Georgia Anderson - Daily Financial News - Daily Financial News

by Georgia Anderson on Jun.03, 2009, under Daily Financial News

China is being considerate enough in saying that US is capable of repaying its debts. In his recent trip to China the US Treasury Secretary has tried to assure the Chinese counterparts about US’s capabilities and commitments. When reports last came in it was confirmed by him after meeting top leaders in Beijing.

China has invested nearly $800 billion in U.S. government securities and has been lecturing both in private and public to Washington on its spendthrift fiscal policy. So it came as no surprise that US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in his maiden China trip had to deal with some of the heat. In fact only yesterday Chinese students laughed it away as Geithner was trying to reassure a questioner about china’s investments in the US as “very safe.”

However, when the Treasury Secretary met the President and the Prime minister of the nation, the mood was more of an appeasing in nature. Surprisingly the issue was not even discussed when Geithner met President Hu Jinato. Geithner later said that their Chinese counterparts have a sophisticated understanding about the things that were going on and that US is committed to walk back to good times in the finance sector very soon.

Two decades past Tiananmen | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg Herald-Journal | Spartanburg SC

It’s wonderful that the Chinese have the money and the freedom to enjoy Twitter and Flickr and thousands of other Web sites. It’s a travesty, though, that in preparation for the Tiananmen Square anniversary, Chinese citizens were blocked from accessing those sites, along with about 6,000 others.

Tiananmen Square itself was closed, Chinese media made no mention of the anniversary, and martial law descended on anyone considered likely to raise a fuss.

This should have been a week when, spurred by the anniversary, the United States was pressing China to increase freedoms. Instead, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was in that nation trying to reassure the Chinese that their investments, $1.5 trillion in U.S. dollars and the $800 billion in U.S. debt, are safe.

Most have also figured by now where they’ve been hiding that big statue, looks like the most likely place is where they’ve been blowing all that smoke… Gonna need a Doctor with a huge crane to extract this enema that has been so far shoved up the assets of the American people, everyone’s eyes are crossed and seeing double trouble. Suppose it could be worse… Cheney could still be in office (you mean he’s not

Women Of Wall Street « cara ellison

Dealbreaker is (ahem) all over the story of the ladies of Wall Street who have decided to take their clothes off for money. Their comments are funny as usual. The ladies (I won’t post their pictures here, but they have them at DB) will never make me look at Wall Street the same way again. To whit:

Tara DeGregorio, a “former executive assistant” at “an elite Fortune 500 company.” Tara’s business wisdom: “I was a rule breaker. I liked high stilettos and cute skirts. I tried to abide by the rules, but I pushed the envelope whenever i could, especially in the summer.”

1. “A former executive assistant”? Playboy’s definition of what qualifies as “Wall Street executive” is pretty liberal.

2. “I was a rule breaker” does not reconcile with “I tried to abide by the rules.” Way to go, genius.

As you might guess there is a little controversy on the current selection but cat fights aside the heat is way up in California…
canadaeast.com - More than 30,000 ordered to flee Santa Barbara wildfire | Raquel Maria Dillon, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - More than 30,000 people have been ordered to flee a wildfire that burned an eight-kilometre-long front above wealthy coastal communities by Friday, after another hot, windy night in which the fire chief said “all hell broke loose.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Keith D. Cullom
Towering Palm Trees explode as flames jump across state highway 154 early Friday morning May 8, 2009, in Santa Barbara, Calif., bringing the fire dangerously close to heavily populated areas.

Towering columns of brown smoke roiled off the face of the Santa Ynez Mountains after a fierce overnight battle as the 1,400-hectare blaze repeated its pattern of relative calm in daylight and explosive behaviour when evening winds arrive. It had been estimated at only about 525 hectares Thursday afternoon.

“Literally last night, all hell broke loose,” Santa Barbara city Fire Chief Andrew DiMizio said. Officials predicted Friday night would bring the same destructive mix of hot weather and strong wind gusts.

It was unknown how many homes were lost overnight on top of the estimated 75 houses destroyed earlier in the week in canyon neighbourhoods along the north edge of Santa Barbara. Firefighters put out roof fires and kept the blaze from spreading into Santa Barbara proper, and many homes were saved, DiMizio said.

All this and the Stock Market continues to soar to manically magical new heights as far as terms of a recovery are concerned. So maybe we should just post a little poll and see what others make of all this… So take the money and run? Not putting out any fires here, just spare us from any tidal force this run of the bull might generate… Last but not least Cara gives us an update or two

Women Of Wall Street « cara ellison

UPDATE

Vintage Playboy Women of Wall Street Denise Uzan

Vintge 1980s version of the Women of Wall Street. It’s hilarious. I am posting this one photo because I can not get over the ginormous PAN AM building in the background. Turns out one of the ladies, Denise Uzan, is now Ninette Denise Uzan-Nemitz, Hedge Fund Manager. Judging from the website, I’m going out on a limb and saying that Playboy didn’t exactly catapult Ms. Uzan to the highest highs of Wall Street

Still looks as if something else my have been behind the boom of the 1980’s besides voodoo Regan economics… Will need to check charts. Tonight a Scorpio full moon phase under a Mercury Retro… Now you have some heavy aspects. Hope this charge of the Bulls does not stir up any earthquakes… The ground is a shake rattle and roll baby roll!

Stocks To Watch Today : Bulls Reassert Sway Over Market, S&P Closes Week In Black For The Year

The results of the government’s stress test of the financial system furthered equity market bulls’ confidence that U.S. banks could withstand any economic slump, even as those bulls celebrated what was interpreted as further evidence those very underlying economic conditions are repairing themselves, sending stocks sharply higher in a giddy session of trading Friday.

The S&P 500 Index (GSPC) leaped 22 points to 929, marking the first time in 2009 that the index ended a week in the black for the year; the index started that year at 903 points.

Simple solutions which are almost impossible to make these days because of the safe and entrenched solid state of the modern Bureaucracy… Like, for example, if we were actually serious about ending the civil war in Mexico all needs to be done is to legalize Marijuana. Simple and effective it would silence the gunfire almost over night… But wait, it would at the same time empty 90% of our jail house population and cut off a very serious cash flow for local courthouses across the country. Then it would place our law enforcement officers in jeopardy because instead of shooting down little potheads (in cold blood) before the eyes of their (Almighty) wife and daughter (and getting the officer of the Year Award, (making all of South Carolina REALLY PROUD)… They might actually have to go after real criminals God forbid.

Even better, lets instead of shooting down the Pirates, lets just bring them here and elect them to congress and let’em run DC Wall Street!(Wait a second think we’ve already been there and done that). God forbid that we actually ARM our seaman with real guns and put a 50 caliber on the aft and stern… Wow the gun control people would go nuts that might even give some wacky county legislature the idea of arming its law abiding citizens and eliminate the need for the nanny police state altogether.

We could simply extend constitutional rights to all who find themselves in the jurisdiction of The United States of America… However some have a different views…

BBC - Mark Mardell’s Euroblog: Any witches and warlocks out there?

The protections afforded by the Constitution of the United States does not apply to those captured in war against America. Not only that but some of it may need updating through amendments since it was conceived and written in a time when the threats the American government and people face as a day to day reality in modern times could not possibly have been anticipated by its authors. Until those amendements have been enacted, there may be times when the US government is technically in violation of it. That is entirely understandable and acceptable to a practical people such as Americans even if it is incomprehensible to people who have been taught by their culture to live their lives by rigid dogma exclusively.

Perhaps its a bit old for these modern times of shoot’em up spaghetti cowboy logic… But some would say that is the beauty of Constitutional protection for all citizens at all times… Just not as a matter of expediency (of course they did use to hang people for stealing horses… Maybe if we reinstated that noble practice as it applies to some of these modern pirate types that got us into this mess (instead of giving them hundreds of billions… Although it might help make some of the citizenry A BIT MORE CHEERFUL). Yep even a little of that “ridged dogma” (pike a head or two and lop off a couple of hands might give some of these modern pirates a bit of that old time religion… Works for me. But of course that might be only work here in South Carolina where we manage to do everything upside down and backwards. Just a thought or two as for eight long years the people of this nation has had to endure violations to our constitution, in a conjured up illegal war, at the unnecessary expense and cost of blood and treasure. A war which at its base is nothing less than an attack on The Constitution of the Untied States of America. Next time we’re going to have an illegal war why not just attack Canada, beautiful country and the people speak English… At least we would end up with a better deal for our Bill of Rights.

But this is intended to be a note of congratulations for the men and crew of the Maersk Alabama, Captain Phillips, and the United States Navy Seals… Who always do us proud, just some days are much better than others. Not to be perceived, in any manner, disrespecting of our military or merchant sailors rather those who hold the fate of such men in their decisions should be more considered in their prayers.

However when it comes to Fight piracy on the high seas the simple solution simply works best. Shoot first and let the Lords sort these poor souls out in Kingdom come. Amen

BBC - The Reporters: Mark Mardell: Any witches and warlocks out there?

Nice presentation on the Constitution of the United States of America… Too bad its been so violated in the name of preservation of Iraqi freedom. Which seems to be, as much as an attack on American Constitutional freedoms as any Terrorist that they’re likely to find. The only connection so far seems to be Osama bin Laden’s chauffeur driver. Sara Palin and all this? Country First? nonsense asked if we think we should read the Terrorist their rights… Well if might be asking a big favor but maybe its a good idea before you go torturing the poor saps to death. Is it too much to ask for The Constitution first?

As far as the Cern super particle accelerator… Ya know it might be nice to have a little Black Hole to hang around the house (that is of course if you can afford to have your house devoured every nano second or so). Still you all know this IS NOT going to happen because their going to need an extra 4 trillion volts give a take a few hundred billion). We all know to get to the real black hole it takes an infinite amount of money to build a really big Supercollider you’re going to need to start with something like Leman Brother or better yet a Bear Stearn with a ring collar the size of a Fannie Mae and a Freddy Mac then you’ll see what a real Black hole is truly like…

Kinda of makes all that Pagan Dance and AntiChrist nonsense seem rather quaint.

Clear enough but adjustments have been made and tho not altogether in the clear, it appears that we have weathered the worst… It appears there maybe some more difficult days ahead, unrest in some of the third world nations will require attention.  However as long as we pay attention to our Constitution, everything should be alright. Looks like from the interview on 60 Minutes that the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was the right man for the job at the right time… Just in time.

The Sweetheart Deal of the Century The Central Bank of Graft, Corruption, and Toxic Assets (Don’t we already have The Central Bank of The Federal Reserve???) Duplicity and duplication down to a fine art in that DC town.

It could work this time… Its just kinda of hard to understand how they can find the money (Say 50 million to build a school but they can’t seem to come up with 50 thousand to pay a few teachers… Has anyone thought this thing through????) I really don’t think so. They said they had the answer for the last 700 billion… Does anyone have a clue where THAT money went? Didn’t think so but I’ve got a good idea.

Ever wonder why they did not impeach GeeW… Simple fact, they are all in on it. But this time “They’ve got it right”… Ya know they used to hang people for stealing horses. Still, the ones who drove this economy into the ground are expected to pull Joe Blow the US taxpayer out of the ditch.

But if you were to take a teaspoon of dirt for ever thousand dollars spent “saving” the taxpayer you would end up with a really big hole in the ground, and for those who dug it… I think they should have to just jump in it!

Just jump… It’s not really as deep as looks Or maybe just stop digging.

Look the REAL Industrial economy of this nation is in Detroit despite what these billion dollar banker babes would have us believe. People are still going to buy American trucks and SUV as long as gas is reasonable. The fact remains the magic number for gas is around $2.00 a gallon because that is the market price of Compressed Natural Gas. They have us on their program and they(the oil interest) intend to keep us there. That is of course unless we follow our own plan of action to wing this nation off of foreign oil.

As this is written the price of oil is down and the markets off again in the Pacific realm. There looks to be a major incident with Syria which could only advance the interest of the present administration’s war agenda. The election cannot come soon enough, that is of course provided they’re not canceled because of a national emergency. This has been the Administration rule by crisis mode since almost day one… No reason for them to change now.

The bright spot of this “consumer lead recession” will loose its legs as gas prices move down… Not that some water was needed to splash on the fire but the markets will resume refreshed from this cold shower. A sound energy policy by this country will do more than any bank intervention to move the markets into a more prosperous and sustainable level. If its true that consumers vote their pocketbooks then this election is already over

Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter—with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

A bit wordy for basically saying (cutting to the chase) Keep Government out of business, commerce and industry. It can only do harm. Let the free markets work and sort things out as they will surely do. Treasury bonds aside, the business of exchange of buying or selling of commodities is best left to business. Especially in these times when you have multi million dollar lobbyist currying special favors in just about every flavor covering all corners of Washington DC. It really did not appear that Congress could muster a backbone in the whole entire lot of them… It was the leadership that was clearly abysmal but in spite of it all (Terrible leadership from the top down) Congress did the “Peoples” business and protected the peoples dollars from the foolishness, and folly that landed the markets in their present unpleasing situation. Sure things will always fall upon the little guy the hardest… But today was one of those rare moments that Americans prevailed over special interest. But in a larger sense it was The Constitution… A victory for Freedom! Simply amazing.

The Untied States House Of Representatives doing a fine job in a defining moment… Something of a divine intervention no doubt.