10/23/09
10/22/09
10/21/09
10/20/09
I just want to know who the hell is getting a 4.5% raise in this environment. Most likely filling up pension plans. Black fucking hole!
Cook property taxes will be 4.2% higher
October 20, 2009 7:25 PM | 9 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Probably not much of a shock, but it's now official: Collectively, homeowners and businesses in Cook County are being hit up for 4.2 percent more in property taxes this year than last.
The semi-annual round of property tax bills will be arriving in mail boxes across the county in coming weeks, and most will be bigger than last year. As a prelude the Cook County Clerk's office today unveiled a snapshot of some of the complex number crunching behind the calculations.
Read the rest in Clout Street
October 20, 2009 7:25 PM | 9 Comments | UPDATED STORY
Probably not much of a shock, but it's now official: Collectively, homeowners and businesses in Cook County are being hit up for 4.2 percent more in property taxes this year than last.
The semi-annual round of property tax bills will be arriving in mail boxes across the county in coming weeks, and most will be bigger than last year. As a prelude the Cook County Clerk's office today unveiled a snapshot of some of the complex number crunching behind the calculations.
Read the rest in Clout Street
I did this 2 years ago and have been mentioning it periodically. Do as you wish, but it's up to us now. The Govt aint going to solve this.
Had Enough? Time For A Boycott!
Have you had it with the scams, frauds, "mark to myth" and lies?
Tired of this sort of garbage - being punished for being responsible?
You may believe that your exemplary behavior shields you from unexpected credit card fees. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
ou can stop it.
Yes, you.
All 330,000,000 of you.
Here's how.
Go withdraw all your money and business from the following institutions:
Bank of America
Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
JP Morgan/Chase
Those four.
Place your business with a local community bank or credit union in their place, and tell the above four institutions to "piss off."
I've resisted doing this, but the idea that banks are now going to try to penalize those who do not carry balances or pay late fees is the last straw.
This is a call for a boycott.
A call to break these institutions by destroying their deposit base and "net interest margin", one consumer at a time, as a protest against the outrageous actions these firms have taken in terms of risk and their shifting of the costs of that risk, which should have resulted in their failure and closure by The FDIC and OCC, onto the backs of their customers via outrageous fees, interest rates and costs, along with the direct subsidy being paid by all taxpayers generally.
Are not 30% credit card interest rates enough, while these four banks all can and do borrow at near-zero from The Fed and have issued debt with an FDIC guarantee (that is, funded by you)?
If that is not enough to dissuade you, how about Wells Fargo holding an unknown amount of Wachovia "off-balance sheet assets" at god-knows-what in terms of valuations - and justification for same - while cutting back HELOC lines and credit cards?
If not that, how about the practice of large banks re-ordering transactions to generate the maximum amount in overdraft fees, with the brunt of these fees and costs being born by those least able to afford it - the working class person? Yes, I know, the banks, in response to "outrage" on Capitol Hill, recently have "agreed" to reduce the maximum number of overdraft fees they will charge, but what they didn't (voluntarily) agree to do is stop that practice entirely. Oh, many will also allow you to overdraw your account at an ATM or debit terminal, and some will even display a "balance" at the ATM that includes uncleared funds in a puerile attempt to encourage you to do so. That latter practice, by the way, has drawn pending legislation - a few years late, of course, and with no clawback of the ill-gotten gains (tens of billions of dollars) that have been stolen, er, "earned" over the last few years.
There is no law that says you must patronize firms that engage in practices that you find outrageous or abusive. Indeed, it is your right and duty as an American to withdraw your consent to such practices by telling institutions such as this to go piss up a rope.
t is also your right to band together with others and persuade them to do so as well.
This is a call for all of America to do exactly that.
The "large banking industry" has effectively captured the regulatory and legislative apparatus of The United States to do their bidding, even when they screw up, instead of those costs being imposed on their shareholders and bondholders as it should be.
You have no duty to support or tolerate this, and indeed, if you ever want to see it change, you must stop providing these firms with your dollars - your deposits - and your loan business.
Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
Bank of America
JP Morgan/Chase
Tell them to go to hell and pull your business, whether it be small or large, and take that business to your local community bank or credit union.
Not only will you send a message, you'll reward those firms that provide you with quality service and a reasonable cost structure, instead of those who appear to use every opportunity to nickel and dime you to death.
These institutions, like all businesses, rely on customers in order to survive.
Deny them that business and these practices will change, or they will go out of business - as they should.
Discussion takes place at The Tickerforum Comment Zone (registration required to post)
Have you had it with the scams, frauds, "mark to myth" and lies?
Tired of this sort of garbage - being punished for being responsible?
You may believe that your exemplary behavior shields you from unexpected credit card fees. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
ou can stop it.
Yes, you.
All 330,000,000 of you.
Here's how.
Go withdraw all your money and business from the following institutions:
Bank of America
Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
JP Morgan/Chase
Those four.
Place your business with a local community bank or credit union in their place, and tell the above four institutions to "piss off."
I've resisted doing this, but the idea that banks are now going to try to penalize those who do not carry balances or pay late fees is the last straw.
This is a call for a boycott.
A call to break these institutions by destroying their deposit base and "net interest margin", one consumer at a time, as a protest against the outrageous actions these firms have taken in terms of risk and their shifting of the costs of that risk, which should have resulted in their failure and closure by The FDIC and OCC, onto the backs of their customers via outrageous fees, interest rates and costs, along with the direct subsidy being paid by all taxpayers generally.
Are not 30% credit card interest rates enough, while these four banks all can and do borrow at near-zero from The Fed and have issued debt with an FDIC guarantee (that is, funded by you)?
If that is not enough to dissuade you, how about Wells Fargo holding an unknown amount of Wachovia "off-balance sheet assets" at god-knows-what in terms of valuations - and justification for same - while cutting back HELOC lines and credit cards?
If not that, how about the practice of large banks re-ordering transactions to generate the maximum amount in overdraft fees, with the brunt of these fees and costs being born by those least able to afford it - the working class person? Yes, I know, the banks, in response to "outrage" on Capitol Hill, recently have "agreed" to reduce the maximum number of overdraft fees they will charge, but what they didn't (voluntarily) agree to do is stop that practice entirely. Oh, many will also allow you to overdraw your account at an ATM or debit terminal, and some will even display a "balance" at the ATM that includes uncleared funds in a puerile attempt to encourage you to do so. That latter practice, by the way, has drawn pending legislation - a few years late, of course, and with no clawback of the ill-gotten gains (tens of billions of dollars) that have been stolen, er, "earned" over the last few years.
There is no law that says you must patronize firms that engage in practices that you find outrageous or abusive. Indeed, it is your right and duty as an American to withdraw your consent to such practices by telling institutions such as this to go piss up a rope.
t is also your right to band together with others and persuade them to do so as well.
This is a call for all of America to do exactly that.
The "large banking industry" has effectively captured the regulatory and legislative apparatus of The United States to do their bidding, even when they screw up, instead of those costs being imposed on their shareholders and bondholders as it should be.
You have no duty to support or tolerate this, and indeed, if you ever want to see it change, you must stop providing these firms with your dollars - your deposits - and your loan business.
Wells Fargo/Wachovia
Citibank
Bank of America
JP Morgan/Chase
Tell them to go to hell and pull your business, whether it be small or large, and take that business to your local community bank or credit union.
Not only will you send a message, you'll reward those firms that provide you with quality service and a reasonable cost structure, instead of those who appear to use every opportunity to nickel and dime you to death.
These institutions, like all businesses, rely on customers in order to survive.
Deny them that business and these practices will change, or they will go out of business - as they should.
Discussion takes place at The Tickerforum Comment Zone (registration required to post)
Worldwide Diesel Glut Could Slam Oil Prices
Worldwide Diesel Glut Could Slam Oil Prices
Vincent Fernando|Oct. 20, 2009, 10:35 AM | 476 |comment1
Tags: Commodities, Energy
Oil Floating StorageOil prices could be slammed in the near-term by a growing glut of diesel in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
This oversupply of diesel could push refiners to cut back on the amount of crude oil they consume as inputs, reducing oil demand.
Financial Times: In the US, stockpiles of middle distillates (which, alongside diesel, includes heating oil) are at their highest in decades. Europe faces a surplus of distillates so great that traders are booking tankers to store it offshore after running out of inland deposits.
The International Energy Agency, the industrialised countries' oil watchdog, says the volume of refined oil products in floating storage offshore Europe rose 25 per cent in September. In Asia, diesel stocks are rising fast, with inventories in the Singapore hub trebling since August to a record.
"The world has yet to come to terms with the massive middle distillate stock surplus," JBC Energy, the Vienna-based oil consultancy, says.
A quarterly statement from CSX, the US railway operator seen as a bellwether of the country's industrial and trade activity, points to weak distillates demand.
CSX locomotives used 18 per cent less fuel in the most recent quarter than in the same period a year ago.
Read more here.
10/19/09
Current Rally vs past 60% rallys
Our stock markets are now well into 60% rally territory. Which begs the question: how does this rally stack up with previous ones based on such arcane concepts as economic fundamentals. We present some of the key criteria of how previous 60% rallies have looked like when analyzed across 10 different key economic dimensions (which are completely irrelevant now). Data courtesy of Contrary Investor.
Year over Year Retail Sales: 9.3% average in prior 60% rallies versus -5.3% in the current one
Consumer Confidence: 95.5 average; 53.1 now
Capacity Utilization: 79.9% average; 66.6% now
Year over Year Industrial Production: 4.1% avereage; -10.7% now
ISM: 53.9 average; 52.6 now
Payroll employment gains over period: 2.2% average; -2.0% now
Decline in continued unemployment claims from cycle peak: -26.3 average; -11.6% now
Year over Year growth in total credit market debt: 9.3% average; 3.0% now
Year over Year growth in household debt: 8.8% average; -0.1% now
P/E Multiple: 16.8x average; 20.0x now
With the exception of ISM, this 60% rally is completely nonsensical. On 9 out of the key 10 economic dimensions we are cruising purely on hope and on expectations that Uncle Sam will continue printing trillions of dollars simply to get us out of this mess. Or not even that, but merely the excess hundreds of billions in liquidity courtesy of Ben Bernanke, are following the path of least resistance straight to equities. Whatever the reason, the current rally, at least when juxtaposed with previous ones, is a complete sham. Anyone who believes there is any ounce of economic fundamental credibility to it needs to take a careful look at the data. Unfortunately, all will be happy to be blissfully ignorant until, as always, it is too late.
Data courtesy of Contrary Investor
Year over Year Retail Sales: 9.3% average in prior 60% rallies versus -5.3% in the current one
Consumer Confidence: 95.5 average; 53.1 now
Capacity Utilization: 79.9% average; 66.6% now
Year over Year Industrial Production: 4.1% avereage; -10.7% now
ISM: 53.9 average; 52.6 now
Payroll employment gains over period: 2.2% average; -2.0% now
Decline in continued unemployment claims from cycle peak: -26.3 average; -11.6% now
Year over Year growth in total credit market debt: 9.3% average; 3.0% now
Year over Year growth in household debt: 8.8% average; -0.1% now
P/E Multiple: 16.8x average; 20.0x now
With the exception of ISM, this 60% rally is completely nonsensical. On 9 out of the key 10 economic dimensions we are cruising purely on hope and on expectations that Uncle Sam will continue printing trillions of dollars simply to get us out of this mess. Or not even that, but merely the excess hundreds of billions in liquidity courtesy of Ben Bernanke, are following the path of least resistance straight to equities. Whatever the reason, the current rally, at least when juxtaposed with previous ones, is a complete sham. Anyone who believes there is any ounce of economic fundamental credibility to it needs to take a careful look at the data. Unfortunately, all will be happy to be blissfully ignorant until, as always, it is too late.
Data courtesy of Contrary Investor
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