Thursday April 30 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Monsanto Furious At World Health Organization For Claiming Weedkiller Causes Cancer - (www.zerohedge.com) Following Monsanto lobbyist comments recently that he's "not stupid" enough to drink the weedkiller that he also proclaimed was safe enough that "you can drink a whole quart of it and it won’t hurt you;" Reuters reports that the maker of the world's most widely used herbicide, Roundup, wants an international health organization to retract a report linking the chief ingredient in the weedkiller to cancer. The company said on Tuesday that a report, issued on Friday by the WHO, was biased: "The WHO has something to explain." However, as one scientist noted, "there are a number of independent, published manuscripts that clearly indicate that glyphosate...can promote cancer and tumor growth."

Greece Flashes Warning Signals About Its Debt - (www.nytimes.com)  By the standards of his frenzied schedule here last week, the meeting on Friday between Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, and Lee C. Buchheit, the dean of international debt lawyers, was a quiet one. There was none of the media scrum that had followed Mr. Varoufakis around town during the semiannual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, as he paid calls on the I.M.F. chief, Christine Lagarde; the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi; the United States Treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, and even President Obama. But the get-together with Mr. Buchheit carried critical meaning, according to experts here. After all, it was Mr. Buchheit who helped brokerGreece’s most recent debt refinancing, in 2012.

[Evans-Pritchard] Europe ready for Grexit contagion as Athens gets closer to Russian cash - (www.telegraph.co.uk)  The European Central Bank has warned that a rupture of monetary union and Greek exit from the euro could have dramatic consequences, but insisted that it has enough powerful weapons to avert contagion. Mario Draghi, the ECB's president, said it would be far better for everybody if Greece recovers within EMU but made it clear that the currency bloc is no longer vulnerable to the immediate chain-reaction seen in earlier phases of the debt crisis.

This sends an implicit message to the radical-Left Syriza government in Athens that it cannot hope to secure better terms from EMU creditors by threatening to unleash mayhem. "We have enough instruments at this point of time, the OMT (bond-buying plan), QE, and so on, which though designed for other purposes could certainly be used in a crisis if needed," said Mr Draghi, speaking after a series of tense meetings at the International Monetary Fund. "We are better equipped than we were in 2012, 2011."

Tax Receipts Flash Economic Warning Sign - (www.zerohedge.com) With "tax day" now firmly behind us, it is expected that 2015 will show a record level of tax collections. This is a good thing, right? Maybe not. Over the weekend, an economist friend of mine sent me an interesting piece of analysis discussing the record level of tax receipts as a percentage of the economy. This is something that I have written about in the past. While the current push higher in tax collections partially due to economic growth, it is primarily due to higher tax rates brought on by the "2011 Budget Control Act." That bill imposed automatic tax increases and spending cuts beginning in 2013. It is worth noting that then chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, launched "QE 3" specifically to offset the potential risks of the "fiscal cliff" imposed by the "debt ceiling deal." The good news is that those tax increases and automatic spending cuts led to a massive shrinkage of the deficit which has declined from a record of $1.35 Trillion in 2010 to just $559 billion as of the end of 2014.

US warships are reportedly heading to Yemeni waters to intercept an Iranian arms shipment  - (www.businessinsider.com) US Navy officials say the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is steaming toward the waters off Yemen and will join other American ships prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen, the AP reports. The US Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea amid reports that a convoy of Iranian ships may be headed toward Yemen to arm the Houthis. The Houthis are battling government-backed fighters in an effort to take control of the country. The UN Security Council passed an arms embargo on aid to the Houthi rebels on April 14th. Iran is also prohibited from exporting weapons under a 2006 UNSC resolution.

OTHER STORIES:

Greece's Varoufakis warns of Grexit contagion - (www.reuters.com)
Greek banks low on refinancing collateral, Noyer tells Le Figaro - (www.reuters.com)
Millionaire businessman wins Finland vote, euroskeptics take second place - (www.reuters.com)
China makes big cut in bank reserve requirement to fight slowdown - (www.reuters.com)
Euro Area Seeks Greece Roadmap to May Agreement to Avoid Default - (www.bloomberg.com)
Euro working group to meet Wednesday, deal still sought: Greek official - (www.reuters.com)

China Frees Up $200 Billion for Lending - (www.nytimes.com)
Kuroda says markets could be caught unready if BOJ succeeds on inflation - (www.reuters.com)
Gundlach Says Market Hasn’t Seen Full Impact of Fed Moves - (www.bloomberg.com)
For short-sellers in U.S. stocks, the agony just piles on  - (www.reuters.com)
Dollar’s rise casts shadow on US earnings - (www.ft.com)
China to Investors: Don’t Forget That Stocks Can Lose Money Too - (www.bloomberg.com)