And Now It's Time To Blame Hackers For Obamacare's Failure

Back in October, when Obamacare’s birthing problems first became evident, and when healthcare.gov was revealed as the best website ever built… using ForTran… we suggested that it was only a matter of time before Obama blames the evil, terroristy hackers of the world and mostly of Syria. Moments ago, that just happened.

  • U.S. CYBERSECURITY OFFICIAL SAYS AWARE OF ONE ATTEMPTED DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK ON HEALTHCARE.GOV

Good old administration: predictable to a fault. Now go get those evil, terroristy hackers.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/0PWeoVwPZuc/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“Unruffled” Export-Stimulating Germany Blasts Back At Barroso’s Bureaucratic Blathering

First it was the Treasury, next it was European Commissioner Barroso who indicated he has never read “Export-led growth through exports for idiots” and announced the launch of a probe into Germany’s so-called “export surplus.” Because how dare Germany produce stuff that the world needs and buys, instead of flooding its economy with record debt to fund consumption-driven “groath.” Well, it didn’t take long for the German Economic Ministry to retort to Europe’s unelected economic titans of thought, for whom it is far more important that all sink together dragged down by cement boots made out of debt, and blasted Barroso bureaucratic blather.

From Bloomberg:

  • German Ministry Says Unruffled by EU Probe Into Export Surplus
  • The EU Commission has previously said that current account surpluses are “unproblematic” provided they are as in Germany’s case the result of “competitiveness of companies in functioning markets” and not supported by subsidies, the German Economy Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.
  • “Diverse” factors will cause account balance in EU to diminish
  • “There is no weakness in structural investment in Germany”; domestic investment gap emerged since 2011 caused by investor tremors over euro debt crisis and is showing betterment: ministry
  • 40% of German exports rely on intermediate imported goods from
    EU partners, underling the benefits of exports to those partners:
    ministry

Translation: you “investigate” us, and 40% of Europe’s internal exports to Germany get it. Passive-aggressively of course. Oh yeah, and kiss that ECB QE idea goodbye.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/FZzIxi8igxo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

"Unruffled" Export-Stimulating Germany Blasts Back At Barroso's Bureaucratic Blathering

First it was the Treasury, next it was European Commissioner Barroso who indicated he has never read “Export-led growth through exports for idiots” and announced the launch of a probe into Germany’s so-called “export surplus.” Because how dare Germany produce stuff that the world needs and buys, instead of flooding its economy with record debt to fund consumption-driven “groath.” Well, it didn’t take long for the German Economic Ministry to retort to Europe’s unelected economic titans of thought, for whom it is far more important that all sink together dragged down by cement boots made out of debt, and blasted Barroso bureaucratic blather.

From Bloomberg:

  • German Ministry Says Unruffled by EU Probe Into Export Surplus
  • The EU Commission has previously said that current account surpluses are “unproblematic” provided they are as in Germany’s case the result of “competitiveness of companies in functioning markets” and not supported by subsidies, the German Economy Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.
  • “Diverse” factors will cause account balance in EU to diminish
  • “There is no weakness in structural investment in Germany”; domestic investment gap emerged since 2011 caused by investor tremors over euro debt crisis and is showing betterment: ministry
  • 40% of German exports rely on intermediate imported goods from
    EU partners, underling the benefits of exports to those partners:
    ministry

Translation: you “investigate” us, and 40% of Europe’s internal exports to Germany get it. Passive-aggressively of course. Oh yeah, and kiss that ECB QE idea goodbye.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/FZzIxi8igxo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

How to Invest Gold In Your Pension Plan – Part 3

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,276.00, EUR 951.25 and GBP 798.75 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,281.00, EUR 956.90 and GBP 807.03 per ounce.

Gold fell $14.60 or 1.14% yesterday, closing at $1,268.90/oz. Silver slid $0.61 or 2.86% closing at $20.75. Platinum rose $1.16 or 0.1% to $1,429.40/oz, while palladium fell $14.01 or 1.9% to $737.43/oz.

Gold rose slightly after dipping to a four week low in the last trading session.  However, the gold price remains subject to downward pressure as investors are still wondering when the U.S. Fed will begin tapering its stimulus program. December is being muted as a possible tapering start date but as we have seen in recent months, the speculation has been incorrect and QE continued as before.

In other news, Janet Yellen is appearing before  the U.S. Senate banking committee today for her nomination hearing to become the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve and to receive her official licence to print.


Gold in USD, 5 Year – (Bloomberg)

In 1997, the US Tax Payer Relief Act made it possible for precious metals to be added to Individual Retirement Account (IRA) accounts. This includes gold, silver and platinum. An IRA is a form of “individual retirement plan”, provided by many financial institutions, that provides tax advantages for retirement savings in the United States.

A Self-Directed IRA or 401(k) is governed by the same set of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and regulations as a conventional retirement IRA, with the main exception being that conventional IRAs do not allow for diversification into precious metals because of the special circumstances related to ownership: precious metals require professional storage/vaulting, insurance and specialized custodial responsibilities.

The decision to apportion retirement savings into gold and other precious metals is being taken by an increasing number of US citizens who understand that the value of the US dollar is being silently eroded by inflation. Indeed, as we get older, the real rate of inflation is much higher as the key financial outgoings – health insurance, home heating and groceries – are much, much higher than the official rate of inflation.

Self-directed IRAs permit a wide range of gold investments to be included. GoldCore cautions against investing in any paper gold product as it is very different to and more high risk than investing in physical gold. Paper gold includes gold futures, gold futures options, some gold ETFs, certain forms of unallocated gold ownership, pool accounts, contracts for difference (CFDs), spread betting contracts, gold stocks and/or gold options.

Self-directed retirement schemes with a gold and/or precious metals allocation are a powerful retirement planning tool and considering the continuing financial malaise affecting the U.S., they will continue to offer a genuine long-term savings option.

Click here for our guide to Putting Gold In Your Pension Plan in the USA.

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via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/rZwoaUzRw_0/story01.htm GoldCore

Americans Trust Obama as Much as Republicans on Health Care

For the first time since the
Quinnipiac poll began asking the question, Americans are
equally likely to trust Obama as Congressional Republicans with
handling health care policy (42 to 43 percent respectively. In
fact, just a few weeks ago, President Obama enjoyed a 9-point
advantage over his GOP colleagues (47 to 38 percent) for handling
health care.

A plurality of young Americans 18-29, a key Obama constituency,
were actually slightly more likely to trust Republicans in Congress
than Obama on health care by a margin of 46 to 41 percent). A
plurality of independents also favored the Congressional GOP over
Obama by a margin of 47 to 32 percent.  A slim plurality of
Latinos favored Obama to Republicans on health care 49 to 41,
compared to Caucasians who favored Republicans (50 to 34 percent)
and African-Americans who favored Obama (78 to 13 percent). Despite
the so-called Republican War on Women, Obama only retains a 2-point
advantage among women (44 to 42 percent), while men favor
Republicans (44 to 39 percent).

Obama’s slipping advantage is particularly surprising given the
president’s previous upper hand on an
issue traditionally owned by Democrats. Not only that, but
Republican
favorability sank to record lows just a few weeks ago during
the government shutdown.  

However, once public debate over the government shutdown
settled, attention focused on the messy and glitch-laden launch of
the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchange websites. The
websites managed to only sign up
6 enrollees in the first day. Thus far the Wall Street
Journal
reports that only about 100,000 Americans have enrolled in
federal and state run exchanges, falling about 80 percent short of
the 500,000 enrollments the
administration’s models had predicted.

Reports of insurers cancelling millions of Americans’ health
insurance policies despite President Obama’s repeated
promises that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep
your health care plan” have further disillusioned the public.

Quinnipiac also
found that only 36 percent of Americans approve of President
Obama’s handling of health care, independent of a comparison,
compared to 43 percent in October.

Amidst the government shut down just a few weeks ago, few would
have guessed the public would trust the Republicans on major
issues, let alone health care. However, the roll out of President
Obama’s signature health care law has proven a difficult and
uncertain process. Even before the shutdown
62 percent of Americans thought implementation of the ACA was
not going well.

Perhaps the last few months have further demonstrated why it is
not often that federal government can be trusted to do things
well.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/13/americans-trust-obama-as-much-as-republi
via IFTTT

Euro Tumbles After ECB Hints At QE

Despite the ECB’s recent “stunning” rate cut, which sent the EUR modestly lower by a few hundred pips, the resultant resurge in the European currency has left the European Central Bank even more stunned: just what does it have to do to force its currency lower and boost Europe’s peripheral economies, especially in a world in which every other major central banks is printing boatloads of money each and every month.

We hinted at precisely what the next steps will be two days ago when in “Next From The ECB: Here Comes QE, According To BNP” we said “BNP is ultimately correct as the European experiment will require every weapon in the ECB’s arsenal, and sooner or later the ECB, too, will succumb to the same monetary lunacy that has gripped the rest of the developed world in the ongoing “all in” bet to reflate or bust. All logical arguments that outright monetization of bonds are prohibited by various European charters will be ignored: after all, there is “political capital” at stake, and as Mario Draghi has made it clear there is no “Plan B.” Which means the only question is when will Europe join the lunaprint asylum: for the sake of the systemic reset we hope the answer is sooner rather than later.” Two days later, the answer just appeared when moments ago the WSJ reported that the ECB hinted more QE is, as we predicted, on the table.

From the WSJ:

The European Central Bank could adopt negative interest rates or purchase assets from banks if needed to lift inflation closer to its target, a top ECB official said, rebutting concerns that the central bank is running out of tools or is unwilling to use them.

 

“If our mandate is at risk we are going to take all the measures that we think we should take to fulfill that mandate. That’s a very clear signal,” ECB executive board member Peter Praet said in an interview Tuesday with The Wall Street Journal. Annual inflation in the euro zone slowed to 0.7% in October, far below the central bank’s target of just below 2% over the medium term.

 

He didn’t rule out what some analysts see as the strongest, and most controversial, option: purchases of assets from banks to reduce borrowing costs in the private sector. “The balance-sheet capacity of the central bank can also be used,” said Mr. Praet, whose views carry added weight as he also heads the ECB’s powerful economics division. “This includes outright purchases that any central bank can do.”

 

The ECB could do more if necessary, Mr. Praet said. “On standard measures, interest rates, we still have room and that would also include the deposit facility,” he said. The central bank’s deposit rate has been set at zero for several months. Making it negative would effectively levy a fee on commercial banks that park funds at the ECB.

 

The ECB purchased safe bank bonds and government bonds at the height of the global financial crisis and the euro debt crisis, but in small amounts compared with other major central banks.

Of course, there are some legal hurdles:

The ECB’s charter forbids it from financing governments.

But, wily as always, the ECB appears to have found a loophole:

The ECB must respect its legal constraints, Mr. Praet said, however its rules “do not exclude that you intervene in the markets outright.”

And sure enough, the Euro tumbles just as mandated by the ECB’s talking head: let’s see if it actually stays lower this time.

And now check to the Germans, who will be positively giddy that first Europe accused it of unfair export-led growth, and now the ECB is openly contemplating tearing off the Weimar scab.

Looks like things in Europe are about to get exciting all over again.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/qW4crUgb6Ig/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Administration Updates Congress On “Obamacare Fixed By End Of November” Promise – Live Webcast

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa leads yet another hearing on the Obamacare implementation and the rollout of Healthcare.gov. The Committee will examine the operational challenges in the development of Healthcare.gov and the extent to which recognized Information Technology (IT) best practices were followed. This one should be fun since its the techies answering the questions – US CTO Todd Park and Deputy CIO Henry Chao answering the questions…

 

Live stream via Bloomberg (click here if embed not functioning):

 

Chairman Issa issued the following statement on next week’s hearing:

“When HealthCare.gov launched on October 1, testing was incomplete, the system had not yet been fully tested for security concerns, and new problems kept appearing. This was President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. His administration had hundreds of millions of dollars and total control to complete the project.

“Most Americans tossed off their insurance plans haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience online sticker shock.  This hearing will ask top Administration technology officials what went wrong, what they’re doing to fix it, and whether recognized IT best practices were really followed.”

Hearing Details:
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
“ObamaCare Implementation: The Rollout of HealthCare.gov”
Full Committee, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA)
9:30 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

Witnesses:
Mr. Frank Baitman
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services

Mr. Henry Chao
Deputy Chief Information Officer
Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Mr. Todd Park
U.S. Chief Technology Officer
Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House
Previously Chief Technology Officer
Department of Health and Human Services

Mr. Steve VanRoekel
U.S. Chief Information Officer
Administrator, Office of Electronic Government
Office of Management and Budget

Mr. David Powner
Director, Information Technology Management Issues
Government Accountability Office
 


    



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

Administration Updates Congress On "Obamacare Fixed By End Of November" Promise – Live Webcast

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa leads yet another hearing on the Obamacare implementation and the rollout of Healthcare.gov. The Committee will examine the operational challenges in the development of Healthcare.gov and the extent to which recognized Information Technology (IT) best practices were followed. This one should be fun since its the techies answering the questions – US CTO Todd Park and Deputy CIO Henry Chao answering the questions…

 

Live stream via Bloomberg (click here if embed not functioning):

 

Chairman Issa issued the following statement on next week’s hearing:

“When HealthCare.gov launched on October 1, testing was incomplete, the system had not yet been fully tested for security concerns, and new problems kept appearing. This was President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. His administration had hundreds of millions of dollars and total control to complete the project.

“Most Americans tossed off their insurance plans haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience online sticker shock.  This hearing will ask top Administration technology officials what went wrong, what they’re doing to fix it, and whether recognized IT best practices were really followed.”

Hearing Details:
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
“ObamaCare Implementation: The Rollout of HealthCare.gov”
Full Committee, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA)
9:30 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

Witnesses:
Mr. Frank Baitman
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services

Mr. Henry Chao
Deputy Chief Information Officer
Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Mr. Todd Park
U.S. Chief Technology Officer
Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House
Previously Chief Technology Officer
Department of Health and Human Services

Mr. Steve VanRoekel
U.S. Chief Information Officer
Administrator, Office of Electronic Government
Office of Management and Budget

Mr. David Powner
Director, Information Technology Management Issues
Government Accountability Office
 


    



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