The top news long-term, continues to be the following ISSUES:
* Financial Crisis
* GWOT
* Cultural War (between the left and right)
* Politics
Short-term top news centers on the following EVENTS:
* Life’s Rich Pageant
Financial Crisis: “Experts say the mood has soured since the G20 Toronto summit in June and worry that unless the summit can patch up differences on trade imbalances and exchange rates, the outlook for international economic agreement is poor.” (China tees up G20 showdown with US).
“Ousmène Mandeng, of Ashmore Investment Management and a former senior International Monetary Fund official, said: ‘The G20 will also have to show [in Seoul] it can work on the issue or its very existence will be in question.’”
The Chinese stance on QE2 is quite clear as Cui Tiankai, a deputy foreign minister and one of China’s lead negotiators at the G20, described Friday the US’ plan to limit current account surpluses and deficits to 4 percent of GDP as harking back “to the days of planned economies.” Pretty sad when the largest communist/socialist country in the world publicly chastises the U.S. for a passé socialist recommendation. “‘We believe a discussion about a current account target misses the whole point,’ he added, in the first official comment by a senior Chinese official on the subject. ‘If you look at the global economy, there are many issues that merit more attention—for example, the question of quantitative easing.’”
Officials from China, Germany and South Africa on Friday piled onto the chorus of complaints, saying QE2 “would create instability and worsen imbalances by triggering surges of capital into other currencies.”
“‘With all due respect, US policy is clueless,’ Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, told reporters. ‘It’s not that the Americans haven’t pumped enough liquidity into the market,’ he said. ‘Now to say let’s pump more into the market is not going to solve their problems.’”
“Pravin Gordhan, finance minister of South Africa, a key member of the emerging market bloc, said the decision ‘undermines the spirit of multilateral co-operation that G20 leaders have fought so hard to maintain during the current crisis,’ and ran counter to the pledge made by G20 finance ministers to refrain from uncoordinated responses.”
“Li Deshui, from Beijing's Economic Commission, said a string of Asian states share China's ‘deep bitterness’ over dollar debasement, and are examining ways of teaming up to insulate themselves from the tsunami of US liquidity. Thailand said its central bank is already in talks with neighbours to devise a joint protection policy.” (Doubts grow over wisdom of Ben Bernanke 'super-put')
“The dollar plunged yet again. That may have been the Fed's unstated purpose. If so, Washington has angered the world's rising powers and prompted a reaction with far-reaching strategic consequences.”
“Bond funds are already restive. Pimco's Bill Gross says the great bull market in bonds is over, denigrating Fed policy as the greatest ‘ponzi scheme’ in history. Warren Buffett has chimed in too, warning that anybody buying bonds at this stage is ‘making a big mistake.’”
“No clear rationale for fresh QE can be found in orthodox monetarism. Data from the St Louis Federal Reserve show that M2 money supply stopped contracting in the early summer and has since been expanding at an accelerating rate, topping 9pc over the last four-week bloc.”
“The Fed has used the 'Taylor Rule' on output gaps as a theoretical justification for QE, but Stanford Professor John Taylor has more or less said his theories have been hijacked. ‘I don't think (QE) will do much good, and I also worry about the harm down the road,’ he said. It has not been lost on markets that the Fed's purchases of $900bn of Treasuries by June (with reinvested funds from mortgage debt) covers the Treasury's deficit over the same period. The slippery slope towards 'monetization' of public debt beckons.’”
Other headlines of the day:
GWOT: The U.S. struck preemptively with a missile Wednesday—in Gaza. A warship in the Med hit the car of Muhammad Jamal A’Namnam, 27, who was in the heart of Gaza City. He was an operational commander of the Army of Islam, Al-Qaeda's Palestinian cell in the Gaza Strip. He reportedly was on a mission on behalf of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula—AQAP to plan, organize and execute the next wave of terrorist attacks on US targets after last week's air package bomb plot.
Cultural War: U.S. House GOP leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a TV interview he would “never ever, ever” allow ObamaCare to be implemented (Pledge: 'I'll make sure Obamacare is never implemented'). He also “hinted that the newly elected Republican majority in Congress has ‘a lot of tricks up our sleeves’ to follow through on that promise.”
One of the three Democrats MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made a donation to, against company policy that “forbids an anchor from doing so without prior approval of the president of NBC News,” is the co-chairman of a Marxist/socialist-founded bloc in Congress (Olbermann backed co-chair of 'Marxist-socialist' bloc).
Don’t get too excited about ACORN’s bankruptcy: they’ll be back (Insider confirms ACORN will be back). “‘I predicted this over a year and a half ago,’ said Marcel Reid, the former chair of the Washington, DC chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ‘It’s going to be a loose federation.’”
Looks like Spain might be a “formerly Catholic” country as Pope Benedict XVI criticized the country for a flourishing “aggressive” anti-church sentiment today during a two-day visit (Pope blasts Spain's "aggressive" anti-church ways).
Politics: This story is in the Politics section but relates directly to the financial crisis. China’s leaders are in a precarious situation between the citizens pleased with ‘economic transformation’ over the last 30 years and the potential damage well beyond financial if the currency war plays out (The China powder keg: JOHN HUMPHRYS on a nation that's either on the edge of becoming THE superpower - or exploding into anarchy).
The insanity in India continues. Nearly 300 city cops are in “virtual confinement” because they speak English, have been assigned duties at the Taj and aren’t allowed to leave the hotel until Obama leaves tomorrow afternoon (English-speaking cops confined for four days in the Taj). Cops aren’t the only ones being detained. Dog and monkey catchers “are also being roped in to avert any ‘animal invasion’ on his route” (Obama visit to Delhi: Special vigil against monkeys and dogs).
Nancy Pelosi said Friday she wants to keep her spot as House Dem leader. Somehow we don’t think the Republicans will let her keep the private jet she’s been using weekly to fly home at a cost of greater than $50,000 per trip (Pelosi will seek to stay as House Dem leader). The Republicans ‘love’ here too, as she is the best ‘Republican’ on their team (RNC Changes 'Fire Pelosi' Message To 'Hire Pelosi').
Life’s Rich Pageant: The Russians are really tinkering with time as President Medvedev has already abolished two time zones this year and is now calling for the elimination of Daylight Savings Time (Russia Proposes Stopping Daylight Saving Time). “‘Russian officials are worried about the psychological and physical impact of adjustments like this. During these two weeks, after the clocks turn back, officials say more people get sick and there's a higher number of ambulance calls. So Russian president Demitri Medvedev said he sees no point moving the clocks back and forth,’ said David Greene of National Public Radio.”
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Why vote a bill already enacted?
Because we’re currently building our Voting Scorecard. This tool is effectively a report card and will list all your votes alongside your representative, senators, VP and President, where applicable. The bottom line number for each public servant will be a percentage indicating how each voted with or against your personal legislative desires. For example, 80% means the public servant, or potential public servant, voted with you 80% of your total votes. This is powerful information every American should have and use when making future election decisions. Though not live on the site yet, the database has been built and is current with all Roll Calls to-date.
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