via NYTimes.com

TAMPA, Fla. — Over at the back door of the 2001 Odyssey, a limo-size tent with flaps — especially designed for discretion and camera-shy guests — is ready to go up. Déjà Vu is welcoming extra “talent” from around the country in its V.I.P. rooms.

And Thee DollHouse is all Americana: women plan to slip out of red, white and blue corsets and offer red, white and blue vodka. The headliner that week is expected to bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain ex-governor from a wilderness state, known for her strong jaw and devotion to guns and God.

“She’s a dead ringer for her,” said Warren Colazzo, co-owner of Thee DollHouse. “It’s just a really good gimmick to get publicity.”

As Tampa gears up for the Republican National Convention, the biggest party it has ever held, the city and its businesses are primping and polishing for the August arrival of tens of thousands of visitors. Like it or not — mostly not, for city officials — Tampa’s well-known strip clubs have joined the welcome wagon.

Club owners here say they have schmoozed with their counterparts in former host cities, like Denver, and have been told that revenue pours in during conventions, sometimes quadrupling earnings from a Super Bowl week. As for party affiliation, this is one place where the country’s caustic partisan differences fall away, owners say.

Angelina Spencer, the executive director of the Association of Club Executives, which serves as a trade association for strip clubs, said an informal survey of convention business in New York and Denver had determined that Republicans dropped more money at clubs, by far.

“Hands down, it was Republicans,” she said. “The average was $150 for Republicans and $50 for Democrats.”

MERKEL, HOLLANDE READY TO DO ANYTHING TO PROTECT EURO REGION

WSVN-TV –

Facebook beats by $0.01, beats on revs (26.85 -2.50)
Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.12 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.11; revenues rose 32.3% year/year to $1.18 bln vs the $1.15 bln consensus. Revenue from advertising was $992 million, representing 84% of total revenue and a 28% increase from the same quarter last year. Payments and other fees revenue for the second quarter was $192 million.

Key Metrics: Monthly active users (MAUs) were 955 million as of June 30, 2012, an increase of 29% year-over-year. Daily active users (DAUs) were 552 million on average for June 2012, an increase of 32% year-over-year. Mobile MAUs were 543 million as of June 30, 2012, an increase of 67% year-over-year.

No guidance provided in press release, but may be provided on conference call, scheduled for 5:00 ET.

Good advice.

Bad advice.

The Ironic Result

You might know him better by his handle “StockSage.” I know him as fat piece of shit who should be in prison for a long time.

A man faces several charges, including driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, after police say he drove his car off a road Wednesday, hitting and critically injuring a pedestrian.

Police said Robert Sinn, 33, was driving a 2008 Chevy Impala north on Biscayne Boulevard when he left the roadway near Northeast 64th Street and hit a man walking near a bus bench.

Sinn’s vehicle also hit a palm tree, a streetlight, another tree, a bus sign post and a trash can, police said.

 

Witnesses told police that Sinn got out of the car, went over to the victim, who was lying on the ground, reached down, yelled something at him, stepped over him and got back in the car, according to the arrest form.

Sinn drove away before police arrived, but witnesses pointed officers in his direction, police said.

When an officer caught up with Sinn, he said, “Officer, I fell asleep at the wheel. Is the guy that I hit going to be OK?” according to the arrest report.

Sinn faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury, several charges relating to driving under the influence, and driving with a suspended license.

The pedestrian was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

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Spain almost 6% to the good.

“Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) said it will consider buying assets similar to its purchase of Chrysler Financial Corp. to bolster U.S. operations amid signs of a “modest” turnaround in the world’s largest economy.

The $6.3 billion purchase of auto loans from Cerberus Capital Management LP last year is “a great example of an asset class that we really like,” Chief Financial Officer Colleen Johnston said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “We’re continuing to think about acquiring assets and we continue to look.”

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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.

via NYPOST.com

The next city health-care crackdown: alcohol abuse.

Having attacked smoking, trans fats and sugary drinks, the Bloomberg administration is ramping up its campaign against alcohol abuse, The Post has learned.

The city Health Department will be conducting a massive, 50-question telephone survey of New Yorkers to get a better handle on the level of alcohol abuse in the city.

“We routinely conduct surveys about important health issues to learn more about them, and underage and excessive drinking are serious health issues,” said Health Department spokesman Sam Miller.

Typically, the department asks a handful of questions about drinking and drugs as part of an annual survey that queries residents about many other medical issues.

But this poll will put a heavy emphasis on booze, along with some questions on drug use, indicating the city is delving deeper into the drinking problem.

“Issues to be explored include behavior patterns around unhealthy alcohol consumption and awareness of existing alcohol-related laws and standards,’’ the department told bidders hoping to conduct the poll.

The poll, which should be completed by the end of September, will “oversample” young adults to make comparisons between 18- to 20-year-olds and 21- to 29-year-olds, health officials said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nanny_mike_next_target_real_boozy_6khvdPpGlJlwVgazASV5lJ#ixzz21eRpVhnW

China’s newest city is a tiny and remote island in the South China Sea, barely large enough to host a single airstrip. There is a post office, bank, supermarket and a hospital, but little else. Fresh water comes by freighter on a 13-hour journey from China’s southernmost province.

Welcome to Sansha, China’s expanding toehold in the world’s most disputed waters, portions of which are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and other neighbors. On Tuesday, as blustery island winds buffeted palm trees, a new mayor declared Sansha with a population of just 1,000 China’s newest municipality.

Beijing has created the city administration to oversee not only the rugged outpost but hundreds of thousands of square kilometers (miles) of water, aiming to strengthen its control over disputed — and potentially oil-rich — islands.

A spokesman for the Philippines Foreign Ministry said Manila did not recognize the city or its jurisdiction. Vietnam said China’s actions violated international law.

The city administration is on tiny Yongxing island, 350 kilometers (220 miles) southeast from China’s tropical Hainan Island. The Cabinet approved Sansha last month to “consolidate administration” over the Paracel and Spratly island chains and the Macclesfield Bank, a large, completely submerged atoll that boasts rich fishing grounds that is also claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines.

Vietnam and China both claim the Paracels, of which Yongxing, little more than half the size of Manhattan’s Central Park, is part. The two countries along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim all or parts of the Spratlys.

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Buffalo Wild Wings misses by $0.06, reports revs in-line; lowers EPS guidance growth est
Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.62 per share, $0.06 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.68; revenues rose 29.7% year/year to $238.7 mln vs the $240.03 mln consensus. Sees FY12 EPS growth 15-20% vs. 20%+ previously (consensus +19%). “We managed controllable costs, but the higher year-over-year wing costs in the second quarter moderated our net earnings to a 9.3% increase over the same quarter last year, providing earnings per diluted share of $0.62 compared to $0.58 a year ago. We continue to outpace the casual dining category with same-store sales increases of 5.3% at company-owned restaurants and 5.5% at franchised locations for the second quarter.”

Everyone from Paul Krugman to Steve Waldman to Yichuan Wang is giving their spin on the plunging nominal interest rates.

It’s beginning to look like Keynes was wrong about liquidity traps, at least when he argued that there’s a certain minimum nominal yield that government bond investors demand, and that long term rates can be reduced no further. Wherever people draw a line, bond yields just seem to plunge right through, to one record low after another. And we know from Japan that they can go even lower. But what does this mean?

It probably means multiple things. For instance it suggests that the Keynesian/market monetarist AD pessimists and the Great Stagnation AS pessimists are both right. We are looking at BOTH low inflation and low real GDP growth for many years to come. Why don’t I think AD explanations are enough? Partly because even the 20 year T-bond now has a negative real yield. Indeed it suggests the Bernanke “global savings glut” hypothesis is also correct, a point I’ve argued previously. Japan is the future of the world.

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This is the second blacklist after $XOM.

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