp B                    CBS         31.80            1,044,315 
CBS Corp A                    CBS/A       32.35                  200 
Cedar Fair LP                 FUN         29.98               14,256 
Chevron                       CVX         111.80             750,023 
Chipotle Mexican Grill        CMG         401.52              50,608 
Church & Dwight               CHD         49.30               94,415 
Coach                         COH         79.18              289,898 
Coca-Cola Femsa               KOF         103.82              22,898 
Colgate-Palmolive             CL          95.74              174,341 
Core Labs                     CLB         129.83              23,566 
Cushing Royalty & Incm Fd     SRF         25.55                1,700 
Cytec Indus                   CYT         62.20               22,236 
DTE Energy                    DTE         56.52              185,868 
DTEEnCo.Series6.50%           DTZ         28.11                1,864 
Dick's Sporting Goods         DKS         48.46              117,720 
Discover Fnl Svcs             DFS         32.64              717,778 
Dominos Pizza                 DPZ         40.36               21,610 
Eagle Materials               EXP         35.50               74,537 
Eaton Vance BuyWrite Opp      ETV         13.27              105,694 
Ecopetrol                     EC          60.86               18,889 
Estee Lauder                  EL          62.08              189,433 
Ethan Allen                   ETH         27.93               18,148 
Express                       EXPR        26.08               36,279 
Fair Isaac                    FICO        43.23               34,171 
Federal Realty Inv Trust      FRT         98.55               81,140 
Foot Locker                   FL          30.42               64,637 
Gabelli Hlthcr & Well         GRX         8.13                 2,168 
Gallagher                     AJG         35.92               32,577 
Global Cash Access            GCA         6.92                53,554 
WW Grainger                   GWW         216.98              34,180 
Guidewire Software            GWRE        32.85              252,094 
Harley Davidson               HOG         49.99              216,421 
Hels High Income Fund         HIH         8.64                 1,483 
Home Depot                    HD          49.68            1,936,080 
DR Horton                     DHI         16.09              686,929 
Hospitality Properties Tr     HPT         25.94               46,055 
Hubbell B                     HUB/B       79.49                6,220 
Imperva                       IMPV        39.40                3,715 
IBM                           IBM         204.75             437,600 
Intl Paper                    IP          36.32              395,157 
Jabil Circuit                 JBL         27.35              312,027 
Kayne Anderson Engy Dev       KED         25.75                8,754 
Kayne Andrsn Midstr Engy      KMF         27.27                7,721 
LSI Corp                      LSI         8.92             6,715,301 
LEH 7% CAN Finl               JZV         26.09                2,100 
Lennar Corp A                 LEN         26.92              394,232 
Lennar Corp B                 LEN/B       22.01                4,662 
Limited Brands                LTD         47.56               95,688 
Liz Claiborne                 LIZ         12.74              400,210 
Lowe's Cos                    LOW         30.60            2,667,614 
MI Developments               MIM         37.75               10,876 
MSC Indust Direct             MSM         84.41                4,296 
Marriott Intl                 MAR         38.63              316,467 
Marsh & McLennan              MMC         32.75              212,678 
Mead Johnson Nutrition        MJN         80.75               51,178 
Movado Group                  MOV         21.98                6,959 
Nike Inc                      NKE         111.23             259,939 
Nordstrom Inc                 JWN         54.98              274,636 
Northeast Utilities           NU          37.64              141,795 
Nstar                         NST         49.25               12,710 
Nuveen Invest Qual Muni       NQM         16.28                9,224 
PVH Corp.                     PVH         89.48               35,397 
Pier 1 Imports                PIR         17.89              165,199 
PPLUS 6.7% TRUCs LMG-4        PYL         23.99                  800 
Procter & Gamble              PG          67.95            1,011,694 
Progressive Corp              PGR         22.66              379,823 
Protective Life               PL          29.04               56,755 
PulteGroup                    PHM         9.58               904,422 
Questar Corp                  STR         20.18               31,623 
Ralph Lauren Cl A             RL          182.48             113,894 
Raytheon                      RTN         52.83              171,295 
Realty Income                 O           38.19               92,846 
Rite Aid                      RAD         2.00            11,936,365 
Roper Indus                   ROP         99.23              102,107 
STRNS GS Grp                  HJG         24.93                1,248 
Simon Property Group          SPG         141.89             148,551 
Southwest Gas                 SWX         43.64               12,489 
Special Opp Fund              SPE         16.38               22,898 
Stanley Black & Decker        SWK         81.56              217,611 
Sun Communities               SUI         43.70                7,061 
SYNNEX                        SNX         42.60                9,322 
Taiwan Semi Mfg               TSM         15.11            1,417,374 
Target Corp                   TGT         58.77              579,749 
Taubman Ctrs                  TCO         71.52               39,261 
Telus Corp                    TU          58.20               15,542 
Tempur-Pedic                  TPX         83.62              146,157 
Tesoro                        TSO         30.04              251,534 
Time Warner Cbl               TWC         81.21              120,046 
Toll Brothers                 TOL         24.79              251,117 
Torchmark                     TMK         49.62               47,303 
Toro Co                       TTC         71.49               24,151 
Total Sys Svcs                TSS         22.69               87,020 
Triangle Cap Notes 2019       TCC         25.60                3,050 
Tri-Continental               TY          16.15               12,041 
Under Armour A                UA          98.56              110,018 
United Parcel Service B       UPS         78.44              299,703 
US Bancorp                    USB         31.24            4,803,445 
Vaalco Engy                   EGY         9.09               359,994 
Valspar Corp                  VAL         49.85               31,885 
Watsco                        WSO         75.07               55,901 
Wesco Aircraft Holdings       WAIR        16.15               11,294 
Western Alliance Bancorp      WAL         9.00                52,247 
Wstrn Asset Emerg Mkt II      EMD         15.10               29,998 
Wyndham Worldwide             WYN         46.25               88,435 
Xylem Inc.                    XYL         28.46               48,288 
YUM! Brands                   YUM         69.30              500,801 

New Lows 7 

COMPANY                       SYMBOL      LOW                 VOLUME 
-------                       ------      ----                ------ 
AngloGold Ashanti             AU          38.10              840,287 
AngloGold Ashanti Pfd A       AUpA        43.95                3,645 
Campus Crest Communities      CCGpA       24.81                1,000 
IamGold                       IAG         13.42              559,650 
STR Holdings Inc.             STRI        5.52                89,829 
Standard Register             SR          1.38                22,301 
Telekom Indonesia             TLK         29.55               54,443

NASDAQ

New Highs 110 

COMPANY                       SYMBOL      HIGH                VOLUME 
-------                       ------      ----                ------ 
AMC Networks A                AMCX        46.69               41,749 
Advisory Board                ABCO        87.12               42,385 
Ameris Bancorp                ABCB        12.35                2,800 
Apple                         AAPL        583.85           8,621,621 
Arctic Cat                    ACAT        42.00               10,351 
Ascena Retail Group           ASNA        44.26               96,309 
athenahealth                  ATHN        78.08               66,150 
BBCN Bancorp                  BBCN        11.15               18,786 
BE Aerospace                  BEAV        47.99              100,662 
Bank of The Ozarks            OZRK        31.49               27,812 
Beacon Roofing Supply         BECN        25.79              100,394 
Bed Bath & Beyond             BBBY        64.37              978,047 
Benihana                      BNHN        12.30               20,306 
Bottomline Techs              EPAY        29.82               19,452 
Builders FirstSource          BLDR        3.55                17,927 
Cabot Microelectronics        CCMP        39.89               42,712 
Cal-Maine Foods               CALM        42.16               14,965 
Celgene                       CELG        76.39              314,567 
Centerstate Banks             CSFL        7.85                 2,745 
Chefs' Warehouse              CHEF        23.16               11,650 
ChipMOS Techs Bermuda         IMOS        15.50               59,446 
Cintas                        CTAS        40.25              241,714 
Cirrus Logic                  CRUS        24.38              191,007 
Citizens Republic Bancorp     CRBC        14.22               43,641 
Coinstar                      CSTR        63.64              100,204 
Columbia Banking System       COLB        22.65               13,688 
Copart                        CPRT        52.95               21,969 
Cubist Pharmaceuticals        CBST        44.28               43,864 
Cynosure  (Cl A)              CYNO        19.50                5,521 
DDi                           DDIC        12.48               13,391 
DXP Enterprises               DXPE        43.23               10,722 
Discovery Comm C              DISCK       45.66               28,285 
Discovery Comm A              DISCA       48.50              239,764 
Dorman Products               DORM        48.25                3,220 
Dunkin' Brands Group          DNKN        32.44               83,615 
East West Bancorp             EWBC        23.70               83,003 
eBay                          EBAY        37.37            1,302,233 
Encore Wire                   WIRE        30.43                8,515 
Endologix                     ELGX        13.84              168,273 
EXACT Sciences                EXAS        10.11               60,169 
Exar                          EXAR        7.64                17,497 
F5 Networks                   FFIV        133.60             231,572 
Farmers National Banc         FMNB        6.33                 2,200 
Fastenal Co                   FAST        53.60              120,073 
Fidelity Nasdaq Cmp-Trckg     ONEQ        121.07              10,385 
First California Finl Grp     FCAL        5.35                11,784 
First Tr NASDAQ 100Tch Sc     QTEC        28.41                4,352 
First Tr NASDAQ100EqWt        QQEW        26.79                  700 
Fiserv                        FISV        69.09               56,010 
Flamel Techs SA               FLML        7.40                12,994 
Francesca's Holdings          FRAN        32.32            1,152,862 
Furiex Pharmaceuticals        FURX        23.92                1,502 
Genomic Health                GHDX        32.03                9,313 
Hancock Hldg Co               HBHC        35.92               40,042 
Helios&Matheson Info Tech     HMNY        7.00                87,728 
Hibbett Sports                HIBB        52.77               24,207 
Hudson Tech                   HDSN        3.59                30,812 
JB Hunt Transport             JBHT        53.49               80,257 
IAC/InterActive               IACI        49.42               77,630 
InfoSpace                     INSP        13.62               55,605 
IntegraMed America            INMD        12.32                7,388 
Integrated Silicon Sol        ISSI        11.08               25,589 
Intel                         INTC        27.60            4,559,908 
Intl Bancshares               IBOC        20.16               47,015 
Intuitive Surgical            ISRG        532.66              16,118 
Jive Software                 JIVE        25.49               41,875 
Landstar System               LSTR        56.99               34,380 
Liberty Global  Cl A          LBTYA       52.00               74,679 
Liberty Global  Cl C          LBTYK       49.80               13,451 
Liquidity Services            LQDT        46.85               33,431 
lululemon athletica           LULU        73.73              217,568 
MTS Systems                   MTSC        51.91                8,989 
Manhattan Associates          MANH        49.92                4,243 
Mantex Intl                   MNTX        7.83                 9,165 
Market Leader                 LEDR        3.99                21,622 
Micros Systems                MCRS        55.70               35,500 
Molex A                       MOLXA       23.41                8,552 
Molex                         MOLX        28.16               31,658 
Monster Beverage              MNST        60.66              148,534 
North Central Bancshares      FFFD        30.14                  403 
ORBCOMM                       ORBC        3.82                 3,372 
Pacific Premier Bancorp       PPBI        8.09                 3,754 
PacWest Bancorp               PACW        23.81               12,475 
Panera Bread Co               PNRA        164.94              55,393 
Perma-Fix                     PESI        1.85             1,855,251 
Pinnacle Fincl Partners       PNFP        17.84               18,875 
PwrShrs QQQ Tr Series 1       QQQ         66.53            9,287,187 
PwrShs SP SmCp Cons Discr     PSCD        32.05                  700 
PwrShs S&P SmCp Cons          PSCC        33.76                  200 
Procera Networks              PKT         21.63               44,929 
ProShares UltraPro QQQ        TQQQ        113.89             311,106 
The Providence Service        PRSC        15.94               10,376 
Qualcomm                      QCOM        65.19            1,905,776 
Ross Stores                   ROST        57.20              161,879 
SBA Comm                      SBAC        50.39               79,542 
SVB Fincl Group               SIVB        65.98               62,981 
Salem Comm                    SALM        4.33               133,114 
Salix Pharmaceuticals         SLXP        51.42              179,054 
Santarus                      SNTS        5.43               132,769 
Select Comfort                SCSS        32.99               65,014 
Spirit Airlines               SAVE        20.66              121,273 
Standard Parking              STAN        21.48               27,671 
Starbucks                     SBUX        52.78            1,252,161 
Sucampo Pharm (Cl A)          SCMP        7.65                18,683 
Threshold Pharmaceuticals     THLD        7.37               982,312 
Town Sports Intl Hldgs        CLUB        11.39                4,908 
Vanguard Russell 1000         VONE        64.13                  106 
Vanguard Russ 1000 Growth     VONG        67.22                  344 
Vanguard Russell 3000         VTHR        64.21                  800 
WisdomTree Emg Mkts Corp      EMCB        75.38               26,670 

New Lows 9 

COMPANY                       SYMBOL      LOW                 VOLUME 
-------                       ------      ----                ------ 
Ampio Pharmaceuticals         AMPE        3.13                 7,816 
Ceres                         CERE        12.86                  700 
Dataram                       DRAM        0.65                 1,752 
Lumos Networks                LMOS        10.90                5,974 
Nanophase Techs               NANX        0.37                54,296 
Pointer Telocation            PNTR        2.74                 1,216 
ProShr Ul Sh QQQ              SQQQ        11.39              487,389 
Seven Arts Entertainment      SAPX        0.14               703,587 
Sterling Construction Co      STRL        9.11                54,231

All the while you the tax payer pay interest , (to the banks,) and bonuses…..SUCKER

Source

“President Obama’s national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released today by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

Democrats employed many accounting tricks when they were pushing through the national health care legislation, the most egregious of which was to delay full implementation of the law until 2014, so it would appear cheaper under the CBO’s standard ten-year budget window and, at least on paper, meet Obama’s pledge that the legislation would cost “around $900 billion over 10 years.” When the final CBO score came out before passage, critics noted that the true 10 year cost would be far higher than advertised once projections accounted for full implementation.

Today, the CBO released new projections from 2013 extending through 2022, and the results are as critics expected: the ten-year cost of the law’s core provisions to expand health insurance coverage has now ballooned to $1.76 trillion. That’s because we now have estimates for Obamacare’s first nine years of full implementation, rather than the mere six when it was signed into law. Only next year will we get a true ten-year cost estimate, if the law isn’t overturned by the Supreme Court or repealed by then. Given that in 2022, the last year available, the gross cost of the coverage expansions are $265 billion, we’re likely looking at about $2 trillion over the first decade, or more than double what Obama advertised.

UPDATE: I’ve done another post with additional details from the CBO report.”

Source

“The most interesting thing about Tuesday’s Fed meeting: What the committee didn’t say.

The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy making committee left policy as it is and said it was remaining in “wait and see” mode. The Fed expressed more optimism than it has in recent post-meeting statements, though there was still the obligatory acknowledgement of risks. What I was looking for, however, was some sign about future policy. In particular, will the Fed renew its operation twist program in some guise? Are there any signs that it is getting ready to implement an exit strategy?

As I discussed here, there have been recent discussions of a sterilized bond program that could replace its earlier stimulus effort, operation twist. But there are no hints in the statement about this. For that reason, unless there is unexpected negative news ahead I don’t think the Fed will continue its attempts to lower long-term interest rates through programs such as operation twist or sterilized bond buying. If the program is not renewed, and it doesn’t look like it will be, that will represent the first step in tightening policy.

I also don’t expect the Fed to give up its commitment to keep interest rates low through late 2014, a commitment it renewed today, especially since, as I noted here, the Fed has other ways to begin tightening before it has to raise interest rates. For example, because the interest rate is at the zero bound the Fed can begin reducing its balance sheet through sales of financial assets and that won’t impact interest rates until the downward pressure that is holding rates at the zero bound is eliminated. I expect it will pursue those policies first.

Thus, for me the big takeaway, and one that is a bit disappointing given my outlook for the recovery — i.e. that the recovery will be slower than tolerable — is that there are no signs at all that the Fed is considering further easing. In fact, even though the Fed is in “wait and see” mode, all signs point in the other direction.

Here’s the release:…”

Read more 

Author Todd Harrison argues a new ear is upon us…..

“The change in thinking we’re going to undergo is shifting from a mindset of “we don’t have enough jobs for our citizens” to “we don’t have enough citizens for the amount of work we want to do.”

Sound crazy? Consider this: Since the end of the year 2000, according to a household survey, the number of U.S. workers age 45 or older has increased from 49.2 million to 63.1 million, an increase of 13.9 million.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. workers age 25 to 44 has fallen from 67.9 million to 61.1 million, a decrease of 6.8 million.

This phenomenon has been driven by a few factors. The “pig moving through the python” progression of the baby boomers, who on average turned 45 in the year 2000 and began moving from the 25-to-44 bucket to the 45+ bucket. The 2008 recession is delaying retirement for older people and delaying careers for millennials. And generally lower birth rates starting in the late 1960s are leading to fewer bodies replacing the baby boomers in the twenties and thirties age buckets….”

3D heat map

S&P A/D Line

NASDAQ A/D Line 

Don’t worry America the 1% will take care of you for all you decades of hard work, dedication, and productivity gains…..

-CALLS- 
OPTION    EXP.DATE       STRIKE PRC.     VOLUME        LAST S/PRC.    NET CHANGE 
BAC        3/17/12           8.0000       13977            0.7200      up 0.2100 
BAC        4/21/12           9.0000       13917            0.2900      up 0.0500 
AAPL       3/17/12         585.0000        7560            6.0500      up 4.9700 
BAC        3/17/12           9.0000        7279            0.0500      up 0.0000 
AAPL       3/17/12         580.0000        5735            8.4500      up 6.6900 
AAPL       3/17/12         565.0000        4734           18.4500      up 11.2500 
C          3/17/12          36.0000        4332            0.2300      dn 0.6800 
AAPL       3/17/12         590.0000        4095            4.2500      up 3.5800 
AAPL       3/17/12         570.0000        3758           15.2100      up 10.4600 
AAPL       3/17/12         575.0000        3578           11.3600      up 8.4800 

 -PUTS- 
OPTION    EXP.DATE       STRIKE PRC.     VOLUME        LAST S/PRC.    NET CHANGE 
ORCL       6/16/12          25.0000       15232            0.3900      up 0.0400 
AAPL       3/17/12         570.0000        2538            3.3000      dn 3.3000 
AAPL       3/17/12         580.0000        2288            6.9000      dn 6.8100 
AAPL       3/17/12         565.0000        2183            2.1700      dn 1.9800 
AAPL       3/17/12         575.0000        1932            4.8500      dn 4.9000 
AAPL       3/17/12         560.0000        1787            1.3300      dn 1.1600 
GLD        3/30/12         129.0000        1769            0.0300      dn 0.0300 
JPM        3/17/12          42.0000        1717            0.1100      dn 0.0300 
AAPL       3/17/12         550.0000        1434            0.5200      dn 0.2200 
AAPL       3/17/12         555.0000        1262            0.8000      dn 0.5600 

 -VOLUME- 
 CALLS      PUTS           TOTAL 
444586    327282          771868

-CALLS- 
OPTION    EXP.DATE       STRIKE PRC.     VOLUME        LAST S/PRC.    NET CHANGE 
BAC        4/21/12           9.0000         522            0.2700      up 0.0400 
BAC        3/17/12           9.0000         507            0.0400      dn 0.0100 
AAPL       3/17/12         570.0000         356           15.0000      up 10.2500 
AAPL       3/17/12         580.0000         339            8.8000      up 7.0500 
STI        3/17/12          23.0000         333            0.5500      up 0.4700 
BAC        3/17/12           8.0000         319            0.7300      up 0.2200 
AAPL       3/17/12         575.0000         288           12.7000      up 9.8000 
AAPL       3/17/12         585.0000         267            6.2500      up 5.3600 
GE         3/17/12          20.0000         230            0.1500      up 0.0900 
AAPL       3/17/12         590.0000         229            4.1500      up 3.5000 

 -PUTS- 
OPTION    EXP.DATE       STRIKE PRC.     VOLUME        LAST S/PRC.    NET CHANGE 
GLD        3/17/12         160.0000         669            1.1900      up 0.5300 
C          3/17/12          35.0000         251            0.3100      up 0.1000 
AAPL       3/17/12         550.0000         237            0.5000      dn 0.2400 
AAPL       3/17/12         570.0000         223            3.3500      dn 3.3700 
AAPL       3/17/12         575.0000         208            4.7500      dn 5.2500 
AAPL       3/17/12         580.0000         170            7.0000      dn 6.6500 
YHOO       3/17/12          16.0000         134            1.4200      dn 0.0900 
YHOO       7/21/12          16.0000         134            1.9600      up 0.0000 
AAPL       3/17/12         565.0000         132            2.1500      dn 2.1000 
ABX        4/21/12          43.0000         117            0.9200      up 0.3200 

 -VOLUME- 
  CALLS      PUTS           TOTAL 
  22762      17220          39982

Indeud….

Source

“It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it looks like all the heated conversation we’ve seen over user privacy in mobile apps has now finally boiled over into a class action lawsuit, filed this week in the Western Division of the U.S. District Court, Austin Division.

A list of 13 plaintiffs, acting “on  behalf  of  themselves  and  all others  similarly situated,” have filed a suit against a series of high-profile companies that make some of the most popular mobile apps around today. The list names 18 companies in all: Path,  Twitter, Apple, Facebook, Beluga, Yelp!, Burbn, Instagram, Foursquare, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Hipster, LinkedIn, Rovio, ZeptoLab, Chillingo, Electronic  Arts and Kik  Interactive. Coincidentally, the suit was filed on Monday, the same day that Yahoo filed a patent infringement suit against Facebook.

And it looks like the lawyers representing the plaintiffs — the Austin firms of Edwards Law, Carl F. Schwenker, and the Jordan Law Firm — appear to have filed this week in an attempt at maximum effect: the suit was made public right in the middle of the SXSW interactive event that brings upwards of 20,000 tech types to the city, including those from the companies named in the suit, and of course exactly the kind of people who use these apps regularly.

Some of the defendant list seems to be intentionally doubling up actions: for example, Gowalla is now owned by Facebook; and Burbn is the developer behind Instagram…..”

Read more 

Source 

“In what can only be seen as raising the rhetoric bar on the timing, scale, and seriousness of the Iran ‘situation’, Kommersant is reporting that“Tehran has one last chance” as US Secretary of State Clinton asks her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to relay the message to Iranian leaders. If this ‘last chance’ is wasted an attack will happen in months as diplomats noted that the probability of an Israel/US attack on Iran is now a specific ‘when’ instead of an indefinite ‘if’. The sentiment is best summarized by a quote from inside the meeting “The invasion will happen before year’s end. The Israelis are de facto blackmailing Obama. They’ve put him in this interesting position – either he supports the war or loses the support of the Jewish lobby”. Russian diplomats, as Russia Today points out, criticized the ‘last chance’ rhetoric as unprofessional suggesting “those tempted to use military force should restrain themselves – a war will not solve any problems, but create a million new ones.”

“(Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers are short on time and money to make the biggest cuts in agriculture in a generation and failure risks unintentionally driving up food prices and adding to an already onerous deficit.

Just as Congress took the country to the brink of an unprecedented debt default by haggling over whether to raise the debt ceiling, fractious Republicans and Democrats may wait this year until the last minute to agree to significant cuts to farm supports amid historically high crop prices.

The U.S. farm law, mammoth legislation that covers everything from food stamps to soil erosion, expires September 30.

Without a new law or an extension, a 1949 law — the bogeyman of farm bill showdowns — would automatically go into effect. It would limit plantings and have the government pay farmers up to twice what crops would sell for on the open market. Farm subsidies would rise by tens of billions of dollars and consumer grocery bills would rise while the economy is still struggling to recover from the recession.

There are fiscal and policy obstacles to a new farm law….”

Read more 

In order to prevent social unrest and upheaval in the manufacturing chain, governments are asking companies to raise wages….