Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Brewing Balkan War
"As regards the deal between Russia and Serbia, we can blame the EU for some of this," said Borut Grgic, an energy expert and director of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
"There is a big political dimension to this," he added. "In all its negotiations with Serbia when dealing with the future status of Kosovo, the EU never brought up with Serbia the issue of energy security and how Serbia could play an important role for Europe.".... http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/22/europe/energy.php
That aim appeared to be gathering force Saturday as Serbs in northern Kosovo erected a metal container and hung Serbian flags on electrical posts on a main road between Zubin Potok, a Serbian town, and Mitrovica, a city divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Meanwhile, there were increasing reports in Pristina that officers were deserting the multiethnic police force in Kosovo and pledging their allegiance to the government in Belgrade. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/24/america/kosovo.php
BELGRADE, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Serbia was back on the offensive over Kosovo's independence on Sunday, blaming the United States for crisis in the Balkans while its ally Russia accused the Americans of destroying "world order".
Three days after young rioters in Belgrade embarrassed the country by attacking Western embassies and looting shops, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said it is Washington that is threatening peace and stability.
In a strongly worded statement from Moscow, Russia also accused Washington of trampling on international law.... http://www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSL24605875
Moscow slams Burns statement
MOSCOW -- A war of words over Kosovo is raging between Russia and the United States... http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=24&nav_id=47944
Indeed, dozens of armoured vehicles and tanks have been deployed at key points in the border region, after Belgrade officials announced that they would march into Kosovo in their thousands — albeit for peaceful rallies. "KFOR troops are trained and well-equipped to answer any challenges coming from inside or outside of Kosovo," a radio advertisement, paid for by KFOR, warns Serbian listeners... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/wserbia124.xml
The US needs Croatia over an agreement between Iran and Serbia... http://www.nacional.hr/printable/articles/view/29168/
http://www.videocodezone.com/playyoutubevideo.php?v=s3IzAPBR5J4 Serbian Tanks on the Kosovo Border
Kosovo border police have reported Serb tanks are taking positions near the Kosovo-Serb border. http://www.google.com/search?q=serbian+tanks+move+to+kosovo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Obama info
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120269904120358135.html
Michelle Obama Solidifies
Her Role in the Election
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Europe's economy has caught the U.S.'s cold, and may be sick longer. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJGI6v60AAx4&refer=home
Friday, February 8, 2008
Hedge Fund Implode o meter
http://hf-implode.com/ The Hedge Fund Implode-O-Meter (HFI) was created in mid-2007 amidst the ongoing collapse of the housing finance sector and a general credit crunch to track as hedge funds learn the double-edged-sword nature of the often-extreme leverage they use.
DB CEO: Downgrade creates debt tsunami
Australia releases whaling photos BBC. Australia has caused a diplomatic row with Japan by releasing photos that show that its claims that its whale killing is for "scientific research" is a "charade." Good for them.
Sentiment Signs Says US$ Will Rally Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
To Catch a Country CFO.com What happens if a sovereign wealth fund engages in insider trading?
Loss Mitigation Lacking for Seriously Delinquent Borrowers: State Bank Supervisors Housing Wire
Economists Who Missed the Housing Bubble Give Low Marks to Bernanke Dean Baker
Deutsche Bank CEO: Bond Insurer Downgrade Will Create Debt " Tsunami"
Deutsche Bank's CEO Josef Ackermann issued a stark warning today: bond insurer downgrades would have catastrophic consequences, on par with the subprime crisis.
Note tha this view is in contrast with teh comparatively sanguine readings that have been coming from some US analysts and the US media, which now appears to regard teh increasing possibility of bond insurer downgrades are No Big Deal. The stock market is staging a wee rally despite a downbeat reading on the odds of success for the bailout talks led by New York insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo.
Ackermann's warning is consistent with a rumor we heard earlier this week from a well-placed source, who said that Trichet, the ECB's chief, had made a strong plea for the Treasury to bail out the bond guarantors. And by that we don't mean mean merely "get involved in Dinallo's talks"; we mean stump up cash. (Note this same source predicted Trichet's about face on interest rate cuts, and said they would be triggered by worries about the banking system, so his quote at the end of the Bloomberg story may be obligatory posturing).
The reason is that European banks were big buyers of later vintage CDOs (2006-2007) and RMBS, which will not only take a hit when any credit enhancement provided by the bond guarantors is removed but independent of any price impact, downgrades will also reduce their statutory capital. Why? Banks (which bought primarily AAA tranches) can treat AAA paper as a risk free asset; the reserve requirements are minimal. A downgrade to AA increases the reserve requirements markedly, and CDOs are generally downgraded more than a mere grade or two when they fall (I wish I could be more crisp here, but Basel II makes matters more complicated). Thus a loss of the bond guarantor AAA has a quick and nasty impact on bank capital adequacy.
From Bloomberg:
Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said rating downgrades for bond insurers pose risks that could match the U.S. subprime market collapse.
``It could be a tsunami-like event comparable to subprime,'' Ackermann said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Frankfurt today. Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, is ``well positioned'' on its risk from bond insurers, he said.....
Banks and securities firms have already reported credit losses and writedowns of $146 billion. Downgrades of the bond insurers may force financial firms to write down a further $70 billion, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said last month....
``It is bad practice to rely on the judgment of those whose misjudgments have caused the current crisis,'' Ackman wrote in the letter dated Feb. 5.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet rejected Ackermann's characterization of the potential fallout from bond insurer downgrades.
``I certainly would not mention anything like waves of tsunami or any other mention of that sort,'' Trichet said at a press conference in Frankfurt. ``The fact that this correction continues along various markets is not something which should surprise us, its an ongoing process.''
Wachovia Knew and profited from theft
Evidence Wachovia Knew of and Profited from Theft
This story is so heinous that I couldn't let it go by. Court filings indicate Wachovia not only permitted telemarketers to steal from individuals, but they were aware of the practice and turned a blind eye because it was profitable to them. And the targets of the fraud were typically elderly.
The suit was filed last spring; Wachovia implemented some anti-fraud measures last summer, after the case was written up in the New York Times, with the usual blandishments about ": "Earning the trust of our customers is at the heart of what we do every day." Actually, that bit of corporate pablum is true even if the fraud allegations are proven true (likely). The Wachovia customers were stealing from accounts at other banks, yet Wachovia refused to shut them down, despite warnings from other institutions and red-flag levels of bad checks.
Note also that the victims of the fraud had to turn to civll suits because banks accused of participation in this type of fraud have never been prosecuted or publicly fined.
From the New York Times:
Last spring, Wachovia bank was accused in a lawsuit of allowing fraudulent telemarketers to use the bank's accounts to steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims. When asked about the suit, bank executives said they had been unaware of the thefts.
But newly released documents from that lawsuit now show that Wachovia had long known about allegations of fraud and that the bank, in fact, solicited business from companies it knew had been accused of telemarketing crimes.
Internal Wachovia e-mail, for example, show that high-ranking employees at the nation's fourth-largest bank frequently warned colleagues about telemarketing frauds routed through its accounts.
Documents also show that Wachovia was alerted by other banks and federal agencies about ongoing deceptions, but that it continued to provide banking services to multiple companies that helped steal as much as $400 million from unsuspecting victims.
"YIKES!!!!" wrote one Wachovia executive in 2005, warning colleagues that an account used by telemarketers had drawn 4,500 complaints in just two months. "DOUBLE YIKES!!!!" she added. "There is more, but nothing more that I want to put into a note."
However, Wachovia continued processing fraudulent transactions for that account and others, partly because the bank charged fraud artists a large fee every time a victim spotted a bogus transaction and demanded their money back. One company alone paid Wachovia about $1.5 million over 11 months, according to investigators.
"We are making a ton of money from them," wrote Linda Pera, a Wachovia executive, in 2005 about a company that was later accused by federal prosecutors of helping steal up to $142 million.
Ms. Pera left Wachovia in 2006, and could not be located.
Lawyers pursuing the lawsuit against Wachovia, which was filed in a Pennsylvania federal court on behalf of a woman named Mary Faloney and other apparent victims, have asked a judge to declare the case a class action, which could expand it to as many as 500,000 plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that Wachovia accepted fraudulent, unsigned checks that withdrew funds from the accounts of victims, often elderly. Wachovia forwarded those checks to other banks that were unaware of the frauds, which in turn sent money to the swindlers.
A judge is expected to rule on the class action request by this summer. Wachovia, in court filings, has denied the suit's allegations. The company declined to comment on the pending litigation.
However, Wachovia's senior vice president for risk management, Alan Chudoba, said that the bank introduced reforms aimed at telemarketing frauds last summer. Those changes, which came about after an article in The New York Times last May reported that thieves had used Wachovia accounts, include greater scrutiny of accounts used by telemarketers and stronger fraud protections...
The Pennsylvania suit against Wachovia alleges that the bank's involvement with telemarketing thefts dates to October 2003, when Wachovia was warned by another bank that a Wachovia client named AmeriNet had tried to process more than $100,000 in improper withdrawals.
AmeriNet was a "payment processor," a company that creates unsigned checks on behalf of telemarketers to withdraw funds automatically from customer accounts. Such checks, once widely used by businesses collecting monthly fees, are legal if customers approve the transactions.
However, a Wachovia executive wrote to colleagues, evidence suggested AmeriNet was creating unapproved checks.
"Keep in mind historically, telemarketing is an easy way to money launder and commit fraud. To knowingly bank a customer who is perpetrating fraud places the bank at great exposure," wrote that executive, Tim Brady, according to documents that are part of the lawsuit.
Mr. Brady, who did not return phone calls, recommended closing the AmeriNet account in 2003, according to that e-mail message. But Wachovia continued working with the company until 2005, when AmeriNet paid $50,000 to settle complaints filed by the attorneys general of five states. Wachovia was not named in those complaints.
In late 2003, a Wachovia executive announced to colleagues via e-mail that her unit, because of AmeriNet, had seen "an increase in our annual revenue projection."
Wachovia declined to comment on those e-mail messages, citing pending litigation.
Wachovia also worked with other payment processors, according to court documents. In 2004, Wachovia held a lunch for the owner of a payment processor that the bank knew had drawn thousands of previous complaints.
"It is important that our relationship is firm and in good standing" with the owner of that company, Your Money Access, wrote the Wachovia executive, Ms. Pera, to colleagues. Your Money Access was sued last year by the Federal Trade Commission and seven states on suspicion of helping to steal up to $69 million.
There were other internal warnings, as well.
In 2005, a Wachovia fraud investigator wrote to colleagues that 79 percent of the checks submitted by one Wachovia client, Suntasia, had been returned in August because of unauthorized withdrawals and other problems. Regulators say return rates in excess of 2.5 percent is evidence of potential fraud.
"I have good reason to believe that all of the deposited items are unauthorized drafts," wrote the fraud investigator, Bill McCann in a 2005 e-mail message.
But Wachovia continued doing business with Suntasia until last year, when the company was shut down by a court order, according to the lawsuit.
Wachovia declined to comment on Mr. McCann's e-mail. Mr. McCann declined to return calls.
Moreover, executives at other banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank, the Social Security Administration and the Justice Department Federal Credit Union also warned Wachovia multiple times that its accounts were being used for fraud, according to the lawsuit against the bank.
In 2006, an executive at Citizens Bank wrote via e-mail that thieves were routing unauthorized checks through Wachovia that stole from Citizens account holders.
"We have spoken to many of our customers who have been victimized by this scam," wrote the Citizens executive, according to court documents. "We would appreciate it if you would shut down accounts of any customers of yours that may be engaging in improper activity."
But Wachovia kept that account open until it was frozen by a federal court a few weeks later, as part of a government lawsuit against the client.
A Wachovia spokeswoman said that in every case where a bank complained, an investigation was opened and that some accounts were closed.
But court records show that many of those accounts stayed open for years after the complaints were received.
Last June, after Wachovia's involvement with telemarketing thefts was reported by The Times, Congressional lawmakers, including Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked five regulatory agencies to answer questions regarding the unsigned checking system that fraud artists used. Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, also asked the Senate Banking Committee to investigate the issue.
Many of those agencies responded by saying they lacked jurisdiction. "Clearly, more needs to be done to prevent fraud in this area," Mr. Markey said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Mr. Harkin said lawmakers were considering hearings.
Other regulators say the banks are to blame.
"These types of crimes only are possible because banks tolerate them," said the United States attorney in Philadelphia, Patrick L. Meehan, who prosecuted a payment processor accused of using Wachovia accounts to steal more than $100 million.
"Who knows how many other crimes like this are occurring every day without anyone realizing it?" Mr. Meehan said.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Information Warfare – Internet cables cut
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153974.htm?section=world Is information warfare to blame for the damage to underwater internet cables that has interrupted internet service to millions of people in India and Egypt, or is it just a series of accidents?
For the first 137 years of its history, the US did not have a central bank. The nation then was plagued with recurring business cycles of boom and bust. For the past 94 years the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, has assumed the role of monetary guardian for the nation, yet recurring business cycles of boom and bust have continued, often with the accommodating participation of the Fed. Central banking has failed in its fundamental functions of stabilizing financial markets with monetary policy, succeeding neither in preventing inflation nor sustaining growth nor achieving full employment.
World chokes on bad spell on Wall St
The recent meltdown in global stock markets is the first truly global financial crisis since the word "globalization" became widely used.
USE LESS ELECTRICITY, PAY MORE MONEY!
"Thou shalt make do with less, so that we may have more." -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
Will More Jobless Benefits Aid Economy?
For a bipartisan majority of senators, providing three months or six months of extra unemployment checks to more than 1 million jobless people is a better way to dig the economy out of a recession than just printing tax rebate checks.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Bank failures, currency mystery
Small Bank Failure is First of 2008
Regulators closed the first bank of 2008 late Friday, shutting $58 million-asset Douglass National Bank in Kansas City, Mo.
http://watchingamerica.com/frankfurterallgemeine000009.shtml
For the international police authority Interpol , the case is of the highest priority. For nearly 20 years and in great quantities, counterfeit 100-Dollar-Notes of impeccable quality have been in circulation. Interpol has been looking to find the source of the notes, but so far has been unable to identify it.
In March 2005, Interpol issued a so-called "orange notice." With an "orange notice," Interpol member countries are notified of a special threat situation. At the end of July 2006, Interpol hosted a crisis conference for central banks, police investigators and members of the high security printing industry over the Supernotes.
http://www.kba-giori.com/
ORGANISATION GIORI
Gualtiero Giori was a direct descendant from a long line of Italian security printers established in Milan in the 19th century. He pioneered multi-colour intaglio printing by developing the revolutionary 6-colour intaglio printing press in 1947. Following this success and recognising the global need for the highest quality machines to produce the most secure banknotes he formed "Organisation Giori " in 1952.
KOENIG & BAUER Koenig & Bauer was founded in 1817 and enjoys a rich and colourful history as the oldest manufacturer of printing machines in the world. Based in Würzburg, Germany the company has evolved to become a world leader in print technology and innovation.
In 1952, Organisation Giori signed a co-operation agreement with Koenig & Bauer entrusting them with the production of the security printing machines.
What started as a simple alliance between a strong industrial power and a man with an incredible vision has changed the world of banknotes and security printing forever.
Today we can see the results of this historic partnership standing as a symbol of integrity, security and excellence in every corner of the world…a living testimony to the genius behind the dream.
KBA-GIORI S.A. Following many years of successful partnership with the De La Rue Group, our company was acquired by Koenig & Bauer in June 2001.
This logical development and new structure will simplify our business operations and consolidate our technical and market activity under one strategy.
The new company, KBA-GIORI remains focused on the core activity of serving and protecting the global security print market by offering a full range of services, systems and machines to economically produce more secure banknotes and security documents.
Today's banknotes are more complex, more secure and carry more features than ever before. We are at the forefront of this evolution with our partners and customers around the world. The threats and opportunities created by new technology will continue to grow.
KBA-GIORI is uniquely positioned to positively channel this technology to make tomorrow's banknotes even better. This will enable nations around the world to guarantee the integrity of their currency and security documents and to protect them as symbols of national pride and identity.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Be Wary – BofA shuts comods desk in London, Market rebounds
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKWLB624820080124
Bank of America shuts London commods trading desk
YOU SHOULD BE WARY OF THIS MARKET REBOUND
DOW opens up but starting to slip
Home Prices Fell in '07 for First Time in Decades
BoC sees "incredibly slow growth" in U.S.
Banks 'face a further $300bn sub-prime hit'
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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