Dancing With The Dimons

It's not all work, work, work for the 1% who are trickling down their wealth effect and saving the USA one internet IPO at a time. The following images of the Dimons suggest they find time for some fun in between market manipulation, in which guilt is neither admitted nor denied, and litigation…

 

 

Which reminds us… It's good to be King…

Forward to 1:31…

 

Source: TalkingPointsMemo blog


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/AOSZS8DPyQM/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Walgreens Offers Free Drugs to Ease Pain of Obamacare, Drone Strike Deaths Calculated, The War on Flutes: P.M. Links

  • Does Obamacare cover self-medicating? Not even during the holidays?Drugstore Walgreens has
    announced that it will provide
    one month’s prescription
    of drugs, free, to customers who have
    signed up for Obamacare but have been screwed over by the system
    and still don’t have an identification number. They should be sure
    to include a good mood stabilizer.
  • By putting together numbers from different studies and
    estimates, the Council on Foreign Relations believes more than
    3,500 people have been
    killed by U.S. drone strikes
    , more than 450 of which were
    civilians.
  • The ACLU has filed another suit in connection with the National
    Security Agency’s snooping, this one to
    get information about the executive order
    that governs
    surveillance abroad that occasionally sweeps up information about
    American citizens.
  • In addition to its serious data breach issues, Target has
    apparently
    failed to properly activate thousands of holiday gift cards
    . At
    this point their public relations folks are probably calling the
    White House for advice.
  • A flute player had all of his bamboo instruments, 11 of them,

    destroyed by customs officials
    at JFK airport in New York City.
    He says customs told him they were all “agricultural products.”
    (Hat tip to Popehat)
  • We must expand the war on drugs!
    Even the dolphins are getting high
    ! (Hat tip: everybody on the
    entire Internet)

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from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/31/walgreens-offers-free-drugs-to-ease-pain
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Bill de Blasio Has to Pay NYC a $9 Registration Fee to Become Mayor, But What About the Unrequired Inaugurations?

don't call him warrenNew York City’s mayor has to pay a $9
registration fee when filing his oath of office form, a
bureaucratic procedure the city’s other elected officials also have
to complete, a fact highlighted by the Wall Street
Journal
, which also notes that in 2001 the fee was only 15
cents, the amount it had been for a century.  The
Journal
reports
:

From a legal standpoint, the signing of the form, the
payment of the $9 fee and the signature in the official register
are the only requirements for Mr. [Bill] de Blasio to assume the
powers of the mayor at 12 a.m. Wednesday.

For ceremonial purposes, Mr. de Blasio plans to recite the oath of
office at two different points on Wednesday. The first is scheduled
to take place at Mr. de Blasio’s home in Park Slope at 12:01 a.m.,
with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman officiating. That event is
considered private for family and other special invitees, but will
be streamed live on the web at nyc.gov.

A private event streamed live for the world to see is an apt
encapsulation of the way de Blasio has been able to capitalize
politically on his private life. When de Blasio’s adult daughter
announced last week she had a substance abuse problem, in a video
produced by the de Blasio campaign, Chris Smith
explained in New York
:

Yet packaging and releasing the news after De Blasio
has been safely elected, on Christmas Eve, when many civilians and
much of the media is otherwise occupied, muffles the immediate
headlines — though it will stoke questions about how De Blasio can
make his family such a prominent part of his political life and
demand privacy at the same time… When I asked De Blasio, not along
ago, about whether it was dangerous to turn his wife and kids into
media figures, he answered serenely but emphatically. “You have to
understand, our family is different in the way we think about
things,” he said, describing how his politics and his family were
so intertwined as to be inseparable. “This is who we are, this is
how we live, this is how we’ll always live.”

The “public” inaugural ceremony to be held at noon tomorrow at
City Hall, meanwhile, will have Bill Clinton swearing in de Blasio
in an event the mayor-elect
promised
would be “for all New Yorkers.” The Journal
doesn’t specify whether that ceremony is taxpayer-funded, though
it’s safe to assume that at the very least the security-related
expenditures will be, and that the $9 fee won’t come close to
covering them.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/31/bill-de-blasio-has-to-pay-nyc-a-9-regist
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Dow Surges To Best Year Since 1995 As Bonds & Bullion Slump

2013 is in the books… and quite a year it was…

  • Fed Balance Sheet +39%
  • Dow Transports' best year since 1997 +39%
  • Russell 2000's best year since 2003 +37%
  • S&P 500's best year since 1997 +29%
  • Dow Industrial's best year since 1995 +26%
  • USD, WTI Crude, and Treasury 5s30s curve Unchanged
  • 30Y Bonds' worst year since 2009 -13%
  • Gold's worst year since 1981 -28%

The last few days have seen VIX rising, stocks limp higher (with a mini melt-up into the close today), bond yields higher, and the USD lower.

 

Today was noisy in most asset-classes – precious metals collapsed and soared; VIX continued to surge; Treasury yields dipped then ripped higher into the close; and stocks ripped to new record highs and then dropped unceremoniouslyonly to be ramped handsomely to their highs… but the last few minutes were insane…

 

2013 was a tough year for PMs and a 'special' year for Stocks with the USD unchanged…

 

But in context – from the October 2007 peak in stocks…

 

While VIX is well down on the year (-20%) – from fiscal cliff anxiety at the start – the last few days have seen protection very well bid in a major divergence from stocks into the new year… (of course today's late-day ramp was 'funded' by a VIX dump)…

 

Commodities were a little crazy today – as usual since the Taper (and before) – with precious metals dumped and pumped intraday on very heavy volume…

 

Treasuries pushed notably higher in yield into the close but the belly remains the big underperformer post-Taper

 

 

There is one index of "risk" that has surged this year – ever so quietly and away from the calming eye sof Bob Pisani, SKEW (which 'measures' the options market's perceptions of large moves – as opposed to VIX which measures the market's view of 'normal' moves) has risen dramatically…

 

Charts: Bloomberg

Bonus Chart: The Bond Market's demise (in context)… It would appear the mainstream media has decided that anyone who held bonds this year (and continues to do so) must, by logical deduction since stocks were up 30%, be the greater fool. However, as we have noted in the past, there is a reason why gentlemen prefer bonds (sometimes) and a little context for this year's total return in US Treasuries might help manage the message a little better. Based on IBOXX USD Treasuries index, bonds lost 3.12% total return… not exactly cliff-jumping time… but then again who knows what comes next…

 

Bonus "New Year Special" Chart: The only thing that mattered this year…


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/gbh-RlydnDs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Dow Surges To Best Year Since 1995 As Bonds & Bullion Slump

2013 is in the books… and quite a year it was…

  • Fed Balance Sheet +39%
  • Dow Transports' best year since 1997 +39%
  • Russell 2000's best year since 2003 +37%
  • S&P 500's best year since 1997 +29%
  • Dow Industrial's best year since 1995 +26%
  • USD, WTI Crude, and Treasury 5s30s curve Unchanged
  • 30Y Bonds' worst year since 2009 -13%
  • Gold's worst year since 1981 -28%

The last few days have seen VIX rising, stocks limp higher (with a mini melt-up into the close today), bond yields higher, and the USD lower.

 

Today was noisy in most asset-classes – precious metals collapsed and soared; VIX continued to surge; Treasury yields dipped then ripped higher into the close; and stocks ripped to new record highs and then dropped unceremoniouslyonly to be ramped handsomely to their highs… but the last few minutes were insane…

 

2013 was a tough year for PMs and a 'special' year for Stocks with the USD unchanged…

 

But in context – from the October 2007 peak in stocks…

 

While VIX is well down on the year (-20%) – from fiscal cliff anxiety at the start – the last few days have seen protection very well bid in a major divergence from stocks into the new year… (of course today's late-day ramp was 'funded' by a VIX dump)…

 

Commodities were a little crazy today – as usual since the Taper (and before) – with precious metals dumped and pumped intraday on very heavy volume…

 

Treasuries pushed notably higher in yield into the close but the belly remains the big underperformer post-Taper

 

 

There is one index of "risk" that has surged this year – ever so quietly and away from the calming eye sof Bob Pisani, SKEW (which 'measures' the options market's perceptions of large moves – as opposed to VIX which measures the market's view of 'normal' moves) has risen dramatically…

 

Charts: Bloomberg

Bonus Chart: The Bond Market's demise (in context)… It would appear the mainstream media has decided that anyone who held bonds this year (and continues to do so) must, by logical deduction since stocks were up 30%, be the greater fool. However, as we have noted in the past, there is a reason why gentlemen prefer bonds (sometimes) and a little context for this year's total return in US Treasuries might help manage the message a little better. Based on IBOXX USD Treasuries index, bonds lost 3.12% total return… not exactly cliff-jumping time… but then again who knows what comes next…

 

Bonus "New Year Special" Chart: The only thing that mattered this year…


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/gbh-RlydnDs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Caption Contest: Nutcracker On The NYSE

We are not exactly sure why the ballerinas of the Nutcracker can be found on the floor of the TV studio formerly known as the New York Stock Exchange (now owned by the Atlanta-based ICE) but we are sure there is a good reason.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/o6CiO0Hahhk/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Fortess Investment Is Forming A Bitcoin Fund

Two months after the CIO of Fortress Investment Group recommended "putting a little money in Bitcoin," the massive fund is preparing to luanch its own Bitcoin Fund (likely considerably larger than the SecondMarket offering). As Fortune reports, details remain scarce, although there are some rumors that info .

 

The breadcrumb trail.. (Via Fortune),

Fortress earlier this year acquired Koru Ventures, a provider of patent-backed loans to tech companies, in order to launch an IP finance group. Among Koru's principals (and new Fortress employees) was Steven Waterhouse, the former chief technology officer of RPX Corp. (RPXC) whose LinkedIn profile yesterday said that he had just become a partner on an unnamed Bitcoin fund. After I sent Waterhouse an email requesting more info – and also placing a call with Fortress – the Bitcoin mention disappeared from his LinkedIn page (replaced only with "TBD").

 

My understanding, however, is that the Fortress effort will be something like an unlisted currency ETF (similar to Bitcoin Investment Trust), with Fortress also perhaps raising a separate vehicle to back Bitcoin-related startups. And there likely is some relationship to a new Bitcoin-related fund raised by Pantera Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund whose clients are known to include several Fortress executives.

 

Pantera founder Dan Morehead declined to discuss his Bitcoin efforts or relationship to Fortress – including if his effort and the Fortress fund were one in the same – but an SEC filing indicates that he already has raised around $150 million for Bitcoin vehicle, and Pantera recently participated in a VC round for crypto-currency payment network Ripple Labs. Moreover, calls to Pantera's main number are now met with a voicemail that only identifies the firm as "Pantera Bitcoin."

The Bitcoin New Year's Eve Bash is at Broad Street tonight


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/NDnUOLecrWE/story01.htm Tyler Durden

J.D. Tuccille on the Year Defiance of the State Became Cool

Aaron SwartzFor
some high-profile people who publicly told the government to go to
hell, 2013 was, personally, a bit rough. Information freedom
activist Aaron Swartz took his own life under threat of a brutal
prison sentence. Revealer of inconvenient government secrets
Bradley/Chelsea Manning actually ended up in prison. And
surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden went into exile in Russia
to escape what promised to be a “fair” trial followed by a
first-class hanging. But tough consequences aren’t unusual for
people who defy the state. What was different and encouraging,
writes J.D, Tuccille, was how many people rallied behind Swartz,
Manning, Snowden, and other rebels, explicitly siding with them
over the government, in opposition to the powers-that-be.

View this article.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/31/jd-tuccille-on-the-year-defiance-of-the
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Florida Judge Rules Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Unconstitutional: Nothing So Immediate About Government Interest in Drug Free Recipients That Warrants Suspending Fourth Amendment

what if the government just made everyone do it? ok then?A district court judge in
Florida granted summary judgment for the plaintiff in a case
challenging the constitutionality of a law requiring welfare
recipients to submit to drug testing. The law was in effect for
four months after being passed in 2011, before being temporarily
suspended by a court order. During that time only 2.6 percent of
recipients tested positive for drugs, most commonly marijuana,

according to the Miami Herald blog
, which also cites a
1998 study that found welfare recipients in the state had a lower
rate of drug use than the general population. The crux of the legal
case against the drug testing, via the Herald:

But in the Dec. 31 ruling, the court agreed with the
11th Circuit’s conclusion that “There is nothing so special or
immediate about the government’s interest in ensuring that TANF
recipients are drug free so as to warrant suspension of the Fourth
Amendment. The only known and shared characteristic of the
individuals who would be subjected to Florida’s mandatory drug
testing program is that they are financially needy families with
children. Yet, there is nothing inherent in the condition of being
impoverished that supports the conclusion that there is a concrete
danger that impoverished individuals are prone to drug use or that
should drug use occur, that the lives of TANF recipients are
fraught with such risks of injury to others that even a momentary
lapse of attention can have disastrous consequences.”

You can peruse the whole ruling
here
.

More Reason on drug
testing
and on the Fourth
Amendment

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/31/florida-judge-rules-drug-testing-welfare
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Will the Government Test Drones in Your State?

The Federal Aviation Adminstration
(FAA) announced that Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas,
and Virginia will serve as test sites for drone planes, and some
sites will be operational within 180 days. While we have good reason
to be wary of the government’s military and surveillance drones
clouding our skies, there’s no need to
blast
these particular drones out of the sky. The FAA tests
will focus not on building better bombs, but better commerce.

Twenty-five states applied to be drone testing locations, likely
enticed by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International’s (AUVSI) study that speculates within the “first
three years of integration more than 70,000 jobs will be created in
the United States with an economic impact of more than $13.6
billion.”

How did the agency make their pick of those six states? The
Associated Press (AP) states that “the designation as a test site
doesn’t come with a financial award from the government,” and

explains
:

In choosing Alaska, the FAA cited a diverse set of test site
locations in seven climatic zones. New York’s site at Griffiss
International Airport will look into integrating drones into the
congested northeast airspace. And Nevada offered proximity to
military aircraft from several bases, [FAA Administrator Michael]
Huerta said.

The extent that lobbying influenced the selection of the sites
was unclear.

[…]

The testing will determine whether drones can detect and avoid
aircraft and other obstacles, and if they can operate safety when
contact is lost with operators.

In 2012, Congress gave the agency three years to
integrate
“civil unmanned aircraft systems into international
airspace.” Currently, the vast majority of drones flying over
American skies are government operated, though the FAA has begun to
permit commercial use on “a case-by-case basis,” according
to CNN.

The Washington Times
warns
that bureaucratic sluggishness has already set plans for
widespread private use “more than a year behind schedule” and
further delays “could put the brakes on the drone revolution and
the economic benefits it would bring.” Brendan Schulman, who works
as special counsel within the drone industry told the
Times:

What we’ve experienced the past several years is a lot of
regulatory delay. In the meantime, other countries have moved ahead
with permitting and embracing commercial use. Countries
like Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom
already have a framework for commercial use of drones. That’s where
you’ll see companies going to do the work. That’s where you see
investment dollars going.

Although the FAA assures that
individuals’ privacy will not be compromised by these tests, some
have still not warmed up to the idea of more drones in America’s
skies. “Someday drones will be commonplace in U.S. skies and,
before that happens, it’s imperative that Congress enact strong,
nationwide privacy rules,” ACLU attorney Catherine Crump told the
AP.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/31/will-the-government-test-drones-in-your
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