Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan Brands Israel Violence As “State Terrorism”
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 11:26 am
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
From Reuters:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused Israel of state terrorism after Israeli marines stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza.
“This action, totally contrary to the principles of international law, is inhumane state terrorism. Nobody should think we will keep quiet in the face of this,” Erdogan told reporters from Chile, where he was cutting short an official visit to Latin America to deal with the crisis.
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DiggProof Media in Total Moral Hazard When Forbes Compares BP with Goldman
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 11:16 am
Courtesy of Static Chaos
By Static Chaos
When a major mainstream media like Forbes compares BP with Goldman Sachs and recommends investors to buy Goldman stocks, you know the world is in total moral hazard and deserved to be doomed as Marc Faber always said.
Since Forbes is a financial publication, I will refute based on the investment thesis first. Granted both stocks are high risk plays right now, but I’d venture to say compared to Goldman, BP is obviously oversold and a victim of media hype and Whitehouse populist approach.
This conclusion is based on BP dividend yield (currently close to 7%), a strong average annual compound rate of return of 17.9% since 1977 vs. 10.7% from S&P, the growth prospect of crude oil and low forward P/E ratio of 5.64.
The in-depth Chart of Day story of BP on May 6 by Bloomberg (Chart below) should more than confirm my conclusion about BP stocks from a technical point of view.
Throughout its history, Goldman has been shortchanging retail investors by abusing its market position, which by the way, is put in place partly by the taxpayers’ money. Sure, there were a few "official investigations" throughout the years, but basically went nowhere most likely due to the Vampire Squid’s deep pocket, massive legal team, and far reaching influential tentacles into many related government agencies.
Now, the SEC finally got the ball to bring a civil suit holding Goldman responsible for misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter. I will not go into the detail here of how Goldman knowingly contribute to the subprime crisis, which is the closet point of origin of the financial crisis leading to the current "Great Recession" and the 9.5% jobless rate.
This is not to excuse BP for the Gulf oil spill mess. The environmental and economic impact has yet to be fully assessed. But one thing people seem to have chosen to ignore is that BP has paid and will be paying for a long time to come for this mistake ($930 million to date). But where is Goldman on this??
Almost 1,300 vessels are now involved in the response effort. Other oil companies are also helping BP in the Gulf including the world’s top supermajor--ExxonMobile--by providing personnel and vessels. The entire oil industry will bear the brunt of the public outrage and…
German President Resigns Effective Immediately
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 10:49 am
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Someone sure isn’t drinking the 63 out of 63 trading days Crissy in East Hampton on this sunny morning. Spiegel reports that German president, and former IMF head, Horst Kohler has resigned effective immediately, “a shock announcement that comes as the latest in a series of blows to Chancellor Angela Merkel.” The cause for the resignation is the fierce criticism of comments he made about Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan. More importantly, this will merely add to the instability in an otherwise already politically ravaged Germany. Got Bund, Bobl and Schatz?
From Spiegel:
German President Horst Köhler announced his resignation on Monday in response to fierce criticism of comments he made about Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan.
“I declare my resignation from the office of president — with immediate effect,” Köhler, with tears in his eyes and speaking in a faltering voice, said in a statement, flanked by his wife Eva-Luise.
The president is the head of state and his duties are largely ceremonial. But the resignation is the latest in a string of setbacks for Chancellor Angela Merkel since her re-election last September. The German federal assembly — made up of parliamentary MPs and delegates appointed by the country’s 16 federal states — will have to vote for a successor to Köhler within 30 days, according to the federal constitution.
The president had become the target of intense criticism following remarks he made during a surprise visit to soldiers of the Bundeswehr German army in Afghanistan on May 22. In an interview with a German radio reporter who accompanied him on the trip, he seemed to justify his country’s military missions abroad with the need to protect economic interests.
“A country of our size, with its focus on exports and thus reliance on foreign trade, must be aware that … military deployments are necessary in an emergency to protect our interests — for example when it comes to trade routes, for example when it comes to preventing regional instabilities that could negatively influence our trade, jobs and incomes,” Köhler said.
It sounded as though Köhler was justifying wars for the sake of economic interests, in the context of the Afghan mission which is highly controversial in Germany and throughout Europe.
‘The Criticism Lacks the Necessary Respect for My Office’
In his statement on Monday, Köhler
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Global Community Condemns Israeli Actions As Crowds Of Protesting Turks Scream “Long Live Global Intifada”
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 10:39 am
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Things for Israel are getting from bad to worse. The Israeli attack on 6 Turkish ships carrying aid to Gaza, which has left 19 dead and 36 wounded according to latest estimates by Israel’s Channel 10 TV, has drawn a wave of global outrage, resulting in “widespread international condemnation of Israel, with Israeli envoys summoned to explain their country’s actions in several European countries” according to the NYT. Additionally, Turkish website World Bulletin has formally branded Israel’s attack “privacy” (no, not another stab at Google killer du jour Facebook, but a reference to government authorized attack on foreign shipping). Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said he will create an international legal case against this case of piracy and that “Israel’s attitude has hurt the conscience of all humanity.” Also, Turkey has joined the bandwagon of countries condemning the Gaza blockade, and is now openly supportive of the Hamas cause: “We hope that Israel learns lessons from this incident. Israel’s blockade on Gaza is against laws and is not legitimate, Davutoglu said.” Prime Miniter Erdogan also voiced in, saying: “by attacking innocent civilians, Israel displayed to the whole world its disregard of human values.” The head of the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Commission said, “We are going to see in the following days whether Israel has done it as a display of decisiveness or to commit political suicide.” Making a strong case for the latter, minutes ago Reuters reported that Israel PM Netanyahu has canceled plans to meet president Obama on Tuesday as was previously scheduled.
Turkey recalled its ambasaddor in Tel Aviv as of Monday, even as Israel told all its citizens to get the hell out of dodge, which is a smart thing – everyone knows not to mess around with the descendants of the Ottomans and the Seljuks when angry. And pissed off they are:
Thousands of protesters gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, chanting anti-Israeli slogans and repeating Islamic verses while government officials called for calm and urged demonstrators to avoid retaliation against Israeli nationals.
Protesters met in front of the Israeli Consulate earlier and marched toward the square carrying a banner that read, “Zionist Embassy should close down,” and chanting slogans including “Damn Israel” and “Long live global intifada.”
Crowds also gathered outside the Ankara residence
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Pick The Odd One Out
by ilene - May 31st, 2010 9:54 am
Pick The Odd One Out
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Well, even Bloomberg apparently gets it a little off sometimes. Pick the odd one out:
A Polar Bear for Every Zoo and a Drug Free Parliament by 2020
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 9:48 am
Courtesy of Marla Singer
Just occasionally there are those stories comprised of such self-evident moment (and perhaps more than a touch of such deliciously placed absurdity in the form of a Tina Turner theme song) as to render any attempt at comment redundant at best and destructive at worse. This, dear readers, is one of those occasions.
Promising a polar bear for the Reykjavik zoo, free towels at all swimming pools, a Disneyland theme park at the airport and a drug-free parliament by 2020, the newly formed Besti Flokkurinn (“The Best Party”) took the political establishment by surprise when it became the biggest party in Sunday’s municipal elections in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, securing six out of 15 seats in the new city council.
[…]
The Best Party in Reykjavik was established just half a year ago by a core group of comedians, actors and musicians….
[…]
According to the EUobserver, The new party ran their campaign under the slogan “Whatever Works”….
h/t: Econotwist’s Blog.
A Memorial Day Tribute
by Zero Hedge - May 31st, 2010 9:14 am
Courtesy of madhedgefundtrader
Monday is Memorial Day, and I’ll be putting on my faded Marine Corp fatigues and railroad track bars and leading the town’s veteran’s parade. So I thought it would be a good day to tell you the story of my Uncle Mitch.
Since job prospects for high school graduates in rural Pennsylvania in 1936 were poor, Mitch walked 200 miles to the nearest Marine Corp recruiting station in Baltimre. After basic training, he spent five years rotating between duty in China and the Philippines.
When WWII broke out, he was a seasoned sergeant in charge of a machine gun platoon. That put him with the seventh regiment of the First Marine division at Guadalcanal in October, 1942. When the Japanese counterattacked, Mitch was put in charge of four Browning 30 caliber water cooled machine guns and 33 men, dug in at trenches on a ridge above Henderson Field.
The Japanese launched massive waves of suicide attackers in a pouring tropical rainstorm all night long, frequently breaking through the lines and engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat. If the position fell, the flank would have been broken, leading to a loss of the airfield, and possibly the entire battle.
After the first hour, all of Mitch’s men were either dead or severely wounded, shot or slashed with samurai swords. So Mitch fired one gun until it was empty, than scurried over to the next, and then the next. In between waves, he ran back and reloaded all the guns. When the Japanese launched their final assault, and then retreated, he picked up a 40 pound Browning and ran down the hill after them, firing all the way, and burning all the skin off his left forearm.
Mitch’s commanding officer, Col. Herman H. Hanneken, heard the guns firing all night from the field below. He was shocked when he visited the position the next morning, finding Mitch alone in front of a twisted sea of 1,000 Japanese bodies, not a scratch on him. To see a photo of that grisly scene please click here at http://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/Today_s_Diary_Entry.php . Mitch was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in Australia a few months later.
After the war, Mitch, now a colonel, was handed the plum of all Marine Corp jobs, acting as the liaison officer with Hollywood. He provided the planes, ships, and beaches…
Laplace’s Hammer: The End of Economics
by ilene - May 31st, 2010 5:24 am
Laplace’s Hammer: The End of Economics
Courtesy of Tim at The Psy-Fi Blog
Clever Man, Stupid Idea
Simon-Pierre Laplace was a Very Clever Man who did many Very Clever Things. Unfortunately, like many clever men, having got hold of a Brilliant Idea he was rather inclined to go off and use it on everything in sight, which led to a number of Very Odd Conclusions. In fact as far as science goes, he may well have been the original man with a hammer; taking aim at every problem as though it was a nail.
As is the way of these things economists got hold of Laplace’s ideas, converted them to their own and started developing delicate and intricate webs of theories and practices. Unfortunately, over the succeeding three hundred years they’ve failed to keep up with advances in physics and biology, rather leaving economists as the only believers in an approach that suggests we have no free will, a position from which they’re having to be dug out and defused, one unexploded theorist at a time.
Newton’s Error
When Isaac Newton published his theory of gravity he knew it contained a serious flaw; his equations didn’t exactly match what was observed. He reckoned, correctly, that the differences between his theory and the observations were down to the gravitational effect on the planets of other planets – so called perturbations, which he didn’t know how to mathematically model. He said:
“But to consider simultaneously all these causes of motion and to define these motions by exact laws admitting of easy calculation exceeds, if I am not mistaken, the force of any human mind.”
And, of course, he was mistaken. The force of Laplace’s mind successfully solved the problem. Having achieved this, though, Laplace went a stage further. Because he could exactly calculate the position of any planet he could compare this with the results of observations from astronomers. What he discovered changed human history.
Observer Bias
It turned out that observers made errors, but they made them in a particular way – their observations fell about the actual position of the planet in a very distinctive pattern. This pattern, of course, was the ultra-familiar Bell curve or normal distribution. Laplace realised that human error was statistically quantifiable and, therefore, could be effectively eliminated from the data. This…
And The Housing Fraud Continues
by ilene - May 31st, 2010 1:51 am
And The Housing Fraud Continues
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
From a report emailed to me over the weekend:
At the core of the foreclosure-prevention strategy is ignoring delinquencies. The percentage of older delinquent loans not yet in foreclosure is startling: 60% have at least 12 missed payments, and 35% have at least 18 missed payments. Add to this that three-fourths of delinquent loans are not in foreclosure, and we see that hidden losses well exceed those in the open.
Uh, they’re not being "ignored" – this is systemic and intentional fraud.
Remember, these loans are either being held by someone or securitized into some sort of package. When you have a loan that has no chance of "curing" (to cure a loan with 12 missed payments the borrower would have to come up with the 12 payments to bring it current!) that loan should be carried at its recovery value – that is, the value of the collateral that can be seized and sold, LESS the cost of eviction, remediation and resale.
Does anyone recall all the entries I’ve written about getting competent legal and accounting (tax) advice before proceeding with any sort of action regarding walking away, short sales or foreclosure? This same report says:
Many homeowners would be better off going into foreclosure, than doing a short sale. Short sales are fraught with potential legal, credit, and complicated tax issues. For example, someone who refinanced could owe capital gains taxes, which are not forgiven under federal and California temporary debt relief acts. In the foreclosure route, borrowers can live in their house mortgage-free for at least one year, maybe two years. Both short sales and foreclosures are reported as “account not paid in full”, and are equally damaging to a credit score. An exception exists if short sellers can negotiate better terms with their lender on recourse liens. The other possible advantage to a short sale is the ability to get a mortgage again in 2 years (Fannie, Freddie), rather than having to wait 3-5 years after a foreclosure.
Homeowners pursue short sales, unaware of the problems they are creating for themselves. Their agents never warned them of deficiencies, ruined credit, taxes due on forgiven debt, or legal consequences. Agents made flowery promises to get listings, and now the lawsuits are starting.
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BP Robots to Cut Damaged Pipe; Oil Dispersant Maker Says ‘We Have Nothing to Hide’; Oil Déjà Vu
by ilene - May 31st, 2010 1:44 am
BP Robots to Cut Damaged Pipe; Oil Dispersant Maker Says ‘We Have Nothing to Hide’; Oil Déjà Vu
Courtesy of Mish
With Top Kill officially dead, BP has moved on to an option involving underwater robots to cut the pipe, followed by another funneling scheme.
Please consider BP’s Robots to Begin Next Attempt to Curb Record Oil Spill
BP Plc will use undersea robots to begin cutting damaged pipe from its leaking oil well off Louisiana as early as today, risking temporarily increasing the flow as it makes another attempt to end the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
“BP and the government have no choice but to proceed,” Jason Kenney, an Edinburgh-based analyst for ING Commercial Banking, who rates the shares a “buy” and owns none, said yesterday in an interview. “This is war. As in all wars, it rarely goes smooth.”
Using remote-controlled vehicles at the mile-deep well, BP plans to shear away most of the damaged pipe that once rose from the well to the Deepwater Horizon. Then it will make a more precise cut with a diamond-toothed band saw, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said in television interviews yesterday.
That will make a clean junction for a gasket-lined cap intended to catch most of the oil and route it to the surface through a pipe, Dudley said.
The new funnel may enable BP to capture as much as 90 percent of the oil and gas escaping from the well, Dudley said on “Face the Nation.” BP is also preparing a second blowout preventer that may be bolted on in place of the cap and used to try again to stop all leakage, he said.
The spill may cost BP $22 billion should it continue through early August, when the company expects to plug the leak with one of the relief wells, Kenney, the ING analyst, said yesterday. That compared with his estimate of $5.3 billion had the latest attempt to plug the well worked.
BP fell 5 percent to 494.8 pence in London trading on May 28 and has lost 25 percent of its market value since the blast.
Well Could Leak Until August
An aide to Obama says US Spill could last until August.
Oil could gush into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP BP.L. rig until August and the U.S. government is "preparing for
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