Investment Climate in Six Points

1.  Long-term interest rates may have bottomed several months ago, but rate will remain low for several more months.  It is becoming clearer to many that the Federal Reserve is most likely not going to reduce the $85 bln of long-term securities it is purchasing every month.   The BOJ remains committed to buying the equivalent of $75 bln of assets a month.  The ECB continues to provide full allotment at its fixed rate repo operations, even if strong banks have repaid their long-term repo borrowings.  The Bank of England’s economist Dale tweeted at the end of last week that UK rates are unlikely to rise next year.  

 

The Bank of Canada, as it will likely reaffirm at this week’s meeting, retains a tightening bias, but it is of little consequence as it keeps pushing out in time when it anticipates removing some monetary accommodation.  Unlike the Fed and BOE that have included macro-economic thresholds in their forward guidance, there has been continuity in BOC’s forward guidance from Carney to Poloz in that its forward guidance has been date oriented not data.    The Reserve Bank of Australia is at the tail end of its easing cycle.  Many think it is done.  However, we continue to see scope for another rate cut, especially if, as we suspect, this week’s Q3 CPI report is tame.  In addition, the strengthening of the Australian dollar also tilts the odds in favor of a cut.  

 

Investment implication:  This favors carry trade strategies, risk assets, including emerging markets, commodities and equities.

 

2.   For good reason, many observers and investors are concerned that the dysfunctional political system in the US will renew the default threat again early next year.  Yet given the failure of such tactics, in terms of results and in the court of public opinion, that does not seem to be the most likely scenario.  

 

The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit in the fiscal year that just began will be near 3.4% and FY2015, the shortfall is projected to be 2.1%.  There is not immediate deficit problem. The real fiscal challenge is still some years away.  Essentially the cost of what are often called entitlements, which is a pejorative way to talk about the basket of goods one gets as a citizen and member of nearly every other high income country, is projected to require a larger part of GDP than has ever been raised in federal taxes.  Neither party has it in their interest to let this be settled before next year’s election.  Perhaps that is what the 2016 presidential race will be about.   The most likely outcome therefore is some soft of compromise that includes some reforms of Medicare and Medicaid, and slowing the rise in Social Security payments, without really addressing the structural issue.

 

In the traditional media and blogosphere there was much hand wringing and chin wagging about how the US fiscal melodrama was going to undermine confidence in the role of Treasuries at the center of the global financial system, including reserves.   To the contrary, the Federal Reserve’s custodial holdings for foreign central banks rose $28.6 bln in the week through last Wednesday, while the government was still closed and the threat of default hung in the air.  This was the third largest rise in three years.  This is not to say one week makes a trend.  After falling in June and July, the Fed’s custody holdings rose in  Aug, Sept and the first half of October.  They are now about $7 bln from the record high set in May.  

 

While US government data will begin being reported, with the highlight being Tuesday release of September’s employment data, it is unlikely to be a significant market mover.  The data has been superseded by events.    Surveys suggest the market consensus for Fed tapering is shifting to March and a modest $10 bln reduction.   Near-term data is not going to change this view. 

 

Investment implication:   The role of Treasuries and the dollar are unlikely to be impacted by the domestic brinkmanship over fiscal policy.  

 

3.  The flash euro area PMIs, due Thursday, stand out as the most market sensitive economic data from the euro area.  Although the sentiment has been running ahead of real sector data, slight positive growth has replaced the recent contraction.   Next Wednesday, the ECB is expected to unveil the broad details of the Asset Quality Review (AQR).  This is not a stress test.  It is a preliminary review of the books of the banks that it will soon have supervisory responsibilities.   Definitions of risk-weighted assets various in the euro area and some uniformity is a necessary condition of a banking union.   New stress tests will be conducted next year.  

 

Separately, news broke (MNI) over the weekend that ECB President Draghi argued for precautionary state recapitalization funds (for solvent institutions) instead of forcing a bailing-in of share holders and subordinated creditors.  While his argument that it could renew the financial crisis, it is also yet another way to put tax payers money ahead of those who made in the investment decisions.  

 

While the existential part of the euro crisis appears to have passed, the political fallout continues to be seen.  This is true not just in countries that have suffered greatly, like Greece, but also may those that have come out relatively unscathed, like Austria.   The declining support for the French Socialists and the internal divisions of the UMP has created an opportunity for the national socialism for the Len Pen variety.   

 

Investment implication:  The euro may enjoy additional near-term gains, it will serve to aggravate the tightening of financial conditions (lending, money supply growth).  We see euro area challenges once again rising in importance to investors.  

 

4.  There are two major events for the UK in the week ahead.  First, the minutes from this month’s MPC meeting will be released.   It would be a surprise is there was any dissent.  Recent comments, however, do suggest there are in fact disagreements below the surface.   Under the terms of one person-one vote demands for consensus seems to be a recipe for group think.  Of interest may be the MPC’s assessment of price pressures.  Perhaps Dale’s tipped the BOE’s hand when he suggested that the increase in sterling could dampen import prices and help boost real incomes.  

 

Second, on Friday the UK will be the first of the G7 to report Q3 GDP figures.  The Bloomberg consensus calls for 0.8% increase, which would be the third increases sequentially and lift the year-over-year rate to 1.5% from 1.3% in Q2 and 0.2% in Q1.   Despite the economic improvement, we note that he recent Ipsos/Mori polls shows Labour has pulled into a tie with the Tories, while the Lib-Dems have slipped into fourth place behind the UKIP.

 

Investment implication:   Strong data and a BOE that finds virtue in sterling’s strength is likely to underpin the currency in the period ahead.

 

5.  Japan reports the Sept trade balance first thing Monday.  The deficit is expected to widen sharply on seasonally adjusted terms (JPY1.12 trillion from JPY791 bln), but improve slightly on an unadjusted basis.  It is the fifteenth consecutive monthly deficit.  The deficit is not a result of exports drying up.  Indeed, exports are growing heady clip:  14.6% year-over-year in August and in September may have accelerated to 15.6%.  The problem is that imports are going up even quicker. The 16% pace seen in August is expect to have risen to almost 20%.  

 

The week
concludes with the latest inflation report.  The national headline Sept CPI is expected to remain steady at 0.9%.  However, this inflation is due solely to food and energy prices.  However, excluding these items, CPI would be zero and not negative for the first time since the end of 2008.  However, the Tokyo Oct reading warns that deflation may not yet have been defeated.  Excluding food and energy, the Tokyo CPI is expected to remain at -0.3%.  

 

Investment implication:  The yen is vulnerable in the risk-on environment, but the its weakness is proving counter-productive for the trade balance.    The next big challenge is the economy’s resilience in the face of the capital gains tax hike at the start of the new calendar year and the retail sales tax increase the first of the new fiscal year.  

 

6.  Norway and Sweden’s central banks meet Thursday.  Neither is expected to cut interest rates.  That said, over the medium term, we suspect Sweden is more likely cut rates that Norway, especially if house prices can ease further, in the coming months.  In both countries, the PMI survey data has run well ahead of actually output.  

 

Investment implication:  The Norwegian krone and the Swedish krona have been the two weakest currencies over the month, losing 1.4% and 0.75% respectively against the dollar.  In a risk-on environment they can play catch-up, with Norway the stronger of the pair. 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/8F6gz0fPv5Y/story01.htm Marc To Market

Israel Central Bank Follows Fed With First Woman Chairman Appointment After Larry Summers' Rejection

Ten days ago, when we reported on the latest rumors surrounding the fiasco that the Israeli central bank governor selection process has become (nearly as farcical as the bungled choice of Yellen in the US), we joking wondered:

Overnight, we once again learned that in the New Normal the thin line between reality and rhetorical absurdity is perhaps too thin, following a report in The Hill that, as we joking suggested, it was indeed Larry Summers who the Bank of Israel had turned to in its quest for governor. From The Hill:

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who was in the running to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, reportedly turned down an offer to lead the Bank of Israel.

 

Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Friday that the former Harvard president was one of multiple non-Israelis approached by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to succeed Stanley Fischer, who left the post in June after a term that began in 2005.

As a reminder, the Bank of Israel governor selection process has become an even greater fiasco than the choice of Mr. Mrs. Yellen as head of the Fed, after it was none other than JPMorgan Chase International Chairman Jacob Frenkel who was slated to become the new governor when his candidacy went up in a puff of kosher smoke following the release of details involving Frenkel and a shoplifting scandal at a Hong Kong airport duty free store. Guess JPM doesn’t pay that well after all.

But back to Larry Summers and the Bank of Israel, which moments ago announced that it has concluded its 112-day process in which it had gone without a central bank chief, and had appointed Karnit Flug as its new governor. In taking a page from the Fed’s own selection process, Flug is also the first woman to be appointed as head of the Bank of Israel. From Reuters:

Israel on Sunday named Karnit Flug as the new governor of its central bank, the first woman to be appointed to the office, after a rocky selection process that dragged on for months.

 

Flug, 58, served as deputy to previous governor Stanley Fischer, who stepped down in June after eight years on the job, and has been the Bank of Israel’s acting chief since he left.

 

Accepting the post, Flug said in a statement the central bank and Israel’s economy faced significant challenges.

 

Announcement of Flug’s appointment followed a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who had been unable since Fischer resigned to fill the post.

Ironically, just as Yellen was nowhere near Obama’s top choice for the new Fed chairman, Flug was not Prime Minister’s Netanyahu primary choice.

Fischer had recommended Flug to replace him, but Netanyahu, officials said, had preferred candidates with a stronger international standing.

 

Netanyahu and Lapid initially chose Jacob Frenkel, central bank governor in the 1990s and currently chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, to succeed Fischer, but he pulled out following reports he had been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting at Hong Kong’s airport in 2006. Frenkel denied any wrongdoing, and authorities in Hong Kong decided not to pursue the case.

 

A second candidate, Bank Hapoalim Chief Economist Leo Leiderman, also dropped his bid two days after his nomination, citing personal reasons.

 

Netanyahu and Lapid said in a statement: “We were impressed by Dr. Flug’s performance over the past months as head of the Bank of Israel and we are confident she will continue to help us lead Israel’s economy to further achievements in the face of the world economic upheaval.”

Below is Flug’s full background from the BOI website:

Dr. Karnit Flug has been the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel since July 2011. She was appointed as Deputy Governor by the Israeli Government, in accordance with the Bank of Israel Law, 5770-2010 and with the recommendation of the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

 

Dr. Flug completed her M.A (cum laude) at the Hebrew University in 1980 and her Ph.D. in Economics at Columbia University in 1985.

 

In 1984, Dr. Flug joined the IMF as an economist. In 1988, she returned to Israel and joined the Research Department of the Bank of Israel, where she worked and published papers on topics related to the labor market, balance of payments and macroeconomic policies.

 

In 1994-1996, while on leave from the BOI, Dr. Flug worked at the Inter-American Development Bank as a senior research economist. In 1997, upon return to the BOI she was appointed Assistant Director of the Research Department and in June 2001 she was appointed Director of the Research Department and a member of the BOI’s senior management.

 

Dr. Flug has served on a number of public committees, including the committee on a multi-year defense budget (the “Brodet” committee); the committee aimed at ensuring the long term financial stability of the National Insurance Institute; the committee aimed at enhancing competition within the Israeli markets; the committee for social and economic change (the “Trajtenberg” committee), and several others.

Her response to learning that, just like Yellen, not quite top choice is still “good enough”:

Dr. Karnit Flug thanks the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance on her expected appointment as Governor of the Bank of Israel.

 

Dr. Flug adds that the Bank of Israel and the Israeli economy face significant challenges, and that she looks forward to working in full cooperation with the professional and dedicated staff of the Bank of Israel, as well as with government officials, in order to meet these challenges.

We too were shocked to find no mention of the phrase “Goldman Sachs” in the bio above. As for Larry Summers, we can only imagine to what depths of misogynistic hell his ego must have tumbled after women ended up overtaking him as heads of not one but the two central banks he was slated to head within a month.


    



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

Israel Central Bank Follows Fed With First Woman Chairman Appointment After Larry Summers’ Rejection

Ten days ago, when we reported on the latest rumors surrounding the fiasco that the Israeli central bank governor selection process has become (nearly as farcical as the bungled choice of Yellen in the US), we joking wondered:

Overnight, we once again learned that in the New Normal the thin line between reality and rhetorical absurdity is perhaps too thin, following a report in The Hill that, as we joking suggested, it was indeed Larry Summers who the Bank of Israel had turned to in its quest for governor. From The Hill:

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who was in the running to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, reportedly turned down an offer to lead the Bank of Israel.

 

Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Friday that the former Harvard president was one of multiple non-Israelis approached by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to succeed Stanley Fischer, who left the post in June after a term that began in 2005.

As a reminder, the Bank of Israel governor selection process has become an even greater fiasco than the choice of Mr. Mrs. Yellen as head of the Fed, after it was none other than JPMorgan Chase International Chairman Jacob Frenkel who was slated to become the new governor when his candidacy went up in a puff of kosher smoke following the release of details involving Frenkel and a shoplifting scandal at a Hong Kong airport duty free store. Guess JPM doesn’t pay that well after all.

But back to Larry Summers and the Bank of Israel, which moments ago announced that it has concluded its 112-day process in which it had gone without a central bank chief, and had appointed Karnit Flug as its new governor. In taking a page from the Fed’s own selection process, Flug is also the first woman to be appointed as head of the Bank of Israel. From Reuters:

Israel on Sunday named Karnit Flug as the new governor of its central bank, the first woman to be appointed to the office, after a rocky selection process that dragged on for months.

 

Flug, 58, served as deputy to previous governor Stanley Fischer, who stepped down in June after eight years on the job, and has been the Bank of Israel’s acting chief since he left.

 

Accepting the post, Flug said in a statement the central bank and Israel’s economy faced significant challenges.

 

Announcement of Flug’s appointment followed a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who had been unable since Fischer resigned to fill the post.

Ironically, just as Yellen was nowhere near Obama’s top choice for the new Fed chairman, Flug was not Prime Minister’s Netanyahu primary choice.

Fischer had recommended Flug to replace him, but Netanyahu, officials said, had preferred candidates with a stronger international standing.

 

Netanyahu and Lapid initially chose Jacob Frenkel, central bank governor in the 1990s and currently chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, to succeed Fischer, but he pulled out following reports he had been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting at Hong Kong’s airport in 2006. Frenkel denied any wrongdoing, and authorities in Hong Kong decided not to pursue the case.

 

A second candidate, Bank Hapoalim Chief Economist Leo Leiderman, also dropped his bid two days after his nomination, citing personal reasons.

 

Netanyahu and Lapid said in a statement: “We were impressed by Dr. Flug’s performance over the past months as head of the Bank of Israel and we are confident she will continue to help us lead Israel’s economy to further achievements in the face of the world economic upheaval.”

Below is Flug’s full background from the BOI website:

Dr. Karnit Flug has been the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel since July 2011. She was appointed as Deputy Governor by the Israeli Government, in accordance with the Bank of Israel Law, 5770-2010 and with the recommendation of the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

 

Dr. Flug completed her M.A (cum laude) at the Hebrew University in 1980 and her Ph.D. in Economics at Columbia University in 1985.

 

In 1984, Dr. Flug joined the IMF as an economist. In 1988, she returned to Israel and joined the Research Department of the Bank of Israel, where she worked and published papers on topics related to the labor market, balance of payments and macroeconomic policies.

 

In 1994-1996, while on leave from the BOI, Dr. Flug worked at the Inter-American Development Bank as a senior research economist. In 1997, upon return to the BOI she was appointed Assistant Director of the Research Department and in June 2001 she was appointed Director of the Research Department and a member of the BOI’s senior management.

 

Dr. Flug has served on a number of public committees, including the committee on a multi-year defense budget (the “Brodet” committee); the committee aimed at ensuring the long term financial stability of the National Insurance Institute; the committee aimed at enhancing competition within the Israeli markets; the committee for social and economic change (the “Trajtenberg” committee), and several others.

Her response to learning that, just like Yellen, not quite top choice is still “good enough”:

Dr. Karnit Flug thanks the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance on her expected appointment as Governor of the Bank of Israel.

 

Dr. Flug adds that the Bank of Israel and the Israeli economy face significant challenges, and that she looks forward to working in full cooperation with the professional and dedicated staff of the Bank of Israel, as well as with government officials, in order to meet these challenges.

We too were shocked to find no mention of the phrase “Goldman Sachs” in the bio above. As for Larry Summers, we can only imagine to what depths of misogynistic hell his ego must have tumbled after women ended up overtaking him as heads of not one but the two central banks he was slated to head within a month.


    



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

JaMMiN' WiTH BaNKSY(s)…

It’s the time of year again for Banksy to do some mildly radical things under the guise of his super-secret super-hype guerilla mystique in order to be ultra-relevant again. Taking the bait, we are once again eating his shit up, perpetuating his self-fulfilling prophecy of being famous by acting like he doesn’t want to be famous.

Alice Wang

 

“But there’s no way round it — commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We’re not supposed to be embraced that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it’s hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.”

Banksy

 

Have a Big Gulp of relevance…not to difficult to find in the Emirate of Bloomfukistan.

WB7

 

.
JAMMIN WITH BANKSYS #7

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' BANKSYS #9

 

 

 

.
JAMIN' WITH BANKSYS #10

 

 

 

.
JAMIN WITH BANKSY #8

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS 3

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS 4

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS #6

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS #4

 

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN BANKSYS 2

 

 

 

.
MANHATTAN BRIDGE

 

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN WITH ALEX SCHAEFFER

Stencil art by @alex_schaefer

 

 

.
BANZAI7 JUMP

 

 

Pepper Spray Cop does London…

.
WHY YOU NO FUTURE?

 

 

 

.
ZERO SIX ON KANDAHAR AIR BASE

Seen on Kandahar Airbase

 

 

 

.
MEET BLANKSY

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSY'S
.

 

Banzai with Banksy is fun

A new kind of bullet and gun

Now Liberty’s torch

Like flowers that scorch

Show tyrants that they haven’t won

The Limerick King

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/Dacslh34Y2E/story01.htm williambanzai7

JaMMiN’ WiTH BaNKSY(s)…

It’s the time of year again for Banksy to do some mildly radical things under the guise of his super-secret super-hype guerilla mystique in order to be ultra-relevant again. Taking the bait, we are once again eating his shit up, perpetuating his self-fulfilling prophecy of being famous by acting like he doesn’t want to be famous.

Alice Wang

 

“But there’s no way round it — commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We’re not supposed to be embraced that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it’s hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.”

Banksy

 

Have a Big Gulp of relevance…not to difficult to find in the Emirate of Bloomfukistan.

WB7

 

.
JAMMIN WITH BANKSYS #7

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' BANKSYS #9

 

 

 

.
JAMIN' WITH BANKSYS #10

 

 

 

.
JAMIN WITH BANKSY #8

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS 3

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS 4

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS #6

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSYS #4

 

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN BANKSYS 2

 

 

 

.
MANHATTAN BRIDGE

 

 

 

 

.
JAMMIN WITH ALEX SCHAEFFER

Stencil art by @alex_schaefer

 

 

.
BANZAI7 JUMP

 

 

Pepper Spray Cop does London…

.
WHY YOU NO FUTURE?

 

 

 

.
ZERO SIX ON KANDAHAR AIR BASE

Seen on Kandahar Airbase

 

 

 

.
MEET BLANKSY

 

.
JAMMIN' WITH BANKSY'S
.

 

Banzai with Banksy is fun

A new kind of bullet and gun

Now Liberty’s torch

Like flowers that scorch

Show tyrants that they haven’t won

The Limerick King

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/Dacslh34Y2E/story01.htm williambanzai7

"New York Is Drowning In Bribes And Corruption"

Submitted by Miachel Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Public corruption, based on all the evidence, appears rampant. And the ranks of those convicted in office have swelled to absolutely unacceptable levels. State Senators as well as State Assemblymen; elected officials as well as party leaders; city council members as well as town mayors; Democrats as well as Republicans.

– Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (the district that has failed to rein in the serial crimes by Wall Street’s biggest firms)

ilovenNY

It’s no surprise to me that New York is exceedingly corrupt. It’s a huge city, with a ton of wealth and massive income inequality. That’s basically the primary breeding ground for wide-scale corruption. However, it also comes as no surprise to me that the situation has gotten a lot worse in recent years. After all, NYC is the headquarters of some of the largest financial institutions in the world. As such, some of the worst actors in the recent financial collapse call the city home. The whole world watched as these criminals and shysters not only evaded criminal charges, but were also rewarded trillions of dollars of public support for their efforts.

The example was set. Crime pays, and now the entire city seems to be following their lead.

Pam Martens has written and excellent article about corruption within New York’s legal system. Some excerpts from Counter Punch are below:

The insidious greed and public looting that Wall Street has nurtured to an art form in New York City is metastasizing like a virulent tumor strain throughout the state, fraying the social fabric and crushing people caught in its grip like bugs.

 

On Tuesday evening, September 17, 2013, Seema Kalia was scheduled to give testimony before the first public hearing of the New York State Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.  But according to Michelle Duffy, a spokesperson for the Commission, when Kalia’s name was called that evening, there was no response.

 

Kalia could not respond because she was abruptly arrested in the foyer of a courtroom on the very morning she was set to give testimony, ostensibly for contacting her ex husband, a portfolio manager on Wall Street, seeking back support payments. Kalia is being charged with violating a court order barring her from contact with her husband because she is alleged to have thrown one of his own men’s shoes at him in 2012 – a device characterized by the District Attorney’s office as a “weapon.” Typically, a misdemeanor charge of this nature would not result in jail time.

 

In Kalia’s case, however, she has been jailed at Rikers Island since September 17 and when she went before a Judge on October 4, she was sent back to jail for another 33 days after she declined to plead guilty to attempting to do bodily harm with a “weapon.” Her bond was doubled from $7,500 to $15,000. The earliest she might be released is November 7, her next court date.

 

When it came time for the general public to testify about public corruption, it wasn’t legislative leaders the witnesses railed against, it was corrupt judges. Multiple witnesses testified to having real estate property stolen through corrupt court proceedings. One witness, Dale Javino, said he was cheated out of his life savings in bankruptcy court and what happened to him “is like what happens in Nazi Germany…”

 

Janice Schacter, a retired attorney, said that the Thomas Street location of the New York State Supreme Court “is pay to play; orders are not enforced, laws are not applied, domestic violence is treated with derision and conflicts of interest are ignored. Deference and preferential treatment are given to wealthy spouses and lawyers of prestigious firms.” Schacter also testified that the judge involved in her case attempted to censor her contact with the press by threatening to send her to jail at Rikers Island for 20 days. She said she was still having nightmares about it.

 

The one thing that sets the two apart is that Seema Kalia is behind bars in Rikers Island over a misdemeanor charge which is incorrectly listed as a Class D Felony at the New York City Department of Correction inmate lookup web site. I provided the correct information to the Department of Correction, showing that the shoe-throwing incident had previously been reduced to a misdemeanor by the District Attorney’s office, and asking if someone might have provided phony documents to incarcerate Ms. Kalia. A response was promised by my deadline. None was forthcoming.

 

In 2007, New York State Supreme Court Judge Gerald P. Garson was convicted of accepting bribes from divorce attorney Paul Siminovsky. During an eight-month investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, a video camera secretly placed in Garson’s chambers captured Siminovsky plying Garson with expensive cigars and cash. In court proceedings, Siminovsky testified that he entertained the judge with drinks and meals in exchange for favorable courtroom treatment. Siminovsky pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail.

 

After years of appeals, Garson, who had heard over 1,100 divorce cases, served only 2 ½ years in prison before being paroled on December 23, 2009. His maximum term could have been as much as 15 years at the time of sentencing but he received a sentence of 3 to 10 years. His early release set off protests with signs saying “Crime Pays In New York City” and “Justice for Sale.”

 

If one needs the ultimate proof that New York cannot heal itself, consider the amount of the bail bond that was set prior to sentencing after Judge Garson was convicted of accepting bribes while seated as a New York State Supreme Court Judge. His bond was set at $15,000.  That’s the amount set in Seema Kalia’s case for a misdemeanor charge stemming from throwing a man’s shoe.

A $15,000 bond for a woman throwing a shoe at her Wall Street ex-husband, and a $15,000 bond for a state Supreme Court judge for accepting bribes. That pretty much sums it up.

Good thing Mayor Bloomberg is focused on arresting Banksy when the city’s legal system has become one giant cesspool of fraud and corruption.

Full article here.

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/9aU07tq3tCM/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“New York Is Drowning In Bribes And Corruption”

Submitted by Miachel Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Public corruption, based on all the evidence, appears rampant. And the ranks of those convicted in office have swelled to absolutely unacceptable levels. State Senators as well as State Assemblymen; elected officials as well as party leaders; city council members as well as town mayors; Democrats as well as Republicans.

– Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (the district that has failed to rein in the serial crimes by Wall Street’s biggest firms)

ilovenNY

It’s no surprise to me that New York is exceedingly corrupt. It’s a huge city, with a ton of wealth and massive income inequality. That’s basically the primary breeding ground for wide-scale corruption. However, it also comes as no surprise to me that the situation has gotten a lot worse in recent years. After all, NYC is the headquarters of some of the largest financial institutions in the world. As such, some of the worst actors in the recent financial collapse call the city home. The whole world watched as these criminals and shysters not only evaded criminal charges, but were also rewarded trillions of dollars of public support for their efforts.

The example was set. Crime pays, and now the entire city seems to be following their lead.

Pam Martens has written and excellent article about corruption within New York’s legal system. Some excerpts from Counter Punch are below:

The insidious greed and public looting that Wall Street has nurtured to an art form in New York City is metastasizing like a virulent tumor strain throughout the state, fraying the social fabric and crushing people caught in its grip like bugs.

 

On Tuesday evening, September 17, 2013, Seema Kalia was scheduled to give testimony before the first public hearing of the New York State Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.  But according to Michelle Duffy, a spokesperson for the Commission, when Kalia’s name was called that evening, there was no response.

 

Kalia could not respond because she was abruptly arrested in the foyer of a courtroom on the very morning she was set to give testimony, ostensibly for contacting her ex husband, a portfolio manager on Wall Street, seeking back support payments. Kalia is being charged with violating a court order barring her from contact with her husband because she is alleged to have thrown one of his own men’s shoes at him in 2012 – a device characterized by the District Attorney’s office as a “weapon.” Typically, a misdemeanor charge of this nature would not result in jail time.

 

In Kalia’s case, however, she has been jailed at Rikers Island since September 17 and when she went before a Judge on October 4, she was sent back to jail for another 33 days after she declined to plead guilty to attempting to do bodily harm with a “weapon.” Her bond was doubled from $7,500 to $15,000. The earliest she might be released is November 7, her next court date.

 

When it came time for the general public to testify about public corruption, it wasn’t legislative leaders the witnesses railed against, it was corrupt judges. Multiple witnesses testified to having real estate property stolen through corrupt court proceedings. One witness, Dale Javino, said he was cheated out of his life savings in bankruptcy court and what happened to him “is like what happens in Nazi Germany…”

 

Janice Schacter, a retired attorney, said that the Thomas Street location of the New York State Supreme Court “is pay to play; orders are not enforced, laws are not applied, domestic violence is treated with derision and conflicts of interest are ignored. Deference and preferential treatment are given to wealthy spouses and lawyers of prestigious firms.” Schacter also testified that the judge involved in her case attempted to censor her contact with the press by threatening to send her to jail at Rikers Island for 20 days. She said she was still having nightmares about it.

 

The one thing that sets the two apart is that Seema Kalia is behind bars in Rikers Island over a misdemeanor charge which is incorrectly listed as a Class D Felony at the New York City Department of Correction inmate lookup web site. I provided the correct information to the Department of Correction, showing that the shoe-throwing incident had previously been reduced to a misdemeanor by the District Attorney’s office, and asking if someone might have provided phony documents to incarcerate Ms. Kalia. A response was promised by my deadline. None was forthcoming.

 

In 2007, New York State Supreme Court Judge Gerald P. Garson was convicted of accepting bribes from divorce attorney Paul Siminovsky. During an eight-month investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, a video camera secretly placed in Garson’s chambers captured Siminovsky plying Garson with expensive cigars and cash. In court proceedings, Siminovsky testified that he entertained the judge with drinks and meals in exchange for favorable courtroom treatment. Siminovsky pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail.

 

After years of appeals, Garson, who had heard over 1,100 divorce cases, served only 2 ½ years in prison before being paroled on December 23, 2009. His maximum term could have been as much as 15 years at the time of sentencing but he received a sentence of 3 to 10 years. His early release set off protests with signs saying “Crime Pays In New York City” and “Justice for Sale.”

 

If one needs the ultimate proof that New York cannot heal itself, consider the amount of the bail bond that was set prior to sentencing after Judge Garson was convicted of accepting bribes while seated as a New York State Supreme Court Judge. His bond was set at $15,000.  That’s the amount set in Seema Kalia’s case for a misdemeanor charge stemming from throwing a man’s shoe.

A $15,000 bond for a woman throwing a shoe at her Wall Street ex-husband, and a $15,000 bond for a state Supreme Court judge for accepting bribes. That pretty much sums it up.

Good thing Mayor Bloomberg is focused on arresting Banksy when the city’s legal system has become one giant cesspool of fraud and corruption.

Full article here.

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/9aU07tq3tCM/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Bitcoin Climbs To Highest Since April, Led By Chinese Actions

Submitted by Jonathan Stacke via The Genesis Block,

The last week has seen dramatic upwards price action in the bitcoin markets, driven by a series of macro and micro events across the globe. The fallout from Silk Road’s closure turned out to be but a blip in bitcoin’s price history, with significant gains since then. Turmoil in global financial markets and recent news of leading global websites accepting bitcoin may have bolstered enthusiasm for digital currency, but most interesting may be CNY’s definitive recent price leadership.

Compared with prices before the brief Silk Road drop, bitcoin exchange rates have climbed 14% in the last two weeks. At $145/BTC on Bitstamp, bitcoin has reached a level not seen since late April, and the only time that level has been reached on more than three consecutive days was from April 3-11 during the bubble.

Notably, the market has been significantly less volatile leading up to this level recently, compared with April. The 3DMA volatility leading into this level previously was between 13% and 22%, compared with just 4% currently.

price and volatility2

US Events

A number of factors may be driving the latest climb. For one, bitcoin price increases are known to often coincide with media coverage. Accordingly, even the Silk Road closure which highlighted bitcoin’s use for illicit purposes may have helped drive new participants into the market as a result of the exposure gained. The recent Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas may have similarly driven interest from a number of established financial players.

The global macroeconomic environment may be playing a role as well. As we’ve noted previously, bitcoin shares a generally inverse relationship with USD, an asset that has been negatively impacted in recent weeks as a result of the US debt ceiling impasse.

btc vs search btc vs usd

Chinese Events

Perhaps most important was the activity out of China. The Chinese government has recently been more vocal in its ongoing campaign to see the dollar removed from global reserve status. While such calls for an international reserve note are generally assumed to refer to Special Drawing Rights issued by the IMF, it may have bolstered enthusiasm for bitcoin’s apolitical nature. Also out of China was news that Baidu, the world’s fifth largest website, is now accepting bitcoin for certain services.

cny vs usd

 

Perhaps not incidentally, CNY price movement has been a notable leader in the latest rally. Overlaying CNY/BTC and USD/BTC trading history, it becomes clear that USD/BTC trading has been largely responsive to the Chinese markets. The graph below shows bitcoin trading in CNY markets, as well as USD/BTC levels converted to CNY for comparison. Overlaid on top of them is the differential between their prices at any given time. The differential tends to normalize around 2-3% and spikes/sinks periodically with price movement. In reviewing this chart, a consistent pattern becomes clear: CNY price movement occurs first, increasing the differential, with USD catching up much later and eventually sending the differential back down towards 3%.

 

 


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/14igKft2AnA/story01.htm Tyler Durden

More Than 44,000 Demand GOP Arrests For "Seditious Conspiracy" Against USA

More than 44,000 people have signed a petition on the MoveOn.org sebsite calling for the Departmnet of Justice to arrest some House Republican leaders for their roles in the givernment shutdown and debt-ceiling debacle. As The Hill reports, the petition singles out Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), as well as “other decision-making House Republican leaders,” for the crime of “seditious conspiracy against the United States of America.” While careful to point out that it does not “necessarily endorse the contents of petitions” we thought it ironic that more people successfully completed the petition to arrest the GOP for trying to abolish Obamacare than have successfully signed up for the new law.

 

Click image for petition

 

Via The Hill,

The House GOP leadership’s use of the Hastert Rule and H. Res 368 to shut down the government and threaten the U.S. economy with default is an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act, and thus, is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy. Arrest the perpetrators in Congress immediately and bring them to justice,” the petition reads.

 

…Merely reaching the goal doesn’t guarantee the liberal advocacy group will circulate the petition to its email list, which includes the White House, Congress, governors and state legislators. According to its website, MoveOn asks its members directly which petitions should be circulated.

 

MoveOn says it does not “necessarily endorse the contents of petitions” posted on its site.

 

And some more explanatory thoughts on this farce from Andfrew McCarthy of The National Review,

 

The petitioners claim the GOP’s recent strategy, leading to a government shut down and “threaten[ing] the U.S. economy with default,” constitutes “an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act.” That, they proclaim, “is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy”

 

 

I suppose I should break it to these newfangled patriots that seditious conspiracy is, in essence, about the use or planned use of force against the nation. In fact, Congress first codified the crime during the Civil War to address terrorist acts committed by confederate sympathizers. The Supreme Court explained in the 19th century that the law prohibits forcible aggression, and appellate courts have referred to it as the crime of “waging a war of urban terrorism” against our country.

 

The statute (Section 2384 of the federal penal code), which is very straightforward and easily accessible online, targets those who conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or levy war against them, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States[.]…

 

Although the statute’s title is “seditious conspiracy,” you’ll notice that the word “sedition” does not appear in the text that defines the offense. That owes to the unsavory legacy of the Alien and Sedition Acts – a fact the Left is quick to remind us about when the statute is used against its obviously intended targets, terrorists.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/G3WDH6SO1ME/story01.htm Tyler Durden

More Than 44,000 Demand GOP Arrests For “Seditious Conspiracy” Against USA

More than 44,000 people have signed a petition on the MoveOn.org sebsite calling for the Departmnet of Justice to arrest some House Republican leaders for their roles in the givernment shutdown and debt-ceiling debacle. As The Hill reports, the petition singles out Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), as well as “other decision-making House Republican leaders,” for the crime of “seditious conspiracy against the United States of America.” While careful to point out that it does not “necessarily endorse the contents of petitions” we thought it ironic that more people successfully completed the petition to arrest the GOP for trying to abolish Obamacare than have successfully signed up for the new law.

 

Click image for petition

 

Via The Hill,

The House GOP leadership’s use of the Hastert Rule and H. Res 368 to shut down the government and threaten the U.S. economy with default is an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act, and thus, is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy. Arrest the perpetrators in Congress immediately and bring them to justice,” the petition reads.

 

…Merely reaching the goal doesn’t guarantee the liberal advocacy group will circulate the petition to its email list, which includes the White House, Congress, governors and state legislators. According to its website, MoveOn asks its members directly which petitions should be circulated.

 

MoveOn says it does not “necessarily endorse the contents of petitions” posted on its site.

 

And some more explanatory thoughts on this farce from Andfrew McCarthy of The National Review,

 

The petitioners claim the GOP’s recent strategy, leading to a government shut down and “threaten[ing] the U.S. economy with default,” constitutes “an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act.” That, they proclaim, “is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy”

 

 

I suppose I should break it to these newfangled patriots that seditious conspiracy is, in essence, about the use or planned use of force against the nation. In fact, Congress first codified the crime during the Civil War to address terrorist acts committed by confederate sympathizers. The Supreme Court explained in the 19th century that the law prohibits forcible aggression, and appellate courts have referred to it as the crime of “waging a war of urban terrorism” against our country.

 

The statute (Section 2384 of the federal penal code), which is very straightforward and easily accessible online, targets those who conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or levy war against them, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States[.]…

 

Although the statute’s title is “seditious conspiracy,” you’ll notice that the word “sedition” does not appear in the text that defines the offense. That owes to the unsavory legacy of the Alien and Sedition Acts – a fact the Left is quick to remind us about when the statute is used against its obviously intended targets, terrorists.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/G3WDH6SO1ME/story01.htm Tyler Durden