Video - Olbermann says goodbye...
Keith Olbermann gives abrupt goodbye to MSNBC show
NEW YORK (AP) — Keith Olbermann was MSNBC's most popular personality and single-handedly led its transformation to an outspoken, left-leaning cable news network in prime time. Despite that, he often seemed to be walking on a tightrope with his job. Friday night, it snapped.
Olbermann returned from one last commercial break on "Countdown" to tell viewers it was his last broadcast, and read a James Thurber short story in a three-minute exit statement. Simultaneously, MSNBC e-mailed a statement that "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract." The network thanked him and said, "we wish him well in his future endeavors."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5imlpgDcvVf_NPbQpmfJfqepDwB3Q
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22 Facts Reflecting The Demise Of California
#1 The California state government is facing a potential state budget deficit of 19 billion dollars this year, and California debt is rapidly approaching junk status. One way or another the taxpayers of California are going to have to pay for this mess somehow.
#2 California Governor Jerry Brown recently unveiled a "draconian" budget plan for 2011 that includes 12 billion dollars more in spending cuts and that maintains 12 billion dollars in recent tax increases.
#3 The state of California currently has the third highest state income tax in the nation: a 9.55% tax bracket at $47,055 and a 10.55% bracket at $1,000,000.
#4 California has the highest state sales tax rate in the nation by far at 8.25%. Indiana has the next highest at 7%.
#5 Residents of California pay the highest gasoline taxes (over 67 cents per gallon) in the United States.
#6 California had more foreclosure filings that any other U.S. state in 2010. The 546,669 total foreclosure filings during the year means that over 4 percent of all the housing units in the state of California received a foreclosure filing at some point during 2010.
http://rense.com/general92/22.htm
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State bankruptcy bill imminent, Gingrich says
(Reuters) - Legislation that would allow U.S. states to file for bankruptcy will likely be introduced in Congress within the next month, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and a powerful Republican party figure, told Reuters on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70K6PI20110121
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Big states spurn bankruptcy bill
(Reuters) - Some of the biggest U.S. states with the worst budget deficits on Friday rejected any federal help in the form of a bill that would allow them to file for bankruptcy -- something they now are barred from.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70K78P20110121
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WikiLeaks founder Assange slams Swiss banker arrest
By Jonathan Lynn GENEVA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The founder of whistleblower site WikiLeaks attacked Switzerland on Sunday for arresting a Swiss banker on suspicion of breaching banking secrecy instead of investigating the tax evasion he said he had uncovered.
In an interview published in the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag, Julian Assange, whose website has angered Washington by releasing confidential U.S. diplomatic cables, said Switzerland's actions were drawing renewed international attention to its controversial banking practices.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE70M07T20110123
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FDIC's Bair calls for foreclosure claims commission
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The mortgage servicing industry should fund a new commission to compensate homeowners who may have wrongly been kicked out of their homes, a top U.S. banking regulator said on Wednesday.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair said this claims commission could be modeled on those created to compensate victims of the BP oil spill and Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. She said the size of such a claims fund would have to be negotiated.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1922390420110119
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U.S. mulls way to identify risky financial firms
(Reuters) - U.S. regulators will propose criteria on Tuesday for deciding which market players other than banks, such as hedge funds, could threaten the financial system and require greater scrutiny by the Federal Reserve.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70D2CF20110118
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Ireland’s Titanic Bailout at Risk, Iceland looms ahead
The announcement by Brian Cowen that he was resigning as the leader of the Fianna Fail party, but is going to stay on as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) until the March 11 election, has put the Irish bailout into question. The November bailout of the Irish economy consisted of a series of different financing packages being combined into a larger total.
The first funds available under the bailout were provided by the raiding of the Irish retirement fund by its bankers. The next steps were to be funded by the EU and IMF funding sources, once the people of Ireland were legally subjected to the bailout requirements. The bailout never made it to a full vote before the collapse of the Fianna Fáil party.
This leaves Ireland in the unique position of being able to reclaim its future, by denying its past. The citizens of Ireland have not accepted the bailout. The coalition is not expected to be able to put the matter to a vote before the election.
“All we know is we are going to get an election on or before March 11 but that is about it,” said Micheal Marsh, professor of politics at Trinity College Dublin, calling the events of the past week “bizarre.”
“If the conditions in which all of this was going on were not so serious it really would be farcical.”
The people are clear they plan on voting for anyone who will fight the bailout. This makes the chances of a post-election bail out vote of acceptance unlikely. If the Bailout fails to be voted on in the coming days, it may never make it to a vote.
The Irish people are overwhelmingly against the loss of their Sovereignty because bankers were allowed to take outsized risk. The fact that these same bankers were allowed to book extremely large bonuses for bankrupting the nation is at the core of the problem.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ireland%E2%80%99s-titanic-bailout-risk-iceland-looms-ahead
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Illinois' First Tax Hike Victim - Jimmy John's
Jimmy John Liautaud told The News-Gazette on Tuesday that he is angry about the moves, which boosted the individual income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent and the corporate income tax from 7.3 percent to 9.5 percent.
"All they do is stick it to us," he said, adding that the Legislature and governor showed "a clear lack of understanding." "I could absorb this and adapt, but it doesn't feel good in my soul to make it happen," Liautaud said.
Champaign has been its corporate base, but Liautaud said it will not necessarily continue that way. Liautaud said he has been contacted by "multiple pro-business states" that made him feel "wanted and important."
"I enjoy being courted and the process," he said.
Once he collects information on alternative sites, he will present it to the company's board of directors and ask the board to decide.
As for himself, "my family and I are out of here," he said.
Jimmy John's employs 100 at the corporate office in Champaign and has 190 other employees who work elsewhere but come to Champaign every four weeks, Liautaud said.
Some people may not realize how many travel to Champaign-Urbana as a result of Jimmy John's being here – many of them for training. Liautaud said his business accounts for "350 motel nights a week in Champaign, 1,400 motel nights a month."
"They eat at Cheddars," get automotive service at Sullivan-Parkhill and "drink at Carlos (Nieto's) bars," he said.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/illinois-first-tax-hike-victim-jimmy.html
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Budget Deficit Accounting Fraud and the Off-Balance-Sheet Student Loan Scam; Time to Scrap Entire Student Loan Program
Inquiring minds have been wondering why the federal debt has been rising far faster than cumulative federal deficits. The short answer is off-balance-sheet scams like student loans and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "assets".
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/budget-deficit-accounting-fraud-and-off.html
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Brian Cowen: The PM who lost his powers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12258654
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Cuba stops postal service to US 'until further notice'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12257412
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New tests for 'murder weapon' in Amanda Knox case
"This is a key moment," Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said before the hearing started. "Today, for the first time, independent experts will be asked to examine the evidence."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12258935
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The most stressful dinner party in the world?
One of the key moments of a sensitive state visit to the US by Chinese President Hu Jintao was a state dinner in the White House - the kind of occasion where the food has to do a lot more than simply taste great.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12255127
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Ivory Coast: Regional bank ally of Laurent Gbagbo quits
A key ally of Ivory Coast's disputed leader Laurent Gbagbo has resigned as head of the Central Bank of West African States amid regional pressure.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12260535
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Silvio Berlusconi refuses to quit in Italy sex scandal
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has told his People of Freedom party he has no intention of resigning over allegations he had sex with an under-age prostitute.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12260299
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Hawaii governor claims record of Obama's birth 'exists in archives' but can't produce the vital document
And he again promised he would do 'what I can do' to publicly verify that records show Obama was born in Hawaii and is a citizen of the United States, making him eligible to be President.
The Governor vowed when he took office in December that he would do his best to end the debate over Obama's birth, which began in 2008 during the presidential campaign.
'We'll do what we can as quickly as we can to make it inevitable that only those who wish the President ill, only the ones with a political agenda, will be the ones doing this kind of thing,' he said at the time. 'The President is entitled to the respect of his office and he's entitled to have his mother and father respected.'
During that interview, Abercrombie said his goal to combat birthers was a personal one.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348916/Hawaii-governor-says-Obamas-birth-record-exists-produce-it.html#ixzz1Btg7tyVt
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China buys gold and the world follows - The Chinese are building on a trend that’s likely to last
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold prices have lost around $75 an ounce this year but analysts are unfazed by the drop, with many betting the slump in prices will soon be cut short as the Chinese New Year feeds an increase in global demand that’s destined to last.
“We are entering a period of strong seasonal growth in gold demand and Chinese New Year is a big part of that,” said Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter. “Physical demand has been supporting the gold prices on the downside even during the typical slack periods, and I expect that upcoming increase in demand will also support the price, but at higher levels.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-buys-gold-and-the-world-follows-2011-01-21
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The World is sinking: Dubai islands 'falling into the sea'
The islands were intended as the ultimate luxury possession, even for Dubai.
Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges.
"The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/dubai/8271643/The-World-is-sinking-Dubai-islands-falling-into-the-sea.html
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Spain to rescue its banks
The Spanish government is set to launch a sweeping restructuring of its troubled regional savings banks in an attempt to reassure the market it can sort out the problems of its financial system..
Forty out of a total of 45 Spanish cajas will merge or form operating alliances with each other as the authorities look to prevent fears over the banking system from morphing into a wider market run on the country as a whole.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/01/spain-to-rescue-its-banks.html
LPS Applied Analytics released their November Mortgage Performance data. According to LPS:
• The average number of days delinquent for loans in foreclosure is a record 499 days
• Over 4.3 million loans are 90 days or more delinquent or in foreclosure
• Delinquency rates are down across all products as more loans entered foreclosure and new delinquencies declined.
• Foreclosure inventory increases are being driven both by elevated levels of foreclosure starts as well as a very limited amount of foreclosure sale activity.
Click on graph for larger image in new window.
This graph provided by LPS Applied Analytics shows the percent delinquent, percent in foreclosure, and total non-current mortgages.
The percent in the foreclosure process is trending up because of the foreclosure moratoriums.
According to LPS, 9.02% of mortgages are delinquent (down from 9.29% in October), and another 4.08% are in the foreclosure process (up from 3.92% in October) for a total of 13.10%. It breaks down as:
• 2.61 million loans less than 90 days delinquent.
• 2.16 million loans 90+ days delinquent.
• 2.16 million loans in foreclosure process.
For a total of 6.92 million loans delinquent or in foreclosure.
Note: I've seen some people include these 7 million delinquent loans as "shadow inventory". This is not correct because 1) some of these loans will cure, and 2) some of these homes are already listed for sale (so they are included in the visible inventory).
Two key numbers to watch in 2011 are:
• New delinquencies. With falling house prices, delinquencies could start to increase again.
• Foreclosures. With the end of the foreclosure moratoriums, foreclosure sales should increase - and the number of homes in the foreclosure process should decline. However REOs (Real Estate Owned) will increase unless the homes are sold.
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