Bloomberg:
- Large banks should be banned from trading derivatives including credit default swaps, said Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning economist. The CDS positions held by the five largest banks posed “significant risk” to the financial system, Stiglitz said at a press conference in Brussels. Big banks should have extra restrictions placed on them, including a ban on derivative trading, because of the risk that they would need government money if they fail, he said in a speech today. “We will have another armed robbery unless we prevent the banks, the banks that are too big to fail,” Stiglitz said. “We should say that if you’re too big to fail then you are too big to be. They need more restrictions, such as no derivative trading.”
- Obamacare Tax Frays Middle-Class Vow. The U.S. Senate’s version of Obamacare finally is emerging into broad daylight, and the more people see of it, the less popular it should be. For all the rhetoric, the plan is quite easy to sketch, thanks in part to an analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. So here goes:
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said a falling unemployment rate is a precondition for an increase in the benchmark interest rate from near zero. “You want to see the economy start to recover in all its dimensions, output and trade” before tightening, Bullard said today in a Bloomberg Radio interview in St. Louis. “We do have some of those turning around now.”
- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said terrorists with al-Qaeda leanings are in the U.S. and information-sharing between federal, state and local agencies is “much improved” since the Sept. 11 attacks. “It’s fair to say there are individuals” in the U.S. “who subscribe to al-Qaeda-style beliefs,” Napolitano said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. In September, U.S. authorities indicted Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant and former Denver airport shuttle-van driver, on federal terrorism conspiracy charges. They found bomb-making instructions on a laptop computer in his rental car. Attorney General Eric Holder said the case had connections to al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.
Wall Street Journal:
- An overlooked part of Wells Fargo's deal to buy Wachovia last year was the merger of two of the largest mutual-fund firms. It may not stay overlooked much longer. As part of the acquisition, Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, the fund unit run by Wells Fargo, will take over Wachovia's Evergreen Investments, creating a firm with nearly 200 mutual funds and more than $250 billion in assets under management.
- North Korea fired five short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, news reports said, even as South Korea proposed working-level talks with its communist neighbor.
- Macau's government met with the city's six casino operators Monday and said it would review the size and growth of the industry, including potential restrictions on the number of gambling tables. The government of the Chinese gambling enclave didn't release specifics. But depending on the results of the review, government officials could enact new restrictions on one of the gambling world's most promising growth markets.
MarketWatch.com:
- Gold futures held by speculators reached a record high in the most recent week as prices climbed to an all-time high above $1,060 an ounce, raising worries that a possible switch in positions could lead to a slump in gold prices. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, net long, or buying, positions held by speculators rose to 239,668 contracts in the week ended Oct. 6, according to the market regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That's up 6.7% from a month ago and nearly doubled the level at the end of last year.
- The 7.2 million jobs lost in the recession won't return until 2012 or beyond, according to a new survey of top business economists released Monday. Economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics said any recovery is likely to be so gradual that these jobs won't return to the labor market for three years.
CNBC:
- Business Revs Up for Carbon Regulation.
NY Times:
- Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country. New concern was focused on that security loophole last week, when Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. Last year alone, 2.9 million foreign visitors on temporary visas like Mr. Smadi’s checked in to the country but never officially checked out, immigration officials said.
NYPost:
- PROPONENTS of compulsory, government-designed health insurance can't seem to understand why others disagree. Perhaps the public is realizing that these proposals are fundamentally about redistributing health? Health-care "reform," that is, aims to shift costs and benefits of health insurance from some groups to others. And the losers are turning out to be less docile than politicians had hoped. All the leading proposals involve massive redistribution from people with healthy lifestyles to those who take more risks. As the Congressional Budget Office explained, "Premiums in the new insurance exchanges would tend to be higher than the average premiums in the current-law individual market . . . because the new policies would have to cover pre-existing medical conditions and could not deny coverage to people with high expected costs for health care." That is, because the politicians want people who've already fallen ill to be able to buy insurance at the same rates as the healthy, rates would rise for everyone who has insurance now. That's why the bills would all force healthy people to buy this overpriced insurance, under threat of fines or prison. There would also be redistribution from people with employer-paid insurance (particularly in risky jobs with high premiums) to those who would be induced to shun such benefits in order to qualify for taxpayer subsidies. By far the largest redistribution, however, is from those on Medicare to those who'd become newly eligible for Medicaid or federal subsidies. The major proposals, the AARP Bulletin explains, "include around $500 billion in savings carved from future growth in Medicare spending over a 10-year period." Even in the Obama era, $500 billion is a lot. Yet we're supposed to believe that less is somehow more -- that seniors will benefit from these spending cuts.
Washington Post:
- After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected. Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and promote it in new advertisements. That could complicate Democratic hopes for action on the legislation this week. The analysis is certain to raise questions about whether Obama can deliver on his twin promises of extending coverage to millions of uninsured Americans while also curbing skyrocketing health-care costs. Hospitals and doctors have increasingly grumbled that the administration is not keeping bargains it struck over how many Americans would be covered under reform and what payment changes would be made. "The report makes clear that several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause health care costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system," Karen Ignagni, AHIP's president and chief executive, wrote to board members Sunday. "Between 2010 and 2019 the cumulative increases in the cost of a typical family policy under this health care reform proposal will be approximately $20,700 more than it would be under the current system." "Market reform enacted in the absence of universal coverage will increase costs dramatically for many who are currently insured by creating a powerful incentive for people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage," the authors of the report wrote.
zerohedge:
- The fallout from the recent investigations by the Attorney General into the New York Pension Fund system will be the likely topic of numerous analyses for months to come as details of more impropriety are uncovered. In the meantime, we would like to highlight to our readers some of the more recent recipients of New York State's generosity, which in acting as a Fund of Funds for New Yorkers, continues investing capital in numerous Private Equity and Hedge Fund firms, as well as directing real estate investments.
LA Times:
- The federal government's top ocean scientists are urging the Interior Department to drastically reduce plans to open the coast to offshore oil and gas drilling, citing threats to marine life and potentially devastating effects of oil spills in Arctic waters. The recommendations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are informal and not binding. But if adopted, they would restrict development in some of the nation's most resource-rich untapped offshore areas and mark a significant departure from the pro-drilling policies of the George W. Bush administration. They also give added -- and official -- weight to environmentalists' concerns.
AppleInsider:
- For security, ease of use and features, the U.S. Army has reportedly turned to Apple(AAPL) hardware for four new video surveillance installations. According to Security Systems News, the Army now has four video surveillance installations based on Mac OS X and Apple servers. Pat Mercer, security business leader/sales manager with Siemens, said the IT department was initially reluctant to go Mac, but as they explored the systems, it became clear it was the best and most secure option.
Rassmussen:
Politico:
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues to hold dangerously low approval ratings, and would lose to two of his leading Republican opponents, according to a new Mason-Dixon survey. A 50 percent majority of Nevadans said they viewed Reid unfavorably, with only 38 percent hold a favorable opinion of him. Reid trails former state Republican party chairwoman Sue Lowden by ten points, 49 to 39 percent. And he lags behind GOP businessman Danny Tarkanian, 48 to 43 percent. The poll contains some good news for Lowden, who is the latest Republican entrant in the race – and has been getting the most headlines from Washington pundits. This poll shows her narrowly leading Tarkanian, 23 to 21 percent – a major shift from the firm’s last survey in August, which showed Tarkanian ahead.
Reuters:
- The president of carbon offset developer Blue Source said his company and Goldman Sachs Group (GS) have completed a transaction of carbon credits worth $12 million that he called the largest publicly announced U.S. offset deal. Blue Source generated the offsets from U.S.-based projects involving stopping forests from getting cut down, and capturing and burning a potent greenhouse gas given off by landfills and coal mines. The forestry offsets were generated by convincing farmers in North Carolina not to cut down tree stands, even though they had permits to do so, Greg Spencer, president of Blue Source, said. Goldman marketed the credits for Blue Source, which were then sold to CE2 Carbon Capital, a U.S. investor and owner of carbon commodities. Goldman bought a minority stake in Blue Source last year.
Financial Times:
- There are always points of tension for share prices. With entire sectors now poised midway between past highs and lows, the optimists seem finely balanced against the pessimists. In semiconductors, for instance, the tug-of-war is focused between end-demand gloom mongers, and supply-side champions. Intel(INTC), which reports third-quarter numbers on Tuesday, may not lend definitive weight to either side, but there is cause to think that the optimists may have the edge.
- China has banned foreign investment in its online gaming industry in a tightening of its censorship regime and an effort to protect local gaming companies. Foreigners would be banned from operating online gaming within China through wholly foreign-owned investments, joint ventures or any other forms of co-operation with local companies, the country’s publishing regulator said.
The Independent:
- US policymakers playing with fire as the dollar continues to tumble.
TimesOnline:
- Beauty in 2009 is in the eye of the beholder. For the American cosmetics industry, it is looking slightly weary as cash-strapped consumers strive to economise on their beauty regimes, but for the burgeoning “cosmeceuticals” market, it is looking very healthy indeed. These products, the best-known of which are anti-ageing creams, are part-cosmetic, part-pharmaceutical, containing ingredients that manufacturers claim have medical or drug-like benefits and produce a biological effect on the skin and hair, such as reducing wrinkles and plumping the skin. A report from IBISWorld, a market researcher, projects that while the $60.37 billion (£30.77 billion) American cosmetics industry is expected to decline by 1.2 per cent this year, cosmeceuticals is on course for 7.7 per cent of growth. By 2011 the market, worth $3.5 billion a year in the United States, is projected to hit $4 billion.
Caijing:
- China’s four biggest commercial banks extended new yuan-denominated loans of about $16 billion in September, the lowest monthly figure in 2009, citing industry data.
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