An Aside..

Regarding this whole Chik Fil A distraction..  A "friend" of mine has been rather stridently supportive of Chik Fil A.  "Stridently" might actually be too weak a word..  Quite surprising, as "friend" has never shown much in the way of homophobia. 

Anyhoo..  I find it a more than a little karmic that "friend's" child, while still young, is obviously gay.  Obviously.  I'm wondering if "friend" might be in active denial.

"Friend" is enjoying today's distractions.  "Friend" feels like a winner by supporting what "friend's" friends like.  "Friend" is unaware of all the chances to learn shortly upcoming.. 

The child IS the lesson, "friend."

Libor Manipulation Well Known in London by 1991

Of course it was..  Again, any of this "we had no idea" crap is just that.  How much bigger can the scale of corruption get?  Naked Capitalism:


A comment in today’s Financial Times is by a former Morgan Stanley trader, Douglas Keenan, confirms a passing comment in the Economist, that Libor manipulation goes back for more than 15 years. In fact, this piece makes it clear that is the time frame exceeds 20 years. From the Financial Times:

In 1991, I had live trading screens that showed the Libor rates. In September of that year, on the third Wednesday, at 11 o’clock, I watched those screens to see where the futures contract [on three month Libor] should settle. Shortly afterwards, Liffe announced the contract settlement rate. Its rate was different from what had been shown on my screens, by a few hundredths of a per cent.


As a result, I lost money. The amount was insignificant for me, but I believed that I had been defrauded and I complained to Liffe [ London International Financial Futures Exchange, which is where the contract traded]. Liffe explained that the settlement rate was not determined by what rates were actually in the market. Instead, the British Banker’s Association polled banks, asking them what the rates were. The highest and lowest quoted rates were discarded and the rest were averaged, giving the settlement rate. Liffe explained that, in doing this, they were adhering to the terms of the contract.


I talked with some of my more experienced colleagues about this. They told me banks misreported the Libor rates in a way that would generally bring them profits. I had been unaware of that, as I was relatively new to financial trading. My naivety seemed to be humorous to my colleagues.

So consider what this tells us:

1. Libor manipulation was already recognized by market participants in 1991 as a common phenomenon. That implies it had been going on at least a few years before that


2. The manipulation appears to have more than occasionally been more than a single basis point (Keenan says here the effect was “several” basis points, which I take to be three or more)

Oh, an an additional tidbit: Bob Diamond was in Morgan Stanley London as of then, in charge of interest rate trading, which means his claim that he had found out about Libor manipulation at Barclays mere weeks before his Treasury Select testimony was bollocks.

Visualizing the daily, business-as-usual LIBOR corruption of all things financial is like standing on the beach of a small island, turning 360 degrees, and seeing nothing but water.  It.  Is.  Everywhere.

Assad Grants Autonomy to Kurdish Region, Prompting Threats From Turkey

Big implications, so of course you'll find this in the Friday afternoon/Olympics news dump..  BIG doin's, people..  AntiWar:

Syrian President Bashar Assad, amid growing unrest, has granted control of parts of northern Syria over to militant Kurds, long branded as terrorists by Turkey, in a provocation that could lead the conflict to break out internationally.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier said that Turkey would not accept an autonomous Kurdish area in Syria, fearing separatist Kurds in Turkey would use it as a safe-haven to launch cross-border attacks.



Late on Thursday Turkey mobilized and deployed tanks and missile batteries on the Syrian border near the Kurdish region, with Erdogan commenting if the Kurds control these areas, “then intervening would be our most natural right.”


Kurdish control of these border areas are an apparent consequence of the chaos of Syria’s internal conflict, in which the US and its allies are sending aid, intelligence, and weapons to the Syrian rebels, despite numerous crimes and ties to terrorist groups.
Turkish military intervention against the Assad regime came close to being a reality back a few months ago when Syria downed a Turkish fighter jet that went into Syrian airspace. Turkey has shown little hesitation to attack its neighbors if they feel their Kurdish threat demands it, as cross-border attacks into Iraq’s Kurdish region in recent months has shown.

If Turkey, a NATO member, involves itself in the Syrian conflict in a direct and belligerent way, it could have far reaching consequences, with possible implications of a US intervention.

This is an interesting turn of events.  Will Turkey show restraint to an obvious provocation?  I wonder how Turkish Kurds will feel about their government's reaction to Assad's latest move?  Erdogan should probably do a little bit of yoga or deep breathing before initiating any response..  This could be the weekend that the situation in Syria becomes international.  Stay tuned!

Romney Bundler a Registered Foreign Agent for Hong Kong

Dual loyalties?  Not a problem-Gimme some money!  Truthout.  Excerpts:

Newly released lobbyist bundler disclosure records filed by the Mitt Romney campaign show that Tom Loeffler raised at least $17,500 in bundled contributions for the campaign over the first six months of 2012. Loeffler, a former Republican U.S. Representative from Texas and a lobbyist at Akin Gump represents a wide array domestic clients including USAA, NextgenID, and the Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice. But a ThinkProgress review of Foreign Agent Registration Act reveals that Loeffler registered in February as a registered agent for a foreign government: the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).



The agreement — signed by Loeffler — stipulated that, from February 13 through June 30, 2012, he would “protect, promote, assist and develop Hong King’s economic and trade interests in the United States of America” by working with Congress and the executive branch. In exchange, the HKTDC agreed to pay Akin Gum $35,775 per month. The Romney bundling all took place during the time Loeffler was under this initial contract, though it is unclear whether the contract was renewed at the end of June.
Loeffler has a long history of raising money for Republican presidential candidates. In 2008, Loeffler stepped down from his position as a national finance co-chair for John McCain’s campaign when Newsweek discovered that he had lobbied on behalf of Saudi Arabia. But Romney’s campaign has welcomed him back into the campaign fundraising fold.


Romney’s campaign, while being highly critical of China and the Obama administration’s approach to it, has organized campaign fundraising events in Hong Kong for U.S. citizens living there. He has also come under fire for apparently profiting from Bain investments in a company that provides surveillance cameras for the Chinese government to spy on its own citizens.


Loeffler is the second lobbyist bundler for the Romney campaign identified by ThinkProgress as a registered foreign agent: in January, the Romney campaign disclosed bundler Ignacio E. Sanchez — a registered foreign agent for both the United Arab Emirates and a birther presidential candidate in the Dominican Republic. Romney has not voluntarily disclosed the names of his campaign bundlers, but a 2007 law requires that federal candidates disclose the names of any registered lobbyists who bundle large amounts for their campaign.


By contrast, President Obama does not accept campaign contributions donated or bundled by federal lobbyists or foreign agents and has called for a ban on bundlers lobbying. His campaign voluntarily discloses all of its major bundlers, as did Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and President George W. Bush (R) in their 2000, 2004, and 2008 races.

I'm sure everything is "legal to the letter of the law," but again, does that preclude it from also being "Sketchy as hell?"  No.  No it does not.

Greek Deposit Plunge Continues As Tax Inspection Finds Every Business On Zakynthos Broke The Law

Greece is boned, but Mario Draghi says "Everything's gonna be allllll right.."  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:

On one hand we have Mario Draghi promising he has a magic wand (not a printer - remember the keys to that are now held by Angela Merkel who is on vacation) and to "believe him" that the EUR will survive. On the other we have Greece which is a poster child of everything that is wrong in Europe. And that we summarize as follows: i) an epic and now relentless deposit outflow from Greek banks which continues as all trust in the local banking system is now gone, as €7 billion in deposits or the second biggest amount ever, is pulled and 20% of the entire corporate and household deposit base has vaporized in the past year, and ii) an economy in which it is every man for himself and where nobody pays any taxes any more, period. Best of luck in preserving that EUR Super Mario.


And a quick story on which Greece will never be fixed no matter what magic Draghi and Potter concoct between them:

The Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) on Thursday reported that six in 10 businesses inspected at popular tourist resorts were not issuing sales receipts, and that of the 1,410 checks conducted in July, 57.1 percent found business owners to be in breach of the law.

..
In Zakynthos in the Ionian and Rethymno on Crete, every business inspected was breaking the law, while on the islands of Paros and Myconos, 70 percent were avoiding taxes.

No deposits, and no tax revenues: thank you Germany for continuing to fund this slow motion trainwreck thus providing everyone with hours of taxpayer-subsidized entertainment.



I think he's being sarcastic.  I don't think he thinks it's really entertainment.

When contagion strikes, it's Honolulu you should avoid

The Guardian.  Excerpts:

When the next outbreak of Sars or Swine flu hits, New York's John F Kennedy airport and Los Angeles's airports will likely be the key spreaders of disease, according to a new study. But while the influence of these super-hubs may not come as much of a surprise, the third most outbreak-friendly airport in the states is far smaller, and far less obvious – Honolulu International.



In a paper published Monday in the journal PLoS One, a team of researchers from MIT outlined a new computer model that predicts how the 40 largest American airports may contribute to the diffusion of contagious disease within the first few days of a potential epidemic.


They looked at which hubs may be key "early spreaders" because knowing where epidemics may begin is key to stemming an outbreak, Marta Gonzalez, professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, and one of the contributors to the new model, told the Guardian.
..
Honolulu airport "combines three important features that catalyze contagion spreading", the study reports. Its geographical positioning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes it a prime layover between the US west coast and large Asian hubs; it's also "well connected" to other powerful spreader airports, such as LAX; and it sees a high volume of long-range travel; all of which would help to spread a disease outbreak.

 
First rule of thumb:  In an Outbreak Scenario; Never fly.  If you do have to fly, don't lick anything.  If you must lick something, kill the bacteria with any available alcohol.  If there's no alcohol, Panic Sex will suffice.  Remember:  Safety first, babies..

New Wujo, New Goro

Stuck inside staying out of summer blast furnace?  Download Clif's latest audio wujo for free!  Goro Adachi has a mini-report on the multi-contextual aspects of last week's mass shooting.  Clif's report is about 40 minutes, and Goro's report takes about 10 to 15 minutes to read, but both have some thoughts you can chew on all day long..  Enjoy!

Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt

Good news from NASA!  No, not really..

Extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on July 8 (left) and July 12 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. In the image, the areas classified as “probable melt” (light pink) correspond to those sites where at least one satellite detected surface melting. The areas classified as “melt” (dark pink) correspond to sites where two or three satellites detected surface melting. The satellites are measuring different physical properties at different scales and are passing over Greenland at different times. As a whole, they provide a picture of an extreme melt event about which scientists are very confident. Credit: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory
For several days this month, Greenland's surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its two-mile-thick center, experienced some degree of melting at its surface, according to measurements from three independent satellites analyzed by NASA and university scientists.


On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice sheet naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that melt water quickly refreezes in place. Near the coast, some of the melt water is retained by the ice sheet and the rest is lost to the ocean. But this year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.


Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute to sea level rise.
..
Nghiem consulted with Dorothy Hall at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Hall studies the surface temperature of Greenland using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. She confirmed that MODIS showed unusually high temperatures and that melt was extensive over the ice sheet surface.



Thomas Mote, a climatologist at the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga; and Marco Tedesco of City University of New York also confirmed the melt seen by Oceansat-2 and MODIS with passive-microwave satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder on a U.S. Air Force meteorological satellite.


The melting spread quickly. Melt maps derived from the three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet's surface had melted. By July 12, 97 percent had melted.


This extreme melt event coincided with an unusually strong ridge of warm air, or a heat dome, over Greenland. The ridge was one of a series that has dominated Greenland's weather since the end of May. "Each successive ridge has been stronger than the previous one," said Mote. This latest heat dome started to move over Greenland on July 8, and then parked itself over the ice sheet about three days later. By July 16, it had begun to dissipate.

Even the area around Summit Station in central Greenland, which at 2 miles above sea level is near the highest point of the ice sheet, showed signs of melting. Such pronounced melting at Summit and across the ice sheet has not occurred since 1889, according to ice cores analyzed by Kaitlin Keegan at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station at Summit confirmed air temperatures hovered above or within a degree of freezing for several hours July 11-12.

Whatever this is, it is arriving.  Two more months of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere.  Two more months of relentless, ongoing events that you are most likely already experiencing. 

Here, near/in the "Breadbasket of America," almost exactly under the High Pressure System-that-will-never-end, we wait.  The temperatures consistently hover around 100.  The wind feels oven-heated.  Wild trees and vegetation are browning and dying.  Everything looks and feels baked or beat down.  I'm not sure the region can take much more of this punishment.

Locally, there is a chance of showers both Thursday and Friday.  The long-term heat and absence of rain, though, is not forecast to subside.  There is no relief in sight.  Dire ticks toward Critical.  We need respite, but the heat continues to punish, furious at our gleeful ignorance and obstinate lack of forethought.

Spain and Italy ban short-selling to calm volatile markets as debt crisis spawns global sell-off

Too little, too late, but God love 'em for tryin', right?  CNN, via The Extinction Protocol:

July 23, 2012 – ROME – Securities regulators in Spain and Italy both instituted short-selling bans Monday as financial markets tumbled. The move is designed to limit the downward pressure on markets by preventing investors from betting against shares of certain companies. The ban in Italy applies only to short positions in shares of banks and insurance companies, according to the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e le Borse, or CONSOB. Spain’s Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) banned short positions in shares of all companies under its purview. Both bans are temporary. In a statement, CNMV said European shares have been hit with “extreme volatility” that might cause the “disorderly functioning” of financial markets.(Artfully worded, no?) Regulators in Italy and Spain, as well as France and Belgium, imposed a temporary short-selling ban in August 2011, at the height of the last major flare-up in the eurozone debt crisis. Back in 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission banned short selling for 799 companies in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ collapse. The move was aimed at restoring confidence and stemming a steep stock sell-off. The bans could limit the selling in the short-term, but longer-term, investors want concrete evidence that the global economy is turning around. Investors are currently concerned that Spain might be forced to seek a bailout similar to those taken by other troubled euro area economies, although Madrid reiterated Monday that it will not need additional aid.

At this stage of the endgame, today's actions are pointless.  Pointless.

Trickles Down? No, Streams Offshore!

Found this on Xymphora.  He's right:  This is an important article.  Short, but sweet, from Bad Attitudes:

Trickles Down? No, Streams Offshore!



The Guardian has a series of articles on the flight of wealth from countries that are producing it to a tiny number of bank accounts in countries that are tax havens. It’s not news that a small number of people are extraordinarily rich. But it might be news that 0.001% of the world’s population — that’s right, one one-thousandth of one percent — or about 92,000 people have $10 trillion in assets stashed in these tax havens. In total, 10 million people worldwide hold offshore assests; considering them all, claims a study commissioned by the group Tax Justice Network, you find upwards of $21 trillion, possibly $32 trillion. For comparison, estimated US GDP in 2011 was a bit over $15 trillion, while Japan’s was slightly below $6 trillion.


Where did this money come from? Well, that depends on what you think about capital. Does profit come work or financial manipulation? Americans used to favor the former answer, but that got your hands dirty rather than getting you rich quick. So, like empires before us, we farmed out the actual work to our colonies and kept the hugely enriching stuff at home, namely finance and the military might needed to enforce its extraction. Concentration of wealth is the goal of empire once it becomes established, and ours is no different. We concentrate wealth gathered, from the locals’ viewpoint often stolen, from around the world into our hands. And we concentrate wealth from all Americans into the hands of a tiny proportion of the population.
The study was performed by James Henry, formerly chief economist at McKinsey and an expert on tax havens.

The detailed analysis in the report, compiled using data from a range of sources, including the Bank of International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund, suggests that for many developing countries the cumulative value of the capital that has flowed out of their economies since the 1970s would be more than enough to pay off their debts to the rest of the world.

This is particularly true of states with oil riches. A person with a sense of history might be tempted to bring up how the people who control those vast sums of money in the oil-rich states came to be in charge and to be capable of defending their wealth and privilege. Certainly one must look beyond those states, and toward North America and Europe, for some of the most powerful sources of influence.


Tax Justice Network calculates that if the $21 trillion in tax havens earned 3% interest per year and governments could tax that income at 30% it would generate $189 billion each year, which is more than the rich countries spend on aid to the developing world annually.


Billions of people around the world are suffering from malnutrition, disease, endemic warfare, and environmental degradation. These problems cannot be separated from the concentration of enormous amounts of wealth in small numbers of hands. Indeed these two issues are two sides of the same coin: with one comes the other. There is nothing positive for society or the individual in the accumulation of such private fortunes, and we are all paying a price for letting it happen.

Yes.  This.

She Might Be A Hooker Enabler, But She's Not Wrong..

If my 16-year-old daughter wants to be a prostitute, then that’s fine... it’s more honest than banking.  Shocking mum gives her teenage girl the green light to enter vice trade.  You gotta love The Sun; now with 100 percent less Rupert!  Excerpts:

A FORMER brothel madam has given her 16-year-old daughter the all-clear to go out to work — as a PROSTITUTE.

Becky Adams, 45, has guided scores of call girls during 20 years in the world’s oldest profession.



The mum of two has now quit, but insists she would be happy if Emilia chose to be a “high class escort” — and says she would even help to get the teenager started.


Becky told The Sun: “Society may judge her but I wouldn’t. At least prostitution is an honest profession.


“I’d much rather she work as an escort than a banker.


“I couldn’t understand her wanting to do something morally wrong, something that could jeopardise someone else.”

What does it say about your occupation if hookers and madams think you're a scumbag, and everyone agrees?