Going After LIBOR Manipulators In Early 2008 Would Have Been Disastrous

Alternate Headline: We Had to Steal Your Money to Prevent the Crisis from Becoming a Collapse!

But even if they had known about such manipulation, pursuing immediate trials—or even reporting such abuse to Congress—could have collapsed the system at a time when banks’ creditworthiness was already under fire.

Undercover reporters posing as “Earth Supply and Renewal” — group dedicated to digging holes and filling them back in, meet with Labor Bosses, NY Legislator, and former NY Assemblyman, who tell them how to secure funding for “Bullshit” Green jobs.

John Hutchings, member of the Broome County legislature, told the undercover reporters posing as “Earth Supply and Renewal” his opinion on taxpayer-funded grant contracts; “You know the Green Jobs — Green NY, between us, a lot of it is bullsh*t”. Anthony Tocci, business manager for Local 601, tells Earth Supply and Renewal “You just wanna(sic) get the money. Then you figure out afterwards” Former NY assemblyman Ron Tocci is also featured laughing about the irony of the company’s services: “One thing about it, it’s shovel ready.”

Seriously? They don’t predict any more of an increase over what we saw this year?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture left its inflation forecast for all food in 2012 unchanged from a month earlier at 2.5% to 3.5%. But in its first forecast for 2013, the USDA projected the price of all food will climb 3% to 4%. Last year, U.S. food inflation ran at 3.7%, the highest rate since the 5.5% in 2008.

Read the rest here.

At long last, Ron Paul has his day.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the Texas Republican’s bill to increase the transparency of the Federal Reserve. With bipartisan support, the measure passed 327-98. One Republican, Rep. Bob Turner of New York, joined 97 Democrats in voting against it.

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The Stock Sage presents some technical analysis of gold.

See the charts here.

Real-money gaming (i.e., online gambling) could provide a big boost to Zynga’s faltering bottom line, and the company has talked about making a move into that market in the past. Today CEO Mark Pincus offered a timetable, of sorts — subject to licensing approvals, he said we should see Zynga’s first products in this field in the first half of 2013.

Read the rest here.

Alternate Headline: Cash-Strapped French Socialists Face Reality of Running Out of Other People’s Money.

The champion of a moderate stimulus plan for Europe, at home French President Francois Hollande is turning his back on the sort of infrastructure investment he hopes will revive European growth.

His cash-strapped Socialist government is considering scrapping all but the most needed projects as it is forced to weigh questionable economic benefits in an era of belt-tightening.

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According to this article, water is the new gold for investors this century.

Read the article here.

Global Macro Monitor is out with some fugly charts juxtaposed against some good technical analysis.

See the world’s ugliest charts here.

$NFLX is getting its ass kicked in the after-hours market, down -16%. For an analysis of Netflix’s latest earnings report, read here.

Well worth a read…

Some like to draw comparisons between the Great Depression and the recessionary period following the 2008 financial crisis. Here is an infographic from paydayloans.co.ukthat does just that on several key economic metrics.

Because opening federal land in the Western states to increased oil and gas drilling is such a gamble.

The Obama administration will open public lands in six Western states to more solar projects as part of a solar energy road map it publicized Tuesday.

The Interior Department set aside 285,000 acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah for the initiative. Firms can apply for waivers to develop projects on an additional 19 million acres.

Read the article here.

Via Ivanhoff, a great collection of quotes from the new Schwager release.

Read the quotes here.

Uh oh. Maybe the Democrats have been able to save energy and cull the population in one fell swoop?

Now, a group of scientists at Stony Brook University has proven that CFLs do emit ultraviolet (UV) light rays that can harm human skin cells.

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Estimate for blue-chips are being revised lower leading some to suspect that the world’s largest economy is headed for another recession.

The reduction in growth expectations for leading blue-chips to their lowest level since late 2008 and early 2009 comes as investors have been piling into stocks in dividend-paying large companies that are seen as havens against the backdrop of the eurozone crisis and a weakening US outlook.

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Looks like we may be seeing the defining moment in college sports which will hopefully put more power (and money) into the hands of the players and strip it from the universities that exploit them.

(CBS News) CBS News has learned that the NCAA will announce what a high-ranking association source called “unprecedented” penalties against both the Penn State University football team and the school.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the source told correspondent Armen Keteyian.

Read the article here.

FBI Special agent James Yacone said that while most of the explosives had been rendered safe in Holmes’ apartment, “the threat has not been completely eliminated.”

“It was an extremely dangerous environment,” Yacone said.

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Ritholtz is out with an excellent read for a slow Saturday afternoon. Whether you are a seasoned investor or just starting out on your own you will appreciate these 10 most common mistakes.

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Companies House filings show that Mr Murdoch stepped down from the boards of the NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in the UK last week. He also quit a number of News Corp’s US boards, the details of which have yet to be disclosed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Read the article here.

The Marsh-Newnam partnership has all the makings of a grassroots business story that — stitched with thousands of others — could aid an American jobs revival. Except for one thing: Marsh isn’t hiring. He’s being killed by unemployment taxes that are on their way to quadrupling since 2009. When new business comes calling, Marsh says, “I have to ask myself if there’s another way to meet production needs without adding employees.” He would rather pay overtime than shell out a per-worker tax of $900 (up from $270 three years ago) that is slated to rise to about $1,100 in 2014.

Read the rest here.