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Another
example of the Fed's Meddling - (www.examiner.com)
Purpose of the Fed's QE3 is to control of every
mortgaged property in U.S. The Federal Reserve, since the crash of the Housing
Bubble in 2007, has printed tens of trillions of dollars to both bail out
banks, and to try to re-stimulate the housing markets. QE1 and QE2, along with
programs like Operation Twist, have done little to stem the fall in housing
prices and housing starts, and has not done anything to focus on the key Fed
mandate of improving employment in the economy. In fact, the vast majority of
Fed money has gone to purchase U.S. Treasuries to fund the government and
increase the national debt, while at the same time prop up the stock markets to
near record highs. This is the primary reason why inflation has not completely
gotten out of control in the economy, as banks have chosen to hold these
trillions of new dollars in Treasuries and derivatives, rather than lend them
out to consumers and small businesses. The inflation effects are being masked
the in the triangle scheme of Fed money printing, bank lending at near 0%
interest, and the purchase of government debt.
New debt forecasts dash Greece hopes- (www.ft.com) The magnitude of Greece's fiscal challenge was
painted in sharp relief on Wednesday as Athens unveiled new budget projections
exceeding the worst-case scenarios envisioned by international lenders when
they agreed a €174bn rescue eight months ago. Instead of Greece's debt peaking
at 167 per cent of economic output next year, as predicted in the March bailout
agreement, it will hit 189 per cent and climb to 192 per cent in 2014,
according to projections presented to the Greek parliament. Even under an
"alternate scenario" prepared by the International Monetary Fund in
March, which attempted to project a pessimistic economic and fiscal picture,
Greece's debt was only predicted to peak at 171 per cent of gross domestic
product.
Towers of Doom Trap New York’s Shut-Ins in Sandy Blackout -
(www.bloomberg.com) For Rosa Reyes, 75, going
from her 18th-floor New York apartment to the street is no longer an option
after Sandy’s hurricane-force winds cut power, and with it, elevator service,
days ago. “I can’t go down no stairs
because I’m disabled,” Reyes said, leaning on a wooden cane and pointing to her
knee. Her food is holding up, and neighbors have brought jugs of water. So
she’s all right, for now at least. Reyes isn’t alone. An untold number of the
city’s shut-ins, from 39th Street to Manhattan’s
southern tip, are trapped in the towers that help define the city’s skyline,
after the superstorm knocked out power Oct. 29. Officials say it may take days
or weeks to restore the electricity that drives elevators and powers the pumps
that bring water up to fill sinks and toilets.
A Year After MF Global’s Collapse, Brokerage Firms Feel Less
Pressure for Change - (www.nytimes.com)
When MF Global toppled a year
ago, chaos engulfed a Chicago trading floor. Customers were locked out of their
accounts, later discovering that about $1 billion of their money had
disappeared. The debacle, which played out on the evening of Halloween,
prompted federal authorities to immediately bear down on the brokerage firm and
the broader futures trading industry. But a year after a federal grand jury
issued subpoenas and regulators vowed reforms, the largest bankruptcy since the
financial crisis has begun to fade from Wall Street’s memory. Federal
authorities have all but cleared MF Global’s top executives of criminal
wrongdoing, people briefed on the matter say. The government has yet to usher
in a wider overhaul of futures trading rules, save for certain piecemeal policy
changes. And the profit-making exchanges that rely on brokerage firms for
business still police the futures industry, presenting potential conflicts of
interest.
Spanish bad bank faces struggle to lure property investors -
(www.reuters.com) Spain's "bad bank" will struggle to
find buyers for swathes of empty land, unfinished housing projects and doubtful
loans left over from a property crash, hindering Madrid's attempts to overcome
the wider economic crisis. Real estate consultants predict that almost
two-thirds of assets that the government's newly-created bad bank is due to
take over from commercial banks will fail to attract investors,
at least in the short term and possibly ever. Spain is setting up the bad bank,
known by the acronym SAREB, under a plan to cleanse the banking system of toxic
property assets. SAREB aims eventually to buy up to 90 billion euros ($117
billion) of the assets at deep discounts and then sell them to investors over
15 years.
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