Ukraine Locked Down to Over Swine Flu… Or Something
November 1st, 2009Via: New York Times:
The Ukrainian government is taking some of the sternest measures in the world against the spread of the swine flu virus, ordering schools nationwide to close for three weeks, banning public gatherings and imposing restrictions on travel.
Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko announced the measures on Friday in response to rising fears about swine flu, especially in western Ukraine. Federal health officials said 33 people had died from the flu across the country, although there was conflicting information about which type of the virus was to blame.
The situation in Ukraine “has reached the epidemic threshold,” Ms. Tymoshenko said. The ban on public gatherings, she said, would apply to “all large-scale events, concerts, movie showings and any other gatherings of people for the next three weeks.”
FDIC Friday: 9 More U.S. Banks Fail; $2.5 Billion Hit for FDIC Fund
October 31st, 2009Via: MarketWatch:
Nine more U.S. banks, all owned by the same Illinois holding company, were closed Friday by regulators, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said U.S. Bank of Minneapolis would assume their deposits.
The closings brought the 2009 total to 115 in 2009 — the first year since 1992 that more than 100 banks have gone under.
The banks as of Sept. 30 had combined assets of $19.4 billion and deposits of $15.4 billion, the FDIC said.
The deposit insurance fund will take an estimated $2.5 billion hit, the FDIC said.
All nine banks were subsidiaries of FBOP Corp., a holding company based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., according to the FDIC.
Privately held FBOP, which originated as the parent company of First Bank of Oak Park, wasn’t involved in Friday’s closures, the FDIC said.
The FBOP subsidiaries that were closed Friday were identified as Bank USA, Phoenix; California National Bank, Los Angeles; San Diego National Bank, San Diego; Pacific National Bank, San Francisco; Park National Bank, Chicago; Community Bank of Lemont, Lemont, Ill.; North Houston Bank, Houston; Madisonville State Bank, Madisonville, Texas; and Citizens National Bank, Teague, Texas.
A Soldier with the Russian Army in Afghanistan Recounts What They Believed About Their Mission
October 30th, 2009Via: Salon:
Lanine was drafted into the Russian Army at the age of 18 and spent several years as part of the Russian occupying force in Afghanistan. Thereafter, he moved to Canada, and in 2006, his wife’s first cousin, a medic in the Canadian Army, was killed in Afghanistan. Lanine wrote this column after attending his funeral, and recounted what he and his comrades in the Russian Army believed they were doing in Afghanistan:
I identified with the Canadian soldiers at the funeral mourning the loss of their friend. Like them, I went to Afghanistan believing in “fighting terrorism” and “liberating Afghans.” During my first mission, we were protecting refugees escaping an area that was under attack by the mujahedeen. I was deeply affected by their misery, and by the poverty and suffering of the Afghan people in general. In my mind, our presence was “helping Afghans,” particularly with educating women and children. My combat unit participated in “humanitarian aid” – accompanying doctors and delivering food, fuel, clothing, school and other supplies to Afghan villages.
It was only later that I began to wonder: Did that aid justify our aggression?
Dozens in Congress Face Inquiries About Defense Lobbying and Corporate Influence Peddling
October 30th, 2009Via: Washington Post:
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations. Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed.
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
October 30th, 2009Maybe I need a Shame and Embarrassment category.
Via: Wall Street Journal:
A Chinese wind-turbine company, with financing help from Beijing, has struck a deal to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S., a sign of how Chinese firms are aggressively capitalizing on America’s clean-energy push.
The 36,000-acre development in West Texas would receive $1.5 billion in financing through Export-Import Bank of China. Shenyang Power Group, a five-month-old alliance, would supply the project with 240 of its 2.5-megawatt wind turbines, among the biggest made in the world.
U.N. Can’t Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
October 30th, 2009Via: ProPublica:
The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential U.N. audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats…
As Afghanistan prepares for a second round of national voting, the documents and interviews paint the fullest picture to date of the finances of the election commission, which has been accused of facilitating election fraud and operating ghost polling places. The new disclosures also deepen the questions about the U.N.’s oversight of money provided by the United States and other nations to ensure a fair election in Afghanistan.
“Everybody kept sending money” to the elections commission, said Peter Galbraith, the former deputy chief of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. “Nobody put the brakes on. U.S. taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a fraudulent election.” Galbraith, a deputy to the senior U.N. official in Afghanistan, was fired last month [3] after protesting fraud in the elections.
Research Credit: Lagavulin
Too Big to Fail List a Secret
October 30th, 2009Via: Reuters:
U.S. regulators on Thursday scoffed at the administration’s plan to not publicly identify financial firms the government considers “systemic,” saying such a list cannot remain under wraps for long and federal laws could mandate disclosure.
“It’s likely that most, if not all, of the institutions so identified would eventually be known to the public,” said Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, to the House Financial Services Committee during a hearing on systemic risk.
“While there is a reason to try to avoid an increase in moral hazard, we should probably be realistic here about what will and won’t be known.”
The Obama administration, in draft legislation released on Tuesday, proposed that there be no public list, the thinking being that listed firms could be perceived as too big to fail.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner even acknowledged that the public will know who these firms are, but said the government act of publishing such a list could send the wrong message.
“What you don’t want to do is, by identifying a list of companies that are going to be held to tougher standards, create an expectation the government will step in and protect them if they screw up,” he said at the same hearing.
More Than 40% of President Obama’s Top-Level Fundraisers Given Posts in His Administration
October 30th, 2009Via: USA Today:
More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found.
Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama’s presidential campaign. USA TODAY’s analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession.
Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats’ union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department.
That’s a rate higher than any president in more than four decades, the group’s data show, although that could change as the White House fills more openings. Traditionally about 30% of top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees, and roughly 70% to veteran State Department employees. Ambassadors earn $153,200 to $162,900 annually.
Research Credit: Lagavulin
Trading Note: Bought Deep Out of the Money November Puts on Apple (AAPL)
October 30th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any instrument.
Just in case a black swan attacks.
Florida Car Dealership: Save Your Cash, Use Your Gold as Down Payment
October 30th, 2009Via: Bob Dance Automotive:
Bob Dance Gold Rush Program
Take advantage of soaring gold prices!
Use your old or unwanted jewelry and gold as
DOWN PAYMENT!
Save your cash!!
$$$$
Precious metal appraisers on site
Just another way Bob Dance Automotive makes car buying easy
