Barclays warns of a financial storm as Federal Reserve's credibility crumbles
US central bank accused of unleashing an inflation shock that will rock financial markets, reports Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall "below zero".
"We're in a nasty environment," said Tim Bond, the bank's chief equity strategist. "There is an inflation shock underway. This is going to be very negative for financial assets. We are going into tortoise mood and are retreating into our shell. Investors will do well if they can preserve their wealth."
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RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert
The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.
"A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist.
A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets.
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Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
TSA Employees Smuggle Drugs At Atlanta Airport
Delta, TSA Employees Admit Smuggling Drugs At Atlanta Airport
Drugs Went From Atlanta To New York
ATLANTA -- Two former TSA employees and a former Delta worker admitted Wednesday to smuggling drugs at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Adgar and Patton pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin.
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Drugs Went From Atlanta To New York
ATLANTA -- Two former TSA employees and a former Delta worker admitted Wednesday to smuggling drugs at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Adgar and Patton pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Florida Converts Farmland To Conservation
Less food for the people. Expect increased sugar prices.
Fla. strikes $1.7B deal with Big Sugar
By Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer
WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- In the biggest conservation deal in Florida history, the nation's largest producer of cane sugar reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state for $1.75 billion.
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Fla. strikes $1.7B deal with Big Sugar
By Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer
WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- In the biggest conservation deal in Florida history, the nation's largest producer of cane sugar reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state for $1.75 billion.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Afghan Democracy?
The dream of Afghan democracy is dead
By Anatol Lieven
In public, defeat in Afghanistan is unthinkable for western governments. In private, for many it already seems inevitable – at least if the western definition of “victory” remains the vastly overblown goals set since the overthrow of the Taliban, within any timeframe that is likely to be acceptable to western electorates.
In recent meetings involving Nato officials I have been struck by the combination of public acknowledgment that, to achieve real and stable progress in Afghanistan, western forces will probably have to remain there for a generation at least, and deep private scepticism that western publics will stay the course for anything like that long. ...
By Anatol Lieven
In public, defeat in Afghanistan is unthinkable for western governments. In private, for many it already seems inevitable – at least if the western definition of “victory” remains the vastly overblown goals set since the overthrow of the Taliban, within any timeframe that is likely to be acceptable to western electorates.
In recent meetings involving Nato officials I have been struck by the combination of public acknowledgment that, to achieve real and stable progress in Afghanistan, western forces will probably have to remain there for a generation at least, and deep private scepticism that western publics will stay the course for anything like that long. ...
Opposition To Surveillance Mounts
Swedes had been free of blanket government snooping. The government representatives are proposing a law to allow widespread snooping. Swedes have not had a "terror" attack, so this spying law can't reasonably be claimed to "keep us safe from terrorists".
This is simply big government and big brother spying on us.
In our upside down world, war is peace and surveillance is safety.
A protest site.
Opposition to proposed surveillance law mounts
As the vote on Sweden’s controversial surveillance proposal nears, the voices of political party youth wings and bloggers are rising up in a chorus of opposition.
Gustaf Stenlund, spokesperson for the youth wing of the Moderate party believes a few Moderate parliamentarians will chose their conscience over party policy and vote against the proposal.
And Stenlund is not the only youth wing member of the centre-right coalition parties who is breaking ranks with his senior colleagues.
Centre Party youth wing chair Magnus Andersson is also frustrated over the support his party is giving the measure.
“The legislation and the Centre Party’s support for it goes against the ideals we stand for,” he told The Local.
If passed, the measure would enable Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets Radioanstalt - FRA) to monitor all outgoing and incoming communications crossing Sweden’s borders.
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Mikael Nilsson, one of the main organizers of the opposition movement, said that individuals from all walks of life simply don’t want a society which resembles that of China and North Korea.
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This is simply big government and big brother spying on us.
In our upside down world, war is peace and surveillance is safety.
A protest site.
Opposition to proposed surveillance law mounts
As the vote on Sweden’s controversial surveillance proposal nears, the voices of political party youth wings and bloggers are rising up in a chorus of opposition.
Gustaf Stenlund, spokesperson for the youth wing of the Moderate party believes a few Moderate parliamentarians will chose their conscience over party policy and vote against the proposal.
And Stenlund is not the only youth wing member of the centre-right coalition parties who is breaking ranks with his senior colleagues.
Centre Party youth wing chair Magnus Andersson is also frustrated over the support his party is giving the measure.
“The legislation and the Centre Party’s support for it goes against the ideals we stand for,” he told The Local.
If passed, the measure would enable Sweden's National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets Radioanstalt - FRA) to monitor all outgoing and incoming communications crossing Sweden’s borders.
...
Mikael Nilsson, one of the main organizers of the opposition movement, said that individuals from all walks of life simply don’t want a society which resembles that of China and North Korea.
...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Irish EU vote lost
Irish EU vote lost, officials say
European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said all indications were that Ireland had indeed rejected the treaty.
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The treaty, which is designed to help the EU cope with its expansion into eastern Europe, provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.
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The Lisbon Treaty replaces a more ambitious draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Just over three million Irish voters are registered - in a European Union of 490 million people.
In 2001, Irish voters almost wrecked EU plans to expand eastwards when they rejected the Nice treaty. It was only passed in a much-criticised second vote.
European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said all indications were that Ireland had indeed rejected the treaty.
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The treaty, which is designed to help the EU cope with its expansion into eastern Europe, provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.
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The Lisbon Treaty replaces a more ambitious draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Just over three million Irish voters are registered - in a European Union of 490 million people.
In 2001, Irish voters almost wrecked EU plans to expand eastwards when they rejected the Nice treaty. It was only passed in a much-criticised second vote.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Kaiser To Link Health Records To Microsoft
Soon to be mandatory? Hopefully those who use KP for health care provided some other number than their taxpayer ID.
Kaiser to test linking health records to Microsoft
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kaiser Permanente, the biggest health maintenance organization in the United States, announced a pilot program on Monday to link patient records to Microsoft Corp's consumer health platform.
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The test will initially be limited to Kaiser employees who volunteer to have their records transferred, but access could be widened to the HMO's 8.7 million members later this year, said Anna-Lisa Silvestre, vice president of online services at Kaiser.
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Kaiser to test linking health records to Microsoft
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kaiser Permanente, the biggest health maintenance organization in the United States, announced a pilot program on Monday to link patient records to Microsoft Corp's consumer health platform.
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The test will initially be limited to Kaiser employees who volunteer to have their records transferred, but access could be widened to the HMO's 8.7 million members later this year, said Anna-Lisa Silvestre, vice president of online services at Kaiser.
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Monday, June 02, 2008
California to be "Out Of Cash" by August
County's finances healthy - if state reimburses
As California slips deeper into the red and other counties and cities are rushing to do something about their rapidly deteriorating financial status, Plumas County is poised to weather the storm.
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The state treasurer is telling the state they will run out of cash this August if something isn't done. As a former member of a state Senate appropriations committee I know what that means. We could be bankrupt.
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As California slips deeper into the red and other counties and cities are rushing to do something about their rapidly deteriorating financial status, Plumas County is poised to weather the storm.
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The state treasurer is telling the state they will run out of cash this August if something isn't done. As a former member of a state Senate appropriations committee I know what that means. We could be bankrupt.
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After Five Years, Releases With No Charges Filed
[ There should be no question about the USA planting the seeds of hate all around the world. ]
Ex-Guantanamo inmate gets halfhearted hearing from Congress
A handful of US lawmakers gave only a halfhearted listen on Tuesday to the testimony of Murat Kurnaz, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay from Germany, who spent nearly five years in prison before being released without charge.
Kurnaz, a Turk who was born and lives in Germany, was arrested during a trip to Pakistan in autumn 2001 and delivered to US authorities in exchange for a payment of $3,000.
Kurnaz spent several nightmarish weeks at the US base in Kandahar, Afghanistan before being transferred to the US "war on terror" camp at Guantanamo.
US authorities determined in 2002 that Kurnaz had no terror links, but claimed that he remained a danger because one of his friends had committed a suicide attack - even though the friend in question is alive, and has never been found to have terror ties.
Kurnaz was not released until mid-2006, and only after pressure on Washington from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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Ex-Guantanamo inmate gets halfhearted hearing from Congress
A handful of US lawmakers gave only a halfhearted listen on Tuesday to the testimony of Murat Kurnaz, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay from Germany, who spent nearly five years in prison before being released without charge.
Kurnaz, a Turk who was born and lives in Germany, was arrested during a trip to Pakistan in autumn 2001 and delivered to US authorities in exchange for a payment of $3,000.
Kurnaz spent several nightmarish weeks at the US base in Kandahar, Afghanistan before being transferred to the US "war on terror" camp at Guantanamo.
US authorities determined in 2002 that Kurnaz had no terror links, but claimed that he remained a danger because one of his friends had committed a suicide attack - even though the friend in question is alive, and has never been found to have terror ties.
Kurnaz was not released until mid-2006, and only after pressure on Washington from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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