Year: 2008

South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Kosovo

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First, it appears that there is evidence of looting and burning by South Ossetian militias. It’s unclear how much of this is ethnic violence, and how much is simple opportunism.

The Russians are not doing a whole bunch about this right now, they are busy destroying the Georgian security infrastructure under their control, but it does appear that they have arrested some militia men.

This does parallel what happened in Kosovo following the expulsion of the Serbian army, though with the Russians in control, it’s likely to get worse than it was in Kosovo with NATO troops who were somewhat less tolerant of the activities of the KLA post liberation.

Meanwhile, Serbia is lobbying the UN to refer the matter of Serbian independence to the International Court of Justice, which is awkward for the US, who has to argue that Kosovo can and should be independent, but that South Ossetia and Abkhazia should not be.

Received from the SPEEA

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Not entirely sure how I got on their mailing list, but Boeing appears to be trying to foist off a 401(k) on their employees while sticking with defined benefits for upper managers.

The Goforths Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:03 AM

Reply-To: @@@@@@@@@@@@
To: The Goforths

For Immediate Release August 11, 2008

SPEEA demands Boeing disclose funding of executive pensions

SEATTLE – To ensure the pension program relied on by 21,400 technical employees at The Boeing Company is not being secretly used to fund executive retirement benefits, the union representing the employees is demanding the company immediately disclose the extent and funding source of its executive pension plans.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, formally requested the information from Boeing after a recent investigative news report by The Wall Street Journal uncovered U.S. corporations funding executive pensions by funneling funds through regular employee plans. This practice weakens employees’ pensions while allowing corporations to take advantage of huge tax benefits not normally available for executive pension plans.

In the Aug. 4, page-one, report, The Wall Street Journal called the pension maneuvers by corporations a “dubious use of tax law” that “risks harming regular workers.”

Earlier this year, Boeing announced the elimination of pensions for new, non-union employees. The company is seeking to eliminate pensions for union represented employees when new contracts are negotiated.

“Benefits consultants advise companies to keep quiet about these schemes to avoid employee backlash,” said Ray Goforth, SPEEA executive director. “Boeing’s move to eliminate pensions for regular workers is consistent with the pattern uncovered by the Wall Street Journal. SPEEA demands to know if Boeing is sacrificing the pensions of regular workers to benefit executives.”

The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan (BCERP) covers employees represented by SPEEA. Management told union leaders it wants to eliminate the long-term liability of the pension plan. The plan, a traditional pension, provides retired employees monthly payments until death. Instead, Boeing proposes making contributions to each employee’s 401k. The contribution is half the value of the present pension contribution. In addition to reducing corporate expense, the plan shifts all risk and maintenance of retirement onto the employee.

In October, SPEEA begins negotiations with Boeing for 21,400 engineers and technical employees in Washington, Kansas, Oregon, Utah and California. The existing contracts expire Dec. 1, and in Kansas, Dec. 5.

SPEEA represents 24,500 aerospace professionals at Boeing and Triumph Composite Systems, Inc., in Spokane, Wash., and at BAE Systems, Inc. in Irving, Texas. SPEEA is an affiliated local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).

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‘Phant Sleaze Update

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Yawn, another day, another scandal.

Zimbabwe Update

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First, the Mugabe government seized Morgan Tsvangerai’s passport at the airport, but returned it after threats from Botswana’s President Seretse Khama Ian Khama threatened not to attend a regional summit.

Tsvangerai is saying that he is committed to the negotiations, though with the entire passport debacle, Mugabe’s commitment is in doubt.

One interesting bit of information is that a mining company is holding talks with the MDC about platinum concessions, which indicates that someone thinks that there is a chance that someone other than Mugabe will have control of such things.

Shadow Inventory

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Oh
My
God

Shadow inventory are houses available but not listed in the MLS system.

Most often, these are REO (Real Estate Owned, foreclosures and such), and the Sacramento Real Estate Statistics blog has some numbers on a few markets.

City

MLS Listings

Foreclosure Inventory

% of Listings

Sacramento

14,913

31,219

209%

San Francisco

18,647

35,402

190%

Inland Empire

45,490

82,114

181%

San Diego

18,771

31,168

166%

Los Angeles

62,379

88,843

142%

So the massive inventory out there, might account for less than half of all the houses actually on the market.

Time to freak out?

What is Going on in Georgia

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I knew that Russia decimated the Georgian army, but I had no clue as to how totally completely they owned them:

It soon became clear that the six-point deal not only failed to slow the Russian advance, but it also allowed Russia to claim that it could push deeper into Georgia as part of so-called additional security measures it was granted in the agreement. Mr. Sarkozy, according to a senior Georgian official who witnessed the negotiations, also failed to persuade the Russians to agree to any time limit on their military action.

So the Georgians have forsworn the use of force to get back the provinces, Russia has the right, for an indeterminate amount of time, to stay in Georgian territory, and take “additional security measures.”

Meanwhile, the Russians are telling George W. Bush and the Georgians to pound sand on the autonomous regions:

Medvedev said he would support the independence aspirations of South Ossetians and Abkhazians in accordance with the United Nations Charter, international conventions of 1966 and the Helsinki Act on Security and Cooperation in European.

“You have been defending your land, and the right is on your side,” Medvedev said at a meeting with leaders of the two breakaway regions.

“Russia’s position is unchanged: we will support any decisions taken by the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in accordance with the UN Charter,” he said, adding that “not only do we support but we will guarantee them.”

Georgia is going to be smaller in a few years.

Economics Update

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Weekly initial jobless claims came in higher than expected, at 450K as opposed 432K, and the 4 week moving average is 440.5K, the highest number since 2002.

At the same time, the CPI numbers are grim, with prices up 0.8% in July, and 5.6% year over year.

The Europeans are not doing much better, with GDP declining 0.2% in the 2nd quarter.

The European weakness, meant a Euro weakness, with the dollar gaining against the Euro.

These indications of a global slowdown have pushed oil prices lower, and Gasoline is down too.

Don’t expect a real estate recovery to save the economy though, foreclosures are up 8% for the month, and 55% year over year, and home prices have fallen 7.6% year over year.

Charges in Taser Death

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A jury has indicted former Winnfield police officer Scott Nugent for manslaughter. He tasered Baron “Scooter” Pikes 9 times after he was subdued and handcuffed.

Considering that there had been 14 uses of the taser by the Winnfield department, and Nugent had used it 10 of those times, he was clearly a problem before this.

Had I been the prosecutor, I would have put felony murder on the table, because he was committing a felony, aggravated assault and battery, when the death occurred.

I’m sure that Nugent will get the best defense that Taser, International can buy, because they don’t want this to be a precedent in product liability cases.

Background here and here.

Lebanon-Syria to Negotiate on Border

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It should be noted that they will not negotiate on Shebaa Farms until Israel leaves the region.

This is tantamount to a Syrian declaration that they believe it to be theirs, because if they did cede it to Lebanon, Israel would be out the next day, as there is no other reason to hold the land except as a bargaining chip in a land for peace deal with Syria.

Still, the negotiations are a promising development in the disaster that is Lebanon.

Generals Trash Talking Each Other at Gitmo Trials

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You know, this sounds like some some of these folks realize that Bush only has 4 months, and that they are trying to cover their asses about the inevitable career destroying investigations:

One general testified about another general at the war court Wednesday, describing a Pentagon official fast-tracking trials here as “abusive, bullying, unprofessional.”

Moreover, in testimony, Army Brig. Gen. Gregory Zanetti, deputy prison camps commander, described the approach employed earlier this year by his counterpart, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, this way:

“Spray and pray. Charge everybody. Let’s go. Speed, speed, speed.”

I wonder who will be the next rat to sing in court.

The Big Picture From The Big Picture: False Foreclosure Bottom

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Barry Ritholtz of The Big Picture notes that the recent data showing a slowing in foreclosures is an artifact of changes in foreclosure law in a few hard-hit states:

  • California requires lenders to wait an additional 30 days after a homeowner misses the first payment before filing a default notice;
  • Massachusetts now gives homeowners a three-months grace period after they default on their mortgage before the lender can file to foreclose. (The law is credited with an 84% drop in foreclosure petitions);
  • New York passed a bill last week that requires lenders to send a preforeclosure notice to certain borrowers at least 90 days before foreclosure proceedings may be initiated;

Of course, the financial press is looking the delays caused by these changes, and running around saying, “Foreclosures are down, the housing crash has finally hit bottom.”

The only place with more false bottoms than financial Journalism is a Beverly Hills plastic surgery clinic.

The only thing that surprises me is that he links to an article that actually points out this fact, though it does have the prize quote, “Some cynics say the laws are designed to give the appearance that the housing crisis is easing ahead of the November elections.”

We cynics prefer to call ourselves the, “Reality Based Community.”

Damn. I Can’t Write this Badly.

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Well, it’s time for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, 2008 Results.

I’m relieved that there people who write worse than I do, even though they are trying to write badly.

The winner, if you can call it that, was one Garrison Spik of Washington, D.C. :

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped “Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.”

I’m impressed….Horrified, but impressed.