Madrid Buried In Trash As Garbagemen Strike Continues For 10th Day

The trouble with proclaiming ‘victory’ over the crisis in Spain (read the whole of Europe) and the ECB enabling governments profligacy with the ghost of OMT future is that it merely emboldens. As Al Jazeera reports, Madrid’s garbage collectors have been on strike since November 5 to protest layoffs and pay cuts. With garbage piling up on the streets of Madrid, the mayor issued private trash-collecting companies an ultimatum on Wednesday: end the street cleaners’ strike or lose their contracts. More than 30,000 residents have signed a petition to the defense minister asking for the streets to be cleaned. The following images show the chaos…

 

Madrid bins overflowing in the streets…

 

 

Translation: Worker for the Madrid garbage collectors yesterday in Madrid protesting against layoffs.

 

Some expressed their frustration with the strike:
Translation: The Madrid Cleaning Strike shouldn’t be called a strike; it’s vandalism and crime. This is how you lose the argument.

Translation: This Madrid Cleaning Strike is lamentable and like the Third World.

 

Seems to us that this might be a great opportunity to put some of the record high unemployed youth back to work… (though one wonders just how big the disincentive to work is in Spain…)


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/eYWyrG450c4/story01.htm Tyler Durden

And Another Miss: Industrial Production Contracts 0.1% On Expectations Of A Rise

First it was the Empire Mfg Index. Now it is the turn of Industrial Production which as the Fed just reported declined by -0.1% in October, a drop from the upward revised 0.7% increase in September driven by a -1.6% collapse in mining and a -1.1% drop in Utilities, while pure manufacturing rose a modest 0.3% in October, just above the 0.1% from September. And confirming the increasing slack, Capacity Utilization dipped once again, from the 78.3 in September, to 78.1 once again driven by a notable drop in Mining Capacity down from 90.5 to 88.7.

The lack of a pick up in the economy is shown below:

From the report:

The production of consumer goods decreased 0.1 percent in October after having increased 0.8 percent in September; in October, the index stood 2.5 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of durable consumer goods fell 0.2 percent: Gains for home electronics; appliances, furniture, and carpeting; and miscellaneous goods were outweighed by a decrease in the index for automotive products, which nevertheless stood more than 11 percent above its year-earlier level. The index for consumer nondurables was unchanged, as a small increase in the output of non-energy nondurables offset a small decline in the output of consumer energy products. Among non-energy nondurables, gains for foods and tobacco, for clothing, and for paper products were partially offset by a loss for chemical products.

 

The output of business equipment rose 0.2 percent in October after an average monthly gain of 0.3 percent during the third quarter. The index for transit equipment declined 0.1 percent, the index for information processing equipment rose 0.2 percent, and the index for industrial and other equipment increased 0.3 percent. Over the past 12 months, the production of business equipment has advanced 5.1 percent, with similarly sized gains in each of its three major components.

 

The output of defense and space equipment rose 0.5 percent in October following gains of 0.8 percent in September and 2.1 percent in August. The index for October was 3.3 percent above its year-earlier level.

 

Among nonindustrial supplies, construction supplies recorded its fifth consecutive monthly increase; the index moved up 0.3 percent in October and was 6.6 percent above its level of a year earlier. The output of business supplies moved up 0.2 percent in October; despite having gained 3.0 percent over the past 12 months, the index was still about 8 percent below its pre-recession peak.

 

In October, the production of materials to be processed further in the industrial sector decreased 0.4 percent, a decline that was driven by a drop of 1.5 percent in the production of energy materials. The output of durable materials rose 0.3 percent, as increased production of equipment parts and other durable materials more than offset a decline in the output of consumer parts. The production of nondurable materials moved up 0.4 percent; textile, paper, and chemical materials each registered gains of 0.5 percent or more, while the index for other nondurable materials was little changed.

In short: the news today so far has been bad enough to validate the “BTFATH mentality” which means Kevin Henry’s 1800 price target on the S&P remains unchanged.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/an7oFiKqCCQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Peter Suderman Reviews The Last Days on Mars

Senior Editor Peter Suderman
reviews the new zombies-on-Mars movie, The Last Days on
Mars:

Zombies, once the exclusive province of low-budget horror, seem
to be just about everywhere in pop-culture these days — on popular
TV shows, in big budget movies and teen-targeted comedies and
interspersed with classic literature. I suppose it was only a
matter of time until they made it to Mars.

No one ever says the word “zombie” in “The Last Days on Mars,”
but there’s no question that it is a zombie movie. And aside from
the extraterrestrial location, it’s really a rather conventional
one, in which a small group of people in a remote area must fight
for their lives when a viral outbreak starts turning them into
power-tool-wielding undead menaces.

The future undead and their victims are near-future astronauts
on an early, six-month manned mission to the Red Planet. It’s a
lonely gig in an inhospitable world, but they’ve got only 19 hours
left (really, the movie could have been called “The Last Day on
Mars”) in their inflated Martian living habitat. Mission
specialist Vincent Campbell (Liev Shreiber) longs for the
blue sky and green grass of Earth, and wants to start the six-month
commute home as fast as possible.

But some of the team wants to work until the very end. One of
the scientists (played by Goran Kostic) gets special
permission from mission leader Charles Brunel (Elias
Koteas) to make a last minute run to fix a sensor. Or so he says.
He’s actually off to collect a specimen he believes could prove the
existence of microbial life on Mars.

Life on Mars! Do undead zombie astronauts count? The movie
lumbers forward in standard zombie-pic fashion, pitting man against
walking dead in a familiar array of sterile corridors, pitch-black
exteriors and strobe-lit hallways. It’s paint-by-numbers sci-fi
monster movie stuff, and it borrows a lot from both the original
“Alien” and John Carpenter’s 1982 remake of “The Thing.”


Read the whole review in The Washington
Times. 

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/peter-suderman-reviews-the-last-days-on
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Goldman Previews Japan’s QE Moar: “BOJ Could Purchases Outright Equities”

Two days ago, when we posted “”Frustrated” Liquidity Addicts Demand Moar From BOJ As Nikkei Rally Stalls“, we suggested that more QE from the Bank of Japan is just around the corner (and likely to take place as early as April) as the only real “driver” behind Abenomics, the surge in the stock market had stalled for nearly 6 months. 48 hours later, and 700 points in the Nikkei higher, the realization that indeed more QE is coming has swept through the market like wildfire. So what will the Bank of Japan’s expansion of quantitative easing look like, when supposedly only $75 billion per month amounting to a whopping 70% of all new issuance, is not enough? According to Goldman “the BoJ could take the lead in this reallocation process by notably increasing its purchases of risky assets, such as ETFs and RIETS, or even outright equities – say purchasing a wide range of Japanese equities by index weight.” It may get even better: “the BoJ is likely to consider more unorthodox policy to push up inflation expectations” – like paradropping NGDP, better known as paradropping yen (a move Yellen herself is now contemplating as we previewed back in September).

The full Goldman note:

The first arrow –namely, bold monetary easing to dispel deflation – is likely to be loosed again in the April-June quarter 2014 (most likely April-end) for several reasons. First, to offset some of the negative impacts of the consumption tax hike to be implemented April 2014. Second, by next spring, inflationary pressures are likely to dissipate (due to base effects and more subdued commodity prices). Therefore, the BoJ is likely to feel compelled to act in order to reach the 2% inflation target that was adopted in January 2013. Judging by the survey of long-term inflation expectations for Japan as published by Consensus Economics, there is broad scepticism that the BoJ will hit its inflation target in 2015 as intended. Indeed, the survey does not envisage inflation anywhere near 2% even by 2023. Consequently, further easing is also likely to be required to lift inflation expectations and reinforce the BoJ’s commitment to reaching the target.

 

In our discussions with clients, many also expect the BoJ to ease next April, but there seems to be little agreement on what policies the BoJ will implement. The BoJ could buy more and longer dated JGBs, but given that the Bank already buys 70% of all new issuance, increasing such purchases may be met with scepticism and a concern that the BoJ is monetising government debt. However, such a move may stimulate quicker portfolio allocation into risky assets, which is only happening very slowly, as reported in the BoJ’s Financial System Report.

 

Alternatively, the BoJ could take the lead in this reallocation process by notably increasing its purchases of risky assets, such as ETFs and RIETS, or even outright equities – say purchasing a wide range of Japanese equities by index weight. We are also watching to see if the BoJ is likely to consider more unorthodox policy to push up inflation expectations. More conventionally, the Bank may confirm that QQE is to be open-ended.

And where the Japanese unprecedented monetary policy experiment boldly goes, the Fed is sure to follow.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/yjBiuHMMnS8/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Goldman Previews Japan's QE Moar: "BOJ Could Purchases Outright Equities"

Two days ago, when we posted “”Frustrated” Liquidity Addicts Demand Moar From BOJ As Nikkei Rally Stalls“, we suggested that more QE from the Bank of Japan is just around the corner (and likely to take place as early as April) as the only real “driver” behind Abenomics, the surge in the stock market had stalled for nearly 6 months. 48 hours later, and 700 points in the Nikkei higher, the realization that indeed more QE is coming has swept through the market like wildfire. So what will the Bank of Japan’s expansion of quantitative easing look like, when supposedly only $75 billion per month amounting to a whopping 70% of all new issuance, is not enough? According to Goldman “the BoJ could take the lead in this reallocation process by notably increasing its purchases of risky assets, such as ETFs and RIETS, or even outright equities – say purchasing a wide range of Japanese equities by index weight.” It may get even better: “the BoJ is likely to consider more unorthodox policy to push up inflation expectations” – like paradropping NGDP, better known as paradropping yen (a move Yellen herself is now contemplating as we previewed back in September).

The full Goldman note:

The first arrow –namely, bold monetary easing to dispel deflation – is likely to be loosed again in the April-June quarter 2014 (most likely April-end) for several reasons. First, to offset some of the negative impacts of the consumption tax hike to be implemented April 2014. Second, by next spring, inflationary pressures are likely to dissipate (due to base effects and more subdued commodity prices). Therefore, the BoJ is likely to feel compelled to act in order to reach the 2% inflation target that was adopted in January 2013. Judging by the survey of long-term inflation expectations for Japan as published by Consensus Economics, there is broad scepticism that the BoJ will hit its inflation target in 2015 as intended. Indeed, the survey does not envisage inflation anywhere near 2% even by 2023. Consequently, further easing is also likely to be required to lift inflation expectations and reinforce the BoJ’s commitment to reaching the target.

 

In our discussions with clients, many also expect the BoJ to ease next April, but there seems to be little agreement on what policies the BoJ will implement. The BoJ could buy more and longer dated JGBs, but given that the Bank already buys 70% of all new issuance, increasing such purchases may be met with scepticism and a concern that the BoJ is monetising government debt. However, such a move may stimulate quicker portfolio allocation into risky assets, which is only happening very slowly, as reported in the BoJ’s Financial System Report.

 

Alternatively, the BoJ could take the lead in this reallocation process by notably increasing its purchases of risky assets, such as ETFs and RIETS, or even outright equities – say purchasing a wide range of Japanese equities by index weight. We are also watching to see if the BoJ is likely to consider more unorthodox policy to push up inflation expectations. More conventionally, the Bank may confirm that QQE is to be open-ended.

And where the Japanese unprecedented monetary policy experiment boldly goes, the Fed is sure to follow.


    



via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/yjBiuHMMnS8/story01.htm Tyler Durden

ATF Tests 3D-Printed Guns, Finds They Go “Bang”

3D-printed Liberator handgunPerhaps a little late to the game, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has joined its
counterparts in
Austria, Germany, and elsewhere in purchasing 3D printers to
see what this fuss about what Reason’s Brian Doherty calls
“the
unstoppable plastic gun” is about. Like everybody else, the
folks at the all-you-need-is-a band-and-it’s-a-party agency
discovered that 3D-printed guns do, in fact, go bang, though
whether they do so in the intended way depends on the material you
use to build them.

The ATF chose the Liberator, the first successfully fired model,
to test. Innovators have since moved on to
rifles,
pepperboxes,
semiautomatics, and even a
Model 1911 printed from stainless steel.

Videos posted online on the ATF’s YouTube channel (yes, really)
show a Liberator built from ABS plastic firing without drama, while
a model printed in translucent VisiJet
shatters in spectacular fashion. (Pro tip: Don’t use VisiJet
when printing your own gun.)

A helpful
fact sheet posted online promises that “ATF makes every effort
to keep abreast of novel firearms technology and firearms
trafficking schemes.” It also outlines the strict regulations
governing firearms manufacture and sale and vows that “ATF
investigates any cases in which technological advances allow
individuals to avoid complying with these laws.”

Of course, the whole advantage of 3D printing technology, and
other innovations that enable DIY manufacture of restricted and
forbidden objects, is that they render the law largely
unenforceable, since the activity takes place away from officious
eyes. You can put any statute you want on the books, but there’s
not much you can do to regulate what goes on in home workshops.

Which is why the Department of Homeland Security has
pronounced 3D-printed guns “impossible” to control.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/atf-tests-3d-printed-guns-finds-they-go
via IFTTT

ATF Tests 3D-Printed Guns, Finds They Go "Bang"

3D-printed Liberator handgunPerhaps a little late to the game, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has joined its
counterparts in
Austria, Germany, and elsewhere in purchasing 3D printers to
see what this fuss about what Reason’s Brian Doherty calls
“the
unstoppable plastic gun” is about. Like everybody else, the
folks at the all-you-need-is-a band-and-it’s-a-party agency
discovered that 3D-printed guns do, in fact, go bang, though
whether they do so in the intended way depends on the material you
use to build them.

The ATF chose the Liberator, the first successfully fired model,
to test. Innovators have since moved on to
rifles,
pepperboxes,
semiautomatics, and even a
Model 1911 printed from stainless steel.

Videos posted online on the ATF’s YouTube channel (yes, really)
show a Liberator built from ABS plastic firing without drama, while
a model printed in translucent VisiJet
shatters in spectacular fashion. (Pro tip: Don’t use VisiJet
when printing your own gun.)

A helpful
fact sheet posted online promises that “ATF makes every effort
to keep abreast of novel firearms technology and firearms
trafficking schemes.” It also outlines the strict regulations
governing firearms manufacture and sale and vows that “ATF
investigates any cases in which technological advances allow
individuals to avoid complying with these laws.”

Of course, the whole advantage of 3D printing technology, and
other innovations that enable DIY manufacture of restricted and
forbidden objects, is that they render the law largely
unenforceable, since the activity takes place away from officious
eyes. You can put any statute you want on the books, but there’s
not much you can do to regulate what goes on in home workshops.

Which is why the Department of Homeland Security has
pronounced 3D-printed guns “impossible” to control.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/atf-tests-3d-printed-guns-finds-they-go
via IFTTT

Alec Baldwin Condemns “Libertarian Trash” Who Are “Defenders of Gay Rights”


The latest rampage by rageaholic – and ultra-talented, btw –
actor Alec Baldwin is on display at TMZ.com (click above to watch).
After winning a case against a stalker,
Baldwin saw fit to scream at and threaten a shutterbug on the
streets of New York.

During the episode, Baldwin refers to the photographer as a
“cocksucking fag,” an insult that calls to mind a previous incident
in which the 30 Rock alum and current MSNBC host
threatened to foot-fuck a “toxic little queen” and “a toxic
little bitch” who had libeled his wife.

While giving no quarter to what he sees as invasive
photographers, Baldwin has checked in with advisers and
concludes

This tweet came just hours after Baldwin had tweeted
“Anti-gay
slurs are wrong. They not only offend, but threaten hard fought
tolerance of LGBT rights.”

And not long after Baldwin had tweeted (and duly deleted) this
slag on “libertarian trash” who defend gays:


I can’t speak for the Breitbart crowd (though Andrew Breitbart
was certainly a staunch supporter of gay
equality) but the “libertarian trash” at Reason has been
defending gay rights since the magazine’s earliest days in the late
1960s. In fact, when mainstream liberal and conservative
publications were still arguing over whether homosexuality should
be decriminalized, we were already talking about marriage equality.
If the state is going to involve itself in marriage (and it
shouldn’t) among consenting adults, it should not draw invidious
distinctions and treat some people as second-class citizens.

I’d like to think that Alec Baldwin can understand that about
“libertarian trash.” But if his now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t
Twitter feed is any indication, he’s already on to more important
topics, such as conflating “single-bullet theorists” with
minimum-wage flat-earthers:

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/alec-baldwin-condemns-libertarian-trash
via IFTTT

Alec Baldwin Condemns "Libertarian Trash" Who Are "Defenders of Gay Rights"


The latest rampage by rageaholic – and ultra-talented, btw –
actor Alec Baldwin is on display at TMZ.com (click above to watch).
After winning a case against a stalker,
Baldwin saw fit to scream at and threaten a shutterbug on the
streets of New York.

During the episode, Baldwin refers to the photographer as a
“cocksucking fag,” an insult that calls to mind a previous incident
in which the 30 Rock alum and current MSNBC host
threatened to foot-fuck a “toxic little queen” and “a toxic
little bitch” who had libeled his wife.

While giving no quarter to what he sees as invasive
photographers, Baldwin has checked in with advisers and
concludes

This tweet came just hours after Baldwin had tweeted
“Anti-gay
slurs are wrong. They not only offend, but threaten hard fought
tolerance of LGBT rights.”

And not long after Baldwin had tweeted (and duly deleted) this
slag on “libertarian trash” who defend gays:


I can’t speak for the Breitbart crowd (though Andrew Breitbart
was certainly a staunch supporter of gay
equality) but the “libertarian trash” at Reason has been
defending gay rights since the magazine’s earliest days in the late
1960s. In fact, when mainstream liberal and conservative
publications were still arguing over whether homosexuality should
be decriminalized, we were already talking about marriage equality.
If the state is going to involve itself in marriage (and it
shouldn’t) among consenting adults, it should not draw invidious
distinctions and treat some people as second-class citizens.

I’d like to think that Alec Baldwin can understand that about
“libertarian trash.” But if his now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t
Twitter feed is any indication, he’s already on to more important
topics, such as conflating “single-bullet theorists” with
minimum-wage flat-earthers:

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/alec-baldwin-condemns-libertarian-trash
via IFTTT

A.M. Links: Republicans Introduce Resolution To Impeach Holder, FBI To Focus Less on Al Qaeda and More on Cyberterrorism, Michele Bachmann Claims She Lost Health Insurance Because of Obamacare

  • A group of House Republicans introduced a
    resolution to impeach     Attorney General Eric Holder. They cited
    scandals such as the “Fast and Furious” gun running operation as
    proof of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
  • FBI Director Jim Comey testified yesterday that the US is
    more vulnerable
    to cyberattacks     than terrorists groups like Al Qaeda.
    Don’t worry, though, he assured that law enforcement and national
    intelligence are shifting their focus to the web to keep us
    safe.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says that she
    lost her health insurance     because of Obamacare and that she
    refuses to use the exchange website until it’s fixed.
  • The House votes today on a GOP-backed bill to allow insurance
    companies to continue to
    offer their existing plans     under Obamacare.
  • Alleged crack-smoking Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is apparently

    getting his own television show    . 
  • Norway will
    promote new legislation     to “regulate ritual circumcision,” the
    country’s health minister said.

Get Reason.com and Reason 24/7
content widgets for your
websites.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter,
and don’t forget to sign
up for Reason’s daily updates for more
content.

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/15/am-links-republicans-introduce-resolutio
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