http://democracynow.org – Extended web-only interview with Raymond
Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. The group just issued the
report, “An Economy …
We have previously shown just how bad the situation in the US heavy
trucking space - trucks with a gross weight over 33K pounds - was most
recently in "US Trucking Has Not Been This Bad Since The Financial Crisis"
in which we looked at November data and found, that "Class 8 truck net
orders at 16,475, were 59% below a year ago and the lowest level since
September 2012. This was the weakest November order activity
since 2009 and was a major disappointment, coming in significantly below
expectations. All of the OEMs, except one, experienced unusually low orders for the month."
For those who missed the proverbial wheels falling of the heavy trucks, so to speak, the charts below do the situation justice:
So with 2015 in the history books, and as we start 2016 where the
base effect was supposed to make the annual comps far more palatable, we
just got the latest, January data. In short: the drop continues to be
one of Great Recession proportions, manifesting in yet another massive
48% collapse in truck orders in the first month of the year as demand
appears to have gone in a state of deep hibernation. From Reuters:
U.S. January Class 8 truck orders fell 48 percent on the year,
preliminary data from freight transportation forecaster FTR showed,
indicating that 2016 could be another weak year for truck makers.
FTR estimated that orders for the heavy trucks that move
goods around America's highways totaled 18,062 units in January. This
follows on from a full-year decline in 2015 of nearly 25 percent to
284,000 units from 276,000. "It is not looking to be a strong year," for the market, FTR chief operating officer Jonathan Starks said in a statement.
Amid uncertainty over U.S. economic growth and a lackluster performance for retailers in the fourth quarter, trucking companies have been holding back on buying new models
As a reminder, unlike trains, which one can say are used to transport
oil and coal, Class 8 trucks make up the backbone of U.S. trade
infrastructure and logistics: what they represent is both domestic and
global trade. Or in this the devastating collapse thereof.
Should one be concerned by this precipitous drop? Absolutely not: as
the Federal Reserve would certainly say "it's probably nothing" and
blame it on the weather.
Some brushed it off, saying one
should never look at gross derivative exposure but merely net, to which
we had one simple response: net immediately becomes gross when just one
counterparty in the collateral chains fails – case in point, the Lehman
and AIG failures and the resulting scramble to bailout the entire world
which cost trillions in taxpayer funds.
With European banks sitting at multiyear lows, one widely followed
market watcher said some of the biggest ones could go bankrupt.
Former hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs alumnus Raoul Pal said
his scenario is one most investors aren’t looking at right now.
Pal said the banking issues have the potential to overtake risks associated with China’s growth slowdown and cheap oil.
“So many of these [bank stocks] are falling so sharply. I think
people haven’t even caught up with what is going on, and that really
concerns me,” the founder of Global Macro Investor told CNBC’s “Fast Money”
on Tuesday. “I look at the big long-term share charts of them, and I
think this looks very terrifying indeed. I have not seen anything like
this for a long time.”
For Pal, negative interest rates are the chief reason why the bank
stocks are in trouble. He said European banks have a tougher time coping
in the environment than U.S. banks. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/03/european-banks-near-terrifying-crisis-raoul-pal.html
Kyle Bass – China banks months away from ‘danger territory’ China’s banking system has grown to $34.5 trillion, more
than three times the country’s GDP. The country is due for a loss cycle
as cracks begin to show in its economy. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/03/kyle-bass-china-banks-months-away-from-danger-territory.html UBS Bank Shares Plunge As Rich Investors Withdraw Money
Swiss bank UBS saw its shares slide on Tuesday on news that investors
had pulled billions out of its division serving wealthy clients http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SWITZERLAND_EARNS_UBS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME%26TEMPLATE=DEFAULT%26CTIME=2016-02-02-06-56-54
Some brushed it off, saying one should never look at gross derivative
exposure but merely net, to which we had one simple response: net
immediately becomes gross when just one counter party in the collateral
chains fails – case in point, the Lehman and AIG failures and the
resulting scramble to bailout the entire world which cost trillions in
taxpayer funds.
We then followed it up one year later with “The Elephant In The Room:
Deutsche Bank’s $75 Trillion In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than
German GDP.” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-28/elephant-room-deutsche-banks-75-trillion-derivatives-20-times-greater-german-gdp
Then, just last June, we asked the most pointed question yet: “Is
Deutsche Bank The Next Lehman?” only this time it wasn’t just the bank’s
gargantuan balance sheet risk shown below…
And let us not forget our domino friend :)
ISSUES:
•In order to have standing, must a party seeking to foreclose have an
interest in both the mortgage and the promissory note, or just an
interest in either the note or the mortgage?
•When a promissory note is discharged in bankruptcy, does a party
seeking to foreclose only need to show it has an interest in the
mortgage to have standing, or must it have both an interest in the note
and mortgage?
Oh look! Another ($3.1 billion) lawsuit against Deutsche Bank:
From Reuters at 4:33 EST today: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-deutsche-bank-lawsuit-idUSKCN0VC2NY
Per Saumya Vaishampayan at the WSJ blog today at 3:30 EST: “Puts protecting against a 33% fall in U.S.-listed Deutsche Bank
shares by April were particularly popular Wednesday. Analysts at
Susquehanna Financial Group characterized the trading in Deutsche Bank
options as “crash put buying.”
Look out below. The banks are the Elephants in the Room
They got the exposures. The Primary Exposures. Then the derivatives.
Then the derivatives on the derivatives. And the counter-party risk on
counter-party risks and NO NOTHING OFFSETS/NETS because each contract is
a one off. (Well, for all intents and purposes)
There are the beys. The best on the bets. The leveraged bets on the
bets. The leveraged leveraged bets on the bets that are leveraged with
all sorts of untold counter-party risks inside each of the bets.
Good Luck and Good Night
BTW. A bud of mine. Semi-retired senior guy at a major WS firm.
He’s exposed. Big time. To the firm and his own portfolio. He’s
scared to death and perhaps near paralysis. And this is a guy who knows
what the fucks going on. Greed, hubris, denial and so on. The bad
stuff happens slowly at first, nobody believes it. It accelerates… it’s
transitory. Pretty soon, serious damage is done. Then it appears too
late accompanied by hope… empty hope …. And after a while nights become
sleepless. People become irritable and irrational.
Get safe The best portfolio is the safest portfolio. The safest
portfolio is a boring portfolio. Take the day off. Go golfing or see a
movie. Watch the world closely. Walk through a mall… look at how the
traffic is and how many are carrying packages. Breathe in the air.
Meditate. Let it go. You’re safe and will be whole. You’re being
taken care of.
(Examiner) – Last Friday, Japan was the first major economy to cross
the ‘Rubicon’ by implementing negative interest rates (NIRP) in an
attempt to force their people to spend, and slow deflation as the 3rd
largest economy moves into recession. However, in this Japan is not an
island, with several other nations already preparing to do the same to
protect their diminishing economies.And in all of this there is one
surprising country that appears to also be preparing for NIRP as on Feb.
3, coalition group of German legislators introduced a bill to limit the
use of cash, and to ban the use of the 500 Euro bill in personal and
non-bank transactions.
The significance of this is that when a central bank implements
policies that make holding your money in a bank a liability, then the
natural recourse is for depositors and account holders to simply take it
out and move their wealth into assets that are either outside their
nation’s currency, or into commodities such as gold and silver which
provide no benefit to an economy that desperately needs its people to
spend and create inflation and growth.
Not surprisingly, US bank stocks are getting whacked. As of 9am on Wednesday Feb 3:
Bank of America (BAC) stands out as especially cringe-worthy, having
fallen from north of $18 per share to below $13 in just a few weeks:
What does all this mean? The broad-strokes answer is that these huge,
nearly-omnipotent entities that have dominated and defined the world’s
economic and political landscape may finally be receding towards a more
reasonable level of power. One way to gauge this is by the rhetoric
coming out of the current presidential candidates, all of whom have
decided that it’s not just safe, but profitable to bash Wall Street.
Dimon, Blankfein, et al are clearly not the bullies they once were.
More immediately it means there’s a new black swan in the sky. As a
group the world’s biggest banks are leveraged to an extent that probably
has the authors of the Glass-Steagall Act
spinning in their graves. The notional value of their over-the-counter
derivatives books dwarfs the global economy, while their exposure to
now-moribund sections of the oil and gas industry guarantees massive
write-offs in the year ahead. The question isn’t whether the big banks
will report huge losses, but whether one of them will be destroyed in
the process, giving us another Lehman Moment.
So, sure, they’re still looking
pretty good when compared to the oil and gas industry, which is in a
depression, laying off well-paid people, from director-level engineers
to roughnecks. Contractors are out of work. Revenues are plunging.
Losses are piling up. Cash is running out. Bankruptcies and debt
restructurings are now a common occurrence. The junk-bond bubble that
funded the US drilling boom is imploding. Banks are starting to
recognize losses on their loans. But the sector has been through this
before. It’s temporary. When the price of oil rises again, the survivors
and new players will thrive, hire, and expand.
That’s not the case with brick-and-mortar retailers.
But it’s a slow process. Some bigger operations have already gone
bankrupt recently or have defaulted on their debts. Junk bonds that fund
much of the industry are swooning. Liquidity is drying up. And many
private equity firms that bought these retailers during boom times and
loaded them up with debt are now stuck with them [Defaults and Restructuring Next for Retailers].
Among the list of brick-and-mortar retailers to warn of crummy
holiday sales is luxury jeweler and specialty retailer Tiffany and
Company. It reported
this morning that sales during the holiday period fell 3% on a
constant-currency basis: 5% in the Americas and 6% in the Asia-Pacific
region. Sales at stores that were open at least a year dropped 5%. And
it lowered its guidance.
So it will do what American companies do best: There will be an
undisclosed number of job cuts, and there will be “occupancy reductions”
at its corporate office. This cost cutting will cost the company about 4
cents per share in the current quarter.
Shares fell 5.1% today to $64.22. They’ve plunged 41% from their all-time high of $108.68 at the end of December 2014.
Scrambling to not fall too far behind reality, analysts unleashed a
hail of downgrades, including Cowen & Co. which slashed its price
target from $90 to $75 and Nomura which chopped it from $100 to $90.
Tiffany is selling to the privileged, to the beneficiaries of QE’s
“wealth effect” in the US and around the globe. It’s selling to people
who benefited from the astounding debt-funded booms in Asia and
elsewhere over the past few years. Has the recent stock market rout
dented their purchasing power, or their willingness to splurge?
Tiffany blamed the “pressure from the strong US dollar”; it blamed
“foreign tourist spending” at its stores in the US; it blamed
“restrained consumer spending tied to challenging and uncertain global
economic conditions.”
But this has been Tiffany’s song and dance for a while. A year
ago, on January 12, 2015, Tiffany’s shares plunged 14% and three days
later hit the $85-range, down 21% from their all-time high two weeks
earlier.
The problem back then? It had reported
lousy holiday sales; it had lowered its outlook; it had blamed
“significant headwinds from the stronger US dollar” along with “other
global economic pressures.” Copy and paste.
But wait… Stock markets were booming back then. The China bubble was
in full swing. Asian millionaires were printed on an hourly basis.
European stocks were on steroids. Even the S&P 500 was still
trudging toward its high.
But it’s been getting tougher for brick-and-mortar retailers, and a
slew of them warned since November that holiday sales would be crummy,
and some warned more recently that holiday sales were in fact crummy.
Some, including Gap and Wal-Mart, are shuttering some of their stores.
Tiffany faces some jewelry-industry issues: “Jewelry is no longer at
the top of the Christmas list,” Neil Saunders, CEO of research firm
Conlumino, wrote in a note to clients, cited by Business Insider. “For a brand like Tiffany, where lavish gifting is an important driver of buying, such a trend is distinctly unhelpful.”
There are Tiffany-specific issues, including that it faces a “more
competitive environment for jewelry and the rise of other brands,”
Saunders said. “Against this backdrop Tiffany has lost some of its
relevance, especially to more moderate-spending shoppers.”
Then there are issues all retailers struggle with: Millennials, the
largest demographic these days, tend to spend more on experiences and
less on things, including expensive baubles. And retailers are facing
strung-out American consumers. But Tiffany isn’t actually targeting
strung-out consumers. It’s targeting the wealthy.
And here’s the problem for all our beleaguered brick-and-mortar
retailers: online sales this holiday season jumped 12.7% to a record $83
billion, Adobe Systems reported
today. And when push came to shove right before Christmas, with
delivery perhaps uncertain, the buy-online-pick-up-in-store option
kicked in. So it’s not like Americans have stopped shopping. They might
shop a tad less, but they’re shopping increasingly online.
That’s a structural problem that is gnawing its way into all
retailers’ earnings reports. It will never go away. It will only get
worse. So they drag out the “strong dollar,” “global headwinds,” “warm
weather,” or whatever other less indigestible excuses they can find. And
companies can simply copy and paste last year’s excuses into the next
earnings warning rather than admitting that online sales are gradually
but relentlessly eating their lunch.
So with impeccable timing – the very morning the Commerce Department
reported declining retail sales – Wal-Mart Stores disclosed in an SEC
filing that it was “committed to growing,” but was “being disciplined
about it.” Read…Wal-Mart Rubs Salt on Deepening Retail Wounds
Royal Bank of Scotland
warns his clients for a “cataclysmic year”, a deflationary global crisis
with oil down to $16 a barrel and a stock market correction with a
fifth. J.P. Morgan advises for the first time in 7 years to sell shares
on the bounce instead of buy the dip.
RBS credit team sais all alarm bells are ringing. They see the same stress alerts before the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008. They said in a client note:
“Sell everything except high quality bonds. This is
about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit
doors are small,”
Both global trade and loans are contracting, a nasty cocktail for
corporate balance sheets and equity earnings, and uncharted waters given
that debt ratios have reached record highs. China is ready for a huge correction and it will snowball the rest of the world.
Brent oil prices will continue to slide after breaking through a key
technical level at $34.40, with a “bear flag” and “Fibonacci” signals
pointing to a floor of $16. OPEC doesn’t seem to find the answer to the economic slowdown in Asia.
Beside oil prices, bond rates will also fall to new
lows. RBS predicts a 0,16% rate on the German Bund in a flight to
safety. Negative rates on the 10-year Bund is even possible when
deflation persist. And the ECB will lower short-term rate to -0,70%
in an attempt to fight deflation.
US Treasuries will fall to rock-bottom levels in sympathy, hammering
hedge funds that have shorted US bonds in a very crowded
“reflation trade”.
J.P. Morgan: selling shares on the rally
J.P. Morgan also send a note to his clients advising to sell stocks on any bounce. This is the first time in 7 years they advise selling shares:
“Our view is that the risk-reward for equities has
worsened materially. In contrast to the past seven years, when we
advocated using the dips as buying opportunities, we believe the regime
has transitioned to one of selling any rally,” said Mislav Matejka, an
equity strategist at J.P. Morgan.
There are not only technical issues for the stock market, but also
fundamental reason to sell. Fourth quarter results will probably be the
worst since the financial crisis. They won’t save the stock market this
time.
Further adding to the grim outlook is the slowdown in the
manufacturing sector, which pushed J.P. Morgan’s profit-margin proxy — the gap between pricing power and the wage costs — into negative territory in the fourth quarter for the first time since 2008.
The positive correlation between oil prices and earnings on top of
the sustained gains in the U.S. dollar — which has an inverse
correlation to results — will also weigh on the market.
(Jeff Nielson)
I spend most of my time dealing with U.S. economic lies simply because
it’s much easier to make my analytical points. There is a lot more
data, it’s splashed all over the place, and (usually) the lies are even
bigger South of the Border, which makes the analytical point more vivid.
However, in the month of December, the prices for fresh produce (in
Vancouver) spiked in the month of December at the highest rate I have
ever seen in my life, almost across the board. Prices rose for most
fresh produce by between 10% and 30% IN ONE MONTH, with some of the prices increase even larger.
– broccoli from $3/lb to $4/lb, a 33% increase (at the cheaper supermarkets)
– celery from $2/lb to $3/lb, a 50% increase
– strawberries from $4/lb to $8/lb, a 100% increase
But we’re used to seeing inflation numbers expressed as annualized
figures, so let’s convert those monthly numbers to annual numbers
broccoli – 400% inflation
celery – 600% inflation
strawberries – 1200% inflation
Now obviously I do not expect the numbers to rise again next month,
or even the month after. So I won’t go “Chicken Little” here, and claim
that hyperinflation has already arrived in Canada. But, the food
inflation rate in Canada is rising EXPONENTIALLY, overall. It was
roughly 20% per year, then roughly 30% per year, and (with even one or
two more price-shocks) we could easily be looking at a FOOD INFLATION RATE in CANADA of 50%.
Now the lies:
Cost of food in Canada increased 3.70 percent in December of 2015
over the same month in the previous year. Food Inflation in Canada
averaged 3.98 percent from 1951 until 2015, reaching an all time high of
20.18 percent in July of 1978 and a record low of -7.14 percent in
December of 1952. Food Inflation in Canada is reported by the Statistics
Canada.
Now lets compare the lies to the Truth (as evidenced by my grocery
receipts). Even if we assume that all other grocery spending is flat,
produce spending alone accounts for a large portion of every shopping
dollar.
I’ve gotten to know the manager quite well, at the supermarket where I
do most of my shopping. He tells me that I’m not alone in having
switched away from chemical-filled, GMO-polluted packaged foods, and
that a large portion of shoppers now exhibit that similar pattern. From
watching other shoppers, I think it’s relatively safe to say that those
who do not shop in this pattern are either older people (set in their
ways) or people who are simply too poor to shop healthier.
For a produce-heavy food basket, in Vancouver, in the month of
December, overall prices rose at least 10% (and looking at my own
grocery bills, it was more likely 15%). We’re forced to eat more fruits
and vegetables, because of EXPONENTIALLY RISING MEAT PRICES. Thus an explosion in prices for fresh produce will have a major impact on most (healthy) shoppers.
Even a 10% rise (in one month) translates to an annual, overall, food inflation rate in December of 120%. And it’s hard to believe that prices were not rising at a similar rate in much/most of Canada. Now back to the lies.
Cost of food in Canada increased 3.70 percent in December of 2015…reaching an all time high of 20.18 percent in July of 1978.
120% versus 3.7%That is a Big Lie. It just goes to show that in 2016, we here in Canada can now lie like the Americans…
Linux Mint 17.3 is the best Linux desktop operating system and it might be the best PC operating system, period, for you.
My buddy David Gewirtz recently wrote about the question of whether you should move from Windows 7 to Windows 10 or a Mac. I have another suggestion: Linux. Specifically Linux Mint 17.3, Rosa, with the Cinnamon desktop. Linux Mint 17.3 is a great replacement for Windows 7. In fact, it's a great desktop operating system period.
sjvn
Yes,
I'm serious. I use all the above desktops -- yes I'm a Windows 7 and 10
user as well as a Linux guy -- and for people I think Mint 17.3 makes a
great desktop.
I've been using Mint as my main Linux desktop for years now. Unlike some desktops I could name -- cough, Windows 8,
cough -- Linux Mint has never had a flop. Every year that goes by, this
operating system keeps getting better. The other desktops? Not so much.
Let's take a closer look.at Windows 7 vs. Linux Mint 17.3 UI Differences
There's really not much. While it's even easier for a Windows XP user to move to Mint
than a Windows 7 user, any Windows user won't have any trouble picking
up Linux Mint with Cinnamon. There's a Start Menu and settings are easy
to find.
I regard Cinnamon 2.8
as the ultimate Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer (WIMP) interface. Is it
ideal for tablets or smartphones? No. Is it perfect for long-time PC
users? Yes.
Cinnamon does add some nice features. For example, if
you mouse over the Window list, you'll now see a thumbnail for each
application. It also has improved performance, system tray status
indicators, and music and power applets.
What I like best about Cinnamon is that it doesn't get
in the way. There's no learning curve. You may have never used Linux in
your life but you can just sit down and start opening directories,
running applications, and modify your PC's settings.
One small
feature I like a lot, since I always run multiple workspaces, is that
the workspace switcher applet now shows a visual representation of
what's running in each workspace.
Don't like Cinnamon? Unlike any version of Windows, Linux Mint comes with many different desktops. These include KDE, MATE and Xfce. Find one you like and enjoy, Application Selection
It's
true that Linux doesn't have as many application choice as Windows
does. But, how many applications do you really need in 2016? I do most
of my work these days on the cloud with software-as-a-service (SaaS)
applications. These apps work just as well on Chrome, my favorite Web
browser, on Mint as they do on any other desktop.
That said, there are many excellent Linux desktop programs. For example, instead of Microsoft Office I use LibreOffice 5.
I don't use it because it's free, although most Linux desktop
applications won't cost you a cent, but because it's an excellent office
suite in its own right.
I also use Evolution instead of Outlook for e-mail and GIMP
instead of Photoshop for my basic graphic editing needs. The bottom
line is that are many great Linux programs that you can use in place of
Windows appliations.
Are there some Windows programs that you can't live without? Well, you don't have to live without them.
There are two ways to run Windows programs on Linux. One is to use CodeWeaver's CrossOver Linux. This program enables you to run many popular Windows applications on Linux. Supported Windows applications include Microsoft Office (from Office 97 to Office 2010), Quicken, and some versions of Adobe Photoshop.
The application you absolutely must have won't work with CrossOver? Then run it on a virtual machine (VM) program such as Oracle's VirtualBox.
I use both methods and they work well. Mobile Ecosystem Compatibility
I don't care what some people say, Windows Phone is dead to me. And, pretty much everyone else.
Mint,
however, is a pure desktop play. Yes, Android is Linux, but it runs in
parallel with the desktop Linux distribution. That may change as Android
creeps toward the desktop, but we're not there yet. Ubuntu, which is Mint's foundation Linux distribution, parent company Canonical
is working hard on making its same code base work on PCs, smartphones,
and tablets. So, eventually, you may be running Mint on smartphones. I'm
not holding my breath.
If you want one operating system family
on all your devices, don't waste your time -- for now -- on either Linux
or Windows. Just go ahead and buy an iPhone and a Mac and be done with
it. Reliability
This is not even a conversation.
While Windows 7 is far more stable than any other version of Windows, I haven't had Linux Mint ever -- ever -- stop working.
If you want a desktop that can take a licking and keep ticking, you want Linux, not Windows or Mac OS X. Security
Really? Do you even have to ask?
Every lousy day a new piece of Windows malware shows up. Windows is more secure than it once was, but it's still easy to bust.
Linux, on the other hand, despite the garbage you read about Linux viruses and such, is almost never sucessfully attacked.
Oh,
yes, Linux has been broken into multiple times. But, in almost every
case, the attack relies on a user with super-user priviledges working
hand in glove with an attacker to break in. If a system administrator
installs malware who's really to blame for the cracked computer? The
operasting system or the incompetent system manager? I know which one
I'd be kicking out of my office. Upgrade Cost
Windows
10 is usually free now -- even if you don't actually want it. Micrsoft
continues to find new and interesting ways to shove it down your throat
such aa making Windows 10 a recommended update.
Mint,
though, was free when it began, it's free now, and will always be free.
If you decide a particular version of Mint is the cat's meow, you can
keep using it until the bits fall off the hard drive because of rust. Switching Costs
Windows
10 can run on most newer Windows 7 systems without any fuss. On the
other hand, I can run Mint on Windows XP systems. Give me 512MBs of RAM,
and I'm in business with Mint.
Mind you, I'd much rather have
2GBs, but you really can run Mint on pretty much any hardware hiding out
in your office's back room.
The real cost will be in traning and
applications. As I mentioned earlier, however, Mint doesn't have much
of a learning curve. As for applications, almost all Linux programs are
free. If, as many offices do now, you realy on SaaS apps for producivity
you won't see one thin dime more in software migration costs. Directory Integration
What's that you say? You use Active Directory (AD) for system management and supporting it is a must? No problem.
You just install BeyondTrust's PowerBroker, formerly Likewise, and in a few minutes your Mint machines will be in your AD forest. Next question? The Bottom Line
Linux Mint is an excellent Windows 7 replacement. I've used it for years now and I've found it to be the best desktop out there.
Is it better than Windows 10? I think so. It's certainly more stable and secure.
Should
you move to it? I recommend you try it for yourself. Like all desktop
Linux distributions, it's easy to try and it's free. Just download a copy of Mint, 64-bit Cinnamon would be my pick, and install it. If you're installing Mint on a system with UEFI Secure Boot, you may have to jump through a few hoops. I say "may" because neither I nor J.A. Watson have had any trouble with it.
Once you're done, I think you'll soon find that Mint is a great replacement for Windows 7.
Anyone with no coverage is going to be hit hard this tax season.
Originally it was $95. What a great fucking scam you muslim loser. Blame
the supreme court that sold out america. HOW CAN YOU MANDATE SOMEONE
HAVING COVERAGE AND FINE THEM?
Straight from the official government website.
The fee for not having health insurance in 2016
The fee is calculated 2 different ways – as a percentage of your
household income, and per person. You’ll pay whichever is higher.
Percentage of income
2.5% of household income
Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace
Per person
$695 per adult
$347.50 per child under 18
Maximum: $2,085
Penalize people that work that can’t afford the coverage to give to
losers that sit on their ass and get the free coverage. Maybe just maybe
one day this government will collapse on the weight of their own
stupidity and corruption.
You cannot force someone to own a product, especially a govt product.
AC
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) has the largest exposure to loans to
energy companies among major U.S. lenders, a report from Raymond James
said, amid concerns that banks may have to set aside more money to cover
bad loans to the industry.
The bank also topped the list with the biggest exposure to energy
companies whose public debt was trading less than 35 percent of par, the
brokerage said on Thursday.
Wells Fargo was followed by Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Comerica Inc (CMA.N) and BB&T Corp (BBT.N).
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usbanks-research-idUSKCN0RO29220150924
West Virginia Woman Sues Wells Fargo Over Alleged Home Loan Modification Misrepresentations
In early 2015, she contacted the company about modifying her loan. At
that point, a rep for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage instructed her not to
make payments while the modification was being processed.
Relying on the information from the rep, the woman stopped payment,
while providing all necessary paperwork for the modification.
In June 2015, Wells Fargo re-sent the woman a packet requesting
duplicate documents. The following month, the woman says she began
receiving debt collection calls.
When the woman called Wells Fargo about the collection calls, she was
told that her account was mistakenly removed from the modification
program and placed in foreclosure. West Virginia Woman Sues Wells Fargo Over Alleged Home Loan Modification Misrepresentations
Wells Fargo & Co, No.3 U.S. bank by assets
* “At current price levels, we would expect to have a higher oil and gas losses in 2016.”
Morgan Stanley, No.6 U.S. bank by assets
* “We’ve seen an increase in negative marks within corporate loan book, focus is around energy.” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-21/what-big-banks-say-about-their-energy-exposure
Wells Fargo to pay $1.2 billion for bad mortgages
Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that it has agreed to pay $1.2
billion to settle a long-running suit that accused the company of
“reckless” lending and leaving a federal insurance program to pick up
the tab.
The agreement settles civil charges with the U.S. Justice Department,
two U.S. attorneys and the Department of Housing and Urban Development
The government sued Wells Fargo in 2012, accusing the U.S. mortgage
lender of engaging in “regular practice of reckless origination and
underwriting” of government-backed loans. The action was one of several
brought under the Federal False Claims Act against a lender accused of
bilking the Federal Housing Administration, which has historically
backed loans to first-time buyers and those with low incomes. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wells-fargo-to-pay-12-billion-for-bad-mortgages-2016-02-03?link=MW_home_latest_news
The US car maker is cutting costs across Europe but production workers will be spared, with admin and marketing staff hit.
Car maker Ford is to shed hundreds of jobs in the UK and Germany as part of a programme to save $200m (£138m) a year.
The group said it was launching a voluntary redundancy
programme as it looked to slash costs across its European business, in
the face of mounting regulatory costs.
It comes after Ford recently revealed that its European
operation had returned to profit for the first time in four years in
2015.
Production and product development workers will not be
affected by the job cuts. The company said they were mainly likely to go
in administration and marketing.
Ford no longer makes cars in Britain but still employs
14,000 workers in the country. Plants in Dagenham and Bridgend make car
parts and there are also sites in Dunton in Essex, Daventry in
Northamptonshire, and a head office at Warley in Essex. The company
employs 53,000 people in Europe.
Jim Farley, head of Ford's European, Middle East and Africa
business, said: "In the past three years, Ford of Europe has improved
its business in all areas and moved from deep losses to a $259m (£179m)
profit in 2015. This is a good first step.
"We are absolutely committed to accelerating our
transformation, taking the necessary actions to create a vibrant
business that's solidly profitable in both good times and down cycles.
"We are creating a far more lean and efficient business that can deliver healthy returns and earn future investment.
"Our job is to make our vehicles as efficiently as possible,
spending every dollar in a way that serves customers' needs and
desires, and creating a truly sustainable, customer-focused business."
Ford has already shut three car plants in western Europe in
2013 and reached cost-saving agreement with unions in Germany and said
that it was continuing to "enhance its cost efficiency and manufacturing
capacity utilisation".
Its latest announcement on jobs involves what the company calls a "voluntary separation programme".
Meanwhile, Ford is also boosting its product line in Europe with seven new and updated vehicles being launched this year.
Hybrid and electric vehicles are to be introduced in Europe
by 2020 as part of Ford's previously-announced $4.5bn (£3.1bn)
investment in electrified vehicles.
By John Vibes
The homeless people in Hackney, London are facing expulsion
from the street due to a new law will allow the police to give out
fines and other legal penalties to homeless people who are found
loitering, begging and sleeping in commercial places.
This “Public Space Protection Order” which was introduced by the
council of Hackney will place a fine of £1000 on homeless activities.
The order has been met with numerous criticisms, with many pointing out
that the new laws effectively outlaw homelessness.
Matt Downie of homelessness charity Crisis, one of the major
opponents of this legislation, said that the homeless population in
London has been victimized enough.
“Rough sleepers deserve better than to be treated as a nuisance –
they may have suffered a relationship breakdown, a bereavement or
domestic abuse. Those who sleep on the streets are extremely vulnerable
and often do not know where to turn for help. These individuals need
additional support to leave homelessness behind, and any move to
criminalize sleeping rough could simply create additional problems to be
overcome,” Downie said.
A similar scenario was supposed to happen in Oxford, but during the
consultation process, there was so much outcry from the local population
that the government was forced to pull back on their proposal. In the
case of Hackney, there was not a single consultation before the policy
was introduced.
The policy has been largely rejected by people in Hackney, and there
have been thousands of people to sign petitions that ask for the ban to
be lifted. However, it is not clear if the city has any intention of
paying attention to these people.
We have covered many other instances of homelessness being
criminalized in recent months. As we reported just a few weeks ago, that
homeless people and supporters in Sacramento were protesting a recent ordinance
that makes it illegal for them to camp in the city. Many of them were
camped out in front of city hall for the past month and are demanding a
reversal of the camping ban. Soon after, police invaded the encampment in riot gear and made several arrests.
In another story, we recently covered a homeless man was arrested in Fairfax Virginia this week after police discovered a home that he made for himself in a local park.
This article (http://www.trueactivist.com/new-law-in-london-would-fine-homeless-1000-for-sleeping-outside-or-loitering/New
Law In London Would Fine Homeless £1,000 For Sleeping Outside Or
“Loitering”) is free and open source. You have permission to republish
this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com. John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of
large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a
publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both
fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected
to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.
Here's a step-by-step guide to get Windows XP running on an Oracle VirtualBox-based virtual machine on Linux Mint
By John Vibes