Reinhardt Thread - "Suggestions and Predictions"

Originally posted by nikki6278
Justyc
Having authentication issues just logging into rtr. any suggestions?

rtr's server must have been down as a few couldn't connect - worky now though.

[edit on 1-12-2008 by justyc]

www.minyanville.com...#

Commercial bank exposure via the total amount of credit card loans outstanding has risen more in the last 10 weeks than it did in the previous 10 months cobined. Moreover, the growth in the last 10 weeks -- $32.3 billion, or roughly $600 million per shopping day -- represents nominal growth of 9.3%, or 48.3% annualized over the last 10 weeks. According to American Express, delinquencies on credit payments rose to 4.1% of all credit outstanding in the third quarter, up from 2.5% in 2007, with Bank of America's rate rising even more steeply - to 5.9% for the period. Moreover, the pool of loans deemed uncollectable rose to a high 6.7% in the third quarter, soaring from 3.6% last September. What consumer spending there is has been fueled in part by credit card: The second-largest merchant-vendor for credit card use is now McDonalds. This suggests that many consumers are in serious distress if they need to get their $4 Big Mac and fries with a credit card.

www.reuters.com...

(Reuters) - The U.S. credit card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.



Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co represent over half of the estimated U.S. card outstandings as of September 30, and each company has discussed reducing card exposure or slowing growth, Whitney said.

A consolidated U.S. lending market that is pulling back on credit is also posing a risk to the overall consumer liquidity, Whitney said.

Mortgages and credit cards are now dominated by five players who are all pulling back liquidity, making reductions in consumer liquidity seem unavoidable, she said.

"...We are now beginning to see evidence of broad-based declines in overall consumer liquidity."

"In a country that offers hundreds of cereal and soda pop choices, the banking industry has become one that offers very few choices," Whitney wrote in a note dated November 30.

She also said credit lines to consumers through home equity and credit cards had been cut back from the second-quarter levels.

"Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view," the analyst said.

[edit on 1-12-2008 by shermanium]

re: torts

www.nj.com.../base/news -0/1227416761127440.xml&coll=5

This is an extraordinary moment in our nation's history. All eyes are focused on President-Elect Obama, who will bring change to America, and the economic crisis, where huge corporations let avarice overwhelm them. But few people are noticing that President Bush and some companies, trying to maximize profits, are implementing changes that, if not stopped, will put most Americans last -- and out of court.
...
They are using many tactics, but three are critical -- federal preemption, mandatory arbitration, and class action bans. If these three succeed, most Americans can kiss many of their rights goodbye.

[edit on 1-12-2008 by shermanium]

[edit on 1-12-2008 by shermanium]

Any suggestions on creating a timeline per R's suggestion?

I was also thinking: Even this thread is all over the place...could we create main topic threads per R'r rekoning and then post things we find to each catagory to reinforce the research and supposition of each main topic?

www.debka.com...

US intelligence warned India of Mumbai attack in mid-October – Report

December 1, 2008, 11:22 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report that the Indian spy agency RAW (the Research and Analysis Wing) caught wind of a terrorist threat for Mumbai in late August, three months before the event. More information was collected by RAW during September and October about the shape of the attack and its targets and passed to the American NSA.

The American ABC TV reported on Dec. 1 that Indian intelligence also intercepted a satellite phone call to a number in Pakistan known to be used by a leader of the Kashmiri Lashkar e-Taiba, which is accused of staging the Mumbai attack. This group is known for its ties to al Qaeda and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence. This enabled the American NSA to monitor the calls terrorists made by Thuraya mobile communications system satellite phones. That is how they were able to warn their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai," as ABC reported. The Taj Palace Hotel was mentioned.

DEBKAfile's sources add that the Thuraya 3 satellite system serves a population of 2.3 billion in the Middle East and Asia. Owned by Abu Dhabi, many of its clients are Muslim.

The warning was relayed by US government agencies to the Manmohan Singh government which passed it on to political officials in Mumbai, India's financial capital.

There it stopped. The warning never reached the city's security or marine authorities which might have intercepted the terrorists' boats as they landed. Indian's special counter-terror units were taken completely by surprise when the Islamists struck the city Wednesday, Nov. 26.

These revelations raise two troubling questions: Why did the Indian government fail to act to pre-empt the terrorist attack? And why did the Bush administration, when it was clear that the Indians were doing nothing, not issue a public warning about a terrorist attack in the making as it has done in former cases?

At all events, the disclosure about the communications between US and Indian intelligence refutes the comment from US Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in London that Washington had no information linking the Mumbai attack to Pakistan.

www.debka.com...

US masses naval-air-marine might in Arabian Sea opposite India, Pakistan, Iran

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 1, 2008, 9:18 AM (GMT+02:00)

Three US aircraft carriers with strike groups, task forces and nuclear submarines have piled up in the waters of the Arabian Sea opposite the shores of India, Pakistan and Iran, and in the Persian Gulf.

DEBKAfile's military sources report that the US began massing this formidable array of floating firepower at the outset of the Islamist terrorist attack on the Indian city of Mumbai last Wednesday, Nov. 26.

Tehran responded typically with a threat of retaliation should the Americans decide to use the Mumbai terrorist attack to hit Iran.

It is more likely, according to our military sources, that the Americans are on the ready in case the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over the New Delhi's charge of Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai atrocity explodes into an armed clash on their border.

This is indicated by the units now deployed:

1. the USS John C. Stennis, which carries 80 fighter-bombers and 3,200 sailors and airmen and leads a strike group..

This carrier joins two already there, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which patrols the northern Arabian Sea, part of whose strike group cruises opposite Iran's southern coast; and the USS Iwo Jima, which carries a large marine contingent on board.

2. New to these waters, according to DEBKAfile's military sources, is the Destroyer Squadron 50/CTF 55, which has two task forces: Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) for strikes against warships and the rapid deployment of marines to flashpoint arenas; and Mine Countermeasures Division 31, which stands ready to prevent New Delhi or Islamabad from mining the Arabian Sea routes connecting their ports. Those routes are vital waterways for US marine traffic supporting the war in Afghanistan.

3. To manage this armada, the command and control vessel, USS Mount Whitney, has been brought over from the Mediterranean.

4. Four nuclear submarines.

The arrival of the southwest Asian marine patrol carrier Stennis and the Mount Whitney to the Arabian Sea opposite Iran's shores set alarm bells ringing in Tehran. Our Iranian sources note that the Islamic republic's rulers remember that after al Qaeda's attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, the Americans did not only invade Afghanistan, but also Iraq and they fear a similar sideswipe.

The Iranian chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Ataoallah Salehi sounded a warning when he stated Sunday, Nov. 30: The "heavy weight" of enemy warships provides the Iranian side with an ideal opportunity for launching successful counter-attacks.

hmmmmmmmm...

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild calls for action

All of us - countries, corporations and consumers - have neglected basic principles.

Ethics - we have lost sight of an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

Careful management - we have indulged our wants without the taxes or the prices or the cash to pay for them.

Oversight - public relations and spin have replaced disclosure and transparency; casual yet complex accounting and accommodating rating agencies left us blissfully unaware of the problems, and we revelled in our ignorance.

Hubris has replaced community responsibility as a requirement for executive positions.

very interesting wording in this article - must read r's stuff

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World economy 'weakest since 30s'

The United Nations says the world economy faces its worst downturn since the Great Depression.

It expects world economic output to shrink by as much as 0.4% in 2009, due to a slump among developed countries - particularly the US and in Europe.

This would mark the world economy's first year of contraction since the 1930s, the UN said.

The report added there had been complacency about the impact of the financial crisis on poorer countries.

"It seems inevitable that the major countries will see significant contraction in the immediate period ahead and that recovery may not materialise any time soon, even if the bail-out and stimulus package succeed," it says.

pretending to fail on a global scale

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Three killed in Assam train blast

A bomb has exploded in a passenger train in India's north-eastern state of Assam, killing at least three people.

Assam police chief GM Srivastava told the BBC that 30 other passengers had been injured, some of them seriously.

The train was travelling from Lumding railway station in Lower Assam to Tinsukia in Upper Assam.

The blast took place when the train halted at the Diphu station in the hill district of Karbi Anglong for a scheduled stop.

Assam has a number of insurgent groups which have a history of attacking the railways as they provide an easy target.

why is this story only getting the 'also happened today' treatment as opposed to constant major headlines of the terrorist attack a few days ago? its the same country and people have died in a public place also, but it was hours before this story even reached the msm and not one that i found had it as a headline! could it be that it's different 'real' terrorists behind this attack who are jumping on the bandwagon? let's see what new laws and legislations get mentioned in conjunction with this particular attack, or, like all the previous terrorist attacks in india, get buried very quickly in the news.

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC told Congress they need $15 billion just to survive until next month, when President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Democrats pledged to keep them out of bankruptcy without saying how.

and you believed them? hahahahaha

General Motors, Chrysler Seek ‘Emergency’ $15 Billion

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business (as usual)

Pakistan’s Richest Man Defies Terrorism to Expand Bank Empire

On a September evening when many of Pakistan’s 165 million people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, billionaire Mian Mohammad Mansha, the country’s richest man, was deciding whether to buy an Indonesian bank.

At home, where his MCB Bank Ltd. is the biggest lender by market value, he was in talks in October to buy a rival he declines to name. He’s looking at four banks in Indonesia, the only country with a bigger Muslim population than Pakistan.

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nice distraction here...

First Parliament Raid in 366 Years Eclipses Queen

Until last week, no one in the U.K. had dared search Parliament since 1642, when such an act led to the beheading of King Charles I.

Then on Nov. 27, police investigating government leaks arrested opposition lawmaker Damian Green, 52, raided his parliamentary offices and seized his computers.

“It’s without precedent,” said David Butler, a fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University. “They were bloody fools to do it.”

The raid has divided Prime Minister Gordon Brown‘s government and triggered calls for the resignation of the speaker of the House of Commons. Some lawmakers plan to complain about it today, overshadowing Queen Elizabeth II’s annual opening of Parliament -- a ritual intended to remind the monarch of the legislators’ right to resist unwanted interference.

Paulson Bucks Paulson as His Hedge Funds Score $1 Billion Gain

“You have deterioration in almost every asset class,” Paulson says. “You’re looking at declines in housing prices, the health of manufacturers and the earnings of various companies. There are rising delinquencies in auto loans and commercial real estate.”

Paulson, 52, peers over his tortoiseshell glasses. “There’s more to come,” he warns.

Paulson doesn’t smile as he says this, even though with each new calamity his bottom line grows. Paulson & Co. funds generated profits of more than $3 billion for the firm in 2007, mostly by betting the housing bubble, swollen with subprime mortgages, would burst.

of course, that's pretty easy to do when you know it's coming....

Ruble Requires 20% Depreciation to Revive Economy, Troika Says

Russia should abandon its defense of the ruble to kick-start economic growth by devaluing the currency 20 percent, according to Troika Dialog, the country’s oldest investment bank.

“The sooner they do it, the more chance that the economy will start to recover,” Evgeny Gavrilenkov, Troika’s chief economist, said in an interview in Moscow yesterday. “The exchange rate prevents growth.”

we need to put people to work in our new factories donchya know?

There was mention last night of trying to find the woman R mentions in the WSJ picture he had posted that spoke up to the MSM.
I tried way too many google searches and gave it one last shot before heading to bed.
I am not sure the couple R is referring to is the one in the attached account of the attack. There are some similarities including a comment about a gorgeous commando. Regardless, it is worth the read.

mumbai

Somalia nearing a 'total famine'

Somalia is in danger of descending into famine while the world's attention is focused on the problem of piracy off its coast, the Red Cross has warned.

About half of Somalia's population is dependent on food aid.

Alexandre Liebeskind, head of the ICRC in East Africa, says families are now eating their most prized possessions: the camels and goats of reproductive age.

It is a sign of increasing desperation, he says.

He compared the situation to the last great famine of 1992 when hundreds of thousands died.

and the longer they do nothing, the more that will die off. so if your aim is control of the strategic country of somalia in the near future, you will let it happen as those still alive will be too weak to fight you. just need few more pirate incidents and 'timing'.

Warren Buffet has recently expanded his position in utility NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG)

NRG is a wholesale power generation company.

Here is a link. On the home page they have a pdf of current projects...completion dates? Their latest is a Biomass Project at their Montville Generating Station in Connecticut.
NRG

Thought i'd share this with you guys.

Bailout still faces challenges: Paulson

Paulson has expressed opposition to using the Troubled Assets Relief Program to bail out the U.S. auto industry, but he said it would be wrong to allow one of Detroit's Big Three car makers to go under.

"The failure of one of the auto makers right now would not be a good thing. It would be a bad thing," he said.

Wonder what baldy is really up to in China

Romanizing America Through Illegal Immigration

Obvious...

Good read...

scary

Strategic Command Chief Urges Quick Nuclear Weapons Modernization

"The path of inaction is a path leading toward nuclear disarmament. . . . The time to act is now," Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton told an audience of government, military and civilian arms experts attending the Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington.

i'll paste that again in case you didn't get it the first time -

"The path of inaction is a path leading toward nuclear disarmament. . . . The time to act is now," Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton told an audience of government, military and civilian arms experts attending the Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington.

Trichet Under Pressure to Outline Plan for Deflation

European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet is under pressure to outline a plan to revive the euro region’s economy should he be “trapped” into pushing interest rates closer to zero.

Even as Trichet delivers the largest round of rate cuts in the ECB’s history, he hasn’t spelled out a specific approach should conventional tools fail to head off deflation. While he yesterday acknowledged for the first time that unorthodox measures are an option, economists say the lack of detail is a concern.

shhhh - just follow the script and hopefully they won't notice what we are up to

www.patriotledger.com...

Gulf Oil CEO Joe Petrowski said on Wednesday that the price of oil could sink to $20 per barrel, and there is a chance gasoline prices could drop as low as $1 per gallon by early next year.

Originally posted by justyc
Trichet Under Pressure to Outline Plan for Deflation

European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet is under pressure to outline a plan to revive the euro region’s economy should he be “trapped” into pushing interest rates closer to zero.

Even as Trichet delivers the largest round of rate cuts in the ECB’s history, he hasn’t spelled out a specific approach should conventional tools fail to head off deflation. While he yesterday acknowledged for the first time that unorthodox measures are an option, economists say the lack of detail is a concern.

shhhh - just follow the script and hopefully they won't notice what we are up to

I'm in the Eurozone and it really doesn't matter what they cut interest rates too - no-one is lending! I must be missing something about all these interest rate cuts that are being made such a big deal of because I don't know of anyone that can get anything on credit.

Pretending to fail again? You know what really worries me is that I'm not sure which scenario I prefer - either that we're being manipulated and someone actually has a grip on the situation or that there's no manipulation and everyone in charge is actually clueless as to what to do to fix this mess.