And it’s better, but still awful. Initial claims fell to 452,000, remaining in range where they have been most of the year, and the less volatile 4-week moving average fell to 458,000, while continuing claims fell by a minuscule amount, and emergency benefits rose.
This is not even close to being a recovery in the job market.
Remember, the folks who listen to the junk science don’t just put themselves at risk, but they place the rest of the population at risk by poking holes in herd immunity.
The net result of all this is 10 infants have died in the worst whooping cough outbreak in California whooping cough outbreak in over ½ a century.
It’s draws a very good line between Meg Whitman and the Governator.
It turns out that some of the banksters have simultaneously sold mortgages to multiple people (see also here for the court fiuling):
In a complaint filed this month in Washington, D.C. federal court, Bank of America said the FDIC has wrongly denied claims by Ocala noteholders to recover from Colonial Bank and an Illinois lender also in receivership, Platinum Community Bank.
Bank of America accused executives at Taylor Bean, Colonial and Platinum of having fraudulently schemed to “double- and triple-pledge mortgages and steal assets” to hide their faltering conditions as the housing market declined.
So these banks, and a number of others, probably repeatedly sold the same mortgage to different trusts.
This is Max Bialystock level fraud. There is no gray area here, but predictably, the Obama administration is maintaining that somehow or other the problems are not systemic at the same time that they have convened a task force to see if laws were broken.
We have a system where banks simply ignored the law over what amounts to about a $30 dollar cost per loan transfer, MERS, we have banks destroying the chain of custody of the loans, and the solution of the Obama administration is to wave a wand and grant absolution.
That’s the message of these conflicting messages: There is a task force, but that is just politics, and all will be forgiven on November 3rd.
Un-dirtyword-believable.
Catching up on the economic number dump, first we have the Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book, which shows that growth has continued, but it is very sluggish.
This is reinforced by the fact that consumer confidence fell in October, factory production and capacity utilization fell in September, for the first time in a year, though home builder confidence rose (to a truly pathetic 16 where 50 is neutral), and housing starts rose.
We also have some importing news out of China, with their central bank making a surprise increase in its benchmark rate, and Chinese government published new statistics showing that its growth slowed and inflation edged up.
Certainly, it looks like the Central bank is concerned about inflation, and the statistics, even considering the general unreliability of official government statistics, indicate a problem.
One interesting effect of the rate hike is that it should place additional upward pressure on the Yuan.
But his take-down of Ginny Thomas’s “drunk dialing” phone harassment of Anita Hill, is truly an thing of beauty:
Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas’s Wife Calls You
Posted by Andy BorowitzLike many Americans, over the past several years I have been the recipient of multiple unwelcome voicemails from the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. These calls have come in the middle of the night, at the crack of dawn, even at the dinner hour favored by telemarketers. Regardless of the time of day, all of these voicemails have one thing in common: she always sounds like she’s drunk-dialing me, except she appears to be completely sober.
………
One final note: if you get a call in the middle of the night and there is silence on the other end, that is not Virginia Thomas. That is Clarence Thomas.
A very well deserved take-down of a classless and corrupt, she is clearly playing on her marriage to a Supreme Court justice to secure large donations for her AstroTurf group, woman.
Go read Borowitz. He is very funny here.
A 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just stayed the injunction against the enforcement of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Thankfully, this is only a short term stay, basically it’s a stay until the panel has a hearing on the stay next week:
A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily stalled the landmark court decision allowing openly gay recruits to be accepted into the military.
In response to an emergency request from the government, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, issued a one-page order late in the day allowing the Pentagon to continue enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, which bars openly gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.
The decision, which returns the law to the status quo before a Federal District Court judge in California declared it unconstitutional, will be in effect while the appeals court considers whether to issue a longer stay, until February, when the Ninth Circuit will hear the full appeal. A decision about the longer stay could occur as early as next week; the parties have been told to prepare briefs on the issues by Monday.
So the witch hunts continue.
This stance is both morally wrong, it’s bigotry, creates security problems, because people forced into in the closet are subject to blackmail, and politically stupid, because it demoralizes a large portion of the base less than 2 weeks before the election.
As I have said before, when you are doing something that is so transparently wrong and stupid on so many levels, it isn’t because you are interested in process, it’s because you really do oppose gay rights.
This is not the actions of someone who wants to, “repeal the law that denies gay and lesbian Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.” This is the actions of someone who does not believes that gays should serve openly in the military.
The Cook County Sheriff has issued a statement that he and his deputies will not enforce foreclosures until he receives documentation from the banks that they have their sh%$ together:
Two of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers have said they will resume home foreclosures, but a big-city sheriff has news for them: he won’t enforce their foreclosure evictions.
The sheriff for Cook County, Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago, said on Tuesday he will not enforce foreclosure evictions for Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase and Co. and GMAC Mortgage/Ally Financial until they prove those foreclosures were handled “properly and legally.”
While the Cook County Sheriff has been here before, he instituted a moratorium over lack of notifications to renters 2 years ago, but I think that this time, there is a distinct possibility that this will go viral, and that other county sheriffs will follow his lead.
Basically, this is a political winner for almost any incumbent charged with foreclosure service.
The standard disclaimer, that my powers of prediction suck wet farts from dead pigeons, apply.
Paul Krugman, in discussing the response of the Obama administration to the foreclosure fraud crisis, a go slow and protect the bankster response, notes that it’s the same response that they have to every crisis:
As NAME ISSUE HERE has come to light, the Obama administration has resisted calls for a more forceful response, worried that added pressure might spook the banks and hobble the broader economy.
Whether it has been an excuse for inaction, such as financial reform, or the fraud perpetrated on desperate home owners with the HAMP, or the avoidance of the good for the mediocre, as with healthcare the administration seems to have a deep and abiding fear of effective action and good policy, even when it is good politics.
The state of Michigan and the Department of Justice have filed an anti-trust suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan:
The Justice Department filed an antitrust suit Monday against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, accusing the giant health insurer of using its market clout to stifle competition and cause consumers covered by other health plans to pay more for hospital care.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit and joined by the state of Michigan, said Blue Cross contracts with at least 70 of the acute care hospitals in the state force them to raise prices and prevent other insurers from competing with them.
Antitrust officials say the provisions likely resulted in Michigan consumers paying higher prices.
Here is hoping that they get nailed to the wall.
The ACLU has initiated discovery on the Florida foreclosure “Rocket Docket,” because they believe that the abbreviated court proceedings might be a violation of homeowners due process rights, because, “Florida may be taking shortcuts and, in the process, forsaking constitutionally-required due process protections.”
It certainly appears that these courts are constructed with the specific goal of not doing either due diligence or due process.
Their press release after break
ACLU Seeks Public Records To Determine Constitutionality Of Foreclosure Proceedings In Florida
October 19, 2010Lack Of Due Process Protections Would Disproportionately Impact Homeowners Of Color
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.orgNEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida today filed public records requests with judicial officials in Florida to determine whether homeowners are having their constitutional rights violated during foreclosure proceedings and being unlawfully removed from their homes.
In Florida, where almost half a million foreclosure cases are pending, the state legislature recently spent over $9 million to create special foreclosure courts, staffed by retired judges, with the intent of speeding through the state’s backlog of such cases. But recent media reports in Florida and around the country, which reveal rampant error and fraud in the foreclosure process, have shown that courts should take particular care with foreclosure cases. Instead, in the rush to push foreclosure cases through the courts, Florida may be taking shortcuts and, in the process, forsaking constitutionally-required due process protections.
“It is disturbing that Florida may be implementing less exacting due process protections at a time when widespread flaws in the foreclosure system illustrate the need for increased vigilance and strict procedural safeguards,” said Larry Schwartztol, staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “These records requests aim to shed light on whether recent changes to Florida’s handling of foreclosure proceedings are violating the due process rights of homeowners.”
Filed with the Office of the State Court Administrator and the chief judges of all 20 of Florida’s circuit courts, the requests seek access to, among other things, all documents related to special court systems created to dispose of foreclosure cases and the rules and procedures in place that govern those systems.
Government data show that the foreclosure crisis across the country has disproportionately impacted communities of color. According to a recent report by the Center for Responsible Lending, nearly 8 percent of both African Americans and Latinos have lost their homes to foreclosures, as compared to 4.5 percent of whites. Additionally, the indirect losses in wealth that result from foreclosures as a result of depreciation to nearby properties will also disproportionately impact communities of color. The Center for Responsible Lending report estimates that between 2009 and 2012, the African American and Latino communities will be drained of $194 and $177 billion, respectively, in these indirect “spillover” losses alone.
“Communities of color in Florida and across the country are hit hardest if courts disregard the kinds of protections that are meant to uphold people’s basic constitutional rights,” said Muslima Lewis, Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Racial Justice Project of the ACLU of Florida. “Getting the documents we are requesting will be an important first step toward exposing and addressing any systemic injustices that may exist in the Florida foreclosure court systems.”
Copies of the ACLU’s public records requests are available online at: www.aclu.org/racial-justice/aclu-seeks-information-about-constitutionality-florida-foreclosure-courts
Right wing activist, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas just called Anita Hill demanding an apology:
Nearly 20 years after Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Justice Thomas’s wife has called Ms. Hill, seeking an apology.
In a voice mail message left at 7:31 a.m. on Oct. 9, a Saturday, Virginia Thomas asked her husband’s former aide-turned-adversary to make amends. Ms. Hill played the recording, from her voice mail at Brandeis University, for The New York Times.
“Good morning Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas,” it said. “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.”
Ms. Thomas went on: “So give it some thought. And certainly pray about this and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. O.K., have a good day.”
Ms. Hill, in an interview, said she had kept the message for nearly a week trying to decide whether the caller really was Ms. Thomas or a prankster. Unsure, she said, she decided to turn it over to the Brandeis campus police with a request to convey it the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Seriously, there is all sorts of pathology here from a woman who is both the spouse of a Supreme Court Justice and an amazingly well funded political activists.
One can only imagine what the Thomas’ dinner table conversation is like.
Institutional investors who purchased mortgage backed securities issued by Countrywide, now Bank of America have sent a demand letter requesting that Bank of America repurchase their mortgages for non-performance.
What makes this a big deal is just who is writing this.
Pacific Investment Management Co. [PIMCO], BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are seeking to force Bank of America Corp. to repurchase soured mortgages packaged into $47 billion of bonds by its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.
A group of bondholders wrote a letter to Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the debt’s trustee, citing alleged failures by Countrywide to service loans properly, their lawyer said yesterday in a statement that didn’t name the firms. The New York Fed acquired mortgage debt through its 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.
Bank of America responded that it would, “defend its shareholders,” which might make for an interesting conflict between two groups of too big to fail financial institutions.
In either case, it makes Congressional Deus Ex Machina hail Mary play less likely, since the constituencies that normally bribe lobby the House and Senate appear to be fairly evenly divided.
My guess is that this is actually not as big a deal as it sounds.
I agree with Yves Smith, that this is primarily posturing:
Still, if it prevents Congress from bailing out the banksters, it would be a good thing.™
The full press release from the bond holders is below the fold:
Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ –Today, the holders of over 25% of the Voting Rights in more than $47 billion of Countrywide-issued RMBS sent a Notice of Non-Performance (Notice) to Countrywide Home Loan Servicing, as Master Servicer (“Countrywide Servicing”), and to Bank of New York, as Trustee, identifying specific covenants in 115 Pooling and Servicing Agreements (PSAs) that the Holders allege Countrywide Servicing has failed to perform.
The Holders’ Notice alleges that each of these failures has materially affected the rights of the Certificateholders under the relevant PSAs. Under Section 7.01 of the PSAs, if any of the cited failures “continues unremedied for a period of 60 days after the date on which written notice of such failure has been given … to the Master Servicer and the Trustee by the Holders of Certificates evidencing not less than 25% of the Voting Rights evidenced by the Certificates,” that failure constitutes an Event of Default under the PSAs.
In a previous release, the Holders emphasized their intent to invoke all contractual remedies available to them to recover their losses and to protect their rights. Kathy Patrick of Gibbs & Bruns LLP, lead counsel for the Holders, emphasized that the Holders’ notice does not seek to halt loan modifications for troubled borrowers. Instead, it urges the Trustee to enforce Countrywide Servicing’s obligations to service loans prudently by maintaining accurate loan records, demanding the repurchase of loans that were originated in violation of underwriting guidelines, and compelling the sellers of ineligible or predatory mortgages to bear the costs of modifying them for homeowners or repurchasing them from the Trusts’ collateral pools.
Patrick also noted that the group of Holders that tendered today’s Notice of Non-Performance is larger, and encompasses more Countrywide-issued RMBS deals, than were included in the August 20 instruction letter. When asked why the group of holders was larger, Patrick replied, “Ours is a large, determined, and cohesive group of bondholders. We have a clearly defined strategy. We plan to vigorously pursue this initiative to enforce Holders’ rights.”
The Notice of Non-Performance, which is the first step in the process of declaring an Event of Default, was issued on behalf of Holders in the following Countrywide-issued RMBS:
Deal Name Deal Name Deal Name CWALT 2004-32CB CWHL 2004-22 CWL 2006-15 CWALT 2004-6CB CWHL 2004-25 CWL 2006-16 CWALT 2004-J1 CWHL 2004-29 CWL 2006-19 CWALT 2005-14 CWHL 2004-HYB9 CWL 2006-2 CWALT 2005-21CB CWHL 2005-11 CWL 2006-20 CWALT 2005-24 CWHL 2005-14 CWL 2006-22 CWALT 2005-32T1 CWHL 2005-18 CWL 2006-24 CWALT 2005-35CB CWHL 2005-19 CWL 2006-25 CWALT 2005-36 CWHL 2005-2 CWL 2006-26 CWALT 2005-44 CWHL 2005-3 CWL 2006-3 CWALT 2005-45 CWHL 2005-30 CWL 2006-5 CWALT 2005-56 CWHL 2005-9 CWL 2006-7 CWALT 2005-57 CB CWHL 2005-HYB3 CWL 2006-9 CWALT 2005-64 CB CWHL 2005-HYB9 CWL 2006-BC2 CWALT 2005-72 CWHL 2005-R3 CWL 2006-BC3 CWALT 2005-73CB CWHL 2006-9 CWL 2006-BC4 CWALT 2005-74T1 CWHL 2006-HYB2 CWL 2006-BC5 CWALT 2005-81 CWHL 2006-HYB5 CWL 2006-SD1 CWALT 2005-AR1 CWHL 2006-J2 CWL 2006-SD3 CWALT 2005-J5 CWHL 2006-OA5 CWL 2006-SD4 CWALT 2005-J9 CWHL 2006-R2 CWL 2006-SPS2 CWALT 2006-14CB CWHL 2007-12 CWL 2007-2 CWALT 2006-20CB CWHL 2007-16 CWL 2007-5 CWALT 2006-37R CWHL 2008-3R CWL 2007-6 CWALT 2006-41CB CWL 2005-10 CWL 2007-7 CWALT 2006-HY12 CWL 2005-11 CWL 2007-9 CWALT 2006-OA11 CWL 2005-13 CWL 2007-BC1 CWALT 2006-OA16 CWL 2005-16 CWL 2007-BC2 CWALT 2006-OA17 CWL 2005-2 CWL 2007-BC3 CWALT 2006-OA6 CWL 2005-4 CWL 2007-QH1 CWALT 2006-OA9 CWL 2005-5 CWL 2007-S3 CWALT 2006-OC10 CWL 2005-6 CWALT 2006-OC2 CWL 2005-7 CWALT 2006-OC4 CWL 2005-8 CWALT 2006-OC5 CWL 2005-9 CWALT 2006-OC6 CWL 2005-AB2 CWALT 2006-OC7 CWL 2005-AB3 CWALT 2007-17CB CWL 2005-AB4 CWALT 2007-23CB CWL 2005-BC5 CWALT 2007-24 CWL 2005-IM1 CWALT 2007-OA7 CWL 2006-10 CWALT 2008-2R CWL 2006-12 SOURCE Gibbs & Bruns, LLP
In response to the government’s request that she stay her injunction against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Federal Judge Virginia Phillips has refused a stay:
A federal judge formally refused on Tuesday to let the Pentagon reinstate its ban on openly gay men and women in the U.S. military while it appeals her decision declaring its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy unconstitutional.
A day after tentatively siding against the Obama administration, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips issued a written decision denying a government request to lift her own injunction barring further Pentagon enforcement of the ban.
Needless to say the Obama Administration will attempt to have the injunction stayed on appeal, taking it first to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then to the Supreme Court, and they will do so on an expedited basis.
Because the Obama administration is desparate for the witch hunts in the military to proceed without pause.
Even if they feel that they have a constitutional duty to fight the case, this injunction will not, according to Barack Obama’s own words, he does not believe will do any damage to the military.
The only reasons to pursue this are cowardice and bigotry, and at this point, I am inclined to favor the latter as an explanation, because at this point, with two weeks to go in the election, the all the gay baiting that is going to be done has been done.
Realistically, when you look at administrations inaction on these matters, combined with Obamas public statements opposing gay marriage, I think that we have to believe that this is motivated by bigotry.
It starts with a survey of the concepts, but at about 2:20, it gets hysterically funny.
H/t Juha Boren for the tip.
This time, it was not that the wedding party that they bombed was a terrorist base camp. This time, we get the updated report, and it is determined that the DoD found no compromise of its intelligence capabilities from the Wikileaks documents dump:
The unauthorized release of tens of thousands of classified U.S. military records from the war in Afghanistan last July on the Wikileaks website did not result in the disclosure of sensitive intelligence sources, according to a mid-August assessment by the Department of Defense that has just been made public.
“The review to date has not revealed any sensitive intelligence sources and methods compromised by this disclosure,” wrote Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates in an August 16 letter (pdf) to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin.
We get lied into a war. We get lied to during the war. We have a war on whistle blowers who reveal the lies.
Without accurate information, the public can never weigh in in the policies of its government, and this is a very bad thing.
The astroturf group Concerned Taxpayers of America represents just two of said taxpayers:
A few weeks ago, a group called Concerned Taxpayers of America emerged out of nowhere and started to spend large sums of money attacking Rep. Peter DeFazio (D) in his re-election bid in Oregon. At the time, both DeFazio and his opponent, Tea Party favorite Art Robinson, claimed complete ignorance of the group, and DeFazio even tracked it to a townhouse in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington to demand that the group identify itself — but to no avail.
Friday’s FEC filings, however, finally reveal that the Concerned Taxpayers of America consists of exactly two concerned taxpayers:
………
This sh%$ really needs to stop.
Timothy Geithner has reiterated his support for Bob Rubin’s strong dollar policy:
“It is very important for people to understand that the United States of America and no country around the world can devalue its way to prosperity, to (be) competitive,” Geithner added. “It is not a viable, feasible strategy and we will not engage in it.”
Answering audience questions before the Commonwealth Club of California in Palo Alto, he said the United States needed to “work hard to preserve confidence in the strong dollar.”
The dollar is overvalued, particularly with regard to the Chinese Yuan, and it has been for years.
It’s been overvalued, because it makes the US position as a reserve currency more secure, which means more people paying American bankers to hold their money, even as it increases exports and decreases imports, harming the rest of the country.
Once again, when Timothy Geithner has to choose between the country and the banks, he chooses the banks.
Many years ago, Yves Smith worked for Goldman Sachs, AKA the Vampire Squid,* and she said that Goldman Sachs is actually a cult:
As important, Goldman is a cult. I say that as a former employee, based not just on my experience a very long time ago (boy, am I getting old, more than 25 years ago) but also on reports I get from recruits and what I can infer from press reports. If anything the firm has become more inward looking over the years
The people there honestly believe that working for Goldman is the most elevated calling (Blankfein’s bizarre-sounding “Doing God’s work” remark no doubt resonated within the firm) and doing anything else is a fall from grace. Seriously. People who exit Goldman typically take a year or two to get over it the deeply-inculcated belief that departure = failure (this isn’t my own response; I’ve had a number of men volunteer that to me). Similarly, the first person I met at Goldman, which was through personal contacts, made it clear he was blocked in her career (his boss was too close to her in age) said he couldn’t possibly work for another firm. It wasn’t that he had assessed the tradeoffs and decided on balance it was still better to stay; he literally recoiled on a psychological level from the idea of departing. That sort of deep indoctrination was not at all unusual.
And people who had managed not to imbibe the Kool Aid were viewed with some suspicion. I left as a pretty junior person; the only reason I was remembered was a woman in investment banking in the early 1980s was an unusual commodity. Someone who checked out my reputation years after my departure said the party line on me was “She could have made partner, but we would have had to break her.”
(emphasis mine)
I kind of thought that it was just ordinary greed, but this revelation says a lot.
In the United States these days, we tend to try to describe everything in terms of profit and loss, with greed as a motivator.
But profit and loss do not describe anything. If they did, then the Randroid nut jobs out there would be right, and discrimination would have ended, because it interferes with the most efficient flow of commerce.
Goldman Sachs is a cult, and really do believe that they are doing God’s work.
This is so f%$#ing creepy.
*Alas, I cannot claim credit for the bon mot describing Goldman Sachs as a, “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” This was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.
So, it appears that Alaska Republican Senate nominee has hired hired goons to harass the press in order to prevent them from asking him questions, and they just assaulted and handcuffed a journalist:
The editor of the Alaska Dispatch website was arrested by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller’s private security guards Sunday as the editor attempted to interview Miller at the end of a public event in an Anchorage school.
Tony Hopfinger was handcuffed by the guards and detained in a hallway at Central Middle School until Anchorage police came and told the guards to release Hopfinger.
I keep expecting this crowd to burst into Tomorrow Belongs to Me.
Christine O’Donnell may be the sane one of this lot.
Our political culture is broken in some very profound ways, and I have no clue as to how to fix it.