Gold is Money - The Premier Gold and Silver Forum -- Goldismoney http://www.goldismoney2.com/ en Fri, 18 May 2012 14:05:49 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.goldismoney2.com/images/scarletrush/misc/rss.png Gold is Money - The Premier Gold and Silver Forum -- Goldismoney http://www.goldismoney2.com/ Paying companies to hire the unemployed http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32719-Paying-companies-to-hire-the-unemployed&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 14:02:43 GMT Incredible!


http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/18/news....htm?iid=HP_LN

Paying companies to hire the unemployed
By Tami Luhby@CNNMoney May 18, 2012: 5:18 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Would you donate $6,000 to subsidize someone else's job?

The WorkPlace, a Connecticut non-profit agency, believes the best way to get the long-term unemployed back into the workforce is by paying companies to hire them.
But instead of turning to the government for the money, the agency is trying something different: asking private companies and citizens to support subsidized jobs.

"In order to get long-term unemployed people a chance to demonstrate they can do the job as well as anybody else, you have to use unusual tools and that's one of them," said Joseph Carbone, the agency's chief executive.

snip ]]> Meetzos http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32719-Paying-companies-to-hire-the-unemployed <![CDATA[Breitbart ~ Vetting Obama's Literary Agent Booklet]]> http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32718-Breitbart-Vetting-Obama-s-Literary-Agent-Booklet&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 13:53:01 GMT THE VETTING - EXCLUSIVE - OBAMA'S LITERARY AGENT IN 1991 BOOKLET: 'BORN IN KENYA AND RAISED IN INDONESIA AND HAWAII'

Screen Shot 2012-05-18 at 7.51.31 AM.jpg

Note from Senior Management:

Andrew Breitbart was never a "Birther," and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of "Birtherism." In fact, Andrew believed, as we do, that President Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.

Yet Andrew also believed that the complicit mainstream media had refused to examine President Obama's ideological past, or the carefully crafted persona he and his advisers had constructed for him.

It is for that reason that we launched "The Vetting," an ongoing series in which we explore the ideological background of President Obama (and other presidential candidates)--not to re-litigate 2008, but because ideas and actions have consequences.

It is also in that spirit that we discovered, and now present, the booklet described below--one that includes a marketing pitch for a forthcoming book by a then-young, otherwise unknown former president of the Harvard Law Review.

It is evidence--not of the President's foreign origin, but that Barack Obama's public persona has perhaps been presented differently at different times.

***

Breitbart News has obtained a promotional booklet produced in 1991 by Barack Obama's then-literary agency, Acton & Dystel, which touts Obama as "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."

The booklet, which was distributed to "business colleagues" in the publishing industry, includes a brief biography of Obama among the biographies of eighty-nine other authors represented by Acton & Dystel.

It also promotes Obama's anticipated first book, Journeys in Black and White--which Obama abandoned, later publishing Dreams from My Father instead.

Obama’s biography in the booklet is as follows (image and text below):


More:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...donesia-Hawaii
Attached Images
]]> General Discussion All Other Goldhedge http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32718-Breitbart-Vetting-Obama-s-Literary-Agent-Booklet New NBC show - Revolution (what happens when the lights go out?) http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32717-New-NBC-show-Revolution-(what-happens-when-the-lights-go-out-)&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 13:45:58 GMT Forgive me if I've missed this, but I have been away for quite a while. There is a new show coming this fall.

http://www.nbc.com/revolution/

Looks like it could be quite interesting and - forgive the pun - illuminating.

A little combination of David Crawford's Lights Out (remember that online book from a few years back?) and SM Stirling's Emberverse series (itself a continuation of his Nantucket series). ]]> Survival and Preps Turner-son http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32717-New-NBC-show-Revolution-(what-happens-when-the-lights-go-out-) De La Rue has drawn up contingency plans to print drachma banknotes http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32716-De-La-Rue-has-drawn-up-contingency-plans-to-print-drachma-banknotes&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 13:19:37 GMT As we ratchet up the opinions on the board , some get ready by doing. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/uk-delarue-greece-idUKBRE84H0DH20120518 UK banknote printer readies for Greek call – source By Neil Maidment LONDON | Fri May 18, 2012 11:45am BST As we ratchet up the opinions on the board , some get ready by doing.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/0...84H0DH20120518

UK banknote printer readies for Greek call – source


By Neil Maidment

LONDON | Fri May 18, 2012 11:45am BST

(Reuters) - De La Rue (DLAR.L) has drawn up contingency plans to print drachma banknotes should Greece exit the euro and approach the British money printer, an industry source told Reuters on Friday.
The news comes as EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Friday the European Commission and the European Central Bank are working on an emergency scenario in case Greece has to leave the euro zone - the first time an EU official has confirmed the existence of contingency plans.

The source, who asked not to be named, said that as a commercial printer De La Rue needed to be alive to the possibility of a Greek exit from the single currency and prepare accordingly.

Crisis-hit Greece will be led by an emergency government into new elections on June 17 which will ultimately determine whether it must quit the euro - possibly spreading financial devastation across the continent.
An exit from Europe's single currency would spark a major demand for the returning drachma and while the country's state printers could orchestrate its production, a handful of global firms like De La Rue could be called on to help.

Buffeted equity investors looking for respite from the Greek turmoil have been busy buying up De La Rue shares in anticipation, helping push them up 11 percent in the last month.

Panmure analyst Paul Jones said the firm would be in with a chance of work if extra capacity was needed and could also benefit from other work as Greek printers were less likely to be quoting for contracts elsewhere.

"If they (Greece) decide to pull out of the euro the first thing is it won't be an overnight job, partly because of the implications of what they are trying to do but secondly because of the sheer number of banknotes that are needed to replace a currency," Jones told Reuters.

"It will be a huge job which the state printing works will do, but they will probably pull in some additional volume from outside and De La Rue will be in with a chance."
On Thursday, as rating agency Fitch downgraded Greece's debt a further notch below investment grade to CCC, a poll showed Greek voters returning to pro-bailout parties, offering some encouragement to markets shaken by the prospect of a euro exit.

De La Rue, the world's largest commercial banknote printer producing over 150 national currencies, told Reuters in November that regime changes and the euro zone crisis could fuel further growth for the group.
snip ]]> Meetzos http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32716-De-La-Rue-has-drawn-up-contingency-plans-to-print-drachma-banknotes Paul Harvey http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32715-Paul-Harvey&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 12:57:06 GMT http://youtu.be/H3Az0okaHig http://youtu.be/H3Az0okaHig ]]> General Discussion All Other searcher http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32715-Paul-Harvey Banksters have a heart, too http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32714-Banksters-have-a-heart-too&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 12:45:22 GMT ]]> General Discussion All Other phideaux http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32714-Banksters-have-a-heart-too Market Volatility Prompts Warning From Japan to S. Korea http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32713-Market-Volatility-Prompts-Warning-From-Japan-to-S-Korea&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 12:36:09 GMT .....here we go... Financial markets are becoming unhooked from economic fundamentals, officials warned in Japan and South Korea, as policy makers monitor the dangers posed by any Greek exit from the euro region. “We’ve seen the yen appreciate rapidly from the low-80s to the mid-79 range... .....here we go...


Financial markets are becoming unhooked from economic fundamentals, officials warned in Japan and South Korea, as policy makers monitor the dangers posed by any Greek exit from the euro region.

“We’ve seen the yen appreciate rapidly from the low-80s to the mid-79 range over a short period of time, those are rough movements,” Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said at a press conference in Tokyo today. “We will watch the currency market with more caution and take appropriate action in a timely manner” if needed, he said.

About $4 trillion has been wiped from global equity markets this month as Europe’s deepening debt crisis threatens the global recovery. European leaders are now openly talking about a possible Greek euro exit after the country’s attempts to form a ruling coalition broke down, prompting Malaysian central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz to say such an event could cause contagion comparable to the Asian financial crisis.

Asian stocks slid today, erasing this year’s gains, and South Korea’s won weakened after Moody’s Investors Service lowered debt ratings of 16 Spanish banks and a gauge of U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly contracted. The yen climbed to its highest level since February yesterday against the dollar and yields on 10-year government bonds fell to their lowest since July 2003.

Won’s Slide
The won had its biggest weekly slide in almost eight months and the nation’s Kospi index of stocks dropped 3.4 percent. A weaker won could add to inflationary pressure as imported goods become more expensive, Finance Minister Bahk Jae Wan told reporters in Seoul today.

“The range of fluctuation is excessive,” Bahk said when asked about today’s market movements while noting that economic fundamentals “are strong.” There are no plans for new measures to encourage stability in the markets at the moment, he said later in the day.

In Japan, the yen traded at 79.32 against the dollar in Tokyo after touching 79.14 yesterday. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) declined almost 3 percent and the yield on benchmark 10- year government debt fell to 0.83 percent.

BOJ Operations
Demand for the relative safety of government bonds has disrupted the Bank of Japan (8301)’s operations this week, with its so- called Rinban operation to buy domestic government debt from the market meeting a shortfall for the first time since February 2006. The BOJ accepted 174.7 billion yen ($2.2 billion) in offers to sell debt with less than one year to maturity, below the central bank’s target to buy 310 billion yen of the securities.

Japan’s government raised its assessment of the economy today while warning that downside risks include sharp fluctuations in financial markets and a slowdown in global growth amid Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.

Greece’s credit rating was downgraded one level by Fitch Ratings yesterday on concerns the country won’t be able to muster the political support needed to sustain its membership in the euro area as leaders began campaigning ahead of the second national vote in six weeks.

“Market participants have used the heightened uncertainty to raise volatility in financial markets,” Philippine central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News today. “Risk appetite is weak and flight-to-quality trades will likely be prevalent in the market.”

Monitoring Effects
The Philippine central bank is monitoring “possible effects of deleveraging” in Europe and other economies that may affect domestic funding, Tetangco said. The Southeast Asian nation has “ample” domestic liquidity and “well-capitalized and prudently managed banks,” he said.

“We have room in our enhanced policy tool kit to respond should there be excesses in market movements, and should such movements begin to put our inflation target at risk,” Tetangco said, adding that there may be more volatility in local markets. The developments in Greece this week have deepened the risk of contagion, he said.

Thailand’s banking system has 2.5 trillion baht ($80 billion) of liquidity, five times more than required, central bank Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters today. The Bank of Thailand doesn’t see a need to add additional liquidity, which could fuel inflationary pressures, he said.

Investors are shifting to low-risk assets amid concern on Europe’s debt woes and a weakening in the baht isn’t unusual, Prasarn said May 16. The Thai baht is down 0.5 percent this week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mayumi Otsuma in Tokyo at motsuma@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...cks-slide.html ]]> Economics REO 54 http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32713-Market-Volatility-Prompts-Warning-From-Japan-to-S-Korea 18 Signs of Eurozone Banking Crisis Worsening http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32712-18-Signs-of-Eurozone-Banking-Crisis-Worsening&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 11:31:26 GMT 18 Signs That The Banking Crisis In Europe Has Just Gone From Bad To Worse Michael Snyder The Economic Collapse May 18, 2012 With each passing day, the banking crisis in Europe escalates. European banks are having their credit ratings downgraded in waves, bond yields are soaring and... 18 Signs That The Banking Crisis In Europe Has Just Gone From Bad To Worse

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
May 18, 2012

With each passing day, the banking crisis in Europe escalates. European banks are having their credit ratings downgraded in waves, bond yields are soaring and billions of euros are being pulled out of banks all across the eurozone. The situation in Europe is rapidly going from bad to worse. It is almost like watching air being let out of a balloon.

The key to any financial system is confidence, and right now confidence in banks in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal is declining at an alarming rate. When things hit the fan in Europe, it is going to be much safer to have your money in Swiss banks or German banks than in Greek banks, Spanish banks or Italian banks. Millions of people in Europe are starting to realize that a “euro” is not necessarily always going to be a “euro” and they are starting to panic. The Greek banking system is already on the verge of total collapse, and at this rate it is only a matter of time before we see some major Spanish and Italian banks start to fail. In fact it has already been announced that the fourth largest bank in Spain, Bankia, will be getting bailed out by the Spanish government. It is only a matter of time before we hear more announcements like this. Right now, events are moving so quickly in Europe that it is hard to keep up with them all. But this is what usually happens in the financial world. When things go well, it tends to happen over an extended period of time. When things fall apart, it tends to happen very rapidly.

And at the moment, things across the pond are moving at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking.

The following are 18 signs that the banking crisis in Europe has just gone from bad to worse….

#1 Moody’s has announced that it has downgraded the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks. Included was Banco Santander, the largest bank in the eurozone.

#2 Shares of the fourth largest bank in Spain, Bankia, dropped 14 percent on Thursday.

#3 Overall, shares of Bankia have declined by 61 percent since last July.

#4 Shares of the largest bank in Italy, Unicredit, dropped by about 6 percent on Thursday.

#5 According to CNBC, a Spanish bond auction on Thursday went very poorly….

The Spanish Treasury had to pay around 5 percent to attract buyers of three- and four-year bonds. The longer-dated paper sold with a yield of 5.106 percent, way above the 3.374 percent the last time it was auctioned.

#6 The yield on 10 year Spanish bonds is back above 6 percent.

#7 In recent days, about eight times more money than usual has been pulled out of Greek banks.

#8 Fitch has slashed the long-term credit rating for Greece from B- to CCC.

#9 The European Central Bank has cut off direct lending to at least 4 Greek banks.

#10 According to a recent German documentary, financial records at the Ministry of Finance in Athens are being stored in garbage bags and shopping carts.

#11 The euro hit a 4 month low against the U.S. dollar on Thursday.

#12 It has been announced that the Spanish economy and the Italian economy are officially in recession.

#13 The Spanish government is becoming increasingly concerned about the bad loans that are mounting at major Spanish banks. The following is from a recent Bloomberg article….

The government has asked lenders to increase provisions for bad debt by 54 billion euros ($70 billion) to 166 billion euros. That’s enough to cover losses of about 50 percent on loans to property developers and construction firms, according to the Bank of Spain. There wouldn’t be anything left for defaults on more than 1.4 trillion euros of home loans and corporate debt.

Taking those into account, banks would need to increase provisions by as much as five times what the government says, or 270 billion euros, according to estimates by the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based research group. Plugging that hole would increase Spain’s public debt by almost 50 percent or force it to seek a bailout, following in the footsteps of Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

#14 Civil unrest is rising to dangerous levels in Italy. The Italian government has assigned bodyguards to 550 individuals and has increased security at about 14,000 locations in response to recent violence related to the economic crisis.

#15 Governments all over Europe are rapidly making preparations for a Greek exit from the euro. The following is from a recent article in the Guardian….

The British government is making urgent preparations to cope with the fallout of a possible Greek exit from the single currency, after the governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, warned that Europe was “tearing itself apart”.

#16 According to CNBC, the banking crisis in Europe is beginning to affect global trade….

The euro zone debt crisis is affecting trade as companies shy away from dealing with firms and banks in countries deemed at risk of contagion, a senior banker said on Thursday.

#17 Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of 26 Italian banks on Monday.

#18 Moody’s has announced that it is reviewing the credit ratings of 114 more European financial institutions.

Newspapers all over the globe are speaking breathlessly of a potential Greek exit from the euro, but it is very unlikely to happen before the next Greek election on June 17th.

The rest of Europe is going to continue to financially support Greece until a new government takes power.

If the new government is willing to accept the previous bailout agreements, then financial support for Greece will continue.

If the new government is not willing to accept the previous bailout agreements, then financial support for Greece will stop.

If that happens, the bank runs in Europe will likely become a lot worse.

But for now, Greece almost certainly has at least one more month in the euro.

Beyond that, there is no telling what is going to happen.

Greece is the first domino. If Greece falls, you can count on others to eventually start tumbling as well.

The second half of 2012 is going to be fascinating to watch.

Hopefully things will not be as bad as many of us now fear they may be.

http://www.infowars.com/18-signs-tha...-bad-to-worse/ ]]> Economics TimoneX http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32712-18-Signs-of-Eurozone-Banking-Crisis-Worsening Federal Judge Blocks NDAA http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32711-Federal-Judge-Blocks-NDAA&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 11:24:28 GMT Victory in The Fight Against NDAA, Greece is burning, Fluoride OD = bad. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victory in The Fight Against NDAA Infowars.com May 18, 2012 A Federal Judge has issued an injunction against the National Defense... Victory in The Fight Against NDAA, Greece is burning, Fluoride OD = bad.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victory in The Fight Against NDAA
Infowars.com
May 18, 2012

A Federal Judge has issued an injunction against the National Defense Authorization Act. Plus an update on the violent riots in Greece as the economic collapse grows closer. And local TV news in Albuquerque is upset with the water authorities decision to cut fluoride from the cities water supply.



http://www.infowars.com/victory-in-t...-against-ndaa/ ]]> Politics Forum TimoneX http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32711-Federal-Judge-Blocks-NDAA China’s Car Dealerships Struggle as Stockpiles Increase http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32710-China’s-Car-Dealerships-Struggle-as-Stockpiles-Increase&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 10:28:18 GMT *China’s Car Dealerships Struggle as Stockpiles Increase* By Bloomberg News - May 17, 2012 11:20 PM CT Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association. ... China’s Car Dealerships Struggle as Stockpiles Increase
By Bloomberg News - May 17, 2012 11:20 PM CT


Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association.

Dealerships for Honda Motor Co. (7267), Chery Automobile Co., BYD Co. (002594) and Geely (175) Automobile Holdings Ltd. carried more than 45 days of inventory as of the end of April, exceeding the threshold that foreshadows debilitating price cuts, Su Hui, vice president of the auto market division at the state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview yesterday.
Enlarge image China Home Prices, Car Inventories Add to Signs of Slower

A General Motors Co. (GM) Cadillac CTS Coupe is displayed at a dealership in Beijing, China. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
China Automakers May Be Poised for Consolidation, April 23

Play Video

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Stephen Engle reports from the Beijing Auto Show on the outlook for China's auto market, which includes more than 100 domestic carmakers and countless joint ventures with foreign players. Volvo Car Corp., the Swedish carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., said it plans to more than double its number of models to compete with Volkswagen AG’s Audi and BMW AG in the world’s largest automobile market. (Source: Bloomberg)
China Push for Development of New-Energy Cars, April 16

Play Video

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Margaret Conley reports from Shanghai’s Jiading district on China's push for the development of new-energy vehicles. The nation's government will promote new-energy vehicles and encourage the scrapping of old vehicles to reduce pollution, according to a report released in March by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner. (Source: Bloomberg)
VW, GM Outperforming Domestic Carmakers in China, May 12

Play Video

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Klaus Paur, Shanghai-based global head of automotive at Ipsos, talks about the outlook for China's auto market. He speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)
Gui Says Geely to Become China Top Car Exporter, March 27

Play Video

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Gui Shengyue talks about his company's expansion strategy and business outlook. Geely, whose parent owns Volvo cars, said it targets to become China’s largest auto exporter in two years by focusing on expanding in developing countries, overtaking leader Chery Automobile Co. (Excerpts. Source: Bloomberg)

“Unsold cars are crowding dealer lots in cities from Guangzhou in the south to Xi’an to the west,” Su said in a phone interview yesterday from Beijing. “It’s like a contagious disease that will spread.”

The warning signals that vehicle deliveries reported by companies, which have risen more than analysts’ estimates for the past two months, aren’t fully translating to consumer sales. Demand was the slowest in the first four months since 1998, weighing on automakers from General Motors Co. (GM) to Volkswagen AG (VOW), which are counting on the world’s largest auto market to offset slumping sales in Europe.
Intensifying Competition

“Competition will get fiercer,” said Huang Wenlong, a Hong Kong-based analyst with BOC International Holdings Ltd. “China’s auto demand will definitely slow down with the decline of the economic growth rate.”

BYD (1211) fell 4 percent to HK$15.22 at the midday trading break in Hong Kong, poised for its lowest close since Oct. 24, after earlier dropping as much as 5.4 percent. Geely dropped as much as 3.4 percent and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (2238), which makes cars with Honda, fell as much as 2.7 percent.

An increasing number of small-scale dealers are suffering losses after discounting cars to boost sales, according to Feng Jian, deputy general manager of Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. (601258), China’s second-largest auto dealer by market value. Competition is also leading to consolidation among dealers, Feng said.

China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings Ltd., a Shanghai-based car retailer, plans to raise as much as HK$3.4 billion ($433 million) from an initial public offering in Hong Kong and plans to use 35 percent of the proceeds on potential acquisitions.
Recommendation Cut

Honda’s joint venture factory in China shut down for more than two weeks for the Labor Day public holiday and line maintenance, according to the Tokyo-based automaker. The stoppage prompted CLSA Asia Pacific Markets to cut its recommendation on Honda’s partner, Guangzhou Automobile, citing worsening demand.

“While we had expected a poor first half, we did not expect to see the market deteriorate so fast that the Honda JV needed to close the factory for 16 days,” Scott Laprise, Beijing-based analyst at CLSA, said in a May 11 report.

Honda President Takanobu Ito said yesterday in Tokyo that he wasn’t too concerned about China because the market still has room to expand. Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura said at the same event the automaker’s inventory levels in China are appropriate and “aren’t too big of an issue yet.”

CLSA this month also lowered its recommendations on Dongfeng Motor Group Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. (2333), citing worsening prospects for sedan makers.

China ZhengTong Auto Services Holdings Ltd. (1728) and Baoxin Auto Group Ltd., Chinese luxury auto dealers, canceled plans to sell dollar-denominated bonds on May 16 as yields on Chinese debt in the U.S. currency surged the most since September.
Vehicle Sales

China’s total vehicle sales declined 1.3 percent in the January-to-April period, the worst showing since 1998 when deliveries fell 1.6 percent, according to data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, as slowing economic growth and rising fuel prices dented consumer demand.

GM, the world’s largest automaker, reported sales growth accelerated last month as demand for its Wuling minivans offset a drop in Chevrolet deliveries. While Wuling helped total growth quicken to 12 percent from 11 percent in March, Buick sales growth slowed to 1.7 percent from a year earlier and demand for Chevrolet vehicles shrank 6.2 percent.

Inventory levels at automakers rose 3.3 percent to 757,400 units as of the end of April, the highest in at least 16 months, CAAM data show. Dealerships are holding at least the equivalent in stock, according to Cheng Xiaodong, who oversees auto price monitoring at the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s top economic planner.

The monthly NDRC survey of 36 major Chinese cities showed average car prices fell 1.9 percent in April from a year earlier, a fourth straight decline this year.
‘Big Pressure’

“There’s pretty big pressure on auto dealers and automakers to cut prices,” said NDRC’s Cheng. “Car demand is not rigid and is easily undermined by macroeconomic conditions and the cost of owning cars.”

Pacific Investment Management Co., which oversees the world’s largest bond fund, said this month that China’s economic growth may slow to the “mid-7 percent range,” a pace unseen since 1999. Economists at Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their estimates for China’s economic expansion after April industrial production and trade grew less than estimated and renewed European debt turmoil roiled markets, prompting authorities on May 12 to cut the reserve ratio for the third time in six months.

Steeper discounts bode well for consumers shopping for their next drive.

“The auto consumer is becoming very price sensitive and appears to be buying only if there is a good deal,” said Ole Hui, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. “Pricing is definitely on a structural downtrend.”

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...-increase.html ]]> Scorpio http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32710-China’s-Car-Dealerships-Struggle-as-Stockpiles-Increase Luxury Homes Spur Bidding Wars in L.A. as Market Rebounds http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32709-Luxury-Homes-Spur-Bidding-Wars-in-L-A-as-Market-Rebounds&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 10:26:49 GMT *Luxury Homes Spur Bidding Wars in L.A. as Market Rebounds* By Nadja Brandt - May 17, 2012 9:35 AM CT A week after Christine Lynch listed her house in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for $3.625 million, she had seven offers. Within 10 days, a deal was reached for the five-bedroom,... Luxury Homes Spur Bidding Wars in L.A. as Market Rebounds
By Nadja Brandt - May 17, 2012 9:35 AM CT

A week after Christine Lynch listed her house in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for $3.625 million, she had seven offers. Within 10 days, a deal was reached for the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home -- and for $225,000 more than she asked.

“My first reaction was, ‘Wow, I guess we’re really doing this,’” Lynch, 55, said in an interview. The all-cash transaction was completed on April 23. “I was really surprised by this level of interest and how quickly it sold,” she said.
Enlarge image Bidding Wars Break Out for Tear-Down Mansions

This Brentwood home was listed for $1.55 million and had more than 100 people look at it during three open houses. It received 11 offers and is set to close escrow on May 23 for $1,705,000. Source: Coldwell Banker Previews International via Bloomberg
Enlarge image Bidding Wars Break Out for Tear-Down Mansions

This Brentood house originally listed for $3,625,000; after seven offers a deal was reached within 10 days for the sale of the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home for $3.85 million. Source: Coldwell Banker Previews International via Bloomberg
Enlarge image Bidding Wars Break Out for Tear-Down Mansions

This home located in Santa Monica two blocks from the beach, was sold in mid-April for $2.85 million after receiving multiple bids within the first week of having been listed. The agency that sold it to a husband-wife couple with four kids was Beverly Hills-based Rodeo Realty Inc. Source: Rodeo Realty Inc. via Bloomberg

Bidding wars are breaking out for luxury homes in such wealthy Los Angeles enclaves as Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air as an increasing number of buyers bet on rising home prices and investors return to the market. Even properties in need of extensive renovation are being fought over by shoppers who expect to resell them for more after a remodel or rebuild.

“The percentage of people who think prices are only going to go up is the greatest I have ever seen in my career,” said Syd Leibovitch, president of Rodeo Realty Inc. in Beverly Hills.

Sales of Beverly Hills homes priced at $2 million and higher climbed 11 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 39, according to DataQuick, a San Diego-based provider of property information. In Brentwood, whose residents include actress and singer Julie Andrews, they increased 56 percent to 25, and in Malibu they gained 64 percent to 23.

Throughout the U.S., residential-property sales of $1 million and higher rose 7.2 percent in March, the most recent month for which figures are available, from a year earlier, according to the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors, whose price categories stop at that amount.

Across U.S.

Demand has been rising for high-end homes in the northeastern U.S., including Boston and New York; on the California coast; and in parts of the southern U.S. amid a recovery in financial markets, according to Paul Bishop, vice president of research at the Realtors group.

In Brentwood and Beverly Hills, homes usually start between $2.8 million and $3.2 million for those on smaller lots in low- lying areas, and can go as high as $20 million for larger plots, according to John Gould, manager of Rodeo Realty’s Beverly Hills office. Properties in hillier areas, which usually are larger and have views, tend to range from $5 million to $75 million.

In the Los Angeles area, multiple offers -- as many as a dozen per home -- have reduced listing times for the highest- priced houses as bidders worried about losing out act faster than they have in the past two years, according to Stephen Shapiro, cofounder of Westside Estate Agency in Beverly Hills.
Acting Quickly

While luxury properties used to linger on the market for weeks and months as recently as 2011, offers now come in on the day of the first showing, a phenomenon that was common during the 2007 buying frenzy, Shapiro said.

“In recent history, buyers would look at homes and return six months later to find the same home was still on the market,” he said. “Now if buyers hesitate, the house is often sold by the time they come back. And each time one sells, the next one comes on at a higher price.”

Sales remain less than the record reached from 2005 to 2007, said Leibovitch of Rodeo Realty. In Beverly Hills, where celebrities including Sharon Stone have homes, first-quarter transactions for properties priced $2 million and higher were 40 percent below the 65 homes sold in the third quarter of 2005, and in Brentwood the 25 purchased were 49 percent below 2007’s second quarter, according to DataQuick.
Too Few Sellers

Deals are being held back in part by a shortage of willing sellers. Nationwide, about 2.37 million existing homes were listed for sale in March, the fewest for the month since 2005, the year U.S. home sales reached a record 7.08 million, the National Association of Realtors reported April 19.

“We could have twice as many sales if we had more inventory,” Leibovitch said.

A total of 19,284 houses and condominiums sold in Los Angeles and five other Southern California counties in April, DataQuick reported yesterday. That was down 3.4 percent from March, and 21 percent below the average for April since 1988.

Jack Massopust listed his 92-year-old father’s Brentwood home, which boasts views of the city, the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island, on April 3 for $1.55 million. Within about a week, more than 100 shoppers had come to three open houses, and the 3,200-square-foot (300-square-meter) house, which Massopust’s father bought new in 1960, had received 11 offers. Eight were at or higher than the asking price.
‘Very Surprised’

The property, listed through Mary Lu Tuthill of Coldwell Banker Previews International in Brentwood, is in escrow, expected to close May 23, for about $1.705 million. The purchasers agreed to a “buy as is” condition, Massopust said.

“I have always appreciated the location and the view,” said Massopust, 64, a retired transportation engineer for the city of Los Angeles. “That’s in my opinion what sold the house for that price. But I was still very surprised.”

Sales volume for homes priced $5 million and higher at all of Coldwell’s West Los Angeles offices was up 35 percent this year through May 8 from a year earlier, according to Joyce Rey, the Beverly Hills-based head of the estates division at Coldwell Banker Previews International.

“There’s an added degree of confidence in the future and that prices are likely going to go up,” Rey said. “There is a definite change in consumer attitude.”

Tuthill, who also brokered the sale of Lynch’s house, said an increasing number of homes sell within a week of being listed. One 6,000-square-foot property on Tower Road in Beverly Hills, in escrow and scheduled to close by the end of the month, came on the market at $7.295 million and within a week received five offers, the highest of which was for more than $2 million greater than the asking price, Tuthill said.
Speculators Back

The increase in demand for high-end properties is being driven in part by investors looking to make a profit, a buyer pool that’s been almost nonexistent the past couple years, according to Rey. She said investors have grown to about 20 percent of the shoppers she represents since the beginning of the year.

Throughout Southern California, the portion of investor purchases was close to a record last month, and the share of buyers paying cash was double the historical average, according to DataQuick.

“The speculative buyer is back,” Rey said. “This is the first time since 2007 that I have investor clients again.”

That’s buoying an increase in bids for homes that need major work, she said.
Bidding War

One house on a 25,000-square-foot lot in Brentwood hadn’t been on the market in more than 50 years and was considered a “borderline tear-down,” according to Tuthill. The home, with original 1930s kitchen and bathrooms, was listed at $5.495 million at the beginning of March and received five offers, the highest of which was $5.6 million. After the seller countered at $5.695 million, two bidders upped their offers to $5.7 million and one jumped to $5.75 million, the eventual selling price.

“We were always joking that we were holding it together with bubble gum and paper clips,” Tuthill said. “The initial reaction was that this property was priced too high for recent comparables. But what brokers underestimated is the pent-up demand.”

A home on Bel Air Road in Bel Air came on the market in mid-March at $10.25 million and the final purchase agreement was signed for $1 million more. Escrow is scheduled to close next week.
Major Renovation

The mid-century house, once owned by the late television host Art Linkletter, hadn’t been on the market in 40 years. The buyer is considering a major renovation or tearing it down, Tuthill said.

“Those types of properties are more in demand than ever,” said Leibovitch of Rodeo Realty. “With interest rates as low as they are, investors can really get a good deal.”

Competition is so fierce that one couple looking to buy in Santa Monica had their daughters, ages 8 and 10, write a letter and draw a picture of the home to try to persuade the elderly seller to choose them over other bidders.

The neurologist and his wife, who asked not to be named because they don’t want his patients to know details of the purchase, agreed in mid-April to pay $155,000 more than the $2.695 million asking price for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, located two blocks from the beach.

Lynch and her husband, who’d owned their Brentwood home for 18 years, bought a smaller, three-bedroom house in the West Los Angeles neighborhood of Rancho Park, because they now spend about 40 percent of the year on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. They’re relieved they decided to act now, she said.

“We didn’t really have to sell,” Lynch said. “It was more of a lifestyle choice, a question of where do we want to be 10 years from now. But with this type of response, it seemed like it was meant to be.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at nbrandt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...-rebounds.html ]]> Scorpio http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32709-Luxury-Homes-Spur-Bidding-Wars-in-L-A-as-Market-Rebounds Competition Is Killing Higher Education (Part 1) http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32708-Competition-Is-Killing-Higher-Education-(Part-1)&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 10:24:29 GMT *Competition Is Killing Higher Education (Part 1)* Colleges Attachment 18179 (http://www.goldismoney2.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18179) Illustration by Keith Shore By Mark C. Taylor May 17, 2012 6:02 PM CT Competition, we are constantly told, encourages individuals, institutions and... Competition Is Killing Higher Education (Part 1)
Colleges

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Illustration by Keith Shore
By Mark C. Taylor May 17, 2012 6:02 PM CT

Competition, we are constantly told, encourages individuals, institutions and companies to take the risks necessary for innovation and efficiency. But in higher education, competition often discourages risk taking, leads to overly cautious short-term decisions, produces a mediocre product for the price, and promotes excessive spending on physical plants and bureaucracies.

The construction arms race on campus is the most visible example of competition run amok. To become more attractive to potential consumers, many colleges and universities undertake overly ambitious expansions. In some cases, new facilities contribute to educational programs, but too often they are tangential and trap institutions in a costly cycle: The new athletic center, dorm or student center starts to look faded when competing schools open theirs, and it never ends.

It’s about “keeping up with the Joneses,” an official at Wright State University said in a Dayton Daily News article last fall detailing why colleges in Ohio were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on student centers and other nonacademic attractions in a down economy. In Georgia, state legislators are reviewing questionable practices used to fund 173 projects to build student housing, parking garages, stadiums and recreation centers.

Private universities with large endowments often start the cycle. Schools such as Harvard University and New York University, for example, take on billion-dollar debts. In a trickle-down effect, less affluent schools also feel pressure to borrow and spend -- money they do not have.
Gaming the System

This is not the only cause of financial difficulties, but it makes them worse. Richard Kneedler, who was president of Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania for 14 years, estimated in 2009 that an astonishing two-thirds of the 700 private colleges he studied were at risk of financial failure.

Obsession with school rankings is another way that competition has warped higher education in the past few decades. College presidents, administrators and professors dismiss the importance of the U.S. News and World Report survey and other ratings, but they are always looking for ways to gain advantage.

I’ll give an example from Williams College, where I taught for 37 years. A decade ago, the new president conducted a review of the school’s tutorial program, which was modeled on one at the University of Oxford. The tutorials consisted of eight to 10 students who met with a professor weekly in groups of two to three to discuss papers they had written. The new administration opted to expand the tutorials -- a choice based on more than academics.

Williams had dropped from first to third in the U.S. News rankings, a matter of concern on campus and among alumni. One way the school could reclaim its top position was by reducing overall class size and decreasing the faculty-student ratio. When the faculty voted to increase the number of tutorials, the administration changed its accounting system without announcing it. A tutorial consisting of 10 students, for example, that met three times in groups of three or four counted as three classes. Maybe it was a coincidence, but within a couple of years Williams was again No. 1 on the U.S. News list.
Doctoral Degree Glut

Graduate schools also try to game the ratings system, and their competition is global. Every year, leading research universities anxiously await the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the World’s Best Universities: Top 400 and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

These lists affect the recruitment of top students and the level of financial support. Schools engage in bidding wars for so-called star faculty who are supposed to bring prestige to graduate programs and help attract lucrative private and government grants.

Second- and third-tier universities often create unneeded doctoral programs to become eligible for additional federal support and to increase their global profile. For example, the University of North Texas has 36,000 students and advertises itself as “a student-focused public research university” offering “97 bachelor’s, 82 master’s and 35 doctoral degree programs.”

Even this is not enough. Although severe budget shortfalls have led to cuts of as much as 90 percent for some programs, the university is adding new doctoral programs in a quest for the elusive top-tier status. This makes no educational sense and violates basic market principles. If successful, the University of North Texas will join too many other schools that are spending large amounts for unneeded programs that turn out products -- doctoral graduates -- for which the supply far outweighs the demand. This is a national issue, as pointed out in an article this month in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps.”

While overestimating the value of competition can lead to less, not more, innovation, underestimating the value of cooperation tends to discourage the exploration of possibilities for creative interaction. With escalating costs, limited resources and growing political concern about student debt, institutions should be developing innovative ways to cooperate that will prove to be mutually beneficial, in the same way that companies merge and become more efficient.

In the past, cooperative arrangements were limited to schools near each other, but teleconferencing, Skype and the Internet have exponentially expanded opportunities for interaction. Universities can no longer afford to teach every subject that students think they need to study.

Fiscal conservatives who typically extol competition see its insane effects in higher education. John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, wonders why all public universities in his state have to offer every major. “It’s not just inefficiencies,” he says. “It’s, ‘I want to be the best in this.’ It’s duplication of resources.”
Outsource Some Subjects

Some subjects can be outsourced; for example, let one college have a strong French department and another a strong German department. In other cases, costs can be shared by splitting a faculty member’s time between two or more institutions, physically and virtually. For the first half of the semester, what is taught at one college can be remotely transmitted to another, and for the second half of the term this process can be reversed. Faculty members would no longer be affiliated with a single college or university and would be required to become much more mobile.

To consolidate resources without jeopardizing the quality of research and teaching, universities should form consortiums to share faculty. The most effective organizational structure would be to have a core faculty of select members of the home department and from departments at participating institutions, which could be supplemented by colleagues in the undergraduate programs at related universities. Qualified faculty members would participate on a rotating basis, and courses would not be limited to offerings by resident professors but would include lectures and seminars conducted remotely. With more faculty members from different institutions involved, the quality of education would probably improve.

In every complex system -- be it educational, economic, political, social or biological -- competition and cooperation must be effectively balanced. When competition becomes excessive, it becomes counterproductive.

The recent announcement that Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are cooperating to offer free online courses is a promising development. Much more needs to be done. In coming articles, I will describe how overspecialization renders much undergraduate schooling irrelevant, and how globalization and online education provide opportunities for rethinking higher education.

(Mark C. Taylor is chairman of the department of religion at Columbia University, professor of philosophy of religion at Union Theological Seminary and professor emeritus at Williams College. His recent books are “Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities” and “Refiguring the Spiritual: Beuys, Barney, Turrell, Goldsworthy.” The opinions expressed are his own. This is the first of three articles on how online learning will challenge the status quo in higher education.)

Read more opinion online from Bloomberg View.

Today’s highlights: the View editors on job polarization and ways to save Syria; William Pesek on China’s declining soft power; Andrew Razeghi on jump-starting startups; Vali Nasr on Europe and Iran; Rachelle Bergstein on corporate pumps; Ted Gayer and Phillip Swagel on mortgage-principal deductions.

To contact the writer of this article: Mark C. Taylor at mct22@columbia.edu.

To contact the editor responsible for this article: Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...n-part-1-.html
Attached Images
]]> General Discussion All Other Scorpio http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32708-Competition-Is-Killing-Higher-Education-(Part-1) Reuters: Bankrun started in Spanish Bank Bankia http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32707-Reuters-Bankrun-started-in-Spanish-Bank-Bankia&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 07:18:13 GMT Customers of troubled Spanish bank Bankia, nationalized last week, have taken out over 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from their accounts over the past week, El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/bankia-idUSL5E8GH0AC20120517 Customers of troubled Spanish bank Bankia, nationalized last week, have taken out over 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) from their accounts over the past week, El Mundo newspaper reported on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8GH0AC20120517 ]]> jiikoo http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32707-Reuters-Bankrun-started-in-Spanish-Bank-Bankia Ron Paul: Taking over GOP delegates http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32706-Ron-Paul-Taking-over-GOP-delegates&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 04:47:42 GMT I like this California gal.... *Ron Paul: Taking over GOP delegates *(5 min 50 sec): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYHo6cD1dFY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYHo6cD1dFY Published on May 17, 2012 by RTAmerica The more money you have the easier it is to get to the White House, right?... I like this California gal....
Ron Paul: Taking over GOP delegates (5 min 50 sec):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYHo6cD1dFY




Published on May 17, 2012 by RTAmerica

The more money you have the easier it is to get to the White House, right? Well not if Ron Paul can help it. Although Paul suspended his active campaign, he is focusing all his attention on slowly taking over the delegate vote. Can the delegate strategy work? Mary Willison, volunteer organizer and Ron Paul supporter, joins us to help answer that question.
 ]]> Ron Paul Today! SongSungAU http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32706-Ron-Paul-Taking-over-GOP-delegates Agenda 21 Banned By New Hampshire House http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32705-Agenda-21-Banned-By-New-Hampshire-House&goto=newpost Fri, 18 May 2012 03:50:37 GMT Agenda 21, UN's Sustainability Measure Banned By New Hampshire House, Weighed By Senate

The Tea Party-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives voted Wednesday afternoon to ban implementation of policies connected to the United Nations' Agenda 21, its program of recommended sustainability measures adopted in 1992.

The House voted 201 to 99 in favor of the ban, becoming the second state legislative body in less than a week to come out against the international compact. Agenda 21 has become a favorite program for conservatives to attack, with opponents saying it is aimed at weakening and undermining individual property rights. Agenda 21 has not been ratified by Congress and does not have the force of law in the United States.

"I know it is totally against our Constitution from reading the U.N. biodiversity assessment," Rep. Anne Cartwright (R-Alstead), the primary sponsor of the bill, told The Huffington Post. "It's through local initiative that it is being implemented in bits and pieces to erode our property rights."

The New Hampshire legislative measure would prevent local and county governments, as well as the state government, from joining the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international sustainability group trying to promote Agenda 21. Several New Hampshire communities, including the city of Portsmouth, are members of the group. Cartwright said her research shows that the international organization is trying to take away property rights through its agenda, which promotes land use planning, bike paths and parks.

"They are very slowly implementing rules and regulations that have not reached a high level yet," Cartwright told HuffPost. "They are implementing it through zoning, planning and regional planning things that impact our property rights."

Cartwright has been advocating the measure for months without success. She used a parliamentary maneuver to attach the proposal to a Senate-sponsored bill to create a new hiking trail on Mittersill Mountain so as to force its consideration by the full legislature.

This type of maneuver has beecome common in recent weeks in the New Hampshire legislature, including the placement of measure to implement a 24-hour waiting period for abortions on a bill about research-and-development tax credits. House GOP leaders have relied on this practice after moderate Senate Republicans have failed to bring up bills passed by the House, which is controlled by a Tea Party and libertarian GOP faction, according to Rep. Christopher Serlin (D-Portsmouth).

Cartwright expects the Senate on Thursday to take up the hiking trail bill, with its anti-Agenda 21 plank.

Serlin, who helped lead opposition to this anti-Agenda 21 bill in the House, noted that many of the bill's sponsors also pushed a measure to prohibit an international baccalaureate program in New Hampshire, saying that they had described it as an international takeover of schools. The Senate rejected that ban.

"Agenda 21 has become one of those issues that the far right has latched on to," Serlin told HuffPost. "It is real tinfoil hat material. It is scary people think this way."

Last week the Republican-controlled Kansas House passed a resolution condemning Agenda 21. During the debate, supporters described the international compact and the council as "trying to destroy the American way of life" by creating bike paths and parks.

Tennessee legislators passed an anti-Agenda 21 resolution, but Republican Gov. Bill Haslam declined to sign it this month.

In March the Republican-controlled Arizona House of Representatives rejected a ban similar to New Hampshire's that its state Senate had passed. Similar measures are pending in Louisiana and Alabama.

"You have legislatures taken over by radical Tea Party representatives," Serlin said. "There is a competition between the legislatures to see who can be the wackiest."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1524285.html ]]> General Discussion All Other Goldhedge http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread.php?32705-Agenda-21-Banned-By-New-Hampshire-House