The immigration system of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), one of Jack Abramhoff’s slimier clients*, will be brought into line with the rest of the US under a bill making progress in the Senate.
The spectacle of what amounted to indentured servitude at factories there was a blot on the US, and this change is good policy, additionally, the tremendously corrupt behavior of the government of the CNMI appears to be getting a well deserved dope slap.
*Scary thought that.
Ailing (and corrupt) mortgage giant Countrywide Financial has just placed a cap of 4% on Mortgage brokers.
Note that 4% is way too high, but it’s a start.
Basically, it stops incentivizing the most extreme Yield Spread Premiums (basically a “load” on the loan which largely goes to the broker) to the detriment of the borrower, the lender, and the rest of the economy.
The incentives in the current home mortgage environment is a morass of forces pushing lenders toward unsafe, immoral, and destructive loan products, and this is something that should be changed.
Terry Jones doing an ad for the Beeb.
It’s not the spaghetti harvest, but it’s pretty good.
We have a report that the Federal Reserve is making inquiries with the Scandanavian banks regarding how they handled their banking crisis in the early 1990s.
What they did back then was nationalize their banks:
Scandinavia’s bank rescue proved successful and is now a model for central bankers, unlike Japan’s drawn-out response, where ailing banks were propped up in a half-public limbo for years.
…
Norway ensured that shareholders of insolvent lenders received nothing and the senior management was entirely purged. Two of the country’s top four banks – Christiania Bank and Fokus – were seized by force majeure.
“We were determined not to get caught in the game we’ve seen with Bear Stearns where shareholders make money out of the rescue,” said one Norwegian adviser.
“The law was amended so that we could take 100pc control of any bank where its equity had fallen below zero. Shareholders were left with nothing. It was very controversial,” he said.
Works for me.
Senior management gets the boot without golden parachutes, shareholders get nothing, and then people think twice before they pull this crap again.
Unfortunately, property is the one true religion of the good old USA, so I don’t think that it would work here.
But it is probably the best solution.
The planned draw down has been delayed due to the overwhelming success that the forces of peace, democracy, and self determination in the recent conflict against al Sadr and his Mahdi army.
The Poodle’s gift to the British people just keeps on giving, huh?
The Myth Lives On, or not, I guess.
Yep, EADS has already delivered the first aircraft, D-1, to Dresden for modifications to full KC-45 status.
Doubtless, this is on hold because of the challenge, but note that Airbus had the airframe ready to fly to an outfitting location, and Boeing’s “Frankenplane” would not be cutting metal for months.
Boeing simply got beat like a ten dollar hooker* on this one.
Pictures below.
*My apologies for comparing a multi-billion dollar defense contractor to a cheap whore†.
†Sorry, wasn’t clear there. I was apologizing to the whore.
Normally, I don’t comment on market daily moves, there is too much noise there, but today’s stock market rally, particularly in the morning, bears note, because much of it appears to have been driven by an April Fools gag.
Dedicated short fund manager Doug Kass, of Seabreeze Partners Short LP, put out an early morning, tongue-in-cheek commentary, titled Time to Buy the Bull? The long time Bearish market pundit and writer for The Street.com and Real Money announced that he was raising his year end price targets for the S&P500 to 1,666, which would reflect a yearly gain of 26%.
This was picked up by:
Mr. Kass subsequently apologized, “I apologize to my partners, and to my friends, and especially to the SEC, for whom I have the greatest possible respect. I never intended markets to be manipulated in this manner. I was only trying to make some traders, who have been having a tough year, break a smile.”
You gotta love Wall Street. I wish I had chosen it as my career. I would already have made my millions, gotten busted, done my 22 months at Club Fed, written a book about it, and now I’d have a 2 day a week job as a pundit on CNBC.
I already have a trophy wife though, so I can’t complain.
The USAF just put in a request for a potential C-5 replacement
This is a special notice open to U.S. industry requesting information on project plans and overall feasibility of designing, fabricating and flying a full-scale, aero-structural technology demonstrator of an advanced, long-range transport concept in approximately 36 months. Responses are requested to provide information on four key aspects of the demonstrator project: (1) a description of the advanced aircraft concept (2) a description of the flight demonstrator and how it will establish proof-of-concept for the objective system (3) a project plan to go from demonstrator design to flight in 36 months (4) discussion of featured, enabling technologies for the objective system concept and risk reduction strategies necessary to validate them. The objective of this RFI is to identify potential flight demonstrator options and feasible program plans that will rapidly accelerate technology readiness level (TRL) growth of advanced transport system concepts and/or critical component technologies without being constrained by a formal acquisition program or requirement. Interested offerors may view and/or download the full Request for Information (RFI) by accessing the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) homepage at http://www.fbo.gov. Direct questions to Mr. Barth Shenk, AFRL/RBOT, (937) 255-8343.”
They want this in 36 months?!?!?!? Well, whoever wants to make the bid and better have Antonov on their speed dial. Because the AN-124 is the only thing out there that could fulfill the requirements and be flying in 36 months.
The A380 comes close, but without a rear cargo door, and a low wing that will suck debris off austere fields, there are some problems with that.
If Charles Schulz did Watchmen.
Genius.
It is now being reported that, after having thrown everything at the Congressional Democrats but the kitchen sink, Bush is trying to adopt a more conciliatory attitude on the FISA update.
You’ve accused Pelosi and Reyes of everything short of buggering goats, and now it’s time to make nice.
Bush does not get it. The congressional Democrats stood up to him before the recess, and when they got back to their home districts, their constituents basically high fived them for standing up to him.
They realize that standing up to Mr. 19% is a political winner, so you have to convince them of the benefit to the public good of your proposals.
Bush’s problem is that there is no public good to telco immunity. It’s not about the public good. It’s about keeping Bush and His Evil Minions™ out of jail.
Telco immunity is important to Bush because Bush illegally coerced the telecommunications companies to Hoover the phone and internet well before 911, and if it comes out in court, he goes to jail, as do many of his cronies.
Even the MSM is getting it now, with the LA Times describing DNI Michael McConnell’s behavior at a retreat with members of the House Intelligence Committee as being water carrying for the administration.
Took them long enough. He has been lying, and lying in ways that can be disproved in a few minutes with “the Google”, for months now, and the press is finally starting to notice.
All of this lot need to go on trial after January. The pardon of Nixon has created a cult of impunity among Republicans that needs to be shut down.
Microsoft’s attempt to abuse the international standards process has gotten even more bizarre.
Beyond the fact that this standard sucks, with tags for things like color varying from application to application in the suite, the ISO is now delaying an announcement on the vote.
It could be that they don’t want to make an announcement on April fools day, but more likely it is the fact that the legitimacy of various national votes on this have been disputed, in particular Norway, which voted 4:1 against accepting the standard, but was recorded as voting for the standard.
To the degree that I understand such things, which is limited, this standard sucks, which is part of the problem. Additionally, there is a very real issue that Microsoft will use IP laws, and “undocumented features” to leverage their control of the office suite.
Microsoft’s “promises” to allow OOXML be used by all are cut out of very thin cloth.
Now the Chinese are claiming that Tibetan protesters are planning suicide attacks…..puhleeze.
When they won the Olympic bid, they should have hired a competent PR firm.
The PRC public relations apparatus may be the only one in the world more incompetent than the Democratic Party public relations apparatus.
First, let me complain, yet again, about the nature of financial reporting. They are neck deep in dung, but they continue to look for a pony.
Cases in pointL
The the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index rose to 48.6 from 48.3 in February, which while higher than the 47.5 anticipated is still a contraction. Any number below 50 is a contraction. The index is a derivative (the calculus type, not the financial type), with 50 being zero. 48.6 is still a trend down, and this should be the lede.
Then we have construction spending “falling less than expected“. Again, construction spending fell, and while the “consensus” was 0.9%, and it fell 0.3%, this isn’t news, unless you tell us who, or why the consensus was that number.
Grrrrr.
On the “economic news for the rest of us” front, we have predictions that 200,000 jobs will be eliminated in the banking sector, and the number of food stamp recipients has gone through the roof.
BTW, if you are wondering if the real estate collapse is just a locak phemenon, the answer is no. We are now seeing the beginnings of a real estate collapse in china, and the housing crunch has now moved to the Hamptons.
Shanghai and the Hamptons. When you look at the range covered, there ain’t much left outside of this.
In the world of currency, it appears that the dollar has had the biggest quarterly loss since Q4 2004. The ECB is concerned with inflation, and quite honestly is not experiencing the same sort of meltdown that the US is, so it’s holding rates steady, which strengthens the Euro.
Finally, we have banks writing down billions of dollars (here, and here) in various bad investments. The markets rewarded them today, but I think that this will get much worse before it gets any better.
A GAO study has revealed that Department of Defense procurement is completely f%$@ed up.
They discovered an orgy of cost overruns, missed deadlines, and enough waste and efficiency to choke a horse.
Well, duh!
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have warned Bush that the military is being worn thin by Iraq.
Bush is expected to support political whore David Petraeus, whose recommendation is that there be no draw down.
Performed with two bricks, preferably.
Rusty Yates, whose demands for a large family are in large part for Andrea Yates post partum psychosis and murder of her children, has had a son with his second wife.
Some people should not dip a toe in the gene pool.
The elections results are still delayed, and there is now talk of a presidential runoff. My guess is that the margin was too large for Zanu-PF to make Mugabe the winner, so they are angling for a 2nd round of vote fraud, possibly at a time when foreign attention is elsewhere.
We have reports that the leaders of MDC were in hiding. If the Zimbabwe state security apparatus wants to move, it would have be before the final vote total.
On the brighter side, it appears that thare are negociations between Zanu-PF and the MDC, which implies that there might be a peaceful transition, though I think that Mugabe will be the wild card in all this.
Paul Krugman blogs today and wonders if, “Iceland the victim of a financial conspiracy. Really, seriously.
There are reports that hedge funds are trying to break the bank of Iceland for a few bucks.
As Krugman notes:
Such things really do happen. During the 1997-1998 financial crisis there was, almost certainly, a financial conspiracy against Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, several major hedge funds engaged in a “double play”, shorting both the city-state’s stock market and its currency. The alleged plan was to put the HKMA in a double bind: it would be forced either to raise interest rates to defend the Hong Kong dollar — driving stocks down — or to devalue the currency. Either way the hedge funds thought they’d make a killing. They were, however, caught in a bear trap when the HKMA did the unexpected and bought up a large fraction of the HK stock market.”
According to Krugman, who is in a position to know, Bear Stearns figures prominently in what is going on in Iceland.
I would not be surprised if Bear were also involved in the 1997-8 machinations too. They have always had a rep as being the most brutal of the large investment banks.
This is yet another case for greater regulation of the financial markets.
A tax on currency transactions might be a bad idea either. Even a tax of less than 1/10% would eliminate much of the currency speculation that leaves a path of poverty and destruction around the world.
First, we have the revelation that the news cease fire was brokered by Iranian General Qassem Suleimani, who is on a US terrorism watch list for, “alleged involvement in terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear and missile technology.
When the going gets tough, our allies the Hakim family run to Iran for help. Nice.
The reports of NY Times reporter is particularly instructive, “The common observation was this: There was nowhere the Mahdi either did not control or could not strike at will. Maliki and the Hakims lost, and they lost big.
The reason for the qualifier in the title is that elements of the Mahdi Army are claiming that the government is breaking the cease fire. Hopefully, this is simply a temporary artifact of a new cease fire.