Month: January 2012

Well, Knock Me Over With a Mackerel!

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Congress has ended both the subsidy on corn ethanol and the tariff on imported Brazilian sugar based ethanol:

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group, clearly wasn’t thrilled with the decision, but in an interview earlier this month he claimed the ethanol industry would survive without government handouts stating, “The blenders’ tax credit initially helped the ethanol industry develop. But today, we don’t have a production problem, we have a market access problem. Without the tax credit, the ethanol industry will survive; it will continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and strengthen our economy.”

By some estimates the total gifts to corn ethanol business totalled $45B USD since 1980.

The subsidy cut — approved by a 73-27 Senate vote in June — also is accompanied by the end of a tariff on the importation of Brazilian ethanol. Brazil has an excess of sugarcane ethanol, but the U.S. government had previously penalized this fuel stream as a means of allowing U.S. ethanol producers to escape competing on the free market.

The ethanol debate has divided both political parties and even set federal representatives within certain corn-producing states against each other.

I wonder if this says something about the increasing irrelevance of Iowa caucuses this year.

I’m pleasantly surprised by this development.

Finally Cashiering the Bloated General Officers in the Pentagon

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It’s a start, but considering that there is an officer for every 5 enlisted men, up from 1 for every 10 men that was the standard over the past few hundred years, it’s only a start:

With the Iraq war over and troops in Afghanistan on their way home, the U.S. military is getting down to brass tacks: culling generals and admirals from its top-heavy ranks.

Pentagon officials said they have eliminated 27 jobs for generals and admirals since March, the first time the Defense Department has imposed such a reduction since the aftermath of the Cold War, when the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted the military to downsize.

The cuts are part of a broader plan to shrink the upper ranks by 10 percent over five years, restoring them to the their size when the country was last at peace, before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The changes are projected to save only a modest amount of money, but defense officials said they are symbolically important as the Pentagon adjusts to an era of austerity. The Obama administration proposes to squeeze $450 billion from defense budgets over a decade. An additional $500 billion in cuts will be triggered if Congress cannot agree on a deficit-reduction plan in the next year.

This does not even qualify as a baby step in tackling the bloat at the Pentagon, but  it  is a positive development.

Matt Taibbi is Right

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When the Vampire Squid recommends a buy, sell as fast as you can:

It seems Jim O’Neill, the head of Goldman’s Asset Management department, is predicting that the United States stock market may go up “15 to 20 percent.” O’Neill apparently believes Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve will resort to another round of money-printing, and finally green-light the long-awaited “Qe3,” or third round of “Quantitative Easing.”

The QE programs involve the Fed printing hundreds of billions of dollars and pumping them into the marketplace, where they ostensibly stimulate the economy (although recent experience tells us that the money mostly ends up being swallowed by the financial services industry – but that’s another subject for another time). Anyway, Bernanke declined to go ahead with a third QE program in late 2011, but O’Neill apparently thinks we’ll get it in 2012. From Bloomberg:

“If QE2 doesn’t work, then we’ll get QE3,” said O’Neill, who was named chairman of the money manager in September after working as the co-head of global economics research and chief currency economist at New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. since 1995. There’s a “good chance” the S&P 500 will rise 15 percent to 20 percent in the next 12 months, he said.

O’Neill added that he thought a 20 percent bump would be “relatively straightforward” for the U.S. S&P.

They pumped also pumped up the BRICS, and then shorted them, and aggressively sold their customers European bank stocks earlier this month.

Goldman Sachs is really nothing more than a ferociously criminal enterprise. They earn commissioners by advising their customers, and then they cheat them.*

The only reason to do business with them is to capitalize on their exquisitely honed revolving-door government connections.

If a prosecutor were to aggressively to pursue a RICO investigation against them, they would be toast, because the (to my mind dangerously low) standard of a, “pattern of racketeering activity,” is not a high bar to clear.

*Note to self. I need to get libel insurance.

Yes, the Complete Absence of Oversight of Central Bankers is a Good Thing…

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So there is nothing to worry about with the wife of head of the Swiss National Bank shorting the SFr just days before it’s devaluation by her husband:

My kind of story in the Swiss papers today. I love it when big shot central bankers get their dirty laundry made public.

Kashya, the wife of Philipp Hildebrand (head of the Swiss National Bank) sold Swiss Francs just a few days before the Swiss National Bank initiated exchange controls and devalued the Franc. The timing of the transactions was nearly perfect. The suggestion is that “pillow talk” between husband and wife lead to the trades.

Don’t expect heads to roll over this transgression. There has been a complete review by Swiss authorities and the conclusion is that there were no insider trading violations by the wife. That’s not to say that trades did not happen.

Apparently, Kashya Hildebrand bought ~$500,000 when she shorted the CHF. This relatively small transaction netted the Hildebrand family only ~$50,000 in less than one month. Being that the amount is so small, the conclusion is that nothing nefarious has taken place. ………….

Seriously, if I stole $50,000, I’d be in jail, with a prosecutor asking for a big chunk of bail money, but because this is one of the bankster elite, it’s no harm, no foul.

I’m, really beginning to think that we don’t need to just prosecute the financiers, but we need to go after the corrupt regulators, including the central bankers, as well.

To quote Sigourney Weaver, “I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

H/t Atrios.

And No Carriers, What a Bummer

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It looks like the Latin American customs union, Mercosur, has declared that Falklands Islands flagged ships are banned from their ports, which amounts to a (rather porous) blockade:

Argentines call them las Malvinas. The British call them the Falklands. In news jargon, many assume that to use one name over the other is to take a side, mostly because these islands are the source of an acrimonious dispute that led to a non-declared war between the two countries in 1982.

Enter Mercosur, the trade agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay – with Chile as one of the associated member states – which, a week ago, decided to ban ships that fly the Falklands flag from their ports. The measure, a blockade in simple terms, was taken to show solidarity with Argentina on the issue.

Of course, things are different from 1982.

The British no longer have any aircraft carriers, and won’t for many years to come, and the Chinese are explicitly endorsing the Argentine claim.

Truth be told, the only Falkland’s flagged ships out there are probably a few fishing boats, but the fact is that if this escalates, there is very little that the UK can do to to maintain its controls over the islands.

Truth be told, I think that any escalation would come from the British side, as Cameron, remembering Thatcher’s electoral benefit from the earlier war, will try to make a similar play for electorate.

I May Be Wrong About Eric Holder

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Because it does appear that he is actually investigating allegations of police brutality, with investigations being described as having, “mushroomed to unprecedented levels,” involving investigations of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department  (Joe Arpaio), Seattle’s police department,  Newark, East Haven, Miami, and Puerto Rico.

The cynic in me notes that Obama’s closest move toward action on this matter was his now-disavowed comments on the arrest of professor Henry Louis Gates, which, when juxtaposed with his history is one of studiously avoiding involvement in any issue that might remind people that he’s black, would lead me to conclude that he is studiously uninvolved with this issue.

Compare this to clear White House directives on torture and the banksters, where it is clear that the word went out that there would be no prosecutions.

I’m assuming that the fact that actual law enforcement is occurring here because the Obama administration is largely uninvolved with this.

Best Siri Prank of Last Year

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Someone programmed a display model Apple iPhone to cuss out anyone who attempted to talk to it“

A LAD of 12 who tried out the new iPhone 4S in Tesco was stunned when it told him: “Shut the f*** up, you ugly t***.”

The phone’s Siri system, which answers spoken questions, came back with the foul-mouthed insult when Charlie Le Quesne asked: “How many people are there in the world?”

Charlie’s horrified mum Kim said: “The phone was a demo version and was low enough on the shelf for Charlie to have a go with it. He asked it a simple question and we couldn’t believe the filth it came out with.

“I thought I must be hearing things. So we asked again and the same four-letter stuff blared out.

“I asked for the manager and after staff heard it they agreed to unplug it.”

Apologetic staff at Tesco in Coventry told Kim pranksters had tampered with the phone’s set-up instructions.

The Siri system refers to the phone’s user by name — using information stored in its contacts system. The jokers had entered the rude seven-word phrase as the user’s name — so the phone blurted it out when it answered a question

Heh.

OK, I Didn’t Expect This in Maryland

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But two doctors have been charged with fetal homicide for late term abortions:

Two doctors who Maryland authorities say botched an abortion last year in Elkton have been indicted on murder charges — in what appears to be the first use of the state’s fetal homicide law involving a medical professional performing surgery.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” Cecil County State’s Attorney Edward D.E. Rollins said Friday. He declined to comment further because the indictment remains sealed until the suspects are arraigned in Maryland. They were arrested Wednesday in New Jersey and in Utah.
Dr. Steven Chase Brigham, 55, of Voorhees, N.J., faces five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Dr. Nicola Irene Riley, 46, of Salt Lake City faces one count each of first- and second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Authorities would not describe the indictment in detail. A statement from Elkton police says some of the charges relate to an abortion that went awry 16 months ago. Detectives investigating that case — in which a teenager had to be rushed to a hospital and survived — said they found nearly three dozen late-term aborted fetuses in a freezer in Brigham’s Elkton clinic.
Maryland is one of 38 states with a fetal homicide law. But unlike many, Maryland does not define when it is too late to perform an abortion. Under the law, enacted in 2005, it is illegal to abort a fetus deemed viable, or showing signs of healthy development.

In case you are wondering, Edward D.E. Rollins is a Republican, and this is fairly clearly a case where they are trying to use this as another wedge against Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court.

What is interesting here is that they aren’t charging the mothers in the conspiracy charges, when, if there is a conspiracy, they are clearly co-conspirators.

Prosecutors love conspiracy charges.  They are easier to prosecute, and they are a remarkably effective tool for turn witnesses, but we aren’t seeing its use here, because this is all about an anti-choice political agenda.

I expect to see this before the Supreme Court in the next 2-3 years.