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Meet Emma Marilyn Cohen 08.21.08, 6:00 PM ET There's a new girl in town. her name is Emma, for Electronic Municipal Market Access. She's a free online municipal bond information service from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. I have mentioned in previous columns how you can use Investinginbonds.com to track municipal bond trades. Well, this is the front end of that system--the rules board is where Investinginbonds.com gets its information--and more. Emma, at emma.msrb.org, is a giant step forward on behalf of the individual investor. It posts not only municipal bond trade data, in as real-time a form as we professionals get, but also the issuer's prospectus (which in the muni business goes under the title "official statement").

By MATT SEDENSKY – 1 day ago ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — First came the health problems. Then, unable to work, Ada Noda watched the bills pile up. And then, suffocating in debt, the 80-year-old did something she never thought she'd be forced to do. She declared bankruptcy. While the bankruptcy filing rate for those under 55 has fallen, it has soared for older Americans, according to a new analysis from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, which examined a sampling of noncommercial bankruptcies filed between 1991 and 2007. The older the age group, the worse it got — people 65 and up became more than twice as likely to file during that period, and the filing rate for those 75 and older more than quadrupled.

Grass-Roots Innovation Takes Root 08.13.08, 6:00 PM ET The next great wave of technology maybe something that you invent yourself. Really. Most of the big commercial technology companies do all they can to hide the complexity of their products under shiny tamper-proof surfaces. They believe consumers don't want to read manuals. The fewer buttons the better. Think Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ), automakers and most consumer electronics makers. But there's a subversive movement building, too, led by self-proclaimed do-it-youselfers. They want to reinvent the gadgets in their life, much like software hackers have reworked code. They don't all have expert technical skills, but they have a passionate desire to reshape technology in their own rough image. In Pictures: Eight People Inventing The Future What makes their dreams possible is easy access to open-source software, cheap microchips and wide-open collaboration on the Web. It's the manufacturing-sector version o...

Stay Cool and extend the life of your roof National Coatings - Cool Roof Systems Overview : "LIFE-CYCLE COST SAVINGS Experts also add that Cool Roof energy saving roof systems and roofing materials provide additional benefits and energy savings associated with sustainability. The highly reflective and emissive qualities of Cool Roof commercial roofing system ensure a longer life than dark-colored or aluminum-coated roofs, which often fail prematurely due to sunlight exposure. For example, beyond the energy savings that allow faster payback on roof investments, Cool Roofing Systems based on proven acrylic technology provide superior long-lasting waterproofing and avoid costly leaks. These roofs can be periodically renewed with re-coats to last decades. A commercial Cool Roofing System reduces capital and operating costs for building owners and property managers."

Is this bullish Dollar a real trend changer? UUP: Bullish Dollar ETF Captures Long-Term Momentum - Seeking Alpha : "One explanation for this rally is recent dollar intervention and changes in the U.S. International Reserve Position. The U.S. Treasury website recently reported that the Exchange Stabilization Fund sold 10 billion euros and bought dollars, a move that certainly strengthened one currency against the other. It is difficult to claim that measures like this could sustain a dollar rally—the foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, and broad measures by international banks might be curbed by inflation worries abroad. So could currency intervention be enough to cause, or sustain, a true rally in the dollar and UUP? Other possible causes of a reversal are the price of oil and falling demand in U.S. markets. In an interview on August 8, Marc Faber noted: “As a result of weak demand in the U.S. and lower imports, the demand for oil declined, and that led to a tight...

US Monetary Crisis: The Crunch Time. Set the Crash-alert Flags at Half-mast : "Sharp contractions in the money supply and recession are two spokes on the same wheel. When the money supply shrinks, there's less economic activity, and the economy slows; it's as simple as that. An article in this week's UK Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard shows that the country is sliding inexorably into the jaws of a deep recession. From the UK Telegraph: 'The US money supply has experienced the sharpest contraction in modern history, heightening the risk of a Wall Street crunch and a severe economic slowdown in coming months. Data compiled by Lombard Street Research shows that the M3 ''broad money' aggregates fell by almost $50bn in July, the biggest one-month fall since modern records began in 1959. 'Monthly data for July show that the broad money growth has almost collapsed,' said Gabriel Stein, the group's leading monetary economist.' (Am...

Collapse of M3 Spells Deflation : "Now, with the news that M3, the “broad” money supply, collapsed by $50 billion in July, we predict that the inflation story is about to go out of style. After all, how much inflation can we have if, instead of credit dollars flooding the system, they are now spiraling down the drain? Money velocity has been falling as well, and although this goes hand in hand with a deflationary contraction of the money supply, don’t hold your breath waiting to hear more about it from Brokaw et al. Money velocity is one of those topics, along with campaign finance reform, that tends to make viewers’ eyes glaze over, and that’s why such data are likely to remain shrouded in mystery, other than among economists. However, the cyclical ups and downs of money velocity are important nonetheless because" M3 - Shadow Statistics The Telegraph is reporting Sharp US money supply contraction points to Wall Street crunch ahead.

"As you can plainly see in the charts above, since their mid-May high, Fannie Mae's preferred shares (NYSE: FNM PH) are down a shocking 58.8%, falling almost as quickly as the common shares, which have lost 77% of their value. Freddie Mac's preferred shares (NYSE: FRE PK) have plunged even more: Down 65.5%. (The Freddie common shares, meanwhile, have suffered an 89.6% wash-out!) And all of this has happened just since May 15, a meager 102 days ago! All in two giant companies that were the darlings of Wall Street, the creation of Washington and supposedly among the most 'conservative' investments in the world!"

Shiller's Subprime Solutions - Forbes.com : "A general bonfire is so great a necessity that unless we can make of it an orderly and good-tempered affair in which no serious injustice is done to anyone, it will, when it comes at last, grow into a conflagration that may destroy much else as well.' So wrote John Maynard Keynes in 1919 after the disastrous Versailles peace conference. Provocateur par excellence Robert Shiller uses the passage to open his new book on the subprime mortgage crisis, The Subprime Solution: How Today's Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do About It... The analogy is as simple as it is frightening. From the start, Croesus can almost hear the flames crackling... The social fabric--the trust people have for their institutions and their investments in them; read Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ), Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ), UBS (nyse: UBS - news - people ), Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), Fannie Mae (nyse:...

Jesse's Café Américain: Jim Rogers Exclusive Interview : "the average American has no idea just how bad this financial crisis is going to get. “The next shock is going to be bigger and bigger, still,” Rogers said. “The shocks keep getting bigger because we keep propping things up … [and] bailing everyone out.”"

A very crystal clear 'suggestion' indeed. Back your markers or its game over. Jesse's Café Américain :By Kevin Hamlin Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China's central bank. "..If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic,'' Yu said in e-mailed answers to questions yesterday. ``If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system... China's $376 billion of long-term U.S. agency debt is mostly in Fannie and Freddie assets, according to James McCormack, head of Asian sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings Ltd. in Hong Kong. The Chinese government probably holds the bulk of that amount, according to McCormack."

PIMCO - Investment Outlook Bill Gross Mooooooo August 2008 : "PIMCO estimates a total of 5 trillion dollars of mortgage loans are in risky asset categories and that nearly 1 trillion dollars of cumulative losses will finally mark the gravestone of this housing bubble. The problem with writing off 1 trillion dollars from the finance industry’s cumulative balance sheet is that if not matched by capital raising, it necessitates a sale of assets, a reduction in lending or both that in turn begins to affect economic growth, creating what Mohamed El-Erian fears as a “negative feedback loop.....”"

Bank accounting games Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo and other banks are playing valuation games with "assets held to maturity". They really want to sell this garbage, but they can't except at prices that will cause them to raise more capital. From here on out, any assets banks or brokerages move to the "assets held to maturity" class is extremely suspect. Merrill Lynch (MER) set the tone for what such assets might be worth when it shocked everyone by announcing it sold CDOs at 22 cents on the dollar. The reality was much worse. Merrill Lynch actually got 5.5 cents on the dollar as noted in Ratchet Provisions Soak Merrill Lynch, Will Sink WaMu.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bleed More Red Ink : The GSE End Game? by Mike Larson 08-22-08 This week, shares of the two Government Sponsored Enterprises, or GSEs, imploded again: Fannie Mae lost 39% between last Friday and yesterday's close. Freddie Mac tanked 46%. Freddie Mac fell to its lowest in almost 18 years ... Fannie Mae to its lowest in more than 19. It's not just the common stock, either. Investors are dumping their preferred shares and they're selling off Fannie and Freddie bonds. The message from the markets is coming through loud and clear: These companies are in big, big trouble. So today, I want to focus on why this is happening, and what it means for your investments and your finances. But first, I need to provide some background on just who the heck Fannie and Freddie are ..."

USGS Coalition Homepage : "Addressing a Funding Shortfall Established by Congress as a branch of the Department of the Interior in 1879, the USGS has a truly national mission that extends beyond the boundaries of the nation’s public lands to encompass the homes of all citizens through natural hazards monitoring, drinking-water studies, biological and geological resource assessments, and other activities. The USGS has nearly 400 offices, located across the nation in every state. To aid in its interdisciplinary investigations, the USGS works with over 2,000 federal, state, local, and private agencies..." The USGS budget has declined in real dollars for seven consecutive years and it would decline for a eighth year if the FY 2009 budget request is enacted. Real funding for the USGS is at its lowest level since 1996, as can be seen in the accompanying chart. The decline in funding for the USGS would have been even greater if Congress had not repeatedly restored proposed budget c...

Energy Savings from EnerNOC's Energy Efficiency Solution Qualify as Renewable Energy Source : "Connecticut has mandated that by 2010, 14 percent of electricity used in the state be obtained from renewable sources. By 2020, the minimum requirement nearly doubles to 27 percent. Class III RECs in Connecticut include a number of demand-side measures, such as the installation of customer-sited CHP systems, electricity savings from conservation and load management efforts, and systems that recover waste heat or pressure from commercial and industrial processes. These credits can be traded on the open market. “With aggressive federal legislation pending aimed at reducing our nation’s carbon footprint, businesses and institutions need to take a proactive role to plan for their energy future. EnerNOC is committed to helping our customers meet the evolving requirements of energy legislation in ways that are cost-effective and deliver significant financial as well as environmental benefi...

American Centrifuge Project Creating Thousands of U.S. Jobs : "USEC is deploying the American Centrifuge Plant to provide the dependable, long-term, U.S.-owned nuclear fuel production capability needed to support the country’s current nuclear power plants as well as those expected to be built in the future. As America’s only commercial uranium enrichment facility using U.S.-owned centrifuge technology, the American Centrifuge Plant will play an important role in America’s energy security and national security. USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants." Norton's comment: I am betting on this stock (USU) and nuclear energy being in the mix for America's energy future. If we start recycling nuclear waste, we can cut way down on the 20,000 year waste disposal problem. As I understand it, the waste from nuclear energy plants is not "weapons grade" and therefore cannot be used by the bla...

Stage two of the gold bull market is just beginning :: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard : "What we are about to see is a race to the bottom by the world's major currencies as each tries to devalue against others in a beggar-thy-neighbour policy to shore up exports, or indeed simply because they have to cut rates frantically to stave off the consequences of debt-deleveraging and the risk of an outright Slump. When that happens - if it is not already happening - it will become clear that the both pillars of the global monetary system are unstable, infested with the dry rot of excess debt... The Fed has already invoked Article 13 (3) - the "unusual and exigent circumstances" clause last used in the Great Depression - to rescue Bear Stearns. The US Treasury has since had to shore up Fannie and Freddie, the world's two biggest financial institutions. Europe's turn will come next. We will discover that Europe cannot conduct such rescues. There is no lender of last resort in...

The 2 MW solar system will supply Denver’s airport with 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually WorldWater & Solar Technologies Announces Second Quarter Results : "Our current contracts in progress include Ocean City, Windsor, and Contra Costa, along with the aforementioned Denver airport and Valley Center. Our Denver installation will be dedicated on August 19, prior to the Democratic Convention, and many political leaders are expected to attend this significant achievement. The 2 MW solar system will supply Denver’s airport with 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually." Norton's comment: Invest now in this promsing company. I have. (WWAT)

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: M3 Contraction - The Future Is Now : "M3 Contraction - The Future Is Now The Telegraph is reporting Sharp US money supply contraction points to Wall Street crunch ahead. The US money supply has experienced the sharpest contraction in modern history, heightening the risk of a Wall Street crunch and a severe economic slowdown in coming months. US Dollar Data compiled by Lombard Street Research shows that the M3 ''broad money' aggregates fell by almost $50bn (£26.8bn) in July, the biggest one-month fall since modern records began in 1959. 'Monthly data for July show that the broad money growth has almost collapsed,' said Gabriel Stein, the group's leading monetary economist."

Mortgage applications drop 61 percent - Sacramento Business Journal: : "Even as housing prices drop across the country, fewer people appear close to buying a home. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that the volume of mortgage applications fell last week to the lowest level in almost eight years. Additionally, the group says applications are down 61 percent from this year's peak in February. The decline in new home construction is a major factor in the drop in activity, the association says. On top of that, fewer people are refinancing existing mortgages. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce said construction of new homes and apartments in July fell to the lowest level in more than 17 years."

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares plummet - Forbes.com : "The Barron's report said the government is likely to buy preferred stock in the companies, wiping out common shareholders. Paulson has declined to comment on whether a rescue is imminent" Nortons comment: I dont think promises of a govt bailout can convince the market so the reality of tax payer money being used to cover this is more likely now. Where is the intelligence from our congressional representatives. No willpower in the face of an administration that has easily usurped the power for the legislative body in the name of patriotism and avoiding panic for their lack on discipline in regulating the market appropriately.

Russia's Rise August 20, 2008 by Ken Silverstein Energybiz Insider The Free World triumphed during the Cold War. But the central antagonist in that conflict has risen once more as a global energy titan that is determined to regain respect... Indeed, the 1,100 mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline circumvents both Russia and Iran and is used to supply about 1 percent of the world's daily oil needs. The line, long a contention between Russia and Georgia, has not been damaged during the battle. But Russian-led Georgian separatists have threatened to sabotage it... With war and political turmoil plaguing the Middle East, Russia and some other nations of the former Soviet Union have become increasingly attractive as a source for oil and gas. And in those areas, reserves remain plentiful. Many Europeans say that Russia needs the revenues from selling its natural gas as much as they need those supplies. They maintain that the former Communist state is as reliable of a partner as the nat...

Write your Senator to get these residential Tax Credits renewed for 2008 and forward! H.R. 5351: Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 (GovTrack.us)

Four Ways to Keep Cool in a Nervous Market - Seeking Alpha : "2. A lion's share of my investing success is credited to keeping a watchful eye on changes in cash-flow and accrual accounting (as a measure of earnings quality). This has been true for both equities and fixed income holdings. Cash-flow analysis is the first step in my investment screening process. Fundamental ratios such as ROE, ROI, P/E's, Price-to-Sales are important, but meaningless if the numbers are skewed by creative or aggressive accounting methods. The model we use is a variation of a method known as 'dual cash-flow' analysis....."

YouTube - Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex. SEE THIS AND WEEP. WE ARE REAPING WHAT WE HAVE SAWED............our gun peddlers are peddling our high tech weapons around the world now. These are the corporate special interests that have perverted our democratic dreams in the name of greed and self distruction. We must work from local activism to turn our dreams around or we will become a footnote in history as quickly as you can say Roman Empire!

Pentagon can't find $2.3 trillion, wasting trillions on 'national defense' By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Last update: 7:27 p.m. EDT Aug. 18, 2008 (MarketWatch) -- Yes, America's economy is a war economy. Not a "manufacturing" economy. Not an "agricultural" economy. Nor a "service" economy. Not even a "consumer" economy. Seriously, I looked into your eyes, America, saw deep into your soul. So let's get honest and officially call it "America's Outrageous War Economy." Admit it: we secretly love our war economy. And that's the answer to Jim Grant's thought-provoking question last month in the Wall Street Journal -- "Why No Outrage?" There really is only one answer: Deep inside we love war. We want war. Need it. Relish it. Thrive on war. War is in our genes, deep in our DNA. War excites our economic brain. War drives our entrepreneurial spirit. War thrills the American soul. Oh just admit it, w...

Market Dispatches - MSN Money : "By Charley Blaine and Elizabeth Strott One big question on Wall Street is why the stock market hasn't reacted more to the Russian incursion into Georgia. After all, the market finished Friday and the week little changed, despite lower oil prices and a higher dollar. A closer look reveals that the conflict is affecting markets already. The Georgian situation is an understated reason for the dollar's gains against the euro and the British pound this week. The slumping European economies were probably a larger catalyst for the greenback's move."

...near an oligarchy.... by Stephen Leeb, Ph.D. Editor Complete Investor August 12, 2008 Market Forecast "...Ghoulish as it seems, this is good news for defense stocks. The defense industry in the U.S. is a near oligarchy comprised of a small handful of companies. The four largest -- Northrop, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin -- are joined by only a few smaller firms. As the situation in Georgia reminds us, this handful of companies will be increasingly vital to America's future. The only chance the U.S. has to secure its supplies of the resources necessary to maintain our economy is to keep the military strong. Therefore, money will be flowing into these stocks, and into investors pockets. As for the price of oil..." Norton's comment: This is not the America I was born into or want to live in! We must make a difference and be active as citizens or our silence will let those in power who are gutting our democratic ways and resources for the sake o...

US foreclosure filings surge 55 percent - Forbes.com : "As foreclosures soar, banks and mortgage investors are also facing a pileup of foreclosed properties on their books and are cutting prices dramatically. RealtyTrac noted that it had more than 750,000 foreclosed homes in its database of properties for sale, equal to about 17 percent of the 4.5 million U.S. homes that were up for sale in June. To speed up the disposition of the 54,000 foreclosed properties it owns, Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) is opening offices in California and Florida and is considering selling those properties in bulk to investors. 'I do not think this is a time to be holding onto (foreclosed properties) hoping for a better day,' CEO Daniel Mudd said last week."

Bringing Sunlight Inside -- Mechanical Engineers Create High-tech Solar Panels : "The new system uses high-tech solar-concentrator technology and advanced materials. The full-size prototype will be incorporated into a new building at The Center of Excellence in Syracuse, New York. HOW IT WORKS: The key breakthrough is the miniaturized concentrator solar cell, which uses a lens with concentric grooves to focus collected light. Even though it is only the size of a postage stamp -- compared to the usual solar collector area that spans 4 x 4 feet -- the cell is much more efficient in collecting and reusing solar energy. The lens focuses incoming sunlight onto the solar cell. Microchannels at the base of the module transfer energy in the form of heat and light to wires contained inside. Each vertical stack of lenses rolls and tilts like a track blind, keeping the surface of the lenses faced to incoming sunlight as the sun changes position in the sky throughout the day. Incorporating th...

Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source : "Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source ScienceDaily (Aug. 14, 2008) — Anyone who has walked barefoot across a parking lot on a hot summer day knows that blacktop is exceptionally good at soaking up the sun’s warmth. Now, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has found a way to use that heat-soaking property for an alternative energy source."

Geography Lesson - future of Georgia's independence Oil ends below $115 in tug of war with supply, demand concerns - MarketWatch : "Geography lesson In regard to the conflict in Georgia, 'the strategic consequences far outweigh the short-term implications for oil prices,' said James Williams, an economist at WTRG Economics. 'While South Ossetia has generally fallen into the Russian sphere of influence and there is a certain logic to the Russian invasion of Ossetia, it appears that the Russians are not satisfied with that conquest and have recently taken Gori to the southeast of Tskhinvali the capital of South Ossetia,' he said in emailed comments. 'That means they have covered about 40% of the distance between Tskhinvali and the Georgian capita Tbilisi,' he explained. 'This is undisputed Georgian territory and the strongest indicator yet that Russia may intend to occupy all of Georgia.' Williams also points out that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipel...

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Currency Intervention And Other Conspiracies : "There is one more point I want to mention about the US dollar. There is a secular shift underway in the US from consumption to saving. The word that best describes this is 'frugality'. An frugality is very dollar supportive. And it was Professor Kevin Depew who coined the phrase It's Cool to Be Frugal. I commented on frugality at great length in The Future Is Frugality. Inquiring minds will certainly want to take a look. Here's the deal for dollar bears: The dollar rallied because it was damn good and ready to rally. Those with their eyes open spotted fundamental reasons in advance. Those who did not, blamed intervention. Mike 'Mish' Shedlock"

Oil up as Georgia conflict disrupts shipments - Forbes.com : "'The military conflict in Georgia is the key factor in pushing up oil prices this morning,' said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. 'There is also some degree of a technical rebound after oil's sharp fall on Friday.' The conflict over South Ossetia has prompted the suspension of shipments of Azeri crude oil and refined fuel from two of Georgia's ports, Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR said on Saturday.(On the Balck Sea) Kazakhstan also stopped shipments of its crude from Georgia's Batumi. Neither Azerbaijan nor Kazakhstan rely on Georgian ports for their exports as both also use crude pipelines."

Worthless AAA CDO's Hit National Bank of Australia, 90% Debt Writedowns :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website : "Over at Nouriel Roubini's blog, Dr. Doom made this observation about the Merrill Lynch's troubles: 'Merrill Lynch's decision to 'sell' a good chunk of its remaining CDOs at 22 cents to the dollar has been widely praised as the firm finally recognizing the full extent of its losses on these toxic instruments. This batch of $30.6 billion of CDOs was already marked down to $11.1 billion. Now with the 'sale' of it to Lone Star at a price of 6.7 billion Merrill Lynch is taking another $4.4 billion write-down and 'selling' it at 22% of the original face value. But is this a market-based 'sale'? No way, calling this transaction a 'sale' is a joke.' (Nouriel Roubini's Global EconoMonitor) This isn't a 'sale'; it's more like abandoning a sinking ship. T...

Russian counter attack on Georgian oil pipeline territory! Oil Market Remains Vulnerable - WSJ.com : "LONDON -- Though demand for fuels is eroding fast, especially in the U.S., the global oil market remains tight, susceptible to sudden external shocks able to arrest the recent downdraft in prices. One such disruption -- a fire on a critical pipeline through Turkey -- is imperiling the flow of Caspian oil to global markets. The explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or BTC, pipeline helped drive U.S. crude prices up, reversing a four-week slide. In midday trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for September delivery was up $1.22 a barrel at $119.80."

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Jesse's Café Américain : "The credit crisis was caused by a long period of negative short term interest rates, excessive money supply growth, reckless credit expansion, insufficient reserves and over leverage. The regulatory process became hopelessly ineffective and co-opted. Key safeguards that had been in place since the 1930's were brought down through conscious and well-funded lobbying. The banks think that they have established the principle that if they over borrow enough, if they are reckless enough, if they expand enough, they become 'too big to fail' and their losses will be borne by the taxpayers and all holders of the currency, while they keep their personal profits and bonuses. The Fed would like to introduce some 'turbo-charging' to that money-printing machine, cry 'Fiat!' and unleash the dogs of leveraged credit expansion and monetary inflation. This is going to be interesting...."

Jesse's Café Américain : Thursday August 7, 12:05 pm ET Citigroup returning billions to investors, paying fine in deals over auction securities "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. will buy back more than $7 billion in auction-rate securities and pay $100 million in fines as part of settlements with federal and state regulators announced Thursday. Citigroup will buy back the securities from tens of thousands of investors nationwide under separate accords with the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and other state regulators. The buybacks will have to be completed by November."

We know why! From Eric G. Lewis, a freelance cartoonist living in Orange County, CA. By: PAUL JACKSON August 7, 2008 Looking past the usual National Association of Realtors‘ spin, pending home sales actually fell during June, relative to year-ago levels; the group’s widely-watched home sales index fell to 89.0, off more than 12 percent compared to the 101.4 registered one year ago. The June results represented a 5.3 jump from year-ago levels, although monthly data is not seasonally-adjusted, making monthly comparisons somewhat meaningless. The NAR, however, touted the monthly gain as evidence of a coming “broad-based” housing recovery.

Making sense of the Stocks Bear Market- Round Table: The Market Oracle: : a commentary about finding a bottom in the bear market by William Thomson , Chairman of Private Capital Limited, Hong Kong and adviser to Axiom Alternative Funds, London August 1, 2008 "As we have seen with the putative bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; if nationalization goes ahead the US visible national debt increases by $5 trillion and is effectively double. The US would no longer qualify to join the Euro!..."

Apocalypse Down Under: Aussie bank’s write-offs signal doom for Wall Street : "National Australia Bank (NAB) announced it would “slash a £400m bond sale by two thirds. The retreat comes days after the Melbourne lender shocked the markets by announcing a 90pc write-down on its £550m holdings of US mortgage debt, an admission that it AAA-rated securities are virtually worthless. . . . The decision by National Australia Bank to make drastic provisions on its US mortgage debt could have ramifications in the US itself. It opted for a 100pc write-off on a clutch of ‘senior strips’ of collateralized debt obligations (CDO) worth £450m -- even though they were all rated AAA.” (Ambrose Evans Pritchard, “Australia faces worse crisis than America,” UK Telegraph)"

Dont bother with off shore oil or punishing the trading speculators! Invest in new infrastructure for renewable energies! NOW!!!! Why Does Gas Cost $4 or More a Gallon? - washingtonpost.com

The Big Picture | Roubini: $2 Trillion in Debt Losses : "Nouriel Roubini: Barron's: Unfortunately for the rest of us, you have a pretty good track record. How much more misery lies ahead? Roubini: We are in the second inning of a severe, protracted recession, which started in the first quarter of this year and is going to last at least 18 months, through the middle of next year. A systemic banking crisis will go on for awhile, with hundreds of banks going belly up. Which banks, specifically, will fail? I don't want to name names, but many, given the housing bust, will become insolvent. Their losses are mounting because they have written down only their subprime loans so far. They haven't started writing down most of their consumer-credit losses, and reserves for losses are much less than they should have been. The banks are playing all sorts of accounting gimmicks not to recognize them. There are hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding in home-equity loans that eve...

New York’s finances | In a state of shock | Economist.com : "IT HAS been 33 years since the headline “Ford to City: DROP DEAD” was on the front page of the Daily News, but it has not been forgotten by New Yorkers. At the time, New York was on the brink of bankruptcy. The city defaulted on some bonds and owed $5 billion. One in five of all city jobs (including police ones) were eventually eliminated. The city closed several firehouses. But Gerald Ford was unhelpful. Now, because of Wall Street’s ongoing meltdown, another fiscal crisis appears imminent, this time at state level. Costs are rising and revenues are falling fast. In June 2007 the 16 banks that pay the most taxes on their profits remitted $173m to the state treasury. Last month this dropped to $5m, a 97% decrease. This is a frightening fall given how much the state’s coffers rely on Wall Street taxes: 20% of all state revenues come from financial companies..."

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Not Practical To Tell The Truth : "The Financial Accounting Standards Board postponed a measure, opposed by Citigroup Inc. and the securities industry, forcing banks to bring off-balance-sheet assets such as mortgages and credit-card receivables back onto their books. FASB, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based panel that sets U.S. accounting standards, voted 5-0 today to delay the rule change until fiscal years starting after Nov. 15, 2009. The board needs to give financial institutions more time to prepare for the switch, FASB member Thomas Linsmeier said at a board meeting. 'We need to get a new standard into effect,' Linsmeier said, though 'it's not practical' to begin requiring companies to put assets underlying securitizations onto their books this year...... Merrill Lynch Sells CDOs at 5.5 cents on the dollar On July 29th it was reported that Merrill Lynch "raised capital" by selling CDOs. See Ratchet Provisi...

IndyMac Bancorp files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy | Quotes | Company News | Reuters : "By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - IndyMac Bancorp Inc IDMC.PK, once one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders, has filed for bankruptcy protection, less than three weeks after being seized by federal regulators following a bank run by depositors. The Pasadena, California-based company filed for Chapter 7 protection on Thursday with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Los Angeles, indicating it plans to liquidate. IndyMac expects the court to appoint a bankruptcy trustee promptly."