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Is Bank of America preparing for a Chapter 11? | Reuters
To my earlier post regarding the need for a restructuring at BAC, “Housing, debt ceilings & zombie banks,” the move to put the derivatives exposures of Merrill Lynch under the lead bank could be preparatory to a Chapter 11 filing by the parent company. The move by Fannie Mae to take a large junk of loans out of BAC, the efforts to integrate parts of Merrill Lynch into the bank units earlier this year, and now the wholesale shift of derivatives exposure all suggest a larger agenda.
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“Yet today’s announcement fails to acknowledge that we will simply be replacing one U.S. occupation with another. Under the State Department’s current plans to take the place of the Department of Defense as the main U.S. force in Iraq post-military withdrawal, we are still maintaining a massive presence there, now with the State Department and its heavily armed private security contractors. And it is the presence of armed U.S. contractors that is the problem. It will continue to foment instability and violence in Iraq and the region. We need to get out now, not just trade uniforms and personnel. It is reasonable to ask whether the people of Iraq will notice any change.”
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Occupy the Mortgage Lenders – Simon Johnson – Project Syndicate
Talks among state officials, the Obama administration, and the banks are currently focused on reported abuses in servicing mortgages, foreclosing on homes, and evicting their residents. But leading banks are also accused of illegal behavior – inducing people to borrow, for example, by deceiving them about the interest rate that would actually be paid, while misrepresenting the resulting mortgage-backed securities to investors.
If these charges are true, the bank executives involved may fear that civil lawsuits would uncover evidence that could be used in criminal prosecutions. In that case, their interest would naturally lie in seeking – as they now are – to keep that evidence from ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.
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Regulators Knew of Dexia’s Problems But Were Silenced | ZeroHedge
When a bank is allowed to collapse, the lies behind its financial statements come out of the woodwork—and Dexia, the French-Belgian mega-bank that was bailed out in 2008 and collapsed in early October, is no exception: a report by the French banking regulator surfaced. It contains the results of an investigation concluded in the summer of 2010. And it threatened to put the bank “under special supervision.”
And then? Nothing. The report was buried. Until the French newspaper, Libération, obtained a copy of it.
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Mary Meeker On #OccupyWallStreet: “People Deserve To Be A Little Angry.” | TechCrunch
“If was to trying to point blame I’d say 1/3 government, 1/3 consumer and 1/3 financial services industry,” Meeker stated.
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Eurozone Rescue Going Off the Rails « naked capitalism
There are other possible ways out of this seeming impasse, such as having the IMF assist in rescues in Spain and Italy. The Eurocrats have managed in the past to cobble deals together at the 11th hour, even if they satisfy the markets for only a few days. But every time, the issues that need to be solved are more daunting, and the various government leaders believe or pretend they have less bargaining room than they did in the past. While it would be better if I were proven wrong, there is not much cause for optimism here.
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How the Austerity Class Rules Washington | The Nation
why, when the global evidence clearly indicates that austerity measures will raise unemployment and hinder, not accelerate, growth, do advocates of austerity retain such distinction today?
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AppleInsider | Steve Jobs had his DNA sequenced for $100K to fight cancer
Desperate to win his battle against cancer, Steve Jobs paid $100,000 to have all of the genes of his cancer tumor and his normal DNA sequenced.
The detail comes from Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming biography of Jobs, set to hit bookshelves and digital devices next week. According to The New York Times, Isaacson said that Jobs was one of just 20 people in the world to have his DNA sequenced.
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Brute behandeling Gaddafi exemplarisch voor situatie gevangenen :: nrc.nl
De heksenjacht op mensen die loyaal waren aan de kolonel tart alle rechtsbeginselen. Het gaat al mis bij de arrestaties, blijkt uit een recent rapport van Amnesty International. De mensenrechtenorganisatie bezocht van 18 augustus tot 11 september elf detentiecentra in en rondom Tripoli en Az Zawiyah. Eigenlijk kun je de arrestaties beschouwen als ontvoeringen, van mensen die naar verluidt Gaddafi hebben gesteund – dus niet alleen huurlingen of soldaten, maar ook gewone burgers die het oude bewind niet afvielen toen de opstand uitbrak.
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‘Nederlanders dragen bijna meeste bij aan noodfonds eurozone’ :: nrc.nl
Nederlanders dragen op Luxemburgers na het meeste bij aan het Europese noodfonds. Het noodfonds kost Nederland per persoon bijna 2700 euro.
In Luxemburg is dit 3800 euro per persoon, meldt RTL Nieuws op basis van gegevens van het Europese bureau voor de statistiek Eurostat. -
Deze man zou Gaddafi gedood hebben :: nrc.nl
Of deze 22-jarige soldaat inderdaad Gaddafi heeft vermoord is onduidelijk. Er gaan verschillende versies van het verhaal rond. Hopelijk zullen de komende dagen meer licht schijnen op de mysterieuze omstandigheden rond de dood van Gaddafi.
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Why Not The Worst? – NYTimes.com
Iceland allowed a big depreciation of the krona.
Basically, what all of these countries experienced was a “sudden stop” — huge inflows of capital came to a screeching halt. What has to happen if a country is going to adjust to such a sudden stop is a sharp fall in the relative price of its goods and labor, because it needs to export much more and/or import much less. If you’re not going to get this via a currency depreciation, you have to have an “internal devaluation” — a fall in money wages and prices.
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Is D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray telling the truth? – The Washington Post
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As Libya takes stock, Moammar Kadafi’s hidden riches astound – latimes.com
New estimates of the former leader’s assets — more than $200 billion — are called ‘staggering.’ If they prove true, he would rank among the world’s most rapacious leaders.
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‘Voor het eerst ben ik echt bang’ – De Standaard
Willem Buiter, de hoofdeconoom van de Amerikaanse bankreus Citigroup, kraakt de Europese aanpak van de schuldencrisis. ‘De Europese banksector is failliet, maar de politici snappen het niet en zitten nog altijd in de ontkenningsfase.’
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Years after NAFTA, first long-haul Mexican truck enters U.S. | Reuters
The first Mexican truck bound for the U.S. interior crossed at the international bridge at Laredo, Texas, on Friday, carrying electronic equipment destined for suburban Dallas and fulfilling a controversial provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Act.
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The birthers eat their own – The Washington Post
“Senator Marco Rubio is not a natural born citizen of the United States to constitutional standards,” Kerchner writes on his blog. “He was born a dual citizen of both Cuba and the USA. He is thus not eligible to serve as the president or vice president.” A few months ago, Kerchner used the same logic to proclaim, “Jindal is NOT a natural-born citizen of the United States. His parents were not U.S. citizens when he was born.”
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Bill Gates thought Steve Jobs was ‘weirdly flawed’ and ‘fundamentally odd’
Gates told Isaacson that Jobs was “fundamentally odd” and “weirdly flawed as a human being.” As Gates put it, Jobs was “”either in the mode of saying you were shit or trying to seduce you.”
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Facebook And Google Spent Record Amounts On D.C. Lobbying In Q3 2011 | TechCrunch
Each quarter, Facebook and Google continue to spend more and more on lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. As evidenced by the most recent disclosure reports filed in the U.S. Senate’s lobbying database, both of the companies hit all time highs in terms of lobbying dollars.
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EU looks at 60% haircuts for Greek debt – FT.com
Greece’s economy has deteriorated so severely in the last three months that international lenders would have to find €252bn in bail-out loans through the end of the decade unless Greek bondholders are forced to accept severe cuts in their debt repayments.
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Portugal quita deducciones y sube varios impuestos · ELPAÍS.com
A las extraordinariamente duras medidas anunciadas la semana pasada por el primer ministro, el conservador Pedro Passos Coelho (supresión de las pagas extraordinarias de Navidad y de verano para funcionarios y pensionistas que ganen más de 1.000 euros), se suman las reveladas ayer por un ministro de Finanzas cariacontecido, que señaló que Portugal “está en el centro de la crisis”.
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El precio de la vivienda baja a niveles de 2005 · ELPAÍS.com
Las casas mantienen su abaratamiento ante el parón en las ventas y aumentan su descenso en el mercado libre al 5,6% en el tercer trimestre
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Olli Rehn: “Portugal corre riscos para atingir défice em 2011” – Dinheiro Vivo
Portugal tem cumprido o seu programa de reformas, conforme acordado no plano de ajuda financeira, mas o risco de não cumprimento da meta de 5,9% do défice para este ano é real, afirmou o Comissário Europeu dos Assuntos Monetários, Olli Rehn.
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La morosidad en la banca supera el 7% por primera vez desde 1995 · ELPAÍS.com
El volumen de créditos dudosos sigue subiendo mientras el dinero prestado a las familias y empresas está en su nivel más bajo en tres años
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Facebook Facing a $138,000 Fine For Holding Deleted User Data
Facebook‘s Ireland offices are being audited, as the company is facing a possible €100,000 ($138,000) fine for retaining data deleted by users, The Guardian reports.
The case began when a 24-year old Austrian law student, Max Schrems, asked Facebook for copy of all his personal data in June. Facebook complied, sending him a CD containing 1,200 pages of data, including his likes, “friend” and “defriend” history, and chat logs.
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Chinese leaders grow nervous about Occupy Wall Street – latimes.com
Chinese media outlets initially carried news of the demonstrations with a readiness bordering on zeal. An article last month in the English-language China Daily even lambasted American news outlets for downplaying the protests.
“It is a shame that most so-called mainstream media outlets have miserably failed to inform the public over the past two weeks,” it said.
That was before the movement went global, slowly transforming from an attack on Wall Street banks into a global stand against income inequality and corporate greed. Within the last few days, state-owned media have begun to significantly downplay the movement. -
AppleInsider | Steve Jobs vowed to ‘destroy’ Google Android, called it a ‘stolen product’
Steve Jobs said he would spend his “last dying breath” fighting Google’s Android mobile operating system because he viewed it as a “stolen product,” according to an upcoming biography on the Apple co-founder.
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“There will be a debate in the House next week and I expect the Deputy, as the leader of his party, to spell out credible alternatives and an economic policy that is not based on fantasy but on reality. If the Anglo bondholders are paid, they will be paid from their own resources. This will not come from the taxpayer.” Taoiseach Enda Kenny replying to a question in the Dail from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, on 28th September, 2011.