News Links: Banks raise Greek haircut offer to 40 percent as Eurozone PMI surveys point to recession
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Banks raise Greek haircut offer to 40 percent in talks: source | Reuters
Bankers have offered to stretch the voluntary haircut on Greek debt to 40 percent, while politicians demand the private sector agree to writedowns of at least 50 percent, senior German banking source said on Sunday.
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Eurozone PMI surveys point to recession – Telegraph
Fears over a second eurozone recession mounted after decline in the region’s services and manufacturing sectors accelerated in October.
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Dudley: Fed Policy Helps, but Central Bank Alone Can’t Fix Economy – Real Time Economics – WSJ
“The actions we have taken recently will be helpful in supporting growth and jobs,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said. “The Fed is doing — and will continue to do — everything in its power to promote jobs and price stability, he said. But Dudley said, “I do not think that monetary policy is all powerful,” explaining that “to get the strongest possible recovery, we need reinforcing action in areas such as housing and fiscal policy.”
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Stars shine on Elizabeth Warren – BostonHerald.com
Elizabeth Warren’s Senate campaign has been fueled largely by donations from outside Massachusetts — places like Beverly Hills, the Silicon Valley and New York, where Warren held a fund-raiser last night co-hosted by billionaire investor George Soros. Warren’s campaign raised an impressive $3.15 million from July through September, but just $974,000 — or 31 percent — came from donors in the Bay State, according to her campaign.
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U.S. pulls out ambassador from Syria: diplomats | Reuters
The United States has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns after his cultivation of contacts with protesters led to attacks on his embassy and residence by backers of President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said on Monday.
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Americans Would Swap Electoral College for Popular Vote
Nearly 11 years after the 2000 presidential election brought the idiosyncrasies of the United States’ Electoral College into full view, 62% of Americans say they would amend the U.S. Constitution to replace that system for electing presidents with a popular vote system. Barely a third, 35%, say they would keep the Electoral College.
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Lean Companies Ready to Cut – WSJ.com
In a sign that executives see a rockier road ahead, many manufacturers are setting aside money to fund moves aimed at cutting costs and streamlining operations. Those steps could include job cuts and factory closures, as businesses seek to pare expenses ahead of what is widely expected to be slow revenue growth in 2012.
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Historically, Greeks have been very good at constructing myths. The rest of the world? Not so great, if the current burst of commentary on the country is anything to go by. Reading the press, one gets the impression of a bunch of lazy Mediterranean scroungers, enjoying one of the highest standards of living in Europe while making the frugal Germans pick up the tab. This is a nonsensical propaganda. As if Greece is the only country ever to cook its books in the European Union! Rather, the heart of the problem is in the antiquated revenue system that supports that state, which results in a budget shortfall consistently about 10% of GDP. The top 20% of the income distribution in Greece pay virtually no taxes at all, the product of a corrupt bargain reached during the days of the junta between the military and Greece’s wealthiest plutocrats. No wonder there is a fiscal crisis!
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"When I was looking for my biological mother, obviously I was looking for my biological father at the same time," he told Walter Isaacson. "I learned a little bit about him, and I didn’t like what I learned. "It turns out he managed or owned a restaurant, and I was in the restaurant once or twice, and I remember meeting the owner, who was from Syria
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Greek bank stocks plunge 13 percent on haircut fears | Reuters
Greek bank shares .FTATBNK shed more than 13 percent on Monday on fears that a deeper markdown on Greek government bonds held by the private sector would force lenders to seek state support to recapitalize.
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interfluidity » The moral case for NGDP targeting
The last few weeks have seen high-profile endorsements of having the Federal Reserve target a nominal GDP path. (See Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, Jan Hatzius and colleagues at Goldman Sachs.) This is a huge victory for the “market monetarists”, a group that includes Scott Sumner, Nick Rowe, David Beckworth, Josh Hendrickson, Bill Woolsey, Marcus Nunes, Niklas Blanchard, David Glasner, Kantoos, and Lars Christensen… I have reservations about the market monetarists’ project. […] But such quibbles are for another time. Here I want to join the market monetarists’ happy dance, and point out several moral benefits of NGDP targeting.
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"Kirchner fue el fundador de esta victoria", dijo Cristina al celebrar su reelección – lanacion.com
La Presidenta dio un discurso cargado de emoción y pidió que la "acompañen humildemente"; obtiene más del 50% de los votos y podría superar la marca histórica de apoyo desde el regreso de la democracia; el kirchnerismo lograría la mayoría en el Congreso; festejos multitudinarios en la puerta del comando de campaña y en Plaza de Mayo
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Arrest marks growing pains for superhero movement – Associated Press
The comic book-inspired patrolling of city streets by "real life super-heroes" has been getting more popular in recent years, thanks largely to mainstream attention in movies like last year’s "Kick-Ass" and the recent HBO documentary "Superheroes." And as the ranks of the masked, caped and sometimes bullet-proof-vested avengers swell, many fret that even well-intentioned vigilantes risk hurting themselves, the public and the movement if they’re as aggressive as Jones.
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This Catholic man holds one of the most incredible concentration camp escape stories of World War Two, after he sneaked his Jewish girlfriend out of Auschwitz in 1944 by dressing up as an S.S. officer.
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The Irish Lesson, or: it’s Competitiveness, Stupid! – Kantoos Economics
it was Walter Bagehot, the Economist’s legendary 19th century editor, who taught us that liquidity solves liquidity crises, but not crises of structural insolvency. With insolvency, liquidity support enables the debtor to pay his bills for a while – but he will still not be able to borrow, as lenders anticipate that he will again be unable to foot his bills once liquidity support is exhausted. Thus, for „showing markets the money“ to work, the peripheral euro area countries need to be solvent. Are they?
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Nominal GDP Targeting Through Unconventional Monetary Policy and Through Fiscal Policy Edition
With a helicopter drop, the Federal Reserve sells cash and it buys… nothing at all. Cash and nothing are pretty different assets. Add cash to private-sector portfolios and take nothing away, and portfolios have shifted in meaningful ways and people will change what they do. With print-money-and-buy-useful-things, the government sells cash and buys… roads, bridges, research into public health, flu shots, killer robots–all kinds of things that are very very different indeed from cash.
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More Grim Euro Thoughts – NYTimes.com
So the ECB was calling for austerity everywhere. Was any concern expressed about how that would affect Europe-wide growth? Was there any suggestion of expansionary monetary policy to offset such a coordinated fiscal contraction? No and no.
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Australia: beautiful one day, police state the next | Steve Keen’s Debtwatch
I was disgusted to learn this morning that Sydney had joined Melbourne in being one of the very few cities around the world to evict the Occupy protesters. I’m glad at least that I got a chance to speak at yesterday’s rally, before the police action at 5am this morning.
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Nicolas Sarkozy tells David Cameron: shut up over the euro | World news | The Guardian
Sarkozy bluntly told Cameron: "You have lost a good opportunity to shut up." He added: "We are sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro and now you want to interfere in our meetings."
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EU leaders tell Italy: stop the rot and get your house in order | World news | The Guardian
Pressure on Silvio Berlusconi to bring country’s debts under control as Europe fears another deep-rooted recession
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Marco Simoncelli dead after horror crash at Malaysian Moto GP in Sepang | Mail Online
Rider lost control of his bike before he appeared to be hit by Colin Edwards and then Valentino Rossi
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Microsoft Inks Tenth Android Patent Deal, Signs Agreement With Compal Electronics | TechCrunch
The company added that following the Samsung licensing agreement, Microsoft now has license agreements in place with OEMs that account for 53 percent of all Android smartphones in the United States. And there’s a jab at Google included as well in the announcement: For those who continue to protest that the smartphone patent thicket is too difficult to navigate, it’s past time to wake up.
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Manchester City routs rival Manchester United at Old Trafford – ESPN
United, a 19-time Premier League champion, had won 19 consecutive league home games and had not lost a league match at Old Trafford by five goals since a 5-0 defeat to City on Feb. 12, 1955. The Red Devils had not conceded six goals at home since a 7-4 loss to Newcastle on Sept. 13, 1930. City had not won by five goals at Old Trafford since a 6-1 win on Jan. 23, 1926. "It’s the worst result in my history, ever," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I can’t believe the score line." Bidding for its first league title since 1968, City (8-0-1) opened a five-point lead over second-place United (6-1-2).
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Redskins continue their search for stability at quarterback – The Washington Post
Theismann started his first game in 1976 and was the Redskins’ unquestioned starter from 1978 to ’85, when he made the last of his 167 appearances, more than any quarterback in franchise history. The turnover in the 25 years since has been epic. Since 1986, 33 quarterbacks have thrown passes for the Redskins, a total exceeded only by Chicago and Atlanta (with 34 apiece). Twenty-one of those players have made more than a cameo, throwing more than 100 passes. Only Detroit, with 24, has more quarterbacks with 100 attempts over that span
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Quote of the Day: October 23, 2011
"When Columbus landed, Cook and Borah concluded, the central Mexican plateau alone had a population of 25.2 million."
“More Bang for the Buck? The EFSF Story” https://re-define.org/blog/2011/10/24/more-bang-buck-efsf-story
“No matter how events unfold, we foresee a much bigger role for the ECB as being necessary and inevitable. ”
“Disk drive crisis: Economists are terrible weathermen” https://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/10/24/disk_drive_economics/