Fatboy Sez

2013-06-01

"The Internal Revenue Service spent an estimated $49 million on at least 220 conferences for employees over a three-year span beginning in fiscal 2010, according to a forthcoming report that will prompt fresh scrutiny of the already embattled agency.
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During the conference, employees watched two training videos that cost at least $60,000 to produce, according to the audit’s estimates. The first video is a “Star Trek” parody and stars division employees discussing how they might identify and address allegations of tax fraud.
One employee, mocking the Russian character Pavel Chekov, is seen telling another colleague, “Back in Russia, I dreamed someday I’d be rich and famous.”
“Me, too,” the colleague responds. “That’s why I became a public servant.”
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The second video stars some of the same employees learning how to dance the “Cupid Shuffle” from a 2007 song by the performer Cupid. As other employees learn the dance moves, one female employee comments, “They don’t pay me enough to do this.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/irs-faces-new-scrutiny-for-excessive-spending-on-conferences/2013/06/01/e1469324-cab2-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html?hpid=z2

Ironic

A Fed Reserve bank president gives a speech in Istanbul on the positive effects on unemployment increasing inflation would have as the Turkish government beats and gasses peaceful protesters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/01/us-usa-fed-kocherlakota-idUSBRE95008Q20130601?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Thousands of Turkish protesters poured onto the streets and reoccupied a central Istanbul park as the police withdrew after three days of clashes that sparked a massive anti-regime demonstration.
The police retreat from Gezi Park and nearby Taksim Square today came as supporters of the opposition Republican People’s Party marched on the square. After reoccupying the park, they danced and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appealed for an end to protests while ordering an investigation into police use of pepper spray.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-01/turkish-protests-swell-as-police-violence-incites-crowds.html

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s annual inflation jumped in January due to tax increases on tobacco products and rising food prices, the state statistics agency said Monday, despite the central bank’s desire to slow inflation to 5% this year.
But analysts say the central bank will tolerate some surprises and isn’t likely to take action unless forecasts change.
The consumer-price index rose 7.31% annually and 1.65% on a month-to-month basis in January, the statistics agency said. The pace accelerated from a 6.16% annual increase in December. The rise in CPI was above the 6.8% annual rate and a 1.15% monthly increase forecast by six economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2013/02/04/turkeys-inflation-jumps-in-january/

2013-05-30

"State and local governments face unmet pension fund obligations of as much as $4 trillion according to some studies, possibly jeopardizing their ability to provide essential services and meet their debt service payments. Moves by Coventry and a few other towns around the country have sparked fears in the municipal bond market that the situation could unravel.
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By the end of that painful case, retirees' pension payments were slashed in half, but bondholders escaped unscathed after state legislators passed a law."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/31/us-usa-pension-rhodeisland-coventry-idUSBRE94U01220130531

2013-05-29

Lumber prices vs. ISM, S&P and S&P forwrd EPS estimates

https://twitter.com/Not_Jim_Cramer

2013-05-27

"These policies are not “beggar-thy-neighbor” but rather are positive-sum, “enrich-thy-neighbor” actions. No really, they are. You got any pot?"

"Wall Street investors hungry for advance information on upcoming federal health-care decisions repeatedly held private discussions with Obama administration officials, including a top White House adviser helping to implement the Affordable Care Act.
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White House records show that Elizabeth Fowler, then a top health-policy adviser to President Obama, met with executives from half a dozen investment firms in 2011 and 2012."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/political-intelligence-firms-set-up-investor-meetings-at-white-house/2013/05/26/73b06528-bccb-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html?hpid=z1

Surely Ms. Fowler knew not much and had even less to share with the investment firms. Right?

"When the legislation that became known as "Obamacare" was first drafted, the key legislator was the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, whose committee took the lead in drafting the legislation. As Baucus himself repeatedly boasted, the architect of that legislation was Elizabeth Folwer, his chief health policy counsel; indeed, as Marcy Wheeler discovered, it was Fowler who actually drafted it. As Politico put it at the time: "If you drew an organizational chart of major players in the Senate health care negotiations, Fowler would be the chief operating officer."
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"Elizabeth Fowler is leaving the White House for a senior-level position leading 'global health policy' at Johnson & Johnson's government affairs and policy group."

The pharmaceutical giant that just hired Fowler actively supported the passage of Obamacare through its membership in the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) lobby. Indeed, PhRMA was one of the most aggressive supporters - and most lavish beneficiaries - of the health care bill drafted by Fowler."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/obamacare-fowler-lobbyist-industry1

2013-05-25

William Z. Ripley

"Prosperity, not real but specious, may indeed be unduly protracted by artificial means, but in the end truth is bound to prevail." William Ripley circa 1927
http://www.unz.org/Pub/RipleyWilliam-1927?View=ReadIt

“Nevertheless, balance sheet policy can still lower longer-term borrowing costs for many households and businesses, and it adds to household wealth by keeping asset prices higher than they otherwise would be.”

Brian P. Sack Executive vice president of the Federal Reserve bank of New York October 4 2010

http://www.ny.frb.org/newsevents/speeches/2010/sac101004.html

2013-05-21

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office declined CSB access to witnesses and the explosion scene, wrote Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairperson of the safety board.
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When the CSB finally did set up an interview with a plant employee, four armed ATF and State Fire Marshal's Office agents intercepted the employee and took him away before he could speak with CSB investigators, Moure-Eraso said.
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The CSB is an independent federal agency responsible for investigating industrial-chemical accidents. The April 17 ammonium-nitrate explosion killed 14 people and destroyed a part of the town.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-texas-explosion-investigation-idUSBRE94K1BO20130521

2013-05-18

"While there may be other explanations for this phenomena, Occam's law would lead one in the direction of selective disclosure and trading upon material non-public information. Not that one should be surprised at this. The sheer number of people with privileged information is vast as is the trade in such information via "expert networks", even before considering friends, family, old boys' networks or similar networks of obligation and opportunity.exchange.
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"Some think, and argue persuasively that Porsche is well-guilty of outright fraud."
http://nihoncassandra.blogspot.com/2013/05/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen.html

Dazed and Confused Performed by the Original Songwriter

And the classic version:

Penetration Tester?

Penetration Tester

Post Date: Feb 14, 2013

Location: Dallas, TX

http://frs.referrals.selectminds.com/jobs/5342?et=7JYWDVN

Systemic Malfunctioning of the Labor and Financial Markets

2013-05-16

The sudden barometric change in Washington has arrived so rapidly that it is hard to comprehend. “The town is turning on President Obama,” announced Politico honchos and custodians of the conventional wisdom Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, and they’re right. Republicans are gleefully unleashing a vast investigative apparatus; erstwhile supporters like Jon Stewart are mortified. The black clouds may dissipate within a few days or weeks, or they may hover over the White House for the rest of Obama’s term. In the meantime, it is dizzying enough that, even in such a short period of time, we ought to step back and ask, what the hell just happened here?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/strange-creation-of-the-obama-scandals.html

"But we must be careful! Injustices are not the monopoly of the underdeveloped countries. They exist in the developed countries too, just as much on the capitalist side as on the socialist.

In the capitalist world, even in the richest countries, there are underdeveloped strata, which in Canada, are beginning to be called 'gray belts'.

As we all know, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in the USA. According to him, thirty million North Americans were living under sub - human conditions. Although it is true that what are considered sub - human conditions in the developed countries are not quite the same as those in the underdeveloped countries, it is no less true that the gap between poverty and wealth in the rich countries provides some shocking contrasts."
http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/general/spiral-of-violence.htm

2013-05-11

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - Too Complicated and Helping Almost No One

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

2013-05-10

“In the 40 years I’ve been working as an economist and investor, I have never seen such a disconnect between the asset market and the economic reality ... Asset markets are in the sky and the economy of the ordinary people is in the dumps, where their real incomes adjusted for inflation are going down and asset markets are going up. Something will break very bad.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/master-of-doom-marc-faber-is-feeling-gloomy-about-canada/article11788240/