The Obama Administration considers expanding its mortgage-refinance program to include those loans not held by the GSE's. Fannie and Freddie back just 50% of the nation's mortgages, leaving a big chunk of the 10.8M underwater mortgage loans not qualified for the HAMP. What happened to weaning the nation off of public mortgage finance? [View news story]
Yep, but unfortunately, over the years, the democrats have proven to be much better at buying votes. They've had to, ever since the North forced abolition and then civil rights onto southern democrats. This latest bout of democratic social engineering, the Affordable Healthcare Act, follows in the footsteps of the Community Reinvest Act, the War on Poverty, the Great Society, and the New Deal. All aimed at converting blacks and minorities from republican to democrat. In the words of Rahm Emanuel, the democrats never let "a serious crisis go to waste".
House Republicans won't bring their "Plan B" tax-cut proposal to a vote tonight, as Speaker John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes; the House will recess until after Christmas. DJIA futures slip 0.2%. Boehner: "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff." Updated: S&P 500 e-Mini futures dive, limit down. [View news story]
Jimbo, if you're on this board, this late at night, "covering your positions", you must be a "chump-change" analyst. A "dirty, filthy" wall street type who could care less about main street... lol.
House Republicans won't bring their "Plan B" tax-cut proposal to a vote tonight, as Speaker John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes; the House will recess until after Christmas. DJIA futures slip 0.2%. Boehner: "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff." Updated: S&P 500 e-Mini futures dive, limit down. [View news story]
People, what did you expect? We haven't had a federal budget for almost four years. And Obama is just now getting directly involved in the negotiations?
Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires Congress to pass a federal budget. The Congressional Budget Act requires the president to submit a budget to Congress by February 1 every year. Under federal law, the House and Senate are mandated to reach agreement on a concurrent budget resolution by April 15 of each year. President Obama’s last half-hearted attempt to submit a budget was defeated by the Senate 97-0.
Since the President can't seem to provide leadership, perhaps the Supreme Court should get involved?
President Obama has reportedly rejected an offer from John Boehner to increase taxes for those earning over $1M a year in exchange for major cuts in entitlement programs. It's a major concession by the Republicans in the protracted talks over a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, but Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250K, while Democrats oppose key GOP proposals for reducing entitlements. [View news story]
None of this "rich paying their fair share" is going to make any real difference in the trajectory of our national debt. At this point, the Obama's approach is simply to humiliate the opposition. He will sacrifice the last vestiges of fiscal restraint, in order to complete the buying of America, which started with the New Deal, then the Great Society, and now, the Entitlement society. All democratic led, all meant to convert the minority vote from Republican to Democrat.
Renowned inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been hired by Google (GOOG) to "work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing" - his official title is Director of Engineering. Some of Kurzweil's predictions, such as those on voice recognition, face recognition, wireless peripherals, e-books, and (of particular note for Google) self-driving cars have proven very accurate, though others have been criticized. [View news story]
Self driving cars my ass. When liability, in any respect, can be assigned to a software program, it'll be time for Logan's Run.
Low natural gas prices in the U.S. and weak prices for carbon permits in Europe are pushing more polluting coal into Europe where it is being burned to generate electricity, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) execs say. Since the start of the decade, coal exports to Europe from the U.S. have increased fivefold, resulting in a reduction of ~23B cubic meters of gas being burned in the European power sector this year. [View news story]
Yeh, and a large part of those "environmental costs" involve removing it from the ground and transporting it to China. That is still based in the US, and will accelerate as China opens one new coal fired plant every week.
Low natural gas prices in the U.S. and weak prices for carbon permits in Europe are pushing more polluting coal into Europe where it is being burned to generate electricity, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) execs say. Since the start of the decade, coal exports to Europe from the U.S. have increased fivefold, resulting in a reduction of ~23B cubic meters of gas being burned in the European power sector this year. [View news story]
Ah, the foolishness of restricting coal fired plants right out of business here in the US. For one, China will buy all the coal we can export, and burn it with much less restrictions. Now, Europe is also buying more coal as well. What do these green wackos think, that our atmosphere is separate from the atmosphere in China or Europe? One big beneficiary... Warren Buffet, whose purchase of BSNF, the largest coal shipper to the west coast, under the guise of a "play on America", is really a play on China coal. That guy is quite the snake.
Health Management Associates (HMA) rebuts as "inaccurate" a 60 Minutes report on allegations doctors faced pressure to admit patients from the emergency room to fill hospital beds. CRT Capital cuts HMA to Sell, seeing significantly more risk of a bigger federal investigation and potential settlement fines - “as serious an allegation of fraud as we have ever heard." HMA -4.4% premarket. [View news story]
I was in the hospital recently, and yeah, they did some unnecessary testing. They inflated the bill and the insurance company cut it back down. At the same time, hospitals are required to take in anyone, whether or not they can pay. So what would you expect? Hospitals are also shutting down their lower profit centers and opening higher profit centers. It is a business, after all. The only concern I have is that many good doctors are also going to seek a sort of shelter from the avalanche of new patients seeking "free" care. We will lose GPs and gain more specialists. And it will be harder to see the doctor. Guess who will take up the slack? Hospitals.
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
The basic mistake being made by the liberals is that better health insurance will mean better health care which will lead to better health for the general population. There are so many derailing factors in between that none of this will likely ever produce the desired result. None of this will change human nature, that no matter what you do, there will always be a top 20% and a bottom 20% in society. The communists ran this experiment and proved that government control cannot make everyone feel the same, think the same, or perform the same. Our republic was formed on the basis of individual liberty, to succeed or fail, with a minimum of government interference. How we got to the point of cradle to grave guarantees is an astonishing breech of faith by the American people. We have reduced the need for individual responsibility by distributing it over the entire population via government led social engineering. What you end up with is even more irresponsible behavior. As Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
Lol, like middle class with Iphones, sports cable network, $50K pickups and SUVs, who go shopping with food stamps and collect years worth of unemployment? You mean like them? Fact is everyone has gotten greedy, but Obama and the Democrats have found a better way to feed into that greed than the Republicans.
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
Yep. And many states will let the Fed setup the exchange and take the costs, rather than accept huge Medicaid increases. Of course, Obama will be long gone before the Fed goes off the healthcare cliff. More unsustainable promises of ever increasing entitlements.
Trying to stay off the "front page," Bank of America (BAC) nixes plans for new checking-account fees set to ht about 10M customers by year's end. These customers - small balances, don't take out loans - cost the bank roughly $200/year. Back of envelope: That's $2B in losses vs. total income of $5.4B over the last 4 quarters. "Our strategy is to give our customers reasons to do more business with us," says co-COO David Darnell. [View news story]
Right. How much do you pay for cable per month? Or maybe you're still stealing it? The banks are doing whatever they can to avoid being further demonized and attacked by the current administration. And remember that while politically correct Apple only employ 60K or so employees, each of the big banks employ something like 250K. People who spend $100 or more a month for that magical Isomething experience, supported by slave labor over at Foxconn, are usually the first to throw millions of bank employees under the bus.
Here's the White House math behind why "tax reform" can't replace all the income from letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire: Limiting a cap in deductions to incomes over $250K leaves only $800B in revenue; phasing in a cap to avoid a "cliff" reduces revenues to $650B; excluding the charitable deduction reduces it to $450B. That's why the likeliest outcome is a hybrid approach that combines an increase in marginal tax rates with a cap in deductions. [View news story]
Except that even the most conservative budget forecasts have us borrowing money for another 20 years or so. Remember that these so called spending cuts are really only slowing the rate of increase in spending.
The U.S. may be moving away from coal but the rest of the world isn't, with ~1,200 coal plants on the drawing board, the World Resources Institute reports. Many of the proposed new plants are in China and India, and a growing number are being proposed for developing countries such as Cambodia, Guatemala and Uzbekistan, nations looking for cut-rate sources of energy to fuel economic growth. [View news story]
These anti-coal wackos don't get it. We'll ship our coal overseas where they can burn it? Isn't all the same atmosphere?
The DOJ is objecting to a plan to pay Hostess Brands execs $1.8M in retention bonuses while the company is wound down. It's the latest example of Justice trying to prevent such payments to managers at failing businesses. "They're objecting more and they're finding more success," says Lawrence Friedman, a former director of the Department's Trustee Program. [View news story]
Didn't the government transfer millions in payment to Solyndra while in bankruptcy? Didn't those execs get bonuses?
The Obama Administration considers expanding its mortgage-refinance program to include those loans not held by the GSE's. Fannie and Freddie back just 50% of the nation's mortgages, leaving a big chunk of the 10.8M underwater mortgage loans not qualified for the HAMP. What happened to weaning the nation off of public mortgage finance? [View news story]
House Republicans won't bring their "Plan B" tax-cut proposal to a vote tonight, as Speaker John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes; the House will recess until after Christmas. DJIA futures slip 0.2%. Boehner: "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff." Updated: S&P 500 e-Mini futures dive, limit down. [View news story]
House Republicans won't bring their "Plan B" tax-cut proposal to a vote tonight, as Speaker John Boehner says he doesn't have the votes; the House will recess until after Christmas. DJIA futures slip 0.2%. Boehner: "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff." Updated: S&P 500 e-Mini futures dive, limit down. [View news story]
Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires Congress to pass a federal budget. The Congressional Budget Act requires the president to submit a budget to Congress by February 1 every year. Under federal law, the House and Senate are mandated to reach agreement on a concurrent budget resolution by April 15 of each year. President Obama’s last half-hearted attempt to submit a budget was defeated by the Senate 97-0.
Since the President can't seem to provide leadership, perhaps the Supreme Court should get involved?
President Obama has reportedly rejected an offer from John Boehner to increase taxes for those earning over $1M a year in exchange for major cuts in entitlement programs. It's a major concession by the Republicans in the protracted talks over a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, but Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250K, while Democrats oppose key GOP proposals for reducing entitlements. [View news story]
Renowned inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been hired by Google (GOOG) to "work on new projects involving machine learning and language processing" - his official title is Director of Engineering. Some of Kurzweil's predictions, such as those on voice recognition, face recognition, wireless peripherals, e-books, and (of particular note for Google) self-driving cars have proven very accurate, though others have been criticized. [View news story]
Low natural gas prices in the U.S. and weak prices for carbon permits in Europe are pushing more polluting coal into Europe where it is being burned to generate electricity, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) execs say. Since the start of the decade, coal exports to Europe from the U.S. have increased fivefold, resulting in a reduction of ~23B cubic meters of gas being burned in the European power sector this year. [View news story]
Low natural gas prices in the U.S. and weak prices for carbon permits in Europe are pushing more polluting coal into Europe where it is being burned to generate electricity, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) execs say. Since the start of the decade, coal exports to Europe from the U.S. have increased fivefold, resulting in a reduction of ~23B cubic meters of gas being burned in the European power sector this year. [View news story]
Health Management Associates (HMA) rebuts as "inaccurate" a 60 Minutes report on allegations doctors faced pressure to admit patients from the emergency room to fill hospital beds. CRT Capital cuts HMA to Sell, seeing significantly more risk of a bigger federal investigation and potential settlement fines - “as serious an allegation of fraud as we have ever heard." HMA -4.4% premarket. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT) reportedly plans to deny health insurance to new employees who work fewer than 30 hours/week. The policy change will use an Obamacare loophole to shift the costs of health insurance to the government. [View news story]
Trying to stay off the "front page," Bank of America (BAC) nixes plans for new checking-account fees set to ht about 10M customers by year's end. These customers - small balances, don't take out loans - cost the bank roughly $200/year. Back of envelope: That's $2B in losses vs. total income of $5.4B over the last 4 quarters. "Our strategy is to give our customers reasons to do more business with us," says co-COO David Darnell. [View news story]
Here's the White House math behind why "tax reform" can't replace all the income from letting the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire: Limiting a cap in deductions to incomes over $250K leaves only $800B in revenue; phasing in a cap to avoid a "cliff" reduces revenues to $650B; excluding the charitable deduction reduces it to $450B. That's why the likeliest outcome is a hybrid approach that combines an increase in marginal tax rates with a cap in deductions. [View news story]
The U.S. may be moving away from coal but the rest of the world isn't, with ~1,200 coal plants on the drawing board, the World Resources Institute reports. Many of the proposed new plants are in China and India, and a growing number are being proposed for developing countries such as Cambodia, Guatemala and Uzbekistan, nations looking for cut-rate sources of energy to fuel economic growth. [View news story]
The DOJ is objecting to a plan to pay Hostess Brands execs $1.8M in retention bonuses while the company is wound down. It's the latest example of Justice trying to prevent such payments to managers at failing businesses. "They're objecting more and they're finding more success," says Lawrence Friedman, a former director of the Department's Trustee Program. [View news story]