LSE trading suspended due to connectivity fault
Oh, I see…
Source: business.timesonline.co.uk
Shares in London are still frozen nearly six hours after trading was suspended due to a “connectivity issue”, and the LSE admitted that establishing customer connectivity was taking “longer than expected”.More than double the normal number of shares were traded in London this morning as details emerged of the US rescue deal, sending the FTSE 100 index of leading shares up 4 per cent, or 199.5 points, to 5,440.2.
Today’s suspension is the worst since April 5, 2000 — the last day of the tax year — when trading on the London Stock Exchange was delayed for eight hours, with dealing beginning only in mid-afternoon.
The LSE suspended connection to the exchange before 9am today after some customers experienced problems.
The operator admitted it was unsure when trading will restart today, while the cause of the problem is not yet known.
One City insider said that traders will lose “millions and millions and millions” of commission on deals, adding that today’s closedown is “very serious and disastrous”.
It appears there is a fault with the SETS electronic trading platform since the Johannesburg Stock Exchange also suspended trading.
One London trader criticised the lack of information from the LSE, stating: “We don’t know how major the implications will be. We haven’t lost money but we’ve lost potential revenue. Brokers aren’t getting commission for trades.”
The LSE said it re-established connection at 11.45am, although it refused to give an estimate on when shares would begin trading.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on London Stock Exchange
- London Stock Exchange closed for trading
- Computer crash halts London Stock Exchange as trading soars …
- London exchange down due to computer failure
U.S. stock futures jump on Fannie, Freddie seizure
Source: MarketWatch
U.S. stock futures leaped Monday after the government seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, guaranteeing that trillions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities won’t default anytime soon and triggering hopes that banks will resume lending to both customers and each other.S&P 500 futures rose 38.1 points to 1,279.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 41.25 points to 1,811.25. Dow industrial futures climbed 273 points.
U.S. stocks finished last week with steep losses, with the Dow industrials losing 2.8%, the S&P 500 dropping 3.2% and the Nasdaq shedding 4.7% after a string of profit warnings and gloomy economic indicators around the world.
Moves to shed risk came to a halt on Monday as the U.S. government stepped in to run Fannie Mae (FNM), the giant mortgage buyers.
“As house prices, earnings and capital have continued to deteriorate, Fannie and Freddie’s ability to fulfill their mission has deteriorated,” said James Lockhart, the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency which will now oversee Freddie and Fannie.
The two companies will be run by the government indefinitely, with the two current chief executives to be replaced and the government investing up to $100 billion in each firm to keep them solvent. Treasury will receive warrants to purchase common stock of each GSE representing 79.9% of the common stock.
Biggest Bailout in US History- Gov’t takes control of Fannie and Freddie
Source: FT.com
The US government on Sunday seized control of the troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage groups in what could become the world’s biggest financial bail-out.The government’s move, its most dramatic since the start of the credit crisis, is aimed at ensuring the two groups’ woes do not cripple the country’s housing market or worsen to the point that they fail and send shockwaves through global markets.
While the Bush administration stopped short of using the word “nationalisation”, analysts said the moves amounted to de facto government control if not full ownership. Fannie and Freddie have $5,400bn in outstanding liabilities and guarantee well over half of all US mortgages.“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe,” said Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary.
In a sign of the magnitude of the decision, Mr Paulson briefed presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as President Bush and senior members of Congress ahead of the announcement.
As regulators took charge of the companies, the government said it had agreed to inject up to $100bn in each of them as needed to ensure they meet their debts. In addition, it would start buying mortgages backed by these companies and extend an unlimited liquidity facility to them until the end of next year.
The chief executives of both groups are to leave under the new arrangement though both have agreed to stay on to oversee the transition.
Shares in the two companies will continue to trade but shareholders face the prospect of massive dilution. Bondholders would have their assets underpinned by the US government support.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Fannie Mae
- Record breaking bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
- Obama and McCain on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Rescue
- How do Fannie Mae make their money? Why are they in such a bad …
- Related Blogs on Freddie Mac
- Record breaking bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
- Obama and McCain on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Rescue
State takeover of Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae
Source: BBC NEWS
US mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are set to be put under government control in an attempt to rescue the firms, media reports say.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will outline government plans at a news conference at 1100 (1600 BST).
The move to shore up the shareholder-owned firms, which hold or guarantee half the US mortgage debt, would be the US’s largest ever financial bail-out.
In July, Congress approved a plan aimed at offering them more liquidity.
This followed huge losses by the two firms as result of a big increase in defaults and repossessions in the US housing market.
‘Management told’
On Saturday, a senior politician, Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had told him the government would use its powers to ensure the continued and stable functioning of the companies.
The Washington Post, quoting senior administration sources, said the firms would be put under a legal status known as “conservatorship” which would greatly reduce the value of the two companies’ common stock.
BBC Business Editor Robert Peston
This is an event of profound significance for the global economyRead Robert Peston’s thoughts
Other securities - including company debt and preferred shares - would be guaranteed by the government, the paper added.
The New York Times reported that senior executives at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were informed about the plan on Friday.
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Fannie Mae
- Record breaking bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
- Obama and McCain on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Rescue
- How do Fannie Mae make their money? Why are they in such a bad …
- Related Blogs on Freddie Mac
- Record breaking bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
- Obama and McCain on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Rescue
FDIC shutters Silver State Bank of Nevada
Source: money.cnn.com
Nevada regulators have shut down Silver State Bank. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank.
Andrew McCain, son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain was a member of the bank’s board, but recently stepped down for “personal reasons,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The younger McCain, 46, had also served on Silver State’s audit committee, and was only with the bank for five months before leaving on July 26, the Journal reported.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, located in Henderson, Nev. It had $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits as of June 30.
The FDIC said Friday the bank’s insured deposits will be assumed by Nevada State Bank of Las Vegas. Its branches will reopen Monday as offices of Nevada State Bank in Nevada and National Bank of Arizona in Arizona.
The agency said depositors of Silver State Bank will continue to have full access to their deposits.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on bank failure
- Another Bank Failure
- Related Blogs on FDIC
- FDIC Might Come Up A Little Short, Can Borrow From Treasury Bair Says
- Shorting the FDIC?
- If Enough Banks Fail, The FDIC Could Run Out Of Money
- Dollar softer in ranges; FDIC woes eyed
UK: House prices post record annual fall
Source: Top News | Reuters
House prices fell for the seven month running in August to stand a record 12.7 percent lower than a year earlier, a survey showed on Thursday, in a sign the property downturn has already turned into a crash.HBOS, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, said house prices in the world’s fourth biggest economy fell 1.8 percent last month alone, as the global credit crunch had made it much harder for people to get mortgages.
But Bank of England policymakers are expected to hold interest rates at 5 percent for a fifth straight month when they end their meeting at noon due to concerns over inflation, currently running at more than double the bank’s target.
More than 25,000 pounds has been wiped off the value of the average home in the last year as a decade-long boom turned into a bust that helped bring the economy to a standstill in the second quarter of 2008.
Construction and retail companies have been among the hardest hit and consumer confidence has been battered as two-thirds of British households own their homes — and economists say it could get a lot worse.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on house prices
- Speculation Does Not Explain Apparent Housing Overvaluation
- UK house prices fall 11% in August
U.S. home foreclosures hit record level, due in part to California woes
Source: - Los Angeles Times
The percentage of home loans entering foreclosure nationwide rose to a record level in the second quarter of this year, driven by the one-two punch of sharp home price declines and resetting adjustable-rate loans in California and Florida, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said today.“The worst states are continuing to get much worse,” Jay Brinkmann, the MBA’s chief economist, said during a conference call discussing the trade group’s second-quarter report on mortgage delinquencies.
With a combined 18% of the population, “California and Florida accounted for 39% of all the foreclosures started in the country,” Brinkmann said.
The national average for foreclosure starts — the time a lender turns a delinquent loan over to lawyers — was 1.09% during the quarter, up from 0.99% in the first quarter and 0.65% in the second quarter of 2007, the association said.
The latest figure was 1.82% in California, which has 12% of the nation’s population, and 2.21% in Florida, which has another 6% of the population.
Another way to look at the problem: Only eight states were above the national average in foreclosure starts. The others were Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Rhode Island, Indiana and Ohio
“The problems are not spread equally,” Brinkmann said.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on home foreclosure
- ?Stop Foreclosure Assistance: There Is Help
- Foreclosure homes - Foreclosure Homes - Local Help
- What is the difference buying a foreclosure home and a bankruptcy …
- SUNBOW BANK OWNED HOME – CHULA VISTA FORECLOSURE
- Home foreclosures reach record high (Reuters)
French Government to store personal information on people as young as 13
Source: msnbc.com
Opposition to a new security database is gaining momentum in France as people return to work after a summer break during which the government authorized the state to store personal information on people as young as 13.
The decree creating the “Edvige” electronic database appeared in the official gazette on July 1, when the country was winding down for the summer, but news of its content has been gradually filtering out and is now stirring fierce criticism.
“The Edvige database has no place in a democracy,” wrote Michel Pezet, a lawyer and former member of a body charged with protecting French citizens from electronic prying, in Thursday’s edition of the newspaper Le Monde.
…The decree says the aim is to centralize and analyze data on people aged 13 or above who are active in politics or labor unions, who play a significant institutional, economic, social or religious role, or who are “likely to breach public order.”
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
BREAKING: RNC 8 Charged with “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism”
Source: indymedia.org
In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism. Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty.Affidavits released by law enforcement which were filed in support of the search warrants used in raids over the weekend, and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants. Based on past abuses of such informants by law enforcement, the National Lawyers Guild is concerned that such police informants have incentives to lie and exaggerate threats of violence and to also act as provacateurs in raising and urging support for acts of violence.
“These charges are an effort to equate publicly stated plans to blockade traffic and disrupt the RNC as being the same as acts of terrorism. This both trivializes real violence and attempts to place the stated political views of the Defendants on trial,” said Bruce Nestor, President of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. “The charges represent an abuse of the criminal justice system and seek to intimidate any person organizing large scale public demonstrations potentially involving civil disobedience, he said.”
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Patriot Act
- The Patriot Act :: Patriots are all business all the time
- YouTube - Activists Charged With Terrorism Under the Patriot Act …
- Scary, but not surprised
- RNC 8 Charged as Terrorists Under State Patriot Act
- Ramsey County Charges RNC 8 Under State Patriot Act, Alleges Acts of
- Related Blogs on Terrorism
- US Ground Forces in Pakistan: Hunt for al-Qaeda Begins, Again…
U.S. Payrolls Fell 84,000; Jobless Rate Jumps to 6.1%
For emphasis…
Source: Bloomberg.com
The U.S. lost more jobs than forecast in August and the unemployment rate climbed to a five- year high, heightening the risk that the economic slowdown will worsen.
Payrolls fell by 84,000 in August, and revisions added another 58,000 to job losses for the prior two months, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate jumped to 6.1 percent, matching the level of September 2003, from 5.7 percent the prior month.
Workforce reductions at companies from UAL Corp. to Gannett Co. are adding to the woes of Americans hurt by lower home values, scarcer credit and higher prices. The report may fuel concern that consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, will decline and bring the expansion to a halt. Stock-index futures dropped, Treasury notes climbed and the dollar pared gains.
“It certainly increases the probability that we really are in a recession,” William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It is a weak number, including the revisions.”
Payrolls were forecast to drop 75,000 after a previously reported 51,000 decline in July, according to the median estimate of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Estimates ranged from declines of 40,000 to 150,000. The jobless rate was projected to remain at 5.7 percent.
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on payroll
- Nonfarm payroll looking like a sideshow
- Related Blogs on recession
- Young Jeezy - The Recession (Intro)
- Road To Recession Getting Crowded With Europeans
- Recession? Not in the United Way
- Recession looming? Raise capital gains tax!
Unemployment rate highest in more than 4-1/2 years
Source: reuters.com
The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly shot up to 6.1 percent in August, its highest in more than 4-1/2 years, as employers cut payrolls for an eighth straight month and labor markets showed signs of accelerating decline.
KEY POINTS: * The Labor Department said 84,000 jobs were lost in August, significantly higher than the 75,000 that economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast. In addition, July’s job losses were revised up to 60,000 and June’s to 100,000 from a previously reported 51,000 in each month. * Department officials said the August unemployment rate was the highest since December 2003. Analysts had expected the rate to remain steady at July’s 5.7 percent rate rather than to jump. * There were steep cuts in hiring in nearly every major category of employment. Some 61,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in August, the most for any month since mid 2003, and 8,000 more construction jobs were cut. There were 53,000 jobs eliminated in professional and business services and 4,000 in leisure and hospitality industries. * The average hours of work remained unchanged from July at 33.7 but employers cut overtime to an average 3.7 hours per week in August from 3.8.
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on unemployment rate
- Unemployment rate jumps; buy Obama
Drought in Australia food bowl worsens
Source: ENN
Drought in Australia’s main food growing region of the Murray-Darling river system has worsened, with water inflows over the past two years at an all-time low, the government’s top water official said on Tuesday.
The drought will hit irrigated crops such as rice, grapes and horticulture the hardest, but would have less impact on output of wheat, which depends largely on rainfall during specific periods and is on track to double after two years of shrunken crops.
The rainfall is sufficient to support hopes for a strong wheat harvest, but not enough to replenish ground water, which troubles those farmers who grow fruit rather than grain.
The record drought, which has gripped much of the country for close to a decade, was the worst in 117 years of record-keeping, with 80 percent of eucalyptus trees already dead or stressed in the region as large as France and Germany combined.
“It seems to me from what we’ve seen to date, there’s no indication that it’s going to end in the immediate future,” said Wendy Craik, chief executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission which controls water use and flows in the rivers.
End Excerpt - Read The Full Story Here…
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on drought
- the drought continues
U.S. Stocks Slump on Rise in Jobless Claims
Another snippet O gloom.
Source: Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
U.S. stocks fell a fourth day, the longest stretch of losses since January, after rising jobless claims heightened concern that the economic slump is worsening and a decline in oil sent energy producers lower.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on jobless claims
- Jobless claims have biggest jump in five weeks
- Jobless claims jump unexpectedly
Poor retail sales weigh on Wall Street
This is no great surprise, but I’m posting it anyway.
Source: FT.com
Wall Street stocks were set for their fourth consecutive decline on Thursday as oil prices ticked higher, while investors digested negative earnings and sales figures and anticipated some weak employment data.
Shortly before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were 6.50 points lower than the fair value at 1268.70. Nasdaq futures were down 12.25 points at 1822.00 and Dow futures were down 61.00 points at 11480.00
Retailers will be in focus after a slew of sales figures for August, the middle of the crucial back-to-school period. Nordstrom, Wet Seal, Stein Mart and Bon-Ton Stores all reported larger-than-forecast declines.
Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, said: “Back-to-school selling was sluggish the first 3 weeks of August and picked up some toward the end of the month as consumers are shopping closer to need.”
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on employment data
- Treasurys rise after employment data
- An Ultimate Lifestyle Secret - The Power Of Accountability
- Adjusting the Step One Base Figure based on data on employment …
- Related Blogs on retail sales
Wall Street Falls on Economic Worries
Source: NYTimes.com
Wall Street finished mixed in fickle trading Wednesday, with investors unsettled about the economy ahead of Friday’s employment report and only somewhat relieved about sliding commodities prices.The Commerce Department gave the market just modest comfort when it said orders for manufactured products rose by 1.3 percent in July. The figure was higher than the 0.8 percent predicted by economists polled by Thomson Financial/IFR; the department also upwardly revised its June reading to an increase of 2.1 percent.
However, many traders brushed off the report as old news, given that it is now September. With automakers releasing sluggish August sales and the Federal Reserve reporting weak economic activity throughout the nation, investors proceeded cautiously.
Anxiety about the Labor Department’s August jobs report, due Friday, also prevented many investors from making any major commitments. It also had them largely shrugging off another drop in commodities, although a massive pullback in commodities since earlier in the summer has helped alleviate some of Wall Street’s inflation worries.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Labor Department
- Happy Labor Day
- The Department of Labor in the Bush Years: A Damage Assessment
- BLM Whistleblower WINS appeal over Toxic Nevada Mine
- Happy Labor Day
- The Department of Labor in the Bush Years: A Damage Assessment
- Related Blogs on manufacturing
- Walking the Manufacturing Plank
- MCAST and the MFOI launch new course – Diploma in Manufacturing …
$1 million ’smart’ surveillance system to deter crime
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Criminals beware: Allegheny County is planning to keep an electronic eye out for you.
County Emergency Services Chief Bob Full said Friday that $750,000 in a pending federal appropriations bill would help pay for as many as 40 remote-controlled cameras to watch for crimes and monitor emergencies.
“We want to keep (criminals) guessing, but we want them to also know that we are watching them in critical areas,” he said.
Cameras could be moved as needed and would be monitored and controlled from the department’s Point Breeze headquarters, Full said. Images could be relayed to police officers responding to an incident and shown on their in-car computers, he said.
The planned system will include 64 cameras the county already has, as well as 64 sensors that sniff the air for traces of chemicals and radioactive materials.
The closed-circuit wireless surveillance network could include microphones that detect the sound of a gunshot and alert dispatchers, said Sen. Arlen Specter. He said images caught by cameras would be an aid in prosecuting crimes.
“A picture is worth a thousand lawyers,” Specter said.
In all, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved more than $2 million for police surveillance in Pennsylvania. Besides the county money, the funding bill includes $250,000 to put 53 cameras in Pittsburgh, and similar projects for cameras in Allentown, Williamsport and York.
The bill must pass the full Senate and be signed into law before any money is available. The county has budgeted $250,000 for the project, Full said, and he is seeking additional money to expand the system’s capabilities.
Philadelphia is building a $10 million surveillance network with 250 cameras that the city hopes to have operating by the end of the year.
A 2006 pilot project there led to a 13 percent reduction in crime overall in the areas under surveillance, according to a Temple University study.
The cameras work best when everyone knows they are being watched, said the study’s author, Jerry Ratcliffe.
“If you make (criminals) move to another location, it’s often a worse location for committing crime, so that’s a good thing,” Ratcliffe said.
Full said the planned surveillance system, to be built by August Systems of Morgantown, W.Va., eventually could include security cameras owned by universities, PennDOT and private companies.
“It is scalable, and it can grow. And this is what we need to do in the future: We need to use technology as our best defense,” Full said.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on privacy
- Flashback: “Internet privacy: rights vs. privileges (an open forum …
- IE8 and Privacy
- Privacy in an age of terabytes and terror
- Related Blogs on surveillance
- Surveillance ?amera effect
- High Tech Tiny Wireless Infrared Bullet Camera
Oil Prices Plunge to Five-Month Low
Source: NYTimes.com
Shares on Wall Street turned negative Tuesday afternoon after the Dow Jones industrial average soared more than 200 points in morning trading after a decline in oil prices.
The gains were erased by the afternoon after shares of energy companies fell sharply, as investors bet that falling oil prices could hurt refineries and oil giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. The Dow closed down 26.63 points, to 11,516.92, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index dropped about 0.41 percent or 5.25 points to 1,277.58. The Nasdaq declined 18.28 points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,349.24
The drop in oil prices dragged down the entire commodities sector, and initially lifted the stock markets as investors hoped that cheaper energy could nudge up consumer spending.
Crude oil futures fell to just over $105 a barrel in early trading, a five-month low, on Tuesday morning before climbing back slightly. Some investors had been concerned that Hurricane Gustav would disrupt refinery activity and oil supply chains in the Gulf Coast, but the storm passed over much of the region’s energy infrastructure.
“The storm, thank God, was not as bad as initially thought,” said Tom Bentz, an energy analyst at BNP Paribas in New York, which led investors to sell off their bets that the price of oil would move higher. Oil declined $5.75 to settle at $109.71 a barrel.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Oil Prices
- Oil prices down more than $8.00!
- Gustav Weakens, Oil Prices Drop, Gas Prices Flat
- When one buys futures and makes money like on oil futures, who …
- Lower oil prices so I can fly on private jet
Morgan Stanley’s Roach Says Economic Slump Has Only Just Begun
Source: Bloomberg.com
The global economic downturn has only just begun, with the U.S. near a “recession trajectory” and the impact of the credit crunch still to be fully felt, said Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley’s Asia chairman.
“There’s more to this macro event than just the credit- market contagion itself,” Roach said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York today. “Maybe two thirds of that is behind us, but the impacts on the real side of the U.S. economy and the global economy are at an early stage.”
Expansion in the U.S., the world’s largest economy, is likely to weaken in the in the second half after a stronger-than-expected second quarter as consumers rein in spending. That will slow European and Asian exports and hamper global growth, Roach said.
“We’re in the early stages of the downturn in the U.S. and global business cycle,” he said. “As the U.S. consumer goes into post-bubble funk, Asian exporters will feel it. That’s certainly evident now in China and its spreading through developing Asia.”
As the world economy cools, the dollar may continue to rise and commodities such as oil and base metals may decline, he said. Equity markets will trade “sideways to lower” until at least early 2009.
“Investors, especially in equities, have to be wary about being too optimistic on the earnings implications of what could be a long and drawn out multi-year adjustment for the U.S. consumer,” Roach said.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on recession
- Young Jeezy - The Recession (Intro)
- Road To Recession Getting Crowded With Europeans
- Recession? Not in the United Way
- What is a recession (and are we in one)?
- Recession looming? Raise capital gains tax!
UK government plans housing market rescue
Source: The Associated Press
The British government unveiled a package of tax cuts and spending Tuesday to try to reinvigorate a housing market suffering its worst crash since the early 1990s.
Treasury head Alistair Darling eliminated the tax that buyers are required to pay on home purchases of less than 175,000 pounds ($312,565) to encourage first-time buyers to jump on the property ladder.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown also unveiled plans to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) to help buyers hit by a cut in bank mortgage lending in the face of the global credit crunch.
Property prices have fallen by 10.5 percent in the last 12 months, according to Nationwide Building Society.
The Treasury said that for the next year, people buying homes worth 175,000 pounds ($312,565) or less would not have to pay the 1 percent “stamp duty” tax, saving them as much as 1,750 pounds ($3,126).
Brown’s 1 billion pound ($1.8 billion) housing scheme, which he and communities secretary Hazel Blears will formally announce later Tuesday, will target first-time buyers and families at risk of having their homes repossessed.
Under the plans, first-time buyers with an annual household income of less than 60,000 pounds ($107,000) will be entitled to a free five-year loan worth up to 30 percent of a home’s value.
The government promised to help vulnerable families, hit by higher mortgage rates and rising fuel and food costs, from having their homes repossessed.
In some cases, the government will give money to families to help with mortgage payments in exchange for an equity stake in the homes.
In others, the government will buy the home from the mortgage company and then rent it back to the family at an affordable price.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on housing market
- Real Estate for Sale: Singapore Market is Sizzling
Threat of bio-attacks has heightened, says David Heyman
Source: The Hindu
A combination of advances in biotechnology and easy access to inputs has heightened the threat of bio-attacks, David Heyman, an international expert on bioterrorism, said here on Thursday.
In an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Heyman, Director and Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Program, at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), described the anthrax attacks in the U.S. [in 2001], and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the Asia Pacific region [in 2003] as “two wakeup calls” for the threats posed by bio-attacks. “Those two things said we have got to be concerned about disease, and the possibility of it being used for harmful purposes.”
The former was restricted to the U.S., but had international repercussions: “On every continent, in every country practically, there were hoaxes and fears that required the governments’ attention — law enforcement and/or public health authorities who had to run down to see if they were real.”
Although SARS “happened primarily in Asia, and North America, all the world had to be concerned because of the speed of travel, everyone becomes a carrier.”
Access to bio-weapons was evident from recent attacks such as the chemical warfare in Iraq, and the polonium assassination in London.
“What you can get your hands on, and do some damage is certainly within the realm of possibility now, and the realm of existence.”
The difficulties in tracing a bio-attack posed another problem. “Unlike nuclear or even explosive attacks, bio is unique in that whether you are a state actor, or a non-state actor, it is very hard to trace.” And, “You leave very few footprints when preparing for a bio-attack.”
The technology needed for a bio-attack, Mr. Heyman, who is a former senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, said, “has become more and more available to private citizens and small groups,” as they were getting “smaller, faster and cheaper.” In the last 20 years, the technology had evolved “as rapidly and as effectively as computers have, almost in parallel, if not more so.” This trend was mainly driven by the race for the Human Genome Project, and the application of biotechnology to pharmaceuticals and life sciences. The main technologies used for bio-engineering were now “basically the equivalent of desktop capability” and were available off the shelf or over the counter, as they were dual-use in nature. Striking a note of caution, he said: “Where technology is available and intent is there; harm can be done.”
Mr. Heyman, however, entered a caveat on bio-attacks by non-state actors. “It’s still hard to do. You need to be technologically-versed. Access to technology and material doesn’t mean that you can actually successfully achieve bio-weapons. In fact, bio-weapons are much harder to do than explosives.”
Drawing a parallel with the recent Gujarat serial blasts, he said: “These were technologically simple explosives; bio-weapons are much more complicated and to get that right, we have to get a lot of other things right, so it is still hard to do.”
Mr. Heyman, who prepared a report on the working of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) continued to pose the most concern, as it was the “preferred weapon of choice for terrorists.” Over 55 per cent of all terrorist attacks involve IEDs, next are probably gun attacks, he pointed out.
Major lessonThe major lesson from the recent bombings in India was that “States cooperate and the Central government does not necessarily force that to happen.”
The Ahmedabad-attacks case, he said, was cracked because there was inter-State cooperation between the domestic security and intelligence agencies.
Referring to the trans-State dynamics of the serial bombing, he said: “That’s the way terrorists operate, that’s the way they operate within the state, within a country and now within the world. We have to take trans-border actions. Terrorists take advantage of bureaucracies. They are going to hide in the seams of society and that’s what they do best and we who seek to protect society have got to break down those barriers between states, between governments and that’s true internationally.”
Great Lakes Danger Zones?
Source: The Center for Public Integrity
Download report excerpts:
Executive Summary
Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Conclusions
The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants.
In many of the geographic areas studied, researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on CDC
- Behind the Numbers: Surgical Birth in the USA
Oil Falls as Companies Prepare to Resume Output After Hurricane
Source: Bloomberg.com
Crude oil fell to a five-month low below $106 as oil companies prepared to resume production from rigs closed by Hurricane Gustav.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and ConocoPhillips said they were inspecting offshore U.S. Gulf platforms today. Oil, down more than $40 from its July record, dropped as Gustav spared U.S. Gulf states the destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
“The absence of serious structural damage from Gustav when the market was braced for the worst has caused prices to turn decisively downwards,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Bache Commodities Ltd. in London. “As technical selling takes hold, it looks likely we’ll breach $100.”
Crude oil for October delivery fell as low as $105.46 a barrel, down 8.7 percent from the close of Aug. 29 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the lowest since April 4. The contract traded at $108.29 at 11:32 a.m. London time.
Today’s trading is combined with yesterday’s for settlement purposes because of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S.
Natural gas for October delivery dropped 8.7 percent to $7.25 per million British thermal units, while gasoline futures fell 12 percent to $2.6379 a gallon.
Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, plans to send a limited number of workers to its offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said in a statement.
Louisiana refineries shut down by Hurricane Gustav may take about 10 days to resume operations because of a lack of power, stunting fuel production at a time when regional gasoline inventories are at a 10-month low.
Exxon Mobil Corp. shut Baton Rouge, its second-largest U.S. refinery, after Gustav’s winds cut power to the Louisiana-based plant, according to an advisory on the company’s Web site.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Oil Prices
- Oil prices down more than $8.00!
- Gustav Weakens, Oil Prices Drop, Gas Prices Flat
- When one buys futures and makes money like on oil futures, who …
- Lower oil prices so I can fly on private jet
Integrity Bank Becomes 10th U.S. Failure This Year
Source: Bloomberg.com
Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia, was closed by U.S. regulators today, the 10th bank to collapse this year amid a surge in soured real-estate loans stemming from the worst housing slump since the Great Depression.Integrity Bank, with $1.1 billion in assets and $974 million in deposits, was shuttered by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Regions Financial Corp., Alabama’s biggest bank, will assume all deposits from Integrity, which was run by Integrity Bancshares Inc. The failed bank’s five offices will open on Sept. 2 as branches of Regions, the FDIC said.
“Depositors will continue to be insured with Regions Bank so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance,” the FDIC said.
Banks are being closed at the fastest pace in 14 years as financial companies report more than $505 billion in writedowns and credit losses since 2007. California lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc., which had $32 billion in assets, was closed July 11 in the third-largest bank seizure, contributing to a 14 percent drop in the U.S. deposit insurance fund that had $45.2 billion at the end of the in the second quarter.
…
Powered by ScribeFire.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on bank failure
- Another Bank Failure
- Related Blogs on FDIC
- FDIC Might Come Up A Little Short, Can Borrow From Treasury Bair Says
- Shorting the FDIC?
- If Enough Banks Fail, The FDIC Could Run Out Of Money
- Dollar softer in ranges; FDIC woes eyed
FM 3-19.30 21st Century U.S. Army Physical Security Field Manual
Download Fm31930 now
This illustrated manual is loaded with practical information:
* Protective systems design approach
* Vehicle bombs
* Speed control
* Exterior attack protection
* Building elements
* Standoff weapons
* Ballistics
* Covert entry and insider compromise
* Surveillance and eavesdropping
* Protective barriers
* Security lighting
* Electronic security systems
* Access control
* Lock and key systems
* Security forces
* In-transit security
* Inspections and surveys
* Threat and vulnerability assessment
Powered by ScribeFire.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Army Field Manual
- My Kind of College Professors: Anthropologists Put Their Boots on …
- Best Prices On A Survival Kit for the Elementary Middle School Art …
- Jane Mayer’s new book reveals details about the Bush …
- Stoners need to watch “Sideways” Immediately
- Bond Proposes Rewriting Army Field Manual To Expand Interrogation …
U.S. consumers may pass on convenience and organic foods
Source: Reuters
Cash-strapped U.S. consumers could be turning their backs on two of the biggest trends in the food business — organics and convenience — in order to save money.
Food industry executives and analysts interviewed in the past week pointed to those two categories as among the most vulnerable to consumers trying to stretch food budgets. While cash-strapped consumers may be eating more at home, they are also cutting out some of the little time-saving or health- conscious luxuries to which they had grown accustomed.
These changes could be a boon to companies such as Kraft Foods Inc, General Mills Inc and J.M. Smucker Co, whose products are seen as building blocks to home- made lunches and dinners.
But forays by food producers such as Chiquita Brands International Inc and by supermarket chains such as Whole Foods Market Inc and Safeway Inc to sell pre-cut packages of fresh fruits and vegetables or prepared meals at a premium could be among the casualties.
“When the $75 doesn’t buy what it used to buy, you change what you buy,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president at food and restaurant industry consulting firm Technomic. “Consumers really are willing to sacrifice convenience to manage their budgets.”
Demand for organic milk and meat remains strong, while purchases of packaged organic products such as crackers have dropped off, said Laurie Demeritt, president of market research firm Hartman Group in Bellevue, Washington.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on famine
- Feast or Famine: The Freelancer’s Sales Pipeline
- Man made famine looms in Zimbabwe
- TIFFANY FOX – Man drought or lady famine?
- Feast or Famine
- 30 Hour Famine: View from behind the stage
