News Links: Japan’s Hidden Jobless

The number of Japanese that want to work but are not actively seeking employment has surpassed levels from after the global financial crisis erupted, according to government data released on Tuesday. Some people have given up searching for work because they believe that the jobs they desire are not available. Known as hidden unemployment, such individuals are not reflected in official unemployment statistics, which cover those actively hunting for jobs by going to employment centers, for example.

Printing money is the way global governments will evade debt crises, such as the one that is gripping Europe, Faber said in Taipei. That would forestall the crisis rather than solve it, keeping prices elevated for assets like stocks, real estate in some areas and precious metal, he said. Loose monetary policies, including low interest rates, intended as a short-term fix, can have unintended consequences later, Faber said.

The International Monetary Fund’s European chief resigned Wednesday, dealing a blow to the fund as European leaders continue to disagree over how to fight the continent’s worsening debt crisis.

This week has seen the once unthinkable: core eurozone countries, largely spared from the massive debt burdens and failing economies of the periphery, are now experiencing rising borrowing costs. Some economists warn it is only going to get worse, as markets start to accept extreme outcomes for the eurozone crisis, such as a break up of the currency block and member states returning to national currencies.

The problem can’t be solved by prayer or piety – and it’s far more widespread than we think

Unknown to everyone except the People’s Bank of China, at the time of announcement of the monetary statistics, the PBOC had quietly expanded the definition of M2 money supply, and announced it only last night in a statement. The statement essentially said that the new M2 definition has been used in the October monetary statistics, which showed that M2 increased by 12.9% yoy.  The new definition includes both non-depository financial institutions deposits and social housing fund on top of existing M2 measure.

Incoming Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has named a government entirely composed of unelected figures, just days after a technocratic government was installed in Greece, where the presence of far-right figures linked to the military junta are raising hackles.

One lesser-known part of DHS is the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is tasked with providing "integrated security and law enforcement services to federally owned and leased buildings, facilities, properties and other assets." That mission might be one of the reasons that officers from the FPS have been spotted at several of the "Occupy" crackdowns, including the October 31 arrests in Portland. An OccupyPortland photographer was arrested by what appear to be officers from the Federal Protective Service, based on these photos, which include officers and vehicles bearing FPS logos.

The ugly hand of the federal government is becoming increasingly suspected behind what appears to be a nationwide attempt to repress and evict the Occupation Movement. Across the country in recent days, ultimatums have been issues to groups occupying Portland, OR, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, Dallas, TX, Atlanta, GA, and most recently New York, NY, where the Occupation Movement began on September 17. The two most recent eviction efforts, in Oakland and New York, have been the worst.

Information is sought on the mortgage giants’ roles as landlords who own thousands of foreclosed properties in California. Also sought are details of their mortgage-servicing and home-repossession practices, a source says.

"I am concerned that these penalties, at least some of which were ordered by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), may have contributed to widespread abuses by mortgage servicing companies and law firms attempting to meet arbitrary deadlines to expedite foreclosures," Cummings wrote. "The size and timing of these penalties, raise serious questions about whether FHFA may be more interested in expediting foreclosures to clear its books than protecting the rights of homeowners," he wrote.

The US government’s revamp of a home mortgage refinancing initiative will probably not reach as many distressed borrowers as initially hoped after the changes prompted investors to bet that borrowers will continue to have difficulty getting new mortgages. Prices of mortgage bonds whose underlying loans carry high interest rates increased after US-controlled mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac detailed their changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Programme, a reflection of investor sentiment that there will not be a wave of refinancings wiping out gains from securities trading above par.

Nearly three weeks after $600 million in customer money went missing from MF Global, the search for the cash has been hampered by the bankrupt brokerage firm’s sloppy record-keeping, an increasingly worrisome situation that has left regulators frustrated and customers in the lurch.

Consumer morale in Britain fell to a record low in October as fears about the euro crisis, rising unemployment and the state of the economy knocked confidence, a monthly survey by mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Thursday.

Europe’s scorched-earth policies have begun in earnest. The inherent flaws of monetary union have created a crisis of such gravity that EU leaders now feel authorized to topple two elected governments.

Look at this video, courtesy Lambert Strether. The number of police involved is stunning, something that has not been adequately conveyed in print media reports. This for a group of maybe 2000 people at 1 AM? There were clearly other considerations at work besides simply clearing the park. A big one, as we have stressed, was keeping the media and anyone with a camera well away from any police manhandling. Another is the "resistance is futile" message, that those who oppose authority will lose when it is roused to show force.

Remember, the reason for advocating mods is that, properly structured, they are a win-win: investors take a lower loss than they would in a foreclosure, the borrower stays in his house, and another real-estate-price-depressing sale is averted. But this "everyone comes out ahead" is not what I’ve seen. I’ve been able to check modifications, since they are recorded in public records. It quickly became apparent that while theses modifications are, at best, worthless, and more often than not border on an extension of the same predatory practices that resulted in the original mortgages.

Today at its ‘These Go To 11’ special event, Google just announced that Google Music – which launched over the summer in a private, invite-only beta -  is open to everyone. The service allows you to upload your music library and stream it to all of your other devices. And while Google had initially stated this would be a premium service after the Beta ended, it has some good news: it’s going to continue free of charge. You can upload and store up to 20,000 of your songs without having to pay anything.

Throughout the crises in the US and Europe, Nomura’s Richard Koo has been spot on with his assessments of what’s ailing the economy (deleveraging) and what the economy needs (fiscal stimulus) and what won’t do much for the economy (monetary easing). We caught up with Koo last night by telephone to get his take on the issues of the day.

Politicians from France- whose bonds have also suffered in this week’s market panic-and Ireland on Wednesday called on the ECB to intervene more decisively to prop up bond prices and restore investors’ confidence in euro-zone government debt, adding their voices to a growing chorus of economists, investors and policy makers who say only the ECB now has the financial firepower to prevent a financial crash in Europe that would rock the global economy. But Germany’s leaders continued to reject calls for the ECB to print money and buy bonds on a bigger scale, insisting that only economic reforms by national governments can solve the debt crisis.

Die für Dezember und Januar geplanten Kreditraten für Portugal werden ausgezahlt. Die EU-Expertengruppe sprach die Empfehlung aus.

Ratings agency Fitch warned on Wednesday that further contagion in Europe poses a serious risk to U.S. banks. In a report titled U.S. Banks – European Exposure, Fitch noted that U.S. banks currently have a managable level of risk to periphery countries in the eurozone (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain). But the risk of contagion spreading out to the so-called "core" eurozone countries could spell trouble for banks in the United States.

Via S&P Leveraged Commentary & Data, the chart shows the widening gap between the leveraged loan rate in Europe and in the US since August. The difference is now at its highest point on record, according to LCD.

Due to their lousy support and fishy business model, I cannot recommend Backify to anyone. In the end, you would be giving them your personal files. Besides, what stops them from increasing the prices again?

Austria’s cabinet today signed off a draft law for a debt brake to cut its debt level to 60 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 as the yield spread on the Alpine republic’s 10-year bonds widened to a euro-era record. The draft law, which is modeled on German regulation, aims for the structural deficit not to surpass 0.35 percent of GDP as of 2017, Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters in Vienna today.