Sunday, November 4, 2012

After The Flood Comes The Freeze: "Tens Of Thousands Need Housing" Says Cuomo, As Nor'Easter Approaches


First the flood, now the freeze (and the lack of fuel and gas and heating just making it much worse). And for tens of thousands of residents of New York and New Jersey this means that as many as 40,000 will need to find alternative housing, especially ahead of Wednesday when a Nor'easter formation is expected to hit the Tristate area and bring even more freezing rain and cold to the region. From Reuters: "Tens of thousands of people affected by superstorm Sandy could soon need housing as cold weather descends on the state of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday. Cuomo, in a televised press conference nearly a week after the storm hit the U.S. East Coast, said the fuel shortages are improving but problems will persist for "a number of days."" Elsewhere, and also from Reuters: "Victims of superstorm Sandy on the U.S. East Coast struggled against the cold early on Sunday amid fuel shortages and power outages even as officials fretted about getting voters displaced by the storm to polling stations for Tuesday's presidential election. Overnight, near-freezing temperatures gripped the U.S. northeast. At least two more victims were found in New Jersey, one dead of hypothermia, as the overall death toll from one of worst storms in U.S. history climbed to at least 112. Fuel supplies continued to rumble toward disaster zones and electricity was slowly returning to darkened neighborhoods after a storm that hit the coast last Monday. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it would be days before power is fully restored and fuel shortages end."

The 512 Permutating Paths To The White House


Tired of pundits with black boxes and book deals telling you the election is a done deal because some statistically-sampling, biased, Garbage In, Garbage Out model "said so" (remember when the same GIGO logic made every structured piece of toxic RMBS toxic be rated AAA simply because the rating agency models couldn't account for the improbable case of real estate prices actually going down?) Then decide for yourselves. With 48 hours left until polls close, below are the 512 permutating paths available to the two candidates on their way to the White House throne (assuming the other states vote the way they are "expected"). And with the election having crossed far beyond mere theatrical tragicomedy and now well into NCAA finals knock out fever, one can see why Florida and Ohio are really all the matter.

Obama Vs Romney National Security Policies In A Nutshell

Mitt Romney's policy statements have this far been quite hawkish on both the approach to 'dealling' with adversaries and on the funding of the military (growing DoD by 2,5% per year). President Obama on the other hand wants to build consensus and have us move in tandem with our allies. As such, he wants to keep our military spending relatively flat and encourage our allies to spend more. For everything you wanted to know about their policy and budget differences, but were afraid to even contemplate, as well as fiscal and threat realities, these four charts are critical. No matter the winner, the next President faces difficult fiscal realities given the $1T+ deficits of the day. He’ll also face a threat environment that includes a potentially “nuclear” Iran, an emerging China, an unstable middle-East, a frosty Russia, and a growing concern over cyber security.

How Targeted Quote Stuffing "Denial Of Service" Attacks Make Stock Trading Impossible

Back in the summer of 2010, when the SEC was still desperate to (laughably) scapegoat the May 6 Flash Crash on Waddell and Reed, in an attempt to telegraph to the public that it was in control of the HFT takeover of the stock market (an attempt which has since failed miserably as days in which there are no occult trading phenomena have become the outlier and have resulted in the wholesale dereliction of stock trading by retail investors), we first presented and endorsed the Nanex proposal that the flash crash was an "on demand" (either on purpose or by mistake) event, one which occurred as a result of massive quote stuffing which prevented regular way trading from occuring and resulting in a 1000 DJIA point plunge in minutes  (the audio track to which is still a must hear for anyone who harbor any doubt the market is "safe"). It turns out that in the nearly 3 years since that fateful market crash, not only has nothing been done to repair the market (ostensibly broken beyond repair and only another wholesale crash, this time without DKed trades, and bailed out banks, could possible do something to change the status quo) but the Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that HFT algos launch, for whatever reason, have become a daily occurrence as the following demonstrations from Nanex confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt.

BitCoin Seen Through The Eyes Of A Central Banker

To us, the ECB's superficial, amusing take on BitCoin was merely a source of (Friday) humor.  To others, such as Tuur Demeester, the ECB's report on "Virtual Currency Schemes" which was merely a confused attempt to validate the Euro by bashing a prototype electronic currency that others have written far more informed articles on, has far more profound insights into central banker mentality. We are skeptical: the ECB has far more existential issues to worry about than whether people will be paying for that house in Calabria with BitCoin (they won't; at least not any time soon), such as how fast until Spain and Greece run out of rehypothecatable and repoable assets, that allow the ECB to continue creating its own version of electronic money (in this case named Euro) out of thin air. But for those seeking more than what meets the central-planner's eye (because what better ploy than to divert attention from where it truly needs to be focused: such as Spanish bonds for example getting a 0% haircut instead of 5%), here are some answers to the question whether "the CB’s toolbox have what it takes to contain a private, decentralised cryptocurrency? Or: Bitcoin seen through the eyes of a central banker."

Spanish Banks May Face €17 Billion Margin Call As ECB Found To Lie About Collateral Haircuts

Mario Draghi has reassured the world that no matter how much 'crap' collateral is taken on to the ECB's balance sheet, their risk management process is rigorous and ensures the safety of the entity's capital thanks to well-devised haircuts and collateral. Once again, it appears from a report in Die Welt (via Bloomberg), Draghi lied, as the ECB is now checking terms on some lending to Spanish banks that may have already contravened the ECB's mandate allowing overly generous terms to be offered on the Spanish banks' collateral. As Bloomberg notes, the issue surrounds EUR80bn relatively short-dated T-Bills which were wrongly classified as rated 'A' instead of the 'B' that agencies - except DBRS! - had assigned (a vast difference) - which would imply (if the ECB re-assigns the correct rating) the affected Spanish banks would have to produce up to EUR16.6bn in additional collateral (cash or quality collateral that is non-existent in Europe). This of course "casts doubt on the quality of the ECB's risk management" and merely serves to confirm the Juncker-ian lies we have come to expect from Europe's leaders (economic and political). As Die Welt notes: "Critical observers ask: who actually controls the ECB?"

Bunga Bunga vs Brrrrrm: Ferrari Boss To Challenge Berlusoni In Italy Premier Race


A week ago we reported that as part of the surge in the Italian anti-austerity movement, the time had come for none other than that forced exile (courtesy of the ECB's bond yield tactics) whose political career ended prematurely precisely one year ago, Silvio Berlusconi, to announce not only his political ambitions, but his desire for vengeance when he made it clear he is willing and ready to scuttle Mario Monti's cabinet. It appears that in the April elections, Silvio may now be challenged by none other than Ferrari head, Luca de Montezomolo, boss of the Scuderia, who Ansa reports "has hinted he might rethink his recent No to stepping into the political ring after April elections."

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Job Creation Under Barack Obama: Less Than Meets The Eye?


In the aftermath of yesterday's better than expected jobs number there have been many analyses in the media on both sides of the aisle, either attacking or defending Obama's track record in creating jobs. All have come up with arguments which according to their authors, are solid and defensible. There is one analysis, however, which is missing, and that is a follow up of what we showed yesterday in "Chart Of The Day: America's Geriatric Work F(a)rce."  In it we demonstrated the very much "under the radar" schism of America's workforce since the NBER-defined official end of the recession in June 2009 into the "haves", or those above 55, who have been able to get a job since the end of the recession, and the "have nots", or all those in the labor force who have not been able to find a job. So how does this data look when extended to the beginning of Obama's term, or the 46 full months starting with his inauguration in January 2009, and continuing through the latest, October 2012 data point. The chart is presented below; you decide.

Proposition 37: It’s Your Right to Know What’s in Your Food! 

from Joe Joseph:

Joe Joseph talks about Proposition 37: GMO Food Labeling. Raj Shah, John Diaz, and Howard Vlieger talk about their mission to get Proposition 37 passed in the state of California.

Black Market Gas Spikes to $25 On Craigslist

by M. Frank Drover, The Daily Sheeple:

With Hurricane Sandy victims unable to find food, gas, and clean water, and freezing temperatures rolling in, the hunt for resources is on.
This weekend, gas spiked to $25 per gallon in New Jersey.
I waited in line for 2 hours to fill up a 5 Gallon gas container.
I’m willing to sell it for the right price and will deliver!
$25 per Gallon OR Shoot us your best offer!!
Read More @ TheDailySheeple.com

The Emperor Has No Gold

by George Washington via Zero Hedge:

Romania has demanded for many years that Russia return its gold.
Last year, Venezuela demanded the return of 90 tons of gold from the Bank of England.
The German high court recently ruled that Germany must audit its gold reserves held in foreign countries such as the U.S., England and France. And German inspectors will actually travel to the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s gold depository and the Bank of England to inspect their gold.
Germany will also repatriate 150 tons of gold in order to test it for purity.
As Zero Hedge notes (quoting Bloomberg):
Ecuador’s government wants the nation’s banks to repatriate about one third of their foreign holdings to support national growth, the head of the country’s tax agency said.

Carlos Carrasco, director of the tax agency known as the SRI, said today that Ecuador’s lenders could repatriate about $1.7 billion and still fulfill obligations to international clients.
Read More @ Zero Hedge

SOLA 4.17 Both Sides Are Bought and Paid For

from TruthNeverTold :


Silent No More … The Military Meme Expands

by Staff Report The Daily Bell:
Navy Seals furious with Obama says Brad Nagel, 20 year Navy veteran and former SEAL. Newly released emails indicate that the Obama White House KNEW WITHIN 30 MINUTES of the initial uprising that the American Embassy in Benghazi was under full terrorist attack. An American drone reportedly sent the State Department situation room real time footage of the jihadist assault. As State Department officials watched the bloody, clearly pre-planned and well organized attack unfold; our Commander in Chief refused to take action. It has been further reported that instead of staying in the situation room, the President retired to his quarters for an early bed time, leaving horrified State Department personnel alone with the live feed horrors from Benghazi. – TeaPartyorg.ning.com
Dominant Social Theme: Thank goodness the SEALS are speaking out.
Free-Market Analysis: All over the US news are reports about what really happened in Benghazi and how the treacherous Obama administration declined to act.
But if you listen closely, you can hear a number of power elite memes being reinforced. The dominant social theme in this case is that there is always treachery at high levels of government and that fortunately, the demos is self-correcting.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com

Household deleveraging: Are we there yet?

by Adrian Ash, Bullion Street:
Deleveraging, like Hamlet’s nothing, is only good or bad when you come to think about it.
And what view you choose speaks to your moral view of the world too, and so to your economic theory as well, whether or not you know it. Because for every “liquidationist” saying the debt must be paid down, and savings must be built up before a new cycle can begin, there is another economist urging government and central banks to take on releveraging themselves, so the net effect is nil. Otherwise we’re doomed to a permanent depression.
UK households care little for such chatter, however. By September 2008, their net debt – their total savings minus their borrowings – were equal to 20% of the UK’s annual economy. People owed the banks 300bn pounds more than the banks owed to them.
How things change! Banks won’t lend, and people won’t borrow even at 0% interest rates. Net result?
Read More @ BullionStreet.com

American Imperialism: Born Hand-in-Hand With the Constitution

by Bionic Mosquito, Lew Rockwell:
Many look to the time 1898 as the beginning or commencement of the American drive for imperialism; empire. The Spanish – American War, involving the United States in Cuba and the Philippines, is seen as this point – when America began on the road to empire (at least by those willing to recognize the imperial nature of the U.S. Many are not.).
The drive to empire began much earlier than 1898. Justin Raimondo recently wrote an essay on the War of 1812, “1812: The War Party’s First ‘Success’,” in which he describes the war in terms both neocon and imperial:
The two-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the War of 1812 is upon us, and I’m shocked and surprised the War Party hasn’t planned a celebration: after all, as Jefferson Morley points out in Salon, this was the first neocon war, i.e. an unnecessary war of choice.
Read More @ LewRockwell.com

Could a Bad Stock Market Monday and Tuesday Decide U.S. Presidential Election?

by Anthony Cherniawski, The Market Oracle:
The VIX bounced from its 10-week moving average to complete a minor retracement, then closed above its 40-week support at 17.43 this week. A breakout above the inverted Head & Shoulders neckline and mid-Cycle support/resistance at 20.83 announces that a Third Wave is underway with substantially higher targets. Once the initial target is met, VIX has a shot at Cycle Top resistance at 34.02 and possibly much higher.
- SPX broke through its Ending Diagonal trendline at 1418.00 late this week, after retesting it on Friday. This is where the excitement begins. The next possible support is the 40-week moving average at 1383.51. Technicians are beginning to wake up to the fact that a major key support has been broken. The Broadening Top formations lies just beneath, suggesting the decline may be much faster and deeper than normal. There are four potential Broadening Wedges nested within each other that may cause a “pancake effect” as the decline breaks the supports of these formations, one after another. In addition, the extended rallies are delaying major cycle lows that are now long overdue. This could have the effect of compressing an already significant decline into an intense panic situation.
Read More @ TheMarketOracle.co.uk

Production, labour, cost issues weigh down the world’s top gold miners

With the exception of Goldcorp, third quarter results from the big five global gold miners are looking pretty dire.
by Lawrence Williams, MineWeb.com
This doesn’t look like being a good quarter for the world’s top five gold miners, with only Goldcorp the exception.  Both Barrick and Newmont have published figures for the quarter which will have seriously disappointed analysts, while South Africa’s two top producers have of course been suffering badly from the wave of worker dissent in their main country of production which followed on from the platinum mine strikes and the Marikana massacre.
Let’s consider the major miners individually:
Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold miner, not only saw third quarter earnings fall by 55% compared with a year ago – but also had to report yet another increased capital cost estimate for its massive Pascua Lama project straddling the Argentinean/Chilean border.  The project cost now stands at an enormous $8-$8.5 billion, effectively $1billion more than the previous figures only re-estimated a quarter earlier, and getting on for three times the original cost estimate of only three years ago. 
Read More @ MineWeb.com

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The Day the Internet Died

by Staff Report Narco News:
When Hosni Mubarak Shut Off Cell Phones and the Internet in January 2011 Was the Moment When More Egyptians than Ever Went Out into the Streets

In March 2011, just weeks after the Egyptian Revolution brought the fall of the dictator Hosni Mubarak, the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism went to Cairo to interview key participants about their direct lived experience during those historic moments.
We asked each of them these questions:
On Friday January 28 the regime turned off the Internet. Did that change your experience of the revolution?
If you are someone who had spent a lot of time online before then, how did you spend those newly free hours during the four or five days that there was no Internet?
And what do you think about claims by some international media that the Egypt resistance was a “Twitter revolution” or “Facebook revolution”?

Did the shut down of the Internet hurt the cause or did it help? Why or why not?
Read More @ NarcoNews.com

DOLLAR RUN

by Dr Farrukh Saleem, TheNews.com:
Fact 1: We need $12 billion to survive the following 12 months; $5 billion to finance the current account deficit and $7 billion to repay out debts (principal and interest).
Fact 2: We need $24 billion to survive the following 24 months; $10 billion to finance the current account deficit and $14 billion to repay out debts (principal and interest).
Fact 3: As of October 12, net foreign exchange reserves at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stood at $9.8 billion.
Fact 4: The SBP’s net reserves include a billion dollars worth of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a couple of billion dollars of gold reserves and an additional billion or two of ‘parked reserves’ belonging to a few friendly countries. In all probability, SDRs, gold and ‘parked reserves’ can be used neither to pay for imports nor for the repayment of non-IMF debt.
Probable scenario: Within a month of the caretaker government’s tenure, Pakistan will be in a state of ‘financial emergency’. By Election Day, the SBP’s foreign exchange reserves will be just about enough to cover a mere two months’ imports.
Read More @ TheNews.com

Election predictions: The candidate in favor of GMOs, bankster bailouts and corporate domination will win!

by Mike Adams, Natural News:
I’m going to make a bold prediction about the outcome of the upcoming U.S. election: The winner will be the guy who supports GMOs and bankster bailouts. Which candidate is this? Well BOTH of them, of course.
In fact, I’m also 100% sure the winner will be the candidate who is in favor of going to war with Iran.
The winner will also be the guy in favor of increasing the size of government, either through entitlements or military spending.
Here are some other things I predict the winner will support:
• Continued erosion of civil liberties and the bill of rights
• The growth of federal power over states rights
Read More @ NaturalNews.com

US & Canadian Team Up to Use Propaganda Campaigns For Public Support of Cybersecurity

by Susanne Posel, Occupy Corporatism:
Last week, both the US and Canadian governments revealed that they will combine efforts against cyber-attacks with the creation of an action plan between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Public Safety Canada (PSC) to improve digital infrastructure.
In a 2011 document entitled “Beyond the Border: A Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness” this relationship was laid out for the purpose of interweaving the two nations to increase the resiliency of our networks, enhance public-private partnerships, and build a culture of shared responsibility,” according to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of DHS.
Because governmental officials state that “the internet knows no borders” there would only be benefits from creating “a shared infrastructure” to protect government secrets and digital information.
Read More @ OccupyCorporatism.com

Calling Out the Left-Wing Election Rigging Denialists

By Victoria Collier, Op Ed News:
TO LEFT-WING JOURNALISTS: YES, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE
This article responds to the damaging attempts by left-wing journalists to deny the possibility of right-wing electronic vote tampering – or any e-vote tampering – particularly in the 2012 election.
In the past week, Chuck Todd at MSNBC News has Tweeted that concerns about electronic voting machines are “conspiracy theory that belong in the same category as the Trump birther garbage.”
ThinkProgress, the left-wing advocacy and news site, posted an article with the same blanket “conspiracy theory” dismissal.
And finally, Steven Rosenfeld wrote a similar opinion piece - posted by Alternet (as “news” no less) and then picked up by Salon and Snopes – to further “debunk” concerns about stolen elections.
Read More @ OpedNews.com

David vs. Monsanto

from ZenGardner.com
This is a MUST SEE video! The free viewing expires Nov. 10th so circulate widely!! – Z

Outrage: Obama Admin. Says Texans Can’t Arrest UN Observers Even if They Violate Texas Law

The Texas Attorney General threatens UN with arrest and the Obama Administration comes out and tries to trump that and offer the UN immunity from arrest? Unacceptable. Texas needs to double down and stand it’s ground. The arrests need to be made, made publicly. Show the UN and the Obama Administration that Texas will not be pushed around.
As we publicized earlier this week, “United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups.” [Click on this "Limited Election Observation Mission to the United States of America" list to see where the international observers will be deploying in your state.]
Unlike Alaska’s current passivity, Texas confronted this offensive intrusion by international observers with a warning from its Attorney General’s office: “[G]roups and individuals from outside the United States do not have jurisdiction to interfere with Texas elections.”
Read More @ PoliticalPieHole.com

ECB investigating if loans made to Spanish banks contravened rules

The European Central Bank (ECB) is checking whether it may have contravened its own strict rules by lending to Spanish banks on overly generous terms, an ECB spokesman said on Sunday.
from The Telegraph:
German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, citing the results of its own research, said Spanish banks had borrowed funds from the ECB at a preferential interest rate of 0.5pc even though the creditworthiness of the T-bills they provide as collateral should have required them to pay 5.5pc.
The rating of some paper should have made them completely ineligible as collateral for the ECB, the newspaper added.
“The ECB is investigating the matter,” the bank spokeswoman said.
At issue is nearly €80bn (£64.1bn) worth of 18-month T-bills the newspaper said had been wrongly classified as carrying a top-notch A rating whereas many are rated only as B by leading rating agencies Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.
“Dealings with certain Spanish government bonds casts doubt on the quality of the ECB’s risk management… because the bonds pledged by the banks as security meet the central bank’s requirements only in part,” Die Welt am Sonntag said.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk

Seattle Police Department Unmanned Aerial System Operations Draft Manual

from Public Intelligence:
The following procedures are intended to promote safe, efficient and lawful operation of the Seattle Police Department’s unmanned aerial system (UAS). Safety, above all else, is the primary concern in each and every operation, regardless of the nature of the mission.
3. Protection of Rights and Privacy
UAS unit Commanders, operators and observers will have the protection of citizens civil rights and reasonable expectations of privacy as a key component of any decision made the to deploy the UAS. UAS operators and observers will ensure and will be held accountable for ensuring that operations of the U AS intrude to a minimal extent upon the citizens of Seattle. To accomplish this primary goal we will:
Read More @ PublicIntelligence.net

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