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Monthly Archives: December 2012

Emerging Markets Continue to Melt Up in Expectation China Will Add Stimulus to Fuel Growth

“Emerging-market stocks rose for a fifth day on speculation China will take steps to boost domestic consumption and as U.S. lawmakers arranged meetings before a budget deadline.

BYD Co. (1211), a Chinese maker of electric vehicles rallied 4.1 percent in Hong Kong. Citic Securities Co. (6030) led Chinese brokerages higher after the country’s regulator said it will ease bond financing for securities firms. OMV Petrol Ofisi AS (PTOFS), Turkey’s biggest fuel retailer, rose 4 percent after receiving approval to sell a unit. Russia’s flagship airline OAO Aeroflot rose 2.4 percent.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MXEF) added 0.4 percent to 1,053.87 as of 10:55 a.m. in London, poised for the highest close since April 3 and extending a sixth weekly gain to 1 percent. China may introduce measures to boost consumption in areas such as autos, household electronics and solar, the China Securities Journal said. Congressional leaders plan to meet with President Barack Obama today and House Republicans will convene Dec. 30 as lawmakers seek to avoid the more than $600 billion in spending cuts and tax gains scheduled to start in January…”

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Japan’s Industrial Output Falls More Than Expected, Dovish Expectations Rise

Japan’s industrial output tumbled more than forecast to the lowest level since the aftermath of the record 2011 earthquake, bolstering the case for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to unleash large-scale stimulus.

The 1.7 percent drop in November from October exceeded all 27 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, a government report showed today in Tokyo. The nation also remained mired in deflation, with consumer prices excluding fresh food dropping 0.1 percent from a year before, compared with a central bank goal of 1 percent and Abe’s desired target of 2 percent.

With neighbor South Korea reporting a jump in production almost double the highest estimate among economists surveyed, Japan’s data may strengthen the new Abe administration’s determination to drive down the yen and force the Bank of Japan (8301) to add monetary stimulus. On the fiscal front, Abe has told ministries to compile emergency spending proposals by Jan. 7.

“Weakness in exports is the major drag on Japan’s economy,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at Itochu Corp. (8001) in Tokyo. “Given the weak state of the economy, Abe’s government may need a large-scale stimulus program to boost growth.”

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As Japan’s Minister Promises the Good Fight Against Deflation $GS Takes Down Bank and Exporter Stocks

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is buying shares of Japanese exporters and banks as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s new government promises to do more to end deflation and weaken the yen.

The investment bank’s asset management unit in Japan is buying shares of the nation’s machinery and electronics exporters, financial firms and electricity producers, according to Hiroyuki Ito, Tokyo-based head of equity investment at Goldman Sachs Asset Management Co., which oversees about $716 billion globally. Goldman Sachs started increasing its holdings in October in anticipation that elections would be called, he said. The Liberal Democratic Partytook power in a Dec. 16 poll…”

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The Greenback Continues to Strengthen

“The dollar strengthened the most in a week and European stocks retreated as U.S. lawmakers prepared to debate tax increases and spending cuts that take effect next month. Italian bondserased losses as the government sold debt.

The Dollar Index rose 0.4 percent at 10:35 a.m. in London. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.2 percent. The yield on Italian 10-year bonds erased an earlier gain of as much as four basis points as demand increased at an auction….”

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John McAfee Tells World How He Fooled Cops and Escaped Belize

One of the reporters who snuck out of Belize with John McAfee earlier this month said the adventure was “dangerous, amazing, touching, and many other adjectives that I cannot remember right now.”

Turns out that the words that eluded him were “rainy” and “lucky.”

On the day after Christmas, McAfee posted a long blog post describing how he gave Belizean authorities the slip and snuck out of the country to avoid questioning (and in his estimation, wrongful prosecution) following the murder of his neighbor, Greg Faull.

“It’s visually interesting and it is mostly a happy story — in line with most Christmas stories,” he wrote.

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Britain Zombie Apocalypse Plans Revealed In Freedom Of Information Request

“Britain is well prepared to fight apocalyptic zombie invasion

A zombie invasion is a problem that may seem to belong in a horror film rather than to real life, but, none the less, the British government believes it has worked out the best way to cope with one.”

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KERRY TO PUSH CLIMATE CHANGE AS SEC. OF STATE

 

“Secretary of State nominee John Kerry, with 20 years of concern about climate change, is expected to push the issue to center stage as a slow-motion crisis in need of a global solution.

When he sought to defeat President George W. Bush in 2004, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts made a point of challenging the Bush administration’s backtracking on the issue and rejection of climate science. In contrast, he told the nation, he “believes in science.”

Kerry has been pushing for action on global warming since he attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He has since attended multiple United Nations climate-change negotiations, including helping Obama with some preliminary discussions with India and China at the U.N. talks in Copenhagen in 2009.

He co-authored unsuccessful legislation in the Senate to set up a cap-and-trade system to reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. He and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, co-wrote a book, “This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future.”

A clue to his current thinking came in August when he spoke on the Senate floor, saying that planetary warming was “as dangerous as any sort of the real crises that we talk about.”

“Today we had a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee on the subject of Syria, and we all know what’s happening with respect to Iran, and nuclear weapons and the possibility even of a war,” Kerry said.  “Well, this issue actually is of as significant a level of importance, because it affects life itself on the planet, because it affects ecosystems on which the oceans and the land depend for the relationship of the warmth of our earth and the amount of moisture that there is and all of the interactions that occur as a consequence of our climate.”

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DNA of Sandy Hook Killer Adam Lanza to be Examined for ‘Evil’ Gene

“Scientists have been asked to study the DNA of Newtown school killer Adam Lanza to see if has an ‘evil’ gene that led him to carry out the massacre.

The study, which will look at any abnormalities or mutations in his individual DNA, is believed to be the first of its kind ever carried out on a mass murderer.

Lanza slaughtered 20 children and six adults in one of America’s worst ever school shootings the week before Christmas….”

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Fun Times: Germany Engages in ‘Inhumane Deportation’ of the Elderly

“German pensioners are being sent to care homes in Eastern Europe and Asia in what has been described as an ‘inhumane deportation’.

Rising numbers of the elderly and sick are moved overseas for long-term care because of sky-high costs at home.

Some private healthcare providers are even building homes overseas, while state insurers are also investigating whether they can care for their clients abroad.

Experts describe a time bomb’ of increasing numbers unable to afford the growing costs of retirement homes….”

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iSweat for the West

While this article says things are getting better, you have to ask why don’t companies and western governments make sure things are right to begin with. seems like an easy fix when they really do want our business so badly….

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Uncle Sam Quietly Takes Over the Mortgage Market

 

“During the financial crisis of 2008-2009, officials from both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations joined Wall Street bankers to condemn calls from the Left to nationalize all or part of the banking system, which had failed spectacularly. But since then the government has quietly and almost completely taken over the U.S. home mortgage industry because banks and other for-profit lenders refuse to lend money to homeowners without the guarantees and other support the government provides.

 

In fact, about 90% of all new mortgages are backed by the government, three times more than in 2006. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-controlled, semi-private housing giants, were saved with infusions of $187.5 billion of public funds starting in 2008, and now guarantee 69% of new mortgages, up from only 27% in 2006, while the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs back about 21% of mortgages, up from just 2.8% in 2006…”

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Feinstein to Introduce Gun Control Bill in January

 

Summary of 2013 legislation

Following is a summary of the 2013 legislation:

  • Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of:
    • 120 specifically-named firearms
    • Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one military characteristic
    • Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds
  • Strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and various state bans by:
    • Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test
    • Eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test
    • Banning firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons” to address attempts to “work around” prior bans
  • Bans large-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.
  • Protects legitimate hunters and the rights of existing gun owners by:
    • Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment
    • Exempting over 900 specifically-named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes and
    • Exempting antique, manually-operated, and permanently disabled weapons
  • Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:
    • Background check of owner and any transferee;
    • Type and serial number of the firearm;
    • Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;
    • Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and
    • Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration

A pdf of the bill summary is available here. ”

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Geithner: Debt Limit to be Reached by New Years Eve

 

“(CNSNews.com) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. debt limit of $16.394 trillion will be met on New Year’s Eve, in a letter to Congress on Wednesday.

“I am writing to inform you that the statutory debt limit will be reached on December 31, 2012, and to notify you that the Treasury Department will shortly begin taking certain extraordinary measures authorized by law to temporarily postpone the date that the United States would otherwise default on its legal obligations,”Geithner said in the letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Geithner said “extraordinary measures” taken by the Treasury Department could create approximately $200 billion in headroom under the debt limit.

“Under normal circumstances, that amount of headroom would last approximately two months,” he said.  “However, given the significant uncertainty that now exists with regard to unresolved tax and spending policies for 2013, it is not possible to predict the effective duration of these measures.”

“At this time,” Geithner continued, “the extent to which the upcoming tax-filing season will be delayed as a result of these unresolved policy questions is also uncertain.  If left unresolved, the expiring tax provisions and automatic spending cuts, as well as the attendant delays in filing of tax returns, would have the effect of adding some additional time to the duration of the extraordinary measures.”

“Treasury will provide more guidance regarding the expected duration of these measures when the policy outlook becomes clearer,” Geithner said.

The news of the federal government closing in on its debt ceiling adds another dimension to the so-called fiscal cliff that will be met at the end of the year, unless Congress and the president reach an agreement in the coming days….”

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